A somewhat elaborated rapport of known supply bug

[gingerbread]

This bug is really frustrating and since there are a version published (1.03) without a fix, I'm filing this report with some facts, speculations and ideas with the intent to facilitate a solution and possibly an improvement.

Below you can see the result of my attempt to circumvent the limits of the game engine. The theory is that HQ's are checked if it will cast supply to other HQ's in a top to bottom order. That is, the HQ of the best leader will be checked first and if it passed the check, it will cast thereby making it ineligible to receive from another HQ. To circumvent this, I have placed my best HQ, closest to the front, outside the '3'-range of the town, El Agheila. The town casts only '2' to the HQ's hex which means it cannot cast supply, which in turn means it should be able to receive from another HQ. I have another HQ which receives a '4' from the town. Being full strength, it shows as 4(8) and the (8) reaches the first HQ as a '6'. The first HQ indeed shows as 6(10) and the supply overlay shows values that corresponds to it having a supply value of 10. If I had placed the top leader HQ one hex closer to the town, it would have been casting supply to the rear area HQ.

Hah, Got You! I thought. It sometimes becomes a meta game to get around the features that the game designer/programmer, intentionally or unintentionally, have included. I don't think this one is intentional, there simply was no reason not to use a top bottom order or rather lowest number in the unit roster first, and when the scenario was designed, the best leaders were listed first which led to them having the lowest number in the roster. Also, it did not matter until the additional limits to casting supply was added.

But I did draw the shortest straw after all as can be seen by examining the supply received by the I Aus. The overlay shows a '9' in its hex but the unit shows a '7'. It still has 4 action points which proves it has not moved. Somehow the function uses a different initial value for the HQ when generating the supply overlay than it does when actually supplying units. That needs to be fixed.

I also suggest that the order used when checking if an HQ will cast supply is changed to be lowest rated leader first. That way, players can put their top leaders closer to the units they command and supply them as much as possible.

[Hubert Cater]

Thank you for the detailed analysis as this helped me to track this down and make the necessary corrections. I've also agreed with your suggestion to start with the lowest rated HQ first and this will be implemented as such in the next build.

Much appreciated [:)]

[sPzAbt653]

[v1.09.01] Trying to grasp the way HQ Chains work. In this shot we have the two hexes of Moscow at 6 and 7, and the 3.Pz and 4.Pz HQ's located there at the expected 6 and 7. To the northeast we have the 18.Army and 16.Army HQ's, neither of which appear to have any link. The same for the 9.Army HQ to the southeast. This shot is from the beginning of the turn before any of these HQ units have been moved. So, looking at this situation, I would say that chaining is not working because shouldn't the 18.Army and 16.Army be at 7 ?

[sPzAbt653]

However, looking at the situation below, the only towns that have an influence on the supply grid are Tula at 5 and Ryazan at 4. 9.Army and 4.Army HQ are at expected supply levels, but the 2.Pz Army HQ is somehow at 5, which makes no sense to me at all. If 2.Pz is chaining to 9.Army, shouldn't it be at 4, not 5 ?

[sPzAbt653]

This is one of the most difficult areas on the map for supply - the approach to Perm. In this case the HQ Chain works as expected, with the 4.Pz HQ at Kirov providing a link for the 18.Army HQ. 18.Army HQ is at the 1 level of supply provided by the 4.Pz HQ, which qualifies it for a level 5 supply.

[sPzAbt653]

Moving the 18.Army HQ one more hex away from the 4.Pz HQ puts it at the 0 level, and the link is gone, as expected.

[sPzAbt653]

Here is one where it doesn't work as expected. 2.Pz HQ at Kuybyshev should be providing a link for the 9.Army HQ, but it does not. So either I don't properly understand these chains, or they aren't working consistently.

[Hubert Cater]

Hi sPzAbt653,

I've looked at the first two recent posts here and with the rules changes for HQs and linking from v1.04, it all looks like it is working as expected. If for your further posts it still doesn't look right let me know and I can investigate further.

Here were the rule changes:

- HQ distribution supply has been changed to the following:
- HQ supply < 3 will have a distribution supply value of 5.
- HQ supply >= 3 and <= 5 will have a distribution supply value of 8.
- HQ supply > 5 will have a distribution supply value of 10.
- HQs can now only be linked if the first HQ has a supply value >= 5, raised from a previous threshold of >= 3.
- the HQ to be linked must have a supply value < 3 and is now automatically boosted to a supply value of 5 which caps its distribution supply at 8. Previously linked HQs could have a maximum distribution supply level of 10.

Essentially, and looking at the first example, since the HQs that are at 3 supply are not < 3 there would be no linking for them.

Hope this helps,
Hubert