Convoy Question

[jcrohio]

I am currently playing a game as the Central Powers versus the AI Entente.

Three of the Central Powers Convoys have gone inactive and I am not sure why. The convoys from the US to England, Canada to England and England to Russia were all red in the beginning of the game but are now white indicating inactivity.

I did accept an event for Germany to carry out unrestricted naval warfare which may coincide with the convoy lines going white (can't be sure).

I have three questions:
1) What could have caused these convoy lines to become inactive (if not the event for Germany to carry out unrestricted naval warfare)?

2) Does this mean no production points are being shipped (I assume it does)?

3) If I was playing the Entente is this final? Is there any way to make the convoys active again?

Thanks for any help
Jack

[The Land]

US to England or UK to Russia could be because the AI has decided to ship 0 MPPs.

UK to Russia also stops during winter (as the destination port ices up).

I'm unable to explain Canada to UK though as that is not under manual control.

If you are playing the Entente side you can manage these and temporarily stop and start shipments, except for those convoys that stop in winter.

[jcrohio]

Thanks for the reply.

"US to England or UK to Russia could be because the AI has decided to ship 0 MPPs."
I thought this might be the case. I actually saved the game and restarted as the Entente to check things out. France and Russia's convoys to Serbia both are shown in red but neither one is delivering anything to Serbia. So this rules that out.

"UK to Russia also stops during winter (as the destination port ices up)."
The game turn was August of 1915 so no ice.

Three other points.
1) Each of the three routes contributing countries (US, England, Canada) have a red slash through there circular flag symbol on the Convoy Map.

2) The Up/Down arrows used to contribute a percentage of the contributing countries (US, England, Canada) MPPs, do not exist. There is no way for these countries to contribute even if they wanted to.

3) Later in the game all the routes were back to red indicating the routes were again active. What changed and why?

Thanks
Jack

[Xsillione]

Routes need 5 port in both the start and the end, your sub warfare could reduce the ports, which could lead to lost convoys.
You can even use it by attacking the ports and reducing them this way, to stop the convoys until it repaired.

[jcrohio]

Thanks for the reply.

Went back and checked some older saves with fog of war off and you are absolutely correct. The common port for all three convoy routes is the major port at Glasgow. It was as low as one at times but every time it was below five the routes were inactive.

Now my big question. Glasgow starts with a supply size of twelve at the beginning of the war. How did it get as low as one? That I know of, I have done nothing to decrease the size of Glasgow. No attacks at the port that would lower supplies.

Thanks

Jack

[The Land]

Did you have submarines in adjacent hexes? 2 adjacent enemy units will reduce the supply of a resource gradually, the mechanic is designed for land sieges but also applies to ports.

Alternatively if the UK introduced conscription, they experience events representing striking workers, which knock resource values down randomly. That might have happened?

[jcrohio]

Thanks for both answers in the two threads The Land.

I have not gotten anywhere near the port of Glasgow or for that matter any English port. So the first point is out.

Point two has happened at least twice (I think!!) to England but I have not payed any attention to where it has happened so that is a very distinct possibility.

I hope one of the designers pops in and sheds some light on this.

Thanks
Jack

[Ktonos]

I'm certain that if CP choose unrestricted submarine warfare every turn that they have subs in the designated hexes the port takes a hit, no need to place a sub exactly next to the port.

[jcrohio]

Been messing around with old saves and found some more information in the Strategy guides and I think I see what is going on.

Any German naval units using unrestricted naval warfare can reduce the effectiveness of the UK’s ports and British national morale, but doing so will annoy the USA. Germany will be presented with a Decision Event asking if it would like to use unrestricted naval warfare when it has at least one naval unit on the icons that appear to the west of the UK. Only naval units occupying the location of these icons can trigger unrestricted naval attacks. (From 1914 Call to Arms Strategy Guide)

Convoy routes need 5 strength ports at both the start and the end of the convoy. Submarine warfare can reduce the ports (but only if Germany is using unrestricted naval warfare) which could lead to convoys becoming inactive. This warfare must be in NM Objective hexes and seems to reduce a port by 1 or 2 strength ports per turn of warfare. However, one time I saw a drop of 6 (maybe an event I forgot about triggered which lead to this?). If on the following turns no submarines occupy any NM Objective hexes, the port will increase in strength 1 point per turn. (My observations combining the paragraph above with what you guys helped me with in earlier posts)

During the winter the British convoy to Archangelsk will not be active as the port will be frozen over. This also came into play. (From 1914 Call to Arms Strategy Guide)

Hope this makes sense. Thanks for all the above posts.
Jack

[BillRunacre]

ORIGINAL: Ktonos

I'm certain that if CP choose unrestricted submarine warfare every turn that they have subs in the designated hexes the port takes a hit, no need to place a sub exactly next to the port.

That's right, as the use of unrestricted warfare caused widespread fear with the ports filling up with ships and effectively, not working, so that's what can happen here too. [:)]

[jcrohio]

Thanks for the answer
Jack