Fun with MWiF Convoy Routing, Trade and Production

[ssiviour]

I am having similar problems and may post something soon looking for help ...

One observation Re USA RP problem though, the Trade Agreement is not set as an Oil Resource so MWIF will not send Alaskan Resource.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: ssiviour

One observation Re USA RP problem though, the Trade Agreement is not set as an Oil Resource so MWIF will not send Alaskan Resource.

I guess I made a bad assumption that one could send more oil than the "Minimum Oil" specified. I guess "minimum" on the form below doesn't mean minimum but means the actual number sent.

[rkr1958]

For the sake of my sanity PLEASE give us some ability to choose which sea areas resources are routed! At a minimum, please oh please, let us have the ability to move Canadian resources to England through the Faeroes Gap! It's maddening that we aren't allowed to do this!

I'm not sure what good it do but I think I'm going to post this plea in the tech forum.

[rkr1958]

So it's a year later since I last start this thread out of sheer frustration. In that time I've learned a couple of tricks on routing resources that has greatly reduced my frustration and which I'd like to pass along.

[rkr1958]

But first, take a look at this! I've actually got MWiF routing the Canadian resources through the Faeores Gap.

[rkr1958]

Also, I was able to get full CW production at setup with 7 CP's to spare! I challenge any and all to beat that! Note that this setup is using the Food in Flames optional rule so there was incentive to get an Australian, South African and Indian RP to Great Britain factories.

[rkr1958]

So how did I accomplish this miracle? Well, before I hurt my arm patting myself too much on my back, convoy routing and production in MWiF; especially for the Western Allies, is fragile but I think I've figured out somethings that make it less so. More significantly I think I've figured out somethings that allow me to control to a certain extent which sea areas RP's route through.

Instead of fighting for hours with MWiF to try to get things EXACTLY the way I want them, which I'm usually am unsuccessful and surrender in great frustation, I've come to accept a quicker and more saner way (at least for me) to convoy routing in MWiF.

[rkr1958]

There are four postulates that over time I've developed from working with MWiF convoy routing that guide my convoy routing:

1. There's a certain order to how MWiF routes RP's.

2. Within that order MWiF uses a greedy approach to route RP one by one. And by greedy, I'm using the classical Operations Research/Network Analysis definition.

3. Sometimes when you can't get things exactly the way you want them it's you that's wrong. That is, sometimes you're trying to do something that's not legal or for which you don't have all the needed CP's in place.

4. Good enough is better than perfect. Well, technically it isn't but it's significantly faster and less frustrating that trying to achieve "perfection." So good enough for me it is.

[rkr1958]

How did achieve the miracle of getting MWiF to route the Canadian RP's through the Faeores Gap instead of through the Bay of Biscay, thus preventing RP's from Africa and the Med getting through? One of the my major and time consuming frustrations of the past.

Well it comes from understanding the order that MWiF does things. That's postulate 1 in the previous post. MWiF allocates RP's in group order, which from highest to lowest priority (i.e., first to last) is:

(1) Trade deals between major powers,

(2) RP's that are defaulted, or overridden, to factories or (oil) saved to cities,

(3) RP's that are NOT defaulted, or overridden.

So if you look at post 25 (above), you'll see that the 5 Canadian resources aren't defaulted, or overridden, to any factory. And in post 26 (just below 25), you'll see that the RP's that I wish to, or need to, get to the UK via the Bay of Biscay are defaulted to factories. Since this put these RP's in a higher priority group (i.e., group 2) than the non-defaulted ones (i.e., group 3) they are allocated before the Canadian RP's and since going through the Bay of Biscay is the cheapest way to get them there (i.e., greedy) MWiF use up the CP's there for them, such that when MWiF routes the Canadian RP's to the UK all that are left are CP's in the Faeroes Gap to get them there.

[ashkpa]

Nice insights.

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: ashkpa

Nice insights.

Pat, thanks!

By the way, I'm retiring next week (3/12). After that I'll have a lot more time for gaming. Was wondering if you might be up for another game with me at that time? If you do, I hope to give you a more challenging game.

[ashkpa]

Ronnie,

Looks like I am starting a game up with ssiviour and I won't be able to fit a second on in right now. I am semi retired and teaching one engineering class each Spring and Fall, a table WIF game, golf 2-3 times a week, and helping to manage a building project at my church. All of that keeps me busy. I will let you know if the game with ssiviour falls through.

Enjoy your retirement,

Pat

[rkr1958]

ORIGINAL: ashkpa

Ronnie,

Looks like I am starting a game up with ssiviour and I won't be able to fit a second on in right now. I am semi retired and teaching one engineering class each Spring and Fall, a table WIF game, golf 2-3 times a week, and helping to manage a building project at my church. All of that keeps me busy. I will let you know if the game with ssiviour falls through.

Enjoy your retirement,

Pat

Thanks! [8D]