Another March to the East

[Jango32]

How do you assign the depot priority if neither the lead depot nor the one immediately behind it have any freight in them? Do you put the priority at 4, respectively 3 or do you prioritise the depot(s) behind the main one?

[carlkay58]

If a depot has no freight in it then it is sending everything it gets out. If the unit receiving the supplies is a ground unit I will put the depot at priority 4. If the only units supplied are air bases I will put it at priority 3. If it is a post war depot I will place it at 2 otherwise 1. Exceptions are large railyard depots which I am 'pulsing' - alternating them between 4 and 1. When the depot is at 4 it brings in more than it gives out, at 1 it then sends all the supply on to the newer depots with higher priorities which reduces the distance it has to travel and lowers the rail usage accordingly.

If you look at the screen shots you will notice that most of the rail lines have the farthest three or four depots at level 4 because that is how far back the combat units are having to go to grab the supply they need. This is because each depot has a railyard. If it is a captured railyard then it is still damaged, if it is not then it is created when I created the depot. In both cases the railyard then has to be repaired to 0% damage before it is at full capacity. A level one depot (which all railyards that I create with a depot will be) only has a 10,000 freight limit. This is usually not enough to supply very many combat units so most armies will require more than one depot for supply. Until I have the time to start repairing rail spurs north and south from the main rail lines this will not happen in a distance friendly manner. So it goes with the depth instead.

[Jango32]

I was asking for the 'pulsing' strategy that I am now also trying to do. Previously I progressively changed the depot priority so the closest ones to the front line had the highest priority, with it gradually going to level 3 or below for the depots behind.

Wasn't quite sure which depots to 'pulse' - along the entire front line, back to the pre-war Axis hexes, or only the ones with a big railyard like Brest-Litovsk and Minsk.

[carlkay58]

Currently the only one I am pulsing at this time is Warsaw. In my other AAR I was pulsing Warsaw then Minsk (alternating turns) and was considering Smolensk but there was never any freight in Smolensk so I never did.

[carlkay58]

T08 OOB:

The Soviets are back down to 3M, now to continue lowering that below the 3M mark and keep it there. The Soviet VVS is also much lower in aircraft and seems to be trending downwards. Much of that is obsolete aircraft though.

[carlkay58]

T08 Ground Losses:

322K losses last turn for the Soviets is what helped me bring them back to 3M. If I could only keep that up for another eight turns things would look pretty bright.

[carlkay58]

T08 Air Losses:

An interesting thing here is that the Soviets lost 640 aircraft on the ground last turn. This shows that one of the best ways to defeat an enemy air force is overrun their air bases. I really don't know where that could have been as I really only overran a single air strip in the south last turn and the three airbases west of Talinin.

(*NO PIC*)

[carlkay58]

T08 Production:

Ammo and Fuel in the units are good but the supplies are running low. Repair pool increase 5K to 46.5K. The Bf109F-4 is coming online and building up a pool for upgrades but the older models are all being flown.

[carlkay58]

T08 Soviet Attacks:

Another four cities bombed by the VVS this turn. A few of them are intercepted and suffer large losses.

[carlkay58]

T08 Freight:

Freight continues to be strong with a +9K surplus this turn. 9th Army is the only army not fully supplied but that was only a -200 margin.

[carlkay58]

T08 Trucks:

A drop of 18K in Unit Trucks used, down to 45K. This is a massive improvement that will be reflected in MPs for the panzers. This is probably the result that few of the panzers are behind Soviet pockets so the supply lines are better.

[carlkay58]

T08 Supply Net North:

A good improvement on the supply net in this area. AGN is getting a bit far from its depots, but that will improve quickly.

[carlkay58]

T08 Supply Net South:

I am not sure that sending the Rumanian FBD north was the right move as that leaves the coastal thrust to rely only on naval ports for supplies. Odessa will need to fall fast to keep the supply in this area on sustainable amounts. Note that there is only a single red line in Hungary now. This is helping my truck situation. I balance the depots out - once again all depots supplying the front line are priority 4, those just supplying airbases are 3, the rest are 2, pre-war are 1. I raise Warsaw to priority 4 to replenish for the next 'pulse' forward.

[carlkay58]

T08 Air Phase:

I add KG 27 to the Odessa port naval patrol just to be safe as this is the source of most of my air losses last turn. Once again, 21 of the 31 aircraft lost are from the naval patrol.

[carlkay58]

T08 AGS Rumanian:

The first assault on Odessa fails with the Rumanians losing 9K men but reducing the fort level to 2. I do not do a follow up assault as there are not enough Rumanians left able to do so.

[carlkay58]

T08 AGS 11th Army:

The army continues to advance helping to pocket the Soviets that were unable to escape the near encirclement from last turn.

[carlkay58]

T08 AGS 17th Army:

The army advances to relieve the northern corps of 1st PG freeing them up.

[carlkay58]

T08 AGS 6th Army:

The army continues to advance to the outskirts of Kiev while maintaining a link to AGC's southern flank.

[carlkay58]

T08 AGC 4th Army:

The army continues to hold linking to 6th Army to the south and trying to stretch to 9th Army in the north.

[carlkay58]

T08 AGC 9th Army:

9th Army is now holding the line from 4th Army in the south to 2nd Army to the north. This frees up both the 2nd and 3rd PGs.