(Mis)management of aircraft fuel supply

[Tinstaafl]

I assume that it's a known issue, that proper fuel management mechanics were never implemented in the game, and that it would not be feasible or even possible to mod it now, but I'm surprised not seeing it being discussed anywhere, so here we go.

First I've realized, that no matter how much fuel my planes have left returning to the airbase, the cost of refueling is the same for them, as if their fuel tanks were totally empty. Sending my Bf 109G-6/U4Ns on patrol and recalling them immediately after they launch, they are still using 1 fuel per plane to refuel. As the result pilot fatigue and plane wear and tear are the only factors limiting the length of patrols, current fuel situation having zero impact once they are airborne.

There is an obvious display bug connected to this as well. If the airfield is short on fuel at the beginning of the next day, some planes are left unfueled, some are shown as fully fueled but many are shown as partially fueled (on airfield my Ju 88 NJ Gruppe shows 4 aircraft in reserve and 11 being ready, but out of those ready 2 show 280 fuel, 8 show 59 fuel and 1 shows 49 fuel), yet when they launch, all of them are fully fueled, including their drop tanks. So in this case it does somewhat even out, but not in a way, that it should IMO.

Those things provoked me to think about the whole German management of the aircraft fuel in the game. Would it really be necessary already in summer of '43 to disperse Geschwaders in Germany due to fuel logistics? Would really any active airfield in Germany not have at least a few day supply of fuel already then? As it stands, operating a whole ZG or NJG from a single airfield is hampered much more by those fuel problems and by inability to redirect returning planes, than by enemy attacks.

Then there is the strategic fuel management, that (unless I'm missing something obvious) is the totally gray area for the player. There are individual oil storages, that show the fuel stored, but it's not even clear, if this is really fuel stored in reserve for delivery to airfields. Nowhere I can find a clear info about how much fuel I have in reserve and how much I have produced and used in a day, though the usage I can estimate by the sorties flown. Just zero next to fuel deficit in Campaign Summary and info, that pilots can be trained. Do I have long term fuel reserves at all or am I dependent on daily/short term production balance? Are the reserves capped by undamaged storage capacities or by something different (like the way pilot reserves are capped)? And if I have the reserves, I find no easy way to see, if on daily basis they are growing or shrinking, unless all storage facilities are linked and it's enough to keep checking just one of them, if it's undamaged. And if so, is it 1:1 conversion to fuel needed at the airfields? Some of those things seem to be the mystery for even the wisest of us.

I know, that the fuel and maintenance system is very much (and disappointingly) simplified in the game, with fuel being used just by engine and not according to fuel tank capacities and use of drop tank, but it's a pity, that with so much effort put into historical details, such shortcut has been taken in the actual game design and seemingly mostly can't be fixed.

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Note about fuel dumping

I don't think, that any WWII piston-engine fighters dumped leftover fuel returning to their airbases. I'm not even sure, if they were capable of doing so. For all I know, Bf 109 could not do this except for its unprotected auxiliary methanol-water/fuel tank, which at least on defensive combat missions probably wouldn't carry fuel. Even if they jettisoned their almost full drop tanks, which I'm not sure, that they did, it should leave intact their 400 liters of fuel in the main tanks and allow them to be able to immediately take off without fuel tanks at no fuel cost or to add back fueled drop tanks at less than half of the full refuel cost.

Reading about British fighters in Battle of Britain, that's exactly how it's described by Polish pilots. If planes came back without meeting the enemy, the tanks were just topped up and the planes were ready to relaunch almost immediately, at times pilots not even leaving the cockpits. Occasionally it did happen, that they taxied even before refueling truck reached them, due to incoming German raid. Also in memoirs of Polish pilots flying with Bomber Command squadrons I don't recall any mention of dumping fuel, even if they were turning back due to tech problems right after getting airborne (they did, at least in some circumstances, jettison their bombs though).

[simovitch]

Thanks for this post. Yes the fuel system and production is simplified but many improvements were made from the stock game, mainly with the ability to monitor 1. your fuel for each plane and 2. the magnitude of industry shortages. Also, we reduced fuel production/delivery by a factor of 4 or 5 because in the stock game the defender's storage facilities were awash in an orgy of fuel and oil regardless of the damaged state of the factories.

The aircraft refueling system is a little wonky but as you say it balances out. I worked on the aircraft refueling code quite a bit but was never able to make it seem perfectly smooth. On the other hand if we didn't allow players to check the fuel status minute by minute on each aircraft then no one would ever have been the wiser. All planes will be fully refueled by the start of the next action phase regardless of what you see on the display.

I would have liked to develop the defender's fuel economy UI a bit more but we were limited by a combination of the aging code and my programming abilities. A rising and falling graph of fuel production/time was envisioned but all you have really is "Daily Strategic Output" -vs- "Critical level" for your synfuel factories and storage facilities.