Supply

[Arditi]

Hi,
I have been a weekly lurker on this board for a few years and this is the first time I have registered and posed a question. This game has me excited! I have been playing wargames since the 70's and have had my hand/time into Empires in Arms for many a weekend. This game is right up my alley I think. A couple questions please...

How does supply effect the armies/units on the strategic and operational/tactical map? What are the penalties or bonuses for full or partial supply?

Also, when moving from area to area on the strategic map will the time needed to move through these areas vary due to terrain and size of area?
Best Regards, Arditi

[ericbabe]

Hi Arditi,

Thanks for the questions and the interest.

Nations can build supply chains starting in cities that they control. A supply depot in the chain supplies all units owned by the nation in all adjacent provinces. Units that are in-supply do not suffer foraging attrition, which is a base loss of 8% above the foraging level of the province; this is doubled in enemy territory, and doubled in winter (so a possible 32% foraging attrition for foraging in enemy territory in winter).

Being in-supply helps units in combat. In "quick combat" it is an abstract bonus. In detailed combat, being in-supply in a battle gives a nation a certain number of supply caisson units proportional to the total number of units in the battle. Supply caissons give supply to units in detailed battle. Units in detailed battle that run out of supply suffer severe combat and morale penalties. There are other ways to get supply in detailed combat: by capturing enemy caissons, and by occupying villages and forts; however, caissons are the primary way of resupplying units in detailed battle.

Units that are out-of-supply (and thus foraging) receive a minimal amount of caissons. One of the upgrades available to nations provides extra caissons to units that are out-of-supply.

Supplying troops in the field is very costly, and it is often wise for nations to keep their units separate so that they can forage normally and only converge and form a supply chain when they are expecting a crucial battle.

Supply chains are fairly fragile. Bad weather can disrupt a depot and perhaps bring down a chain. Enemy units can make raids when they attack a province with a depot and also disrupt the chain (if the enemy wins the battle, then the chain is automatically disrupted; but even if they lose, there is still a chance they can disrupt the chain; some units, especially Cossack infantry and cavalry, and also light and irregular cavalry, have the special ability of being able to disrupt depot chains at a much higher rate than regular units.)


We have what are, I believe, unique province movement rules. Each movement phase (one month of simulated time) is broken into six sub-phases. Units can only move on certain sub-phases depending on type: naval units can move on every phase, other units only on phases 3-5, etc. Every move is conditional upon an "initiative check." The difficulty of the check depends on terrain, weather condtions, level of roads, political control of the territory, national upgrades, type of unit vs terrain type modifier, and the initiative ability of friendly commanders moving with the unit. A failed initiative check means that the move fails. Our terrain is along the edges of provinces and so affects movement across particular edges. It also affects combat whenever the attacker moves through a particular terrain on his way into the province -- so, for example, the map that is randomly generated for detailed combat will have a big river system if the attacker moved through a province-side that contains a river.

Hope this answers your question a bit.

Best,
Eric

[Arditi]

Very detailed answer. Thanks!
Do the French seem to have more leaders of a higher initiative overall or for the sake of gameplay was this equalized amongst the various national leaders? Or another way of asking...do the French appear to move quicker due to high initiative leaders? Many Thanks, Arditi

[Erik Rutins]

Based on my experience so far, the French have some pretty good leaders and definitely seem to have the best overall leader pool. There are definitely leaders in other nations that are as good or better than anyone in the French pool (except Napoleon) but in general they don't have the "depth" of the French. Good leadership (initiative) can definitely help in getting units to move around faster.

[Jordan]

Are the forage values for provinces adjusted seasonally? Also, if one force forages in a province, are the province's forage values depleted for a period (to regenerate later)?

[ericbabe]

ORIGINAL: Jordan

Are the forage values for provinces adjusted seasonally? Also, if one force forages in a province, are the province's forage values depleted for a period (to regenerate later)?

There are winter penalties and weather penalties, but the base level is static.