(Newbie?) Supply woes in USSR

[dhhd]

I'm absolutely baffled. The manual is no help, and I haven't been able to find anything explaining the situation online. At some point in the spring of 1942, some HQ units (without moving, that had previously been providing supply 8) suddenly had their supply drop by 2 or 3 points. Some have been restored, but I only have one HQ providing 8 points. There is no visible difference on the map (eg hexes do not look different) between squares where the HQ's supply potential dropped and never restored, and those where it is back up to 7 (still not really enough for offensive operations) or the one where it is 8. As I noted, none of these HQs moved - it is not that they are too far ahead from railheads.

I thought perhaps this was an issue relating to time of year - one of the strategy guides, I believe, states that weather is bad until about June - but the current turn is July 5, 1942 and there are still HQs providing only 5 or 6 points of supply. There are no partisan problems - I've basically covered conquered areas with garrison units.

I have no idea what is going on and am extremely frustrated. Can anyone show me what I'm doing wrong, or what is happening?

[Hubert Cater]

Hi Dhhd,

Can you provide a couple of screenshots so we can get a better idea?

One with your current positions showing the units, and then the same location with the units hidden would help to paint a better picture of your situation.

Hiding units can be done with the H key on your keyboard.

Screenshots can be taken with the F12 key in game and will be saved to the following folder:

C:\Users\<username>\Documents\My Games\Strategic Command WWII - War In Europe\Screenshots

Hubert

[dhhd]

I had to resize them and cut out part of the picture to make the 200kb limit.

1. Northern bit of the front, supply and units shown.


Unfortunately, I don't have any saves from when the supply situation was better. However, most of the HQs have not moved from then.

[dhhd]

2. Same location, roughly, no units.

[dhhd]

3. Southern side of front, supply and units shown. This is where the problem is most severe, and none of these HQs have been moved since the period (late '41?) when HQs were all giving 8 supply.

[dhhd]

4. Same as last, but no supply or units shown.

[sPzAbt653]

I can't tell anything by those screenshots. For future reference you can reduce the jpg size while saving as opposed to making the screen shot smaller, which often works better.
If you hadn't seen this thread, take a look and maybe it will help you. Some screen shots with explanations start at Post #5.
tm.asp?m=4363373

[OxfordGuy3]

Could partisan activity be the culprit?

[Hubert Cater]

I'm having a hard time seeing the details from the screenshots as well, i.e. the resource strength numbers and so on... any chance you could retry as sPzAbt653 suggests?

[dhhd]

OK, second attempt. Here's the situation in the south, supply and units shown.

[dhhd]

Same, without supply and units. What is baffling to mere here is that I can't tell what I am doing differently, or what conditions are different, from the point where each HQ was reliably 8 supply as long as I kept it a couple hexes away from an intact railhead.

[dhhd]

Here's the north, supply and units shown. On the left is Rommel's HQ, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why his HQ is getting 8 and nobody else is - I'm using his HQ the same as any other; trying to keep it within 2 squares or so of an intact railhead.

[dhhd]

And here's the same, no units or supply.

[sPzAbt653]

Are all of these HQ's at full strength [10] ?

[dhhd]

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

Are all of these HQ's at full strength [10] ?

And that would appear to have been the problem. Chalk one down for "me being dumb" and there not being something wrong with the game, etc. Thanks!

[sPzAbt653]

Thanks for the better screen shots, which helped to isolate the issue. It's not about being dumb, it takes a while to get a lot of this stuff to become automatic at a glance. Wait until you get into chaining HQ's ... that makes us all feel dumb !

[OxfordGuy3]

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

Thanks for the better screen shots, which helped to isolate the issue. It's not about being dumb, it takes a while to get a lot of this stuff to become automatic at a glance. Wait until you get into chaining HQ's ... that makes us all feel dumb !

Especially in North Africa, where you also have to try to anticipate how Malta might affect supply and/or allied bombardment of your supply sources...

[OxfordGuy3]

BTW regarding chaining HQs, the important thing to remember is that an HQ can only act as an onward link to another HQ in an HQ supply chain if it already has a "natural" supply of 3.

I wish a HQ that is chained to another HQ could receive up to 5 supply (think it's capped to 4 currently), so it could at least upgrade or operate (would still only produce 8 supply for other units, like now and have -1AP).

[sPzAbt653]

I think that is wrong ? An HQ must be at 5 to chain, and then it will have 8, and then it can chain another HQ up to 5 hexes away and that HQ will be at 5 and eligible to Operate.

It changes quite often, but the way it is now I don't really like. I would rather see the HQ that is the chain-ee have its Supply Level read as 8[8], 7[8], 6[8], 5[8], 4[8], 3[8], 2[5], 1[5], 0[5] as it gets further from the chain-er. This would make it easier for me to tell what is going on. As it is now, there are often many HQ's that display 5[8] and it is completely unclear what is going on [:(]

[OxfordGuy3]

No, in 1.10 you only need 3 supply to chain