what do you mean I'm not loading oil?

[dasboot1960]

Currently New Year's Day 1942. PvP game. Tanker docked in LA with 49k+ oil on hand. Won't load. At very beginning this was a 2-ship TF, and one loaded to less than full, but no more. So, I sent that one on its way. The remaining one has not loaded a thing since. I have swapped missions thru transport/tanker/cargo, makes no difference. I surmise this might be related to US production(?) It is just hard for me to imagine that LA is generating/using/shipping out and regenerating 49k oil points a day, and not letting me load due to some sort of 'production reserve being held. I don't recall what LA started with as oil stock, not another drop of oil on USWC.

Any ideas?

[Platoonist]

Currently New Year's Day 1942. PvP game. Tanker docked in LA with 49k+ oil on hand. Won't load. At very beginning this was a 2-ship TF, and one loaded to less than full, but no more. So, I sent that one on its way. The remaining one has not loaded a thing since. I have swapped missions thru transport/tanker/cargo, makes no difference. I surmise this might be related to US production(?) It is just hard for me to imagine that LA is generating/using/shipping out and regenerating 49k oil points a day, and not letting me load due to some sort of 'production reserve being held. I don't recall what LA started with as oil stock, not another drop of oil on USWC.

Any ideas?

The problem is Los Angeles itself. The city and local area are packed with industries and refineries that need that oil more than you do to make fuel. It really doesn't make any sense to ship oil out of LA anyway as it's a major refinery center. It's sort of like shipping timber out of a big mill town.

[Admiral DadMan]

I think that there's something hard coded about LA that oil is very difficult to load there. Try a different East Coast port. Vancouver is always good.

The key is to get a reason to draw the flow of oil there, and that can often be done by setting up a CS: convoy.

[Yaab]

It is the same loading Resources if you ever find a need to do so.

If you are loading Resources from bases with Light Industry, many times, the code will not let you load Resources, even if a base has a high surplus of Resources. Each turn, the code reserves the surplus for the industry. In other words, at many bases, there is no surplus. Thus, you really want to load Resources from places with no Light Industry or places where Resources>Light Industry demand delta is the biggest (Tacoma in CONUSA, Sale in Australia).

As for Oil, "best" (if you can tolerate atrocious loading times) places to load it are Abadan and Boela.

[Sardaukar]

Why load oil in first place? I think West Coast does not even have surplus of oil, it's all saved for industry.

Allies have not much use to ship oil to anywhere, except from DEI to keep it away from Japanese.

Fuel for Oz and NZ is essential.

[Chris21wen]

I posted on this a short while ago. It is a thing but I cannot find anything in the manual.

There's a rule that prevents all the oil/resources from being shipped out of a base if the base uses it e.g. it keeps a minimal level. Using tracker and watching I beleive it is set at x20 own requirements. This is not centres but production.

LA has 2500 refineries so it has to keep keep a minimum of 50K oil.

[dasboot1960]

I figured it was industry related. As to why, it was just to help relieve early shortfall in Aus. I also ship from DEI and some Abadan whenever I see ongoing shortages. Little from USW, I'd never noted the LA deal before.

[Platoonist]

I figured it was industry related. As to why, it was just to help relieve early shortfall in Aus. I also ship from DEI and some Abadan whenever I see ongoing shortages. Little from USW, I'd never noted the LA deal before.

I've often heard it stated that there is little point in shipping raw oil to Australia as its biggest refinery in Melbourne is only size 35 and you're burning fuel to ship it there. Heavy industry needs fuel, not oil, so any oil you send in quantity to Aus just swamps the tiny refinery capacity and becomes surplus. Better just to save a step by shipping already refined fuel to Australia.

[Omat]

Hello

I think, the only source for Oil to ship to Autralia is from Abadan. (Late war)

Normally I send Convois loaded with fule from Abadan via Cape Town to Asutralia. And when there is enough Oil I load a single tanker with Oil and invlude this ship to the Convoi.

[BBfanboy]

Omat, why would you send the tankers to Cape Town from Abadan? They can go directly from Abadan down the map to Perth with either a stop in Colombo to refuel (minimum refuel setting will give them enough to get to Perth and back to Abadan), or they can take minimum refuel at Perth to get enough for the return to Abadan. Going to Cape Town adds months to the trip.

[Omat]

Hello BBfanboy

You are right against the ai.

Against a Human player I would not do that. At least, untill I know I can protect these convois. I thank, that the Tankers are very important 1942-1943. Therfore, I take care of them.

As Jpanese player I would hunt them...

Omat, why would you send the tankers to Cape Town from Abadan? They can go directly from Abadan down the map to Perth with either a stop in Colombo to refuel (minimum refuel setting will give them enough to get to Perth and back to Abadan), or they can take minimum refuel at Perth to get enough for the return to Abadan. Going to Cape Town adds months to the trip.

[btd64]

If you have to ship oil from LA, what you need to do is turn off Fuel production for a few turns while you load oil. This will allow you to load oil. But where are you taking it?....GP

[Platoonist]

If you have to ship oil from LA, what you need to do is turn off Fuel production for a few turns while you load oil. This will allow you to load oil. But where are you taking it?....GP

Australia apparently. The rather modest refinery capacity there often shuts down for long periods since Australia's domestic oil wells don't produce much. Players probably feel they have to feed it from somewhere. However, there isn't much logic in shutting down refineries in the USA just to ship that oil elsewhere. One is merely transferring production of fuel from the US West Coast to elsewhere with no guarantee that the oil will reach its destination and be converted to fuel. In the meantime, fuel production in the USA gets reduced.

Assuming Japan takes over the Dutch East Indies, the only surplus oil available to the Allies is at Abadan. The only Allied refineries which will be short of oil are Australian, their shortfall matching exactly the oil surplus of Abadan. All other Allied oil is consumed by the land connected refineries. Long trip from Abadan to Perth if you can spare the tanker. Probably best just to learn to live with Australian refinery workers getting laid off every now and then when their domestic oil stocks run low.

[Chris21wen]

I've not specifically checked but isn't the number of oil centres equal to the number of refineries? At game start there is an excess of oil in the states so that excess can be shipped to Aus without affecting production. Not saying you need too but it is available.

Personnally I ship oil from DEI to Aus, the more you can ship out the less available for Japan.