Determining cargo space to load a ground unit

[ogrv643]

Hey there. Who can help this newbie out, cause I don't understand this transport thingy here.

How do I determin how big my transport ship needs to be to load a ground unit?

In the ground unit info window I see Load cost AP, Load cost AK and Load cost LST.
Does that have anything to do with it or not?
Lets say a unit says Load cost AP = 3100. Does that mean I just need 1 AP with at least 3100 of cardgo space?

If so, how come the Load cost is so much bigger for an AK?
Does that mean I need much more AK's to load that same ground unit?


Or don't these Load costs have anything to do with it? [&:]

[siRkid]

ORIGINAL: ogrv643

Hey there. Who can help this newbie out, cause I don't understand this transport thingy here.

How do I determin how big my transport ship needs to be to load a ground unit?

In the ground unit info window I see Load cost AP, Load cost AK and Load cost LST.
Does that have anything to do with it or not?
Lets say a unit says Load cost AP = 3100. Does that mean I just need 1 AP with at least 3100 of cardgo space?

If so, how come the Load cost is so much bigger for an AK?
Does that mean I need much more AK's to load that same ground unit?


Or don't these Load costs have anything to do with it? [&:]

The load costs are there to help you determine the how many transports you will need and what type. Different ships were built for different missions so yes, an AP can load more troops than an AK but an AK can load more supplies than an AP. Always add more ships than the min required. I normally add one or two more just to make sure everything gets loaded. When troops are loaded they do not bring internal supplies so make sure you have enough space in your TF to bring some along.

Most players will build a TF for each unit they load and then combine into a single TF so they have more control over who goes where.

Hope this helps,
Rick

[Deathifier]

ORIGINAL: ogrv643
How do I determin how big my transport ship needs to be to load a ground unit?

There are three ways:
1. Analyse the various load costs for the unit you are loading and assemble the optimal number of ships to do the job.
2. Look at the load cost for AP or AK and bring along a TF of ships with that capacity or higher.
3. Just throw together the nearest 80 transports and escorts and throw a party

ORIGINAL: ogrv643
In the ground unit info window I see Load cost AP, Load cost AK and Load cost LST.
Does that have anything to do with it or not?

No that just tells you the minimum total load of a TF (loading that unit ONLY) composed of those ship types. Some units load better into AP's (infantry and such) and some into AK's (arty). There is a table in the manual which describes the load cost for each base item type vs. the base ship types.

ORIGINAL: ogrv643
Lets say a unit says Load cost AP = 3100. Does that mean I just need 1 AP with at least 3100 of cardgo space?

Yep!

ORIGINAL: ogrv643
If so, how come the Load cost is so much bigger for an AK?
Does that mean I need much more AK's to load that same ground unit?

See the table mentioned above for the reason why
And yes, generally you need a huge stack of AK's to move a large unit around.

Things get quite a bit more complex when you try and put multiple units on a TF - esp. one full of AK's. You'll find that they hold only 2 or three of the full size divisions across almost 100 ships.
The game will load ships pretty smartly, basically if you pick, say, 8 units and only 2 can load it'll load those two (fully, no parts left over) only.
On the other hand if you load a small unit onto a large TF (of say 50 ships, where it only needs 5) the game WILL spread it out across all the ships, presumably to reduce losses if ships should sink.

After some experimenting, chaos and exceptionally large transport groups roaming around you'll get a feel for it

- Deathifier

[captskillet]

Some units such as LCU's load into AP's 'better' (More efficiently) than AK's and some, such as ENG's load into AK's better. Just take the load cost for a unit and build a TF with at least a couple of extra ships (AP or AK) over and above that 'needed' capacity..the whole unit will then load up and I get no partial loads. I generally will add a TK to carry some fuel and then add a coule of loaded (with supply) AK's to carry some extra toilet paper [:D] !!!

[Nomad]

Things get real complicated when, for whatever reason, you end up having a couple of AKs, a couple of APs, and a couple of LSxs to use. Trying to see if you have enough space is fun. I used an excell spreadsheet to try to figure that one out.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

Raymond ("Mr.Frag") told us that you guys found some small math error in cargo calculations.

Will that be fixed in upcoming patch?


Leo "Apollo11"

[siRkid]

ORIGINAL: Apollo11

Hi all,

Raymond ("Mr.Frag") told us that you guys found some small math error in cargo calculations.

Will that be fixed in upcoming patch?


Leo "Apollo11"

All I can tell you is, it is on the list.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Kid

All I can tell you is, it is on the list.

OK... [:D]


Leo "Apollo11"

[ogrv643]

Thanks for the response guys

So there is an error eh?
I think that's one of the reasons I asked the question. Cause of course I tried some things for my self, but I think I noticed the following.... or is there an explanation fo it?

Ummmm...... I want to load a unit. The unit's info window says it's Load cost for AK is 28000.
So I put together a AK TF with a total cargo space 30000.
The way I'm thinking is, that I have 2000 of cargo space left in that TF, right?

Well, guess not. Cause after I load the unit onto the ships, it turns out the ground unit didn't take up the 28000 it said it would take.
I think it says less than the 28000.

Is this the error you guys were talking about, or am I an idiot because there is an explanation for this? [&:]

[Mr.Frag]

Take the displayed number:

Add about 25% for AP's

Add about 15% for AK's

If you mix the AP's & AK's, you'll go insane [;)]

Basically, a Div that is reporting about 24k to load will actually be able 28.5k to load.

If you want, you can actually do the math.

Take the parts of the unit and look up their load factors in the database screen. Multiply it out keeping track of what parts are inf, gun, veh, or arm. Note the different load costs of the ships. Apply that against the load costs. Poof, exact numbers.

[dtravel]

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

Take the displayed number:

Add about 25% for AP's

Add about 15% for AK's

If you mix the AP's & AK's, you'll go insane [;)]

Well, insanity is a prerequisite for playing the game in the first place so.... [:'(]

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

Basically, a Div that is reporting about 24k to load will actually be able 28.5k to load.

If you want, you can actually do the math.

Take the parts of the unit and look up their load factors in the database screen. Multiply it out keeping track of what parts are inf, gun, veh, or arm. Note the different load costs of the ships. Apply that against the load costs. Poof, exact numbers.

Its not always clear what category a particular element goes in. Is a 60mm mortar infantry or artillery? How about 0.5 inch Browning AA? Radar?

Actually, it would nice to know those things even if you don't manually calculate loads.

[Mr.Frag]

A sample: 56th Division sitting in Osaka when the game starts:

format = unit info (Load factor from database) (total)

(grunts)
IJA Inf Squad (8) x 439 (LF 17) (7599)
IJA Eng Squad (0) x 36 (LF 18) (648)
Engineers (0) x 27 (LF 20) (540)
Support (12) x 613 (LF 20) (12500)
= 21287 (these are troop factors)

1x in an AP or 21287
6x in an AK or 127722
2x in LST or 42574

(guns)
81mm Mortar (2) x 106 (LF 4) (432)
90mm Mortar (0) x 18 (LF 5) (90)
37mm AT Gun (0) x 40 (LF 5) (200)
70mm Howitzer (0) x 18 (LF 8) (144)
75mm Inf Gun (0) x 36 (LF 8) (288)
75mm Field Gun (0) x 24 (LF 9) (216)
105mm Howitzer (0) x 20 (LF 12) (240)
= 1610 (these are artillery factors)

3x in an AP or 4830
2x in an AK or 3220
1x in LST or 1610

(tanks)
Type 92 Tank (0) x 7 (LF 10) (240)
= 240 (these are tank factors)

6x in an AP or 1440
4x in an AK or 960
1x in LST or 240

Summing up the individual types requires you to look at the ship types

AP: 27557
AK: 131902
LST: 44424

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

The routines that show the load cost only estimate that cost. When the ships are actually loaded, they sometimes come out a bit more or less than these estimates.

Bye...

Michael Wood

ORIGINAL: ogrv643

Thanks for the response guys

So there is an error eh?
I think that's one of the reasons I asked the question. Cause of course I tried some things for my self, but I think I noticed the following.... or is there an explanation fo it?

Ummmm...... I want to load a unit. The unit's info window says it's Load cost for AK is 28000.
So I put together a AK TF with a total cargo space 30000.
The way I'm thinking is, that I have 2000 of cargo space left in that TF, right?

Well, guess not. Cause after I load the unit onto the ships, it turns out the ground unit didn't take up the 28000 it said it would take.
I think it says less than the 28000.

Is this the error you guys were talking about, or am I an idiot because there is an explanation for this? [&:]

[dtravel]

<slaps self> DOH!

Didn't think to look in the database. That's what I get for trying to use common sense. [:'(]

Would still like to know about radar and sound detection elements that are listed for some units.

[mongo]

I'll be damned if I have to hunt in the database before I load up troops [:)]

I just generally add 30% to all load requirements (and still sometimes don't get everything [:@])

Eagerly waiting to see if the patch can make the process a bit easier..

[captskillet]

Thats basically what I do Mongo, if the unit says the load cost is 20,000 for a AK convoy, I will make the convoy 30,000 (usually it only takes 5 or 6 ships to make a 30,000 pt AK convoy) and so far I have left no unit behind in pieces.

[grumbler]

You always want to have extra ships so one ship loss doesn't kill or cripple the unit anyway. I usualy use twice the niminal value as the TF value. I have found that with up to three units this works well as a single TF loaded all at once. More units than that (or more than one on the "first turn instaload regime") require seperate TFs (later combined) to avoid the "first-clicked unit takes 28% of the space on the available transport and the rest get crammed into what is left" syndrome. If you have all of one unit loaded into one ship, Finagle's Law says that one is torpedo-bait.

[Cmdrcain]

If load cost indicates 1 AP would load (4k-less) I will add 2 AP and toss in 2 AK's basically if I'm using AP's to load troops I add an extra over the needed, and add in the AK's for supplies and equiptment/parts of the LCU that load on AK's better.

If you Do it right so that you have more then enough room for LCU's after selecting unit to load and loading.. it should b saying loading supplies meaning all of the LCU is loaded and now it is loading supplies in rest of space.

If Still loading troops it used up the ops for turn and you need wait for more ops to finish loading, unless it shows that the max is loaded then your leaving bits behind.

I find the 2x needed AP plus add 2 AK works pretty well for loading Troops.

[ogrv643]

ORIGINAL: Cmdrcain

If you Do it right so that you have more then enough room for LCU's after selecting unit to load and loading.. it should b saying loading supplies meaning all of the LCU is loaded and now it is loading supplies in rest of space.

Hey that's a good one. I'll try to remember that.

[DrewMatrix]

I look at the requirement and make a TF with LESS than the needed cargo space. I load it. I look at what is left unloaded. I make another small TF and load that. I repeat this (with the last bit taking 1 or 2 tries with 1 ship TFs). Then I merge all the TFs together and send them on their way.

Time consuming but I don't leave people behind.