Transport column losses 100% - remind me

[altipueri]

Does this actually mean the red ball transport guys drove all their trucks into an ambush and got wiped out or that the MPs or transport corps guys halted them saying "No way through bud, wait here?"

The outcomes seem almost binary. Everything gets through or 100% wiped out by my incompetence.

[navwarcol]

FWIW this issue is one of the ones being fixed in the upcoming patch.

[Lieste]

Most columns are a single vehicle. In this case 'binary' should be expected (but the loss isn't significant if not repeated mindlessly).

Larger columns see more diverse loss % values ~ sometimes both on the way in (reducing transport capacity and payload delivered), and on the way out (reducing transport capacity). These (such as columns between two levels of the Base hierarchy, or from Base to supported Artillery of Armour) have a higher risk of significant damage to the supply capability of the force, but (some) supplies get through more often.

Keeping artillery in protected areas near to supply units, and replacing tired and depleted units in the front line with fresh reserves periodically are the best ways of ensuring that supply isn't disrupted by front line interference.

Work has been done on the supply pathing/risk within the current testing versions, so some of the problems with this have been reduced a little. (previously a few *bad* decisions were being made.

[dazkaz15]

ORIGINAL: Lieste

Most columns are a single vehicle. In this case 'binary' should be expected (but the loss isn't significant if not repeated mindlessly).

Larger columns see more diverse loss % values ~ sometimes both on the way in (reducing transport capacity and payload delivered), and on the way out (reducing transport capacity). These (such as columns between two levels of the Base hierarchy, or from Base to supported Artillery of Armour) have a higher risk of significant damage to the supply capability of the force, but (some) supplies get through more often.

Keeping artillery in protected areas near to supply units, and replacing tired and depleted units in the front line with fresh reserves periodically are the best ways of ensuring that supply isn't disrupted by front line interference.

Work has been done on the supply pathing/risk within the current testing versions, so some of the problems with this have been reduced a little. (previously a few *bad* decisions were being made.

Thanks for taking the time to answer that so informatively Lieste.

When you say about replacing tired and depleted units in the front line with fresh reserves periodically, is this an increased % chance of loss, of the supply column, based on their current fatigue level?

[Lieste]

No, more that tired troops can't secure their location as thoroughly, increasing risk of dangerous proximity of enemy troops (plus infiltration behind the frontlines sometimes goes unobserved). Further, units which are in the front can have heavily depleted ammunition/basics/fuel, and need more supply directly increasing risk (number of vehicles) - if their supplies don't arrive, then they may become excessively brittle.

Sweeping the approach routes periodically with relief cycles can help with clearing inflitrating/remnant enemy presence near the supply line too, without needing a dedicated rear-area security force.

Further, fighting tired enemy troops with your fresh reserves gives a better prospect of progress, and the opportunity for your first echelon troops to become useful again.

[Phoenix100]

Thanks Lieste. But the problem which was being dealt with - to some extent - by the new patch, was continual interdiction of front line troops by the mere 'presence' of troops beyond (in front of) their positions, not enemy who had sneaked past tired units to infiltrate supply lines. Can you help with whether the degree to which enemy units in this position - beyond the flot - can interdict over the top of the flot, as it were, is affected by the tiredness etc of the units at the flot? I mean, is there less interdiction of THIS sort (as opposed to cut supply lines behind the flot) if your front line units are bursting with energy and enthusiasm? I don't mean theoretically, I mean do you know if that is modelled in the engine, as a fact? Many thanks.

[Lieste]

The ability to project supply is limited by the hostile projection of fires. This in turn is limited by the ability to reduce enemy strength, prevent movement into friendly positions, and to infiltrate to the flanks of those positions.

In this respect friendly strength and freshness/quality will impact the enemy's ability to 'get at' your friendly supply line. The 'local to the front line' route is now abstracted as a more robust "drop off and man-pack", but strong enemy forces can still potentially sweep the route before this location, especially if they can move into intimate contact/overrun, or flank the strongpoints.

More limited visibility conditions (either terrain or weather) will improve the supply passage when enemy presence is unavoidably heavy, as will routing the critical enemy unit(s). Supply tends to suspend rather more often than before, which although not passing more supplies, does preserve capability to do so in the future.

None of this is *explicitly/exceptionally* modelled, except the offset supply route end, but is a consequence of terrain and firepower interactions. Most of the time, choices of supply routes are more conservatively planned through rear areas too. This is subject to the unknown, and errors though, so 'interdiction' reports do still occur.

[Phoenix100]

Many thanks, Lieste. That's all very helpful.

[Arjuna]

We are addressing this issue in the new patch. Part of the problem has been the fidelity of the influence and con troll maps we use. We have decided to increase the fidelity of these. Currently we are experimenting with them being all set to 100m. There is a performance hit for doing this. It's still a work in progress. I'll keep you informed.