Supply model for the game

[Balthagor]

In Supreme Ruler 2010 we use 2 classes of supply.

Class I – Fuel
Class II - Supplies

Class I;

Fuel is expended by moving and at a much lower rate if stationary whenever a unit is Active (Not stored at a base). A higher alert level may even consume fuel at a higher rate (in discussion). If a unit runs out of fuel it cannot move until re-supplied (see re-supply below)

Class II;

Supplies encompasses all other supplies used by the military. Supplies are generally expended during combat but will also be consumed during training (In discussion) and even if stationary so long as they are active. A higher alert level may even consume supplies at a higher rate (in discussion). Units that run out of supplies will suffer the following penalties, increasing over time;
- decreased morale
- inability to fire

These penalties will remain until re-supplied (see re-supply below)

Re-supply;

Units will re-supply automatically based on the following conditions;

1. Within 20 unblocked segments maximum (range dependant on terrain, for ex. 20 road segments range or 4 mountain segment range) of one of the following;

- Supply depot (Map Upgrade)
- Airport (Map Upgrade)
- Sea Port (Map Upgrade)
- City (Map Upgrade) - Smaller cities will have lower percentage resupply capability
- Military bases (Map Upgrade) - Smaller bases will have lower percentage
- Supply Truck (Unit)
A segment is considered blocked under the following conditions
- owned by a player with whom you do not have a "supply treaty"
- Within the zone of control of a unit owned by a player that is an enemy (possible states for other players is Ally, Neutral or Enemy)

2. In the same hex as an Air unit on a "re-supply" mission (Unit) - Any air unit that has a "Cargo" capacity can be sent on a re-supply mission. Larger cargo=more supplies delivered, based on # of tonnes capacity.

The farther a unit is from the supply point, the lower percentage of demand for supplies will be met. Final percentages in dev.

Units have a "zone of control" of one segment on every side. To cut off supply lines, you need only take territory surrounding the unit or be an "enemy" and use units every third segment to extend a zone of control essentially creating a blockade. The issue of a "supply truck" unit and air re-supply mean that if you send a pack of leopards into enemy territory, you can keep them supplied either by sending along a supply truck (and hoping it doesn't get killed) or by doing air drops (and hoping they don't get shot down). Supply trucks will also have a cargo capacity that will be used up unless the Supply truck can receive supplies. Supply trucks would usually be attached to a regiment so that if you send in the regiment, the Supply truck will follow to keep your units supplied and if it runs out of supplies will retreat (if possible), resupply (if possible) and rejoin the unit without micromanaging. (have pitty for our programer).

We feel this remains accurate without bogging down the player in too much micro-managing.

[tkobo]

This sounds very good.
There will be resupply ships also right ?

[Balthagor]

I'm not sure. Naval supply ships would only be able to resupply naval vessels. Do ships get resupplied will away from Dock in the real world? I would have thought that ships, being so large, would carry a large amount of supplies and would only resupply at ports and be able to stay away from dock a very long time.

[tkobo]

On 2002-06-18 16:40, Balthagor wrote:
I'm not sure. Naval supply ships would only be able to resupply naval vessels. Do ships get resupplied will away from Dock in the real world? I would have thought that ships, being so large, would carry a large amount of supplies and would only resupply at ports and be able to stay away from dock a very long time.

Yes ships,in fact entire task forces, get resupplied while at sea by supply ships.

Heres a good link to some info on some current supply ships.
http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/aoe6/

Im sure there is a tremendous amount of info on these ships available on the web because they are not classified in any way that I ever heard of.I guess they are just not platforms that get much high tech.

In a good harpoon campaign,supply ships are crucial and major targets .Take them out and you deal a severe blow to the task force they supply.

Heres a good link that gives some decent detail on most of the US navies ships.

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/fac ... letop.html

There is a couple of different supply/support/replenish/etcc.. ships listed here.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: tkobo on 2002-06-18 18:32 ]</font>

[Empier4552]

There are ships specifically made for the job of resupplying warships and are generally always at sea supplying carriers, destroyers and so forth.

The navy's (US) site has links tos hip specs etc I'm sure they include a supplyships general specs some place- if not Janes guide to warships should include them.

[George Geczy]

One of the issues with resupplying naval task forces at sea would be trying to avoid micro-managing a bunch of supply ships.

If we could automate the process a bit then that would be a bit better, but that could end up creating 'duck shoot' opportunities to pick off supply ships going through obvious routes.

-- George.

[tkobo]

On 2002-06-20 19:46, George Geczy wrote:
One of the issues with resupplying naval task forces at sea would be trying to avoid micro-managing a bunch of supply ships.

If we could automate the process a bit then that would be a bit better, but that could end up creating 'duck shoot' opportunities to pick off supply ships going through obvious routes.

-- George.

Hmm,I think it would be easy to do.First off,the actual supply ship always stays with
the task force.So no real duck shoot opportunity on it unless you really earn it,or the player (owner of the supply ship) does something silly.

Now the supply ship is itself supplied by other ships that they refer to as "supply shuttles".Not fully sure what these ships actually are,but i surmise they are just normal cargo ships that deliver supplies to the task force supply ship.

These "supply shuttles" would offer a "duck shoot" problem if they were not automated.
But it seems to me that your supply system as I understand it can handle this very easily.
Simply automate the "shuttles" as part of the supply base (port) with them not represented model wise,but by the supply ability of the port instead(like you do with the trucks that would resupply land units).
This would allow the same supply system used for land units to be applied to sea units as long as they had a task force supply ship with them.
If their supply ship was lost however,they would then have to either get another one or return to port for resupply when needed.
This would be both an accurate representation of how it works in real life and it would use the same already existing supply rules(with which it seems to me,only a small addition to them needed).

[Balthagor]

I’m going to go back to land supply issues since we’ve done some major implementation of the model. Naval units will be getting a work out in another week or two.

We’ve put the supply model into the game now, and the general consensus is that we’ve got a really cool system here! It’s lots of fun to watch your opponents tanks come charging into your territory, pushing your border back, then seeing them grind to a halt as they run out of fuel. Then, to move a fast unit in behind them and recapture the original border hexes to cut them off so that they can’t refuel. It’s added a whole new dynamic to the game. Also makes taking cities much more important. If you can make a rush into enemy territory and grab a major city, you get supplies from it and suddenly your opponent doesn’t. The other thing is that, tracking fuel the way we do, makes tank rushes more difficult, since as you move into enemy territory, you need to worry about keeping the supplies coming. Our concept of making the supply lines reach farther over roads and get slowed by terrain also seems to work. On the same line, we’ve tied in another few elements of the game

First, a design rule is that if two adjacent countries are at war but have no units on their borders, the supply model holds or moves the border. An example would be in our Australia games when SW. Australia and Queensland go to war, a section about 15 hexes long on the border shifts in favor of SW. Australia because Queensland doesn’t have supplies all the way into the center. The center is mostly wastelands but Alice Springs provides supplies for SW. Aus. So the “supplied” border pushes out to take the “unsupplied” enemy territory. If the Queensland player wanted to keep it they would need to get supplies there (either build a base, supply depot, road or rail in) or place units to hold the border. This also has a nice “housecleaning effect” where, if you take a large area using two units to box it in and the center has no supplies, it will slowly close in one hex per day until the pocket is swallowed. This cleans up the borders quite nicely.

Secondly, we track infrastructure quality for each region. If you cut funding in your infrastructure, the quality of your roads and rails goes down and we track supplies over roads and rails based on that same quality rating. Suddenly, your front lines aren’t getting supplied because your roads are falling apart. Also, if you pump money in, you can push the reach of the same supply lines up to almost double the normal reach.

Another good example of the effects of supply lines is seen when playing as SW Australia. You begin with two bases, one in Adelaide, one in Perth. There is a nice road running along the southern edge of Australia, but it’s rather deserted. With only two bases, players are likely to build units at Perth even though it is a good distance from any front lines. If you do build here and send your units along the southern road, you will see them leave at a good pace, slow a little as they cross the barren areas due to minor supply issues, and pick up speed as they get near Adelaide and get back into civilization. This is where building a supply depot would be an excellent idea. One supply depot at the half way mark on the deserted road and suddenly your units make the trip at best speed.

So as usual, we’re now looking for praise and criticism on what we’ve put together.

[tkobo]

I like everything but the supply expanding borders.

If every hex has some production,and every hex has a DAR then I dont think the ability for one region to better supply a given area should automatically overide things and change the allegiance of said area simply becuase IF it had units there they would be better supplied.

[tkobo]

What happens to aircraft that run out of supply ?

What happens to naval units that run out of supply ?
What about nuclear naval units which can go roughly 12 years without refueling ?

[BattleGoat]

What happens to aircraft that run out of supply ?

Depends on what you mean by out of supply...
Out of fuel --- "Crash and Burn"
Out of supplies --- can't fire on enemies
Out of supplied area --- nothing as long as it has enough to accomplish its mission and return to base.

What happens to naval units that run out of supply ? What about nuclear naval units which can go roughly 12 years without refueling ?

Naval units running out of fuel would be dead in the water. Out of supply and they wouldn't be able to fire on enemies. The Nuclear Navy would just go through their fuel at a much slower rate, but their supplies for ammunition and such would still need to be replenished.

[Balthagor]

It should also be noted that aircraft will track their own fuel and will return to base before running out of fuel. Alos, we generally supply an aircraft with enough supplies to fire for 2/3 of the time it is airborne. This should usally mean that by the time they get to a target and have used up most of their ammo against it, they are also running low on fuel and will be heading back anyway.

[jfbbis]

i'm a little perplexed about the "city as supply source". Supposing a foreign power invades India and conquers, say, Bombay, i don't think it would alleviate the need for a sea supply line back to the home country of the invaders. spare parts, ammo, etc, couldn't be built in the newly conquered city before a long time if at all...But, if i understood correctly, a conquered city becomes immediately a supply source in the game ?

[BattleGoat]

First, you have to remember that supplies don't only include Ammo... They also include food, water, etc. So yes, a conquered city does become a supply source. As well they don't IMMEDIATELY become a full source of supply. Supply capabilities of any captured source ramp up from zero to full capacity as they remain occupied.