Supply Units Losing Vehicles

[Krak]

Not to go off on a tangent, but the reason why Rommel could have never gotten to Alexandria even if the 8th army had surrendered, was simply logistics...hi supply lines were so long the vehicles moving the supplies wold have consumed more than their capacity to deliver.

It seems strange to me, that if your ascertion is correct that an obviously intelligent commander such as Rommel would denote Alexandria as his objective when he had no means to get his army there in the first place. My understanding of the reasons why the German High Command gave Rommel permission to continue his offensive operations beyond Tobruk were twofold, the possibility of the destruction of 8th Army AND the capture of Alexandria.

Surely the stockpiling of of supplies at forward dumps allows operations beyond the range of truck supply transit legs. Numerous games or simulations I have played allow for stockpiles to be created so that operations can continue onward to the objective. Otherwise how did Germany supply its Panzer/Motor Divisions in the Caucases? Or the deep penetrations in the summer of 41-42 in Russia?

The Operational Combat Series has one of the most detailed logistical systems I have played, and indeed it is possible to advance motorized units to Alexandria or Baku through the use of forward supply dumps.

I don't use explicit supply in PzC because I don't believe the extra brain work required by driving supply trucks around gives an equivalent gain in realism. For me I would like to see seperate ammo/fuel supply resources that are moved in truck or wagon units, where the truck or wagon is a seperate transport unit, the possibility to create supply dumps (thus freeing up transport units to move ahead and extend the range of operations) and the direct allocation of supplies to individual units i.e allowing the commander to prioritise which units get fuel and/or ammo. That would be a supply system of merit worth the extra effort to run. It would also show the player why offensives come to a halt, why the resupply of forward dumps has to occur before the offensive can resume. But such a detailed supply system won't happen for all the reasons you mention. So I stick to VST. A pretty good abstraction.