A Quartermaster's worst nightmare

[Radetzky]

dear fellow gamers

i think we all know how picking explicit supply for
your campaign game can make a great gaming
experience even more satisfying. but when your
little supply lorries have to drive along winding
secondary roads for days, it can get a bit annoying
when just one or two of the whole lot actually
make it to the frontline - disrupted or broken, that
is.

this holds especially true for the modern campaigns
in middle europe, i.e. NGP or Fulda Gap, with all that
heavy air interdiction going on. keeping the
warsaw pact fuel and ammo levels in the green seems
near impossible, doesn't it? so any fresh, new ideas
on this one? keep them trucks going only when the
moon shines? forfeiting the travel mode and let them
reach the front after the war is over? attacking with
whole army groups low on fuel+ammo?
(yes, tucker, i'm desperate indeed)

[wranger]

Hi

I too am having the same problem. Playing Soviets in my 1st campaign and getting a right old thrashing. Most of my units have run out of fuel and the Artillery has no ammo left.

Would welcome any suggestions...

Many thanks

[JonS1]

keep them trucks going only when the
moon shines? forfeiting the travel mode and let them
reach the front after the war is over?

Basically, I think this is your only solution.

Unless, you edit the scen such that the 'auto' air interdiction value is quite low AND then add the equivalent airpower as dixcrete units AND add any absent AA assets as discrete units. Then the side with the air has the option to use his airpower on CAS or deeper missions - which might see more of your trucks trucks getting to the front, and the sidfe without the air has the option of defending the MSR(s) with additional AA assets.

But even then, sticking to night and staying out of T mode is probably a good idea.

Oh, one other thought: think of the truck units as drops of water in a pipe, all contributing to the flow, rather than as point units. The most important logistic goal you have is to establish a steady flow to the front. Once that is done, it doesn't matter whether that flow only moves at night or in tactical mode. In other words, it doesn't matter how slow elements of the flow move, as long as the flow delivers enough to the front each turn to meet consumption.

The tricky bit, of course, is establishing the flow in the first place. Once that is done, the tricky bit becomes resisting the temptation to speed up some part of the flow to meet some local crisis or opportunity. If you do that, you will break the flow, and have to go through the heartache of re-establishing it.

Incidentally, the same basic adivice applies to moving combat unit reinforcements forward in the face of enemy air superiority.

attacking with whole army groups low on fuel+ammo?

That is indeed always an option, but should only be temporary, or reflective of a general breakdown of the logistics pipeline.

[Glenn Saunders]

[Radetzky]

gents

thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts,
i'll set the warsaw pact master plumber
in march then...

seriously, i think reading all those books
about soviet deep-strike strategies put
me in a whiney mood after my actual
advance has turned in an ugly mess -
thanks to a great opponent putting up
a tenacious defence of the FRG, goes
without saying.

but the liberation of western europe's
workers and peasants shall be successful
nontheless - za lenina, za rodina!

[HirooOnoda]

To avoid those interdiction strikes only enter travel mode in the evening for the supply trucks.

Secondly, move the supply trucks LAST as any interdiction strikes which hit at the end of the turn are less severe than the initial interdiction strikes.

[Ricky B]

Secondly, move the supply trucks LAST as any interdiction strikes which hit at the end of the turn are less severe than the initial interdiction strikes.

Are you sure about this? I have never seen this happen, and can't think of anything in the game rules or engine that would cause stronger interdiction attacks earlier in a turn. It has been said before, and it matches what I have seen, that the strength of the interdiction attacks are randomly selected from the air units the opposing side has in a scenario - no idea without testing it if that is so or whether it is based on a selection of only the currently available air units to that side, but I don't think that is the limit because even with no air units currently available, there will be interdiction attacks as long as there are air units for the other side.

But I have never seen interdiction decrease in effectiveness during a turn.

Rick

[Hog of War]

Can anyone debunk the myth that moving units one hex at a time limits air interdiction? Seems to have worked for me in my limited experience.

[Lucid]

I have often seen air interdiction effects when moving units one hex at a time.
Its hard to say if its less often than when moving units many hexes at a time, but I am inclined to think that the whole notion of it being different is a myth.

I agree with the theory of moving soviet supply trucks deployed, except during dusk-night-dawn turns. Though sometimes you gotta change to T-mode to go over a bridge or through a forest.

Also, another bit of soviet explicit-supply wisdom that I think need to be said before this thread fades away:

I don't like to fire my soviet artillery very much when playing with Explicit supply, because of the generally lower ratio of casualties to the enemy per chance at consuming precious supplies. It is best to save the supplies for the tanks and BMP infantry, and not squander them on shots from the weak Pact artillery. I like to keep most of my artillery deployed but far back from the front lines, where they won't op-fire during the enemy turn.

[Dog Soldier]

As RickyB mentioned, air interdiction is a factor of how many and what quality of air units are held back by the side with the capability. It is a trade off with ground attack missions. If your in the habit of flying all your attack squadrons each turn and only have recon air left, then you will see the enemy moving fast and accepting the low casualties. Hold back a good number of air strikes if you really can not achieve anything decisive that day with them and watch the interdiction go up.

Dog Soldier