Updated Supply Convoy Unit
Intro
This mod provides a (hopefully) realistic mechanism for the player and ai to address the supply issues that are so prevalent in Africa, Asia, South America etc. beyond building dozens of ports and supply depots, and thousands of miles of railroads. This IC cost is very high and the game time investment extreme…plus the ai seems incapable of dealing with the supply issues in the same way as the player.
The way it works.
This mod introduces a new unit, the supply convoy, which admittedly the game tries to emulate using the motorization ‘button’ for generals, field marshals and supply depots. The supply convoy unit introduced here is an actual new motorized unit that offers some relief to low supply issues for a specific division once it is incorporated into that division’s design. It is in the mobile battalion section of the division designer (where the trucks are) and is available at the start of the game. For now, it has the logistics symbol as the unit icon. It does work the same way as the logistics support company, but with a bigger effect, in that it cuts supply usage (about 60 %) of the division it is assigned and fuel usage of a motorized or armored division about 25%…since you can bring the fuel to the tanks and trucks in a fuel tanker instead of driving the individual tanks/combat trucks to the fuel depot. The supply convoy effect will ‘add’ with the with the logistics support company, so an effective strategy in a low supply area is to include both the logistics support company and a supply convoy unit.
Balance.
In actuality, a supply convoy is not a fighting unit and it must be continuously coordinated with the front line as the battle field changes. I have tried to reflect this in the following debuffs:
1. The combat width of the unit is 3 and the organization is zero.
2. The supply convoy has the same base combat capability as an infantry unit (which has a combat width of 2), but with 50% debuffs for almost all terrains.
3. The unit must be in a motorized column of the division designer.
4. It is expensive in terms of manpower and trucks, about 1.5 times larger than a motorized battalion.
5. If you stack 5 divisions in a province and only one division has the supply convoy unit, the effect of the supply convoy unit is muted because the game shares resources of a province with all the divisions. If you are going to stack divisions in a low supply area, it is best if most of those stacked divisions have a supply convoy unit.
How to use.
In principle, this unit could be combined with infantry, armor, motorized, special forces, all other types. It will decrease speed of a mobile division somewhat and will definitely decrease organization of any division it is attached to. In testing, I have seen some significant improvement in division fighting capability in low supply areas (jungles, deserts, Siberia). I have only tested with 1 supply convoy attached to a division, though you could stack 2 supply convoys in one division at the cost of a large increase in combat width and significant reduction org.
TODO: The ai needs to be modified so that it can take advantage of this…it would be a big improvement for Japan, China and SOV ai. I would like to see if there is any interest before undertaking this task.
I am always open to suggestions and certainly if you find a bug (likely), let me know below.
