Supply and Ammo

[Pappy]

There's those 2 buttons in F4 that allow you to turn on/off Supply and Ammo conversions. By what method do experienced players decide when it's time to adjust those on/off settings?

[yellow ribbon]

You would like to read parts of the following thread.... Especially the second half of it

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?23686-Need-help-with-austrian-economy&

[Pappy]

Thanks Yellow Ribbon. I cut and pasted below the salient questions and remarks that helped me understand. Hope this will help others as well who had similar questions.
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Can you explain me what is the difference between converting supply and ammo and not converting? I have looked in the manual and haven’t found an explanation. I've figured out that not converting does stockpile supp/ammo, and if converting I lose these stockpiles.

You need to understand that some buildings and cities create a small amount of supply each turn on their own. If nothing breaks the line of supply, or the army is not extraordinarly large, you don’t get problems and a well developed and populated land will refill the stocks of military units.


Roughly explained:

If additionally, you have the conversion of goods activated, the stocks from F4 will be delivered from the "warehouse" to units and depots on the map, leading to the point that stock in F4 does not grow, while you have thousands of unused supply in depots (depending on their size).

An extreme example:

It makes no sense to have a supply-flooded depot in the desert of Africa, while you don’t have any units there and coastal provinces are supplied from maritime trade boxes.

So in general, it makes no sense to keep this converting "on" unless you can sell all of it on the world market.

However, the problem is that now you need to monitor the supply line. Without RRs, depots will not deliver supply over an infinite number of provinces and if the wrong depot is empty, the large armies can suffer hits from lack of supply.

If you are not in war, you don’t have to produce ammunition unless you sell it. Ammo is only used up in battles.

If you don’t plan a war, then either shut the industry down or sell the whole production.

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I still don’t get the logic of the "conversion". What is actually converted? Let's say I have a factory that manufactures 75mm cannon balls and a factory that produces rifles, uniforms, boots etc. So if i "convert" them, they are distributed to units and depots, if not "converted" they stockpile in some warehouse? Maybe the word "convert" is not very appropriate?

The problem is not with "convert" but the rest of it. What conversion does is convert supply into supply - specifically it converts the merchandise "supply" which is what factories produce and you can trade with other nations into map "supply" which is what forts, depots and cities produce, and what is consumed by your units. Map supply has location and needs to be distributed to where it is needed - this is what depots do. When you convert supply the map supply that it is converted into is placed in your capital.

Supply problems come in two forms:
The most common is difficulty in getting supply to a specific location, or unit. Conversion doesn't help here as it gives you more supply to send, but the problem is in the sending. The solution is usually to build depot(s) or ports to create a chain from the problem location towards the capital.

The other problem is a general lack of supply for many units. Conversion can solve this, but you may also want to increase the size of your depots so that you generate more supply - as generated supply is free, and conversion will convert a large amount even if you only need a small amount.

[ess1]

I am unable to tell when buttons are in use. Surely the icon should change colour or something?

[Pappy]

Best way I found was to click the button a few times until zero comes up on the commodity used line for that item. It's on the same F4 screen so it's easy enough to do.

[nemethand]

I am unable to tell when buttons are in use. Surely the icon should change colour or something?

That's how I do it: when I press the button, I check if the amount of ammo/supply in the last line o the F4 screen increases or decreases. By that, you can establish if you have turned it on or off. (default is 'on', I think...I)

[SonOfAGhost]

That's how I do it: when I press the button, I check if the amount of ammo/supply in the last line o the F4 screen increases or decreases. By that, you can establish if you have turned it on or off. (default is 'on', I think...I)

First click turns everything on*, second turns it all off.

*For when something has shut down on it's own due to lack of required inputs or broken connection to collection point, etc.

[Kensai]

Pappy, I use the following scheme...

In peace, I turn conversion ON, get them down to nearly 0, turn it OFF, accumulate up until I have 100-150 of them, selling some 10-15 each turn. When I have reached that number I turn conversion again ON, repeating this cycle. This is to make sure depots are full and I sell too. I have found that minor AI nations are more than eager to buy some of it. It's always intelligent to buy yourself large quantities of supplies and ammo anyway, even from major nations that produce a lot, and sell them again, as this creates profits from merchant taxes. This is true for all resources and products. A mercantilistic approach in the game (buying only what you need, selling only what you have in excess) is not the most efficient method to prosper.

In war, the moment I get into the thick of a campaign, I keep conversion ON just to be sure all my production is sent to the depots to be forwarded.