A Tricky Riverine Supply Situation

[pakfront]

I've got a bit of a supply problem... hoping the forum can help me expand my understanding of how supply works.

My poor little 5th Division (currently led by a certain Col Kurtz) is stuck in Gainesville, out of supply. How did they get there? Well, New Orleans looked tough so my amphibious force went for easier pickings. And then over-extended... as I often do.

I control Mobile, but I don't control Blakeley, Grove Hill, nor the two forts at the river mouth.
Mobile seems to be getting good supply, so I don;t think I have to take the forts. But how to I improve supply up the river? Do I have to take Blakely and/or Grove Hill? Or can I just control the Western Bank? Or would a strong enough riverine force do the job (thus my other thread about moving Monitors)

Or should I just suck it up and move my 5th Division back to Mobile, possibly using them to take the Forts and help blockade the river?

[Queeg]

I think you're stuck. The Rebs control enough of the river to shut off that supply route. Unless you can gain control of the cities along the river, or the inland regions along the other side of the river, I think you'll have to withdraw.

Which is as it should be.

[runyan99]

I wouldn't leave Colonel Kurtz alone that far up the river. His methods are...unsound.

[mikee64]

I wouldn't leave Colonel Kurtz alone that far up the river. His methods are...unsound.

lmao!

[jimwinsor]

Seems to me that if you built a depot in Gainesville, it would begin sucking supplies up the river from Mobile (it is within 5 zones...4 it looks in fact). Plus, the depot creates some supply too.

Of course the rebs might block the river by entrenching some guns along the stretch. But for now...the way looks clear.

And of course I would take the Mobile forts. This should allow your Sea Supply points to supply the place (since Gainesville is a port)?

And if you *really* want that division in supply, there is always the manual method. Send a supply-laden transport to dock in Gainesville. The division will draw supplies from it...a transport acts just like a supply wagon (except it floats). Then send the empty transport back down river to reload. Repeat as necessary.

[Grotius]

I did something similar, in the other direction, heading south from Memphis to Vicksburg. I owned nothing in between Memphis and Vicksburg, but once I built a depot in Vicksburg, it seemed to draw supply OK down the river from Memphis.

But I'm not sure I understand jimwinsor's advice about using transports. How do you make a transport "supply-laden"? Is there a command to load it with supplies?

[DEL]

Grotius

He just means you can shuffle the empty transports up/down a river back to supply sources the same way you would move empty supply wagons to cities that have supplies. This way you don't have to wait for the supplies to move forward on their own.

[jimwinsor]

Yeah, if you move an empty transport (or wagon) to a town with supplies it'll refill itself from the stocks, at the beginning of the next turn I think.

[Pocus]

you need riverine points to transport supply, a lot of it. Sea supply points will only deliver to oceanic harbors.

[jimwinsor]

you need riverine points to transport supply, a lot of it. Sea supply points will only deliver to oceanic harbors.

Ah good to know!

[Sheytan]

lmao!

and lol as well...crazy.

[Ingtar]

Getting supply wagons up there might be a bit of a trick. Is the river wide enough for ocean going transports? I know they can be used to create depots. Though that might only be at a spot connected to the ocean.

and lol as well...crazy.

And I never noticed the name... thank you for that Apocolyptic moment.

[pakfront]

OK, so I can run supplies up manually using Ocean Transports (the Mobile River is deep enough there) until I can establish a real supply route.

Still a bit unclear as to why Mobile is in supply even though the forts aren't mine, but my guess is that CSA would need to blockade Mobile to prevent me from getting deep water supply. For the moment all the forts do is make my life difficult
running ship units in and out of the river.

That said - does that mean that I am not effectively blockading the Mobile River if I don't have a combat fleet in there? Presumably, yes.

[Black Cat]

OK, so I can run supplies up manually using Ocean Transports (the Mobile River is deep enough there) until I can establish a real supply route.

Still a bit unclear as to why Mobile is in supply even though the forts aren't mine, but my guess is that CSA would need to blockade Mobile to prevent me from getting deep water supply. For the moment all the forts do is make my life difficult
running ship units in and out of the river.

That said - does that mean that I am not effectively blockading the Mobile River if I don't have a combat fleet in there? Presumably, yes.

The supply system is still a mystery to me as well, but in your example those structures on the river look like just towns/cities, not Forts which would block supply. Fortress Monroe in Va. or Island # 10 is an example of a Fort, which would block river supply I believe. I also think Mobile will shortly be out of supply due to the Forts at the mouth of the river, and by Nov/Dec. all units in there will be red

[jimwinsor]

The supply system is still a mystery to me as well, but in your example those structures on the river look like just towns/cities, not Forts which would block supply. Fortress Monroe in Va. or Island # 10 is an example of a Fort, which would block river supply I believe. I also think Mobile will shortly be out of supply due to the Forts at the mouth of the river, and by Nov/Dec. all units in there will be red

Yeah I'm thinking too that Mobile will eventually run out of supplies, due to the forts. But it is a big city with a depot, so it does self-produce a certain amount of supplies, I would think.

[Pocus]

For riverine supply distribution, which use the riverine pool, movement are blocked in regions which have either an enemy naval unit, or are under the guns of a fort (with artilleries) or a troops with positionned artillery (lvl 5+ entrenchments).

For oceanic supply distribution, the harbors won't be able to receive supply if it is blockaded, but forts alone, without some ships, won't blockade the harbor (you get an icon if the harbor is blockaded anyway).

[jimwinsor]

Hmmm, interesting...is New Orleans considered an ocean port, or a river port for purposes of this, I wonder?

[veji1]

I would think forts would blockade a port if not taken, forcing the Union to shuffle in an out actual transport ships, instead of relying on "open water" ocean transport points.... would make sense to me...

[Rafiki]

Hmmm, interesting...is New Orleans considered an ocean port, or a river port for purposes of this, I wonder?

Since ocean ships can dock there, I imagine it is an ocean port, the test being that at least one of the sea regions the port exits to is a "coastal water", rather than "shallow".

[Jagger]

Good thread.

I just took Memphis with an amphibious assault. I wanted to convert two of the transports into a supply depot at Memphis. I tried to create the depot while the ships were in the river but that didn't work. So I docked them in Memphis and tried again. The supply depot button remains greyed out. None of the reasons given by with the tooltip over the button seems appropriate for explaining why I can't create a depot.

Any idea why the transports are not converting into supply?

PS: Is it my imagination or can cavalry only destroy one region of railroads per turn regardless of number of regions traveled through?

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Jagger]

You have to have the two ships/supply units in a separate group by themselves. Then when you select that group the button should be available, and I think you are correct in having them "docked", otherwise it would think you were in the river province and be invalid to create the depot there.

Actually that is what I have done. The two are in a separate fleet and docked.

[Rafiki]

Are the transports damaged? Are they fully supplied? Perhaps it only works with ocean transports?

And yeah, I'd like to see cavalry ripping along their entire movement path too. Perhaps when Pocus gets back from his vacation?

[Jagger]

Are the transports damaged? Are they fully supplied? Perhaps it only works with ocean transports?

And yeah, I'd like to see cavalry ripping along their entire movement path too. Perhaps when Pocus gets back from his vacation?

Do the transports have to be 100 percent supplied? I don't think they were. Also they were not at 100 percent cohesion. The button is definitely there and lists reasons why they can't be converted. So I am assuming they can be converted.

On cavalry, I can kind of understand why they can't as a play balance issue. I could see a single regiment disrupting rail service for months if it could destroy every rail line along its path.

I wonder if the same restriction applies to repairing railroads?