Food but not ammo?

[caudata]

Just noticed one of my stacks is getting supplied with GS but not ammo. How can this be? The stack is attacking Quincy, north of Gilead's Landing/St. Charles/St. Louis. And there is no Union river traffic to cut supply.

Obviously, St. Louis is full of ammo supply, but how is it just not getting to this stack (16 elements)? I'm pretty sure Gilead and St. Charles don't produce enough GS to keep a division at full stock.

[Captain_Orso]

So many questions to be answered first.

What release of the game are you playing?

I assume you have Saint Louis. True?

What is the season and weather?

How high are your Riverine and Rail Transport Pools?

Do you have an open rail line between Quincy and Saint Louis?

Do you have an open river between Quincy and Saint Louis?

Does your stack in Quincy have supply units?

If your stack has at least 1 Supply Unit, one solution which will work in any case it to place a Riverine Transport next to it in the Mississippi to draw supplies from it. They don't carry that much on ammo compared to GS, but better than nothing.

[caudata]

1) 1.04
2) True. And Gilead's and St. Charles.
3) Um. It's late March. Right this moment, I'm not sure of the weather
4) Both are 1/3 (very limited)
5) I don't think so. I would guess that said rail line would run through Springfield, IL, which I do not control. There is not a direct line from STL.
6) Yes
7) No.
8) This is something I can arrange, though I will probably have to withdraw the siege before I can. I assume a flatboat would work as the representative riverine transport?

I still don't understand how they have be 4/4 on GS but be out of ammo.

[Captain_Orso]

1) 1.04

Okay, good. There used to be an issue with Ammo distribution being drown out by GS distribution. I believe it was already fixed in 1.04.

2) True. And Gilead's and St. Charles.

Good. Gilead's Landing is a Settlement, which works pretty much like a mini-depot. How much GS and Ammo does Gilead's Landing have? Saint Charles will actually play no role in the distribution other than in being in your factions hand will allow for supply to transit that region.

3) Um. It's late March. Right this moment, I'm not sure of the weather

This will plays a great role in supply movement. Supply pretty much moves the same as a Supply Unit. It will never move further in one distribution phase any further than a Supply Unit could move.

4) Both are 1/3 (very limited)

Supply is distributed in 3 phases at the start of each turn before anything you have ordered to be be done during that turn has been taken into account. For each full 1/3 of full capacity you have in the Rail and Riverine Transport Pools, your supply can freely use rail and riverine transportation during 1 distribution phase during that turn.

5) I don't think so. I would guess that said rail line would run through Springfield, IL, which I do not control. There is not a direct line from STL.

Okay.

6) Yes

The RivTP (Riverine Transport Pool) is more important in this respect. As long as there are no unopposed, enemy, naval combat units, in the river region between Saint Louis and Quincy, supply can use the river; but since you only have 1/3 RivTP, it can only be used during 1 of the 3 phases.

7) No.

... um, this is your problem. GS is always going to distribute better than Ammo. Firstly, because there is generally about 10x the amount of GS as Ammo on the map at all times; so distribution is nearly in the same relationship.

But if you do not have a Supply Unit with your besieging stack, how do you want to pull any supplies? Even if Gilead's Landing is swimming in supplies or you park riverine transports right next to Quincy, the amount of supply being pulled in by your stack will be very limited.

8) This is something I can arrange, though I will probably have to withdraw the siege before I can. I assume a flatboat would work as the representative riverine transport?

It is far more important that your stack has a supply unit. Being right next to Gilead's Landing you should probably pull all the supply--including Ammo--your stacks needs. Depots and other supply sources are just ware houses. They cannot move supplies to you. Each stack needs it's own supply unit to basically go and get supplies from a supply source; even if you are standing right next to one. It's still many miles between the regions and the supplies will not move by themselves.

I still don't understand how they have be 4/4 on GS but be out of ammo.

What is 4/4?

--

My big, fat rule of thumb is: every division gets it's own supply unit. A stack about the same size as a division too.

[caudata]

on the unit card, it says it has 4/4 supply, 4/4 ammo (for infantry). Or in my case, 2/4 ammo or 0/4 ammo.

As it turned out, I was able to use riverine transport to shift a supply unit up to the division in time.

And then it didn't matter because my general went brown and the Union, led by McClellan of all people, slipped out and escaped the siege.

[caudata]

but thank you very much for your advice. To regurgitate generic office verbage, still learning to leverage best practices.

[ArmChairGeneral]

Congrats on taking St Louis! It felt really good didn't it?

[caudata]

Congrats on taking St Louis! It felt really good didn't it?

It was fun. JO Shelby pioneering blitz warfare in the 19th century, using paddle driven steamers to terrorize Union commanders.

Does make one wonder what a well planned and staffed expedition up the Mississippi in the fall of 1861 might have accomplished.

[Gray Fox]

FYI, each element carries with it enough GS for two turns, but only enough ammo for two battles. So let's say in one turn you attack a force and win. It retreats into a structure that you are also set to assault. Your force does so later that turn, but the enemy holds on in the structure. Then an enemy relief force MTSG and attacks you later in the same turn. Without a supply unit with your stack, you would be out of ammo at this point.

[Captain_Orso]

Yup, GF has about covered it.

BTW, if you press <2> while in the map it will activate the supply filter. If you then hover your mouse pointer over a region, it will give you some information on how much of what supply was send and received from that region.