Transport Capacity at 200%, Should I still spend money on it?

[rogue5108]

I've found it pretty easy to get TC to 200%. Once I've achieved that and am at peace is there a reason to keep spending money on it?

[Nitemares]

Yes.

Your Economy is still growing. Without spending money on transports, your percentage will start to drop. While that may not sound bad while you are at peace; Once you go to war and start losing transports, it could get very painful VERY quickly.


Now, do you have to keep that transport bar "maxed" out? Probably not... depending on your growth and economy size.

[rogue5108]

I have it at about 80% with a growth rate of 1.37 and it's staying at 200%. Of course I'm at peace so no transport losses to an enemy.

[rogue5108]

If I move slider to full it takes me to 2.85% growth rate.

[MasterFool]

Your economic and Transport Pool growth are not directly proportional as far as I can tell. Territory and population growth seem to have a greater impact. I've had my TP stay at 200% with just 0.1% funds into the pool when I'm at peace. In war I stay maxxed out even if I'm not losing ships because when I do (let's say 10 in one month) they are right back at 200% the next month.

Never let your TP get below full funding at any point or you will start to suffer loss to the economy and your Naval budget. Keeping it slightly positive works well.

[vanDyck]

I keep it at minimum growth after hitting 200%, and but it back on full when at war.

[Bramborough]

Was also curious. Was at peace, and 200% TRs. Zeroed the slider, right on 0.00% growth (the middle-position default at gamestart). Stayed at peace for a long time, like 10-15 years. GDP grew about 80% over that time; not quite doubled. Never budged off 200%. Money spent on TRs each month, however, did continue to increase each month, due to economy growing. The TR capacity is relative to GDP requirements, so it does continue to move (hopefully upwards, lol), even if the percentages stay static.

My impression now is that during peacetime, once having hit 200%, additional $$$ spent on TR growth is just throwing money down a hole. I don't perceive there's something like "invisible surplus" TRs being built up as a reserve above 200%.

Obviously, if a war starts, I jack the slider up to compensate for any TR losses which might occur.

I was a "peg TR slider all the way to the right and leave it there" player for the longest time. I shudder to think of how much naval budget I wasted for so many campaigns.

[Stoerte]

Originally posted by Bramborough:

Was also curious. Was at peace, and 200% TRs. Zeroed the slider, right on 0.00% growth (the middle-position default at gamestart). Stayed at peace for a long time, like 10-15 years. GDP grew about 80% over that time; not quite doubled. Never budged off 200%. Money spent on TRs each month, however, did continue to increase each month, due to economy growing. The TR capacity is relative to GDP requirements, so it does continue to move (hopefully upwards, lol), even if the percentages stay static.

My impression now is that during peacetime, once having hit 200%, additional $$$ spent on TR growth is just throwing money down a hole. I don't perceive there's something like "invisible surplus" TRs being built up as a reserve above 200%.

Obviously, if a war starts, I jack the slider up to compensate for any TR losses which might occur.

I was a "peg TR slider all the way to the right and leave it there" player for the longest time. I shudder to think of how much naval budget I wasted for so many campaigns.

Are there any new insights regarding this "invisible surplus"?

[Mobzonk]

Once you reach 200% capacity it will not grow any further - you can see this in the save files. So you can reduce transport spend to just over half to maintain 200%. Older versions did this automatically but the functionality seems to have been lost.

[Stoerte]

Originally posted by Mobzonk:

Once you reach 200% capacity it will not grow any further - you can see this in the save files. So you can reduce transport spend to just over half to maintain 200%. Older versions did this automatically but the functionality seems to have been lost.

Thank you for explaining. This will help me.

[glythe]

Originally posted by rogue5108:

If I move slider to full it takes me to 2.85% growth rate.

That is a measure of how many transports you are able to repair per turn.

[MasterFool]

The game logic is fairly basic.

100% is the number of transports you need as a MINIMUM to maintain the income routes from your provinces.
200% represents the maximum number of transports you can have. Every amount added between 100-200% adds an additional amount to your GDP as you are able to take advantage of other revenue streams from your provinces.
If you put 0.00 additional on the slider (no negative) your pool will remain stable unless acted on by an outside force... (like transports mysteriously deciding to inspect the sea floor).
Any amount above 0.00 when at 200%, is functionally wasted anytime there is no loss taken by the pool.

Therefore, the advice given by several folks above is solid. Reach 200% as soon as you can, you get money for that. Keep at 0.00 or slightly higher if you expect to go to war soon, and max out when at war UNTIL you have a handle on your enemy and they are unable to hit your transports any more. Then you can reduce down to something less in case you are hit but only a few. I tend to go down to +1% if I'm only losing 1 or 2 ships a month. If I'm not losing anything over long periods, I'll actually go back down to 0.00 if I need the money.

If you are swimming in cash, you can just leave it on full all the time if you want shiny transports with all the goodies and parties nightly on the Lido Deck.