Supply at Shiloh -Union

[Kyle Reese]

I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong here. I've played up to Shiloh twice as the Union, using different skill points for my commander but with still with no luck. My issue is supply. I never get any supply and so im out of ammo before the 1st day ends. When the second day starts the 1 wagon can't even replenish the entire army much less sustain a battle.

In my first run through, the "reinforcements" i was supposed to get was a single supply wagon and it spawned empty! The second play through, no wagon spawned at all.

I went into this battle with 20k supply but I'm not seeing it at all. Is this a bug or am I missing something?

Thanks

[Kyle Reese]

also let me say, I'm very happy with the game so far and I look forward to it getting even better. Fantastic for an EA at this point

[Koro]

Hi Kyle.
Your supplies should show up in the second stage at Spain Field, some time during the fight. Your supply wagon for the 1.corps should show up during the fight for the Hornet's Nest.
Are you sure you put supplies in the wagons in the army organization menu? I think that's the only thing that would prevent them from showing up.
If you are certain that you have, I'd recommend making an in game report of it once the Hornet's Nest has come up and show that you don't have any supply wagons or that they are empty.

[Guernica]

Hey Kyle,

Just played Shiloh again as Union, and I see where you're coming from regarding supply. Here's a few tips to make sure you last the whole battle.

Don't allow your Artillery to fire all willy nilly. Micro-manage them and have 3-4 batteries all firing on the same unit. This unit will route rather quickly

Pick targets that are in the open. This will maximize their effectiveness due to the reduced cover.

Hold Fire on Artillery until the enemy is a bit outside your infantry's rifle range (assuming you place artillery just a bit behind infantry and not wayyy back). You want your artillery to be firing close to mid range at all times.

If your infantry is doing a good job of holding off the enemy, hold fire on your artillery. You just have to be paying attention to everything and make sure you release their fire when the enemy starts pushing/charging



Organizationally, I suggest trying a new Corps Organization that I'm experimenting with. That is to put all of your Artillery batteries within a Corp into the same division. This allows for very fast commands. Focus fire, hold fire, and move orders are done very quickly. Having all your artillery move together and fire together absolutely decimates anything in front of them

On the last point. And implied benefit is that your infantry is now separate from your artillery meaning move orders for whole divisions will not limber your artillery.

[Kyle Reese]

Thanks for the tips. Definitely a lot to consider. My feeling is that once I had a bug (cause on that run the reinforcements at Pitt landing couldn't get off the edge of the screen) and once I just didn't prepare well.

[Detail]

I had that issue early on, now that I set my supply to 25K in the camp and pay more attention to the wagons, keeping units supplied and protecting them it's less of any issue.


Having said all that it's really a PIA, another thing that in my assessment is dumb. Would the commanding general be paying attention to their suppy wagons and managing them and moving them to supply each unit. Of course not. Just one more thing in my opinion to complicate play and make it unrealsitic.

[Kyle Reese]

Originally posted by rpovio:

I had that issue early on, now that I set my supply to 25K in the camp and pay more attention to the wagons, keeping units supplied and protecting them it's less of any issue.


Having said all that it's really a PIA, another thing that in my assessment is dumb. Would the commanding general be paying attention to their suppy wagons and managing them and moving them to supply each unit. Of course not. Just one more thing in my opinion to complicate play and make it unrealsitic.

I actually like the wagons a lot, it adds depth of strategy. I mean no, the CG wouldn't be concerned the wagons, but he wouldn't be rotating indivual regiments either.

I suppose my issue is that the in-camp supply is based on a number: 10k, 20k, 30k, while the in-game supply just displays a bar that spans full to empty. But how supply does a unit actually consume? I can't tell, which makes supply a problem to plan for in camp.

[RobWheat61]

I agree with Kyle's point of view.

About supply wagons and unrealistic: How would it be, if your units would be absent form the battle for several hours, because they would have to go to the rear to resupply (plus the time for distribution of ammunition), depending how far in the rear the supply and baggage train of the army would be located? And how about detaching several units from your army before battle to protect said supply train? I think that would complicate playing the game.

The current system with supply wagons adds to the complexity of the game and is a very good feature of UGCW, imho.

[Koro]

Originally posted by RobWheat61:

I agree with Kyle's point of view.

About supply wagons and unrealistic: How would it be, if your units would be absent form the battle for several hours, because they would have to go to the rear to resupply (plus the time for distribution of ammunition), depending how far in the rear the supply and baggage train of the army would be located? And how about detaching several units from your army before battle to protect said supply train? I think that would complicate playing the game.

The current system with supply wagons adds to the complexity of the game and is a very good feature of UGCW, imho.

It gives me something to do in the luls of of the battles too - checking up on the army supplies.
If the mechanics wasn't there from the start I wouldn't miss it but now I think I would :).

[Guernica]

Originally posted by rpovio:

I suppose my issue is that the in-camp supply is based on a number: 10k, 20k, 30k, while the in-game supply just displays a bar that spans full to empty. But how supply does a unit actually consume? I can't tell, which makes supply a problem to plan for in camp.

This, I'd like to see a value for how much supply is left in each wagon. Display it inside the Status Bar.

I like the Supply Wagon concept. It's a good compromise between directing logistics and not making the battle overly complicated by having to send units to be resupplied at the rear.

[rygree]

I would also like a way to dictate which units can acutally get the suplies, often times my artilery desperatly needs supply so i pull the wagon up to the divsion and all the units in the range get the supply and the wagons empties before the arty can fully refill. I know i could fix this poblem by moving my artilery but that would require them unlimbering and being removed temporarly from the front.

[Kyle Reese]

So I just realized that each corp supply wagon has to be loaded separately. That would have helped beyond the good advice.

[Guernica]

LOLOL

I just find it funny that no one thought to mention that. Probably just assumed, but I'm glad you figured it out.