supply system too simplified?

[Umeu]

hello,

first off I've been enjoying this game so far alot. The effective simplicity is one of the reasons its so enjoyable but in one department i find it rather annoying and sometimes even infuriating. The way units are supplied seems to be portrayed too simplisticly in my opinion.

There are 3 supply states, full supply, half supply and no supply. No supply basically means the unit is incapable of fighting and will be destroyed easily if attacked before ressupplied. Half supply means repairs are less effective and it also has a minor impact on fighting ability (unless im mistaken here, but that was my observation).

This aspect is pretty much fine with me, but what is too simple is that when units are cut off from the supply lines even for one turn they are immediately without supply, i find it a bit odd that they wouldnt atleast drop to half supply first. Such a unit does not really have a chance to make it back into supplied territory unless its really close.

Also the way cities supply units is not as good as it could be i think, because if i were to have units on an island i would always be on half supply unless i would have a ship close to it. Now this would make sense if i was an invading force or whatever but not really if i own the island. The same thing if you are invading another country from a direction that does not a have a connection with a capital of yours, such as the british invading turkey from the persian gulf or the arab revolution, these units are constantly on half supply until they capture a capital. but what i dont get is, that since 1 city provide 1/2 supply then why do two cities not provide full supply? that would make more sense

any thoughts?

kind regards,
Umeu aka The Stranger

[Myrddraal]

I think what you say about cities and supply states makes a lot of sense.

About the 'immediately out of supply' thing - Note that units don't actually lose supply immediately but at the end of the phase. You can't cut a unit off then immediately wipe it out, it has to stay 'cut off' for the whole of the enemy turn.

In terms of realism, that period represents two weeks of combat.

[Umeu]

yes, that is true but, there is a "catch", because it is a turn based game, if in turn 1 i were to send a unit forward for whatever reason and end my turn, then if the opponent sees opportunity to cut this unit off from supply lines, then the next turn that unit will register as out of supply. so now its turn 2, and that unit is now out of supplies, but there is no option for me anymore to save it, the only thing that can save that unit is that not enough enemy units can attack it before its whiped out. because even if i were to move my units near that unit to reastablish supply it will still most likely be killed by nearby enemy units because when i end turn, my opponent will make its move and that unit will during that time still register as being out of supply, even though i have reastablished supply during my turn, before pressing end turn.

this happened in my game, where i was doing the 1915 scenario and i was invading gallipoli. i accidentally moved 1 infantry unit too far inland so it could not be supported by naval vessels anymore. that unit was now doomed because even though i moved it back into supply range of the vessels the during my next turn, it still got attack by 2 turkish garrison units and killed due to their weakened state of not being in supply. the problem imo is that supply states are only updated at the end of my own turn.

so perhaps make supply states be updated also at the end of your own turn and not only at the beginning? with a deterioration period of 2 weeks as it is now? and perhaps also a ressuply period to make it fair. so units go from full supply to half supply to no supply and then if back in supply lines, from no supply to half supply to full supply.

it would look something like this then i think. a unit gets moved ahead in turn 1, i end turn, the unit is still on full supply. the enemy cuts off his supply lines, and then its my turn again. the unit is now on half supply, now 2 things can happen. i can either reestablish supply lines in anyway possible or fail to do that, in case of the former when i end my turn the unit will go back to full supply, in case of the latter the unit will go to no supply, then if its my enemy's turn he will be able to bash my unit to pieces, otherwise its saved. if for some reason i was not able to reestablish supply this turn, but neither was the enemy able to kill it, and i manage to connect supply lines in turn 3 the unit that was on no supply will not immediately go back to full supply, but it will go to half supply first, and then at the next update it will go to full supply.

also perhaps a thing that would be nice is a technology, that can be researched somewhere near the end of the research spectrum for air units, (or perhaps alone airplanes, that would be more fitting) that they can drop air supplies to units that are within some of their range, to provide lets say half supply?

im just coming up with some ideas, i dont know if its possible, but i think it would make the game more fun, and it wouldnt be unrealistic i think.

[Umeu]

sorry dbl post.

[stockwellpete]

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