SUPPLY QUESTION

[Phoenix100]

Quick couple of queries for the experts - reading the manual has left me puzzled.

1. When supply comes from a road SEP at map edge can it be interdicted by (a) enemy activity/proximity and/or (b) arty fire only, inbetween the SEP and the supplying base? Or do supplies go direct from SEP to supplying base without possibility of interdiction?
2. Can supply be interdicted by arty fire alone (ie lay arty fire on the main road outside the base, or, indeed, on the base itself)?

[dazkaz15]

From my experience your Depots can be cut off from the SEP the same as any unit can be cut off from its Depot by enemy being on the main supply route between the two.

I can't say I have ever noticed any messages to say that the supply coulomb from a SEP has had x% losses, but you can see if your Depot is in supply by the supply command line that goes to its supplying SEP, and the supply line indicator(F7 key) will be red on your Depot.

[Phoenix100]

Daz, I wonder if I've seen a message saying something like - 'the supply column from 82nd AB Base to 82nd AB base has suffered 100% losses' (or something like that), and wondered if that meant between the SEP and the base?

Would like a definitive answer, I guess. Reason I'm confused is that I've read the manual as suggesting that it doesn't happen, somehow.

[jimcarravall]

If I interpreted ScenMaker discussion of placing SEPs, the supplies pushed from a SEP are in effect interdicted by an enemy unit being placed along a route between the SEP and the base.

It causes supply to flow through another SEP to the base, incurring distance and routing differences in what is "pushed" to the base.

If individual SEPs are designated as handling only a percentage of the total supply for the side (e.g. any one SEP supplies only a percentage of the full supplies needed for the scenario), once enough SEPs are "interdicted" for the pushed supplies to fall below 100 percent, there not only is a distance penalty but a decrease in the total amount of supplies available for the side in the scenario.

Supplies "pushed" from SEPs at the map edge use off map resources for transport to the base.

Supplies "pushed" from air supplied SEPs (paradrop or glider landed supplies) depend on the Base's assets for shipment, creating a double whammy when the SEP is interfered with by a unit's zone of control.

My guess is artillery "interdicts" the flow from SEP to base if a spotting unit can pinpoint a route along which the supplies would be shipped and the artillery could bombard based on identifying the location where the supplies would flow.

[BletchleyGeek]

Some quick answers:

Regarding arty: the only possible interaction between artillery fires and supply is to bombard supply bases.

Attrition of supply transport columns is affected by:

1) The APer/AArm fires envelope of units, collated through LOS, resulting in a firepower value being assigned to terrain locations. These values are integrated along the route followed by the supply column to determine the total firepower poured on supply columns during its trip.

2) This firepower value is then modified by the training and experience of the Supply Base. The higher these values, the less likely to suffer casualties is the transport column.

SEPs are best understood static supply bases, with an associated type of movement (wheeled, etc.) and an unlimited number of vehicles. They aren't modeled as on-map units, so you cannot bombard or direct airstrikes at them and expect them to become less functional. On the other hand, you can interdict transport columns travelling from the SEP to a supply base, very much as you can interdict transport columns from supply bases to line units.

[Phoenix100]

Many thanks for that, BG. Very helpful indeed.

You should qualify - and an unlimited number of vehicles I guess to mean only road SEPs, not airdrop or airlanding SEPS, which rely on the depots vehicles, no?

Thanks Jim, too.

I think I have the picture now.

[BletchleyGeek]

ORIGINAL: phoenix
You should qualify - and an unlimited number of vehicles I guess to mean only road SEPs, not airdrop or airlanding SEPS, which rely on the depots vehicles, no?

I don't think there's a distinction at that level between SEPs, phoenix. Note that SEPs prescribe a volume of supplies being delivered, so I guess that is up to scenario designers to modulate the amount of supply flowing out of a SEP when defining the scenario.

[Phoenix100]

I just meant that road SEPs have, in effect, an unlimited amount of vehicles (no matter what the interdiction) wheras airborne SEPS reply on the trucks in the base depot and hence can lose vehicles through interdiction, no?

[BletchleyGeek]

There's a distinction as stated on the manual

Arrival Type can be Ground ( by truck, wagon or manpack ), Airdrop ( parachute ), Airfield ( aircraft ). Supplies that arrive via Ground, simply transit through the SEP location on their way to the drawing Bases/Depots. The transport capacity for this is provided from off map at no cost to the on-map Bases/Depots. Supplies arriving via Airdrop or Airfield are dumped at the SEP location and have to be transported by the drawing Bases/Depots – to move them requires the commitment of transport capacity from on-map Bases.

As you can see, transport for ground SEPs is "free" as in "free beer", for airdrop or airfield SEPs, the drawing bases need to use their own vehicles (and these are indeed finite).

[Lieste]

Are you *sure* that you can interdict anything going from a road based SEP to the on-map-highest-level-base? My experience is that this is immune from becoming isolated from supply, and I exclusively use airborne SEP in consequence, adding the next highest HQ/Base if required to 'bulk-up' supply delivery potential without distracting combat unit supply.

The interdiction of supply works perfectly well for connections between lower level supply bases, and between a base and it's supplied units ~ it is only this 'top-level' supply that seems to be abnormal.

[Arjuna]

You should be able to interdict supplies being delivered from an SEP to any base, regardless of whether they are the highest level of base or not.

[Lieste]

From my experience so far, the isolation of a base on an 'island' isn't enough to prevent supply delivery, nor is sitting on every approach route with an entire PzDiv (either isolating the SEP or the base).

[Arjuna]

David,

Have you got a save where this occurs. I'd be happy to investigate further.