Loading Oil problem?

[rsallen64]

I am trying to load a single Tanker with Oil in Los Angeles for transport to Melbourne and nothing is happening for several turns. The Tanker can load about 14k of oil, there is about 45k of at the base, and the TF is docked. Outside of the tanker, I have a DD in the TF. I know that some say there is no point in shipping oil, but I want to load up on oil in Melbourne so I don't have to worry about it for a while, and as I play through my first GC I am trying to work out all the logistics issues I can. Is there any reason why, after about 5 turns or so, no oil is loading? I read through what I could find on loading with TFs, port capacity, etc., but I can't find an explanation.

Thanks for your help!

[Alfred]

There is no surplus oil in Los Angeles.
 
Search the forum, there are many threads which explain this in detail.
 
Alfred

[btd64]

Turn off the refinery for however many turns you wish. Then you can load your oil as a surplus will develop....GP

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: rsallen64

I am trying to load a single Tanker with Oil in Los Angeles for transport to Melbourne and nothing is happening for several turns. The Tanker can load about 14k of oil, there is about 45k of at the base, and the TF is docked. Outside of the tanker, I have a DD in the TF. I know that some say there is no point in shipping oil, but I want to load up on oil in Melbourne so I don't have to worry about it for a while, and as I play through my first GC I am trying to work out all the logistics issues I can. Is there any reason why, after about 5 turns or so, no oil is loading? I read through what I could find on loading with TFs, port capacity, etc., but I can't find an explanation.

Thanks for your help!

Hi rsallen64...

Stupid question (on my part), but you're specifically referring to 'oil' per se and not 'fuel' per se, right?

Oil doesn't need to be moved to Australia and there's not a surplus in Los Angeles. Fuel, however, is stored in abundance and it can be transported to Australia where it will be used to produce HI (Heavy Industry) points at HI centers there.

Sorry if I'm sounding silly, but some people confuse the two in this very complex game.

[rsallen64]

I did mean "oil" and not "fuel." I had assumed that the amount of oil there meant there was a surplus, but based on the replies, I am assuming that due to the amount of shipping coming in and out of that port, there is no surplus, so that's why I can't ship it. I had gotten a Tracker message saying the refinery in Melbourne was short of oil, and that's why I looked around for oil to ship. LA seemed to have the largest pool available. The Tracker message has gone away since then, but I wanted to skip a repeat of the same. I will just forget the attempt to ship oil to Melbourne based on the replies, as it doesn't seem worth the effort.

Gotta love this forum, though! Thanks for the help, and the quick replies.

[alimentary]

ORIGINAL: rsallen64
I am assuming that due to the amount of shipping coming in and out of that port, there is no surplus, so that's why I can't ship it.

It is due to the refineries in Los Angeles using it all up.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: alimentary

ORIGINAL: rsallen64
I am assuming that due to the amount of shipping coming in and out of that port, there is no surplus, so that's why I can't ship it.

It is due to the refineries in Los Angeles using it all up.

Yes. And in this game fuel is not for vehicles and aircraft, it is used only by ships and Heavy Industry. The oil you are planning to move is only used by refineries to make fuel - no other purpose. So it makes more sense to ship plentiful fuel from the US to Oz than to ship oil which then has to be converted to fuel to be used anywhere. IME oil also seems to load and unload more slowly than fuel, so your tanker is tied up longer in these phases.

BTW, aircraft and vehicles get their fuel from "supply". It is just a game abstraction to avoid having to break "fuel" down into gasoline/avgas/bunker fuel and manage each of these separately.

You will also find that AK type cargo ships can carry fuel in their holds but at half capacity - presumably to simulate fuel in drums. This fuel cargo cannot be shared with other ships until it is unloaded at a base.

[GetAssista]

Never ever transport oil as Allies, fuel is always better economically.
Unless you are running away from DEI in 41-42 and not have any fuel left to take with you.

[Treetop64]

As others have mentioned, the supply of oil at LA is only just enough for use in its own refineries. The same is true for many other locations on the map regarding oil, fuel, and supply, so be sure to always check base requirements before assigning ships for pickups. LA will have more than enough fuel stored for delivery to other locations, however.

If you still want to send oil to OZ, and the Dutch East Indies are still relatively safe, there is plenty of it at Palambang and at the ports in eastern Borneo. Time to do this will be limited, as the Japanese will be quick to make life difficult in the DEI...

[Korvar]

Also, it is considered somewhat of a WitP:AE faux pas to ship oil/fuel in xAK/AK cargo ships, even though the game will allow you to do so at the 1/2 rate. It would be technically possible to do so via drum storage (or some other form of containerized storage); however, there wouldn't be enough drums/containers in existence at the time to accomplish this on a large scale. Bottom line, you can do what you want (esp. against the AI), but it's probably a conversation you'll want to have with any future human opponents.

Consider using the 'Industry' screen in Tracker (a 3rd party database utility/application) to track the aggregate amount of supplies and fuel in various regions. You can turn off heavy industries in Australia (or elsewhere) if you happen to have an abundance of supplies there but a relative lack of fuel. That will help you balance resources while you get your convoy system sorted.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Korvar

Also, it is considered somewhat of a WitP:AE faux pas to ship oil/fuel in xAK/AK cargo ships, even though the game will allow you to do so at the 1/2 rate. It would be technically possible to do so via drum storage (or some other form of containerized storage); however, there wouldn't be enough drums/containers in existence at the time to accomplish this on a large scale. Bottom line, you can do what you want (esp. against the AI), but it's probably a conversation you'll want to have with any future human opponents.

Consider using the 'Industry' screen in Tracker (a 3rd party database utility/application) to track the aggregate amount of supplies and fuel in various regions. You can turn off heavy industries in Australia (or elsewhere) if you happen to have an abundance of supplies there but a relative lack of fuel. That will help you balance resources while you get your convoy system sorted.

I disagree with the idea that fuel should never be shipped on cargo vessels. Sure, loading up every cargo vessel you have would be unrealistic but a couple of xAKLs here and there to get fuel into small ports or dot bases should not be prohibited. I refer you to the movie "Mr. Roberts", where their cargo ship (about an xAKL as near as I can tell) had a complete load of drums when it was strafed by a Zeke. In the movie the fuel was gas, but that could have been for PT boats so shipping a little fuel in drums is not a big deal in game.

[MakeeLearn]

From
Pacific Counterblow
THE 11TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP AND THE 67TH FIGHTER SQUADRON IN THE BATTLE FOR GUADALCANAL


"The Navy had moved .50-caliber ammunition and 300,000 gallons of gasoline to Espiritu in preparation for the 11th. Fuel consumption had been estimated for 2 weeks of operations and a safety factor of 100 per cent allowed, but the supply was exhausted in 10 days and only the timely arrival of the Nira Luckenbach with 3,000 drums of gasoline prevented operations from coming to a sudden halt. Getting the fuel out of the drums and into the tanks of the B-17's was one of those impossible jobs which somehow got done. Gas trucks and trailers did not exist; the steel drums were dumped over the ship's side, floated ashore in nets, hand-rolled up under the trees, and dispersed in dumps of 20 to 30."

Wow, 1 ship...3,000 drums.

[HansBolter]

A while back when the same misconception that there couldn't have been enough drums to make this happen surfaced some one posted a time period photo of a stockpile of what could only have been millions of 55 gallon drums. It was possible and it did happen.

[Yaab]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Korvar

Also, it is considered somewhat of a WitP:AE faux pas to ship oil/fuel in xAK/AK cargo ships, even though the game will allow you to do so at the 1/2 rate. It would be technically possible to do so via drum storage (or some other form of containerized storage); however, there wouldn't be enough drums/containers in existence at the time to accomplish this on a large scale. Bottom line, you can do what you want (esp. against the AI), but it's probably a conversation you'll want to have with any future human opponents.

Consider using the 'Industry' screen in Tracker (a 3rd party database utility/application) to track the aggregate amount of supplies and fuel in various regions. You can turn off heavy industries in Australia (or elsewhere) if you happen to have an abundance of supplies there but a relative lack of fuel. That will help you balance resources while you get your convoy system sorted.

I disagree with the idea that fuel should never be shipped on cargo vessels. Sure, loading up every cargo vessel you have would be unrealistic but a couple of xAKLs here and there to get fuel into small ports or dot bases should not be prohibited. I refer you to the movie "Mr. Roberts", where their cargo ship (about an xAKL as near as I can tell) had a complete load of drums when it was strafed by a Zeke. In the movie the fuel was gas, but that could have been for PT boats so shipping a little fuel in drums is not a big deal in game.

Yes, instead of a complete ban on fuel in xAKs, you can allow to move fuel by xAKLs as an exception. That is as far as I would go myself.

[rustysi]

OK. To the ops question I would just like to add the following for some possible clarity.

In a base with a refinery it gets 'priority' for oil at the base. In addition such base will 'attempt' to maintani a minimal amout of oil for the refinerey and will not allow you to load oil below that level. Therefore even as you may see there'e oil at the base it will not load onto the TK.

Now as others have said you really don't need to load oil for OZ as it doesn't matter if the refineries there are supplied or not, as long as you ship fuel. For me I'd probably ship some oil there, but that's just me. Its just a reality type thing if you will. A matter of personal preference. To do this, as said above just turn off the refinery for a day or two. Either way it won't matter to the Allies. JMHO. YMMV.

[crsutton]

In short, it makes no sense at all to send oil to Australia. Why not just load up fuel which can both run Australian industry without having to refine it, and run your ships? A tanker load of oil is just a wasted tanker.

[Yaab]

Take the smallest AO/TK available and park it in Abadan to slowly suck its oil (50 daily surplus), then ship the oil to Australia.

[Chris21wen]

ORIGINAL: Yaab

Take the smallest AO/TK available and park it in Abadan to slowly suck its oil (50 daily surplus), then ship the oil to Australia.

Alternatively ship as much oil as you can from the DEI then just ship fuel when the DEI falls.

[Chris21wen]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

Never ever transport oil as Allies, fuel is always better economically.
Unless you are running away from DEI in 41-42 and not have any fuel left to take with you.

I disagree with that. True, as the Allies you don't need to ship oil except from the DEI but unlike you I'd ship oil before fuel. One oil converts to 1 supply and 9 fuel therefore to me it's economically better to ship oil. Operational wise it might not be the case.

[Yaab]

There is also Boela and Babo in DEI that have some free oil.