ACW Supply

[2-81 Armor]

I've never designed a scenario that would go that long... but to give you a bit of an idea.

The first thing I do when I'm assigning artillery ammunition is doing a nose count of batteries.  That gives me a baseline, but from there, it gets more complicated.

Can the army get resupply? What is their overall supply situation?  If they're in good supply, I'll try to give them enough supply that they can use their guns reasonably freely, but not every shot for every gun every turn (accounting for both offensive and defensive fire). 

In a longer scenario, I would take a harder look at that strategic supply situation.  For instance, at Pea Ridge, the CSA ran out of artillery ammo on day two, because Van Dorn had marched in a way that placed Union troops between him and his supply trains (while the Union soldiers were encamped around a depot...)  That would guide how I would set levels.  So, the CSA would be ammo poor, and the Union would be ammo rich there.

I haven't done any ACW design, but honestly, this is a spot where I would start nagging the programmers for the ability to add artillery ammo every day, without just sending more guns. (This would represent resupply trains, and the designer would have the ability to set a level.)

Gary and 72z:

Thanks for the response. From what you both are saying it appears that what I've been suspecting is true: by having wagons coming on as reinforcements it is possible to keep the small arms in ammunition, but for the artillery we're most likely out of luck in very long scenarios.

I've just taken a look at the very longest scenario I can think of, and that's the 1390 Turn (!!) Historical Campaign 100-640504 one from Campaign Overland. In it both sides each are given 5000 artillery rounds a piece for a Campaign that is supposed to cover the historical Forty Days. The way I see it, this is way too few, and both sides most likely would be out by the the time a week or even less has passed.

My original question was prompted by a custom Campaign Atlanta scenario for private use a friend and I have been working on together covering the period from when Johnston occupied the "Shoup Line" along the Chattahoochee, abandoned it, and Hood attacked Thomas at Peachtree Creek. This was projected to run "only" 383 turns. The problem we had/have was with artillery ammunition. This occurred when it was determined that the Union should start with 13050 rounds and the Confederates with 9800. (This was being calculated using the per gun optional rule.) Everything looked good in the editor, but when the scenario was loaded for test, the ammo figures went crazy with the Union being credited with over 38000 rounds, and the Confederates with 20000+. But if the scenario is started using the per battery rule, the numbers are correct. My friend has tried playing with different number combinations, and has come close to what we wanted for the per gun rule, but it's still off. I'm now in favor of scrapping the project and saying it just isn't meant to be.

I suspect the system just can't handle numbers over a certain amount, and things get skewed. The editor documentation is really sort of sparse when it comes to anything but the basics. I believe Gary's right that the ACW system needs a rudimentary supply system that can be used in the editor. I haven't seen anything but very basic support for the ACW games in a while (I mean the system itself, not the recent and appreciated graphic updates), and I'm not anticipating any. This is too bad, but some games series must be more popular than others, and programming time has to be rationed.

In the end I have to wonder why anyone would go through all the work and trouble to create a 1390 turn scenario without a workable supply system? I must be missing something.

  EDIT - And now I have an idea of what that something may be. I opened the Overland Campaign scenario as a two player hot seat game, and those 5000 artillery rounds had magically become 20,000+ rounds for both sides. I suspect that when a value over a set amount is entered in the editor for artillery supply, the game engine converts it when the designed scenario is started. If so this is nice, but lack of documentation IF this is an intended feature prevents intelligent use of it. That would explain how and why a 1390 turn scenario can be designed.

Anyway, thanks guys for the input. I appreciate it.