Out of Fuel

[buffedub]

I am playing the Med scenario and note that 3 and 4 months in, a number of ships are indicating 0% fuel and no longer move on the map. Is this normal? If so how does one prevent such an event?

Regards
Roger

[tony_glazebrook]

I am playing the Med scenario and note that 3 and 4 months in, a number of ships are indicating 0% fuel and no longer move on the map. Is this normal? If so how does one prevent such an event?

Regards
Roger

Fuel usage for naval ships is an important consideration - all naval ships burn fuel when they move. They refuel when in port, provided the port has resource points (RPs) there. If your ships are showing 0% fuel for too long it means they are stranded at ports that don't have RPs. You'll need to transport RPs there, or hope the industry at the port (if any) produces enough. RPs are also used to rearm and repair, and build ships, raise troops etc. You have to keep a close eye on your RPs! Your 2IC will try to keep RPs flowing to ports that need it but there are many competing demands - for RPs and for ships - so you would be advised, when you are ready, to watch your RPs more closely and make some moves yourself to help things along.


Good luck

[goodwood]

Fuel usage for naval ships is an important consideration - all naval ships burn fuel when they move. They refuel when in port, provided the port has resource points (RPs) there. If your ships are showing 0% fuel for too long it means they are stranded at ports that don't have RPs. You'll need to transport RPs there, or hope the industry at the port (if any) produces enough. RPs are also used to rearm and repair, and build ships, raise troops etc. You have to keep a close eye on your RPs! Your 2IC will try to keep RPs flowing to ports that need it but there are many competing demands - for RPs and for ships - so you would be advised, when you are ready, to watch your RPs more closely and make some moves yourself to help things along.


Good luck

Tony if a task force runs out of fuel in the middle of the Med does it limp back to port at set rate? Under the way refuelling should perhaps added to the wishlist
Ron

[tony_glazebrook]

Tony if a task force runs out of fuel in the middle of the Med does it limp back to port at set rate? Under the way refuelling should perhaps added to the wishlist
Ron

Ron - the AI checks each ship's bunkerage every hour and sends them to the nearest suitable port when it is too low, and also then has rules about cancelling missions due to departures.

There IS a refuelling at sea capability built in. This is not mentioned anywhere in the manual but basically every surface fleet carries around with it a notional fleet oiler capability that can supplement ship's max bunkerage by 30%. Every time the fleet passes through a port, the oilers get replenished (if there are enough RPs). At sea, the oilers refuel the most needy every so often, and give prioroty to the smaller ships. The oilers are virtual ships - they are opt physically represented in the game; do not need to be built; can not be sunk; etc. It is a virtual capability.

This is a stop gap until we do re-fuelling at sea in a more sophisticated way.

[buffedub]

Tony

In my initial post the ships that I mentioned were at zero fuel were in the middle of the Med. They were not in a port with low RPs for replenishment. I gather from your later comments that some of these ships will eventually move due to the work of undocumented oilers. I can understand why a combat fleet may run out of fuel since at the outset it doesn't know what it will run into. However. some of my ships without fuel are in a convoy fleet which one would think would have enough fuel on board to complete its scheduled journey.

[tony_glazebrook]

Tony

In my initial post the ships that I mentioned were at zero fuel were in the middle of the Med. They were not in a port with low RPs for replenishment. I gather from your later comments that some of these ships will eventually move due to the work of undocumented oilers. I can understand why a combat fleet may run out of fuel since at the outset it doesn't know what it will run into. However. some of my ships without fuel are in a convoy fleet which one would think would have enough fuel on board to complete its scheduled journey.

buffedub - convoy missions set up by your 2IC do take into account the length of the journey and the endurance of each ship, but that is calculated on fuel usage at cruising speed for the particular fleet. A reserve is also required. But when fleets need to deviate for emergency reasons, or get involved in battles, they travel further and when in battle move faster so burn more fuel than planned.