What and where can you get a supply dump?

[lcm1977]

This term came up in a topic I was in and didn't know what it meant so decided to try to look it up in the manual but couldn't find it.  Can somebody tell me more about it?  and in which of the many manuals 

it's in.  

 

Thanks

[womble]

It's a version 3 thing. First, you have to be in the scenario editor. Then you have to find "Supply Platoon" and buy some. Then you can set any of the vehicles in the platoon (or the whole platoon) to "Dismounted" in the Vehicle Status dropdown (bottom right, with Supply and Headcount). This will give you Supply Dumps to deploy on the map in the editor. Then you have to play the designed scenario on Elite or Iron (I think. Maybe Warrior). On lower difficulty levels, the ammo in an ammo dump is distributed amongst your force rather than you having to Acquire it from a dump.

 

You can't have Supply Dumps in QBs because you can't set the Supply Platoon to "Dismounted". You just have to loot the trucks.

[RockinHarry]

What Womble said. The manuals aren´t yet updated with that particular info. Basically in the editor you can "dismount" any transport capable vehicles (jeeps, kubels, trucks and half tracks, as well as pillboxes) and have their loaded ammo placed as small dumps on map instead. These mostly contain various rifle and MG ammo, with exception of organic heavy weapon transport vehicles, which also spill a good amount of extra ammo, like HE for mortars and such.

The actual supply (truck) platoons content differ somewhat for the nationalities, for which the germans have some options with regard to SMG, rifle, schreck and faust ammo, while the US and CW have not.

Ammo dumps are also a big attractor to the AI generally, once spotted and when blown up, appear to give some variation for size of explosion. Nothing spectacular though.

Beside mentioned game modes, "scenario author test" mode will also remove the dumps and have content distributed among friendly units. Needs some confirmation. Think I´ve seen some mortar ammo dumps removed, without the ammo beeing distributed to mortars. Need to recheck (scenario author mode).

Dumps apply for automatic ammo sharing, so there´s usually no need to access ammo by aquire command. Not thoroughly tested that myself yet, so there could be cases where it does not quite work this way.

[A Canadian Cat]

I just checked other game manuals.  The CM Engine Manual v3 that ships with CMFI and CMBN do not mention ammo dumps.  However, the version that ships with CMRT does:
 

The highlights with page references if you want to check my summary:
pp28-29 says that ammo is distributed automatically for skill levels Warrior and below
pp55. talks about the acquire command which can be used with ammo dumps but automatic sharing also happens
pp59 talks about how automatic sharing works
pp91-92 is about soft factors in the scenario editor and describes how to create ammo dumps. It says the any vehicle can be turned into an ammo dump.  Also interesting is that it says that if ammo is distributed (at certain skill levels) it is "automatically distributed among units in the same formation".  To me that implies that if you create ammo dumps from a heavy weapon's platoon's formation they will only distribute the ammo between the member of that platoon if you play on Warrior skill level.

[Erwin]

Re Ammo Dumps...  other than a demo scenario, are there any scenarios/campaigns out there that feature em??

[Pete Wenman]

 

 

other than a demo scenario, are there any scenarios/campaigns out there that feature em?

 

Yes

 

P

[lcm1977]

Thanks all for the information.  Something I might use but probably not unless I stumble across in a scenario.  It is a neat idea though.  

[Erwin]

A list might be useful.  I usually play campaigns and I do not recall seeing dumps in any of the missions.

[RockinHarry]

Some more info not in the manual(s), mainly useful for mission designers:

Dumps can be placed in buildings, though on 1st floor only.

If a dump is placed in a small building (whole AS, or half AS shack), then a HMG team won´t be able to deploy, for obvious lack of space. That counts mainly for small shacks. Might work better in full AS buildings. Not thoroughly tested yet.

Can not be "loaded" again on different transport vehicle at setup time or during game play (obvious).

If during setup phase, various dumps are placed in adjacent action spots, they´re combined into a single dump with content of both, or multiple, if more than two dumps directly adjoin each other. Tested with supply dumps from the dedicated supply platoon only. SD´s spilled from various dismounted transports and different formations not yet tested.

Also not yet tested, if supply dumps can enter the game via reinforcement slots, but my guess would be yes.

Edit: Off course it´s quite useful to just access certain ammo via the aquire command and not just through automatic ammo sharing. Moving adjacent to the dump gives access via aquire. Directly moving into the action spot with the dump, is not possible!

Edited September 11, 2015 by RockinHarry

[mjkerner]

RockinHarry, FYI,

 

Just last night I added supply dumps to a map/scenario I'm making and used different Opel Trucks from different formations.  After dismounting the first one in the editor, I deployed it into a house on the map.  Went back into the editor, dismounted another truck, went back into the game to deploy it, and couldn't find the supply dump icon!  After checking the original supply dump, it had doubled its ammo count.  I tried doing another one, same thing...so it appears once you place a supply dump on the map, any others made just has its ammo added to the already existing  on-map dump.  Don't know what would happen if you made several dismounts while still in the editor, before going to the map to deploy them; however, in that case, they should be separate units.

[RockinHarry]

RockinHarry, FYI,

 

Just last night I added supply dumps to a map/scenario I'm making and used different Opel Trucks from different formations.  After dismounting the first one in the editor, I deployed it into a house on the map.  Went back into the editor, dismounted another truck, went back into the game to deploy it, and couldn't find the supply dump icon!  After checking the original supply dump, it had doubled its ammo count.  I tried doing another one, same thing...so it appears once you place a supply dump on the map, any others made just has its ammo added to the already existing  on-map dump.  Don't know what would happen if you made several dismounts while still in the editor, before going to the map to deploy them; however, in that case, they should be separate units.

Yes, it appears to be the way supply dumps work for dismounted trucks from the same supply platoon. They always combine/add up, no matter in what sequence they´re placed. Does not count for dumps deployed from other vehicles, not part of a supply platoon. For normal supply platoon, one can work around (in case of german, which has 4 variations of ammo assortment) by purchasing several supply platoons, choose options and then place amount of dismounted trucks to be deployed. These won´t combine, when part of different platoons.

Unfortunately there´s just 1 panzerfaust for each german dismounted truck, when choosing the weapons/AT option. So a whole platoon yields just 4 fausts in total. A bit meager I find.

[MOS:96B2P]

You can share ammo, acquire ammo and buddy aid ammo.

 

Ammo sharing distance is two action spots.  The units must be in the same platoon / section (both highlight when you click on one).

 

Below is an example of a two man scout team going to an ammo dump in a building, using the Acquire command to obtain ammo and then returning to the squad to distribute the ammo.  

 

 

 

[lcm1977]

Pretty neat MOS.  Thanks for such detailed explanation.  I gotta check this out as I've never seen anything in regards to ammo dump but then again I never really looked - but will now.  Thanks again.  

[Ivan Zaitzev]

I can't get the Supply Platoon to change into ammo dump. I purchase one supply platoon, go into deploy, I bail out the unit (dismount is not an option), go into the editor again and once again into deploy and I still have the crew and the truck. What am I doing wrong?

Also, is there a way to add specific ammo to vehicles or the ammo dump?

Thanks.

 

EDIT: Since we are in the topic of sharing ammo. Can two units from different formations share ammo?

Edited November 19, 2015 by Ivan Zaitzev

[Baneman]

Ivan you need to set the vehicle to "Dismounted" in the editor, before deploying ie. where you choose Troop Quality etc.

[Ivan Zaitzev]

Aha! I was doing it wrong, its working now. Thanks!

[womble]

EDIT: Since we are in the topic of sharing ammo. Can two units from different formations share ammo?

Not as a rule, no. But I believe supply dumps/platoons might be an exception to that rule. The general rule for ammo sharing is "if the units both highlight when you select (not doubleclick) them, they can share ammo".