Supply
Every trench is fed from a depot far behind it. Cut the chain, and the sector at the end of it weakens, stops digging and gives way.
You rarely kill your way to victory in Shellfall. Most ground is won another way: you starve a sector, then let your infantry take it. Supply is the main lever you pull, and most of the best targets on the map are links in somebody's supply chain.
The chain
Every trench line is fed by the same chain, from the back to the front:
- Depot. Where supplies gather, behind the lines.
- Road or light railway. Carts and light trains carry supplies forward.
- Communication trench. The winding trench that leads back from the front.
- Front trench. Where the supplies are used up.
Enemy depots and guns sit 2 to 6 km behind their fire trench. With Old Marta 4 to 8 km behind yours, most of these shots are 8 to 14 km long. See Charges and range.
A number from 0 to 100
Each trench sector has a supply value from 0 to 100. Supply refills ammunition, replaces casualties and pays for digging. A sector at low supply:
- fires less,
- stops digging,
- and retreats if it is charged.
The front status bar at the top of both views shows the supply and strength of each sector in reach.
Cutting the chain
Shelling depots, carts, rail junctions and communication trenches cuts supply to everything beyond the break. Rail junctions and bridges are prime targets: cutting them cuts supply, and it can even trap an enemy gun on a dead-end siding. See The rail network.
Once a sector is starving, it fires less and falls back when charged. That is when your own infantry go over. See The living battlefield.
A depot you destroy shows as ruins on your map and stays ruined in the world, unless the enemy rebuilds it. Only fresh recon would show you that, so an old ruin on the map is worth a second look. See The intel map remembers and Recon: spotters, balloons and planes.
Rescuing your own
The chain works the same way for your side. When a friendly sector is cut off, the supply canister shell drops supply straight into it and keeps the isolated trenches going. See Shells.
Long supply lines
An army that pushes far ahead of its rails pays for it. In the shared war, the further an attacker gets from its newest rail line, the less each success there is worth, until engineers lay new track closer to the front. This keeps any one army from running away with the war. See The shared war.
In the campaign, supply and depots arrive in winter, in the chapter "The Long Line". See The campaign: four seasons.