I sat at the small wooden desk in my room, the weight of the logistics problem pressing down on me like a heavy fog. The room is quiet, save for the occasional scratch of my pen against paper. I started by sketching out the rough map of my operations on a sheet of paper—each port is a small circle, connected by wavy lines representing the perilous routes my cargo ships had to navigate. I labeled them: Main Port, Port Primo, Port Dos, all the way to Port Six.

I leaned back and stared at the map. The farther my fleet moved from the main base, the harder it became to keep everything running smoothly. The system that had once worked is now crumbling under the weight of expansion. I tore off a piece of paper and crumpled it into a tiny ball, imagining it as a shipment of oil. I placed it on the "Main Port" circle and used my pen to push it along the drawn route, stopping it at each port to "refuel." The further I pushed it, the more I felt the strain—by the time it reached Port Six, I could almost hear the creaking of a ship struggling against the waves, low on fuel and supplies.

"This is ridiculous," I muttered to myself, crumpling the paper ball even tighter in frustration. The system is becoming a high-stakes game of supply chain roulette, and I am the one losing.

I stared at the map, imagining the growing demands on each port. My credit budget is expanding, but so are the problems. Port Five and Port Four, in particular, are feeling the pinch. I grabbed another piece of paper, labeled it "Oil," and tried to move it from the main port to Port Five. Halfway there, I stopped, crumpled it up, and threw it to the side, imagining it being delayed or lost to bad weather. The idea of shipments never arriving in time is starting to choke my industries. I could practically see the oil barrels running dry, the factories grinding to a halt, all because my logistics are failing.

And then there are my warships—those hulking beasts that needed a constant flow of fuel, ammunition, and spare parts. I picked up a pen and wrote "Parts" on a scrap of paper, folding it into a small square. I placed it on the map, moving it along the same route as the others. Every time it crossed a port, I stopped, imagining the strain on the resources there. The supplies are getting thinner and thinner the farther out they went.

I needed a solution, and fast.

I grabbed a fresh sheet of paper and began sketching out a new idea: a superfreighter and a supertanker. These would be the giants of the sea, capable of carrying enormous amounts of supplies and oil to my farthest ports. I drew them out, large and imposing, with detailed notes on their capabilities. They’d only need a few stops to refuel, making the whole process more efficient. But even as I sketched, doubts crept in. I tore off a piece of paper, labeled it "Superfreighter," and placed it on the map.

With a swift flick, I imagined an enemy torpedo striking it. The paper crumpled and fell off the desk. The thought of losing an entire shipment in one go is too much—a disaster waiting to happen.

So, while the idea has potential, I shelved it for now. It's a great concept, but I need to think it through more before committing. For now, it's just one possible solution among many.

With my carrier strike group currently stationed at Port Six, the farthest out I can go. I can still get oil and supplies out there, but when it comes to delivery, the convoy takes at least half a day to arrive, and that’s under the best ideal conditions. Not to mention the fuel they burn just getting there. It's a drain on resources, and it's only going to get worse as I expand further.

As I sat there, staring at the map of my ports and supply routes, the scope of the problem became more apparent. With each port and territories having its own set of needs and challenges, they all boil down into the same overarching issue: distance. The farther out I pushed, the more resources I burned just to keep the basics running.

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So, first things first, I needed to streamline the supply chain. The current setup, where everything funneled through the main port, is becoming a choke point. It made sense when I am only managing a couple of ports, but now that I had six, with plans for more, it is unsustainable. I needed to decentralize—spread out the resources so that each port could operate more independently.

That’s when it hit me: regional hubs. Instead of relying on the main port to supply everything, I could establish smaller, specialized hubs closer to the outer ports. These hubs would handle specific types of supplies—one could focus on oil, another on spare parts, and another on ammunition. By breaking up the supply chain, I could reduce the strain on any single route and make the whole system more resilient.

I started sketching out the plan, marking potential locations for these hubs. Port Tres is a natural choice for an oil depot—it's already halfway to Port Six, and expanding its capacity to store and distribute oil would ease the pressure on the convoys. Port Kwatro, with its relatively stable infrastructure, could become a maintenance hub, where I’d stockpile spare parts and tools. And Port Dos, closer to the center of my operations, would handle ammunition and other consumables.

With these hubs in place, I could cut down on the travel time for resupply convoys, meaning less fuel burned and fewer delays. Ships could get what they needed closer to their stations, and the risk of a single convoy being knocked out and crippling the entire fleet would be minimized.

Of course, all of this would require a serious investment of time and credits, but with the growing demands on my fleet, it's a necessary one. I’d start small—maybe just a few warehouses there and there to test the concept—while gradually building up the regional hubs. If it worked, I could scale up, adding more ships and expanding the hubs as needed.

After wrestling with more idea of expanding my logistics fleet, I also realized that simply adding more ships would only strain my existing ports further. It sounded good in theory, but in practice, it would be like putting a bandage on a wound that needed stitches. However, after thinking it through, another idea finally clicked.

Instead of just increasing the number of ships, I decided to design a new class of enlarged vessels based on what I already had—just bigger, better, and more efficient.

I grabbed a sheet of paper and started jotting down ideas. The plan is simple: take the current models, the C-1 cargo ships and O-1 oilers, and scale them up. But it isn't just about making them larger—I wanted to make them smarter. These new ships, which I named the C-2 and O-2 classes, would have more oil-efficient engines, even though they'd be more expensive to produce. I’d keep the same reliable boilers but with enhancements to extend their sea endurance. With this upgrade, they’d be capable of carrying more supplies and fuel over longer distances without needing as many refueling stops.

These new ships would allow me to push my supply lines farther while reducing the frequency of resupply missions, easing the burden on my ports. I’d still keep the original C-1 and O-1 models in production, but the C-2 and O-2 ships would become the backbone of my fleet, especially for longer routes.

But that isn't the end of it. I needed something that could handle my growing need for aircraft and their logistics—something that could transport and deploy planes to my airbases and carriers without relying on makeshift solutions. That’s when the idea for a dedicated plane cargo ship came to me.

I sketched out the CA-1, a high-capacity cargo ship designed specifically for aircraft. Imagine a cruise liner, but instead of passengers, it’s packed with plane hangars. I added elevators in the sides of the ship to transport aircraft from the lower decks to the top, where a long cable crane would lift them onto the airbase or carrier. This design would streamline the process of deploying planes, making it quicker and more efficient to get them where they needed to be. With the CA-1, I could support my air operations no matter how far from home base they are.

To truly seal the deal, I needed to bolster the infrastructure on my islands as well. That meant adding more facilities and increasing oil storage capacities across the board. Each island would need to be capable of handling fluctuating demands without constantly relying on the main ports.

So, I added this to my to-do list: more storage, more facilities, more basically everything at this point.