Controlling supply centers
During adjustment turn, players check to see how many supply centers they control. An empire controls a supply center when one of its units occupies that supply center province after a winter turn has been played and completed.
Once an empire gains control of a supply center, it can leave the center vacant and still keep control of it, as long as that center is not occupied by another country at the close of a Winter turn. A unit that moves into a supply center during a Spring turn and moves out of it during the Autumn of the same year does not affect the ownership of the supply center. In short, an empire retains control of a supply center as long as, at the end of each Winter turn, the supply center is either vacant or is occupied by one of its own units.
Adjusting number of units
After each Winter turn, players adjust their units to match the number of supply centers they control. This may result in some units being disbanded (if the player has lost supply centers that year) or in some units being built (if the player has gained supply centers that year).
Disbanding
If an empire has fewer centers than units, it must disband the excess number of units (owner’s choice of which units)
Building
If an empire has more supply centers than units, it can place new units in each unoccupied supply center of its home empire that it still controls. It cannot build units in supply centers outside its original home empire.
Example : The French player can build units only in Paris (par), Brest (bre) and Marseilles (mar) throughout the course of the game. However, if Marseilles was under Italy’s control and the French player had a unit in Brest, he/she would only be allowed to build in Paris, no matter how many builds France was entitled to on that turn. If the French player vacated Brest and regained control of Marseilles, he/she would be allowed to build there after another Winter turn (provided he/she was still entitled to build on that turn).
Additional building rules
- Only an army unit can be built on an inland province supply center.
- When building a unit on a coastal province supply center, a fleet or army must be specified. If Russia builds a fleet in St Petersburg (stp), the player must also specify “North coast” or “South coast”.
- If your empire’s home supply centers are all occupied by your own (or other players) units, then you cannot build during the current adjustment turn. Remember to leave some home supply centers open if you intend to build new units in adjustment.
- If your empire has lost all of its original home supply centers, you can still fight with the units (supplied by another centers) remaining under your control. In this case, you cannot build new units until you recapture a home supply center and control it at the close of a year.
- An empire can decline to build a unit that it is entitled to for whatever reason (usually a diplomatic one).