Supply Cost

Supply Cost

Supply Cost is the mission deployment cost system in MENACE. Every deployed unit (infantry(squad) or vehicle), including its personnel, promotions, squad size, and equipment loadout, consumes a certain amount of supply. The mission deployment screen shows the current total as Utilized / Max supply; exceeding the maximum prevents deployment until costs are reduced.

What supply represents

Supply abstracts the logistics burden of bringing a force into a mission area: personnel overhead, training/seniority, squad size overhead, equipment issuance, and vehicle allocation.

Supply is calculated per squad, then summed across all squads in the force.

Supply cost components

A squad’s total supply cost is the sum of:

• Base personnel cost (for a Squad Leader or a Pilot, shown as Supply Cost in-game)
• Promotion tax (per promotion on that character)
• Squaddie tax (infantry only; based on number of squaddies assigned)
• Equipment costs (infantry/vehicle weapon/armor/specials/accessories; infantry weapon and armor are scaled by entity count)

Base personnel cost

The unit's lead character sets the base personnel cost:

• Infantry units use the Squad Leader’s cost.
• Vehicle units use the Pilot’s cost (pilots lead vehicles; they are not a squad).

Lead type	Star level	Base supply cost
Squad Leader	1★	4
Squad Leader	2★	20
Squad Leader	3★	40
Pilot	1★	10
Pilot	2★	40
Pilot	3★	80

Promotion tax

Every time a character is promoted, an additional supply surcharge is added. The tax starts at 0 and increases linearly with the number of promotions the character has.

Promotion tax per promotion* (by star level)

Star level	Tax per promotion	Max promotions
1★	5	7
2★	10	7
3★	15	7

Formula:

PromotionTax = Promotions × TaxPerPromotion(StarLevel)

Squaddie tax (infantry squads)

Infantry squads also pay an additional cost for every Squaddie assigned to the squad. This represents the overhead of fielding more bodies in a single squad.

Squaddie tax per squaddie* (based on squad leader star level)

Squad Leader star level	Tax per squaddie	Squad squaddie cap
1★	2	8
2★	5	8
3★	10	8

Formula:

SquaddieTax = SquaddieCount × TaxPerSquaddie(SLStarLevel)

Equipment scaling (weapons, armor, specials)

Many infantry loadout items scale with the number of entities that must be equipped.

Entity count

For infantry, the typical equip count is:

TotalEntities = 1 (Squad Leader) + SquaddieCount

Weapons and armor commonly scale as:

ItemCost = PerEntityBaseCost × EquippedEntities

The loadout UI indicates the equipped entity count as xN next to the equipment category (e.g., “Infantry Weapon x7”).

Infantry special exception

If an infantry squad equips an Infantry Special weapon, the squad leader is considered to carry the special weapon instead of the standard squad weapon. In this case, the Infantry Weapon entity count is reduced by 1:

InfantryWeaponEntities = TotalEntities − 1(Or Squaddies count)

(Armor still typically scales with the full entity count unless otherwise specified by the item.)

Vehicles

Vehicle squads add supply from:

• The Pilot (base cost + promotion tax)
• The vehicle hull/chassis (e.g.Light Walker)
• Installed Vehicle Modules (weapons/support modules)
• Accessories (if present)

Cost modifiers

Some OCIs and perks reduce supply costs. These are applied to the relevant subtotal (e.g., vehicle-only reductions should apply to vehicle hull/modules/ammo totals, while armor-only reductions apply only to armor).

OCI

• OCI: AI Controlled Logistics — reduces total vehicle cost by 15% per stack, additive, up to 60%.
• OCI: Auto Supplies — +5% to maximum supplies available for each mission.

Perks

• Jean Sy – Economics 101: reduces total squad cost by 15%
• Jacques Yves Vamplew – Flamboyant: reduces armor supply cost by 30%
• Common Perk – This is my rifle: reduces squad weapon supply cost by 50%

How to calculate a squad’s supply

A practical step-by-step method:

1. Determine squad type: Infantry or Vehicle.
2. Add base cost of the leader (SL or Pilot).
3. Add promotion tax for that leader.
4. If infantry: add squaddie tax based on squaddie count and SL star level.
5. Add equipment costs (weapons/armor/specials/accessories), using the appropriate entity count.
6. Apply applicable cost reductions to the relevant subtotals.
7. Sum all parts to get the squad’s total supply.

Worked examples

Example 1: Achilleas’ vehicle squad (Light Walker)

Achilleas’ vehicle squad (Light Walker)

A 3★ Pilot leading a Light Walker with a Swarm launcher and ammo:

Component	Cost
Pilot base cost (3★)	80
Promotion tax (2 promotions × 15)	30
Light Walker	160
Swarm launcher	50
Ammo	15
Total	335

This matches the loadout total shown in the UI.

Example 2: Darby’s infantry squad

Darby’s infantry squad

A 3★ Squad Leader with two promotions, squad weapon, ammo, and squaddie tax:

Component	Cost
Squad Leader base cost (3★)	40
Promotion tax (2 promotions × 15)	30
Squad weapon total	63
Ammo	5
Squaddie tax (3★ rate 10 × 6 squaddies)	60
Total	198

Note: The weapon line in the UI shows “Infantry Weapon x7” for this loadout, indicating 7 equipped entities (Squad Leader + 6 squaddies). The per-entity base cost for the weapon can be inferred as 63 / 7 = 9 for this item in this build.