Making units surrender?

[QSertorius]

I am curious how to make units surrender. I never seem to capture stuff, except by accident. In the AO 1941 Smolensk mission (great mission btw!), I saw the opportunity to potentially capture some more Soviet equipment once I encircled the city and killed off the infantry. But I simply could not figure out how to make them surrender. Everything I tried just destroyed them. What am I doing wrong?

PS - I probably added a couple of extra Soviet defenders to this city, so if it doesn't look like yours, that's why.

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[Grondel]

to make a unit surrender u need to make it retreat when it no longer has the ability to do so. either because all possible retreat hexes are blocked or because the unit no longer has any movepoints.

sers,
Thomas

[QSertorius]

Thank you. I will consider that in the future.

That would, of course, allow them to keep shooting at me until they ran out of ammo.

[VirgilInTheSKY]

Looks like your targets have accumulated entrenchment level above the terrain base level, which is what makes them never retreat or surrender.

A unit only retreats when:
1. The unit has only base entrenchment level
2. The unit suffered damage that is bigger than a third of its available fighting strength (suppressed strength points does not count as available)
3. The damage is from melee combat (ranged and air attacks don't trigger a retreat)

And then will surrender happen when then unit has no movement points (retreating unit uses its movement in the next turn, transports are only used if the unit is attacked while loaded) or there is no available empty hex to move into with the remaining movement points.

[QSertorius]

I experimented with it some more and basically could not figure out how to make the artillery surrender. It always got destroyed by my infantry. My recons either could not damage it enough or just shot it to pieces. I did figure out how to capture 14/15 KV-2's. So, at least I have that option if I ever want it.

Maybe I need to look for some of those heroes that always make units retreat?

[VirgilInTheSKY]

I experimented with it some more and basically could not figure out how to make the artillery surrender. It always got destroyed by my infantry. My recons either could not damage it enough or just shot it to pieces. I did figure out how to capture 14/15 KV-2's. So, at least I have that option if I ever want it.

Maybe I need to look for some of those heroes that always make units retreat?

Use arty or strategic bombers to remove their entrenchment level. Infantry ignores a large part of the entrenchment damage reduction and attacks the unit's Close Defence while assaulting Close Terrain, which is why your infantry always destroy them but your recon sometimes do no damage.

[BarbarianHunter]

I experimented with it some more and basically could not figure out how to make the artillery surrender. It always got destroyed by my infantry. My recons either could not damage it enough or just shot it to pieces. I did figure out how to capture 14/15 KV-2's. So, at least I have that option if I ever want it.

Maybe I need to look for some of those heroes that always make units retreat?

I run into the same problem. Artillery is fragile but I found these tips help with capture & prestige extraction:
1. Flexible Command
a. If you split your units they will do less damage. Less damage = more prestige for you if unit surrenders.
b. x4 entrenchment hero on a fighter or tactical bomber (if tactical bomber then double move hero as well which will allow you to move-attack-then move away leaving the hex free to send another air unit to de-entrench further.
c. You can split your artillery to get double de-entrenchment (two units instead of one).
2. Have as high a suppression value as possible so you only need to do 1 point of damage to surrender the unit (the Deadly Grasp general trait will come in handy with that).
3. I find split recon units especially adept for prestige extraction but a Bridge Engineer can be fun as well for a 1-core slot investment. I had this one (see attachment) in a Storm Over Europe campaign I played on YouTube, which became a series-long joke of sorts (ie. I found it humorous that a Bridge Engineer could figure so prominently into standard operations).

[QSertorius]

Thank you for the tips.

[scorehouse]

Scavenger, Envelopment. Overwhelming Attack. make sure you reduce the entrenchment below 5 at least.

[scorehouse]

Verdega