Let's talk about supply hexes

[Mojko]

I have some feedback regarding the use of supply hexes regarding unit deployment and upgrades / repairs. Here is a description of a supply hex for a quick reference:



Deployments

I noticed that supply hexes have inconsistent behavior during campaigns as some allow units to be deployed around the hex and some don't. I suspect that this might be intended by the scenario designer in some cases (for example Dover map). It would be great if there was some sort of indication of what type of deployment is possible. As far as I can see, there are three types:

• deployment possible at any time

• deployment possible during deployment phase only

• deployment not possible

Upgrades / Repairs

I always play with the Delayed reinforcements trait as I find it quite interesting. It's quite a game changing mechanic and it makes the gameplay more realistic. Here is quick reference.



I noticed that I started using unit upgrade on a supply hex as a limited version of reinforcements. This is because upgrading of a unit also fully repairs it. This is usually most relevant for fighter planes but it can be quite important on some maps. Overall, this feels like an exploit and I think it should be addressed. Here are some suggestions:

Solution 1 - allow repairs on supply hexes

This is essentially making the current exploit the official mechanic. I don't think this is game breaking as such way of repairing units is quite limited.

Solution 2 - allow units to be transferred to reserve from supply hexes and major airfields during battle, unit upgrades do not change relative strength of a unit

This is a much more interesting solution and also more realistic. If you have some units which are badly injured you can rotate them out to reserve and bring fresh units in (provided you have some). This gives an interesting option to invest into reserve units which are not as much experienced but can still be worth having. Another case where this is useful is a multi stage map where you can rotate out more specialized units depending of the situation. Note that even with this feature you would be able to rotate out only a few units so this gives a good opportunity for great decision making.

What do you think?

[R2G2]

"I noticed that supply hexes have inconsistent behavior during campaigns as some allow units to be deployed around the hex and some don't."

Are you talking about during the Deployment Phase or after the Scenario has been started? The scenario editor has a special "Deploy" hex that is used for the Deployment Phase. These special hexes are used to dictate where units are allowed to be placed during the Deployment Phase.

"Solution 2 - allow units to be transferred to reserve from supply hexes and major airfields during battle, unit upgrades do change relative strength of a unit"

This is a good idea if we all played honestly. Otherwise, it would create a huge exploit on certain scenarios.