Slitherine

I'm finding that I'm using too much prestige and its leaving me little prestige for the next mission. Sometime not even enough to get my units at full strength. I use elite reinforcements for any unit with a star or more. what is the minimum strength when you reinforce units and do you always use elite reinforcements when units are experienced?

Just going off old PC1 advice myself, which would be save the elite replacements for whenever it would cost you a star using green replacements.
Far as when, if you need that unit at full strength to finish the objective usually. Of course if its a unit in danger of being destroyed and retreat isnt option, at least green replacements to save the unit. Mostly it is nothing more than saving a unit from destruction. or you need that fighter at full strength to keep superiority. Infantry often enough you can pull off the front to preserve them till the end.

I use this flowchart for reinforcing units during mission.

1. Does the unit need to run away this turn? If so, do that and think about reinforcing next turn. No point in throwing prestige away endlessly reinforcing a unit that is getting pasted.

2. Am I super rich? This doesn't sound like your situation, but I let myself short circuit the decision if I'm drowning in money. When I'm rich I just reinforce, no point in finishing the campaign with a huge stash of extra prestige.

3. Do I have map control? That is, do I know where the enemies are, what they can see, and how the units are getting damaged? Or am I charging into fog of war and rolling the dice?

If I DO NOT have map control, then I reinforce the unit. Without map control there is no way to guarantee that a unit won't wander out of the FoW and paste it, and I don't want to lose a core unit.

If I DO have map control, then I ask if I need the unit at full strength for the rest of the map? That is, does it have any jobs left where it needs to be full strength. If I don't need it at full strength, then I leave it to be reinforced between missions.

Long winded way to say that the only time I don't reinforce a unit that has been heavily damaged during the mission is if I am in control of the level and know that I won't need it.

As far as what level the cutoff is at...that depends a lot on what is around. The harder hitting the enemy is, the less damaged I can afford to have my team. Early war I let them get down to 6 or 7, but late war anything under a 10 has me nervous.

Generally my aim (like in PC1) was to never reinforce mid scenario.

There's already been a comprehensive list posted on what to consider and my thought process is similar.

One good exercise to do is keep a mental note when you do reinforce a unit - then have an honest evaluation with yourself at or near the end - what did that unit achieve?...could that have been achieved by other units?........and finally answer, would you still have won the mission with a net prestige gain if you hadn't reinforced.

In general I find earlier on I'm inclined to do it because I have few units on the board so pulling one back makes it a lot harder but by the time I have an established core I can get away with it.

The other important consideration is, do I have control of the skies? One good tac bomber strike against a weakened unit might see it dead!

Also you need to consider what random setting you are on. On 100% random any weakened unit is prone to the lucky attack that wipes it out whilst on 0% random well armoured tanks and the like are unlikely to see such a result. A 5 strength Tiger in early 1943 is probably not going to find an opponent that can kill it in one strike at 0% random but at 100% it is possible (although unlikely)

If you look at my ongoing AAR you'll see a couple of good examples, one in particular sticks in my mind:

In the Warsaw scenario I spent a bucket load of prestige reinforcing my Pioneers - but in truth that was a waste. I had map control (the enemy were bottled up at this stage, nothing was "coming out of FOW" to kill them" I decided at the time I needed them to take the city but with the oodles of artillery at my disposal my regular infantry were up to the job with at worse a few points of damage.... and in truth even if they'd been all but wiped out storming the objectives it would still be cheaper to elite reinforce them in the next deployment screen that to regular reinforce my Pioneers like I did mid scenario. I had plenty of time so ultimately I came out down on prestige than if I'd just let them sit it out.

One last thought - weakened units can also be good for securing more prestige with captures!

I dont reinforce units unless it can capture a victory hex (infantry),is a strat bomber (needed to suppress), or my (mid to late game) tank blitzkrieg unit(3 fast 6 movement light tanks backed by 8 movement anti tank).
I love a 2-4 (split it if its 4 str) strength tank. I wait for one to receive damage, and use it to finish off captures. I guard it with an AA gun so i dont lose it. Reinforcing it would defeat the point of it.
When i do reinforce i always use elite replacements. Mostly because i field almost completely 5* armies by Dunkirk/Dijon (map 4/5).
In maps like Middle East line i can deploy as many as (6 initially) then 12 strat bombers (after airport capture). It cripples the enemys movement/ammo/damage dealt by carpet bombing everything in range. I destroy enemy aircraft with AA as my bombers never fly more than 5-6 from my front line thus allowing truck AA to catch enemy fighters when they attack my bombers.

fluffybunnyuk wrote: ↑Wed Jul 15, 2020 10:00 am I dont reinforce units unless it can capture a victory hex (infantry),is a strat bomber (needed to suppress), or my (mid to late game) tank blitzkrieg unit(3 fast 6 movement light tanks backed by 8 movement anti tank).
I love a 2-4 (split it if its 4 str) strength tank. I wait for one to receive damage, and use it to finish off captures. I guard it with an AA gun so i dont lose it. Reinforcing it would defeat the point of it.
When i do reinforce i always use elite replacements. Mostly because i field almost completely 5* armies by Dunkirk/Dijon (map 4/5).
In maps like Middle East line i can deploy as many as (6 initially) then 12 strat bombers (after airport capture). It cripples the enemys movement/ammo/damage dealt by carpet bombing everything in range. I destroy enemy aircraft with AA as my bombers never fly more than 5-6 from my front line thus allowing truck AA to catch enemy fighters when they attack my bombers.

How on earth do you get to 5* by Dunkirk/Dijon? Other than recon units that seems impossible?

By what i call the 0 damage recon exploit.

Get 20 recons ( i start with 8-10 on poland) .... split them. Surround Somua S35, Char B1, Matilda II. Anything with high armour that wont get damage.
Surround with 6 recons. Attack with all 6 for 0 damage. Then fly a 1 slot bomber in for 0 damage (double move allows another in to attack). Then swap one recon out, and move the others in to attack.
15-20 turns of that usually nets 12,000xp. 42attacks*20turns*20xp for participation.... per map...

Change recons with 5500+xp into AA/Arty AT/tank units.

As for strat bombers. You dont capture towns... You surround them with split recons, and bombard them every turn with a 1 slot bomber(double move means 2 bombers). Win/Win for xp.
Dont forget to use really weak split artillery. Aim for 1/2 damage / turn. Suppression is better than damage since it'll disappear on supply hexes.
Supply victory hexes are brilliant for this. Since the AI happily reinforces them.

By Battleaxe/Kiev I usually have 12-24 5* recons in the reserve cos i've maxed out my slots. Every time theres a slot increase, I take a recon from reserve and turn it into something else.
If you want max AA, convert 5500xp recon to 4500xp AT, level to5000xp (1 map) then convert to 4* AA. You can use it as a useless AT unit then to level it to 5* if your in a hurry.
But usually 4* AA at 15 str for 2 slots with 90% damage is enough to ruin enemy aircraft.

I've avoided posting my own variation because it'll get patched out now....

fluffybunnyuk wrote: ↑Wed Jul 15, 2020 11:30 am By what i call the 0 damage recon exploit.

Get 20 recons .... split them. Surround Somua S35, Char B1, Matilda II. Anything with high armour that wont get damage.
Surround with 6 recons. Attack with all 6 for 0 damage. Then fly a 1 slot bomber in for 0 damage (double move allows another in to attack). Then swap one recon out, and move the others in to attack.
15-20 turns of that usually nets 12,000xp. 42attacks*20turns*20xp for participation.... per map...

Change recons with 5500+xp into AA/Arty AT/tank units.

As for strat bombers. You dont capture towns... You surround them with split recons, and bombard them every turn with a 1 slot bomber(double move means 2 bombers). Win/Win for xp.
Dont forget to use really weak split artillery. Aim for 1/2 damage / turn. Suppression is better than damage since it'll disappear on supply hexes.
Supply victory hexes are brilliant for this. Since the AI happily reinforces them.

By Battleaxe/Kiev I usually have 12-24 5* recons in the reserve cos i've maxed out my slots. Every time theres a slot increase, I take a recon from reserve and turn it into something else.
If you want max AA, convert 5500xp recon to 4500xp AT, level to5000xp (1 map) then convert to 4* AA. You can use it as a useless AT unit then to level it to 5* if your in a hurry.
But usually 4* AA at 15 str for 2 slots with 90% damage is enough to ruin enemy aircraft.

I've avoided posting my own variation because it'll get patched out now....

Thats really clever to be fair!

I doubt it'll be patched out - its a lot of work to do all of that!

Yeah its very boring. But it pays dividends when you roll around with 5* 8 movement 15/20 overstrength rapid fire british portees(AT) fronted by 3x 5* 6movement british light tanks. Tanks just vaporise on attacking the formation.
I back it with 15 strength AA 5+ movement unit that kills any plane stone dead.
That just leaves infantry on victory hexes that love being surrounded and suppressed for xp.

500 hours into the main campaign, and still teasing little things out of it. Its alot of fun, and great value for money PzC2.

Really they should patch it out so that at least 1 suppression or kill causes recons to get xp. something like
IF suppression/damage<1 THEN reconxp=0 ELSE

fluffybunnyuk wrote: ↑Wed Jul 15, 2020 11:57 am Yeah its very boring. But it pays dividends when you roll around with 5* 8 movement 15/20 overstrength rapid fire british portees(AT) fronted by 3x 5* 6movement british light tanks. Tanks just vaporise on attacking the formation.
I back it with 15 strength AA 5+ movement unit that kills any plane stone dead.
That just leaves infantry on victory hexes that love being surrounded and suppressed for xp.

500 hours into the main campaign, and still teasing little things out of it. Its alot of fun, and great value for money PzC2.

Really they should patch it out so that at least 1 suppression or kill causes recons to get xp. something like
IF suppression/damage<1 THEN reconxp=0 ELSE

I think they should lower the XP gained form ability support. 50xp a pop is too much when you can easily support multiple times a turn with recon.

For engineers its not so bad, not that they have much difficulty earning xp anyway

fluffybunnyuk wrote: ↑Wed Jul 15, 2020 11:30 am By what i call the 0 damage recon exploit.

Get 20 recons ( i start with 8-10 on poland) .... split them. Surround Somua S35, Char B1, Matilda II. Anything with high armour that wont get damage.
Surround with 6 recons. Attack with all 6 for 0 damage. Then fly a 1 slot bomber in for 0 damage (double move allows another in to attack). Then swap one recon out, and move the others in to attack.
15-20 turns of that usually nets 12,000xp. 42attacks*20turns*20xp for participation.... per map...

Change recons with 5500+xp into AA/Arty AT/tank units.

As for strat bombers. You dont capture towns... You surround them with split recons, and bombard them every turn with a 1 slot bomber(double move means 2 bombers). Win/Win for xp.
Dont forget to use really weak split artillery. Aim for 1/2 damage / turn. Suppression is better than damage since it'll disappear on supply hexes.
Supply victory hexes are brilliant for this. Since the AI happily reinforces them.

By Battleaxe/Kiev I usually have 12-24 5* recons in the reserve cos i've maxed out my slots. Every time theres a slot increase, I take a recon from reserve and turn it into something else.
If you want max AA, convert 5500xp recon to 4500xp AT, level to5000xp (1 map) then convert to 4* AA. You can use it as a useless AT unit then to level it to 5* if your in a hurry.
But usually 4* AA at 15 str for 2 slots with 90% damage is enough to ruin enemy aircraft.

I've avoided posting my own variation because it'll get patched out now....

Always interesting to see the game's rules being pushed.

But don't forget to have fun