Slitherine

I'm at Germany in a campaign and it really looks like a slugfest. It seems that I need certain units in the beginning of the game and others later. For example, I need lots of air power to eliminate the allied airforce, but once that is done, I need more ground units. Is there a way to return units to the reserves to open up a slot to deploy a different reserve unit during the game? I hate to just disband units. You don't even get a prestige bump when you do it during the game. I know, right now, I'm at the end of the campaign and it probably doesn't matter, but it would be a nice feature.

I can see a downside, though. One might be tempted to simply return damaged units to the reserves and deploy fresh units out of his reserves instead of spending prestige to reinforce. One could even move damaged units back to the reserves and reinforce them there for less. But even these actions would bring a penalty since there are only a limited number of hexes one can deploy new units to.

Kriegsheld wrote:Is there a way to return units to the reserves to open up a slot to deploy a different reserve unit during the game? I hate to just disband units. You don't even get a prestige bump when you do it during the game.

I am missing this feature since i realized that i still can deploy core units (if slots are available) after turn zero.

It would allow a more dynamic gameplay, were you change the composition of your active fighting force depending of the situation. E.g. start with minimal tactical bombers, but all fighters and flak, and after achieving of the air supremacy replace the fighters with tactical bombers. It would also cause special purpose units like flak or anti-tank to be used more often, as with putting them in reserve after they are not needed anymore, they won't block a precious deployment slot for more general-purpose/useful units like a tank.

Kriegsheld wrote:I can see a downside, though. One might be tempted to simply return damaged units to the reserves and deploy fresh units out of his reserves instead of spending prestige to reinforce. One could even move damaged units back to the reserves and reinforce them there for less.

I don't see this as a problem, as the fresh unit in the reserve did also take prestige to buy, and a unit doesn't gain experience while sitting in the reserve (regardless if retreated from battle or not yet called upon). Yes, it could be used too save prestige in case a unit is often and heavily damaged, but i has its own downside of slower experience gain.
Also with moving an unit to reserve and recalling an unit back from reserve each taking one turn, and with only be able to put recalled units on the staging zone hex fields of a map, it don't think it is prone to abuse.

Once you have committed your forces to the battlefield there no more calling of armed force since you have committed your reserves.

You can effectively do the same thing. Just deploy one or two lees units. Then when you need it near the end deploy want you want.

He's asking "can you first have ten infantry and later in the same scenario switch to ten tanks?"

(and the answer is "no")

Razz1 wrote:Once you have committed your forces to the battlefield there no more calling of armed force since you have committed your reserves.

You can effectively do the same thing. Just deploy one or two lees units. Then when you need it near the end deploy want you want.

Well, if the requested flexibility is deemed to unrealistic to implement, than it should still be possible to furlough units for the remaining duration of a scenario. Those units would than be available again starting the next scenario. This would enable the player to release deployment slots without disbanding units, allowing reserve units to be deployed and/or additional units to be bought.

In the poland scenario i was basicly forced to disband three units on the first turn, just to be able to get an effective composition of experienced units for the next scenario.

Unless you disband the ten infantry and buy tanks ...

* Ah, page hadn't refreshed for a while.

@Kriegsheld, this is a feature I requested during Beta Testing and agree that it would be nice to have. It could be a hotkey (like R for Reserve) that you could use to put a unit into Reserves instead of disbanding. This would open a slot that you could then use to deploy another unit out of Reserves. There could be various penalties for using the feature: like a turn delay penalty (you return a unit to Reserves and wait a turn to deploy the replacement unit), or only allow replacement units to deploy in the original deployment area (which should now be in the far rear of battle and would take several turns to get the new unit to the front). If its too unbalanced for MP, it could be an option only for the campaign.

Kriegsheld wrote:Is there a way to return units to the reserves to open up a slot to deploy a different reserve unit during the game?

Do want.

If we could 'undeploy' units mid scenario, to make room to bring our reserve into play, this would be absolutely amazing. Maybe some day we'll have this feature, but there are many features on the wish list, and we have to prioritize.

Kerensky wrote:

Kriegsheld wrote:Is there a way to return units to the reserves to open up a slot to deploy a different reserve unit during the game?

Do want.

If we could 'undeploy' units mid scenario, to make room to bring our reserve into play, this would be absolutely amazing. Maybe some day we'll have this feature, but there are many features on the wish list, and we have to prioritize.

It is certainly an interesting concept but it will make the game a lot easier. Just deploy early lots of fighters to gain air superiority fast and then after replace them with other units more effective in ground combat. Currently you have to find the right balance for your troops before hand and live with your "useless" fighters after you control the skies.

True. Such a feature could be abused, but it should only be available in single player mode, so it hardly matters if a player wants to do it. Perhaps there could be a cap on how many units could be undeployed, and the cap could be gradually reduced to zero at the highest difficulty setting.

It is easy enough to beat the AI.

We don't need this feature as you make the AI more handicapped.

Razz1 wrote:It is easy enough to beat the AI.

We don't need this feature as you make the AI more handicapped.

I try to translate (Razz1, please correct me if i have misunderstood your statement):

• At the moment the AI would not be able to use this feature, so it would create an unfair advantage for the player against the already dumb-ish AI. Incorporating this small looking feature might cause a big amount of work due to the necessary AI enhancement.
  By the by, why would anybody want a feature like this at all?

For what it's worth, I took a decisive in Germany on Colonel level, (that's as brave as I care to be right now!), without the benefit of an undeploy feature, but I had a lot of ADs running around with nothing to do at the end. All but two of them were deployed by the scenario at the start. I managed to get them moved behind my core lines before the Allies got to them, and they helped me destroy the Allied airforce.

I still think having an undeploy feature at least for a couple of units would be an enjoyable option. Maybe two at Colonel level, one at General level, and zero at Field Marshall level and above? You could then carry some specialty units in your reserves and only call on them when needed--like a bridging unit.