I doubt y know what you say. I remember reading cruzz post when he stated that merging increases squads recieved accuracy a lot. His conclusion was never merge infantry.
What would you rather have, a guard squad retreating out of the fight or hanging around?
Cons are for emergency merge.
He is what happens when you merge cons:
-The models of the conscript squad join the guard squad. If these models were damaged, that damage carries over
-These models drop their wepons (into the nether) and equip the Honor Guard mosins (I forget the exact name, I think that's what they are in the editor) as well as DP mg's and PTRS rifles. Both of these are the exact same stats as the guards.
Vet: Vet is applied BY MODEL (to my understanding) so that a conscript that joins a vet3 guard squad will be a vet 3 conscript. They do not get the Guard model bonuses
Rec acc: A conscript is still a conscript. It will take 1.08 or whatever their current recieved acc is. This makes the squad, entirely made up of conscripts, extremely fragile.
I might be using out of date data but :
Guards Rec-acc :1.0
Con Rec acc : 1.087
At Vet 2 (This is where it's most noticeable)
Guards : .83
Cons : 1.087
At vet 3 (For example)
Guards: .6
Cons : .625 (ish)
Cruzz likely said merging is inefficient, yes. It IS inefficient if you replace 3/4 of your guards with cons and continue to use them as face-tanks. The way it works is that models with a higher recieved acc (noticably higher in the case of cons) are going to die soooo much faster than guards that you will usually just be replacing the conscripts that died until you can get them a proper reinforcement right up until vet 3, when they become relatively efficient again.
Since Guards (ideally) sit in the back they aren't as affected as things like penals which tend to get murdered in their "assault" role. If you are attempting to use them in a "front line" role then yeah they're going to suck.
Merge does not replace reinforcement, it temporarily staves it off to keep units in the fight, or to cover a super risky retreat. Having no forward retreat point I really dislike having to jog all the way home from my enemies fuel on some maps, like Minsk, where by the time I get home and run back 3 minutes have passed.