Profile of Olekman

The idea of the squad is to act as a reinforcement option through merging, the squad doesnt really need to be combat capable, or even really have any abilities. It's just there to merge into other squads.

I was talking about what A. Soldier had in mind, so not just a merge-squad.

Many solutions could work, but I feel the simplest way to fix it is by just decreasing the optimal manpower ratio, then giving some secondary benefits and earlier timing to the ability, for example:

- Only 1 squad given for both abilities after losing 6 models.
- Now decreases production time for new units by 33% while active.
- Now decreases reinforce times for squads by 33% while active.
- CP requirement from 6 to 3.
- 80 muni for Osttruppen variant, 100 muni for Conscript variant.

Then so Osttruppen aren't worthless at that timing, they could get stock sandbags and no T4 lock on their lmg (so upgradeable from the get-go). Conscripts would do fine.

These changes keep timing important, as to get the most out of it you'd activate it while producing your shock unit or if lots of squads are reinforcing in base or both.

I agree that such abilities should arrive earlier. Not sure if 100 munitions is the right price for decrease in reinforcement and production time though, as it's hard to evaluate such esoteric abilities, kind of like Radio Silence or Radio Intercept.

The current system (and arguably recoup losses) incentivises losing models, if you don't lose anything (Or too few) during activation you've basically wasted the ability... but losing models really shouldn't be encouraged.

It's less about encouraging losing models, more about getting pay-back for models you're going to lose during engagements anyway. Allied War Machine in CoH1 did actually incentivized straight up losing vehicles, especially expensive ones, to get anything out of the ability.

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perhaps if these abilities allowed the replacement squads come pre upgraded they might have a smidge more merit, as the squad is coming in with no vet, but no additional muni investment as well. in the case of the soviet this may prove useful, as otherwise ill just build a con squad when i need one and end up saving munitions on the whole....

Very solid write of the place of such abilities in current meta. One thing I could add though about units already arriving upgraded. One alternative to this rework is that instead of receiving additional Conscript Squads "in reserve", there would be just a single "reserve" Conscript Squad which gains veterancy levels with every 6 infantry models lost. Less "Rapid Conscription" and more like "Learning from the Fallen".

However, as Vetaran Riflemen ability and original Elite Troops Doctrine shows, giving out vetted squads is also something that should be done very lightly. In this case, the squads would arrive much later, so the careful balance of early game wouldn't be affected.

I Agree that Rapid Conscription needs to be reworked but i think the solution OP provided is too convoluted. We are not sure how many patches this game still has in it so I'd personally rather the ability becomes simple and usefull.

Is it really that convoluted? It triggers in exact same way - spend muni, gain benefit when entities die - except player decides when they want to cash-in their replacement squads, not the game.

If anything, I thought it would be much easier to grasp than a dedicated replacement squad which wouldn't be able to reinforce or fight effectively and only be there to merge into another squad (which again, is just really roundabout way of doing Recoup Losses when you think about it).

Why is Rapid Conscription bad?

It comes late, the best possible pay-off (480 mp) is not very high and scenarios where you can use it to full extent are hard to come by.

I had a proposal once that Rapid Conscription and Relief Infantry would grant 'reinforcement squads' that could not be reinforced, had crew weapons, and their only ability was Merge. The idea was they were strictly for field reinforcement, you would just merge them back into units until the squad was gone. That could still work for the Germans.

Yes, I remember discussing that solution too. At first I thought it was a sound idea, but in the end it's just a very roundabout way of doing Recoup Losses where you can only spend the extra MP on infantry. I think overall adding a new squad into the game for just that purpose is not worth it, so in my opinion Relief Infantry can just become Recoup Losses (with a name change and the "crawlers" fix, so it respectively makes more sense and triggers consistently).

I do think a big problem of Rapid Conscription / Relief Infantry is that you don't want to add new Vet0 Conscript or Osttruppen squads in later game stages. The mechanic of the game is to keep vetted troops alive and add in more powerful higher tech units. So this ability gets rapidly weaker with time.

So just a quick thought I had as I was reading this: While ability is active you get a chunck of manpower for each soldier dying. Easy to implement at both factions and a real helpful ability if you are still playing with mass infantry / team weapons in the late game and your opponent is bleeding you out. You are swapping munition for manpower in the end. You can cap manpower you get at some point of course.

The main idea behind this rework was that you can get those replacement squads when you need them, not just when the ability is active.

No matter how good a player is, they are going to lose units. Thing is, you can't tell when it's going to happen, because as you said and as the game is designed - unit preservation is key. In live version of Rapid Conscription, you get replacement squads immediately when the ability is active. It's highly likely that you won't need those squads at that very moment, so you have a choice of either keeping them around (taking up your population and lowering your income) or, in case of Conscripts, merge them completely into existing squads to save MP.

In this rework version, you activate Rapid Conscription and gain a couple of squads in reserve while you're fighting and losing models as usual. You can call those squads immediately, just like in live to merge them into your troops and save some MP. Here's the important part though - those reserve squads can be kept in reserve indefinitely, so when you lose a squad further on during the match, you can immediately get a replacement for which you paid beforehand in Munitions (and model losses, but infantry squads will always lose models). Fresh Conscripts in late game aren't anyone's first choice, with 7-man squad they gain experience faster and can always be used to top-off veteran squads and weapon teams.

Plus, in live version, any lost models below 6 are lost between ability activations, but in this rework they are kept in the bank for next time.