Killing Surrounded Units and Blocking Retreats, what are the rules?

[VonMarkko]

I would like an explanation if possible of the rules for blocking retreats so I can efficiently kill surrounded and cut off units. I see a unit sometimes retreat into my territory (unoccupied), survive and take control of it. I sometimes retreat into enemy territory and survive as well. What are the rules that govern this? What are valid retreats and what blocks retreat routes. What about fast units "overrunning" slower units?

 

[BattleMoose]

If you want to reliably destory units, you need to surround them completely with your own units.

Not sure how the AI handles this, but its always possible (if you have supplies & fuel) to order a manual retreat into an unoccupied province, doesn't matter who owns it.

If a unit is retreating into another province and an enemy unit arrives there first, then that is what an overrun is, and the retreating unit will always be destroyed.

 

[VonMarkko]

Lacking units in each surrounding zone, it sounds like the best way to kill it, is to let it establish a retreat vector, and then rush a fast unit to that zone and wait for the retreating unit to hit?

 

[VonMarkko]

Can support brigades and HQ's block other retreating HQ's and Support Brigades? Can interdicting air slow retreating units? Can Air attack enemy units retreating from a zone when your advancing units have gained possession of that zone?

 

[DonGaron]

I see this happen a lot, mostly with HQ units and partisan militias. The best way to keep from having to chase them square by square or surround each and every one of them I just use my aircraft to destroy them.

 

[Less]

If there is no province empty of enemy units to retreat to, the regiment dies. I believe even enemy regiments without frontage count for this.

If the unit has no supply, and therefore can't attack enemy provinces, it can't retreat into enemy provinces regardless of whether there is a unit there or not.

If the unit is retreating to a valid retreat location and the location is made invalid (e.g. by an enemy unit moving into it), it restarts its movement and attempts to retreat to a different province, and is destroyed if it can't find a possible retreat location. If an enemy unit has already arrived in the province that the retreating unit is currently in then it is destroyed outright regardless of any other factor.

 

[VonMarkko]

Less, thanks that is just what I needed. g/j

 

[Timotheus1]

There is also overrun.

When you win a combat and the enemy retreats, if any of your units gets to the province that they are retreating to BEFORE they do, it is an overrun and those retreating enemy units go poof.

 

[Kovax]

The oddities happen when a surrounded unit breaks off voluntarily before it is defeated, in which case it can take an unoccupied enemy province if it can get there first. If the unit is surrounded by enemy provinces and actually loses the combat, it is automatically destroyed without the possibility of retreating. A HQ or support unit "voluntarily" breaks off, so it can (and often does) end up fleeing to an unoccupied province. Running down enemy HQs behind your lines can be a real pain, especially since the AI seems to delight in spawning them over and over in provinces where you've already won, but haven't gotten there to claim the ground. Having one FAST unit in the area seems to be almost essential to deal with it.

 

[VonMarkko]

All of this is making sense. A crucial item seems to be that an un-supplied unit can't enter/ retreat into it's enemy's territory: how do we know if the enemy is out of supply? An air strike to the zone, with a switch to supply view can show supplies in the zone but is that enough to know?

 

[Less]

You can't really know. However, you can always strategically redeploy to the location the enemy is moving towards. Since SRing is so much faster than normal movement you should always beat them and reset their retreat.

 

[sgt.stickybomb]

you can see if an enemy unit is out of supply during the combat phase, if you hover over their units you can see if they have the -50 lack of supply malus