Strategy Corner - Recon

[Preon]

Question:
It could just be me (still very green at this), but there seems no good way to probe into enemy territory. On a number of occasions, when I've played as Russians against the computer, I've seen gaping holes in their front line. I look at a hole and wonder, "Is it worth making holes in my line to poke through the hole in theirs?"

Good recon would really help out with this, and totally makes sense seeing as how the game has motorcycle recon units and panzer recon on halftracks. The problem is that the penalty against moving beyond the omnipresent front line means that you have to commit to the action (recon in force). It would be nice if I could send my motorcycles out 3 or so hexes into a German pocket to see whats there and still have the gas to make it back. It would allow me to answer questions like "Am I rolling into an ambush of panzer grenadiers, or am I about to attack some soft artillery/recon/construction/logistics units?"

Am I wrong here? Are there units with the gumption to stick their heads in the lion's mouth and live to tell about the beast's molars?

[Belisarius]

Interesting question, Preon, and as interesting as it would be to have the ability to send recon units into a breach keep in mind one thing - the scale of the game!

Each hex is 3 Km across - sending an MC unit 3 hexes beyond the frontier implies a deep recon almost 10 Km behind enemy lines! In order to ensure you can extricate the recon results, you pretty much have to commit yourself, i.e. combat recon.

I see it as a feature of realism - you are lucky to know what units are moving where just two hexes in, that's 5+ Km. That's better information than many a commander had in the field, except the units they had had under observation for a long time that is.

(and ofcourse with the partisans and all, the SO usually had a tad better grasp of German units' whereabouts than the other way around, at least from 43 and onwards)

[Preon]

Interesting question, Preon, and as interesting as it would be to have the ability to send recon units into a breach keep in mind one thing - the scale of the game!

Each hex is 3 Km across - sending an MC unit 3 hexes beyond the frontier implies a deep recon almost 10 Km behind enemy lines! In order to ensure you can extricate the recon results, you pretty much have to commit yourself, i.e. combat recon.

I see it as a feature of realism - you are lucky to know what units are moving where just two hexes in, that's 5+ Km. That's better information than many a commander had in the field, except the units they had had under observation for a long time that is.

(and ofcourse with the partisans and all, the SO usually had a tad better grasp of German units' whereabouts than the other way around, at least from 43 and onwards)

Agreed that 10km is a long way, but I'm talking about a situation where there's a huge gaping hole (30-40 km across). In a situation like that, I think the front line is improperly defined. A recon unit shouldn't see a lot of resistance from a unit that's concentrated 15 miles away. I guess I just don't enjoy the way the front line is defined.

This has become more like a whine than a strategy thread. Perhaps there is no recon at this level of conflict. I appologize. I'll come up with a real strategy corner later.

-Preon