Many times, I find myself wishing I could disband units or sacrifice them as fodder, yet there is no way to do so. Sure, if you are at war, you could throw wounded, useless, or bad build choices at your enemies. And it would be nice to be able to instead disband those units and recover some of the resources.
But in lieu of the fact that the developers refuse to give us the ability to disband units, I have an awesome suggestion to sidestep that, and let the developers save face in the process.
So, instead of a disband feature, why not give us an idle mode "Make reserve" feature? The idea here is that you could put forces on reserve. They'd be unable to move. They'd have a significantly-lower resource upkeep. And they would only heal at a reduced rate. To be fair, the percentage reduction in resource upkeep should be the same percentage reduction in healing, so that people can't just try to heal mortally damaged units on the cheap.
Thus, if you have a reduced upkeep of 50% off, then the daily healing should be reduced by 50% or, from 10% to 5%.
The defensive capabilities of a unit that is in reserve status should also be cut in half and they should have no offensive capability. Furthermore, aircraft, rather than cutting their defensive capability in half, should be forced into convoy mode for defense. All convoys at sea should have their defensive capability unchanged since they are already at a minimal level of defense and highly vulnerable.
Also, to give incentive to the developers to make this an interesting and intriguing feature that they would be motivated to implement, there should be a deactivation/reactivation time delay. So, if you choose to activate a reserve status for a unit(s), it would have to sit for a while before reducing it's resource upkeep requirements. Also, if you choose to deactivate a reserve status on a unit(s), it would have to sit for a while before it can begin moving (somewhat similar to the new paratrooper unit).
To simulate the reactivation costs, the full upkeep costs should be reinstated at the moment a unit begins reactivation, even though it can't move for awhile, yet. I would propose that the deactivation/reactivation time periods be a ratio, such that the reactivation is double the amount of time of the deactivation. So if the developers choose to make it take 2 hours to deactivate a unit, it would take 4 hours to reactivate the unit. And having the reduced resource requirements only apply while the unit is fully-deactivated will prevent abuse of this feature by those trying to create a large-yet-cheap instant reactionary force.
So, for example, suppose you have a stack of some Infantry. You have negative Food, and those Infantry aren't really needed at the front for awhile. You could pull it back to a safe spot and then click on deactivate. The infantry will become stationary, their defensive capabilities will be cut in half. After 2 hours, their maintenance cost will be cut in half. So long as they are in reserve status, they can't move, their maintenance cost is cut in half, and they can only heal at 5% per day. After a few days go by, you decide they are needed at the front. They've only healed half as much as normal, but you saved enough Food to begin producing another Infantry, which is also needed at the front. You click on the reactivate button. The maintenance support costs immediately doubles to the normal rate and you begin waiting the 4 hours needed to simulate the mobilization of the unit. After that, you send the stack back to the front.
TL;DR
We need a Deactivate/Reactivate button that puts a unit into reserve status. It can't move and it can't be instantly reactivated. It uses half the maintenance once it's been fully deactivated but heals only half as much per day while deactivated. Once reactivation begins, the maintenance cost returns to normal even though you can't move the unit until the reactivation finishes. While deactivated, the unit will have either half of it's defensive strength or, if it is an air unit, becomes a convoy on land. All sea convoys would be unchanged, defensively.
But in lieu of the fact that the developers refuse to give us the ability to disband units, I have an awesome suggestion to sidestep that, and let the developers save face in the process.
So, instead of a disband feature, why not give us an idle mode "Make reserve" feature? The idea here is that you could put forces on reserve. They'd be unable to move. They'd have a significantly-lower resource upkeep. And they would only heal at a reduced rate. To be fair, the percentage reduction in resource upkeep should be the same percentage reduction in healing, so that people can't just try to heal mortally damaged units on the cheap.
Thus, if you have a reduced upkeep of 50% off, then the daily healing should be reduced by 50% or, from 10% to 5%.
The defensive capabilities of a unit that is in reserve status should also be cut in half and they should have no offensive capability. Furthermore, aircraft, rather than cutting their defensive capability in half, should be forced into convoy mode for defense. All convoys at sea should have their defensive capability unchanged since they are already at a minimal level of defense and highly vulnerable.
Also, to give incentive to the developers to make this an interesting and intriguing feature that they would be motivated to implement, there should be a deactivation/reactivation time delay. So, if you choose to activate a reserve status for a unit(s), it would have to sit for a while before reducing it's resource upkeep requirements. Also, if you choose to deactivate a reserve status on a unit(s), it would have to sit for a while before it can begin moving (somewhat similar to the new paratrooper unit).
To simulate the reactivation costs, the full upkeep costs should be reinstated at the moment a unit begins reactivation, even though it can't move for awhile, yet. I would propose that the deactivation/reactivation time periods be a ratio, such that the reactivation is double the amount of time of the deactivation. So if the developers choose to make it take 2 hours to deactivate a unit, it would take 4 hours to reactivate the unit. And having the reduced resource requirements only apply while the unit is fully-deactivated will prevent abuse of this feature by those trying to create a large-yet-cheap instant reactionary force.
So, for example, suppose you have a stack of some Infantry. You have negative Food, and those Infantry aren't really needed at the front for awhile. You could pull it back to a safe spot and then click on deactivate. The infantry will become stationary, their defensive capabilities will be cut in half. After 2 hours, their maintenance cost will be cut in half. So long as they are in reserve status, they can't move, their maintenance cost is cut in half, and they can only heal at 5% per day. After a few days go by, you decide they are needed at the front. They've only healed half as much as normal, but you saved enough Food to begin producing another Infantry, which is also needed at the front. You click on the reactivate button. The maintenance support costs immediately doubles to the normal rate and you begin waiting the 4 hours needed to simulate the mobilization of the unit. After that, you send the stack back to the front.
TL;DR
We need a Deactivate/Reactivate button that puts a unit into reserve status. It can't move and it can't be instantly reactivated. It uses half the maintenance once it's been fully deactivated but heals only half as much per day while deactivated. Once reactivation begins, the maintenance cost returns to normal even though you can't move the unit until the reactivation finishes. While deactivated, the unit will have either half of it's defensive strength or, if it is an air unit, becomes a convoy on land. All sea convoys would be unchanged, defensively.
