Light, fast, and inexpensive, Recons make excellent scouting and harassment units.
Usage[]
The primary role of the Recon is to provide vision in Fog of War games. With 5 vision, Recons have the highest vision in the game, tied with Subs, Missiles and foot soldiers on Mountains, while also being much more mobile than the others. Recons are critical for identifying possible targets in Fog, as units cannot attack what they cannot see.
Even if Fog of War is not enabled, recons still have situational uses. Being inexpensive and very fast, Recons are excellent at disrupting enemy capture operations in the early game by attacking Infantry in the process of securing properties. Note that because of their Movement Type, Recons need long stretches of Roads, Shoals or Properties to travel over to reach the front line quickly, as they are slowed by Plains and slowed even more by Forests.
If there are few routes of transportation that allow it to travel quickly, it may be wise to forgo using Recons for harassment. If the Recon fails to disrupt any captures, the Recon purchase becomes cost-inefficient. Sturm's Recons are notorious for their rushing capability, thanks to their ability to traverse Plains and Forests without being slowed.
In combat, Recons are mediocre attackers at best. They deal high damage to foot soldiers, though attacking a Mech will usually result in taking major damage on the counterattack. They deal middling damage to indirect units.
Any other direct combat unit (save for other Recons) will handily beat a Recon in combat, unless they are severely weakened. As such, recons are rarely seen outside of the early game or Fog of War matches.
Fighting Against[]
If an opponent builds an early Recon for harassment, the best course of action is to build a Tank to counter it as soon as possible, trying not to harm production capabilities in the process.
Use the Tank to support capturing Infantry and deter the Recon. Should the Recon attack an Infantry within the Tank's range, attacking it with the Tank will severely cripple the Recon, effectively neutralizing it despite the Infantry's capture being slowed by a turn.
Outside of the early game, the only threat Recons pose is to any indirect units, as they can quickly navigate through any holes in your defense to attack a vulnerable unit. While they still do moderately high damage to foot soldiers, they are unable to completely destroy Infantry in one attack, even with multiple attack boosts.
Overall, Recons are a low-priority target when faced with other threats, and as long as indirect units are protected, will be unable to accomplish much on their own. Recons take high amounts of damage from just about any unit that can attack it, with the exception of Infantry.
In Fog Of War, Recons may be a valuable target to attack. Enemy units cannot engage any units outside of vision range, so neutralizing any Recons may limit the opponent's attack options with severely reduced vision. Complete destruction of the Recon is required for this, as a 1 HP Recon can see just as far as a 10 HP one.
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