How does encirclement work? I cut off the allies in northern france/Belgium

[Lukas]

Do they run out of supplies do they get malusses, how does it work, It looks like the Dunkirk salient, just in Calais, do they get destroyed or something when I close the pocket

[Sirgendwer]

A normal encirclement works if you disconnect the enemy troops from HQ/Supply. My first move as Germany was cutting off Verdun. This leads the enemy to be stuck in your encirclement without being able to break out from within. The only way would be to reconquer a tile to restore the supply line from outside. With every round the encircled province loses one star until they reach zero and the units disappear paired with a big loss in national morale.

In your case it could be that Calais still counts as a supply source and thus you didn’t fully encircle your enemy.

[El Guapo]

Hmm, I encircled Verdun 2 turns ago and the region still has its full 4 stars.

Update: I attacked Verdun twice and reduced it to 2 stars. Next turn, Verdun lost 1 more star automatically. Maybe you have to attack the encircled region at least once. I don't know.

[Ninjafroggie]

Originally posted by El Guapo:

Hmm, I encircled Verdun 2 turns ago and the region still has its full 4 stars.

odd...if the region is surrounded then it should be losing 1 star per turn. I've succesfully cut off verdun and taken it this way a couple of times without ever attacking it.

The only thing I'm not clear on is if the units cut off inside the encirclement get destroyed and lost forever when it surrenders or if they get reconstituted at paris/calais?

[Raymond]

Originally posted by Ninjafroggie:

The only thing I'm not clear on is if the units cut off inside the encirclement get destroyed and lost forever when it surrenders or if they get reconstituted at paris/calais?

all the units respawned, but you have to pay gold to replenish all of them. War is fought mainly with money, and human lives are disposable asset in the grand scheme of thing.

[Sirgendwer]

Originally posted by YariMurai:

all the units respawned, but you have to pay gold to replenish all of them. War is fought mainly with money, and human lives are disposable asset in the grand scheme of thing.

Yeah no army corps can be killed permanently as there is no way to just recruit new ones (besides some techs)

Originally posted by Ninjafroggie:

The only thing I'm not clear on is if the units cut off inside the encirclement get destroyed and lost forever when it surrenders or if they get reconstituted at paris/calais?

They are not teleported to HQ but the closest province outside the encirclement. In my second Germany game I encircled I think 12 provinces east of Troyes and all their corps then stood in Sens.

Originally posted by El Guapo:

Hmm, I encircled Verdun 2 turns ago and the region still has its full 4 stars.

Update: I attacked Verdun twice and reduced it to 2 stars. Next turn, Verdun lost 1 more star automatically. Maybe you have to attack the encircled region at least once. I don't know.

You just have to wait one enemy turn for the encirclement state to activate. You definitely don’t have to attack. You can even remove your troops from the front as long as the route to HQ is still blocked.