Prestige

**Prestige** is the currency of *Panzer Corps*, used to maintain your units, purchase new ones for your core, and repair/overstrength those damaged in battle.

## Earning

* Prestige is earned primarily by completing mission objectives and capturing flags. A Victory Hex is worth 100 prestige, while a regular flag 50.
* Destroying enemy units does not award prestige, but experience. However, forcing units to surrender (causing them to retreat in a situation when they cannot do so) will give a prestige bonus equivalent to 50% of its base cost. Ruleset 1.14 disables this option.
* Prestige is awarded for completing missions. A decisive victory or triumph will typically grant more prestige than a minor one, although it all depends on the campaign's settings. For example, in *Afrika Korps*, decisive and marginal victories grant the same amount of prestige.
* Disbanding units will refund the base price of the unit, regardless of its experience. Units captured during the campaign can be disbanded for a quick influx of cash.
* Finally, fulfilling special mission conditions will usually result in major prestige gains.
* Note that all prestige income is reduced if soft cap is enabled (on by default for 1.2x games). The soft cap takes effect when the average value of all units in your core exceeds 400 prestige and reduces prestige received by 1% for every 5 prestige points of average value, capping at an 80% reduction when the average value of a unit in your core reaches 800 prestige. In other words, at that point you receive only 20% of the usual prestige rewards.

## Spending

* Every unit you purchase or upgrade costs prestige and there's never enough of it to go around.
* Replacements are the biggest drain on your prestige, calculated from the base price of the unit and proportional to the amount of strength being restored. There are two kinds of replacements, regular and elite. Both restore the unit to 10 strength (or as much as your prestige allows), however, regular replacements reduce the experience of the unit (-70%; the penalty is proportional to the amount of strength replaced), while elite preserve veterancy.
	+ During a scenario, regular replacements cost 25% of the base unit cost, while elite 100%.
	+ During the deployment phase of a scenario, regular replacements are free, while elite are purchased at 50% base price.
* Units can be overstrengthened by 1 strength point per experience level (unless the option is disabled in game rules). The base cost is 200% the cost of 1 elite strength point.
	+ The cost increases with every subsequent point: The 12 OS point costs 300%, 13 400%, 14 500%, and 15 600% one elite strength point.
	+ 1.14 rules ignore that and each point past 10 costs 200% of 1 elite strength point.
* Upgrades are the next major drain. In order to remain competitive, you can upgrade your core units during the deployment phase. *Panzer Corps* includes a wrinkle: Certain units are available in *series*, which can be upgraded at a reduced cost: For example, the cost of upgrading a Panzer IVD to a Panzer IVF/2 is the difference in the base unit cost. Switching to an older model is free, but switching to another series requires a full upgrade. Captured units earned in the campaign cannot be upgraded.

## Maximizing

* Managing prestige is a strategic consideration throughout *Panzer Corps*. The better the unit, the more expensive will its purchase and upkeep be, but it will also allow you to achieve mission objectives faster and more easily.
* The first consideration is ensuring a large enough income. Aim for decisive victories when possible (depending on the scenario involved, see the individual campaign articles for details) and try to capture as many flags as possible. However...
* The benefits of capturing flags need to be weighed against costs expended to take them. Taking a 50 prestige flag while losing 100 prestige worth of strength is a net loss. This is true of all operations in general: The ideal victory is when you achieve your objectives with a minimum investment of men and materiel - in other words, the less you pay, the bigger your profit.
* A corollary of preserving strength and prestige is the issue of replacements, easily the biggest challenge in balancing prestige income and expenses: Choosing not only when to reinforce, but which type of reinforcement to use and when. In general, it's best to avoid using reinforcements in the course of a scenario, except when absolutely necessary, pulling combat ineffective units out of the line and into the rear echelons or to capture targets of opportunity (the AI usually leaves non-victory and non-airfield flags unguarded). The cost of replacing units at the beginning of subsequent missions is far lower than trying to keep your force at 100% throughout the mission.
* There's also the issue of overstrengthening units. While they provide a major advantage, each point of strength added is incredibly expensive and usually lost quite fast. Choosing which units to overstrength is another way to preserve your prestige: Typically, artillery units are an excellent choice, as they are out of the way most of the time and can still decisively contribute to combat.