History WeHaveReserves / VideoGames

* Both the undead and the demons in the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' series follow that line of thinking. The undead because they can raise the casualties of both sides, the demons just don't care.

** ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' features the Battle for Light's Hope Chapel, where Arthas ordered his death knights to attack in order to draw out Tirion Fordring, and when he appears explains he expected them to get cut down. As death knights are his few free-willed servants, [[HeelFaceTurn they were not pleased.]]

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' mythos, this is how the New California Republic eventually beat the Brotherhood of Steel after a long war. The Brotherhood possessed advanced technology (as the entire point to their order was to preserve technology over human life) but their elitist and isolationist nature meant that replacing their troops was difficult while the NCR was a republic free to conscript thousands of soldiers.
** Caesar's Legion is a more straightforward example; whereas the NCR values even the most lowly recruit's lives, the Legion regards themselves as expendable and that anyone who tries to capture them will not get them alive.

* The "Quantity" Idea in ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'' IV is all about this trope, making you able to have more troops and at the same time reinforcing any losses much faster. Going towards the Quantity side of the Quality-Quantity slider was the same idea in ''II'' and ''III'' -- you get more manpower, quicker reinforcement and faster army construction, but the morale and organisation penalties means that your armies will take more and deal less damage (and likely break earlier), meaning you will ''need'' your larger armies and quicker ability to push more bodies into the fray to overcome otherwise equal foes leaning towards the Quality side.

* A recurring theme in the entire ''Franchise/MetalGear'' series, where the Patriots, an AncientConspiracy, have a tendency to view anyone as disposable. Although ironically, if you do kill enough soldiers and backup units in 2 & 3, you can stop worrying about getting an alert raised.

** The Grineer are very prone to this, due to being an entire faction of [[ExpendableClone Expendable Clones]]. Their technology and tactics are nothing to write home about, but they have unlimited soldiers to throw at the problem.

** Ditto for the fan-made remake ''VideoGame/{{Xenonauts}}''. No matter how hard you try or [[SaveScumming Save Scum]], losses are unavoidable.

** While various factions in various games incur bonuses for sacrificing troops. Examples: ''C&C Red Alert Yuri's Revenge'' where Yuri can feed troops (own or mind-controlled enemies) to the Meat Grinder for cash. ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'' where Zerg and Undead can 'eat' their own troops for energy/mana.

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'': ZergRush! The Zerg have done enough to apply this trope as a military tactic to the point that [[ZergRush they got their own subtrope]]. Ironically enough, the actual Zerg don't count as this as their troops are mindless drones under a HiveMind.

** ''Starcraft'''s Terrans - Marines had an average of 2 seconds combat time before death, which was considered acceptable until sheer numbers of losses started to cost more to replace them all the time. [[SuperSerum Stimpacks]] [[CastFromHitPoints decreased that further.]] The use of Medics increased that time to a respectable 5 seconds! However, the Terran Dominion considered it acceptable since their Marines are {{Boxed Crook}}s.

* ComicBook/TheJoker is like this in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'', leaving his cohorts in multiple lurches without batting an eyelash, making YouHaveFailedMe comments as they get taken out one-by-one by Franchise/{{Batman}}, and insulting anybody who fails him, including ComicBook/HarleyQuinn. MadLove, indeed.
* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', when you only have single militia member left in Predator sections, the Arkham Knight will dismissively tell you to stop playing around and finish him off as he has plenty more.

* In ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: VideoGame/ModernWarfare2'', [[spoiler:General Shepherd]] calls in an airstrike on top of his own men to stop [[spoiler:Captain Price]] and Soap from getting to him.

* The ''VideoGame/CityOfVillains'' Mastermind Archetype, 'Traps' has a move that allows you to turn your own minions into walking bombs. If you're using Zombies or Robots, they just plain blow up, while more human minions such as mercenaries, thugs and ninjas - will try to put down the bomb and run away. Which doesn't always work very well, seeing as the bombs have pretty short fuses.
** Moreover it's the entire point of the Mastermind archetype. Your pets are disposable and easily replaced; you're not, ([[DeathIsCheap death may be cheap]], but it's still more of a nuisance than summoning and buffing new pets after a near-catastrophe). Later averted when the class switches to a shared health bar between master and pets.

* In any MultiplayerOnlineBattleArena game, you have a line of constantly respawning "creeps" who are there almost solely to take damage for the heroes (such as damage from towers). Some game actively encourage you to kill ''your own'' creeps to limit the amount of gold and experience your enemies get.

** While various factions in various games incur bonuses for sacrificing troops. Examples: ''C&C Red Alert Yuri's Revenge'' where Yuri can feed troops (own or mind-controlled enemies) to the Meat Grinder for cash. Starcraft and Warcraft III where Zerg and Undead can 'eat' their own troops for energy/mana.

** Hawke directly uses this line of reasoning before the battle Rain Of Fire, fought around an active volcano (to force the heroes into a land battle rather than an aerial one). And he's the most ''sympathetic'' of the villains.

** And on ''VideoGame/CompanyOfHeroes2'', the Soviet can do this through the following methods. Rapid conscription creates new conscript squads whenever one of your squads is wiped out. The conscript squad can merge with other units to serve as a reinforcement unit, which keeps them from being wiped out but lacks the armor and health stats of the squad they join. The Wehrmacht has the Ostruppen unit, a cheap spammable unit made up of [[BattleThralls "allied Axis countries"]] to soak up bullets and serve as fodder. Subverted with the American faction which now stresses survival in their vehicle units where the crew actually gain experience and thus encourages you to save the crew as possible. The Ardennes Assault campaign expansion also stresses that further as the companies loses health every time they reinforce or take losses and it's possible to lose the company due to insufficient combat strength.

* Near the end of the 9th ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' (''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Path of Radiance]]''), [[spoiler:Ashnard purposefuly gives the Crimean Army an advantage by dividing his forces, just so he can fight Ike, because he is impressed by his strength]].
** The Begnion Senators in the sequel are even worse. [[spoiler:They forbade retreating, ordered troops into volcanic caves just to see if the enemy was still alive, continued fighting after the majority of their forces retreated in direct violation of orders, so they executed him, their finest general, and when their particular province was attacked the units were more concerned about bounty than, say, living.]]

** This becomes a DiscussedTrope in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' during support conversations between the [[PlayerCharacter Avatar]] and Virion. The two are playing what's implied to be a tabletop version of Fire Emblem itself, with the Avatar being frustrated that they, the army's tactician, keeps losing to Virion. Virion points out that the Avatar's been prioritizing unit preservation (like a player would), whereas Virion is thinking of it as a game and throwing his pieces into a meatgrinder if it gets him the InstantWinCondition (like the series' SpitefulAI). Virion then goes to say that commanding like he does in a real setting [[DeconstructedTrope would cause huge problems in manpower and morale,]] and the Avatar's approach is what makes everyone trust their command, even if it loses them the board game.

* Near the end of the 9th ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' (''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Path of Radiance]]''), [[spoiler:Ashnard purposefuly gives the Crimean Army an advantage by dividing his forces, just so he can fight Ike, because he is impressed by his strength]].

* This trope is generally the basis for most battles in ''VideoGame/SupremeCommander'' and its sequels, due to the fact that most units are very cheap and quickly built with a decent economy. They're also exclusively robots[[note]]except [=ACUs=] and [=SACUs=], but those are rare and not usually meant for combat anyway[[/note]] assembled en masse in automated factories, which means the only limit to your numbers really is the aforementioned decent economy, with manpower being a complete non-issue. End-game bases can churn out hundreds of giant tanks/mechas/planes/ships every minute this way, indefinitely.

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'':
** This is basically how you deal with the Combine in the Nova Prospekt level: Keep sending wave after wave of antlions after them. You don't really even have to do this on purpose for the most part; the antlions will just naturally keep spawning, follow close behind you, and attack any humanoid that's not you. However, if you're [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential feeling particularly lackadaisical]], you can also use them to clear out tripmines. (LetsPlay/SpoilerWarning had some fun with this; see below.)
** The Combine themselves seem to treat Civil Protection this way, sending out a "stockpile signal" (as heard from their radios) whenever you've wiped out all the officers in the area. Rarely does this result in actually sending in more troops, and only ever as a scripted event; still, you know a police force is treated as expendable when their reserves are referred to as a "stockpile".

* ''VideoGame/EXTRAPOWERStarResistance'': A subtle example that's hard to notice as usually the player character is blowing up everything on screen soon after they appear. But if they aren't killing enemies, such as during a [[PacifistRun low-kills Paladin rank run]], they'll notice that the endless waves of {{Mooks}} also being susceptible to destruction by heavy weapons fire in stages 1 and 4. In stage 1, the missiles falling in from off-screen at the end of the stage can indiscriminately destroy any Master Denpa or Clay Kid that wanders into its blast radius. In stage 4, the [[SentientTank Plasma Bosses]] ''will'' destroy any enemy in its path, including the [[EliteMook Dig-Airs]] that fly at cannon level.

* The ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' series have always had somewhat of this mentality underlying it - after all, your troops are highly disposable, and another few hundred will pop up in your cities next week anyway. Of interest, however, is the sixth game, which simultaneously discourages this (by giving you a score bonus for minimizing or entirely eliminating losses), and allows you to re-enact the classic scenario practically detail-by-detail if you're a Might-based Haven hero. The 'Reinforcement' skill adds a number of temporary members to a chosen squad - these won't stick around after the end of the battle anyway, and thus are eminently expendable, perfect for canon-fodder. As long as the squad doesn't drop below its original numbers, you effectively suffered zero losses. And it just so happens that your upgraded ranged unit, the Sharpshooter, has a powerful attack that hits all units in a line, including your own. If firing into a melee, some of your own units are liable to be in the line of fire too. But hey - the 'Reinforcements' ability is considered a 'Tears' type ability, thus [[MoralDissonance using this strategy will push your hero closer to ''good'' end of the alignment spectrum]]...

** ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': This appears to be standard policy for Imperial officers, Darths, and Empire officials in general. The officers shrug it off; they're just "common soldiers." The Sith don't give a bantha's rear about much else other than themselves and their power games (the [[HumanoidAbomination Emperor]] is an OmnicidalManiac who wants ''everything in the galaxy except himself'' dead), and Empire officials follow the lead of the military and Sith. Couple this with KlingonPromotion being the ''preferred'' method of advancement (it's just gauche for a non-Sith to not be sneaky about it), and the Empire does more damage to itself than it does its enemies. Manditory conscription and [[WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture extensive use of slave labor]] is likely the only reason they managed to get off Dromund Kaas. The fact they caught the Republic by surprise [[WhatAnIdiot (thanks to Revan and Exile having]] ''[[WhatAnIdiot no backup plans]]'' [[WhatAnIdiot and walking into an obvious trap)]] is the only reason they had any success at all.

** And on ''VideoGame/CompanyOfHeroes2'', the Soviet can do this through the following methods. Rapid conscription creates new conscript squads whenever one of your squads is wiped out. The conscript squad can merge with other units to serve as a reinforcement unit, which keeps them from being wiped out but lacks the armor and health stats of the squad they join. The Wehrmacht has the Ostruppen unit, a cheap spammable unit made up of [[BattleThralls "allied Axis countries]] to soak up bullets and serve as fodder. Subverted with the American faction which now stresses survival in their vehicle units where the crew actually gain experience and thus encourages you to save the crew as possible. The Ardennes Assault campaign expansion also stresses that further as the companies loses health every time they reinforce or take losses and it's possible to lose the company due to insufficient combat strength.