Recently I have been looking to start a playthrough of Awakening, but I'm afraid I'll run into the same problem as last time. When I last played, I had massive issues building supports with my weaker units. Units that I often didn't use that much but still wanted to use as a father (such as Ricken, Virion, Maribelle, etc.) were too under leveled to build up supports through combat. The only way I could even slightly improve my units was through overworld skirmishes that either will cost me dearly in Reeking Boxes or by waiting for random events to give me spawns.
This has been my main obstacle from enjoying this game. It expects you to build up supports with all the characters while also expecting you to bench them. Am I missing something? Any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated. (Also, just for clarity I'll be playing on Hard Mode. I can figure out Lunatic Mode later lol)