Question on Bridge Building

[kmussler]

I'm playing as the Germans the Race to Bastogne scenerio. The Germans start trying to build two bridges over the Our river. They have only two bridge-building engineer units, one at each site. They do however have a few other engineer units available to assist. Historically, the first bridge was completed in the late afternoon and the second in the early evening. I've not been able to get results anywhere near that using the single engineer at each bridge. The manual indicates multiple engineer units can be used, just that one must be bridge-capable. What orders do you give the not-bridge capable engineers to assist in the bridge building? General von Luttwitz would like to know and I haven't found it in the manual.

Kurt

[wodin]

Just lassoo them together....I had three engineers working on one bridge and two on the other...bridge's where complited quickly well before the evening of the second day. Just make sure each group has one bridge building unit.

I had set them to fastest\quickest high aggro and use lots of basics....not sure if it helped but I did it anyway.

Great scenario I'm playing it at the moment and have just reached the other two bridge Objectives and it's early morning of day 3 I think...can't quite remember but I'm on track...might even still be day 2....not sure.

[kmussler]

Thanks for the reply. I'll try your suggestion. Group selection (lassooing them together) is not something I considered. Is there an order you give individual non-bridging capable units, like 'defend' or 'secure crossing'? I will also try 'fastest/quickest, high 'aggro'. As for the historical times for crossing the Clerf River, the 77th Grenadier Regiment crossed early on the second day at Drauffelt. Clervaux wasn't captured until late on the second day by elements of 2nd Panzer, with Americans holding the chateau until noon on the third day (December 18th). Elements of 78th Grenadier Regiment crossed at a third location, down near Wilwerwiltz, late on the second day. The bridge over the Our River at Dasburg for use by 2nd Panzer was finished in the early evening of the first day. The bridge over the Our at Ubereisenbach for use by Panzer Lehr was completed by late afternoon on the first day.

Kurt

[Henri]

ORIGINAL: kmussler

Thanks for the reply. I'll try your suggestion. Group selection (lassooing them together) is not something I considered. Is there an order you give individual non-bridging capable units, like 'defend' or 'secure crossing'? I will also try 'fastest/quickest, high 'aggro'. As for the historical times for crossing the Clerf River, the 77th Grenadier Regiment crossed early on the second day at Drauffelt. Clervaux wasn't captured until late on the second day by elements of 2nd Panzer, with Americans holding the chateau until noon on the third day (December 18th). Elements of 78th Grenadier Regiment crossed at a third location, down near Wilwerwiltz, late on the second day. The bridge over the Our River at Dasburg for use by 2nd Panzer was finished in the early evening of the first day. The bridge over the Our at Ubereisenbach for use by Panzer Lehr was completed by late afternoon on the first day.

Kurt

There is a "secure crossing" command, which means what it says, that is you will try to prevent the enemy from blowing the bridge and try to take control of it. There is also a "deny crossing" command which requires engineers who will prime the bridge for demolition if the enemy approached (you hope). You can also defend near the bridge, but this may not prevent the enemy from blowing it if it was primed by him and if he can get close enough.

Henri

[FredSanford3]

select all the engineer units (only) and use the construct bridge command. Even though only one engineer may have a bridge, the other engineer units will pitch in to help build the bridge.

I don't believe aggro or speed settings will help, but you may want to select 'no rest'.

[MarkShot]

See page 196 as there is a limit to how much adding resources accelerates this. In another words, 9 woman cannot birth a baby in 1 month.

[daft]

I just love that analogy. [:D]

[kmussler]

Franklin, thanks for the reply. I forgot about "no rest". I'll try that. Markshot, I love the analogy too. I saw the chart on page 196 before, it's also on page 100. For the light road bridge being built, I don't have 600 engineers (at either location). But, the information will be helpful for other scenerios. Thanks.

[kmussler]

Just a followup post for anyone else who might have this same question:

I left-clicked and dragged to select two engineer units. One was bridging-capable, one was not. By selecting both at the same time, I was able to give the bridge-building command to both units. I put them on Rest: "none". I repeated this process at the other bridge location. The scenario start time is 5:30. Just before 13:30, both bridges were finished. Both groups of engineers totaled around 330 men each. You are allowed 600 for a light road bridge. Estimated time of completion in the manual is 10 hours. My guys did very well. General von Luttwitz is pleased.

[Obsolete]

I've noticed a few different war-games in the past allowed engineers traveling by leg movement to construct bridges strong enough for tanks to travel through.  Realistically, I wonder if such a thing ever happened. 

[Fred98]

ORIGINAL: Obsolete
I've noticed a few different war-games in the past allowed engineers traveling by leg movement to construct bridges strong enough for tanks to travel through. 

Realistically, I wonder if such a thing ever happened. 

In this game, armoured infantyr cannot dismount. So I presume engineers cannot dismount either.

-

[Arjuna]

Just to be accurate, armoured infantry, mech inf, mot inf all can dismount. They do so whenever they feel threatened by nearby enemy. When dismounted the vehicles are presumed to follow behind the foot slogging troopers. As such they are less vulnerable to enemy fire. They, however, do not separate from the troopers. This would require us to model either two separate units or to abstract this like we do with supply transport columns. Both of these options are on the wish list.

[Lieste]

ORIGINAL: Obsolete

I've noticed a few different war-games in the past allowed engineers traveling by leg movement to construct bridges strong enough for tanks to travel through.  Realistically, I wonder if such a thing ever happened. 

While the bridging equipment is always carried by heavy truck, the engineers in at least some of the German Bridging columns are not provided with vehicles and must march, as did much of the German infantry... This means that their marching rate should be roughly that of a foot column, but they should be only able to enter terrain suitable for trucks.

Without a copy to check the Estab this is a bit of a guess, but I'd say the Bridging columns in question have some heavy trucks but insufficient to lift the entire column, and the troops must march - hence the foot movement classification.

[simovitch]

ORIGINAL: Obsolete

I've noticed a few different war-games in the past allowed engineers traveling by leg movement to construct bridges strong enough for tanks to travel through.  Realistically, I wonder if such a thing ever happened. 

A little bit of abstraction here with bridge building units. In some cases the bridging equipment was stockpiled at the sites the night before, usually by forced laborers but in the case of the larger vehicular brücke pieces, they were hauled in by truck and set in place more or less by hand.

In the 7th Arny sector the Germans tore apart buildings (mainly doors) from the nearby villages to fashion together even light vehicular bridges.