railroad repair question

[Michael Hobuss]

I just began playing today and have found the section in the manual about railraod repair, but am still unclear exactly how to make the unit begin repair. Is it done automatically or is there a command? Will they repair more than 1 hex per turn, and move automatically to do so?

Thanks.

[heliodorus04]

Okay, there are two types of rail repair units for each side.

The basic type you worry about is the type you control.  So let's wait on those and deal with the type you do not control.  Various RR construction (for Soviet) and many designations of "construction" unit (for the Germans/Romanians/Finns) pop out of HQs onto the map and automatically repair rail hexes.  These un-controllable units won't repair what you want them to unless it's by rare accident, and they will repair whatever they work on very slowly (so you often see 2 on one rail hex), at least compared to the repair units you control.

The rail units you control you must manage yourself.  They can generally repair 2 to 5 hexes per clear-weather turn.  They are restricted practically by movement points most often, but in the Baltic Rail zone, Axis rail repair is 1 per hex to convert rather than the usual 3 per hex.  So there you sometimes run into the problem of being limited to repairing rail hexes within 6 or 8 (or whatever the limit, I forget) of where your existing rail head was at the start of the current turn (i.e., what you fixed last turn).

[CarnageINC]

The command button for the FBD's to manually build track is the light blue colored RRC# button on the unit info to the right.  If its not colored you can't build track.  You move it at the beginning of the rail head, click then move to the next one and repeat.  At first I couldn't figure out how to use the FBD's but that should get you going.  

[rubisco]

For the Axis side, your 5 player controlled rail repair units are called FBD1 to FBD5. When they are on an eligible piece of damaged railroad, there appears a bit of blue text in the unit information box at the right hand side of the screen that says "RRC 1" or "RRC 3". You click on this blue text to execute railroad repair. The number (1 or 3) tells you how many movement points that piece of railroad repair will cost. This is 1MP in the Baltics and 3MP in the Soviet Union.

When you first select an FBD unit, all damaged railroad hexes that are within movement range appear shaded red. You must carry out the repair sequentially starting at the first damaged rail hex from the existing railhead. This simulates the fact that repair materials would have come in by rail.

[Michael Hobuss]

Thanks a lot folks.

I used the repair command successfully but it still left 1 point of damage. How do you take it to zero?

[rubisco]

EDIT: see below!

[heliodorus04]

Whenever you repair a hex, it will be left with 1 damage, that repairs at the start of your next turn.  The 1 damage is really a "place-holder" to show that it's been repaired THIS turn, and can't be used for rail movement THIS turn.