Experiences with coy,bn,div orders

[Mahatma]

When do people use each of company-,battalion- and divisional-level orders and why?

Company-

Defending a town/hockerline/tree line to get the best cover bonuses.
Moving artillery to guard supply lines.

Battalion-

Assaults, moves, defending areas where cover isn't important.

Divisional-

Almost never since I'm not sure if the AI can work at this level. Can the AI be trusted at divisional level?

[jimcarravall]

ORIGINAL: Mahatma

When do people use each of company-,battalion- and divisional-level orders and why?

Company-

Defending a town/hockerline/tree line to get the best cover bonuses.
Moving artillery to guard supply lines.

Battalion-

Assaults, moves, defending areas where cover isn't important.

Divisional-

Almost never since I'm not sure if the AI can work at this level. Can the AI be trusted at divisional level?

I tend to use Divisional and above orders at night, or when a mass movement is required.

The night time orders tend to revolve around resting and refitting, issuing a "defend in situ" order to the division (or sometimes Corps and Army), and then attaching subordinates I want to rest to that command so they remain in place, but go over to defense at night to recover fatigue and cohesion where necessary.

Allows me to maintain progress obtained from attacks and moves, but diminishes the impact of the forces remaining "at ready" in the formation / command they assumed to make that progress.

Particularly in scenarios where mass movement is a bonus (HttR from the Meuse to the Rhine for example), I'll capture a division formation entering the map and command it to move (or if I'm more cautious, probe) to a region of the battle space from which I want more forces for deployment.

I guess one way to look at it is that a majority of World War II in the scenarios and packs currently available from Command Ops was "maneuver" battle rather than attrition.

Forces moved to flank and isolate enemies, sometimes with success (early BftB advances by the Nazis) and sometimes not so successfully (HttR).

Company, Battalion, and in some cases, Brigade level operations were suited to protecting the weak spots in the maneuver (or counter maneuver) so the remaining formation can obtain a more favorable location against the enemy force.