Two Newbie Questions

[jeffdawg68]

Hi All,

Just digging into this game. Have the strategy guide too.

1. Is there away to order only an HQ to do soemthing w/o it affecting all of its units? I need to get the 82nd ABN HQ into the woods, but fear that by giving it a 'defend' order in the woods, all its elements will move that way. I dont want to have to detach all of them either. ANy ideas?
2. Is there any way the AI controls the arty for each unit? That is, can i put the arty under the control of an HQ so i dont have to play fire support officer for the entire battle?

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

[MadScot]

In the absence of one of the experts....

1. Only by detaching the subunits first. If you give an order to any unit or HQ which has units under its command, the new order will trickle down to affect the whole chain of command. You don't have the ability to order just part of the command structure to react, you have to split it off. So you'd have to issue orders to the various infantry regiments and support units to keep doing what they are doing (if they are under command of the div HQ) and THEN give the new orders to the HQ.

2. If you don't click the "rest after bombard" option and allow artillery to have defend orders (either explicitly or by moving them somewhere then ignoring them) then they will place themselves "on call" and will fire as requested by your line units. It's not the most efficient use of your fire support - the AI isn't a *good* at it as you can be - but it will keep the arty in the battle without needing your help.

[MarkShot]

Three problems with putting arty under AI control are:

(1) It's priorities may not reflect yours. So, if you are trying to achieve a breakthrough at a key area of the map (like a bridge), then you may want to focus your arty fire missions there.

(2) The AI can run you out of arty by noon and then what do you do when the enemy attacks at 15:00?

(3) The AI always uses ROF=SLOW for arty. Depending on the scenario time left and your ammo stocks or situation, you may want to lay it on heavier.

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Most of these can be overcome, by using the trick I show in my tips for having arty go "on-call" or "stand down" in conjunction with issuing some bombard orders when the situation calls for it.

[jeffdawg68]

Hi,

thanks for the replies. So you DO have to give orders to all subordinates just to move your division HQ. Seems like there could be an easier way, but okay.

Thanks again,

Jeff

[MadScot]

Well, to be honest the expectation in the design is that you will want to give individual orders to brigade and often battalion level units, which would leave only your DivHQ and its base anyway. After all, if you just gave orders at divisional level it'd be a pretty dull game. There are times a "detach" button would be nice, though (like dropping off a company to continue with the original task); I think it was in the wish list at one point.....(?)