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Hello guys,

I have a question on bridge building. The reference manual, when discussing constructing a bridge (page 95) states the following:

Construct Bridge
If the enemy succeeds in blowing a crossing that you need, you may be able to recover the situation by constructing a bridge to replace the one destroyed. To do so:
...

(The bold is mine). As I understand it, this means that I cannot construct a bridge wherever I like but I am restricted to the places in the map where a bridge already exists (or existed): is this correct? The reason why I am asking is because in a AAR I have actually seen the player trying to build a bridge to cross a river in a spot where there was no bridge at all and this would be rather neat indeed in scenarios like the "Charge of the centaurs" or "Foothills of the Gods".

Cheers,

Red Devil

I think any valid crossing point on the map can have a bridge built across it. It does not need to first be blown by the enemy. Off hand, I cannot remember what determines what type of span it is that gets built (perhaps the equipment available to the bridging units).

Hello Mark,

Thanks for the reply.
Is what you call "crossing" something like the one highlighted in the pic below (or above... I am not very good with attaching images on this forum)?

I would need a bridge right there and in many other places in different maps.
The reference guide also suggests to support the bridging unit with engineers: how is this achieved in practice? do I have to group the two units and give to both of them a construct bridge order? or is it sufficient for the support engineer to be in the area?

Cheers

In your screenshot, the bridge is already there. Here is a screenshot of one from the HTTR manual, since my laptop is off at the moment where I have COTA installed.

I would guess that to speed the bridge construction that the units involved either individual or grouped have to be given a construct bridge order. I don't think their mere presence in the area is sufficient.

I think RedDevil means the track bisected by the river or stream in the top right of his graphic, in the darker circle.

Nope, you can only build bridges where there are crossing points defined by the map designer. But on most maps, the suitable points have already been defined on the map by the map designer even if the scenario designer should choose to not place a span/ferry across them in particular scenarios.

Hello again,
 
Thanks for the clarification Howard, this is exactly what I meant... I have tried to be too clever in manipulating the screenshot [:D]
 
My final thoughts on this "issue":
a) that the reference manual could do with some improved wording (maybe just the graphical representation of a crossing as provided by Mark would be sufficient);
b) the engine should perform a check when a "construct bridge" order is issued and inform the player that this is not possible. Similar to when the AI moves a waypoint to the nearest suitable location. I tried yesterday to build a bridge where there was no crossing (in fact no river) in sight and the AI happily shipped the bridging unit + engineer coy to the destination to build [&:] a bridge.
 
Cheers,
 
RedDevil
 

RedDevil,
 
Fair cop.
 
TT3239 - UI - Disable Construct Bridge Task if not within range of crossing - Warn Player ( beep )