Bridge building: Panzer Campaigns

[BluntF]

I was asking this over on another forum as well but wanted to get some input from people that have been playing a while

This is an odd question but I was wondering what happens if an engineer unit in Bridge OPS is attacked while he is building a bridge? I had this situation in France 40 abbeville day two. My engineer was attempting to build a bridge across a canal and even though he started it OK he was later harassed constantly


So once an engineer say builds a bridge and it says HAS BRIDGE, what do I do then? Leave him there?

Other units in "T" mode can just cross right over his hex?

Never did get that bridge built

[The SNAFU]

Engineers attacked while building bridges tend to take longer to complete them or in the extreme case, they dont get the bridge done at all. If they are disrupted their struggles to get bridges across increase.

Units may pass through the engineer and across bridges but must be in T Mode to cross. The engineer can later abandon a bridge and move on to other duties but I believe they would no longer be capable of bridge building.

Hope this helps

[Ricky B]

A few more specific comments on this, good questions and SNAFU covered the overall picture well.

First, fire on the engineers does not by itself have any impact on bridge building timeframe unless the engineer falls below a certain size, if I recall correctly. Then it could take longer.

However, if an engineer disrupts, it will never complete the bridge until it recovers from disruption, thus delaying the process.

Once the bridge is up the engineer must either dismantle the bridge or abandon it before being able to move, outside of it can always enter travel mode and cross the bridge to the other side of the river/body of water, which can be a good move.

Thus, bridge placement is an important skill to learn - for contested crossings trying to find an out of enemy sight bridging area is helpful, or send a screening force of infantry across the river first, whenever possible, to push defenders back from LOS to the crossing point.

Rick

[Liebchen]

Once the bridge is up the engineer must either dismantle the bridge or abandon it before being able to move, outside of it can always enter travel mode and cross the bridge to the other side of the river/body of water, which can be a good move.

Just to clarify:

Engineers can dismantle their bridge and pack it up for later use elsewhere by using the Engineer:Bridge Ops function. This process will be akin to installing the bridge in the first place; that is, it'll be a die-roll.

If you have no time to wait for proper dismantling of the bridge, then choose the abandon option instead. In this case, the bridge disappears immediately, and that engineer will not be able to build any more bridges for the entire game.

[Panzer VI]

If I know my engineers are at risk of being fired upon, I always put an Infantry Battalion or two in the same hex to cover the engineers or draw fire. Seems to work well for me.

[jonnymacbrown]

"Never did get that bridge built."
What you need to do is break down the Eng. unit into component companies and build with 3 units instead on 1. A single Eng. unit no matter how large will take a long time to build a bridge, ergo, use companies. This isn't gamesmanship but is rather a game feature. An Eng. unit being harassed by fire will not affect the bridge construction, only disruption will do that. You should be able to deconstruct the bridge and later build another one with the same unit. jonny

[BluntF]

"Never did get that bridge built."
What you need to do is break down the Eng. unit into component companies and build with 3 units instead on 1. A single Eng. unit no matter how large will take a long time to build a bridge, ergo, use companies. This isn't gamesmanship but is rather a game feature. An Eng. unit being harassed by fire will not affect the bridge construction, only disruption will do that. You should be able to deconstruct the bridge and later build another one with the same unit. jonny

SO you mean in the command menu just break the unit down?

[jonnymacbrown]

"So you mean in the command menu just break the unit down?"

Correct. American E units don't break down but Germans do. That's a big help. I got slowed down trying to cross the Meuse (what German commander hasn't?) by building bridges with one large E unit. I thought that bigger was better. In this case it isn't: three smaller companies will build the bridge faster than one large unit. jonny

[Glenn Saunders]

"Never did get that bridge built."
What you need to do is break down the Eng. unit into component companies and build with 3 units instead on 1. A single Eng. unit no matter how large will take a long time to build a bridge, ergo, use companies. This isn't gamesmanship but is rather a game feature. An Eng. unit being harassed by fire will not affect the bridge construction, only disruption will do that. You should be able to deconstruct the bridge and later build another one with the same unit. jonny

This is actually not correct.

below is right for the DOCs

"When an Engineer unit has less than 100 men, the probability of completing the bridge is reduced proportionally. In addition, an engineer company will have a probability of bridge completion 1/3 that of an engineer battalion. Otherwise, having more than one Engineer unit constructing a bridge will increase the chances of completion."

So you it is up to you is you want ONE chance at the normal rate or 3 chances at 1/3 the normal rate.

Also note there is a Quality Modifier so better Eng take longer to build then poorer engs.

FWIW Guys - we did a lot of work during PzC Bulge 44 on how long it takes to build bridges vs the ENg unit size and quality. So while it seems like the Bridge takes forever, statistically for the Germans crossing the Our RIver at thr start of thr Bulge Campaign, your bridges will generally be completed more quickly than they were built historically.

Glenn

[BluntF]

"Never did get that bridge built."
What you need to do is break down the Eng. unit into component companies and build with 3 units instead on 1. A single Eng. unit no matter how large will take a long time to build a bridge, ergo, use companies. This isn't gamesmanship but is rather a game feature. An Eng. unit being harassed by fire will not affect the bridge construction, only disruption will do that. You should be able to deconstruct the bridge and later build another one with the same unit. jonny

This is actually not correct.

below is right for the DOCs

"When an Engineer unit has less than 100 men, the probability of completing the bridge is reduced proportionally. In addition, an engineer company will have a probability of bridge completion 1/3 that of an engineer battalion. Otherwise, having more than one Engineer unit constructing a bridge will increase the chances of completion."

So you it is up to you is you want ONE chance at the normal rate or 3 chances at 1/3 the normal rate.

Also note there is a Quality Modifier so better Eng take longer to build then poorer engs.

FWIW Guys - we did a lot of work during PzC Bulge 44 on how long it takes to build bridges vs the ENg unit size and quality. So while it seems like the Bridge takes forever, statistically for the Germans crossing the Our RIver at thr start of thr Bulge Campaign, your bridges will generally be completed more quickly than they were built historically.

Glenn

So multiple Battalions would be the best then? Thanks for all the help everyone that replied. Interesting stuff. Looks like my lame bridge attempt with about 160 men was really piss poor idea ha ha! I attached a screenshot of who I used