construction battalions not being assigned to rail repair

[[TFM]bobcat]

As above, whenever I play, at least as the Germans, can't speak for the Soviets, I don't see hqs assigning construction units to rebuilding the rails. Each game I've combed through my hqs at game start and shifted construction units up to Army Group hqs and each playthrough, these construction units have largely gone unused. Despite having probably over a hundred construction battalions at their disposal, on any given turn I might see 10 of these units actually deployed repairing rail lines, maybe even less, and not for lack of things to repair. This is radically different from how it was in WITE 1 so I just have to ask, has something changed? Is there some extra step I have to take now to actually get hqs to assign these units to repair the rails?

[trooperrob]

Check that the units you are looking at are actually the rail repair units.
Normal construction units cannot be used to repair railways. They can be used to repair depots, industry etc, but not rail - check the manual - there are the manual rail units and a few others.

rail repair units attached to high command. will go anywhere, but getting them where you want them is hard.
Sometimes you can attach to a lower hq. The auto rr unit should go to a spot within the range of the hq (5 for lowest). It has to be next to a working railroad.
sometimes you can attach to a corps hq, and it will deploy within its range to repair a rail road leading to the corps hq.
I had luck in witw attaching to units coming up from Toulouse repairing the rail from the south of France rather than random spots in west France.
In Wite2 I play the Stalingrad as soviet. The rail units don't seem to make intelligent decisions around isolated ports and Crimea, but should on mainland.

each auto RR can only repair 1 hex, and it has to be next to a working rail. so each turn they magically appear where they want to be.
I don't think they will go in a hex next to the enemy.

You will have to experiment. I have seen auto rr units deploy further from the hq, and I have seen them pointlessly repairing a dead end line with no depots and no resources.

Try assigning them to an army if you wish to repair a line within 5. or corps or high command is best.

I have seen hqs attach normal repair units to repair a city (depot etc) but that is another story and I still can't make that happen predictably either!

[[TFM]bobcat]

Originally posted by trooperrob:

Check that the units you are looking at are actually the rail repair units.
Normal construction units cannot be used to repair railways. They can be used to repair depots, industry etc, but not rail - check the manual - there are the manual rail units and a few others.

rail repair units attached to high command. will go anywhere, but getting them where you want them is hard.
Sometimes you can attach to a lower hq. The auto rr unit should go to a spot within the range of the hq (5 for lowest). It has to be next to a working railroad.
sometimes you can attach to a corps hq, and it will deploy within its range to repair a rail road leading to the corps hq.
I had luck in witw attaching to units coming up from Toulouse repairing the rail from the south of France rather than random spots in west France.
In Wite2 I play the Stalingrad as soviet. The rail units don't seem to make intelligent decisions around isolated ports and Crimea, but should on mainland.

each auto RR can only repair 1 hex, and it has to be next to a working rail. so each turn they magically appear where they want to be.
I don't think they will go in a hex next to the enemy.

You will have to experiment. I have seen auto rr units deploy further from the hq, and I have seen them pointlessly repairing a dead end line with no depots and no resources.

Try assigning them to an army if you wish to repair a line within 5. or corps or high command is best.

I have seen hqs attach normal repair units to repair a city (depot etc) but that is another story and I still can't make that happen predictably either!

I assume the rail repair battalions are the Road construction, OT and RAD units? Because those are the ones I see attached to the FBD units.

[trooperrob]

in the printer friendly manual section 21.6 p247.
For human players only,
these units will only be
allocated up to the command
range (21.11.4) of their
controlling HQ. For example, if
a construction unit is assigned
to a Corps HQ unit, it can only
repair rail line hexes up to 5
hexes from that HQ, but the
same construction unit attached to a High Command HQ
unit (e.g. OKH or Stavka) could operate up to 90 hexes
away
- There is more - worth a read.
auto units will not deploy next to manual fbd units, or enemy units.

I have a feeling they will pick a line to repair, ie down to the end even if a dead end.
Not sure if when you return to HQ they will re-evaluate priority - ie pick a line to your depot, or go back to the previous.
You should see auto rail units sitting on a damaged rail hex, either damage 100% or 1%. Not sure if you get turn by turn progress if takes more than one turn.

There was a post I think in this or matrix forum clarifying which units can fix rails. A search might find it.

[[TFM]bobcat]

I am aware in general terms about most of that, the issue does not and has not seemed to be anything really among what you mentioned. I looked up on the forums as you suggested and while not conclusive, I have seen mention there that the three construction unit types I mentioned are capable of repairing rails. In examining things more closely however, only the RAD units seem to be getting assigned by hqs to repair rails. Don't have any free OT units to test with but so far I have yet to see any of my road construction battalions assigned to repair rails, despite having the same conditions as the RAD units (I.e. being attached to army group hqs and being well within range of numerous repairable rails). That is the problem I guess I'm trying to get at here then. Why are these specific units not being assigned in the same fashion as the RAD units seem to be being allocated.

[trooperrob]

Road repair is not rail repair.
I understand the devs might have a desire for historical accuracy, but it would be really handy if the information on which units can repair railways was made absolutely clear.
Can't find the link now. If you have them attached to top HQ and they are not out repairing rails, then they probably are not rail units.
I am sure they did post it but can't find it.
I think it is more confusing as Germans, I think the soviet unit names are clearer.


Devs - could you put the list of rail units into the manuals, or, say, have a (rr) after the name if it can repair rail.
If it is my fault for poor searching then please let me know.
Is there an option in the commanders report to filter RR units? If not maybe that is an option.
You can try the highlight rail units (ctrl-number I think). But presumably if it is on map the you would already know if it was.
you are not the only one having this confusion.

[[TFM]bobcat]

Indeed, would be nice if it was more clear. Also annoying that there are so few construction battalion types that can repair rails but good to know at least it isn't something I'm getting wrong (Because with this game that is not something I'd be surprised to hear)

[jabgamer]

From the living manual, section 21.6.1:

Errata 01.02.50
Units with the following text included in their names can repair rail damage:
Rail
Railway Construction
Engineer GS
R.A.D.
O.T.
RR Construction

A change was made so that units with “Railyard” in their name are now
specifically excluded from repairing rail damage even though “Rail” is a part of
Railyard. Before the change, some security units with Railyard in the name were
repairing damaged rail.

You can find the most recent Living Manual in the /Manuals folder inside the main game folder.

[[TFM]bobcat]

Originally posted by jabgamer:

From the living manual, section 21.6.1:

Errata 01.02.50
Units with the following text included in their names can repair rail damage:
Rail
Railway Construction
Engineer GS
R.A.D.
O.T.
RR Construction

A change was made so that units with “Railyard” in their name are now
specifically excluded from repairing rail damage even though “Rail” is a part of
Railyard. Before the change, some security units with Railyard in the name were
repairing damaged rail.

You can find the most recent Living Manual in the /Manuals folder inside the main game folder.

I'm curious then, what purpose do road construction battalions serve? to my knowledge, roads in the game don't actually need to be repaired the way railways do

[jabgamer]

They can repair factories/railyards, assist with fort building, etc., just not repair rails independently. As part of an FBD unit, they do provide a benefit by adding to the RRV of the FBD unit.

[[TFM]bobcat]

Originally posted by jabgamer:

They can repair factories/railyards, assist with fort building, etc., just not repair rails independently. As part of an FBD unit, they do provide a benefit by adding to the RRV of the FBD unit.

Seems weird that they can add RRV to an FBD if they can't repair rails, though I suppose that does explain why FBD's lack the ability to have su's attached to them