Comm Links

[Manson]

The attached screenshot, taken during the deployment stage of a quick battle, shows three platoons separated by some distance.  The green lines between platoons represent, I believe, communication links ("comms") between the squads/platoons.

The men were not set up in defensive stance.  No time has passed for the wire squad to lay any cable.  

So how were these comms set up and what type are they?  Is this just a feature of quick battles?  I swear I don't get such great comms set up during campaigns.

Shown are two German Rifle platoons (on the flanks) and a Company commander platoon in the center.  The commander of one of the rifle platoons is selected.  It's a little difficult to see, but if you look at the "Command level" icon (third icon from the right in the center icon bar) you will see a small red telephone symbol in the top left corner.  

I am aware of the steam guide that discusses comms icons.  It says "white telephone" means "Send order/info through wire" which makes sense.  But it also says red indicates a broken link.  So this suggests "red telephone" means a broken wire link.  But the green lines between squads indicate active comms.  I'm misunderstanding something here.  Hopefully someone can help me.

Also notice the comm link between the mortar squad (Mohr) and its commander, Sauter. There is even a link between the lone infantry squad in top right (Hurst) and its commander (hard to see in the screenshot, but its there).  How did these comms get set up and how do I know what type they are?

I'm interested because I set up the battle to study the behaviour of the wire squad and try to understand comms better.  I was surprised to see comms already set up between the units.  I expected to see the wire squad set them up.  

[Dane49]

I suspect the leaders and the mortar have radios as do most German vehicles, hence the green pulsing dashes. The other units are within voice command-under 100 meters. The wire units only lay wire between leaders not individual weapons or squads. You still need to keep the squads under 100 meters away from a leader for them to be in effective command range.

You can still issue orders to units out of command range, but it will take longer for the units to carry out that order. Basically meaning a simulated runner was sent to deliver the order. The farther away the longer it takes to deliver the message.

I think initially you are allowed to issue a certain amount of orders to units out of command range( the runner already sent, or pre orders initiated by a flare), but after the battle starts it will be more difficult.

[Manson]

Thank you Dane.  That was helpful.

I did some more experimenting.  I ran the game and observed the behaviour of the wire squad.  On the first run, they sent two men off to the platoon on the left and established a wire link.  The small telephone icon in the top left corner of the commander info button changed from red to black when the link was established.  They never linked up the platoon to the right.  I noticed this platoon was both out of sight of the wire squad and significantly further away.  (I restarted the battle so it didn't look exactly the same as in the screenshot above.)  I ran the battle again, but this time positioned both platoons closer to the central commander squad and in its line of sight.  This time the wire squad connected both platoons simultaneously. 

Some things I learnt:

1.  The platoons in this battle must all have radios because they had active comms before wire links were established.  Is there some icon or symbol that indicates the presence of radios?

2.  Platoons can begin the battle with broken wire comms.  How this differs from simply not having wire comms in the first place is unclear to me.  Experimenting in my current campaign reveals that platoons can also begin the battle with active comms.  I have not noticed that being in defensive mode has any affect on this.

3.  The wire squad won't link up platoons that are either too far away or out of sight.

4.  Wire squads send out solders in pairs and so can link up more than one platoon at at time.  As a consequence, if you have units symbols active rather than individual unit symbols, then the wire squad's symbol can give a very misleading indication of where the individual men are.

5.  Wire squads get exhausted, and when they do, they stop laying wire.

Finally, another question.  The leftmost button in the bottom bar (the heavy weapons button) also has a black telephone symbol in top left corner.  What does this mean?  Also what does the "..." symbol on this button mean?  (Not above units' heads in game, but on the button.) 

Thanks for taking the time to read this. 

Manson