Engineering orders are not just orders that engineers do. Engineering orders are different from other orders in that they can take several execution turns before they are completed. Below is a summary of the various engineering orders allowed:
Lightly Dig In - this tells an unit to lightly dig in. This can only be done when there are no enemy units adjacent to the unit. This order will remain on until the unit successfully digs in or the dig-in quality has reached it's maximum of 5. If the hex has already been extensively dug-in, the this order will not be attempted.
Extensively Dig In - this tells an unit to extensively dig in, which provides a better defensive position than is provided by lightly diging in. This can only be done when there are no enemy units adjacent to the unit. This order will remain on until the unit successfully digs in or the dig-in quality has reached it's maximum of 5.
Repair Bridges - this is used to repair infantry and tank bridges (shown on the hex map as a green disk with either "I" or "T" printed on them) that have been destroyed and appear as orange disks on the hex map. You first must have moved the unit adjacent to the bridge that you want repaired, click this button and have at least one movement order that would carry the unit over the bridge. After you go to the execution phase, all other orders that you give this unit will be deleted and when you look at this unit again latter you will only see that this button is toggled on until the repair is completed.
Most units, on most terrain types, can dig themselves lightly into the ground. The following is a quick run-through of what you need to do in order to lightly dig an unit in:
The first step is to select the unit that you want lightly dug in by clicking on it. This will make it the active unit and cause a green highlight to appear about the borders of the hex.
Next we move the cursor to the toolbar and over the lightly dig in order button, as I've pictured to the left.
You then simply click on the lightly dig in command button and you're done giving the orders.
After a delay of a few turns the image of the unit image shall change to one symbolising a lightly dug in state, which is pictured to the left. Notice that there is a number 1 printed on the new unit graphic - this is a measure of how effective this diging has been. This number ranges from 1 for the lowest through to 5 for the best. If after completing one dug in level (eg 1), you then procede to give the lightly dug in order again, then latter the dug in level will increase by 1 (our example would now be at 2) and can be repeated until the number 5 is reached.
Several events can stop a unit diging in. These events are: an enemy unit is adjacent to the unit trying to dig in; the unit that is trying to dig in attempts another order like movement; the unit recieve a cancel order which clears all of its orders; the unit is already dug in to a quality of 5; the unit is already extensively dug in (if a unit is extensively dug in then no amount of trying to lightly dig in will do anything more); there is a fortress or bunker already on the hex.
Not all units can extensively digin - if an unit can be given the orders to extensively dig (displayed by the way the extensively dig in button is not dimmed) in then that unit can recieve those orders. To extensively dig an unit in is very similar to lightly diging a unit in:
The first step is to select the unit that you want extensively dug in by clicking on it. This will make it the active unit and cause a green highlight to appear about the borders of the hex.
Next we move the cursor to the toolbar and over the extensively dig in order button, as I've pictured to the left.
You then simply click on the extensively dig in command button and you're done giving the orders.
After a delay of a few turns the image of the unit image shall change to one symbolising a extensively dug in state, which is pictured to the left. Notice that there is a number 1 printed on the new unit graphic - this is a measure of how effective this diging has been. This number ranges from 1 for the lowest through to 5 for the best. If after completing one dug in level (eg 1), you then procede to give the lightly dug in order again, then latter the dug in level will increase by 1 (our example would now be at 2) which can be repeated until the number 5 is reached.
Several events can stop an unit diging in. These events are: an enemy unit is adjacent to the unit trying to dig in; the unit that is trying to dig in attempts another order like movement; the unit recieve a cancel order which clears all of its orders; the unit is already dug in to a quality of 5; there is a fortress or bunker already on the hex. If an unit is lightly dug in and has just completed an extensive dig in, then the dig in type will switch to an extensive dug in type.
Repairing bridges that have been destroyed is a little more complex than diging an unit in. There are two types of bridge that can be repaired after been blown, these are Infantry and Armour Bridges. These are both displayed on the hex map as coloured disks placed over a large river with either an "I" or an "A" printed on them.
The very first thing that you must do before you can repair a bridge is to first move an unit that can repair bridges alongside the bridge in question, as I've done in the picture to the left.
You next click on the unit to make it active, as I've shown to the left.
You then move the cursor up into the toolbar and over the repair bridges command button.
Clicking on the button will cause the button to toggle to a down position.
You then move the cursor across to the movement order buttons and chose one to either walking or running orders - which doesn't really matter.
You click the mouse to select your movement order preference.
Move the cursor down to the hex map and over the hex adjacent to your bridge repairing unit. Notice that the destroyed bridge is on the border of these two hexes. It is through the use of a movement order that we can tell the bridge repairing unit exactly which direction to look for a brdige to repair.
You then press down the Cmd key to make the cursor change to the appropriate movement cursor.
Cmd-clicking will result in a movement order being placed over the top of the destroyed bridge. Notice that since the bridge repairing unit is fully motorised that it could never cross the Infantry bridge in our example - an unit doesn't need to be able to cross a bridge itself in order to repair that bridge. This completes the process of giving the order to repair a bridge.
If we let an execution phase pass, and we latter come back to see what our unit is doing, we can click on the bridging unit and notice that the unit's fatigue is increasing as it does its work.
Also, up in the toolbar, no other orders are selected, but the repair bridge order button is still toggled down which shows that the unit is has decided that there is a bridge that requires repairing and is working on it.
Notice also that the movement order that we have given is no longer present, although the movement button is in the down position, allowing us to change our mind if we want to - once the game figures out the direction in which the bridge lies then all movement orders are deleted.
After a few turns pass the orange disk marking a destroyed bridge is replaced by a green disk of the relevant type and the bridge is repaired. If there are other bridges that need repairing then the bridge repairing unit is now free to work on them.
There are times where giving bridge orders can fail. Giving bridge orders where there are no destroyed bridges around is one way for an order to not be attempted. The presence of enemy units in adjacent hexes is always a problem. Forgeting to give a movement order that lies over the bridge that needs repairing is another way to have a bridge repairing order not be attempted. Pressing the cancel button will also stop a bridge from being repaired.