Bridge Engineers need to be changed ?

[Yrfin]

Bridgies would be much more use if they only used part of their move to enter minor rivers. It seems quite reasonable to spend a whole turn for a major river crossing, but 2 hexes for a normal river would eliminate the annoying case where you are one hex from a river, but have to move next to it before you can cross it.

So, change movement Bridge from -100 to 1 at River can solve this problem.

And second idea:
These units are perhaps the most specialized in the game, but because crossing operations are so important, they are also some of the most important units. But crossing rivers not often used in Scenarios, so looking waste of slot in Core for Bridge unit.

So, maybe make Pionieers switchable to Bridge ?

[captainjack]

I agree. They spend all their time getting to the river and then sit and wait next to it. I'd like to be able to move at least one hex and then enter the river. I think this could be done by adjusting the movement files, but I have plenty of other things to work on right now.

My own private mod has French engineers who switch to bridge engineers and they are quite useful. Initially I gave the engineers bridging skills but this was too powerful and the switch results in a better balanced unit. At least some French engineering units included a company of bridge engineers, so it is historically reasonable as well as convenient.

Having bridge engineers 43 with slightly better combat stats (as in Niki's equipment file mod) is also useful as they can then help with fighting when they have finished sitting next to the river.

[proline]

Bridging engineers are very weak except on scenarios designed for them where they are usually provided. In practice, to bridge a river you can't usually move right next to the river because you'd get spotted and attacked by air or artillery. So you move two hexes from the river, then next to it, then onto it. By that time it has taken three turns to get set up. Usually you can force your way across at a road or city in the same time without having to use slots for an otherwise useless unit. On top of that, bridges can be easily countered by an enemy unit moving adjacent to them. Often, the terrain on the other side isn't favorable making it faster to stick to the roads.

Overall, bridging engineers suck. Getting rid of the river move penalty for them wouldn't help much, but considering how weak they are anything would help.