Why don't radios cost anything?

[DRG]

Pepper said:
This is a really minor point -- I'm just curious.
As you all know, only squads with a radio can call in artillery. Its a pretty nice ability, however, since you never know who will have the LOS on target. So as a general matter, the more radios you can have, the better.
Now, in game, only the x0 units (platoon leaders) have radios.
I noticed however, in setting up a PBEM, that you can buy 4 separate units (obtaining 4 radios, since each separate unit is a x0 unit) for the same cost as 2 sections of 2 units each (in which you get only 2 radios) for the same cost as one platoon of 4 units (in which you get only 1 radio). ...
So I find myself buying as many individual units as I can to maximize the ability of my troops to call in arty.
Maybe this is balanced in some other fashion (when you buy a section the leader has higher arty skill; platoon leader even higher still) but I'm not aware of it.
I'm not suggesting that every OOB be re-written to add a point or 2 of cost for individual units, but I was just curious if this was a built in "exploit" or if there is some design explanation.
Thanks.

First off, it isn't just platoon leaders that carry radios. You didn't tell me the nation you are basing this assumption on but if you buy companies of British or US troops in 2005 and check each unit in the platoon you will find they all have radios becasue they all have 9x radio codes if you look at them with MOBHack.

The lower the radio code the less chance a secondary unit will carry a radio. ( which affects how well they rally ) If you buy Nigerian rifle platoons in 1962 you will find the x0 units does have a radio but the rest do not becasue they are 2x and 3x for radio code in the OOB's. The higher the number the more chance everyone will have a radio and the higher the cost of the platoon. If you take one of those Nigerian squads with a 20 radio code and change it to a 90 radio code the cost of the unit jumps from 12 points to 15 when you run it through the cost calculator

Don