It's been a while since I played CMx1, but am I remembering correctly or not when I think the units had generic bases with no unit info and that was it? You had to click a unit to see what it was. If so, I don't get the CMx1 had the perfect solution and was so much better line of thinking. I understand the bases were more visible, but you can use a mod to change that. The flags are a new addition to CMx2 aren't they? So they are above and beyond what was available in CMx1. To me, they serve their purpose well and work as what I think is intended. As stated above, a quick way to find your commander, machine gunner, etc. Click the flag then find the highlighted base. I'm not sure they were meant to be tactical representation for the unit to be selected and controlled by and trying to use them that way is probably your source of frustration. If it is the case, that they just be used for quick unit selection at a glance, then what you are asking for is a fix for something that is not broken. Or at best, a way to improve on a feature. Would throwing grenades at people you only intend to wound be a terrible implementation and functionality of grenades or a misuse and incorrect expectation of them?