Some Questions From A New Purchaser

[OldGamer]

I just bought the retail version earlier today. I have played the free version but still a newbie. A couple of questions. When playing a PBEM game is there a way to determine how each side is doing in terms of achieving victory during the game? Secondly, what is the number on the far right column represent in the artillery display? In the documentation it says that if you have the command option on, units will not dig in unless you give them a defend order. How do you do that? Finally, getting back to artillery, when you set up a bombardment how do you know what kind of delay there will be before it occurs? Thanks.