まず対戦する二つの国を選びます。最初に対戦国のうちのどちらか一方の国旗をクリックして選択します(現在選択されている対戦国の国旗の上に緑色のランプがついているはずです)。そしてスクリーンの上半分に表示されている国旗の中から自分の望む対戦国を選んでください。 対戦日時(Battle Date) では会戦の年と月を選択します。注意事項として、 その国旗が年と月によって現れたり消えたり 、政治的環境によって変化する(フランスの国旗が自由フラン スの国旗に変わるなど)国が存在します。時間枠は選択した二つの国のうち、より登場期間が短い方の存在期間に制限さ れることになります。ですから、単に時間枠を1930年から1946年までめいっぱいにしたい 場合は対戦国双方を1930年から1946年まで使用可能な国家にする、例えば イギリス対ドイツ、アメリカ対ソヴィエトなどにするのが一番です。その後に対戦国の中の人を…実際にプレイする人を決めてください。 まず、先攻側 の設定から始めます。ひとりで対CPで遊ぶとき は普通こちらでプレイすることになります。ですが、当然CPにも 手動にもできます(つまり、AI対AIで戦わせることもできます。その場合、ゲームの途中にスペースキーを押すとその次の手 番の側の以後の操作が手動になります。)。先攻、後攻共に 手動の場合としてはPBEM対人戦がまずあげられますが、そ のほかにもこのやり方で1台のPCでの対人戦(ホットシートゲー ム)も行える完全な機能があります。詳しくはPBEM対人戦の 項をご覧ください。※CP対CPの対戦ではAIを双方の陣営で 戦わせる「デモンストレーション」的な対戦となります。もしこの ようなAI対AIの対決を開始した際、十分に試合を見た、ある いは試合が終わる前にこれを中止して終わらせたい、あるいは 途中参加したいという場合にはただスペースキーを押してください。次の手番で対戦が一時中断しますので、そうしたら「ゲームを終了する」(Exit)を押すか、そこから対戦に参加するかのどちらかをお選びください。 オート/手動購入ボタン(Purchase)では戦力の購入を手 動で行うか、CPに自動で行わせるかを決定します。普通はプ レイヤーが操作する側は手動設定のままにしておきます。もち ろん、もしAI側の購入を自分でやりたい(例えば、奇襲的な要素をゼロにしたい等)場合はそうすることもできます。 オート/手動部隊配置ボタン(Deploy)ではゲーム開始時 の部隊戦力布陣を手動で行うかCPに自動で行わせるかを決 定します。これに関しても、プレーヤーが操作する側は手動で 行うことをお勧めします。注意事項として、自動配置では手 動配置ではありえないところに部隊が配置されることがあります 。これは自動配置ではAIによる配置が行われ、そこではこのような配置も許されるためです。また、対人戦(PBEM対人戦や ホットシートゲームなど)の際は手動操作の後攻側を「自動購入」にすることはできないので、後攻側は手動で自分の戦力 を購入する必要があります。特定の条件のもとで対戦を行い たい、あるいは奇襲的な要素をゼロにしたいなどの場合には AI側の兵力配置を手動に切り替えることもできます。 渡河・上陸戦闘の有無(Water Conditions)のボタンは 強襲戦を選んだときのみに現れます。ここでは上陸戦、渡河 戦を行うかどうか、さらには渡河戦を行う場合は川の広さを設 定できます。広さ0では干上がった川の河床の様になります。 対戦国の国旗の上にある向かい合う矢印は会戦形態(Battle Arrow)で、クリックして対抗する矢印の長さの比を 変えることで会戦形態を変えることができます。デフォルトは遭遇戦です。
(注:もし部隊自動購入をあらかじめ選択しておいた場合は部隊購入画面を飛ばして直接部隊配置画面になります)
マップ画面ではこれから戦う戦場を事前に見ることができますが、それだけではなく戦闘を始める前に戦場をある程度変えることもできます。画面上にある15のボタンには以 下のような機能があります(左上のボタンからのボタンへと解説を進めていきます)
Select the available units from the list on the left, unit data will be shown only if there is room (some larger companies need much more room in the central column to list their items). The formation's title is shown at the top centre, and its cost in buy points, and how many pennies you have left, if it costs more than the remainder, then only as much as can be bought will be added to the unit list. Note the 2 fields, Morale mod and Experience mod. Some formations (like guards units) will have positive values in these fields, better morale than average or better general experience, or both. These are elite formations, and naturally enough, will cost you more than the same equipment if bought for a line formation. Some formations will have negative values in these fields, such as reserve units. These will be poorer quality than average, and so will cost you less money. These numbers are applied as variations on the current army Base Experience. Units actually purchased will vary both above and below this benchmark figure (see Force value above). So an army with BE of 70, and an elite unit of +10 experience will be about 80 experience level. Aircraft when displayed may have a strafe number (S:N), this is the number of gun passes, a variable introduced for WW2 to allow aircraft with rifle calibre and .50 calibre MG to strafe, SP games only consider 20mm and above cannon rounds remaining for strafing, this overrides it for planes with small MG. Not required for planes with 20mm plus cannon, but some OOB designers may have entered the variable.
Important note. The game knows about 2 types of formation, companies and platoons. A company is a formation that can contain platoon type formations under its command, whereas a platoon is 'flat' and cannot have sub formations. Some OOB designers may have made formations they have titled 'platoon', but used a company type formation in order to have this allowed sub units which operate at distances from the HQ element, Recce units perhaps. Off map artillery is an example of the other way round, often a 'battalion' of artillery is 3 batteries in a platoon type formation. See the cross attachment section for more details.
Once you press done, you will see this screen (unless you chose computer deploy in the main battle generator screen!). Your nation is displayed (in case you save and come back later on) at the top of the screen.
Setting up and deploying your units In turn 0 of a game (but not a scenario, where the scenario designer has deployed your troops for you as well as planning any pre game bombardment for you) you deploy the forces allocated to you inside your deployment area, and plan any pre game bombardment missions, as well as plotting your artillery quick reaction fire hexes or 'gold spots'. Your forces will be laid out in a line along your side of the map. Pick up and place your troops as desired, however, note that paratroop transport planes get stripped off the map immediately at the end of the deployment turn, so be sure you load those paratroops who will be jumping, or they will just be walking to battle!. You may deploy from your map edge to the deployment line of darkened hexes.
Enter the bombardment screen to place artillery quick reaction fire points, you have up to 10 of these. Select a deployed quick reaction fire point a second time to delete it and then replace elsewhere if you change your mind. Any artillery you plot here will drop in the initial turn, just after deployment (end of your turn 1 for some air missions, such as spotter planes or para drops). Note the delay key available for use when plotting pre game bombardment, you can delay the appearance of missions after the initial opportunity if desired, say if you want your para drop to arrive around turn 10. As many human players get into the habit of lining the roads in their deployment area with convoys of vehicles, in PBEM it is a good idea to liberally dose such obvious assembly areas with a deluge of artillery. The AI now also knows about this, so those of you new to WinSPWW2 or WinSPMBT from SP2 where the AI never fired a pre game bombardment on assembly areas - you were warned! Plotting your level bomber and para or glider missions in this phase is a good idea as these can have long delays if called for in an impromptu manner. NB - if plotting a para assault, leave your HQ (or an artillery spotter) on the ground if you mount all troops into gliders or transports. Use him to plot the air drop zones and only then, mount him into his plane. If you are the defender, use the mines key to lay any mines, dragons teeth and fire trenches you desire using the fortification points you spent in the purchase phase now, or they will be wasted!. Use the X key to show current dug in states, troops do not get to dig in in some places, like marshland hexes, and moving a unit may leave a 'phantom' fortification behind, on deployment end the game will automatically 'press' this for you in any case, marrying the dug in graphics with units. Remember that infantry who enter a slit trench hex get the benefit, vehicles which move from their initial dug in place can reoccupy these once they wait one full turn as well, they can get cover if driven into a fire trench, at the risk of becoming stuck in that hex. Do any cross attaching of platoons in this phase, or reassignment of individual units to other platoons, as you cannot change the command structure after the deployment turn.
Note that you can now unload barges and amphibious transports into the water in the deployment phase of an amphibious assault mission. This allows you to move your troops into the desired carriers pre-game, should you prefer to do this (cross-decking, in naval parlance). Remember to ensure that all are actually in a boat before you finish deployment, troops left in the ocean will drown! Also note the set range button, this can be useful in the deployment phase, especially if you are the second player and do not want your ambushes to give away their positions if defending or delaying.
New for WinSPWW2v2. These allow you to set a point for your troops to retreat towards. These can be set up for individual platoons or companies or the entire force. This new feature is accessed from the deploy screen or the main screen during game play and can be changed at any time After pressing the "Rally Hex" button you will be brought to a sub-screen with the following buttons The four rows of buttons perform the following functions
When you enter this screen you will be placing the retreat/ rally hex for the HQ unit of whatever formation you were last working with in the main screen. You the Retreat/Rally hex simply by clicking on the map. You will automatically be applying that Retreat/Rally hex to that platoon. If you wish to apply this Retreat/Rally hex to the entire company or your whole force click on the appropriate button. If you want to place a Retreat/Rally hex for the next formation press the Next formation button. If you wish to select an entirely new formation simply press the red up arrow exit button and you will be taken to the main battle screen. Find the new formation you wish to set a Retreat/Rally hex for then press the "Rally Hex" button again an you will automatically be brought to that platoons leader. Click on the map where you want your Retreat/Rally hex for that unit to be then move on to the next formation. These Retreat/Rally hexes can be changed anytime during the game and can be placed anywhere on the map. Please note: These points do not increase the rate at which units rally. The only provide a point which you can have your units retreat towards once they have entered a retreat or rout condition. Units that are in "retreat" mode may hang around that point for a turn or two.Units in route mode will not stop at the points. If they regain normal status they can be brought back into the game. If they still retain their retreat or rout status they will then begin moving towards YOUR MAP EDGE. Please also note that these retreat hexes DO NOT affect the direction units retreat when fired upon during combat. In those cases the units will initially still retreat in the tradition "east" or "west" direction the game has always used. These new points only affect the direction of retreat for units that would normally, in the old system, be retreating or routing towards your map edge. These points were added primarily to allow sceanrio designer better control of the general retreat direction of troops and vehicles in scenarios that may not use the regular "East - West" map orientation but they can also be used in regular games or campaigns as well Range Set Screen ( HOTKEY: "Y" ) You can now set the range (in hexes ONLY) from this screen for both individual units and whole platoons. The default is UNITS so if all you want to set is the range of the unit you clicked on, press either the 0-9 buttons on your screen or the 0-9 buttons on your numeric keyboard. If you wish to set this range for the entire platoon first press the UNITS button and it when it changes to FORM enter you new range and all the units in that platoon will be set to your new firing range. You can quickly set the range to 1/4. 1/2, 3/4 or maximum range on the screen or by pressing the RANGE button on the screen you will see a blue bar appear at the bottom of the screen and you can enter any range you like as in the example below You can now deploy units stacked in the same hex in the deploy phase, should you so desire. Select the unit to place, then shift-click the mouse pointer onto the hex containing another unit in which you wish to stack with. Special note about User Campaigns and deployment, remember that a unit moved to the far right or far left rows will exit the map! User campaign maps are generated from scenario maps, which allow you to set up in the 2 grey exit rows (free deployment), remember to move any troops you deploy there into the main map area on turn 1 or they will depart the battle!. (You can do this with on map forces in order to save them in really bad situations as well) We have made the game preferences button available in the deployment phase as this can be handy sometimes. The Help (? key hot key) will list the deployment basic help, including hot keys.
Hotkey info can also be found by pressing the ? key while playing. Note that there can be some differences in hotkeys between deployment and actually playing the game Note: it is in the deploy screen where you set out your 10 pre planned artillery quick reaction fire target hexes (gold spots), and also any artillery plotted now will fall in turn 0, i.e. as a pre-game bombardment (or later if you use the delay key). Any such artillery fires, when complete can of course be fired with minimal delays even if adjusted, later on, select the firing unit on the bombard menu in game, then hit the appropriate ammo button and the battery will aim at the last spot fired on. Therefore, any pre game bombardment is a prime candidate for say a creeping barrage, adjusting each mission minimally and avoiding long delays for impromptu fire requests later. Use the B key to go to the bombardments menu and set these up. Use the B key to plot your air drops here, if you have bought transport planes, once they have been loaded, and also you can now time your barrage or air drop missions,- see Artillery Bombardment Screens, including Air Unit Handling Note on loading and unloading : Select the unit to be transported, hit 'L', and then click on the unit to load onto is the best method to use. You can select the transport and hit L, then point at the unit to load as a passenger but this only works for one (1) transported unit! (as if you hit L on a loaded transport, it will firstly unload all its passengers, L is also the unload key for transports, recall!). Therefore, select the unit to load, then L, then point at the intended transport, as this allows multiple passenger units on a single transport, assuming that the intended transport has the lift capacity. Also, in the deploy menu, there is no distance checking from the loader to the transport, unlike in the game itself. Thus, in the deploy phase only, you do not need to place the unit to be transported into the same hex as the transport (alongside for barges and rafts).
Load/Unload options WinSPWW2 extends the options available for the load and unload side screen. A button is provided to load (unload) for this hex only. All units/transports of the same formation (platoon) in the current hex will load or unload (L key). Another button is provided for a platoon load/unload operation (D key). This applies to the entire platoon. To load, the infantry must be in the same hex as a transport, and there must be room, during game play. In the deployment phase only, range from passenger to transport is ignored. This is a very handy way to mount your mech inf platoons!.
In the deployment turn, when you call up the company structure display, when selecting a platoon type formation (a platoon or a section formation class, not one merely with 'platoon' in its title, in other words, one which shows a 'P' in the HQ display page, not a 'C') you will be allowed to cross attach this platoon under a different company command group. Note that A0, your Battle Group commander, directly commands any independent platoons not currently under other company HQ commanders in his role as commander of the HQ company (A Company).
Main Map Window, where the game action occurs, this can be zoomed (+ and, keyboard keys). Move mouse to edges of the screen to scroll this window. Force Broken text message, if this appears at the top of the button screen, your force has suffered 50% casualties, or 50% are in retreat or rout, or a combination. Your command is in a bad way, and when force morale is broken, morale and rally chances are reduced. Status window, the black window at the bottom of the Main Map, shows the basic data for the selected unit , shots left, maximum range setting, remaining move points, and how many enemy seen. Also printed here is the current game turn and length of the game (funnily enough, we get lots of queries as to 'how to find the game length' or 'what turn it is', here is this information that many players seem to miss..). Game maximum visibility level is also displayed here in hexes. Info Window, at the top, usually red background, is used to post informational messages. Note that the value of an objective hex is also displayed by hovering the mouse over it. Mini Map Window, Bottom right, shows an overview of the map area. Click on this map to move the main map window focus. If the map size is greater than 80 hexes in Y (North/South) and 100 Hexes in X (East/West), then click on the top 1/4 of the mini map to move up, the bottom 1/4 to move it down, the left 1/4 of the mini map to move left, the right 1/4 to move it right
Button Window, at the right hand side. Contains the game action buttons. Flag at the top tells you your nationality, and if an action replay is available from previous activity the LED beside the map turns green. If it is green, clicking it will run the replay. Not all game functions have buttons, and are provided or duplicated with hot keys. Unit Communications Status, On the unit information pane at the bottom of the screen, the unit's comms link status with its superior HQ is now noted. The selected unit shown is 'In Contact' and so will be able to be rallied by its HQ, however if it is out of contact (shown in red) then it can only be rallied by its own leader. Radio contact is OK, but the link is not 100% reliable! Water Speed, Water speed in hexes is now shown in blue alongside normal movement points, as this avoids confusion when a unit with swim speed of say 4 hexes, and land speed of say 12 hexes 'stopped' in water, many users did not realise that swimming speed differs from normal. If swimming, points used for normal movement are considered first, so a unit running cross country 12 hexes to a river, with swim speed of 2 will not be able to cross as it has gone more than 2 hexes before meeting the water. It can move 2 hexes over the water obstacle next turn, provided that it does this as its first 2 MP expended. Units can ford some water hexes (-1 depth) at reduced rate, non swimming vehicles may however bog down. You may therefore be able to unload your assault barges in shallows in a beach assault without going right up to the water edge however the offloaded passengers may take some time to wade ashore!.
For Loading and unloading, you must be in the same hex as the transport, unless it is a barge or raft which allow alongside loading, as they are typically in deep water. Users often ask how to move a unit into the same hex as another. The answer is to firstly select the unit to be moved, then shift-click onto the hex with unit(s) in it which you want to move into. Users often ask how to turn a unit in place, select the unit and right click in the desired direction on a clear hex and the unit will turn and the visible hexes for that unit will also be highlighted. (Right clicking on an enemy unit will bring up the statistics for that unit, hence right click on an empty hex or one containing friends only to turn or inspect the visible hex region for a unit). Note that we have removed the old 'cheat' whereby if you right clicked on a hex containing an unspotted enemy unit, your unit 'refused to turn', thus giving you 'free' information you should not have had. (Hint: forts can turn in the deployment turn, use this to set up crossing fires from your pillboxes and bunkers in turn 0) Note also that the end turn button is now BLUE and end GAME is in RED in regular games, campaigns and scenarios. In a PBEM game, the Blue button will END YOUR TURN and autosave it in your PBEM slot in for you to send it to your opponent. In a PBEM game the RED button allows you to save your turn for you to FINISH LATER We have gone back to the SP1 method of reporting firing ranges as so many yards, (or indirect fire) rather than so many hexes, as a lot of users have asked for this feature to be restored. Also, many new users did not seem to realise that '20 hexes' is a kilometer in this game, 2 hexes are about the length of a football field, though the units seem to be alongside. The reporting in hexes, metres or yards can be set in GameOptions under the MISC tab. For long range SAM and Artillery, ranges of 200 hexes and above are an abstraction of long range, a field gun with range 203 outranges a field gun of 201 hexes range in counterbattery fires. What 201 actually means in terms of actual range is irrelevant. 200 to 255 is the available spread for artillery allowed to be off map units, LR SAM, Anti Radiation Missiles, other long range air missiles allowed stand-off attacks etc. The game will report a range in metres or yards if the ini file setting is not set to 'hexes'. Artillery Bombardment Screens, including Air Unit Handling There have been major changes in the way aircraft are handled in WinSPWW2 as opposed to the way SP2 for example treated them. All air units, barring the helicopter classes are now off map units no longer moved as on map units one hex at a time by the player under 100% human control. Aircraft now belong to the Air Force or higher commands than yours, so are not available in campaign cores or as upgrades. Aircraft missions are therefore now requested from the expanded off map bombardment menu. Note that transport parachute missions, bomber missions and gliders require a lot of pre battle planning, therefore if you do not plot these in the deployment phase you will find that the delays are rather long (though in no way as long as they should be in real terms!). So plot these before the game start!
There is a new Switch To: button which is used to cycle through the various pages of the bombardment menu, there is no longer a single artillery page! Artillery Page For artillery, Air strikes and the Level Bomber class to plot fire missions with. Plotting Fire Missions See the Tutorial section on Artillery. Used to plot air observation plane missions. Set the binocular icon on the spot where you want the spotter plane to circle round, after setting the air entry and exit directions as required. Spotter planes enter after a short delay, as they are 'on call' and fly their mission at the start of your move, therefore any enemy units they spot will remain so during your move. They will fly to nearby the binocular symbol, then circle twice and fly off (if not killed). Note that if part of the circle takes them off map, that ends the current pass, so take care when plotting spotter missions near the map edges. Spotter planes remain available until they are shot down, or are damaged, or in some cases if enough AAA fire is received, they will "Return To Base" prematurely. Spotters will not fly before turn 1 of a game. Spotters are unarmed. Airborne Page This page is where you plot any air transport paratroop drops or glider landings. Remember to set the air entry and exit directions to your requirements before plotting a Landing Zone marker, and to load the troops onto the planes in the deployment turn 0 as well, as unloaded transports are useless! Airborne missions are plotted from turn 1 onwards. The Bombardment Delay Adjustment Buttons (+) and (-) These 2 buttons will only appear on the pre game bombardment plot (Turn 0 of the game). They allow you to plot your artillery, air strikes, spotter planes, or airborne missions to come in on a turn other than turn 0 (1 for some air types). For example, you may want to plot a large barrage of artillery onto a cross-roads that you think your enemy will reach on turn 3. To do this, hit the (+) key until delay is shown as turn 3 on the artillery page, then plot the appropriate batteries, which will now fall on that spot on turn 3, not turn 0 (with a small margin of error in timing e.g. for batteries with low experience). Note: The delay modifier will apply to all missions of all types plotted after you increment it or decrement it. Therefore, for example, after plotting your turn 3 fire mission as outlined above, you may now want to plot some batteries for turn 1. If so, remember to hit the (-) key to reduce the delay back to 1 before plotting these missions. This feature provides an important new tool for the scenario designer that allows for the creative use of fireplanning. One could, for example, reserve smoke screening until just the right moment before the attacking AI force needs it rather than firing on turn zero only. Artillery Priority
Hexes changes in WinSPWW2v2 There have been changes to the way the artillery priority hexes are assigned. You no longer get 10 artillery priority hexes automatically. Here is the new system at a glance
We have not increased the number of priority hexes in the game. You will still get a maximum of 10 but you get an extra Artillery Priority hex for each FOO bought except in a meeting engagement which will still only give one priority hex no matter how many Artillery Observers you buy. Here is an example of how this will work. Assume you are playing an Advance in any type of game but not a sceanrio. You will be given 3 priority hexes to start with and one for each Artillery Observer you buy so if you buy 2 more you will have 5 priority hexes to use. If you are playing the delay side of an advance you would start with 2 priority hexes to start with and one for each Artillery Observer you buy so if you buy 2 more you will have 4 priority hexes to use. Remember, in a meeting engagement you do NOT get an extra Priority Hex for any additional Artillery Observers.
Show Blast Radius If you wish to view the maximum blast radius for aircraft and artillery weapons press "R" while in the bombardment plotting screen and you will see the maximum blast radius for each type of shell that lands during the game represented by a white circle. Press "R" again to turn this off. This is also available from the "Z" key ( area fire ) screen. This screen shots shows the blast radius of a 25 Pounder Troop attack with the preferences set to " fast arty" additionally, any KNOWN enemy units in the blast area that receive damage from the blast will be circled in yellow as shown here This function is controlled by the following line in the CamoGame.ini file found in the WinSPWW2\Game Data folder
This sets the blast radius circles to be always OFF at game start and the player can turn them ON by pressing the "R" key while in the bombardment or "Z" key windows. If you always wish to see the blast radius circles each time you start the game change that to read
It is important to remember that even though the blast effect for some weapons like 2000 pound bombs may be quite large this does **NOT** mean that every hex and unit within the blast effect area is affected by the blast. This addition allows players who are interested to see just how the blast area works in the game. Blast effects are reduced by the distance from the impact hex, and by the usual effects of dug-in status, being in cover etc. Cluster munitions are more evenly distributed over the blast area than an HE round, so range effect is reduced for them. Armoured vehicles more than 1 hex from the impact will tend to be supressed by blast rather than be destroyed by fragments, except with cluster munitions. Air Transports And Gliders Transport aircraft and gliders are shown on map in turn 0 pre game deployment, so that you can load the passengers into them. After deployment is finished, they will be stripped off map, therefore remember to load up the appropriate troops, or you will not be able to in the game! Note that we have provided some 'ready made' glider and Airborne units with the appropriate aircraft included, these will be shown on the purchase screen as say 'Para Co. [G]' or 'Para Co. [A]' where [G} stands for glider borne and [A] for Airborne, and perhaps [H] for helicopter transport. Any infantry unit can be put into a transport plane and dropped by parachute, however unless the unit is a proper paratrooper class (class type, not unit name, like 'Para Inf-AT'), then expect horrible casualties on landing as these are not properly parachute trained troops. When plotting Para drops, try to drop your men in clear open hexes, not in woods, on slopes, or in deep water for example or casualties will be bad. Gliders will also prefer to land in wide open spaces as well. Remember that gliders, transport planes (and level bombers) will drift 'off target' depending on troop quality (experience) and particularly in low visibility, less than 2 KM, 40 hexes, getting worse down to dark night or fog type conditions (2 or 3). gliders are more likely to have a rough landing in poor conditions, or to crash land, and also recall that smoke is treated as fog, landing gliders blind into smoke is not a bright idea! gliders do not like to land in minefields, and treat dragons teeth as anti glider obstacles, which are rather fatal to them. Parachute dropper planes, and bombers make one pass and then "Return To Base", gliders are considered destroyed after landing. Transport planes which are shot down may manage to get some paratroops out the doors, and aborts due to damage may simply drop the troops as they exit. Transports with multiple Para squads will not always drop these all in one 'stick, there may be a 'hang up' and therefore a gap. Note : Air transport formations do not reduce the number of available air strikes, but you will need at least 1 available air strike to buy them. Therefore if all your air transports 'disappear' it is likely because you bought all the air strikes you were allocated as fighter bomber, spotter or bomber missions, delete one of these, then your transport plane units should return, finally when done, re purchase that last air strike!. Summary of aircraft types: Fighter Bomber, The default strike/attack aircraft. Able to use all air class weapons including stand-off missiles. Flies in, optionally releasing a long range missile from off map as a stand-off attack (and may be shot at before arriving by long range SAM, as a stand-off attack). Flies towards its target, tries to find an actual unit to attack, strafes and bombs this, and then flies off in the selected exit direction. Returns to base if damaged, or when it has run out of ammunition. can be armoured - if so, it is less vulnerable to small arms ammo, and light flak and smaller missiles than the regular planes. Air OP Aircraft, A Small plane or RPV which enters in the entry direction, flies to its recce point, and then circles this while searching for enemy units, before flying off along the selected exit direction. Unarmed. Quicker reaction time when plotted than for strike planes. If the spotting circle takes it off map, the spotting run ends. NB - an RPV will have 1 (or more) "crew" as it is a unit, it needs crew, or is considered destroyed. Consider the "crew" of the RPV the "CPU" - as a flak hit which kills the "crew" will kill the plane even if the airframe is not damaged. Paratroop Transport, Transport Aircraft, Large unarmed transport planes which fly in along the entry route and then drop paratroopers near the plotted DZ. They then fly off and return to base. If they exit the map before dropping the entire stick, they will tend to fly home with the undropped troops, so be careful when plotting too near the map edge!. If shot down, some paras may manage to jump out of the crashing plane. Glider, an unpowered transport plane which flies to its designated landing zone and lands. Can be destroyed by crash landing on bad terrain, deep water etc. so try to plot the LZ in clear flat terrain. Level Bomber. This class goes to the area selected and then offloads its bombload and goes home. It does not select individual enemy ground units to target, it is an area weapon. It flies at very high altitude, above some light SAM, and AAA. Bombers only use iron bombs, napalm/FAE or CB type weapons with range of 1 hex . In other words, used for area fire only. This is NOT a "precision" weapon, it's a big club that you must be careful of or you're liable to hurt your own side with it as well. Artillery
Buttons
This is the screen that comes up when you select one of your units, and then hit the space bar. At the top in green is the unit ID, formation letter (s) followed by the unit's number in that formation. Then the unit's actual name, you can click on this and change to whatever you want. (NB, the name is what is reported to the other player in PBEM games, e.g. when a hidden unit of yours fires, so creative use of this facility can provide misinformation!, hint: the reported firing weapon info stays the same, so rename to something with a similar weapon). The '0' unit of a formation (platoon) is the commander, but in campaign cores, should the leader have been destroyed, a subordinate can take over, see the formation info screen and note the 'H' beside a unit for the HQ unit. A is the first formation, and A0 is the battle group commander, you! Beside the name is a graphic representing his skill level, a set of 'corporals stripes' indicates that he is an average experience unit, sergeant stripes for veterans (80 experience) and USA type 'top sergeant' icon for elite units (100 experience). In the columns below the unit name is some primary game information:
The unit leader's name is shown under the picture, pressing on this with the mouse lets you rename the leader, if desired. Also shown is his statistics:
If this unit is in a campaign core, these variables will tend to increase over time, or if the leader was destroyed, a new leader will be generated, or one of the subordinates will take over the formation command. Kills help experience to rise in a campaign, so it is worth 'blooding' even those units which normally live in the rear, if you find the opportunity in a campaign for them maybe to go forwards and sweep up a few stray crews etc. The first 5 kills are the most valuable at raising initial experience. NB, firing your weapons at a real enemy is a major help to experience increases, as is being shot at 'for real'. Campaign core units switched to a new specialty keep their old statistics, so a tank traded to an SPA 105mm indirect piece is less good at that job till it has tried it for some time. Air unit height is shown for planes, you alter altitude for these items on this screen, for on map air units (helicopters) Changing altitude costs MP, so you may not have enough to climb. Press continue to exit this screen. Press information to go to the class information screen. This shows the generic information for units of this type, default ammunition loads, weapon data etc. as seen in the relevant encyclopaedia entry. The Headquarters Screen (HQ Screen)
This screen gives you an overview of your force composition. A button is listed for each formation, pressing this or selecting on the list of units on the right shows basic formation data in the white panel on the left hand side of the screen. A button allows you to put certain formation types under computer AI control, should you so wish, and another allows you to assign waypoints for this formation to follow, if subsequently set to computer AI control. Ignoring organisation of your forces is a common beginners mistake. New players sometimes wonder why their units run away a lot, and when you examine their forces, they have individual squads off a platoon spread randomly over the map, often kilometres apart!. Remember that
an SP hex is 50 metres, about half a football field. 20 hexes is a kilometre
(about 1000 yards for the non-metric folks Keep your formations together, and keep your platoons close to their company HQ so that he can rally them if required. Consider moving the company HQ nearer to an ongoing battle to rally the troops better, or to provide leader skills to subordinates. Consider the same for the battle Group HQ unit as well as he can rally anyone else, or provide skill rating boosts to anyone else. Do not risk higher level HQ more than necessary, however. The Central Pane
LHS Info Panel
Right Hand Pane This shows the details of the formations whose buttons are currently on the page. Shows a letter beside the leader unit showing his command level. Shows damage status for all units in formation. Use the next or previous buttons to scroll the listing. Click on a listed formation to make it the currently selected formation (show details in the LHS pane). We have increased waypoint count from 10 to 125 per formation. Waypoints are normally of more use to a scenario designer than a human player, as only formations under AI control follow the waypoint list. However, a human player can sometimes find limited usage of AI control, and waypoints, useful. Waypoints are useful for plotting long approach marches, for example in a winter assault when your leg units have a long march ahead of them before contact can be expected. Use of waypoints to march your units across a tedious approach and into a forming up area where you will take over control. This can be useful to save a lot of tedious unit shuffling. They also can be useful to move a reserve formation across the back of your area sometimes in defence or attack. Or to set up a unit to "patrol" an area. Waypoint usage Toggle to computer control then set your waypoints for that formation There are a few very important things to remember when setting waypoints 1] The AI will GENERALLY try to move your units over TWO waypoints and stop just before the third waypoint IF it has enough Movement points to cover that entire distance. 2] if you space the waypoints too far apart so that the AI is unable to fulfill all the requirements of 1] the AI will start the next turn by removing the next Waypoint from the route you have created then try to catch up to where it "should" be. 3] Do not spread the formation you are setting waypoints for all over the map ! 4] ANY change to the formation structure of either side of a scenario WILL CANCEL ALL waypoints for both sides so waypoints must be the very last thing that is done. A change to even one unit of either side cancels ALL waypoints 5] When you initially set you waypoints the "first" waypoint to the game is the one right in front of your formation leader. When it moves, that first hex that will count as 1 waypoint crossed. However, tests have shown that the first turn does not always follow the "rules" so experiment on your own. 6] You can place more than one waypoint in a hex. The AI will "generally" count three waypoints per turn as "movement" so if you want a unit to stay in one place for a few turns before moving, a useful "rule of thumb" would be 3 waypoints per turn in one hex. 7] If enemy units are encountered along the route you have planned the AI WILL engage in combat rather than follow the waypoints. When the threat is over the formation will attempt to catch up.( See 2] above ). A long delay coupled with waypoints that are far apart may mean that your formation does not end up following the route you originally planned. We are still finding out new things about the way waypoints are handled by the game so please experiment. We recently had a report that using waypoints spread three or four hexes apart using units with similar speeds worked very well when moving AI forces forward in a Scenario. One thing to remember is that this system ensures that no two games will be exactly alike and this is a good thing as it keeps scenarios "fresh" longer when the same thing is not happening over and over.
This screen shows the company organisation in more detail. The company HQ platoon troops are shown at the top of the screen, with a button underneath for all platoons under the company's command. Use the platoon buttons to show the details of that platoon on the RHS of the screen. Platoon HQ leader units are highlighted in white. Unit current status is shown in coloured highlighting, red for bad states!. Use the Exit button, or escape key to exit this screen. The cross attachment button appears for any currently selected platoon which can be cross attached to another company commander if you so desire, but only in game turn zero (deployment), hence, not in scenario games which are fought in the organisation as set up by the designer. A list of available company HQ to which this platoon can be transferred to is displayed (if any). Press the desired CHQ button to select as a target, then press the Assign to this CHQ button to transfer the currently selected platoon under command of the selected CHQ and automatically return to the company details screen. Press the Exit button, or hit the escape key to exit without cross attaching the currently selected platoon. Platoons that are part of your campaign core cannot be assigned under command of support troops CHQ, but support platoons can be attached to your core companies (for this battle only). You cannot assign away the HQ platoon of a company. Some Company designated formations (especially artillery) will be actually platoons for game purposes, but you may find some formations titled platoons that use a company structure, for example large recce platoons which need to operate widely spread in sub-units. These 'platoons' cannot be assigned under another company HQ as they are themselves companies in game terms, though their subordinate sections can be. There is a limit of about 60 units in a formation in the OOB data, however this relates to the game build formation code (purchasing a company). You can cross attach any number of units under a company commander using this facility once actually inside the game. Individual units can be also cross attached to other formations on the deployment turn zero as well, see the deployment screen for details. There is a limit of 10 items in a purchased platoon, but again, once inside the game you can attach individual units to a platoon beyond the 10 unit buy limitation, however it is highly not recommended as the platoon commander may have problems rallying that number of subunits if disaster happens!.
This screen is available from game turn 1 onwards. It is used to show current details of all units. Press the unit button to jump directly to it on the game map. Only weapon 1's data is shown here. Red is generally bad news or off map, yellow for warning and white for OK with green for passengers. Destroyed units show their full points value, which will be credited to your opponent as part of the Victory Point Calculation at end game.
HOWEVER........... All WinSPWW2 and WinSPMBT maps are interchangeable. Any WinSPWW2 map can be brought over to WinSPMBT and WinSPMBT maps can be used in WinSPWW2 Terrain Types
With all bad terrain, the faster the vehicle has traveled before hitting this, or the more MP expended whilst in such terrain, the greater the sticking chance. Aircraft ignore underlying terrain, except when helicopters try to offload passengers in some hexes, woods and buildings. Helicopters expend MP to climb or descend. Paratroops landing in terrain other than flat or easy going types tend to suffer more landing accident casualties than normal. Trained paratroopers (proper Para Unit Classes) suffer less accidental casualties on landing in any terrain than ordinary non para trained troops. Troops air landing in deep water tend to drown, as do gliders landing in deep water. Gliders landing in obstacle type terrain tend to get smashed up, destroying themselves and passengers, try not to land gliders in woods, buildings and so on. Para and glider landing zones therefore should be plotted in large flat areas of open ground. Terrain, hills and LOS Each level of hill in the game is broken down into 10 units. Ground level terrain that is "5" high is midway to being a level 1 hill. Level 1 terrain that reports as being "15" high is midway to being a level 2 hill etc, etc to the top level ( level 15 )
The game does not block LOS behind a "bump" in the map until it gets to be 4 higher than the base height for that level ( ground level would be 4, level 1 would be 14, level 2 would be 24 etc etc. ). It will allow you to see over and behind any "bump" 3 and under so any terrain 3 and under above the level you are on will offer neither cover nor concealment. For example.....
If a unit is at zero height directly behind a 4 high "bump" that is three hexes long , LOS will be blocked for 2 hexes behind the bump. If that 4 high bump is 4 hexes long, LOS will be blocked completely right across the map. If the bump is 5 high even one hex will totally block LOS.
We are currently considering that each unit of height roughly represents 24 inches or .6 meters. As a simple rule of thumb this would make each hill level represent roughly 20 feet or 6 meters of height
Saving a Game and loading a Save game If you partially
play out a game you'll want to save it for later . Click on the save game
button Pick a slot and click on it. You will see a red rectangle appear ( as above-- SaveGame-1 (empty) ) you can backspace to remove some or all of the text that appears and enter in your own name for your save. Below is the central game screen. The first button you see on the left side of the screen is the Saved Games button. This is where you load the games you have saved. In WinSPWW2 this one button now servers three save game screens, each with a different purpose. The first time you click on the Saved Games button from the Central screen you will see this: This is where you load the saved games of regular generated Battles, scenarios, campaigns or NON-Secure PBEM games .
If you click on the "PBEM GAMES" button you will see this screen with the regular game There are five secure PBEM slots in the Regular game This is where you load Secure PBEM games. All .Dat files saved here are encrypted to keep people from reading the contents of the .Dat file and thereby revealing the troops you have. Once you choose a save slot for secure PBEM, games are automatically saved to that slot after every turn
If you have the extended version of the game available on CD from Shrapnel Games you will see the button now reads "Tournaments".
The game ends at about the number of turns given for a game or scenario. Consider the number of game turns an indicator only, except for PBEM games and scenarios. The game will end early if one side is thoroughly routed, or completely destroyed, and the other side has gained all the victory hexes. The game (apart from PBEM games and scenarios) will end if the number of turns has been met, check the objectives held and grant victory, but it first makes an 'engagement check' to see if healthy forces of the enemy are reasonably close to any disputed hexes. If it decides the objective is in dispute, it can add extra turns onto the notional game length. This is an added feature, please do not write in reporting this as a bug, it is not, it is a design feature.
The added features we have coded into the game require new reports on the End Game screen for the 2013 release. Players will now see the standard score as well as how many points, if any ,were accumulated for either artillery overload or time objective points and then they will see the total score in Gold which includes the totals of the standard score plus the artillery overload and/or time objective points. The victory screen that appear at the very end of the game uses the total score to determine victory level but player could choose to simply record the standard score points to determine who won and my how much.
We have added an additional button to allow you to view the map as it stands at the end game, viewing both players' units.
"REVIEW' is shown at the top of the map, your opponent's units and minefields are all now displayed (note the mass of red symbols on the right of the mini map). You can select enemy units and view their stats, the next and previous keys will cycle you through the side you have chosen, so if the Germani player here selects an American unit, it will cycle through the Americans as and until he re-selects another Germani unit. If you open up a 'finished' save game you will be able to see the end game display, however if this is a PBEM game, please remember to zip up the game files and send to your opponent before re-opening the save game to gloat over it <G!>, as otherwise the game can 'forget' who was playing who for the purposes of the end game messages.
Scoring ( winning and losing ) Your victory point score is calculated as: VP = (Total points from objectives) + (damage points scored on the enemy) Your opponent gets the same calculation but obviously scores off your destroyed and damaged units, plus his victory hex points. The 2 sets of VP are expressed as a ratio to determine victory. The victory result is then determined as follows
Please note that partially damaged units count, so if you do 23 points damage on a 100 point AFV, your score 23 for that damage. The objective hexes are a bonus and are generally NOT the main source of victory points. They DO however help determine the early end of game in that a "broken" AI will tend to throw in the towel if you hold all of them. Also please note that crews are shown as 0 value. This is for accounting purposes.
They are worth the remaining value of their damaged vehicle. Crews are
not "free scouts"! as losing the crew gifts any remaining points in the
damaged unit they came from to your opponent.
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