My first post with some questions
 

Hello,
I just DLed the "demo" (that is, I have not yet ordered the CD), just looking for something new (I know shrapnel from Dom2), and this game looked appealing. I am having some difficulties despite the documentation that came with the game. Some questions, if I may:

1. I am running the game in a window on my laptop, no problems, at 800x600. I am having difficulty deciphering the icons and reading the text, everything is so small. I dont know much about computers, so I would like to know: in the full game, when I set the resolution to 1180, will that fill the screen with larger text or just make it crisper but stay the same size? (I like to play in a window since I switch between music apps and internet often.)

2. Some parts of the interface seem counter-intuitive to me. In the couple of hours I have tried so far, I find I accidentally move my units god-knows-where quite often by having them selected and accidentally clicking somewhere on the map. I suppose I just dont know how to use the buttons as most others do, or am used to a different system. Can these be customized somehow?

3. Although there is this "encyclopedia" feature, I see that it contains lots information presented in the same way that it is in-game. That is, I find it difficult to decipher, and am not sure what most of it means. (Additionally, finding a unit about which you want to know more seems quite a challenge -- I just tried looking for an American unit, but was baffled by the numbers entries all sorted in a way that escaped my knowledge and by the number of seemingly identical entries.) I browsed these boards a bit more, but it seems all of you here are near-experts and dont have my problems. In the CD version of the game, is there some documentation which can be either sorted better or more revealing to people who need full text descriptions of what certain features mean and do (not just numbers)?

4. I am not the big PBEM or MP player that most others probably are, and have so far not understood this game well enough to judge the quality of the computer AI. Is there any consensus as to how well it stacks up? I know it cannot be as good as a decent chess program can be, but is it at least better than, say, the otherwise fine Dominions2?

Any additional tips for decent newbie guides would be appreciated. I would like to enjoy this game more than I am now, and have so far found it somewhat off-putting. (Similarly, I felt this way about dom2 some time ago, but did get over the learning curve and enjoyed it for quite some time.)

Thank you very much in advance.

Re: My first post with some questions
 

tinkthank,
The DL version of the game is not a demo, it is the entire functional game. The extras taht come with the CD are just that, extras. Take your time to decide if you really like the game before you buy the CDs just for the extras.
Try playing the game in full screen a few times to give you an idea how full sized window resolution will look on your lap top.
I find it easier to use the battle generator to make a test purchase and find info about specific units that to use the encylopedia. Also by simply right clicking on a unit (enemy or friendly) you will get an info screen.

Cheers,

Re: My first post with some questions
 

2.

Be very careful as a newbie with your mouse-clicks when the cursor is on the map. During my career i´ve lost hundreds of teams to bad-clicking. After playing a while you´ll get the hang of it. Click on the unit and click on the hex where you wan´t it to go. Avoid accidental clicks. Mean your click! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

3. Browsing the encyclopedia for a single unit can be a challenge. I find it so fun, that in the heat of battle, I can start comparing totally different units and even nations in the encyclopedia. It is HUGE and getting bigger and better all the time. In the Mobhack you can search a given unit or weapon system typing it´s name on the search bar. Can be done when using windowed, not when using full screen version. (I´m not sure about this one though)

AI isn´t creative, but can handle it´s fights. Watch out for it, it is getting better and can deliver serious surprises. If in need of real challenge try the scripted campaigns. AI has waypoints etc. features scripted by humans that make it a lot more challenging. Check out the strategy/tactics posts in this forum to learn to fight.

Re: My first post with some questions
 

1)

A) In windowed mode, if you set to desktop size or more, you will have the same text and button sizes as with 800 windowed, but more map area. You will have the windows taskbar available. This is described in the tuning your machine" section of the "Game Installation" section of the manual.

B) in full screen mode, you will get the screen size specified (say 1024 by 768) - buttons and text will be relative to that. if your graphics card does not "scramble" the palette, you can happily ALT-TAB in and out of the game to the windows desktop.

2) The interface is as it is, as it dates from 1995 or so. Just remember that your mouse is always "live" if a unit is selected. The N and P keys are sometimes a useful way to navigate to particular units, or use the unit list. See the Game Guide for details, hot keys etc. Once learned there is no real problem. The "undo" button can be handy if your mis-click did not cause the state of the game to change (someone fired at you or your move exposed previously unseen enemy etc).

3) The encycloaedia contains all the unit info just like in the game, naturally. It has the info for all units, including the OPFOR. The CD version has extra filtering - e.g. for just the units available at the curent battle date.

4) The AI is far better than the original SSI "tin lemmings horde" which simply rushed the mearest V-hex at full speed. We have removed the various SSI AI cheats (with arty etc) as well, so the AI has to play like a human player.

The best newbie guide is to read the Game Guide. You can find this by running the game Options programme, then going to the Help tab and selecting the "Game Manual" button.

The GG is an HTML document that opens in your browser.

The GG tutorial is a must read for new players, even if you do not actually play the tutorial scenario, you should read through this section. Then the "Game Play Notes" should be useful reading.

These games take some getting into, and generally the best way to learn is by building up experience.


Cheers
Andy

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Thank you for your replies.
If the learning curve is somewhat like Shrapnel's Dominions 2, that is ok.
Before I posted, I DID read through the tutorial and the Tips sections of the GG; in fact, I think I read the whole thing by now. But there is so much that is unexplained; let me briefly say what I mean.
In every single game I have ever played, there has been some form of quantified abstraction relating to the health of a unit -- usually called "hit points". In every single game I have ever played, there has been some form of quantified abstraction relating to the damage a weapon or other damage-dealer does to subtract from that health. I havent found that yet in MBT. In other words: I read and reread and re-reread all those text boxes on all of these units, but I don't feel smarter. This unit has a Mblahblah gun, and that unit has a Mwoowoo gun -- fine. When I check out those guns, I still dont know "how much they hurt"; I am used to that. I see that this unit is an APC -- but without a glossary I don't know what these things mean.
So I feel lost, despite the documentation that I read.
I have never played any other game in this SP series, so I have no idea how bad the AI was before. I suppose I will see soon.

Re: My first post with some questions
 

There's no hitpoints here, just men in units. Units can lose men which reduces their combat effectiveness. You can check each individual unit to see how much men they have left (and how many they lost).

Vehicles can sustain damage due to hits received. That also reduces their combat effectiveness (and can take out crewmen). Again, the specific units infoscreen will show damage. Much more common will be the 'destruction' of a vehicle when hit though.

Likewise, damage dealt is not factored in anything like 'hitpoints' damage to the enemy. A round that hits a tank either penetrates or not, if so it'll damage or destroy the target. The stats you see for units show things like armor thickness, penetration capabilities of guns and for weapons against soft targets (like infantry) the relative damage done if they hit. There is always an amount of uncertainty though, you are never garantueed a kill or certain you'll inflict damage (even when hosing down an infantry squad from 50m with your tanks mg's).

Narwan

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Thank you.

Are you saying that ANY round may damage or destroy any other unit? What are the odds? (I bet that a pistol round has different odds than, say, a howitzer round, right?)

WHen I inspect one of my tanks, I can see something like this(which I cannot copy and paste here, unfortunately, so this is from memory):

120mm M26 91
7.62 mm M240CMG
50cal AMG
7.62 M240 AMG

Then there are ratings for Acc (Accuracy, I think), Kill (What's this 8:0 mean though?), Pen (Penetration?), HEAT (no clue), APCR (no clue), and range.

Now unlike everyone else here, I dont know what these guns are, really; I suppose "MG" is "machine gun", but I dont know what AMG or CMG is or if there is a difference. I just cant seem to glean enough info from these screens to tell me what the purpose of these things are.

I am not a modern "war buff", so I dont even know what those "classes" mean. I did, I really did try to check this up, but when I see that somethng is an "LMG" or an "SPAA", I dont know what that is.

When I select a target and hit "fire", my unit seems to use all of its weapons on that unit. I read the tutorial and other texts in the Game Manual, and they say (doh) to use larger guns on the tanks and machineguns on the infantry -- but I seem to be shooting my cannons at the infantry too. How does one control this fire?

One final question: In playing the tutorial, I see that one of my units, H5 (a Bradley), is 2 hexes away from its commander (H0) -- I checked this in the overview screen. This unit H5 is listed as "out of contact" -- why? He's right next to his commander?! (I am attaching that game save here, if I can find it.)

One final mini-question: When I hit the "h" hotkey, I am taken to the unit overview screen, not the headquarters screen. Is there a different hotkey for that?

Thank you

Re: My first post with some questions
 

For nuts and bolts stuff - you should refer to the Mobhack help, which goes into more details.

For standard military acronyms, like HEAT, HE, VIRSS etc - these are things that wargamers tend to know, being military history/technical buffs generally.

Google is a great help, if you dont know what an acronym is and also FAS , e.g Big Bullets

For game details - see the GG section "Unit Information Screen" and the related "Encyclopaedia Screen" as the details of the Info screen are the same as for the encyclopaedia.

(At the end of the weapon table in the encyclopaedia entry for the GG, and also within the table the ammo types are defined, in any case).

Weapons with an AP penetration value can defeat armour, and you need an HE kill value to have effect on soft targets. Anti tank rounds are generally AP, HEAT, and APDS/APCR but HE can have an effect on armoured targets.

To turn a weapon off see the "Unit Information Screen" section of the GG, table entry "Weapon Info", final paragraph.

To fire an individual weapon only - see the GG "Main Map Window" section which describes the main game action window, then refer to the table of hot keys, entry for "W" key. This brings up a sub-menu which allows you to fire only a specified weapon at the current target. pressing the 1 key fires only weapon slot 1 etc. For selecting a specific target - see the "T" hot key or the target buton.

Command and control is judged at turn start - not during the turn. If your guy was > 250 hexes away at turn start, and failed a radio check (assuming both had them) then he will be out of CC for that move.

The "H" key takes you to the headquarters menu - it is the "J" key now to go to the units screen, that does not sem to have made it into the documentation. (No idea why I chose "J" - possibly because it has a raised bar making it easy to find, like the "F" key - been a while http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif!

Cheers
Andy

Re: My first post with some questions
 

HMG -Heavy Machine Gun
AAMG anti-air MG - targets both ground and air units
CMG co-axial MG - targets only ground units
SPAA - Self-propelled Anti-Air (Vehicle)
SPA - Self-propelled Artillery
MBT- Main Battle Tank
APC- Armored Personell Carrier
IFV / AIFV / MICV / ICV - different types on Infanty Fighting Vehicles, usually with autocannons and Anti-Tank Guided Weapons/Missiles (ATGM or ATGW)
RR - recoilless rifle, a low velocity gun, usually anti-tank firing HEAT rounds

Acc - The general accuracy of the gun
Kill - how effective at destroying infantry units
Pen - basic armor penetration capacity of the gun first digit for High Explosive (HE) round, second for Armor Piercing (AP) round
HEAT - penetration capacity of High Explosive Anti Tank round
APCR - Penetration capacity of Armor Piercing Capped Round (or sabot or other special Anti-Armour munition)
Generally bigger is better

If a round has enough penetration when it hits a vehicle, then it will penetrate it´s armor and do damage. For Example 120mm Gun with Pen 32 will penetrate at 0 metres tank armor of 31 and sometimes 32, but not usually armor of 35-50,(APCR might penetrate maybe 70-90 for such a gun). As the range increases, projectiles loose velocity and penetration power (HEAT ammo does not). Remember to check out both armor value and HEAT armor value for a given unit. Reactive armor works differently and will try to defeat a HEAT round before it touches the main armor under it. These armor and pen figures are estimates and corresponde with centimeters of Rolled Homogenous Armor calculations (Armor plate).

In the unit info screen you can click at a weapon system to activate and de-activate it.

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Thanks very much.

After another week of testing, rather infrequently, unfortuately, I see I still have so much I dont understand.
I still see some of my units "out of contact", even those that moved only 2 or 3 hexes that turn, and are pratically adjacent to their HQ. I dont understand Command and Control enough, apparently. The other thing is weapons -- is there a listing somewhere in "real language" as to what the weapons are -- such as "2x Hydra FFAR"?

When I posted my questions above, by the way, I did read that guide and know about the "w" button -- it just didnt always seem to work for me. Sometimes I would have a target, hit the button, and then the appropriate number, but it would fire all weapons or none. Sometimes it would fire at a different target. (I also suppose I am used to systems which cycle through valid targets -- that is what I expected the "t" button to do. Is it possible to mod the game so that this in fact is done?)

One last question, if I may -- are there scenarios (or could one make them) which involve civilians (in an urban or quasi-urban or suburban setting, for example) and *negative* VPs for harming them as, say, the advancer or attacker?

Thank you very much

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Part way down the forum page is a thread that I posted FFAR @ FAS.org
I don't have a military background and resorted to google to find the answer.
IIRC the "w" works when your unit already has a target and the weapon number must be selected from the number keys on top of your keyboard, not the 10-key pad.

Re: My first post with some questions
 

to find out what a weapon is, you really need to have the military "knowledge", which only comes from researching the subject matter. There is just not enough space to effectively print a copy of "Janes Weapon Systems" in the GG. (I used to have a copy of Janes Infantry Weapons for 76-77, and it weighed about 10 lbs! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif. And each volume of Janes requires a mortgage to aquire..

Your best bet is to type "hydra FFAR" into google. Also - to find a nice online website which deals with military acronyms. Fas.org should have one somewhere in its site?.

A quick google of "FFAR" pointed at the fas.org entry for the Hydra series of rockets : Hydra FFAR

Also try globalsecurity.org link

All air Rockets in the game are stated as (X x Name of system) as the "salvo" unit - can be 1 for e.g. the big Soviet 122mm, or 7-8 70mm ones. That allows the 16, 32 rocket pods to be simukated without a separate weapon slo used up for each pod.

Thw W key will only fire one weapon, at the currently selected target and only if the selected weapon is in range and has ammo and a shot opportunity remaining that turn. About the only use I have for this function is to have one of my Russian Guards sections to launch an AT-mine at a tank next door in WinSPWW2, without triggering a close assault which may leave them too supressed to fling a second one if the first failed. Otherwise, I turn off the weapons I do not want to fire the usual way (in the odd circumstance I want to reserve some, about the only time I do that is to preserve an ATGM and biff up a light APC target e.g with the BMPs 30mm and hold the missile) and simply click on the target to fire.

The T key dialogue needs therefore to be used with N and P to navigate to the desired target if no target/not the desired target is currently selected. Again - the only time I use this instead of clicking on the target may be to select a tank for a rifle section to fling an AT weapon at, or perhaps to review the %age to-hit the gunner thinks is best, if selecting between which T-55 to target etc. (Remember that the to-hit %age in the T key dialogue only works for the primary (slot 1) weapon).

Out of contact status is determined at your turn start and the range for guaranteed comms is shouting range between the platoon commander and the sub-unit - 100-150 metres or 2-3 hexes. Any other distance needs both units to have a radio and to pass a radio comms test. You can also be out of contact if the platoon HQ is dead, retreating etc. (Command radius is also irrelevant, if you do not have any need to rally the sub-units that turn.)

cheers
Andy

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Can make a difference if "num lock" light is lit I think.

Andy

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Thanks very much.
Did read about that shouting distance, of course, it is stated often in the GG -- I just can't believe my radios are malfunctioning that often!

Is there more detailed information about what "supression" means and how it works? I would also like to learn more about how rallying works (that is, the mechanics of it: Chances of success, number of tries, etc.) -- is there more info I should be reading outside of the GG?

And would you happen to know about a scenario in which harming civilians yields negative VPs?

thank you very much -- great community here!

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Radios:
remember to check the unit info to make sure you actually have one (and check the unit commander for one as well since both need one to communicate)

Supression:
Game Guide "Unit Information screen"
- Suppression box - describes supression
- Morale box

- Unit leader table - Rally box

And further down, the HQ menu table - Rally is described again

Cheers
Andy

Re: My first post with some questions
 

It's not just malfunctioning radio's but also failures to connect that are modelled. Remember that sub-unit leaders especially usually have to keep track of several radio nets at the same time (within their own unit/vehicle, with his subordinate units/vehicles, with his commander, and with other supporting formations (think a mech platoon and a tank platoon operating together so their commanders have to keep in touch) and possible coordinate artillery or air strikes, etc).
That means a commander may be otherwise engaged and temporarily out of contact with one or more of his subunits.

Narwan

Re: My first post with some questions
 

All right, I'll buy that, thank you!

@ Mobhack: Thanks, but I think you are referring to the sections such as these:


Believe me, I have read this. And I am sure this is nobody's fault but my own, but these terms are not self-explanatory. Defining "supression" as "how badly supressed this unit is" may be quite exact, but it doesnt tell me how it works. And things like "As rallies are done in a turn, this number will tend to decrease. Once a rally attempt fails this number will be set to zero for the remainder of the current turn" doesn't tell me a thing about how rallies are done in a turn, or how they can fail, etc.

But I think I am beginning to bore you guys with my questions. Obviously I come from a "different corner", have different gaming horizons, etc. It is like we are speaking a different language. That Game Guide was written for a much different target group. So while I appreciate you referring me to the GG, I did actually read it -- my questions are stemming from it, not being answered by it.

I really like the idea of this game, but I think the hurdles may be -- at least for the moment -- too great for me to grasp it. Thanks for your help, sorry to be a pest.

Re: My first post with some questions
 

There are probably very few players out there who know and understand all of the gaming concepts. There are so many details worked into it in some way or other that even experienced gamers like me keep on discovering new things. The game tries to model small scale modern warfare as realistic as it can get it. Modern warfare is extremely complicated so the game by default will be complicated too. That doesn't mean you need to know a lot of things to play and enjoy the game.
As baggypants suggested, small scale units may be a good starting point. Another suggestion is to start with the earliest years (40's or 50's) as the equipment is less complicated and the units less lethal (and mistakes wouldn't be as deadly as in current era combat).
Final suggestion, find someone (experienced) to play a simple PBEM set-up with. Ask relevant questions as you go along the game and also get him to explain why/how he does certain things the way he does. You'll soon get the hang of it. Besides this forum you might also want to try the Blitz wargaming club for a PBEM 'mentor' (at www.theblitz.org).

Narwan

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Hi,

Ask from Narwan to play with you a pbem game.

After that game you may consider yourself a "veteran", because Narwan is a true master of the game.

Always seek to play pbem games against expert players and watch closely to see if you can understand their gameplay routines.

All these players will be willing to share with you some of their tricks (but not all of them).

I wish you good luck and I am sure that you will greatly enjoy this very fine game.

cheers,
Pyros

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Tinkthank, believe it or not you're doing great!! I'm not just being nice. I thought I knew about militaria when I started playing SP:WAW about 6 years ago. I was utterly baffled!! But you learn. Let's see if I can help you here:

o Suppression: If you've ever played the Cyberpunk RPG, this is like the Cool rating inverted. Basically, it's the mental and physical effects of being fired upon. Mentally, it's emotionally exhausting to have people screaming and other people trying to kill you! (I just got through USAF basic training... I had about a 10 suppression the whole time. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif) You also have to think about the situation at hand, worry about your family, etc. Physically, in order to stay alive there are places you can't go, positions you can't be in, or else you're dead. This limits your ability to move, react, fire, etc.* You could also say suppression includes minor wounds such as grazes, small shrapnel, concussion, stone fragments, etc. Its effects in-game include a reduction in move points, reduction in speed (good! higher speed in infantry will increase the odds of a casualty being caused when fired upon, because the troops are sprinting more, hunkering behind cover less), change of status--Ready to Pinned to Routed to Retreating. The latter two do not allow your units to fire--they're routed or running away, after all.

* = If you've ever seen a movie, like Full Metal Jacket, and they seem to just be shooting at an area, that's suppressive fire. Use the Z-key in game to fire at just an area. Just like in real life, you can make a position untenable (un-holdable) with sufficient suppressing fire. You can also use it to cover the advance of other units. Z-fire/suppressive fire implies that the unit is not aiming as such, and makes a (slightly) more difficult target... thus, no (or little) opfire.

o Rally: No, this isn't cross-country racing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif Rallying, like everything else, is an aggregate/amalgamation of many things. It is basically the commander and unit's ability to calm themselves down and react to a bad situation. For a basic rule of thumb, Rally - Suppression = % chance of cutting suppression in half. Rally is then temporarily reduced by about 0-3 points until the next turn. (The commander is busy getting his men to act like men! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif) If the rally attempt is failed, Rally is set to 0 until the next turn. (The commander is trying to rally his men the whole turn.)

o Command & Control/Out of Contact: I don't play with C&C turned on. It just complicates things so much! I understand it, and I have played with it on, but--and this is just my opinion--I think it's a bit half-cocked. Units can't do this or that when out of contact, but still communicate the location of all spotted enemy units to all allied units. I know it's a limitation of the simulation/game engine, but it just bugs me too much. I want to enjoy my game! Maybe when I'm "good" I'll turn it on again. For learning, though, play with it off.

I'll continue in the next post--I've forgotten what else there was. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Oh, some more Rally/Suppression info. You rally a unit by hitting r. Suppression seems to be based roughly (very rougly!) off of: 1/2 * (KILL+WARHEAD).

Armored vehicles can be Ready or Buttoned. Buttoned means that the hatches are all closed. This greatly reduces the crew's situational awareness, reducing their ability to spot units, their ability to return fire, and their accuracy--especially the former 2. So, a tip: Snipers firing at tanks can get them Buttoned. Then you may be able to fire from a tank or ATW (Anti-Tank Weapon--an RR (Recoilless Rifle), ATGM (AT Guided Missile), ATG (old-sk00l AT Gun) or the like) several times without getting return fre from that unit.

o Armour/Pen: At the muzzle and at a 90 degree angle, if PEN > ARMOUR then the armour is penetrated. The first number in the Pen rating (say, the 2 in a 2:10 rating) is the HE (High Explosive) penetration. This does not reduce with range, and indicates penetration by explosive force. The second number is the penetration with the weapon's standard AP (Armour Piercing) ammo. This reduces with range. HEAT (High Explosive Anti Tank) is a special kind of round that directs an explosion. This also does not reduce Pen with range. APCR (Armour Piercing, Core: Rigid) can actually refer to several kinds of kinetic armour piercers--APFSDS (Armour Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot--it's a shell that has a tiny arrow-like penetrator in it, and this penetrator moves at ridiculous speeds due to being lighter and smaller than a standard AP round (the Discarded Sabot is the filler around the arrow that lets it fit in the gun tube and seal propellant gasses behind it), DU (Depleted Uranium--basically heavy and hard), etc. Usually it has a higher penetration than AP, but lower range (and thus a lower Pen at extreme ranges). It could be coded as superior ammo, with a higher range--or maybe just an AP round that retains energy at range, but don't worry about all that. Basically, HEAT ~=~ APCR > AP > HE. The game also takes into account impact angle. If you fire a bullet head-on at a 2mm sheet of metal, it has to penetrate 2mm of metal. If you fire it 45 degrees to that sheet, it has... a^2 + b^2 = c^2... 4 + 4 = c^2... 8 = square root of c... 2.83mm of metal to penetrate. You've increased the protection of that metal plate by nearly half again, just by changing the angle!

o Targetting: If you want to use a single weapon on a target, there are 2 ways to do it. First, you always select the unit.

Method 1: Hit the Spacebar to bring up unit details. Click on all the weapons you DON'T want to fire. This will turn them off, until you turn them back on again by clicking on them again. Don't forget to turn them on if you want them on later! Now, fire.

Method 2: Hit T, and cycle through your targets until you find one. Then hit T again! This selects the unit you cycled to as your unit's target. Now hit W, and pick a weapon. It will automatically fire at the selected target.

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Random Stuff:

Yeah, the encyclopedia is hard. Some units are exactly alike for the same nation... except for their Radio code. This deals with how the AI chooses or doesn't choose this unit. Other times they will have different ammo loads, or a slightly different rating like Vision, Men, or so on.

The AI isn't terribly intelligent, but every so often it will completely surprise you. I have to say, coding the AI to target artillery on intersections, buildings, victory hexes, and especially smoke (presumably from artillery fires, although... heh, heh, heh...) makes it about twice as hard as in SP:WAW (a WW2 variant, but different from winSPWW2!).

I'd say it's about on par with most game AI's--once you figure it out, it's not that hard to predict. But, then again, neither am I! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Oh, and armoured vehicles don't have hit points. In reality, you can fire at a Bradley or even an old M3 halftrack all day with an Uzi, but you're only going to rattle the crew (suppression). The bullets are too soft and too slow to do anything more. There's a tiny chance that a bullet will go somewhere dangerous, and this is, I believe, modelled! ISTR a BAR in my Japanese GSDF Police Squad taking out a N.Korean BTR. I was sweating bullets up to that point, because that stupid little AC (Armoured Car) was chewing up my men! Anyway, you actually have to penetrate the armour in order to do anything significant to an armoured vehicle, by and large. If you could just gnaw up armour, then tanks in the Great War would have been useless--there were plenty of bullets flying around the battlefield!

Oh, MG's:

MG: MachineGun
SMG: Sub-MachineGun/MachinePistole
AAMG: Anti-Aircraft MachineGun
ATMG: Anti-Tank MachineGun (I don't know if there are even any of these in the winSPWW2 OOB's!)
BMG: Bow MachineGun--placed in a fixed mount or ball on the front, or Bow, of a vehicle.
CMG: Co-Axial MachineGun--placed Co-Axially (on the same axis, IOW right next to) the main gun.
TMG: Turret MachineGun--this machinegun IS the main gun!

When in doubt, look at the ratings. If it has a VERY high Fire Control, Range Finder, and often Vision rating compared to its contemporaries, then it is probably an anti-aircraft unit. If it's got a high Pen rating--or just high enough for who you're facing--then you can use it against tanks. Never overlook AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery) for anti-tank/anti-APC roles!! They usually won't take out front-line tanks, but they can do a number on Reserve, Light, or 2nd-line tanks! Duster vs. AMX-13: Duster fires at range and wins.

My final advice is something I learned only after my second year of playing SP:WAW. Generate a campaign. Set the battle size to maybe, 40x80. Give yourself a good 20 or more battles, minimum! (I do 200, just in case. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif) Set the game to the earliest date available for your chosen nation. Make it something around 1946 in winSPMBT. Buy a Company of Infantry. Make sure it has transportation (might be called Motor Rifles or something), artillery (mortars, Infantry Guns, etc), and ATW's (Bazookas, RR's, etc). If you need to, buy a Platoon of any of these. Also buy a Scout team, a Sniper, and a Forward Observer. Oh, get a truck-mounted section of Engineers too. That's all!!!! Now play through. At some points you'll be thinking, "Man, I wish I had some tanks!" OK, well, maybe you need to buy some! I would say, buy them as Reinforcements first, then work on changing a COUPLE of your trucks to tanks. Make yourself earn them! Same with any other unit you want.

Oh, for scouts/snipers/FO's:

Set their range to 0. Keep them on the edge of woods. When fired on, rally them, set their range to 0, and retreat into the woods. Do NOT let them opfire until they have at LEAST 90-95 exp. I'd say until they have 100. Scouts and snipers are NOT for fighting, they are for SPOTTING!! Only move them when there is a concealed approach, and preferrably only from cover to cover and only 1/2 their max movement unless you're positive they can't be spotted. When your sniper has a target with ~60%+ chance to hit, then fire... ONCE!! Don't take risks with scouts or snipers. Don't let them get fired upon, as losing one--which is very easy--means replacing them with a low-experience dork who's just more likely to get killed. Once their exp reaches the 80+ level, then you can start firing once (scouts) or twice (snipers) when only a few units can see them.

Further advice: Drop everyone's range to about 3 hexes. In SP:WAW, even if you didn't opfire, if someone was within your range, they had an increased chance to spot you! In winSPMBT/winSPWW2, you WILL opfire at that range (don't get to choose), and I can pretty much guarantee that below ~90exp you WILL be spotted. Your weapons' Acc rating is the number of hexes that their base to-hit score is a 50%. Then take in unit movement, terrain, etc. etc. etc. Keep it at or below this. Especially if your Pen ratings are close to their Armour ratings.

Final advice: Machineguns. Fire 1/2 your allotted shots. MG's are vicious op-firers! They also draw a lot of attention if you fire them like crazy. If you don't have an enemy unit with a 10% or higher chance to hit, don't fire. If there is an enemy infantry unit with about 6mph speed or more, fire on them regardless! At any rate, fire on fast-moving infantry first as a general rule. Final bit of final advice on MG's: You can pin/button an entire enemy Platoon in one turn. This is handy for holding back reinforcements if you're engaged in close fighting with the enemy. At close-range, MG's can deal moderate damage but get chewed up way too fast. Leave that to the infantry!

Re: My first post with some questions
 

APFSDS has longer range than AP ammo, not vice versa, and so it´s penetration is better at long ranges, because larger AP shell loses velocity quicker.

Re: My first post with some questions
 

I'm probably thinking of actual APCR then.

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Hey Irinami thank you very much. Lots to read and digest there, and I wont comment on that for now -- just one follow-up question if I may:

"Hit T and cycle through your targets" -- I really thought the "T" key would do that. Apparently, mine doesn't. I hit "T", and it locks me onto the *nearest* valid target, and hitting "T" again unlocks that. How are you cycling through targets?
Thanks tons!

Re: My first post with some questions
 

The "N" key will cycle through units whether in the normal game screen or in the targetting screen.

Narwan

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Allright, I'm going to be extremely thorough. I'm not talking-down, I'm just trying to leave nothing unsaid. OK... you have to know how to move units. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

OK, I've loaded up the tutorial and selected J0, an AH-64. First things first, I don't want him reaction-firing at the self-propelled guns that I'm going to be searching for. So I hit the spacebar, and click on each weapon. They go from orange to cyan (well, red when the mouse hovers over them). That means they're disabled. Good, I click Continue. ***Actually no. I do this to J1 as well! He's the one who's been opfiring and ruining my plan!

Back on the map, I zoom out with the minus (-) key. There's a hill with Iraqi flags on it, so there should be plenty of targets over there for our demo. I clock just past the hill--that ought to get someone's attention! Sure enough, an SO-152 self-propelled gun (SPG) opens up with its puny 7.62mm machinegun. When the dust settles, I see 2 of those SPG's. Excellent, my demonstration can continue. I hit space, click on the 30mm Chaingun (verifying that it turns orange), and click Continue. Now I press the T key on the keyboard--or click the icon with the crosshairs on the right-hand side.

A specialized screen opens up. My Apache has targetted the northernmost SO-152. Its status is Ready,Dug In. Cool. I have a 46% accuracy on it. OK. I press the N key on the keyboard. I've targetted the other SO-152. Its status is exactly the same--not surprising, since it's the same distance away. I only know I've targetted it by the line on the screen going to it, instead of its neighbor. I verify by clicking on the first button under Target, it has an N and a little arrow. Yup, that switches too. Cool. Let's say I want to target the lower one. I hit N again, then click on the T button. That returns to the normal screen. My target is now an SO-152. Well, as that's what both of the only thigns I've spotted so far are, let's fire to make sure I'm targetting the lower one. I press f, and my pilot joyfully opens fire. A miss. Let's target the northern brother. T, N, T. Fire! Yup, the "animation" shows the norhtern borther's hex outlined in red on this miss. (This guy's getting chewed out back at base, I tells ya!)

You cycle through available targets with N and P, for Next and Previous. I walked through every step just to verify that I was giving every step exactly as it happens. Hope it helps!

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Sniper are one of the best infantry killers, so I'd advise more free use of them. Especially if you playing high-rating country, like Israel. All Israel commando snipers start in mid 80 expirience. If they are killed they could be repaced by equally expirienced unit. Also try get sniper with high fire control and at least 20 vision, so he could see through the smoke. Snipers are great against infantry ATGM(anti-tank guided missile) teams too. ATGM teams are extremly dangerous - they can see through the smoke, have long range and can shoot at helo too.

Re: My first post with some questions
 

Teams/vehicles can see through thick, just laid smoke only if their vision rating is 40, representing Thermal Imaging sights and at 50 or 60 representing even more advanced imaging equipment like Ground Surveillance Radars.