Game Mechanics Tips and Tricks

[Unwise]

It might seem that I would create a thread on "tips and tricks" for selfless purposes: sharing my accumulated knowledge with the rabble.

Not so - I recently had it hammered home that there is much about running the game that I don't know about, and I figured that if I could trick the more generous/garrulous souls into revealing their secrets it would make me all the more powerful.

Seriously, though. I had a couple buddies over yesterday and we were discussing the results of our previous TCP/IP game. I used the (apparently undocumented) center-button scrolling trick to pan around the map, much to my friends’ amazement. Later, one of them mentioned that “As I was scrolling through the n-list…”, and none of the rest of use knew what the hell he was talking about.

So. What interesting shortcuts or interface tricks do you use most?

I’ll start:

Another thread alerted me to the center-mouse-button pan. By click-holding your center mouse button (or wheel), you can use it to pan around the map or battleground in the same way you would use the arrow keys.

Hitting the “n” key when in the map screen takes you to your “idle” commanders. I can’t overstate what a micro-management saver this is: it makes it much easier to find “lost” scouts or keep track of your search-mages operating deep in your back-field.

[Gandalf Parker]

The center button scroll is actually a pretty standard Windows thing. It will also work on web pages and viewing large pictures on web or in a paint program.

Its like people asking what the button is for making a screenshot and being told to use the "Print Screen" button on their keyboard, then open any paint program and hit "edit, paste"

Hitting the Insert or Delete button will jump the map to full view which is very nady later in the game. Home button centers on your capital. Page up and Page down to scroll in and out.

Selecting a unit is LeftClick. Selecting all commanders in a province is "a". Selecting a range (from here to here) is Left-Click then Shift-LeftClick. Adding or removing indivuals is Control-LeftClick. Doing commands while many units are selected will try to do that command with everyone (moves, patrol, research). Its also very handy to have all of the mages or sages in your province selected then tell one to cast a spell or create an item. It will go thru each one one-at-a-time and let you choose which spell or item for each one.

And lets not forget the Shift-M which will let you select a spell and have the mages cast it over and over each turn. Great for telling a bunch of mages to ressurect dead or summon vine-men every turn until you tell them to quit or they run out of gems.

Hmmmm lets see.....
People like to find out about some of the buttons in combat. Apparently "w" turns off the pretty backgrounds. PageUp and PageDown has nice effects for camera angle. Spacebar freezes things. RightClicking a unit in battle lets you examine stats.

[Ragnarok-X]

shift m is pretty useful, as gandalf mentioned.
when using many mages of the same type, remember strg x (1-9) and x (1-9) to store and restore certain orders. its very useful when playing with fire mages and you want a bunch of them to cast the same spell i.e. holy pyre or whatver for 5 rounds.

i have one question though.
Is there a shortcut (like shift m) which automaticly makes a certain province queue to recruit the same amount of units each turn, given you have enough gold ?

[ February 23, 2004, 16:06: Message edited by: Ragnarok-X ]

[archaeolept]

some sort of auto-build would be very nice, though perhaps a bit troublesome to implement.

"strg x"?? could you be more precise please as to how to store orders? I know it's possible but I wasn't able to in my first "beyond turn 40" game.

as well, what's the command to highlight/sort units w/ battle afflictions?

also, is there a way to find a specific commander? (when I get a message that commander Beta has discovered a magic item I really have no clue who or where he is, usually)

hmm, and is there a way to tell the size of the unit in game?

thanks

[ February 23, 2004, 18:37: Message edited by: archaeolept ]

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Ragnarok-X:
i have one question though.
Is there a shortcut (like shift m) which automaticly makes a certain province queue to recruit the same amount of units each turn, given you have enough gold ?

Alas, no.

[Gandalf Parker]

On most of the Messages it offers a "goto province" but unfortunately it doesnt always work. I get really irritated when it offers me that and clicking it just takes me to my home province. Size is part of what you get if you are looking at stats and click the "hp" for more info

[Arryn]

Originally posted by archaeolept:
"strg x"?? could you be more precise please as to how to store orders? I know it's possible but I wasn't able to in my first "beyond turn 40" game.

as well, what's the command to highlight/sort units w/ battle afflictions?

also, is there a way to find a specific commander? (when I get a message that commander Beta has discovered a magic item I really have no clue who or where he is, usually)

hmm, and is there a way to tell the size of the unit in game?

1. When examining troops (T key) mouse over the orders list and use CTRL-1, CTRL-2, etc. to store commander orders, then mouse over the orders list for another commander and press 1, 2, etc to paste the orders.

2. Left click on a unit to highlight it, then press W to highlight all wounded units.

3. use the F1 key to bring up the National Overview. AFAIK, this is the best way at this time.

4. Right click on a unit's HPs when examining it.

[Slogan]

Learning about the National Overview screen was of great help to me. In large games its easy to lose track of who's where, which provences are not at 100% tax and generally what the unrest levels are. In the NO screen all that useful is there at a glance.

[Master Shake]

When you right click on a unit in battle, a window comes up with that unit's stats. You can right-click (I think) on both the number, and the the state name.

For example, it might say Morale: 12.

If you click on the 12, you get a summary of all of the factors geeting you to 12 (base morale, friendly domain, home province, bless, starving, etc.) This is very useful for seeing the exact effects of spells like antimagic (+4 MR if I remember).

If you click on "Morale," you get a pretty good explanation of how Morale works.

[Bossemanden]

I believe the Antimagic amulet (or the spell) increases magic resistance and not morale.