Steel
Panthers World War II ©
Game
Installation
Discussion
Group-- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SPWW2
Websites--
http://linetap.com/www/drg/SPCamo.htm
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/spcamo/
Steel
Panthers World War II©
Game
Guide
Version 7.0
Last Updated June 2004
© 2004 SP Camo Workshop
Introduction
Just
tell me how to install It!!
Frequently
Asked Questions
What
is Steel Panthers World War 2?
SPWW2
is a tactical level World War 2 historical wargame.
It
is hexagon based, and the game is an alternating turn based (I go you
go or IGOUGO) design.
One
unit playing piece represents one vehicle or gun, or an infantry squad
(section of up to 13 men) or a section of 1 to 4 support weapons (this
is an important point some players miss - 1 machine gun 'piece' CAN represent
2 or 3 actual MG (for example, count the number of (for example) 'MG34 MMG' lines
reported in the encyclopaedia for the unit's weapons).
One
game hexagon represents 50 metres of terrain.
One
game move (player 1 turn plus player 2 turn) represents between one and
3 minutes of 'real time'.
It
is an DOS program, but runs fine under most Windows installations except Windows 2000.
The
game also runs on OS/2 as well though the installer is a Win32
program. There are a few things to watch out for when getting it
to run on Windows XP -- so we have included a section immediately below
to help you.
Game
Installation
Game
Requirements
In
order to play the game video sequences, you should have one of the following
SSI product CD ROM's in your first CD drive (if you have several - the
game will only work from CD ROM No. 1 if >1 are present) when playing
the game:
An
original Steel Panthers 2 CD |
An
original Steel Panthers 3 CD (preferred option) |
An
SSI Arsenal CD with SP2 or SP3 |
Note
that the preferred CD is one with SP3 on it, as the SP3 CD has World War
2 video footage.
This
game is a complete stand-alone product.
It is not a patch to be applied
over any other SP series game!
If
you have installed TGN/Matrixgame's World War 2 product 'Steel Panthers
World at War', you can utilise the video files provided as part of that
game instead of an SP CD ROM. Go to www.matrixgames.com
to see how to obtain this free download.
1)
Go to the \data folder of the game, and find and open the zSpww2AV.ini
file (where z is any character) with notepad or any other
text editor (never a word processor!). This ini file has
one line only - the path to wherever you installed the SPWAW video
files. (To find these, open a DOS window, and navigate to
the directory where the 'vidNNN.smk' files live under the main SPWAW
directory - it must be a DOS window as the
file names used must be DOS compliant 8 character format,
not the windows format used in explorer - in other words, the 'greeked'
versions of the path name with the ~1 type names).
Note
that Windows help is wrong when it says to display the full
MSDOS pathname just select the view/options/show full path - this
is a full Windows path (filenames with spaces and > 8 characters
long). For those of you who know nothing of DOS - you will need
the DIR (directory) and CD (change directory) commands - note that
typing /? after an dos command gives basic help e.g. - dir /?
|
2)
Edit the default path of 'C:\a\tmp' to the correct dos format path
to the SPWAW video files directory and save the ini file |
3)
Rename the file from zSpww2AV.ini to Spww2AV.ini using the normal
Windows procedures, thus enabling the file - the 'z' character (where
z is any character) in front of the filename is used to disable
the ini file by altering its filename. |
4)
Should you desire to disable the ini file - just rename it with an
inserted character at the start of its name. |
You can
play the game without access to any video files (from an SSI CDROM
or the SPWAW files) - in this case, a SSI advertisement splash screen
is displayed occasionally - to do this, enable the Spww2AV.ini
file as above, but in this case - make the directory point to a non existent
folder, or at least one with no smacker (.smk) video files.
(The
game will work fine with no video without doing this, but due to the way
DOS tries to read the CD - if there is no actual CD (any CD will
do) physically in the drive you will get an 'error reading' message (twice)
- reply 'F' for fail if that happens in each case.)
You
will in this case see only blank squares where the video cut screens would
have played.
Installer Program
Ensure
that you have correctly downloaded the game installation program and that
it is the correct size (see the readme.txt file). Should the executable
not be the correct file size, see the Game
Installation section of this guide for help.
If running the installer produces some nonsense about a password - your
download was incomplete or corrupted try again, perhaps using a download
manager utility such as gozilla!, available from e.g. www.tucows.com.
You
can place the installation program anywhere you like - once you have installed,
you may wish to move it to somewhere you archive things, or given its
size - move it onto a backup ZIP drive or similar, to save the need to
download a second time should you need to reinstall the product.
Double
click on the installation program - this is an Install Maker scripted
installer.
READ
the instructions presented to you by this program. Also - ensure that
you read any late breaking news in the readme.txt file which will be presented
to you as an option by the installer.
Now,
read through the
Game Installation section -
this is not optional - it is compulsory!
IMPORTANT
NOTE
This
game is an dos full screen application, and it will tend not to be happy
with windows background tasks, or alt tabbing out to run other windows
programs (although version 4 and up are lot more stable, as some original
legacy code was found to be writing to illegal addresses). See Game
Installation.
This
game is meant to be run on a 'clean' Windows session only, as the first
and only program run after a fresh restart of Windows. Some PC
set-ups will be able to run this game as a regular windows session, but
should you have problems - stick to the above advice. All PC boxes differ
- yours just may be a sensitive set up (However, version 4.0 and 5.0 seem
stable enough that this especial care is less required - but if having
problems, follow the advice given).
Unless
you are running this game from a pure DOS environment (e.g. with a boot
disk) then start the game with a windows shortcut as detailed in
Game Installation. Do not
simply double click on the .Exe file in Windows Explorer!
Installing
Third Party Scenarios
I will
put this right up front, as many folk seem to have problems with this
process, and 'lose' existing scenarios. Each scenario set supplied should
provide this basic information in its readme.txt file - but here is the
process.
1)
Get your scenario downloaded - these will usually be together in a zip
file. If you do not know what a zip file is - you will likely need one
go to www.winzip.com and download
the utility - it is usable without registration, but nags you after a
while. Learn how to use the utility.
2)
Unzip the files to a scratch directory, not directly to the \scen sub
directory of SPWW2! You do not want to unzip directly into the \scen directory
as the supplied scenarios may overwrite your existing scenarios, if the
designer has used the same slot numbers as somebody else.
3)
Open up the scratch directory in Windows Explorer, and read any
readme.txt file the scenario designer supplied. He should note in this
how to change numbers but here is what you do:
3.1)
Check the scenario files supplied against the ones already in your \scen
files directory - if these use the same numbers, they will overwrite your
existing files. If no clash - move them over using Windows explorer in
the usual manner.
3.2)
If any of the files use the same numbers - say you have a spscn019 set
already - then you must manually edit the numbers used in the new
scenarios to a disused number in the 000 to 999 range (with leading zeros).
You may decide on slot number 42 say (and up, if it is a bundle of scenarios).
Simply use the normal Windows file rename process, and change the
numeric portion of the file name only entering 042 in the
first (if a series) 042 in the second for each file in the set. So the
set spscn019.txt (if provided), spscn019.dat and spscn019.cmt get renamed
to spscn042.txt (if provided), spscn042.dat and spscn042.cmt. The supplied
slot 19 scenario is now ready to be moved over into your \scen sub directory,
where it will no longer overwrite the existing 019 set, and will be available
in the game in the 43rd scenario slot (000 being the first index).
(If you
do not know how to rename files, or use explorer - refer to your Microsoft
Windows help files.)
Frequently
Asked Questions
Why
do the graphics seem washed out?
The reason they do
not display the same way to some people is because they have not set up
their monitor and graphics card to work with DOS.
It is very easy to
do. If you have wondered why the colours in SPWW2 may have seemed a bit
"faded" please follow these simple steps.
1] Load SPWW2. Adjust
the Brightness and Contrast controls on THE MONITOR to give you the colour
saturation and brightness you feel comfortable with. This MAY now cause
ALL of your Windows or Windows based programs to appear either too dark
or too light. DON'T PANIC ! The solution is in your Graphics board software.
2] Go to your Windows
Control Panel in "Settings". Click on "Display Properties"
Almost all decent graphics boards have software that allows you to adjust
colour brightness and contrast. Adjust those so that your Windows desktop
looks normal again.
3}That's it. You
are done. DOS programs ignore software setting for graphics boards and
rely exclusively on the monitor settings. Windows programs rely on software
setting as the "final say" before displaying a program and override
any Monitor setting. This will usually allow you to view each equally
well without having to make any further adjustments.
How do I
slow the game scroll speed?
See the parameters
of the ini file - Customising SPWW2
section
Also - See the game
installation section about setting up Mo'Slo (or use CPU Killer or
similar slow down utility - search say tucows.com)
What is a Commando,
What is a <insert Unit>
See the Unit classes
list in the Spob section below
for a list of classes and special abilities etc.
Why do
generated battles and campaigns play unbalanced when I use a very small
force?
The AI has a minimum troop purchase that, due to
built in variables, is anywhere from 150 - 230 points. That is the least
amount the AI will buy. If you have a 200 point core in a campaign and
are given a Human advance or assault the odds will end up being around
1:1 rather than the 2.5:1 they should be simply because the AI will not
take less than it's minimum force, even if you have a minute core and
omit to use the given support points. The AI requires a basic minimum
to cover the defence (or it may end up holding the line with an HQ and
a sniper!), and it needs a certain minimum to create a credible attacking
force. We recommend that the you play a campaign with a minimum of 450
- 500 points for your core. This allows the AI a fair number of troops
and will provide you with a better game. You CAN play with less than a
300 - 350 point core but you MUST take the support points offered in a
Human advance or assault or the AI will end up with a higher proportion
of troops than they should have. 350 points should be the absolute minimum
size for all campaign and generated battle games. Anything less WILL give
you very challenging games in advance/assault.
What
are those " **** "s I see when I hit an AFV?
When
a tank is hit and a penetration occurs it does not always cause an outright
"kill". Occasionally, depending on the shell size/armour thickness ratio
and the survivability rating of that vehicle, you may notice hit messages
ending in ***. These are not new, they have always been in SP2 but it
was not widely known that this indicates that damage is occurring to a
vehicle. We have reworked the code to give more of these damage results
under certain conditions. If you see these when your tank is hit you are
taking critical damage and/or lost crewmen which affects the number of
shots available and overall vehicle/crew performance. Damaging hits can
also remove weapons, immobilise the vehicle and so forth (note that unlike
the original SP series games - bringing up the information screen for
an enemy AFV will not show you that, for example, the main gun
has been destroyed for that vehicle!).
In
PBEM, I never see my opponent's artillery on the playback, just new craters.
Unless
BOTH of you have 'fast artillery' set to OFF then no history of the artillery
barrages is saved in the PBEM file. Play PBEM with fast arty off - both
of you - to see the shots and messages in the replay. And ensure you have
animation turned on as well - or you will not see direct fire shots either.
Additionally - any pre game bombardment in a PBEM (artillery plotted
to drop in turn 0) - only one side will be able to see the replay - because
the game replay code is only set up to replay the one player's
last turn - not "both players' last turns, saving a bit of turn 0
through your opponent's turn 1 and then adding that bit on at the front
of the next replay". It is therefore best not to use any pre
game (turn 0 arrival) artillery in a PBEM game, unless you are willing
to sacrifice player 2 playback. Agree this as part of the pre game discussion
with your PBEM opponent.
My
aircraft seem useless, and cannot hit things with guns/rockets.
If you
see the message "attacking hex" then your plane has not been able to establish
LOS to the target hex. This is usually due to smoke and dust in the area,
but sometimes it is because the target is tucked away behind a ridge for
example. Try to target aircraft, especially if relying on direct fire
weapons like rockets, onto targets well out in clear air, and preferably
out in the open - on a flat plain as opposed to in a town, wood, or valley.
Do not target artillery bombardments and planes on the same target area
- this is a major failing of the AI. If you must hit a target in smoke,
flames etc., Then try to use planes with bombs, napalm, or PTAB bomblets
as these are area fire weapons. Still not as good as a clear attack, but
better than random cannon strafing. Remember, very big bombs will kill
infantry in the adjacent hexes as well (~1000lbs and more).
You will
know if you got a good shot since the message will be 'attacking T-34'
or similar and a percentage to hit is usually displayed on the yellow
bar at the top of the screen.
To try
out aircraft tactics it is best to set up a test game. Set up with both
sides human player for everything, and give the side you are testing planes
the advance, especially if you decide to let the AI run the targets -
then it wont move! Go to the Preferences Menu and set up the air strikes
item to at least one to ensure you can buy air. Then when setting up enter
no passwords, and for the delaying (target) side, buy the sort of targets
you want to test against. Set the target side up in interesting arrays
- and its often best to set these up as preplanned bombardment targets
('gold spots') for the advancer to save time waiting for strikes to arrive.
Now play the game; try out various plane types as desired on target types
and arrays as desired. Because you are playing left hand vs. right hand,
you can inspect the damage from the target's viewpoint. This method is
also useful for testing out AA tactics and units as well. Or pretty much
anything for that matter, before jumping off to a bulletin board, try
a few experimental tests of your own. Many folk just do not seem to realise
that they can in fact play both sides, so as to try things out.
I
bought a 90mm AA (AT) gun formation with trucks but they cannot pick them
up.
Some
AT gun formations were provided with integral trucks, but the picker will
let you choose any legitimate AT gun, howitzer or whatever. In this case
there is usually a separate 'Heavy AT Gun/T' formation with 7.5 ton heavy
trucks or similar. What can be picked up is a vexed question in SP. Look
for the '*' after some guns, read the manual.
But the
best way to see what fits what is to set up a test game, buy one of about
every type of transport and load item, and try it out in the set up phase
of the game, then quit before playing. This is especially true of some
things like say USA mech. Infantry. You should be able to fit most combinations
in to the vehicles some way but do not buy 76mm AT guns for example. If
offered mortars, you should stick to the correct 60mm sections, as 4.2
inch mortars are both ahistorical, and likely will not fit, or not leave
room for that final bazooka team.
There
is no real easy way to screen out inappropriate choices (though the new
classes for V3.0 will help), learn by experimentation, do not plunge into
a game and then find out what lifts what when it is really embarrassing.
I
cannot spend all my points/ buy any more support troops in a campaign
game.
There
is a limit to the number of units you can buy in total - this has been
increased to 500 units per side in version 3.0, over about 130 before.
In addition, there is a limit to the total number of formations (platoons
formations, and a 1 man sniper formation is a platoon!, not companies).
Also - in a beach assault you are limited to about 400 units, as the game
needs space for the automatically bought landing craft, and in a river
crossing assault, we have left about 90 free units to provide assault
raft unit space for deployed infantry assault boats and deployed barges
off barge carriers as these need to be created on deployment. In a campaign
core, you can have 200 units now.
Once
you reach either limit, you cannot buy any more units, even if you have
a lot of surplus points. The formation limit means that it is best to
buy in reasonable sized platoons of 4 or 5, not sections of 1 or 2. However,
avoid things like the 10 tank Soviet 'Company in a Platoon' since when
things start going bad for this unit, the leader is unlikely to be able
to rally that many subordinates.
There
is an 8cm-mortar platoon and a 12cm mortar platoon, what is the difference?
Usually,
just the number of mortars (but with version 3.0, with new heavy and light
mortar classes - the OB designer may have utilised these so the heavy
mortars are in their own units, now). For example, 6 tubes in a German
8cm platoon and 4 12cm tubes in that platoon - one off each in the battalion
support company. However, to SP they are all mortars so all are made visible
to the buyer. (NB - mortars are sections now - so count the tubes - an
81mm section may have 3 and a 4.2-inch may only have 2 tubes). In a later
release we hope to provide a Heavy Mortar class to allow separation (we
did!).
The
'All Formation' key produces unusual results when I try to move a platoon.
This
button has never really worked since SP1. Do not bother with it. Its only
use is when setting an entire formation's range with the 'Y' key. Select
'all', select any unit of the formation set the range, and all the formation
uses the range setting. It saves a few extra clicks. Then remember to
turn the all mode off before moving anything or you will get a rude surprise.
That's the only practical use for the ALL key in SP. By all means try
the all formation key a few times for fun in a scratch game - the results
are often interesting, but not what you desired even on flat ground. Note
that the button was removed, and only the 'A' hot key remains.
I
think artillery/infantry is too powerful/too weak
See the
section on 'The Preferences Screen'. Experiment with the values till it
suits your idea of 'reality'.
How
do I call a quick repeat artillery mission?
Once
the artillery unit has completed its mission it tends to keep its last
x,y target location, unless it was manually cancelled, or was an aircraft.
Go to the bombardment screen, and press the ID button for the unit. Do
NOT click on the map - or you are calling a brand new mission in! press
the HE icon (or smoke if that was what was wanted), and the symbol will
appear at the last x,y location. Adjust if required, but the time will
be much less than a new fire mission from scratch. This is how to do a
'creeping barrage' - plot and fire, letting the battery finish, then call
a repeat using this technique, and adjusting the line of fires forwards
a bit.
How
do I fire counter battery fires on enemy off map batteries?
You (the
player) do not - your gunners will attempt to locate off map batteries
themselves, and allocate any units in range to CB fires.
For a
battery to fire CB missions, it needs to be idle (not plotted to fire
missions), it needs its crew quality to be good (better than 60 or so
- and the higher the better), have HE ammo to hand, and to have equal
or better range than the enemy battery in order to be able to reach the
target. It also has to pass a chance roll. Off map artillery units range
is shown as a number usually in the 200 series or more, 209 is longer
range than say 205. Range information is found in the encyclopaedia entry
for that battery.
How
do I recrew my vehicle/Gun etc. ?
Once
the crew has stopped running away - walk them or transport them back to
the same hex as the gun or vehicle they abandoned, and leave them there
for a while. Provided their morale is good enough, and the item
to be crewed is not too badly damaged, they will mount up. NB - the original
crew for the abandoned unit is the only one which can recrew it.
How
do I get things into the same hex as one containing another unit
Whether
friendly, enemy or wrecks, select the unit to be moved, then hold the
SHIFT key and click into the target hex containing other units. (Enemy
units in the target hex may object to this!).
How
do I get an enemy squad to surrender?
Enter
the same hex as the retreating or routed squad, and blaze away - when
approximately 2/3 of the crew is gone it will tend to surrender, depending
on nationality and morale. Japanese will require to be destroyed completely.
Alternatively,
provided you are shooting the unit up, and it cannot find a hex to retreat
to, it may surrender - i.e. Typically it is surrounded by your units which
have shots left AND are in good morale - an enemy squad may run into a
hex containing a retreating unit of yours, or just may panic and enter
an enemy held hex regardless. Note that rivers for example, can block
retreat paths, as can minefields.
How
do I turn a unit in place?
Select
the unit, then RIGHT click into a hex which is clear of wrecks, friendly
or enemy units in the desired direction then the unit turns, and the unit
LOS in that direction is shown by dark and light hexes. Use the clear
dark function to remove the dark hexes. Some units like pillboxes cannot
turn (other than when being placed in deployment) and barges and other
watercraft need to be moved to turn - they cannot turn in place.
What
is the LOS from this unit?
Please
refer to the question 'how do I turn a unit in place?' above.
How
do I destroy a bridge?
Use
typically an engineer unit with satchel charges, anti tank mines (can
represent hollow charge demolition munitions) or a Churchill AVRE - and
area fire onto the bridge hex. (Z key). It may take several attempts,
especially for stone bridges. Very large artillery can destroy bridges,
as can aircraft using large bombs if they drop these onto the bridge hex
(bridges are valid aircraft target hexes - give a plane a bridge target
hex and it will tend to attack that in preference to any bystanders).
Generally - crater causing artillery (about 120mm up) is needed to drop
wooden bridges, and 8 inch or greater artillery to have a chance on stone
bridges.
When
a bridge collapses, all units on that section are destroyed by falling
into the river, and this can be very satisfying when you catch a massive
traffic jam of the opposition's units on a rickety wood bridge with some
122mm...
Why
does my 88mm Flak not fire at passing planes?
The 88mm
German Flak cannon causes much confusion. People keep asking why this
AT gun does not shoot at planes as it did in SP1 and SP3. It is an AA
gun true, but it is deployed the role of an AT gun. It is therefore in
an anti tank position, with AP and direct fire HE ammo loadout. The battery
AAA director and computer together with the electrical hook-ups and the
AAA ammo and the fuse setting machine for it are in the rear area.
Just
like a GPMG (General Purpose Machine Gun), the 88 is a multi-role weapon,
but the GPMG needs the SF (Sustained Fire) kit to be issued to make it
an MMG rather than an LMG - it cannot change at whim. So with the 88 as
AAA artillery - it needs all the extra AAA fittings to do so. The British
3.7 inch AA gun could not fire without the director - it had no sights
on the gun at all, just the pointers and dials to take the cues from the
AA director via an electrical hook-up. When deployed remote from a director,
as at Tobruk, the gunners had to braze a lash-up set of AA speed ring
sights halfway up the barrel of the gun, and shoot mainly by 'Kentucky
windage'. The approved method of using this gun in an AT role, mainly
for self-defence, was to pair guns to the AA director and fire by salvo
at the target. I myself know of only one occasion when 3.7s were used
in a deliberate direct fire support role, in the breakout from Tobruk,
and here the guns were moved out at night and set up in dominating positions
for the next day's battle. Battlefield mobility was really minimal - this
gun was 'strategically mobile' - it took rather a long time to move and
set up. The other time 3.7s were notably used as direct fire artillery
was in German hands - they had captured about 80 and thought highly enough
of this weapon to set up an ammunition manufacturing capacity for it.
This was at Walcheren Island where they severely beat up allied amphibious
craft with them.
The 88mm
is a medium AA gun, and when firing AA it fires battery salvoes under
central director control, to lay down predicted flak curtains at medium
altitude against bombers flying in formation. SP planes are down in the
weeds individually attacking, and here we need guns that are used to track
individual targets. That is why there are NO medium AA guns in SPWW2 -
you are much better off with a 20mm Vierling. It is also why 88mm units
had light flak - for self defence against low fliers on flak suppression
missions which they themselves could not handle. There are no plans to
have medium or heavy AA batteries in SPWW2, as they are off-topic for
the tactical level of the game.
In addition,
not having your cunningly sited AT guns give their positions away by randomly
popping pot-shots off at passing planes is "A Good Thing". A standard
tactic when fighting a game against the Germans in SP1 was to fly a Hurricane
over with the map zoomed to max out. Then you could make a note of each
silly 88 that fired at the plane and plot a massive 25-pounder barrage
on each gun so revealed. It could give the entire defence line away. This
method was especially valuable against the AI, which does not move the
things. One of the main reasons these were taken out of the FLAK category
was that during an airstrike these weapons would fire at aircraft, then
once your turn started you could use these same guns to start shooting
at tanks. As stated above this is not possible, the fire control equipment
was completely different. Bottom line - any field gun, or heavy AA gun,
found in an AT-gun formation is of class 'AT-gun' (or one of the
new V3 variations). So the detached field gun will not fire indirect,
and the AA gun is looking for tanks to annoy today.
How
do I deploy a barge or raft?
When
beside the water - with some MP left - attempt to 'drive' the barge carrier
into the water, or 'walk' the infantry squad into it. A barge carrier
will appear in the water or the squad will transform into a raft carrying
itself. To unload - 'drive' the barge or boat onto the river bank or beach
side. If in -1 water, barges can now unload into the water if desired.
Why
cant I buy Waffen-SS tank-formations larger than a platoon before November
1942 ?
From
the book "Weapons and fighting tactics of the Waffen-SS", Dr.S.Hart &
Dr.R.Hart, Brown Packaging Books Ltd. ISBN 1-86277-060-0 Page 119-120:
Quote: |
The first Panzer
IV tanks to serve with the Waffen-SS - indeed the first tanks of any
type to do so - were the handful of Model D vehicles allocated to
the Leibstandarte Motorised Regiment during the winter of 1939-40.
These tanks first saw action during May 1940, where they provided
valuable mobile fire support as the Leibstandarte advanced, first
through Holland, then west beyond Arras towards Dunkirk, and finally
south deep into the interior of France until the French Government
surrendered on 25 June 1940. This armour also participated in the
battles fought by the Leibstandarte in the Balkans and Soviet Union
during 1941. It would not be until 1942, though, that the Waffen-SS
received large numbers of tanks. The élan displayed by the
Leibstandarte, Das Reich, Totenkopf and Wiking Divisions in combat
on the Eastern Front led Hitler to reward the Waffen-SS by ordering
that these formations be upgraded to panzergrenadier divisions. During
the spring and summer of 1942, therefore, these divisions each received
a panzer battalion equipped with new Panzer Ill Model J and L vehicles
and long-barrelled Panzer IV Model F2 and G tanks. In early 1943,
the Germans redeployed the recently formed I SS Panzer Corps, with
the Leibstandarte, Das Reich and Totenkopf Divisions under command,
from the West to the Eastern Front. In the bitter battles fought by
I SS Corps around Kharkov during the spring of 1943, the long-barrelled
Panzer IV outperformed the latest Panzer III vehicles and demonstrated
the qualities that quickly transformed the tank into the mainstay
of the German armoured force. |
End of Quote
|
This
game is a variant on SSI's Steel Panthers II. You will have the original
SSI game documentation with your copy of SP2, SP3, or SSI Arsenal, or
any manual provided with SPWAW. If you do not have access to any of these
- the basics of the game system are easy to figure out or ask or look
at the messages archive at the SPWW2 egroup (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SPWW2)
for help.
It
is assumed that as you already have the SSI product, that you have played
the game and are therefore familiar with the user interface. If not, then
it is recommended that you read the SSI game documentation for your product
at the very least, and try out the introductory scenarios as well.
This
game is intended to be a challenging game for experienced SP players,
rather than absolute beginners. Beginners may want to look at the 'how
to' guides available on the net for SP1 and SP2 and other SP series games
- try the Steel Panthers pages at The
Wargamer for example
The following
sections are laid out on a screen by screen basis as a rule.
Main
Screen
|
|
Saved
Games |
Press
this button to get a list of your saved games |
Scenarios |
Press to see the scenario list (default view on start) |
Campaigns |
This
button will take you to the campaigns main screen |
Battle |
Build
and play a one off battle to
your specifications (also displays version info on the screen when
mouse is held over this button) |
Editor |
This
Button will take you to the scenario editor |
Preferences |
This takes you to the preferences screen where you can adjust game
parameters |
Encyclopaedia |
Browse
the equipment encyclopaedia |
Help |
Provides some basic in-game help |
Exit |
Terminates
SPWW2 |
Start |
Start
playing the selected Scenario, saved game etc. |
Playing
a one off battle
Select
the 2 nationalities involved by clicking on the appropriate flag on either
side of the dial (the green indicator will light to indicate which is
current) and then click on the required nation's flag from the palette
on the left-hand side.
Battle
date - use to set the year and month of the battle. Note that some
nation's flags will appear and disappear as time changes. The game restricts
the time frame to the lesser period of the 2 nationalities selected, so
if you go back to 1937 and choose the 2 Spains - you will not be able
to go outside the Spanish Civil War until you choose one of the nations
which is available right throughout the game time frame - say the UK .
The game will select from over 150 historic battle locations based on
the 2 sides involved and the month of the war and generate a random map
based on that location, unless you choose a premade map to load.
Player
1 goes first, and is normally the human player when playing against
the computer. Player is either human or computer (it is perfectly possible
to play computer AI versus computer AI - if so, use the space bar to break
into such a game at the next move end). A human versus human game assumes
a Play By EMAIL (PBEM) game - but it is perfectly possible to play on
the same PC versus a friend by this method. See PBEM games section.
The
purchase button determines whether the computer selects the force,
or the human player does. Usually left at human for human players.
Deploy
- selects whether the computer or the human deploys your forces at game
start - again it is recommended that the human deploys his own troops.
Note that if you take computer deployment - you may find troops deployed
outside the legal areas for a human deploy. The auto deploy uses the AI
deploy, and it is allowed this. Note that in a human plays human game
(PBEM or on the same PC) - setting human player 2
as 'computer purchase' does not work - player 2 will always be asked to
manually buy his force.
Water
Conditions - this selector becomes visible if you select an assault
type battle, and allows you to select the water conditions (replaces
the old water button)
The
Battle Dial. This confuses some new players - click on the red
increments to turn the dial icon. This is used to select the battle
type. The default is the meeting engagement.
Battle
Type
|
Description
|
Meeting
Engagement |
Both
sides advance and try to take the various victory hexes on the map,
dealing out casualties to the enemy whilst trying to reduce their
own. Both sides get the same points to buy troops.
Victory points per hex tend to be low, so destruction
of units tends to be as equally important as taking objective hexes.
3 objectives deep in each sides own area are pointed relatively
high, to reward a deep thrust into enemy territory.
|
Advance
vs.
Delay |
One
side (depending on the direction of the battle dial) is making a
hasty attack against an enemy who is in a defensive posture, but
has not yet had time to dig in and prepare static field defences.
The
attacker gets more points than the delaying player, but the victory
hexes are in the defenders part of the map, and the defender gets
a larger area to deploy inside.
Victory
hexes are more valuable than in the meeting engagement, so the attacker
should focus on taking these whilst minimising his own casualties,
destruction of enemy troops being regarded as a bonus. The delaying
player wants to inflict maximum casualties on the attacker while
remaining in possession of as many victory hexes as possible at
game end, without losing too many troops in the process.
|
Assault
vs. Defend |
The
attacker is making a formal assault on a prepared enemy position
- the defender gets less points than in the delay, but is allowed
to buy fortifications and field defences - mines and dragons teeth
etc. All the defenders troops are dug in as well.
Objectives
are far more valuable than in the advance/delay battle.
There are several
assault sub-variations as set out below.
|
-Plain
assault
|
This
is played out on a normal battlefield.
No special buttons have been pressed, but the water conditions
setting for a random wide river can be used - this does NOT generate
a river crossing (so no rafts are issued for example!), and is best
left for a human versus human game only. The default assault battle
type.
|
-River
crossing assault
|
Use
the water conditions button to select 'Wide river
- North to South' and the assault becomes a river crossing.
A
wide river extends down the map centre, and any bridges are usually
blown. The attacker needs to cross the river to get to the objective,
and the defender gets to sink lots of rubber rafts. Usually a turkey
shoot when the human plays the AI, it can be moderately difficult
for a human playing against the AI, and a tough game to play human
versus human. All attacker infantry squads carry an rubber raft,
but you will as the attacker require to buy barge carriers (carry
a barge each) to get vehicles across.
Note:
there is a limit to the number of attacker units at about 400. This
is intended to leave a "pool" of free units to generate
rafts from. If the attacker has 400 units, he can only have a maximum
of 100 infantry in the water in rafts (minus any deployed barges)
at any one time. For example, if he had only 300, then he could
have 200 active rafts.
|
-Beach
assault
|
Use
the water conditions button to select 'Beach'. Half
the map (the attacker's half!) will be ocean, and the attackers
units will be deployed in amphibious transport. The attacker gets
naval artillery support, not field artillery in this one. Note that
there is a limit to the attacker's total number of units, as the
transports require to be allocated from the total number of units
available to him - about 350 units maximum.
The
attacker has to cross the water in transport and then fight over
the beach to the objectives, and the defenders task naturally enough
is to stop this process as bloodily as he can. The defender should
try to sink as many incoming transports while still in the water
as he can, using say pillboxes with large guns, or driving tanks
to the water edge. He may also lay mines and so onto make the attacker's
task more interesting.
Similar
to the water crossing in difficulty - the attacker should use smoke
to mask his approach, the defender should plan to paste the unloading
area of the beach with artillery. Again, against the AI, usually
a shooting gallery for a human player, moderate difficulty for a
human versus the AI, and perhaps quite challenging as a human versus
human game.
|
Visibility |
This
button selects the maximum visibility in hexes from 1 to 99. (In this
game visibility covers both night and fog, rain etc.). Note low visibility
(less than 40 hexes or so) means that air strikes are unlikely to
be allocated, even if set to a positive number in the preferences
screen, as visibility is too low at the airfields for flying that
day. |
Map |
Leave
at random for a computer generated map, or load
to use a map previously created in the game scenario editor and saved
in a map save file (ensure that the map will be correct for the season
etc. of the generated battle as this information (season) is not
part of the map data, but comes from the scenario data - a 'white
snow' map loaded into summer just means that you have white ordinary
summer grass hexes, barring any special tiles like deep snow). |
Map
Size |
Use
to select a map size from the list for the random map generator. Map
widths can now be adjusted fifteen ( 15 ) ways from 20 hexes wide
to 160 hexes wide in 10 hex increments. Combine that with the nine
( 9 ) existing map height ("North-South") allowances of 40,60,80,100,120,140,160,180
and 200 and that gives players 135 map sizes to choose from! The smallest
map is 20 hexes wide by 40 hexes high and the largest is 160 hexes
wide by 200 hexes tall. ALL maps are fully playable in generated,
campaign, PBEM or scenario based games. AI deployment routines for
units and victory hexes have been re-written to accommodate every
map size. |
Preferences |
See
the preferences section, but there you would set up things like aircraft
availability, buy points etc. Understanding
the game preferences is most helpful in generating battles. |
Continue |
Go
on and set up the battle with the selected parameters. |
Exit |
Abandon
this process, and go back to the game main screen |
Purchase
Screen
(Note
that if you selected the computer to buy your units, naturally you will
skip the purchase screens and go straight to deployment)
POINTS |
The
important bit, how much you have left to buy toys with. Player No
2's points depend on what player No 1 spent, and are multiplied
or reduced depending on the battle type - if Player 1 is assaulting
and spent 2000 points, then Player 2 will have rather less than
2000 buy points when it is his turn to purchase.
Note
- even if player 1 selected max points, but only spent 2000 of that
- then that 2000 will be the basis of player two's point allocation
and not the max points.
Exception
- if player 2's points are not set to XXX in the preferences
screen he will get the value set for player 2 in the preferences
screen regardless of player 1's buy.
|
View
map |
Allows
you to look at the map you are going to play over, and it is usually
a good idea to look at the ground first before buying your troops.
(A whole bucket load of expensive long range tank types who really
want wide open fields of fire may be somewhat embarrassed if the battlefield
is closed woodland and/or it is night time!) |
Encyclopaedia |
Look
at the stats for the game units, useful info when buying things. |
Mission |
Tells
you what you are going to do, and against whom just in case you forgot,
or are player 2 in a PBEM game set up by somebody else. |
Max
Points |
Make the maximum points available to buy troops - if you want this
use it before buying anything as it goes away immediately something
is purchased. |
Base
Experience |
This
tells you what your army's average experience level is - 70
is the basic level, more experienced troops will cost more and be
more effective, less cost less, but perform less well. Set in Preferences
- either user selected or based on a year by year national troop quality.
|
Force
value |
The
true cost of your troops bought so far (not the actual
points spent) - as there is variance around the selected average base
level when a formation is created (actually bought) - some of the
bought troops will be much better than Base Experience and some rather
less in the formations you have purchased. This indicates the true
points value of your men, not the basic 'book' value you paid in points. |
Unit
List |
The
list of things you have bought so far, this grows as you buy things.
To delete something you have bought - click on it in the Unit List
and it goes away.
Note
- it deletes by platoon, and the next unit bought will use
that platoon slot. You can therefore buy a mixed combat team by
buying say a tank company, click away the last platoon, then buy
a mechanised infantry platoon and it then will replace the last
tank platoon AND it will be considered part of that company for
command and control purposes (e.g. rallying by the company HQ).
Note
that the overall HQ unit (A0) cannot be deleted - this is you!
|
COST |
At
the top of the Unit List - How many points you have spent on buying
the listed troops. This will not necessarily agree with Force Value!
You pay 'book' price based on BE (and any unit quality modifiers)
- when the bought formation is created, some of the guys will be better
experience, some lesser around the mean of the Base Experience. |
ARMOUR |
View
a list of the tank type units you can purchase - NB some armies might
have say soft skin AT units here, as they are considered part of the
tank forces (like USA towed Tank Destroyers). Some
may have armoured SP guns and Flak units here - it depends on the
OB designer. |
ARTILLERY |
View a list of your artillery types - Off and on map artillery, forward
observer teams, AAA, both towed and SPA, some SP AT units will be
found here, AT guns and Naval Artillery etc. |
INFANTRY |
See
what you have available in the grunt category. Some light infantry
support weapons types may be available also in this section. |
MISC |
Oddments
which do not fit elsewhere - APCs, trucks, some scouts, barge carriers,
and most importantly - aircraft are found here when made available. |
ALLIES |
This takes you to a screen where you can change the troops nationality
that you are buying to any other allowed nation at that point in
time. From that point on, the troop choice is from that list, as
and until you reset it back to your preferred main nationality.
SET
ALLIED is the default - the troops bought will appear with their
own national ID flag, and their leaders will be taken from that
nation's leader table - not those of your main army.
You
can elect to SET CAPTURED to use those troops as part of your force,
but as captured items. They will display the same nationality flag
as your main army, and their leaders and crews will be taken from
your main army types and troop quality ratings - e.g. if you were
German, and changed to Soviet, and bought some T34s after pressing
SET CAPTURED - you will have T34 tanks, but with German ID tags
crewed by Gefreiter Schmidt, rather than with Russian flags and
crewed by Sterleit Romanov. As well as 'captured from the enemy'
- this can be useful for utilising Allied kit not in your OB but
with your own nation's crew (and ID flag), rather than the provider
nation's.
There
is no restriction as to whom you can have as allies, so use this
facility sensibly :-).
In
order to return to your main army, say after a purchase of some
captures or allies - just go back to the allies screen, press the
flag of your main army, and select 'SET ALLIED'.
|
DONE |
Finished
all purchases, go on to the next stage and deploy. |
Units |
Totals
how many playing pieces you have
bought. |
Mines |
If
you are defending, totals how many mine buy points you have bought
to build obstacles with later on in the deployment phase. |
Remaining
Flights |
If
you are allocated air support a total of the number of air formations
(not individual aircraft!) you have available. |
Formations |
The
total number of formations (platoons) bought. Note that a company
HQ is a formation - a company of HQ platoon and 4 platoons is 5 formations
in total. Formation total is limited, so an army of 1 man sniper formations
will tend to exhaust the maximum formation count long before it runs
out of buy points. |
Formation
List |
In the middle of the screen is a list of formations of the type selected,
Use the next and previous buttons if more than a page full of these
are available. Pressing on one of these buttons brings up the Formation
Purchase Screen. The current page and total number of pages is listed
below the active button set. |
EXIT |
Abandon
purchases, and go back to game main screen. |
Formation
Purchase Sub-Screen
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 SS 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.
BUY |
Buys
the selected formation. Repeated presses of this key will buy duplicates. |
EXIT |
Returns you to the purchase screen. |
Information |
If
present, additional information provided by the OB designer can be
referenced. |
Remember
the point I made earlier about mixed combat teams - here is an example
1)
Bought an SS panzer company. |
2)
Exited to main purchase screen. |
3)
Clicked
on platoon No2 to delete it. |
4)
Selected infantry, then SS panzer grenadier platoon, and bought it |
5)
The bought PzGr platoon becomes platoon 2 of the SS panzer company,
replacing the deleted Plt #2. - however you will need to assign tis
platoon under the company HQ as the assignment code is not very good
- see Cross Attaching Platoons |
Deployment
Main Menu
Once
you press done, you will see this screen (unless you chose computer deploy
in the main battle generator screen!). The pretty pictures are randomly
selected, just to make things more interesting.
Your
nation is displayed (in case you save and come back later on) at the top
of the screen.
Auto
deploy |
The
computer drops your pieces on the board. Not recommended for a human
player. Not available in a user campaign, as the start
line for the human player is variable at the designer's whim in these. |
Human
deploy |
This
is the recommended deployment option for human players! - takes you
to the pre game deployment screen. |
Quit
deploy |
Hit
this when finished deploying (the pre game deploy process comes back
to this screen once you are done deploying). Continue on to the actual
battle. |
Save
game |
Save
the game at this (deployment) point - this is usually a very good
idea in case of mistakes, in fact it is a good idea to save the game
before you deploy anything at all, just in case you make a complete
hash of the set up, and need to start over. Also save (just after
completing deployment) to a separate save, so you can then come back
and replay from the start if you desire. |
Deploying
Your Forces
There
are few real differences here from the standard SSI deployment - read
your SSI game instructions for details. Here are a few minor points on
SP Camo improvements:
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 eventually 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.
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 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!
We
have made the game preferences button available in the deployment phase
as this can be handy sometimes.
The Help
(?) button is also new - this will list the deployment basic help, including
hot keys.
Hot keys:
|
|
A
|
Deploy
all of the current formation close by the current unit. |
B |
Go
to the bombardment menu screen to plot artillery. |
C |
Clear dark hexes and smoke (e.g. those created by a V action) |
D |
Load
all loadable units into the NEAREST available transport (not necessarily
units own transport) - or unload all currently loaded units from transports
(prompt). |
E |
Entrench your units (Assault or Defence only - less types entrench
for assaulter). NB - you cannot entrench in water type hexes - e.g.
marshes. |
F |
Find
(go to) the current unit if on the map. |
G |
Go
to the next formation's HQ unit, i.e. cycle through formations. |
H |
Go
to the Unit Status list menu. |
M
and > |
Toggle
Map Text on or off |
L |
Load/Unload
unit onto/from a transport. |
N,P |
Select
the Next or Previous on map unit. NB - N and P keys
do not move the map to centre on the unit - use F to centre the map
if the unit is off the current map section. |
Q
|
Quit
deploying. |
S
|
Save
the game to disk. |
V |
Show
the hexes visible to the current unit in the facing it is currently
pointing at - turn the unit by right clicking on a clear hex,
then use this key again, to look all round, if desired. |
W |
Assign
unit to a new formation. Note that support units can be assigned only
to support formations, and campaign core units can only be assigned
to other core formations. Support units cannot be assigned to core
formations and vice versa. If you assign away all the troops of a
formation, the HQ is still there but 'lost' - it will appear on the
roster, and its leader will gain experience as a campaign continues,
but you cannot add troops to him. Basically - it is not a good
idea to transfer all the units out of a formation |
X |
Allows
the defender (in an assault/defence game) to deploy mines and dragons
teeth, provided that he spent build points on mines in the purchase
menu. |
Y |
Set
the maximum fire range for the unit. Useful mainly for defenders who
do not wish their troops to fire at long ranges and hence give away
their positions too soon. |
? |
Call
up help screen. |
- and + |
Unzoom
or zoom the map. |
.
(dot) |
Set
game length in turns - (Player No 2 in a PBEM game, otherwise player
No 1) - NB do NOT go over 90, as the code uses high 90's numbers to
indicate end-of-game internally. 90+ any possible game extensions
in length will work OK, but generally keep under about 70 turns |
Space
Bar |
Shows
the current unit's information screen. (Adjust aircraft height here,
rename leaders etc.). |
< |
Toggle
the victory hex display on or off (e.g. to see what the hex under
the flag looks like) |
Note:
it is in the deploy screen where you set out your 10 pre planned artillery
target hexes (gold spots), and also any artillery plotted now will fall
in turn 0, i.e. as a pre-game bombardment. 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 New
Bombard Screens, and Air Unit handling changes.
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).
Cross
Attaching 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).
Show
Company Details Screen

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
al 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 higher intensity 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.
Cross
Attachment Screen

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 thier 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!.
Waypoints

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 fulfil all the
requirments 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 upfollowing the route you originally planned.
We are still finding
out new things about the way waypoints are handled by the game so please
experiment. 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.
In-Game
Play
Main
Map Window - where the game action occurs, this
can be zoomed. Move mouse to edges of the screen to scroll this window.
Status
window - the black window at the bottom of the Main Map - shows the
basic data for the selected unit (a Churchill here), 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 backgrounded, is used to post informational
messages. For example - the mouse is currently over hex (x)84,(y)14 which
has a height of 25, it is impassable terrain for vehicles, and is a slope
hex.
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 X, then click on the top 1/4 of the mini map to move
up, the bottom 1/4 to move it down.
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.
Hot
keys: |
|
A
|
Select
the 'All Formation' mode - not a very useful function, except when
you want to set the range of an entire formation with one use of the
'Y' key. Remember to toggle this off after the Y operation,
or the next time you try to move a unit, the entire formation will
move simultaneously under AI control - and it does not tend to make
a very good job of it! - plus you cannot undo a group move... |
B |
Go
to the bombardment menu screen to plot artillery and air strikes. |
D |
Fire
unit's smoke dischargers, if fitted and ammo left. |
E |
Go to the Encyclopaedia. |
G |
Go
to the next formation's HQ unit, i.e. cycle through formations. |
L |
Load/Unload unit onto/from a transport. (See note on this in deployment
above). |
H |
Go
to the roster (clipboard) menu. |
M
and < |
Toggle
map text strings on or off (If a scenario designer has provided map
text info) |
N,P |
Go
to the Next or Previous on map unit. |
Q |
End
turn (current situation is autosaved to slot No. 6 if this
is not a PBEM game) |
R |
Rally
the current unit, provided it is capable. |
S |
Save
the game to disk. |
T
|
Select
targets from those available. |
U |
Clear
dark hexes and smoke. (Toggles - hit twice to get smoke back after
clearing dark hexes) |
W |
Select
a single weapon to fire. (From submenu) - ignored for close assaults.
|
X |
Fire
a smoke round at the target hex. |
Y |
Set
the maximum fire range for the unit. Useful mainly for defenders who
do not wish their troops to fire at long ranges and hence give away
their positions too soon. |
Z |
Fire
direct area fire at a hex - no requirement for a target to be located
there (AKA suppressive fire). |
? |
Call
up help screen. |
-
or + |
Unzoom
or zoom the map. |
> |
Enable
or disable the display of victory hexes. |
@ |
For
a vehicle or other crewed item, bail the crew out - mainly useful
to rescue core crews in a campaign game. |
[
And ] |
These
keys slow down or speed up the scroll rate. Only useful for minor
adjustments - the Game Installation section mo'slo.com
for better ways should these not suffice |
spacebar |
Show
the unit's information screen. (Here is where you set aircraft altitude,
and rename leaders (click on the leaders name) etc. Also - click on
a weapon and it toggles to red, and will not fire until toggled back
on once again |
* |
Surrender
the game, with a massive points penalty - to your opponent (mainly
useful in PBEM).
***************
Removed for V6 as this was discovered to be a PBEM cheat.
|
right
click |
On
an enemy unit to see basic information about it. |
Loading
and unloading - now, 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 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.
Note
also that the end turn button is now highlighted in red - this
is mainly to make its use more obvious, and for ease of questioning end
users who email us for support, as some often get confused between the
end turn and exit game buttons. Especially in a PBEM game where the 'exit
game' button is actually a 'suspend my current move, I will finish it
off later' button - a save in other words. Confused players would sometimes
exit with the suspend (up arrow) button, and send this save off to their
opponent, thinking they had completed their turn - nope, requires the
RED end turn button to complete a move!
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 kilometre in this game
- 2 hexes are about the length of a football pitch, though the units seem
to be alongside. The reporting in hexes, metres or yards is an ini file
setting - see the Customising
section..
New
Bombard Screens, and Air Unit handling changes
There
have been major changes in the way aircraft are handled in SPWW2
version 4, as opposed to the other SP series games treat them.
All air
units, barring the reintroduced helicopter class are now off map units
no longer moved as on map units one hex at a time by the player under
100% human control (this is no longer true in later versions). 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 button which is used to cycle through the various pages of the
bombardment menu - there is no longer a single artillery page!
Artillery
Page
Same
as before, for artillery air strikes and the new Level Bomber class
to plot fire missions with.
Spotter
Page
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.
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 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).
In every
other Steel Panthers game, pre game bombardments are restricted to the
opening turn 0 of the game. These buttons 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 now want to plot some
batteries for turn 1. If so, remember to hit the (-) key to reduce the
delay 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.
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.
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!.
Unit
Information Screen
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!).
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 - here a set of 'corporals
stripes' indicates that he is an average experience unit - in fact with
60 experience points, he is at the low end of average - veterans start
at 80.
In the
columns below the unit name is some primary game information:
Status |
Here
shown as 'ready' - can be retreating or routed or other nasties! |
CHQ
Link |
Absolutely
vital - so that superiors in the command chain can rally this
unit, in addition to itself. Radio equipped units can operate anywhere
- but the further from their leader unit they are (or if the leader
has no radio - you need 2 to talk!) then there is a likelihood of
not being in contact. Units without radios, (or whose radio is on
the blink) which are over 5 hexes or so (250 yards) from a leader
are usually out of contact - not good! In WW2 radius are
not common, so keep non radio units within 3-4 hexes of the unit
commander.
Units not in
command contact lose morale, as well as losing the benefits of being
rallied by higher formation leaders if required.
|
Suppression
|
How
badly suppressed this unit is. Suppression reduces morale, and also
operating ability (e.g. a suppressed unit finds it harder to spot
and to hit targets). Suppression comes from enemy fire, being out
of command control, or having routing friends nearby, friendly tanks
exploding around you, and so on. Rallying can reduce suppression. |
Weapon
info |
The weapons
this unit has (damaged weapons will get a '-') - and the ammunition
status for each. Note that only weapon slot 1 can have special ammunition
like sabot. Range is the maximum range this weapon can reach in
50 metre hexes.
The weapon names
are green - pressing a weapon name with the mouse toggles disabling
(the name goes red) or re-enabling a particular weapon - should
you want to hold ammo, say.
|
Smoke
Ammo |
Smoke
ammo if available for the primary weapon - grenades for infantry types.
If smoke dischargers are fitted - SD:NN is shown, with NN being the
number of salvoes of smoke. |
Experience |
This
is one of the most vital variables in the entire game. It determines
if you are 'green' cannon fodder, or an elite or veteran, who shoots
more shots, and hits more often. At 60, this guy's experience is not
much above green. |
Morale |
Another
key variable, this one affects rallying ability. This guy's 73 is
good morale - he is keen. |
Damage |
For
squads and crewed weapons, each point is 1 crew or squad member gone,
for vehicles it is less related to crew size. Damage affects morale
and therefore rally ability, can remove weapons, and damaged units
tend to fire more slowly. Damage is not good news. |
Speed |
This
is the unit's basic speed in hexes, with any swim capacity shown as
the second figure. |
Men |
Current
crew size (after damage) or squad members left. |
Radio |
Rare
in non-vehicles in WW2 - 1 if you have one, 0 if not. |
Fire
Control |
How
good your optics etc. are - bigger is better. |
Size |
Larger
is easier to hit and to spot. |
Cost |
The
value of this unit in game terms (buy and victory points) |
Vision |
If
non-zero, the amount of hexes you can see in poor visibility. |
Range
Finder |
This
improves the units' chance to hit - bigger is better, but it is far
more effective at the halt - i.e. you did not move in this turn or
the last one. |
Carry
Cost |
An
indication how heavy this thing is, how difficult to transport. |
Carry
Capacity |
An
indication of how much this unit can carry - 12 men in this case. |
Passenger |
List
of any transported units - This is carrying P1, an MG section. |
Turret
Picture |
Lists
the steel armour for the turret sides, top armour if this is a non
turreted unit. If values are shown in red - this unit is open topped,
hence quite vulnerable to artillery fires, and to close assaults by
infantry. If a vehicle is open topped - even pistol shots can go through
if a top hit is scored! |
Hull
Picture |
Armour
diagram for the vehicle hull, lower hull for non-turreted designs. |
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:
Rally |
An
indicator as to how good this leader is at rallying unhappy subordinates,
or himself. This number will reduce during a turn as rallies occur,
and be set to zero for the rest of the turn if the rally attempt fails. |
Inf
Command |
A reflection
of how good this leader is at infantry related tasks.
If he is performing
an infantry function, or is near a subordinate he can sometimes
influence their or his actions depending on this value. If he successfully
throws a 'skill roll' and has a higher value in some skill
than the subordinate then the subordinate will use his higher value
for that skill.
The other skills
- armour, artillery etc - work in a similar fashion. Therefore,
having skilled leaders very close by (within 3 to 5 hexes or so)
is good in SP series games.
Low here - this
guy is a tanker! (Note - in a mixed formation - if the leader is
a tanker and the majority of the subordinates are infantry - he
will not be able to help them much).
|
Art
Command |
How
good this leader is at artillery related tasks, such as directing
fires from a remote battery. A key variable for calling fires - naturally
better for proper artillery units, or for artillery OP units. Again
low as he is a tanker by trade. |
Arm
Command |
This
is high, as he is a armoured unit commander. |
Kills |
A
tally of this unit's total kills - deleting an enemy unit is a kill
- i.e. an entire squad, not 1 or 2 individuals. |
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. 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 speciality 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.
Press
continue to exit this screen.
Game
Play Notes
The original
Steel Panthers series of games were somewhat over-oriented to being tank
games. We have taken this over emphasis on armour and produced what we
feel is a far better combined arms game than before. Special attention
has been paid to the real arms of decision in WW2 - namely the infantry
and artillery. We think the new models for these are far superior to the
original offerings. (But we may be a little biased! :).
One main
point to note is the game scale - which is 50 metres (yards) per hex.
That is half the average football field, and just because a tank or squad
looks 'very close' that is just the scale of the unit icon. 2 units even
in the same hex can be well over 30 yards (metres) apart - nowhere near
point blank! Look at 2 tanks in adjacent hexes in the game - they appear
to be 'side by side' - however, place them about 10 hexes away from each
other to see what the actual 1/1 scale of 2 vehicles 50 metres apart looks
more like! 2 units in the same hex can be 50 yards apart, not necessarily
at hand to hand combat ranges. Players often get confused since the vehicle
scale and the ground scale differ.
In the
SP series games, you are organised into units (called formations
in this game) of platoon strength, or sub platoon sections
of detached tanks or support weapons acting as a platoon for our purposes.
The commander of this unit is the '0' unit of that formation (In
campaign games if the original leader dies, this is not always the case
- look for the 'H' telltale in the unit list screen). This leader provides
rally opportunities for his subordinates but when 'command' is set to
on in the preferences (and only absolute beginners turn this reality setting
off!) then he must be in contact with his subordinate in order
to command him. For units with a radio - this can be anywhere on the map.
Provided the radio is working at that point in time. All radios
have a chance not to be in contact, and these are WW2 radios, not
modern radios, so nowhere as reliable a means of out of voice range contact.
Most
WW2 units (especially infantry) have no radios and must keep voice
contact - this is only reliable to 3 or 4 hexes (200 metres). A common
fault many players have is to spread their units in a platoon formation
kilometres apart, they are then out of command control, and if they get
a reverse, they will then tend to run away a lot.
Frontage
for a WW2 infantry platoon (or tank platoon without radios) when advancing
would be 150 to 200 metres (3 to 4 hexes), a tank platoon (with radios!)
might stretch to 400 to 500 metres (8 to 10 hexes). Keep to these sorts
of frontages and you will be better off. Also - bar the Russians who tended
to advance a complete company in a single line - platoons would tend to
advance either '1 up' or '2 up' in UK parlance, though 2 up is normally
kept for the assault.
With
a typical UK platoon of 3 rifle sections (squads in USA-speak) and the
platoon HQ group, '1 up' means that the point section is at the tip of
a triangle pointing at the enemy (the axis of advance of the platoon runs
through this unit), the other 2 at the base of the triangle - sides of
the triangle about 300 to 400 metres long, platoon HQ in the centre of
the triangle, behind the point section. This is a good formation for the
phase of the battle known as the 'Advance to Contact', as if the lead
section comes under fire, the platoon commander, who is following behind,
but not too close as to become involved in the fire fight has 2 uncommitted
sections in reserve to bring up to the firing line, or outflank the enemy
with as he sees fit. Also, the front section might put a 2 man patrol
scouting 150 metres or so ahead of itself - these guys could come from
the point section, but most likely from one of the held back sections
in order not to reduce the strength of the point unit. (In SP terms, buy
a patrol or scout unit as we cannot split sections)
2 up
is the reverse of this with 2 sections out front, the platoon HQ behind
the centre of these, and one section behind the platoon HQ as the reserve.
This formation is the normal assault formation used to fight through an
enemy position - more firepower to the front, but the platoon HQ and rear
section available as reserves. In the actual formal assault, as opposed
to more open battle - the platoon frontage would be 100 metres or so (2
hexes) but the platoon HQ would hang back 100 to 200 (2 to 4 hexes) metres
from the front sections, the reserve section a similar distance behind
the platoon HQ section.
A UK
tank troop (platoon) of 3 tanks would tend to operate similarly in a triangular
formation, though one of the units would be the platoon commander - not
the point one, usually! A later model 4 tank troop would either act as
the rifle platoon, or it would act as 2 pairs, one pair advancing as the
other halted to give overwatch cover, alternately bounding, or 1 of each
pair halted, bounding with its partner. If contact with the enemy was
really expected, then the troop would bound one vehicle at a time, the
others halted to cover. (In a rifle section the LMG group would bound
with the rifle group - and if really required, the rifle group would split
into 2 supporting bounding groups - and if under real fire, often 1 man
would advance covered by the entire section's fires, but that level of
combat is not covered in this game - sections (squads) are 'atomic' game
units in SP series games).
Platoons
are put together under the command of a company. This is an HQ
unit (which is itself a platoon formation in game terms), and the company
commander, if in contact with platoon units - can also rally these if
required. Organising yourself in companies, rather than buying lots of
individual platoons, is therefore a very good thing.
Again
- UK companies of 3 platoons tended to advance in a triangular formation
of platoons '1 up' if advancing to contact, 2 up if fighting through a
position. Distance between rifle platoons could be 300 to 500 metres (6
to 10 hexes). Company HQ again central to the triangle, any support weapons
attached would be deployed as required where their weapons would give
the best cover. Tank squadrons (companies) would tend to have more troops
(platoons) and these tended to operate paired up - A troop would hold
still to cover B troop advancing, then A troop would 'bound' through (or
by) B troop's new position while B troop returned the favour by halting
and providing covering fire (if required) but at least 'overwatch' (reaction
fires in SP terms). Tank squadrons would therefore advance as a parallel
set of moving paired troops, any spare troop(s) and the Squadron HQ following
behind, at a distance close enough to provide support, but not get involved
in the initial firefight when the front troops bounced the enemy.
Rifle
sections in a rifle platoon would bound forward covered by the rest of
the platoon at the halt as well.
This
is what the military call 'fire and movement' - where one (or more) stationary
subunit covers the movement of another subunit - either by being ready
to fire, or in an engagement, by actual fire. If the formation adds something
a bit more 'fancy' to this mix - like using the fire and movement together
to aid the placement of an assault (or flanking fire) sub unit off to
an enemy flank - you then have 'fire and manoeuvre', where the fire and
movement is used to gain some form of positional advantage (usually to
the flank and or rear) of the enemy, rather than merely closing straight
at him.
This
was the later war tactics for the British - early war tank (cavalry) units
had a depressing tendency to 'tank charge' to close quarters with the
enemy in their over enthusiasm - no lack of morale, just bad tactics.
The Royal Tank Regiment (who ran the 'I' tanks, and were considered a
'technical' arm like the Engineers say - not dashing cavalrymen who played
polo and hunted to hounds) were better at it, and developed useful tank/infantry
tactics early on.
Back
to game detail - still on command and control here. Your commander must
be in a fit state to rally subordinates - if he is retreating or worse,
then he has no command influence, so you may need to rally him first!
Also - before you do rally subordinates, check the commander's status,
as if he fails a rally on a subordinate, that is all his rally chances
gone for this turn - it can be embarrassing to have rallied all your men
back to 'ready' status, and be about to move forwards to find the platoon
(or company!) commander is 'pinned' because you forgot to rally him a
little in the process. Do not just select units and hit the 'R' key is
the motto really - look at all the subunits of a formation, and their
current state and plan your rallying. Also note that rallying comes from
the top down - hitting the R key on a squad will use the Company Commander's
rally attempts then the Platoon Commander's before trying the squad sergeant's.
This may not be what you wanted - again, think a bit before poking that
R key. When a unit fails to rally itself or its subordinate - its rally
chance statistic is set to 0 until next turn - this confused some end
users who thought the unit was a hopeless rally case - no, zero just means
that it has failed a rally attempt, and so cannot rally again this
turn. The number returns at the beginning of the next move.
The A0
unit represents you - it is the Battle Group Commander. A0
can rally any subordinates in the chain of command if in contact, just
like a company commander. You may therefore want to keep your HQ close
to the main action, without exposing him to too much danger to add heart
to the key part of the fight. If you buy too many independent platoon
sized units, apart from their own platoon HQ units, then A0 will be the
only source of rally (if in contact) - and will soon run out of rallies,
another good reason to buy companies as these have the company commander
in the chain of command (and usually nearby) to provide rally opportunities.
I mentioned
fire and movement up above, and the fact that the cover unit would be
at the halt. This is WW2, with primitive fire control equipment compared
to today, and no real stabilisation systems that were any benefit to moving
tanks. SPWW2 severely penalises firer movement - if you want to hit, especially
at long ranges (over 500 to 750 metres, 10 to 15 hexes) then you should
fire from the short halt (having moved the move before, not this one),
and if you really want to hit, fire from the full halt (having been stationary
the entire previous move as well as being stationary in
the current move). In SPWW2, you are considered fully stationary only
if you neither moved this turn, nor the previous game turn (in technical
terms - if you expend >= half your MP in a previous turn, a 'moving
fast' flag is set - you need to spend a complete turn not having expended
half or more MP to reset this flag). Movement will also break any fire
control solution you have made on the target ('target lock') unless you
have a US tank with a stabiliser (and that itself is being over generous
to the piece of equipment concerned!). In WW2, firing at 1500 metres (30
hexes) and above is firing at extremely long range, unless you
have very good fire control equipment when this may go up another 500
metres (10 hexes) if you have a German piece with FC of 5. When trying
to hit things at this range, expect to engage from the halt for 2 or 3
turns. It also helps (if your target is not infantry!) if it co-operates
by remaining entirely stationary through the engagement. Charging to point
blank range (1 hex or 0 hexes) can help, but do not expect some sort of
'gun to the head' shot - your chance will be better, but you will have
movement deductions, and if the target tank itself was moving fast then
the speed of his travel is taken account as well (even if the target appears
to you to be 'in the same hex' for your entire move - if he was trundling
along at 30 MPH at the end of his turn, he is still considered to be doing
30 MPH. If you closed on him at 20 MPH, then the speed difference calculates
at 50 MPH - a fast passing shot even if at 'point blank'). Also - since
movement takes fire opportunities (and vice versa) - you could end up
with but 1 or 2 shots at close range and end up stranded with no MP left,
and your opponent can repeat the medicine on your tank.
However
- if no enemy is expected, then you can operate a 'travelling overwatch'
where the 2 units merely move relatively slowly, thus leaving some shots
for opportunity fire if the enemy reveals himself. Leave full speed (half
or more MP expended) travel for when out of contact with the enemy, as
it severely reduces shots, and accuracy too and makes infantry more vulnerable
to shell or direct fires. In combat, everybody slows down and becomes
more cautious about movement.
This
is especially true for your infantry, for -unlike vehicles - infantry
travelling fast are more vulnerable than those at the halt (who are considered
most protected, by taking use of the available cover, and going prone),
or at least travelling prudently (1 hex or less). When needing to advance
infantry under fire, or you expect at any point that hidden enemy will
likely open up - do not move over 1 hex if you can possibly avoid this.
Do not run around with your infantry at full speed when being indirectly
shelled either - fast moving infantry is more vulnerable to HE fires.
Slow down to 1 hex in shelling, if you must move at all. Moving 1 hex
covers both a short quick dash, or a cautious creep, in game terms. In
especial, note that troops who have just dismounted from a transport are
considered to be bunched up, and moving fast - especially if the transport
has moved a lot. An enemy burst which hits a squad dismounting in a hurry
will tend to do a lot of damage, so it is best to dismount in a covered
location from fire, and close in on foot with the APC providing close
cover. Only do a charge and dismount into an area you can guarantee
(as much as anyone can in warfare - brown stuff happens, in combat more
so than in any other aspect of life) that there is no real enemy resistance!
If your APC has smoke dischargers - consider using these before dismounting.
If you
need to advance infantry under enemy fire - to close or to retire or whatever
- then you should first use (hopefully) stationary squads (or better
yet AFV in close support) to fire covering fire at all known enemy infantry
and MG, in the hopes you will shut these down, before you move the squad.
Even if you do not pin the enemy or worse, the added suppression all makes
it more difficult for him to hit the squad(s) you later intend to move.
Use the Z key to fire suppressive fires into hexes you suspect have unlocated
enemy infantry in them, if you have shots to spare (it is not very
effective). If you have MMG or HMG, then when advancing - wait till these
are set up and ready, and try to keep them outside rifle range whilst
using them to hose down any located enemy (or leave with some unexpended
shots for opportunity fires on enemy firing in their turn).
Infantry
do better at close quarters combat - 1 hex or hand grenade range, but
the problem is getting them there when advancing, especially if the enemy
infantry is dug in. Simply walking up to an enemy defence line tends not
to work that well, as WW1 proved. To advance against an enemy line, you
must gain fire superiority over him - 'winning the firefight' - or use
a small force to pin him while some others approach by an indirect route
round a covered flank, say. Or use smoke as a form of human made cover.
If your opponent is a human - surprising him can be very good as it can
demoralise him (your human opponent), the AI is not subject to emotions.
(Human players can be fooled too - try dropping smoke and artillery on
a spot you do NOT intend to attack a human opponent at, and maybe a 'feint'
probe to back the deception up - then once he is focused on the wrong
location, come in from elsewhere with the main strength).
The British
army uses a rule of 3 when it considers what can advance on what, if all
is equal (in other words before you throw in massive doses of supporting
artillery, and factor in a supporting platoon of crocodiles, say). Thus
a single enemy section (squad) is what a rifle platoon of 3 sections is
expected to be able to take out, an enemy platoon therefore requires a
company to remove, and an enemy company defending is a battalion level
target.
So, to
advance against 1 defending enemy squad, you will need roughly 3 of yours
in the firing line pumping away at it (if this is a pure rifles versus
rifles battle - 1 Sherman in the mix, if the enemy has no effective AT
helps the attack marvellously, this is what tanks are for in reality).
However, assuming no support or little - form a firing line at about 400
metres (8 hexes) and start shooting, and inch 1 squad 1 or 2 hexes forwards
at a time as the enemy allows, and repeat till the firing line has advanced
1 hex. Repeat this process until you have closed with the enemy squad
and then assault it, or it runs away, or your troops all get pinned down
if the enemy had a good battle and not you. With an enemy platoon in the
defence - you will need a rifle company. Consider a tank troop (platoon)
about half a rifle company if it is acting in close support and there
is no enemy AT defence, but only if the tanks keep their distance from
the enemy - or they may get brewed up.
In real
life, for a platoon to eject 1 enemy squad from its position can be expected
to take 20 to 30 minutes (10 to 15 turns), and an hour if it does not
go too well. In SPWW2, this will not take quite as long.
Tanks
should take out enemy MG positions and bunkers first if they can. This
is of course what the tank was invented for in the first world war, and
it is the same in AD2000. The tank's part of the job is firstly to neutralise
the infantry killing weapons, while staying clear of the AT guns. The
infantry side of the bargain is to neutralise the AT guns (tanks should
not duel with AT guns, as this is usually a losing proposition, bar popguns).
They also provide close cover for the tanks against infantry assaults.
In close country, infantry should move first, and keep a hex in front
of the close support tanks.
Tanks
tend to attract fire - if you ever see pictures of infantry huddling close
behind an AFV for its cover, then these are likely to be inexperienced
troops (or conversely the experienced sort who know exactly when a tank
is useful to use as cover, and exactly when to not go to close to the
thing!). On the battlefield, tanks are very visible things, and everyone
pops off at them. They also tend to draw indirect fires, which is a very
good reason for supporting infantry not to bunch up close to the things.
In SP terms - 'collateral damage' gets handed out to units in the same
hex as a target, both extra suppression, and also casualties. It is therefore
not a good idea for a squad to try to cohabit the same hex as another
unit, especially an AFV. (It is also not a good idea to stack squads on
top of each other either). If a miss occurs, then there can be a near
miss situation where the weapon 'sparkler' goes off in an adjacent hex
to the intended target, and this causes collateral damage to any squad
in that hex. Collateral damage is mostly on soft targets like trucks and
squads - but the occasional hit may button up an AFV not directly targeted.
Pure
tank units can do reasonably well in wide open desert or plains country,
especially if enemy infantry obliges by moving around so they can be more
easily spotted. However, tanks charging around where the infantry is waiting
for them will tend to suffer - even a squad with hand grenades can manage
to get on top of a Tiger and drop some where it hurts! Late war infantry
with realistic AT weapons like Panzerfausts can mince pure armoured units
up for breakfast, especially in close terrain like cities and woods. Even
if you are a 'tankie' you will need some infantry about to help you out
in the close stuff, and to help find infantry ambushes. A tank with an
infantry squad spots better with the extra eyes provided by the riders,
and if it does blunder into an ambush then the riders may be able to defuse
the close assault, by acting as a form of 'reactive armour', but usually
at a severe price to the riders, who are an easy target bunched together
on top of an AFV. Any hit on the AFV - especially an artillery or aircraft
strafing attack - is very unhealthy for the infantry dangling off it.
Infantry are only given protection by proper APC type classes of vehicle
- riding a tank or SP gun, they are outside waiting to be turned into
'people pate' by any stray HE round or MG burst.
Infantry
is your main arm of decision, and artillery is the second. Armour is just
self propelled close support or AT artillery, after all. In WW2, your
tanks are there primarily to help the infantry take and hold their objectives.
Armour however comes into its own as a weapon of exploitation. Tanks real
targets are the soft and juicy rear echelon troops found deep in the rear
of the enemy lines, after the armour has exploited a breach in the enemy
defence to run riot as much as possible. Tank versus tank action was a
very rare thing indeed in WW2, very much an exception rather than the
rule. The AT gun, regular artillery fire, and bazooka type weapons later
in the war, accounted for far more AFV than tanks did. The chief things
that tanks therefore bring are mobility, and security from infantry killing
weapons - mainly MG fires.
If your
enemy operates tanks which are significantly better than yours in the
tank killing area then you should not plan to fight his tanks head to
head with yours. Use other means, such as dropping large quantities of
indirect fire on his armoured formations, both to get some effect on his
tanks, but mainly to drive away the important pieces - his supporting
infantry. Once his infantry has been separated from his tanks, they become
vulnerable to close infantry assault from yours.. Cover him with smoke,
and close with engineers or AT equipped infantry - even squads with no
decent AT capability can make tanks unhappy (retreat) with unsuccessful
close assaults.
Meanwhile
your lesser armour can utilise the indirect approach - most tanks have
weak side armour, so manoeuvre or tempt him into defensive 'fire sacks'
where you can engage him in the flank or rear, preferably at close quarters.
A Stuart is perfectly capable of killing a Panther with a close range
side shot at say 250 yards or less (5 hexes). If your infantry assaults
cause enemy tanks to flee - you will often find this opens his rear arcs
to parting shots from your overwatching armour. If all else fails - pour
lots of non penetrating shots onto him, this can cause his tank to run
away, and if you get a disabling track hit, a crew with bad morale will
often bail out when the tracks are shot away (how to deal with a KV or
Char B with (several) Pz38(t)..).
When
planning a breakthrough assault, the Soviets used one tube per metre of
frontage as their 'norm' for an effective level of artillery neutralisation
of the enemy defences, and this would be over a front of 4 to 10 kilometres.
That is 50 howitzers or mortars per SPWW2 hex! However - these 50 tubes
would not all fire on 1 target hex, as there would be a mix of fire blows
on enemy positions and suspected positions or forming up areas, as well
as a barrage on the front itself.
The British
would consider a defending enemy rifle platoon a battery level target,
that is 2 troops (platoons) each of 4 25 pounders, and would plan on at
least 5 minutes, but more like 10 of fire before considering the target
neutralised. Therefore - assuming the platoon is all inside the artillery
battery's fire zone (say a 200 metre circle - 4 or 5 hexes) plan on 1
UK battery of 8 guns, firing for effect (ie on target!) for 3 to 6 turns
or so to neutralise (not destroy - just neutralise - reduce in combat
efficiency by 50-75%) the enemy before sending the infantry in to sweep
the mess up. Of course - the assaulting infantry has to be able to get
in within a move or so, so needs to be close to the falling shells. In
war, safety distances are less than in peacetime - be prepared to take
some 'friendly fire'. Naturally - mechanised infantry or tank riders can
attack from further out, but will suffer if not all the enemy in the target
area are neutralised (in game terms, pinned or worse). If the enemy is
dug in, budget in a factor of 3 - either 3 times as many guns (i.e. a
British Artillery Regiment (battalion to other armies) of 3 batteries
of 8 25 pounders), or 3 times the time of fire preparation for the same
result.
In other
words, where artillery is concerned, quantity is what counts. Artillery
is a brutal, club like weapon, and if you have it, lay it on thick if
you want a useful effect. Dropping one SP howitzer on one spot and another
on another spot 300 yards away, and so on, through an entire Priest battery
of 6, is only going to provide harassing levels of fire. If the target
is worth shooting at - drop all 6 Priests on the same target hex. Mortar
sections of 2 or 3 tubes are not therefore killing weapons - but can be
useful especially if the fire is observed - to pin an individual squad.
In SPWW2,
observed fire will drift less off target - Observed means the directing
officer can see the impact hex, so try to have observers in the correct
position to overwatch the fall of shot.
You should
think of aircraft primarily as giving value from the reconnaissance information
they bring in, with any effects on the target as a bonus. However, if
you have plenty of planes equipped with cannons especially, and your opponent
has not thought to buy much AAA then you can cause much grief, especially
on his lighter armour - when out of rockets, any MG equipped planes and
especially those with 0.50 MG are very good killers of open topped half-tracks.
Open topped vehicles are very vulnerable to air strafing - hose down his
M10s etc if you can! Just remember that planes are flying artillery -
quantity is a big factor here as with tube artillery. Having a flight
of 2 planes will not tend to tip the balance much, but 12 flights can
be dangerous, especially if you bring them in in large wave style attacks
to reduce AAA factors - do not use planes in penny packets except to annoy
another human player, or to gain recon information from the pass. Aircraft
with cluster bomblet ammunition can be extremely devastating, provided
you select the right sort of bunched up group target. Hold these in reserve
till you identify a bunched target array - try not to waste them on individual
targets surrounded by open space..
However
- your most effective weapon is always your battle plan. Any player with
no plan, who just dumps things on the board and pushes them about is merely
reacting to events. A player who has a plan can impose his shaping of
the battle onto anyone without one - a human opponent with no plan is
rather like the AI! You need a plan,even a simple one like 'I will
go around the left flank, then down the objective line', or you are at
a severe disadvantage.
Always
keep a reserve of about 1/4 to 1/3 of your force held back and uncommitted
- hopefully a reserve of mobile hard hitting stuff, this is a good tasking
for tanks, especially fast 'cavalry' tanks like the T34 or Cromwell. Use
the reserve to exploit any gap your front line forces create, as a counter
stroke to any unforeseen enemy action, to counter attack, or to flank
around the main battle and come in from an undefended direction. Try not
to commit the reserve too early in the battle, wait till the enemy is
fully engaged and cannot easily move to counter it. If you do use the
reserve - try to pull another formation back to create a new one.
Game
Ending
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.
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) will 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 that
SSI put into later builds of SP2 - please do not write in reporting this
as a bug, it is not, it is a design feature, and is mentioned in the SP2
readme files.
End Game Map Review
We have
added an additional button to allow you to view the map as it stands at
the end game, viewing both players' units.
(This
information is withheld if you surrender (not PBEM) as otherwise
it would have provided a wonderful 'cheat' - save game, 'surrender' and
review the enemy, then reopen with this intelligence of his forces and
deployment).
"REVIEW'
is shown at the top of the map - your opponent's units, 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 German player here selects a Russian unit, it will cycle through
the Russians as and until he reselects another German 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 reopening 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 and video sequence play.
Playing
a Scenario
A scenario is a pre made game, ready to play authored by someone else
(it could be you!) in the Game Editor.
(If
you have not yet read how to play a normal game - refer to In-Game
Play above for how to play, and read all sections between there and
here.)
When
you select the scenario page on the main menu (this is the default game
entry) you will see a list of the available scenarios - there can be up
to 999 of these, so use the next and previous buttons on the screen to
scroll through them.
When
a designer creates a scenario, he can produce an explanatory text for
this - if so, it will be displayed in the centre of the screen, and if
long again you will be able to scroll through the scenario description.
Read this, as the scenario designer may have important information in
there - for example he may have set the scenario up only to be played
by one side as the human, the other always as the computer. Or he may
have designed this scenario to be played between two humans - in this
case the balance of the game will likely be poor if played with one side
as the computer, as it has insufficient advantage over the human in terms
of points, say. Or - he may have some suggestions as to which reality
settings to use for this game - using different ones may destroy the scenario
balance. (See the preferences
screen for how to set preferences).
He
may also note which version of the SPOB files should be used - for example
he may have designed using a custom set. Important note - using different
SPOB files from those the designer used can have unpredictable effects!
The
designer may also give you some hints as to how to achieve victory conditions
- as the maker of a scenario can alter the victory points achieved for
taking objectives, or even the game pieces themselves. For example in
a convoy scenario, do not be surprised if the designer has made your trucks
worth say 300 victory points each, and not the regular 3 or 4 points,
for these items will in this case be items to keep preserved from loss.
The
designer of the scenario makes all the decisions about forces available
for all sides, their placement, reinforcements and so forth. He can edit
individual game pieces as well. Do not be surprised if the game starts
with a pre game bombardment that he has programmed in - both artillery
and air strikes.
Note
also that the scenario designer decides the type of battle - just because
your mission in a scenario is an 'advance' - the scenario designer may
have deployed the AI forces dug in.
Your
input here is to choose sides, unless the designer has stated for the
human not to play one particular side, and then play through the situation
the designer has made for you.
Scenarios
are available in many places on the net, such as at the Wargamer www.wargamer.com
, or at the many other Steel Panthers and wargames sites available on
the net - do a web search on 'Steel AND Panthers AND scenario' (read your
search engine help to see how to do an AND search, otherwise you will
get lots of sites on metallurgy!). In addition - the new SPWW2 discussion
forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SPWW2
is a place to find scenarios as well as discuss the game.
Playing
a Campaign
In
a campaign, you select a starting core force of units, and command
these, with the help of support forces, through a series of battles. As
you progress, your core troops will gain experience, and you may be able
to purchase better equipment for them as time progresses, and success
brings you purchase points to repair or upgrade your veteran troops.
In
SPWW2 there are now 3 campaign types.
The
campaign generator - which is the old SP2 style campaign. Here
- you chose your nationality, up to 3 opponent nations, start time and
number of battles, and terrain category. Although seemingly limited -
this engine is good for a short campaign on a particular theme (say 10-15
battles on the Don Front), or for 'what if' campaigns like a hypothetical
American Civil War starting in say, 1940.
New
in version 3 is the SP1 style World War 2 Long Campaign. Here you
fight the war, with the enemy forces determined historically by front
and date.
Also
new in version 3 - user designed linked scenario campaigns. Here
a scenario designer links a series of scenario games to cover a specific
campaign - Monte Cassino, or perhaps France 1940 from the point of view
of one side. In this game we provide a campaign editor - but unlike the
one in SP3 (and hence SPW@W), which was restricted to a dozen or so battles
in a linear sequence - ours allows multiple campaign threads depending
on the result of the last battle. Unlike in SP1 and SP2 - where campaigns
were written into the code - you can design campaigns of your own.
When
you choose the campaigns button on the main screen the display changes
to one as shown above.
Saved
games and scenarios buttons will take you back to the main
screen at those sub screens, in other words exit you from campaigns mode,
same as the cancel button.
Encyclopaedia
will take you temporarily to the encyclopaedia screen.
Help
will bring up the in game help text.
Preferences
will take you to the preferences screen.
Cancel
will return you to the main screen.
Generate
will take you to the campaign generator screen
Long
campaign will take you to the WW2 long campaign menu
Edit
Campaign will take you to the user campaign editor.
Start
will run the selected user linked scenario campaign on the campaign list
shown here. There can be up to 999 user campaigns in the list - these
are linked scenario situations created by scenario designers, or yourself,
via the campaign editor. Use the next and previous buttons to scroll the
list. Explanatory
text comes up in the centre of the screen.
Generate
Campaign
This
screen generates a SP2/SP3 type random campaign where you select the nation
you wish to play, time frame, approximate number of battles and up to
3 historical opponents. Select default to use the SP Camo generated
battle locations for the appropriate opponent pairs, or one of the 'generic'
terrain types if you wish say always to fight on the plains or in forests.
Be careful not to use an enemy or friendly force beyond or before it historically
appears. This generator does not perform much of a 'sanity check' as it
is for what ifs or for fighting in a specific small sub section of the
war, really - or to play 'what if' campaigns - say Finland vs Japan.
National
flags will turn on and off as you change the date however, as a hint.
For example if you decided to take UK versus Japan, Italy and Germany
- your battles would tend to ping pong from Europe to the Pacific if 'default'
terrain was chosen, so stick to a set of opponents in the same general
area. But - this is up to you, feel free to experiment!
Campaign
Difficulty Level setting. This toggles between various difficulty
settings to allow you to set the campaign more to your liking - here it
is set to 'harder', with a reduction in 10% to the amount of buy/repair
points you will be allocated after a successful battle. (Does not apply
to user campaigns as these are set by the designer of each such campaign)
World
War II Long Campaigns
This
is an entirely new campaign option in this release.
Here,
you select one particular WW2 participant nation, and take a force of
soldiers through to the end of the war for that nation. You can advance
the start date but not the war end date. The number of battles is a hint
to the computer - if you use a large number the campaign clock will advance
by smaller increments, for example as a German player, you would see more
battles in France and the Low Countries in 1940 if you selected say 250
battles over 50.
You
do not get to select the opposition in a long campaign, but you can select
the battle front as the war progresses, for example if you wanted to participate
in a more interesting area. The front selected determines the likely opponents.
WW2 campaigns for Japan, India (British Imperial Forces SE Asia), USMC,
ANZAC and Poland have been added for Version 4.0. The Pacific Front is
now covered - and some nations are allowed to change between European
Theatre and Pacific Theatre. Amphibious assaults are now implemented
in the WW2 long campaign as are river crossings and also city
maps - Be prepared to Beach assault at Tarawa if USMC, cross the Meuse
in France 1940 if German, or fight through Caen in Normandy if Canadian..
Pressing continue will then provide the front selection screen: as you
can see, at this time in the war, the USA campaign options are somewhat
limited! Obviously some folks get wider choices of front:
After
this, you will see the normal campaign menus, and at game end you will
come back to this screen once more to choose for the next battle.
Playing
User Campaigns
Select
the desired user campaign from the list on the left (somewhat restricted
in this development example!) - then press start, just like playing
a scenario battle. You have no input as to force or nation selection -
just in buying your core. Note that the designer can write a 'locked'
user campaign, where the upgrade and support and core points are not able
to be overwritten by the user preferences you have set - he should make
you aware of this fact in the campaign intro text that appears in the
centre of the screen on selecting the campaign list item.
If the
points are locked, this helps the designer to ensure that if he designed
for say a 400 point core at the start - then users cannot ruin the campaign
by deliberately starting with say a 2000 point core to have a 'cake walk'
i.e. To deliberately wreck the campaign balance. (Since the scenario forces
are fixed, unlike in the generated campaign games where the force is chosen
per battle as a ratio of your core plus support troop points).
Note
that the designer can write the messages on each exit condition for each
battle - and introductory text for each scenario. Pay attention to these
messages as they could convey useful information.
Campaign
Games - General Points
Here
we will really only describe changes and enhancements to the normal SSI
campaign engine, the details of which you can read in your SSI game manual
and readme text files. Main change - the repair and upgrade screen:
Now,
in SP Camo campaigns, you do not repair and upgrade your core forces at
the end of the last battle - you upgrade and repair as part of the start
process of the new battle. Thus, unlike before, you are
buying kit which is in date for the battle, and not possibly having bought
old stuff being transported forward in time with outdated stuff. (WW2
long campaigns can jump over long inactive periods, e.g. Germany from
France 40 to N Africa 41).
The
repair screen has been upgraded. Your true force value is shown - remember
that a veteran core force tiger 1 at say 110 experience will be worth
much more than the book value of a tiger just bought at 70 experience
points. The encyclopaedia points values are only valid for 70 experience
crews!
The
time line is shown on screen to give you an idea of when you are
at in the war.
Fix
all - fixes all units, as before, should you have enough repair points.
Change
- as before, but with enhancements. The upgrade paths for campaigns have
been changed, and some troop types are allowed to 'cross over' the boundaries,
unlike before. For example, a howitzer can become a SP gun, and an SP
gun, being an armoured type, can be transformed to a tank. So a tank can
become a SP gun, then an anti tank gun, should you so desire. Aircraft
types are not allowed in cores. At a later release we will allow
new units to be added to your core.
Review
- new - this allows you to bring up the in game statistics screen for
a unit so you can look at its data, and also change its leader's name
and so on.
Encyclopaedia
- to let you refer to this in this phase.
Preferences - This allows you to select the map size for the next
campaign battle. You can set other preferences here, but any preference
set for points or air strikes will of course be thrown away as the campaign
determines these.
One
point that needs explaining - when you change a unit it tends to lose
several valuable experience points as this equipment is considered new
to it. If you change a unit several times in one session, you have sent
it away on far too many conversion courses, and it will be dazed and confused
by all those instructors, so lose experience several times! Moral : only
change a unit once in this screen, do not run around changing your mind
- you will also lose the buy points as well. Remember that experience
gain is not linear in campaigns - low experience goes up relatively
quickly, but higher experience is hard won. It can therefore be a very
bad thing to upgrade your best troops after each and every battle, as
they may not have regained the points lost in upgrading for several battles
to come.
Special
campaign battles - at the end of the game, you may be ordered to counterattack,
and sometimes you are allowed to decline, sometimes you are not. Also,
the enemy may counterattack you, and again you may not be given the option
to avoid this. In a special battle, you do not get the opportunity
to repair and upgrade, nor will you get as much support points. The
gain in winning such a battle is that you get a larger handout of experience
points and also build points at the successful conclusion of the special
battle. The extra chance of experience can be vital if your core is mainly
very high (100+) experience veterans, as these will usually progress upwards
at a slower rate. But remember that you will have damaged units in play
- you may wish to leave these 'cripples' on your base line perhaps so
that they do not get wiped out - for example any rifle squads depleted
down to 2 or 3 men, especially veterans.
Experience
is hard won - protect your experienced men.
Playing
By EMAIL, or Against Another Human
You
can play another human player, either remotely (via EMAIL) or on the same
PC ('head to head' or 'hot seat' play).
There
are 2 versions of PBEM - secure and unsecure. The difference
is that for a secure game - you enter a security password, and
for an unsecure game - you do not enter a password. That is it,
but a secure game has a few extra implications which we will touch upon
later.
A
secure game is used to play another person, usually remotely via an exchange
of EMAIL, or is useful in a head to head game on the same PC if your friend
and yourself need a 'no peek' game as the game is to be played over several
visits to your place by your opponent. By using a password, the owner
of the PC cannot sneak a look when his opponent has left.
An
unsecured game - without a password, remember - is useful mainly
for a local head to head session where the 2 players will be together
through the entire session, e.g. a game done in one evening. Unsecured
games can be sent via EMAIL as well, should you trust your opponent not
to sneak a peek! An unsecured game can be saved in any of the regular
game save slots. An unsecured game can be saved in several slots, should
you so wish, just like a normal game against the AI.
Transmission
of Files to Your Opponent (Remote Games)
Games
are saved in the \save folder, funnily enough! :)
Each
game consists of 3 files - spsvNNN.dat, spsvNNN.cmt and spsvNNN.aux. These
3 files MUST be transmitted to your opponent as a group!
It is
best to open a windows explorer session and to navigate to the \save directory
- ensure that you use 'view/arrange icons/by name' - this will keep the
files grouped together by filename, thus making your task of selecting
the correct set of 3 easier.. Here we select game number 13 but - since
the files are indexed from 0 (zero) - this is the 14th save
game slot in the actual game - remember to deduct 1 from the number
used by SPWW2.
Of course
- it can be difficult to decide which game is the correct one -
note that I have associated the cmt files with notepad using the
normal windows procedure to do so. You can then simply open the cmt
file by double clicking on it as it will contain the game title - never
edit this, just look at it! Also - note that I have set explorer to
show all extensions, not to hide these - again, normal windows stuff,
see your windows help file if unsure.
These
3 files are what we transfer to the other player - however, these can
be rather large, and so it is best to zip (compress!) these up using winzip
- ensure that both of you use the same file compression utility,
whichever you choose (negotiate this between yourselves as part of your
battle setup emails). Winzip comes on the front cover CD ROMS of most
decent computer magazines usually under the utilities section. It is the
premier zip package - also at www.winzip.com.
With winzip installed, there is a right mouse click extension to zip the
files - select the 3, right click with mouse, select zip and enter a file
name.
In case
of crashes, it is a very good idea to keep all your zipped up moves
for the entire game until it is completed, in case you find you require
to retransmit a move to an opponent who has corrupted his move. Therefore
- for each game it is useful to use a standardised zip file naming convention.
I tend to use gamenameNNN.zip, where NNN is the move number - so DonUSAGE194400.zip
would be my setup initial move, DonUSAGE194401.zip would be move number
1 after deployment and setup (the 0 move, remember!). I tend to put who
I am playing, the 2 nations (player 1 on the left) and date in the name
bit, to help tell the zips apart. I keep all the moves sent to me by my
opponent as well to aid in any disaster recovery, as if I keep his then
should he make a mistake (say he deleted one on his PC) - I have the backup
on mine. Once you have finished the game - then delete the zips.
PBEM
(or Head to Head) Procedure
Set up
a generated battle the following way:
Hey -
this looks just like a normal battle versus a computer - but note that
ALL the settings buttons are set to human player. (It is possible to set
up with computer purchase etc, but in most human versus human play - both
will want to buy and deploy without the computer's help). In any case
- in a human plays human game, the setting for 'computer purchase' is
ignored by the game for player #2.
For a
scenario which one wants to play human versus human - just start
the scenario and set both players as human, then continue as for a normal
battle generator game - but there will be no purchase or
deployment as this is already taken care of in the scenario design. You
just exchange files for password (if secure) or start (if unsecure).
Player
number 1 is responsible for setting the pre game settings - battle type,
map size, date and visibility and so on. In especial - he is responsible
for setting up the preferences
screen to what the 2 players have mutually agreed before the game.
Player
1 now hits the continue button when he is satisfied with the set
up parameters and continues to the normal buy screen where he now buys
his toys. Once he has done this - he hits the done button in the
purchase menu, just like for a game against the AI. However unlike a game
against the computer - he now sees the password entry screen:
OK -
this is where a secure and an unsecure game diverge.
A)-
For a secure game - you enter a password here. Press
the password button, then type in your desired game password and press
'enter'. Press continue once you have entered your game password.
(The password will be shown in the box at the base of the screen,
it may be a good idea to write this down in case you later forget
it!) |
or
B)
- For an unsecure game - just press the continue button at
this point and go on without a password having been entered.
|
It is
this action by player 1 which determines if the game will be secure
or unsecure - if secure (player 1 entered a password) then player
2 will be presented with the password entry screen - if not, player 2
will not see the password entry screen.
Now -
player 1 will see the save game screen.
If this
is an unsecure game (you never entered a password, recall!) - then
you can use any of the save game slots from 7 onwards, like a regular
game. (Slot 6 is the auto save game slot, including non secured
games). as an unsecure game - you can save later saves to any legal slot,
just like regular games. Or even into another copy of SPWW2 on the same
or a different computer.
However
- if this is a secure game (password was entered) - then you must
select one of the first 5 save slots, as these are for secured
PBEM games only. Secured games encrypt the save game data, so your
opponent cannot open this up in a hex editor and peek at things. In addition
- secured games will autosave at the end of the game turn to that slot
only (you have no choice to move a saved copy elsewhere), and also
- the save game notes the path to the game as well - so you cannot
move a copy to another install of SPWW2 to try to 'break' it - it just
will not play. Secure games are saved in the \email sub directory as
well, not in the regular \save sub directory..
One thing
that confuses some folks with secured PBEM - when playing a secured PBEM
game, the normal 'exit game' button (the black one that points
upwards) is now used to save your secured PBEM game at that point, in
order to come back and complete it later. Recall that you must use the
same save slot - this will store your game at the current point in play.
It is not, repeat not an 'end game' button, just a pause
and save my turn button! But - we have found that some users are
confused by this and used this button to as they thought - finish the
turn off, then bundled the files and sent these to their opponent, whereby
his game choked on the files - naturally enough, as they are a save of
the first player's current point in the game, uncompleted, and he is still
the active player - not the opponent he sent the partially completed move
to. You use the end turn button to end your turn. I will repeat
this - you use the end turn button to end a PBEM game move. Also
- this button used to be black, but to help PBEM users who got confused
- the end turn button is now coloured red. Please press the red
button at the bottom of the buttons to complete your turn. Don't
send your part move save off (black upwards pointed button) to
the other player - he cannot play it!
In a
remote game, player 1 now sends the 3 zipped up files to player 2, who
places the zip file somewhere safe (remember to keep all the zips in case
of need to reload) and unzips the files contained in this to his \save
or \email (if secure) directory under windows.
He then
starts the game, and goes to the 'saved games' screen. There he loads
the appropriate save game, and continues with play. In the setup - player
2 buys his forces, is presented with the password screen (if a secure
game), and then he deploys his forces. On hitting the end turn button
(red button!) at the end of the deployment, the following happens:
If this
is a secure game, the game is automatically saved in the appropriate
slot in the first 5, no user action required to select a save slot as
this is already known. Player 2 now exits to windows, and zips up the
3 files for this game and transmits to player 1. REMEMBER
ALSO - the 5 secure encrypted game saves live
in the \email directory, and not, repeat not in the
\save directory with all other game saves!
If this
is an unsecure game - player 2 will see the normal save game menu
screen, and can select any legal save slot. Player 2 now zips up the appropriate
3 files (as he can change the slot, he should remember which he used!)
and transmits to player 1. In unsecure games - you must remember to save
manually, unlike in secure games. When presented with your opponent's
start screen - save and exit.
Note
that in an EMAIL game - player 2 is the one that deploys first,
so he is the one who can set the game length using the '.' key,
unlike a game against the AI where the first to deploy is the human player,
player 1.
Player
1 now receives the zip file from player 2, unzips to his save (or email
for secure games) directory and saves the zip file for backup purposes.
He then starts the game, goes to the save games screen and selects the
appropriate slot and starts the game. If a secure game - you get prompted
for a password, if not, no password is asked for.
Player
1 now deploys and plays his first turn - on finishing his first turn (end
turn - red - button!) he then zips the appropriate 3 files and transmits
to player 2. This is now move 1, so he should name his zip file <name>001.zip.
Remember to save all the zips in case you need to come back for disaster
recovery!
Player
2 and player 1 now repeat the process of receiving, unzipping, playing,
zipping and transmitting until the end of the game. (Though in PBEM games,
often the 2 players decide at some point what the victory will be, and
mutually end the game early with an agreed win or lose).
Important
point for secured games - part of the anti cheat method is that both
spob files are checked to see if they have changed so your opponent cannot
place an improved one in place with say wonder weapons. This is for your
protection against cheats - but what it means is that on both player's
PCs the 2 spob files must not ever change during the lifetime of the
game. Any changed spob file will result in a complaint about a corrupt
OB file from the security code. If you are playing a set of PBEM games
- say for a competitive ladder - that use a set of modified OB files,
perhaps provided by the organiser - then it is best to install the entire
game into a second directory and use this second copy of SPWW2 (with the
appropriately changed OB files) for the competition games. This is the
best way to handle games with user OB files - rather than say, trying
to remember to load spob000 (original) to play 2 games, spob000 (competition)
for 2 others, and spob000 (Fred's version) for the PBEM with Fred, who
insists on his particular changed OB set. It is also a way to play more
than 5 games concurrently - disk space is cheap these days - just install
a second, third or fourth SPWW2 game in their own directories.
And remember that secure
games are saved into the \email directory, not the regular \save
sub directory!
Head
to Head - is exactly as outlined above, but no file transfer is obviously
needed as the same PC is being used. Player 2 just goes to the save game
screen when required, as does player 1. But - after the initial deployment
process, an unsecure head to head game on the same PC will not autosave,
and will present the other player's start screen between moves - that
is when you swap players. Save in unsecure is up to the current player.
(Remember - player 2 goes to the save game list to open
his first turn when playing on the same PC - some folks playing a scenario
head to head were somewhat confused -as player 1 set up, then player 2
set up and saw player 1's start - because player 2 was trying to play
the scenario, not the saved game generated by player 1 -
the game thought this was a brand new attempt to start this scenario!)
PBEM
Security Info
During
turn execution in secured PBEM games, press the 1 key to see statistics
on how many loads and saves of the game were done by both sides. (If you
have a crash, and have to load the game turn again from the received zip
- let your opponent know you had this problem, as the load counter will
be increased). If the loads and saves are not equal - perhaps your opponent
is having severe technical difficulties? - ask him about this.
PBEM
Misc
NOTE:
If you find that you cannot complete a move in one sitting in secure (passworded)
games you can save off the game with the " Auto Save the game and Exit
" button ( this is above the " Auto save and quit the Orders Phase " button
and is the black one). You will be asked " Do you want to exit
and finish your turn later Y/N? " Press " Y " and you will be able to
complete your turn at a more convenient time, starting where you have
left off. Remember that this is not a game completed turn button,
that is the red button! - do not send a part
completed move to your opponent, it will cause security violations.
This button is to save for you to come back and complete your turn
later when convenient, is all!
Should
both players want to see the action replay of the artillery - both
sides must have set fast artillery to 'off' in their preferences
screens - or no artillery replay info will be saved for a PBEM game. Both
players - not just one or the other - both must have this setting
set to off to see the guns fire in replay. If one of you has it off, then
both remember to set it on - it can sometimes take a move or so to get
in synch, so ensure this setting is set before the game on both player's
PCs. Also, if the "fast artillery" control is ON you will NOT see any
of the graphic animations OR sound effects when you attack a hex with
the " Z " key. ( This is also true in any kind of game or scenario - Z
key is area (artillery) fire). (In very large PBEM games, you may wish
to set fast artillery on, as the artillery 'packets' compete with normal
in game replay 'packets' - you may go over the maximum limit, also - even
if you do not overrun the replay buffer, switching fast artillery on can
reduce the size of the data files you exchange, should you have problems
with large files - e.g. if you use a European teleco which charges by
the minute for connect time and/or you are on a slow dialup connection).
If your
replay goes over the buffer size - that part onwards is lost. Replay is
only of firing events, remember.
NB -
for remote games, it is probably better to stick to a reasonable points
value, say 3000 a side - remember that as games get bigger, the size of
the save game data will expand in proportion - as the game replay is also
stored, with up to 9 shots per piece, this gets big, quickly. It is the
number of actual pieces that determines save game data size, not the points
- 200 infantry squads will generate a much larger save game file than
say 15 tiger 1!
One last
thing about PBEM: When the game ends, it will be with player 2. However,
the result is phrased for player 1 so if player 2 did very well, he may
be upset to find he has been "totally defeated". That is player ONE that
has been totally defeated! Also, the videos that play are for player 1
so you may see German Video footage etc. If you were playing as the USSR.
Player 2 gets the score, and can view the 2 force lists as per a normal
game. The game ends THERE, the move is no use to player 1 if returned.
Player 2 MUST write the scores down to report to player 1, and the result
etc., this is the ONLY way player 1 finds out the result, as a written
report from player 2. (or, if the player is running with the spcap screen
capture utility - save off the end game key with spcap (available for
download at most SP2 web sites as shareware) and send the bitmap (better
yet, open the bitmap with a viewer like say irfanview
and convert it to a much smaller GIF file before sending that!)
PBEM
End Game Review
When
the game ends, you will be able to review the map, as normal - however,
for PBEM games now immediately after you exit the game, zip up
your files as normal and send to your opponent - who can now review
the end game data as well, unlike before. Once you exit the game,
you can reopen its save game slot to review the end game - but before
you do this, zip up the game files to send to your opponent for his end
game review, or the end game video sequence can be put out of synch..
Preferences
Screen
This
game cannot be all things to all people. There are far too many differing
opinions on what is 'realistic' and what makes a fun playable game. Satisfying
one segment of gamers is sure to alienate another. Also - please define
'realistic' - that is one of those 'how long is a piece of string' debates.
To some folk, realism is micro details of millimetres of armour and exact
slope angles, or how much extra water an Italian division needs to boil
pasta (as factored in one actual cardboard wargame!), or the exact model
of bolt action rifle carried. Generally - those who worry about micro
details like armour angles and exact thickness in millimetres tend to
be from the civilian 'armchair general' side of the fence. Those with
real military experience tend to define realism in terms of command and
control, and how much intelligence is given away for free - 'fog of war'
factors. Military-experienced folk worry less about exact rifle type,
and more about morale, training and leadership of their men. Armchair
types worry about exact TO&E charts, and declare a game 'unrealistic'
if the supplied formation is not to the exact field regs, and not at 100%
strength. Military folk would be amazed to find a unit anywhere near 'paper'
strength, and with all its vehicles present on the battlefield as 'runners'
rather than being in the repair shop, broken down in a ditch on the approach
march, or just plain lost!
During
playtesting we encountered this on more than one occasion where some would
say a game feature was too little, some would say too much and some would
say it's just right. (We knew we had finally reached middle ground when
'angels on pin heads' type debates started).
When
SSI originally released Steel Panthers 2 they included a Preferences Screen
to allow the end user the ability to modify various elements of the game
to suit individual tastes and abilities. We have noticed from our e-mails
that many people quite simply do not understand the functions of this
screen or how it can change the game to suit your particular style of
play - or even that it exists, in some cases. We have had a multitude
of 'suggestions' for code changes that can actually be made simply by
adjusting a control in Player preferences.
We have
made the preferences screen available from more points in the game now
- this is both because it can be handy to turn some things - say individual
unit ID tags - on or off, but also, some end users may just notice the
new buttons :-> !
Reality
settings are your call - not another person's. Tweak these settings
until you get the game performing the way you like it, should you
find the default settings unrealistic, or too easy or too hard. Of course
- in a PBEM game, you may find you may need to discuss these matters with
your prospective opponent!
General
Preferences
MUSIC
ON/OFF |
This button
allows you to turn the music on or off. If you do not want to listen
to the music set this control to OFF.
Note:
If you encounter a situation were the Music continues to play but
this button is set to OFF you have a corrupted Steel.prf file in
your \SAVE directory. The solution is to shut down the game, go
to the \SAVE directory, delete the file named Steel.prf and restart
the game. Reset your desired Preferences once again. When you exit
the game again a new Steel.prf file will be created that will save
all of your new Preference settings.
|
SOUND
FX |
Click
the button ON to select the game sound effects, OFF to play in silence. |
HEX
GRID |
Click
the button to switch the Hex Grid overlay ON or OFF |
ANIMATION |
Click
this button to turn ON or OFF animations like tracers, explosions
or smoke. There is no real reason to change this from the maximum
- it was only useful to reduce the strain on old 386 class processors,
long ago. |
OBJECTIVE
FLAGS |
Click
this button ON or OFF to display the Victory Objectives flags. Usually
you want this on all the time, but it can be useful to take the flags
off to see the hexes terrain more clearly, then switch the flags back
on. |
AI TANK HEAVY |
If
set ON, the AI opponent will buy more tanks than normal. |
UNIT
ID TAGS |
Click this button
ON or OFF to display the small national flags beside each unit.
This helps you identify who's who at higher zoom levels, and to
spot which tanks are abandoned.
Those more interested
in realism often consider the ID flags to give away too much 'free'
information - such as which tank is abandoned, or the flags may
make you notice some riflemen hidden in smoke or dense terrain that
you may not have noticed otherwise, and, therefore, play with this
setting OFF. Your call, as with all reality stuff.
|
MOVE
RADIUS |
Click
this button ON or OFF to display (or not) the number of hexes a unit
can move. The movement radius is shown in lighter hexes. |
FAST
ARTILLERY |
Clicking
this button ON shows any indirect fire as one explosion per unit/battery.
Click this OFF to show each shot arriving one at a time. And remember,
when playing PBEM that BOTH sides need this setting to OFF
to see the fall of artillery shots between moves on the action replay. |
SOUND
VOLUME |
Click
on the right side to increase the volume or click on the left side
to decrease the volume. |
ANIMATION
LEVEL |
Click
on the right side to increase the amount of animation displayed in
the game and on the left side to decrease the amount of animation.
Best left
at max if your processor is better than a 486. |
MESSAGE
DELAY |
This
controls how long messages are displayed on the screen. Click on the
right side to increase the length of the time and on the left side
to decrease the amount of time messages are shown for. |
HIDDEN
FIRE |
This
one is very important. When this control is ON and a unit that
has not previously been spotted fires, its actual position is rarely
revealed after it's first shot. This makes ambushes more effective
and realistic. We have also changed the way a pinned or retreating
unit actually spots. If you are fired at and become pinned there is
now a chance that a previously spotted unit will disappear unless
another of your units has also spotted the enemy unit - it's difficult
to spot someone when you are face down in the dirt. If you set this
control to OFF then once a unit fires its position will immediately
be revealed. Recommended Setting: ON, except for absolute beginners. |
AUTO-RALLY |
When this button is ON the computer will attempt to rally any of your
troops that are suppressed at the end of your turn and can do so.
If you have this set to OFF then all rallying is your responsibility.
Recommended Setting: ON |
Player
Preferences
NOTE:
These controls seem to be the most misunderstood and underused controls
in the game. This is where you dial in what you feel suits your concept
of game play and 'reality'. These controls allow you to alter settings
and achieve the balance that suits you. Many people would like to leave
these alone but these are the controls you need to use if the game 'feels'
wrong to you. Right now our recommended setting for player preferences
are the default settings but really, it is your decision to decide what
works best for you. In addition, these are useful settings to use to adjust
how the games AI plays - if you are new, then try lowering some of these
values for the AI so as to have an easier time of it. If you are experienced,
then try setting some values higher to get a 'tougher' computer opponent.
The prime one to try for the AI opponent is the TROOP QUALITY setting.
Set this 10 or more points above yours to give the AI better experienced
troops which will spot better, shoot better, rally more often etc.
SEARCHING |
This
control's function has been misunderstood due to erroneous information
in both the Steel Panthers 2 manual (where the control is called Spotting)
and the Steel Panthers 3 manual. Both of these manuals state that
this control adjusts the spotting accuracy for calling down artillery
and air strikes. No, it does not. The primary effect on the game is
to increase or decrease the range by which you spot other units on
the map. In a series of tests involving advancing infantry in the
desert with SEARCHING set to the default of 100% the advancing infantry
was not spotted until turn 6 when it was 12 hexes away. With SEARCHING
set to 250% the advancing infantry was first spotted on turn 4 and
was 23 hexes away. With SEARCHING set to 30% the first unit was spotted
advancing on turn 10 when it was only 4 hexes away. So, if you feel
the units are being spotted too soon then turn this control DOWN.
IF you feel the units are too difficult to spot then turn the control
UP. |
HITTING |
This
controls the direct fire accuracy. The default is 100%. If you feel
that there are too few hits being scored then turn this up. If you
feel that there are too many hits being made turn this down. |
ROUT/RALLY |
This
controls how likely a unit is going to suffer morale loss and break
and how easily they will rally. Once again the default is 100%. If
you feel that the game causes units to break and run too easily then
turn this up. If you feel that they stand and fight too long before
retreating turn this down. To get a tougher AI opponent, try this
setting at 10 or more points above yours. |
TROOP
QUALITY |
This is used
to override the default "Country Training" values we have built
into the code. For this button to work you MUST have the COUNTRY
TRAINING button in the REALISM PREFERENCE box OFF. When you see
XXX in TROOP QUALITY that means you will get what we have determined
best suits that particular country for that particular year. If
you feel these are too high or too low then turn COUNTRY TRAINING
OFF and pick a number you think works better.
This is one
of the most important controls in the game. Whenever you
set this to a value, as you purchase troops their experience level
is set to a number nearby the value you specify (a range spread
around the value, but mainly below it). If you set it above the
default 70, then your troops will cost you more buy points, and
naturally if set under 70, you get cheaper units.
Experience
level is what determines whether the unit is anything from 'green'
to 'veteran'. The troop quality level is shown when you select a
unit on map (you don't get to see in the purchase menu - now you
do, and your army base level). It is shown as a number, and also
as the 'rank graphic'. Green troops have less experience, lower
morale, lower rally numbers and other deleterious things apply -
troops with low experience get less shots per move for one thing.
Veterans naturally get better abilities to hit things, better morale
values, better rally numbers, and at the very high levels, more
shots per move. In a single battle this is important, but in a campaign
game its vital - as your troops go through the campaign their experience
gets better, so the survival of your 'core' troops is important
for they will progress in experience. (They also will be 'pointed'
more - losing a 120 experience veteran tank to the AI will give
it more 'kill' victory points than a similar tank of 70 experience
points. Also, the AI will get more buy points as you gain experience
during the campaign - as your troops get more experience, their
points value increases, and you will likely have upgraded the tanks
as well, so double increase in value - more expensive tank with
better crewmen).
Remember that
the points costs shown in the Encyclopaedia are based on the default
70 experience point level.
|
TANK
TOUGHNESS |
This
controls how resilient a tank is to damage once a hit is scored. The
default is 100%. At 100% the numbers we have assigned to the armour
of the tanks are used. If you feel that tanks are being knocked out
too easily then turn this up. If you feel there are too few kills
being scored then turn this down. |
INFANTRY
TOUGHNESS |
This
controls how resilient your infantry is. If you feel the infantry
in the game is too easily killed then turn this up. If you feel they
are too tough then turn this down. |
BATTLE
POINTS |
This is a very
important control! It controls the number of battle points issued
in a game for the purposes of purchasing men and equipment. If you
leave both sides to XXX the number of points is chosen randomly
by the computer for Player 1 and player 2's points will become a
ratio of Player 1's expended points. If you set Player 1's points
to something other than XXX then Player 2's points will become a
ratio of that number. Or you can set both sides to a specific number.
If you do this and play the computer it will take all of the points
you give it (one way to 'handicap' yourself as the human player).
Also, when starting a campaign game, this value is what you get
to buy your core with, if not set to XXX (unless the user campaign
is a 'locked points' campaign where you cannot choose these factors).
If you want to play PBEM with agreed points per side, this
is the control to do so.
If you set both
sides to a specific number - then if player 1 does not use
all his points, player 2 is not given a ratio depending on
battle posture and the amount player 1 spent - he can happily spend
right up to the given player 2 points, whatever player 1 did.
|
AIR
SORTIES |
This overrides
the numbers we have placed in the code for the likelihood of airstrikes
and the number of airstrikes assigned. If you do not want any airstrikes
for one or both sides then set this to ZERO. If you want to specify
how many airstrikes will be available to both sides then pick a
number and enter it. If you want to take your chances then leave
this set to XXX. An airstrike as far as this is concerned is one
(1) air formation - a single spotter plane formation deducts one
from this, as does a two plane strike element formation, or a multiple
glider formation. It is not a total of the number of planes
allowed. It counts formations.
Important AI
note - the SP series games were designed on the premise that only
one side would have air strikes. (This was before this button was
implemented in a later version of SP2). The AI buy code is set up
to buy planes if it has air units, and flak if it does not. Therefore,
if you give the AI planes, it will have little flak to counter your
air. Unless playing against a human, ensure that the AI has the
correct setting (if you want say 4 strikes guaranteed, set the AI
to 0, not to XXX). This is also why air units are no longer made
available as upgrades in campaign cores. Air units are only meant
to be support troops, provided to the one side or the other, not
both, unless in a scenario, or when 2 humans play each other.
|
ARTY
EFFECTIVENESS |
This
new preference item controls how hard artillery hits targets - if
you feel indirect fire is too wimpy, turn it up, and if you feel the
default value is far too effective, turn it down from the default
100%. |
MAP
HEIGHT, MAP WIDTH  |
This
new feature replaces the old battle size buttons on the game set up
page.Set the map height and width that you want to use in the game
here. |
Realism
Preferences
BREAKDOWNS |
With
this set to OFF you will be able to drive through buildings with tanks
and APCs without the possibility of damage to the vehicle. You will
be able to ford streams, mud, hedgerows, soft sand, snow drifts, trenches,
and marshes without becoming stuck. If you set this to ON then there
is a chance the vehicle will become trapped. (It is really a vehicle
sticking button, not as the title may suggest, a possibility of mechanical
breakdowns due to poor maintenance). Recommended Setting: ON. |
AMMO
LIMIT |
ON
sets the ammo loadout we have assigned to various units and vehicles.
OFF gives you unlimited ammo. Recommended Setting: ON, except for
beginners. |
COMMAND |
When
this button is ON the normal command and control rules are in place,
this effects things like rallying your troops. When OFF you are automatically
given a permanent link to higher HQ and there are no penalties for
not being in contact. Recommended Setting: ON, except for beginners. |
MORALE |
When
this is ON the normal rules for unit and formation morale are in effect.
If you set this to OFF the morale penalties are eliminated. Recommended
Setting: ON. |
SPOTTERS |
When
this button is ON only the formation HQ units (the "0" units) with
a radio are capable of calling and spotting for indirect fire, and
the specialist artillery observers. If you turn this control OFF then
any unit can call and spot artillery. Recommended Setting: ON. |
MOVE
AND SHOOT |
If
you have this set to ON then movement will lower accuracy and target
acquisition as well as the new changes we have made that reduces movement
points available after each shot will be in effect. If you set this
to OFF then there are no penalties for moving and shooting. Recommended
Setting: ON. |
MINES |
If
this is set to OFF then mines will be disabled. If set to ON then
Mines will behave normally. Recommended Setting: ON. |
COUNTRY
TRAINING |
When
this is ON the values we have in the code for troop quality will be
in effect. If you wish to change this in the Player Preferences section
then set this button to OFF. Recommended Setting: ON. However this
one is a major personal preferences item. If you do not like the troop
quality you get for a given nation and year - set it to OFF, or if
you want to boost the AI's quality above yours, also set it OFF, then
use the TROOP QUALITY selector(s), which are disabled if this is set
ON. |
Encyclopaedia
Screen
This
screen is used to inspect game unit data, rather important stuff!
Select
a nation from those active at this date by pressing on the appropriate
flag, and a list of the available units is displayed in the screen centre.
Hovering the mouse over each button will show the short data on the right
hand panel. Pressing the unit's button will show the full page data view
for that unit.
The Exit
button will take you back out of this mode.
The Next
button and previous buttons will cycle through the units available - up
to 599 in version 3.
The line
at the bottom of the page shows the version information string
for the OB file loaded - this is very useful if you are in the habit of
loading user edited OB data files, to ensure you have the correct one
loaded, for example for a PBEM game or a scenario which requires a specific
OB file set to be loaded.
The red
backlit section at the top shows the unit name, and if as here the INI
file debug setting is shown - the OB slot number for the unit (very handy
for debug purposes!). Refer to the section on the INI file if you are
a OB designer and need this info. Regular users can ignore as the debug
flag will be off.
Data
items on this page, shown when the mouse is hovered over the unit's button
are:
Unit
name ('VC Firefly' here) |
|
Unit
Type ('Gun Tank' here) |
Refer
to Appendix D for a list of classes |
Weapon
List |
The
4 weapon slots contents, or '-' if none fitted in that slot |
Speed
|
Shown as (Normal : Swim) in hexes |
Men |
Vehicle's
crew or squad size |
Fire
Control |
Refer
to next page. |
Size |
0
is smallest (Snipers etc.) upwards. Bigger size equals easier to spot
and to hit. |
Vision |
Night
and poor visibility vision enhancement sights (hexes) |
Cost |
The
book price for one of these, with average experience (70) |
Availability |
First
month and year to last month and year available |
Armour
Icons |
Top
is turret (upper hull for non turreted), lower is hull armour versus
normal AP shot, in CM (approximate) adjusted for slope. |
Sym |
The
individual icon # - debug info that has always been there.. |
The second
page shows more unit data -
Weapon: |
|
Name |
What
this weapon is called |
ACC |
Accuracy
- larger is better |
Kill |
HE
kill factor:AP kill factor - effect on soft targets. Bigger is better. |
PEN |
Basic
penetration of steel armour at HE shell (any range):AP shell (point
blank range) in CM |
HEAT |
Basic
penetration of the High Explosive Anti Tank round at any range in
CM |
APCR |
Basic
AP penetration of the APCR ('sabot') round at the muzzle in CM. See
note below. |
Range |
maximum
fire range in hexes for all shells bar sabot: sabot ammo (NB - sabot
range can also be used for minimum range e.g. for ATGM) |
Warhead |
The
size of the shot. Larger HE shells inflict more damage to soft targets,
larger AP ammo hits harder than a gun with same penetration, but smaller
warhead, and larger shot size is more effective at longer ranges as
it loses less energy than smaller shot. Larger HEAT ammo also can
penetrate better than a weapon with the same basic HEAT penetration
but smaller Warhead size. |
Ammo
Loadout |
Number of rounds
(bursts for smaller weapons) carried by this unit. Note that only
the slot 1 weapon may be issued HEAT or sabot ammo. However - some
weapons which appear further down the list with AP ammo, actually
have HEAT ammo such as bazookas, but this is a special AP code only
visible in Mobhack (222 penetration code).
This display
is brand new for version 3 at user request - previously this information
was only available in the game.
|
Armour
listing |
|
(A)rmour |
Basic steel armour value listed in CM adjusted for slope (and extra
can be added by the designer to represent say face hardened steel),
Hull and turret Front, Side, Rear and Top |
(H)EAT
Armour |
If
the unit has spaced armour to defeat HEAT ammo - the increased values
used when struck by HEAT plasma jets are listed here. |
Smoke
Discharger |
If
fitted, this is noted here - the number of salvos is listed after
the smoke main gun ammo in the in-game info display in the form SD:N |
Survivability |
A
number which if greater than zero, indicates a vehicle whose crew
are more likely to survive penetrating catastrophic hits than the
average vehicle of this type - and successfully bail out, or bail
with less crew killed. Larger is better. No effect on things without
bailing crew (squads, planes etc.) |
Rate
of fire |
Maximum
number of shots the unit can fire from main weapons (MG are automatically
calculated if not in slot #1), for a unit with maximum experience.
Less experienced crews mean less shots available before moving, i.e.
If a unit has ROF of 9 - an experience 70 crew will typically get
6 shots allocated. Damage received reduces ROF, and small crews like
on the French 2 man tanks, or the early T34 with only 2 turret crew
receive reduced shots. Tanks should have 4 or more crew men, if you
can get this! Movement and current suppression state can reduce shots. |
Fire
Control |
This
variable acts a little like range finder, below - but not so much,
in allowing the unit to engage with better to-hit percentages at longer
ranges. High FC values will add to the crew experience - so can generate
1 more shot sometimes than if it were not there. Primary use of this
variable is in engaging moving targets - but if you move, the effect
is drastically reduced. |
Range
Finder |
This variable
represents better fire control optics, sights, and proper range
finding gear such as optical range finders, or post WW2, ranging
HMG, lasers, and ballistic computing equipment. Naturally enough
a unit with RF can engage targets at longer ranges with better success
than a unit with the same weapon, but less RF. As with Fire Control
- the WW2 range finder capacity effect is reduced should the firer
move.
New field added
for V3 - again this info was only available in the actual game before.
|
EW |
An
obsolete (unused) field for WW2. Post WW2 ECM, ECCM in AAA fires. |
Vision |
If
fitted - enhanced night vision equipment, in WW2 chiefly the German
Infra Red kit fitted to late AFV. If game visibility is say 3 hexes,
and you have a vision capacity of 12, you can see 9 hexes further
than unaided units, which can be vital and devastating. |
Stabiliser |
If
non zero, a stabiliser is fitted. In WW2, some US vehicles had a primitive
elevation only stabiliser fitted. It was really only useful to keep
gun barrels from digging into the dirt when travelling cross country,
and being 1940 mechanics, was a severe maintenance burden on units,
and so not very reliable. The British removed all such equipment as
not worth the maintenance hassles, for next to nil real benefits.
However - in the game we allow stabiliser equipped units to keep target
lock (fire solution achieved) should they move, provided the target
stays in LOS. |
Lift
capacity |
Roughly,
one man equals one lift point. However - some guns, mortar teams and
so on cost more to lift (guns will have a '*' or '**' to indicate
heavy weight). Vehicles with lift of 1XX can carry heavy units, 2XX
really heavy units (look at say barges, which carry MBT etc.). |
Load
cost |
This is the
bit that says something is heavier than average - 0 for squads means
only the men are factored, but say a .50 MMG section with Load cost
of 1 - will cost roughly 12 lift points, and tanks with load cost
in the 24 ton class, need barges to carry. A 57mm AT gun with load
Cost of 2 requires a vehicle with a 1XX Lift Capacity, and a 3 inch
AT gun with Load Cost 3 needs a fair sized truck to tow it.
(The best way
to find out what caries what is by experience - set out a test game
buy a full set of various transports and loads, and then experiment
in the deploy phase to see what is allowed by loading and unloading
the combinations, then exit the test game.)
|
Size |
An
indication of how easy the thing is to spot, and to hit. Smaller is
sneakier, larger is more easily seen. |
Cost |
Buy
cost, if experience is average 70, if less experienced crews then
the unit costs less, and more experienced crews and hence more effective
units naturally cost more. Destroying say, Wittman's Tiger I (say
140 experience crew) is worth more kill Victory Points than killing
recruit Schultz and his experience 60 Tiger I crew of greenhorns. |
NB -
the 'sabot' round in SPWW2 is normally Armour Piercing Composite Rigid
(APCR) (AKA HVAP - High Velocity Armour Piercing), but can also represent
true sabot rounds - APDS (Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot) where the
sabot (=shoe) surrounding the sub calibre penetrator is dropped after
exit from the muzzle, which improves drag coefficient no end - only Britain
used true sabot (APDS) ammo in WW2. We also use this ammo for some special
cases such as an enhanced AP shot such as the 122mm APCBC in some IS series
tanks later on, or to provide a short range AP round for the French 37mm
L21.
APCR
rounds have a very high AP at the muzzle, but due to the fact they retain
the light alloy shoe throughout their flight, they soon drop below the
AP capacity of the normal AP round due to high drag coefficient. Thus
the sabot max range field will be rather shorter than the normal AP round's
maximum. Some later German and USA (e.g. 76mm) APCR had better shapes
to their retained sabot - so do better, their sabot range will be a better
fraction of the main gun's AP range.
Where
the sabot round represents true APDS - as with the British guns
- sabot range can exceed main gun AP range as with the 17 pdr in the firefly
illustrated above. True APDS drops the drag inducing shoe liner,
and the sub calibre projectile is therefore subject only to normal drag
ratios for its own length and diameter. This is the same where the 'sabot'
round is used for an improved APCBC (Armour Piercing Capped, Ballistic
Capped) round.
The French
37mm L21 has a very short APCR range - do not expect much beyond 3 hexes
(150 metres) or so - it is only there because the game code decided an
AP of 2 was worthless, so it fired HE instead!
If
the OB designer has produced descriptive text for a unit, this is displayed
under the unit picture.
Game
Installation Reference
After
running the installer Programme
This
game is an dos game. It is based on source code originally written in
the early 1990s, so it only recognises certain older sound cards. However
any decent windows sound card has a DOS SoundBlaster emulator available
for it. It will run happily under Windows 95 or 98 in most circumstances,
so long as the appropriate steps are taken.
Here,
we will consider only well behaved Windows machines, such as my Dell
PII 450 W98 Dimension, and not the awkward squad, like my Watford Aries
PI 200 W95 laptop with its ESS integrated sound chip. There are
simply some hardware problems that cannot be overcome.
Modern 3D accelerator
video cards can be a problem with DOS games as well - see further below
for sound card and video card problems. The Dell came with an STB nVIDA
graphics card - DOS friendly, and Dell had pre installed a DOS SoundBlaster
emulator driver for the TBS Montego sound board at the factory.
You should
also check out the page on running SP
games in Windows, especially if you have Windows XP installed.
Windows
2000 users - as noted on the main web page this operating system is not
supported.
1]
Set up your Windows shortcut
In
the simple case all you need do first is create a Windows shortcut for
the game.
1)
Find the game executable (SPWW2.exe) in the root directory where you
installed to with windows explorer. |
2)
Right click on this and drag it to the desktop, and let go of the
right mouse button |
3)
When the pop up dialogue comes into view select 'create shortcut(s)
here', and windows will create a shortcut to the game executable |
4)
Still not finished! - now right click on your new shortcut and select
properties from the menu presented. You will see something like this |
Beside the icon is the name field - type what you want here
Cmd
Line will be from where you dragged the exe from (here I am working
in a development directory C:\SPWW2V30 - use whatever you set your path
to)
IF the working directory is blank fill it in with the path to the
executable (C:\SPWW2V30 in this case - use your path, obviously!).
Run
- My video card is quite happy with 'normal window', however some video
cards will not auto switch to a full screen dos window and will leave
a set of squishy lines at the top of the screen. Often, all these cards
need is for this line to be set to 'maximised' in order to work properly.
Close
on exit - I leave this unchecked, so that I can see game error messages
such as complaints about no CD in the drive before windows nukes the screen!
However some cards will not hold the DOS screen on exit - always auto
terminating it, so if you are getting errors, try running the game from
a DOS prompt (open a DOS window, navigate to wherever SPWW2 is installed
then type SPWW2 - some folk like to write their own DOS batch file to
do this).
Now
hit the 'Advanced' button
This
is all my PC - and most - will need as Dell set up a decent set of config
and autoexec files at the factory, including DOS mode CDROM stuff. However
- you may need to check the MS-DOS mode item, to use custom Autoexec.bat
and Config.sys statements (e.g. If your DOS mode MSCDEX is NOT loaded
by the default autoexec supplied with your PC). See the DOS and Windows
help files as to how to set up these files, or contact your PC support.
The
old DOS help is on my win 98 CD under tools/olddos. On my Win 95 CD,
its in other/olddos. You will need to know what you are doing to use
these - the help file is not a Windows help file, so you cannot
read it off the CD using Windows. You need to copy help.com, help.hlp,
qbasic.exe and qbasic.hlp into a directory on your path. However, typing
'help' at a DOS prompt will give a file mode error (probably as this disk
is FAT32 - FAT16 may be OK?). But double clicking on help.com from
windows will run the (MS-DOS) help, once you have installed the Qbasic
etc. supporting files..
Now
select the Memory tab:
Ensure that Uses HMA is selected !
Now
the Screen tab:
Just
ensure full screen is set here (stops some video cards problems
detecting it)
Finally
- the misc tab - lots of stuff here:
Ensure that Allow screen saver is NOT repeat NOT
checked! - otherwise Windows will assume after a while of playing that
you are idle, as it does not detect DOS key or mouse activity, and fire
up your screen saver behind the game, and performance will suffer all
of a sudden! Background - set to always suspend so that if you
alt-tab out to windows, this halts the game Termination - I remove
warn if still active, so I can terminate the thing easier if minimised
in Windows. Idle sensitivity - ram this down so that the game gets
100% of the CPU - we do not want windows tasks occurring much behind the
game.
5)
now we have created the shortcut for the game. It is on the desktop -
however this was for ease of creation, and feel free to move this somewhere
else that you prefer, drag it to the start menu and drop there for example,
or use Taskbar properties/advanced to put it in a program group of your
choice. a shortcut is a windows file. Drag and drop onto say your start
button - there it is. Or drag it and drop it on the Windows 98 cool bar
beside the Internet explorer icons etc. - use the tab on the bars to resize,
and you have the instant launch icon.
2]
Set up your Sound card
Before
you play the game for the first time, you MUST run setsound.exe
to initialise your sound card or the game will be unstable. (The installation
program runs this - but you may need to return here and try other options)
Setsound.exe lives in your game root directory - double click to run.
You will see a screen like this
Setting
'No Digital Audio' will remove all sound drivers - note that turning
sound OFF on the in game preferences screen will not remove sound drivers,
if you are having difficulties and require to turn sound off and remove
the drivers - select no digital audio in this program and turn
sound off in preferences in the game.
Select
the configure item and you will be presented with a selection of
choices
All
these cards are DOS mode cards from the early 1990s - modern Windows sound
cards should be able to emulate a baseline SoundBlaster, as it
is the commonest emulation around. Some can do it with native code - others
require a separate emulation driver to be installed. (An easy way to see
if you have one - check if there is a line for a SoundBlaster emulation
driver in your device properties - see below for how)
After
hitting select - you will see the above. Try out the first option to see
if you are lucky today! If you see this, then you had a problem
Try
the following remedies: Firstly - you may have selected the right card,
but your PC emulation does not use the default IRQ and DMA settings. Go
back and try configuring your sound card manually, run through the screens
and note the settings. NOW (Windows 98 - 95 differs) go to your desktop
and right click on 'My Computer' and select properties. When the properties
dialogue comes up - select device manager
Open
up the sound driver section:
Lucky
me - as you can see, my Dell came with a Sound Blaster Emulator driver
factory installed ! (Selected line - if you have something similar, your
sound card has the driver in place)
If
yours does not have this - select the regular sound device and
press properties In the resources section you will be able to check over
the resources assigned to the device - note these down and compare with
those set out in setsound which you noted earlier.
Here
is the setting for the Dell installed SoundBlaster emulation - as you
can see, these numbers are the default SB values, therefore they agree
with setsound defaults for that device. (NB there are 2 sound blaster
types in setsound - try both (Mine works with the sound blaster pro/100%
compatible drivers, but not with the SB16/AWE32). Also try other drivers
- your card might be able to natively emulate a Roland perhaps?.
If
your values here differ from setsound - you will need to change those
in setsound via the manual setup method and retry. If you do not have
an emulation driver and your sound card cannot natively emulate a SoundBlaster,
see your sound card documentation as to whether you require a separate
SoundBlaster emulation driver (you most likely will). If it is not pre-installed
- check your sound card install disks, as it may be in there (read any
readme.txt files!) - also check out the manufacturer's web site as sometimes
these are made available there (e.g. I found a DOS driver for my ESS sound
chipset on my portable at the ESS web site. Drawback was it only works
in pure dos so if I want to play SP2 or SPWW2 on the laptop, I need
a DOS boot disk, and a batch file to set up this utility - it does not
auto load).
3]
Video card problems
Some
modern video cards, especially 3D accelerated ones, are not VESA compliant.
These usually need a set of DOS VESA mode drivers loaded - see your video
card documentation and install disks, and refer to the manufacturer's
web page if required. Some 3D cards will need a reboot should you need
to use or change from DOS VESA drivers - however many can in fact work
in tandem with a 2D card to handle such things as DOS and also plain windows
applications - see your card documentation to see if it can work as part
of a 2D/3D card combo. This may save the pain of reboots to change drivers.
If you installed a new 3D card you may have your old 2d card ?. Worth
reinstalling, as 2D cards handle regular Windows updates better than some
3D cards often enough.
Also
- see the note above in setting up your shortcut about selecting full
screen in the shortcut, should you see a set of lines at the top of the
screen - setting this is all some video cards need - they do not seem
to accept the game's VESA request for full screen mode properly.
4) Mouse Problems
There
can be mouse problems with Windows versions greater than 98SE.
Extreme mouse problems in Windows 2000 take a real techie to fix, and
unfortunately we won't go into that here. Windows XP can cause a
very slow mouse., but there may be a solution.. What follows is Don Lazov's arcane magick for fixing the common XP Mouse Ailment..
Don Lazov's Batch File Creation for Windows XP to run SP MBT and WW2
1. Download and put unifrsh.com, mousectl.com, and spcap.exe in the main game directory (SPMBT or SPWW2). (Note that spcap.exe now resides in the main game directory by default, the URLs for the other two are listed below)
2. Remove/delete all desktop icons created by the Game Installer.
3. Create a batch file with the contents as described below (mine are named StartSPMBT.bat and StartSPWW2.bat):
unirfrsh.com mousectl.com 5,6,10,15,15,15,15,15 spcap spww2
(change the last line to read spmbt for SPMBT)
4. After saving the batch file, right click on it and change its properties:
a) Select the Compatibility tab/page.
b) Select the check box for "Compatibility mode" (Run this program in compatibility mode for:) and select "Windows 98 / Windows Me" from the drop down list.
c) Select all the check boxes for "Display settings" (Run in 256 colrs/Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution/Disable visual themes).
d) Select the check box for "Input Settings" (turn off advanced text services for this program).
5. Right click and drag this batch file to the desktop to create a shortcut.
6. Edit the shortcut by right clicking on it and selecting the properties.
a) Select the Compatibility tab/page.
b) Select the check box for "Compatibility mode" (Run this program in compatibility mode for . . .) and select "Windows 98 / Windows Me" from the drop down list.
c) Select all the check boxes for "Display settings" (Run in 256 colrs/Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution/Disable visual themes).
d) Select the check box for "Input Settings" (turn off advanced text services for this program).
FILE LOCATIONS: (you will have to sign up for the Yahoo! Lists, though you may be able to find them elsewhere)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SPMBT/files/Utilities/ MOUSECTLT.COM unirv142.zip
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SPWW2/files/SP%20Utilities/ MOUSECTLT.COM SPCAP.ZIP
YMMV (your mileage may vary)
5]
When all else fails
Check out the
VOGONS website (Very Old Games On New Systems). They are dedicated to
helping gamers run old games on new systems. http://vogons.zetafleet.com/
Also, the following URL will bring you to a site where afficianados of SSI's Silent Hunter
game have discovered ways to make that game run under otherwise
recalcitrant systems. Some of the information there has already
been stated elsewhere here, but some of it is far more in-depth than
what we have here -- and may just help those of you we can't.
Check it out at: http://www.subsowespac.org/sh_xp/silent_hunterxp.shtml
The Internet is a great resource, and
there are lots of people trying to keep old games alive on new
systems. Don't give up. Search the Internet until you find
the specific hint,tip or trick that fixes it for you. Don't take
anything for granted -- sometimes it is a single checked box that
should be left unchecked that prevents the game from running.
Some
particular PCs are just not set up quite right to play DOS games - it
can be any combination or conflict of sound, video, or other devices,
or Windows version.
Each
and every PC box is different. My old Windows 95 P100 desktop would only
play the SP series games with a 'restart in DOS', i.e. This was the only
thing it could do, but luckily no start-up disk was required. It would
not play the game as a DOS full screen windows application. However, Don
Goodbrand also has a Windows 95 desktop, and the game works perfectly
OK from a desktop shortcut for him. My guess is the el cheapo SoundBlaster
clone in my old machine would only work properly in pure DOS sessions.
My portable is an old W95 PII 200 MMX system, and it unfortunately came
with an ESS integrated chipset. I found a SoundBlaster driver for this
at the ESS website, but this will only work from dos, that is dos
from a boot diskette - not 'reboot to dos' . It also needs to be run
before the game - it wants answers to questions, so cannot be put into
a batch file. Should you need to run from a DOS boot disk - see the SSI
documentation from your SP2, SP3 or Arsenal product, these have sections
on making boot disks, and a utility to create same. Also - read the readme
files SSI provide on the CD.
Additionally
- your machine may have a poorly set up default autoexec and config files
for dos windows (including running from a shortcut) In particular, DOS
CDROM and Mouse drivers may not be included. Look in your \windows folder
as there may be other dos command shortcuts provided, other than
the default 'command' that your desktop shortcut will use. My Dell, for
example came with dos mode shortcuts entitled 'Exit To DOS' (full screen
mode), 'MS-DOS Mode for Games with EMS and XMS Support' and 'MS-DOS Mode
for Games' as well as 'command', if your PC supplier has provided alternate
DOS environments, experiment with these. In especial - right click on
them, open up the 'Program/Advanced' dialogue, and check out the settings
under the 'Specify a new dos Configuration' sub-windows - there may
for example, be DOS mode CDROM and Mouse driver lines in there, that were
not in the regular 'command'. If there are alternatives - double click
and open the DOS window, navigate to the SPWW2 directory and start SPWW2.
If it runs under this DOS window, then right-click drag the appropriate
shortcut to the desktop and select 'create shortcut here', then modify
its properties as mentioned above. If double clicking it now works, you
have a working shortcut, so move it from the desktop to wherever you want
to store it. If it refuses to work, then you will need to open the DOS
box, and either navigate to the directory and start SPWW2, or better yet
write a batch file to do it for you (see DOS help).
5]
other points to note when running the game
This
game is an MS-DOS game; based on code originally written when Windows
was a separate application you launched from DOS when required. In particular,
its memory manager knows little of modern Windows applications, and can
get into conflicts with these.
Additionally,
Microsoft provides no DOS-compatible mouse driver and sound card drivers
with the Windows 95 or 98 CDs. (I found one for my laptop on an old install
floppy for some cheap and long gone mouse which was lying about in my
desk).
Some
folk manage simply to play the game from a shortcut on the desktop; others
have problems, especially laptop users. Each computer is different - different
sound card, video hardware etc.
It
is often necessary to play this game from a boot disk - the original SP2
and SP3 disks have a utility to do this. This solves most problems, but
won't solve them all. This sort of thing was regular back in the DOS days,
each game needing its own particular boot disk or menu item in config.sys
and autoexec.bat. It's just that most have become used to modern Windows
handholding!
SPWW2
and SPMBT are much more stable than previous SP series games as we eliminated
some illegal addressing we discovered in the legacy code - playtesters
have reported running happily with for example, an Internet connection
running, which previously would tend to cause crashes - but still check
the below, if you have problems.
IF you manage to get the game going from a W95/98 desktop shortcut but
still experience crashes randomly; here are a few pointers to running
this game successfully. (It also applies to any other 'legacy' DOS game;
the problems are not unique to this product!).
The
major thing to recall is this is a DOS game and is not always happy with
Windows programs.
We have stressed over the years that it is always best to run the
game after booting Windows as the first application although most of us
developing the game very rarely do anymore. IF YOU have trouble
running the game for any reason, we recommend you play from a fresh boot
to minimize the problem that may exist with your video card/sound card
set up.
DO
NOT 'alt-tab' out of the game and do something (e.g. read email)
and go back in. Sometimes you will get away with this, often times not.
It all depends on how sensitive you PC box is - all installations differ
in configuration. I run a WinME and a Microsoft natural keyboard that
has a "Windows" hotkey
and I can use it to go out of the game and work on Windows based applications
then back to the game quite easily but not everyone can.
Remember
- run this game on a 'clean' Windows session only, as the first
and only program, and you will usually to be OK. And that bit is
in bold, as it needs to be emphasised!
Above
all, have no background Windows tasks, especially communication-related
programs going when trying to run a DOS game.
As
one example of the oddities of PCs - one user had severe problems, until
he turned off some form of hardware state of health monitor program that
was running in windows - it periodically checked fan temperature or such
like and whenever it kicked in, DOS windows died.
If
you use the 'active desktop' feature of windows, ditch it, especially
if its trying to do point cast stuff or otherwise interrupting the CPU
with web downloads. The active desktop is the kiss of death for many DOS
apps, and games, and quite a few older Windows applications too.
Have
no email sessions going either.
If
your drive is shared on a network and another user tries to access your
drive, or a shared printer while you are in a DOS application, this will
likely terminate you with extreme prejudice. Detaching from the network
is a good idea.
The
Windows TCP/IP stack (used in network and email apps) seems
to be the kiss of death to DOS games. I find the main reason the game
will go unstable and crash is having run Outlook Express - on my box,
it will happily run at almost any time, but if Outlook Express has run,
problems are highly likely. Also - this is especially true if Outlook
Express has managed to 'lose its toolbar' as it does sometimes - the toolbar
is visible, but refuses to answer, unless you exit OE and restart it.
Whenever windows does that strange thing where all the icons change from
the 'proper' ones to some weird selection - this is a good time to reboot
Windows completely. (At any time, not just when running this app - it
means Windows has its underwear in a severe twist memory wise! - plain
windows programs will cause this one.)
On
occasions Windows explorer hangs, and requires to be terminated with ctrl-alt-delete
to task manager and terminate it from there. When that happens, often
the system tray icons vanish. This is another clue that Windows has gone
unstable and is about to go tits up on you - save all work and restart.
Again, not just this app - just something Windows happily does, all on
its very own. Trying to run the game after these things is about 100%
fatal - the Windows memory management system is in a mess.
One
key background task that can cause problems is virus scanning software,
if it periodically scans memory or disk. Read the documentation for these
programs, and tune or turn off as required. Also, backups if scheduled
in the midst of a game session can cause problems. Some PC boxes will
just slow down to a crawl, but others will lock up if a screen saver or
background windows task kicks in on top of an dos full screen application.
(Some screen savers do not detect the activity of the keyboard and mouse
in the DOS session, only Windows mouse and keyboard events! - so think
you are off doing whatever and try to start up 'behind' your game).
A
major user of the CPU and disk space waster exists if you have installed
MS Office. 'FindFast' is a program installed by default when Office
is put on your PC. Periodically it will scan your entire system for new
Office documents, which it then adds to a (largish) database in your c:
root. If you ever wondered why your PC slows down to a crawl for a minute
or five every hour or so, and have Office (or components - Word, Excel
etc.) Installed - you likely have FindFast enabled. FindFast seems to
trash this game when it runs so is best removed. See your MS Office help
for details. If you do not make much use of the 'Find office documents'
item, then its worth removing in any case, or scheduling to a more sensible
scan rate at the very least. MS Office also has a start-up program in
your start-up folder - this takes up valuable system resources all the
time by default. It handles the Office Taskbar etc., So if you never use
this - find the shortcut in the start-up and nuke it. If you occasionally
use it, then cut the shortcut and paste to your desktop so you can start
it when required - e.g. you plan to do a lot of Word or Access work. Otherwise
it uses system resources to no purpose.
Look
at the scheduler for Windows 98 - this can launch applications
at unexpected intervals if not set up correctly - like scandisk or defragmenting
of the hard drive.
Some
folk have an alternative solution for dos games - since modern PCs are
sometimes so DOS hostile, what they do is go out to a second hand or pawn
shop, and buy an old specification box for peanuts, and use this as a
DOS only game machine. Or they had an old 486 lying about being used as
a doorstop or whatever - utilise that machine.
6]
Setting up with Mo'Slo
This
game was written when a 486 66 was a powerhouse, so it may tend to be
a little fast on modern processors <G!>.
We
have provided the slow down and accelerate keys ('[' and ']') for scrolling
adjustment in game, but this really is only good for minor adjustments,
with lower end chips - say PII 200 or so and below. The best way to slow
a game like this down is to use a proper slowdown utility such as Mo'slo.com.
(Also available at shareware sites like Tucows.com or shareware.com).
Also see the INI file section about the adjustment available there.
Set
up your shortcut to look like this:
The
command line here is 'C:\SPww2v30\mo'slo.com /70 C:\SPww2v30\spww2.EXE'
- Use YOUR path in your shortcut!
The
/70 says to use the Pentium at 70% speed, which seems OK for my PII 450.
Note: Mo'slo is a DOS program, so where you install the game to needs
to be in a path with DOS compliant directory naming - i.e. 8 characters
maximum, and no spaces in there, OR - use the 'mangled' version that
you will see if you use a DOS window, and do a DIR command - with all
those twiddle (~) bits.
Mo'slo
is a shareware product - the registered version provides more functionality.
It can be used for any DOS games, not just this one! - register if you
pan to use it.
Remember
to check out the page on running SP
games in Windows, especially if you have Windows XP installed.
What
is New?
What is New in Version 7 
Completely
new set of larger format OOB's (Order of Battle files) with thousands of changes and
additions. New format OOBs can now hold 999 Units and 999
Formations. An additional 55 Unit Classes have been added as well. The OOBs have
been extensively researched and availability dates, ammunition loadouts
and formation design has been finetuned throughout. New units and new
formations adorn many of the OOBs. You can get many of the particulars in the Country Descriptions section, but we leave some things for you to find out as you play the game.
Many tweaks and adjustments to the code & AI picklists have been made
to fine tune & refine gameplay
735 New Pictures (LBMs) 933 New & Revised Icons in 25 SHP files
27 New Scenarios
83 New Maps
39 New Text files
64 New Sounds
Many minor tweaks to existing scenarios to have them utilize the new features available.
Minor tweaks to several existing maps & duplicate maps removed.
One new Campaign: Paratroopers in the Pacific. This campaign is based
on the history of the American 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment. You
will start off as the commander of Item Company, 3rd Battalion, 503rd
PIR.
New "Player_SPWW2_Scenario.xls" file listing all scenarios, maps, and campaigns in the Game Notes folder.
All Scenarios and Maps are now numbered in the game selection screen, and maps also have their size listed.
The map code auto-generator has been extensively enhanced and the coded routines greatly embellished.
13 totally new terrain features have been added, as well as 4 old
terrain types being completely revised. Transition months between
seasons are now more accurately detailed and varied in terrain.
As well, the transition between terrain types adjacent to each other
has been refined.
The 13 new terrain types are Ice, Frozen Streams, Marsh, Ploughed
Field, Red Sand, Red Sand Rough, Grey Sand, Grey Sand Rough,
Arid/Fall Grass, Arid/Fall High Grass, Winter Crop Field, Mid-Winter
Snow Field, and Bare Winter/Late Fall Trees
The 4 completely revised terrain types are Green Crops, Yellow Crops, Rice Paddies and Early Winter Fields.
A map generator that allows maps to be auto created using 19 different
variables has been added, and is accessible from the Map Editor as well
as the Battle and Campaign Unit Purchase screens so that you can
customize your maps before each battle to further enhance your
gameplay. You can even Save the maps you design on the fly, or load
previously saved map -- even from the View Map screen of the Purchase
Units section!
Maps can now be created as small as 20x20 (1 kilometer square) and can
be expanded in 10 hex increments (half kilometers) seperately in both
the X and Y axis up to 200x160 hexes (10 kilometers by 8 kilometers).
A
number of important
changes have been made to the "View Map" screen
of the Deploy menu for generated battles and PBEM (all changes detailed within the Game Guide)
- Redraw the Map for the Current Opponents (use different battle location for these opponents and date)
- Redraw
Map for the Current Battle Location (use same battle location)
- Change Map ID (specifically change battle location to another one by indicating batloc ID number)
- Redraw V-Hexes without changing terrain
- Change Game Length
MOBHack
will now allow entering different Icon numbers for summer, winter and
desert terrain and the game code has been revised so these will show up
in the game at the appropriate times. A near-complete set of German and
Russian Winter camo vehicles have been added to the game and a
near-complete
set of German and British Desert vehicle Icons have been created for
the Western Desert. As well, German vehicles will for the most part,
show up in Grey before the spring of 1943 during "summer" months.
We will expand the number of units with winter and desert icons in
future versions. As a result of this change, icon-makers will
notice that they no longer have to build a parallel set of desert icons
in a special and seperate desert SHP file. All the icons can be
entered into the the same SHP file, and there is no longer a switchover
to different SHP files for desert terrain.
In defend battles the Defender can not only place trenches, but remove
them once placed in order to achieve a special effect. Laying
& Removing trenches is used to simulate previous defensive
engineering efforts to remove trees, bulldoze rough areas and otherwise
improve Line-Of-Sight and strengthen the defenses because when a trench
is removed the hex (in most cases) becomes Clear Terrain.
Trenches can be laid and removed anywhere on the Defender's half of the
map. Trenches laid in Water terrain will create a small island to
put the trench on.. Trenches can also be placed on the attackers side
of the map to simulate forward area anti-tank trenches or the previous
front lines. Trenches cannot be removed once placed on the
opponents side of the map because doing so gives the Defender too much
control over the terrain and tilts the play balance in favour of the
defender.
Victory Hex Point allotments can now be reduced down to 5 points and up
to 250 points in 5 point increments. Victory Hexes worth less than 50
points will be ignored by the AI, and
can be used by scenario designers to develop special battlefield
situations and tweak AI and Player movement.
Automatic
weapon and autocannon ratings have been revised and refined
based on new formulas that have been extensively researched in order to
bring more realism to combat tactics, strategies and results. As well,
ammunition loadouts of autocannons have been researched and an
appropriate number of "shots" have been assigned instead of the generic
loadouts of previous versions (which was actually much too
generous). Each in-game "shot" is the equivalent of short bursts.
The new loadouts and weapon ratings illustrate how quickly autocannons
eat up ammunition and also how deadly they are. Many auto-cannon
armed vehicles do not carry much ammunition, and have high rates of
fire, so they have to choose their shots carefully. The
importance of the secondary weapons of these vehicles in the
antipersonnel role is now much more apparent because of the ammunition
limitations of the auto-cannon.
Autocannons with the proper traverse and elevation ranges can now engage slow, low-flying aircraft just like in SPMBT.
Tank ammunition loadouts fine-tuned according to new data uncovered.
Grenades, rifle-grenades, infantry bombs, anti-tank grenades, infantry
anti-tank mines and other anti-tank explosive devices have been
extensively researched and have replaced the generic representations in
most instances. Where the generic representations still exist (because
of lack of credible information) they have been revised in relation to
all the new information uncovered on these weapons.
Vehicle Dust Trails have been revised to begin appearing in desert
terrain and summer months at higher Visibility settings than previously.
A new Map Editing feature whereby you can add "Clear Terrain" (Grassy
Plain) to a hex, and still keep the height contours of the existing
map. You no longer have to add Clear Terrain to a contoured section of
the map by removing all the terrain features of the hex, including
height. If you move to the second page of map editing buttons you
will note that when you pass the cursor over the "Clear Terrain" button
on that page it reveals that it will "Add clear terrain to hex
following the contours of the existing map." The "Clear Terrain"
button on the first page remains the same as it always was-- it clears
all terrain and all height from the hex.
Armament loadouts of planes have been revised and varied loadouts
created for use in different mission types. A huge effort was made to
review the weapons loads on fixed wing aircraft (many thanks to Jakub Jaraczewski).
Many different
air-to-ground rockets were identified and established as weapons
in the game. These
were matched to aircraft of the appropriate nationality and
period. As an example, a player will encounter Typhoons in 1944
that fire 60-Pounder Rocket Projectiles and P-38 Lightnings loaded with
M-8 4.5-inch rockets. A parallel effort was made to identify the
characteristics of the aircraft cannon and their ammunition
loads. Thus, players with an eye to detail will appreciate the
use of "20mm Hispano" instead of the old generic "20mm-cannon."
This detailed approach highlights the different capabilities of same
caliber weapons from different countries, such as the 20mm Hispano used
by Great Britain and the 20mm Mk.2 used by the USA. Even the
differences between two same caliber cannons used by the same country,
Nazi Germany's 20mm MG-151 and 20mm MG-FF, are evident.
New armor values and penetration ratings for some weapons. Many armor
ratings were reviewed, as were the capabilities of key anti-armor
weapons in the games. This resulted in a few subtle changes that
enhance the dynamics of tank combat in the game.
Changes to Range Finder ratings. After extensive research some range
finder ratings have been increased to better reflect the capabilities
of the actual sights and range finders. This is another subtle
change for SPWW2 that enhances the combat dynamic.
Standardization of cannon rates of fire. To a large degree, the rates
of fire of tank guns, anti-tank guns, and artillery pieces have been
standardized. This corrects the problem of like weapons having
different ROFs from OOB to OOB.
A "Player's Info" text file included in the Data/Design folder to help
modders build new OOBs using the same basic rules that we do, and also
to give an insight on how the game works.
Amphibian movement in rice paddies was revised.
The Boats Get Stuck Under Bridges Bug has finally been eradicated. Now
boats can ply the waters under bridges, but their icons will appear on
top of the bridge solely for ease of locating. If the boat icons
are allowed to go under the bridges, they can become hidden from view
very easily and the Player might lose track of his units. So we
have made the icon appear above the bridge -- but it is simply a matter
of visuals, and the boat does not add movement costs for traversing the
bridge or otherwise exhibit any adverse effects in the game. For all game
purposes the boat is under the bridge and in the water.
The code controlling troops dismounting from APCs and other vehicles
was tweaked to allow more realistic engagement by opponent forces that
are in LOS of the dismount.
Frequency of fords in streams was revised, and fords are made to flash
yellow on the mini-map for easy identification. The chance of getting
stuck at fords was also revised downward a little.
Road code finetuned.
Many small code tweaks to finetune the frequency of various results.
What
is New in Version 6.01 SUPPLEMENT
Completely
new set of OOB's with numerous changes and additions
A new Cost calculator with the following corrections:
- - changes to ERA
costs ( applicable to SPMBT only )
- - changes to flame
weapons costings (long range flame weapons increased)
- - EW cost changes
(+) ( applicable to SPMBT only
)
- - off map and on
map HE shell costs were reversed - fixed
- - sabot ammo was
using the AP range, not sabot range- fixed
- - off map planes
with missiles were using off map HE costs which were too high- fixed
11
revised and 24 new scenarios
27
new or revised Icons ( 12 revised SHP files )
17
new text files
Revised
MOBHack help file
9
new PIC's
Many
tweaks and adjustments to the code including:
- -helicopters could
not unload on a bridge on lake hexes - fixed
- -other units on
a bridge on a lake hex could not unload passengers - fixed
- -mine points rolling
over to a very high number for dragon teeth buy when 0 fortification
buy points- fixed
- -reinforcement
mortars off map fired if under AI control - fixed
- -bomber aircraft
were not dropping the last cluster bomb - fixed
- -on-map howitzers
with HEAT ammo when firing
indirect used HEAT if they hit an armoured target - fixed
- -some small maps
caused a crash - was due to the random trees placement code not being
changed to allow for map X and Y changes -fixed
- -mortar ROF was
decided to be too high - reduced. Mortar ROF is ROF+1 if warhead<4
- -indirect artillery
was using the direct fire graphic when attacking armoured targets, causing
the incorrect graphic and or a shot to appear from -1,-1 to target -
fixed.
- -Artillery indirect
fire circle size tightened up slightly
- - helos were not
taking damage correctly, now fixed.
- -Ammo units - boosted
load of weapons with warhead size <4
- -road bridges over
lake hexes were reporting as rail bridges if any rail bridge present
on map - fixed
- -In user campaigns,
if the map size was > 100 in width, the non fixed troops were deployed
on column 98 still. Fixed.
- -Infantry speeds
in MPH sometimes went down on 3rd hex moved - fixed.
- -Vehicles which
were reported correctly as dug-in on the deploy turn or in scenario
editor were losing dug in status in turn 1 onwards.-Fixed.
- -Infantry were
not being charged for soft sand - now +1 MP is charged for moving in
a hex with soft sand.
What
is New in Version 6.0
Numerous
tweaks and adjustments to the code, AI picklists and OOB's have been made
to fine tune gameplay
New
MOBHack Database checking utilities and OOB Price Calculator
ALL units
have been re-priced with the new calculator (which can be found in the
"Cost Calculator" folder )
30
New Scenarios and two
new campaigns ( Langemarck at Narva and Stug Brigade 276 ) . Included
with the new scenarios is a Beginners tutorial in the first slot.
Over
375 New Icons
New
MOBHack Database checking utilities and OOB Price Calculator
ALL units
have been re-priced with the new calculator (which can be found in the
"Cost Calculator" folder )
Max Points
now 20,000 ( was 12,000 )
A bug
has been fixed where if a formation had non aircraft in slot 1, planes
could be added in subsequent sections and this would then fool the air
selection code and allow either unlimited planes or to add such formations
to cores.
The surrender
option has been removed in PBEM games as this proved to be a cheat in
PBEM..
Mines
were not able to be laid on the RHS of larger maps - now fixed as well,
mines are now deployable in the UC if bought.
AI Picklists
for all nations have been completely checked ( 14,991 lines of code !!
) and corrected and enhanced where necessary. All Nations should now field
a correct mix of troops in all battle types
What
is New in Version 5.6?
The game
now allows 135 map sizes. Maps can now go from a minimum of 20 hexes wide
and 40 hexes high to up 160 hexes wide and 200 hexes high. All maps are
fully playable in generated, campaign, PBEM or scenario based games. AI
deployment routines for units and victory hexes have been re-written to
accommodate every map size. Campaign players now have the added bonus
of pre-selecting map size before every game to allow them to tailor map
sizes to fit their campaign core size.
Area
fire can now be targeted through smoke filled hexes. No longer will smoke
act as a barrier to fire however, accuracy and effectiveness is far less
than aimed fire against a clear hex but this new system works quite well
for harassing advancing enemy infantry.
Using
direct HE fire, all units in the target hex now receive splash damage
while in direct fire by HE weapons. This includes the original target
if missed, but the shell still lands in the target unit's hex. (The original
code ignored the original target if a miss was scored). This slightly
increses HE effect in direct fire.
The retreat
code has been altered to give more realistic retreat paths in most situations
Points
changes made in the editor will now "stick"
A new
"Infantry colour" has been added to the game. It is used for China, Czechoslovakia,
Belgium and "Red".
All OOB's
extensively upgraded. Our Player Community was the origin of many OOB
tweaks. While we may not respond to every issue raised on the message
boards, we do read and research every bit of information and opinion that
the games generate.
A new
pricing formula has been used for all units.
New ammo
loadouts for all non-vehicular mortars, howitzers and naval guns have
been implemented to smooth out inconsistencies between OOBs that resulted
in unfair advantages/disadvantages for some countries.
A bug
in the computer purchased forces points values was found and eliminated.
The troops were bought at the correct cost but the units point value field
was left the basic OOB book value rather than the adjusted cost for +
or - experience/moral. Any forces bought by the AI or human player using
the computer buy routines will now reflect the correct cost adjustment
for Experience and Morale rating.
Campaign
core force points values had remained at the original purchase cost throughout
the campaign thus not properly reflecting their changes in Experience
and Morale over time. This bug has now been isolated and eliminated. Core
forces will be shown at purchase book value for their template formation
at the beginning of their first battle but will be individually priced
at the end of their first battle depending on their true individual Experience
and Morale rating. As they further progress through the campaign they
will gain value as they gain experience and moral.
There
was a bug whereby campaign core forces morale jumped to the 80's after
their first battle. This has been eliminated, and therefore core forces
morale will now properly improve with successful battles
The internal
routines that calculated points value variance from the default 70 produced
very skewed results when the difference was 10 or more points either way.
The formula was revised to a flatter range.
Many
other minor tweaks and adjustments to the code.
We have
only included four more scenarios with this patch but many additional
scenarios for SPWW2 can be found at http://www.wargamer.com/archive/
. You can find them in the "Steel Panthers: World War II ( SPWW2)"
section.
What
is new in Version 5.5?
Cross
attachment of Platoons feature from SPMBT has been added to SPWW2.
We have
increased waypoint count from 10 to 125 per formation.
A fix
has been applied to a Scripted User campaign barge loading bug.
The
infantry pull back code has been revised. Infantry will tend to pull back
a bit quicker now.
A bug
where the cost for experience was not being given back on dropping a formation
in the buy screen has been fixed.
A bug
with close-assaulting infantry going to 250+ men has been fixed.
A bug
with land troops with swim speed "swimming" over bridges has been fixed.
Ammo
resupply from ammo dumps has been extended out to two hexes.
"Battle
Sounds" with "Music ON" has been re-introduced to the game.
Smoke
dischargers can be activate/deactivate on the unit screen.
63 new
scenarios and 3 additional campaigns added.
What
is new in Version 5.0?
The Order Of Battle (OOB)
Files have been given a complete overhaul - see the individual nationalitie's
entry in the Historical Design Notes
section for details as there is too much to list here.
The AP penetration
and accuracy formulas have all been revised and updated in V5. These are
based on real life gun performance studies, penetration graphs and tables.
We feel these new formulas accurately reflect the capabilities of WW2
era guns and ammunition. SP2 and SPWW2 have always calculated the angle
of the firing unit to the target and the targets orientation to the firer
so as to effectively increase the defensive armour value by the horizontal
impact angle. That, coupled with these new formulas, gives highly accurate
tank vs. tank combat results.
A new pricing formula
for Armour that gives each tank a value based on overall capability is
included. This formula uses data for gun penetration, accuracy, tank speed,
vision, range finder, fire control systems and armour that gives a much
more fair pricing structure than was the case in the past. The system
works by taking the data from the OOBs and inputting those values into
a program which writes the new values to the OOB's . Each component of
a tank is assessed, and then the resulting points are all added together
to give a final point value. The formula does not give any cheats. It
is strictly linear. No rarity bonuses are involved.
A new pricing formula
for infantry units that assigns points based on weapons carried.
A new pricing formula
for artillery and guns that assigns costs based on Warhead size, range,
HE kill and number of shells.
Revised HE values
for tanks, mortars, artillery. These values are based on a number of different
studies of High explosive shells and their effects on men and machines.
Trenches can now
be purchased and placed in defend battles in the same manner as mines
and Dragons teeth. You now purchase points for "Mines/DT/Trenches".
Points are used for every section of trench you place on the map. Those
points can be used for any combination of Mines, Dragons teeth or trenches.
LOS visibility through
trees has been revised and now will occasionally allow LOS through two
treed hexes.
The " sticking"
code has been revised to give more realistic results for vehicles in mud
and streams. Vehicles attempting to enter buildings will cost many more
MP's than previous versions. This greatly increases the chance if immobilisation
in mud and streams. Players that find this a bit too "realistic"
are advised to play with Breakdowns OFF in the preferences.
"Fords"
have been added to generated streams. This is a place that vehicles can
cross a stream with a much reduced chance of immobilisation. These can
be found by hovering the cursor over a stream hex. If it is a fording
place, it will indicate that at the top of the screen
Many of the picklists
have been revised which gives the AI side much more varied and less predictable
picks.
The surrender code
has been revised to allow more surrendering than was common in previous
versions.
The Campaign core
force is now expandable during the long campaign. You can use your repair
points to add new recruits and expand your core.
"Auxiliary"
troops are now available to scenario designers for user campaign battles.
Auxiliaries are a fixed increment of troops made available to the player
by the scenario designer and come in 2 types, "free" which are
treated exactly like your own troops which you can position as desired
in your deployment area, and "fixed" - these are for the scenario
designer to place as required for the scenario, and the user cannot change
their initial locations. though they may be placed outside your deployment
zone.
Smoke dischargers
may now be toggled on and off like ordinary weapons, to allow the user
to stop his troops firing these in reaction to enemy incoming fires, if
desired.
The AI tank heavy
preference switch has been changed to buy even more tanks for those who
want to play with non-historical armour force levels. The effects of the
tank heavy AI preference are more noticeable above 3000 purchase points.
However, for traditionally tank 'light' armies such as the Japanese, do
NOT expect to see the AI purchase vast fleets of AFV's.
Those weapons using
the '222' HEAT code (mainly infantry AT weapons) will now correctly report
'HEAT'' ammo, not AP, and use the HEAT code properly for penetration etc.
The old SP bug where
radar controlled AAA (an AA gun or SPAA with FC of 100+) could target
ground targets through smoke and darkness as if they had Thermal Imaging
sights is now cured. Radar AAA will only count these bonuses vs. flying
targets.
Air parity
can now occur, the old SP premise that if you were offered aircraft, then
the opponent has no air strikes, is gone. In rare circumstances he may
have air strikes available as well, possibly more than you are allocated.
Players will therefore have to consider flak purchases even if they have
been granted air strikes.
Units in trenches
and pillboxes get extra morale bonuses. Pillboxes give higher bonuses
than trenches but units in both types of fortification will now be MUCH
less likely to retreat from them than was the case in the past. Even units
that have reached "rout" status are much more likely to stay
in their trench or bunker rather than retreat out of the safety these
fortifications provide. Units in trenches and foxholes are much more likely
to endure artillery bombardment than those units not dug in.
The artillery routine
has been completely revised in Version 5.0. Your artillery fire will now
arrive at the end of your OPPONENTS turn rather than at the end of your
turn. This means predicting where the enemy will be when the shells arrive
is a much more challenging procedure than has been the case in the past.
You will no longer be able to simply shift fire a hex or two and have
your artillery land right after you press the end turn button. This is
a MUCH fairer system for both sides and better reflects "reality"
where orders from the front lines had to be passed on to the gun troop
commander who then passed the correction onto the gun crews who then adjusted
their fire to new co-ordinates. This was not something done in a minute
or two and this new system reflects that. The change takes a game or two
to get used to but once you have played this way you will agree it is
a better system than what was in place in the past. As well, guns that
have high turn delay ( such as .05 ) will deliver fewer shells on target
than if the delay was .00
The ROF for rocket
units has been revised so that whatever ROF number is put into the OOB's
is the number of rockets that will launch in one turn. This eliminates
the problem where small rocket launchers ( such as a Nebelwerfer 42 with
only 5 "tubes" ) may have fired too many rockets in one turn
or rocket launchers capable of mass launching ( such as the Canadian Land
mattress with 32 rails ) were penalised with too few rockets launched.
We have also expanded the types of rockets that were available in the
OOB's so you will find the static German Wurfgerat and the early Soviet
heavy rockets fired from static frames in the OOB's now. All rocket units
are provided with two "firings" worth of rockets
Artillery has the
greatest effect on troops that have been or are, moving. Stationary troops
or those in cover will suffer less and those in dugouts or trenches even
less. Moving across open ground through an artillery "beaten zone"
is NOT healthy for your troops but troops in dugouts or trenches will
endure the exact same barrage with little effect. Assaulting a trench
now means you must have artillery falling almost in front of your own
troops as they go in. Your artillery observers, in good LOS, are even
more important than before as they are best at keeping your guns "on
target". Units in trenches may not retreat as quickly as if they
were in the open but they still acquire suppression ( they just recover
much quicker ) This is why your infantry MUST attack the trenches soon
after the barrage lifts otherwise the enemy is give the chance to rally
and recover which negates all the benefit of your bombardment. This is
what the British mean when they say they are "leaning into"
the barrage. If you have armoured infantry or "tankriders" so
much the better as these units can stay back further from the actual barrage
then move in quickly with their mechanised infantry and take the trench
while the enemy is still dazed from the bombardment
Smaller maps will
now tend to used for tiny points campaign cores - previously the minimum
size was 500, but some users want to play campaigns with very small initial
core values.
New Railway Terrain
tiles have been added for scenario designers. This includes "regular"
railway track as well as tram lines/streetcar track for cities
Some maps, such as
those for the generated "Stalingrad" and "Caen" battles,
will now have pre-existing damage and cratering.
We only had one significant
bug in version 4, the Spanish LC bug and it is fixed in this release (as
it was in 4.x on the Computer Games Magazine CD but not all users got
the CD on the magazine).
Over 200 new unit
Icons added.
Over 1100 new photos
added.
Over 1000 text files
are now in the game to provide unit and formation information.
31 new scenarios
and one new campaign ( more on the way ! ). This means Version 5 will
contain a total of 105 scenarios and four User Campaigns
What
Were the Major New Changes for version 4.0?
New WW2
long campaigns for Poland, USMC, Japan, India, ANZAC
Pacific Front is available
as a WW2 long Campaign Theatre, some nations are allowed to transfer between
European and Pacific (e.g. ANZAC, USA, GB).
Amphibious assaults
have been stabilised and so reintroduced to the WW2 Long Campaign.
- In addition, the code will now attempt to load things onto any existing
'floaters' and 'fliers' before auto buying landing craft to simplify user
deployment.
River crossing assaults
have been returned to the WW2 and generated campaigns.
Battle Locations will
generate city battles at times where appropriate (e.g. Canadians in Caen
area)
WW2 LC has some scripted
areas which may appear (e.g. Meuse river crossing for Germans in France
1940)
Major changes to aircraft
- Helicopters are back, and are now the only on map air type.
- All other air units are offmap assets
- Transports drop paratroopers, who use parachutes
- Level bomber class introduced
Gliders start on map,
to pick up troops, then are removed and come in as a programmed air drop.
Transports are like
gliders, but the troops deploy by parachute.
Level bombers go to
the target area and then offload their bombs, they do not dive on individual
tanks, nor can they use direct fire weapons like cannons or rockets.
Introduced the ability
to change the turn of a pre game bombardment mission from the default
0.
Introduced new Black
Volcanic sand terrain type - mainly for Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima linked campaign
added.
DD and Snorkel Tanks
- DD tanks and snorkel tanks show a different graphic when afloat, and
cannot fire (both are effectively underwater!). Snorkel tanks less easy
to spot, but find spotting very hard. DD tanks have spotting ability reduced.
Snorkel tanks difficult targets when swimming. DD tanks can be sunk when
swimming (the apron collapses).
Campaign Difficulty
modifier - from very easy to very hard, allows user to set difficulty
as desired in both the WW2 Long Campaign and the Generated Campaign. (Not
the user campaign, as this is set by the designer).
In Contact/Out of
Contact - Coloured status line added to unit information for this very
important data.
Vehicle Dust Trails
- high speed, or high quantity of vehicle movement in a hex in certain
weather conditions will lead to dust trails rising above moving vehicles.
High visibility conditions in Desert, high visibility and high summer
months in Green and Jungle may give rise to 'rooster trails' potential
conditions.
Hull gun equipped
vehicles will tend to turn to face e.g. in reaction fire - Grants, Char
B etc were previously handicapped as only the turret would turn to face.
At short ranges, AI
tanks will often turn to bring bow MG to bear on an infantry target.
Infantry can hit the
deck, and if successful, take cover, from fire. Hitting the deck makes
them more difficult targets, and a good skill roll may break the firer's
chain of fire, and a skill check may allow them to break LOS by finding
cover as well. A successful taking of cover can reduce suppression. Infantry
which are forced to pull back from fire will now sometimes turn and take
a pot-shot back at their tormentors, especially if of high morale and/or
experience.
Poor morale and/or
poor training level infantry, especially those which have no viable or
ineffective AT weapons may retreat in 'tank panic' either when attempting
to close assault a passing AFV, or when such arrives in the next or same
hex. Bigger, heavier armoured AFV tend to cause more consternation that
tin-plated open top recce vehicles. Japanese are not greatly subject to
tank panic.
Water movement allowance
is shown in blue, alongside the normal MP allowance.
Game ranges can be
displayed in hexes, yards or metres, by an INI file setting.
Surrender option -
mainly for PBEM games - introduced, ending the game at that point with
a massive points bonus to your opponent.
End of game map review
feature - roam the map, viewing your and your enemy's troops at the end
of play.
PBEM end game - now,
after the game ends, zip your files and send to your opponent, who will
unlike before, be able to review the end game data, and as above, the
map.
Skilled AT shots allowed
to hit vulnerable areas. Very experienced shooters, at close ranges, can
generate additional AP over the 'book' value to simulate a skilled aimed
shot to a weaker area such as say a vision block, or if insufficient penetration
is available, they can direct the shot to hopefully gain a disabling track
hit. Very dependant on firer skill, but there to simulate say, skilled
German tankers versus French Char B in 1940, or KV later, or Allied tank
crews bouncing a shot off the bottom of the panther front glacis down
through the driver's hatch.
Hand to hand melee
bonuses for some troop types, and certain nations renowned for hand to
hand combat ('firing' at range 0, i.e. in the same hex as the enemy).
Lancer cavalry have good HH bonus, and an additional bonus against enemy
non-lance cavalry. Irregulars, Commando classes, Paratrooper classes,
Ghurkas and Legionaries are enhanced for melee combat. Japanese and Australians
are enhanced for HH combat, US Marines and UK infantry less so.
Scenario editing enhancements
- more control over the global beach and wide river variables, and the
ability to easily clear the victory hexes down and/or set all to a common
points value in one operation.
User Campaign Editor
- designer can now edit the number of flights made available to the human
player.
Companies can be bigger
- changes to 60 from 40 maximum units in a company.
New integrated glider
and Transport aircraft equipped infantry units have been produced, these
save you having to calculate the appropriate 'lift' of aircraft required
or to buy separate transport plane units. These units are air units, so
are only presented when air units are made available to you.
The SP Camo 'shotgun'
victory hexes will now appear in delay or defend missions, at 60% of the
frequency allocated to the meeting engagement battle in the INI file setting.
In random battles,
where the user does not use a specified saved map, then the objective
hexes are labelled and the value of each objective is shown as part of
the text label.
Several cases of the
original legacy code addressing illegal memory addresses, or returning
out of range values from functions (usually negative values where positives
only were expected) etc. have been tracked down and eliminated. This makes
the game noticeably much more stable than before. Many playtesters report
that they can for example download from the Internet in the background,
do email and, in my case as the programmer, run the Borland C++ Builder
development suite, and also alt-tab in and out of a running game session,
without requiring to reboot the machine to play SPWW2. SPWW2 runs fine
in a DOS window on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, and one of our
playtesters uses OS/2
So
What Were the Major New Changes for version 3.0?
SPWW2
V3 allows you to choose from nine map sizes to a maximum of 100x200
hexes. All other Steel Panthers based games offer three map sizes to a
maximum of 100x80 hexes. This change allows you to play a game on a simulated
battlefield of up to 50 square Kilometres! - map sizes: 40x100, 60x100,
80x100, 100x100, 120x100, 140x100, 160x100, 180x100, 200x100.
SPWW2
V3 now gives you up to fifteen levels of terrain to work with.
All other Steel Panthers based games allow only three elevations above
ground level.
SPWW2
V3 now allows each player to command up to 500 units. The previous limit
for SPWW2 was 200. The maximum number of formations per side has been
increased to 200, it was about 50 before.
SPWW2
V3 has removed many of the previous terrain editing restrictions in the
original SP games. Now, every terrain feature except swamp and pavement
can be edited into any level on a map. Cultivated fields and multi-hex
buildings can be placed on any level. This new feature is not simply restricted
to hand made maps and scenarios.
Computer
generated maps will now use 24 variables when creating a map. Previous
SP map generation routines used only 10 variables and only 6 of those
actually caused changes to the maps .As a result, you will be presented
with MUCH more interesting computer generated maps than ever before.
AI map
deployment has been completely overhauled and the computer set up has
been made much more challenging than in the previous versions of the game.
There
have been an additional 20 terrain tile SHP file SETS added to the game
so as to allow old features such as crops to be edited onto higher elevations.
We have added numerous new functional terrain features such as Snowdrifts,
Light snow, Rice paddies, Mud, Orchards, Impassable Terrain, Hedgerows,
and Trenches.
Snowdrifts,
mud, soft sand, rice paddies, hedgerows and crossing of trenches are liable
to cause vehicles to stick, mud being the worst, soft sand and snow drifts
less so.
Terrain
descriptive text can now be added on scenario maps.
Elevations
can be changed right on the map being edited so if you wish to place a
small elevation change in a map to break up LOS, that can now be done.
SPWW2
V3 now has over 237 unique battle locations built into it. With the increased
number of map variables the code uses you will now see computer generated
maps that could only have been hand made before. ( And with the added
elevations and new terrain could never have been made before ) For example;
Hedgerows are auto generated in Normandy maps, Raised dike roads in Holland,
Pacific maps will have rice paddies and raised rice paddy bunds. Streams
create valleys across the map now rather than run up and down hillsides.
Cultivated fields may be bordered by trees and the fields themselves are
much more realistically generated than in the past. You will find maps
that contain rolling hills covered in high grass or deep ravines that
cut across flat plateaux.
We have
added over 100 new unit classes to the SPOBS Many of these have special
characteristics such as ski troops which move faster than regular infantry
in snow terrain. There are now 169 unit classes in SPWW2 V3. Listed in
MM
We have
added new code modifiers to the Orders of Battle which allow us to create
formations with increased or decreased battle experience and morale. This
has allowed us to create Elite and sub standard formations which gives
us much greater freedom to create more historically accurate formations
for the game. More units and formations may be added to the Orders of
Battle in the future, as will battalion command formations.
Appropriate
points are now charged depending on the national characteristics when
that option is selected. If your base experience for that year is above
70, you will be charged more points, if less, your troops will cost less.
Contrast this to previous SP versions where some nations received a free
bonus and others such as the French in 1940 were paying full cost for
less capable units. Elite units such as SS will now cost over and above
the national base cost, but less capable units like Volksturm will cost
below the national average. | ault' you will
get your battles as per the battle generator terrain. In other words,
close enough to the long campaign for certain select opponent pairings,
e.g. Germany vs Russia from June 1941 onwards , The British vs Germans
from the beginning of 1941 onwards, the Americans vs Germans from Tunisia
to the end of the war in Europe and the USMC vs Japan from 1942 to the
end of the war. The river assault battle type has been temporarily removed
from the campaign.
There
is a severe bug in the original river assault code when more than a certain
number of assault troops have rafts added, which will cause a memory leak
and overwrite your preferences before eventually causing a crash. We will
fix this later, but for now please limit river assaults to scenario games
only, or where small numbers of assault troops are used.
Campaign
core is 100 units as per SP1 this should be half max (200), also the 125
given before was over the max of 120 units allowed for a beach assault.
We will further address this issue in version 3.0 when we increase the
number of units and formations available in the game.
Campaign
support points values have been changed based on the real value of your
troops points (adjusted for experience etc.), and battle type. No more
350 support points for every battle. Assault support points can now be
800 or so. A bottom end cap allows a decent support base for small cores,
and a top end cap is used to limit elite cores from simply wiping the
floor with the AI.
PBEM
The main
problem with PBEM is the user unfriendly nature of the process. We intend
to address that later, but for now a few minor changes have been made
which we hope may help avoid user errors, the commonest form of PBEM problem.
The 'exit'
button is removed from the password screen, as if one exits the game during
this phase, the game data is corrupted. Also added (hopefully) more meaningful
help strings on the password entry scheme when you hover your mouse over
the buttons. NB - when setting up a secure PBEM game, as player No 2 -
when you get your initial turn and open it to purchase your forces, do
not under ANY circumstances exit from the purchase screen - go through
the entire process and enter your password, then save the game. Any exit
between the initial load by player 2 for purchase and before the entry
of the password and subsequent exit to the deployment screen (the one
with the 'AUTO DEPLOY', 'HUMAN DEPLOY' buttons with a red bar asking for
password entry at the top) - will totally trash the game as the security
'keys' are not set up until the password is entered and the game is initially
saved between the password entry screen and that deployment scheme. So
do not exit in the middle of buying troops, unless you are player 1 and
wish to abandon this game entirely.
I have
added (hopefully) more meaningful error messages when security warnings
arise than the previous 'programmer geek speak' with lots of exclamation
marks (!!!).
"Security
violation - Corrupt saved game file" Something dreadfully wrong has gone
wrong with the PBEM data file.
"Security
violation - Executable corrupt - Reinstall Game" Maybe someone was poking
new values into the .Exe?.
"Security
alert - Player 1 MOB file not found" "Security alert - Player 2 MOB file
not found" The game was unable to find the required mob - did you delete
it somehow?.
"Security
alert - Player 2 MOB file corrupt" "Security alert - Player 1 MOB file
corrupt" You MUST play the PBEM game right through with the identical
pair of mobs in place on BOTH player's PCs. This one means that one of
the mobs has changed, or if you are player 2 and this is the first move
- player 1 and you have different mobs, so ask him to send you his or
otherwise resolve this issue. The likeliest reason for this is somebody
loaded their mobs into Mobhack or another editor during the game. NO mob
changes are allowed during the lifetime of the PBEM game on both
player's PCs so do any mob hacking in a different installation of the
game than the one you play PBEM on.
"Security
alert - Player 1 has already played this turn?" "Security alert - Player
2 has already played this turn?" This means you are most likely trying
to reopen a move you have completed, and have either not yet sent to your
opponent, or have done so and not received the reply back yet. This error
- trying to open a played move - does not corrupt the PBEM data any longer.
"Security
violation - Cause unknown" Well - if you get that one, I am equally baffled
as well!
NOTE
- the 'unable to load mobxxx' error will sometimes be seen when attempting
to load a saved game of any type - but especially a PBEM game - which
was unreadable or corrupt in some manner. It is most often seen when a
move from a different version of SPWW2 is sent over. PBEM games are NOT
able to be transferred between different versions of the executable. Regular
save games are (but will not be when we go over to 400 a side), and scenarios
are as well. We hope to provide a scenario conversion utility when we
change to 800 units maximum in a later version.
Battle
Locations
Also
known as "batlocs." There are 248 standard battle locations
available to the battle map generator, and these are used in specific
dates and opponent pairings. Some of these produce city terrain - e.g.
USSR vs Germany in December of 42 will give you Stalingrad, Canada vs
Germany in 12/43 will have you fighting in the town of Ortona in Italy.
Countries should now take the "correct" map side in the main, but still
a few may need ironing out. In addition to the standard
locations, the game can 'synthesize' appropriate batlocs in certain
situations by taking an existing batloc type that fits the terrain and
renaming it to be appropriate to the current opponents.
Other
Items
Soviet
'horde' extra points bonus removed. Soviets use normal points values multipliers.
They no longer get 50% on top of the agreed points level.
Japanese
infantry will now pull back but after taking higher casualties than other
nations, and they will no longer stay pinned and be slaughtered. Japanese
will retreat where others rout. Japanese will not rout, so will rally
faster after a setback. Japanese scout planes will retreat on damage like
other scout planes, not sit still in 'permanent retreat'.
The 1
hex to-hit bonus is based on experience and pin state, and is slightly
reduced if firer moved. (NB - for those who wonder why they cannot hit
at 1 hex - target speed is a factor, as is your speed - so if the target
did 30 mph, and you charged up to him at 30 mph - there is a 60 mph speed
difference that being at 1 hex helps, but does not remove completely !)
Civil
wars - if both sides are the same nation, player 2 uses a different flag
for victory hexes and ID tags. This does not apply to the encyclopaedia,
or the turn indicator flag at RHS of the screen, it is there to help you
tell things apart on the battlefield is all, and you will both be called
'USA'. Civil war is good for human vs human 'chess' play - where both
forces are drawn from the same toolkit, and so the difference is more
down to pure generalship.
Landed
gliders now convert class to a truck type - so are far easier to shoot
up on the ground. As air units before - even when landed - they were very
difficult to hit even at 1 hex landed beside you. This problem still exists
for spotter planes when landed, as they have to be able to take off again
- but will be fixed in a future release.
Russians
and Australians are now less likely to surrender, more likely to fight
on or retire. We will be expanding the list of national characteristics
in Version 3.0.
The A0
units will no longer be placed on transport when "auto deploy" is used.
This increases the life expectancy of the AI's commanding officer considerably.
Trucks will now pick up, as will jeeps etc. In the AI's or "auto" deploy.
Trucks and APC's will pick up MG teams - tanks will not use them as riders.
Snipers will not be picked up as AI tank riders.
In snow,
there is a possibility of vision being further reduced to represent snowstorms
etc.
The main
page uses buttons, not the dial. All menu screen graphics have been upgraded
as well.
Infantry,
on becoming pinned, are now classed as stationary targets, i.e. not as
moving at the speed they were before the pinning fire was received.
Rifle
and MG suppression on AFVs has been reduced, small arms hits from under
3 hexes may still retreat or rout AFVs, but long range small arms fire
is merely an annoyance now.
A hit
by a shell fired in indirect fire will now throw any tank riders off a
tank with possible casualties, just like direct fire.
Close
assault code is nearer original SSI's spec code, modified slightly. Both
sides of the assault can take more suppression, infantry squads who fail
an assault can be spotted, infantry AT will occasionally fire, infantry
who move and then assault are severely handicapped. (Note that the movement
includes transport movement, so charging riders in a HT 12 hexes and then
offloading to assault a target is less of a reliable tactic now).
The number
of smoke grenades issued to infantry has been reduced
The chance
of bridges not being blown in a river crossing slightly - still very rare
Several
artillery types (e.g. SP ARTY) were classed as armour, so did not get
artillery command ratings - now they do.
Moving
infantry is now much more vulnerable, especially out in the open. Try
not to move over 1 hex if under fire - and passengers count the vehicle
speed when debussing, to represent being tightly packed on exit. Just
debussed infantry are therefore highly vulnerable if caught at that point.
When
fighting versus infantry at 1 hex or less, units which fail a test based
on current morale, experience and suppression will 'panic' and have reduced
to hit chances occasionally - this is done on a line by line basis. Units
which panic badly can have suppression added to them. This allows good
quality troops to close with poor quality and/or shaken infantry at 1
hex with a reasonable chance - previously the 1 hex bonuses tended to
favour the defender far too much, even if severely pinned.
Bugs
Squashed
Heavily
damaged squads being able to rally to Ready, but unable to move is fixed.
Too many
secondary weapons were being removed when damage was received - less now,
so depleted squads should have a shot of LMG, AT weapon or hand grenade
at move start - though movement will reduce this as will suppression.
Landed
gliders now become a 'truck' type - so are reasonably easy to shoot up,
as they are no longer classed as 'aircraft targets'.
There
was a bug that was giving very low leader rally ratings when the user
preferences for 'national settings' was unselected. This has been fixed.
An annoying
bug/cheat has been removed whereby if you right clicked on a hex which
had hidden enemy units in it , your unit did NOT turn and this gave away
the fact there were enemy units there.
An annoying
bug/cheat where the hit locations of unspotted armour was reported by
artillery shells has been removed. Unspotted vehicles now behave the same
as infantry - only if destroyed will you be informed.
Found
out why the close assault code sometimes crashed the PC in weird situations
as well - squashed. The annoying bug where off map crews etc. shot up
your off map batteries has been addressed.
A bug
has been fixed where the AI random map generator would place buildings
on rough terrain, this was an illegal placement. Side effect of this is
that you now are not allowed to place buildings on rough in the scenario
editor, nor does the scenario editor allow you to place buildings in lake
hexes any more.
Vehicles
should no longer eject 2 crews on occasions
Vehicles
no longer 'explode' when crew bail out with low morale.
Removed
a bug where shooters at infantry were getting suppression reduced.
Wrong
protection factors etc. were being used for HE and artillery fire for
FO vehicles and a few others..
Artillery,
rifle and MG fires now more effective, and trucks will be destroyed by
indirect fire HE. There was a bug where stationary vehicles were classed
as moving when firing - accuracy is now better for stationary firers.
Invisible
buildings - in cities etc. - this seems to be related to some building
graphics not covering the required area, we have found one major culprit
and replaced that graphic. There will likely be more to track down.
What
was introduced in version 2.0:
SPWW2
is essentially a new game. Although it is an offshoot of our earlier work,
SP2WW2, the two games are not totally compatible. Steel Panthers:WW2 is
meant to replace SP2WW2. This is a general overview of the changes made
to create SPWW2 and does not include the dozens of "Nuts and Bolts" changes
made to help improve the game.
Security
for PBEM games: The changes include
1) Normal
scenarios may now be played as password-protected email games.
2) Passwords
have been encrypted.
3) The
number of times each player has loaded and exited a game is recorded and
can be displayed by his opponent.
4) All
email games are autosaved when the user exits the game.
5) The
user cannot unzip the game, play it and then unzip it again, to improve
his score.
6) The
user cannot install a second copy of the executable and use one for test
playing.
7) No
saved email game can be edited in any version of the executable.
8) Both
players in an email game must use identical MOB files, throughout the
game - i.e. any change of the MOB is detected as a security violation.
Combat
System Enhancements:
1) Moving
a unit now reduces available shots and shooting reduces available movement
points. A unit can loose up to ½ of its shots or movement, this way. The
losses are interactive. You will no longer be able to charge in, fire
all your shots, then run for cover. Infantry transported in a vehicle
will also lose shots depending as to how much the transport moved.
2) Movement
TO HIT penalties have been removed, but all units except for aircraft
and vehicles with gun stabilisers now loose target acquisition when they
move.
3) Units
now gain back some shots at the end of the turn to use for opportunity
fire during the enemy movement phase. Up until now, if you fired all your
shots, you have nothing left for opportunity fire, which allowed your
opponent the chance to charge in and fire point-blank. This amount is
randomised, and based on unit experience as well.
4) Indirect
fire against AFVs has been made less lethal and more suppressive. The
AFV should get hit less often and when hit, less should be track hits.
The vehicle will take more suppression, however and crews may bail out
and run, especially if the tracks are broken and the vehicle is immobilised
5) The
delay for indirect fire has been increased. In the past, units who self-targeted
received no delay penalty. The penalties now range from +1 turn to +3
turns. This will make pre-registered locations and artillery spotters
more important in the game.
6) The
artillery fall of shot spread has been modified. It is generally a more
narrow spread than it used to be depending upon the accuracy of the ordinance
being fired. Some shots still can fall quite wide of the intended impact
point, especially if the spotter has no LOS to the impact point so calling
in artillery 'danger close' to your own forces is still quite risky.
7) Infantry
are now MUCH harder to spot, especially by vehicles or when moving slowly
in good cover. Buttoned up, turretless vehicles are the worst at spotting.
Size zero, sniper class units of high experience are the hardest to spot.
Since infantry is now harder to spot and harder to hit you will notice
that firing on infantry will produce fewer kills and more suppression
than you may be used to.
8) Japanese
units will no longer surrender, retreat or rout.
9) The
USMC will no longer surrender.
10) Infantry
can now only throw smoke grenades one hex.
11) Unit
weapons ROF calculation was enhanced. The ROF now considers the size of
the round, number of crewmen, unit ROF and crew experience.
12) Terrain
defensive values were enhanced. All terrain, other than clear, now offers
some protection. So, units will take fewer casualties and rout out of
stone buildings less often.
13)
Infantry units can now close assault more effectively. Attacks may now
also be on the side or rear armour.
14) Computer
opponent set up is now less predictable. They may set up near the right
or left edges of the map or near both or neither. This way, the player
will have to plan to protect his flanks. This has also been set up to
be unpredictable. You will not always see the same units doing the same
thing with each game. In particular, when advancing versus an AI force,
you can no longer assume the top and bottom edges of the map are free
of defenders. AI reserve formations will often be there - the old 'form
a column and crawl along the map edge' human vs. AI tactic is now extremely
risky. Be prepared to be in the middle of a concentric ring of closing
AI formations once taking an objective.
15) The
ROF for artillery using indirect fire has been increased.
16) Stacking
limits have been removed. Press the keyboard SHIFT key to enter a hex
that already contains another unit
17) Units
moving through hexes that already contain other infantry, vehicles, bunkers,
wreaks etc. Will have one movement point subtracted for every unit which
is already in the hex. This is in addition to all movement penalties imposed
for the terrain. For example, a tank moving through a hex that already
contains four infantry units and two wreaks will lose an additional 6
movement points on top of the cost of the terrain in that hex.
General
Changes and Enhancements:
1) Leader
leadership and morale values were converted to WW II levels.
2) Unit
experience and moral values were converted to WW II levels.
3) Counter
battery values were converted to WW II levels.
4) Air
superiority values were converted to WW II levels.
5) Dates
were changed to appropriate period and will now run from 1910 to 1949.
For Ver 2.0 we have only supplied MOBs that generally go back as far as
1930, more usually 1935. Future releases or updates MAY extend back further
6) Battles
will now take place in generally appropriate geographic locations. We
have tried to make non-historical battles occur somewhere believable,
rather than just being in the desert, as was the case before.
7) A
number of enhancements were made to the scenario editor, including the
ability to place grass and sand dunes on hills.
8) The
ability to change the side where each force begins the game when creating
scenarios was added.
9) A
cargo aircraft class of unit was added. Taking off costs half the planes
movement points and climbing costs 10 movement points. Landing costs all
remaining movement points.
10) The
glider class of unit was redefined and enhanced. This speed of this class
is halved each turn, until it must land. Once landed, it may not take
off again nor will it rout off map if fired upon.
11) The
ability to assign individual sound files to unit movement and weapons
was added. Note that this will require the KobHack for SPWW2 editor. This
editor is deliberately not being released publicly at this time, for further
explanation, see below.
12) Several
new sound files were added that are unique to specific weapons.
13) A
leg artillery forward observer class has been added with enhanced spotting
ability.
14) Month
of UNIT availability and out of service month has been added. NB - formation
availability has not been addressed yet due to lack of time. Some formations
will appear without a corresponding troop type.
15) Players
with very fast computers can now adjust the map scrolling speed with a
hotkey (SEE: HOTKEYS, at the end of these notes).
16) The
AI will now pick up and carry infantry on tanks in the same manner it
did in Steel Panthers 1. As well, if you press the " Load infantry onto
nearest vehicle" button in the deploy screen the infantry will load onto
your tanks if they have the carrying capacity to do so.
17) There
are now over 200 NEW icons in SPWW2 over and above the standard WWII set
found in Steel Panthers 1 or the WWII section of Steel Panthers 3. Added
to this are dozens of vehicle icons that have been redone and enhanced.
There is also a new set of menu screens, Control buttons, reworked Terrain
Icons and a completely new set of factory buildings. You will also notice
that many of the flat roofed buildings have been replaced with peaked
roof structures.
Highlighted
Features:
Gliders
The Glider routine is much improved from SP2WW2. The most noticeable change
is that when landed they will stay on the ground. We are hoping to improve
this further in Ver 3.0 but an important thing to remember is that these
are for HUMAN USE ONLY. Do NOT give these to the AI to use. As mentioned
above, each turn gliders are in the air they will lose half their movement
points until they must land. At present, landing is still a little too
much under the human player's control - we hope to fix this later. Also,
note that sometimes an unloaded glider will not be visible to the opponent
if he did not have LOS when it landed and unloaded a minor bug we hope
to address later. The number of countries with gliders as also was expanded
to reflect that they DID exist in other nations TO&E as well (although
rarely used). Gliders are now included with Italy, Russia and Japan. Gliders
are for Human players only. Do NOT give them to the AI to use.
Light
Observation Aircraft Light observation aircraft may land, but once
landed may not take off again that turn. They will still "hover" if they
are not moved. We strongly recommend that if you are playing a game with
them that they be moved their maximum movement allowance each turn even
if its at the back of your side of the map. These are NOT artillery spotters.
They do not get the spotting bonus that either FO vehicles or leg FOO
units get but they can spot for the FO. These are unavailable to the AI
so these are strictly a Human controlled unit and are best suited to PBEM
games. For this class and for the air transport class, as with gliders,
landing is still far too much under the player's control. We hope to fix
this. Also, those classes, which take off, will in future editions require
that some form of 'clear runway' path. Currently, you can land and take
off in a hex in the middle of a town. Doing this is really 'gamesmanship'
- and yet another reason to limit these classes to the human player to
be used in the 'right spirit' of the things, and not to bend the rules.
Try to limit yourself to landings and takeoffs in a 'believable' place
- along a road, say. There are no limits to this as yet, just the players
honesty. These classes are currently wide open to misuse by the gamesmanship
sort of 'demi-cheater'. If playing a human, agree pre-game on acceptable
usage of these things, when negotiating points, realism settings battle
type etc.
Air
Transports Air transports have been added for games where you might
want to simulate the Air Landing of troop reinforcements but it has also
been used in scenarios to attempt to simulate paratroop drops as well.
Our plans for Ver 3.0 include the addition of paratroop drops from aircraft
with the drop zones chosen in much the same manner as artillery is plotted
now with the aircraft entering and exiting the map in much the same manner
as air strikes. For now though the Air transports stay on the map (UNLESS
ROUTED).
Artillery
Changes
1) You
will need larger guns than before to create craters, and to drop bridges.
2) Artillery
effects on armour are now mainly morale effects - artillery will break
up armoured assaults, but by making tanks button up and possibly retreat
rather than by destroying them.
3) This
does not mean that artillery, even mortars, cannot kill tanks. However
it's more likely that a track hit will occur, and the crew will bail out
if moral is poor. If you want to actually kill tanks, then go for 6 inch
(150mm) or larger guns.
4) Artillery
is primarily an anti infantry weapon, but it does this more by morale
strikes than by kills. Artillery kills over time - do not expect one salvo
to remove a squad.
Infantry
Changes
All small
arms will suppress more than they kill. We made infantry harder to spot,
which in turn makes them harder to hit which makes them harder to kill.
When troops are pinned they are facedown in the dirt and even harder to
spot which in turn makes them harder to hit and kill. So as a result there
are fewer kills and more suppression in SPWW2 and infantry will more likely
retreat to someplace safe and rally then re-enter battle rather than be
slaughtered at the first few shots.
Note
that sometimes when infantry become pinned, then the LOS is recalculated
and can be broken due to the squad having now hit the dirt. So you can
have the situation of firing a shot and then no longer having a LOS to
the target. The same is true for your own squads that are fired on. When
they hit the dirt, their spotting ability is reduced. Infantry is deadly
against unsupported armour. If you run a tank down a road without infantry
in support the tank WILL die if it bumps into enemy infantry. If you plan
to move through territory held by enemy infantry then you had best slow
down your tanks, dismount your infantry and move them together to advance.
The infantry should advance a hex or two in front of your tanks so the
armour can provide direct support should the infantry bump into something
nasty. You CAN use tank riders to (hopefully) disrupt close assaults,
but these guys will tend to pay the price for acting as a form of 'reactive
armour If you suspect infantry - dismount the squads and let THEM find
the ambush. They spot better on foot in any case!
If you
STRONGLY suspect an ambush at a particular point - dust it off with artillery,
then scout with dismounts, with the tanks supporting them. Don't blunder
into infantry zones - at least drop a barrage, and then follow up close
behind this. Artillery is the best cure for infestations of infantry and
AT guns you have.
Historical
Design Notes
General Points
SPWW2 has both the
month of introduction added as well as the Out of Service month. This
is a major improvement over Steel Panthers 2, which only caused things
to go in and out of service by the year. (To be fair, the month of introduction
is far less critical in a Modern era game but it is essential for World
War Two due to the rapid and important improvements made to armour and
weapons throughout the course of the war.) Note that this applies to formations
as well now, unlike earlier versions.
You will sometimes
find duplicates of things - for example a Stug may be there twice, once
as say an assault gun and once as a tank type. This is usually to let
the player use that vehicle in 2 different formation types - e.g. in a
regular Stug company, or as a replacement for tanks in a panzer company.
Sometimes it is just mainly for the AI's benefit. This is because the
SP formation type is based on unit class - there is no 'MBT or Stug' way
of doing them other than duplicating unit types, or formations.
"This machine gun/mortar
has 2/3 MGS or mortars". We reduced the hordes of little singleton MG
and mortar units and combined these to form MG or mortar sections, not
individual weapons, for most armies. Count the number of crewmen - it'll
be 8-10 odds like a rifle squad. This cuts down the unit count. In addition
the combined units are much more effective, and so expensive points wise.
The Machine guns are either Medium MGS or Heavy water cooled MGS mounted
on tripods or wheeled mounts. The LMGs are integrated into the normal
infantry squads.
The horse and cart
is available in some armies as a medium truck, or a heavy truck. It is
mainly of use as a cheap gun shifter - do not try to take infantry into
combat on them! There is also a new sound for these as well ( Note: the
code has been set up to provide a default "horse and wagon" sound F/X
for any "truck" class with a speed set to 6 or less) There are bicycle
troops added for a few countries early in the war. These have been put
in the Motorcycle class for now but we hope in a future release to give
then a class of their own.
Some formations have
plus (+) and (-) added to them. Those with a + usually in military speak
means reinforced; those with a - then something is detached. In general
this is the case, but I also use + to note for example batteries with
extra ammo load outs. A rifle co (+) may have support weapons added from
the battalion support co, or trucks, a (++) when seen often has the weapons
with light trucks, or even more weapons than usual. Or an infantry company
might be designated light or with a (-) this usually has the heavy weapons
deleted. Best way to find out is to look, and compare with other units.
Note that we have
lumped most scout patrols together with snipers as 'sniper' class - this
freed up an infantry class for other use. They are then in scout/sniper
formations - choose from a patrol or a marksman as required. PS - unlike
other SP editions, the sniper if used correctly by a thinking player is
quite a pain to other human players . The chief thing to remember is to
place them where there is cover to which they can retire (break LOS),
and to break contact (LOS) when spotted or after a couple of shots - if
located they do not last long, so plenty of scoot with your shoot. Then
sneak up to (move slowly) another hiding position and engage. Better to
sneak into a new fire position on one move, but not to fire until next
move when stationary, so less detectable.
SMG range is only
150 yards - 3 hexes, which is an extreme maximum range for the ammunition
they used, but it was decided that from a gaming perspective 3 hexes was
better than 2. They are deadly at close quarters, but any SMG armed troops
trying to fight rifle armed will pay a heavy price if the rifles can engage
at over 150 yards - which is most places really. I tend to avoid SMG troops
in campaign 'core' forces and only buy them as support if it is say, a
city bash. But they can be useful as tank riders, so long as not then
caught standing out in the open by someone with even an M1 carbine at
range.
SP WW2 tripod mounted
MGS now reach out a long way. The key to their use is to engage enemy
infantry from long range - beyond rifle range. Or place them a few hexes
behind the rifle line, and fire in support of the fire fights overhead
of your grunts. They can be very nasty indeed if you place them carefully
say behind a hill or building, and then engage from the flank while being
protected by the obstacle. If the enemy has no tank force to engage the
MGS with direct HE (so early British tanks can be ignored till close)
open up with MMG at 20 hexes or so on any soft stuff you see. We hope
to give MMGs some form of linear area fire effect into more than just
the target hex later on, but this is still just an idea.
By the way - when
setting up pillboxes and bunkers, you can actually turn them by right
clicking (many people seem to forget this). Thus you can then set up nests
of mutually supporting bunkers with crossfire. Or you can set one up behind
blocking terrain to fire flank shots at passers by as with MGS above.
This adjustment is available in the Deployment Phase only - but if your
opponent is not aware of this little feature, it can be quite upsetting
sometimes.
In SPWW2 AT guns are
MUCH more dangerous than in SP1 (or SP3)- there they commonly fired 1
shot, were instantly detected and destroyed by moving tanks. NOT SO NOW!
In WW2 the AT gun was a chief tank killer. The Germans in the Desert would
often flaunt some panzer at over-keen British armoured cavalry units,
who would then chase them, while the Germans retired through an AT gun
ambush position. Exit British cruisers. Antitank guns in SPWW2 are for
the most part set to size ZERO to better reflect that these things were
easy to conceal and difficult to detect in battle, especially from a tank.
Unlike other SP series
games, off map artillery is purchasable in all games. The AI will now
buy off map artillery in non-assault missions, so you will need to think
about counter battery. In general your guns must have the same, or better
range than the opponent, and you get more counter battery fires if you
leave the battery 'idle' than if you keep firing it. Also, better-experienced
gunners fire more often and to better effect. BUT - the better-experienced
batteries are the ones that you can plot with lower delays on map. So
it is a case of swings and roundabouts - you will have to make the decision.
SPWW2 artillery is
not cheap and deliberately so. It is quite effective now, and in any case
unless the battle was an assault, then most armies would use about 1 battery
per battalion in combat - so buying an entire artillery brigade of 9 batteries
in a meeting engagement is now more prohibitive. If you have a force of
3-4 companies or so, budget for one battery if you want historicity. (For
those of you who are new to military stuff - a battalion is a group of
usually 3 to 4 companies)
Some of these off
map 'batteries' come with 1 unit, some with 2. Why? Many armies used a
4-gun battery such as Germany. Others used 6 as a basis, so these nations
come with 2 by 3 gun platoons to a battery. The British used an 8 gun
organisation, so 2 troops (= platoon in UK artillery orgspeak, and cavalry
as well. USA 'troops' are company-sized units) of 4 guns in a battery,
though sometimes they used 6 for some heavies, and sometimes 4 gun extra
heavy batteries.
There are some light
trucks that are classed as 'APC-wheeled' - this is to help the AI, or
in some cases to allow a specific light 4WD truck only in formations,
not the medium trucks. It helps the AI because it currently will not load
infantry onto trucks. We hope to address this problem in a later release.
Country Descriptions

The
following country descriptions
were written for the original version of this game and then usually had
chronological addendums added on instead of being entirely re-written
for
each version. The result is that the newcomer to the game can be
somewhat confused by the descriptions. We have endeavoured to
re-write the descriptions a little to smooth over the rough edges, but
we have left it mostly in the chronological addendum style of the
original. In the future we hope to re-write this section entirely.
Nazi Germany
1930 to 1946
The extra year is
there to allow a what if the war lasted a bit longer phase, and so some
of the more likely fancy projected kit that might have appeared, like
the Panther II. They are NOT extended to 1949 for the hypothetical WW3
scenario as there is no way the Allies would have tolerated the remnants
of this regime fighting alongside them.
Early on the real
tanks should be PzKw I and II's. Panzer III and IV numbers were very limited
early on - you should fight France with many Skoda tanks and Panzer IIs
as was the case in reality.
Germany was almost
as entirely unprepared for WW2 as the allies; the German army and navy
were working to a 1943 or 44 kick off. The annexing of Czechoslovakia
meant they took over one of Europe's chief armament industries and coincidentally
they nearly doubled their tank strength, taking the first Pz38(t) right
off the end of the production line. Not to mention that the severe and
chronic artillery shortage was somewhat alleviated.
The invasion of Poland
got the German armed forces into a war footing before they were actually
ready for the game. Germany never had enough to go around, so this army
has to be one of the most kleptomaniac ones ever seen. It was always,
in other than the key SS and Panzer divisions, an amazing polyglot mix
of kit.
As with the kaleidoscope
collection of weaponry, there were any number of TOE charts for German
units, most of which were in reality pure central command wish lists.
Darned few started off on the official footing - many had more - but well
under strength was more the rule, especially for units at the front. There
are 2 panzer companies - a 17 tank and a 14. Both organisations were in
use by both the Heer and the Waffen SS. A HQ of 2 and 3 4 or 5 tank platoons.
Half-tracks - the
heavy half-tracks with weapons are subclassed so only the one per platoon
with 37mm or 28mm gun can be selected. The light half-track carries only
a half squad, so is in the utility vehicle section- carry scouts or HQ
units in these only.
There are SdKfz 251 half-tracks
with box mounted rockets - one has flame rockets. (NOTE: These 251 Ht's
with rockets have a MINIMUM and MAXIMUM range. If you find that they cannot
be targeted you will have to move them until they can be fired. The acceptable
indirect band is quite narrow.)
The Sturmtiger is
SP-artillery, so it can fire indirect if desired, but slowly. They are
better fired over open sights at close ranges.
The later 15cm sIG
has a HEAT round - towed or tracked mounts. The 15cm gun is one of your
best grunt-removers, and the USSR AI quite likes grunts (hint!).
Tanks with the NbW92
have multiple smoke dischargers. It could throw a HE grenade shower as
well.
The Panther Uhu (Eagle
Owl) has night fighting gear - in reality a receptor for IR light from
a searchlight on a separate half-track, but beyond the SP game mechanics.
Some later what-if tanks have IR as well, but the Uhu was pretty much
the only real combat use of night aided vision.
Some later German
planes have SD-2HE and SD-4AT bomblets. The SD-2 were 2kg anti-personal
bombs and the SD-4 were 4kg hollow charge Antitank bombs carried in boxes
mounted under the wing and dropped a hundred or so at a time. In SPWW2
the SD-2 have been set up to provide a high HE kill against infantry with
very little effect on armour The SD-4 has high HE penetration values against
armour but very low HE kill so these will have little or no effect on
infantry. Make sure you drop the correct bombs on the correct target.
Remember: SD-2 HE for infantry, SD-4AT for tanks. The best uses for these
is to wait until your opponent has bunched up then bring in the bomblet-carrying
plane.
The amphibian tanks
are added really for fun, for Sealion. In reality, they ran on the bottom
on their tracks with an air float above. SP thinks they can swim and so
fire, but then it does this for the DD tank as well. However, these could
be a nasty surprise on a map with a lake or large river.
Early PzKw IV's are
classed as close support tanks, same as Stugs. The Pz IV was the close
support tank to Pz III and really only became the main battle tank when
the PzKw III turret ring was too small for long 75mm cannon.
The 3-gun light flak
section is really for battalion 20mm AA guns. The 2 gun section and 4
gun battery organisation is for medium flak - 37mm, and Vierlings.
German SPA has low
ammo loads so if used you should consider ammunition carriers as well.
There is a what-if
ATGM from June 1945 on. It is the only ATGM in the game
OB rewritten by Claus
Bonnesen and Helge Bertram for version 4.0 .
V5-- Pre-WW2 and Late War have been expanded. Recoilless rifles have
been added. Panzergrenadier formations have been revised. Luftwaffe ground
troops, bicycle troops, police units & more have been added. More armour
has been added, and existing armour modified to be a better historical
representation. More air units added, more diverse defensive units added,
and more commonly used captured equipment added
V6 - OB refined and several new units added. Formations revised, picklist tweaked.
for V7 -- lots of new units, new weapons, new formations and new
loadouts for planes. Proper Mountain troops and seperate ski
troops are now available. Expanded choices for the reserve,
security, police, SS, Volksgrenadier, Volksturm and Ost units are
available. More variety in anti-tank weaponry. Much more variety in captured kit. More precision in
formation organization. A near-complete set of vehicles in all
their various colourful glory -- early war grey, late-war camo, desert
tan and desert camo, winter white and winter camo. The vehicles
will appear in the correct paint job in the correct time period.
Special attention was given to the armoured vehicles.
Soft-skinned trucks and such received some variety in paint, but not as
much -- desert tan and winter white along with the standard German grey.
Poland
1930 to 1949
The expanded dates
assume the expatriate Poles stay on the Allied side in a hypothetical
WW3 with the USSR. The ex-patriot Poles were some of the best soldiers
in the war.
The German-Polish
campaign was not quite the walkover many believe it to be. It is worth
remembering that no other country was invaded on two fronts by both Nazi
Germany and Soviet Russia.
This MOB is focused
on 1939, then the Polish remnants in France (assume most armour, aircraft,
etc. there is French support units), then as a British ally for the rest
of the war.
In 1938 or so, Poland
had a dispute with Czechoslovakia and annexed some territory (Cieszyn)
peacefully - but a nice "what-if" for a battle or two. There was quite
a lot of early-war armour, and innovative designs - they had good engineers,
but a limited industrial base, and not enough money.
V5--Poland has been completely redone, all expanded,
armour, cavalry, air & infantry redone, dismounted cavalry formations,
3 partisan groups included, more planes, more armour, more everything.
The Polish forces are now faithfully represented in no less than four
different guises - Polish Army of the 1930s, the Polish forces present
during the French campaign in 1940, various Partisan factions, and the
British-equipped forces that won lasting fame during the campaigns in
Italy and North-western Europe. Thanks to contributions by 'Guderian',
the Polish riverine forces of the 1930s are also available for player
enjoyment.
For
V7 -- Order of battle has been expanded and refined. Armour units
researched and modified as per new information. More choices in
units, and more accurate formation organization.
Japan
1930 to 1949
The expanded dates
are to allow for an invasion of the home islands, and for it to take rather
longer than the Allies would have thought. Assume the A-bomb was a 'fizzle'
in that case. .
This was an infantry
and horse drawn army. It really was only a threat to the Western Allies
in 41 or so offensively. This was chiefly because the British empire forces
had been drawn off to fight Nazi Germany, and the US Army at that time
was a few garrisons in the Philippines and not much else even in the continental
USA. And the white man of the time tended to think themselves incredibly
superior over little yellow men who wore glasses. The Zero fighters and
the Long Lance torpedo came as a rude shock, as did the tenacity of the
Japanese soldier. Their brutality should not, for they had been demonstrating
this in Korea and China for some considerable time already. The determination
and bravery of the Japanese soldier combined with his beliefs that dying
on the field of battle for his Emperor was considered an honour and being
captured alive was a great dishonour was a bitter surprise to Allied troops.
The tenacious fighting of the Japanese troops until death caused difficulties
and delay to the Allied operations despite the considerable numerical
and technical advantage they enjoyed in the last years of the WWII.
Japanese infantry
was probably the best trained force on the world. The special night, and
close combat training were generally received by every soldier and from
1941 the jungle training was also started. In other armies only special
forces received such training. The army and the naval SNLF gained considerable
experience in the several China conflicts.
The Imperial Guards were an elite force. They fought in Malaya and later
on in China. Some sub units were stationed on Betio, too. Japan had a
Paratroop Division and later they begun to organise Airborne troops. The
Paratroops first saw action at Palembang in Sumatra.
Japanese tanks are
simply hopeless against anybody other than the Chinese. We have allowed
a few later types, but these were almost hand made, and if any were produced,
not more than 50 or so. But a home islands assault would have met a few
of these I suppose.
Japanese antitank
weaponry is also limited. The long 47mm gun can kill Shermans from the
flank, but the best weapon against tanks is infantry assault. This can
be by 'special attack' (i.e. suicide) Tokkou, in which case lunge mines
or satchel charges would be used. The Japanese also used glass gas grenades
against tanks - a choking tear gas, or cyanide gas. Use of these would
cause a crew bailout and these would then be dispatched. But these were
rare. The 70mm infantry gun has a HEAT round later on, but is not much
of a Sherman stopper, but Allied Grants and Stuarts were destroyed by
such weapons. In 1944 the Japanese developed a 70mm rocket launcher which
had good range and accuracy, but the penetrating power was lower than
a Bazooka. About 3000 were built but they were reserved for the defence
of the Japanese islands. Also they experimented with recoilless rifles
but those were never produced.
The 75mm Type 90 Field
Gun was pressed into ATG role in 1943, before then it has no AP ammo.
It served well against even the Sherman tanks. Later the modified version,
the Type 3 tank gun was built in the Chi-Nu. Beware, the Type 90 is not
an ATG! It has the size of a howitzer!
The 50mm grenade dischargers,
erroneously termed the 'Knee mortar' by some, broke the thigh of anyone
so stupid as to try firing it that way! It also proved quite effective
in AT work. There is a myth that Japan did not use mines. They certainly
did, but did not have vast quantities, and concentrated on AT mines. But
they preferred to use engineering obstacles such as tank traps. AT mines
therefore tended to be placed manually on tanks by special attack squads.
Japanese planes early
on were a rude surprise to the Allies, but this lead did not last long.
However they still produced outstanding designs such as the Ki.45 Toryu
with a 37mm and 20mm cannon in some variants, and the N1K2 Shiden-Kai
with 4 20mm cannon. In late 1945 the first Japanese jet appeared, the
Nakajima Kikka. Only prototypes did exist but by a hypothetical US invasion
they would have been produced in limited numbers.
Japanese artillery
was rare, but their mortars were always there and well handled. The 150mm
Type 97 Heavy Mortar was built in limited numbers about 110 of them were
built. The 32cm Spigot was a huge bomb launcher with a short barrel. They
were employed at Hong-Kong and on the Philippines presumably against fortifications.
The bicycle units
were raised in Indonesia and Indochina, where they utilised the fair road
network of the colonial countries.
Japanese Ski units
were stationed in Hokkaido and Manchuria. Combat records are unknown.
The rocket launcher
is mainly for scenarios. These could be launched from tubes or simply
off their sides on a ramp, but in some cases caused problems for the USMC.
The Japanese made
great use of snipers; hence there is a sniper unit that is a team of 2
as opposed to the standard single man.
The Armoured Boat
and the Gunboat are used in China to patrol the rivers. They have limited
carry capacity to lift small groups of infantry. The Gunboat and the Armed
Daihatsu were used to escort transports on the river. There were several
types of Daihatsu. This one represents the variant used for amphibious
landings.
The Ch-13 class Patrol
Boat is a submarine hunter and escort vessel. It was also used for shore
patrol and short range bombardments.
OB rewritten by Zoltán
"Kazan" Zajonskovsky for version 4.0. with special thanks to Akira Takizawa
(Taki).
V5--Pre-WWII
has been expanded and WWII formations modified. The Indian
National Army included for the Battle of India Campaign.
V6 -- Post-WWII hypothetical formations refined, more infantry options made available.
for V7 -- Fabulous new tank icons bring the Japanese armoured corps
alive. The new icons appear in green, camo, desert pink, desert
tan and dark olive-drab paint schemes historically matched to terrain
and time period. New units included the Naval Chi-Ha medium tank sporting
the (very) short 120mm naval gun. Armoured units have been expanded and
refined according to new information. More bunker options.
More sniper types, more captured equipment, more planes with a larger
variety of loadouts, more Home Island choices for the hypothetical
invasion of the home islands, more defensive choices for the Pacific Island battles. More formation choices for
infantry, tanks and artillery, with expanded weapon variety.
France
1930 to 1949
This
OOB originally focused on the 1940 campaign (but has been extensively
rewritten in later versions; see also the Army of Liberation notes
below for V 4.0 additions). Later it was designed as a sort-of Allied
force, after Tunisia the Free French & repatriated Vichy followed
US Army organisation There are also some Vichy and Maquis units, but
these were chiefly for scenario designers. If you want to try some of
the Free French vs. Vichy French squabbles, then you have to take
special care with the purchase and deployment -- the AI will purchase
Free French troops as the default. There are no plans to do a separate
Vichy OOB, but we hope to expand the possibilities within this OOB for
all French factions.
The 1940 French tanks
look good on paper, but suffered from many poor design qualities. Chiefly
a lack of radios and the use of single man turrets where the commander
was also loader and gunner. So these tanks have low radio percentages,
low ROF, and poor FC and RF. Still quite tough for the era though. The
Somua was good enough for the Germans to keep on and use against the Allies
in Normandy, and some were supplied to Italy.
Those with the 37mm
L21 gun will have a hard time killing a Pz II unless they come within
400 yards or so - this Puteaux gun was developed in WW1 really to throw
HE as infantry support. So H-35s will actually do rather well if they
act together with leg grunts and concentrate on killing German infantry,
smacking MG nests etc. The 37L21 uses 'sabot' AP ammo but only to give
a short range AP round in SPWW2 game terms - panzer2 frontally at maybe
2-3 hexes, (100-150 metres) if lucky!.
The French 47mm long
tank/AT gun is something German armour of the period will have to treat
with respect. Do not get into tank duels at long range with anything armed
with this gun. Unfortunately for France, they decided vast numbers of
the smaller 25mm gun were a better investment than 47mms.
Mechanised infantry
units are provided, but in reality these were very rare. The old WWI Renault
models 17 and 18 may not have seen combat in 1940, but over 1600 of these
were in deep reserve.
France really was
not in a good state for the fight in terms of national morale, especially
so after the outflanking of the Maginot Line, it is best to have their
Troop Quality low, 65 or so if you are using 75 or 80 for Germany (1940
national characteristics reflect this). However some units were significantly
better than average, so you may prefer to play against elites, such as
De Gaulle's 4e DCR, or the excellent Colonial troops such as the Chasseurs
Afriques.
V4 includes significant
changes to the French Army of Liberation units and formations. They are
now more comprehensive and accurate in terms of detail and use of French
names.
What is not widely
known is how effective the late-war French units were. The Army of Liberation
was essentially composed of French colonial troops and was later reinforced
with partisans who had been drafted into regular service. This force,
known as the French First Army, fought with an élan second to none
and conducted several campaigns against the Germans worthy of the name
'Blitzkrieg'. By the end of the war, the French had overrun the Black
Forest and a fair portion of Bavaria -- lending the French First Army
its motto: "Rhin et Danube".
The fascinating variety
of late war French troops is present in V4, including Goumiers, Legionnaires,
'Choc' commandos, Alpine troops, and the poorly equipped metropolitain
program troops of late 1944 and 1945.
In terms of organisation
and equipment, the French AL units are very similar to US units of the
same period, although there are small variations and some unique organisations
like the Goums.
Combined arms teams
can be easily purchased by buying "Cie Renforcee" formations.
These are infantry companies bolstered with armour, engineer, artillery,
and reconnaissance assets.
Unlike the French
Army of 1940, the French AL did not suffer from significant morale or
leadership problems. Many of the formations reflect the superior experience
and morale of the colonial and elite units.
OB rewritten by Claus
Bonnesen and Bill Wilson for version 4.0.
V5--Major revisions, new statistics for many weapons, many new/modified
units, new airborne formations, new tanks, most formations revised, Pre-war
& Free French & Post-war plus Colonial Forces have been expanded. The
1940 equipment has been significantly revised and new units such as armoured
cars, antiaircraft machine guns, and late war antiaircraft trucks have
been added. The discerning player will note the presence of captured Japanese
tanks in French post-war equipment, as well as the heavy ARL-44 tank.
V6 -- Generally more variety and historical accuracy for the 1940 campaign, as well as the Free French & Vichy forces.
For V7 -- France gets a complete set of new tank icons in various
colour schemes, but what really stands out for the french in this icon
set is that the icons were re-sized to be properly sized in relation to
the other vehicles. It is instructive to see the real size of the
French tanks compared to the German invaders. More variety in
pre-war, Free French, Vichy and Colonial choices. The Pre-War
forces have their historical availability dates tweaked, and the Free
French get a few interesting new units such as the Conus Gun. The
Vichy get a slightly expanded selection of units as well.
Great Britain
1930 to 1949
This
OB is mainly British Empire forces in the Western theatre. Therefore it
subsumes some Imperial contingents - for example the South Africans,
Australians in the Desert, and Indian Army forces seconded to the
Desert. After all, in the first half of the war, while most of the
native British soldiery were defending the home islands from a possible
German invasion, the British Army in North Africa was 60%-80% colonial
(depending on the time frame).
British rifle platoons
had 1 AT weapon in platoon HQ, and a 2 inch mortar which is ignored since
it was used to fire flares and smoke rounds, not HE. Neither are really
modelled in SP. 2 inch HE was only ever brought forwards from reserve
in places like Italy where WWI like trench systems were very close together
- then it was used as a nuisance device in day to day trench tedium. Its
only 'sights' were a white line painted down the tube. There was no LMG
at platoon HQ, but in fact units usually scrounged extra LMG either from
rear Supply Company's allocation, or from captures. The German MG42 was
quite popular, there are photos of a carrier platoon in Tunisia where
all 3 visible had both a 42 in the 'redoubt' and some Bren guns carried
loose in the back. So British leg platoons are 1 'heavy' squad and 3 others.
A Humans-only Platoon HQ Section is provided for those who like a 2-inch
mortar as a 'grenade launcher'.
Mechanised units could
carry an AT weapon per squad. (Note that in the UK 'Squad' is a drill
parade term for an ad hoc collection of soldiers, the tactical formation
is a 'section') So here they are all heavy infantry. Other than the carrier
recce platoon in some infantry battalions, mech. infantry was rather uncommon
until Normandy. Even if moved to the battlefield on lorries or APCs, British
infantry fought on foot.
For some strange
reason the UK branched off to have 2 tank types, infantry tanks to fight
alongside the foot infantry and cruisers which acted independently and
would have no need of infantry support. Most tank squadrons (companies)
had 2 CS tanks in the HQ troop (platoon), with a 3.7-in. howitzer then
the 3-in, howitzer, and finally a 3.7-in. (95mm) once more. Some regiments
concentrated the CS tanks and used them like a direct fire artillery battery.
These CS howitzers reach out to a respectable range now, as opposed to
SP1 where they were a point blank weapon. So they can trouble 88mm guns,
but if your opponent has sense he will remove the CS tanks as priority
items.
The Valentine squadron
is for those Valentines with 3 crew, not 4. British tank squadrons often
adjusted the tank quantity to fit the personnel strength, not the other
way around. So Grant squadrons would often drop one troop to provide the
extra bodies for this tank type. Later on, it was common practice to add
a long gun tank to a troop, making a 4-tank troop. Some units reduced
their troop count and others did not. And of course some others preferred
a separate Firefly troop. British Lt. Colonels had rather a lot of leeway
as to how they ran their battalions. Despite the 'command tank' label,
platoon commanders very quickly learned that the 17pdr armed tanks were
the German's 'kill me quick' targets, so it was usually the troop sergeant
who got this duty. That is why the tank is number 4 as well, so your opponent
cannot single out your commanders for the chop first. (Old 'command tank'
class is now relabelled as 'gun tank').
Armoured car units
used a 3-vehicle troop in the beginning of the war, and then tended to
use a 4-vehicle high/low mix of a scout car section of 2 and armoured
car section of 2. However both types overlapped considerably, and seem
to have been a question of the commander or his Brigadiers choice. Some
squadrons added a 'heavy' section of 2 with a heavier gun - more for the
HE than AT purposes, such as later 75mm armed AEC models, sometimes half-tracks
were used instead for the fire support element.
Rifle companies usually
had a 2-tube section from the battalion mortar platoon assigned and sometimes
some MGS from the battalion support Weapons Company as well. Therefore
there are several variant rifle companies available for you to play with.
AT guns were at one
point removed from infantry battalions to be totally under RA control
in centralised brigade AT batteries. Naturally the infantry objected somewhat
to this and the experiment did not last long. The infantry got their 4
to 6 AT guns per battalion back, and the RA AT batteries stayed as well.
These latter were the 17 pdr and SP-AT users, infantry battalions usually
keeping the 6 pdr, even till the 1950s.
Artillery batteries
are 8 guns, in 2 by 4 gun troops, but heavies are in a 4-gun battery with
2 by 2 gun troops. Off map Div. Arty is the entire Brigade allocation
of guns, a 25pdr regiment with an added medium battery from Division.
Unfortunately the picker usually makes a hash of this. (The new artillery
sub classes help here!).
The carrier platoon
is more of a reconnaissance and cavalry unit than a mechanised infantry
unit, one such per battalion. Some early war light tank battalions had
a carrier platoons attached or even one per squadron. As with the rest
of the British army there was no centrally-commanded 'doctrine', so some
battalion commanders would just use the carriers as 'tin jeeps' to bring
up hot rations and mail, and for the RSM etc. to run about in.
The Heavy Cruiser
squadron is for Grants and 6 pdr Crusaders really, these were designated
as such just at the end of the usage of the Infantry Tank/Cruiser designations
was becoming obsolete.
Although Priests are
provided, in fact by 45, and certainly post war the Sexton was the prime
SPG, the 25pdr was a standard Army calibre, whereas the USA 105mm was
a 'special item'.
The Matilda 40 squadron
is for that period, in France. The number of Matilda 2s available was
not great at that point. Most Matilda 1's were lost in France and the
ones that were not were relegated to training so they were not used in
the desert in 40. And once they had disappeared, Matilda 2 was just called
'Matilda'. The Matilda 1* is the support version, some had a 0.5 inch
mg instead of the rifle calibre
Centurion Mk1 arrived
in Germany just too late to take part in WW2. It is there for the "what-if"
1946 UK vs. Germany, or the "what-if" WW3 vs. USSR. Centurion represents
British tank thought from end war to the present day, firepower and protection
is emphasised over speed.
This army's strength
lies in its infantry and the Royal Artillery. Its tanks are not great,
except in parts. The key to using this army is to using all the support
arms to get your infantry close with the enemy. British infantry wants
to get to close quarters and kill with the bayonet, not engage in pointless
firefights.
Version 4.0 updates
by Andy Gailey and Don Goodbrand.
V5 -- Many new armoured car units, expanded naval assets,
more planes, and more tanks. New and revised Commando formations. Colonial
units added to represent the peripheral British colonies and bring the
SPWW2 simulation to all corners of the Empire.
V6 --
Generally more variety in choices for weaponry and infantry units. The
2inch mortar brought back as a true light mortar unit so it can be used
to fire smoke -- as it's range and punch isn't much good for anything
else. But as a smoke-thrower it can be a valuable asset to cover
a retreat.
For
V7 -- Mills Bombs and Gammon Bombs and Hawkins Mines! No more
generic weaponry for the Brits. Besides having their own grenades and
anti-tank weapons, there are also the 3inch & 60-pounder rocket
projectiles for the late war ground attack planes. The Home
Defense units have a wide assortment of heavy weapons now, from
American Lend-Lease howitzers (75mm Mk.I & Mk.II) to surplus
American machineguns (Colt HMG & BARs). The British Home
Defense is ready to repel Operation Sealion. Much more variety in
infantry choices, more special formations (including the Pathfinders
from D-Day, along with their special air transport), and more variety
in plane loadouts.
Soviet Union
1930 to 1949
The expanded dates
are for the hypothetical Allies vs. the USSR World War 3 scenario, or
to invade the Japanese Northern islands.
Some of the companies
are actually a platoon in game terms and all lumped in one formation.
This is historically more realistic, and reflects the poor command and
control of Soviet formations. There are also battalions provided which
in SP terms are actually companies. These formations are also fragile
for morale purposes, just one commander to try to rally himself and nine
subordinates. Good formations for USSR 1941 then!
The T-34/76a model
is defined as a heavy tank as it was only available in limited numbers
in 40-41. Vast fleets of BT and T-26 were the chief tank forces then.
Briefly! The Allied lend lease tanks are often classified as light tanks,
these were usually deployed in quiet sectors as the Soviets did not think
much of them. The only one they actually liked and asked for more of was
the Vickers Valentine. The Lee/Grant earned the sobriquet 'the coffin
for seven comrades'. Shermans were reasonably popular for exploitation
usage - for their mechanical reliability, not their firepower.
Soviet light tanks
(T-60 and T-70 for example) were not really much used for reconnaissance.
They were mainly used for infantry close support in quiet sectors, freeing
up the better tanks for elsewhere. When used alongside heavier stuff,
they accompanied the SU-76 or KV series tanks in support of the infantry
line. This is why their speed is not great, they were an auxiliary tank,
which could be turned out in reasonable numbers by lesser engineering
works (they used truck engines), not a speedy recce design. They usually
only had 2 crewmen as well, so ROF is not great.
The T-54 came off
the production lines in 1947, but was not available in numbers until 1948.
This tank was good for target practice in SP2 Modern, it is a far more
formidable opponent here.
Early tank companies
used the 7-tank organisation, later they were 10 tanks, but both coexisted.
Also early on there were some independent tank platoons of heavies or
T-34s added to units since the Soviets had read the wrong lessons from
the Spanish Civil War, and broke their tanks up in penny packets rather
than concentrating them in armoured formations.
The Soviet army is
a mass army. Artillery is the Red God of War and has been since the days
of the Tzars. Start with your artillery plan, and work from there. This
army is one of the few that is not greatly troubled by German tank superiority,
in fact at certain points this one has the superior armour This is the
army that caused the German need for all these super tanks in any case!
In addition, your medium tanks are noticeably faster than the opposition.
Use this facility to make wide encirclements, or to shift your thrust
rapidly from one point to another. Also recall that any Soviet tank is
not fully dressed without its tank riders, so take SMG squads and use
these in very close conjunction with the tanks, never more than a hex
or 2 away if at all.
In the assault, by
the end of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet 'norms' for a breakthrough
assault by an Army would be 200-300 guns, rocket launchers or mortars
per kilometre of front. A kilometre is 20 hexes in SP. Tank and SPG density
would be 70 to 85 per kilometre, and a rifle division's assault sector
would be 1.2 to 2.5 kilometres. An Army level assault would be of this
density across a 16 to 25 km frontage, and several armies of the Front
would attack simultaneously on axes about 20 to 40 km apart.
Always buy hordes
of riflemen, they are cheap and cheerful. Recall Stalin's dictum 'Quantity
has a quality all of its own'. Where you would use a company in other
armies, use a battalion. Advance this mob, with a few KV or other heavies
in support behind a creeping barrage. Keep the barrage up continuously,
just adjust the guns forward 2 or 3 hexes per shift (select the gun on
the barrage dialogue, and hit the HE icon, it targets its last adjustment
at low delay so there is not a long wait. Then use the Adjust Fire button
to shift 2 or 3 hexes if required. This is how to do a 'creeping barrage'
in SP without the lengthy delays. Think of it as a preplanned fire program).
Be prepared to keep close behind your barrage, and accept some friendly
fires. (The British term for this is 'leaning on the barrage' and like
the Soviets, they were prepared to lose a few for the advantages gained
arriving quickly on the position while the enemy is still naturalised
by the bombardment).
This main force of
infantry, heavy tanks and the accompanying barrage is your 'Hammer'. At
the same time, use the fast tanks (BT or T-34) to outflank if you can
and as deep as you can. This is the 'Sickle' of Soviet tactics. Once in
the rear, the Sickle can become the anvil for the hammer, or itself drive
forwards as the Hammer, the main force becoming the new Anvil. Either
way, the idea is to get the enemy between a rock and a hard place. Part
or all of the outflanking Sickle (and you can also double envelop if the
German keeps his force too tightly concentrated. This is wonderful as
it also helps with the artillery pounding!) once in the rear can break
off and act as an Operational Manoeuvre Group. The task of this detachment
is to sweep up the rear area soft targets, headquarters, supply, and above
all artillery. Naturally, the entire Sickle force could perform this function
before shifting its axis back into the rear of the enemy fighting positions.
The problem for the
Soviets was that in the real world, it was difficult to synchronise their
forces to this extent. Execution was often therefore less than the ideal.
But SP has no real Command and Control rules (yet), so you as a human
player are in pretty much total control.
V5--More ATG/Infantry/Howitzer guns (famous "Rat's
Tail" added), expanded artillery, pre-WWII expanded, expanded horse formations
(artillery, Cossacks). Also the naming scheme changed from the 'German'
(e.g. T34/76a) to the Soviet Mode (e.g. T-34/76 M1940).
V6 --
Expanded the Partisan unit variety, expanded the armour available and
tweaked availability dates, expanded the variety of infantry, including
the Worker's Militia and the Penal Battalions. More tank
destroyers and tank-hunter formations.
For
V7 -- A near-complete set of new icons with winter white paint to make
your battles in the Russian winters even more realistic. Together
with the new terrains of Thick Ice and Frozen Streams, the new winter
icons will give wargaming on the Eastern Front a whole new
perspective. As well there are new units for Stalingrad such as
the Apulomet 1941, a home-made molotov 'mortar', and new units
for Leningrad as well -- the PPS-42 SMG-armed infantry. Mountain
Infantry is now available, as is a whole range of unique and rare
armoured vehicles from pre-WWII and many that were over-run and lost
during the German invasion. Rare units from the Russo-Finnish War such
as the 76.2mm recoiless rifle make their appearance in this version,
and more post-WWII kit is made available as well. The whole
experience on the Russian Front has been enhanced from 1930 to 1949.
US Army
1930-49.
Mech. infantry 1942
organisation - only take the 37mm AT gun here; the 3-inch won't fit with
the rest of the troops (the new light AT gun class should help here).
The 1943 organisation separated the AT guns, but again 37mm were common,
and at most use 57mm. These units have a lot of firepower, but dismount
strength is low, best used for the delay mission. They are also very good
for shoot and scoot mobile defence or as exploitation troops. This was
their historic role, they are not meant for, and USA doctrine did not
see them as, assault troops. The M2 60mm MMC is the correct fire support
half-track, not the 81mm (now in its own class to ensure that only this
one is used). The M2 60mm MMC has a limited lift capacity. It represents
firing the mortar from the vehicle, common practice, and hence no dismounted
mortar is provided. As a SP-Mortar it can fire indirect. The M3-MG half-track
has extra crew to service the additional MGS, so does not have quite as
much lift as the regular half-track so this one and the mortar half-track
usually carry the smaller teams.
The USA had a strange
idea at this time, the UK was not alone here, they called it the tank
destroyer doctrine. Basically, tanks were seen as infantry support and
for use in exploitation of a breakthrough with the mechanised infantry.
Their job was not to take on enemy tanks, and special formations of tank
destroyers were provided to perform this task. This would have been fine
if the Germans had played by the same rules, but funnily enough they did
not wait around for the tank destroyers to turn up, and their tanks did
not ignore the American tanks either. The TD doctrine was way ahead of
its time really but it needed anti tank helos to properly implement the
concept, though the Hellcat is getting towards what a TD should really
be. Use the nippy Hellcat to work the flanks of German armour, try not
to get into a head to head slugfest! The M10 really had few advantages,
not much speed or armour wise, and once the 76mm gun was available on
regular tanks, little point in it. The M36 with its 90mm gun is however
a very good SP AT gun, but too slow for the proper TD concept of mobility.
TD units had a large scouting element of armoured cars, the TDs were not
supposed to take on the enemy armour during the breakthrough, but to engage
them in ambush tactics once the enemy tanks had burst through the lines.
AT guns were also parts of the TD units, but received low priority, mobile
AT capability was seen as more use.
The drawback to the
TD concept was that the main battle tank was not seen as needing much
anti tank capability, hence the moderate 75mm on the Shermans. It took
a lot of pressure from the troops at the front end to convince the supply
end to produce 76mm gunned tanks. And they had to fight to get a decent
heavy as well. The Pershing arriving just in time, but would have been
rather useful 6 months or a year earlier, which it could have been if
the production side had not had such power. The Jumbo Sherman was some
help, but again it was an initiative of the front line troops over the
production moguls. There was a limited 76mm gun field modification of
this, maybe 20 to 30 total produced in field workshops. Please do not
take fleets of this one. It's only made available to human players. A
couple or three Pershings were field modified with extra bolt on armour
cut from destroyed panthers but not provided here. Too few to justify,
we will leave these for scenario designers to manufacture in the editor
if required.
American artillery
was about the best in the world. In fact the series had been designed
in the early 20s, but severe financial budget shortages meant that the
new 105mm, 155mm, and 8 inchers were only put into production in the nick
of time. But the same basic pieces are still in service today, a tribute
to the Westervelt Board, set up in 1918. Before 1940, the US Artillery
Park was almost entirely old ex-French and British WW1 stock. The 1940
models are available a bit too early, but in game terms a Schneider 155
is similar to a modern 155, however in a later release I may revisit the
pre war guns.
The other strength
of the US Army was in its air support. Use your air and artillery assets
to counter the German armour superiority. Use the mobile troops to sweep
up the mess left after they have done their job! If you do not have air
support, drop artillery and smoke on the German heavy tanks, and either
take them with infantry assault or bazookas, or sneak round the side with
something 76mm armed and hit the weaker armour Panthers can be taken through
the side by the short 75mm if lucky. But without the air, you will have
to use skilful manoeuvre to deal with German tanks; you will not do well
in a head to head. Try to tempt them into close country or towns and deal
with them at close quarters with combined arms, tanks and infantry together,
engineers with flame-throwers and so forth. Try to remove the accompanying
German infantry to make this task easier. Light tanks like the Stuart
may not look very good with only a 37mm gun even in 1945, but in actual
fact these are very useful to support the infantry. They deal with German
scout cars and half-tracks rather well, and skilfully used can duel with
the lighter German SP-guns like the Marders. They can kill a Panther with
a close range up the kilt shot - but only try it if you are feeling very
lucky..
Notes for Version
4.0:
There have been many
detail changes to the US Army OOB. The most obvious is the use of machine
gun sections with two versus three machine guns in them. This change was
done to more accurately represent machine gun distribution in US infantry
and heavy weapons companies. For players wanting three MGs in a section,
the 50/30-cal combo unit is still available.
A similar change was
done to 60mm mortars for reasons of transport within certain formations
and ease of formation purchase. The 60mm mortars are now represented as
single tubes with the appropriate quantity included in the various formations.
Formations have been
restructured to more accurately reflect assigned vehicles and equipment.
Some more combined arms formations (company teams) have been added with
a varying mix of equipment. Entire troops of mechanised cavalry may now
be purchased.
There are more varieties
of M4 medium tanks available. Check out their statistics prior to purchase
as they are not all the same! Some will be more economical to purchase
but will be made of weaker armour. The new sub classes of AT guns should
help keep the 'wrong' ones (like 76mm) out of mech inf and similar formations!.
US Army OB author
for V 4.0 : Bill Wilson
V5 --Pre-WWII redone & expanded, all war years expanded,
post-war expanded, many new units & formations of all description. US
forces of the 1930s now have greater detail, including early half-tracks.
Late-war recoilless rifles have been added, as well as self-propelled
artillery pieces like the M40 HMC and T66 truck-mounted rockets. Armored
infantry units now come in two guises - mounted (with MGs on the half-tracks),
or dismounted (without half-tracks and machine-guns being carried on the
ground). This idea was contributed by a gentleman who served as a MG non-commissioned
officer in an armored infantry battalion of the US 8th Armored Division.
US engineering assets now include bulldozers.
V6 -- Continued to tweak availability dates and provide more varied kit for all war periods.
for
V7 -- Expanded and refined the pre-war selections in armour and
artillery, as well as infantry and cavalry. Tweaked the late-war kit,
and also the post-war weaponry. More variety in infantry and
aircraft -- lots of new loadouts for planes.
USMC
1930-1949
The best infantry
the Americans had, and naturally enough these guys were in the Navy!
Unlike the US Army
who in this period saw the rifleman as the lowest of the low (and assigned
the lowest draft categories to rifle units, enlisted and officer), the
USMC turned that idea on its head completely. Everybody in the Corps was
first and foremost a rifleman, whether he was a gunner, a pilot or a bottle
washer. As many Japanese who got into the rear area of USMC units found,
attacking the caterers and clerks was not the winning proposition
it might have been when fighting against other organisations! The Marines
are, were, and always have been right up at the top of the list when it
comes to fighting prowess, up there with the Ghurkas, Highlanders, Legionnaires
et al. Their personnel guys were better aware of keeping up unit cohesion
as well, so replacements would often return to their units after an absence
due to injury or whatever. So they had a form of the rest of the world's
'regimental' system whereby you 'belonged' to some particular outfit,
unlike the US Army where you were more of a commodity.
Morale and troop
quality can be set quite high, but unfortunately your opponent is the
Japanese in the main, and they should be high quality as well. Because
they were part of the Navy, you get lots of carrier air support to play
with, plus naval gunfire support and amphibious vehicles. There is a very
pretty Devastator in the pre-war rig to play with! Some later squads have
a flame-thrower or bazooka.
Fighting against the
Japanese, anti armour is not high on the priority list; bazookas were
mainly bunker busters. The 37mm gun has been redone with canister as a
'weapon slot' - this was a prime use for this weapon as close infantry
support. There is no canister ammo in SP, so it has to be a separate 'weapon'.
There are one man flame-thrower teams available as the 'Inf.-AT' class
for those who want one.
Armour is scarce in
an USMC force so your main strength is your riflemen. Historical TO&E
for a Marine Division was one battalion of tanks throughout the War. This
proportion would likely have grown if there had been fighting through
the Japanese home islands. Some later tanks are provided for this scenario,
but really you should stick to a few amphibs, flame-throwing tanks and the basic Stuarts and Sherman..
Remember that the
USMC knew the value of the bomb and bayonet. They were more likely to
go for the close assault than the US Army infantry who preferred to shoot
the enemy off the objective if they could. USMC infantry doctrine is very
similar to British. Fire is used to facilitate manoeuvre, and the point
of manoeuvre is to get your men up close and personal to the enemy. This
tends to settle the argument quickly, rather than wasting time in a pointless
firefight.
V5--Some formations revised, some new units (recoilless
rifles, pack howitzers). One very significant change is the addition of
the late-war USMC rifle companies with organic MG platoon - very heavy
firepower to meet entrenched and determined Japanese defenders. USMC flame-throwing
tanks are now more accurately depicted, including the famous 'corkscrew
and blowtorch' M4 POA-CWS-105-H5 which mounted a 105mm howitzer and a
coaxial flame-thrower with a fuel capacity of no less than 290 gallons.
USMC LVTs are now represented in more varieties, including a flame-throwing
variant.
V6 --
More variety in infantry selction, including the Marine
Paratroopers. More variety in weaponry, the Reising SMG and the
Johnson LMG added, for example. Fire team units formations and
formations added. The pre-war units rounded out a bit.
For
V7 -- Much more variety in troop selection, much more pre-war kit,
obsolete kit and infantry selections for the early battles. This
includes the 37mm infantry gun, 20mm anti-tank gun, the 1.1inch AA gun,
the Mk.I (Boyes) anti-tank rifle, and the F3F-2 Littlecat biplane --
just to name a few. Small unit Fire Support formations
enhanced. Raider & Paratrooper formations enhanced, and
airborne pack howitzers added.
China
1930-49
Although
the nationalist flag is used, this OOB also covers Communist guerrillas
and Chinese Warlords. The expanded date range is set up to accommodate
this hypothetical. The AI pick will default to Nationalist
forces, so you will have to pick for the AI if you want the AI to have
the Communists or the Warlords.
Early on, the Chinese
warlords had a lot of equipment from German sources, and around 1937 weapons
from the USSR. Later on, the Nationalist Chinese were supplied with Western
gear, and the Communists received Soviet backing. All used captured or
abandoned Japanese hardware when available.
V5 -- China was completely redone and expanded through
all years from 1930-1949, Communist/Warlord/KMT units and formations for
all years, many new units, expanded artillery, armour, infantry and air,
militia formations for all three factions.
V6 --
Exp[anded and enhanced the variety of obsolete kit available, as well
as the new kit made available from Lend-Lease Flying the Hump from
Burma into China.
For
V7 -- More pre-WWII variety for KMT, Communists and Warlords for their
own struggles against each other and against the Japanese. KMT
Commandos included.
ANZAC
1930-1949
From the acronym of
the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps of WW1, this OB is mainly focussed
on the Australian part of that pairing, the Kiwis being subsumed. Also
focussed on the war with Japan, it is probably best to use the UK OB as
a basis for desert fighting (or as allies providing the tanks).
AC1 Sentinel is a
home produced tank with around 60 built, 50mm armour basis, 40mph, but
governed to about 30mph. This was relegated to training roles, but one
each of a 17 pdr and a twin 25 pdr version were made as prototypes. They
are available to the human player only as a 'what-if'. They were put into
production, as the UK could not guarantee tank supply. However in actuality
the massive production facilities of the USA proved sufficient to cover
their needs, mainly the Stuart and Grant models. It shows what a small
country could produce, even with a limited industrial base.
Although there is
armoured infantry, armoured cars etc., most of the fighting in New Guinea
etc was an infantry affair, supported by Matildas in the main, along with
Stuarts. Some Grants and a few Shermans become available later on. The
Matilda Frog was a conversion using a flame-thrower instead of the 2 pdr.
You will also find
the ANZAC A-20 has "Para-Frags" which were dropped from low flying aircraft
and have much the same effect as the German SD-2 HE bomblets.
V5 -- New armour, air & naval units. New armour formations
separately representative of Australia and New Zealand. Formation Information
files to help choose correct armour for each Theatre of Operations, and
also specific for Australia and New Zealand in those Theatres. Expanded
Pacific Theatre formations. Expanded infantry formations. Citizen Military
Force's formations added. Islander formations added. Independent Companies
formation added..
V6 -- Australian Pacific forces enhanced and expanded. Availability dates tweaked thanks to Dallas Gavin.
For
V7 -- Expanded New Zealand selections, including the New Zealand Home
Front for hypothetical invasions of the New Zealand islands.
Tweaked the Aussie CMF and the North African forces.
India
1930-49
This covers the British
Imperial forces from Palestine through India to Hong Kong. Its mainly
for Slim's 'Forgotten Army', who actually inflicted more casualties to
the Japanese than the entire USMC Pacific Island hopping campaign. XIV
Army to be precise.
Soldiers of this army
could have been British, (mainly) Indian, Chinese, Burmese, East or West
African, Ghurka, Karen, Naga or Kachin, to name a few. Basically a British
Army variant, it was poor off for equipment, mostly receiving obsolescent
stuff. Most mediums would be Lee/Grants, and by 1945, a few Shermans.
A battalion or so of Churchills was shipped out just too late for the
war against Japan.
V5 --New air, infantry and armour units. Many new pre-war, post-war and early war units.
V6 -- New artillery and cavalry units, tweaked availability dates
For V7 -- No more generic weaponry -- Mills Bombs, Hawkins Mines, etc. A slightly expanded. selection of units.
Bulgaria
1930-49
This small nation
is there for completeness. Post war it is there as a Soviet Ally for the
WW3 "what-if". Mainly involved in the Balkans, this army is likely mainly
to interest scenario designers.
About the only claim
to fame for this nation in WW2 is that it managed the feat of being jointly
at war with both the Allies and the Axis, if only for a short while!
V5 --completely redone, expanded to include 1930-1949,
new armour, new infantry, new artillery, new planes.
V6
-- Special thanks to Dimitar Boykov for his contributions to enhance
the date availability of units, formation organization and variety of
units. Partisan forces added, and pre-war forces made more
accurate.
-- For V7 Enhanced the Partisan forces, and fleshed out the late-war forces as well as the pre-war & post-war forces.
Yugoslavia
1930-49
This OB covers the
Yugoslav nation, and then the various partisan factions of the area.
Yugoslavia entered
the war in the spring of 1941 when it was invaded by German, Italian and
Bulgarian forces. Hitler wanted to bail out Mussolini against Greece,
and Yugoslavia, resistant to the use of its soil for German offensive
operations against Greece, stood in the way. The Yugoslav army was defeated
in 20 days, with light losses for the Axis. Thereafter, it was partitioned,
and an armed resistance struggle continued until liberation by the Russians
in 1944.
The Yugoslav army
had a handful of purchased French tanks, including the FT-17, and the
more modern R-35, which was a match for the German Pz II still in use
at the time. After occupation had started, they relied mostly on captured
Italian and German equipment. The use of German Armoured cars and Italian
tankettes was truly rare, as vehicles were not suitable for a partisan
campaign. After the war, Yugoslavia received considerable quantities of
Soviet and some western equipment.
Updated for 4.0 by
Boris Ajdukovic.
V5--Completely redone and expanded through all years
1930-1949, Royal/Communists/Cetniks/Ustase units and formations included,
new tanks, infantry & planes.
V6 -- More variety added: Stuart funnies, Royal Army kit, all factions finetuned.
For V7 -- Finetuned the selection and variety.
Belgium
1930-49
The Belgian OB is
primarily there to cover the battles of 1940, but has been expanded to
cover the entire 1930 - 1949 period.
1930-1940 - Belgian
Army:
Primarily an infantry army, the Belgians had by the late 1930s motorised
their cavalry and parts of the heavy Corps artillery. The infantry divisions
still relied primarily on horse and foot. The Chasseur Ardennais divisions
relied on bicycle transport but their artillery were partly motorised
In the 1930s, the
Belgian Army still operated the French FT-17 light tanks acquired shortly
after World War I, but by 1935 they had been turned over to the Gendarmerie
and were phased out of service from 1938. They have been retained in the
Belgian OB until 6/40 as "Obsolete Tanks" on the assumption
that some remained in storage until then. The replacement for the FT-17
was the French ACG-1, but only 12 were acquired in 1937/38. Instead, the
Belgian Army relied on light tanks and tank-destroyers based on various
Carden-Lloyd designs.
The T.15 was a light tank with a fully rotating turret mounting a Hotchkiss
13.2mm machine-gun and used for reconaissance in the Cavalry and Ardennais
divisions.
The T.13B2 was a tank-destroyer with a semi-rotating turret facing to
the rear. The T.13B3 had a fully rotating turret and thus had all the
characteristics of a light tank. Both vehicles were armed with a Belgian
47mm gun.
For motor transport,
the Belgian Army relied on locally produced trucks with Ford and GMC as
the primary suppliers. Sidecar Motorcycles came from the Belgian companies
of FN, Gillet and Sarolea. FN also produced a vehicle unique to the Belgian
Army, the FN Tricar, a 3-wheel utility vehicle found in many different
versions, including an antiaircraft version. Another unique vehicle was
an armoured 1-ton Ford truck with 4-wheel drive courtesy of Marmon-Herrington.
In the mid 1930s, Belgium also acquired a number of small tracked "Utility
Tractors" from Britain. These were among other things, used to tow
the 47mm AT-guns.
In the artillery,
the Belgian Army also relied heavily on domestic production, among which
were a wheeled 76mm mortar and a 47mm anti-tank gun.
1940-1941 - Belgian Forces in Congo:
After the defeat in Europe, Force Publique of the Belgian Congo raised
3 battalions to fight against the Italians in Ethiopia and Sudan. These
forces were not lavishly equipped and relied primarily on horse and foot
for transport. We have retained some medium artillery, motor vehicles
and light tanks for the Belgian Army of this period to give the player
more options, but these items are probably not historical for the Belgian
Forces in Congo.
The Belgian Forces were employed against the Italians and accepted the
surrender of Italian forces in Gallo Sidano in July 1941. Other contingents
served in Nigeria and Palestine.
1942-1945 - Belgian Forces operating from Britain:
Soon after the defeat in 1940, a small Belgian force was raised in Britain.
Over the years, it grew to brigade strength and landed in Normandy in
August 1944. Using British equipment, they had no armour, except some
armoured cars, so we have included some British armour formations in the
Belgian OB for this period.
Note also the Belgian Special forces in the form of Commando (Cdo) units
representing the Belgian troop of 10th Inter-Allied Commando that fought
in Italy in 1943, in Yugoslavia in 1944 and later in Western Europe. These
units also represent the Belgian Parachute company of the British SAS
that was dropped in Europe in 1944 making sabotage actions and doing reconaissance
for the invading allied forces during their drive through Northern France
and Belgium.
As the allied forces approached Belgium, units of the Armee Secreté
(AS) assisted and later formed the core of the so-called Fusilier units,
locally raised militia that did guard duties in Belgium after the liberation
but also became involved in the fighting, most notably in the Ardennes
in the winter 1944/45. The Fusilier units served with all the allied forces
in Belgium including Canadian, British and US.
1946-1949 - Belgian Army:
Post-war Belgium units primarily armed with British equipment.
Version 4.0 rewrite
by Claus Bonnesen, with special thanks to Bill Wilson and Bernard Bloock
for data provided on Belgian forces.
V5-- Expanded colonial/Post-Occupation forces.
V6 -- Tweaked availability dates and added variety to infantry, et al.
for
V7 -- Finetuned the selections, revisited the Armour selections
throughout all years and tweaked availability dates and unit ratings.
Netherlands
1930-49
This descripition Rewritten for the V5 revamp of the OOB.
Dutch armour at home
consisted of 12 Landsverk (Swedish) L-180 and 12 L-181, called M36 and
M38. The 12 M36 formed the 1e Eskadron Panserwagens, the M38s the 2e.
12 DAF PT3 armoured cars, termed M39 were just entering service. They
may have been ready or captured part fitted out. They would likely have
formed the 3e Eskadron. There were about 2 FT-17 and perhaps 5 Carden-Loyd
Mk IV tankettes available - there is a special formation for these '2
FT-17/5 CL Max' - to remind you not to fleet buy the things. It is doubtful
if these antiques were actually runners by that time, in any case. The
tankettes were called Poema, Jaguar, Panter, Luipaard and Lynx, for the
trivia mongers out there, their unit was called the 'Yellow Riders'. Dutch
escapees fought with the British in both European and SE Asia, though
her main contribution was in naval units of excellent quality.
In v5 the Netherlands
has been redone to include the Netherlands East Indies forces (KNIL) from
1930 through 1949. The Home forces have also been further detailed through
the entire period covered by SPWW2. Necessarily there are "gaps" in the
Netherlands OOB when there are not many new units available. This is to
reflect the actual events of World War II. Nevertheless, a Long Campaign
with the Netherlands forces is possible. The Player just has to remain
cognisant that is definitely a "What-If" situation where the premise is:
what if you controlled a Netherlands Division\Battalion\Regiment that
did not capitulate, and continued to fight aggressively throughout the
War?
The Home forces were
defeated in 5/40, and were involved mainly in air and naval operations
from then until 6/44. New Home forces will become available slowly during
this period, just as they were actually formed, organised and outfitted
in Great Britain during the War. You, as Player, have them available as
soon as they are organised even though many did not see action for quite
some time, and some equipment that was assigned ended up being reassigned
out before any historical combat took place.
The Netherlands East
Indies forces (KNIL) capitulated in 3/42, though scattered colonial forces
resisted throughout the war. These forces, like in the Home front, were
mainly air and naval units. However, the KNIL did have some land-based
units ready to fight throughout the War years -- Reserves, Militia and
Volunteers for the most part. The KNIL also always had a small reserve
force in the other Dutch colonial possessions. These other colonial reserves
were small, and had outdated equipment, but they were there and are available
to the Player in the form of machine gun, artillery and similar units.
Even though certain units are always available throughout the War years,
if playing a Netherlands Long Campaign the Player must be aware of, and
plan for, the lack of diverse reinforcements available for much of the
War. This will mean that sometimes minimising losses will be more important
than winning. Luckily for the player the Dutch Marines are always available
on both fronts. There were not unlimited amounts of Marines, but they
did man the many Dutch vessels that kept supplies moving to all the Allied
land troops in all Theatres.
Both the Home forces
and the KNIL are continued to 1949. The Home forces are there for possible
WWIII What-If scenarios, and the KNIL forces are there for Indonesian
War scenarios.
V6 -- Expanded variety and finetuned availability dates, especially for KNIL and post-War.
for V7 -- Finetuned pre-War kit, KNIL kit and infantry selection.
Norway
1930-49
This small nation
was invaded in 1940. This OB covers the Norwegian army of that period,
together with the Allied expeditionary force of French and British troops
sent to aid them (disastrously). The latter included some Polish forces,
but whether as part of the French or British contingents are unknown.
It then covers the resistance to the Nazi occupation. The French sent
two independent tank companies to the fighting. A special unit is allowed
for the British - this is mainly for scenarios - HMS Warspite. The British
Gladiators whom operated off a frozen lake are also included. Fleet Air
Arm Skuas etc are not, as they were used primarily for anti shipping missions.
The Hurricanes are not included either as they fought air-air only in
this campaign.
Version 4.0. OB rewritten
by Tony Engelsen and John Turesson with additional help from Arne Bowit,
and a special thanks to Roger Mårtenson and his site at http://hem.fyristorg.com/robertm/norge
Following the end
of the Norwegian campaign, the government-in-exile set up a training camp
in Scotland with the purpose of building a force that would be ready for
a future liberation of Norway. Called "Den Norske Brigaden i Skottland",
it would eventually consist of 3 mountain infantry companies, one artillery
battalion and one reconnaissance squadron. Other units included a parachute
company, an SOE company and a troop with the 10th "Inter-Allied"
Commando.
The resistance movement
"Milorg" was formed in occupied Norway in order to conduct sabotage,
gather intelligence and to operate behind enemy lines as partisans in
case of an allied invasion. In 1945 it totalled 40000 men armed with weapons
hidden away in 1940 or supplied by the British through parachute drops.
A trawler has been included to simulate the SOE organised "Shetland
Bus" which were used to ferry agents and saboteurs into the country.
The post-war army
was organised with help from the British and used a lot of equipment supplied
by them. However because of troubles during armament purchase negotiations,
a large portion of the equipment left behind by the Germans which had
not been destroyed by the allied disarmament committee was pressed into
service as well, some of which were used for several decades.
Swedish weapons originating
from the police units, pre-war Norwegian types and ex-German booty material
from various nations were also put into use. Some vehicle types were supplied
by the US army, which in the early `50s stepped in as the major supplier
of arms and equipment. This gave the army of the late `40s and early `50s
a very motley appearance which is represented through the very varied
equipment available for purchase in the game.
V5 -- revised & expanded units and formations
V6 --
greatly expanded the occupation years with both partisan units and Free
Norwegian units based elsewhere. From 1940 until the end of WWII, seven
thousand Norwegian men and women served in The Norwegian Brigade in
Scotland.
In addition to the Norwegian Brigade there was also the "Norwegian
Company Iceland," the "The Jan Mayen Garrison," the "Norwegian
Detachment No. 1 - South Georgia," and the "The Svalbard
Garrison." All of those Free Norwegian Units can be simulated
with the new units and formations added to this version.
For V7 -- Finetuned the selection through all years.
Canada
1930-49
Most people think
of the Dieppe disaster when it comes to the Canadian army. In fact they
provided many units in both the D-Day campaigns and in Italy.
This is a British OOB variant, with its own little peculiarities. The Ram tank was a Canadian
design, based upon the US Lee/Grant. However the Canadians did away with
the clumsy sponson of this tank and went for a turret. It would appear
that this design helped with the genesis of the M4 Sherman - a cross-fertilisation
of ideas between the design teams. Ram production took longer to get going,
and so the Shermans overtook the design. Few Ram gun tanks saw service,
if at all. But the chassis was used as an APC, and also the basis for
the Sexton SP 25 pounder, which was produced in some numbers. The gun
tank is allowed as a "what if". Ram Badger was a flame-thrower version
of the Ram Kangaroo. The Canadian wasp carrier flame variant typically
carried an extra crewman over the British version, and usually a 2-inch
mortar.
The OB extends to
the end of 1949 for "what-if" WWIII play. But you will not find some of
the more exotic toys available in either the American or British OB's
You'll have to fight T-54's with Fireflies as that's all there was available.
The Centurion was not available to the Canadian army until after Korea.
V5 -- revised & expanded units and formations
V6 -- expanded the pre-War and post-War selection, and enhanced the Wartime selection and variety.
For
V7 -- finetuned availability dates and special forces units.
Added the Pathfinders for Normandy. Expanded the pre-War selection a
little.
Greece
1930-49
This small nation
fought the Italians off so well that the Germans had to invade the Balkans
to pull their allies fingers out of the fire. The resulting campaign diverted
many German divisions from Barbarossa, and resulted in the destruction
of the paratroops in a Pyrrhic victory in Crete. More importantly, it
delayed the planned kick-off of Barbarossa. The Greek diversion just may
have cost Germany the entire war, as they did not quite reach Moscow in
'41 due to the early onset of an exceptionally harsh winter.
British allies (Valentines
and Matildas) are provided for the German invasion. A lot of captured
Italian kit is there as well, from the previous successes. The OB is then
a resistance force till post war, when it can act as a Western Ally, likely
against Yugoslavia, Bulgaria etc - in the hypothetical WW3 vs. the USSR.
V5 -- Greece, completely redone, Pre/Post War expanded,
all war years expanded, revised infantry formations, desert forces, The
Sacred Squadron has been added, 3 partisan groups & a post-war guerilla
group added, marine forces expanded, naval units added, more of everything.
Greece is now fully capable of being played in a long campaign in a historical
aspect. The Greek desert forces are fully represented for those wishing
to game the Greeks at El Alamein or other North African battles. The Greek
partisan groups are also highlighted throughout the years from the fall
of Greece through to the installation of the Royalist government, and
then the government and guerilla forces through to the end of the Greek
Civil War in 1949
V6 -- Finetuned availability dates throughout all years, added variety throughout all years.
for V7 -- Finetuned availability dates, re-did the mountain troops to be regular mountain troops instead of ski troops.
Republican Spain
1930-39
For all the attention
paid to WWII, both in history and in wargames, proportionally little has
been given to the civil war in Spain. Far from being a "local conflict",
the Spanish Civil War could easily be called the opening salvo of WWII.
Fuelled by the conflicting ideologies of Fascism and Communism, it brought
volunteers from over forty nations to fight for their respective beliefs.
France, Germany, Italy and the USSR all committed substantial troops,
arms or material. The war became a testing-ground for new weapons and
tactics that would be replayed in only a few short years. Over 700,000
combatants and civilians would lose their lives in the bitter struggle.
Many varied units
are reflected in the kit. Infantry ranges from militia and special police
units who were the early defenders of the Republic, to the EPR (Popular
Army) and the international volunteers. Weapons will reflect modern antitank
and infantry guns, and turn-of-the century trench mortars and machine
guns. Aircraft include the R-Z "Natasha" biplane bomber and the Soviet-made
I-15 "Chatos". The Republican forces will be mainly an infantry affair.
Tanks and aircraft were always in short supply; ammunition for artillery
pieces was very scarce. This is all reflected in increased unit cost,
decreased unit sizes and low ammunition load outs. Combat on the offence
or defence will be bloody and bludgeoning. It should provide you some
distinct contrast to the mechanisation and manoeuvre tactics found in
the other SP series games.
V5 ---completely redone, Pre-SCW years included, many new units, all
new formation design, International & Militia & EPR & Guardia Asaltos
& Guardia Civil & Cavalry & Carabinero & Mountain & Marine & Engineer
& Gudari & Catalan formations, many new planes and artillery. Help is
gratefully acknowledged from Jordi Zamarreño, Benito Vera, Jaime Miguel
and all the guys and gals at the Spanish Civil War mail list -- this is
for you all to enjoy.
V6 -- Finetuned availability dates and added variety.
An "Easter Egg" included -- go to the editor during the years the
Republican Spain flag (country) is available, select Republican Spain
as one of the forces, go forward in time to any period past
the normal availability dates for Republican Spain -- and you will find
partisan units and even the regular army units outfitted by the USA for
the D-Day invasion. You can now play generated battles with
Republican Spain during any year using this method -- however the unit
selection is very limited. This does not work for campaigns.
for V7 -- More finetuning of availability dates and variety of units and formations.
Nationalist Spain
1936-1949
This OB becomes available
in July 1936, with the beginning of the mutiny of Spanish troops, which
led to the Spanish Civil War. It also includes lot of Italian and some German
kit, and some captured from the Republicans.
From
October 1941 throughl October 1943 the Division Azul (Blue Division,
aka the 250th Infantry Division) Spanish forces fighting in the USSR on
the German side are represented, as well as homeland forces. Spanish
volunteers formed a whole German Infantry Division and an aircraft
squadron -- both represented in the OOB. It was finally retreated back
to Spain when it became obvious that the Axis countries would lose the
war. Many Spanish volunteers continued to fight within other
German units, however.
The Spanish Nationalist
Forces consisted mostly of infantry. The Blue Division was an infantry division,
so the only available armour are the assault guns, tank destroyers and armoured
cars that were assigned to them.
The Trubia was a domestically
produced Spanish tankette, which was intended as a replacement of the
FT-17 tanks bought from France after WW1. A few were used on both sides
during the early phase of the Civil War. The Verdeja was a project to
domestically develop a tank, using many parts of the T-26 tanks used by
the Republicans. The reason was the inferiority of the tanks delivered
by the Germans and Italians in comparison to the Soviet built tanks on
the Republican side. Only a few prototypes of the Verdeja were built,
although trials showed its superiority over the T-26 and BT-5.
The Camion Blindado
is an armoured truck. Such vehicles were used on both sides during the
Civil War, equipped with MGS and mortars and with firing ports for the
transported riflemen.
The Regulares Marroqui
(also known as Fuerzas Regulares Indígenas; Moroccan Regulars) were the
best units available to the Spanish Nationalists during the Civil War.
These units also represent the infantry of the Spanish Foreign Legion
(Tercio de Extranjeros), which were elite units as well. The other infantry
squads represent the units of the regular army, the Guardia Civil (a paramilitary
police force) and the Guardia Asaltos (paramilitary police storm troops;
most fought for the Republicans), as well as the Carlist Requétes and
the Falangists. The equipment of the squads differs a lot.
Also available are
Italian squads of the Corpo di Truppe Volontairie.
V5 -- completely redone, Post-SCW years expanded, all new formation
design, CTV & Militia & Regulares & Legion & Guardia Asaltos & Guardia
Civil & Carabinero & Mountain & Cavalry & Engineer & Requetes & Falangista
& FET y JONS & Division Azul formations, many new planes and artillery.
Help is gratefully acknowledged from Jordi Zamarreño, Benito Vera, Jaime
Miguel and all the guys and gals at the Spanish Civil War mail list --
this is for you all to enjoy.
V6 -- Finetuned availability dates and variety of weaponry. Finetuned unit selection for Division Azul.
For V7 -- Tweaked the selection and variety of units and formations.
Italy
1930-49
The Italians have
been completely redone (V4) to cover the country for the entire
two decades. In the early thirties we have the forces gradually becoming
more diverse as the Italians geared up for their colonial expansion in
the mid-thirties. Italy was on the move much earlier than the other countries.
The Italians had begun their military expansion even before the 1930's
began, and this new OOB displays this. Italy also incorporated many modern
methods of warfare earlier than other countries, and their composition
in the early-to-mid 1930's shows this. However, fighting in Spain and
East Africa expended their meagre resources before WWII even began, and
they fell far behind in the arms race as they struggled to patch together
their depleted armed forces. When World War II was in full swing, they
were still recovering from their previous expenditures of men and equipment.
The Italian military
during WWII was always hobbled by the lack of equipment, ammo and men.
While they had a wide variety of equipment overall, most times and places
found them with woefully small quantities of essential armaments. Very
often they faced tank assaults with little else besides rifles and raw
courage, with all proper anti-tank weapons somewhere other than where
they needed to be. Even when they did have the proper weapons, they were
beset by lack of ammo or other supplies (like water), or lack of leadership.
Too often leaders who spoke the truth about the military situation were
replaced by political appointees who had no idea of military strategy.
The lack of good leadership played a crucial role in the many defeats
Italy suffered.
The Italian tanks
were a product of a 1930's strategy: the use of small, quick tankettes
to exploit holes in the enemy line and harass the rear elements. The L
Series of tanks were designed to fight infantry that had little anti-tank
capability, they were never meant to fight other tanks. Unfortunately,
they were very often called upon to do just that -- to predictable results.
The M Series suffered from lack of resources, lack of time and too much
corruption in the government and economic sectors. By the time they fielded
an adequate M Series tank, the momentum of the war was all on the Allied
side. The lack of resources kept their only P Series (heavy tank) tank
construction continually delayed until it no longer mattered. The P26/40
was three years behind schedule, and Italy was a divided country by the
time it fired its first shot.
Without a reliable
tank to use, the Italian forces turned to their Semovente (self-propelled)
series, and used every conceivable self-propelled vehicle in every possible
role. Semoventes as tanks, tank destroyers, self-propelled artillery,
assault guns -- any role they could possibly fill, they did. It was much
the same for every other piece of military, and civilian, machinery as
well.
Throughout the war
years of 1939-1943 the incredible mix of old, new and cobbled together
equipment is well represented in the game. A Human Player will have the
opportunity to pick from a vast assortment of equipment and formations.
These diverse units and formations adequately encompass the breadth of
Italian military diversity, and will give the player an opportunity to
experience the rise of the Italian Empire as well as its demise. However,
the AI Player is necessarily restricted to a generic representation of
the general forces at large. There are many unit types represented that
were very rare, and widespread use of these would seriously skew the historical
basis of the game. So the AI is restricted from using such items.
Italian forces are
covered in-depth for the Colonial Period (Libya & Somalia), the East
African Campaign (in its entirety), Spanish Civil War, the North African
Campaign, the Balkan Campaign, the Eastern Front, and the Italian Campaign
itself. Attention was also paid to other campaigns the Italians participated
in, such as The Battle of Britain, France (1940 & 1944) Central Africa,
the Middle East and the Far East. The Black Shirts (CCNN, Camice Nere,
GGFF, Giovanni Fascisti, Brigata Nere) are here as well, their presence
almost as ubiquitous as it was in actuality.
Post-surrender (1943-1945)
forces are included also, both Axis and Allied Italians. Most Post-9/43
Axis Italian infantry formations are identified by the RSI (Republica
Sociale Italiana) and CCNN designations. Included also are Italian Partisans
(Allied), both before and after 9/43. The complete range of the Italian
experience is represented here, from the need to use buses as APCs, to
state-of-the-art commando units -- and everything in-between.
German weaponry post-9/43
can be used by either Allied or Axis Italians depending on the situation.
Generally though, the Allied Italian forces will be represented better
with Italian and Allied weaponry, while the Axis Italians will be better
represented with German and Italian weaponry. It should be noted that
immediately after the surrender was a time of chaos. Most Italians wanted
to end the fighting, but the war raged all around them with Italians fighting
the Axis, Italians fighting the Allies, and Italians fighting Italians.
All through 1944 and until the war ended in Spring of 1945, Italians fought
on both sides of some of the most fierce fighting the war would see. From
Monte Cassino to the streets of Rome, Genoa and Florence, Italian soldiers
fought and died for both sides. The war did not end for Italy when she
surrendered.
Post 1945 is included
for WWIII scenarios with the Italians as an Allied country. Some few German
weapons are included into the 1946-49 period, but are there only to represent
that the military would have used whatever equipment was still functional.
Italy suffered most
from a lack of resources and a lack of military generalship. The Italian
forces, as Rommel (and many others) said, were continually asked to perform
tasks they were not equipped to do. The outcomes were inevitable, and
in most cases do not reflect badly on the individual soldier. You will
find that is true in the game as well. The Italian equipment during 1941-43
is not up to the tasks at hand. It will take good strategy and excellent
tactics to win -- things the Italian commanders of the day rarely had
in adequate supply.
Version 4.0 Italian
OB author : Edward R. Mortimer, with special thanks to Umberto Comella.
V5 -- expanded Colonial formations, expanded pre-WWII formations, expanded
desert units and formations. Help is gratefully acknowledged from Umberto
Comella, Arturo F.Lorioli, John Moher, Alessandro Bonanni and all the guys at
the Italianisti mail list.
V6 -- Finetuned availability dates and rarity factors.
For V7 -- Continued finetuning availability dates and rarity factors.
Expanded variety of units and tweaked formoation composition.
Finland
1930-1949
This small country
in Scandinavia fought no less than three wars between 1939 and 1944.
In the Winter War
1939/40 the Finns successfully defended their independence against the
vastly superior Soviet army.
From 1941 till 1944
they fought their own Continuation War against the USSR, but without being
really allied with Germany.
After signing the
armistice treaty with Russia, they had to fight once more, that time the
Lapland War against the German troops in northern Finland.
The Finnish armour
troops were mostly equipped with captured Soviet kit, and later in the
Continuation War they also received German tanks and assault guns. However,
the available tanks are usually only mediocre, and very expensive.
The infantry however
is excellent, and later in the war they get quite well equipped.
The most numerous
tanks in Finnish service was the T-26, many of them were captured from
the Russians during the Winter War and the first phase of the Continuation
War. The models marked with a (+) are former OT-130 and OT-133 flame tanks
which had their flame-throwers removed and were instead equipped with
a DT bow MG. The T-26e is an up-gunned Vickers 6 ton tank.
All T-26 tanks were
removed from service in July 1944, but had to be put back into service
as the Germans ceased to deliver AFVs to Finns. They were badly outdated
at this time, but no better equipment was available.
The BT-42 is a Finnish
modification of captured Soviet BT-5 and BT-7 tanks; the 45mm gun was
replaced with 4.5-inch field gun. It was a very unsuccessful design. The
T-34/76a (Model 1940) tanks in Finnish service were not equipped with
the 76.2mm L-11 tank gun like their Russian counterparts, but with the
slightly stronger 76.2mm F-34 gun.
In 1942, Finland bought
six Swedish Landsverk Anti II AA-tanks. These vehicles were basically
a 40mm Bofors AA-gun mounted in an open-topped turret on a m/36 tank hull.
They were used quite successfully to repulse air attacks against the Finnish
armour units.
The Panzer IV and
StuG III in Finnish service differed a bit from the tanks used in German
service, e.g. the StuGs had their sideskirts removed and instead had additional
armour plates at the front hull and logs at the sides of the superstructure.
V4. Special thanks
to Sami Korhonen and Henry Koskinen
V5-- expanded
and revised artillery. Special thanks to Henry Koskinen and Sami Korhonen.
V5.5 -- Special thanks
to Jarkko Vihavainen for finetuning aid.
V6 -- More finetuning of availability dates pre-War, Winter War, Continuation War and post-War
For V7 -- Continued finetuning of units, dates and rarity factors. Standardized artillery ammunition loadouts.
Czechoslovakia
1930-49
This nation was formed
after WW1 and the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
This area had been
the main armaments production of the Empire - the Skoda works in particular.
Skoda armaments appear all over Europe - artillery (the Italian 100mm
and 149mm are license built Skodas) and tanks in particular. Between the
wars Skoda cars were highly regarded, not the butt of jokes they are here
in the UK. Czechoslovakian armour designs appear in lots of other armies,
chiefly of course, in the German. The Bren gun is based on a Czechoslovakian
design and the name is an amalgamation of Brno and Enfield. It is still
regarded as one of the best light machine guns ever produced. The BESA
was based on a Czechoslovakian design as well, its early problems being
due to poor training, not the inherent design.
The take-over of this
country was a shabby affair. The Munich agreement gave Hitler the part
of the country that had all the major fortresses, so that when he decided
to take the rest it was merely a formality. Germany then gained one of
Europe's main armaments manufactures, and sufficient modern tanks to equip
2 or 3 panzer divisions. They took over large artillery park and a good
small arms supply as well. They also gained some major truck manufacturers
- Germany was always chronically short of trucks during the war.
This OB allows the
what if of a possible war with Poland that nearly occurred in 1938, but
it is primarily there to let you try what might have been without the
Munich stab in the back. In other words, if Germany had had to fight to
take the country. It is extended till 1941 to allow that Hitler may have
needed time to build up his forces before trying to crack this particular
nut.
Recall, before you
try this one as a German player in 38, that only a very few Pz IV and
Pz III tanks were actually around then. Perhaps 100-150 Pz III and 20-40
Pz IV, the bulk of the tank fleet would be Pz II and Pz I. You don't get
the 35(t) and 38(t) - these are on the other side! Forget the JPz I as
well - that potent little 47mm gun is the Czechoslovakian PUV vz 36.
The LT34 is an early
Skoda design the Germans do not seem to have taken up on the capture of
the country - perhaps they used it as a training tank or gun tractor?
The LT35 is the 35(t) and the LT 38 is naturally the 38(t). The Germans
actually took the first production LT38s off the end of the assembly line.
The ST39 was a projected design, and seems to be based on the design work
done for the Hungarian Turan, this tank would have had the potent 47mm
tank gun. There were a few clapped out FT-17s, and some light tankettes.
The Tancic 34 is a 'Bren' type light carrier - an APC unit representing
2 of these has been provided; though any real mechanised infantry units
would be unlikely.
If fighting against
a German AI opponent with this army you will have to ignore its buying
of Czechoslovakian tanks. Just imagine that they have had to turn captured
ones round like both sides used the T-26 in the Spanish Civil War.
The V4 Czech OB now
reflects the historical dissolution of the Czech Republic in March 1939.
After 3/39, the units and formations are those of Slovakia, a German ally
until mid-1944.
The last major combat
action of the Slovak forces was the battle for Melitopol in the Ukraine
in October 1943. Again, to reflect the historical situation, from 11/43
on, Czech units and formations are those of the Czech forces fighting
with the Soviet Union and those of the post-war Czech government. Naturally,
these units and formations are equipped and organised like their Soviet
sponsors. The post-war units include certain German aircraft and armoured
vehicle types that were still produced in the immediate post-war period.
The heaviest Czech
fortresses are only available for the period 1/30 to 3/39. These are assumed
to have been dismantled by the Germans upon their occupation of the remnant
of Czechoslovakia. Regular bunkers and pillboxes are available after 3/39.
Version 4.0 - OB rewritten
by Bill Wilson and extended to cover 1949.
V5 -- expanded and revised Pre, During & Post War units
and formations
V6 -- Finetuning of availability dates and selection of units.
For V7 -- Armour availability, ratings and formations finetuned. More variety added to unit selection.
Hungary
1930-49
This OB was rebuilt
for version 4.0 by Zoltán Zajonskovsky (Kazan).
Hungary regained it's
long lasted freedom from Austria after the WWI. The freedom became bitter
as the peace treaties in Versailles decided to divide up the former Austrian
Empire. In reality they divided up Hungary only to form allied countries
against the communist Soviet Union. After a communist take-over in 1919
the government decided to resist the unjust punishment by force. After
a desperate fight the Red Army was defeated. The Treaty was signed in
the palace of Trianon and sealed the fate of Hungary for the 20th century.
Hungary had hardly
recovered from the loss of more than two-third of the country the second
war approached. The economic crisis was added to the poor financial situation.
The rearmament proceeded in secrecy like in Germany but the monetary and
industrial problems could not provide enough resources. The foreign companies
took advantage of the desperate Hungarian needs and raised the prices.
Also the purchases were also political due to the approach to Italy and
Germany. Many misjudged purchases occurred especially with the poor quality
Italian planes. In 1937 the rearmament proceeded unconcealed, and several
national designs were started. Hungary purchased Swiss (Solothurn), Swedish
(Madsen, Landswerk) and Czech weapons and licence agreements along with
the revival of the local military production.
The German politics
used the lost territories as a bait to lure Hungary into an alliance.
The two Vienna Treaties were given back territories from Slovakia and
Rumania. This led to an even stronger hostility with Rumania. Further
territories were taken back from Serbia with the German attack on Yugoslavia.
The prime minister committed a suicide after Great Britain has recalled
it's ambassador from Hungary. The country hopelessly drifted toward the
Axis side. The Government was extorted with the territories to send troops
against the Soviet Union and to declare war on the Allies. However the
High Command and the Governor sent only minimal troops to the front and
many officers did not believe in the German efforts. Hence the Hungarian
war effort was only a show for Germany. The troops sent to the front were
highly trained and had the best equipment thus reducing the losses for
a doubtful cause. The production and purchase of new equipment went slowly
and the troops received German equipment to equip the 2nd Army in 1942.
The 2nd Army was destroyed by the Soviet counter attack in January 1943.
The German forces left the Hungarians alone and fled in panic. The loss
of over 100000 men was a disaster. The year 1943 was spent with refilling
the losses and the few troops on the front served as occupation forces.
The local residents were mostly friendly with the Hungarians as they were
not cruel and despising with them. In 1944 the Government started negotiations
with the Allies and the Soviets for a possible breaking of alliance with
Germany. However the Front reached the country, and the Rumanians changed
sides and attacked Hungary and the German forces. The Hungarian peace
attempt was revealed and Germany occupied Hungary. The Nazis, the Arrowcross
took over the command. With the loss of Budapest after a battle as brutal
as the siege of Stalingrad the war ended for Hungary. The new government
declared war on Germany and many officers surrendered to the Soviets to save their men. However, still
many troops fought on the German side to avoid being captured by the Soviets
and planned to surrender to the western powers.
The Royal Hungarian
Army (Magyar Kiralyi Honvedseg) was a well-trained and well-led infantry
force, yet it lacked modern equipment. At the onset of Operation Barbarossa,
the Hungarians fielded only 100 light L3/33 tankettes and 38M Toldi. The
elite "Rapid Corps", a mechanised cavalry division had such
a shortage of trucks, that horse and wagon transport was needed to move
men and material on the advance. This lack of modern weaponry would plague
the Hungarians throughout the War. The German equipment received were
mainly obsolete or used. Most of them were in poor condition. These "presents"
were mainly given on the front to recover losses. However, the troops
managed to show the best performance out of their poor equipment and fought
bravely against the overwhelming odds
With a mixed bunch
of guns the artillery showed good performance, although their mobility
was degraded by the shortage of prime movers.
The armoured vehicles
that Hungary produced were licence built and modified ones. The unit encyclopaedia
texts detail each vehicle.
The OB includes Mountain
troops, Paratroops and even Marines. These were the Royal River Forces
or the River Guard. Also their ships are included. The River Guard was
a division, but the actual number of troops were about 2000, a size of
a brigade. Hungary had six large patrol boats, all but one (which was
underwent reconstruction) are represented. It can be represented with
the Sopron if needed. A K.u.K. Monitor is also included as a what if and
for Yugoslavian or Rumanian use. There are description texts on each ship
with details.
The troops designated
with SZU are fought on the Soviet side against the Germans
The SS troops were
either the Hungarian SS troops or the Waffen SS troops temporarily under
Hungarian control.
The Nyilas(ok) are
the Nazi Arrowcross units which were rather a police force from irregulars.
V5.5-- revised and expanded Pre-war units and formations
V6 -- finetuning of weapon ratings, unit selection and formation design.
For V7 -- tweaked armour availability dates and variety of units.
Romania
1930-49
The Romanian Army
of the late 1930's had become a military mess. The soldiers were poorly
trained and equipped. Their commanding officers, which mainly came from
upper-class families, flaunted their social status, further effecting
morale. In September 1939, the Romanian government asked German military
advisors to restructure the Army. Within two months, Romania became an
Axis ally and by June 1941, the Romanian Army had become an effective
fighting force. In time, Romania would field the largest of the Axis-Minor
armies.
This was mainly an
infantry army, and chronically short of artillery, AT guns, and armour.
Almost all the Romanian armour came from Germany or war-booty. This shortage
is reflected in overall higher armour costs. The late-war T34 addition
reflects Soviet allotments once the Romanians declared war on Germany
in late-1944.
A few new aircraft
variants have been added, and include the Romanian produced I.A.R. series,
Hs 129,and the Bloch MB 152.
V5-- greatly expanded, revised and upgraded through
all years from 1930-1949, many new units and formations of all description.
V6 - continued the expansion of the OOB, adding and finetuning units, weapons and formations.
for V7 - Finetuning of units and formations, addition of true mountain troops.
Sweden
1930-49
Sweden managed to
keep out of the Second World War through appeasement and good luck. Iron
ore and ball bearings were exported to Germany until 1944. One reason
Germany did not attack Sweden was that in case of attack, the iron ore
mines would probably have been demolished. The miners political views
where leftist and in military terms, a mining company is one big demolition
unit.
The Swedish arms industry
in 1938 had some world class designs. The strv m/38 was the world's first
operational tank with torsion bar suspension, welded armour and advanced
optics as well there was the Bofors 40 and 75 mm AA guns. This was largely
due to German involvement. Germans owned the Swedish tank manufacturer
Landsverk and Krupp was a minority shareholder in Bofors.
For example, Krupp
designed 88mm AA guns where built by Bofors for the Dutch navy in 1922.
As German rearmament increased, the use of Sweden as a proxy diminished.
And when the War started the last Germans left and Sweden was on her own
regarding "intellectual capital" and raw materials.
The budding aircraft
industry had similar problems with American engineers and know-how, the
lack of modern Aircraft-engines hampered the Airforce for most of the
war. To convert workshops producing small batches of arms into volume
industries took half of the war and to convert civilian industry to arms
manufacturing took the same time. However, by the time quantity production
started, the arms themselves were obsolete. The notable exception was
machine guns and mortars where Ericsson telecom and Atlas (drilling equipment)
quickly managed to transfer their production.
Basically there were
three major organisational changes of the army during the period: 1937,
1941 and 1943. The 1937 org. was ordered in 1925 to be completed in '37
and the 1940 org ordered in 1937. In reality the 1937 org. was not completed
until 1940 when some regiments had already started to convert to the 1941
org.
In 1940 the plan for
1941 was decided and implementation started immediate. The army was expanded
by 100 % in number of divisions, this was achieved by cutting down the
number of men in each squad from 12 to 10 and deleting a rifle company
in each battalion plus training approximate 40 000 conscripts that had
not been trained during the thirties. While 1941 expansion was implemented
a new organisation was planned for the army, the 43 org. calling for more
modern weapons to increase units firepower. Different organisations existed
in parallel. In the game a large number of formations availability overlaps.
I have added the year of implementation as a suffix to the formation name
i.e. "Rifle Plt 41" and "Rifle Plt 43"
Thanks to Richard
Areskough, Tomas Roth, Torleif Olsson, Stig Fransson, Ingolfur Bjorgvinsson
and not the least Leif Höglund. Whose photos and knowledge of Swedish
fortifications was very helpful :http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Bunker/6013/english.htm
for V7 -- Finetuning of units and formations..
Thailand
1930-1949
This is a quick synopsis
of the important events in Thai history between 1930-1949 that pertain
to the SPWW2 game, and some notes on Thai units. Thailand involvement
in WWII is not a hot topic in the West, so this background primer on Thai
military history may make playing the Thai forces more enjoyable, because
it will make their role in the region clearer.
The 1930's
Siam was the only country in the region that was not conquered by the
European colonial powers. It managed that by having a strong and progressive
military. Siam designed it's military around a combination of French &
British models in the 1920's, but migrated completely to the Japanese
model by the mid-1930's. Irts amaments in the 1930's were mostly British,
with some French and an increasing percentage of Japanese arms as the
years progressed. The Thai Air Force and Tank Corps were among the first
and finest of such formations in Asia. In fact, the Royal Thai Air Force
separated from the Army very early on, and was a distinct entity by WWII.
The Royal Thai Air Force has always been a source of pride for their military.
The Thai ground forces were highly trained and disciplined. The Thai command
staff was well educated in military strategy.
There was, however,
a divisive distrust between the Army and the Navy which led to both arms
of the service preparing to fight each other. As a result, the Army acquired
amphibious tanks specifically to use against the Thai Navy should it revolt.
On the other hand, the Navy kept the Thai Marines completely divorced
from any Army influence. Co-operation between the two was not unusual
when there was a common enemy, but otherwise they were at odds.
By the 1930s many
Siamese, especially in the military and commercial classes, were growing
discontented with royal rule. This was due in part to The Great Depression,
and uncertainty in the political circles which manifested as sackings
of officials. In June 1932, during the reign of King Prajadhipok, a small
group of Siamese military and political leaders organised a successful
revolt against the government, until then an absolute monarchy. The insurgents,
led by Pridi Phanomyong and Colonel Phibun Songgram, proclaimed a constitutional
monarchy on June 27. Royalist opposition was finally overcome in October
1933. It was at this time that the King's Own Infantry became only a Ceremonial
Guards Unit, and not an active combat unit. It remains in the game as
a formation simply for the "What-If" defence of Bangkok -- which
is the only reason the King's Own Infantry would have seen action after
the end of 1932 (this is not the case for the other King's Own units,
all of which remained the elite of their respective combat units).
Though most Siamese
accepted the new constitution, they were less than happy with Pridi's
economic reform proposals. In March 1935, King Prajadhipok abdicated in
favour of his nephew, Prince Ananda Mahidol; Phibun became effective dictator,
moving towards alliance with militarist Japan. He saw the survival of
Siamese independence in the face of colonial encroachments of Britain,
France and the Netherlands resting in mutual co-operation with the other
major Asian power -- Japan. Siam invalidated all of its treaties with
foreign nations in November 1936. Under the provisions of new treaties
negotiated in the following year, the government obtained complete autonomy
over its internal and external affairs. In 1938 Phibun changed the country's
official name from Siam to Thailand.
World War II
With Japanese encouragement and support, Phibun's government made demands
on France, beginning in 1940, for the return of the territory ceded in
and after 1893. The dispute erupted into The Franco-Thai War of 1940-1941,
and was settled, with Japanese mediation, in May 1941. By the terms of
the settlement, Thailand received about 54,000 sq. km (21,000 sq. mi)
of territory, including part of western Cambodia and all of Laos west
of the Mekong River. However, Japan used its position of power to wrest
land and concessions from the French in Indochina, and force the Thais
to accept much less than they had wanted. As a result, Phibun distrusted
Japan, but was unable to secure US, British or French help.
In the course of the
18 months prior to Pearl Harbour and the Invasion of Thailand, the relative
strengths of the opponents, and their designs for Thailand, had been made
abundantly clear to Phibul and the Thai government. Political missions
to Britain and the USA failed completely -- neither Western power consented
to aid Thailand in any way to resist Japan, instead pinning their hopes
on Thailand alone engaging Japan in a war that would keep the Japanese
occupied until the Allies had dealt with Germany. Realising his country
was being used as a pawn and fodder, Phibul engaged the Japanese in dialogue
designed to save his country from being devastated.
On December 8, 1941
(7 December across the dateline in the United States), a few hours after
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Phibul ordered his armed forces
to cease all resistance against the Japanese. The order came after several
bloody skirmishes with Japanese troops, skirmishes that cost the Japanese
many hundreds of soldiers at the loss of several dozen Thai police and
military personnel.
A few hours after
the Japanese invaded from the sea, the British LtCol H. D. Moorhead (16
Punjab and 5/14 Punjab) -- belatedly executing Operation Matador -- crossed
into Thailand from Malaya at 3 PM on the same day and was resisted by
"Siamese armed constabulary" forces and regular troops for the
next few days until the column withdrew.
Thailand bowed to
the inevitable, salvaging what it could, and concluded an agreement by
which it maintained its sovereignty at the cost of unrestricted Japanese
movement and access to facilities.
On 21 December, with
the Prince of Wales and Repulse sunk and the Japanese army advancing on
Singapore, a formal treaty was signed in Bangkok at the Temple of the
Emerald Buddha. In exchange for territorial concessions in Burma and Malaya,
Thai troops accompanied Japanese forces into the Shan States, and on 25
January 1942 Thailand declared war on the United States and Britain. From
this point Japan became Thailand's major arms supplier.
On 10 May 1942 the
Thai "Phayap" (Northern) Army (MajGen Seri Roengrit (2nd, 3rd,
and 4th Divisions, total of approx. 35,000 men) "launched an offensive"
into Burma. The Thai would have moved earlier, but the Japanese did not
need their assistance and did not want to complicate their own plans.
MajGen Roengrit engaged the withdrawing Chinese 93rd Army, and on 26 May
captured Kengtung near the Sino-Burmese border.
Phibun's pro-Japanese
government, however, was overthrown in July 1944, after economic crisis
and attacks by resistance groups loyal to Pridi; Pridi took over, and
under his leadership considerable sympathy for the Allied cause began
to develop among the Thai people. But changing sides took time, especially
with the Japanese garrisoned throughout Thailand. Thailand sent military
expeditions into Burma during 1944 & 1945 on behalf of the Japanese.
Thailand concluded
a treaty with Great Britain and India in January 1946, renouncing, among
other things, its claims to Malayan territory obtained during the war.
Diplomatic relations with the United States were resumed in the same month.
In November 1946 Thailand reached an agreement with France providing for
the return to France of the territory obtained in 1941. Thailand was admitted
to the UN on December 15, 1946, becoming the 55th member. Meanwhile, on
June 9, 1946, King Ananda Mahidol had died under mysterious circumstances.
Pridi was falsely accused of regicide and driven into exile. A regency
was appointed to rule during the minority of his brother and successor,
King Rama IX.
Domestic Instability
On November 9, 1947, a military junta led by Phibun seized control of
the government. Except for a brief interlude early in 1948, Phibun thereafter
retained control of the government until 1957. His regime, essentially
a dictatorship, based its foreign policy on maintaining close relations
with the United States and Britain. King Rama IX assumed the throne on
May 5, 1950. After the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, Thailand
assigned approximately 4,000 men to the UN forces.
Notes on Thailand's
Forces in SPWW2
Thailand needed a strong military to resist the European colonial powers,
and they were strong enough militarily (and wily enough politically) to
deter any open aggression against them. In fact, all during WWII the Allies
refused to invade Thailand for fear of mobilising the Thai military. Even
though Thailand sat directly astride some of the most important strategic
land in the region, the Allies never directed an offensive against the
Thai borders. Japan's use of Thailand as a transportation route seriously
hampered all Allied efforts in the China-Burma theatre. Japan's fear of
a strong Thailand demanding equal representation kept led Japan to keep
Thailand simmering throughout the war as a "garrison country."
Japan never fully trusted Thailand, and did not authorise the use of the
Thai military until it was too late.
Thailand's military
was mobilised as an efficient force throughout the 1930's. They had a
strong Air Force that was founded during World War I, and they embraced
the new tank warfare doctrines very early in the 1930's. In fact, they
were the first country to design and deploy an AA-Tank. Because of their
strong Air Force, they saw a need for a strong air defence, and invested
in many AA weapons.
Because they were
not engaged in any major expenditures of military assets during the period
of 1930-1949, they retained much of their old equipment throughout the
entire period. As an example, they still had WWI biplanes in service as
recon planes as late as the mid-1950's.
As the Japanese feared
a strong Thailand, the Thai military was not allowed to modernise while
under Japan's control. After WWII it took some time before the Thais were
allowed to freely buy arms from the Western Powers (instead buying arms
from China). Therefore, throughout the 1940's Thailand's military, which
was so advanced for the 1930's, was saddled by obsolete equipment. As
the years progress through the 1940's, Thailand, though their equipment
remains stable and as numerous as it ever was, becomes relatively weaker
when compared to the active participants of the War -- all of whom were
engaged in a serious arms race. Some Japanese tanks and tankettes are
included in this OOB, but they should not be purchased in large quantities
-- one company maximum for any engagement. I have not found what the exact
numbers of Japanese armour available to the Thais was, but it was probably
around 100 total.
The Thais acquitted
themselves very well in the Franco-Thai War, both on the ground and in
the air. They were surprised on the water and dealt a severe blow in the
Sea Battle of Koh Chang, but otherwise they had many more successes than
setbacks -- losing no ground while gaining territory all along the front.
When Japan invaded, Thai military and police forces fought back fiercely
until the official call from the Thai government came down to stop fighting
and allow the Japanese forces to traverse the country. The surrender was
a political one, and not effected because of a military defeat. In fact,
of all the places Japan invaded in December of 1941, only at Prachuap
Khiri Khan in Thailand were they stopped. From 1942 through 1945 Japan
sporadically sent Thai forces into Burma and to the Chinese border to
engage British, Indian, US & Chinese forces. The Thais performed well
in several engagements against all opponents, realising their objectives
in every instance.
The Thai army in 1941
comprised 44 battalions (each known as a "khong phan") of infantry,
13 groups of artillery, 9 squadrons of cavalry and an equal number of
motorcycle troops, six battalions of engineers, three companies of tanks,
one AA regiment equipped with 40mm weapons and a group of three AA companies
armed with Bofors 75's. The armoured force included 20 medium Armstrong
6-tonners, 35 light Ford tanks, a dozen or so Vickers tanks of various
models, 12 Vickers armoured cars and sundry other armoured cars, tractors
and other vehicles.
Other Thai equipment,
supplied by a variety of nations, was similarly aged. When mobilised the
army amounted to some 50,000 troops organised into six military regions
containing five infantry divisions. The air force had about 500 combat
pilots flying a variety of aircraft from around the world, but from 1942
onwards they had more aircraft from Japan than from other countries.
for V7 -- Finetuning of formations and availability dates.
Red, Blue,
Green
These
are blank OOBs for designers to create their own armies. See the User Nations section Below.
SPWW2
Unit classes and SPOB nation numbers
Nations
are listed here to aid in the creation of support text files (e.g. when
editing leader name files) - gaps represent nationalities currently unused
in the game.
Spob 0= V5 up
- No longer used except for the AI in OOB design |
Spob 2=Poland |
Spob 5=Japan
|
Spob 6=France
|
Spob 7=Great
Britain |
Spob 11=USSR
|
Spob 12=USA |
Spob 13=USMC
|
Spob 14=China |
Spob 15=Anzac |
Spob 16=
for V5 and up - Nazi Germany moved to this slot number |
Spob 18=India
|
Spob 19=Bulgaria
|
Spob 20=Yugoslavia |
Spob 27=Belgium
|
Spob 28=Netherlands |
Spob 29=Norway
|
Spob 30=Canada |
Spob 31=Greece
|
Spob 32=Spanish
Republicans |
Spob 33=Spain
|
Spob 34=Italy
|
Spob 35=Finland
|
Spob 36=Sweden
|
Spob 37=Czechoslovakia |
Spob 38=Hungary
|
Spob 39=Romania |
Spob 41=Thailand
|
'User' Nations (blank):
|
Spob 40=Green |
Spob 42=Blue |
Spob 43=Red |
User Nations
These nations are
provided with blank OBs, and are there for the very creative OB designer
to fill with their own home rolled nation's data.
Note to average user
- you will not be using these, unless you download an OB from somewhere.
Note to OB designers
- The AI pick list
for these is all the same, the relevant dates are in the skeleton OB files
provided. The compulsory troop types are there (e.g. if the barge carrier
is unit 123, it has to remain as #123, if a formation is given, then it
has to use the dates given). If you do not know what a pick list is -
you do not have the OB design skills to implement your own nation - read
the appropriate Mobhack help pages and experiment. The pick list code
used is provided in "USERPICK.TXT". this is a very simple pick
list, a slightly expanded version of the original SSI code, nowhere as
complicated as an SPCamo main player pick - language is 'C'.
Locations used are
a restricted set (and may be overridden depending on whether the
user nation is player 1 or 2 - so experiment with all likely opponents,
in all years the OB covers to be 100% sure). Green - uses 'plains
city', 'central Europe' (main location), 'mountains' , 'forest and 'plains'.
Blue - uses 'mountain city', 'Central Europe' (main location),
'forest', 'mountains' and 'Balkans'. Red - uses 'mountain city',
'Balkans' (main location), 'forest', 'mountains' and 'Eastern Europe'.
Note that User nations
are entirely unsupported - the above is all the documentation
provided, these are for skilled OB designers, and apart from that - it's
entirely up to you. No correspondence will be entered into.
Unit
Class Names & Numbers, any special abilities
UnitClass
0=Fort |
Stationary - can have turret if correct icons provided now |
UnitClass
1=Infantry |
Base
infantry type, cloned by many others |
UnitClass
2=Inf-AT |
Base
infantry AT weapon type |
UnitClass
3=Cavalry |
Infantry
type, on horses |
UnitClass
4=Machine Gun |
Base
MMG/HMG (tripod) type |
UnitClass
5=Mortar |
Fires
indirect |
UnitClass
6=AT Gun |
Base
AT gun type |
UnitClass
7=Infantry Gun
|
Fires indirect
|
UnitClass
8=Flak |
Fires
at aircraft |
UnitClass
9=Howitzer |
Fires
indirect |
UnitClass
10=Off Map Artillery |
offmap,
fires indirect |
UnitClass
11=Armoured Car |
All
terrain wheeled (default) armoured vehicle |
UnitClass
12=Light Tank |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
13=Medium Tank |
Tracked
AFV, basic armoured vehicle type |
UnitClass
14=Heavy Tank |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
15=Close Support Tank |
Tank
Clone, may have smoke shells in non command units |
UnitClass
16=Infantry Gun |
Now
for direct fire type IG only - use UnitClass 154 Infantry Howitzer
for indirect IG firers |
UnitClass
17=Flame Tank |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
18=Assault Gun |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
19=Tank Destroyer |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
20=Engineer |
Infantry
clone, clears mines and DT |
UnitClass
21=SP Artillery |
Fires
Indirect |
UnitClass
22=SP Flak |
Fires
AAA |
UnitClass
23=APC (Wheel) |
Protects
carried troops |
UnitClass
24=APC (Halftrack) |
Protects
carried troops |
UnitClass
25=APC (Track) |
Protects
carried troops |
UnitClass
26=Utility Vehicle |
soft
skin |
UnitClass
27=Medium Truck |
soft
skin |
UnitClass
28=Heavy Truck |
soft
skin |
UnitClass
29=Infantry AAMG |
Fires
AAA |
UnitClass 30=Self
Propelled AA |
Fires AAA
|
UnitClass
31=Off Map Rocket Arty |
Fires
Indirect |
UnitClass
32=Scout Vehicle |
Armoured
car type |
UnitClass
33=Light Ambhibian |
Swims
(if OB designer remembered) |
UnitClass
34=Heavy Ambhibian |
Swims
(if OB designer remembered), bought in beach assaults in some armies |
UnitClass
35=Amphibian Tank |
Swims
(if OB designer remembered) |
UnitClass
36=Mine Clearing Tank |
Clears
mines and DT |
UnitClass
37=Engineer Tank |
Clone
of 36, Clears mines and DT |
UnitClass
38=SP Mortar |
Fires
Indirect |
UnitClass
39=SP Gun |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
40=Heavy Infantry |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
41=Landing Barge |
Can
be carried by barge carrier, default buy for beach assault transport |
UnitClass
42=Assault Boat |
Given
1 per rifle squad in river assault (only squads given a raft by the
AI buy routines can carry a raft) |
UnitClass
43=LCS |
Barge
type, fires Indirect |
UnitClass
44=Aircraft |
Strike
plane type |
UnitClass
45=Sniper |
Special
hide and extra difficult to hit abilities. Extra inbuilt accuracy.
|
UnitClass
46=LCG |
Barge
type, fires direct |
UnitClass
47=Glider |
Was
old SP2 transport helicopter. Speed halved per turn after arrival. |
UnitClass
48=Barge Carrier |
Comes
loaded with one AI selected barge. |
UnitClass
49=Motorcycle |
Infantry
type. |
UnitClass
50 =Air OP Aircraft |
Air
type - was attack helicopter in SP2 |
UnitClass
51=Light Infantry |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
52 =AT(Wheeled) |
Wheeled
vehicle AT type |
UnitClass
53 = helicopter |
Helicopter |
UnitClass
54=Crew |
special
infantry type generated from destroyed tank, gun, or bunker. |
UnitClass
55=HQ |
Special
infantry type used for A0, better artillery spotter than other 0 unit
types |
UnitClass
56=Ammo Carrier |
Replenishes
ammunition expended |
UnitClass
57=FO Vehicle |
Vehicle
which acts as artillery observer |
UnitClass
58=Scout |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
59=Gun Tank |
Tank
Clone -
was called 'command tank' |
UnitClass
60=Cargo Plane |
Air
type which carries troops, drops paratroopers |
UnitClass 61=Transport
Aircraft |
Air
type which carries and drops paratroops |
UnitClass
62=Bomber |
Carpet
bomber type |
UnitClass
63=Art Observer |
Infantry
type with special artillery spotting and quick calling facility. |
New
for version 3.0: |
|
UnitClass
64=Medium Infantry |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
65=LMG Section |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
66=SMG Section |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
67=Rifle Section |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
68=Rifle Squad |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
69=Mechanised Infantry |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
70=Heavy Mech Infantry |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
71=Medium Mech Infantry |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
72=Light Mech Infantry |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
73=Mech Support Squad |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
74=Mech SMG Squad |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
75=Irregulars |
Infantry
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
76=Partisans |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
77=Partisan Support |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
78=Partisan Band |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
79=Native Troops |
Infantry
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
80=Partisan Scouts |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
81=Mech Scouts |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
82=Patrol |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
83=Commandos |
Infantry
clone, less problems with impassable terrain crossing. Hand To Hand
combat bonus. |
UnitClass
84=Commando Support |
Commando
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
85=Light Commando |
Commando
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
86=Medium Commandos |
Commando
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
87=Heavy Commandos |
Commando
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
88=Commando Scouts |
Commando
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
89=Guards Infantry |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
90=Guards SMG Squad |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
91=Light Guards Squad |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
92=Medium Guards Squad |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
93=Heavy Guards Squad |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
94=Guards Scouts |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
95=Guards Support Squad |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
96=Paratroops |
Infantry
clone, will be able to jump out of planes. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
97=Paratroop Support |
Paratroop
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
98=Para light Infantry |
Paratroop
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
99=Para Medium Infantry |
Paratroop
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
100=Para SMG Squad |
Paratroop
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
101=Paratroop Scouts |
Paratroop
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass 102=Cruiser Tank |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
103=Heavy Cruiser |
Tank
Clone (not a warship - what UK called Grants, 6 pdr Crusaders..) |
UnitClass
104=CS Cruiser Tank |
Close
Support Tank clone. |
UnitClass
105=Infantry Tank |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
106=CS Infantry Tank |
Close
Support Tank clone. |
UnitClass
107=Super Heavy Tank |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
108=Heavy Armoured Car |
Armoured
car clone |
UnitClass
109=Wagon |
Truck
type Clone |
UnitClass
110=Marines |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
111=Rangers |
Commando
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
112=Marine Light Infantry |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
113=Marine Support Squad |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
114=Ranger Support Squad |
Commando
clone |
UnitClass
115=Waffen SS Squad |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
116=SS SMG Squad |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
117=Legionnaires |
Infantry
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
118=Legion SMG Squad |
Infantry
clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
119=Legion Support Wpns |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
120=Lend-Lease Tank |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
121=Tankette |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
122=Support Tankette |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
123=Cruiser Gun Tank |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
124=Light Infantry Tank |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
125=Gun APC (HalfTrack) |
APC
clone, protects passengers. |
UnitClass
126=Gun APC (Wheeled) |
Clone
of 125, default move class is AT_Wheel |
UnitClass
127=Gun APC (Tracked) |
Clone
of 125, default move class is Tracked. (125-127 report name as same
in game) |
UnitClass
128=Light SPAA Vehicle |
Clone
of 22 |
UnitClass
129=Tiger Plt CS Tank |
Close
Support Tank clone. |
UnitClass
130=SP Infantry Gun |
IG on SP chassis - same shorter min range cf SPA (21) |
UnitClass
131=Cavalry Tank |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
132=Light Cavalry Tank |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
133=Light SP Mortar |
Clone
of 38. |
UnitClass
134=DD Tank |
Sherman
DD only, uses different graphic in water, cannot fire in water, easy
to sink by puncturing the canvas DD screen |
UnitClass
135=Snorkel Tank |
Uses
snort icon in water, cannot fire when so, difficult to hit snort. |
UnitClass
136=Improvised APC |
APC
clone, protects passengers. |
UnitClass
137=SP Rocket Launcher |
SP
rocket launcher |
UnitClass 138=Heavy
Transporter |
Truck Clone
|
UnitClass 139=Self Propelled Gun
|
Tank Clone
|
UnitClass
140=Pioneers |
Engineer
clone |
UnitClass
141=Para Engineers |
Paratroop
clone, engineer abilities. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
142=Para Inf-AT |
Inf-AT Clone, Paratrooper abilities. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
143=Para Sniper |
Sniper
Clone, Paratrooper abilities. |
UnitClass
144=Para MG |
MG
Clone, Paratrooper abilities. |
UnitClass
145=Commando Engineers |
Commando
clone, engineer abilities. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
146=Commando Inf-AT |
Inf-AT
Clone, Commando abilities. Hand To Hand combat bonus. |
UnitClass
147=Commando Sniper |
Sniper
Clone, Commando abilities. |
UnitClass
148=Lancers |
Cavalry
Clone, extra hand to hand bonus at range 0 over other cavalry, wagons |
UnitClass
149=Light Cavalry |
Cavalry
Clone |
UnitClass
150=Cavalry Scouts |
Cavalry
Clone |
UnitClass
151=Rocket Launcher |
On
map artillery, fires rockets. |
UnitClass
152=Heavy Mortar |
Mortar
Clone. |
UnitClass
153=Light Mortar |
Mortar
Clone, minimum range halved. |
UnitClass
154=Infantry Howitzer |
On
map artillery, min range halved, use for indirect capable IG and mountain
guns. |
UnitClass
155=Heavy Artillery |
Off
Map Artillery clone. |
UnitClass
156=Light Artillery |
Off
Map Artillery clone. |
UnitClass
157=Light AT Gun |
AT
Gun clone. |
UnitClass
158=Heavy AT Gun |
AT
Gun clone. |
UnitClass 159=Captured Tank |
Tank
Clone |
UnitClass
160=Reserve Infantry |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
161=Reserve Sup't Squad |
Infantry
clone |
UnitClass
162=Ski Troops |
Infantry
clone, snow terrain abilities. |
UnitClass
163=Heavy Ski Troops |
Ski
Troops clone. |
UnitClass
164=Ski Sniper |
Sniper
Clone, Ski abilities |
UnitClass
165=Ski Inf-AT |
Inf-AT
Clone, Ski abilities |
UnitClass
166=Ski Pioneers |
Ski
Troops clone, engineer abilities |
UnitClass
167=Snow Vehicle |
Truck
type Clone, snow
terrain abilities. |
UnitClass
168=Ski Scouts |
Ski
Troops clone |
UnitClass
169=Ski SMG Squad |
Ski
Troops clone |
New
in Version 4.0: |
|
UnitClass170=Guards
Engineers |
Engineer
Clone |
UnitClass171=Marine
Engineers |
Engineer
Clone |
UnitClass172=Bicycle
Squad |
Replaces
old usage of Motorcycle class for bicyclists |
UnitClass173=Para
Mortar Team |
Paratrooper
direct fire light/medium mortar class |
UnitClass174=Waffen
SS Engineers |
Engineer
Clone |
UnitClass175=Airborne
Lt Tank |
Special
light tank, for hamilcar glider landing |
UnitClass176=Ghurkas |
Infantry
class with good hand to hand (Kukri) skills |
UnitClass177=Ghurka
Hvy Section |
For
Platoon HQ etc in Ghurka formations |
UnitClass178=Police |
Infantry
Clone |
UnitClass179=Hvy
Bicycle Squad |
Clone
of bicyclists |
UnitClass180=Artillery
Prime Mover |
Special
type for heavy artillery prime transport |
UnitClass181=AA
Truck |
as
SPAA, but on soft truck |
UnitClass182=Pack
Animals |
Implemented
now in V5 - a cavalry (horse based) transport unit |
UnitClass183=Light
Truck |
Same
as light truck above, but assumed to be 4WD (mc=ATW) |
UnitClass184=Airborne
Field Howitzer |
Special
Artillery piece, for airborne unit usage |
UnitClass185=Waffen
SS Hvy Infantry |
Infantry
Clone |
UnitClass186=Waffen
SS Rifle Squad |
Infantry
Clone |
UnitClass187=Motorcycle(Light
Inf) |
motorcycle
clone |
UnitClass188=Motorcycle(Heavy
Inf) |
motorcycle
clone |
UnitClass189=Militia |
Infantry
Clone |
UnitClass190=Light
Militia |
Infantry
Clone |
UnitClass191=Heavy
Militia |
Infantry
Clone |
UnitClass192=Militia
Support |
Infantry
Clone |
New
in Version 5.0: |
|
UnitClass193=
MG Unit |
MMG/HMG
(tripod) Clone (Extra MG classes were required for e.g. individual
MG units, or because some OB's had so many variations of MG numbers) |
UnitClass194=MG
Section |
MMG/HMG
(tripod) Clone |
UnitClass195=Engineer
Support Squad |
Engineer
Clone |
UnitClass196=Pack
Howitzer |
Howitzer
clone |
UnitClass197=Rivercraft |
LCG
clone |
UnitClass198=Torpedo
Boat |
LCG
clone |
UnitClass199=Patrol
Boat |
LCG
clone |
UnitClass200=Mortar |
Mortar
clone |
UnitClass201=Mortar
|
Mortar
clone |
UnitClass202=Mortar |
Mortar
clone
|
New
in Version 7.0: |
|
UnitClass203=Mtn
Infantry Sqd |
Ranger Clone
|
UnitClass204=Mtn
Lt Infantry Sqd |
Ranger Clone |
UnitClass205=Mtn
Hvy Infantry Sqd |
Ranger Clone |
UnitClass206=Mtn
Support Squad |
Ranger Clone |
UnitClass207=Mtn
Pioneer Squad |
Ranger Clone plus Engineer Clone |
UnitClass208=Mtn
Scout |
Ranger Clone plus Scout Clone |
UnitClass209=Mtn
Sniper |
Ranger Clone plus Sniper Clone |
UnitClass210=Mtn
Forward Observer |
Ranger Clone plus Forward Observer Clone
|
UnitClass211=Medium
Cavalry |
Cavalry Clone
|
UnitClass212=Para
Forward Observer |
Paratooper Clone plus Forward Observer Clone
|
UnitClass213=Marine
Heavy Infantry |
Infantry Clone
|
UnitClass214=Marine
Scout |
Scout Clone
|
UnitClass215=Marine Sniper
|
Sniper Clone
|
UnitClass216=Marine
Forward Observer |
Forward Observer Clone
|
UnitClass217=Marine
Anti-Tank |
Infantry Anti-Tank Clone
|
UnitClass218=Dismounted
Cavalry |
Infantry Clone
|
UnitClass219=Ranger
Pioneer |
Ranger Clone plus Engineer Clone
|
UnitClass220=Colonial
Infantry |
Infantry Clone
|
UnitClass221=Colonial
Light Infantry |
Infantry Clone |
UnitClass222=Colonial
Heavy Infantry |
Infantry Clone |
UnitClass223=Colonial
Support Infantry |
Infantry Clone |
UnitClass224=Colonial
Field Gun |
Fires Indirect
|
UnitClass225=Colonial
Scout |
Scout Clone
|
UnitClass226=Colonial
Sniper |
Sniper Clone
|
UnitClass227=Colonial
Cavalry |
Cavalry Clone
|
UnitClass228=Colonial
Cavalry Scout |
Cavalry Scout Clone
|
UnitClass229=Colonial
Lt Cavalry |
Cavalry Clone
|
UnitClass230=Colonial
Armoured Car |
Armoured Car Clone
|
UnitClass231=Colonial
Tank |
Tank Clone
|
UnitClass232=Armoured
Truck |
Armoured Car Clone
|
UnitClass233=Partisan
Field Gun |
Fires Indirect
|
UnitClass234=Partisan
Squad |
Infantry Clone
|
UnitClass235=Partisan
Pioneer |
Engineer Clone
|
UnitClass236=Militia
Scout |
Scout Clone
|
UnitClass237=Field
Gun |
Fires Indirect
|
UnitClass238=Anti-Tank
Gun |
Anti-Tank Gun Clone
|
UnitClass239=Light
Ski Infantry |
Ski Infantry Clone
|
UnitClass240=Light
Armoured Car |
Armoured Car Clone
|
UnitClass241=Machine
Gun Team |
Machine Gun Clone
|
UnitClass242=Mortar(Sub
Type D) |
Mortar Clone
|
UnitClass243=Light
Bomber |
Level Bomber Clone
|
UnitClass244=Heavy
Bomber |
Level Bomber Clone
|
UnitClass245=Ranger
Lt Inf Squad |
Ranger Clone
|
UnitClass246=Ranger
Hvy Inf Squad |
Ranger Clone
|
UnitClass247=Ranger
Scout |
Ranger Clone plus Scout Clone
|
UnitClass248=Ranger
Sniper |
Ranger Clone plus Sniper Clone
|
UnitClass249=Ranger
Forward Observer |
Ranger Clone plus Forward Observer Clone
|
UnitClass250=Mountain
Pioneer Support |
Ranger Clone plus Engineer Clone
|
UnitClass251=Native
Scouts |
Native Troops Clone plus Scout Clone
|
UnitClass252=APC |
APC Clone
|
UnitClass253=Tank |
Tank Clone
|
UnitClass254=Bunker |
Fortifications Clone
|
UnitClass255=Heavy
Glider |
Glider Clone
|
The
Uninitiated to the Arcane Ways of OOB Design might ask why so many
classes are just clones (copies) of base classes - well, it is mainly
of use in designing formations. The multitude of cloned classes allows
the OB designer to write far more realistic OB files by using the
clones to keep specific units in specific formations. Note also that any
'elite' or 'poor quality' comes from the formation that is used to hold
the units, not the class - a Guards squad has no inherent elite nature
- this comes from the Morale & Experience Modifier fields shown in the formation purchase screen.
OB designers - note that the maximum possible number Unit Classes has
been implemented.
Customising
SPWW2
A
Word about OB Customising
The SPWW2 SPOB editor is Mobhack - and it is provided with the release.
Please see the help files for that utility for details of producing custom
OB files.
Just
remember the following about custom OB files:
1) In a PBEM
game the 2 SPOBS must remain identical throughout the life
of the PBEM game - therefore do NOT change OB files if you are playing
someone in PBEM at that time. |
2) Changing OB
data can result in strange things happening in scenario games as these
save all the game data except for weapons data - to which a
reference to originating OB number and weapon number in that OB is
stored. Therefore if you load a custom OB, and the OB designer decided
to overwrite the Kar98k rifle with say a 155mm artillery piece - then
all your German infantry will now tend to have 155mm howitzers. The
OB designer can use weapons from other OBs than the 2 you thought
he had used - so there can be these effects if you change an OB file
you never thought had any relevance. (Say the OB designer loaded up
Finland, and then issued some German squads with Suomi SMG..). |
3) Changing OB
data mid game can have the same effects on your saved games as 2 above. |
Basically
- change the OB files at some point where all your games are finished.
Check any scenarios for odd weapons appearing - if so, contact the OB
designer, not SP Camo Workshop!
Editable Player
Files
A few enhancements have been made which will allow the player some flexibility
in specific game areas.
Spww2.ini
This file currently contains a few numbers only. It is found in the \data
directory of your game. At present, this file will setup the two default
players, Month and Year in the Battle Builder, Editor and Campaign menus.
If you open the file, (use notepad or another TEXT editor - never
a word processor !) you will see a series of numbers as below:

Parameter |
Description
|
1 |
Default
month for battle generator etc - 9 is September |
2 |
The
default year for the battle generator - 39 is 1939 |
3 |
Default
player 1 (LHS - human ) - 16 is Nazi Germany |
4 |
Default
Player 2 (RHS - computer) - 2 is Poland |
5 |
Used
to slow scroll speeds - 0=none, 1 = more etc. |
6 |
The
percentage chance of SP Camo Workshop shotgun style victory hex pattern
being used in the meeting engagement. 0 is none to 100 as always.
Here an 80 per cent chance is used
- The chance for defensive shotgun hexes will be 60% that of the meeting
engagement. |
7 |
Report
ranges flag - 0=Yards, 1=Metres, 2=hexes. Here 1 for metres. |
8 |
If
1 - this displays the unit slot number in the encyclopaedia, and formation
ID slot numbers in the force purchase screens. This is a debug flag
for OB designers, not for ordinary players. Here 0 for unused - only
of interest to Mobhack users. |
The 9 means the default
month is September. The 39 means the default year is 1939. The 0 means
the first default combatant is Germany (SPOB00) and the last number, the
2 means the second combatant is Poland (SPOB02). A list of the countries
and their corresponding OB numbers
has been added to these notes.
So the progression
is:
Month
Year
Player 1
Player 2
If you put the following
numbers in:
6
44
12
16
The defaults would
then be June 1944, USA vs. Germany.
Parameter # 5 is used
to slow map scrolling - in addition to the [ and ] keys and any external
slow down utility such as Mo'slo. The number is used as a divisor - 0
does no slow down, 1 a bit, 5, somewhat more and so forth. If you have
too fast a scroll in the game - try higher numbers here. If it gets too
large, then the scroll may get a bit jerky, but this is something to experiment
with to suit your individual PC boxes' setup.
Parameter #6 controls
the usage of the new shotgun style victory hex which SP Camo Workshop
introduced in version 2.2. Here, instead of the 3 clusters of 7 victory
hexes, you get all 21 spread as individuals shotgun pattern over the battlefield,
for a more wide ranging conflict. The 3 victory hexes at the rear of each
player's side are worth more victory points than the others. Turn it to
0 if you just want the clusters of 3 victory hexes or 100 if all you want
to see in the meeting engagement is the shotgun pattern, or an intermediate
chance to suit your tastes.
Parameter #7 controls
the reporting of fire ranges in the game for those who prefer yards/metres
(SP1 style) over the hex notation introduced into SP2 and SP3.
Parameter #8 is for
OB design only - and very useful for tracking duplicates and so forth
in that process.
LdrXX.dat files
These live in the \data\NAMES directory of your game. Each XX relates
to the Spob number. They contain the unit leader names table for each
Spob If deleted, a standard set is used - i.e. these tables override the
defaults. The list of countries and their corresponding numbers
is at the end of these notes.
If your name is Bloggs - you can now have unit leaders called Bloggs in
the game.
They are straight text files delimited by a cr/lf as in Notepad. Leader
name maximum character limit is 15, do not make these longer. Usually
longer names will be truncated, but sometimes unpleasant side effects
occur. So be careful with name length. Do not use a word processor
to edit - use a proper text only editor like notepad, which
will not fill the files with word processing format garbage extra characters!
You must not add a name to the end of the list. The program is
set up to pick a name at random from a fixed number of names. Do not increase
the number beyond what is already on the lists. If you wish to add your
name to a particular country list you will need to overwrite an existing
name. Do not delete a name either, as this will cause problems
as well. There must be exactly 100 name 'lines' in the file, no
more and no less.
RankXX.dat files
These live in the \data\RANKS directory of the game. The game uses the
following series of ranks:
Private
Corporal
Lance Corporal
Sergeant
2nd Lieutenant
1st Lieutenant
Captain
Major
Lt. Colonel
Colonel
Brigadier General
But in an abbreviated format.
Again the XX relates to the mob number. If a RankXX.dat exists for a nation,
then those names are used to replace the game defaults. There is no benefit
from renaming a lower rank to a higher one. Limit is 8 characters per
name.
NOTE: We have provided abbreviations of national ranks as best we can
given the limitations of 8 characters. If you wish to go back to the original
ranks used in the SP series, simply rename the file folder RANKS to XRANKS.
The program will ignore these new lists and run off of the defaults written
in the code. If at some point in the future you wish to use these new
lists all you need do is remove the "X". As with the leaderXX
files, there must be exactly eleven data lines or problems will
occur. As with other text files - Do not use a word processor to edit.
Other Text Files
In the data\text directory
you will find encyclopaedia text files and the in game help files. These
use the normal SP series format characters - see scenario
editing section for the details. When making these, as with the Scenario
introduction text - you will have to experiment with the text as it sometimes
lays the text out quite oddly - practice makes perfect!.
etNNNIII.txt - the
encyclopaedia text entries for each unit in Spob NNN and
unit slot number III.
ftNNNIII.txt - the
formation information text files that appear in the purchases
screen, Spob NNN and formation Spob slot number III. - NB leading zeros
used to pad these items for both et and ft text file names. I.E. France
is 006 for the NNN part of the file name, formation slot number 12 would
be 012 for the III part.
HelpNNN.txt - the
in game help screen files which come up in the game itself when the ?
button or key is used. Help000.txt is the main help file, others cover
other help sub topics by number.
Other
General Items Steel Panthers Variants Information
Please remember...SPWW2 is an entirely different
game from SP1, SP2, SP3, SPWaW or any other SP Mod . No other SP series
game's data will be usable here. OOBs, Scenarios, Campaigns and
Maps are all different from game to game (one exception is noted
below). You cannot move the old style maps over to the new 15 level,
maximum of 200 hexes wide format. Nor can you move the old style
OOBs over to the new 999 Unit/Formation format. Since Scenarios
and Campaigns are inticately linked to both Maps and OOBs, they also
are not interchangeable. We do not provide any utilities for
other games.
SP Camo's Steel Panthers Maps
All current version
SPWW2 and SPMBT maps are interchangeable. Any current version SPWW2 map can be brought
over to SPMBT, and current version SPMBT maps can be used in SPWW2. That is
because we make both games and have made the map format.
OOBs, Scenarios and Campaigns, however, are still incompatible as MBT
incorporates new and different aspects of warfare that are not
included in the game code for SPWW2. That is where the two go
their seprate ways, MBT was created from SPWW2 to portray post-WWII
combat, while SPWW2 specializes in WWII combat.
A Note on Hazardous Terrain
All hazardous terrain has one similar feature - the faster a vehicle
has travelled before hitting the hazardous terrain, or the more MP
expended whilst in such terrain, the greater the chance the vehicle
will get stuck, bogged down or otherwise disabled.
Terrain Types
Impassable

|
Is impassable to vehicles, is very difficult for infantry types, less so for
commandos, rangers and mountaineers. Represents either extremely rough terrain, or extremely
steep and/or scree-covered slopes or cliffs (truly impassable terrain
is not implementable, as it gives the AI path finding routines severe
fits). |
Sand Dunes

|
Difficult going
for vehicles and infantry, there is a high breakdown (sticking)
possibility for vehicles, especially 2WD
trucks. The code is set up to penalize for speed. If you charge into a
sand dune hex at the end of your movement allowance (and therefore at
top speed) you will have a MUCH higher chance of bogging
down than if you only move one or two hexes at the start of your
turn.
HINT: Ignore
the movement radius shown in Sand Dunes. That tells you the Maximum
number of hexes you can move IF YOU ARE LUCKY! You
can move them all if you want to but if you do, chances are your
luck will not hold out for long. Avoid Sand Dunes with 2WD trucks
unless you're desperate and keep the speed of tracked and 4WD vehicles
to under 1/2 of the movement radius shown and most times you will
get through OK. This is a trap for the unwary and the hasty player.
We could simple lower the sticking chance and the number of hexes
allowed but this way we give the gamblers the chance to gamble and
win....or lose.
|
Snowdrifts
|
Ski troop types
less affected by snowdrifts, but snowmobiles can get stuck in this
type though at a lower chance than regular vehicles. Vehicle Immobilisations
are much more likely, especially for wheeled vehicles. These are deep drifts that are true obstacles, not the stuff of that has blown over your driveway. (See HINT
above regarding vehicles in soft sand )
|
Trenches

|
Fire Trenches
provide cover (even if you moved) as for being dug in. Major obstacle
to vehicles, which can be ditched trying to cross these, they are
meant to represent wide fire trenches, not foxholes. Due to the
ditching possibilities these can also be seem as a form of AT ditch.
Ordinary foxholes
protect only infantry, who will be counted as dug in if they start
the move in such. The vehicle revetments and gun positions issued
at the start of a battle cannot be reoccupied.
NB, Some forts
and bunkers may have a carry capacity, and hence provide shelter
for 'passengers'.
|
Hedgerows

|
Represent
major hedge obstacles with a substantial base, as in the Normandy
Bocage, though also found elsewhere. A major obstacle to vehicles,
which can be bogged down (stuck) crossing these. Good protection to
stationary infantry, dug in infantry in these can be very difficult to
shift!. Hedgerows can be made taller in the Map Editor by laying them
again and again along the same track. Each application will raise
the height of the hedgerow.
|
Paddy Fields

|
Are
treated similar to marshes. Flooded paddy fields are less bad going to
amphibious vehicles, which are less likely to stick in them as well,
but still not good vehicle terrain at all for these. Paddies are
a serious obstacle for all ground units, and are best avoided as they
are prime ambush terrain. You do not want to get caught out in
the middle of a paddy. Paddies that are not flooded can be
represented by Mud, Tall Grass or Dry Tall Grass terrains, depending on
the season and condition of the paddy.
|
Mud

|
Mud
is a serious obstacle to all, and has a high chance of being bogged
down if crossed by a vehicle. This is not your minor mud puddle
by the side of the road. This is a thoroughly water-soaked ground
due to flooding, heavy snow melt, torrential rains, monsoons and
etc.. This is the stuff that stopped the Germans in the Soviet
Union.
|
Volcanic Sand

|
Effects
are similar to soft sand. Wheeled and track vehicles have an increased
immobilisation chance. Although provided mainly for Iwo Jima in WW2,
this terrain type has possibilities for usage as light scree elsewhere
(collection of rocks, small stones and grit that accumulates at the
foot of a cliff). |
Railway Track

|
Railway
Track is not very good going for vehicles, but affects foot less so.
Rail Track does negate the underlying terrain (mud, rough or marshland,
say) so you can consider a rail line as a poor quality road when it goes through poor terrain.. As with roads,
if damaged by shell holes, it is less good going than if undamaged. |
Tram Lines

|
'Street
Car Track", treated as paved roads, mainly cosmetic therefore
to be used in city maps for flavour. |
|
Green
Grassy Plain, Dry Grassy Plain, Yellow Sand Desert, Red Sand Desert or
Grey Sand Desert (all also known as "Clear") are not obstacles to
Movement, per se, though the off-road movement cost is decidedly higher
for some Classes of movement, such as the "Wheeled Class" (two-wheel
drive vehicles). Relatively flat these terrains may be, but they are
not considered flat as a billiard table either. There are plenty
of minor ground fluctuations, tufts of grass, short ground cover, nooks
or crannies for a determined trooper to hide behind and in.
|
Snow

|
Plain
white snow costs extra MP to cross, snow terrain maps add to all terrain,
including road movement cost.
|
Roads


|
Roads
are metalled (grey) or dirt (brown). In dust conditions, travel over
dirt roads produces dust more quickly than on metalled roads. Dirt
roads need less vehicle movement through a hex to produce dust trails,
the amount of vehicle movement through hexes for dust production is
cumulative. |
Swamp

|
Swamp, Frozen Swamp and Marsh Wetland hexes not good going for any type, but especially for vehicles which
can become stuck. Defending units cannot dig in here. |
Tall Grass


|
Tall
Grass and Dry Tall Grass provide some LOS blocking at a low level, some
protection for infantry within such hexes. In jungle maps this can be
rather tall, representing bamboo, elepant grass and the like. Can
also be low-lying scrub of any kind.
|
Shell Holes

|
Shell
holes provide some cover, but increase movement costs in damaged hexes. |
Buildings

|
Buildings
provide cover, especially if of stone construction. Vehicles can drive
through building hexes, but may become broken down as they collapse.
Collapsing buildings may cause casualties to infantry etc, but a collapsed
building (rubble) hex is quite good cover, again stone rubble is better. |
|
Summer Trees and Winter Trees -- all Wooded
hexes block LOS to varying degrees, provide good cover but cost more MP to traverse,
especially for vehicles. |
Orchards

|
Orchards
are lower height, lower density wooded areas, and block LOS less than
regular woods. Orchards can represent tea plantations, vineyards and so
forth. Can also be used for urban treed areas which are mostly
cleared.
|
Frozen Ground

|
Represents
light snow over frozen ground. It is treated like clear terrain for
movement purposes |
Water

|
Full
hexes of water can represent canals, lakes, wide rivers or the ocean.
Where the height is shown as -1, troops may wade through such at increased
move cost, though non amphibious vehicles may become ditched trying
this. Barges (landing craft) may offload in shallow water, though
then the passengers will then have to wade ashore. Vehicles (and infantry
types) with swim ability traverse water at 1 hex per swim point. |
Bridges

|
Bridges
negate the terrain below them, usually water obstacles. Stone bridges
are tougher than wooden ones, needing hits from larger calibre artillery
or bombs etc. Dropping a bridge segment kills any elements currently
stacked on it (enemy or friendly). Rail bridges cost a bit more than
road in terms of move cost. In some lesser developed areas dirt roads
may cross water by fords rather than wooden bridges. Occasionally
the wooden bridge or ford may have been washed out, with areas of
swamp etc around the ford. |
Fields






|
All
farm field provide some low level LOS cover for infantry & etc,
especially if standing wheat crops. Fields cost a few more move points
to cross for vehicles. The types of fields are: Yellow Crops, Green
Crops, Winter Field, Ploughed Field, Snow-Covered Field and Crop
Stubble in Early/Late Winter. |
Rough



|
Rough
terrain costs more MP to traverse, but provides excellent cover, especially
for infantry. Represents broken or rock strewn terrain. You may find
generated maps with dried up river beds, chiefly of rough but sometimes
with marshy spots. Desert maps can have Wadis, wide areas or gullies
filled with rough terrain. |
Paved

|
Found
around buildings and in city grids. Acts like road terrain. |
|
|
Fire

|
Fires
may start in some terrain types, this causes suppression especially
to soft troops, and can cause casualties to infantry, guns etc. Large
fires (e.g. caused by napalm or flame throwers) are worse than small
fires. |
Wrecks

|
Vehicle
wrecks provide some LOS block, but they count like normal units to
stacking costs, each unit or wreck in a traversed hex deducts 1 MP.
|
Visibility
|
If
scenario visibility is high, then LOS can penetrate deeper into forests,
grasslands, standing crops, light smoke and so forth. When visibility
is high (about 60 plus) in high summer months, or in desert or snow
terrain, then vehicle movement can raise dust or disturbed snow trails.
Low visibility under 10 or so hexes especially, affects air strike
accuracy unless fitted with night vision, and causes more glider and
paratroop landing accidents. |
Scenario Editor
The scenario
editor is where you design scenarios for the end user to play. We will
cover here the basics of scenario editing and design - the subject really
requires a complete guide of its own, which we may well publish.
Important
note to scenario designers - remember that any scenario you design
should be with the human as player 1 (the one on the left in the picture
below) and the AI (computer) player as player nuber 2 (on the right).
Reversing this can cause weird problems with your scenarios - never ever
design a scenario with the human as player 2 and the AI as player 1!.
(this dos not apply to any scenario played PBEM between 2 humans - it
is only the case when the AI is playing as player 1).
Basic
scenario design process is to firstly design your map - this is the most
important element of any scenario, and you should therefore make this
element first, and above all, save it off separately from any other scenario
work. Having the map saved off separately means that you can easily re
use this element for other scenarios using the same terrain, or simply
to start over if the design was a wash out! Once happy with your map -
then buy and deploy the required troops. Have an idea of what you want
to do as well - research the scenario from historical documentation if
it is a historically based one, rather than a 'what if'.
( The
scenario editor will now object if you press the 'deploy' key for a force
which you have bought no troops for. You must buy some troops to deploy
troops for a side! )
The main
editor page is where you make some critical design decisions. Underneath
it live the map editor, and the scenario deployment sub routines. As mentioned
above - make your map first, and save it off somewhere safe well before
you start dropping troops onto it to create a scenario.
One major
point to consider at the outset is if you are designing a game where the
player takes on the AI, or one where a human can play either side. In
the former - the AI needs to be given consideration, and it will need
to be given advantages of force size, or position, or more likely both.
Or the game length can be reduced so the human must make a quick rush
at it. Scenarios designed for the computer to play one side should not
be played by the human as the other side - it will be a walk over for
that player. Therefore, advise the player in your introductory text not
to play the computer side. Scenarios designed for 2 humans to play will
be usually very difficult for the AI to win, so again state up front that
a scenario is designed for 2 humans to play each other head to head. A
rare minority of scenarios can be playable by the AI as both sides, or
give a human player a challenge if he plays the non-default set. In nearly
all circumstances, the human player should be the player No 1 in a scenario,
unless you are an experienced designer.
And we
may as well take some time here to note some points about scenario purchase
and design - your scenario will be reported to the end user as whatever
mode it last was in (advance, say). this does not mean that you require
to edit the scenario in that mode. For example you may want to
set up a meeting engagement, but you need to entrench some units, or buy
a pillbox. Fine - build the scenario as an assault, dig the defender in
and buy pillboxes, then switch to a meeting engagement. Then buy the second
player troops, or they may get the dug in status that you get as an assaulter
in a regular battle! Changing the battle type in creative ways during
the design can be a useful tool for the experienced designer. For example
- to get rafts for a non assault battle. Or simply to get the user off
on the wrong foot - dig the defenders in and tell the user it is a mere
advance mission, he may not expect mines lying about then..
The date
of the battle determines the 2 sides involved. Note that it is perfectly
possible to use a different date, should whatever you want not be available
at that point - enter the desired date and buy troops at that point in
time, then reset the date to the scenario date later. Only the last
date used during the design process is the one reported by the scenario,
so you could try a what if of 1940 French versus Germans with 1945 equipment
- Just whizz the date to 1940, buy the required French kit, whizz the
date to 1945 and buy the German stuff. Mainly this is of use in special
circumstances for a scenario - the introduction dates of equipment in
the OB files tend towards 'general service' dates - if you have a historical
scenario where say some pre-production Tigers were used this is how to
get them (and also to surprise the human player who may not expect to
meet tigers before the 'encyclopaedia date' <G!>).
The map
editor is reached via the edit button - but before you hop off
and start editing - select the map size from the button on the left.This
takes you to the Preferences screen where you pick one of the 135 map
sizes available.(You can come back later, and select a larger map size
- and then add stuff to the South part, or a smaller map size to 'crop'
it into a narrower strip in the North - but it is better to start off
with the correct size first to save hassles). You can save off the map
separately from the scenario inside the map editing subroutine. Note that
selecting the date and the opponent pairing will determine the map used
for random maps from the normal SP Camo selection - this ignores the climate
of the map (desert, summer or winter).
The climate
buttons determine the basic map colour, desert gives yellow tiles and
desert features (like soft sand), summer is the regular green background
(toggled to 'jungle' if you select the palm trees inside the map editor),
and winter gives white tiles and access to the winter extra tiles such
as snow drifts. Note that the editor does not care about dates regarding
winter - you can make a winter map in august, should you so desire.
A BIG
note to map designers is that the map will be one of these types
only - Summer, Jungle, Winter or Desert,
depending on what mode it was last edited in.
Why say
this? - well some map designers go in and use say a green summer map,
then come out to the main screen, flip to winter, and then go in and place
a few white tiles for what they think will be a few patches of
'snow' on a green map for extra 'colour'. Nope - if they last edited
the map in 'winter' mode - as far as the game is concerned the
map is now entirely a winter map! The colour of the
basic clear tiles has no in-game effect, the season of the map
is a global variable which affects the entire map. Only
the special 'feature' tiles (such as snow drifts or soft sand) have inbuilt
special effects. 'Clear' terrain tiles do not. Any tile that gives out
'clear' when you hover the mouse over it is a 'basic' terrain tile, of
the type of terrain you last edited the map in - so if you say started
with a summer map, exit and changed to desert and laid some 'yellow' clear
tiles, then exited again, changed to winter and laid some 'white' clear
tiles - this is now a winter map, and all the yellow, green and white
'clear' tiles will be basic snow (winter) terrain - because the last map
edit mode was winter.
Select
the visibility in hexes for the scenario with the visibility control.
Give
the scenario location a name with the name button - this is NOT the scenario
file name, it is he location name reported inside the game - like 'Sword
Beach', 'St Lo', i.e. the geographical place name.
The save
button here saves a scenario - a scenario is a map plus troops deployed.
A scenario can be played, and a separately saved map can be used in battles.
The Load
button by the maps loads a pre made map into the scenario.
The Random
map button generates a random map using the SP Camo map generation code,
based on the 2 players involved and the date, but ignoring the climate
- so a German vs French 1940 'desert' map would tend to look like a 'yellowed'
France 1940 map. However, random maps are not a great deal of use in scenario
design as you will be crafting your own from scratch mainly.
The 2
main players are selected as for a normal battle. However unlike other
battles - in the scenario editor, the map sides each use as home base
is reported here, as this is very important stuff for scenario design.
In scenarios we often need to be able to have the 2 sides fighting in
a different direction. The side that you play from determines the retreat
direction for routers, and where off map artillery comes from. If you
just lay your troops as desired, but on opposite sides from the given
- routers will run to the enemy and artillery will come from the wrong
direction as well. Note that the directions are given in map terms - left
and right, as there is no compass direction in any SP series game - Left
side of the map can be North, South East or whatever you desire to call
it. (Many players mistakenly think of the Right of the map as 'East' say
- not so. Just a convenient convention which fits most cases. If
you need North to be at the 'bottom' of your map - just design it that
way, and note where North is in the scenario introductory text - you can
even put the direction to North on the map with Map Text).
The Map
Sides buttons are what allow you to exchange the default map sides,
and it is a very, very good idea indeed to set the map sides before
you buy a single unit of either side should you need to exchange
sides. When you enter the editor for the first time the map buttons are
'free' - press Swap to exchange sides. The map side buttons will
then be put into 'locked' state and the Swap button will be hidden.
You can unlock the Swap button if required. Also note that loading
a scenario into the editor will take the map sides you set up while editing
that scenario, and place map sides into locked state. Just so you do not
make a mistake. If you like the map side setup, then press Lock
to lock the sides in, should the map sides be in free status.
The preferences
button allows you to set preferences as you desire. For scenario design,
points are of course unlimited - you just buy the 2 sides regardless of
any notional points values (But, the points values of the various units
will be counted as part of the scoring process at game end! - some scenario
designers have in the past placed some 'destroyed' tanks etc. as 'scenic
effects' - a 'destroyed' Panther on the map will still be about 40 victory
points to the opposite side! - if you do not want this, remember to adjust
the points value for such a creation to 0 in the deployment subroutine!).
The end user will be able to override your preferences - should these
be important for your design then put a recommended set into your scenario
introduction text. What is effected here is basic troop quality - if you
want this to be other than the default, set as desired before buying your
troops as this will save time editing later. You can go through them all
and individually change morale and experience - but if the default for
a nation is say 60 experience at this point in the war, and you know in
advance that you want an elite bunch with say about 80 experience - set
this up here and most of the troops bought subsequently will be nearer
what you want on purchase.
The
map editor subroutine of the scenario editor is where you create
maps, naturally enough.
Generally,
it is just a case of laying down tiles, but see above about the climate.
A couple
of other game global variables require to be mentioned however that relate
to water borne scenarios.
The first
is the gBeach global variable - this one determines if it is a beach
assault, and whether landing craft are auto bought for your troops.
This requires to be set before you buy any troops, and it is determined
by building a beach in the editor with the appropriate key. Simply drawing
in a lot of 'lake' tiles will not suffice - you must use the map
editor beach key to have a beach built - though after the game has put
your beach down, feel free to edit whatever it placed on the map of course.
If you set the gBeach variable then all the assaulting side's troops will
have landing craft bought for them by the AI buy routine, and added to
their formations. You can of course edit the AI bought craft later, should
you so desire. The gBeach variable is also used by the game purchase routines
to make naval artillery available for purchasing. It is quite possible,
should you desire, to ignore the gBeach variable and just lay down water
- however it is then up to you to buy trucks (say) and convert to landing
craft manually, and to buy artillery and also convert these manually.
Also see the '&' key below..
The Second
Global water variable is the gWideRiver variable. This is used to indicate
to the game that this is a river crossing assault, and that the
assaulter's troops that qualify will be issued with rubber assault rafts.
This is the only way to have squads issued with rafts and to be able to
carry these - a separately bought raft will need a truck to move it, it
cannot be placed on a squad. Once again, just laying a few lake hexes
manually to create your own wide river will not do to tell the scenario
it is this type. Use the 'convert all rivers to wide rivers' key. Now
this key will convert all the rivers on the map to wide rivers, so it
is not a brainy idea to use this at the end of map design, should there
be a need for minor streams and so on. Do this at the start - lay a stream
about where you want your wide river to be, then convert this stream to
a wide river. Lay your normal streams later, and edit whatever the AI
did to widen the initial river to suit your map. Should you need both
sides to have rafts - after setting the wide river variable - buy side
1, with the battle dial set to assault for that side! - and their squads
get rafts issued. Now - go back to the main screen, save the scenario!
- and flick the battle dial to the other side, so it is the 'assaulting'
player now and buy its required forces and they will have rafts as well
- see the '^' key below..
Note
that if you need jungle terrain - then edit a summer map,
and first thing - toggle the palm trees icon to use palm trees, not European
ones. Then jungle features arrive - paddy fields, high grass becomes tall
jungle grass (or bamboo etc.).
There
are 2 map design pages - use the '>' red button to toggle between pages.
Some features will change depending on climate (such as winter snow drifts).
There
are now 15 hill levels as opposed to the other SP series games, which
had a mere 3 hill levels - - but only 1 through 4 are there all the time
on dedicated buttons - use the '+' Cycle Level key to cycle the max hill
button - this starts at level 5, one press of '+' Cycle Level key and
you get level 6 and so on, cycling back to level 5 after 15. This method
saved a lot of extra terrain level buttons.
Map
Editing Hot Keys
B |
Create
level 2 Hill in hex |
C |
Clear
terrain in hex |
D |
Dirt
(earthen) road |
E |
save
the map (not scenario!) to disk |
F |
Wheat
(taller) field - Winter, Winter Fields |
G |
High Grass Field - Winter, Winter High Grass |
H |
Level
1 Hill |
I |
Level
4 Hill |
J |
Toggle
Palm trees, and paddy etc in Summer terrain = Jungle terrain |
L |
[Page
2] Make a beach on the Left or Right (and set gBeach variable) |
N |
Go
to next editor buttons page |
O |
[Page
1] Orchard (low trees) [page 2] Convert streams to Wide Rivers (sets
gWideRiver variable) |
P |
Top
level hill (as set by cycle button) |
Q |
Exit |
R |
Rough |
S |
[Page
1] Stream. [Page 2] Bocage type hedgerow. |
T |
Level
3 hill |
U |
Swamp
|
V |
Green
(low) Field. [Winter - Snow Drifts] |
W |
[Page
1] Water (Lake) hex. [Page 2] Trench |
X |
Clear
the map |
Keypad |
Move
1 hex in the keypad direction - 8 is up, 2 is down. |
= |
Random
map |
+
and - |
Zoom
and Unzoom map |
. |
Toggle
hex display on or off |
# |
Clear
out all map text strings in one easy operation (do NOT 'remove'
the text by 'blanking' the strings - use this key to properly
zero the text on any map) |
; |
lock
the current building type until you press another icon or button.
Very useful in laying city grids! |
> |
Toggle
display of victory hexes on or off |
< |
Toggle
the display of map text strings on or off |
? |
Access
in game help |
* |
Use
this to adjust the height of the hex. Experts only. |
& |
Use this to
set or reset the global beach variable 'gBeach' of the map
for beach assault missions (triggers purchase of landing craft,
use of naval off map artillery etc). Very useful for folk who made
a large water map and forgot to make it using the normal 'convert
1 side of the map to beach' key! use this key after you have loaded
the map into the editor, and before you purchase any troops at all,
or difficulties can occur. This section of code will check to see
that this is an assault mission, and will prompt you if it is not
- you can elect to not follow this advice, but non-assault beach
scenarios can have strange results. The game is intended only
for assaults when the beach flag is on, remember!
Note that when
you purchase the assault nation's troops you will be asked if you
want to buy the landing craft for them - in some circumstances you
may not want to do this (say for a batch of troops on an island,
which the human player will ferry over as secondary waves, using
the first wave's transport).
Note also that
before the landing craft are bought, the code will now try to load
up any swimming or flying transport craft with troops, before it
buys the landing craft - so it will load up any separately bought
amtracks, DUKW or Dakotas you have purchased, unlike the original
SP series games!
|
^ |
This
works as for the global beach variable above, but applies to the
global Wide River 'gWideRiver' map variable. In other words, use
this to expressly set the wide river assault flag (infantry buy rafts)
- for example when you have a map where you want to put say a lot
of small lakes, but do not want to use the 'convert all streams to
wide rivers' flag for some reason. Again - the game will prompt you
to make this an assault mission as this is the correct battle type
for a river crossing. Also - use this key after you have loaded the
map, but before you buy the troops, as usual. |
% |
This
sets a start line for the human player 1 in user generated campaigns
only. Player 1 gets to deploy up to this line, side depends on
his base edge |
Scenario troop
deployment and editing

OK -
you have made and saved off your map. This is where you buy your troops
and deploy them for the battle.
Purchase
is as for normal battles - but points are unlimited, as the troops on
the table are what you decide
Deployment
is basically similar to normal battle deployment with loads of extra features
added on
Placement
of troops is pretty much standard - it is the editing that differs
The first
thing you will want to do is to place the victory hexes - it matters
not which of the 2 sides you are editing when you do this. Use the edit
victory objectives button, and lay your victory hexes where you want them
to be, and what nationality they will start as. The big decision here
is what points value to make them - victory points are part of the score,
and what you grant here is relevant. Low values will mean VP for destroying
units is most of the end game score (approximately half the value of a
destroyed unit is given as VP, remember, and abandoned units are counted
killed to the side which has most score and/or holds all the objectives).
High victory hex points will tend to skew the end score towards holding
of victory hexes - especially where the overall points values of the 2
forces are on the low side, less so if this is a monster 12000 points
a side scenario. If you do not require all 21 victory hexes - simply leave
some at 0 value, and stack these with other scores victory hexes. Never
leave a victory hex with zero value out in the open as it were, unless
you are an expert. Recall that on initial entry, the victory hexes will
have zero values! - the AI will not steer to victory hexes worth nil points
that much - this is a common complaint from some new scenario designers
'I laid out the victory hexes but the AI would not advance on them it
just sat still' - please give the victory hexes a VP value greater than
zero, bar the unused ones that you stacked with a scored one should you
need less than 21 locations. Do not leave any victory hexes on the grey
map edges as this causes the AI to have fits - ensure all are on the playing
surface. Also, ensure that there is some way that the AI especially, and
the human player less so - has of getting to these. A victory hex in a
lake hex will only be reachable by swimming - ensure the AI has such units,
and several ,as the first few may be killed. Better still - always
place V hexes on terrain that any infantry or vehicle can reach.
V5
- We have added a new button to the victory hex placement
window to clear the victory hexes down and/or set all of them to a common
value. The first question will allow you to move all victory hexes to
the 0,0 position, and the second allows you to allocate a value to all
simultaneously.
The Victory
hex placement 'shapes' your scenario, for both the layout of defenders,
and the likely approaches of the attackers, especially moving AI troops.
Get it right and you have the basis of a good scenario, get it wrong and
you have started your design off on the wrong foot.
If this
is an attack and defence game, then you probably want to lay the defence
side out first. Then place the attackers where you want them, determined
by the defence layout and your scenario requirements.
Note
that in a scenario battle, the only pre registered artillery targets that
the player will get are those you set up for him here, in the deployment
phase. Be creative with these - if you place too many right on the other
sides defended locales, you will give the defence away! Place them 'near
enough' to adjust from, and blame that on faulty intelligence staff work
<G>. Also - you may really need only 2 or 3 gold spots, place the
others at misleading places on the map, again to mask the AI deployment.
If you do not place any pre registered gold spots, all artillery calls
for impromptu fires will be at full delay. This may be what you actually
require in your scenario - if so, do not grant any pre registered targets.
Any pre
game bombardment you plan will also fall as well, with nothing the player
can do to alter this. A scenario starts at the beginning of turn 1 - the
turn 0 artillery plot (including pre registered targets) is up to you,
the scenario designer. See the section on the bombardment screen for the
new information, e.g. about timed missions and aircraft deployment.
The
normal deployment hot keys are made available
to you, with some additions we detail here.
D |
Edit
the current units data. Note that we have allowed access to the armour
fields for all units, in case they need correcting. DO NOT
add armour to unarmoured types, such as infantry or AT guns, as this
will just cause odd things to happen in the game. An AT gun with a
1 front armour value does NOT have a gun shield, it will probably
get shot up with AP, or other unpredictable results. |
O |
Toggle
the objective hexes display on or off |
R |
Change the current
unit to a different type. Generally speaking - if you need trucks,
buy a truck unit, but in certain circumstances you may need to change
a unit to something else. Buying a rifle company and then changing
all the units to tanks is just plain silly :-) - buy the correct
formation type when you can. Also - changing type can cause problems
sometimes, so you may need to check the unit over with the D key,
and ensure things like armour are correct. In other words - this
facility should not be abused.
Note - planes
are artillery, and only planes can be changed to other planes -
should you want a mixed flight, say as most end users expect the
things to be in multiples of 2 - a mixed flight of 2 different plane
types can upset their count somewhat.. Be careful changing off map
units to on map types, or vice versa - any on map unit of an off
map formation will be a LONG way from its command unit, so will
tend to be out of command control, and so not rally very well, amongst
other things. Stick to changing off map gun types to other off map
gun types and planes to other plane types, and you should be OK.
|
Z |
Place
and point objective hexes. (NB - objective hexes usually start with
a value of 0, which the AI will naturally ignore. Many folk ask 'why
does the AI not go for the objectives I placed in my scenario?' -
well, check that you remembered to assign them a positive value! :->
) |
. |
For
a scenario this is how you enter the game (scenario) length in
turns - IMPORTANT! - a scenario with a 0 length will end
very abruptly! |
# |
Set reinforcement
turn for this unit, at the current hex. Set reinforcement chance
- this is a percentage chance of arrival per turn, NOT a one shot
chance. Therefore a reinforcement with a 10 per cent chance which
does not arrive on the due turn will test again on each subsequent
turn after its due turn as and until it makes the chance roll or
the game ends, whichever comes first.
Off map reinforcement
units (air, artillery) will not arrive on map, but will be unavailable
until they do arrive
(Exception -
reinforcement batteries will fire CB fires, something the
game scenario designers wanted to represent higher formation counter
battery assets under Army etc control - not the player's to plot
on map missions with - they belong to 'A General of Artillery',
not to 'Lt Col Player!').
This facility
could be useful to ensure, say, that the AI keeps its planes in
reserve for a later phase of the game as a surprise strike (the
human player may have decided that since he has seen no air activity
for some time,that the AI has none..). Off map units includes gliders
- if set as a reinforcement, their speed does not start to halve
per turn until they are on the map.
Note that there
are no restrictions to moving reinforcements about after setting
them - but the thing if marked as a reinforcement will be removed
from the game map at scenario start, and will use the location and
facing it was in when you set it as a reinforcement.
Any non reinforcement
units loaded as a passenger on a transport will automatically be
given reinforcement status as passengers of that transport - so
load your transport up and just set the carrier up as a reinforcement,
no need to do each carried unit separately.
There are no
restrictions as to arrival point - just do not use the grey hexes!
- so your reinforcements could be paratroopers, or partisans appearing
in the rear of the enemy. Or a massive flank march!
|
9
|
Toggle
selected unit's auxiliary status - aux, fix or none. Do NOT use with
anything carrying a passenger!! |
The next and
previous keys have a major difference here - in that they allow
you to choose off map units (including passengers) - as you just might
want to be able to edit their characteristics. Note that as you can see
passengers, you will see things like 'M10 - passenger M10' which you don't
normally see as you cannot select passengers - worry not, this is how
SP points to its internal linked list of passengers - these M10s will
likely be on a amphibious barge. Normally hidden from you as passengers
are in normal games, unelectable. But - to be safe, it is best
not to edit any unit that is a passenger as the game could possibly
lose track - unload passenger units, edit them, then replace.
Auxiliary troops
- 
These are introduced
for user campaign scenarios mainly. Auxiliary troops are best seen as
reinforcements given by you, the scenario designer to the player. Auxiliary
troops will be added to the player's force, just like support troops -
but they are additional to any support points allocated by you for this
campaign node. They will appear on the list to be deployed as normal support
troops if Aux status (placement hex is then irrelevant). Fixed auxiliary
troops (status=fix) will remain in the hex and with the facing you design
in the deployment phase - the user cannot move these troops in his deployment
- they are useful for troops outside the normal deploy zone, or for critical
units you do not want the player to mess with the deployment of, due to
your scenario's design. Auxilliary Troops cannot be used in the
first battle of a User Campaign, rather only in the second or subsequent
battles. Fixed and auxiliary troops are NOT meant to be loaded
with or as passengers! - see the Q & A at the end for a work
around for that desired loaded up truck convoy!.
Notes
on changing unit type and editing data
Recall,
you can go back or forwards in time at the main screen to purchase units
out of their time frame, this can be handy, e.g. to get that obsolete tank
no longer available in the mainline OB but necessary as being used for
airfield defence in your historical scenario).
The D
key and button - give you access to most of the statistics of units. You
can add on a point of armour for some of your units, say to represent
sandbags, layered on tracks, or logs, if desired. You can remove armour
- say to have a unit without the anti bazooka side plates, or to represent
a particular tank at a certain point which was known perhaps to have brittle
armour. Whatever is required fro your scenario. You can increase or decrease
crew experience, moral, and play with the leadership values. You might
want to increase the Range Finder and Fire Control values of some known
elite unit - say Wittman's Tiger 1. Do not add armour to an infantry unit,
gun or whatever - that is silly, but feel free to armour vehicles, say
a truck with improvised plates.
A major
field for the scenario designer to play with is the points cost. Recall
that approximately half the cost of a destroyed unit is granted as part
of the final score, so playing with this value can be most useful. For
example, if the scenario is a convoy situation, you may want to make the
convoy trucks worth 300 points or so, so that losing one will hurt the
player's score. A particular pillbox may be the desired point of a commando
raid to blow it up with satchel charges - if so, point it high so the
destruction of the thing is the point, not any victory hex it is placed
on - as a victory hex belong to whoever last walked into that hex. Then
the commandos can destroy the thing and withdraw, without some enemy straggler
flipping over the hex it is placed on after they depart.
Remember
also that this editor when allocating ammo will allow sabot rounds even
if there are none for weapon 1 no check is made. Only weapon 1 has HEAT
or SABOT ammo (bar those with an internal 222 code - see Mobhack for details),
and the smoke ammo is related to weapon 1. (Main weapon smoke ammo is
editable for scenarios, but not in Mobhack - it is data generated inside
the game, not from OB files).
Making
Your Scenario Introductory Text
No proper
scenario is complete until you have made a text file which is the text
that the user sees on selecting your scenario on the main game scenario
page.
This
file is a plain text file that you create in a text editor, such as notepad,
not a word processor which stuffs a lot of extra nonsense into the data
- a plain text only editor. It is called 'SpscnNNN.txt' and lives
in the scen sub directory of the game. NNN is a 3 digit, leading zero
number and is the same as the slot number you saved your scenario to,
with 000 being the first slot and 999 the last.
It uses
special characters to format. The code will wrap paragraphs, but is not
very good at this, so it is best to manually place the CR/LF character
yourself in text files.
The '*'
(asterix) character is used to indicate an end of line CR/LF pair.
The '_'
(underscore) character is used to space titles etc - the underscores are
not shown.
Generally,
it is best to lay out your introductory text along the following lines:
________SCENARIO
TITLE* |
* |
______nationality
#1 * |
________vs.* |
______Nation
#2 * |
* |
Date: February
24, 1941* [use the long style, with month spelt out - other
nations do not use the same dd/mm/yy format as others - some use e.g.
mm/dd/yy] |
Location: Somewhere* |
* Designed By
: designer's name* [You would like the credit, no?] |
* |
Historical overview
section - if required. [Lay out the background here, as it applies
to both sides. Leave nation specific stuff to the national briefs
below] |
* |
* |
__nationality
#1 MISSION STATEMENT* |
[Lay out what
is required for player 1 to play the scenario, intelligence briefing,
what he is expected to do, any special conditions in this section] |
* |
* __nationality
2 MISSION STATEMENT (if required)* |
[Normally, player
1 is the human player, and player 2 is the computer. This section
is therefore only required if this scenario has been designed to be
played either way, or as a human versus human scenario. If the computer
side is not designed to be played by a human - say so here!] |
* |
__Special notes* |
* |
* place any special
requirements or recommendation's here - e.g., that this scenario is
not designed to be played with a human as player 1, or suggested reality
settings. (Even if you laid these out above - repeat, for emphasis) |
|
Naturally
- feel free to do it your way, but the above is a useful template to start
off with.
Note
the underscores used to lay out headings, and the asterix
used to end lines (=CR/LF).
Distributing
Your Scenario
A scenario
is simply another form of save game - it therefore consists of the 3 parts
SpscnNNN.txt if you provided this (and you should do so, it is
the only way to talk to the end user!), SpscnNNN.cmt and SpscnNNN.dat.
Remember that NNN is the slot number you saved to. As with PBEM games
- you can open the .cmt file to see the game title in notepad but do
not edit this, should you forget which is which, and select 'sort
by name' so all the appropriate files are shown together in Explorer.
Read only!
Zip the
3 files up, add any text file you need to the zip (assume the end user
will not read this, they hardly ever do, heck hardly any read game manuals
like this one! - consider yourself a cut above the average end user for
having actually opened the game guide <G!>). Send to a friend, or
post at sites which have SP scenarios. Include your email address in the
end section of the intro text file - assume as I say that nobody will
read any readme.txt file you supply in the zip.
One point
- if you use slot 19, and someone else has already used slot 19 in their
installation - your scenario will overwrite the existing number 19. The
end user should know that he should manually renumber the scenarios as
desired, but most do not, even though it is in the manual.. But remind
them of this in your 'never-ever-readme.txt' file. And be prepared for
complaints from those who never read these things, and toast their existing
scenario..
Scenario
Question & Answer from Boomer
Q:
In the User Campaign when I design a scenario using vehicles with passengers
in fixed/aux status, I find those passengers standing around in various
locations on the map during the Deploy phase.
A: This is a known problem with fixed/aux passengers. To avoid
this when designing scenarios for the User Campaign, load the passengers,
set the vehicle as fixed/aux and then set the vehicle as Reinforcement,
turn 1. The vehicle with its passengers properly embarked will then arrive
at the beginning of Turn 1. (Andy says - Fixed Auxiliaries were not designed
for passengers - they are meant to be fully deployed troops! :).
User
Campaign Design
User
Campaign Editor
In
SP3, you could link up to 12 scenarios in a strictly end to end linear
succession to form a user campaign.
As
you may have gathered from looking at the above screen shot, the SP Camo
SPWW2 user campaigns allow a lot more flexibility than that! :-). We allow
up to 999 scenario nodes in a user campaign, not 12.
Our
campaigns are not linear - the battle result is used to determine
the next scenario node to play, hence our campaigns can be 'threaded'.
User
campaign editing is not for the faint hearted - it is for experienced
scenario designers only. The following is aimed at that target audience,
and as a general guide - you will require to experiment to get your campaigns
right, much more so than you would with scenario design.
This
is a 'live menu' screen. Live menus have 'live text' whenever you put
the mouse over the text - most of these text fields are in fact 'buttons'.
Campaign
Name - click the campaign name field and enter a new one, default
is 'A campaign with no name'.
National
Flag - click the flag to change the player's nationality.
Save
- Saves the campaign data
Exit
- leaves without saving
VICTORY
these fields are used to determine the campaign end result in victory
points (VP) At the moment 3 VP for a decisive battle victory, 2 for a
win, 1 for a draw. (SSI campaign default) [We may change these values
if designers think say a 0 1 2 4 8 type sequence is better, in a later
release]
ML
LEVEL enter the VP score needed to be met to gain a marginal loss of the
entire campaign (failure to meet this level is taken as a decisive
loss of the campaign)
==
LEVEL enter the VP to be met for a draw of the entire campaign
MV
LEVEL enter the minimum VP score required to be met to win the campaign
marginally
DV
enter the VP level which if met or exceeded results in a decisive level
of victory for the entire campaign.
As
a rule of thumb - count along the 'straight path' through your campaign,
and assign perhaps 2.5 to 2.8 points times the number of battles in a
row, all at DV exit level to reach the campaign end. So if the quick path
through your campaign was say 10 battles - then a VP level of maybe 25
to 28 (out of a possible 30 VP) would be a useful first approximation
of the DV level needed to win the campaign decisively, and scale the rest
from there - here at 1 point for a draw, perhaps 15 for that level, and
the win, but not decisively about half way between the draw and the decisive
level.
BPR
DIV This stands for 'Build Points Remaining Divisor'. This field gives
the designer the ability to reward a player who has a surplus of build
points left over at campaign end with a bonus amount of VP. Only unspent
Build Points left in the player's 'kitty' count to this total. A player
who completes the campaign with unspent Buy Points may have had an easier
or more successful run than someone who goes the same set route of battles,
but has spent all his points as he went along - either in repairs or upgrades.
This bonus therefore rewards the more prudent player (or perhaps the one
who uses a smaller core force, and does not expand it much) or the one
who completes more missions with less loss - and hence less repairs required.
If this field is left at 0 - excess Build Points are ignored, only the
basic VP are used to determine campaign victory level. If, however this
field is set to a positive number - then the amount of Build Points remaining
will be divided by this number then the factor is added to the VP total
for battles won. For example - entering 1000 here will add 1 VP per full
1000 remaining BP at end of campaign to the VP already gained for winning
battles.
Scenario
Nodes each node (battle location) has a set of fields:
The
Number - At the left hand side - this denotes the node number,
But it is also a LIVE FIELD. Pressing a node number field results in that
number being entered as a selection - This number is then automatically
pasted into any of the Exit fields you then left click on. This saves
an awful lot of typing! - simply select node 123 by licking its number
field, then fill all the EXIT fields which need 123 in them. A note is
placed at the foot of the screen showing the value of the current selection,
for your information. Click on this field to clear the selection. A live
field is also provided at the foot of the page with 1000 as a value -
select this to enter a selection value of 1000, the terminator node number.
1000 in an Exit field of a node is the signal to end the campaign.
Node
0 (the first one on the list) is the Start battle location for the campaign.
Scenario
Name - to the right of the Number field. Press this and If the scenario
is 'No Scenario' then the list of available scenarios is displayed.
1)
The scenario name appears at that battle node number
2)
The original scenario is copied as a template, then it is saved off as
a campaign scenario file, with a note displayed confirming this. (See
campaign files later). Therefore you can reuse the one scenario several
times at different node locations, provided that the dates are
correct!!
The
end user does not require the scenario file to be installed in
his scenario directory - you will distribute the scenario data files which
contain your nodes scenario data.
IF
there is a already scenario name - then pressing again clears the
name. (But does not delete the node files generated - you may need to
manually delete these if not overwritten with new game data)
Scenario
Exit Branches - there are 5 of these for each scenario battle node.
From left to right - DL - go to this battle node if the battle was a decisive
loss for the player ML - go here if the player lost marginally == - go
to this location if the battle resulted in a draw MV - goto this location
if the player has won a marginal victory DV - goto this location if the
player won a decisive victory NB - remember that 1000 is the magic number
for termination of the entire campaign at that exit point.
These
numbers act differently depending on whether or not a selection is 'live'
(see Number above). If a selection is live - then the value of the current
selection is automatically entered on pressing the exit link field, but
if there is no selection currently live - you will be asked to manually
enter the number.
Build
for Node 0 - this will be the initial buy points for the entire campaign,
as node 0 is the starting battle. For subsequent nodes, this field
is the repair/upgrade points received at the start of that battle. Leaving
this field at 0 results in whatever game defaults are in use being used
as the basis of calculating the build points for the battle or campaign
(if node 0). Entering a positive number results in this amount of points
being granted to the user as a maximum - i.e. this is a 'cap' to the number
of points granted (if the user has set preferences to a lower level, or
his core is small for example, so the game generates a lower number -
he will get less than this. If the game generates a larger number - this
cap value will be used). Entering a negative number results in what I
call a 'locked points' campaign. The user is given this amount of points
(returned to him as a positive value!) and this overrides
any user set preferences (so if the game decided on say 49 points, but
you had entered -55 the player gets 55 whatever the game thinks). Thus
a value of -1200 for node 0 gives the player 1200 start points to buy
his core, and a value of -123 for battle node 1 will result in him being
granted 123 buy points on starting that scenario to build or repair with.
This method gives the designer the most control, and removes the problem
of someone say selecting 3000 points at the outset of a campaign you designed
to start with say 600 points and so destroying your careful balance of
battles. (You should mention if a campaign is 'locked' on the introductory
text screen for it to notify the end user of the fact.)
Support
This field controls the amount of support points granted for each battle
to purchase non-core units. Again - leave at 0 to use game defaults, a
positive number for your 'recommended' level which the user preferences
can override, and a negative value to use as a locked value, which
the end user will not be able to override.
Flights
This field is used to determine the number of flights made available to
player 1 (The human) - player 2 (the computer's) flights are whatever
you put into his force in the scenario design. -1 uses the current game
preferences setting (XXX or whatever the user has entered), 0 is no planes
at all, positive numbers allows that number of air strikes.
Variable
start lines in user campaigns - when designing the scenario, you can
enter a start line which deviates from the normal 25 or 50 of the default
battles - use the '%' key in the map editor to assign a start line for
usage only in user campaign battles, and only for the human (player No
1). This allows
the user campaign designer a latitude of freedom similar to a scenario
set up.
Overall
though - the best way to find out how the campaign system works is by
making and experimenting with a few small test ones - even 2 battle
ones. Only a foolish person would dive right in and try a 50 battle mega
campaign as a starting point!
User
Campaign Design
When
using a scenario for a campaign, take care to note that the human player
will ALWAYS be player number 1 (i.e. his flag is on the LEFT hand side
when the scenario is in the editor).. This does not mean he plays on the
left side remember! The player 1 forces for the scenario are REMOVED to
be replaced with player bought forces. Player 2 forces will remain. Best
to buy an HQ unit anyway for safety.
The
name given to the scenario in the Scenario Editor, number of moves, and
visibility etc. will all be used. ABOVE ALL - the scenario date
will be used for the battle date! - do NOT use a 1939 scenario after a
1944 one, or you will warp back in time! Another date related item - certain
nations will use different sides of the battlefield depending on opponent
and date. If you use a scenario as a battle location where say the original
designer has 'swapped sides' then you can end up with both sides having
the same deployment side of the map! The key one that causes confusion
is where a scenario was designed for one nation (say USA) as player #1,
and you use a different nationality (say USSR) from the original scenario
player #1 as the human player nation in the user campaign.
It
is therefore best to test each scenario you intend to use in a 'test rig'
campaign consisting of precisely 1 battle location - you can use this
in succession, replacing the scenario with each of the set you plan to
use. Load the scenario to test, save the test campaign and start it -
you should quickly determine if it is one where the enemy is on the wrong
map side at that date and time. You may need to redo the scenario.
You
can reuse a scenario several times over - say if you place it on a different
'thread line' depending on earlier victory or loss situations in the scenario
line of progression. If all the parameters stay the same - fine, just
use it as it stands. However - you may need to adjust the battle date
if the time line for the scenario differs in the new thread. Just load
the scenario into the editor, change the date (you could change the name
too!) - and save in a scratch file, then use that scratch file in your
user campaign.
It is
not a very good idea to loop backwards in the campaign flow.
This could create endless loops, and going back to battle 0 is not likely
to be a good idea either. Probably the best idea is to lay down your 'decisive
victory' main thread as the first sequence of battles - this will be the
series of battles the end user plays should he win decisively in all battles
to the campaign end. Use that as the backbone to your campaign design.
Then, say, write a thread of battles from the marginal victory of battle
0, and lay this down after the main backbone thread. This thread may rejoin
the main thread after a decisive victory, say.
You cannot
easily enter (insert in between, rather) new nodes - so do not write a
campaign 'on the fly' as you make it up - otherwise you will end up with
a tangle of 'spaghetti code' which will be nigh on impossible to maintain.
Plan your campaign, and write your battle flow as a proper flow
chart on paper first. Also - there are 999 locations here, and most user
campaigns will not use anywhere near that number - one idea would be to
space your initial nodes apart say 3 or 4 lines, thus leaving space for
last minute additions to be inserted later on, without as much grief.
Any of you who ever programmed in one of those BASIC compilers which had
no 'renumber' command in the editor will know why the default was to number
lines with an interval of 10!
User
Campaign Files
The
campaign data is saved in the /scen directory in the format UCAMPNNN.DAT
(User campaign 999 would therefore be Ucamp999.dat) Each battle file for
each scenario is saved off in the form CNNNSXXX.DAT (Battle 1 for campaign
0 would therefore be C000s001.dat)
Note
- once you have used the 'advance of the guards' scenario as a template
in say node 123, the data will be saved off into a separate copy for the
scenario - there is no need to supply 'advance of the guards' to
the user (unless you really want to). You have distributed it to the
user as CNNNSXXX.DAT. If you need to use a particular scenario at different
places in your campaign - just place it at each node as required, provided
all details (especially the DATE!) will be exactly the same. If, however
you need variants of the scenario (even just slightly different dates
to fit the campaign 'chain') either - create as many clones and edit them
in the editor as required, then link into the campaign in 1 campaign edit
session - or just use the one, link and save in the campaign editor once,
save the campaign and exit, edit the scenario details as required, exit
and save from scenario editor and re enter the campaign editor and link
the altered version. That decision is up to you. Also recall - in your
scenarios written for campaigns, there will be no need to buy any troops
or place them for player 1 - bar the HQ say as a placeholder, for these
will all be removed from the map in any case.
User
Campaign Text Files
You can write an introductory text file for the scenario, which is displayed
on selecting the campaign on the main game selection screen. Use a text
editor like notepad to generate a file and save it with a filename of
the format UcampNNN.txt, and that text will display when the user selects
your campaign on the game menu. Ucamp0001.txt would therefore display
for campaign slot 1 (recall these are indexed from zero!).
Do
not use a word processor, and ensure your text is USA ASCII compliant
(no umlauts, stuff like that).
For
each scenario you can write both introductory text and exit text files.
All take the form UCCCLNNN.txt where:
CCC |
is
the campaign number (000 to 999) |
L |
is
the ID letter
for the message text file for each of the following game events:
i
= the scenario introductory text message, played on entry to
game |
a
- the text displayed at end game if the user loses badly |
b
- same, but user has merely lost |
c
- text displayed if the battle is a draw |
d
- congratulatory text on user winning the scenario |
e
- the text displayed if he won decisively |
|
NNN |
is
the battle node number (000 to 998) |
The
introductory text file for a scenario is displayed at the entry to the
scenario - it is scrolling text, and I have tried a 25K file. The exit
texts can be used to taunt or congratulate the user on his progress, and
give campaign progress info etc. All the text files are optional,
but really should be prepared for a professional campaign. If the intro
texts are not provided or not found - no adverse effect. If the exit texts
are not found or provided, the default SSI exit texts are used
(Scendd.txt etc. from the \scen directory).
Note
- use the SSI text formatting characters, as with any scenario introductory
text:
* |
is
used for a CR/LF pair (new line or empty line) and are not displayed |
___
(underscores) |
are
used to align (e.g. centre) text and are not displayed |
Distributing
Your User Campaign
bundle
up: UcampNNN.dat, UcampNNN.txt (if used), all the generated CNNNSXXX.DAT
scenario files, and any UCCCLNNN.txt files you created.
Wrap these up in a ZIP file, and instruct the user to extract to his \scen
directory.
Better
yet, use some form of self extracting executable file installer - we have
found that simple things like ZIP files, even PDF document files - confuse
many less computer literate end users. Also - a decent install program
will at least put the readme files in front of your end users eyes at
least once, should you have readme files. Assume the end user will not
read the readme files in any case - 90% will not, from our experience.
Go to www.clickteam.com for a shareware
install maker (which we used for this game ).
Note
- if the end user has a campaign NNN installed already. In this case -
instruct him to extract to a temporary directory and rename NN1 to whatever
new NN2 he desires that is unused in his \scen directory. Or just to overwrite
the existing campaign. It is perhaps best to hint to the end user to keep
your (and every other campaign's) distribution files in a safe place -
then he can extract from these as required.
Credits
and Information
A Note from the New SP Camo Team
Just
about a year ago the future of the SP Camo games was somewhat in doubt.
With this release it will be seen that the development phase the past
year has brought the games to a higher level of excellence. Even
though Don Goodbrand and Andy Gailey, the two founders and creators of
this great SP mod, had wanted to move on to other projects, they ended
up giving of themselves yet again -- and have added a ton of new
features to the game. There is new terrain that will put you
right down in the dirt of the battlefield. There are hundreds of
new icons that will make the battlefield come alive. There are a
myriad code enhancements to make every aspect of battle better than it
was in previous versions. Without the hard work of Don & Andy
a lot of what is within the 2004 version of the games would never have
seen the light of day.
So
while a re-organized SP Camo crew took over when Don and Andy tried to
retire last year, and the new crew worked long, hard hours on research, orders of
battles, unit statistics, weapon ratings, formation organization,
pictures, icons, sounds and much more . . . without Don and Andy this
release would be a shadow of what it is now. We thank them.
Without them, we probably would be constructive members of society
instead of grumbling grognards swearing endlessly at our digital
soldiers.
So
what is new, you ask? Much more than we can write about in this
Game Guide. We will give you the highlights and the important
bits, but
we urge you to play the game and 'feel' the difference. This
game, and its sister game on modern warfare, play like no other SP game
-- original or Mod. We've come a long way since the original
Steel Panthers. The
descriptions below generally apply to both SPWW2 and SPMBT unless
otherwise noted.
Expansion
and consistency were the keywords the SP Camo crew laboured under this
past year. Expansion of possibilities and consistency of
results.
A very large number of new units have been added to
bring variety to generated battles and campaigns, and the flexibility
to portray a wider range of historical and hypothetical situations in
designed battles and campaigns. Not only have we added more
weapon assortments to the infantry, the infantry automatic weapons
parameters have also been painstakingly researched, and the results
have been carefully applied to each nations infantry forces. This resulted in a more realistic implimentation of the abilities and limitations of the diverse nations included in the games. On top of this we've also added many more units that have never
been in the game before. We've refined the aircraft loadouts, as well
as bringing more aircraft variants to the game. We've tweaked the
availability dates of all manner of units to coincide with the
discovery of new information. Formation organization has been
greatly enhanced with the addition of more than 55 new Unit Classes to the game. A new,
expanded OOB format allows for up to 999 units and 999 formations per
country! This together with the new Unit Classes allows for an
unprecendented flexibility in unit and formation design -- an effort
that alone will keep this game growing for several more years.
If
all that wasn't enough there are new terrains and new map generation
routines. Not only new map generation routines, but powerful new
controls for the Players to have 'hands-on' access to map generation
and Victory Flag placement during generated battles & campaigns and
PBEM games. The map auto-generator can now make maps that depict the
transition months between the seasons, and that more accurately reflect
the nuances of the transition between terrain types. Map sizes
can now be as small as 20 hexes by 20 hexes (1 kilometer by 1
kilometer), as large as 200 hexes by 160 hexes (10 kilometers by 8
kilometers), or any 10-hex increment inbetween along each axis
seperately. This allows for platoon sized battles up to brigade
or larger forces to be arrayed against each other on appropriately
sized maps. To put this in perspective consider that at the
smallest size, one square kilometer, the map can depict the immediate
neighbourhood you live in. While at it's largest size, eighty
square kilomters, a single map can depict the entirety of the country
of San Marino and it's environs, or one-half of the main island of
Malta (for those, like me, who have always wanted to game Operation
Herkules).
For
more control of the terrain in battles we've enabled an interface for
the Player to control map generation and all the sixteen major terrain
variables that go into the designing of maps. So not only can the
Players choose from any of the pre-designed battle locations with each
individual batloc itself being randomized along certain variables so
you'll probably never have two maps exactly the same, but you can also
custom make your own batloc type by adjusting the map variables
individually. These new map features alone would be a major
update, but are only a fraction of the new stuff we packed into this
release. I have only one word that adequately describes all the
new map features: Amazing!
A
quick note on a couple of other items we know will be of interest: You will notice a lot of effort has gone into
the icons for this version, not only will there be summer, desert and winter
icons available for some countries (this will be
expanded in future releases of both games), but many more icons have
been made size-relative to each other. No longer will tankettes
appear to be as big as medium tanks. Now you can readily see the
difference in size between most armoured units, and have a visual
comprehension of the situation that was not possible before because of
the distorted size relations. Not all armoured units have been
modified, so there are still some old-size icons that will be replaced
in future upgrades. But most of the major armoured units are now properly sized
relative to each other.
We
have also taken great pains to make sure that there is a basic
consistency across the entire game regarding the actual units
themselves. Each unit is made up of as many as sixty major
variables, and a few minor ones as well.
Because different designers in different parts of the world and
connected only by the internet have worked on different parts of the
games, consistency of ratings has sometimes been a problem. When
you have sixty variables for each unit multiplied by 300 (and more)
units and then multiplied again by the number of countries (27) . . . you then see we have a very conservative rough
estimate of 486,000 major variables in SPWW2
that have to be consistently applied and rated in relation to each
other. That's the crux of the play balance issue and the above
computation only takes into consideration the major variables.
Why
is consistency important? Because it has everything to do with
consistent results on the battlefield. You want to win or lose a
battle based on your skill rather than because the wrong armour
penetration range variable was entered into the main gun rating of your
main tank type. You want to win or lose based on your skill
rather than whether consistent formulas were applied to all countries
in the same manner. In short, you want results in the game to
mirror what the actual results might be on the actual battlefield
according to the actual units and weapons competing against each
other. You want Weapon X to be rated with the same formulas as
Weapon Y and hove both rated in relation to Weapon W. You want
all the units from Unit A to Unit Z be rated according to the same
strict standards without deviation. While this level of
consistency is not new and has always be goal of SP Camo, and it is
often noted by Players that past releases of these games were
exceptional among wargames in their accuracy to details, this last
development period a special effort was made to fully develop, expand
and apply old formulas and to create new formulas to bring more aspects
of the battlefield into a structured orderliness. In other words,
we have endeavoured to bring more of the Chaos of War to you by
expanding and enhancing the structured orderliness of the underlying
game system. We think it has worked very well.
At
the same time we have examined all the formulas and ratings of Weapons
and Armour, and have refined or reworked them as necessary in order to
bring a higher level of realism to the game. In this effort this
release is an important step toward future releases where we will
examine, refine and define more aspects of battlefield results within
the parameters of the game code. The scope of what we wanted to
do could not be completely accomplished in one development phase, so we
made sure the game took an incremental step forward that was consistent
in results across the entire spectrum. We made certain that the
progress we made actually improved combat in both results and 'feel'
with all combat systems. That may seem to be something that
doesn't need to be said, but so often nowadays companies release
"improved" products that do indeed improve one aspect of a game, but to
the detriment of other parts of the game. We made sure that the
entire range of the game feels better from a Player's perspective no
matter what kind of battle one prefers. We think the game is even
more fun to play now than it was before, even as it is more realistic now than it was before.
Our researches brought us into the countless frontlines and backwaters where
military operations took place. Often we would uncover little known
facts we could use use to enhance the game. Sometimes it seemed as if
we were writing a history thesis instead of modding a game. We have
tried to cut through the winner's happy veneer of historical propaganda
and bring you as close to the actual dirty truth of the battlefield as
we could. This game is only a game, and a fun one at that, but we made
it possible to be a learning experience as well. Imagine that! If you
have questions about something you see in the game, that's great --
hunt down the facts we present and find out how rewarding it is to do
historical research. If we are wrong, present us with your findings
and we'll correct our mistakes. If you find we are right, then enjoy
the game. Either way, please help us enlarge our knowledge base by
joining our internet forums (see the end of the Game guide) and sharing
your knowledge with us.
Even with all the attention to detail, and the steady march toward more
realism, the focus of this game has not changed. The game is not
about minor differences between units in angles & millimeters of
armour versus velocity & weight of projectiles. While we pay
attention to those statistics within the scope of the game,
we emphasis tactics, terrain and control. Our technical data is
as accurate as we can make it, but the minute differences in weapon
system performances that are outweighed by the random factors of the
battlefield are given only the importance they deserve. Our
digital soldiers are not smartly attired, sharply dressed parade
manniquins blissfully unaware of the carnage around them. Our digital
soldiers do sometimes bring the reality of war to your monitor screen:
sometimes they flee in panic, sometimes they face down the enemy and
fight to the death, and sometimes they cower in their hiding places and
get picked off one by one. Sometimes they can sprint across a
field with artillery shells raining down and engage the fleeing enemy,
and other times they are ruthlessly pummeled and dispersed by enemy
barrages just as it seemed victory was at hand. All of it is
well-grounded in the real world accounts of dirty, tired, frightened,
cold and hungry soldiers in a maelstrom of rain and mud, dust and
mirage, blood and sweat, not in the sterile and colourless world of
theoretical calculations and impossibly uniform results. Consider that
the differences in penetration made by normal variations of the angle
of a "frontal" target often reach 50% between real-world accounts and
test range data.
Instead of inundating you with meaningless minutia, we offer you the
chance to delve deeply into a rich and varied landscape of battlefields
to test your tactical skills. From the hordes of Panzer III's fiercely
trying to encircle and overrun a desperately outmatched Red Army, to
the horrific carnage of assaulting numberless Japanese bunkers one at a
time across a hostile terrain, and everything inbetween, this game
brings you there. Intense set-piece engagements in Normandy,
violent amphibious assaults on remote Pacific Islands, furious tank
battles across the burning sands of Libya, frozen defenses on the icy
Mannerheim Line in Finland and hopeless last stands in the sweltering
Sicilian summer. Descend like lightning from the night skies over
Crete, sweep mercilessy across the grassy plains of Manchuria -- or get
on the other side of the conflict and desperately try to turn the
course of inevitable history and find out that perhaps it wasn't
indelibly written in Destiny's handwriting after all!
Fight the main battles of World War II like those at Kursk, Stalingrad,
Anzio and Henderson Field. Experience the murderous backwaters of the
War like the whirlwind invasions of Madagascar, Malaysia, India and
Papua New Guinea. Explore outside the World War into the realms
of the Spanish Civil War, the Franco-Thai War, the People's Revolution
in China, the Greek Civil War and many more. The limits are those
you impose on yourself.
We suggest you start small with a simple company-level formation, and
as you gain experience in tactical procedures expand into larger and
more varied orders of battle on both sides. Above all, we hope you enjoy playing the game as much as we do.
Credits
ORIGINAL
SP SERIES DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING BY:
Gary Grigsby, Keith Brors and SSI
SPWW2
Version 7.0 (names are in alphabetical order for v7)
PRODUCERS:
Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand & SP Camo (Boris Ajdukovic, Jake
Cornmesser, Tony Engelsen, Fernando Giorlando, Miguel Guasch Aparicio,
Doug McBratney, Edward R. Mortimer, Bill Wilson).
DESIGN
AND DEVELOPMENT: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand & SP Camo (Boris
Ajdukovic, Jake Cornmesser, Tony Engelsen, Fernando Giorlando, Miguel
Guasch Aparicio, Doug McBratney, Edward R. Mortimer, Bill Wilson).
GAME PROGRAMMING:
Andy Gailey and Don Goodbrand.
MOBHACK PROGRAMMING:
Andy Gailey.
UTILITY APPLICATIONS PROGRAMMING:
Andy Gailey.
PLAYTESTING:
SP Camo (Boris Ajdukovic, Jake Cornmesser, Tony Engelsen, Fernando
Giorlando, Miguel Guasch Aparicio, Doug McBratney, Edward R. Mortimer,
Bill Wilson).
OOB DESIGN and CO-ORDINATION:
Edward R. Mortimer.
WEAPON DESIGN and CO-ORDINATION:
Bill Wilson.
ICON DESIGN and CO-ORDINATION:
Don Goodbrand, Fernando Giorlando and Edward R. Mortimer.
SCENARIO DESIGN and CO-ORDINATION:
Doug McBratney.
CAMPAIGN DESIGN and CO-ORDINATION:
Doug McBratney.
MAP DESIGN and CO-ORDINATION:
Doug McBratney.
LBM DESIGN and CO-ORDINATION:
Tony Engelsen.
TEXT FILE DESIGN and CO-ORDINATION:
Boris Adjukovic.
INTERNET FORUM and EMAIL GROUP CO-ORDINATION:
Miguel Guasch Aparicio.
SOUND CO-ORDINATION:
Edward R. Mortimer.
INTERNET FORUM REPRESENTATIVE:
Miguel Guasch Aparicio.
ADDITIONAL
DESIGN: Don Goodbrand, Andy Gailey, SP Camo (Boris Ajdukovic, Jake
Cornmesser, Tony Engelsen, Fernando Giorlando, Miguel Guasch Aparicio,
Doug McBratney, Edward R. Mortimer, Bill Wilson), and suggestions from the Player Community.
RESEARCH
AND OOB DATA DEVELOPMENT: SP Camo (Boris Ajdukovic, Jake Cornmesser,
Tony Engelsen, Fernando Giorlando, Miguel Guasch Aparicio, Doug
McBratney, Edward R. Mortimer, Bill Wilson), Don Goodbrand and Andy
Gailey.
OOB
CONTRIBUTORS AND CONSULTANTS: Alessandro Bonnani, Blazej Ciepluch, Andy Gailey, Antonio Giubergia, Don Goodbrand, Jakub
Jaraczewski, Sven Kessen, Yegorov G. Maxim, Jaime Miguel, Jim Nutter, Rahman
Setiawan, Rami Sihvo, John Turesson, Eurico Viegas, Jordi Zamarreño and with special thanks to The
SPCamo Yahoo! listmembers for ongoing discussion, support and research.
ICON ART:
Blazej Ciepluch, Fernando Giorlando, Don Goodbrand, Edward R. Mortimer and Joe Rieger
TERRAIN TILE ART:
Don Goodbrand
LBM
ART: Blazej Ciepluch, Tony Engelsen, Fernando Giorlando, Don Goodbrand, Miguel Guasch Aparicio,
Richard Hopkins, Jakub Jaraczewski, James Martin, Edward R. Mortimer and
Magnus Rosander,.
OTHER ART and GRAPHICS:
Don Goodbrand and Edward R Mortimer
SCENARIO AND CAMPAIGN DESIGNERS: C.B. Blackard, Frank Kontowicz, Don Lazov, Ulf Lundstrum,
Doug McBratney and von Rom.
MAP DESIGNERS:
Boris Ajdukovic, Steve Fields, Sven Kessen, Doug McBratney and Edward R Mortimer,
TEXT
FILES: Boris Ajdukovic, Blazej Ciepluch, Tony
Engelsen, Don Goodbrand, James E. Martin Jr., Doug McBratney, Edward R. Mortimer, Felix Schulz, Eurico Viegas and Bill Wilson, SOUND F/X EDITING:
Alessandro Bonanni, Scott Littleton and Edward R. Mortimer.
GAME MANUAL AND DOCUMENTATION:
Don Goodbrand and Edward R. Mortimer.
GAME MANUAL HTML DESIGN AND GRAPHICS:
Don Goodbrand and Edward R. Mortimer.
BEGINNERS TUTORIAL:
Douglas McBratney.
GAME CONSULTANTS:
Don Goodbrand and Andy Gailey.
HISTORICAL
CONSULTANTS: Dimitar Boikov, Dallas Gavin, Jakub Jaraczewski, Don Lazov, Jim Nutter,
Yegorov G. Maxim, Felix Schulz, Akira Taki and all the SPCamo Yahoo!
Listmembers.
SPCamo
PLAYTESTERS:( SPWW2 & SPMBT ) Boris Ajdukovic, Jake Cornmesser, Tony Engelsen,
Fernando Giorlando, Miguel Guasch Aparicio, Doug McBratney, Edward R. Mortimer and Bill Wilson
INTERNET FILE DISTRIBUTION SUPPORT:
Shrapnel Games http://www.shrapnelgames.com/
Dave Roberts http://www.spcamo.org
SPECIAL THANKS: To All Our Families and Loved Ones
SPWW2
Version 6.0 ( and Supplement 6.01)
PRODUCERS:
Don Goodbrand, Andy Gailey.
DESIGN
AND DEVELOPMENT: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, and the Playtesters.
OOB DESIGN
and QA CO-ORDINATION: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand
ADDITIONAL
DESIGN: The Playtesters, and end user's suggestions.
PROGRAMMING:
Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand.
RESEARCH
AND OOB DATA DEVELOPMENT: Edward R. Mortimer, Bill Wilson, Boris Ajdukovic,
John Turesson, Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Dick (Boomer) Burleigh.
ADDITIONAL
OOB CONTRIBUTORS : Dimitar Boykov for his contributions to the Bulgarian
OOB and special thanks to the SPCAMO Yahoo listmembers for ongoing discussion,
support and research.
MOBHACK
OB DATA EDITOR & COST CALCULATOR PROGRAMMING: Andy Gailey.
ART AND
GRAPHICS: Don Goodbrand, Joe Rieger, Fernando Giorlando.
SPCAMO
PLAYTESTERS:( SPWW2 & SPMBT ) Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Edward R Mortimer,
Bill Wilson , John Turesson, Helge Bertram, Dick (Boomer) Burleigh, C
B Blackard, Boris Ajdukovic, Tony Engelsen, Claus Bonnesen, Douglas McBratney,
Ken Sharman and Dale Hight.
SCENARIO
DESIGN CO-ORDINATION: Dick (Boomer) Burleigh, Edward R. Mortimer.
SCENARIO
AND CAMPAIGN DESIGNERS: C.B. Blackard, Bill Wilson, Douglas McBratney,
Edward R Mortimer, Edin Kapic, Halstein Sjolie, Luigi Variale, Ulf Lundstrom
plus additional scenarios were provided for the Supplement by Don Lazov
MAP DESIGNERS:
Edward R. Mortimer, Boris Ajdukovic.
GAME
MANUAL AND DOCUMENTATION: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand
GAME
MANUAL HTML DESIGN AND GRAPHICS: Don Goodbrand, Andy Gailey.
BEGINNERS
TUTORIAL: Douglas McBratney and Dick (Boomer) Burleigh
CONSULTANT:
Dale Hight.
NTERNET FILE DISTRIBUTION SUPPORT:
Dave Roberts http://www.pnw-listings.com/Wargames/
SPWW2
Version 5.6
PRODUCERS:
Don Goodbrand, Andy Gailey.
DESIGN
AND DEVELOPMENT: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, and the Playtesters.
ADDITIONAL
DESIGN: The Playtesters, and end user's suggestions.
PROGRAMMING:
Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand.
RESEARCH
AND MOB DATA DEVELOPMENT: Edward R. Mortimer, Bill Wilson, Boris Ajdukovic,
Zoltán "Kazan" Zajonskovsky, Tony Englesen, John Turesson,
Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Claus Bonnesen, Helge Bertram, Dick (Boomer)
Burleigh , C B Blackard, Nick Hyle, Dale Hight, Ken Sharman plus special
contributors as noted in the Historical Notes section.
MOBHACK
OB DATA EDITOR PROGRAMMING: Andy Gailey.
ART
AND GRAPHICS: Don Goodbrand
SPCAMO
PLAYTESTERS:( SPWW2 & SPMBT ) Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Edward R
Mortimer, Bill Wilson , John Turesson, Helge Bertram, Ken Sharman, Dick
(Boomer) Burleigh , C B Blackard, Dale Hight, Zoltán Zajonskovsky
, Nick Hyle, Boris Ajdukovic, Tony Engelsen, William Hutchison and Claus
Bonnesen
OOB
DESIGN CO-ORDINATION: Edward R. Mortimer
ADDITIONAL
OOB CONTRIBUTORS: Jake Cornmesser, Doug McBratney, Alessandro Bonnani
and Ondrej Jares.
SCENARIO
AND CAMPAIGN DESIGNERS: C.B. Blackard
GAME
MANUAL AND DOCUMENTATION: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand
GAME
MANUAL HTML DESIGN Andy Gailey
CONSULTANT:
Dale Hight
WEB SITE
PROVIDED BY: The
Wargamer
SPWW2
Version 5 and 5.5
PRODUCERS:
Don Goodbrand, Andy Gailey.
DESIGN
AND DEVELOPMENT: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, and the Playtesters.
ADDITIONAL
DESIGN: The Playtesters, and end user's suggestions.
PROGRAMMING:
Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand.
RESEARCH
AND MOB DATA DEVELOPMENT: Edward R. Mortimer, Bill Wilson, Boris Ajdukovic,
Zoltán "Kazan" Zajonskovsky, Vincent Roiron, Tony Englesen,
John Turesson, Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Claus Bonnesen, Helge Bertram,
Dick (Boomer) Burleigh , C B Blackard, Nick Hyle, James Quinn, Dale Hight,
Ken Sharman plus special contributors as noted in the Historical Notes
section.
MOBHACK
OB DATA EDITOR PROGRAMMING: Andy Gailey.
ART
AND GRAPHICS: Don Goodbrand, Zoltán "Kazan" Zajonskovsky
(Japan, Hungary), Edward R. Mortimer ( Italy and Spain ) Joe Reiger (v5.5)
VIDEO
DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Don Goodbrand.
SPCAMO
PLAYTESTERS: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Claus Bonnesen, John Turesson,
Helge Bertram, Bill Wilson , Ken Sharman, Dick (Boomer) Burleigh , C B
Blackard, Dale Hight, Edward R Mortimer, Zoltán "Kazan"
Zajonskovsky , Nick Hyle, Boris Ajdukovic, Tony Engelsen, James Quinn,
Vincent Roiron.
SCENARIO
DESIGN CO-ORDINATION: Bill Wilson
OOB
DESIGN CO-ORDINATION: Edward R. Mortimer
SCENARIO
AND CAMPAIGN DESIGNERS: C.B. Blackard, Dick (Boomer) Burleigh, , John
Turesson, James Quinn
GAME
MANUAL AND DOCUMENTATION: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand
GAME
MANUAL HTML DESIGN Andy Gailey
CONSULTANT:
Dale Hight
WEB SITE
PROVIDED BY: The
Wargamer
SPWW2
Version 4
PRODUCERS:
Don Goodbrand, Andy Gailey
DESIGN
AND DEVELOPMENT: Don Goodbrand, Andy Gailey, and the Playtesters
ADDITIONAL
DESIGN: The Playtesters, and end user's suggestions
PROGRAMMING:
Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand
RESEARCH
AND MOB DATA DEVELOPMENT: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Claus Bonnesen,
John Turesson, Helge Bertram, Bill Wilson, Edward R. Mortimer, Zoltán
"Kazan" Zajonskovsky, Boris Ajdukovic, Nick Hyle, plus special contributors
as noted in the Historical Notes
section.
MOBHACK
OB DATA EDITOR PROGRAMMING: Andy Gailey
ART AND
GRAPHICS: Don Goodbrand, Zoltán "Kazan" Zajonskovsky (Japan, Hungary)
VIDEO
DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Don Goodbrand
PLAYTESTERS:
Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Claus Bonnesen, John Turesson, Helge Bertram,
Bill Wilson , Ken Sharman, Dick (Boomer) Burleigh , C B Blackard, Dale
Hight, Marc Bellizzi, Edward R Mortimer, Zoltán "Kazan" Zajonskovsky ,
Nick Hyle, Boris Ajdukovic
SCENARIO
DESIGN CO-ORDINATION: Bill Wilson
SCENARIO
AND CAMPAIGN DESIGNERS: Boris
Ajdukovic, C.B. Blackard, Claus Bonnesen, Dick (Boomer) Burleigh, Andy
Gailey (Amiens), Dale Hight (Amiens,) Ed Mortimer, Bill Wilson, Zoltán
"Kazan" Zajonskovsky
GAME
MANUAL AND DOCUMENTATION: Andy Gailey.
CONSULTANT:
Dale Hight
WEB SITE
PROVIDED BY: The
Wargamer
SPWW2
Version 3
PRODUCERS:
Don Goodbrand, Andy Gailey
DESIGN
AND DEVELOPMENT: Don Goodbrand, Andy Gailey, and the playtesters
ADDITIONAL
DESIGN: The playtesters, and end user's suggestions
PROGRAMMING:
Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand
RESEARCH
AND MOB DATA DEVELOPMENT: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Claus Bonnesen,
Swedish OB by John Turesson, Helge Bertram, Bill Wilson, Philippe Sacr
(French army data)
MOBHACK
OB DATA EDITOR PROGRAMMING: Andy Gailey
ART AND
GRAPHICS: Don Goodbrand
VIDEO
DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Don Goodbrand
PLAYTESTERS:
Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Claus Bonnesen, John Turesson, Helge Bertram,
Bill Wilson, Ken
Sharman, Dick Burleigh , C B Blackard, Dale Hight,
Marc Bellizzi, John Malcolm
SCENARIO
DESIGN CO-ORDINATION: Marc Bellizzi
SCENARIO
AND CAMPAIGN DESIGNERS: Marc Bellizzi, Dick Burleigh , C B Blackard, John
Turesson, Helge Bertram, Bill Wilson, Claus Bonnesen
GAME
MANUAL AND DOCUMENTATION: Andy Gailey.
Original HTML framework for the manual provided by Shaun
at Imaging Systems UK International.
CONSULTANT:
Dale Hight
WEB SITE
PROVIDED BY: The Gamers Net
SPWW2
Version 2.2
PRODUCERS:
Don Goodbrand, Andy Gailey
DESIGN
AND DEVELOPMENT: Don Goodbrand, Andy Gailey, Maik Ehrhardt
ADDITIONAL
DESIGN: The playtesters, and end user's suggestions
PROGRAMMING:
Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand
RESEARCH
AND MOB DATA DEVELOPMENT: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Maik Ehrhardt
MOBHACK
OB DATA EDITOR PROGRAMMING: Andy Gailey
ART AND
GRAPHICS: Don Goodbrand
PLAYTESTERS:
Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Maik Ehrhardt
GAME
MANUAL AND DOCUMENTATION: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand
CONSULTANT:
Dale Hight
WEB SITE
PROVIDED BY: The Gamers Net
SPWW2
Version 2.0
EXECUTIVE
PRODUCER: David Heath
PRODUCER:
Don Goodbrand
DESIGN
AND DEVELOPMENT: Don Goodbrand, Andy Gailey, Nick Papp, Maik Ehrhardt
and Piero Angeli
ADDITIONAL
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT: Wild Bill Wilder, Michael Wood, Playtester's and
end user's inputs
PROGRAM
SPECIFICATION AND DESIGN: by SP Camo Workshop
PROGRAMMING:
Michael Wood
OB DATA
DEVELOPMENT CO-ORDINATOR: Andy Gailey
RESEARCH
AND MOB DATA DEVELOPMENT: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Nick Papp, Maik
Ehrhardt and Piero Angeli
MOBHACK
OB DATA EDITOR PROGRAMMING: Andy Gailey
ART AND
GRAPHICS: Don Goodbrand
CONTRIBUTORS
OF ADDITIONAL PHOTOS, SOUND AND MOB DATA: Darwin Barnes, Davor Popovic,
Pentti Perttula, Frank Donati, Akira Takizawa, Yrjö Hakkarainen, Valery
Zhigarev, Gene Duque, Jarkko Vihavainen, Georges Ostermann.
MUSIC
COMPOSED BY: Derek Boain
VIDEO
DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Joe Osborne, Michael Wood
PLAYTEST
CO-ORDINATION: Maik Ehrhardt
PLAYTESTERS:
Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Nick Papp, Piero Angeli, Wild Bill Wilder,
Jim Faletti, Darwin Barnes, Marc Bellizzi, Bryan Melvin, Pentti Perttula,
Louie Marsh, Davor Popovic, Nick Papp, Gordon Kennedy, Mark Mitchell,
Dick Reece, David Heath, Eric Johnson, Massimo Rocca, Hans Gaschler, Guy
DeYoung, Chris Massey and Paul Vebber
SCENARIO
DESIGN CO-ORDINATION: Wild Bill Wilder
SCENARIO
DESIGNERS: Wild Bill Wilder, Jim Faletti, Darwin Barnes, Marc Bellizzi,
Bryan Melvin, Pentti Perttula, Louie Marsh, Davor Popovic, Nick Papp,
Gordon Kennedy, Mark d Mitchell and Dick Reece
GAME
MANUAL AND DOCUMENTATION: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand,
Nick Papp
CONSULTANT:
Dale Hight
WEB SITE
PROVIDED BY: The Gamers Net
SPECIAL
THANKS: Brigham Hausman, Joel Billings, Gary Grigsby and Keith Brors and
all our families.
SP2WW2
PRODUCER:
Don Goodbrand
DESIGN
AND DEVELOPMENT: Don Goodbrand, Andy Gailey, Nick Papp, Maik Ehrhardt
and Piero Angeli
PROGRAMMING:
Don Goodbrand, Nick Papp
OB DATA
DEVELOPMENT CO-ORDINATOR: Andy Gailey
RESEARCH
AND MOB DATA DEVELOPMENT: Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Nick Papp, Maik
Ehrhardt and Piero Angeli
MOBHACK
OB DATA EDITOR PROGRAMMING: Andy Gailey
ART AND
GRAPHICS: Don Goodbrand, Piero Angeli and Nick Papp
PLAYTEST
CO-ORDINATION: Maik Ehrhardt
PLAYTESTERS:
Andy Gailey, Don Goodbrand, Nick Papp, Maik Ehrhardt, Piero Angeli, Wild
Bill's Raiders
SCENARIO
DESIGN: Wild
Bill's Raiders
WEB SITE
PROVIDED BY: The Gamers Net
Special
Credit
A
very special thanks goes to Fred Chandla, creator of SHPEdit and SPILE.
Without his editors, utility programs and support of efforts, none of
this would have been possible.
ON
LINE HELP
First
thing to do is to read this manual thoroughly - try using your
browser's search utility to look for a word, if you cannot find what you
require from the links in the left pane. See the section on using
the guide at the start of the document..
If you
have questions - register at the SPWW2 group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SPWW2
- you can browse this through the web interface, or elect
to have the messages emailed to you. Look through all the message traffic,
as your question is quite likely to have already been covered - if not,
then post a message and someone will try to help you out.
DISCLAIMER
Users
of these programs must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
This software is supplied
on an AS IS basis. The authors specifically disclaim ANY warranty, expressed
or implied, as to the fitness for any particular purpose of the software.
Under no circumstances will the authors be liable for any direct, consequential,
special, indirect, or other damages including, but not limited to, loss
of data, profit, or the use of the software arising from the distribution,
use, misuse, or inability to use the software.
USE OF THIS SOFTWARE
IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. BY USING THE SOFTWARE, YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS OF
USAGE SET FORTH IN THIS DISCLAIMER.
NOTICE
Neither
the revisions to the game code, nor the data editors and utilities used
to create these revisions are in any way connected with, endorsed by,
or supported by Strategic Simulations, Inc.
DISTRIBUTION
NOTICE
The authors
are releasing this product as honourware. It is NOT public domain!
You may use the program freely for personal usage. You may distribute
it to whomever you like (e.g. by making it available on a web site) but
(unless express written consent is negotiated):
1. Do NOT
distribute modified versions, you must distribute the entire fileset
unchanged.
2. Do NOT bundle with other programs.
3. ALWAYS distribute with the provided documentation.
4. Do NOT charge a fee for distribution.
The unique artwork and data provided within this game are protected by
copyright law and may not be used or altered without the
express written consent of SP Camo Workshop.
No other limitations
are placed on the usage of the software.
TRADEMARKS
AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
.
Steel Panthers,
Steel Panthers 2 and Steel Panthers 3 are all trademarks of Strategic
Simulations, Inc. |
Steel Panthers
2 for World War 2 (SP2WW2) is a trademark of SP-Camo Workshop. |
Steel Panthers:
World War 2 (SPWW2) is a trademark of SP-Camo Workshop. |
Steel Panthers:
Main Battle Tank (SPMBT) is a trademark of SP-Camo Workshop.. |
Steel Panthers:
World at War (SPW@W) is a trademark of The Gamers Net/Matrix Games |
Parts of the
version 2.0 code is copyright of The Gamers Net. |
Version 2.0 scenarios
are Copyright of Wild Bill's Raiders and The Gamers Net. |
Version 3.0 through 7.0 scenarios are Copyright of SP Camo Workshop, and the individual
scenario authors. |
All OB Data is copyright of the Designers listed in each individual OB Copyright Notice.
|
All game artwork,
organisation data (except as noted in the OB copyright notice) and
other game data files are copyright of SP Camo Workshop. |
|
Mobhack Data Editor, SP Cost Calculator, SPCMap & OOBConverter copyright Andy Gailey and Scotia Software
Ltd. |
Discussion
Group-- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SPWW2
Websites--
http://linetap.com/www/drg/SPCamo.htm
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/spcamo/
Internet File Distribution-- http://www.shrapnelgames.com/
We'd
like to thank Shrapnel Games for sponsoring us, and our dedicated
Player Community for supporting us. The best way we can show how we
appreciate both of you is to bring you together. Please visit their
website at http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ and have a look at the games they have to offer dedicated wargamers.
|