question about Tutorial

[mantrain]

I begin and it reads "Tutorial Part 1." Is there a part 2 somewhere? Part 1 is a seven pager, which is very brief. Thanks!

[Joshuatree]

I'm afraid not. The only available tutorial is pretty short. And yes there has been quite some critisizm on the manual. So best thing to do is read some of the AAR's which are stickied, and play some easy random games. Or the North Africa scn.

[mantrain]

I just don't have the time to study the manual like an obtuse college text book.  It's like a text book on building cars, without explaining how to turn the key in the ignition.  The manual doesn't explain how to "smell the smoke."
 
For example, in Barbarosa, as germans, I'm trying to understand setting HQ. and I cannot even attack Russia; I'm not sure if some political move needs to be made.  But as far as I remember, the germans attack at 3:15am, without much of a declaration of war.

[Joshuatree]

Well like most of us I took a glance at the manual, did some reading, and then put it away. Untill I was quite familiar with the game, then I started rereading it, and then it makes a lot more sense.
And the only way to smell the smoke is to actually play it a few times, yell at your monitor a few times, and then your all set for the big scenarios, or human PBEM.
What do you exactly mean by "setting HQ" ? And I'm not sure why you can't attack Russia, you have to declare war first, that's in the Stategic Information Map... I think. Search for the country you want and click on declare war.  [:D]
 

[mantrain]

Well what I mean by setting up the HQ is that the top German unit according to the OOB is the OKW unit 636.  This unit is at the top of the tree in the OOB screen, and unlike most the units underneath it, there is no HQ attached to it.  Also, I cannot find the names of the indivdual commanders.  Where is Von Leeb, Rundstedt, Guderian, et al. ?
I did go to the strategic map, and found that Germany (human) is at war with Russia (AI).  yet whn I go to move units into USSR territory, there is a red border b/w east and west that german units cannot move past.[&:]
 
THANKS!

[Joshuatree]

Ah, sadly enough there are no commanders... No Rommel or von Mannstein. There is some rumour that they may return in the sequel AT3 because most of us agree that it really adds to the game flavour. The idea is that a HQ attached to a, say fast armoured div., *is* the commander. (and his staff) A very experienced staff would then be a Kluge or a Hoepner. But we all know that this is just not the same as, say the individual commander as in Hearts of Iron 2. (Hearts of Iron 3 soon)
 
I'm still not quite sure how it's possible that the top HQ has no HQ's attached to it?? The top HQ, which is indeed at the top of the OOB tree, has all the lower HQ's attached to it. OH wait, I'm doing this from my memory. It is indeed possible that the top HQ has nothing attached to it. I don't know what cities are attached to it, but you must set for every production center (or town, depending on the scenario) a HQ. (if you take a prod. center but have not yet set a HQ where you want to prod. to go to, it is still a black dot. If you attach the city to a HQ then it turns green. ( and red is for a damaged prod. center). Now it is possible that for that top HQ only one or more prod. centers are attached, but no lower HQ's. This OKW HQ has no HQ function other then to send reinforcements to the other HQ's/ units.
 
You are already at war with Russia, but you can't enter his territory. That could be because of the specific scenario rules. Have to check that myself though, what's the name of this scenario? Barbarossa? Is it in the scenarios the game came with or is it in the scn. bank at the AT community site? I'm curious myself now, there should be a readme file somewhere in the in statistics information screen. 

[mantrain]

I am playing the Russia 1941 scenario (stock). AI Russia, Human Germans. The beginning date is June 22, '41, and war has been declared.  I cannot attack, and it seems that the germans have no towns, or a couple in the south, to produce...

[mantrain]

actually I see that I can move into enemy territory, but not into enemy occupied hexes.

[Joshuatree]

Right, now I see the reason for this confusion. Well the way you attack in AT is not by selecting an unit and then "slamming" it into a enemy unit. It is done by selecting the enemy unit/s by clicking on it, then clicking on the "do a ground attack" button (the one button showing a two pronged attack), or by typing "a" on your keyboard. (same as pressing "m" for movement) and then selecting your own ground units you want to attack with. This has the great advantage (much more so then say Strategic Command series) that you can attack with multiple units from multiple directions. The more units the better, and the more directions you attack from the better. The most "bonus" you get from attacking with two units is when they attack from the front and one from the rear. That makes sense doesn't it? The more you encircle an enemy unit the more bonus you get, but beware that these units are under the same HQ (as shown by their bar in the left side of the counter, you can change this bar colour too if you want by clicking on the HQ, then click on the bar  of the HQ counter on the statistics screen (lower half of your monitor) and change to whatever you want).
 
If you attack with multiple units but some of them are under a different HQ they receive less bonus, which also makes sense.
And ofcourse, for attacking from the rear you need fast units, so that would be armoured or horse units.
 
 
And the Germans do have four towns where they produce units and supply. Conquered towns don't produce stuff for you... I think, they give you enemy trucks and supply... I think [&:] at least in this scenario.
 
So, in short. Artillery first, then send in your airplanes, then a breakthrough and encirclement and cut the enemy off from supply. Then you'll be in Moscow before Christmas. Trust me. [:D]