Manual

[vonRocko]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
Sabre1, I do have some good news for you though. We're planning to do more printed manuals going forward.

Regards,

- Erik

Now that's the best news I had all day!

[RayWolfe]

About three years ago, Matrix said something similar!
In fact, IIRC, it was that ALL boxed games would have a hard copy manual.
In fact, they even said GG's War in the East would have a hard copy ... until it arrived with about 1/5th hard, 4/5ths soft.
Ah well ...

[sabre1]

Thanks Erik, I do appreciate it.

That is why I buy from Matrix, at least they listen, and sometimes fix problems for us old farts, that still like things printed on paper.

[sabre1]

Anyone have a single page list of hot keys? I didn't seem them listed in the manual.

Thanks.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: RayWolfe
About three years ago, Matrix said something similar!

Actually, I think that was about five years ago and for a year, every game had a printed manual, but we did move away from that. We're not going back to every game having a printed manual, but we plan to do more printed manuals than we have in the last couple of years.

In fact, they even said GG's War in the East would have a hard copy ... until it arrived with about 1/5th hard, 4/5ths soft.

It has a printed manual that's about 1/3rd the size of the PDF manual and covers the entire game interface as well as having some quick reference charts.

Regards,

- Erik

[hank]

Is there a list of hotkeys somewhere? I can't find one in the manual.

Under the Reports pop menu there's a list of hotkeys for reports but is there a list somewhere here I can copy and paste in a text document?

... yes I pulled the trigger and am getting familiar with it now

I have a post elsewhere but a hot key list should be a requirement in manuals plus a full description of the information on the map counters.

[junk2drive]

It wouldn't be the first game that I had to make my own hotkeys list for.

How about taking a screenshot of the report and saving it as something you could view in Paint or a pdf?

[hank]

Yes, I may have to make my own. I was kind of fishing for Hotkeys I didn't already know. I think I know most of them.

I'm getting used to the UI. I've been playing Guadalcanal but I'm going to have to step it up to a medium sized scenario. Not enough action in that one for my liking.

[Obsolete]

The hot-keys are generally listed in the GUI itself, and I think at least most of them are listed in the manual. I guess what you guys mean is a short quick-list somewhere.

I may get around tomorrow to making a VISUAL quick-list for my top hot-keys I use to speed things up.

[sabre1]

Thanks Obsolete, that would be very nice.

[Fred98]

The above is an example:
 
After I get a game, I usually make myself a mini manual which includes a list of hot keys.
 
Then I have no use for the game manual.  -
 

[henri51]

Actually the pdf manual is pretty good. It is clearly written, about 100 pages, and explains all the math behind the game telling me a lot more than I wanted to know. Very useful is a description of all the scenarios that has more details about each scenario than there is in the game.

Henri

[hank]

If this isn't the right place for this question let me know and I'll not post these types of ? again.

I can't find in the manual what the "Defenders Assault Designation" window is doing. I searched the manual and can't find anything. What happens when I select a unit and its highlighted with a purple symbol?

Also, is there a way I have not found yet to only withdraw a hex or two instead of having to withdraw almost all the way to the end of the highlighted hexes? (I sometimes and end the withdrawal a hex or two away from the limit but not always. I would like to occassionally withdraw into a hex with a friendly unit but can't.)

thanks

[Obsolete]

The Defender's Assault Designation lets you do two primary things.

First of all, the purple arrows show which counters you have selected to execute a withdraw. Doing an actual withdraw while facing the enemy is not exactly an easy procedure, and this will involve multiple quality/withdraw checks and often will result in failure (as it should). So you are gambling there, but if you realize you have no chance at all to stay and fight it out....

The other thing it does is allow you to specify which artillery (if any) to add into the assault to support you. For example, your opponent will throw as much arty against you as he can (usually) during his assault. The bombardments from that arty and off-board support will be applied to you, and after you take damage from these your strength and other factors are re-calculated, and then the actual assault takes place.

However! You are allowed to counter-artillery fire back against his positions, and if you score damage in some way on his assaulting units, he also goes through a strength re-calculation, etc, which is adjusted before moving against your hex.

So basically, sometimes the simple act of softening up your opponent during this phase can make/or-break the odds.

[hank]

I may be having oldtimer's moments while playing but it seems the "Defenders Assault Designation" window and the "Attackers Assault Designation" windows look similar but I've never seen artillery support pop up in the Defender window. I get it all the time in the Assault window. ... maybe I'm using up all my artillery during assaults. I'll try a save my arty and see if I can muster some counter battery fire.

Also, as far as withdrawing, is there a way to only withdraw a hex or two if the shaded area is 5 or 6 or 7 hexes? I can get the end withdraw button sometimes as I approach the limit of the shaded hexes but not all the time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This game is growing on me.

[Obsolete]

. ... maybe I'm using up all my artillery during assaults.

You've figured it out already.

If people could use the same arty counters for BOTH phases, that would parallel to magically getting two arty battalions for the time/price of one, which would be a little GAMEY... to say the least. [:-]

As for withdraws, there will be some hexes highlighted in red, others in green. You can't just stop on a red hex, but you have your choice on which green hexes you wish to halt your withdrawal on.

If one could simply take his retreating/routed units and just move them only 1 hex away from his original location, that would also result in a lot of gamey situtions, and a few other grognards complaining as not very realistic.

[hank]

Thanks for the input. But I wasn't looking for ways to be gamey. I think the withdrawal rule could be debated. The Player (the commander) may or may not have the ability to move a unit a hex or two away from an assault ... I'm not sure how that creates an advantage for the withdrawing unit ... it seems to me to be putting that withdrawing unit in a more precarious position.

As far as using arty in Defense, I thought I had not used all of it in the offense on many turns but it never showed up in the Defensive Assault window ... I did not get a chance to test that last night but will asap. I'm just trying to figure out the mechanics of the game; things that are not clearly explained or explained at all in the manual.

If you had been involved in the numerous titles I've played here and other places for many years, you'll see i don't look for gamey tactics. I play to learn and have fun ... and win if I can using what I think are real world tactics. My record shows this. I don't win a lot whether I'm playing pbem or against the AI. FWIW.

[Obsolete]

As far as using arty in Defense, I thought I had not used all of it in the offense on many turns but it never showed up in the Defensive Assault window-

It won't show up in the assault window if that particular arty(s) is out of its bombardment range to the hex that is being assaulted.

[hank]

I finally got a chance to play through some of these questions. I see arty now in my Defenders Assault Designation window. It took some squinting to see that the purple symbol when you select the unit being assaulted is actually an arrow pointing down ... setting it to withdraw posture. I think I got that box figured out.

What I'm having to come to terms with is why I can't move a unit off the front line ... even when only one hex is bordering on an enemy held hex. There's more to simply moving back than I can find out reading the manual. I've put a unit in withdraw mode and it can only move sideways if you get a good die roll. AGain, this is not a search for gamey techniques, its a search for how the mechanics of this game works that is not delineated in the manual.

[sabre1]

What he said^+1