A SIMPLE GUIDE TO THE OPERATIONS INTERFACE

[Redmarkus5]

Quick Battles are fun, but the heart of APOS is its operational battles.

Click START in the main menu to enter the Campaigns and Quick Battle selection screen.

Clicking on an operation opens up a list of Operations within that campaign.

The Player side (you cannot choose sides in an Operation) is indicated by the Flag on the left.

The number of Battles (Played/Remaining) is shown on the right.

[Redmarkus5]

Click on an Operation to open the Operation Map.

[Redmarkus5]

Press 'F2' or click the button with the tick at the foot of the screen to toggle between the units display and the 'Briefing'.

Unfortunately, the APOS 'Briefings' are pretty rudimentary. I have added the text shown in this image to explain what you are being shown. You will need to deduce this for yourself when playing the game, so spend a little time on this screen and make sure you have read the general one sentence briefing at the scenario selection stage.

This feature needs a lot of improvement.

[Redmarkus5]

In the units map view you can click on any unit to select it.

Units that are arriving as reinforcements but which cannot yet move can't be selected. It's not always obvious which units these are, but a few mouse clicks will answer the question for you.

The green squares indicate the locations the unit can move to. You move by right-clicking.

The grey circles are other possible movement locations that the selected unit cannot reach this turn.

The dark red 'Entrenchment' symbols around the units shown indicate that they are already dug in. On the battlefield these units will have the benefit of trenches and other emplacements.

Units that have just moved will not be dug in, but they can use any trenches left in the location from earlier battles, so make a note of where these might be as the game progresses.

[Redmarkus5]

The larger circles are Victory Locations. The size of each circle indicates its importance.

Victory locations are colored to show the controlling side. Those dominated by your forces are Red, the AI's locations are Blue and those not held by either side are Grey.

On the battle map these locations will show up as large flags for the respective sides, with neutral locations colored White.

(Why we don't see the same flags on the briefing map, I don't know).

IIRC, the smaller movement locations show up on the battle map as minor objectives (small flags).

From playing the game, I deduce that domination (i.e. the ratio of forces in the vicinity) determines the final outcome with respect to VL control, rather than the question of who had a squad sitting on the location when the battle ended. I view this as the more realistic option, if that's how the game is actually working.

[Redmarkus5]

When you are done with your moves, press ENTER. The AI will now make its own moves and the battles for that turn are displayed as flame icons. If no battles appear, move again and press ENTER once more.

NOTE WELL: You can (and should) concentrate more than one unit on an objective for any given battle. Also, adjacent units, including those immediately BEHIND your engaged units, will appear on the battle map, so position reserves and artillery accordingly, while keeping supply units etc. further back to avoid committing them. Finally, if you have time and your units move beyond the initial battle area on the game map, you will encounter any other enemy units that started in those locations. These can include supply and artillery units (nice prizes) as well as un-spotted tank formations moving up from the rear, so recon well and advance with caution!

You can now choose which battle to fight first. Choose carefully as the forces engaged in adjacent battles on the map may include some of the same units. Any losses inflicted or suffered in one such battle will carry over into the adjacent battle. If your force is destroyed, or you destroy the enemy force, the adjacent battle may not occur in some cases.

I like this layer of uncertainty and suspect that there's a whole level of strategy here that I have not yet mastered.

[Redmarkus5]

As you advance through the available operations the numbers of units and the complexity of each operation increases. The screenie below shows my progress as the 11th Panzer Div during the Kharkov Defense Operation, the second-to-last OP on my list (I have the APOS game expansions).

With a few refinements, this could actually be a stand-alone game in its own right, without the need for 3D battles!

Eventually, you will need to make many challenging decisions and no two operations are ever likely to play out the same way.

Reserves, supply units and repair units (circled in white by me) will start to arrive. Move these close to units requiring reinforcements, supplies or vehicle refits - those very units should be pulled out of the line and held back for just that purpose.

APOS is a rich and many-layered game that should satisfy both tacticians and operational-level players.

The main features missing, IMHO, are:

1. A strategic layer where I can decide, for example, whether to attack Kharkov, focus further north or south, etc.
2. A SIMPLE Campaign Editor that a simple minded person like me can use to build any number of new campaigns on the same maps.
3. A map editor to allow the creation of User Campaigns and Scenarios.

These features would extend the appeal and longevity of the game dramatically and are some of the main investments of time and effort the Devs should be making, I feel.

Ultimately, I would like to see a dynamically branching campaign model that takes players from 1941 to 1945, with the corresponding equipment and skill changes as the war progresses. Take this online as a multiplayer experience, at both the strategic and tactical levels, and Graviteam will probably have a winning formula that would place them ahead in this market niche.

[Redmarkus5]

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