War in the West - Ask us Anything

[LaurenHelzog]

Could you please tell me where I can find out information about the squares. For instance X = Battalion, XX = Army, XXXX = Field Marshall, etc. Also what the picture is: an oval with a line, an oval shape with an X through it, a rectangle with an X through, etc (these are something like Mechanised, Infantry, Marines, etc). Also what the terrain is: River, Town, City, Rail, Mountains, Swamp.

[Nico165b165]

Hello and welcome !

The symbols on units are NATO symbols. Idem for units sizes. One simple place where you can go to learn more about them is here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_Military_Symbols_for_Land_Based_Systems

I think every symbol used in the game is on this page with a bit of context.

For the terrain, there is some info at different places in the manual. See 6.2 for the basics about what is what, 15.3.1 for terrain effect on fort level, one page guide 10 in the player's handbook for movement costs...

[LaurenHelzog]

Thanks for the NATO symbol page. Matrix games Highway to the Reich 2003 on pg 112 and 113 "Annex B Unit Types Key" has some additional ones, for instance Glider arty/mortar and Glider Recon which is a horizontal line in a rectangle which does not touch the left and right sides. Matrix also says Mechanised (Mech) Inf (as well as Mot Inf) although the NATO symbol page does not have Mechanised? Also the Paratrooper symbol seems to have been upgraded to an 'icecream' symbol where in the HTTReich manual it is the number 3 symbol turned 90 degrees to the left. The Mot Arty/Mor and Mot Rocket Launcher also feature 2 dots under the rectangles whereas the NATO pages is a vertical line down the middle of the rectangle, perhaps another upgrade. A bit of confusion but I'm sure War in the West has consistent Unit Types I can look up during the game.

[pmarvin]

Just getting into the game...love it. Learning curve is intimidating, but leaves a sense of satisfaction with each level of understanding; and each level brings forth the thought of "Wow...can't believe they incorporated that into the design."
Two probably simple questions: 1. The mouseover function shows a value for "Det", for units, bases, etc. I've word-searched the manual, and don't see that shorthand defined anywhere. What does "Det" mean?
2. Getting font issues, as others are. Can you walk me thru what settings on my computer give the greatest chance of readable text, without "spillover"?

PM

[Joel Billings]

Det is Detection Level. See section 13.2 in the manual.

[Nico165b165]

ORIGINAL: LaurenHelzog

Thanks for the NATO symbol page. Matrix games Highway to the Reich 2003 on pg 112 and 113 "Annex B Unit Types Key" has some additional ones, for instance Glider arty/mortar and Glider Recon which is a horizontal line in a rectangle which does not touch the left and right sides. Matrix also says Mechanised (Mech) Inf (as well as Mot Inf) although the NATO symbol page does not have Mechanised? Also the Paratrooper symbol seems to have been upgraded to an 'icecream' symbol where in the HTTReich manual it is the number 3 symbol turned 90 degrees to the left. The Mot Arty/Mor and Mot Rocket Launcher also feature 2 dots under the rectangles whereas the NATO pages is a vertical line down the middle of the rectangle, perhaps another upgrade. A bit of confusion but I'm sure War in the West has consistent Unit Types I can look up during the game.

Highway to the Reich (HttR) use some smaller scale units : sections, companies, bataillons. WitW has bataillons as support units, then regiments and mainly divisions.

That's why you see more icons in HttR : you have access to smaller mortar, recon... units that are inside the bigger units WitW has.

The NATO symbol page has mechanized infantry. It's hidden in the "common combinations" part. Here's the idea : the symbol is a mixture of the armored symbol and the infantry symbol, because "armored" + "infantry" = "armored infantry" = mechanized.

As a general rule, you can find the unit type in the center of the box, then its size above the type and its locomotion below the type. Those two are optional. In WitW you'll always have the size but I dont think locomotion type appears anywhere.

A bit overwhelming at first, but soon you'll get the hang of the NATO system and it will be like a second nature (next step is you'll go scream on the Paradox forums against the absence of counters in HoI 4. Those who lurk there will understand what I mean [:D])

[LaurenHelzog]

Thanks for getting back Nico165. Yes it does take a while to get up to speed especially using the magnifying glass to study the manual for the unit types, of course there are new ones like the unpiloted symbol. There are also a few combinations you can build into the square, eg, an unmanned anti-aircraft anti-submarine recon 007 amphibious propaganda and personnel carrying vehicle with stealth and radar jamming and mine sweeping ability! And what about an unmanned man?? - CYBORG infantry!!! Having played War in Russia and HttR I'm looking forward to WitW. Just a quick question before I get back to reality, the number of hexes in WitW, it does include the water? The water hexes don't have any strategic value in terms of capturing/owning do they not?

[LaurenHelzog]

(Profile picture test)

[Nico165b165]

Waters hexes have no victory points value (use the toggle victory locations button to see where they are in smaller scenarios - in the campaign each city counts, manual 25.1.1), but you can try to "control" them via naval interdiction. he player with the higher interdiction value can block the supply coming to its opponent and cause transport losses.

[LaurenHelzog]

Ok thanks, So when Matrix Games boast the 36K hexes you'd have to subtract about 5,000 waters?

[LiquidSky]

I wonder if anyone has figured out the historical rate of victory points gained by the allies. It would help me figure out how hard I have to push a bombing campaign.

[ird]

love this idea.....

ORIGINAL: LiquidSky



I wonder if anyone has figured out the historical rate of victory points gained by the allies. It would help me figure out how hard I have to push a bombing campaign.

[Zee]

Where is the "Bomb Alley " scenerio ?

I have been waiting since 1983 for a PC remake of what I consider THE best 2 player campaign (imho) ever . Why has this wonderful campaign been ignored for so long? I like War in the West , War in the East and War in the Pacific ... huge massive

The best part about Bomb Alley or a Knights of the Desert / Bomb Alley hybrid MED / Malta historically accurate remake would be more fun 2 player ... I was hoping for a scenerio in War in the West but....noooo

I played the original Bomb Alley hot seat on the Apple 2 with some of my friends keeping the save game disk in a locked box marked SECRET .


The question is Is a Mediterranean Campaign ever going to be reproduced for the PC?

[Denniss]

We would need a vastly improved naval model to properly simulate ships for these scenario types.

[Zee]

Wow Thanks for the answer but the 1983 model for Bomb Alley the game worked well in Dos , simple algebraic computations cannot be reproduced in the current engines ? The AI actually worked well in Bomb Alley ..... I cannot wrap my head around "a vastly improved navel model" when the old one worked fine in Dos . [:(]
Maybe someday ....thx

[warshipbuilder]

We would need a vastly improved naval model to properly simulate ships for these scenario types.

How about this instead, Naval Directives. Just re-work the AD for water. Instead of picking squadrons/groups/gruppe you pick ships instead, then assign them to such things like convoy, task force, shore bombardment or whatever. Then turn them loose and await results just like the AD's. Not a software guru so I have no idea how do-able this is, just a suggestion.

[LiquidSky]

The rulebook appears to be quiet on this. Where does the supply come from that air transports are flying in the air freight mission? I suspect it comes directly from the airfield but I am not sure that is the case. But I also pretty sure it doesn't come directly out of a national pool as the tonnage flown seems to peter out if I fly multiple flights.