Desert War: Hotkey of the Day...or whenever I post it...

[bcgames]

Today...Hotkey A

Press this once and it shows you the anti-aircraft capability of your units. Press it again and it shows you the anti-aircraft capability of your enemy's units. Press one more time and all this is turned off.

Why should I care? If you are looking to see how well you are protecting your most important assets from air attack--then this is your button. Want to see how your enemy is trying to do the same? This is your button.

Why is this important? Well...if you want your air units to survive and thrive, then don't send them into The AA Red Zone more than you have to. BUT...if you absolutely need to bring it home For The Win, then put in the planes--all of them--and suffer the heat--hope for the best.

So. Anti-aircraft...think about it. It matters to your planes and the accomplishment of your mission. Press Hotkey-A and ponder the impact of anti-aircraft (yours and theirs) on your course of action.

[Royal Fusilier]

Amateurs talk tactics; professionals talk Hotkeys! One must establish a personal relationship with the Hotkeys! Loving the game![&o]

[Rosseau]

Having a hotkey to list the hotkeys in-game is great. There may be one or two games that do this, but I can't recall them. I am usually alt/tabbing out to see the hotkeys in Word or the PDF. Very nice addition.

[bcgames]

Today...Hotkey C

"C" is for Cycle up!

What does this key do? It brings the bottom unit in a stack to the top. Why would you want to do that?

1. "I can't get THAT unit selected"! Bring it to the top and drive on.
2. You want to check on the status of a unit in a stack...to see its current strength, readiness or supply status. Use the "C" hotkey to bring it to the top where it is easier to get at.
3. You don't want to move or attack with an entire stack...just that tank battalion two units down in the stack or the artillery battery at the bottom or whatever.

The image shows how Hotkey C works. Place the cursor over the stack you are interested in and then press "C"; the bottom unit in the stack will be re-positioned to the top and the former top unit--and all those below--will be moved down one position.

Tomorrow...The “Blitzkrieg” Hotkey. You don't want to miss this one!

[bcgames]

Oops! The "Blitzkrieg" key has changed between ALPHA and BETA and RELEASE. The Blitzkrieg idea is now best explained as a "Mechanic". We will return tomorrow back to the intended topic of Hot Keys.

[bcgames]

Time to get this going again...

[bcgames]

ORIGINAL: bcgames

Oops! The "Blitzkrieg" key has changed between ALPHA and BETA and RELEASE. The Blitzkrieg idea is now best explained as a "Mechanic". We will return tomorrow back to the intended topic of Hot Keys.

The "Blitzkrieg" key is back! More to follow...

[bcgames]

New Hotkey in version 1.0.3! Press Shift-M to see all plotted moves.

[Deathtreader]

Shift-M really speeds it up for me. Thanks!

Rob.

[bcgames]

Press 'E' Hotkey to see which hexsides have a movement/combat impact. In order of bad--blue, red, black.

[bcgames]

I think this topic would best be explored via video.

[bcgames]

I swear I'm working on this! So much to do.

[bcgames]

Hotkey Z

Pressing the Z key will display the Zone of Control (ZOC) strength of the Axis and then Allies ZOCs. Press again to turn the ZOC display off. On the game map, ZOCs are shown in a range of colors from yellow (low ZOC Values) to orange (mid-range ZOC Values) to red (high ZOC Values).

Why care?

Things to know about ZOCs:

* Each ground unit (friendly and enemy) exerts influence into the hexes adjacent to the one it occupies. This area of influence is called the Zone of Control (ZOC). It costs no Movement Points to leave an enemy ZOC but it does cost to enter one.

* ZOCs do not extend across minefield hex sides.

* ZOCs extend across breached minefield hex sides.

* A unit in an enemy ZOC recovers readiness at a lower rate.

* Unless explicitly ordered to do so, recce units will not enter enemy ZOCs and will automatically withdraw from enemy ZOCs if friendly or enemy movement places them in this position.

* If a unit using Road Movement enters an enemy ZOC, then the enemy unit gets a free attack on the moving unit – an Ambush attack.

* LOCs cannot be traced through a hex containing an enemy unit or an enemy ZOC.

Use the Z key when your plans might be affected by one or more of these ZOC impacts/considerations.

[bcgames]

I prolly should have started here. Hotkeys are important--all of them.

[bcgames]

Hotkey T

Press the T key once and it will display the image for the unit the cursor is over.

[bcgames]

...press the T key a second time and it will display all the unit icons within a stack.

[bcgames]

...press the T key a third time to turn this capability off.

If you move the cursor down the stack it will enlarge the unit icon that the cursor is over. This is the case with the engineer unit in the image above. If you left click and hold on the engineer unit you could move it out of the hex. If you hover over an artillery unit in the hex and hit the R key you could assign the artillery unit a fire mission.

The T key is just another way for the player to manage stacks of units.

[bcgames]

Hotkey H

This hotkey toggles the headquarters chain-of-command lines on/off. In the image, the selected headquarters is a regiment. The chain-of-command lines trace up to its higher headquarters (division HQ in this example), and down to the regimental HQ's subordinate units.

[bcgames]

Hotkey I

Pressing the I Key toggles the intelligence range and strength for friendly units. The I Key shows where you can detect enemy units and how much intel you can collect on them. Green hexes are strong; Amber less so; no color--no intel collected. Bottomline--if you don't have the enemy inside your intelligence range--you won't know where they are.

[Okayrun3254]

ORIGINAL: bcgames

...press the T key a second time and it will display all the unit icons within a stack.

This is one I had not used. I really like this key. Its really handy when zooming way out. Thanks!