Where is the tutorial ?

[ernieschwitz]

that's not a link

Don't worry though, no need to change the regimes place in the order of the game. If you do, you can actually mess things up quite a bit.

[PussEKatt]

Thanks for that,I will leave Regime order alone.I wondwe why he put that in his random game tips though ?!
I have noticed in the speed up AI turn discussion,people recommend turning off the "real time" AI,how do you do this ?
Also there is a lot of discussion about TOE but no tutorial,how does the TOE designer work and also something about auto reinforce or auto supply ( all connected to the TOE )
Thanks again,you are bieng very very helpful.
Here is something that,maybe,I can pass on to you.Try "Steel panthers: PC game,its free and is a very good game,its about the battles from WW II to modern day.

[ernieschwitz]

I think a hint to why he talks on turn order, might be read in your "link", that it is in the Mods & Scenario section. This probably means it is a post on how to edit games (before they start). Since we are taking baby steps at the moment, I don't think making edits is what you want to do. (I could be wrong?)

As for TO&E: It is a way to automate some processes. In particular to make the troops flow from HQs to units, so you don't have to do that yourself. There are some drawbacks to it, which I won't go into, right now, and there are some limits. You need to know how you want your unit to look like, and tell the game that. Again, baby steps. I am not sure you know what composition you want in your units, yet.

As for Speeding up the AI, well look at my next post.

[ernieschwitz]

First let us talk about what real-time AI is. When playing a game with an AI, and you are not playing with anyone else, that is there is only one Non-AI, real-time AI becomes available as an option on the scenario/random game startup screen.

It is a way you can monitor the AIs moves, while it is doing them. If you have fog of war disabled, you will see ALL its moves. If fog of war is enabled, you will only see moves the AI makes when you would be able to see them. The AI is faster at moving its pieces than it is at showing them. This is mostly done for you as a player, since the AI could obviously flick the moves across the screen much faster than we could experience them. However this process some people find annoying. They just want to move on to the next turn. They can actually do that, if they want to, by pressing a button during the display of the moves that the AI is doing, when it has done thinking and moving, but has yet to show it. (I believe that button is called skip... but I can be wrong).

Anyway, if you don't want this. You can disable it.

On the first screen you get up as you start up the scenario you loaded or generated, is a button, which I have outlined in red below.

01 Real Time AI.jpg (145.51 KiB) Viewed 655 times

You click it, and then check mark appears, and you are good to go.

If you are playing a game and it is in a version of ATG beyond 2,40.098 (A phoenix version), then you can also go into the settings on your play screen. This is done this way. Look at the bottom left side, and on that menu you will see this.

02 Real Time AI.jpg (6.79 KiB) Viewed 655 times

Click on the box I outlined in red. You are now in settings.

Then click on the "Hide AI Move", and a check mark will appear, and it is turned off.

03 Real Time AI.jpg (32.14 KiB) Viewed 655 times

Finally, should you want to look at what the AI did anyway. Or if you missed something in its playthrough, you can access the current turns moves for anyone before you got your turn again, by looking at the right hand bottom menu, in the play screen. It will be an icon that looks like the one I've outlined.

04 Real Time AI.jpg (4.85 KiB) Viewed 655 times

And that is it.

[PussEKatt]

Hi,and thanks again for your very quick and very informative reply,as usual I am copying all your replies and printing them out for further reference.
I would still like to know how the TOE editor works ( you say yourself that it makes life easier ) I could certainly use that.I am really struggling to get going on this game but I am determined to get up and running ( I am really into WW II,I have even toured the D-Day beaches in Normandy ) At the moment I would say that my level is between bad and pathetic but I have a plan ( which includes knowing how to use the TOE ) I figure there are 3 stages to this game.
1 - Defending against the early AI
2 - Holding the AI while Iresearch develope and build units )
3 - Attacking the AI with my improved and more numerous units.
So, I figured I need to research and build bazookas,trucks and maybe armoured cars/light tanks,depending on the way the game goes and take it from there,what do you think ?

[PussEKatt]

There are a couple of other things,
When making units in the TOE and sending them to the various HQs,can you define the HQs ( like 1st Army,2nd Army etc ) and is it possable to have an HQ that has tanks,engineers and artillery and send/transfer these units to other HQs as needed.

[ernieschwitz]

TO&E is a relatively tough thing to write a guide for. I'd have to use a few days. Mostly because of all the pictures I'd need to capture, and then write text to. There are so many options. There is a smaller guide, that is a little obsolete, that can be read here:

https://www.vrdesigns.net/atwiki/doku.p ... _equipment

No pictures though.

[ernieschwitz]

I figure there are 3 stages to this game.
1 - Defending against the early AI
2 - Holding the AI while Iresearch develope and build units )
3 - Attacking the AI with my improved and more numerous units.
So, I figured I need to research and build bazookas,trucks and maybe armoured cars/light tanks,depending on the way the game goes and take it from there,what do you think ?

I think you've got the idea.

[PussEKatt]

Can you tell me if the individual units are single units or do they represent a platoon,company or 100 units or what ?
Also your mobile HQs supply your units,what does your supreme HQ do ?
As you advance or retreat your mobile HQs would have to move with you,how do you make these HQs move,as always,I look foreward to your reply.

[ernieschwitz]

ATG is scaleless. Meaning you can imagine whatever scale you want, that isn't so small that ranged fire and line of sight would be a thing you consider. You can get a hint of this by noticing planes have a range of 10 or so, and artillery has a firing range of 1 or 2 hexes. No artillery would be able to fire 1/10th or 1/5th the distance a plane can fly in one flight. Also the ships move far too slow, if this was to have the realistic scale you are asking about. This is not strange, as games like starcraft, warcraft and others really don't have scale... So no scale is also a thing. It might take some getting used to however. This has been done in part for modders. They can choose and define a scale for their scenarios, if they want, or not if they don't want.

HQs move just like any other "chit" on the board. That is a unit and a HQ is the same thing, from a movement perspective. They require to have some subformation (troops) in them to be able to move. Without it, they have no movement.

Just like units are connected to HQs, HQs can be connected to each other. So the Supreme HQ can serve as a place you give supplies.. since those are distributed through the network that these HQs are connected to. If for instance you have 1st Army that has 3 units under it, and then Supreme HQ has 1st Army under it... then Supply will flow first from the place producing it, to the Supreme HQ, then to 1st Army, then to the 3 units... all done as you open the turn, before you get to it.

Then you might ask, why have mobile HQs. The reason is that a HQ also can be filled with Staff. Staff makes the units under the command of that HQ better able to fight. They get a bonus. The more experienced the staff, the more the bonus. The staff gains experience the same way units do, almost. A unit gets them by killing units, while staff in the HQ get a fraction of the XP that fighting units under their command earn.

[PussEKatt]

Ok,here are a few more newbie questions,I have been selecting various buttons and there are a couple that I dont understand.
The HQ button on the left side of screen,what is that used for ?
The HQ button in the middle of the screen ( the one with the red/white checks ) what is that for ?
How/when should I use "strategic transfers" and how/when should I use ordinary transfers ?
When I have been setting a HQ for a city/town.I select the city/town,left click on the maop and select the "make new unit" button,this has the option for "formation or HQ" when would I use the formation option and why ?
I understand what you mean by your reply yesterday about scale but can you explain this.I select a HQ and it shows that I have 5 Engineers 20 Rifles 5 trucks and 1 morter,now I understand that 5 trucks can carry all those units and I understand what 1 mortar can do but what about the 20 rifles ( thats not a lot ) and the 5 engineers,that amount of engineers would take a month to repair a bridge properly.So how do I interperet the rifles and engineers ?

[ernieschwitz]

Those are a lot of questions. I'll see how well I can answer them later today, I hope.

[ernieschwitz]

...
I understand what you mean by your reply yesterday about scale but can you explain this.I select a HQ and it shows that I have 5 Engineers 20 Rifles 5 trucks and 1 morter,now I understand that 5 trucks can carry all those units and I understand what 1 mortar can do but what about the 20 rifles ( thats not a lot ) and the 5 engineers,that amount of engineers would take a month to repair a bridge properly.So how do I interperet the rifles and engineers ?

Again, you interpret them any way you like. 5 Engineers is not a lot, but in an HQ they may just be meant as reserves to be sent out to units beneath it, that have taken losses. The Scenario designer obviously had his ideas why he did it, but what that is, you'd have to ask him (or her).

[ernieschwitz]

...
The HQ button on the left side of screen,what is that used for ?

The left side of the screen has 6 buttons.

Menu Leftside.jpg (7.6 KiB) Viewed 576 times

The most important ones (while messing with HQ production) I've outlined above. The RED box is used the following way. Select a city, that can produce, and then left-click this button. It will then tell you to select an HQ. This HQ is where all production from that city (or any other thing that can produce) goes to.

The PURPLE button (added in a very early version of 2,40. ...) is an overview of ALL you production sites, in the Production menu mode. Here you can select each city, and other places that produce, and set them to produce what you want. From here you can also select an HQ for each one to deliver in. The button there will lead you to a list of HQs sorted by which is nearer.

The YELLOW outlined box allows you to see the production of a city/production site, you have selected on the map.

[ernieschwitz]

...
The HQ button in the middle of the screen ( the one with the red/white checks ) what is that for ?
...

The middle menu (or main menu bar, whatever you want to call it), is full of very many buttons. Too many to go over at the moment. But there is a trick for finding out what each one does. Hover your mouse over it and read the message shown where I have made a YELLOW box. It Pretty much says what it does.

Menu Center.jpg (23.71 KiB) Viewed 575 times

In your case, the mouse is hovering over the Icon you described. It is assign a new HQ button. You can use this to either assign a new counter/HQ to an existing chain of command, or switching it to another. Be aware there is an readiness loss for doing this (changing HQs), because of the organizational problems this entails.

[ernieschwitz]

...
How/when should I use "strategic transfers" and how/when should I use ordinary transfers ?
...

Ordinary Transfers are the ones you will be using most. These are when you are transferring between game pieces (counters). They transfer individuals (Subformations). You can transfer an individual as far as the Unit can move, or if it is located inside an HQ, the unit can move using the HQs CAP. CAP is what trucks and trains give. The ability to transfer longer distances.

Strategic Transfers are used to transfer an entire unit (game piece/counter), from one place on the map to another place on it. You will start off by selecting the Unit/Counter/Game piece you want to transfer. Then click the HQ you want to use CAP for this assignment, and then select one of the highlighted hexes for the transfer. Be aware that there is a big penalty for transferring a unit this way. The route it will take is from where it is, to the HQ transferring, to the destination. Thus being close to the transferring HQ makes sense.

[ernieschwitz]

...
When I have been setting a HQ for a city/town.I select the city/town,left click on the maop and select the "make new unit" button,this has the option for "formation or HQ" when would I use the formation option and why ?
...

From the above, you can probably deduce you have been doing the setting of an HQ for a city/town wrongly. What you have been doing is making new units/counters the place you have been clicking. The option "Formation or HQ" is for making a counter/unit/game piece... and it is asking you, should I make an HQ, or a regular formation counter?

[PussEKatt]

Hi,
I tried making a HQ using the (purple outlined button ) and it takes me to the top of the map where all 6 of my cities are listed but every city has their HQ listed as Supreme,and I dont see any option to change this.So,once I left click on a city,left click on a empty hex and then select the purple outlined button I am taken to the 6 citys,all with "Supreme HQs" so,what am I supposed to do when I reach this screen ? how do I make subordanate HQs ?
As far as I was mentioning 5 trucks,1 morter,5 engineers etc.I was not playing a scenario,I am still only playing ( trying to play ) random maps from Phoenix.I will leave playing a scenario when I actually know what I am doing.

[ernieschwitz]

Hi,
I tried making a HQ using the (purple outlined button ) and it takes me to the top of the map where all 6 of my cities are listed but every city has their HQ listed as Supreme,and I dont see any option to change this.So,once I left click on a city,left click on a empty hex and then select the purple outlined button I am taken to the 6 citys,all with "Supreme HQs" so,what am I supposed to do when I reach this screen ? how do I make subordanate HQs ?
As far as I was mentioning 5 trucks,1 morter,5 engineers etc.I was not playing a scenario,I am still only playing ( trying to play ) random maps from Phoenix.I will leave playing a scenario when I actually know what I am doing.

The Screen you were taken to is the Production Overview. That is also what I said in the text above. You can change the HQ these cities are sending to, between existing HQs.

[ernieschwitz]

In ATG there are only two kinds of units. HQs and Formations. They are both counters so to speak. They are made almost the exact same way. Here is the button you choose to make an HQ/Formation outlined in RED.

NewUnit 1.jpg (14.73 KiB) Viewed 537 times

Coincidentally right next (on the right) to it is the Disband unit ... don't worry, the game will only allow you to delete empty units.

When you've hit that button, the following menu will be shown:

NewUnit 2.jpg (12.6 KiB) Viewed 537 times

As you can see you can choose between unit, and HQ. So there is your HQ.

Once you've selected that, the game will ask you to select an HQ for that HQ/unit. This will be the HQ commanding that HQ/Unit. If it is a HQ, then it is a subordinate HQ.