Matrix Games Forums

Hey everyone,

I've recently started to pay PZCK, and I have a few comments and questions.

Questions first.

1. How do I explicitly target an enemy unit on a tower? When I drag the red targeting ribbon on to the tower, the text says "Average chance to hit" etc., but the location cannot be targeted - when I click, nothing happens.

2. Many times, when enemy artillery was shelling my troops running through an open field, the shell exploded right next to my guys, but did no damage whatsoever. Why is that? I would have thought that an HE shell would shower the troops with shrapnel at such close distance...

3. What order should I use to get my troops to take maximum cover and stay down?

And now a few comments.

1. I like the gameplay, but the platoon-level order system isn't flexible enough, in my opinion. For example, I've got 3 squads rushing to a destination; when the first squad reaches it, the others still have 8-10 seconds to go. But I cannot order the first arriving squad to take cover and lay down... Which makes them more vulnerable to enemy fire, it seems.

2. Another example: I would like to be able, in a single turn, to first throw a smoke grenade, and then start moving ahead. But it doesn't seem possible - throwing a single smoke grenade must therefore "eat up" an entire 80-second turn of play of an entire platoon...

3. A slightly confusing thing is the fact that the casualties are not shown in any way in the actual 3d view. E.g. I have a 5-men squad that already sustained quite heavy casualties - but it is still represented as 5 soldiers. Why sustaining casualties is not removing some of the soldiers from play?

But, like I said, I love the gameplay! I just wish this game could have graphics as realistic as Men of War or similar games...

Best,
Michal

Michal,
I'll give this a shot, but there are a number of better players than me that will hopefully respond too.

ORIGINAL: blazej

1. How do I explicitly target an enemy unit on a tower? When I drag the red targeting ribbon on to the tower, the text says "Average chance to hit" etc., but the location cannot be targeted - when I click, nothing happens.

If you're getting the avg chance to hit msg, then you should be able to target the unit. sometimes the mouse moves a little, and if you have a red square at end of target lint, that means youre actually doing area fired, not targeting a specific unitl.

2. Many times, when enemy artillery was shelling my troops running through an open field, the shell exploded right next to my guys, but did no damage whatsoever. Why is that? I would have thought that an HE shell would shower the troops with shrapnel at such close distance...

this depends a lot on the actual artillery, if it's small mortar, theres a chance you'll get by. But my experience is that getting caught in open by Artillery sgtrike can be pretty devastating to the troops. You can look at the shell being used and the data for that gun to see what kind of damage you might expect using the spec key.

3. What order should I use to get my troops to take maximum cover and stay down?

Defend order is your friend!

I may not have answered these very well, so I hope some others jump in as well.

thanks,
Rick

ORIGINAL: blazej
1. How do I explicitly target an enemy unit on a tower? When I drag the red targeting ribbon on to the tower, the text says "Average chance to hit" etc., but the location cannot be targeted - when I click, nothing happens.

Targets in towers are a hard to target as they are in the air. The best way is to change your view to be over the target looking down. Getting closer helps too.

ORIGINAL: blazej
2. Many times, when enemy artillery was shelling my troops running through an open field, the shell exploded right next to my guys, but did no damage whatsoever. Why is that? I would have thought that an HE shell would shower the troops with shrapnel at such close distance....

The artillery explosion graphics indicate artillery is going on in the area. The chance of being hit by artillery is handled with abstract probability not the placement of the explosion graphic. Also remember the ground is not as flat as it looks. There is all sorts of undulations, craters and ruts the infantry use for cover.

ORIGINAL: blazej
3. What order should I use to get my troops to take maximum cover and stay down?

You don’t order your troops to stand up or lay down. You order them where to go and when to fire. If they aren’t firing (Defend>Hold Fire) and are stationary is their best chance of not being seen and not being fired on. Put them in cover and they are very difficult to be seen and hit. When not moving they are assumed to be prone or kneeling even though the graphics just shows them kneeling. That is just to make them look different then when they are suppressed which is infantry laying down.

ORIGINAL: blazej
2. Another example: I would like to be able, in a single turn, to first throw a smoke grenade, and then start moving ahead. But it doesn't seem possible - throwing a single smoke grenade must therefore "eat up" an entire 80-second turn of play of an entire platoon...

You cannot do both in one turn. It takes time for the smoke to develop into a screen so you have to wait until next turn to move.
But should you not want to wait a phase between throwing the smoke and moving then you should order your infantry to Engage or Defend in the previous turn. In the reaction phase of the previous turn you should target and throw the smoke grenade. Then in the current turn you can move ahead.