Matrix Games Forums

Hi,

i have done the tutorial and i read the manual, but still i have some questions:

[X] means that this question has already been answered.

• What are the key factors to consider if you go into combat ?
  Lets say i have 1 Inf.Reg and will attack a enemy Inf.Reg, what are the key factors ?
  And what if i expect a enemy Inf.Reg to attack my Inf.Reg, what should i consider for defensive ? [X]
  
• How does recon work ?
  The manual says "Unit recon points" but i cant see them. I think a elite Inf.Reg should have more recon points then a reserve reg.
• [X]
  
• In the normal zoom level you see a kind of bar on the left side of the unit counters.
  This bar is green, orange or red. What does it mean ?[X]
  
• How do you use the retreat percentage and the supply request percentage ?
  I dont understand what the supply request percentage does actually...
• How can i see the hit points of my units ?
  Or in general, how can i see what units have suffered heavy casualitys ?
  How to see if my Tank.Reg has enough tanks left for another attack ?
  What are the key factors to see if a unit is ok or close to get destroyed ?
• For testing i always run the "Battle of the Bzura" scenario.
  For some reason my engineers cant blow up any bridges (they have 100 EP and all hexes are my own).
  So is there a reason why they cant ?
• What does the option "AI Help" in the scenario setup screen do ?

I'm a beginner myself, but I'll attempt to answer what I can. There might be more experienced folks here who can fill in the rest, or indeed, correct my generalisations.

ORIGINAL: Wiggum
What are the key factors to consider if you go into combat ?
Lets say i have 1 Inf.Reg and will attack a enemy Inf.Reg, what are the key factors ?
And what if i expect a enemy Inf.Reg to attack my Inf.Reg, what should i consider for defensive ?

As far as I can tell, there are many factors involved in the combat resolution, however the general rules are:

Bring more numbers into the attack than your enemy has (I think the rule of thumb is to match or slightly overmatch the stack limit - but don't overdo the stack limit, for the troops in excess you bring to the combat, may take more damage, simply down to the concentration of troops in the same space).

Higher Morale values mean higher readiness to combat which means better chances at success.

Higher entrenchment means better defense against attacks, so for defensive stands, leave the troops where they are to get their entrenchment values up.

ORIGINAL: Wiggum[*]In the normal zoom level you see a kind of bar on the left side of the unit counters. This bar is green, orange or red. What does it mean ?

I think that bar indicates unit strength.

ORIGINAL: Wiggum
[*]How can i see the hit points of my units ?
Or in general, how can i see what units have suffered heavy casualitys ?
How to see if my Tank.Reg has enough tanks left for another attack ?
What are the key factors to see if a unit is ok or close to get destroyed ?

I think the bar you mention above can be used as a guide to unit strength.
If the unit has enough Action/Movement Points, they can make another attack regardless of strength.

ORIGINAL: Wiggum
[*]What does the option "AI Help" in the scenario setup screen do ?

I think this means how much processing the AI is allowed, so effectively the harder the AI.

From your image:

The Large Number (17) is an overall comparative measure of the units effectiveness. So you can instantly compare against the enemy units.

The Green dot is a supply indicator. If its Green the unit is in supply. Yellow is poorly supplied, and red is Out of supply.

As I said, I'm a novice also, so I may have made some assumptions here that are incorrect - I'm keen for some folks more knowledgeable to confirm or correct me. But we'll learn the ins and outs of the game together.

Thanks for your answers !

I already have two new questions:

• How does intercepting (Air Units) work ? How can i intercept enemy bombers for example ?

• Can someone explain the supply system to me ? If i understand there is always a center from where the supply is delivered (Warsaw for exaple) to the highest HQ and from this unit the supply goes to all lower HQ's and then to the individual units (Inf.Reg for exapmle).

I also added a [X] to all questions that are already answered !

ORIGINAL: Wiggum
[*]Can someone explain the supply system to me ? If i understand there is always a center from where the supply is delivered (Warsaw for exaple) to the highest HQ and from this unit the supply goes to all lower HQ's and then to the individual units (Inf.Reg for exapmle).

I think I'm right in saying that supply in this game follows a similar model to supply in the previous game Advanced Tactics: World War II, so I'll link to a very good article explaining supply in that game.

tm.asp?m=1723339

Thanks !

Another question:
In the scenario "Battle of the Bzura" i dont have any RAILCAP Points aviable at the start, but why ?
The scenario description say nothing about RAILCAP...
How can i see how much RAILCAP Points are aviable ?

You don't get any rail points in the Buzra scenario. Rail points (or RAILCAP) are used to strategic transfer a unit over rail hexes.

Thanks !

But why is there no hint about that in the scenario description ?
And is there any way to see how much RAILCAP Points are aviable for a specific HQ ?

Another question:
The manual says that if i move into a enemy occupied hex (i dont saw the enemy because the Fog of war) i will get ambushed.
But now i ordered my Inf.Reg into such a hex but it stopped one hex before and i now saw the enemy.
So why wasent i ambushed ?

(There is a bridge over a river, the enemy unit was behind the river in a town).

...incoming question...
If i understand this correctly then airplanes need airfields.
Now, how can i see if a hex has a airfield ?
In the scenario i play currently "Battle of the Bzura" i cant see how to move my recon airplanes to another airfield, but i would need this because their range is to short.

Only the top most HQ has railcap. Click that unit and one of the stats will show RailCap.

Ambush - If the hidden unit could damage your unit, your unit will just stop instead. If the hidden unit is very strong it can do a lot of damage in an ambush.

Any city is an airfield.

ORIGINAL: Barthheart

Only the top most HQ has railcap. Click that unit and one of the stats will show RailCap.

Ambush - If the hidden unit could damage your unit, your unit will just stop instead. If the hidden unit is very strong it can do a lot of damage in an ambush.

Any city is an airfield.

Thanks !

But i cant see RAILCAP in the stats of the top most HQ in the Bzura scenario.
And i dont really understand that Ambush thing.
Can you explain again plase ?

Ambush - Sorry my bad typing may have made that hard to understand. [:D]
If the hidden enemy unit is very strong, when you bump into it it will ambush you and you'll see a combat screen. Expect lots of damage.
If the hidden unit is not very strong, then your unit will just stop next to it.

RailCap - I made a mistake, I was thinking of Advanced Tactics.

OK in the Bzura scenario neither side has any railcap so you can not use stategic movement.

In other scenarios when you select the Strategic Movement button it will show at the bottom of the screen how many RailCap points the top most unit has left to use.

Hope that helps more.

Yeah, that helps, thanks !

I think the "big number" (the number 17 on the unit in your figure) you were asking about is AP's or action points for movement &/ or combat. This game engine is an evolution from People's Tactics & Advanced Tactics. Might be better explained somewhere but I can't find it. Hope this helps.

ORIGINAL: Dale H

I think the "big number" (the number 17 on the unit in your figure) you were asking about is AP's or action points for movement &/ or combat. This game engine is an evolution from People's Tactics & Advanced Tactics. Might be better explained somewhere but I can't find it. Hope this helps.

Has this been confirmed by the developer? Is the large number (17 in the example) action points or combat effectiveness? Or something else?

Basic things like this are not in the manual.

The big 17 in the pic above is the effective combat strength of that unit. That number gets modified by terrain, stacking, HQ power etc in combat.

Thanks for this info & correcting my mistake.

ORIGINAL: Barthheart

The big 17 in the pic above is the effective combat strength of that unit. That number gets modified by terrain, stacking, HQ power etc in combat.

thanks

There is a hole in the manual regarding the map counters and what everything means that needs to be plugged in, especially since the mid zoom and close-in zoom show different things. I hope in the next big patch they add this info and other pertinent things some of which is listed in RocketMan's list sticky'ed at the top.

Some other games show an overall attack and defense strength separately. I like that approach since some units are better on defense than attack and visa versa.

ORIGINAL: hank

thanks

There is a hole in the manual regarding the map counters and what everything means that needs to be plugged in, especially since the mid zoom and close-in zoom show different things. I hope in the next big patch they add this info and other pertinent things some of which is listed in RocketMan's list sticky'ed at the top.

Some other games show an overall attack and defense strength separately. I like that approach since some units are better on defense than attack and visa versa.

I pointed out in the Feature Suggestion List that these values are different at different zoom levels and they are also different than the numbers on the unit info panel at the bottom of the screen. This number should always be the same regardless of where it is displayed or at what zoom level you are at.