Matrix Games Forums

HI all,

I have been fence-sitting on this for a long time and I played the demo again last night.

About 2/3 of the way through I was again thinking that I am mostly just watching the computer do its thing. Then the counter attack out of St. Vith and the attention needed to develop a 2 prong attack really grabbed my attention.

Overall, as a long time TOAWIII player, I really like this game and I am really thinking about getting it. There is something about it that keeps bringing me back to the demo.

But I always find one thing in particular difficult and that is finding, managing and being aware when reinforcements become available.

In the demo, they all show up in a cluster in the lower left and I have a dickens of a time clicking around trying to find the HQ so I can begin to sort them out. Also, I loose time because I get engrossed in managing the battle in the NW and The reinforcements arrive and sit for a while until I remember to go check for them.

Now. some of this is just developing discipline with this game, but I need to ask:

Is there some way of quickly finding and selecting HQ from a mass of overlapping markers?
Is there a way to have the game auto-pause when reinforcements appear?
Is there a reinforcement schedule that I can open and review while the game is running so I can remind myself of the timetables?

Thanks,

Yes, No (but also yes-ish ), Yes

You can set the display of elements to HQ only by using the "2" numeral. - "-" (no Orders) and "\" (New msgs") might also be helpful. Remember to set it back to all units "1" when not filtering though. You can also see various other types. Worth having a play with this to find your more commonly needed ones (depends on task-at-hand). Alternatively you can select any unit and step up/down/across the OOB using the cursor keys. As the 'links' are all HQs this simplifies finding them somewhat - note that you should set display organisation to OOB to do this effectively. The third method it to use the OB pane on the information panel, clicking on the HQ branches will highlight the unit on the map. Finally you can traverse all un-ordered units using "Shift-Tab".

While you cannot automatically pause on entry, you can set a run-until that drops you into pause at 'around the time' that the reinforcements arrive... however as some will arrive at some point between now and next week, this is not always helpful
The best thing to do is to read/scan every msg that gets posted to the msg pane or the play area. And to keep an eye on the elements near the entry areas (worth nudging all bases etc a little away from here, just to clear the 'landing point' to make it faster to see new units - think about spotting the new arrivals on the jump map too...

The un-allocated Reinforcements show up in the Reinforcement Tab. Click off a unit on the map to deselect everything, and then choose the Reinf Tab from the display pane. Shows the unit "HQ" the number of units UC and their effectiveness values. If you click on one, it will also show the active arrival location. Note all the times are a range - which can be 1 minute, or up to 2 weeks.

Periodically pause/slow the action and check supply statuses (both F7 displays and also by checking shortages/depots using the Pane and Estab/Depot for each unit of concern... the units chronically short may need rotating into reserve to re-build their stocks, while the current reserve may be flush with ammunition and fuel, and far more effective). This will also give you a chance to catch other 'unintentionally idle' elements.

Hi Lieste,

Thanks for the very helpful tips.  I tried some of them and I think will work just grand.

Hello all.

I'm just playing the demo for the first time and was wondering if anyone has an AAR or strategy suggestions to help me explore the capabilities a little more using the demo scenario. I've been through the movies (well, parts of them to be fair) and of course the level of detail is both amazing and hard to scratch your way through, and as they use so many different situations that I'm finding the concepts a little abstract to apply to the scenario.

Many thanks.