Matrix Games Forums

Hi all,

I've got a few questions:

1) Is it possible to restore a unit strength?

2) From what I've understood, supply is calculated relatively to the unit position on the map (the distance from the nearest traceable supply point), so there's no "supply gauge". I get that right, right?

3) Sometimes it's a bit bothersome to go through all units to find which have already moved/attacked and which can still act. I get that one can use the N key to cycle through units that can act, but it would be cool to have a more immediately visible indicator for units that have already moved.
For example, in Strategic Command, units are grayed out once they've moved. I don't think there's something like that in TOAW4, but I'm still asking, who knows.

4) Is there any point *not* to put a unit to "defending" deployment rather than letting it in "Mobile" deployment? Is there any penalities when a unit goes from "defending" (or "entrenched" or "fortified") to "mobile"? If not, I'll always get my troops into "defending" from now on.

That's about it!
Thanks

§§ M – Toggles the standard unit icon display
mode between Movement and Strengths

This hotkey (M) will either display unit strengths on the counters or remaining movement points on the counters.

Here is where all of the hotkeys are listed in the manual:

6.1.2. Using the Keyboard

1) Strength recovers automatically. Supply and readiness both increase at the start of each turn (assuming you have a supply line anyway). As long as it's available in the inventory equipment is added back to replace damaged/destroyed items.

On the reports tab of the button bar, the wrench icon (2nd row, 3rd column) will show the inventory and replacements screen. On hand equipment is available to be added back to any units below full strength. Assigned is what's already out in the field.

2) On the map tab, the half filled circle (top left) lets you cycle between supply modes. One of them shows the supply level per hex. Your units will recover a portion of that each turn (it's complicated).

4) Only in that digging in burns all the units movement points for the turn, so there's a tradeoff between locking them in place when you might want to move them to exploit success elsewhere and waiting until the last minute and potentially having your turn end early leaving them mobile. But in general yes, you should always try to dig in at the end of your turn.

ORIGINAL: koopanique
Hi all,

Hey there koopanique dude. Thanks for posting and asking questions. You will learn
from the answers and will be a better opponent as a result, so we all win.

ORIGINAL: koopanique
1) Is it possible to restore a unit strength?

Yes, just dig it in instead of moving or attacking and conserve your supply. Readiness
involves the supply level of the unit.

ORIGINAL: koopanique
2) From what I've understood, supply is calculated relatively to the unit position on the map (the distance from the nearest traceable supply point), so there's no "supply gauge". I get that right, right?

That's my understanding as well.

ORIGINAL: koopanique
3) Sometimes it's a bit bothersome to go through all units to find which have already moved/attacked and which can still act. I get that one can use the N key to cycle through units that can act, but it would be cool to have a more immediately visible indicator for units that have already moved.
For example, in Strategic Command, units are grayed out once they've moved. I don't think there's something like that in TOAW4, but I'm still asking, who knows.

What I do is open the OOB and look on the right-hand side for the number of MP's still left in the
unit and move those that are higher than zero.

ORIGINAL: koopanique
4) Is there any point *not* to put a unit to "defending" deployment rather than letting it in "Mobile" deployment? Is there any penalities when a unit goes from "defending" (or "entrenched" or "fortified") to "mobile"? If not, I'll always get my troops into "defending" from now on.

Those units that are in the "moving" status have supply recovery penalties and besides if you dig
the unit in those pieces of transportation equipment can be lent to the supply net and boost the
supply process a tiny bit. It's called Asset Sharing and all the tiny contributions add up to a
higher supply level than it would have been without it.

ORIGINAL: koopanique
That's about it!
Thanks

Keey those good questions coming. And know that you're among friends and that there is usually
lots of people around to answer them.

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

Hey there koopanique dude. Thanks for posting and asking questions. You will learn
from the answers and will be a better opponent as a result, so we all win.

Thanks to all for being helpful and friendly! and for these answers.
Bringing up the OOB and pressing the M key as Lobster suggested is exactly what I needed.

I'll certainly have more questions in the near future, but I'm not planning on playing against real human players anytime soon, if ever :p

I'm not planning on playing against real human players anytime soon, if ever

What you need is a veteram player to take you under his wing and teach you unit management,
and tactical tricks and how to avoid the traps and show you some tricks, etc. You can
play against the PO and learn how to play that way but you'd learn better and faster against
a human. Besides the PO won't play "realistically" and you might learn some bad habits, some
moves you wouldn't do against a human but that you can get away with against the PO. Devoncop
and warspite are doing an AAR while learning the game and have gotten a lot of good advice
from readers. Maybe you should do an AAR and let the rest of us help you. Just a thought.

Haha, I understand, but what I meant is that I'm literally not planning to play against human players, in most video games I prefer to play against the machine. I love strategy games because they're abstract, and when they have a level editor, it's really cool for solo RP.
However I still want to learn about the mechanics of Toaw4 so I will certainly be asking more questions

Also, I love AARs but they take a lot of time to do, so I'll just lurk on existing AAR threads for now [:)]