Locating Locations / Formations Quickly and Easily

[Hellen_slith]

I just started a FitE2 game as Soviets, and my opponent mentioned, "wow, that was fast" so, I offer to you here my "Quick Play" strategy: (assume that you have set map to "large" if not "small" and "hide" city names / airfields etc.

1) disembark all units using "." key repeatedly ...
2) access "formations" ... cycle through formations, finding "disorganized" units
3) use "D" key to "dig in" disorganized units ... for FitE2, this exercise will take ~30 minutes
4) use "L" key to assign all "disorganized" units to "NO LOSSES" (use "L" key plus "D" key")
IOW, left hand place INDEX finger on L key to assign loss tolerance, PINKY finger on D key to DIG..."bird" finger will then be ready to hit "U" key for unit information ....

5) examine air units / air briefing. Use "air units" briefing to examine air, move air units to emplacements. Move "suffering" air units to airfields located next to rail (so as to improve their replacements / supply)

6) use "formation" button to examine all formations. Cycle through them using "Next Formation" button. Dig In where need be, plan excursions / battles w/ forward formations, use "NExT Formation" button and cycle through entire OOB. Take notes.

7) Take notes as to where you might plan counter offensives, or where you might want to further defend.

8) ONLY then, start moving your units. This is esp. important in FitE2, b/c many formations (for Soviets) are "internal support" only ... move / rail your Soviet units to take advantage of "internal support" formations ... keep them together ... also, bear in mind your "Free Support" units, and plan for them to push at major points.

These are my few strategies that I can think of at the moment. I hope that you will add yours, too.
PS: almost forgot, "B" key ... use that to navigate map, e.g. press "B" and type "odessa" ... VOILA!!! no more "scrolling" the map, but if you prefer to "scroll" the map, HIDE city names, it goes much faster w/ city names hidden.

Happy gaming!!

[Shadrach]

Some good tips, thanks for that [:)]
I don't play those monster scenarios but I've remapped the keys to be more efficient using AutoHotkey.

Since WASD is basically the standard to move the map in games these days, I have mapped most keys to the left side of the keyboard. For instance the L key is not ideally placed so it's mapped to Shift+T and stack tolerance to Ctrl+T (I rarely use it).

Dig In is on Shift+D, unit report on Q and formations on F (default). V for toggle View Units and Space for Plan attack.
Next/Prev unit is on Tab/Shift+Tab. And so on. It's just way more convenient for me.

One drawback is that using B to find places I need to disable the script using Pause, otherwise the remapped keys interfere but I rarely use the find function [;)]

[Hellen_slith]

Mapping <shift>D to dig in is a good idea.

For me, a few times I have found that when I am tired or too many suds, my finger on the "D" key gets a little heavy ....
and I inadvertently "dug in" some units, just from accidentally "pressing" the D key when too sleepy.

Also, General Kitty (we got a new kitty the other day) hopped onto the keyboard during my FitE move the other day ....
and the screen started going crazy from the "keys" he pressed before I could shoo him off.

Not sure how much damage (or good) he did for me in that brief moment,
but it was a scary. Our house rule in that game is no undos, no reloads, so ...

Watch out for General Kitty!

[Hellen_slith]

Another FitE strategy I use (can be used with other PBEM games)

While I await my opponent's next move, I sometimes have a chance to look at the END_OF_TURN*.SAL file that is created at the end of my move. Opening this file allows me to review combats and field of battle as it stood at the end of my move (it does not reveal anything beyond Fog of War ... so is fair play, I think.)

With FitE, I use the SAL file to look at map, and plan next move (a great time saver in FitE)

I set up a "notepad" notes file to jot down ideas and planning (example shown....some notes redacted to avoid revealing too much info JIC the Colonel picks up on this message

In our FitE2 game, we are now on turn 9? turn 10? not sure, but I FINALLY got rid of at least one Brandenberg SF unit that are so pesky for Soviets. But, he has Smolensk under siege already, so it is tough game for Soviets. Example notes shown below:

[StuccoFresco]

Good tips.

[Hellen_slith]

Thanks, here is another:

One of the things about TOAWIV I wish were handled better,
is the "battle reports" interface ....
if you click on a battle to review, it takes you to the map location,
but when you exit the report, you go back to where your map was before you clicked.

So, here is my technique for going through the battle report.

1) show battle reports, and have a scratch pad ready to note locations
2) jot down the hex number of the battle you wish to view;
3) exit battle report, THEN press "B" key
4) type in location you will view, press enter (takes map there), then click on a unit
near that location, to "set" your map there
5) return to battle report view, THEN click for the battle report of that location.

Your map will then "stay" there to do other stuff in that location
(e.g. dig in, continue battle, move forward etc.)
Rinse and repeat, for entire battle report.

For 50 battles, takes me about an hour to go through the whole report,
but then I am confident that I haven't "missed" anything for the next round.

There may be better way to do this, if so, please advise! Would be nice if clicking on that battle report would "stick" the map there, instead of taking you back to where you were.