Don't Understand This
Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2026 12:44 pm
Virtually every unit I have on Mallorca has a message stating no HQ to give guidance. However, it looks like they should so I'm not understanding something.
I covered that in my AAR. It is on page 4 . . .actrade wrote: Sat Mar 14, 2026 12:44 pm Virtually every unit I have on Mallorca has a message stating no HQ to give guidance. However, it looks like they should so I'm not understanding something.
Sad but true.actrade wrote: Sun Mar 15, 2026 6:11 pm I've played a TON of wargames, prefering the more hardcore and for some reason, this one has given me the most trouble. I'm frustrated beyond belief and hoping Matrix and/or devs remedy this situation at some point.
What that "no HQ available to give guidance" means is that there is no immediate HQ to receive orders from so it gets it directly from the higher headquarters. That is all. So until the column/regiment/brigade/division HQs are active and within range of the battalion or smaller units, then they would get the orders directly from the higher HQ. Then when the units consolidate, the battalions or smaller units will get orders from their immediate HQ which still might get their orders directly from the higher HQ until the divisional HQ come in. It is not a serious problem unless there aren't enough HQs in their area to give all of the units there guidance.actrade wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2026 12:14 am I don't think anyone is calling you out Joe. I think some of us who have bought a lot of Matrix/Slitherine games are just disappointed at the quality of official/initial support in the form of a proper manual/tutorial. It kind of reminds me of someone labeling and telling me all the parts on a nuclear reactor, but not actually teaching me how to run it. The manual is extremely thorough in terms of pointing out what differnt parts of the UI are and what each unit is, it just doesn't do a very good job of helping us understand how to use them. In addition, I resent the fact that I'm expected to read a community member's AAR and/or video tutorial to learn how to play a game. Now, if Matrix authorizes and compensates said community member as an official tutorial, that's different but that isn't the case here. What's most irritating is the fact that I'm sure there would have been several community members willing to proof the manual and/or put up short, concise tutorial units (much like WITE2) as addendums to the official manual. To be quite honest, I'm about at the end of my rope as to how much more time I'm going to put in looking for answers outside of an official manual/tutorial. Such a shame as I think there is really something here, but it may die an early death without better support.
For the life of me, I simply don't understand a lot of the decisions around this game. There was virtually no hype pre-release on Matrix's own website. Upon release, it wasn't even on the main Matrix store page for at least a day or more as you had to click inside the website to even find it. Finally, upon launch of a new, intricate wargame, the dev usually has either a step by step guide tutorial in the manual or an addendum on how to get started. At the very least, there is a video series on YT with the same. Joachem's "offcial" tutorial is basically just more of the same with the manual as he doesn't go in depth as to WHY to do a lot of things, simply "move units near Valencia to Valencia to attack Iziba" or "move units near Barcelona to Barca to attack Palma." He doesn't even start his attack on Palma before the video ends and interestingly, at the 40 minute mark of his tutorial video on the islands, he has a bunch of units on his operations report that show no HQ available to give guidance, which is what I started this thread on. That's pretty darn general instructions and no offense to Jochem as I'm sure he's getting little or nothing from Matrix even with his videos linked on the game menu. What's so odd is one only need look at WITE2 to see how to properly do it with their 9 one-page guides. I know, different dev, but same publisher and I would think anyone who is playing WiS or working on it has probably played WITE/WITE2.
For now, I'm basically stuck as I still don't know how to fix the "no HQ available to give guidance" issue even after looking at Joe's AAR. I did PM alessandro hoping for a better explanation as a quote from him is referenced on Joe's page 4 of his AAR so if I learn something, I will share it with the community hopefully in easy to understand terms. In summary, I don't know if Matrix dropped the ball or if it was the devs, I just know I'm disappointed.
RangerJoe wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2026 1:57 amWhat that "no HQ available to give guidance" means is that there is no immediate HQ to receive orders from so it gets it directly from the higher headquarters. That is all. So until the column/regiment/brigade/division HQs are active and within range of the battalion or smaller units, then they would get the orders directly from the higher HQ. Then when the units consolidate, the battalions or smaller units will get orders from their immediate HQ which still might get their orders directly from the higher HQ until the divisional HQ come in. It is not a serious problem unless there aren't enough HQs in their area to give all of the units there guidance.actrade wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2026 12:14 am I don't think anyone is calling you out Joe. I think some of us who have bought a lot of Matrix/Slitherine games are just disappointed at the quality of official/initial support in the form of a proper manual/tutorial. It kind of reminds me of someone labeling and telling me all the parts on a nuclear reactor, but not actually teaching me how to run it. The manual is extremely thorough in terms of pointing out what differnt parts of the UI are and what each unit is, it just doesn't do a very good job of helping us understand how to use them. In addition, I resent the fact that I'm expected to read a community member's AAR and/or video tutorial to learn how to play a game. Now, if Matrix authorizes and compensates said community member as an official tutorial, that's different but that isn't the case here. What's most irritating is the fact that I'm sure there would have been several community members willing to proof the manual and/or put up short, concise tutorial units (much like WITE2) as addendums to the official manual. To be quite honest, I'm about at the end of my rope as to how much more time I'm going to put in looking for answers outside of an official manual/tutorial. Such a shame as I think there is really something here, but it may die an early death without better support.
For the life of me, I simply don't understand a lot of the decisions around this game. There was virtually no hype pre-release on Matrix's own website. Upon release, it wasn't even on the main Matrix store page for at least a day or more as you had to click inside the website to even find it. Finally, upon launch of a new, intricate wargame, the dev usually has either a step by step guide tutorial in the manual or an addendum on how to get started. At the very least, there is a video series on YT with the same. Joachem's "offcial" tutorial is basically just more of the same with the manual as he doesn't go in depth as to WHY to do a lot of things, simply "move units near Valencia to Valencia to attack Iziba" or "move units near Barcelona to Barca to attack Palma." He doesn't even start his attack on Palma before the video ends and interestingly, at the 40 minute mark of his tutorial video on the islands, he has a bunch of units on his operations report that show no HQ available to give guidance, which is what I started this thread on. That's pretty darn general instructions and no offense to Jochem as I'm sure he's getting little or nothing from Matrix even with his videos linked on the game menu. What's so odd is one only need look at WITE2 to see how to properly do it with their 9 one-page guides. I know, different dev, but same publisher and I would think anyone who is playing WiS or working on it has probably played WITE/WITE2.
For now, I'm basically stuck as I still don't know how to fix the "no HQ available to give guidance" issue even after looking at Joe's AAR. I did PM alessandro hoping for a better explanation as a quote from him is referenced on Joe's page 4 of his AAR so if I learn something, I will share it with the community hopefully in easy to understand terms. In summary, I don't know if Matrix dropped the ball or if it was the devs, I just know I'm disappointed.
Please take all of this as constructive criticism as there are FAR too few games like this out there and the thought of adding new games using the same game engine is mouth watering. I will admit the SCW isn't really my cup of tea, but I've learned a lot about it through the game and am starting to enjoy it. Plus, most of us are comparing this game to other, fully polished games and that might not be fair. With that said, that doesn't diminish the fact that a more elaborate set of one page guides, PDF and/or video tutorials of at LEAST the tutorial scenario are much needed and I would argue that one on logistics (which is what your post is talking about and/or providing) would be very helpful as well. Most if not all of the players attracted to a game like this are willing to RTFM, but the manual has to provide clear, concise examples of game play in addition to just the nuts and bolts of telling us what a unit is, which unfortunately is where I think the current manual currently is at.Piteas wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2026 8:29 am It's true that many aspects aren't developed with the necessary depth.
I've been compiling notes from Joe's AARs to translate them into spanish. I already have a guide on logistics and another on unit management.
I'll be uploading them now (retranslated into English). For example, this is a short guide on logistics units, which I hope you find useful. They will likely be added in a future patch:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11FcYLm ... sp=sharing
The units in the tutorial scenario are in the main campaign with no changes. In the campaign scenario, most if not all of the units will have higher divisional and/or corp level HQs. So those two theatre HQs will suffice in the tutorial and will give the necessary guidance and assistance that your units need.actrade wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2026 2:46 pmRangerJoe wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2026 1:57 amWhat that "no HQ available to give guidance" means is that there is no immediate HQ to receive orders from so it gets it directly from the higher headquarters. That is all. So until the column/regiment/brigade/division HQs are active and within range of the battalion or smaller units, then they would get the orders directly from the higher HQ. Then when the units consolidate, the battalions or smaller units will get orders from their immediate HQ which still might get their orders directly from the higher HQ until the divisional HQ come in. It is not a serious problem unless there aren't enough HQs in their area to give all of the units there guidance.actrade wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2026 12:14 am I don't think anyone is calling you out Joe. I think some of us who have bought a lot of Matrix/Slitherine games are just disappointed at the quality of official/initial support in the form of a proper manual/tutorial. It kind of reminds me of someone labeling and telling me all the parts on a nuclear reactor, but not actually teaching me how to run it. The manual is extremely thorough in terms of pointing out what differnt parts of the UI are and what each unit is, it just doesn't do a very good job of helping us understand how to use them. In addition, I resent the fact that I'm expected to read a community member's AAR and/or video tutorial to learn how to play a game. Now, if Matrix authorizes and compensates said community member as an official tutorial, that's different but that isn't the case here. What's most irritating is the fact that I'm sure there would have been several community members willing to proof the manual and/or put up short, concise tutorial units (much like WITE2) as addendums to the official manual. To be quite honest, I'm about at the end of my rope as to how much more time I'm going to put in looking for answers outside of an official manual/tutorial. Such a shame as I think there is really something here, but it may die an early death without better support.
For the life of me, I simply don't understand a lot of the decisions around this game. There was virtually no hype pre-release on Matrix's own website. Upon release, it wasn't even on the main Matrix store page for at least a day or more as you had to click inside the website to even find it. Finally, upon launch of a new, intricate wargame, the dev usually has either a step by step guide tutorial in the manual or an addendum on how to get started. At the very least, there is a video series on YT with the same. Joachem's "offcial" tutorial is basically just more of the same with the manual as he doesn't go in depth as to WHY to do a lot of things, simply "move units near Valencia to Valencia to attack Iziba" or "move units near Barcelona to Barca to attack Palma." He doesn't even start his attack on Palma before the video ends and interestingly, at the 40 minute mark of his tutorial video on the islands, he has a bunch of units on his operations report that show no HQ available to give guidance, which is what I started this thread on. That's pretty darn general instructions and no offense to Jochem as I'm sure he's getting little or nothing from Matrix even with his videos linked on the game menu. What's so odd is one only need look at WITE2 to see how to properly do it with their 9 one-page guides. I know, different dev, but same publisher and I would think anyone who is playing WiS or working on it has probably played WITE/WITE2.
For now, I'm basically stuck as I still don't know how to fix the "no HQ available to give guidance" issue even after looking at Joe's AAR. I did PM alessandro hoping for a better explanation as a quote from him is referenced on Joe's page 4 of his AAR so if I learn something, I will share it with the community hopefully in easy to understand terms. In summary, I don't know if Matrix dropped the ball or if it was the devs, I just know I'm disappointed.
That makes perfect sense to me Joe, but what I'm having difficulty with MAY be tied to the tutorial. If I'm looking at this correctly, I don't have anything higher than a RGT HQ currently (other than the two theatre HQs) and there are no HHQ inbound (see original part of thread for an example of a current unit, plus this example of inbound units). This suggests to me that all of my HHQs are already on map and I've checked each unit on the operations report generating a "no immediate HQ" message and all have their immediate HQ (column/div/rgt) in the same hex as the subordinate units. Does this mean that there is a brigade/division HQ that simply doesn't factor into the tutorial scenario that is generating this error as it hasn't or won't arrive by the time the scenario ends? I hate to sound obtuse, but I'm certainly feeling that way.
Ok I think I got it. What you are saying is that the tutorial is missing some higher level HQs at the divisional/brigade level that report to the theatre HQs but command the RGT and below units, right? If that's the case, how would you know that the RGT, columns and INF units have higher HQs between the theatre commands? Obviously, in most cases RGTs wouldn't operate independantly in real life, but how in the tutorial am I supposed to know that another layer of commands will arrive? Is this simply a short-coming of the tutorial or am I missing something that shows me that these RGT/columns/INF have another layer of command?RangerJoe wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2026 3:55 pmThe units in the tutorial scenario are in the main campaign with no changes. In the campaign scenario, most if not all of the units will have higher divisional and/or corp level HQs. So those two theatre HQs will suffice in the tutorial and will give the necessary guidance and assistance that your units need.actrade wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2026 2:46 pmRangerJoe wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2026 1:57 am
What that "no HQ available to give guidance" means is that there is no immediate HQ to receive orders from so it gets it directly from the higher headquarters. That is all. So until the column/regiment/brigade/division HQs are active and within range of the battalion or smaller units, then they would get the orders directly from the higher HQ. Then when the units consolidate, the battalions or smaller units will get orders from their immediate HQ which still might get their orders directly from the higher HQ until the divisional HQ come in. It is not a serious problem unless there aren't enough HQs in their area to give all of the units there guidance.
That makes perfect sense to me Joe, but what I'm having difficulty with MAY be tied to the tutorial. If I'm looking at this correctly, I don't have anything higher than a RGT HQ currently (other than the two theatre HQs) and there are no HHQ inbound (see original part of thread for an example of a current unit, plus this example of inbound units). This suggests to me that all of my HHQs are already on map and I've checked each unit on the operations report generating a "no immediate HQ" message and all have their immediate HQ (column/div/rgt) in the same hex as the subordinate units. Does this mean that there is a brigade/division HQ that simply doesn't factor into the tutorial scenario that is generating this error as it hasn't or won't arrive by the time the scenario ends? I hate to sound obtuse, but I'm certainly feeling that way.
What is driving this message which is not necessarily an error is simply that the higher level HQ in the TO&E/organization is not available so the higher level HQs are taking care of things. Once those HQs come in, the divisional level HQs have a range of 24 hexes but only assist their own units only, these messages should decrease. There are independent units that are lower level than the divisions and those would be directed by the higher level HQs anyway.
I have reworked this document from a native English speaker and professional writer vantage as I write for a living. This is a very rough draft. Please feel free to use it or discard it. I ask for some imput in parts of the document from you as well. I would be happy to assist in the future if you want me to proof anything. I save it as a PDF since I couldn't post it as either an .odt or .doc file. If you want the file in test form, I can set up a google drive or better still just email it to you. Cheers.Piteas wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2026 8:29 am It's true that many aspects aren't developed with the necessary depth.
I've been compiling notes from Joe's AARs to translate them into spanish. I already have a guide on logistics and another on unit management.
I'll be uploading them now (retranslated into English). For example, this is a short guide on logistics units, which I hope you find useful. They will likely be added in a future patch:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11FcYLm ... sp=sharing
He took the information from my AAR. If you want explanations of what I did and why, just ask me . . .actrade wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2026 5:57 pmI have reworked this document from a native English speaker and professional writer vantage as I write for a living. This is a very rough draft. Please feel free to use it or discard it. I ask for some imput in parts of the document from you as well. I would be happy to assist in the future if you want me to proof anything. I save it as a PDF since I couldn't post it as either an .odt or .doc file. If you want the file in test form, I can set up a google drive or better still just email it to you. Cheers.Piteas wrote: Mon Mar 16, 2026 8:29 am It's true that many aspects aren't developed with the necessary depth.
I've been compiling notes from Joe's AARs to translate them into spanish. I already have a guide on logistics and another on unit management.
I'll be uploading them now (retranslated into English). For example, this is a short guide on logistics units, which I hope you find useful. They will likely be added in a future patch:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11FcYLm ... sp=sharing