Learning to Play WIR

[ab067]

I have found one youtube tutorial and very little else for learning to play WIR.

Currently I have WIR running on dosbox.

Does any one have any old faq, hints, notes, guides for a newbie?

[ab067]

Found the info buried deep in the past posts.....

[Rasputitsa]

This might help

Understanding how unit plotting can be varied within the 5 movement phases (e.g. 00230), delaying some units with 'stop' plots and making sure attacks combine in the same phase is a major part of getting the best out of the game. [:)]

[Rasputitsa]

and this

[ab067]

Thanks for the notes Rasputista.

It is kinda fun and bittersweet reading through all the posts from years ago.

Like travelling in a time machine and listening to old ghosts talking ....

[Rasputitsa]

The WIR WEGO system still has some value that could give newer games some competion in pure excitement, waiting to see what happens each move.

Here is a short turn checklist which might help.

[ab067]

Thanks for the checklist. [:)]

When playing a turn against the AI or human, how long does it take to do a turn?

I'm looking at the checklist and I figure at a minute per unit it can take one to two hours to complete each turn meticulously.

[Rasputitsa]

ORIGINAL: ab067

Thanks for the checklist. [:)]

When playing a turn against the AI or human, how long does it take to do a turn?

I'm looking at the checklist and I figure at a minute per unit it can take one to two hours to complete each turn meticulously.

It depends what is going on, during a full offensive there are plotting sequences to work through, but also revising the units within HQ, combing the other HQ for units you can move to other HQ in crisis, etc., actually moving units is only part of the game, there is much more in managing the whole army.

An undocumented command is ALT/R, when selected during a turn the game, will save a text file into the game folder, for the Axis first turn 22nd June the file will look like this GE220641, showing the playing side and the game date.

The file will show the complete state of your forces in a large .txt file, which you can print out, or save for reference. If you make this check periodically you can see in great detail the condition of your whole force.

How long the turn takes depends whether megalomania sets in, as you can end up like Hitler, trying to control everything, trying to dredge up the last PZ brigade to throw into the fight.[:D]

You can set some of your own HQ to AI control (select - HQ CONTROL) in response to objectives (select - OBJ) you set, which is realistic, but not very effective sometimes, but it takes over some of the work.

There is a LOT in this game and I so wish WitE had not gone off on a different track, this corps sized game, but with plenty of control, is the best way to handle something as big as the Eastern Front.[8D]

[ab067]

As a guide for other newbies considering learning/starting to play WIR.

It has taken me about 2 weeks to obtain the basic knowlege and have a rudimentary understanding so that I am situationally aware to start the 1941 Campaign with some confidence.

The youtube video "War in Russia Lets take a look" was the only one I could find that provided some guidance for gameplay.

I read the pdf manual, but found it was better to print it out so I could highlight, edit the notes as necessary.

There were 2 manuals, the original and a WGA manual with the updates. I found the original manual had some better explanations that were left out of the 3.3 version. It took me about 3 days to read and digest the two manuals.

A large printed map, with city names, rivers, etc was an absolute necessity for orientation. It is available as a download, in one of the posts.

Lots of info in the past posts, as well as attachments for downloads. I went back about 40 pages.

I watched a couple of turns with both players on AI to familiarize myself the flow and sequence of movement.

The tutorial, I tried about 4 times. First, just using the HQ and aircraft. Next, just moving armor and infantry. Then plotting the same using attacks and artillery.

Another time was just using rail movement and practicing transfer. It was useful to watch the last campaign to see the use of the USAAF.

We'll see how well I absorbed the info when that first blizzard in 1941 arrives!

Also, thanks to Rasputitsa who provide notes and guidance.

[ab067]

Barbarossa did not go well.[X(]

I started issuing orders/plots/air strikes to the corps in the north, but after about half an hour I was getting confused on what orders I had given.

So, I switched the remaining HQ's over to Operational control and gave them an objective.

When the combat was run, it was a blur even with the display/delay set to low/medium. The battles went from one end of the map to other and changing the scale from strategic to tactical. My situational awareness was gone.

I tried another turn, but I had lost control ...... I was no longer leading, but just following a runaway computer.

So I went to a smaller scenario... Typhoon and that seems to be working at my pace. It has a smaller map and fewer corps.

I found a utility that does a print screen capture in dos to a bmp file. It is called snarf15 and is a TSR program that is loaded after dosbox loads. I can now study the position of my corps and prepare their orders using the printed map. (I use winxp)

The following turn I save the game and print off another map which I can edit in mspaint drawing lines for airstrikes, artillery bombarment, infantry attack, etc.

[ab067]

Finally figured out how pause the combat cycle in dos ......press the pause/break key and to unpause, press the spacebar.[8|]

[Rasputitsa]

Have you seen the SHOW button, which shows the plotted direction of the highlighted unit. It doesn't give the detail of STOP and BOMBARD, or show which pulses of movement are being used, but it is a useful reminder of what direction you have plotted for each unit. [:)]

[Rasputitsa]

The settings at the beginning of each game might help situational awareness, by stopping the game after each combat so that you can see the results.

quote - 'When the combat was run, it was a blur even with the display/delay set to low/medium.' [&:]

With DELAY set at HIGH the game works through at a steady pace even with a high end 'Windows 10' computer and DISPLAY set at HIGH will give the maximum information as each ground and air attack happens, which may be too much. Note that LOW delay means little delay and the game plays very fast







Hitting the SPACE bar during combat resolution will bring this screen back, so that you can change the settings as many times as you want during combat resoution.

The other way of looking at this is that you are sitting in your sumptuous headquarters waiting for reports and it is only after the combat turn is complete that you see how you boys have done. [:)]

[ab067]

I did find and do use the SHOW button, but it is only for the current unit. What I was looking for something that would do the same thing but for all the unit's plotted movements.

Capturing the screen to a bmp file enables easier planning.

[ab067]

Running the settings on medium/medium and using the pause/break key to stop all combat allows me to read and follow units on the map easier during the combat execution phase.

Currently, I have found the Typhoon scenario, playing as Russian seems to be ideal for learning the game.

I set the game up as human/human for turn one.

Turn one, I do nothing for the Germans and just play the Russian turn and then reset the settings to German AI/Russian human for turn two.

The map is small enough and there are plenty of units on the Russian side to keep me busy to learn the mechanics without being overwhelmed.

Watching the German AI play gives me some guidance for use of aircraft, artillery,etc.

[ab067]

A question on aircraft set to ground attack mission.

In one part of the manual it states that aircraft on a ground attack mission in the execution phase will attack enemy units whaich are being assaulted by friendly corps/armies.

In another it states that aircraft firepower is added into the friendly units artillery fire, which occurs in the bombard/artillery fire.

Artillery fire occurs at stage one, assault fire with infantry occurs at stage 3 in the combat sequence.

When does the aircraft ground attack occur and is it at the diiscretion of the HQ.

[Rasputitsa]

ORIGINAL: ab067

A question on aircraft set to ground attack mission.

In one part of the manual it states that aircraft on a ground attack mission in the execution phase will attack enemy units whaich are being assaulted by friendly corps/armies.

In another it states that aircraft firepower is added into the friendly units artillery fire, which occurs in the bombard/artillery fire.

Artillery fire occurs at stage one, assault fire with infantry occurs at stage 3 in the combat sequence.

When does the aircraft ground attack occur and is it at the diiscretion of the HQ.

I don't know the answer, but guessing that, as units which are allocated to HQ can be used by the AI to be added to corps units which are in combat, maybe HQ units can deploy aircraft as support in the same way. When the details of combat show, I see aircraft combat occurring which I had not specifically ordered.

[ab067]

Ok, thanks.

I'll run the combat execution phase slowly and see if I can determine the sequence.

My interest is more of the rock, sissors, paper sequence to see what I actually have control of and how to use it effectively to destroy specific units.

ie use ground attack only with artillery if it occurs in phase one because in that phase damage is to inf, artillery, anti tank and axis flak. Whereas in the assault phase (phase 3) only damages inf and defender anti tank occur.

From the manual it appears tanks are not damaged by aircraft during the combat phases. Anti tank units only the ones that damage tanks.

[Rasputitsa]

ORIGINAL: ab067

Ok, thanks.

I'll run the combat execution phase slowly and see if I can determine the sequence.

My interest is more of the rock, sissors, stone sequence to see what I actually have control of and how to use it effectively to destroy specific units.

ie use ground attack only with artillery if it occurs in phase one because in that phase damage is to inf, artillery, anti tank and axis flak. Whereas in the assault phase (phase 3) only damages inf and defender anti tank occur.

From the manual it appears tanks are not damaged by aircraft during the combat phases. Anti tank units only the ones that damage tanks.

An important part of the game is building corps for the strategy you have planned. Co-ordinated attacks by more than one well balanced corps are very likely to succeed against the strongest defence. However, these corps will lose readiness and become useless and vulnerable without sufficient supply, which will become more critical as the game goes on. Powerful Soviet Tank units can become immobile for several turns, when they run out of supply and you can almost feel the power of Axis forces melting away, as supply lines stretch and winter approaches. [:)]

[ab067]

From my observations of the combat sequence:

1 Bombard/artillery
2 Anti-Tank Fire
3 Assault Fire

The sequence always runs the same, however if the unit is not applicable to the sequence any result is ignored.

Units appear to be rock, scissors and paper types.

So ...who can kill who...?

Aircraft kill only infantry, artillery, Anti-tank, Flak. They only do this during stage one of ground attack if the friendly corps is assaulting. If the friendly corps is only doing an artillery bombardment no aircraft are involved.

Flak kills aircraft during stage one.

Artillery kill only Inf, Art, A-T, Flak during stage one.

Anti-tanks only kill tanks and attacking recon vehicles during stage two.

Tanks only kill Infantry and defending Anti-tanks during stage 3.

Since this is only based on what I have read and watched does this info hold true?