Beginning a Campaign
Choosing your Core Units
Saving Money
Experience Effects
Paying for Research
Scenario Victory Conditions
Tactics Screen Tips
Optional Rules
Beginning a Campaign
There are 2 kinds of Campaign game, Historical and Alternate
History. There is an advantage in playing through the Historical
Campaign first. If you succeed in invading Britain
in 1940, Capture the Suez Canal in 1941, or knock the Soviets
out of the war in 1941-43 in the historical campaign you carry
your veteran units forward into the Red Sun / Black Cross
Alternate History campaign.
Assuming you start the Historical campaign you next have to
choose the difficulty level. Serious wargamers will have to
disregard the Easy setting which:
A) Gives you more money
B) Allows you to Level Up/Convert units on the Tactical Screen
C) Doesn't require money to save the game
D) Doesn't require money to toggle optional game rules on/off
I have only played at the Normal setting, where optional game
rules can be toggled, but at a price. In the section discussing the
Tactical Screen, I will cover the effects of these optional rules
and how you can use them to your advantage. This section will
also be of benefit if you choose to play at the Hard setting,
where money is reduced and the optional rules are always turned ON.
Choosing your Core Units
When starting a new Campaign and at the beginning of each new scenario
in the campaign, you have the opportunity to upgrade your existing units
that have experience or build new units. New units start with no
experience. It is important to Train new units if possible before committing them
to Battle. A unit gains 50 Experience each time it trains up to a
maximum of 100. Units that are training cannot participate in the
current scenario. Some unit types have a hard time gaining experience
by fighting, such as Artillery, Anti-Aircraft, and Air Defense towed guns.
Also, the number of slots available to deploy units in a scenario
is limited. If a unit never sees action because you have too many
other units deployed, it would have been better to have held it back
in Training anyway.
There are cases where the best equipment cannot be purchased directly,
instead the low level unit that you form has to gain experience before
it can Level up to better equipment. A good example of this is the
Kfz 8 AA jeep. This is too weak to survive on the battlefield. Its
much better to purchase several of these at the outset, let them train
for a couple of scenarios, then upgrade to the sdkfz single or quad AA
halftracks prior to deployment.
Naval Units
There are a limited number of scenarios in the Historical game that
allow you to use Naval Units. Also the cost of Naval units is
extremely high. It only makes sense to build up Naval units if
you plan to play the Norway scenario and then invade Britain. If you
plan to do this, keep training then upgrading your ships. The Hipper
class cruisers and Bismarck class Battleships are worth the cost.
Also pick up some Torpedo Floatplanes if you are intent on seeking
a Naval engagement.
Ground Units
Recon and Light Tanks
Early on, a case can be made for fielding recon units and light tanks.
The light armor and weak armament is sufficient against threats
encountered early in the campaign. These units possess high speed and
can finish off crippled units. However as time goes on they become
obsolete and easily destroyed. It may be worthwhile to develop and retain
some Pz 38t light tanks with high experience for conversion to Self-Propelled
Artillery and Self-propelled Antitank guns later in the campaign.
I haven't played any Eastern Front scenarios yet. But if previous games
are any indication, then the roads running through Russia are terrible.
Many bridges can only support 10 weight unless improved with a Bulldozer.
This would justify keeping some Pz 38t units for forming bridgeheads until
you can improve the bridge enough for your heavier tanks to cross. Either
that or convert some of the Pz III and Pz IV series tanks in late 1940
to amphibious models to serve the same purpose.
Tanks
Only medium tanks are available at the beginning of the game. The two basic
models are continually upgraded during the Historical campaign period. (1939-1941)
The Pz III series is far superior to the Pz IV series.
First the Pz III has better armor ratings than the Pz IV. This means this
tank is both harder to damage and has more hit points than the Pz IV.
Secondly, the Pz III gun is far more accurate than the Pz IV due to
barrel length.
Under most circumstances, the Pz IV chance to hit with its
main gun is so low that it isn't even worth trying. If the Pz IV catches a
unit out in the open, it can use it's main gun for an effective Terrain attack.
However the Enemy often takes position in terrain like forest, rough and
so forth which reduces or eliminates the effectiveness of the Pz IV's
Main gun. The only thing the Pz IV has going for it is a larger gas tank
than the Pz III.
In 1942, the Pz IV was upgraded with an effective long barrelled Main gun,
but this won't show up until the Alternate History campaign. By that time,
much better tanks like the Tiger and Panther will make the poor Pz IV
obsolete. As with the Pz 38t, some Pz IVs could be retained for possible
conversion to other unit types.
Start with about 10 Pz III E. Upgrade to Pz III G when available, then
wait until the Pz III J to upgrade again.
Towed Artillery
Artillery is a dominant battlefield weapon when properly employed. You
start with 105mm Artillery and can upgrade to 150mm, 150mm Cannon, and
finally 173mm Cannon late in the Historical campaign. Artillery should
almost always be used for Terrain attacks.
You should build up a force of 6-8 150mm Cannon that have maximum
training as soon as possible. These units have a range of 8 and
strike with the force of a 500kg bomb. Artillery units have a poor
defense rating so they should be screened from Enemy attacks
at all costs.
Note that only the Sdkfz 8 and Sdkfz 9 ground transports can move the
150mm cannon. Only the Sdkfz 9 ground transport can move the 173mm
cannon.
Military Trains
Military Trains can move 4 ground units 14 hexes in a single turn,
Day or Night. There are very few restrictions on what units
can be carried, other than the weight limit capacity of the Train itself.
For example, Military Trains can be employed to quickly drop off
3 150mm Cannon batteries and an 88mm Air Defense battery close to the
front lines. Sometimes there is no track where you want to go.
Bulldozers can be employed to lay new track if desired.
The most annoying drawback to trains is that they require a minimum
terrain value of 50 for the train to be able to enter the hex.
Most train tracks run though towns. Once you capture a town
its terrain value temporarily drops to 20, preventing the Train
from passing through until the damage is repaired. Also Friendly
or Enemy Terrain attacks will sometimes destroy Track hexes,
requiring a Bulldozer to repair the damage or lay bypass track
around the damaged area.
If you are fighting on the Eastern Front, you will soon find that
your Trains will not run on Soviet style track. You will have to
have Bulldozers slowly convert the Track to the Standard European
gauge. If you are very lucky, you can capture a city that has
a Soviet Military Train inside, allowing you to utilize Soviet Track
from that point on.
You should purchase at least two Military Trains for your starting force pool.
Towed Anti-aircraft
You shouldn't ever have to use these in the game. Save your money
for the self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. These towed guys are
too much trouble to move around. Only possible use would be
to deploy around your starting base in an emergency.
Towed Anti-Tank
You shouldn't ever have to use these in the game. Save your money
for the self-propelled anti-tank guns. These towed guys are
too much trouble to move around. Only possible use would be
to deploy around your starting base in an emergency.
Towed Air Defense
This is the only towed unit other than Artillery that is worth
the trouble of hauling around. At least in the initial campaign
period, a self propelled version of this gun is unavailable.
Air Defense guns are better than Anti-Aircraft guns because:
A) They have a greater range
B) They do more damage when they hit
C) They are an effective anti-tank weapon
D) They can defend against Terrain Attacks from Aircraft
(Anti-aircraft can only defend against Weapon Attacks from Aircraft)
The latter point is the most critical. A comparison of AP ratings to HE ratings
will always show significantly more damage done by HE for each Bomb variety.
Therefore the Computer tends to make Terrain attacks (HE) for any of its planes
that carry bombs. The Computer tends to make Weapon attacks (AP) for its planes
that don't carry bombs, such as Fighters.
How many 88mm Air Defense guns should you have? Try starting with 6-8 so that
you can rotate units in training until all have maximized their training.
Infantry
Infantry defend well against Weapon attacks and poorly against Terrain attacks,
since they have a high evasion rating, but a ground defense rating of zero.
The Infantry unit with the highest evasion rating is the Paratroopers
at 125, but the Mobile Infantry is a close second at 122 and is much better armed.
Infantry units are the only units capable of capturing Enemy HQs, Cities, Airports,
and Ports.
Infantry should be screened from Enemy attacks whenever possible. When this is not
possible, they should be sited in good defensive terrain like Forest, Cities, or
Fortifications to limit damage.
There is a good mix of Infantry already in the Force Pool when the Campaign starts.
You may want to consider converting some units to Cavalry because of their greater
mobility. Cavalry have a movement rating of 5, where regular infantry only have
a movement rating of 3. You will want to use Ground Transports such as the Sdkfz 251
to rapidly shift your infantry to where they are most needed.
Ground Transport
There is a wide range of Transport vehicles in the Game. The base level Truck is
wheeled, while all others are halftracks. Each successive upgrade has a larger
towing capacity. The only Ground Transport to mount any weapons is the Sdkfz
with twin machine guns. This unit can still attack the turn that it drops off
its passengers. The Sdkfz 251 also has slightly better armor than the other
Ground Transports.
There are also some conversions that you might want to consider. For example
the Sdkfz 8 can be converted into a 88mm Gun carrier. Also the Sdkfz 251 can
be converted into a Wurframmen Mobile Rocket Artillery carrier.
Transports gain experience by carrying units. Thus you may want to consider
sending some infantry units loaded on a transport on a joyride in your rear area to
build up that Ground Transport's experience.
Build some additional Trucks at the beginning of the game and start training them.
Supply Vehicle
All units consume fuel and ammunition during a battle. Often there is not a convenient
city to restore your Ground Units supply. To keep your advance from grinding to a halt,
you should have an adequate number of supply vehicles on hand. Units can draw supply
from a Supply vehicle that is adjacent to them.
The Horse Cart is useless because of its slow movement and limited supply capacity.
Buy several of these at the beginning, train them, and upgrade them to the Wheeled
Supply Truck as soon as possible.
Self-Propelled Artillery
The only Self Propelled Artillery to appear in the Historical Campaign is the
Sturmpanzer I. This is a conversion of the Pz IB light tank. The Sturmpanzer I
only carries 2 rounds of ammunition, its gun only has a range of 2, its
accuracy is extremely low, and its armor is very weak. However its gun is very powerful,
so the careful planner will still find applications for this weapon.
Keep some Pz IB units in your forcepool until this conversion is available.
Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Gun
The base level MG AA jeep is pitiful. Buy and Train 4 or more of these and upgrade
to the sdkfz single 20mm AA gun model as soon as possible. Later in the campaign,
the much more effective Sdkfz 7/1 quad 20mm AA gun model becomes available.
These units are fragile. They should be kept close behind the front lines where they
can defend your combat units from Enemy Aircraft Weapon Attacks.
Self-Propelled Anti-Tank Gun
The only model that you can build from scratch is the Stug IIIB. It shares the
same short barrel 75mm gun as the Pz IV, but has excellent armor for the time
it is introduced.
Other than that are several conversions, such as the PZ I conversion to the Pz Jaeger I,
and a French R35 tank conversion to a Anti-tank gun carrier. The Self-Propelled Anti-Tank
gun doesn't field really effective models during the Historical Period with the possible
exception of the Sdkfz 8 conversion to an 88mm gun carrier. Although most of
these models lack anything to get excited about, it might be worthwhile to build up the
experience of a few of these units if you plan to continue on to the Alternate History
campaign. Then you will have some available for conversion to the better units
that will be available then.
Since all SP AT Guns lack a turret, they suffer a huge penalty whenever they try to
move and shoot. Letting the enemy come to you so that you don't have to move
will be more effective.
Train Artillery
This will only be an issue late in the Historical Campaign. The base level
Armored train is not available until Mid 1941. Upgrades to 280mm Train Artillery
and 600mm Mortar Train provide a punch, although they can be difficult to employ
due to their being tied to the Railroad.
Since the Armored Train can carry units, it will be faster for it to gain
experience by ferrying units around than by training or combat.
Rocket Artillery
This unit is also only available late in the Historical Campaign. Rocket
Artillery is potent but inaccurate. Towed Rocket batteries have 6 tubes that
can scatter their attacks around the Target hex. Its therefore dangerous to have
your ground units adjacent to the Target hex. Towed Rocket Artillery also has
very short range compared to regular artillery, only 3.
The Wurframmen Mobile Rocket Artillery carrier is available as a Sdkfz 251
conversion much earlier. It is one of my favorite units. It is the poor man's
Nebelwerfer (dedicated Rocket Artillery Carrier in the late war period).
The Wurframmen is a devastating weapon. Its like having a Bomber unit that drops
five 1000kg bombs at a time. But due to its inaccuracy, it scatters these
blasts over a wide area. Where the Enemy is packed 2 or 3 rows deep on the
front line, this little baby can blow open a hole in a hurry. Especially
if the enemy is defending on poor defensive terrain like Flat Ground.
Sure, it has drawbacks. It can only fire once before it needs to reload.
It takes a whopping 40 supply points, just to replace its Rocket ammo.
Also, it can't move and then shoot. And the range of its rockets is only
2 hexes, forcing you to deploy it near the front line. But for all its
faults, you can't argue with the results.
Construction Vehicle
You need to buy 6-8 of these at the start of the campaign. Construction vehicles
are primarily used to improve the durability of cities and airports that you capture.
Raising the durability of a city you control increases each turn's income. Raising
the Durability of Cities and Airports also increases the number of units that
can be stored there. This is important early in most scenarios, as your deployment
sites are small and must be expanded before things can really get rolling.
Your bulldozers can also build new supply depots which function like cities but
don't generate income. Bulldozers can also build new airports on level ground
although this is expensive.
Bulldozers can also be used to create fortifications, build roads and railroads,
convert railroad track to different gauges, increase the weight capacity of
bridges, and repair destroyed facilities like cities and airports that have
been destroyed by bombers.
Bulldozers have a very weak defense and should be screened from enemy ground units
and protected from enemy Air units at all costs. Bulldozers gain experience from
construction activities. More experienced Bulldozers will be more effective
at raising terrain durability.
Bulldozers consume Materials and Fuel for each construction activity. This is
not a concern if the Bulldozer is located on a City or Supply depot, as they
will top off their supply at the beginning of each turn. Otherwise Supply
Trucks should be kept nearby so that the Bulldozer can keep working without
having to return to a city for re-supply.
Aircraft Units
Fighter
Fighter planes are the best available weapon for destroying enemy aircraft.
Fighters are equipped with 2 primary weapons: Machine Guns and Cannons.
Machine guns carry a lot of ammunition and have multiple chances to hit,
but they can only do a maximum of 3 damage. That means they will be very
effective against a plane with an air defense of 1, somewhat effective against
a plane with an air defense 2, and useless against a plane with an air defense
of 3 or better.
Cannons carry limited ammunition, have fewer chances to hit, but do up
to a maximum of 8 damage. Therefore you should always choose fighter
models equipped with cannons, so that you will be able to do damage to
Bombers and advanced fighters that have high air defense ratings.
The early BF109E series fighters have serious range problems until the
BF109E-7 with fuel drop tanks is available.
Another thing to consider is that fighters have high air evade ratings.
For example, your Fighter plane with no experience, and MG accuracy of 110
attacks an Enemy fighter plane with no experience and air evade of 100.
Each of your MG has a base 10% chance to hit. However, if your Fighter
had the maximum 250 experience then it would receive a 25% bonus.
In this case every MG would have a 35% chance to hit. Since there is not
much difference between Fighter Weapon accuracy and Enemy Fighter air evasion
ratings, experience plays a decisive role in how much damage your fighters
can inflict on the Enemy.
In your starting force pool, convert the fighters you can to BF109E-3. You
can build 3 or 4 more starting level fighters, but buy the cheapest thing
you can and just train them until they are ready to convert to the
top of the line model.
Fighter/Bomber
The starting Fighter/Bomber is the ME-110C which doesn't carry bombs,
but is better armed than the BF109E. For example the cannons on the
ME-110C have 7 rounds of ammo, as commpared to the BF109E cannon having
only 3 rounds of ammunition. This is a good thing, because the ME-110C
has large enough fuel tanks to loiter around the battlefield for a long
time before needing to resupply.
The ME-110C also has a sturdier airframe than the BF109E, meaning that
each plane can absorb more damage before it is shot down. Also, the
ME-110C is rated as a Night Fighter, meaning that it can take off and
land at night and attack enemy planes with only a slight penalty
at night.
Later on ME-110 variants become available that carry 250kg and 500kg
bombs. Until then, the ME-110C is well suited to strafing attacks on
ground units.
You should have 6-8 ME-110C in your starting forcepool and work on
getting them up to the maximum experience level as soon as possible.
Tactical Bomber
The Ju-87 Stuka is the top strike aircraft you have at the beginning
of the campaign with a pin-point ground attack accuracy of 170.
You should convert existing Stukas to Ju-87B-2 model, which can carry
the excellent 1000kg bomb. This plane has a low fuel capacity, but
you will be sending it back to the airport to get another bomb load
soon anyway, so this is not such a concern. Other variants of greater
or lesser effectiveness become available later in the campaign.
You should have 4-6 Ju-87B-2 Stukas in your starting forcepool.
Strategic Bomber
These planes carry the largest bomb loads in the game, and are
typically used to soften up Enemy Airports and Cities with Terrain attacks
to make it easier for your Infantry units to capture them. If you are
not careful though, you will end up destroying the facility. If its
an Enemy HQ though, you have no worries because a HQ can never be reduced
below 1 durability by a Terrain attack. The Strategic Bomber's multiple
bomb attacks are also effective for blasting Ground units with
Terrain attacks.
The Ju-86 light bombers you can build at the start are pitiful, but
go ahead and build 4-6 of them anyway. That way you can begin training
these crews in preparation for the more capable DO-17, He-111, and Ju-88
bombers that follow.
There is also a massive 4 Engine Bomber that is available at the same
level as the Ju-88. This bomber can take a lot of punishment and still
keep flying. Each of these Bombers has 70 hit points, while the typical
bomber might have only 35-40. If you absolutely have to make a Terrain attack
on a position that is well defended by Air Defense guns, this Bomber
is the one for the job. Note that you will have to have a starting
airfield of size 200 to deploy it, because it has 4 engines.
Air Transport
A big change in AD5 is that the number of scenarios that you are allowed
to use Air Transports in is severely restricted. The only
scenarios I know where Air Transports are allowed are the Norway and Crete
scenarios. It doesn't make sense to buy any Air Transports at the beginning of
the game. Wait until you get to a scenario that allows them before
bothering to buy them because they are very expensive.
How do you tell if Air Transports are allowed in a scenario?
When you are in the Strategic Screen making adjustments to your forcepool,
look at the far Left hand column of the unit table. If you see a Blue
icon, the unit can be used. If the column is blank, the unit can't be
used. The same rule applies for ship units.
Conversion Damage
Whenever you convert a unit to a different type, if the new type has more
hit points than the old type, then the converted unit will be
damaged. Make sure that you select and Heal the unit before
starting the scenario as healing a unit on the Tactical screen will
require leaving it stored in a City for several turns.
Saving Money
The best way to save money is to limit the number of conversions you
perform on existing units. The cost associated with a conversion is
often nearly the same as buying a completely new unit. Don't convert
a unit to a different model unless there is a compelling reason to
do so. Examples: a conversion that increases an Air unit's air defense
rating, a conversion that significantly improves a weapon's armament,
a conversion that allows a plane to carry bombs where it couldn't before, etc.
Another way to save money is to try to limit the damage done to your planes.
These are the most expensive units in the game. When they are damaged,
you need to pay a porportional amount of their starting cost to bring
them back to full health. Also Planes tend to cost much more to resupply
than Ground units.
Also, NEVER convert a unit that you plan on training during the current scenario.
Who knows, by the time the next scenario rolls around maybe there will be
an even better conversion available. If you convert now, you will have
lost that money without ever having benefitted from it.
You can also save money by not building new Airports and Supply Depots
during a scenario. Experience will teach you the times you REALLY need
to build an airport to support your offensive. If you aren't hurting
for money, having advanced airbases/supply depots is worth the cost.
One last way to save money is to Disband Enemy units that you capture
in cities. Often the Computer has just started building them, and if
you forget about them, precious funds will be diverted each turn to
repair them until they are fully restored. Remember to go back the
turn after you capture a city to disband the Enemy units that you don't
want to keep.
Experience Effects
Experience has a dramatic influence on the game. Some effects are:
A) Each 10 points of EXP raises all accuracy ratings by 1% to a maximum bonus of 25%
B) Each 20 points of EXP raises all evasion ratings by 1% to a maximum bonus of 12.5%
C) 0-49 (Level E) points of EXP drops all weapon initiatives by 2
D) 50-99 (Level D) points of EXP drops all weapon initiatives by 1
E) 100-149 (Level C) points of EXP all weapon initiatives standard
F) 150-199 (Level B) points of EXP raises all weapon initiatives by 1
G) 200-249 (Level A) points of EXP raises all weapon initiatives by 2
H) At 250 (Level *) points of EXP raises all weapon initiatives by 3
I) All Airplanes with 200 (Level A) or more EXP can take off at night
Ground units typically benefit most from Initiative bonuses that allow them to
get off the first shot. For Airplane units, accuracy rating is a huge benefit,
especially for Fighters. An inexperienced rookie with a good fighter might
do no damage to an enemy fighter, whereas a seasoned veteran with the same
fighter could severely damage it.
To gain experience, you must seek out enemies with experience to fight against.
Enemy ground transports and Bulldozers usually have good experience and
are easy targets for your planes. If there is a great difference between
experience levels when two units fight, then the lower EXP unit will
gain a lot and the high EXP unit will gain only a little.
If you ever lose vehicles from a unit, then its experience will drop when
it goes back to base and the lost vehicles are replaced with rookies. Keep
an eye on the damage for a unit and pull it back for repair if one or more
vehicles/planes are nearly destroyed.
Paying for Research
After the first scenario in the campaign, each time you return to the
strategic screen between scenarios you are given an opportunity to pay
for research to develop new weapons.
These can either be entirely new models, or upgrades of existing models.
The items which are available for purchase are randomly selected from
all those which made their historical appearance by the next scenario's
start date. This can occasionally work in your favor, as sometimes
a later variant will be offered out of sequence.
For example, one time I had the Pz III J offered before the Pz III H.
Another time, I had the Fw 190A-2 offered before the Fw 190A-1. If this
happens, during future Research offerings you should reject those
older variants to save money.
Generally Aircraft model research is the most expensive. You should
take a long hard look at the capabilities each model brings to the table
and ruthlessly cull those unpromising designs that you will never build
anyway.
Do not ignore Weapon conversions. You get these for free, and can view
them by changing the filter to "Convert". Usually conversions are only
available for a limited time, as they are based on obsolete weapon designs.
One last thing to note: The first time I played the game, I planned to
jump right from the Britain or North African campaigns into the
Alternate History campaign. However, when I did so I found that a lot
of the weapon designs from the intervening period were missing from the
Research Table. So, I made the decision to continue on with the 1942
Eastern Front campaign to make sure that I picked up the Tiger Tank
and some other useful models before going on to play the Alternate History
campaign.
Scenario Victory Conditions
The are three primary ways to win a scenario:
A) Capture Objective cities whose VP totals a certain amount
B) Capture all Enemy HQ cities (Ends scenario immediately)
C) Force all Enemy HQs to Withdraw due to low Morale
Most of the time, you are on the offensive, so only A) or B)
applies. When you are facing multiple enemy factions, it is
a good idea to eliminate one enemy faction at a time to
reduce the pressure on your units. Calling up the Conditions
page and reviewing the Goals Tab will show you the cities
you need to capture to knock each enemy faction out of the fight.
Then you can plan your line of attack to capture the nearest Enemy HQs
to your starting base and then work your way from there. Occasionally
the High Command will place more importance on terrain features such
as River Crossings. In these cases, you can ignore Enemy HQs to
concentrate on seizing the objectives. Once you have captured a sufficient
number of VPs, the game will prompt you at the end of the turn if you
want to end now, or keep playing to gather more funds.
This is an important decision. When you stop a scenario,
the time remaining is multiplied by your current income to determine
the extra starting funds that are available for the next scenario.
You can drag things out, capturing more cities and using Bulldozers
to improve the income from cities that you already control.
However, taking too long to end a scenario can have adverse effects.
A scenario can have Major victory, Minor victory, and Defeat endings depending
on how long it took you to end the scenario. Some times the
level of victory will affect the choices for the next scenario
in the campaign. It is a good idea to save the game at the earliest
time that you can end the scenario. Then you can concentrate on
building up your Income up until the Major/Minor transition occurs,
if it makes any difference.
Note that in the North African scenarios, there are very few cities
to capture. Therefore, it is hard to build up much income.
As the Desert campaign progresses, you will see your
funds continue to fall as a result. All the recommendations on
saving money that were listed in an earlier section are even more
important in this theater.
There are some scenarios where you are forced to defend, such
as the Sunflower operation and Battleaxe defense scenarios in
North Africa. In this case, you cannot end the scenario by
capturing VP. In the Victory Tab of the Conditions screen,
your VP goal will be a dash instead of a number.
The only way to win this type of scenario is to cause sufficient
damage to an Enemy faction's morale to force it to withdraw. There
is a VP Table that you can call up. In it you will see a certain
VP amount assigned to all cities that the Enemy controls and a
VP amount assigned to all units he owns. Capturing enemy cities
and destroying Enemy units lowers that faction's morale by the
VP amount listed in the table. When the Enemy's morale falls
below the amount listed in the Victory Tab of the Conditions Table,
it will withdraw at the end of its next turn. Airplanes are
worth more morale VP than ground units, and ships are worth more morale VP
than Airplanes. Often Transport ships will have the highest
effect on Enemy morale when they are lost.
You may want to consider destroying Enemy Airports while they are packed with
planes, rather than waiting for them to take off. Some Enemy
planes are very difficult to shoot down and will inflict damage
on your planes in the process. However, you will be gaining experience
by fighting them so its your call.
Your allies, (such as Italy) also have a Morale limit linked to
their controlled cities and units. You can lose a scenario if
your Ally's morale fails before the Enemy's.
One last thing to consider. Occasionally one of the Enemy faction
HQs is located off-map. There is no way to capture it, and it
will be able to enter units from the edge of the map that is
closest to its map co-ordinates. The only way to force this
Faction to withdraw will be to lower its Morale through the
methods outlined previously.
Tactics Screen Tips
The preceeding topics mostly focused on strategic concerns, such
as planning what objectives to take first and adjusting your force
pool to have the units that you need to conduct your operations.
Now it is time to examine some of the tricks which can help
you to take those objectives in the minimum amount of time.
Air Shield
Game rules prevent your units from entering a hex where there is
an enemy or friendly faction controlled aircraft. The same restrictions
apply to the computer player.
There are several places where this rule can be applied to your benefit.
First, consider the case where the terrain forces you to cross at
a specific bridge point. A few Enemy units can completely clog up
this key area. It can take several turns for you to force your way
across with ground units.
Aircraft with large fuel tanks that can loiter such as Fighter/Bombers
and Bombers can be used to hold terrain after you blow away
defenders until you can move additional ground troops up to occupy
the position. In this manner, you can expand your bridgehead much
more quickly.
This same technique can be applied to heavily fortified areas,
where you have to grind your way forward hex by hex. Once you
have Wurframmen Rocket artillery you can position them directly
behind a row of planes. This ensures that rockets that miss will not
impact on ground units which would ordinarily be screening the Wurframmen.
You can also surround a key unit, such as infantry to protect it while
it is exposed in the open. This would require 6 Airplanes to manage,
but would prevent air units or ground units from attacking the unit
unless one of the screening airplanes was destroyed first. Obviously
this is too costly to consider using on a large scale. Bombers that
have already dropped their loads are ideal for this purpose.
Softening Terrain
Enemy cities, airports, and ports with high durability ratings will take multiple capture
attempts by Infantry to secure. It is much better to use Terrain Attacks
against the facility first by Aircraft or Artillery to lower the durability
before making the capture attempt. Just be sure that you don't
completely destroy the facility, or else you will need a Bulldozer
to fix it.
Make use of Defensive Terrain
Leaving a unit in level ground is an invitation for Enemy Aircraft
to destroy it. If at all possible, a unit should stay in Forest
or City terrain. While a unit is in a Forest hex, Enemy aircraft
cannot spot it. Only Enemy ground units can see them, and Aircraft
can only make Weapon attacks against ground units in a Forest hex
if there is an Enemy ground unit adjacent to act as a spotter.
Enemy Aircraft can make terrain attacks against Forest hexes anytime,
whether there is a spotter adjacent or not.
If you are forced to operate in the open there are some measures
you can take to protect your units. First any Aircraft that is
above a unit will get a free attack against an Enemy that attempts
a Weapon or Terrain attack against the unit below it.
Secondly, you can deploy Anti-aircraft and Air-Defense guns close
to the exposed units. Anti-Aircraft defend against Weapon attacks
and Air Defense defend against Terrain Attacks. There are Mobile
Anti-aircraft guns that can keep up with your advance. However,
Air Defense guns are towed, and waste a turn loading onto their
transport at the old position before they can catch up. For this reason,
you may want to have more Air Defense guns than you need so some
can stay loaded all the time to keep up with your advance.
Bottle up Enemy units in Cities, Airports
Units that are stored at a City, Airport, or Port are
restricted from exiting if there is an Enemy unit with a weapon
that can attack it located on or adjacent to that Hex.
If the Enemy unit is adjacent to the Hex, then one unit can
exit, but only on top of the City, Airport, or Port Hex.
If the Enemy unit is on top of the Hex, then no units can leave.
This is a useful means of blocking ground units from deploying.
It is perhaps best used to prevent Enemy Aircraft from
swarming out of their airbases and plastering your front line
troops. Enemy Airbase supression should play a key role in your
offensives.
Optional Rules
When playing at the Normal level, you are allowed to toggle
optional rules on or off. At the Hard level, all optional
rules are always turned on. The following section will list the
optional rules and comment on them where applicable.
Search for Enemy
If this option is turned off, you will
be able to see all Enemy units on the map even if they are
outside your unit's view range. Serious wargamers should never
make use of this cheat. Turn this option on and forget about it.
Radar
This option lets radar equipped units be able to spot
planes and ships within their range. I would recommend playing with
this option on. The only place it might make a difference is in
the Britain invasion scenarios where you could "blind" the British
radar to keep him from seeing your planes.
Weather
If this option is turned off, then the weather will
always be good. If you wanted to cheat, you could turn weather
effects off during bad weather turns while you were moving and then
turn them back on again before starting the computer's turn. That way
you could bomb the enemy with your planes, and he wouldn't be
able to use his against you. I think it is more enjoyable to play when the
weather can change. I would recommend playing with this option
on, even if it is frustrating sometimes.
Day & Night
If this optional rule is enabled, all units that don't have Night Use
or Night Fighter capability have their weapon accuracy and effectiveness
greatly reduced at night. Also the movement rate for ground units other than
trains is halved and viewing range is reduced to 1.
If a plane attempts to land at night, it can lose planes due to damage.
The less experienced the unit, the more damage will be suffered. However
airplane units with Experience 200 or higher (Level A) will be able to land without
difficulty. Planes that don't have night capability are not allowed to
take-off at night, unless they are Level A or better.
There is an exception to this. An airplane can always be recalled at a
Home base airport at nighttime without suffering any damage, regardless
of the experience of the unit. Of course, it will need to be deployed
again before it can re-enter the battle.
I have spent a lot of time talking about night effects on airplanes, because
units with low fuel ratings (such as Fighters) will have to land a lot
to keep supplied. Thus, a Fighter unit with high experience is very
valuable because it can take-off and land at your front line Airports
at night without risking damage. Less experienced Fighters will have to ensure that they
land before dark and then wait until the dawn before they can take off again.
For this reason, the Bf 110C Fighter/Bomber is an outstanding all purpose
unit to begin the campaign with. It is better armed than the Bf 109E fighter.
It has large enough fuel tanks to operate for extended periods without
refueling. It is also devastating to ground units caught out in the open.
And it can take-off and land at night even if it hasn't reached Level A
experience yet. Also it can fight effectively at night, allowing you
to eliminate some enemy planes that a daytime fighter would barely be
able to scratch.
You might wonder why you would bother putting up with all the hassle of night
effects. The reason is that the Enemy is subject to the same restrictions
that you are. At night, he will pull back most of his planes to Airports.
That gives you a chance to bring up Artillery on a Train to the front line
in safety. Also you have an opportunity to trap his planes in airports
by having one of your planes flying above/adjacent to them.
Although there aren't many Night capable bombers, regular bombers can
still make Terrain attacks at night. These will be very inaccurate,
but can still be useful. Therefore it is advantageous to have high
experience Dive Bombers and Strategic Bombers as well, so they can continue
picking up and delivering bomb loads at night-time.
Altitude
When this option is enabled, Artillery and Aircraft are affected. Artillery
that is on ground level 1 or higher will have its range extended by one hex.
Airplanes that operate at a higher altitude will have an initiative bonus
against Airplanes that operate at a lower altitude. For example High ALtitude
fighters will have an initiative bonus against regular Fighters.
Sortie Limit
When this option is enabled, the number of units that you can bring on to
the map is limited. This is the only way to play the game if you want
a challenge. You need this restriction so that you will be forced to make
hard choices about what units to use. Multi-purpose units such as
Fighters that can carry bombs are more desirable when the number of
deployment slots is restricted.
