Game
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All nations deliver all their instructions at the same time in successive, fixed order cycles.
At the beginning the starting screen of the respective nation appears, with indication of the period for which the orders must be plot.
The camera is placed over the capital.
Now,
at first the offensive menu
appears.
At each
menu always all important functions are described briefly.
Up to
three offensives for each turn (month) and player (nation)
are possible, whereby this costs increasingly more production
points (PP).
A hostile and reachable target province must be
selected by right-click with the mouse on
a city there. After this, a large, turning sphere in the
national colors appears over the province marker (here a Axis
Minors offensive against the Anglo-Americans at Tobruk).
Own
units, which can not reach the target province, are now indicated
colluded
on the map.
Units,
which are located in a province, which was conquered in the last
month (turn), can not participate in the offensive.
All
other own units could participate in the offensive (these are also
possible land units on transport ships in an neighbouring
sea-province, which could accomplish an invasion).
By
left-clicking with the mouse
on one of these unit boxes it can be selected, whereby everyone
left-click selects
one more unit (if the box represents several units), a right-click
reduces the numbers by one.
At least, a
right-click with the mouse
on a city or unit in the target province moves the selected quantity
of units to participate in the offensive.
Note: Afterwards, airplanes used in an offensive fly back to there starting province. If several airplanes of the same type were used from different starting provinces, they fly back together to the starting province of the last moved planes !
An incorrect move can be canceled by clicking the 'Undo'-button (see 2.1.4.) .
If
you have moved all the units into the province, in which the
offensive take place, you can click on the 'Go'-button
to terminate the phase and the next offensive
or subsequent action (support of allied
offensive, see following chapter) are
announced.
If you would not like to
accomplish further offensives in this turn, then press immediately
the 'Go'-button,
without marking a province with the offensive
marker.
Further, the offensive phase is
indicated only for players, whose nations already are at war.
Next
comes the menu to support the first offensive of a allied player.
This appears however only for players, whose nations are in the
war and which have allied nations, who although are at war and
accomplish at least one offensive.
It's only possible to support
one offensive for each allied player. Supporting
offensives of allied players do not cost PP.
If
the allied nation is played by the AI, or the instruction for the
offensive was entered before your own orders during a 'Hot
Seat'-game, or you are in a LAN game, then the camera is
placed automatically over the target province with the turning
sphere with the symbol of the allied nation (in the example right,
the offensive marker of Germany turns over the Donetz Corridor and
west of it, in the Eastern Ukraine, there are units of the allied
player of the Axis-Minors, wich could be used by him to support the
Germans).
In
all other cases you must guess or you have the information by direct
communication with you allied player, where this would like to start
an offensive at this turn. By right-clicking on a city in this
province, the allied attack marker is placed over this
province and you can move possible units to it.
During the
execution phase the movements to this province will only be
done, if there is really a offensive of a allied nation to support !
Own
units, which can not reach the target province, are now indicated
colluded
on the map. All other own units could participate in the offensive
(these are also possible land units on transport ships a neighbouring
sea-province, which could accomplish an invasion).
By
left-clicking with the mouse
on one of these unit boxes it can be selected, whereby everyone
left-click selects
one more unit (if the box represents several units), a right-click
reduces the numbers by one.
At least, a
right-click with the mouse
on a city or unit in the target province moves the selected quantity
of units to participate in the offensive.
Note: Afterwards, airplanes used in an offensive fly back to there starting province. If several airplanes of the same type were used from different starting provinces, they fly back together to the starting province of the last moved planes !
An incorrect move can be canceled by clicking the 'Undo'-button (see 2.1.4.) .
If you have moved all the units into the province, in which the offensive take place, you can click on the 'Go'-button to terminate the phase and a possibly further offensive of the next allied player to support ist following or the air & sea-attacks, which are described in the following part.
The
menu for air & sea-attacks
appears subsequently.
These
do not cost PP,
contrary to offensives.
However, only air and sea units can participate and it's not possible
to conquere provinces.
The target province for an air or sea attack is selected by right-click with the mouse on a hostile unit or city there. After this, the attack marker appears over the province marker:
Own units, which cannot achieve the target province, are now indicated colluded on the map. All other own sea or air units could participate in the attack.
Sea-attacks are only possible on enemy sea-units in neighbouring sea provinces. Air units can attack within their combat range.
By left-clicking with the mouse on one of these unit boxes you can select one of these, whereby every left-click on a unit selects one more (if the box represents several units), a right-click reduces the quantity.
By a following right-click with the mouse on a unit or city in the target province the selected units are moved to it.
Note: Afterwards, airplanes used in an attack move back to there starting province. If several units of the same type were used from different starting provinces, they move back together to the starting province of the last moved unit !
An incorrect move can be canceled by clicking the 'Undo'-button (see 2.1.4.) .
If you have moved all the units into the province, in which the attack take place, you can right-click on a other province with enemy units or cities to start another attack or click on the 'Go'-button to terminate the phase.
The air&sea attack phase is indicated only for players, whose nations are already at war.
The
menu for movements
appears subsequently.
For
nations, which are not at war, this is the first order phase.
All units can be moved, which do not participate yet in an offensive or an attack.
However,
strategic
movements
are possible only in enemy-free
provinces.
These are own provinces, land provinces of an member of your
alliance, or hostile land provinces, in which no hostile units are.
Ships can move on free sea-provinces or in those, where already are
own, allied or neutral ships.
Additional, submarines
can move through enemy controlled sea provinces,
but can not end their move there.
After
left-clicking
on an own unit all reachable target
provinces
are
connected with
yellow
lines.
Further more
left
klicks
on the box select more units (if available) from the box and is
indicated by red numbers
(x
from y units).
Example in the picture right: the selected German tank unit in 'East Ukraine' (yellow square) can be moved into one of six other German or Axis-Minors controled provinces (framed with red squares).
By
right-click
on a unit or city in one of the possible target provinces, the
selected units are moved.
By
right-click
on a transportation unit (e.g. transport ship) and the selected units
did not have a larger transport
weight than
the sum of available transportation
capacity, the
units can be shipped.
Shipping is also possible from a land province on cargo ships of a neighbouring sea-province, likewise unloading of units is possible on neighbouring provinces.
Note
for the sea routes around
Arabia and Africa:
Ships can move around the Arabian Peninsula from the sea province Gulf of Aden Sea to the Persian Gulf and reverse (left image, red arrow above) and from the Gulf of Aden to the Sierra Leone Sea off West Africa and vice versa (sea left picture, the red arrow on the right side and right image, the arrow at the top). In both cases, the route is equal to only one province distance.
IMPORTANT NOTE for all movements:
All units with an engine (ie tanks, planes, ships) require fuel (oil) for each province which they are moving. This applies to any movement, including offensives, ZOC interceptions and retreats. If no more fuel (oil) is available, then the movement is not possible.
Now,
the politics menu follows. Here, different actions are
possible:
Influence nations to your side or declare war to them.
Transfer of provinces to other nations.
Deliver units to other nations.
Besides, also neutral nations act by their own and could join an alliance, or some events (declarations of war, conquest of key provinces etc.) could also have little to large effects on the political events of nations.
By right-click on a city of a other nation the politics menu is visible, whereby the flag of the selected nation is clearly visible and all others are only weak visible.
Right beside the flag each nations status is indicated to the player nation (allied, neutral or at war) and the alliance (Axis, Allies or neutral). The number indicates the current tendency of the nation: if -100 is approached, the nation will join the Axis, if +100 is approached it will join the Allies.
With a click on another flag this nation could be selected.
By
payment of PP the selected nation
can be influenced toward the own alliance or war could be declared.
In addition, either one of the Influence buttons
('weak', 'medium', 'strong') or the War button
must be pressed at the bottom of the menu (also the PP
costs are indicated there).
For influences,
only a limited number of the PP's can be used. These are indicated in
the middle between the four buttons.
If
a nation joins an alliance (either by influence, from itself or
because it is attacked by a member of the opposing alliance), then it
is led by one of the players of this alliance (usually at the
Axis the player of the Axis
minors, at the Allies
mostly the player of Great Britain,
or for American states the player of USA,
or in the case of some Eastern European
states the player of the Soviet Union).
All provinces of the new alliance member changed to the flag of
the new player and all unit boxes become visibly with this national
symbol.
Further more, it is possible to transfer complete provinces to an other player of the same alliance. At least one land unit of the new nation must be in the province and the province is not controlled by the previous owner at the beginnig of the game. By right-click on a city the province can be handed over.
Finally, own units can be transferred to an other player of the same alliance. The unit, which should be handed over, must be in a province of this allied player. By right-click on this unit, these can be handed over to this player.
Important: all units in the provinces of members of your alliance (ie Axis or Allied) will be automatically transfered, if there is not the status 'alliance' to your nation (example: at the beginning of the game Great Britain and China are both members of the Allies, but they have different enemies ! Britain is at war with Germany and the Axis-Minors, on the other hand China is at war with Japan. For this reason, their military relationship is 'neutral' and not 'Alliance').
Next
the research menu
appears. By
right-click with the mouse on an own industrial city
appears the research screen.
Here you will
see a picture of the next possible unit from every existing research
categorie with the still missing research months (trurns).
By
click on a category up to four orange research investment
buttons are visible at the bottom, which stand for a small
to a very good progress chance. The cost in PP for the research
investments in this category are written on the buttons.
By click on one of this research investment buttons this one will be selected and by click on the O.K. - Button confirmed.
Every nation can start each month (turn) a research in up to two different categories.
At
least the
production menu
appears.
At
first you must select an own city with a factory
or barracks
in a province which you are controlling
since at least six months
by right-clicking.
The production screen for the selected city appears.
It is build like the following example for the Russian city of Stalingrad:
at the top there are selection buttons for filtering the indicated units (all - vehicles - airplanes – ships).
In
the left, blue column all buildable units of the selection are
visible with a picture, the name, the price in PP, the construction
time in months (turns) and the quantity of all units of this type
under construction at the moment. With the help of the green arrow
buttons down and above you can scroll through the list.
In the second column all units are listed, which are in the selected city under construction. Apart from the picture and the name the quantity and the time in months (turns) up to the completion are visible.
In the two columns at the right all units are listed, which are in all other own cities under construction.
Depending upon the type of the building in the city, a
certain quantity of units for a certain maximum price (PP) can be
constructed at the same time.
Therefore, underneath the lists the
sum and construction costs of the units are indicated, as well
as in the following line the free capacity of buildable units and
construction costs. Thus, expensive units with a long
construction period (e.g. battle ships) block for many rounds a large
capacity!
You can add new units to the list of constructions for this city by left-click on a unit picture in the left column. Every left-click it increases the quantity of the construction units, while right-click reduces it.
If you have specified the type of unit and the quantity, click on the O.K.-button to confirm the construction. The new units are transferred now to the building list of the city (second column), if the capacity and existing points of production (PP) are sufficient.
Now, you can click another type of unit for the building in the city in the blue column or leave the screen for the selected city with the button “close” down right.
If you have still cities and PP for production, you can now right-click on another city for further constructions or click on the “Go” - button in the menu at the bottom left hand corner to finish your orders for this turn.
Exception for 6- or 12-month length scenarios:
In contrast to the full World War 2 scenario, all produced units are ready after one turn, but the prices of units with a longer build time are increased.
General reference to game mechanics:
One of the game's biggest value is the
overview. All strengths are clearly visible without clicking on
single unit boxes for necessary information. This is the reason for
that there is no experience value of the units yet. Instead, the
different experience values of the armed forces of the nations are
calculated into the strength at game start and
the available production points (PP).
Ultimately, the sum of a combat value of units multiplied by a
experience value of x% would be just the same as a modified fighting
strength from the beginning on. But for the second solution, there is
no need to click on every unit box for more information, no
complicated troop movements because of selecting units with different
experience values, and at least no problems with unhappy
modifications in FPS battles !
For this reason, the number
of units at the start of the game (summer
1942) and the available Production
Points for Germany are
100% (decreasing down to 95% during the game
process), for the Anglo-Americans are 80%,
for the Russians and Axis-Minors are 64%
(with the exception of Finland and the Italian units of the Axis
Africa Army, here also 100%) in relation to historic accurate
available numbers.
See about this the following web pages:
http://ww2total.com/WW2/History/Orders-of-Battle/theaters-1942-Germany.htm
http://ww2total.com/WW2/History/Orders-of-Battle/theaters-1942-Axis-minors.htm
http://ww2total.com/WW2/History/Orders-of-Battle/theaters-1942-Anglo-Americans.htm
http://ww2total.com/WW2/History/Orders-of-Battle/theaters-1942-Red-Army.htm
http://ww2total.com/WW2/History/Orders-of-Battle/armed-forces-neutrals.htm
See also for this review at:
http://ww2total.com/WW2/History/Orders-of-Battle/Germany/fighting-power-Wehrmacht.htm