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PANZER GENERAL ASSAULT 3D
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Officer and Unit FAQ
version 1.0
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by Red Phoenix
e-mail: redphoenixfaq@yahoo.com
Date: April 29, 2005
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AGREEMENT
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This General FAQ is owned solely by me, Red Phoenix. Feel free to read this
FAQ, distribute it to friends and/or other website. Please do *not* modify
this FAQ in any way and/or sell it.
If you are a website hosting FAQs and Walktrough for videogames, please feel
free to post this FAQ on your site. You do not need my expressed permission.
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WHO WOULD LIKE THIS GAME?
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This game is a turn-based war strategy simulation. It is very deep and well
balanced, favoring people who think before they act.
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GOAL OF THIS FAQ
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The purpose of this FAQ is to help out new players understand the mechanics of
this game. This FAQ is *not* meant to replace actual "trial and error" or
reading the on-line manual.
In fact, I *strongly* suggest reading the on-line manual because Panzer
General Assault 3D is a complex strategy game.
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CONTENTS
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0) History Revisions
1) Glossary
2) General Tips
3) General Officer Information
3.1) Promoting Officers
3.2) Increasing Number of Command Slots
3.3) Veteran Unit Orders Progression
3.4) How Many Promotions For Specific Classes
3.5) Listing of All Leader Specials
4) Unit-Officer Class Information
5) Infantry Units
6) Tank Units
7) Anti-Tank Units
8) Artillery Units
9) Air Defense Units
10) Recon Units
11) Fighter Units
12) Bomber Units
A) Cheap Tricks
B) Future Contributors
C) Thanks
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1) GLOSSARY
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The following is a series of terms which I choose to describe in detail as to
avoid further confusion. I will use these terms throughout my FAQ.
Leader Special: these are medals associated with individual officers. The
first medal awarded to any officer is always specific to his
class. (E.g., every Infantry Officer will always receive the
"Tactician" Leader Special.) The second medal is randomly
selected by the computer at the beginning of the game. (You
simply cannot promote an officer, then reload if you don't
like the Leader Special that he got.)
Command Slots: the manual calls these simply "slots". At any point in the
game, you have a specified amount of slots available to deploy
officers and the units attached to them. You cannot go over
this limit, but if one of your officers is defeated in battle,
you can go back to your headquarters and deploy other officers
to fill up freed up slots. Note that by finishing missions
before the Major Victory Deadline, your Command Slot maximum
will increase by two (2) several turns into your next mission.
Promotion Level: the level or rank of an officer. Ranging from 1 to 10, the
higher, the better, but also the more amount of Command
Slots required to deploy the officer in a mission.
Veteran Unit Orders: each unit class has a set of five different
unit-specific orders available to high level officers.
The fifth (last) order is only acquired once the
commanding officer is level 10.
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2) GENERAL TIPS
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-Save often. You never know when an ambush or support artillery fire will
ruin your day.
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3) GENERAL OFFICER INFORMATION
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*Always* link officers and units of the same type. E.g., Infantry Officer with
an Infantry unit, not a Bomber unit. Otherwise, you lose the ability to issue
Veteran Unit Orders and *all* your Leader Specials will be *invalidated*.
(See manual for more details)
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3.1) Promoting Officers
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This is akin to leveling up in other games. After every successful mission, you
are awarded a certain amount of promotion points which you can distribute to
*any* officer that you want. Please note that you can only promote any officer
only once per mission.
Although not realistic, I prefer this system to Panzer/Allied/Fantasy General's
system of "each unit has their own experience points" because it keeps the focus
on fighting the battle, whereas individual experience systems tend to force you
to micromanage units to make sure that they don't fall behind in experience.
There is a "give and take" associated with promoting officers. High level
officers gain a slew of bonuses, but occupy more Command Slots. Remember that
the number of officers that you can deploy is limited by the number of Command
Slots you have available. In general, the optimal level for all officers is
Level 7, where they have the more potential to move, attack and retreat in a
single turn, but you only gain access to the 4th and 5th veteran after Level 8.
Level 1-4: - Attack/Move Effectiveness: (One actions at full effectiveness)
1st=100%, 2nd=75%, 3rd=50%, 4th=25%, ...
- Requires 1 Command Slot to deploy
Level 5-7: - Attack/Move Effectiveness: (Two actions at full effectiveness)
1st=100%, 2nd=100%, 3rd=75% , 4th=50%, 5th=25%, ...
- Officer automatically gains first Leader Special (if he does
not have it yet, otherwise he gains nothing); this medal is
always class-specific (see section 3.5)
- Requires 2 Command Slots to deploy
Level 8-10: - Attack/Move Effectiveness: (Three actions at full effectiveness)
1st=100%, 2nd=100%, 3rd=100%, 4th=75%, 5th=50%, 6th=25%, ...
- Officer automatically gains second Leader Special (if he does
not have it yet, otherwise he gains nothing); this medal is
randomly chosen (see section 3.5)
- Requires 3 Command Slots to deploy
But, as you can see, high level officers also require more Command Slots to
deploy into battle. At the beginning of the game, you normally only have a
handful of slots available, so avoid high ranking officers at that point.
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3.2) Increasing Number of Command Slots
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Each time that you obtain a Major Victory (complete a mission before the "Turns
Left for a Major Victory" expires), you will increase your total number of
available slots by 2. This gain is not instantaneous: normally, you will have
to wait 5-10 turns into the following mission before your superiors allocate you
this increase. You will know that this has happened when, at the beginning of
your turn, you suddenly have an extra two slots available.
Normally, in the first mission of a campaign, you will only have two slots with
which to assign your officers into the field (and the game usually temporarily
gives you control of predetermined units to compensate for this). Usually
towards the end (assuming that you always get Major Victories), you will have
between 24-30.
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3.3) Veteran Unit Orders Progression
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Each officer class has access to up to 5 veteran orders specific to his unit
class. For details on each specific order, please consult sections 5.2-12.2.
Here is the required levels of each veteran order:
Officer Level 1 = 1st veteran order becomes available
Officer Level 3 = 2nd veteran order becomes available
Officer Level 5 = 3rd veteran order becomes available
Officer Level 8 = 4th veteran order becomes available
Officer Level 9 = 5th veteran order becomes available
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3.4) How Many Promotions For Specific Classes
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One question that comes to mind is how to balance high ranking officers with
the number of Command Slots available. Obviously, you will want an optimal mix
of low ranking officers (take few Command Slots) and high ranking officers
(very powerful).
How many levels you should allocate to your officers depends on their class.
Infantry: *Always* promote your Infantry Leaders. Try to get them to Rank 8+,
as that's when they really shine. At Rank 8, you will receive the
Veteran Order "Surprise Attack" which is easily the best order in the
game, allowing you to take on almost any enemy with little or no
casualties. At Rank 9, you will get "All Out Attack", another very
useful ability, but slightly dangerous since it reduces your defense
for the next attack. Enemies cannot retreat after you do an "All Out
Attack" (meaning that they will *always* surrender instead). Sweet.
Tank: Don't bother upgrading your Tank Leaders beyond Rank 7. The Veteran
Orders "Wedge Attack" and "Blitz Attack" are not really that good
(although Blitz does allow you to ignore all enemy zones of control for
one move, allowing you to circle and flank at your leisure). The extra
Action points help a little, and so does the extra attack and move at 100%
does also help. But in my opinion, it is not worth the extra slow that
the Leader will occupy. E.g., Three Rank 7 tank officers will do more
damage than two Rank 10 officers.
Recon: Don't bother upgrading your Recon Leaders beyond Rank 7. The Veteran
Orders "Forward Observer" and "Probe Attack" are pretty much hopeless.
You won't need the extra Action Point either since most Recon units
(except for the most advanced German ones) are hopeless in combat.
It's simply not worth the extra slot that the Leader will occupy.
Actually, you will probably want to leave all your Recon leaders at
Rank 4 because all Recon units have the Recon Move ability (first move
is free), so even Rank 4 Recon units can keep up with Rank 7-10 tanks.
Anti-Tank: Upgrading your Anti-Tank Leaders up to Rank 10 definately has its
benifits. The Veteran Orders "Preperation" and "Fire Brigade" are
definately worth having (although you may find the latter hard to
use if you blitzkreig all your enemies with your high leveled
Leaders in one turn).
Artillery: Consider upgrading your Artillery Leaders to Rank 10. The Veteran
Orders that you will receive are both extremely powerful (especially
Bombard), but they cost double ammo per attack (not a problem if
you set "Unlimited Ammo" at the start of any campaign). Nonetheless,
you can always use extra Slots you keep from not promoting to enlist
even more Artillery units, but you should still try to reach Rank 7
as a minimum (so that you can move, deploy and fire the max number
of shots in one turn).
Anti-Aircraft: Don't bother upgrading your Anti-Aircraft Leaders beyond Rank 7.
The Veteran Orders are decent, at best, but I prefer to use the
extra Slots to send more units into battle.
Fighter: I personally advise against even using any Fighters in your army, but
if you must, I would suggest that you do not upgrade your Fighter
Leaders beyond Rank 7. You will need at least Rank 7 if you plan on
escorting Bombers since Fighters move slower than your Bombers. The
higher rank Veteran Orders are almost useless for Fighter Leaders.
Spend the slots on putting more Leaders in the field instead.
Bomber: Don't bother upgrading your Bomber Leaders beyond Rank 7. The Veteran
Orders are decent, at best, but I prefer to use the extra Slots to send
more units into battle.
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3.5) Listing of All Leader Specials
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Class Specific:
The first Leader Special acquired by any officer is decided by his class.
All officers of the same class will always acquire the same first Leader
Special. Please see sections 5.2-12.2 for detailed descriptions on these
Leader Specials. These specials are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars (5 being
the best).
Infantry : Tactician (*****)
Forces all adjacent attacks by/on the infantry unit to be Hand To Hand
(close assaults). This is very powerful, you can easily turn the tide to
your advantage with this power. Usually, an infantry unit would get
decimated fighting tanks in an open field. With this power, you can actually
easily take tanks down with minimal damage to your infantry units.
Tank : Maneuver (***)
You get a +1 movement on any tank (+1 hex range). Typically, tanks have
4 movement, so this equates to a 25% increase.
Anti-Tank : Positioning (****)
When you issue an Entrenchment order, you automatically entrench to maximum
level (3). This essentially saves you 3 turns. You can easily use this
power to move into a newly captured city and defend it at maximum level in
one order. One trick I use is to use this ability offensively by moving
next to an armored target, entrenching and immediately attacking in the same
turn to drastically reduce my casualties.
Artillery : Expert Support (****)
This unit will automatically fire an additional support fire. Very useful
when defending.
Air Defense: Sharpshooter (****)
Increases attack range of this unit by +1. This helps you attack more enemy
aircraft without having to waste Action Points moving to position yourself.
This is very good if you are using towed anti-aircraft: you don't want to have
to tow your unit closer and then wasting an Action Point dismounting.
Recon : Force Recon (***)
You get +1 Sighting Range. Since Recon units typically have a 4 spotting
range, this equates to a 25% gain, which is not bad.
Fighter : Hawkeyes (**)
You get +1 Sighting Range. I don't usually use Fighter units as recon units
because their vulnerability to Anti-Aircraft and other Fighter units, but a
+1 is still a big deal.
Bomber : All Weather (****)
This ability allows you to attack in any weather. This is *very* good beause
weather is rather unpreditable in this game. Note that if weather is bad,
you will make attacks at half strength. This is bad, but still better than
not being able to attack at all.
General:
The second Leader Special acquired by any offier is completely random and
is selected from the following list at random when the officer is first
recruited. (I.e., no amount of reloading will change which medal you
obtain when you level the officer up to Rank 8.)
Aggressive Attack (***): Your attacks will be more effective. You will
inflict more damage and receive less casualties.
Though it only seems to increase your results by
a small number, every little bit helps.
Determined Defense (**): You will inflict more damage and receive less
casualties when defending. I am not a big fan of
defending, but this is still a good power
nonetheless. Though it only seems to increase your
results by a small number, every little bit helps.
Sixth Sense (***): You never get ambushed and you ignore reserve fire. This
is good when you do not have a Recon unit available or
your Recon unit got destroyed.
First Strike (****): You always strike first in battle, unless the enemy
officer has the same special. Enough said.
Resilience (****): Your unit received less casualties and your firing/move
attributes are more difficult to damage. Well, since you
will almost always be taking some form of damage in each
mission, this power will definately come in handy.
Influence (****): Your unit has more strength than normally (i.e., you have
more troops in your unit). This means that you can deal
more damage and receive more damage before your unit is
destroyed.
Fire Discipline (***): You use up ammunition at half the normal rate. This is
good for units like Artillery who normally have very
few shots and their veteran orders cost even more ammo.
Ground Taker (*): Your unit will cause more retreats than usual. This is a
horrible power since as long as you are in an adjacent hex
to an enemy, he cannot repair and resupply. If you cause a
retreat and you cannot chase after him, on his turn he will
repair and come back to full strength!
Mountaineer (**): This ability reduces the penalties for moving through bad
terrain. It also gives you a bonus for fighting uphill
battles (normally, you would get a penalty).
Blizter (***): Gives the unit the ability to Overrun (as per Tank units).
Basically allows you to destroy weak units without using any
Action Points.
Assaulter (**): Units acts as if it were Close Supported by infantry (i.e.,
when an infantry unit is beside it). Basically allows the
unit to ignore Hand To Hand combat, where more units are
penalized.
Maneuver (**): Increases unit's movement rate by 1. Every bit helps.
Skilled Recon (*): Increases spotting range.
Recon Move (****): First move is free (at no Action Point cost). Useful for
Bomber and Artillery units.
Tank Hunter (**): Boost attack and defense of the unit when fighting Tanks.
(For air units only)
Street Fighter (**): Increases unit's effectiveness in Hand To Hand combat.
Overwhelming Attack (***): Any suppression damage dealt by this unit causes
equipment damage.
Infiltrator (***): Unit ignores enemy zones of control. (I.e., comlete
freedome of movement.) Useful for agility, circling and
flanking.
Camouflage Expert (*): Makes unit harder to spot.
Ferocious Defender (**): Unit automatically entrenches to maximum level in a
single Entrench order. Useful for Infantry.
Overwatch (****): This Leader's Unit will always provide support fire for any
friendly adjacent unit (if the enemy is within range).
Devastating Fire (*****): Each of this Leader's attacks are at full effect.
(Normally, each shot after the first loses 25%
effectiveness.)
River Assaulter (**): No penalty for attacking from a river and reduced
movement cost to traverse a river.
Shock Tactics (**): Unit does long term suppression as Artillery. (I.e., any
suppression caused by unit will remain until end of turn.)
Quartermaster (**): Your Strength attribute does not decrease by one for every
refit command issued after the first. If you play with
the Enhanced Refit difficulty setting, this Leader Special
is rather useless, very useful otherwise.
Sharpshooter (*****): All this Leader's attacks are considered long range (like
Artillery) and his ranged attacks are at full Strength
(not at the usual half Strength). I never got this Leader
Special, but if it's as good as it sounds, it basically
means that the enemy will never retaliate against this
unit when it attacks.
Smart Gambler (***): Battle estimates will never be wrong: you will either
do/receive that much damage or you may even do better than
the battle projections.
Skirmisher (***): Reduces the overall effectiveness of enemy fire.
Fast Assaulter (***): Allows this Infantry unit to avoid support fire. (Immune
to support fire from Artillery and all other support
orders/units.) Very good for taking cities, even if they
are defended with Artillery.
Liberator (*): Kinda hopeless. You only get double the victory points if this
Leader captures a city. I don't know what victory points are
used for other than high scores.
Supply Training (**): +4 ammo is definately useful for low ammo count units
like Artillery. But then again, if you play with the
Unlimited Ammo difficulty setting, this Leader Special
is rather useless.
Survivor (**): Guarantees that if your Leader's unit is destroyed, the Leader
will return to your headquarters at the beginning of the next
mission.
Night Drop (**): Paradropping Infantry cannot be fired upon by enemy ground
units in transit.
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4) UNIT-OFFICER CLASS INFORMATION
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(Under construction)
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5) INFANTRY UNITS
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General Info:
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Infantry units are short moving, slow firing, multipurpose and versatile
units. Infantry units equipment specials like Air Drop are very powerful.
Infantry units must load onto trucks to move around. Unlike towed units,
infantry units automatically disembark after each move at no action point
cost. This does not, however, make them very vulnerable against ambushes in
transit. If you are ambushed in transit, you will defend with the truck's
armor rating (which can be devastating) and you will not be able to retaliate
against the attack.
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Upgrade Potential:
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(NONE) Infantry units have *no* upgrade potential. Each country has 4 or 5
different infantry types which are usually all available at the start of the
game. There is no new prototype infantries that become available later in the
game. This does *not* mean that infantry units become obselete versus
advanced Tiger tanks. High level officers can make the Infantry unit precious
all the way to the end of the game. American Rangers are probably the more
powerful and versatile unit.
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Unit Specific Abilities
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All Infantry units have the following abilities:
-Infinite Ammunition: Infantry units never run out of ammunition. Having many
low ammunition units will definately slow you down.
-Entrenchment: Infantry units can entrench up to three times. At the highest
level, any attacks made against the unit are considered Hand
To Hand (which is devastating against all but Infantry units).
-Close Support: (aka Combined Assault) Any unit standing adjacent to the
Infantry unit avoid Hand To Hand engagements. This is one
of the effective ways of dealing with fully entrenched enemy
Infantry units in cities. Use Tanks positioned next to
Infantry units to take cities. (You'll notice that your Tank's
combat odds skyrocket when supported by Infantry.)
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Useful Optional Unit Abilities
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Some Infantry units have one or more of the following abilities:
-Air Drop: Very cheap. When starting a scenario, always start your infantry
units on friendly airfields. Using this command, you can literaly
move your infantry *anywhere* within a 18 hex radius for the cost
of only 1 move! Use this to get behind enemy lines and capture key
positions/cities in a single turn.
-Air Transport: Only really useful to move infantry from your starting point to
cities in the front lines that you have just captured. (But
then again, if you have strong infantry units, you would have
probably already used them to capture those front line cities!)
-All Terrain: An awesome ability, but very few infantry units have this. Not
actually listed as an ability, but the unit's "number of moves per
turn" icon will look like an Alpine Skiier. Allows the infantry
to move across rough terrain very easily. Compensates for the
fact that infantry can only move a maximum of 3 times per turn.
Will help the unit keep up with your other mechanized units.
-Combat Engineer: Allow the infantry to ignore enemy entrenchment. I don't
really know if it really works or not.
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Unit Summary and Strategies
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ADVANTAGES:
-Infinite Ammunition.
-Many unique and powerful abilities (Paradrop, Close Support).
-The only "towed" unit (i.e., travels in trucks) that unload automatically
after each move. Unit will never end its turn inside a transport truck.
DISADVANTAGES:
-Limited maximum number of attacks per turn (3-4).
-Limited maximum number of moves per turn (3). (Very hard to chase
retreating enemies down before they can refit.)
-Most Infantry move in wheeled trucks (although some are tracked and some even
have all terrain ("alpine skiier" icon).
-Attack range always limited to 1 hex.
-Powerful Infantry units (Rangers, etc.) are very rare and very hard to
acquire, you normally only start with one copy of your army's most powerful
unit and never acquire more.
FUNCTIONS:
-City Defender: All your attacks from inside a city are close assaults. This
devastating against all unit types (except other Infantry). You will notice
that the enemy uses this strategy too, since almost all of his cities are
defended by Infantry.
-Tactical Assaults: Use the Paradrop ability. You can drop *anywhere* within
18 hexes of an airport. This is an incredible amount of range, allowing you
to drop deep behind enemy lines and to capture another airport (and end your
turn on it). Thus, on your next turn, you can Paradrop again and repeat
this maneuver to literally go anywhere on the map and capture all key
strategic targets in *very* few turns! Just beware of enemy Anti-Aircraft
and Fighter units when you select a destination for a Paradrop.
-City Attacker: Use the Close Support ability along with Tanks to negate enemy
entrechments. If you have the Veteran Order "Surprise Attack"), you will
notice that you will cause riddiculous casualties (and take very few
yourself) when engaging any enemy!
STRATEGY:
-Don't be fooled by the low statistics of all Infantry units: these units are
as powerful as any King Tiger Tank, when led by a high rank officer (8-10).
-It's harder to tell what type of movement (wheeled, tracked or alpine)
the Infantry unit uses because it is not reflected in their animations.
To find out what type your Infantry have, right click on the unit to bring
up the information screen. Look carefully at the pictures in the top right
two bars which indicate maximum number of attacks/movement. Truck picture
indicates wheeled, tank picture indicates tracked, and a skiier indicates
alpine (aka All Terrain).
-Infantry should be used as tactical support and should never replace the other
unit classes. Optimally, you should have from one to three Infantry units
in your army.
-Until you get the first Leader Special (Medal) "Tactician", you should *never*
engage enemy armor on an open field: you will always sustain more casulties
than you cause.
-Always start an Infantry unit (with the Paradrop ability) on an airfield and
another inside your main city (to defend it). The former will allow you to
instantly fly up to 18 hexes and capture key targets in your first turn.
The latter will prove to be a very difficult unit to destroy (making sure
that the enemy never wins against you by simply waltzing into your main
city while you were not paying attention).
-Always try to end your turn in an airfield (if you have the Paradrop ability).
This will increase your tactical options on the following turn.
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6) TANK UNITS
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General Info:
---------------------------
Tank units are fast moving, fast shooting weapon platforms that are perfect
for lightning assaults. They perform best in open terrain.
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Upgrade Potential:
---------------------------
(GOOD) Future tank models will have much higher soft/hard attack ratings,
defense, and movement. Many of the later tank models even have a decent Air
Defense ratings! Moreover, future prototypes will be long range (attack range
of two (2)). This will allow you to fire without fear of retaliation on
shorter-range units. Just remember that because this unit is not Artillery,
so long range attacks will only be at half strength.
---------------------------
Unit Specific Abilities
---------------------------
All Tank units have the following abilities:
-Overrun: Incredible ability to mop up weak enemies. Normally, the computer
will attempt to flee if his units are weak to refit them. Prevent
him at all costs from doing so by using this ability. Basically, it
allows you to attack crippled units for free (no Action Point cost).
----------------------------------
Useful Optional Unit Abilities
----------------------------------
(None)
----------------------------------
Unit Summary and Strategies
----------------------------------
ADVANTAGES:
-Very high maximum number of attacks per turn (usually 6+).
-Very high maximum number of moves per turn (usually 6+).
-Late in the game, Tanks will be able to fire up to 2 hexes. Note that firing
2 hex distance will effectively halve your attack strength.
DISADVANTAGES:
-Vulnerable in Hand To Hand combat and against air units.
FUNCTION:
-Blitzkrieg: Use your units to soften enemy units as much as you can, then
send in a last Tank and use its Overrun ability as often as you can. This
way, you not only guarantee that the enemy won't run away and refit on his
turn, you also save yourself time (since you get each of the "killing
blows" for free).
-City Softener: Although Tanks are almost hopeless when attacking cities from
a 1 hex distance (especially when those cities are guarded by Infantry),
using the more advanced Tanks later in the game to shell a city from a 2
hex distance will destroy defending Infantry without retalliation. You
will normally only do 1-2 damage per attack though, so this is not too
effective.
STRATEGY:
(Under construction)
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7) ANTI-TANK UNITS
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---------------------------
General Info:
---------------------------
Anti Tank units come in many flavors: short range, long range, towed or
self-propelled. They specialize in attacking hard targets (tanks and
other heavy equipment) and do not fair as well against soft targets (infantry
and trucks).
Towed units are extremely difficult to use because they are stationary and
must load themselves into a truck to move. Loading into a truck is a free
action, but unloading from a truck costs one action point. This can be very
expensive when you only have low level officers (who have very few action
points). Also, if you are ambushed while transporting a towed unit, the truck
will come under fire (you will defend with the truck's armor rating) and you
will not be able to retaliate.
---------------------------
Upgrade Potential:
---------------------------
(VERY GOOD) At the start of the game, the only Anti-Tank units that will be
available are the short-range towed kind. Future prototypes will give you
access to self-propelled (tracked) long range models. Tracks are good because
they are all-terrain. Long range will allow you to fire without fear of
retaliation on shorter-range units. Just remember that because this unit is
not Artillery long range attacks will one be at half strength.
High level officers and advanced prototypes will enjoy a lot of success
because of a combination of excellent defense, mobility and offence.
---------------------------
Unit Specific Abilities
---------------------------
All Anti-Tank units have the following abilities:
-Entrenchment: Anti-Tank units can also entrench up to three times. Upon
reaching maximum level of entrenchment, the unit gets the
First Strike ability.
----------------------------------
Useful Optional Unit Abilities
----------------------------------
(None)
----------------------------------
Unit Summary and Strategies
----------------------------------
ADVANTAGES:
-Late in the game, Anti-Tanks will be able to fire up to 2 hexes. Note that
firing 2 hex distance will effectively halve your attack strength.
DISADVANTAGES:
-Less effective against Infantry unit.
-Towed Anti-Tank units move slowly.
FUNCTION:
-City Defender: Like Infantry, the Anti-Tank unit is a great unit to use to
defend your cities because of its entrenchment ability.
STRATEGY:
-Towed or Self-Propelled? For Anti-Tank units, the later models are all
self-propelled and tracked. This is a great advantage, but in the
beginning of the game, you will probably only have towed units. You might
consider towed Anti-Tank guns at the beginning of the game because they
will almost certainly have a firing range of up to 2 hexes (allowing you to
fire from a safe range, without fear of retaliation). Nonetheless, the
towed models have huge disadvantages because of their limited number of
moves per turn and the fact that their trucks are wheeled. Also, be
careful when ending your turn inside a truck: if you get attacked, you
will suffer a huge defence penalty and you will not be able to retaliate.
==============================================================================
8) ARTILLERY UNITS
==============================================================================
---------------------------
General Info:
---------------------------
Artillery units are very long range units (usually their maximum range is 3
to 5 hexes) that specialize in destroying soft targets. They are especially
good at destroying unentrenched infantry and other artillery units. Note that
firing at enemy artillery does not cause any retaliation. Artillery units
also produce suppression (lowering a unit's strength temporarily for one
turn). This feature is especially useful when taking out tanks. Although
tanks are heavily armored and will take little damage from Artillery, you can
still suppression fire on it to give other units an easier time to destroy it.
---------------------------
Upgrade Potential:
---------------------------
(GOOD) At the beginning of the game, most Artillery units will be towed, but
near the end of the game, you will get access to many self-propelled models.
---------------------------
Unit Specific Abilities
---------------------------
All Artillery types have the following abilities:
-Long Range: Unit attacks at long range at full strength without fear of
retaliation.
-Long Term Suppression: Any suppression caused by this unit's attacks last
until the end of the turn. Effectively, you can
shell any unit until all its strength is suppressed.
Suppressed figures in a unit will not attack or
defend themselves.
----------------------------------
Useful Optional Unit Abilities
----------------------------------
(None)
----------------------------------
Unit Summary and Strategies
----------------------------------
ADVANTAGES:
-Never face any retaliation against unit's attacks.
-Long term suppression to soften up targets.
DISADVANTAGES:
-Limited maximum number of attacks per turn (3 for the more powerful Artillery
units).
FUNCTION:
-Tactical Support: Use Artillery to first soften up any targets you want to
attack. Spot targets with Recon units, soften them up with Artillery and
finish them off with Tanks. Very useful against Infantry and Artillery.
STRATEGY:
-Towed or Self-Propelled? For Artillery units, both types have similar attack
strength. Therefore, I would suggest that you *always* go with
self-propelled Artillery models. Towed Artillery is a big hassle because
you must waste an action dismounting from the truck before being able to
fire. I have also noted that self-propelled types have a much higher
maximum number of moves per turn. Moreover, most self-propelled Artillery
are tracked, whereas towed Artillery are always wheeled. Using tracked
units will definately increase the flexibility of your attacks. Also, for
towed units, be careful when ending your turn inside a truck: if you get
attacked, you will suffer a huge defence penalty and you will not be able
to retaliate.
==============================================================================
9) AIR DEFENSE UNITS
==============================================================================
---------------------------
General Info:
---------------------------
Air Defense units are used to down enemy planes.
---------------------------
Upgrade Potential:
---------------------------
(GOOD) As other mechanized units, later models have better statistics across
the board.
---------------------------
Unit Specific Abilities
---------------------------
All Air Defense types have the following abilities:
----------------------------------
Useful Optional Unit Abilities
----------------------------------
(None)
----------------------------------
Unit Summary and Strategies
----------------------------------
ADVANTAGES:
-Attacks air units without fear of retaliation. (Awesome!)
DISADVANTAGES:
-Useless against ground units. Vulnerable to attacks from both air and
ground units.
FUNCTION:
-Destroy Enemy Airforce: Use Air Defense units to cripple the enemy airforce,
either defensively or offensively. Leave them behind your main force, but
be prepared when the computer AI tries to rush you with lots of Bombers.
Use them offensively by racing up to an enemy airport and shooting down all
the planes there before they can even act, then send in the paratroopers
to clean up the mess!
STRATEGY:
-Towed or Self-Propelled? For Anti-Aircraft units, I have noted that the
towed models almost always have much higher Air Attack ratings. Ignore
the self-propelled models because later in the game, they might be too weak
to even injure enemy aircraft! Towed Anti-Aircraft is definately a big
hassle because you must waste an action dismounting from the truck before
being able to fire. Note that all towed units are wheeled. Also, be
careful when ending your turn inside a truck: if you get attacked, you will
suffer a huge defence penalty and you will not be able to retaliate.
-Ignore models that have high Hard and/or Soft attack ratings. Focus purely
on the Air Attack ability. Air Defense units can only attack ground units
if they use their third Veteran Order, and even so, they can only do so
once per turn.
-Always have at least 2-3 high ranked (no more than 7 ranks) Anti-Aircraft
officers. Later in the game in most campaigns, the computer AI will
usually group up 5-10 planes together and will try to rush you. With that
many Anti-Aircraft, you might be able to destroy a few, but try to
concentrate on weakening/crippling all enemy planes. The computer AI will
*never* attack with a weak plane; he will always retreat to the nearest
airfield to refit. Focus on enemy Bombers first: they are the biggest
threat. With the more powerful towed guns, you can easily do 7+ damage per
hit.
-When expecting enemy aircraft to attack, remember to always end your turn
dismounted (if the unit is towed).
==============================================================================
10) RECON UNITS
==============================================================================
---------------------------
General Info:
---------------------------
Recon units are very fast moving, agile units. They are also hopeless in
combat and all efforts should be made to keep them out of harm's way. Recon
units are also *absolutely crucial* to any army because of their ability to
see hidden units. Running into hidden units triggers an ambush, which can
easily cripple your unit and preventing you from retaliating. Also, Recon
units have the ability to mask your units from the eyes of your enemy (making
ambushes much easier to perform).
---------------------------
Upgrade Potential:
---------------------------
(BAD) Future Recon models have higher stats, but they are still not able to
stand toe-to-toe against other main units like tanks. The only stats that
should preoccupy you are sight range and movement speed.
---------------------------
Unit Specific Abilities
---------------------------
All Recon types have the following abilities:
-Recon Move: This unit's first move is always free!
----------------------------------
Useful Optional Unit Abilities
----------------------------------
(None)
----------------------------------
Unit Summary and Strategies
----------------------------------
ADVANTAGES:
-Spot hidden enemy units. Allows you to find hidden support (Artillery,
Air Defense, Bombers) units so you can destroy them all before tackling
the core units.
-Mask your units. Helps you hide from the enemy. Will help you ambush
enemy units.
DISADVANTAGES:
-Useless in combat.
FUNCTION:
-Spotter: Always move your Recon unit first to reveal all enemies and then you
can decide on how to tackle the problem. It's most important to take out
all enemy Artillery first because they can support their own units.
STRATEGY:
-Tracked or Wheeled? Always choose tracked Recon units, if possible. Tracked
units are all terrain, while wheeled units have to always stay on roads (a
big disadvantage). Also note that tracked units still move at the same rate
as their wheeled counterparts.
-Always have at least 1 Recon unit per group. Never send other units walking
around "blindly" because you will almost certainly get ambushed by hidden
and/or screened (i.e., hidden by enemy Recon units) units. Without a good
Recon unit, you will likely miss enemies that are standing too far from
your main force.
-Use the Veteran Order "Retrograde" (Rank 5+) if the enemy keeps targetting
your Recon units. This will render the enemy's first attack useless.
==============================================================================
11) FIGHTER UNITS
==============================================================================
---------------------------
General Info:
---------------------------
Fighter units are basically hopeless in this game. They do not move as far
per move action as bombers, and they are vulnerable to both enemy fighters and
air defense units. They do next to no damage against ground units and only
fair damage against air units. Air defense units can fire freely at them
without retaliation, while enemy fighters will often match your fighters pound
for pound. This basically amounts to mutual destruction, or both your planes
returned to an airfield for repairs. Your fighters will even take damage when
engaging enemy bombers! You are better off using your own air defense units
to take down enemy planes (without fear of retaliation).
---------------------------
Upgrade Potential:
---------------------------
(BAD) Though later in the game jet powered fighters become available, I
still do not see a big difference in combat potential. Jet planes will still
be taken down by propeller planes and they do not fair any better against
ground units.
---------------------------
Unit Specific Abilities
---------------------------
All Fighter types have the following abilities:
-Interception: If any plane attacks a Bomber that your Fighter is escorting
(leave your Fighter in an adjacent hex to your Bomber), your
Fighter will automatically engage that enemy, leaving your
Bomber unscratched.
-Flying: All flying units can move freely anywhere they want, unimpeded by
terrain effects. Flying units negate higher ground bonuses from
ground units since they fly.
-Affected by Weather: This is actually a penalty. In bad weather, this unit
type cannot attack, unless the associated officer has
the Leader Special "All Weather" (in which case, the
unit attacks at half strength).
----------------------------------
Useful Optional Unit Abilities
----------------------------------
(None)
----------------------------------
Unit Summary and Strategies
----------------------------------
ADVANTAGES:
-Unit flies, so it ignores all units except Air Defense and other Fighters.
Can be used to scout (although sight range of Fighters is limited).
-Protects bomber units.
DISADVANTAGES:
-Useless against ground units.
-Gets damaged by Air Defense, Fighters, and Bombers (when you attack them).
-Less movement range than Bombers.
FUNCTION:
-Protect Bombers: Any Fighters who want to attack you Bombers must first go
through your Fighters. Note that Air Defense units can attack any air
unit, irrelevant of wether or not they are escorted by Fighters.
STRATEGY:
-My opinion? Don't use Fighters: they are useless. If you want to protect
your Bombers, use Air Defense (Anti-Aircraft) units, since they can get
free shots at enemy planes trying to attack your units (both land and air)
and the enemy planes cannot retaliate against them.
==============================================================================
12) BOMBER UNITS
==============================================================================
---------------------------
General Info:
---------------------------
Bombers move fast and far. Unfortunately, they often can only attack 2 to 4
times per turn. Their attacks produce suppression, much like artillery units.
Bombers are especially vulnerable to enemy Air Defense and Fighter units. Air
defense units can retaliate against your bombers when you attack any enemy
unit in their range.
Remember that Bombers cannot attack in bad weather unless the commanding
officer has his first Leader Special "All Weather" (but even then, your attack
is only at half strength).
---------------------------
Upgrade Potential:
---------------------------
(DECENT) During the course of the war, you will get different prototypes.
Some specialize in soft targets (infantry, trucks) and other specialize in
hard targets (tanks, heavy equipment). I would suggest looking for models
which can attack as often per turn as possible.
---------------------------
Unit Specific Abilities
---------------------------
All Bomber units have the following abilities:
-Long Term Suppression: As Artillery units, any suppression caused by Bomber
units last until end of turn.
-Flying: All flying units can move freely anywhere they want, unimpeded by
terrain effects. Flying units negate higher ground bonuses from
ground units since they fly.
-Affected by Weather: This is actually a penalty. In bad weather, this unit
type cannot attack, unless the associated officer has
the Leader Special "All Weather" (in which case, the
unit attacks at half strength).
----------------------------------
Useful Optional Unit Abilities
----------------------------------
(None)
----------------------------------
Unit Summary and Strategies
----------------------------------
ADVANTAGES:
-Fast momement and ignores enemy ground zones of control (so you can fly
straight for enemy Artillery behind enemy lines unimpeded).
-Effective against both hard (tanks) and soft (infantry) targets.
DISADVANTAGES:
-Limited maximum number of attacks per turn (3 for most Bomber units).
-Vulnerable to attacks (from Air Defense and Fighters).
FUNCTION:
-Tactical Support: Use Bomber units like you would Artillery. Move them in
before your main force to first soften up any targets you want to attack.
Spot targets with Recon units, soften them up with Bombers and finish them
off with Tanks. Very useful against Infantry and Artillery.
STRATEGY:
-Unimpeded Ground Attack: Since ground units normally move slowly, use Bomber
units to create a blitzrieg. By crippling enemy units right before your
main force arrives, you can plow through the enemy at full steam. This
way, you won't waste your ground units' turns to soften the enemy up.
-Try to get as many Bombers as possible, they have a definate advantage since
most ground units have low Air Defense ratings and most cannot retaliate
against air strikes. Always remember, though, to guard your Bomber
squadrons with some/many Anti-Aircraft (enemy Fighters can be annoying).
-Use some Recon units to reveal enemy positions before sending your Bombers.
-Despite the fact that planes do not need to refuel, don't bother sending your
Bombers deep behind enemy lines: they will not have air cover from your
Anti-Aircraft units, they will be more exposed to enemy Anti-Aircraft and
Fighter units. Moreover, enemy units can refit if they are not adjacent to
one of your ground units. Also only ground units can capture cities.
-Be careful of nearby enemy Fighter and nearby Anti-Aircraft units. Every
time you attack a ground unit, they will get a "free" attack on you (you
will not retaliate against this attack).
==============================================================================
A) CHEAP TRICKS
==============================================================================
The following are not cheats, per se. But they exploit the game's mechanics,
making them quite cheap.
----------------------------------------------------
1) Getting superior starting officers
----------------------------------------------------
This trick works especially well for the German campaigns, since they
consitently start with above average officers. Basically, all you have to do
is to start the game, review the officers that you are given. If you don't
like them, just quit and restart.
Sounds simple, but you can easily get your hands on Rank 7 officers and/or
max medals (i.e., 2 medals). Be careful, if you get officers that are too high
ranked, you might not even be able to use them in the first mission because of
the limited Slots that you are allocated!
----------------------------------------------------
2) Attacking Fully Entrenched Cities
----------------------------------------------------
Taking over enemy cities when they are defended by fully entrenched infantry
can be tough. Sending in your infantry will certain cause equal number of
casualties on both sides. Sending in your armor is suicide. Artillery has
less of an effect against fully entrenched infantry. The solution is to use the
Close Support ability that all infantry units have. Simply move you infantry in
an adjacent square to the enemy city and leave the unit there. Then move in an
armor unit (tank or anti-tank) in an adjacent square to your infantry unit.
Then attack away!
----------------------------------------------------
3) Triple Artillery Threat
----------------------------------------------------
You can actually use Artillery units to protect other Artillery units. This is
great if you are caught in a jam and/or accidentally leave your Artillery units
exposed to enemy fire. I call this maneuver Triple Threat because if you use
three or more Artillery units in concert, you can use their Support Fire when
an enemy tries to attack you to almost certainly destroy any enemy groups
before they even get a chance to actually follow through with the attack
(assuming you destroy any other enemy Artillery since you cannot Support Fire
against Artillery).
Also note that multiple Artillery units can actually provide Support Fire to a
single unit. This is actually very cheap since Support Fire is calculated
*before* any combat takes place (meaning that if you have enough defending
Artillery, you can actually destroy an attacking enemy unit before he even
fires a shot!).
If you run into lots of opposition, remember to get the first medal for
Artillery Officers "Expert Support" and remember to use the Veteran Artillery
Orders "Plot Artillery" and "Accurate Plotting". This will ensure that all
your Artillery units have extra Support Fire to cover friendly units.
----------------------------------------------------
4) Bombers vs Ground Units / Anti-Air vs Air Units
----------------------------------------------------
This may sound obvious to you, but it is crutial that you exploit this feature
of these two units. Using a large number of Bombers in a coordinated attack,
you can easily destroy and/or neutralize all enemy ground units with minimal
resistance (only few Infantry and Tanks have anti-air ability [and the ones
that do only have 1 to 2 Air Attack rating], none of the other ground units can
retaliate against air attacks), whereas if you stand off against a Tank with
one of your own Tanks, chances are that you will take significant casualties
(forcing you to resupply/refit often).
The same can be said about Anti-Air units. I would avoid sending Fighter units
against enemy Fighters because you will both take casualties. Using Anti-Air
units, you can fire at any enemy plane unhindered. If you have two or three
high ranked (i.e., 7+) Anti-Air officers, you can easily decimate an entire
enemy air force in one turn! If you use Anti-Air units intelligently, you can
even use them to protect your attacking Bombers from enemy Fighters. Just
remember to position your Anti-Air near your Bombers and save a couple of Action
Points to provide cover to your planes.
----------------------------------------------------
5) Combined Assault
----------------------------------------------------
This is the main strategy that I use against fully entrenched enemy targets. By
"fully", I mean the enemy has every possible unit type at his disposal to defend
a given city. Of course, this is a worse case scenario, but it's just to give
you an idea on how to proceed against a seemingly invincible enemy. The key
steps are to neutralize all his Artillery and Anti-Air units so that he cannot
get "free" shots at your grunt units (Infantry, Tanks, Anti-Tanks, and Bombers).
a) Send in a Recon unit and use the Veteran Recon Order "Recon Patrol" to
reveal any hidden units.
b) Send in Artillery unit(s) and neutralize all enemy Anti-Air units (until
they are fully suppressed or destroyed).
c) Send in Anti-Air units and destroy and neutralize all enemy Fighters.
d) Send in Bomber units and destroy all enemy Artillery.
e) Mop up all remaining enemies with conventional units (Infantry, Tanks,
Anti-Tanks).
==============================================================================
B) FUTURE CONTRIBUTORS
==============================================================================
Should you have any extra insight into this wonderful game or if you feel as
though I have made any serious mistakes, please feel free to e-mail me. Since
this is a rather outdated game, please do not e-mail me for trivial matters.
This includes, but is not limited to: asking me how I feel about the game, any
spelling mistakes that I have made, why you think this game rocks/sucks.
Question and inquiries are always welcome, though.
==============================================================================
C) THANKS
==============================================================================
I would like to thank SSI for creating this wonderful game.
