Try to remember to use the pause, order, go, tactic, = Pause, issue orders,
Un-pause, as this can be very useful when you have to give lots of orders to
masses units scattered over the map or while you are under attack.
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Supply truck Tips -
First thing to do is select one of your supply trucks, then either click on
pontoon bridge, or use Hotkey D.
This will show you the area's where you AND the enemy can build pontoon bridges, that you might need to keep an eye on, especially if they can be built near your base.
Supply trucks can be trained by making them supply each other, but they need
to use some of their supplies first, like repairing tanks.
Destroy any enemy supply trucks you come across, because as you know they are
a really big drain on ammo supplies, so the more you take out the quicker the
chance that the enemy Howitzer fire will slow down.
Make sure you leave a couple of units opposite the enemy pontoon, so that if
any supply trucks come up to repair it, you can take them out and so weaken
the ammo supplies to enemy units, as well as destroying valuable supply trucks
at the same time.
Always put your supply trucks on stand ground and hold fire (Hotkey R & T), this will prevent them from wondering off to repair vehicles during a battle and get destroyed.
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Tip -
When and where possible try to capture everything, Especially the Granatwerfer
(Mortar).
It is a superb weapon to use against tanks, buildings, Infantry, and Bunkers.
To move them, load them in a truck by clicking on the truck then the mortar or MG34.
The truck will pick them up, then send the truck to where you want it put, and use the HotKey S to unload it.
They can be moved either by trucks or ambulances.
But where you normally get 10 troops in truck and 6 in
an ambulance, with mortars and MG34's the number is 5 and 3 respectively.
Here are some tips -
If you have more than one mortar or MG 34 to pick up then -
Using command chains -
--------------------------
When you press and hold the Shift key, all commands for a unit are saved and carried out in sequence. This way you can set waypoints, for instance -
To erect multiple anti-tank obstacles select the maintenance truck, then select the anti-tank obstacles, then hold the Shift key and right-click those places where you want to erect them.
or
For at truck carrying infantry and towing a gun, you can first order the truck to deliver the gun at one point, then drop off a couple of troops in 3 or 4 places then return to base.
Chain command orders -
Listed below is a few more examples that I have used and found this to be a very useful tactic.....
1) There are say 20 assorted guns on the battlefield after a battle which you
can capture and use, draw a box around a group of 40 SMG's, and holding down
the shift (all the time), right click on each gun in succession, and the men
will go off and man each gun in the order you specified.
2) Select a tank or Greyhound APC and holding the shift key down, press the W key and right click on a building, then repeat the process as many times as you want, and watch the tank go off and clear every building you have indicated.
You can clear a whole town this way, also f one shot does not destroy a building the tank will keep firing until that building is destroyed before moving on to the next one or run out of shells.
3) You have one truck and 10 manned guns in the forward battle area that you need to bring back to base for repairs and re-supply, so select the truck and holding down the shift key right click on the first gun, then right click on the base then press the S key, then repeat the whole process.
4) You only have one supply truck and you want to make sure all your AT guns are fully loaded with ammo, so select the supply truck then holding down the shift key right click on each gun in turn and the truck will go off and do your bidding.
5) You have masses of infantry (say 1000) on the battlefield at the beginning of a mission and you want to make sure not to many get wiped out, and you have lots of buildings around the area, press the pause key then select all the units and order the units to stand ground and hold fire (Hot keys R & T) then holding down the shift key right click on each building in turn, then un-pause and watch them go off and fill every building in turn.
6) You want a group of infantry to follow the edge of the map via a route you know is safe without being seen, you select the units then holding down the shift key right click marking the waypoints that you want them to follow, and if they have to go round things like a plateau, click as close to the plateau as many times as you think they need to keep them close to it.
7) You have a sniper team that you want to take out a battery of Howitzers and AT gun crews with, select the sniper then holding down the shift key right click on each gun in turn starting with the one nearest to your man, and the sniper will go off and take out each gun crew in turn, also if it takes more than the normal two shots for a particular gun crew the sniper will keep firing until that gun crew has bee dealt with before moving on to the next one you specified.
8) You want to clear trees to form a killing zone in front of your defenses with a field gun, select the gun and holding down the shift key press the W key and aim at the base of the tree you wnat cleared, then repeat the process again for the next tree and so on until you either clear the area you want or the gun runs out of ammo.
9) You are in pause mode with a mass of tanks coming at your guns, but you want the guns to deal with the ones closest first or in a specific order, so you select each gun in turn and do the same to each one.....
Select the gun and then holding down the shift key press the W key each time and then right click on the tank you want taking out first, then repeat for the next tank and so on, the gun will fire at each tank in turn, and will NOT move onto the next one until that tank has been destroyed.
10) You have one sniper and 4 towers and 3 MG34's to deal with spread over an area close to the enemy lines so you want the sniper to use the cover of the trees to take them out from...
Select the sniper then press the W key and right click on the first target, the right click where you want him to go next, then press the W key and right click on the next target, then right click where you wan the sniper to go next and press the W key and right click on the next target, and just keep repeating the whole process.
You could in the pause mode issue orders to various units to do all the above listed examples, so that when you un-pause they will all go off and do their own thing, leaving you to deal with the more important things that need your attention especially in a mission like the Russian one called Stalingrad.
11) Left click on truck then hold down the shift key while you right click on the first mortar then another then another etc, and so on till you reach a total of 5, the capacity of the truck, then the truck will go off and pick them up in the order that you specified.
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Waypoint Tips -
Do this if mission is paused or not.
To mark waypoints so that your units don't stray to near enemy defenses and you want them to follow a specific route, left click on the unit or draw a box around the units, and holding down the shift key, right click on each place you want them to move to, one after the other until the place where you want them to be, such as if you want them to follow a bendy road etc.
You can also use this method for ordering your units like tanks to patrol an area.
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Howitzer Tips -
By changing the gun crews for experienced units will do these things for you -
Tip #1 -
The howitzers will have 1000 exp which will -
Make the guns reload faster.
Have a greater range.
Have greater accuracy.
Extra survivability.
Moves faster.
More hits per shell fired.
Better LOS (Line Of Sight).
Tip #2 -
Assign number keys to the Howitzers so that you don't have to keep looking for
them when needed for support of the attack teams.
To do this draw a box around the guns, press Ctrl, Alt and the number key, then all you need to do is press the number when needed, then D for Howitzers and right click on the target, it will save time especially if under attack.
Tip #3 -
To fire at a target with out you having to keep doing it manually, click on
the group of guns you want to use, and then press the Hot key D, and hold down
the shift while you click on the target with the right mouse as many times as
you want, but remember the ammo supplies.
Tip -
When using the Howitzer as support for your attack or sniper teams and you see
an enemy tank heading towards the team, aim just in front of the tank in the
direction it is moving and by the time the shell arrives it will be right on
target.
If possible place trucks by the Howitzers so that you can transport them to any place on the map that you want,
If other units need support or if a part of your defense is under attack and needs a rapid response with heavy artillery fire, assigning a key will save you lots of time.
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Some other Tips -
1) Destroy any enemy supply trucks you come across, because as you know they are a really big drain on ammo supplies, so the more you take out the more of a chance that the Howitzer fire will slow down quicker.
2) When and where possible try to capture everything. Especially the Granatwerfer
(Mortar).
It is a superb weapon to use against tanks, buildings, Infantry, and Bunkers.
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Assigning number keys to groups of units -
Assign number keys to the Howitzers, granate Werfers or any other batteries of firepower, can be very useful in lots of situations, so that you don't have to go looking for them when needed for support, a couple of examples are when you are under attack or you need to go on the offensive.
To do this draw a box around the guns, press Ctrl, Alt and the desired number key, then the only thing you need to do is press that key number when that particular group is needed, then press hotkey "D" for Howitzers or hotkey "W" key for Granate Werfers or Pak guns and then right click on the target, it will save time especially if under attack, .
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Training Tips -
Tip #1
Officers - order them to fire at either a heavy tank or building, it will not take long but have a supply truck near by to supply ammo.
It will give them greater LOS (Line Of Sight), make them move faster and harder to kill, also most important if you use them as part of a gun crew, it will make the gun have 1000 experience which will give the gun greater LOS (Line of Sight), killing power, accuracy, and range with every shell fired.
This can be very useful for both Howitzers and captured
guns that are in the front line and you want to have accurate fire in that area.
An instance is if you know tanks are going to attack from that direction.
I have used this tactic time and time again and it has made such a difference that it won me that mission.
Tip #2
2) Snipers - order them to fire at either a heavy tank or building, it will not take long but have a supply truck near by to supply ammo.
It will give them greater LOS (Line Of Sight), make them move faster and harder to kill, also most important they will have greater range when taking out enemy units, it will give greater killing power and accuracy.
Snipers are slow firing but the finished product is well worth the wait, some of the benefits are -
1) Better LOS (Line Of Sight) They see further.
2) Much longer range. They shoot further.
3) Use cover better.
4) Don't get wounded as quick.
5) They heal quicker.
6) Reload quicker.
7) More hits per shot fired.
Plus other abilities that make the unit superior to the others, except for the
officers wider LOS (Line Of Sight).
Tip #3
Riflemen - To raise the Experience points on Riflemen and snipers, get them to fire at one of your heavy tanks or buildings and leave them doing this with a supply truck close by to keep reloading them, while you go off and do something else on the map.
It will give them greater LOS (Line Of Sight), make them
move faster and harder to kill, also most important they will have greater range
when taking out enemy units, it will give them greater killing power and accuracy.
also if you use them as a gun crew, it will make the gun have 1000 experience
which will give the gun greater LOS (Line of Sight), killing power, accuracy
and range with every shell fired.
I trained all my riflemen like this and I must admit it made a hell of a difference when I used them to either take out gun crews and infantry or to man captured guns.
Don't do this with SMG's because they will throw grenades not bullets. Heavy machine gunners (HMG's) can only do this against a really heavy tank, like the Pershing.
Tip #4
Supply trucks - This can be done only in groups of two vehicles, let them supply ammo etc to other units then get each one to supply each other, this will increase their experience very quickly.
It will make the trucks supply ammo and repair units quicker, move faster, greater LOS (Line Of Sight), replenish quicker the supplies used.
Some other units training tips -
Tanks -
Order a gun to fire at each tank, but only one or two shells each time pressing
Hot key C to stop when the health line gets low, then send in a supply truck
to repair it.
Light vehicles -
Use an HMG to fire keeping an eye on the vehicle health, then press C to stop.
SMG's -
Order them to first throw their grenades at a point on the ground well in front
of them making sure that it's not to close, and there are no other units in
the area, then to fire at a building or heavy tank making sure that no supply
trucks supply ammo otherwise they will blow up the building or tank with new
grenades supplied.
HMG's -
Order them to fire at a building or heavy tank, but they do use a lot of ammo
so have a supply truck near.
Trucks and ambulances -
Can be trained by using a small caliber gun, like the Field gun or Pak 37 and
fire one shot at it, then repair and repeat the process.
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Training notes -
You can train Snipers. Officers and riflemen by making them shoot at either
a heavy tank, building, unmanned gun or bunker.
Save before trying this -
You can train any vehicle or gun by shooting at it with
one of your own units, i.e. To train a tank or calliope shoot at it with an
AT gun, but stop after 2 shots by pressing the C key.
Then send in your supply trucks to repair it, then repeat the process over and
over until it gets to 1000 experience.
If you can take out the enemy supply trucks do it, unless they are close to a gun you are trying to capture, because the more you take out the more you slow down the supply of ammo to enemy units and this can at most times give you just the edge you are looking for.
Save before trying this but to see what I mean, send a chaffee/ tank to the northern bridge and force fire a couple of shells at the bridge then wait, and 2 or 3 supply trucks will come and try to repair it, take these out and more will be sent, you can keep doing this and the enemy will keep sending trucks, about 10 in total which must seriously hinder supplies of ammo to units.
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To train AA or Flak trucks, order a gun to fire at it once or twice, watch the
life line (green) and when it gets low, press Hotkey C to stop the gun firing
then send in the supply truck to repair it, then repeat the process over again.
Training these trucks will make them -
Fire more accurate
Shoot down more aircraft,
Reload quicker.
Move faster
Faster reactions.
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Training notes -
Order all the rifle and officer to fire at the tanks in front of them with the supply truck behind, make sure that you don't accidentally order one of the other units to fire as well, then just leave them training.
Check back every now and then to see if everything is O.K., and if any have reached 1000 then pull them back, the officer should be the first to get trained because he fires a lot quicker than the riflemen.
Train the units with the most experience first, then on a sliding scale.
From time to time check the men, because at the start of training they are such poor shots they sometimes shoot each other by accident, if you find any wounded put them in an ambulance for a minute and they will be back to normal.
Empty a couple of trucks and put the trained men into them so they don't get mixed up with other units on the beach.
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Calliope rocket tanks
Tip -
Place the calliope rocket launchers well to the rear, but making sure you know that they can fire well into the fog of war by pressing the D key and see how far the red target cursor will go before it changes into an X.
The red cross means that it is either to close or to far to the target area, a red oval target means that it is in range and a red oval with a green shrinking cross in the middle of the red oval means that it will move into range before firing.
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Tip -
If you don't have any ambulances and you have wounded, then place them in a building, truck or APC and this will stop them from getting any worse.
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Tip -
A lot of vehicles repair themselves when they are fully trained and get damaged, especially heavy tanks.
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Notes -
If you hold your cursor over a unit you will see at the bottom of the screen the name of the unit plus 4 small lines in different colors in this order -
Green = Life - The indicator for how much damage a unit
has sustained.
Purple = Experience - How trained this unit is, usually around 0 - 399, the
best is 1000.
Yellow = Ammunition - The stock of ammunition this unit has left for it's main
weapon.
Yellow = Ammunition - The supplies of the secondary weapon (e.g. Tank = Machine
Gun ammo).
With a supply truck the latter two relate to 1) ammunition stocks (Yellow crates) and 2) materials for repairs etc (Grey crates) that get dropped by aircraft when you get supplied by parachute.
In SSF or SuSt with the SSF patch installed, the Experience
bar will show two bars - one purple, one red.
The purple is the units own experience (the important one).
The red one is only shown when near an officer. this is the bonus experience
which is only temporary while the officer is close by.
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Buildings -
Any buildings that has had the FOW = Fog Of War lifted from them, and if they have fired on your units will if you left click on them twice will all light up to show a green life bar plus if there are any enemy units in them show little green bars on the left of the structure and each of these represents an enemy infantry unit in that building.
Pillboxes -
If a pillbox has been uncovered and you double click on it will show up all others on the screen even if hidden by trees, plus how many infantry units in it.
Guns -
The same principle above can be used for showing up hidden
enemy guns, MG34's or mortars, but instead of showing green lines as it would
for your units, it will show red if they are manned or yellow if un-manned.
The horizontal line = the weapon,
The vertical lines = how many men manning that weapon.
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Combine good visibility and long range
--------------------------
Officers very good LOS (Line Of Sight) and Snipers (Long Range) are an excellent team.
This combination can allow you to take out masses of enemy soldiers and gun crews without losing a single man.
Using cover -
--------------------------
Especially trees, you can get very close to enemy units without being seen, and if the unit is fully trained this can give an added advantage.
Use the shadows of the trees as a guide for cover.
You can also have SMG's sneak up to a house and then throw hand grenades across the house onto a tank on the other side.
Height differences
--------------------------
If you control a plateau, you can see but not be seen from below, so always gain the high ground when possible to give you the advantage.
Occupying watchtowers
--------------------------
Watchtowers strongly increase your units' visibility, especially if occupied by trained officers, snipers and riflemen, so man them because they can give a wide LOS (Line Of Sight) while of use, also they can be very effective against enemy infantry trying to sneak up on you.
Occupying houses
--------------------------
Soldiers in buildings or bunkers can give them excellent cover, an occupied house can also help stop an infantry attack.
However if the enemy starts shelling the structure, it's time to evacuate your men.
Capturing artillery
--------------------------
If possible, capture all enemy guns when possible, using snipers, or riflemen and if they are fully trained they have a much longer range for taking out the gun crews.
but if it is to risky to occupy the gun then leave it till later when things are not so dangerous.
Always leave the enemy guns intact and don't attack them with anything other than riflemen, snipers or vehicles with MG's (Machine Guns).
After disposing of the gun crew, man the guns with your own men, preferably trained ones if the gun is an Howitzer, and use it on it's former owner.
Reconnaissance -
--------------------------
Reconnaissance is everything in Sudden Strike.
Therefore you should deploy single units especially trained infantry such as officers, snipers and riflemen over the your area of the map in order to keep visible as much of the terrain as possible.
They also act as an early warning on that area of the map.
Making use of pause and game speed -
----------------------------------------------------
When the game is paused (pause key) above the cursor keys, you can take your time to have a look around and make plans.
Also to issue orders to multiple units. These units then carry out our orders as soon as you un-pause.
If the game is too fast or too slow, you can set the game speed in the main menu settings.
Repairs and experience
--------------------------
It always pays to repair damaged vehicles using the supply truck.
Damaged units often have plenty of experience, and experience is valuable.
An experienced unit shoots more accurately, sees farther, moves quicker and is harder to hit.
Clearing trees
--------------------------
Trees are a nuisance in many ways, except when using them as cover for your snipers or officers when advancing.
They always block the road, your sight or your target.
Use a quick firing gun such as the 45.0mm field gun or Pak 37 and clear a killing ground in front of your defenses, this combined with a fully trained officer will give you an advantage right from the start.
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Protected transport -
--------------------------
Always transport sniper teams or attack teams to an area in an APC (Armored Personal Carrier), this will not only give these units protection and some fire support, but will also transport them a lot quicker across area's of conflict.
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Facing the enemy -
--------------------
This can save you time and the loss of units, you do this by selecting the unit or group of units concerned and then press hotkey "A", then right click in the direction you want them to face, this only works for guns and vehicles not infantry.
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If you have an SMG (Sub Machine Gunner) unit that runs
out of grenades, then find a mine field and get that unit sweep for (pick up)
the mines.
Then when the soldier picks the mines up it will give the soldier a fresh supply
of grenades, this also works for snipers and riflemen when they run out of ammo.
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Formations -
-------------
To arrange your units into a formation quickly, then select the units then pressing hotkey "Q" and right click where you want the units to form up, they will go to that area and form up in groups of four which will make them easier to deal with.
If you have armor and infantry mixed use this method to sort them out quickly press hotkey "E" for them to form up with the armor on the outside and infantry on the inside, but pressing hotkey "Q" the infantry will form up on the outside with the armor on the inside.
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Training notes -
The more experience a unit has the more hits they can take before being destroyed..
The more experience a unit has the less damage they have per hit.
If you have a field gun then these are some of the hits each vehicle can take before it is destroyed -
Training vehicles with a field gun........
Note - Different guns create different amount of hits.
Allied only -
Chrchill MK IV = 5-6 hits
Stewart = 3-4 hits.
Sherman MK III = 3 hits
Sherman MK V = 4 hits.
Pershing = 10 hits.
Ambulance = 1 hit
M3 = 2 hits.
AA truck = 1-2 hits.
Truck = 1 hit.
Ambulance = 1 hit.
Jeep = 2 hits.
M 37 Tank Destroyer = 4-5 hits.
M 18 Hellcat = 3 hits
Greyhound = 2 hits.
Calliope = 2 hits.
Russian -
Katyusha = 1 hit.
German -
BMW motorcycle = 1 hit
Use the lower amount of hits if you are not sure or if this is the first time you have trained units via this method.
The AA truck takes a very long time to train, but where aircraft are concerned it is worth it.
Training Medics also takes ages but the benefits again are worth the effort if you have the patience.
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Note -
A lot of people tend to overlook the wounded, and this alone can give you the edge to win or lose a mission, same with damaged vehicles, just by doing these two things can save you up to a third of your units.
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End.