Tips, notes and hints.
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FOW = Fog of War.
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This has originated over the time RTS games have been published and is now a
well-known tactical feature of most RTS games.
The definition of FOW is an area on the map where your reconnaissance teams have not scouted yet and is indicated by the shadowed area and will only be lifted by your units, which the best one for this is the officer because when fully trained he has the best all round LOS (Line Of Sight).
You can still however see the terrain and building through the FOW, which will still give you the ability to shell buildings etc, even without lifting the FOW.
An important thing to remember is that if you send a unit to either a captured gun or building while the fog is lifted, if the fog drops back down for some reason those units will stop, the same applies to ordering a unit to fire at an enemy unit, if the fog drops down on the enemy, then your units will stop firing.
LOS = Line Of Sight.
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This simply means the range that a unit can see, but it can vary because of
certain factors like obstructions, or experience, the latter is the most important
factor of any unit, because the more they have the more abilities they have.
It can make a very big difference when enemy units are near yours because if they have more experience than your units, then they will be able to see you and you will not be able to see them.
This can also have bad repercussions when it comes to artillery like Howitzers, due to the fact that all enemy units have the ability to spot for these guns, or any other long range fire, such as Katyusha rocket launchers, then you wonder why you come under fir all of a sudden.
Well there is only one reason that you can come under fire and that is you have an observer spotting for the artillery and he has more experience than you, which in turn gives him better LOS.
Two of the best units to use together as a team is the officer and sniper with maximum experience, this will give you all round LOS of the officer and the long range of the snipers rifle, plus they have other abilities less noticeable until you start to use them.
Using these teams with the combination of long range firepower (Howitzer) is a real strong element to help tip the scales in your favor in any situation, especially for those people who prefer to use strategy and tactics to win.
Height can also increase the LOS, e.g. towers or plateau's can give you a great advantage over the enemy, especially if you add to this factor a fully experienced officer/ sniper, but this also applies to enemy units as well, so be aware of these facts at all times when moving forward.
Buildings do not give good LOS because of obstructions that might be near including the building itself, you will see the LOS change as units move within the building, and this can give the enemy the opportunity to sneak up on your units without any warning.
Destroying buildings and clearing trees can be a big advantage at all times to make sure that you always when the time allows clear a killing ground in front of your defense perimeter, so that your gunners can see the enemy before they can get in range to fire on your units and take them out, this can be really effective if you place an experienced officer with the guns to lift the FOW because you will see them well before they can see you.
Static defense will always be stronger if you place an experienced officer in the front line with your guns.
Long Range weapons
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Units such as the Howitzer are really effective for support of other units in the long range mode, but in close they are useless so always give your Howitzers a defense perimeter made up of other units to protect the emplacement where they are.
Buildings and Bunkers
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These items do give added protection but when they get destroyed then all the units in that structure get wiped out all at once, so there is also a bigger disadvantage to using them, but if you do decide you need to use these structures then always place an experienced officer in them with an assortment of other units.
Bunkers are weaker when taken from behind and can be dealt with easier with a flame thrower, that's when this unit comes into it's own for this type of work, because units in a bunker have very poor LOS from the sides, so once in close the flame thrower is a powerful unit.
Trees can be very useful when used as cover for advancing units such as the officer/ sniper teams, you can get in close and take out all gun crews then capture them and turn them on their former owners, this also boosts your total number of units, which in turn can give you an added advantage.
Pillbox's
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In some missions you will have pillbox's hidden behind trees and because they are coloured green it makes them far harder to see, so if you come under fire and you know for certain that there are no enemy units to spot for the guns then it has to be a pillbox hidden somewhere within LOS of your units.
Some other bits n bobs
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Damaged and wounded
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Wounded and damaged units, get overlooked much to much and by either repairing
or healing them can have the same effect of receiving reinforcements, so after
an attack by the enemy or an offensive on your part always check the units that
were in battle after it is over then repair or heal them if needed, this was
the idea of the training mission in the allied campaign - mission 1, to teach
you to use the supply trucks to repair and the ambulance to heal your units.
Unit direction.
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This is when your unit has been moved or you have just set up a defense line,
and where the guns are facing in all different directions, as you probably know
it can take time for a gun or tank turret to swing around to face the direction
of an enemy attack and so can cause you to lose more than one unit in many cases.
So the best thing to do when ever you move guns or tanks is to face them in the direction of where you think the enemy attack will come from, you can do this easy with the use of the Hot key A or the rotate icon for that unit, just draw a bow around all the units and press A then right click in the direction you want them to face, it can save a lot of time as well as units.
Fast units
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Some times it can be very hard to take an enemy position, especially if it is on high ground, so this is where a fast unit such as the BMW motorbike or the jeep loaded with HMG's Heavy Machine Gunners, and send them racing through the enemy lines to take out gun crews and infantry, but they are no good against tanks or any type of armored units.
They can be especially good for taking out batteries of Howitzers, when you don't have any snipers of trained riflemen to send out as reconnaissance teams.
Capturing weapons
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This is a very useful tactic that a lot of people neglect to use, and it can be something that can make the difference between losing or winning the mission, especially when you don't have any weapons like Howitzers, mortars or MG 34's, because these are excellent weapons and can make such an impact to strengthening your defenses or when using as support for advancing units when they come across enemy strong points or waves of attacking tanks.
Small points
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Save
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These maybe small points to make but they are valuable things to remember, these
are to SAVE frequently especially after any successes with offensives or in
defeating enemy attacks, also make more than one save per mission, e.g. make
two saves a and b then that way you will not have to redo the complete mission
if you accidentally save over a good one.
In the game
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Try to imagine that you are in the game and it is you
and your mates that fighting the battles then consider the issue would I do
that if it was my neck on the line, and 9 times out of 10 the answer will be
no.
It is far too easy to waste all your units attacking en masse, when you think
of it as "only a game".
Training
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When you have units that are fully experienced, then those units have extra or enhanced abilities, that is why is it one of the features of this game, so when ever possible train then to the maximum experience, then they will have abilities such as -
Greater LOS - Line Of Sight.
Better Range of Sight - ROS
Longer range.
Better protection = less damage per hit.
Shot damage = more damage per shell fired.
Greater Weapon range
Faster reload times.
Faster firing.
better speed.
Better use of cover.
Self repair when life is over 500.
Quicker reaction time.
More hits per shells fired.
CHEATS
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I don't agree with this but for those who are new to the game and think they might be of help -
BTW these cheats cannot be used in Multiplayer games as far as I know.
To get the double * Hold down the shift key and press the number 8 twice.
NO caps.
**superman = Invincible.
**superman = again, turns it off.
**nofog = FOW - Fog Of War disappears, but what you see the computer can also
see.
** staticfog = Turn FOW back on.
**starcraft = spaceship type bombers, you get 188 of each bombers and spy planes.
(Note - If one of these gets shot down and it crashes into your units then your
units WILL be destroyed.)
Well I hope these notes have been of use.
All the best.
Trancer.