Panzer General 3D Assault DEMO Version Readme 6/21/99 <<>> The Panzer General 3 Assault demo pits you as commander of elements of the German army, against British forces in a hypothetical battle. After forcing your way through the Ardennes Forest, your forces are ready to break into the French countryside in order to cut off vital Allied lines of communication in preparation for a major offensive by the main German force. Timing is critical, as you must capture and hold the primary objective within 5 turns to guarantee the success of this operation. Capturing secondary objectives will gain you additional reinforcements, leadership bonuses, and points. <> Pentium2 233 or greater Windows 95/98 8MB 3D Card (You must be in 16-bit color for the demo) DirectX 6.0 or higher 64 MB or RAM 8X CDROM Video Cards Tested: Diamond Viper V550 (updated drivers supplied by Nvidia may remove some graphics problems), Diamond Viper 550 TNT(updated drivers supplied by Nvidia may remove some graphics problems), 3dfx Voodoo3, Riva TNT(updated drivers supplied by Nvidia may remove some graphics problems), Matrox G-200 AGP, StarFighter Fox Pro AGP, S3 Inc. Savage 4, Nvidia Riva TNT2, Banshee, Matrox Milennium2, Matrox Milennium G200 AGP, Diamond Monster 3D II. Note: If you are experiencing graphic glitches, please make sure you have updated your drivers from the manufacturer of your video card. <> The purpose of the quick start is to get you into the demo and having fun immediately. After left clicking the checkmark (Begin Scenario) and the New Turn button, you begin the Demo on the tactical map playing the German side against the British. You have five turns to capture and hold the major victory hexes represented by a house, two tents, and a communication tower. Scroll the screen around and locate the (orange/tan) enemy's major victory location. Once you have found the Major Victory hex you should build a unit. Move your mouse pointer to the button with the flag located in the lower right of the screen. Clicking this button will take you to the Headquarters screen where you manage your forces. <> Because Panzer General Assault is now in 3D choosing a unit or a destination is different. You MUST click on the actual vehicle model to select either a friendly unit or an enemy unit (not the area it occupies). To choose a destination you must click on the area. This means if you wish to move an air unit over another unit (friendly or enemy) you must click on the highlighted area (green or red) underneath the vehicle that occupies the destination you want. <> The headquarters screen is separated into five areas: Motor Pool - Top Left Office Tent - Top Right Command Tent - Middle Left Parade Ground - Middle Right Roster Bar (active units) - Bottom is where you acquire equipment to build your force. Move your mouse over the tent to reveal the icons representing the equipment classes used in the game. Equipment is broken into eight classes including Tank, Recon, Infantry, Artillery, Anti-Tank, Anti-Air, Fighter, and Bomber. Left-clicking on a class icon will place any available units of that class in front of the motor pool. These units are available to be built. Right click on one of the available equipment pieces to show more information on it. Left click on one of the available pieces to put that piece in a roster slot (if there are available roster slots). In front of the you will find all the available unassigned leaders. Right click on one of the available leaders to show more information on it. Left click on one of the available leaders to put that leader in a roster slot (if there are enough available roster slots). The is not active in the demo. In the final game it will be used for Loading and Saving the game, changing Game Options, reviewing the battlefield, and other army management tools. The is available to show more detailed information on leaders, equipment and units. Right click on any leader, equipment or unit to access the information. The unit icons under the graphs represent the following (left to right): Attack rating Close Combat rating Defense rating Air Attack rating Air Defense rating Sighting range Move Attack range Ammo The shows you all the units in your force. When you build a new unit it will appear in the roster bar on a green background. Units on a black background are committed to battle and cannot be decommissioned. You can change the sort order of the units on the roster by toggling the button with the arrows going in a circle on the right side of the roster. The sorting order is by: Class (tank icon above sorting button), Leader (flag icon), Damage (cross icon), and Actions left (arrows icon). On the left of the Roster Bar is a circle that displays the number of available slots. The level of a leader is displayed by stars. Each star represents a level. Note that higher level leaders will take up more slots. The slots taken by a leader are: Level 1 - 4: 1 slot Level 5 - 7: 2 slots Level 8 -10: 3 slots <> To build a unit, first make sure that you have at least 1 available slot in your roster. Then go to the motor pool and left-click on the class you wish to purchase from, and left click on the piece of equipment you want. The piece of equipment will appear on a green background on the left side of the Roster Bar. Once you have selected the equipment, left-click on the leader you want to command the unit (be sure that the leader promotion level is not too high to fit in the available slot). For example: Enter the Motor Pool and left click on the Anti-Air class to place the available equipment in front of the Motor Pool. You can review each piece of equipment by right clicking on it. Left click on the 88 mm Flak, placing it on the Roster Bar. You now need a leader. You can review any of the available leaders, outside the officer's tent, by right clicking on them. To select the one I want, left click on the leader Icon and he will be placed in the open space on the Roster Bar. Note: Left clicking on the information page that is displayed on the Parade Area will clear it. After reviewing your forces and building a unit, click the red button at the bottom right of the screen. This will take you back to the Battle screen. You can always return to the HQ screen from the main battle map by clicking on the button with a flag on it. <> Once back to the battle map, you will notice that the Deploy button (the one with the arrows on it) is lit. This indicates the presence of a unit ready for deployment. Click on the Deploy button and the unit you built appears in the Roster Bar. Click on the unit in the Roster Bar to highlight it (it will light up) and you see areas on the map that are highlighted. These are the places the unit can be deployed. To place the unit on the map, simply click on one of the highlighted areas. To cancel the placement, left click on the newly placed unit and it will return to the Roster Bar. To exit deployment, click on the depressed deployment button. Air units MUST be deployed next to an airbase (that is the area that will highlight). <> Near the bottom of the Battle Map, there are two cards. The left card displays the equipment. On the upper left corner is displayed the Class of the equipment, followed by the name, side view of the equiment, and its strength. The strength of the unit is displayed by green, yellow, and red dots. Green dots show how much of the unit is available for combat. Yellow dots show suprression: unit strength not available forr combat that turn unless rallied. Red dots show unit strength not available for the battle unless Refitted. The right card has displayed a picture of your leader, his name, any specials (displayed by a medal), and leader level. <> To move a unit, simply left-click on the unit you wish to move. The area the unit is in will highlight in yellow and the places it may move will highlight in green. Choose one of the green highlighted areas and the unit will move there. Click again to quick move the unit to the destination. If the unit can move again, you will find a new set of highlighted areas based on the new location. <> When you spot an enemy unit and it is within your range to attack, the area under the unit will light up in red. The red area shows enemy units that are within range and available for attack. Like movement, you can fire more than once a turn. <> A large building, two tents, and a command tower next to it represent Major Victory hexes. These are located in the corners of cities. You must capture and hold all the major victory hex within five turns. You must hold your major victory hex (colored blue) and capture the enemy Major Victory hex which is colored tan. <> While not as important as a Major Victory hex, the Minor Victory hex add to your total score and can give you benefits, such as, prototype equipment, more experience leader, etc. Minor Victory hexes are represented by a tent with a barrel outside of it. In this Demo, the enemy Minor Victory hexes are colored tan. <<>> <> Panzer General 3D Assault is now leader based. Every unit requires a piece of equipment and a leader. The leader has a promotion level (from 1-10) indicated on the leader card by the symbols next to picture (crosses for Germany). Each promotion level counts as an action the leader can take in each turn. For example, a 2 star leader (2 levels of experience) can perform two actions. Actions represent the potential for a leader to issue a command to his unit. Potential actions a leader can order include: Fire Order: Attack an enemy that is within range. Move Order: Move the unit within the movement range of the equipment. Regular or Veteran Command: Perform an action related to commanding the unit the leader is associated with. For example the leader might resupply his unit with ammunition or repair and refit his unit. Each of these commands takes an action. Additional Command orders are noted below. Only two things limit how many times a unit can move or fire in one turn. One is the promotion level of the leader and the other is the actual piece of equipment. The limits of the equipment are shown to the left of the equipment card and are called attributes. The top row represents the number of times that particular piece of equipment can FIRE (the fire attributes represented by an icon of an artillery piece). The bottom row represents the number of times a unit can MOVE. When a unit is selected the dots light up with information about the unit. Green dots represent the number of available attributes, yellow dots are used or unavailable attributes, and red are destroyed attributes. As an example: The tank unit the Demo has highlighted to begin the game is a Pz IVH. It has 6 fire attributes (four of which are green and two are yellow) and 5 move attributes (four of which are green and 1 is yellow). The leader only has four actions (promotion level of 4) and therefore the unit can only move or fire 4 times or any combination that adds up to 4. If the leader had been a level 5, then all the moves would have been green and 5 of the fires attributes would be green instead of yellow. If you move the unit (click on one of the highlighted areas), you will notice that one of the actions is used (grayed out on the leader card) and the attributes change from 4 green move and fire to 3 green move and fire. When building your force, it is up to you to determine the right mix of attributes and unit strength to suit your army. <<>> In addition to moving and shooting, the leader can issue orders to his unit. The orders are displayed to the right of the leader card. Each button represents an order and generally cost 1 action to perform. Normally, the order enhances the attack or defense or performs some necessary function like resupply or entrench. In the final product, there will be a right click help system that describes what each order does. This is not yet implemented in the Demo but the orders are listed below. <> These are standard orders available to all units. They cost 1 action (except refit, which takes all a leader's actions) and usually occur instantly. The list below gives a cost, life (how long the effect lasts) and a description of the order. Dismount Cost: 1 action, life - effects are immediate. Dismount allows any towed units (artillery and anti-air) to be set up for combat. A unit that remains mounted (represented as the towing vehicle) is susceptible to large amounts of damage when attacked. This order can be used repeatedly in one turn. Rally Cost: 1 action, life - effects are immediate. Rally improves the morale of the troops. This command removes the effects of long term suppression and makes all of a unit's strength available for attack and defense. This order can be used repeatedly in one turn. Entrench Cost: 1 action, life - effects are immediate. Entrench allows the unit to dig in. Infantry and anti-tank units can entrench to level 3 (one level per turn) if they don't move, all other ground units can entrench to level 1. Entrenched units will not retreat and are much harder to kill. A unit can move and then entrench. This order can only be issued once in a turn and the effects will disappear if the unit moves after the order is issued. Refit Cost: All actions available, life - effects are immediate. Refit can only be performed if a unit has not done any thing else in the turn and is not adjacent to any enemy units. A refit will repair 1 destroyed equipment attribute (move or fire), and the first refit brings a unit up to full strength. Any further refits diminish the current total strength of the unit by 1 for the remainder of the battle. This order can only be issued once in a turn and will end the unit's turn. Resupply Cost: 1 action, life - effects immediate. Resupply refills the ammo of a unit to maximum. Infantry have unlimited ammo and will never use this action. This order can only be issued once in a turn and the unit must not be adjacent to any enemy units or this order will not be available. <> There are 5 veteran orders per class. As the leader is promoted (only in a campaign game) the leader will gain more powerful orders. For completeness, all the orders are listed below (note that they are subject to change). <> Infiltrate Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. The infantry unit ignores reserve fire. The order cannot be taken back if the unit has been in combat. Best used to attack an entrenched enemy or enemy in a population center. Patrol Cost: 1 action, life - until the end of your turn. Moderate increase in sighting range. Cannot be taken back and the effects are seen immediately. Camouflage Cost: 1 action, life - until the start of your next turn. The unit becomes much harder for enemy units to spot. The order cannot be taken back. The effects will be removed if the unit moves after the order is given. Useful for setting up ambushes or hiding in woods. Surprise Attack Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. The unit has a large bonus to hand to hand fighting (close assaults) and will ignore reserve fire. The order cannot be taken back after the unit attacks. Best used against enemy units in populated areas and entrenchments. All Out Attack Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. The unit has an enormous bonus to close combat attacks but its defense is decreased to a large degree. The unit will ignore any morale factors (it cannot be suppressed). The order cannot be taken back after the unit attacks. <> Aimed Fire Cost: 1 action, life - effects are immediate. Normally the effectiveness of shots taken by a unit diminishes with each successive shot. Activating aimed fire resets the effectiveness of the shots to 100%. Best used after multiple shots to finish off an enemy. This order cannot be taken back. Patrol Cost: 1 action, life - effects are immediate, lasts to the end of your turn. Increases the unit's spotting range. This order cannot be taken back. Hull Down Cost: 1 action, life - lasts until the start of your next turn. This order provides a moderate increase to the defenses of your unit. It cannot be taken back if the unit has been involved in combat. Best used prior to attacking the enemy (it can be used in conjunction with Entrench). Wedge Attack Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. The Wedge Attack gives a large bonus to the unit's attack. The order cannot be taken back if the unit has been in combat. This can be very effective when used in conjunction with aimed fire. Blitz Attack Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. This is basically a wedge attack (large bonus to the unit's attack) with the added benefit that the unit can ignore the presence of the enemy for post combat movement. <> Quick Setup Cost: 1 action, life - until the end of your turn. The unit dismounts after moving. However, the unit will suffer a small decrease in its attack effectiveness. Camouflage Cost: 1 action, life - until the start of your next turn. The unit becomes much harder for enemy units to spot. The order cannot be taken back. The effects will be removed if the unit moves after the order is given. Useful for setting up ambushes or hiding in woods. Ambush Cost: 1 action, life - until the end of the enemy turn. This gives the AT unit an additional reserved fire. It will fire first in two combats and then the order is exhausted. The effect will be removed if the unit moves after the order has been given. Preparation Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. This command allows the AT unit to fire first in the next combat and get an enormous bonus to its attack. This cannot be taken back if the unit is involved in a combat. Fire Brigade Cost: 1 action, life - 1 enemy attack. This command allows the AT unit to provide support fire (if the enemy is within range) or simple support (large bonus to the defending unit) to an adjacent friendly unit that is attacked during the enemy turn. This can be an unexpected and nasty surprise. <> Camouflage Cost: 1 action, life - the rest of your turn. This command cancels the ability of enemy recon units to screen adjacent units from being seen. It cannot be taken back and the effects disappear if you move after issuing the order. Patrol Cost: 1 action, life - the rest of your turn. This command extends the sighting range of your unit. It cannot be taken back and is very useful at finding enemy units. Forward Observer Cost: 1 action, life - the rest of your turn. The Recon unit acts as spotter for friendly artillery units, giving them a small bonus to any attacks made within the Recon's sighting range. This effect disappears if the unit moves after issuing the order. Probe Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. The Probe attack provides the Recon unit with a small bonus in combat and converts any kills taken to the unit into suppressions. This command cannot be taken back if it is used in a combat. Retrograde Cost: 1 action, life - 1 enemy attack. The Recon unit will ignore any results from the first attack made by an enemy unit, and will retreat one hex instead. Effectively, it will use up 1 of the enemy actions with no damage to the Recon unit. <> Plot Artillery Cost: 1 action, life - end of enemy turn. This is a defensive command. It allows an additional support fire to occur during the enemy turn. If you have the Accurate Plotting command you can use both because it is cumulative. Quick Setup Cost: 1 action, life - until the end of your turn. The unit dismounts after moving. However, the unit will suffer a small decrease in its attack effectiveness. Accurate Plotting Cost: 1 action, life - end of enemy turn. More powerful Plot Artillery command. Used in conjunction with Plot Artillery, a unit will be able to fire 3 support fires in the enemy turn. Saturation Fire Cost: 1 action, 2 ammo, life - rest of the turn. All remaining attacks cost 2 ammo but cause twice as many suppression results as normal. If you have the Bombard order you should do it first as it cannot be done after this order has been given. This order cannot be taken back after combat. Bombard Cost: 1 action, 2 ammo, life - through your next attack. The unit will receive an enormous attack bonus with the added effect of reducing the defender's entrenchment to zero. This is only effective against infantry, towed artillery and towed anti-tank units. This order cannot be taken back after combat. <> Careful Positioning Cost: 1 action, life - until the end of the enemy turn. The anti-air unit gets an increased range. This bonus will disappear if the unit moves after the order is given. Quick Setup Cost: 1 action, life - until the end of your turn. The unit dismounts after moving. However the unit will suffer a small decrease in its attack effectiveness. Concentrated Attack Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. The unit gets a large attack bonus against enemy air. The order cannot be taken back after combat occurs. Early Warning Cost: 1 action, life - until the end of the enemy turn. The unit receives an increase in range, a moderate attack bonus, and first strike when supporting friendly units under attack by enemy air units. These bonuses disappear if an enemy ground unit attacks the anti-air unit. Ground Attack Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. Allows the anti-air unit to attack enemy ground units. The order cannot be taken back after combat. <> Eagle Eye Cost: 1 action, life - effects are immediate. The fighter has a moderate increase in its spotting range. This order cannot be taken back. Careful Attack Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. This command makes the fighter immune to the effects of reserve fire for the next attack. This command cannot be taken back after combat. Barn Busting Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. Using low level flying forces enemy Anti-Air units to use the line of fire rules (if the line of fire is blocked by a unit, populated area or other obstacle, it cannot fire). However, there is a moderate decrease in defense against enemy ground attacks that are successful. Strafing Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. This order gives the fighter first strike during the next combat against an enemy ground unit. This order cannot be taken back after combat occurs. Out of the Sun Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. This order gives the fighter first strike, a large bonus to the attack and makes it immune to reserve fire when attacking other air units. This order cannot be taken back after combat occurs. <> Cloud Cover Cost: 1 action, life - until the start of your next turn. Enemy units will be unable to spot the bomber unless they are adjacent. Ground Support Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. The bomber gets a large attack bonus against enemy ground units when this order is issued. The order cannot be taken back after combat. Dive Bombing Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. Dive Bombing gives the bomber a moderate attack and defense bonus against anti-air attack. It cannot be taken back after combat. If an enemy anti-air unit is adjacent to your target, use Dive Bombing then Ground Strike to attack. Bunker Killer Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. The bomber has a moderate attack bonus against forts and its attacks are at double strength. This action cannot be taken back after combat. Precision Bombing Cost: 1 action, life - through your next attack. Gives the bombing unit a large attack bonus and the first strike ability during the next combat. This order cannot be taken back after combat. <> - Look carefully at the enemy units before you attack. You can either right click on the enemy unit or hold the mouse over the unit to get a quick view of the enemy on the card. The presence of a shovel in the lower left corner of the card represents a unit that is entrenched. They can be harder to kill. It is best to have friendly infantry adjacent to the attack as support or to do the attack themselves. - Fighters can escort bombers, just place the fighter next to the bomber and any enemy fighter that attacks the bomber will have to dogfight your fighter first. - Use the combat estimate cursor. Hold the mouse cursor over the target unit and in a short while you will see an estimate of attacker and defender losses. It does not take into account any hidden artillery units that might support the target but it is a fairly accurate and a good judgement of the final results. - You can quickly access units by clicking on them on the Roster Bar. The map will center on the chosen unit and give you the movement options. - The level of smoke issuing from a unit reflects its damage. The states are: - Light smoke 25-49% damage - Dark smoke 50-75% damage - Smoke and Fire 75+% damage - Usually, combat is simultaneous unless a leader issues a special order or a leader does not use all of his actions in the turn. Unused actions are automatically used in the following manner: - Reserve fire: Allows the unit to fire first if it is attacked in the enemy player's turn. You can only reserve 1 first fire. - Resupply: This is a standard reammo. Remember, infantry units have unlimited ammo. - Entrench: Takes the unit to the next level of entrenchment, if possible. - Each equipment class has specials that you will see indicated on the bottom of the detailed equipment information card. A definition of these specials is not included in the Demo but will be part of the right click help system in the final product. <> Rotating the screen in a 3D environment is critical to finding your unit and the enemy units. Rotating the 3D environment will also allow you to take full advantage of the terrain and Line of Sight. To rotate the screen, move the cursor close to the right or left edge of the map, hold down the right mouse button and move the mouse closer to the edge. The screen should begin to rotate in a clockwise direction when you are on the right edge and a counter clockwise direction when you are on the left edge. <> To Zoom in, move the mouse pointer to the top of the screen, hold down the right mouse button and move the mouse toward the top of the screen. The screen should zoom in if possible. To Zoom out, move the mouse pointer to the bottom edge of the screen, hold down the right mouse button and move the mouse toward the bottom of the screen. The map should zoom out. <> To get information about any unit just Right-Click on the unit and it will pop up an information page with the same data shown on the headquarters screen (see above). <> If you move the mouse over a button for a short time, the name of button will appear at the mouse pointer. This will be expanded to actual help text (via a right click) in the final game. <> Portions of the Headquarters Screen are not implemented for the Demo. The Strategic Map isn't fully implemented in the Demo. The Strategic Map will show you unit locations, and victory locations. When you finish a campaign scenario, you will be awarded promotion points to allocate to your units. These can be assigned to any leader you choose (1 per leader per scenario) prior to the next campaign scenario. The final version will have eight campaigns and a large number of specifically built single and multiplayer scenarios. Panzer General 3D Assault will support up to 4 players with up to 2 players cooperating on each side. A more complete set of sound effects will be provided in the final game. The Final game will include Cinematics and a musical score. For more information on Panzer General 3D Assault visit us at WWW.Panzer3.com