The Arsenal Files 6/The Arsenal Files 6 (Arsenal Computer).ISO/games/tz-steel.zip/SPTIPS11.TXT

Text File | 1996-01-09 | 19KB | 385 lines

UN-OFFICIAL STRATEGY GUIDE FOR STEEL PANTHERS
VERSION 1.0
    Compatible with STEEL PANTHER version 1.1

Hi there I just couldn't help sending to you guys my favorite tips and
hints about SP , this game is too good and I just want to share the
little I've learn in the hope your comments will help me improve my
gameplay.Moreover the lack of good reference book make this
kind of post usefull ( at least I hope so). Let' call it the Un-Official
Strategy Book ! As a bonus this UOSG is written in an extremely
academic language with perfect spelling so it will be an exellent
occasion for you tough colonials or noble sons of Wellington to
learn something really new : the pure french continental english
<g>.Here is a first draft of the UOSG , the complete version may be
ordered for only 12 $ via registration to forum SWREG (cserve
registration # 8597) see below. Complete version 1.1 will be
delivered via cserve e-mail immediately after your registration

ULTRA FAST DELIVERY ! NO NEED TO WAIT FOR SNAIL MAIL !
FREE SHIPMENT AND HANDLING COSTS ! HALF THE PRICE OF
A STANDARD OFFICIAL STRATEGY BOOK . HINTS AND TIPS
MADE BY PLAYERS FOR PLAYERS.

Here are just a small parts of the tips included in SP UOSG (those
tips have been updated in version 1.1) :

 1. About 88 AT and german defense .

At start your most potent weapon is the 88 AT buy one section of
those ( they are cheap you can buy more but it is just not fun and
historical to have more than a couple of those in your batallion we
are not playing DOOM II here !) .
88 AT are very accurate , they can punch a hole in any kind of
enemy units , but they are very vulnerable . Use them only for long
distance kills when visibility is good . in scenario where the enemy
have heavy artillery move them the turn after they fire . It is the priority
target of aircrafts and artillery , have them stay more than 15 hexes
away from enemy units. Ammunition is scarce so use it carefully .

In defense scenarios , when they are not spotted yet , set their
opportunity fire to one hexe . Otherwise they will be spotted too early
and the enemy will fire everything  available at them and will not
engage the bulk of his units before your spotted 88 AT are
destroyed ( well at least if the player is a competant human , the AI is
more straightforward) . You should deliver a decisive blow when
your 88 open fire during your turn using their 6 shot . A well trained 88
should normally kill any unit in 3 shots at 20/30 hex range , so
normally 4 (maybe more) of the most heavy enemy tanks should be
burning wrecks after your first "broadside" . Have your battalion
leader  (in A0 unit) less than 5 hexes away from your 88 section
leader (the "0" unit ) , it helps greatly pass the morale check during
fire and...successfull morale check improve *a lot* the accuracy for
consecutive shots at the same target Do not forget to move some
cheap big truck or cavalry to draw the enemy opportunity fire
*before* you fire your 88 AT otherwise they may be suppressed /
destroyed by the return fire . After this you may want to move your 88
AT away from enemy spotting range to lay another ambush before
massed direct fire from enemy start pounding your vulnerable crew
next turn...Your opponent will just see 4 of his best units burning
without any explanation for that , not good for the enemy major's
morale ! I strongly recommand not to place those AT on top of the
hills , sure they have a beautifull view and enjoy the landscape but it
is the first place where the 152 mm preparatory (ie just before first
turn ) shell from your human opponent will land . If you play against
the AI hill tops are just great so different opponents , different tactics
...
If you like to follow the books , you may want to lay a carefull ambush
near the objective with a first line of infantry/engineers with range set
to 1 and some AT with their range set to the distance to infantry plus
one . The idea behind this is to have the enemy tank bump into the
infantry and every AT and infantry fire at the same time. Sure you will
kill the first recon unit but it is a cheap price for him to pay in order to
spot your complete defense system , and your opponent will
engage your AT immediately with all his firepower (since he his the
attacker he his supposed to have more than you and you will
loose).If you really want to play the infantry ambush I suggest you
cover the area with smoke (or use reverse slope) in order to avoid
concentration of fire from the attacker and take his incoming units
piece meal preferably with your enginners (I suggest to stiffen your
grunts with some armor adjacent to kill instantly any unit foolish
enough to enter that fog and avoid any retaliation from incoming unit)
. Works great with the computer , haven't tried it yet with a human
opponent but it should embarass him because he will not even be
able to spot for artillery because of the smoke .

In offense 88 AT must be used to kill from a distance the heavy
enemy armor detected by your recon units . Be carefull to leave
them outside retaliation range ( 15 hexes minimum),  do not forget to
move them the turn after they have fired (here will come the enemy
artillery) and... move them with AA units because they are the
preferred target for aircrafts.I know , I know, 88 AT were originally AA
weapons but ... they still need some AA to protect them !

2-About setting infantry trap against armor:

0 range is usefull for nothing , if you want to trap tank set your range
to 1 since close combat occurs at 1 hex distance not 0. Maybe 0
range can be usefull if you want a sniper to stay unspotted in a tree
hex (I 'm not so sure it works). Use engineers preferably because
they can blow off almost any tanks with flamethrowers and satchel
charges.Preferably use your infantry in reverse slope condition in
order to avoid enemy concentration of fire once they are
detected.See below.

3-About stopping heavy russian armor .and the reverse slope trap

Try those 88 AT , set their range to 1 (to avoid them being detected
early with opportunity fire ) and fire massively all of them at long
range when your enemy have commited the bulk of their forces (if
visibility is good).Of course after they fired wyou may want to change
their range .Do not forget to have all your leader within command
range(5 hexes) to improve the accuracy of successive shots. If
visibility is bad try the reverse slope trap (just set all you units
massed behind a hill or forest in the path of the enemy) in order to
avoid enemy
concentration of fire . Have your tanks behind your engineers and
destroy the incoming forces piece meal (thanks to your
concentration of fire) , it can be usefull also to back them up with
some 88 AT (to punch big holes into those KV easier) in the rear
area but not too far
since visibility is bad. Just be sure the enemy has fired all his
opportunity fire before firing your AT : just move or fire (alternately to
avoid enemy accuracy increase) a couple of expendable or well
armored unit . After a while repelling any kind of armor attack will be
second nature !
I've found the reverse slope works also pretty well against the
german too, he cannot use his long ranged 88 and his superior
accuracy , he must fight your T34 in close combat at a disaventage.

PS: You can also use smoke in front of your units in order to create
the artificial "reverse slope" , it is even better because the enemy
doesn't benefit from beeing on top of the hill (I think there is a bonus
for that) .



4 Searching for a way out of the Mines!

 Yes those are really a pain in my ... too ! I think mine are the most
potent weapon of a defending AI.
I had very few scenarii with them . I used some cavalry to detect the
minefield and advance quite fast , one cavalry will not always detect
the
minefield but 4 of them stand a good chance to have some losses in
a
dense minefield area (I have them followed them closely by some
_support_ expendable Stugs just in case they get really unlucky to
pass theminefield without losses!) , once the mined area is detected
I dismountmy engineers from my tanks and try to find a way out of it ,
its seems you do not have to wait till the engineer clear the minefield
completely, sometime the engineer can make a path , for the
mechanized units . It seem also once the engineers are in the hex
you can move trough the hex safely , it seemed to work but I just
tested it once so I'm not sure 100% . Once you have crossed the
dangerous area , just repeat the process with advancing cavalry.
The funny thing is that enemy artillery do not take long to fall on your
dismounted engineers so you better find the path quickly ...

    Maybe there is another way to avoid minefield ,
attacking enemy objective from the rear after a large enciclement (I
haven't tried this one yet !) . According to the latest info I got from
other players , the minefields are always in your path whatever it is !

5- Best reconaissance

    For me the best reconaissance unit is the cavalry , they are
not fully destroyed when they bump into enemy position (unlike
armored carriers or light tanks),you can use them again after
rallying, they are cheap, and they spot much better than vehicles
since they are infantry so why not buying a platoon of them as
support unit ?

6-Spending enemy opportunity fire f

    Move alternately 2 expendable or heavily armored units ,
the enemy will switch target and loose all cumulated accuracy
bonus . When the target stop firing move some armored killer
adjacent preferably in his rear .Take care if you want to dispatch him
with infantry since the bad guy may still have some machine gun left
and your precious engineers may be pinned before shooting , move
some cavalry within range in order to spend his MG opportunity fire .
Be carefull this adjacent aproach can be dangerous if you suspect
some enemy concentration around the target .

    If you face an enemy concentration let him move toward
your position and use the reverse slope trap to defeat him
piecemeal.


7-Fighting "invisible" armies (ie Japanese or Finns)

    For those who are upset by invisible Japs , I think I've found
a miracle cure ... screen your precious core with some unexpensive
(support) snipers , they will die detecting the incoming japs and you
will crush them before they can crush you . Of course I understand it
is very un-american to sacrifice precious human lives just for
detection ( I would expect this from Russians or Japanese ) but c'est
la guerre SP way <g> I haven't experimented it (not played the
american side yet) so can anyone confirm if it works ? This
technique worked not so bad when I played the russians against the
invisible finish army ...

here is another interresting tip from Craig Boulton:

Pascal, I found another way as well. Put your core units behind the
objective area, hopefully in cover. Buy a lot of fast armored cars and
put them there too. When you see victory flags change color you
charge
over the hill with the armored cars. Most of them will get whacked, but
so what, they are only support. Once the japs have used up all there
shots, you go in with core units and rack up the kills. If you have
movement points left, hide the core units again. Repeat until all japs
are dead.

8-About attacks and smoke.

First you have to decide if you have "long distance"
supremacy.Long distance supremacy is the ability to have enough
long distance gunnery to inflict a decisive blow to your enemy
without much risks for retaliation . This is the case if you are the
german with enough 88 AT (I consider using more than 2 of them is
"cheating" ) or enough Panthers or Tigers . Usually the german can
be expected to have long distance supremacy.

If you have long distance supremacy do not use smoke , If you do
not have long distance supremacy buy a lot of cheap mortars to lay
smoke lavishly along your avenue of approach and go straight for
the objective (use some 152 mm to soften them before) with your
troops massed and covered with smoke.Remember smoke is the
most potent weapon if you are outclassed by enemy gunnery.

If you have long distance supremacy almost everything will work ...
make some concentrated attack since the enemy will probably use
smoke (unless it is the dumb AI).

Always recon before moving precious units , I like to have some
expendable support cavalry spearheading the attack , then some
support stugs or heavy close support tanks mounted by support
engineers and then my precious core , if you can keep your force
concentrated nothing can stop you exept mines , maybe also
enemy artillery can disrupt a little too ... Have some air support
attack along your path of advance during preparatory phase to take
out some potent long distance killers and/or use smoke for cover if
you do not have long distance supremacy.

9-Do not forget AA

The enemy aircraft will always bomb your most important assets ,
protect them with specialised AA units.

10-Command control

Try to have your units within 5 hexes range of the platoon/section
leader (the "0" unit) and the platoon leader within 5 hexes range of
the battalion leader (A0 unit) . Your suppression will be removed
more easily and your firing accuracy will improve greatly with
consecutive shots. Always try to rally before firing since suppression
is very bad for accuracy.

11-Off board artillery

Everything less than 150 mm is just good for laying smoke .
Corollary :buy cheap mortars for smoke, buy nothing but 150 mm for
OBA.

12-Experience and morale.

Morale , experience and leaders ability are extremely important
factors in SP. Very often a veteran outguned unit will kill or rout an
inexperienced enemy thanks to superior accuracy and rate of fire
.The more you kill enemy units the fastest your experience
grows.The unit credited for the kill is the unit who destroyed the
vehicle or killed the last infantryman . Alway have your support units
supress the enemy and leave the kill for your core units in order to
gain more experience , use every opportunity to finish enemy
units.Exeption (bug?) if you kill a unit with area fire (targeting the hex
rather than the unit , this happen when you use flamethrowers for
instance...) you won't be credited for the killl .
This version 1.0 of the SP UOSG . This text file is freeware . For more
conprehensive information you may want to look for SP UOSG
version 1.1...

GREAT NEWS : SP UOSG VERSION 1.1 RELEASED !!!(see below)

Yes you too can get version 1.1 of the Un Official Strategy Guide and
be unbeatable wether you fight the AI with your green russian troops
or a pesky human !

Version 1.1 is a considerable improvement of version 1.0 , I even
hesitated to release it considering I may have to face some of you in
pbem and I just hate loosing a game . Finally the French Ministry of
Defence agreed to release this classified information for export . It is
not Freeware (like version 1.0 was) it is Shareware see explanation
below and it cost as little as 12 dollars.You can order it right now !
Just follow instructions in section B , you will get it within 24 hours via
e-mail. Snail mail is too slow , cost a lot and it's too hard to wait for
such a nice stuff like SP UOSG version 1.1!

In order to help you decide if it's worth your hard earned bucks here
is a summary of what you can get and how to order it :

A)-Summary of the Un-Official Strategy Guide:

1-About 88 AT and german defense
2-About setting infantry trap against armor
3-About stopping Heavy russian armor and the reverse slope trap
4-Searching for a way out of the mines
5-Best reconaissance
6-Spending enemy opportunity fire
7-Fighting invisible armies
8-About attacks and smoke
9-Do not forget AA
10-Command control
11-Off Board artillery
12-Experience and morale
13-What does influence shooting accuracy
14-Firing from hill tops
15-About combined arms:
    15-1 Armor
    15-2 Recon units
    15-3 Good ol''infantry
    15-4 Planes
    15-5 Off board artillery
    15-6 Mortars
    15-7 AA units
    15-8 AT guns
    15-9 Infantry guns
    15-10 Half track , armored carriers etc...
    15-11 Snipers

16- About the wise management of your fire
17- About a very nasty trick of mine ...
18- About carefull movement
19- How to have infantry squads/crews surrender faster
20- No mercy kill them all
21- If you can't kill them , frighten them .
22- Think twice about your retreat path
23- About the use of extreme stacking
24- Gaming against the ultimate predator : human beeing.
    24-1-Be optimistic
    24-2-Be a nasty coward
    24-3-Be lazy
    24-4-Be exentric
    24-5-Be coherent
    24-6-Be objective minded
    24-7-Be stuborn
    24-8-Be agressive
    24-9-Be human

B-How to order and register for complete UOSG version 1.1

Registering is very easy and payment of the 12 $ fee will be made
directly and immediately via your ccserve account jut go to SWREG
and follow instructions:

Once in SWREG forum select  "register shareware", then select
"proceed",you will be prompted for your geographic region,just
answer.Then select registration ID , type "8597" (this is my software
registration number). Then select "display  selected file" , you will
have a small explanation about my guide . Select "Register", then
type your adress and answer to questions , when prompted always
select Register , never choose "Cancel" unless you want to change
your mind.
I will be immediately informed about your e-mail adress by
compuserve (you do not have to type it) and I will send you the
SPUOSG file during my next online session . Within 24 hours it will be
in your e-mail box . Important : I do not deliver via snail mail (that is
why you can save on handling and shipment fee ). YOU WILL NOT
RECEIVE A DISKETTE BUT A FILE SEND DIRECTLY TO YOUR
E-MAIL ADRESS.

This file is shareware . The money will not go to any charity
organization . By registering and paying the 12 $ fee you help me
finance a part of my next trip to US with wifey , the final result is to be
in a better position to negociate my computer gaming hours with her
. Thanks in advance for helping me achieve such a noble and
humanitarian objective.

Pascal Ode ( Compuserve e-mail:100257,1375 )

Le clos du chateau,
4 allΘe du chateau
38240 Meylan
France