PC Gamer 14/1996-01_Disc_14.iso/steel/readme.txt

Text File | 1995-09-25 | 24KB | 494 lines

Steel Panthers Demo:

The following features will not work in demo version.

1) Scenario Editor
2) Battle Editor
3) Campaigns
4) Encyclopedia
5) You will be unable to save games.

This demo will run by itself after a minute has passed.
There is only 2 scenarios in this demo version of Steel Panthers.




Last minute STEEL PANTHERS INFORMATION - Version 1.0


MANUAL ERRATA

It is highly recommended that to get the most out of the game that you read
the following information in this readme file. Several options and changes
were made to the rule book after it was printed. Any information noted herein
supersedes the information printed in the rule book.


SUGGESTIONS FOR FIRST TIME PLAYERS:

While it is relatively easy in Steel Panthers to start moving units and
blowing things up right away, we STRONGLY URGE you to work through the
Tutorial in the manaual step by step in order to understand the full game.

The tutorial walks you through the process of buying units, deploying them,
and playing a first scenario in a campaign. Once you work through the
tutorial we advise that you play several stand-alone scenarios to get used
to the game before you jump in to playing a campaign.
Here are some suggestions for easy scenarios:

*  Charge to Glory: Play the Germans.
*  Stinging the Bear: Play the Finns.
*  Gela counter-attack: Play the Americans.
*  When Tigers Pounce: This one is a scenario with few units.

Hint: If at any time the game seems too difficult, change the difficulty
setting in the Options Menu to Easy. Also, please note that the game is
usually much more challenging when you are the attacking force.
Since there is a limited number of turns for every scenario, games are easier
to win when you are the defending player, especially when there are more
than about three main victory objective areas the computer must take.

SHIFT KEY uses:

You may purposely stack up to two units in the same hex by holding
down the Shift Key and left-clicking on the hex containing another unit
while you are playing the game. Also, while deploying troops in the
Deployment Menu only, if you do not wish for the computer to automatically
advance to the next unit after placing a unit, hold down the
Shift Key while placing a unit. Afterwards, to go to the next unit select
Next or Previous.

SPACEBAR:

When viewing video footage, simply hit the spacebar or ESC key on the
keyboard to stop the video. Also, the you need to use the spacebar to
stop a game if the computer is playing itself.


CAMPAIGN Notes:

1) Please note that a good first campaign to play is Poland 1939, as it is
relatively easy.

2) Playing as the Japanese in a long campaign is a real challenge, as the
Japanese have a difficult time defeating tanks. Hint: Use Japanese engineer
infantry to attack Allied tanks with satchel charges.

3) Playing as the Russians in a long campaign before 1942 is also
quite challenging as the morale of the Russian units is generally low and
they have a difficult time with the generally superior German unit types
prior to 1942. Hint: Buy T-34's as soon as they become available.

4) When playing a long random campaign, there are certain instances where
you will complete a battle and be presented with an option to fight a special
battle, either a pursuit (which you can decline to accept) or a counter-attack.
(which you may NOT decline). In these battles you will gain more experience
points than from a normal battle; however, you will NOT have the option
to repair/rebuild your core units before this fight! You will sometimes
be given the option to purchase some support troops before these
special battles.

We do NOT recommend you try options 2 or 3 above until you are experienced
with the game and ready for a real challenge.

5) During campaign games, you may have an option to do a beach assault. You
do NOT have to purchase landing craft for your units. They are automatically
assigned for the battle.


MENU ADDITIONS/CHANGES:

1) Playing by E-Mail:

After you have ended your turn in a human vs human game and saved it to
one of the two E-Mail save slots, you then send that E-Mail save file
from the E-Mail sub-directory to your opponent electronically. Your opponent
must copy the E-Mail save file to his/her E-Mail sub-directory and then
load it like any other save game.
There are no passwords associated with this option. You must play using the
honor system.

2) Tutorial (page 5):

Please note that when playing campaigns that a menu not discussed in the
manual will come up before you purchase your core units. This menu is
where you decide the quality level of the units you wish to purchase (green,
average, or veteran) and where you decide if you want foot, mechanized, or
motorized infantry. If you choose "veteran" instead of the default average, then
your troops will come with more experience but you will have 20% less
battle points to spend than average. Selecting "green" gives you
inexperienced troops but 20% more battle points to spend than average.
Troops aren't actually more or less expensive, as discussed in the manual,
you just receive a different number of battle points depending on the quality
of troops you buy. See page 23 in the manual for more information.

Also note that there are actually four experience levels for your units and
each is represented by a graphic icon badge in the upper right section of the
unit information display as follows:

Green = The icon has a large "G" in it. Green units have little combat
experience and their experience levels are generally under 50 points.

Average = The icon has two Corporal stripes. Average units have some combat
experience and their experience levels are between 50 and 79.

Veteran = The icon has two Corporal stripes over a bar. Veteran units have
good combat experience and their experience levels are between 80 and 100.

Elite = The icon is a star. Elite units may not be purchased, but get to be
Elite only through combat. Any unit with over 100 experience points
is considered Elite.

Troops are more likely to increase in experience if they are Green than if
they are Veteran. See page 32 in the manual for more information on experience.

3) Placing Units (page 9): Please note that you may NOT stack units with a
shift key during deployment as described in the manual.

4) Deploy Entire Formation (page 9): Please note that you must first activate
a unit in the formation, place that unit where you want it, and then select the
Deploy Entire Formation button or the "A" key and the rest of the units in
that formation will group themselves around the unit you just placed.

5) Loading Units (page 10): Please note that when loading units onto landing
craft or river barges, that you MUST click on the landing craft/barge first
and then select the Load Unit button or the "L" key in order to load
something onto them. Also, only single units may be loaded onto barges. For
example, a truck carrying infantry must first unload the infantry in order to
load onto the barge. Barges are normally purchased by purchasing trucks
called Barge Carriers from the MISC section in the purchase menu. The
barges then must be unloaded from these Barge Carriers when you are
adjacent to a river hex.

6) Shooting Units in the Rear (page 13): Please note that if you move a tank
within two hexes of an enemy tank that the enemy will have time to turn
itself to face you (it sees you coming). To get a rear shot on a tank it is
advised that you shoot at it from about 3 hexes away.

7) Direct Fire (page 14): You cannot use direct fire against hexes that you
cannot see. The manual leads you to believe that you can.

8) Surrender (page 19): You must be adjacent to an enemy unit when you
fire on it in order to have a chance to make it surrender. The manual says
within two hexes.

9) Score (page 21): Please note that a decisive victory is when you score 10
times as many points as your opponent, a marginal victory is when you score
twice as many points as your opponent. Anything between 2 to 1 and 1 to 2
is considered a draw.

10) The Purchase Menu has a few new options:

a) "Delete", this button deletes the last formation you purchased.

b) "Mission", this button informs you of your basic mission in the next battle.

c) Please note that you should never purchase more than 20 individual planes
or off-map support artillery units. As only 20 will be displayed in the
bombardment menu at a time. So, if you buy more than 20, then the others
will not be available until some of the first 20 run out of ammo. It really
wouldn't make much sense to purchase that much artillery and it is rare
that you will have enough battle points available to do so.

11) Artillery Bombardment Menu:

a) There is an additional "Eye" button for showing the data of the unit.
Note: this is in place of the right-click option discussed in the manual.

12) The HQ Menu is no longer in the Orders menu. It is available from the
Options menu and the graphic looks like a large tent, not a clipboard as
displayed in the manual (see page 28). Also, there are several abbreviations
used in this menu which are displayed near the unit list on the right side of
the screen. They are:

H  = Current formation leader/HQ attached to that unit,
KO = Unit destroyed or knocked out,
IM = Immobilized,
AB = Unit has been abandoned,
Numbers (1,2,3etc.) indicate the number of men killed if infantry or how
badly the unit is damaged, in points, if a non-infantry type unit.

13) Show Units: There is a new option in the Orders menu called "Show
Units", it has a clipboard icon on the button. This option displayd a sub-
menu showing all your active units in the game. This is a great way to
determine quickly who hasn't moved or who can still shoot.

a) "ID" shows the unit ID on a button; when you click on this button,
you will be moved to the location of that unit.
b) "Name" displays the current name of the unit.
c) "Status" displays current status of unit, such as dug in, positioned,
or if the unit is a passenger.
d) "Move" shows how many move points unit has left.
e) "Shots" displays the current number of shots the unit has available.
f) "Sup" displays current suppression for the unit.
g) "HE" displays total rounds of HE ammo for the unit.
h) "AP" displays total rounds of AP ammo for the unit.
i) "Dam" indicates the number of men killed if infantry or how badly
the unit is damaged, in points, if a non-infantry type unit.
j) "Exp" displays the current experience rating for the unit.
k) "Mor" displays the current morale rating for the unit.

14) Options Menu: There are several new options available (see page 29 for
comparison):

a) There is no Sound Effects/Music Menu option. Instead, there are separate
buttons to turn the music on/off, to turn the sound effects on/off, and
to adjust the sound effects volume. Please note that the music volume must
be adjusted on your speakers themselves or through the sound card, as the
music is CD quality redbook audio music and cannot be adjusted from within
the game program. You may play tracks 2, 3, & 4 from the Steel Panthers CD
on any audio CD player to listen to the music from the game.

b) There is no CHQ Link On/Off option. Command Control is always active.

c) "Change message level" allows you to set the amount of detail (Low,
Medium, High) you wish to see displayed in game messages. If you set this
level High, then you will see many messages detailing what is happening
during combat. For faster play, set the level to Low.

d) "Name current Formation Leader" in addition to naming the current unit
and current unit leader, you may also change the current Formation Leader's
name.

e) Please note that adjusting the difficulty level from the options menu
affects only your (and not your opponent's) difficulty level.

15) Unit information screen:

a) The number of enemy units killed by an individual unit are displayed
as graphical icons rather than a number. The big tank represents either
10 or 100 kills (a number will appear over them)  and a small one
represents a single kill. It is important to note that kills refers to
the kills of the leader, not the unit. So, if a leader is killed and
replaced by a new leader, the kills will go back to zero for that unit.
Also, "Kills" are complete units wiped out. If that unit/leader is the
last unit to kill the last man in a squad then the unit which killed the
last man gets credit for the kill. Killing individual men does not
register as a "Kill".

b) Next to "AP" is the heading "Range" which is the maximum number of
hexes that weapon may fire.


BATTLE GENERATOR:

There is a new option which lets you decide who deploys the troops after
they are purchased:

Auto:   Lets the computer deploy both sides.
Select: Lets each player deploy their own units.
Manual: Lets the human player deploy his units and the computer's.


BUILDING CUSTOM SCENARIOS:

1) Note that this option is for die-hard players who want to create very
detailed scenarios. To quickly generate random battles we suggest you use
the Battle Generator. The build a complete scenario option was originally
intended to be used by our scenario designers only, but we decided to put it
in the game at the last minute for your enjoyment. Proceed at your own risk.
Note that changes only affect the scenario you are editing. If, for example,
you change unit data, it only affects units in that scenario not the entire
unit data base.

2) Change Objective Hexes option:
You are automatically given 21 victory objective flags which default to 3
groups of 7 flags. You may NOT add more than this number. To have fewer
objective hexes (minimum 1), simply click and move a flag into a hex
already occupied by another flag. Flags have their own victory points, not
hexes. So, if you move 3 flags worth 50 points each into the same hex, then
when playing the game the player who occupies that hex will receive 150
points.

3) Edit Unit Data option:

a) When asked to edit your leader's rank you must input a number
which represents the rank. Here are the number equivalents:

1= Private   2= Corporal   3= Sergeant  4= 2nd Lieutenant (Lt.)
5= 1st Lt.   6= Captain    7= Major     8= Lt. Colonel  9= Colonel.

b) Most unit data values you can change, such as unit armor and speed,
max out at 255. Although leader statistics, and unit experience/morale
max out at 140.

4) Map Editor:

a) To place a Government building or multi-hex building you will need a
lot of clear space. You should clear the map first and then place any big
buildings first before setting up smaller ones.
b) Right-clicking while setting up a building will only place a cluster
of buildings in that hex, it will not allow you to view different buildings
as stated in rule book.

5) Saving Scenarios:

a) Caution!  When saving scenarios you create, they will be added to the list
of available scenarios already supplied with the game. Currently you may
create and save 140 scenarios. There are 60 scenarios that come with the
game for a total of 200 scenarios you can have access to at any one time.
You can save over another scenario already there if you need space for more
than 140 scenarios. If you do save over a scenario supplied with the game
and you want to play it again, you will need to reinstall the scenarios
from the Steel Panthers CD to your hard drive.

b) When you load a saved game you will be asked to choose player control.
This allows you to let another human take over the computer, for example, to
play against you.


COMBAT:

1) Entrenchments: All units gain defensive benefits from sandbag and
foxhole entrenchments.

2) Shots:

a) When unloading any unit, the unloaded unit will lose 1 available shot
for that turn. This does not affect your ammo for the game. You don't
lose ammo, just the time to shoot.

b) Remember that shots is the number of times that unit can fire during
its turn. This varies according to the unit type (example: large tanks
shooting big shells take longer to load), the number of men in the unit
(example: if an anti-tank gun loses one or two of its crew members, then
they will not be able to load the gun as quickly, hence they will receive
less shots per turn and tanks with bigger crews get more shots), status
of the unit (example: pinned units get less shots) and experience level
of the crew & the leadership value of the unit leader.
Elite units can actually receive more shots than Green units. You usually
receive at least 1 or 2 shots per turn unless the unit is in bad shape.

c) If your unit is shot at there is a chance the unit will lose shots.
If your shots listed go to 0 (zero) or if at the start of your turn the
unit has no shots, then check the unit information screen as individual
weapons can get destroyed or knocked out of action. If the weapon is no
longer in the list on the info screen, then it has been destroyed.

3) Mines:  When clearing mines, you will see a message on screen which
says "X" number of mines cleared followed by a number in parenthesis (#).
The number in parentheses is the number of mines left in the hex.

4) Pulling Back:  Sometimes when infantry come under fire they will
attempt to pull back; if so, the message "Pulling Back" is displayed. Infantry
can only pull back up to 3 hexes away. Also, if infantry have "smoke" they
will normally fire it automatically in an attempt to cover their retreat.

5) Dragonteeth:  Engineers have the ability to clear dragonteeth; you must
move them into the hex containing the obstacle and wait for a turn or more
in order to remove them. Dragonteeth in a hex prevent tanks from moving
through the hex until engineer infantry have removed them.

6) Pinned units:  There is a chance that a pinned unit may stay pinned
for the duration of the scenario depending on the environment around the
unit (tanks in flames, casualties, no leader in sight, etc.). Also, once
an infantry unit is less than half strength it will be very difficult for
it to rally below 10 points of suppression.

7) Facing: While facing direction is important for vehicles in the game
as they have different armor for the various sides of the vehicle, facing
is only important for infantry in that they see better in the direction
they are facing.

8) Close assault: If infantry are riding on a vehicle when it is close
assaulted by enemy infantry the infantry will absorb the assault. This is
a good tactic to keep your tanks alive when fighting in close with enemy
infantry.

9) Planes: BE CAREFUL when using your planes to attack enemy positions when
there is lots of smoke in the air or too close to your own units, as planes
can kill their own troops accidently in these instances.

10) Japanese infantry never surrender, & never rout. They are very difficult
to dislodge from dug-in positions. Use HEAVY firepower (tanks, artillery,
planes, flamethrowers, and anything else handy) to kill them.

11) US Marines never surrender.

MOVEMENT:

1) When using "All Formation" move mode, be careful if transport vehicles
such as barges belong to the same formation. This movement mode will
move everything, including the barges after you have unloaded your unit.
Also, since this movement mode is a little tricky to use, it is turned off at the
beginning of each turn. You will need to select it each turn if you wish to use
it. "All Formation" move is great for moving formations down a road, but is
dangerous to use in combat as the "undo" button doesn't work when in this
mode.

2) Slow Movement:  Units will gain a defensive bonus if they only move 1
hex during the game turn. However, this is most often not practical as there
are time limits for each scenario.

3) Unable to load units? Routed or retreating units will not be able to load
onto vehicles, you must rally them first.

4) Can't move units? Either you have already moved the unit that turn, it is a
routing unit (computer is moving it), or it is a vehicle which has been
immobilized (look at the unit status display, and/or look at the Speed rating
in the unit information display which will show a 0 (zero) if the unit is so
damaged that it can no longer move).
Also, if your units are retreating or routing, you will NOT be able to move
them until you rally them and their status changes to "positioned". They will
attempt to retreat from the enemy under computer control.

5) My truck/transport vehicle disappeared? If you choose the Motorized or
Mechanized transportation option (see page 23) and you cross a river by
having your infantry use their inflatable rafts, then the transport associated
with that infantry unit will no longer be available for that battle. You will
have the transport available at the beginning of the next turn.


SPOTTING:

1) Sometimes it is difficult to see your units on the map during combat
because of all the smoke and destroyed units. If you are having trouble
seeing units on the map display, use the CLR button to clear away the
smoke, and/or turn the unit ID tags option on in order to see the units more
clearly.

2) Units can spot or "see" enemy units into light smoke hexes.

3) On "Easy and "Average" play level settings, your units spot adjacent units
automatically if those units have fired at your unit. Don't forget, that if a
vehicle drives right next to one of your infantry units in a building or
woods and you don't fire at them, there is a chance that unit may go
undetected by the enemy. It depends on the "Visibility" of the scenario,
whether the enemy vehicle is carrying infantry, and the experience level of
the enemy vehicle. Infantry are normally able to see adjacent units. On
"Hard" play difficulty setting, there is a chance your unit may not spot
enemy units adjacent to them, even if that unit fired at them. This makes for
more realistic game play as this allows infantry to sneak up on vehicles in
rough terrain, but it is more difficult to play at this level.

4) Direct Fire Smoke options and Direct Fire Attack (HE) options can only
be used against hexes that are in your unit's line of sight.


ENCYCLOPEDIA:

The on-screen encyclopedia for tanks and planes will only display the units
available during that time period. For example, if you are playing a game
which is set in 1940 and you wish to view French vehicles, then you will see
what they had available at that time. If you are playing a game in 1945 and
you wish to view French vehicles you will only see American/British vehicles
listed as that is what the Free French had access to at that time.


COMPUTER VS COMPUTER:

If you choose computer vs computer, choose Quit Orders and the scenario
will begin with the computer playing the computer. Hit the spacebar to
stop the game at the beginning of the next turn.


STAY TUNED FOR MODEM PLAY AND AN IMPROVED 2-PLAYER GAME...

We are hoping to attempt to produce a free upgrade, to owners of Steel
Panthers, which will provide for 2-player modem play and an improved
2-player game. Look for this on America Online, CompuServe, GEnie, or
the SSI BBS sometime before Christmas. See the Steel Panthers Data Card
on how to contact the SSI BBS and SSI ONLINE.