You may pile no more than 1000 points of Strength in one hex at one time including up to 500 Strength points or six units (which ever comes first) worth of ground troops and up to 500 Strength points of aircraft, with an unlimited number of air units. Air transport units count towards the 500 points of aircraft Strength and airbases don’t count towards stack limitations at all. There is no stacking limitation for units in Deep Sea hexes.
Spotting Enemy Units
Your units will spot enemy troops in both friendly and enemy territory. Ground and naval units can see the enemy when they come within two hexes, but air units can spot the enemy only one hex away. Even if you do not have units nearby, you will spot enemy units as they cut across territory you control: civilians and off-duty military personnel will “report” any enemy presence. Neither side can spot the other in Deep Sea hexes.
Economics
Like any country at war, your country’s ability to fight will depend largely on its economy. In Onslaught, your economy consists of Reserve Funds, Gross Income, Army Maintenance cost and Net Income. The more funds you have, the bigger and better your army can be and vice versa. You receive Reserve Funds at the beginning of the game. The size of your initial Reserve will vary according to the scenario and user settings you choose.
Weather
The Weather Report Palette displays atmospheric, ground, and sea conditions and explains how they affect your units. Atmospheric conditions will determine the accuracy of air strikes, flak attacks, interception, etc. Ground weather will affect how easily units can move and fight on land. Sea conditions will determine how far naval units move and how much Condition they will lose.
Cities
Each country in Onslaught has cities, including one capital. Cities are vital because they serve as ports and they are the only place where you can build units after you leave the Build Phase. Because cities are so valuable, you will likely fight hard to win and keep them. Likewise, cities you own will be very vulnerable to attack. Unfortunately, if you prolong ground combat, air strikes or artillery bombardments in a city hex, you risk reducing it to rubble and damaging its production capacity for many turns to come.
Airbases
Airbases are quite different from all other ground and air units. You can place airbases only on Grass or Desert, you can’t move them once you build them, and there can be only one per hex. Unlike all other units in the game, Airbases don’t use Experience, Condition, or Thresholds, (numbers are still displayed in the Info Palette, but they aren’t used). Also, they don’t need to be Trained and can’t be Entrenched. Most importantly, they provide the sole facility from which air units can operate.
As long as an Airbase has 30 Strength and 30% Supply, air units can fly missions from them. If either number is lower than allowed, all air units on the base will be stranded until the numbers improve. If you sense an Airbase might soon be put out of action, it is wise to Relocate air units based there.
Transporting By Air
You can use air transportation on its own to move ground units quickly over great distances or in conjunction with the Air Drop order for airborne assaults. Regardless of what you use air transport for, it will cost you. Be careful about transporting units close to, or over, enemy lines because enemy flak and fighters could cause a lot of casualties to the vulnerable air transports. You can move any type of ground unit by air transport, but the unit must be located on an active airbase at the beginning of the turn. Likewise, air transports can land only on active airbases.
Click on the unit and select the Air Transport order. The unit’s icon will change to an air transport and the cost of transport will be deducted from your Reserve Funds. If the ground unit’s icon doesn’t change then you are either on an inactive airbase or you do not have enough money to transport the unit. Your can now move your air transport unit or plot its move for an air drop.
Transporting By Sea
Like air transport, you can use naval transport to move land units more quickly across large areas. You might also opt to use naval transport for an amphibious assault or to reinforce areas cut off from the rest of your army. Regardless, units must be in a port city with a status of at least 30% at the beginning of the turn. If the port city has less than 30% status then no units may be transported to or from that city until its status improves.
Units at sea are automatically supplied the same as the National Supply Level. If a unit lands someplace that is out of supply (like an enemy beach) it will have four turns of decreasing Supply. Each turn the unit’s Supply will be diminished by 25% points until it has no Supply or has established a supply line greater than its current level. It is, therefore, imperative that you take a city if you are doing an amphibious assault.
Click on the unit you want to transport, select the Naval Transport order, and move the unit into Sea hexes just as if it were a ground unit on land (you can transport the unit more quickly through shallow sea hexes, but shallow waters are not as safe as the deep sea hexes). The unit’s icon will change to a naval transport and the cost of transportation will be deducted from your Reserve funds. If the ground unit’s icon does not change then you either are not in an eligible port city or you do not have enough money to transport the unit.
