Steel Soldiers Demo is an immensely fast, strategic game that requires both
skill and quick wit if you are to progress. The demo level contains various
mission Objectives' that have to be met in order to complete the mission.
Ignore them, and you won't be able to win!
The following conventions are used throughout the Steel Soldiers Demo Readme:
Click: Press the Left-mouse button.
Right-Click: Press the Right-mouse button.
Double Click: Quickly press the Left-mouse button twice in succession.
Click and Drag: Hold down the Left-mouse button (unless directed otherwise) and move the mouse left/right.
a) Territories
Each level, or 'Battlefield' is divided up into separate areas and
referred to as 'territories'. Inside each territory is a 'Flag',
which an infantry unit needs to claim in order to take control of that
territory.
Only Infantry 'robot' units may claim a flag and capture the territory.
When a territory has been claimed the borders will change to the same
color as the side that took control of the flag. Once a territory is
claimed, you will automatically begin to draw credits from that area.
To capture a territory, select a robot and then click on the flag in
the territory you wish to capture, the robot will then move to that flag
and claim it. Robots in close proximity to a flag will automatically
try and claim it.
b) Credits
The resource system in Steel Soldiers Demo is unique but simple. It has
been designed to let the player concentrate on the most important part
of war, the battle itself, without having to worry too much about
mining or harvesting specific resources. All resources are simply
measured Credits.
Each territory contains a 'Flag' with a number between 1 and 5 depicted
upon it. This number is a multiplier for the amount of 'credits' you
will draw from that territory, each minute, when captured. The more
territories you claim and the higher the flag number, the greater the
amount of credits you will have available to your factory each
minute. So for example, a '2' flag will double the amount of credits
you receive from that territory, whilst say '2' will triple the amount.
The Message Panel details the amount of credits you currently have and
the maximum amount you can store at the bottom left of the panel. Next
to this are two separate bars indicating your credit income (green) and credit expenditure (red).(See section below on STATUS PANELS for more
details).
Important Note:
Every unit or structure requires credits to manufacture, but so does
repairing. Manufacturing will gradually slow down to the point of a
trickle if your credit expenditure outweighs your credit income. A
Construction Robot can only repair a damaged unit or structure if you
have available credits to do so. A Construction Robot will not
automatically try and repair a unit or structure if your credits are
low, as manufacturing takes priority.
c) Line-of-Sight
Every unit and structure in Z: Steel Soldiers has a Line of Sight.
A BLUE colored ring displayed around the selected unit indicates the
maximum vision range. A unit will only attack an enemy that is within
its Line of Sight. If you target an enemy unit within the selected units
vision range, then a red attack cursor will appear. If the unit is
within vision range, but cannot actually see the target (perhaps
something on the terrain is blocking the units view), then the targeting
cursor will change to yellow indicating the unit needs to move to a
different position before it can fire. Units need an unobstructed Line of
Sight to the enemy before they can fire. Hills and other terrain features
block the Line of Sight. It is also useful that reconnaissance units,
such as a Spy support your heavier units, as their Line of Sight is greater.
This allows the heavy units to attack from a distance by sharing the
reconnaissance unit's Line of Sight!
d) Weapon Range
In addition to Line of Sight, each unit and offensive structures has a
Weapon Range indicated by colored rings around the selected unit or structure.
Red indicates a units maximum weapon range (the farthest the units or
structures weapon can fire) and green indicates a units minimum weapon range
(if applicable). Some units may not have a minimum weapons range as they carry short-range weapons. Others, such as the Tough, have a large minimum range due
to the high-powered weapons they are using and may need to move away from the
target before firing, if they are too close!
e) Fog of War
Anything outside of a unit or structures' Line of Sight is invisible to the
player. This is called the Fog-of-War and hides the position of the enemy.
If you discovered an enemy structure earlier that is now out of your unit's
Line of Sight, it will still appear on the radar in the last position you saw
it, and as a 'ghosted' structure on the Battlefield. This is just an
indication of the last detected position of that structure and is no guarantee
You can navigate map by moving the pointer to the edge of the screen in the direction you wish the camera to move, or for a more responsive and
significantly faster method you can hold down the right mouse button and
move the mouse in the direction you wish the camera to move.
b) Controlling the Camera
Rotate: To rotate the camera view, click and hold both right and
left mouse buttons and move the mouse to the left or the
right. Alternatively hold down the right-hand <CTRL> key whilst pressing the <CURSOR> keys left or right.
The camera can also be turned to face North, South, East or West, by pressing keys F9 to F12 respectively.
Tilt: Whilst holding down both right and left-hand mouse buttons, push the mouse forward to reduce or backwards to increase the angle of
elevation. Alternatively hold down the right-hand <CTRL> key whilst
pressing the <CURSOR> keys up or down.
Zoom: If you have a wheel mouse, roll the wheel forward to zoom in and roll the wheel backwards to zoom out. If you have a three-button mouse, hold the middle button and move the mouse forwards or back.
As default units are set to a 'Passive' stance when they are manufactured.
The currently selected stance is highlighted green.
You can change their current stance by clicking the appropriate
icon from the Units BUILD-MENU.
* In 'Passive Mode' Units automatically engage any enemies that enter their LOS and then try to chase them until it is destroyed.
* In 'Defensive' mode, will stop him from engaging an enemy unless they engage first. The unit will not move or pursue the unit.
* In 'Aggressive Mode' the unit will actively look to pick a fight, hunting and chasing down any unit that it comes into contact with.
b) Guarding
Units that are set to aggressive stance automatically engage any enemies that enter their LOS. Placing in a unit in 'guard' mode and targeting a specific building to protect will stop the unit from going off on a heroic pursuit!
c) A.P.C.
The APC is the only Ground Unit in Steel Soldiers Demo that can traverse water. An APC can carry a maximum of four robots at a time and is ideal for transporting units quickly across the Battlefield or through impassable rivers.
Offensive Infantry will fire from within an APC except when it's traversing through water, as the APC needs to batten-down-the- hatch!
d) Loading/Unloading Units into an APCs and Bunkers
Units can be grouped and ordered into an APC/Bunker by selecting the units and then pointing the cursor over an empty APC or bunker. When the 'load' cursors appears, click to load the units.
To get a specific unit out of an APC/Bunker, right-click the APC/Bunker and either click on the unit you wish to disembark
from the BUILD-MENU or click the 'Eject All' icon from the
Throughout the Quick Key Guide the following conventions are used:
LMB = Left Mouse-button
RMB = Right Mouse-button
+ = Hold indicated keys/mouse buttons together
Name Key Definition
Default action LMB This would normally be move or attack, but may be repair, convert, etc.
Select LMB When clicked on a unit or structure will select it
Build & Order Menus RMB When clicked over a unit or structure, will display the Order, Build or Attack menus.
Deselect / reselect SPACE Reselects or deselects current selection
Add/Remove from selection SHIFT + LMB Again, this can be either by clicking on a specific unit, or dragging a box to select multiple units
Stack order SHIFT + LMB Adds the given order (i.e. default action or key press order) to the unit's order stack.
Force fire CTRL + LMB Select unit & hold down the 'CTRL' key to force units to fire at any location or unit. Holding down 'CTRL' will change the standard game cursor to an 'ATTACK' cursor.
Rotate Structure left / right , / . Pressing either , (comma) or . (full stop) will rotate a structures footprint when in build mode before laying the foundation down.
Force move ALT + LMB Select unit & hold down the 'ALT' key to force unit to move to any location. Holding down 'ALT' will change the standard game cursor to a 'MOVE' cursor.
Select onscreen O Selects all units on Screen
Create Group CTRL + 0-9 Creates a group of units that can be selected at any time. Select the units that you wish to be part of the team, then press 'CTRL' and a number key '0-9'. The group will be assigned to that number. To reselect the group, press '0-9'. Pressing the number again scrolls the screen to view the group.
Select Group 0 - 9 Creates a group of units that can be selected at any time. Select the units that you wish to be part of the team, then press 'CTRL' and a number key '0-9'. The group will be assigned to that number. To reselect the group, press '0-9'. Pressing the number again scrolls the screen to view the group.
Scatter X All the selected units disperse in different directions.
Guard G Units will actively guard the designated building
Set rally point R All units manufactured units will be sent to the selected destination point. Select Factory and hold down 'R' whilst clicking on the destination point.
In-Game Menu ESC Brings up In-game Menu
Pause P Pauses and resumes a pause game
Help System H Displays the in-game Help Panel
Scroll map RMB + Cursors + Hold down the RMB or cursors keys to LEFT/RIGHT scroll the map
Zoom view Mouse Wheel
Middle Mouse-
Button + Forward/Back
PgUp + PgDn Zoom in and out of map. If your mouse has a 'wheel' in, you scroll up to zoom in and scroll back to zoom out. Alternatively, for a non- wheeled mouse, holding the middle mouse button and pushing forwards or backwards on the mouse will perform the same zooming action.
User Camera (Setting) CTRL + F1-F8 Saves the camera position which can be selected at any time.
User Camera (Using) F1-F8
Plan View CTRL + F12 Switches camera to a birds-eye, top- down view
Preset Camera F9-F12 Toggle between preset camera orientations for North, South, East and West
Angle / Tilt ALT + RMB or Allows you to move the viewpoint between 30 and 90 degrees.
CTRL +
Cursors UP/DOWN
Rotation ALT + RMB
+ LEFT/RIGHT Allows you to rotate the camera 360 degrees around your current position
CTRL +
Cursors LEFT/RIGHT
Center Base HOME Scrolls camera over the top of your command center
