Need Orders??

SPWaW is a tactical squad-level World War II game on single platoon or up to an entire battalion through Europe and the Pacific (1939 to 1945).

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lumberman
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2001 8:00 am

Need Orders??

Post by lumberman »

I have been playing SPWAW v.6.1 for about a week now and I am totally hooked, but I was wondering if I could get some seemingly simple help. I have been working through the tutorial scenarios given with the game and I have a couple of questions:

1)Evey once in a while when moving infantry, engineers, tanks, etc. I get a message that says it needs 1 order to conduct the move. Who does my ground units need to be in contact with in order to move?

2)This question is similar to the previous. When conducting a bombarment with artillery, I was under the impression that all I had to do was to choose the hex with the FO Jeep, hit the B-key, then choose where and/or what I want to bombard, but again, I get a message that says I need 2 orders to conduct this move. Again, who does my artillery units need to be in contact with to conduct a bombardment?

Thanks for any help!!
Larry Holt
Posts: 1644
Joined: Fri Mar 31, 2000 10:00 am
Location: Atlanta, GA 30068

Post by Larry Holt »

Since you are getting requests for orders you are playing with Command and Control on. If you are a new player I suggest that you go to the preferences screen and turn them off.

Ground units get orders from any leader unit in their higher chain of command. Leader units have a zero (e.g. A0, B0, etc). A unit can use its platoon, company or the A0 unit to get orders from. A unit can not use a platoon leader from a different unit to get orders from.

When firing, its the unit calling in arty that needs the orders, not the firing unit.

Read the manual for details on how leaders gain and hold orders.

Welcome to the best wargame and best wargaming company around!
Never take counsel of your fears.
john g
Posts: 911
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2000 8:00 am
Location: college station, tx usa

Post by john g »

Originally posted by Larry Holt:
Since you are getting requests for orders you are playing with Command and Control on. If you are a new player I suggest that you go to the preferences screen and turn them off.

Ground units get orders from any leader unit in their higher chain of command. Leader units have a zero (e.g. A0, B0, etc). A unit can use its platoon, company or the A0 unit to get orders from. A unit can not use a platoon leader from a different unit to get orders from.

When firing, its the unit calling in arty that needs the orders, not the firing unit.

Read the manual for details on how leaders gain and hold orders.

Welcome to the best wargame and best wargaming company around!

There are a few gotchas with this, when fo's run out of orders they can pull from A0 for additional orders to call arty.

When a unit is moving, and needs 2 orders to to change its objective, if its ?0 unit has only one order available, it will not take one there and one from the A0 to commit the order. You need to run the platoon leader to 0 orders then it can pull the 2 from A0. Though if it is moving in the direction of its objective it expends 0 orders and if it is recon status it doesn't expend orders to move either.
thanks, John.
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Major Destruction
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Location: Canada
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Post by Major Destruction »

Hi Lumberman, welcome to the war.
My advice fwiw.

As Larry said, never take counsel from your fears.
Leave Command on and work with it. Playing with command off will make you sloppy.

Keep your platoons intact and keep the platoon squads close to their command unit. Keep the platoon mortar close to the platoon commander. Don't rush. Don't buy too much artillery because you'll not have enough orders available to call in the fire.

Play with an experienced army for a while until you learn the ins and outs of command. Then, when you want a challenge, try commanding the Russians in 1939 or the Italians anytime. Then, when you go back to the US or Germany, and you'll be amazed at how easy it is. <img src="cool.gif" border="0">
They struggled with a ferocity that was to be expected of brave men fighting with forlorn hope against an enemy who had the advantage of position......knowing that courage was the one thing that would save them.

Julius Caesar, 57 BC
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skukko
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Post by skukko »

As Major said, play with C&C On from the very beginning. This way you'll have to learn it while you do it. Afterwards it is bigger step to learn if not started with C&C On.

mosh

and whellcome <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0">
salute

mosh

If its not rotten, shoot again
swagman
Posts: 102
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2001 8:00 am
Location: Australia

Post by swagman »

CC is challenging.

As others have said it takes an order to call in artillery to a new location (but none if you shift an existing order using the cross-bar key in the artillery bombardment screen-- I think it is also none if you call the bombard order onto the same hex as the existing order)

It takes two orders to issue a new order to a unit...but it takes three orders to set a new objective for a low level formation (eg squads in a platoon, not platoons in a company)...this is done using the flag key on the command buttons. All units in the formation have their objective set to that point...choose a hex well behind your real destination, as I think this allows the IA more flexibility in choosing paths. All the units can then move towards the objective without costing an order, unless you select a hex outside the permissible path (make sure you have show movement radius on in the preferences.) While they move your HQ will accumulate more orders to set the next objective. NOTE...you can set the objective flags when doing the unit deployment, which saves the order cost when the game starts...so always set objectives during deployment...there is a flag that sets a single objective flag for ALL units.

Changing defensive stance also takes an order per unit (in the Headquarters list of units or double click the icon to open the individual unit screen...notice the HQ screen allows you to toggle between change stance/range for this unit only or all units in the formation...click on the text to toggle to the next option). With CC on a unit with a defensive stance will not move, but has a better opportunity fire rate. Only units with an advance stance can be moved...so don't set a mobile reserve or attacking units to defense...the computer automatically sets defending units to defend stance and attackers to attack.

A unit will only change stance or move if it is in contact with its HQ unit (if out of contact orders there is a message at the screen bottom and orders will show as "0"). If units have radios (eg. armour in the middle of the war), they are almost certain to be in contact. If units are out of radio contact (no radio) the units have to be in visual contact, which means with 3 hexes of the formation HQ...if out of contact you can't change their stance and, if you change the formation objective, the unit won't change its own objective...that is will happily continue in the wrong direction...and if it has no radio there is nothing you can do except send your HQ back to pick it up.

Heavy suppression stops your HQ's from receiving orders, so protect them...only put your non-HQ units where they can be shot at...if the HQ is destroyed another unit will take over command...but if a company or force HQ is destroyed your junior HQ's can't take advantage of extra orders if they run out.

Playing with CC on is demanding...most importantly keep your units close together...particularly if they do NOT have radios...careful though, any formation close together can be trapped by artillery and the suppression makes them uncontrollable, and if the enemy closes in then they won't fight back and will be quickly destroyed.
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