Previous Page End Next Page Playing a Scenario A scenario is a pre made game, ready to play authored by someone else (it could be you!) in the Game Editor. If you have not yet read how to play a normal game, refer to In-Game Play for how to play, and read all sections between there and here. Also, read the Tutorial section, and preferably, play through the tutorial scenario.

When you select the scenario page on the main menu (this is the default game entry) you will see a list of the available scenarios, there can be up to 999 of these, so use the next and previous buttons on the screen to scroll through them.

When a designer creates a scenario, he can produce an explanatory text for this, if so, it will be displayed to the right of the screen, and if there is a lot of text you will be able to scroll through the scenario description. Read this, as the scenario designer may have important information in there, for example he may have set the scenario up only to be played by one side as the human, the other always as the computer. Or he may have designed this scenario to be played between two humans, in this case the balance of the game will likely be poor if played with one side as the computer, as it has insufficient advantage over the human in terms of points, say. Or, he may have some suggestions as to which reality settings to use for this game, using different ones may destroy the scenario balance. (See the preferences screen for how to set preferences).

He may also note which version of the OOB files should be used, for example he may have designed using a custom set. Important note: using different OOB files from those the designer used can have unpredictable effects!

The designer may also give you some hints as to how to achieve victory conditions, as the maker of a scenario can alter the victory points achieved for taking objectives, or even the game pieces themselves. For example in a convoy scenario, do not be surprised if the designer has made your trucks worth say 300 victory points each, and not the regular 3 or 4 points, for these items will in this case be items to keep preserved from loss.

The designer of the scenario makes all the decisions about forces available for all sides, their placement, reinforcements and so forth. He can edit individual game pieces as well. Do not be surprised if the game starts with a pre game bombardment that he has programmed in, both artillery and air strikes.

Note also that the scenario designer decides the type of battle, just because your mission in a scenario is an 'advance', the scenario designer may have deployed the AI forces dug in.

Your input here is to choose sides, unless the designer has stated for the human not to play one particular side, and then play through the situation the designer has made for you.

Scenarios are available in many places on the net, such as at the Wargamer www.wargamer.com , or at the many other Steel Panthers and wargames sites available on the net, do a web search on 'Steel AND Panthers AND scenario' (read your search engine help to see how to do an AND search, otherwise you will get lots of sites on metallurgy!).

Playing a Campaign

In a campaign, you select a starting core force of units, and command these, with the help of support forces, through a series of battles. As you progress, your core troops will gain experience, and you may be able to purchase better equipment for them as time progresses, and success brings you purchase points to repair or upgrade your veteran troops.

In WinSPWW2 there are now 4 campaign types.

A PBEM campaign .This allows two players to PBEM a 3 - 21 game campaign. This feature is only available on the CD version of the game. Click HERE for further details

The campaign generator. Here, you chose your nationality, up to 3 opponent nations, start time and number of battles, and terrain category. Although seemingly limited, this engine is good for a short campaign on a particular theme.

User designed linked scenario campaigns. Here a scenario designer links a series of scenario games to cover a specific campaign. In this game we provide a campaign editor, but unlike the one in SP3 , which was restricted to a dozen or so battles in a linear sequence, ours allows multiple campaign threads depending on the result of the last battle. Unlike in SP1 and SP2, where campaigns were written into the code, you can design campaigns of your own.

The Long Campaign. These are scripted in the code for 14 of the nations. Here, you select one particular WW2 participant nation, and take a force of soldiers through to the end of the war for that nation. You can advance the start date but not the war end date. The number of battles is a hint to the computer. If you use a large number of battles in the campaign the clock will advance by smaller increments, for example as a German player, you would see more battles in France and the Low Countries in 1940 if you selected say 250 battles over 50. You do not get to select the opposition in a long campaign, but you can select the battle front as the war progresses, for example if you wanted to participate in a more interesting area. The front selected determines the likely opponents. WW2 Long campaigns for Nationalist and Communist China and Free France have been added for WinSPWW2. The Pacific Front is covered and some nations are allowed to change between European Theatre and Pacific Theatre. Amphibious assaults are also implemented in the WW2 long campaign as are river crossings and also city maps so be prepared to Beach assault at Tarawa if you play USMC or cross the Meuse in France 1940 if playing as the Germans, or fight through Caen in Normandy if Canadian.

When you choose the campaigns button on the main screen the display changes to one as shown above.

Encyclopaedia will take you temporarily to the encyclopaedia screen.

Help will bring up the in game help text.

Preferences will take you to the preferences screen.

Cancel will return you to the main screen.

Generate will take you to the campaign generator screen

Edit Campaign will take you to the user campaign editor.

Long Campaign will take you to the Long Campaign screen

PBEM Campaign will take you to the PBEM Campaign screen if you have the CD version of the game

Start will run the selected user linked scenario campaign on the campaign list shown here. There can be up to 999 user campaigns in the list, these are linked scenario situations created by scenario designers, or yourself, via the campaign editor. Use the next and previous buttons to scroll the list. Explanatory text comes up in the centre of the screen.

Generate Campaign

This screen generates an SP2 type random campaign where you select the nation you wish to play, time frame, approximate number of battles and up to 3 historical opponents. Select Default Map to use the The Camo Workshop generated battle locations for the appropriate opponent pairs, or one of the 'generic' terrain types if you wish say always to fight on the plains or in forests. Be careful not to use an enemy or friendly force beyond or before it historically appears. This generator does not perform much of a 'sanity check' as it is for what ifs or for fighting in a specific small sub section of the war, really, or to play 'what if' campaigns.

Player 2 will be your primary opponent, you will see more of that nation, less of player 3 and less battles against player 4. Player 2,3, and 4 can be the same or differ at your whim, but selecting out of area opponents will give you a ping pong type campaign where you may be say, fighting in North Africa one battle, and in SE Asia the next ( Britian with Germany and Japan together in your opponent list for example).

Default, you can select only a terrain type of a limited type, but this is NOT highly recommended as the The Camo Workshop battle location code is designed to generate different battle locations, for example, the USSR versus Germany 1941 and 1945 will produce historically appropriate locations for that time period

PLEASE NOTE The number of battles selected for the time available affects the 'jump' between battle dates, a selection of Germany vs. the UK with start of 1939 and end date 1945 with 10 battles, will have skips of almost a year between battles generally with the AI forces buying new up-to-date equipment each time but your core will have to upgrade antique kit from the buy points you earn every time so it is highly recommended that the number of battles be at least one or two per month especially during WW2 when tanks and Anti-tank improvments occured on an almost montly basis. Another good idea for campaign generation is to chose one month then play 10 or 12 battles. With that type of campaign you won't have to worry about upgrading your equipment generally.

Campaign Difficulty Level setting. This toggles between various difficulty settings to allow you to set the campaign more to your liking, here it is set to 'harder', with a reduction in 10% to the amount of buy/repair points you will be allocated after a successful battle. (Does not apply to user campaigns as these are set by the designer of each such campaign)

Important Note, the date maxima and minima are 'locked' by the maximum and minimum date of the short timer nations, if any are selected as one of the 4 participants. For example, if one of the 4 is an OOB that stops in 1943, then the end date will not advance beyond 1943. The default pair of Germany and USSR are both 'long timer' OOBs, it is generally advisablet to set your campaign time using 2 long timer nations so that all eras may be selected, and then, once you have determined the campaign date, select your opponents and player nation. National flags will turn on and off and change graphic as you change the date, if a flag is not present, you have gone beyond that short timer nation's start or end date.

NEW in Version 1.1 The following line can be added to the CamoGame.ini if players wish to allow the AI to be given more or less points in a campaign

; Option to adjust the player 2 (AI) points allowed. 0 is ignored. 100 = 100% 200=doubled AIAdjustPercent=100;

This MUST be copied exactly as you see here ( two lines of code ) and it must be the last line of the INI. This MUST be copied using a text editor like NOTEPAD

If the variable is not in the INI, or is 0, it is treated as 100% so is you do not enter this the game behaves normally

This allows campaign players the ability to adjust the AI force level by a percentage if they want. If it is set that to 125 you will get a 25% boost in the AI's points allocation, 50 and it is halved, 200 would be double the points for the AI This was prompted by a request by a player and this is to allow players such as him to make campaigns much harder if they so wish. This ONLY affects campaign games. It has no effect on regular battles.

HOW EXPERIENCE IS GAINED IN CAMPAIGNS You get time-based experience for surviving a battle. Kill experience makes experience tend to go up faster (esp first 5 kills) is all. Simply having hit a target helps experience gain, as does merely having fired weapons at an enemy in the previous campaign game. "Kills" are simply gravy in the experience check and not the only thing considered.

You get experience for calling in arty fire - and your arty skill will go up, so you call fires faster and it is definately worth having core FOOS. Buying them just after the A0 as B0 makes it easier to find on the units screen, or a quick "N" when it becomes your turn, to move from the A0 and plot.

Playing User Campaigns

Select the desired user campaign from the list on the left, then press start, just like playing a scenario battle. You have no input as to force or nation selection, just in buying your core. Note that the designer can write a 'locked' user campaign, where the upgrade and support and core points are not able to be overwritten by the user preferences you have set, he should make you aware of this fact in the campaign intro text that appears in the centre of the screen on selecting the campaign list item.

If the points are locked, this helps the designer to ensure that if he designed for say a 400 point core at the start, then users cannot ruin the campaign by deliberately starting with say a 2000 point core to have a 'cake walk' i.e. To deliberately wreck the campaign balance. (Since the scenario forces are fixed, unlike in the generated campaign games where the force is chosen per battle as a ratio of your core plus support troop points).

Note that the designer can write the messages on each exit condition for each battle, and introductory text for each scenario. Pay attention to these messages as they could convey useful information. Also note that in user campaigns, the victory points left remaining unspent at the campaign end may be part of the overall victory allocation as well as the number of decisive victories, drawn battles and so forth, to further reward skillful players who do not suffer massive losses that require massive repair, and who do not spend too much on upgrades or new forces. The scenario designer will note this in the introductory text for the campaign, if it applies.

Playing Long Campaigns

Pressing continue will then provide the front selection screen. As you can see, at this time in the war, the Japanese campaign options include four different battle locations

After this, you will see the normal campaign menus, and at game end you will come back to this screen once more to choose for the next battle.

Campaign Games, General Points

The repair and upgrade screen appears at the end of every completed battle, but it does not appear after special battles, counter attacks and so forth, which you must fight with your core in its battered condition, but special battles are better to win, your core troops gain more experience from these, and you get more buy points.

Now, in The Camo Workshop campaigns, you do not repair and upgrade your core forces at the end of the last battle unlike in SP1 and SP2, you upgrade and repair as part of the start process of the new battle. Thus, unlike before, you are buying kit which is in date for the battle, and not possibly having bought old stuff being transported forward in time with outdated stuff. (The WW2 long campaigns could jump over long inactive periods, e.g. Germany from France 40 to N Africa 41, less of a problem with the post war historic long campaigns, when implemented).

The repair screen has been upgraded. Your true force value is shown, remember that a veteran core force tiger 1 at say 110 experience will be worth much more than the book value of a tiger just bought at 70 experience points. The encyclopaedia points values are only valid for 70 experience crews!

The time line is shown on screen to give you an idea of when you are at in the war.

Fix all, fixes all units, as before, should you have enough repair points.

Fix, fixes units individually. Best used when you are high on casualties and low on repair points

Change, as before, but with enhancements. The upgrade paths for campaigns have been changed, and some troop types are allowed to 'cross over' the boundaries, unlike before. For example, a howitzer can become a SP gun, and an SP gun, being an armoured type, can be transformed to a tank. So a tank can become a SP gun, then an anti tank gun, should you so desire. Aircraft types are not allowed in cores. Helicopters are.

Review, this allows you to bring up the in game statistics screen for a unit so you can look at its data, and also change its leader's name and so on.

Expand Core, you can now spend repair points on buying new forces to expand your core. There is no longer any requirement to buy a load of cheap armoured cars or trucks etc, to hide in the rear and upgrade to 'real' combat units later. Buy a core that can contribute from battle 1, and add new recruits later.

Map/Preferences, Clicking this button allows you access to the preferences screen between games. This is where you can change the map siz you are using if find you want to play on a bigger or smaller map

Encyclopaedia, new, to let you refer to this in this phase. .

One point that needs explaining, when you change a unit it tends to lose several valuable experience points as this equipment is considered new to it. If you change a unit several times in one session, you have sent it away on far too many conversion courses, and it will be dazed and confused by all those instructors, so lose experience several times! Moral : only change a unit once in this screen, do not run around changing your mind, you will also lose the buy points as well. Remember that experience gain is not linear in campaigns, low experience goes up relatively quickly, but higher experience is hard won. It can therefore be a very bad thing to upgrade your best troops after each and every battle, as they may not have regained the points lost in upgrading for several battles to come. If you are unsure about which troop types can change over (and the path) - save a game and simply experiment here, then return. However, we find the expand core function has removed the old need to radically change say 20 odds jeeps bought at start up into WinSPWW2, as in the original system you were locked to only the originally bought unit numbers. It is usually easier to buy a new tank platoon, if you need tanks added to the core.

Special campaign battles, at the end of the game, you may be ordered to counterattack, and sometimes you are allowed to decline, sometimes you are not. Also, the enemy may counterattack you, and again you may not be given the option to avoid this. In a special battle, you do not get the opportunity to repair and upgrade, nor will you get as much support points. The gain in winning such a battle is that you get a larger handout of experience points and also build points at the successful conclusion of the special battle. The extra chance of experience can be vital if your core is mainly very high (100+) experience veterans, as these will usually progress upwards at a slower rate. But remember that you will have damaged units in play, you may wish to leave these 'cripples' on your base line perhaps so that they do not get wiped out, for example any rifle squads depleted down to 2 or 3 men, especially veterans.

Air strikes and battle points in scenarios, Air strike preference is totally ignored by all scenario games, and is determined internally, the air strike preference value is reset to XXX on starting any campaign type game (including continuing with a saved game). For non user campaign campaign games, the preferences buy points for player 1 are used as the total max buy for your initial core, and are then reset to XXX for both players before your support troop purchase in any campaign game set up. Therefore the AI buy is always in the correct ratio to the value of your core plus any support troops bought, you need not spend all the support points if you do not want to, for example in a defend scenario, every support point you spend will grant the AI 2.5 times the amount spent, a 200 point rifle company bought by you in support in the defence grants the compute 500 purchase points.

User campaign points are determined by the designer, he may 'lock down' the initial buy points, as well as determining the support points for and buy points rewarded for each battle scenario node. In a user campaign, air strike determination can be entirely decided by the designer, or left to use the normal determination.

REMEMBER--Experience is hard won, protect your experienced men and above all protect the commander! If the commander is killed ( That's YOU ! ) the campaign will end after the battle in which he is killed.

Continuing a Campaign

You save campaigns in normal save game slots. Simply open up a previously saved Campaign Game to continue from where you left off.

Playing By EMAIL (PBEM), or Against Another Human

You can play another human player, either remotely (via EMAIL) or on the same PC ('head to head' or 'hot seat' play).

There are now 3 versions of PBEM, secure , BASIC secure and unsecure. The difference is that for a secure game, you enter a security password, and for an unsecure game, you do not enter a password. That is it, but a secure game has a few extra implications which we will touch upon later.

A secure game is used to play another person, usually remotely via an exchange of EMAIL, or is useful in a head to head game on the same PC if your friend and yourself need a 'no peek' game as the game is to be played over several visits to your place by your opponent. By using a password, the owner of the PC cannot sneak a look when his opponent has left.

An unsecured game, without a password, remember, is useful mainly for a local head to head session where the 2 players will be together through the entire session, e.g. a game done in one evening. Unsecured games can be sent via EMAIL as well, should you trust your opponent not to sneak a peek! An unsecured game can be saved in any of the regular game save slots. An unsecured game can be saved in several slots, should you so wish, just like a normal game against the AI. An unsecured game is similar to the original Steel Panthers II PBEM, where you can reload and replay turns to your heart's content, change preferences from the agreed settings and so forth. Unsecured games are really therefore only for use against someone you trust!.

PBEM pre-game negotiations

Both players should agree the "rules" beforehand. These usually relate to informal agreements not to buy certain items, or to restrict the buy of some item or other. For example you both may agree not to buy any aircraft. Or only to buy a maximum of say 3 tubes of indirect artillery per company HQ bought. Or to not buy any snipers. Agree the use of the ALLIES or CAPTURED items and any limits on this feature. Or agree that anything goes.

Agree these things beforehand, or you may find yourself playing against an opponent who buys tons of artillery, some spotters, and hordes of infantry AT weapons and snipers or some other completely ahistorical and unbelievable mix.

Negotiate the 2 main opponents, the battle type, battle date, purchase point level, general visibility and general length of the battle. Player 1 will need to know this to set up the game.

Secure PBEM pre-game negotiations

The main point to note here is that in a secure PBEM session, ( BOTH regular AND Basic ) both players must use the exact same secure PBEM game slot. Therefore as part of the pre-game negotiations both of you need to agree the save slot to be used. Note that the downloaded game has only the original 5 secure PBEM save game slots, so If either player only has the downloaded version then the number of slot choices is restricted.

A secure PBEM game also saves and enforces the mutually agreed preferences for the game session. Part of the pre-game negotiation should be what preferences settings you will be using.

A regular secure PBEM game also requires that the exact same OOB files be used by both players. A Basic secure PBEM does not.This is mentioned below, in more detail.

Online PBEM Clubs One of the strengths of WinSPWW2 and WinSPMBT is the ability to play a PBEM game against another human. The following online clubs support PBEM and include WinSPWW2/WinSPMBT active ladders.

1. SZO ladder (section leader Mike Torrance) http://sp.xtreme-gamer.com
2. The Blitzkrieg Wargaming Club http://www.theblitz.org/ladders/index.php

Transmission of Files to Your Opponent (Remote Games-Unsecured)

Non secure games are saved in the [WinSPWW2]\Saved Games folder. Secure games are stored in [WinSPWW2]\PBEM Games

Non Secure PBEM

Each game consists of 2 files, spsvNNN.dat, spsvNNN.cmt. These files MUST be transmitted to your opponent as a group!

It is best to open a windows explorer session and to navigate to the \save directory, ensure that you use 'view/arrange icons/by name', this will keep the files grouped together by filename, thus making your task of selecting the correct set of 3 easier.. Here we select game number 10 but, since the files are indexed from 0 (zero), this is the 11th save game slot in the actual game, remember to deduct 1 from the number used by WinSPWW2. Ensure that explorer is set up to always show the extension of files as well.

Of course, it can be difficult to decide which game is the correct one, note that I have associated the cmt files with notepad using the normal windows procedure to do so. You can then simply open the cmt file by double clicking on it as it will contain the game title, never edit this, just look at it! (on the first time, if necessary, associate the cmt extension with Notepad in Windows when the program type dialogue comes up) Also, note that I have set explorer to show all extensions, not to hide these, again, normal windows stuff, see your windows help file if unsure.

These 2 files are what we transfer to the other player, however, these can be rather large, and so it is best to zip these up using WINZIP, ensure that both of you use the same file compression utility, whichever you choose (negotiate this between yourselves as part of your battle setup emails). Winzip comes on the front cover CD ROMS of most decent computer magazines usually under the utilities section. It is the premier zip package, also at www.winzip.com. With winzip installed, there is a right mouse click extension to zip the files, select the 3, right click with mouse, select zip and enter a file name.

In case of crashes, it is a very good idea to keep all your zipped up moves for the entire game until it is completed, in case you find you require to retransmit a move to an opponent who has corrupted his move. Therefore, for each game it is useful to use a standardised zip file naming convention. I tend to use gamenameNNN.zip, where NNN is the move number, so DonUSAGE194400.zip would be my setup initial move, DonUSAGE194401.zip would be move number 1 after deployment and setup (the 0 move, remember!). I tend to put who I am playing, the 2 nations (player 1 on the left) and date in the name bit, to help tell the zips apart. I keep all the moves sent to me by my opponent as well to aid in any disaster recovery, as if I keep his then should he make a mistake (say he deleted one on his PC), I have the backup on mine. Once you have finished the game, then delete the zips.

PBEM (or Head to Head) Procedure

Set up a generated battle the following way:

This looks just like a normal battle versus a computer, but note that ALL the settings buttons are set to human player. (It is possible to set up with computer purchase etc, but in most human versus human play, both will want to buy and deploy without the computer's help). In any case, in a human plays human game, the setting for 'computer purchase' is ignored by the game for player number 2. So it really is best left at human for all of the 6 buttons.

For a scenario which one wants to play human versus human, just start the scenario and set both players as human, then continue as for a normal battle generator game, but there will be no purchase or deployment as this is already taken care of in the scenario design. You just exchange files for password (if secure) or start (if unsecure).

Player number 1 is responsible for setting the pre game settings, battle type, map size, number of turns, date and visibility and so on. In especial, he is responsible for setting up the preferences screen to what the 2 players have mutually agreed before the game. Is a secure game, the in-game preferences will be updated to those for the PBEM game just loaded. You may therefore need to reset these if you want to play another game in the same session ither manually, or by exiting and restarting. Unsecure games do not save the preferences settings, so the 2 players should take care to set these up properly, if they are different to what is normally set on the PC, before starting an unsecure PBEM game.

Player 1 now hits the continue button when he is satisfied with the set up parameters and continues to the normal buy screen where he now buys his toys. Once he has done this, he hits the done button in the purchase menu, just like for a game against the AI. However unlike a game against the computer, he now sees the password entry screen:

OK, this is where a secure and an unsecure game diverge.

A)- For a secure game, you enter a password here. Press the password button, then type in your desired game password and press 'enter'. Once a Password has been entered a new button will appear. "Full Security" is the default and if that is what you want press Continue now. If, however, your wish to play your PBEM with the new BASIC PBEM Security then press this button once and it will change to read "Basic Security". If that is what you want press Continue. (The password will be shown in the box at the base of the screen, it may be a good idea to write this down in case you later forget it!). If you do not like the password or made an error - pressing password again lets you edit it.

For more information on BASIC security click HERE

or B), For an unsecure game, just press the continue button at this point and go on without a password having been entered.

It is this action by player 1 which determines if the game will be secure or unsecure, if secure (player 1 entered a password) then player 2 will be presented with the password entry screen, if not, player 2 will not see the password entry screen.

Now, player 1 will see the save game screen.

If this is an unsecure game (you never entered a password, recall!), then you can use any of the normal save game, like a regular game. (Slot 1 is the auto save game slot, including non secured games. Do not save here! ). As an unsecure game, you can save later saves to any legal slot, just like regular games. Or even into another copy of WinSPWW2 on the same or a different computer. Unsecure games are regular save games stored in the normal [WinSPWW2]\Saved Games folder. Unsecure games operate just like normal games for saves and exits - you can exit out of the turn in mid-turn if you want to.

However, if this is a secure game (password was entered), then you will be provided with the save PBEM file menu at this point. Secured games encrypt the save game data, so your opponent cannot open this up in a hex editor and peek at things. In addition, secured games will autosave at the end of the game turn to that slot only (you have no choice to move a saved copy elsewhere), and also, the save game notes the path to the game as well, so you cannot move a copy to another install of WinSPWW2 to try to 'break' it, it just will not play. Secure games are saved in the [WinSPWW2]\PBEM Games directory, not in the regular save games folder. Also, when player 1 is saving the game for the first time, he MUST use the mutually-agreed save game slot number he negotiated with his opponent during the game set-up process. Recall that both players must use the exact same slot on their PCs.

NB - It is probably best to use a reasonably structured save game name such as perhaps "Eric (USA) v Fred (USSR ) 5/1978" when you save the game for the first time.

This example shows the files for the second PBEM save slot being selected ( remember, the slots are numbered from (0) ZERO and not (1)ONE.

One thing that confuses some folks with secured PBEM is that, when playing a secured PBEM game the normal 'exit game' button (the RED one that points upwards) is now used to save your secured PBEM game at that point, in order to come back and complete it later. Recall that you must use the same save slot, this will store your game at the current point in play. It is not, repeat not an "end game" button, just a pause and save my turn button! But, we have found that some users are confused by this and used this button to as they thought, finish the turn off, then bundled the files and sent these to their opponent, whereby his game choked on the files, naturally enough, as they are a save of the first player's current point in the game uncompleted, and he is still the active player, not the opponent he sent the partially completed move to.

The exit game button in a secure PBEM auto-saves your secure pbem game for you to come back later and complete. It knows which slot to use, so there is no save game dialogue here. There is a text message explaining this which will display, and you will have to press any key to continue, this was added to remind users that the game is not yet ready to send to the opponent (turn is incomplete).

You use the BLUE end turn button to end your turn. I will repeat this, you use the BLUE end turn button to end a PBEM game move. Please press the BLUE button at the bottom of the buttons to COMPLETE your turn. Don't send your part move save off (RED upwards pointed button) to the other player, he cannot play it! (if secure PBEM - if unsecured, you just sent your current turn in progress to your opponent to look at, as he can open it !)

In a remote game, player 1 now sends the two zipped up files to player 2, who places the zip file somewhere safe (remember to keep all the zips in case of need to reload) and unzips the files contained in this to his [WinSPWW2]\Saved Games or [WinSPWW2]\PBEM Games (if secure) directory under windows.

He then starts the game, and goes to the regular 'saved games' screen, if this is an unsecured game, or to the 'Saved PBEM' screen if it is a secure game. There he loads the appropriate save game, and continues with play. In the setup, player 2 buys his forces, is presented with the password screen (if a secure game), and then he deploys his forces. On hitting the end turn button (red button!) at the end of the deployment, the following happens:

If this is a secure game, the game is automatically saved in the appropriate slot in the [WinSPWW2]\PBEM Games folder with no user action required to select a save slot as this is already known. Player 2 now exits to windows, and zips up the 2 files for this game and transmits to player 1. REMEMBER ALSO, the secure encrypted game saves live in the[WinSPWW2]\PBEM Games directory, and not, repeat not in the [WinSPWW2]\Saved Gamesdirectory with all other game saves (including unsecured PBEM game saves)!

If this is an unsecure game, player 2 will see the normal save game menu screen, and can select any legal save slot. Player 2 now zips up the appropriate 2 files (as he can change the slot, he should remember which he used!) and transmits to player 1. In unsecure games, you must remember to save manually, unlike in secure games. When presented with your opponent's start screen, save and exit.

Player 1 now receives the zip file from player 2, unzips to his save (or email for secure games) directory and saves the zip file for backup purposes. He then starts the game, goes to the save games screen and selects the appropriate slot and starts the game. If a secure game, you get prompted for a password, if not, no password is asked for.

Player 1 now deploys and plays his first turn, on finishing his first turn (end turn, red, button!) he then zips the appropriate 3 files and transmits to player 2. This is now move 1, so he should name his zip file <name>001.zip. Remember to save all the zips in case you need to come back for disaster recovery!

Player 2 and player 1 now repeat the process of receiving, unzipping, playing, zipping and transmitting until the end of the game. (Though in PBEM games, often the 2 players decide at some point what the victory will be, and mutually end the game early with an agreed win or lose).

Important point for secured games, part of the anti cheat method is that both OOB files are checked to see if they have changed so your opponent cannot place an improved one in place with wonder weapons. This is for your protection against cheats, but what it means is that on both player's PCs the 2 OOB files must not ever change during the lifetime of the game. Any changed OOB file will result in a complaint about a corrupt OOB file from the security code. If you are playing a set of PBEM games, say for a competitive ladder, that use a set of modified OOB files, perhaps provided by the organiser, then it is best to install the entire game into a second directory and use this second copy of WinSPWW2 (with the appropriately changed OOB files) for the competition games. This is the best way to handle games with user OB files, rather than say, trying to remember to load spob000 (original) to play 2 games, spob000 (competition) for 2 others, and spob000 (Fred's version) for the PBEM with Fred, who insists on his particular changed OB set. If either side uses allies or captured stuff then these OOBS will need to be provided as well, so it is probably best if using modified OOBS in PBEM to transmit the entire OOB set for safety as you will have no knowledge that your opponent who is playing as Finland (for example) will be buying light tanks bought from the Russian OOB

Head to Head, is exactly as outlined above, but no file transfer is obviously needed as the same PC is being used. Player 2 just goes to the save game screen when required, as does player 1. But, after the initial deployment process, an unsecure head to head game on the same PC will not autosave, and will present the other player's start screen between moves, that is when you swap players. Save in unsecure is up to the current player. (Remember, player 2 goes to the save game list to open his first turn when playing on the same PC, some folks playing a scenario head to head were somewhat confused,as player 1 set up, then player 2 set up and saw player 1's start, because player 2 was trying to play the scenario, not the saved game generated by player 1, the game thought this was a brand new attempt to start this scenario!)

PBEM Security Information

During turn execution in secured PBEM games, press the 1 key to see statistics on how many loads , quits and FAILS of the game were done by both sides. If you have a crash, and have to load the game turn again from the received zip, let your opponent know you had this problem, as the load counter will be increased and a FAIL number will appear. If the loads and quits are not equal, perhaps your opponent is having severe technical difficulties?, ask him about this. However, you should also be aware that one reason for getting fail messages is he is playing out a turn over and over to get a better result. If you play someone who's games give fail messages regularly and seems to do no wrong while playing the game I would suggest you find a new opponent! Game crashes in WinSPWW2 are VERY,VERY RARE. The most likely reason for a FAIL number in this game now is your opponent is cheating. It IS possible to get confused and extract an old turns zip file and this is one very good reason to extract the zip when you get it and NOT save it in the PBEM folder!!

Loads quits and Fails

( This will appear on the bottom left of your screen when the game loads. You can press "1" anytime to review these numbers )

Loads is incremented each time you start your turn - including restarting a saved off turn in progress. Quits is incremented each time you press "end turn" OR when you press the up-arrow key to save a game in progress to continue later. if you save off a game in progress many times, this count will increment that many times. So if your opponent comes back with a high number of loads and quits for one turn, he is likely to be someone who plays the game in small "nibbles".

Your opponent's count of loads and quits should be equal. In your current turn, your load count will be 1 greater than the quit count, as you have not yet ended your turn or saved off to finish later.

The Quits counter will be less than the load count for your opponent if his game was stopped in mid execution of the program for some reason - a crash, power failure or whatever.

There is a third total - for Load Fails. If the game is reloaded and the code thinks this is the case, then the load failure count will be incremented. The load failure counter is the best check on reloads by your opponent. An occasional reason for this happening is likely to be a technical glitch. However, if this is happening continually, perhaps he is making multiple reload attempts to replay his turn. ( a polite way of saying he's cheating)

A warning message is displayed if the game thought your opponent had a load failure. NB - this is not 100% reliable if you are playing a secure PBEM on the same machine as your opponent, in the same folder, due to file inconsistencies. If you really need total security to play secure PBEM against someone on the exact same PC, it is therefore best to install another copy of the game in a differently-named folder (or on another hard drive). You each play in separate installations, with different file paths, and so the game code will find it easier to detect inconsistencies. In this case you will need to copy the game files from one installation to the other on change of player.

PBEM Misc

NOTE: If you find that you cannot complete a move in one sitting in secure (passworded) games you can save off the game with the RED up-arrow button. You will be asked " Save this turn now and finish it later? Y/N " Press " Y " and you will be able to complete your turn at a more convenient time, starting where you have left off. Remember that this is not a game completed turn button, that is the BLUE button!, do not send a part completed move to your opponent, it will cause security violations. This RED button is to save for you to come back and complete your turn later when convenient, is all!

Should both players want to see the action replay of the artillery, both sides must have set fast artillery to 'off' in their preferences screens, or no artillery replay info will be saved for a PBEM game. Both players, not just one or the other, both must have this setting set to off to see the guns fire in replay. If one of you has it off, then both remember to set it on, it can sometimes take a move or so to get in synch, so ensure this setting is set before the game on both player's PCs. Also, if the "fast artillery" control is ON you will NOT see any of the graphic animation's OR sound effects when you attack a hex with the " Z " key. ( This is also true in any kind of game or scenario, Z key is area (artillery) fire). (In very large PBEM games, you may wish to set fast artillery on, as the artillery 'packets' compete with normal in game replay 'packets', you may go over the maximum limit, also, even if you do not overrun the replay buffer, switching fast artillery on can reduce the size of the data files you exchange, should you have problems with large files, e.g. if you use a European teleco which charges by the minute for connect time and/or you are on a slow dialup connection).

If your replay goes over the buffer size, that part onwards is lost. Replay is only of firing events, remember.

NB, for remote games, it is probably better to stick to a reasonable points value, remember that as games get bigger, the size of the save game data will expand in proportion, as the game replay is also stored, with up to 9 shots per piece, this gets big, quickly. It is the number of actual pieces that determines save game data size, not the points, 200 infantry squads will generate a much larger save game file than say 15 Tiger Tanks!

One last thing about PBEM: When the game ends, it will be with player 2. However, the result is phrased for player 1 so if player 2 did very well, he may be upset to find he has been "totally defeated". That is player ONE that has been totally defeated! If you were playing as the USSR. Player 2 gets the score, and can view the 2 force lists as per a normal game. The game ends THERE, the move is no use to player 1 if returned. Player 2 MUST write the scores down to report to player 1, and the result etc., this is the ONLY way player 1 finds out the result, as a written report from player 2.

PBEM or head to head secure games store the preferences set up by player 1 and overwrite the preferences on the received player's computer, this is deliberate. With unsecured games, you may need to remember to set the preferences to the agreed values before starting your turn.

One other thing about PBEM games that causes hiccups is that there is no replay of any pre-game artillery bombardment for player 1 due to the way that the turns are interleaved, the one player does see the replay, but then has his turn 1 which of course, overwrites the turn 0 replay buffer with his turn 1 actions. There are various work-arounds to this.

1) Accept the fact you will not see pre-game bombardment results if player 1

2) Both players agree not to do a pre-game bombardment

3) When plotting bombardments pre-game, use the delay button to plot the shot fall for turn 1, and NOT turn 0, as turn 1 IS in the normal game sequence.

PBEM End Game Review

When the game ends, you will be able to review the map, as normal, however, for PBEM games now immediately after you exit the game, zip up your files as normal and send to your opponent, who can now review the end game data as well, unlike before. Once you exit the game, you can reopen its save game slot to review the end game, but before you do this, zip up the game files to send to your opponent for his end game review, or the end game video sequence can be put out of synch..

And Finally

Most players learn the secure PBEM sequence by trial and error by jumping in and trying to play another person, without ever having looked into the PBEM procedures. This other person is quite likely also new to the process as well, and so there can be problems with 2 players trying out an unfamiliar process.

Because PBEM is a complex interaction, it is really best to familiarise yourself with the process before ever challenging another human to an actual play-off!.

Simply play a secure PBEM against yourself "right hand" versus "left hand" on the same PC. Set the number of turns to some small number (say 3) when your "right hand" is setting up the game as player 1, to play your "left hand" as player 2. Go through the procedure, and as you are playing a throw-away test game against yourself if you make errors you simply learn from them and start over till you have the process down pat, without frustrating (or being frustrated by) another human player.

Basic secure PBEM

BASIC secure PBEM works much the same as regular secure PBEM with the following exceptions

- OOB's are not checked to see if they are the same version
- Loads and saves are not checked and reported if they differ
- Basic security PBEM games CAN be played on two different machines by the same player so someone can play on their laptop by day and desktop in the evening

Basic PBEM security was designed for people who, for one reason or the other, cannot complete a PBEM game without something causing a game halt be it altered OOB's or trying to play on two different machines or any number of other reasons we can only guess at. We HIGHLY recommend that if you have no problem playing regular secure PBEM to please continue doing so ! However, if all you want is password protection to prevent your opponent from "accidentally" peeking at your deployment or if you want ( or need ) to be able to play on two machines or if you simply trust your opponent NOT to cheat then BASIC security may be for you. The procedures to set up a basic secure game are quite simple. Follow the same steps as a regular secure PBEM but after you enter your password a new button will appear. The default is FULL SECURITY. If you pess continue now you will get regular full security. If, however, you wish to play your PBEM with Basic security then press this button once and it will say BASIC SECURITY. Press Continue and follow the same steps choosing your PBEM slot as before. Basic PBEM security games have encrypted DAT files just as regular secure PBEM does so Basic security games have to be saved in the secure PBEM slots.

Preferences Screen

This game cannot be all things to all people. There are far too many differing opinions on what is 'realistic' and what makes a fun playable game. Satisfying one segment of gamers is sure to alienate another. Also, please define 'realistic', that is one of those 'how long is a piece of string' debates. To some folk, realism is micro details of millimetres of armour and exact slope angles, or how much extra water an Italian division needs to boil pasta (as factored in one actual cardboard wargame!), or the exact model of bolt action rifle carried. Generally, those who worry about micro details like armour angles and exact thickness in millimetres tend to be from the civilian 'armchair general' side of the fence. Those with real military experience tend to define realism in terms of command and control, and how much intelligence is given away for free, 'fog of war' factors. Military-experienced folk worry less about exact rifle type, and more about morale, training and leadership of their men. Armchair types worry about exact TO&E charts, and declare a game 'unrealistic' if the supplied formation is not to the exact field regs, and not at 100% strength. Military folk would be amazed to find a unit anywhere near 'paper' strength, and with all its vehicles present on the battlefield as 'runners' rather than being in the repair shop, broken down in a ditch on the approach march, or just plain lost or skiving!

During playtesting we encountered this on more than one occasion where some would say a game feature was too little, some would say too much and some would say it's just right. (We knew we had finally reached middle ground when 'angels on pin heads' type debates started).

When SSI originally released Steel Panthers 2 they included a Preferences Screen to allow the end user the ability to modify various elements of the game to suit individual tastes and abilities. We have noticed from our e-mails that many people quite simply do not understand the functions of this screen or how it can change the game to suit your particular style of play, or even that it exists, in some cases. We have had a multitude of "suggestions" ( or in a couple of cases "bug" reports!) for code changes that can actually be made simply by adjusting a control in Player preferences.

We have made the preferences screen available from more points in the game now, this is both because it can be handy to turn some things, for example- individual unit ID tags, on or off, but also, some end users may just notice the new buttons :-> !

Reality settings are your call, not another person's. Tweak these settings until you get the game performing the way you like it, should you find the default settings unrealistic, or too easy or too hard. Of course, in a PBEM game, you may find you may need to discuss these matters with your prospective opponent!

General Preferences

BATTLE FX ON/OFF | This button allows you to turn the background battle FX on or off. If you do not want to listen to the Battle sounds during game play, set this control to OFF.
SOUND FX | Click the button ON to select the game sound effects, OFF to play in silence.
HEX GRID | Click the button to switch the Hex Grid overlay ON or OFF
ANIMATION | Click this button to turn ON or OFF animations like tracers, explosions or smoke.
OBJECTIVE FLAGS | Click this button ON or OFF to display the Victory Objectives flags. Usually you want this on all the time, but it can be useful to take the flags off to see the hexes terrain more clearly, then switch the flags back on.
AI TANK HEAVY | If set ON, the AI opponent will buy more tanks than normal. This was added to make those players happy that still consider this an "tank" game
UNIT ID TAGS | Click this button ON or OFF to display the small national flags beside each unit. This helps you identify who's who at higher zoom levels, and to spot which tanks are abandoned. Those more interested in realism often consider the ID flags to give away too much 'free' information, such as which tank is abandoned, or the flags may make you notice some riflemen hidden in smoke or dense terrain that you may not have noticed otherwise, and, therefore, play with this setting OFF. This is your call, as with all reality stuff.
MOVE RADIUS | Click this button ON or OFF to display (or not) the number of hexes a unit can move. The movement radius is shown in lighter hexes.
FAST ARTILLERY | Clicking this button ON shows any indirect fire as one explosion per unit/battery. Click this OFF to show each shot arriving one at a time. And remember, when playing PBEM that BOTH sides need this setting to OFF to see the fall of artillery shots between moves on the action replay.
SOUND VOLUME | Click on the right side to increase the volume or click on the left side to decrease the volume.
ANIMATION LEVEL | Click on the right side to increase the amount of animation displayed in the game and on the left side to decrease the amount of animation.
MESSAGE DELAY | This controls how long messages are displayed on the screen. Click on the right side to increase the length of the time and on the left side to decrease the amount of time messages are shown for.
HIDDEN FIRE | This one is very important. When this control is ON and a unit that has not previously been spotted fires, its actual position is rarely revealed after it's first shot. This makes ambushes more effective and realistic. We have also changed the way a pinned or retreating unit actually spots. If you are fired at and become pinned there is now a chance that a previously spotted unit will disappear unless another of your units has also spotted the enemy unit, it's difficult to spot someone when you are face down in the dirt. If you set this control to OFF then once a unit fires its position will immediately be revealed. Recommended Setting: ON, except for absolute beginners.
AUTO-RALLY | When this button is ON the computer will attempt to rally any of your troops that are suppressed at the end of your turn and can do so. If you have this set to OFF then all rallying is your responsibility. Recommended Setting: ON

Player Preferences

NOTE: These controls seem to be the most misunderstood and underused controls in the game. This is where you dial in what you feel suits your concept of game play and "reality". These controls allow you to alter settings and achieve the balance that suits you. Many people would like to leave these alone but these are the controls you need to use if the game 'feels' wrong to you. Right now our recommended setting for player preferences are the default settings but really, it is your decision to decide what works best for you. In addition, these are useful settings to use to adjust how the games AI plays, if you are new, then try lowering some of these values for the AI so as to have an easier time of it. If you are experienced, then try setting some values higher to get a 'tougher' computer opponent. The prime one to try for the AI opponent is the TROOP QUALITY setting. Set this 10 or more points above yours to give the AI better experienced troops which will spot better, shoot better, rally more often etc.

SEARCHING | This control's function has been misunderstood due to erroneous information in both the Steel Panthers 2 manual (where the control is called Spotting) and the Steel Panthers 3 manual. Both of these manuals state that this control adjusts the spotting accuracy for calling down artillery and air strikes. No, it does not. The primary effect on the game is to increase or decrease the range by which you spot other units on the map. In a series of tests involving advancing infantry in the desert with SEARCHING set to the default of 100% the advancing infantry was not spotted until turn 6 when it was 12 hexes away. With SEARCHING set to 250% the advancing infantry was first spotted on turn 4 and was 23 hexes away. With SEARCHING set to 30% the first unit was spotted advancing on turn 10 when it was only 4 hexes away. So, if you feel the units are being spotted too soon then turn this control DOWN. IF you feel the units are too difficult to spot then turn the control UP.
HITTING | This controls the direct fire accuracy. The default is 100%. If you feel that there are too few hits being scored then turn this up. If you feel that there are too many hits being made turn this down.
ROUT/RALLY | This controls how likely a unit is going to suffer morale loss and break and how easily they will rally. Once again the default is 100%. If you feel that the game causes units to break and run too easily then turn this up. If you feel that they stand and fight too long before retreating turn this down. To get a tougher AI opponent, try this setting at 10 or more points above yours.
TROOP QUALITY | This is used to override the default "Country Training" values we have built into the code. For this button to work you MUST have the COUNTRY TRAINING button in the REALISM PREFERENCE box OFF. When you see XXX in TROOP QUALITY that means you will get what we have determined best suits that particular country for that particular year. If you feel these are too high or too low then turn COUNTRY TRAINING OFF and pick a number you think works better.

This is one of the most important controls in the game. Whenever you set this to a value, as you purchase troops their experience level is set to a number nearby the value you specify (a range spread around the value, but mainly below it). If you set it above the default 70, then your troops will cost you more buy points, and naturally if set under 70, you get cheaper units.

Experience level is what determines whether the unit is anything from 'green' to 'veteran'. The troop quality level is shown when you select a unit on map . It is shown as a number, and also as the 'rank graphic'. Green troops have less experience, lower morale, lower rally numbers and other deleterious things apply, troops with low experience get less shots per move for one. Veterans naturally get better abilities to hit things, better morale values, better rally numbers, and at the very high levels, more shots per move. In a single battle this is important, but in a campaign game its vital, as your troops go through the campaign their experience gets better, so the survival of your 'core' troops is important for they will progress in experience. (They also will be 'pointed' more, losing a 120 experience veteran tank to the AI will give it more 'kill' victory points than a similar tank of 70 experience points. Also, the AI will get more buy points as you gain experience during the campaign, as your troops get more experience, their points value increases, and you will likely have upgraded the tanks as well, so double increase in value, more expensive tank with better crewmen).

Remember that the points costs shown in the Encyclopaedia are based on the default 70 experience point level.

TANK TOUGHNESS | This controls how resilient a tank is to damage once a hit is scored. The default is 100%. At 100% the numbers we have assigned to the armour of the tanks are used. If you feel that tanks are being knocked out too easily then turn this up. If you feel there are too few kills being scored then turn this down.
INFANTRY TOUGHNESS | This controls how resilient your infantry is. If you feel the infantry in the game is too easily killed then turn this up. If you feel they are too tough then turn this down.
BATTLE POINTS | This is a very important control! It controls the number of battle points issued in a game for the purposes of purchasing men and equipment. If you leave both sides to XXX the number of points is chosen randomly by the computer for Player 1 and player 2's points will become a ratio of Player 1's expended points. If you set Player 1's points to something other than XXX then Player 2's points will become a ratio of that number. Or you can set both sides to a specific number. If you do this and play the computer it will take all of the points you give it (one way to 'handicap' yourself as the human player). Also, when starting a campaign game, this value is what you get to buy your core with, if not set to XXX (unless the user campaign is a 'locked points' campaign where you cannot choose these factors). If you want to play PBEM with agreed points per side, this is the control to do so.

If you set both sides to a specific number, then if player 1 does not use all his points, player 2 is not given a ratio depending on battle posture and the amount player 1 spent, he can happily spend right up to the given player 2 points, whatever player 1 did.

AIR SORTIES | This overrides the numbers we have placed in the code for the likelihood of airstrikes and the number of airstrikes assigned. If you do not want any airstrikes for one or both sides then set this to ZERO. If you want to specify how many airstrikes will be available to both sides then pick a number and enter it. If you want to take your chances then leave this set to XXX. An airstrike as far as this is concerned is one (1) air formation, a single spotter plane formation deducts one from this, as does a two plane strike element formation, or a multiple bomber formation. It is not a total of the number of planes allowed. It counts formations.

Important AI note, the SP series games were designed on the premise that only one side would have air strikes. (This was before this button was implemented in a later version of SP2) and therefore only one side would have AA. In WinSPWW2 air parity is allowed, it is quite possible that both sides may have a small number of strikes allocated. The WinSPWW2 AI pick list process will also buy AA units even if granted air strikes now, but at a lower rate than when it is bereft of supporting air.

ARTY EFFECTIVENESS | This controls how hard artillery hits targets, if you feel indirect fire is too wimpy, turn it up, and if you feel the default value is far too effective, turn it down from the default 100%.

Realism Preferences

BREAKDOWNS | With this set to OFF you will be able to drive through buildings with tanks and APCs without the possibility of damage to the vehicle. You will be able to ford streams, mud, hedgerows, soft sand, snow drifts, trenches, and marshes without becoming stuck. If you set this to ON then there is a chance the vehicle will become trapped. It is really a vehicle sticking button, not as the title may suggest, a possibility of mechanical breakdowns due to poor maintenance. Recommended Setting: OFF for random battles versus the AI. ON for everything else.
AMMO LIMIT | ON sets the ammo loadout we have assigned to various units and vehicles. OFF gives you unlimited ammo. Recommended Setting: ON, except for beginners.
COMMAND | When this button is ON the normal command and control rules are in place, this effects things like rallying your troops. When OFF you are automatically given a permanent link to higher HQ and there are no penalties for not being in contact. Recommended Setting: ON, except for beginners.
MORALE | When this is ON the normal rules for unit and formation morale are in effect. If you set this to OFF the morale penalties are eliminated. Recommended Setting: ON.
SPOTTERS | When this button is ON only the formation HQ units (the "0" units) with a radio are capable of calling and spotting for indirect fire, and the specialist artillery observers. If you turn this control OFF then any unit can call and spot artillery. Recommended Setting: ON.
MOVE AND SHOOT | If you have this set to ON then movement will lower accuracy and target acquisition as well as the new changes we have made that reduces movement points available after each shot will be in effect. If you set this to OFF then there are no penalties for moving and shooting. Recommended Setting: ON.
MINES | If this is set to OFF then mines will be disabled. If set to ON then Mines will behave normally. Recommended Setting: ON.
COUNTRY TRAINING | When this is ON the values we have in the code for troop quality will be in effect. If you wish to change this in the Player Preferences section then set this button to OFF. Recommended Setting: ON. However this one is a major personal preferences item. If you do not like the troop quality you get for a given nation and year, set it to OFF, or if you want to boost the AI's quality above yours, also set it OFF, then use the TROOP QUALITY selector(s), which are disabled if this is set ON.

Encyclopaedia Screen

This screen is used to inspect game unit data.

Select a new nation from those active at this date by pressing on the existing flag in the centre of the screen. You will be taken then to a screen with all the nations flags for that date. Select the nation you want then press the CONTINUE button.

You will be then taken back to the main encyclopaedia screen and a list of the available units is displayed on the right side of the screen. Hovering the mouse over each button will show the short data on the Left hand panel. Pressing the unit's button will show the full page data view for that unit.

The EXIT button will take you back out of this mode.

The NEXT and PREVIOUS buttons will cycle through the units available.

The SORT button is only available as an added extra on the CD. You can read about the functions of this button by clicking HERE

The blue line at the bottom of the page shows the version information string for the OB file loaded, this is very useful if you are in the habit of loading user edited OB data files, to ensure you have the correct one loaded, for example for a PBEM game or a scenario which requires a specific OB file set to be loaded.

The red backlit section at the top shows the unit name, and if as here the GameOptions "Show ID numbers" option is ON you will see the OB slot number for the unit. In the Israeli example two screen shots back, the Merkava 2b is showing the OB slot number as "60" . This is very handy for debug purposes! Refer to the section on the GameOptions.exe if you are a OB designer and need this info. Regular users can ignore as the debug flag will normally be off.

Data items on this page, shown when the mouse is hovered over the unit's button are:

Unit name ('Type 2 "Ka-Mi' here) |
OB slot number | You must be running "Show ID Number" - **YES** in the Misc tab in the GameOptions screen that appears when you start the game to see these numbers
Unit Type ('Amphib Tank" here) | Refer to Appendix D for a list of classes
Weapon List | The 4 weapon slots contents, or '-' if none fitted in that slot
Speed | Shown as (Normal : Swim) in hexes
Men | Vehicle's crew or squad size
Fire Control | Refer to next page.
Size | 0 is smallest (Snipers etc.) upwards. Bigger size equals easier to spot and to hit.
Vision | Night and poor visibility vision enhancement sights (hexes)
Cost | The book price for one of these, with average experience (70)
Availability | First month and year to last month and year available
Armour Icons | Top is turret (upper hull for non turreted), lower is hull armour versus normal AP shot, in CM (approximate) adjusted for slope.
Icon | The individual icon Number.

The second page shows more unit data,

Unit information screen

Unit information

Weapon Name | What this weapon is called
ACC | Accuracy, larger numbers are better
Kill | A two part number. The first value is for HE ammo and the second is for AP ammo and represents their effects on soft targets. Bigger is better. For example, a rifle would have an HE Kill of 1 and a 16 inch Naval gun shell would have a HE Kill of 71
PEN | Another two part number. The first value represents the basic penetration of steel armour by a HE shell at any range and the second is for AP ammo at point blank range ( both are rated in centimetres )
HEAT | Basic penetration of the High Explosive Anti Tank round at any range in centimetres
APCR | Basic AP penetration of the APCR ('sabot') round at the muzzle in centimetres. See note below.
Range | Another two part number. The first number is the maximum fire range in hexes for all shells except sabot ammo. The second number USUALLY represents the sabot ammo range but for on map artillery that can fire indirect fire missions that "sabot" number can represent regular AP shot. An example of this would be the 25 pounder howitzer. That number can also represent the minimum range for weapons like ATGM if applicable
Warhead | The size of the shot. Larger HE shells inflict more damage to soft targets, larger AP ammo hits harder than a gun with same penetration, but smaller warhead, and larger shot size is more effective at longer ranges as it loses less energy than smaller shot. Larger HEAT ammo also can penetrate better than a weapon with the same basic HEAT penetration but smaller Warhead size.
Ammo Loadout | Number of rounds (bursts for smaller weapons) carried by this unit. Note that only the slot 1 weapon may be issued HEAT or sabot ammo. However, some weapons which appear further down the list with AP ammo, actually have HEAT ammo such as bazookas, but this is a special AP code only visible in Mobhack (222 penetration code).
Armour listing |
(A)rmour | Basic steel armour value listed in CM adjusted for slope (and extra can be added by the designer to represent say face hardened steel), Hull and turret Front, Side, Rear and Top
(H)EAT Armour | If the unit has spaced or special armour to defeat HEAT ammo, the increased values used when struck by HEAT plasma jets are listed here.
Smoke Discharger | If fitted, this is noted here, the number of salvos is listed after the smoke main gun ammo in the in-game info display in the form SD:N. SD can also represent the British 2 inch or US 60mm smoke mortars
Survivability | Applies to vehicles only. This number, if greater than zero, indicates both how well the vehicle will survive a penetrating hit but also how likely the crew is to survive and successfully bail out, or bail with less crew killed, when the vehicle is penetrated and destroyed. Larger is better with the maximum number being 6 . There is no effect on things without bailing crew (squads, aircraft etc.) but will affect things like bunkers
Rate of fire | Maximum number of shots the unit can fire from main weapons (MG are automatically calculated if not in slot #1), for a unit with maximum experience. Less experienced crews mean less shots available before moving, i.e. If a unit has ROF of 9, an experience 70 crew will typically get 6 shots allocated. Damage received reduces ROF, and small crews. Movement and current suppression state can reduce shots.
Fire Control | This variable acts a little like range finder, below, but not so much, in allowing the unit to engage with better to-hit percentages at longer ranges. High FC values will add to the crew experience, so can generate 1 more shot sometimes than if it were not there. Primary use of this variable is in engaging moving targets, but if you move, the effect is drastically reduced. Values of 100 up are used for AA fire control radars on AA capable units.
Range Finder | This variable represents better fire control optics, sights, and proper range finding gear such as optical range finders, or post WW2, ranging HMG, lasers, and ballistic computing equipment. Naturally enough a unit with RF can engage targets at longer ranges with better success than a unit with the same weapon, but less RF. 14 is typically used for a laser range Finder.
Vision | If fitted, enhanced night vision equipment,with a value of 40 or greater representing a Thermal Imager or a Ground Surveillance Radar (TI or GSR). If game visibility is say 3 hexes, and you have a vision capacity of 12, you can see 9 hexes further than unaided units, which can be vital and devastating. TI and GSR can see through smoke as well, another vital advantage when the opponent lacks this capability, and hence reflected in the points cost of any unit so equipped.
Stabiliser | If non zero, a stabiliser is fitted. A stabiliser allows a vehicle to move and keep target lock (the firing solution) on an already engaged target which is a great advantage, so long as the LOS between the firer and that target is not broken. Units with stabilisers can travel some distance with reduced self movement penalty to the to-hit values. Do not expect a stabiliser to help if running over rough terrain much though!.
Lift capacity | Roughly, one man equals one lift point. However, some guns, mortar teams and so on cost more to lift (guns will have a '*' or '**' to indicate heavy weight). Vehicles with lift of 1XX can carry heavy units, 2XX really heavy units (look at say barges, which carry tanks etc.).
Load cost | This is the bit that says something is heavier than average, 0 for squads means only the men are factored, but say a .50 MMG section with Load cost of 1, will cost roughly 12 lift points, and tanks with load cost in the 24 ton class, need barges to carry. A 57mm AT gun with load Cost of 2 requires a vehicle with a 1XX Lift Capacity, and a 3 inch AT gun with Load Cost 3 needs a fair sized truck to tow it.

(The best way to find out what caries what is by experience, set out a test game buy a full set of various transports and loads, and then experiment in the deploy phase to see what is allowed by loading and unloading the combinations, then exit the test game.)

Size | An indication of how easy the thing is to spot, and to hit. Smaller is sneakier, larger is more easily seen.
Cost | Buy cost, if experience is average 70, if less experienced crews then the unit costs less, and more experienced crews and hence more effective units naturally cost more.

"SABOT" NOTE: The 'sabot' round in WW2 was normally Armour Piercing Composite Rigid (APCR) Also known as HVAP, High Velocity Armour Piercing), but can also represent true sabot rounds like APDS (Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot) where the sabot (=shoe) surrounding the sub calibre penetrator is dropped after exit from the muzzle, which improves drag coefficient , only Britain used true sabot (APDS) ammo in WW2.

The AP round can represent APDS ammo in some units, with the sabot round being used to represent some form of uprated shot in lesser supply, perhaps.

If the OB designer has produced descriptive text for a unit, this is displayed under the unit picture.

Mines and Field Engineering

Mines, Dragons Teeth, Fire trenches and Barbed Wire are bought by the defender, if he pays for engineering points in his purchase set up.

All mines in SP series games are dual-purpose minefields (both anti personnel and AT mines are in the field).

All minefields are "hidden" minefields. SP ignores the Geneva convention which requires marked minefields( so there are no dummy minefields either . )

The more mine points spent on mining a hex, the more densely mined that hex will be, hence more dangerous to cross (more likelihood of standing on one).

The faster a unit has moved on entering a mined hex, the greater the chance of tripping a mine. So if you suspect mines, move SLOWLY. Engineers and engineer vehicles are better than other troops in detecting mines. If they enter a mined hex, you may well get an "Engineer detects minefield" message, rather than an explosion. The engineer unit is then stuck in the minefield, but it will clear this faster than ordinary troops.

- Dragons teeth represent anti-vehicle obstacles of a substantial nature (such as piles of logs perhaps), used as an anti vehicle barrier, or as road blocks etc. They are best cleared by engineer types. They stop all (non-flying) vehicles, but are only an obstacle to foot troops.

- Barbed wire has been introduced for WinSPWW2 for defensive battles. It's bought in the same way and appears in the same menus as mines, dragons teeth and trenches. Wire CAN immobilize vehicles including tanks ( though it is rare, wire can foul running gear ) The effect is greater on wheeled vehicles. As a quick rule of thumb the lighter the vehicle the more chance it will be hung up by wire. Tanks can flatten wire, Engineer tanks can flatten and clear wire. Infantry can move through wire but only slowly. Typically you would move up to a wire hex and go no further that turn. The next turn you would enter the hex and go no further. The third turn you could move out but with a MP penalty so moving through wire is not a piece of cake Engineers and regular infantry clear wire just like they do mines. Engineers clear it by facing the wire hex and regular infantry have get in the hex to take it down ( and they are slower ). If the units trying to clear wire are under fire this slows things down just like mine clearing ."Flattening" wire is a random thing just like mines. How many mines in a Hex?? Well that just depends.....you'll know for sure when they are gone. The same idea applies to wire. When it's clear the graphic will disappear. Artillery does NOT remove wire. Everyone found that out 90 years ago. As well, entering wire can cause casualties and add suppression to infantry.

TWO IMPORTANT POINTS REGARDING THE USE OF BARBED WIRE

1. Wire and mines cannot co-exist in the same hex. We are at the limit of some coding issues and the result of that is you cannot have both wire and mines in the same hex together so this isn't a "bug" . It's what we had to do to make this work.
2. You CANNOT place wire in building hexes . This is not a code restriction . It's a design decision

- Large fire trenches can be bought and laid as part of the field defences. These shelter all ground troop types (even if they moved), including vehicles. They are a major obstacle to vehicle movement, and vehicles may get stuck in them, so this field defence can be used as an anti-tank ditch as well.

There are no bridging engineer assets modeled in WinSPWW2.

Notes

1] A "mine" is not "1 mine" but a random small number of mines. It is a symbol for a mined area and may be 2 mines or it may be 8 mines. ( or 3 or 5.....) If there are more than one "mine" symbols then there are PROBABLY more "mines" in that hex but if the random number generated hit's low for a three symbol cluster that hex MAY ONLY have three mines in it and if it hits high a 1 symbol mined area may have 8 mines. Those random numbers are there to eliminate the certainty of mine clearing.

2] Regular infantry squads will only clear mines if they are IN the minefield. Engineer units ( including mine clearing tanks ) will also clear mines from "outside" the field, if pointed at (facing) that hex.

3] Engineer infantry and vehicles clear mines faster than regular infantry. Because there are random numbers of mines and random numbers generated for mine clearing itself it is not possible to say definitively that "engineers clear mines 3x faster than infantry" because there are many factors built into the game to REMOVE the certainty that X action will take Y amount of time. If the unit removing mines moves that turn it can reduce the number of mines that can be removed on THAT turn. If they fire it slows down mine clearing. If they are fired on it slows down ( or halts altogether ) mine clearing. However, all things being equal the engineer type units WILL clear a given number of mines faster than a regular infantry unit.

4] Regular infantry, because they ONLY ( slowly ) clear mines from the hex they are in, can face in any direction while they do it. Engineer and mine clearing vehicles MUST face toward the hex they are the clearing mines from, if clearing from the hex alongside. If you face them away from a mined area or obstacle they will NOT clear it.

5] If there is a message ...... "XXX CLEARS 2 MINES " then 2 of the random number of mines in that mined area have been removed. When the message reads "XXX CLEARS A PATH THROUGH THE MINES" means all mines in that hex have been removed.

6] Experience plays a very important part in how fast a unit will clear a mined area. In one experiment, 4 engineer units with 30 experience and 4 engineer units with 120 experience were each placed in front of a mined hex. The expert units cleared their mined areas in 1-2 turns. The 4 green engineers took 7-9 turns to clear all four of their mined areas.

Notes on Deploying Mines in Scenarios

A design trick follows. Sometimes you will want minefields to be visible to both opponents. Basically, three things have to happen to make mines visible to both sides:

1) units have to be purchased as well as mines for the defender

2) the DONE button must be used to exit the Purchase Screen

3) the mines **MUST** be deployed before entering the attacking side's Purchase screen If the mines are re-deployed after entering the attacker's purchase screen, they will become invisible to the attacker until he finds them normally.

for winSPWW2v4

A new "explosives" class added to the game that creates booby traps and demolition charges . Click HERE for more details

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