Previous Page End Next Page Customising WinSPMBT A Word about OB Customising The WinSPMBT OB editor is Mobhack, and it is provided with the release. Please see the help files for that utility for details of producing custom OB files.

Mobhack lives in the Mobhack sub directory of your game.

Just remember the following about custom OB files:

1) In a PBEM game the 2 OBs must remain identical throughout the life of the PBEM game, therefore do NOT change OB files if you are playing someone in PBEM at that time.
2) Changing OB data can result in strange things happening in scenario games as these save all the game data except for weapons data, to which a reference to originating OB number and weapon number in that OB is stored. Therefore if you load a custom OB, and the OB designer decided to overwrite the G3 rifle with say a 155mm artillery piece, then all your German infantry will now tend to have 155mm howitzers. The OB designer can use weapons from other OBs than the 2 you thought he had used, so there can be these effects if you change an OB file you never thought had any relevance. (Say the OB designer loaded up USSR, and then issued some German squads with AK47s..). OOB file changes to units can also have strange effects on any existing scenario. Scenarios are therefore best designed using the official The Camo Workshop OOBS only.
3) Changing OB data mid game can have the same effects on your saved games as 2 above.

Basically, change the OB files at some point where all your games are finished. Check any scenarios for odd weapons appearing, if so, contact the OB or Scenario designer, not The Camo Workshop, unless these are The Camo Workshop products!.

You can now use the OOB manager in the GameOptions Programme to set up your game before starting a session that needs a particular OOB set - but it is up to you to remember to do this!.

Editable Player Files
A few enhancements have been made which will allow the player some flexibility in specific game areas.

CamoGame.ini

This file stores all the info you set on the GameOption screen that appears when you click on the start game Icon. It is not necessary nor recommended that this file be edited by hand

LdrXX.dat files
These live in the \data\NAMES directory of your game. Each XX relates to the OB number. They contain the unit leader names table for each Spob If deleted, a standard set is used, i.e. these tables override the defaults. The list of countries and their corresponding numbers can be found on the front page of the Mobhack editor.

If your name is Bloggs, you can now have unit leaders called Bloggs in the game.

They are straight text files delimited by a cr/lf as in Notepad. Leader name maximum character limit is 15, do not make these longer. Usually longer names will be truncated, but sometimes unpleasant side effects occur. So be careful with name length. Do not use a word processor to edit, use a proper text only editor like notepad, which will not fill the files with word processing format garbage extra characters!. If you live in a country which uses 'double byte' text, change to USA ASCII single byte. Do not use foreign characters like umlauts and cedillas. Be careful with punctuation marks like "&" as C may interpret these as string format characters.

You must not add a name to the end of the list. The program is set up to pick a name at random from a fixed number of names. Do not increase the number beyond what is already on the lists. If you wish to add your name to a particular country list you will need to overwrite an existing name. Do not delete a name either, as this will cause problems as well. There must be exactly 100 name 'lines' in the file, no more and no less.

RankXX.dat files
These live in the \data\RANKS directory of the game. The game uses the following series of ranks:
Private
Corporal
Lance Corporal
Sergeant
2nd Lt.,
1st Lt.
Captain
Major
Lt. Col.
Colonel
Brigadier General
But in an abbreviated format.
Again the XX relates to the mob number. If a RankXX.dat exists for a nation, then those names are used to replace the game defaults. There is no benefit from renaming a lower rank to a higher one. Limit is 8 characters per name.

NOTE: We have provided abbreviations of national ranks as best we can given the limitations of 8 characters. If you wish to go back to the original ranks used in the SP series, simply rename the file folder RANKS to XRANKS. The program will ignore these new lists and run off of the defaults written in the code. If at some point in the future you wish to use these new lists all you need do is remove the "X". As with the leaderXX files, there must be exactly eleven data lines or problems will occur. As with other text files, Do not use a word processor to edit. Do not use non USA ASCII characters such as Umlauts. Be careful with punctuation marks like "&" as C may interpret these as string format characters.

Other Text Files

In the data\text directory you will find encyclopaedia text files and the in game help files. These use the normal SP series format characters, see scenario editing section for the details. When making these, as with the Scenario introduction text, you will have to experiment with the text as it sometimes lays the text out quite oddly, practice makes perfect!.

etNNNIII.txt, the encyclopaedia text entries for each unit in OB NNN and unit slot number III. Note that the code is not very good at deciding the right side cut off for text on screens, so you will probably need to try several times until the right side cut-off is correct.

ftNNNIII.txt, the formation information text files that appear in the purchases screen, OB NNN and formation OB slot number III., NB leading zeros used to pad these items for both et and ft text file names. I.E. France is 006 for the NNN part of the file name, formation slot number 12 would be 012 for the III part.

HelpNNN.txt, the in game help screen files which come up in the game itself when the ? button or key is used. Help000.txt is the main help file, others cover other help sub topics by number.

Scenario Editor

The scenario editor is where you design scenarios for the end user to play. We will cover here the basics of scenario editing and design.

Important note to scenario designers, remember that any scenario you design should be with the human as player 1 (the one on the left in the picture below) and the AI (computer) player as player number 2 (on the right).

Basic scenario design process is to firstly design your map, this is the most important element of any scenario, and you should therefore make this element first, and above all, save it off separately from any other scenario work. Having the map saved off separately means that you can easily reuse this element for other scenarios using the same terrain, or simply to start over if the design was a wash out! Once happy with your map, then buy and deploy the required troops. Have an idea of what you want to do as well, research the scenario from historical documentation if it is a historically based one, rather than a 'what if'.

The main editor page is where you make some critical design decisions. Underneath it live the map editor, and the scenario deployment sub routines. As mentioned above, make your map first, and save it off somewhere safe well before you start dropping troops onto it to create a scenario.

One major point to consider at the outset is if you are designing a game where the player takes on the AI, or one where a human can play either side. In the former, the AI needs to be given consideration, and it will need to be given advantages of force size, or position, or more likely both. Or the game length can be reduced so the human must make a quick rush at it. Scenarios designed for the computer to play one side should not be played by the human as the other side, it will be a walk over for that player. Therefore, advise the player in your introductory text not to play the computer side. Scenarios designed for 2 humans to play will be usually very difficult for the AI to win, so again state up front that a scenario is designed for 2 humans to play each other head to head. A rare minority of scenarios can be playable by the AI as both sides, or give a human player a challenge if he plays the non-default set. In nearly all circumstances, the human player should be the player No 1 in a scenario, unless you are an experienced designer.

And we may as well take some time here to note some points about scenario purchase and design, your scenario will be reported to the end user as whatever mode it last was in (advance, say). this does not mean that you require to edit the scenario in that mode. For example you may want to set up a meeting engagement, but you need to entrench some units, or buy a pillbox. Fine, build the scenario as an assault, dig the defender in and buy pillboxes, then switch to a meeting engagement. Then buy the second player troops, or they may get the dug in status that you get as an assaulter in a regular battle! Changing the battle type in creative ways during the design can be a useful tool for the experienced designer. For example, to get rafts for a non assault battle. Or simply to get the user off on the wrong foot, dig the defenders in and tell the user it is a mere advance mission, he may not expect mines lying about then..

The date of the battle determines the 2 sides involved. Note that it is perfectly possible to use a different date, should whatever you want not be available at that point, enter the desired date and buy troops at that point in time, then reset the date to the scenario date later. Only the last date used during the design process is the one reported by the scenario, so you could try a what if of 1940 French versus Germans with 1945 equipment, Just whizz the date to 1940, buy the required French kit, whizz the date to 1945 and buy the German stuff. Mainly this is of use in special circumstances for a scenario, the introduction dates of equipment in the OB files tend towards 'general service' dates, if you have a historical scenario where say some pre-production Tigers were used this is how to get them (and also to surprise the human player who may not expect to meet tigers before the 'encyclopaedia date' <G!>).

The map editor is reached via the edit button, but before you hop off and start editing, select the map size from the button on the left. (You can come back later, and select a larger map size, and then add stuff to the South part, or a smaller map size to 'crop' it into a narrower strip in the North, but it is better to start off with the correct size first to save hassles). You can save off the map separately from the scenario inside the map editing subroutine. Note that selecting the date and the opponent pairing will determine the map used for random maps from the normal The Camo Workshop selection, this ignores the climate of the map (desert, summer or winter).

The climate buttons determine the basic map colour, desert gives yellow tiles and desert features (like soft sand), summer is the regular green background (toggled to 'jungle' if you select the palm trees inside the map editor), and winter gives white tiles and access to the winter extra tiles such as snow drifts. Note that the editor does not care about dates regarding winter, you can make a winter map in august, should you so desire.

***IMPORTANT NOTE WHEN EDITING MAPS***. The map generation code is a lot more complicated than in the past. There are now Arid, savannah, winter,fall an spring set ups in the code. When building a map it is VERY important now to set the likely opponents for this map before editing. If you are designing it for Western or Eastern Europe in April then set the date to April and pick two likely opponents and stick with those while you edit the map. If you change to South Africa and Cuba in June for another map then try to go back you will see some different terrain when you try to edit. This is all part of the random map code. The code knows what we've told it to place on map when South Africa and Cuba are the opponents and that IS NOT the terrain you want when you are building a map for Germany. Just remember to set the two opponents you expect to play on that map and you'll be OK

A BIG note to map designers is that the map will be one of these types only, Summer, Jungle, Winter or Desert, depending on what mode it was last edited in.

Why say this?, well some map designers go in and use say a green summer map, then come out to the main screen, flip to winter, and then go in and place a few white tiles for what they think will be a few patches of 'snow' on a green map for extra 'colour'. Nope, if they last edited the map in 'winter' mode, as far as the game is concerned the map is now entirely a winter map! The colour of the basic clear terrain tiles has no in-game effect, the season of the map is a global variable which affects the entire map. Only the special 'feature' tiles (such as snow drifts or soft sand) have inbuilt special effects. 'Clear' terrain tiles do not. Any tile that gives out 'clear' when you hover the mouse over it is a 'basic' terrain tile, of the type of terrain you last edited the map in, so if you say started with a summer map, exit and changed to desert and laid some 'yellow' clear tiles, then exited again, changed to winter and laid some 'white' clear tiles, this is now a winter map, and all the yellow, green and white 'clear' tiles will be basic snow (winter) terrain, because the last map edit mode was winter.

Select the visibility in hexes for the scenario with the visibility control.

Give the scenario location a name with the NAME button, this is NOT the scenario file name, it is the location name reported inside the game, like 'Sword Beach', 'St Lo', i.e. the geographical place name.

The save button here saves a scenario, a scenario is a map plus troops deployed. A scenario can be played, and a separately saved map can be used in battles.

The Load button by the maps loads a pre made map into the scenario.

The Random map button generates a random map using the The Camo Workshop map generation code, based on the 2 players involved and the date, but ignoring the climate, so a German vs French map generated as "Desert" would tend to look like a 'desert' France European map. If you want a desert map pick two nations with desert

The 2 main players are selected as for a normal battle. However unlike other battles, in the scenario editor, the map sides each use as home base is reported here, as this is very important stuff for scenario design. In scenarios we often need to be able to have the 2 sides fighting in a different direction. The side that you play from determines the retreat direction for routers, and where off map artillery comes from. If you just lay your troops as desired, but on opposite sides from the given, routers will run to the enemy and artillery will come from the wrong direction as well. Note that the directions are given in map terms, left and right, as there is no compass direction in any SP series game, Left side of the map can be North, South East or whatever you desire to call it. (Many players mistakenly think of the Right of the map as 'East' say, not so. Just a convenient convention which fits most cases. If you need North to be at the 'bottom' of your map, just design it that way, and note where North is in the scenario introductory text, you can even put the direction to North on the map with Map Text).

The Map Sides buttons are what allow you to exchange the default map sides, and it is a very, very good idea indeed to set the map sides before you buy a single unit of either side should you need to exchange sides. When you enter the editor for the first time the map buttons are 'free', press Swap to exchange sides. The map side buttons will then be put into 'locked' state and the Swap button will be hidden. You can unlock the Swap button if required. Also note that loading a scenario into the editor will take the map sides you set up while editing that scenario, and place map sides into locked state. Just so you do not make a mistake. If you like the map side setup, then press Lock to lock the sides in, should the map sides be in free status.

The preferences button allows you to set preferences as you desire. For scenario design, points are of course unlimited, you just buy the 2 sides regardless of any notional points values (But, the points values of the various units will be counted as part of the scoring process at game end!, some scenario designers have in the past placed some 'destroyed' tanks etc. as 'scenic effects', a 'destroyed' Panther on the map will still be about 40 victory points to the opposite side!, if you do not want this, remember to adjust the points value for such a creation to 0 in the deployment subroutine!). The end user will be able to override your preferences, should these be important for your design then put a recommended set into your scenario introduction text. What is effected here is basic troop quality, if you want this to be other than the default, set as desired before buying your troops as this will save time editing later. You can go through them all and individually change morale and experience, but if the default for a nation is say 60 experience at this point in the war, and you know in advance that you want an elite bunch with say about 80 experience, set this up here and most of the troops bought subsequently will be nearer what you want on purchase.

The map editor subroutine of the scenario editor is where you create maps.

Generally, it is just a case of laying down tiles, but see above about the climate.

A couple of other game global variables require to be mentioned however that relate to water borne scenarios.

The first is the gBeach global variable, this one determines if it is a beach assault, and whether landing craft are auto bought for your troops. This requires to be set before you buy any troops, and it is determined by building a beach in the editor with the appropriate key. Simply drawing in a lot of 'lake' tiles will not suffice, you must use the map editor beach key to have a beach built, though after the game has put your beach down, feel free to edit whatever it placed on the map of course. If you set the gBeach variable then all the assaulting side's troops will have landing craft bought for them by the AI buy routine, and added to their formations. You can of course edit the AI bought craft later, should you so desire. The gBeach variable is also used by the game purchase routines to make naval artillery available for purchasing. It is quite possible, should you desire, to ignore the gBeach variable and just lay down water, however it is then up to you to buy trucks (say) and convert to landing craft manually, and to buy artillery and also convert these manually. Also see the '&' key below..

The Second Global water variable is the gWideRiver variable. This is used to indicate to the game that this is a river crossing assault, and that the assaulter's troops that qualify will be issued with rubber assault rafts. This is the only way to have squads issued with rafts and to be able to carry these, a separately bought raft will need a truck to move it, it cannot be placed on a squad. Once again, just laying a few lake hexes manually to create your own wide river will not do to tell the scenario it is this type. Use the 'convert all rivers to wide rivers' key. Now this key will convert all the rivers on the map to wide rivers, so it is not a brainy idea to use this at the end of map design, should there be a need for minor streams and so on. Do this at the start, lay a stream about where you want your wide river to be, then convert this stream to a wide river. Lay your normal streams later, and edit whatever the AI did to widen the initial river to suit your map. Should you need both sides to have rafts, after setting the wide river variable, buy side 1, with the battle dial set to assault for that side!, and their squads get rafts issued. Now, go back to the main screen, save the scenario!, and flick the battle dial to the other side, so it is the 'assaulting' player now and buy its required forces and they will have rafts as well, see the '^' key below.

Note that if you need jungle terrain, then edit a summer map, and first thing, toggle the palm trees icon to use palm trees, not European ones. Then jungle features arrive, paddy fields, high grass becomes tall jungle grass (or bamboo etc.).

There are 2 map design pages, use the '>' red button to toggle between pages. Some features will change depending on climate (such as winter snow drifts).

There are now 15 hill levels as opposed to the other SP series games, which had a mere 3 hill levels, but only 1 through 4 are there all the time on dedicated buttons, use the '+' Cycle Level key to cycle the max hill button, this starts at level 5, one press of '+' Cycle Level key and you get level 6 and so on, cycling back to level 5 after 15. This method saved a lot of extra terrain level buttons.

Map Editing Hot Keys

B | Create level 2 Hill in hex
C | Clear terrain in hex
D | Dirt (earthen) road
E | save the map (not scenario!) to disk
F | Wheat (taller) field, Winter, Winter Fields
G | High Grass Field, Winter, Winter High Grass
H | Level 1 Hill
I | Level 4 Hill
J | Toggle Palm trees, and paddy etc in Summer terrain = Jungle terrain
L | [Page 2] Make a beach on the Left or Right (and set gBeach variable)
N | Go to next editor buttons page
O | [Page 1] Orchard (low trees) [page 2] Convert streams to Wide Rivers (sets gWideRiver variable)
P | Top level hill (as set by cycle button)
Q | Exit
R | Rough
S | [Page 1] Stream. [Page 2] Bocage type hedgerow.
T | Level 3 hill
U | Swamp
V | Green (low) Field. [Winter, Snow Drifts]
W | [Page 1] Water (Lake) hex. [Page 2] Trench
X | Clear the map
Keypad | Scroll in the keypad direction, 8 is up, 2 is down 4 is left, 6 is right. Numlock must be OFF
= | Random map
+ and, | Zoom and Unzoom map
. | Toggle hex display on or off
# | Clear out all map text strings in one easy operation (do NOT 'remove' the text by 'blanking' the strings, use this key to properly zero the text on any map)
; | lock the current building type until you press another icon or button. Very useful in laying city grids!
\ | Toggle display of victory hexes on or off
m | Toggle the display of map text strings on or off
? | Access in game help
* | Use this to adjust the height of the hex. Experts only.
$ | Use this to set or reset the global beach variable 'gBeach' of the map for beach assault missions (triggers purchase of landing craft, use of naval off map artillery etc). Very useful for folk who made a large water map and forgot to make it using the normal 'convert 1 side of the map to beach' key! use this key after you have loaded the map into the editor, and before you purchase any troops at all, or difficulties can occur. This section of code will check to see that this is an assault mission, and will prompt you if it is not, you can elect to not follow this advice, but non-assault beach scenarios can have strange results. The game is intended only for assaults when the beach flag is on, remember!

Note that when you purchase the assault nation's troops you will be asked if you want to buy the landing craft for them, in some circumstances you may not want to do this (say for a batch of troops on an island, which the human player will ferry over as secondary waves, using the first wave's transport).

Note also that before the landing craft are bought, the code will now try to load up any swimming or flying transport craft with troops, before it buys the landing craft, so it will load up any separately bought amtracks, DUKW or Dakotas you have purchased, unlike the original SP series games!

^ | This works as for the global beach variable above, but applies to the global Wide River 'gWideRiver' map variable. In other words, use this to expressly set the wide river assault flag (infantry buy rafts), for example when you have a map where you want to put say a lot of small lakes, but do not want to use the 'convert all streams to wide rivers' flag for some reason. Again, the game will prompt you to make this an assault mission as this is the correct battle type for a river crossing. Also, use this key after you have loaded the map, but before you buy the troops, as usual.
! | This sets a start line for the human player 1 in user generated campaigns only. Player 1 gets to deploy up to this line, side depends on his base edge

Scenario troop deployment and editing

OK, you have made and saved off your map. This is where you buy your troops and deploy them for the battle.

Purchase is as for normal battles, but points are unlimited, as the troops on the table are what you decide

Deployment is basically similar to normal battle deployment with loads of extra features added on

Placement of troops is pretty much standard, it is the editing that differs

The first thing you will want to do is to place the victory hexes, it does not matter which of the 2 sides you are editing when you do this. Use the edit victory objectives button, and lay your victory hexes where you want them to be, and what nationality they will start as. The big decision here is what points value to make them, victory points are part of the score, and what you grant here is relevant. Low values will mean VP for destroying units is most of the end game score (approximately half the value of a destroyed unit is given as VP, remember, and abandoned units are counted killed to the side which has most score and/or holds all the objectives). High victory hex points will tend to skew the end score towards holding of victory hexes, especially where the overall points values of the 2 forces are on the low side, less so if this is a monster 12000 points a side scenario. If you do not require all 21 victory hexes, simply leave some at 0 value, and stack these with other scored victory hexes. Never leave a victory hex with zero value out in the open as it were, unless you are an expert. Recall that on initial entry, the victory hexes will have zero values!, the AI will not steer to victory hexes worth nil points that much, this is a common complaint from some new scenario designers 'I laid out the victory hexes but the AI would not advance on them it just sat still', please give the victory hexes a VP value greater than zero, bar the unused ones that you stacked with a scored one should you need less than 21 locations. Do not leave any victory hexes on the grey map edges as this causes the AI to have fits, ensure all are on the playing surface. Also, ensure that there is some way that the AI especially, and the human player less so, has of getting to these. A victory hex in a lake hex will only be reachable by swimming, ensure the AI has such units, and several ,as the first few may be killed. Better still, always place V hexes on terrain that any infantry or vehicle can reach. (Remember that even a stone bridge could be dropped, if a victory hex is on this it will probably now be in a lake hex, if it was crossing deep water, therefore now needing something which can swim to get at it, and if the AI has no swimmers it can have a case of fits!

PLEASE NOTE Ensure that you have deployed all 21 victory hexes on the scenario map, at 0 value and stacked under others if you need less than 21 objectives. In a delay or defence scenario, you should ensure that all the victory hexes are set to the delay or defend player's nationality. Experienced users can place neutral or attacker-held victory hexes ahead of the delaying or defending AI positions to trigger a counter-attack, but this is an advanced technique which will need fine tuning of your scenario, with the reaction turn variable for formations, to get right. We repeat - ALL 21 victory hexes MUST be on the scenario map, as these are used in AI decision making. Off map objectives may well result in AI troops exiting the map to try to take these !

We have added a new button to the victory hex placement window to clear the victory hexes down and/or set all of them to a common value. The first question will allow you to move all victory hexes to the 0,0 position, and the second allows you to allocate a value to all simultaneously.

The Victory hex placement 'shapes' your scenario, for both the layout of defenders, and the likely approaches of the attackers, especially moving AI troops. Get it right and you have the basis of a good scenario, get it wrong and you have started your design off on the wrong foot.

If this is an attack and defence game, then you probably want to lay the defence side out first. Then place the attackers where you want them, determined by the defence layout and your scenario requirements.

Note that in a scenario battle, the only pre registered artillery targets that the player will get are those you set up for him here, in the deployment phase. Be creative with these, if you place too many right on the other sides defended locales, you will give the defence away! Place them 'near enough' to adjust from, and blame that on faulty intelligence staff work <G>. Also, you may really need only 2 or 3 gold spots, place the others at misleading places on the map, again to mask the AI deployment. If you do not place any pre registered gold spots, all artillery calls for impromptu fires will be at full delay. This may be what you actually require in your scenario, if so, do not grant any pre registered targets.

Any pre game bombardment you plan will also fall as well, with nothing the player can do to alter this. A scenario starts at the beginning of turn 1, the turn 0 artillery plot (including pre registered targets) is up to you, the scenario designer. See the section on the bombardment screen for the new information, e.g. about timed missions and aircraft deployment.

The normal deployment hot keys are made available to you, with some additions we detail here.

D | Edit the current units data. Note that we have allowed access to the armour fields for all units, in case they need correcting. DO NOT add armour to unarmoured types, such as infantry or AT guns, as this will just cause odd things to happen in the game. An AT gun with a 1 front armour value does NOT have a gun shield, it will probably get shot up with AP, or other unpredictable results.
O | Toggle the objective hexes display on or off
R | Change the current unit to a different type. Generally speaking, if you need trucks, buy a truck unit, but in certain circumstances you may need to change a unit to something else. Buying a rifle company and then changing all the units to tanks is just plain silly :-), buy the correct formation type when you can. Also, changing type can cause problems sometimes, so you may need to check the unit over with the D key, and ensure things like armour are correct. In other words, this facility should not be abused.

Note, planes are artillery, and only planes can be changed to other planes, should you want a mixed flight, say as most end users expect the things to be in multiples of 2, a mixed flight of 2 different plane types can upset their count somewhat.. Be careful changing off map units to on map types, or vice versa, any on map unit of an off map formation will be a LONG way from its command unit, so will tend to be out of command control, and so not rally very well, amongst other things. Stick to changing off map gun types to other off map gun types and planes to other plane types, and you should be OK.

Z | Place and point objective hexes. (NB, objective hexes usually start with a value of 0, which the AI will naturally ignore. Many folk ask 'why does the AI not go for the objectives I placed in my scenario?', well, check that you remembered to assign them a positive value! :-> )
. | For a scenario this is how you enter the game (scenario) length in turns, IMPORTANT!, a scenario with a 0 length will end very abruptly!
# | Set reinforcement turn for this unit, at the current hex. Set reinforcement chance, this is a percentage chance of arrival per turn, NOT a one shot chance. Therefore a reinforcement with a 10 per cent chance which does not arrive on the due turn will test again on each subsequent turn after its due turn as and until it makes the chance roll or the game ends, whichever comes first.

Off map reinforcement units (air, artillery) will not arrive on map, but will be unavailable until they do arrive

(Exception, reinforcement batteries will fire Counter Battery fires, something the game scenario designers wanted to represent higher formation counter battery assets under Army etc control, not the player's to plot on map missions with, they belong to 'A General of Artillery', not to 'Lt Col Player!').

This facility could be useful to ensure, say, that the AI keeps its planes in reserve for a later phase of the game as a surprise strike (the human player may have decided that since he has seen no air activity for some time,that the AI has none..). Off map units includes gliders, if set as a reinforcement, their speed does not start to halve per turn until they are on the map.

Note that there are no restrictions to moving reinforcements about after setting them, but the thing if marked as a reinforcement will be removed from the game map at scenario start, and will use the location and facing it was in when you set it as a reinforcement.

Any non reinforcement units loaded as a passenger on a transport will automatically be given reinforcement status as passengers of that transport, so load your transport up and just set the carrier up as a reinforcement, no need to do each carried unit separately.

There are no restrictions as to arrival point, just do not use the grey hexes!, so your reinforcements could be paratroopers, or partisans appearing in the rear of the enemy. Or a massive flank march!

9 | Toggle selected unit's auxiliary status, aux, fix or none. Do NOT use with anything carrying a passenger!!

The next and previous keys have a major difference here, in that they allow you to choose off map units (including passengers), as you just might want to be able to edit their characteristics. Note that as you can see passengers, you will see things like 'M10, passenger M10' which you don't normally see as you cannot select passengers, worry not, this is how SP points to its internal linked list of passengers, these M10s will likely be on a amphibious barge. Normally hidden from you as passengers are in normal games, unelectable. But, to be safe, it is best not to edit any unit that is a passenger as the game could possibly lose track, unload passenger units, edit them, then replace.

Auxiliary troops

These are introduced for user campaign scenarios mainly. Auxiliary troops are best seen as reinforcements given by you, the scenario designer to the player. Auxiliary troops will be added to the player's force, just like support troops, but they are additional to any support points allocated by you for this campaign node. They will appear on the list to be deployed as normal support troops if Aux status (placement hex is then irrelevant). Fixed auxiliary troops (status=fix) will remain in the hex and with the facing you design in the deployment phase, the user cannot move these troops in his deployment, they are useful for troops outside the normal deploy zone, or for critical units you do not want the player to mess with the deployment of, due to your scenario's design.

AUXILIARY TROOP NOTE [1] Auxilliary Troops cannot be used in the first battle of a User Campaign, rather only in the second or subsequent battles. [2] Fixed and auxiliary troops are NOT meant to be loaded with or as passengers! Please see the Q & A at the end for a work around for that desired loaded up truck convoy!

Notes on changing unit type and editing data

The D key and button, give you access to most of the statistics of units. You can add on a point of armour for some of your units, say to represent sandbags, layered on tracks, or logs, if desired. You can remove armour, say to have a unit without the anti bazooka side plates, or to represent a particular tank at a certain point which was known perhaps to have brittle armour. Whatever is required for your scenario. You can increase or decrease crew experience, moral, and play with the leadership values. You might want to increase the Range Finder and Fire Control values of some known elite unit, say Wittman's Tiger 1. Do not add armour to an infantry unit, gun or whatever, that is silly, but feel free to armour vehicles, say a truck with improvised plates. However, be aware that armouring some soft vehicles can cause unexpected results, so be prepared to test your changes as part of your scenario design process to ensure they work as intended.

A major field for the scenario designer to play with is the points cost. Recall that approximately half the cost of a destroyed unit is granted as part of the final score, so playing with this value can be most useful. For example, if the scenario is a convoy situation, you may want to make the convoy trucks worth 300 points or so, so that losing one will hurt the player's score. A particular pillbox may be the desired point of a commando raid to blow it up with satchel charges, if so, point it high so the destruction of the thing is the point, not any victory hex it is placed on, as a victory hex belong to whoever last walked into that hex. Then the commandos can destroy the thing and withdraw, without some enemy straggler flipping over the hex it is placed on after they depart.

Remember also that this editor when allocating ammo will allow sabot rounds even if there are none for weapon 1, no check is made. Only weapon 1 has HEAT or SABOT ammo (bar those with an internal 222 code, see Mobhack for details), and the smoke ammo is related to weapon 1. (Main weapon smoke ammo is editable for scenarios, but not in Mobhack, it is data generated inside the game, like the leader name and statistics, not from OB files).

Scenarios save most information, so that changed OOB formations and unit types tend not to cause too many problems since the original data is saved in the scenario. However, this is the original data, if all T34 are changed from say speed 21 to speed 18 in a new OOB version, the scenarios built with the old OOB will still have speed 21.

The main thing that can cause problems when OOB data is changed in a subsequent release, or by a user editing things inappropriately in Mobhack is weapons data changes, as weapon data is reloaded into a scenario from the appropriate OOB databases. A weapon change to remove say sabot from some gun can leave scenarios with units having a load of now completely useless sabot rounds. If an existing weapon OOB slot is overwritten with a completely new weapon then extremely weird things can happen to scenarios!. For example, changing the M16 rifle in the USA OOB to a new howitzer class will result in existing scenarios using USA troops having howitzers instead of rifles.

Scenario Waypoints

We allow up to 125 waypoints per formation HQ now, the old limit was a mere 10. This gives you as the scenario designer a much richer tool for crafting the AI force reaction. Set up patrol paths, flanking moves and so forth using this facility. Refer to the section on waypoints for more detail.

Making Your Scenario Introductory Text

No proper scenario is complete until you have made a text file which is the text that the user sees on selecting your scenario on the main game scenario page.

This file is a plain text file that you create in a text editor, such as notepad, not a word processor which stuffs a lot of extra nonsense into the data, a plain text only editor. It is called 'SpscnNNN.txt' and lives in the scen sub directory of the game. NNN is a 3 digit, leading zero number and is the same as the slot number you saved your scenario to, with 000 being the first slot and 999 the last.

It uses special characters to format. The code will wrap paragraphs, but is not very good at this, so it is best to manually place the CR/LF character yourself in text files. You will probably have to experiment a few times until the right hand side cut-offs appear exactly as you desire as the code is not very good at automatically wrapping the RHS of text strings correctly.

The '*' (asterix) character is used to indicate an end of line CR/LF pair.

The '_' (underscore) character is used to space titles etc, the underscores are not shown.

Generally, it is best to lay out your introductory text along the following lines:

________SCENARIO TITLE*
*
______nationality #1 *
________vs.*
______Nation #2 *
*
Date: February 24, 1941* [use the long style, with month spelt out, other nations do not use the same dd/mm/yy format as others, some use e.g. mm/dd/yy]
Location: Somewhere*
* Designed By : designer's name* [You would like the credit, no?]
*
Historical overview section, if required. [Lay out the background here, as it applies to both sides. Leave nation specific stuff to the national briefs below]
*
*
__nationality #1 MISSION STATEMENT*
[Lay out what is required for player 1 to play the scenario, intelligence briefing, what he is expected to do, any special conditions in this section]
*
* __nationality 2 MISSION STATEMENT (if required)*
[Normally, player 1 is the human player, and player 2 is the computer. This section is therefore only required if this scenario has been designed to be played either way, or as a human versus human scenario. If the computer side is not designed to be played by a human, say so here!]
*
__Special notes*
*
* place any special requirements or recommendation's here, e.g., that this scenario is not designed to be played with a human as player 1, or suggested reality settings. (Even if you laid these out above, repeat, for emphasis)

Naturally, feel free to do it your way, but the above is a useful template to start off with.

Note the underscores used to lay out headings, and the asterix used to end lines (=CR/LF).

Distributing Your Scenario

A scenario is simply another form of save game, it therefore consists of the 3 parts SpscnNNN.txt if you provided this (and you should do so, it is the only way to talk to the end user!), SpscnNNN.cmt and SpscnNNN.dat. Remember that NNN is the slot number you saved to. As with PBEM games, you can open the .cmt file to see the game title in notepad but do not edit this, should you forget which is which, and select 'sort by name' so all the appropriate files are shown together in Explorer. Read only!

Zip the 3 files up, add any text file you need to the zip (assume the end user will not read this, they hardly ever do, heck hardly any read game manuals like this one!, consider yourself a cut above the average end user for having actually opened the game guide <G!>). Send to a friend, or post at sites which have SP scenarios. Include your email address in the end section of the intro text file, assume as I say that nobody will read any readme.txt file you supply in the zip.

One point, if you use slot 19, and someone else has already used slot 19 in their installation, your scenario will overwrite the existing number 19. The end user should know that he should manually renumber the scenarios as desired, but most do not, even though it is in the manual.. But remind them of this in your 'never-ever-readme.txt' file. And be prepared for complaints from those who never read these things, and toast their existing scenario..

WinSPWW2 and WinSPMBT scenarios are not compatible with each other due to database differences. WinSPWW2 maps can be brought over to WinSPMBT however, and vice versa

Scenario Question & Answer Section

Q: In the User Campaign when I design a scenario using vehicles with passengers in fixed/aux status, I find those passengers standing around in various locations on the map during the Deploy phase.
A: This is a known problem with fixed/aux passengers. To avoid this when designing scenarios for the User Campaign, load the passengers, set the vehicle as fixed/aux and then set the vehicle as Reinforcement, turn 1. The vehicle with its passengers properly embarked will then arrive at the beginning of Turn 1. (Andy says, Fixed Auxiliaries were not designed for passengers, they are meant to be fully deployed troops! .

Q: What is the 'Fix Cmd Button' used for?

A: This is only to update scenarios built for versions prior to WinSPWW2 version 5, to input the correct command level details so 'P' for platoon etc appear on the roster list. Use if upgrading an old scenario, otherwise ignore. (It was really only introduced for the The Camo Workshop scenario design team and was going to go, but then we realised some of you may have scenarios built for old versions which need this small data massage!).

Installing Third Party Scenarios

Some folk seem to have problems with this process, and 'lose' existing scenarios. Each scenario set supplied should provide this basic information in its readme.txt file, but here is the process.

1) Get your scenario downloaded, these will usually be together in a zip file. If you do not know what a zip file is, you will likely need one go to www.winzip.com and download the utility, it is usable without registration, but nags you after a while. Learn how to use the utility.

2) Unzip the files to a scratch directory, not directly to the \scen sub directory of WinSPMBT! You do not want to unzip directly into the \scen directory as the supplied scenarios may overwrite your existing scenarios, if the designer has used the same slot numbers as somebody else. [That is why you 'lose' existing scenarios, if your old one was Scen003 and the new one from some other designer is also numbered Scen003]

3) Open up the scratch directory in Windows Explorer, and read any readme.txt file the scenario designer supplied. He should note in this how to change numbers but here is what you do:

3.1) Check the scenario files supplied against the ones already in your \scen files directory, if these use the same numbers, they will overwrite your existing files. If no clash, move them over using Windows explorer in the usual manner.

3.2) If any of the files use the same numbers, say you have a spscn019 set already, then you must manually edit the numbers used in the new scenarios to a disused number in the 000 to 999 range (with leading zeros). You may decide on slot number 42 say (and up, if it is a bundle of scenarios). Simply use the normal Windows file rename process, and change the numeric portion of the file name only entering 042 in the first (if a series) 042 in the second for each file in the set. So the set spscn019.txt (if provided), spscn019.dat and spscn019.cmt get renamed to spscn042.txt (if provided), spscn042.dat and spscn042.cmt. The supplied slot 19 scenario is now ready to be moved over into your \scen sub directory, where it will no longer overwrite the existing 019 set, and will be available in the game in the 43rd scenario slot (000 being the first index).

(If you do not know how to rename files, or use explorer, refer to your Microsoft Windows help files.)

Only use WinSPMBT scenarios and campaigns- do not load SP1, SP2, SP3, WinSPWW2 or SPWaW scenarios or campaign data files into your MBT \scen directory, the save files are not compatible between game versions, but attempting to load 'foreign' data files into the wrong SP version seems to be a very common error.

User Campaign Editor

The Camo Workshop user campaigns will utilise the first few slots on page, and advance downwards, so you may consider using higher campaign numbers for your own user campaigns.

In Steel panthers 3, you could link up to 12 scenarios in a strictly end to end linear succession to form a user campaign. In SP1 and SP2, there was no way at all to make a campaign of your own design.

As you may have gathered from looking at the above screen shot, the The Camo Workshop WinSPWW2 and WinSPMBT user campaigns allow a lot more flexibility than that! :-). We allow up to 999 scenario nodes in a user campaign, not 12.

Our campaigns are also not linear, the battle result is used to determine the next scenario node to play, hence our campaigns can be 'threaded'.

User campaign editing is not for the faint hearted, it is for experienced scenario designers only. The following is aimed at that target audience, and as a general guide, you will require to experiment to get your campaigns right, much more so than you would with scenario design.

This is a 'live menu' screen. Live menus have 'live text' whenever you put the mouse over the text, most of these text fields are in fact 'buttons'.

Campaign Name, click the campaign name field and enter a new one, default is 'A campaign with no name'.

National Flag, click the flag to change the player's nationality.

Save, Saves the campaign data

Exit, leaves without saving

VICTORY these fields are used to determine the campaign end result in victory points (VP) At the moment 3 VP for a decisive battle victory, 2 for a win, 1 for a draw. (SSI campaign default) [We may change these values if designers think say a 0 1 2 4 8 type sequence is better, in a later release]

ML LEVEL enter the VP score needed to be met to gain a marginal loss of the entire campaign (failure to meet this level is taken as a decisive loss of the campaign)

== LEVEL enter the VP to be met for a draw of the entire campaign

MV LEVEL enter the minimum VP score required to be met to win the campaign marginally

DV enter the VP level which if met or exceeded results in a decisive level of victory for the entire campaign.

As a rule of thumb, count along the 'straight path' through your campaign, and assign perhaps 2.5 to 2.8 points times the number of battles in a row, all at DV exit level to reach the campaign end. So if the quick path through your campaign was say 10 battles, then a VP level of maybe 25 to 28 (out of a possible 30 VP) would be a useful first approximation of the DV level needed to win the campaign decisively, and scale the rest from there, here at 1 point for a draw, perhaps 15 for that level, and the win, but not decisively about half way between the draw and the decisive level.

BPR DIV This stands for 'Build Points Remaining Divisor'. This field gives the designer the ability to reward a player who has a surplus of build points left over at campaign end with a bonus amount of VP. Only unspent Build Points left in the player's 'kitty' count to this total. A player who completes the campaign with unspent Buy Points may have had an easier or more successful run than someone who goes the same set route of battles, but has spent all his points as he went along, either in repairs or upgrades. This bonus therefore rewards the more prudent player (or perhaps the one who uses a smaller core force, and does not expand it much) or the one who completes more missions with less loss, and hence less repairs required. If this field is left at 0, excess Build Points are ignored, only the basic VP are used to determine campaign victory level. If, however this field is set to a positive number, then the amount of Build Points remaining will be divided by this number then the factor is added to the VP total for battles won. For example, entering 1000 here will add 1 VP per full 1000 remaining BP at end of campaign to the VP already gained for winning battles.

Scenario Nodes each node (battle location) has a set of fields:

The Number, At the left hand side, this denotes the node number, But it is also a LIVE FIELD. Pressing a node number field results in that number being entered as a selection, This number is then automatically pasted into any of the Exit fields you then left click on. This saves an awful lot of typing!, simply select node 123 by licking its number field, then fill all the EXIT fields which need 123 in them. A note is placed at the foot of the screen showing the value of the current selection, for your information. Click on this field to clear the selection. A live field is also provided at the foot of the page with 1000 as a value, select this to enter a selection value of 1000, the terminator node number. 1000 in an Exit field of a node is the signal to end the campaign.

Node 0 (the first one on the list) is the Start battle location for the campaign.

Scenario Name, to the right of the Number field. Press this and If the scenario is 'No Scenario' then the list of available scenarios is displayed.

1) The scenario name appears at that battle node number

2) The original scenario is copied as a template, then it is saved off as a campaign scenario file, with a note displayed confirming this. (See campaign files later). Therefore you can reuse the one scenario several times at different node locations, provided that the dates are correct!!

The end user does not require the scenario file to be installed in his scenario directory, you will distribute the scenario data files which contain your nodes scenario data.

IF there is a already scenario name, then pressing again clears the name. (But does not delete the node files generated, you may need to manually delete these if not overwritten with new game data)

Scenario Exit Branches, there are 5 of these for each scenario battle node. From left to right, DL, go to this battle node if the battle was a decisive loss for the player ML, go here if the player lost marginally ==, go to this location if the battle resulted in a draw MV, goto this location if the player has won a marginal victory DV, goto this location if the player won a decisive victory NB, remember that 1000 is the magic number for termination of the entire campaign at that exit point.

These numbers act differently depending on whether or not a selection is 'live' (see Number above). If a selection is live, then the value of the current selection is automatically entered on pressing the exit link field, but if there is no selection currently live, you will be asked to manually enter the number.

Build for Node 0, this will be the initial buy points for the entire campaign, as node 0 is the starting battle. For subsequent nodes, this field is the repair/upgrade points received at the start of that battle. Leaving this field at 0 results in whatever game defaults are in use being used as the basis of calculating the build points for the battle or campaign (if node 0). Entering a positive number results in this amount of points being granted to the user as a maximum, i.e. this is a 'cap' to the number of points granted (if the user has set preferences to a lower level, or his core is small for example, so the game generates a lower number, he will get less than this. If the game generates a larger number, this cap value will be used). Entering a negative number results in what I call a 'locked points' campaign. The user is given this amount of points (returned to him as a positive value!) and this overrides any user set preferences (so if the game decided on say 49 points, but you had entered,55 the player gets 55 whatever the game thinks). Thus a value of,1200 for node 0 gives the player 1200 start points to buy his core, and a value of,123 for battle node 1 will result in him being granted 123 buy points on starting that scenario to build or repair with. This method gives the designer the most control, and removes the problem of someone say selecting 3000 points at the outset of a campaign you designed to start with say 600 points and so destroying your careful balance of battles. (You should mention if a campaign is 'locked' on the introductory text screen for it to notify the end user of the fact.)

Support This field controls the amount of support points granted for each battle to purchase non-core units. Again, leave at 0 to use game defaults, a positive number for your 'recommended' level which the user preferences can override, and a negative value to use as a locked value, which the end user will not be able to override.

Flights This field is used to determine the number of flights made available to player 1 (The human), player 2 (the computer's) flights are whatever you put into his force in the scenario design. -1 uses the current game preferences setting (XXX or whatever the user has entered), 0 is no planes at all, positive numbers allows that number of air strikes.

Variable start lines in user campaigns, when designing the scenario, you can enter a start line which deviates from the normal 25 or 50 of the default battles, use the '%' key in the map editor to assign a start line for usage only in user campaign battles, and only for the human (player No 1). This allows the user campaign designer a latitude of freedom similar to a scenario set up.

Overall though, the best way to find out how the campaign system works is by making and experimenting with a few small test ones, even 2 battle ones. Only a foolish person would dive right in and try a 50 battle mega campaign as a starting point!

User Campaign Design

When using a scenario for a campaign, take care to note that the human player will ALWAYS be player number 1 (i.e. his flag is on the LEFT hand side when the scenario is in the editor).. This does not mean he plays on the left side remember! The player 1 forces for the scenario are REMOVED to be replaced with player bought forces. Player 2 forces will remain. Best to buy an HQ unit anyway for safety.

The name given to the scenario in the Scenario Editor, number of moves, and visibility etc. will all be used. ABOVE ALL, the scenario date will be used for the battle date!, do NOT use a 1939 scenario after a 1944 one, or you will warp back in time! Another date related item, certain nations will use different sides of the battlefield depending on opponent and date. If you use a scenario as a battle location where say the original designer has 'swapped sides' then you can end up with both sides having the same deployment side of the map! The key one that causes confusion is where a scenario was designed for one nation (say USA) as player #1, and you use a different nationality (say USSR) from the original scenario player #1 as the human player nation in the user campaign.

It is therefore best to test each scenario you intend to use in a 'test rig' campaign consisting of precisely 1 battle location, you can use this in succession, replacing the scenario with each of the set you plan to use. Load the scenario to test, save the test campaign and start it, you should quickly determine if it is one where the enemy is on the wrong map side at that date and time. You may need to redo the scenario.

You can reuse a scenario several times over, say if you place it on a different 'thread line' depending on earlier victory or loss situations in the scenario line of progression. If all the parameters stay the same, fine, just use it as it stands. However, you may need to adjust the battle date if the time line for the scenario differs in the new thread. Just load the scenario into the editor, change the date (you could change the name too!), and save in a scratch file, then use that scratch file in your user campaign.

It is not a very good idea to loop backwards in the campaign flow. This could create endless loops, and going back to battle 0 is not likely to be a good idea either. Probably the best idea is to lay down your 'decisive victory' main thread as the first sequence of battles, this will be the series of battles the end user plays should he win decisively in all battles to the campaign end. Use that as the backbone to your campaign design. Then, say, write a thread of battles from the marginal victory of battle 0, and lay this down after the main backbone thread. This thread may rejoin the main thread after a decisive victory, say.

You cannot easily enter (insert in between, rather) new nodes, so do not write a campaign 'on the fly' as you make it up, otherwise you will end up with a tangle of 'spaghetti code' which will be nigh on impossible to maintain. Plan your campaign, and write your battle flow as a proper flow chart on paper first. Also, there are 999 locations here, and most user campaigns will not use anywhere near that number, one idea would be to space your initial nodes apart say 3 or 4 lines, thus leaving space for last minute additions to be inserted later on, without as much grief. Any of you who ever programmed in one of those BASIC compilers which had no 'renumber' command in the editor will know why the default was to number lines with an interval of 10!

User Campaign Files

The campaign data is saved in the /scen directory in the format UCAMPNNN.DAT (User campaign 999 would therefore be Ucamp999.dat) Each battle file for each scenario is saved off in the form CNNNSXXX.DAT (Battle 1 for campaign 0 would therefore be C000s001.dat)

Note, once you have used the 'advance of the guards' scenario as a template in say node 123, the data will be saved off into a separate copy for the scenario, there is no need to supply 'advance of the guards' to the user (unless you really want to). You have distributed it to the user as CNNNSXXX.DAT. If you need to use a particular scenario at different places in your campaign, just place it at each node as required, provided all details (especially the DATE!) will be exactly the same. If, however you need variants of the scenario (even just slightly different dates to fit the campaign 'chain') either, create as many clones and edit them in the editor as required, then link into the campaign in 1 campaign edit session, or just use the one, link and save in the campaign editor once, save the campaign and exit, edit the scenario details as required, exit and save from scenario editor and re enter the campaign editor and link the altered version. That decision is up to you. Also recall, in your scenarios written for campaigns, there will be no need to buy any troops or place them for player 1, bar the HQ say as a placeholder, for these will all be removed from the map in any case.

User Campaign Text Files

You can write an introductory text file for the scenario, which is displayed on selecting the campaign on the main game selection screen. Use a text editor like notepad to generate a file and save it with a filename of the format UcampNNN.txt, and that text will display when the user selects your campaign on the game menu. Ucamp0001.txt would therefore display for campaign slot 1 (recall these are indexed from zero!).

Do not use a word processor, and ensure your text is USA ASCII compliant (no umlauts, stuff like that).

For each scenario you can write both introductory text and exit text files. All take the form UCCCLNNN.txt where:

CCC | is the campaign number (000 to 999)
L | is the ID letter for the message text file for each of the following game events:

i = the scenario introductory text message, played on entry to game
a, the text displayed at end game if the user loses bad ly
b, same, but user has merely lost
c, text displayed if the battle is a draw
d, congratulatory text on user winning the scenario
e, the text displayed if he won decisively

NNN | is the battle node number (000 to 998)

The introductory text file for a scenario is displayed at the entry to the scenario, it is scrolling text, and I have tried a 25K file. The exit texts can be used to taunt or congratulate the user on his progress, and give campaign progress info etc. All the text files are optional, but really should be prepared for a professional campaign. If the intro texts are not provided or not found, no adverse effect. If the exit texts are not found or provided, the default SSI exit texts are used (Scendd.txt etc. from the \scen directory).

Note, use the SSI text formatting characters, as with any scenario introductory text:

* | is used for a CR/LF pair (new line or empty line) and are not displayed
___ (underscores) | are used to align (e.g. centre) text and are not displayed

Distributing Your User Campaign

Bundle up: UcampNNN.dat, UcampNNN.txt (if used), all the generated CNNNSXXX.DAT scenario files, and any UCCCLNNN.txt files you created. Wrap these up in a ZIP file, and instruct the user to extract to his \Campaigns directory.

Better yet, use some form of self extracting executable file installer, we have found that simple things like ZIP files, even PDF document files, confuse many less computer literate end users. Also, a decent install program will at least put the readme files in front of your end users eyes at least once, should you have readme files. Assume the end user will not read the readme files in any case, 90% will not, from our experience. Go to www.clickteam.com for a shareware install maker (which we used for this game ).

Note, if the end user has a campaign NNN installed already. In this case Your campaign will have to overwrite the existing one (you cannot simply rename the campaign files to a different slot number as with scenarios - the internal data files refer to the campaign ID (slot) number). In this case the user will have to extract whichever campaign NNN he wants to play from his ZIP archive.

MBT Unit Classes

Unit Class Names & Numbers, any special abilities Infantry Clone

UnitClass 0=Fort | Stationary, (can have rotating turret if correct icons provided now )
UnitClass 1=Infantry | Base infantry type, cloned by many others
UnitClass 2=Inf-AT | Base infantry AT weapon type
UnitClass 3=Cavalry | Infantry type, on horses
UnitClass 4=Machine Gun | Base MMG/HMG (tripod) type
UnitClass 5=Mortar | Fires indirect
UnitClass 6=AT Gun | Base AT gun type
UnitClass 7= | Automatic Grenade Launcher
UnitClass 8=Flak | AA guns (towed). Fires at aircraft
UnitClass 9=Field Gun | Fires indirect
UnitClass 10=Off Map Field Artillery | offmap, fires indirect
UnitClass 11=Armoured Car | All terrain wheeled (default) armoured vehicle
UnitClass 12=Light Tank | Tank Clone
UnitClass 13=Medium Tank | Tracked AFV, basic armoured vehicle type
UnitClass 14=Heavy Tank | Tank Clone
UnitClass 15=Close Support Tank | Tank Clone, may have smoke shells in non command units
UnitClass 16=Area SAM | Longer ranged and medium SAM, not vehicle mounted or vehicle mounted, but essentially fixed when deployed. If range long enough, can engage off map planes firing long range missiles.
UnitClass 17=Flame Tank | Tank Clone
UnitClass 18=Assault Gun | Tank Clone
UnitClass 19=SP ATGM | Basic ATGW vehicle
UnitClass 20=Engineer | Infantry clone, clears mines and DT
UnitClass 21=SP Artillery | Fires Indirect
UnitClass 22=SP Flak | Fires AAA
UnitClass 23=APC (Wheel) | Protects carried troops
UnitClass 24=APC (Halftrack) | Protects carried troops
UnitClass 25=APC (Track) | Protects carried troops
UnitClass 26=Utility Vehicle | soft skin
UnitClass 27=Medium Truck | soft skin
UnitClass 28=Heavy Truck | soft skin
UnitClass 29=Infantry SAM | Fires AAA, MG if correct icon assigned, or MANPADS SAM team icon
UnitClass 30=SP SAM | Self propelled SAM unit, capable of setting up to fire in a useful time if moved
UnitClass 31=Off Map Rocket Arty | Fires Indirect
UnitClass 32=Scout Vehicle | Armoured car type
UnitClass 33=Light Amphibian | Swims (if OB designer remembered)
UnitClass 34=Heavy Amphibian | Swims (if OB designer remembered), bought in beach assaults in some armies
UnitClass 35=Amphibian Tank | Swims (if OB designer remembered)
UnitClass 36=Mine Clearing Tank | Clears mines and DT
UnitClass 37=Engineer Tank | Clone of 36, Clears mines, Dragon teeth
UnitClass 38=SP Mortar | Fires Indirect
UnitClass 39=SP Gun | Tank Clone (not an indirect gun), use for SU or jeep/RCL etc
UnitClass 40=Heavy Infantry | Infantry clone
UnitClass 41=Landing Barge | Can be carried by barge carrier, default buy for beach assault transport
UnitClass 42=Assault Boat | Given 1 per rifle squad in river assault (only squads given a raft by the AI buy routines can carry a raft)
UnitClass 43=LCS | Barge type unitclass that allows indirect firing ( rockets only )
UnitClass 44=Aircraft | Basic Strike plane type
UnitClass 45=Sniper | Size 0 gives extra hide and extra difficult to hit abilities. Extra inbuilt accuracy
UnitClass 46=LCG | Barge type unitclass that allows direct firing guns only
UnitClass 47=Glider | Air type which lands troops in gliders
UnitClass 48=Barge Carrier | Comes loaded with one AI selected barge.
UnitClass 49=Motorcycle | Infantry type.
UnitClass 50 =Air OP Aircraft | Small propellor aircraft or UAV used as spotter plane
UnitClass 51=Light Infantry | Infantry clone
UnitClass 52 =Wheeled SP-AT | Jeeps with ATGM, BRDM-ATGM and similar wheeled ATGM vehicles
UnitClass 53 = helicopter | Basic transport Helicopter
UnitClass 54=Crew | special infantry type generated from destroyed tank, gun, or bunker.
UnitClass 55=HQ | Special infantry type used for A0, better artillery spotter than other 0 unit types
UnitClass 56=Ammo Carrier | Replenishes ammunition expended. Both supplier and customer must be halted and in range for the supply unit (see below). Helicopters must land to be resupplied. AMMO CANISTER, crew is 1 and speed must be 0, usually transportable, supplies small ammo only (to WH size 4), low supply points per move (20 ammo points) (Originally the ammo box icon for this was done only for a particular WinSPWW2 scenario using German paras (who only dropped armed with pistols), but left in for specialised scenario usage). Range 1 hex.

AMMO DUMP, 6 or more men, speed must be 0, loadcost>49, an ammo dump supplies at lower rate (~1/2 rate) at 2 hexes range, full rate at 1 or less, has more supply per move (60 ammo points)

Anything else is a normal ammo truck (even if armoured), 40 ammo supply points per move. Range 1 hex.

NB, ammo units no longer supply points to an infinite number of 'customers' as in previous SP games, they supply one customer until it is topped off, then move on to the next. The order will be in unit list order (units further up the roster will be supplied first). You cannot cluster an entire company round 1 ammo truck and have all load equally any more.

Ammo resupply is based on the Warhead size, WH 1 rifle ammo gets more rounds resupplied than a size 10 missile say.

When destroyed, ammo units may generate secondary explosions in their own and nearby hexes. These are effectively 1000lb bomb bursts.

You cannot play the old SP2 trick of loading a hovering missile firing helo from an ammo truck beside it - helicopters now need to land to resupply!.

UnitClass 57=FO Vehicle | Vehicle which acts as artillery observer
UnitClass 58=Scout | Infantry clone
UnitClass 59=MBT | Tank Clone, Main Battle Tank
UnitClass 60=Paratroop Transport | Air type which carries troops, drops paratroopers
UnitClass 61=Transport Aircraft | Clone of Paratroop Transport, drops paratroopers
UnitClass 62=Level Bomber | Carpet bomber type, only can use weapons with range 1, bombs, napalm, CBU, makes one pass and goes home.
UnitClass 63=Art Observer | Infantry type with special artillery spotting and quick calling facility.
UnitClass 64=Medium Infantry | Infantry clone
UnitClass 65=LMG Section | Infantry clone
UnitClass 66=SMG Section | Infantry clone
UnitClass 67=Rifle Section | Infantry clone
UnitClass 68=Rifle Squad | Infantry clone
UnitClass 69=Mechanised Infantry | Infantry clone
UnitClass 70=Heavy Mech Infantry | Infantry clone
UnitClass 71=Medium Mech Infantry | Infantry clone
UnitClass 72=Light Mech Infantry | Infantry clone
UnitClass 73=Mech Support Squad | Infantry clone
UnitClass 74=Mech SMG Squad | Infantry clone
UnitClass 75=Irregulars | Infantry clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 76=Partisans | Infantry clone
UnitClass 77=Partisan Support | Infantry clone
UnitClass 78=Partisan Band | Infantry clone
UnitClass 79=Native Troops | Infantry clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 80=Partisan Scouts | Infantry clone
UnitClass 81=Mech Scouts | Infantry clone
UnitClass 82=Patrol | Infantry clone
UnitClass 83=Commandos | Infantry clone, less problems with impassable terrain crossing. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 84=Commando Support | Commando clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 85=Light Commando | Commando clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 86=Medium Commandos | Commando clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 87=Heavy Commandos | Commando clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 88=Commando Scouts | Commando clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 89=Guards Infantry | Infantry clone
UnitClass 90=Guards SMG Squad | Infantry clone
UnitClass 91=Light Guards Squad | Infantry clone
UnitClass 92=Medium Guards Squad | Infantry clone
UnitClass 93=Heavy Guards Squad | Infantry clone
UnitClass 94=Guards Scouts | Infantry clone
UnitClass 95=Guards Support Squad | Infantry clone
UnitClass 96=Paratroops | Infantry clone, will be able to jump out of planes with less impact casualties than regular infantry!. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 97=Paratroop Support | Paratroop clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 98=Para light Infantry | Paratroop clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 99=Para Medium Infantry | Paratroop clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 100=Para SMG Squad | Paratroop clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 101=Paratroop Scouts | Paratroop clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 102=Obsolete Tank | Tank Clone
UnitClass 103=Medium Tank | Tank Clone
UnitClass 104=CS MBT | Close Support Tank clone.
UnitClass 105=Infantry Tank | Tank Clone
UnitClass 106=CS Infantry Tank | Close Support Tank clone.
UnitClass 107=Obsolete Heavy Tank | Tank Clone
UnitClass 108=Heavy Armoured Car | Armoured car clone
UnitClass 109=Wagon | Truck type Clone
UnitClass 110=Marines | Infantry clone (naval infantry)
UnitClass 111=Rangers | Commando clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 112=Marine Light Infantry | Infantry clone
UnitClass 113=Marine Support Squad | Infantry clone
UnitClass 114=Ranger Support Squad | Commando clone
UnitClass 115=Airmobile Support Squad | Infantry clone
UnitClass 116=Airmobile SPT Squad | Infantry clone
UnitClass 117=Legionnaires | Infantry clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 118=Legion SMG Squad | Infantry clone. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 119=Legion Support Wpns | Infantry clone
UnitClass 120=Heavy APC | APC Clone, protects passengers.
UnitClass 121=Light APC | APC Clone, protects passengers.
UnitClass 122=Light Support APC | APC Clone, use for fire support variants etc., protects passengers.
UnitClass 123=Airborne APC | APC Clone (no special 'airborne' ability bar the class name), protects passengers.
UnitClass 124=Airborne Support APC | APC Clone, protects passengers.
UnitClass 125=Gun APC (HalfTrack) | APC clone, protects passengers.
UnitClass 126=Gun APC (Wheeled) | Clone of 125, default move class is AT_Wheel
UnitClass 127=Gun APC (Tracked) | Clone of 125, default move class is Tracked. (125-127 report name as same in game)
UnitClass 128=Light SPAA Vehicle | Clone of 22
UnitClass 129=Light SP ATGM | ATGM vehicle class
UnitClass 130=SP Howitzer | Another SP artillery class, fires indirect.
UnitClass 131=Cavalry Tank | Tank Clone
UnitClass 132=Light Cavalry Tank | Tank Clone
UnitClass 133=Light SP Mortar | Clone of 38.
UnitClass 134=NOT USED | NOT USED
UnitClass 135=Main Battle Tank | Tank Clone
UnitClass 136=Improvised APC | APC clone, protects passengers.
UnitClass 137=SP Rocket Launcher | SP Rocket launcher on map, fires indirect.
UnitClass 138=Heavy Transporter | Truck Clone (Used for Tank Transporter)
UnitClass 139=Self-Propelled Gun | Tank Clone (not an indirect gun), use for SU or Jeep/RCL etc
UnitClass 140=Pioneers | Engineer clone
UnitClass 141=Para Engineers | Paratroop clone, engineer abilities. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 142=Para Inf-AT | Inf-AT Clone, Paratrooper abilities. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 143=Para Sniper | Sniper Clone, Paratrooper abilities.
UnitClass 144=Para MG | MG Clone, Paratrooper abilities.
UnitClass 145=Commando Engineers | Commando clone, engineer abilities. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 146=Commando Inf-AT | Inf-AT Clone, Commando abilities. Hand To Hand combat bonus.
UnitClass 147=Commando Sniper | Sniper Clone, Commando abilities.
UnitClass 148=Motorised Infantry | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 149=para MG Section | MG Clone, survives para drops better.
UnitClass 150=Cavalry Scouts | Cavalry Clone
UnitClass 151=Rocket Launcher | On map artillery, fires rockets.
UnitClass 152=Heavy Mortar | Mortar Clone.
UnitClass 153=Light Mortar | Mortar Clone, minimum range halved.
UnitClass 154=Howitzer | Field gun clone.
UnitClass 155=Medium Artillery | Off Map Artillery clone.
UnitClass 156=Heavy Artillery | Off Map Artillery clone.
UnitClass 157=Light AT Gun | AT Gun clone.
UnitClass 158=Heavy AT Gun | AT Gun clone.
UnitClass 159=Captured Tank | Tank Clone
UnitClass 160=Reserve Infantry | Infantry clone
UnitClass 161=Reserve Sup't Squad | Infantry clone
UnitClass 162=Ski Troops | Infantry clone, snow terrain abilities.
UnitClass 163=Heavy Ski Troops | Ski Troops clone.
UnitClass 164=Ski Sniper | Sniper Clone, Ski abilities
UnitClass 165=Ski Inf-AT | Inf-AT Clone, Ski abilities
UnitClass 166=Ski Pioneers | Ski Troops clone, engineer abilities
UnitClass 167=Snow Vehicle | Truck type Clone, snow terrain abilities. (Snowmobile, BOVO etc.)
UnitClass 168=Ski Scouts | Ski Troops clone
UnitClass 169=Ski SMG Squad | Ski Troops clone
UnitClass 170=Guards Engineers | Engineer Clone
UnitClass 171=Marine Engineers | Engineer Clone
UnitClass 172=Bicycle Squad | Replaces old usage of Motorcycle class for bicyclists
UnitClass 173=Para Mortar Team | Paratrooper direct fire light/medium mortar class
UnitClass 174=Airmobile Engineers | Engineer Clone
UnitClass 175=Airborne Lt Tank | Special light tank, for hamilcar glider landing
UnitClass 176=Heavy MG | MG clone
UnitClass 177=Heavy MG Section | MG clone, use for multiple MG unit
UnitClass 178=Police | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 179=Hvy Bicycle Squad | Clone of bicyclists
UnitClass 180=Artillery Prime Mover | Special type for heavy artillery prime transport
UnitClass 181=AA Truck | as SPAA, but on soft truck
UnitClass 182=Pack Animals | A cavalry (horse based) transport unit
UnitClass 183=Light Truck | Same as light truck above, but assumed to be 4WD (mc=ATW)
UnitClass 184=Airborne Field Howitzer | Special Artillery piece, for airborne unit usage
UnitClass 185=Airmobile Hvy Infantry | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 186=Airmobile Rifle Squad | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 187=Motorcycle(Light Inf) | motorcycle clone
UnitClass 188=Motorcycle(Heavy Inf) | motorcycle clone
UnitClass 189=Militia | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 190=Light Militia | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 191=Heavy Militia | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 192=Militia Support | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 193= MG Unit | MMG/HMG (tripod) Clone
UnitClass 194=MG Section | MMG/HMG (tripod) Clone
UnitClass 195=Engineer Support Squad | Engineer Clone
UnitClass 196=Pack Howitzer | Howitzer clone
UnitClass 197=Rivercraft | LCG clone
UnitClass 198=Torpedo Boat | LCG clone
UnitClass 199=Patrol Boat | LCG clone
UnitClass 200=Mortar A | Mortar clone (These 3 classes usually used for individual mortars in some OB's)
UnitClass 201=Mortar B | Mortar clone
UnitClass 202=Mortar C | Mortar clone
UnitClass 203=Attack Helicopter | Armed attack helicopter
UnitClass 204=Light Helicopter | Use for observation type helos, small transport helos with <1 squad lift etc, not armed with heavy weapons.
UnitClass 205=Heavy Helicopter | Heavy transport helo, Chinooks etc
UnitClass 206=Inf-ATGM Team | Use to separate missiles from e.g. RPG Inf-AT. AI will know not to approach too close with these (opposite of Inf-AT)
UnitClass 207=Para-ATGM Team | Same as 206, but para ability
UnitClass 208=Inf-RR Team | Inf_AT clone
UnitClass 209=Para_RR Team | As 209, plus para ability
UnitClass 210=Minelet Rocket Battery | Off map unit which fires artillery laid mines. Fires at faster rate than 211. 211 and 210 are the only permitted classes to use minelets. Cannot fire other ammo.
UnitClass 211=Minelet Arty battery | As 210, but represents tube artillery with minelet ammo, therefore fires at a slower rate. 211 and 210 are the only permitted classes to use minelets. Cannot fire other ammo.
UnitClass 212=Heavy INF-ATGM | clone of 206, used for e.g. TOW and other not too portable ATGM
UnitClass 213=Para Hy Inf-ATGM | as 213, but with para abilities.
UnitClass 214=SEAD Aircraft | Aircraft fitted with Anti Radiation Missile(s) which attacks SAM or AAA radars
UnitClass 215=Gunship Aircraft | Specialist aircraft which circles a target and uses cannon in area fires on that.
UnitClass 216=No Unit | Used in OOB design, if found in the game, it is an error!
UnitClass 217=MRV APC | APC Clone but Mine Resistant -- less likely to be destroyed by mines.
UnitClass 218=Mercenaries | Infantry clone
UnitClass 219=Light MRV APC | MRV APC Clone
UnitClass 220=Heavy MRV APC | MRV APC Clone
UnitClass 221=Light Attack Helicopter | Armed Attack Helicopter Clone
UnitClass 222=COIN Armed Helo | Clone of Attack Helicopter
UnitClass 223=COIN Fighter Plane | Clone of Fighter-Bomber, but it is less vehicle-centric in its targetting, so is more useful against them
UnitClass 224=COIN Infantry Squad | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 225=COIN Lt Infantry Squad | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 226=COIN Hvy Infantry Squad | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 227=COIN Inf Support Squad | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 228=COIN Scout | Scout Clone
UnitClass 229=Para Forward Observer | Paratrooper Clone plus Forward Observer Clone
UnitClass 230=Guerrilla Inf Squad | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 231=Guerrilla Lt Inf Squad | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 232=Guerrilla Hvy Inf Squad | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 233=Guerrilla Inf Support | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 234=Guerrilla Scout | Scout Clone
UnitClass 235=Guerrilla Sniper | Sniper Clone
UnitClass 236=Guerrilla Rocket | Rocket Launcher Clone (Indirect Fire)
UnitClass 237=MRV IFV | MRV APC Clone
UnitClass 238=MRV Light IFV | MRV APC Clone
UnitClass 239=Hovercraft | Hovercraft cannot bog down in mud and swamp like other vehicle classes and can move freely over land and water. They do not do well over Rough terrain and slopes and cannot enter treed hexes
UnitClass 240=Marine Heavy Infantry | Infantry Clone
UnitClass 241=Marine Scout | Scout Clone
UnitClass 242=Marine Sniper | Sniper Clone
UnitClass 243=Marine Forward Observer | Forward Observer Clone
UnitClass 244=Marine Infantry AT | Infantry AT Clone
UnitClass 245=Rocket APC | SP-Rocket Launcher Clone plus APC Clone (Indirect Fire)
UnitClass 246=Ranger Lt Infantry Squad | Ranger Clone
UnitClass 247=Ranger Hvy Infantry Squad | Ranger Clone
UnitClass 248=Ranger Scout | Ranger Clone plus Scout Clone
UnitClass 249=Ranger Sniper | Ranger Clone plus Sniper Clone
UnitClass 250=Ranger Pioneer | Ranger Clone plus Engineer Clone
UnitClass 251=APC | APC Clone
UnitClass 252=Field Gun | Field Gun Clone (Indirect Fire)
UnitClass 253=COIN Bomber | Level Bomber Clone
UnitClass 254=Machinegun Team | Crewed Machinegun Clone
UnitClass 255=Mortar(Sub Type D) | Mortar Clone

Non technical types might ask why so many classes are just clones (copies) of base classes, well, it is mainly of use in designing formations. The multitude of new classes allows the OB designer to write far more realistic OB files. Note also that any 'elite' or 'poor quality' comes from the formation that is used to hold the units, not the class, a Guards squad has no inherent elite nature, this comes from the 2 fields shown in the formation purchase screen. OB designers, note that anything marked as unused or not yet implemented should not be used for custom OB files!.

Map Generator screen

The map generator can be accessed from two places. If you are editing a map in the main game EDITOR press the " , " ( comma ) key shortcut and this message will appear at the bottom of your screen. If you enter 500 the screen shown above will appear. The second place this can be accessed is from the VIEW MAP SCREEN by pressing this button.

The random Map generator lets you utilise all the various random map generation vaiables to experiment with creating your own randomised maps. The map Generator takes its basic settings from the Scenario Map Editor, such as type of map (Winter, Summer etc) and type of trees (Jungle or normal), as well as whether or not to use paddy fields.

As well, the Map Generator will pick up whatever batloc ( Battle Location ) map variables of either :

a] the default maps for the two opponents you have set in the editor based on month and year or

b] the terrain values of the batloc number you enter using the "," comma key When you enter 500 and the Map Generator appears you will see most of the numbers we use to generate a random map. Some of the numbers we use in the code can be modified by you in the editor.

The seasons are one example. Those can be adjusted in the editor before going into the Generator. If you enter map ID 119 as Summer in June it will pick up all the appropriate terrain features for a summer map in June. If you tried that same batloc number with the controls set to Winter in June you'll get a winter style map and the terrain tiles will be carried into the Generator so it is very important you familiarize yourself with all the new terrain features in the editor before doing too much with the Generator. Terrain can change quite a lot now from month to month even with the same "season" selected. Try starting in January with the "season" set to Summer then try it through every month of the year with Batloc 119. Now try the same batloc 119 with the season set to Winter and see how the maps change as you select successive months. Once you familiarize yourself with these changes understanding why the generator does what it does will be easier.

NOTE#1 - On returning to the editor, some random map variables will be overwritten, so if you used , for example, SP Camo Map ID 44, went in here and then exited - use the comma key and 44 to ensure that the correct vars for 44 are reloaded if you want to continue using that ID for random maps in that editor session.

NOTE#2 - There are many variables set into the code so that maps are not always generated the same over and over. An example of this are streams. Just becasue you enter a high number of streams in the Map Generator does NOT mean you will always get even one and if you enter a really high number what you will get will be a lot of swamps as streams and swamps are linked in the code

KEYS

Help - Brings you to the in game Help screen (? Key). You can find all the information about the Map Generator here as well under the "Map Generator" button

Zoom in/Out - Zoom map in or out (+ or - Keys).

Save Map - Save your map to a disk file (Hot key = s).

Generate Key - create a new Random Map using the current variables (Hot key is g).

Quit Key - Return to the Scenario Map Editor (Hot key q).

Hot Key "." - Toggles hex display on or off.

VARIABLES

- Urbanisation

This controls both the road network AND the buildings made on the map

0 - No roads or buildings (possible small village).

1 - Single earth road, some buidings.

2 - Several earth roads, more buildings.

3 - One paved left-Right road, and secondary Earth roads.

4 - Produces more villages especially at road crossings.

5 - Produces a town placed on the Left-Right Paved Road. A town is a few small city grids.

6 -8 City.

9 - City starts to use more Government type Buildings.

This control is handly if you have an autogenerated map that you like but you don't like the way the roads or towns are set down. All you need to do is select the batloc you like in the editor using the , ( comma ) key then hit the , ( comma ) key once again but this time select the editor using 500. The map variables that created the map you like will all be in place. All you need to do to remove the road and town net from that map by setting "Urbanisation" to zero and when you regenerate that map the roads will be removed. Press the black up arrow button and you will be returned to the editor and you can add whatever road/town net you prefer by hand.

NOTE! - it is NOT recommended to try numbers > 20 or so, unless you fancy a VERY long coffee break if you have a slow computer .

- Hill Density

This variable determines the basic number of hills built. 0 means dead flat. Very large numbers can cause a long delay with a slow computer but can also create interesting maps as the hills try to merge into one another

- Streams/Marsh

This number determines how wet the map is. It controls number of streams, marshland, and lakes. As this number increases, these will do so too. NOTE: The controls here affect map swamps and lakes that are attached to streams. The other Marsh and Lake controls affect stand alone lakes and Marshes

- Max Hill Height

Determines the maximum Hill Height on the map. 0 will be rather flat, max is 15.

- Hill Base Size

This number (Which cannot be <1) determines the basic base size of the hills made. 1 produces very sharply rising hills, larger numbers produce broader flatter hills. Very large numbers can cause delays with slow computers.

- Tree Level

Controls the forestation level of the map. Produces both forests and tree-lines. 0 Means no forestation, larger numbers produce more forest.

- Orchard Level

Controls the number of orchards produced. 0 is no orchards.

- Grass Level

This controls how many grassy parts are laid on the map. Large numbers will tend to produce more grassy fields, if fields are not 0, We recommend you experiment with this control and the fields controls as they are linked

- Rough Level

This number controls how much rough terrain is laid on the map, both on flat areas and also on higher hills (>level 2 or 3).

- Field Level

This controls the number of fields which will be built. Fields can be grass, paddy, tilled, large patches of soft sand etc, Depending on map type. A high grass level number coupled to a high field level number will tend to produce more grass fields than planted. Entering 0 means a low field count, not none. NOTE - Note that SP Camo location ID 240 (used for e.g. Falklands and WW1 Western Front maps) will NEVER generate fields!. It is a special flattish map for such special wastelands which the field making code returns from without action.

- Mud Level

This variable controls the building of mud patches and strips of mud on the map. Generally, only small numbers need be used here unless you want a very difficult map. - Note that when the "Mud" number is increased for desert maps you will get increasingly larger patches of "earth" appearing. Those earth patches are treated as clear terrain

- River Trees
- River Marsh
- River Mud
- River Rough

These control the building of edging trees, rough, mud or marsh alongside rivers. Generally, only very small numbers will be needed here, 1 is approximately a 1% chance of say a river being planted in a riverside hex NOTE -River Rough also controls whether or not WADIS are built INSTEAD OF Streams. If River Rough is >100 AND the Wide River and Beach variables are NOT set (as we do not want any giant wadis or landing barges stuck on rocks :-)!! - 101 will give a 1% chance of a wadi being built instead of a river (if present) by the Wadi routine. If the Wadi routine is called, all rivers are converted to rough, and edged with rough as well, to produce a dried-out riverbed.

- Road Code

This is a road-building modifier flag. It is usually set to 0 for no effect.

0 - No effect.*

1 - Bocage edge roads, IF on lower hill heights.

2 - Edge Paved roads with trees only.

3 - As 2, but rough terrain is placed under the trees as well.

4 - As 2, but does Earth roads as well.

5 - As 3, But includes Earth roads as well.

255 - A special override, which ensures that action 0 is done, overriding internal map generator codes.

- Terrain Mod Code

0 - No modifications

1 - Bocage edging round fields

2 - Paddy Bunds (Banked Edges) around paddy fields

3 - Edge all fields with trees

4 - All fields are earth banked edges, with trees

5 - Paved roads raised on embankments, sometimes earth roads as well, Occasional edging of fields with trees (primarily for Holland Maps)

6 - Used for Sicily, Italy, Europe. Ocasionally apply edged fields to the map.

7 - WW1 or Stalingrad type shell-damaged map. Add many shell holes, blow all bridges etc.

- Lakes Mod Code

Zero is no lakes. A higher number gives bigger lakes

- Marsh Mod Code

Zero is no marshes. A higher number gives bigger marshes

- Arid Mod Code

This changes the base terrain to earth. One is Arid. Zero is no Arid. The effect can vary depending on the two opponents choosen. This control is NOT available when "Winter" is selected

- Savannah Mod Code

This changes the base terrain to yellow/brown grass. One is Savannah. Zero is no Savannah. The effect can vary depending on the two opponents choosen. This control is NOT available when "Winter" is selected

Note that "Savannah" and "Arid" cannot both be on at the same time

- Season in WinSPMBT. This allows you to change any map to Desert(0) or Summer(1) or Winter(2) terrain.

Mastering the Map generator requires some practice but once mastered the Map Generator can help map or scenario designers can save a great deal of time when building maps and/or scenarios. It's also quite handy for the casual player in that it allows you to customize your game maps quite quicky and easily.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can someone explain to me the benefits of an FOO... I always use just the headquarters unit to call in artillery indirectly, and that seems to work just fine. Why bother with a dedicated observer? What about mobile FOO? Are they any better calling in indirectly? Wouldn't a mobile FOO just be seen and destroyed if it tried to observe directly and call in fire?

The HQ is an "almost FOO" - it has speed of fire calling in between a line HQ and a proper FOO. (FOO includes observation helos - they are trained in calling for fire).
Your HQ is important - it is a rear link for comms, and getting it killed is a morale blow for the entire army, plus in most long campaigns, dead HQ = you are dead, campaign over. - so its job is to "hide with pride" somewhere safe in the rear.
FOOs call fires faster, and adjust fire better than non-FOs. They can be moved about and get into more risky situations than the HQ, to get "eyes on" target for more accurate shifting of fire. Losing an FOO does not end your campaign, or provide a morale and off-map comms penalty as with an HQ kill.
A proper FOO is more accurate when plotting fires with no LOS (map fires). Map fires plotted by an FOO are that bit more likely not to wander, or not wander as far. HQ is again better than an average line leader at map fire, but FO is the best boy there.
A core FOO in a long campaign will get art experience gain, which applied to his already high art command means very snappy arty response times. (For any support arty - core arty art command also increases, and is added to the FOO art command for call of fire delay, to a certain minimum).
So the fastest calls for fire are experienced core FO + experienced core arty element.
Getting an experienced core FOO killed is therefore bad news, as to a latter extent is losing the crew of an experienced mortar section say.
When pre-plotted fire points (gold spots) are allocated then more are added for the number of FOOs present, and also some of the kit does so too (GPS?). FOs with laser range-finders aid accuracy of observed fires. See the bullet points in the appropriate release history of the Game Guide.
In a long campaign, I usually only buy the one FOO in the core. They are not that cheap (especially if they have the later Gucci kit). It is my immediately first purchase. Thus it is B0 and easy to find on the roster (right after the A0). Saves looking all over the map for it - just open roster, select off page #1 and close roster. That gives me one mobile FOO if needed, and the HQ can occasionally call area fire on out of LOS targets etc.
What I hardly ever buy is FOO vehicles, though. They are too obvious a target, especially versus AI planes, or a human opponent. I stick to foot elements. However, in the 70s or so, the vehicle ones may be the only ones with enhanced vision (TI or GSR) able to see through smoke, which is a very nice ability to have. From the 90s on you tend to have foot teams with radar or TI available.
Observation helos are extremely good arty spotting platforms if the enemy has limited or no anti-air capability (against the VC or NVA say, where you can stay out of AAAMG range easily). Then you can perch it up at high altitude with impunity and not have to move it. (Moving while servicing a fire mission can break LOS and so make adjusting fire less accurate. Applies to non-helos too to a lesser extent. Basically unless you have to, FO should remain in place while servicing a call for fire if it is in LOS. Unobserved map fire has no LOS keeping problems of course). But any credible enemy AAA threat, and they have to play peek-a-boo with the enemy ADA. So then in a LC, they usually go "boom" every few battles and lose any accumulated experience gain.
Plotting arty is always my last event before I hit "end turn". I do not faff around with opening the arty menu every so often during a turn as things appear willy-nilly.
I often use the FOO to call in a task (for speed of response) out of LOS to him. Once that task has landed and expired then I can use a line HQ with LOS to the target to pick up that task and adjust fire. (One reason I usually only bother with the one professional FOO).

Does a unit in a hex containing smoke gain a bonus to its ability to remain unspotted?

Smoke in the target hex is counted for spotting and will help a little bit in providing cover. Movement, firing and size would be more relevant factors.

When using the higher resolutions the mini map is too small to see individual units clearly. Can this be made bigger ?

No. The mini map must fit a space common to all screen resolutions and a bigger mini map will not fit the space available at the lower resolutions. However The mini maps real function is primarily a way to get around the map quickly. The dots that represent units on both sides are there to indicate where your units are and where known units are. It is NOT there to give you an overview of your units. That's what zoom out with ID tags ON is for.

I've installed the game and all the patches but I cannot save a PBEM game. Is this a bug ?
No. It's Microsoft's way of making "advancements". Vista and Win7 changed the way files are saved to anything in the Program files folder and that's where the game was put when we started working with Shrapnel games. Everything worked OK until Vista was released and even with that some versions of Vista didn't have a problem being in the program files folder.
If you have this problem the only solution is to re-install the game into your main drive ( usually C: ) and then when the game tries to save a DAT file Windows won't transport it someplace the game cannot find

I was playing a game and had all the victory hexes held but the game wouldn't end and suddenly an AI force started counter-attacking. What was happening ?

The AI is coded to occasionally hold back some of the units it has purchased to enter the game at random times as reinforcements. It must be stressed that these are not extra troops bought with additional points but part of the normal AI force held back for entry later in the game

I've noticed that after an artillery barrage, sometimes my planned hex has moved away into another one. Why is this?

If the unit you are using for spotting the barrage loses line of sight, the point of impact for a barrage can shift and the shot scatter. In real life if the spotter cannot see the target hex and fall of shot for any reason there is no way for him to know how effective the barrage is. In the game we can always see the shot land but code has been added to scatter shot that is not observed and to shift the main point of impact as well. It prevents players from shooting accurate barrages into areas they cannot see.

I bought FASCAM / MINELET arty but it's not appearing in the Bombardment menu. What's wrong?

There is a three turn delay built into the game to stop all FASCAM / MINELET artillery units from appearing in the bombard menu at the start of the game. This prevents a player from using these to box his opponenet into his start line. They will be available for use after turn 2 is completed.

How do I slow the game scroll speed?

See GameOptions Programme

What is a Commando, What is a <insert Unit>

See the Unit classes list of classes and special abilities etc.

Why do generated battles and campaigns play unbalanced when I use a very small force?
The AI has a minimum troop purchase that, due to built in variables, is anywhere from 150 to 250 points. That is the least amount the AI will buy. If you have a 200 point core in a campaign and are given a Human advance or assault the odds will end up being around 1:1 rather than the 2.5:1 they should be simply because the AI will not take less than it's minimum force, even if you have a minute core and omit to use the given support points. The AI requires a basic minimum to cover the defence (or it may end up holding the line with an HQ and a sniper!), and it needs a certain minimum to create a credible attacking force. We recommend that you play a campaign with a minimum of 450 to500 points for your core. This allows the AI a fair number of troops and will provide you with a better game. You CAN play with less than a 300 to350 point core but you MUST take the support points offered in a Human advance or assault or the AI will end up with a higher proportion of troops than they should have. 350 points should be the absolute minimum size for all campaign and generated battle games. Anything less WILL give you very challenging games in advance/assault, especially in MBT where vehicle cost is much heavier than in WinSPWW2. A WW2 Sherman would tend to cost 40 or so points. A Challenger is over 500 in MBT!.

What are those " ** "'s I see when I hit an AFV?

When a tank is hit and a penetration occurs it does not always cause an outright "kill". Occasionally, depending on the shell size/armour thickness ratio and the survivability rating of that vehicle, you may notice hit messages ending in ***. These are not new, they have always been in SP2 but it was not widely known that this indicates that damage is occurring to a vehicle. We have reworked the code to give more of these damage results under certain conditions. If you see these when your tank is hit you are taking critical damage and/or lost crewmen which affects the number of shots available and overall vehicle/crew performance. Damaging hits can also remove weapons, immobilise the vehicle and so forth (note that unlike the original SP series games, bringing up the information screen for an enemy AFV will not show you that, for example, the main gun has been destroyed for that vehicle!).

In PBEM, I never see my opponent's artillery on the playback, just new craters.

Unless BOTH of you have 'fast artillery' set to OFF then no history of the artillery barrages is saved in the PBEM file. Play PBEM with fast arty off, both of you, to see the shots and messages in the replay. And ensure you have animation turned on as well, or you will not see direct fire shots either. Additionally, any pre game bombardment in a PBEM (artillery plotted to drop in turn 0), only one side will be able to see the replay, because the game replay code is only set up to replay the one player's last turn, not "both players' last turns, saving a bit of turn 0 through your opponent's turn 1 and then adding that bit on at the front of the next replay". It is therefore best not to use any pre game (turn 0 arrival) artillery in a PBEM game, unless you are willing to sacrifice player 2 playback. Agree this as part of the pre game discussion with your PBEM opponent.

My aircraft seem useless, and cannot hit things with guns/rockets.

If you see the message "attacking hex" then your plane has not been able to establish LOS to the target hex. This is usually due to smoke and dust in the area, but sometimes it is because the target is tucked away behind a ridge for example. Try to target aircraft, especially if relying on direct fire weapons like rockets, onto targets well out in clear air, and preferably out in the open, on a flat plain as opposed to in a town, wood, or valley. Do not target artillery bombardments and planes on the same target area, this is a major failing of the AI. If you must hit a target in smoke, flames etc., Then try to use planes with bombs, napalm, or PTAB bomblets as these are area fire weapons. Still not as good as a clear attack, but better than random cannon strafing. Remember, very big bombs will kill infantry in the adjacent hexes as well (~1000lbs and more).

You will know if you got a good shot since the message will be 'attacking T-34' or similar and a percentage to hit is usually displayed on the yellow bar at the top of the screen.

Note that MBT aircraft, unlike WinSPWW2 planes, may have night vision sights, including Thermal Imagers, which may mitigate the smoke and poor visibility problems of WW2 aircraft that relied on the unaided eyeball Mk1.

To try out aircraft tactics it is best to set up a test game. Set up with both sides human player for everything, and give the side you are testing planes the advance, especially if you decide to let the AI run the targets, then it wont move! Go to the Preferences Menu and set up the air strikes item to at least one to ensure you can buy air. Then when setting up enter no passwords, and for the delaying (target) side, buy the sort of targets you want to test against. Set the target side up in interesting arrays, and its often best to set these up as preplanned bombardment targets ('gold spots') for the advancer to save time waiting for strikes to arrive. Now play the game; try out various plane types as desired on target types and arrays as desired. Because you are playing left hand vs. right hand, you can inspect the damage from the target's viewpoint. This method is also useful for testing out AA tactics and units as well. Or pretty much anything for that matter, before jumping off to a bulletin board, try a few experimental tests of your own. Many folk just do not seem to realise that they can in fact play both sides, so as to try things out.

I bought a 90mm AA (AT) gun formation with trucks but they cannot pick them up.

Some AT gun formations were provided with integral trucks, but the picker will let you choose any legitimate AT gun, howitzer or whatever. In this case there is usually a separate 'Heavy AT Gun/T' formation with 7.5 ton heavy trucks or similar. What can be picked up is a vexed question in SP. Look for the '*' after some guns, read the manual.

But the best way to see what fits what is to set up a test game, buy one of about every type of transport and load item, and try it out in the set up phase of the game, then quit before playing. This is especially true of some things like say USA mech. Infantry. You should be able to fit most combinations in to the vehicles some way but do not buy 76mm AT guns for example. If offered mortars, you should stick to the correct 60mm sections, as 4.2 inch mortars are both ahistorical, and likely will not fit, or not leave room for that final bazooka team.

There is no real easy way to screen out inappropriate choices (though the new classes for V3.0 will help), learn by experimentation, do not plunge into a game and then find out what lifts what when it is really embarrassing.

I cannot spend all my points and / or buy any more support troops in a campaign game.

There is a limit to the number of units you can buy in total, this has been increased to 500 units per side in version 3.0, over about 130 before. In addition, there is a limit to the total number of formations (platoons formations, and a 1 man sniper formation is a platoon!, not companies). Also, in a beach assault you are limited to about 400 units, as the game needs space for the automatically bought landing craft, and in a river crossing assault, we have left about 90 free units to provide assault raft unit space for deployed infantry assault boats and deployed barges off barge carriers as these need to be created on deployment. In a campaign core, you can have 200 units now.

Once you reach either limit, you cannot buy any more units, even if you have a lot of surplus points. The formation limit means that it is best to buy in reasonable sized platoons of 4 or 5, not sections of 1 or 2. However, avoid things like the 10 tank Soviet 'Company in a Platoon' since when things start going bad for this unit, the leader is unlikely to be able to rally that many subordinates.

There is an 8cm-mortar platoon and a 12cm mortar platoon, what is the difference?

Usually, just the number of mortars (but with the new expanded mortar classes, the OB designer may have utilised these so the heavy mortars are in their own units, now). For example, 6 tubes in a German WW2 8cm platoon and 4 12cm tubes in that platoon, one off each in the battalion support company. Also, the designer may have provided formations using mortar section units (several mortars firing off the same baseplate) as well as individual mortars per unit type mortars.

The 'All Formation' key produces unusual results when I try to move a platoon.

This button has never really worked since SP1. Do not bother with it. Its only use is when setting an entire formation's range with the 'Y' key. Select 'all', select any unit of the formation set the range, and all the formation uses the range setting. It saves a few extra clicks. Then remember to turn the all mode off before moving anything or you will get a rude surprise. That's the only practical use for the ALL key in SP. By all means try the all formation key a few times for fun in a scratch game, the results are often interesting, but not what you desired even on flat ground. Note that the button was removed, and only the 'A' hot key remains.

I think artillery/infantry is too powerful/too weak

See the section on 'The Preferences Screen'. Experiment with the values till it suits your idea of 'reality'.

How do I call a quick repeat artillery mission?

Once the artillery unit has completed its mission it tends to keep its last x,y target location, unless it was manually cancelled, or was an aircraft. Go to the bombardment screen, and press the ID button for the unit. Do NOT click on the map, or you are calling a brand new mission in! press the HE icon (or smoke if that was what was wanted), and the symbol will appear at the last x,y location. Adjust if required, but the time will be much less than a new fire mission from scratch. This is how to do a 'creeping barrage', plot and fire, letting the battery finish, then call a repeat using this technique, and adjusting the line of fires forwards a bit.

How do I fire counter battery fires on enemy off map batteries?

You (the player) do not, your gunners will attempt to locate off map batteries themselves, and allocate any units in range to CB fires.

For a battery to fire CB missions, it needs to be idle (not plotted to fire missions), it needs its crew quality to be good (better than 60 or so, and the higher the better), have HE ammo to hand, and to have equal or better range than the enemy battery in order to be able to reach the target. It also has to pass a chance roll. Off map artillery units range is shown as a number usually in the 200 series or more, 209 is longer range than say 205. Range information is found in the encyclopaedia entry for that battery.

How do I recrew my vehicle/Gun etc. ?

Once the crew has stopped running away, walk them or transport them back to the same hex as the gun or vehicle they abandoned, and leave them there for a while. Provided their morale is good enough, and the item to be crewed is not too badly damaged, they will mount up. NB, the original crew for the abandoned unit is the only one which can recrew it.

How do I get things into the same hex as one containing another unit

Whether friendly, enemy or wrecks, select the unit to be moved, then hold the SHIFT key and click into the target hex containing other units. (Enemy units in the target hex may object to this!). Barges will allow you to load from the hex alongside, otherwise units would have had to drive into deep water!.

How do I get an enemy squad to surrender?

Enter the same hex as the retreating or routed squad, and blaze away, when approximately 2/3 of the crew is gone it will tend to surrender, depending on nationality and morale, though occasionally a squad will run away even from such a pinning attack.

Alternatively, provided you are shooting the unit up, and it cannot find a hex to retreat to, it may surrender, i.e. Typically it is surrounded by your units which have shots left AND are in good morale, an enemy squad may run into a hex containing a retreating unit of yours, or just may panic and enter an enemy held hex regardless. Note that rivers for example, can block retreat paths, as can minefields.

How do I turn a unit in place?

Select the unit, then RIGHT click into a hex which is clear of wrecks, friendly or enemy units in the desired direction then the unit turns, and the unit LOS in that direction is shown by dark and light hexes. Use the clear dark function to remove the dark hexes. Some units like pillboxes cannot turn (other than when being placed in deployment) and barges and other watercraft need to be moved to turn, they cannot turn in place.

What is the LOS from this unit?

Please refer to the question 'how do I turn a unit in place?' above.

How do I destroy a bridge?

Use typically an engineer unit with satchel charges, anti tank mines (can represent hollow charge demolition munitions) or a Churchill or centurion AVRE with demolition gun fitted (165mm), and area fire onto the bridge hex. (Z key). It may take several attempts, especially for stone bridges. Very large artillery can destroy bridges, as can aircraft using large bombs if they drop these onto the bridge hex (bridges are valid aircraft target hexes, give a plane a bridge target hex and it will tend to attack that in preference to any bystanders). Generally, crater causing artillery (about 120mm up) is needed to drop wooden bridges, and 8 inch or greater artillery to have a chance on stone bridges.

When a bridge collapses, all units on that section are destroyed by falling into the river, and this can be very satisfying when you catch a massive traffic jam of the opposition's units on a rickety wood bridge with some 122mm...

How do I deploy a barge or raft?

When beside the water, with some MP left, attempt to 'drive' the barge carrier into the water, or 'walk' the infantry squad into it (if it is carrying a raft!). A barge carrier will appear in the water or the squad will transform into a raft carrying itself and armed with the squad's primary infantry weapon. To unload, 'drive' the barge or boat onto the river bank or beach side. If in -1 depth water, barges can now unload into the water if desired.

What sort of forces and maps will the computer player pick?

The AI pick list code is adaptive, and randomised in places. This gives a far richer AI force structure than in SP2 and SP3 where it got to the point that you could pretty much predict the AI force, given the points allocated.

MBT AI pick will be affected by some or all of the following: Battle type (Different if assaulting than defending), points available, the battle date, the particular opponent (e.g. Russian AI pick vs. a NATO country will differ in structure from playing against Mujadeen), air strikes available, AI Tank Heavy switch setting, and sometimes the battle map (may de-emphasise long range ATGW in a city fight and buy more leg infantry and mortars, and less tanks perhaps).

The best way to look at what the AI buys is to experiment with test game setups.

Select your points, air points if desired and the date and players and also battle type just like a normal battle generator battle with the following exceptions.

1) Set Computer as the player in both cases

2) Select computer buys forces for both sides

3) Set both sides to human deploy

Now hit continue. Select human deploy or computer deploy for side 1, and examine what was bought. [If you want to look at AI deployments - use auto deploy, repeat several times to see several alternate deployments]

Now exit this side's deployment and examine the second force as above.

Finally - in the second force, choose exit game, or you will get to watch an AI plays AI game!. If this happens - hit the space bar and the game will allow you to break in at the next end phase.

Repeat the process of examining AI picks at various dates and force levels as desired. When you have done this a large number of times for any opponent pairing, you should have a good idea of what to expect.

Also each battle will select a new map and these can be examined as well, as for many nation pairings we no longer limit you to but one battle location as with the old SP2 and SP3 games. Some of the possible maps can be quite rare as well, so you may need to run quite a few test games before seeing these.

I've noticed that sometimes after my artillery bombardment my planned hex has moved away into another one. Why is this?

This happens mainly if you do not have a clear LOS from the spotting unit to the target hex. Unspotted artillery is not nearly as accurate as it would be if the spotting unit has clear LOS to the target hex and can drift considerably from turn to turn. It also takes longer to move the target hex marker back on target when artillery is not spotted.. That change is noted at 33) HERE

How do I reload ammo?

See the write-up of UnitClass 56=Ammo Carrier in MBT Unit Classes.

Also, read through the tutorial scenario notes as use of these is taught there.

I bought a bomber/transport/Spotter plane and cannot see it on the artillery plot?

Click on the bombardment button and when the next screen appears look for the button under "Switch to:". Click on that to cycle through the choices offered That buttons cycles between "Bombard", "Airborne" and "Spotters".

How many more points does the other player or AI get in the different battle types ?

When battle points are set to XXX for player 2 the following applies to both the AI and another Human player and applies to all battle types in the game
If Player 1 is the defender and Player 2 the Attacker Player 2 will get 2.5 times Player 1's points so if you as Player 1 have 1000 points to defend with Player 2 , the attacker, would get around 2500 points
If Player 1 is delaying and Player 2 is advancing Player 2 will get 2 times Player 1's points so if you as Player 1 have 1000 points to delay with Player 2 , who is advancing, would get around 2000 points
A meeting engagement gives the same number of points to both players
If Player 1 is advancing and Player 2 is delaying Player 2 gets 50% of Player 1's points so if you as Player 1 have 1000 points to advance with Player 2 , who is delaying, would get around 500 points
If Player 1 is attacking and Player 2 is defending Player 2 gets roughly 40% of Player 1's points so if you as Player 1 have 1000 points to assault with then Player 2 , who is defending, would get around 400 points

Can Recon units spot better than normal units ?

No. There are no units with magic abilities in this game.

All spotting comes from the normal SP spotting rules. Infantry on foot, or as passengers, tend to spot better than vehicles do and stationary units spot better than ones that are slow-moving which are better than fast moving ones. Experienced units spot better than ones with low experience and suppressed units spot less than unsuppressed units do.

Size 0 infantry units can get a hex or 2 closer, so may well notice things the other infantry have not yet seen and that is why some players may feel scouts have special spotting abilities but they do not.

Recce formations can have a few more EXPERIENCE points, but that is usually only marginally better than line formations. Formations have nothing to do with unit class, in any case.

How do I delete a saved game ?
There is no automatic way to delete a save game either in the regular save game folder or the PBEM folder. The simplest solution is to overwrite the old save game with a new one. This will clear all the old info out but if you do want to clean out the entire folder or just specific save games you first need to find your game files using My Computer. If you have installed the game in the default directory those files will be found in the Program files folder under "Shrapnel Games" and "The Camo Workshop". Select either WinSPWW2 or WinSPMBT for the "PBEM Games" folder or the "Saved Games" folder.
Click on those folders and in the case of PBEM Games you will see two files for each slot like this:
SpEml004.cmt
SpEml004.dat
for regular save games those two files will look something like this
SpSv002.cmt
SpSv002.dat

In the case of PBEM Games 004 represents data for slot 4 and in the case of the regular saved games these two files represent the data for slot 2. Deleting those files will permanently remove them from the games save game folder. The DAT file contains all the save game data and the CMT file contains the save slot title so you need to delete both files.

"WHY HAS THE GAME BEEN PROGRAMMED WITH ALL KNOWING "BORG" AI ARTILLERY"
The original arty code for the SP games by SSI had some inbuilt advantages for the AI for its artillery routines.
1) When plotted arty was about to fall, the code would "teleport" the stonk to somewhere more useful, i.e. somewhere near a detected unit of yours. No matter where it had plotted it on the map.
2) Pre-game barrages were based on an "average" of your unit's actual positions, so most would fall somewhere useful to the AI.It was AFAIR an average of your actual deployment plot - so if you went for an "all South" deployment - a good deal of the AI arty automatically would fall down there.
ALL of that, I removed as soon as we got hold of the source code or as soon as we determined there was another AI inbuilt advantage. (Like the free troops the AI selected forces would be given on picking a random force).
So - the original code as delivered by SSI did have what the OP might have called "borg" artillery routines, but we did not in any way reinstate it - we removed it.
Our pre-game arty plots are based on an average of the entire deployment zone , with emphasis on roads (if the human is going to advance, it is where he tends to stack units), the front of the deployment area, and just in front of the deployment area (if advancing). Sometimes it will stonk up the rear of the deployment area in hopes of getting your arty park. But it is all random guessing, it no longer has intel about the human player's pre-game positioning.
In-game arty plotting now is affected by "AI Interest" - as described in the release history, as well as on units actually spotted. If you fire (or pop smoke, make dust trails, etc) from a position, the AI will test for "interest" and the more you fire from an area, the more likely it is to be interested (especially if it currently has free batteries to assign). That allows it to drop presents on the human player who does the "hill dance" - popping up from behind a ridge to snap shoot, but always ending out of LOS at end turn. Some fire events will be more interesting to the AI than others (ATGM and MRL are rather interesting forex) The AI will still use the old routines for plotting unassigned arty (Usually nearby to enemy or neutral V-Hexes) as well from time to time.
(NB - nearby an objective does not necessarily mean within 2-3 hexes. It can be a click or so short, long, sideways or whatever. It's a bell curve distribution. Then add the normal scatter for fall of unobserved shot. But don't be surprised if some arty lands "telepathically" on the platoon of tanks you had 750 metres north of a particular objective cluster and which you know have not yet revealed themselves. The target was not the platoon - it was the V-Hex cluster)
And as well - do not be surprised if your tank coy trundles up to a ridge and gets an "instant" barrage. Remember that arty takes time to arrive, and in this case the player calling "foul" has usually forgotten that 2-3 moves before, his recce bumbled over that hill in full view of the AI. The AI target was therefore the recce, and so if you are going to take a position - remember to allow for time of fall of any plotted AI presents, if you are going to move lead elements over that hill. Or better yet - do not telegraph it at all, and move the scout cars round the side of the to-be-defended hill !.
So - some of these stonks will be self-called by your activities, and some are just random guesswork.
But there are no more teleported stonks, and no more plotting with foreknowledge of your general location. Nor have there been, since 1999/2000 or so.

Historical Design Notes

The Green OOB is a generic South and Central American OOB. The terrain will be mostly jungle, forest, mountains and villages. The OOB also contains generic American-backed insurgents, rebels, government forces, terrorists and more.

The RED OOB, prior to the break-up of the USSR is a sort of 'Balkan' OOB, using Soviet kit. After the break-up of the FUSSR, it becomes a generic stand in for those FUSSR states which do not have their own OOB, when playing against Russia or Turkey. Playing against Poland, it becomes Byelorussia, as it does against Ukraine. Playing against China, it represents an Eastern FUSSR state, with rather flatter terrain, and less chance of urban areas. To the rest, it remains a 'Balkan' OOB. The OOB also contains generic Soviet-backed insurgents, rebels, government forces, terrorists and more.

The UN OOB is intended ONLY for scenario designers, it merely provides an headquarters under which the scenario designer can add troops as Allies (own ID flag) or as 'captured' for troops using the UN ID tag. It does include some other basic units to help the designer fill out a UN force, but it does not have enough formations or units to stand alone. Do not try to fight random battles or campaigns against this OOB under AI control, though you could use it as a human player force, buying constituent items with the ALLIES facility. This OOB also contains some scenario designer eye candy, like grounded planes, civilian vehicles and herd animals.

National availability dates listing:

1 Egypt 1/1946 - 12/2020 | 24 ARVN 1/1948 4/1975 | 47 Cyprus 8/1960 12/2020 | 70 Chechnya 11/1990 12/2020
2 Poland 1/1946 12/2020 | 25 Pakistan 8/1947 12/2020 | 48 Brazil 1/1946 12/2020 | 71 Indonesia 1/1946 12/2020
3 Syria 1/1946 12/2020 | 26 Afghanistan 1/1946 12/2020 | 49 Cuba 1/1946 12/2020 | 72 Viet Cong 12/1946 4/1975
4 Israel 5/1948 12/2020 | 27 Belgium 1/1946 12/2020 | 50 Algeria 11/1954 12/2020 | 73 Portugal 1/1946 12/2020
5 Japan 7/1954 12/2020 | 28 Netherlands 1/1946 12/2020 | 51 Slovakia 1/1993 12/2020 | 74 Malaysia 1/1946 12/2020
6 France 1/1946 12/2020 | 29 Norway 1/1946 12/2020 | 52 South Africa 1/1946 12/2020 | 75 Zimbabwe 5/1980 12/2020
7 Great Britain 1/1946 12/2020 | 30 Canada 1/1946 12/2020 | 53 Switzerland 1/1946 12/2020 | 76 South Yemen 11/1967 4/1990
8 PLO 1/1946 12/2020 | 31 Greece 1/1946 12/2020 | 54 Thailand 1/1946 12/2020 | 77 North Yemen 1/1946 12/2020
9 Jordan 1/1946 12/2020 | 32 Turkey 1/1946 12/2020 | 55 Albania 1/1946 12/2020 | 78 Eritrea 1/1963 12/2020
10 Iran 1/1946 12/2020 | 33 Spain 1/1946 12/2020 | 56 Angola 11/1975 12/2020 | 79 Ukraine 8/1991 12/2020
11 Russia 1/1946 12/2020 | 34 Italy 1/1946 12/2020 | 57 Bosnia-Herzegovina 3/1992 12/2020 | 80 UN 1/1946 12/2020
12 USA 1/1946 12/2020 | 35 Denmark 1/1946 12/2020 | 58 Cambodia 1/1946 12/2020 | 81 Mozambique 9/1974 12/2020
13 USMC 1/1946 12/2020 | 36 E Germany 10/1949 9/1990 | 59 Chile 1/1946 12/2020 | 82 Ecuador 1/1946 12/2020
14 China 1/1946 12/2020 | 37 Czechoslovakia 1/1946 12/2020 | 60 Croatia 6/1991 12/2020 | 83 El Salvador 1/1946 12/2020
15 Australia 1/1946 12/2020 | 38 Hungary 1/1946 12/2020 | 61 Nigeria 10/1960 12/2020 | 84 Nicaragua 1/1946 12/2020
16 Gulf States 1/1946 12/2020 | 39 Romania 1/1946 12/2020 | 62 Chad 8/1960 12/2020 | 85 Peru 1/1946 12/2020
17 Iraq 1/1946 12/2020 | 40 Libya 1/1946 12/2020 | 63 Ethiopia 1/1946 12/2020 | 86 Rhodesia 1/1948 4/1980
18 India 8/1947 12/2020 | 41 Yugoslavia 1/1946 12/2020 | 64 Saudi Arabia 1/1946 12/2020 | 87 Bulgaria 1/1946 12/2020
19 N Korea 2/1948 12/2020 | 42 Green 1/1946 12/2020 | 65 Finland 1/1946 12/2020 | 88 Somalia 7/1960 12/2020
20 S Korea 9/1948 12/2020 | 43 Red 1/1946 12/2020 | 66 Sweden 1/1946 12/2020 | 89 Tanzania 1/1946 12/2020
21 Taiwan 1/1946 12/2020 | 44 W Germany 5/1949 12/2020 | 67 Sudan 1/1956 12/2020 | 90 Uganda 10/1962 12/2020
22 Mujahadeen 1/1946 12/2020 | 45 Argentina 1/1946 12/2020 | 68 Lebanon 1/1946 12/2020 | 91 Uruguay 1/1946 12/2020
23 NVA 1/1948 12/2020 | 46 Austria 1/1946 12/2020 | 69 Kenya 1/1946 12/2020 | 92 Paraguay 1/1946 12/2020

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