Returning player questions.

[coachjohn]

I am returning after about a year layoff (was bust with war in the west and war in the pacific)

Couple of questions.

1) where can I get the manual for sf2 again?

2) on the ui - there are three small buttons on the top - one is a clock for pause - is that that for real time or a unit.  There  are two others. What are they for?

3) in the commands there use to be a “delay” button where you can set a time for the unit to delay before moving - I don’t see it anymore.

4) what is the hot key for movie mode - I didn’t see it in the list. May be blind though

5) on acquiring ammunition - how is this done and how do I know what ammo to acquire

6)  In buildings there was a method of keeping the troops inside and not going out on the balcony. It had something to do with selecting target arc and pressing control or shift and forming a circle. Anyone remember how. I just lost all three of my snipers in first three minutes because of this.

7) in the new version - is there a way to measure distance from two unoccupied spots on the map?

Glad to be back. The other two games (witw and witp AE are great but exhausting.

Thanks a head of time.

John

 

 

 

[A Canadian Cat]

1 hour ago, coachjohn said:

I am returning after about a year layoff (was bust with war in the west and war in the pacific)

Couple of questions.

1) where can I get the manual for sf2 again?

Welcome back. The manuals are placed in the root of the game install - on my PC anyway. So in C:\Program Files x86\Battlefront\Combat Mission\Shock Force2 or something similiar.

 

1 hour ago, coachjohn said:

2) on the ui - there are three small buttons on the top - one is a clock for pause - is that that for real time or a unit.  There  are two others. What are they for?

These are the instant commands. The clock is for pausing a unit or letting it resume. In real time you can use that to quickly stop a unit. In WEGO it acts as a short cut for pausing a unit indefinitely or cancelling a pause command you put on them in previous turns. The second button cancels all commands the unit already has. The third button is the evade button it picks a point for the unit to retreat to. In real time they immediately starts executing that command. In WEGO any existing commands are cancelled and the retreat command is plotted and you can add or adjust it.

 

1 hour ago, coachjohn said:

3) in the commands there use to be a “delay” button where you can set a time for the unit to delay before moving - I don’t see it anymore.

That's the pause command under the special menu. You can add pauses to any way point. The instant command button mentioned above only effects the unit itself not the currently selected way point.

 

1 hour ago, coachjohn said:

4) what is the hot key for movie mode - I didn’t see it in the list. May be blind though

You don't need movie mode - play in "looks like real life" mode   As you can guess I don't use it so I have no idea but all short cuts are visible if you use the Menu | Hotkeys command.

 

1 hour ago, coachjohn said:

5) on acquiring ammunition - how is this done and how do I know what ammo to acquire

If an infantry unit is in a vehicle or near an ammo dump the Special Acquire command will be enabled. One good way to look for what ammo to acquire is to look at what they already have which is in the panel towards the left under rank information. That will list the first five types of ammo the unit already has. Things get tricky if a particular type of ammo has run out but the unit could use it so it is not a bad idea to familiarize yourself with what kind of ammo goes with what weapon at the start of the game.

 

1 hour ago, coachjohn said:

6)  In buildings there was a method of keeping the troops inside and not going out on the balcony. It had something to do with selecting target arc and pressing control or shift and forming a circle. Anyone remember how. I just lost all three of my snipers in first three minutes because of this.

You can use the face command to face them away from the balcony. If you do it slightly away but not 90s from the balcony they can be positioned along and end wall - as long as that wall does not have a balcony too. You can get a similar effect with target arcs too by giving them an arc that does not include the balcony at all. I would use the arc method to prevent them from firing too soon - place the arc away from the balcony on the final way point. Once they are done moving you can change the arc to be circular again. But if you want them to be weapons free the use the face command to point them away from the balcony.

 

1 hour ago, coachjohn said:

7) in the new version - is there a way to measure distance from two unoccupied spots on the map?

Yes. Take a unit and plot a move order to one location. Then select that way point and use the target command to measure the distance. Don't forget to cancel the move order and don't be freaked out that the target line is drawn from the units current position and not from the way point. The measurement is still being done from the way point.

[MikeyD]

Movie mode is alt M. Its the 3rd from the last item in the hotkeys menu list.

Super-easy for pause playing realtime is hitting the keyboard key  P while a moving vehicle is selected. Hit it once, 5 second pause. pppp gives you 20 second pause. Hitting the little clock icon gives you and indefinite pause as long as its clicked. The blank circle next to the clock is to cancel all orders on your selected unit. Next to that (the arrow) is to tell your troop to RUN AWAY!!!!

[Aquila-SmartWargames]

Welcome back

Edited January 16, 2020 by Aquila-SWG

[coachjohn]

Thanks to everybody