Not found in rules

[SelfLoadingRifle]

I have finally taken the plunge and bought Theatre of War 2 Kursk. However, on reading the manual, I have found that a number of important factors are only referred to in passing and are not mentioned directly. Can anyone help me with the following?

1) How do you set waypoints?

2) What are the rules for minefields?

3) Can combat engineers clear mines and/or barbed wire, and if so how?

4) Can on-board artillery such as mortars fire indirectly, and if so how?

5) What are the rules (if any) for FOOs... and can anyone else spot for artillery?

6) How does leadership work? For example my first game played as German included 6 infantry sections in the default line up but no Platoon Commander. Would this have a detrimental effect in the game, or were my instincts correct when I included the necessary command element?

And to digress slightly...

8) I cannot find the Flak 88 anywhere in the standard TOW. Is there one, or has anybody included it in an add-on or patch?

Many thanks,

SLR:)

[Knokke]

1) How do you set waypoints?

SHIFT-click on the ground where you want to set a waypoint

2) What are the rules for minefields?

Not sure about that. Usually, they are of a mixed type (anti-personal and anti-tank mines found at the same time in the minefield). A soldier walking on an AT-mine will not detonate it; it will detonate only if a heavier vehicle runs over it. Armored vehicles like tanks can detonate the anti-personel mines without damage to themselves (usufull to clear a path untill they hit an AT mine). Mines can be detonated by powerfull explosions in their vicinity (It's possible to clear a path through the mine field by firing an artillery barrage in the minefield area).

3) Can combat engineers clear mines and/or barbed wire, and if so how?

Barbed wire can't be cleared by engineers. any soldiers can attempt to clear mines when attempting to cross a minefield (success depends on the scouting ability of the unit, and there is a modifier for the stance/movement speed of the unit - units scouting the minefiled area while laying prone have a better chance of spotting and deactivating mines)

4) Can on-board artillery such as mortars fire indirectly, and if so how?

mortars, field guns, tanks and SPG can usually fire indirect by using the "target area" command. Check the cursor icon to see if the unit is able to reach the spot you intend to target (some units like the LeIG18 are able to fire indirectly on many parts of the map, because the gun barrel can have a greater elevation. Other units like the Hummel will not be able the fire indirectly most of the time because the gun can't be elevated that much and the rounds have a shallower trajectory)

5) What are the rules (if any) for FOOs... and can anyone else spot for artillery?

There are no dedicated artillery spotters. Anyone can "spot" for the indirect fire support weapons (mortars without the "hold fire" order will start to shell any ennemy that is spotted on the map, even if the mortar itself does not have direct line of sight, provided there is at least someone with a line of sight to the target. Of course, firing blind in this way oes not provide a high accuracy and will give poorer results than if the mortar has direct line of sight.

6) How does leadership work? For example my first game played as German included 6 infantry sections in the default line up but no Platoon Commander. Would this have a detrimental effect in the game, or were my instincts correct when I included the necessary command element?

Command elements have a great influence (they add a modifier to the morale of all units located in the area near the command unit - check the circle radius around the commander to see the area of effect. They act as a morale booster to the units in their command radius.

They can also have a detrimental effect: if your commander starts to panic, it will have a big negative impact on the morale of the troops nearby. Hence, it is advisable to keep the commands units in cover, so that they don't get shot at and risk panicking.

And to digress slightly...

8) I cannot find the Flak 88 anywhere in the standard TOW. Is there one, or has anybody included it in an add-on or patch?

There is a FlaK88 gun in both ToW2:Africa and ToW2:Kursk. You can find the gun amongst the AA weapons (it can be used both against aerial targets and ground targets, but is much more effective in game against ground targets. As an AA weapon in the game, it is near useless as the aircrafts are flying too low for the 88 to be effective: it can't track an individual airplane flying low very effectively and a single gun has too low a rate of fire to be able to achieve anything but the occasional lucky hit.)

[SelfLoadingRifle]

Knokke,

Many thanks for replying at such length. You are a scholar and a gentleman.

SLR

[Rosseau]

I'll second that. Thanks Knokke

[Gnasher]

8) I cannot find the Flak 88 anywhere in the standard TOW. Is there one, or has anybody included it in an add-on or patch?

You need JSH 1.3.5 to get the 88 in std ToW & it does take down aircraft quite well.

[SelfLoadingRifle]

Er, sorry to be so der-brained but what is JSH 1.3.5, and where can it be downloaded from?

Many thanks for your reply,

SLR

[Gnasher]

JSH 1.3.5: http://uploading.com/files/b31cf83b/...1.3.5_eng.exe/

Or you can download the mod and a hotfix (it changes names of some missions back to English) from here: http://towhouse.heroku.com/mods

[SelfLoadingRifle]

Once again, many thanks. I have just noted the missions printed in cyrillic text, and as my Russian is not too hot, I think I will try the hotfix next!

Onwards and upwards,

SLR

[CoLdFiRe]

wait, what hotfix?