Unlocking Order of Battle and using air units

[greenmoray1]

Hello,

I am new to this game but not necessarily new to hex war games. Just a few quick questions if anyone out there can assist..... great.

!. The first question may be obvious but I never understand it. If I purchase a game why shouldn't I have access to all of the game campaign even if I keep screwing up on a scenario. In other words try the next campaign without having to achieve the previous one. Nothing should be locked since it is my game and I paid for all of it. Or am I missing something that I don't see that will take me to the next scenario. I don't agree or get this concept that even if you bought the game that you may just be stuck playing the same scenario over and over and you are not able to advance. So in essence my purchase stops there.

2. When it comes to the air units to bomb the enemy Order of Battle Pacific marine fighting I see that often the enemy is 0 and mine is 0 in terms of outcome, rarely is it 3 or so, plus the planes don't seem to do much damage to ground units ,, air dogfight is better and bombing ships. Any advice on to the best way to use the air power in this marine part of pacific battle? I have played the scenario just before going in to Guadacanal but haven't been able to move to the next scenario .....Gavitu and the other islands before ....I get one big island all done and then time is out and I lose or I get penetration into both including 2nd goals but still lose. The game is slow. It takes a long time to take one post with my raiders.

That's it.....thanks ...greenmoray1

[kondi754]

The problem is that you have to pay for each campaign.
OoB World War II is for free but each campaign costs some money.
Please write for what product (title of the game) you have paid.

[bru888]

!. The first question may be obvious but I never understand it. If I purchase a game why shouldn't I have access to all of the game campaign even if I keep screwing up on a scenario. In other words try the next campaign without having to achieve the previous one. Nothing should be locked since it is my game and I paid for all of it. Or am I missing something that I don't see that will take me to the next scenario. I don't agree or get this concept that even if you bought the game that you may just be stuck playing the same scenario over and over and you are not able to advance. So in essence my purchase stops there.

Welcome, greenmoray1. The answer to this is that it is by design in that they want to make it a challenge to you to "earn" your way through a campaign by unlocking each scenario only after the last one has been "won" (generally, that is - I have seen some that unlock the next scenario even if you lose the previous one - but that is again by design and most of the time, they make you "earn" it).

That's the bad news. The good news is that the developers provide a cheat code to open all scenarios of a campaign regardless of where you are in the campaign. kondi is right; you have to PURCHASE the DLC for this privilege and I am assuming that you have done so and are asking your question from that perspective. And before you say it, yes, they should make this an option in the game and not a cheat code, but here it is:

Press Shift + C to open the Command Console. In the dialog box, type the following command: #gimmeall

This unlocks all scenarios for individual play despite campaign status (used only in the Main Menu screen).

[bru888]

2. When it comes to the air units to bomb the enemy Order of Battle Pacific marine fighting I see that often the enemy is 0 and mine is 0 in terms of outcome, rarely is it 3 or so, plus the planes don't seem to do much damage to ground units ,, air dogfight is better and bombing ships. Any advice on to the best way to use the air power in this marine part of pacific battle?

Air units generally don't do as much damage to ground units as ground units do, and that is by design as well.

First, fighters do very little damage to ground units, although according to this Loading Tip, there are "heavy fighter" types that will deal more damage:

Screenshot 3.jpg (45.8 KiB) Viewed 4981 times

Same thing with bombers; they don't seem to do much damage, either.

However, the thing to remember about air power versus ground units is their shock value, which reduces efficiency. That is the case with artillery and warship bombardment as well. It may not be as satisfying as seeing the target unit's strength reduced but cutting down its efficiency makes it weaker, slower, and more vulnerable to ground attack. A very important concept in this game.

[kondi754]

@Bru
Of course, it is possible that I misunderstood greenmoray, but it seems to me that he wrote about locked campaigns.
Although when I read his post once again now, I'm not so sure what he meant ...

[PoorOldSpike]

....When it comes to the air units to bomb the enemy Order of Battle Pacific marine fighting...

Hi, exactly which game did you buy? Was it US Pacific or US Marines?
And what's the name of the scenario you're talking about?

[greenmoray1]

Sorry , I'm way late on this reply .....but I do appreciate all you wrote back. It was US marines to answer the question from poor old spike. But I discovered that having a lot of units just many marines seems to work better than tanks and like a mixture of things, when I go just more marines I do better so far.

I have a post that I want to share but they said it was too spamy....something about new user and urls ...its just a thing about choosing games. I will post it as a reply on this thread.....and if you guys want to kick it out as it is not specifically about OOB ...then ok so next reply will be it ...i will just paste it. I know it belongs in general anyway here goes.

[greenmoray1]

Hello,

Can anyone help me find a narrow list of just the hex based map strategic WW2 pc board type games. some grognard site with a current list.
Example: Strategic Command 2: War in Europe which I have and like (but need to learn more)
When I type what I want even specifically either on steam or internet search I get a bunch rts ww2 games like Coh. I'm not looking for that! ahhh! frustrating.

I'm in the process of deciding which new game as described above I want to buy. I like SS2 WIE but recently I bought Decisive campaign: Barbarossa and I don't know how to play well on the defensive Russian side....don't want to play as Germany as much......everyone plays as GERMANY

looked at unity of command....puzzle type strong ai...hate those busts
advanced tactics gold....same guys who made decisive campaigns i think....which I am already lost with the cards, no decisions, and historical diary and on and on.

i'm attracted to grisbys but overwhelmed by ......you name it.....

I'm a beginner for certain ......I'm willing to take time to learn but I don't know how much. (Have OOB, PC, and both BA"s and SC WIE, panzer tactics, like them all)

Looked at civ and total war and rts games over and over in reviews , even tutorials.......nahhh not my cup of tea. I tried. Crazy enough I have Darkest Hour and hearts of Iron 4 ...so when I get the gumption I will try them ....but I think the UI is like civ .....so I blew that.

Many rts games but they just dont appeal to me either ... looked at Combat mission, close combat, and COH ....I'm just not good at these. I know the names... men of war , theatre of war. (i bought one of these extremely cheap just to try it out and I am so freakin lost. I'm an older guy, 50's.

looked at kursk battle of Prohorovka, fall weiss, flashpoint red storm, all other decisive campaigns . and grisby's stuff. actually for some reason grisby still appeals to me because I like the concept of being able to place specific planes in my attack and have that type of control....I like the map, I like the fact that you can totally kick butt with a massive amount of options including air attacks, but it is the same reason why I was attracted to HOI 4 or DH because from what I have researched you can do this too in DH and I like that,,,,tis why I bought.....but do I know how to do it?.....not a freakin clue. ok maybe a slight clue.

There is the concept of the abstract that I like in the sort symbolic battle over the hex board I like but I just don't know how to use the UI well. What I need to do is memorize procedures first and then go into the why's of it. It's like this hearts of Iron tutorials on you tube,,, I wish there was just one guy who would say .....ok just follow exactly the steps I do and click on your game because you don't have a clue and i get that......so then I would do that and then I can modify once I MEMORIZE THE UI and do it along with the guy and memorize important clicks. But no one does this they all get parenthetical....try to explain why's or reasons later, just let me for now be a robot.......think of your grandmother learning how to use email 1st time. I don't care if I appear dumb......I will learn. Someone needs to do that with all these kind of games. Eventually memory will set in

i'm down to making a decision for advanced tactics gold because i can follow tutorial ...memorize....

You pick that game and 1. you find out you don't like it. 2. it doesn't launch on windows 10...always a risk, or you are lost , and the tutorial isn't good. But its a risk I;m willing to take.

I'm limited to steam games .

Games I have come very close to buying: grisby's war in west, advanced tactics gold, another older strategic command (or wait for the new one) global or ww1, commander the great war, civ 5, army general old game, panzer strategy bad reviews and bugs, unity of command turned off by puzzle concept. very close to getting ultimate general, then read forums guys having really hard time using UI etc. Thought about total war games but seems like rts stuff.

You know I guess they are simple to many but I really like OOB a lot, it is awesome game and I feel comfortable with it, and it's in the pacific and all and I read a lot of books on ww2 pacific , even got the panzerkrieg, winter war, burma and loved those marines. I deploy my units and I love the way the game looks and plays though the japanese are stubborn... wow. Like Battle Academy 1/2 too, graphics and the limited sort hexes / squares, because if I was doing a rts where your free to put your guys wherever, my guys would die soon, because I'm not good at that, (though maybe with practice of dying and learning).

Went thru my FPS stage COD and such but get nauseous from moving camera.

I want to step up in my play but I don't know where I'm comfortable to begin in my game choice. You know that feeling when you gotta get a new game.

The best I can come up with is grisby or advance tactic gold in the category I'm comfortable in. By the way ...why aren't there more games out there like BA and OOB but say add a bit more to them step by step ....that would be great, I have not seen ANY other game like OOB in the way it works and in the pacific region against Japan, other than BA with grids/hexes. Name them ....and not rts , wargame stuff.

How about a Vietnam OOB DLC like we are the marines in Kah Sahn (sp?) or in the Idrang Valley, or the Tet offensive or Hue.....(rising storm is MP i think. I'm a single player only). but you play on the US side, just like the pacific campaign. that would be awesome.

ok I'm open to this forums criticisms and suggestions, ...don't be too harsh, I am only a beginner.....but yeah I'm griping a bit.

I do thank you much in advance. Tell me your choices and experiences.....I am open to learn, just thick headed.

I got to say this last bit....when I watch this tutorial where this guy is just trying to explain to me how to move two hexes! ....he goes" "you see that for each hex that's 10 and so there's a different terrain and let's look up the terrain for forest , oh no it's dirt road well that will be minus 3 and your enemy has 40 supply but because he's in this position also on a different terrain he will lose 2 and he also has 4 supply and I only have 8 supply as you can "clearly" see here so ...yeah that's going to be that I have moved 30 ac or action points to this hex. So that's how you move. but make sure you limit it to 30 and 6 supply."

Sure thing buddy. I see that. It's good if you a logic guy or math person. Can you play these games without knowing the numbers game or is there some way to do this easier like you can see the ratio .....i know you can in OOB but some games you have to sit back and calculate all these factors... not sure I want that, but maybe it is just memorizing like algebraic steps.

Ok I'm out.

[apostrophefz]

Ok I'm out.

This is certainly a long, obsessive burst of text, which I think deserved a thread of its own. Do you feel better now? lol

Anyway, have you played all the games you mentioned? If you're holding back your apetite, do let it loose. Also, try out The Operational Art of War games. The latest one, 4, allows you to play a multitude of XX century battles.

I haven't checked it out yet, but take a look at the game this post is suggesting at r/computerwargames https://www.reddit.com/r/computerwargam ... game_free/

[PoorOldSpike]

..Can you play these games without knowing the numbers game or is there some way to do this easier like you can see the ratio .....i know you can in OOB but some games you have to sit back and calculate all these factors... not sure I want that, but maybe it is just memorizing like algebraic steps..

Yeah I've got a sheer hatred of maths, so I avoid "mathematical" games like the plague..
Reading game reviews and watching youtube vids might help us decide what games to buy, but the only way to find out if we'll like a game is to buy it, or play a demo if one's available.
I only keep about 3 out of every 10 games on my hard drive, the rest I uninstall because I don't like them.

[greenmoray1]

Yes I checked out TOAW 4 and I like that you can battle in many time periods but it's not sold on steam.

Do you guys buy games from the matrix games site or some other? I have only bought my pc games from steam.

Thanks for the game link.
greenmoray1

[apostrophefz]

I prefer having them all centered and present in Steam. Most Slitherine games are there. Close Combat (I donno if its Slitherine's) only has the Caen and the Panthers in the Fog ones there, not the previous.

Everyday I pray for the next sale. I want to buy more campaigns!

[greenmoray1]

The new Strategic Command Classic WW2 which includes Patton and Pacific campaign is supposed to be out soon, but who knows how long it will delay.
What do you think the price will be?

I was looking at SC global Conflict to buy. Do any of you guys have this particular one?.....looks older.

Here is a list of games I have already bought:

Order of Battle/ Pacific Campaign / Marine campaign, Winter war, Burma, and Panzerkrieg campaigns (great played many hours Pacific/ marine campaign)
Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear (Don't know what I'm doing, good graphics)
Panzer Corps: Soviet corps, US Corps 43 and 44, Allied corps (good)
Men of War (don't know what I'm doing, good graphics)
Hearts of Iron 4 (haven't ventured to play yet, fear it was a waste$)
Hearts of Iron Darkest Hour (too many pop-ups and so many things to juggle....gave up)
Battle Academy/ Fortress Metz add on (played but not a lot...like this much)
Battle Academy 2+ Kursk add on (haven't played yet)
Army General (a bit lost on the UI+ game crashes)
Panzer Tactics (played some, like this)
Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa (played as Russians, but confused and stopped, sound not working on ai turn and different showing of the battle ratio screen , just numbers....pissed me off
Strategic War in Europe (overwhelmed by the UI ...hated all the crap you have to push, screen adjustment.)
Strategic Command Classic 2: War in Europe (great game, feel mostly confident in my play and love the ai and sounds + much more)

I was always( and still am) afraid that these games on steam wouldn't work on windows 10 and my computer. I have Ps4 and I play tons of MLB 17 the show rtts. , so I switch.

What do you guys have that you like that is not on my list?

[greenmoray1]

My apologies for putting this on OOB thread ....it won't happen again

[PoorOldSpike]

Yes I checked out TOAW 4 and I like that you can battle in many time periods but it's not sold on steam.
Do you guys buy games from the matrix games site or some other? I have only bought my pc games from steam.

I bought TOAW4 but it's far too complex and fiddly for me so I hit the uninstall button.
I sometimes buy from Matrix/Slitherine and sometimes from Steam because as far as I can tell it doesn't matter much..
PS- in the old days if we bought a boxed game and didn't like it we could give it away to friends and relatives, but nowadays everything works by download and licence keys and won't work on anybody else's computer, so now I've got a load of games that I don't want and can't give them to anybody, what a waste, grrr

[13obo]

You do know you can refund games you've played less than 2h and bought less than 14 days ago on Steam with no questions asked, right?

[PoorOldSpike]

You do know you can refund games you've played less than 2h and bought less than 14 days ago on Steam with no questions asked, right?

No I didn't know, thanks..
Do Matrix/Slitherine have the same policy? If they don't, it appears that always buying from Steam is the only logical way to go.

[Erik2]

Purchasing from Slitherine would give you a free Steam code for the game.
At least in the past.
I have Steam codes for all campaigns, except Burma for some reason.

[13obo]

You refund stuff here on Steam: https://help.steampowered.com/en/

I use it regularly for games that I'm not sure about and just buy, try out, and then refund if no good for me. Otherwise it's just a waste.

[CoolDTA]

PS- in the old days if we bought a boxed game and didn't like it we could give it away to friends and relatives, but nowadays everything works by download and licence keys and won't work on anybody else's computer, so now I've got a load of games that I don't want and can't give them to anybody, what a waste, grrr

Ah, the good old days. Back in the 80s I had almost all of SSI's and SSG's strategy (and role playing) games for C-64. Many boxed games had nice laminated maps in addition of the manual etc. I have a feeling there were more good turn based war games back then. But we still do have Gary Grigsby. And Order of Battle carries the torch with distinction.