StephanFH
Posts: 101
Joined: 5/25/2007
From: West Chester, PA USA
Status: offline
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I've played through the Tutorial Scenarios and the Baltic Crisis Campaign, as well as done some reading in the forums, and I thought I'd post some Lessons Learned. I'm sure some of these tips are mentioned elsewhere and I just haven't read them, but I've tried to cite where I could. Apologies to anyone I miss. But some of these tips may be so obvious to veteran players that they've forgotten that they learned them. Perhaps this is more in the way of an after action report. All of these tips sre for solitaire play anyway.
First some caveats. I am a new player, so your results may vary. Don't blame me if your favorite unit gets blown away! 
Next, everything in here is my opinion, so I hope I don't start a flame war. Also while I do play SPWaw because it is a simulation I also play it to have fun, so I don't use every realism preference and try to avoid "gamey" tricks. These are just my preferences.
That said, on with the show.
ONE: At least skim the manual. I know a lot of people like to dive right in to a new game and check the manual as needed (I do). But SPWaW is a complex game and the manual is really a must first.
TWO: Play at least tutorial Scenarios #0 and #2. Play along with the instructions in the manual (see Tip#1). They contain essential learning tools and are pretty fun, too. Tutorial #1, Flanking, can be very frustrating for a new player: it took me four tries to beat it. Of course I didn't weaken the armor settings as suggested, so probably that's my fault! I must admit I played a few scenarios before I played all the tutorials but the rest are useful, too.
THREE: Check out these articles, I found them very helpful. Captain Pixel's Direct Fire and Artillery primers. They are stickies at the top of this forum. Also see Larry Holt's Original SPWaW FAQ here: http://spwaw.com/lholttg/faq.htm#FAQ . For Command and Control Tips and some other good stuff see Victor Houser's Veteran Player's Tips here: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=52213 . I didn't read these before I started playing (I suspect others don't either) and I wish I had. Thanks Guys!
FOUR: Preferences. These are just my opinion so do as you like.
Play with all the Realism Preferences on. This is supposed to be a simulation. For example, I can't imagine playing with Limited Intelligence off. Why bother? One exception to this is Command & Control. As a new player I found it way too hard. Maybe with more experience I'll turn it on, but to start out leave it off. I used waypoints a good deal in an old version of TacOps (a game I enjoyed a great deal though I don't have the new version yet). I found them cumbersome at that time, too. Also I play this game to have fun and I wasn't having any with C&C on. I've been tempted to turn off Breakdowns which drive me nuts, but I haven't yet.
I turn OpFire Confirm On and set it to three-four seconds. Again, I find setting ranges and targets for each and every unit at the end of each turn to be cumbersome and time consuming. In my book, cumbersome and time consuming = no fun
I have a fairly new computer (a year old) so I bailed out of my first tutorial and changed some of the general preferences, too. I set live delay to 240, scroll delay to 3, movement delay to one, and message delay to 180. The defaults were driving me nuts.
I also turn Fast Artillery off because I like to watch it hit, but if you have a lot of guns, it takes time. I generally play with hex grid off because it looks better and I prefer to "estimate" ranges. If you are having trouble seeing your troops and spotted enemies, turn ID Flags on, I had to.
I have never messed with Player Preferences or AI Advantage because the game still feels pretty well balanced to me. I suspect this opinion will change rapidly after I play my first human!
FIVE: Some tactical lessons learned.
Artillery is very powerful, but it is not a magic weapon. I very rarely use unspotted artillery fire, so I buy F.O.'s and keep them up front. I do use "unspotted" arty for two things, smoke and H&I fire. Smoke doesn't have to be necessarily accurate or timely and I feel anyone with a radio (including my FO's should be able to call for it. However, I do use the spotting unit to call it in. Harassing and Interdiction fire is inherently inaccurate anyway since it's just pointing at a map reference like a crossroads.
Speed kills. If you run right up to someone and try to shoot them you are probably going to get whacked. This is particularly true of infantry. Some of the veterans in the forums have mentioned using overwatch or bounding overwatch for your armor. So does the US Army. I recommend it also. Also I have been told that pushing your armor that last hex increases the probability of a speed breakdown, which is realistic also. Advancing your infantry a hex a turn helps (assault movement), but be sure you make your objectives.
Dug-in infantry is dangerous to armor. Dug-in infantry in good terrain such as woods, houses, rough and boulders is very dangerous to everyone. This is pretty realistic I suspect but, don't forget it.
Dug-in anti-tank guns are very hard to spot and very hard to kill. Use your recon assets to spot them and smoke to to neutralize them. Then close and kill them. Even small bore guns with a high muzzle velocity are lethal. Those darn Soviet 45mm guns!
Speaking of recon assets, they are there for a reason, use them! You can't hit what you can't see.
Try not to get your armor ahead of your infantry. This is mentioned elsewhere but doesn't hurt to emphasize. It is tempting to do so, and I suspect sometimes necessary, but is also a good way to get your armor dead.
Remember that infantry can ride on some armor as long as it is not too large a squad. Beware - if the armor gets hit while your are riding it you may very well end up losing your squad. At the least it will take heavy casualties.
Don't forget to use smoke! it will save your butt crossing open areas. But remember that it blocks your ranged fire, too.
That's all I can think of for now. I hope this is of some help to other new players.
Cordially,
Steve
_____________________________
"the onset of Bayonets in the hands of the Valiant is irresistible..."
Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne
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