TALONSOFT'S WEST FRONT Demo Readme INSTALLING THE DEMO ------------------- 1. From Windows, select the Win 95 Start button and the Run menu item. 2. Browse to your CD-ROM drive, double-click on the "West Front demo" folder, select "setup.exe", and click OK. 3. The demo will install 50 MB of files onto your hard drive. GETTING STARTED --------------- To launch the demo, click on the Start button in the Windows Taskbar, then in turn select "Programs", "TalonSoft", "West Front Demo", and "West front Demo" again. To try a battle against the computer, in the A/I Selection Dialog select "Computer" (or "Computer with Fog of War") for one side and "Manual" for the side you wish to play. Note that if you click on the "Rules" button in this dialog, you will be presented with a variety of optional rules you may wish to use. To pause play being conducted by the A/I, click on the A/I button in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen while the A/I is moving units. (This button has a picture of a computer on it.) If the A/I is firing, press the Esc key. You may wish to display the hex grid to make it easier to visualize the concept of hexes for the purposes of fire and movement. To do so, press the "M" key on your keyboard to display the Menu Bar, then select the Hex Outlines item in the Options menu. EXITING THE DEMO ---------------- To exit, simply press the "X" key on your keyboard (after pausing play if necessary). THE BASICS OF PLAY ------------------ SELECTING A UNIT: Double-click on a hex to select all units in that hex, or left-click once on the 3D unit icon to select just that unit. (A selected 3D icon has a green outline.) On both the 2D and 3D maps, a unit can also be selected by clicking in its Infobox (the data box that appears in the upper righthand corner of the screen when you click on a unit on the map). Right-clicking on the infobox will scroll through the units in the hex, allowing you to view/select them individually. INFOBOX: The Infobox appears on the screen automatically whenever a unit is selected, and shows a 3D icon and important data in a circular fashion around the icon. Starting at 12 o'clock and going clockwise, the data are: Strength: the unit's current Strength Points (SPs - in individual vehicles, guns or "half-squads"); Action: the unit's current number of Action Points (APs) - all units start each turn with 100 APs, and each action executed during a turn costs a given amount of APs (as long as a unit retains sufficient APs, it can perform any combination of actions during a single turn); Assault: the unit's strength when it Assaults; Defense: the unit's defensive value when it is attacked (a 'hard' target is signified by its Defense strength being printed in red); Fire Cost: how many APs the unit must have to fire; Morale/Leadership: the unit's current morale (the number it must roll less than or equal to on a 10-sided die when taking a morale check) - unless it is a commander, in which case this number is its Leadership value (which increases the morale of friendly units under his command in his hex). A full-color helmet appearing in the lower right-hand corner of the Infobox indicates that the unit is carrying a passenger; see "TRANSPORTING A UNIT" below. 'FIXED' UNITS: A few German units are 'fixed' in place at the start of the scenario. This is shown by the letter "F" in a red circle in the upper left-hand corner of the unit's Infobox. A fixed unit cannot move until it has been attacked. MOVING A UNIT: Select (as above) the unit you want to move, then right- click in any hex to move the unit toward that hex. You can also Select the unit, then "drag and drop" it in the direction you wish it to move. When in "Move Mode" your cursor is a "plus sign" (+). Move Mode is automatically invoked for a side each time its turn begins. 'COLUMN' MOVE: To move all the units in the same company toward the same location with a single move command, select any unit in that company, then click on the "Next Unit" toolbar button (at which time all that company's units will become highlighted). Then move the unit while holding down the "Alt" key. The other highlighted units that have not yet been moved will move toward the clicked-on location. 'ECHELON' MOVE: To move all the units in the same company in the same general direction with a single move command, select any unit in that company, then click on the "Next Unit" toolbar button (at which time all that company's units will become highlighted). Then move the unit while holding down the "Shift" key. The other highlighted units that have not yet been moved will move in that same general direction. ASSAULTING: To assault an adjacent enemy unit, the attacker(s) must be non-disrupted, in "Move Mode", and must have enough APs (Action Points) to assault (20 plus terrain cost). Select that unit, then right-click on an adjacent enemy-occupied hex. If the assault is "legal" you'll see a dialog box stating the odds. More units can be added to the assault in the same manner as the first. When ready to resolve the assault, click on the "Assault" toolbar button (which shows units firing). FIRING A UNIT: The unit you wish to fire must be selected, and you must be in "Fire Mode". To enter Fire Mode, click on the leftmost ("Move/Fire Mode") toolbar button to toggle it to Fire Mode. Alternatively, holding down the Ctrl key toggles this button temporarily. In Fire Mode your cursor changes to "crosshairs". You can then move this Crosshairs cursor around the map; if it goes over a valid target (an enemy target will be outlined in red on the 3D map), a small target-info box will appear, listing the valid hard and soft target numbers (respectively) for the firing unit vs. that hex. An easy way to use indirect fire (i.e., fire mortars or artillery) is to click on the "Artillery Dialog" toolbar button (which shows an artillery piece). This will display a dialog that lists all of the side's indirect-fire units. Click on the Help button in the dialog for further details. Note that indirect-fire attacks have a one-turn delay before being resolved. OPPORTUNITY FIRE: As the units of one side move, you will see the other side fire at them. This "Opportunity Fire" is conducted automatically - and solely - by the computer. A unit cannot "Op Fire" if it lacks sufficient Action Points, so you might want to turn on "Save APs for Firing" for the unit before you move it. Do this by selecting the unit, then clicking on the toolbar button that has a picture of crosshairs and a tank gun on it. Doing this will keep the unit from expending all its Action Points in movement, thereby ensuring that it retains sufficient APs to Op Fire once during enemy movement. Opportunity Fire can be set "globally" (i.e., for all units on your side), or individually on a per-unit basis. To set "OpFire" for an individual unit, select the unit, then press the "D" key to display the OpFire dialog. The OpFire dialog that appears applies to the selected unit(s) only. Other settings are grayed out. If more than one unit is selected, the options that are not grayed-out will affect all units selected. NOTE: The most restrictive OpFire option set for a unit takes precedence; e.g., a globally-set option for a unit type to fire at "short" range will take precedence over an individually-set option for an individual unit of that type to fire at "medium" range. AIR STRIKES: To conduct an air strike, select the enemy unit you want the aircraft to attack, then click on the "Air Attack" toolbar button (which shows the side view of an aircraft). Note that air strikes have a minimum one-turn delay before being resolved - and in some cases may attack the wrong target, or may even fail to appear at all! DAMAGE RESULTS: To display the results of combat, press the "M" key if the Menu bar is not present at the top of the screen, then select "Options", "Details" and "Medium Details". TRANSPORTING A UNIT: A unit currently carrying a passenger (be it gun or infantry) is shown with a large "helmet" icon in the lower right-hand portion of that transport unit's Infobox. To see what is being carried, right-click on the Infobox. Note that both passenger and transport must have sufficient Action Points to load or unload. LOADING: To load a passenger onto a vehicle, make sure both units are in the same hex, then select them both. There are several ways to do this. You can double-click on the hex if they are the only two units in that hex; or you can press the "U" key to display the Unit List, then click on both units' Infoboxes in that list; or you can select the vehicle, right-click in its Infobox until the desired passenger unit appears, then right-click on that unit in the Infobox to select it. Once you have selected both units, click on the "Load/Unload" toolbar button (shows a truck with infantry) to load the passenger onto the vehicle. UNLOADING: To unload a passenger, simply select its transport vehicle and click on the "Load/Unload" toolbar button. 3D ROAM MODE: When in Roam Mode (only available in the 3D view), unit icons on the map are automatically highlighted when your cursor passes over them. A yellow highlight indicates a friendly unit, and red indicates an enemy unit. The selected unit is always shown with a green highlight. When you "roam over" a unit, its Infobox will be displayed. UNIT HANDBOOK: When a single unit is currently selected, pressing the "F2" key displays certain information about it, such as a picture of the unit and some historical background, its organization, its AP costs for different actions, etc. CHANGING THE MAP VIEW: Any of five map views, plus a jump map, can be displayed; see the list of hotkeys below. HOT KEYS -------- These hot keys can be used in the main program (many of the actions listed are also available via the menus): F1 - Open Main program help file F2 - Open Unit Handbook (a unit must be currently selected) F3 - Open Scenario Parameter Data help file F4 - Open Miscellaneous (platoon) Data file F5 - Open Weapon Data file Keyboard 1 - Display map in 3D Normal mode Keyboard 2 - Display map in 3D Zoom-Out mode Keyboard 3 - Display map in 3D Extreme Zoom-Out mode Keyboard 4 - Display map in 2D Normal mode Keyboard 5 - Display map in 2D Zoom-Out mode Number Pad 0 - Load/unload units Number Pad 1 - Move selected unit down and left Number Pad 2 - Move selected unit down Number Pad 3 - Move selected unit down and right Number Pad 4 - Turn selected unit counter-clockwise Number Pad 5 - Initiate air attack on currently selected hex Number Pad 6 - Turn selected unit clockwise Number Pad 7 - Move selected unit up and left Number Pad 8 - Move selected unit up Number Pad 9 - Move selected unit up and right Delete - Turn selected units counter-clockwise Page Down - Turn selected unit clockwise Home - Move selected unit forward in hex End - Move selected unit backward in hex A - Display reinforcements' Arrived Dialog C - Toggle display of map's elevation-contour lines D - Display Opportunity Fire dialog F - Display fixed units' Release Schedule H - Toggle display of hexes selected unit can reach during current turn I - Display scenario information M - Toggle display of program menu N - Advance to next unit to move or fire O - Toggle display of objectives P - Return to previous unit to move or fire R - Rotate map 180 degrees S - Display reinforcements' Scheduled Dialog T - Toggle display of on-map thermometers U - Toggle display of Unit List V - Toggle display of hexes visible from selected hex/unit X - Exit main program Z - Toggle display of selected unit's range vs. hard and soft targets (red and blue lines respectively) Up Arrow - Scroll map up Down Arrow - Scroll map down Left Arrow - Scroll map left Right Arrow - Scroll map right Space Bar - Re-center map on selected hex/unit Ctrl - Toggle between Move mode and Fire mode Alt - Used (with indirect-fire unit) to fire smoke; also used for 'Column' Movement ("Show Organization" button must be "on") Shift - Display map labels; also used for 'Echelon' Movement ("Show Organization" button must be "on") <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> For more information, contact TalonSoft at 410-933-9191 or visit our Web site at http://www.talonsoft.com