This feature allows you to view all units in a stack as a selectable list. Click on a stack of units while holding down the Option key and a pop-up list will display the icon, name, Strength, Experience, and Condition of each unit in the hex. You can also access this pop-up menu by clicking on the unit icons in the Info and Join Palettes. Units that have a “•” before their name have already been issued an order or movement path. When you highlight a unit and release the mouse button, that unit will become the top, current unit.
Command Pop-Up
Hold down the Command key and click on a unit to bring up a pop-up list of possible orders for that unit. Select the order you want, then release the mouse button to issue the order you choose. Orders that are gray can not be used by that unit.
Hot Keys
Some orders have command keys, while others have non-command key equivalents. Simply select the unit you want and then press the key representing the order you want to issue. Here is a list of orders that have hot keys:
A - Alert
E - Entrench
F - Follow
D - Destination
B - Bombard
C - Bomb City
X - Air Strike
N - Nuke
P - Patrol
R - Relocate
T - Transport (Air & Naval)
Z - Air Drop
S - Sleep
W - Wake
Stack Orders
Hold down the shift key when you use any other command to issue the same order or movement path for an entire stack at once. You can use the shift key when you reposition units in the Build Phase, change settings in the Info Palette, and drag a movement path. You can also issue orders to a stack using the Command pop-up, Orders menu, or hot keys.
Miscellaneous
Onslaught’s interface is forgiving enough that you don’t have to click on a pop-up or check box dead on to select it. For example, you can just click on the displayed area next to a pop-up button to select a pop-up menu or click on the text labels of check boxes rather than the check box itself. Likewise, you don’t have to grab the title bar to reposition a palette. Rather, you can click/drag on any “dead” areas within the palette. A “dead” area is anywhere that is not a button or pop-up menu.
Info Palette
The Info Palette contains four panels worth of information. From top to bottom these panels show you:
1. Hex Info - Picture of the current hex, its type (city names are editable), and its economic value.
2. Unit Info - Icon of the current unit, its name (editable), and statistics. If there is more than one unit in a hex, click on the small arrow buttons in the lower right corner of the panel to shuffle through the stack or click on the current unit’s icon to reveal a pop-up menu of all other units in that hex.
3. Threshold Info - You can change the current unit’s Attack and Defense Thresholds.
4. Status Info - If you uncheck the Reinforce button your unit will not be reinforced. Likewise, if you uncheck the Advance button your unit will not advance even it is able to. Air units and Airbases do not use this last feature.
Build Palette
Choose the type of unit you want to build from the panel of icons displayed on the right side of the Build Palette. You can use the default settings for the unit’s Strength, name and starting Experience, or you can edit them. A unit’s cost will change as you manipulate its stats. A pop-up will indicate whether you have selected default or custom settings for your unit.
To choose where unit a ground unit is built, click directly on a friendly hex (Build Phase only) or a city hex (Orders Phase). To build an air unit you must first click on an Airbase to be built on. In addition, you can shuffle through the cities and airbases you own using the arrow buttons in the lower right corner of the palette (note that this corner will be blank during the Build Phase).
Click on “Build” after you choose a unit’s settings and your new unit will appear in the current friendly hex (Build Phase only) or city (Orders Phase). A dot in the upper left hand corner of the unit’s icon will indicate that the unit is Training.
If you have customized a unit’s stats you may save them as a template for later use in the current game or future ones. To save a template, click on the pop-up labeled “Custom” and select “Save...”. The name for your custom settings will become a part of the template menu. To reuse your saved custom settings when you build future units, just select the unit type you want, click on the template pop-up, and choose the template you want to use.
Combat Report
After the Resolution Phase is complete the Combat Report palette will appear to explain what happened. Hexes will be highlighted wherever combat took place. Click on a highlighted hex to see who fought whom and where, what kind of battle it was, its outcome, and the attacker’s odds.
Player one will always be displayed on the left, player two always on the right, and a picture of the contested hex in the middle (clicking on this recenters the map). An arrow will point from the attacking side to the defending side. Below this is a summary of battle information which will include: the total Strength involved, how much Strength was lost, the average Condition reduced, the total Entrenchment levels destroyed, how many units were eliminated and the total number of units that were forced to retreat (defender) or allowed to advance (attacker). You can also click and hold on either unit icon to view precise details on how that side fared in the battle.
Several different types of attacks can happen in a hex during the same turn (i.e. a flak, air interception, and ground attack), but the combat report can display only one at a time. Battle reports will be stacked in the order in which they occurred. Use the arrow buttons in the upper left corner of the Combat Report or the Tab key to shuffle through each attack. After viewing the last battle, shuffle one more time to bring you back to the first one.
