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- 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.
-
-
- GETTING STARTED
- ---------------
- To see an automated demo after installation, select Manual A/I for
- both sides when the A/I Selection Dialog appears. Click OK, then
- press the "F12" key and click OK. This will play the demo Computer
- vs. Computer.
-
- 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.
-
- 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.)
-
- You may wish to display the hex grid to make it easier to vizualize
- 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 Display 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.
-
- 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.
-
- ORGANIZATION 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-to-rightmost 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 will
- that have not yet been moved move toward the clicked-on location.
-
- MACRO MOVE: To move all the units in the same company in the same
- generatl direction with a single move command, select any unit in that
- company, then click on the next-to-rightmost 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 as well.
-
- 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 next-to-leftmost
- toolbar button to toggle it to Fire Mode. Alternatively, holding down
- the Ctrl key temporarily toggles this button. 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.
-
- 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.
- You can also set range restrictions for your units' Op Fire. To
- do this, select the Assign Opportunity Fire menu item in the Units Menu.
- (Note that a 'hard' target is signified by its Defense strength being
- printed in *red* in the Infobox.)
-
- 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,
- then right-click in its Infobox until the desired passenger unit
- appears, and 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.
-
- 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 (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;
-
- 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).
-
- CHANGING THE MAP VIEW: Any of five map views, plus a jump map, can be
- displayed; see the list of hotkeys below.
-
- 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.
-
-
- 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
- F3 - Open Scenario Parameter Data help file
- F4 - Open Miscellaneous (platoon) Data file
- F5 - Open Weapon Data file
- F12 - Toggle Continuous mode
- 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 - Display hexes visible from selected hex/unit
- X - Exit main program
- Up Arrow - Scroll map up
- Down Arrow - Scroll map down
- Right Arrow - Scroll map right
- Left Arrow - Scroll map left
- Ctrl - Toggle between Move mode and Fire mode
- Alt - Organizational Movement ("Show Organization" button must be "on".
- Shift - Macro Movement ("Show Organization" button must be "on".
- Shift - Display map labels
- Space Bar - Re-center map on selected hex/unit
-
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-
- For more information, contact TalonSoft at 410-933-9191 or visit our Web
- site at http://www.talonsoft.com