WITP - AE micromanaging

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I would like to give you an honest opinion on some of the needed info that took me a long time just to find out.


2) you need to set objective hexes before a planned attack, or your units will suffer, wait until 100% ready, I found this to be the biggest secret that I found. this is why you have week turns and day turns, the week turns means you will be ready sooner InRealLife time.

Do you know of any links that explain how to do this?  I wasn't even aware of the feature.

[Toonces]

When you embark a land unit and click on it, there should be a button for "Set Objective" or something like that.  Click that and set it to wherever you are going to assault.  Then look for a button that says something like "Set All Units in this TF" or "Hex" and that will auto-set all of them to whatever you just selected.

[gameleaper]

I would like to give you an honest opinion on some of the needed info that took me a long time just to find out.


2) you need to set objective hexes before a planned attack, or your units will suffer, wait until 100% ready, I found this to be the biggest secret that I found. this is why you have week turns and day turns, the week turns means you will be ready sooner InRealLife time.

Do you know of any links that explain how to do this?  I wasn't even aware of the feature.

I havnt read-up this feature for a long while, but Toonces has the method above post, be sure to look at the units properties after you do the objective, as it shows in percentage how ready the unit is, ig you have the game on daily turns it will  take a long time to get ready for an attack.

[sandman2575]

The "set future objective" function has the added benefit of helping you organize your theaters and plans.  When new units become available that are attached to Unrestricted commands, I immediately try to figure out where they would be most useful, and then set future objective accordingly.  That way, after several turns when the unit has finally made its way from the East Coast to San Francisco, I won't have forgotten what the hell I wanted to do with the thing.

Helps too to pay attention to which command the unit's attached to, so that you don't make a complete hash of the OOB -- I.e. set objective to something like Kodiak or Dutch Harbor for units attached to North Pacific Command, not somewhere nowhere near the NoPac, like Pago Pago...

There's no question that, overall, WITP's UI is insufficient for the game's massive complexity.  2nd party apps like WitP Tracker and Combat Organizer are a must for the grand campaign, as is good ol pencil and notebook.  I really wish that weren't the case, but I've made my peace with it and now just accept that the game can't be played any other way...

EDIT -- just to clarify -- Set Future Objective isn't just for places you plan to attack. It's equally beneficial for places you want to defend. Once a unit reaches 100 for its set objective, whether offensive or defensive, the unit will start to gain Experience, up to a certain threshold.

As Allies, since you're on the defensive for a while, Set Future Objective is still very useful for defense.

[Staggerwing]

2nd party apps like WitP Tracker and Combat Organizer are a must for the grand campaign, as is good ol pencil and notebook.

I see the thread for WitP Tracker at Matrix but where do I find out more about Combat Organizer?

[sandman2575]

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2456864

Combat Reporter has less functionality than Tracker, but it's a very handy tool for reviewing turns, since it actually pinpoints on the map where things took place (good example of something the UI should do on its own but doesn't)

[sandman2575]

Just thinking this over a bit --

I think the real 'issue' with WitP AE isn't so much the "micromanagement problem." I think that's a bit of a red herring in some ways. Yes, the game requires micromanagement, not denying that. Yes, the UI isn't really sufficient to help you do everything you'd like to do in as efficiently a way as possible.

I think the thing you have to accept about WitP -- in terms of whether you're contemplating buying it on sale, or whatever -- is that a lot of the game of WitP consists of *learning how to play the game.*  I suppose this is true for a lot of games, but it seems to me the crux of the matter with WitP.

In other words, there's really no way to enjoy WitP casually. It's emphatically not a game you can just "sit down and fiddle around with and figure things out" (...well, you can, but that path leads to much frustration, IMO).  The huge manual is essential to read, and take notes in -- and then you have to accept that some of it is out of date (superseded by new patches) and it still leaves things unexplained, and so trawling the vast and poorly organized WitP forum is something you will devote many hours to...

In short, if you don't think you want to put in the effort of learning how to play WitP -- and that's honestly a task I'd measure in months if not years -- then you're not really going to be playing WitP.

[gameleaper]

I look at the Main screen when I load up WitPAE , and its like staring into the void of not knowing where to begin. What happens to me is I forget what Ive learned, then I surprise Myself with a memory of a feature I forgot. WitPAE IMHO is up there with steel panthers as a Must have for wargamers, I have got my moneys worth just planning on playing after 10hours of learning, but becoming to exauted to play, I cant play that's a fact at the moment, but I liken it to ASL where you always forget something.

[Tuna]

How do you figure out which troops provide Aviation Support vs Regular Support? Wish there was a way to search by those two factors, when preparing to load troops for transport to a base that requires both of those.

SDR, you would've seen the 'set objective' mentioned in the tutorial you hated so much!  ;), at least I know that's where I learned that lil tidbit.

[undercovergeek]

it will say in the middle of the unit screen - AV support, usually 12,24,48 or 72

[sandman2575]

Another thing to look for (sounds obvious but easy to overlook) is the military branch of the unit.  The "Base Force" and "Engineer" units can all look alike, but a USAAF Base Force is far more likely to have aviation support than a generic US Army BF.  Similarly, USN BF more likely to have precious naval support and not just generic support.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

How do you figure out which troops provide Aviation Support vs Regular Support? Wish there was a way to search by those two factors, when preparing to load troops for transport to a base that requires both of those.

SDR, you would've seen the 'set objective' mentioned in the tutorial you hated so much!  ;), at least I know that's where I learned that lil tidbit.

you mean the tutorial from the non AE version?  I think it was maybe 7 years ago when I last tried to play that.  I barely remember what I had for dinner last night.  Oh well.  Guess the troops are coming off the boats yet again and I'll try for a 4th time to actually move them somewhere.

[Tuna]

How do you figure out which troops provide Aviation Support vs Regular Support? Wish there was a way to search by those two factors, when preparing to load troops for transport to a base that requires both of those.

SDR, you would've seen the 'set objective' mentioned in the tutorial you hated so much!  ;), at least I know that's where I learned that lil tidbit.

you mean the tutorial from the non AE version?  I think it was maybe 7 years ago when I last tried to play that.  I barely remember what I had for dinner last night.  Oh well.  Guess the troops are coming off the boats yet again and I'll try for a 4th time to actually move them somewhere.

No it was the one where the guy was following the Forum Post from Matrix.. You said you couldn't stand his manner of speaking (guess I can understand that).. If you want I'll look for the post.. basically it's something on the lower right.. under where you do stance or move type..

[Tuna]

it will say in the middle of the unit screen - AV support, usually 12,24,48 or 72

Thanks, I'll look again, there is so much on the unit screens, I was probably staring right at it oblivious. I think I was probably focusing on the left where I saw 'support'. If the unit has none, would their be nothing at all? If so, maybe I was looking at units that didn't have it.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

How do you figure out which troops provide Aviation Support vs Regular Support? Wish there was a way to search by those two factors, when preparing to load troops for transport to a base that requires both of those.

SDR, you would've seen the 'set objective' mentioned in the tutorial you hated so much!  ;), at least I know that's where I learned that lil tidbit.

you mean the tutorial from the non AE version?  I think it was maybe 7 years ago when I last tried to play that.  I barely remember what I had for dinner last night.  Oh well.  Guess the troops are coming off the boats yet again and I'll try for a 4th time to actually move them somewhere.

No it was the one where the guy was following the Forum Post from Matrix.. You said you couldn't stand his manner of speaking (guess I can understand that).. If you want I'll look for the post.. basically it's something on the lower right.. under where you do stance or move type..

OK.  I've got that part about changing stances.  I didn't know you should pre-select an objective though.  I just put the wee fellas into strategic move or whatever it's called and loaded them into the boats.