Blitzkrieg Tips

[LouisXIV]

Did you know that you can use other aircraft than designated reconnaissance aircraft for recon? For the Soviets, for example, I like to use the Pe-2 instead of the Po-2. It's much like using the P-38 Lightning for the Allies, fast and hard to shoot down.

Any bomber or ground attack aircraft that has a vision area under it can be used for recon. They will not attack, but that's okay. The only things that will not work are fighters, because they don't have a vision area under them.

Along the same lines you can use bombers as ground attack and vice versa. They will still act as bombers or ground attack; the only difference is with the AI, how they are used by it.

You can even use fighters as ground attack aircraft. The only problem is they can't see what they should attack. However, if you call them to where your forces are fighting, they will machine-gun anything your forces can see, and be of considerable help to them. If the relax time is under 100 you can combine the fighter with a reconnaissance plane anywhere on the map - as long as you have air superiority. The good thing about using fighters as ground attack is that they can defend themselves properly if attacked.

[Folgore]

Aug 9, 2011 17:11:35 GMT 1 LouisXIV said:

...The only things that will not work are fighters, because they don't have a vision area under them...

Dunkel made a small mod about it. I can upload it if you want. After all fighters were used widely as recon planes so it would be historically accurated... ;D

[LouisXIV]

Thanks for the offer, Folgore, but I have the mod. I also know how to turn fighters into reconnaissance/ground attack aircraft, but I don't think it's really necessary. There are already lots of extra units out there if you want to add them to your game.

What I was trying to do was show how existing light bombers and ground attack aircraft could be used for reconnaissance as-is. You're not always stuck with the designated recon planes.

However, if someone out there wishes to have something like a Spitfire usable for recon, we could do it for them.

[LouisXIV]

I find sometimes when I am uploading or downloading large files, and leave the computer alone, it drops into power-saver mode and cancels the up/download. Thanks, MicroSoft!

What I do to combat this is to have some music loaded onto hard disc and have it playing on the computer, using Windows Media Player. (Other music players will probably do just as well, but this works for me, so why change it? Playing a CD will probably work also.) Then the silly computer doesn't drop into power-saver mode and the up/download gets done.

[Ocelo]

Louis, go to the control panel and open up the power options. You should be able to select when/if the computer sleeps.

[LouisXIV]

Thanks, but I want to leave it where it is. Besides, the music is much more fun.

[Ocelo]

;D LOL

[LouisXIV]

;D LULZ ;D

[LouisXIV]

When you make up a new mission or chapter, you use WinRAR/WinZip to put it into a .pak file.

If you have to make changes to your map, you have to go back to the original files and call up the map using MapEd, change and save, then recompile and put it into your Run\data folder again.

However, something I came across accidentally a while back: if you want to change your script files, your 1.xml files or any of your text files, you can do it without breaking down and recompiling your .pak file. Just double-click on the .pak file where it sits in the Run\data folder, then open it using WinRAR. Navigate to the file you want to change and open it. It will open with the appropriate program.

Make your changes and save. When you get rid of the editing program, WinRAR will ask you if you want to resave the .pak file. Click yes, your changes are made within the compiled version and you're ready to go.

[LouisXIV]

When adding aircraft to a map, when putting on Appear Points, don't feel that you have to be bounded by the edge of the map. In case you haven't noticed, the airplanes have no problem flying around in the black area and even outside of that.

For quite some time I have been putting in -16 instead of 0 if the aircraft start at the left or bottom edge of the map. I've also been adding about 16 to the count at the right and top edge of the map as well.

However, lately I've been experimenting with larger "margins." After all, airplanes don't always come the minute you call, do they? (Any veteran who's been in a tight situation can tell you that.) Plus, depending on what airfield the planes come from or if they are already cab rotating in the air, different units might take a lot longer.

Instead of 0, put in -50. Instead of 316, put in 366. If you put in three Appear points, put in different values, to correspond to different squadrons taking varying times. Put in one at -15, another at -50, and a third at -100 or less.

Since the game engine picks from appear points at random, this will add a new element of variety to the game. Instant response or time delay.

[LouisXIV]

It can be very frustrating in Map Editor when trying to place items close to the edge of a map. Often they won't come into existence when you click too close to the edge.

You can click them into existence further into the map, then try to move them closer to the edge. However, if you do it wrong, this won't always work. There is a way to make this work.

How close you can get a larger item to the edge depends on where you click on it. If you want to get a large item close to the far edge of the map, you have to click on the item down low and then move it. For the close edge of the map, click the item up high and you can move it almost to the edge.

Try it.

[fallschirmjager]

Very valuable and informative!!!! Thanks Louis

FJ

[LouisXIV]

Having been experimenting with appear points at various distances off the edge of the map, )see above) I must say it can be very ... suspenseful. The game announces right away that enemy aircraft are on their way, and shows you a blue circle where they will arrive, but nothing appears for up to a minute or more. It does give you more time to get some of your own aircraft out there, but what you send could be the wrong response.

Similarly you get a sound message that your own planes are taking off, but nothing happens for a while.

I'm enjoying the effect. It adds an extra "dimension" to the air part of the game.

[LouisXIV]

Sept 26, 2011 11:05:07 GMT 1 Squire James said:

since in early war maps you can have quite a long delay and later in the war after the Cab Rank system was used, there wouldn't be such a long delay after you call for air support.

Perhaps you forget that, during the crossing of the Meuse, Guderian had squadrons of Stukas flying overhead in relays, waiting for targets of opportunity. The Germans developed the concept; the Allies "learned from the masters."

[LouisXIV]

Scripting Tip:

Every once in a while I type a colon instead of a semicolon into a script. The script works, SciTe Editor will not give me any syntax errors, but the script does weird things. With my poor eyes I can't always discern a colon from a semicolon.

Now here's what I do if I have a script that is not doing what I expect.

First I open the script. Then I do search-and-replace (Ctrl-H), and enter a colon, to be replaced by a semicolon. If it finds a colon, it will not only tell me, but replace it. Strangely enough, the mission will almost always work perfectly after that.