Tips for a new player plz...

[Kami]

I really like strategy games and tend to love this kind of strategy games (commading troops and such like TW). But this game have WAAAAAAAYYY to high learning curve and there is no tutorials... only tutorials which you read :/ Played the korean war campaign and boy was i slaughtered... even though the difficulty said "easy"... Any tips on how to beat that campaign?? Or better any tips on how to play this game?? after i beat that campaign my sense of knowledge for this game migh skyrocket.

[Cullen's Hound]

The ai is a cheater and knows where your command unit is. The easiest way to beat it is to initially set ambushes along the routes leading from its spawn to your command. You can also experiment with custom decks for yourself and the computer in single player skirmish mode.

[A T E R_K o N G ©]

This game makes only fun in the multiplayer (that's my opinion). The best way to learn how to play, or how this game works, is that you play the multiplayer a few times. For example 6 vs 6 or 10 vs 10 matches. So your faults are not to heavy in the teamfights. Then you can watch the replay of your game, so you can watch how the good players play. Have attention of the deployment in the beginning of a match, have allways a good conter against the enemy, have a good recon around the map and watch out of your supplies like fuel and ammo.
But the easiest way to learn about this game is to watch on youtube some gameplays of pro-players.
I hope that I help you a little bit and sorry for my bad english :)

[ŊЏ | Shifu]

You may want to take a look here: http://www.wargame-ee.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=189&t=48200

[Ville Valste]

Also, the 200-Page Guide is very useful. You should read it, if you really want to get something tutorial-like to go with.

[AfkForCoffee]

Singleplayer campaigns against the AI is completely different from multiplayer games against humans. In singleplayer you should never ever go against the enemy troops head on or rushing. Play passive and defend. Use infantry in buildings and towns as much as possible. Set up forward scouts (infantry or vehicles in cover). Scouting and spotting is an absolute must. Not all units have great vision (optics) so they need supporting. If you're using cheap AT units against the enemy tank battallions use them en masse. If you are getting overrun or outgunned/outranged use artillery smoke to cover your troops and force the enemy to come into your unit firing range.

[antimike1976]

Hi KAminex,

I hope you keep trying the campaign and learn more about the interface and how to succeed against the AI. I've played through all the single player campaigns in Red Dragon and think I can offer some insight into how the game against the AI works.

On the strategic map it pays to understand the different stats on battlegroups and how the zones on the map work.


For battlegroups:

1) INITIATIVE tells you how far a battlegroup can move in a turn and how often it can perform an action. It is displayed as white dots on a battlegroup's placard.

-It takes 2 Initiative points to move between two zones (you'll notice the line of white arrows when you can move a battlegroup and there will be a number on the line saying how many Initiative points the move will take).

-It costs 1 Initiative to initiate combat that turn.

-Initiating combat uses up all Initiative for that battlegroup that turn (aircraft may be an exception here, I'm not sure).

Many armored battlegroups the player gets only have 2 Initiative so you won't be able to move them during your turn and then attack during your same turn. These battlegroups normally have you moving them one turn and then fighting with them your next turn or during the AI's next turn.

Generally, infantry battlegroups and marine battlegroups with some armor tend to have 3 Initiative. They can move into a new zone and attack during one of your turns.

Air planes and airborne battlegroups in planes have lots of Initiative so they can travel far during your turn.

-Rest and Relaxation takes 2 Initiative and can only be used in uncontested zones (your units are there by themselves without AI units in the zone). R & R is used to recover Cohesion.

-Refit (repairing a battlegroup) costs 2 Initiative (I think) and some Political Points (the points you use to deploy new battlegroups on the strategic map).

-Assigning aircraft to a a new zone with an airport either costs 1 Initiative or nothing. I think it doesn't cost anything since planes can be assigned to an airport zone after a battle if you capture that zone and the planes had participated in the battle.

2) COHESION tells you how much deployment points you'll get on the Tactical Map from a battlegroup in a battle. Cohesion is displayed at yellow/orange squares on a battlegroup's placard. Cohesion factors into how many starting deployment points you get (to place units before the fight starts) and each point of Cohesion adds +1 to deployment points you accrue during a skirmish. Tactical maps have zones of control that have different deployment point values (such as +3, +2, or no bonus -- which tend to be deployment zones). Each zone you control adds its value to your battlegroup's Cohesion for that fight. So if you're in a fight and you control a +2 zone, and a deployement (with no bonus), and your battlegroup had 3 Cohesion before the battle, you'll be earning +5 deployment points.

-Rest and Relaxation takes 2 Initiative and adds 2 Cohesion each time it is used.

3) MORALE tells you how much damage your battlegroup can sustain during a fight before losing or changing the outcome of the fight. You gain morale by winning victories against the AI and lose it for retreating or suffering defeats.


Zones on the strategic map have various points of entry and can have facilities that allow you to deploy certain battlegroups on them or use them to refit.

-Each zone has points that can be used to enter or leave before or after a battle. On the strategic map these points show up as little blue or red arrows (the color of the arrow shows whether or not you control that point in the next battle) along zone boundaries.

If you don't control any of the entry points when a battle starts (which happens if you're surrounded or if you attacked a zone by landing airborne battlegroups right on the zone), you will not have any deployment zones on the tactical map at the start of the fight and if you suffer a defeat or withdraw all your battlegroups there will be destroyed. You can do the same thing to the AI by encircling them.

-Zones can have airports, harbors, and drydocks (sea zones with wrenches). Airports allow you to Assign aircraft to them and allow you to refit some types of battlegroups (usually the lighter units like infantry, logistic, etc). Harbors allow you to deploy and refit heavier battlegroups like tanks. Drydocks allow you to deploy and refit naval forces.

Depending on the campaign only certain battlegroups will deploy to certain zones -- it's scripted that way.

-Some zones are sancutaries during the campaigns. You and the AI won't be able to attack into opposing sanctuaries but you and the AI can attack from them.

Busan Pocket has a lot of sanctuaries for the AI, later campaigns have less but they all have sanctuaries of some kind.


I hope that info helps you understand the strategic map more and helps you prepare better for the tactical battles.

[antimike1976]

As far as the tactical fights go, you've got to spend time looking at the enemy forces you'll face in the coming fights.

Most all units have counters and the AI will tend to spawn units that counter your units well if it has the units in its roster. If the AI has limited unit variety it will deploy whatever it can.

You can assault the AI safely in a fight when you've got strong counters to his units (such as if he has weak antitank forces in the zone and you've got nice tanks). If the AI has a lot of something that you can't easily counter, you're best off setting up defenses and letting the AI come to you.

You'll figure out which units counter which units as you play against the AI. For the most part:

tanks counter light and medium armor and vehicles
antitank infantry and vehicles counter light and medium armor
antitank helicopters and aircraft counter heavy tanks
infantry counters all armor and vehicles in close quarters (city fighting), especially when able to flank armor
artillery counters static positions and clusters of units
antiair guns murder helicopters and hurt aircraft
surface to air missiles counter aircraft
naval vessels control coasts
SEAD aircraft counter radar antiair units

In the Busan Pocket campaign, you'll face a few different types of fights.


North Korean Tanks move into Yeongdeok. The NKs will also send in Su-25 tank killers there as well. You can fight them off with K1 tanks supported with a logistic company (for a FOB), an antiair company (to try to shoot down Su-25s), and air support.

The first battle against those Chonma-Hos can be pretty dicey since the AI will send a lot of them after you. Put your K1s in dense cover with a FOB behind them and AA behind that and let the AI come to you. The AI will see the FOB first and try shooting at it while your K1s pop the Chonmas. For air support you can use F-86s to stun tanks that get close to you or kill recon units of the AI that are spotting your units. You can tell if the AI can see your units in cover by seeing if your unit's nameplate is flashing or not. Flashing means that it is hidden, not flashing means the AI can see it.

Later on the AI will move artillery into that zone and you'll have artillery land on your tanks' hiding spots after the AI discovers them. You'll have to move from position to position to keep them alive.

You can bait the Su-25s into coming into range of your AA by moving something out of cover, letting the AI see it, and watching for the incoming plane. Try to hide your unit before the Su-25 smokes it and hopefully your AA scores a kill!


I forget the other names of the zones around Busan but the middle map is mostly infantry centric. Be sure to keep your infantry hidden when it comes under too much fire and support them with logistics (supply trucks or FOBs) and artillery. I like having K1s on that map too to offer fire support to frontline infantry and hunt behind lines for the AI's artillery/mortars.

Be very weary in this zone when the North Koreans send in their engineers. Those napalm tanks will murder your infantry quick if you let them get close enough!

You'll also have to face a helicopter assault on this map. It's a great place to buckle down your command post behind some Stingers and then send in the F-16s!


The southwest zone has a lot of open territory with some good infantry spots (buildings) near bridges. You'll have to contend with a lot of artillery in these fights. Sending artillery of your own may help you smash some of that indirect fire.

I like using the F-4s with those mavericks onto this map and spotting for some kills.


Good hunting in the campaign. Total Victory happens when you beat the campaign in Turn 3. It is possible!

Keep up the fight, KAminex, you'll get it!

[Regergek]

Okay, firstly, dump SP.AI is a notorious cheater, and SP simply sucks.
For MP battles, combined arms=victory.Always have a good mix of units, and always always always have adequate AA coverage.