Commanders interface
Return to : MP user's guides
Contents
Enter in your commander interface
After entering your commander username and password the overview map screen will be displayed.
Figure 4 - Sector map
In order to view intelligence and unit dispositions it is necessary to select either a district or sector view. To do this either select a district on the map by clicking on the district letter or you can choose a district from the upper dropdown (see Figure 2) in the upper centre of the screen.(Note: If you want to view the entire sector the ONLY way you can is by selecting the entire sector from the dropdown menu.)
Once a selection has been made a more detailed map is displayed showing the location of your air and land forces. Known enemy forces are displayed on the map using icons (to see detailed information on the unit move your mouse cursor over the icon and information will be displayed in a pop up (see Figure 5 and Figure 6 below) and unconfirmed units are displayed by a question mark. If your land forces are currently moving their position may be an hour out of date due to the lag involved in receiving this information from the field. This is not a bug. It simulates the delay in information to your headquarters. Enemy units may be displayed along with a recon percentage detailing reliability or staleness of the intelligence. To view this information place your mouse over the icons on the map. A popup will appear containing the information. You can also move your mouse cursor over airfields/factories/bridges and view details on those items as well.
Figure 5 – Friendly Unit Display popup
Figure 6 - Enemy Unit Display popup
Right clicking on the screen brings up a menu.
Figure 7 – Sector drop down menu
By selecting items from the menu you can control what is displayed on your map interface. All the choices above either display or hide icons on the map interface screen. The toggles are useful in helping the commander better view the battle field and plan their strategy. It is sometimes useful to hide your units in order to get a better idea of the disposition of the enemy forces or vice versa. Other toggles can aid in the planning of ground movement and the withdrawal of your forces into reserves.
- Toggle All Unit Icons
Display or hide all unit icons for both enemy and friendly units. This can be helpful when there are a great number of units in an area and you would like to examine the status of airfields, bridges or industrial targets under a group of units.
- Toggle Axis Unit Icons
Display or hide all axis unit icons even if you are the axis player.
- Toggle Allied Unit Icons
Display or hide all allied unit icons even if you are the allied player.
- Toggle Airbase Icons
Hide or display the icons for airfields.
- Toggle Bridge Icons
Hide or display the bridge icons
- Toggle Supply/Withdraw Icons
Hide or display the supply/withdraw Icons A new MP will be released shortly that includes the ability to toggle friendly units according to role, e.g. armour, mechanized infantry etc.
Supply/Withdraw Points
A supply or withdraw point is a special point on the map where:
- air units can be withdrawn from the sector into the reinforcement pool(when scheduling this mission it is advisable the you let these planes remain AI controlled. Depending on the type of aircraft selected the positions may show up in the airplane selection screen. You may want to place a warning in the mission briefing section (see 5.0 – Plotting an Air Mission) for this group).
- air units can enter to top up understrength air units as reinforcements
- newly created air units can enter on a rebasing mission
- new land or sea units enter the game
Each unit type has its own supply and withdraw points. You cannot withdraw or create air units at a sea point.
Reinforcements
Reinforcements are made available by the administrator for this battle. Numbers and types of reinforcements are currently only available by request to the administrator. Future releases of Scorched Earth may contain the capability to receive automatic reinforcements.
On the left side of the screen is the Reinforcements button. If reinforcements are available the button will be lit and read the number of types of reinforcements you have available. In the below example you have 5 different reinforcement types available.
Figure 8 - Mission HQ Area
Click Reinforcement Types button and three buttons will appear below the reinforcement button. The choices are Naval, Land or Air. Select the type of reinforcement. Again only units made available by the administrator are available.
If selecting either Naval or Land you are now presented with a drop down list detailing the unit(s) available. Select the unit you wish to bring into play. Next select the unit size you wish to deploy 1-4. Finally select the supply point from which the unit will enter the game. Finally click on the Commit button. The unit will now appear on the supply point on the map interface to the right. You will now have to plot the units movement on the map interface. To complete this mission scheduling see 6.0 – Plotting a Land Mission.
When bringing in air units you have a couple of choices. You can top up depleted units with 1-3 aircraft of the same make, model and year. These replacement aircraft can be piloted if that make, model year are flyable within the game. The plots for these aircraft are direct from the supply point to the home airbase of the unit being topped up. These are air start missions, no takeoffs. The number available and the supply point are shown in the selection window. Check the box in the bottom right hand corner, next to the supply point name, to create a top-up mission. At this point the mission should be shown on the map interface. You can select multiple unit top-ups by selecting multiple checkboxes. If you are satisfied with your decision, click on the commit button. Also no briefings may be entered for this mission type. An automated briefing is generated by SE.
Figure 9 - Air Unit Top-ups
To create new air unit click on the New Unit button. Three drop downs now appear. The first one is Commission Unit From. This drop down lists all your air supply points if any remain in your control. Air reinforcements are restricted by the administrator to specific air supply points. Once a source supply point is selected then make a choice from the Initial Deployment Locations. All airfields, friendly and enemy, are displayed in the list. Ensure that you choose an airfield under control of your forces for the destination. Finally select Unit Affiliation Details. In this drop down it lists all the air units available for deployment. Once you are satisfied with your choices, click the commit button. The mission is generated and an automated briefing is created. Depending on the type of aircraft chosen this can be a flyable mission, but you can force it to be AI only by selecting the “secret flight” option
Figure 10 - Create New Air Unit
Withdrawals
To withdraw a unit from the sector plot a mission, or a series of missions in the case of land units, where the final waypoint is a valid withdraw point for the type of unit. For instance you can only withdraw air unit on air withdraw points. If you are creating an air withdraw mission I recommend that it be flown by AI only. I like to put a warning the briefing for this type of mission to notify the players not to pilot these planes. Using the secrecy option will ensure that no humans can pilot this flight.
Once a unit has been withdrawn it becomes available reinforcements. Air units may have to wait for the requisite rearming period before becoming available in the reinforcement pool. Naval and land units become available immediately.
Refueling and Rearming
Air units require rearming and refueling after every mission is flown. This time is variable between aircraft. While in this state the planes are not able to perform any missions. Keep this in mind when committing aircraft to missions. Refer to Appendix A – Axis Aircraft Data or Appendix B – Allied Aircraft Data for details on specific aircraft.
Plotting a Mission – General
To schedule a mission select the Create New button on the left hand side of the screen. Three drop down windows will now appear over the next few steps. The first drop down allows you to select the unit for which you want to schedule a mission. Not all units are available at all times due to rearming, refueling and intelligence delays. Ground units take at least 1 mission after they have completed moving before they are again available for selection. Air units can take 1-4 hours before being available again. Now select the unit. The unit will now have a thick black outline on the map. If you are sure this is the unit you want, proceed. If not then select again from the dropdown window. If the unit you want to select is not available in the dropdown or no units are available then there are 2 possibilities. One is the unit you want to select is not in the currently displayed sector or district. Only units based or stopped in the sector map displayed on the right are available in the dropdown. If you want to see all units available click on the change hyperlink in just below the objectives briefing in the top left hand sector. This will return you to the sector selection screen. The other possibility is if you are already in view entire sector mode is that you have no available units this hour. If units will be available in 1 hour or more they are not selectable until the time they become available. You cannot plan missions until the squadron is rearmed or the land/sea unit has stopped moving for an hour.
The next drop down now appears. It allows you to select the number of aircraft/tanks/ships in this mission. The number will be from 1-4 depending on the number of vehicles, aircraft or ships either assigned to or remaining in that unit.
- Special Note Regarding Recon Missions
If you are planning this mission as a recon mission only 1 plane is allowed, per flight, for a recon mission and it is an AI only plane. You can have multiple recon missions if you like but only 1 plane from each unit is allowed and no other planes from that unit can participate in until the unit has been rearmed after the recon mission has been flown, regardless as to the success of the mission. In other words if you have 4 B-25’s in a unit and you want to fly a recon mission only 1 B-25 can take part. The other 3 are grounded and not able to fly. After the recon mission has completed all 4 B-25’s (assuming the recon plane returned, if not then the 3 remaining) now have to refuel and rearm.
- Using fewer than 4 Aircraft
If you select fewer than 4 aircraft for a mission, assuming you have 4 aircraft in the unit, results the fourth aircraft being unavailable until it has been refueled and re-armed. This will ground the unused aircraft for the same length of time as if it actually flew the mission. Naval and ground units are not affected by this restriction as they always move as a group.
The next drop down will now allow you to schedule the mission time. If you want the mission to be scheduled for the next time you generate a mission select Immediate Launch. Further choices are available to delay the launch up to 24 hours.
To complete your mission planning see either 5.0 – Plotting an Air Mission or 6.0 – Plotting a Land Mission
