A few questions from a new Warzone 2100 fanatic

[philreed]

Hi there!

I've only just recently found out the joys of Warzone 2100 so please bear with me while i catch up ;o)
At the moment i am currently on the Urban campaign on mission 4. So far, my tactics seem to be steamrollering the enemy with either medium/heavy cannon/python half-tracks and i am starting to lose the satisfaction i originally got when i first played it.

As of yet i've not used the sensor turret/towers and commander units and that is what my questions are about.

What i would like to know is when i assign some mortar/bombard units to sensor, could i theoretically keep the mortar units in my main base and use the sensor turret unit anywhere on a map and the mortar units will work? Is there a specific range they must be kept within a sensor turret?
So far i've been a bit reluctant to experiment from my preferred tactics purely because of the time limits but i would like to utilize the sensor units now i'm getting on with the game better.
Also what are the best tactics to use with the sensor units? I've got the feeling they would make ideal scouting units, so would it be best to not use something slow like half-tracks and stay with wheels or hover?

My second query is with the commander units. To be perfectly frank, i'm completely baffled on how to use it! Again i would be extremely grateful on some help and tactics for the commanders if they're useful at all.

Thanks in advance,

[Chojun]

There are different classifications for the weapons in Warzone.  Indirect fire, (semi-indirect fire, a sorta classification), and of course, direct fire.

A limited number of non-indirect fire units can be assigned to a Commander.  This number grows with the commander's rank to a maximum of 24.  So you can put a limited number of cannons, MGs, flamethrowers, etc with a commander.  If you have indirect-fire defensive emplacements on the map (such as mortar pits, MRL emplacements, etc), then you can tell your commander to take control of ALL of the emplacements and target whatever he targets.  The emplacements will no longer respond to nearby sensor towers.  Tactically, this is an option that should be left off unless your commander gets into sticky or difficult situations.  The cool thing with commanders is if you want to fight a war of attrition, you can build a number of factories, assign their delivery points to the commander, and send your units in.  As they die they will be automatically replaced and assigned to the commander, where they will join battle without you having to quarry them and send them in.  The same is true for units retreating for repairs.  They will go get repaired, and automatically return to battle.  Units assigned to a commander are more accurate with their fire.

I don't know how much of the game you've seen so far so I don't want to ruin too much for you.  But I will say this much:  If/when you get VTOLs from the collective you can assign a VTOL factory to your commander and just have it pump out VTOLs.  Don't expect VTOLs to gain rank as they'll perish quite quickly, especially toward the end of the game when they'll practically die after getting one volley in.  But they're still useful.

You can assign an infinite number of indirect fire weapons to a commander or sensor unit.  The indirect fire units will follow the sensor/commander around and move into range to target objects if one is targeted.  The unfortunate thing with mortars and MRL emplacements is their very limited range.  But they can easily take down first line defenses to allow your battle tanks easier access into the enemy's base.

By the way, which version of the game are you playing (GPL or Retail)?  If you're at all interested in the story of the game, I suggest you go get a copy of the Retail version.

[themousemaster]

Hi there!

I've only just recently found out the joys of Warzone 2100 so please bear with me while i catch up ;o)
At the moment i am currently on the Urban campaign on mission 4. So far, my tactics seem to be steamrollering the enemy with either medium/heavy cannon/python half-tracks and i am starting to lose the satisfaction i originally got when i first played it.

As of yet i've not used the sensor turret/towers and commander units and that is what my questions are about.

What i would like to know is when i assign some mortar/bombard units to sensor, could i theoretically keep the mortar units in my main base and use the sensor turret unit anywhere on a map and the mortar units will work? Is there a specific range they must be kept within a sensor turret?
So far i've been a bit reluctant to experiment from my preferred tactics purely because of the time limits but i would like to utilize the sensor units now i'm getting on with the game better.
Also what are the best tactics to use with the sensor units? I've got the feeling they would make ideal scouting units, so would it be best to not use something slow like half-tracks and stay with wheels or hover?

My second query is with the commander units. To be perfectly frank, i'm completely baffled on how to use it! Again i would be extremely grateful on some help and tactics for the commanders if they're useful at all.

Thanks in advance,

half tracks?  Why not full tracked propulsion?  ;p.

Anyway...

In theory, yes, you can leave indirects at hom while the sensor roves.  In practice, though, indirects DO have a maximum range; and if you try to give them a target outside their absolute maximum range (mortars = 1.5 screens, bombards = 2 screens, and their big brothers the Howitzers can go for many screen widths... my screen is set to 1280X1024, btw), then they will move to the maximum range, then resume firing.  So in practice, for mortars at least, trying to leave them inside the defense of your base doesn't really work.

A somewhat more interesting option is to have Trucks follow your main battlegroup, have them set up some rudimentary defenses outside an enemy base, place a sensor ---tower--- inside said defenses, and have your indirects sit just behind the tower.  Works wonders against the AI for all but the final stages.

Sensors should always be on hover.  Yes, they make good scouts, and sensor - hover - light body is very cheap to replace if found.  Personally, I prefer my indirects on Hovers for quick retreat and good access on water-based stages... until the enemy develops aircraft anyway ;p.



As was said by the otehr poster above me, commanders are most useful for 2 things:

1)  being assigned factories, so that whenever you produce a unit, it automatically goes to the commander.
2)  Being given orders to retreat after some damage is taken, so that units under their control will drive back to a repair bay, heal up, and then return to the commander automatically.




Oh and also to the poster above me...

If the final opponent is giving your VTOL's survivability fits, I recommend creating a minipod-bug-VTOL, producing them in groups of 3, and having them fly into the AA range before the heavy bombing run starts to get them to all waste their shots ;p

[philreed]

Thank you very much Chojun and themousemaster for your very handy tactics and tips ;o)

That does sound very useful to have the commanders to send units back to battle after being repaired instead of the screen cluttering up when there's a repair facility about ;o)

I'm actually playing wz2100 on my Playstation3 as my copy is for psone. How ironic i am playing a game from 1999 when next-generation gaming should be taking up my time.

To be honest i'm amazed by how good this game is. Not sure how well this will go down in this comminity but i'm a fan of the Command & Conquer games so playing somthing like this where you have so much more choice on how to control your units is an absolute joy.

What i tend to do is retreat ALL my units at medium damage and while they are coming back to the nearest repiar facility, i then send another squad to the enemy. As i said previously, i am starting to get a bit bored by this tactic so i am looking forward to using these tactics you have both stated.

I really need to work on my main base in Urban campaign as it looks a right mess after the VTOL's virtually destroyed it in the first mission ;o) Was a complete shock after the first campaign and literally can't WAIT to get the VTOL's you've both mentioned.

And yes of course i've got the retail version and are enjoying the story so far. Doesn't really seem logical that humanity would continue a war after a nuclear disaster but who cares when the game is so good ;o)

Thanks again both of you for taking the time to reply, very much appreciated.

Just one last question, are there any stealth units in the game later on? I just wondered if it was possible to have a stealthed sensor turret/tower, that would be fantastic! Maybe in a possible sequel?

[Chojun]

No, no stealth units.  I'll try not to ruin the game for you (and i hope no-one else does), but you may want to fix up your base a little. 

[themousemaster]

2 things:


1)  I have to echo here, NEVER end a stage with your base in poor condition.  As I'm sure you noticed in the New Paradigm stages, there are times when your base, as is, has to stand against some force.  While it's true you continuously find new stuff to make better stuff with, you should always have good D ready just in case.

2)  I take it you plan to start utilizing a commander instead of the "group1 group2" method now?  Good call... because ya never know when you might run into a situation where you simply must have all available units ready at all times... ;p

[Per]

I think Pumpkin planned to have stealth (ECM, or electronic counter-measures) in a sequel, since there is code to support it, but the code does not quite work yet and I cannot tell how they intended to add it.

[philreed]

Okey dokey, will try and find the time to sort my base out  Usually when the missions are only 30 mins long i tend to rush a bit to try and finish it quickly but i have noticed with the missions that allow you over an hour to complete that you do have some time to sort your base out.

I've just created a second base up north where you can put an oil derrick and have put a few defenses up. One thing i noticed in the first campaign is the enemy tends to try and destroy these other bases quickly so i was wondering if it was worth it to create a few defenses elsewhere on the map to try and keep the enemy from my main base? Is this a good tactic to use?

That sounds really interesting about the stealth ECM units Pumpkin created. So what else did they include for the sequel that never arrived? Is there anywhere on this site that gives more info about it apart from the resurrection i mean.

Oh one other thing i forgot to mention when i last posted. When you start off the second campaign you already start with some cyborg units. I never bothered to create any when i had access to them in the first campaign and wondered if they are worth bothering with. I was seriously considering recycling some of my more experienced units for cyborgs. Do they come in any use and if so, for what purpose?

Many thanks again for taking the time to reply to me. One thing i am amazed at is that this game is several years old yet alot of you seem just as passionate about it as when it first got released. I am not surprised to be honest, it's a fantastic game.

Cheers,

[themousemaster]

1-  In single player campaign, you can safely ignore cyborgs.  Given that your opponent ALWAYS has a tech advantage over you, they don't live nearly long enough anyway.

Okey dokey, will try and find the time to sort my base out  Usually when the missions are only 30 mins long i tend to rush a bit to try and finish it quickly but i have noticed with the missions that allow you over an hour to complete that you do have some time to sort your base out.

2-  Here's an advanced tip:  if you know what the stages objectives are (or, at the very least, you make a backup save at every stage start, so taht you can play the stage once to learn what all the objectives are), then complete the objectives, BUT leave a single enemy structure standing.  Use all the time you need to earn cash and build stuff, then at the last few seconds, bring the last sensor tower / VTOL pad / whatever down, ending the stage.  The Beta missions are a good example of this; stage #3 (I.E. the first Beta stage where the map around you main base expands can, if you are well geared, can be wasted in under 20 minutes of its 1:15 timer.  That's a LOT of time to prepare for future events (as much as I'd like tot ell you *what* events, I'll save the spoilers).