New to TW, How do I use my keyboard to command?

[Sir_Hawkwood]

Good afternoon all,

May I start by raising a toast to all those who are excused from grass-cutting duty until next spring...

I'm new to the game, I played my first scenario on Thursday night, (Gold version of the demo),and have enjoyed moderate success in the battles that I've fought.

I know that I could do better, if I knew how to use the other controls, not explained in the tutorial.
I'd like to ask the members of this community who are familiar with the interface to share their tips and tricks with those taking the first steps.

I'll start with some questions/issues and hope someone can help.

1, How can I make my missile troops engage the enemy at the earliest opportunity, rather than wandering off into the middle of the field to close the range?

2, I'm pausing the game allot and re-forming my force. Is there a way that I can see the highlighted ground that I've asked units to move to, in order to form a tight line?

3, What do the hold and attack buttons do on the bottom right?

4, Can I set way-points for my forces whilst on a march, e.g march forwards, then wheel right, march forwards and wheel right again to put myself in a rearward charge position?

5, How can I control the view with my mouse?, I'm spending too long (in pause) tapping the number pad to see the areas of interest.

6, How can I tell what unit my missile troops are engaging?

7, How can I ensure that my missile troops don't engage an enemy unit thats mêlée fighting with one of my own?


Please feel free to add any other interface tips that you feel have helped, to the questions asked...

Best regards
Sr JH

[Furious Mental]

1. A
2. Space
3. Huh?
4. Don't think so
5. Move it around? You may have to change your camera settings
6. You can't unless you can actually identify their missiles
7. Unfortunately you'll have to order them to shoot at something else, or stop shooting

[Dan.o6]

1. If you set your missile units on Guard mode (I think thats what it's called), they will only open fire when the enemy are in range, and will not move to open fire.

2. Holding shift will show a red beacon where the selected unit has been ordered to move to.

3. Hold stops your units doing their current action i.e. stop a unit from moving, firing etc. Attack is self explanatory.

4. Nope

5. Push your mouse to the edge of the screen to move the camera in the desired direction. Directional arrow keys also move the camera.

6. Only way to tell which unit they are firing at is to follow the arrows.

7. They will only tend to engage in melee if they have run out of missles, but they will generally move away from enemy units in order to keep firing from a safe distance. If your units are on Guard mode they will stay in the same place firing. You can send your missile units into melee by holding down ALT and right clicking.

Hope this helps :)

[Marius Dynamite]

1. Turn on 'Fire At Will' and they will shoot the nearest enemy. If no enemy is in range, they will stand and wait for an enemy to come into range. Also, place the mouse over an enemy and it turns into a bow and arrow. If the bow and arrow is green, they are in range. If it is red, they are not in range yet.

2. Hold in the Space Bar and you will see yellow markers showing were your units are going to go. Selecting a unit or units and Holding shift will make a red marker appear where your unit or units are going.

3. Hold cancels a units action. For example you might want to tell your men to shoot an enemy then press stop to tell them to stop shooting. Note if they are firing because Fire at Will is on, then click stop won't stop them. You would have to turn off fire at will.

4. Right click and Drag to set a units facing and depth quickly. Experiment with that a little, its pretty easy. Right clicking on an area makes your men march. If you hold shift and click on another area, they will complete the first march then go to the second area. That could be used to set waypoints I think.

5. Set the camera settings to TW Camera. Then push the mouse to the left of the screen to 'turn' your view left as if you were turning your head left. Same with the right. The mouse Wheel zooms in and out. Double clicking on an area of the map will tilt your view towards that area, e.g. double click an area near the bottom of the screen will be like moving the camera down, like tilting your head down to see your feet.

6. Select the missile unit in question and hold Shift. Whichever enemy unit the Red marker appears over is the enemy unit your archer unit is shooting at.

7. Turning on Skirmish will make your unit run away from an attacking enemy. If you turn it off, they will just shoot until the enemy attack, then they will draw swords and fight. Keep your missile units away from a melee fight. Even if only some of the soldiers from a unit are too close to the melee, some of the soldiers from an enemy unit might fight with them then your entire unit starts to fight.

8. If this is your first TW, then you have to be patient. You will get used to most of the things, but it does take some getting used to. If you play the demo, you will get the basics of battle by the time the full game is out. Then you will be discovering new techniques as you conquer your first campaign. Trust me, learning as your country developes and you conquer is the best part.


P.S. God I wish I could go back to those days.

[Sir_Hawkwood]

Gentlemen,
Thank you for your quick replies. Your advice has helped me exactly as I hoped...

Marius,
Thank you for your post.
You should never allow that jaded feeling to wash over you... Remember, youth is always wasted on the young... And that you are old the minute you think you cant learn anymore.

May I ask that the community keeps posting helpful comments, along these lines?

Best regards
Sr JH