Dai Senryaku VII Exceed for US Playstation 2 by Systemsoft Alpha and Valcon Games FAQ (this document) by JVGFanatic (tm) Game copyright 2006 Systemsoft Alpha and 2007 Valcon Games This document's copyright 2008 JVGFanatic Since this faq is a work in progress this table of contents is very incomplete and in fact may contain inaccuracies. Introduction What is Dai Senryaku VII Exceed? FAQs Menu Reference Game Mechanics Detailed Game Information Movement Zone of Control March Transport Transport Mechanics Load and Land Rules Unload Rules Paratroopers and other Airdropped Units Resupply & Refueling Resupply Mechanics Costs of Supply Tactical considerations of supply Attack Understanding Unit and Weapon Stats Range Move Adjacent Counter-Attack Bombardment & Repair Deploy Jam Equip Air Intercept Saving of Leveled Units Grading during Missions and Campaign Levels Mission Walkthroughs Campaign Walkthroughs The Tutorial Mode Unlockables ToDo: Tons of stuff to do yet. * *** ****** ******** ********** IMPORTANT NOTE: This document is in transition. It may contain innacuracies. Please bear with me while I get this all sorted. I'm currently working on two documents, a manual for D7E and this FAQ so some elements are getting combined in last-minute fashion. Rest-assured when it is all finished we should be at 100 percent accuracy. Cheers. *********** ********* ****** *** * ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.0 Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hello and welcome to the FAQ for Dai Senryaku VII Exceed for Playstation 2. In this FAQ I will attempt to document everything there is to know about D7E. It is currently a work in progress so bear with its current incompleteness. If you have anything you'd like to contribute (strategies, etc...) then please send it along to the following address: jvgfanatic AT hotNOSPAMmail DOT com (of course remove the NOSPAM bit there...) Should you send an email to that address be sure to put "Dai Senryaku Exceed" in the title so I don't delete the email as spam. I will certainly add you as a contributor to this document should you have anything useful to contribute so please don't hesitate to send it along. What is Dai Senryaku VII Exceed? ------------------------------- Dai Senryaku is a modern era military, turn-based strategy game played on a hexagonal grid of varying terrain. A collection of units--referred to as an Army--from each country participating in the battle are arranged on this grid in a strategic manner. Each unit has strengths and weaknesses particular to its type. Utilizing the strengths of your army while exploiting weaknesses in the enemy until you satisfy victory conditions is the core of the gameplay in Dai Senryaku VII. Each country participating in a battle takes its turn by moving and taking action with some, all, or none of its units. Actions in Dai Senryaku VII consist of resupply, moving, attacking, bombarding facilities, combining units, producing and placing units, loading units onto transports, and capturing facilities. The following countries are playable: Japan, America, Russia, Germany, England, France, Israel, and China. The following terrain elements combine to make Dai Senryaku Exceed's maps: Capital, City, Airport, Port, Factory, Refinery, Bridge, Plain, Desert, Wasteland, Wetland, Grove, Forest, Hill, Mountain, Peaks, Lake, Shallows, Sea, Deep Sea, Snowfield, Snowy Grove, Snowy Forest, Snowy Hill, and Snowy Peaks. The game contains over 400 units across the nations listed. Each hex can contain multiple units at different heights from deep sea to upper atmosphere. This adds a tremendous amount of depth to the game and makes for a game with nicely dynamic fronts. Extensive testing of the XBox version of this game yielded that Fog of War is obeyed by the computer AI and the AI does not cheat (funds or intel) under any difficulty level. There is no reason to believe it will be different here. SystemSoft has been making Daisenryakus for 20 years now, their AI is pretty solid if not a bit rote. For the record, here is a list of Daisenryaku games to appear on consoles: 1988.10.11 Daisenryaku - Famicom 1989.04.29 Super Daisenryaku - Megadrive 1990.04.27 Super Daisenryaku - Turbo CD 1991.06.12 Daisenryaku - Gameboy 1991.06.21 Advanced Daisenryaku - Megadrive 1991.09.28 Daisenryaku G - Gamegear 1991.11.21 Lord of Wars - Turbo CD 1992.05.29 Campaign-Han Daisenryaku II - Turbo CD 1992.09.25 Daisenryaku Expert - Super Famicom 1995.09.22 World Advanced Daisenryaku Kotetsu no Ikusakaze - Saturn 1996.03.15 World Advanced Daisenryaku Saksen Fire - Saturn 1996.03.29 Daisenryaku: Players Spirit - Playstation 1996.05.08 Iron Storm - Saturn - (USA - Release) 1996.08.30 Daisenryaku Expert WWII - Super Famicom 1997.06.27 Daisenryaku Strong Style - Saturn 1998.12.03 Daisenryaku: Master Combat - Playstation 1999.02.04 Cyber Daisenryaku - Playstation 2000.06.21 Advanced Daisenryaku Europe no Arashi - Dreamcast 2001.04.26 Advanced Daisenryaku 2001 - Dreamcast 2001.12.07 Daisenryaku for Gameboy Advance - Gameboy Advance 2003.05.29 Daisenryaku VII - XBox 2003.11.03 Daisenryaku 1941 - Playstation 2 2004.11.11 Standard Daisenryaku: Dengekisen 2005.02.16 Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics - XBox (USA Release) 2005.06.02 Standard Daisenryaku: Shiwareta Shouri 2005.12.22 Daisenryaku Portable - PSP 2006.02.26 Sega Ages Vol. 22 Advanced Daisenryaku Deuch Dengeki Sakusen - PS2 2006.05.25 Daisenryaku DS - Nintendo DS 2006.12.14 Daisenryaku VII Exceed - PS2 2006.12.14 Daisenryaku Portable 2 - PSP 2007.12.12 Dai Senryaku VII Exceed - PS2 (USA Release) World Advanced Daisenryaku Kotetsu no Ikusakaze became Iron Storm when Working Designs brought it over to the US. Fellow Daisenryaku Fanatic and FAQ author Jack Power has this list to provide, these are the Daisenryaku titles released for the PC. Note that these are Japanese games and may require specific software to run on your US PC. I cannot provide instructions or support for this however. 2001.12.20 Daisenryaku VII 2002.10.25 Gendai Daisenryaku 2002 2003.03.20 Daisenryaku Perfect 1.0 2003.10.24 Gendai Daisenryaku 2003 2004.02.27 Realtime Daisenryaku Perfect 1.0 2004.06.25 Daisenryaku Perfect 2.0 2004.10.29 Gendai Daisenryaku 2004 2005.01.28 Daisenryaku Daitoua-Kouboushi Jack Power also has the following to say about the PC series: FYI, the "gendai" games, 200X series, and Perfect games are all modern war games a la DSVII. I've written a FAQ on Daisenryaku Perfect, which is undoubtedly the best installment in the series (especially 2.0). As an aside: SystemSoft, the makers of Daisenryaku have done some other projects. Here are as many as I could find at the moment: 1991.07.26 Master of Monsters - Megadrive 1997.07.31 Master of Monsters - Playstation (JP & US) 1996.10.25 Master of Monsters Neo Generation - Saturn 1991.02.15 Master of Monsters - PC Engine (SCD) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FAQs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Is this game coming out in English? Yes, this FAQ has been updated for the US release which became available on the 12th of December, 2007. What countries are represented in Dai Senryaku VII Exceed? Japan America Russia Germany England France Israel China How many games/maps/etc can I save? There are 8 slots per mode (Free, Mission, Campaign, Map Editor, etc..) Differences from Dai Senryaku VII Modern Military Tactics (XBox)? Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics (MMT) was released in the US on Microsoft's XBox console by Kemco Games. As it is the only other Daisenryaku to get a US localization in recent history players will be keen on knowing what differences exist between it and VII Exceed. Daisenryaku VII Exceed is everything that MMT was and more in terms of content. In addition to MMT's Mission Mode and Free Play Mode Exceed now has a Campaign Mode in which how you level units to carry them from stage to stage will play a key role in your victory. I'm finding Campaign Mode to be a satisfying challenge when compared to Mission Mode's relative ease. You can no longer change the computer AI player in Free Play to a human player mid-turn. You can change the AI's difficulty level but the option to change to a human player is disabled. You can choose an operator to voice confirmation of commands. This has no bearing on gameplay. There were six operators in the Japanese version of the game, only two in the US version. The game now supports bombardment and repair. These features are discussed in that section of the FAQ. Also new in Exceed is Air Intercept. That feature is also described in detail in the relevant section of this FAQ. Some unit details have changed, I'll log as many as I can for the faq but will appreciate board members pointing out any they spot changes as well. Valcon added a few new features to the US release of the game that were not in the Japanese release. The first is a blacked out screen between turns in Free Play allowing players to change control without comprimising troop layout. Another feature is the addition of a window in the 'assign button' section of options. You can now open the unit data screen with a single button press. Finally a Health column was added to the Facility List showing how much damage a facility has taken from bombardment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Game Mechanics (or How To Play) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Basics ---------- BASIC GAMEPLAY INSTRUCTIONS --------------------------- Dai Senryaku VII Exceed is a turn-based strategy game played on a hexagonal grid of varying terrain. A collection of units--referred to as an Army--from each country participating in the battle are arranged on this grid in a strategic manner. Each unit has strengths and weaknesses particular to its type. Utilizing the strengths of your army while exploiting weaknesses in the enemy until you satisfy victory conditions is the core of the gameplay in Dai Senryaku VII. Each country participating in a battle takes its turn by moving and taking action with some, all, or none of its units. Actions in Dai Senryaku consist of Resupply, Moving, Attacking Enemy Units, Combining Units, Producing and Placing Units, Loading Units onto Transports, and Capturing Facilities. For detailed information on the game's mechanics see section "Detailed Game Information". The maps in Dai Senryaku VII consist of various terrain elements that have to be traversed by your army. Building an army appropriate to the terrain they are fighting on is key to success in D7E. In addition to the land there are also "Facilities" consisting of Ports, Cities, Refineries, Factories, and Capitals. There is only one Capital per country and the taking of an enemy capital means the defeat of that enemy. Facilities are either owned by a country or they are neutral, each facility possessed by a country brings that country strategic and material benefits. Victory in Dai Senryaku VII is achieved by satisfying the particular victory conditions of the battle if in Mission or Campaign mode however the taking of an enemy capital will always cause a win in any mode. There are 3 modes of play in Dai Senryaku VII in addition to a Map Editor and a Tutorial to help you understand some of the basics of the game. The three modes of play are: Mission Mode, Campaign Mode, and Free Play Mode. Map Edit mode will be discussed in more depth later, until then let's concentrate on Mission Mode, Campaign Mode and Free Play Mode since they are the primary meat of the game. About Mission Mode ------------------ Mission Mode allows you to play a series of battles that tell the story of Blue Army (you) versus Red Army (the enemy). While in the abstract you are Blue army, in fact you'll be playing as each of the game's countries. Your units do gain experience in a battle however that experience cannot be carried to the next fight. Continuity from one mission to the next is found in the story that unfolds as you play through this mode. Battles are graded in Mission Mode from S (highest) to F (lowest) rank. You will progress through Mission Mode and unlock units as you complete battles regardless of rank. The missions, should you be happy with B, A, and S ranks shouldn't take you too long to complete given their limited scope. Some of them can be rather time consuming but none have the scale that you'll face in Campaign mode. About Campaign Mode ------------------- In Campaign Mode you'll also be following a story of sorts, each of the four initial campaigns tells a tale. In addition to this, you'll be able to save units that have gained experience at the end of each battle. You can then use these units in the next or later battles. This provides tremendous continuity to your Dai Senryaku VII Exceed experience. Battles in Campaign mode are graded similarly to Mission Mode however Campaign mode branches based on performance. About Free Play Mode -------------------- In Free Play mode you start with an empty map. You can set parameters for each nation on the map including alliances, amount of starting funds, and nationality. Building your army and executing strategies is what Free Play is all about. You can have up to 4 players playing this mode either competitively or cooperatively. As you complete Mission Mode battles and Campaign battles you will open up maps and units for use in Free Play mode. Each country can save up to 20 levelled up units for use in Free Play mode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Detailed Game Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Movement -------- Moving a unit consists of selecting the unit and issuing the Move command. This causes the unit to be surrounded by a field of green hexagons and sometimes a row or two of red hexagons beyond that. The green hexagons denote standard movement whilst the red hexagons denote high-speed movement. These colors indicate the hexes to which the unit may move. There are costs associated with moving including both fuel and movement points. A unit can move a distance equal to its standard or high-speed movement allowance given the movement cost required to traverse the terrain and available fuel. It costs twice as much fuel to move a unit into a red (high-speed) hex as it does to move a unit into a green (standard movement) hex. High-Speed Movement Allowance, Standard Movement Allowance and the cost for a unit to move through various terrain elements are all found on the Unit Detail Screen. Air units, when moved, are required to set an altitude. Air units can fly at low, medium, and high altitude as well as ground level when flying over water. To change the altitude of an air unit, press the circle button when the altitude menu appears. Each press of the circle button changes the altitude. Each level of altitude changed costs one movement point. A unit cannot move into a hex containing another unit at the same elevation as the moving unit however a unit can pass through hexes containing friendly units without restriction. Zone of Control -------------- Each hex in D7E has up to six altitudes. Only one unit can exist in a given hex at a given altitude. A unit can move freely through hexes containing units of one’s own army as well as units of allied armies. Ground units and surface vessels are affected by zone of control. Zone of control governs a unit’s ability to stop an enemy from moving through an area that is controlled by the unit. In Dai Senryaku VII, this area is equal to the six hexes surrounding a unit. A unit will stop moving immediately upon entering the ZOC an enemy unit. In addition, the enemy will attack the moving unit, if able, and the moving unit will not be able to return fire. March ----- The March command allows you to move units over great distances without having to issue individual move commands to units. In order to March a unit, simply select that unit and issue the March command and then "Set Destination." Select a hex as that unit's final destination and press the X button. Once a destination has been set you can choose the March command again, this time selecting the "March Execute" sub command or you can press Triangle and choose the March All command to execute marches for all your units that have set destinations. March has certain features that make it worth using. Sending long-haul units back for resupply for example is made easier by marching them instead of moving them manually each turn. Transport --------- Some ground vehicles, vessels, and aircraft are capable of transporting other units. Such units have the “TRANS” ability however each transport capable unit has its own transport capacities. To determine the transport capabilities of a unit you will have to open the Unit Detail Screen. On this screen in the “Transport” section you might see something like [Veh][Inf] indicating that the unit can transport up one Vehicle load type unit and one Infantry load type unit. A unit’s load type can be found in the Load Type section of the Unit Detail Screen and the Load stat in unit production lists. Transport capabilities represent the maximum number and size of units that a unit can transport. A transporting unit can always transport units that have a smaller load type than the one indicated up to the maximum number of load slots. For example, our [Veh][Inf] transporting unit can also transport two [Inf] type units but never two [Veh] units. - From smallest to largest ground load types are: Inf, Veh, Lght, Hev. - From smallest to largest air unit load types are: Hel, Air Transport Mechanics ------------------- To load a transporting unit with units to be transported, simply move the unit to be transported onto the unit doing the transporting and choose the “Load” command. Load and Land rules ------------------- Transport aircraft can only be loaded at airports. Transport helicopters and VTOL craft can be loaded wherever they can land. Trucks can be loaded anywhere. Carriers can be loaded with air units only while at sea. To land an aircraft at a carrier you must fly at Ground level and choose the Land command when over the carrier. Helicopters cannot land on assault ships in either ports or shallows; the assault ship must be at sea for a helicopter to land on it. Unload rules ------------ Transport ships must be at a port to unload its units. Assault ships can unload at ports or shallows. A helicopter on an assault ship must launch at sea as it cannot take off while the assault ship is in port or in shallows. A ground unit must have an available hex onto which it unloads adjacent to the transporting unit. Transporting helicopters can unload wherever they can land. Paratroopers and other Airdropped Units --------------------------------------- Special Forces, Paratroopers, and LAir capable units of all types can be dropped from aircraft. Units with a [LAir] ability can be dropped from a low altitude while Special Forces and Paratroopers can be dropped from Medium or Low altitude. No unit can be dropped from High altitude. Special Forces and Paratroopers can be dropped from helicopters and planes however they do use their turn during the drop (so they can't be dropped and capture/move in the same turn). Resupply & Refueling (RESP, [Sup]) ---------------------------------- Building a good supply infrastructure in the worst environments can win you battles. While your enemy is constantly fretting about running low on ammo and fuel, your units will always be in top condition if you follow a flexible set of guidelines for keeping your troops in supply. Identifying good defensive terrain, positioning units so as to give them good access to the front, and keeping available key positions for supply units all combine to make a well oiled supply machine. First off, you need a good understanding of how supply works in Dai Senryaku VII Exceed. Each weapon carried by a unit has a limited supply of ammunition and amount of fuel. The remaining fuel and ammunition is displayed whenever you select a unit for command. Fuel is displayed as a decreasing yellow bar as well as a numerical value to the left of the bar. Ammunition for each weapon is shown beside the weapon’s name. Each time you fire a weapon its ammunition supply is decreased by one. When a weapon has zero remaining ammunition then that weapon cannot be used until the unit has been resupplied. A unit running low on fuel or ammunition will also have a small icon displayed above the unit on the battlefield. A truck icon is shown for a unit low on fuel and a shell (bullet) icon for units low on ammunition. Resupply Mechanics ------------------ In order for a unit to be resupplied it must be on a supply-capable facility or adjacent to a supply-capable vehicle or vessel. Choosing the RESP command from its menu can resupply such a unit. Supplying units on carriers is easy but not so obvious. You must do so through the Unit List (press CIRCLE and choose Unit List from the menu). Choose the unit you wish to supply from the unit list and press X, the standard menu of commands including RESP will be displayed. Costs of Supply --------------- Each unit has a resupply cost that is deducted from your total funds when a unit is resupplied. Fuel that is required to refuel a unit is also deducted from your fuel reserves total. Both your total funds and fuel reserves are shown in the upper left corner of the screen with no unit selected. Supplying a supply truck with supplies at a facility does not cost anything however supplying other units with that supply truck does cost the appropriate supply cost. Supplying a unit in the field with a supply truck uses a single (one) supply point from the truck’s available supply stock whether the unit is refueled, resupplied, or both and no matter how much is needed to resupply and refuel. This compounds the case for turning off AUTO in Resup Method, in System Options since in “Auto” mode units will resupplies even when only small amount of ammo has been used. Tactical considerations of supply --------------------------------- Correctly positioning a support tanker is key to headache-free supply management. For example, it is wise, particularly when the lay of the terrain supports such a maneuver, to end your tanker’s movement adjacent to as many out-of-supply units as possible. As such it is a good idea to get supply issues out of the way at the start of a turn particularly since a unit is not ‘used’ as a result of resupplying. It bears mentioning again: turn off AUTO Resupply in Options. Set it to MANual, it will keep you busier but it’s a resource-smart busier. Attack ------ If you should find an enemy unit within range of your units’ weapons then you’ll be able to issue the Attack command. The attack command will only be available if the unit doing the attacking has met all of the firing criteria for at least one of its available weapons. Let’s take a look at some of the factors in determining whether or not you can attack with a given unit. Understanding Unit and Weapon Stats ----------------------------------- Range ----- You cannot fire a weapon unless an enemy unit is within range of the weapon. Understanding the Range page of the Unit Detail Screen is paramount to knowing how to place units so that they are within firing range of enemy units. Unlike many other simpler strategy games, finding the range isn’t as simple as pressing a button. Instead you’ll need to count hexagons. To get to the Range page of the Unit Detail Screen you’ll need to press X to display the weapon info page. From there press down so that Range is highlighted. Each weapon is shown as well as the ranges that each weapon operates at. The numbers shown are specific to each elevation. If there is a value of “2” in the yellow (or “1”) column then the weapon will be able to hit enemies at Low Air altitude as far as 2 hexes away. There is one caveat to that calculation, each weapon also has to “Elev” stats that denote how many levels of altitude up and down that the weapon can fire and unless an enemy falls within those ranges as well as the lateral range it cannot be targeted. Move (Mv) --------- Next, if you look at the Status page of the Weapon Detail screen you’ll see a list of weapon attributes for each of your unit’s weapons. One of them is labeled “Mv” and this stat determines whether or not a weapon can be fired directly after moving a unit. Weapons with an “O” in this column can be fired during the same turn that a unit has moved while those with a “–“ in the Mv column cannot. Weapons that cannot be fired after a move can only be fired if the firing unit has not moved during the given turn. Adjacent (Adj) -------------- Next let’s examine the “Adj” stat on the Weapon Status page of the Unit Detail screen. Adj stands for Adjacent and a weapon without the Adj ability cannot fire into an adjacent hex. In this case I’m looking at the details for a Patriot Missile System and on the Weapon Information STATUS page I can see that the ADJ attribute of the MIM-104 Missile is marked with a line and thus the weapon cannot be fired at an enemy that is adjacent to this unit. Counter-Attack -------------- Bombardment & Repair (BOMB, [Bmb] [Rpr]) --------------------------------- Some aircraft (bombers) are able to bomb facilities. Bombing facilities reduces their effectiveness. A fully damaged facility has it’s repair, refuel, and income generating features reduced dramatically. In order to bomb a facility a unit with the Bomb (BMB) ability must position itself directly over the facility to be bombed. Once doing so the “Bomb” command can be issued from that unit’s command menu. In order to determine how severely facilities are damaged you can (by default) press the L2 button Another quick way to display damage to your own facilities is to display the Army Facility List. Facilities that have been bombed and have had their effectiveness reduced may be repaired by Engineer units. Engineer units are a special kind of infantry that have the RPR (Repair) ability. In order to repair a facility you must position the Engineer on the facility and then choose the “Repair” command. Deploy ------ Some units are either Deployed or Mobile. Such units have an ability of “DPLY”. This is more restriction than ability. While a unit with this ability is moving it cannot fire. When the unit is deployed and ready to fire it cannot move. Issuing the “DEPL” command ends a unit’s turn and thus a unit cannot deploy and fire on the same turn. These units are often used as fixed position artillery or fortification-style armament. This attribute differs from the weapon attribute Mv. Jam --- Some aircraft have the “Jam” (ECM) ability. This ability, which is triggered by a command, will reduce the search ability of all units within its area of effect to one hex. The effect lasts for one turn and the Jam command uses ECM ammunition much like a weapon and cannot be used once its ammunition has been depleted. Supplying a unit capable of Jamming will resupply its ECM ammunition as well. Equip ----- Many units in D7E are capable of carrying different weapon load outs. Each loadout is referred to as a “Package” or “Pack.” You can change a unit’s pack by positioning it on an appropriate facility and choosing the Equip command. The Equip command takes a full turn to execute so a unit will be unable to move either before or after the command is issued. Another caveat is that a unit that is not in full supply or full health cannot change its equipment. Facilities capable of equipment change are as follows: Naval vessels: Ports Aircraft: Airfields and carriers Ground units: Cities, capital Air Intercept ------------- Air intercept is automatic in Dai Senryaku 7 Exceed. It’s the ability [INT] of some naval vessels to attack aircraft automatically should the aircraft enter the range of the vessel’s weapons. Saving of Leveled Units ----------------------- At the end of each Campaign and Free Mode battle you are allowed to save units which have gained experience. You can then load these into other Campaign or Free Mode battles respectively. When you load these units into a battle you are asked to pick a memory card where it will then ERASE each unit from the saved units list as it's launched. Should that unit perish or should you lose the fight you will lose any of the units you've launched into that battle. Even if you load an earlier saved game you will NO LONGER have those units available for sortie. You can refuse to save the game during a launch however I'm unsure as to the effects of this. Grading during Missions and Campaign levels ------------------------------------------- At the end of each Campaign and Mission mode battles you'll get graded on five criteria. They are as follows, from top to bottom: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Game Reference Guide (Menu/Screen Translations) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table of Contents ----------------- The Main Menu The In-Battle Options The Unit Information Screen Unit Production Information Command Menu System Menu Map Editor Menu Controls ------------- The Main Menu ------------- Mission - A series of missions Campaign - Four campaigns Free Play - Free Play maps Map Editor - You can build your own maps here Tutorial - The game's tutorial Set Up - One options screen (more available in-battle) --------------------- The In-Battle Options --------------------- Display Settings Unit Information |-Unit Name |-Sub Units |-Load |-Elevation |-Status Hex Lines (on/off) Army's Capital flag (on/off) Map Effect (on/off) Map Cursor (Reset to capital/Keep in place) Battle Screen (own army/all armies/no display) System Settings Battle Animation (Real/Summary) Select Weapon for counter-attack & opportunity fire (off/on) Resupply Method (auto/ask/manual) Vibration (on/off) Button Config - Assign Square, R2, and L2 to any of the following: End Turn Save Load Options Unit List Terrain Chart Movement Chart Unit Catalog Army Status Army Facility Chart Adjust Detection Level Reset View Move Cursor to Capital March All Supply All Display SubUnit Tag Operator Selection Sound Settings Choose your background music Return to Defaults Save Settings --------------------------- The Unit Information Screen --------------------------- Unit Type Movement Type Unit Name Special Commands Unit Nationality & Flag Transport Information Altitude Vertical Detect Level Detection/Altitude Indication Evasion/Altitude Setting Cost Type SubUnits Standard Move Movement Cost Table Variable Endurance High Move with Altitude Selection Fuel ECM Evade Strength ------------------------------ Weapon Information Tables ------------------------- Pressing CIRCLE on the Unit Information screen will open the Weapon info page(s). A lit of Weapons current loaded into the unit are shown, white weapons are ones in the current PACK while grey ones are not availble with the current PACK. The Up/Down d-pad will switch between three pages of data for the weapons while Left/Right d-pad will switch between showing information about the different PACKs. Note changing the PACK here does NOT change the unit's current configuration. First Page of Weapon Info: Weapon Name FirePower HitRates: Air/Heli/Veh/Inf/Ves/Sub/Facil Second Page of Weapon Info: Weapon Name Ammo Count Range: High/Med/Low/Grnd/Surf/Deep/Up/Dn Third Page of Weapon Info: Weapon Name Type Abilities: Adj/Move/Att/Def/Bomb/Mssl/Mega Explanation: Adj - Can the weapon be fired from a range of 1 Move - Can the weapon be fired after moving Att - Can the weapon be used for attacking Def - Can the weapon be used for counter-attacking Bomb - Can the weapon be used for facility bombing Mssl - Is the weapon a Missile type Mega - Does the weapon do Megahex damage --------------------------- Unit Production Information --------------------------- When you attempt to make a unit by pressing the button on a capital, airport, or port you get a list of available units. The data displayed for each unit is as translated below: Unit Type Unit name Cost Sol Type Load Type Fuel SubUnit Count SubUnit Endur Movement Package ----------- Command Menu ------------ Active Unit List Terrain Chart Movement Chart Unit Catalog Battle Overview Facilities Overview Set Detection Level Visibility Map Reset Move To Capital Supply All (only present when manual supply is set) March All (only present when units are to be marched) ----------- System Menu ----------- Pressing the Start button in mid-game will get you this menu: End Turn Save Load Player Option Quit --------------- Map Editor Menu --------------- This menu is opened by pressing Start in the Map Editor Map Settings Preview Lines On/Off Save Load Quit Editor -------- Controls -------- On the Battlefield ------------------ X Btn - Okay/Select Triangle - Cancel Square - Customizable* Circle - Command Menu Select - Hides/Shows Info Palette Start - Displays System Menu R1 - Zoom In (Zooms are analogue so press harder for faster zoom) R2 - Zoom Out R2 - Customizable* L2 - Customizable* R Stick - Move Map L Stick - Rotate Map L3 - Rotate to Default After a campaign mission ------------------------ You are given the option of saving up to 20 units. X Btn - Moves units from one side to the other Square - Show stats for selected unit Start - Saves and continue Triangle - Cancel In the Map Editor ----------------- The Map Editor is a complex beast. Here are the controls: R2 - Opens Tool Menu L2 - Opens Terrain Menu R1/L1 - Zoom In/Out Circle - Opens Menu Square - Picks up current terrain Start - Opens the Menu Triangle - Undoes latest action ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mission Walkthroughs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------- Mission 1: Recruit Training --------------------------- Objective: Eliminate the Red army. Strategy: You can't capture Red's capital with the units you have so you'll have to eliminate all Red units. Keep your capture capable units protected by leading an advance with your (kick butt) M109's and your M1A1. Red has a surprise M109 waiting for you on the southern area of this map so just keep your eyes out for it. There are 155mm Howitzers located on Red capital and on the northern peninsula. Unlocks: Map Recruit Training opened in Free Play --------------------------------- Mission 2: Capture the Enemy Base --------------------------------- Objective: To take Red's capital Your Forces: China Type 69 x 3 Type 83 x 2 Type 89 PGZ-95 x 2 PLZ-45 x 2 S-300 PMU WZ551 x 2 Recon Veh Infantry x 2 Supply Truck Strategy: Take out the MiG that is near your capital. I have done this with a single PGZ-95 but chances are it will take both of them to take out the plane. If you don't take it out then you might just want to restart the level as it's easy enough to do. Your two infantry and the supply truck are going to be responsible for more than you can imagine. They are going to be able to take out most of the helicopters at a range of 2 hexes. To be sure, your PGZ's will bear some of the burden but they will take a while to get into range. Once you start your move on Red's capital you can pretty much drive through non-stop for most of the helis will be dealt with by that time. Unlocks: Map Capture the Base in Free Play mode MBT Type 69 (China) in Free Play mode WZ551 (China) in Free Play Mode -------------------------------- Mission 3: Long Bridge to Battle -------------------------------- Goal: To eliminate Red army or take Red's capital. Your Forces: Germany Tornado RECCE Leopard 2A6 x 6 155mm Deployed x 4 Infantry MLRS Marder A3 x 3 PZH 2000 x 4 Support Tanker Truck Strategy: This mission is easy enough given the amount of firepower and recon ability you are given. Just wait until the enemy advances and take them out. Make sure you go for the kill because the enemy will have plenty of opportunity to repair their units and draw the battle out. Unlocks: Long Bridge to Battle map in Free Play Leopard 2A6 (Germany) ----------------------------------------- Mission 4: Defend Against A Faraway Enemy ----------------------------------------- Objective: Either eliminate all of the enemy's strike forces or have at least 16 Yellow Support Tankers survive until the end of turn 12. Strategy: Simply set up a good defensive net along the line of yellow supply tankers. Your carrier is your biggest weak point but even if it gets sunk (bleh) then you will still be okay because your planes have enough fuel to last the 12 turns. If they need ammo you've got airports near the capital. Really, with the defensive fire of your Patriots you will have no trouble with this mission at all. Unlocks: F35B (America) Map Faraway Enemy in Free Play --------------------------------- Mission 5: Southern Defense Force --------------------------------- Objective: Gain $10,000 in funds before Red Army Strategy: Land your transports on either side of the main island and capture/dig in as possible. Move your 155mm guns to the left side of the center of the island and dig in. Build Type 90s and Type 99s for an assault on the central production area, that is where the money is. Unlocks: Assault Ship Oosumi (Japan) Attack Heli AH-64 (Japan) Map: Southern Defense Force playable in Free Play ------------------------------- Mission 6: Attack From the Deep ------------------------------- Objective: Maintain at least 20 BLUE Army units while destroying all RED Army submarines. Your Forces (United Kingdom): Invincible Nimrod MR-2 x 3 Lynx Mk. 8 x 10 Supply Ship x 10 Strategy: Make sure you fly low when doing recon so you can see as far as possible. Getting that last sub is going to be really hard but you can count on it going for wherever the enemy recon plane sees you (other than your capital, of course). Unlocks: Naval Helicopter Lynx Mk. 8 (UK) Naval Helicopter Lynx Mk. 8 (Germany) Map: Enemies From the Deep playable in Free Play -------------------------- Mission 7: Jungle Fortress -------------------------- Objective: Capture RED Army's factory Your Forces (China): Infantry x 6 Special Forces x 2 Type 99 Amph. Tank x 2 + Production Strategy: Perform an assault on the factory with all of your infantry from different directions keeping in mind the detection range of the facilities surrounding it as they have artillery on them. If you can take out even one of the artillery and have an infantry unit to slip into the factory then you beat the mission by capturing it. Unlocks: Type 99 Amph. Lt. Tank (China) Map: Jungle Fortress playable in Free Play ------------------------------------------------ Mission 8: Capture in the Vermillion Archipelago ------------------------------------------------ Objective: Sink all of RED Army's warships. Your Forces (USA): 155mm Howitzer x 2 CH-47 Chinook x 2 F-22 Raptor x 1 M-1 Abrams x 3 M109 x 2 M-113 x 1 M3 Bradley x 1 P-3C Orion x 1 RAH-66 Comanche x 1 RF/A-18 x 1 S-3B Viking x 1 SH-60 Sea Hawk x 2 UH-60 x 1 V-22 Osprey x 2 Avenger x 1 San Antonio x 1 Seawolf x 1 Zumwalt x 4 Ticonderoga x 2 Patriot x 3 HAWK x 2 Virginia x 3 Paratroopers x 3 Recon Special Forces x 3 Tactical Considerations: Your search craft will run out of fuel easily and thus you need to keep a close eye on that. There are immense areas to search so this is very important. Your Howitzer's have minimal sea firepower so they'll likely sit unused. You've got two Chinooks which are used to transport units. One of them has an Avenger and Paratroopers, the other has two Paratroopers. At the very least you should take the Southern Island (3 neutral cities, a neutral port and a neutral airfield make it a good though not great strategic win). Your long term goal if the mission lasts that long will be to take the central island as well. Most importantly, if you land your Chinooks and unload your ground units they will get to move on that turn, if you drop them then they will have to wait a turn to move. Also pre-loaded are your Ospreys. While one Osprey has the range to make it to the central island you will want to exercise a little caution as that island is defended and will require a more coordinated assault. Your F-22 will be your primary anti-air platform but you'll have to be wary of it's fuel level. Use it to cover your P-3C which will act as a terrific search plane. Strategy: Your army starts in the southeast, the enemy is in the northwest. You have a lot of coverage, your anti-air support comes in the form of two jets and a couple of ships. Unlocks: Destroyer Zumwalt (USA) Submarine Virginia (USA) Map: Vermillion Keys in Free Play Spoilers ******** Starting locations of some of RED army's ships on Blue turn 1: X19 Y36 - Kiro (X) X20 Y30 - Neustrashimyy X25 Y28 - Neustrashimyy X27 Y29 - An-124 Ruslan X30 Y30 - 2S6M AA Guns X38 Y24 - MiG-25R X40 Y14 - Antiaircraft Artillery ----------------------- Mission 9: Hot and Cold ----------------------- Objective: Capture RED Army's capital. Your Forces (USA): AMX-10P x 3 (capture) AMX-10RC x 4 AMX-30B2 AMX-30GCT x 3 AU-F2 x 7 (move and fire) MLRS SA-342 Gazelle x 2 Foudre x 5 Leclerc x 5 Special Forces Support Tanker x 2 Strategy: Pretty easy overall, it will be slow going to start because of the snow but just play the level a bit cautiously until you can recon and artillery shell their capital. I believe the enemy can produce units on this map so capturing the capital is essential. Unlocks: Map: Hot and Cold in Free Play Foudre Assault Ship (France) AU-F-2 SPH (France) --------------------------- Mission 10: Border Incident --------------------------- Objective: Protect BLUE capital for 12 turns. Your Forces (USA): 155mm Deployed x 4 ATACMS x 4 EA-6B Prowler x 2 F-35A x 2 FB-22 x 2 KC-135 x 2 M-109A6 x 8 M-3 Bradley x 3 MLRS RF/A-18 x 2 Recon Veh x 2 Supply Truck x 2 Strategy: Don't miss the units you have on the southern corners and south-central section of this map. You have a ton of firepower at your disposal, know it, love it, use it. Unlocks: F-35A (USA) FB-22 (USA) Border Incident Map in Free Play ------------------------------- Mission 11: Hot Sands Offensive ------------------------------- Objective: Capture 50 facilities before RED army wipes YELLOW army off the map. Your Forces (Israel): A-4N Skyhawk x 2 CH-53 x 4 (Transport) F-15 Baz x 3 F-15I Raam x 2 F-16 Barak x 3 F-4E-2000 x 2 M-113 x 1 (Cap) RF-4 PhantomII x 2 Kfir C7 x 2 Truck x 2 Hughes 500MD (Lahatoot) x 4 Merkava Mk. 3 x 2 Merkava Mk. 4 x 6 Ramta RBY x 3 Paratroopers x 8 (Cap) Infantry x 2 (Cap) Supply Truck x 2 Strategy: Unlocks: Hughes 500MD (Lahatoot) (Israel) Merkava Mk. 4 (Israel) Hot Sands Offensive Map in Free Play ----------------------- Mission 12: Sea Monster ----------------------- Objective: Take out the enemy Lun craft. Your Forces (French): 155mm Deployed AS-532 Horizon x 5 KC-135FR x 2 Atlantic 2 x 4 Tiger x 6 Lafayette x 2 Support Tanker x 3 Strategy: This mission is a pain in the butt, no bones about it, lol. Anyway, use your Horizons for most of the searching and your Tigers for attack. Your Atlantics do pack quite a punch but their range is limited. Use the KC-135 FRs for mid-air refueling if you must. You will be forced to crawl along the waterways near RED capital to get the last couple of Luns. I believe I counted five of them total with 3 of them in the outer sea area and two in the waterways. This puts you in range of some pretty heavy anti-air cover so just take your hits and shots carefully and watch your ranges. Your Horizons can search about as far as your Tigers can travel. Most often you'll find the enemy Luns moving INTO your search range rather than you searching and destroying. Unlocks: AS-532 Horizon (France) Sea Monster Map available in Free Play ------------------------------- Mission 13: The Lost World ------------------------------- Objective: Get one of the Light Armored Vehicles to BLUE capital by turn 99. Rewards: Light Armored Vehicle (Japan) Lost World Map available in Free Play Strategy: This one is a challenge. To do this effectively you'll need to move your small group with the LAVs in it through hostile territory with one of the two enemies sporting Leopard tanks. If you're unfamiliar with those then this mission will indoctrinate you into their awesome firepower and high defense. You can time the advance of the LAV's through the front. Watch the cycle of attack/retreat and try to slip through when Red pulls their Leopard's back from the front. Chances are your group WILL get shattered but all you need is for one of those LAV's to make it to blue captial. Your small force near your capital can advance across the bridge and prepare the road as well. ------------------------------- Mission 14: The Oil Emperor ------------------------------- OBJECTIVES: Maintain at least 15 BLUE facilities while depleting RED Army's facilities to 15 or less within 20 turns. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Campaign Walthroughs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Herein I will attempt to describe and give general strategies to each Campaign Mode battle. While my strategies may not be the best I hope, in the future, to add strategies submitted by other players. Credit is, of course, given to those who help others out here. The grades listed after each battle's title are the grades I received for that battle. This should encourage you to a) do better and b) send in your strategy :) Each campaign has multiple battles, each is listed along with the starting units, goal, strategy, and unlock items (for beating said battle). Here is a map of Campaign Battles showing the branches througout. Campaign 1_____________________ 01: First Battlefield | | 02: Graduation | Campaign 2 ____________________ | 03: East Mediterranean War | ___________________________ | | 04: ?????? 05: Holy Warriors ----------------- Campaign 1: Officer Candidate (2 Battles) ----------------- 01: First Battlefield (S) --------------------- Your Units: Type 87 Type 89 Type 90 x 4 Type 99 x 2 MLRS Infantry x 2 Supply Truck Goal: Eliminate all opposition or capture the enemy's capital. Strategy: It's pretty easy to S-Rank this mission. I took a plodding 23 turns to beat it and still S-Ranked it without losing a single unit. The enemy will provide minimal opposition however he does have some good scouting units and ranged artillery so just stay on your toes. The M-1 tanks can also be a bother but just keep your Type 87 on the lookout. The enemy will try to sneak through the mountain pass by travelling slightly south of the road. If you keep your Type 87 looking out for that pass you should be fine, just be aware that if the enemy sights you he has a small battery of M109's ready to pound you. Make sure you get at least a little experience for ALL your units here and this includes the supply truck (have it finish off an infantry unit or something). This will allow you to save those units for use in the next campaign battle! Unlock: First Battlefield Map in Free Play mode. New campaign level: Graduation 02: Graduation (A) -------------- Your Units Type 87 Type 89 Type 90 x 2 AH-1S Cobra x 2 (Pack 1) F-2 x 2 (Pack 1) MLRS Infantry x 2 Goal: Eliminate all Red opposition or capture Red's capital. Strategy: Use your air units to act as recon. Watch out for the enemy F-16s and be prepared to work in cycles replenishing your aircraft's ammo. Red army has significantly more firepower than they did in the previous campaign mission but nothing you can't handle. It is possible to make it through this without losing a single whole unit (though the loss of sub units is inevitable). I recommend getting experience for ALL your units in the previous campaign mission as you'll have the ability to bring them out here. You don't start with a supply truck so having the one saved from the previous mission will help immensely. Unlock: Graduation Map in Free Play mode Type 61 SP (Japan) Type 74 SP1 (Japan) END OFFICER CANDIDATE CAMPAIGN - Credits roll ------------------------------ --------------------- Campaign 2: The Mediterranean War --------------------- 03: Taking the Bosporus ----------------------- Your Units (Russia) 2S19 MSTA-S x 3 2S6M Tunguska x 2 9A52 Smerch BMD-3 x 2 BMP-3 x 2 Ka-52 Hokum B (Pack 1) Mi-17 Hip H x 2 (Pack 1) Mi-24 Hind x 2 (Pack 1) Su-33 Flanker x 2 (Pack 1) Su-34 x 2 Su-35 T-72 x 2 T-90 x 5 Ivan Rogrov x 2 Udaloy x 2 Slava Tor M1 ADS x 2 Infantry x 3 Supply Truck x 2 No reinforcements Goal: Elmination of Red's army or capture of Red's capital. Strategy: Unlocks: Overtaking the Bosporus Map in Free Play Mode B+ Got CAMPAIGN 05 05: Holy Warriors ----------------- Your Units (Russia) 2S19 MSTA-S x 2 9A52 Smerch x 2 BMD-3 BTR-T Ka-50 Hokum Su-33 Flanker x 2 T-80 x 2 Admirial Kuznetsov Ivan Rogrov x 3 Tor M1 ADS x 1 Special Ops x 2 Supply Truck Campaign Battle 11: The Netherlands Your Units: AS90 Braveheart x 8 Challenger 1 x 5 Gazelle x 1 Harrier GR7 x 2 Infantry x 2 Jaguar GR3 x 2 Lynx Mk.9 Sabre x 3 Saxon x 2 Starstreak SP HVM x 2 Stryker x 8 Support Tanker x 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Tutorial Mode ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The following tutorials are presented in Tutorial Mode. You can, for the most part, get through them by pressing O repeatedly however at many points you'll need to move a specific unit to a specific location. At other times you'll need to select a particular command. In such cases the necessary choices are clearly indicated though for commands you'll need to match what you see in the instructions (Kanji) to what is in the command list. Playing through the tutorial unlocks the Tutorial Map in Free Play mode. 1-1 - Production, Land 1-2 - Production, Air 1-3 - Production, Sea 1-4 - Production 2-1 - Movement, Land 2-2 - Movement, Air 2-3 - Movement, Sea 2-4 - March Movement 3 - Enemy Detection 4-1 - Attacking (Indirect) 4-2 - Attacking (Move & Attack) 4-3 - Attacking (Megahex) 5-1 - Transport (Truck) 5-2 - Transport (Heli) 5-3 - Paratroopers 5-4 - Transport (Sea) 5-5 - Transport (Carriers) 6-1 - Repair 6-2 - Supply Trucks 6-3 - Supply Ships 6-4 - Repair of Aircraft 6-5 - Supply of Aircraft on Carriers 6-6 - Midair Refueling 6-7 - Repair/Supply of Ships 6-8 - Supply of Ships enroute 6-9 - Reoutfitting Aircraft 6-10 - Merging Units 7 - Capturing Facilities 8 - The Command Menu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Unlockables ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tutorial Map in Free Play Complete Tutorial mode First Battlefield Map in Free Play Complete Campaign Level First Battlefield Graduation Map in Free Play Complete Campaign Level Graduation Type 61 SP (Japan) Complete Campaign Level Graduation Type 74 SP1 (Japan) Complete Campaign Level Graduation Map Recruit Training in Free Play Complete Mission 1 in Mission Mode Map Capture the Base in Free Play Complete Mission 2 in Mission Mode MBT Type 69 (China) in Free Play Complete Mission 2 in Mission Mode WZ551 (China) in Free Play Complete Mission 2 in Mission Mode Long Bridge to Battle Map in FP Complete Mission 3 in Mission Mode Leopard 2A6 (Germany) Complete Mission 3 in Mission Mode F35B (America) Complete Mission 4 in Mission Mode Map Faraway Enemy in Free Play Complete Mission 4 in MIssion Mode Assault Ship Oosumi (Japan) Complete Mission 5 in Mission Mode Attack Heli AH-64 (Japan) Complete Mission 5 in Mission Mode Map Get Rick Quick in Free Play Complete Mission 5 in Mission Mode Naval Helicopter Lynx Mk. 8 (UK) Complete Mission 6 in Mission Mode Naval Helicopter Lynx Mk. 8 (Ger.) Complete Mission 6 in Mission Mode Map Enemies From the Deep in Free Complete Mission 6 in Mission Mode Type 99 Amph. Lt. Tank (China) Complete Mission 7 in Mission Mode Map Jungle Fortress in Free Play Complete Mission 7 in Mission Mode Destroyer Zumwalt (USA) Complete Mission 8 in Mission Mode Submarine Virginia (USA) Complete Mission 8 in Mission Mode Map Vermillion Keys in Free Play Complete Mission 8 in Mission Mode Map Hot and Cold in Free Play Complete Mission 9 in Mission Mode Foudre Assault Ship (France) Complete Mission 9 in Mission Mode AU-F-2 SPH (France) Complete Mission 9 in Mission Mode EOF