Last minute STEEL PANTHERS INFORMATION - Version 1.0


MANUAL ERRATA

It is highly recommended that to get the most out of the game that 
you read the following information in this readme file. Several options 
and changes were made to the rule book after it was printed. Any 
information noted here in supersedes the information printed in the 
rule book. 


SUGGESTIONS FOR FIRST TIME PLAYERS:

While it is relatively easy in Steel Panthers to start moving units 
and blowing things up right away, we STRONGLY URGE you to work through 
the Tutorial in the manual step by step in order to understand the 
full game.

The tutorial walks you through the process of buying units, deploying 
them, and playing a first scenario in a campaign. Once you work through 
the tutorial we advise that you play several stand-alone scenarios to 
get usedto the game before you jump in to playing a campaign.
Here are some suggestions for easy scenarios:

*  Charge to Glory: Play the Germans.
*  Stinging the Bear: Play the Finns.
*  Gela counter-attack: Play the Americans.
*  When Tigers Pounce: This one is a scenario with few units.

Hint: If at any time the game seems too difficult, change the 
difficultysetting in the Options Menu to Easy. Also, please note that 
the game is usually much more challenging when you are the attacking force. 
Since there is a limited number of turns for every scenario, games are 
easier to win when you are the defending player, especially when there are 
more than about three main victory objective areas the computer must take.

SHIFT KEY uses:

You may purposely stack up to two units in the same hex by holding 
down the Shift Key and left-clicking on the hex containing another unit 
while you are playing the game. Also, while deploying troops in the 
Deployment Menu only, if you do not wish for the computer to automatically 
advance to the next unit after placing a unit, hold down the 
Shift Key while placing a unit. Afterwards, to go to the next unit select
Next or Previous. 

SPACEBAR:

When viewing video footage, simply hit the spacebar or ESC key on the 
keyboard to stop the video. Also, you need to use the spacebar to
stop a game if the computer is playing itself.


CAMPAIGN Notes:

1) Please note that a good first campaign to play is Poland 1939, 
as it is relatively easy.

2) Playing as the Japanese in a long campaign is a real challenge, as 
the Japanese have a difficult time defeating tanks. Hint: Use Japanese 
engineer infantry to attack Allied tanks with satchel charges.

3) Playing as the Russians in a long campaign before 1942 is also 
quite challenging as the morale of the Russian units is generally 
low and they have a difficult time with the generally superior German 
unit types prior to 1942. Hint: Buy T-34's as soon as they become 
available.

4) When playing a long random campaign, there are certain instances 
where you will complete a battle and be presented with an option to 
fight a special battle, either a pursuit (which you can decline to 
accept) or a counter-attack. (which you may NOT decline). In these 
battles you will gain more experience points than from a normal 
battle; however, you will NOT have the option to repair/rebuild your 
core units before this fight! You will sometimes be given the option 
to purchase some support troops before these special battles. 

We do NOT recommend you try options 2 or 3 above until you are 
experienced with the game and ready for a real challenge.

5) During campaign games, you may have an option to do a beach 
assault. You do NOT have to purchase landing craft for your units. 
They are automatically assigned for the battle.


MENU ADDITIONS/CHANGES:

1) Playing by E-Mail:

After you have ended your turn in a human vs human game and saved 
it to one of the two E-Mail save slots, you then send that E-Mail 
save file from the E-Mail sub-directory to your opponent 
electronically. Your opponent must copy the E-Mail save file to 
his/her E-Mail sub-directory and then load it like any other save 
game. There are no passwords associated with this option. You must 
play using the honor system.

2) Tutorial (page 5):

Please note that when playing campaigns that a menu not discussed 
in the manual will come up before you purchase your core units. 
This menu is where you decide the quality level of the units you 
wish to purchase (green, average, or veteran) and where you decide 
if you want foot, mechanized, or motorized infantry. If you choose 
"veteran" instead of the default average, then your troops will come 
with more experience but you will have 20% less battle points to spend 
than average. Selecting "green" gives you inexperienced troops but 
20% more battle points to spend than average. Troops aren't actually 
more or less expensive, as discussed in the manual,you just receive a 
different number of battle points depending on the quality of troops 
you buy. See page 23 in the manual for more information.

Also note that there are actually four experience levels for your 
units and each is represented by a graphic icon badge in the upper 
right section of the unit information display as follows:
	
Green = The icon has a large "G" in it. Green units have little combat 
experience and their experience levels are generally under 50 points.
	
Average = The icon has two Corporal stripes. Average units have some 
combat experience and their experience levels are between 50 and 79.
	
Veteran = The icon has two Corporal stripes over a bar. Veteran 
units have good combat experience and their experience levels are 
between 80 and 100. 
	
Elite = The icon is a star. Elite units may not be purchased, but 
get to be Elite only through combat. Any unit with over 100 
experience points is considered Elite. 

Troops are more likely to increase in experience if they are Green 
than if they are Veteran. See page 32 in the manual for more 
information on experience.

3) Placing Units (page 9): Please note that you may NOT stack units 
with a shift key during deployment as described in the manual. 

4) Deploy Entire Formation (page 9): Please note that you must first 
activate a unit in the formation, place that unit where you want it, 
and then select the Deploy Entire Formation button or the "A" key and 
the rest of the units in that formation will group themselves around 
the unit you just placed.

5) Loading Units (page 10): Please note that when loading units onto 
landing craft or river barges, that you MUST click on the landing 
craft/barge first and then select the Load Unit button or the "L" 
key in order to load something onto them. Also, only single units 
may be loaded onto barges. For example, a truck carrying infantry 
must first unload the infantry in order to load onto the barge. 
Barges are normally purchased by purchasing trucks called Barge 
Carriers from the MISC section in the purchase menu. The barges then 
must be unloaded from these Barge Carriers when you are adjacent to a 
river hex. 

6) Shooting Units in the Rear (page 13): Please note that if you move 
a tank within two hexes of an enemy tank that the enemy will have time 
to turn itself to face you (it sees you coming). To get a rear shot on 
a tank it is advised that you shoot at it from about 3 hexes away.
If the target vehicle is out of ammo, then you can move adjacent to it 
and shoot at it from behind, without it turning to face.

7) Direct Fire (page 14): You cannot use direct fire against hexes 
that you cannot see. The manual leads you to believe that you can.

8) Surrender (page 19): You must be adjacent to an enemy unit when you 
fire on it in order to have a chance to make it surrender. The manual 
says within two hexes.

9) Score (page 21): Please note that a decisive victory is when you 
score 10 times as many points as your opponent, a marginal victory is 
when you score twice as many points as your opponent. Anything 
between 2 to 1 and 1 to 2 is considered a draw.

10) The Purchase Menu has a few new options:
	
a) "Delete", this button deletes the last formation you purchased. 

b) "Mission", this button informs you of your basic mission in the 
next battle.

c) Please note that you should never purchase more than 20 individual 
planes or off-map support artillery units. As only 20 will be 
displayed in the bombardment menu at a time. So, if you buy more than 
20, then the others will not be available until some of the first 20 
run out of ammo. It really wouldn't make much sense to purchase that 
much artillery and it is rare that you will have enough battle points 
available to do so. 

11) Artillery Bombardment Menu:

a) There is an additional "Eye" button for showing the data of the 
unit. 
Note: this is in place of the right-click option discussed in the 
manual.
	
12) The HQ Menu is no longer in the Orders menu. It is available from 
the Options menu and the graphic looks like a large tent, not a 
clipboard as displayed in the manual (see page 28). Also, there are 
several abbreviations used in this menu which are displayed near the 
unit list on the right side of the screen. They are:
	 
H  = Current formation leader/HQ attached to that unit, 
KO = Unit destroyed or knocked out, 
IM = Immobilized, 
AB = Unit has been abandoned, 
Numbers (1,2,3etc.) indicate the number of men killed if infantry or 
how badly the unit is damaged, in points, if a non-infantry type unit.
	
13) Show Units: There is a new option in the Orders menu called "Show 
Units", it has a clipboard icon on the button. This option displays a 
sub-menu showing all your active units in the game. This is a great 
way to determine quickly who hasn't moved or who can still shoot.

a) "ID" shows the unit ID on a button; when you click on this button, 
you will be moved to the location of that unit. 
b) "Name" displays the current name of the unit. 
c) "Status" displays current status of unit, such as dug in, 
positioned, or if the unit is a passenger.
d) "Move" shows how many move points unit has left.
e) "Shots" displays the current number of shots the unit has 
available. 
f) "Sup" displays current suppression for the unit.
g) "HE" displays total rounds of HE ammo for the unit.
h) "AP" displays total rounds of AP ammo for the unit.
i) "Dam" indicates the number of men killed if infantry or how badly 
the unit is damaged, in points, if a non-infantry type unit.
j) "Exp" displays the current experience rating for the unit.
k) "Mor" displays the current morale rating for the unit.

14) Options Menu: There are several new options available (see page 29 
for comparison):

a) There is no Sound Effects/Music Menu option. Instead, there are 
separate buttons to turn the music on/off, to turn the sound effects 
on/off, and to adjust the sound effects volume. Please note that the 
music volume must be adjusted on your speakers themselves or through 
the sound card, as the music is CD quality redbook audio music and 
cannot be adjusted from within the game program. You may play tracks 
2, 3, & 4 from the Steel Panthers CD on any audio CD player to listen 
to the music from the game.

b) There is no CHQ Link On/Off option. Command Control is always 
active.

c) "Change message level" allows you to set the amount of detail (Low, 
Medium, High) you wish to see displayed in game messages. If you set 
this level High, then you will see many messages detailing what is 
happening during combat. For faster play, set the level to Low.

d) "Name current Formation Leader" in addition to naming the current 
unit and current unit leader, you may also change the current Formation 
Leader's name.

e) Please note that adjusting the difficulty level from the options 
menu affects only your (and not your opponent's) difficulty level.

15) Unit information screen:

a) The number of enemy units killed by an individual unit are 
displayed as graphical icons rather than a number. The big tank 
represents either 10 or 100 kills (a number will appear over them)  
and a small one represents a single kill. It is important to note 
that kills refers to the kills of the leader, not the unit. So, if a 
leader is killed and replaced by a new leader, the kills will go back 
to zero for that unit. Also, "Kills" are complete units wiped out. If 
that unit/leader is the last unit to kill the last man in a squad 
then the unit which killed the last man gets credit for the kill. 
Killing individual men does not register as a "Kill". 

b) Next to "AP" is the heading "Range" which is the maximum number of 
hexes that weapon may fire.


BATTLE GENERATOR:

There is a new option which lets you decide who deploys the troops 
after they are purchased:

Auto:   Lets the computer deploy both sides.
Select: Lets each player deploy their own units.
Manual: Lets the human player deploy his units and the computer's.


BUILDING CUSTOM SCENARIOS:

1) Note that this option is for die-hard players who want to create 
very detailed scenarios. To quickly generate random battles we suggest 
you use the Battle Generator. The build a complete scenario option 
was originally intended to be used by our scenario designers only, 
but we decided to put it in the game at the last minute for your 
enjoyment. Proceed at your own risk. Note that changes only affect 
the scenario you are editing. If, for example, you change unit data, 
it only affects units in that scenario not the entire unit data base. 

2) Change Objective Hexes option:
You are automatically given 21 victory objective flags which default 
to 3 groups of 7 flags. You may NOT add more than this number. To 
have fewer objective hexes (minimum 1), simply click and move a flag 
into a hex already occupied by another flag. Flags have their own 
victory points, not hexes. So, if you move 3 flags worth 50 points 
each into the same hex, then when playing the game the player who 
occupies that hex will receive 150 points. 

3) Edit Unit Data option:
	
a) When asked to edit your leader's rank you must input a number 
which represents the rank. Here are the number equivalents:

1= Private   2= Corporal   3= Sergeant  4= 2nd Lieutenant (Lt.)    
5= 1st Lt.   6= Captain    7= Major     8= Lt. Colonel  9= Colonel.
	
b) Most unit data values you can change, such as unit armor and speed, 
max out at 255. Although leader statistics, and unit experience/morale 
max out at 140.

4) Map Editor:
	
a) To place a Government building or multi-hex building you will need 
a lot of clear space. You should clear the map first and then place any 
big buildings first before setting up smaller ones.
b) Right-clicking while setting up a building will only place a cluster 
of buildings in that hex, it will not allow you to view different 
buildings as stated in rule book.

5) Saving Scenarios:

a) Caution!  When saving scenarios you create, they will be added 
to the list of available scenarios already supplied with the game. 
Currently you may create and save 140 scenarios. There are 60 
scenarios that come with the game for a total of 200 scenarios you 
can have access to at any one time.You can save over another scenario 
already there if you need space for more than 140 scenarios. If you do 
save over a scenario supplied with the game and you want to play it 
again, you will need to reinstall the scenarios from the Steel Panthers 
CD to your hard drive.

b) When you load a saved game you will be asked to choose player control. 
This allows you to let another human take over the computer, for example, 
to play against you. 
	

COMBAT:

1) Entrenchments: All units gain defensive benefits from sandbag and 
foxhole entrenchments.

2) Shots:   

a) When unloading any unit, the unloaded unit will lose 1 available 
shot for that turn. This does not affect your ammo for the game. 
You don't lose ammo, just the time to shoot.
	
b) Remember that shots is the number of times that unit can fire 
during its turn. This varies according to the unit type (example: 
large tanks shooting big shells take longer to load), the number of 
men in the unit (example: if an anti-tank gun loses one or two of its 
crew members, then they will not be able to load the gun as quickly, 
hence they will receive less shots per turn and tanks with bigger 
crews get more shots), status of the unit (example: pinned units get 
less shots) and experience level of the crew & the leadership value of 
the unit leader. Elite units can actually receive more shots than Green 
units. You usually receive at least 1 or 2 shots per turn unless the 
unit is in bad shape.
	
c) If your unit is shot at there is a chance the unit will lose shots. 
If your shots listed go to 0 (zero) or if at the start of your turn the 
unit has no shots, then check the unit information screen as individual 
weapons can get destroyed or knocked out of action. If the weapon is no 
longer in the list on the info screen, then it has been destroyed.

d) If you successfully rally one of your units who has suppression, 
you may recieve an extra shot for that turn. So, its a good ideal to 
rally your suppressed units before you shoot. Remember units also
shoot better with less suppression.

3) Mines:  When clearing mines, you will see a message on screen which 
says "X" number of mines cleared followed by a number in parenthesis (#). 
The number in parentheses is the number of mines left in the hex.

4) Pulling Back:  Sometimes when infantry come under fire they will 
attempt to pull back; if so, the message "Pulling Back" is displayed. 
Infantry 
can only pull back up to 3 hexes away. Also, if infantry have "smoke" 
they will normally fire it automatically in an attempt to cover their 
retreat.

5) Dragonteeth:  Engineers have the ability to clear dragonteeth; you 
must move them into the hex containing the obstacle and wait for a 
turn or more in order to remove them. Dragonteeth in a hex prevent 
tanks from moving through the hex until engineer infantry have removed 
them.

6) Pinned units:  There is a chance that a pinned unit may stay pinned
for the duration of the scenario depending on the environment around 
the unit (tanks in flames, casualties, no leader in sight, etc.). Also, 
once an infantry unit is less than half strength it will be very 
difficult for it to rally below 10 points of suppression. 

7) Facing: While facing direction is important for vehicles in the game 
as they have different armor for the various sides of the vehicle, 
facing is only important for infantry in that they see better in the 
direction they are facing.

8) Close assault: If infantry are riding on a vehicle when it is 
close assaulted by enemy infantry the infantry will absorb the assault. 
This is a good tactic to keep your tanks alive when fighting in close 
with enemy infantry.

9) Planes: BE CAREFUL when using your planes to attack enemy positions when
there is lots of smoke in the air or too close to your own units, as planes
can kill their own troops accidently in these instances.

10) Japanese infantry never surrender, & never rout. They are very 
difficult to dislodge from dug-in positions. Use HEAVY firepower 
(tanks, artillery, planes, flamethrowers, and anything else handy) 
to kill them.

11) US Marines never surrender.

MOVEMENT:

1) When using "All Formation" move mode, be careful if transport vehicles 
such as barges belong to the same formation. This movement mode will 
move everything, including the barges after you have unloaded your unit. 
Also, since this movement mode is a little tricky to use, it is turned 
off at the beginning of each turn. You will need to select it each turn 
if you wish to use it. "All Formation" move is great for moving 
formations down a road, but is dangerous to use in combat as the 
"undo" button doesn't work when in this mode.

2) Slow Movement:  Units will gain a defensive bonus if they only move 1 
hex during the game turn. However, this is most often not practical as 
there are time limits for each scenario.

3) Unable to load units? Routed or retreating units will not be able to load 
onto vehicles, you must rally them first.

4) Can't move units? Either you have already moved the unit that turn, 
it is a routing unit (computer is moving it), or it is a vehicle which 
has been immobilized (look at the unit status display, and/or look at 
the Speed rating in the unit information display which will show a 0 
(zero) if the unit is so damaged that it can no longer move).
Also, if your units are retreating or routing, you will NOT be able to 
move them until you rally them and their status changes to 
"positioned". They will attempt to retreat from the enemy under 
computer control.

5) My truck/transport vehicle disappeared? If you choose the Motorized 
or Mechanized transportation option (see page 23) and you cross a river 
by having your infantry use their inflatable rafts, then the transport 
associated with that infantry unit will no longer be available for that 
battle. You will have the transport available at the beginning of the 
next turn.

6) "M" key: If you hit the "m" key while playing, it will toggle on a 
undocumented smooth move mode. We do not recommend you play in this mode.

SPOTTING:

1) Sometimes it is difficult to see your units on the map during combat 
because of all the smoke and destroyed units. If you are having trouble 
seeing units on the map display, use the CLR button to clear away the 
smoke, and/or turn the unit ID tags option on in order to see the units 
more clearly. 

2) Units can spot or "see" enemy units into light smoke hexes. 

3) On "Easy and "Average" play level settings, your units spot adjacent 
units automatically if those units have fired at your unit. Don't 
forget, that if a vehicle drives right next to one of your infantry 
units in a building or woods and you don't fire at them, there is a 
chance that unit may go undetected by the enemy. It depends on the 
"Visibility" of the scenario, whether the enemy vehicle is carrying 
infantry, and the experience level of the enemy vehicle. Infantry are 
normally able to see adjacent units. On "Hard" play difficulty setting, 
there is a chance your unit may not spot enemy units adjacent to them, 
even if that unit fired at them. This makes for more realistic game play 
as this allows infantry to sneak up on vehicles in rough terrain, but it 
is more difficult to play at this level.

4) Direct Fire Smoke options and Direct Fire Attack (HE) options can 
only be used against hexes that are in your unit's line of sight. 


ENCYCLOPEDIA:

The on-screen encyclopedia for tanks and planes will only display the 
units available during that time period. For example, if you are 
playing a game which is set in 1940 and you wish to view French 
vehicles, then you will see what they had available at that time. 
If you are playing a game in 1945 and you wish to view French 
vehicles you will only see American/British vehicles listed as that 
is what the Free French had access to at that time.


COMPUTER VS COMPUTER:

If you choose computer vs computer, choose Quit Orders and the scenario 
will begin with the computer playing the computer. Hit the spacebar to 
stop the game at the beginning of the next turn.


STAY TUNED FOR MODEM PLAY AND AN IMPROVED 2-PLAYER GAME...

We are hoping to attempt to produce a free upgrade, to owners of Steel 
Panthers, which will provide for 2-player modem play and an improved 
2-player game. Look for this on America Online, CompuServe, GEnie, or 
the SSI BBS sometime before Christmas. See the Steel Panthers Data Card 
on how to contact the SSI BBS and SSI ONLINE.

