Games PC CLOSE COMBAT III-THE RUSSIAN FRONT User Manual

4.6 (10)
Games PC CLOSE COMBAT III-THE RUSSIAN FRONT User Manual

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Document No. X04-03133-1298

i

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Close Combat III:

The Russian Front

Contents

iv Quicksktart!

1Chapter 1:

Gearing Up for Gameplay

1The Game

2Your Objective

2Scenario Types

3Rank and Promotions

3Installing and Starting the Game

3Entering Boot Camp (Optional)

3Choosing a Scenario

4Viewing Historical Information (Optional)

5Assembling Your Forces

7Getting Your Briefing

7Choosing Game Settings (Optional)

9 Starting the Game

9Choosing Additional Options (Optional)

12Chapter 2: Fighting Battles, Operations, and Campaigns

12 Surveying the Battlefield

14Deploying Units

15Starting the Battle

15Issuing Orders

18 Interpreting Order Dots

18Using Your Weapons Effectively

20Taking Prisoners and Rallying Separated Soldiers

21Viewing Battlefield Status

21Ending a Battle

22Checking the Status of Your Soldiers

22Winning and Losing: The Debriefing Screen

24Chapter 3:

Strategy and Tactics

24Determining Your Basic Strategy

25Managing Your Teams

27Using Terrain to Your Benefit

29 On the Attack

32 On the Defense

34Using Cover and Protection

35Checking Fields of Fire

35Clearing Mines and Passing Through Minefields

36 Chapter 4: Unit Tactics

36Using Command Teams

36Using Infantry Teams

37Using Other Teams as Infantry

37Using Rifle Teams

38Using Engineer Teams

38Using Snipers

38 Using Support Teams

42Using Armor Teams

43Conserving Ammunition

iii

43Attacking Crews in Vehicles

44Chapter 5:

Building Your Own Scenarios

44Starting the Scenario Editor

44Choosing a Game

45Choosing Maps

45 Adjusting Game Settings

48 Editing Map Elements

50Selecting Forces

51Saving and Playing Custom Scenarios

51 Copying Custom Games

52Chapter 6: Multiplayer Games

52 Types of Connections

52Using an Internet TCP/IP Connection

53Using an IPX Connection

53Using a Modem Connection

53Using a Serial Connection

53Using the MSN Gaming Zone

55Communicating with Your Opponent

56 Index

Keyboard and Mouse Input

(inside back cover)

iv

Quickstart!

1. Install the game and click Play Close Combat.

2. On the Main menu, click Play A Game.

3. On the Command screen, click the scenario you want to play.

Click Next.

4. On the Requisition screen, review the troops you are going to take into battle, and then click Next again.

5. On the combat screen, deploy your troops: Click and drag each unit to a new position. (Or keep the default deployment.)

6. If you want to issue starting orders to any units, right-click a unit and then click the order you want. (The Defend or Ambush orders are in effect by default.)

7. When you have your units in position and have issued any orders you want, click Begin.

On to victory!

Chapter 1: Gearing up for Gameplay

1

Chapter 1

Gearing Up for Gameplay

June, 1941.

A huge German army waits on that country’s border with Russia. An even more immense Russian army stands by on the other side. Both are about to enter a massive four-year war unparalleled in history. From Finland to the Caucasus Mountains, over 5 million Germans will fight against the Russians while more than 30 million Russians battle the Germans. German casualties will exceed 3 million; Russian casualties, including civilians, a staggering 43 million.

It will be a conflict of contrasts: of warfare on endless plains and in city streets; of disciplined soldiers against untrained, unequipped conscripts; of exhausting summer heat and brutal winters so cold that rifle bolts shatter. Whole armies will panic and run; whole divisions will stand and fight to the last man. It will also be a conflict of similarities. On each side, brutal dictators terrorize civilians and order soldiers to fight to the death. Neither will stop until the other is completely destroyed.

It will be the greatest and longest land battle ever fought, starting as a conflagration rolling east toward Moscow, blazing along a 3,000-mile front, and then rolling back to consume Berlin. It will be a fire in the east that heralds a new world order.

The Game

Close Combat III: The Russian Front transports you to the squad-level war in the eastern arena of World War II. Your men in the trenches respond like real soldiers—they react authentically to the stress of combat and are affected by their fatigue level, ability, physical and mental condition, and other factors. The game adds a role-playing element by making you the commander of a fire brigade—a special company of elite troops moving among hot spots on the Eastern Front. You are responsible for keeping your men alive and for advancing your own rank, which, in turn, increases the size and quality of your forces. As the four years of conflict pass and both German and Russian technology improves, you can add new and better weapons to your arsenal.

You are in control of the scope and complexity of your game. You can start simple—with individual battles—and then progress to operations, campaigns, and finally, to the game’s Grand Campaign. You can also design custom scenarios for battles. For example, you can set up a battle in which you are surrounded and outnumbered but have an advantage in firepower and experience over your opponent.

German Rifle Teams

(Schützen including ErsatzSchützen)

Rifle teams were the backbone of the German army. Armed with bolt-action rifles that were accurate and effective at short to medium range, soldats (infantrymen) fought their way across Russia—on foot. These teams had some antitank (AT) weapons: cluster bombs early in the war; Panzerfäusts later on.

2Close Combat III: The Russian Front

Russian troops firing at German planes near Leningrad. The soldier in the foreground is firing a Panfilov antitank rifle. A holdover from World War I, its high velocity, 14.5mm slug was unable to penetrate most midto latewar tank armor.

“You can no longer retreat across the Volga. There is only one road, the road that leads forward.

Stalingrad will be saved by you, or be wiped out with you.”

— Russian orders to the troops in Stalingrad

Your Objective

Your objective is to win battles by inflicting casualties and capturing victory locations—points of strategic importance—without wasting your men. You use your skills on the battlefield and your abilities as a strategist to attain this objective. For example, you can win battles by being aggressive and using frontal or flanking assaults to capture the enemy’s victory locations. You can also win by infiltrating the enemy’s positions and launching surprise attacks. Or, you can take a defensive stance, successfully protect your victory locations against the enemy, and then counterattack your weakened foe.

Your choice of an offensive or a defensive battle has implications for the teams you choose and how you deploy them. If you plan on attacking, you need teams capable of movement (infantry teams) and of providing suppression fire (machine gun, mortar, and gun teams). You’ll need to deploy some of your teams so they can suppress your opponent while the remainder attack enemy positions. For defensive tactics, going heavy on firepower and light on mobility is the rule. However, you might want some mobile forces for rapid movement to danger points or for counterattacks. For further information on choosing teams and deploying them effectively, see Chapter 3, “Strategy and Tactics.”

Scenario Types

You can choose from three types of scenarios in Close Combat III: The Russian Front: battles, operations, and campaigns. Battles involve only one map; an operation is a series of battles played one after another. For example, the Roads to Moscow operation consists of four battles: Panzers in the Snow, The First Fortification Ring, Next Stop Moscow, and Battle for the Kremlin.

A campaign takes place on an even greater scale: it is a series of operations played one after another. The game’s Grand Campaign comprises all the operations in the game, covering the four-year duration of the war on the Russian Front.

When you play operations or campaigns, the results carry over from battle to battle. For example, a team other than a command team that is wiped out in the first battle of an operation will not be available in subsequent battles of the operation. However, units that survive successive battles become better soldiers because their experience and cohesion improves with time.

Between each battle of an operation or campaign, you’ll need to make decisions regarding the units that make up your fighting force. You can

Chapter 1: Gearing up for Gameplay

3

add new units to your surviving force, refit surviving units with new recruits and equipment, or choose to rest surviving units for refit in a later battle.

Rank and Promotions

When you play campaigns, you receive promotions based how you perform during battles. Promotions are valuable because they improve the quality of commanders. As a commander improves, he can effectively command a larger area of the battlefield. Also, each time you are promoted, you can add a new unit to your fighting force. For example, if you are a first lieutenant and you’re promoted to the rank of captain, you are allocated 14 teams instead of 13.

Higher rank carries a price, however; you are expected to maintain higher force strength and gain more victory locations than a commander at a lower rank.

Installing and Starting the Game

1Insert the game CD into the CD-ROM drive. Setup will run automatically.

If Setup does not start, run Setup.exe from the Windows directory on the CD.

2When the Setup screen appears, click Install Close Combat.

3Double-click the Close Combat III: The Russian Front icon.

4On the introductory screen, click Play Close Combat. The introductory video plays, and the Main screen appears.

MP-40

German Scout Teams

Aufklärungs - Assault

German scout teams often served as

“eyes” for the Wehrmacht. Armed primarily with submachine guns, they were particularly effective in closequarters fighting (house-to-house and forests). Although scout teams had no antitank (AT) weapons early in the war, they had Panzerfäusts later on.

Entering Boot Camp (Optional)

To get you started commanding troops, Close Combat III provides Boot Camp, an online tutorial for learning basic battlefield skills. To start the tutorial, on the Main screen, click

Boot Camp (Training).

Choosing a Scenario

You choose the scenario you want to play using the Command screen. Close Combat III has built-in battles, operations, and campaigns that are based on actual World War II scenarios. Or you can create custom scenarios (see Chapter 5), and then go back to the Command screen to start your custom game. You can also play saved games; you can start an operation one day, save it, and then pick up where you left off at another time.

To bring up the Command screen

On the Main screen, click Play a Game.

Although they do not present a full picture of the fighting on the Russian Front, the casualty statistics help define the totality and scale of the fighting. By war’s end, the Russians mobilize nearly 35 million men and women into military service. Total Russian military casualties in the war probably exceed 28 million— nearly 9 million killed, 15 million wounded, and over 4 million captured or missing. Civilian deaths probably exceed 15 million, which means over 25 million Russian soldiers and civilians died on the Russian Front. By comparison, total American combat deaths in World

War II, in both the European and Pacific Theaters, were less than 600,000.

4Close Combat III: The Russian Front

To choose a scenario type

In the upper-left corner of the Command screen, in the Game Types list box, select the type of scenario you want to play: Historical Battles,

Historical Operations, Historical Campaigns, Custom Scenarios, or Saved Games. (Saved Games is unavailable until you play a game and save it.)

A battery of Russian ZP39 85mm anti-aircraft guns. Although originally designed solely for the anti-aircraft roll, the ZP39—like its German counterpart, the FlaK 43 8.8cm AA gun—found much favor on the front lines as an antitank gun. Its high velocity 85mm rounds were devastating against even the heaviest of German armor.

To browse the scenarios

The box in the left portion of the screen contains a list showing the type of scenario you chose in the previous step. Click one and a thumbnail of the map you’ll be contesting appears in the lower-left portion

of the screen. If you’re playing an operation, the screen shows all maps you’ll be fighting for. If you’re playing a campaign, the maps for the campaign’s first operation appear. For a saved campaign, you see the maps for the operation you are about to begin.

To view information about another scenario, click it in the list box.

For more detailed information about any scenario, click the Briefing button on the toolbar. The briefing is fully explained in “Getting Your Briefing” later in this chapter.

To choose sides

On the right side of the Command screen, click the flag of the side you want to play.

You can set other gameplay options at this time, as described in “Choosing Game Settings” later in this chapter.

German Heavy Assault Teams

Kampfstaffel

These German infantry teams carried heavy weapons: the hand-held assault versions of the MG-42, the FG-42, cluster bombs (early war), and Panzerfäusts (later war). They laid down heavy fire effective at medium to long range, but were slower than other infantry because of the weight of their heavy weapons.

To load the scenario you want to play

In the list box of scenarios, double-click the one you want to play. Or, if it is already selected, you can click Next to bring up the Requisition screen. For operations and campaigns, enter a name for the scenario in the dialog box that appears. Your game is automatically saved under this name after each battle.

Viewing Historical Information (Optional)

If you are playing an operation or campaign, you can view historical information about it:

1On the toolbar, click History. The History screen appears.

2In the map, right-click the operation you want to read about. (Operations appear as red dots and are labeled with white text.)

Chapter 1: Gearing up for Gameplay

5

Assembling Your Forces

On the left side of the Requisition screen is the Force Pool list box, which displays the teams you can requisition. The teams in your fighting force appear on the right side, in the Active Roster list box. An asterisk denotes that a team is equipped for winter conditions.

In single battles and in the first battle of an operation, all team slots in the Active Roster except for one are already filled. As an operation or campaign progresses, you are given more team slots and requisition points—the currency you use to “buy” teams. The number of slots depends on your primary commander’s rank; the higher the commander’s rank, the more teams you’re allowed (up to 15) and the higher the quality of the teams available to you. When you’re playing campaigns, winning operations advances the rank of your commander, which gives you more team slots for the next battle.

You are given a fixed number of requisition points at the beginning of each battle, and you receive more as the operation progresses. Your requisition points are displayed in the lower-right corner of the Requisition screen.

Viewing Different Types and Quality of Teams

You can choose the type of teams in your force. Close Combat III includes command, infantry, armor, and support teams:

German Flamethrowers

Flammenwerfer Units

German flamethrower teams were used against strongpoints, infantry, and vehicles. Flamethrowers were employed effectively in ambush or with plenty of infantry support. Unfortunately, these weapons were nearly as dangerous to their users as they were to the enemy. They were also very heavy, limiting mobility.

Command teams provide command and control on the battlefield; they improve the performance of teams within their command radius.

Infantry teams are foot soldiers armed primarily with rifles, submachine guns, and hand grenades. Infantry teams can also have heavier weapons, including machine guns, flamethrowers, and antitank (AT) weapons.

Armor teams consist of tanks, tank destroyers, self-propelled guns, and armored cars.

Support teams include halftracks, field guns, mortars, machine guns, flamethrowers, and AT weapons.

To display a different type of team

1Click the Team Types list box. The available team types appear.

2Click Command, Infantry, Armor, or Support. The teams of the type you chose appear in the Force Pool box.

A German 8cm mortar team. This photograph clearly shows how these teams could become fatigued when moving on foot. The three basic components (tube, base plate, and tripod) had a total weight of 124 pounds—without ammunition.

6Close Combat III: The Russian Front

To display a different quality of team

You can choose the quality of the teams in your force; Close Combat III includes conscript, regular, and elite units. Conscript units have poor training and adequate weapons; elite teams have the best training and finest weapons.

1Click the Team Quality list box. The available quality options appear.

2Click Conscripts, Regular, or Elite. The teams belonging to the degree of quality you chose appears in the Force Pool box.

8cm Mortar

German Mortars

Granatenwerfer 5, 8 and 12cm mortars

The German Army used mortars as close support artillery: to support infantry attacks, break up enemy assaults, lay smoke screens, and shell enemy mortar and artillery units. The 5cm and 8cm mortar teams were mobile, but the 12cm mortar teams were hard to move. The Germans had to use mortar ammunition sparingly because of the shaky supply situation on the Russian Front.

Getting Information on Units

You can get both basic and detailed information about the teams displayed in the Force Pool list box. This information is displayed in the Unit Description box below the Force Pool list box.

To see a unit description

In the Force Pool list box, click a team.

To see details about and the current status of a team

With the team selected, click the Details button.

Detailed information and current status appears in the box. You can go back to the information you saw in the previous step by clicking Info. Or you can view details on another team by clicking it in the Force Pool box.

To get the sound and name of each weapon in a team

After clicking Details, click the picture of a weapon in the right portion of the box. Often, the most important difference between infantry teams is the types of weapons they carry.

Moving Teams to the Active Roster

When you choose teams, you move them from the Force Pool to the Active Roster. After you fill all the slots or use all your requisition points, you can choose more teams only if you retire one from your active force. When you’re playing an operation or campaign, you might not want to use all of your available requisition points for each battle; you can accumulate them to use in trouble spots later.

To add a team to your active roster

In the Force Pool box, double-click the team you want to add. The unit moves from the Force Pool box to the Active Force box.

To retire a team from your active force

In the Active Roster box, select the team you want to retire and click the Retire button. You can also double-click the team you want to retire. The unit moves to the Force Pool box.

Chapter 1: Gearing up for Gameplay

7

To cancel all of your selections

On the toolbar, click Revert. The Force Pool and Active Roster return to their original state.

Getting Your Briefing

The briefing includes a short description of the terrain and your disposition in the upcoming battle or operation. You can view your briefing any time prior to actually deploying troops and fighting.

1On the toolbar, click Briefing. The Briefing screen appears.

2Click the Battle Briefing button to display the battle briefing text or the Operation Briefing button to display the operation briefing text.

Choosing Game Settings (Optional)

The game settings currently in effect appear on the right side of the Command screen. You can use the default settings, or you can customize your game.

To bring up the Settings dialog box, click the Settings button, located in the upper-right portion of the Command screen.

Choosing Player Name and Side

Your default player and online name is Commander, but you can change this name to anything you choose:

“…the only person who feared no one. He was not afraid of Stalin.”

— Marshal Semyon Timoshenko’s assessment of Marshal Georgi Zhukov

 

 

Marshal Georgi Zhukov

 

 

 

 

 

 

(1896–1974)

 

 

 

Zhukov is considered by the Russian people,

After the Russian victory in the war’s greatest tank battle at Kursk,

 

 

and by most non-Russian military observers,

Zhukov takes command of all the fronts facing the center of the

 

 

to be the greatest military hero of the “Great

German lines in June 1944. He directs these fronts to the Russians’

 

 

Patriotic War.” Zhukov’s military skills are

great breakthrough—the collapse of Army Group Center in

 

 

matched by a knack for politics and public

Belorussia. After the fall of Warsaw the Russians drive across

 

 

relations, which keep him in Stalin’s good

Prussia, slowed only occasionally by supply problems, to the Battle of

 

 

 

graces for the duration of World War II. For most of the war, Zhukov is

Berlin. The battle ends with Zhukov accepting the German surrender.

 

Deputy Supreme Commander in Chief of the Red Army.

Following the war, Zhukov is given a series of obscure assignments by

 

 

 

 

In October 1941 Zhukov replaces Stalin’s crony Voroshilov in an attempt

Stalin, who fears that Zhukov’s great popularity makes him a political

 

to hold Leningrad, which the Germans have placed under siege. After

opponent. Stalin’s grudging recognition of Zhukov’s monumental

 

Zhukov strengthens the city’s defenses and arranges a supply system

military skills probably spare the marshal the fate suffered by

 

that eventually breaks the siege, he is named Commander in Chief of the

millions of Stalin’s political opponents. After Stalin’s death in 1953,

 

Western Front, the force protecting Moscow.

Zhukov’s reputation is somewhat rehabilitated, but the ascent of his

 

In 1942, Zhukov commands the defense of Stalingrad and helps plan and

old rival Nikita Khrushchev assures Zhukov’s permanent absence

 

from Russian military leadership.

 

direct the counteroffensive in which the entire German Sixth Army is

 

 

 

surrounded and forced to surrender.

 

 

 

 

 

8Close Combat III: The Russian Front

Panzerschreck

German Antitank (AT) Teams

The Panzerschreck (“Tank Terror”) was an electrically fired, hand-held rocket launcher used against tanks, vehicles, and other targets. This weapon’s design was not unique; in fact, the Germans based the design on American bazookas captured in North Africa. Its weight (about 20 lbs) and length (nearly 65 in.) made the Panzerschreck cumbersome; however, it was very effective at ranges up to 125 meters.

“The effect of climate in Russia is to make things impassable in the mud of spring and autumn, unbearable in the heat of summer, and impossible in the depths of winter. Climate in Russia is a series of natural disasters.”

— Staff officer, German 12th Army

1In the Settings dialog box, click the Battle Settings tab.

2Type the name you want to use.

3To choose which side you want to play, click either Command the Russians or Command the Germans. You can also pick a side on the Command screen by clicking the flag of the side you want to play.

Choosing End Battle Options

You can choose one of three ways for a battle to end using the Battle Settings tab. Your choice is an important factor in determining what kind of battle to fight and which teams to select, as explained in Chapter 3, “Strategy and Tactics.”

Fight to the finish The fighting ends when one side is wiped out; this is the default setting.

When time expires The fighting ends when the timer runs out. You can set the timer for 1 to 99 minutes.

After taking all victory locations The fighting ends when you capture all the victory locations on the map. A further option—hold them for two minutes—ends the battle only if you can hold the captured victory locations for two minutes. If the enemy recaptures a victory location before the two minutes expire, you must continue playing.

Battles can also end by either side calling a truce or fleeing as explained in Chapter 2, “Fighting Battles, Operations, and Campaigns.”

Choosing Difficulty Level

On the Difficulty tab in the Settings dialog box, use the slider to set your side’s strength:

Recruit Your side is given every advantage in strength, morale, and supplies.

Veteran The sides are balanced as they were historically.

Hero Your side is initially at a disadvantage in strength and, in campaign mode, has far fewer resources available.

When you play your first few games, you might want to set the difficulty level to Recruit. As your skills improve, try the tougher settings.

Difficulty levels affect the number of daily requisition points you receive during an operation or campaign (at harder levels, you’ll get fewer daily points). Levels also handicap your score by making battles more difficult to win and, in a campaign, making promotion points harder to gain. (For more information on scoring and promotion points, see Chapter 2, “Fighting Battles, Operations, and Campaigns.”)

Chapter 1: Gearing up for Gameplay

9

Choosing Realism Options

You use the Realism tab in the Settings dialog box to set the degree to which you want the game to emulate a real battlefield. You can choose realism options for both your side and the enemy.

Always see the enemy Enemy units will always be visible. (Normally, Close Combat III gives you a limited—but realistic—view of the battlefield.) You can’t see units that are hiding unless you click this option.

Never act on initiative Your units never act on their own; they act only when you give them orders.

Always have full enemy info You will receive summary information on the enemy teams (toolbar information, not Soldier Monitor information.).

Always obey orders Your units will do whatever you tell them to do.

The realism rating is determined by the number of checkboxes you have selected. This rating affects your tournament score, which is used on the MSN Gaming Zone. Scoring is explained at the end of Chapter 2, “Fighting Battles, Operations, and Campaigns.”

When you play your first few games, you might want to make the battlefield less realistic. For example, making enemy units always visible can help you plan your strategy and hone your tactics. As you gain experience, you can make your game more like a real battlefield.

Starting the Game

To start the game, on the Requisition screen, click Next.

The combat screen appears. To begin deployment and battle, see Chapter 2, “Fighting Operations, Battles, and Campaigns.”

Choosing Additional Options (Optional)

“Military thought in the capitalist world has got into a blind alley. The dashing “theories” about a lightning war, or about small select armies of technicians, or about the air war which can replace all other military operations; all these theories arise from the bourgeoisie’s deathly fear of the proletarian revolution. In its mechanical way, the imperialist bourgeoisie overrates equipment and underrates man.”

— Pravda (the official Soviet Communist Party newspaper), February 1939

The default gameplay options are adequate for most players. However, you can change them to give Close Combat III the look and feel you want. Unlike the settings described earlier in this chapter, you can change most game play options while you are playing a game.

Game play options include general options, team info bar and

 

 

soldier outline options, and language options. Performance options

In a little less than three months (November 19,

help Close Combat III perform best with your hardware and your

1942 to February 2, 1943) the German Army

level of experience.

Group South suffers staggering losses. The

 

To begin setting game options

Russians destroy over 30 divisions; the

On the toolbar, click Options.

remaining 16 divisions have 50% to 75% of their

strength carved away. Total losses in the Don,

The Options dialog box appears. You can also bring up the

Volga, and Stalingrad region amount to 1.5 million

Options box by clicking Options in the lower-left corner of the

men, 3,500 tanks and self-propelled guns,

Combat screen, or by pressing F8 from any screen.

 

12,000 guns and mortars, and 3,000 planes.

 

 

10 Close Combat III: The Russian Front

Choosing Overall Game Play Options

You can choose from the following overall game play options by selecting the checkboxes on the General tab in the Options dialog box:

Music.

Beginningand end-of-operation videos.

Game sounds, such as gunfire and soldiers’ voices.

Choosing Language Options

You can choose to hear the soldiers’ voices in English, German, or Russian using the General tab in the Options dialog box. Hearing the voices in German and Russian lends authenticity to the game; however, if you don’t speak these languages, you won’t understand the audio messages sent by your teams. (Combat messages on the screen appear in English no matter what language you choose for the audio messages.)

Choosing Game Speed Options

You use the General tab in the Options dialog box to set game speed options. Game speed affects how quickly the game progresses in real

time. If you set it to a slower speed, your men will move slower, giving you more time to think about your tactics. If you set it to a faster speed, action on the screen will be faster. To improve game performance on slower computers, choose the Slow option.

A Russian crew hauls their AT gun through the snow. Red Army soldiers were used to such hardships, although the Russians became more and more mechanized as the war continued.

Choosing Screen Resolution Options

You use the General tab in the Options dialog box to set screen resolution options. Close Combat III must be played at a screen resolution of 800 ´ 600 or higher.

The game automatically detects which resolutions are available from your video hardware and drivers. If you experience slow play, bring their resolution down.

If you change the screen resolution, you must restart the game for the change to take effect.

Choosing Scroll Speed Options

You use the General tab in the Options dialog box to set the game’s scroll speed. The higher the scroll speed, the faster you can move around the map (without using the inset map).

Chapter 1: Gearing up for Gameplay

11

Choosing Specific Game Play Options

You can choose from the following specific game play options by selecting the checkboxes on the Game Play tab in the Options dialog box:

Whether trees appear on the combat screen. (If you have a slower computer, remove trees for better performance.)

Whether soldiers killed in action appear on the combat screen. (If you have a slower computer, remove soldiers killed in action for better performance.)

Whether to display team data; team data shows the status of every team in your fighting force.

Whether to display the soldier monitor; the soldier monitor shows the status of a team’s individual soldiers.

Whether to display the inset map. The inset map is a small map displayed in the combat screen to facilitate movement around the battlefield.

Note You can move the soldier monitor and inset map by right-clicking and then dragging to the screen location you want.

Choosing Team Information Bar Options

Team information bars appear (by default) just above each team in the normal view; you won’t see them if you zoom in or out. These bars provide quick and easy-to-understand information about your units. You choose the type of information you want shown. For example, if you select Show Experience, the experience level of your teams appears in the team information bars.

You set these options using the list boxes on the Options dialog box’s Game Play tab. If you don’t want team information bars displayed at all, select Do Not Show.

German MG Teams

Schwer

The MG42 was perhaps the best machine gun of World War II. With its high rate of fire and interchangeable barrels, the MG42 proved devastating against infantry and light vehicles. One MG42 team in a well-protected position was more than a match against enemy infantry. This machine gun’s relatively light weight (25 lbs) made German machine gun teams more mobile than their Russian counterparts.

Choosing Soldier Outline Options

You can use soldier outlines to provide quick and easy-to- understand information about the individual soldiers in your fighting force. For example, you can select Show Ammo to have the outlines show supply of ammunition. Soldier outlines appear only in the normal and zoomed-in views.

You specify soldier outline options using the Game Play tab in the Option dialog box, as explained in the previous section.

The horrific losses in the first year of the war forced the Soviet Union to mobilize the entire population. As a result, women served in virtually every capacity in the Russian military. Women filled then-traditional roles as secretaries and nurses; however, Russian combat nurses often served in a front-line role similar to the American medic. Entire units of transport and combat pilots were composed of women. In fact, several units of women pilots flew biplanes in precision bombing missions—at night. In most cases, the only concession to having women in regular Russian units was the addition of a gynecologist to the medical staff.

12 Close Combat III: The Russian Front

Chapter 2

Fighting Battles, Operations, and

Campaigns

German Antitank (AT) Guns

PaK 37-43, FlaK 43

All German AT guns had a higher rate of fire than the equivalent caliber gun mounted on a tank. German AT guns were especially important early in the war, when Russian T-34 and KV1 tanks were far superior to German tanks in both firepower and armor. The Germans tried to position AT guns where they were sufficiently protected (buildings or bunkers), camouflaged, and supported by infantry, machine gun, and mortar teams.

“In a race with death, which had no trouble catching up with us and was wrenching its victims out of our ranks in great batches, the army was increasingly pressed into a narrow corner of hell.”

— Joachim Wieder, author of Stalingrad

After you have chosen the scenario you want to play, reviewed your troops, and set any options you want, you are ready to march into battle. This chapter provides information on the mechanics of game play: surveying the battlefield, deploying your units and issuing orders to them, and using your weapons.

However, remember that playing Close Combat III: The Russian Front involves more than just mechanics. To best use the material in this chapter, study the corresponding sections in Chapters 3, “Tactics and Strategy,” and 4, “Unit Tactics.”

Surveying the Battlefield

When you click Next from the Requisition screen, the combat screen appears. You are now ready to examine the map and deploy your troops.

You can zoom in or out of the map, as well as scroll to different areas of the map. You might want to zoom out prior to deploying troops to see a complete picture of the map and determine potential areas of strength and weakness.

To zoom in or out

On the toolbar, click the zoom-in button (magnifying glass with a plus sign) or the zoom-out button (magnifying glass with a minus sign).

To scroll through the map

Move the mouse to the right, left, top, or bottom edge of the screen. You can also use the arrow keys to scroll.

To view and move the inset map

By default, a thumbnail of the map appears in the lower-left portion of the screen. To toggle the inset map on and off, click the Map button. To move the inset map to another location on the combat screen, rightclick and drag it.

To bring a new part of the map into the combat screen

On the inset map, click the location you want to view. The combat screen repositions to show that area.

Chapter 2: Fighting Battles, Operations, and Campaigns

13

Deployment Zones

Note that different parts of the map are shaded. The unshaded area is the portion of the map that you’ll control at the beginning of the battle. You can deploy anywhere in the unshaded portion. The dark gray areas are enemy-controlled and the light gray areas are neutral territory. After you click the Begin button, the shading disappears.

Buildings and Terrain

Some maps include buildings as well as natural terrain features such as

German Halftracks

hills, ditches, and foliage. Multistory buildings are indicated by numerals

SdKfz 250/251 variants

(2, 3, or 4) representing the number of floors in the building. Building

German halftracks played a number of

roofs disappear as friendly troops enter and control the structures.

 

 

roles. When armed with machine guns,

When teams (other than AT guns) enter a multistory building, they

halftracks proved devastating against

automatically move to the highest floor.

 

 

infantry. When armed with mortars or

 

 

 

To view details of a terrain element

 

Wurfrahmen (medium-range rockets),

Right-click and hold on the element. Information appears in the lower-

halftracks were effective as mobile

artillery. However, the halftracks’

left portion of the screen.

 

 

relatively thin armor made them

Victory Locations

 

 

susceptible to small arms and machine

Victory locations are buildings or terrain elements of strategic and tactical

guns at short range.

 

importance. If you are zoomed into the map, victory locations are desig-

 

nated by the flag of the side that controls them; if you are zoomed out or

 

are viewing the inset map, crosses identify German victory

 

 

locations and stars identify the Russian ones. (If both sides

 

 

 

 

 

 

are currently engaged in battle for a particular victory

By September 1942, Russian losses are staggering. Military

location, half of each flag is shown.) Your objective is to

losses in killed and captured are at least 6 million, and

capture the victory locations belonging to the other side and

perhaps as high as 10 million. Civilian losses are nearly as

replace their flag with yours, while protecting your own

victory locations.

high; over 1 million civilians in Leningrad starve to death

Find the victory locations on the map: Note the position of

during the winter of 1941–1942. The territory lost to the

Germans was the home to over 80 million people; millions

the enemy’s victory locations in relation to your deployment

die, tens of millions are displaced by one side or the other.

zone. If the enemy’s victory locations are relatively far away

and you’re planning to attack rather than defend, you’ll want

The territory lost produced over 80 percent of Russian

teams with mobility and longto medium-range firepower.

sugar, 70 percent of its pig iron, nearly 60 percent of its

For a defensive strategy, concentrate on protecting your own

steel and mined coal, and roughly 40 percent of its

victory locations.

electrical power, grain, and cattle.

Check the terrain around the victory locations. If buildings surround the victory locations, bring in your teams with short-range firepower and high rates of fire. If a victory location is

surrounded by open terrain, you’ll need longto medium-range firepower, as well as good support positions.

14 Close Combat III: The Russian Front

For more information on taking and defending victory locations, see Chapter 3, “Strategy and Tactics.”

Minefields

Red spheres on the map (when it is fully zoomed out) depict minefields; when you clear a section of a minefield, those spheres become green. For information about mines, see “Clearing Mines and Passing Through Minefields” in the next chapter.

Deploying Units

Red Army infantrymen fight amidst the rubble of a Russian city. The soldier in the foreground is using DP 1928 machine gun, a French design from World War I.

SdKfz 232

German Armored Cars

Armored cars were even faster than halftracks. German armored cars were normally armed with machine guns, but were no match for tanks. They were used primarily for reconnaissance or against infantry targets.

The computer initially deploys your troops for you. Although the default deployment may be satisfactory, you’ll probably want to change it to fit your own battle plan. When deploying your units, consider your basic strategy (attacking or defending), the position of the victory locations, the type of teams you selected, and the terrain. For example, the deployment for the relatively treeless Kursk battlefield should be different than that for an urban battle such as Red Square. For information on developing your strategy, see Chapter 3, “Strategy and Tactics.”

You can move any or all of your units during deployment by clicking and dragging. You can also move groups by selecting two or more teams (group select), and then clicking and dragging. Teams retain the same positions relative to each other at their new locations, and teams that will be off the map at their new location do not move. For more information, see “To issue the same order to a group of teams (group select)” later in this chapter.

To check fields of fire

All weapons except mortars and rockets require a clear line of sight for an effective field of fire. To check a team’s field of fire during deployment, click the unit while pressing the ALT key and swing the target dot across the area of the map you want to cover. Note where the line changes color; where it turns red, something is obstructing your shot. For more information on line of sight and using your weapons, see “Using Your Weapons Effectively” later in this chapter.

To move your units to a starting position

1Click the unit you want to move.

If you want to move units as a group (group select), click and hold a spot near one of the groups, and then drag a rectangle around the units you want to group.

2Drag the unit or units to the location you want.

You can position your troops only on the unshaded areas of the map. If you attempt to drop units on a shaded portion, they snap back to their previous position.

Chapter 2: Fighting Battles, Operations, and Campaigns

15

To issue an initial order

Follow the procedure described in “Issuing Orders,” later in this chapter.

You’ll issue most of your orders during battle, but you can issue one order to each team during deployment. The units will begin carrying out their initial order immediately after the battle starts.

With the exception of the Move order with multiple waypoints (for more information, see “Establishing Waypoints”), you can issue only one order per team prior to starting the battle. Issuing a second order or redeploying the unit cancels the first order.

Starting the Battle

To start the battle, click Begin.

Note that enemy units might not be visible at first. Like conditions on a real battlefield, your soldiers cannot see enemy teams hidden from view. Your opponent becomes visible only when one of your teams sees them; however, smoke and muzzle flashes from enemy fire may be visible before the enemy team members are visible.

When playing your first few games, try selecting the Always see the enemy option as described in the previous chapter. You’ll be able to see all enemy troops on the map after your opponent has finished deployment.

Issuing Orders

You use a menu to issue any of three types of orders: those that initiate movement (Sneak, Move, and Move Fast), those that require a target (Fire and Smoke), and those that have your units dig in and fight or prepare an ambush (Defend and Ambush).

Any order you issue remains in effect until your unit carries it out completely. Note, however, that the team might reject the order if, for example, their morale is low or they are being fired upon.

If you issue a new order before the first one is completed, the first order is canceled and the new one is carried out.

Note that you issue orders to an entire team, not to individual soldiers. Also, you cannot issue orders to a separated soldier.

German Light Tanks

Panzer Mark II, Panzer 35(t),

Panzer 38(t)

German light tanks were used in the same manner as armored cars and halftracks, especially when the Germans recognized the superiority of the Russian T-34 medium tank.

To issue an order

1Right-click any soldier in the team you want to issue an order to. The orders menu appears.

2On the menu, click the order you want.

If the order requires you to designate a position or target (Sneak, Move, Move Fast, Fire, or Smoke), click the location on the combat screen where you want the order to take place or end.

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