Games PC GROUND CONTROL User Manual

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GROUND
CONTROL
Field Commander’s Handbook
Version 1.61
TABLE OF CONTENTS 0
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Message From Crayven High Command ..............................2
Table of Contents ..............................................................3
1. Introduction ..................................................................5
System Requirements ......................................................6
Installing Ground Control....................................................6
Installing DirectX ..............................................................6
2. Background ..................................................................7
The Order of the New Dawn ..............................................7
The Crayven Corporation ................................................13
3. Quick Start ................................................................20
4. Playing the Game ........................................................21
Single Player Game ........................................................23
Multiplayer Game ..........................................................25
Options ........................................................................26
Credits..........................................................................26
5. The Management Interface ..........................................27
Briefing ........................................................................27
Configure Dropships........................................................27
Configure Squads ..........................................................29
Mission Debriefing ..........................................................30
6. Commanding your Strike Force ....................................31
The Command Environment ............................................31
Camera control ..............................................................31
The Tactical Map ............................................................32
Calling down the Dropships ..............................................33
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0 Message From Crayven High Command 0
You will soon be a commander of a CLSV-601 Command APC, assigned to active duty on the Crayven heavy cruiser CSS ASTRID attached to 34th Assault Regiment located to the contested colony of Krig-7B. As a field commander in the 34th Assault Regiment you will be required to configure your own strike team as appropriate for missions assigned to you. You and your squads will be transported to designated combat zones on the planet surface in UV/4 Dropships, where you will personally lead them into battle to complete your mission objectives. Between active combat duty you will be accommodated aboard the CSS ASTRID.
The acquisition operation on Krig-7B is under a joint corporate-military jurisdic­tion and your commanding officer on this campaign will be Director Enrica Hayes. All information regarding this operation is to be viewed as strictly confi­dential. Breach of confidentiality will lead to summary execution according to directive #9, paragraph 65.
To your aid you have received the Ground Control Direct Command Interface System (GC-DCIS) and the Field Commander’s handbook. Remember the Crayven Corporation allows you to be all you can be!
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This Field Commander’s Handbook will teach you how to interact with the Ground Control Direct Command Interface System - GC-DCIS - available onboard your CLSV-601 Command APC.
The Field Commander’s Handbook also contains a refreshment tactic section intended to refresh the very basics of the tactics taught at the Ney Vesta Academy of Martial Arts.
“Configuration of terrain is an aid to the enemy. Analyzing the enemy, taking control of victory, esti­mating ravines and defiles, the distant and near, it
the Tao of the superior general. One who knows
these and employs them in combat will certainly be
victorious. One who does not know these or employ
them in combat will certainly be defeated.”
-Sun-Tsu
Please note that the keyboard commands mentioned in this manual are refer­enced to the default settings. If the default settings have been changed, the keyboard commands may no longer be true to your system.
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The Squad Buttons ........................................................34
Squad Behavior Menu ....................................................35
Ordering your squads......................................................36
7. Options ......................................................................39
General Options..............................................................39
Video Options ................................................................39
8. Multiplayer ................................................................41
Multiplayer setup............................................................41
Internet Standard game ..................................................45
Internet Drop-in game ....................................................48
Local Area Network (LAN) ..............................................49
9. Ground Control Tactics ................................................50
Knowing your battlefield terrain ........................................50
Line of Sight ..................................................................50
Suppressive Fire ............................................................50
Flanking maneuvers ........................................................51
Friendly Fire ..................................................................51
Combined Arms ............................................................51
Squads and Experience....................................................52
10. Technical Manual ......................................................53
Crayven Corporation units................................................53
The Order of the New Dawn units ....................................68
11. Credits ....................................................................83
12. Technical Support......................................................87
13. Warranty ................................................................88
14. Default Buttons and Key Settings ..............................89
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0 1 INTRODUCTION
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Minimum System Requirements
The Ground Control Direct Command Interface System (GC-DCIS) requires that your Command APC onboard computer is equipped with:
Pentium II 233 MHz or Pentium II 200 with 3D Accelerator Card 32 MB RAM 250 MB HD Space CD-ROM: 4x or better 640 x 480 SVGA high color (16-bit) 4 MB Video Card DirectX 7.0a (included on CD) Windows® compatible sound device Mouse and Keyboard
Recommended System Requirements
For maximum combat performance Crayven Tactical Military Operations recom­mend the following:
Pentium II 333 MHz or better 64 MB RAM 3D accelerator card (Glide or Direct3D compatible) 450 MB HD Space
Installing Ground Control
Crayven High Command recommends that you take the time to run Disk Defragmenter on the current hard drive before you install the game. Disk Defragmenter is activated via the Start button on the Windows taskbar in the [programs/accessories/system tools] group. Follow its instructions.
In order to install the GC-DCIS to your Command APC onboard computer safe­ly, you need to insert the Ground Control CD into your CD-ROM and follow the instructions on the screen.
If no instructions shortly appear, double-click on the “my computer” icon on your desktop. Double-click on the CD-ROM drive icon. In the file window, double­click on the file icon of AUTORUN.EXE. Follow the instructions on screen.
Installing DirectX
The Ground Control Direct Command Interface System requires that you have Microsoft DirectX 7.0a or higher installed. During the installation your onboard system will be checked to see if you have correct drivers installed. Should you require new drivers, you will be asked if you would like to install DirectX 7.0a.
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THE ORDER OF THE NEW DAWN
Introduction
The Order of the New Dawn is Earth’s largest religious faith, and if its financial strength were rated against the world’s corporations, it would be the third largest. The Order counts nearly 700,000,000 Faithful among its ranks, and its holdings range from Mars to the Spinward Reaches.
The Order’s ranks are divided into three great branches of service. The first of these is the Manus Dei, “the Hands of God”, by far the largest grouping of the Faithful; of the Order’s 700 million members, nearly 600 million belong to the Manus Dei. The Hands of God are the workforce of the Order, both Earthside and abroad. They come from every technical and labor discipline, and many are recruited directly from the ranks of other corporations. While there are laws regarding the appropriation of skilled workers between corporations, religious conversion is currently unrestricted, and so the Manus Dei is constantly being refreshed with a steady influx of talent. It is not unusual for the Order to actively try to convert corporate personnel involved in high­tech research projects.
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critics are quick to point out that this treasure was not saved merely for the benefit of humanity. Since 2177, the works collected in the L.A.N. have been protected under the existing salvage laws of the GCC, and are no longer consid­ered to be “in the Public Domain”. Many irreplaceable classics of human art and literature are thus copyrighted to the Church in perpetuity, and every read­er of Charles Dickens, William Butler Yeats and Joseph Conrad must pay royal­ties to the church.
The ancient Order also preserved the Spicelegium Dei, “God’s Gleaning”, which consists of over 700,000 cryogenically preserved tissue samples of human, plant, and animal life on Earth. The S.D. has been replicated many thousands of times since 2157, and is still archived by scholars of the Order on Earth, Europa (Sol 5B), and Proxima 3. It has yet to be surpassed as a reference library of uncorrupted genetic material from before the Age of Chaos.
Historians estimate that the Order’s underground shelters were opened in the year 2097, just 48 months after the destruction of the Old World. Although radiation levels were still dangerous, the brothers and sisters of the Order quickly realized that the world above them had not been completely destroyed, and that there were many survivors in need of help. Although their shelters were not set to open for another fifteen years, the Order opened its doors and returned to the surface early, hoping to make a difference to the billions of refugees and convert them to the cause in the process. During the last six months of a bitter nuclear winter, the Church set up way stations around the globe to provide shelter to the homeless, and share its remaining supplies with those in need.
Throughout the Age of Chaos, the Order of the New Dawn built and fortified over 130 Sanctuaries world-wide. These facilities served many functions in that dangerous age: to minister to the sick and starving, to provide shelter to the weary and destitute, to educate the young, and to spread the teachings of the New Dawn Bible. The most important function of the Sanctuaries, howev­er, was to keep the peace; it was during these years that the armed forces branch of the Church, the Pax Dei, was established. During this time the Vox Dei and Manus Dei helped to reclaim thousands of hectares of farmland, and began carefully supervised breeding programs to re-create many species of livestock. By luck, faith, or just cold, shrewd sense, the Order came out of the second Dark Age as the pre-eminent political and spiritual power on Earth.
Unfortunately for the long-term plans of the Order, although the 16 Minutes’ War killed hundreds of millions, destroyed dozens of great cities and brought the human race very nearly to its knees, the long twilight of chaos was not enough to kill many major Corporations. By the year 2157, several of these mighty juggernauts had risen from the ashes, and were once again uniting vast sections of the Earth under the terms of peace and profit. When the new Global Central Command was established, the Order of the New Dawn consid­ered it more of a Free Trade organization than an actual powerful ruling body. This changed when the GCC passed the “Religious Constraint Agreement”-a
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The second branch of the Order is much smaller than the Manus Dei, but with­out them, no branch of the Order could exist. The Pax Dei, as they are known—the “Peace of God”, in common tongue-is a standing security force of over 90 million men and women. These soldiers form the colonial armies of the New Dawn and see themselves as the Holy Defenders of the Faith, dedicat­ed to protecting the Order and its interests on Earth and throughout the galaxy. Members of the Pax Dei provide policing and security for the Order’s settlements on no fewer than fourteen worlds, and they are also called to pro­vide pilots and crew for any and all vessels belonging to the Church. Given their grounding in the faith of the New Dawn, Pax Dei troops have a very high morale factor under fire and will often fight to the last soldier unless directly ordered to retreat.
The third and final branch of the Order is the Vox Dei, “the Voice of God”, and functions as the spiritual arm of the church. Members of the Vox include Ministers, Astronomers and Inquisitors. The Order only allows men to join the ranks of the Vox Dei, and only after many months of continuous indoctrination. The Ministers effectively rule the Order and make all strategic decisions, both economic and military. The Sacred Astronomers are the priest-scientists of the Order, and guide both the exploration of new worlds and research into new technologies. The Inquisition is the Order’s internal police force and intelligence division, and their task is to examine threats to the spiritual purity of the Order from without and within. A sub-branch of the Inquisition trains the Battle­Priests; these men accompany most military units to observe behavior in com­bat, and make sure field commanders are issuing orders that are “spiritually correct”. The Vox Dei is the smallest of the 3 Order branches, and numbers slightly over 10 million personnel.
History
Little is known of the earliest days of the Order, which was founded in the trou­bled years before the Sixteen Minutes’ War. Although it is believed that the great majority of the Order’s pre-war records survived the nuclear exchange on March 27, 2093 intact, they are believed to have been lost in the intervening centuries. Today we know only that The Order of the New Dawn was founded by a small coalition of men and women of Faith, who united in common cause during the dark days of the latter 21st century. Foreseeing the coming cata­clysm, these early cultists dedicated themselves to preserving as much tech­nology and knowledge as possible, in order to bring about a New Dawn after the inevitable holocaust. Many analysts have observed that without the Sixteen Minutes’ War, the Order would have been just another apocalyptic cult.
But the End of the Civilized World did indeed come, and the proto-Order was ready for it—and even the corporations, no matter what they may think of the Order in the present day, do not deny the dept all of humanity owes them. The greatest prize saved by the Order was the Liber Aurorae Novae, the Book of the New Dawn: millions of digitally stored books, recordings, and images, which members of the Order chose to save from the coming holocaust. Of course,
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resolve battles as fast as possible. When on the defensive, the Order will use the speed of its armor to make a series of guerilla raids against enemy supply and command centers until the enemy advance is slowed and the Order can regain the initiative.
Despite their dependence on high technology, the backbone of the Pax Dei is still the powered infantryman. Known as Crusaders, Order infantry takes the brunt of any assault or defense mission. When combined with the Order’s Heavy Artillery units, Crusaders can overwhelm almost any defense, and many a corporate position has gone down under the human wave attacks of the Pax Dei. While these tactics cost heavily in terms of manpower, the Order training Seminaries produce Crusaders at the rate of over a million every solar year.
Between advanced weaponry and sheer manpower, the Pax Dei can continue a campaign long after it becomes too expensive for even the richest corporation.
Intercepted Personnel File
Name: Brother Jarred Stone
Branch: Pax Dei Rank: Deacon Age: 29 Height: 5’11 Weight: 170 lbs Date of Birth: 142-2390 Place of Birth: Rosario Sanctuary, Buenos Aires District Education: Light of the Pampas Children’s Collective,
Rosario Sanctuary, XXX-2394 Osculum Dei Middle Seminary, 230—2404
Called to the Pax Dei: 015-2410 Basic Training: Dawn Forge Combat Seminary, Brasilia Sanctuary Advanced training:
Sword of Dawn Testing Grounds, Mons Olympus Sanctuary
Assignment: Pax Dei Crusader Corps, 333-2414
Battle of Guderian Prime, 127-2415
Wounded: Received the Heart of Zion Awards: The Order of Venus for Courage in the Field of Combat
Fleet Action, Battle of King’
s Cross 256-2416 Wounded: Received the Heart of Zion Awards: The Star of Dawn for Heroism in the Field of Combat
Promoted to Deacon: 022-2417
Current Assignment: Defense of Krig-7B
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powerful legal block against the Order’s influence in economic matters, and one that was backed with the armed force of corporate security divisions.
Despite their dedication to peace, the Order did not surrender its power easily, and open warfare once more scarred the Earth’s surface as the Pax Dei bat­tled corporate troops for control of various power centers. The Order and the Corporations battled off and on for seventeen years, until a unilateral cease-fire was signed in 2177, when the World Court announced that the Order would be allowed to incorporate its holdings. While its power was greatly diminished, and the Order now found itself constrained by most of the same laws that bound the Corporations, the Order was still powerful, and retained many of the lands and cities it had reclaimed during the Dark Years. Since then, The Order of the New Dawn has been a respected member of the Terran Commodities Exchange and a powerful corporation in its own right, holding many valuable copyrights and patents.
Over the past two and a half centuries, the Order has pursued its interests peacefully whenever possible, but the lesson of 2157 has never been forgot­ten, and the Church defends its interests with force when necessary.
Pax Dei Technology and tactical doctrines
The Order of the New Dawn has possessed a technological advantage over the corporations since the end of the Dark Years and, while that lead has been diminished over the centuries, the Pax Dei still holds the high tech edge over its opponents. While most corporate forces are restricted to high efficiency bore cannons and mass drivers for heavy weapons, the Order has used it mastery of high-energy physics to produce various beam weapons and lightning generators. These energy weapons pack a much heavier punch than their projectile counterparts and are, of course, free of logistical constraints like ammunition.
The Order’s energy manip­ulation technology is also displayed in their use of anti-grav generators as the propulsion for their heavy armor units. This generation of hoverdynes being currently used by the Pax Dei in the field are the first of their kind to see combat. A hoverdyne is much faster and more maneuverable than an
analogous terraydyne, but it cannot currently pack as much armor. Later generations of hoverdynes may have more powerful grav generators and hence heavier armor, but for the time being, Pax Dei armored units will depend on speed and heavy firepower to
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THE CRAYVEN CORPORATION
Introduction
The Crayven Corporation is currently the largest incorporated body listed in by the Terran Commodities Exchange. The organization employs over 900,000,000 men, women and children on Earth and abroad, and produces a range of products as well developing vast off-world petrochemical and biologi­cal assets. Crayven Corporation holdings span the known galaxy, from Earth to the fur­thest reaches of human-explored space. Although the output of Crayven facto­ries, farms and mining facilities offer a wide range of production, they are per­haps best known for their terra-forming projects. Crayven technologies have been crucial in the terra-forming of a variety of marginal worlds including the eight colonies that Crayven has established under its sole ownership.
History
The Crayven Corporation began its life in the year 2162, as a small construc­tion company; its original name was Crayven Construction, and it was based on the Australian continent, jointly owned by the partnership of Crayven, Schindler and Beck. The founder of the company, Reno Crayven, was a talented busi­nessman and a gifted architect; he formed the triune partnership with Schindler and Beck to take advantage of their greater capital and political resources. The services that Crayven Construction provided were very much in demand by various Australian business concerns during the Heresy War, and Crayven backstabbed and hamstrung the competition unmercifully in search of the mot lucrative and influential contracts. His company prospered and expand­ed, and the year before the armistice of 2177 was signed, Reno Crayven bought out his partners in a bitter takeover struggle. Amidst rumors of kid­napping and blackmail, Reno consolidated his new company, the Crayven Corporation, and applied for membership in the GCC in 2178.
The Crayven Corporation grew throughout the Reconstruction era, and many of the structures that Reno Crayven built between 2178-2202 are still celebrated as wonders of post-war architecture. The Kenji Arcology on Okinawa, the Sunrise Cathedral in Monterrey, and the Domed Gardens of Mars are only a few of the many buildings still standing which bear the stamp of Reno Crayven’s personal
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Jarred Stone was born behind the walls of the Rosario Sanctuary, in an Order hospital which had opened its doors to the poor, and was adopted by the Order of the New Dawn. He was given the name Jarred Stone, after the doctor and nurse who deliv­ered him, and taken to the Light of the Pampas Children’s Collective, where the sisters of the Manus Dei cared for him until his 14th birthday. At this point, vocational testing revealed he would best serve the Order in the ranks of the Pax Dei, as a soldier. And so he was sent on to the Forge of Dawn combat seminary.
His first combat trainer, the Paladin Valerius, was so impressed with Brother Stone’s aptitude for war that he made only one comment on the young man’s chart: “Jarred Stone will make a perfect soldier; his body is strong and his Faith is stronger. His one weakness may be that he has no weakness-even when faced with the impossible, he shows no fear, no doubt, no hesitation.”
In his first year of active duty, Stone served on the line in no less than six armed conflicts, including the battle of Guderian Prime. There Stone led two squads of Crusaders over the walls of a Benton-Yutan mining fortress, and destroyed the automated turrets which held the rest of his company pinned against the bluffs. The lives of over a hundred of his fellow Crusaders were thus saved, and although Brother Stone was badly injured, he was still able to negotiate a peaceful surrender of the fortress without further bloodshed, once he realized that his commanding officer had been killed in the fighting. Brother Stone’s initiative and valor earned him a short rest at the Nova Roma Sanctuary, where he received treatment for the injuries he suffered on Guderian Prime. As soon as he was able, he rejoined his Company in a fleet action at King’s Cross, where the Armada of Dawn captured two heavy cruis­ers belonging to Dai Sheung Heavy Industries.
Brother Stone distinguished himself once more in the boarding action against the DSS Seoul’s Champion, when he broke though an enemy barricade and rescued several brothers of the Vox Dei. The brothers, who had been cap­tured by Dai Sheung when their Temple on King’s Cross 3 was destroyed, were being held onboard the Lafayette for ransom. As a reward for his extreme heroism, Jarred Stone was promoted to the rank of Deacon and given com­mand of his own Company.
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valor. They did not interfere with the elder Crayven’s plans any further, and the old man went ahead with his new initiative unopposed.
Crayven personally took the helm of the new division, Crayven Enterprises, and laid out a bold plan for building a large-scale terra-forming project on Mars. The result was the Domed Gardens, an indoor paradise containing over 50 square miles of ancient Earth-style forest. Filled with sparkling waterfalls and lakes, a self-sustaining weather system, and over 5,000,000 species of plant and animal life, this man-made Eden became the jewel in the Crayven corpo­rate crown-as well as providing a test of Reno Crayven’s terra-forming theories on an unprecedented scale. With the passing of the six-month milestone for viability of the Gardens, plans moved forward for the colonization of the planet known as Vesta 3-better known to us today as the jewel world Ney Vesta.
Because Reno Crayven’s own body was too frail to survive the rigors of FTL travel, he was never able to see his dream being realized by the planetary engi­neers, construction crews, and science teams of Crayven Enterprises. Crayven died on Mars in 2237, in a small pavilion in the center of his Domed Gardens. A modest granite obelisk stands in the same spot today, and bears a simple panel of stainless steel with his name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on it. It was the only monument stipulated in his will.
For nearly two hundred years since the landing of the first terra-forming crews on Ney Vesta, the Crayven Corporation has pursued its goal to be first and foremost among the stars. They have established seventeen colonies on four­teen separate worlds, as well as countless water- and ore-mining facilities on asteroids and nearby moons. Crayven expertise in both terra-forming and genetic engineering has made their consulting services the most valuable investment that any would-be colony can make in its own future. This is why the Crayven Corporation’s motto hasn’t changed for 182 years: “We Bring New Worlds to Life”.
Crayven Security Forces
The Crayven military grew from a small self-defense force in the era following the 16 Minutes’ War to a fully-fledged military unit during the Heresy Wars. Crayven technology has always placed reliability at the forefront, and while other Corporations can field equipment with higher performance characteristics, Crayven vehicles and battle-suits are unmatched in their strength and durability under fire.
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genius. Most of the profits from these rebuilding projects was funneled into CrayArms, the wholly owned weapons and ammunition subsidiary of the Crayven Corporation.
Reno Crayven was more just than a builder and an artist, however; he was also a visionary. It was his dream not just to indulge his talent for architecture on Earth, but to shape whole new worlds for the future. The discovery of FTL drive in 2207 interested him greatly, and for many years he obsessively battled other members of the GCC for their technological secrets. If his earlier busi­ness tactics might be regarded as unscrupulous, the Reno Crayven of this peri­od could be called downright Machiavellian-but as always, he could never be formally charged with any misconduct, since witnesses or claimants against him had a tendency to die before they could testify against him. In the year 2231, when he was diagnosed with a rare and terminal form of bone cancer, many of his enemies rejoiced and began counting his days.
But Reno Crayven was not finished. He was already heavily invested in anti­grav and jump drive technologies. Given the limited time he had left among the living, he decided to risk everything that he had gained from a lifetime of hard work and sound investment to realize his greater dream. His impending death, rather than inspiring cautious consolidation or the need to make amends, made him even more bold in his ambitions; he felt that he had nothing to lose.
Unfortunately, Crayven’s descendants did not agree. While Reno Crayven liqui­dated billions of dollars of corporate assets, as well as the totality of his per­sonal wealth, to form a new subsidiary known as Crayven Enterprises, his immediate heirs, the children of his half-sister Murielle Crayven, protested this endangerment of their long-awaited inheritance. Reno Crayven responded to their gambit for control of the “family” company by ruthlessly crushing their attempts to have him declared mentally incompetent, and writing them out of his will completely. His eldest nephew, Julian Crayven, was ousted as chair­man of the board of the Crayven Corporation, after his Uncle moved to deprive him of his controlling share of the company’s stock. Whether Julian Crayven intended to put up more of a fight against his Uncle Reno is unknown; the younger man died in a plane crash within two weeks of the signing of the new will, and thereafter his siblings decided that discretion was the better part of
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Personnel
Major Sarah Parker’s Bio
Age: 35 Height 5’8” Weight: 155 Date of birth: 045-2384 Place of Birth: Chicago district, Crayven Holdings Education: Training CrËche 1275DZ, Chicago district, Crayven Holding
Enlisted Crayven Security Division: 045-2401
Basic Training: Crayven Security Base Alpha, Panama district,
Crayven Holdings
Advanced training: Crayven Security Academy, Gamma Dome, Pluto
Assignment:
Crayven Security powered infantry corp.
Awards: Bravery Bonus, 231-2404 (Acquisition Op, Wolf 328-2A) Bravery
Bonus, 011-2405 (Counter Insurgency op, Wolf 328-2A) Conspicuous Gallantry Bonus, 351-2408 (Acquisition Op, Gamma Hydrea 4) Wounded Bonus, 355-2408 (Acquisition Op, Gamma Hydrea 4)
Fines: None
Assignment:
Cross training, Crayven Security commando corp. 002-2409
Awards: Bravery Bonus, 304-2410 (Security Sweep Op, Barnard’s Star 2)
Wounded Bonus, 304-2410 (Security Sweep Op, Barnard’s Star 2) Extreme Heroism Bonus, 115-2412 (Acquisition Defense Op, Sigma Draconis 4-G) Wounded Bonus, 115-2412 (Acquisition Defense Op, Sigma Draconis 4-G) Termination Achievement Bonus, 115-2412 (Acquisition Defense Op, Sigma Draconis 4-G)
Fines: Refusal Penalty, 323-2412 (Security Sweep Op, Wolf 328-2A)
Assignment:
Transfer Request, Crayven Security ground control. 089-2413
Awards: None Fines: Refusal Penalty, 156-2414 (Counter Insurgency Op, Beta Iridani 2)
Dereliction Penalty, 200-2414 (Counter Insurgency Op, Beta Iridani 2) Refusal Penalty, 045-2416 (Acquisition Defense Op, Wolf 328-6D) Refusal Penalty, 306- 2418 (Acquisition Op, Epsilon Iridani 3)
Cur
rent Assignment: Acquisition Op, Krig-7B
Status: Probationary
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The Crayven Corporation fields a very balanced military force, centered around their next-generation main battle terradyne. Heavy infantry is usually deployed to screen the terradyne units from enemy anti-armor and artillery attacks. While Crayven Commanders tend to save air assets for breakthroughs and assaulting heavily fortified bases, an aeroydyne interceptor wing is almost always attached to a ground division to act as combat air patrol for any oper­ation.
The Crayven Corporation favors slow, methodical offensives, and this is reflect­ed in their unit designs. Overall the Crayven vehicles have much stronger armor in their front panels compared to the rear. The Crayven military motto is “Better safe than sorry”, which is apparent in their terradyne designs. Once enemy territory has been penetrated, the Crayven division on point will dig in to secure the objective while a fresh unit moves up to take their place on the spearhead.
This means most Crayven unit Commanders will see themselves in a series of short tactical engagements over specific objectives instead of long strategic advances. When deploying offensively, Crayven dropships will often try and get as close to their objectives as possible before landing and dropping off their troops. Some Crayven commanders prefer using dropships in waves, so that the units from one drop will clear an objective in order for reinforcements to arrive from another dropship. This “leapfrog” method of deployment has become a Crayven Security hallmark, and it keeps enemy commanders from correctly assessing the true objective or Crayven force levels.
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past 6 years, but each time her amazing record up to and including the action on Sigma Draconis has won her a stay against dismissal. At this point Major Parker can no longer be considered a promising officer and she receives only low priority combat assignments where her usefulness on the battlefield will not be compromised by her problems with Corporate authority.
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Analysis
Major Parker had all the signs of becoming a superlative soldier. She applied for a position in the Crayven Security the exact moment she reached the age of consent at 14. After an exemplary training period, marred only by one or two incidences of excessive force during combat exer­cises, she entered the Powered Infantry Corps. During an acquisition Operation against an illegal TerraTech claim on Wolf 328-2A, Parker, then a Corporal, single-handedly rallied her platoon that had come under heavy fire from TerraTech artillery. Personally destroying 3 Artillery pieces earned her a Bravery Bonus. The first of many.
Sarah Parker quickly rose through the ranks while continuing to receive bonus after bonus for her conduct on the battlefield. She was asked to take training as a Commando and accepted the transfer in 2409. She achieved the rank of Major by the age of 28 and seemed she was bound for the Fast Track until the Battle of Hanson’s Rift in 2412.
Major Parker’s Commando unit was stationed at firebase Zulu on the main continent of Sigma Draconis when it was attacked by the Order of the New Dawn, who had declared the planet sacred ground and filed Jihad against any corporate holding which did not immediately evacuate. The firebase was cut off and subjected to wave after wave of attack. When relief finally arrived, they found no Crayven survivors except for a badly wounded Major Parker, whose bunker was surrounded by over 800 Crusader bodies. Major Parker under­went extensive psychiatric treatment.
When she returned to combat duty her CO noted that despite the rewards given for her combat valor, she seemed strangely ungrateful, and the quality of her performance became a problem. Things came to a head during a board­ing action when she refused a direct order to void the atmosphere of an enemy Drop ship.
After suffering a fine for her misconduct, Major Parker requested a transfer back to standard ground control, where she has remained to this day. Her combat skills are still exemplary, but time and again she has refused to carry out special commands given her regarding efficient termination of Enemy Assets. She has been in front of a performance review board twice in the
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Ground Control is a game of tactical action oriented combat. In Ground Control you are the Commander of a special operations task force operating from a starcruiser orbiting the planet Krig-7B. The goal of the game is to archive your mission objectives, which will span from destroying enemy installations to protecting engineer teams while they archive their objective. To aid you in completing your objectives you have your task force. The task force consists of several squads that you control. Before entering a mission you have the option of changing their general outfit, unit type and equipment. Be careful with your task force, as surviving squads will receive experience after each battle.
SQUADS
Your strike team consists of one or more squads. As the campaign progresses you will receive new squads and destroyed squads will be replaced with fresh new ones. The squad box indicates the squad’s name, current unit configuration and attributes. A squad belongs to one of the four available branches:
Infantry The lightest and slowest soldier on the battlefield. They can be
transported inside the Command APC.
Assault Assault vehicles are the units that excel in offensive
maneuvers, and acquiring strategic locations.
Support Support units fill a special niche on the battlefield, be it anti-air
or long range artillery fire.
Aerodyne The airborne aerodynes’ main advantage is their great speed
and unobstructed movement.
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This section is for Field Commanders eager to start their Military career as soon as possible. When you start up Ground Control you first have to select a video renderer, and select what video mode in which to play the game. Depending on your system configuration, different options will be displayed. Click OK to continue.
After the movie is played you will see the main menu. Click on the
SINGLE
PLAYER
button. If it is the first time you run GC on your computer, you will be
asked to select difficulty. Select a difficulty level and then click OK.
The game will start, the three first missions will be the Boot Camp, which will teach you how to play Ground Control and how to quickly master the basics of the game.
When you have played through the Boot Camp missions continue to read the next section in the manual
PLAYING THE GAME
.
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Single Player Game
Single Player Game allows you to access the single player game. The first time you select Single Player Game on you computer you immediately start a new game. You will be asked to provide a game name (optional) and to select a difficulty level. The next time you access the Single Player Game you will have a few options:
Continue Game
Continue Game will allow you to continue on the last game played. A descrip­tion of the last game played will be displayed to show you the name of the game, the name of the next mission and the difficulty setting. Selecting
CONTINUE GAME
will immediately take you to the current mission’s briefing.
Screenshot of the Single Player Game menu.
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A squad can be changed into another unit type of the same branch when that unit type becomes available. For example in later missions a Marine squad can be changed into a Jaeger Special Forces squad. For more information about units see section 9, the Tactical Manual. Killed squads will be replaced with new fresh inexperienced squads between missions but all experience and medals will be lost in the process.
Dropships
Your strike force is brought down to the battlefield in large AV/U4 “Behemoth” dropships. Each dropship is capable of transporting four squads complete with equipment down to the battlefield.
The Ground Control Direct Command Interface System is an advanced piece of software developed solely for the purpose of commanding military elements in combat situations.
As a beginning Crayven Field Commander it is highly recommended that you read through these directives to get familiar with the Ground Control interface.
Screenshot of the Main Menu
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The list to the left contains all the saved games available. The list to the right contains all missions played within a selected game. Choose a game and a mission to start at, and then left click on
START GAME
.
Custom Game
Custom Game allows you to access missions and campaigns that you have created yourself or downloaded from the Internet. Pressing
CANCEL
will take
you back to the Single Player Game screen.
Custom Campaigns
If you have any custom campaigns on your computer, you can select them in the top left list and then click
START GAME
. A campaign is a series of missions, usually linked together. When playing a custom campaign you will automatically start the next mission after the debriefing as in the usual Single Player Game.
Custom Missions
Custom Missions allows you to play a single custom mission available on your computer. Select a mission from the list and then click
START GAME
.
Multiplayer Game
Multiplayer Game allows you to engage in multiplayer battle over the Internet or on a LAN (Local Area Network). A multiplayer game requires that you have an Internet connection or access to a LAN in order to run. For more information of how to play on the Internet over WON (World Opponent Network) or on a LAN see section 8, Multiplayer.
Screenshot of the Custom Game screen.
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New Game
New Game will allow you to start a new game. Note that the previous game will still be available, but through the Change Game selection. When you select
NEW GAME
, a prompt will ask you to name the game (optional) and select
difficulty. The difficulty levels are:
Easy, Normal
and
Hard.
The
Normal
difficulty setting is recommended for most players. If you are a very experienced player, you should select the
Hard
difficulty setting.
Load Game
Load Game allows you to load another game stored on your computer. Selecting
LOAD GAME
takes you to a new screen.
Screenshot of the Change Game screen.
Screenshot of the New Game prompt.
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As a Field Commander in the Crayven Corporation, it is your duty to configure your strike force before you are dropped into a combat zone. The GC-DCIS software will aid you in this process but it is ultimately your responsibility to make sure your strike force is balanced correctly.
Briefing
Before the mission you will receive a mission briefing stating your objectives. Pay attention to the briefing, as it will give you hints of what to expect in the mission.
During the briefing your objectives and other vital locations are displayed on the tactical map. Move the mouse over the objective for a short description. Use the REPLAY button to replay the briefing or SKIP button to skip it. When you are ready to begin the mission select
START MISSION
or select
CONFIGURE DROPSHIPS
to configure your strike team.
Configure Dropships
Before you go into a mission you have the option to configure the strike force you will be using. Once committed to a strike force, it is not possible to change it during the mission. Changing your strike team is optional, if you don’t want to worry about the strike team, ANNIE-1, the artificial intelligence advisor will do it for you.
Screenshot of the Mission Briefing screen.
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Options
Options allows you to modify the performance of Ground Control or to configure the controls. Note that all changes only apply to the current commander. For more information about the different options, see section 7, Options.
Credits
Pressing Credits will show you the hard working people involved in the making of Ground Control. Return to the main menu by pressing
ESCAPE
on
your keyboard.
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Configure Squads
On this screen you can configure the details for each Squad that you plan to bring with you to the battlefield.
The left area of the screen shows you the Squads that are currently assigned to the Dropship(s). The larger right part of the screen displays the details of the currently selected (or highlighted) Squad.
LEFT-CLICK on a Squad Tab to start configuring it. The right part of the screen shows you information about the chosen Unit Type, the Unit Edition and the currently selected Special Weapon and Special Equipment.
To change Unit Type, click on one of the available unit type icons on the top of the screen. Note that you will not always have access to all unit types. In early missions only one type might be available, in later missions up to four possible types may be available. For more information about unit types, see the Technical Manual, Section 9
To change Unit Edition, click one of the four Edition Tabs below the unit description text. The different editions slightly change Firepower, Speed, Armor and Range. Pick an edition that is appropriate for the way you expect to command your troops in the current mission.
To change Special Weapon and/or Special Equipment, click on one of the icons in the lower part of the screen. Note that you will not always have access to Special Weapons and Special Equipment. As the game progresses you will receive more Weapons and Equipment to select from for each unit.
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Here you can decide what squads you want in each dropship. Early missions allow you to put squads in only one dropship. Later missions allow you to add squads to all three dropships and may provide more squad choices than you can fit in all three dropships. Some squads may be left behind and you’ll have to choose which ones you take into battle.
The list on the left of the screen contains slots for any unassigned squads. The three areas on the right of the screen contain slots for each of the three dropships. To move a squad from its current location, LEFT-CLICK on a Squad Tab. This will pick up the Squad Tab. To place the Squad in a Dropship or in the unused list, just LEFT-CLICK on an empty squad space in either area. If you put it in a squad space that is occupied, you will switch Squad Tabs and automatically pick up the one that previously occupied the slot.
To configure the details of the squads that are currently assigned to the dropships, enter the CONFIGURE SQUADS screen by clicking on the Configure Squads button in the bottom of the screen.
Autoload
The Artificial Advisor will automatically configure your drop ships if the AUTOLOAD checkbox is checked. You can also manually move squads between drop ships and the unassigned list by clicking on the squad to select it and then click again on the slot you want it in. When the AUTOLOAD is checked, the advisor will also configure your squads, equipping them with special weapons and equipment. Click on CONFIGURE SQUADS to change their setup manually.
Note that only the squads in the drop ships will be available during the mission.
The Dropship Loadout screen is where you assign your available squads to one of the three available dropships.
1. Squad Tab
2. Dropship 1
3. Dropship 2
4. Dropship 3
5. Configure Squads button
6. Available unassigne squads
7. Autoload checkbox
8. Start Mission button
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The Configure Squad screen allows you to customize you squads.
1. Dropships
2. Squad Tab
3. Unit Type
4. Unit Edition
5. Special Weapon
6. Equipment
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