I like what I've playec so far and think my biggest initial issue, even after running through tutorials, is getting a grip on what can supply what. It is VERY EASY to get troops critically low on supplies, or even more fun, find yourself just barely making it back to a base before your supplies ran out to realize, sorry, YOU can't resupply that here! Important Pointers: -Helicopters can only be resupplied at HQ or the 1 Firebase. So while madly scrambling all over as a taxi/delivery service, make sure you save enough fuel to rush back to 1 of the 2 main bases in the field. -Helicopters carrying supplies, if I got it right, only have enough space for 1 resupply to another unit before needing to head back for another crate of supplies. The only exception being that if you can have several units huddled in 1 Forward Base, the helicopter can resupply all of them with a single drop off.
Checking this here: http://www.vietnam65.com/tutorials.html helps a lot. It's a nice quick reference to have and does help. I know it's all there in the game, but still.
I think once you are on top of things probably about an hour. Maybe less if you make quick decisions and steam ahead.
Played another round and got to the end this time with a victory (58 H&M points). Yay! Actually enjoying it much more this time around. I think my previous game must have had a bug, because this time I could repair choppers (same way I tried before) and I could clear jungle tiles. It's really hard to stretch enough of a combined force out to the extremes of the map. You have to really prepare a task force and make sure you have the capacity to keep them all supplied but it's really interesting to do. I still have plenty to improve my game in this area but I can actually see in my head what needs to be done now. So yeah, my feelings much more positive towards it now and I like the way it plays. I like that there is no campaign, it's more like a skirmish setup so I'm interested to see how next games go with new maps. Good game!
Ok, want did I miss? I feel like I spend 75% of my time moving choppers back & forth to bring supplies to my troops. It's kind of cool but I'd rather spend more time on the ground units. I'm having a blast with the game & really enjoy it. But wanted to see if I missed something about how to keep ground troops supplied. Thanks!
I think key is choosing the best place for forward base towards the west of the map so you can reach most of the villages in 1 Huey hop, and using a Chinook for longer flights back to the main base when needed (for arty ammo and hospital duties). You can leave your ground troops until they are red on supplies as long as you get to them that turn, so try and stretch it out if it's safe. Maybe you were just unlucky with the maps? Too much jungle definitely makes things a lot harder to manage. However, there is no getting away from needing to constantly be aware of what resupplying you need to do or plan a couple of turns ahead for. I seem to have found a pretty decent rhythm now where I can focus more on positioning and planning than worrying about supply. The more I play, the more I am getting into it actually.
Nice How did you do it?? Lots of kills or mainly keeping US flags on the villages? I'm half way through a pretty successful game at the moment (I mean I have all villages with no smoke signals, but only half are US flags. But I have map control and it now doesn't seem like I can do much more on turn 25 other than keep vigilant. My HM is only 54 though at the moment.)
Actually I think I may have been a bit optimistic with 1 hour. It's gonna be more like 1.5 to 2 if you have a decent number of units on the field. You can save and come back at any point though.
So I must have played about 5 or 6 games (including the tutorial, which I lost) before winning if I were to be honest. So what happened when I played this last time that made a difference? I send out two engineers in the beginning and I setup a Firebase smack in the middle of game (towards the front and two forward bases at strategic locations (near villages). Remember, if your infantry are running low on supplies, you can send them to a base for resupply and they will be resupplied without requiring Hueys. At a firebase, infantry will be fully supplied. I try to get out at least two artillery to the bases I've set up. At first, I was sending green berets in the jungle because I thought that is what you should do with them. Because I didn't fully understand it at the beginning (thanks the tutorial not offering clarity), I send Green Berets to villages (near Forward Bases) at the beginning and start recruiting ARVN infantry by clicking on their icon in the village and then heading to a Forward Base for training. Once you get these guys recruited, send them to villages and the villagers start talking. I also send out a tank as soon as I can. I try to have at least 4 choppers running errands from the start. A chinook is good, but not necessary right away. ------ So, really, get Green Berets recruiting, ground troops to villages right away. Set two engineers out to setup a Firebase at the front and then two strategic Forward Bases. Send out a tank towards the Firebase. Send out Artillery to a base once they are up. Send another one to another base as soon as you can. Setup early and start recruiting asap in the game, because the shit goes down and things start really heading south towards the middle to end when you think you've got it all under control.
Thanks everyone. I'll give the tips a try. I'm sure they'll all help make the game that much more enjoyable.
Thanks to your insight Jim, I managed to turn that game around from turn 25 onwards and got a 67 result! Shame it was on 69 and went down 1 in each of the last 2 turns!! (where I failed to reach the spotted enemy, but hey)
I read in some review that although this game is on both PC and iPad it is one Slitherene game that was designed mainly as an iPad game instead of the other way around. So that must be why it is so good and there are no complaints about the UI.
I just read on the Slitherine forum, that as well as ARVN being able to gather Intel better, they also don't lose you Political Points when they die, so it's a good strategy to use them against VC until they level up some (because they start weaker than your own squaddies) but once they rank up a bit they can take on NVA as well.
They do level up. What's funny is how weak the Green Berets are. Yes, they can route out the VC faster, but they don't put up much fight. So when I started playing this, I had them trekking through he jungle to route out enemies and noticed the VC would pop up and shoot the GB's and then run away and disappear. Then I'd have to trek the GB's out of the jungle and fly them to HQ to heal. Totally worthless... Now I will send slower infantry into the jungle if baddies pop up near a village we're occupying, but at least they kill what they find. Besides, when the Green Berets train ARVN they route out baddies in the jungle, too via intel. I've learned that tanks are the best for jungle war, cause if a VC base is found, well your tank is there. Also, the tank can travel faster through the jungle. It helps that the price on tanks aren't to shabby either.
