Trial Member has Trying Questions

[imported_Mezentius]

Greetings,

I have practiced with the game engine and worked through most of the "how to" stuff. I am stumped by a few remaining issues, which I hope someone can answer here.

1) Simple facing change: I cannot figure out how to get an element (single), to make a facing change in-place (as in 90 degrees to one side or the other, or 180 degrees, rear). I've tried all the "precise" movement options, and none of them seem to help with a facing change. So, I wind up using free movement and wheeling the element (which takes so much space that it often is impossible to make the direction change, let alone the movement cost associated with a 90 degree wheel). Does the online game allow for facing changes as distinct from wheels, and if so, is there a simple explanation for how to do one?

2) Diagonal contact. In my practising, I have caused a situation wherein several elements have converged on each other at diagonal angles. I moved an element into an enemy element (plenty of movement left), but at an angle, but no contact occurs (although movement certainly stops). Several units became "jammed" together like this, and they don't fight, but they also cannot move. I tried the "combat" button to no avail (since there were too many bases to allow for lining up the contact flush). I have heard (and read) that there is some function that will align combat, but I have yet to see it available (or functional). Is diagonal contact not possible in the online game? Can someone explain when/how to get the function that aligns multiple stands in contact to work (perhaps a circumstance that I can repeat for myself)?

Thanks for reading through this, and I hope to be playing "for real" soon.

Best Regards,
Ed

[aleksander]

Hi,
Click on the unit, hold the mouse button down and move the mouse around. This causes the unit to swivel on its centre point. This answers your first question I think. It may answer the second one too although I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at exactly. ZOC's can be painfully irritating at times and can prevent legal movement even when it seems what you are trying to do obeys the rules. I recently had a column moving diagonally which was ZOC'd by a horizontal enemy line- trying to move my units out of column to face up to the line was a nightmare. I'm not sure if this is what you are talking about. Try swivelling the individual units to face.

Hope this helps.

[Couer de Lion]

Here's what I know

1) One of the most efficient ways, if not the most efficient, of changing direction is to do the following

a) Click on your unit
b) Click on another unit edge which faces the direction you are aiming for
c) Click the centre part of the box on the right of the screen and your unit will turn immediately in that direction.
d) Move the element to where you want it on the board.

This approach will treat the turn and move as one movement, not two, so will avoid using more paces than necessary.

Be careful with 90 degree movements which may leave your unit facing the wrong direction. I'm not sure the approach works for 180 degree turns.

2) Combat only occurs with face on contact with the opposing unit. If you have lots of units bunch up in this way, you might have reached an impasse if other units are blocking the possibility of such a contact.

Hope this helps

[Kachoudas]

Originally posted by aleksander:
Hi,
Click on the unit, hold the mouse button down and move the mouse around. This causes the unit to swivel on its centre point. To be more precise, hold the mouse button in the center of the unit, it will start to wheel around its center and allows you for 180° turning.


I haven't understood the second point. What do you mean by diagonal contact" ?
- Units have to be fully aligned in order to fight.

- to make 'combat' contact :
In element move, you have a combat button. Click your unit, then the combat button, then the target unit (which turn blue) and then, on the diagram on the right panel, the king of contact you want.

In group move : Move your group forward until it is contact with the enemy. There should be a round sign between your group and the enemy group. Then you have a diagram on the right with arrows pointing left or right. click the highlighted arrows, and your group will slide to contact - provided there is enough movement distance(a green double arrows appears between the units).


I hope this helps. If it don't, please re-explain your problem ;)

[imported_Mezentius]

Okay, I think I've got enough to move forward. Thanks for the more complete information on how to proceed through the controls to get the results!

I realize that my second situation is hard to follow. Apologies for that. It sounds like the bottom line is that when playing DBA Online, you must ensure that you approach and contact enemy elements at right angles or flush (straight on ) pretty much in order for the game engine to process things (not quite so free form as a "tabletop" game).

Thanks again1

Ed

[Couer de Lion]

Originally posted by Mezentius:
It sounds like the bottom line is that when playing DBA Online, you must ensure that you approach and contact enemy elements at right angles or flush (straight on ) pretty much in order for the game engine to process things (not quite so free form as a "tabletop" game).

Ed Not actually sure if your last statement is completely correct. One difference between DBAOL and tabletop is that movement on DBAOL is measured for all corners of any unit rather than just the front corners. Another is the rule on "TT" that forces LH and Ps to turn to face if a unit touches a lead corner.

Apart from that, I think that if it can be done on "TT" then it can also be done "OL" and vice versa

[George Robinson]

Also, if you turn a unit 180 degrees in place, your move takes the full diagonal distance, not the front-to-back distance.

George R