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Game Reference Close Combat
Game Reference m
Close Combat Keyboard Quick Reference
You can choose commands and expand or scroll the Close Combat View Area using the following
key combinations and sequences:
Function In Windows95 On the Macintosh
Scroll the View Area Arrow keys Arrow keys
Expand the View Area CTRL+G (or ALT, O, G)
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Chapter 1 About Close Combat 1 Chapter 1 About Close Combat June 6, 1944. The largest invasion fleet in history lies off the coast of Normandy, France. Four years ago, France surrendered to Germany, and the remnants of the British Expeditionary Force fled from the beaches of Dunkirk. Now the Allies are ready to strike back. Their goal is to liberate western Europe. The Germans’ goal is to hurl the invaders back into the sea. Failing that, they must harass and delay the Allies and make them pay
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2 Close Combat Close Combat Game Theory Historical accuracy and realistic psychology make Close Combat different from other strategy games. The forces, the locations, the weapons, all reflect the reality of the Normandy Campaign. And the Close Combat artificial intelligence (AI) tracks not only every round fired, but also the physical and psychological states of individual soldiers and their teams. Because the AI uses this information to vary soldier and unit performance in every situation, ev
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Chapter 1 About Close Combat 3 You can choose to exercise “super” control over your troops by setting soldiers in the “always obey orders” mode before starting a game, but you can’t switch them out of this mode during play, and gains made this way usually lead to increased casualties and decreased team performance. For more information, see the section titled “Who’s in Control? You Choose.” Taking Other Realistic Factors into Account You’ll notice as you play that Close Combat tracks soldier f
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4 Close Combat Who’s in Control? You Choose As noted earlier, your teams may or may not obey an order you give them. However, you can avoid order overrides by selecting the “Soldiers always obey” game option. Even so, when a team receives orders to fire, it may decide that a different target represents a greater threat, and may fire at that alternate target instead. A soldier’s emotional state may also keep him from carrying out an order; he may remain in cover or run away. Again, you can ove
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Chapter 2 Setup and Game Play 5 Chapter 2 Setup and Game Play This chapter describes how to install and set up Close Combat, how to learn game-play basics using Boot Camp scenarios, and what type of games you can play (Maneuvers, Campaigns, and Replays). Finally, this chapter provides how-to-play procedures for Close Combat. Installation and Setup This section describes how to install and set up Close Combat. To set up Close Combat in Windows 95 When you install Windows 95, AutoRun is enabled.
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6 Close Combat To set up Close Combat on the Macintosh 1 Insert the Close Combat CD into the CD-ROM drive. The Close Combat CD icon appears. 2 Double-click the Close Combat CD icon. This opens the Close Combat window. 3 Double-click the Close Combat Setup icon. To launch Close Combat on the Macintosh 1 Double-click the Microsoft Close Combat folder, or the folder you specified during setup. 2 Double-click the Close Combat icon. System Requirements The following table shows the minimum system r
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Chapter 2 Setup and Game Play 7 Close Combat Game Types You can play four types of games with Close Combat: Boot Camp, Maneuvers, Campaigns, and Replays. Boot Camp Close Combat’s Boot Camp includes scenarios you can use to learn and practice the skills you need to play, and win at, Close Combat. Maneuvers Maneuvers are single battles, such as Off The Beach 1, that represent actions from the Normandy Campaign. At the end of each battle in maneuver play, the Debriefing screen appears; you must
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8 Close Combat On the Command screen, click to select the game options you want: 1 Click Boot Camp (basic training), Maneuvers (to fight single battles), Campaign (to fight all battles sequentially), or Replays (to play previously completed battles). Choosing any of these options displays a scrollable list from which you can choose the training scenario or action you want to play. Maneuvers is the default setting. 2 Select the training exercise, battle, Campaign (new or saved), or Replay you wa
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Chapter 2 Setup and Game Play 9 To start Boot Camp 1 Click the Boot Camp button. 2 Click a Boot Camp exercise in the list. 3 Click Begin. During Boot Camp training, you follow the directions in the training messages appearing on the screen. You continue through the exercise by performing the action it prescribes. You can quit at any point during Boot Camp by choosing Abort Battle from the Game menu (File menu on the Macintosh). Close Combat Boot Camp consists of the following five exercises:
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10 Close Combat Maneuver Play When you start a Maneuver, the Game screen appears with Close Combat in Deployment mode. You use this mode to move your teams where you want them (on your side of the battle line) before you begin the battle. Once you have deployed your teams, you begin the battle, and issue commands until you win, lose, click End Battle, or choose Abort Battle from the Game menu (File menu on the Macintosh). At the end of each Maneuver, the Debriefing screen appears. This screen s
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Chapter 2 Setup and Game Play 11 You play the next battle if you suffer a minor defeat. You skip ahead one battle if you suffer a major defeat. You skip ahead two battles if you suffer a decisive defeat. You cannot skip over the first battle on a new map, nor can you back up to a previous map. Advances and regressions are possible only with multiple battles on the same map. For example, since Across the Aure 1 and Off the Beach 3 are on different maps, winning Off the Beach 3 decisively
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12 Close Combat Reconnoitering Close Combat Close Combat uses four screens: the Command, Game, Debriefing, and Debriefing Details screens. Command Screen The Command screen is the first screen that appears when you start Close Combat. You use the Command screen to select the type of game, side, number of players, and level of difficulty. The Command screen consists of the elements described in the following sections. Menu Bar Three items appear on the Close Combat menu bar: Game (File on the Ma
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Chapter 2 Setup and Game Play 13 Campaign button When you click the Campaign button, the available Campaigns appear in the scrollable list. When you first start Close Combat, there are no Campaigns in the scrollable list; nothing appears in the scrollable list until you start a Campaign and complete the first battle. After you complete the first battle, the Campaign is automatically saved and appears in the scrollable list. Replay button When you click the Replay button, the available Replays
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14 Close Combat Scrollable List The scrollable list is the portion of the Command screen used to display Boot Camp exercises, battles (Maneuvers), Campaigns, and Replays. Status Bar The status bar displays the current selections made in the Command screen. Begin Button When you click the Begin button, Close Combat starts a game based on the selections you’ve made. Game Screen You use the Game screen to play Close Combat; the Game screen appears when you click Begin on the Command screen. The G
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Chapter 2 Setup and Game Play 15 pointer to the edge of the Game screen. For example, if you move the mouse pointer to the right side of the Game screen, the battle map scrolls from right to left. You deploy your teams and issue commands in the View Area. When the Game screen appears, the View Area is set to normal view; you’ll want to use this view most of the time. However, you cannot see the entire battle map in normal view, which can make monitoring a battle difficult. You can zoom out to
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16 Close Combat Game Screen Monitors Five monitors appear in the Game screen: Team monitor Soldier monitor Message monitor Overview monitor Zoom monitor The monitors you see while playing Close Combat depend on your screen settings. If you play in 640x480, you see only the Team, Soldier, and Message monitors. If you play in 800x600, you also see the Overview monitor; if you play in 1024x768 or greater, you also see the Zoom monitor. Before describing how to use the monitors in Close
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Chapter 2 Setup and Game Play 17 conscript (least experienced). Base morale is the team’s morale at the start of a battle and represents the soldiers’ willingness to fight. If a team starts a Campaign with minimal quality but enjoys success in a given battle, the team can increase in quality, reflected by more gold bars in subsequent battles. Conversely, elite teams can lose quality when killed or wounded team members are replaced with new soldiers. If the replacements perform well, the team q
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18 Close Combat Leader Rank An insignia indicates the team leader’s rank. The leader of any given team can be either the leader of only that team, or the leader of several teams. You are the highest-ranking leader as company commander, but there are also platoon, squad, team, and assistant team leaders. Platoon leaders command four or more teams, squad leaders command two to four teams, and team leaders command only their own team. If a leader is incapacitated, the subordinate leaders are “prom
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Chapter 2 Setup and Game Play 19 following the orders you issued. Red text indicates the team is intentionally acting against the command you issued due to local battlefield conditions. White text indicates you have issued no commands to the team, or the command you previ- ously issued has been completed. In this case, the team will go into Defend mode (Ambush for the Germans) and select targets of opportunity based on local battlefield conditions. Enemy Threat Indicator The rosette to the rig
