Armoured Commander II
Game Manual - Steam Version 4.0.x
Europe is built on cadavers. Merely scratching the surface of its soil can turn up bones, metal shards, unexploded bombs, dog tags, rosaries, rusty knives and forks, medals, belt buckles. Shadows of corpses.
Der Spiegel, 7th May, 2015
1. General Principles
In Armoured Commander II, you play the role of a tank commander in World War II, leading your crew through a campaign in one of the major conflicts of the war. It is a "roguelike" style of game, which in general means that it:
• emphasizes gameplay over graphics, using an extended Petscii character set rather than bitmap graphics;
• is turn-based and allows the player to stop and resume at virtually any point; and
• rewards mastery of the game mechanics and encourages multiple playthroughs.
The original Armoured Commander was very closely modelled upon and inspired by the 1987 board game Patton's Best, but ArmCom2 is an attempt to go beyond that model while maintaining the basic format of the player being in control of a single tank.
ArmCom2 is a strategic simulation of armoured combat that is often as brutal and unforgiving as the historical battles themselves. Your focus should be on survival rather than wanton destruction.
No tank is invulnerable, so make full use of your terrain, concealment, smoke, movement, and your knowledge of the enemy to tip the odds in your favour and survive the combat day.
2. Main Menu
In the Main Menu, you can continue your most recently saved campaign, load and continue a saved campaign, start a new campaign, change game options, view campaign records, or quit the game.
To Continue or Load a campaign, it must have been saved with a compatible version of the game.
The currently installed version of the game is always displayed at the bottom of the main menu. If the first two version numbers (separated by single dots) match, it will be compatible. Otherwise, you won't be able to resume your campaign unless you load it with a compatible version of the game. If this is your first time playing, this options will be greyed out.
If you start a New Campaign, any current saved campaign of the same type will be erased. You can only have one in-progress campaign of each type going at any one time. The game will prompt you before overwriting an existing saved campaign file.
Game Options can be accessed here and from the in-game menu as well. Changing the Font Size will change the total window size and the size of individual character cells. You can also toggle Fullscreen mode here. Sound Effects, including the main menu theme, can be toggled here.
Changing the Master Volume will change the volume of the theme music and all sound effects.
Message Pause changes the length of time that pop-up messages are displayed before disappearing.
Several Keyboard layouts are supported, and you can set your own keyboard mapping by editing the "custom" dictionary in the keyboard_mapping.json file in the data folder
(.../Steam/steamapps/common/Armoured Commander II/data), and selecting it here.
Finally, your Campaign Records can be viewed from the main menu, but if this is your first time playing the game, you won't have any records yet to view.
3. Campaign Selection
Several campaigns are included with the game. Each one takes place over a fixed period of time between 1939 and 1945, placing you in the role of a tank commander. Player Force means the national military force that you will be a part of. Enemy Forces lists the expected national forces that will be your opponents in this campaign. While the actual calendar days on which you will be called to the front lines will be randomly generated, each campaign always takes place between the start and end dates listed, and will generate a calendar consisting of a set number of Combat Days.
From this screen you can select a campaign to start, or have the game select one for you randomly.
You can also set your Campaign Options in this menu. At present (4.0.x) there are two options available:
3.01 Player Commander
"Player Commander" means that your Commander represents you, and if he is killed or seriously injured, your campaign ends immediately. Otherwise you can continue your campaign with a newly assigned Commander. If you want your record to be added to the list of campaign records, however, you have to play the game with "Player Commander" enabled.
3.02 Fate Points
Enabling this option means that at the start of each Campaign Day, you will be granted three “Fate Points.” Your current number of points is displayed as a number in the top right of your tank portrait. Any time there’s an incoming attack on your tank, or when you’ve already been hit and an armour penetration check must take place, if you have one or more Fate Points remaining then you have the option of spending one to negate the incoming attack, or automatically pass the armour penetration check. If you also have Player Commander enabled, each fate point may also
automatically be used to prevent a fatal injury on your Commander. Once you have exhausted your fate points for the day, however, no more can be used until the next combat day.
3.1 Campaign Regions
Campaigns take place in one or more Regions, such as Northwestern Europe, that define the parameters for the types of weather and terrain you will encounter. Depending on the region, you may encounter more severe winter weather, for example, or the terrain generated for the Campaign Day map may be more hilly, forested, and so on.
3.11 Weather Conditions
The weather conditions for each combat day will be randomly generated, and may change during the course of the combat day. The initial odds of each type of weather will be based on the current campaign region as well as the date in the calendar. Weather conditions fall into one of three categories:
Category Possible Values Effects
Cloud Cover Clear, Scattered, Heavy,
Overcast
Precipitation cannot fall if cloud cover is clear; no air support possible if Overcast Precipitation None, Mist, Rain, Heavy Rain,
Light Snow, Snow, Blizzard
Affects spotting checks; if continues, can change Ground Conditions to Wet, Muddy, Snow, or Deep Snow Ground Conditions Dry, Wet, Muddy, Snow, Deep
Snow
Snow dampens effect of HE;
increases chance of Bogging Down; increases travel time required on Campaign Day map
4. Tank and Crew Selection
A selection of tank models are available to you at the start of the campaign. During Refit Weeks, and if you have to abandon your tank, you will have an opportunity to select a new model. Available models depend on the current calendar date; some models will only become available to you later on in a campaign. Pay close attention to the stats of your chosen tank, since you may be riding in it for some time.
One possible tank stat appears only on this screen - some campaigns will define a Victory Point Multiplier for certain underpowered or overpowered tank models. If you select one of these tanks, your total VP earned per combat day will be modified slightly to reward you for playing in a more vulnerable tank, or possibly apply a slight penalty for an overpowered one.
4.1 Tank Stats
Virtually everything you need to know about a unit is included in its unit information display. Your tank's stats are especially important, so here is an example of how to read them:
• M4 Sherman: This is the unit identifier, unique to each model of tank
• Medium Tank: This is the unit's class, indicating generally what type of unit it is
• Portrait: A rough approximation of this unit as viewed from the side
• 75mm, etc. (dark red background): A list of weapon systems on this unit, starting with its main armament
• Guns may be short (S), long (L), or very long (LL) barrelled
• Co-ax weapons are mounted on the turret alongside (or as) the main gun
• Anti-Aircraft (AA) machine guns (MG) can fire in any direction, but must often be fired from outside of the tank
• Bow MGs are fixed to the front of the hull
• If a weapon is displayed in a light grey colour, it means that it is unreliable and has a greater chance of breaking down
• Armoured or Unarmoured vehicles have their armour values listed here
• The T line refers to turret armour, but if there is no rotatable turret it will appear as U (Upper Structure) instead. If the turret has a fast traverse, this will be noted by (fast).
If the turret has restricted space inside, or otherwise has a hatch that is not easily accessible while operating the main turret weapon, (restricted) will appear here.
• H refers to hull armour
• The two armour values x/x refer to front and side armour respectively for that area
• Rear armour values for any location are one level lower than its side level
• The movement class of the unit is shown in green in the lower right
• If a vehicle has light ground pressure this will be displayed in a light shade of green, if heavy ground pressure, a darker shade. Ground pressure affects the chance of bogging down.
• If a vehicle has an especially powerful engine, a plus sign will appear next to the movement class
• Any special vehicle features will appear below the movement class:
• HVSS stands for Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension; vehicles with this upgrade are slightly faster and less likely to bog
• Recce is short for reconnaissance, and means that the vehicle is less likely to be ambushed at the start of a scenario
• ATV means that this is an All-terrain Vehicle (no effect yet)
• The size class of the unit appears below that. Larger targets are easier to spot and hit
• Finally, the normal number of crew for this unit
A full crew will be automatically generated for your chosen tank.
4.2 Crew
This soldier, I realized, must have had friends at home and in his regiment; yet he lay there deserted by all except his dog. I looked on, unmoved, at battles which decided the future of nations.
Tearless, I had given orders which brought death to thousands. Yet here I was stirred, profoundly stirred, stirred to tears. And by what?
By the grief of one dog.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Each crewman in your tank has their own set of stats, skills, and experience points. Names are randomly generated, but you can assign a nickname to each crewman. Crewmen have a position in the tank for which they are trained, but any crewman can work any position if needed in an
emergency. If it’s a more complex position than they are used to, however, then they won’t be as effective as a trained crewman would be in that position.
Crewmen start at a rank appropriate to their position, and as they gain levels they may be promoted to a higher rank. Each promotion grants the crewman two free advance points.
4.21 Crew Stats
Each crewman has four stat values, which are randomly generated at the start of the game but can be improved by spending Advance Points later on.
• Perception is used during attempts to spot enemy units on the scenario layer
• Morale represents the crewman's ability to resist and recover from being Shaken or Stunned, and to recover from Fatigue
• Grit is used to resist being Stunned, recover from Critical injuries, and resist being Injured
• Knowledge increases the rate of experience point gain per combat day 4.22 Crew Experience
At the end of each combat day, each surviving crewman is awarded experience points based on your total Victory Point score for the day. Depending on how many points they gained, they may go up
one or more levels. Each time they go up a level, they are awarded with an Advance Point which can be spent increasing the crewman's stats or adding a skill.
4.23 Crew Skills
Many crewman skills are available, but not all are available to crewmen in all tank positions. Some of them have another skill as a prerequisite. All apply some kind of bonus or give your tank an advantage as described in the skill description. National Skills cannot be purchased with Advance Points, and are only granted at the start of a Campaign. [Full skill tree and description list to follow]
4.24 Crew Conditions
During the course of a combat day, your crew are subject to a number of Conditions that may negatively affect their ability to operate. The default condition is “Good Order” which indicates no penalties. If injured or subject to incoming firepower, crewmen may become “Shaken” which means that they more likely to be injured in a subsequent attack until they recover. “Stunned”
means that they have been more seriously affected, and until they recover all their effective skill bonuses are reduced by half. “Unconscious” means that the crewman has been knocked out, and cannot perform any actions until they recover.
4.25 Crew Injuries
Crewmen may be injured by incoming small-arms or machine-gun fire if they are not Buttoned Up or otherwise protected by armour. They may also be injured as the result of an incoming attack that penetrates the tank’s armour. Six separate injury locations are tracked for each crewman, and injuries in different locations have different effects during the day:
• Head & Neck: greater chance of becoming Stunned or Unconscious when injured; penalty to spot concealed enemy units if Heavy or worse
• Torso & Groin: Slightly greater chance of becoming Stunned when injured
• Arm & Hand: No special effects
• Leg & Foot: Penalty to bail out of your tank if Heavy or worse
Any location that is already injured and become subject to another attack is more likely to increase the severity of its injury. Certain locations are normally protected; for example, a Leg & Foot injury is very unlikely for a crewman exposed due to an open hatch. Sniper attacks, in contrast, are much more likely to hit the Head & Neck than other locations.
At the end of each combat day, each Heavy or Serious injury that a crewman has taken increases the chance that he will have to be transferred to a Field Hospital for a period of time to recover, before he can rejoin your crew. Otherwise, all injuries are treated and considered to be healed at the end of a combat day.
Crewmen may die during the combat day. They remain at their position but they can also be moved to another position within the tank if required. If you are granted Resupply, then any dead bodies are taken away by the supply vehicle. Dead bodies are also removed at the end of the combat day.
5. Game Menu
You can access the in-game menu from any layer of the game. From here you can save your campaign to continue later, as well as change game options. The Game Options are the same as those accessible from the Main Menu, described in section 2 above.
6. The Campaign Calendar Layer
In the Campaign Calendar layer you can prepare for the upcoming combat day; you also return to this view at the end of a combat day. The Command Menu in the lower left has four tabs, and pressing a number key from 1 to 4 will activate that tab, and will also change the display in the main panel to the right. Pressing 2 will bring up the "Crew and Tank" tab of the command menu.
Here you can review each of your crew, see your tank's stats, and assign crew and tank nicknames if you have not done so already. Tab 3 displays a journal, which you can review at the end of the combat day. Tab 4 displays the Field Hospital, which is where badly injured crewmen may be sent to recover at the end of a combat day.
Press 1 to return to the Proceed menu tab, and press Enter to start your combat day. If you survive your combat day, you will return to this layer from which you can proceed to the next combat day.
6.1 Campaign Day Missions
On each combat day you will be assigned one of five possible missions for the day. The mission determines the initial set-up of the Campaign Day map, the average enemy resistance level, the odds of friendly and enemy zone capture, and Victory Point rewards for capturing zones.
• Advance: Low enemy resistance, very high chance of friendly forces capturing zones, high VP value of captured zones, higher chance of Ambush
• Battle: Stronger enemy resistance, equal chance of friendly and enemy forces capturing zones
• Counterattack: Moderate enemy resistance, very high chance of enemy forces capturing zones
• Fighting Withdrawal: Stronger enemy resistance, exceptionally high chance of enemy forces capturing zones
• Spearhead: Normal enemy resistance, very low chance of any friendly or enemy zone capture, VP value of captured zones increases as you move up the map, higher chance of Ambush
In Counterattack and Fighting Withdrawal missions, you cannot progress forward into a new map zone (past the top row of the map), you can only withdraw backward (past the bottom row of the map)
6.2 Ammo Load Menu
At the start of every combat day you must load (or reload) all the guns on your tank with ammo.
Depending on your tank, you may have one or more guns, and each gun may be able to fire one or more types of ammo. You can load more than the safe amount of ammo into your tank, but beware that if your tank is knocked out when carrying extra ammo, it will be more dangerous for your crew, as the rounds are not safely stowed away and can ignite with potentially deadly consequences.
• HE (High Explosive) produces an explosion upon impact, and is more effective against infantry, guns, and unarmoured vehicles
• AP (Armour Piercing) is only effective against vehicles, and is best used against armoured targets
• Smoke will produce concealing smoke upon impact, making it more difficult for enemy units to fire at you and your allies
Most guns have a Ready Rack to hold ammo that is very close to the gun itself. In combat, if you are reloading from the ready rack rather than the general stores, you will have a higher chance of firing multiple times per turn. Further information on the ready rack is in section 8 below.
If you're not certain what ammo to load, you can always use 'X' to add a recommended loadout.
Don't forget to load each gun on your tank. Machine Guns (MGs) do not need to be loaded; it's assumed that you are carrying ample ammo for them for the day.
7. The Campaign Day Layer
In this layer you lead your tank and squad across a terrain map of hex zones. Your own tank is displayed in the upper left of the screen, and several tabs of commands appear in the lower left.
Current environmental and ground conditions are displayed in the upper right, campaign and day mission information on the right, and hovering the mouse cursor over any map zone will display information about it in the lower right of the screen. The current date and time appear at the top of the screen. The remaining daylight and time of the current combat day is indicated by the bar behind the time display, which fills up as the day progresses.
The campaign day map is made up of 41 hex zones, each of which are randomly generated as one of six different terrain types. The terrain type of a hex zone influences the time required to travel into it, as well as the terrain for units on the scenario layer if a battle occurs there.
Dark brown and light grey lines joining hex zones are roads; travel along roads is usually faster than cross-country. Dark-brown lines are dirt roads and grey lines are improved/stone roads; improved roads are slightly faster to travel along than dirt roads. Dark blue lines along the edges of hex zones are rivers; these can only be crossed at a bridge or ford, indicated by a dark brown cell with three horizontal lines.
If you reach the top hex row (or the bottom one in Fighting Withdrawal mission), a new hex map will be generated and you will be moved to it.
Each hex zone is controlled by either friendly or enemy forces, and the frontline between the two is indicated by a red dotted line. Any time you move into an enemy-held zone there's the potential for a battle. Throughout the day, zones may be captured by either side; if you advance into an enemy- held zone and either encounter no resistance or you encounter resistance and win the ensuing battle, you will capture the zone and gain Victory Points. If you wait in place and your zone is attacked by the enemy, a battle will be triggered.
Control of the map zones has an important impact on your ability to resupply. If you cannot draw an unbroken path to the bottom edge of the map through friendly-controlled zones, you will not be able to be resupplied.
Four menu tabs are available in the command menu:
• Supply
• Here you can view the stats of your tank's main gun, and manage the contents of the Ready Rack. From here you can also Request Resupply which, if granted, allows you to replenish main gun ammo, will remove any dead crewmen, and will also bring your tank squad back up to full strength.
• Crew
• Displays a list of current crewmen in your tank. From here you can open the crew menu for any of them, switch positions if needed, and open/close their hatch if they have one.
• Travel
• In this menu you can select a direction from your current location, and either request reconnaissance information about an adjacent enemy-held hex, or travel to an
adjacent hex. Before moving, you can toggle advancing fire and air and artillery support requests on and off. Advancing fire uses up HE ammo but if a battle encounter is triggered, it has the chance of pinning enemy units before combat begins. You can also Wait in place, but there's a possibility that enemy forces may attack your hex.
• Group
• Lists the current members of your tank squadron.
The campaign day ends when you abandon your tank, or you reach the end of the combat day as indicated by the background of the time display in the top centre of the screen. If Player
Commander is active in your campaign, your campaign day and your campaign will end if your commander is killed.
7.1 Air and Artillery Support
Depending on the campaign and the campaign week definitions, you may have a certain level of air and/or artillery support for the day. This represents ground-attack aircraft and artillery batteries that you can contact via radio and request that they attack a zone on the map. In the Travel menu tab you can toggle air and/or artillery support, which will be triggered once you move into an enemy-held zone. Note that air support cannot be requested if the cloud cover is Overcast. Each time you request support, a silent percentile roll is made, and if the roll is equal to or lower than the current support level, the request is granted, and the level available decreases by 10%. Note that if you end up encountering no resistance in the zone, your support level still decreases.
If an air and/or artillery support request is granted and you encounter enemy resistance in a zone, at the start of the ensuing battle, your supporting forces will automatically attempt to attack. Air and artillery attacks can be very effective, sometimes destroying enemy units even before you can spot them.
7.2 Strategy on the Campaign Day Layer
• Always recon enemy-held zones so that you know what you're getting into
• Pay close attention to the time required to travel to a new zone, which varies depending on terrain, weather, and presence of a road connection
• Rivers can only be crossed by the player at bridges, so plan your route ahead of time
• Use advancing fire and air/artillery support, especially when moving into areas with heavy enemy resistance
• If you are cut off from the friendly map edge, you will not be able to call for resupply
8. The Scenario Layer
Once you encounter enemy resistance on the Campaign Day map, or if you wait in place and are attacked, gameplay shifts to the Scenario layer where battles take place.
On the right of the scenario interface is the Scenario Map, made up of 36 hexes arranged in 3 rings surrounding a central hex. The map represents, in an abstract way, all terrain in a 1,440 meter radius around you. Your tank, represented in traditional roguelike fashion by the @ character, is located in the centre of the map with the front of your tank facing upward. All other units are represented from your point of view, so if you pivot your tank counter-clockwise, units will appear to rotate
clockwise around the map. Likewise, if you move into a new hex, all other units will shift around you. Hovering your mouse cursor over any hex will display its info at the bottom of the map; if there are any units in the hex, scrolling with the mouse wheel will shift the order of the unit stack.
Remember that the map is an abstract representation of a real battlefield. Thus, the actual position of any infantry squad or tank on the map can be imagined to be somewhere within the hex depicted on the map. Similarly, although it appears to be a flat plain, the map can be imagined to be filled with hills, rivers, buildings, and others types of terrain. Thus, each pair of units on the map may or may not have a clear Line of Sight between them, dictated by the distance between them and the terrain they are currently in. If you do not have LoS to an enemy unit, neither can attack the other.
Every time a unit moves or repositions, a new LoS is generated between it and every other unit on the map. You always have a clear LoS to units within your own squad, but each of them has a separate perspective on the battlefield. That means that a tank in your squad may have LoS to an
enemy unit, whereas your own tank does not. Information about spotted enemy units is shared within your squad, so you might find that an enemy that is out of LoS for you is still spotted by a squadmate. You will have to still move or reposition, however, and get into a position where you have LoS on it, if you want to attack it.
Above and to the left of the scenario map is the contextual console, which displays different
information depending on the current phase. Above and to the right is the Environmental Conditions console, which displays information about current weather conditions.
Play on the Scenario Layer proceeds though a series of Phases, each one of which either allows the player to perform certain actions, or allows allied and enemy AI units to act. Each set of phases makes up a game turn, which takes 2 minutes of in-game time to resolve.
8.1 Scenario Phases
8.11 Command Phase
In this phase you can open and close the hatch for each crewman that has one, and you can assign one command to each of your tank crew that is neither unconscious nor dead. Each command will allow the crewman to do different types of tasks in the remainder of the turn. The current field of view for your crewman is highlighted on the scenario map in blue; different hatch statuses and commands will result in different areas of the map where your crewman can spot in the following phase. Descriptions for each command are displayed in the Contextual Console.
Note that some commands will only become available when certain conditions are met; for
example, you can only abandon your tank if it is immobilized or if you have 1+ crewmen who have been seriously injured.
You can also access the Crewman menu for each crewman during this phase.
Crew Exposed (CE) and Buttoned Up (BU)
Crewmen in armoured vehicles are always in one of two statuses: exposed (CE) or protected (BU).
Crewmen in positions with a hatch can open or close their hatch to change their status. In some vehicles, positions may not have a hatch and so that crewman will always be BU. Others have no armoured protection for some positions, and thus those crewmen will always be CE.
CE crewmen are vulnerable to incoming firepower, but they are better at spotting concealed enemy units and skills such as fire and driver direction are more effective when CE. In some very small turrets, or in positions where the hatch is not easily accessible, some weapons cannot be operated while the crewman is CE. A crewman must also be CE to throw a smoke grenade.
8.12 Spotting Phase
During this phase no input is required from the player; any crewman who can do so will
automatically try to spot any hidden enemy unit in his line of sight. If an enemy unit is spotted, its identity will be displayed in a pop-up message. Early in a battle it can be helpful to open crew hatches and have crewmen on spotting orders, so that you can quickly assess what the possible enemy threat is like, before then "buttoning up" for combat.
8.13 Crew Action Phase
Certain crew commands require additional input or will result in automatic actions during this phase. For example, a Gunner can manage his Ready Rack, moving shells into or out of it, or the Commander might throw a smoke grenade, providing some concealment for your tank. You will need to select a crewman in order to see possible actions associated with his current command.
8.14 Movement Phase
If your Driver is on the "Drive" command, then in this phase you can attempt to move your tank.
The Driver can attempt to drive the tank forward or backward, pivot the hull, reposition, or attempt to move into a Hull Down position.
Pivot Hull
The driver is free to pivot the tank hull to face any direction, without ending the Movement Phase.
As you pivot, your facing on the map remains the same; instead, all other units on the map are rotated relative to your direction of pivot.
Forward and Backward Movement
Since the battlefield is represented in a very abstract way, doing a move action will sometimes be successful, other times not. The odds of your tank moving far enough to shift the relative position of enemy units is displayed in the upper left console. Each failed attempt will increase the chance of a successful move in subsequent Movement Phases. If a move action is successful, your tank will remain in the same location on the map, but every other unit on the map (other than your squadmates, who always stay by your side) will shift position.
For example, in the image above, if the player completes a successful Move Forward action, then the unknown unit and enemy infantry unit will all shift downward one hex. The exception is if there is a unit directly in front of the player, in which case they leapfrog over the player and end up behind (the player moves past them and keeps going.) Reverse move actions would have the opposite effect. If an enemy unit would normally be pushed off the scenario map by a player move,
they will stay in relative place instead. Enemy units can only move off the scenario map of their own accord.
Hull Down
When starting a scenario and after a move action, the player may find themselves in a Hull Down position in one direction. This means that a hill or other large solid object is covering their hull from that direction. Any incoming attacks that would have affected the Hull coming from that direction will instead have no effect. The Driver can try to get the tank into a HD position in the forward direction with the Attempt HD action.
Reposition
If you want to move your tank into a different types of terrain, or want to try to change your Line of Sight to enemy units, you can have your Driver reposition you tank. You won’t cause a shift in enemy unit positions, but a new terrain type, HD status, and LoS will be generated for your tank.
Overrun
If your driver is on an Overrun command, your squad will move close to the hex immediately ahead of you, allowing you to attack them at very close range with MG weapons. Note that this command only becomes available if there are one or more gun or infantry units directly ahead of your
location. While on an Overrun command, your squad counts as moving, but there are no movement penalties to MG attacks.
Bogging Down
If the player's tank becomes bogged down, then the Driver must successfully unbog the tank in a subsequent Movement Phase before the tank can move again. Surviving player tanks are
automatically unbogged at the end of a scenario.
8.15 Shooting Phase
During the Command Phase, one or more crewmen can be commanded to operate one of the tank's weapons. Most player tanks will have a gun as its main weapon, which can usually fire High Explosive (HE) rounds, Armour-Piercing (AP) rounds, and later in the war, Smoke rounds.
Gun Stats
Guns are defined by their calibre, with larger-calibre guns producing more of an effect on both soft and armoured targets, and usually being better at long range as well. Guns can be short, long, or very long-barrelled, indicated by an 'S', 'L', or 'LL' following their calibre in millimetres. The loader for each gun normally has access to a Ready Rack of ammo nearby, use of which makes it faster to reload the gun. Guns will also normally have an innate Rate of Fire chance, which indicates the odds of reloading the gun fast enough to allow two or even more shots per shooting phase. Use of the Ready Rack, as well as crew skills, can greatly increase these odds.
Machine Guns (MGs)
Most player tanks and many other vehicles have one or more machine gun (MG) weapons. Note that coaxial MGs, mounted next to a gun barrel, cannot fire in the same phase as the gun fires, and vice-versa. MGs are only effective against soft targets and unarmoured vehicles; at present (Beta 1) they have no effect on armoured enemy targets. MGs have chance to maintain RoF for additional attacks in the same phase.
Effect on Enemy Targets
Enemy targets hit with HE or machine guns will have Firepower applied to them; an abstract measure of incoming fire. Firepower stacks from different attacks and is resolved at the end of each phase, so a unit hit by a bomb from an HE shell as well as MG fire will have a large amount of firepower to resolve at the end of the opposing side's phase. Higher total firepower values increase the chance that the unit will be destroyed, its soldiers killed, wounded, or routed from the
battlefield.
Armoured targets hit with AP will undergo an Armour Penetration check immediately after each hit.
The chance of the hit penetrating the target armour depends on the gun calibre, barrel length, distance from target, and thickness of target armour on the location hit. Especially powerful guns will automatically penetrate all but the thickest armour, as shown here. Enemy armoured targets that are penetrated are destroyed.
8.16 Allied Action Phase
During this phase any other tanks in your squad will attack enemy targets automatically.
8.17 Enemy Action Phase
During this phase enemy units will move around the map, and may attack you or your squadmates.
9. Campaign Designer's Guide
Campaigns are simply JSON files that are placed within the "campaigns" subdirectory within the main install directory (".../Steam/steamapps/common/Armoured Commander II/campaigns"). Each campaign in the directory must have a unique filename, which distinguishes it from other possible campaigns.
The structure of the campaign must be as follows. Syntax errors in what the JSON importer expects to find will result in an error when trying to enter the New Campaign menu. The first syntax error encountered will be displayed in a pop-up message. Errors in the data may not have an impact on the game for some time, but may eventually result in a crash or unexpected game behaviour. You can also consult one of the game's standard campaigns for examples on correct formatting.
Please note that a copy of campaign definitions is saved locally within a saved game, so if you modify a campaign definition file, it will have no effect on saved campaigns in progress.
9.1 General Campaign Information
The JSON file as a whole must start and end with squiggly brackets {} as the overall data structure is that of a dictionary. There are a few fields that are required in every
campaign that appear at the start of the data:
Field Contents Format
"name" The name of the campaign String, maximum ~40 characters
"start_date" The earliest possible combat day
in the campaign ISO date separated by periods, eg.
"1939.09.01"
"end_date" The latest possible combat day in
the campaign ISO date separated by periods
"player_nation" The nation that the player is
fighting for String, must be one of the keys
defined in /data/nation_defs.json
"enemy_nations" List of nations of the enemy forces List of Strings, each must be a key in nation_defs.json
"region" Region in which the campaign
takes place Must be one of the pre-designated
regions, so far there is:
Northeastern Europe,
Northwestern Europe, and Nordic
"desc" A narrative description of the entire
campaign String
"player_unit_list" List of units that the player can
possibly command List of Strings, each one must be a unit_id in
/data/unit_type_defs.json, also each one should probably be an armoured vehicle of some sort
"player_squad_list" Dictionary of possible squadmates
for the player unit Dictionary, where each key is a unit_id from “player_unit_list”, and each has a list of unit_id as its value
"tank_vp_modifiers" Victory Point multipliers for certain underpowered (or overpowered) player units
Dictionary, where each key exists player_unit_list and each one has a float for its value (eg. 1.2 would increase each day’s VP gain by
20%)
"national_skills" List of national skills automatically
given to player crew List of Strings, each one must be a key in /data/skill_defs.json
"player_air_support" Unit types that can possibly arrive for player air support
List of Strings, each one must be a key in unit_defs.json, should also be a unit of the category "Airplane"
"enemy_air_support" Unit types that can possibly arrive
for enemy air support List of Strings, each one must be a key in unit_defs.json, should also be a unit of the category "Airplane"
"player_arty_support" Unit types that can be used for
player artillery support List of Strings, each one must be a key in unit_defs.json, should also be a unit of the category "Artillery Gun"
"enemy_arty_support" Unit types that can be used for
enemy artillery support List of Strings, each one must be a key in unit_defs.json, should also be a unit of the category "Artillery Gun"
"enemy_unit_list" List of nations and unit types that may be spawned as enemies on the Scenario map. Only one nation from this list will be randomly selected for each Scenario.
Dictionary, where each key is a Nation, and each has as its value a list of strings, each one of which is a unit_id in unit_defs.json
"enemy_unit_class_odds" Unit classes and the odds that
they will be spawned in a scenario Dictionary, where each key is a unit class, and each has as its value an integer between 1 and 100
"combat_days" How many total combat days to
generate for the campaign Integer of at least 1, at most the total of the calendar days defined below
9.2 Optional Campaign Information
The data in this section can be left out without breaking the campaign.
Field Contents Format
"small_team_odds" A list of small team units that may be spawned alongside an enemy Riflemen unit
Dictionary, where each key is the unit_id of a small team unit from unit_type_defs.json, and each has as its value an integer from 1 to 100
"decorations_list" Possible decorations that the player can be awarded at the end of the campaign
Dictionary, where each key is a String of a Victory Point value, and each key is a String of the
decoration awarded
9.3 Combat Calendar Week Definitions
The calendar_weeks field must have a value that is a list of dictionaries. Each of these
dictionaries defines a week in the campaign calendar, and each one has a similar structure, with the exception of refitting weeks. Most of the fields in each dictionary are required; if one is optional then it will be tagged as such.
Field Contents Format
"start_date" The starting date for this calendar
week ISO date separated by periods,
should not be earlier than the start date of the campaign, and make sure that it does not fall earlier than the end of the previous week
"end_date" OPTIONAL - if you want the
"week" to end before 7 full days, define the last day here
ISO date separated by periods
"day_start" Time that the combat day will
begin for the player String of a zero-padded 24-hour time, eg. "05:30"
"day_end" Time that the combat day will end for the player
String of a zero-padded 24-hour time, eg. "18:15"
"combat_chance" The odds that a given day from this week will be added to the combat calendar
Integer between 1 and 100
"average_resistance" The average enemy resistance level for hex zones in the
Campaign Day map for this week
Integer between 1 and 10
"week_title" Title for this week in the campaign String, maximum ~40 characters
"week_description" OPTIONAL - a narrative
description of this week String, maximum ~242 characters
"mission_odds" Odds of different mission types for
each combat day Dictionary, each key must be one of the mission types, and each has a value of an integer between 1 and 100; not all possible mission types must be included as keys
"enemy_nations" Enemy nations that may be encountered this week
List of Strings, each must correspond to a key in
“enemy_unit_list” above
"air_support_level" OPTIONAL - starting level of player air support for each combat day
Float between 0.0 and 100.0
"arty_support_level" OPTIONAL - starting level of artillery support for each combat day
Float between 0.0 and 100.0
"terrain_odds_modifier" OPTIONAL - modify odds of Campaign Day map zone terrain for this week only
Dictionary, where each key is a Campaign Day map terrain type, and each has a value of an Integer between 0 and 100
"enemy_class_odds_modifier" OPTIONAL - modify one or more enemy_unit_class_odds values, applies for the rest of the campaign unless modified again
Dictionary, where each key is a unit class, each of which has a value of an Integer between 0 and 100
"refitting" OPTIONAL - If set to "TRUE", no other data other than "start_date"
will be used, and the first day of this week will be added as a non- combat, refitting day
"TRUE"
