Something you MUST utilize...

[RickApple]

Many players are having trouble manipulating units in the heat of the battle. The following is crucial:

You must use such important units as TANKS and SNIPERS and OFFICERS in DIRECT CONTROL MODE, and you must MOVE these units with the "arrow" keys ON YOUR KEYBOARD.

This is essential when creaping up a tank which is covering your advancing infantry units through the bushes.

Essential when crawling up your sniper to where he just gets in 100 meter range to fire.

Essential to move the Officer's binoculars around the battle field.

Direct Contol Mode is not just "the fun, arcady way" to play Men of War...it is essential.

Rick

[kane1]

Your absolutely right. The problem for me was I almost never read the manuals before I play. I was getting my butt kicked in SHoWW2 until I found out about DC. If SHoWW2 wasn't soooooooooo much fun to play I would of quit.

[KnightFandragon]

Direct Control mode is what makes MoW so cool =P Kinda a FPS in an RTS game. I always am using DC to use a single tank or officer.....not to much on infantry. Though at times what a whole damn battalion of regular infantry cant do one lone DC'd infantry Machinegunner does then some....IDK how many countless times I have ordered a whole squad to attack a lone guy curled up in a house corner, they run in, stare at him all the while that one guy just shoots the living $H17 out of the whole squad.....I sit there, swearing at the screen and those retarded ass infantry then just take control of one lone survivor and mow him down in a second, then hit the restart button. Infantry are weird to order around in this game. One thing among many in this game is how is it when u order infantry to fire they will run up to thier targets and sit there like they dont have a Line of Sight although the very target your telling them to shoot is sitting there killing them all? If it wasnt for Direct Control mode, the GEM editor and me figuring out how to give infantry 300HP and armor id have a 110% infantry loss rate w/ the stupidty of the infantry.......ok, back to the DirectControl topic.

[kane1]

I think that's been happening to the casual MoW players. They get frustrated with the difficulty of the game and give up before they take full advantage of DC.

[RickApple]

It is a shame so many will give up early on what I consider one of the greatest computer games ever (and I have played many).

I am new to the game, and just last week I discovered the glories of placing a SNIPER up in a TREE, and putting him in Direct Control Mode if for no other reason than to SPOT enemy units. And it was fun popping the grapes on those unfortunate souls whose heads were popping out the top of a CHAFFEE tank.

The game Men of War is extraordinary.

Rick

[KnightFandragon]

I havent given up on this game, I still play it tons. It has alot of things about it that are pretty awesome like the Inventory, ammo, DC, the way you can break down squads and what not. I guess the micromanaging in general I like but it does get kinda tedious =D

Lolz, RickApple, There was a Sniper up in a tree in some match I played...took me a few minutes to find him then my officer saw him. Still took me a few shots to get him b/c being in a tree hes hard to hit. In fact when I was firing at tha sniper my tank actually missed and the round flew into the back lines of the enemy and killed a random officer...I was like lawl

[Crni vuk]

I actualy made as well good experience in giving control to the AI, particularly in shooting moving targets. The aim of the PC is quite good in that with long range guns. I also tend to use snipers on the flanks of my infantry and let them stay there unoticed. Officers in direct control are very usefull. Tanks as well when you have to fight crucial situations. But I find it more usefull to just target a moving Puma / T34 with a T34 85, Panzer IV or anything biger. Works quite well for me. Particularly since you can use with soviet vehicles the heavy 12,5 (or 14mm even?) Dshk anti craft gun. Its more the combination in my eyes that makes the difference. But thats just my experience.

[FM_Von_Manstein]

Well, thanks for stating the obvious. Direct control mode is obviously the single most important thing in the game. I find that my tanks sometimes don't shoot unless I use DC. Don't know why...

[KnightFandragon]

Originally Posted by FM_Von_Manstein

I find that my tanks sometimes don't shoot unless I use DC. Don't know why...

Lolz, looking in the weapon files and such, there is a Aim range, which from what ive figured out is the range in which your guys actually fire back, basically thier awareness level and the actual weapon's max range.....The reason im guessing is that the Aim Range isnt very far so they just sit there unless you give them a direct order to fire or go to DC. I figured this one out b/c I wanted to know why there was 2 ranges. I then set my guns to Aim Range 20, and Max Range like 60....went into Crete and couldnt, for the life of me figure out why my G3 guys were sitting there while my other guys were shooting, come to find out ther was a direct link between the 20 I had put and my guys only engaging within 20...So yeah, I think the Pzr IV H has a aim range of 70, max range of 90 so only within 70 will it fire on its own. The rest of the range it has to be DC'd or give it an order to fire. Weird but meh..

[insolent1]

Direct control is the thing that has made this game series stand out ever since I played the SHoWW2 officer demo and used a timed grenade on the first truck that appears full with infantry.
The sniper AI needs some work as they have poor target selection(they should go after high value tagets first ie MG's flamethrowers other snipers before targeting cannon fodder) and they don't use their range advantage. I find they don't start shooting till 60m instead of 69.9m.