World War II Online - Combat Training

[Detomah]

PLAYING INFANTRY

Infantry is the most commonly available unit type; and are the only unit that can capture facilities and thereby entire CPs. Infantry can defeat enemy armor at close ranges with satchel charges and anti-tank rifles, easily hide in the dense underbrush, move freely inside densely packed cities, and destroy as well as repair bridges. Your role as infantry is key on the battlefield: only you can capture, thus moving the map. Tanks, planes, guns, all have their roles as well, but their goal above all is to support you, the infantry, in capturing facilities and ultimately advancing the battle lines.

BASIC CONTROLS
As an infantryman, your controls are much like a typical first-person shooter with a few additional features. Use the WASD keys to move. By default, mouselook is enabled; you change the direction you face by moving the mouse. You can also toggle freelook (turn your character’s head only) on and off with the N key.

Your default stance is standing; the F key will move you to crouch, and V will drop you fully prone. These are toggles – you will remain in the chosen stance until you change it. When standing or crouching, infantry can lean left or right using the Z and C keys respectively – this allows you to ‘peek’ (or fire) around corners and obstacles. Infantry may also quickly glance left and right with the Q and E keys – this doesn’t change your weapon direction however.

Movement is typically at a jog, but you can sprint for short distances by holding down the LEFT SHIFT key while moving forward. Your stamina will decrease until you cannot sprint any longer, returning you to jogging speed. Lowering your weapon from the ‘ready’ position (L key) will reduce the stamina cost for running, but you will not be able to fire until you restore the weapon to ready mode with L again. Due to the extreme weight of the weapon and ammunition, troops carrying light machineguns or anti tank rifles are not able to lower their weapon to save energy.

The quickest way to restore stamina is to lie prone. If you have a long distance to run, G will enable autorun in which you jog forward without stopping.

Movement while crouching or prone will be slower, but you will also make much less noise. You can run while crouching by holding down the left shift and W keys as well. While this isn’t particularly sneaky you’ll be able to keep your head down while moving.

Infantry will automatically swim when entering a body of water. Your character will immediately go prone and begin to swim. Swimming is more fatiguing than sprinting so you will find your stamina dropping very quickly. Once you reach the shore again, you will be lying prone on the. It’s a good idea to stay put until your stamina regenerates completely.

Infantry can ride most vehicles by moving close to the vehicle and jumping on by hitting the J key. If the vehicle can take riders (tanks, halftracks, trucks, transport planes, naval craft) you will be moved to a seated position in or on the vehicle. At this point, you are unable to use your weapons, although you may reload them and freelook with the N key. You may also still use the quick glance keys of Q and E. To dismount, hit “J” again. NOTE: dismounting at any speed is dangerous and can be fatal at high speeds. If you can, wait until the vehicle stops or at least slows down significantly to jump off.

Loading aboard large vessels has one extra step: to embark on one of the lowered boats from a Freighter or Destroyer, move adjacent to it and hit J. This puts you in the lifeboat. The captain of the vessel will raise the lifeboat to main deck level. Hitting the J key again will now remove you from the boat and put you on the deck of the ship. Once on the deck of the ship you may move and fight freely.


Paratroops can bail out of a transport aircraft during flight by hitting the J key. The chute will take a few seconds to deploy, so as long as the aircraft is high enough, you can jump safely.

Jumping from a very low flying transport plane is not recommended. Your chute may not have time to fully deploy.

Once you ‘hit the silk’ you have the ability to (slightly) control your drift using the Q and E keys. You can also freelook during descent with the right-mouse-toggle. When you finally land, you will be deposited on the ground in a prone position.

Non paratroopers can ride in transport planes as well but again, without a parachute jumping out of planes is “not recommended.”

Once you’ve used your parachute you won’t get another until you re-spawn. If you are “picked up” by a transport plane after your jump, be warned that you now DO NOT HAVE A PARACHUTE, and if you jump again, well, maybe it’s worth saying again; jumping out of planes without a parachute is “not recommended.”


INFANTRY CLASSES

There are eight different classes of infantry common across all nationalities. Each has varied equipment and weapon loadouts by class. You can switch between the weapons by pressing the number keys on the keyboard: 1 (which is the default weapon), 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 (for some classes). The specifics for each class of infantry are listed below.

Rifleman: The basic combat unit of the army, the rifleman comprises the largest bulk of any infantry class available for spawn. Each rifleman is equipped with a combat knife, a rifle, 100 rounds of ammunition, 4 smoke grenades, 2 HE/Fragmentation grenades. He also has the ability to use an “ammo reload”. This gives him the capability to resupply another infantryman’s primary weapon ammunition, one time. Good at medium range engagements (and even potent at long ranges with practice), the Rifleman’s bulky weapon and slow rate of fire puts him at a disadvantage in close-quarters combat. The rifleman is available to all ranks.

Assault Trooper (SMG): The submachine-gunner is a shock trooper, meant to engage the enemy face to face with overwhelming firepower. He has a knife, his submachinegun, around 300 rounds of ammunition, 4 HE/Fragmentation grenades, 2 smoke grenades, and a pistol for last-ditch defense. This class is exceptionally well suited for house-to-house combat and fighting inside bunkers, etc. However the assault trooper’s SMG is almost useless beyond 50 meters. The SMG becomes available at rank level three.

Engineer/Sapper: The sapper is a combat engineer and therefore not particularly suited for direct combat. He is equipped with a rifle and only 30 rounds of ammunition for immediate defense, but is main weapons are his explosives: 4 HE/Frag grenades, 4 smoke grenades, a combat knife, and particularly 4 satchel charges. The engineer’s satchels have many functions: they can rubble buildings, blow bridges, destroy enemy vehicles and equipment, and even (if attached to the exterior wall) kill some troops inside otherwise-impenetrable bunkers. Sappers can also repair bridges that have been blown/bombed by the enemy. Sappers become available at army rank level three.

Rifle Grenadier: The Grenadier is the immediate fire support for his team, able to drop his grenades on targets more than 200 yards away – far further than any soldier could otherwise throw. He is equipped with a knife, a rifle with 60 rounds of ammunition, a combat knife, and a varying number of rifle grenades. French and German grenadiers have 10 rifle grenades that are good against all infantry targets and soft-skinned vehicles, but of marginal utility against anything with armor. British grenadiers have only 6 of the more-powerful HEAT rifle grenades. These perform similarly against infantry and soft targets, but have a special shaped charge allowing them to successfully attack armored vehicles with practice. Grenadiers are available at army rank level three.

Light Machine Gunners: Light machine gunners are a critical element to any well balanced team. Capable of laying down a blanket of machinegun fire, they are vital to isolating enemy buildings and suppressing large numbers of enemy troops at medium to long ranges. The LMG has 1 smoke grenade, a knife and a pistol for close-quarters combat, as well as his light machine gun with 300 rounds of ammunition. LMGs are also available at army rank level three.

Anit-Tank Riflemen: Along with the engineer the ATR soldier represents infantry defense against armor. Equipped with his ATR, 30 rounds, a pistol and a combat knife for close-in defense, as well as 4 smoke grenades, ATRs are only available once you have reached army rank level three.

NCO/Officer: the NCO/Officer unit is more of a role to play than a combat specialist. NCOs figures are created when a mission-creator spawns as infantry into his own mission – while visually distinct; the NCO will be equipped with the standard combat kit as described above depending on what infantry class was selected.

Commander: High Command Staff members spawn with the Officer uniform designating their status as members of the High Command. They will be equipped with the standard combat kit as described above depending on what infantry class was selected. Both NCO and Officer avatars are given a distinctive model to enhance battlefield recognition of mission commanders to friends and (unfortunately) foes.

Paratroop: Because they are generally dropped into combat zones that are beyond the reach/support of other friendly ground forces, paratroopers are exceptionally well-equipped. Each has an SMG, about 300 rounds of ammunition, a combat knife, 4 HE/Frag grenades, 4 smoke grenades and even a single satchel charge and an ammo reload just like the rifleman. Representing the elite combat troops of a side, parachute infantry have higher stamina and health values than the typical infantryman. Paratroop infantry are only spawnable by players with an army rank of five or higher, and are only available at specifically deployed army bases.

Paratroop deployments are noted on the map by this icon

Tools of the trade: Infantry Weapons

A craftsman is only as good as his equipment. Infantry in BATTLEGROUND EUROPE are armed with a wide range of equipment for use in a variety of situations.

NOTE: A detailed discussion of the differences in the various weapons available to each nationality is available on your BATTLEGROUND EUROPE CD as a PDF file.


COMBAT KNIFE
The knife is both the easiest and hardest weapon for infantry in Battleground Europe to use. Simply get close enough to an enemy infantry unit, point it at your target, and click the left mouse button to stab or slash the knife at your victim. Of course, getting close enough can be somewhat difficult. Knives are obviously useless against vehicles but an enterprising infantryman may find that they are effective against unbuttoned (exposed) tank crewmen. The only difference between the various nationalities’ knives is esthetic – they are equally effective.

PISTOL
The pistol was a common sidearm in WW2. Contrary to Hollywood, it was deemed nearly useless in combat by most actual soldiers due to its inherent inaccuracy, short range, and limited lethality. Nevertheless, it was carried as a last-ditch weapon by many. Pistols in Battleground Europe serve the same role.

You can fire a pistol from the standard ready position (also known as firing from the hip) with a left click on the mouse button, or use aimed fire for much better accuracy.

To aim, right click and hold the mouse button to bring up a view of the pistol’s iron sights. You will notice that the aiming point drifts realistically with your breathing, little at first but the longer you try to hold your arm up while aiming, this drift will become quite large. Placing these sights on your target, left click to fire. Note that pistol ammunition is generally quite low power – the drop over even relatively short ranges is significant. If your target is more than 50-60 yards distant, its unlikely you’ll hit them with a pistol (and even if you hit them, its not likely to do a lot at that range, either). Once you have exhausted the ammunition available in the loaded weapon, you must manually reload by hitting R.

RIFLE
Mastery of the rifle is a key to success as an infantryman. Rifles hit hard at good ranges, and are an extremely good general-purpose weapon for most engagements. Further, they are the main ranged weapon for multiple infantry types, and while other weapons are sometimes considered more flashy or glamorous, the trusty rifle gets the job done.

You can fire a rifle from the standard ready position (also known as firing from the hip) with a left click on the mouse button, or using aimed fire for much better accuracy.

To aim, right click and hold the mouse button to bring up a view of the rifle’s iron sights. You will notice that the aiming point drifts realistically with your breathing, little at first but the longer you try to hold your arm up while aiming, this drift will become quite large. You can significantly reduce this drift by firing from the prone position. Placing these sights on your target, left click to fire. After you fire, when you release the left mouse button your character automatically chambers the next round. To better see the impact of your shot (especially at range) you may consider keeping the right mouse button pressed until after impact.

Military rifle ammunition is high powered, so you should be able (with practice) to reliably hit targets at 200 yards, but beyond this you will need to compensate for the drop of the bullet over range. Some extremely skilled players have managed to record rifle kills at 500, 600 yards, or even further. Once you have exhausted the ammunition available in the loaded weapon, you must manually reload by hitting R. A rifle may be lowered from the ‘ready’ position with the L key to significantly reduce your stamina loss when running. Note that this will disable the ability to hipfire the gun until the rifle is either restored to the ready position with the L key or aimed again (after which it automatically returns to the ready position).

Rifle users are able to adjust the range settings on their weapon by using PageUp and PageDown keys. The new weapon setting will appear in the chat bar.


SUB MACHINE GUN
Infantry combat at very close quarters requires something quite different from the single high-power shot that a rifle provides. A fierce barrage of lower-power slugs is far more effective. In the more-fluid combat conditions of house to house fighting, and facility storming it is always worthwhile to trade some ranged effectiveness for improved short-range survivability and lethality.

You can fire an SMG from the standard ready position (also known as firing from the hip) with a left click on the mouse button. This is sufficient for extremely close targets, and is far quicker than raising the gun to aim it carefully. With an SMG, its worth your time to become accustomed to hipshooting; taking the time to aim can cancel out your short-range firepower advantage. But when presented with a longer range shot, with time to take, using aimed fire especially in short bursts provides much better accuracy.

To aim, right click and hold the mouse button to bring up a view of the SMG’s iron sights. You will notice that the aiming point drifts realistically with your breathing, little at first but the longer you try to hold your arm up while aiming, this drift will become quite large. Placing these sights on your target, left click to fire. Note that SMG ammunition is generally quite low power – the drop over even relatively short ranges is significant. If your target is more than 80 yards distant, its unlikely you’ll hit them (and even if you hit them, its not likely to do a lot at that range, either).

Because of the rapid fire capabilities, you will notice that your muzzle also drifts quite a bit while firing, typically upwards and to the left. You will have to compensate for this by moving the mouse while firing. Short bursts, instead of long pulls at the trigger, will minimize this ‘rise’ effect as well.

Every time you left-click with an SMG, you fire constantly and can empty your magazine quite rapidly if you’re not careful. Once you have exhausted the ammunition available in the loaded weapon, you must manually reload by hitting R. An SMG may be lowered from the ‘ready’ position with the L key to reduce your stamina loss when running. Note that this will disable the ability to hipfire the gun until the SMG is either restored to the ready position with the L key or aimed again (after which it automatically returns to the ready position).

SMOKE GRENADE
One development that began to counteract the increasing lethality of the WW2 battlefield was smoke. Lacking body armor or any sort of personal protection, the only active defense a soldier had was to obscure the vision of the enemy. Originally limited to specialist engineer and assault forces, smoke grenades soon became a ubiquitous part of an infantry squad’s arsenal.

Smoke grenades will offer several seconds of obscuring smoke; enough to cross a street or to move from one position to another, while preventing an enemy from gaining a direct, clear shot on you.

Using a smoke grenade is a simple process. Select the weapon, aim your point of view in the direction you want to toss it, and hit the left mouse button. The distance thrown will depend on how high you aim; aiming directly at the level horizon means only about a 10-yard throw (about 10m). Aiming about 45 degrees up (halfway between the horizon and straight up) will give you the maximum distance of 50-60 yards/meters. Throwing at your feet or directly up will cause the smoke cloud to be generated in your own location. Note that throwing at a target higher than the thrower will mean that you should aim quite a bit higher than usual, while throwing at a downhill target will require you to under compensate by aiming ‘short’ because of the elevation-boost to your throw distance.

Note that (as obvious as this may be) smoke doesn’t stop bullets. Many players (especially in vehicles with little risk of running out of ammunition) will see smoke and, presuming that you are using it to allow you to leave cover momentarily, will hose the area with machinegun fire. It may not be aimed, but it still can kill you. Since the presence of a smoke cloud therefore can actually focus an enemy’s attention, sometimes it works to throw smoke to a spot, let the enemy waste ammunition on it, and then redeploy in a different direction. Smoke is particularly useful for neutralizing an enemy strongpoint. Well-thrown smoke grenades can land directly in front of the enemy’s firing points, allowing your infantry to close the last (most lethal) 25-50 yards and get into the enemy’s blind spots. Smoke grenades are ‘sticky’ – they will go off precisely where they land and the smoke will be generated there. This can be used for some very creative smoke placement into places you wouldn’t normally expect to be able to apply smoke.

Smoke is also very visible from the air; it can be used by infantry to ‘mark’ an enemy target otherwise hard for your air support to see.

HE/FRAGMENTATION GRENADE

HE/Fragmentation grenades have been a staple of infantry combat since the end of the First World War. When an enemy is behind cover making direct-fire weapons useless, a high-arcing grenade toss is often the only solution.

Using a HE/Fragmentation grenade is a simple process. Select the weapon, aim your point of view in the direction you want to toss it, and hit the left mouse button. The distance thrown will depend on how high you aim; aiming directly at the level horizon means only about a 10-yard throw (about 10m) – note that this short of a throw will leave you distinctly in the danger-zone from the blast. Aiming about 45 degrees up (halfway between the horizon and straight up) will give you the maximum distance of 50-60 yards/meters. Throwing at your feet or directly up is not particularly recommended (there is no friendly fire but you can kill yourself with a poorly-thrown grenade!). Note that throwing at a target higher than the thrower will mean that you should aim quite a bit higher than usual, while throwing at a downhill target will require you to under compensate by aiming ‘short’ because of the elevation-boost to your throw distance.

Grenades in Battleground Europe do not have a delay – they do not bounce, but explode on first contact. Therefore it’s extremely important that you have a clear field of fire – at least about a 20” (half-meter) gap to throw through safely, or the grenade will detonate in your face.

Grenades are generally lethal in a radius around the impact point, roughly 5 yards/meters. They throw out a high-explosive concussion effect out to 3-4 yards/meters as well as hundreds of fragments out to 30’ (10m) or more. The concussion expands in a sphere while the fragments are each tracked individually, spreading in an inverted cone from the impact point. Due to this simulation fidelity, real-life tactics (such as going prone) will generally reduce the likelihood of being hit by fragments. Likewise (again, as in real life) some freakish events are possible such as a nearby grenade leaving a standing target somehow unscathed.

Grenades are very effective against soft vehicles like trucks and river craft; they are less so against lightly armored targets and generally require some sort of very lucky hit to even immobilize a tank.

SATCHEL CHARGE

The satchel charge represents a number of varied explosive resources available to engineers such as demolition charges or anti-tank (magnetic) mines. Blowing bridges, buildings, or even slapping it on an enemy tank – the general utility and lethality of the satchel makes it a useful and important weapon in the hands of someone who can overcome the distinct difficulties in employing it.

A satchel is rather simple to use: when you select the weapon you will be holding the satchel directly in front of you. Move to within about 1 yard/meter of your target, and hold down the left mouse button. After a moment, the satchel will leave your hands and appear attached to the target. Unlike the movies, satchel charges may not be thrown – in Battleground Europe you must PLACE a satchel to have any significant effect.

One placed, you have about 10 seconds before the satchel goes off. When it does explode, it has a high-explosive blast radius of about 25-30 feet (8-10 meters), so immediately after setting it infantry should run or at least seek nearby hard cover. Therefore it’s strongly recommended to place a satchel when your stamina is at its highest, affording you the maximum opportunity to sprint away from the blast. You can kill yourself if you are too close to the blast of your own satchel.

The satchel will ‘stick’ to just about anything. Against buildings/bridges, it represents the placement and tamping of a significant amount of plastic explosive. Once the requisite number of charges has been placed on a building, the building will collapse into ruin, or a bridge will simply fall. Used against vehicles (or non-destroyable bunkers), it represents an anti-tank magnetic mine firing a high-explosive jet into the target. This jet will burn through 40mm of armor and can destroy even the heaviest tanks if placed strategically. It will also kill infantry in side bunkers if they stand too near the explosion site.

To destroy: Charges needed
Small Capture building or house 2
Supply depot, row house, or larger building: 4
Forward Base Infantry Spawn/Vehicle Spawn 8 (each)
Bridge 40

RIFLE GRENADES/HEAT RIFLE GRENADES

It was soon found that most infantry combat was taking place beyond the range of thrown grenades, and some solution had to be found to allow an infantry squad to deal with targets behind cover at a distance. Using the typical infantryman’s rifle, engineers developed a special muzzle mount/firing cartridge that would hurl a specially-designed grenade out to ranges of 200 yards (180m) or more. This gave a typical infantry squad some light indirect-fire capabilities for tactical situations where artillery was either not available or impractical.

Firing a rifle grenade is a slightly complicated process; and as a result becoming good with a rifle grenade takes a great deal of practice. Skilled users are not common but their ability to cope with targets immune to infantry fire makes them highly valued among their peers.

To fire a rifle grenade, first attach the grenade “cup” attachment to the end of the rifle with the B key. You must then load the rifle and grenade (these will both happen on a press of the R key). Fire the rifle grenade by pressing the left mouse button, as you would a regular rifle round. The rifle grenade fires in an arc, so you must approximate where you want the rifle grenade to go (there is no “aim” functionality, it was all eyeball work) to impact your target. You cannot move while loading or firing the rifle grenade. In fact, because it gives you a better sight-picture of both the target and your rifle muzzle, the ‘crouched’ position is favored by most experienced Rifle Grenadiers. You may fire when prone but your ability to elevate the muzzle is restricted, reducing your effective range.

Also, because the rifle grenade is primed when inserted into the attachment, it must be fired and cannot be removed otherwise. After each shot, you must manually reload (R). Finally, to fire the rifle in normal fashion, remove the attachment (B), reload the rifle with normal rounds (R), and fire as normal. Rifle grenades do not have a delay – they do not bounce, but explode on first contact.

Rifle grenades are essentially the same as hand grenades: they are generally lethal in a radius around the impact point, roughly 5 yards/meters. They throw out a high-explosive concussion effect out to 3-4 yards/meters as well as hundreds of fragments out to 30’ (10m) or more. The concussion expands in a sphere while the fragments are each tracked individually, spreading in an inverted cone from the impact point. Due to this simulation fidelity, real-life tactics (such as going prone) will generally reduce the likelihood of being hit by fragments. Likewise (again, as in real life) some freakish events are possible such as a nearby grenade leaving a standing target somehow unscathed.

Grenades are very effective against soft vehicles like trucks and river craft; they are less so against lightly armored targets and generally require some sort of very lucky hit to even immobilize a tank.

LIGHT MACHINE GUN

In the First World War machineguns were fixed-mount weapons usually classified as light artillery pieces. In contrast, infantry squads of WW2 went into battle with light, more-or-less man-portable machineguns, capable of providing large volumes of fire for the squad’s immediate needs.

You can fire an LMG from the standard ready position (also known as firing from the hip) with a left click on the mouse button only if you right click to aim. There is no “hipfire” for LMGs. As a machinegun, the gun will continue to fire as long as you have the mouse button depressed or until you are out of ammunition. Because of the rapid fire capabilities, you will notice that your muzzle also drifts quite a bit while firing, typically upwards and to the left. You will have to compensate for this by moving the mouse while firing. Short bursts, instead of long pulls at the trigger, will minimize this ‘rise’ effect as well. The extremely high rate of fire means that you are throwing a large number of rounds at the target, but conversely the muzzle climb will rapidly pull your aim off-target.

To aim more carefully and to strongly reduce the effects of muzzle climb, you must be prone with the bipod extended. To extend you must be laying prone (V). Point your view generally toward your intended target and hit the B key. You will see the bipod unfold, come to rest on the ground, and you will end in aimed view (looking over the sights of the weapon). You are now fixed in that location with a limited ability to slew your view left and right. To move yourself or change your covered arc of fire, you will have to fold the bipod (hit B again). Once the bipod is done folding, you are free to move as usual.

To fire with the bipod down, left click. You will see a major reduction in the jumpiness of the weapon, and should be able to keep sustained fire on a single target without too much trouble. LMG ammunition is quite high-powered, so there is little drop even at long ranges. LMGs use ammunition at a prodigious rate, make sure there are friendly riflemen around that can reload you if the need arises.

LMGs are able to adjust the range settings on their weapon by using PageUp and PageDown keys. The new weapon setting will appear in the chat bar.

ANTI-TANK RIFLE

In response to the increased use of armored vehicles on the battlefield in the early stages of WW2, almost all countries deployed antitank rifles with their infantry units. Essentially nothing more than an extremely high-caliber rifle with armor-piercing ammunition, the guns proved extremely unwieldy and difficult to employ while advances in armor technology rapidly made them less and less effective. They are likewise of limited effectiveness in BATTLEGROUND EUROPE, and it takes practice to be anything more than an annoyance to the tanks roaming the BE battlefield.

Unlike most other weapons, you cannot fire the ATR from the standard ready position. To fire the weapon you must be both prone and have the bipod extended.

To extend the bipod once you are laying prone (V), point your view generally toward your intended target and hit the B key. You will see the bipod unfold, come to rest on the ground, and leave you in aimed view (looking over the sights of the weapon). You are now fixed in that location with a limited ability to slew your view left and right. To move yourself or change your covered arc of fire, you will have to fold the bipod (hit B again). Once the bipod is done folding, you are free to move as usual.

Once the bipod is deployed, fire by clicking the left mouse button. Note that the ATR is an extremely powerful gun, and the kick will throw you and the bipod position around. It is not unusual that after 3 or 4 shots, you may have to readjust your bipod and/or your own location to restore your ability to see the original target. ATR rounds are very powerful and do not drop much over long ranges; some players swear by them as sniper rifles although their low ammunition count and distinctive firing signature might discourage this.

When you have fired your full clip of ammunition, hit R to reload a new clip. Some ATRs are single-shot weapons, with these you will have to reload after every pull of the trigger.

NON COMBAT INVENTORY

Ammo Reload
Riflemen and Paratroops have the ability give others ammo. Select this item and you’ll be holding an ammunition box. Move next to a friendly infantryman, point this at him, left click, and his primary weapon’s ammunition will be restored to full levels. This is particularly useful to rearm infantry types who go through their ammunition quickly like SMGs, and LMGs.

Binoculars
At rank 6, all infantry characters gain access to binoculars which will greatly increase your situational awareness, improve your survivability, and put you on more of a par with those vehicle commanders and gunners who all have vision magnification devices. To use the binoculars, hit 0.

Bridge Repair Kit
Engineers have the ability to repair blown bridges. Typically they carry tools and enough spare parts to use this ability 4 times. Select this item, move near the destroyed structure, and left-click to activate. It generally takes many of these kits to repair a bridge, so be sure to have a lot of friends with you.


EMOTES
Sometimes there isn’t time to type a command in the chat buffer. As any infantry you can display six different body/arm gestures, four for combat purposes and two for general purposes using the .emote command in the chat buffer or key combination.



Emotes

Combat Emotes

Double-time .emote double or Control-1
Take Cover .emote getdown or Control-2
Halt .emote halt or Control-3
Move Out .emote moveout or Control-4
Need Ammunition! .emote ammo or Control-5
Jump Signal (paratroopers) .emote jump or Control-6


Non-Combat Emotes

Salute: .emote salute
Cheer: .emote cheer


USING VEHICLES

In this virtual battlefield environment you’ll have access to all types of combat vehicles, from simple Prime Movers to Destroyers. The Battleground Europe vehicle system is designed to allow for a wide variety of functionality while keeping as much consistency as possible throughout the various classes of vehicles, aircraft, and ships. While there are some complex functions, most of them you’ll only need to learn once as they carry over to other classes with similar features. Full class-based keymap guides can be found in the back of this manual for easy reference.

BASIC CONCEPTS
Most vehicles in Battleground Europe have more than one position to crew. If the vehicle has multiple crewmen, you can hop from position to position by selecting the corresponding number on your keyboard. For example, you generally start as the driver (position #1). For most tanks, the gunner is position #3. Pressing the 3 key on your keyboard will immediately switch you to the gunner’s seat. Pressing 1 will return you to the driver position. If you switch to a position where the crew has died, your display will be black and you will no longer have access to the controls from that position.

When you jump to another position your control inputs will remain in effect; if you are in the gunner’s seat and pan the turret leftward while you hop into the driver’s seat, the turret will continue to spin until you return to the gunner position and stop it. If you are firing a gun and switch away while your trigger is pressed, that gun will continue to fire (un-aimed, of course) until you switch back or run out of ammunition.

For any vehicle with multiple positions, you have the option to multi-crew with another human, each taking specific crew tasks. You will find that (especially in conjunction with voice-communication software like Teamspeak or RogerWilco) this makes your vehicle far more combat-effective. Multi-crew functionality is covered in detail in the previous User Interface section.

While the most common controls are all standardized, the specific functions available to each crewman sometimes require a unique set of key commands. The numpad deletekey, for example, typically zooms in a player’s vision device (for a driver this may mean looking through a vision slit or periscope, for a gunner its looking through the gunsight, and for a tank commander its using his binoculars – 3 different tasks, but the same keymap for the same general function).

VIEWING
All crew positions in all vehicle classes and types have identical view controls. Quick views are mapped by default to the numpad keys, and a right mouse-click will set you in free look. Take some time to get used to the numpad view controls as they can come in very handy, especially if you are using your mouse for directional control and cannot effectively switch to free look.

The Keypad view keys

The black arrows above show the view directions on the numpad keys. Note that 5 and 2 are modifiers (up and down) and can be used in conjunction with the directions keys to produce combined views. Example 4 and 5 held down would give you the view looking up and to the left. Ins and Del serve as instrument and guinsight views in all vehicles.

DRIVING
All combat vehicles in Battleground Europe have manual transmissions. After your engine is stared you’ll need to shift gears to get moving. The vehicle info element of the HUD will display what gear you are currently in.

You will find that on rough ground, or going up hills, will have to down shift (reduce your gear with the [ key) to maintain speed. All vehicles drive their fastest on roads, slower offroad, and slowest on inclines. Fully tracked vehicles are generally less nimble half tracks, and all wheeled vehicles are commonly the fastest and most maneuverable.

You may be wondering “why the heck do I have to mess with this?” You might find it difficult at the beginning, but once you master the ability you will find that the manual transmission functionality is (aside from being realistic) actually more useful. When driving a tank alone, its common to stick the vehicle in a (moderate) 2nd or 3rd gear while you ‘jump’ into other crew seats to scan for enemies – far, far safer than stopping to look around, or alternately accelerating heedlessly through the broken countryside full of enemies.

AIMING AND FIRING

Most of the combat vehicles featured within Battleground Europe regardless of class, have multiple weapons, and in some cases will also have multiple “fighting crew” positions.

Some of these positions have multiple weapons as well. Each position’s weapon(s) may only be fired from that position, and every weapon has its own sight.

The art of successful gunnery lies in correctly and quickly estimating the range to your target. Your gunsight is the only tool you have to refine and hone that skill , so knowing how your gunsight works prior to going into combat is critical. While most of the gunsights are similar there are two basic classes, articulated and non-articulated.

All gunsights on all vehicles feature some level of magnification and a change of field of view (FOV). In every case these enhancements come from the specifications of the historical sights, so some will sport more magnification than others, and some a better FOV. Magnification is simply a factor of enlarging the image of what you see with the shape and size of a lens. However FOV defines how much you see. In some cases a wide FOV is far more important than a tight magnification, and in others seeing ****her with a higher magnification can outweigh the need for peripheral vision, every combat situation is different.
IRON OR STATIC SIGHTS
Of the guns that have non articulated sights, some are optical and some are plain iron sights. While these are simpler to use, they are actually less effective. Simple range marks in the reticule are all that the non-articulated optical sights have to assist the gunner in both estimating the range to a target as well as the approximate elevation needed to hit that range. The non-optical sights feature even less and often only have an aiming “web,” a variation on the classic ring sight. Needless to say it is much harder to score consistent, long-range hits with these weapons.

The simple non-articulated “combat” sight of the 2lbr field gun

The fixed non-optic “iron” sight of the 40mm Bofors gun
With practice though, the non-articulated sights can be devastating. And while more effective at closer ranges due to their limits the more time put into these guns can pay off by getting the “feel” of the sight, it’s ammo’s travel, drop, and dispersion down. Getting used to an iron sight makes moving into the more advanced sights a breeze, but going the other way can present a frustrating learning curve. Practice with the non-articulated sights to keep your gunnery skills honed and not dependant on an articulated sight; indeed the time may come in battle when the only gun you can get your hands on is one of these.

ARTICULATED OPTICAL SIGHTS
The more advanced sights (and far more common) are articulated optical sights, commonly known as “optics.” Adjusting the articulation in these sights is done with the Page Up/Page Down keys. As you change the range indicator, the “aiming” point will move within the sight picture while a range indicator (an arrow or spike) will point to the new range. All that is needed to score a first shot hit at a known range is to “re-place” the aiming point on your target and fire.

The French Mle 1937 47mm AT sight
The German PaK 36 50mm AT sight

All guns default to 0 range when spawned in. From the gunner position (crew 2) press the Page Down key to increase the indicated range, Page Up to decrease it. Using ranging shots, you can precisely measure the range to a target, lay it into your gunsight, and enjoy exceptional accuracy against any targets in that fire zone. Let’s say that you are setting up an ambush waiting for enemies to cross a certain medium-distant intersection. Switching to the ammunition you expect you will need (HE and AP have slightly different flight performance), you fire a ranging shot. Look carefully at the scorch mark where this shot hit the ground. Without moving your gunsight at all, Page Down until the tip of the target triangle is on this mark. The range indicator will now show you precisely what range that shot landed. Adjusting up or down a little, perhaps firing another shot or two, will put you at exactly the right range. With your range adjusted, you will be ready to engage any targets at that range with exceptional accuracy. More importantly, if you have ‘zeroed’ the range, you can communicate this to other tanks nearby, saving them the trouble of ranging individually and giving your force an advantage.

NOTE: as you increase the range, the sights sink in your viewfinder, forcing you to raise the barrel for more and more distant targets. This means that if you have a sudden enemy at a much shorter range, you must remember to aim lower than usual, or all your shots will fly well over his head.

THE RANGEFINDER
The Flak36, FlaK 28, and the Bofors all have rangefinders available to the commander and this makes determining range much easier. At crew position 1, keypad-period brings up binoculars with a cross hair in the center. Place the crosshair on the target, hit R. It will be a few moments to calculate the range, so you can take the opportunity to switch back to the gunner’s seat and wait for the results, which are shown in the chat buffer. Adjust the range with the pageup/pagedown keys to the stated range and your chances of a first-round hit are much higher.

Commander’s binocular view
Gunner’s Range indicator

FIRING YOUR GUN
Once you’ve got a sight picture that looks like it will be successful, its time to send some rounds downrange. The gun itself is fired with the joystick button 1 or the F key by default. AA guns are typically fairly steady allowing you to fire many times in succession. AT guns will more likely jump and you will return to your sight picture just in time to see the tracer arc of your fired shot before it impacts.

AMMUNITION
Some guns are equipped with multiple ammunition types for multiple functions, namely armor piercing (AP) and high explosive (HE). The gunner can select the ammunition using the backspace key. Note that this will be the ammunition loaded into the gun after the current round is fired. AP rounds are typically for use against armored targets, as their solid-shot penetrator is specifically designed to bore through armor plating without losing too much speed, while HE rounds are far more effective against light vehicles and infantry as the fragments and concussive blast provides a lethal radius on impact.

AP hitting a vehicle will frequently throw a shower of sparks however more sparks generally signals a non-penetrating shot. Less sparks usually tell of a full penetration (while this may seem backwards, the sparks are the penetrator and the surrounding armor material going molten and being thrown out. When a penetration occurs all that hot metal goes inside the tank!). With a full penetration you may also see (depending on your range) the tell tale “hole” that’s just been punched through the armor. HE rounds hitting anything will give off an explosion, and when they hit aircraft will typically knock off chunks of metal or even more rewarding, a wing or an engine.

Field Guns: Anti-Tank and Anti-Aircraft Weapons

While not as romantic as the Armored Fighting Vehicle (Tank aka AFV) anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns are critical in Battleground Europe. These are both direct-fire systems, that is, the target is within view of the firing weapon. All field guns in Battleground Europe function in essentially the same way, so expertise you develop with one gun system is very portable to other gun systems, even if you switch sides.

All field guns have two crewmen, the commander (Crew 1) and gunner (Crew 2). The default for basic control in both positions is the joystick or arrow keys.

THE COMMANDER: (crew #1) can: move the un-deployed gun using the joystick or arrow keys and can deploy/un-deploy the gun with the D key. Prepping the gun for towing by enabling the hitch is done with the H key. When the gun is deployed, the commander is equipped with high magnification binoculars and in some cases even a rangefinder to tell the gunner the projected distance to the target.

THE GUNNER: (crew #2) can: aim and slew the gun when deployed using the joystick or arrow keys, and look through the gunsight using the keypad-period key. Hitting keypad-period again will increase the sight magnification. The gunner fires the gun using joystick button #1 or the F key. To increase/decrease the range setting on the gun use Page Up/Page Down, and finally change ammunition type with the backspace key. Field guns may not fire if they are not deployed.

Field guns have two states toggled with the D key by the commander, deployed and un-deployed (also called unlimbered and limbered, respectively).


1.Deployed means the gun is ready to fire: limbers extended, ammunition ready, crew in positions. If a gun is deployed it may not move, although recoil can occasionally drive it backward a small distance. Some AT guns are limited to slewing across a minimal firing arc when deployed, but all AA guns and some AT guns are able to pivot completely for a full 360 degree field of fire.
2.An Un-deployed gun is ready to be towed or manhandled (moved by pushing). When un-deployed, from position 1 you are able to manhandle the gun more or less by pushing it along. Here you can also turn it to face any direction. Larger guns like the Bofors or the German Flak36 can be manhandled, but the pace is very slow – these guns were meant to be towed.


GETTING A TOW
To hitch your gun to a vehicle, first you must be un-deployed. You must then maneuver your gun backward until the trailing end is relatively close to the trailer-hitch point on the back of a friendly truck. You can use mouse look (right click) or the keypad number keys (1 or 3) to better see behind the gun. When you are close, the H key automatically hooks up to the nearest truck hitch. You will see a slight shudder as the hitch is connected and the vehicle info element of the HUD (tilde key) will show you hitched as well as the name of your tower. To unhitch at any time, hit H again. You CAN unhitch no matter what speed your towing vehicle is going, so be careful, your gun could continue to roll.

COMBAT VEHICLES

Armored fighting vehicles (AFV) came to pre-eminence during WW2. Tanks, armored cars, halftracks, and prime movers (basically trucks) all occupy a needed and vital role on the battlefield. However even at their most glorious moments only exist to support the infantry or deny the mobility of, the enemy’s.

Vehicles cannot capture anything. Nevertheless, armored vehicles can dominate combat wherever they are present. Remember there will be a host of enemy vehicles trying to kill you and your infantry. It becomes your job to wipe them out – simple as that.

Battleground Europe is a realistic combat simulation. Driving a vehicle can be complex. Relax: while the learning curve may seem daunting at first, the controls will quickly become second nature and you will be a confident vehicle operator in short order.

PRIME MOVERS
Trucks and movers are a critical element to a successful combat operation. Without them troops must march long distances, and any field pieces are limited to where they can be pushed. Prime Movers are simply put the wheels of the army.

Half tracks, trucks, and armored transports are all present here and share the same basic functionality. Here are the primary functions of the prime movers that are featured in BATTLEGROUND EUROPE.

Transporting Infantry
Transporting infantry is the easiest task, and probably the most frequent duty of any Prime Mover, particularly trucks because of their speed. To transport infantry, you need do nothing as the driver beyond stopping long enough for infantry to jump aboard. Once they are on, you will see the names of the soldiers riding your truck on the vehicle info element of your HUD. Once you are at your destination, you must stop for your passengers to safely debark. There are no safety restraints or seat belts for your passengers. If you hit an object at moderate speed your passengers will likely be thrown from your vehicle and probably injured if not killed.

Towing guns
The second most frequent task for Prime Movers is pulling guns. While all guns can be pushed short distances, most gunners need your help as a driver to get them to the most advantageous point on the battlefield quickly. Much like transporting infantry, you need do nothing special to pull a gun. Drive up to any field gun and simply stop long enough for them to hitch to you (they will need to align the tail of their limbered gun to the hitch-point on the back of your vehicle, and hit the H key). Once you have a gun hooked on, the info display in the upper left will show you the name of the player you are towing. Note that towing hitches are NOT invulnerable; you will need to accelerate carefully, and remember that you are pulling a heavy trailer behind you – take the corner too fast and you might be fine, but you could lose the hitch, the gun will go skittering into the countryside and, if upright, will require valuable time to reattach.

Towed ordnance is classified as either light or heavy. The Bofors, FlaK 28, and the Flak36 are considered heavy – all others are light. Heavy ordnance may only be towed by heavy Prime Movers (Laffly, SdKfz 7, Morris). Light ordnance may be moved by any Prime Mover.

Mobile Spawn Points (MSP)
One very special feature of Prime Movers is that they can act as mobile spawn points, or a source of infantry to supply an attack (or defense) from someplace other than the predictable fixed-location FB’s, infantry barracks, or depots. Mobile spawns represent the marshalling of additional infantry and transport resources, and the employment of these troops into separate directed attack groups by local commanders.

To act as a mobile spawn point, three conditions must be true:


1.Only one truck per mission can deploy as a Mobile Spawn.
2.You must be a minimum distance away from enemy-controlled facilities.
3.You must also be a maximum distance away from your target CP.


Thus MSPs can deploy in a ‘ring’ around their target – close enough to make it possible to feed infantry into the fight, but not so close that people are shooting each other as they spawn in. The minimum distance is about 450 yards (400m), the maximum is about 1100 yards (1 km). As a driver, you don’t have a rangefinder so you simply have to estimate. There’s no penalty however for failing to deploy - attempting to deploy will either create the Mobile Spawn, or give you feedback about how to reposition and try again. Once you’re deployed, infantry taking the mission will have the ability to spawn directly at your location.

Obviously, a sudden stream of infantry from one unexpected direction or another is a sign to the defender that a mobile spawn point is probably working. Therefore its recommended that you set up your MSP under or near heavy cover and in non-obvious locations. While you are deployed as a mobile spawn, you may not move. Lacking a weapon, you are a particular target for any enemy units that can find you; until they do, you hold a vital role in the combat effectiveness of your formation. Repositioning an MSP frequently can help to disperse your infantry and draw less attention to a single group or location.

TANKS AND ARMORED CARS: (AFV)
Once you’re familiar with the basics of vehicle operation gunnery, you’re ready to start working on armored fighting vehicles. AFV are effectively those two previous types combined. As such they represent the most task-rich combat units in the game with the possible exception of bomber aircraft.


Many AFV are equipped with vision blocks in the driver’s position; you can lower armor over the vulnerable vision slit and look through what amounts to a fixed periscope instead. To toggle the vision-slit armor, hit the O key. You’ll hear a clanking noise, and see the vision slit being blocked. Now if you hit the numpad delete key you will look through the scope. Pressing the numpad delete key a second time will increase the scope’s zoom and narrow your field of view.

You can look at your control panel by pressing numpad Ins. You will immediately note that the authentic consoles are even more limited in their information than Prime Movers – most AFV of the era didn’t even have speedometers.

Driving the vehicle is functionally similar to a Prime Mover, and firing the guns is in some cases identical to using a field gun. There are a couple of unique positions to AFV though, the commander and in some cases a hull gunner.

The Commander
Change to crew position two (the tank commander) by pressing the 2 key on the keyboard (note that some AFV have a combined commander/gunner position like the Pz38t). When you move to this position you’ll be in the turret, with the hatch closed securely above you; buttoned up. To unbutton hit the o key to open armored cupola. Hit the numpad delete key to enable binoculars, and then the numpad delete key again to zoom further. A third press restores you to normal view.

In a sense, the commander is the easiest crew to control – all he can do is open the hatch, look around, and close the hatch. But he is vital to the success of the vehicle as a combat system. His ability to stick his head actually outside of the tank will allow him to hear and see much better than his fellow crewmembers. His binoculars will also give him superior distance vision and a better ability to identify targets/threats at range.

The Gunner
The gunner, of course, is where most of the action is. When you switch to the gunner position (3 on the keyboard for most AFV), you’ll have a weapon and ammo count on your HUD showing you what type of weapon(s) you can fire and your current ammo levels.

Using the sight (numpad delete) and firing the gun is almost identical in all cases to using a field gun, however most tanks are also armed with a coaxially mounted machine gun. This gun is aimed directly at whatever the main gun is pointed towards. Fire these guns by pressing B or joystick button 2. The MGs will continue to fire as long as the firing key is pressed; once they run out of ammunition, you will hear the loader switching belts. When this sound is complete, you can fire again.

The coaxial guns aren’t just for mowing down enemy infantry, they are meant to save your main gun rounds for good shots whenever possible. For targets within 200-250m, the ballistic performance of your MG rounds are very close to that of your main gun rounds. You can quickly confirm your aim by a short burst of mg fire; if the burst lands on-target, you can immediately fire your main armament confident of a hit. Of course, in some situations this will lose you the element of surprise.

Radioman/Hull MG
Some AFV have a radioman/hull gunner position. Usually this is position number 4 on the keyboard. The Radioman when able to, fights using the tank’s hull machinegun. Mounted on the front of the tank, this gun can help in a last-ditch defense of the vehicle but more frequently is used to cover a different target from the gunner (who may be pointing the turret another direction entirely), or to keep the vehicle fighting when the gunner has been killed.

To look through the MG’s gunsight, press the numpad delete key. To zoom further, press it again. To fire the MG, press joystick button 1 or the F key. Simple.

Hull Down
Even though they are armored, tanks are vulnerable. Anytime you can be seen in a massive vehicle, you can be hit with a weapon. “Hull Down” is a technique that tankers use to conceal their more vulnerable hull sections by using hills and berms to hide behind, only allowing the turret to be exposed. Not only does this limit the profile against enemy fire but it can greatly reduce detection as well.

Carrying Infantry
Prime Movers aren’t always available, and most AFV would rather not advance without infantry covering them. Consequently, riders on tanks were used more or less throughout the Second World War. Infantry in Battleground Europe may climb aboard your stopped vehicle by hitting J, precisely like loading a truck. The infantry will be distributed to various seating points around the outside of your vehicle. They may only debark safely if you stop completely – bailing off the vehicle at even slow speeds is likely to injure the infantry. Of course, having infantry bodies all over your tank will frequently block your vision to one degree or another, but they also will provide you with instant infantry support at your destination. Drive carefully – hitting an obstacle or going over a bump particularly hard is likely to dislodge some or all of your riders, leaving them likely all injured or even killed.

Multi-crewing
Real life most AFV have at least three crewmen operating the vehicle; single-seating it as a player can be a daunting, difficult task. One easy way to increase the effectiveness of your vehicle (and to make learning the various systems easier) is multi-crewing. Multi-crewing makes AFV much more like the terrifying behemoths of real life; they are harder to hit, engage targets quicker, and are much more difficult to ambush. It’s nearly impossible to sneak up on an alert, multi-crewed tank. And in conjunction with in-game voice communications, typically using third party programs like Teamspeak (www.teamspeak.org) or Roger Wilco (rogerwilco.gamespy.com) a multi-crewed tank can become almost invincible.

Aircraft: Fighters, Bombers and Transports

In the five years during WWII profound changes in the design and technology for combat aircraft took place. Fighter designs alone more than doubled in their top speeds, in some cases tripled in weight, increased their duration by 10 fold, and by the end of the war, could almost carry half of the tonnage of bombs that a B-17 could in 1937.

Aircraft during WWII influenced long term strategic elements, as well as having a direct impact on individual battles down to the tactical level. Air superiority became a priority rather than a novelty; without it, armies couldn’t move and their war fighting capacity was at much greater risk.

Combat aircraft modeled in Battleground Europe span the range from small fighters to heavy bombers, and fill many roles from fighter patrols and tactical close air support, to pinpoint strategic bombing. Be warned this is not an arcade game, these planes are modeled through a full physics engine and with real-world data. If you’ve flown other flight sims you’ll be right at home in these aircraft, but if you are new to the world of simulated air combat then be prepared to face a challenge if you want to master these machines.

BASIC CONCEPTS: LEARNING TO FLY
The challenges of flight are multiplied online when you add hostile planes and anti-aircraft guns to the mix. Getting used to flying aircraft should be done offline initially. Here you can safely experiment with techniques and practice maneuvers without having to deal with combat operations on top of it all.

While Battleground Europe does support both keyboard and mouse controls, using a joystick when flying an aircraft is recommended, and one that has an integrated throttle control is even better. Be sure to calibrate your controller(s) prior to starting BATTLEGROUND EUROPE.

After selecting an aircraft from the equipment list, familiarize yourself with the ****pit; you can use the view keys on the keypad to glance around or use “mouse look” by pressing the right mouse button. The keypad delete key shows a close up of your instrumental panel. Note that each aircraft has different gauge layouts and some use metric measurements (French/German).

Mac users note: The key arrangement is slightly different on typical Macintosh keyboards than on the PC. Here’s a quick look at the differences (for aircraft):


PC: Keypad Del (.) Mac: Keypad . (decimal)
PC: Keypad Ins (Keypad 0) Mac: Keypad 0
PC: Backspace Mac: Delete


Taking off
Check that the control surfaces of the wings are responding to your joystick and put your throttle control at idle, its lowest setting. Hold down the right and left wheel brakes (Z and X keys respectively, for left and right wheel brakes). Press the E key and listen for the engine to start up.

Use the Apostrophe and Semicolon keys (‘ and to adjust your RPM power setting. “max RPM” is recommended for take off. To taxi to your desired take-off position on the airfield, unlock the tail wheel (the / key) and release the brakes.

There are two ways to steer the aircraft while on the ground: with the brakes, or with the rudder. Left brake or left rudder will turn the plane left, right brake or right rudder will turn it right. You can unlock the steer wheel by pressing the (/) forward slash key. Give the plane a little power by smoothly increasing the throttle. Sharp increases in the throttle are likely to introduce more torque and can get you into trouble before you can get off the ground. Carefully use the throttle and brakes or rudder to “drive” the plane to the desired takeoff spot.

To get airborne, be sure you have a nice long clear path ahead of you, lock the tail wheel again then smoothly apply power with the throttle (again “max RPM” setting is recommended). Be ready to use the rudder and/or brakes to correct for excessive yaw and balance the torque from the engine and propeller, which can be excessive when the engine is at full power. Continue to increase power while maintaining subtle back-pressure on the joystick or back arrow key. You will notice that flight data begins to report in the vehicle info element of your HUD indicating g level, angle of attack, and degrees of slip as you near flying speed. For most of the aircraft in Battleground Euro