Partial (?) Documentation and Translation for Sherman M4 Tank Sim. Written by, The Sorcerer. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Mission Command Menu Translation: Unlimited Ammo, Yes or No. Unlimited Fuel, Yes or No. Deep Rivers (Uncrossable), Yes or No. Rapid Reloading, Yes or No. Show Enemy Vehicles, Yes or No. Friendly, or Enemy Modifications: Basically for friendly you can set the number of tanks and jeeps you have, and whether you can call in artillery or not. Under enemy units you can set their moral, and experience levels, from Minimum, Medium, and finally Maximum. You can also set the enemy commander that you'll be fighting against. Sherman Tank Commands: F1 - Switches from Periscope (inside view) to Outside Fwd View. F2 - Switches from Outside Fwd View to Binoculars. F3 - Display current damage to selected Tank. F4 - Display overhead map, and/or activate "autopilot". F5 - Outside forward view. F6 - Outside rear view. F7 - Outside left view. F8 - Outside right view. F9 - Use radio to move tanks/jeeps, call artillery, or quit. F10 - Pause game temporarily. 1-4 - Selects tank 1-4. R - Use radio (same as F9). D - Display current damage to selected tank (same as F3). J - Binocular view (same as F2). C - Map, or set tank(s)/Jeep(s) course. More on that later... V - Switch from periscope to outside fwd view and back. RETURN - (Re)engage "Autopilot" for selected tank, more later. Up Arrow - Move forward, maximum speed. Down Arrow - Move in reverse. Left Arrow - rotate left (use with up or down arrow to move while turning to avoid getting hit by enemy tanks). Right Arror - same as left, except you rotate right. Space Bar+Up/Dopwn Arrow - Press the Space Bar and then quickly press the up or down arrow keys to raise or lower your tank's cannon. You can see it raise or lower from the outside forward view, or see a horizontal bar raise and lower in the periscope view. The advantage is, the higher your tank's cannon, the longer your range. (NOTE: I have yet to figure out how to rotate the tank's turret, but I am sure there must be a way to do so, but it's probably some obscure command, like Cntrl-Alt-Lft Shft-Rght Shft, etc. Who knows?) Map Mode: When using the map mode you are able to scroll the map up and down using the joystick, or the cursor keys, or keypad (each key on the keypad represents North, Northeast, East, etc. 5 is not used) to scroll the map up or down. Pressing 1-6 you can select tanks 1-4 or jeeps 5-6 (if available). To set their course, select the tank you wish to move, than move the crosshairs to the destination you wish, and press the space bar to set that tanks course. Note, when attacking enemy bunkers, or encoutering enemy tanks, your tanks you aren't controlling WILL fight back. The jeeps don't seem to do much of anything, but they probably have a purpose, which hopefully someone will find out. I think they have something to do with artillery, but I'm not positive. Artillery Mode: Artillery is called down the same way that you select your tanks destination under the movement rules. Be careful NOT to call down artillery too close to your current position (about half a map grid, sometimes a little more, them artillery boys don't know how to shoot). You'll generally recieve a message from HQ saying that artillery will be starting. Once you hear the explosions you know your artillery is making minced meat out of whatever you targeted. Also, the range seems to be relatively short. You are only able to extend a short ways (maybe 4 grids) south (or north) of your starting base, and that's it. The jeeps seem to help this problem, but then at other times they don't have any effect, so it's hard to tell. To find the range of artillery you'll have to experiment. Autopilot Mode: When using the autopilot, you can disengage at any time by simply pressing one of the 8 movement keys on the keypad, using the cursor keys, or using the joystick. Then you can go about whatever it is that you want to do. To reengage, simply hit return. Sometimes the autopilot doesn't seem to be working right, so just re-set the course again, or take temporary control of the tank, move it in the direction you wish it to go for a bit, then reengage the autopilot. Helpful Tactics: I've found that instead of charging the enemy positions, I'll look out from the forward outside view, move forward for a bit, then stop and use my binoculars to spot for enemy units. When I spot one, I'll raise my cannon to maximum height, align my sights with the enemy, and charge forward slowly. As soon as I see the sucker on the "horizon" I'll fire a shot and retreat until he's beyond my perscope view. This works very well, but sometimes you get into a "cluster fuck" of several bunkers and tanks, and this tactic doesn't work well. So I'll have my remaining tanks charge forward with the autopilot on, engaging the enemy units, while I sneak around behind their defensive position and blast them while they're not looking (generally they'll fire at your other tanks and not at you, but sometimes they'll fire at you instead). This game is VERY realistic. Also you'll see flags at various locations. You MUST capture the flags. To do this simply move the tank towards the flag (pretend you're running it over). As you back up you'll see that it changed from a Nazi flag to an American flag. Map Icons: Hangars are basically resupply depots, that'll repair minor damage. They'll refuel you and fix minor damage. There are of hangars that'll repair everything, and reload your cannon. The minor hangars that don't really repair anything are called something like "Hangar D'Revitallement" or something like that. Eglise are churches, bunkers are bunkers, etc. You'll generally figure out what the different symbols are. Normandie Campaign/Missions: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mission #1: Capture HQ (at C12 or G12), destroy enemy bunkers. Mission #2: Recover jeeps (you'll see them in map mode by selecting 5 or 6 and looking for the flashing red square, DON'T move them otherwise a guarding enemy Panzer might blast 'em). Mission #3: Capture Villages (the one at F-7). Mission #4: Destroy the cannon at B-3. Mission #5: Liberate St. Mary's Church at G-1. Also, there is a major repair facility (repairs everything, etc) at F-7. It's worth taking over, then you can repair all damage and reload your cannons, etc. Ardennes Campaign/Missions: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mission #1: Retreat unit immediately to Camp at C-14. Mission #2: Recapture base at F-9. Mission #3: Destroy the bridge at B-3. Mission #4: Destroy the enemy base at D-1. Mission #5: Liberate Bush-Ville (BIGGEST village on the map). North Africa Campaign/Missions: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mission #1: Destroy the enemy's reserves at Bab-El-Qattara (C-5). Mission #2: Defend the village at C-5. Mission #3: Destroy the enemy tank convoy at F-6, F-7, or F-8. Mission #4: Refuel at Sidi-El-Rahman, destroy enemy reserves Mission #5: The Bunker of Rommel, the Final Battle (same again. Haven't played it to find out the coordinates).