User Guide

6 COMMANDING YOUR STRIKE FORCE
34
to a drop zone. Note that you do not have to drop all available dropships at
once. A dropship can be held back in order to be used as reinforcements later
in the mission.
The Squad Buttons
As a Field Commander it is of utmost importance to quickly be able to select
and issue orders to your squads. All squads under your command will be
represented on the screen with a squad button.
A squad is selected by clicking on a squad button with the LEFT mouse button.
A double click on a squad button makes the camera view orbit and track
the squad.
HINT: The Function keys are preset hotkeys for selecting individual squads. F1
quickly selects squad 1 and F2 selects squad 2 and so on. The Command APC
is reached by pressing the <BACKSPACE> key.
The squad button gives you information about your squad’s health even
to the point of individual units within the squad.
The icon on the squad button identifies the squad’s unit type and the vertical
bar on the left side of the bar is the squad’s overall health. When a squad is
taking damage, the bar slowly moves down and changes color from green to
red. Green indicates full health while red indicates close to death or destruction.
The squad button also displays the health of individual units within the squad by
showing green or red dots for each unit that is part of the squad.
The three squares to the far left of the button are the behavior settings.
The brightness of the square indicates which setting in a mode is chosen.
The position of the boxes indicates which mode.
• Top - Attack Mode
• Middle - Movement Mode
• Bottom - Current Formation
The Squad Buttons allow you to quickly select and
give orders to your squads.
-- GROUND CONTROL FIELD COMMANDER’S HANDBOOK --
6 COMMANDING YOUR STRIKE FORCE
35
Squad Behavior Menu
The squad behavior menu allows you to change the behavior of your squads.
The menu can be shown or hidden with the <B> key on the keyboard. To change
behavior on a squad, make sure it is selected, then click on the new behavior
button.
There are three different behaviors you can
change:
Attack Mode
Affects when the squad will attack the enemy.
• In FREE FIRE mode your squad will automati-
cally engage enemies within their weapon
range. With multiple enemies present, it will
attack the enemy it fears the most.
• In RETURN FIRE mode your squads will only
open fire if fired upon first.
• In HOLD FIRE mode the squads will secure
their weapons and not fire until you give them
specific orders or change their attack mode.
Movement Mode
Affects how the squads move around.
• DEFENSIVE MOVEMENT - The squad moves cautiously and when it encounters
an enemy, the units will immediately halt and turn to face the enemy.
• OFFENSIVE MOVEMENT - The squad always moves to the location you’ve
ordered them to, even if they are fired upon. The squad will return fire if its
attack mode allows it.
• HOLD POSITION - The squad will not move an inch from its current position
except for making sure their fronts are facing the enemy.
A squad in Hold
Position mode will not obey any movement orders until a new mode is selected.
Formation
Orders the squad to maintain one of three different formations.
• BOX - The squad groups in to a tight box formation.
• LINE - The squad forms up on a line.
• COLUMN - The squad forms up on a column, following the leader.
The Squad Behavior Menu allows you to
change the squad’s attack and movement
modes and in addition, to select a formation.
-- GROUND CONTROL FIELD COMMANDER’S HANDBOOK --