Radio Commander: Pacific ’41

Understanding terrain is crucial for a commander, and the ability to read a map is crucial for tactical operations.

Terrain influences movement and combat. To gain this knowledge, a commander must utilize the tools at their disposal. Knowledge of terrain will allow units to maneuver and fight.

What types of terrain are there in the game and where can they find information?

First, look at the colors.

Map Colors.

Maps are colored. These colors allow you to determine whether the terrain is forest, open ground, road, or water/river. They also indicate whether the terrain is high (the darker the brown, the higher the terrain) or deep (the darker the blue, the deeper the terrain).

Terrain Types:

Road

A military saying goes: “War is fought along roads.” Roads are the easiest to traverse for both infantry and tanks. But they are also usually the strongly defended. Units move quickly along the road, but they can also fall into ambushes.

Forest

Forests slow down infantry movement and prevent tanks from operating. They limit visibility, but also make your own units less visible. This allows you to approach closer to your target. In forests, it’s easier for the enemy to conceal units from aerial observation.

Ground

Ground means open terrain, you can see far away, but your own units are also visible from a distance.

Built-Up Area

Built-up areas in the game refer to several or a dozen buildings clustered together in one place. They can also refer to towns or cities. Fighting in urban areas is difficult. Tanks are particularly vulnerable to fire, so they require infantry cover.

Steep Slope

The slopes of some hills are so steep that it is very hard for infantry climb them. Climbing exposes troops on observation and fire from hilltop. Climbing troops fire accuracy drops. Steep slopes are unvailable for tanks. To push tanks on tophill the road must be used.

Water

Water is the part of the map that belongs to the sea. Water represents shallow water. This has tactical significance because a support ship/destroyer cannot enter this part of the map; it is inaccessible to them. Water surrounds islands and can vary in width.

Deep Water

Deep water is the part of the map that a fire support ship/destroyer can navigate.

There are several tools for working on the map and gaining knowledge of the terrain.

River

A river is an obstacle for both tanks and infantry. Some rivers won’t be traversable for your units and a bridge will be required to cross it. Pay attention to the intel. A seemingly small stream can block your troops.

There are several tools for working on the map and gaining knowledge of the terrain.

Colors

Looking at the colors allows you to roughly understand the type of terrain on the map and at a given point.

Ruler

This allows you to measure distances. Take a ruler and place it on a spot on the map.

Elevation Measurement

In the MAP TOOLS/TOOLS tab, select the tool for obtaining information about the terrain and its elevation. After turning it on, moving the cursor will display terrain and elevation information.

Displayed coordinate system

You can use the highlighted coordinate system to help you orient yourself on the map. In the MAP TOOLS/TOOLS tab, select the coordinate system icon.

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Player Units

Infantry/Marines

Infantry is the basic branch of the military. It is the most flexible and versatile. It can attack, defend, assault, or retreat. All of these options should be used according to the situation. Infantry under heavy fire (airstrike or artillery) will have a debuff (less accuracy, worse sight and movement speed) applied for a period of time. Marines are better infantry overall. They are faster, have better sight, more hp, stamina and firepower.

Infantry/Marines can have one of specializations: reconnaissance, flamethrower, or anti-tank. A recon unit can detect enemies from further away, they are faster and harder to detect. On the other hand they are also weaker (less hp and firepower). A unit equipped with flamethrowers is great at close distances, especially vs infantry in fortifications, but its slower and have less hp. A unit equipped with anti-tank guns is able to do serious damage to enemy tanks (standard infantry will do a lot less damage to tanks). They are slower than standard infantry.

Tanks

Tanks are very powerful. They have great durability, firepower, range and speed. They can place a small smoke screen at their locations. They are a great boost in every encounter, but they have their limitations. They have limited fuel and ammo. Run out of any of it and they will be rendered almost useless.

Tanks are maneuverable, but the terrain has its own challenges. Tanks cannot pass through dense forests or jungles. They must use roads there. Armor provides cover and a gun provides firepower. However, tanks are are not invincible. Therefore, it is important to ensure cover by infantry.

Destroyer/Artillery Support

Artillery support is provided by the Navy. A destroyer will be available for some missions. Artillery support has saved troops from trouble more than once in history. It’s worth using this support, but there are a few things to watch out for. After a salvo, the guns must be cooled. This takes time. The ship’s ammunition supply is not infinite. The enemy may have coastal guns. They pose a threat to your ship, as do naval mines.

Destroyer has 3 types of shells: standard, smoke, and agitation. Standard shells deal damage to everyone within the area of attack. Smoke shells create a smoke large smoke-screen at the target location, allowing ground units to advance or retreat more safely. Agitation shells constantly lower morale of every enemy in range for a period of time. Destroyer can also place a smaller smoke-screen at their location.

Oh… the artillery officer’s callsign is “Argument.” It seems appropriate.

Aviation

There is aviation in the game. Bomber and reconnaissance aircraft are available in some scenarios. Aircraft take off from an aircraft carrier. You are assigned several aircraft for the mission. Their number is not infinite.

It takes some time to prepare the planes to take off. Planes cannot fly at night. Reconnaissance aircraft will circle the battlefield, and you can redirect them to another area. This is a very powerful scouting tool. Enemies detected by recon planes will be more visible to our ground units. The flight will continue until the fuel reaches critical level and the planes will have to return to the carrier. You will be assigned bombers to carry out airstrikes. After dropping their bombs, they return to the aircraft carrier to rearm. Planes are very vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire. The enemy may have such guns.

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Transmission from the Pacific #1

Tora!, Tora!, Tora!

The Theater of War

The Pacific War encompassed the largest area of any episode of World War II. It was full of violent strikes, twists and turns, and the heroism of all the fighting soldiers. It was also a campaign where fleets clashed on one side, and on the other, jungle warfare requiring soldier action took place. Radio Commander Pacific ’41 takes us back to the struggle for islands in the Pacific from 1941 to 1945. The Pacific Theater featured vast distances, the need to capture individual islands, a fierce and often fanatical defense, the need for landings, the use of naval artillery, and more.

Player Role

The player takes on the immersive role of a commander during a conflict in which radio communication was crucial. Using only the radio voice communication, you must understand a situation and build the picture on your own, based solely on what your units are reporting. You don’t have a magic click moving tokens for you. You have to do it yourself. You don’t have automatic graphics and animations to make your work easier, as you might often see in other games. It’s just you, the map, and the radio. Use a radio to be a commander.

And based on the situational awareness you’ve built, you must communicate your intentions to your subordinate units, also via radio. You must independently make calculations, such as losses, the location of your own units, their situation, time to arrival, and ammunition levels. You must anticipate and react to enemy actions.

Create a battle plan, implement it, and act on changing enemy actions. Provide support to your units. All this is done exclusively via voice radio communication. Commands and reports are standardized, allowing for faster communication with your subordinates. You have a range of units at your disposal, from infantry to airplanes.

But the battle plan is in the commander’s head… in your head.

Wishlist the game on Steam and Slitherine.