Vers 0.95
Designed under Vassal 2.8
(w/512mb Heap Size)
A very special thanks to Gary Krockover
Without his graphic/map-salvaging magic,
this module would not have been completed.
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1. As with almost all Vassal modules, right click on most everything to learn the counters' capabilities and/or special features (Also see #5 below). 2. USAAF Mission Sheet is "active." Right click each area for a menu on the various operations possible for each section/entry. Also note that selecting the Title bar area allows a menu for resetting/erasing the entire form at once. 3. Most of the Counter's have three modes of rotation; Flying on the hex map, Flying anywhere else, or Landed anywhere. Each mode is dependent on where it's at and whether it's flying or landed...
4. If a counter is "sent" or dragged to an area where a different rotation mode is appropriate, any manual rotation command will resynch the rotation mode (i.e. RIGHT or LEFT arrows). 5. Counters' right click menus are EXTREMELY situational and/or contextual. The menus' content will vary GREATLY depending on where a counter is, it's status, what it's just done, and what kind of counter it is. i.e. German Air Units still on the Luftwaffe Air Status Card have 6 "send to" locations to help them set up. While the American Air Units can be sent to appropriate places from the African Base Hexes (if flying), etc, etc. Further items include the inability to load drop tanks or rockets unless Plane Units are on the Phase C or D blocks of the appropriate Air Status Card. The list goes on and on, so check the menus often. 6. Make sure that all USAAF counters are facing the same direction prior to battle. Then, when Battle is declared, either side can send all not-landed Air Unit counters in the battle hex to any of the three battle locations by selecting Battle Location 1, 2 or 3 from their counters' right-click menu. Counters will be sent to the Battle Location with their facing proportionally adjusted. Luftwaffe Air Units will be placed in their correct blocks, based on their original facing. USAAF counters will need to be split/adjusted/moved to their appropriate blocks once in the Battle Location. Be careful not to accidentally issue the transfer/send command twice... make sure you wait a few seconds for the battle transfer and counter adjustments (See #11 below). To send latecomers to the battle, fly their units into the origin hex and then SELECT THE BATTLE MARKER AND USE IT'S MENU/KEY COMMAND! If you end up with two Battle Markers in the hex, use the toolbar UNDO, otherwise all counters' facing will be screwed up upon their return. Upon the conclusion of battle, select the appropriate toolbar button to return all Air Unit counters to their origin hex and delete the Battle Marker. Again... be careful not to accidentally click the button twice... make sure you wait a few seconds for the battle returns and counter adjustments (See #11 below). If the module does get confused (Which CAN happen and especially upon returning), use the UNDO toolbar button until the Battle Marker reappears and return the counters manually. To see an example of the above, scroll to the bottom of this help. 9. For a bit more Fog of War, each side's portion of the Victory Point Tally sheet may be masked from the other side. Select your sides' title area (shaded blue for USAAF & red for Luftwaffe below for illustration purposes), then hit enter...  After hitting enter, your sides' title will invert colors to assure you that your points are masked from the other side. The following depicts both sides masked, as viewed from the USAAF side...  11. Some automations will appear very slow, and exponentially so the more counters affected (i.e. sending a lot of counters to a Battle Location). Wait a good long while before believing the command was not "taken" or that Vassal is locked up. The module is often spending the time redrawing the counters multiple times logically without showing this to you. (However, for testing purposes you can see it in reverse easily by using the toolbar's UNDO button following a multiple counter command) 12. Due to a Vassal bug still in effect as of this writing, it's recommended that all battles be resolved, and counters returned before a game is saved. Otherwise, all counters will have to be manually returned to their origins and battle markers will need to be manually deleted (Vassal does not save "return" information in it's save game files). 13. Due to another Vassal bug in effect as of this writing, switching sides can make all counters on the Air Status Cards unusable. The best fix is to choose your side carefully, but if you do need to switch sides... select the toolblar Sides button and choose to become an "observer," then save the game. After loading the just-saved game, you can select any side as necessary. (Vassal's author, Rodney Kinney - Genius at Larger, is currently working this issue). 14. For purists, the map can be reconfigured to it's original state by shift-clicking the appropriate areas and selecting Delete. Although, reverting the area around the African Bases will affect Air Units' ability to be sent to the African base entry points. However, moving the air units to where the bases were, will re-enable those options. Although you will be SOL as far as the Plane Unit counters are concerned. As for the Plane Unit counters, the following items can be toggled or cycled appropriately... 
 The following illustrates some of the built-in revelations that can be toggled or cycled for Air Units (Luftwaffe Air Unit's similar)...  ZZzzzz. "Why do you always start with version 0.95/where is the final version?" ...An original "final" version (i.e. v1.00) is NEVER the final version. There is always something that can be improved. Too often there is something that needs to be fixed... Starting my releases with v0.95, is my ode to the inevitable! A. Starting with an example stack of two USAAF Air Units being attacked by six Luftwaffe Air Units, from all points of the clock. (Note the USAAF Air Units are facing the same direction, as this is a requirement for the automation)...  B. We're going to send this battle to Battle Location 1, so we select BATTLE LOCATION 1 from the right click menu of any one of the Air Units counters. In this case, it happened to be Luftwaffe 1, as he was on top of the stack..  C. A Battle Marker 1 is dropped with the same facing as the USAAF Air Units and all counters are sent to Battle Location 1 with their relative facing intact (Note the USAAF Air Units will need to be adjusted as required in the Battle Location)...  D. Now if subsequent Air Units had arrived to join the battle, do NOT use the new Air Unit's menu to send it along. You must use the Battle Marker's menu selection... "SEND LATECOMERS TO BATTLE LOCATION 1"...  E. At the conclusion of battle, we click the RETURN FROM BATTLE LOCATION 1 toolbar button...  F. Which sends all the counters back to the hex map with their original facings restored, bringing us full circle...  |
