Post by Gravedust on Oct 19, 2016 10:23:50 GMT -8
::DISCLAIMER!::
This is the first public test run of this game, and so it may be necessary to add, change, or remove almost any aspect of it at almost any time, though I will try to do so in ways that do not effect the players too negatively.
There may also be contradictions in rules, please bring these to my attention if you find them, so they can be resolved. Likewise, if anything about the rules are confusing, let me know so I can add clarifications or change as necessary.
Also, while this s a cooperative game, I'd ask that players keep back-seat playing to a relative minimum. While you can (and probably should) discuss strategy, please try to refrain from telling other players exactly what they should do. Figuring out for yourself the action you feel is best if a big part of the fun of the game.
Thank you very much for taking part in this play test, I hope you have a good time.
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SOLDIER STATS====================================================
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The most basic unit in the game is the New Earth Alliance (NEA) Soldier. The abilities of each soldier are defined as a number of stats: Firearms, Gunnery, Tech, Piloting, and Defense.
As the game progresses, these stats can be improved to increase the soldier's effectiveness.
+FIREARMS ----------------------------------------------------
Firearms is a representation of the Trooper's skill with hand-carried personal weapons such as rifles, pistols and light machine guns. The higher a Soldier's Firearms stat, the more accurate their fire is apt to be.
+ GUNNERY ----------------------------------------------------
Gunnery Skill represents a Trooper's proficiency with vehicle-mounted weapons including turrets, as well as heavy man-portable weapons like large machine guns, rocket and grenade launchers. The better their Gunnery score, the more likely they are to score hits with such weapons.
+ TECH -------------------------------------------------------
Technical skill is a catch-all classification for a number of technical fields such as electronics, detection, and the medical arts. In general, the higher a soldier's Tech ranking is, the better they will be at operating the more sophisticated equipment on the battlefield, as well as lifesaving.
+ PILOTING ---------------------------------------------------
Piloting is a representation of the Troop's proficiency at piloting aircraft as well as driving ground vehicles. All soldiers receive flight training and are capable of handling most flying craft in basic maneuvers, but the higher their Piloting skill is the more likely they will be able to accomplish difficult flying tasks such as low-level flying, or take wheeled vehicles offroad without incident.
+ DEFENSE ------------------------------------------------------
Defense represents a number of hard to quantify attributes that help an individual soldier survive on the battlefield, such as caution, keen senses, quick reflexes, an instinctive ability to find cover at an instant's notice, as well as simple physical toughness. Soldiers with good Defense tend to get hit less often and tend to survive wounds more often, as well as resist the effects of Haze better.
========== ATTRIBUTES =====================================
Unlike Stats, Attributes are static and cannot be improved.
+ MOVEMENT ------------------------------------------------------
Movement is a measurement of how far a Soldier can travel during their Movement action. All soldiers have a base movement of 6, but it is reduced by 1 for each piece of Equipment the soldier is carrying. (More on equipment below.)
+ EVASION ------------------------------------------------------
Evasion is a stat all units have, and is a general approximation of how difficult they are to hit based on their size and maneuverability. basically, a higher Evasion makes something harder to hit. The base Evasion of all Soldiers is 5.
+ DETECTION -----------------------------------------------------
Detection is a stat all units have, and is a measure of how easy the unit is to detect by other units. Generally the lower the better. All Soldiers have a Detection of 8, increased by 2 for each point of equipment the soldier is carrying.
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STAT IMPROVEMENT ================================================
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Soldiers begin with a 1 in all their stats, and will have 2 bonus points randomly applied. Sometimes both bonus points will land in the same category, giving you a soldier with a Stat of 3.
If a soldier survives a mission, you can choose a Stat category for them to receive an additional skill point in. Skill points cap out at 5 in each category.
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WOUNDS AND DEATH =============================================
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If a soldier is hit by an attack, there is a chance they can be Stunned, Wounded, or Killed.
Stunned soldiers receive a -5 penalty to all rolls and a -1 reduction to Movement for their next turn, but quickly recover and can fight as normal afterwards.
Wounded soldiers are incapacitated and cannot move or otherwise act, but can be brought back into the action by a successful use of a Medkit.
Wounded soldiers receive a Wounded counter, which represents the severity of their wound and also the difficulty of healing it. It will tick up by 1 per round, and if it reaches 21 the Soldier dies of their injuries.
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VEHICLES ======================================================
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Vehicles are an important asset on the battlefield, as they can protect your soldiers, move quickly on the battlefield, and often carry heavy firepower. However they can also be unwieldy and vulnerable.
Crew Slots----------------------------------------------------
Vehicles must be appropriately manned by Soldiers in order to perform actions. Each vehicle has a number of named Crew Slots which can be occupied by Soldiers in order to operate the vehicle. For instance a truck must have a soldier in the Driver's position in order for it to move, and a tank must have a soldier in the turret to fire it's weapon.
Vehicle Compartments-----------------------------------------
Vehicles are divided up into a number of sections (called compartments) each of which has a function and can be hit and damaged independently of one another. Each compartment has the following Attributes:
+ STRUCTURE
Structure is an abstract representation of how much damage the compartment can take. Structure is reduced by damage and at 0 structure, a compartment is destroyed. When destroyed, the compartment no longer functions and may impose a penalty on the vehicle's stats for being destroyed.
Note that whenever a compartment takes structure damage, any soldier occupying a crew slot in that compartment may also be hit.
+ ARMOR
All damage the Compartment receives is first reduced by the amount of Armor the Compartment has. (If the damage is reduced to 0, no damage is done) Armor itself can be reduced by certain kinds of weapons.
+ HIT RANGE
When a vehicle is hit, a D20 is rolled, and the result compared against the Hit Range of each Compartment to determine which compartment is hit. Note that some attacks (such as AOE) will hit all compartments and ignore hit range.
+ DESTRUCTION PENALTIES
If a Compartment is destroyed it may apply a penalty to the vehicle as a whole. For instance if the compartment containing a truck's engine is destroyed, the truck will become Immobilized and unable to move. The loss of compartments such as tires may decrease the vehicle's speed or make it harder to pass driving checks. Not all compartment have destruction penalties, but those that do will be listed inside the compartment in red letters.
VEHICLE STATS =================================================
Vehicle have two common Stats, Speed and Difficulty.
+ SPEED
Speed is a measurement of how far the vehicle can travel during it's Movement, measured in grid squares.
+ DIFFICULTY
Difficulty represents how hard it is to control the vehicle. This number is rolled against (potentially with modifiers) whenever a piloting roll needs to be made, so a lower Difficulty is preferable.
VEHICLE SIZE ==================================================
Some vehicles, such as trucks or tanks, can be very large and take up multiple grid squares on the map. There may be parts of the map which are too small or narrow to accommodate very large vehicles.
VEHICLE MOVEMENT AND TURNING ===================================
Unlike soldiers, Vehicles require movement points to turn as well as move. 2 points are needed for every 90 degrees of a turn.
Vehicles can also move in reverse, at a cost of 2 movement points per square travelled in reverse. Moving in reverse requires a Piloting roll.
Vehicles must be able to fit into the space they are turning into; in some tight areas vehicles may be unable to turn.
If a vehicle take up more than 1 square, when turning they can use any square they cover as a center to picot around.
VEHICLE TURRET LOCATION ===================================
Since most vehicles occupy more than one grid square at once, the point from which a vehicle's shots are considered to fire from are indicated by a red dot on the vehicle's icon. If the dot lies at the intersection of one or more squares, any of these squares can be used as a shot's starting point.
VEHICLE PILOTING ROLLS =========================================
Piloting rolls are required if a vehicle has suffered certain kinds of damage or is is performing an action that requires skill on the part of it's operator, but are not needed for 'normal' operating conditions.
For instance a truck driving along a road, or a VTOL flying at high altitude do not need to make rolls. However if that same truck went offroad or suffered damage to it's tires, or the VTOL attempted to land between buildings, a roll would become necessary.
Piloting rolls are also required if a vehicle's Driver is Stunned, and share the -5 stun penalty.
If a Piloting roll is failed, the vehicle's move will not complete correctly, and the vehicle may also take damage.
(More Details about driving rolls will be covered later)
FLYING VEHICLES =================================================================
Certain vehicles have VTOL capabilities and can fly above the map and can freely move over anything they have a higher Altitude than. Altitude is a stat used only by flying vehicles and is a measurement of their height compared to the ground and other terrain obstacles. Altitude can be increased or decreased using the vehicle's Speed points. Increasing altitude costs 2 Speed, decreasing it only 1. The maximum altitude a vehicle can reach is 30. On the game map, Altitude will be listed next to the vehicle's map icon.
SHUTTING DOWN A VEHICLE==========================================
Vehicles can be shut down in order to lower the chance they will be detected in certain situations. While shut down, a vehicle can neither more nor fire until it has been restarted. Flying vehicles may not be shut down while in the air.
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EQUIPMENT=======================================================
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Equipment is carried and used by Soldiers. These include things like weapons, ammo reloads, grenades, medkits, armor, and a variety of different items. Equipment may be picked up, dropped, traded between soldiers or scavenged from the dead.
Each soldier has 3 slots in which to carry Equipment, and for each slot they carry their Movement is reduced by 1.
EQUIPMENT STORAGE---------------------------------------------
In addition to being carried by soldiers, Equipment can be cached in storage crates or another areas on the map, and in some cases can be stored inside vehicles. Passenger/Cargo Crew Slots inside vehicles can hold up to 6 pieces of equipment, OR a single soldier. Note that a Passenger/Cargo slot must be completely empty of Equipment for a soldier to occupy it.
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WEAPONS AND WEAPON STATS=======================================
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Weapons are carried by Soldiers as Equipment, or mounted in Vehicle Compartments. Standard weapons can fire on one target, and require a line of sight to the enemy, however others have different methods of attack.
STANDARD WEAPON STATS--------------------------------------
+AMMO
Weapons require ammo to fire, and when fired normally, a weapon uses up 1 Ammo point. (Though some weapons have abilities that use more than 1 point of ammo at once.) Once a weapon is out of ammo it cannot be fired until it is reloaded. Soldiers can carry Reload items as Equipment that can replenish a weapon's Ammo, but vehicle-mounted weapons usually cannot be reloaded in the field.
+RANGE
The maximum effective range of a weapon, measured in grid squares. Enemies beyond this distance cannot be attacked with the weapon.
+DAMAGE / ARMOR REDUCTION
The amount of damage inflicted on a successful hit. Damage / Armor Reduction (usually just referred to as Damage) is displayed as two values i.e. : (15/2). The first value (15) corresponds to the power of the attack, and the second value (2) indicates the amount of Armor (if any is present) that the attack will subtract from the target. Not all weapons have armor reduction.
NOTE: On an attack, Damage is calculated BEFORE Armor reduction takes effect. Meaning you may need to fire armor piercing munitions at a target a few times to 'soften them up'.
WEAPON SPECIAL STATS----------------------------------------------------------------------
Certain weapons may have unusual properties and capabilities, as described by these stats which you may see appended to the standard weapon stats. When seen as part of a stat block, the # will be replaced by a number.
+Ballistic/Indirect ( Ballistic:# )
Ballistic or Indirect weapons have an upward, arcing trajectory and are not blocked by line-of-sight obstacles the way normal attacks are, and can be made using a grid square as a target, rather than a specific enemy. They have chance to miss their grid square when fired, however. The number in the place of # refers to the difficulty of landing the shot in the target square.
+Area OF Effect ( AOE:#)
Some can cause damage over a wide area. AOE attacks have a chance to effect every unit within a certain radius of the target point, usually with a Blast attack. The number in the place of # refers to the grid square radius of the effect. An (AOE:0) weapon effects only the square it lands in.
+Blast Attack (Blast:#)
Weapons with explosive-like effects will result in Blast Attacks. A Blast attack is used to determine whether or not a unit was hit by the effects of an explosion. The number in place of # indicates the severity of the blast; the higher this number, the harder it is to avoid taking damage from the attack. The damage inflicted is usually the Damage of the weapon that caused the Blast Attack.
+ Area Fire ( Area:# )
In addition to firing regularly, Automatic weapons with a high volume of fire may choose to saturate an area where enemies are grouped rather than fire in an individual target. Area fire has a chance to hit every enemy in a radius of a target square, much like an AOE attack, except that targets must also be in line of sight of the shooter. While area fire can hit more than one target, the chance to hit each target is reduced somewhat, when compared to regular fire. The # refers to the increased difficulty to hit when using area fire. Using area fire consumes 3 ammo.
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COMBAT ========================================================
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Combat occurs in rounds, and consists of the Players' turn, and then the Enemy turn. The results of both turns are displayed on the same map.
Soldiers can perform one Move and one Action each turn, in either order.
MOVE ==========================================================
The Move is used to move the soldier (like you'd expect) on the map.
Note that if a Soldier doesn't move during their turn, they gain a bonus to Attacks they make that round.
ACTION =======================================================
The Action can be a number of things:
+ Firing a Weapon
Either a weapon they have as equipment, or a vehicle mounted one, if they are in the correct Compartment. The weapon must have ammo and the target (or target square) must be in range. Certain vehicle compartments allow firing a soldier's personal weapon out of them. (Usually at a penalty)
+ Reloading a Weapon
If the appropriate ammo reload is available a soldier may reload their weapon. The ammo reload may be carried by themselves or by a soldier or cache in the same square, or a vehicle located in an adjacent vehicle.
+ Using other equipment
Most equipment requires an Action to use.
+ Mount or dismount a vehicle
Mounting a vehicle requires that the Soldier be adjacent to it. (this can be before or after the Vehicle moves.) A Soldier can load into any unoccupied Crew Slot aboard the vehicle. Dismounting moves a Soldier from the vehicle to any open square that is adjacent to it.
+ Operate a vehicle
Soldiers can use their action to drive a Vehicle, fire it's weapons, or whatever is controlled by the crew slot they occupy. Using a Crew slot in this way does not need to be explicitly ordered; you can give orders to the vehicles and as long as the correct slots are manned, they will be carried out.
+ Change crew slots in a vehicle
A Soldier can use their Action to move from one crew slot in a vehicle to any other crew slot. This does not count as them exiting the vehicle. Moving to a new crew slot requires that that crew slot already be empty, unless two soldiers are using actions to essentially switch places.
+ Start or Shut Down a Vehicle
Soldiers can shut down vehicles in order to make them harder to detect by sound (more on this later) and some vehicles may need to be started when found. A soldier must be in the Driver/Pilot's crew slot to start or shut down a vehicle.
+ Drop, Pick Up, or Pass equipment
Soldiers can pick up Equipment from the battlefield, or drop it. (Note that a Soldier can Drop more than one piece of equipment in a single action, but only Pass a single piece of equipment per action.) Passing equipment to another soldier (or to a vehicle storage compartment) requires that the soldier to be in the same square. The unit being passed to must also have an empty equipment slot to receive the item, unless two soldiers are passing to one another. Passing only requires an Action for the Soldier giving the item.
+ Scavenge or Strip equipment off a fellow soldier
If a Soldier has been wounded or killed, a different soldier in the same square may Scavenge a single piece of their Equipment, or Strip (the equivalent of a Drop) their equipment with a single Action. Note that Stripping causes the equipment to be lost.
+ Hauling a wounded soldier
Wounded soldiers are unable to move themselves, but a healthy soldier can use their Action to pick them up, and their Move to move the both of them. Note that the equipment load of BOTH soldiers is applied to the movement attribute of the moving soldier, so it may be best to Strip wounded soldiers before trying to carry them. Hauling a soldier will always result in at least a -1 movement penalty, however.
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COVER
Certain objects can offer Cover Bonuses. Placing a soldier inside or behind cover can help protect them from ranged and ballistic attacks.
For Ranged attacks, a Cover bonus applies if a shot passes through a square occupied by a cover object.
For Blast attacks, a Cover bonus applies if a cover object lies between the point of impact and a unit effected by the blast.
Cover bonuses are not cumulative, if more than one Cover bonus applies, only the largest one will be used. Vehicles and G-scale Geist do not benefit from Cover.
Objects or areas that offer cover bonuses will be marked on the map, or described in the scenario rules.
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LINE OF SIGHT
Line of sight refers to whether or not a unit has a clear view of another object, from their position on the map. Line of sight is blocked by Terrain, which can be natural features, walls, buildings, certain vehicles, or other obstacles. On the battle map, Terrain Heights will be marked for all terrain pieces. If a straight line can be drawn from one unit to another without crossing through a Terrain that is higher than both the target and attacker, both those units are in line of sight with one another.
Large vehicles such as trucks or tanks can have the FULL COVER attribute, and block line of sight as though they were Terrain.
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CROSSING TERRAIN HEIGHTS
There is no movement penalty of bonus for moving up or down a terrain height, but ground units cannot cross more then 1 level's worth of terrain height difference in a single square, as these are too steep to traverse. (For example, a unit at Height 3 can cross into to square with a terrain at Height 2 or 4, but not from height 3 to height 1.
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GOING INSIDE BUILDINGS
Soldiers can enter buildings or other structures through doors, which are marked on the map as brown squares. Unless known in advance, the interior layout of a building will not be shown until a friendly unit enters into it. Buildings may contain a number of separate rooms, also connected by doors. If a unit is positioned against the outer wall of a building they can see and shoot through it (as in through a window, though which areas this is allowed in is at the GM's discretion), otherwise LOS is considered to be limited by the bounds of the room they are in. It is not possible to make non-grenade ballistic attacks from inside a building.
While inside a building, units receive a Cover bonus to any ranged or Blast attacks that come from outside the building.
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BUILDING AND STRUCTURE COLLAPSE
As with vehicle compartments, buildings have Structure and Armor stats. (Unlike vehicles, however, due to a building's size, it's Armor is not reduced by armor reduction, except from certain special weapons)
When a Building's Structure is reduced to 0 it will collapse, with a chance killing of anyone occupying it.
Certain other map objects, such as defensive walls, may also have a structure rating and be subject to collapse.
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STACKING UNITS, AND UNIT PASSTHROUGH
Up to 4 Soldiers can occupy a single grid square, and soldiers may freely pass through squares occupied by other Soldiers.
Squares occupied by Enemy units may not be passed through by soldiers, though Vehicles can run over some enemy units.
Vehicles cannot share space or move through one another however, and Soldiers cannot move through squares occupied by Ground vehicles, though they can pass through squares occupied by a Flying vehicle that is above ground level.
Vehicles cannot cross through squares containing friendly troops without crushing them. Unless specifically ordered otherwise, troops and vehicles will alter their turn orders to avoid getting in one another's way, if possible.
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RUNNING OVER ENEMIES WITH VEHICLES
During their turn, Ground vehicles can run over humanoid-sized Enemies if they move into a square occupied by them. This has a chance of killing them instantly, but if it does not the enemy will climb onto the hull of the vehicle instantly. Regardless of wether the run over attempt succeeds, the enemy gets a free attack against the vehicle which always hits.
Large scale Enemies cannot be run over.
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ENEMIES ON THE HULLS OF VEHICLES
If they reach a vehicle during their turn or after a failed attempt to run them over, certain Geist will climb onto the hull. While Mounting a vehicle, Geist can no longer be targeted by the the vehicles' mounted weapons, (though they can be targeted by other units) and cannot be run over. They may still attack the vehicle while on the hull.
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===== SPOTTING AND DETECTION ================================
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((For the first time out we will be using 'blips'. In the future we may try a 'blind' game where enemies ONLY appear once Detected.))
Unidentified Contacts ---------------------------
The rough location of Enemy presence on the map will be indicated by unidentified contact 'blips'. Until these blips have been Spotted, it will not be possible to tell what kind of enemy unit is present.
Spotting -------------------------------------
Spotting is based on the Detection Stat of a unit. If the distance in grid squares between a unit and a hostile is equal or less than their Detection, that unit becomes Spotted if there is line of sight to the enemy.
If there is not line of sight, units will still be detected by sound if they are equal to within 1/2 of their normal Detection range. Note that Soldiers cannot be detected by sound if they are not moving, and vehicles cannot be detected by sound if they are shut down.
Spotting is calculated at both the beginning and end of both players' and enemy turns.
When airborne, flying vehicles will be detected at twice the normal range.
Impediments to Spotting--------------------------
Certain terrain features, such as building interiors, wreckage, or thick overgrowth, are too thick to see though, and will block LOS spotting.
Automatic spotting on attack----------------------
When a unit attacks, it will automatically be detected by any unit that has line of sight to it.
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===== HAZE =================================================
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An phenomena caused by the presence of Geist. At low levels it has no effect, but as it grown it adds a penalty to all rolls made by Soldiers, and at higher levels it may overwhelm your Soldiers, causing them to become unresponsive or otherwise behave erratically. Certain specific Geist increase haze by a significant amount by their presence either in their immediate vicinity or across the entire map, and should be eliminated if possible.
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GIVING ORDERS=================================================
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Players can issue orders to the soldiers under their command by simply writing out what they want them to do. Make sure to indicate what Soldier or Squad (more about Squads below) you are ordering, and then include Movement and any Actions. When ordering Soldiers, use the letter they are identified by on their unit card and on the map.
Please write orders in bold to emphasize them.
Players can also talk to Soldiers if they want more information about the battle environment, or have any other questions. Just indiacat who you want to communicate with, and then the message.
FORMING SQUADS -----------------------------------------
For convenience, Soldiers can be grouped into Squads, and orders given to that Squad will be obeyed by all Squad members (to the best of their ability) Squads can be made up of soldiers that belong to different players, but the squad will 'belong' to whichever player first formed it. Players can add or remove their soldiers from a squad whenever they like.
Soldiers may be automatically removed from a squad if they get too far from the other soldiers in a squad.
Squads do not have any gameplay aspects associated with them, they are for organizational purposes only, and to avoid having to issue similar orders to multiple soldiers.
When giving orders to a squad, be sure to identify the squad by name. Squads names are assigned by the GM.
MOVEMENT ORDERS -----------------------------------------------
While you can give detailed orders regarding movement and positioning for your soldiers on a square-by-square basis, it is probably easier in noncritical situations to make use of
'ballpark' orders, or more general instructions such as: "Make your way north" and the GM will move the unit appropriately. In most cases this will be faster for both player and GM than writing and enacting specific directions for all soldiers at all times.
But for when precise positioning is needed, feel free to order each solder's movement on a square-by-square basis using the number of squares to be moved and the direction. (north, south, east, west, or up, down, left, right.) Soldiers and vehicles can move diagonally, but each diagonal square costs 2 movement.
FIRING ORDERS -------------------------------------------------
By default, soldiers will fire on any enemies inside of a standard range of 10 squares, and will fire on the closest enemy to them. They will fire with standard weapons only unless otherwise ordered. Less skilled shooters will usually fire first.
You can change the range of engagement, or order specific targets for individual solders, as well as order them to hold fire or engage with special weapons.
When targeting Ballistic weapons, indicate the target square by giving it's distance from the shooter in horizontal and vertical squares. As in: Target the square 6 North and 5 East.