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{{Header Nav|game=Battlestations: Midway}}
{{Header Nav|game=Battlestations: Midway}}
As mentioned before, Battlestations: Midway is a hybrid game which allows players to command any number of units - ranging from battleships, to destroyers, to submarines, aircraft carriers, and land bases. This section of the guide will go through the basics of gameplay - stuff that is better and easier explained through the tutorial. The advantage of this guide though is that if you don't have the game, you can read this and get an idea for it.
[[Image:Battlestations - Tactical Map.png|right|thumb|The Tactical map at maximum magnification. Note the gun emplacements surrounding the bay]]
Pressing the map key opens a tactical map which shows you where your units are and any spotted enemy units. The bottom window shows you information about the unit you are currently in command of. The top window shows you either:
*What is beneath your cursor
*What the selected unit is targeting


This guide is divided into four sections: The RTS section, the air section, and the warship section, and the submarine section.
The zoom controls allow you to zoom in on where your cursor is pointing. At different levels, various details are revealed.


==Real Time Strategy==
At the outermost zoom, very little information is revealed - you can only see ship formation leaders and aircraft squadron leaders. Individual ships, individual planes, and gun emplacements are some of the things that are not shown on maximum magnification.
Pressing the map key opens a tactical map which shows you where your units are and any spotted enemy units. The darknened area is where you lack radar coverage. Enemy units will not be shown.


The lighter portion is your radar coverage. Enemy units can appear in this area, but you won't be able to identify them and they'll be grey and labelled as "UNKNOWN". You'll be able to see if they're a ship or a plane, but not specifically what kind of ship or plane it is. It could be a destroyer, or it could be a battleship...or an aircraft carrier.
In the middle zoom, individual ships are revealed, but not individual planes. Gun emplacements are also not revealed at this level of zoom.  


Clicking on a unit will select it. Hiding the map now will put you observing the unit you just selected in real-time. You can take command of it by giving it any order.
At maximum magnification, players can see practically everything - from gun installations to individual planes, even torpedoes appear on the map. The ships on the map, regardless of magnification, are never drawn to scale, so while it may seem a torpedo is headed for the aft section of a warship it may actually miss by mere centimetres. From the tactical map screen, it appears as though the ship moves over the torpedo.


Many times you will want a unit to be protected by another unit. To do this with a plane, you can click on an air unit and right click on the target you want to protect. A green arrow will show that units are flying a Combat Air Patrol (CAP) over the target. They will engage any target that comes within 1 nautical mile of the target they're protecting.
==Objectives==
[[Image:Battlestations - Objective Panel.png|right|thumb|The objective panel demonstrating an incomplete, complete, and failed objective.]]
At the top right of the interface displays all the objectives. Pressing the "Show Objectives" button allows you to view your current objectives, and selecting them is possible too. Each objective is numbered - black numbers indicate the objective is incomplete. Green numbers indicate the objective is complete. Red numbers indicate the objective has failed. Selecting an objective will detail what is or was required to accomplish that objective.


==Aircraft==
There are three kinds of objectives:
Aircraft are the most powerful units in the game given their high attacking power and high speed. There are several kinds of aircraft, including:
*'''Primary objectives''' are required to accomplish the mission. Failing one means losing the mission.
*Fighters: Includes the A6M Zero and the F4F Wildcat. These planes are typically armed with machine guns and have extremely high manoeuvrability, allowing them to out-turn and out-fly all other aircraft. Typically they have machine guns, but they can be equipped with small bombs too. The bombs cause very little damage. Equipping them with bombs also doesn't appear to affect their manoeuvrability, but dive bombers are far better.
*'''Secondary objectives''' are optional objectives. Clearing all secondary objectives gives you a silver star indicating you have passed all the primary and secondary objectives.
*Dive bombers: Includes the D3A Val and the SBD Dauntless. These bombers start high and dive low on their targets. Ineffective against targets with strong deck plating, like battleships, they are best wielded against lightly armoured targets, mainly destroyers and light cruisers. They can also bring the hurt on aircraft carriers given the huge size of their deck. Difficult to destroy, but in general causes little damage.
*'''Hidden objectives''' do not appear on the objectives panel, and means the player has gone above and beyond what was expected of them in the level. Typically, they aren't difficult objectives - what's hard is knowing what they are. Clearing all the primary, secondary, and hidden objectives gives you a gold star as a reward.
*Torpedo Bombers: Includes the B5N Kate and the TBD/F Avenger. These planes start low, then climb high after releasing torpedoes. Torpedoes must be dropped at an altitude less than 1,000ft while the plane is almost parallel to the ocean - otherwise the torpedo will detonate when hitting the water. Far easier to use than dive bombers as well as being far more devastating, they are easy prey for targets with a lot of anti-aircraft fire.
*Carpet Bombers: Includes the B-17 and the G4M. These planes fly at high altitudes and drop massive amounts of bombs on targets. They are rather easy to use and are oftentimes heavily defended by themselves, but their accuracy is typically abysmal. They are effective against all targets, but particularly excel in bombing shipyards, airfields, and aircraft carriers in particular.
*Recon Planes: Includes the PBY Catalina and the H8K Emily. These planes are slow, but they sport sonar, making them ideal for anti-submarine operations. They come equipped with either bombs, twin torpedoes, or most devastatingly depth charges. Without a doubt the submariner's most deadly enemy, since recon planes can see and attack them without fear of counterattack from the sub. It should also be noted that recon planes can land on the water. If they land on the water near a shipyard, they can be rearmed with additional weapons. Unfortunately, this must be done manually.


All the above types, excepting recon planes, are produced at either an airfield or, most commonly, at an aircraft carrier. Recon planes are produced at shipyards.
The stars do not unlock anything special, and are there merely for bragging rights and proof that you have defeated the level with only primary (bronze), primary and secondary (silver) or all (gold) objectives.


===Taking Off===
==Detection Ranges==
To put aircraft in the air, select the unit you want to launch planes - whether a carrier or an airfield, and open up the control panel. You will see 2 to 4 icons:
[[Image:Battlestations Detection Ranges.png|right|thumb|A picture of the tactical map at outermost zoom. Notice the shaded areas indicating the type of detection.]]
*An "H" indicates the squadron is at home base.
While viewing the battlefield at the outermost zoom, you can notice several coloured layers representing each vessel's detection ranges. There are three fields:
*A diagonal arrow pointing up shows that the selected squadron is currently in the process of taking off.
*A straight arrow indicates that the aircraft is currently in the air.
*A diagonal arrow pointing down indicates that the aircraft has received landing orders and intend to land.
*A skull and crossbones indicates the squadron was destroyed. If you have additional planes, you can launch them.


Beneath those icons you will see:
The darker area is the radar detection area. Enemy units spotted this way appear as "Unknown". You will be able to tell whether it is a ship or a plane, but that's it.
*Type: The aircraft the squadron is currently using. You can switch this whenever the squadron is landed.
{{sidebar
*Number: You can change the number of aircraft assigned to the squadron. Typically this means reassigning members from another squadron to the other one. There is a maximum of 5 planes for fighter squadrons and 3 planes for bomber squadrons.
|float=left
*Armament: Here you can choose what the planes are loaded with. Typically this involves bombs, depth charges, or torpedoes.
|width=150px
|title=Note
|contents=Enemy submarines operating at crush depth will not appear on your sonar.
}}
The light coloured area is the visual detection range. Any enemy units that enter this range will automatically be reported and identified ("We have incoming enemy aircraft!" or "Enemy ship spotted, sir!")


The number at the top right of the window indicates the number of planes airbourne versus the number of planes you can actually put up. Regardless of how many planes you assign to a squadron, the number of airbourne planes cannot exceed the plane cap.
The green coloured area is the sonar detection range. Submerged submarines can only be detected through sonar. Note that destroyers have a huge sonar coverage in the front but lesser so in the back, so approaching a destroyer from behind when you're a submarine can give you the element of surprise.
{{-}}


For example, say your airfield can have 9 planes in the air maximum. You have three squadrons. You can assign squadron members evenly (each squadron has 3 members - 3+3+3=9). You can also choose to have 5 planes in one squadron, but that means each of your other squads can only have 2 members each (5+2+2=9).
==Issuing Orders==
[[Image:Battlestations Move Order.png|right|thumb|A move order was issued to this ship.]]
Issuing orders via the map screen allows you to command separate units for split-second amounts of time, issuing quick, simple commands in a manner befitting a real-time strategy game.


===Landing===
To move a unit from the tactical screen, put your cursor over the unit you want to move and hit the select unit control to select it. It will turn gold to indicate that this is the unit you have selected. The move-to control (by default the right mouse button) will have the unit move to where your cursor is - just like an RTS. It may or may not engage enemies that appear based on its standing orders (some RTS games call it the unit's "Stance" or "AI"), which are discussed later.
Landing aircraft is important, especially for bombers. Planes do not respawn - you simply have a lot of them. Ordering planes, especially bomber squadrons, to return to base gets them fixed up and rearmed for another attack. It does take time, but ultimately it becomes worth it.


To order a squadron to land, open the Command menu and select the left option. You should hear "Landing orders acknowledged, sir" or something of the sort, and your squadron status will be set to "LAND".
Along similar lines, a unit can be ordered to engage an enemy warship in a similar fashion. Clicking on an enemy unit with a unit currently selected will have your unit engage the enemy's. A red line will show that the unit is engaging the enemy.


The AI takes its time landing - you can attempt to land yourself, oftentimes quicker than the AI, by simply reducing your airspeed (your gear will come down automatically) and simply touch down at a low speed. You can do this for either carriers or airfields, but carrier landings are considerably more difficult than airfield landings.
Aircraft ordered to land will have green arrows pointing to their carrier or airfield. Aircraft ordered to patrol and give air cover to a warship below them will also have a green arrow.


As mentioned above, recon planes like the Catalina can rearm themselves by landing in the vicinity of a shipyard. Simply do the same thing as before, except on water. Landing on water should be easy - just don't come down at a sharp angle and you should be fine. Keep your throttle low and get close to the shipyard to rearm (you should not need to enter the shipyard, and docking the plane is impossible).
{{Footer Nav|game=Battlestations: Midway|prevpage=Controls|nextpage=Ship Tactics}}
{{Footer Nav|game=Battlestations: Midway}}

Latest revision as of 23:53, 10 August 2022

Table of Contents

Gameplay
Nations
Multiplayer Maps
Walkthrough
Single Player Campaign
  1. Stationed at Pearl
  2. Defence of the Phillipines
  3. Running the Palawan Passage
  4. Vengeance at Luzon
  5. Raid on Balikpapan
  6. Holding the Lombok Strait
  7. Rendezvous at the Java Sea
  8. Strike on Tulagi
  9. Battle of the Coral Sea
  10. Turning Point at Midway
  11. Endgame at Midway
Aircraft Challenge Missions
Ship Challenge Missions
Submarine Challenge Missions

The Tactical map at maximum magnification. Note the gun emplacements surrounding the bay

Pressing the map key opens a tactical map which shows you where your units are and any spotted enemy units. The bottom window shows you information about the unit you are currently in command of. The top window shows you either:

  • What is beneath your cursor
  • What the selected unit is targeting

The zoom controls allow you to zoom in on where your cursor is pointing. At different levels, various details are revealed.

At the outermost zoom, very little information is revealed - you can only see ship formation leaders and aircraft squadron leaders. Individual ships, individual planes, and gun emplacements are some of the things that are not shown on maximum magnification.

In the middle zoom, individual ships are revealed, but not individual planes. Gun emplacements are also not revealed at this level of zoom.

At maximum magnification, players can see practically everything - from gun installations to individual planes, even torpedoes appear on the map. The ships on the map, regardless of magnification, are never drawn to scale, so while it may seem a torpedo is headed for the aft section of a warship it may actually miss by mere centimetres. From the tactical map screen, it appears as though the ship moves over the torpedo.

Objectives[edit]

The objective panel demonstrating an incomplete, complete, and failed objective.

At the top right of the interface displays all the objectives. Pressing the "Show Objectives" button allows you to view your current objectives, and selecting them is possible too. Each objective is numbered - black numbers indicate the objective is incomplete. Green numbers indicate the objective is complete. Red numbers indicate the objective has failed. Selecting an objective will detail what is or was required to accomplish that objective.

There are three kinds of objectives:

  • Primary objectives are required to accomplish the mission. Failing one means losing the mission.
  • Secondary objectives are optional objectives. Clearing all secondary objectives gives you a silver star indicating you have passed all the primary and secondary objectives.
  • Hidden objectives do not appear on the objectives panel, and means the player has gone above and beyond what was expected of them in the level. Typically, they aren't difficult objectives - what's hard is knowing what they are. Clearing all the primary, secondary, and hidden objectives gives you a gold star as a reward.

The stars do not unlock anything special, and are there merely for bragging rights and proof that you have defeated the level with only primary (bronze), primary and secondary (silver) or all (gold) objectives.

Detection Ranges[edit]

A picture of the tactical map at outermost zoom. Notice the shaded areas indicating the type of detection.

While viewing the battlefield at the outermost zoom, you can notice several coloured layers representing each vessel's detection ranges. There are three fields:

The darker area is the radar detection area. Enemy units spotted this way appear as "Unknown". You will be able to tell whether it is a ship or a plane, but that's it.

Note
Enemy submarines operating at crush depth will not appear on your sonar.

The light coloured area is the visual detection range. Any enemy units that enter this range will automatically be reported and identified ("We have incoming enemy aircraft!" or "Enemy ship spotted, sir!")

The green coloured area is the sonar detection range. Submerged submarines can only be detected through sonar. Note that destroyers have a huge sonar coverage in the front but lesser so in the back, so approaching a destroyer from behind when you're a submarine can give you the element of surprise.

Issuing Orders[edit]

A move order was issued to this ship.

Issuing orders via the map screen allows you to command separate units for split-second amounts of time, issuing quick, simple commands in a manner befitting a real-time strategy game.

To move a unit from the tactical screen, put your cursor over the unit you want to move and hit the select unit control to select it. It will turn gold to indicate that this is the unit you have selected. The move-to control (by default the right mouse button) will have the unit move to where your cursor is - just like an RTS. It may or may not engage enemies that appear based on its standing orders (some RTS games call it the unit's "Stance" or "AI"), which are discussed later.

Along similar lines, a unit can be ordered to engage an enemy warship in a similar fashion. Clicking on an enemy unit with a unit currently selected will have your unit engage the enemy's. A red line will show that the unit is engaging the enemy.

Aircraft ordered to land will have green arrows pointing to their carrier or airfield. Aircraft ordered to patrol and give air cover to a warship below them will also have a green arrow.

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