Line War - Tips Before Getting Started (Things You Should to Know)

Some of these concepts are not made clear in the tutorial…

Guide for Newbies

What isn’t made clear in the tutorials

Watch the tutorials. Seriously.

One simply does not have the right to complain about “broken mechanics” in a new game which does a lot of things completely different if one is too lazy/stubborn/proud to watch the tutorials!

They explain a lot!

But some important concepts are left out. And some cannot be said enough times. Here’s a kind of guide:

First: UI – your command toolbar at the bottom from left to right:

First group of buttons

Type of Move commands

[-] Q. Point. Go to/Assemble at this point on the map.
[-] W. Line -> assemble along this line.
[-] E. Arrow -> follow this line.
[-] R. Target -> Attack this building.
[-] T. Crossbones -> Delete your units.

Arrows’ thickness: 1-5 clicks/keyboard-shortcuts): To move single-file vs. to move in X columns. Therefore also: To switch between selecting a few to more of the units in a command’s area

Next group of buttons

To fine-tune your Move commands

[-] A. Attack-move: Attack anything it sees/ Conquer territory, and move on only afterwards vs. Move:
[-] S. Move: only fire on the move/ the unit(s) blocking its way, and don’t stop to conquer territory.

“Flavour” of your move-command

[-] Normal (one click/keyboard-shortcuts on attack-move or move).
[-] Haste (two clicks/keyboard-shortcuts on attack-move or move. 30% faster, but consuming more energy/ having lower HP while running.
[-] D. Entrench: Be careful to entrench in the proper direction. Sandsacks have to face TOWARDS enemies. Units have lower health only while digging – not after finishing. Infantery in the front line has only an EXTREMELY limited range of fire. Place artillery in a second line behind the “meat shields”

Next groups of buttons

Units affected: Z. All Land, followed by each type (to switch on or off). Next group of buttons: X. All Air, followed by each type (to switch on or off). Next group of buttons: C. All Sea, followed by each type (to switch on or off).
Switching units on or off fills a “shade” of your “all-type-of (land/air/sea)-button, so show that 1/5, 2/5, … of types of units are selected.
Sometimes you don’t want all types of your army to follow a move command (e.g. keep your SAMs near critical infrastructure…).

Last group of buttons

Move-commands: to move your units.
Construct buildings: to construct different buildings.
Manage production: production-stop etc, to manage production in production-facilities you already own…

In General

Screen-scrolling: Already implemented on keyboard – via arrow-keys, not WASD. For the time being (!) you cannot reassign keys.
Assemble more units to scout/take over territory. Not only will they conquer territory more quickly – “blobs” also have a larger scouting range.
If you hear music playing for the first time: Your foe has been discovered!
A units’ shade shows its health.
Towns are…nice. But if 3 industries are in the vicinity & you build them up – then you can upgrade your town to a city, which will make you rich!
Rockets: After building a rocket pad, rockets will be assembled – reeeally slowly. You launch them by selecting a pad with a finished rocket and clicking “Launch” on the right side of the screen or by clicking “k”.
They are devastating against units and buildings alike – but not all buildings within the huge red circle will be completely demoslished. Furthermore, they can be taken down by being hit in flight by something like 5+ SAMs. Of course, having these SAMs positioned in the flight path is rather difficult. Addition: Follow up tactical strikes with an offensive! Otherwise, of course, feel free to target cities/harbors. You Monster.

Production

Delete unusable units/ unsuitable fleets to reduce upkeep. While units only cost energy while moving, they always cost upkeep. They can even render your income to zero! To delete them: Move ONLY the type you want to delete, and ONLY the group/batch you want to delete, towards a skull&crossbones-marker
For the same reason: unclick factories/shipyards/airstrips from making units. Infantery in baracks does not cost much – but other units could cripple your economy!
F3 (lower right side of the screen) gives you the option to stop ALL production.
The bars in the upper corner show energy and money: what you have, how much is produced, how much is consumed. On mouseover you get more details.
Every building costs upkeep as well

Energy

It’s nearly impossible to have too many refineries! Otherwise you will quickly run out of fuel once you move tanks & have a sizeable, moving fleet!
Oil rigs on land an on water are 3 times as productive as Power Plants.
Energy/Fueltanks: Have to be connected to Refineries/Power Plants to fill up. Press “k”/ click on the icon on the right side of the screen to build a pipeline (for free!). Refineries/Power Plants can be connected to only two pipelines, while Oil/Fueltanks have an unlimited (?) number of connections. If you don’t build AND connect tanks, each Refineries/Power Plant will only store 30 units each; while each Oil/Fueltank can hold 120 units

Air

Air strip: Can produce & hold up to 6 units
Landing strips: Cheaper, stealthier, can only HOLD units. Use them to move your aircrafts closer to the front. And: to move land units faster. Move your units close to airstrips holding transports, and draw an arrow to the other airstrip/landing strip
Striker: Medium Range. Versatile, can defend against other aircraft (though not as well as interceptor). Will take down buildings – but slowly. Can be shot at by infantry
Bomber: Long Range. Cannot defend against other aircraft. Will take down buildings more quickly. Cannot be shot at by infantry.
Heli: Short Range. Can land if running out of global energy/fuel – in contrast to other aircraft, which will be lost if flying while running out of energy/fuel*
- Tanks and ships will stop and thus bring your fuel-consumption down. If that’s not enough – only then your planes will fall out of the sky.
- Transport: Long Range. Defenseless. Use it to transport units & to drop commandos.

Land

Only tanks require fuel – and only while they are on the move.
Meat shields are cheap. Use them to fill your 1. line of defense, to conquer territory and to make human-wave-attacks. WWII-Russia-like.

Sea

Merchant Navy: If you hold two territories being connected by a dotted line and having a town/city AND a shipyard adjacend (not your “normal” shipyard-icon), you can produce merchant ships on them
Submerged submarines can only be attacked by Destroyers. But submarines only fire torpedoes if surfaced – then they can also be attacked by any (land) unit. Cruisers can never attack subs
Somehow subs are the fastest unit to conquer sea-tiles.
Move your land units to the shore. Draw a line from one coast to the other. If you have transports they will pick up up to 4 troops (2 min. to cross over) and deliver them to the other shore
Missile ships in the lanes of enemie’s aircraft are fun (…at least for you!).