Overview
I’m learning about this fascinating alpha game just like y’all. unfortunately, there’s very little info available online, so lets build a knowledge base here! Here is what Ive learned so far. I have a not insignificant amount of time put into this game. and Im so excited for where it might go. this is my attempt to expand the community, and help introduce players, who like me, might have felt that nothing they do works.
Introduction
First this is my first guide. feedback, and your own additions are welcomed. Second, I am not a master, but there is a HUGE lack of information available for On The Western Front compared to other games I play. This is my attempt to remedy that, because I sincerely hope this game continues development, because Ive grown to love it. I hope after reading this, you will to.
New players must understand that western front is NOT a fast paced game. just like world war one, a few yards take a long time to gain, and meticulous preparation is key to success. taking all your men and throwing them into the meat grinder is not how you play this. Its not Starcraft or Red alert. So take it slow. prepare your lines, weaken the enemy, attack at key points, manage your logistics and information and lower your expectations of success. Many will, and did, die in this war. Approach this game like a massive game of chess. Only after setting up the pieces just right does the final plan swing into action.
Your First Day in Command
Your first day should be filled with the following:
1. set up field hospitals, field kitchens,
2. select your headquarter commanders,
3. learn about the terrain and where firing positions and blockhouses should be placed,
4. arrange your aerodrome schedule.
5. schedule your soldiers to lay wire at NIGHT, if you want.
1. it is vital to set up field kitchens. your units slowly run out of food and water, unless supplied directly or they are in range of a field kitchen. so to keep your units happy and prepared, build kitchens near them, or be prepared to spend most of your supply units time supplying them directly. kitchens have a limited range, although its pretty large. once one is built you can see its range with the first overlay at the top right of the screen. select your supply companies (the order of battle screen makes this easier) and create field kitchens across your front line. Supply companies can be targeted by enemies though, so its best to place them a bit farther back, like so:
[link]
another good tactic is to place them in farm fields, or forest, where its harder for the enemy to spot them.
their range will extend to your front lines, and a bit beyond. notice that selecting one supply platoon is just as fast at building a kitchen as 4 platoons building one kitchen. So its faster to build many at once with each platoon, than it is to build one at a time with the whole company. (<- not sure about this anymore.)
Next, build a similar network of field hospitals with your medical units. the same building speed rules apply. field hospitals only have about ~60% of the range, so you’ll need to place them closer together. hospitals are important because casualties from weather and combat will just die unless the wounded are taken to a hospital. the nearer a hospital is, the more likely it is they are saved instead of just dying.
Notice that this first most important step is all about logistics. it takes several days for the construction of these buildings to complete. this is foreshadowing for how the game works. detailed work now, and careful setup, so that later you survive.
2. select your headquarter commanders
[link]
make sure your best officers are selected. here you see i have a level one officer, but in reserve i had several level 5, 4, and 3 commanders to replace him with. depending on your play style, place your most capable commanders where you want them. for example, with fog of war off, you dont need a very good officer for your intelligence position. but with it on, its vital.
I like to automate intelligence, logistics, chief of staff, and administration (sometimes). i like to manually control operations, and some times i wait to delegate chief of staff until after im done building what I want with my engineers (more on this later in this section).
I automate intelligence because planes should be flying nearly all the time. gathering intelligence and defending against enemy planes. right now you cant schedule planes to run at the same time every day or rotate pilots on the same scheduled mission, and any more often than that runs down their readiness. so an intelligence officer with delegation on is very helpful. if you plan on playing any speed higher than 2 or 3 (and you will), delegate this officer.
I automate logistics because supplying ammo, tools, and shells is another task that should happen near continuously, and its repetitive. setting up areas of interest and a fairly large number of scheduled orders could let you “manage” it yourself, but i find the officer handles it fairly well, with much less effort than it takes to set up the necessary scheduled orders.
I automate the Chief of staff so that he handles repairing trenches when it rains, and reinforces trenches and block houses otherwise. sometimes damaged trenches are hard to find, and requires meticulously going through your whole line of many hundreds of tiles to find them. the officer does it better and more often than im willing to. However, I usually wait a few days, because he will reassign your engineers that you are using if delegation is on. I build my defences first, then enable him.
I automate Administration, just to catch low moral that i might miss, but if you build your field hospitals and kitchens right, and dont blindly attack full strength kitchens, you wont need him much, and he wont do much.
I dont automate Operations because I want to decide when and where an attack happens. the AI is not great at distinguishing a death trap from a soft target.
3. learn about the terrain and where firing positions and blockhouses should be placed
This is a good place to put a blockhouse:
[link]
its on elevated terrain and has an unobstructed view of the enemy.
This is a bad place to put a blockhouse:
[link]
its view is blocked by elevated terrain. units inside will only be able to fire on the enemy once they are right on top of it.
Once you find a good place, use your engineers to build a blockhouse, not a rifle platoon. engineers hide WAY better than soldiers. they are basically never fired upon, even when really close to the enemy. soldiers building a block house during the day are always wiped out by artillery and rifle fire. again, one engineer platoon is just as fast as many engineer platoons.
another thing i like to do is to build a third communication trench in the middle of my lines, to facillitate supply routes and communications, and provide a place for protected dugouts and my command units closer to my front lines. I also build more dugouts near the front. you can only place dugouts next to com trenches.
I’ve experimented with building artillery pits as well, but my arty never seems to get counter-battery fire, making it not that important. it does attract free artillery units, so sometimes its a good way to ensure artillery is in a certain place, but that seems to be the only boon.
4. make sure your aerodrome is running. this is vital if fog of war is on. i recommend letting a high level officer delegate these tasks, otherwise, you should spend a great deal of time checking and rechecking existing sorties. one thing for reconnaissance i didint realize at first, is that pilots and spotters are together in the same list. the name in parenthesis says what plane they are in, and will tell you which pilot and spotter fly together. its not possible to reconfigure who flies with who, as far as I know. so hopefully you find a good pilot with a good spotter already together, and in the right seats! (sometimes a great pilot is in the spotter role, and a great spotter is in the pilot role. shame)
Pilots seem to be able to handle 3-5 hour one time sorties without losing too much readiness. watch out though, two fighters launched at the same time, if engaged with the enemy, may land at very different times if one is attacked, meaning your other pilot is out there alone for a long time for the rest of the sortie
5. dont lay wire directly. schedule it to happen at night. 21:00 for 3-5 hours is safe. otherwise, the enemy will see your soldiers in broad daylight and kill them. set it up as a repeating task, and it will self-cancel once the selected wire track is complete.
The wait.
you should only REALLY attack during offensives. Trench control DOES NOT change unless an offensive is active. so in the mean time you should:
1. gather intelligence on enemy positions
2. raid weak points, if the opportunity arises (dont force it)
3. cut enemy wire where you will attack, and lay wire where your own lines are weak
4. drill your soldiers, to greatly increase their effectiveness
5. supply your units, and very near the offensive, start giving them coffee and/or rum
I will add to this later, as I learn more about this awesome game.
Tips:
1. keep track of enemy losses on the headquarters tab: the green cross shows enemy losses. it makes the game way more fun to know about this feedback. I hope more information on the enemy is added to the game
2. artillery is WAY more effective on troops in the open, but also has a bit of an effect on troops in trenches. its best to select far more artillery manually than what you would get with the barrage tool if you want to focus a specific place.
3. research is sloooow. best to nearly forget it for a while. prisoner raids and deaths are the most effective way of getting valor points. setting and cutting wire is nearly worthless.
4. engineers can build without being spotted in places infantry would be slaughtered.
5. you WILL run out of shells if you order a full scale barrage across the entire enemy line, and it will have minimal effect. best to pick your targets, and focus your attacks on smaller areas.
6. set units on watch to catch moving enemy units. resting units will not fire on the enemy, even if they are in range and within their sight line.
7. artillery icons render below stacked unit icons. so sometimes it seems like its missing every time, but really you just aren’t seeing the strike icon. zoom in, sometimes you see a little shred of the strike icon below the stack.