Starter Guide

This page is reserved for a game guide that is going to feature information on how to play the game from the very first login to the very first FPS mission and beyond. It will be detailed and have screenshots of the game in HD glory when it comes to the FPS sections so it is much easier to explain each of the features. This will be a combined effort of several players. This is work in progress and what you see below is not the final product.



This Guide to Heroes and Generals is player written and therefore is not the responsibility of Reto-Moto.

There will be tutorial videos created to go with this tutorial, currently as of now there are the following videos available:


 * For an overview of the UI: http://youtu.be/XNXDn7v-BKs
 * For how to play as a General: http://youtu.be/bclFMmwokZ0
 * For how to play as a Hero: http://youtu.be/2PMhNNncAa4

These videos (currently) do not follow this tutorial in any way, these are wrote in a different order to the videos. Once the Starter Guide is complete these videos will be remade to follow the format of the page better.

An Introduction to Heroes and Generals


In essence, Heroes and Generals is a free to play RTS by Reto-Moto, a Danish Games Developer. The game has a persistent map with many Towns and Cities represented where battles take place in the FPS or Action Game. The map is where all the Generals gameplay takes place. The ultimate objective of the game is to take over the enemy Capital, winning the war. The war is fought between Axis (Germany) and Allies (USA), the intention being to add more nations to these sides in future.

Overview of the User Interface
The most important aspect of any game is the User Interface. As Heroes and Generals has quite a lot to explain since there is an FPS and an RTS aspect, this is one of the first things you need to understand. The screenshots and information below will explain each feature in detail. The image on the right shows the Campaign Map, which is the main tool to join games as a Hero, as well as moving units around as a General.

--Insert Info Assault Teams--

--Insert Info Character Screen--

--Insert Info Chat Window--

First Steps


When you first start out in Heroes and Generals you can only play the Heroes aspect fully. You must do this in order to earn Credits and small amounts of Gold which will then be invested into Characters or more than likely your first earnings will be spent on Assault Teams, which are required for playing the Generals part of the game.

You play the Action Game by going to Missions which you find on the right hand side of your screen on Campaign Map. You must click "Enter Combat" or "Queue Up" (depending upon whether the Mission is full or not) in order to join that specific Mission. When you join you will be playing as one of the many Heroes in Heroes and Generals and your performance in these Missions will determine whether or not you get Combat Ribbons which are used to unlock Combat Badges. We will talk more about these in detail in the Heroes section of this guide. Your main reward for playing the Heroes aspect of this game is Credits and in some cases very small amounts of Gold.

Your performance in the Action Game is detailed in and "End of Round" statistics window similar to Battlefield 3, for example, however currently (29/07/2012) the stats screen is slow to show. This is because the server responsible for it (usually referred to as the stats server) is much like the rest of the game: Work in Progress. In order to see these stats you must wait until the end of the game but this shall be covered in detaul further on in this guide.

With this information, you should be able to play Heroes and Generals however it is recommended that you read this guide in it's entirety so you have a full understanding of the game as the Generals part of the game is overwhelming initially.



Heroes


Who are the Heroes of Heroes and Generals? In short, you can say that anybody who plays Heroes and Generals is one, as anybody who plays can play as one of the many Heroes. This is done in the Action Game and the units available to play as will differ depending on what your Generals have sent to the Mission you have chosen to play. This section of the Guide will inform you upon all the aspects inside the Action Game and outside that affect Heroes.

Character Creation
When you play as a Hero, you will use a "default character" for the many different classes in-game. These classes include the following (Cost from low to high): Rifleman, Paratrooper, Fighter Pilot, Anti-Armour, Machine Gunner, Recon, Tank Crew.

When you are using the "default character" you do not earn Combat Ribbons or Combat Badges. If you want to earn these you must purchase the appropriate Character. This is done by first purchasing a "Character Slot" and then selecting the slot and choosing from the classes listed previously. The costs are as follows:

Character Costs
You must first purchase a soldier slot one of these in order to be able to buy a Character; Soldier Slots can be purchased with Warfunds or Gold and are retained for the specific faction you purchase them for.

Class Costs
After purchasing a slot next you must populate it by purchasing one of the following Characters. Please choose carefully as deleting the Character as of 29/07/12 does not give a refund of Credits. You do not lose your slot if you delete a Character.

Equipping your Character


Once you've purchased your slot and Character of choice, you will now be able to earn Combat Ribbons which will allow you to earn Combat Badges. This is important as the Combat Badges allow you to gain special extra abilities. Think of them as "perks". Additionally you can do several other things. These include changing the weapon your Character uses, for example, an Axis Rifleman begins with a Kar 98. You can purchase an MP40 to replace this and still play as a Rifleman but if you were to purchase a Kar 98 Scoped naturally this is a Recon's weapon, so your Rifleman becomes a Recon

Note: This may change as it seems that allowing players to change their Character's class by using a different weapon not specific to the class makes buying a Slot and Character somewhat redundant.

Joining a Game
When joining a game you will first enter the Lobby. When you are in the lobby a window will pop-up unless you are queued to join when a slot becomes free.

The Objective


The objective of the FPS game depends upon whether you are attacking or defending. You should read both so you understand how best to win a round in Heroes and Generals

Attacking
In order to win the battle you must take over the Defenders main access points which are represented as Stars on your HUD/In-Game Map. When your team controls all the Stars you win the round and capture the enemy City/Town/Point that your units were fighting for on The Campaign Map.

Defending
In order to win the battle you must defend the Stars on your HUD/In-Game Map from the Attackers. When the Attackers take a point, the they get additional time. So there are benefits to stopping the enemy in their tracks.

If you are able to go on the offense, you can push them back to their Access Point which is where all their Assault Teams|Assault Teams spawn from. Once this point is taken, the enemy forces who joined the battle from that access point, are no longer available for spawning. Aditionaly if all the access points are secured by the defenders, their team wins the game.

Generals


The Generals of Heroes and Generals are much like the Heroes, in that every player can choose to play as one. This part of the game is played mainly on the Campaign Map, moving Assault Teams to attack and defend the many Cities, Factories and Airfields.

This section of the guide will inform you of all the aspects playing as a General that is important to consider when making decisions with your resources.

Slot Costs
You must first purchase an empty slot to be able to create an Assault Team. Assault Team Slots can be purchased with Warfunds or Gold and are retained for the specific faction you purchase them for.