More gameplay

At the time of this writing, the Axis have just won a hard-fought campaign that had several momentum swings, including Allied re-captures of the key towns of Gent, Antwerp and Brussels. There is a 4-day intermission with custom rules and spawn lists, detailed here, and then the real campaign will begin. This is the perfect time to start your free trial, since the intermission is a good way to mess around, and with the start of the new campaign, there will be plenty of newbie equipment available.

If it was late in the game, we'd be seeing more famous vehicles, but fewer newbie rides. The RDP system - Research, Development, and Production - has of course focused on the latest and greatest toys. These are tanks like the M4A2 Sherman, Crusader III and Pz IV G, or fighters like the Lockheed 322-15 (AKA P-38F Lightning) and Focke Wulf 190A-4. Unfortunately, due to the rank system, this equipment isn't available until you are ranked lieutenant or higher in both your army (ie French, British or German) and the specific field (navy, air or ground). You can gain rank quickly by taking P1 missions as an infantryman, surviving 10 real-time minutes and despawning, but this is dull and it doesn't prepare you well for how to use the equipment.

You're best off joining attacks as a rifleman, watching how the game works and shooting some enemy infantry. Pay attention to how tanks move and attack, how anti-tank guns defend against them, how air power affects the game and what CPs need to be captured. Infantry work is difficult, likely to get you killed and rarely rewarding - but the day you cap that spawnable depot, you're king. Spawnable depots, incidentally, are the depots in an enemy town that are linked to friendly towns. Once they're captured, friendly infantry can spawn in the buildings and flood the town. Thus, they're the most highly-guarded areas.

If you do insist on taking a tank, boat, or aircraft out, you'll definitely need a joystick. I'd love to write a tanking, flying or boating guide, but the intricacies and possible situations are too deep for this article. Just suffice it to say that if you're in a Vickers or Panzer IIc, and in front of you is a big enemy tank, you're not likely to kill it. The game uses physics and real-world data to calculate the odds of penetration and the kind of damage you can inflict. A Somua S-35 tank with its 47mm gun and thick armor is deadly to a Panzer II, just as a Pz III F chews a Vickers up for breakfast. There are no "hit points", so it doesn't matter how many times the Panzer IIc's 20mm gun hits a heavy tank.

Of course, learning these intricacies is what makes the game so addicting. Knowing that of all the Axis tier 0 tanks, only the newbie's Pz 38(t) can kill a British Matilda by shooting at the humps on the top of its rear at close range, is a great advantage. Players have to learn spots to shoot, judge likelihood of penetration based on angle and guesstimate the range of their target. Feel free to ask around - the player base is very friendly. It's also good to join up with a squad, especially if you feel comfortable using Teamspeak and have a microphone. It makes all the difference in the world, both in terms of game immersion and your capability on the field, as well as their ability to train you. Most squads are recruiting and hungry for new members.

Finally, if you do take a vehicle out, you need to get a kill and then return to base (either a forward base, army base, a friendly airfield or dock) and then despawn. That's the only way to get a mission success, unless you're infantry, a bomber or transport. Those gain mission successes by simply staying alive for 10 minutes and despawning in the proper area.