Aces High Gameplay

Gameplay     Back to the topAn Aces High Terrain

Capturing territory through the use of air, land and sea power is an aspect Aces High II War arena gameplay.   The arena terrain is divided into three countries (Bishop, Knight, and Rook), with each country starting with an equal number of fields, towns, cities, task groups, and a single headquarters for each country. All countries have an equal amount of territory at the beginning of a war.

The map is broken up into zones, with each zone having a master field. The master field controls the ownership of the factories which supply all other fields in the zone.

When a master field is captured, the factories will supply all fields in the zone owned by the capturing country. Each country has a primary zone which contains the country HQ, and this zone cannot be captured.

Capturing Territory     Back to the top

Territory is gained by capturing a field. A field consists of an airfield, vehicle field, or port and and its map room. For ports and vehicle fields the map room is located within the perimeter of the field. Troops must be deployed within 1000 yards of the map room and a total of ten troops must safely enter the map room in order to capture the field. This requires the removal of any defenses that could kill friendly troops during their storming of the map room.

In the case of an airfield, the map room is located within its nearby town. The town is normally situated 2-3 miles from the field. All buildings in the town must be destroyed before attempting to capture the field.  Destroyed town buildings will stay down for approximately 45 minutes (this variable can be adjusted), during which time 10 troops must be delivered to the map room via one of the troop carriers to capture the field. After the tenth troop safely makes it into the map room, a system message will appear in the message buffer announcing the captured field number and the capturing country.

Resupplies     Back to the top

Damaged field and city objects can be rebuilt with the successful delivery of supplies. Conceptually, the objects are being resupplied but visually they are being rebuilt. This is done by reducing the downtime by 30 minutes depending on how much of the supplies reach the destination. If only half of the supplies reach the destination, the downtime is decreased by 15 minutes.

Trains, Convoys, and Barges     Back to the top

Trains, convoys, and barges are built into the terrain. Each train, convoy, or barge has a source point and a destination point, and each can be damaged or destroyed while traveling from point to point. When a train, convoy, or barge is destroyed, they will automatically respawn every ten minutes.

Each time a train, convoy or barge spawns, it first checks to see if there has been damage to the supplier (cities supply factories and factories supply fields).  The amount of supplies carried to the destination depends on the amount of damage to the supplier. If the supplier has been damaged by 50%, only one out of every six train cars or convoy trucks will carry supplies.

The destination point is where the train, convoy, or barge attempts to resupply. The destination can be either a single field, or a number of objects within a defined radius. If a destination field is captured while a train, convoy, or barge is enroute, the train, convoy, or barge continues to the destination, and resupplies from the factories of the capturing country.

Once a train, convoy, or barge has successfully reached it's destination, a new supply convoy spawns.

Supply Drops     Back to the top

The C-47, LVT-2, and M-3 have the capability to drop supplies on a field to repair the field or shorten the downtime. These object supplies will repair all resupplyable objects in a one mile radius from the point where the supplies land. The supplies are selected as a loadout option in the hangar, and .25 perk points are awarded to the player who dropped the supplies for every object that's affected by the resupply.

A vehicle supply type is also available to repair and supply vehicles with ordnance. When these supplies are dropped, any friendly vehicle within a half mile radius receives a Load Supplies button on their screen. Clicking this button will use the supplies to both repair and rearm their vehicle. If the supplies are unused, they vanish after 15 minutes. Vehicle supplies will not reload troops or the vehicle and object supplies.

Winning the War    Back to the top

The parameters for winning the war can vary. One can view the current parameters by right clicking on the clipboard map, and selecting country status.

country status
A red box around a field icon indicates the field is uncapturable

In general, winning the war is achieved by capturing a percentage of one or both of the opposing countries' fields while maintaining control over the majority of your own fields.

Once the conditions for winning the war have been achieved, the arena is reset, a different terrain is rotated in with the country territories randomly set, and a perk point bonus is awarded to players that have been in the winning country for a minimum of 12 hours prior to the end of the war.

Note: The arena will reset during the terrain change, at which time all players are disconnected from that arena. If a player is "in sortie" when the terrain changes, that sortie will not be scored, nor will any perk loss or gain be tallied for that sortie.

Strategic Targets    Back to the top

The basic categories of strategic targets in Aces High include field targets, zone targets, city targets, and supply targets.

  • The field targets affect availability of field items such as planes, fuel, ammo, etc. Every tower has a chalkboard displaying the field number and the current status of the field targets.

  • The zone targets are the factories that affect the resupply of field targets.

  • The city targets are the buildings within a city and they affect the resupply of the zone targets.

  • The supply targets are the trains, convoys, and barges that resupply damaged fields and factories.

The table below shows the various strategic targets and the ordnance required to destroy them.

Target type Target Destroy with Downtime Effect Supplier Can be
resupplied
Field Map room 10 troops N/A Captures field N/A No
Soft Guns 1 100 lb 15 mins Kills mannable ack N/A No
Guns 1 100 lb 2 hours Kills field ack AAA factory Yes
Radar 1 250 lb 2 hours Kills field radar in a 12.5 mile radius Radar factory Yes
Ammo 1 250 lb 2 hours Reduces bomb/rocket
loadout to zero		 Ammo factory Yes
Fuel 1 250 lb 2 hours Reduces maximum
allowed fuel load		 Fuel refinery Yes
Barracks 1 250 lb 2 hours Reduces troop loadout
to zero		 Training facility Yes
Fighter hangar 3 1000 lb 15 mins Disables fighters at
the field		 N/A No
Bomber hangar 3 1000 lb 15 mins Disables bombers at
the field		 N/A No
Vehicle hangar 3 1000 lb 15 mins Disables vehicles at
the field		 N/A No
Shore battery 4 1000 lb 15 mins Disables shore battery at the field N/A No
Town building 1 250 lb 45 mins Kills town building to
allow for field capture		 N/A No
Zone HQ 38 1000 lb 2 hours Kills all radar for a
country		 City building Yes
AAA factory 1 250 lb 3 hours Loads supplies for
field guns		 City building Yes
Radar factory 1 250 lb 3 hours Loads supplies for
field radar		 City building Yes
Ammo factory 1 250 lb 3 hours Loads supplies for
ammo at fields		 City building Yes
Fuel refinery 1 250 lb 3 hours Loads supplies for
fuel tanks at fields		 City building Yes
Training facility 1 250 lb 3 hours Loads supplies for
barracks at fields		 City building Yes
City City building 1 250 lb 3 hours Loads supplies for
factories and HQ		 City building Yes *
Supply Train 1 100 lb N/A Stops train from
resupplying destination		 N/A N/A
Convoy ½ 100 lb N/A Stops convoy from resupplying destination N/A N/A
Barge ½ 100 lb N/A Stops barge from
resupplying destination		 N/A N/A
Ships Primary ship 8 1000 lb 10 min Sinks task group,
respawns at port		 N/A No
Other ships 2 1000 lb 1 hour Sinks ship N/A No
Special Types Barrier N/A N/A Barrier N/A N/A
Structure 1 250 lb 45 minutes An object any country can destroy N/A No

* Each drop of convoy or train supplies on damaged city targets reduces the 3 hour downtime by 30 minutes.
 Each drop of player supplies reduces the downtime by 15 minutes.

Checking Status     Back to the top

In Aces High II, the status of any field may be checked by right-clicking on the clipboard map and selecting "Field Status" from the menu. The clipboard's swing out page will show the status of the field nearest your click point. While the swing out page is showing, you may check the status of any field by highlighting that field in the list.

Fuel Availability at the Field
The percentage of fuel available at a field is determined by whether a fuel object at the field has been hit, and the rebuild time depends on whether there is a resupply from the zone's refinery.  The amount of supplies shipped via convoy from the refinery depends on if there is damage to the refinery.

Ordnance Availability at the Field
Ordnance available for aircraft, vehicles and/or boats at the field is displayed as part of the field status.  The rebuild time of damaged or destroyed ordnance objects is determined by whether a resupply occurs from an ammunition factory of that zone.  The amount of supplies shipped via convoy from the factory depends on if there is damage to the factory.

Radar Availability at the Field
The rebuild time of damaged or destroyed radar is determined by whether a resupply from the radar factory arrives at the field.  The amount of supplies a radar factory for that country has been damaged or destroyed.  The amount of supplies shipped via convoy from the factory depends on if there is damage to the radar factory.

Troop Availability at the Field
Troops must be available for loading on troop transports such as the C-47, M-3 and LVT-2.  The rebuild time of damaged bunker objects is determined by whether a resupply of personnel from the training barracks of that country has arrived at the field.

Model Availability at the Field
Fighters, bombers, vehicles and boats must be available for use at a field.  Airplanes, vehicles and boats become unavailable when their hangars are destroyed.

City Damage Status
The city damage status indicates the percentage of objects destroyed in a city complex, which then affects the resupply of personnel to the factories via trains.

Refinery Damage Status
The refinery damage status indicates the percentage of damage to a zone's fuel refineries, which then affects the resupply time of the field fuel structures.

Ammunition Factory Damage Status
The ammunition factory damage status indicates the percentage of damage to a zone's ammunition factories, which then affects the resupply time of the ordnance available at the fields.

Radar Factory Damage Status
The radar factory damage status indicates the percentage of damage to a zone's radar factories, which then affects the resupply time of radar at the fields.

Training Barracks Damage Status
The training barracks damage status indicates the percentage of damage to a zone's training barracks, which then affects the resupply time of bunkers and troops available at the fields.

Ack Factory Damage Status
The ack factory damage status indicates the percentage of damage to a zone's ack factories, which then affects the resupply time of field ack.

HQ Status
Enemy and Friendly Cnt refers to sector counters, or the red or green squares in the map sectors, for friendlies and enemies.  If a country's HQ is destroyed, then all radar and sector counters for that country are disabled.  As the HQ becomes damaged the radar components are destroyed in this order: friendly counters, enemy counter, friendly radar and enemy radar.