Red Orchestra 2 Game Manual


Red Orchestra© 2006-2011 by Tripwire Interactive. Red Orchestra® is a registered trademark of Tripwire Interactive in the USA and other countries. All rights reserved. This product includes codes licensed from NVIDIA; Utilizes Umbra Software, ©2007 Umbra Software; Uses Bink Video. Copyright (C) 1997-2011 by RAD Game Tools, Inc. This software product includes Autodesk® Human IK® property of Autodesk, Inc. ©2008, Autodesk, Inc. Autodesk, “Autodesk® Human IK®“ is a registered trademark or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved. Unreal® Engine, Copyright 1998 – 2011, Epic Games, Inc. All rights reserved. Unreal® is a registered trademark of Epic Games, Inc. Steam, Steamworks and the Steamworks logo are registered trademarks of Valve Software Inc in the USA and other countries. All rights reserved. ©2011 Valve Corporation.

Contents

Menu System

From the Main Menu the following options are available:


For the first time you play the game, we suggest you play Single Player to get to grips with the gameplay.

Single Player

Taking this option allows you to chose one of the following:


Individual Missions will only unlock once you have successfully completed the Missions before them in that Campaign.

Each Campaign is divided into Chapters, containing one or more Missions. This is to help set the scene for each Mission. Clicking on a Mission will give you brief information about that Mission. Clicking on "Select" will allow you to select the Difficulty Level. On the easiest level, your squad will be reinforced regularly throughout gameplay -on the most difficult, you will get NO reinforcements, so cannot afford to take many casualties! Clicking on the desired Difficulty Level and clicking "Select" will start the highlighted Mission, playing the Mission Briefing video. If you have not played a Mission before, listen carefully to the Briefing. To skip the Briefing, hit "ESC".

Your Mission will either require you to attack a series of Objectives, or to defend them.

Attacking

To attack Objectives, you need to get into the Objective area and capture it, along with other members of your Squad. After capturing an Objective, you will need to move on to the next, until they have all been captured. How you chose to attack is completely up to you -assault straight in, lay smoke, take a team and flank to one side -it is your choice.

Defending

When defending, you will have to stay in the Objective area and hold it. The enemy will not be completely predictable, but will also use different avenues to attack through, so keep your eyes open! You will have a time period to defend each Objective -if you fail to hold, you will be automatically pushed back to the next defensive line. You must stop the enemy attack SOMEWHERE in order to win the Mission.

Death and Reinforcements

Remember that the weaponry in this game are modeled on real-life weapons and their effects. This means that you cannot just shrug off bullets and grenades. You are likely to die. But the focus is the Squad, not just one individual, so, if you die in the game, you will take over another member of your Squad and continue playing -so long as there are members of your Squad still alive. If the whole Squad dies, you lose the Mission. Depending on the Difficulty Level, your Squad will get reinforced with fresh soldiers from time to time. But be careful -you need to make sure you keep your Squad intact!

Training Missions

As part of the Axis Campaign, there are Training Missions for Basic Training, Support, Squad Leader, Tank and Commander. These will provide experience of all the main gameplay mechanics in a safe environment!

Multi-Player

Taking this option allows you to chose one of the following:


Server Browser

The Server Browser is the main route to finding a Multi Player match within the game. It will list all the servers it can find that match your filters. The tabs across the top allow you to chose a subset of the globally-available servers:


You can also apply filters to cut down the list to the type of game parameters you are looking for, such as the level of realism (Hardcore or Relaxed), the game mode (Territory, Countdown, Firefight or Multi Player Campaign) and the game type (Infantry, Tank, Combined Arms). If in doubt -simply try them out!

Multi-Player Game Modes Explained

Territory: In this game mode, players are attempting to attack or defend specific Objectives. Your Overhead Map or Tactical View will show you where the active Objectives are. Killing the enemy certainly helps, but the key is to pick an Objective to attack or defend as necessary. Players will respawn in waves, unless the Commander uses his "Force Respawn" option. You will be able to choose which spawn location you respawn at or, if your Squad Leader is alive and in a safe location, you can choose to respawn close by his location.

Firefight: This game mode is the simplest -the objective is to kill more of the enemy than they can kill of your team. There are no Objectives to attack/defend -just find enemy soldiers and kill them, before they kill you. You will respawn close to other soldiers on your team automatically, in a "safe" location.

Countdown: In this mode, one side will start attacking, the other defending. There are multiple Objectives, to be attacked/defended in sequence -but both teams only get one life per Objective and there is a (short) time limit in which the attackers have to take the Objective. If the attackers kill all the defenders, or capture the Objective, within the time limit, everyone respawns and the fight shifts to the next Objective on the map. If all the attackers are killed, or the time runs out on any Objective, the defenders win; if the attackers take the final Objective, they win. In either case, the attackers and defenders swap places -and the side that defended first now has to try and do better! To give the attacking side a better chance, their Commander has 2 (and only 2) reinforcement waves he can use, forcing a respawn wave, so long as the Objective timer hasn't run out. These need to be used very carefully!

Multi-Player Campaign: To expand on the 3 core game modes, there is an overall MP Campaign. In the Campaign, two sides can fight over the whole City of Stalingrad, divided into 10 Sectors. Each side starts owning 5 Sectors, with their strength represented by "Combat Strength". One side gets to vote to attack an enemy-held Sector, or to defend and force the enemy to attack. Defending can be risky -get it wrong and you lose a Sector -but may be necessary if you have taken heavy casualties. Each of the 10 Sectors is represented by one of the standard MP maps. Whichever side is attacking each turn gets to choose which game mode is played on each map. Whoever wins the map takes (or keeps, if defending) the Sector being fought over. But now, your casualties matter: your casualties are deducted from your side's Combat Strength. You will receive reinforcements dependent on the number of Sectors you now hold. Your Combat Strength is unlikely to go up -but you want to make sure the enemy loses strength quicker than you do! The winner of the map then gets to choose to attack or defend -so long as they have enough Combat Strength to attack at all!

One side will win if it takes all the Sectors; if both sides' Combat Strength is too low to attack, the side owning the most Sectors is the winner.

Scoring and Scoreboard

There are multiple opportunities for you to score points. The most obvious way to score points is to kill enemies -or to assist, by wounding them. But there are additional, team-oriented, points as well -for capturing/defending Objectives, resupplying machine-gunners and so on. Points scored are shown in the HUD, as well as in the After Action Report at the end of a match. All your points scored go towards increasing your Honor; kill points count towards Weapon XP and all points count towards your Class XP. The scoreboard is also available at any time during a match.

Gameplay Mechanics

 

Squads

The team for each side (i.e. Axis or Allies) is divided up along the lines of a real-life platoon of the period. This means there will be an overall Platoon Commander, plus a number of Squads and, sometimes, a small sniper team as well. Each squad consists of about 10 men -the Squad Leader, plus 2 or 3 fireteams. Depending on the nature of the unit and/or the mission, the fireteams are likely to be a rifle team, an assault team (equipped with SMGs) or an MG team (Light MG plus a couple of back-up soldiers).

In the Single Player game, you will start as a (lowly) member of a rifle squad and progress through to become the Commander, with the ability to command and direct squads and call in artillery. As a Squad Leader, you can independently direct the fireteams of your Squad.

In Multi-Player, you can choose the role you take (unless someone else has already taken the role you want to play) -as well as which Squad you join. This means that, if you are playing with friends, you can band together to form your own Squad. In MP play, there are additional benefits to the Commander and Squad Leader roles. The Squad Leader can set an artillery target and request the Commander for artillery. The Commander has very limited artillery assets, though, so he will have to decide where it is most needed. So long as the Squad Leader is alive and in a "safe" location, other players from his squad can choose to spawn on the Squad Leader, potentially getting them back into the fight quicker. The Commander can also "Force Respawn". This allows the Commander to respawn all the players on his team currently "dead" immediately, instead of waiting -delivering instant reinforcements. The catch is that this cannot be used very often, so the moment needs to be carefully chosen to have the most impact. This same "Force Respawn" is used in the Countdown game mode -even more tactically important!

Roles

In addition to the Commander and Squad mentioned above, the infantry are divided up by roles. These relate both to the initial equipment load-out each soldier carries, as well as to your Profile Stats, as you can rank up in each role. These roles are:


There are equivalents of the Commander and Squad Leader in tanks, as well as the standard tank crew.

Weapons

The game contains a wide range of weapons, some of which will be familiar to players -some of which will not! Most weapons are available from the start, although some are "Hero" weapons that must be unlocked. Weapons have various upgrades available for them, as your skill with those weapons progress -for the details, look at each weapon on your Profile Stats pages.

You can carry two primary weapons (Key "1"), a pistol (Key "2"), grenades (Key "3"), special items, such as smoke grenades and satchel charges (Key "4") and binoculars (Key "5"). But keep in mind that the more you are carrying, the more encumbered you will be, which will slow you down. There is also a key for the weapons special actions, such as select fire and barrel change (Key "6").

General use of all the weapons is covered in the appropriate Training Missions in the Single Player game, including instruction on aiming, reloading, sight-setting and deploying.

Vehicles

There are two vehicles in the game at launch -the Russian T-34 76 and the German Panzer IV. The T-34 has a crew of 4, with 3 positions playable, while the Panzer IV has a crew of 5, 4 playable. While most of the vehicle operations are covered in the Tank Training, this is a quick recap of the crew positions:

The driver in both vehicles sits in the hull, front left. He directly controls the tank and can see to the front through vision devices and to the left side, through a view port.

The hull gunner sits in the hull, front right, in both vehicles and operates the machine gun mounted in the hull.

The loader sits in the turret, on the right side of the gun. His task is to ensure that the main gun is loaded as quickly as possible with the type of round requested by the commander. This is NOT a playable crew position.

The gunner and commander are separate positions in the Panzer IV but are combined in the T-34. This was a Russian design decision to help keep the turret smaller and the overall weight of the tank down (making it faster), but it makes it harder to command the tank and fire. With later models, they moved to a 5-man crew like the Germans.

Communications and Command

There are two key concepts, that will be covered in training, but are also covered here. The first are the "wheels" for Communications and Commands. You can bring up the Communications wheel by pressing and holding the Communication key (default is "V"). While the key is held, the Communications wheel will stay on-screen. Use the mouse to select options from that wheel.

To issue commands, you can either press and hold "F" to place the pointer in the world (for example, if you want to order someone to "move to" a specific location) and left-click to have them move there; right-click to set an artillery target. Press the Quick Command key (default is "B") to bring up wheel. You can click in the center of the wheel to select the unit you want to give the order to and use the mouse to select options from that wheel.

Command Wheel Communication Wheel

 

The options available on the wheel will be dependent on the role you are playing and the current situation.

The Commander can also use radios on some maps to issue specific commands. These include calling in artillery and recon planes, as well as forcing respawns. All these items are on a timer, so they cannot be used too often. One of the key elements is the use of the recon plane. After a short delay, positions of enemy units visible to the recon plane will be reflected on the Commander's Overhead map, so long as he is still using the radio. After a further short delay, this information will also be relayed to his Squad Leaders.

Overhead Map

Overhead Map

The Overhead Map gives the player a more "strategic" view of the battlefield. It will show the locations of team members, the rest of your squad, your Squad Leader and any enemies "spotted". It will also show your location and the location of all the Objectives that are currently open. If an artillery strike has been called by your Commander, that will also be shown. Resupply points (where you can go to get more ammo if you are running low) will be shown.

 

HUD-Infantry

HUD-Infantry

The HUD on screen for infantry is intended to be as minimal and unobtrusive as possible. Most of the HUD elements will show only when they change (i.e. you need to take notice) and the last category make up the Tactical View, which only shows when you press and hold the Tactical View key (default is "T") (see below).

The key piece that is permanent is the mini-map. This will show a local view of the overhead map, along with any of your team-mates that are within that area and visible/within hearing range of the player. Below that is the grid reference of your current location. The mini-map does NOT show enemies.

The following key HUD elements only appear when they change:


The HUD (and your view) will change when you are suppressed or wounded. Suppression will blur your view slightly, making it harder to aim when under direct fire. Being wounded will be indicated by a reddening of your vision. There are also Peripheral Vision Indicators that may appear at the side of the view. These work to simulate your real life peripheral vision: if something is moving to one side of you, you can detect the movement, but you can't tell what it is, without turning your head to look. It could be a friendly -or it could be an enemy flanking you.

 

HUD-Vehicle

HUD-Vehicle

When you are in a tank, the HUD is changed to reflect that. The parts that refer to a single soldier (Stance, Stamina, Encumbrance etc) are removed and replaced by a Vehicle indicator instead. This includes:



 

Tactical View

Tactical View

When you press and hold the Tactical View key (Default "T"), the elements of the HUD that are normally hidden are made visible -handy when you want to check your status. The Tactical View also places a number of indicators in the world to help you:



 

Profile Stats

The Profile Statistics show how you are progressing your skills in the game. This is broken up into a number of tabs for you to view in game -and each element has a brief explanation. This section gives you a summary of all the areas.

Overview

The key element is Honor. This represents your overall points and ranking in the game. The Honor rating is used to help you find MP games with other players of similar skill level to yourself and also drives many of the rewards in the game. The other statistics on this page are about your combat history and overall career history -such as the total number of kills, wins and losses and so on.

Class Progress

This page will tell you how you are scoring and ranking class by class. It will show you how good a rifleman you are, or squad leader and so on. It will tell you your rank in each class and, crucially, what you have unlocked and what you have to do to get to the next unlocks. Along with that, it shows you any bonuses you get due to your rank.

Weapon Progress

Similar to the class progress, this page will tell you how you are doing with each of the weapons in game. It will show you what upgrades you have per weapon, plus any benefits you have gained due to your level of expertise.

Achievements

Achievements do not affect how you play the game -but they are "badges of honor" for getting to certain achievements in the game. This can range from something as simple as your first 10 kills, to managing a 500-meter shot to the head with a sniper rifle. And we will continue to add to the list of achievements available!

Settings

All the settings allow you to change how the game appears and how you play the game. In general, there are tips for all the settings within the game, to help you. The sections are:

Game

The Game settings allow you to change obvious items, such as the level of Gore you want to see, plus some special items. Manual Bolting (when the box is checked) means that you have to click the fire button to bolt a new round into the chamber on bolt-action rifles. This means that you choose when to bolt your weapon, so can fire and duck for cover more quickly -and then work the bolt. If you prefer it to be done automatically for you, uncheck the box. There is a similar option for tanks -if you automatically load, and then want to switch from AP to HE, you'll have to fire off the round in the barrel first. Tactical decisions!

Video

The Video settings allow you to play with all the graphical settings in the game. The game will automatically default the settings for you, but you may want to tweak them yourself. Many of these settings will have a direct effect on the performance of the game on your computer, so use them carefully.

Audio

The Audio settings deal with both the quality of the sound in game -reducing the quality may help performance on lower-end PCs -and the volume of in-game music and sound. It also allows you to manage the settings for the in-game voice chat.

Controls

The Controls tab may be key to how you play the game. The default controls are designed to suit as wide a range of players as possible, but they won't suit everyone. In this section you can change the key bindings to suit the way you want to play.

Keyboard Layout (Default)

Move Forward, back, left, right W, S, A, D
Jump Space Bar
Toggle Crouch C
Toggle prone Left Alt
Lean Left, Right Q, E
Sprint Left Shift
Interact (Use, Cover, Bandage) Left Control
Fire Left Mouse
Alt Fire Middle Mouse
Toggle Ironsights Right Mouse
Zoom/Breathing Left Shift In Iron Sight
Adjust Sights Up/Down Mousewheel Up/Down In Iron Sight
reload R
Select Weapon Mousewheel Up/Down
Quick-Switch Weapons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Weapon Functions (Select fire etc) 6
Throw Grenade G
Drop Current Weapon Backspace
Tactical Display Hold T
Overhead Map M
Command Pointer and Wheel Hold F, Left Mouse
Command Wheel Only B
Cycle Through Units F2
Follow Me Hold X
Enemy Spotted Z
Communication Wheel V
Switch Tank positions 1, 2, 3, 4
Chat (Team, Squad) Y (U, I)
Activate Microphone Caps Lock
Scoreboard Tab
Select Team/role ,/. (Comma/Period)
Quick Save/Load F5/F


Input

The final tab allows you to change how the Mouse is interpreted by the game, changing the sensitivity and other settings.

Credits