Manual
Objective
Table of Contents
The object in Forward Line is to conquer an overwhelming majority of the world’s cities. Specifically, the winner will control two times, plus one, of the number of cities their opponent controls after capturing an enemy city. Cities are very important as the game progresses, as they are not only the ultimate objective but they are also place where the instruments of conquest are created. The more cities one has, the more forces one can muster in a given amount of turns.
Game Setup
Before the game starts, the first player, or the host, gets to choose a map. The world consists of land tiles, forest tiles, city tiles and water tiles. Each map is procedurally generated, and has a dramatic effect on the type of game that can be played. Large continents will be more focused on land battles while small, scattered continents will favor a naval contest. Until you are satisfied that the game map has what you want, you can keep generating new ones until making a final decision.
After a map has been chosen, the next game phase is for each player to take turns choosing cities to join their side of the struggle. There are a number of cities in the world depending on map size, and each player must take turns choosing cities until the amount agreed upon for each player is reached. Things to keep in mind are to try to be the closest player to a neutral city, which don’t produce military units and are therefore undefended and waiting for someone to conquer them. Another thing to watch out for is to make sure you have some cities with propitious access to the ocean so you can build a well positioned navy. It is probably impossible to win without a navy.
Movement
Forward Line is a board game where military units are like pieces on a chess board. To move a unit, clicking or tapping on the unit will cause its move options to be highlighted in a lighter color. Selecting one of these tiles will cause the unit to move to that tile. If the highlighted tile has a red border, this is a dangerous tile that could be struck on the following turn. If the tile is highlighted all red, then this tile is suppressed and though you could normally move there, you can’t right now because it is deemed too dangerous.
Clicking or tapping on a tile that is not highlighted will cancel the move state and allow you to move something else instead.
Normally, every land unit can move one tile in any direction, while water units can move two tiles in any direction. There are certain rules that allow land units to move faster which will be discussed later in this manual.
Turn Progression
Each unit and each city on the map can make up to one move per game turn. Usually, you would move each unit to it’s desired place and, depending on what the situation is, you will decide what units to create at your cities. However, you can deploy a new unit from a city at any time during your turn. Once you have moved all the units you want to move and have deployed one unit from each city you control, you end your turn by pressing the ‘End Turn’ button in the lower right corner of the screen.
Unit Deployment
Units are created at cities. To create a unit, select a city to bring up the unit deployment menu. From this list, choose the unit type you want to deploy. You may then choose one of the highlighted tiles to move your new unit onto the board. If there are no valid tiles to move to, then the city cannot create that unit! It is possible, under some circumstances, that a city might not be able to produce any units at all.
Here is a very brief introduction of the ten units and their general roles. See the reference section below for more details:
- Tank; powerful attack unit, dangerous to approach on land.
- Infantry; versatile attack unit, hides in trees, can ride on airplanes.
- Artillery; long range strike unit, kills everything in its range.
- Airfield; Sends out aircraft to suppress movement and reconnoiter over a very long range.
- Supply Truck; hands down the most powerful unit in the game.
On the naval side we have:
- Destroyer; attack craft that can detect submarines.
- Submarine; attack craft that gives destroyers something to detect.
- Battleship; very long range strike craft that can out-muscle anything on land.
- Carrier; it’s an airfield that moves on water.
- Supply Tanker; carries heavier loads than supply trucks, but not as glamorous.
Hostilities
The different units have different actions they can take depending on their type. Hostile action comes in three types:
- Attacks
- Strikes
- Suppression
Attacks are when an attack unit moves onto the tile of an enemy unit, similar to an attack in chess. The units which can attack this way are tanks, infantry, destroyers and submarines.
Strikes are when a unit destroys an enemy without actually moving to the target tile, and can often be executed from long range. Units that can do this are artillery and battleship units, and under certain circumstances, airfields and carriers can strike as well.
Suppression occurs when certain units make nearby tiles so dangerous, that opposing units will refuse orders to enter them. For example, entering a tile with prowling aircraft and no protection would be suicidal, or a submarine entering a destroyers sonar range would be detected and sunk. Suppression means that its such a bad idea to move there that you can’t do it and nobody can legally make you do it. Units that can suppress tiles are airfields, carriers, tanks and destroyers.
Suppression
While attacks and strikes are fairly straightforward, the concept of suppression requires a deeper explanation. Suppression happens when a unit is free to focus on an area to such a degree that any target that would move there would be immediately destroyed. In order to advance into and operate in this area, the suppressing unit must be distracted by the intervention of an enemy of the same type. Units that cause suppression are airfields, carriers, tanks. Destroyers also cause suppression for submarines only.
For an example, if a tank were to move into an area where there are patrolling enemy aircraft, it would be immediately found and destroyed without any risk of loss to the aircraft. However, if the tank is under the umbrella of friendly aircraft also, the enemy aircraft can no longer merely focus on killing tanks but must also guard against allied fighter aircraft. This then allows the tank to operate as normal as far as it can be protected by friendly aircraft.
Conceptually, one can imagine that some of the tanks within the ‘unit’ are being attacked and destroyed, but not enough to change the situation on the field. Therefore the tank unit stays intact and is not removed from play for merely being in the presence of enemy aircraft.
Detecting Suppression
Sometimes, when one is impeded by suppression, it can be confusing to determine if suppression is coming from aircraft or something else. On the left side of the screen there are buttons that can show a visual aid of the various suppression types. These show the range and interaction of the three suppression zones, air, tank and destroyer. The artillery button is merely an indicator of artillery ranges, as artillery and battleships do not cause suppression.
Sudden Loss of Air Cover
When moving in areas where enemy aircraft are active, it is required to have friendly air cover, or else it would not have been possible to move there. Sometimes it happens that your air cover is destroyed or is forced to move away. In that case, any of your units that are under enemy air cover without friendly cover protecting them are now vulnerable to air strikes. Any enemy airfields and carriers can use their full range to strike and destroy any of your units in that lamentable predicament.
Same Tile Rule
An important detail in the rules of suppression is that no unit can cause suppression in the tile it is located on or would move to.
For example, an airfield that wishes to move into the range of an enemy airfield cannot use its own suppressive power to cancel the enemy suppression zone. An airfield provides air cover and protects other units in its range only, but not itself. In order to move there, it must have support from a second airfield or carrier in range of the destination.
For another example, an infantry unit can not approach an enemy tank on open ground because there is a one tile suppression zone around the tank. However, if the enemy tank moves adjacent to the infantry unit, it would then be vulnerable for attack on the next turn, because its suppression zone does not include its own location. If an infantry unit finds itself next to a lone enemy tank, it can attack it. To block such an attack, there would have to be a second enemy tank protecting the first by providing a suppression zone there that the first tank cannot provide.
Suppression Immunity in Special Cases
Some units are immune to suppression in special cases. Any time a unit is not visible, it cannot be suppressed. An infantry unit can not be seen in forest tiles and is immune to suppression there unless the tile is adjacent to an enemy infantry unit that would reveal the infantry.
Submarines are immune to any form of suppression except destroyer suppression, as that is the only thing that would reveal them while moving. Otherwise, they operate invisibly.
Tanks are immune to the suppression of other tanks, as they are made to have a good chance when facing off with one another.
Supply
Logistics are a crucial part of any military campaign. On their own, land units can only move to an adjacent tile. Moving across the map this way would take many turns, and reacting to events in distant conflict zones would be nearly impossible. Supply units can be connected together to provide a fast track for your other land units to move great distances.
The supply units in Forward Line are trucks and supply tankers. Land units can pass over these without cost, and if they are connected with other supply units those can be passed over as well in a single turn. In this way, a land unit can cross the whole map in a single turn if it is connected to a long line of supply units.
Trucks and supply tankers have some differences between them. Trucks must be lined up on adjacent tiles in order to form a supply line, but as they can also use the supply line, they can leapfrog over each other for rapid long distance direction changes. Tankers can send a unit up to two tiles, requiring half as many to form a line, but there must be a tanker adjacent to land on each end of the line, as the transition from water to land must happen on the coast.
Tankers also have the ability to bribe neutral port cities to your side!
Unit Reference
Attack Units
Attack units destroy enemy units by moving onto the same tile as an enemy, similar to an attack in chess.
Tank
- Can Attack
- Suppression Range = 1 tile
- Land Movement Range = 1 tile
- Can use supply network
Tanks are mobile fortresses that are not only immune to small arms fire, but also carry a large main gun for destroying hard targets and multiple machine guns with a lot of ammo. It is nearly impossible to safely approach a tank on open ground, and thus tanks have a one tile suppression zone around them that only opposing tanks can remove.
Special Abilities:
Immune to suppression from opposing tanks.
Infantry
- Can Attack
- Land Movement Range = 1 tile
- Can use supply network
Infantry are the most versatile unit in your armed forces. They can sneak around in forests without being seen, and can also reveal enemy infantry attempting to do the same. They can also be carried by airplanes and parachute in behind enemy lines to destroy targets from above. The drop zone must have appropriate air cover and be clear open land, not forest tiles or city tiles.
Special Abilities:
Invisible in forest tiles unless adjacent to enemy infantry. Any unit moving into a forest tile where infantry are hidden will be ambushed and destroyed.
Can perform an ‘air drop’. If the infantry unit can reach an airfield on its turn, it can use the airfield’s operational range for movement as long as the destination tile has air cover from another friendly airfield or carrier.
Destroyer
- Can Attack
- Suppression Range (Against submarines only) = 2 tiles
- Water Movement Range = 2 tiles
Destroyers are small, fast and agile warships with a main role of protecting a fleet from enemy submarines. However, they also carry torpedoes for use against larger ships if they can get close enough for an attack.
Special Abilities:
Destroyers can detect enemy submarines within their suppression range. Can ram and sink detected submarines.
Submarine
- Can attack
- Water Movement Range = 2 tiles
Submarines are boats with the capability of operating submerged to avoid detection. They are nearly invisible except at very close range, and they rely on this invisibility for both their effectiveness and also survival. They can turn a battle by deciding exactly when to attack, but they are extremely vulnerable once detected, as they can be rammed and sunk by any ship in that case.
If an enemy ship tries to move onto a tile with a hidden submarine, the submarine’s periscope will be spotted, ending the turn of the moving ship but making the submarine vulnerable to being rammed!
As they travel mostly underwater when enemies are near, they are immune to direct fire from artillery and battleships, as these weapons are not designed to penetrate the surface of the water.
Special Abilities:
Invisible until detected. Immune to direct fire from artillery and battleships. Can ram and sink detected submarines.
Strike Units
Strike units destroy enemy units from long range without having to move from their location.
Artillery
- Strike Range (direct fire) = 2 tiles
- Land Movement Range = 1 tile
- Can use supply network
Artillery are mobile, long range guns that can destroy anything that comes in range. They are small enough to quickly aim and engage multiple targets. Unlike other units, artillery does not use its move when destroying enemy units, but it must not have used its move in order to strike.
Special Abilities:
Artillery can attack multiple targets without cost if it has not moved on the current turn.
Battleship
- Strike Range (direct fire) = 3 tiles
- Water Movement Range = 2 tiles
Battleships are gigantic ships that carry very large, very long range guns. These guns are devastating but are very slow to aim and shoot. Battleships can use their turn to move or to strike once per turn. Because of their long range, Battleships can create big problems for enemies on land near the shore and, when protected from air strikes, cannot be countered effectively from any land based weapon.
Special Abilities:
Extra long range direct fire. Can ram and sink detected submarines.
Suppression Units
Air power has a long range suppressive effect on the battlefield that prevents enemy movement unless countered by enemy air power.
Airfield
- Suppression/Strike Range = 4 tiles
- Range of vision = 5 tiles
- Land Movement Range = 1 tile
- Can use supply network
An airfield represents a place that can send out airplanes for various abstracted missions. From their base, they can both prevent enemy movement in areas they control, and also provide air cover against suppression from enemy air power to cancel out that suppression, allowing your units to operate where enemy aircraft are present. An airfield can also load infantry onto airplanes can carry them up to four tiles away, however, while doing this they cannot provide escort to remove enemy air suppression. The escort must come from a nearby airfield or carrier over the drop zone.
If an airfield is suddenly lost, any units that depended on them for air cover will then be vulnerable to air strikes! Normally, units will not move under uncontested enemy air defense zones for the extreme danger of it, but if they find themselves there anyway, then the danger is quickly realized.
Special Abilities:
Can reveal the battlefield over a 5 tile radius. Can carry infantry on air drops.
Carrier
- Suppression/Strike Range = 4 tiles
- Range of vision = 5 tiles
- Water Movement Range = 2 tiles
Carriers act as Airfields in almost every way, except that they move on water and cannot carry infantry on air drop missions.
Special Abilities:
Can reveal the battlefield over a 5 tile radius. Can ram and sink detected submarines.
Supply Units
Supply units work together to facilitate movement for normally slow land units. They cannot usually damage the enemy directly, yet they are probably the most powerful unit on the field in terms of the options they give to central command.
Supply Truck
- Land Movement Range = 1 tile
- Can use supply network
It’s just a truck. How did it find itself in a war? It thinks about that a lot.
Special Abilities:
None
Supply Tanker
- Water Movement Range = 2 tiles
A civilian ship pressed into service to carry war materials. Tankers work much like trucks, but are much quicker and more efficient. It takes half as many tankers to send units over a water supply line than it takes trucks over a land supply line. However, since they can’t use the supply line for transport themselves, they cannot leapfrog over each other for rapid direction changes in the way that trucks can.
Supply tankers have the very important ability to deliver gifts to neutral cities to encourage them to join your side of the conflict!
Special Abilities:
Can send supply over two tiles. Can capture neutral cities. Can ram and sink detected submarines.
Tournament Mode
Playing against the AI in single player mode is good for learning Forward Line, but for a greater challenge, Forward Line now has a tournament system where players all over the world can compete against each other for bragging rights. Forward Line is best enjoyed with a human opponent, and it really becomes a totally different, emotional experience.
Signing up
To begin your military career in Forward Line, you will be asked to create an account to track your progress. You will need an email address and and choose a password. Then you will have to verify your email address before logging in to your profile screen for the first time. You wouldn’t want to create a battle history on an email addy you don’t control, so verifying is necessary. Just click the link in the email you get from Forward Line.
Create your profile
The first task you want to complete is decide how the rest of the Forward Line community sees you. You must choose a name, you can choose any name or rank you want, within the rules of decency. Inappropriate or offensive content created in Forward Line will be deleted and repeat offenses will be disciplined including a possible ban on the account. Please keep it clean and fun for everyone.
After choosing a name, you can also edit your appearance. There are many facial parts to choose from, and they can be changed in rotation and size giving you many options to create your own character. Most of them are quite goofy, but don’t spend a lot of time here! This is not a beauty contest! You will be measured by your success in war.
Medals
When I say you will be measured by your success, I am talking about medals. In Forward Line, wins and losses don’t matter, what matters are the medals on your chest. This is similar to real life, where for example, should you obtain a college degree, the education that you got is not what matters, it’s the piece of paper telling dummies that you are educated that matters.
A medal gains prestige when it is won in a tournament. Prestige gained is the amount of players in the tournament, with a small multiplier for larger sized maps. Medium and large maps yield 1.5 and 2 times the earned prestige to the medal. A players rank is the sum of all the prestige built on all of the medals that have been awarded to them.
Tournament Creation
Tournaments and the medals that are awarded to the winners are created by players. To create a tournament, go to the browse tournaments screen and press ‘create tournament’. You must then choose a medal to be awarded to the winner. This can be a new medal that you made, or you can choose to sacrifice one of the medals that you have won in the past. If you sacrifice a medal in this manner, and you happen to win the tournament, the medal will gain 3 times the normal prestige amount! If you are good enough to pull this off, you can greatly increase your ranking among your peers. However, if you lose the medal, it will be lost until the new recipient creates a new tournament with that medal. You should only choose medals to upgrade in this manner from those you are willing to lose!
Medal Creation
To create a medal from scratch, press the ‘Medal Shop’ button in the ‘Browse Tournaments’ screen. There are various buttons that you can experiment with. See the image below with a deeper explanation of the amulet editing screen.
The name for a medal must be in the ‘Medal Of’ format, and can be anything. Also the amulet creator can make just about any image, but again, similar to your player profile, please keep it decent and fun for everyone. Inappropriate content will result in discipline up to and including a ban on the offending account.
Ammo
There is a cost associated with running these tournaments, and for that reason we must charge a small amount of money for participation. This charge is represented by ‘Ammo’ as an in app purchase, and the exact price may change depending on our costs, but should always be very small. Creating a tournament costs three ammo, while joining a tournament costs one ammo. You will be prompted to buy ammo if the need arises.
Tournament Flow
A single user may join five tournaments at once. Before joining a tournament, be sure to check the map size. A tournament on a large map might take a month to complete, so be sure you really want to commit to such an adventure. Once a tournament is joined there is no backing out. You either win or lose. If you take no action the turn timer will run out and your opponent in the match will advance by default. In a tournament full of indolent slackers, the guy who shows up the most will get the medal.
A tournament can have anywhere from 2 to 32 players. The amount of players will determine the prestige gain of the assigned medal. A tournament will start when the creating player decides to start it with 2 or more players, or it will start automatically in around 3 or 4 days. Anyone can join a tournament. Higher ranked players will always get a favorable match-up with the lowest ranked opponents, and will always choose the game map and have the first move in a match.
Playing a Tournament Match
Tournament games have some special rules to keep in mind. When two players end up in the same unresolved bracket, a game will begin automatically. Both players will be notified when this happens through the notification system specific to the platform they are using.. If you do not get a notification, take care that you have notifications allowed for the Forward Line app. Lately platforms default to blocking notifications so make sure you don’t miss your turn.
Entering the game
There are two ways to enter a game. The ‘Play!’ button will take you to the game with the most urgent turn timer if there is an active game going on for you. If you want to enter a specific game, go to the ‘My Tournaments’ screen, select the tournament and click on your current bracket containing your latest match. That will bring you to the matchup screen and you can press ‘Enter Game’.
Progress in the game is saved automatically. You may enter and leave the Forward Line app at will. You can watch your opponent make his moves or not, it doesn’t matter. When your turn comes up you will get a notification, and you can then make your own moves.
The Turn Timer
In order to keep tournaments moving along, there is a time limit for players to take their turns.The timer is visible in the lower right corner of the screen, above the ‘End Turn’ button, along with the turn count and max turns allowed.
This timer is not designed to rush people, it’s just to ensure that eventually the game will end no matter what. At the start of every game, the turn timer is set to 24 hours. Players may take their turns at any time as long as there is time left. Nobody needs to wait to take their turn when it comes up.
When the timer ticks down to below 30 minutes, a player ending their turn will reset the turn timer to 30 minutes, so a player will always have a minimum of 30 minutes to take their turn after an opponent ends their turn.
Calling a Truce
Not everyone can drop what they are doing to play a game. Real life happens and even the most ardent gamer must make it a priority. Work and sleep are important, and a Forward Line game can last for multiple sessions over multiple days. Though the timer must tick, and the tournament must progress, when a player captures a city they may elect to call a unilateral truce that resets the turn timer to 24 hours. Use this feature if you need to go to work or to sleep.
When you capture a city, a little red truce phone will appear above the turn timer. Tap on that to give both players a 24 hour reprieve from the timer. You can keep playing, but you don’t have to play for at least 24 hours upon calling a truce.
If you control the game, then you are in control of the schedule. If your opponent is preventing you from capping a city in the near future, you might have to forfeit if it’s your bedtime. That will be your judgement call. Dreamreason Games does not condone making real life sacrifices for the sake of games. Go to bed.
Ending the game
The game can end in several ways. The first way is the normal way, when one player gains twice as many cities, plus one, as their opponent, after capturing an enemy city. (A game is not won by capping a neutral city.)
The second way is for the turn timer to run out. The player who’s turn it is when the timer runs out loses, not merely his turn, but the whole match. People are waiting, things have to move along. Do not let the turn timer run out on your turn unless you wish to forfeit the game.
The third way for a match to end is in a draw. If the turn count limit is reached and there is still no victor, then the match is a draw and both players are knocked out of the tournament! Their would be opponent in the next round will get a bye and win that match automatically. If a draw happens in the final round the medal will go back to it’s original owner, and the tournament will effectively be canceled.
The Finer Points of Strategy
Find local superiority
If Forward Line is about one thing more than any other, it is the importance of taking advantage of local superiority. Approaching enemy units at equal strength will never work, as the enemy can use his turn to attack your approaching units. You must find ways to bring higher numbers to bear so that your units will be the last one’s standing after an engagement. Act quickly! Local superiority is a temporary condition and must be acted upon immediately.
All territory is extremely important
While cities have the obvious benefit of adding to your military production, do not underestimate the importance of all the other map tiles. Controlling territory has many benefits. It tells you where your units are safe. It limits where an enemy attack can originate from, while giving you more options in this regard. It gives you room to store your supplies while taking it away from the enemy. Any engagement, even when units are lost, that leaves you in control of the land or sea is a victory and helpful to your cause.
Move units in the right order
Very often, you will have multiple targets on a given turn. Some of your units might have a choice of enemies to attack, while others will only have a single target. You want everyone who can attack to do so. To maximize your effectiveness, attack first with the units that have a single target, so that your other units don’t accidentally steal their lone opportunity. If that happens, some targets will necessarily be left standing to counterattack and bring unnecessary loss to you. Pay close attention to who can attack who, and arrange things to bring the highest attack volume.
Suppression and the rule of two
With units that use suppression to counter enemy suppression, it is generally best to ensure they are in teams of two in order to provide mutual support. Relying on a single source of suppression can be very risky, as no unit can provide suppression cover for themselves and can suffer mishaps as a result, leaving the rest of the force entirely without cover.
Lets examine the case of destroyers. Destroyers have a suppression zone to ward off submarines that extends for two tiles around the destroyer, but not on the destroyer. A lone destroyer would seem a good choice for submarine hunting but there’s a catch. If the destroyer happens to find a submarine within its range, the situation is that it has used its turn and, if there is no added support, the next move belongs to the submarine, who is now in range for a torpedo attack!
In the video above, a terrible chain reaction occurs due to inadequate destroyer protection. It looks like chaos to our team, but the enemy has created this chaos from a calculated order. We have a strong fleet moving in to wreak havoc upon the enemies shores. It has at least minimum protection in all areas and we can’t wait for the recently captured enemy city to start producing a navy, so we approach! Then…
- On the fleets very last move, our destroyer finds a submarine, but nobody is in position to deal with it!
- The submarine then attacks our lone destroyer, leaving the rest of our task force vulnerable to submarines.
- A second, invisible submarine attacks one of our carriers, leaving us with only one.
- The remaining carrier has no air support for itself and cannot repel the land based air strikes!
- With both carriers now lost, all three battleships are sitting ducks for the coming waves of enemy air power.
A disaster perhaps, but we were presented with a strategic choice. We could have prepared our fleet more robustly, but at the cost of allowing the enemy more time to prepare for our arrival. Having two destroyers might have won us the battle, but not necessarily if it meant that we had two more enemy battleships waiting to meet us. We gambled, and we lost this time. We will do it again, as war is full of such questions. One must use their judgment as to whether preparation is more advantageous than speed, as there are no assumptions to be safely made in this regard.