Help
Questions and answers
Panzerkeil is a turn-based hex wargame for iPhone and iPad. If your question isn't answered here, write to us.
Contact
Questions, bug reports and suggestions: levihopper+panzerkeil@gmail.com. Please include your device model, iOS version and, for a bug, the battle and turn where it happened.
Playing
How do I start a different campaign?
On the title screen, tap the campaign you want (Axis, Western Allies or Red Army), then New Campaign or Continue Campaign. Each campaign keeps its own save. Quick Battle lets you fight any of the 48 battles on its own.
What do the difficulty levels change?
Easy: the enemy fields four-fifths of its strength and makes more mistakes. Normal: the battles as written. Hard: every enemy unit is a grade more experienced, the enemy plays carefully, victories pay less prestige, and fog of war is on. The enemy commander's level also follows yours: about half on Easy, the same on Normal, ahead of you on Hard.
How do I see where a unit will go?
Select a unit, then touch a shaded hex: the route and what it costs appear while your finger is down. Lift to move there, or slide off the shaded ground to cancel. Before an attack, an arrow shows the target and the odds.
How does supply work, and what is a siege?
Supply runs six hexes across country from your own edge of the map, twelve along a road, and less off the roads in mud, snow and storms. Towns you hold pass it on while they are connected to your edge, and railheads (each battle's rail junctions) supply as far as your edge in any weather. Enemy units block supply, and so do the hexes next to them unless one of your units stands there; enemy aircraft slow it.
Surround a city or fort and its garrison is besieged. It lives on its stores first (three turns in an objective city or a fort, two in another city), then it is out of supply, loses its Dig Deep and 2 points of the place's defence every turn, and from the siege's third turn can no longer stay dug in. Break the ring and supply returns at once; opening a corridor into a pocket earns prestige, cheap refits and experience, and the Airlift tactic keeps a pocket supplied for a turn. Tap the supply button under the status bar to see all of it.
What are the Battle, Supply and Intel views?
The switch under the status bar changes what the map shows. Battle is the plain map. Supply shows where your army is supplied and can refit, your supply lines and railheads, and every pocket and siege. Intel shows the objectives and who holds them, where the enemy you know of could strike next turn, how far your army can see, enemies last seen under fog, what victory still needs, and the weather for the next three turns. From the Intel view you can buy intelligence with prestige, each piece once a turn: aerial reconnaissance, agent reports, a signals intercept, the enemy's supply, and a dossier on the enemy commander.
Can I buy units during a battle?
Yes, one a turn, from the Supply view: a quarter dearer than at headquarters, delivered Green to a town your supply reaches with no enemy beside it, at a railhead by your next turn, elsewhere a turn later. In a campaign it needs a free slot in your army and stays with it afterwards; in a single battle you can only make up your losses. The enemy can call up units too.
Is there fog of war?
Yes: you see only what your units can, and so does the enemy. It is chosen with the difficulty when a campaign or battle begins: always on for Hard, on to begin with for Normal, off to begin with for Easy. Battle Mode matches are always fought under fog; Scenario matches never are.
Can more than one person play on the same device?
Yes. Up to three commanders can share a device, each with their own career, campaigns, quick battles and stars. Change commander from the Commander page (the people button at the top). Settings, achievements and multiplayer belong to the device and its Game Center account.
Why did my veteran unit drop a grade?
Refitting with free recruits brings in new men, which lowers a unit's experience. Refitting with veterans costs prestige but keeps the grade. Headquarters warns you before recruits lower a grade.
Your commander
What are postings?
While the game is closed, your commander works, up to a day at a time. On the Commander page choose Study historical battles or Study troop weakness to unlock chapters of the Field Manual, or Train troops for experience and to drill one Green unit up to Trained.
What does the Field Manual do?
Each chapter explains part of the game in depth (suppression, sieges, weather, supply and how to beat each kind of unit) and adds advice on the battlefield, such as siege odds in the attack preview or the best answer to an enemy unit when you touch and hold it.
Can the game remind me?
Switch on Study reminders in Settings for a notification when a chapter is learned. You can also add the Panzerkeil widget to your Home Screen or Lock Screen to see your commander's progress.
Multiplayer
How do I play someone else?
Sign in to Game Center (Settings › Game Center), then tap Multiplayer on the title screen. Choose a battle and a side, then invite a friend or let Game Center find an opponent. Take your turn whenever you like; you get a notification when it's your move again, and your opponent's last turn replays on the map before you play.
How long do I have for a turn?
24 hours unless the player who started the match chose 12 hours or 3 days. A turn not taken in time passes to the other player. Swipe a match in the list to resign, remove a finished one, or ask for a rematch.
How do I leave a match?
Tap Back to Matches: it sits under the "Waiting for…" banner once your turn is sent, and in the ☰ menu at any time. Nothing is lost by leaving: a match lives on Game Center, and moves you have made in your turn are kept until you tap End Turn. The match list shows every match under Your turn, Their turn and Finished, and the Multiplayer button on the title screen shows how many are waiting for your move.
What does my friend see?
Game Center sends your friend the invitation when the turn first reaches them: straight away if their side moves first, otherwise once you end your first turn. The notification opens Panzerkeil (or its App Store page), where the match waits under Invitations to accept or decline.
Can we talk during a match?
Tap Chat to talk with your opponent at any time, during your turn or theirs; they get a notification, and set messages such as "Good luck!" are a tap away. Messages are filtered: touch and hold one to report it, or block the player from the chat's menu. Chat can be turned off in Settings. If your opponent has been quiet for a while, swipe the match and tap Nudge to send a reminder, at most once every 12 hours.
Where are my results?
Your record sits at the top of the match list: won and lost, win rate and current run. Tap it for your results against each opponent and every finished match. It is kept on your device and in iCloud, so it lasts after a match is removed. Wins also count on the Multiplayer Wins leaderboard in Game Center.
Is it fair?
Each commander brings the tactics they have chosen, but commander attribute bonuses and campaign medals are off, so experience buys choices, not stronger units. The historical battles are as unequal as history made them, so each is labelled Even, or Favoured against a Challenge, and the harder side pays extra Command Points. In Battle Mode both sides field the same points.
Saves and achievements
Where are my saves?
On your device and, if iCloud sync is on (Settings in the game), in your own iCloud account, so a campaign begun on your iPhone carries on on your iPad. The newest save wins. The game has no accounts of its own.
Where are the achievements?
Tap Awards on the title screen. If you are signed in to Game Center, achievements and the leaderboards also appear there (Leaderboards is on the title screen); anything earned while signed out is sent the next time you sign in.
Accessibility
The text is too small or too large.
Panzerkeil follows the text size set in Settings › Display & Brightness › Text Size, and honours Reduce Motion in Settings › Accessibility › Motion. Enemy counters carry a dark pennant, so friend and foe never differ by colour alone.