Information On How To Play JET

Information On How To Play JET

Below is a great tutorial written by Dean Moon and Erik Wade

If you have MS Word you can download this tutorial file: Download Tutorial File

Part I
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Opening a scenario for JET:

Ensure that you have both the .scn and .map (corresponding to the .scn) in the same folder on your hard drive

Double-click on the jet2.exe file (or some desktop or other short cut to it)

From the JET drop-down menus, click once on "File" (in the upper left-hand corner), and you will see a drop-down menu appear. Click once on "Open…", and you will see a smaller window open. The shorthand for this operation will be referred to hereafter as "File |Open…", meaning click once on File, then click once on Open…. The smaller window appears is known as the "Open scenario" dialog. You can use the Open scenario dialog to navigate to the folder where your
.scn and .map reside. This navigation is performed much the same as you would using the Windows Explorer to navigate to any other file on your system.

Now that you have located the folder, double click on the "WW, No East Africa, Graziani start.scn" file. You'll see a "JET" dialog that asks you to click on OK to confirm that a special ge.crt file is not present, and then another "JET" dialog that ask you to click on OK to confirm that JET will use the CRT that is built-in to the software itself. So all you have done is clicked on "OK" twice.

Part II
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Creating a new unit in JET, e.g. for a reinforcement:

First, scroll on the Graziani map over to the Libya-Egypt border.

Second, notice a couple of indicators that will tell you what "state" (as in a theoretical state-machine) the software is in:

* In the very top title bar for the window that JET is running in, there is "JET", then a dash, then the full pathname (location plus scenario filename), then another dash, then "Axis playing".

* In the upper left hand corner of the screen, notice two white boxes with black right, next to each other that tell you "Sep I 40" (the game turn) and "Axis Initial" (the side and phase).

There is a subtle difference between "Axis playing" and "Axis Initial". The latter says what phase the game is in. The former is telling you which player is currently using the software to move units
or perform other game activities. For example, the Axis player himself would first be using the file, making changes for reinforcements and other initial phase activities. But the Allied player is allowed to fly CAP air ops (among other things), so the Axis player sends the file to the Allied player and the Allied player clicks the "Change side" button (6th button from left, top of screen) and the "Axis playing" indicator at the top of the window title bar changes to "Allied playing". The Allied player conducts the CAP air op (air ops will be explained later), saves the change by pressing the "Save" button (2nd button from left, top of screen) and sends the file back to the Axis player. The Axis player has to click the Change side button again (file now reports "Axis playing" again in the window title bar). The whole time, the "Axis initial" indicator has remained.

Now let's create a new unit, pretend that the Axis side gets a reinforcement at hex 18A:5017 in the Axis Sep I 40 initial phase.

Move the mouse to that hex (see the hex indicator roll through the various hex numbers as you move your mouse) and left click once. A thick black hexagonal outline appears around that hex.

Now click on Units | New Unit… (same convention as before, this is one left-click on Units menu at top, then one left-click on New Unit… in the menu that appears). A Unit Properties dialog window will appear.
In the upper left, there are two lines, called fields, where you can select the new unit's type and nationality/contingency.

Single left-click each and then choose from the list that appears. (Alternatively, you may single left-click and just press "i", for Infantry.) Make the unit Infantry and Italian.

Follow similar procedure for the size on the right side.

Fill in the rest of this dialog box wherever you see white empty fields (blank boxes). Check the white empty check boxes under the "Attributes" and "Disruption" sections. Select the units initial
supply status in the "Supply status" section. (Note here, that these round empty white areas are called "radio buttons", and you can only select one of them. The square ones are called checkboxes, and none, some or all of them may be checked depending on the unit's
characteristics/situation.)

Try giving the unit and ID of "34", attack and defense strengths of 2, movement rating of 6, XX size, self-supported attribute, and In regular supply.

Then press the "OK" button at the bottom of the dialog box.

See on the map that the new unit has appeared there. On the left side of the screen, notice that the unit appears now in the hex's unit listing. Should say "34. Inf XX". The end of that line shows "0", which means that the unit has 0 MPs remaining for the turn. Single right click on that line in the unit listing. You'll see what is called a "right-click" menu appear that starts with the "Select All"
option and ends with the "Leave Overstack" option.

Left click once on "Edit Unit…" to review all the characteristics of the unit you just created. Notice that the unit appears to have 0 MPs, so change that to "6" in the "MP left" white box, and press OK.

Now the unit has 6 MPs as shown for its line in the unit listing on the left hand side of the screen.

You have just created your first unit, and it will be ready to move in the movement phase.

Part III
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Moving a unit in JET:

Some background information before we move units:

1) the rules settings of the game: with the .scn file open as in earlier tutorials, use the drop-down menus to Options | Rules… and left click once on it. This will open up a smaller window (dialog)
called the Rule Editor. Left-click on each of the icons on the left side of the window (e.g. Game Series, General, Movement, et. al.) and notice what happens to the rest of the window. With each category you are presented with the rules for that category, and the setting for each of those rules. E.g. for the Movement category, the rule "MP's needed to build temporary airfield" has the value "6". To change any rule, double-click on that line containing the rule, and a "JET rule" small window dialog will appear, allowing you to adjust the rule to whatever you want. Press OK to confirm the new setting, or cancel to leave the setting as before. I mentioned this one, because I believe the standard cost to build a temporary airfield is now 12 MPs? Let's change it to 12 anyway, for extra practice. (We can change it back to 6 at any later time.)

2) Advancing the "state" of the JET file to the next phase (or next sub-phase or naval movement step): we are done practicing with the initial phase (for now), so let's get into the movement phase. From the menus again, do Options | End Phase (it's the first item on the Options menu). And click Yes when asked to confirm that you really want to advance into the movement phase. At this point, you may be asked to click OK to a number of warnings about too many air units in certain hexes. I had to click through 8 or 10 of these. They are harmless for our purposes now, just annoying. Notice that the indicator white boxes in the upper left of the main JET window now show Sep I 40 (still) and Axis Movement. (That's new!) We're in the movement phase now.

Let's get to moving.

As last tutorial, scroll on the Graziani map over to the Libya-Egypt border.

Left click once on the Porto Bardiya hex. You'll see your unit listing on the left hand side as last time.

Left click once on the "10A. Cons III" box unit. It should now be highlighted light "reflective" blue. You have "selected" that unit.

Note what has happened on the main pane of the JET window. The area around where the Cons III can legally move this turn is visible regularly. But all other hexes (such as sea hexes), are "greyed out", a visual cue that "you can't move there so don't even focus your attention on those hexes".

There is more than one way to use JET to move a unit. I'll show you two ways. O'Connell may wish to show you another way, perhaps with keyboard shortcuts.

The first way to move a unit is to simply left click once on the destination hex. But before you click on a destination hex, let's experiment a bit. Without clicking, move your mouse cursor around in
the visible area where the selected Cons III can legally move this turn. Try out every hex just to see what JET is doing for you. You should see a little string of line segments fluttering back and forth, indicating for you the path that the unit would take were you to left click on the hex below the mouse cursor. Also notice that in one of the white indicator boxes in the upper left, you can read the exact map:hex ID for each hex as your mouse cursor passes over it.

Let's go to Halfaya Pass (hex 19A:0419). Move the mouse cursor over that hex. (You can confirm that using the white indicator box in the upper left.) Left click once.

You should see 10A. Cons III in 0419 now. Notice now how your visible area had been reduced due to spending some MPs to get to 0419. As before, you can still move your mouse around and experiment with the path that JET is proposing to take your unit to get to some other hex. But for now, let's leave that unit where it is.

Move your mouse cursor back to the unit listing (which should now have only one unit in it, because the think black hexagonal outline is around 0419 now, not Porto Bardiya as before). Left click once on the "10A. Cons III" blue box, and notice it go back to white. You have "unselected" that unit.

Move your mouse cursor around the map again, and no paths show up because you have no unit selected.

Let's move a different unit. Select the 1'23'M. Inf XX (CCNN) unit. Instead of using the JET paths, let's use the Unit Move Panel. You can open that panel, by pressing its button, located in the top row of buttons, to the right of the "STR" button. With the unit mover panel open, you can move your selected unit one hex at a time in any direction by pressing the button on the unit mover panel associated with that direction. Move it to Sidi Barrani. Unselect it when you are done moving it.

Let's move one more unit, using admin movement this time. Select the 61Sir. Inf XX in Tobruch. Notice that its regular movement range "greys out" right after Halfaya Pass. To invoke admin movement, left click once on a button called "ADM", located in the top row of buttons on the JET window, approximately below the "Misc" menu. Now you see the full admin movement range open up as visible for you! Left click once on Sidi Barrani and watch the unit admin move from Tobruch. On the left side, you'll see both 61Sir. Inf XX and 1'23'M. Inf XX (CCNN) there now. Be sure to unselect 61Sir. Inf XX.

One more movement phase lesson for this tutorial. Go back to Halfaya pass (left click once to select the hex), and left click once on the 10A. Cons III box, to select it. Let's try to build a temporary airfield. Press the "Build temporary airbase" button in the top row of buttons, located one button to the left of the shovel "Repair damaged stuff" button. We are now informed how many MPs it requires to build the temp airfield. We can see that we only have 3 MPs remaining. (Look just to the right of the 10A. Cons III in the unit listing for the Halfaya Pass hex.) This is where JET falls short, and we'll have to make due. Go to the Hex | Place Marker > menu. All you have to do is left click once on Hex, then move your mouse cursor down over Place Marker > without clicking on it. A "submenu" should then appear, and you can move your mouse cursor to the Status Marker… selection and left click once. The Status Marker Properties dialog window opens and you type "MP's left to build temp airfield" (or whatever you want) in the Caption field. Update the Points field to be "9" instead of "1" and click on OK. This is just a bookmark for us players, as JET completely ignores it. You'll also want to "spend" those 3 MPs. 10A. Cons III should still be selected. Left click three times on the "mp –" button located three buttons to the left of the "Build temporary airbase" button. You should see your MPs decrement to 0 as you do this.