Combatintman

Ok folks - so I have been vaguely busy of late. No target date for this scenario yet but the map is done. Actual ground in Google Earth. The above as modelled in CMSF. This is based on a real action by B Company 1 PWRR which took place at the date and time stated.

Good to hear - if you come across any scenario design problems or want to bounce ideas off me feel free to ask.

I appreciate that this may sound a tad combative but FWIW a number of points: A Mosul mission on a Ramadi map wouldn't be a Mosul mission ... AFAIK only two people have released CMSF content (missions/campaigns) over the last 12 months myself and @dragonwynn I have no interest in doing a Mosul scenario. You could always click the 'scenario editor' button in CMSF and make one yourself rather than complain about the absence of Mosul scenarios.

I wouldn't get carried away with wish lists - as others have said - just porting current CMSF content to the new engine is a big enough job - consider this ... Rivers, bridges and fords and coding each individual vehicle attribute to enable them to either cross fords or bridges depending on their weight classification. Modular and standalone buildings. Railways. Additional flavour objects. Tweaking all of the squad type behaviours and attributes so that they can be split into anti-tank, scout etc teams and behave IAW the updated AI. How to implement fortifications - will they be changed or will the trench terrain type remain? However it is implemented, all of the existing content with that terrain type will require updating. Deciding whether to allow air defence platforms to engage aircraft/helos and then implementing it. Updating all six campaigns. Updating all existing bundled scenarios - and I would imagine that the figure here would be in the 80-100 ballpark. Updating all of the QB maps. Updating the graphics for all in-game models/units. The above isn't a full list and bolded items are what I think will be major jobs - I think people underestimate the amount of work and headaches involved with this particularly TO&E related tasks. Dream away by all means but I think we all need to manage expectations and be prepared to be happy (and I know I will be) if what is delivered is existing content to new engine standard.

Ok - understood - if you read the detail of the article it indicates that the jury was out regarding the numbers of such fighters. If I had a quid for every Afghan who had told me that the Taliban in their area were foreign fighters I would be a rich man. While they were certainly present, in my experience the reporting was pretty patchy. It is the same in Iraq - while the presence of foreign fighters there is beyond doubt, most of the people fighting under the ISIL banner are locals. Bottom line is that there is no real scenario here over and above a bog standard Afghan scenario which is better handled in CMSF because the Blue Force TO&Es are accurate for the period and the Red Force pick has UNCONs.

Gently asking - which battles in particular in northern Afghanistan. And before you get carried away - I am not asking in order to get references for a scenario. The answer to that question will probably frame the response. Of course you could always create your own content ...

Presumably you've looked here already? http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=select&id=2

Shameless self-promotion but here is my tutorial - it doesn't cover any new stuff like triggers but the basic mechanics of assigning AI groups and creating AI orders are there.

A belting vid - really professionally done.

@borg glad you enjoyed it. Some pickups from your post ... If you read the scenario design tutorial you will see the thinking behind various hard and soft factors for mission elements. The HUMINT source was given a rating of 'unfit' compared to a 'fit' rating for the handler. The vehicles in the scenario are BRDM-2s not BMPs. WRT British Forces and SAS - yes I'd love to but while I could just about bluff using USMC as SEALs I can't pull a similar trick off with the Brit SAS due to the different weaponry involved. However I am currently working on a 2km x 650m map of Magbeni to see if I can recreate 1 PARA's action there against the West Side Boys on 10 September 2000 which I can pull off tolerably using a temperate DPM uniform Mod which I've seen somewhere. I think the mission should be easily doable although time and distance factors may make it challenging. Here's the Wikipedia article to whet your appetite ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barras#Magbeni

Try this: http://picclick.co.uk/British-Army-Lee-Enfield-Khaki-Bandoliers-Original-Issue-201738868879.html

Use the 'Direct' tool to set all of the elevations in the vicinity of your ditch - so where your ditch is '19' in the image below - use 'Direct' to set that elevation and use 'Direct' to set the higher '20' elevations. 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 19 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 20

You need to buy the Picnic Pack mate ...

Good find, it would be the basis (with a lot of artistic licence) of a pretty good little Axis vs Allied AI scenario for any budding scenario designer out there.

So I have returned from what was an interesting and rewarding 5 month tour to Iraq, importantly I can now finally finish off this tutorial. This post covers off on what I regard this as one of the more pleasurable aspects of scenario design because, along with the associated briefing, it gives you the opportunity to express yourself, ‘sell’ the mission and add immersion. I find it quite sad that there are a lot of user designed missions out there that don’t have these graphics and I think one of the reasons, based on comments that I’ve seen on many threads is that people seem to be daunted by the process. As I am about to show you it is really simple. First off I’ll cover off on the basics as stated in the manual. In essence the game is configured to allow you to import four different image types. These are: Scenario Image. The manual describes this as your advertising pitch and this image will appear as the player scrolls down the scenario list looking for a battle to play. This (as with all images) needs to be saved in bitmap (.bmp) format. The image size for the Scenario Image is specified as 170 x 170 pixels. Strategic Map. As the name suggests this is designed to help the player start ‘dialling in’ to the scenario (for instance it could be a country map with a spot or a box showing where the mission takes place) however what you put here is entirely up to you. Again this needs to be a .bmp file and needs to be 224 x 224 pixels in size. Operational Map. As designed, this would be one step down from the Strategic Map as part of ‘dialling in’ the player but again it can be used for whatever purpose you wish so long as it is saved as a .bmp and is 702 x 224 pixels in size. Tactical Map. This map is designed to be a replication of the playing area but again you can use whatever imagery or maps that you like so long as it is 952 x 350 pixels and saved as a .bmp. So those are the basics regarding map types and their uses. However, as you will have guessed from the above, you can be pretty flexible with what you do here and, as you will see, I will not strictly follow the Strategic to Operational to Tactical flow. For me, the most important thing with your maps/graphics is to ensure that they support your Mission Orders narrative and help the player to understand the ‘Who, What, Where, When, Why and the How’ of the mission. It is only once I’ve got this clear in my mind that I will decide how I’m going to organise my graphics. Another key point is the relative sizes of the graphics and it should be fairly obvious to understand that any attempt to cram a lot of text or detail onto the Strategic Map (only 224 x 224 pixels) is likely to end in tears. Although this is only my point of view, I do think it is good practice where possible to ensure that your graphics summarise the mission and importantly the objectives/victory points. By doing so you give the player the opportunity to get a quick summary of what they need to do without picking through the briefing. I generally do this as a side panel in one of my mission graphics. Moving onto the mechanics now, generally you will need the following: Presentation software (eg MS-Powerpoint). A drawing program (eg MS-Paint). A means of screen capture. I’m told that it is possible to do PRT-SCRN in Windows 10 but if you don’t have it then you will likely need a third-party program such as FRAPS (the one I use). That pretty much is it. Going back to why I think some people put mission graphics into the ‘too hard basket’ is that they think they need some fancy image manipulation program such as Paintshop Pro and tend to back away. This is not the case because when I tried to use one of those programs I thought ‘too difficult, there has to be an easier way.’ My method I think is easy and works for me just fine and I’ve yet to have anybody come back at me and say ‘your mission graphics are rubbish.’ Anyway, let’s get on with the mechanics and, while I’m not going to illustrate all four graphic types, I will show the Scenario Image mechanics first because this sits in a different menu area to the ‘map’ graphics. So, remembering that the Scenario Image is a form of advertising for the mission designed to make the player want to play the mission, I need to use a suitable image to achieve that purpose. For me, the obvious selling point of this mission is that it deals with the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound and he is a notorious and recognisable figure. I think an image of Osama Bin Laden would therefore be a great Scenario Image. First off then, I just need to find an image of Osama Bin Laden so that is a simple internet search until I find one I want. I am going to use this image … As I am not going to add any annotations to this image, all I need to do is to copy it into my drawing program (MS-Paint), resize it and save it in bitmap format. It will get saved in the folder in CMSF that I created when I put the mission briefing together. So this is how it looks after pasting. As you can see I need to crop the white space so that only the image is shown as indicated in the following screen shot. Once I’ve done that I need to resize it to the desired size and as this is the Scenario Image, it needs to be 170 x 170 pixels. The following image shows you how to do this: With the image resized, all I need to do is to save in the correct format and in the right place. The next screen shot shows you how to do this. Note that I have called the file ‘Scenario Image’. In reality you can call it whatever you like but it is good practice to give it an appropriate name. The key point is that you need to save it as a 24-bit bitmap (.bmp) file. Now, because this is a Scenario Image, to physically import it into the scenario we need to go into the editor and go to the ‘Mission’ ‘Description’ screen. Once there, click ‘import’ as shown on the following image. Once you’ve done that, you will see your Scenario Image (or whatever you called it). All you need to do is to select it and it will preview. Once you’re done, save the scenario. The following image shows what this part of the process looks like. So that is it for the Scenario Image. The process for all of the other graphics (Strategic, Operational and Tactical Maps) is broadly similar. For this scenario, I have decided that my Strategic Map will be the map I found on Wikipedia which shows where in Pakistan the operation takes place. As I am not going to annotate that image this again is fairly simple. First off, all I need to do is to resize the image to the correct size (224 x 224 pixels) and save it as a 24-bit bitmap file. The mechanism is exactly the same as that I used for the Scenario Image. This time I have saved it under the file name ‘Strat Map’. The process for importing the three map type images in CMSF differs slightly from that of the Scenario Image because it takes place in the ‘Mission’ ‘Mission (Blue)’ menu rather than the ‘Description’ menu. Otherwise it is pretty simple, all you do is click on the ‘Strategic’ box and the ‘Import’ button. Once you’ve done this, you will get a menu similar to the one seen for the Scenario Image and it is a case of selecting the correct file and then saving the mission. This is illustrated below. In my method of graphics production I mentioned the use of presentation programs (such as MS-Powerpoint) and a third party screengrab program (such as FRAPS). I use these programs to generate more complex annotated graphics or graphics that employ in-game screen shots. In this instance I am not using FRAPS at all but if I were to use it all I would do would be to take my screenshot and then import it into (in my case) Powerpoint for further annotation. My preference for annotated graphics is to use military symbology where I can but any graphics are fine so long as they convey the information required. You will also see that I frequently use silhouettes of equipment or vehicles. There are plenty of resources out there so I would urge you to find things that are going to make your graphics look good and really add zip to your mission. They are not hard to find. Now I’m not going to give you a masterclass in Powerpoint so I’ll let you work that out for yourselves suffice to say that it (and other programs) allow you to draw arrows, create text boxes and many other things besides. The key point with annotations is to ensure that they are legible so use colours and font sizes that are big enough to be seen. So in the image below, you can see my basic annotated image that I’m going to use to create my Operational Map. All I’m going to do now is ‘select all’ on the slide and copy and paste into my drawing program (MS-Paint). Once I’ve done that, all I do is follow the steps described previously to resize the image to the correct size (702 x 224 pixels) and save it as a 24-bit bitmap, giving it the name ‘Op Map’. From there I follow similar steps to those for the Strategic Map apart from the fact that I select the ‘Operational Map’ button rather than the ‘Strategic Map’ button. Otherwise I import as before. Creating the Tactical Map is the same as the above, apart from the image size (952 x 350 pixels) and the fact that you click the ‘Tactical Map’ button. So, that is all there is to it – it is fiddly in places but not difficult at all and for this small amount of effort you end up with graphics which really add to your mission.

Yes - To Verdenne and Victory. It is one of my scenarios and is bundled with the game.

Guys - just a quick update - I am now back on planet internet but have a couple of RL things to sort still. Once I have done those, I will finish off this tutorial so expect the next installment in about a week to ten days.

Sorry it has taken a while to get back on this. The fresh enemy troops that you saw were indeed reinforcements and the objectives there are 'touch' objectives. This was one of my earlier scenarios where I hadn't learned that I could create off map reinforcements to stop an early surrender triggering so I thought that by having these guys arrive in this area, it would give the enemy a chance to pick off any stragglers but the main rationale was to prevent an early surrender. Had I known this trick at the time I made the scenario it would have looked a little different and, even though I added these guys I still think that the enemy surrender probably triggers a little too early. Anyway I am glad that the scenario at least kept your attention and thank you for downloading and playing it.

I wouldn't be too hard on them - they are the only people doing the fighting in Mosul right now, they did the hard yards in the Ramadi and Fallujah clearances and according to one of those gentlemen I talked to recently in answer to the question - 'why wear black and cut around in black vehicles - you will be easily identified', he replied 'we want them to know its us because they are scared of us'. So less of the armchair quarterbacking please unless you have first hand experience of them.

I am honoured that even I can teach a master map maker a thing or two - your maps are awesome already but if it helps then I am glad to have been of assistance.

As the designer of this scenario and someone who was in Helmand as part of the headquarters supporting the individuals depicted in the scenario and knowing the breakdown of how casualties were caused during that tour, I beg to differ. Insurgent mortar teams were very adept at setting up quickly, often at pre-registered baseplates and were eminently capable of bringing down accurate fire very quickly. However - realism is something that generally has to be compromised when making scenarios in order to create a challenge for the player - the number of insurgents in this and pretty much all of my scenarios is grossly exaggerated for the same reason.

Map overlays, bridges, water and yes ... target briefly are the things I am most looking forward to. I shudder to think at the missions I could crank out with the map overlay feature.

I feel your pain but appreciate your efforts to add content to the game - there are too few of us doing it sadly which was one of the reasons I kicked off my scenario design thread ... I'm not convinced it is achieving the desired effect though because some comments have been 'wow that is a lot of work'. However I will push on with it when I can (unfortunately RL is taking me pretty much off grid for a month or so).

I wrote the TO&E so I should know

With my closing comments about objectives and victory points you will have worked out that I am very pleased to be at this point. Although I think that this is a more enjoyable part of the process it goes without saying that some due diligence is required. I say this, not because it is key to how the scenario plays out or how CMSF works but because this is where you really convey your narrative and (albeit indirectly) interact with the player. The preliminaries to this step (from my point of view anyway) are: Narrative, narrative and narrative. A solid understanding of timings. A solid understanding of the AI plan(s). A solid understanding of objectives. A solid understanding of the geography. As you can see there is a lot in the mix if you stick to the points above and this is why I never even think about writing the details of the orders and the graphics until I have a solid grasp of them. If you have been following the steps up to now you will have worked out that I am fairly on top of these elements. Predictably there is a bit more to it. The bit more involves how you convey things to the player and I think this (in) famous quote from Donald Rumsfeld illustrates some of the considerations: ‘Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones’. Strange you might think but actually not so strange because remember as a mission designer: You know all the ‘known knowns’, the ‘known unknowns’ and the ‘unknown unknowns’. So the trick in your briefings is to decide which are which for the player and how you convey these elements. You also have to apply a degree of realism to how you convey that information in order to immerse the player in your scenario. Fortunately, Battlefront has provided a formatted orders template which loosely replicates the standard military orders format. Although it isn’t perfect, it does help you to structure your thoughts in a logical and comprehensible format. Before we delve into that, first of all it is time to do a little preparatory housekeeping and the reason for this is that you can only import graphics and briefings from within the CMSF file structure. By that I mean that if you save them in say your ‘My Documents’ folder, you will be unable to access them using the game interface. To get around this problem then, I create a named folder in my CMSF Game Files folder. Note this is done using your standard operating system interface (in my case Windows) and not via the CMSF game interface. This will be where the mission brief and the graphics will get saved so that I can import them into my scenario at the appropriate time. This screen shot shows what mine looks like and as you can see the mission is named Operation NEPTUNE SPEAR which was the actual name of the operation. The mechanics of getting the orders template are pretty simple from here and are illustrated in the following screen shot. In essence you crack open your scenario, go to ‘Mission’ and ‘Mission (Blue)’ screen, select the ‘Text’ icon and then hit ‘Export’. This then throws up a dialogue allowing you to save the orders template in your newly created (in this case Operation Neptune Spear) mission folder. If you are designing a mission to be played as H2H or by either side (not relevant in this case) then I would suggest differentiating between the two by giving them an appropriate name (ie ‘Blue Orders.txt’ and ‘Red Orders.txt’). The actual process of writing your orders is done outside CMSF and the hard way is to type them straight into the template because it is in .txt file format making it really difficult to read because of the lack of format. So the way I do it is to use my word processing program (in my case MS Word) to generate the orders. This allows me to read them easily, run spellcheck and once I am done I can then either save the standard word.docx file in .txt format or if this feature is not available in your word processing program, you can copy and paste into wordpad/notepad or any other program that allows you to save as .txt. First thing then is to open the exported file and copy and paste the template into word. The following screenshot shows you what it looks like as .txt file. Points to note are the mission headings and the ‘^’ characters. The mission headings are there to remind you what should be written in the paragraph but can be deleted in your final orders because the headings are hard coded into the game engine. However the ‘^’ characters act as paragraph breaks and should not be deleted. Now onto the meat of writing orders and like everybody, I have my own style of writing orders, some people don’t like it and that is fine because at the end of the day what you put in there is entirely up to you. However for what it is worth, I will give you my views on the subject as we go along. Apart from my earlier thoughts about preparation and how to convey various elements of the brief, my overall philosophy is to closely replicate the military format for orders and this is because it adds to the immersion. I want the player to think ‘hey, I’m a real life commander’. Luckily for me, I have served over 30 years in the Army and am still serving so this gives me a bit of an advantage. Otherwise, while I appreciate that not everybody wants to read walls of text, I always err on the side of detail to ensure that the player has all of the information they require to make a decent job of playing the mission. I do try to balance it as much as I can but I will never sacrifice required detail and my personal view is that if you can’t be bothered to read more than a page of orders then perhaps you should stick with QBs. Populating the headings is fairly simple because they are descriptive enough for you to work out what to put in them. Situation: Enemy Forces. Clearly this is where you write about the enemy. Where possible you should include a bit of background and then talk about the Who, What, Where, When, Why aspects of the enemy and give an assessment of what the enemy is likely to do. You should aim to support this briefing on one or more of your associated mission graphics (ie the Strategic, Operational and Tactical Map). Here is what it looks like … ‘The target is a suspect compound housing Osama Bin Laden. The area around the compound has been under constant surveillance for a number of weeks now and the intelligence picture is well-developed. There are 24 x armed occupants of the suspect compound. Osama Bin Laden has been identified in the compound and is assessed to be located in the three storey building along with 13 x members of his security detail. A further 12 x members of the security detail are located in groups of three in four of the single storey buildings. These are all annotated on the Enemy and Compound 3D Briefing Model on your Tactical Map. As the Pakistani authorities have not been informed of the attack, other armed actors, although not strictly enemy forces, are likely to react and engage friendly forces. Potentially the greatest threat will be any Quick Reaction Forces (QRF) from the Military Barracks to the NE and the Police HQ to the NW. Assessed strengths and schemes of maneuver for these elements are shown on the Operational Map. In addition imagery has identified three other possible threat locations all of which are marked as landmarks and are shown on the Operational Map. These are a Police Vehicle Check Point (VCP) on the road over river defile to the south of the AO, a guarded commercial premises to the NW of the AO and a guarded commercial premises to the SW of the AO. Numbers are as follows, Police VCP total of 14 x personnel of which 6 x personnel patrol the vicinity, NW premises total 13 x personnel of which 4 x personnel patrol the vicinity and SW premises total of 11 x personnel of which 4 x personnel patrol the vicinity. Finally, you should be aware that gun ownership in this part of Pakistan is high and you should assume that all homeowners will defend their properties. Constant surveillance of the compound has identified some unoccupied premises which are marked as landmarks, assume all others are occupied and defended.’ Situation: Friendly Forces. In this paragraph again you should try to include some background to set the scene and then focus on the ‘Who’ and ‘What’ aspects. ‘Friendly forces comprise of two main elements. The main element is SEAL Team 6 which numbers 26 x operators and is split between the two inserting Blackhawk helos. Blackhawk #1 carries the Assault Team HQ, 1 Squad A Team, 4 Squad A Team and 5 Squad A Team for a total of 13 x Pax. Blackhawk #2 carries 1 Squad B Team, 1 Squad C Team, 4 Squad B Team and 5 Squad B Team for a total of 15 x Pax. Blackhawk #1 will insert just to the West of the target compound while Blackhawk #2 will insert just NE of the target compound. The second friendly force element is an in-country CIA Agent and his HUMINT source. They will move to a safe house to the NW of the AO and are expected to arrive in the next 15 minutes. Due to collateral damage concerns, you have no air or other offensive support.’ Situation: Terrain and Weather. This paragraph is pretty much what it says on the tin – you describe the ground and weather. Don’t forget that the player can crack the map open so one of the ways to keep your briefing short is to leave out the obvious stuff that the player can work out from the map. When describing these aspects, the military focus on the EFFECT of the conditions rather than just describing them. So in this mission rather than saying that ‘there is a stream’ I would say something like, ‘There is a single road crossing of the stream towards the bottom of the AO which will canalise vehicle movement’. The military use a format called OCOKA to describe the ground: O – Observation and Fields of Fire. C – Cover and Concealment. O – Obstacles. K – Key or Decisive Terrain. A – Avenues of Approach. I don’t always follow OCOKA slavishly but just cherry pick the key elements as I see them for the mission. Any weather data you include should first of all be consistent with the settings that you have put into the ‘Data’ screen. Otherwise, just talk about aspects relevant to the player so if there is artillery in the scenario it will be useful to tell the player the wind strength and direction so that they can plan smoke missions accordingly. Likewise if it is going to be hot, you might talk about effects on heavily laden troops. Here is the example for the mission … ‘AO TORCH is on the outskirts of Abbottabad, Pakistan and measures 944m x 992m. It is a mix of flat urbanized and open terrain with an extensive road and track network. Urbanized terrain provides excellent cover and concealment and good observation and fields of fire from upper building storeys and roofs. The key terrain feature is the suspect compound housing Osama Bin Laden and his 24-strong security detail. This is a triangular compound measuring 152m x 88m and is bounded by high walls. It comprises 11 x buildings of which nine are single storey, one two storey and the main building three storeys. Outside of the AO, is a large Pakistani Army barracks approximately 2km to the NE and a Police HQ a similar distance to the NW. Both are within a 15 minute drive of AO TORCH and connected with good quality roads. There is a stream (represented by trenches) running generally E-W across the majority of the AO. This is crossed by roads/tracks at two points and canalise vehicle movement. It is 0100 hrs with clear skies and a gentle westerly wind. Temperatures are cool and the underlying terrain is damp. Overall terrain and weather conditions are favorable to friendly force operations.’ Mission: Overall Description. This should be a short pithy statement which tells the player what they need to do with a few associated tasks. I use the standard military format for this with the focus being the Who, What, Where, When and Why. The US military (which of course is relevant to this scenario) writes theirs in the present tense so, to add immersion, I will replicate this. ‘SEAL Team 6 (Who) attacks (What) the suspect compound at grid 43S CT 37992 82306 (Where) no later than 0200 hrs 02 May 2011 (When) in order to disrupt the Al Qaida network (Why).’ Crystal clear neat and simple don’t you think? Note that the ‘no later than’ time in the orders is aligned to the mission end timing. If you recall I set the mission time as 0100 hrs and this will be an hour long mission (ie it will end at 0200 hrs). Associated with that, you should list some tasks and these will be mission dependent but my rule of thumb goes back to making sure that the player knows what to do and I generally try to align these to the victory conditions. So for this mission it will look like this … ‘Tasks: Destroy the compound defenders (Destroy All 75 VPs). Protect the CIA Agent and HUMINT Source (Destroy 120 VPs for Red). Secure the HLZ (Occupy 150 VPs).’ It goes without saying that you need to make sure that the numbers are aligned to the VP values you have set and that you should add clarity to your mission and tasks by using your graphics to support the narrative. Execution: Commander’s Intent. This can be a bit tricky to get right because you need to balance out telling the player what to do with actually letting them tackle the mission how they want to. A doctrinal view on it is this … "The commander’s intent is a clear, concise statement of what the force must do and the conditions the force must establish with respect to the enemy, terrain, and civil considerations that represent the desired end state. The commander's intent succinctly describes what constitutes success for the operation. It includes the operation’s purpose and the conditions that define the end state. It links the mission, concept of operations, and tasks to subordinate units." I try to stick to the doctrine where relevant, but I also need to make sure that I put in some suitable game-specific hints. Here is what it looks like … ‘This will be a three phase operation. In Phase 1 SEAL Team 6 helo inserts onto the target and conducts a rapid violent assault killing all occupants. Phase 2 begins with the compound cleared, and is the RV with the CIA Agent and HUMINT source and extraction to the HLZ for pickup. Phase 3 is the clearance of the HLZ and the extraction via helo. Key to success will be to balance stealth with firepower and friendly forces should avoid combat unless absolutely necessary in Phases 2 and 3. The safe extraction of the CIA Agent and HUMINT source is key to the success of this mission. Endstate is, the compound cleared and all friendly force elements safely extracted.’ Note that I have left a lot up to the player here – as an example I have not told the player where to RV with the CIA team or told them how to organise the force or what routes to take. Strictly speaking some of the information above would sit in the next paragraph heading but I generally put most of the information that I need to get across before I get to the Basic Plan heading and I will explain why. Execution: Basic Plan. As you will have worked out from the above in real life this would cover some aspects I’ve already included. This is a style/design choice on my part as I want the player to work out their own plan. However, if relevant, I will include some final hints and tips here. Here’s what it looks like … ‘Your choice commander but you should consider the following factors to ensure success: You have only the ammunition that you carry so only engage in combat when absolutely necessary once you have cleared the compound. You can use your superior night vision capabilities relative to the enemy to achieve this combined with the use of covered arcs. Linked to this is steering clear of buildings and compounds as this may draw the attention and possibly return fire from local civilians who will likely defend their homes. The CIA Agent and HUMINT Source are lightly armed and are unlikely to be as physically prepared as your men so you should consider this in your scheme of maneuver. In the event of the Pakistani Army QRF reacting you will need a contingency plan to deal with it. Ideally you should avoid engaging it in combat but circumstances may force you to engage it at a time and place of your choosing.’ Finally, although not a formatted option in the CMSF template, I do like to tack on some designer’s notes at the end. Actual content is mission specific but I generally cover a brief history of the event (if relevant) and mention some of the design challenges or compromises if I have drifted from actual historical events. I may also suggest further reading for those interested. Remember that if your designer’s notes contain spoilers then make it clear to the player. ‘This mission is loosely based on the real World events surrounding the successful SEAL Team 6 strike on Osama Bin Laden’s Compound. The map and compound are derived from the real ground although some design choices have meant that I have had to go with close, but not actual, representations of the forces on both sides. Some of these design choices are based on what is achievable in the CMSF mission editor. Overall the numbers of the SEAL Team and compound defenders are close to reality. Because an exact representation of the events of that night would make for a very short and fairly uninteresting mission, I decided to explore the ‘what if’ scenario of a reaction by local security forces. Whilst not real, it was a possibility that was planned for as early as January 2011 and was reaffirmed at the National Security Council meeting on 19 April 2011 where President Obama directed VADM McRaven to ensure that the team was equipped to fight its way out if necessary. This mission is dedicated to the brave men of SEAL Team 6. I hope you enjoy playing it’. A little point to note are that, although I am British/Australian, I am using US spelling eg maneuver vs manoeuvre and you will recall that I have written mission statement in the US rather than the British style. These are these little ‘easy win’ touches that add polish and immersion to your mission. So that pretty much wraps up the orders part but not quite. What I need to do now is populate the template and then import it into the mission. First off then, I copy the template into word and then paste in my orders under the correct headings ensuring that I get rid of the headings as I go and I make sure that my paragraphs are delineated by the ‘^’ character. Once I’ve done that I save the file as a text (.txt) file into the folder I created in the first step calling it ‘Blue Orders.txt’. Once I’ve done that I go into the mission and import the orders as shown in this screenshot …. So that covers off on the briefing aspect – I will show you how to do Mission Graphics next although sadly I don’t know exactly when ‘next’ will be because RL is taking me pretty much off grid for a month or so. Please hang in there, when I come back up I will finish this off and be reassured we are nearly at the end of the road. For those that want to try mission making, I have already covered off on most of the key aspects.