ChrisND's indispensable US campaign mission 1 playthrough

[Bahger]

Chris, first I want to thank you for going to the trouble of doing this. I have been glued to the YouTube recording of your live stream for the last three hours. Definitely time well spent:

I have not played CM since SF and am extremely impressed by the huge enhancements evident from your playthrough, especially in AI. Being a little rusty, I would like to ask some questions inspired by this playthrough. Feel free either to address them, leave it to others or only address the ones that interest you the most.

- Your Apaches appeared to operate with some impunity. One SAM made it into the air but otherwise I did not observe much in the way of Russian AD deploying against the attack helo. Is this because light AD was specifically briefed or because the Apache's stand-off AI capability outmatches company-level Russian mobile air defences?

- I notice that you set movement paths for vehicles individually. I recall that you can group and sub-group vehicles in CM and set one path for such groups. Do you find individual pathing to be better, even for, say, the FO/JTAC vehicles that you deployed together in the last phase of the battle? Having asked this, it occurs to me that it would not have been tactically appropriate to move vehicles in formation so maybe the question answers itself.

- I had not seen the technique before that you used to get units to move without engaging. Instead of a "Hold Fire" command you drew a very small engagement radius envelope. How do you do this vs drawing a cone?

- I am delighted by the laser detection AI behavior. However, the M1s did not pop smoke every time, even when stationary. Why was this?

- When some of your infantry got chewed up in the open while assaulting the government complex on the left, you used a command I am unfamiliar with to medevac (abstractly) the wounded men and recover a Javelin. This process took several turns, during which the squad remained in the open (but not under fire). Is this a new mechanic since SF?

- The Russian force appeared to have no attack helicopter support. If it had, how would you have prepared for it (I saw no Blue AAA or MANPADs but may well be mistaken) and does the game model air-to-air confrontations between opposing attack helicopters?

- Finally, can I expect this scenario to play out the same way for me in terms of the Russian maneuver plan or does each campaign mission come with variable enemy AI deployment schemes?

Again, many thanks for the superbly educational playthrough and commentary.

[Baneman]

....

- I had not seen the technique before that you used to get units to move without engaging. Instead of a "Hold Fire" command you drew a very small engagement radius envelope. How do you do this vs drawing a cone?

...

 

The cone is created by selecting the Target Arc command and clicking on 2 points. If, instead, you select the Shift key and then the Target Arc command, you will get a circular Target Arc to wherever you click the mouse. Units will only engage what is within the arc ( unless seriously threatened and then their response will depend on their morale and skill level ie. Green troops are more likely to "disobey" than Veteran. Fanatic motivation troops will never disobey. )

 

- When some of your infantry got chewed up in the open while assaulting the government complex on the left, you used a command I am unfamiliar with to medevac (abstractly) the wounded men and recover a Javelin. This process took several turns, during which the squad remained in the open (but not under fire). Is this a new mechanic since SF?

 

Yes, the Buddy Aid feature first arrived with CMBN and all subsequent WWII titles. Essentially allows you to recover ammunition and squad level weapons ( possible chance that they're damaged ) from KIA/WIA's. The process will abort if the unit comes under fire (but can be restarted).

Edited January 15, 2015 by Baneman

[ChrisND]

Hi Bahger, glad you're enjoying it!

 

1. Being the first mission and rather easy, the Russians were given light AA capability in this mission. AA can be as light or heavy as the scenario designer desires for any given mission.

 

2. I prefer to set individual movement paths. It's just a habit and personal preference thing. You could also give group orders and then adjust each movement path by dragging waypoints if desired. I tend to only give group orders to vehicles and infantry when they are far away from the action, such as when I'm rushing reinforcements up. I also use them more if I'm playing in real time mode.

 

3. Hold Shift while drawing the cover arc and it will become a circle.

 

4. By the end of the battle some of the tanks had run out of smoke grenades. They may also not engage smoke if they currently aiming at the target or moving elsewhere.

 

5. If you let the infantry stay near dead or wounded guys, they will automatically begin first aid. When they're done the wounded guy will disappear from the battlefield and the aiding team will get their special weapon and ammo.

 

6. Position AA behind the main forces with clear lines of sight to the sky, but ideally in a spot where they can't be seen by enemy ground forces. Spread out vehicles and keep infantry away from vehicles. If possible, keep vehicles under trees or near building cover. Then cross your fingers and hope. There is no air-to-air combat in the game.

 

7. Many scenarios have alternate AI plans that will be chosen from randomly. However, the objectives, terrain, and force setup will always make some actions fairly predictable.

[Bahger]

Thanks! Russian artillery was pretty light, too, in addition to no Air and light AD but I must say, I would not necessarily have found the mission easy, being much less competent and experienced than you are. I would have approached it in much the same way, perhaps trying to hustle my infantry to the government complex earlier, but I would not have been as patient with my tanks or so fastidious about identifying all lines of sight before moving units. The enemy AI is so much better than when I last played CM (SF) that you are absolutely right when you say that the side which spots first while staying in cover gets a decisive advantage. I was very impressed by how long the Russian AI vehicles waited before breaking cover; there were no Hail Mary tank charges and if you had not kept your own armour playing peek-a-boo so effectively, you might have lost an M1 or two and that could have swung the battle the other way. I really like this terrain and all the opportunities it, and the LOS tool, provide for defilade and cover. I am quite convinced that you guys have modeled precisely how these battles would play out (short, brutal) where I never felt that way about SF, certainly not for the first six months post-release, because the AI and vehicle pathing was not equal to the OPTEMPO. Now I firmly believe it is, having seen your playthrough.

[Nerdwing]

Those were also AH-64E variants as well, the newest one.  They could very reasonably just linger outside the MANPADS range and strike armor with Hellfires.

 

In fact I THINK they can do that versus the Tunguska as well on paper?  Pantsir S1 would remove that advantage though.

 

Given they are doing CAS though, I assume all aircraft have to be a little bit more cautious with the ROE than just "Hey Ive got a lock, eat an ATGM LOL!"  as I often am in DCS, for instance

Edited January 15, 2015 by Nerdwing

[Bahger]

Does local terrain influence hit probability on assault helos by allowing for NOE/terrain masking or is that beyond the remit?

[Codename Duchess]

Hell, a D or E model Apache can fire hellfires from behind a hill unmasking only the radar. Going to assume that's not implemented, but stands to reason that a Tank is a very bad thing to be near when modern attack helicopters are around.

[Andreas3]

Wait, how does one give group commands? I never knew that was even possible! Im always giving individual commands, but this feature might save me time! 

[domfluff]

You can click and drag to select multiple units, or if you double click on a unit, you'll select all of that unit's immediate structure (i.e., clicking on one squad will select the platoon, or the battalion commander would select probably-everything on the battlefield.)

Edited January 16, 2015 by domfluff

[womble]

You can click and drag to select multiple units...

That's "shift-click and drag"; just click and holding will displace the camera.

[A Canadian Cat]

You can also <shift>Click on unit icon at a time to build up your selection.

Once you have a group of units selected (any of the above ways) click again on the one you want to base the group orders on. I usually pick someone near the "front" and in the centre or one of the edges (that way you can keep the whole group in the tress for example). Now select a movement order and click a way point on the map. Every other unit in your selected group will get a way point too roughly keeping their existing formation. You can back space to delete the last way point you selected. After you are done it is often worth looking at a few units separately to be sure you are happy.

Oh and for this I highly recommend turning on "show all movement paths" <alt>P if I remember correctly.

[Andreas3]

Thank you very much! This is a great feature, a real time saver, Im very new to this game system and I was really missing something like this 

Edited January 16, 2015 by Andreas3