Scenario Objectives and Time

[squish1962]

Hello all. Loving the game. I have/had every BF game they have ever made. I don't complain a lot but one thing has bothered me in almost every situation is the number of objectives and the time given to accomplish the mission are not realistic.

I served 25 years in the Infantry and I can tell you that a hasty Platoon attack against a rifle squad size enemy takes approx. an hour to plan and execute through to reconsolidation. That is if you want to preserve the health of your soldiers. Many of the scenarios have 2-3 objectives and you get hour and a half to finish. On top of that, the forces you are given are too few in number and do not come close to the 3:1 ratio a modern army desires when attacking. You need even more when clearing villages and towns.

An example would be the first mission in the Canadian Campaign. I have 3 compounds to clear as well as clear and hold the main objective. 1hr. 20min. is given for this task. I have a dismounted Company plus an engineer detachment. Along with arty and limited air support. I am not allowed to indiscriminately destroy/damage any buildings as per ROE. I am playing on the hardest level and in turn mode.

I am conducting my attack in the most realistic way based on my experience and training. Now, maybe things have changed (I retired in 2003) so my apologies if that is the case. After 40 min of actual mission time I am just now entering the north compound. I estimate it will take another 30min. to completely clear all the buildings. As you can see there is no way I am going to be successful in the time allotted. To this point I have lost 1 soldier.

House to house clearing is a tough and exhausting endeavour but you must clear them all unless you are 100% sure the threat has been completely eliminated. This is probably a 5-10 hour OP if not more and that is with an actual infantry Battalion. I only have a Company+.

You can probably accomplish these missions in the time allotted but not without taking unacceptable casualties IMHO.

Well that is my 2 cents. Thanks for reading.

 

 

[z1812]

Sometimes I also feel the time allotment is to short. In my case it is probably bad tactics.

You can open the scenario in the editor and change the length of time to what you would like.

[Combatintman]

The subject of mission length has been done to death on this forum; however, that in no way invalidates your observation. To save you hunting down those threads and reading pages and pages of discussion, these threads generally revolve around the following arguments:

• (1). Time pressures in missions are a design device to put pressure on the player.
• (2). This is generally to mitigate the technical overmatch of Red forces by Blue.
• (3). A realism discussion with one side of the argument being, 'in real life commanders have to achieve their missions in accordance with their mission statement'. The other side of the argument being, 'in RL, if a unit got delayed and would take massive casualties to achieve their objective on time, the commander would request more resources or more time'.
• (4). Some people like it.
• (5). Some people don't mind it.
• (6). Some people don't like it one bit.
• (7). Some people will have a go at scenario designers and scenario designers will defend themselves.
• (8) Somebody will request the addition of a simple to click button that will add time to a mission. The response will generally be:
  • (a). You can do this in the scenario editor.
  • (b). Adding extra time causes havoc with the scenario's AI plans.
  • (c) Unlikely to be high on Battlefront's priorities.

I do remember this mission from CMSF-1 and yes I thought the time available to complete the objectives was bloody optimistic. I think I managed to scrape a victory of sorts but had to take a couple of chances along the way and even then I don't think I grabbed all of the objectives. Anyway - great that you're enjoying the game and I'm sure you'll fight many interesting battles.

 

[Ch53dVet]

1 hour ago, squish1962 said:

I served 25 years in the Infantry and I can tell you that a hasty Platoon attack against a rifle squad size enemy takes approx. an hour to plan and execute through to reconsolidation. That is if you want to preserve the health of your soldiers. 

You left out the one important detail that always trumps the planning and timed execution to achieve the desired end result.

The first 1-5 minutes of the Operations kickoff requires a whole new set of planning, timed execution and less than desired end results.

wash, rinse, re-wash, re-rinse, buy new clothes!!!

[squish1962]

Thanks for replies. I am not trying to start a huge conversation on the subject really just writing down my own observations. For me the essence of any wargame is conducting battle procedure from receiving orders all the way to plan development. I spend some time on map recce and weighing the various courses open to me after considering many factors.

I enjoy this part very much; then stepping off the start line and seeing how my initial planning stays intact. Of course it rarely does; but, then the art of adjusting plans and expectations begins. Adaption to the ever changing battlefield is the biggest challenge a leader faces at all levels. It is this challenge that all of the Battlefront titles present and I am grateful for it.

Deas Gu Cath