Combatintman

And you're posting this here ... or is there a part of this 'joke' that I'm not getting?

Yeah AI spotters are a mixed bag - light conditions, experience of the firing unit and of the spotter are all factors but I can generally get them to work in CMSF.

We're all mates on ANZAC day - the clue's in the name.

Thank you but remember I had nothing to do with the mod - I believe it is something that @M1A1TC created.

Just the one ... in all seriousness, thank you for your thoughts and yes I shall - it is always a day of mixed emotions.

About to be a long day for me too - ANZAC Day tomorrow - up for Dawn Service followed by the bar opening at 0630 - drink, march, drink, march (rinse and repeat). It is one of the reasons I wanted to kick this mission out of the door today.

There is the URL for the Mod and the download for the scenario is Op BARRAS in bold under it. All looks normal to me ...

Get the mission here ... http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/cm-shock-force-2/cm-shock-force/op-barras-a-coy-1-para-sierra-leone/

You've obviously read Parachute Regiment Rules of Engagement then: http://www.militaryforums.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8989#.WP1PMc-1vIU

Here are the orders and designer notes for the mission (there are no spoilers in the notes): Situation: Enemy Forces The West Side Boys (WSB) are a brutal armed faction in the Sierra Leone civil war, noted for mutilating captives, employing child soldiers and heavy drug and alcohol use. The group is loosely organized into five ‘battalions’ with Gberi Bana as their centre of gravity. The WSB group centred on Magbeni has been identified as the ‘Gulf Battalion’. Its exact strength is unknown but is likely to be company equivalent strength. It is known that the group have at least three technical vehicles and mortars of various calibres. Otherwise, the group is assessed to have access to small arms, light and heavy machine guns and RPGs. The group’s use of alcohol and drugs is likely to affect their ability to effectively employ their weapons but will also likely make them feel invulnerable to danger. Neighbouring elements are located in Gberi Bana to the North and Forodugu to the South. The SAS operation will fix elements in Gberi Bana, but reinforcement via Technical vehicles is possible from Forodugu. Assessed enemy locations and scheme of manoeuvre are annotated on the Operational Map. Situation: Friendly Forces On 25 August 2000, a R IRISH patrol was captured by the West Side Boys. The patrol members are now hostages in Gberi Bana 1600m North of the Rokel Creek. In response to the crisis, A Company 1 PARA deployed to a Forward Mounting Base in Hastings, Sierra Leone via Dakar. D Squadron, 22 SAS will concurrently execute a hostage recovery operation while A Company 1 PARA conducts a supporting operation to clear Magbeni in order to defeat WSB elements there and prevent them from interfering with the hostage recovery. A Company 1 PARA comprises its HQ, three platoons and an 81mm mortar detachment. Due to a lack of helicopter lift, the Company will deploy in two Chalks, Chalk 1, comprising Coy HQ and 1 Platoon will land first at 0600 hrs followed by Chalk 2 comprising 2 and 3 Platoons at 0615 hrs. Situation: Terrain and Weather The AO is 1968m x 640m and is bounded by the map area. It comprises a mix of jungle, villages connected by tracks and small areas of open ground. Ground generally slopes downwards to the Rokel Creek bordering the North of the AO with few significant changes in elevation. Key terrain is the village of Magbeni which sits astride the track network and overlooks open ground in the vicinity. Overall the ground favours the defender offering excellent cover and concealment relative to the attacker. It is 0600 hrs on 10 September 2000 and the weather is clear, hot with damp ground conditions and a gentle wind blowing from the West. Overall the climate is favorable to operations but temperatures and ground conditions will lead to fatigue. Mission: Overall Description Mission: A Company, 1 PARA is to clear Magbeni NLT 0830hrs in order to defeat the WSB ‘Gulf Battalion’. Tasks: 1. Clear Objective T (Touch 20 VPs). 2. Clear Objective U (Touch 20 VPs). 3. Clear Objective V (Touch 10 VPs). 4. Clear Objective W (Touch 10 VPs). 5. Clear Objective X (Touch 10 VPs). 6. Clear Objective Y (Touch 10 VPs). 7. Clear Objective Z (Touch 10 VPs). 8. Secure LS 1 (Occupy 30 VPs). Execution: Commander’s Intent My intent is to conduct a rapid assault employing the superior fitness and natural aggression of the British Paratrooper. Coordinated fire and manoeuvre will be key to success, while employing carefully targeted offensive support. My Main Effort is the break in to Magbeni village with the desired endstate being A Company 1 PARA firm at LS 1 at 95% Combat Effectiveness. Execution: Basic Plan Your choice commander but you should note that you lack support and breaching assets and your troops have limited quantities of ammunition. To that end you will likely have to accept some risk in your plan and restrict engagements to positively identified enemy locations. On the positive side, you have plenty of time to complete your task and can cease fire once you have cleared all of the objectives and secured LS 1. Designer’s notes For best immersion in this mission, I recommend that players download the British Army Temperate Climate Camo Mod which is available at the Battlefront Repository here: http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=478 This mission is a close replication of the actual events at Magbeni on 10 September 2000. The detail has been drawn from an account by Major Lowe, who commanded A Company 1 PARA on that day in the British Army’s Tropical Operations Manual. For design reasons, I have made some changes in order to enhance the gameplay and enjoyment factors. These changes being in moving some of the objectives centred on Magbeni to areas further East on the map and bumping up enemy numbers. In real life, A Company, 1 PARA was completely successful in clearing Magbeni as were D Squadron, 22 SAS at Gberi Bana and Operation BARRAS effectively removed the West Side Boys as an actor in the Sierra Leone conflict.

Thanks for your comments ... Reference capturing VLs - (eg 'Occupy' VLs) first point to make is that this is a patrol with the aim of disrupting the enemy and therefore capturing ground is inappropriate. Second point is that occupy VLs require a physical presence in order to get the points. The more areas you have to garrison, the fewer troops you have to clear subsequent objectives. Reference incentives to hunt the enemy down - The mission is constructed on the premise of clearing the target compounds not killing all of the enemy. My testing using different schemes of manoeuvre indicated that you can get a total victory by doing this. As you have not shown your scheme of manoeuvre or the points breakdown in your AAR, it is difficult to know what went wrong in your case. Also adding VLs as incentives tends to lead to dictating the scheme of manoeuvre to the player and indicates locations where the enemy is likely to be found. Given that finding the enemy is one of the greatest challenges in COIN, adding such objectives takes away the flavour of the Afghanistan conflict so my approach was dictated by those design philosophies. Reference the enemy attack on FOB ALMA - Yes I accept that it is easy to defeat and for reasons I am unable to fix - AI controlled UNCON technicals are quite frankly rubbish in CMSF. However, they do have an AI plan linked to a touch objective around the FOB that if touched will cause the player to suffer a defeat if the player has ignored the advice to keep troops in FOB ALMA and CP JUNDI. Reference IEDs - Again, you are correct in your observation that there are lots of them and again for reasons I am unable to fix - AI triggermen are generally rubbish because their first weapon of choice is the AK-47 rather than activating their IED. In testing, I have been able to get at least one to trigger per mission where Blue does not employ effective TTPs which is more than enough to cause a problem and will likely cause Blue to suffer sufficient casualties to deny them the friendly casualties VPs. Reference 80 enemy left but only 40 counted - This is at least the second time you have made this observation on one of my missions. My response is the same as the first time so please note it for future reference. This scenario has a group of (probably 40) UNCONs that are set to arrive at 3 hours (ie after mission end). The purpose of this group is to stop an AI triggered ceasefire before you get to clear all of the compounds and it is a standard scenario design trick to prevent such premature cease fires. Reference a relative quiet period - Again I can't comment as I don't know your scheme of manoeuvre but again the nature of the conflict in Afghanistan is such that you will spend hours patrolling interspersed with short sharp intensive battles - it is the nature of the beast I'm afraid.

Sigh ... http://community.battlefront.com/search/?type=all&q=Screen+Capture

Sorry - I forgot to shamelessly plug my planning tutorial in my last post ...

It also means that you don't have to lunch at Tacky Hell

Ultimately it is the right thing to do and as others have indicated there are positive benefits in campaigns for doing so because you will have more troops for subsequent missions. For scenarios the benefit in doing so will depend on how Victory Points are structured. If you open up your manual and plug in the word 'buddy' as a search term, you will find more information on the subject.

If you're not running Windows 10 (which according to threads I've seen here, I believe allows you to do screen captures) you need a third party screen capture program such as FRAPS for your screen grabs. If you search the forum using terms such as 'screenshots' or 'screen captures' you will find plenty of discussions about the subject.

Also understand that it takes practice - in real life, commanders don't immediately get let loose on a battalion. They go through training before they get let loose on a platoon (closely supervised by the platoon sergeant) before commanding a specialist platoon and doing more training/staff appointments before they command a company after which they will go through more training before commanding a battalion. I've been playing this game for years and have spent 32 years (and still going strong) in the Army and, while I can handle a battalion (in CM), it still takes a lot of careful planning and thought to pull it off well.

Post #12 of the soft launch thread for CMBS here ... Shows that separating TO&Es and campaign/scenario packs would not be a popular idea. I appreciate I am biased but I am not a paid up member of the 'I want new toys to play with club'. For me it is all about the thing as a whole (scenarios + campaigns + QBs + maps with associated terrain types). The other danger of just releasing TO&Es would be that people will start doing scenarios campaigns of famous actions that I would prefer to be done by the more experienced guys on the Beta team such as @JonS, @Pete Wenmanand @George MCbecause they would make a better job of it than a less experienced keen enthusiast.

Nope - I failed to make this clear in the briefing but once you have cleared all of the objective compounds you can cease fire.

Get cracking then fella - test is complete with one minor change to VPs required followed by briefings and graphics and however long it takes to get uploaded to the Scenario Depot.

Ask yourself this: a. How many people replay a campaign five times after they've completed it once? b. How many people are actually playing CMSF? (based on downloads of my stuff it is in the ballpark of 50-100). IMHO I wouldn't do any more than one AI plan for each scenario - most of my missions get released with one plan only and if people say they enjoyed it but it lacks replay value I am perfectly happy with that.

Ok so I've had a quick look at it. I have chunked it into three missions (black rectangles) with suggested CTS deployment zones (blue polygons) working on the assumption that you are doing this from left to right The main point to note is that there are terrain gaps between the mission areas which you can fill with narrative and get around the dangers of magically rebuilt buildings. If I am wrong and you're doing it right to left then I would adjust slightly but not too much.

I might have a look at the map again to see how I think you can solve this problem - PM or e-mail me if you like with what you've got so far and your concept.

Yes it could but in this instance the briefing didn't and it doesn't cover off on the eventuality that I could have levelled that structure in Mission 1 only to find it magically rebuilt in Mission 2. For that reason I maintain that reusing maps in campaigns is a bad idea.

As this sounds like you're doing a mini campaign I would chunk the map up into say ... four chunks/battles. I would strenuously advise that you avoid any attempt to model damage that you think will have happened in a previous mission. I remember playing a campaign that used the same map twice and on the second mission on that map I started at a position that was behind a building I had already captured in the first mission on that map. Needless to say it totally killed it for me and I didn't play the rest of it. You need to find a structure that suits a narrative explaining what happened in between your (for example four) battles which then gives you the flexibility to model the terrain and start states realistically. Because this is a city map with reasonably well defined blocks or areas, you should be able to chunk this up easily - a quick glance at the image of the map on page one of the thread suggests that three or four workable chunks/missions are possible. Can't help with the AI groups I'm afraid, but again - if your maps/missions are manageable chunks, you are likely to have less problems and as I always say with the AI - don't be too ambitious with it and remember that it just has to provide a challenge to the player rather than win the game.