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BlackMoria

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Everything posted by BlackMoria

  1. I rolled the FO over to the extreme left and got a visual on the village and the area between the village and the compound. I got both Apaches to 'hunt' this gap and they did a number of passes and were engaging stuff I couldn't see with rockets and guns. By the time I risked some vehicles to push up into visual observation, most of the enemy near the compound between the village were pretty worked over by the Apaches. Taking the compound as easy at that point. I had two groups move on the village. One group used the low ground and flanked to the far side of the village and up to the level of the village for a 'rear door entry'. The other group moved on the village from the direction of the compound, mainly with the purpose of having the enemy reveal themselves so that they could be engaged by airpower. The plan worked so well my casualties were only 2 WIA. The key to the my success is using the airpower to work over the enemy and soften them up for the pixeltruppen and you don't need eyes on the enemy to do that.
  2. A scenario in which the insurgents are using the forested areas as a refuge and blue forces are mounting a mission to encircle them and destroy them. Red's mission goal is to escape while preserving his forces. It would principally be a infantry battle. It has great potential to be played either side. But I haven't created any scenarios yet, so I don't know if the system can handle victory conditions of red forces escaping off map.
  3. I put the LandRovers over at the right side as I wanted them to make for the area between the two hills. If you setup on that side, the LandRover passengers get hit by sniper fire and the drivers start trying to reverse all over the place (usually into some more small arms fire) They are damn lucky villagers because the first six times I tried this, I would have between 2 to 3 Warriors getting smoked due to flank shots. Totally understand you are for authentic realistic ground so leave the ground as it is. Yes, it would be all I need. I understand you find Jackals useful during your own playtest and it is your scenario so you can do with them what you will. My personal experience during the scenario is the Jackals occupants take small arms hits and in short time, the crew is either incapacitated or bails the vehicle. In real life, for a operation like this, the Jackals would be screening the flanks and doing route recce because of their speed and manuever. That said, you can keep them in the setup - others will appreciate their utility even if I concerns about their use in this operation and their vulnerability. It a preference thing. While I may not have overall have liked the scenario because it is not my cup of tea as the brits say, I do appreciate the map and the effort into making a very interesting scenario which is quite different from the normal fare. It is a good scenario despite my grumbling.
  4. Ok, managed to complete the second scenario. I must of had a string of evil luck on the attempts before because I got nailed repeatly but this time around, I must have been charmed because the attack on the village went a whole lot smoother as most of the inital RPG shots missed. And area firing the crap out of any building which showed enemy helped. Once I seized the village and reinforced, the going through the rest of the scenario was relatively easy and it just a matter of working through the forest to the exit point. I stand by my original statement about the issues I have with the setup. The first five minutes will be swingy as it stands because of the points I raised in my proceeding post. One shouldn't resort to gamey tactics like massive vehicle smoke screens or area firing every building in sight to win through. Thoughts on the rest of the scenario. Not my cup of tea as I think there is insufficent infantry to push bush for 3/4 of the map. The only reason the going was easy for me was the syrian reinforcements walked piecemeal into my pixeltruppen rather than the other way around. If the syrians decided to lay in ambush rather in advance towards the village, it could have gotten real ugly for blue infantry and engineers as they took losses after contact after contact. That is NOT a slam of the scenario. The map is very good, the dread of walking the woods looking for the enemy and hoping you get to shoot first will have most people twitching in anticipation. I didn't like the scenario simply as a personal preference as I hate close quarters 'jungle' like warfare. But I can see that this battle will appeal to others. And you don't always get to pick the ground to fight on as a commander, so you deal with the cards you are dealt - sometime you have to take a walk in the woods, with bad guys with AKs seeming behind every tree.
  5. Second mission feedback. This mission is still in progress but I wanted to address some burning issues I have this one. Let's just say that my experience with this scenario so far is very different than souldierz. I found it frustrating and annoying and it all comes down to one point - the setup. Here are my issues with the setup. Blue starts with no arty or air to start. Blue starts 200 metres from the edge of a village filled with enemy fighters, RPGs, and snipers with NO COVER except their vehicles. No matter how I arranged the blue forces, within two minutes of the start of the mission, the blue light skinned vehicles have been shot up with casualties and are reversing meaninglessly to cover that doesn't exit. The IFVs have usually taken a few vehicles casualties at this point. And the Syrian artillery is starting to drop in the setup area. All the first two minutes and it doesn't get any better.... Try as I might, the outcome is the same -the only option that did work was to stampede the entire force into the gap between the two hills and then try to reorganize the mess to carry on. For the mission at hand, the blue force at start is simply inadequate for the task. Souldierz has stated he had to use vehicle smoke to advance into the village, that he had to wait for reinforcements and the fight for the village took the bulk of the game time. This tells me that blue is too light on the ground. Start up forces are 40% light skinned vehicles and there is only a infantry platoon, which is insufficent for the task at hand, which is, in essence, an assault! Sitting 200-300 metres from hostiles with RPGs without cover for your forces and waiting for sufficent reinforcements to clear out the village is not tactically sound and not fun from a game point of view. If the intention was to make a fun scenario, the objective was missed IMHO. The setup and the start of the mission frustrated me and despite trying about a dozen different game starts, I just can't make any headway into the village, can't effectively bypass the village without taking flank or rear RPGs shots and given the enemy reinforcement into the village and where the blue reinforcement come in, I can't ignore it and push on for the end point. I don't frustrate easy but I was frustrated and I am certain, others will be as well. Suggested fixes: Option 1: Keep the blue forces as is but give blue artillery and/or air support at the start. Option 2: Drop the Jackal recce and other light skinned vehicles and replace with two more platoons of infantry and their mounts, for a full company at start. The fight for the village is an assault mission and recce as no place in starting fight as currently configured except as flank security. Starting with the tanks on map instead of as reinforcements is also an option. Options 3: Give blue defensive terrain so the dying doesn't start seconds into the game. Part if not most of the blue startup area should have some cover or dead ground. Option 4: Some combination of the above. There are some good points. The map is fabulous and plenty of room for manuever and making options once you get clear of the village at the start point. I haven't been able to play it out to appreciate the AI plan since I am held up with the intial frustration of the game start and getting clear of the village. I will post more on scenario two when I can. The syrians in the village and I are going into round 13 and I hope I win through this time.
  6. Did the first mission and here are my observations: Briefing - needs a estimate of approximate enemy resistance expected and if there are minefields. In the buildup to the invasion kickoff, the S2 staffs will develop a fairly accurate picture of enemy defensive efforts at the border since they will have time for all sort of intelligence gathering. Since one of your victory conditions is seizing and holding the border crossing station, make that clear in the briefing or change the victory condition to 'touch' rather than 'occupy'. I blew through the border crossing and lost the points because at scenario end, I didn't have anyone at the border crossing, IIRC. Setup - Pretty tight and close for blue on startup but that is a reality of the map. At least allow blue to organize his forces in the start area rather than be the jumble of vehicles one can't move around, even if the start area is so constrained. I agree 100% with Paper Tiger. For the initial push into the enemies defences, support assets will be at priority call and topped up. That means blue should have arty assets available at the start. The border area will most likely be mined, so the IEDs are suboptimal. That is assuming of course if you have the Syrians 'making a stand' at the border or 'making a show of it'. From a scenario viewpoint, minefields will offset the fire support (arty) advantage of blue. Blue will have the firepower advantage but will be constrainted by limitations on manuever (at least until they push past the minefields). Red doesn't have the firepower advantage but can freely maneuver. I would suggest minefields over IEDs because it make sense unless the Syrian intend to put their main defensive zone beyond the border area. Minefields justify having engineer assets at startup or as early reinforcements. I concur with the assessment that there needs to be more teeth on the ground at startup. If the Syrians are defending the border, the teeth are going first since intelligence gathering will already establish where the Syrian defensive positions are. The recce assets will come into play after the breakthrough, when the situation is more chaotic and fluid. I would therefore suggest replacing the recce forces with infantry forces. The force ratio was quite reasonable, so the scenario was not a walkover for blue. The location of the AT assets will account for blue vehicle casualties if blue is not cautious (as it should be). I would allow for more time to cautious players. I found myself constantly checking the time remaining and gauging my progress but didn't feel the time pinch, but I know that some players are going to feel that pinch and be more reckless to finish in time. My two coppers worth.
  7. I'll be your huckleberry. I am trying to first scenario now. Do you want feedback via forum or private email?
  8. Also make sure that there isn't another tasks running on your machine like having other programs minimized, downloading or having your virus checker running a background virus scan.
  9. Hmmph. More a big screwup in defining the victory conditions rather than a big mystery, I suspect. I assume, of course, that the game engine does what is expected of it when it evaluates victory thresholds and conditions and if the outcome is not what is expected, then something about how the victory conditions are defined or aggregated is what is at issue. Based on what you said, it appears that victory of any sort is, indeed, impossible. I wonder why this was not caught in the playtest/Q&A process, unless it was the intent to 'predetermine' the outcome because of how the campaign 'branching' was designed.
  10. The scenario can't be won unless you take 0 (zero) casualties. Even 1 WIA will give the Syrians 2000 points and there is no way for blue to accumulate enough points. I lost with only 2 WIA in my best playthrough so I know the threshold is ANY casualty. As I pointed out earlier in the thread, the problem is an extra zero as I believe the intent was the Syrians were to get 200 points for casualties, not 2000. Hopefully, it will get fixed at some point. I prefer sooner rather than later.
  11. Very nice scenario. I was on pins and needles waiting for the shoe to drop, so to speak. The anticipation was nerve racking as one doesn't know where and when the assault will come.... I has sited my defences optimally based on where I figured the principal threat was coming from and made contigencies for enemy pushes from secondary approaches. I guessed right. Blue Total Victory My losses: 2 KIA, 7 WIA Enemy losses: 100 KIA, 51 WIA, 2 Vehicles. Question - are there multiple AI plans? I look forward to the second nightmare...
  12. Hmmm. Snake_eye, confirm that one should let the time run because I am 32 minutes into the scenario and I have done all the stuff in the briefing and the only encounters so far have been a car bomb, a technical and a spy caught wandering the road. I assume I am to wait it out to see if more stuff arises?
  13. Possibly. I am at the latest patch and it works for me. Confirm that you put the baked file in your scenario folder and not in the saved folder. It will not show up in the saved file listings if it is put there.
  14. Look into the new netbooks that use the Nvidia Ion, basically a GeForce 9400M graphic processor tied with a Atom processor and DDR3-1066 or DDR2-800 SDRAM. Better graphic capability than the standard netbook and I think it should run CMSF quite well.
  15. Seasons greetings to all my fellow CMSFers. May you be kissed under the mistletoe and not kissed by a TOW missile.
  16. Looks like you need to have a serious word with the S2 staff.... again.
  17. It is a interaction between video cards and Vista. Shock Force is not the only game affected. A lot of my stuff can't do a print screen. Vista comes with a snipping tool (it should be in your Accessories) that does work (at least for me) and is better than print screen because you can select the area you want to capture. Alternatively, you can use the free version of FRAPs to due screenshots.
  18. And I've been able to resume my Brit campaign without any issues (I patched midway through the campaign before I started the next scenario). I completed the Brit campaign last night and I have not had any problem with artillery or anything else for that matter. If it is a bug, it isn't universal. Perhaps someone else can try your campaign save to see if the artillery works. That will hopefully narrow down what the issue might be.
  19. Something odd is going on because I was able to resume my Brit campaign without any issue of any sort, so if it is a bug, it isn't universal. Just a thought - was an arty mission pending or being fired at the time of the save? Let me know how big your game save is and perhaps I can try it and see if it is something specific to your machine / configuration or something inherent in the scenario.
  20. I've been a FO for a number of years and stuff like that video happens even in training. Someone doesn't doublecheck the bearing or elevation or the charge bag or the safety officer doesn't doublecheck the plot. Having one that close is not an experience you forget. It is good that one can laugh about afterwards. I still joke about the time a infantry mortar base plate fired on the wrong target number and dropped 24 rounds of WP on my FO crew in our M113, though it was not so funny at the time.
  21. I suspect it is ROE issues. Despite being told ANA forces are not in the area, the gunner waited until he could visually identify that they were not a truck load of farmers or hostile action was directed at them. I suspect permission to engage is required on all targets unless ROEs are clearly met and can be clearly defended to the Afghan authority. Than means delays in determining if the bad guys are just that...bad guys and ideal opportunities are passed up. I also suspect that the bad guys that bailed on the truck probably didn't get too far after the video end as they were most likely trying to run the 4 minute mile dodging 30mm shells. It would be nice to break the eggs while they are in one basket, but sometime you have to break 'em one at a time.
  22. If you check the same site as the video in the original post, there is another video of Apaches doing engagement on 'technicals' (pickups with machine guns on back). During the zoom in, you can clearly see the truck and details on the people. During times of the video, they zoom out and it is apparent the technical is quite some distance out for the helicopter because it is just a dot on a hill and hard to see. 30X magnification can certainly give the illusion the helicopter is much closer than it really is. Once you out a few kilometers, the helicopter visually is not that noticable (especially if it is taking pains to not be seen) and helicopter noise is not readily apparent, especially if the helo keeps downwind from the target. The average Taliban fighter is not that familar with the capabilities of western high tech weapon systems that have a reach out 2-3 km as a norm and even longer range for some systems. Also with just how good western sensor/optical technology is. Also, every rotor you hear in the distance isn't a gunship stalking you. The average Afghani probably hears helicopters all the time when they do hear them and the majority of those are transport, supply and medivac missions.
  23. Thanks, Mark, for another fine scenario. Played this one throught twice last night. First go around, I opted for the reverse slope defence and placed the mines in areas in which the enemy will be slowed enough for me to bring artillery to bear. I spread my forces out with kill zones being both draws into the eastern most bowl. I restarted after the first few minutes as 6 out of 8 javelins missed :eek: their targets. Normally, I would let that result stand but since the deck is already stacked against blue and the Javelin is the main AT asset, I figured something weird must be going on and wanted to try it again. I got a better result on the Javelins this time. After expending all their missiles, the Javelin teams bugged out for the rally point. The Syrian armor hit the first mined chokepoint and I killed 3 vehicles as they slowed considerably going through the minefield. Arty claimed a few more as they approached the second minefield. Got a good mass of armor on the second minefield and all guns where brought to bear but by the time the shells started raining in, the armor passed through the minefield and were going for broke, so I didn't kill the number I would have liked. The squad(+) and the HQ element opened up with the AT-4s, killing several BMP and taking out T72. More vehicles streamed past, not seriously taking the time to engage my forces and went for map edge. Because I waited too long to have the southern most squad move to support the engaged northern defenders, by the time they arrived, most of the enemy armor had slipped past. I decided to cut my losses at this point, dropped arty smoke and withdrew to the rally point. I got a Minor Tactical Victory, only taking 4 KIA and 6 WIA. I destroyed 10 T72 and 6 BMP and inflicted over 100 personnel casualties (KIA, WIA, MIA). And the 2LT survived. I decided to play the scenario again, opting for the same defensive plan but tweaked my defensive layout better and decided to move the FOs a bit to try to cover the blind spots as I felt a fair amount of armor ended up in my back yard that I didn't see coming until they hit the second minefield. The plan worked better this time as I had more 'eyes on' with the FOs so the arty was more effective. Once I determined what route the enemy was taking, I repositioned my defenders to better concentrate my firepower (in the first game, one squad didn't fire a shot as they were too far away and in ground that made them ineffective in the battle and by the time I moved them to support, the enemy had pushed past me). This time, I got a Major Victory with only 2 KIA and 4 WIA. Again, the 2LT survived. The Syrian losses this time were 5 T72 and 14 BMP as I made a point of taking out the infantry carriers instead of tanks this time to maximize casualties. A good study of infantry defensive operations against an armor attack. I look forward to seeing how a forward defence will fair. Thanks, Mark.
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