L0ckAndL0ad
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Posts posted by L0ckAndL0ad
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Sitrep @ 9:09
2nd Platoon, its assigned AAVs and a Scout Snipers near Obj Morty:
Obj Morty & early signs of smoke screen:
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Sitrep @ 9:08
Mortar fire mission on the trenches was shorter than expected (~ 5 rounds total), but I don't have time to call in another one. I called in a smoke screen instead, and this time using FO, so ETA is just 2 minutes. 2nd Platoon and AAVs were called off the hill in preparation for the assault.
Another thing that I think about right now is that I feel pretty okay about this move. Yeah, 2nd Platoon is about to run ~250 meters over VERY exposed open grounds, but I'll provide TWO smoke screens (one by mortars, second by AAVs' smoke dispensers). At the same time, southern area of the map is the one with the least enemy resistance and friendly casualties so far.
Even if it'll go badly, there's no excuse for the 2nd Platoon to sit on their butts for so long doing absolutely nothing.
2nd Platoon assembles before rushing to Obj Morty:
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17 hours ago, contrails said:
Is it neccessary to occupy? Since 1st plt is depleted, I would just bypass and have them watch the objective... After all the enemy only has 3 exits from that compound
Well, the briefing is vague and does not explicitly says so, but yes, I have to clear it. Obj Vasquez is the place where the RPG-29 team was last seen (and operated effectively from there), and leaving it uncleared would make me quite vulnerable further down the road (quite literally, actually).
16 minutes ago, ncc1701e said:I am certainly not the best to answer this question. What do you have left in term of indirect support?
Uhm. 60mm mortar is currently busy firing, and would certainly be ineffective for any serious ehm.. urban redesign, if that's what you're asking. 1x AH-1 Cobra is currently getting in position to engage the largest building in Obj Vasquez compound, ETA 7 minutes IIRC. I hope it'll use the Hellfire missile and blow it up (I targeted the lowest floor), but no guarantees. I may have to call in additional strikes, but that's 99% wasting ammo. Might just use TOW humvees or what not.
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Yep, Drake & Vasquez are Colonial Marines from the Aliens. Rick & Morty are pretty obvious characters. But who can guess the last two? What are these here?
Sitrep @ 9:06
I came up with the spreadsheet to calculate and track headcounts. Somewhat late, but whatever.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ngebYsppFeg7-qoZhZVVLf_Z49xL7rsBsCtPEqTNiA0/edit?usp=sharing
1st Platoon is at 62% manpower. 2nd and 3rd are at 96%. Total headcount is at 84%. Vehicles are fine, minus just two heavy weapons humvees so far.
LAR's LAVs shift to Hill 55 BOF position:
Overview of the 1st Platoon's position and surroundings:
Obj Drake is pretty straightforward. Elements do consecutive moves on both sides of the road, covering each other. Outside help from LAV-25s and AAVs pours in 25mm, 40mm and M2 fire when needed, also providing flank security:
Getting onto Vasquez's 4th base would be hard. 1st Platoon's Assault team survivors (two Marines) still got some explosives, so going into the front door can be avoided. Can also get help from the 2nd Platoon for this. Anyone got any ideas?
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Thank you for your support, people! I really appreciate it!
Tactical situation & plans
Mkay, I'm gonna get a little creative here. Bonus points to people who can guess all the references. I came up with a couple of defined objective areas I need to clear to complete my mission.
1st Platoon is barely hanging in there. It's low on ammo and manpower. But there are two areas I need them to clear. Obj Drake is the rest of the village up until the Bridge 003, minus the separate badass walled compound where the RPG-29 guy is currently residing (that's Obj Vasquez).
2nd Platoon is in good shape, with only one squad being currently engaged in the trenches. As soon as mortar fire mission is over, I'll get the smoke screen up and let Marines rush to the nearest compound (Obj Morty). Getting to Obj Rick would be their next move.
3rd Platoon is still in Reserve and will be tasked with clearing Obj Phelps & Jones. The situation there is a complete mystery (hint hint) to me. Someone'd have to investigate the safest & quickest route for AAVs to use so I could drop the Marines off as close as possible (probably the main road aka Route Major).
Scout Snipers & LAR Platoon will keep scouting the flanks, southern and northern respectively.
That's it for now.
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Sitrep @ 9:03
Who gets more casualties? 1st Platoon gets more casualties. What a shock. Well, actually, RPG-29 team popped up on one of the buildings and made a big bada boom into my Marines' faces. RPG dude ran off fast, so there's little point shooting at that building. But I ordered some area fire and AH-1 Cobra strike on it anyway, just in case. There haven't been many of those so far, so why not.
RPG-29 hit:
RPG-29 location (duh):
2nd Platoon's AAVs were ordered back and high up the hills, to get better firing solutions.
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Sitrep @ 9:02
Oh boy. 1st Platoon was fired upon again, this time from the southern side of the Route Major. Two men down. Some Marines managed to react quickly and return fire, killing two enemy combatants.
At the same time, AAV fire from various angles isn't that effective in 2nd Platoon's vicinity, so one of the Scout Sniper teams that got eyes on the trenches is calling in mortars. Line, airburst. ETA 4 minutes.
1st Platoon's legendary "LUCK":
Marines return fire, killing two enemy combatants:
Scout Snipers call in mortars on enemy trenches where RPG team was spotted and (hopefully) pinned down.
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Sitrep 9:01
Have you ever read an AAR that's 1 hour + long? Well, now you have. It's 9:01 on game clocks. I hope it's not boring for my partner. I'm definitely not a true, violent & aggressive Marine.
Anyway. News from the front. I was going to stop 1st Platoon from clearing any further houses and resupply them. But one of the teams got fired upon while moving between the houses. Nobody was able to spot the shooter. General direction - NE. Further side of the first part of the village, northern side of the road.
2nd Platoon also received contact. Marines have spotted two men, an RPG team, one with RPG-7, another with an AK. It would be hard for any vehicle to target them in the trenches, but I ordered a few to try.
3rd Platoon is still in reserve, resting. Scout Snipers have reached the SE corner of the map, marked Hill 56. LAR Platoon's dismounts have found an abandoned AT-3 Sagger launcher, at its original location. Here go the screenies.
Scout Snipers on Hill 56.
RPG team near 2nd Platoon:
That AT-3 Sagger launcher that destroyed two humvees and lots of my Marines:
1st Platoon's Marines hug the sand after being fired upon. Hiding the boners from adrenaline rush? Nothing to be ashamed here, fellas!
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8 hours ago, IanL said:
Happy birthday! Ii see you have a nice new avatar for the occasion.
Yep!
11 minutes ago, Mord said:HAPPY BIRTHDAY, my man! Hope it is an excellent one!
Thank you, guys!
Sitrep @ 8:57
Ah, the sweet revenge! AAVs successfully suppressed the enemy, while the Marines stormed into the trench and killed him. He was alone, it seems. So I must have killed his partner already... Tough guys none the less, killed a few of my Marines already. GIF:
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Sitrep 8:55
There's another delay between the turns, so I'll deploy My Reserve scrEenshots (or "konservy") that I keep for just such an occasion to make you folks happy. It's my b-day
and a day off also, so I just chill, waiting for Life is Strange 2 to finish downloading.
1st Platoon is hurt, but not broken, and keeps clearing the houses:
2nd Platoon's Marines are about to enter the trenches where the enemy sniper is located (and supposedly suppressed by now two 50 cals):
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I used to have FRAPs for this, but I don't have it now. These days I use Steam. You can import any game into it, very easy. Then launch the game from the Steam (or create a new shortcut from inside the Steam) and Steam overlay will hook up and screenshot function will work inside the game.
One major note though! There's a hotkey conflict. I had to set Steam screenshots to F1 instead of the default one which is used in CM.
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Sitrep @ 8:54
2nd Platoon's forward element in the dried up creek @ SE got ambushed by some bad guy with an AK and a bunch of hand grenades sitting in the trench line. A frag grenade was thrown our way, and I ordered my boys to run, but one of them got KOed. AAVs on the nearby ridge were immediately ordered to open fire (one with 50 cal for suppression, another with 40mm to kill), while the other dismounted elements are to flank the enemy from the south.
The bad guy throws a grenade (might be a buddy of a sniper I've killed but haven't body yet):
One Marine gets seriously wounded, while other two manage to get out of dodge:
AAVs open fire from the ridge:
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Sitrep @ 8:51
Urrrgggghhhhh. 1st Platoon is getting pounded AGAIN. One more casualty. Nothing else to report.
AAVs overwatch 1st Platoon's position from Point 35/36 hill:
LAR Platoon's dismounted elements move further north:
Mortar fire on 1st Platoon's position GIF:
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Sitrep @ 8:48
So, after a short break, the game continues!
Everything is quite along the front. LAR Platoon slowly approaches last known ATGM position. 1st Platoon clears the nearby houses one by one. 2nd Platoon have entered the dried up creek @ SE.
2nd Platoon's elements do bounding overwatch:
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23 hours ago, sburke said:
Keep in mind the briefing is premised on playing the AI. Against a human I would toss the briefing other than noting your objectives. Your experience is already much different than mine playing the AI.
Yeah, of course.
6 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:Gave this a run against the AI.....Damn those Uncons have a lot of mortars!
Damn right you are, and human controlled mortars in this mission are even more frightening (humans are much better at pattern recognition, therefore better predict movement). My poor 1st Platoon is beaten up mostly due to mortar fire.
Sitrep
Our play slowed down a bit, so there's not much to report. Other than to say that I've spotted one of the enemy HQ units at SE part of the village (one of the compounds near my 2nd Platoon) and requested an airstrike on its position.
Also, I've got some screenies I haven't posted yet.
Scout Sniper team equipped with M40A3 & M16A4s trying to spot enemy sniper.
1st Platoon's AAVs fire on "a bad guy with an AK" last known position.
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7 hours ago, George MC said:
No need to worry about weird spawning enemy. Nothing like that in this scenario.
Oh, okay. Thank you!
3 hours ago, MOS:96B2P said:Cool, informative SitMap. The fight to the north (I think north is the top of the map in this screenshot) looks like it could be interesting and decisive.
Here's what I think.
Even though northern area is very open and suitable for mounted action, it can be also exploited by small infantry units (not to mention ATGM teams) for ambuses. I already lost 2 humvees with all their crews and two Marines from the 3rd Platoon there. I'll proceed forward with dismounted sections of the LAR Platoon, and if anything bad comes my way, I'll send LAV-25s & use 60mm mortars as QRF. Having AAVs from 1st and 2nd Platoons on overwatch at bases of fire on the south side will also help.
Southern and central (farthest) areas are VERY tricky, though. There's a whole trench system there. Staying with somebody above (current 2nd Plt position) on overwatch should make it easier, but still, it's the damn trenches.
The village itself should be somewhat easy to clear, given friendlies on both sides of Route Major.
Here's a piece I keep in my cheat sheet on MOUT on Google Drive (extracted from MCWP 3-35.3):
Phases of deliberate attack in MOUT:
- Reconnoiter the Objective; (CHECK!)
- Isolate the Objective; (almost CHECK!)
- Secure a Foothold; (CHECK!)
- Seizing the Objective. (will proceed to this one once ISOLATION phase is done)
All the movement in the north and in the south should be viewed as support effort. Main effort will involve clearing the village itself. I should emphasize on how different my approach here is. The briefing suggested sending one of the Infantry Platoons to the northern flank. I view such an idea as a mistake. LAR Platoon is more suited for this terrain. And I need some kind of Reserve. Therefore LAR Platoon is doing support action on the northern flank, while 3rd Platoon sits in Reserve, waiting to be committed at a given moment, at a given place. So far, it looks like I'll swap 1st Platoon with the 3rd. But the 1st is still very much combat effective. Will need some ammo resupply soon though.
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Sitrep @ 8:38
As of now, my Marines have found 13 enemies KIA, and positively BDA-ed 3 technical trucks destroyed (SPG-9, DShK, PK), plus several unarmed ones. Friendly casualties are creeping up on me slowly, but I don't want to count them now. 1st Platoon was hit the most so far, but it's holding strong and does its job by holding the foothold in the village.
Enemy sniper fire persists in the southern part of the AO, and I can't pinpoint where it's coming from. My own scout snipers are tasked with counter-sniping. Mortar fire continues after a brief pause.
Southern flank is almost secure. But I'm seriously concerned that the enemy might receive reinforcements, and they'll spawn right on my troops, say, somewhere between Hill 54 and Hill 56, down in the dried up creek. I had something similar happen to me few years back (stock USMC campaign).
I will not advance 1st Platoon forward much for now. I need to finish my flanking movement on the northern side of Route Major. Soon, I'll establish good bases of fire (see map for details) on both sides of the village, and _ONLY_ then I'll proceed with clearing it up. 3rd Platoon might have to come in and relieve the 1st.
2nd Plt's AAVs open up on DShK technical.
LAR's LAV-25s advance north and immediately engage some distant target (not hitting anything tho)
LAVs "test the waters" where ATGM previously struck two of our humvees, while dismounted element is scouting further north.
2nd Platoon reaches SE corner of the AO, does bounding overwatch movement. Possible enemy reinforcements might come through here, I think. If there'll be any.
My current situation and plans (disregard the timer)
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Sitrep @ 8:33
Company FO & off-map 60mm Mortars performed an outstanding fire mission. In just two minutes, they fired at exactly the spot needed, killing enemy MG gunner with airburst shells, and not touching friendlies just ~80 meters away (danger close). Bad news is, gunner's buddy took control of the MG and hit one of the Scout Sniper guys (a spotter, I think). My sniper avenged with M40A3 shot at close range. 2nd Platoon failed to get to him sooner.
Cobras keep working on some unseen targets further into the village. Enemy makes some small movements here and there but nothing is worth a note, except HQ movement from far NE to SE on a truck. Can't get to them with anything.
Resistance in the village itself is still light.
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Sitrep @ 8:28
I've gained a foothold in the SW part of the village. Only to get yet another mortar barrage on 1st Platoon's position.... I dunno, being indirect-fire inferior feels not right for the Marine Corps. But I already started working on lobbing 40mm & TOW missiles onto rooftops.
Scout Sniper section stumbled upon enemy MG. They were ordered to hunker down, throw smoke grenade and wait for the Company FO to call in our 60mm mortars. ETA 2 minutes, should be quick.
Some screenshots of the ongoing fighting:
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Sitrep @ 8:25
Both Cobras made strafing runs with guns, one each. Targets were unseen by me, but the locations more or less match to what I marked on the map for ATGM & sniper locations. 2nd Platoon & Scout Sniper section are clear to move forward.
1st Platoon keeps getting pounded by mortar fire with heavy casualties. I'm doing the best I can to gain a foothold in the built-up area. Opposition on the ground is light, on both sides of the road.
Briefing said I have to keep my force 80% combat effective. With so many casualties that I've received so far, I'm not sure I'll keep that 80% bar. Briefing also said that my ROE forbids me from shooting at buildings if there's no positive ID on the enemy there. But with mortar fire being so intensive, I'm thinking I need to start shooting at every 2+ storey building roof I can. To prevent possible spotters from targeting me so damn fast & precise. Civilians should not hang out on rooftops during combat anyway.
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Sitrep @ 8:23
Mortar barrages keep coming. Hill 40 near USMC starting position is next in line. But I got everyone out of there. Mostly.
My command of the 1st Platoon has been disastrous so far. 1st Plt got hit by heavy mortar fire in the open again. And by a TOW missile friendly fire once. My Marines were running from yet another mortar barrage into the village. Enemy opened fire from one (or several?) of the houses. I ordered TOW humvees up front to fire on the house. They had better angle of fire than other assets. One of the missiles fell short and KOed a Marine.
Dismounted element of the LAR Platoon slowly but surely moves up along the NW edge of the map. 2nd Platoon & Scout Sniper section wait for the Air Support mission to end before moving further east.
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Sitrep @ 8:20
Who likes pickup trucks? My Marines have spotted a DShK armed technical and an evil-men-with-AKs armed technical. Here's also a BDA on SPG-9 truck. In the mean time, 3x M249 SAW from 2nd Platoon opened up on enemy HQ. HQ drives away in fear. Run, boys, run!
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Sitrep @ 8:19
Ugh... Another mortar fire mission initiated by the enemy. A (spotting?) shell fell between the 1st and 3rd Platoons. How much does he have anyway? Way more than me, obviously. I guess I would've been able to minimize casualties from mortar fire if I got into the built-up area. But with IED threat, it's kind of a trade-off.
2nd Platoon have spotted an Uncon Fighter HQ guy with an AK, getting into the vehicle in the first part of the village. The distance is 600m+, but I ordered them to open fire anyway. M249 should do some effect.
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10 hours ago, sburke said:
For this to be a MOUT fight, you need to get to the "UT".
Word.
Sitrep @ 8:17
6 casualties in the 1st Platoon, 2 casualties in the 3rd Platoon. Damn sniper ambushed us AGAIN. At almost point blank range.
I hesitated using a costly Javelin missile against the SPG-9 armed technical. But having no other options to engage it with at this moment, I decided to go with the Jav and successfully blew it up.
2x AH-1 Cobras and 4x LAV-25 with LAR Platoon have arrived. Cobras are tasked with hunting for the ATGM team and the sniper who killed the TOW gunner. 2nd Platoon is held back to prevent Friendly Fire during the Air Support mission. Dismounted element of the LAR Platoon will go north. When 3rd Platoon will take care of its casualties, it'll be sent back to AAVs to stay in Reserve again. From now on, I want the LAR Platoon to take care of the northern flank.
Hasty AAR: Rahadnak Valley Search (USMC)
in Combat Mission Shock Force 1
Posted
Sitrep @ 9:10
Ugh... 1st Platoon again. One of the teams have thrown the smoke grenade the opposite way of where it was needed, and we're two more men short again. Oh boy.. (quite not the first time it happens to me in CM :\).