CMSF2 Campaign : To Al-Hell and back - Operation ORPHEUS

[Lethaface]

15 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

As soon as I dismount I form my BMPs into Bronegruppa.....When the first counterattack came in they hit my scouts in the flank, but two survived long enough to warn the infantry just behind them who stopped and hit the attackers in their extreme left. 

At about the same time all twelve BMPs had come to a halt and purely by chance all of them had line of sight to the general vicinity of the attack.....TBH the TacAI started the shooting and, as the scouts were toast by then, I then I had all of them join in with area target, it truly was a sight to behold! 

Lost a BMP forcing the road junction up to the sawmills and my own mortars cost me a good few casualties too.....I told them to ceasefire, but in the final turn while rounds were still in the air, they seemed to go a bit mad, dropping rounds all over the place (might have been because I rolled the spotting unit's BMP forward, but AFAIK this shouldn't make a difference after FFE).

FWIW

SPOILER:

First time I played it casually in RealTtime , I used one platoon on point, another in overwatch and 1 reserve. Scouts got hammered, I reacted aggressively but got hammered quite hard along the bridge and road. Did manage to fight through the forest but couldn't advance on objective in time. Can't remember the score. Lost several BMP-2s and I think two platoons took heavy casualties, and scouts got hammered too. 
Second time I played a bit more serious and formed two BMP-2s groups: one mainly made out of support team BMP-2s, with as much HQs / teams inside as possible. Those did the maneuvring / 'dangerous' overwatch duty. Rest of BMP-2s stayed in platoon formation and were on suppressive fire for their platoon / extra overwatch, generally further back and advancing in bounds. Still heavy fighting but against methodical firepower of the BMP-2 company the insurgents got annihilated.

The bronegruppa-like tactics will be very helpful in the campaign. I like two divide them up into a couple of groups, based on tasks and load HQs/teams in there for the extra spotting. 

Some heavy fighting awaits!

Edited February 21, 2021 by Lethaface

[storm95]

Operation Orpheus not showing up in Campaign folder after extraction. Size of file after download is 822KB is this correct ? Thanks

[Erwin]

It may require modules(?)  Do you have them installed?

[37mm]

2 hours ago, storm95 said:

Operation Orpheus not showing up in Campaign folder after extraction. Size of file after download is 822KB is this correct ? Thanks

It's called "To Al-Hell and back" in my campaign folder.

It is indeed 822kb... it requires the Marines Module to play.

Edited February 21, 2021 by 37mm

[Bartimeus]

Hello ! 

i think Marines module is indeed needed(i do not know why exactly...). 

Also, in the description it said "BMP3" but it's only BMP2 in the game, sorry for that mistake. 

[The_MonkeyKing]

just finished the first battle. One of the best REDFOR scenarios I have played so far. Felt like a puzzle box playing this one, but not in any unfair way. 

Managed to get a pretty ok result. I read in this thread before the battle and realized I better bring my A-game. Pretty much everyone critical on ammo at the end. Lots of area fire.

[spoiler]:
Single most casualties were caused in the "V" shaped part of the dry river bed, A squad and a half got wiped from the enemies at the low wall between the field and the bushes.

My result:


end state [spoiler]:
https://i.imgur.com/J7cECPu.jpg

[Lethaface]

3 hours ago, The_MonkeyKing said:

just finished the first battle. One of the best REDFOR scenarios I have played so far. Felt like a puzzle box playing this one, but not in any unfair way. 

Managed to get a pretty ok result. I read in this thread before the battle and realized I better bring my A-game. Pretty much everyone critical on ammo at the end. Lots of area fire.

[spoiler]:
Single most casualties were caused in the "V" shaped part of the dry river bed, A squad and a half got wiped from the enemies at the low wall between the field and the bushes.

My result:


end state [spoiler]:
https://i.imgur.com/J7cECPu.jpg

Good result I think, and I agree that it's a great REDFOR scenario. The other ones in this campaign are of the same quality, @Bartimeus did quite a good job imo.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

That is a good result.....I was pounding away trying to get them to lose their bottle, but they held out to the last! 

I wonder how much 30mm HE-I ammo I got through.....gotta be two or three thousand rounds! 

[Bartimeus]

 

Hello hello, 

 

thanks for your comments all ! I'm happy you like it so far.

I tried to give different flavor to each mission(difference in term of scale, intensity and goal). Also, also the mission have 4 differents IA plan for replayability (and also because i wanted to train on IA planning). 

 

[Bartimeus]

 

hello all, 

 

For the one who play the campaign, I'm curious to know how thing are going for you, which mission did you reach and if someone finish the campaign ? Feedback are most welcome, it will help for the next campaign we are preparing(without too much spoiler for the one who didn't play it). 

Thank you all  

[The_MonkeyKing]

Second mission was fun, I lot easier than the last.

Half of the casualties came from TacAI pathfinding error (well, really my error of playing really too  loosely at the end) cost 1 BMP and 1 MMG squad inside.

[spoilers] here is are some screenshots of the battle two: https://imgur.com/a/S8iPgrF

[Bartimeus]

thanks for your reply. I intended to do a "easy going" mission for this one, but maybe should have spice it up ? Did you find it boring ? 

[The_MonkeyKing]

6 hours ago, Bartimeus said:

thanks for your reply. I intended to do a "easy going" mission for this one, but maybe should have spice it up ? Did you find it boring ? 

It was a good mission. Not boring at all. Lots of little different tactical buzzles.

[The_MonkeyKing]

6 hours ago, Bartimeus said:

thanks for your reply. I intended to do a "easy going" mission for this one, but maybe should have spice it up ? Did you find it boring ? 

It was a good mission. Not boring at all. Lots of little different tactical buzzles.

EDIT: Did you know if you press shift+enter multible times the forum sends multiple copies of the same message  Whoops!

Edited February 28, 2021 by The_MonkeyKing

[Bartimeus]

Thanks for the feedback  

The third mission is the "main" mission, with eurydice and so on. Please can you tell me when you finish how it went ? 

[The_MonkeyKing]

59 minutes ago, Bartimeus said:

Thanks for the feedback  

The third mission is the "main" mission, with eurydice and so on. Please can you tell me when you finish how it went ? 

I didn't document it but I had total victory at very high cost. 150 KIA/WIA and 16 BMPs dead. Scenario toke me 45min to finish. (yeah, speed and casualties are linked) Some how got the friend casualties bonus  maybe because the militia got to go back to their families.

Here is my plan and what actually happened: https://imgur.com/a/Tx3loVz Plan was to find the path with least resistance. (and ofcourse if possible wipe the whole map of enemies)

I deducted from the briefing that my force is expendable and the initial attack on the VIP was SO violent that the battle was conducted like a proper soviet attack mostly mounted. I didn't think the fort would hold for long. Counted that I had to be there before the blocking fire from the mortars runs out. So never saw my heavy arty or militia. And at the end I saw I would have had time. The beginning assault on the VIP was a short one.

Was fun and challenging. The situation with the VIP was little confusing, first huge assault and then mostly nothing. Maybe constant smaller pressure would have been better here? (I don't know, probably this was limited but the AI scripting tool)

I would not risk it at all with the VIP. Campaign over if he is killed.

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by The_MonkeyKing

[Bartimeus]

 

thank you for the feedback ! Glad you had fun ! 

For the victory point, it's still something i do not master at all  

for the VIP attack, it's exactly what you said and also that if he die it's game over. 

What let you think that your guard forces is expendable ?(i intended to suggest that militia is expendable ^^). 

Enjoy the rest end of the ride, mission 4 and 5    and let me know where it lead. All feedback are great so I can improve for futur campaign(we working on a new one with lethaface ^^)

[Bartimeus]

On 3/1/2021 at 9:27 PM, The_MonkeyKing said:

I didn't document it but I had total victory at very high cost. 150 KIA/WIA and 16 BMPs dead. Scenario toke me 45min to finish. (yeah, speed and casualties are linked) Some how got the friend casualties bonus  maybe because the militia got to go back to their families.

Here is my plan and what actually happened: https://imgur.com/a/Tx3loVz Plan was to find the path with least resistance. (and ofcourse if possible wipe the whole map of enemies)

I deducted from the briefing that my force is expendable and the initial attack on the VIP was SO violent that the battle was conducted like a proper soviet attack mostly mounted. I didn't think the fort would hold for long. Counted that I had to be there before the blocking fire from the mortars runs out. So never saw my heavy arty or militia. And at the end I saw I would have had time. The beginning assault on the VIP was a short one.

Was fun and challenging. The situation with the VIP was little confusing, first huge assault and then mostly nothing. Maybe constant smaller pressure would have been better here? (I don't know, probably this was limited but the AI scripting tool)

I would not risk it at all with the VIP. Campaign over if he is killed.

 

 

Hello hello ! 

 

Any chance you finished the campaign ? And if any other player did finish it, please share with me your impression  

 

Thanks ! 

[Erwin]

Have just started and am greatly enjoying Mission 1.  WIll give more feedback when further along in the campaign.  

[The_MonkeyKing]

5 hours ago, Bartimeus said:

Any chance you finished the campaign ? And if any other player did finish it, please share with me your impression  

I liked mission 4. Real slug fest, got pretty bloody. Defiantly did not feel fair but I think that was the point. (I guess if one gives up the town a lot of blood will be spared)

I am in the middle of the Mission 5. So far mission 5 seems to be the least interesting one for me. I am not sure why I don't really find this one interesting. Quite linear battle with only very limited options for the player. I think this is very noticeable when you contrast this mission with freedom of choices of the mission 3.

[Bartimeus]

18 hours ago, The_MonkeyKing said:

I liked mission 4. Real slug fest, got pretty bloody. Defiantly did not feel fair but I think that was the point. (I guess if one gives up the town a lot of blood will be spared)

I am in the middle of the Mission 5. So far mission 5 seems to be the least interesting one for me. I am not sure why I don't really find this one interesting. Quite linear battle with only very limited options for the player. I think this is very noticeable when you contrast this mission with freedom of choices of the mission 3.

 

Mission 4 is indeed unfair, but it's war  glad you like it. 

 

I understand for mission 5, Explorer who tested it informed me about it, i should have listen to him  I watned a straight forward assault but maybe it is too straight forward. i will avoid those kind of mission in the futur  thanks for your feedback, greatly appreciate 

[borg]

This type of mission / campaign is EXACTLY what I like. Thanks so much ! 

[Erwin]

Enjoying this campaign.  Just finished Mission 2.  Good situation and some neat surprises.  Despite the Briefing saying that vehicles are not replaced, they seem to be.  Infantry and ammo seem to be replaced around 90%.  Am alternating between this and the Heaven & Earth game missions and campaigns.  From what I can tell it seems that only has to put a "Z" in front of which mod set you want to use.  No need to have two installs.

[Erwin]

After enjoying Missions 1 and 2 and getting Total Victories, am finding Mission 3 to be very hard. 

It's a wonderful very large scenario that was stretching my machine.  Great map.  But, after only 18 minutes in it seems like I am going to lose most of my inf merely assaulting the blocking forces b4 even getting close to a check point objective.  The dense trees everywhere makes friendly fire a big problem.  If friendly inf are anywhere near the firing line for a BMP, you can bet on losing quite a few men.  Plus the Euradyce bodyguard have already lost at least 2/3 of the force after 18 mins.  Since the enemy has a tank am not sure how one can defend that position.  Every time a bodyguard unit opens fire on the attackers, either the tank or one of half a dozen or more snipers whittles down the bodyguards.  Am thinking that the designer expects one to use both mortars on HARASS to stop enemy entering the gates.

I looked at the successful "Plan" shown earlier and was surprised that it worked cos the briefing states that there are mines between the checkpoints.  To me that meant that one had to attack down the roads and had little freedom of movement.  If no mines, my alternative plan would be to go towards the left flank/map edge and attempt to attack objectives from that flank rather than head-on ploughing along the roads.  Felt like attacking through the WW2 Ardennes without the snow.

Thought that the player should have had some heavier arty than 2 mortars (since that is the Russian way) to demolish some of the blocking forces.  

I CF'd after 18 mins to get a minor loss, but found that a loss kicks one out of the campaign.  So, one has to keep going and hope... despite misgivings.

I get the impression that the missions of this campaign all feature massive enemy odds (ie: the player is attacking at 1:2 odds or worse) in order to make the missions "interesting" rather than smart AI unit strategies and tactics.

 

[Bartimeus]

On 4/13/2021 at 9:26 PM, Erwin said:

Enjoying this campaign.  Just finished Mission 2.  Good situation and some neat surprises.  Despite the Briefing saying that vehicles are not replaced, they seem to be.  Infantry and ammo seem to be replaced around 90%.  Am alternating between this and the Heaven & Earth game missions and campaigns.  From what I can tell it seems that only has to put a "Z" in front of which mod set you want to use.  No need to have two installs.

Mission 1 and 2 are different company, so no replacement. But normally, in mission 3 you have again the company from mission 1 and BMP should not be replace, I just checked the campaign scrip and it's 0% replacement for vehicles. Refit shoud be 50% and ammo 100%. I do not know what didn't work. 

13 hours ago, Erwin said:

After enjoying Missions 1 and 2 and getting Total Victories, am finding Mission 3 to be very hard. 

It's a wonderful very large scenario that was stretching my machine.  Great map.  But, after only 18 minutes in it seems like I am going to lose most of my inf merely assaulting the blocking forces b4 even getting close to a check point objective.  The dense trees everywhere makes friendly fire a big problem.  If friendly inf are anywhere near the firing line for a BMP, you can bet on losing quite a few men.  Plus the Euradyce bodyguard have already lost at least 2/3 of the force after 18 mins.  Since the enemy has a tank am not sure how one can defend that position.  Every time a bodyguard unit opens fire on the attackers, either the tank or one of half a dozen or more snipers whittles down the bodyguards.  Am thinking that the designer expects one to use both mortars on HARASS to stop enemy entering the gates.

I looked at the successful "Plan" shown earlier and was surprised that it worked cos the briefing states that there are mines between the checkpoints.  To me that meant that one had to attack down the roads and had little freedom of movement.  If no mines, my alternative plan would be to go towards the left flank/map edge and attempt to attack objectives from that flank rather than head-on ploughing along the roads.  Felt like attacking through the WW2 Ardennes without the snow.

Thought that the player should have had some heavier arty than 2 mortars (since that is the Russian way) to demolish some of the blocking forces.  

I CF'd after 18 mins to get a minor loss, but found that a loss kicks one out of the campaign.  So, one has to keep going and hope... despite misgivings.

I get the impression that the missions of this campaign all feature massive enemy odds (ie: the player is attacking at 1:2 odds or worse) in order to make the missions "interesting" rather than smart AI unit strategies and tactics.

 

For the attack on the palace, as long Eurydice do not died you are fine. Because i put different IA plan some can be harder than other. 

The mine are real, they are in the forest between checkpoint but you have gap, lucky you if you can pass through  (the western plateau do not have mine on it). 

For losing, any lose and you are out of the campaign yes. Did I let in briefing the information that it was otherwise ? If so, my bad. 

For your last point you are  right, it have IA plan tho(4 different one) but the problem it's that in term of IA planning we are very limited by the game : Only 16 different groups of IA, simple trigger(no "IF" or "ELSE", no "WAIT for X minutes " for exemple) so I find it very hard to plan interesting IA plan/tactics on large map. 

Thank you for those feedback, they are really appreciate and I will take it into account for my futur production, specially for MAP 3 and to progress on briefing writing  

 

PS : i'm looking for player-tester for our(Lethaface and me) new campaign project, if someone is interested please contact me ! 

Edited April 16, 2021 by Bartimeus