Campaign 1st Mission: What's wrong with me? (SPOILERS)

[Holman]

OK, it's pretty embarrassing, but I can't get past the first mission of the TF Thunder campaign without taking unreasonable casualties. Since I'm probably the only loser in this position, I start this thread to invite your scorn. Also, any advice you can give is appreciated.

My usual plan (playing on Elite):

1) I mount the tanks on the berm, where they duly destroy any and all enemy tanks that appear. Then I have them target the MG bunkers.

2) After those threats are destroyed, I bring my Stryker MGS platoon around the berm for supporting fire on enemy trenches.

3) As the artillery assets show up, I use the FO and the Company CO to spot for artillery on trenches and on the large buildings in the compound.

4a) After much destruction, I move my Stryker ICVs up the various holes in the compound wall where I plan to dismount the infantry. Most of them blow up from RPG fire, and the whole operation goes on CNN as a huge clusterf*ck. Game over.

OR

4b) After much destruction, I move my Stryker ICVs towards the wall of the compound, but not too close. I dismount my infantry in the open for a run at the ruins. They get cut down in embarrassing numbers, and the whole operation goes on FOX as an editorial about how casualties really don't matter. Game over.

Some thoughts:

--My vehicles don't seem inclined to target visible infantry even when there are no enemy tanks in sight. Even with target arcs they don't provide much covering fire. Do I need to babysit every unit's targeting at all times?

--On elite, artillery takes 8 or 9 minutes to arrive even from the CO or FO. Is this really how long it takes US Arty to arrive?

--Likewise, calling "Cease Fire" on the arty is dicey at best. They seem to keep firing for quite some time before they get the message. I would assume that there are procedures in place to halt a fire mission in seconds. Not so?

--Does "Adjust Fire" do anything at all in CMSF?

[jomni]

I lost that battle as well.

[Cpl Steiner]

Martyr,

Its a tough battle in the final phase when you have to take the Barracks. I tend to just level the barracks with artillery before storming it. Remember that you can use "Linear" target patterns for artillery. I just pick a point on one side of the barracks and another on the other side, which you can do even from the berm, and then let rip using "heavy" for mission and "maximum" for duration. This gets around the problem of the buildings in front blocking Line of Sight to the objective buildings behind.

[thelmia]

Use javelins and artillery. Use linear target like Steiner said to level the barracks and clear the trenches. General ammo is good for buildings, Personnel for infantry in the open. Javelins can be used against buildings or units in the open. They aren't just for tanks.

Kill as many Syrians as possible.

I win that one with minimal casualties, usually by forcing a Syrian surrender. Then I don't even have to enter the buildings or put my infantry out in the open.

[CPL_STEELE]

hey dude,

well for my self first off i used the tanks and ICV's to blast the enemy positions on the left flank.

after this is dont i split my team in 2. group 1 who has 1 tank and most of the infantry move to the south wall of the barracks like you have been doing.

group 2 who has 3 tanks and a couple of ICV's blast the top of the close in barracks till it is rubble. javlins are great for this. and yes you have to babysit every units targeting.

i also put 2 MG teams out in the open about 400M's south of the barracks after it has been properly suppresed. these teams can support the assault and also engage targets on the right flank. dont forget your MG teams can engange and destroy light targets about 1200M's away, i mean your GPMG/M60 guys here not the M249 guys.

i put 3 tanks and 3 ICV's on the right flank to provide in depth fire support as my units moved up to storm the barracks. these guys can also target the incomming enemy on the right flank is well. they manage to kill anything that comes that way. my arty i only used on the right flank as it is great for cutting down exposed infantry. air burst for the win!

mean while my infantry are able to entre the barracks from the south set up on level 2 of the barracks as i only destroy the top level as that is where the enemy are.

i put a couple of squads on level 2 to do cover fire on the oppisite buildings and then bring in the ICV's to provide more cover fire on the buildings. i then send a few more squads over to assault the target buildings.

result major victory. 1 tank got mobility killed and i lost a few grunts. as no mater what you do you will lose some cos its war.

yes arty can take about 5-10 minutes to arrive, this is realistic as not all batterys are in position on the modern battle field, they normally do shoot and scoot so as to avoid counter battery fire. or they can be busy on targets for other units. as for cease fire orders that can still take time if your comms are not great. ive seen that take several minutes alone. and im on about real life not a game.

i justhope they get V1.03 patch out so they fix my ATGM's lol!!

hope this helps

[Falcon899]

You need to saturate that first barracks facility with as much fire as possible prior to sending your infantry through the breaches. I'd say a good 3 - 5 minutes of pure .50 cals, 40mms, and the main batteries of your Abrams should do the trick. The dismount is the most dangerous part of that entire battle and you might get unlucky, but I've done just fine fast moving my strykers in, having them pop smoke, then dismount the infantry and have them assault through the breaches. If you pin down the Syrians inside you should be able to get your infantry in with few problems.

Usually my only casualties in that battle are among infantry troops that get hit in close quarters fighting inside the buildings. I have taken some unlucky hits from RPGs or T-62s but it's uncommon, and has never happened to a Stryker loaded with infantry.

Well that's not true now that I think about it. On my first playthrough the Syrian armor reinforcements came around building unexpectedly and I didn't have M1s on overwatch or in the near vicinity, so I promptly lost a bunch of Strykers loaded with infantry to tank fire heh. Can you imagine the stink CNN made?

[Holman]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I finally won the first mission with only 2 KIA and no vehicles lost.

The key, I think, was destroying the top half of all of the small buildings in the compound. I had already gotten into the habit of leveling the two large barracks structures, but I had ignored the smaller buildings. Apparently they're where a lot of the bad guys hang out.

[antaresqc]

I lost this battle also the first few tries, finally won it the american way, profusely using artillery and long range javelin and abrams fire: 400 syrians killed, wonded or missing for 1 wounded on my side hehe

[Falcon899]

Ohh yea I forgot about that. Yea I always blow up the smaller buildings around the objectives also. Lots of nasty RPGs and machine guns in those.

[weasel75]

-- SPOILER --

As said before - artillery might help.

Use anti-personal rounds lined up over the most populated trenches, use the rest of the rounds for the buildings (lines again).

Javelines help vs. the bunkers and remaining buildings.

The Stryker MGS can be deployed vs. buildings too.

In the target-area it is safe to assume that there are enemies in *every* building.

Remaining ground-troops: keep firing from safe distance at any RPG-soldier until they are down. Then close in with the M1 and the 40mm-Stryker...

If done properly, you win without your troops even entering the compound.

... oh, and if you play it in RealTime, press ESC often

GL & Salute!

[Broken]

What Thelmia said.

There is no need to take ANY casualties in this mission. Put javelin teams and good arty spotters on the berm. The javelins will take out most of the Syrian armor. Use the 155 arty to sterilize the trenches: Linear, Medium, Short, Personel, Immediate, etc. Then move the Arty to the long buildings in the compound. Use General munitions.

Don't move your armor past the gap in the berm until the Javs have taken out most of the Syrian armor. Then use the M1s and 105 Strykers to take down small buildings, bunkers etc. The Syrians will surrender without your infantry and IFV Strykers ever coming out from safety of the berm.

No need to even get near the Syrian compound!

The second mission isn't quite so easy.

By the way, I haven't seen the 155mm missions take more than 5-6 minutes with the FO or platoon leader spotting. 81mm should be about 1 minute.

[Holman]

Originally posted by Broken:

By the way, I haven't seen the 155mm missions take more than 5-6 minutes with the FO or platoon leader spotting. 81mm should be about 1 minute.

On Elite the 155m take 8 or 9 minutes, depending on whether the FO or the Co HQ is doing the calling, and canceling fire can take a minute or two(!). This strikes me as a bit excessive. I understand that communications can sometimes go belly-up, but there's no indication that that's the case here. In fact I thought the point of having all those comms on the FSV was quick, immediate, real-time communication with the batteries.

[Broken]

Originally posted by Martyr:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Broken:

By the way, I haven't seen the 155mm missions take more than 5-6 minutes with the FO or platoon leader spotting. 81mm should be about 1 minute.

On Elite the 155m take 8 or 9 minutes, depending on whether the FO or the Co HQ is doing the calling, and canceling fire can take a minute or two(!). This strikes me as a bit excessive. I understand that communications can sometimes go belly-up, but there's no indication that that's the case here. In fact I thought the point of having all those comms on the FSV was quick, immediate, real-time communication with the batteries. </font>

[patrik pass]

martyr, its very easy battle. i win with one wounded soldier:

1)first deploy soldiers with javelins on berm. they can take out tanks and bunkers(bunkers will dont see them). rearm soldiers in strykers and put down buildings in outpost with javelins. call artilery on buildings(and if you want, on trenches). in trenches use antipersonel arty. let some some soldiers with javelins on berm. there will be some enemy tank reinforce in the middle of the mission and they will put them down with javelins. move with tanks(not with strykers) slowly on highway and step after step destroy bunkers/tanks and supress enemy in trenches around highway. you can put down some buildings with tank rounds. step by step move slowly tanks to the compound. strykers far after them -bec they dont have thick armor. wait till your bombardment of compaund stop and then slowly move tanks in. always move one/two tanks and the others let stationary - to support and spot enemy. there will still be some lucky at enemy alive inside. dont move with strykers in compound or dismount infantry till whole compound is clear of enemies. good luck! (and sorry for bad english)