WIP - New mini campaign 'Perdition'

[Paper Tiger]

I might as well give you guys the heads up that I'm in the final stages of playtesting a new mini Red on Red campaign. It has only three missions but they're each two hours long with extra time added on. So far, both me and my playtester are finding them VERY difficult. I can't speak for my playtester but I'm enjoying playing them and I really like the difficulty of these missions. I suspect some of you will require several playthroughs before you have any chance of a victory in the third and final mission.

I was going to wait until the Marines module came out before posting this in case there are some really cool new features that would really enhance this campaign, for example, AI ablility to use artillery throughout the mission, and AI triggers in particular. However, if something along those lines is introduced, I can revise the campaign and post a new version.

Because I'm at work, I don't have any screenshots to post yet but I'll almost certainly post a few later .

As for completion, I expect to playtest the hell out of this mission at the weekend and hopefully itr should get posted sometime later next week.

[Paper Tiger]

Well, I guess some of you folks are viewing in the hope of finding some screenshots so I've started uploading some this evening. I wanted to post a fuller description earlier today while I was at work but I had to ... WORK instead... sigh, sometimes real life just gets in the way of your fun! I don't have much time again this evening but I'll post these screeies now and explain them more fully tomorrow, if work permits...

Like Hasrabit, all three missions take place on the same day, the first battle starting just after dawn, the second just after midday and the third later in the afternoon. There will be no low light missions in the mini campaign and neither will there be any mines. However, I REALLY wanted to put mines into the second one but it's already wickedly difficult without them.

The first mission is called 'The Road to Amarah'. The map is quite long, slightly more than 2km but not too wide, just under 1 km. You have to move your forces through the pass to assault a small village at the north end of the map. The first shot is taken roughly in the middle of the map looking south to the crossing. The second shot is taken from behind the village of Amarah.

[Paper Tiger]

The second mission is called 'The Crossing' and this map is very big, more than 2km x 1.2km. The first screenshot is the large estate that lies to the north of the Amarah pass and you must clear it out of enemy troops while also seizing the bridge and holding it against an enemy couterattack. The second is looking west across the board towards the large estate which is behind that hill on the right. There is still quite some way to go behind you so you should get some sense of the scale of the map.

[Paper Tiger]

The last mission is called 'Perdition's Flames' or just Flames, and this map is the biggest I've ever worked on. There's so much I could write about this one but it'll have to wait until later

There will be more to follow and don't get frutrated, it reall IS nearly finished.

[Paper Tiger]

After spending all my free time this weekend working on the second mission, I have to report that it's going to take a couple more days to get it just right. Prior to the weekend, both I and my playtester were finding this mission well nigh impossible to complete. So I made a number of changes to it which resulted in it becoming too easy for Blue. My playtester will be surprised to learn that with the new changes, Blue can SLAUGHTER those T-72M1Vs with little to no loss.

Since I don't want to let this thing grow into a monster, I don't want to add more forces to either side. Therefore, I'm in the process of reworking both sides reinforcement schedules to get the whole thing JUST right. Hopefully, this should all be sorted by mid-week and then I can finish the final mission which shouldn't take more than a few days as it's already nearly finished.

[Sivodsi]

Great! Looks really interesting. All R v R scenarios gratefully received!

Any chance of also releasing these as individual battles, and (more to my taste) making them PBEMable? If you're planning to do that I'd be more than happy to offer my services as a playtester.

[Paper Tiger]

It'e very likely that you'll see both of the first two missions in this campaign released as stand-alone missions but not for a little while. Since this really is a MINI campaign, it's possible to complete it within a single day and easily within a single weekend. Therefore, I'm hoping that most folks will give the 'full' thing a spin before I give them the singles.

I think you'll be very happy with the second mission, 'The Tumah Crossing' as it's a meeting engagement between two combined arms forces. And it'll probably be fine to play PBEM too.

Anyway, here's another picture from the campaign. I've been so busy actually playing these missions that I've mostly neglected to take photo's of the action. However, here's one from the third mission which I'm quite fond of.

[Sivodsi]

I think you'll be very happy with the second mission, 'The Tumah Crossing' as it's a meeting engagement between two combined arms forces. And it'll probably be fine to play PBEM too.

Looking forward to it!

Edit to add that that is one scenic screenshot there.

[The Warrior]

Looks real cool. It's on my list of down loads for sure.

[John Kettler]

Paper_Tiger,

Simply beautiful!

Regards,

John Kettler

[Paper Tiger]

Thanks guys. Trust me, these maps look WAY better when you're playing on them than I can show you with the screenshots. But they're not just eye candy. I'm working to make these missions tactically challenging and exciting to play as well.

The 'Tumah Crossing' mission was finished yesterday after I got a solid victory with acceptable material losses without relying on luck. So I'm hard at work trying to make the finale winnable. After having played the first two missions to death now, I have a very good idea what you'll have left when you go to the final mission so I'm playtesting a special stand-alone version with a depleted Blue OB. My first real playthrough this morning resulted in a total defeat for Blue. However, that's not bad news because if it's still unwinnable after I've tried varying my tactics, all that'll be necessary to do is cut back the Red OB a bit, say by removing one tank or reducing the crew's experience level.

I'm really hoping to get this finished sometime early next week, almost certainly before next weekend. I've mostly finished the briefings and adding the pictures but I haven't done the tactical maps yet. The latter will be about one evening's work. I had a look at CMMODS earlier today to pick up a Flames mod and saw that nobody's posted any new missions for quite a long time. I guess most of the scenario designing community also happen to be playtesters and they're too busy working on Marines compatible missions. This should keep the Red on Red crowd happy for a couple of weeks or so before the Marines module arrives sometime later next month or September.

[Darkmage]

looking good Tiger

[Paper Tiger]

It's very nearly finished. I'm playtesting the hell out of the final mission and trying to find the sweet spot where both side's forces and CPU performance match up. After that, I just have to finish the briefings and make up the tactical maps so it should definitely be finished sometime before next weekend.

I don't normally play as the US but I really want to give the new equipment a spin so after I get this finished, I'm going to do a mini-campaign for the Marines and it will definitely include the map from the third mission. But to make it interesting for ME, the US Player will have to have access to ALL the bells and whistles, artillery, air support as well as those M1A1s. It should be interesting to see how dangerous I can make it for the US player.