Post Pooh mission

[Atago]

Spoilers perhaps....

FINALLY got past pooh and friends, on to the next one. I'm curious how others deal with the dilemmas presented

First, you have well hidden ATGM teams that don't seem to be spotted until they fire, and even then they vanish quickly again so are hard to fix as to their location.

I know the answer to them is infantry forward, however issue 2....

Second - The enemy has lots of mortars and spotters evidently in pretty good position to see from. Any infantry moving forward gets pounded if they move slow, cut down by enemy infantry if they move fast to dodge the artillery.

I won the mission, but lost a lot of troops and vehicles including both tanks. I ended up using my Hummers to draw fire and got some of the ATGM teams with artillery as my spotters were in fairly good positions.

Is there an answer to the twin problems of Artillery cancelling infantry and ATGM's doing the same for armor? Running the ATGM crews out of ammo hurts and my Hummer drivers are bitching for some reason .

[SgtMuhammed]

A lot of the positions are pretty obvious and can be clobbered by arty or overwatched by snipers. A heavy/quick 155 barrage will clear out most enemy positions and use up hardly any ammo. Be sure to save some arty for smoke though, it will be a life saver.

One thing you can do is to peak a tank into a marginal position and it will draw missiles that have a good chance of slamming into something other than the tank. Then all you have to worry about are RPGs. That is where your smoke and infantry come in.

[SgtMuhammed]

By the way, the name of the mission is "Milk Run." It isn't meant to be deceptive but rather to reflect the fact that the Marines are trying to secure their supply route.

[Atago]

A lot of the positions are pretty obvious and can be clobbered by arty or overwatched by snipers. A heavy/quick 155 barrage will clear out most enemy positions and use up hardly any ammo. Be sure to save some arty for smoke though, it will be a life saver.

One thing you can do is to peak a tank into a marginal position and it will draw missiles that have a good chance of slamming into something other than the tank. Then all you have to worry about are RPGs. That is where your smoke and infantry come in.

There are a bunch of trenches all over the hills - and ATGM's can be any place. I expected one or more to be up the valley/canyon left of the bridge, but even knowing it's up there you can't spot it until it fires and the area is far to wide to effectively plaster. The trenches too are very long and there's not enough artillery to "splatter" everything in all of them.

It seems sometimes that the best bet is to run several armor units out in the open, you sacrifice one but the others will usually see the ATGM crew and take it out. Hate to do that as I don't suspect it's a "real" world tactic but I don't know how to manage the dang things otherwise! I never have enough artillery to go around (and would LOVE to have as much as the enemy in this one!).

How do you clobber an ATGM crew with snipers if you only see them after they've fired? Same with artillery, I can usually take them out AFTER I've lost one or more vehicles to them.

[afreu]

*SPOILER*

On the left side of the map there is a small crossing over the river. It's perhaps 150m beyond the bridge in front of those two houses. I managed to bring 2 platoons and the Abrams tanks across there and engage the enemy forces from behind.

[Flanker15]

If you look closely you'll see that all the enemy posistions on the hill have a slightly different colour ground under them. So it was a simple task of finding and calling a few shells on each. Once you get the 2 planes it's a cake walk to mop up anything left.

Also I lost ALL of my vehicles in preceeding missions (tanks got caught in close combat with enemy armor) so I had no tanks left and only a few squads and AAVs. I still won this mission but not the next. The dynamic AI arty is real nasty now so you got it keep moving your guys around which is cool.

Also saw something new on that level, I hit an enemy tank with some AT rockets and 1 guy jumped out but the remaining 2 crew were still alive and continued operating the tank. I didn't know that the crew could panic and bail indivdualy.

:spoiler:

Bug

The large tank and BMP3 group that arrives did something stupid in my game, they all ocupied one posistion so they were all meshed together in a single buggy mass. I called a harrier strike when I found them (they were behind one of the buildings at the top of the hill out of sight) and the cannon fire caused a massive brew up that took out all the vehicles (atleats 3 BMPs and 3 tanks stuck together) and made a huge crater.

[Atago]

How are the planes vs Infantry? I tend to use aircraft like big hammers to KO buildings and concentrations of bad guys. A trench line though, seems to be a bit of overkill except for using "light" which I believe means guns only.

Nice to see that Light works well on BMP's and what not.

I too spotted the BMP and tank concentration on the hill and splattered them back to Allah with one good hit from my aircraft.

[SgtMuhammed]

They are supposed to spread out along the hilltop. Sometimes they do sometimes they don't. Oh well.

Aircraft work well against infantry but the long wait usually means it is better to use arty. Plus anything that survives the initial hit will still be there, with arty you have a more prolonged pounding.

[SgtMuhammed]

Believe it or not the terrain in that mission is actually scaled down. I used a Russian topo map initially and you would not believe how steep that area is. Looking at Google though, it didn't seem to be as steep so I halved the scale. Fun map in any case.

[Atago]

I got to the final mission in the campaign. Funny thing, the computer says that my tanks have arrived - but none are there. Ouch - looks like I need to go all the way back to Pooh and try to get through with a few more tanks! I was wondering why I only had 2 in this mission... now I know.

I wish there as a way to know what forces you need to be careful with as you'll need them later. Artillery in particular I'm reluctant to use already, even more now that I know I may need it even more later in the game!

Ah well, back to Pooh again then on to the milk run, hopefully with a few more tanks and my predator drones helping me know where the enemy is at (second time through helps).

[JonS]

I wish there as a way to know what forces you need to be careful with as you'll need them later.

Heh. You want to know which soldiers are expendable, and which aren't? Think about that question for a sec

Jon

[Atago]

Heh. You want to know which soldiers are expendable, and which aren't? Think about that question for a sec

Jon

You know what I mean!

[Flanker15]

Yeah it would be good to have a intermission screen that shows the status of all your units and if they've been re-enforced or not.

[Atago]

especially the artillery. I hate coming into missions seeing an already empty mortar in my list. I can just here it going nyah, nyah at me! Sometimes I don't need to use my artillery but do - blasting a suspected enemy position for example. If I know I will get short changed next mission I'd tend to keep the artillery I'm going to loose for more specific targets.

I try not to think of my units as just computer Ones and Zeros and tend not to want to get then killed off even if I'm not going to need them next round. The only exception is my poor Hummers - I tend to wag their behinds out in the open to see if there are any more ATGM's around before I drive a tank or other AFV out there. Even going full tilt it seems they usually get it. Poor guys have a low life expetency in my command

[Paper Tiger]

Yeah it would be good to have a intermission screen that shows the status of all your units and if they've been re-enforced or not.

This is VERY necessary for me to do when I'm making a campaign. It's much easier to keep track of the level of attrition your forces suffer in the course of a few missions before progressing on to the next stage. Even 'Perdition' had one between missions 2 and 3. I take these 'Parade Ground' missions out before I compile the final version though. Perhaps I could leave them in when I'm finalising my next project.

[George MC]

Yeah it would be good to have a intermission screen that shows the status of all your units and if they've been re-enforced or not.

This is VERY necessary for me to do when I'm making a campaign. It's much easier to keep track of the level of attrition your forces suffer in the course of a few missions before progressing on to the next stage. Even 'Perdition' had one between missions 2 and 3. I take these 'Parade Ground' missions out before I compile the final version though. Perhaps I could leave them in when I'm finalising my next project.

Parade Ground Missions - there's a great idea

[Atago]

Could the scenarios that are part of the campaign be made into stand alone ones for "battle" missions? Even if they don't "unlock" until after you run the campaign version they'd be fun to try. I don't know if I'll ever get to the final mission of the campaign with enough forces to make a game of it. Last time it was laughable with all the Syrian tanks rolling about and me with no ATGM's left or tanks of my own. About all I could do is make faces at them and hide.

[SgtMuhammed]

That's up to the designers. I plan on making some tweaks to "Pooh" and "Milk Run" and releasing them as stand alone battles, probably after 1.11 is released with the updated campaign.

[ChrisND]

Post pooh mission? I imagine that would be the Wipe and Flush mission.

OK, OK, I'll get my coat...

[snake_eye]

That's up to the designers. I plan on making some tweaks to "Pooh" and "Milk Run" and releasing them as stand alone battles, probably after 1.11 is released with the updated campaign.

I went to that battle playing elite as usual with confidence. Since , I keep playing it again and again, with the "Decisions, Decisions battle" coming over and over. It makes me mad. As for the Pooh battle, all the way in are covered. first by AT4 on the left and the right hills and even near the crossroad. When the AAV are set alight, it is either the AT4, a tank (when these are coming in town, latter in the game) or the mines.

I use to get a picture with the recon on the left and in the center, to call airstrike when available and rely on 81mm, and latter 155mm when they are not dry.

I set the LAV near the first house (close to the 2 buildings in the compound next to the primary target) and later on the tanks, if any, in the center right to catch the coming armor.

The troops has they come are pushing the perimeter in the center. They are assaulting the 2 buildings ans setting a base fire for preparing the assault on the primary target, which has to be prep with 155mm before doing so.

They set a base fire on the right,turned toward the buildings and the MG pillboxe. Another squad and or platoon assault them as feasible (when the tanks threat is controlled). That way the right flank is secure. That has to be done quite early, since, I have seen Syrian reinforcement coming down toward it from the right hill. I managed once to take that hill, before the 2 centers objective.

Never got the crossroad and the one on the left. Time runned out.

A question : Why there is no warning (maybe I miss it ?) for the company coming in the MTVR. When, I notice they are there, near the thruway, one or two of them are already burning, with an humvee set alight by secondaries explosions. Their losses are deeply resented.

A hint, that might come handy to some of you. It is possible to bring armor, on the left farther side. right on the edge of the crest. Caution, a move forward with the AT4 crew still alive and that is the end of the tank, even before seeing anything, they have you zeroed in. With smoke a breakthrought is feasible.

To end my comment, it is a wonderful battle, well conceived and a real challenge. It shows that never mind the power of fire you have, you still have to rely on foot grunts to get to the objective.

I had total defeat, minor victory, draw.... and always got back to DECISIONS-DECISIONS once again and then to POOH again. For me that's the draw back. The campaign in CSMF was more pleasant to my taste.

[NewSocialistMan]

Okay. I just finished the Pooh Mission, but suffered casualties in the heavy category. That said, all but three of my vehicles were left intact, all my AT assets were unmolested, and my four M1A1's were fine.... until now.

I'm playing Milk Run and have gotten three of my four Abrams tanks immobilized. They are still operable, but not able to move. I've pretty much destroyed all his vehicles and have managed to advance to positions that allow me to keep the badguys pinned down while I turn their flank with my infantry. I suspect I'll be done with them pretty soon, though I'm completely out of artillery ammo.

How screwed am I going into the next scenario? I have plenty of Javs, one fully operable M1A1, a ton of AAV's, some gun trucks, all my Humvees, and about 200 infantry remaining. I have no ability to lay down smoke and Lima Battery is out.

Will I get a resupply that will allow me to take on the final scenario or do I just fulfill my orders to die in place?

[JonS]

Go real slow and you'll be fine.

[GSX]

I wish there as a way to know what forces you need to be careful with as you'll need them later.

I find this the biggest drag to the Campaign games. You can sort of work out the forces that are central to the campaign by seeing what you get in the next scenario.

Its both tedious and pretty boring to have to play through the same scenario several times in order to get a result that enables you to fight the next battle.

Rarely do you lose a battle as US in SF but often do you have to tediously replay ones to try and work out which are needed for the next encounter.

If I could change something about the Campaign it would be this aspect. What would be better is to be presented with the mission screen and then go onto a purchase screen where you can choose your forces from a given list of whats available.

[donnieitaly]

I'm just about to begin this scenario and thus haven't read any of the above, bar the last comment, because I don't want to spoil it.

Two points though. If you could pick the forces you wanted it would be too easy and not much of a challenge, no?

Secondly I really HATE the Objective names. Winston Churchill once said that no British actions/plans were to be given names which would embarrass the relatives of a dead or wounded soldier. I.E. "Oh, my son died in Operation "Resounding Victory", or " I lost my leg in "Eyeore"!

I think British Operations were picked from a randomly generated pre-approved list - but I hasn't to add I may well be wrong there.

[SgtMuhammed]

The backstory for the names is that the Operations officer's wife had a baby just before the unit deployed for the war. The names are his daughter's toys and TV shows.

In OIF some of the fiercest fighting was for Objective Peach.