The Road to Dinas - Red v Red Campaign

[Clevinger]

I just completed "Sabatani". Great map, and of course, very intense MOUT combat! The narrow streets make difficulty the employment of tanks in direct support, but the fight was very, very fun.

It's a real pleasure to see a platoon of conscript abandoning a block... right in front of one of my platoons . And the rocket launchers helped, a lot... But I may have been a bit too generous (the ammo bar wasn't lowering, so I kept firing ), because I'm dry for "Suib"

[zmoney]

And the rocket launchers helped, a lot... But I may have been a bit too generous (the ammo bar wasn't lowering, so I kept firing ), because I'm dry for "Suib"

I am having the same problem. If I had one wish it would be that at least the rocket launcher would refill after every mission. But it makes things more interesting. I know the briefing says to be careful with arty but I was under the impression that the rockets wouldn't be ammo restricted.

[Clevinger]

I am having the same problem. If I had one wish it would be that at least the rocket launcher would refill after every mission. But it makes things more interesting. I know the briefing says to be careful with arty but I was under the impression that the rockets wouldn't be ammo restricted.

I think the initial briefing says that rocket ammo is replenished only after phase 1, but I have to check that. In fact, my problem is that the ammo bar of the BM-21 hadn't lowered after 2 strikes, then, nada ???

[Paper Tiger]

this is a really fun campaign

Thanks for that. I didn't want to create a campaign that was so challenging that it would just be stressful to play. You can definitely do that with Blue v red and people will thank you for it but perhaps not so much so with Red v Red. Hopefully, it'll still be fun when the difficulty ramps up a bit later, probably quite soon actually.

handihoc:

In fact, I wondered whether that half of the map was loosely based on an early TOW Normandy map that I remember playing quite a while back (can't remember the name), as there were a few similarities?

I've never played TOW so I've never seen that map. Actually, it's a fairly accurate renditon of a real locaton in Syria. The back part of the map should look a little familiar if you played 'Hasrabit' as it's a more accurate representation of the 'Strong Stand' orchard. West Yard, central yard and farmhouse on the right?

I would say it could have been a little beefier in the latter stages

If you got a bad result in 'Hit and Run' you'd need all those two hours to get the win. I agree with you though that the battle could have been tougher, and indeed it was to start with, but I had to think about the consequences of having a potentially 'killer' mission in the early part of the campaign. You really ARE going to need those cores again later so the real difficulty of this mission probably won't become apparent until later. I suspect you'll agree with my decision when you get round to the later missions.

It DID seem a bit of a waste of a good map for an easy battle though but you will be seeing this map again as a stand alone battle after the UK module comes out. It'll be a UK v Syrian bash and I'm going to try and make it difficult.

There's been no artillery fire in the three battles so far.

There is no artillery in the early mission because the enemy forces are in disarray and haven't had time to prepapre their defences. However, the Suib Orchard map is a prepared position so, yes, the Red side has a LITTLE artillery in this mission. But there are two AI plans for this mission, one being my own placement, (and I suspect you didn't get that one), and the second by the AI. There weren't enough AI groups to give the spotters their own dedicated group so that meant that they are part of another, larger group. Sometimes, the AI places them in less than optimal positions. Don't worry though as you're definitely going to see some AI artillery used in the forthcoming missions.

Just out of curiousity, did you use much artillery to get your win in 'Orchard Road'?

zmoney:

If I had one wish it would be that at least the rocket launcher would refill after every mission

The rocket artillery is good for around four shots and it's only available when you're attacking on maps with a reasonable number of buildings. as it's a Regimental asset it is never resupplied but you will get a second section to play with for phase 2, as well as any that you saved from Phase 1. HA! Yeah, that'll happen.

Clevinger:

You might wish you had some for Suib. However, the rocket artillery is not essential for the later Phase 1 missions. Some mortars will come in very handy though... If those rockets weren't ammo restricted, you'd have a pretty easy time winning this campaign. BTW, give me a shout if you still want to translate all those briefings man...

[handihoc]

<<<It'll be a UK v Syrian bash and I'm going to try and make it difficult.>>>>

THAT sounds cool!

<<<Just out of curiousity, did you use much artillery to get your win in 'Orchard Road'?>>>

In the later stages I put a 120m mission on the far farm, but the battle ended before it arrived. I've been taking notice of your warnings about conserving artillery and this was the first time I'd used it in the campaign.

[theFightingSeabee]

I'm on mission 3 now. VERY NICE so far!

Paper Tiger, I was amazed at how much top quality work you have put into this. Thank you very much for all of the time and effort you have put into this!

[afreu]

Hi,

now finished the Airfield mission but if I cease-fire in the following depot mission the campaign ends with a message like: the road to Dinas is open now and our forces can advance. Is the campaign supposed to end at this point. I mean it's been a lot of fun so far, but I thougt that there were more missions. Could it be that the campaign ends so early for me because of casualties? I lost about 45 men KIA and a few more WIA, including Battalion command.

[Paper Tiger]

What is the result of cease firing the depot mission? It's not the script that's at fault. If you got a minor victory, you should go on to either SAM Hill or Sagger Point. I have a horrible feeling that I've stuffed up the Depot mission victory conditions.

[cabal23]

Overachieve much? Nice work!

[Paper Tiger]

Okay, I had a long look at this last night/this morning and it seems that I forgot to give the Blue side the friendly point bonus that ensured the win. So I changed the script to allow the player to progress from the Depot mission with a draw. However, I'm currently helping BFC test the Brit module and that means that my version of the game is a form of v1.2. Therefore, I could post the corrected campaign right now but you wouldn't be able to play it until you get 1.2. Bummer! There's always something that gets past the first draught...

[CogNative]

Congratulations Paper Tiger on your fine The Road to Dinas - Red v Red Campaign. I have only played part of battle the 1st battle as too much work gets in the way of play recently. I am enjoying myself and look forward to getting back to my saved game when I can. So far I am doing OK but since I will be on the Road to Dinas for a month or two at my pace, I am being careful with my units.

I see your development skills are being put to good use with BFC and testing the Brit module. Could this be a Brit Campaign bonus in the offing for us?:cool:

Cheers,

[handihoc]

Finished Sabatini. First time I've used, or seen, rocket artillery in action. Fabulous - and scary!

Another excellent battle. Those street and house-to-house fights can be very tricky, and deadly. Again, a slow, cautious, methodical approach got me the victory, but I still lost 16 men and three BTRs.

I brought in two helicopters and - hell! They didn't actually kill any of their own men but they sure tried their hardest. Way off target, both of 'em.

Big fun. Campaign's a winner so far!

[theFightingSeabee]

Paper Tiger,

I've also made it past the fourth mission and the campaign ended. I did receive a minor defeat the last one. I was IN one of the northern compounds, just hadn't completely cleared it out . :[ 5 more minutes!!!

Still, Great Campaign!!! Fine work. I'm glad to hear bfc is tapping your talent.

[Flanker15]

So is there no way to procede? Will it work if the enemy surenders?

I liked how on the second mission you get to pick off their T-72s and then the losses/damage you did to them carries over to the next mission.

[Paper Tiger]

Ach, something was bound to go wrong even with me being so careful to check everything thoroughly first. It's definitely the Depot mission that's at fault. I forgot to add the friuendly bonus so you can only get a draw and that's not good enough to progress to the next mission. How did I miss that?! I was using a dummy scenario to test the campaign script and it was a win/lose proposition. I playtested the individual threads and when I scripted them, I just resupplied the units at the end of the mission before the Depot mission, a totally unnecessary shortcut and now it's come back to bite me on the ass... that means you'll have to wait to see the 'Farmers' mission.

I will try to do a reinstall later this week to get my system back to v1.11 so that I can get the corrected version up on the Repository again before the weekend. Otherwise nobody's going any further than Sulit airfield...

Mr CB...

If you got dumped from the campaign after mission 4, you must have lost the Orchard mission too right? You shouldn't get dumped ONLY for losing Sabatani. I DID test that branch...

[theFightingSeabee]

Man, your stuff is superb. Take your time, I want to replay it even without the extra missions! Thank you!

[Marwek77 aka Red Reporter]

Finished Mission 1: Petani with Total victory, 2 man dead, 12 man wounded, no vehicle lost, used 3 mortars as pre-planed artillery, enemy surrender.

Thanx for good fight!

[handihoc]

Completed Suib. Boy, that one is tough!

I suffered a lot, but after several attempts managed to get a victory (yeah, I know it's meant to be played in one fell swoop, without returning to saves, but heck, I'm having fun playing it how I want). Really gruelling fighting once I got into the streets and houses. As earlier, those houses/buildings with compound walls make the difficulties of MOUT really apparent.

Once again, a thoroughly enjoyable battle on a very challenging map.

[handihoc]

A question: do all these campaign scenarios have multiple AI attack/defence plans. I'm thinking about replayability, as I'm saving each map for possible later play as a single scenario. So if I go again, will the enemy be occupying the same positions or could I be facing a completely different setup?

[Paper Tiger]

There are a small number (The Lakes, Jameela and the final mission) that have only one plan and that's usually when the AI is the attacker. It's so DAMNED hard to get just ONE good AI attack plan that it would take much longer to create the campaign. Most have at least two, and a few 4 or more but they all come later. The 'Road to Amarah' mission has 5 distinctly different AI plans and I've just started playtesting a version of it using REAL Blue forces. It's still a S.O.B!!!

[cabal23]

I can't say it enough how fun this campaign is. i still haven't finished it but I am loving the battles so far. This is by far better than the stock Marine or Army campaign. This is what the game was meant to be. Maybe if we got a better army we wouldn't have to do red on red to have any sort of challenge.

[handihoc]

PT, I'm having a great time on Sulit Airfield. Have a question: do I need to occupy vls (ie keep a unit there) to gain points, or simply clear them of enemy units and can then move on?

[Paper Tiger]

They're all OCCUPY locations so you'll have to leave something more than body bags behind to earn the points.

[slug88]

I just completed Sulit Airfield by forcing an enemy surrender. The air support was pivotal for my success in this one. Ultimately I suffered 12KIA, ~30WIA, 3 BMP's knocked out, and one T-62 knocked out. Compared to the meat grinder that was Suib, this mission was almost relaxing. Interestingly, I found that in some ways the Airborne troops were less effective in urban CQB than the reserves from the previous mission. In particular, it seems that the reserves' AKM's and RPD's are *considerably* better at penetrating building walls than the Airborne '74's, and this fact, combined with the total lack of trigger discipline, make short range urban ambushes an exceedingly effective tactic for reserve troops.

Like the previous posters, I was unable to proceed passed the first depot mission. I eagerly await the chance to play through the rest of the campaign. An outstanding job once again, PT. I feel this one may turn out to be your best campaign yet, and if so it is quite a feat.

[handihoc]

I'm finding Sulit really tough (not a complaint!). Enemy ambushes have been extremely effective, and I've been forced to modify and sometimes totally rethink my tactics.

Had a few HORRIBLE encounters that sent me scurrying back to restart or earlier save. Admittedly, I did walk into a few of them - not thinking through the possible consequences of assuming that damaged building would be empty, or that ATGM would never hit a fast moving vehicle at that range, or that entrenched SPG9 was too badly suppressed/damaged to respond to my 20 second dash across open ground . . .

A way to go yet, but it's another superb battle.