Helmand Scenario help

[Chainsaw]

So, Im working on my first CSMF scenario ever (slow and painful so far...) and it will be british light infantry against insurgents in Helmand. Ghorak is the village that gaved me the idea but I havent bothered doing the whole Ghorak, just a small portion with allot of "artistic license".

As this is the first time doing terrain I want some feedback/input on it. I would appreciate if anyone with experience could download and check out the terrain and tell me what you like and what must be changed.

this is the current state of Ghorak, I havent started adding any flavor objects yet, I will do that when I feel the terrain is 100% done.

The Idea for the scenario is from this:

http://helmandblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/rifles-launch-assault-on-taliban-drugs.html

But my plan so far is 3 platoons with engineer support (bunch of walls to breach thrue) and a fire support group in TUM WMIKs. Enemy will be insurgents with IEDs and there will be preserve status on some of the buildings but plenty of air assets.

/Thomas

https://www.yousendit.com/download/dXFXWUhzQ1AwMEd4dnc9PQ

[Wiggum]

Looks good so far. Maybe show us a more top down screenshot too.

Maybe you should mix the building texture a bit, there is a more dark one that also looks like those old stone style.

[Chainsaw]

there is some buildings that have the darker brown. about 1/5th of them have the darker one. I dont want to mix to much as when I looked at the pics of helmand villages what strikes me is that they all have pretty much the same colour (well, same mud...) so they all look the same kinda. But sure some more mix isnt wrong either.

UAV view:

Terrain description:

small village in center, right of the village the desert starts with small hills. left of village is agricultured area softly sloping down to the river. left of that is the dryed out river (wadi?) and left of that is the begining of a chain of mountains.

from scenario editor:

[Dr.Hoopenfaust]

Looks great. I'd say the mono building look is bang on. Although, the afghans have less windows. Can't wait to play it.

[Chainsaw]

thats thrue, I have started to remove windows from most buildings, leaving 1 door and 1-2 windows left (depending on size of house)

Im gonna add allot of engineers so the walls/houses can be breached as thats gonna be needed to move in a village like this

[snake_eye]

Hi Chainsaw,

Not too easy to see more closely the houses in the village on the pictures. Globally it looks good.

I will however have more low trees added on to the non desert sector, more gullies and high crops. It should look like a garden, an orchard with no real pattern applied to it. The small houses should not have numerous windows, just one on each side and usually these are rather turned toward a central courtyard, enclosed by the U made by the dependences. The walls toward the exterior are often without any window and or door. You get into the houses through a gate and into the courtyard. Then you can get in the rooms. Don’t forget your engineer’s squads to breach the outer walls for the assault. You don’t want them to go through the central gate and mowed down by a LMG

The houses look very often like a small compound, from which the inhabitants can defend themselves and protect the few living stock they might have. Along the walls you should find dried poppy which is used to make fire to cook and to heat a room at the cold season.. The houses are surrounded by low and or high dried mud walls. All the houses are more or less similar and of slightly different shades of mud colours. They are small narrow passage along the houses and the used water is usually thrown in it, along with the rest.

The village place is rather small, but wide enough to have a truck getting through it, while hopping from village to village. The road is more a gravel and or dirt one. You have on either side of it numerous trenches, gullies and irrigation sewages. A track, will not go too far without being immobilized and stuck in the mud. The gullies are made in different pattern and in different axis. It should look like a crisscross on the fields.

The fields in the Hemland have in some place culture growing into marshes, when they are near the river.

Here is a shot of a compound with a 2 stories house in the centre of the village. I am not sure to retain it, in the final scenario. I have also left, some windows, to give some field of fire to the defenders.

You can look at the other shots of the compound and or landscape, I have just made for a new scenario

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=92213

Hope these can help you refine a bit what you have already done well

Cheers

[Ryujin]

While Afghan compounds don't seem to have many "exterior" windows, but the roof does seem to sometimes have a low wall.

lots 'o compound pics

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/compounds.htm

[Chainsaw]

thanks for the input, Guess I got some more work to do then

[akd]

Did you make a new wall texture? I was working in parallel and created a new one and now just saw this thread. I'm also working on poppy and corn textures if you are interested.

[Dr.Hoopenfaust]

I'm always interested in any mod to make CMSF look for afghani.

[meade95]

I'm always interested in any mod to make CMSF look for afghani.

Likewise - Would love to see some more maps released that have more of an Astan feel to them.....Looking forward to this one..

[Chainsaw]

akd: I cheated and used a buildings wall texture and swapped with, so I atleast could get the sandcoloured walls. will try to get something betther finished later on. your crop texture sounds intressting! I havent had the time to work on this scenario for a while now thoe, but I hope to get some more time for it soon

[akd]

I gave up on the corn as no doodad is tall enough to do it properly. The existing "grain" doodad seems fine for Afghanistan, as there is a good deal of wheat grown as well. The poppy texture replaces tall green grass, but is really too short in comparison to the real thing. Next I need to find a base texture that compliments the poppy field but doesn't make the short green grass look weird. Could maybe change the short grass into newly planted field or something.

I went down the road of using the building texture for the wall as well, but wasn't happy with the obvious tiling. I have something for the walls improvised from a texture I found on the web, but it could be greatly improved upon.

[akd]

Here's a little preview of what I've been working on:

British soldiers in Helmand Province take cover in a field of poppy. An Afghan compound can be seen on the rise in the distance.

Long way to go yet.

[afreu]

That looks quite authentic. Good work!

[Dr.Hoopenfaust]

Looks awesome. When and where can I get these files. I've done some afghan walls myself.

[AkumaSD]

British soldiers in Helmand Province take cover in a field of poppy. An Afghan compound can be seen on the rise in the distance.

Awesome screen!