TeTeT

I love to use the launcher for utilizing the different databases. I wonder if the Harpoon community would benefit from a database sync program. For example, harpgamer.com could offer rsync or zsync access to the databases and probably scenarios. A player would synchronize the databases and scenarios on their local disks and then use the launcher to use them. Wondering if this would help to overcome the custom scenario / database problem or just aggravate to the problem?

I encountered the problem as well, probably as I store all my scenarios and save games in database specific folders (e.g. HCCW, db65-80,...). An easy 'cure' to the problem is to copy the scenario description to a file named after your save game. For example, the Israel strike on Iran is named IRNISR10.*, so I copy IRNISR10.BLv to israel-iran.BLv, as my save game is named israel-iran.hpv.

Not sure if you can call it 'authoritative', but here are some links I've collected when doing my Vietnam scenarios. The first two should contain pointers on what you're looking for, I add the others as I found them useful when developing scenarios: Tonkin Gulf Yacht club - list of ships Carrier order of battle http://airwarvietnam.com/navyunits.htm: Air wings on carriers A-4 in action report USS Enterprise info Enterprise - another history page USS Bon Homme Richard USS Oriskany USS Biddle WestPac deployment - Biddle and Chicago EA-6A North Vietnamese Aces 497th FIS Cam Pha Raid in Times In the books I've read I haven't seen a list of escorts and support ships, the only list was on carrier deployments in 'On Yankee Station'. I can't provide a source right now for the following, it's from memory: Usually two carriers were deployed on Yankee and Dixie Station. The carriers worked in 12 hour shifts, while one was conducting operations, the other would stand done be rearmed and refueled. During Rolling Thunder (65-68) Operations would either be constantly ongoing for interdiction strikes, or a complete carriers strike force would be launched for 'Alpha Strikes'. I've read that Russian spy ships (fish trawlers packed with elint) would observe the fleets action and interfere with them, by clinging to their nautical right of way. The air operations themselves can be grouped 4 campaigns, to the best of my knowledge: Rolling Thunder - bombing campaign on the North from 65 to 68, a gradual escalation campaign Steel Tiger - bombing campaign on Laos, 64 to 7x, covert campaign and often served as diversionary target if clouds would block North Vietnam during Monsoon Linebacker I - resuming of bombing of North Vietnam in 1972 Linebacker II - all out aerial campaign against North Vietnam in December 1972 I have a couple of books on the Vietnam War, but none is specific to naval operations. If wanted I can list them here in another post. On other games that might contain pointers, the flight sim 'Wings over Vietnam' / 'Strike Fighter 2: Vietnam' from Thirdwire comes to mind. It covers the deployment of a lot of squadrons in the ini files, though there are in general no support vessels. The best game on the subject is IMO the boardgame Downtown, published by GMT but out of print. The rules and scenario books are available for free on the developers homepage and I used the included bib as a buying reference. I found some challenges to simulate the Vietnam war with Harpoon, but this should go in a different thread, not the military history one.

Hi Don, thanks for providing the new scenarios! I'm facing quite some difficulties in the HARM exercise. I find myself being overwhelmed by the AIs onslaught with fighters and lost too many aircraft and helos early one. In my first play of the scenario it was over after 70 minutes, with me losing 11 planes and 5 helos, for 12 planes, 1 AD destroyed, 2 damaged. Any hints on how to do better? TeTeT

As we're talking about the Thanh Hoa scenario in Vietnam, the US side used 'red crown' called radar equipped cruisers to pick up enemy air activity. For a more complete coverage of the subject, see PIRAZ article on wikipedia. Whlen I added those ships to my Vietnam scenarios, the balance of air to air combat ultimately shifted to the US favour.

I usually do the later, send out the tankers and their CAP first, then launch the other aircraft. Though when the tankers and supported aircraft are of the same type, I can see why you want to launch them in one group. Does anybody know what the military standard operation is?

Nice scenario, though a bit tough. I played it two times so far and while I achieved the minimum victory conditions, I also lost a number of planes. Without any standoff ARM it's tough to defeat the center air defenses, albeit the outliers were not much of a problem. While ESM played a large role in detecting the big sites, the smaller ones were spotted visually or by infrared. I found the scenario instructions to be clear. The surprises are good, if I have detected them all

Faster than the news!

Finally got time to play this scenario, set in one of my favorite gaming periods. I did not read donaldseadog's AAR until now and discovered that while picking different tactics, suffered the same amount of losses in ships. Quite interesting. CinC South East Asia So the situation has turned hot in the Chinese Sea. With the Coral Sea being at the bottom of the Ocean, it is time to strike back. A quick look at the assets we have in the area. There is Korat Air Force Base in Thailand, Saigon in South Vietnam, the Enterprise, Subic Bay and Clark AFB in the Phillipines, plus some submarines and surface groups. In comparison to just 2 years ago, this is a very light force in the area. We'll see what we can do. First CAP and AEW flights need to be launched, foremost from the Enterprise, but also from the land air bases. Speaking of the land air bases, while I am inspecting them, something hits the rear guard of surface group AFS and I lose the first ship of the day, the destroyer Bailey FRAM II class. AFS is ordered to turn on the lights and see if it can attack the aggressor, while increasing speed to 21 knots. Back to the land base inspection, Khorat has some Wild Weasel based on the Thunderchief air frame, some Phantoms for CAP and Corsairs for ground pounding. I'm surprised to find some active Thunderchiefs in Saigon. With these being the first aircraft to strike the North, will it be the last as well? Some 10 years ago these planes took some terrible losses up North and now the defenses have increased for sure. In Subic Bay I find some Navy planes from the Coral Sea, among them the RF-8G Crusader, another veteran of the Vietnam conflict. Clark AFB has some AEW planes, Phantoms for CAP, and Delta Darts for the win! There are also long range B-52s and Corsairs. Of course there are also tankers in the area on all bases but Subic. These are very helpful aircraft for the distances that need to be covered. It's time to review the orders, seems that survival is the foremost order. I order AFS and AHS to meet with the Enterprise task force. From there I send out Tomcats to patrol the skies over these two vulnerable surface groups. But what about being more active? The Enterprise has a lot of offensive capabilities. Unfortunately the vanguard of the strike force, the Iron Hand SEAD planes don't have the modern Standard ARM missiles, only the venerable Shrike. Also there are a lot of iron bombs armed planes aboard, and next to none with smart bombs. Anyway, I decide to give it a go and want to launch strikes at Cam Ranh Bay right away. I will launch an attack from all four major bases, Korat, Saigon, Enterprise and Clark. From Clark only the B-52s have the range to strike, so I will send them first to the Enterprise and then onto the target. The strikes from Korat and Enterprise will be launched at the same time, while the one from Saigon will be delayed as due to the shorter range. While the B52s launch from Clark, I discover much to my surprise that the Corsairs there have also the range to attack Cam Ranh Bay. This will add another diversion to the attack! Also from Clark AEW planes are launched to the east of surface group AFS, and tankers are setup. Action again! AFS is under missile attack and this time the attacker is identified as Yak-28. Unfortunately the closest interceptor is still 250 nms away. AFS is ordered to head straight east and try to make it to Subic Bay now, reverting the original plan to meet with Enterprise. Unfortunately the Decatur falls victim to the missile and sinks. This is for sure no longer the Nam as we knew it - where Destroyers and Cruisers would only be stopped by the shallow coast rather than the Vietnamese defenses. When Subic Bay and Clark launch the last strike aircraft and tankers, a new contact northeast of Saigon is detected. A flight of 2 Phantoms is ordered to intercept. At about the same time when the Phantoms launch Sparrows, the Tomcats get in range with their Phoenix and launch a salvo against the Yak-28s. It seems missile research did its job and two Fishbed and four Yaks fall out of the sky. Next, it's time for a shock. 38 nm from the carrier group a MiG-21bis Fishbed appears! Probably on an intercept course for the Hawkeye, which escorts went to shoot down the Yaks. What a mistake to leave it unprotected. Hastily the catapults on the Enterprise launch 2 more F-14s to make up for the blunder. Immediately after being airborne the Tomcats launch four Phoenix destined for the Fishbeds. Meantime the attacks on AFS continue and Pyro is hit by a missile. A new missile group is spotted and now the two Tomcats sent to AFS's rescue have a chance to intercept them. But before the interceptors are in range, the next surprise comes in form of 4 Badgers, 50 nm from the Enterprise. Do I have an AEW system at all? Anyway, more fighters are launched to counter any more incoming planes. And it gets even busier around my all important carrier task force. When the front line Tomcats light up their radar, two groups of Foxbats and one of Floggers is detected. More Phoenix are launched to counter the threats. Supported are the interceptors by a Prowler. The electronic warfare planes should help to jam the other sides radar, and their ESM systems should help to detect threats earlier. While the air battle between Cam Ranh Bay and the Enterprise wages, the interceptors supporting support group AFS finally launch their Phoenix to shoot down the anti ship missiles. All but one are hit, so I have to close the range for the Sparrows and go to afterburner. With two hot spots I cannot complain about a low workload, but with the detection of MiG-21s, presumably from Da Nang, a third is there. The two Phantom pairs are ordered to intercept the threat for the Super Constellation AEW plane. As the escorts for AFS have expended their long range missiles, I refresh the CAP and send the last pair of Tomcats there. All my carrier based fighters are airborne now, a very busy scenario and it has just started! The Prowler crew does it job and besides detecting new airborne threats, they pick up signals from SA-5 and SA-6 batteries around Cam Ranh Bay. Not enough for an exact fix on the targets, but a good guidance for the Wild Weasel that are launched from Korat Royal Thai Airforce base. Time for launching a second EA-6B, maybe the sites can be triangulated. While the first wave of MiG-21s are defeated by the CAP launched from Korat, an old opponent is spotted over the jungles of Laos and Cambodia: The venerable MiG-17. An enemy not to be underestimated, these planes sneak easily up to a patrol or CAP and shoot them down by surprise. So I call myself lucky for getting a tally ho on the six plane flight, well within range of the 20mm board cannon of the Phantom E. Close to Saigon yet another model of Soviet aircraft is detected: The debris of 2 Su-17M Fitter fill the sky, killed by a flight of Phantoms. But not all is going well for the US side. I lost a F-14 from the carrier CAP due to an undetected opposing flight. Overall the exchange rate is 30:1, so the top gun program is paying dividends for sure. The time has come for the Enterprise strike aircraft to get airborne. The Shrike armed SEAD planes are the first to leave the deck after the interceptors and support aircraft. While the strikers are launching, even more Soviet attack aircraft going for the carrier are detected. Normally I like to send the Tomcats home after the Phoenix missiles are gone, but not now. The Sparrows will certainly be needed. Numbers begin to take their toll, and I lose some Phantoms from Korat to MiG-19s that sneaked up, as well as 3 Tomcats that get in missile range of the Foxbats. While I saved some Tomcats by turning and burning, not all made it. Now the exchange rate is 7 for 57, not as stellar as minutes ago. And it gets worse before it gets better. 10 friendlies for 65 enemies is it after an exchange of volleys. Even worse is that all F-14s but a reserve pair is now returning to base. The last Floggers were shot down by A-7 on their SEAD mission ... well done, mud movers! Unfortunately they pay with being shoot down as well, so it's only an even exchange rate. But now the Super Constellation from Korat finds itself without CAP and of course a new threat appears, MiG-17, most likely from Da Nang. I order a new CAP from Korat and the AEW plane to safety. Finally the last strike aircraft leave the Enterprise and the bombers from Saigon get ready. The first wave of strike aircraft from Subic bay is almost at Cam Ranh Bay, and report to everybody's surprise a visual sighting of a submarine, some 50 nm east of the base. Not a threat to anybody yet, but a report to take seriously. Much to surprise the SA-5 has not fired a single missile yet. The attacking A-7 detect only an Oiler in the harbour, otherwise it's empty. Ten 500 lbs bombs sink the vessel. I decide that the planes from Subic and Clark are of better use from Saigon and send them there. Luckily no logistics to worry about... And then the missile crews wake up. The Corsairs that just dropped their bomb load now have SA-6 launched against them, and for one A-7 the warning call came to late. The first ground to air victory for the red side today, and loss number 12. Unfortunately the timing of the strike is a little bit off. Only now the Shrike equipped SEAD planes appear from the south, with the Thunderchiefs from Saigon coming in from the west. The Corsairs launch their AGM-45s and the SA-5, that still remains untried, suffers damage on sensor and weapons mount. But before the air defenses are knocked out, quite a surprise happens. The fire discipline of the well trained Vietnamese gun crews is amazing and in short order undetected S-60 AAA guns pop out 8 Corsairs. Yes, eight, quite a shock to mission planning. Hastily I replan the approach from the west and take a detour over the sea and then north. The carnage around Cam Ranh continues for a while, but finally the B-52s show up and finish the base. Shortly thereafter I'm informed that we reached minimum victory conditions. For the loss of 2 ships, one damaged, 35 planes we've destroyed 1 base, 4 mobile air defenses, 141 planes and one ship. Guess I was lucky that there were not even more AAA in and around Cam Ranh Bay, as this was the ultimate killer in the end. The SA-5 did not fire a single shot and was knocked out early. The SA-6 was partially knocked out, but delivered also some plane kills. The S-60 was really fearful for the planes at low altitude and none of the batteries was destroyed. I would hope that the loadouts would contain some unguided rockets that would allow SEAD planes to knock out those batteries from a distance. As it is, only the Walleyes and Paveways can damage them sufficiently - but these weapons should IMO be preserved for the main target. Another wish would be the ability to suppress air defenses, rather than knocking them out. Maybe time for adding it to the wishlist thread

On the diversion of AI aircraft, what happens when a carrier type vehicle is lost? Isn't there already some 'diversion' code in place, or will the planes/helos just crash when out of fuel? The percentages idea is great, though I believe raising the percentages per level would make sense. E.g. a plane that needs 1km for landing might have a good chance to land in 800 meters, but next to none in 400 meters. So for a vlarge plane landing on large, 2 %, same plane landing on medium 10%, on small 50%, on VTOL 100% (or whatever the runway sizes are).

What about the AI's usage of airfields? If the planes are destroyed, a scenario might be won by simply waiting for the AI to fail launching a number of planes (if that's a victory condition, of course). When planes are simply placed in the readying pool again, the sortie rate will go down without any hampering of victory conditions. So probably it's a backward compatibility issue argument Agreed, the engineer units repair capability was probably motivated by my ArmA II gaming as of late On the other side, the repair function could still be embedded in the installation, as you write above, and be dependent on the installations damage level. A 100% damaged/destroyed installation cannot fix any broken runways anymore, while a 0% damaged/full functioning installation still has a fair chance to do so.

Good discussion, also coming late to it! On the damaging/destroying planes upon takeoff/landing on a damaged runway: What about just restricting takeoffs and instead of destroying the aircraft simply place it as unready at the base again? This way the effect is not overly harsh and the unready probability can be correlated to the damage level of the runway(s). On the repair of damaged runways, what about introducing an engineering unit that can conduct this as special ability? Would be like the bridge building capabilities of engineers in other games. Based on their damaged level they would have a certain chance to fix a piece of runway or cut.

I've seen a report on TV where a researcher stated that the cold winters come from the high pressure zones over the arctic region. As it is warmer there than usual, arctic winds would bring the cold chill from the north to Europe and hence we experience colder winters. So it seems that global warming does not necessarily means it's warmer at all places at all times... for what it's worth.

Finished the scenario as well, but never got a victory screen. Might be because I used the launcher and could not even see the orders for the scenario any longer. Anyway, I destroyed all the bases and sunk all ships that I could find. Quite a massacre in the end. Here's the result: It was a good scenario and a successor for the backyard series. The F-35 was really the key player in the theater, otherwise things would have been much worse. The missile attacks did cost me a base in the end, when I let my guard down and did not shield the Japanese main island with a CAP screen anymore.

I'm still playing it. It's quite challenging to keep track of all events going on.

The Tornado flight sim had a really nice mission editor back in the day. I remember spending nearly as much time planning my strikes with it than delivering it. It was a great game for its time!

I think you can take any existing base and change it's position with 'ctrl p' or some menu function. Not sure if that's what you want, though.

Nope, they were just cruising around the Falklands. I tried to get the sub in place to have a go at the surface group, but it was too slow.

Basically you start a virtual computer inside your host system. You can connect the virtual computer to your real CD drive for getting the install medium. Most important keyboard short cut to know is right ctrl-alt - this toggles who gets the mouse pointer. When it is assigned to the virtual computer, you cannot use the mouse any longer to access your host. Right ctrl-alt unlocks the mouse pointer. For more details, please see the virtualbox user manual.

It's time to continue the struggle for the Falkland islands. While the Tornados are on their way to Mount Pleasant air base, the four eurofighters are standing in the hangars. Two are equipped for SEAD, the remaining two for precision long range with the Storm Shadow missile. Chances are slim that more Argentinian aircraft will show up, so the lack of dedicated interceptors is seen as a calculated risk. On Ascension the remaining four Typhoons take off on their way to the Falklands. The tankers setup on the path between the two islands. With these reinforcements the sinking of the Argentinian fleet soutwest of the Falklands should be easier. With the Typhoons on the way, the air base at Mount Pleasant is generating sortie after sortie against the invasion fleet. And ship by ship sinks in the ice cold water of the South Atlantic. Even before the reinforcing Typhoons make their first tanker contact, all of the Argentinian fleet is sent to the bottom. Overall 8 ships, 64 planes and 10 helicopters have been destroyed, in exchange for a damaged base and 2 lost Tornados. Time to bring the war to the Argentinian mainland. After a number of missions a standard formula of using 4 Typhoons with Brimstones, 4 with Storm Shadows and 2 Tornados with SEAD arming was found sufficient to level the bases. After the scenario time was exceeded, I got informed about a draw result. Not sure what else I should have done in the scenario?

Worked for me, I downloaded the db and the Falklands battleset from divefreak.

Back to the Falklands --------------------- The scenario starts with the Falkland islands somewhat armed and a section of four Eurofighter Typhoon placed on it. A small surface group is coming to the rescue from the northeast. A replenishment tanker is south of the islands, in range of the coast. Two Typhoons scramble and fly a criss-cross pattern north of the islands. Soon the first bandits are made out. With help of the AIM-120 medium to long range missiles the first Mirage IIIEs from the Argentinian air force go down. Meantime the second pair of Typhoons is launched and replace the guard. The first section of Typhoons goes back to base to replenish their AIM-120s. Quickly the second pair is engaging 6 small contacts, the shooting starts again beyond visual range. While all go down, the next wave arrives and the remaining six AIM-120 are launched. The flyboys have done their duty and are returning to base now. But not for long - on the way back the lonely enemy bandit starts to chase them. While an unpreferred method of engagement, the Typhoons head back and kill a Super Etendard. When 3 Orion are detected, the Typhoons complete their mission and shoot these down too. With all planes grounded a new blip shows up on the radar screen. A total of 36 Skyhawks is sighted over the islands, en route to the base. Now it's the air defense's turn and they down 6 of the attackers. In exchange for these losses the Mount Pleasant airfield is slightly damaged. Once the air raid sirens have stopped, the ground crews continue to make the four Typhoons airworthy again. Once the first pair of Typhoons is ready again, they go on station northwest of the island. Hopefully they will be able to deter any more incoming raids, either by sheer presence or action. During the wait for the next stage, accountants come up with 33 downed enemy planes for 1 damaged base. Not a bad day for the RAF so far. The next bandit is sighted north of Mount Pleasant. It seems the enemy shifts the axis of attack slightly with each wave. The two fighters quickly engage the opposing flight. Three more Orions plummet down to earth. When 28 targets appear, it is clear that the Skyhawks have returned. With the second pair of Typhoons now in the air, the turkey shoot continues. Nevertheless the brave A-4 pilots make it to the target and inflict more damage to the air field. Meanwhile two tankers from Ascension are on station and hopefully will allow that four Tornados make it to Mount Pleasant on the Falklands. The anti shipping armament of these birds might come handy. And indeed the Argentinian navy is close - a helicopter signal has been caught by ESM from a Typhoon. But the Tornados are at least 2000 miles away. While the first tanker fuels up the Tornado, the CAP over the Falklands takes care of the remaining A-4s. While no further air raids seem to be possible, the CAP continues to be on guard. While not exactly good sports, the Typhoons decide to recon the area where the helicopter signal was picked up and discover a hostile fleet. Quickly the helos are downed by the powerful AIM-120. When the Tornados refuel the second time, the two Typhoons at Mount Pleasant base are re-equipped with SEAD tasking. Together with the Tornados this should make a differnce for the surface fleet cruising southwest of the Falklands. The SEAD mission is somewhat successfull, with a few hits scored on the frigates and destroyers. Now the wait for the Tornados appearance starts. But first the ES-3 early warning aircraft arrives and refits. Now the picture on enemy movements is becoming much clearer. Nothing but the small task force southwest of the Falklands is close to the island. The Tornados finally arrive on the scene, after a very long trip. A trip too long it seems - the crews concentrate on taking down helicopters and misjudge the engagement range of the enemy air defenses. With great pleasure the Argentinians see two Tornados dissolve in a ball of fire. Quickly the remaining two birds release their anti surface missiles and head back to the Falklands. to be continued...

For running the editor win7 64bit I use virtualbox and have XP running inside it. Works like a charm. The virtual machine boots in almost no time and once booted I just suspend it when closing virtualbox.

File Name: Cam Pha File Submitter: TeTeT File Submitted: 6 Dec 2010 File Category: Custom DB Used: 65-80db Authors: TeTeT Battleset: Indochina Battleset-Custom: .scz - Custom BS - Custom BS Strike at Cam Pha This scenario is based on a strike by CVW-11 from Kitty Hawk in April 1966 and b est played as blue player. An aerial campaign called "Rolling Thunder" started in 1965 to strike targets in North Vietnam. For political considerations the campaign did not start with all out blows against infrastructure targets, but intensity increased over time. Th is gave the North Vietnamese the time to also increase air defense density and e ffectiveness over time. Now is the time to strike the North's supply lines. While the harbor of Haiphong is off limits for the "Rolling Thunder" interdiction campaign, the nearby coal port Cam Pha has been put on the target list. On the US side Carrier Air Wing 11 (CVW-11) stationed on CV Kitty Hawk is availa ble for the strike. On the North Vietnamese side MiG interceptors based at Kep a nd a tightly integrated air defense system over Haiphong and Cam Pha is in place . The target Cam Pha lies in Route Package VIb. 19th April 1966, CVA-63, CVW-11 Strike Cam Pha (ZXp) harbor and inflict considerable damage to the facilities. Intel has revealed that several SA-2 SAM and AAA batteries guard the harbour. Care has to be taken to at least suppress the SAM batteries while the strike is on target. Any shipping visually identified as hostile is a priority target and has to be sunk. Take care that no neutral shipping is affected by those strikes. Haiphong (ZYp) and harbor facilities are off limits. There is a 20 mile no fly zone around Haiphong for this strike. Kep airfield (ZZa) is also off limits for this strike. Aboard Kitty Hawk is a squadron of A-1 Skyraider. While carrying a huge bomb load these planes are considered unfit for combat over Route Package VIb and should be kept as a reserve in case need for any SAR mission comes up. Approximately 100nm north of the carrier group (AAC) a guided missile cruiser (Chicago) is on Red Crown duty, coordinating air interceptions (ABS). SAR coverage has to be provided by the carrier group (AAC) itself. It is recommended to send helicopters to Red Crown station (ABS), refuel them there and be on alert from there. Your strike force consists of Kitty Hawk and escorts (AAC) with CVW-11 A-6A for strike and SEAD VA-85 "Black Falcons" A-4C for strike and SEAD VA-113 "Stingers" A-1H for reserve and SAR VA-115 "Arabs" A-3B for tanker VAH-4 Det C "Four Runners" E-2A for AEW VAW-11 Det C F-4B for CAP and armed escort VF-114 "Aardvarks" F-4B for CAP VF-213 "Black Lions" RA-5C for recon RVAH-13 "Bats" UH-2 for SAR HC-1 Dl Unit C RA-3B for recon VAP-61 Det EA-3B for EW VQ-1 Det Chicago and escorts (ABS) Click here to download this file