Playable as BLUE only.

 

As with French Titan, I would over the moon if someone\some people could give this a test run and provide me with some feedback, I would be very grateful for any information that will go towards making this a quality scenario!

 

Lets hope this one turns out as nicely as French Titan did!!!

 

Cheers

Operation_Philippine_Crunch_V101.zip

Playable as BLUE only.

 

As with French Titan, I would over the moon if someone\some people could give this a test run and provide me with some feedback, I would be very grateful for any information that will go towards making this a quality scenario!

 

Lets hope this one turns out as nicely as French Titan did!!!

 

Cheers

 

Terry,

 

Since you bumped the French/UK one to public before I had a shot, I'll move this one up for the weekend and provide whatever feedback I come across.

Okay, was lucky enough to take this one for a spin tonight.

 

Taking the 'in all due haste' idea a little far, I pressed on my advance when my armor came under artillery barrage. It wasn't 20 minutes into the scenario when Red was given minimum victory. My armor was slaughtered by artillery and T-72/BMP action. All I had left on the ground was my USMC Landing Team. Since there weren't any grunts left it was up to the cooks and higher ups to save the battle. And boy did they!

 

Red artillery eventually stopped firing so Blue artillery took over, halting the Red advance and with the help of air power from attached USMC Harrier, to UAVs, to F-111, Red withered due to lack of air superiority (some Flankers threatened but none penetrated to the ground battle.

 

At sea an AGI was found, hit with Maverick, sunk with Harpoon. Shortly afterward two missile boats showed up and were both dispatched by 3 Harpoon a piece (which ended up not being severe overkill).

 

With 31 hours, 41 minutes to go I was awarded total victory, and my artillery was still pounding away at the renewed Red armored thrust (very well crafted btw!, if not for airpower the headquarters guys would have been overrun and destroyed).

 

I kept playing a while longer, air wiped out that two pronged Red attack and it was all down to fencing off Flankers and pounding the Red airfield to dust (aka taking it over).

 

 

My thoughts:

This was a fun scenario, it was my first really valuable use of UAVs as scouts and hellfire platforms. I faced a variety of threats but the focus was plainly on the land battle for me. The real shortcomings imho are with the UI and game engine, fine navigation on the WestPac map is difficult, targeting of ARMs againts some of the Red groups may have been strange (I'm hoping Brad nails it down), but otherwise I can't say I'd change anything. The sea-threats could have been more pronounced, maybe initial position saved me but I didn't feel overly pressured at sea. I thought that was perfect, a reminder that other threats were present but they didn't take away from the land battle.

Just a few short comments on this one:

 

1. Your choice of Benito and Basa as the BLUE and RED bases, respectively, worked very well. Here's why:

 

You provided an AEW&C asset but limited its utility - I placed the E-3 at the northwest tip of Panay island and kept it there, just out of the reach of the Chinese Flankers but only providing minimal coverage over the US Navy SAG, ground forces and the enemy base at Basa. You did an equally good job at providing fighter coverage in the way of the F-16s (Block 30 and ADF variants) whose endurance permitted them to strike at Basa but not to loiter there for extended periods.

 

The Predator UAV had limited utility given its basing at Benito but it wasn't a critical asset and I used it only to perform peripheral recon and patrol around Benito itself. Ditto with the UH-60s, although these could have been equipped for ferry and flown out to the Tarawa easily enough.

 

2. Limiting the strike and fighter assets worked very well.

 

By providing only a handful of F-16s and F-111s I was forced to use the Vipers in the swing role (air defense and ground attack in the same mission). Likewise I held back the Aardvarks until I knew that the air defenses around Benito had been sufficiently reduced and there were F-16s available to perform escort for them. They were too precious to risk otherwise.

 

3. Chinese Flankers

 

The Flankers are one of the few fighter types that have the range and endurance to leave the mainland and reach out into the Philippines, enough to threaten my operations there. Especially my helicopters. I lost a pair of SeaCobras to Flankers when they were caught returning to the Tarawa without any F-16s overhead. I did not send helos ashore again without timing their sorties with that of the F-16s. Good lesson.

 

4. Chinese submarines

 

The use of biologicals in the subsurface arena forced me to deploy ASW helicopters to search out POSSUB (possible submarine) contacts. Even in the face of the Flanker threat. I had an enjoyable engagement between a Los Angeles class SSN and a Chinese Han that fortunately ended in my favour.

 

5. Chinese air strikes

 

A flight of enemy Hind attack helicopters appeared almost immediately after scenario start, but these were ravaged by Avenger air defense systems. This was (unfortunately) the only air attack that threatened me for the entirety of the scenario. The Su-24 Fencers on the mainland never launched. Adding some of them to the formation patrol may cure this problem. However, I would suggest substituting the Fencers for a Su-30 variant (some of these have impressive endurance and weapons capabilities), because the Chinese have never operated the Su-24. You might also add a handful of H-6 Badger bombers or at least a chance of them appearing.

 

6. Enemy ground forces

 

The enemy armor, artillery and air defense formations around Benito were thick and if I hadn’t softened up the 152mm tube artillery with Harriers and helicopters, they probably would have inflicted serious damage on my advancing ground units. In the event, I held them back until I could not see any more Red arty. After that, it was largely a mop up operation. I understand that the Red arty had variable start points, so perhaps I was lucky that they were a little exposed. Possible considerations include: moving the Red arty back behind the armor and air defense; or maybe adding a hidden Red arty (or multiple rocket launcher) battery further back.

Just a few short comments on this one:

 

5. Chinese air strikes

 

A flight of enemy Hind attack helicopters appeared almost immediately after scenario start, but these were ravaged by Avenger air defense systems. This was (unfortunately) the only air attack that threatened me for the entirety of the scenario. The Su-24 Fencers on the mainland never launched. Adding some of them to the formation patrol may cure this problem. However, I would suggest substituting the Fencers for a Su-30 variant (some of these have impressive endurance and weapons capabilities), because the Chinese have never operated the Su-24. You might also add a handful of H-6 Badger bombers or at least a chance of them appearing.

 

FIXED! SU30 attack aircraft have now replaced the Su24's and are in the formation close to base so that they can be re-routed should the player reveal his TF. Also a nasty Badger surprise has been installed re our conversation on iRC

 

6. Enemy ground forces

 

The enemy armor, artillery and air defense formations around Benito were thick and if I hadn’t softened up the 152mm tube artillery with Harriers and helicopters, they probably would have inflicted serious damage on my advancing ground units. In the event, I held them back until I could not see any more Red arty. After that, it was largely a mop up operation. I understand that the Red arty had variable start points, so perhaps I was lucky that they were a little exposed. Possible considerations include: moving the Red arty back behind the armor and air defense; or maybe adding a hidden Red arty (or multiple rocket launcher) battery further back.

 

FIXED! I have now adjusted the postioning for all the alternative start points and the original to a safer area and I have also added the chance that a reinforcement battery of BM-21s will show up and attempt to join the battle later on if the player is not decisive enough in his\her actions.

 

Other changes:

 

- Spellings corrected in orders file. (Marine is now spelt with a capital M... PETE! <g> )

 

- Order file adjusted to include more details and hints as to what the viConds required under the ORDERS heading.

 

- Blue Min Vics removed as these were not neccesary and causing problems with early total victory. (Dont ask)

 

- Red Min OR Vic has been adjusted to allow slightly more attrition on Blue ground forces since the enemy presence is so strong.

 

Wow what can I say but thank you for those marvellous comments, the support I recieved with French Titan and now this has been un-measurable and I am to say the least shocked at the positive responses ive recieved so far for both scenarios!!!

 

Tony - Im really pleased you had fun with that scenario, I hope later improved versions will give you even more fun if you ever play again, especially since there is ALOT of randomness built into this already.

 

So for your sins Brad... V1.2 of this scenario is now availalbe for anyone wishing to test it... those of you who have started on V1.1 please continue to play that version as these were only very minor tweaks and opinions and thoughts are still very much valid in that version!

Operation_Philippine_Crunch_V102.zip