I don't know if anyone else has tried this scenario (I wasn't able to find any opinions/topics on it), but I have some observations that might be interesting, along with some questions.

First, the observations:

- Blue a/a weapons are very effective, especially those AIM-120s.

- Blue F-15s armed with the AIM-120s are a good counter to Iran's F-14 with the Phoenix, especially when "double-teaming" the enemy group. However, sometimes the F-14s will "sneak in" (maybe radar silent? but wouldn't my EW aircraft still see them), and then they can get easy kills.

- Red SAMs are VERY effective against everything: aircraft, HARMs, precision weapons, etc. Almost nothing gets thru. When I've played Harpoon in the (distant) past, I've always tried to "mass attack" using SEAD strikes of 10-12 aircraft heading in from multiple directions, and had good luck with this...but not here. I'm tempted now to send in some strikers at Very Low level with dumb bombs...I know that wouldn't be a real world tactic, but I can't think of what else to do.

-"Smart" SAMs: I had not encountered this in the past. The SA-10 shuts down when the strikers attack, letting the smaller SAMs destroy the bulk of the HARMs, etc...

- Distances make the strikes very difficult; almost every strike sortie needs tankers. Even then, some strikes are a real problem.

- Apache helis (in this scenario) are almost useless.

- I'm still experimenting with the use of the Heron (Global Hawk type unmanned plane) and the MC12 Liberty.

 

Questions:

- Is there a way to mark a point on the map? I found that the "map gridlines" option is greyed out.

- Is there a way of naming plane groups myself (so they are not some arbitrary designation)? I thought I remembered a way to do that from long ago...

- Is there a way of counting losses for both sides during the scenario? I'd like to see how many F-14s they have lost compared to how many F-15s I have lost.

 

Thanks for any help.

-

2 hours ago, rict said:

Questions:

- Is there a way to mark a point on the map? I found that the "map gridlines" option is greyed out.

- Is there a way of naming plane groups myself (so they are not some arbitrary designation)? I thought I remembered a way to do that from long ago...

- Is there a way of counting losses for both sides during the scenario? I'd like to see how many F-14s they have lost compared to how many F-15s I have lost.

 

Thanks for any help.

-

There is not a way to mark a point on the map.  I agree it would be useful, please start your Wishlist at https://harpgamer.com/harpforum/forum/35-wish-lists/

There isn't a way to name your plane groups.  I think this is the first I've heard that request since plane groups are pretty transitory in nature.  How long of a name would you want to enter?  You can rename units (other than planes) in the scenario editor; that's the feature that was added some years back.

Counting losses.  The good news is that the game keeps track of this (in a deadunits linked list).  Nothing at present exposes that list though I've done quite a bit of coding that is in the same realm and I have an interest there myself.  Again, this is a good item for a wishlist.  If you are willing to be a nearly thankless collaborator, let me know and I'll put you to work helping to make this happen.  

TonyE,

Thanks for the info. It's been so long since I've done Harpoon, I'm sure that some of the things I THINK I remember about it are probably incorrect, like a way to name plane groups. I was thinking I could name them like, "Yba sead", or "Zba F16 precision". Having them be just arbitrary names when I have several dozen sorties in the air is a bit confusing.

Why is the "map gridlines" option in the menu if it isn't available? Is it just available for some scenarios or is it a option that never worked?

Counting losses might be something I could help you with, although it's been a LONG time since I did any programming (assembly language on the 8086 back in the Stone Age: 1980's I believe).

 

We disabled the map gridlines when we added the WestPac BattleSet.  They were inaccurate in the other BattleSets and not functional in WestPac so we turned them off.  

Helping with counting losses looks more like describing what you want to see, mockups of some sort in Word or Excel would be a great start and then doing a whole lot of testing as I crank out test builds.

22 hours ago, rict said:

Thanks for the info. It's been so long since I've done Harpoon, I'm sure that some of the things I THINK I remember about it are probably incorrect, like a way to name plane groups. I was thinking I could name them like, "Yba sead", or "Zba F16 precision". Having them be just arbitrary names when I have several dozen sorties in the air is a bit confusing.

The Report window shows you the 'Mission' like Standoff.  Are you wanting that somewhere else as well, like right on the map under the Group Id?  If something like that would suffice, it may just be quickly doable.

broncepulido (the author of the scenario) would be in the best position to answer your questions about the design of the scenario itself, e.g. the SAM defences, etc.