VictorInThePacific
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WestPac 2: Pirate War (BLUE)
I present this battle report as more of a walkthrough for inexperienced HCE players than anything else. I doubt that experienced players will get much from this.
Introduction:
This is a very simple scenario. The RED side has very little of anything. Most importantly, it has zero search capacity (unless the RED freighters function as scouts), while the BLUE side has excellent search capacity. I cannot imagine how any AI could accomplish anything for the RED side. In fact, I cannot imagine how even an experienced human commander could accomplish anything for the RED side, given its further weaknesses. RED has no planes and no subs (for practical purposes, and besides, do you really imagine that pirates will be operating a sub?), only surface ships, and these are equipped mostly with small arms and a few missiles. Therefore, this scenario will turn out to be pretty much a turkey shoot for the BLUE side.
Setup:
When the scenario starts, one or two (or occasionally none) of your groups will be under immediate missile attack. One of the groups (AJ) is a DD and a FF, so it will be safe. The other group is a freighter, which is liable to just sink. Personally, I don’t like scenarios where my units are being shot at before I even know what my force composition is, and I don’t believe that any combat vessel on anti-piracy patrol is going to let unidentified combatants get close enough to shoot, so I might restart the scenario until AJ is not under immediate fire, but it isn’t really important. Don’t worry about the freighter; you can’t expect to save it.
I recommend the following game options. Start by displaying the group, unit, report, and message windows, tiled, and resized so that the maps are as large as reasonably possible. Use textured land and water colors in the group window, and light land and water color in the unit window, otherwise you will have difficulty locating and selecting units. I also recommend displaying active and passive sonar range circles and surface and air radar range circles for your units and the enemy units. Bear in mind that you will never be able to detect enemy passive sonar, and often not the other three, so do not use that information if you want to be running a simulation. However, it is too tedious to keep resetting these options. There are many other significant game options, but I won’t discuss them here.
The Mission:
Your mission is to put an end to piracy in the area. However, there is nothing glamorous about these pirates. As you find out immediately, these “pirates” are trying to kill unarmed civilians. That makes them terrorists. Personally, my attitude towards terrorists is that they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the weapons at your disposal.
Protect all tankers at all costs. Protect all other units as best you can. I believe that losing any tanker means you lose the scenario, while you should be able to lose at least one other civilian vessel without losing the scenario. If you lose any non-civilian unit, hang your head in shame.
Battle Report:
As this particular scenario starts, we see one “hostile” unit to the west and one unidentified sub in the NE. However, DO NOT shoot the “hostile”. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirate0.png
My first priority is to deal with the sub. When we have a look at surface unit AA, we see that it is about to cruise right over top of this unidentified sub. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirate1.png Not a good plan. Personally, I don’t believe that the pirates will be operating a sub, so I don’t expect to be shooting at it, but to avoid accidents, let’s just evade the sub for now. Stop the ships, change course, and move north at about 10 kn once the course change has taken effect. We’ll come back to this later.
The second priority is to get some AEW planes in the air. Our airbase is Changi, Singapore. There are 2 Hawkeyes there. One can go west, the other east. Changi has 2 runways, so both can be launched at once.
While we’re looking at Changi, we note the presence of 4 attack helicopters and 4 fighters, as well as a tanker plane. There are 2 combat options available to the Apache. Besides the standard weapons, you can carry 2 rocket pods (17 damage) or 8 ATGMs (3 damage). The Patrol option seems to be more flexible. The fighters have a lot of options available. The SEAD option looks pretty good right now, and besides, we don’t have time to mess around with that stuff, because those fighters need to be ready to fly in seconds. What the fighters don’t have is a surface search radar, so they won’t be able to locate or ID ships very easily.
Less than a minute after the scenario starts, before we’ve even had a chance to figure out what units we have, we lose one. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirate2.png But do not lose heart, this is going to be our only casualty!
At about this time, and many times thereafter, we are asked to turn on the radar of a surface group. Well, I refuse. The fact that some freighter (Fortune Victory) is scanning me is not enough reason for me to reveal the presence of my combatants to any pirates that might be in the area. Unfortunately, I will need to keep refusing this offer over and over again. I do hope that that freighter is not a pirate scout!
Shortly after the Hawkeyes launch (and their radars are turned on), we detect 4 “hostile” surface groups. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirate3.png Now we’re in business! The next step will be to fly close enough to get an exact ID. After that, the general procedure will be, if it shoots, kill it, if it moves too fast, kill it (it’s probably not a freighter), and if it looks like it might shoot or move too fast, kill it.
Surface units AG and AF rate immediate fighter support. We want to make sure that we shoot down incoming anti-ship missiles. Send one Falcon each.
A few seconds later, we actually spot a missile still in flight, heading for the sinking freighter AH. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirate4.png We can see where it’s coming from, even if we don’t quite know who launched it. The unidentified “hostile” surface groups ZP, ZU, ZW, and ZT all appear to be moving fairly slowly, so they are most likely freighters.
It’s now about 5 min into the scenario, and there is no immediate crisis. Time to check out what units we have. Surface group AJ in the far NW is one DD and one FF, carrying two helicopters. Surface group AO in the far SE is two FFs, carrying two helicopters. Surface group AB in the middle is one DD, carrying one helicopter. Surface group AA is a 5-ship CVH group carrying 20 aircraft of different types. We also have Changi. We also have a bunch of freighters. And we also have a land base of some sort; I have no idea what that can be used for.
8 min into the scenario: Refine the courses of the Hawkeyes to scan as much of the water as possible; we don’t know how close to ships we have to get to get an exact ID.
9.5 min into the scenario: We start to ID some combat units (ZY). http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirate5.png They are moving faster than 30 kn. Also, the sub unit ZZ is now “hostile”.
The Boghammers have a serious weakness: they only carry small arms, which only work out to 1 nm. They are also very small. Our attack helicopters, with 4 nm-range ATGMs, will kill Boghammers in batches. However, there is also a PTM Kaman in this group, which might be able to do bad things to a helicopter. So we will hit this one with something more substantial (a couple of anti-radiation missiles), and then send in the helicopters. Send one Falcon and one Apache from Changi. We’ll teach them to kill innocent civilians!
We next get an exact ID on surface group ZW. Although it is moving fairly slowly, it consists of combat units. While we haven’t actually seen them shoot anybody, we believe that they might do so at some point in the future, and that we cannot allow. So that group, which consists of Boghammers and one PTM Hegu, will get the attention of another Apache from Changi. A Hegu is too small and weak to need anything more powerful. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirate6.png
Bombs away! We take our first shot. F-16 Falcon launches 2 x ARM at PTM Kaman. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirate7.png
At the same time, we note that Hawkeye unit AS is getting too close to “hostile” unit ZU and still doesn’t have an exact ID. The Hawkeye needs to stay some distance away to avoid accidents, and it has to keep scanning other areas.
18 min into scenario: 2 missile hits on Kaman. Good-bye, Kaman! http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirate8.png The Falcon still has (only) air-air missiles left. We will keep it in the air for a while, instead of sending it back to base for more anti-surface missiles.
While we wait for the Apaches to arrive, we decide that, except for the warships that are avoiding the submarine, the other warships are in pretty good locations, so they might as well stop and act like static fire bases. Speaking of subs, now would be a good time to figure out what that sub is doing. We should use a Merlin from surface group AA, because it has lots of everything an ASW helicopter should have. Unfortunately, all the Merlins are loaded with combat supplies right now. Change some of them over to the ASW role. Send a Lynx instead. Also, all the fighters in group AA are ready only for the air-air role. Convert one of them to carry some (relatively) long-range anti-ship missiles (ARMs).
After the Lynx drops several sonobuoys, the sub is revealed to be a Guppy. It doesn’t appear to be a very substantial opponent – it doesn’t have long-range weapons, and it’s quite slow, so I think my carrier group will simply avoid it. Anyway, I don’t really think that the terrorists are operating a submarine. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirate9.png Note that the Guppy is stationary, and it appears to remain stationary throughout the scenario.
40 min into the scenario: the first Apache arrives to become judge, jury, and executioner. 2 Hellfires: good-bye, Hegu! http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateA.png After that, the Apache just continues to kill the terrorists one by one safely without much further human intervention. It drives up to the next boat, stops, shoots, and repeats the process until there are no more boats. After that, with only autocannon left, the Apache is RTB.
45 min into the scenario: Surface group ZU is determined to be all freighters. New surface contact ZQ consists of Boghammers and Houkus. A PTM Houku can’t really hurt an attack helicopter, but it is quite large (45 damage points seems too large for a patrol boat !). On the other hand, a Houku mounts a pair of 50 nm anti-ship missiles, so we’d better kill them quick. DD Akebono is close by, so it will contribute 2 SS missiles per Houku (leaving 2). Its helicopter, a Seahawk, will be readied with Hellfire ATGMs, which will take 30 min. We are also sending one of the Falcons that has been floating around for a while. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateB.png Soon thereafter, one missile hits each Houku; group ZQ is now down to 4 Boghammers.
70 minutes in: Surface group ZY has been eliminated. The Apache that did that is RTB. The Hawkeye that was loitering nearby continues on down the channel. The Guppy hasn’t moved at all since it was ID’d. Surface group AA, more than 25 nm away, stops moving.
85 min in: Seahawk on the Akebono is now ready. Send it to kill surface group ZQ.
1 h 45 min in: Group ZQ is eliminated. On the far left, Hawkeye has certified the entire Strait of Malacca clear of terrorists. Surface groups ZT and ZP are assumed to be civilians because of low speed. Akebono will have a closer look at ZP. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateC.png
Let’s look at what our helicopters are doing. On the left, the helos of surface group AJ have reasonable loadouts; and it’s not really obvious that they should be changed. On the right, the Seahawk on FF group AO will be loaded with Hellfires; these seem to be very useful in this scenario. We have already dealt with the carrier group and the Akebono. OOPS ! The carrier group aircraft orders got screwed up and didn’t execute. Do it again; it will take 30 min.
2 h 5 min in:
BAD NEWS !!! There is a Boghammer (and 3 more) 6 nm from one of my tankers ! HOW DID THEY ELUDE DETECTION ??? SEND AIR SUPPORT NOW !!!  Fortunately (such as it is), they are charging another tanker that is further away.
Sent:
The last Falcon from Changi, on afterburner (BOA). One Falcon that was returning to base for more fuel (ATA). One Apache from Changi. Akebono’s Seahawk, with its SS radar (BJH). One Lightning interceptor from the CVH, on afterburner (BQA). The KC-135 from Changi. The last 2 anti-ship missiles from the Akebono. The CV group is also in Harpoon range, but we won’t use those yet. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateD.png
Less than 5 minutes later:
Will we survive this? Fortunately (such as it is), there are no missile-armed ships in RED group ZO. A Boghammer must close to 1 nm before it can shoot. It travels at 45 kn. The nearest Boghammer needs to close by 9 nm. That’s 1/5 h or 12 min. The nearest missile from the Akebono will arrive in less than 4 min. The nearest Falcon is already in range. It will withhold fire, but continue to close (on cruise) until we see what the Akebono’s missiles do. (The tanker is also fleeing at 15 kn, which gives us more time.) The Apache will not make it in time, so we have only 6 missiles to kill 4 ships. The hit probability is at least 75% for each missile, but we have to carefully allocate targets, without duplication. With careful allocation, we expect to kill 4.8 ships.
I changed my mind on the Harpoons. I want overkill, even if it wastes big weapons. Launch one Harpoon at each of the 2 closest Boghammers from the nearest FF (Duke).
2 h 10 min in: Falcon AT launches 2 x ARM at the nearest Boghammers and heads for Changi. With a boat this small, any missile hit will sink it, even if the warhead doesn’t explode.
Falcon AT is 51 nm from Changi. It only has 48 nm of cruise left, and we haven’t included actual landing time. It’s not enough. Time to figure out how in-flight refueling works. Group the thirsty plane with the tanker (this misses all the fine points of the process, but what the hey). I think they both have to be loitering at the same altitude. That’s all!
2 h 11 min in: Falcon AT loiters at medium. KC-135 is still a few miles from the refuel point (looks like 8 nm; I will go for 5 nm). That seems like a long distance for refueling, but what the hey.
2 h 12 min in: KC-135 (BR) loiters at medium, and joins Falcon group AT. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateE.png Falcon has only 33 nm of fuel left. One ARM hits (kill); one misses.
2 h 13 min in: Both Akebono missiles hit, but one of the targets was already sinking. Two Boghammers have been killed for 4 missiles used. I will need to delay firing the 2 remaining ARMs until after the Harpoons arrive. That will be in 7 min. The nearest Boghammer now needs to close by 10 nm at 45 kn (effective 30 kn), which will take between 15 and 20 min. The Apache (BP) needs to close by 80 nm at 180 kn and still won’t get there in time.
In the meantime, flying the Seahawk over group ZP has revealed that these are freighters.
A note about the refueling process: The 2 planes were grouped at 48:28. The refueling process started 60 s later. The process was completed 30 s after that. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateF.png
Ungroup the tanker and send it back home for more fuel. You might want a KC-135 to be able to do more than refuel just one fighter, but that’s a detail.
2 h 14 min in: Send Akebono’s Seahawk back home for more weapons. The Lightning, with its excellent radars, has arrived.
It’s time to start thinking about the undefended SE area. Send an available Lightning (air-air only) from the CVH group. Use its search radars.
2 h 21 min in: Both Harpoons hit. Terrorist group ZO has been eliminated. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateG.png And they did cause some terror before their demise. Secure from general quarters. Send Lightning BQ to search the northern areas. It has excellent radars. The other units can loiter.
A general comment on tanker routes: It’s not obvious what each of these ships are supposed to do, but they may have to reach specific destinations. Therefore, if you have to change course for any of these ships for any reason, take care to not clear the original course.
2 h 23 min in: A Lightning with anti-ship missiles is now available on the CVH. Send it to the SE, where we have very few assets. A Seahawk with Hellfires and 2 frigates (AOS) are all we have to fight ships down there so far, with a Hawkeye (ASA) searching. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateH.png
Now might be a good time to increase the game speed.
2 h 36 min in: More bad news.  In the undefended SE region, an unescorted tanker is under attack. I suppose I could have sent some air support over this way earlier, but we were pretty busy elsewhere. There simply are no useful assets in the area, besides what has already been mentioned. The 4 fighters from Changi are either rearming or otherwise unavailable. Almost all of the attack helicopters are out of range. The 2 Lightnings on the way could fly a bit faster, but not yet - you don’t get much for military throttle setting with these birds. Turn off that siren, already! http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateI.png
Surface group AP needs to flee, not the missiles, but the ships behind the missiles, at top speed. But insert a new course leg - don’t lose the base course.
2 h 37 min in: One of 2 missiles hit! 8% damage! We laugh at this! On the deck of the supertanker World Empire, the crew are on deck, capering, making obscene gestures in the general direction the missile came from, and shouting their favorite taunts. Those that aren’t on damage control, that is. A new contact appears east of the frigates, closing at 18 kn. Assume this to be hostile for now. The frigates move to the west at cruise, both to avoid this new potential threat, and to help the World Empire. Time to launch the Seahawk from FF group AO. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateJ.png
2 h 38 min in: More bad guys are located.
2 h 39 min in: My main asset is Lightning BX, 220 nm away, traveling at 580 kn. It will take this unit 11/29 h (22 min) to arrive. The nearest terrorists are 18 nm away from World Empire, closing with a delta v of 21 kn. The most threatening unit may be a PTM Kaman, with a 7 nm-range 76 mm gun. That gun will start shooting in 30 min. The Seahawk will take about an hour to arrive, in a stern chase. The frigates don’t have long-range missiles. Still, the World Empire is huge, and it will take a lot to bring it down. Ready the final Lightning on the CVH for anti-shipping strike (SEAD-LR). This will take 30 min. One Falcon from Changi will be available in 18 min. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateK.png
The Boghammers could split off from the slower Kaman and close faster, but the AI can’t do that, and it may not be such a good idea anyway, without proper search capacity.
Now we just wait, for about 15 min game time. In the meantime, the Hawkeye in the far west will loiter and watch for new ships entering the Strait of Malacca.
Any one of the hostiles probably has enough firepower to sink the World Empire. Therefore we need to sink all 4, with only 4 ARMs. Hit probability is 85% (unmodified), and that gives a 52 % chance of sinking them all. Missing once is 37%. Correction! Actually, the Boghammers expect to do 61 damage, and the Kaman expects 82, so this isn’t so bad. Unfortunately, the Kaman has point defense, so 1 missile does not expect to kill it. The first Lightning will fire at the 3 Boghammers with one ARM each, saving one missile until after the first results are known.
2 h 58 min in: One Falcon ready at Changi. Scramble! It needs to be given “patrol” orders, because the target is too far away for the “attack” order to work. Refueling may be necessary. There isn’t much point in flying faster than cruise, because it won’t get there in time anyway.
3 h 1 min in: New unknown surface contact.
3 h 2 min in: Bombs away! Note the hostile land unit on the little island west of Borneo. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateL.png
3 h 4 min in: 2 Boghammers are sunk. Now we have a dilemma. Do we maximize our chances of killing the last Boghammer, or do we risk letting both units survive? I launch 1 ARM at the remaining Boghammer.
3 h 6 min in: The last Boghammer is sunk. Launch remaining ARM at Kaman.
3 h 7 min in: Kaman is sunk !!! The World Empire has been saved !!! http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateM.png
Just kidding. I don’t need that perfect result, because a) the expected damage from one of these little boats doesn’t really worry a supertanker, and b) :
<reloading from 3 h 6 min in>
3 h 7 min in: The last missile misses the Kaman !!! The World Empire is in peril !!!
Now a strange thing happens. PTM Kaman is on course 330, so it is not on an intercept course with the supertanker. But its radar is on, and the supertanker is in easy radar range. Visibility is 21 nm, and the ships are separated by only 12 nm. Is their morale broken? http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateN.png
3 h 10 min in: Lightning with anti-radar missiles ready on the CVH. Scramble! It will take slightly more than 1/2 an hour to arrive. The Seahawk will arrive in about 20 min.
3 h 12 min in: The Hawkeye that was loitering nearby moves off to search elsewhere. One Falcon with ARMs is now ready at Changi. We’ll save this one for a rainy day.
3 h 21 min in: KC-135 ready again.
3 h 24 min in: Hawkeye in SE is at bingo fuel. It has 160 nm of discretionary fuel left. It’s not going back home quite yet. Track this one carefully.
3 h 27 min in: What’s this ??? Hostile land units? 6 nm away from the unexplained ground base-thingy? Kill !!! http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateO.png The Seahawk on the Akebono (AB) is tasked with this task. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateP.png
3 h 35 min in: Seahawk has arrived to discuss terms with the Kaman, which is still headed off in an unexplained direction. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateQ.png
3 h 36 min in: 3 of 4 Hellfires hit. Kaman is sunk. The World Empire returns to its original course. Seahawk returns to base.
3 h 39 min in: more bad guys.
3 h 42 min in: Send Lightning CC do deal with groups ZL, ZN. http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateR.png
(With 4 missiles, it manages to sink only 1 of 5 Boghammers.) And all those ARMs I’m carrying around can’t be used against land units. And the attack helicopters have pretty short range. Akebono’s Seahawk doesn’t do much damage, either.
4 h 4 min in: Victory ! http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateS.png
To deal with the land units in the south, ready one Falcon with bombs (Precis) at Changi. To deal with the 4 Boghammers in the east, ready one Lightning with ARMs on the CVH. To deal with the little island base, ready one more Falcon with bombs (GP).
Later …http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww33/VictorInThePacific/pirate/pirateT.png
< Message edited by VictorInThePacific -- 1/12/2009 4:39:29 AM >
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WestPac 2: Pirate War (BLUE) - 
(That means I liked it).
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