PongoDeMer
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Joined: 8/22/2008
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I bought my first PC in the early 90s, and the very first game I put on it was Harpoon. Sure, the game had its faults. For one thing, there were no restrictions on the type and quantity of munitions used, particularly if shore based and you could play any scenario without having to make changes using the formation editor because it had all been done for you. However, it was certainly compelling, and the graphics, although rudimentary, were effective. There was nothing like watching missiles slamming into your ships to concentrate the mind.
Various editions of Harpoon came and went, until finally Son of Harpoon - better known as CMANO - was released. This was a major step forward. However, it came with its own set of problems. the Mercator projection map had been replaced with a Google Earth style globe, which was a step forward. However, the graphics were non-existent. Harpoon's cartoon ships which showed hits had been replaced with a simple yellow star, and if you wanted pictures of the various platforms, you had to download and install them yourself. Worst of all, for anyone who hadn't worn a blue uniform, the learning curve was impossibly steep. All this made for a game that was difficult to engage with, although I made major efforts to do so.
Then came CMO. Both layout and map graphics had improved even more, but what really sold the game to me was Tacview. I had to change my Matrix version of the game to Steam to get the 50% discount for it, but once everything was up and running, it was a revelation as you could see everything that was going on in 3D, whether it was a torpedo circling a submarine, or planes manoeuvring in an air battle.
Another concerted effort was needed in order to get to grips with it all. I played my way through the tutorials, but they only helped up to a point. What really made the difference was the old Harpoon II strategy guide which I dug out of the attic. For anyone not familiar with it, the first section deals with the game interface and can be completely ignored. The rest of it covers real-life naval strategy and tactics, enabling people like me to get a real grip on stuff like sea denial, sea control and power projection. It also gives essential information on the difference between active and passive sensors and the differences in doctrine and kit between the Russian/Soviets and NATO. Although it dates from the 1990s, this publication is essential reading for any newcomer trying to get a handle on CMO. The only mystery is why no one has brought out an updated version for CMANO/CMO.
Anyway, I was now ready to try some of the many scenarios on offer and I decided to start with Northern Inferno. Why? because one of the highlights of my childhood was being invited on a Leander class frigate. It also seemed as good a place as any to start. So how does a thick as a brick former squaddie come up with a plan? What I ended up doing was putting in some serious homework via the platform browser. Every bit of kit on every platform had a set of values. However, these didn't give me the full picture. What I had to do was to go online to find out what each bit of kit was actually used for. This applied to both the NATO and Soviet platforms.
The first scenario was 'Opening Moves.' This concerned the ingress of Soviet submarines into the North Atlantic via the Greenland/Iceland and Iceland/UK gaps. The Sov's mission was sea denial. Mine was sea control. What struck me immediately was how poorly my ships were equipped to deal with attacks by submarines. The Victor II was a particularly nasty customer as it had nuclear missiles with a range of 22 nautical miles and torpedoes ranged 8. However, for all this nastiness to take effect, they had to detect me first. The key factor here was sensor range. Bear aircraft could detect my surface groups, but relaying the details to submarines would have been problematic, particularly as coming to periscope depth to communicate would have been dangerous, particularly with Mr Orion and Mr Nimrod circling overhead. The best sensors the Soviet submarines were fielding was the Shark's Tooth hull sonar with a range of 8 nautical miles. My strategy guide told me that a safety margin of 150% was needed, which translated to 12 nautical miles. If anything got closer to one of my ships than that, then I had a real problem. My most potent weapons were my Orion and Nimrod aircraft. These came with lots of sonar buoys, 8 torpedoes a piece, and some of them even had nuclear depth charges. EMCOM was set to passive for ships and active for aircraft.
I then sat back and watched what happened. I had a bad scare when something started firing missiles at USS McDonough, but fortunately, her defences were more than up to the occasion. I also moved her group in the general direction of away, as fast as possible! It worked. Whenever a submarine was located, I attacked by helicopter if close enough, but otherwise, let my planes handle it. The result was a triumph. I suffered no losses, and put a major dent in the numbers of the submarines that were trying to break into the Atlantic.
The next scenario was Goblin on The Doorstep. My mission was to get the Polaris submarine HMS Revenge to her patrol station. Tactically, this translated to sea denial by the Soviets, and sea control for me, although I suppose that Revenge's strategic mission was power projection. This gave me an entirely different set of problems as the waters Revenge had to cross were coastal and shallow, making detection of hostile submarines very difficult indeed, particularly if they were lying in wait on the bottom. My ships were HMS Plymouth, a type 12m Rothsay class frigate, HMS Leander, a batch 1 type 12 armed with Ikara, and HMS Matapan, a converted WW2 destroyer, who had quite useful sonar, but hardly any weapons. I also had half a dozen Sea Kings, based at RNAS Prestwick, plus five working Nimrods based at RAF Kinloss. The scenario presented me with a choice of routes to the patrol area. The obvious one was short and direct. The other route was long and indirect and involved heading north between some islands before passing through a narrow strait that led to the open sea. Being a sneaky customer who knows first-hand the perils of going via the obvious way, I decided immediately on the indirect route. My next task was to deal with the disposition of my forces. I set out a patrol zone 12 nautical miles ahead of Revenge marked our with rotating bearing reference points. I then set up an ASW mission for the Sea Kings to patrol it, with two aircraft on station at all times. Immediately behind this, I set up another patrol zone - centred on Revenge again - and assigned Leander and Matapan to patrol that. Finally, I set up a patrol zone behind Revenge, to which I assigned HMS Plymouth as tail-end Charlie. Mindful of what I had read about shallow coastal waters in my Harpoon guide, sonars and radars were set to active.
The scenario certainly got off to a lively start. Before Plymouth had reached her station, one of the contacts revealed itself as A Mayak intelligence gathering ship. Plymouth was tasked to deal with her which she did by gunfire. Almost immediately after that, something started firing an impressive barrage of missiles at her. My heart was in my mouth at that point, but Plymouth dealt with the attack easily via Seacat and jamming. The 'something' turned out to be a Papa submarine. Fortunately, there was a Nimrod on hand to resolve the situation. After that, the scenario progressed smoothly. When Revenge passed through the strait that reached the ocean, I set her sensors, and those of her escorts to passive. Shortly after that, she reached her patrol area and parted company with them. The Nimrods, which I had patrolling Revenge's patrol area and the approaches to it, set about locating hostile forces and dealing with them. More Mayak spy ships were encountered, and dealt with by Plymouth. The result? another triumph.
Next scenario is 'The Fast and the Furious.' On preliminary investigation, the Soviet invasion force is carrying an impressive amount of firepower. However, the Styx missiles comprising their primary armament have a minimum range of 4 nautical miles. Even better, the attacking force has to go down a narrow fjord before they get to Banak. The fjord is where I am going to take them, at knife fighting range, inside the minimum range of their missiles.
More later,
Pongo de Mer
< Message edited by PongoDeMer -- 2/28/2020 12:20:45 AM >
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Northern Inferno: First scenarios played with CMO - 
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