"To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (Submitted) (Full Version)

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BeirutDude -> "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (Submitted) (10/7/2020 12:26:38 AM)

New play test file in thread below...

Originally created under CMO Version 1.01, Build 1147.11 – Data Base: DB3000 487

This is my first attempt at a scenario utilizing Cargo Ops. The primary goal is the Amphibious Assault on Abu Musa and the Tunb islands. With the U.S. supporting the UAE claim to those islands during rising tensions with Iran. You have a crippled tanker you need to escort to safety at the beginning of the scenario but your main goal is to take Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb islands from Iran.

A MAJOR DESIGN GOAL was to keep the scenario's scope limited! So a lot of things you will think should be in there aren't! Please read the briefings closely most of your questions as to 'why" are answered! This is my second foray into this area. The first, my "Hormuz" scenario started with the simple question of, "what would happen if Iran mined the Straits of Hormuz?" Well from that simple question I created a monster that stretched from Pakistan to Iraq, had hundreds of merchant vessels, SSM's, THAADs, and is an absolutely unplayable mess (at least I don't want to play it ever again!). SO I made design decisions that you will question, most of the GCC is neutral and the U.S. is respecting that neutrality by basing the aircraft used solely from the UAE. Realistic? No probably not but it is a convenient fiction that solves a lot of problems with "Scenario Mission Creep!" Same with the "Subs, and Drones and THAADs, Oh My!" I could have added a lot more of them but again that wasn't the scenario goal. there are no USN SSNs or SSGNs (and who ever thought I could design a scenario without an SSGN!). So the idea is to keep things as limited to the Abu Musa area as possible and keep things as realistic as possible, while still playable.

Listen I am the king of the monster, unplayable scenario, AKA "Scenario Mission Creep," trust me, you will have fun blowing stuff up and launching the amphibious assaults.

BOTTOM LINE, please read the scenario description closely before you ask, "where is..."

Thanks,
Al



BeirutDude -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/8/2020 9:43:38 PM)

Anyone give it a go? Any thoughts?

I'm thinking of moving the Tanker, Tug and USS Billings, in four playtests they die, valiantly, every time! [X(] Has anyone saved them?. [&:]

Also I'm going to mix up the Aircraft loads a bit and maybe less HARM loadouts on the F-16s. Last night I took out every important radiating target on the islands with TLAMs leaving very little for the HARM aircraft to do before they got there.



FMBluecher -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/9/2020 2:41:49 PM)

I tried to give it a go briefly but initially bounced off it hard due to the sheer quantity of cargo to move. I'm also extremely inexperienced in Cargo ops, though, so it may be simpler than I think if I go back to it.

A couple of preliminary thoughts from my experience of just getting into the briefing and looking at my assets, but not pressing "go":

The US/UAE posture towards Iran is set to "Unfriendly" rather than "Hostile" by default--is this intentional? The briefing made it seem like we're already authorized to attack them. Not a huge deal, obviously, since manual designation/issuing attack orders works just fine, but it just seemed odd.

I would definitely move the ships. I haven't tried to defend them (since I never pressed "start"), but I already gave up on them just from looking at their positioning. I would be shocked if they were defensible.

I have a few suggestions for the briefing as well. Once is a clear typo ("lear" instead of "clear"), but the others are more subjective. Would you be interested in more detailed feedback, on some stuff that's not necessarily "wrong" but which felt off to me?



BeirutDude -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/9/2020 6:00:35 PM)

quote:

I tried to give it a go briefly but initially bounced off it hard due to the sheer quantity of cargo to move. I'm also extremely inexperienced in Cargo ops, though, so it may be simpler than I think if I go back to it.


I know I was put off by Cargo Operations for a long time, I actually had to force myself to learn it to design this scenario. That said it is not too bad, BUT you really need to micro manage the loading of the LCACs, LCU's etc. otherwise the AI will load as many of one type of cargo into a landing craft and it is better to split types (Like Tanks, LAVs, etc.) up. Otherwise it lands homogeneous units

quote:

A couple of preliminary thoughts from my experience of just getting into the briefing and looking at my assets, but not pressing "go":


Understood!

quote:

The US/UAE posture towards Iran is set to "Unfriendly" rather than "Hostile" by default--is this intentional? The briefing made it seem like we're already authorized to attack them. Not a huge deal, obviously, since manual designation/issuing attack orders works just fine, but it just seemed odd.


Intentional: you're right on the cusp of conflict with both sides eyeball to eyeball. So either you begin it or (as has happened to me most times) the A/I will take the first shot. The "Unfriendly" period only lasts about a half hour to hour.

quote:

I would definitely move the ships. I haven't tried to defend them (since I never pressed "start"), but I already gave up on them just from looking at their positioning. I would be shocked if they were defensible.


I did already to the south, SW of Abu Musa, also with new aircraft load outs as well. New file as of 10/10/2020 attached in thread below. I couldn't save them either! [:D] With last night's playtest the USS Billings dies to save the Tanker and Tug, but those two did make it to Abu Dhabi.

quote:

I have a few suggestions for the briefing as well. Once is a clear typo ("lear" instead of "clear"), but the others are more subjective. Would you be interested in more detailed feedback, on some stuff that's not necessarily "wrong" but which felt off to me?


Please do! Just remember, sometimes its not what you say but how you say it! [:D] [:D] Seriously, please if I can make the descriptions clearer that would be a good thing!



FMBluecher -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/9/2020 8:16:08 PM)

Gotcha, I'll try to find some time to take another look at it over the weekend.

The two things I remember from the briefing is the name of the Marine unit and the use of ellipses. Again, this is purely subjective, and feel free to disregard if you disagree, but it seems like most of the time that you use ellipses ("...") you could either use ":" or just write nothing at all. The Marine unit's name, IIRC, was written as "24th Marine Expeditionary unit/special forces capable" or something like that. I am not an expert on this, but I thought it would be designated "24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable)" (though I am not the veteran here![:D]). Also, bear in mind I'm just going on memory. [:)] If this seems nitpicky, that's because it is, and none of this is a deal-breaker or substantially affects the reader's ability to understand the briefing, so make the changes only if you want to!



BeirutDude -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/9/2020 8:46:13 PM)

quote:

"24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable)"


I'm So old we were the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit/SOF when I was assigned to the MAU! [:D]

As to ellipses, yeah that is a convention we use in my work and it bleeds over into my writing.



BeirutDude -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/9/2020 10:46:35 PM)

So I found the Iranian mission what was triggering the hostilities (An Air Intercept Mission). Fixed that and it's been running two game hours in pre-conflict mode. If that is stable I may move the crippled tanker back north a bit! It was always part of my thoughts that the U.S.-UAE Player needed to get them out of trouble before hostilities were initiated.



BeirutDude -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/10/2020 12:15:31 AM)

Some tweaks I made tonight, it's now a 12 hour scenario.

Added a No Fly Zone over Interior Iran to keep the AI from chasing F-14s into Interior Iran. You can still attack units along the coast.

So that will be with the next update.



DWReese -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/10/2020 12:28:24 AM)

Al,

As you know, I love randomization in games to keep them fresh.

As I understand it, hostilities won't start until the US side makes it happen. But, if you wanted to, and just to make it interesting, place a event timer and make it random to occur sometime between x and y, and if it hasn't occurred before, you could have the Iranian side go hostile BEFORE the US initiates its attack. That would throw a monkey wrench into their plans. Plus, if you randomizes it, the US will probably initiate the attack first anyway, but this way you won't KNOW for sure, and it will make it more fun.

Doug



BeirutDude -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/10/2020 12:40:04 AM)

quote:

As you know, I love randomization in games to keep them fresh.

As I understand it, hostilities won't start until the US side makes it happen. But, if you wanted to, and just to make it interesting, place a event timer and make it random to occur sometime between x and y, and if it hasn't occurred before, you could have the Iranian side go hostile BEFORE the US initiates its attack. That would throw a monkey wrench into their plans. Plus, if you randomizes it, the US will probably initiate the attack first anyway, but this way you won't KNOW for sure, and it will make it more fun.


Good idea! Maybe after an hour, that gives the U.S.-UAE player a bit of time.

BTW I shaved it down to 12 hours and even that is plenty of time.



DWReese -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/10/2020 10:27:47 AM)

Al,

That way, the US player (as he is working on "his plan" to initiate the attack as the aggressor, might suddenly be faced with that of being the defender instead because Iran has beaten them to the first punch. With the randomization timer set, you never know when it's going to happen, and it's not like you can wait all day to make sure that everything is "just perfect" before you begin hostilities. That puts some pressure on the US side to begin the attack sooner, rather than later. You could use a 1-3 hour window, so you would never really know when it was going to happen.

It might be fun.

Doug



Lukew -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/10/2020 11:48:16 AM)

This scenario won't open Error You have (explicitly or implicitly) attempted to load a database that does not exist on the DB folder.

What database did you use to create the scenario and where do I locate said database? Thanks.



BeirutDude -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/10/2020 12:16:03 PM)

quote:

This scenario won't open Error You have (explicitly or implicitly) attempted to load a database that does not exist on the DB folder.

What database did you use to create the scenario and where do I locate said database? Thanks.


Sorry, I created it with the BETA, CMO Version 1.01, Build 1147.11 – Data Base: DB3000 487 I usually don't design scenarios with BETA versions but because of an issue with Cargo Ops, that was corrected in the Betas, I had to this time.



BeirutDude -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/10/2020 12:20:32 PM)

quote:

That way, the US player (as he is working on "his plan" to initiate the attack as the aggressor, might suddenly be faced with that of being the defender instead because Iran has beaten them to the first punch. With the randomization timer set, you never know when it's going to happen, and it's not like you can wait all day to make sure that everything is "just perfect" before you begin hostilities. That puts some pressure on the US side to begin the attack sooner, rather than later. You could use a 1-3 hour window, so you would never really know when it was going to happen.

It might be fun.


Added.

Also added USS Whidbey Island (LSD-41) with 2 MH-53E MCM Helios and 4 Fleet CUSV MCM boats. As far as I can find, we only have four of them for experimental use but they are supposed to go into production? By 2021 have no idea how many we might have so have stuck with the four.



BeirutDude -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/10/2020 7:18:37 PM)

Please see below for finial(?????) version...



BeirutDude -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/10/2020 11:22:28 PM)

Now that's a fur ball! Not my best move, I got away from my plan and went overboard on my initial strike! [:D]

[image]local://upfiles/44561/7B8499DF9F314A15BA0F21A0DC9E8F03.jpg[/image]



KnightHawk75 -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/11/2020 5:21:49 AM)

That pic... "holy Toledo somebody had fun!", that said I've seen worse, but only barely at that zoom level. [:)]



BeirutDude -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/11/2020 12:34:00 PM)

quote:

That pic... "holy Toledo somebody had fun!", that said I've seen worse, but only barely at that zoom level.


It was, [:D] and the U.S.-UAE did pretty good but I lost a Tico! [X(] But after that strike was over I was within a 100 points of a Triumph before the Marines landed.

What I have learned play testing this scenario is you have plenty of time, and it's best to take apart the Iranians/IRGC piece by piece and role them back. I also don't mess with the Iranian mainland other than to take out some radars that are low hanging fruit.



BeirutDude -> RE: Play Test "To the shores of Abu Musa, 2021" (10/11/2020 12:39:58 PM)

Version on 10-11-2020...

OK after my last two play tests, unless someone see a huge fix, I think this will be the finial (?????) version.

Minor tweaks to be honest...

1. Added two Single Unit Ports in UAE and rebased some ships.
2. Moved the ships closer to the new ports. You have between 45 and 70 nm to sail to your targets and the ships (other than the rescue ops) were too close to Iranian SSMs
3. Fixed a few errors in the Iranian missions.
4. Adjusted the Iranian surprise [:D]



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