BeirutDude -> RE: PT: Nicaragua Missile Crisis (Ver 08-13-2021) (8/15/2021 12:16:03 AM)
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Thanks for the play though and suggestions! Edited, as the original message was accidently posted before I finished ad QCed it. quote:
Setup I noticed that Surge was turned off but available for the player to turn on. I recommend either setting it to on from the start, or mentioning this in the description/briefing. I have to check on that when I get back into the scenario, I played with using sustained ops and maybe didn't turn surge back on. Thanks. quote:
I was somewhat surprised to see F-35As at a Naval Air Station (NAS Kingsville). I thought I had covered this in the Game Notes? Units were staging to the Gulf coast for days prior to the scenario starting. Have to check. Thanks. quote:
I enjoyed the inclusion of some US units I don't see much in scenarios - the E-4, AC-130 variants, and RC-135S were a treat to see in action! Yeah I had fun putting them in. Especially the E-4Bs. quote:
Purely as a matter of personal preference (not a critique of the scenario design), I'm not a fan of tracking hosted units in AFB names - I do that in a spreadsheet or word document, so I removed them from the airport names. Well just did this as a player aide. Not sure everyone follows with a spreadsheet as you do, so given the base density I figured it would help. Did the same in the Libyan War, 1986 and folks seemed to have liked it. Playthrough quote:
I stumbled into the SSN during the period of rising tension, about 8 miles away from the carrier and heading in the other direction. I started tailing it with the Alexandria, and taking it out was the first thing accomplished after the ultimatum expired. 4 ADCAPs might've been overkill, but it had stumbled closer to the carrier than I'd have liked. I don't believe the Alexandria was ever counterdetected. This set the stage for my playthrough, with lots of micromanagement during the successful strikes (and not enough during the failures). Glad you reported the SSN as being there, as it only has a 50% chance of appearance. So gald it showed up quote:
I tried a squadron-sized SEAD strike which, due to a lack of micromanagement, suffered approximately 90% attrition. I tried for a layered IADS so that sounds successful. quote:
CSG-9 threw its entire TLAM-C loadout against a Chinese airbase on the west coast, and inadvertently neutralized the majority of the Badger threat that I hadn't even known about. I wondered if that would happen. That happened in a playthrough I did as well. I'll tweak the Badger strike a bit, maybe increase the strike distance. quote:
AFGSC led a large cruise missile strike on unidentified mobile targets. It wasn't so coordinated as it should have been, and many expensive missiles were attrited, but it was respectably successful. Between all the JASSMs and TACTOMs, the majority of the targets were neutralized. Yeah, this is why I was playing with sustained ops. I think I'm going to have to load the magazines and loose the unlimited magazines. quote:
My score with 31 hours left to go (and after the UTC time when I had expected a strike to be launched) was 31275, which was 50% more than the threshold for a Triumph, so I called it. There were still a few PLA(RF) TELs left that might have launched their DF-100s. Questions quote:
During the rising tension, I noticed that the TEZ radius was not defined until it was violated. Was this intentional? The radius was defined in pop up messages both from POTUS and the Chinese Ambassador within the first hour of game play. Did you not get the popups? quote:
Does destroying the IRBM facility have any impact on the nuclear strikes that come if the launchers were not destroyed? No, their just additional VPs. The main points are the TELs quote:
It wasn't clear to me how to treat the Nicaraguan forces - should they be considered hostile or not? Explicit guidance on this in the briefing or an EAM might be helpful. I wound up attacking them anyways because I assumed their radars were integrated with the PRC's IADS, but realized after the fact that it might have been a mistake. No in either the briefing or one of the messages I do state the Nicaraguan and PLA have an integrated AD system. The Nicaraguans should have attacked you. They're pretty weak so you might just not have noticed them. Their bases and units aren't worth any points, their just the little guys in the way of the Titans. quote:
What's the role of Puerto Corinto in the scenario? It is the homeport for the PLA subs and is a target to be destroyed, worth VPs. quote:
Is there a reason there's no biologics off the east coast? Yes there are no hostile subs in the Atlantic thus why add extra units to slow things down on weaker machines. That's also why CSG-12 doesn't have any MH-60Rs on the aircraft carrier. quote:
Guidance about the diplomatic stances of Mexico, Honduras, Belize, and Guatemala would be helpful - is it permitted for aircraft or munitions to overfly them? So I kind of just assumed if there wasn't a no fly zone, it was fair game to the players to overfly. You make a fair point, commanders should have some guidance on this. I can add a message or section in the scenario notes for this. Impressions quote:
This is a very interesting scenario - it's got elements of Gulf War style SEAD/DEAD and Scud hunting, with a very condensed timeframe. It takes advantage of airframes in the database that I think are underappreciated. The world-building is fantastic - among the best of any standalone scenario I've played. Thank you, much appreciated. quote:
The unlimited munitions enabled me to throw many (probably an unrealistically large amount of) very advanced cruise missiles at the targets, and eventually the defense ran out of ammunition, since SAMs don't get unlimited magazines from the scenario feature. Yeah, something I already considered the unlimited magazines have to go. quote:
I think the difficulty of the scenario would increase significantly (and appropriately) if loadouts were more limited and/or if the defense had more reloads. Agreed the U.S. needs to be more limited. quote:
I'd suggest mobile ammunition trucks, not increased magazine depth in the SAM units themselves, to allow the player to create a hole in the IADS. I'm not sure that works. I did something like that once in the original Command version and the units didn't see the extra loadouts. I think they have to be in the magazines for the launchers to see them. So what you suggest might have to be a Lua script, and this one is petty heavy in Lua scripting now. I am not a Lua coder, that is for sure! quote:
I would play this version again as a sandbox, and am eager to play through any future revisions you care to make. Thanks for making and sharing an excellent scenario! Thank you Losses & Expenditures SIDE: China =========================================================== LOSSES: ------------------------------- 16x H-6G Badger [H-6M] 12x J-10C Vigorous Dragon 15x J-11B Flanker B [Su-27SK Copy] 5x J-20B Mighty Dragon 22x A/C Hangar (4x Very Large Aircraft) 1x Building (Medium) 1x Bunker (Comm Center) 1x Bunker (Missile Alert Facility (MAF)) 1x Radar (China JY-14 Great Wall) 1x Radar (China Type 120 [JY-29/LSS-1 Mod]) 1x Radar (China YLC-2V Mod [Type 305B]) 1x Radar (China YLC-2V) 1x 30mm China LD-2000 [Type 730] [Cargo] 8x 35mm/90 PGZ-07 SPAAG [Cargo] 15x DF-100 [Nuclear] TEL [Cargo] 12x HQ-16A [LY-80] TEL [Cargo] 3x HQ-22 TEL [Cargo] 9x HQ-64 TEL [Aspide, LY-60] [Cargo] 2x HQ-9B TEL [Cargo] 3x Vehicle (China HQ-64 Illuminator) [Cargo] 3x Vehicle (HQ-16 FCR) [Cargo] 1x Type 093 Shang EXPENDITURES: ------------------ 2x Generic Acoustic Decoy 142x PL-15 9x PL-10 18x 30mm China H/PJ-12 [Type 730, 240 rnds] 54x Generic Chaff Salvo [4x Cartridges] 22x 23mm Type 23-3 Burst [40 rnds] 1x Generic Flare Salvo [4x Cartridges, Single Spectral] 4x 1700 liter Drop Tank 1x 800 liter Drop Tank 90x HQ-12 32x SA-20b Gargoyle [48N6E2] 43x HQ-16A [SA-17 Semi-Copy] 14x 30mm Gsh-30-1 Burst [30 rnds] 40x HQ-9B 66x HQ-64 [Aspide, LY-60N] 28x HQ-22 142x 35mm/90 Twin Type-90 Burst [20 rnds, China Type 902 FC] SIDE: CONUS Aimpoints =========================================================== LOSSES: ------------------------------- EXPENDITURES: ------------------ SIDE: Nicaragua =========================================================== LOSSES: ------------------------------- 11x J-7C Fishbed [MiG-21 Copy] 15x J-8F Finback B [J-8II] 3x Radar (Bar Lock A [P-37]) 3x Radar (China HN-401R) 3x Radar (China HN-503) 2x Radar (China JY-8 Wall Rust) 1x Radar (China JY-8A Wall Rust) EXPENDITURES: ------------------ 20x Generic Chaff Salvo [4x Cartridges] 20x 30mm Type 30-1 x 2 Burst [30 rnds] 1x PL-8B [Python 3] 11x PL-12 5x 23mm Type 23-3 Burst [40 rnds] SIDE: United States =========================================================== LOSSES: ------------------------------- 3x B-1B Lancer 2x B-52H Stratofortress 1x F/A-18E Super Hornet Blk III 9x F/A-18F Super Hornet Blk III 1x F-35A Lightning II 4x F-35C Lightning II EXPENDITURES: ------------------ 173x AN/SSQ-62E DICASS 212x AN/SSQ-53F DIFAR 63x AN/SSQ-77B VLAD 4x Mk48 Mod 7 ADCAP CBASS 23x AGM-158B JASSM-ER [O-EMP] 15x UGM-109E Tomahawk Blk IV TACTOM 8x UGM-109E Tomahawk Blk IV TACTOM 66x RGM-109C Tomahawk Blk III TLAM-C 92x AIM-120D AMRAAM P3I.4 25x Generic Chaff Salvo [5x Cartridges] 4x AN/ALE-55 FOTD 103x RGM-109E Tomahawk Blk IV TACTOM 1x AIM-9X Sidewinder 8x AGM-154A JSOW [145 x BLU-97/B Dual Purpose] 6x AGM-88E AARGM 3x 480 USG Drop Tank 2x 330 USG CFT 1x AN/ALE-50 [RT-1646/ALE] 1x Generic Chaff Salvo [8x Cartridges] 8x RIM-174A ERAM SM-6 Blk IB 2x RIM-174A ERAM SM-6 Blk IA 88x ADM-160C MALD-J [Stand-In OECM] 44x AGM-84K SLAMER-ATA 1x AN/ALE-70 FOTD 5x AN/ALE-70(V)/T-1687 Expendable Decoy 132x AGM-158A JASSM [Penetrator] 24x AGM-158C LRASM 34x AGM-158B JASSM-ER 24x CBU-105 WCMD [CBU-97/B SFW, 10 x BLU-108/B Anti-Tank Bomblets] 40x GBU-39/B SDB SIDE: Biologics =========================================================== LOSSES: ------------------------------- EXPENDITURES: ------------------ EDIT: Possible Improvements quote:
- Make the road-mobile IRBMs mobile (put them on a support mission along their route and add them to the strike mission to fire them) I thought about that, at this point though I think it would mess up the scripting in the events. . quote:
- Communications jamming with EA-18s (implementable with Lua) I think it is heavily weighted in favor of the U.S. right now, so not sure about doing this. Also, did I mention I'm not a Lua coder? [:D] quote:
- Give the C-2s something to do This is up to the players. I usually give them a 2 ton loadout and use them for maritime patrol myself. quote:
- Based on the diplomatic situation, consider adding basing in Panama (even if only for VTOL) Again I considered Kingston Jamaica, Costa Rica and Panama for U.S. bases, but wanted to give the AI a fighting chance. Coming at it from all directions would, IMHO, really overwhelm things. Also one thing a learned about scenario design is you have to stop somewhere! [:D] quote:
- Consider adding satellites. I haven't needed to do any ABM work in this scenario yet, but would a MASINT satellite or two be helpful? That was one reason why the Tropical Depression is in the scenario with the heavy rainfall to limit satellites. I love and hate them, they are great for realism and surveillance, but they slooooooooow the game down at time. I might add a few as it seems to be unrealistic to not have them. Optical should be useless with the weather though. quote:
- Consider adding UAVs beyond the AAR ones embarked on CSG-12 (Personally I like the idea of an RQ-180 or RQ-4 or two because I think the player is a bit short on dedicated recce assets) Yes!!! I was going to add some at Key West Intl and forgot! Thanks. [:(] quote:
- Civilian/neutral nation air traffic/shipping This comes under the scenario design aspect of "does it really add to the scenario?" If there were PLA(N) surface units (and I considered some missile boats at the port) I'd add fishing boats/merchants, but does it really add to the main goal, which is an air/missile campaign over Central America. Given a crisis of this magnitude most civilian air traffic would have avoided the area, as would most merchants. So I see this as a drag on computer resources for little gain. My laptop is pretty much a beast and I configured it for Command, but there are folk playing on machines that this would slow waaaaaaaay down.
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