A Capable Adversary, 2015 V1.0

[Dutchie999]

USA vs A Capable Adversary

This last half century we have seen military campaigns started by the United States against Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq again and Libya. In every single case the United States won the conflict swiftly and without serious losses. But to be fair it was never really an honest fight. Even in the case of Iraq in 2003. Although Iraq was said to have one of the most capable military's in the Middle East it was all just based on demoralized soldiers and old Soviet equipment. Anyone who before the start of the Iraq war looked up the Iraqi military on the internet could see that it was doomed from the very beginning. The US was fighting a war with next generation technology against a enemy with not last generation technology but from two generations before that. It was like fighting an enemy who was just transported here from 20 years ago.

But what if there was a country where the leader (read: dictator) wasn't such a idiot but a smart man. His country isn't blocked off from the rest off the world. There is a lot of trade and he has serious money to spend on his military which he uses the buy new and modern Russian equipment. His people do not fear or hate him but have a lot to loose if he is removed from power.

Then what would happen if the United States for some reason needs to go in? Would it still be such a 'cakewalk'?

[Dutchie999]

And the file....

[Coiler12]

Ok. I'll be fair but blunt. This is like too many first scenarios-an overlarge, poorly designed mess.


-Every aircraft has the designation "A".
-The briefing is very vague. Something this big needs to be a lot more detailed than just "blow up stuff".
-Finally, and most importantly, there are no events. So I can destroy all the Iranian vessels without any ill effects. I can lose all my fighters without any loss to the score, and I can destroy the enemy without any gain.

[Dutchie999]

ORIGINAL: Coiler12

Ok. I'll be fair but blunt. This is like too many first scenarios-an overlarge, poorly designed mess.


-Every aircraft has the designation "A".
-The briefing is very vague. Something this big needs to be a lot more detailed than just "blow up stuff".
-Finally, and most importantly, there are no events. So I can destroy all the Iranian vessels without any ill effects. I can lose all my fighters without any loss to the score, and I can destroy the enemy without any gain.

Thank you for your feedback Coiler12. If squadron names and detailed briefings are important to you then I will try to address that in a future update. The reason why I didn't include any events or build a scoring system is that I don't find it very important personally. For me this is not a game but a simulator. At the end of a scenario I judge the simulation by simply looking at my losses and expenditures and then figuring out if my result would be acceptable for the situation.

The reason why I build this scenario is to game out a scenario where a foe of the United States is seriously capable and not like the past conflicts is built on old soviet thinking and equipment. All the equipment I choose in this scenario are all currently being exported from Russia so it is quit realistic. We have not seen a war between the US and a similar capable state since WW2. So I thought that would be a nice scenario to play and see what would happen.

[Coiler12]

Even if you don't want scoring events, you should still have an auto-lose or at least some kind of penalty event for sinking an Iranian submarine.

[Tomcat84]

Couple of comments:

- I agree with Coilers comments on the "As" and some detailed briefings. It's not just about immersion for squadron names or anything, it also makes things a lot clearer. If you hit "o" to open the order of battle screen it is a cluttered mess haha. If you give different types different names it becomes a lot more organized.
- My biggest comment though is the lack of US assets. If the USA is going up against an enemy with A-50s, SU-35s and SA-21s then they are going to bring everything they've got. Where are the F-22s, RC-135s, B-2s, B-52s, B-1s, E-8s, Compass Calls, F-15Cs? They need them and they would bring them. Additionally, I think they would bring a higher number of the assets that you did put in.
- Your airfield in Saudi Arabia has no munitions in it
- Your Iraqi side are a bit unorganized. If I were you I would make several patrol missions in different parts of the country, assigning 2 RP legs and then adding more RPs for prosecution areas. Then they will look like organized CAPs. Now they are just one big beehive wandering around through each other, make sense? Also if you give your SAMs AAW patrols with a single RP (and tell them to hold position) you can give them prosecution areas so they dont waste all their shots on max range shots.
- If you expect the player to target the airfields I would not make them Single unit airfields but actually build them out of individual facilities (aka runway, runway access points, ammo dump, taxi way, parking spots, etc).

Hope this helps! It certainly has the possibility of being a cool scenario with some work!

[Dimitris]

Is this ready for release?