New Scenario for testing NF 10.4 BUFF Stampede

[Gunner98]

OK here is the next segment.

This scenario is playable by NATO:

You are to conduct a short, sharp bomb run of key facilities remaining on Iceland while transiting the 2nd Bomber Wing to bases in England. Your bomber wing is comprised of 3 Squadrons of B-52’s and has been augmented by a Squadron each of B-1’s, EF-111. F-16 Blk 40 and several squadrons of tankers. As well as support from elements of 2nd Marine Air Group (2MAG), and a U-2, the ‘Spirit of Missouri' one of 8 operational B-2’s will make that types combat debut (in the Northern Fury World).

As always very interested in your comments and critiques.

Enjoy

Ver 1.1

-Changed all the F-16CGs to AMRAAMs, you now have 32 more to deal with the Sovs
-Changed up the 'Silver Eagles' from Nuuk and dropped a couple SEAD loadouts & added some Aim-7 escorts
-Added a handful of 'Bengals' from Sondrestrom with a mix of SEAD & Aim-7 escorts
-Changed up the load in most of the B-52s. Left some low Altitude stuff for the end of the train as I think there are targets out there that warrant it. May have to be waved off if AAA is still too heavy
-Cleaned up the sonobouys
-restricted the Sov intercept mission - slightly
-Cleaned up some of the old events
-Kept the RC-35, the R1 will show up again in a couple scenarios


Ver 1.2

-Reduced by 8 bombers (6xBUFF, 2x Lancer)
-Added several targets, most not visible at start
-Changed scoring


B

[ojms]

Just starting this out and none of the bases have anything at all in the magazines? Also I understand your point about wait times for units, but that really means the scenario doesn't start for 2-3 hours properly, perhaps worth shortening up those slightly?

[Gunner98]

Ojms
The magazines are empty to reflect the single mission nature of this scenario. Most of the bombers are coming in from Louisiana so don't have a chance to go home and reload, the Ftr AC at Barksdale Forward are also flowing in from various CONUS bases. The Marines are helping out and have only allocated the restricted sorties you have available - it's a one shot deal.

The 2-3 hours is meant to allow you to do what is called an 'ISTR Soak' (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target acquisition and Reconnaissance) of the target area - find out what is really there and adjust your plan appropriately. To do that you have the Dragon Lady, a Rivet Joint and the USS Scranton, which should help you identify target areas which are not visible at the moment - carefully. May be dull game play but perhaps useful, look forward to your experience once the shooting starts. Shortening is an option, just curious as to how it works out.

B

[Excroat3]

Just a heads up, the "Ops Meeting" action that I found in the editor is from the scenario before this one, but its in this scenario anyways.
Also, your intelligence report says that they believe there are no remaining SA-20 sites, but the markers are still there. Is this because they want to take no chances, or make you debate if you should send forces to those markers?

[Gunner98]

Thank you. Thought I got all those, will delete.

[wild_Willie2]

Another tough one gunner, I failed this scenario on the first try as I ran out of AMRAAM's before the Soviets ran out of fighters (massing fighters and punching through with one big sweep is the trick here I think).

Will downgrade AMRAAM's launch range to 30 miles try again tomorrow.

W.

[Gunner98]

Thanks Willie

Balancing AMRAAMs & HARMS on the F-16CGs- could increase HARMS on the Marine Hornets, reduce them on the CGs and increase a few loads of AMRAAMs. That would cost TLADs though...

Will see how your 2nd run goes through. The Sov's are in the process of changing their A2A tactics as well - fewer on CAP more on intercept. May have a difference


B

[ojms]

Thanks Gunner, when I got into it I realised the reasoning behind this!

However I accidentally forgot to pause the game when I left the game and so need to start it again!

I enjoyed it though so far so can't really think of any suggestions, maybe a Nimrod R1 to replace/support the RC-135 ?

Cheers

[Gunner98]

Good point on the R1. Had an R1 show its hand earlier in the series, the two scenarios here (10.2 & 10.4) are the first ones where a Rivet Joint appears. They are both very scarce resources, there are only 3 R1's and I think ~16 RC-135 of the Rivet Joint type, both with a global draw so having both on one operation is unlikely. However, this series of operations is critical to Brit national interest, so they would be very interested in being a part of it: Conversely it's a USAF operation. A point to ponder, thank you.

B

[ojms]

Just started again and noticed that some sonobouys are there already but no MPA's are in the air, I didn't notice earlier as I had them turned off.

[Gunner98]

Good catch, I'll delete them.

B

[ojms]

Spoiler alert

One thing I've noticed is the Mig-31 Interceptors are happy to come over 200nm from Keflavik which is causing a real problem for my aircraft early on who are defenceless, perhaps restrict these to shorter missions?

[ojms]

Changed my tactics slightly and might have overcome this issue.

[wild_Willie2]

Ok, I just had a second go at this scenario and again I only have 9 AMRAAM's left while there are still 22 Soviet fighters combat ready.

There are only 60 AMRAAM's in this scenario against 47 Soviet fighters and as it takes an average of two AMRAAM's to take out a fighter, you'll run out of ARMAAM's well before the Soviet fighters run out and then you will loose HARM carriers in dogfights.

Another problem is that there aren't enough dedicated escorts which can take losses in air combat without also loosing the HARM missiles that they are carrying.

So either this scenario needs more dedicated escorts with long range air- to air missiles or you'l have to remove some Soviet fighters from play.

[wild_Willie2]

And after a third play through I again only have 10 AMRAAM's left to kill 23 fighters so this scenario definitely needs extra long range air to air missiles.

I also noticed that there is actually no need to suppress the remaining Soviet air defenses on the west side of Iceland as the remaining systems can't reach higher then 25000 feet so the strategic bombers can just let it rip from 30000 feet without any danger from SAMs. Only the SA-12 on the east side would require a few HARM's to take it out. So you could simply replace most HARMS and all TALD's with more air to air ordnance to balance things out for a bit. You will also need to change the B52 CBU/87, Mk82 500AIR and MK84 2000AIR load-outs to high altitude weapons as these load-outs have a launch altitude of 2000 to 4000 feet and the heavies just get shot down like clay pigeons by FLAK at these altitudes. Looks like I also found a bug in the current heavy bomber routine as they always go down to 200 feet launch altitude under build v1.10, even if they carry M117's.

[Gunner98]

OK Thanks Willie

I'll get a modified version out first thing in the AM.

B

[Gunner98]

ORIGINAL: ojms

Spoiler alert

One thing I've noticed is the Mig-31 Interceptors are happy to come over 200nm from Keflavik which is causing a real problem for my aircraft early on who are defenceless, perhaps restrict these to shorter missions?

Dialed it back a touch, that and your tactics mentioned below should balance it a bit more.

[Gunner98]

Looks like I also found a bug in the current heavy bomber routine as they always go down to 200 feet launch altitude under build v1.10, even if they carry M117's.

Probably more of a DB issue than a bug. They are all Hi-Lo-Hi profiles and the High Alt stuff should be Hi-Hi-Hi I think.

B

[Gunner98]

OK,

Here is Ver 1.1

-Changed all the F-16CGs to AMRAAMs, you now have 32 more to deal with the Sovs
-Changed up the 'Silver Eagles' from Nuuk and dropped a couple SEAD loadouts & added some Aim-7 escorts
-Added a handful of 'Bengals' from Sondrestrom with a mix of SEAD & Aim-7 escorts
-Changed up the load in most of the B-52s. Left some low Altitude stuff for the end of the train as I think there are targets out there that warrant it. May have to be waved off if AAA is still too heavy
-Cleaned up the sonobouys
-restricted the Sov intercept mission - slightly
-Cleaned up some of the old events
-Kept the RC-35, the R1 will show up again in a couple scenarios

Thank you for all the help guys.

[wild_Willie2]

OK , I just finished version 1.1.

There are now enough fighters in the scenario to neutralize the Soviet air and escort the heavies to their targets so that issue is solved.
Once the heavies went to work on the strategic targets (warehouses, headquarters, and troop assemblies) these disappeared in no time and now I have no more strategic targets left for 21 armed B52's. I could use them to bomb airfields but I already have 415 points (triumph) and that is not the mission they where assigned to. I also found out that the cluster bombs on the B52 and B1's are useless against strategic targets, I released them over diesel tanks and warehouses with zero effect so I suggest you remove them from this scenario. Just delete these AC from the scenario as there are more than enough heavies in this scenario already.

So remove about 15 heavies from the lineup and also remove the cluster bombs from the remaining heavies and your good to go with this scenario...

Good job Gunner.

W.