New Scenario - WW3 D-Day, 1985

[erwinuri]

Hello there!
I have been doing CMANO for a while, but I always kept my scenarios in Steam. I have recently discovered the Matrix forums and oh boy!
This is my last scenario, a tribute to D-Day. Let me know what you think about it!

-v2.0 available-

[Ancalagon451]

Well, I managed to complete it today and I'm pretty much impressed with this mini-monster of yours.

The initial strikes were little short of overwhelming and forced me to employ very unconventional tactics to counted them, like redirecting planes back to the battle with only guns remaining, it was very nerve wracking and I loved every minute of it.

It has one of the toughest IADS I've ever found in this game, and I was literally unable fo find weak points to exploit (which doen's meant there werent, since I'm far from the most accomplished CMANO player) but seems you thought a counter for every move I could think about.

So in the end I put a stiff upper lip and drowned it in the flaming wrecks of my own planes. I was finally able to crack it, but I paid for it greatly.

The battle for the channel was equally bloody with both STANAVFORLANT and the Soviet SAG succumbing to enemy subs in a matter of hours. The superior sensors on the Rubis made the difference here and I caugh all the enemy subs with her.

Even the trap you put for the Nimitz had a bloody end when the Sierra and the Dallas managed to sink each other ( I will take a little more about that Skirmish in a moment).

So bloody, hard and hair pulling, I loved it.

That said, there are a few points that need a little hammering, in no particular order:

- The Belgium No-Fly zone must go. The big range of the AA-9 missiles along with the positioning of Nörvenich means the Foxhounds can and do fire from within it, and the AI is literally unable to respond to those attacks.

Even micromanaging I had trouble responding to the attacks due to planes sometimes refusing to fire against targets within the Zone.

So in the end I throwed the towel and disabled the No-Nav zone. That way I was finally able fo return fire.

- There are no reloads for any Soviet planes other than the Bombers at Kursk

- Related to the precedent, I ran out of air to air munitions pretty quickly. Twelve hours in the scenario, I had run out of any Navy AAMs other than Sidewinders. If not for the previous issue I would have been unable to obtain air superiority.

If you do add reloads for the Soviet fighters, then you must add more munitions for the player. Perhaps with more C-5s arriving later in the scenario and triggering an ammo spawning event.

- I suppose this one is by design but just to make sure: The French strike has no posibilitiy of success without support, and when it starts you are hardly in a possition to give it to them.

- The Sierra is on weapons tight against sub contacts. If not for that, she could have shot at the Dallas undetected. You should change her to weapons free to compensate for the player beign able to manually attack an unidentified contact.

- The Mig-27 patrol (nitpick: thats a typo, those are Mig-23) has the "investigate outside the patrol area" box unchecked, rendering them useless.

- Several patrols have the "1/3 rule" box unchecked, not sure if this one is intended.

- Paris Orly's runways are too short for Mainstays and Badgers, replacements for those shot down cannot take off.

- Nörvenich lacks Very large Runway access points, Candid transports cannot take off.

- New Jersey carries TLAM-C missiles, functionally identical to the land based ones, but those incur in neither points reduction nor retaliation.

- Albeit I liked the small added complication and Im NOT telling you to take them out, seeing airliners going from London to Geneva and back, nonchalantly crossing the airspace of an active warzone, during the damned WW3, was a big WTF moment. Some type of explanation in the briefing is needed.

- This one is more a personal preference, and you could even call it a rant but I'm still putting it here: drop the Frisbees and those hideous Flying Doritos. Put half a dozen Nighthawks instead.

Tom Clancy didn't know better when he wrote Red Storm Rising and he did a pretty good work with the info he had at hand.

We, on the other hand, know that the F-117 was available in limited numbers starting in the 84. And while subsonic and not as sexy as the Fresbee, is just as Stealthy which is the main point here (the lack of air-to-air capability was found to be of limited relevance in these very forum some years ago. It just happens that Sidewinder armed Fresbees are no match for Alamo armed Fulcrums).

So I would very much prefer to see (to the exent that CMANO allows us to emulate it) how well the real thing would have fared if the balloon went up.



Thats all that cames to mind. Thank you for a very enjoyable (if sometimes a little hair pulling) pair of afternoons.

Ancalagon

[erwinuri]

OMG Thank you so much! That’s extensive.

I will try to tackle it point by point, but thanks again for providing such accurate pointers. CMANO is all about learning:

- I got my IADS idea of “hair-pulling” from a lot of Northern Fury scenarios, and it seems like this multi-layered, multi-height composition is nearly impenetrable. From what I’ve played, it’s better to tackle it by sectors; even focusing an entire SEAD strike on an S-300 is not that bad.
- I think there is a kind of balance in sea power in the channel, but I may put a pair of Nimrods or something, dunno.
- I clearly messed up in some of the things concerning specially A/A combat and airOps for the Warsaw Pact side. An updated version of the scenario may be posted as soon as I can. But again, thanks for all the pointers.
- I have no idea on how to add munitions after the game has started! I know you have to do it by LUA, but I am useless in that regard. Maybe some of the experts here can lend a hand? 
- The French…yeah, they are supposed to go down. But I may enchant their chances of putting a fight, the addition of an E-2…we’ll see.
- In the briefing it says 23 instead of 27, that’s true. But this, adding to the fact that enemy numbers and composition are not very concise, adds to the uncertainty of the enemy OOB.
- Airliners should be in single loop…I was kindda hoping someone may shot one down (sooooorry hehe).
- I love my Doritos and OPFresbees good sir! Nah just kidding, I had an idea of adding F-117 but they may have to ferry from the US or Iceland. Again, let’s see in future versions.

Thank you for your words yet again!

Uri

[Ancalagon451]

For the adding ammo LUA scripting, take a look at "The V-Bombers 1962" from Randomizer, you can find it here.

Other that being an excellent grimm monster of a scenario that I wholeheartedly recommed, it has some evens designed to add ammo to RAF bases after the start of the game.

You can take a look at them to help you making your own.

Ancalagon

[erwinuri]

Will do!

Uri

[Schr75]

Hi erwinuri

Ancalagon451 have already made most of my comments, so I will limit myself to this one observation.

Your MH-53E Sea Dragons can´t sweep the minefield as they are equipped with mechanical cable cutters, and they dont work against bottom mines.
You should change their loadout to either magnetic or acoustic sweep (or both), which ever is appropriate. I can´t see what kind of mines you have laid[:)]

Hope this helped.

Søren

[erwinuri]

Hi Søren!

Thank you for the comment! I am already in the testing phase of the new version, but work and uni are keeping me busy.
I am pretty sure there are alternative loadouts in the heliport, but will check regardless.

Uri

[erwinuri]

For anyone who wants to help, do you know if there's anything such as "chaff layering" to combine with Jamm in order to help in SEAD/DEAD or AirOps in general?

[Ancalagon451]

There is, here you can read all about it.

Be aware that, on top of all the limitations named, also the AI is unable to use it unless you get "down & dirty" with Lua.

Ancalagon

[erwinuri]

Lot of changes in this new version!

-Nearly all of Ancalagon's comments have been taken into consideration and used to update the scenario.
-Also one Steam review who talked about balance of forces. I have changed USAF F-4 to F-15 and some Vipers.
-Some additional changes here and there

I encourage anyone who wants to play/re-play it again! Thank you all for your support.

[LaughingBuccaneer]

I have one minor gripe and that's with the introduction to the scenario as Cyber Warfare and
the Internet, that gave rise to the advent of Cyber warfare was unheard back in 1985.
It's something that many Scenario designers who never lived through or were too young to remember
the early days of micro computers and the introduction of the internet, could assume has been
around forever, as we take it so much for granted these days.

https://www.history.com/news/who-invented-the-internet

What they did have in the 1980's were the Computer Bulletin board systems for microcomputers
used by the likes of CompuServe and later America Online. But it was very slow and accessed
by telephone modems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system

[sluggy2010]

*deleted*

[erwinuri]

Hey LaughingBuccaneer!
I was not aiming for CW as we know it nowadays, but yeah, in essence you are correct.
As soon as I start developing the scenario into a more formal campaign in CMO I will change it.
Thanks tho!