FHQ Sky full of stars
(Alpha(AT) TL)
Two tries. On both attempts we followed a trusty formula under Variables solid command. Set up mines, wait Shilka to blow up (or hit it if it misses mines), engage with AT and let helicopter mop up rest.
On first try there was miscommunication and my AT gunners Sputnik and Evans had to take shots at moving targets. We hit the Shilka, and as soon as rockets were fired, my team came under fire from remaining vehicles. T-72 steamrolled the hilltop we were in, ending mission. Mission highlight was McGregors banzai charge on the T-72 in the end.
Second try was better, and Etzu's minelayers put solid wall of AT mines on the road. Shilka hit the minefield, and my AT gunners opened up. However my AT gunners had no good view of BMPs. I ordered to engage visible targets, and I think we scored some hits on tanks, but not enough to incapacitate them. In chaos surviving tanks pinned us down behind rocks. We were out of AT, and nothing we could do.
I like this mission a lot. Nocturnal Takistan on moonlight is great setting. However there is little margin for error. BMPs are as good helicopter killers as Shilkas (in Arma) and if we fail to eliminate them, it shreds the helicopter. With helicopter out of play, we have no enough AT to deal with vehicles, and reinforcements.
Day on a farm
(Grenadier-Delta (Unnamed))
For once I was on the ground with this one. Night was dark..lets not go there right now.
After the recent patches the lighting on the mission wasn't working as I intended. Another issue was with flares. They didn't illuminate the ground as they used to in this mission. However these factors further contributed to perverse chaos of this mission. I've probably got issues (not exactly anything new comrades) but for once I liked my own mission. This is not 'secure desert village-defeat counterattack' pink fluff. Purpose of this mission is to shaft the player and then some. Nothing wrong with pink fluff, this is just something different.
That said, this was the best attempt so far. Under Manuels great leadership Marines held the farm almost until to end. I was grenadier in Unnamed's Delta team. At mission start we couldn't even find the road, until we followed the flames, and found the farm (and crate with NVGs). I was temporarily demoted to minelayer and with Stick we took quad bikes and went to lay some mines on the field. After that my team was ordered to hold the western flank, and we had few short skirmishes with enemy infantry at a distance. Plenty of 40mms to target and lots of tracers cleared the forest of rodents. Apparently others had some minor, completely insignificant encounters with some little tanks, but as my alternate channel was fucked beyond redemption, all the delicious radio traffic wen't unnoticed.
Our next job was to go deal with landing. Enroute we got under fire from T-72 rolling through the farm, and somewhere in chaos we lost Unnamed. I picked up LR, and with Etzu and Stick we went to investigate landing. We found empty enemy boat at a distance, and Manuel called in artillery fire. My team pursued the enemy naval infantry, only to find out the friendlies at X-roads had dealt with them already. For once Army does something right. I will not ruin their day by telling them that half of the enemy landing was swimming in Baltic and it wasn't for them to survive THAT long.
However the truck convoy was shell shocked and refused to move, which forced us to terminate mission by nuking the site from orbit (console end). Sure, mission didn't work exactly as intended, but it isn't unfair to call it completed. That said, I redid the loadouts, redesigned end with trucks, and changed time of day to midsummer (bright night) if we ever return to horrors of the farm.Â
FHQ Twilight struggle
(QRF SL)
Tough one. QRF had to make their way to ambushed team in distress, repair supply truck, and then get out. I had 3 Ridgback vehicles with full of ManU lads with bad attitude. My TFAR issues continued, and further complications with AI drivers took a while to sort out. Otherwise no biggie, but this time we were in a hurry.
We put pedal to metal, and actually got all of the vehicles to abandoned team intact. Those are sturdy pieces. Unfortunately our engineer got killed in action while repairing the trucks, and BMP shred us to pieces.
FHQ Red Viper
(Alpha SL)
3 FHQers / night. Men have lost their sanity for less. However two Viper teams still had a job to do. We had to hit radio tower and nearby fuel depot. Preferably silently, until it is time to be noisy. I sent comrade Varanon with Bravo to deal with radio, and I took Alpha with me to fuel depot.
We landed boats on mangrove beach, and started our push. Variable as our pathfinder and scout we enjoyed moody sneak through jungle and made to target area. We hit the dirt and set our sights on it. However we soon got message from Bravo that capitalistic exploiters of west have spotted us. We opened fire on targets we saw, I left marksman, Evans, to provide cover. During our push to target area I was killed. Feng shui of the island wasn't on my side. I watched from sky as remaining team completed objectives, but were killed at beach by helicopter.
This mission probably would be possible to complete with brute force. No silencers, hit radio tower with one team, haul ass to fuel dump with other, and strike them immediately, and pull back.
Coldstream Guards
(Grenadier-Alpha)
This time lads had to push north, and deliver supply vehicle to RIFLES holding ground in northern Fallujah.
This was simple pink fluff mission, but it turned out quite to be quite moody stroll. Under Section Leader Varanon we pushed through trash, had some tough firefights, especially when we came under sniper fire, and completed the mission like pros. Mission was easier as I intended, but still good work everyone!
Engel
([size=0.7em]command) [/size]
[size=1em]Blergh. Lets forget this incident ever took place. [/size]
[size=1em]I assumed we are in a hurry in the start, and that we have to race to hacker. I missed the appropriate part on briefing. I also didn't read map right and my team came to under fire in open ground near the compound. Hostiles on road pointing us with rifles. Only solution (to my combat stressed mind) was to push the pedal and run the mofos over with our MRAP. As a result we trolled the vehicle 100km/h to middle of enemy compound, crashed it to enemy vehicle in a monster truck derby, disembarked, and in less than 5 seconds the situation had escalated from orderly motor march to fustercluck magna. I was killed in blue-on-blue in the following chaos. I personally deserved that, but unfortunately the mission ended to half of my team as well. [/size]
Otherwise looked like nice mission, and look forward to try again..in a spectator slot.
Day on a farm
Command
I don't take the command slot very often, so of course I was ecstatic after realising what I signed up for... (the mission is awesome Stag, don't let anything convince you otherwise)
If I did better than the previous attempts then it's because I was standing on the shoulders of giants. Most of my decisions were based on what I knew from previous tries. I wont do a full report here, because most of the mission just remains as a blur of rolling tanks and exploding farm buildings in my memory. However, some notes that might lead to a victory next time:
I'm not sure if calling an artillery strike onto approaching tanks is a viable option because it takes very long until the shells arrive. Also the tank AI is somewhat hard to predict. If they just drive without delay they probably arrive the farm before the ordnance arrives. However, if they stop/get stuck somewhere it's really anybody's guess where that might be...
There are however other options for artillery support. E.g. it was possible to call in a mine-cluster, which I did way too late, but it might have stopped a vehicle if I'd had called it in right away.
After the fact it seems obvious to me that after the message about the boat I should have sent a team to the x-roads directly (the message actually stated that the boat was 'way too close' to the x-roads, so if that wasn't a hint...). But well hindsight is 20/20, right?
Engel
Bravo Lead
Oh boy, it was the last mission of the evening, people were tired, mistakes were made...
Like Stag said, the compound assault turned bad quickly. After getting engaged Alpha drove right through some enemies on the road and ended up on the far side of the compound. I on the other hand stopped Bravo's vehicle pretty much right away and deployed. So now the two teams were sepperated. As the fight enfolded I quickly lost sight of (most of) Alpha, radio communication between the teams was basically non-existant during the fight (if anybody from Alpha tried to call, I didn't recieve anything...?). The result of this setup was some blue-on-blue, after reviewing my recordings (which shall remain burried...) I have to claim responsibility for one of those incidents. One guy from Alpha was aiming my way, standing at a position where we had just take fire from. Due to the lighting I couldn't recognize the CTRG uniform and that was that.
I hope that however my victim was, he can take some satisfaction in the fact that he was evanged by some CSAT soldier just minutes later...
After the compound was 'pacified' I merged the shivering remains of Alpha into Bravo. We safed the hacker, who just drove off in a 4x4. We set out to deal with a sniper team, hidden in the jungle. I was killed along the way.
Viper Red
A god
Both attempts were ill-fated. The first one ended when one of the boats smashed into the stable branch (pun intended) of a bush, instantly killing its entire crew
Second try was held up on the beach assault. There is no way to get to the beach fast enough to perform the required tasks without getting noticed early on and missing the window of opportunity. With reinforcements pouring in, the attackers were quickly defeated.
Twilight Struggle
AT solider
The plan was pretty good, short-cut offroad with the GMG in overwatch position with the AT gunners. I was shot (the first time) by a BMP way off in the distance that spotted us. The BMP was supposed to come in later as reinforcements, but unfortunately, they had clear line of sight. I was turned out from the passenger's seat hatch, so I got it full-force.
I respawned into an AI on Stag's MRAP. Outside, all hell was breaking lose with Taliban all around us closing in. There was a group pretty close, I put an M203 on them but they shot me. No AI available, so I could just watch things go down the drain.
All Alone
A god
After "Twilight Struggle", I guess everybody needed an easy mission. Unfortunately, this isn't one
Things started out well. The Spetsnaz team avoided detection until they got into position near the town, then launched their flare Unfortunately, the Warrior IFV that patrolled the town's perimeter spotted the group near the road (they have thermal optics). Someone from the Spetsnaz team successfully engaged the thing, killing the dismounts in the process, but that was of course like kicking over an anthill - everything got hectic, and the secondary UK base immediately dispatched gunships and reserve troops. Part of the troops were re-directed to the airbase when the shooting started there, but a rather large amound stayed in town. Alex team was decimated. Manuel managed to take out another Warrior IFV with the RPG-7 but the Apache flying overhead took offense at that and reduced Manuel to a red smear on the snow, leaving only Evans to fend for his life and eventually losing it.
The attempt was good. The Warrior patrol on the road was predictable, but in a tense moment like this things are easily overlooked. This had the potential of being the mission.
Message in a bottle
AA Specialist
No frills but action-packed mission. I like the setup up this one, better in fact that the original, but that's because of the island. The fighting going on everywhere and the Syndikat troops in the town gave the impression of just being part of a bigger conflict, which was very nice. Unfortunately, the frame rate for me was extremely low.
I noticed in this mission (and later in the Ghost Recon mission) the tendency of some people to run in front of other people's line of fire. Unit cohesion is a real issue that needs to be worked on.
Missing in Action
Assistant Machine Gunner
This mission is difficult to lead since nobody has a radio. I still feel like the squad leader should have been a bit more outspoken, namely in directing people to watch for certain sectors or directing fire.
I had a weird situation were I all of a sudden had "You are dead" written all over the screen, but I wasn't dead at all. As a consequence, though, it seemed like my radio was suddenly very quiet, I could hardly hear anyone. Again, the lack of radios in the end made effective communication very difficult, over the sound of the helcopter and gunfire, some people did not hear me yell "get to the chopper".
White Rabbit
Team Leader Bravo
This mission showed me again why I sometimes hate to lead. First of all, let me state again that if you are hit and need medical attention by saying "I'm bleeding". We had three downed and none of them said anything recognizable. I can't look at everyone all the time, so imagine my surprise when I found out that everyone was either dead or incapacitated.
The result was a clusterfuck. I am partially to blame for that, but I need feedback from the team in order to work effectively, and that feedback was non-existent.
Second try Phantom dropped out momentarily. I tried to stop Alpha from blowing their charges but not in time. At that point I thought I was missing Valhalian, but it was actually Phantom that was left behind. For whatever reason, my communication to delay the explosion wasn't heard. It might be better for the squad leader to await confirmation from all teams that they evacuated the area.
Ivory Serpent
Squad Lead
Again, I nearly shot two people because they ran into my line of fire. As a general rule, do not try to just improve your firing position by running around, CHECK who is behind you I am not going to mention names, it's a general call to be more aware of your surroundings and yes, I do the same mistake.
Also, sometimes I think that an order to disengage is followed too slowly. Disengage means stop shooting and withdraw; if in doubt (at your own discretion) depoly smoke
The rest of the mission mostly went smoothly. There was a weird issue with not being able to place the satchels; if something like this happens, don't try to overcome this for half an hour. Just let the leader know there is an issue, what the issue is, and let him come up with a solution/workaround.
Viper's Nest
Viper-2 Pilot
One of the best helicopter missions around. The targets were varied and doable, and I think we did quite a good job. I managed to take out most of the remains of the convoy by rockets and Val did an excellent job gunning. The shit hit the fan when we had to fly CSAR and Val got shot in his gunner seat by a DShkM technical. It also ripped my engine, I had some trouble keeping the bird in the air due to reduced engine power, and was ordered back to base.
Unfortunately Viper-1 didn't make it, they got shot by the only guy with a MANPAD in the mission, because lightning reflexes for Flares only work on AI.
Mission failed, but it was a great one.
Last Thursdays:
FHQ Red Viper
(Grenadier -Bravo (Manuel))
I think the guns blazing approach is possible, but we have to disembark much further and stay silent until both teams have solid footing. The mangrove surrounding the coast is pretty thick and wide. As usual, we have to treat our boats like little fussy princesses so they won't get stuck. I.e torpedo boat assault with full speed doesn't work due terrain restrictions, even if the idea is great.
We have to wade in waist deep water in mid of thick bushes and if we open up early, we are pretty vulnerable until we get solid footing.
How about approaching silently close to objective, hitting the radio tower with brute force at point blank range, and then dealing with the second objective and damn the torpedoes, I mean reinforcements?
FHQ Twilight struggle
(Command)
We have basically tried two approaches.
1) Use road, which is faster, and come under heavier resistance and risk the vehicles making through.
2) Go around, take more time, get vehicles there intact, and risk of stranded team being overran.
I've now tried the option 2) twice. On both runs we got vehicles and engineer to base, we even got the damn thing repaired, but were gangbanged by either BMP or infantry inside the base before we could move. It is a serious race with no margin for loitering.
Problem is, terrain is very rocky, and visibility from that vehicle is abysmal. It -will- take time to get there if we go offroad. Offroad speed is limited, and you -will- eventually hit the rock. There is also sporadic fire, so you have to stay inside.
Last time I left one of the vehicles to nearby hill to provide overwatch with GMG and NLAWs. Apparently AT team eventually destroyed BMP and scored a hit on tank, but infantry in the base was still enough to kill us.
FHQ All Alone
(Boris TL)
My teams plan was to hit boat stash in the start, use the boats to navigate closer to objective, and hit airfield as diversion, and then bug out with very same boats.
Team Boris had minor navigational issues in the start, but eventually we found two vehicles, and started our long march. We found boat stash and navigated few kms in Baltic darkness. Brr. Cold. I sent reports to Alex to keep them up to date of our progress. We made it to our LZ, and shortly we spotted a flare from Alex.
We pushed to airfield hangars, and located several targets. Our job was to be noisy, cause mayhem, and pull reinforcements from Thirsk village so Alex can sneak in and eliminate evil, evil Lt Col Sanders. Apparently things went bad for Alex, and we soon received a call for help. We disengaged, returned to boats, and were crossing the inlet until mission was aborted.
I really like this one. Mood is awesome, and idea of radio silence / use of flares is just great. However the first spotted flare was VERY dim. It was size of a star. We spotted it as we knew what to look for. I doubt it will be visible if team Boris chooses to approach from other direction.
Also Boris cannot really assist if things goes wrong. Now we had at least theoretical chances as my team was intact, we had boats close, but even then it would have taken at least 20 mins, even with very best speed, to make it to help. That's assuming we won't encounter resistance.
Message in bottle
(Rifleman- Bravo (McGregor))
This had a great mood, and very good mission idea. Triggers actually worked! Downside was lag, but that area of map is lag heavy (I used same setting for Flying Dutchman), especially if there is AI with combat mode and urban pathfinding.
I was in McGregor's team and enjoyed tough atmospheric urban crawl with some satisfying firefights. Good fun, good mission Den!
(08-23-2016, 12:18 PM)Stagwine Wrote: [ -> ]FHQ Red Viper
How about approaching silently close to objective, hitting the radio tower with brute force at point blank range, and then dealing with the second objective and damn the torpedoes, I mean reinforcements?
Yeah, I agree, landing close on the shore won't work. We will have to land in a safe from detection distance, make our way to the radio tower and hit hard from solid ground.
(08-23-2016, 12:18 PM)Stagwine Wrote: [ -> ]FHQ Twilight struggle
1) Use road, which is faster, and come under heavier resistance and risk the vehicles making through.
2) Go around, take more time, get vehicles there intact, and risk of stranded team being overran.
I think that the stranded team can hold out longer than the rescue team can last a hasty breakthrough, so we can definitely try no.2. Especially now that the stranded team we can use the AT against the attacking BMP-2.
FHQ Air Conditioning
(Grenadier (Varanon))
Cool setup for a mission. Most of my mission was spent admiring inside textures of a vehicle, and nice landscape of Aliabad. At the 2nd objective they finally let me out of the car, and I enjoyed short firefight only to have my career ended as a barbecue when enemy Shilka fried our vehicles.
Shortly after this enemy AAA had target practice with Chinook shaped clay pigeons and mission ended. Looks like a fun mission and look forward to try it again.
FHQ Rescue
(Black Bear TL)
We started mission with only two RPGs and one can of MG ammo. I was prepared to take my chances but spoiled kids in my team were demanding more candy. Fortunately we found altar of the Old Ones. After a prayer and a ritual sacrifice, Old Germanic Gods of the forest (3 of them) rewarded us with Blessing of Wotan +1 RPGs.
My AT gunners Den and Etzu did great job in taking out the T-72, but on our way to support White Wolf a BMP-2 barbecued us. Pattern?
Operation Spitfire
(Charlie TL)
While the setup in Kavala, landing to rooftops and carrier take off were cool and the mission had a nice intro script, the actual mission confused me.
As soon as Charlie landed to rooftop, we came under fire and tried to find good overwatch position. We didn't have a real opportunity to support A/B in meaningful manner from up there and shortly after action started we got a message and task about a bomb, and additional new task to return to carrier. All tasks were still active, and no one in my team knew WTF was going on. My last order was to GTFO and enroute to carrier we saw annoying 'X is down' messages, indicating sad end for A/B.
We landed to carrier, and mission ended. It was very difficult to communicate while inside helo. I wish there was a way to adjust engine volume alone in the settings. I won't even try to transmit messages in helicopter anymore. I simply wait until we have landed.
I am not sure if we failed this, or was this working as intended.
Without Banners
(Nordic god)
Two tries. Setup was similar in both times. At first setup you missed the convoy, 2nd one was much better.
From my point of view the execution of ambush looked great (lagging aside). Nothing got away, and biggest threats, BRDM, troop transport, and technical were neutralized. First QRF to react was T-55. It was there from the beginning, only 400m away with headlights on but it wasn't easily visible to your ambush spot. You didn't notice it until it moved your way. Two rockets, one dead tank. Nice shots, and a game saver there.
2nd QRF was a truck which deployed a fireteam from the truck under smoke screen. They caught you just as you were about to depart. This firefight cost you few casualties and one kaboom. Shortly after it a BRDM-2 came to investigate, finishing the job.
What failed the mission was that you took troop transport with nothing valuable in it, and left one of valuable supply trucks with lots of goodies behind. It was recovered by enemy team, and mission failed. Yet it was a good try. 30 sec faster bug out and you would have made it. Good work Etzu and everyone.
Cossack patrol
(Chernobog)
Mission itself is straight forward. What makes it confusing is that you do it with unusual toolset. You have a gunship, SU-25s, few ATGMs and ground team to direct that all. Good work on taking the lead of a daunting mission Phantom!
Like many of my missions, this is rock-paper-ATGM mission. Think who kills what. You have lots of different tools. TL on ground just has to use them on right targets. This can be pulled off in few possible ways and I won't spoil further.
Couple of general tips
- Communicate. A-G-COOP is about comms. Many examples of this in previous posts in debriefing thread somewhere.
Brief recap/example:
- Crow-1 (aircraft), on station X, ready for tasking.
- Crow-1, GRND. Target, T-72, marker T-1, north of crossroads, 100m. (Engage with) LGB. RDY to PAINT.
- (Optional) Approach from south, by the valley. AAA NW of target, 2 click. Bug out SE, return to station X.
CLEAR HOT (GRND turns on laser)
- Crow-1,tgt T-1, coming in HOT
- Crow-1 BOMBS AWAY
- Good hit on target(near miss/no eyes). Return to station.
(GRND shuts down laser)
-Crow-1, on station.
- Vulture, GRND. Enemy dismounted infantry, I-5, forest strip. Rocket/gun run..blabla rinse and repeat.
It doesn't have to be exactly in that form, but you get the idea. Tell who shoots what and where it is. Marker, range/bearing from distinct land mark, etc. Additional info, if necessary. GRND, your job is to guide the platforms. So guide. It doesn't have to be perfect. Even rudimentary directions are better than none at all.
-One attack run by one aircraft, guided by one jtac on the ground, at a same time. IF target area is very large with large player count, separate channels/multiple attacks at same time can be ok, but that's another story. In this kind of a mission setup, One jtac controls one aircraft until ordnance is released, and jtac relieves aircraft back to station. Hit or miss, -that run- is now complete. Now another JTAC may call in another aircraft, or you can guide another round if necessary.
-1 laser dot on same area at a time. Multiple dots = confusion to pilots. Also make sure laser is OFF unless you are actively guiding ac.
Ground team:
Use grp only markers if you want to mark a picture of whats on threat area. If you mark it all with globals, it clutters map for air team on small zoom. Put 1-2 SHORT GLOBAL markers at a time to help striking aircraft, and delete after target is destroyed. Marking known worst AD threats is probably a good idea, but does air team really need to have several infantry team markers, at least until it is time to hit them?
Use short markers with unique identifier. Got a tank? Ok, mark it T-1. Another tank elsewhere? That's T-2. Vehicle? V-4? Infantry? (E)I-6 or something. Just an idea. If you have 6 markers with all saying 'tanks', there is confusion. Long marker also clutters map. When it is dealt with, delete it.
- Air team: At start, set up your view distance, before you enter aircraft. Also consider reporting stores to Ground team early. This helps Ground team to choose which platform to use for which target. LGBs? Iron bombs? Guided missiles?
This was the type of mission where 2nd try is likely vastly better when you know what to expect. Also some RHS specific features didn't help. I have made minor changes to AC loadouts, and I have made alternate version with CUP vehicles.
Don't be discouraged folks. One of most fun missions I have been to have been air-ground coops. It just takes a bit of practice.
Minesweeper
Delta team lead
My team consisted of Stick, Den and Valhalian and we operated as the scout team of the main force. We tracked enemy movements and possible ally positions, to allow the commander take decisions as to when to advance the convoy we the mission of escorting to the British base. We moved mainly on the hills using the Jackal and kept away from known enemy positions. We had to engage only when spotted by patrols but those were no match to our firepower. On one occasion we took a detour from our scouts MO and cleared a town using our long range weapons and the Jackal's GMG. The most exciting moments for me was when our allies attacked an enemy team we were shadowing. I was anxious to help them and when to green light was received from command we supported them by suppressing the insurgents. Too bad we lost the mission, we had it...
Assault on Kotomo
Alpha, AT gunner
SPhoenix that was one hell of an effective leading; Quick, responsive, agile. Good job. I loved the fast pace you dictated for the mission, it surely added to the fun. I had two armagasms in this coop night and that was one of them: We were left with no ATs, both in Alpha and Bravo, when a BRDM attacked us. While looking for an RPG on the dead enemies nearby (I used my single AT on the ZU-23 earlier), I found a backpack full of explosives. I placed on the road a satchel charge and hoped the BRDM will be unlucky enough to get near it. It opened fire at me so I had to take cover. Suddenly Freeman called "Get ready to detonate!" and my heart started pounding. When Freeman yelled "detonate" I took a peak (could not resist) and watched the BRDM blows up. That was awesome!
Party Crasher
Alpha, Heavy MG
The second Armagasm of the night. We arrived at the last moment to the airfield. The money had been already transferred to the Dakota which was starting to speed up on the runway. I had a single M136 I got earlier from the back of the Prowler and then I realized I have: a) an AT and b) a Prowler. I asked permission to kill myself and got the green light from Stag. Drove fast on the runway and positioned the vehicle on the Dakota's path. Ejected, took aim and launched.... BOOM!!! ahhh what an Armagasm that was. I didn't care when the enemy mowed me down, as I was giggling like a maniac.
That was a good coop night!
Nice couple of games tonight.
There was however one thing that bothered me. During "damn mercs", multiple times when I was on my way to treat injured comrades, I was beat to the task.
I like to play the medic slot, when I pick it I'm aware that I won't be as engaged in firefights as other slots because my main objective is to keep myself safe so I can patch up the fighting force.
When that single responsability is taken from the slot, it's frustrating as hell. Especially as I used the radio to let everybody know that medic was on his way, when someone was down and bleeding.
It's one thing when large numbers of players need help at the same time, but when the medic is close and only one or two players are down let the medic work and provide cover for him.
Good point, Evans.
At this point, I would like to point to our
Standard Operating Procedures, specifically to the section labelled "Medics, wounds and general medical SOP"
FHQ Red Viper
(Recon JTAC)
Finally completed this one. Great leading Variable/Varanon and solid co-operation in the team. Even the boats co-operated. Mission highlight for me was ambush by vehicle, and Brad's great shot at the patrol boat. On the downside now this is finished!
FHQ Rescue
(Black Bear RPG gunner)
Good job with taking the lead Sputnik. On the first try we had only limited rounds to our RPGs. We scored one hit on the tank but it wasn't enough to take it out. It remained in the play and the BMP finished the mess.
On the 2nd try we had more toys to play with. We took out the tank, and attempted the BMP. However couple of seconds before RPG would have hit it, it decided to put pedal to metal. Warheads missed and it returned fire. Enough said.
Damn Mercs
(SL)
Not much for the leader to do in a defense mission except point sectors, lanes of fire, and spot targets/direct team's fire.
Basic perimeter defense. My team had decent cover in top floor of the villa and Manuel's team green was holding ground outside. Few intense firefights but nothing we couldn't handle.
Next step was to locate truck with magic dragon. We obtained vehicles, and started our tour. One firefight enroute, and one firefight at the truck site.
Green Party took over the most critical part, driving the magic truck. My team was the boogeyman bait in front. Another roadblock action at Harcourt. Then we spotted hostiles and helicopter at end of the bridge. We took them out with concentrated fire, and when all was clear, we started our crossing. Again team white was acting as a screen and team green brought the valuables. However road to plantation was all clear, and we fulfilled our contract without further surprises.
Thanks to Green Party and especially Manuel for good team leading, and thus helping me in my job. In convoy missions (which I don't particularly like) good comms between vics makes it or breaks it.
Yeah, note what Evans said. Let team specialists feel special.
(FHQ) Western Peace
(Command)
Blergh.
The juicy after action banter aside, I did enjoy the mission. It had a nice plotline, link-up and escort defector, and for once 'steal aircraft' made sense.
One issue was that mission took a very long time. Yes it did. Much more bigger concern is whether this was fun for majority, or even minority. It is a very good question, and I come to it later. However before we come to it, here's AAR from driver's seat:
Mission was 'behind enemy lines' type without support. Briefing mentioned a regiment size force in Tanoa. No, I don't expect 2000 men hunting my team alone but it was pretty obvious that mission spirit is very much to remain undetected, as long as possible. When you go noisy, odds stack against you rapidly. This was first time we attempted mission. I had no idea what we really are up against. Meeting point was next to a major city so it made sense to assume it is well occupied.
Biggest issue from the mission was that start took a long time. First false start with KIAs on drop. Then parachute, supply depot. After this two other teams took some time to adjust their radios. Yes, Manuel was waiting, but more issues will arise if we can't communicate. If we go on without working radio setup, it will be a 2 hour clusterfuck. I chose to wait.
Next issue was getting to informant, aka Manuel at cemetery. None of us were silenced, and I chose to use the jungle. My recon team leader (Varanon) spotted hostiles, and recommended safer route via railroad. Variable suggested other route. I checked my map. Plan railroad made more sense despite the wait. We could have gone loud, and perhaps saved 10-15 mins. I chose not to.
At cemetery we linked with informant aka Manuel, aka Golden Goose. Next surprise was that SR radios did not work. We had different faction radios. Fortunately Manuel had Groupinfo and was paying attention. We learned that there are several locations for vehicles. I chose closest, fuel station.
We located fuel station and several vehicles. 2 military offroads, and one civilian Jeep, one heavy truck. I chose to commandeer offroads and go..well..offroad. It was 2,5km transit, and we had light vehicles. Going offroad made sense, especially considering we were carrying precious cargo (again, Manuel)
Fuel station was lightly guarded, and we overpowered guards relatively easily. We got vehicles, and started moving. 'Road' on a map was a jungle trail, but after bit of hiccups we made through the jungle. I made small adjustments to route. I didn't want to go through another jungle. We had couple of encounters enroute. We pushed through. Our mission was to get informant out alive. We were not on a search-and-destroy. Not this time.
We disembarked and set up in jungle close to airfield. We had to eliminate Tigris AAA, and steal VTOL. I consulted my TLs and we chose to go with pre-planned set up. Varanon sets up on Tigris and A+B sets up to storm airfield.
I assumed airfield would be well guarded. After a bit of observation, we noticed we were up against:
- 1 Tigris
- 1 Marid APC
- 1 Ifrit HMG
- Metric ton of infantry.
We had to kill the vehicles with:
- 1 RPG + rockets.
- Explosives.
Any of those vehicles were capable of shooting us down. We had to take them out.
We set explosives trap to route of APC, and Varanon got sights on Tigris. After Tigris, Varanon's team was to relocate to us, and use the RPG against Ifrit. Unfortunate downside was that we had another longish wait until the APC drove back.
I considered rushing in and somehow deal with APC later until I got a report that it is moving as desired. More waiting.
Variables explosive specialist had made good job and APC went up in flames. Varanon's AT gunner (Phantom) saved the night by destroying Tigris. B set up to assault airfield, Varanon relocated to us and dealt with Ifrit as planned. Bravo followed Alpha. My team with Golden Goose (still Manuel) stayed behind.
We traded shots with infantry on the airfield and in assault Varanon's team was KIA. Remaining teams located VTOL, sporadic resistance. My team moved to VTOL, secured it. Manuel took controls. Earlier sneaky Freeman had placed charge next to found enemy jet, which we blew up as a farewell present to enemy. At least that jet wouldn't chase us.
Both teams boarded the thing and we took off. Either due splash damage from VTOL guns or pilot error, we crashed upon take off. It had been a long ride, I had gotten 2/3 of people to that VTOL, and the result was just depressing. Happens. That's Arma.
That's about the AAR. However more critical issue raised after was that was it fun?
I don't know, but this is a serious concern. We play this for fun, and if people lose fun in coop nights, people vote with their feet.
Yes. Manuel had a long wait. We could have taken faster route, now I know what the opposition was. Issues with radios aside, we could have likely cut 15-20 mins in the start. I can fully understand if Manuel was bored.
However about mission after it, that's another story. Could we have completed mission in some other way? Probably. That's Arma. Had it been more fun? Possibly. It also might have been a long spectate for someone. This time I made these decisions and outcome was this.
I regret my bark at Variable in post mission chat. It came across more snappy I intended. It was a handful for the leader and it had been pretty bad day outside gaming context (not that it is excuse). Despite my remark I do encourage people to express their concerns, and if you didn't have fun, please say it in future as well. We play this for fun after all.
I try to take my comrades fun to account as much as I can. If it wasn't fun this time, I see what I can do about it in the future. Fortunately we have pool of leaders and we have different styles. I like that. I am happy as a clam as TL or just rank and file when we complete this mission, regardless how the leader that time pulls it off.
Besides this greatly benefits from a re-run. Now we know what opposition is like and what we cal pull off. We can likely complete this much faster and with more action.
Missing in Action
Lost Squad, Javelin Gunner
I lost my debriefing post so I'll keep it short:
Crash landed on a minefield > minor casualties > BTR spotted > Javelin launch > Boom > Take cover in the bunker > Fend off enemy infantry > CAS arrived > Strela launch detected > CAS evades > suppress Strela gunner > Snipe Strela gunner > CAS is shot down by MG fire > enemy MG fire team killed > Transport bird arrives > Half the team is extracted > Remaining squad fights off another wave of enemies > squad remnants rescued
One important note. When we must keep some of the guys behind due to lack of sufficient seats in the extraction vehicle, it's better to keep behind the essential roles, such as AT and medic, and extract the non-essential ones on the first round. The guys that are left behind should better be in a fighting condition to survive until the extraction bird returns.
Crash Site Red
Alpha Team Leader
The mission was completed but we could have done better. First, I had a miscommunication with Viper Red and should have confirmed they have received my order to cancel the initial plan. I should have also deleted the lines that didn't fit the new plan, which was to move as one element into the swamp.
The teams perormed well but Viper Black took casualties on the last approach to the crashed UAV. That was a result of our screening positions too far from them. I realized that when we came to assist, the NATO MG gunner who killed them was not more than 20 meters away. Had we been closer together, we could have better protect them while they were extracting the data and setting the UAV to explode. The swamp and the tall bushes called for a shorter distance between the team.
Burning Sand
Alpha Team Leader
That was a great mission, and everybody performed well. The highlight for me was to plant explosives on the first Shilka and blowing it up.
I moved too fast at times, forgetting the first yell I received from Llauma on coop nights "don't sprint when you are the leader! Your team won't be able to catch up". That meant my guys were sometimes lost and we had to stop and regroup. Just to clarify, sometimes I'm pushing my team to keep the momentum, if I stretch it too far, please give me another yell.
Convoy Abduction
Alpha Team Leader
Another great mission that completed successfully. After adjusting our anti-material sniper position, setting explosive on the road, and positioning the AT team on oversight, and the snatch team in cover, we were all ready for the convoy. The convoy was stretched far, but we stuck to the plan and destroyed the lead scout vehicle with the explosive. The AT team opened fire on the escorts and the snatch team moved to the vehicle carrying the HVT. The poor bastard followed our orders and we moved to the extrcaction LZ. I set it too close and one of the escorts managed to open fire on the Huron. We returned fire in attempt to suppress it, put up a smoke screen and followed the HVT into the chopper. Mission complete.
On a more personal note, yesterday was my 10 year CiA membership anniversary. Thanks for everybody at the past and at the present for the great time.
Missing in action
(LS Joint Fires Observer (Manuel))
It was fun for once to see action from the ground. This time our crash site was in middle of a minefield. It is something like 1/30 chance. While shock was pretty bad experience on the ground, I enjoyed considerable author's twisted pleasure as we finally got this option.
We located north from big dipper and my job was to overlook the town which we soon identified as Nagara. We had couple of long range engagements with hostiles in town, and I was able to take out few with my 40mms. I was evaced on the first wave.
Downside of this mission is that there is really nothing to do back in base except banter and poor puns. That said, it was lots of fun while it lasted.
FHQ Burning Sand
(Grenadier Vigilant (Manuel))
A good mission with lots of fun. It resembled me of lightspeeds series with storyline and objectives. Simple 'hit the objective, bug out'. I was grenadier in Manue's 'Vigilant' team.
Our first objective was to clear the camp on the beach. We took positions at some distance and used our optics and LR firepower. After short firefight beach was clear. We pushed to inland, cleared few minor compounds, and set sights to objective, the radio tower complex.
We approached it undetected until we got to strike distance, and Manuel coordinated our moves with other teams. During our push we saw BRDM opening up on Alpha, but we soon heard relieving 'BRDM mobility kill' on radio.
We came across BMP during our assault to radio towers. We hit the dirt, and managed to sneak inside. Short firefight and we had it. I grabbed RPG just in case we come across the vehicle again.
During our way back we saw the BMP again, but it left us alone, and we chose not to go after it. We had two short firefights during extraction. We obtained enemy vehicles from previously cleared camp, used them to get to our boats, detonated them as a farewell gift with no hiccups none so ever, and enjoyed clean extraction and mission win. Great leading from Manuel, and everyone put up their best with team work.
As always with FHQ missions, very nice mood, milieu and time of day.
FQH Dagon
(Antediluvian SL)
Ground team approached with roughly similar plan as last time, but this time I arranged air units differently. Their job was to move to airfield slowly from (Yog)south-southeast, and slice the pie starting from southern end.
Ground team had minor loadout changes from the previous run, which were welcome. While plan was the same, now we had at least proper rifles . We soon came across Humvee which opened up on us. We eliminated the gunner, and soon the driver. We commandeered the vehicle for extra indescribable eldritch firepower. Brad and Manuel took over the vic, rest of pushed towards hangars.
During our push we heard air units engaging targets. However we still had abominable cyclopean non-euclidean opposition and we got badly pinned down at fence, only 100m from our target. We had several wounded, and at this point it was 'God, the hand, the hand in the window!' for me.
However Humvee managed to push to hangar, and obtained the not to be named files, and cruised to extraction with commandeered PMC SUV.
Convoy Ambush
(Marksman (Variable))
This is a nice replayable mission. Experience varies a lot depending on the location lottery. Our spot was near low hills, wind turbines, and few sharp bends on the road. Our chosen ambush was relatively close to convoy start. As a result we had to set up in a hurry.
I landed near wind turbines, but we soon realized it wasn't a good location. I had to relocate to get a shot. I had to stop UAZ without destroying it. (Un)fortunately the vehicle in question got stuck on top of a low stone fence. I am surprised it didn't blow itself up in the process. However it presented stationary target and taking out wheels was trivial.
Abduction team got the snitch, and we extracted with helicopter (which actually worked, much to my surprise). Fun mission ,great leading and coop.
(Edit, added AAR for 'Dagon')
FHQ King in Yellow
(Sniper)
Fun mission! This time I formed a sniper duo with McGregor as my trusty spotter. After solving a minor pathfinding issue we set up our observation post overlooking the objective. Dawn, fog, but still good enough visibility for some long range customer service. Our mission was to assist with eliminating a drug kingpin, so called 'King in Yellow' in the nearby village.
McGregor located several threats, including multiple technical trucks and several infantry contacts. We were unable to locate our target. I assumed he would be inside the villa.
Two infantry teams, Sabre-1 and Sabre-2 were approaching objective and soon reported readiness to assault the villa. We opened up, eliminated technical truck gunner, and started to reap the harvest. McGregor spotted targets and guided fire, I pulled trigger. Fun and effective.
Soon we were informed by Saber-1 of mission completion. We covered infantry teams extraction as much as we could, and eventually extracted with a quad bike to separate safe house.
If there is time at set up, a good practice in any sniper-spotter mission is to make a rudimentary 'target sheet' , if you have time. Spot few distinct landmarks around the target area, declare them to your team, and measure distance. Later it is much easier to guide fire. 'Contact, WATER TOWER, running east'. 'Truck, 200m south of VILLA, on the road'.