Comrades in Arms Discussion Board

As I said not pointing fingers or anything like that, I would probably have reacted the same. From the vantage point it is easier to make a call...

Send from my tablet, so pardon any autocorrect bollocks

Winter is Coming
Bravo Team Leader

AGS-30 is a bitch. That was the thing that got me. There is no taking cover from it, since it just needs to shoot in your vicinity to kill you. Still I think this is the best approach, maybe we should try a bit more northernly approach next time since the AGS-30 is on the north wall and if we cannot take it out immediately we would be safe on the northern wall since it angle is somewhat limited in that direction.

Lost Pilot
Lost Pilot

SMG vs. AK-74. We both hit, but he took a while to go down because SMG, and managed to hurt me enough so that I was bleeding. Too bad. I actually knew were I started out, so I managed to find a town and could have guided the extraction convoy to me.

Master and Margarita
Devil Squad Lead

We landed at the small pier near the stash and got our second assignment - namely, take out the radar array near the gas station. I ordered doveman's team to take out the Artillery objective, while my team moved to the gas station. We spotted a FARP on the field next to the forest and maneuvered around it, and finally reached Highway 5 and the gas station. However, the angle was shit and as Outlawz pointed out, there was elevated ground to the west of the gas station; I was concerned at first that this may be too close to the artillery, but decided to go that route anyway since there really was no other approach vector that worked.

Things started to go down when we heard the alarm go off because Devil-2 was detected. There I made the first major mistake - I ordered my team to make haste instead of staying low. The result was that we were detected, and had to hastily retreat to the north. To my surprise, that was were the radar was. At this point, however, I made my second major mistake - there was a M113 Vulcan on the field, I had on RPG-7 with me, and I missed the shot... close, but no cigar for it. Kind of annoying since only last week I had hit two 300 meter shots downhill with the same launcher. Oh well, the Vulcan turned around and said "Say hello to my little friend", unloading a burst of bullets into my face. Game over.

Hospitalized
Alpha Marksman

I was actually surprised. When I had made this mission I felt that it would probably be shitty. The setup is simple - there is a 150 meters radius around the hospital that needs to be pacified. About 50 FIA combatant are in the area, as well as around 20 civilians. Cause civilian casualties, mission is over. You don't actually need to kill all FIA, just bring them down to 5 I believe.

I expected this to be either a boring shootout or a long drawn find-the-last-guys kind of mission, but much to my surprise it was pretty action-packed, and just the right length. Weird how sometimes missions turn out to be.


Mortarded
God

So the key to this mission, I think, is to find the right moment to strike.

The entrance you tried is, I think, the best approach. There are two guards, one patrolling and one stationary, and there is another guard on the tower, plus a three man team that circles the base.

The time to go is when that team passed the wall and is around the corner. Two guys need to take out the guards at the entrance, one needs to take out the guard on the tower. I think that is what Alpha team tried but I heard the shots impact the metal and the guard on the tower wasn't hit so the alarm was triggered.

Last time the team had put mines on the road towards the north, that would prevent the APC with the reinforcement arriving but the road was clear so Bravo was pretty much caught between and APC and the machine gun on the road entry... Not pretty. The rest got wiped out by the RG-31's grenade launcher. I didn't intent for those guns to be manned, but that is what ASR AI does, and I suppose it makes sense, although I am going to lock them (the AI doesn't automatically have the keys).

Feast for CROWs
Bravo Teamleader

I suppose this mission was intended to be much shorter, but I think we moved way too slow on this one. Team Communication was an issue on this one - at one point I got an order from Squad lead to "move were me and Outlawz are", which I had no idea where it was. Precise locations are a must, marking on the map or at least giving an indication of were "here" is is needed.

Also, Alpha spent most of their time in the first half of the mission mounted. I had my marksman and myself disembark and support the effort of the CROW gunner by spotting and providing security for the HMMWV. I got a bit too reckless which resulted in damage to the car, but all in all my team performed well. Just think we should have been more aggressive, especially at the end, since we were essentially holding in the open on a hillside. An approach on foot through the forest IMO would have been better, with the two HMMMWV's flanking the forest (or at least one since Alpha's gunner was out of ammo).

Prince of Persia VII
Bravo Teamleader

We reached the listening post and dispatched the two guards. I waited until he was heading towards the entrance, then we got behind them and shot them both. After dispatching the tech out hacker got the security down, and we moved towards the second objective. At this point, we had lost Treendy, so we were down to three guys.

I got shot by a guy under the tower at the second base. I missed him several times, but I think the weapon sway is just insane and it reminded me I should start working on the fatigue mod.

I hear though that the mission was successful. Well done guys!

Day on a Farm
AT Guy

First try was a total failure, not only did we drop our pants by having the AT team place the mines by ditching their AT, my SMAW shot went wide, as well as a shot from the TOW launcher.

Second try went better, we got the BMP, but two tanks managed to break through, and one of them was pissed at me and redecorated my face.


Battle for Zaros
Cheetah gunner

The key in this mission was to draw all units back into town. That was Outlawz' decision, and it won the game.
The Cheetah had some action in the beginning, shooting down the first Kajman and a Taru. Later, we were buzzed by a Neophron that I was able to damage first with an AA missile, and then put a few HE rounds into it's ass. A second Taru went down as well, and that was all the air assets that were thrown at us.
Later, Variable's UAV detected enemies at the eastern flank, which was unguarded at that time, so we moved in the Cheetah and used it's 65 mm HE magic to bring hell down on the CSAT troops.


Punitive Expedition
Bravo Rifleman

Dark and gritty, that's the best way to describe this. We stumbled around in the dark, and a few times, enemies just nearly walked on top of us. Unfortunately, the radio chatter during combat made it somewhat hard to follow the story.

After going over to the island,  out team was tasked with attacking and clearing the radio mast on the eastern side. Unfortunately, I was wounded, and subsequently killed.


Tank you very much
Bravo lead

The first phase was the attack on the factory where the tanks were waiting for their transfer. Alpha was able to dispatch of the guarding APC, after which Charlie moved in to secure the tank, under Bravo's watchful eyes. After securing the tanks, Charlie drove them to the nearest gas station to refuel them.

In the meantime, Alpha and Bravo were making their way up north, under sporadic fire that escalated and cost Bravo two men. The remaining two were tasked with flanking a BMP that was guarding the road near the ammo depot. Unfortunately, my RPG shot was about 10 m too short, and the second one passed just 1 m above the BMP. At this point, the BMP decided it didn't like me and shot me in the face.


Prince of Persia VII
Bravo team Techie

We took the listening post with relative ease, and brought down the security grid on the main objective. From there on, we assaulted the other installation. That also went relatively smooth.

From there on, it quickly went south, though. On extraction, we encountered an enemy boat on the shore that was hitting us with GMG fire. Luckily I could kill the gunner (the Sting SMG is pretty good, even over range), but just as this happened, an armed Hunter approached, killing half of our team outright and leaving the team leader wounded. I tried to heal him, but he died on me. So, with nothing else to do, I nicked the enemy speedboat that was still on the shore, and started on my way towards the trawler. Somewhere in between, I got a message from Valhalian who was stranded somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Luckily, I was just around the corner, so I picked him up, with both of us riding off into the sunset. (Unfortunately, the ending didn't work as planned, but I still would consider this a success).

Day on a farm
Forward Artillery Controller

First attempt ended kind of clusterfucky with all AT shots missing and the BTR-90 marching into the base like a parade on Independence Day. Turns out it wasn't the best idea to let the AT team handle the mines, but that is something that you only ever learn the hard way.

Second try, it looked like some technical difficulties made it impossible to destroy the tanks. First they didn't apparently trigger the mines, Javelin took two minutes to lock on, and SMAW had no penetration. *stomp*

Battle For Zaros
AAA Commander

Mid part of the mission was a bit of a downer since not much happened for the AA. We shot a few helos out of the sky as well as a jet and a couple of infantry, but that was it. At the end, though, we had quite a bit of action when we started to clean up the eastern part of town.

Noted that the headless client worked like a charm.

Punitive Expedition
Lowly Grunt

The one thing I disliked about the mission was the darkness, I would suspect that special forces would have NVG's. It was so dark that I got stuck on obstacles running in place, and there were some issue with the map popping up when someone ordered illumination.

Other than that, cool mission with a very gritty atmosphere and good voice overs. Damn, I need to start getting voice actors for my missions too -_-

We lost Variable and the medic versus the end of it, I attribute this to the darkness and the inability to see very much.

Tank you very much
Benevolent Deity

As is so often when playing/watching my own mission, I was sure everybody must have been bored, and this feeling always intensifies when I curate since I don't hear player talk.

The assault on the factory went quite well it seems. I should probably put some dots on the map were the tanks are, from a birds-eye-perspective it was pretty obvious but I guess from the ground it wasn't that easy to find the tank.

As Varanon pointed out, the BMP-2 at the ammo depot ended it. At that point I decided to call the mission a failure, since the tanks couldn't be manned anymore and that would not work on the way to the exfil.

Prince of Persia VII
Squad leader, then warged into a Rifleman at Bravo

We left Stag (Marksman) on the hilltop overlooking the Ghost Hotel to take care of one of the targets, while myself, Val and Manuel went for Lt. Gastovski. Unfortunately, we ran into a guardpost that I had to kill, but he ate so many bullets that his friends got notified. I wasn't aware of a guy in my back, Manuel tried to shoot him but again, eh ate so many bullets that he had time to one-shot me in the head.

In my afterlife, I warged into a rifleman in Bravo and was killed by a Hunter HMG. Sucked to be me.

Day on a farm
(Red god)

Not much for me to do here except to sip coffee and enjoy the twisted pleasure of watching you suffer in the hands of my marquis de sade mission. It is tough enough as it is without me making it worse. I did throw couple of small additions to fray and curator slot in this one is useful because of AIs tendency to get stuck, especially with tanks.
Props to Phoenix for taking the lead with this one, especially when the man knew well what to face. I think plans were good, you just missed with AT on first run, and had certain other issues with second one.  Mission is winnable as it is. It isn't my best mission, it isn't my worst.  It  just is one of 'those missions'.  The ones which demands sacrifice. Names to the red god.


Battle of Zaros
(Big Boy 2 Commander)

I was manning tank with Sphoenix and AI (no, not Evans). We were ordered back to city to get our eyes to northeast entrance to town. We got to station and RV'd Evans' infantry team at the roadblock (Evans, not the AI) . I switched to commanders seat and action started pretty quickly.

We were busy engaging infantry at a distance when first air threats showed up. My gunner, Sphoenix the Man , shot down helicopter apparently with a tank cannon. Hell of a shot. After this Neophron showed up. We reported it to HQ, but I didn't want to get out of tank. It feels stupid and silly to bunny hop on/off every time enemy aircraft is spotted. Chivalry cost us our tank. We got a revive and temporarily got assigned to Evans' infantry team.  We soon had enemy tanks approaching. We neutralized the tanks, leaving one them damaged.  That was to be our new home.

We commandeered T-100 with Sphoenix and manned the thing as a stationary roadblock. I used commanders HMG and SPhoenix was doing the gunning. Plenty of action, mostly against infantry with few very close calls against AT soldiers. Eventually we got it repaired, apparently by AI, and we did a sweep around the northern hill cleaning the yard and triggering mission end.  Awesome experience, great coop with Sphoenix, and great mission by Etzu.

Punitive expedition
(Jasper-2 TL)

Great moody mission by Sphoenix. Upon start we moved to observe the target area from wind turbines and spotted several targets, including unarmed persons in the target area. We moved in, Jasper-2 moving on right flank. We got to few close encounters, Den provided light with flares and Val was giving overwatch with MMG. We cleared the first camp, and we spotted a ship and pier by shoreline. Again J-2 moved in right flank and we secured the objective.

Next we had to check out nearby island. We moved in with boats, very moody insertion, and J-2 secured right most beach. Short firefight at a pier. We got new intel from HQ, and I persuaded my commanding officer (Variable) to give us green light to check nearby radio tower. It was now pitch black and we were running short of flares. Enroute to radio tower we came across light resistance, but due weather, they were tough to spot. We eventually cleared a shack, but with cost of casualties. We got info to evacuate the island, and during our dash to boats we suffered one wounded and in end we were eaten by dragons. Good teamwork, fun mission.  Tons of small details, custom voices, nice atmosphere. Look forward to play again.

Tank you very much (FHQ)
(Rifleman Charlie (Etzu))

Nice mission with a nice idea. Slow start with a moody hike in forest. At the barn we came underheavy fire whick killed Outlawz, mission leader. Manuel took over, and my team was charged of  locating and refueling tanks. We eventually located third tank, got them full of fuel and during the march to north came under fire from apparently a BMP-2. We ditched the tanks, located BMP, and went to find launchers. 

We took shots at BMP but missed.  Unfortunately the BMP was turning remains of A+B to ketchup which resulted unacceptable casualties and mission fail. Great lead Etzu, great teamwork, fun mission!

Valiant hammer (FHQ)
(Stupid grunt - Charlie)


I really liked Variables chosen approach. We took time to set up the ambush, sneak in undetected, in spirit of the special forces we were supposed to be. All went well until we came under heavy fire from all directions at camp 'Lion' (or Dire Wolf, dont remember). Loss of TFAR comms at critical moment didn't help. With the foliage I simply was unable to locate the threats accurately enough. I suppressed the locations by audio/muzzle sounds only but IAR M27 doesn't really have ammo capacity for it. In end I grabbed PKM and shortly after it I was killed by 40mm barrage.


Good effort, good leading Variable and Doveman. Look forward to try again.

Sky full of stars (FHQ)
(Boom squad TL)


We tried to replicate the plan from the previous effort. Set up mines, charges, and put AT squad up the hill with command squad on opposite side. In this mission there is genuine time pressure and teams have to move swiftly, set up equipment on the fly, and get to safety before the convoy steamrolls to scene. With a bit of hiccups in the machine we got the initial preparations done and just as we reached safe spot up the hill the convoy moved in.


Shilka was destroyed and our gunship was called to fray. I wasn't near to AT team so I don't know what happened there, but several BMPs survived ambush. Unfortunately the BMPs are also very efficient (in-game) AA platforms and they shredded the helicopter.


We spotted reinforcements approaching from Feruz Abad, including one BMP. As we had no AT weapons we just had to take cover and engage only the infantry. Unfortunately the vehicles spotted us. Valar Morghulis.


I think the plan can work, there is just very little margin for error in execution. Every launcher has to hit.  There is now 3? BMPs, tanks, Shilka and technical+BMP coming from Feruz as QRF. If launchers misses, there is nothing infantry can do with riflework to stop them and the autocannons shreds the gunship as well as Shilka.


Downtown Train (FHQ)
(SL)


College of heart surgeons recommends only 2 FHQ missions per coop night to avoid excessive blood pressure and related effects. Jesting aside, mission itself was a peach. Everything else, including (especially) my plan,leading was ..lets just say it wasn't the best day on the field. 


I sent two teams by beach boulevard, and one team by street parallel to it. Unfortunately almost at the mission start my dedicated MG+AT teams were wiped out, and Alpha had troubles engaging T-34 in the streets of Stalingrad Bystrica. After we had been totally slaughtered I learned the NONE OF THE AT/AA GUNNERS HAD AMMUNITION TO THEIR LAUNCHERS!


Fault is partially mine. I usually explicitly command equipment check to my team in mission start, and if I lead, I command TLs to report readiness. Now we started moving as soon as the cool intro was finished. Mea culpa. But...


Team leader: YOU are responsible your team is combat effective!

I say again. TL, your job in mission start is to check your team is ready.


Sure, smart AT-gunner checks his launcher is gtg on mission start, but that's your responsibility in the end. This wasn't a guerrilla mission where ragtag people make do with what they have. Equipment check takes < 1 min. At mission start there is usually time to fix wrong/missing ordnance (not uncommon occurrence). Now teams encountered armor completely unprepared.  For example Alpha had excellent chance to take a shot at static tank with turret pointing away. No go.

Resistance itself was not that tough. We have decent optics, MGs, and if launchers are set, plenty of tools. We can pretty well take stuff out at a range. I am not sure how to tackle this. I think the plan might have worked had we been prepared. I'm thinking of ditching the multi street approach. Considering we are only 14 people, we push all teams on same street. There are plenty of crevices, porticos, arches, etc to take cover. If we are spread too much, we cannot really support each others.


Never the less the mission is great and look forward to play again.


Hospitalized (FHQ)
(Bravo-TL)


This was cool snack mission. Start close to objective, a bit of urban crawl, close encounters, etc. Mission moment for my team was to run into contact with hostiles without realizing they are hostiles. At 5m distance there was mutual WTF moment. Fortunately our team drew first.


Otherwise it was nice to crawl in dark streets of Kavala with couple of close encounters. Good teamwork, and I got clear orders from my superior (Variable). Fun. More missions like this!


SPX Call of duty
(Grunt)


Ouch.

Youth of the nation
Thunder-2 Sniper

I got shot. That is really the only thing I can say, because I have no clue from where and how. It was right at the beginning, I didn't hear the shot, I was just dead. Good way to start the evening

Winter Is Coming (Take 1)
Alpha RPG Gunner

Unfortunately, the real plan was never put to the test. We were really unlucky to run into the BRDM-2. I managed to get a shot off, but I didn't even see it land, as the BRDM-2 instantaneously murdered me with its KPVT. 14.5 millimeter right through my face

Winter is Coming (Take 2)
Charlie Autorifleman

Charlie's task was to attack the first sentry camp and withdraw to raise a fuss and draw off some forces. At one point I heard a vehicle but we agreed it was probably Alpha and Bravo driving off. Unfortunately it wasn't. It was a UAZ with an AGS-30. The second time I heard it I was 100% sure it wasn't Alpha and Bravo, and then we spotted it on the road. I managed to quickly take out the gunner, and even though they got a shot off it went wide. We pursued the vehicle down the road and all of a sudden took fire from the right, since we had passed close to the sentry camp. We lost Teck9 at that point. Trying to disengage I was shot from the camp.

I reconnected into a spectator slot and watched the rest of the mission. It was pretty close, only a handful of survivors at the camp, unfortunately Variable bought the farm as well and he was the last one standing. Generally, though, a good try.

CSAR Jolly Green
Pilot

This was a tough one. At the beginning of this mission, unless you immediately establish contact, the pilot has to make a big decision - which direction to fly. This can generally be a make or break for this mission. I chose to fly east, but the team was actually west near Agios Dionysos, so we took a good while to circle around after no contact was made on the eastern side.

Once we knew approximately were the team was, it was still very difficult to find. The ground team couldn't provide any landmark except for a road running roughly east-west, which I surmised would be the Kavala Highway. However, as it turns out, downed choppers no longer appear on the radar, so there was no indication as to where the team was, and ultimately we failed to find them on time.

Mortarded
Spetsnaz Marksman

A Vintorez, as I had to find out, is not a good close quarter weapon, and I think I will give the Spetsnaz Marksman a silenced 6P9 to make up for this.

The assaulting direction proved to be quite handy. The terrain was falling off towards the sea so that we could approach the target almost without ever getting detected. Team Leader decided to put explosives around a small building on the north side of the base instead of going through the entrance. Good call, entry worked plus we had some cover to deal with most of the stuff that came at us.

When we tried to get inside the base, team leader decided to search refuge in a building. Unfortunately said building was garrisoned by three US Soldiers. They shot our team leader, so I tossed a grenade in and tried to mop up the rest. Unfortunately the "rest" was all of the three who for some reason beyond my comprehension had survived the RGO and proceeded to murder me.

By that time, Bravo team had reached the Stryker MC and used the onboard Mk20 to wreak havoc (I was 100% certain I had locked them... doh). After the Strykers were destroyed, the remains of both teams managed to successfully leave the area.

Well done!

CSAR Jolly Green
Pilot (again)

This was one of the cases that contact was established right away. It was still not easy to find the team, but we spotted the smoke column from a burning Iffrit and managed to land close to the team. Unfortunately, the place was also swarming with enemies. Something hit the chopper were the team was taking cover (might have been the miniguns from my chopper, since there was a shitload of enemies right next to us) and it exploded, killing everyone

Youth of the nation
(Inspector Callahan)

Pretty simple scenario and not much to plan. I sent Shadow-2 to deal with the colonels retirement and Shadow-1 approached from north. Sniper teams were to find suitable positions on their own. During  our transit we took a sidetrack to small hilltop to observe the scene. Lots of people, some of them armed, running here/there. As we had no long range tools we had to go in personal. Shadow-2 reported of approaching the target so we boarded our Mastiff, and used it as tactical police vehicle and steamrolled to city in it. We overran few hostiles enroute, breached a wall, downed a tree , and parked the Thing to a small yard. This was best part of the mission.

Unfortunately it became apparent that Shadow-2 had sustained losses, and sniper team had also taken fire. We moved to Shadow-2 last position, found no friendlies but several hostiles instead. We lost Lego at this point. With snipers as guardian angels we managed to calm down the chaotic situation. I thought the crate is near the marker and we spent 10 minutes with Sputnik looking under every bush in that small forest park.

I assumed we had pacified the situation and split up with our 2-man team so we can cover more ground quickly. Bad call. MGer in a grass spotted me.

Winter is coming (2d try)
(TL Bravo)

This turned out to be our better attempts after all. We followed the same plan, head south, cut through the forest, and eventually ended near the sentry camps where we had short action. We cleared camp, but came under heavy fire, including a possible vehicle, and Variable (SL) ordered evac. We disengaged to south and caught our breath.

We decided to push to coast, head north, and approach compound from NE. Sounds familiar anyone? We sneaked closer, took our aim, and Variables team pelted area with 40mms and my team eliminated sniper. We made charge to haskell barrier, and stacked up. This time we actually managed to take out the AGS gunner, and my team was ordered to push in at right flank. We made it to front entrance. There was no way to enter the compound from our side (or we missed it). I got killed by truckload of hostiles at entrance, and apparently there was  a BRDM too. Sigh. Still ,one of our better tries. Good fun. Atmosphere in this mission is fantastic especially with visual/CUP Terrains upgrade.

Mortarded (FHQ)
(Demo spec)

This time we attempted approach from east coast. My teams landing was aborted due spotted patrol boat. We dashed to coast, disembarked and approached the compound. We located wall, anda house we would blow up to enter the base.  Due action menu curiosities, I wasn't able to put time to both charges reliably and they detonated 60s too early. House was demolished though and entrance to base was open. We came under heavy fire at the breach and used plenty of grenades to clear the trash.

Leader (Varanon) was killed upon assaulting other building and Variable took over.  Outlawz's team was using captured vehicle to lay fire, and we soon were notified of mission success. Quick extraction to forest, hike to south, RV with other team and mission win! Great fun and with visual upgrade, this map too looked great. Downside is, now this is completed.

(06-06-2016, 04:42 PM)Stagwine link Wrote:Great fun and with visual upgrade, this map too looked great. Downside is, now this is completed.

Make some more mission on the map

All My Dreams
A (testy but still benevolent) god

In general, the mission went well. You made good use of your observation assets, and since your ammo was severely limited, the loss of a strider at the very beginning was unfortunate but hard to prevent. I tried to take over the AI but wasn't fast enough.

The loss of the chopper was a bummer, but the enemy gunship was flying extremely high - I have no idea why it did that - so it was next to invisible and could easily engage the chopper. After you left the stadion, you apparently did not see the pair of Tigris AA guns in the field. One was destroyed but the other was merely abandoned and was still functional - it was meant to be usable against the gunship, in case you didn't pick up any AA along the way (there was an AA team at the beginning, on the first checkpoint).

As the convoy approached the safe area, I sent out a gunship from the airport which got promptly gunned down. Captain Fuckup has just been promoted to Major. It is mandatory that you check your targets. That is the danger of being in Thermals. This is NOT about raking up kills. If you cannot be bothered to toggle out of thermal mode shortly to try and identify an unknown target, then please refrain from manning a gunners seat in the future. Next time this happens, the next gunship incoming WILL be hostile.

Generally, I noticed that (and I am including myself in this) our situational awareness is too much tuned to the known issues with AI.In the future, when I Zeus, I will make sure that AI does some unexpected things. For example, the scene where a machine gunner from the building engaged the truck. You suppressed the windows (good), you entered the building under supressive fire (good). By that time I was out of the back door, circled around, and caught one of you guys completely oblivious to the danger. I had a machine gun, at close range, I really needed to shoot wide so I didn't kill him.

I'll make sure that surprises like this happen more frequently when I curate ^^

Griffin's Nest
Grenadier

On first try, Outlawz got us to our overwatch position, and we waited. We spotted a vehicle on the road that we identified as a UAZ first but later turned out to be a BRDM-2. At one point I heard someone say "Who are these guys?" and then all hell broke lose, as a patrol of Chedaki was right on top of us (team leader had NVG's). In the resulting firefight, one of the truck drivers spotted us and the game was over.

Second try was equally desastrous after Alpha was more or less wiped out by a UAZ with a Dishka. Eventually, we got spotted again by one of the drivers.

Death at Dawn
Lowly grunt

We had a couple of minor skirmishes until we emerged right on top of the base. Preparing to storm it, I was killed by friendly fire from the right side by Team Alpha. Up to that point I really enjoyed the mission, I do like dodging patrols and the occasional shootout, it's one of the defining traits of Arma to me (as opposed to the constant gun-touting-things-explode-around-you that other shooters practice).

Generally, I come to dislike Sahrani's over-exaggerated hills. They are just way too steep, it makes movement difficult plus it just look unrealistic. That is one of the reasons I stopped using it.

Other than that, solid leading by Stag, and as usual great missionmaking by SPhoenix

Air Supply
Transport Pilot

I love the fact that most transport helicopters now have a downward pointing cameras which make sling loading much easier.

On the first attempt, I got buzzed by an AA-Radar. I managed to chaff the missile and it missed us, but the second one took me in the rear like a pro, and since we were pretty high at that time we died.

Second ingress. I kept very low (so low that I feared I might lose my cargo, I was checking constantly) and tried to fly with mountains/hills on my left. I got shot from the right through the cockpit class when I was preparing to land :|

Master and Margarita
(Old god of the forest)

In the beginning, lord created the mission.

On the first hour of the mission it was dark, it rained and spirit of lord and couple of nicely designed CUP Zodiacs moved upon the faces of waters.
And the flock found altar, eh, stash of the lord.
And lord sayeth. Thou shalt kill a heretic philistine, eh king, eh, USMC officer at the command post.
And the lord saw a wayward sheep (AI) missing from the flock.
And lord guided the missing sheep. And the missing sheep was bone headed. And lord sayeth fuck it. 
And the flock sacrificed the bone headed AI to old gods of the forest.
And the flock walked through the forest.
And the flock sniper shotted the HVT, and the flock escaped.
And the wrath of the enemies of the lord followed.
And lord saw that a boat was stuck.
And lord sayeth: Let there be boat.
And lord saw that is was certainly not good, it was 15m, from shore, but lord sayeth fuck it, let them swim.
And the flock prevailed and narrowly escaped with boats.

On the 2nd hour of the mission, the tired flock, led by tribesman of Israel, wandereth lost in the desert, eh forest.
And god saw them.
And god felt pity on their plight.
And god sayeth, "Let there be truck". And it was so.
And god saw it was good enough for the mortals.
A truck was guarded only by a single rifleman.
And the lost flock ignored the gift of the lord.
And god sayeth, "Let there be two unarmed Humwees".
And there were two unarmed, albeit poorly parked Humwees.
And the lost flock were blind and missed the Humwees.
And a god sent them angel, , scratch that, a Chinook helicopter to guide them.
And the lost flock missed it.
And the lost flock found a Vulcan and Avenger
And the lost flock shot the vehicles and the gunners.
And there was noise.
And god sayeth: Let there be mayhem. Let the wrath of lord pursue them, unless they hauleth ass. 
And the flock evaded the locusts, eh, fire teams of the lord that pursued them.
And the flock leader asked for a supply drop
And god sayeth a supply drop my ass.
And on the last hour the lost flock heard the wrath of the lords artillery.
And the lost flock had a firefight at artillery site.
And god sayeth, let there be alarm.
And the reinforcements couldn't drive and got stuck. This time lord didn't even bother. 
And the flock escaped to forest and they had sacrificed 1h 45 mins to the lord.

A little blasphemy aside, I think you did great.  Again it was proven that what ever the lord, eh mission designer plans, there is always something that players does differently. That said, the plan made sense, and both teams (Variable, Alwarren) put serious effort to remain unnoticed. You managed to snipe the target, and immediately bugged out. There was a patrol and truck returning when you were running to boats, they saw you clearly (or should have at least) so I sent them after you. It was a tough situation at the beach.

I assume that you got lost after 2nd landing?  (I couldn't eavesdrop SR as you were way out of range), and it took you some time to find the arty. I thought you would commandeer a truck/cars and use it to cover the distance through forest, but you chose to move on foot. Sure, more silent that way, but it took also more time.

I think the radar site threw you off?. Radar site is one possible target, but this time it wasn't in your list.

From my point of view, the most critical moments were the firefight at the beach by command post, then passing the Vulcan and Avenger, then coming under fire from 2nd Vulcan by the road, and that you didn't stay there to find out wtf was shooting at you. Another close one was shooting down the Chinooks that were about to airlift the guns to safety.

From curating perspective, I controlled most reinforcements / search patrols by hand. If no hostiles had LOS or knowledge of your location and you kept moving, you were somewhat safe. You were operating behind FLOT, with mostly rear echelon troops/facilities and reserve units doing RnR near you. Calling in reinforcements takes time, and unless they see you, hear you, or can make educated guess of your plotted course, they won't find you magically. However more they have a fix of you for extended time, more the time works against you. In couple of cases you evaded search patrol narrowly, I doubt you even noticed them. The road leading to artillery had also fair number of infantry and a Vulcan. You made a very good call not to stay to fight them. They were supposed to come after you when you created scene at artillery site but due several issues, they never made it (don't ask).

I hope you had at least some fun. It was a long mission, hopefully worth it.

Castle Black
(Bravo Grenadier)


Set out with the team and waited outside the castle.
All hell broke loose and Varanon provided us with some unusual flares!
Unfortunately at that point my framerate dropped super low (might not have to do with the mission, my wife was watching something on Plex, transcoding from my PC, and I think it affected the gameplay).
I got shot trying to help someone down and died subsequently.

Downtown Train
Skipped.

Punitive Expedition
(Alpha Medic)


Amazing leadership by Stag. Let me put this in bold. Amazing leadership by Stag.
This is a mission where you're supposed to finish by the skin of your teeth with two players left. There were no casualties.


We approached the vantage point with all three teams taking different viewpoints to better cover the recon area then proceeded to assault the camp. Efficient approach, the assault went very well. Just a couple of incidents. Stragglers gave us a bit of trouble but were swiftly dealt with.
Following some stragglers to the pier turned out to be pretty easy, there weren't many left.
As we made our way to Atsalis Island, it got really dark.


Stag ordered Variable to proceed with recon using the UAV. This was the key to succeeding in the mission. We have the Darter and the Greyhawk in the game but no one ever uses it. This time, we did, and it got us through without a single casualty. This is the key takeaway from this mission as far as I am concerned.
Thanks to Variable's intel, Stag decided to take a careful approach and follow the coast to hit Sierra 3 from the West where a technical wasn't looking.


After setting up right outside the objective, Stag ordered some illumination while the grenadiers were leveling up the place using 40mm. This, suprisingly, killed our mark! (If you must know, in 3 out of 4 playthroughs he would be at Sierra 1 - so we were really, really lucky) Some reinforcements poured in from the east but we were well dug in and managed to fend them off long enough to get a selfie with our target.


Once that was done, we retreated to our boats to think up the next phase. Using the drone, we identified an LZ close to the radio tower and took the boats there.
The weather was much nicer then; I guess Misha thought it was so good, he could keep his sunglasses on.


We approached the radio tower and set up. Variable guided us through the patrols and let us know where the enemies were. That knowledge is incredibly valuable! Coordinating with grenadiers for flares, 10 enemies were dispatched within a few seconds without ever really putting ourselves in real danger!


Then the bombardment came...
The music didn't play but it doesn't really matter. It was scary enough!


Bonus pic


Note: What was the script error for the illumination?

Caslte Black
Squad Lead

Setup of this one looks ultra-cool. Unfortunately, the night was really dark and totally full of terrors, so we had a hard time not running into trees. Eventually, we made it to the castle itself, we we witnessed the beauty of trucks on fire flying through the night.

Next thing I know I get shot.

No idea were it came from. Probably the tower. I would have expected that the guys on the tower would be looking towards the explosion and hence not see us approaching, but apparently, they were cool guys and cool guys don't look at explosions.

Downtown Train
Squad Medic

Best attempt so far. Variable as Squad lead had found an RPG-7 which proved to be lucky because there was a BMP-2 in our asses. There also were a couple of BRDM-2 scout cards, and unfortunately one of them was in the water under the bridge. It toasted Variable and Hellhammer. No idea what got the other teams, but still at that point we were somewhat operational still.

Val and me got to the point were the ZU-23 was looming around the corner. Unfortunately, this thing has HE-Ammo, so it doesn't actually need to hit you. I got killed by it. I saw Val take it out with the RPG-7 (good work Val!), but later on he was killed as well (T-34?).

All in all a promising try. Going riverside shields one side obviously but being the kind of arsehole I am, I put the BRDM-2 and an infantry squad on the other side of the river so that the riverside approach isn't safe either. Mwahahahah ahem...

Punitive Expedition
Lowly Rifleman

We had some FPS issues with Variable and Sputnik at the beginning so we delayed for them to re-log. Variable as the sniper stayed on the ridgeline while the rest advanced towards the camp. The fight there was pretty harsh, and I raked up quite some kills because I was on the northern side of the camp when an entire spec-ops team with silenced weapons jumped us, plus some with regular weapons.

On the island, things slowed down considerably. There was nothing else to be done than try to collect intel. Searching the island by night would have been a rather problematic thing to do, and we were lucky that the leader was in the first strongpoint we attacked.

The assault on the radio tower was by the book. Variable using the UAV to point out exactly were the enemies were, and us quickly dispatching them. That was fan-fucking-tastic.

I have written some comments on the mission on the appropriate thread.

Gods' Work
Medic

In spite of having a medikit, I don't think I was an actual medic, because I couldn't heal anyone until I issued a "player setUnitTrait ["medic", true];" after which it seemed to work.

The wind sound on this was obnoxiously loud. General atmosphere was great though.

Getting to the town wasn't easy, but we got there after a number of fights with the local CSAT (I really would switch that to Russians, that makes more sense in Thirsk than Iranians). I was about to call it quits when I saw we would have to hike almost four kilometers, but luckily there were vehicles

What finally killed me was a CSAT machinegunner that jumped out of the truck and immediately sniped me. Goddam AI completely unaware of their surrounding but know instantly were you are *sigh*

Castle Black

Let's not talk about Castle Black.

Downtown Train (FQH)
(TL - Alpha)

This time my team was held in reserve and Variable (command) sent Bravo and Charlie to the fray to push through the beach boulevard. This was a good call by Variable, and as a result we got further than ever before in this mission.

I held my team back ,and pushed on left side of the beach boulevard. When action turned heavy near the bus stop we rapidly lost Etzu, Sputnik. Evans had also taken the slot of AI by now (heehee) . I traded shots with hostiles from both east and north and Evans took a shot at the Mi-8. We had lost 50% of my men, Variable ordered us to RV with other team. At this point I was killed and only Evans was left.

From sky we saw the remnants pushing close to objective, almost making it. Well done people, great leading and good plan.

Punitive Expedition
(Command)

From now on, only the veterans of punitive expedition have right to say 'night is dark and full of terrors'. No shit.

Well, it was still dusk when we set up to our recce mission. 3 teams, Manuel and Etzu commanding B and C respectively. First we had to observe target area by windmills and report to command. We spread around on the ridge and quickly located primary and secondary camps, multiple civilians, and structures.

My TLs also spotted a Black Helicopter (scary) doing a touch down landing to the base. Its purpose was unknown, but at this point we decided that recon mission ends here and raid begins now. We approached objective in wide line. Etzu on left, Manuel on right.

Opposition was relatively light and my machine gunner (Evans) was able to put accurate fire and suppression  from the wind turbine overwatch. Short firefight, Varanons flares, and camp was ours.

It attracted nearby rabble and I decided to stay in our foxholes and deal with what ever is coming at us. Few short firefights in darkness and we got a new task.

We had to secure small harbor to north. Etzu took lead, and we cleared the pier. After consulting with HQ we received orders to investigate the island to the north. By now it was a complete darkness. I mean pitch black. The illumination from artillery was not to be relied on and I had to assume we are now depending on TL/grenadiers flares.

Journey with boats in complete darkness was quite nerve wrecking experience. Charlie and Bravo went ahead, and found landing spots and I saw Bravos chemlight / smoke as a landing beacon. As we all know, we are more prone to sustain casualties when exiting boats than under enemy fire, but this time we made it. After a while all teams RV'd at pitch black rocky shore.  HQ updated us with several task markers. Red question marks on a pitch black island looked like map drawn as a prop to 'Lost'.  Another downside was that radio transmissions (which were great!) were very silent while inside boats, and due kbTell issue, it all blurted on my screen at once. I.e what ever intel I might have had in that transmission, was lost.

I called my TLs to beach to have a chat. We discussed of various options. At first I considered splitting up teams to two, but then I was reminded we have UAV. I had forgotten the damn thing, and now was time to use it. UAV Operator (Variable) set it up and started scouting.

Downside of my decision was that there was lot of waiting. That was and is a valid concern. Here is how I saw it from leaders perspective:

- I had no idea what to expect. I couldn't rely on illumination and our flares were limited.
- Pitch black conditions and split up teams  = potential for blue on blue
- Rocky island = plenty of potential for backtracking, getting stuck, etc.
- We had made it this far. Bum rushing us to machine gun nests would be just wrong.
- I could send teams to do recon, but at a risk, splitting us up and UAV does it better. 
- UAV op is a mission specialist. Utilizing his specialty gives the man something to do, a sense of purpose. In this case the UAV also saved our asses.

A short break and letting UAV operator do his job, won hands down even if there was some audible feedback from the crowd. Besides, when the men have energy to bitch, they have energy to fight  8)

UAV sweep soon revealed a hefty opposition on island. Closest camp, Sierra-3 was defended by several men and a technical truck.  Variable's work was most valuable here. He was able to provide us attack notes, directions, how to approach and how not to.

Sierra - 3 would have been too tough target for one team and to maintain some kind of sanity and control, I kept all teams on tight leash. We pushed west by coast, flanked the camp, and got to striking distance. One nerve wrecking, brutal but perfectly executed firefight with lots of 40mms = win. At the camp we located the leader, a dead one, but also came under decent fire from nearby hills (that have eyes).  We traded shots with opposition for a while but under those light conditions we had a disadvantage and besides, our mission was done. I called us to disengage and we backtracked to boats.

I assumed, at this point, that mission was over.

It was not.

It turned out that we had to take a radio tower to east. UAV recce revealed MG nests guarding the approach. I considered going by the coast on foot but UAV operator informed me the MGs have good enfilade of fire.

I decided to push around with boats. I knew mission had been long, and I was aware of the more waiting. But running into MG nests would have been very demoralizing end to otherwise good mission.  I decided it is better to live and bitch in darkness than to spectate with NVGs.

Another boat insertion with divine assistance with boats.  Variable was able to talk us to good landing spot, and we gathered up at visual of radio tower. Due Variables excellent real-time recce, we hit the radio tower, and demolished opposition in few seconds. It took us 20 minutes to set it up and 20 second to execute. Dust settled, no friendly casualties, objective seized.

Radio tower was soon hit by artillery, and we ran back to boats. One panicked extraction, and mission win.

From my perspective everyone did top notch job in one of the toughest missions I have been to.  Not a single casualty. I am especially proud of us avoiding blue on blue in conditions that were asking for it. Weather, mood, everything. Every man kept his wits and professionalism despite a long (1h 50m ) mission.

My special thanks to my great Team Leaders, and Variable for driving the UAV.

Gods work
(Ammo bearer-Bravo (Manuel))

Mission ended relatively shortly for me near the chapel of Dagon. That said, until then I enjoyed the sneak, quite..exotic mood, and sneaking in the town. One particular tough encounter was with squad deployed from truck enroute to objective.

I was killed near the chapel and I had no spectator so I don't know how the mission ended.

Downtown Train (FQH)
(AT - Bravo)
Took over as TL after Evans got shot on the "Beach Boulevard". Managed to take out a BRDM somewhere between us and the bridge.
After regrouping near the bridge Bravo got order to advance to towards the train yard. After clearing the fenced-in area we set up on the mission objective. There I caught a bullet with my head...

Punitive Expedition
(TL - Bravo)
Great leading by Stag.
Storming the first objective was relatively easy on Bravo's side. We mainly had to hold off reinforcements from a small camp to the north.
<gonna skip the harbor and boat ride, I have nothing to add to stag's report>

We advanced on Sierra on the right of the overall formation. We saw some infantry between the rocks to the north of S3 before the action really started. Throughout the firefight we focused on keeping infantry from that direction away.
Our retreat (we were the first team to pull back) was a bit chaotic. One of us got hit and needed reviving. After that I just led the team down to the coast on the shortest path. That seperated us from the other teams, but we caught up on the way back to the boats.

I have nothing much to add about the assault on the radio tower. It was just beautifully executed thanks to constant drone-intel.

Gods work
(TL - Bravo)
Nice mission, I liked the 'stealth'-insertion. At some point my team got detected by one of the patrolling trucks, resulting in a short fight. Didn't draw other enemies though, fortunately.
On the way through the town we encountered enemies on every other corner, which cost us Stag.

After a short drive to get close to the next objective (a road block) Etzu lost connection, which left me with Valhalian and an AI.
We set up on the objective, using the limited cover available and waited for Alpha to get in position. After the fighting started we quickly ran out of targets so we advanced to get a better view on the road block. That gave an enemy rifle man a good view on myself, that was the end for me.