Big Red One #1 - Resupply issues

[Zumwalt_446]

Hi all,

Playing through the Big Red One campaign and I noticed some issues (may be WAD) with the Cobra units. They treat their rockets as "key ammo", meaning that they consistently resupply after expending their rocket pods even though they still have all/most of their TOWs unexpended. This results in a lot of missed opportunities to take shots at enemy armor.

Are only the Hydra pods considered key ammo for the Cobras, or are both the TOW/rockets taken into account?

[WildCatNL]

Hi,

The TOWs are taken into account as key ammo, but the game struggles to interpret the Hydra as a burst attack weapon (say 4-5 ripple fires of 8 rockets). Instead, it treats it as having 38 single rockets.
So the ammo status, after emptying Hydra pods is: 8 TOWs + 0 Hydra out of 8 TOWs + 38 Hydra = 17% supply.

A work-around is to reduce the resupply trigger of the Cobra to about 5% if you don't want it to resupply before tapping into the TOW missiles.

This is a design problem for which we haven't found a satisfactory solution (it's worse for AH-64 Apache's where you may want the Apache to not resupply when facing soft targets, being out of Hellfires but still having 30mm auto-cannon ammo). We want the game to handle a wide set of systems and load-outs, from infantry to artillery to fighter bombers to gunships to destroyers.

[Zumwalt_446]

Thanks, that's about what I thought was happening in this case. On a related note, I did observe some other helicopter/FARP interactions that may be of interest; this involves a helicopter going into resupply when its associated FARP is on the move (although I'm not sure how this could be avoided short of forcing the FARP unit to pause movement so that resupply can occur, which may not be the most realistic approach).

[IronMikeGolf]

I need to do more research, but my take is FARPs are not anything near mobile. On the roadmap is to be able to designate a unit as having a delay time associated with movement and be operational for battle function. In this case, it's a delay between arrival and when a helo unit can begin re-arming. Also, a delay before implementing a move. We look at this as "set-up and breakdown" times and they are not necessarily symmetric.

Refueling is likely not an issue, given scenario lengths. Re-arming is a complicated dance:
1. Arrive and de-arm. Unload all weapons, especially missiles and rockets. Takes a weapons tech, not flight crew. Re-cycle rockets and missiles.
2. Skip re-fuel and go to re-arm
3. Load up pods and launch rails.

Depending on staffing, Steps 1 and 2 are likely 1 helo at a time. So there is a wait queue before Step 1 and after Step 3 to preserve unit integrity.

Could you do a "stay behind" detachment to re-arm while the FARP unit moves? Maybe. I have a former helo pilot contact I can reach out to for more info.

This also gets us into the area of how much does it matter. And the question of if a FARP would re-locate within the timespan of a scenario. This is worth looking into, but too early to make decisions.

[WildCatNL]

this involves a helicopter going into resupply when its associated FARP is on the move

Zumwalt, (Jeff),

mobile FARPs are unintended behavior, due to a problem in how the game handles single large objects (requiring lots of transport capacity). We are in the process of fixing that, which should result in FARPs units remaining static.
The scenario designer will retain the ability introduce new (fixed in place) FARPs by means of reinforcements, and the ability to withdraw existing FARPs. That should enable scenarios to represent multiple FARPs or FARPs being installed or torn down over time.

Helo's have behavior to switch to an alternate FARP in case the FARP they are heading towards is under fire. They don't have behavior yet to abort the resupply and go for another FARP when the FARP is removed under their feet.

[SgtZdog]

Helo's have behavior to switch to an alternate FARP in case the FARP they are heading towards is under fire. They don't have behavior yet to abort the resupply and go for another FARP when the FARP is removed under their feet.

Fun trivia, this means currently a Helo can rearm at a FARP even while it's moving. An unlikely, though funny occurrence.

[Zumwalt_446]

Hi all,

This is interesting information as I had previously assumed that the ability to issue move orders to a FARP unit was intentionally included. I have generally been issuing initial move orders after the FARP appears on-map to place it closer to the MLR and decrease helicopter downtime during resupply.

I am on the fence about the feasibility of this during the average scenario length (4-6 hours), but present-day CONOPS (austere basing, EABO, etc.) do involve times shorter than that. They also involve what Jeff mentioned (smaller subunits rearming one or two aircraft, rather than an entire unit being rearmed simultaneously). However, I'm not sure how much of what is done today would be possible with 1980s-level technology/doctrine.

[CapnDarwin]

FARPs should be a static item in the game. There is an issue where the FARP item is not being seen as too large to move. We are trying to figure out the best way to keep trucks and the other kit with the FARP but kill the movement. It takes hours to pack or unpack a FARP, and that is out of the scope of the game's scenarios.