Don't Start What You Can't Finish - 1964

[cf_dallas]

I started out writing a simple "hey, let's use a B-58 somewhere" scenario... and as usual with my efforts, it got very out of hand.
As always, comments/feedback are welcome.

It's a fairly large file, there are a lot of dumb units. I tried to make it as processor-friendly as possible by putting a lot of the "targets" on sides that are set to Blind. There's also few (possibly zero) "Unit Enters Area" or "Unit Remains in Area" triggers. It runs fairly smoothly on my machine, and it's no top-end setup.

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20 July 1964



Though the Cuban Missile Crisis ended with the Soviets backing down, the saber-rattling has not stopped. Both the Soviet Union and United States are maintaining round-the-clock airborne bomber alerts, and frequent encounters between the two superpowers Air Force and Navy units have kept tensions high.

Into this maelstrom of hostility has stepped Fidel Castro. A Cuban patrol boat sank two US Coast Guard cutters in international waters yesterday, and the US has decided to retaliate with a series of punitive air strikes using Tactical Air Command units based in Florida. Availability of strategic assets is very limited due to ongoing tensions with the USSR.

You never know though… these things have a way of spiraling out of control.

Total Units: >500 combatant units; 122 aircraft in player control
Scenario Time: 10 hours 

[cf_dallas]

Anyone have a chance to play this yet?

[Randomizer]

Sorry, have been side-tracked with other stuff of late. Plan to give it a run through Sunday (tomorrow).

-C

[cf_dallas]

ORIGINAL: Randomizer

Sorry, have been side-tracked with other stuff of late. Plan to give it a run through Sunday (tomorrow).

-C

No apology needed... If you do get the chance, let me know what you think.

[stolypin]

ORIGINAL: cf_dallas

Anyone have a chance to play this yet?

I didn't see it until today.

On my list.

[stolypin]

Very nice scenario. I achieved a 379 (Average).

I certainly did not expect the Cubans to do what they did. But I made them pay for it.

[DrRansom]

I've been playing this scenario on and off, I like it a lot. The Cuban AF is definitely giving my USAF fighters a ton of trouble. I'm getting about the same kill ratio as the USAF in the early years of the Vietnam war, even with heavy micro. CMANO does give accurate results. Next time, I'm just not going to fight the Cuban AF until time for the ground attacks.

Couple of notes:
- I like the MIG-21 scramble at the most in-opportune time for my airstrike. Really punished poor planning on my part to sanitize inbound / outbound corridor for bombers.
- Recon Recon Recon. I'm not doing it and the SA-3s are killing me. The scenario gives me recon though, so props for that too.
- Early model F-4's are really poor choices against MIG-19s. After the sparrows are used up, the Migs gun down the F-4s with impunity.
- I have to send my Bullpup armed fighters against the aforementioned SA-3 sites.

Overall, I see the struggles that the pre-Vietnam War USAF has with a defended target. The USAF just isn't set up to attack anything inside a SAM network at the time of the scenario.

For the future, I want to try this scenario with a 1972 air wing. Let me see just how much easier it gets after the lessons of the Vietnam war.

On CMANO:
- the strike range restriction really hurts in this case. The F-100Ds have a strike radius of 175nm. Havana is ~180nm from the main airbase. That makes micro much more intensive. It'd be nice to be able to extend the strike radius by a small amount, but that will have to wait until an advanced strike planner.

[DrRansom]

Also, can you check the WRA? I haven't seen a Navy fighter use an AIM-9C yet in the scenario.

[cf_dallas]

I'm glad you guys liked it! It was definitely a challenge to find USAF jets with enough range in that time period, particularly for eastern Cuba.

I'll take a look at the WRAs this weekend. Anything else you thought needed tweaking?

[DrRansom]

Not much else, I really liked the scenario. It isn't easy, as I thought it would be at first, because the USAF of that time just had really bad tactical air.

[Randomizer]

A solid challenge and reasonable situation with effective briefings and clear Player objectives. Not much surprise regarding the escalation to nuclear war though since Carswell AFB belongs to the Player and its Hustlers ready in three-hours. Still, a keeper that requires unlearning modern high-tech tactics and going back to the ground-attack basics. Fortunately I prefer dumb bombs and free-flight rockets so this scenario is right for my CMANO skill sets.

Haven't looked at it in the editor but perhaps the USN WRA might need tweaking as DrRansom notes.

Well done, thanks for the scenario.

-C

[cf_dallas]

Well... I couldn't find anything wrong with the WRAs. I ran it for a while playing for the USN side, and the AIM-9C equipped Crusaders couldn't engage with the missiles. "Weapon must detect target prior to firing." Either the AIM-9C is looking for a radar return it's not getting from the F-8s radar, or it's acting like an ARM... there'll be a separate post in Tech Support, though I'm not at all certain it's not something I've got set wrong.

In the interest of expediency, I re-armed all the USN Crusaders with AIM-9B. It's a POS against fighters, but it's better than going into combat with a missile you can't use at all. Updated version here and in the first post.

[cf_dallas]

Other than updating to the latest DB version, anyone see anything that needs changed on this one?