A new beta for testing...you are in charge of Greek forces during a NATO-Warsaw Pact conflict in 1968. You need to get merchant ships to a Greek port and to eliminate Soviet forces (mostly submarines) in the Aegean.
As always, please let me know what you think. Please feel free to provide feedback on gameplay, units chosen, little details like where the radar systems have been placed, how well written are the orders, scoring, difficulty, etc. What can I do to make this scenario better?
I've completed a playthrough, and it was a challenge (I did admittedly do some save-scumming).
I ended up clearing the Aegean, at the cost of one ship lost to a submarine attack, and two merchants lost.
By far and away the biggest challenge is ASW. It's completely possible to suddenly have torpedoes heading toward your ships. Thankfully these Romeos and Whiskeys don't seem to have wake homing torpedoes, so they CAN be dodged assuming your ship has enough warning.
This challenge is inherent because the ships available are largely outranged by the submarines, both in terms of Sonar and Torpedoes. Not having ASROCs or ASW helos make these subs a real terror.
I found the biggest problem (or challenge) to be detecting a submarine before it can launch a torpedo, which rendered regular depth charges and ASW mortars largely superfluous, with only the destroyers that have torpedoes being able to effectively engage.
I think, perhaps, one plausible way to counter this would be to have the submarines have poor Anti-detection discipline in terms of being liberal with going up to periscope depth. This way, there would be better chances of picking up the periscopes on radar to get some warning.
Just uploaded version 2. Tweaked a few things, including making the air threat a little more serious, but also less suicidal. As always, glad to get feedback from anyone who tries it out. Thanks!
I've completed a playthrough of Version 2. A more intense battle this time around!
I think this scenario is a good showcase of how obsolete WW2 pattern ASW weapons had become. You NEED those surface launched ASW torpedoes. Makes for a good challenge too.
I lost one destroyer to submarine attack, following a tension filled duel SW of Cape Sevas. The destroyer was way out of position when the first merchant was torpedoed and crippled, but it ended up not sinking. I had to race that DD over there to try and save the crippled merchant, and protect the 2nd merchant when it passed through. When the destroyer in question finally got a solid, well within range, solution on that Whiskey, I fired 2 torpedoes, one of which hit, but the Whiskey got off a torpedo that but the DD under. The Whiskey was crippled and surfaced, so I tried to race my DE to blast it with gunfire, but the Whiskey ended up succumbing to it's damage.
The air battles were tense, but I ultimately thwarted most of the enemy sorties. at the cost of 2 of my aircraft. Only 2 strikes got within range of targets.
One lone MiG got on a final run against the destroyer Thyella, but I was able to turn the broadside and blast it with 5 Inch guns, having smartly ordered the gunners to pre-load the VT-fused shells.
In one other instance, a trio of MiGs were able to get through my fighters to attack the destroyer Doxa. The ship had to break off a tense search for another Whiskey to deal with this threat. I had pre-loaded AA rounds to the guns, but I wasn't able to get direct control in time to turn to broadside, and in any event, the MiGs made separate attacks from different directions. The Doxa's gunners didn't down any MiGs, but they were able to disrupt the bombing runs. One minor direct hit and several near misses later, the Doxa had taken superstructure damage, but was able to continue the hunt for the Whiskey, which it ended up splashing after a couple of tense torpedo duels.
I was also able to blast the one Romeo with my submarine's Mk 37s. I got one frigate with surface gunfire from Thyella that outranged the latter, and the other Frigate was destroyed with a bombing sortie of 2x F-5s
Ultimately, I was not able to save 2 other merchants that were sunk by submarines, but all the others, save the one dead in the water, made it to Thessaloniki
I ran out the clock to get the points for the remaining merchants to get to port, so my final score was 760 Major Victory. The Soviets must have hit that whale because I don't recall ever detecting any.
If I were to suggest anything, I'd say maybe add a simple unarmed aircraft the Greeks may have had for use to scout the Aegean for those Frigates. I used 2x F-5s individually for the task, and armed the other 4 with bombs at first. This is one year short of having the Albatross floatplane available for the Greeks, but still had C-47s through the early 80s. Having something like that would be handy for general scouting in the Aegean both for the frigates and for spotting any periscopes.
