New Scenario for testing Med Fury 1 The Road to Byzantium

[Gunner98]

Thanks Andrew.

That American strike was a little more anemic than I was hoping for. Has there been any TLAM action?


Really appreciate your reports.

B

[AndrewJ]

No TLAMs, not yet (he said, hastily reinforcing his airborne patrols).

[AndrewJ]

Aaaand, done!

FEB 15

Patrols continued uneventfully throughout the night, and no new enemy contacts were spotted. Ground commanders reported that their areas of operation were secure. Shortly after dawn the commander is issued new orders, and proceeds to the next theatre of operations, leaving landing area security in the hands of capable local commanders. (At this point, with no sign of further activity I paused the scenario. Looking on the enemy side, it was clear there would be no further activity based on my current position and plans, so I brought the scenario to an end.)



OBSERVATIONS
(This is mostly based on the V1.3, which I played.)

Overall Play Experience

This is another big scenario, and I really liked how the I kept having to switch focus as different priorities came to the fore. First the minelaying, then the initial air strike, then naval activity, back to ongoing air combat, pre-landing reconnaissance, planning the next round of strikes, directing air and naval landings, etc. etc. There was plenty of work to do, and enough time and scope for the player to have a range of different plausible options to explore. You definitely do not feel railroaded into a pre-defined plan by this scenario, and there’s plenty of opportunity for a concentration in one area (bomb the shore defences!) to leave you exposed in another (what do you mean we never bombed Eskisehir!). Your decisions make a significant difference, which is great.

Towards the latter part of the scenario, I found myself wondering what I should be doing with my troops. After landing, they formed up in defensive posture, to receive the Turkish charge, but once that was done I just left them sitting there with nowhere to go. Perhaps if there were specific zones to occupy (highway interchanges, communications nodes, etc.), requiring sufficient heavy troops (not just light inf paradropped in) then the player would have an incentive to spread out and occupy the territory, rather than sitting in a purely defensive block on the beaches and LZs.


Terrain

As my paradrop was getting underway, I had a look at the satellite views in Google Maps, and found I was essentially dropping my troops into a heavily built-up area. There’s almost nowhere to make a parachute landing in the region! There are extensive sprawling built-up areas, and some lightly forested areas, but almost nowhere to lay down a major airborne formation (particularly at the southern end of the Bosporus). Perhaps the situation wasn’t quite so bad 25 years ago, but I suspect there would still have been very limited areas in which an air-drop was possible. I’m not sure if it would be worth the trouble to designate suitable LZs in advance? Or somehow penalize drops which are in dangerous terrain? It may be the case that it’s best to just look the other way and ignore the limits of the model.

I think this scenario bumps up against the edge of CMANO’s ability to accurately represent ground combat. I was able to rapidly destroy masses of enemy ground units with unguided ordnance, reliably spot units from the air, drive in straight lines in any direction, and conduct long range direct fires, all in what is actually a city. I suspect the reality would be very different, and probably a lot slower and less reliable. The effects of cover and concealment alone would have a major impact. I realize this is not what CMANO was designed for, and when ground unit combat starts happening on this scale I think it becomes apparent. I guess if I rationalize ‘destroyed’ enemy units as ‘damaged and temporarily dispersed’ units, then things aren’t so out of line. But enough game philosophy!


Fuel-Related Items

There are a number of places where the player has to watch out for fuel limitations, and they might not all be immediately apparent to a casual player, even though in real life the staff would draw this to the commander’s attention. Perhaps the side briefing could include staff warnings about some of the following concerns?

When the IL-76s return to base they often get tangled up in the landing pattern, waiting their turn, and this can lead to them running out of fuel, even though calculations show they should be able to make the return trip. This is particularly true if they are sent deep into the south zone, or given anything but a straight-line route. The player has the Bisons to give them a top-up, but they may not recognize the problem in time.

The An-26s also have a very short range, and probably won’t be able to make the return trip to the Ukraine. The player may find them turning back before they reach their drop zone.

Many of the missile and torpedo boats have limited range, especially when zooming around at top speed, and the player needs to be careful or they can be stuck far from home with dry tanks. (The hovercraft tanker may be on rescue duty for these!)

The wide line of torpedo boats in the screening formation is set up with relative bearings. This means that when the formation is turned around, in order to return home, the ships in the east rush west at flank speed, and the ships in the west rush east at flank speed, burning large amounts of fuel as they try to re-organize the formation. This can lead to the ships running out of fuel on the way home. If the ships were in a fixed bearing formation then each ship would individually turn around, and the formation could advance and retreat without excessive fuel use.

The ekranoplans do not have the range to make it to their landing beach. Their total ferry range is 540 nm (270 nm one way) and it is 289 nm to the closest point of their objective. They turn back while still out at sea.

The short range of the hovercraft has already been addressed by repositioning them and adding a tanker in later releases, I think?


Cargo items

The amphibious ships unload some TELs for an SA-6 battery, but they don’t seem to have the radar for it, so the missiles probably won’t work.

The amphibs also unload some train cars! Engineers are clever, but let’s see them manhandle that across the beach!

Some cargo types (saboteurs, AT-14) are not listed as paradrop capable, so I left them at home. I’m not sure if they would have worked or not.


TLAMs

The Ray’s TLAM mission is active, and the Ray is in range of its target, the airbase at Kacha. Unfortunately, single unit airbases are not eligible targets for TLAMs! If you want to make strikes against the bases they will need to be multi-unit groups, like the NATO ones. Perhaps you could only do a few of the closer ones, and let the more distant bases be single unit, to try and save unit count? If you just did one base, then it would be fairly obvious where the strike was going to land.

Alternatively, the TLAM strike could be directed at other targets. A night strike against the Bulgarians, particularly the long range radars and SA-5 sites could be very useful. I relied on the radar coverage they supplied in order to keep tabs on the fight over the Aegean, so losing them would have greatly reduced my situational awareness and lowered warning time for attacks from southern Greece. The SA-5s also got a decent kill rate and disrupted enemy formations, several times enabling my MiG-21s and 23s to make their escape, so getting rid of them pays dividends for that reason also. (The TLAMs in the carrier group could be usefully directed here if the Ray is busy attacking an airfield.)


Carrier Group Operations

The carrier starts on a sea control patrol in the middle of the Med, with its ships spread out in a 36 mile wide formation. At some point, when NATO detects my ships, it automatically plots a course to investigate, and tries to close in and attack. In my case, the carrier had plotted a course that brought it south of Crete, around the east end of Crete, and then back NNW heading up into the Aegean. It’s plotted course had it headed up through the Dardanelles and eventually into the Black Sea, to investigate and attack my ships there. Unfortunately, the formation had become so widely dispersed that the ships were now as much as 105 miles apart! Two of the escorts were still south of Crete, while the carrier and other escorts were spread out in the Aegean.

I suspect the complex topography (so many islands) and large formation are causing all sorts of problems for the pathfinding, and if the destination changes or moves (since the group is operating on sea control and is chasing my boats), then paths will be getting recalculated and messed up again and again. The timing of the move will also vary depending on when NATO spots my ships. If I had dashed my warships into spotting range on the first afternoon, then the carrier would presumably have been half a day further up the Aegean, poorly protected by its spread-out escorts, and running defencelessly over my Kilo…

It may be better to have the carrier on a pre-defined approach, with waypoints and speeds already selected, and a much smaller formation (only a few miles wide). This would avoid a lot of the pathfinding difficulties with far-flung ships trying to find their way around islands. There’s nothing the player can do to interfere with the earlier stages of the carrier’s journey, so being on an AI-controlled patrol is more of a hindrance than a help. On the first evening the group could be on a TLAM strike mission (vs Bulgaria?). On the second day/evening, at a point where you know for certain all the planes on the carrier will be in range, it could activate its coordinated strike missions against the landing, and also provide support with ELINT, AEW, etc.

Phoenix! The F-14s need their Phoenix. Maybe they don’t all need to be carrying the four Phoenix load, but they should at least have two. Without it they have lost their main combat power.

The EA-6s had their radars on, but not their jammers. (I switched sides and turned them on for my playthrough, and it definitely makes a difference against the older Soviet fighters.)

There are no AIM-7Ms in the carrier magazines, which the VF-194 squadron uses. (You have two different types of F-14Bs on board - not sure if that's intended?) At the end of the sim I found 6 F-14 escorts in reserve because they did not have enough Sparrows to reload. The shortage would have been worse had more F-14s made it back.

There are a lot of planes on ‘no loadout’, including 8 F-14s. I’m assuming these are ones which would normally be out of the fight for maintenance?

The carrier isn’t using its E-2s. This was actually helpful for keeping the carrier hidden at first (I wasn’t certain if one was out there at all), but once the F-14s start launching the secret is over. Launching some E-2s at that point could help cover the gaps which will probably be left by the missing E-3s and land-based radars. It might even be helpful to have them up from the beginning, but with with radars off, to provide ESM coverage. LUA could turn on their radars once the carrier goes overt.

None of the carrier group’s helicopters are operating on ASW duty. If the carrier is intended to head up into the Aegean, and has the potential to get to the Kilo, then those may need to be up and operating, at least in the second half of the scenario. (Similarly for S-3s on ASW patrol.)


The Carrier Strike

I agree that the American strike was much weaker than expected. The F-18s never launched (by the time they were within range I had killed everything which could see me, so they didn’t know where I was), so I was spared what should have been 36 planes on the attack. The Bombcats were destroyed after their escorts went elsewhere. Bombing with F-14s might not have been quite as effective as hoped, even if they got there, since 500lb iron bombs turned out to be only moderately effective against mechanized targets when I was using them.

A strike with full fighter support might have a better chance of getting to the target. Perhaps something like:

Initial wave of F-14s (currently escorts) with medium Phoenix, to operate on a broad front and clear the area.
Bombcats changed to mix of heavy and medium Phoenix, one group as close escorts, one group to cover operating area and withdrawl. (No bombing!)
F-18s with high proportion of CBUs, some Maverick IR, possibly some HARM, fewer iron bombs. Maybe even some escorting with AMRAAM?
EA-6’s with jammers on.
S-3s stay home. (They did bomb in ODS, but they’re extraordinarily vulnerable here.)

It may be most effective to have this attack after dark, when the extensive array of Soviet MANPADs and their flack have their greatest targeting difficulties, while the American FLIR gives greatest advantage for spotting targets.


NATO Observers

I think NATO needs a bunch of observers scattered throughout the landing and objective areas, to let the ground attacks activate reliably. In my case, the F-18s never launched because I had killed all the enemy that could see me, and then I sat in the same spot, effectively vanishing from NATO screens. In reality, when operating in a densely populated area, I think it is very likely that there would be somebody around that could phone or radio to say “Hey, they’re over here!” NATO would probably be able to get planes into the right area to look around for my combat formations. Some nearly undetectable weaponless observer units (with night vision) scattered about could simulate this nicely. (This might also be combined with local objectives mentioned earlier, placing the observers in the vicinity of where my troops need to go, and making it more likely for NATO to be able to strike at the Russians.)


Missile Ranges

NATO aircraft are currently set to fire at maximum range, but this often let me run out of range and evade the missile, and even when I couldn’t get away the extreme range shots usually had very poor hit chances. Some WRA tweaks might improve the situation for NATO.

I’d suggest that the AIM-7M & P Sparrow engagements take place at no more than 45 nm (instead of 55nm), to eliminate cheap escapes. The Warpac’s AA-10s are coupled with weak radar, so they won’t be firing until about 35 nm at best, giving the Sparrow a comfortable edge. AA-6s will be firing at about the 45 nm, same as the Sparrow, but your hit chances are going to be better, and it's probably worth the trade. I’d suggest Phoenix engagements at 60 nm against fighters, maybe 80 or 100 against bombers, jammers, etc. The R530s and older Sparrows probably need to stay at max range.


Miscellaneous

Would it be possible to have some conventional ordnance for the Su-24s? I had considered using them to attack some distant radar/SAM sites with a low-level terrain following attack, but they only have high level PGMs.

Given the distance the MiG-25s are from the probable areas, it may make sense to have them equipped with their drop-tank loadouts from the beginning. I wound up switching them all over as soon as I could.

Would the Russians already have an ELINT plane up, 'monitoring the exercise' at the start of the scenario?

Thank heavens for Redeyes! If the Turks had been equipped with Stingers the ground would be littered with burning WARPAC attack planes. As it was, I had numerous close brushes with the Redeyes, but managed to evade the majority of them.

Coup update 7 happens before Coup update 6.

There is an E-3 at Aktion on status 'Reserve [Available]', with no mission. Was that one actually intended to be flying?

There are 6 KC-135s ready at Sigonella which have no mission.

The Greek RF-4Es at Larissa do not have a mission, nor do the Turkish RF-5As at Merzifon. Is there any way to have them go scouting for the daytime land attack missions? I found it is very difficult for attack planes to spot ground troops optically, and I had to use my recce planes as FACs or I would not have been able to attack anything. The same issue will probably trouble the F-4s, F-5s, and Corsairs, unless the RF-4s and RF-5s can somehow get into the target zone and spot for them. The RF-4s at Eskisehir are on a land strike mission as escort, but they seemed to try and land immediately after they launched (presumably because they have no weapons), so that method doesn't seem to work.

The Hormone torpedo loadout does not include sonobuoys, even though the loadout title suggests it does. (Nothing you can do about it, just something to be aware of, I guess. I put in a database change request, so hopefully it will be fixed.)

The NATO tankers on the Tanker 2 and Tanker 3 missions are in a reasonably vulnerable position, once the Russians arrive in numbers. Maybe have them further to the rear (unless this represents a peacetime posture that hasn’t been changed yet)?

The major enemy surface ships are operating with their sonars in passive mode. A lot of them have quite good active sonar, and since they are operating against very quiet SSKs, it probably makes sense for them to be using it. They won’t lose anything in the way of stealth – they are already emitting with their radars, so Warpac forces should have them on ESM and probably by radar too – and they’ll have a much better chance against my subs. My Kilo was able to kill several destroyers in the Aegean essentially unopposed, just by cruising into their path.

The Corsairs on the Greek Land Strike mission are coming in with their surface search radars on, giving me immediate warning from the moment they lift off, even though the radars are of no use on their land strike mission. If they came in with radars off for the initial cruise then it would reduce my reaction time, and cause a bit more confusion until I could get a visual ID. Since Corsairs carry Sidewinders, while the other slow attack planes don’t, the wrong assumption on my part could lead to a dangerous mistake.

The Turk Land Strike Konya mission has a range of 300 nm, and includes airplanes at Merzifon as well as Konya. When it activates it finds the Ukrainian airbases are within 300 nm of Merzifon, and it launches the attack in that direction across the Black Sea (to its inevitable doom), even before any Russians land in Turkey. The escorts, which are another 200 miles further south in Konya, try and follow. I'm not sure if a no-fly zone over the Ukraine would prevent them from going this way? (If this had come in at the same time as the the other land strikes it would have meant an additional 6 escorts and 12 attackers trying to reach my beaches, when I was already very stretched on the defense. I got off lightly here.)

The NATO ground attacks (typically 4-plane flights of F-4s or A-7s) are quite vulnerable to planes flying up behind them. If you pass in front they will shoot at you, but at any other time they simply continue in a straight line, even if the Warpac planes are clearly visible on radar and identified as hostile. I haven't tried this, but would switching them to Engage Opportunity = Yes help them defend themselves?

I'm puzzled by the Turk Istanbul East C Move mission. It seems to take the 16th Mech Brigade out of its position on the SE end of the Bosporus, and send it further east along the coast, out of my area of operation. Is this the way it was supposed to work?


ASSORTED TYPOS AND THE LIKE

Side briefing: “22nd Coastal Defense Brigade, west of the straits, the same as the 21st but more disbursed.” (dispersed)

Side briefing: “Currently quite strong in the Mediterranean but disbursed…” (dispersed)

Side briefing: “Once there is sufficient security in the landing area a Ekranoplan base has been selected.” (an)

Side briefing: “You must make this choice within the first 5 minutes of game time of the options are no longer available.” (should be or?)

Side briefing, special action: “Subvert Air Force Moral” (Morale)

Side briefing, special action: “Ferment division between Greece and Turkey…” (Should be foment. Fermenting is brewing. Fomenting is stirring up sh*t. A rare word if ever there was one!)

Coup update 5: “Our video crews recorded this speech and we are not sending it everywhere we can – it fits perfectly with our message, with some minor edits of course.” (should be “are sending it”?)

Coup update 7: “Many are calling for a withdraw from NATO and a separate piece with us.” (withdrawal, peace)

Report from CPO: “They believe that its coming from the Germans and we will foster that understanding.” (it’s)



Thanks again for another great scenario. I got a month of on-and-off play out of this one, and it was definitely time enjoyably spent.

[morphin]

[&o]
Great AAR.
is it possible to Transport Magazins weapons to another AB?
Also i'm Looking forward to a New Version with hopefully a lot oft the suggestions realized
I think this is an extremly excitung scenario

[Gunner98]

Wow! Once again Andrew - an excellent report with a lot of great suggestions.

What was supposed to happen with the Carrier was that it hangs around in the central Med and the tankers from Sicily supply the Hornets with enough range to do the job. I think I know how to fix that. The Ike needs to be sailing north to Iceland by the end of the week - I can't get it tied up in the Aegean! That's for the Nimitz once it come in from the IO.

The Ray's strike will need to be tweaked. It's important for story that it targets the Crimea but holds very little chance of success. I do like the Bulgarian strike Idea however...

Lots of good ideas to fix and I'll work on those as soon as I can.

The Su-24s won't be getting more ammo - they are only part of this fight under great protest. Same reason you don't have any Su-27s.

The Fuel point are good reminders, I threw in some extra transport bases to help alleviate the stacking problem but need to tell the player about it.

The An-26's - good point, perhaps I can work in the Bulgarian para Bde... Bugger about the ekranoplans... will fix that somehow, neat piece of kit but not overly useful.

I am on the road and won't get a chance to do too much until later in the month.

Thanks very much once more - MF #2 is waiting for you [:D]

B

[Gunner98]

morphin

I'll get a new version out closer to the end of the month.

I can probably put in some special actions with some ammo basing options. The Soviets would have moved ammo by rail to any forward bases (such as for the Mig-23s that start in the east), tempered by the need for security. The air-transport situation is getting maxed out, the Tpt Regts you have are going to be follow up to five other Regts dropping on Iceland in about 24 hrs. And there is a major (Div Size) drop that is being held as a demonstration in the Pacific. Am running out of Tpt Regts and Aeroflot is just being mobilized now, to preserve security they were not warned.

Am glad you guys enjoy these scenarios.

B

[Gunner98]

General Question?

Does the Coup and all its bits help or distract? Not really sure it is worth the squeeze. Thoughts?

B

[AndrewJ]

ORIGINAL: Gunner98

Bugger about the ekranoplans... will fix that somehow, neat piece of kit but not overly useful.

I think the Russians came to the same conclusion!


I think the Coup comes across to the player the same way as it would to a real commander; as an occasional operational distraction from a different sphere of activity, that can't quite be ignored when it intrudes into a focused military operation.

I had the random events at their lowest setting, so there wasn't a lot of activity for me. I had one explosion at Murted, a bit of troop movement, the sub defection, and a couple of cases of Turkish aircraft doing odd things. The series of coup messages were read quickly, but there didn't seem to be much I could do about them or with their information, so I was quickly back to the main operation.

The important thing the coup does is help lend plausibility to the entire operation. I really doubt the Russians would be able to seize the Bosporus from a unified and alert Turkey. They can take the seas, and contest the skies, but I think the Turks would have the ground power to overwhelm the invaders before too long. But if there's a paralyzing coup going on, nobody's in charge, and confusion is the word of the day, then I can start to see a way it might work. So I think it's important to keep this in the player's mind.

Perhaps the player would feel more involved in the coup progress, if it were somehow tied in with their own progress? Perhaps something like a series of report options tied to the player's score? (For example, Low score = "angered by your attack, thousands of angry Turks are flocking to their units", High score = "your rapid progress is causing more confusion, mobilization is is slow".) Perhaps this could be tied to threats of a major military unit on the way if the player's doing poorly? But it might be more effort than it is worth, just to add some extra atmosphere.

[Gunner98]

Just getting to these now - sorry to be so late

I'm a little unclear what the game means by Day only on the attack AC, can they take off but won't be able to see so they won't hit anything? or is it honor system and I shouldn't use them?

Day only = you can take off and have a nice flight but cannot see squat. So your bombs will miss by a long way.

I've added Lua script for Wpns Free when NATO goes hostile - very good point.

The big bombers with lots of small bombs are really good for open parking at air bases. The big bombs are really, really good at making big holes.

[Gunner98]

SPOILER ALERT!

Both sides take the opportunity to rest their air-forces overnight, while the landing force continues to advance towards the Bosporus. Radar operators begin to report signs of the rebel air activity, as some NATO contacts are observed running intercepts on each other. They don’t seem to be shooting, but they are taking up each others time and fuel,

----------------------------

Andrew chose the Political Action - Subvert Submarine force - which saw a very nicely placed high-end Turk sub chose to stay out of the fight. So this one works

The other options should cause other results - has anyone seen these and do they work?:

-Air force moral, you likely don't see this but general proficiency drops

-Army C2 - reduces the chance of Turk ground forces counter attacking ... if they live that long

-Division between Greeks and Turks - you should see this one as the fireworks fly [:D]

Thanks

[Whicker]

I was doing `Air force moral' I think, didn't really notice anything, but that choice made sense to me. I don't think I ever saw a sub but I never played it all the way thru, will give it another go eventually.

[Gunner98]

OK here is Ver 1.6

Quite a few fixes and adjustments. The big ones:
-Ammo will now be delivered to Bulgarian Air Bases for some Soviet fighters starting about noon on day 2
-I think I've got the carrier strike fixed, should prove interesting
-TLAM strike should also be fixed
-Bulgarian Airborne & Ampib Bns are available to use as cargo
-The ekranoplans objective is moved and should be in range
-Cargo bits are fixed and fuel issues are in the brief

and a bunch of other bits fixed up.

I look forward to your comments and critiques.

Enjoy

[morphin]

Thank0s

There are 2 Naval Docks at Atia, one has 5xVydra LCU, but on these we can not laod cargo because on this dock there is no cargo....

Maybe change this 5 boats with other boats that doesn0t need cargo load?

Andy

[Gunner98]

Are you loading from the group view or did you select the individual dock? It should work as they are in a group.

Will fix otherwise.

B

[morphin]

From the group view...

[Gunner98]

OK that bit is fixed - bit of a PITA, the 5 LCUs take up the same space as every other ship at the dock! And it was full so a shift one boat at a time but it now works. Well spotted.

Also a scenario name change and a fix for NATO recon flights.

This update probably does not require a restart if you are already working on 1.6

This time with the scenario file attached!

[Gunner98]

Anything else on this one guys? Will try and finish it up this weekend.

Tx

B

[morphin]

Hi Gunner

I'm Still playing. I have startet about 3 times and evertime my sub that was mine laying was attacked before hostility beguns (so about 15 to 30 minutes after start).
I have now set the doctrine for the turkey ASW to engage only hostile contacts... (or identify unknown contacts before engage?)
Maybe a lua script that set this back once the fight starts and turkey get hostile?

Thank's
Andy

[Gunner98]

An easy fix.

I can hold off a few days to give you more time if you like. RL then gets crazy again and it will be about a month before I can get back to it.

B

[Badlandz]

Hello Gunner,

Trying the V1.7.

I’m only 2 hours into the fight. Approximately 14Z.

The ships that sortied from the Gölcük naval base still seem to have a pathing problem with the straights.
4 of them went to the straights then turned back SW. One ship started heading east toward Izmit. Looks like some more have departed the base and are heading north. A question about spetnaz: there was a team covering the old location, should there be one on this base?

The TLAM strike was successful. It destroyed the SAM batteries.

+Regarding the Kilos near the straights. I ordered them into the layer (depth -300’) at creep speed. Then I sent the Bulgarians to harass the S-2s. It worked out that the Turks sent 4 F-16s to intercept. All this occurred before H hour. At H hour 2 MiG-29UB were behind the F-16s. A volley of R-73s ended that threat. The AA-10 armed Migs took down the S-2s on either side of the straights. Meanwhile, the southern kilo stalked a Turkish sub and fired a torpedo from within the target’s baffles. Minelaying in progress.

+Initial missle strikes were somewhat successful. I used them to target the Runways and taxiways at Balikesir and Bandirma. Spetnaz report all but one badly damaged. 2 missles were aimed at the sub pen at Erdek. They missed, however, one hit near the dock where some Turkish vessels had been spotted.
AS-6 ARMs were used to take down the 2 Nike batteries SE of Istanbul. One each was sufficient. The AS-5 Kelts are only being used on undefended targets. 2 were easily shot down by AAA near the radar east of Istanbul.

+A runway strike by SU-17 at the Cengiz Topal NAS was not successful. Apparently the anti runway bombs didn’t penetrate the surface. Might be a database issue there. The AAA was able to down a recon aircraft and damage 2 of the strike. Was it 5 batteries plus MANPADs? Wow!

+ I chose the special action to diminish the Air Force. I can not see any impact. Should there be any obvious signs? Reading Andrews great AAR I think I should have selected the same as he did.

+ Small issue with naming. Several groups of aircraft are named the same. The 2 Recce Air Div, 943 Recce Regt and 5th Gds Recce Regt have same names for several types of aircraft. Like I said, a minor issue.

That’s all I recall for now.


Overall, I think things are working. I am enjoying this scenario. Thanks for making it!

Looking forward to the release of the book!

Best Regards
Ed