[Logged] Advice on getting more CALCM and Tomahawk to reach targets

[trueandnorth]

I'm playing Live: Don of a new Era. I'm having issues with getting my B52 CALCM's and Tomahawks on target as they seem to crash mid-flight. Out of a batch of 30 maybe 4-5 make it to the Russian SAM range.

My guess this is terrain-related and/or my rusty knowledge as I've just picked this game back up.

What is the process you use to make sure maximum missiles land on target for overland strikes?

I have my B52's at 36K altitude. Is there a better one to use?

Thanks for your help.

[thewood1]

Are they crashing or being shot down? I send dozens of Tomahawks overland in some scenarios and don't remember seeing a lot crash, but I might just not have noticed.

[trueandnorth]

They are crashing. I'm launching the CALCM's from a B52 group in Northern Romania and they don't make it 300 miles. The Tomahawks are coming from a Burke near Northern Greece and going overland into Turkey and Bulgaira.

Launches over the sea only seem fine. It's mid-course tracks over land that seems to be my issue.

[thewood1]

I just launched 28 Tomahawks and 8 CALCMs from 36k over the Atlantic to a target 1500 miles away behind the Appalachian mountain chain in Kentucky. All missiles traveled between 150 ft and 220 ft AGL the entire flight and not one crashed.

[trueandnorth]

Thanks. My numbers were 1 in 16 from the B52's and 5 in 30 from the Tomahawks.

Let me do some more tests.

[thewood1]

See my reply to your PM.

[thewood1]

I just ran Don of a New Era in 1147.16. Fired 32 CALCMs over Romania into a base on the Crimea. I also fird 56 Tomahawks from a DDG in the Med. A large number of Tomahawks were shot down by a very powerful Russian task force in the Black Sea. The CALCMs were intercepted by SA-21a's in the Crimea. There are a ton of SA-21a's all around the Crimea that will wreak havoc on any strikes.

But I want to point out what I think is going on...

The missiles all looked like they just crashed, but they didn't. They were all shot down. What happens is you don't see the first few volleys of SAMs until after a number of cruise missiles are down. From the player's perspective, it looks like they just crashed because you initially don't have any units that can report back what's happening. Eventually, you start getting SAM reports. This is what I'm seeing from my version of the game.

If you turn on setting in messages on weapon end games, you might get some insight into what is happening. Also, if you go into the scenario editor to run the scenario, and turn on god's eye view, you'll see it all play out.

I haven't played the scenario before, but getting all missiles on target close together is one aspect of the solution. The other is combining ECM, jamming, SEAD, and airstrikes is probably the only way to do this. The Russian task force is the key. If you can clear a path for your missiles over the black sea by neutralizing Russian assets there, you stand a chance. Of course, not having played the scenario, I could be missing a lot.

[trueandnorth]

Thanks for the help. I can't post a screenshot or links as I'm a newbie but in my game the fleet has been eliminated.

And more importantly, the missiles are disappearing in friendly areas of Bulgaria and Turkey and Romania where I have CAP and AWACS coverage. Let me check the logs or turn on god eye view as maybe there are things I'm missing. I'll report back. Thanks!

[Gunner98]

The AD situation that thewood1 describes is designed to cause the player to coordinate a TLAM strike with stealth assets with SDB and SEAD/DEAD aircraft to suppress the defenses. Generally speaking it's the only way you're going to even scratch the Russian perimeter.

Not sure what is happening to your missiles trueandnorth

[trueandnorth]

Update I looked at the Weapon Endgame log. All the CALCM's and Tomahawks smashed into the ground. Calcm's in the hills of Moldova and Tomahawks in Turkey. Thanks for all the advice. I going to keep playing as I've ground down the easternmost sams from three rounds of SEAD strikes. I'll keep an eye on the log and see if I can recreate the issue. Thanks...

[thewood1]

Thats very weird. I have tried to reproduce this a dozen times. Might be good to post the log. Let the devs look at it.

[trueandnorth]

I have a theory I lanched the CALCM's at the very edge of their range from the BUFF. Maybe they hit the hills burned extra fuel and then decided to destruct as they could not make it to the targets. The Tomahawks are a different issue as the range should have been there but maybe the issue here was I played with the pathing mid-flight and this might have been the issue. I have never had an issue in any other game so let's assume a user error of some form until I can recreate the issue.

[thewood1]

This is why having a save is important. And I think the logs might also help the devs figure out of there is something wrong. I think you need 10 posts to post a zip file. When you hit that, go ahead and post the save.

[trueandnorth]

I'll post the file once I get to 10 as something is clearly wrong. As I just fired 24 Tomahawks from the SSGN in the Med and they all detonating with a weapon issue.

[alphali]

What version of the game are you playing? Is it the latest test version or the official release?
I just launched tomahawks from SSGN and DDG and B52 in the same scenario and almost all of them reached the target.
It seems a save is required as it could be a bug triggered by something in your scenario.

[morphin]

I have also seen this behaviour a month ago. A lot of message of smashed into the ground (from both sides). Try latest game version and if it is still here and please make a post in the tech forum

[trueandnorth]

I manually upgraded to .16 from .14 and now have no issues. Thanks all for the help, appreciated.

[trueandnorth]

Unfortunately I've been able to recreate in .16. I will post saves and screen shots as soon as I get to my 10 posts and 7 days

[thewood1]

I think you have the 10 posts and its obviously longer than seven days.

[trueandnorth]

I tried to upload twice today but it still says:

You are not allowed to post links, emails or phone numbers for 7 days from the date of your tenth post.

Which I take 7 days from today as this was the tenth post.

If there is another place to post the zip pls. let me know.