Knightpawn wrote: Sat Apr 04, 2026 10:24 pm
I lost two refuel planes that ditched at some point for reasons inexplicable (did not go RtB when expected to).
Knightpawn wrote: Sat Apr 04, 2026 10:24 pm
I lost two refuel planes that ditched at some point for reasons inexplicable (did not go RtB when expected to).
This was a fascinating scenario very well thought out. The luascript is better than i could have done and the number of helicopters and minesweeping drones required for a convoy surprised me. It would be difficult to maintain pre-war oil prices if convoys must go slow and maintain this number of helicopters every so often.
Some thoughts I have concluded after your scenario:
*I went through the scenario at 2 knots demining speed, 14 knots for tankers for no mine damage to any ships
*clicked formation editor 'column' and 'place' to avoid auto nav errors and ships wandering, auto evade off
*in a future scenario I would make all drone launchers, missile TEL and fast boats appear (scenedit_addunit, setunit) and and disappear (4 minute teleportinarea triggers) as any real life iranian assets would be destroyed by us forces otherwise. I made a hormuz scenario recently that did this. this simulates tel and drones appearing for four minutes out of a cave, firing and disappearing back in. fast boats would be invisible as they blend into fishing boats. It would be a nightmare to target
*route: bloomberg says a convoy would take 10–14 hours at 14 knots, suggesting sohar, oman to abu musa or vice versa before you're in the clear
*some tankers would not deviate much from the center of the strait as the strait is too shallow to wander (6 miles wide of non-shallow water) and they would run aground if anyone panicked. this is also why i would use click formation column/place,i think your scenario allows for that anyway
*your venezuela scenario was great too
Thank you very much for your kind words! I am thrilled to hear you enjoyed this operation so much and that you also liked the Venezuela scenario.
The tactical approach you mentioned for managing the convoy is fantastic. You hit the nail on the head regarding how to carefully handle the movement of the merchants and the escorts in such a delicate area to avoid any disasters. It is an excellent, highly realistic strategy that shows you really studied the geographical environment of the Strait. Great job!
Regarding your suggestion about using Lua to spawn and despawn missile launchers to simulate "shoot and scoot" cave tactics: it is a very interesting concept, and I know some designers use those "teleports". However, for this scenario, I preferred to keep the units physically on the map (even if they are heavily defended, hidden, or running with their radars off). I feel it gives players a fair chance to hunt them down if they do a good job with their ISR assets, and it avoids the frustration of a target literally disappearing from the game engine right as a missile is on its way. But I totally agree that your method is a great way to simulate the nightmare of the Iranian cave networks!
By the way, since you completed the scenario with such a methodical approach, would you mind sharing your score log file? I am currently gathering player reports to run a full integrity check on the Lua Autoscore engine, and it would be incredibly helpful to see how it processed your playthrough.
I did not have a real score as i cut out all enemy icons except minefields as i wanted to research just minesweeping for now - your global scoring requires destroying the enemy. i did not finish in the required time. i will go through it again for score and send it.
I used only three teleported ssm launchers and six fastboats to appear/disappear from caves and shorelines vs three arleigh burke destroyers in a convoy - that was the maximum three destroyers could handle. Shoot and scoot seems to favor iran in real life if they have more than a few launchers. Lloyds list intelligence recommended 8-10 destroyers in convoys that the public wouldnt tolerate forever either
I agree an LHA carrier seems necessary for the helicopters required but i cant see us risking a valuable carrier through the strait repeatedly clearing from time to time, this favors iran in the long term also
I enjoyed this scenario a lot, of course it is very topical and has many fun features. I achieved a ‘Triumph’ on my second play through by carefully ushering all the merchants to the dispersal area for the loss of a few A-10s and helicopters.
