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I´ve really enjoying CMANO and finished Northern Inferno. After downloading the awesome community scenario pack I´m now presented with 250+ official and community scenarios.

Unfortunately I can´t spare much time for gaming in my life and - believe me or not - I´m struggling to decide what scenarios I should play in this time.

It surely depends on taste and personal opinion but are there some "must play" or "masterwork" scenarios one should definitely try? I prefer modern day/future scenarios but are interested in other eras too.

Thank you for your help

One of my favourites is kingdom come that's set in the near future

Am partial to Cold War stuff. Any of Gunner98's Northern Fury series. They come in a wide variety of complexities and lengths. CCIP's Yankee Team (Vietnam) or To Kill a Mockingbird (Kola PVO vs. an SR-71) are also brilliant and designed specifically for repeated play. Mark Gellis' scenarios are all well done and some play pretty quickly. Cf_dallas' Bridges at Toko Ri is a good scenario to learn low-tech air-ground combat using the CMANO mission editor but it's Korean War era.

That said, for the most part, the Community and Stand-Alone scenarios mostly well done and you probably cannot go too wrong picking those where the situation and or time period appeals.

-C

I was born after the cold war, so no much idea about the war setting before 90s.

Somehow I kinda like the 'Grand Campaign' style of setting when US, China and Russia are militarily equalized with small differentials of technology and firepower. It might not be happening in real life, but if Alternative-world setting (like Northern Inferno DLC) is feasible for player's interests, then I think it will makes an extremely great series of worldwide warfare in future setting.

It surely not realistic without real-life political events, as well as no reference value for real-life military, but if we can make games as much freedom as the editor allowed, why not give it a try.

In that case, I am more in favor to near-future scenario with equalized sides pitting at each other.

Thank you for the input!

And what you are proposing Dysta is a great idea. This could also be the base for an exciting narative.

Two of the earlier scenarios that I played that I really liked were the 'Canary Cage' levels. I can't remember their exact names, but they're two scenarios set in the same fictional conflict around the Canary Islands.

One involves transporting a carrier group from Spain down to the Canaries, protecting it from attacks from the African coast. They were the first scenarios I played that felt fairly large, without being overly complex, and allowed for satisfying organisation of intercept/AAW missions. They felt like you could prepare missions carefully, and watch your plans come to life successfully. A really good balance of difficulty/complexity and micro/macro management.

The only issue I had with them was some weird refuelling behaviour, but the latest patch has probably addressed a lot of that.

Operation Brass Drum is one scenario I'd consider a "Command Staple".

ORIGINAL: ExNusquam

Operation Brass Drum is one scenario I'd consider a "Command Staple".

I would definitely second this. Great scenario which I have played many times.

Changjiang Strike is also quite challenging but enjoyable

I would say that Miguel Merola´s scenarios are some of the best I´ve played, particularly with reference to pacing - I´ve really enjoyed other scenarios for the first half of the scenario, but then the second half has dragged on a bit, whereas in both Canary´s Cage and the Japan-Russia one the game ended just when it should have. I also really enjoyed the entirety of the Taiwan Straights scenarios.

Fun first halves: Play the Fool, the RN vs Soviet Navy one.

All of these scenarios are of medium complexity and difficulty, my computer wasn´t powerful enough to run the larger ones smoothly before 1.11 came out.

I also second the To Kill a Mockingbird recommendation, which I need to replay, since although I worked out how to get in range of the SR-71, I couldn´t work out how to get the Soviet high command to allow me to shoot it down! I think this kind of thing adds another, more political level to scenarios.