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I've been playing through the Chains of War scenarios but I'm currently stuck on Okinawa Bound, you know where you have to stage a combined paratrooper/marine attack on Okinawa Island. The problem is that the SAM presence on Okinawa is so heavy that I've figured that the best way to take them out to clear the way for the paratroopers is with ground troops. And that's the key issue here, that strategy flies in the face of so many tenets of modern military doctrine that I just can't shake the feeling that said strategy will only end horribly.

Just an example of all the problems I have with this approach:
-I have to make an amphibious assault onto a contested beach without any meaningful air or naval support
-Enemy aircraft will have practically free reign on my transports if they do decide to show up
-Enemy artillery and SSMs will chew through my transports given half the chance
-My ground troops might not have enough ammunition to take out the SAMs and hit their primary targets
-I'll practically be throwing away any potential advantages of shock and surprise I do have
-This entire strategy misses the point of paratroopers in the first place, especially since they're usually more lightly armed than regular ground troops

Is there any better option than what I've decided or is it really the best bad option laid before me?

There is a very easy and dirty option for this scenario: Atrittion.

Okinawa SAMs have been left by the designer with empty magazines, and they cannot reload (except the older I-Hawks, those do have their full default magazines). So you can easily fire against any targets in the island until they run out of ready missiles and they are done.

Don't know if it's due to game balance or the JGSDF is really undersupplied in that way.

If you think it's too gamey, consider I discovered it while trying to catch the defenders in their reload cycles. I thought that my tactic was working, but after the battle; surviving radiating batteries refused to fire again well after they should have reloaded. I checked with the editor and found it.

So just try to expend the ready missiles of the SAM batteries to hit them while they are reloading and you'll find that the tactic works extremely well [:D].

Ancalagon

PS: Once tou have dealt with the high end SAM, remain on alert for MANPADs and IR SHORADs, they are a real PITA in this scenario.