Matrix Games Forums

I'd love to know what other players "role-play" when playing the game?

For example, some of the things I do:
- check the day/night loadout settings and apply that
- weather limitations - as best I can, don't use clear weather only capable craft in poor weather
- submarine communications - for example, if a submarine detects a contact, I won't have other units act on it unless the submarine comes to communications depth first and remains there for at least 2 minutes. The reverse also applies, where I won't use my sub to attack a contact detected by others unless I can get the message to the sub first. I role play that subs come to radio depth every x hours and only then can get new orders. It can be hard to keep track of in big scenarios but I still try!

I always give weapons-capable training aircraft a higher proficiency than the side norm to symbolize experienced instructors being pressed into combat roles.

I big one I do for surveillance aircraft or Satellite (especially during cold war) is if a U2 flys over and automatically spots a enemy on the ground I wont attack until the U2 is back and landed and another few hours till the pictures have been processed. I think its a little silly you can just fly a 1960s aircraft over a enemy airfield and send out an attack plan that instant second. For modern times Ill wait maybe hour tops because obviously today's technology you can have pictures within minutes at a intelligence facility and for the command to give you the go for an attack.

Another one is planning strikes in the middle of battle. If I spot a new contact like a SAM site or new building I wont just automatically launch a SEAD or airstrike/Cruise missile strike and take it out as soon as it pops up. This stuff takes time to plan out so I want to give the AI a few minutes or hours until I attack because obviously the pilots and crew need to get updated on the target and form a plan. Real war is slow and a huge waiting game when youre playing strategically so I try to simulate that with CMO.

I will sometimes play without comms disruption available but still ensure that my troops/my orders obey such physical laws, so that I can still have a pilot make complex decisions even though he doesn’t have the full picture of the battlefield (whereas comms disruption will just leave the plane RTBing or circling* if it isn’t assigned to a mission).

*Not recalling which at the moment, it has been awhile since I have had that happen.

Aircraft only go up in Patrol, Strike, or Support missions. There is no micro-managing of a single aircraft except for drones. Strike missions, upon completion, RTB. I do not swap aircraft from one mission to another unless they are a multi-role that is A2A capable.

I normally don't do alot of 'role-play' but I do remember one time where I did role play in a scenario to try and neutralize historical hindsight. I wrote an AAR Here:

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... r#p4387051

It was for the scenario Rockstar Calling in the Shifting Sands campaign. The scenario features a hypothetical clash between Israel and the US Sixth Fleet in immediate response to the USS Liberty Incident.

I've studied the Incident and I fully agree with the official US and Israeli stances that the attack on that ship was a tragic incident of mis-identification during the fury of the Six Day War.

That being said, I elected to play this scenario without that historical hindsight. I did my best to play to the situation, not knowing the attack on Liberty was coming or who attacked it.

Mickeys91 wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 4:03 pm I big one I do for surveillance aircraft or Satellite (especially during cold war) is if a U2 flys over and automatically spots a enemy on the ground I wont attack until the U2 is back and landed and another few hours till the pictures have been processed. I think its a little silly you can just fly a 1960s aircraft over a enemy airfield and send out an attack plan that instant second. For modern times Ill wait maybe hour tops because obviously today's technology you can have pictures within minutes at a intelligence facility and for the command to give you the go for an attack.

The U-2 only stopped using film cameras earlier this year! https://www.dpreview.com/news/703547477 ... -spy-plane

I would not call any of the above role-playing but rather House Rules, of the sort that board wargamers have always used.

And another shout-out to Rockstar Calling, which I think is perhaps the best crafted CMANO/CMO scenario produced by the Development Team, including all of the DLC's. However, the scenario plays best as HalfLifeExpert has done, rejecting foreknowledge of events and operating in accordance with the messages and events as they unfold. His superb AAR for the scenario is indeed a fine model for anybody wanting to publish a scenario AAR themselves.

Imposing hard and consistent restrictions on one's gameplay and tempering the omniscience provided by the program adds much the simulation, in my opinion.

-C

DeHav wrote: Wed Nov 02, 2022 5:21 pm

Mickeys91 wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 4:03 pm I big one I do for surveillance aircraft or Satellite (especially during cold war) is if a U2 flys over and automatically spots a enemy on the ground I wont attack until the U2 is back and landed and another few hours till the pictures have been processed. I think its a little silly you can just fly a 1960s aircraft over a enemy airfield and send out an attack plan that instant second. For modern times Ill wait maybe hour tops because obviously today's technology you can have pictures within minutes at a intelligence facility and for the command to give you the go for an attack.

The U-2 only stopped using film cameras earlier this year! https://www.dpreview.com/news/703547477 ... -spy-plane

More fun fact - if you watch this interview about it, it's only Beale AFB that retired their processing. NGA still processes/develops OBC (the film camera) for other missions on the east coast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9dZO4HUlI8

(Although of course the U-2 has had digital imagery [including NRT downlink] for years)

jarraya wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 10:12 am I'd love to know what other players "role-play" when playing the game?

Not really. I don't find it really necessary.

For example, some of the things I do:
- check the day/night loadout settings and apply that
- weather limitations - as best I can, don't use clear weather only capable craft in poor weather
- submarine communications - for example, if a submarine detects a contact, I won't have other units act on it unless the submarine comes to communications depth first and remains there for at least 2 minutes. The reverse also applies, where I won't use my sub to attack a contact detected by others unless I can get the message to the sub first. I role play that subs come to radio depth every x hours and only then can get new orders. It can be hard to keep track of in big scenarios but I still try!

You said the magic words: "big scenarios."

How big?

If the scenario is too big it starts to become unrealistic for a multitude of reasons. I'm also not necessarily a big fan of attempts at modeling submarine communications, partially because they tend to have more to do with what people see in the movies, or maybe WWII technology, than real life. I think part of the art of making a good CMO scenario is scoping it correctly, so that it doesn't start to get silly. There's no substitute for putting your thought in up front, and articulating what the problem actually is.