Matrix Games Forums

I just test the decoy platforms in the new open beta 1323.1, and I found these decoy units have no differences but a '[Decoy]' texture in the front of their names compared to the "normal" units--they can detect enemies、load and launch weapon and munitions, which means your units can probably get killed by a decoy. And if you lose a decoy, there isn't any difference to losing a "real" unit in Loss&Expenditure, you will still lose scores if there's such an event.

When I first see the Summary description in the update post, I thought the new decoy would be able to be identified as any unit you want by the enemy, but with all the offensive or defensive capabilities removed. And I guess that's what decoys are like in the real world. For the current feature, there seems no difference between "Add unit" and "Add decoy".

So I wonder if I want to create a scenario about this, how can these "new decoys" play their specific role?

I probably wouldn't create a scenario "about" decoys. Instead I'd create a scenario about air interdiction or SEAD, and where decoys would be a factor you had to account for. Also, I'd probably assign the decoy units to a separate side, and set that side to "blind." That way they can emit, but they can't see anything.

I would use decoys in the context of a scenario to do things like protect SAM sites, or other critical units like maybe artillery sites, for example. You could also incorporate them into static defenses. The point of decoys is that when air interdiction forces arrive in the area and start to identify their targets, they're less likely to drop bombs on things you care about. That makes the interdiction effort less effective.

So... let's imagine an example. A heavy BCT of the 1st Cavalry Division is on the advance. Your job is to support that advance by interdicting the units in its path. The target for today is a dug in enemy motor rifle regiment consisting of 3x mech infantry battalions (BMPs), 1x armored battalion (T-72s), 3xSA-15 batteries, a regimental artillery group of 152mm SP artillery, and brigade artillery battalion of rockets and heavier artillery. The commander's intent is to draw down that force 25%.

As a scenario designer, I might place some number of decoy armored vehicles, artillery pieces, and SAM sites interspersed with the actual units. The JSTARs calling out the targets can't determine which are real and which aren't. When my A-10s arrive, they look around and identify more targets than are expected. They bomb and strafe as many as they can. While they arrived in the target area with enough bombs to destroy 25% of the MRR's combat power, the decoys mean some of the targets they hit aren't real. That means you may need to redirect aircraft from other missions to attrite them to the desired level, or maybe not. Maybe you get lucky. It depends. That's an example of how decoys might be used in a scenario to make an impact.

Another example might be to incorporate the decoys into the "blinking" logic of your scenario using LUA. That would make the SEAD aircraft in a strike package less effective by forcing them to shoot ARMs at emitters that are only decoy emitters and seducing some ARMs so they don't hit actual SAMs.

I can think of other examples, but those are the big ones to me.

If you think there is a bug, try attaching a scenario that shows the problem and post it in tech support.

Edit:

Having read the documentation just now, what you describe sounds WAD.