Icebreakers Suggestion

[DWReese]

I've been playing Icebreakers and I am enjoying the scenario features. I'm not going to reveal my overall thoughts just yet as many probably still haven't played it, but I would like to make one suggestion:

The SAM units located at Polar Star Base on the Russian side have their Rules Of Engagement set to TIGHT. This means that they must positively ID the units as HOSTILE before they can fire. This works fine at the beginning of the scenario. But, after the shooting starts, the Polar Star radars can easily detect the many NATO planes flying all around, but the SAMs never shoot at them because they haven't been POSITIVELY IDed. I find that to be a little silly. Both sides are hurling all kinds of weapons at one another and this SAM site refuses to shoot at anything because it can't get a positive ID. There is a war going on, and any civilian aircraft would likely stay clear of the area. Certainly, they wouldn't be flying in formation, so those have got to be the enemy.

If the SAM site could fire its missiles at the "suspected" aircraft flying just to the north of Russia, then they could cut off the air support, and make things much harder for NATO. Note: I played this on EASY, but the settings appear to be the same for HARD.

The scenario would be more realistic and more challenging, in my opinion, if these SAM units would be able to fire at any planes in the area as they are likely to be NATO aircraft.