Today's Random Picks from HHQ (03/07/2006)

[Dimitris]

This thread is ONLY for the announcement of scenarios hosted at the Harpoon HeadQuarters.


WORLD WAR 3 1985 : NORWAY PART 1 - FIRST CONTACT
by Ragnar Emsoy

LOCATION : NORWEGIAN SEA
DATE/TIME: 14 SEPTEMBER 1985, 00:01:00Z

The first scenario in the World War Three battleset begins one hour before the initialization of hostilities on the Central Front. The Soviets have been conducting intense military exercises for weeks, and exceptional quantities of military hardware have been deployed in Eastern Europe.

In Europe's High North, Finland has allowed unusually large numbers of Soviet troops to enter the country, and her air bases have become crowded with Soviet fighters and attack aircraft. Large mechanized formations are racing west through the Finnish Wedge towards the Norwegian border, taking the shortest of only two possible overland routes to Norway's main line of defense in Troms, five hundred kilometers from the Soviet homeland. A powerful Red Banner Northern Fleet SAG and two amphibious groups sailed into the Norwegian Sea 36 hours ago. The amphibious groups have now been spotted about seventy nautical miles off the coast of Norway, heading directly for the Troms area.

Fighter, attack, and bomber reinforcements have arrived in large quantities on the Kola Peninsula, boosting the already formidable force normally based there. The most fearsome new addition is two Backfire regiments of the Soviet Strategic Air Armies, operating a total of sixty bombers. The Backfires will be tasked with supporting the Northern Fleet's push into the Norwegian Sea, adding awesome striking power to the Northern Fleet Naval Aviation's three Badger regiments. Starting in the early 1980s, Backfire regiments regularly forward deployed to bases on the Kola Peninsula, and the Soviets have gained valuable experience in operating these bombers in sub-arctic conditions against carrier battle groups and convoys in the Norwegian Sea.



DIAMONDS IN THE SEA
by Quinton Van Zyl

DATE: 5 April 1992
TIME: Early Morning 00:00 Zulu
LOCATION: Peru/Chile Border

The world economy is in the grips of a recession, countries are desperate for a source of wealth that could reignite their economic flames.

Beneath the waves on the floor of the Pacific ocean just off the South American continent lie some extinct volcanoes that could solve the economic problems of a country for decades. The kimberlite rock found within the volcanoes has been found to contain diamonds. Just off the coast, this resource is harvestable - it just needs to be accurately located.

The Chilean government has announced its desire to investigate this find so it can begin the process of extraction for the "benefit of the South American people". Peru has scoffed at this as an insult to its country and labels the announcement at an attempt to hide the Chilean governments greed at exploiting a Peruvian resource. This brings us to our problem. The diamonds appear to lie in a patch of water straddling the maritime border of Peru and Chile. Peru claims the waters as her own territorial waters. Chile argues that they lie outside the 12nm limit and are international waters.

Yesterday afternoon on the 4th April, a small Chilean task force set sail for the area to begin a preliminary survey of the region with their oceanographic survey ship the Vidal Gormaz. At the same time the Peruvian government announced a ban on all Chilean vessels entering Peruvian waters.



WEEKEND WARRIORS
by Michael Mykytyn

Election day is here and as Americans go to the ballot boxes to influence the outcome of an election foreign and hostile elements in Iraq move to do the same. Iran has taken particularly bold action by materially supporting and taking part in a Shiite rebellion against the Kurd government in the North. The US will not tolerate interference in a free Iraq or the United States. A message will be sent, and the US Air National Guard will deliver it.


All the above scenarios are played using the DB2000. Get the DB and the scens here: http://www.harpoonhq.com/harpoon3/scenarios/

[sirius]

Colonial Wars Database Scenario Hosted on the Harpoon Headquarters Web Site

Mutual Assured Destruction
Date/Time: 8 July 1963
Size/Duration: Medium
Location: Alaska
Playable sides: NORAD/SAC Forces
By Paul Bridge aka Sirius

Mikes show stopping Scenario called "BOOM" is now a classic for a early mid 1980s Nuclear Confrontation.

With Mikes permission I have built the same area of the world but set in 1963 at the height of the Cold War in the 1960s , using the B-47 Stratojet as SACs Bomber platform before been fully replaced by the B-52 Stratofortress it should make an interesting confrontation...

Overview

Increasing tensions with the USSR came to a climax at 0117Z today when a Soviet Hotel Class SSBN launched an ICBM strike at Washington DC.

The President survived the strike and from Air Force One has ordered an all out Nuclear Strike on the Soviet mainland.

Colonial Wars Scenario's can be found at
HHQ Colonial Wars Site

[hermanhum]

Don't forget to check out the various AARs for these scenarios at: StrategyZoneOnline.

AAR: First Contact [Spoiler Alert]

Reports were received from all throughout the Norwegian Sea: many unidentified ships and aircraft were spotted closing in on the Norwegian coast. Fighters had been scrambled, but we needed to conduct a proper surface search. As four Orion P-3s of the 17th Maritime Patrol Squadron prepared to launch from Andoya, most of the unidentified contacts were localized through ESM efforts. Some contacts were easily classified as Kresta cruisers and others as Sovremenny/Hangzhou destroyers. Northern Command ordered us to ascertain the identities and intentions of these contacts.....

SZO file archives - Home of the Harpoon3 PlayersDB

FilesOfScenShare

HarpGamer.com - Home of the HCDB.

[Flankerk]

Generally speaking I think most scenario authors would prefer that a scenario downloaded from one specific site is responded to by an after action report at that same site.

Although I have written relatively few scenario's by Harpoon HQ standards,I still favour an AAR being directly linked to the relevant scenario. Scattering AAR's across the web with no reference to the site it was downloaded from or often even a notice to the author at all has always struck me personally as slightly bizarre behaviour.

I recall being involved in testing some of the earlier scenarios now on SZO. The feedback for those was always posted to the originating site or often discussed by e mail particularly if a contentious issue was found. Posting this to Harpoon HQ would simply never have crossed my mind.

To me it just seems to be the most reasonable solution.

[sirius]

And I do believe there is an AAR Thread available too Link below[:)]

After Action Reports Thread

[Dimitris]

Hush now guys, gotta respect gargantuan baroque ad-laden sigs [&o]

[hermanhum]

ORIGINAL: Sunburn

Hush now guys, gotta respect gargantuan baroque ad-laden sigs [&o]

Yes, it is SO much better to post and announce "Baroque-N" scenarios! [:D]

[Dimitris]

That coming from someone who proudly announces a 5 MEGABYTE scenario? [X(] (Axis of Evil II)

Pot, meet your kettle [:D]

[hermanhum]

How anyone can compare one that works against another that doesn't is simply unbelievable?  Not even in the same universe.

It is truly a credit to the game that a 5mB scenario runs on Harpoon3.

[Flankerk]

Heman, if you have the time to suggest scenarios hosted at Harpoon Headquarters do not work, perhaps you now have the time to respond to the Players Database Plagiarism thread [:)]

The testing of scenarios is a slightly difficult area. No-one particularly wants to hear if their scenario has problems. At HHQ we have taken the stance that scenarios will be extensively tested prior to them being hosted. This is a difficult stance to take and it is always sad if a scenario has to be scrapped or the author does not wish to make any amendments. Its a difficult balance to strike. Those scenarios that are larger are usually posted under a separate monster section. Some scenarios that demand a fair amount of resources include advice found during the testing ( e.g. shut off programmes running in the background)

Having tested a vast amount of scenarios I tend to find all I can do is give an honest ,hopefully constructive feedback on what I found when playing it. Within the monster category on HHQ are actually some of my favourite scenarios ever oddly enough. They are often better viewed as a campaign almost run over a weekend. Should I ever get a powerful enough computer i'd love to play say Summerex head to head !

With testing there is always the possibility that scenarios will be created that need a lot of alterations. At Harpoon Headquarters we try to assist with making those and often a lot of work is put in by us. My understanding is that SZO etc do not adopt such a policy and scenarios are generally posted "as is". This isn't an accusation, it is simply my perception on how the different sites work.
So for example a scenario might be tested by myself on the HHQ boards, but the author might not want to actually make any amendments based on the feedback received. In some instances the unmodified scenario is then hosted at SZO. Ideally I would prefer that scenarios to be hosted at SZO are tested by themselves. It is not ideal if in effect we interfere with a scenario they take on. It is not an easy issue to resolve however.

With regard to the Axis of Evil scenario I was asked to test it and gave an honest and constructive feedback. Despite having what I would consider a powerful computer I found I was unable to run this particular scenario at anything like a reasonable compression. My suggestion then and I suppose now would be that it might be better viewed as a battleset with individual battles broken down.

HHQ has a separate section for scenario testing and plenty of experienced people to help with ongoing projects. If a scenario is causing difficulties most of us are easily contacted by e mail for help.

[mikmykWS]

Herman,

Stop insulting everybody please. You've really made a mess out of this entire forum and come off as quite obsessed.

Thanks [:D]

[hermanhum]

It is a simple question.
 
            Do the scenarios announced actually work?
 
 P.s.  No one is being paid by the syllable. 

[mikmykWS]

Yes.

[hermanhum]

ORIGINAL: hermanhum

It is a simple question.

Do the scenarios announced actually work?

ORIGINAL: mikmyk

Yes.

Well, it looks like this one missed your 'meticulous' testing.

Georgia Knights

The Victory Conditions are not achievable.

It appears not to have changed at all since the day of its release, seven months prior, December 7, 2005.

A little less complaining and a bit more testing will, hopefully, prevent a recurrence. [;)]

[Flankerk]

Never seen that before, a negative campaign against Harpoon HQ "championed" by Herman...........[:D]

What will those pdb authors think of next !

[Dimitris]

Pop the champaigns already Herman, you've found a problem in a HHQ scenario! Bravo! Congrats!

Make sure you mark the day in your calendars, folks. This ranks up there with the moon landing [:)]

[mikmykWS]

ORIGINAL: hermanhum

Well, it looks like this one missed your 'meticulous' testing.

Georgia Knights

The Victory Conditions are not achievable.

It appears not to have changed at all since the day of its release, seven months prior, December 7, 2005.

A little less complaining and a bit more testing will, hopefully, prevent a recurrence. [;)]

Herman this scenario was written during the beta process and actually was used by the WWII group to check the database and 3.7 behaviors. You can check the WWII group for this[;)] Anyways hope folks have fun with it and can probably expect to see some updates by 3.7.1. It just nice to give folks time.

Thanks[:D]

BTW: We still got guys using 3.6.x so kinda makes sense to wait until everybody has purchased 3.7 before converting the files completely. Thats good sense[:)]

**Deleted the subflame...realized the booger probably just posted to get a rise out of me.**

[mikmykWS]

**More self moderation**

I will not pick on Herman
I will not pick on Herman

[:'(]