[Mr_Bill_5000]

Based on play-testing, here are a few supplemental notes to this scenario (and, more broadly, the current state of warfare in the Russia / Ukraine war) :

(1) Pay careful attention to what kind of tank (and, in particular, what kind of APDSFS Sabot ammunition, as defined by the maximum "APCR" penetration value shown in your tank's detailed information screen) that you are firing with, and what kind of tank you're firing at.

Not all T-72s and T-80s, on both the Ukrainian side and the Russian one, are equal. Older 2A46 guns have less effective APDSFS ammunition that will simply bounce off a modern tank's armor, especially on frontal shots. Meanwhile, don't try frontal shoot-outs against modern tanks, with modernized Ukrainian T-55s; those 105mm L7 APDS rounds will almost always bounce off the target.

(2) Notwithstanding the above, although 125mm shots against the turret front armor of late-model Western tanks (Leopard 2A6 and its Swedish equivalent, Challenger 2, etc.) have a poor chance of penetration (except at suicidally close ranges), a hit on the hull front against any of these tanks very definitely does have a good chance of a "kill".

As you can't aim for a specific part of the tank that you're targeting (the AI does this for you and you can't influence it), it's really a crap-shoot if, for example, you try a frontal shot against a Leopard 2A6 with the gun of a T-80B1VM or T-72B3.

(3) Paradoxically, although the chances of a clean hit (one that causes significant amounts of damage) using a MANPADS against a helicopter gunship, are pretty low, in fact you have a good chance of shooting a gunship down with a modern ATGM such as a Stugna or a Kornet... and, since these missiles have huge warheads, a "hit" will often be a "kill".

I wonder if the SP-MBT designers are aware of this as it is almost a bug in the game mechanisms (why should an anti-tank missile be better at shooting down a helicopter, than is a man-portable SAM that was specifically designed for this purpose?).

(4) Using some unit editing wizardry I was able to provide combat drones for both the Ukrainians and the Russians, although really this is inadequate to reflect what is actually going on, at the battlefield level. In particular, SP-MBT OOB's do not include "Kamikaze Drones" such as the infamous Russian "Lancet" which have caused grievous losses to Ukrainian artillery and AFVs. Perhaps a future update to the game will add these.

(5) The scenario was explicitly designed to reflect what, based on extensive research on my part (I follow the war very closely on a day to day basis), I believe to be the real force balances on the battlefield -- not to design a "fair" scenario that both sides have an equal chance of winning.

This factor is perhaps best exemplified by Russia's huge superiority in airpower and artillery, which becomes more and more obvious past about the middle part of the game. I'm aware that Ukrainian players may find this very frustrating, as they see their carefully-planned offensive operations crushed in a couple of turns, by saturation artillery barrages.

Unfortunately, this is the reality on the battlefield today, and I feel that it would be dishonest to deliberately "fudge" the force balances to make it unrealistically easier for one side of the other to win.

(6) As always, YMMV -- I'd welcome (constructive) criticism as to how the scenario was designed.

Regards

Mr. Bill