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[Suhiir]

Originally Posted by wulfir

There are two things I happening I did not notice before. There is one T72 platoon moving through the rough terrain in the middle of the map, and about a company size T72 tank force is moving along the hard surface road from the centre of the map to the upper part...

Odd, you should have seen both of those maneuvers the first time.

[wulfir]

Originally Posted by Suhiir

Odd, you should have seen both of those maneuvers the first time.

Maybe the units died before they could execute the manouver? Maybe the AI ad libs a bit. The Iraqi advance has carried further this time - and the first time I did not see many units start to move through the rough terrain - I don't mean the lanes of clear terrain, but through the actual patches of rocks.

The biggest difference seems to be in the north. I don't have any choppers in overwatch so I can't really see the majority of the AI force though. Turn 25 now.

[Suhiir]

Originally Posted by wulfir

I don't mean the lanes of clear terrain, but through the actual patches of rocks.

If they're moving thru the rocks that's the AI ad-libing. You probably delayed them and they're taking "short cuts" to catch up to their waypoint markers.

And if you can't see the north all that well ... remember the soldiers prayer - "For what we are about to receive..."

[wulfir]

Ok, done.

Overall result similar.

The South: Resistance being weaker the AI pushed further and managed to knock out the on Leo 2 Dozer and with a well placed artillery strike kill off the two SP-ATGM Piranhas.
But there were four sections of Cav Scout teams with Javelins and with artillery and air support these stopped the remaining Iraqi tanks - in reality it was only two scout teams because only two of them were in a position to be re-armed. Both had about 13-14 kills, all being tanks or apcs. The AI did go for the 200 VH location in the extreme south and captured it but lost about two tank platoons and an apc or two in the rocky hills.

The Centre:
The T72 tank formations that started in the centre of the map did not as last time pass through the VH in the major built up area and strike the centre of the map region. Instead they advanced along the main road "north" towards the big intersection. Some tanks were killed, but four of them ended the map with ready status in a strange location - the deployment zone of the main Iraqi group in the "north". Gun tubes pointing "east". Some escorting infantry also followed this route but virtually all died during the battle.

The other main group in the centre, the Cascavel and Abrams units attacked in a similar fashion as last time, but now focused on the VH at 31,56 (in the small built up area near the patch of woods) and not VH 76,56 as last time. This attack was weaker than last time because the T72 did not support it.

The North:

The tanks got further here than last time but took a partly different route. The main force went through the rocky terrain in the "north", last time they skirted it to the "north" as the waypoints were set. However I had placed the Leopard tanks in the north and they killed off a large number of T72s in the initial wave before I pulled them back. Might have impacted.

The Iraqi force did slightly better against the Nordic Battle Group than the USMC setup but not much. If I had been playing it blind they would have probably done slightly better. Those two mech companies that didn't move again stayed put in their jump off locations...

[Suhiir]

Thanks again wulfir.

Forgot to ask before.
Was 36 turns enough to "defeat" the Iraqi's without spending the last few turns killing stragglers? Or were there still enough of them alive to continue the assault?

Sounds like I need to trade some T-72's for Abrams if I want them to reach the main defense line.

VERY odd about those two mech companies. Maybe I'll have to have them enter earlier or something *scratches her head*

[wulfir]

Originally Posted by Suhiir

Was 36 turns enough to "defeat" the Iraqi's without spending the last few turns killing stragglers? Or were there still enough of them alive to continue the assault?

I think 36 turns will be enough for most players.

Originally Posted by Suhiir

Sounds like I need to trade some T-72's for Abrams if I want them to reach the main defense line.

Maybe, maybe not - this all depends on the deployment of the player, and if he still packs enough AT punch at the end of the campaign (though I think most players will).

[Suhiir]

They should unless they lost a couple tanks/Vipers during the earlier scenarios. And if they've lost half their tanks/vipers then I guess they'll learn attrition battles hurt.

Going to trade in one battalions T-72's for Abrams, so wind up to half and half instead of the current three-fourths one-fourth. Also think I'll give the T-72 battalions BMP's vice M113's. Seems the BMPs don't carry ATGMs but most players won't realize that at first, greater initial heart attack value.

[wulfir]

Originally Posted by Suhiir

Going to trade in one battalions T-72's for Abrams, so wind up to half and half instead of the current three-fourths one-fourth. Also think I'll give the T-72 battalions BMP's vice M113's. Seems the BMPs don't carry ATGMs but most players won't realize that at first, greater initial heart attack value.

You could mabye increase the experience/morale value some on selected Iraqi units, not all perhaps, but some. Depending on the number of scenarios the player's units will probably be close to elite...

...but what a new player might consider a hard scenario is an easy meal for a veteran player - perfect playblance does not exist, IMHO.

[Suhiir]

Originally Posted by wulfir

You could mabye increase the experience/morale value some on selected Iraqi units, not all perhaps, but some. Depending on the number of scenarios the player's units will probably be close to elite...

...but what a new player might consider a hard scenario is an easy meal for a veteran player - perfect playblance does not exist, IMHO.

This will be about the 7th scenario, so some may be elite, but all should be veteran.

Yeah, playbalance is ALWAYS "fun".

With luck this campaign series will "teach" the value of maneuver as most scenarios seem to be head-on-head.
Course the problem is creating scenarios that require the player to do more then "Hey Diddle, Diddle, Straight Up The Middle".