fa3_c52_bees

[fer]

... or really, fa3_c52_bees_alt, which didn't feature exploding helicopters at the start.

[wolfenswan]

I didn't get to play this one, but was spectating most of it. A few observations

• The THs didn't get to do much after dropping off the troops. If the LBs should be kept in it could be encouraged that the LB pilots remount into the Gosthawks as gunners, though ofc that would mean risking three pilots in one craft.
• The QRF wasn't really a threat thanks to the NLAW every RAT has. I'd either drop the AH and keep 3 RAT per squad or replace 1-2 RATs with grenadiers. In general the QRF could prob. be a bit more threatening and maybe also stagger (e.g. airborne reinforcements after 1 MBT is destroyed).
• The civilian AI works differently to the normal AI, which was probably the reason for them leaving the buildings and having a rave in the central town.
• It might be beneficial to garrison only the edges of the town and add more mobile patrols/groups. It seemed that at the end there wasn't anything to do besides room cleaning, which always feels a bit anticlimactic. You could only garrison the buildings around the MBT by using the MBT-object as center.

[audiox]

Would rather keep the Littlebirds. Here's how i'm thinking the split would be after dropoff.

Alpha + 1 LB + 1 GH
Bravo + 1 LB + 1 GH
Sniper + 1 LB
CO + 1 LB + 1 AH

That way all squads have aerial recon and fire support, the snipers can be ferried around quickly (or go 360 noscope inair snipe), and CO can get good intel and give the OK for heavier fire missions with the AH. That should keep all the choppers active. (Though i'm not gonna guarantee that SL's remember to use them though! )

[wolfenswan]

If CO is only one guy he can fly with the AH. AH could be reduced to pilot only but with repair capabilities.

[fer]

The THs didn't get to do much after dropping off the troops. If the LBs should be kept in it could be encouraged that the LB pilots remount into the Gosthawks as gunners, though ofc that would mean risking three pilots in one craft.

The LBs are a feature of the mission - which is supposed to be a rapid one. I don't mind TH pilots having to loiter, or even set-down somewhere safe and play a round of cards, not least because 'getting them into the fight' increases the likelihood of them dying, and decreases the options for an extraction.

The QRF wasn't really a threat thanks to the NLAW every RAT has. I'd either drop the AH and keep 3 RAT per squad or replace 1-2 RATs with grenadiers. In general the QRF could prob. be a bit more threatening and maybe also stagger (e.g. airborne reinforcements after 1 MBT is destroyed).

The QRF will be strengthened and possibly modified to arrive in 1-2 more waves. The trigger will remain 'contact', though, because that's when a QRF would be called in.

The civilian AI works differently to the normal AI, which was probably the reason for them leaving the buildings and having a rave in the central town.

Something I didn't have time to do was implement different endings based on # of civilians killed; I really liked them running about the centre of the AO - it made things harder for us, and meant we couldn't (or at least shouldn't have) poured down fire from the rotary wing assets.

It might be beneficial to garrison only the edges of the town and add more mobile patrols/groups. It seemed that at the end there wasn't anything to do besides room cleaning, which always feels a bit anticlimactic. You could only garrison the buildings around the MBT by using the MBT-object as center.

I love the idea of using the MBTs to control the location of the garrison troops!

[blip2]

Really could do with JTAC to coordinate the helicopters (SuperU did a good stand-in job at it later in the round but would be good if it was a dedicated role, maybe in a co-pilot seat or something).

[wolfenswan]

Are the MBTs supposed to have gunners? If not I think ASR_AI or ws_fnc_taskDefend made AI mount them in. Prob. best to lock them to prevent that.

Something I didn't have time to do was implement different endings based on # of civilians killed; I really liked them running about the centre of the AO - it made things harder for us, and meant we couldn't (or at least shouldn't have) poured down fire from the rotary wing assets.

But then I'd make their groups smaller. The conga lines felt weird.

The QRF will be strengthened and possibly modified to arrive in 1-2 more waves. The trigger will remain 'contact', though, because that's when a QRF would be called in.

As I noticed today you can actually make out the QRF from the northern hill so moving them further back might be preferable.

[Aqarius]

Something I didn't have time to do was implement different endings based on # of civilians killed; I really liked them running about the centre of the AO - it made things harder for us, and meant we couldn't (or at least shouldn't have) poured down fire from the rotary wing assets.

But then I'd make their groups smaller. The conga lines felt weird.

And make them stay away from the tanks somehow. They tend to congregate around them, which kinda makes them hard to blow up.

[Sparks]

But then I'd make their groups smaller. The conga lines felt weird.

Comrade, this party member humbly requests permission to offer an alternative narrative that encompasses Comrade Wolfenswan's many excellent points while also expressing some others for contrast that we might better appreciate the Party Treasure that is Comrade Wolfenswan!

Namely, that the littlebirds are what make this mission awesome in many ways. It's easily the most beautiful looking and cinematic mission I've been fortunate enough to see us undertake so far:







And it's composed of approximately 93% awesomesauce and 7% blind panic if you're in an MH9 pilot's seat. Party-approved scientific studies have determined that this is very nearly an optimal ratio of awesomesauce to panic for the average Folk comrade

If anything, it might be an improvement to swap the ghosthawks out for more MH9s and add in an AH9 or even two as fire support (perhaps leave the MH9s and AH9s in equal numbers on the helipad at the start; have the pilots ferry themselves to the LZs with troops, then back to swap from MH9 to AH9 and back to the AO for fire support; and then back to the airport to swap back into the MH9s and return to extract troops? That would challenge the pilots more, and add another layer of mindcrippling stress to the overall CO and SLs who would have to balance on-hand fire support with the ability to move troops out of harms way quickly in case things became... difficult).

Perhaps it might be an idea to have more coordination between the helo pilots however, especially if the Party is allowing a hamfisted underpowered overstressed newbie new Party-trained Air Cavalry Officer to take a seat (speaking for this comrade, the large numbers of helos on the mission made it far less intimidating to volunteer to serve the party from the left-hand seat). It seems overly confusing for the overall command elements to have the TH elements talking continuously on teamspeak about their local ops, but it would have saved a near miss or six, allowed for better and more cinematic formation flight for the greater enjoyment of all the Folk comrades and greater coordination of emergency evacuations and so on for the Party officials who coordinated the mission. Maybe all the pilots should be in the same group for comms purposes? That comms channel seemed to go mostly unused otherwise (vehicle or direct got used a lot to coordinate with troops, but group almost never).

Also, while this comrade is being cheeky, perhaps the party could add coffee and sandwiches to the equipment packs for the MH9 pilots?

[Sparks]

Also, can this comrade ask a dumb question?
Off to the right of the "airwolf" video above (ooooh, the 80s are strong in this one) at the start, you can just see the player's multipurpose objective waypoint marker (you know, the shift-click-on-the-map one?). I couldn't and usually can't use or see this in FA sessions. Is it disabled in Bees? Or is there yet another broken thing in my setup I need to fix?
Thanks!