Folk ARPS

CSAT heliborne troops stay one step ahead of NATO. Slot 2 choppers per squad, Forward Air Controller recommended for helo logistics.

Feedback shall commence after this mission's first playthrough! (hopefully)

~ Ferrard

This and HS;LD now tied for best helo mission in Folk.

Loved it; can't think of much to change.

This mission was righteous in that tingly OPERATORS OPERATING kind of way.

We were at a complete loss when the QRF armor came to the party though, since everyone had detpacks instead of AT. Though honestly I think the desperation of it kind of adds to the experience, that'd leave the grunts SOL if the helicopters went down before they could pop any armor (*cough*) but even then I'd say it makes the mission more interesting than anything. Maybe one optional AT element if we want to keep the squads sans-rockets for maximum tension.

Thank you for the kind compliment, Sparks - I loved putting this mission together, and I will freely admit to stealing one particular element from the mission idea you bounced off of me before (having a dedicated FAC, of which I am growing to be very much a fan). The rest of it was in development for a couple weeks though, so I avow no infringement of intellectual property there! (looking forward to what your mission holds)

And yeah, I figured that would be one of the suggestions, Soviet, but I shan't be making that change. I made satchels and no AT a thing for this mission because:

• Satchels are an important thing in this mission, being required for two separate objectives. Since we have a tendency to die in the silliest ways in Folk ARPS, it's better to have tons and tons of explosives available as opposed to having to inventory shuffle if the one guy with them dies.
• The QRF is supposed to be scary, and the infantry aren't supposed to be able to fend off the QRF on their own! That would more or less defeat the purpose of drawing them out with that charade at the AAF Outpost, and I want to encourage combined-arms coordination with the helos once NATO forces a direct confrontation in the end.
• The Orcas are assets aplenty for dealing with the QRF in the end-game - with good direction from elements on the ground (or possibly some tab spamming) the Geese should be able to lock on with their DAGRs from a reasonable stand-off distance (beyond the Marshalls' engagement range, at least).
• With some clever predictions about what will happen when the QRF arrives to investigate the ruined AAF Outpost, the satchels themselves could be assets aplenty for attritting part of the QRF...

~ Ferrard

BTW - the name? QRH? Varying frequency?

Got it in one, Kefirz!

The most important question I'd like feedback on for this mission is one of length. It seemed that this mission lasted a while, and while I like the domino sequence, I wonder if I shouldn't cut out either the electrical substation attack or the outpost clearing in the interests of time.

~ Ferrard

Well, like I said on the day, from the point of view of the helo pilots, this thing's the shit. I think I got more time logged in the air in that one mission than in any two or three others combined, it had pinaccle landings, hot LZs, cold LZs, CAS, low-level flight, even a bit of NoE once or twice (three or four times if you count accidental NoE). So the length thing is really more for the GI folk...

I feel like losing the transports early like we did made it a lot longer than it otherwise would've been. All the action-y bits felt very well paced, it was only waiting around and then trekking to the secondary LZ that was a bit slow.

Maybe make the QRF a bit more active? I don't know what exactly they were doing, but on the ground it felt like they shot down the helis and then went on a coffee break. If they patrolled around or deployed infantry to fight then maybe our retreat would've been a bit more tense.

Alternatively, given that the helis were core to our movement, it might make sense to keep spares (or alternate transport) around for if and/or when they get shot down.

Good point about the transports, darkChozo.

darkChozo wrote:Maybe make the QRF a bit more active? I don't know what exactly they were doing, but on the ground it felt like they shot down the helis and then went on a coffee break. If they patrolled around or deployed infantry to fight then maybe our retreat would've been a bit more tense.

At the risk of exposing enough of the backend for people to "game" this mission, the QRF does both things. When the outpost is cleared, a pair of IFVs with eight dismounts each are sent on a "Move" order to 400 meters away from the outpost, whereupon they perform an "Unload" order and then a "Search and Destroy" waypoint centered on or around the outpost. What this produces is two forces of a Marshall and 8 crunchies slowly patrolling around the outpost in a random pattern. Basically, they're investigating the wrecked outpost and performing triage / medical support. They aren't chasing CSAT forces because retaking the outpost is their objective.

Then, once players are within a certain distance of the Broadcasting Facility, the QRF reloads their troops and dashes back north to repeat their task, arriving about when the players are settling in for a very short siege. That's right, they're the same IFVs hounding us throughout the entire mission. They weren't quite aggressive enough in this end-game part, though, so I may alter their orders a bit.

~ Ferrard