More "Golan Heights" Up!

[HotTom]

Chapter 2 is up in Pro PE Single Player missions, this time with both M1A1 and Leo 2A5 versions.

I included a tweaked Chapter 1 for the Abrams (if you already have it and your frame rates are good, you don't need this: Just took out some eye candy for better FPS) AND a Leo 2A5 version of Chapter 1.

Chapter 1 was the first 12 hours of the 1973 Syrian assault in the Northern Golan Heights, in which a small Israeli force held the line.

NEW: Chapter 2 is the same time period in the Southern Golan. The Syrians break through in two places and head west toward the Jordan River crossings. Some good experience in dealing with multiple targets, ambushes and over watch while retreating. The terrain is rolling, so there is some good practice in shooting and moving.

There are lots of variables (the most important is how many AVLBs are able to bridge the tank ditch, a number that varies considerably every time).

And your choice of which of many defending tanks to use and your gunnery skill (or, as in my case, lack thereof) can change the course of the whole scenario. If you kill them early, they won't be around to attack your tanks later in the mission.

Everything is scripted (the best tactics I could devise on both sides) but don't hesitate to deviate from the script. If you lose a tank, jump in another (The Israelis did, quite often).

And it is as close to history as I could make it. For those not familiar with the battle, here's a good, concise overview (the only corrections I would make is that there were no M-48s on the Golan, although the Israelis used some during the simultaneous campaign in the Sinai and the number of Israeli KIAs in the article is for both the Golan and Sinai campaigns: Israel lost 772 killed on the Golan while about 3,500 Syrians were killed.):

http://www.historynet.com/magazines/military_history/3037551.html?showAll=y&c=y

Feedback is welcome here!

Enjoy,

HT

[stalintc]

Great stuff there Tom, thanks for sharing that with us.

I really enjoyed the first chapter 1 scenario, the variability of what defence position you wish to take up is great, and its good that the rest of the defenders can be left to their own devices without having to babysit them.

I look forward to having a play around with this latest one of yours! :biggrin:

Keep them coming

Cheers

[enigma6584]

I played "chapter one" for a bit, just to check it out, excellent stuff. Such a massive mission. Very interesting for myself to play since I just finished reading "The Heights of Courage." Thanks for the great work. Going to enjoy this one more fully when I have time.:luxhello:

[HotTom]

I try to think of it as lots of small missions to choose from and that will run whether you pick them or not. At least, that's the way I had to write them. One big mission would have scared me off :)

I would suggest scenario writing to anyone learning this sim. The AI of each type of vehicle has its own personality quirks. IMO the BMP-2 is the smartest: I've had two of them figure out a maze to get through staggered openings in a mine field. Dumbest is the T-55 bridge layer. It can follow a half dozen breaching vehicles across a mine field and still get itself blown up. I finally switched to the Biber, which seems considerably smarter. Must be the German engineering :)

Glad you're enjoying them. I'm having fun building them.

HT

[enigma6584]

Yeah, been experimenting with the mission editor myself and really enjoy it. Been working on two missions. Not quite done but almost there. I think (and hope) people will enjoy them.

The mission editor in this sim is a powerful tool indeed.

[Fabfire]

Whooah! Excellent work! HT, Your scenarios are my favorites. :bigsmile:

[stalintc]

Myself, RogueSnake, Tankhunter and Ghost just played this one Multiplayer. And it was a blast! very hectic, but good fun and great gunnery practice for us!

Everyone should give this one a try for sure! Nice work Tom

[HotTom]

(Blushes)

[Ghost]

The only thing i have a problem with are the briefings, It's not that they are bad in any way, (actually they are great, info wise) It's just that they are so big and lack good spacing. What I mean by that is that you should try and keep the different parts of the text more together and at the same time separate vital information from background story in a more clear way.
I'm maybe a little unclear about what I mean but here's an example.

For ex start with:

Background.
bla bla bla bla
bla bla bla bla
etc etc etc etc etc etc......

------

Current Situation.
bla bla bla bla
bla bla bla VITAL INFO (in caps) bla
etc etc etc etc etc etc......

------

ORDERS (in caps, makes them easier to find)
1. DEFEND THIS
2. KILL THAT
3. GO GET A COFFE

------

Aditional mission info like problems or how to use certain triggers etc etc.

------


Hope i don't come of as a whiner, It's just some feedback on your otherwise great missions, thanks!

[HotTom]

I kinda struggled with that (I do write for a living, or did before I retired). I decided to settle for "Here's what you're looking at, here's what happened in real life, see if you can do as well or better (or worse)."

I'm giving the players the opportunity to jump into an historical event and play it any way they want to. Everything is scripted (so the AI will run the units the player chooses not to fight in) but every vehicle can be player-controlled, so you can play "what if?" as much or as little as you want to.

What I'm giving you are lots of different platoon-level battles to choose from. They overlap, so you can play some in one run of the scenario and others the next time.

In the first two chapters, the companies and platoons are supporting the infantry in the fortifications and are pretty much tied to them (and a long way from any help). Their mission is pretty simple: Hold out against a force 10 times your size until relieved by the reserves that will be 24 to 48 hours getting here. It's kinda the Israeli Alamo (or Rorke's Drift for the Brits among us).

There is very little maneuver involved, a situation unusual for tankers. At least in the opening rounds. As you can see, by the end of each chapter, the situation becomes more fluid and there are more options.

Starting in Chapter 3, you won't see any prepared positions. When you do have opportunity to maneuver the terrain is very challenging because it is open and rolling. If you look at pictures of the Golan during this campaign, this is what it really looks like: wide open with hardly a tree in sight.

Your point is well taken and certainly not a whine.

I pondered it for quite awhile. The individuals battles do not follow any linear chronology, targets pop up all over the map at different times (and in, I hope, their correct relative order historically). So one OPORD for all those situations (remember this takes place over 12 hours) plus a whole pile of FRAGOs would have been possible but not realistic (and would have made the briefings longer than this long-winded post :) ). Those guys had to make their own decisions.

What it came down to was this: Each platoon leader or company commander in the scenario sees the situation exactly as you see it. He doesn't know how many Syrians there are, where they are or when they will arrive.

Think of the scripted version as the "school solution." But the "school solution" isn't always the best. There are many ways to skin a cat...

The best I could figure out was to say: Look down in the southwest corner of your map. There's a tank company from the 82nd Brigade commanded by CPT Tiger Zamir and he's going to ambush (Zamir's decision) an enemy column coming up the road to Kuneitra. Or in the southwest corner of your map at Naffach you will see LT Zvi "Zvika" Greengold. He's going to go out in the night alone (Zvika's decision) and kill a whole bunch of Syrian tanks.

The ambush positions that Tiger used and the route that Zvika used are right out of the history books (or at least as best as I could figure them out on the topo map). If you want to try something else, go for it! In fact, if you don't speed Zvika up a bit (faster than it is scripted), some Syrian tanks are going to come over a hill just as he's returning to Naffach and kill him. I did put a few booby traps in the script so you can't just go along for the ride :)

It was a compromise and I agree it could have been done differently but it seemed more important to tell the story than to give directions and limit your initiative. Do what the real guys did: If you see a Syrian tank, kill it! Or if you see 10 Syrian tanks, run like hell! (But do a proper bounding overwatch as you retreat) :)

HT

[HotTom]

Okay, I've been mulling Ghost's comments and here's what I've come up with to try to make the situation more clear by looking at the map (rather than having to go back to the briefing).

I'm putting together Chapter 3 (Sunday 7 October) and what I'm doing is putting a small text block showing the location and time of each fight and a brief description in dark gray text.

For example, at the location of the fight (about three miles east of Arik Bridge) there is a text block that reads: "0500 Sarig Force engages Syrian tanks."

Hopefully that will give you a heads up without giving away the whole plot and without you having to stop, go back and wade through the background text.

If that works, at some point I'll probably go back and update Chapters 1 and 2 similarly.

Sound helpful?

HT

[stalintc]

Sounds pretty good man :)

I look forward to getting hold of chapter 3 the first two were great.