Volcano

Yep, one of the FRG expansion scenarios... 🤓

14 JUL 2023: MBT-S05A-19-Dark Passage (FRG)-4374 (Pt 1 of 2) (This is a two part linked scenario. The FRG (West German) side's losses will carry over into the 2nd part next TGIF. Both scenarios are new, never played, so keep that in mind -- things may need to be (and will be) adjusted or corrected as usual). SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? Yes. Random CO selection? Yes. Minimum # players: 8 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

7 JUL 2023: Brush War-4167a-FMU (This is a 4 sided free for all, at least 2 players per side) SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? Yes. Random CO selection? Yes. Minimum # players: 8 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

30 JUN 2023: Symmetrical Attack 11-SC-4167a-FMU SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? Yes. Random CO selection? Yes. Minimum # players: 10 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

23 JUN 2023: Warlords of Paderborn-4268-smaller-FMU SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? Yes. Random CO selection? Yes. Minimum # players: 8 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

16 JUN 2023: !Battle for Schwaben Creek Valley T-72 v16-4268b-OMU SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? No. Random CO selection? No. Minimum # players: 8 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

OK. Hopefully you can make it, but if not then see you next time.

9 JUN 2023: MegaForce-4379 We are going to try something different this TGIF, a marathon (~3 to 4 hour) co-op. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? No. Random CO selection? No. Minimum # players: 6 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

2 JUN 2023: Civil War Krasnovia-Scania-smaller-4379-MAD-FMU SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? Yes. Random CO selection? Yes. Minimum # players: 10 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

26 MAY 2023: MBT-S07A-27-Op Garden (BAOR)-4379 SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? Yes. Random CO selection? Yes. Minimum # players: 8 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

Actually, the track and wheel damage was caused by something in the map's theme, and this has been fixed in the scenario (or at least, avoided).

So lots of fixes were made to the scenario from feedback, so that is good. All I ask is that in 12 months when it comes back around, give it another chance and I will improve your experience each time. Additionally, the issue with the wheel/track damage seems like it might be an actual problem that will be addressed soon. I will investigate this more, but it wouldn't probably be noticeable in the past because it requires certain conditions on the map (desert, allowing high speeds, and a certain bumpiness level -- the rocks themselves are just for looks to let the user know the ground is bumpy, and they should use some caution, and have no bearing on anything). That said, the bumpiness level of this terrain is not such that should even cause the damage in the first place, so I have to dig down and figure out where the issue actually is (it is either a bug in the damage behavior, or an issue with the damage probability variables in the calculation itself). But either way, it will be improved in the engine itself, not the scenario - the map was actually not the issue). Now whether that means an update to the variables that handles the probabilities, or the fixing of a bug, we shall see, but it will have to be done in a hotfix patch at some point. But at least I have discovered that there is a real behavior issue there, so that is another good thing to come out of the session (I say this because if you had a particularly frustrating time then it won't be for nothing!). 😬

19 MAY 2023: Civil War Santa Catalina-4379-FMU SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? Yes. Random CO selection? Yes. Minimum # players: 10 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

...and now back to your regularly scheduled program... 12 MAY 2023: Hasty Defense 01 (US) M60A3-HTH-MAD-4379 SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? Yes. Random CO selection? Yes. Minimum # players: 10 to 12 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

Thanks for playing part 3. BLUEFOR ended up winning the mini-campaign (538 points vs. 369 points). Seemed to be going pretty well for OPFOR in the last battle, but BLUEFOR was able to turn it around. Good job. 🍻 Any sort of campaign (mini or otherwise) can get stressful, but that is what makes them fun. We will try to do something like this every two or three months or so, let's see what happens.

Thanks for all those that played Part 2. Doing a lot of math here, but here is a summary... Future Wars "Adder" Part 2 of 3: Mission Score: OPFOR (attacker) - 480 BLUEFOR (defender) - 481 YES, BLUEFOR literally won by 1 point! Their 1 point will gain them +500 attachment points to buy attachments, so that is good for them to offset OPFOR's advantage in the previous. Losses, in "strength points": 2 x T-72B1 ERA, 415, 830, 2 x T-72B3 m.2012, 565, 1130, 2 x BMP-2, 160, 320, 1 x TOS-1A, 490, 490, 2 x 2S9 Nona-S, 155, 310, 2 x Mi-24V Hind-E, 411, 822, 4 x BTR-82A, 133, 532, 2 x Typhoon-K 6x6 [MRAP L0], 52, 104, Total= 4538 1 x Leopard 2A5A2-DK, 854, 854, 1 x *APS [1x veh], 150, 150, 1 x M113G4-DK, 194, 194, 1 x M113G3-DK, 99, 99, 1 x M113G3-DK TOW, 152, 152, 2 x Fennek MRAT, 169, 338, 1 x CV9035-DK, 303, 303, 1 x M966 HMMWV, 150, 150, Total= 2240 Strength Points for reinforcements, calculated from Part 2: (So how it works is, points are now calculated based on the results, and those are used to "purchase" permanent reinforcements, and temporary attachments...) OPFOR Strength Points for purchasing reinforcements: 5000 points (attacker) or 4000 points (if BLUEFOR counterattack) +1440 points (score x3) -369 points (# of infantry casualties x3) = 6071 points, reinforcements (attacking situation) or 5071 (counterattack situation) ...additionally, +500 points (for having lower score) of temporary attachments to be removed after the next scenario BLUEFOR Strength Points for purchasing reinforcements: 3000 points (defender, 60% of attacker amount) or 5000 points (if BLUEFOR CO opts for a counterattack situation, which comes with challenges) +1443 points (score x3) -105 points (# of infantry casualties x3) = 4338 points, reinforcements (defense situation) or 6338 (counterattack situation) ...additionally, +1000 points (for having higher score) of temporary attachments to be removed after the next scenario NOTE: -Seems I made a mistake here and forgot to remove one of the Spike ATGMs from the first mission that was killed, so BLUEFOR had an extra one. I will compensate by giving the option of adding some extra points to OPFOR, or giving back something that was lost in M2 of similar value (it happens, this is complicated, but 99% correct so far isn't bad). -Part 3's score is the final score that determines the winner of the mini-campaign (the other scenarios are setting up the final battle). -Part 3 will have an end condition if too many losses on either side occurs, causing that side to retreat (with a warning when 15% away). Also, Part 3 can be significantly more complicated if the BLUEFOR CO opts for a counterattack situation. Since Part 3 maybe be a bit more complicated, it might take longer to make it, we will see, but worse case scenario we might play it two weeks from now (but I will try to get it done this week). -"Counterattack situation" (think of a few scenarios in the MBT 87 campaign that were like this) is when the defender decides in the last scenario to make a counterattack instead of defense. There are pros and cons to both, but the counterattack works like this: Time limit of scenario increases by +30 min. BLUFOR gets more points and will defend with only what they have available (main force + attachments) for ~60 to 100 minutes (random). Later arrival means more bonus points for BLUEFOR's final score and bonus points for OPFOR's final score for early arrival. Starting BLUFOR is a holding force, reinforcements are the relief force. Relief force counterattacks to take back lost OBJs, or if arrived early, helps hold existing OBJs. Future Wars-Adder-2-4379a_15836_042823RYZEN9-39002108.rar

So I went back and checked, and LOS is required to that drone. I thought I had it also return to base if LOS was lost, but I guess I didn't, and that was an easy mistake, and I fixed that. What likely happened (after looking at the AAR), owner told UAV to fly "home" and jumped to another unit. While flying home, LOS may have been lost and then it just started flying straight. LOS was possibly re-established, but then it was flying on a direct course at that point (not home), then then ended up flying permanently out of LOS. (One thing we probably want to do is have a drone continue carrying out the last instruction when LOS is lost, and if that was to fly home then it does that instead of going totally brain-dead.) I just changed it so that it will RTB when LOS is lost. Always check the drone settings in the Planning Phase on that unit, though, so you know. The point is, 9 out of every 10 issues is that the drone requires LOS, and I think that is what likely happened here (unless of course something more specific is observed).

28 APR 2023: Future Wars-Adder-2-4379 (Part 2 of 3 mini-campaign/op, where results of one affects the next one. The winner is the winner of the 3rd scenario.) SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? No; sides will be the same, new participants will be drafted. Random CO selection? No; either will be the same as Mission 1 (if they are willing), or a volunteer on that side will CO instead. Minimum # players: 8 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

Pretty good. It's a new thing I wanted to try (linked TGIF missions). It was a fairly even fight, actually, and both sides did well. Some realistic tactics were used (imagine that, when things have value it starts to feel more realistically cautious). 🙂 Thanks for all those that played Part 1. Doing a lot of math here, but here is a summary... Future Wars "Adder" Part 1 of 3: Mission Score: OPFOR (attacker) - 536 BLUEFOR (defender) - 434 Losses, in "strength points": 2 x T-72B1 ERA, 415, 830, 2 x T-72B3 m.2012, 565, 1130, 1 x Tigr-M SpN HMG [MRAP L1], 67, 67, 4 x BMP-2, 160, 640, Total= 2667 2 x Leopard 2A5A1-DK, 765, 1530, 1 x CV9035-DK, 303, 303, 1 x M113G3-DK, 99, 99, 1 x Eagle IV w/HMG RWS [MRAP L0], 160, 160, 1 x Fennek MRAT, 169, 169, Total= 2261 Strength Points for reinforcements, calculated from Part 1: (So how it works is, points are now calculated based on the results, and those are used to "purchase" permanent reinforcements, and temporary attachments...) OPFOR Strength Points for purchasing reinforcements: 5000 points (attacker) +1608 points (score x3) -294 points (# of infantry casualties x3) = 6314 points, reinforcements ...additionally, +1000 points (for having higher score) of temporary attachments to be removed after the next scenario BLUEFOR Strength Points for purchasing reinforcements: 3000 points (defender, 60% of attacker amount) +1302 points (score x3) -129 points (# of infantry casualties x3) = 4173 points, reinforcements ...additionally, +500 points (for having higher score) of temporary attachments to be removed after the next scenario NOTE: -I had to reword the Part 1 scenario briefing, regarding points accumulation, because the description of how this worked was wrong. -Remember that the Mission Score in Part 1 and 2 only matters for the accumulation of strength points for the next mission and determining who gets the majority of temporary attachment points and to get an idea of who has the momentum and how much. The Part 3's score is the final score that determines the winner of the mini-campaign (the other scenarios are setting up the final battle).

21 APR 2023: Future Wars-Adder-1-4377 (This is a new scenario, Part 1 of 3 mini-campaign/op, where results of one affects the next one. The winner is the winner of the 3rd scenario.) SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? Yes. Random CO selection? Yes. Minimum # players: 8 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

14 APR 2023: UN Safe Zone-4379-FMU-MAD (or something else is lined up, if less people are available) SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? Yes. Random CO selection? Yes. Minimum # players: 12 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

We will have to do some comparisons with 4.363 and 4.379's M1A1 TIS to know for certain if the resolution has changed. At first glance, it seems very close in appearance, but it could be a little better than it was which *should* be unintentional, but I could be wrong (maybe it didn't increase, or maybe it was supposed to increase because of better rendering behavior, or perhaps it was always wrong to begin with, I'll investigate). That said, short of the M1A1 TIS getting slightly better resolution (by accident, I'll assume here), what has certainly changed is, in general, digital zoom magnification levels are no longer clear, and are instead an enlargement of the image itself (like enlarging a video or photo - it gets bigger, but doesn't improve in clarity). In the past, we didn't do this, that is, we didn't differentiate between digital and optical zoom in sights and this made the sight too detailed (its a simple matter of basic behavior of how digital zoom works, and it can't really be any other way). So, speaking of the M1A2, the TIS has digital zoom above 13x magnification, at which point the image will get blown up and become pixelated, like using digital zoom on any other optic (like a camera). So, looking at those images, again - besides a possible issue on the M1A1 - it *seems* that the CITV is not being treated at digital zoom above 13x like the GPS, and might be too clear (assuming that the CITV is in fact digital zoom like the GPS). Either we overlooked the CITV digital zoom, or it could be that we knew the GPS TIS was digital zoom, but wasn't sure about the CITV. (Anyway the T-72B3 and some other vehicles and RWS with digital zoom behaves like this, so it's not unique to the M1A2.)

7 APR 2023: Domfessel 2013-4379-FMU (or something else is lined up, if less people are available) SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? Yes. Random CO selection? Yes. Minimum # players: 8 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.

99% of all network problems is because the HOST doesn't have the correct local IP specified when forwarding ports. You may have checked this already, but if not, go to command prompt, type in "ipconfig" and see what the "IPv4 Address" is. It will be something like 192.168.X.Y. I say this, because of the image posted in the first comment. When forwarding ports, make sure that is set in your Internal Host (in your image) fields. Your last two numbers are .100.5. I seriously doubt this is your local IP address, instead I think it is your actual IP address, which would likely make this the problem (IIRC).

31 MAR 2023: Brush Fire-Rhino-4379 (trying this again, since it had serious issues a few weeks ago) SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: Draft? Yes. Random CO selection? Yes. Minimum # players: 6-8 NOTES: Remember to play within the TGIF House Rules and SB.com Community Rules.