Campaign: Red Tide '85 (discussion thread)

[Duke(911)]

Servus,

Thanks all for showing up. As I said to some already, wow, both sides put up a helluva fight.

Especially thanks for the Germans coming out so early, I understand how hard it is to get up that early (at least for me). Hope to see you guys all again each time.

thank you, see you thursday morning or next saturday morning.

best regards

Duke(911)

[Volcano]

Forgot the brits? 1 hour earlier for them?

Ah yes, a slip of the keyboard. Sorry Brits, and everyone else in Europe for that matter. Thanks for everyone showing up; I hope to see all of you guys again as well.

BTW, it looks like 41 people showed up. Very nice!

[SeanPatrick]

AAR temporarily available here. (195MB; unzips to 446MB)

Edited July 21, 2012 by SeanPatrick
Removed download.

[Gibsonm]

Are permanently (at least until the end of the campaign):

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/19518131/Red%20Tide%20%2785/Mission1/Red%20Tide%2085-1_MA_071412GIBSON-SERVE1233.aar

But its big, 240+ MB

Report file:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/19518131/Red%20Tide%20%2785/Mission1/Red%20Tide%2085-1_MAIN_Day1_07-14-12_12_33_59.htm

[PincerDK]

While the arty thundered in the background and reports from fleeing citizens of russian tanks in the village behind the hills the unit was out of contact with higher ups. So CO decided to send a dispatch rider on a MC back, afraid that the net was being jammed by russian electronic warfare units.

When the dispatch rider returned to the CO the CO asked, almost red in the face:

-"So, what is happening? why havent we received any orders!? why havent we recieved any reports regarding the rumoured tanks in the village?"

Dispatch Rider just shrugged his shoulders, mumbling something like

-"Damn if I know, its a nuthouse over there, two officers at eachothers throats about some radio net setup and procedure, when I tried to interfere they told me to go to hell, so here I am again. If you want me Im over at the mess trying to get some coffee going."

lol.

...and everyone else in Europe for that matter

Yes, we deserve some attention too. :biggrin:

[Volcano]

OK, the map and TOE has been updated for day 1.

As soon as possible I need the following:

Dark:

PM me if the decide you want to shift the advance any (within the yellow bracket area - ie. you can shift north to the area between Duingen and Eime if you desire). This decides the next map so we always need to know this ASAP so Mog and I can start working on the next scenarios. You should always try to get this to me over the weekend, otherwise on Monday we will begin work on the scenarios assuming that no change in the advance has been made (no changing it after that).

Gibson:

PM me what companies you would like to piece together for the BLUEFOR TF for next week. As mentioned, you can take some time to decide this (by Tuesday or so is perfectly fine).

[Duke(911)]

Servus Volcano,

what range of visibility do you used in the first battle. Maybe you can reduce a little bit? We had a lot of lecks and sometimes it was impossible to shoot or to move. Your tanks were moving like a kangaroo to our bp`s. I hope this was not because our Cdr is from australia.:biggrin:

best regards

Duke(911)

Yeah and 41 people, respect

[Volcano]

Servus Volcano,

what range of visibility do you used in the first battle. Maybe you can reduce a little bit? We had a lot of lecks and sometimes it was impossible to shoot or to move. Your tanks were moving like a kangaroo to our bp`s. I hope this was not because our Cdr is from australia.:biggrin:

best regards

Duke(911)

Yeah and 41 people, respect

Hello Duke,

The visibility was set at 4000m which is pretty standard for most scenarios. It wasn't easy seeing those Leo2s at that range in the 8x gun sight (I was down there in south), but we saw the main gun blasts and smoke clouds and fired back -- the engagement range was ~3400m at most in that area (longest shot was at 10:18:01).

I would like to keep it around 4000m to give OPFOR a fighting chance since you guys have thermals and since it isn't easy hitting anything over 2500m with the T-72, but sure the visibility might deviate up/down a little bit but only slightly. It will never get around 2500m though, and since 3000m is the next choice (3500m is not an option) then I will likely always keep it where it is for the Main Battle scenario.

However, Recon Battle scenarios usually have slightly lower visibility levels over the Main Battle since they take place in the morning, and the latter is in mid day. This is a good trade off given the time of day, which I think is a perfect approach.

Edited July 14, 2012 by Volcano
clarification

[Gibsonm]

OK, the map and TOE has been updated for day 1.

As soon as possible I need the following:

Dark:

PM me if the decide you want to shift the advance any (within the yellow bracket area - ie. you can shift north to the area between Duingen and Eime if you desire). This decides the next map so we always need to know this ASAP so Mog and I can start working on the next scenarios. You should always try to get this to me over the weekend, otherwise on Monday we will begin work on the scenarios assuming that no change in the advance has been made (no changing it after that).

Gibson:

PM me what companies you would like to piece together for the BLUEFOR TF for next week. As mentioned, you can take some time to decide this (by Tuesday or so is perfectly fine).

Roger.

I gather its up to me to track the status of my companies (i.e. keep a list of those that had their paint scratched today)?

Edit: Disregard the wiki has the updated data by Bn.

[Kingtiger]

Will there be a recce mission this wednesday to? In that case at which time? I got vacation so can make an appearance.

[Tonywjones44]

OK, the map and TOE has been updated for day 1.

Might it be a good idea when updating the wiki to replace 'Current' with the date? Just to avoid any possible confusification.

[Gibsonm]

Will there be a recce mission this wednesday to? In that case at which time? I got vacation so can make an appearance.

This is my understanding:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=5&iso=20120718T21&p1=404

There was some talk about moving it to a more "European friendly" time if needed but I think the attendance was good enough for that to be not required.

[Kingtiger]

4 in the morning here. same time as TGIF then? early morning but should be doable!

[Gibsonm]

4 in the morning here. same time as TGIF then? early morning but should be doable!

Yes same time, different day.

[Eisenschwein]

First of all I apologize for not finding the right words V-Man. That was not the way Gentleman talk to Gentelman, so I´m sorry for that!

Second:

-I think we all did a good job

-For the next Time we need prepared Arty Fire Zones

-It would be nice to have (Pre) Orders 24 h before the Battle (different Time Zones)

-Is it possible to have a recovery Veh for each TF

RED perform well to, the only mistake they made was not to push further from South to North

I think I can´t make it to the next Recce Sce., guess, yes I have to work

I will join next Battle.

[Volcano]

First of all I apologize for not finding the right words V-Man. That was not the way Gentleman talk to Gentelman, so I´m sorry for that!

Second:

-I think we all did a good job

-For the next Time we need prepared Arty Fire Zones

-It would be nice to have (Pre) Orders 24 h before the Battle (different Time Zones)

-Is it possible to have a recovery Veh for each TF

RED perform well to, the only mistake they made was not to push further from South to North

I think I can´t make it to the next Recce Sce., guess, yes I have to work

I will join next Battle.

Ah, no worries. I apologize to you as well. I guess I was just getting a bit stressed out with all the confusion in the thread and the general setting up of the campaign during the week. In hindsight though, I realize that I should have been more sympathetic to you in Pz.Btl.911 (and everyone else in Europe of course!) for showing up so early in the morning. You were just trying to get me to set something up before hand to save time, and that makes perfect sense. Also, I didn't really expect that many people to show up when I was making the posts; I figured that maybe only ~5 people from Pz.Btl.911 would show up (and I was adopting a "wait and see" approach to save me some trouble), but WOW, I was pleasantly surprised by the turn out.

Needless to say, the additional sub channels are certainly justified now that I know how many people are interested in participating -- just let me know if you guys (or anyone else) needs more sub channels, no problem there as long as we keep the requests reasonable.

To answer your questions:

-I think we all did a good job

Yes indeed, both sides fought well in both Wednesday and Friday scenarios.

-For the next Time we need prepared Arty Fire Zones

Actually, this is interesting that you bring this up. I was actually thinking about making a minor modification to the rules where if a side is successful in the Recon Battle on Wednesday, then that side will get some deployable priority fire markers so they can plan their fire missions better. This means that both sides would have gotten these priority markers since both sides were successful in the Recon fight. I think this is a great idea, especially since I am always looking for another layer to make the Recon Battle even more important.

-It would be nice to have (Pre) Orders 24 h before the Battle (different Time Zones)

Yes, I will try to get the map and briefing screen shots out to the overall COs sooner so you guys can get a plan sooner as well. This week was a bit hectic as I was still rushing to finalize some things for the first scenario, so *hopefully* I will get quicker at it from now on. Of course how fast I can get the info out to the COs to plan directly depends on if I can finish the scenario on time though.

-Is it possible to have a recovery Veh for each TF

I just called up the division commander on the radio and he said he doesn't mind restructuring the recovery assets like that. There are two M88s, so I can certainly add one more and move them to be under each company. It is actually how I originally had them assigned, but I reduced it by one because I didn't think there would be enough people around to use them (wow, was I wrong about that :shocked:).

[Gibsonm]

Volcano,

Happy with pre planned artillery but I think that may not help too much with those who suffer lag (apart from reducing the time from calling to rounds on the ground).

People still need to appreciate that if I want Arty "now" I need to ask for it "now less a couple of minutes".

Also happy with the wiki to remain with "current" (after all it only changes once per week).

Lastly thanks for the 1 x ARV per company idea (gives kingtiger more to do). Ideally people will now remember the stay out of the towed vehicle thing.

[Gibsonm]

Re channels (that old chestnut).

I just did a test and it looks like I can create sub channels.

Would it be OK if we just created channels as required (to relieve you of a burden)?

Otherwise to keep OPSEC we'd need to create 3 channels per nationality, just to allow us to run say a 3 x Coy UK group or 3 x Coy Ger group or 3 x Coy US group or a totally mixed group (rather than channels appearing to suit the force composition on a given week).

Edited July 15, 2012 by Gibsonm

[Tacbat]

Week one was a great success! Well done to V, Mog and the respective CO's. :thumbup:

[Gibsonm]

Week one was a great success! Well done to V, Mog and the respective CO's. :thumbup:

I suspect that was the easy one.

The challenge will ramp up as both sides throw units at say 60% into the fray or I at least am cobbling companies together to do a job, with say US players in Challenger, etc. (the Soviets are pretty standard and have less of an issue there)

[Gibsonm]

OK, the map and TOE has been updated for day 1.

As soon as possible I need the following:

Dark:

PM me if the decide you want to shift the advance any (within the yellow bracket area - ie. you can shift north to the area between Duingen and Eime if you desire). This decides the next map so we always need to know this ASAP so Mog and I can start working on the next scenarios. You should always try to get this to me over the weekend, otherwise on Monday we will begin work on the scenarios assuming that no change in the advance has been made (no changing it after that).

Gibson:

PM me what companies you would like to piece together for the BLUEFOR TF for next week. As mentioned, you can take some time to decide this (by Tuesday or so is perfectly fine).

So just to clarify I can wait until after I know what the map will be or do you need a "blind choice"?

[Hedgehog]

I suspect that was the easy one.

The challenge will ramp up as both sides throw units at say 60% into the fray or I at least am cobbling companies together to do a job, with say US players in Challenger, etc. (the Soviets are pretty standard and have less of an issue there)

Glorious Soviet Standardization Kamarade!

[krause]

I had my doubts about the first scenario but the 2nd one was pretty awesome.

The only thing that is sorta rubbing me the wrong way is the gameyness of the ruleset - having to kill X amount of vehicles past a certain point etc. I think mostly everyone would like more realistic objectives like in the 2nd scenario. Other than that, great job, really enjoying it!

[Mogwa]

Be careful what you wish for. You (and you entire side) may just get it.

Mog

[Volcano]

Volcano,

Happy with pre planned artillery but I think that may not help too much with those who suffer lag (apart from reducing the time from calling to rounds on the ground).

People still need to appreciate that if I want Arty "now" I need to ask for it "now less a couple of minutes".

Also happy with the wiki to remain with "current" (after all it only changes once per week).

Lastly thanks for the 1 x ARV per company idea (gives kingtiger more to do). Ideally people will now remember the stay out of the towed vehicle thing.

Right, rules in the wiki won't be changing much from here, unless to clarify, close any loopholes etc. That said, I like the priority arty fire markers for the side that wins the Recon Battle, I see no harm in that since both can get them and the effect is only to allow better planning.

But yes, we can all assume that the rules are definitely set in stone with no major changes from here unless I deem it necessary to correct unforseen issues that may arrise as we play through version 1.