[Tue] 18 July 2017 (Sudden Loss of Cabin Pressure)

How we died (in the future)
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Costno
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[Tue] 18 July 2017 (Sudden Loss of Cabin Pressure)

Post by Costno »

A peak 21 individuals made it for some infantry and airborne infantry festivities. We started with some daring helicopter raids against the RLM, which went swimmingly. Afterwards we assaulted the Southeast of Malden with some boats and some gunships. Our triumphant and uncontested push towards the enemy HVT ended with our extract helicopter not quite getting away quick enough. A single UAV operator looked on at the horror which followed... After the fancy helicoptering there was an adversarial which was more one-sided than I had intended and a final coop mission which was just as one-sided, only it was AI who had the easy victory.

Runlist:
We strongly welcome any feedback for missions as it helps us mission makers make things people actually like. The best place for feedback is in the completed mission threads which I've linked to in the run list.

Rejoice comrade! No longer should you fear forgetting the events of missions, as the party keeps excellent records of all instances of friendly-fire glory!
http://server.folkarps.com/r3/

Amiideus
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Re: [Tue] 18 July 2017 (Sudden Loss of Cabin Pressure)

Post by Amiideus »

Hey there everyone, and thanks for the cool ride !

I sadly have no screenshots :(

Runlist:

RLM Part 3

This mission was very cool : nice 2 parts set up with limited but armored air assets. As CO there was a bit of planning by comitee but in the end the plan was better for it : less walking and better cover.

Ariete was a bit too easy to kill, especially with 2 MMG teams providing the definitive answer with the .338 bullets killing easily more than 60% of the engaged enemies on the south assault.

We found the surprises and the intel, and while clearing a house by myself I died. As CO remember that leading from the front is important, but that surviving should be the most important. Still very fun !
Fleet Foxes
As Alpha 1 FTL, my FT and I spawned in a Zodiac south of objective 'Coco' and 'Ronald'. Tasked with storming the lighthouse as well as providing cover for Alpha 2's storming of the Sam site, we ended up doing just that as well as losing a guy to an AAF patrol on the left flank. After that we had lost a bit of effectiveness and my objectives started to be more on personel conservation than rapid mission clearing.

We continued our approach under ASL, mostly covering Alpha 2 in their house to house clearing. We then switched to the right flank were previously spotted but not engaged enemy downed 2 of our guys. After dealing with them, CO got us on the move to the last HVT where Alpha provided cover and a defensive perimeter.

I died when the counterattack arrived and the Ifrit rolled into the courtyard too fast for a PCML to stop its odyssey. It still got hammered by Alpha 2 front and Alpha 1 side fire.

Everything went fine but the chinook that was supposed to get everyone out suffered a terrible fate when it bounced 140m from land to sea after taking fire from a Marid.

I didn't mention any support from our FAC / Gunships because eventhough we started with them on the map, I didn't see them once. Still love them though.
Skirmish Stratis
PvP, spawned as Autorifleman for Alpha 2 (I guess ?) No kills, lots of covering fire. NATO had twice the numbers to the Guerilla and a favorable position, even considering the village had big houses, which protect well from our 5.56. We had RPGs though and too much coverage for any movement on their part. I TKed my FTL after the 'victory' screen and I feel sorry for it because the joke didn't go through. Don't kill your FTLs, they are nice.
Rebel Alliance 7
I killed my ASL. He was downed and I was EGMing in the general direction of the enemy, but I killed him. He even had time to congratulate me on the promotion before passing away.

Started as Alpha 2, with a bunch of misfit guerilla fighters in the hills of Altis. Started the mission by saying I hated forest fighting. After the first engagement we were down to 4 guys in my FT, after the second we were down to 4 in the whole squad.

We attacked the stalled patrol from another angle and managed to resist for what felt 20 minutes with a 3 man unit, fighting off a wave or two of AAF fighters, until we did what your should never attemps when defending : moving between covers alone.

Always lay down smokes. Costno died this way, and when I thought I had his murderer in my sight, I got headshot by another. Apparently there were 5 tangos left on the map, which we might have been able to kill with 3 or 2, but impossible to do alone without external eyes. (and my skill level) Still killed like 7 or 10 guys in that one.

On a completly different matter, I would like to provide advice for those who CO or want to CO.

Do not separate your Fire Teams by more than 100-200m. ASL mentionned that when I COed yesterday and he was right. A squad is a powerful asset with 4 AutoRifles 2 AT, 3 EGMs and 5 Rifles, a FT has half of that. Now understand that 20% of the fighting force is actually effective (becausse 80% are busy locating what you are shooting). BOFs are a great theory if you have a FT that can hit at 300m with Red Dots. Most of us can't, except with a higher caliber that shoots straighter or better optics : MMGs are great BOFs at 200m+.

Doing a pincer seems like a good idea, but attacking a village and neutralising West Facing Tangos with A1 won't do any good for A2 from the East. Effectively you are giving the enemy a better fighting chance. Whereas if A1 covers A2's approach by neutralising East Facing Tangos, the force clearing the house will be in better shape and your reduce the risk of Friendly Fire.

The smallest attacking force should be a squad, not a FT.

On IFVs / Tanks or force multiplier (Strider, Ifrit, Hunter, technical what have you) adapt their use to the situation : recently we had a mission with a town clearing. We had 2 technicals that advanced at the same pace as infantry on the main roads. That worked *very well*. I don't remember who was CO / ASL but he did a great job. Compare that to what I did as CO Sunday last, keeping my 2 Marshall in safe positions expecting a big wave attack of AAF that they could bypass and attack from the rear. That was crap. In the heat of the fight, both AV1 and AV2 found better positions to fire from and basically saved A1 from annihilation. and made it possible for us to hold long enough to clear the mission.

We don't plan by comitee, and because of that you can do whatever you want, I just wanted to share my experience as CO. Especially since we work with the FolkARPS platoon system we should try to use it to its fullest and that means knowing its strenghts & weaknesses when we factor in our strengths & weaknesses as a communi... as a party !

Cheers guys and thanks again for the great session !
Have a good one !
-Paul, Amiideus

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SuicideKing
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Re: [Tue] 18 July 2017 (Sudden Loss of Cabin Pressure)

Post by SuicideKing »

I had intended to post this last week, but was too lazy.

This is regarding the little planning by committee incident Amiideus touches upon in his post.

I was ASL in RLM Part 3. We had a CO element, ASL, 2x Alpha fire teams, 2x MMG teams.

In FA, planning by committee is frowned upon, however, leadership elements or hosts can ask CO to reconsider something that's likely to negatively affect the experience for a number of people. As ASL, i found myself in that position. CO decided to split Alpha 1 and Alpha 2, and put MMG1 and 2 under both fire team leaders. This had a number of issues.

1. CO is not supposed to direct fire teams of individual squads, unless there are no squad leaders (actual or acting). There was a squad leader in this case.
2. Fire teams spread 600m apart are impossible for the SL to control.
3. An MMG team is a fire team level unit. Making them subordinate to a fire team puts additional pressure on an FTL, and messes with how our ORBAT and fire teams are set up.
4. It made ASL redundant.
5. Comms would be very confusing.

In order to save my job Given the situation, it was imperative for me to point this out to CO and ask for reorganization. The intention was not to influence the plan per se, but to keep the ORBAT under control. In the end, I suggested that if the fire teams were indeed going to be split, then CO should control one FT and MMG team, and I the other.

End result was still confusing, as fire team leaders had CC on, and CO decided to talk to them directly - bypassing ASL, once again. This affected the unity of command.

I would have kept Alpha together in one channel, and sent MMGs, THs, CO into another. Only ASL, MMG leaders, CO, pilots should have been on CC. CO, MMGs would be the BoF element, while the squad did the clearing and breaching under ASL's direction.

We managed to finish the mission in the end, but it's worth bearing this in mind for the future.

p.s. Helicopter pilots have to avoid landing/lifting when not explicitly requested (unless under direct threat), and must avoid loitering over the AO unless asked to.
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