Thoughts on Carbombs

[Deltapooh]

I'm working on a Fallujah scenario and want to use carbombs. My initial thought was to use them kind of like indirect fire. An enemy team would have one or two carbombs simulated as HE. They could plan a fire mission which would simulate a remote detonation.

On the other hand, US forces in the city worked around the carbomb threat by blowing cars as they advanced. So I thought about just making some vehicles.

Any thoughts?

[CPangracs]

I'm working on a Fallujah scenario and want to use carbombs. My initial thought was to use them kind of like indirect fire. An enemy team would have one or two carbombs simulated as HE. They could plan a fire mission which would simulate a remote detonation.

On the other hand, US forces in the city worked around the carbomb threat by blowing cars as they advanced. So I thought about just making some vehicles.

Any thoughts?

I had been thinking about this very issue at work the other day, and it brought-up a very interesting topic - what is the USE of situations such as a car bomb, suicide bomber, or even a riot, in a military simulation, especially one that operates on a Brigade or higher level?

Without going into too much detail, we have to examine what the objective is placing something like that in one of our sims at the college. If the objective is for "ambience" or "immersion", then fine, but when you get down to the reality of what a commander at the Brigade or even Battalion level would do in this case, then you see that things like car bombs and such don't really have a purpose!

Okay, now that my soapbox was obliterated by my considerable bulk, I'll give you some thoughts. ;)

First, keep in mind that anything you create on the map will need an icon, picture or otherwise, or it won't really have anything to do in the game! Ensure that it is coded with damage effects from weapons you want other units to be able to shoot at it! I don't see how you can really create a car bomb UNLESS you give it a 100 pK for ALL weapon systems, and an indirect fire range of like 50 meters to reflect the range that the blast may affect troops! Code them as "enemy", and your troops will automatically engage them as they are found. This is fine, if you want the player to be penalized for not destroying cars, but won't really work, because the destruction of that vehicle will be automatic for the units in ATF/RT unless you tell them to hold fire!

My strongest inclination is NOT to include them. You should think hard about what you are trying to do in the scenario, and whether or not these types of things will be helpful to the gameplay. If SOP for the unit is "Destroy all cars on the street or driving towards you at max range...", then you can be assured that's EXACTLY what the troops are doing, and replicating that in ATF/RT would just use ammo without providing the player any kind of real strategic challenge.

Just my $.02!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Curt

[Pat Proctor]

DP,

You can make an invisible indirect fire unit, with an very long range, and, for each one, plan a target where you want the carbomb to be.

The Indirect Fire caps should include a very short, 1 or 0 second TOF, and an IF Ammo type of "car bomb" with an appropriate blast radius and lethality factor. It should also have an "Emplace" capability with a short emplace time.

After you have added the unit, and planned the target, put the unit in "do not emplace". Your script should use an event box around the target and, when the requisite number of people enter, should give your invisible indirect fire asset a "Cancel do not emplace order". Then it will fire at the target, creating a huge burst at the required location.

If you give it only on "round", it will only blow up once.

If you want to go with the "physical unit" solution, so that the player can destroy it at a distance, this won't work. But if you just want the blast, it is your best bet.

[Pat Proctor]

The other cool thing about the above solution is that it replicates killing the trigger man. Your "event" won't fire if no enemy can see the event box which triggers the explosion.

[17poundr]

I'm working on a Fallujah scenario and want to use carbombs. My initial thought was to use them kind of like indirect fire. An enemy team would have one or two carbombs simulated as HE. They could plan a fire mission which would simulate a remote detonation.

On the other hand, US forces in the city worked around the carbomb threat by blowing cars as they advanced. So I thought about just making some vehicles.

Any thoughts?
I would place the carbom in a car, or truck. The effects of the explosion could vary, they differ very much as far as i know, from a fiew pounds, to hundreds!

Again, the detonations, most are probably by a remote controller looking on from his hideaway, this would make it an controlled event that the insurgent player can trigger.

Then the timed device, this will go off at a pre ordaned time.

And I believe some have even proximity fuses, which make it a very random weapon.

I hope these suggestions were what you were looking for, If you ment somekind of detailed design features, It would help to know which game platform you are using (or are you building your own).

I will say one thing, a good game of, the Iraqi Freedom/after liberation insurgent war, needs a good wargame to get our teeth into.
Let us know if you need help in any way.
mr poundr.

[CPangracs]

DP,

You can make an invisible indirect fire unit, with an very long range, and, for each one, plan a target where you want the carbomb to be.

The Indirect Fire caps should include a very short, 1 or 0 second TOF, and an IF Ammo type of "car bomb" with an appropriate blast radius and lethality factor. It should also have an "Emplace" capability with a short emplace time.

After you have added the unit, and planned the target, put the unit in "do not emplace". Your script should use an event box around the target and, when the requisite number of people enter, should give your invisible indirect fire asset a "Cancel do not emplace order". Then it will fire at the target, creating a huge burst at the required location.

If you give it only on "round", it will only blow up once.

If you want to go with the "physical unit" solution, so that the player can destroy it at a distance, this won't work. But if you just want the blast, it is your best bet.


Unfortunately, you can't "destroy" it BEFORE it is triggered, which would defeat the outlined purpose of having the car bombs in the Fallujah map in the first place, or did I miss something?! :confused:

[Deltapooh]

Unfortunately, you can't "destroy" it BEFORE it is triggered, which would defeat the outlined purpose of having the car bombs in the Fallujah map in the first place, or did I miss something?! :confused:

Thanks for all the advice guys. It is most useful. I'm not too sure I'll include the feature. Curt made a very convincing argument about the use of car bombs in a scenario. In the end, their primary use would be to slow down and set up ambushes. In that context, mines would work better without sacrificing resources.

Still, it is worth at least messing with.

[CPangracs]

Thanks for all the advice guys. It is most useful. I'm not too sure I'll include the feature. Curt made a very convincing argument about the use of car bombs in a scenario. In the end, their primary use would be to slow down and set up ambushes. In that context, mines would work better without sacrificing resources.

Still, it is worth at least messing with.

By all means, for the sake of seeing how it can be done and the best way to do it, experiment away! ;)