tactical and game play advice on Operation Anaconda?

[WMurray]

I'm trying the first scenario in Operation Anaconda and have some game play and tactical questions.

Game play:

1. What do the dots with connected lines mean? Are they just ruins? And the broken blue line below them, is that just an unimproved road? (See attached file for picture of what I'm talking about here)

2. In ATF you had to fly fixed-wing aircraft directly at targets for them to fire missiles, or use their guns. Here, I notice the AC-130's can shoot at an angle for its 105 mm gun.

(a) Can this be any angle, or just to one side of the aircraft, for the indirect fire?

(b) For the other two direct-fire guns (Bofors cannon and Gatling gun) do they only fire directly ahead of the aircraft?

(c) Similarly for the jets and the armed predator, do they have to fly straight at a target to release their weapons?

Tactical:

1. The Taliban seem to have rather nice observational positions on the Whaleback. Could I (1) first get the SOF close to these positions, then (2) take out the Taliban, and then (3) occupy their positions?

I have similar problems if I try to place observers in other locations other than the Whaleback. I ended up trying these target observation points:

WB16348786 alt 2800 for SF India
WB16928898 alt 2714 for SF Maco
WB20509184 alt 2930 for SF Juliet

But these end up being too close to Taliban, also, unless I try to take them out, but then the stealth is lost.

2. Can I use the UAV to scout ahead without losing surprise? That is, if the UAV is fired on, or for that matter any of my SOF teams, have I lost the scenario?

3. In the mission results I noticed "Cave" listed. How do I detect fighters in caves, or how do they show up differently from fighters not in caves?

Thanks for any advice here!

 

[CPangracs]

I'm trying the first scenario in Operation Anaconda and have some game play and tactical questions.

Game play:

1. What do the dots with connected lines mean? Are they just ruins? And the broken blue line below them, is that just an unimproved road? (See attached file for picture of what I'm talking about here)

The blue lines with the dots in between are intermittent streams. Not sure about the other blue topo feature, but rest assured, it has to do with water. I don't believe either is modeled in the terrain. (I didn't do these particular maps).

2. In ATF you had to fly fixed-wing aircraft directly at targets for them to fire missiles, or use their guns. Here, I notice the AC-130's can shoot at an angle for its 105 mm gun.

(a) Can this be any angle, or just to one side of the aircraft, for the indirect fire?

(b) For the other two direct-fire guns (Bofors cannon and Gatling gun) do they only fire directly ahead of the aircraft?

(c) Similarly for the jets and the armed predator, do they have to fly straight at a target to release their weapons?

The answer is "YES!". It all depends on how the weapons are modeled. The Bofors and other guns "should" be based on mils from centerline of the aircraft, so the target would have to be on the correct side of the aircraft. The 105mm arty gun, however, is abstracted to the point that there is an arty range ring, and targets can be engaged within this ring no matter their relation to the aircraft.

Further, the aircraft armed with missiles fire based on the seeker range of the missile, which often is less than 45 degrees to the aircraft's front. The same goes for bombs. It's all in the weapon modeling.

Tactical:

1. The Taliban seem to have rather nice observational positions on the Whaleback. Could I (1) first get the SOF close to these positions, then (2) take out the Taliban, and then (3) occupy their positions?

I have similar problems if I try to place observers in other locations other than the Whaleback. I ended up trying these target observation points:

WB16348786 alt 2800 for SF India
WB16928898 alt 2714 for SF Maco
WB20509184 alt 2930 for SF Juliet

But these end up being too close to Taliban, also, unless I try to take them out, but then the stealth is lost.

This is the challenge...

2. Can I use the UAV to scout ahead without losing surprise? That is, if the UAV is fired on, or for that matter any of my SOF teams, have I lost the scenario?

Yes, most definitely use the Predator, or any other assets you have, to find the enemy.

3. In the mission results I noticed "Cave" listed. How do I detect fighters in caves, or how do they show up differently from fighters not in caves?

Thanks for any advice here!

You can't detect fighters in caves, however, you CAN detect the caves.

That's all I'm going to say about it.

Hope this helps without giving too much away.

 

[WMurray]

Hope this helps without giving too much away.

Yes, thank you.

I'm still a bit confused as to whether I have to totally avoid detection, both on the ground and in the air, to win, or if I can be detected towards the very end, as I approach the final observation positions and then take out the Taliban there. I'm going to assume the latter and hope that all my efforts won't be in vain.

And no you haven't given away too much about the caves! I'm sure I'll have more questions on the other scenarios, too.

P.S. I still miss the Krasnovians.

 

[WMurray]

Attacking with Toyota Landcruisers??

I've looked at the next scenario. I think Al Queda is going to die laughing when I try to attack a village with a bunch of unarmed Toyota land cruisers and assorted unarmed 5-ton trucks.

Maybe if they protest by laying down in front of the trucks I'll have a chance! Oh well, I'll give it a go...

 

[CPangracs]

I've looked at the next scenario. I think Al Queda is going to die laughing when I try to attack a village with a bunch of unarmed Toyota land cruisers and assorted unarmed 5-ton trucks.

Maybe if they protest by laying down in front of the trucks I'll have a chance! Oh well, I'll give it a go...

Those are just to get you to the vicinity. If you are planning on riding right up to them, then I must say, you deserve the outcome!

 

[WMurray]

OK, I had a go at Operation Anaconda 2, where I attack Babulkhel. This must be the village from Borat, as I had a very unfriendly reception, despite what my Taliban hitchhikers promised. Oh, well.

First time thru I defused the requisite RPG ambush and made good use of the Australians and their mortars for eliminating AQ teams. But going in the expected way resulted in heavy losses. Second time through I'm going over the ridge, dismounted, trying to use fire and maneuver to take out the AQ and Taliban fire teams as I find them.

Here is a bunch of tactical questions I've accumulated. (Don't tell the troops I was asking this, they are already questioning my civilian leadership. They must have talked with the combat engineers I used to have in ATF, altho I thought I'd lost them all.)

So here are my tactical questions:

1. I decided I needed to brush up on my tactics so went back to the tutorial. One question there: do I need to turn on the Longbow radars with the Radiate command to improve spotting capability? Are there are any other scenarios where I need to do this, too, and any where I need to turn off radar to minimize detection?

2. Back to Anaconda 2. I'm using either mortars or direct fire to suppress AQ or Taliban teams once I find them.

(a) With suppression, will a unit switch to attacking the enemy fire team as they advance, if they are on a path right to the enemy unit? Or do I have to stop them and turn off suppression before they will kill, rather than suppress?

(b) With mortars, does accuracy decrease with distance? That is, should I first move the mortar crews closer before using them, or is there no advantage to that?

3. I'm being careful not to kill civilians by not attacking until I can identify my target. Would a better strategy be to suppress unknown targets? That is, is there any danger of killing civilians with suppression? Or if I brutishly just attack and kill any unknown targets will I lose the scenario if I accidentally kill too many civilians? (Ignoring the bad press I'll get)

4. I used both the SOF units in the vehicles, once dismounted, and the Afghan units. Are the SOF units better in any way?

5. I did encounter one cave but couldn't see how to attack it, so just bypassed it with no ill effects. If I should have attacked it, how would I do that?

6. The order says I should I first move to AP Delta. But that's what AQ expects me to do. If I disobey this part of the order and attack from over the ridges, never putting vehicles in AP Delta, will I lose the scenario? That is, does some part of the victory condition or scenario require I occupy it to trigger the rest of the scenario? We'll ignore my getting sacked for insubordination, I'm used to that.

Thanks for your help!

Bill

 

[CPangracs]

I won't answer all of your questions, mainly because I don't want you to miss out on all the fun.

- I recommend you turn-on your Longbows first thing every scenario.

- Caves can only be destroyed by aerial bombs.

Good luck!

 

[WMurray]

I won't answer all of your questions, mainly because I don't want you to miss out on all the fun.

- I recommend you turn-on your Longbows first thing every scenario.

- Caves can only be destroyed by aerial bombs.

Good luck!

Thanks for your advice about the Longbows and explanation of the caves!

Now, if I only knew the answers to the OTHER questions...maybe if I root around in the manual more...better yet, it appears that if Curt answers about 1 question in 3, next time I should ask him THREE times as many questions! :whist:

I'll have fun, my troops, maybe not so much...they may be rushing to join the Taliban by the time I'm thru with them!

 

[WMurray]

OK, now I'm onto Clearing the Whaleback, the 4th scenario in Operation Anaconda. I've noticed the GBUs are harder to use than I'd expect when bombing from the B-52's. I've switched to DPICM 1 volley to use them. That's not a problem.

I notice on the vehicle specs it says the shot time is 4 seconds and the max free fall time is 5 seconds. Does that mean literally that only one can be dropped every 4 seconds and it must be no more than 5 seconds from its target?

More important, what does it mean practically in terms of how I have to fly the plane or queue the fire missions?

--Do I have to fly the B-52 straight at the target for those 4 or 5 seconds, or just when the bomb is released? I notice the radius is + or - 100 mils so it seems I have to be flying pretty much dead on, but I'm assuming that's just when I release the bomb.

--Do I have to queue up the FMs in the order I'll overfly the targets? (Rather than as I notice them and then plot a course to return to them, assuming the smart bombers will just hit any target I've requested)

--finally does the B-52 have to be able to see or identify the target when releasing the bomb? I'm wondering if I need to have an A-10 fly around when the bomb is released to assure the spotting is OK.

Thanks,

Bill

 

[Pat Proctor]

The FM must be in the firing arc at the time the mission is processed and fired.

It is best to plan FMs in the order they are to be fired and not get to many backlogged; if the mission comes up while the aircraft is in the wrong position, it will be canceled.

The aircraft does not have to be able to see the target to shoot it.

 

[WMurray]

Thanks. Those GBU bombs work very nicely now. Nice sound effects, too.