Panama Campaign Development 1
Posted: 2009-07-18 12:43:25
Rather than keep derailing the installer thread, I thought I'd just start a new thread where we can consolidate some campaign ideas.
To recap where we are so far, ccc has done some experiments on the campaigns and has found them "winnable". This is good- this is a great foundation from which to start. He also commented that the terrain is well-done. Awesome.
As I mentioned previously, I am totally unfamiliar with this region and potential conflicts that may occur in Panama. Obviously, anything we create will be fictional; which is actually good because it gives us complete latitude to develop whatever we want. I have a handful of ideas.
1. A WW3 scenario (part of the WW3 at PMC grand campaign). It is hard for me to come up with a plausible full-on war scenario where the Soviets could honestly challenge the Canal with anything that translates well to Falcon. If I were the Soviets, I'd park some subs on either side and make life miserable for ships transferring through- which doesn't translate well to a fighter sim. I could probably come up with something if you guys are hot on it though, something like commandos seizing command and control nodes, infantry coming up through friendly South American nations, seizing airfields and closing the Canal. The US, in response, deploys a small CVBG (or perhaps amphib group with Harriers and Marines) along with some Air Force LBA to suppress/recapture the Canal zone. Because of the fighting in Europe, both sides could not commit large forces to the Panama Theater, keeping it limited is scope for us.
2. Ripcord proposed a scenario where Venezuela or some other regional actor makes moves to seize the Canal, or stage a coup in Panama and perhaps install a puppet government that threatens the stability of the Canal zone. This instigates a US response. An alternative to this could be a regional conflict over Panama between Central and South American countries. I don't know enough about the governments of the region to know who would fight with whom, so any believability would be poor without a lot of help. Also, if we pit 3rd parties against each other, you're talking a whole new skin set to take it to the next level. What I mean is that we don't have very many Venezuelan and Honduran skins in the database...
3. My idea, and the one I support, is to just write a military exercise scenario in the Panama region. CRUZEX was mentioned in the other thread. I googled that, and it is a South American exercise that takes place bi-annually down there. I think the one I was looking at was in Brazil. One of the links had a very nice synopsis of the exercise scenario written out, and another had a beautiful air OOB. The planeset would strongly favor FF5, lots of F-5s, Mirages, and such, but I saw a few F-16s in there too so it would work for any version. However, the best version to fly the non-F-16s is FF5.
3a. We could borrow CRUZEX totally and write a CRUZEX scenario; sort of simulate that Panama volutneers to host the CRUZEX and borrom their OOB and scenario and just plop it all in Panama.
3b. We could stick with the exercise idea, but rather than use foreign forces, focus on a US exercise that takes place in Panama. I can google around to find "real" US exercises that have taken place in Panama, but I can just as easily write a completely fictional exercise as well.
Of all of the ideas, I like 3b the best because it is the easiest to write Any campaign spawns additional questions that we need to address first:
1. What time frame do we want to focus on? This isn't a trivial question. The FF5 DB at least allows for a huge range of timeframe, from about 1967 to present. The late 80's to early 90's is a sweet spot IMO. But we could easily write a campaign as if it took place next month.
2. What version of Falcon do we focus on? Or, alternatively, if I focus on FF5, is there someone willing to coordinate edits to make it compatible for OF/AF?
3. What goal/victory conditions are we looking to use? Is this going to be a ground war campaign?
4. How long should the campaign run? I'd recommend no less than 3 days; no more than 14 days. IMO, 5-7 days is a sweet spot. 5 days at 5 missions a day is a 25 mission campaign. That's about perfect IMO.
5. For the 3b scenario specifically, what Bluefor and Redfor forces would we like? We can make it multi-national, throw some Mirages and Tornados in no problem. Do we want a hodgepodge of forces- F-18 vs. F-18, F-16 vs. Mirage; or do we want something more like Nevada with all aggressors on Redfor? How about SAMs? Do we use US/NATO or Soviet gear?
6. I'd strongly prefer to focus on the air war only for editing. If the campaign "works", I don't see any point in going in and goofing off with the ground forces. This might partially answer question 5...
That's all I can think of right now.
To recap where we are so far, ccc has done some experiments on the campaigns and has found them "winnable". This is good- this is a great foundation from which to start. He also commented that the terrain is well-done. Awesome.
As I mentioned previously, I am totally unfamiliar with this region and potential conflicts that may occur in Panama. Obviously, anything we create will be fictional; which is actually good because it gives us complete latitude to develop whatever we want. I have a handful of ideas.
1. A WW3 scenario (part of the WW3 at PMC grand campaign). It is hard for me to come up with a plausible full-on war scenario where the Soviets could honestly challenge the Canal with anything that translates well to Falcon. If I were the Soviets, I'd park some subs on either side and make life miserable for ships transferring through- which doesn't translate well to a fighter sim. I could probably come up with something if you guys are hot on it though, something like commandos seizing command and control nodes, infantry coming up through friendly South American nations, seizing airfields and closing the Canal. The US, in response, deploys a small CVBG (or perhaps amphib group with Harriers and Marines) along with some Air Force LBA to suppress/recapture the Canal zone. Because of the fighting in Europe, both sides could not commit large forces to the Panama Theater, keeping it limited is scope for us.
2. Ripcord proposed a scenario where Venezuela or some other regional actor makes moves to seize the Canal, or stage a coup in Panama and perhaps install a puppet government that threatens the stability of the Canal zone. This instigates a US response. An alternative to this could be a regional conflict over Panama between Central and South American countries. I don't know enough about the governments of the region to know who would fight with whom, so any believability would be poor without a lot of help. Also, if we pit 3rd parties against each other, you're talking a whole new skin set to take it to the next level. What I mean is that we don't have very many Venezuelan and Honduran skins in the database...
3. My idea, and the one I support, is to just write a military exercise scenario in the Panama region. CRUZEX was mentioned in the other thread. I googled that, and it is a South American exercise that takes place bi-annually down there. I think the one I was looking at was in Brazil. One of the links had a very nice synopsis of the exercise scenario written out, and another had a beautiful air OOB. The planeset would strongly favor FF5, lots of F-5s, Mirages, and such, but I saw a few F-16s in there too so it would work for any version. However, the best version to fly the non-F-16s is FF5.
3a. We could borrow CRUZEX totally and write a CRUZEX scenario; sort of simulate that Panama volutneers to host the CRUZEX and borrom their OOB and scenario and just plop it all in Panama.
3b. We could stick with the exercise idea, but rather than use foreign forces, focus on a US exercise that takes place in Panama. I can google around to find "real" US exercises that have taken place in Panama, but I can just as easily write a completely fictional exercise as well.
Of all of the ideas, I like 3b the best because it is the easiest to write Any campaign spawns additional questions that we need to address first:
1. What time frame do we want to focus on? This isn't a trivial question. The FF5 DB at least allows for a huge range of timeframe, from about 1967 to present. The late 80's to early 90's is a sweet spot IMO. But we could easily write a campaign as if it took place next month.
2. What version of Falcon do we focus on? Or, alternatively, if I focus on FF5, is there someone willing to coordinate edits to make it compatible for OF/AF?
3. What goal/victory conditions are we looking to use? Is this going to be a ground war campaign?
4. How long should the campaign run? I'd recommend no less than 3 days; no more than 14 days. IMO, 5-7 days is a sweet spot. 5 days at 5 missions a day is a 25 mission campaign. That's about perfect IMO.
5. For the 3b scenario specifically, what Bluefor and Redfor forces would we like? We can make it multi-national, throw some Mirages and Tornados in no problem. Do we want a hodgepodge of forces- F-18 vs. F-18, F-16 vs. Mirage; or do we want something more like Nevada with all aggressors on Redfor? How about SAMs? Do we use US/NATO or Soviet gear?
6. I'd strongly prefer to focus on the air war only for editing. If the campaign "works", I don't see any point in going in and goofing off with the ground forces. This might partially answer question 5...
That's all I can think of right now.