A couple more bug reports:
-Still no CAS in any mission
-The third Kolgujev mission has absolutely no counter-battery fire. A debug message appears when it's supposed to happen (sorry, I didn't take it down.)
I also have a few suggestions. I have no idea if you have any plans to further develop the campaign, but in case you do (or have plans for an Arma CE campaign,) I figure I'd offer them.
#1: Recon
A: Sat view
In the old command campaign, the satellite was too easy to abuse because it could be used at any time.
In the new campaign, it is difficult to use effectively. 9 times out of 10, I don't get a chance to get more than one view with it because the moment that it becomes available happens to coincide with the moment there is a missile strike on the HQ or one of my squads is ambushed.
My suggestion would be this:
Make sat view available for 10 minutes at the start of a mission (and only if the mission is a planned offensive. It would be hard to position a satellite in order to view an attack that you don't know is coming.)
This would solve the problem of it only being available at an inopportune time as well as being more realistic. In reality, a battlefield commander could never order a sat launch. He'd only have access to whatever satellite could be diverted over to the location and, unless a geosynchronous orbit was established, would only have access to recon data for the brief time that it was over the target. In reality he would get the info in the planning stage of the mission, but giving the player 10 minutes to look down at the beginning would be a decent simulation of this.
B: OH-58
I think an AI controlled OH-58 should be added to every mission. Several of your briefings suggest using choppers to probe enemy positions at their outskirts--a Kiowa would be ideal for this and would be a realistic addition to the battlefield.
And since it packs very little offensive punch, it would not tip the play balance much.
#2: Units
A: The SEALs are of limited use because they lack AT weapons. I think each squad should get at least one AT gunner. As they are, they're of very limited utility. They can't be used to assault enemy positions because even a BMP can wipe them out, and they're difficult to employ as recon because bumping into a mechanized infantry squad means you probably suffer 90% casualties.
B: In missions where air attack is expected, a small specialized AA squad or two would be a realistic and useful addition. 2-3 soldiers with Stingers would give the players a lot more options, both offensive and defensive.
C: Give the M163s that you have positioned around various friendly targets patrol routes like you give the Shilkas and SA-11s. I've had a couple of instances where my Abrams were wiped out because I thought they were in range of friendly AA, but a hill was blocking line of sight.
D: Mechanized infantry. So far, the player hasn't had any access to it. Yeah, you can load soldiers up into Bradlies, but it isn't quite the same as having a squad permanently attached to an IFV. I'd suggest replacing one of the normal infantry squads in each mission with a mechanized one.
E: Equip the medical squad with a couple of actual medics. This would make frontline treatment more viable since sending the ambulance to the front lines generally results in it being blown up by an RPG/BMP/gunship in about 12 seconds. With some medics, the M113 could stay safe and the medics could be sent to forward areas.
#3: Artillery
A: I have no idea how the counter-battery fire works in the campaign--I haven't had time to look at your scripts.
My suggestion would be to roughly double the time that it takes the enemy to plot its fire mission. The counter battery fire generally starts within 30 seconds of the friendly fire. In reality, it would take longer to locate and plot than that. I've found that I'm very reluctant to use my M109s because I wind up losing one about 50% of the time because they're already under fire by the time they're moving to their next waypoint.
B: If possible, have a marker appear on the map in the approximate location of the enemy battery after it has fired (not exact, because that would be too easy.) The player can already get this info by turning on shell radar and paying close attention to where they originate from, but in reality a battlefield commander would have somebody else figuring that out and would simply be presented with the information.
#4: Air support
I would expand upon what you have in a few ways:
1: Change CAS into a bombing mission. Allow the player to call in an air strike from an imaginary B-52 that will carpet bomb an area.
2: Add an option for actual CAS: Enable the player to call in an A-10 that will stay on station for 10 minutes or so to cover friendly movements. Limit its mobility to a fixed radius around the aimpoint.
3: Add an option for an A-10 SEAD mission. If the player has the location of enemy AAA, a SEAD strike could be requested upon it (or an area.) The effective radius for this should be kept fairly small and the strike should only target AAA threats. The easiest way to balance things would be to have it move in and move out within 60 seconds if no AAA is found.
4: Attach a flare script to the aircraft (both friendly and enemy.) A couple can be tweaked for effectiveness. It should not be 100% effective, but it's almost unrealistically hard to employ gunships at the moment.
5: Increase the enemy air presence. The Soviets should get some CAS as well. That would make for some very interesting armored battles. A Su-25 appearing on station could very well change the tide of a mission if the player hasn't positioned his air defenses properly.
6: Use Hawk's C-130 instead.
http://ofp.gamepark.cz/index.php?showthis=8746
Keep in mind that those are just suggestions. I've had a lot of fun playing the campaign so far. This is just basically a list of "wouldn't it be cool if..." thoughts I've had while playing and I certainly don't expect you to implement them all.
Believe me, as somebody that has done a lot of modding, I know that a few of them would be major undertakings.
I just thought I'd shoot you some ideas.
I'd be happy to beta test any bugfixes/features you add to this campaign, though.
I'm actually about to start over because I used all of my cruise missiles. Not having those airstrikes has made me rely too much on them to take out AAA.
