Russian Assault campaign for FF4

[DoctorX]

So, without any fanfare... here's a new campaign for FreeFalcon4 (if anyone is still flying FF4)-

http://rapidshare.com/files/308144641/F ... ssault.zip (~45MB)

NOTE: This campaign will NOT work with FreeFalcon 5!!!

There's no installer, but the installation is straightforward. Just read the readme included with the download.

I finished this one a while ago but never got around to releasing it. It was essentially a testbed for some ideas and theories I was playing around with, and it evolved into a pretty involved campaign. Here's the sitrep:

THE SITUATION THUS FAR...

In a bold expansionary assault, Russia has launched an
invasion of North Korea. The DPRK finds itself caught off
guard and completely unprepared for an attack from the north,
and scrambles to divert its military to counter the unexpected
threat. Facing little resistance, Russia easily pushes well
south into the DPRK, capturing much of the northeast corridor
by the time the North Korean military is able to muster
their defenses.

Fearing the assault will threaten their interests in an
already unstable region, the U.S. and South Korean militaries
form a coalition with the intent to contain the Russian
expansion. Led by U.S. ground and air forces, the Combined
Forces launch their own invasion of North Korea.

With the DPRK distracted by the Russian invasion, the Combined
Forces take advantage of North Korea’s DMZ defenses being
weakened by the diversion of resources to the north.
Coalition forces break through in the east, pushing into
North Korea and capturing territory as far north as Wonsan.

Now facing a war on two fronts, the DPRK quickly loses
territory and finds itself holed up in the west. North Korean
forces pull back, setting up a new defensive front and vowing
not to let P'yongyang fall. Pleas for support go unanswered
by China, who has publicly vowed to remain neutral in the
conflict.

With the Combined Forces controlling much of the east coast
and Russia continuing to march down the northeast corridor,
both assault forces have their eyes on P'yongyang. The
situation has become dire for the DPRK, and North Korea seems
bound to fall. The only question left is who will be the one
to take control of it.

As of yet, neither the CIS nor the Combined Forces have
announced any intention of direct hostilities against each
other. However, although they share a common enemy, their
agendas are at direct odds to one another. With the CIS
pushing south and the Combined Forces continuing to advance
further north, what will happen when these two worlds
inevitably collide is yet to be determined.

The fate of Korea hangs in the balance...

Essentially, it's a bit of a 3-way war... US/ROK alliance is at war with Russia, Russia is at war with the DPRK, and the DPRK-ROK of course are hostile to one another. (oh yeah, then there's the PRC...)
Mainly, the goal was to increase Russia's role as a blue-side adversary in the Korean theater.


Some of the under-the-hood features include:

- Stalled campaign prevention - If the campaign reaches a deadlock, an initiative bias will be randomly given to one of the teams to pick the action back up.

- Major objectives for teams dictated by campaign events - Prevents teams from wasting time on non-vital objectives. Once they capture a major objective, they are specifically tasked to the next logical objective.

- Naval units now play a major role in air defense - both at the coastline and in major shipping channels.

- Shorter repair times for airbases and bridges - Mimics real-world practices of distressed airfield ops and pontoon bridges. Should help keep the ground war moving and prevent empty Red-side skies.

- PAK outlines and country borders are now visible on the main campaign map.

- Kneemap now has ALL airbases, airfields, highway strips, etc. along with their TACAN. Also darkened the roads a bit (comes in handy during SAD missions).


Victory conditions (both Red and Blue sides)-
- Capture and/or hold Seoul, Choongwon, Wonsan, P'yongyang, and Ch'aryon'gwan (where?!?... It's in upper northwest DPRK territory, near the Chinese border)


Notes-

- Again, this campaign only works with FreeFalcon4/RV1.

- Expect a looong war. The blue side essentially has to completely overrun the whole of North Korea to win.

- The campaign is complete and tested, but I never actually finished playing it the whole way through (got sidetracked with another campaign I am developing), so I can't guarantee all of the triggers will work, or that the war is even winnable in the timeframe alotted. I can guarantee you that I put a lot of time and thought and effort and error checking into it, but sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men...

- I made custom movies for the campaign events. Haven't tried them on any other system other than my own, and Falcon movies require very obscure codecs to play and to make, so they may or may not work on your system.


Have fun. Hope you like it.

Blue skies-
-DRX

[ccc]

GREAT - I'll get it ASAP!

my test report will take a while.. seems like a looonger campaign

Ch'aryon'gwan (where?!?... It's in upper northwest DPRK territory, near the Chinese border)

Ch'ar-yon gwan, gwan = border check point , or a guarded gate. Cool to set this far north obj for winning conditoin..it takes a looooooong way to capture it! BUT- it's not the farest..last time i ordered a blue armour unit moving north to capture Shenyang(china)! it stalled and was neurtalized, just few miles to Shenyang.

[molnibalage]

- Shorter repair times for airbases and bridges

How could you set this?

[DoctorX]

- Shorter repair times for airbases and bridges

How could you set this?

First, I changed the ObjectiveRepairInterval setting in Falcon4.aii from 120 to 20. This actually shortens the repair time for all objectives but since bridges and runways get repaired at a way faster rate than any other objective it is only noticable for them.

The rest of the changes were made in the DB:

- For runway features, I raised the Hit Point values for runway features from 600 to 1400, and changed the damage percentage from anti-runway bombs from 200% to 100%, and damage percentage from penetrator bombs from 50% to 100%. This way it takes a pair of 2000lb penetrators or 4 anti-runway bombs per section of runway to "just barely" destroy it. This prevents "over-killing" the runway which allows it to be repaired quicker.

- For all bridge features I lowered repair time to 1 (same as runway features). For bridge, bridge span, and bridge ramp features I increased the Hit Point values to 800 and for bridge tower features Hit Point values were set to 1000. The reasoning for this was same as the runway features, to have a standard ordinace load that "should" destroy the feature actually distroy it, but mathematically "just barely" destroy it.

[ccc]

Impressions from first 2-3 campaign hours..

- install process ok. cool art edits on theater tga, background 2d map, etc. i like the style, it helps a lot.

- hmm.. movies not played. should check the linking..? BTW i've checked them with window movie player..aha..

- once i started the campaign, it said CIS allied with DPRK - immediately! i supposed DPRK would fighting alone(against CIS and US/ROK) for few days then cooperate with CIS. now the TWO-front war means US/ROK facing TWO fronts.

- lots naval units, lots air combat activities. the ground war is not that noticable yet.. only few blue units invading CIS-controlled land. few DPRK units moving south.. acutally the ground war is not that hot at this moment.

- i found there's a C-2 unit on East coast carrier .. the unit has sixteen C-2 !! i noted it do generated air lift missions.

- at first glance i found there're many F16CG units, no CJ/ HARM-capable unit? that's ok.. i highjacked CG/load with CBU or JSOW and wiped out several SAM sites at West front.. open a clean corridor for striking P'yongyang.

- Allied force has strong air superiority at West front/DPRK. So far the opponents are poor mig16/21/23, su17/IL28. In contrast, Allied force facing stronger air challenge from CIS- mig29SD/Mig31/Su33/Tu160 at East front.. it seems a blue AFB near Wonson has been neutralized.. Blue ran short of AA fighter/AAM to stop red strikers. If China do not enter the war, i expect Blue can reach P'yongyang easily.. however i notice there're MANY CIS ground units stationed at occupied DPRK land.. their maneuvor may slow or stop Blue advance.

- A-10 units generates suiccidal OCA mission(to P'yongyang) since the war began.

- since the DB has been edited, i "feel" the killing power or F-16 20mm vulcan gun is reduced? or some Red ac can take more damage? i've not check DB with F4browse yet. my in-game fighting shows it takes more shots to down mig23 and mig19.

- lots blue air operation.. lots SAM trails. when i about to drop CBU on a SAM site..BOOM! some flight just take it out first i witnessed it happened for twice.. means everybody is working hard on SEAD/DEAD.

- no CTD.

Summary: West front is easier(before China entering the war), focus is SAM, not ac. East front is tougher to defend( fewer AFB and ac), focus is superior CIS ac.

[molnibalage]

once i started the campaign, it said CIS allied with DPRK - immediately!

Slider positions? Because likely you can set as force ratio that data in tri file push into war immediately to war.

[DoctorX]

No, Russia does ally w/ DPRK at the very start of the campaign. Ideally I would have had it occur a few hours into it but there is no way to do that and still have the two teams remain independant.

[ccc]

- Before Day 1 1200, blue side almost cleared the airspace - minimal red air activities noted. blue AF wiped out most medium-long range SAM at DPRK.

- many DPRK infantry units moving south, i highjacked some F16CG and neutralized waves of attacks.

- CIS airdefence at Hamhung area is tougher than expected..SA11/15/19 are dangerous. i need SEAD ac badly, but HARM-capable ac, like F16CJ and F-18s, are placed at far distance bases. those sq ATO generated limited SEAD sorties. AI ac is much more capable than me - they can fly thru those SAM coverage and do the job.. with fewer ac loss.

- lots ac are tasked for antiship missions! i noted F16CG were tasked for anti-ship too.. yeah when human pilot flying CG for DPRK navy, it's ok. but some f16CG flights were tasked to fight CIS fleet..= suicidal missions.

- A10 are tasked for long range OCA missions. well.. sounds like suicidal but, AI can always finish the job at the cost of one single loss. btw FAC and on-call CAS sorties have no store loaded.(old bug)

- Blue ground op started major offensive on Day1 2100.. but no visible maneuvor noted. the ground status then turned into conosolidation for hours, then lanuched another major offensive on Day 2 1100. This time few armour units moved..subtly. honeslty i did not see any large-scale offensive maneuvor yet. meanwhile, JTDS screen showed several DPRK and CIS red dots moving fast to the border lines.

- i noted U-2 flight over CIS-controlled area ! and it returned to jpn base safely thanks God [AI pilots] disabled all red AFBs there.

[ccc]

- on Day 2 1600 news flash showed blue ground unit captured one Airstrip, one bridge and one obj at right lower corner of DPRK. in noted few armour units started moving toward Toksan, tho at slow pace.

- a large group of DPRK infantry units noted between Toksan and p'yongyang, moving east. ATO did not generate any BAI flights as red units are far from contact.. so i highjacked some f16CG DCA flights to neurtalize them. DPRK seems maneuvoring her army toward east front-Wonson. the south front was quite peaceful for hours.

- CIS rushed to reinforce Hamhung area with several infantry units, T90 tank units, and BM30 rocket artillery units! Great i first notice BM30 added in a campaign Again i highjacked F16CG to stop them.. this time CIS units were closer enough to blue ground units, so it called up an ATO code sequence - several A10 BAI flights are scheduled immediately and wiped out this wave of reinforcement.

- so far the sky is clean. only sporadic air kills, targets are DPRK OH-6 and CIS KA-50 .

- SA-3 SAM, it seems there're some optic-guided SA-3 mixed in the battery. i've not checked DB with F4browse yet.. when i do regular DEAD, i noticed one remaining SA-3 launcher shooting at me without a nearby Low blow radar.

- ground major offensive started on Day 2 1100, minimal advance noted, but blue started to capture some obj. The quantity of DPRK ground force downed to 2000+, CIS downed to 2500-3000. The sum of both is about equal to Blue side.

[ccc]

more..

- Blue side tighly hold the air superiority. So i kept highjacking DCA/BARCAP ac to clean airdefence units and approaching red ground units.
Before Day 4 1200, i've wiped out all DPRK AD units south of Sunchon AFB.. P'yongyang area was cleared too. i noted some red reinforcement showed as AD units.

- Red SAM units, SA-2 and SA-3 have mixed radar-guided and optic-guided missiles. cool to watch optic-guide SAM trails flying by.

- i seldom flied anti-ship missions..all left to AI pilots. now DPRK navy almost downed to zero, and CIS remained 100+ vessels.

- CIS tried to hold Hamhung area, several waves of reinforcement were sent but neutralized. hmm.. i frequently noticed KA50 operating there.. maybe from some nearby army bases?

- Blue army moved forward. The farest one moved from Wonson toward west, now 30nm east of Suncheon AFB. it encountered waves of DPRK infantry, armour, and mechanized units.. i assumed it would go southwest to take P'yongyang. Another group tried to take Koksan AFB area from NE appraoch but stopped.. well Koksan terrain is better approached from south, not NE - it has to climb a hill.

- at south DPRK-ROK border, Blue units started to move north.. tho at very slow pace. i don't know why they move so slow..to pass dangerous DMZ mine area? anyway blue units did not form a bulk of advancing group in this area.

- summary.. well, it's quite peaceful i just highjacked flights to nail AD units.. or S & D remaining Red units before A10 got their job.

[ccc]

- From Day 4-6, campaign AI launched several rounds of major offensive to P'yongyang. Since i've maneuvored a ground unit thru P'yongyang city from south to north, and took East P'yongyang obj only (on purpose), the remaining obj to capture is P'yongyang obj.

-To capture p'yongyang, few blue units started moving toward it, crossing east, southeast and northeast border of DPRK-ROK. i found the southern border had minimal ground offensive activities. In contrast to default f4 korea campaigns, i noted armour or mechanized units did not act as spearhead.. they moved to some obj, then stayed/secured there.. just refused to advance. i have 5 tank units at 20nm east of Sunchon AFB, and 3 tank units 5nm north of Koksan, all stanstill. However..Infantry units becomed the spearhead force! Five infantry units took lead, running in a "Right hook" route- from Wonson border to west, then south thru Sunchon AFB, and entered P'yongyang from north.. looks like the famous "Left hook" in 1991 ODS? well i bet it's due to the failure of south/SE offensive, because blue units at those directions are far from p'yongyang. Blue infantry units captured P'yongyang city on Day 5 1700.. all by campaign AI itself.

- After P'yongyang fell, few more ground movement noted..i think AI tried to gather more units near p'yongyang, for next stage of offensive.. BUT, regretfully no armour or mechanized units moved close to P'yongyang. However, again few more infantry units reached Sunchon AFB/junction..well, maybe i wiped out DPRK armour units too early, AI don't think i need them.

- When blue capturing P'yongyang and preparing for further north, a big group of DPRK infantry units rushed south to defend P'yongyang..interesting, there're two parallel south-north routes to P'yongyang, AI chose the one near coast, safer one, to avoid hot contact at Sunchon AFB. They moved really fast.. even tho, AI A10 and my highjacked F16CG neutralized them..

- Apart from watch AI ground maneuvoring at 16x compression, i kept wiping out remaining AD units.. meanwhile i noted some DPRK/CIS AFB resuming operational. Keep doing OCA at south/SW DPRK AFB is a waste of war resources, so i ordered a mechanized unit to capture DPRK AFBs.. it took me a while to capture all major DPRK AFBs south of P'yongyang.. the only exception is Onchon AFB, too far to reach.

- As i kept making south DPRK even more "peaceful", the inevitable event happened - China allied with DPRK and joined the war on Day 6 2330! At the same time, CIS groups of mechanized reinforcement arrived at Hamhung area. I noted the campaign friend-foe relationship became.. [China+DPRK] vs [ROK+US], and [CIS] vs [ROK+US]. No fighting between [china-DPRK] and CIS, [ROK-US] has to fight against two fronts- NE hamhung area against CIS, north and NW front against china-DPRK. err.. 2d map started showing incoming J-11

- Ch'aryon'qawn, the last ob to win for Blue side, is located at NW DPRK-China border along coast, the last stop to china. i think my blue forces can secure the rest two key obj, Wonson and P'yongyang but..Ch'aryon'qawn is a bit too far..the ground posture once changed its op focus to Ch'aryon'qwan, briefly, then changed back to P'yongyang. maybe the AI think it should wait till more blue units arriving at P'yongyang area, then launch next stage of offensive. Recon showed China ground units started crosing border to Ch'aryon'qwan..dunno if China will launch another attack routes from mountaneous China-DPRK north border. My prevous "ground unit maneuvoring" experience shows there're only one or two routes allowing fast ground movement..the snow-capped hills at north border is too tough for any troops..so, most China ground units probably enter DPRK via Ch'aryon'qwan.. hehe..few suiccidal bridge-busting missions should be able block the advance of china troops?

- Compared to china ground forces which about 12-24 hours to contact, the hair-burning challenge is incoming PLA fighters/bombers, thanx God blue side has F22 maybe a second US carrier reinforcement into yellow sea?

[ccc]

- overwhelming and bloody Day 7 over DPRK airspace. all blue ac fight ing hard against PRC and CIS fighters/bombers. Even DPRK resumed some air activities. Few red ac penetrated our CAPs and did damage to ground targets.. one bridge at south P'yongyang was destroyed.. but thanx to repair time tweak, it was repaired rather quickly. i've to say.. all AG missions were choked by massive red air activities..many AG flights were intercepted/aborted by Red ac.. big loss in A10 fleet. BTW A10 still being tasked for long distance suiccidal OCA misisons... better zero the OCA mission role score.

- PRC ground forces arrived much earlier than expect! Four to five mechanized brigades reached shinuju pak in 7 hours! The Red AI tried to take back P'yongyang from three directions.. the left route running down south thru sunan AFB, to west entrance of P'yongyang. the middle route down south thru Sunchon AFB, to north entrance. and the massive heavily-armed tank brigades took a "hook" route, running overshoot to east, entering the moutaneous basin area, then turning backward SW to join middle route force, or assult P'yongyang from the east. Once blue overflying ac exposed Red offensive tactics..i set up my counter plan immediately..at middel route, i've 4-5 poor infantry units guarding sunchon AFB, should be able to hold the position for a while. At right route( the tank hook fist), luckily i've 4-5 M1A2 units guarding the only exit route from that moutaneous basin, should be able to secure there by steel clash. and the most dangerous one is left route thru sunan AFB.. no blue unit there at all - only one infantry unit at West enterance of P'yongyang! the left route advancing so fast, i found it's too late to wait F16CG/A10 BAI or do the BAI myself.. i decided to handle it in 2d map..order a tired mechanized M2 unit moving north out of P'yongyang, taking Sunan AFB, and hot contact Red units directly. My plan works.. Red advance halted at left and middle routes, then finally A10 arrived at contact points.. now Red AI regrouped remaining middle and left route forces, all rushed into the hook fist route..great! it just like shooting fish in the barrel, all red units were in the basin surrounded by moutains, trying to penetrate the small exit route at SW of basin, where 4-5 M1A2 units stationed. I happily join some A10/F16CG flight to that area..wow joint air-land attack..all M1A2 spreading out and advancing, i dropping CBU and shooting Maverick, M1 taking out remaining enemies..it was just few minutes.. and everything resumed peaceful. While doing tank hunting, my F16CG flight were interrupted by J11 and J10, most downed by amraam and one remaining J10 entered knifefight with me.. scine i've dropped bombs and became lighter, i gun kill it after two verteical loops. I think this part is probably the climax of this campaign.

- when i tackling with PRC, CIS got waves of reinforcement at Hamhung area, some with elite T80/90 tanks. well, since it's not area of interest, i left all job to AI - no problem, all reinforcement neutralized. hmm... it means the impact of CIS/ Russain assult is toooo small.. not that scale of cold war.

- After the battle in Shinuju PAK, everything stablized again. blue took back air superiority, sunk all PRC ships and disabled most hostile AFBs.. no more incoming red ground units noted. i had nothing to do, so i started highjacking ac to wipe out remaining Airdefence units west of Shinuju pak, to clear the route for capturing Ch'aryon'qwan.

- After i wiped out all remaining AD units, i can not resist order a M2A3 unit to move.. Blue did not take offensive to Ch'aryon'qwan for quite a while, tho some armoured units arrived at p'yongyang to strengthen its defence..so far no unit moving further north/NW. i drove the single mechanized unit toward Ch'aryon'qwan, no resistance at all.. i captured two AFBs, three airstrips along the route. As i appraoching Ch'aryon'qwan, hey there're Four infantry units guarding the obj! Luckily i picked the less-resistant route(costal route), so my unit only got hot contact with two infantry units..Great job soldiers! i captured Ch'aryon'qwan and won on Day 8 1350! Alright alright, i admit i speed up the process by active intervention of ground operation.. so i saved the campaign before M2 unit capturing Ch'aryon'qwan.. I'll run this saved cam and leave AI do the ground offensive.. to see if AI can win the war by itself.

[ccc]

PS :
- When PRC joined the war, i found some DPRK or PRC reinforcement showed up in north, middle DPRK moutaineous area/near some underground facilities. They were tank or mechanized brigades..but they could not go anywhere - just trapped in moutains even so, i highjacked A10 to wipe them out.

- there're many PRC ground units in china territories, spreading along china-DPRK border.. yet they did not move in bulks into DPRK.. just static. Only three or four PRC infantry units crossed border into north DPRK, moving southeast toward Hamhung area.. the snow-capped hills made them move slowly.. not to mention tanks... I don't rememeber there's a working route that allow massive troop movement, so i doubt those PRC infantry units can reach front line.

- my favorite trick to win is ordering a mechanized unit to capture obj. Giving order repeatedly every 5 campaign min at 16x time compression, i first drive the unit to capture ac squadron stationed AFB/airstrips and helicopter-stationed army base obj.. the more you capture, the less red air activities This move free more blue air power to counter enemy ac or strike land targets. During this campaign, i noted.. when PRC entered war, many red An-24 transporters landed at blue-occupied DPRK AFBs..did they try to take back AFBs? o. surely they can do nothing! i remembered DoctorX use [airmobile edit trick] to airdrop red ground units to capture obj in other campaigns, but it won't work in this case.. Or, An-24 just sent supply to occupied blue AFBs?

- summary : With default force slider settings, the PRC and CIS impact/offenisve were too weak.. I should have witnessed flow of steel flooding north DPRK- then fierce fighting around P'yongyang and Wonson - maybe Seoul !

[ccc]

Test continued from Day 8, i stopped moving gound units to capture Ch'aryon'gwan, just let campaign AI do the job.. see if AI can win by itself..

- the red force/activities at NW DPRK was minimal during Day 8-10. Ground op status swifted between major offensive and consolidation perioidically, ground op target sifted between Ch'aryon'gwan and P'yongyang. Even so, i did not notice any significant, massive blue ground force maneuvoring. To my surprise, the only ones tried to reach front line were FOUR infantry units - started from far far Wonson-DPRK border, moving slowly toward west, tried to reach Sinanju PAK/Puk'chan-up AFB. Yes, the four units got order from AI and moved steadily..and slowly.. damn soldiers were all tired/exhausted and finally they arrived at an obj north of Puk'chan-up! I really wonder why AI did not order nearyby fast-moving mechanized or tank units to front line, but bare foot units instead... maybe some DB edits change the combat power of ground units and make AI think infantry unit is stronger than mechanized/tank unit? it acted just different from old default korea campaigns, which mechanized/tank units advancing first, followed by infantry. In this test from Day1-7, i also noticed mechanized/tank units favored to guard/secure/defend, and infantry units moved like spearhead...like the case of capturing p'yongyang.

Another example is, from 2d map, i saw many [mechanized/tank units] stayed at south, SE, and east DPRK-ROK border since Day 1.. some did moved into DPRK for a short distance, or just crossed the border.

- On Day 10, P'yongyang city was guarded by infantry units(north, east and west) and tank units(south). North Puk'chan-up to Anju secured by four infantry units. DPRK launched another wave of assult - six infantry battlions as a group rushing toward Sinanju PAK. As usual they were all neutralized by A10/F18.. then everything chilled down again.

[ccc]

- Ran campaign to Day 15. It seems all sides lost their drive or resources to move forward.. only sparse air combat noted.. minimal.

- All ground units were static, the ground op focus shifted between consolidation and major offensive to P'yongyang.. but P'yongyang already guarded by 10 more blue units! The regretfuly part is, once Ground major offensive aimed at Ch'aryon'qwan briefly, then all offensive aimed at already-captured p'yongyang in the following days.

Tho Ch'aryon'qwan obj is set to priority 95, the highest one in Ch'aryon'qwan PAK, it did not draw the attention of blue units.. since it's the farest obj, maybe reduce the priority value of P'yongyang, and make Ch'aryon'qwan the highest one. My last test on Kurile theater showed, if you want offensive units moving to capture the obj at the very end of a route, that obj should have highest priority value.

[ccc]

Start a NEW campaign for quick test- if i don't touch force/priority sliders, don't manipulate ground operation, can AI lead Blue to win?

- ran the campaign at 16x, to day 4... DPRK and CIS controlled the sky, most Blue AFBs downed. the only US carrier sunk, lost all carrier wings. During the campaign time, i just flew some pure AA missions to help stopping bombers/attackers and some fighters.

- CIS/DPRK ground forces made progress at west and east coast. on Day 3 1530, DPRK/CIS captured Wonson.

- Blue side status is bleak.. it seems the end is irreversible..loser.

[ccc]

- DPRK approached Seoul on Day 4 night, then captured Seoul on Day 5. i still noted the same behavior in last test : infantry units act as spearhead mechanized units, always take the lead. mechanized/tank units always follow behind them, act like infantry. probably DB issue.

- So far campaign AI itself shows RED side can capture Wonson and Seoul.. no problem. Now comes the last obj to win, Choongwon. Like Ch'aryon'qwan, the last obj is a big challenge to campaign AI.. can AI order ground units to capture it and end the war? hmmm.. the offensive appeared slow down after Seoul fall..

[ccc]

- Day 5-6, more than 30 RED battalions arrived to secure Seoul.. the remaining 5-6 blue infantry units were retreating to west coast. Surprisingly DPRK/CIS ground forces still kept offensive momentum..the offensive launched in three north-south ways: the west route ran thru Seoul to Suwon, the middle route aimed at Choongwon, and the east route ran along east coast. The east route force made good progress and started turning toward inland, like a hook. The west route encountered more resistance and blue air raid since most remaining blue AFB located at this area..even so CIS/DPRK battalions kept moving and captured AFBs/airstrips - thus disabled few A10/F16 bases forever! And the middle route, Red army was just 10+nm to Choongwon..then turned away to east or west randomly. I did not touched the AI-controlled ground op, just checked how AI maneuvor the battalions.. i found that.. apart from three main attack routes( north-south), AI also ordered battalions to move east-west, to establish horizontal connections/open roads between three N-S attack routes, then three attack forces started supporting each other freely. ATM i noticed AI slowed down the advance in east and west routes, gathered more battalions to middle route.. it appears AI want to take Choongwon from north, west, and east..

- some thoughts about blue fighters.. in 2d map, the aim120-armed ac did not show their killing power.. the kill score/exchange rate seems lower than expected.. many outdated red ac can survive. Besides, the stupid, AI limitation causes big ac loss in the face of overwhelming red ac.. Blue ac AI is set to shoot aim120 first, when aim120 out, keep move close for sidwinder shot..in this case, following overwhelming Red ac took out poorly-armed F22/14/15/16, and finally downed all blue sq to minimal ac.

- once i joined a sweep flight of mig31, two F22 fired salvos of aim120 and downed three mig31 wingmen. i came to rescue and fire some AA9, F22s evaded my aa9 and rushed toward me at full AB.. they probably had no aim120 left to shoot back, i switched to AA11.. wow my AA11 can not lock head-on F22 at WVR! Luckily two flankers joined the fight and made F22 turning, so i got the AA11 lock on F22 tail( AB on), downed on F22! Appearantly.. sometimes quantity is a good method to counter hi-tech stealthey ac.

- Another interesting flying was "shooting warthog". Waves of A10 kept hitting Red units in Seoul, so i jumped in mig29 to disrupt their missions.. As one single AA11 can not down A10, i got close for gunkill. During the fight, A10 kept doing sharp turns, made me overshooting for times..well, once you got the tempo, you can toast them easily. Besides i noted the gun ammo store for mig29 has been edited to 150, means one click one round..hehe this edit makes trigger happy..i can pull longer snapshot. i downed five A10s with gun in the end.

- flynig a fully-armed Su27 to intercept a single un-escorted B52 could be a shame but.. i fired two rounds of AA10A at WVR.. all missed! it took two AA11 to down the buff.

[ccc]

[ccc]

- CIS/DPRK WINS.. The pic above shows Red units captured Choongwon and ended the war on Day 7 2210.. great job Without active human involvement, the campaign AI wins the war by iteself.. i just flew some AA and minimal CAS missions during the test.

-The pic also shows that three advancing groups (N-S ways ) truned into a horizontal (E-W) line of contact, crossing Cheonju-Choongwon-Samchok PAK. the pic only shows CIS ground units, there're more DPRK units along this line of contact. During the last stage of war, East route forces almost reached Pohang PAK, middle route forces encountered 4-5 Blue infantry units defending Choongwon, and West route forces had tough fight with more blue units. It seems Blue AI takes more active defensive menuvor in last stage of war..Blue AI sent most remaining units to defend Cheonju pak, made red units turning toward middle route. AI also moved blue units that defending East route red army to help Choongwon.. the re-deployment did surprise me as i assumed Choongwon was an easy target..it took additional 12 more hours and several waves of attack to capture Choongwon. When reviewing the second test in JSTAR window..you can see CIS/DPRK red dots flooding korea pennisula.. very impressive. Checking ground units in 2d map by joining CIS or DPRK team, i noted both team had the same gound op goal, aiming at Choongwon. Ground op status shifting between major offensive and consolidation.. and major offensive seems last longer..sometimes both teams were on major offensive..i saw ground units menuvoring, all over the 2d map.

- Once i considered editing TRI victory condtion, replacing Choongwon to Pusan/ SE tip of korea pennisula, which may extend the war to 15+ days.. or become unable to win due to loss of offensive momentum.. it seems all units are exhausted and far outside the red air cover.

- Bug: Su25 flight aborted or loss due to overweighted loadout. Su25 taking off from Hamhung area to support Choongwon were automatically loaded with two 440l drop tanks, plus weapon store. i noted all such flights were loadout overweighted.. some aborted, some loss during taking off, and few got airborne. i've to unload one or two store to ensure every flight working. hmm.. appearantly Su-25 has reached its max operational range in this case.. if no sq re-deployment, it won't be able to support the CAS to Pusan.

Summary: YES , from RED point of view, Red side can win without active human intervension. OTOH, Blue side can not win even with active human intervension ( check my first round of test).. i actively wiped out red ground units, but Blue units refused to move.. unable to capture the last obj-Ch'aryon'qwan .

PS- infantry unit still act as spearhead, the one finally capture Choongwon is infantry unit, not mechanized/tank unit.