
Divided Ground ORBAT Changes -- August 6, 2001

These files represent my rework of the platoon data for the 1973 OOBs only. For the earlier oobs, I merely corrected obvious errors. These changes should not affect any of the exiting scenarios (aside from changed firepower values, etc. I deleted no existing platoons. The SP changes will not affect the scenarios. If the scenario calls for a 6-vehicle platoon, and these platoon files have changed it to 3, the scenario will still have 6 (although you can't increase a unit beyond its SP value in the scenario editor, the scenario uses whatever value is given in the .scn file). I have also included some re-worked 1973 scenarios using the new OOBs, however (and gave the Egyptians in the granit scenario a morale of 4 rather than 1).

A note on the scenarios. They work, but I can't say anything about the play balance. I didn't change the VPs or objective values. Also, although I included a modified .org file, the unit types in the scenario may not match the unit types in the .org file. I tried to keep track, but some changes may have slipped past. What this means is that if you edit these scenarios, you may get unexpected unit types because I frequently changed the unit type in the scenario but not in the .org file.

Make sure you install the latest patch before unzipping these files. They are compatible with the DG patch issued August 16th, 2001.

Just unzip these files into your DG folder, overwriting any files already there. After you unzip them, create a folder called "pictures" off of your DG folder and unzip the "pictures.zip file into this folder. The program looks for pictures in this directory first, before going to the CD, so these pictures will appear when you press F2.

Note, btw, that I sorted the weapons.pdt file to make it easier to read, and sorted each nationality's platoon data by year for the same reason (I put all the aircraft at the end). I did not sort the weapons file by hand, so don't feel sorry for me ;-). It takes about 5 minutes in Word.


General:
Changed the hard attack strength of all AA missiles to 0. Aircraft have a soft defense, so this value wasn't used against aircraft. It could, however, be used quite effectively against tanks, which is absurd. These weapons should really be a new class that can fire only against aircraft.

Fixed the transport helicopters so that they can carry mortars and RRs. They were set up as "tank riders", which meant they could carry double the infantry SPs, but no weapons. The Syrian commando unit, for example, couldn't carry its RATG guns! I also changed all SP values to 3 from 6 (4 for the Israelis), although I added a 6 SP helicopter platoon in case they are needed.

Added pictures to cover the new units, and corrected a bunch of the existing pictures, which had size and transparency problems (not to mention just being wrong). I also edited the unittxt file to cover all the units, and corrected entries for things like the Sagger and TOW.

In most cases, I added various permutations of light trucks and APCs. For example, the Israelis have 6, 4, and 3 SP light truck units. This was done mainly so that I could assign the right number of trucks to the job. This really doesn't matter much, but I prefer to see a white number in the unit display for an intact unit -- yellow numbers always worry me ;-). This may cause problems with later platoon files from other sources if you design scenarios using the oobs here (the revised scenarios, for example, must use the new platoon oobs. This applies to any new unit you add. Just be aware of this when you design scenarios -- as long as you keep these files, you're OK. But as I said before, all existing scenarios will continue to work because no units have been deleted.

The company and higher oobs are not 100%, but they are better than what was originally issued. I basically used a Soviet model for the Egyptians, Syrians, and Iraqis and a British model for the Jordanians. The Israeli oob was a little better documented.

I made most of the gun/howitzer platoons 6 tubes. I'm pretty sure that's correct for most of the Arab artillery. 18 tubes in a battalion, 54 in a brigade. I'm aalso pretty sure that the Israelis had 6-tube batteries, at least in the 105-155mm range.


Israelis:
The basic vehicle platoon in the Israeli army was 3 vehicles. I changed almost all the vehicle platoons to 3. I changed most of the carrier platoons to 4, as the mech platoon had an HQ vehicle. This also allowed me to set the SPs of the mechanized infantry to 4 as well (4 is close to 6 then 3!). I added a 6-vehicle M3 platoon to carry the Militia platoon and rifle platoon, if necessary. The standard Rifle platoon remains 6 SPs, must be transported by truck or M3s.

The mech inf platoon has an increased defense of 8, representing the fact that each SP has to represent more than the standard 6-man step. Since a platoon is around 30 - 36 men, each SP now represents around 7-9 men. Each APC could carry more than 6 men, but adding more APC would increase the combat strength of the platoon too much (especially when you get to the Arab BMPs). I also added an "Armored Engineers" unit of 4 SPs to travel in the APCs.

Increased the defense strength of the M113 to 4 from 2. 2 is the defense strength of the M3/M2, and the M113 was better (it has armor ratings of 5-3-3). Besides, that was the rating of the Jordanian M113.

Added a Cobra and Jeep/Cobra unit. I have no hard information on the use of these ATGMs by the Israelis, but I think they had 'em. The unit only has a range of 7 (1.6km), as it is supposed to represent the 1st generation unit.

Changed the "Dismounted AT Missile" unit to a 2 SP TOW missile unit. There was already a TOW unit, and now there are two of them. This prevents the new platoon file from interfering with existing scenarios. The "Dismounted AT Missile," both here and in the Arab armies, was a garbage unit, representing nothing. The unittxt file entry and the picture accompanying these units are just wrong (the TOW was *not* shoulder-launched!). The picture for the TOW unit actually shows a Soviet AT-4, not a TOW. I have included good pictures with this update. I also increased the fire cost so that the unit can't fire twice per turn. The units were rather cumbersome (especially the TOW), and had a slower (if effective) ROF.


Arabs (not Jordan)
Changed almost all vehicle platoons to 3. I added some 4-vehicle tank platoons for the Tank battalions in Mech Inf. units. I changed the Egyptian "BMP Section" unit to "Armored Infantry," and created corresponding units for the Syrians and the Iraqis. Each SP in one of these units represents more than 6 men (from 9-10), so I upped the firepower and increased the defense strength to 9. This gives these smaller units more fire power and more staying power for their SP size. I also added Armored Engineers to all three armies.

Changed the Assault values of all Flame-thrower tanks to 14 from 7 and changed their unit type values so that they are doubled against bunkers. This puts them in line with flamethrower tanks in other games.

Changed the Dismounted AT missiles. The Arabs used only the AT-3. Basically, I changed all the Arab dismounted AT missile definitions to the AT-3. You will note that the AT-3 Sagger appears three times in the Egyptian platoon file -- I didn't want to delete a platoon entirely because it might cause problems with the scenarios. All AT-3 units have an SP strength of 2. I also increased the fire cost so that the unit can't fire twice per turn. I changed the hard attack strength of the Sagger units at ranges 1 and 2 to 12/6 from 0/0. These units had RPG-7s and SPG-9s to cover the minimum distance of the AT-3. I wanted these units to be the "tank hunters" they were, and not allow tanks to get within their minimum range.

Changed the Frog missile launchers so that they have a fire cost of 100 and are not amphibious.

Changed the Syrian 82mm RATG fire cost to 40 from 20. I think 20 was just an error.

I made the Egyptian rocket launchers capable of indirect fire.

Changed the Egyptian/Syrian BMPs. Since the BMP-2 (30mm autocannon, 3 ATGMs) wasn't introduced until the 1980s, chances are the Arabs didn't have it ;-). Now, the BMP-1 was armed with a 73mm gun and AT-3 Saggers. So I changed the BMP-1 and BMP-2 entries so that they were identical, with firepower as follows:

16/14/70/70/60/60/50/50/30/30/20/20
11/11/10/10/10/9/8/7/7/6/6/5/5

The hard attack strength at range 3 or greater is the standard AT-3 strength (I think -- it's what I'm using as the Sagger strength anyway). The 16/14 at ranges 1 and 2 and the soft attack strength will become clear in a minute.

For the existing BMP-3, I converted it to a BMP-1 without AT-3s (I had three of them, so why not?). This unit could then be used in scenarios where the accompanying APCs had run out of AT-3s (they didn't carry that many). Firepower as follows:

16/14/12/9/6/3
11/11/10/10/9/8/7/7/6/6/5/5

These are the stats from the 76mm in the PT-76, which admitted is not the same gun, but it is probably close and definitely reasonable. This provides the soft attack values for the BMPs cited above, and the range at 1 and 2 is used in the Sagger-armed BMPs as well. At close range, or against infantry, the Sagger-armed BMP would fire the same weapons as the BMP with Saggers.

I changed almost all the mortars, MGs, and RATGs to 3. In some cases, this represents a section and not a platoon.  A company would thus get two units of 3 rather than 1 unit of 6.  This allows more flexibility. In most cases, these units would be parceled out 1 or 2 at a time to cover more ground. Creating a 6 SP 100mm RATG unit produces a heck of a unit, but I don't think the guns would be bunched up like that.

Changed the defense strength of the BRDM-AT3 to 2 (from 10 -- all the other BRDMs had a defense of 10, and this one was nothing special).


Jordanians
I made 4 vehicles the standard for the Jordanian platoon (after the British model), but admittedly this may not be correct. Jordanian TOE information is hard to come by. 

I changed most of the infantry units to 4 SPs as well. I changed the MGs to 2 SP sections, and the mortars to 3 SP sections. In the oob, units that used to get 1 4 SP platoon now get 2 SP sections, and so on. This was done to provide more battlefield flexibility.

I removed the transport capability of the Saladin armored car.

The Jordanians remain the weakest of my platoon changes, due to lack of data, and any suggestions would be welcome.


So there it is. I believe these oob changes improve the historicity of the game greatly, and I'm sorry I had to do them. Given the excellent information in the earlier games in the Campaign series, Talonsoft really did a poor job here. 

Some of the items I can't change:

AA missile units should be allowed to fire at aircraft only. When using them in scenarios, they should have op fire set so they won't fire at other targets, although this won't completely solve the problem.

ATGMs should be allowed to attack vehicles only.

Many units should have two sets of Firepower strength, one with missiles and one without missiles. Missile ammo should be calculated separately. Sagger teams cannot fire all day -- they only carry about 4 missiles. A BMP would not fire Saggers against a mid-range APC if the gun would do. In DG, a unit gets only one type for firepower for everything.

It would be nice if units could fire opportunity fire at firing ATGM units before the ATGM combat is resolved (that is, the ATGM fires, opportunity fire is resolved, ATGM attacks.) This would more closely represent the 20 sec flight time of some of these missiles at long range, and the tactics used to defeat them (you don't have to kill the missile, just make the operator duck). One of the ides I've been tossing around is to define a "Sagger Team (Early)" and a "Sagger Team (Late)" -- since I now have multiple SAGGER team definitions anyway. The late unit would have a reduced effectiveness, representing improved counter-tactics. The early unit would be in play for the first week, and the late unit would then be used for the closing weeks. Maybe later.

It would be nice if bridging units actually laid bridges, rather than just provide targets.
 
I think vehicles should be able to produce smoke.

If you have any further comments, criticisms, or suggestions, email me at:
cperleberg@kscable.com



