I am of the belief that the MC series is balanced noticeably in favor of the NATO/SEATO forces, primarily due to the TIS.
I believe that giving the WP the ability of a select few gaurds units to amphibiously cross rivers using a snorkel would be a historical balance to the series.
Due to the inherent danger of making said crossing I propose that an engineer unit should be present in the hex of the tank on the turn prior to said crossing, the tank should obviously be in T-mode and use up all its points making said crossing. Third, it should suffer an air-attack to simulate the losses the unit would invariably suffer (and this would be in T-mode).
Just an idea to balance the series (historically) since FASCAM makes crossing at most bridges difficult for the pact.
This a pretty specific capability to simulate in the game. The little study that I have done on the subject tells me that it required a pretty narrow band of conditions in order to be executed. It required a pretty significant prep time for the vehicles, the river had to be of limited depth, there was a no greater than river current speed, the river bed had to be of a certain consistency, and finally you had to have specific conditions for the entry and exit points. It seems to me this would make this a very unique operation.
In my limited experience with the D85 game the key problem that I see for the major river crossings is based on the strategy decisions. The airborne units and the AASLT units are not timed properly to support the river crossing operations (they tend to come in too early). I wish there was more control on LZ or timing of the operations. I have heard people justify this lack of control by saying that the airborne/AASLT operations were too hard to plan to provide flexibility. This is incorrect. Any decent military planner will establish a set of conditions that must be met before launching the operation. The obvious condition has to be a realistic timing for expected relief of the AASLT/airborne unit.
Lastly, an opposed river crossing is one of the most difficult military problems that an attacker faces, with the exception of a withdrawl under contact I can't imagine a more difficult operation. An opposed river crossing must be the main effort of a division or higher command. It will almost always have to be a very deliberate and methodical operation. You will need suppress any immediate defenders, secure the far side, and establish your bridging operation. This will require all of your supporting arms (Arty, Air defense, CAS) to be integrated into the fight. My measly 2 cents from a noob.
Tbird 3
One thing the game system allows is to defer reinforcements until a later turn by pressing cancel on the reinforcement dialog. This can allow a more timely arrival.
Fury
<Slapping his forehead> I did mention in my post about me being a noob? Yes?
I still want more flexiblity for Drop Zones, etc!:soap:
Tbird3
Sgt Fury Wrote:One thing the game system allows is to defer reinforcements until a later turn by pressing cancel on the reinforcement dialog. This can allow a more timely arrival.
Fury
Wow, you learn something every day. If I had known that perhaps the CZ SFs would still be alive.
Oh well, the acted as a great, great decoy for your AASLT units.
Ahhh new guy time here as well, must read rulebook properly :) wondered why some troops were dropping too early (well in my eyes anyway)
Howdy Scarletto, glad to see another newbie jumping into the fray. This is an awesome game system for operational warfare. SGT Fury is the man when it comes to this system. He has played for years and has beat me to a pulp in several games to validate it! It continually amazes me on how flexible this game system models so many things at this level of operations.
Tbird3
Only recently found these games,so still on a steep learning curve,one thing i dont like is where the end of turn button is,ive pressed that twice by mistake and had half my units still unordered. Now personally id like that button at the bottom of the screen.
Good game though, must learn more before trying pbem,that and having the time!! :)
Scarletto, read my earlier post about PBEM and team games. Just jump in and bash away. You will be surprised how quick you will pick up all the little nuances of game.
Tbird3
Scarletto-
You want the "Ask before advancing" option set on -- that way you need to verify that you want to end the turn, rather than just a single button click on the main tool bar.
Fury