Inter IV
Deployed as Orino DefendFor UAV-team buddy (with a medkit)
I had an M-14. M-14 sights are surprisingly crappy, especially against poorly lit targets obscured by trees. Not one kill to my credit, but I did survive the entire mission, so obviously I am the superior soldier! (at hiding).
Aside from that,
LowerBigfoot the UAV operator pinged me with everything he saw, and I relayed the most pertinent information to the Squad Leader, which was okay until we tunnel-visioned on the active enemy and didn't warn IndFor Alpha 1 about some dudes on their flank until they were lit up as they crossed an open field.
Oops.
Citadel
Deployed as IFV 4 Commander
With
Raptoer behind the gunner's yoke and
Dabbo on the steering wheel, IFV 4 set off into the annals of history! We trundled forward a hundred meters... vomited our passengers into the roadside, and waited for the squishies to clear out of our way. Then we waited for the squishies to clear out of Tank 1 and IFV 3's way so they could move so we could move.
LOGISTICS!
Once Bravo had cleared out of the way (and friendly-fired the lone survivor of Alpha's fireteam
), I set IFV 4 about the valley,
Dabbo jinking nimbly from cover to cover while
Raptoer eliminated anything that looked at us funky. Once, we spotted a trooper very obviously laying in wait within a shed. "Will our machine-gun punch through that tin?"
Raptoer asked (no, it doesn't). "Put two rounds of 30 mike-mike AP into that building."
THUMP, THUMP "He's dead now."
Sometimes at the behest of Bravo Squad Leader, sometimes of our own initiative, IFV 4 scooted around the valley behind Bravo as they advanced, providing a huge avalanche of fire on anything and everything that poked its head out. Between us, IFV 3, and Tank 1, we had Abdera locked down while Bravo advanced slowly across the valley.
Upon reaching the outskirts of town, we rolled right in, keeping pace with Bravo as they cleared building after building. "Raptoer, see that body in the shack down there?" "Yeah." "That's the guy you nailed through the wall with an armor-piercing round." "Sweet." And then we spotted a NATO spec-ops trooper (complete with silenced rifle) wandering up the far hillside. A burst of 6.5mm settled him, and we heard the call from the tank: "NATO IFVs moving in!" and
Pop! went Tank 1's turret, spiraling into the air.
From a heavily fortified position nestled between a wall and a 2-story house, we held court over the valley below before the call came, "Hey, IFV 4, go get IFV 3 off of a guardrail. They're stuck"
We tore past an active Marshall. We drifted past a bunch of NATO infantry, armed to the teeth. We blasted away with 30mm HE the worries of a comrade in Bravo saying, "IFV, stop, there's enemies right there!" IFV doesn't care about the squishies unless they've got a rocket launcher, and we weren't in the open long enough for any rocket launchers to matter!
Once we successfully rammed IFV 3's rear into gear by repeatedly ramming their rear with our gear (
) we returned to the front line. IFV 3 returned the favor by poking its head out and being one-shot by a NATO tank, and we poked the ass of that Marshall from earlier until it exploded. Then a bunch of cool stuff happened, and we victory-fired a pair of Titan AT missiles into a hillside as we won!
More seriously... this run of Citadel demonstrated one of the greatest issues with Mechanized forces and Folk ARPS. Bravo Squad Lead was receiving information from: CO, Tank 1, Bravo 1, Bravo 2, Bravo 3, IFV 3, and IFV 4, while giving orders to Bravo 1, Bravo 2, Bravo 3, IFV 3 and IFV 4. That is a pretty insane comms task to ask of any of the comrade guests, and quite often IFV 3 and IFV 4 exercised our own discretion, operating virtually independently. This tends to work well enough as long as the IFVs act in support of their squad, but this issue of command overload is why I will eternally advocate for the consolidation of an entire Mech unit's armor into a
bronegruppa placed directly under the CO or DC. A Squad Lead's attention is typically maxed out at around 3 different elements, 4 or 5 if they're really good and have good element leaders.
Ghost Hawk Down
Deployed as Bravo 2 FTL
Obvious inspiration is obvious... but incomplete mission objectives are frustrating. "Kill the warlord!" Okay, done. "Destroy the crashed chopper!" Okay, also done. Now what?
Bravo 2 followed Bravo 1 into town, ditching our Hunters to instead work through the city on foot. We did so, tracing the flank of Alpha's footsteps and dutifully clearing out the town they bypassed. And then we reached the crashed chopper, and suddenly Bravo Squad Leader's Hunter brewed up in a ball of flame, taking him and his medic with it. (And you were wondering why I hate those damned things,
Pepper?
That's why!) Since Bravo Squad Leader was also the overall Platoon Commander of this mission, this threw our forces for a bit of a loop while a trio of CSAT choppers repeatedly buzzed us with miniguns and (
guided) rockets!
Eventually, a lack of cohesive leadership made me seize the reins. Alpha and Charlie were to fall back to the Gov't compound and get picked up by TH1. Bravo would fall back to our motorized vehicles and skedaddle. In the end, none of this went according to plan:
Alpha and Charlie were completely mounted in their chopper, standing nice and still on the ground when an Orca DAGR'd them into the sky atop a flaming pyre of wrecked chopper bits. Bravo was all mounted... until it came out that 2 of Bravo 1 were unable to mount. As Bravo 2 was waiting in our Hunter for Bravo 1 to un-fuck itself, another Orca DAGR'd us into the sky atop a flaming pyre of...
Seriously though, some mission feedback: There is no victory condition left after you kill the warlord and destroy the crashed Ghosthawk. An indication as to what we are supposed to do from that point would definitely be in order. Another thing that would be in order?
No enemies with guided missiles. DAGRs are ridiculously overpowered against ground vehicles, and if I recall correctly, there is a dumb-fire DAR equipped Orca introduced in one of the DLC's - use that one instead!
Other than that... a very ambitious mission. I like it, but I also think it's got more moving parts than it needs to.
Raidolo (after-party)
What was I deployed as again? I don't really know, all I know is I WANT DRUGS!
Many drugs were had! Not by me! DAMNATIONS, why must all your corpses pile up in the hallway and trip me as I stumble into the room and get filled with red hot lead by my opponents?
~ Ferrard