HALO/HAHO operations and paratroopers
Posted: 19 Jul 2014, 13:06
Some thoughts occurred to me after reviewing some opinions and reports from different factions at the latest game.
It seems that the Raven and Orlov truce gave the enemy factions a very hard time added with the fact that the Ravens and Orlovs both had substantial access to mechanized support, making it difficult for mostly infantry based units among the GCT and PMC's to complete their missions (and during some days: even get out of their basecamps due to Raven and Orlov prescence just outside the camps).
BE made a very hamfisted and decision to remedy this. Gamemasters forbade the Ravens to deploy as much forces in Guyana as they might have wanted to.
Frankly I don't think the Guyana forces or the Lerando forces enjoy such solutions. I mean if I was with the PMC forces or the GCT I would feel like I was being treated like a defenceless baby if GM's gives me "crutches" like that. It's as if the GM's would say: "Oh well you plainly suck so bad that we have to go and stack the deck in your favor in order for you to succeed with anything." (insulting to say the least). And naturally Raven command didn't like getting their hands tied over how they could deploy their own forces.
I think a more fun approach would be to bolster the capabilities of factions who aren't doing too well rather than hogtieing their opponents in order to establish some kind of "easy mode" for them.
I don't know if it was actually implemented this year (I only heard rumours and speculation), but one way for the GM's to do this would be simulated HAHO/HALO-jumps for the factions who are having trouble with leaving their basecamp in order to complete missions. Gather up a platoon in some GM trucks, drive the "jumpers" to their chosen dropsite and let them dismount with deathrags on and allow them to spawn there in x number of minutes. (to symbolize that it's a HAHO-jump, enemies shouldn't be able to shoot the jumpers while dismounting since in reality they would be jumping out of an aircraft at high enough altitude that no infantry could reasonably engage, hence the deathrag+spawn time procedure)
This way the struggling factions will probably have more fun (nothing is more fun than doing operations smack in the middle of enemy territory after all), and the dominating factions will have to divert forces in order to adapt to circumstances where entire enemy platoons or even companies just "pop up" in areas of the map thought to be secure, so they can't as easily sit outside enemy basecamps and "spawncamp" other factions into submission.
The HAHO/HALO-concept could also form the basis for interesting objectives on the map (airfields, AA-missile silos/turrets that prevents drops in a certain area etc.).
We might not have access to real aircraft, but that shouldn't prevent us from PRETENDING that we do, if it could make the game more fun, right?
I don't know if the concept has been used much before. I've been to 4 berget-games in total, and I remember we got "airdropped" last year, but we had to use vehicles from our own factions mechanized vehicle pool to do it. It would be good if BE could supply the vehicles only used as off-game taxis for this purpose so that a factions HAHO/HALO-capabilities doesn't require player-owned vehicles to pitch in.
It seems that the Raven and Orlov truce gave the enemy factions a very hard time added with the fact that the Ravens and Orlovs both had substantial access to mechanized support, making it difficult for mostly infantry based units among the GCT and PMC's to complete their missions (and during some days: even get out of their basecamps due to Raven and Orlov prescence just outside the camps).
BE made a very hamfisted and decision to remedy this. Gamemasters forbade the Ravens to deploy as much forces in Guyana as they might have wanted to.
Frankly I don't think the Guyana forces or the Lerando forces enjoy such solutions. I mean if I was with the PMC forces or the GCT I would feel like I was being treated like a defenceless baby if GM's gives me "crutches" like that. It's as if the GM's would say: "Oh well you plainly suck so bad that we have to go and stack the deck in your favor in order for you to succeed with anything." (insulting to say the least). And naturally Raven command didn't like getting their hands tied over how they could deploy their own forces.
I think a more fun approach would be to bolster the capabilities of factions who aren't doing too well rather than hogtieing their opponents in order to establish some kind of "easy mode" for them.
I don't know if it was actually implemented this year (I only heard rumours and speculation), but one way for the GM's to do this would be simulated HAHO/HALO-jumps for the factions who are having trouble with leaving their basecamp in order to complete missions. Gather up a platoon in some GM trucks, drive the "jumpers" to their chosen dropsite and let them dismount with deathrags on and allow them to spawn there in x number of minutes. (to symbolize that it's a HAHO-jump, enemies shouldn't be able to shoot the jumpers while dismounting since in reality they would be jumping out of an aircraft at high enough altitude that no infantry could reasonably engage, hence the deathrag+spawn time procedure)
This way the struggling factions will probably have more fun (nothing is more fun than doing operations smack in the middle of enemy territory after all), and the dominating factions will have to divert forces in order to adapt to circumstances where entire enemy platoons or even companies just "pop up" in areas of the map thought to be secure, so they can't as easily sit outside enemy basecamps and "spawncamp" other factions into submission.
The HAHO/HALO-concept could also form the basis for interesting objectives on the map (airfields, AA-missile silos/turrets that prevents drops in a certain area etc.).
We might not have access to real aircraft, but that shouldn't prevent us from PRETENDING that we do, if it could make the game more fun, right?
I don't know if the concept has been used much before. I've been to 4 berget-games in total, and I remember we got "airdropped" last year, but we had to use vehicles from our own factions mechanized vehicle pool to do it. It would be good if BE could supply the vehicles only used as off-game taxis for this purpose so that a factions HAHO/HALO-capabilities doesn't require player-owned vehicles to pitch in.