New Campaign! - UNIFE 2013

[MacGalin]

Well, here's my first campaign for WinSPMBT. I hope you will like it .

UNIFE 2013

Game Version: WinSPMBT 2.0+
Format: Fixed Core Campaign
Player: Polish UNIFE contingent
Command Size: Mixed mech. inf. coy.
Length: 7 scenarios, linear

Campaign Concept and Design: MP Galinski (MacGalin)

Testers: Mustang, Jagdtiger (PL), Theodor, Zima, and Dariusz B.

Special thanks goes to Mustang for his work above and beyond the call of duty .




The year is 2013.

Ethiopia is on the edge of civil war. . . again.

In 2011, the corrupt and incompetent Ethiopian goverment, seeing their support among the population rapidly fading, decided to use old, well-tried method of gaining popularity - they started a war with their neighbour. Unfortunately, what was intended to be "quick, victorious war" turned into bloody struggle against well equipped and well trained (at least by local standards) Eritrean Army. After five months of fighting, Ethiopian government was forced to resign in a (almost) bloodless revolution. The new government asked the UN for help in peace talks and rebuilding the country.

Hostilities ended, but the war had left Ethiopia in chaos. Ethiopian and Eritrean marauders, local warlords, and rebels from the PFLO terrorized the country. Government forces were unable to restore peace. The dry season came not long after, and with it drought and famine.

After a series of attacks on its UNAID and Red Cross volunteers, the UN decided to strenghten their presence. Since most of the Western forces were engaged in the Middle East, the newly formed UNIFE (United Nations International Forces Ethiopia) contingent consisted mainly of Polish and Ukrainian troops. Core units were mixed elements of the Polish 6th Armored Cav Brigade, and 12th Light Mechanized Brigade, supported by the Ukrainian 25th Mechanized Infantry Batalion.

Using two new Polish UTL fast transport ships, over 1300 soldiers were transported to Ethiopia, along with over 90 combat vehicles, including tanks and APCs.

Their task was to protect the humanitarian relief workers, and to help government forces restore peace in the area. . .



This campaign was inspired by Artur Baniewicz's excellent book "Afrykanka" ("African Girl"), but of course the storyline is completely diffrent. I suggest you read the book, if it ever comes in English [ or whatever language you can speak ] .

[Mustang]

I was a playtester for this campaign, and it's great. Nice storyline and fun missions. Thanks for the compliment, and I hope that other people have fun with this campaign too.

[wulfir]

Very cool!

The story is great, nice use of defending/attacking AI, good maps IMHO.

I made it to scen 4, but got whacked pretty bad...so I'll have to restart the camp..., maybe I'll try with some other country, possibly Canada...

Anyways, great work - good fun this!

[Paladin42]

Looks good. As I reviewed the forces, I wondered why you made the two snipers size 3 vice the normal size zero (indeed the actual size of the unit based on the info page)? Did you feel that would make them too powerful a unit for the purpose of the game? I haven't played yet, so I am only gathering intel on my force structure now and I ask the question because I like my snipers to be very stealthy! I know I could change it but I wanted to understand your purpose. Thanks!

[MacGalin]

I did nothing with the snipers - they are straight from the polis OOB, without any modifications. Well, i'll look into it.

[Paladin42]

Mac: Please understand that I mean no disrespect to you or the CAMO team since you and they put a tremendous amount of work into the campaign and the game--maybe there is an inconsistency in the Polish OOB that slipped by. I noted some other differences too between the unit status screen (right click a unit) and the unit info screen (clicking the info tab while on the unit status screen) for units other than the sniper size 3 versus size 0 difference. Going to the encyclopedia shows data consistent with the info screen which would not account for changes that you intended for the campaign situations.

For example:
a) units B3 and C3 Rosomak IFV weapons slot 3 shows a 12.7 WKM-B AAMG displayed but the info page shows NT-S Spike TA-ATGM, ammo loadouts for weapons slot 1 autocannon are also slightly different with HE15 AP15 vice HE18 AP18.
b) units D4 and D5 PT-91 Twardy weapons slot 1 main gun load outs are slightly different HE18 vice HE22.
c) Mech Rifle Sections weapons slot 2 shows a UKM-2000 LMG with range 12 but the info screen shows a 5.4mm RPK SAW with a range of 8; and weapons slot 4 shows a RPG-7V 93mm with HE4 and AP4 loadouts but the info screen shows a Carl Gustav 83mm with AP8 loadout and different characteristics.

Each of the differences could be tactically critical against the low tech but numerically superior adversary in your campaign. Based on the feedback here, I have noted that your campaign is pretty tough so I want to go in knowing my advantages and using them.

Thanks for taking a look! Paladin

[Mustang]

MacGal has changed some of the heavier weapons, like Spike ATGMs and MBT ammo loadouts, intentionally. This is to make the game more of a challenge. We've talked about this, and he said that a force that wasn't expecting to meet tanks would probably not be deployed with expensive ATGMs. Also notice that in the campaign briefing it says something along the lines of "some of your units will have lower ammo loadouts than normal to represent your lack of logistics support".

[Paladin42]

Mustang: Got it and understand that aspect--my original question revolved around why the snipers were size 3 vice size 1. The weapons and loadouts are how the designer gives it personality and I respect that. Except for the size issue with the snipers, MacGalin seems to give the player more useful weapons against a low tech foe but balances that with reduced loadouts. I thought he may have figured the snipers too powerful at size zero. Not complaining mid you, just learning. Paladin

[MacGalin]

Okay, it seems that there is a bug in the game. I don't know it it was reported yet, but when you change one type of unit into another in scenario editor, the size remains the same.

It apperas that those snipers were the trucks first (which original size of 3.)

Also, there is another bug - game doesn't keep some the modified core unit data in the campaign. First mission is fine, but after it game acts weird . For example it resets ammo numbers, and if weapon was deleted (not replaced!) the game restores it.

[Pyros]

This is not a bug, this is how it should be, because the game reads (each time a new campaign scenario starts) the variables/parameters of each core unit from the nation's OOB database.
So you can't customize CORE FORCE units.
You only may customize AUX units.

Concerning what you mentioned for the sniper unit (changing of the truck to a sniper unit), I tried to reproduce it but I couldn't achieve the same results (so I can't confirm your remark).

cheers,
Pyros