[Patrick Proctor]

Thanks for you purchase. I hope I can help.

The bottom line up front is that the game is going to behave like the real world. If units don't do something in real life, it is probably because it will get them killed. If something will get you killed in real life, it will get you killed in AATF. Now to some specifics.

- The command to dismount infantry from Black Hawks does not always work. I have experimented with different locations, such as clearings, light woods vs. heavy, etc. but 50% of the time the command won't "take", even over the necesary passage of time, and the helicopters take damage from being stationary and exposed.

There are a number of possiblities here. For starters, the rules are, in order for a single aircraft to dismount its passengers, it must:

• ...be stationary
• ...not be suppressed
• ...be in a location with no special terrain of a height above zero (like trees or elephant grass)
• ...not be over water

NOTE: Helicopters with fastrope capability (like those in the Mogadishu scenarios) CAN dismount over buildings, etc.

If you are playing the game with only platoon or vehicle icons showing (not individual aircraft/vehicles/teams) it can be a little hard to tell if all of these conditions are met. For instance, depending on the formation, the platoon icon can be over open ground while the individual aircraft are over trees. Also, sometimes, the platoon icon will appear stationary while aircraft are shuffling about to regain or maintain a formation.

Try either turning on the "show vehicles" option and positioning the aircraft manually, or putting the platoon in the "none" formation before dismounting in smaller clearings. This will fix this problem.

This WON'T help if the aircraft are being suppressed, which leads to your next comment...

- Obviously one solution to the above is to attempt to dismount infantry further away from suspected enemy positions but this seems to cancel out the tactical purpose of helicopter airborne ops which, to my understanding, involve close insertion.

Contrary to what you see in old Vietnam movies, aircraft will NEVER insert in a "hot LZ." While infantrymen are expendable aircraft and the men who fly them are ridiculously expensive. If an LZ is "hot" a unit will usually do one of the following:

• Switch to another LZ
• Use fire support from artillery, attack aviation, or fixed wing aircraft to clear the enemy
• Abort the mission
• If the LZ is very large, try to find a place to insert out of enemy weapon range or line of site

This can sometimes lead to alot of walking for infantrymen, but that is what they do. Better walk up and and surprise the enemy from the rear than land in the middle of his kill zone.

From a game play persepective, you can always speed up the clock to blow through the walk to the objective from a distant LZ.

- I have tried to use indirect smoke missions to make these problematic insertions easier but do not know from the arty menu acronyms which, if any, of the munitions options are smoke.

The arty smoke is listed as "Smoke" in the munition type. If it is not listed, then that weapon system does not carry that munition.

- The helos seem unwilling to fly over certin types of terrain such as thick forest. I have tried to insert infantry for a "back door" assault, again assuming this kind of mobility to be tactically appropriate. I have so far been unable to maneuver a helo unit into position.

I am not sure what you are observing here. Helos should be able to fly over any type of terrain. I would need to know exactly the steps you are using to plan the path. Is it for an individual aircraft, a company, or a platoon. Are you using a mission to plan the path or are you planning it manually? Is the unit in formation when you plan the path?

I hope some of this helps.