Units used in the LZ_X-ray battle

[Listy]

1. Historical Platoon model (type and ammo levels)?
What was the typical equipment and ammo load of a US, NVA and VC platoon during this battle (for instance there were AT sections that fired LAW against anthills, how many of them, what about M-79 and HMGs) ?

I belive each squad had an M60, and an M79.
I DO know that each squad was issued with an M72.

2. Suggestions about experience & morale values for US, NVA and VC forces?

Urk, someone else can catch this one. however for this game I think the US would have Very good morale so they can keep on fighting, even when suppressed and their leaders are down.

3. How many ARA and Gunship participated in the battle of LZ X-ray (each phase)?
7 I belive, 6 from the battery (look in the other thread), and the Comander's ship. That battery flew for the whole time of the battle.

[Pyros]

What about this modification for the simulation of ARAs?

For the ARA Helicopters, I propose a modified UH-1B SS-11, with weapons configurations 4 slots of 4 x 2.75in FFAR, correct ammo to simulate a load of 48 rockets and a slightly modified Fire control, Range finder and Rate of Fire (in order to simulate better the lethality of the ARAs).

[Listy]

Pyros said:
What about this modification for the simulation of ARAs?

For the ARA Helicopters, I propose a modified UH-1B SS-11, with weapons configurations 4 slots of 4 x 2.75in FFAR, correct ammo to simulate a load of 48 rockets and a slightly modified Fire control, Range finder and Rate of Fire (in order to simulate better the lethality of the ARAs).

I used a UH-1 gunship, with the above (the correct ammo load out is 3).

[Pyros]

The difference between the 2x 2.75in FFAR and 2x 2.75in FFAR is just the valye HE Kill from 15 (for 2x) to 20 (for 4x). So it may be better to use 4 slots of 2x 2.75in FFAR with 6 ammo each.

But again, since this will be a modification and the scope is to achieve the historical lethality of the ARA units... we could make accept a model of 4 slots of 4 x 2.75in FFAR with 6 ammo.
This should be decided from playtesting and the it is a way to strenghten the efficiency of the FFAR by modeling that the 4x 2.75in FFAR is only firing 1 tube per shot

Concerning the Gunship model for modification if we adopt the UH-1B gunship will use the wrong sounds for the weapon slots 1 & 2 (MG), on the other hand the UH-1B SS-11 is using "rocket sounds".

The latest test that I conduct is with modified Hogs against Regional NVA units on clear terrain.
My goal is to achieve a good model of ARA from a firing distance of 3-4 Hexes 150-200 meters.
So far a unit with control & range finder set to a value of 30 has as a result that it will inflict 1-2 casualties from a distance of 3-4 hexes (stabilize 5-10).
Also, I have set the ammo to 12 (in order to simulate that each shot is one tube).

[Listy]

48 Rockets, Divided by the number of weapon slots (4), divided by the number of Rockets per weapon (4).

Thats how I came up with the HE ammo of 3.

As I said A new OOB with the right unit added would be the best answer.

In my tests I tried it on VC dug in, in a wood hex. The aim was to pin the enemy.

Note: How does the spalsh damage effect the weapon? I only tested in the old version.

[Pyros]

Odly enough I haven't seen any splash damage in my tests...

The logical ammo allocation is 48 divide by 4 slots =12
and then (weapon slot) 12 divided by (number of tubes) 4 = 3 as you correctly stated.
But the point is that I find that the rockets should be more powerful (at least shooting at an NVA platoon [not pinned on clear terrain] from a distance of 3-4 hexes should make 1 kill, so since we use the stock US OOB, then a way to magnify (4x) the efficiency of the FFARs is by assuming that each salvo of an 4x 2.75in FFAR is only one Tube (instead of 4)

[Listy]

Not in my estimation.

Each Hex is about 2500 square meter's (50x50). Each salvo fires 16 rockets. That's roughly 1 rocket for every 156 meter's of terrain, throw in tree's, and Fox holes and you'll see what I mean.

From my understanding, ARA and the Gunships where used to pin the enemy, While the Huey's where landing the troops. That is the point of maximum danger as the troops are bunched up together, and a Huey killed on the LZ will lower the amount of traffic the LZ can handle.

The Idea with the ARA's and gunships seems to be to throw as much lead into the tree line as possible to make anyone covering the LZ to keep his head down long enough to get the UH-1's in and unloaded.