The Long Afternoon War: South America becomes part of World War 3 in Air Goons campaign

[Vähäkylä]

So, it's kind of hard to figure out here where to start. I will do my best. I'm sure many of you are familiar with goons from www.somethingawful.com, the older era of the internet. In any case, the goons, of Eve and WoW and many other game-fame, will try blending in forums-based RPG, DCS World, and Arma 3 to a big grog-style wargame that blends simulation and planning between many mediums. "Narrative driven wargaming" is a term that some have used.

In any case, I intend to copy here the main plot events and intelligence briefings to make it so that if there's people here who wish to follow along can see a very different way of playing DCS. 

Where does it start? Well, the world's in a world war. It's sparked partly by events of 2008 Georgian War, which we played in our alternate universe and I will make a post that shows what it entailed, as well as the 1990 Arab-Israeli War, a conflict in our alternate timeline. 

The main plot starting point can be read here:
https://www.airgoons.com/hype/TheLongAfternoonWar.html

It's a long read, but will get you to the mood. That's the starting point. Story telling wise, it's hard to get a good enemy into South America, so extensive writing had to be made to tenuously support such a scenario. Anyway, here we are!

A few months before the events of the first game day, there's a news article blurb:


Lord Stimperor posted:

Quote

 

[b]Welcome to Puerto Natales![/b]

Puerto Natales is a small, sleepy town in the southernmost tip of Chile. Sat at the ruggest coast of the Southern Atlantic and cradled by fjords and mountains, you might forgiven if you thought you'd be in Iceland or the tip of Scandinavia.

It is now December 31, 2009. The climate in the Antarctic Summer is now pretty mild, although it can still regularly freeze. Normally right now, this little town would be teeming with tourists from all over the world who stop by on their quest to explore the magnificent beauty of the rugged and remote Magallenes. This year is different, though.

There is palpable tension in their. Geographically, you could hardly be any further away from the massive conflicts that have erupted this year. But in a globalized world and with supersonic airplanes, even this place is touched by what is increasingly feeling like another World War. 

Tourism is not the only business in town. But this year's business season is attracting less than half of the typical volume of travellers. At the same time, everything is becoming more expensive. Fuel, gas, food, consumer goods of any kind, medicine, even services: all across the globe, less of it is available, and so it is becoming more expensive. In addition, if you want to have it in Puerto Natales, it needs to arrive across thousands of miles by boat, road, or air. So, not only are the products you buy expensive, the shipping is also more expensive. And what little product the stores manage to get here often arrives a little worse for wear. The average income of a Puerto Natales household might be 75% or 80% of what it was before 2009 (less if your family relies on tourism). But the cost-of-living, all in all, have roughly doubled. And even if you have the money, you will probably not get your favorite product, and what you get isn't often the quality you're used to. 

But for now, you manage. Families that can't make ends meet can still rely on the government to fill the gaps. Kids can still play for free and go to school. You might eat not what you'd like to, but you're still eating. The TV and radio are still running (electricity is still being generated), and there are plenty of nice folk around to play games and music with, and to swap books, tools, and materials with that you might need. 

But what when the Antarctic summer is over? When the last tourists also go? When it gets cold, the poor families will have to choose between eating and heating. And they know full well that when they don't eat, the cold sea air will rot their homes, eventually costing them more in the long run. For now, electric devices all run. Drug stores and doctor's offices are well stocked. But what when these devices break, and what when you break a bone in six months? Will you still get painkillers then, or will you need to wait months for them to be refilled? What if the road gets blocked, and shipping across the Atlantic is made too expensive and unsafe by rising tensions? Will your town die a slow death by a thousand cuts, when broken devices cannot be replaced and spare parts run out, when slowly people use their last money to flee North in search of employment and food, when the doctors finally tell you to gather herbs for your ailments?

You came here years ago to seek peace, to get away to a remote place where no one would make your life difficult. Now you're here and the world is still coming here to bother you. The problems have found you and the peaceful remoteness of this place make you feel stranded, all alone on an island in the ocean.

But right now, everything is good. You're with your family. There's a bottle of wine and you're cooking dinner. You couldn't get your kids' favorite ketchup at the store, and they didn't have any fries in stock. That's okay, you can make some your own. There'll be a movie on later tonight. Maybe share a glass with the neighbours once midnight rolls around. For the kids this time can just be a weird but ultimately harmless adventure. It might get worse. But for now, you can make this work.

 

 

 

 

Time for the first intel briefing given at the CSAD to Air Force commanders.

[b]Date:[/b] February 10, 2010

[b]Concerning:[/b] PLAN and PLAAF forces at Islas Malvinas and Tierra del Fuego.

Briefing Focus: Islas Malvinas (that some call the "Falklands")

Listen up, as we all know, the Chinese Navy has captured Puerto Williams and Ushuia, and is currently spreading its forces to the rest of Tierra del Fuego. While there are not many major cities nor airports, the situation is very grim. The intel briefing for Tierra del Fuego will be at a later moment, but first, let's discuss the current situation of People's Liberation Army Air Force resupply.  The distance from the current PLAN logistics hub, Cape Town, South Africa, to Tierra del Fuego is 4100 nautical miles. That is an immense distance, and far beyond the capabilities of any PLAAF air asset. 

Currently, as far as we know, the PLAN has taken control of all the ports in South Africa and Namibia. These are used for island hopping logistics where the latest PLAN island seizures; Saint Helena, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, South Georgia and now Malvinas, are used to sustain this immediate sealift.  Using this island hopping logistics chain, each leg is roughly 1500 nautical miles long. Their attack submarine fleet is hard at work protecting this, but they have also had their shipping sunk. 

Some 40 cargo ships are currently en-route to the Malvinas, and possibly as many as 15 have already been unloaded. Most of these ships are at Blanco Bay, waiting to get into Port Stanley at East Malvinas. Their cargo is unloaded and either trucked  to former-RAF Mount Pleasant, or in the case of jets; trucked to Stanley Airfield and flown to Mount Pleasant. This is is where they are combat fitted and conduct patrols between the Malvinas and Tierra del Fuego. 

When the PLAN landed at Puerto Williams and Ushuia, they had relative few airplanes providing overwatch. We believe this to be due to the difficulty sealift and the slow speed of unloading. This means that at the start of our operations on the 20th, ten days now, we are not yet against the full PLAAF airpower. 

Let's look at the satellite photos offered by the USSOUTHCOM:

Here we can see the ships waiting in line to get into Port Stanley. Visible are also several Type 052 destroyers providing air defence.
Red arrow is the route they take on trucks to Stanley Airfield.

The mainstay of the PLAAF fleet is the J-7G, seen here getting unloaded from the cargo ship. The number of cranes and the throughput of their lifts is the current limiting factor. Expect the PLAN to prioritize shipping in better port facilities as soon as they are able. Also seen is a HQ-7 mobile SAM unit.

The flight from Stanley to Mount Pleasant is only 30 nautical miles and we've detected a daily ferry operation by the PLAAF.

Here's a latest flyover of PLAAF Mount Pleasant:

A daily increasing number of J-7Gs, two J-11s, and two H-6s are there currently.  In addition, a large number of shipping containers are arriving via truck from Port Stanley.

Now let's focus on something else. As you all know, the seas at the Malvinas can be especially cruel and demanding. As Port Stanley has a limited capacity of accepting ships, the PLAN has had issues with the large number of ships, including their civilian merchant fleet used for this sea lift. Just like for the past centuries, ships seek shelter at Choiseul Sound, between Isla Soledad  (Main part of East Falklands/Malvinas) and the southern, mainly uninhabited Lafonia. These are conneted by a narrow isthmus known as  Goose Green that also has a small settlement on it. To the east of Goose Green, are various natural bays and coves that offer safe anchoring for the large number of ships.  This place also has Type 052 destroyers there.

THIS CONCLUDES THE INTEL BRIEF LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

------------------

Hypothetically, if we had eyes everywhere, this is what it would look like to watch some PLAAF J-7Gs depart Stanley to Mount Pleasant.

 

 

 

 

-----------------------------------------

Aight, intel briefing. Get ready.

In real life gametime, this weekend, on the 30th of September, we will fly a DCS mission at the usual goon time, 2000 UTC. It represents the in-game time of 0900hrs, 11 February, 2010.

This is a secret mission. You are to take the cargo GROOMSMEN from El Calafate, Comandante Armando Tola International Airport. It's in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. This cargo is to be brought to a specific location over the Atlantic Sea. After you have delivered GROOMSMEN, you will turn around and either land at Rio Gallegos or Puerto San Julian on your way back to El Calafate. This will depend on the choice made. After cargo pickup you will fly to El Calafate and it will be mission complete.

Available for this mission you have:

ASCOT 1: 4x C-130 cargo aircraft
VENOM 1: 2x F-16C from Chilean Air Force
Venom 2: 2x F-16C from Chilean Air Force

Signup looks like this:
nullnull

We will get the final weather forecast soon, but it is currently bad weather over the province with low lying fog, broken clouds, and moderate precipitation. It is not a good flying weather. The flying weather is not made better by the PLAAF patrols that have been sighted over the South Atlantic.

We are currently monitoring the hostile invasion force in Tierra del Fuego, but do not assess that to be a risk to this operation. Nevertheless, we've assigned the escort flights to this. The PLAAF has some patrols around the Malvinas, and there are sporadic airplanes flying low over Tierra del Fuego. The PLAAF is unlikely to initiate contact, and so are we. Stay well within the FLOT during the mission.

The two proposed waypoints are as follows:

RESOLUTION JAGUAR (Fetch the F-5 parts)

RESOLUTION GUINEA PIG (Fetch the Su-25T parts)

We have this signal intercept from South Atlantic that we are currently waiting more information on: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QaZxuhpLDQFNv1sQnblPmUJTW2HKV5DH/view?usp=sharing
Sign up and see you in the skies!
Vahakyla fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Sep 26, 2

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Vähäkylä

[Vähäkylä]

Here is one after action review from the prologue mission of dropping SBS team to the HMS Agincourt in the Atlantic, enabling the Arma 3 mission on the Goose Green map. 

 

Ascot 1 - Op. Guinea Pig after action report:

A/C status
Ascot1-1, systems fault, aborted, A/C down while maintenance diagnoses fault. Time to resolution should be ok for next mission.
Ascot1-2, 1-3, no concerns.

Ascot was to proceed to a specified drop point in the ocean, and deliver SBS with cargo to the waiting submarine before turning back to pick up parts. Pre drop, Ascot 1-1 had a malfunction requiring immediate mission abort and RTB. Due to effective planning, the SBS mission can proceed with 1/2 cargo modules delivered. Mission control passed to Breaky in Ascot 1-2, and proceeded without issue. Since all Hercules were carrying only minimum fuel reserves, excess capacity was available to haul the payload slated for Ascot 1-1. There were no concerns with cruise or landing in IMC.

Communication with ground stations was congested, but effective even with multiple airports on the same frequency. Also, Ascot 1 flight worked out some kinks with the autopilot modes, transitions, and cut out conditions. This assisted navigation, with all planes within visual range when IFR conditions lifted, with 0.7 nm spacing. The drop precision was ok, with AP issues leading to reversion to manual flight, and visual drop. As mentioned, IMC approach procedures were good, with landings at El Calafate and Puerto Santa Cruz performed by the numbers.

Due to the manual drop, it was close enough to be retrieved, but could have been closer; most practice was done to master dropping at parameters on autopilot.
Communication of package status was hindered by not having a concise summary of codes in a handy location. AP glitches and unfamiliarity caused manual flight until the system could be engaged again. At points, the package frequency was overloaded, leading to messages being delayed until a gap in traffic could be found.

Going forward, the ABM team should split separate areas of responsibility onto different frequencies at their discretion. Due to Hercules AP concerns, a second waypoint shall be placed >2NM past any precision drops along the same flight path. Radios should be preprogrammed with UHF channels to allow quick switching as they are controlled from the FMC, and require focus inside the cockpit for several seconds to switch frequencies. Frequency transitions should be performed while autopilot can be engaged to avoid flight path deviations. Flight time was also not as planned, due to a slower speed than used in the planning; recommended speeds are approximately 170 KIAS in climb phases, and 230 KIAS in cruise, unless escorts are assigned. Cruise with escorts should be approximately 260 KIAS. Finally, flight control transfer methods should be disabled until investigation of the systems fault on Ascot 1-1 has been concluded.

 

 

 

 

--------------------------
And another AAR from the escorts. 



 

Venom 1 was completely successful in all objectives, though admittedly, we didn't really have to do much aside from fly near Ascot and look pretty. Since BARCAP didn't <profanity> up, we had plenty of opportunity to look real fucking pretty.

  

There were some adjustments that had to be made to our flight path since the clouds were so thick. Namely, the clouds were so thick that we really didn't care to go below 15000.

What went well:


My flight as a whole did a great job keeping formation both on each other and with Ascot.
The new air battle managers were very quick to respond to my calls.
The Panthers intimidated the enemy sufficiently that we didn't really have to do anything but admire the view.
The last-minute decision to add wing tanks was an excellent one, single centerline would not have left sufficient margin if a scrap did occur.

What went less than well:
At one point during the flight datalink coverage was lacking, and I called for a declare ("ABM, is this guy hostile?") using Bullseye coordinates. The ABM misunderstood and looked for my callout in BRAA relative to me. While it was quickly cleared up, it did take some time to sort.
When entering the clouds during landing, we were flying in too close a formation. At one point, Venom 1-2 conducted a maneuver that forced me into evasive to avoid a collision. Later review determined that we passed within 150 ft of each other.

Venom 1-3 was running the majority of the flight with airbrakes out. This caused undue fuel expenditure and difficulty with formation keeping.
Landing was somewhat of a clusterfuck, as there was a bit of a communication breakdown there. While I will admit there were some missed directions from the ATC within my flight, I did need to conduct some approach resolution on my own to conduct a safe landing as a result of misdirections from the ATC (the most "expedited" descent you're getting out of me in IMC is 10-15 degrees nose down in my expensive jet).

https://i.imgur.com/HjwkEy1.mp4

What can improve:
During portions of the flight, we noticed our datalink dropping off for extended periods. This made it a little challenging to know where Ascot was during portions of the flight where they were below cloud cover (we chose to stay above clouds for fuel economy). Petitioning command to shore up coverage in the AOO, as if the PLA discovers this gap in radar/DL coverage, they might exploit it to slip aircraft in undetected.
I would have preferred the ILS side of the runway in those conditions. While I recognize that we opted not to use it due the wind forcing wild corrections to stay on target, it would have been useful to have as a reference point before the runway was in sight.
The weather. Seriously, that super secret commando team better be setting up some of those weather controlling lasers I keep reading about on the internet.

https://i.imgur.com/kExBe6m.mp4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Arma 3 mission is set up like this:



 

Some signals traffic and regional intelligence from our friends at MI6.

The Falklands, or Malvinas, have long been used as a shipping port, a safe harbor, and a waystation for exploration and international shipping. They're about 300 miles east of the Patagonian coast, and have been inhabited by Europeans ever since the 1600s. They might have had settlements before that, likely Fuegians from Patagonia if anyone, but were not inhabited when European claims on them were asserted. The UK had visited it prior but laid its first claim in 1764. It reasserted it more forcefully in 1833, and ever since the Falklands has been inhabited by mostly European-descent Falkland Islanders, populations ranging from 500 to 5000 with ebbs and flows.

In addition, is has, or had, RAF Mount Pleasant, an airbase of the South Atlantic for the Royal Air Force.

Now, the PLAAF controls it, and PLAN uses Port Stanley as a base.

Goose Green is a small town that sits on an isthmus, connecting the main island of East Falklands to the uninhabited part known as Lafonia. This narrow isthmus is not only the only road and thoroughfare between these two major portions, but it also divides a small sound that is the ocean cut between them.

For as long as there has been shipping, the Choiseul Sound has been used as a safe anchoring point for cargo ships and military vessels waiting for more favorable winds, warmer weather, or for the storm to pass. For the past 400 years, this has not changed. This same sound is now a shelter for the PLAN mobility sealift fleet, waiting for their turn in the clogged up Port Stanley, unable to accept as many ships as are arriving from Africa. Thus, they sail to Choiseul Sound to wait for their turn.

MI6 is also passing along this whatsapp message from a Chinese sailor sent from a cellular network in the Falklands.

 

 

 

 

 

---------------

 

And another historical newspaper from two months before the game events was made:

[Vähäkylä]

The ingame map that integrates with the South Atlantic DCS map:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1RHYRehltgtfH02o6Yn9JgBmaHt2XqZs&ll=-50.27184644770649%2C-59.893140458910224&z=7

[Vähäkylä]

 

 

 

 

Here is the new video detailing how the campaign works.

[Vähäkylä]

We've decided to let interested people join the campaign. 

 

There's no membership process or anything, just a willingness to fly. You need A-4 mod and C-130 mod installed, and you have to own the South Atlantic map. 

In addition, you're required to be nice and inclusive, and accepting of all kinds of people, without toxicity or hateful opinions. If that seems difficult to do, don't bother.

Your experience level is far less meaningless than your willigness to fly and take part, in whatever level you feel comfortable. 

You can bring your friend and fly with them, or come alone and you'll simply join a flight. We'll be happy to help you in any way you need.

Regular planes currently:

F-5, F-16, MiG-29S, Su-25 T and non-T, A-4, C-130, Mirage 2000, Mirage F1, Harrier

Choppers: Huey, Gazelle, Hind, Hip
 

https://discord.gg/ZyNPMTN5eS

 

[Goose489]

What about the arma is that still available?

[Vähäkylä]

It is! We run Arma this Sunday, in fact. 

[Goose489]

Is Cas available in the A-10?

Edited February 28 by Goose489

[Vähäkylä]

We don't currently have A-10 in any of the campaigns since it isn't used in South America.