Planning: Training Ops for 3.0

[NKato]

We're getting our first chance to get boots on the ground.

I'm thinking, for timeframe, about two weeks after 3.0 gets out to all backers after exiting PTU, we can run a training op. The goal: Develop Combined Arms Capability in TEST Squadron, and refine those techniques over time. For the first two weeks of 3.0, we'll be using our own personal experiences and practice with the game to inform our opinions, beliefs and other learning experiences to guide the planning of our first training op.

This thread will be for discussing what we want to do, how we could do it, and where we should do it.

I also encourage those who help run the Yellow Jackets, as well as any other groups, to participate in this discussion.

Here are the questions you will need to consider or suggest for discussion:

1. What specific objectives should be focused on for our first training op involving landfall? (Suggestions, Ideas, Etc)
   
   
2. How will these objectives achieved? (State the basic strategy and tactics available in said strategy. Detailed stuff comes much later.)
   
   
3. What assets, at a minimum, should be utilized in a landfall training op? Take into account what CIG will be releasing to us in 3.0 - the Ursa Rover, Dragonfly, and the Nox, as well as other ships.
   
   
4. What methods of communications should be utilized? (Be sure to account for those who don't use microphones, or can't hear. Operations can succeed or fail on the actions of a single man, so this is fairly important.)
   
   
5. What procedures should be generally followed for achieving the following sub-objectives of a landfall operation?
   1. Achieving Air Superiority
   2. Providing Subsequent Ground Support
   3. Achieving Ground Superiority
   4. Securing Objectives
   5. Extraction/Escape

Let us discuss.

P.S. I already know the answers to some of these questions, but I want to foster growth in TEST Squadron by allowing you all to answer these questions. And, please take this a little seriously - I would appreciate that. I deal with enough silliness on the Discord.

 

[Printimus]

Yes.....let us develop our TEST CAC!

 

[Blind Owl]

Stuff and things AND BEER!! I approve

 

[wolfmoonrising]

I have a cutlass black for troop transport

 

[Vindictive69]

Yes, I think it is something that will definitely be a good activity and not just for core people but for the casual as well since i am sure most people will want to participate in certain Org Ops at least sporadically by choice or by Org needs.

1. I would suggest a run through of an Org Op involving descending on and controlling the area immediately around and over the discovery of large crashed ships for the purpose of repair or salvage, whether it is one of ours or alien tech we could use. Resources are always a key play factor in Org strength and capability.

2. Basic strategy might involve an initial rapid response boots on the ground to discourage casual onlookers using a Hoplite that will drop a small squad of Marines and remain to offer support with its gun turret along with the fallback of a quick pullout if need be for the safety of our people. This will be followed by a full assessment of the value of the find and at that point it will be determined by the commanding officer on location what other Org assets beyond pulling easy components might benefit the Org.

3. Minimum assets would be a Hoplite or equivalent along with at least 6-8 Org personnel of which 1 will be the pilot for support + rapid evac, 1 to man the turret for heavier hitting defense and suppression, and 4-6 marines for scouting and situation eval.

4. Voice comms would be preferred for all involved personnel, but in the event that is not practical or possible then the pilot shall have the responsibility to communicate all needed information from voice actors to the rest of the team via the text chat channel in game and also inform the voice actors of the current state of the text chat. The voice actors will need to take the more aggressive roles which will be dependent on how many are voice. Forward scout will have priority for voice along with turret operator and pilot.

5. In this scenario,
A. Air support and control need will be determined upon location eval and balanced with Org resources in the area and can vary from no importance to having a squad of fighters on standby to a show of force with several squads of fighters if target is high value and potential hostiles are deemed in the LZ.
B. If extra ground support is required then the Org may make an additional drop with a Hoplite followed by a couple Freelancer Max drops of a rover and several Dragonflies and or Nox's. Upon completion of the drop the freelancers will bug out and leave the LZ but remain available to recover the land vehicles at a designated fallback point or support in recovery of salvage if declared safe.
C. Ground control will be achieved by the already designated procedures.
D. Objectives for this scenario will be considered secured once salvage or repair operations have been completed.
E. Extraction and escape will proceed using previously outlined procedures. The freelancers (or equivalent) will fly in to recover cargo and vehicles followed by the evac of the marines to the hoplites which will then clear the LZ while supplying suppression fire if need be.

Anyways.. thats my two-cents on a scenario. :D

 

[Tefmon]

I don't have too much to add for the other points, but on the subject of communication methods (4.), if we're being honest here, voice chat is pretty much mandatory for effective performance of any role that requires quick, real-time action. Having access to and willingness to use a mic and headphones should really be part of the minimum requirements for those roles, which is unfortunately exclusionary towards people who don't own or are unable to use them, but Star Citizen as a game is also exclusionary towards people who don't have relatively expensive gaming PCs.

 

[marcsand2]

I don't have too much to add for the other points, but on the subject of communication methods (4.), if we're being honest here, voice chat is pretty much mandatory for effective performance of any role that requires quick, real-time action. Having access to and willingness to use a mic and headphones should really be part of the minimum requirements for those roles, which is unfortunately exclusionary towards people who don't own or are unable to use them, but Star Citizen as a game is also exclusionary towards people who don't have relatively expensive gaming PCs.

I agree with @Tefmon thatvoice is the most effective way, but if we have a multirole operation, there always are people on standby. Ground personal before dropped, dropship pilot after dropping and clearing the area, pilots providing overwatch, transport pilots waiting for extra drop...you name it. Those people can accomodate text mesages. As with chat there has to be some communication protocol, otherwise chat and text will end up in chaos.

 

[LiterallyAlty]

Learning how we'll need to make coordinating landing at arbitrary locations will definitely need organized time. While we can get some benefit from any impromptu flights, having red vs blue ops will help more.

 

[Vindictive69]

Yes, I definitely agree on the voice chat for being the most effective. But... its a large verse and we have no control of who might be on or who might be within effective operational distance. There will be an effective operational distance due to travel time since people wont want to wait long periods of time to start an Op when something gets discovered or happens and needs to be responded to. Not to mention the fact that someone else might beat us to something. Understanding whose role it will be to facilitate comms between text and voice will prevent things from being a train wreck.. lol. And if you have a pilot sitting on standby in the LZ or Operational area then they make a good go between until responding to an evac. We will just need to get used to the logistical limitations of trying to get the text people into active roles. Of course, this will be less of an issue with Ops that are (or can be) planned ahead of time.

Star Citizen does have some high requirements compared to your everyday computers and there might not seem to be a real financial reason for people not to own a cheap headset, but.. there are quite a few people that dont like to voice chat either due to a general dislike or the state of their surrounding rl gaming space or the lack of spoken english. Hell, everywhere ive worked at RL there are always a portion of people that either dislike or outright refuse to use the paging systems mostly because they dont like how they sound on the other end and some are just shy.

 

[Schmunkel]

Is true group functionality going to be in 3.0? It is possible to do these activities without it, but it makes it a hell of a lot easier if they have it working.

 

[MikeNificent]

I agree with @Tefmon thatvoice is the most effective way, but if we have a multirole operation, there always are people on standby. Ground personal before dropped, dropship pilot after dropping and clearing the area, pilots providing overwatch, transport pilots waiting for extra drop...you name it. Those people can accomodate text mesages. As with chat there has to be some communication protocol, otherwise chat and text will end up in chaos.

You hit it on the head: Too much talking on the radio during an op is very, very counterproductive.

The answer for the Army is two fold: different channels and training. First: each element typically has it's own channel. The leadership of each element listens to it's own channel and the channel of the element above. This allows a leader to receive reports from it's own subordinate elements, report to the leadership of it's superior element and also monitor the reports of adjacent elements. The second portion of the solution is more of a biproduct than anything. It works like this: the more you train and rehearse prior to a mission, the less you need to talk about during the mission.

 

[Snakey]

Yes.....let us develop our TEST CAC!

Or test COC

Oh and if we're going to have combined ops, I call for ODST's!

 

[Grisha]

one thing to note is that the Prowler is seemingly capable of the same hovering that the dragonfly and nox use.

 

[I_MIKE_I]

Well.. personally I'd rather wait and see when and what we get under the Banner of 3.0... if we can't even have 100 people in a map without the server going full retard, then I don't see the point of such trainings. Same goes for equipment etc.

We're getting our first chance to get boots on the ground.

1. What procedures should be generally followed for achieving the following sub-objectives of a landfall operation?
   1. Achieving Air Superiority
   2. Providing Subsequent Ground Support
   3. Achieving Ground Superiority
   4. Securing Objectives
   5. Extraction/Escape

My strategy would be quite simple: Basically, I'd draw circles around the objective:

1. The widest circle would be where you use scout/recon craft.

2. The second widest would be a line of defense against enemy reinforcements to ensure local space superiority. Mainly consisting of Capital Ships, the Fighters they carry and Anti-Capital Ships (i.E. Eclipse).

3. The third widest would combine "Air Superiority, CAS and Ground Superiority" as IMO we have no ground-based forces which can hold a candle to Ships.

4. The smallest circle would be the "drop-zone" for actual ground forces.

5. Non-Combat Ships would operate between the 2nd and 3rd widest circles.

Using "circles" would allow people to "know their place" simply based on the distance to the reference point... while it's not a perfect way to set up position, it would at least prevent people from going astray.

 

[marcsand2]

The answer for the Army is two fold: different channels

Right now we use discord, we can use different channels, but unfortunately not listen to different channels, switching during operation is a risk. Unfortunately this also applies to text. When in combat, you are unable to quickly type something without leaving your controls. A good voice to text would be a solution.

and training.

Training makes people aware of their task, when knowing what to do, you don't need any additional comms. Only when situation changes and task have to be altered additional comms are necessary.

 

[FluffyVonRage]

Right now we use discord, we can use different channels, but unfortunately not listen to different channels, switching during operation is a risk. Unfortunately this also applies to text. When in combat, you are unable to quickly type something without leaving your controls. A good voice to text would be a solution.

Training makes people aware of their task, when knowing what to do, you don't need any additional comms. Only when situation changes and task have to be altered additional comms are necessary.

Sounds like a return to TS3 might be viable if we can't get tiered communication levels for discord.

 

[FluffyVonRage]

1. What specific objectives should be focused on for our first training op involving landfall? (Suggestions, Ideas, Etc)
   Some form of asset retrieval/smash & grab op to familiarise rapid assault and extraction
   
   
2. How will these objectives achieved? (State the basic strategy and tactics available in said strategy. Detailed stuff comes much later.)
   Deploying an Ursa rover for fire support and ground transport, via Connie.
   Marines moving with the ursa rover identify and prioritise targets
   Local air support engages key points, with the potential for reinforcement of the site once secured - 2X Hoplites would be ideal for this - providing mutual support
   Once site secure, Connie moves up to collect asset/ Rover - This being the critical failure point of the operation
   Once connie is loaded & secure, hoplites take it in turns to collect remaining marines, ensuring continuous top cover.
   
   
3. What assets, at a minimum, should be utilized in a landfall training op? Take into account what CIG will be releasing to us in 3.0 - the Ursa Rover, Dragonfly, and the Nox, as well as other ships.
   
   As a minimum, for this exercise, one connie & two hoplites. Six air crew, four initial assault marines with the rover, and six additional marines split between the two dropships - Giving three fireteams of three, and the capacity to extract teams in the eventuality of a lost ship.

 

[NKato]

Good responses, all. How do you think landfall operations will work out?

The important thing is to account for this maxim: "No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

 

[spectre44]

1. What specific objectives should be focused on for our first training op involving landfall? A) Rescue stranded ground forces with zero casualties. B) Insert and exfil ground recon forces undetected C) Successfully Escort cargo ship D) Take enemy cargo ship and commandeer back to base
   
   
2. How will these objectives achieved? (State the basic strategy and tactics available in said strategy. Detailed stuff comes much later.) A) 3 fighter pairs escort drop ship with spec ops ground unit to find, exfil stranded or pinned team members. 2 fighter pair over watch while drop ship with 1 fighter pair escort to pick up all ground team. B) small element 1 fighter pair + drop shop insert 2 spec ops ground units for long range recon. Pick up at predesignated time and location. C) 4 fighter pairs escort large cargo ship to and from cargo pick up location D) 1 bomber pair and 1 fighter pair create distraction while stealth insertion of ground forces + skilled cargo ship pilot to clear and capture cargo ship and return to our base escorted by fighters/bombers
   
   
3. What assets, at a minimum, should be utilized in a landfall training op? Take into account what CIG will be releasing to us in 3.0 - the Ursa Rover, Dragonfly, and the Nox, as well as other ships. Hoplites, Connies, Nox/Dragon fly, caterpillar, Freelancer, Super Hornets, Buccaneers, Cutlass, Wardens, and roll call on our best FPS Test Members
4. What methods of communications should be utilized? (Be sure to account for those who don't use microphones, or can't hear. Operations can succeed or fail on the actions of a single man, so this is fairly important.) At a minimum you should have voice comms to participate in an operation
   
   
5. What procedures should be generally followed for achieving the following sub-objectives of a landfall operation?
   1. Achieving Air Superiority 2 person wings, dedicated ground over watch units, destroy air units still on landing pads (assuming hostile but allow for some level of collateral damage)
   2. Providing Subsequent Ground Support Air strike team ready to respond to ground air support
   3. Achieving Ground Superiority Standard task loadouts, with sniper overwatch to soften security forces, perimeter setting, structure clearing, comms person to call in air strikes or extraction.
   4. Securing Objectives Code word to alert all units of secure objectives. Code word triggers pre-determined set of actions for all units to safely exit the combat area.
   5. Extraction/Escape No man left behind principle. All extractions and escapes should have contingency plan

Glad you got this thread going!

 

[FluffyVonRage]

A further point we'll need to look at is effective ground/air communications - calling in the correct asset and ensuring they have the right information to hit the right target - If we can get good at this, then we'll be well on the way to ensuring any threats don't become critical issues.