OP:SD AAR, I&S

[Oden]

Since there isn't one out for ACVT I'll make one. We'll do this in the Improve and Sustain format. For constructiveness you NEED to have atleast one of each. For fairness you don't need to have equal numbers of each. And please for the love of things if you want something improved, please put some details on how you would like to see it improved.

(I do mean to edit and elaborate on mine more later, I'm just jotting them down before I forget...ignore things in parenthesis. Things in color are probably fully elaborated, can do more on request)

Improves :

- CDWC
The fact that CDWC had a walk on game that delayed the Op is unacceptable and unprofessional. Now I'm not going to start pointing fingers at who is responsible, but the fact remains that the Op started a couple hours late. This leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth. There isn't much I can say on how to improve it due not knowing all the details

- More Admin Control
Factions should have been run by admins who set strict ROEs. People will complain that it may not seem legit, but all it takes is one person to act willy nilly and break character to ruin the experience for alot of other people. I was under the impression AMISOM was a policing force which was supposed to keep the peace, but everytime we encountered them on recon I felt like I was trying to walk into an area under martial law. Talking to them undercover felt more like an age of prohibition rather than an operation to win hearts and minds...maybe I was just misinformed.

- Location, location location
AMISOM should not have been based in Sim City, and instead at Rex. AMISOM should have had their own base outside of the Mog. This allows the Mog to be used for Villagers, Tribes, Traders, etc. During Sanctuary non-combatants and disguised combatants alike could pass by the base without harassment. I felt like having an entire city under lock down gave a sense of too much security (I felt more annoyed when we got attacked than scared)

- Friendly Forces
SOF and AQ should not have been Isaac. It may be fine to have AQ as a fake tribe, but both really should have actual tribes that are friendly to them. If anyone operated as a fake tribe it would immediately become known as it did when our people said they were from Isaac. We were even told that there were actual Isaac people but none were mentioned in the original op ords (we went to visit Hamburger Hill and no one was there...that should have set off some alarms in retrospect). I was honestly expecting more out of the recon phase then everyone getting killed/captured/searched because of aggressive ROEs and what feels more of a set up than bad intel.

- Farby (yes, that came from me)
This is minor but gear, camoflauge, and ammo restrictions should be emphasized. I realize that costs maybe prohibitive but it should atleast be encouraged to have a legit kit for your side. Coupled with the lack of strict ROEs it almost felt like a harsher weathered and smaller Fulda Gap.
Then again this barrier of investment is usually what keeps people dedicated to their impressions. There was a movement before that attempted to do Modsoft (modern airsoft, in comparison to Namsoft/vietnam airsoft) and it got shut down by the sheer amount of people who wanted to flaunt high speed gear and have others rub their egos rather than have a really awesome game. Without a shift of attitude away from "hey look at me" I don't think the majority of the player base will be ready for any kind of serious milsim (which is why I compared this to Fulda, and not Sanctuary)

Sustains :

- Technicals
While slightly dangerous (specifically that gator) they were an awesome addition and provided an aspect to gameplay that tanks could never have.

- Player Base
There was a huge turn out to this event, you could have done any scenario really. Awesome job on recruitment

- 24 hour operation
I know its not for everyone but it's definately a plus. You do need some admins to look over who gets tasked to do things and who gets rest.

- Admins
The Raptor 1 crew themselves are an absolute professional crew. It was always a joy to interact with them and whenever we needed help they were always there (even when we didn't ask, like helping us with the SAW box mag haha)

- Pre-Op Activities
Well you already know I enjoyed it But seriously it's good to let people do their homework. Plot developments through newscasts give depth and allows players to get more immersed.

[Frothy]

IMPROVES
More Direct Action
I feel that for a lot of teams this was their first thinking game. I'd say that you ought to slowly build up the concept of planning and recon over direct action over maybe 1 or 2 more operations. I, personally, did not empty a single mid-cap.

More Roleplaying
I know it may sound conflicting with the first point, but I felt a sharp decline in roleplaying as the night went on (props to RapTac roleplayers for keeping it up though).

Objectives versus Time
I felt that our team did not tackle any of the objectives. Following is the given list plus commentary after each **.
-Conduct covert surveillance and reconnaissance to establish PID of Abu Saif,Abu Saif Operational Cell, and Abu Saif base of operations. **Did not ID Abu Saif, did ID other HVT (Mohammad Mlipuko)
-Identify Abu Saif. **Did this from pre-ops. Only visual (personally) was on raid to specifically get him.
-Identify Abu Saif’s Operational Al-Qaeda Cell. **Complete.
-CAPTURE/KILL Abu Saif and his Operational Cell if possible. **Incomplete.
-DENY Al-Qaeda the ability to reestablish a Somali operational cell. **Incomplete, this objective would be hard to complete in just 24 hours, especially lacking the seriousness of roleplaying from teams and the lack of communication with AMISOM.
-DENY Al-Qaeda’s ability to reestablish Al Shabaab. **Incomplete, same as above.
A lot of time was spent going into the field assisting AMISOM which led to no reasonable time for TF Wolf to establish a set of sub-objectives to get some of these done. Had no time to mark maps and even do planning before movements.

Team Spirit/ Integrity
Definitely felt like Mogadishu was being protected by a skeleton crew from ~2:00-5:00 (or later, I was asleep). TF Wolf was doing perimeter security instead of kinetic strikes which could have altered the game. Where AMISOM was, I have no clue. There was also a lack of communication between AMISOM and TFW. I only saw AMISOM talk to us when they wanted bodies for DA strikes.

Pyro
EDIT: Been clarified. More explosions next time (I know, noise ordinance).

Start Time
Make it earlier so that teams have more daylight to act in. For TF Wolf, there was no way we could do photographing in the dark without sticking out like a sore thumb and realistically, no AMISOM commander is going the take the word of an American Special Forces guy that the HVT is in country just on their word alone. Bummed out that we got rolled back so long due to the paintballers.

Causality Cards
Laminate that stuff. Give out more white than red. I felt like OPFOR or teams too far away from base just got up and left instead of following bleed out times. This gives the opposing team no chance at hostage taking/ interrogation. Simplify wording on the cards, personally had a headshot wound that seemed open ended, as I had no bleed out time, but only a stabilization time and I could not decipher the difference between helmet and not helmet.

Location
Try a location no one knows. Make people stay on their feet and move more cautiously. This would also help with the overall pace of gameplay and emphasize recon.

SUSTAINS
Open Ended Objectives
Make me think before an Operation and during it. I liked that part. Pre-ops was definitely fun and I can tell you I was 4 for 4 on IDing teams coming and their affiliations (not specific tribes, no one posted that). The faulty intel should be more emphasized for teams with greater firepower (the only 2 things I noticed was 1. A wrong name for weapons dealer and 2. The tribe Issaq fiasco)

24 Hours
First time, don't want it to be my last time.

Vehicles
Added more flexibility to the game. I noticed that no admins were riding shotgun and that speed limit was driver's decision.

Causality Cards
First time with them, thought they added some excitement to the game instead of just getting shot and returning to a spawn. Might want to consider having ones (if already not in place) for ones on whether or not someone is wearing plates or not.

[Prophet]

Improves:
1. I need to start a tactical practice for the most hardcore people in the group. Our group was large enough that our usual skirmish tactics were not effective. We play pretty well as small 4-5 man teams but not as a task force. Problems were increased by the presence of final exams and end of semester work, followed by people going home for break right up till the game. (unavoidable but maybe we could have met for a t least a day or two of solid runthrough before the actual event.)
2. We were there with sufficient time and ready to go at the proper time. Other teams seemed to drag it out a bit so we started the game at nightfall. This made things very difficult as we were set loose to gather intel in a pitch black environment with hostile forces in every direction. There was little ability to move without being accosted by one faction or other. Having a tribe at OP Alpha may have been a mistake as it prevented anyone from getting to a safe observable position. If OP alpha was empty and tribes were more in the hamburger hill area and periphery of CDWC there would have been more opportunity for snoop and poop. Since there were people in Alpha, OP Alpha and Bravo, it made it difficult to access the rest of the field without running through someone for the intel phase. Having to sneak up on tribes from an open field is a challenge to be sure haha.
3. I believe NVDs should have been restricted to AQ, AMISOM, and TFW. Somali tribes would not have access to the high dollar items like this. We were also supposed to have drone support. Not sure what happened to that.
4. All tribes were openly hostile. If there could have been at least one tribe we could ally with who was a recognized tribe it would have allowed us to pay them and help us get intel by interacting with some of the other tribes for us, acting as forward scouts etc. Might have been a cool element.
5. What happened to AMISOM? We ended up spending much of the night in shifts guarding Moga when AMISOM should have been there. We should have been moving out and trying to scavenge our reconnaisance of HVTs. I feel that too many people left to go to the parking lot to sleep. A certain amount of people should be allowed to do that (drivers, people who are experiencing hypothermia symptoms) but we kept 80%+ of our members on the field.
6. It was a failure on the part of some of our members to admit they were U.S. When confronted they should have stuck to the story. " Look we can show you our village, we can go there" " American? I was BORN here! Somalia is my country too! Fuck the Infidels!" During intel phase we were invincible because of instant respawn. I would have tried to run away screaming "ALLAH save me from these crazy people!"and got shot in the process. Would have kept the story intact that we were scared villagers. Then respawn and go somewhere else.
7. Comms with AMISOM were non-existent. I tried multiple times on all their channels to communicate but never once got a response.
8. Time. This event really could have been implemented as a two day OP (full 48 hours) There was so much to accomplish I felt rushed to gather intel so that the game could move forward. But it was so hard to implement that because of the darkness and clustering of tribes as mentioned previously.
9. Casualty cards. Plenty of red cards but white was in short supply. I love the casualty cards and felt they were instrumental in the fun at OP Sanc. But the white ones were already wet and bleeding by the time I got them and I couldn’t read what I had. May be unavoidable because I know lamination is not cheap! Seemed like some people were acting like they didn’t exist and would start walking away when hit instead of taking the casualty. I wonder if they sat out until respawn time as well. For my people who were unable to find a white card I told them to take a high number. 5 minute stabilize and 5 minute hands on time from a medic. Maybe have a laminated card that comes with front and back, one for IED, one for bullet wounds and just have numbers printed on the bandages in permanent marker ex. B5/I4. People go back to respawn and roll up their bandage and put it back, then pick another one with the number rolled up inside. The numbers correspond to Bullet or IED injuries on the cards. The cards are issued as part of players packet and can be used from event to event. Charge a few bucks extra for the event and the players get their event patch when they turn the cards back in.

Sustains:
Misinformation and Information: It was really cool to try and sift through all the intel before the event. Maintaing OPSEC while trying to get others to break theirs was a LOT of fun. I loved getting a phone call from someone the day before the event saying they were interested in joining our club lol. I give credit to our intelligence officers and their ability to root out information and obtain info on all the HVTs including names, callsigns and several pictures of each. We were also able to find out who several of the teams would be before the event. (Juggernaut as AMISOM, Valhalla as AMISOM, TGAG as native, Iron tigers as native...)
2. Pyro and blankfire: Loved it. Wish there was no noise ordinance as anyone at OP sanc will tell you it was sooooo damn awesome. I know the next RAPTAC event will have a location not so prissy so don't miss out on that. Seeing EOD blow a weapons cache with 8 foot high flames is something to behold.
3. Vehicles. We brought a technical and others brought vehicles too. Makes a game more immersive.
4. Cash money. A cool additive for the event. If the tribes were less hostile we may have had more to spend on.
5. Limiting guns and magazines for tribes. A brilliant idea and gave them some interesting gameplay decisions.
6. The rain. How Raptac managed to bribe God for rain is beyond me but it definitely added to the misery/fun.
7.Immersion. Raptac events are always about immersion. These guys put so much effort into the event planning it is hard to believe that this is only their second event! An 18 page mission brief is just so awesome, the FB groups were a great tool and intel updates made me really feel like this was happening in real time. Just on a level that goes above and beyond!
8. Ability to adapt. Wrenches got thrown into the machinery right away and Raptac admins were there not to place blame but to adjust the scenario so that it would continue to move the story along. That is something a lot of other groups would be unable to do. I realize that the endgame was far different than was anticipated butthat is a kudo to Raptac. You guys made it fun even when it was different than you wanted it to be. That is a great mark of respect to you guys.
9. The scenario itself. Ashley, you are a boss. The whole set up for the OP played out like a well written movie. I really felt that the scenario was believable and could really happen. It was a story that made complete sense and was a recipe for a great OP. Much props for the time put into developing that.
that's all for now, more to follow!

[Dragoncaptin]

Improves:
Better starting intel: In a game this complicated I felt like TFW kinda got screwed on the intel part. (it may have had something to do with roleplaying but that’s another topic). I felt like going into it I had no idea who might be friendly and who wouldn’t be. That made basically every interaction with the tribes a ‘lets get the hell outta here since they have guns and we don’t’ kinda moment. Kinda ruins the whole idea of gathering intel. I feel like if the goal is to imitate real world situations then intel would be set up so that it would be easier to gather (CIA contacts to make, meets already set up, possibly a tribe that knows were coming and is willing to help if were capable of facilitating that)

Roleplaying: this one is kinda hard to stress but I felt that no one really got into the role of somalians ever. People were breaking the ‘fourth wall’ all over the place (like when our guys got captured right off the bat and immediately started asking if we were americans). Why were the tribes so hostel to everything that moved? I feel like real world they would have been more accepting to other civilians and maybe that happens with pre game intel or maybe it’s simply human nature and unavoidable but it kinda made it less fun. I know at previous milsim games as indigs we were given a 45 minute talk before hand on how we should react if we were really Al Qaeda. Maybe that’s something that should be given out as part of mission packets pre-game to get people into the mindset.

Pacing: I felt like the game was entirely front loaded. The game basically came to a stop around 2 am which kinda sucked. We stopped receiving intel so we didn know what to do. We tried to run our own missions and got stopped cuz people were sleeping without eyepro. I felt like there was absolutely no reason to stay up. At sanc we were getting bombed all night (I know noise ordnance) but we were also running missions at 4 am. I felt like everytime we got back to rex during sanc that command was like ‘ok ready to go again?’ Maybe you wanted to give us more freedom but I know personally I felt completely lost the entire game as to what I was supposed to be doing.

Sustains:
Technical: Was honestly concerned at first that driving a vehicle was gonna limit my fun since I wouldn’t be shooting people but no that didn’t happen. Technical needs to be rebuilt better and I must have MOUT kit for it so I can get out and still be armed. Though I would have appreciated knowing that the 5mph rule had been sustained, but whatever.

DA: I felt like the few missions we ran as DA were absolutely fantastic. Fighting at night is intense and amazing and I loved every minute of it.

Recon phase: As short as it was I really enjoyed it and I think with some technical tweaks and modifications it can be a fantastic addition to any milsim game.

Explosions: I know they were limited by the noise ordnance but what we got I really enjoyed. The RS guns going off randomly scared the hell outta me the first two or three times and really add a lot to a firefight. Plus getting blown up by an tripwire mine is freaking awesome! If completely pants shitingly scary.

[Dutch]

Improves

Start Time- I know the paintballers played a role in this and other teams slacking off didn’t help, but with the intelligence we were expected to gather we needed an opportunity to operate in the daylight. Gathering the kind of intel we needed was almost impossible at night.

ACVT as a whole- Our cover got blown WAY too fast. I don’t know how that happened exactly as the recon team was not involved with whatever fiasco took place. But even if the other groups figured out that ACVT was there, who cares? Yeah ACVT is here, we’re playing a bunch of meandering villagers just dicking around. There is no one they should have figured out we were a tier one unit unless someone was running their mouth, unacceptable. Also there needs to be some kind of tactical training with the group as a whole. That way when our more experienced players are shot everyone else knows what to do. On the mission to rescue the AMISOM HVTs we experienced some friendly fire, which happens, but everyone got way too bogged down. Aggression is your friend. I was extremely embarrassed several times over the event at the showing we put on as a club.

AMISOM- I don’t even know what to say about these guys. They were pretty much non-existent during the late hours. TF Wolf had to pull base security at several points because the AMISOM forces were nowhere to be found. We were unable to do the tasks we wanted to do because if we left Mogadishu the base would have literally be left unguarded completely. And getting your WHOLE COMMAND STRUCTURE get captured? Wtf? I was extremely disappointed in that group as a whole.

I also ran into problem a couple times of people not taking their hits as they were suppose to. Not that they weren’t calling their hits, but rather they would call hit, stand up, and walk back. Which is not what you are supposed to do in an event you are hit. I don’t know who they were but they clearly didn’t understand the rules.

Mogadishu- Having Mogadishu be an actual Market would have been pretty cool as well. I didn’t like how it was a locked down compound for AMISOM. Through all the game info it was made out that the city was a large marketplace with one of the tribes living/working within. This was not the case in the game itself. We walked into Mogadishu twice as the recon team in civies and were immediately held at gunpoint, searched, and sent off, no opportunities to just hang out. That isn’t how the capital city should have been run.

Noise Ordinances- Nothing could really be done about that, but I hated it. I felt like it really took a lot away from the game not having explosions rocking us all night.

Casualty Cards- There was one white casualty card left by the time I went to get one, and the rain had gotten to it before me. The ink had run and it couldn’t be read. I felt like I handled not having one pretty well, like Sean said, we stuck with a basic bleed out/hands on time and followed them. But running out of casualty cards shouldn’t happen.


Sustains

Intelligence/False Intelligence- One of the biggest parts of the game was gathering intelligence and deciphering possible false intel. This was a lot of fun to deal with and I really enjoyed it.

Pyro- Loved the explosions and blank fire, really makes you feel immersed.

RAPTAC- Love these guys. Always put on a great game and are always extremely professional. Any game I get the opportunity to go to run by them I will always be ready and willing.

Vehicles- Loved being able to insert and fire out of our own moving vehicle.

Pre-event planning- Mission packets were awesome, the news clips, classified memos, intelligence reports all were a fantastic part of the event.

Cash- Added a new element I had never dealt with before in a game but thought it was great. People actually seemed to care about wanting the cash too which helped.

Magazine restrictions on tribes- Great idea, I can’t comment on how well it worked since it didn’t effect me, but it is a fantastic idea to level the playing field between small Somali tribes and larger forces.


I’ll add more as they come to me.

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