3 Commando Brigade

Larger scale COOP's - unit structure?

With the demand for more capacity in our coop Operations, I'm looking at doing some testing.

The first thing that comes to mind when creating the mission; what is the best unit structure to use?

For realism, I believe it should be:

Close Combat Troop (32 men), consisting of:
- HQ (3 men; Hotel)
- 3 Close Combat Sections (8 men each; Alpha, Bravo, Charlie)
- 1 Maneuver Support Section (5 men; Delta?)

On top of that we simulate the CHF with a few pilots.

I am aware that the Brigade fields varying unit strength depending on tasking, but the structure above seems to reflect the consensus opinion for most common deployments.

This gives us an upper limit of 34'ish men (assuming 2 pilots). It looks like we have demand for perhaps 35-40 now and this may increase as we grow.

Two questions:

1. How can we expand our COOP mission unit structure beyond the 32 Troop and 2+ Pilots described above?
Personally I would like us to keep the structure as realistic as possible.
Should we add all of the 2nd Troop (32) + Company HQ (2+) making 66+ slots available!? 
How would we fill this structure with 'only', say, 40 players?
(I'm assuming technical issues such as server load and max slot capacity are not limitations or can be overcome, for purposes of this discussion)

2. What is the best composition of the Maneuver Support Section, if it is 5 men?
I read on the internet that this Section typically consists of 1 x Sniper Rifle, 1 x GPMG and 1 x 51mm Mortar.
Presumably the other two men are commander / loader / spotter / assistant MG?
SerJames had ideas here: https://www.3commandobrigade.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=1569&start=10What is the Section's call-sign? Delta?
Ideally suggest weapon/ammo loadout with your role description (even better weapon class-names!!).

Suggestions welcome!

Loving the idea Apollo.

I think we should by default look to add flexibility for two Troops now.

The Support section could be determined by the scenario. MG team as preference with the option of the mortar squad or heavy weapon squad as you suggest.

SJ

Q1: Although I have no objection to experimenting with this, I think the 32 man Troop (+ pilots) that you suggested should be our max player count (give or take) for now. As you said, what happens if we create an op with 66 expected players and 'only' 40 show up. I'm not sure if we are 100% ready yet to make that next step - last week was the first time (in a long time) that we reached those sort of attendance numbers. Perhaps wait just that bit more until we know for certain what number of players we're almost guaranteed to have at ops.

What are other peoples thoughts on this?

"build it and they will come...."

But I accept that a 60+ man mission would need to be different to a 30+ man mission.

My thoughts are;  we had to reject people last week and I suspect we will again tonight - that's not really Cricket.

Introducing the "support element" Delta or whatever would be the simple bridge for this - allows a discretionary 5-10 additional places (that in all honesty will NOT break any mission) it's not like we load balance based on kills per player or max AI per player or anything ?

They turn up un-signed or late they get to lug around Mortars, MG's or Drive support Ammo or medical trucks. Seems fair enough to me and they will still have fun and be part of a the larger op.

I know for a fact that certain players will ONLY engage in these ops if they are given the option of these strategic support roles, e.g. Kreah and Hara - if I remember right they only really liked running the mortar ow / logistics roles and not street fighting - kudo to them CQB or run and gun really isn't for everyone.

I think it gives more realism, Allows greater immersion from a Command Hotel perspective (where do I call in mortars, do I risk a re-supply run through the centre of town ?)

Means we don't have to lug around an unrealistic 200kg or ammo - challenging SC and FTL to ration and portion their advancement based on ammo capacity - until re-supply.

Additional Sections could then be added as we say got into 50 players.

Then the full 2 troop as needed.

M2c


Oh and GET HC WORKING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! will solve 90% of the worry over Server issues




SJ

The HC is working - just needs to be added to the game CP for extra control. It's up to the mission makers now to incorporate HC (perhaps we should start spreading that guide James?).

I like the idea of a support element. We need to gradually build up our op size using added elements such as this - helps bridge the gap without major consequences.

batz you on the schnapps early or what !!??



SJ

hahahaha Batz, priceless

Jamie, understand where you're coming from, growth needs to be managed carefully. So I'll do two things. 1) experiment with 2 Troops to see what happens, 2) propose change to unit template with 1 Troop including Support Section of 5-8 men (32-35 + pilots) following SJ's suggestion, for mission makers to employ in near future.

Let's concentrate on what a "standard" support section template looks like then.

5 man:
 Section Leader / Asst. MG
 Machine Gunner
 Mortar
 Asst. Mortar
 Sniper

6 man:
 + Spotter?

7-8 man:
 + Ammo Bearer?
 + Medic?

How does this operate?
Do they stick together as a team?
Which Mortar? Mk6 seems to be 80mm? Is there a 51mm mortar in our 3CB mod list?
Is the MG effective when positioned at mortar ranges?
Which MG (choose from vanilla / our prerequisite mods only)
Does the sniper sneak off on his own or support with the section?
Does the sniper need a spotter to be effective?
Does this work if they're on foot? (e.g. can mortar deploy with 2 men?)
Is there a standard NATO machine gunner class (can't see it in the Editor unless it's the Mk30)?

Thanks for the ideas all. Keep them coming.

Any one with real life experience of 3 Commando want to chip in too?
Still wanting to keep it 'real' as far as possible - I believe the 5 man support section is what actually happens, but can't find details about composition or operation method.

Go ahead build it when Arma 3 finally gets all that  vehicles you mentioned at the end ;p

Infantry transport - Marshall or the AFV-4
Fire support - Blackfoot
Air support (rotary-wing)  - Wildcat
Air support (fixed-wing) - FA18

It already does, and that's without all the vehicles that are about to be ported over from Arma 2