Afghanistan '11: "Counter-insurgency is the graduate-level of war."
- Thread starter Apocal
- Start date
- PC
-
- Tags
- strategy afghanistan wargame
Dream Logic
An offseason swallow
- Location
- In transit
There needs to be at least one that's vaguely passive aggressive. Towards the world.
As it turns out, the villagers of Sangin don't fucking like me very much. Between the Pashtun flags (indicating that the villagers aren't quite outright Taliban, but still spit in my general direction) and the handful of booby-traps my infantrymen known as the Lewd Battalion manage to undercover (via mineclearing, not the hard way), I'm thinking they aren't thrilled with their new neighbors from way on out. So it goes. This is generally the phase where you have to take pages from the playbook of decidedly less-civilized men:
"Conquering the world on horseback is easy; it is dismounting and governing that is hard." -- Genghis Khan
"Let them hate, so long as they fear." -- Lucius Accius
"I want his heart! I want to eat his children! Praise be to Allah!" -- 'Iron' Mike Tyson
That's when I remembered the objective is winning hearts and minds, not eating them, with due apologies to the former heavyweight champion. So I move my construction engineers of Bear Force 2 down to build a road that connects the village to the region's highway and a waterworks to ensure that they plenty of water in their riverside village (hurr).
Then, having measurably improved life for the village, I immediately think of how to keep this good thing going. Thankfully, I am allowed to place a combat outpost (a small base also known as a COP) nearby. Ironically enough, as Bear Force 2 builds the base, they set off an IED the villagers of Sangin "forgot" to mention when I visited. Thankfully, there are no casualties.
At the same time, MRAP Freestyle and Lewd Battalion roll on down to another village further south on the highway, called Tulak. They also don't like Americans much, having put Pashtun flag and a pair of booby-traps around the village to proudly show it. But both traps are disarmed without much ado, an action which -- unlike clearing IEDs off the roads -- garners no goodwill. After all, the villagers themselves left those gifts for us to "find" in a considerably more entertaining manner than with our clearing gear. Not today though, fuckers, so long and thanks for all the absolute nothing.
Having gotten to know our very frowny neighbors, I decide to send MRAP Freestyle back to base. Unfortunately, I also sent poaw's bumper car, my route clearance package (it takes IEDs off the roads safely) further south on the highway. That meant the trip back was punctuated by an explosion on the highway bridge across the river. The first American casualties.
They will not be the last.
I was actually unlucky to have taken casualties at all though; American MRAPs have a roughly sixty percent chance to shrug off IEDs and, as a feature I never intentionally utilize, are the only vehicle capable of being destroyed without also killing their passengers. But I should have expected the blast: the Taliban love to put IEDs on bridges as much as fat kids love cake. Lesson learned once more.
The second lesson of the first few turns is this: the enemy gets a vote. In this case, they vetoed the idea of Sangin having a functioning waterworks, sending a militia force from one of their mountain tunnels to death it a frightful blow.
Of course, I thought this was highly confusing: with Bear Force 2 operating out of my newly-built COP, they were less than one turn away from being able to repair the waterworks. It would be nothing more than a simple Sunday drive and then --
As Bear Force 2 rolled out, they were hit by a Taliban ambush. As the professional hunter Muldoon said before having his face ripped apart by raptors, "Clever girl." Once again, Bear Force 2 caught a lucky-break: no casualties, whew. The Taliban quickly broke contact and headed east. But not far enough east to be out of observation range of the COP. I called down my Apache attack helo -- Afgani Death Blossom -- to freedom the fuck out of those turds before they could cause me more trouble.
Apaches work as advertised. Better than advertised, as additional militia and Taliban forces are interdicted as they moved between my COP and my big Forward Operating Base. Here is the highlight reel of dudes dumb enough to just loiter in the area where I enforce the rules with Hellfires and 155mm artillery.
In the first, a militia group quite fucking brazenly ran out in front of my FOB, more or less the equivalent of running in front a pack of wolves wearing a sweater made out of meat. In the middle picture, these were very likely the clever gents who laid an IED on the bridge eating a rotary-wing rocket flurry for their trouble. And the bottom picture is the survivors of said group, having fled northerly to avoid low-ground (where artillery is more likely to ravage them) while a surveillance drone (no armed drones in the game) calls down a JDAM on their heads. And yes, you can see the faint outline of my political point increase I received for blowing them the hell up in the middle and bottom pictures. As morbid as it is, and as much as people say we don't measure victory by body count any longer, there was still the lingering presence of "killing bad guys is good for business" so it remains pretty well true to the spirit of late-model counterinsurgency.
It also demonstrates to villagers *unzip* exactly who is the Big Dick on campus around these parts. *zip after an uncomfortably long period of time*
Having demonstrated the full girth of American commitment, I cap things off by sending Bear Force 2 to repair the waterworks, then even further south to construct a second COP, this one next to the village of Taluk. While at the same time, MRAP Freestyle and Lewd Battalion check out the nearest village in the north -- same story as the other two -- before heading back to base. All this happens without enemy interference, making it a good stopping point.
Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
- Location
- Austria
- Pronouns
- He/Him
If people did not want to have their hearts eaten, they wouldn't be delicious. However, they are delicious, therefore they want their hearts to be eaten.
Trust me, I follow the Tao of Wrex.
Buffaloes are tough rides, but yes, quite lucky. Taliban ambushes don't fail much. Particularly not the planned vehicle ambushes.
It is possible, just not likely. And even if they did, it wouldn't stay that way as Taliban/militia intimidation squads paid them a visit. My counterplay to that is delivering UN aid, to a point, improving their economic situation or killing he intimidation squads. Eventually they'll hoist the flag of Afghanistan, at which point they'll stop leaving "surprises" for me around the village and prevent Taliban -- but not militia -- from operating out of nearby mountain cave networks.
Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
What's the big difference between the Taliban and militia?
And what's the heart, number and Pashtun Flag that's sometimes at the top of the screen represent?
And what's the heart, number and Pashtun Flag that's sometimes at the top of the screen represent?
Taliban enter the map from the east or from the mountain caves of Taliban affiliated villages. They are better armed, more-skilled and can take two hits before being killed, except by airstrikes. They are persistent and stick around after accomplishing their missions, generally as an mountain ambush force of some kind, until the next offensive. Then they add weight to the push in any number of ways. If given enough funding through opium sales, they'll come with technicals for added firepower.
Militia in comparison, are garbage. Albeit occasionally useful garbage, since it is called a trash can, rather than a trash cannot. They basically go from the mountain to their objective and disperse upon completion. They also disperse after any combat action, even if they win. The main advantage they have is that they are free for the insurgency, with a few spawning every turn, doing their business and dispersing. As far as I know, they are the only units that plant opium fields.
The average Hearts and Minds (H&M) rating for the region. The Pashtun flag is a quick barometer, though it can be wildly inaccurate later in the game when dealing with individual villages. Such as if I get five rabidly pro-American villages, see a Afghan national flag at top then walk into a Taliban stronghold...
Dirtnap
Kanmusu Affecionado
"You see, Hassan. We put this flag up -"
"But it is flag of infidels and heretics!"
"SHUT UP AND LET FINISH. *Ahem* We put flag up, filthy westerners come, we kill them because they think we are infidels."
"Oh. That is smart idea, Fariq."
Great idea, since I really need a second group of nominally military men with questionable field hygiene in order to properly build up my ANA into a force to be reckoned with. I also need a supply truck to keep the steady supply of essentials (toilet paper, energy drinks, dip and ammunition -- in that order) flowing to my ever-increasing network of bases as they come to stretch out along the southern expanse of highway. And so the new special forces ODA HK416 is Bae arrives in-country, along with a confiscated flatbed with MEALS ON WHEELS hastily written in black spray paint on the side. That costs me a bit of hard-earned American will, but I can afford it after the last three or four turns of beating up the local militia boys and occasional Taliban cell with artillery, attack helos and air strikes.
The issue confronting me, however, is that team is not on my side. Very soon -- I don't know exactly when -- there will be an election and while beating up the anti-government assholes wins me some goodwill, I can't guarantee it will be enough to save a good man's high chair in the halls of power.
While contemplating various schemes to make the fine people of Afghanistan more amenable to my choice candidate, a plucky group of would-be militia heroes decided to come strolling out of their mountain-top cave and walk right in front of my headquarters FOB like they owned the place or something. I don't know what the hell they were thinking or what they could have possibly been planning (certainly something nefarious, probably emplacing IEDs outside the main gate or similar shenanigans) but it was just the sort of audacious move I couldn't possibly let stand. So I let them have it. High Explosive > High Elvish
Get off my lawn.
And now I know where at least one cave is located, a key piece of information I am absolutely going to use when it comes time to start setting up Special Forces listening posts in order to rack up goodwill and demonstrate *unzip* that my will to win is bigger than they can fathom. *zip while never breaking eye contact*
But back to the matter of making villagers love me. Bear Force 2, being rather under-employed at Bravo Base, is sent down south to build a waterworks at another village. That doesn't quite make them love me, although it moves the scales a bit. But I need big wins, not little shifts. With my newly confiscated supply asset in hand, I take the easy way of generating positive vibes: UN aid. The stuff is basically free and limitless, although restricted in availability (for loading) to my headquarters FOB. Apparently there is just a huge fucking pile of it, waiting to the be distributed once the security situation is in hand. Story of an NGO's life, right there. Anyway, I arrange a pseudo-convoy of sorts. poaw's bumper car in the lead to clear IEDs and trigger any ambushes, MRAP Freestyle hauling Lewd Platoon to follow in case of contact with a Taliban ambush and finally Meals on Wheels. The trip is uneventful, other than the customary IED left on the bridge, and I'm able to drop off the aid without any drama.
There are immediate results.
They like me! They really like me!
My first inkblot. It isn't quite perfect -- the area is so dangerous and littered with booby traps and IEDs that I don't dare leave Meals on Wheels or poaw's bumper car on the highway, electing instead for them to fort-up at Bravo base before the return leg to my headquarters FOB -- but it is a start. From here on, things will go faster, as I seek to overturn the quill and cover the page -- at least the highway-connected southern portion -- with a mess of Stygian liquid. Given my previous metaphors for commitment, you're all probably really glad I chose ink rather than another fluid to represent victory, right? Right?! But there is no time to hang on uncomfortable implications for the End Times are Near.
It is election season in Afghanistan.
The synopsis: the current President of Afghanistan is neither incompetent nor a disloyal turd burger. This is the exception, rather than the rule around these parts. That means it is quite literally in my very, very best interests that he remain President. The other two men range from merely stupid to be almost-certainly actively in league with the Taliban. The way elections work is on the perception of improvement plus a bit of bribery with my political points to help smooth things along. Basically, you don't necessarily have to be winning to give your chosen candidate a boost, but you do need to be showing a constant upturn. However that cuts both ways; it is not possibly to simply skyrocket your Hearts and Minds via bum-rushing aid convoys (for example) then forting up and riding out the positive perception. If the Taliban can make it trend downwards, they will discredit you and your fortunes at the voting booth will make for an excellent blues number.
All eyes are on my little slice of Afghanistan when it comes to influencing the election. No pressure, right?
But what about the candidates? I don't want to write an essay or anything, so I'll just stick to the worst of the lot, the man on the far right (heh). His positions on the issues and their likely effects on my counterinsurgency campaign.
1) Raising ANA training time by two turns. Through malfeasance, he stonewalls the building-process for new ANA units, resulting in a delay. That means ten turns to train up another squadron of Mi-8s, five turns for each infantry toli (company equivalent) and such. That's enough time added that there is no way for me to train up a complete roster of ANA (helos, arty, ASVs and three tolis per COP) before the politically-mandated withdrawal of American forces on turn 45. The limited number of infantry mean there is less opportunity to build them up into ANA Special Forces capable of training new units, potentially leading to a situation where I have to fight with one arm behind my back and no prospective of increasing numbers, ever.
2) Increasing the political cost of moving units around. Basically, this dude hates America and hates Americans and wants nothing more than to extract every bit of flesh he can for even doing the most innocuous of actions. One vehicle for this is simply limiting access to infrastructure throughout the region, meaning we have to (for example) haul in supplies better bought off the local market or denied permission to use local contractors, along with being forced to submit detailed reports on so much as a foot patrol. All that comes out to increasing the cost (in PPs) of doing anything. 2 PP extra doesn't seem like much, but it means launching a sophisticated operation (such as setting up a far-flung COP in an active Taliban stronghold) will absolutely drain my reserves of political capital, leaving nothing in the bank for the inevitable casualties. Negative PP is bad, very bad, because it means anti-war protests back home in the US.
3) Corruption eating in my political income. Basically, this is a constant, even with otherwise good candidates to the point where -100 I don't even care. -200 or so is annoying, but very much livable. But this guy, this fucking guy here, he is off the goddamned chain. The absurd degree of corruption, -750 points per turn, is essentially eating the entire benefit of three and a half villages worth of waterworks. That goes beyond Afghanistan's usual graft and into the realm of his distant cousin's third son snorting coke off the bustline of a European supermodel while on a luxury yacht as it does donuts around the French Riviera with champagne filling the toilet bowl. Just this guy being in office without any other misfortune striking, will lead to anti-war protests within twelve turns of his election. That's how utterly bad it is.
4) And of course, since no one trusts this guy is actually on our side, villagers are much more reluctant to share intel. Without getting it from villages, my sole source of actionable intelligence becomes either infantry/SF beating the hills (which eats up PP and requires a heavy supply commitment) to spot things, drones (which escalate in price) or killing/capturing Taliban and thereby gaining access to their cellphones, SIM cards, etc. But that means having units on hand, which is politically expensive or takes time (in the case of the ANA). Oops.
So to sum things up, this weasel sitting in office would be an absolute disaster from the start and I would have to go into immediate crisis management mode instead of focusing on building up the ANA to the point where they can brawl the Taliban themselves once the Americans withdraw. I literally dump 40% of my available political capital into making sure my guy gets elected and being considering prayer. Naturally, this encourages the Taliban to go on the offensive in an effort to, quite frankly, make me look bad on TV.
Quickly, I move MRAP Freestyle's sick rhymes and Lewd Platoon's stash of pornography down to Charlie Base, my furthest flung and most vulnerable COP in anticipation of attacks on my bases. I wait a turn. Then another turn. No Taliban movement noted in the area. In fact, no Taliban movement seen at all. Huh? Turns out the Taliban are rather timid after ten turns of harsh handling by my drones, artillery, air strikes and attack helicopters and seek refuge in a relatively safe campaign of laying IEDs all over the highway. Fortunately, it essentially backfires on them: I initiate OPERATION FOUR DIE LANDY and send poaw's bumper car north to clear the highway as part of my regularly scheduled security sweeps, ahead of my forces' move back north. It detonates no less than five IEDs in a row, to the cheers of the villagers of Vali, who use that stretch of highway and don't like it being strewn with IEDs anymore than I do and for much the same reason. MRAP Freestyle and Lewd Platoon come up from the south, taking the underused dirt road into Vali, where the villagers greet us with hamburgers, excessive clapping and a weeping bald eagle. The Taliban's effort to make my life miserable has instead handed me what amounts to a free win.
The very next turn, I dispatch Meals on Wheels once more with UN aid from my warehouse of the stuff and make the village of Tulak in the south love me too.
Beep, beep, I'm an aid truck.
OPERATION FOUR DIE LANDY is a great success due in no part whatsoever to my skill or foresight, which, as we all know, is the best kind of success there is! That's three villages now, one of them courtesy of a really bad Taliban strategy for offensive operations during the election season. The political capital gained from clearing IEDs also rebuilds my stocks after spending forty percent influencing the elections. Huehuehuehue, smugeagle.jpg, etc.
In other news, my first toli has been trained and, joined by a second toli, launches a successful series of ambushes on a Taliban intimidation squad. Get off my lawn.
However the electoral process is long in Afghanistan and turns continue to pass with nothing much to note, not a good thing when it comes to politics. People have the memory of goldfish and a two-turn reversal of fortune can cost you an election. It doesn't always happen, but it makes me want to tip over a coke machine whenever it does happen. But first, some good news.
Drone costs decrease to the point of being literally free, hahaha. Normally costs for supporting assets, like surveillance drones, some airstrikes and C-130 cargo drops, escalate with each use; the first is 200, next is 300, etc. to encourage players to limit deployment but still offer the ability for continuous operations when necessary without ridiculous penalties. I was just up to about 400 and now, thanks to good press, the cost is back down to zero. The Eye of Sauron opens once more.
Then, after six turns of nail-biting and wait, the election results are in... and our man remains HNIC of Afghanistan.
After that, only two turns later, this pops up on my news feed. I had nothing to do with it, but I'll take the win anyway. I'd like to imagine it was Manchurian Candidate who ate a JDAM for breakfast.
Finally, the situation after twenty turns:
Dirtnap
Kanmusu Affecionado
Bruh. I haven't seen this acronym since my time in the Corps. Fucking dying over here.
- Location
- Australia
Hurrah for Abdur Raheem Malak! Not the man Afghanistan wanted, but the one who is going to save their arses!
- Location
- The Hague
- Pronouns
- He/Him
As we speak, Apocal is preparing to appear on an aircraft carrier with a certain banner ...
After that, only two turns later, this pops up on my news feed. I had nothing to do with it, but I'll take the win anyway. I'd like to imagine it was Manchurian Candidate who ate a JDAM for breakfast.
"Spleen points also increased due to finding parts of that organ on the pavement."
I assume robot assassins going and killing important members of the resistance is a random event that you can't influence? There's no like, dedicated HVT assassination ops you can run or anything?
mothematics
How wide is the concept of "you"?
- Location
- the bottom of a coffee cup
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Glorious. Followed.
What does it mean?
Iandude0
BEST RANGER
- Location
- Milwaukee
My google-fu tells me it's "Head N***** in charge."
Also, love how things are going so far. Hope your fortune holds!
Karlito
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
Heads up for anyone interested in this game, a large update just dropped and it's on sale as well.