Ghost Recon (Original) Eager Smoke

Tbilisi, Georgia April 24, 2008 02:15: Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, the “Ghosts” are deployed to the South Ossetian Autonomous Region to assist the government of Georgia in dealing with rebel forces operating on their border with Russia. In this mission the Navy has been flying sorties against rebel positions from its carrier battle group in the Black Sea.

Last evening the rebels managed to shoot down one of the F/A-18 Hornet strike aircraft and capture both the pilot and weapons officer who managed to bail out. The mission briefing goes into some detail as to where they are being held, a farmhouse that is near the crash site. The primary mission is to rescue both the pilot and the weapons officer and escort them to the extraction zone.

Ghost Recon (Original) Iron Dragon

Tbilisi, Georgia April 16, 2008 05:45: Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, the “Ghosts” are deployed to the South Ossetian Autonomous Region to assist the government of Georgia in dealing with rebel forces operating on their border with Russia. Washington feels that the hostile engagement by the Ossetia forces is a proxy war being conducted from Moscow, if for no other reason than an excuse to step in as “peacekeepers” and annex the whole area.

In an effort to cut the head off of the beast and their puppet rebel force, the Ghosts are tasked to raid a base of operations in the Caucasus Mountains and capture a rebel leader by the name of Bakur Papashvili who has been spearheading attacks against army convoys across the Terek River. The primary objective of this mission is to capture Papashvili (although that is listed as a “X” objective: failing to capture the rebel leader will result in mission failure).

Deadliest Catch King Crab Season II

The second season of the Shellfish or “Green Machine” as I refer to her starts in Dutch Harbor on Wednesday, November 8^th. I begin this season with an account balance of $188,897. This amount is derived by taking the amount I left harbor with at the start of last season, $67,511 and adding to it the profits earned of $191,983 for a balance of $259,494 (less the forced automatic deduction for Structural Maintenance and Upgrades of $70,000 and $597 in miscellaneous expenses).

On top of the forced structural charge (from prior experience with this game it cannot be avoided) I add  upgraded hydraulics for $60,000, a large tank pump for $15,000, kitchen amenities for $4,000, crane maintenance for $24,000 and finally $5,000 for electrical work. This $108,000 in additional costs for the boat drops my account balance down to $80,897.

Deadliest Catch Opilio Crab Season I

This outing is the second of my career on the Shellfish, and the first opie crab season to go in the books. I started my career with $100,000 equity in the company and netted $293,257 in profits at the end of the last season. Less $10,352 in expeditures prior to getting underway (fuel, pots and bait) this gave me a season ending balance forward of $382,905.

Starting the first opie season of my career (the second season overall) brings me to the Maintenance and Upgrades menu for the first time. This will be a feature between seasons from this point forward and represents the largest expenditures a boat captain/owner will experience during a career. In this section many items can be selected which directly affect the game play.

Deadliest Catch King Crab Season I

This post will be the first entry in my new career in the game Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm. If you are unfamiliar with this life simulation, I suggest that you read my previous blog post in which I got back into the game after an absence of over a year. I learned a great deal in that dry run (no pun intended) as well as a subsequent test season that told me some important things about how to handle the game.

For this effort I started the career on intermediate difficulty which encompasses the following: pots payload and ice buildup have a reduced effect, chances of breakdown are slightly reduced, crab schools move and deplete at a slower rate, chances of crew injury are reduced and crew morale and fatigue go down slower. Based on previous experience with this game, this is enough of a challenge.

King Crab Season One (Career Abandoned)

Sometime yesterday I jumped over to my Windows XP gaming rig and when there I started a fresh career in Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm by developer Liquid Dragon Studios and designer Greenwave Games. The game was released in the summer of 2008; however I did not stumble across it until some three years later. After spending a ton of time in this life simulation, I hung it up out of frustration.

That frustration was/is born from the absolute monotony of the game: I have never been (and never will be) a Bering Sea fisherman, however if the show is even the slightest indication of how things go along in a day-in day-out basis, then this game fairly nails it. Completing just a single season of King Crab or Opilio Crab can take several hours of game play even if cruising in “Fast Time” to your next string.

XCOM Project (Updated)

This is a dedicated effort on my part to beat this game on Impossible Ironman mode. There are some great tips out there on the web on how to go about combat and base management that I will be referring to and attempt to implement as XCOM funding allows. I pick Asia as my base location: the Continent Bonus is Future Combat (all projects in the Foundry and the Officer Training School cost 50% less).

The first mission is a fixed event Alien Abduction scenario in Mumbai, India with the following boilerplate mission objectives: sweep the abduction site and identify threats, and neutralize all hostile targets. It is a big map on a city street and in this iteration it appears most of the aliens (all Sectoids) are located initially inside the building. I try to be meticulous as I sweep the squad around the edges of the map, and that approach pays off at first.

XCOM Project (Abandoned)

This is a recap of the first month of a new XCOM effort with the goal of securing the following Steam achievements: “Ain't No Cavalry Comin'” (have a soldier survive every mission in a full game), “Edison” (in a single game, complete every Research Project), “Hunter/Killer” (in a single game, shoot down one of each alien craft) and “A Continental Fellow” (win the game from each of the 5 starting locations).

Some things right off of the bat: I am playing the game on easy mode without iron man or any of the other extras selected. I completed the game once already on easy mode so the final achievement listed above will not be satisfied this go around, and when I won that first game I should have secured the Research Project achievement as there were no other projects to assign the science team.

Rainbow Six Black Thorn Campaign Mission One

Operation Desert Dragon (Caracas, Venezuela 05-26-04 0600): An unknown terrorist group has taken over the Japanese Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela during a party being held for visiting Japanese dignitaries. My mission is to subdue the terrorists and rescue all of the hostages.

For this mission I opted to go with the default HQ’s plan provided by the mission designers. These default plans for the most part are tactically sound; utilize the appropriate BDU patterns and kitting for the commandos chosen based on their skill set match to the mission.

M01 Iron Dragon

Tbilisi, Georgia – Rebels operating in the South Ossetian Autonomous region are threatening the stability of the Georgian government. Company D, 1st Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (5th SFG) stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the “Ghosts” are called in to bring stability to the volatile situation through the implementation of direct action assault.

The mission at hand is to infiltrate an area held by the rebel forces to achieve four specific objectives: 1) Neutralize Tent Camp Troops, 2) Secure the Caves, 3) Return to Insertion Zone and 4) Capture Papashvili (a rebel commander in the area currently holed up in the caves in a makeshift command post. The mission begins on Wednesday April 16, 2008 at 05:45 in sunny conditions.

M01 Hostage Rescue Operation

Charleston, West Virginia: The Sum of All Fears is a tactical first-person shooter developed by Red Storm Entertainment and released in May 2002. Contrary to misinformation on the internet that purports the game to be similar in style to the Rainbow Six series of games, it most certainly is not.

Anyone that has ever played SOAF knows the game is built using the original Ghost Recon framework, and plays much the same as OGR, except the engagements are small unit tactical efforts on smaller, often indoor maps. The entire game engine is OGR based and all menus, controls and various other aspects of the game are definitely drawn from Ghost Recon.

A-Bomb Nightclub

1536 Adelaide Avenue: The 4th mission in the officer career mode is a Rapid Deployment scenario at the A-Bomb Nightclub. There are two level-one entrances offered, side two at the service entrance and side one at the front entrance. The map provided is of no tactical use for the second floor of the building.

I chose the service entrance off of the side alley and as usual, equipped the team with the Pepperball gun that fires OC-Ball less-lethal munitions. The other kit components include a Taser stun gun, three flash bangs, a door wedge and an Optiwand. C2 is brought along for breaching if needed.

Little Round Top

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: This campaign mission has the player in the role of the Northern Commander facing a fairly equal Southern force in a race to see who can secure the orange hex area designating the objective. There is no indication in the briefing or anywhere else of how many turns are available, and there is no counter present.

In fact, the briefing itself makes the mission sound somewhat complicated, which could not be further from the truth. This mission takes the term "cake walk" to a new level entirely. I have not played this game for almost three months, and in the first attempt back I won the scenario in nine turns.

Department Of Agriculture

2112 Geddy Avenue: This mission is the most difficult that I have ever played in a tactical shooter to pass successfully and advance within a campaign. On Elite Mode, you cannot kill any suspect (or have a suspect accidentally killed, incapacitated or neutralized by another suspect) or have any civilians injured.

This rules out snipers taking valid shots that on any other setting other than Elite Mode would be a legitimate kill in any mission without points being deducted for unauthorized use of deadly force. This also rules out any weapon that may harm a civilian, such as a stinger grenade.

Devil's Den

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: This campaign mission has the player in the role of the Northern Commander facing a superior Southern force attacking the Devil's Den. The objective is to move into the area they want to take and destroy the enemy within forty turns or less.

This mission marks the return of the orange hex area designating the objective, and includes the first iteration in the campaign proper of the General unit, which is a commanding officer who can affect the morale and performance of your men for the good or bad.

The Lone Cannons

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: This campaign mission has the player in the role of the Southern Commander facing a superior Northern force on Seminary Ridge that has at their disposal cavalry and artillery. The objective is to position your forces in such a manner as to destroy them all in thirty turns or less.

The first time I played this scenario today I lost at the very end to the Northern Soldiers at the bottom right of the hex matrix. The second time around my Southern forces won the day quite handily securing the victory with eighteen turns remaining.

Qwik Fuel Convenience Store

3721 Pitkin Avenue: This week the boys from Rampart Division are called in to resolve an armed robbery and hostage situation at a shabby C-Store. There is only one entrance option provided - Side 2 Level 1 - however there are actually two different doors that you can use to make entry.

As with all missions I am running on Elite Mode, the weapons package applied to all are pepperball guns, Tasers, flash bangs, a door wedge, C2 and the Optiwand. The Element made entry through the back door where we spawned and cleared two rooms into the building.

Sellers Street Auditorium

1801 Sellers Street: This week the boys from Rampart Division are called in to put down a violent radical Christian uprising that just so happens to manifest itself in a local music club that appears to cater to hardcore death metal music fans that are particularly inhospitable to the police trying to rescue them.

As mentioned in previous reviews you cannot overtly kill a suspect and win a mission on Elite Mode, so I brought along the core package of pepperball guns, etc. and for the first time in this series I decided to take an alternative entrance, this mission being the Rear Loading Dock, Side 3, Level 1.

Barlow's Knoll

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: This campaign mission is one of the easier ones and a quick play at that. I won this the first time out, and although the game allows you 40 turns to defeat the enemy, I needed only 10 turns to wipe them off of the map using purely defensive tactics.

You could lose this scenario if any of the Southern units enter the orange hexes that you are defending. But to your advantage from go, you are already there and can immediately fortify some units. I effectively wasted a turn because I had to move out some troops to move some back in.

Fairfax Residence

25 Glendive Lane: Whereas last week’s Sisters of Mercy Hostel mission from The Stetchkov Syndicate expansion pack was next to impossible to complete, this mission was a total cake walk and a victory the first time out, even though I was shot by the suspect after apprehending his welfare mom.

This week the boys from Rampart Division stage a takedown at the Fairfax Residence, a dirty little affair with a live-at-home momma's boy who likes to do naughty things to uncooperative females in his basement man-cave, and video tape his hobby for posterity.