Realistic mission design

[Hoptzop 2]

Hello, not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but I couldn't find it addressed anywhere else.

 

So I've been playing ARMA for a while now, and think I've gotten reasonably skilled. I have recently been getting into missions making, but I'm finding it a bit difficult to plan missions. I'm perfectly comfortable with the technical side of mission building, but with regards to planning realistic scenarios, I've run into a bit of a roadblock. I've read the tactical guide, and it gave me some idea on small-scale tactics, but I want more information on the bigger picture. I'm trying to understand the way operations work, more specifically:

-How forces are allocated to different areas

-How assets such as armour, artillery, and air support are assigned 

-The sizes of forces for different scenarios 

-How forces are distributed across an area

-etc

 

I'm terrible at explaining things, so let me put my question in brief:

If I wanted to make realistic missions yet had absolutely no idea about how militaries work, where would I start?

 

Thanks and sorry if this is a stupid question.

[R3vo 2652]

You could google some real life operations, I am sure there's some data out there which could give you an idea how operations work in real life. Another source could be books or films (reportages).

[beno_83au 1362]

Doctrine, try searching for doctrine with your force of choice. I'm not sure how much would be publicly available, and it'd certainly be less for some, but things like ORBATs would be easy to find. 

[laxemann 1673]

Yup, what beno said plays a huge role. Look into doctrines/how real-life armys structure their forces. In reality, the structure of a battleforce is thought-through and tailored towards efficiency and multiple units complementing each other.

For example, you might want to have a look at the FM3-21.8 which explains the organization of a regular US-Army rifle unit up to platoon level.

 

Then, think of the scale and logic of what you are doing. Many mission builders place units at places just because it would be cool/surprising in a mission. A lonely sniper here, a random two-man team hidden in a forest.

Fair enough, this can be fun but isn't "realistic" in most cases.

 

Things to think about:

• What strategic value does this area have in the context of your mission/story?

• What would be an appropriate force to secure this?

• Is this force appropriate for the amount of players in the mission?

• And, most importantly, how would this force be employed/ logically spread across

For example: You want to simulate an enemy-held area consisting of a few villages, the players will have to push through our eliminate the enemy forces.

Assuming that we've got around 50 players and (after the US-Army standard) a Rifle Platoon consists of roughly 39 people, an appropriate REDFOR force would be two platoons (78 enemies). We now have a limited amount of enemy units and have to place them tactically!

 

Random things that come to mind:

Where would the two platoon headquarters be positioned? Would the headquarter elements be secured by another squad (Subtracting 18 units for securing the headquarters alone!)?

Where would the units fortify themselves so that they can get a maximum covering of the surrounding area? How would the two platoons place their two heavy weapons squads in order to complement and cover each other?

 

Things that also come to mind:

The enemy unit will most likely try to survive. Think like this: "What would an actual commander do that wants to keep his units alive?"

It would make no sense at all to send two trucks with a bunch of enemies towards the 50 players. Every trained leader would know that this would be a waste of manpower, firepower and lives.

 

You get the idea. :)

[Hoptzop 2]

Thanks everyone, I'll try your suggestions and see how they work.