I have some major misgivings about the rule set and objectives for this event. I was hoping that others would post about what seems like some obvious problems, but here I am as the lone voice. Hate to be "that guy" but someone needs to be.
The threshold for an Allied victory is way too easy to meet. How do you really expect the Axis to possibly compete in this event? Remember, this is an all-or-nothing victory condition, so in order to compete a side must have a reasonable ability to win. I just don't see it for the Axis.
You have B-26's and A-20's with the possibility of bomb-laden Jugs and P-38's. All that potential ordnance is tasked with white-flagging a single town, and destroying the radar tower, eight bunkers, and the vehicle hangar at a single base. That's an easy bar to meet in most FSO's where there's multiple targets and you designated only one target for this one. To be honest, I just assumed there was to be more than one target - until the objectives were Emailed showing just the one.
To make matters worse, there's the matter of the target base for Frame 1. A135 is only 4 miles closer to the nearest Axis base than it is to the nearest Allied one. With their speed advantages, this means that the Allies can potentially arrive at the target with heavy fighters before the defenders can. I tested the direct routes with a P-38L with 75% fuel and bombs against a 190A-5 with only 75% fuel and no DT. The 190 arrived over A135 only 1 minute sooner than the 38 - bombs out in 18 minutes. With a droptank, the 190 arrives after the 38 attacked.
But why take a droptank, you ask? Because the usual T+60 rule has been replaced with a T+75 rule. This gives the Allies a realistic window of 57 minutes to attack which the Axis have to be prepared for. The T+75 limit only makes sense if the targets are too far to fairly allow the attackers an attack before T+60. In this case, the Allies can attack 40 minutes before the usual limit. That's plenty of flexibility. The extended limit should not have been applied in frame 1.
I reiterate, how exactly do the Axis have a realistic chance to win?
The timing of this post is wholly intentional. Changes won't be made after the objective were released and this designer does not respond well to criticism in the first place. So this post does not serve as a call for changes so much as an "I told you so" for when tonight's frame becomes the inevitable dumpster fire.
