D'85...playbalance question

[Tbird3]

This a pretty specific capability to simulate in the game. The little study that I have done on the subject tells me that it required a pretty narrow band of conditions in order to be executed. It required a pretty significant prep time for the vehicles, the river had to be of limited depth, there was a no greater than river current speed, the river bed had to be of a certain consistency, and finally you had to have specific conditions for the entry and exit points. It seems to me this would make this a very unique operation.

In my limited experience with the D85 game the key problem that I see for the major river crossings is based on the strategy decisions. The airborne units and the AASLT units are not timed properly to support the river crossing operations (they tend to come in too early). I wish there was more control on LZ or timing of the operations. I have heard people justify this lack of control by saying that the airborne/AASLT operations were too hard to plan to provide flexibility. This is incorrect. Any decent military planner will establish a set of conditions that must be met before launching the operation. The obvious condition has to be a realistic timing for expected relief of the AASLT/airborne unit.

Lastly, an opposed river crossing is one of the most difficult military problems that an attacker faces, with the exception of a withdrawl under contact I can't imagine a more difficult operation. An opposed river crossing must be the main effort of a division or higher command. It will almost always have to be a very deliberate and methodical operation. You will need suppress any immediate defenders, secure the far side, and establish your bridging operation. This will require all of your supporting arms (Arty, Air defense, CAS) to be integrated into the fight. My measly 2 cents from a noob.

Tbird 3