MC Recon Helo idea...

[Taffy6]

Gentlemen,

I wanted to bounce an idea your way concerning Recon helos and MC. I fall into the camp that recon helos should be a vital part of any 1985-era Germany campaign. With FOW on, both sides need their recon assets and recon helos are a big part of that. However, having been on the receiving end of what I considered gamey play with helos (dancing for OF, crazy stuff back in FG85, etc), and also having read and re-read this forum concerning MC helos and complaints, I am seeking a work-around. I am hoping to move Recon helos to the air support menu rather than having them represented in game as manuever units.

I am thinking that if I replace the stock sound file "AirRecon.wav" (which is a WWII-era propellor plane sound) with the sound of the stock file "helicopter.wav" (appropriately renamed to "AirRecon.wav") then I could add OH-58's, Gazelles, Allouettes, Mi2's etc to the air support menu as recon aircraft. When a player called for an air recon mission, these helos would be available and the helicopter wave would play when the air recon mission was executed. Jet aircraft-type recon units would remain available as appropropriate also.

An obvious gamey problem that this new method would create would be that players might start running helo recon missions way behind enemy lines, far beyond the combat radius of these small recon choppers. You know, like a Kitzingen-based OH-58A scout helo in the Zapad OOB flying a player-directed reconnaissance over East Berlin. But that is the only negative I can come up with. I can't think of any other negatives.

Any input welcomed. I am looking for a way to include what I consider a vital 1985-era battlefield intelligence asset while avoiding the known gamey exploits that recon helos provide to "creative" MC players. Seems like I could just make them air recon missions with a helicopter sound file associated and clear them off the map board without losing their function...

Taffy