Requesting comments: The ghosts of USSR

I've been thinking of a coop mission series, or maybe a mini-campaign. From the 1st mission brief / preface:

"O ye venerable freedom fighters! Today we are going to give those imperialistic American dogs and their lackeys a lesson they'll never forget. Our cause is just and our aim deadly. Strike true and hard! The Leader says..."

And so on and on. Can you believe it? This is the kind of crap I have to put up with. And all I ever wanted was to go West - the girls, the money, the freedom!

Well, at least we've got Mustangs and Sharks now. That P-51 is a fine plane and a magnificent piece of history, but what the hell does it do in a modern conflict like this? The Russians sure surprised everyone when they dug up these old Lend-Lease Ponies and decommisioned Ka-50s and gave them to us - and because they kept all the modern stuff for themselves, of course called this clandestine military aid Lend-Tease. Ha, ha.

OK, the ideological claptrap seems to be over, so it's onwards to the mission briefing next I guess. I never wished for this war, but what can I do? The Leader says we're either good revolutionaries, or treated as enemy combatants. So what can I do, except to fly this old plane into combat some seventy years after its time?

Wish me luck...

So there's an insurgent group in Abkhazia fighting against the Blue coalition, with an aim of declaring an independent Socialist republic on Georgian / Abkhazian territory. They just received a grant of obsolete Russian equipment, but what next? First off I cannot make the enemy too strong and/or high-tech because those Ponies wouldn't then stand a chance, and second, using the Abkhazian colors in this context would IMO be tarring all locals with a broad left-wing terrorist brush. So should I just forget about it?

It would of course be technically possible to present the Red side as insurgents, but the in-game vanilla insurgent faction doesn't have any flyables at their disposal - and while those could be added, the resulting missions would be totally incompatible without extra client mods added to the soup. So again - how the hell should I tackle this, or should I even try? Any and all comments welcome!

Yeah it's hard to fit the pony into the 'World' as it stands at the moment, in depth anyway.

What you suggest could be made believable I'm sure. As you say it has to be a low threat environment, or at least plenty of electronic intelligence so the maps can be updated with big red no fly zones:) Although now were talking modern assets helping an insurgency...? Not impossible with Red covertly supporting Grey, against a mutual Blue foe.

One thought I've had previously was just using the stang as a Tucano or Pucara substitute. this would work reasonably well I think (with a bit of a paint job and some imagination on the part of the player), I haven't developed this idea but I occasionally think about it. I was reading about the Colombian AF efforts against the drug gangs - bombing drug 'factories', supporting special forces, recon, supporting helo ops, - there's some interesting stuff on Colombian AF Tucano ops. to be found (sorry no link, ages ago).

Being interested in WWII - I'm just populating the World with ZU23, BTR80 and transport - I forget about where the map actually represents and just go with the topography - basically totally fictional scenarios, in totally fictional places. But aint got much time to develop stuff properly.

Anyway, Like the sound of your idea - I'm sure it would be popular round here so long as no one is pinging SAMs at us (or we know where to avoid:)). And there's some interesting and varied jobs to do. My thoughts anyway...

Thanks for your comments Vimanaman. Yup, has got to be a low-threat environment (i.e. a local skirmish / COIN ops) using only BTR, BMP and T-55 level opponents and maybe an occasional Humvee SAM here and there + infantry and supply formations aplenty. Formidable Russian presence is out of the question I think, because I'm visioning an environment where neither the big northern neighbour nor the U.S. want to get involved too deeply, but still clandestinely support their respective sides with materiel and knowhow. Think military advisors and light armor and we're in the ballpark.

Yeah, I just wish we had a Tucano. But Russians giving the insurgents old planes from their decom stash will have to do + is plausible enough I think for this. And the Red side would have to be black-flag insurgents as well I think, even if that compels using an extra mod or two; can't insult the Akbhazians and portray them as left-wing guerillas here IMO!

But anyway thanks again for your comments mate, they were most helpful!

You could use the plain metal skin which I think is available for all countries or use a fictional skin. Personally I think it's a great idea.

Personally I think it's a great idea.

Thanks for the encouragement mate! The bare metal skin is one possibility, but I'd rather like some dirty olive-green skins without insignias for both the Pony and the Shark - just wish I was graphically more talented, but let's see what I can cook up still :thumbup: But what I actually need next is a believable storyline - and for starters I'll probably have to change from a first-person perspective to something else altogether, because I'm actually thinking cooperative multiplay instead of single missions and/or a campaign now. Plus do some research about the so-called bush wars as well; gotta stay as realistic as possible here I think!

So OK, time to roll them sleeves and get to work :D Not giving myself a schedule for this, but will nevertheless keep you in the loop & posted. S!