                                                       October 22, 1991


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                         Too Close for Comfort
                         =====================

                A MEDC Scenario for the BLUE Side only

                            by Luis Carlos
                              HSW ID: 921
                          Prodigy ID: VDJC61A
                          


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Political Background:
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This scenario is set in early 1993.  George Bush is serving his second
term as President of the U.S., and Mikhail Gorbachev has managed somehow to
stay in firm control of his government.  Diplomatic relations between the
two Superpowers are at their best.

On the other hand, Middle-East peace talks have broken down for the third
time, and a terrorist group led by Abu Nidal and sponsored by Moamar Qadaffi
has started operations again.  It is rumored that Qadaffi is pushing for a
military solution to the Palestinian cause, and that he has pledged
unlimited support for their cause. 

The U.S. has sent a carrier group to the area as a deterrent to any massive
attack on Israel by its neighbors.  The Arab community has seen this act as
another attempt for the U.S. to forcefully interfere with Middle-East
affairs, and they have managed to turn the U.N., and public opinion in
general, against the U.S. presence in the area.     


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Military Background:
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The U.S.S.R. is playing only an observer's role in all of this turmoil. 
They have ordered a submarine group (2 Victor III's) that was in the area to
get close to the U.S. carrier group and follow it to gather some
intelligence on its area operations.

At the same time, Libya has sent two submarines at high speed to sink at
least two ships on the U.S. carrier group.  Moamar Qadaffi thinks that this
would make the U.S. rethink its position on having the carrier in the
area, and hopefully turn around and leave with minimum retaliatory actions. 


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Problem Source:
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The observer U.S.S.R. submarine group managed to get very close to the U.S.
carrier group without being detected, and stayed this way for almost two
days.

Passing near Souda Air base, the U.S. carrier group detected one of the
Libyan submarines coming at maximum speed towards the group.  They sent an
ASW Patrol (2 Vikings) on a search and destroy mission.  Almost immediately,
the Vikings detected two new targets (the U.S.S.R. subs) very close to the
formation, and fired many torpedoes at them.  As a natural reaction for the
Soviet sub Commanders, they fired back at the U.S. carrier group without
permission from Moscow, and all hell broke loose.

Immediate diplomatic efforts between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. prevented this
incident from escalating into a full scale war, and both Superpowers decided
to call it very unfortunate accident.

U.S. attention has shifted momentarily from protecting Israel.  Egypt and
Libya formed a temporary coalition, and decided to make an early preemptive
strike against Israel.  Syria is also thinking about joining this
coalition.


    

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BLUE Orders:
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In order to help the U.S. to protect them, the Israelis have agreed to
put three of their airfields under your command.  Turkey has agreed to let
you use one of their airfields, with the condition that no attack mission is
to originate in Turkey.  This means that all the aircrafts departing
from there must be carrying "Ferry" ordinance only. 

Your orders are to try to save the carrier at all costs, defend Israel, and
reduce the military forces of the Egypt-Libya coalition to a minimum.  You
are only to attack Syria if they strike first.  You have also been given the
responsibility of protecting two Merchant groups from attacks from the
Libyan Navy.


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Victory conditions:
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BLUE Conditions:
    Total: 5 RED Bases damaged more than 80%

RED Conditions:
    Minimum: Carrier and closest base destroyed
    Total: Tel Aviv AND the U.S. carrier destroyed

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HINTS:
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If you feel that the U.S. carrier cannot be saved from the Victor III's
attack, try to save as many aircraft as you can by flying them safely to a
land base where they can be later used to finish your mission.

The first hour of battle gets very complex, but it is vital that you make
the right decisions about your overall strategy.  After the worse part is
over, regroup, reorganize your forces, and comply with your orders.

Please let me know how you did.  This is the first scenario that I share
with the Warehouse, and I want suggestions on possible improvements. 


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Estimated free memory required to run this scenario : 524K
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 Downloaded from dr. Whos Harpoon Page, filename MEDCCL01.
