Kola_III Background and Orders 
EC2000 Norwegian Sea Battleset
Bruce Fenster and Byron Audler 

Many of you may have tried Byron Audler's Kola Scenario which was previously posted on Edward Ladner's Harpoon Pages  (http://home.infi.net/~edladner/). Byron designed this scen in response to comments that the AI would be a somewhat "lame" opponent for a formidable blue CVBG foray northward to the Kola Peninsula. As a result of several AAR's supporting that view, I have tried,
with Byron's advice and support, to even the odds a bit and provide you, the blue player, with a more spirited Red defense. 

To accomplish this we had to address 2 factors that often made for an easy Blue victory in the original scenario: a) Blue's tremendous aerial advantage from his 
48 Phoenix-armed F-14's, and b) the all too frequent unwillingness of Red subs to attack the Blue CVBG. These factors were originally addressed in Kola II, currently available on Ed's site, and meant for play with the HC97 game engine.

The improved aerial and submarine warfare AI in Harpoon 2002 has necessitated yet another revison. It's a work in progress and I have uploaded 2 files here for you to experiment with.  

'Kol3_1' is an exact replica of Kola II except as pertains to AI submarines. This rev takes advantage of Bret Mckee's reprogramming and you should find the subs to be quite an improvement over the what previously existed in Harpoon Classics.  

'Kol3_5' is my latest attempt to pare back on the AI Backfire component. Bret's new aerial AI has made the original version too lopsided in favor of the AI aerial attack.  I'm still refining it, but it should be more "balanced" and afford the player at least a fighting chance to get a victory. 

 
Good luck and good hunting. 

Victory conditions are now as follows:
 
Blue Minimum Victory -- Destroy 3 Bases 
Blue Total Victory -- Destroy all 4 Bases 

Red Minimum Victory -- Destroy either carrier or 6 escorts 
Red Total Victory -- Destroy both carriers 
  
PS:  	Please note that your CVBG is already approaching the Kola Peninsula
	and the game engine does not allow ASW or CAP to be airborne at start-up.
	Expect hostle activity from the opening moments and deploy accordingly.
  
