by Mike "von Krarr" Kovacs

  Repairs to Koksan Airbase are underway and the engineering battalion is still there. As of 12:00:00 the order of battle lists the airbase as 0% operational but the first runway is now repaired. A closer look at DPRK Mirim airbase indicates that the runway has been repaired but the airbase is still 0% operational. There is no engineering battalion known to be at Mirim so I am still unsure whether this is because of poor intelligence or because they are not required for airfields to repair.

Enemy aircraft are everywhere since the entry of China into the war. Priorities once again are set to gaining air superiority. The missions I have been flying are air to air to destroy the PRC air force. BARCAPs are difficult to get a success in but I am typically shooting down 6-8 enemy aircraft per mission (including my wingman).

Again it seems apparent that the greater my success, the greater the success across the board. The enemy aircraft that were once all over the central peninsula seem to be concentrated now in the areas of highest strategic importance to the DPRK, namely P'Yongyang and Wonson. Central Korea is swarming with F-15C and F-16C CAPs. The situation report seen when you enter the campaign went from bleak to excellent within a few missions of flying.

In summary the important points in this stage of the campaign are:

• You must fly well and fly often to wage a successful campaign
• Runways get repaired in 1.08i
• Shifting your priorities to adapt to the situation is very important.

Another issue that still remains in the campaign are the long strings of BARCAP missions. I got an entire frag order of BARCAPs for the 36 FS (air to ground) but they went away when I pushed the priority slider for defensive counter air all the way to the left. Coincidence? Maybe so but it may be worth a try if you get long strings of these missions.

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Mirim airbase at 20:00:00 is now up to 75% and is launching its MiG-29s that have been grounded for over 24 hours. I think it is safe to say that the iBeta patch has done an outstanding job in fixing the repair problem.

Figure 11

Finally at 20:00:00 Sansago-Ri is 0% operational. Earlier on I noticed a DPRK engineering battalion at the airbase so I brought some napalm on a BARCAP and destroyed them along with some buildings. Shortly after, an OCA strike was fragged and I saw to it personally that the runways were shut down. My troops should have an easier time advancing in this area with full air superiority. I have to admit coming in on final after the strike, the sight of my runway with my flight on my wing made me feel like I'd really accomplished something (figure 11).

Summary up to this point:

Overall I am very impressed with the state of the campaign. It is a vast improvement over previous versions. If you play around a lot with frag orders and ground troops you may find that it will crash occasionally. When left alone I found the stability to be very good overall.

The play balance is much better but it is still easy not to win, even with the force sliders set in your favor. Iron Fortress will be a very challenging campaign but I am certain that it could be won. Immersion is a very personal thing but I've found the campaign to be mind blowing.

In the New Year I will report more on my campaign if anything of interest happens (maybe I'll win!). For me, multiplayer is where its at and I intend to report on the stability of TEs and the campaign with Internet TCP/IP. Until then, I'm a dot.

Followup: 1.08 iBeta Patch Download.

Xis Beta 1024 cockpit

HEREPaul Wilson's 1024 cockpit.

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