Yeah, this is a tough one.
The issue I have with this scenario, and some of the others (though none so much as this) is that while the forces arrayed against you are immense, you're put in a terrible tactical situation from the outset. Indeed, this seems to be where a lot of the difficulty in some of these scenarios comes from. Not from beating off the actual attack, but from scrambling to establish a defense because there is no reconnaissance or picture, no CAP, no ASW patrol, and no pickets to start with. At the start of this scenario, the primary task seems to be "race like mad to put aircraft up and get some blocking units in place."
I think I can guess as to the issue the developers faced (and feel free to correct me here Jan) is that the tactics espoused in modern naval warfare advocate caution and careful planning. However, this means that it would be rather difficult for the AI to really spring a surprise on the player without resorting to some sort of feint or deception. If the AI is geared to simply launch an overwhelming, massive assault, then providing this level of challenge is difficult as a human player, following doctrine, should be able to detect the incoming attack well in advance. (Repulsing it, is another matter.)
So in order to provide that challenge, and allow for attacks to come in and threaten your high value targets without warning, they've been placed in the open, or in a compromising situation. This is none better illustrated than in this scenario. There's a number of grave mistakes that the "player" finds themselves racing to correct at the start of this scenario. The one I'm assuming most (myself included) are struggling to deal with is that your high-value amphib starts off parked right next to a base home to an entire regiment of Backfires with only three measly F-35s providing topcover and no AWACS. How many here were wondering how it was with 50+ Tomahawks in the fleet (see those two subs parked up north with all of their TLAMs? What the heck are they doing there?) that those bases weren't eliminated?
Frankly, any realistic situation where the amphibs were that close to the coast would only come once any any all opposition that could threaten the ships was destroyed (this is reflected in current U.S. Navy doctrine, only long-range cruise missiles and air attacks have replaced the traditional use of naval gunfire for this role.)
I'd argue that the "Ragnarok" scenario should have actually come one mission prior. With Iceland neutralized, the combined task force approaches the Norwegian coast. It's at that point, as the force nears, that the fleet is probing forth and looking for ways to sneak in its attack assets to eliminate the air bases that will enable it to land its ground forces safely. At the same time, the Russians are massing their bombers to launch an all-out assault on the carrier groups. Here's what I'd do:
- The NATO player begins with both carriers, both amphibs, their container ships, and escorts, in a dispered arrangement, with the heavies towards the center. Currently the game's ship groups pack them close together, but I'd spread them apart.
- Type 45s, Arleigh Burkes, and Ticos far towards the outside to intercept inbound missiles and act as early warning. I'd place them 100-150mi in circle facing towards the east.
- I'd have a pair of Type 42s or Halifax frigates close to the carriers for ASW, and maybe a single Tico. (Current doctrine is to keep one of these within 4000m of the carrier at all times. But I wouldn't put more than one.)
- I'd keep the Scotland airfield, but maybe eliminate the English one. Since we don't have units down there, we can assume the airfield is tied up with other duties.
- The two Virginia-class subs. Optional. But if they're there, I'd place them ahead of the pickets, but without their Tomahawks. Let's assume they used them up last mission to eliminate Keflavik. I'd remove the Tomahawks on the VLS-equipped ships as well, or keep them to a minimum.
- Have basic top cover deployed and one or two Hawkeyes or a Hawkeye and a Sentry.
Russians
- The Russians start with their carrier group to the north, or maybe south if we're being sneaky. It's up to the player to find it.
- The two Norwegian bases are there, complete with their full Backfire Regiments, and maybe a Blackjack or two if they're feeling like throwing it all in. I'd also consider adding a third base to the east (the one on the Kola), more on this in a moment.
- Subs. I'd have a number of SSNs, and I'd scatter these as needed. Maybe 2-3? More?
This is how I see this playing out:
- The NATO player's goal is to eliminate the two Norwegian air bases and clear the way for the invasion. Because the Tomahawks were largely spent earlier, and land-based bombers are limited, this will largely have to be accomplished with strike-craft from the carriers themselves.
- Because the Russians are going to be launching their own all-out attack, air assets are going to have to be carefully managed between escorting the strike package (once they're in range) and intercepting incoming bombers/missiles.
- If there isn't a way to do this already, then I'd break out the scripting tools, because the Russians, being smart, are going to circle their bombers around the entire group and attack from as many sides as possible. Do you, the NATO commander, leave it for your pickets to handle? Or divert your air-superiority fighters to deal with them? What does that mean for your strike package, and when?
- The Russian carrier group's goal is to clear the skies over the NATO carrier force in order to give the bombers cruise missiles a clear shot. The pickets could help clear the skies, particularly whoever's on the northeast quadrant. But then they're not going to be able to help shoot down missiles as well when the bombers come roaring in soon after.
- Speaking of that picket, it would be interesting to use subs to clear those out so the fighters and bombers would have an equal go at it with NATO fighters. Hope someone had the helicopter deployed.
- If there's some way to retain a sizable fighter presence over the airfields, I'd do it. (This is why I considered a third, more eastern base, stocked with fighters. They're too far to assist in the carrier assault, but they can protect the western airfields.If there's an easier way to do this with some scripting or so, great. Either way, it's to ensure that the NATO player escorts the strike package or cruise missiles in, and forces a decision between fighting off the bomber raids and making sure the bases (and any bombers still on the ground) are eliminated.
This is a rough idea, and could use a lot more polish, but what I think this demonstrates is that for your "final battle", you can have a really intense, huge and difficult engagement, while still making the player feel like their in control of their own success or failure, rather than racing to pull their pants up because someone decided overnight to park their carrier some 500 miles from the one damn ship you're supposed to protect. It puts the player in a stable, secure start (if only for a moment) but then leaves it to them to move fast and furious to hold the line while coordinating an attack of their own.
Thanks, and thanks for making this game fun!