Graviteam

DLC will focus on the operation "Hooper" - Angola in February 1988.
Participants of military operations, on the one hand - the Angolan army supported by Cuban volunteers, on the other UNITA battalions with the support of South Africa forces.

The DLC will be devoted to an attack on the Cuito Cuanvale base in 20th of February 1988.
DLC adds to the game:

1) Two new combatants for operations and quick battle are Angolan army and SADF.
2) The new area 120 square kilometers wide.
3) 3 operations for Angola, UNITA and SADF.
4) Weapons and equipment that was used in the conflict.

Buy and Download (http://www.gamersgate.com/DLC-APOSGTOH/graviteam-tactics-operation-hooper)

Screens
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3748235#Post3748235
http://www.sukhoi.ru/forum/showthread.php?t=79097&p=1975199&viewfull=1#post1975199

Any idea when it will be available for purchase on Gamersgate?

I hope - 1-2 weeks with updates for previous DLCs and March patch.

 8) 8) 8) :D

Wow that fast!   8)

Is there a total run down of units/equipment in game.   ??? ??? ??? ??? ::)

Like landrovers or zsu23-4's lol.  OOOOOO t34-85?  :D

https://sites.google.com/site/sabushwarsite/maps
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?117771-Angolan-War-Cuito-Cuanavale-Battle
http://books.google.com/books?id=_r701h-tWZwC&pg=PA83&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false


These are interesting sites about the Operation-Hooper,with maps and general info,no great TO&E references though.

Was able to find this in a forum online about the 2 consecutive Operations Hooper and Packer

FAPLA
 He lists 9 FAPLA brigades (in addition to aircraft which he says number 80+ jet aircraft and 123 helicopters) :
 47th, 59th, Tactical Group 1 (essentially T55 tank battalion)
 16th, 21st, Tactical Group 2 (essentially T55 tank battalion)
 
13th, 24th (at Cuito Cuanavale)
 25th, 66th (at Tumpo, near Cuito Cuanavale)
 8th (protecting link between Menongue-Cuito Cuanavale)
 
He also describes a FAPLA brigade as being 1,500—2000 (typically 1,900) men, so I guess that equals 13,500—18,000?
 He describe each brigade as consisting of:
 
- 3x Motorised Infantry battalions ... BTR-60 (APCs)
 ........6x 82mm mortar
 ........6x Sagger (ATGM)
 ........6x AGS17 (grenade launcher)
 ........3x SA-7 teams
 ........4x 14.5mm ZPU (AA)

 - 1x Tank company (10x T54/55 tanks)
 
- 1x Artillery battalion
 ........2x batteries each with 6x 120mm D-30 (2A18)
 ........2x batteries each with 4x 76mm
 ........1x battery with 8x BM-21 (MRLs) and
........6x 120 mm mortars
 
- 1x Recon company (PT-76 tanks, BRDM-2 apc)
 
SADF
 
MODULAR
 (split into 3 battle groups, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie)
 
- 5x rifle companies — 32 Battalion
 - 2x companies — 101 Battalion
 - 1x battery MRL (Valkiri 127mm)
 - 1x battery 120mm mortar
 - 2x troops of 20mm AA ("Ystervark" self propelled truck)
 - 1x battery (8 pieces) G5 155mm artillery — 4SAI (South African Infantry regiment)
 - 1x "battery" (3 pieces) G6 self propelled 155mm

- 61 Mechanised Infantry Battalion
 - 55x Ratels (Ratel-20 apc, Ratel-90 with 90mm tank-gun)
 - 62x logistical vehicles
 
- 1x squadron Olifant tanks (13 tanks)
 
HOOPER
 Similar, but 4SAI rotated with 82 South African Brigade
 
PACKER
 (troops again rotated)
 - 1x squadron Olifant tanks ...... Regiment President Steyn
 - 1 sqdn x Ratel-90 .................. Regiment Mooi Rivier
 - 2 Bn. x Mech. Infantry .......... Regiment de la Rey / Great Karoo
 - 1 troop x 120mm mortar ....... 44 Para Brigade
 - 1 troop x MRL ...................... 19 Rocket Regiment
 - 3 company x infantry ........... 32 Battalion
 - Recon elements ................... 4 Reconnaisance Regiment ("Recce")
 - 3 battalion x regular ............. UNITA 3rd, 4th, 5th
 - 2 battalion x semi-regular..... UNITA
 
https://sites.google.com/site/sabushwarsite/Home/modularhooperpacker2/the-sadf-and-unita-during-ops-modular-hooper-and-packer/sadf-oefen

Where this data?
It seems a strange mix, which considered all that was in the distant vicinity of where the combat.

P.S. See map from our links - only 25 Bde on Angolan side (with attached elements), only 2 UNITA bns, no semi-regular UNITA

Andrey,I got this information from here.
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?117771-Angolan-War-Cuito-Cuanavale-Battle/page3

Unfortunately, each side inflates the number of opponents (as well as the loss of those who have been present), and it is difficult to understand who is where and when to present accurately.
Even the number of tactical battles various from different sides of the conflict.

In our game everyone will be able to write his own version of the conflict.

Some clips of a South African produced video on Operation Packer (after Hooper):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGriJDVuus4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un0aZhSEA0o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYINYAg3Kr4

Its about Hooper+Packer in one package

I'm not disputing your figures Andrey,those are just some general information postings I found on a quick search of the internet.

I haven't been able to locate any official information regarding this campaign.

From my first post "The DLC will be devoted to an attack on the Cuito Cuanvale base in 20th of February 1988." - At this time Feb 20-29 in Angola were battles in one place - east of Cuito Cuanvale.

But this is not important  :). I just write about what happened to understand that despite the fact that there is a mass of material - is difficult. As different sides of the conflict write different, often conflicting and very confusing.

For example from your link "It was absolutely unnacceptable for South Africa to occupy a town deep in Angola."
But wait, shelling the town from MRLS and heavy artillery - it is normal, use heavy armor and large amount of troops on its outskirts is normal, ambush on columns that are moving to the city are also fine. And occupy the town is unacceptable!? Well, LOL.

What's really very sad in terms of the reconstruction of events.
It turns out that a lot has to to think out and extrapolate.

The United States did the same thing in Laos and Cambodia during the Vietnam war.We could bomb,raid and operate special forces in those countries but were not allowed to occupy them for fear of widening the war.It seems South Africa was operating under the same principal.Bomb and raid-OK.Occupy-No,for fear of world wide condemnation and sanctions.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:WdxY8pmx-oIJ:www.ajol.info/index.php/smsajms/article/download/55856/44320+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESh2nDi77YUd_HNz0ZgHHqApj7CbzFMHm-lFHw_Ibj2d2188oAZXoylZOndG1xExGvcTvZNb1HExWc2YGuWL6UXAEDvl_JIV0Oxq9LfSm_V43P3s6meJ8haTIP16AC4XxfKWC4m2&sig=AHIEtbQJ_VptNIRDQps-j_OIT0eW2kS1eQ

The information is vary convoulted.  One thing that bugs me is casulty figures of unita units in same area or attached to SADF are all mysterious.  Also in how htey where used.  Many references I have seen to shreaded unita infantry riding SADF armor and the like.  To be honest I get the impression UNITA was doing the bulk of th in the face fighting while SADF supported with armor and arty.  It is always interesting to me how SADF kia/wia are listed but never mention at all of other forces.  It is myopic and baised.  If your force is a mech and armor but bulk of force in light infantry........  Also it is hard to get real stats on Cuba Vs SADF.  But both sides did wierd things with data.  That is for sure.  But I love how the SADF historys seem to ignore the unita guys often riding the tanks.  Its a SADF VS everyone we are awesome story fest.  The real history.............well who the hell knows. 

"General Geldenhuys also reported that 31 South African soldiers were killed and 90 hurt between July 1987 and Feb. 25. Angola has said that hundreds of South Africans died, including black South African and South-West African soldiers.

 Pretoria says it does not disclose details of black losses because of possible intimidation of the families of these soldiers, who serve in black battalions."

That was the reason the website stated that only the white soldiers were counted on the casualty list.

And another thing to remember in all wars the first casualty is the TRUTH.

LOL...........  Figures are high then.  It seems clear to me how forces where deployed.  I totally forgot about the Black south africian soldiers.  There where ALOT of them.  That is more telling.......  A native SA soldier.......non white would have training and equipment on par with national state.  How deployed seems to be ALOT different.  And more politically motivated.  Unita on the other hand.......well it was their war anyhow.  Training levels would be all over the place and various levels of leadership.  THey most certainly would take the brunt of losses.  These simply have to me factored in on the total picture of fighting.  Commiting your armor on cherry picked occations and ignoreing everyone else........You get a weird run down of fighting.  What is clear is that oliphant desipte upgrades fari poorly in opening phases againt t55 t62.  It did fine but not up to what was expected.  This is supported by later withdrawls of armor and its later use.   Taking hits and battle damage do not seem to be in the historys of them much.  Ok great, they LOST 3 as they could not cover thaat up, as recovered by Cubans.  How many took battle damage that returned them to the rear.....or crew wia/deaths.  Its all nuts on the history and DOES need to be read with a BIG grain of salt.  IMO

I'm reading all the posts trying to build some excitement..but it isn't happening. I only hope some modern war of a more popular interest comes along..like alternative Cold War gone Hot..or even Falklands War I'd buy into..or Winter War (though maybe too much like WW2)...or Korea. Not sure about Vietnam due to the way the war was fought though. Angola and African bush wars really don't do it for me at all.

Still hope it sells well. Just wondering are these sorts of Wars (i.e Angola and other minor wars) more popular with Russians into military history?

I'm just starting to research this war.I have a couple books on the subject I bought 3 years ago,but never really got around to reading them and only 1 of them "32nd Batallion" covers Operation Hooper andPacker and not in much detail either.

I've yet to find an Authoritative source on the war like the Leavenworth Papers or even a writer with proven historical research credentials who may have written on this subject.

I never knew much about the wars in the Southern Part of Africa except for the articles in the Soldier of Fortune magazine I used to read long ago when I was in the Army.

I know more about the Boer War and have some very good books about that war,but the modern South African border wars are still pretty much an unknown and unresearched subject for me.

Well, nothing prevented them had occupied Mavinga - a nearby town for decades. And of course for Cuito there's a sort of "fear world wide condemnation and sanctions" appeared. Very strange, is not it?

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:WdxY8pmx-oIJ:www.ajol.info/index.php/smsajms/article/download/55856/44320+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESh2nDi77YUd_HNz0ZgHHqApj7CbzFMHm-lFHw_Ibj2d2188oAZXoylZOndG1xExGvcTvZNb1HExWc2YGuWL6UXAEDvl_JIV0Oxq9LfSm_V43P3s6meJ8haTIP16AC4XxfKWC4m2&sig=AHIEtbQJ_VptNIRDQps-j_OIT0eW2kS1eQ

I linked this article earlier and I think it sums up the whole conflict in Angola rather well,without all the rhetoric and propaganda that seems to be presently attached to it.

Woah, my dreams just came true  :o It's SABOW in APOS!  ;D

Do we will see Helicopters and jets in this DLC?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UXTJqKaOmA

Hope so,this video of SABOW looks real cool and would love to see some of this in the new DLC.

No its Angola in GTOS.

For a Soviet view translated into English, try:

http://www.veteranangola.ru/main/english/Oral%20history
http://www.veteranangola.ru/main/english/zhdarkin1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBkTfBCBxMs

Here's a video of the SABOW game with Angola scenery that looks very cool.

Are there going to be any T-62s in the new DLC for Operation Hooper-Packer?

Maybe if we see playable Cubans.

It would be nice to see the Cuban army in the force mix,even if they didn't actively particapate in the Operations Hooper and Packer.I think it would be cool to use them in Quick Battles.

Yes please. :D  Even without T62's. 


PLease release by Mar 22.  My B day........... ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D  And William shatners too.........  HMMMM phasers on maim please.

Andrey mentioned there would be Cuban volunteers in the game,but I have no idea what He actually meant by that.

Cuban 50th Tank Division, just like in SABOW most likely.

Wonder how many of them actually volunteered to serve in Angola ;D

At 1st a bunch I am guessing.  Later hmmmmm.......... :-\

In Communist Cuba, the army volunteer YOU. ;D

Russia forum quote by Andrey for description of Operation Hooper DLC.

"DLC release is rapidly approaching, so a small description of the conflict in which it will be illuminated. Belligerents: UNITA army supported South Africa, on the other hand, supported the Angolan army Cuban volunteers. UNITA, the rebel organization, which control whether the north-east of the country and supported by the U.S. (not South Africa!), Angolans with the Cubans, in turn, materially and experts supported the USSR. Nevertheless, the majority of weapons (especially heavy) from UNITA captured captured from the Angolan army, it means that the T-55 and BTR-60 will have one and the other. DLC shown in one of the battles during Operation Hooper (defense of Cuito Kvanavalle if the part of Angola.) will be 3 operations of the Angolan army (AI controls the Cubans) - 15 moves for UNITA - 10 turns, for South Africa - 6 turns. beginning is always the same - Angolan troops defeated and demoralized in previous battles (Operation Modular) and retreat to their base in the town of Cuito Kvanavalee UNITA + South Africa to chase and attack. Therefore, the Angolans will play defensively and UNITA and South Africa on the offensive. "*

"Forces of the Parties:
1) 25 Infantry Brigade with reinforcements (Tank Battalion, art battery, etc.), part 13 Infantry Brigade and 50 Cuban Division.
2) 3 and 4 infantry battalions UNITA 61st mechanized battalion with reinforcements as a squadron of tanks from the regiment President Stein, various guns, etc., of the 32 Battalion Buffalo. 3.5 It would battalion against 1.5 and 0.5 division teams have no chance, but fortunately for South African and UNITA, the Angolan army under Infantry Brigade Infantry hiding almost no heavy weapons and armor (1 battalion in APCs). A 61 fur fully mechanized battalion and with a bunch of heavy weapons. So in effect from UNITA and South Africa qualitative superiority, and serious. Cuban Tank Battalion, which has reinforced the Angolans in it as much as 7 tanks. And in the artillery battery ZIS-3. "*

*Google translation

The DLC is out on the Gamersgate UK website, it seems.

Goody goody - and just in time for Easter. Nice timing  ;D

Finally time to dust off the eastern front snow, and head down in the tropics for some 'bush warfare' - I do like the sound of that ;)

Nice, i wait a little to see first impresions... and maybe videos  :P

Videos directly from SADF headquarters in 3 parts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aGriJDVuus4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un0aZhSEA0o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un0aZhSEA0o

Knowledge of Afrikaans is strictly necessary  ;D

Afrikaans is a sounding funny language, guess I have listened too much to 'Die Antvoord' lately  ;D

Andrey: The nights are really dark, making it near impossible to see anything. Is there a way to make the setting 4.14 to toggle by keyboard? Or allow us to change options during tactical mode (we can't at the moment). I'd usually want 4.14 toggled off but for night battles to give orders it is really necessary to have it on.

This was not such a problem in the other games because of the snow I guess...

Thanks for videos but i refer to ingame videos  ::) for an impulse buy i need something hehehe.

Link to 3rd part :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYINYAg3Kr4

And for the Russian view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj0VI4DzLRg

ohh already released, i missed it..downloading now   8)

Somewere in Angola
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3761561/Re_GTOS_operation_hooper_scree#Post3761561
http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3761564/Re_GTOS_operation_hooper_scree#Post3761564

Small videos from Hooper DLC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukl34Xvt8Ms&feature=youtu.be

Now that we have ATGM launchers, can we have the proper icon for them in tactical battle mode in a future update? ;D

(http://i.imgur.com/J0oEsEO.gif)

This video contains content from EMI, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.

Sorry about that.

Look now, it seems to display normally.
Maybe in some countries can not see such candid video of course.

No it stays AT infantry.

Hi Andery Thanks for your good work.

Can we hope in a camera lock button on airplanes and helicopters, in future patches?
It could give us awesome Viewes of the battlefield.

Bye

No, aircraft fly fast and over than active combat zone, any locks on it not possible, due to move camera from active zone margins.

Thanks a lot for the screens and video, DLC is great, it wins 1 position in my "incoming" list  ;D

I don't know if it is the new patch or what,but I am having a problem with my armored vehicles not wanting to face the enemy but would offer constant flank and rear facings towards the in comming fire.

Especially with Operation Hooper!

Is all the dust disorientating the drivers and commanders as to where the enemy actually is and what direction they are taking fire from?

Also my open top vehicles have some insane need to chase infantry into woods,which usually leads to their ultimate demise due to flying KS bottles.

I have rage quit too many times to count after ordering my vehicles out of the woods only to find them back in there again a few minutes later for another dose of KS,it's like they're addicted to the stuff.

Hello, long-time fan, just purchased Operation Hooper, installed March 2013 patch, installed Operation Hooper, but it is not playable... see attached screenshot. There are also the "?" characters you see in the screenshot at the initial start-up screen under "Start Game", but I was too excited to care. ;)

Am I alone here? What are possible causes and solutions?

Screenshot is too big to attach, so link is here: http://imgur.com/OwSMjOq

I think I've taken more SADF casualties in Operation Hooper in 1 hour,than the SADF suffered during the entire 14 year war in Angola. :o ???

My Operation Hooper file size is 1.37 GBs.I downloaded and installed March 2013 patch 1st then downloaded the Operation Hooper to a new folder and then unpacked it as RAR to same folder and then opened the game updater selected all files so the desc. would appear than selected the desc. and it installed the Operation Hooper DLC and worked fine for me with no problems.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/upfiles/42432/EAA7DA5E0078432883619A1100106989.jpg)

@nubjager
I have often seen ?????? when a font was not installed - especially in the case of non-latin characters.
Cyrillic will display as ????? so maybe there is a Russian component somewhere in your install? 
I'm guessing, but assume a mix of languages in patches & DLC would screw things up. 
The same could be true if there was a partial install of some component as it would be equally 'lost' when loading assets.
Just a thought.

@chashka17:
I was going to write a reply saying that I own an English copy of APOS and only installed English patches, until I noticed the filename for my March 2013 update: gtos_patch_march13_rus.gt2extension

Keyword there being 'rus'.

What a silly mistake, sorry to clog the thread. :)

That would definately be a problem :D

Maybe you have downloaded the English patch?

Well, theoretically:
Russian game = Russian patch
English game = English patch
rus = Russian
eng = English

& I made the mistake of thinking a bunch of ?'s wouldn't create smileys...  ;D
& as to the rus file - at least it is an easy fix.  ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KThBe4BYBAc

Here's a 38 minute campaign gameplay video that mitralTA posted on Youtube for Operation Hooper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtnmWALujjA

Here is another Youtube  gameplay video for Operation Hooper.

It seems the guy on fire must have been a FAPLA Russian mercenary advisor,because once the flames consumed him and He expired the rest of these guys surrendered.
(http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/upfiles/42432/86157F459CFF4009BDF8CF1C5AD9F589.jpg)

After several play hours since release, I think this is very good DLC. The different theme (battle area, weapons, vehicles) offers variety to the game.

I must agree with Lavish.  Nice to have a familiar engine, therefore a small learning curve and the ability to "timejump".  I'm barely into this one and just found out about (and bought) Shield of the Prophet.  Keep them coming GT.   :)

I could not download Hooper through gamersgate. Over 30 times trying to download it and it just finished prematurely without completing the 718MB(total file size). Bought this 3 days ago but still struggling with this download.

While attempting to search for solutions I found out one thing which I strongly believe could be the issue. The Hooper DLC in Gamersgate is in .RAR file and my PC could not handle that for reason I myself could not understand.

All 5 or 6 APOS patches ( including newest Aug patch) downloaded through Gamersgate are in .ZIP file and I never face any issue with that.

Are there anyone here could help me with this problem so that I can enjoy Hooper as much I enjoy APOS/GTOS? Furthermore I am crossing finger hoping Gamersgate would make Shilovo as .ZIP file as an alternative since I bought that too. If not I would be crying for not being able to play the best startegic war game out of my 100s wargame.

Regards

Do you have the WinRAR program on your PC?

I down loaded Hooper directly to my desktop and unpacked it with WinRAR program as a RAR file.
Don't know if the problem is on your end or Gamersgates.

7 zip, small, fast and free archiver - unpack absolutely all.
http://www.7-zip.org/

Well the issue isn't in opening it but downloading it is a problem since it ends prematurely.

3 external downloaders + default firefox downloader + default internet explorer 9 downloader failed to download it.

However last night IDM ( Internet Download Manager ) manage to solve my issue and tested it a few minutes and it works
fine. 15 hours for 718MB...I think Gamersgate needs to take a serious look into it.

Thanks and issue is now resolved

Glad you got it resolved. :)

Now that I recall,it took me a long time to download that DLC also.
Normally I can download a DLC in 15 minutes or less,but I think it took me over an hour for Hooper.
Gamersgate changed some things in the last 6 months and it isn't for the better.

My first campaign reached turn 11 but did not see any air spotter in my Angolan army, is that the true case? I thought they used several air strike against the SDF and Unita in real life?

My second question is that I tested in quick battle choosing air spotter for SDF and did not see aircraft instead SDF only send Aluotte helis. Anyone see any aircraft fighter for SADF?

Haven't really played the campaign much for Hooper,but I think the Cubans controlled the airstrikes during the battle.

As for SAR quick battles-I think you have to look to the SAR mech. company or battalion HQs to get impala jets.

Click on the last slot in the mech. HQ platoons that have the plane icon and the jets should appear in the reserves column,then click on them to add the air spotter to the HQ platoon.

Thanks but so far I could not see SAR Impala Jet in there for the Quick Battle. I only saw SA-316B "Aloutte"-3 Helicopters. Probably they are not there. As for Angolan in quick battle I could call in 4 Mig-23s using two air spotter. Wow! Fantastic

 Left click the last empty slot in the mech. HQ company or battalion for the SADF.
Then left click on airplanes in the reinforcement column it should show a pair of MB-326"Impalas".
Left click on them to add to the HQ platoon.

I just checked my game and they are there.

Splendid! I thought I would miss the Impala Jet action. Thank you so much and I just found them to be hidden in there. Tested in QB just now and wow! It I love air strike. I hope they would be there when I start 2nd campaign for Hooper which I believe would be SADF. Right now still got to finish the Angolan campaign with my badly battered force. I am seeing huge Cuban forces coming in but yet to see them in battle.

This game still a lot to learn not just tactic but the interface itself. Infact I just found out how to load soldier onto truck or tank yesterday! Shame on me when my soldiers had to run few kilometers previously. I wish to see truck that can tow the heavy gun to the frontline.

They are considered to be towed during the operations phase of a campaign.
Russian cavalry are abstracted the same way.They are assumed to be riding horses during the operations phase(hence greater movement) but are considered dismounted during the tactical phase.
During a battle the trucks are assumed to have moved away to a safer location.

I would like to see trucks tow guns in the tactical phase also.
Maybe one day we will see this in a future DLC.