Size: 173Mg (Packaged)- 304MB Unpacked.
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Type: Total Conversion
Requirements: Ghost Recon, Desert Siege, Island Thunder, Patch 1.4
Reviewed by: Gordo_Viper
Background:
On September 20th 1999 East Timor was a day that heralded a new chance at Democracy for the people of East Timor what was unusual was the force it would take. An international coalition INTERFET (INTERnational Force East Timor) headed by Australian forces and supported from the earliest stages with troops and equipment from New Zealand, Great Britain and with logistical support from the United States. Also present where a host of other nations that supplied smaller contingents of troops to post initial insertion operations such as Portugal, Brazil, Italy, Philippines and France to name a few.
But the bulk of the manpower and assets came from the armed forces of Australia- fully ? of the Australian Army was deployed in the initial operations to secure the territory from pro Indonesian Elements that had in the last fortnight gone berserk after the elections for East Timor's Elections for independence from Indonesia had came back with a vote for the affirmative.
Introduction:
Operations where in the most part embarked upon after RESPFOR (RESPonse FORce- Allied Special Operations unit composed of NZSAS, Brit SBS/SAS and Aussie SASR 3SQN) had went ahead and located irregular TNI or militia. Due to the nature of those operations RESPOR was by far the most involved unit in actual engagements and thus accounted for the vast majority of Contacts with the militia and scored a number of tactical victories over superior numbers.
Operation Stabilise centres on the role of the Special Air Service Regiment Troopers from 3SQN. SASR troopers are all highly trained soldiers. There training is world class and has been demonstrated quite effectively in the hills of Afghanistan and on the plains of Western Iraq. East Timor was the first combat deployment of an Australian SASR squadron since the Vietnam War,( there were SASR troopers involved in Somalia and also the Gulf Region Since 91 but not on the same scale of operations as East Timor).
Operation Stabilise as such set in 1999 during the initial insertions into East Timor and following loosely the initial operations as those that were undertaken by RESPFOR elements in real life. Later missions are fictional and are based on the TNI (Indonesian forces) becoming fully involved in a shooting war with Interfet forces.
Content:
Operation Stabilise is a comprehensive well researched mod that is based on actual operations and units that participated in the INTERFET operations in East Timor and details all three services in the Australian Defence Forces (ADF), which is a first as most Australian elements in mods detail SASR characters. Authentic Australian Weaponry abounds as does weaponry and characters from various selected foreign contingents such as Brazilian SF and Brit Ghurkha's. The enemy side is also well done with authentic weaponry and camouflage patterns.
Skins:
The skins for both enemy and allied forces are top notch and are accurate with insignia, unit markings, rank and camouflage pattern used. The AUSCAM is extremely well done. The foreign cammo patterns are also top notch with the Kiwi SAS characters DPM a stand out.
Indonesian Koppauss (Special Forces), regular TNI units and Militia units have authentic and realistic skins as well, the Cammo is used by the actual TNI units represented. The time gone into making the enemy as well as friendly units authentic is to be commended. You can see the amount of background research that went into making the characters look good and reflect there nationality and units.
The TNI and Allied Snipers are the stand out in this area- they are for most part invisible unless they move, expect to have instances in places in the campaign where your character gets shot from a location you thought there was no enemies in.
Weapons/ Vehicles:
Streinger is to be commended for making such beautiful and accurate weapon systems for this mod. All weapons used by standard SASR troopers in the conflict are accurate. The Steyr and M4 models in particular are well done and cover no less than 14 configurations seen on actual operations.
The Carl Gustav Anti armour weapon is a piece of artwork and looks great. Sniper and CQB fans will be happy with a variety of true to life weapons with HK variants and there are some very impressive support weapons available as well.
All weapons are well done, enemy weapons are detailed just as well as those of friendly units. It's not just look there's custom rets based on the real optics for the Elcan and ACOG as well. The Ballistic properties cannot be faulted for this weapons as well- especially the pistols- finally you only have to shoot an enemy soldier in the head only once from 10m away to kill them rather than three times.
Vehicle wise Chems has done a great Job on the new Aussie Blackhawk (based on MH-60K the Aussies don't have but may be getting in the future) with workable support weapons. Also to be commended is the ASLAV made by Streinger- well done and it runs fine on the systems I've used to play test the mod. All vehicles on the Aussie side have been given the AUSCAM treatment and so the Indonesian vehicles have been treated with the cammo pattern as used by Indonesian units.
The Leopard 1 Tanks in the mod are the only down point (in the Mod they are M1's recammed to resemble Aussie MBT's- looks good but not realistic), hopefully a future patch will address this. The positive note for realism is that no LPRV's where included as no LPRV's where deployed in Real Life on ops (apparently to make the SF elements blend in with regular troops).
Missions:
Any mod is only as good as to how entertaining, reliable and replay able they are. In this case the team has hit it on the head. These missions are detailed and for once the mission briefings are fact filled and don't drivel on with unnecessary data and information. The mission briefings are well done and military terms and units are accurate. In fact most early missions are based on actual operations undertaken by RESPFOR elements- however unlike these missions in the real world some of missions where completed with no shots fired- that's not to say weapons weren't levelled at opposing parties and safeties off.
Later missions are based on a what if scenario with a full out slugfest with TNI forces and of a higher intensity and against tougher and better equipped opponents. Expect realistic units and armour and enemy Special forces.
The insertion and extraction scenes are gorgeous and show off Chems Blackhawk no end, also there's RHIB insertions and these insertions and extraction often convey crucial information to the mission.
The missions themselves are enjoyable and tough. The missions aren't easy, in particular latter missions there are times where the F6 and F7 key is very handy. Mission 7 is one of the toughest and rewarding missions I've played. I won't give any spoilers away but those Balaclava wearing people are tough nuts to crack.
The missions themselves have realistic objectives, there are of course some surprises- things don't always go to plan.
The enemy is by no means static there are random elements in missions, expect roving patrols and reaction forces to come and spoil your day if you come in dumb. Move swiftly and silent, blunder through and some 7.62mm or a 40mm round will have your name on it.
Interface:
Aus_Viper went all out with new background screens for the main menu and credits section. Post mission medals are Australia Defence forces (ADF) awards and medals as current for the timeframe of INTERFET ops in East Timor.
Jack57 and Aus_Viper outdid themselves in making a new intro and outro for this Mod- the movies are top notch and well made. Music is also well done with Aussie
Bugs:
There has been some bugs reported post public release, relating to mission 3 and 11 for the most part and these are detailed in the Operation Stabilise thread. But it only seems to affect a small percentage of people, none of the Beta testers encountered the mission 3 bug interesting- this was one area in which the team really pushed and it shows with mission scripting.
If you cannot progress passed mission 3 due to a bug, the only solution at this time is as follows, thanks to silentnight for this..
During the cinematic, hit ENTER on the numpad, a black box should appear up the top.
in it type "Unlockhero" (this unlocks the specialist for that mission)
then "autowin" this ends the mission and take you to the next.
Conclusion:
It's obvious as you play this mod that there's been a lot of time put into mod. The 18 months of work is evidenced in the missions, the research and attention to detail. There is no real weak point with this mod, weapons, vehicles, missions, characters- and general interest factor all add up to make a mod worth the download and worth keeping. For those interested in a challenging but realistic campaign this is the mod to play through. It's a quality product and the design team deserve all the credit they receive.
Fan Feedback:
"The mod is excellent! I've finished it and it's a piece of art I really enjoyed playing it. Great job " Portuguese
"To those of you who haven't downloaded this puppy yet, do it now!" El Nino
"i have to say this is one incredible mod. great great great job! i've been playing gr for awhile now and have never come across something so well scripted.
" OvenKing
"add me to the list of people completely blown away by Mission 12. Sheer brilliance" Tegyrius
"One of the best mods I've ever stumbled across" rioghan--celt
Images:
SASR SR-98 Armed Sniper
A 1RAR Recon Scout armed with F88/GLA/Elcan Combo
Brit Weaponry
M-4 variants
Steyr Variants in mod
Reviewed by: Gordo_Viper
Edited by Rocky, 05 June 2011 - 06:41 PM.
