(Review Completed) [SP] Abandoned Armies

[macguba]

New post so I don't distrupt the pic by editing the old one.

It wasn't trivial at Chapoi.    I had selected my position (bushes at Eg69) with care and a while I wouldn't claim to be an expert sniper it is a way I like to play.   The gang of 5 snipers would have been a problem however they were arranged.     As the number of defenders is low your are much more likely to be taken unexpectedly from behind which is what happened to me.    I actually used 3 retry points (the original one, the mad sniper one, and the final one before clearing) at least a couple of times each.   Of course I would have been more careful without infinite savegames, but 17-odd defenders in a village, most of them static blackops and snipers, requires the player to pay attention.

Anyway, that's enough for now.   I was hoping to wrap it up but it's obvious I need to clear 3 properly even before going back to the airfield.    Is there any ammo for my armour?   IM me if you don't want to broadcast the situation.

[THobson]

It then made a number of very low passes (in both directions roughly east-west) right over the repair yard while I dug out the Strela.    If you scripted those passes they looked great - don't think I've ever seen a chopper come so low.

I can't take credit I am afraid.  At this stage of the mission the only instructions of mine that the chopper has is a flyInHeight and a Guard waypoint.

[macguba]

Well flyInHeight was all I was really thinking of ....  

Right, well following on from our brief IM conversation I'm gonna finish this sucker off.    We take the ammo truck and BMP ambulance from the jetty laager and head for Chapoi to take out the squad that I happen to know has set up show there.   No bother.    Moving on west - I'm going to go the long way round since you already know what I met up the Dourdan road.

The rain has started again so how much I'll see I don't know.    Anyway, there is a burnt out Abrams at De67.  Nobody at La Pessagne.   There is a field hospital there I notice:  I dont' seem to have seen many of those on my travels, which I suspect is just a function of where I've been but have a quick check round and make sure there are plenty.  

Only bodies in Vigny.   I didn't really notice before because it was dark and I was in a hurry but the soldiers room, next to the room with the girl, is not satisfactory.  Rearrange the bottles (probably fewer) in a more aesthetically pleasing way and lose the pallets and the box.   The soldiers have a whole village to loot from, they'd have made the place more comfortable than that.    

Eb47, just west of Arudy.    Bodies and remains of jeep/mg.    It's 1.40pm as we arrive in a deserted Arudy.     At the old hunting lodge the are civilians still here, hiding in the ruin.   (You have to crawl to get in, which isn't ideal.)    Most players are going to come back here at some point and there should be some kind of reward for so doing.   For example, if your squad numbers are low perhaps one or two of them could join you.   You don't necessarily need a whole cutscene, just a couple of voice files.    Or maybe they have found some ammo and/or fuel, or maybe if there are wounded you get healed.   Whatever.    

Larche is quiet but the unnamed hamlet at Fb31 is completely undamaged, which looks odd compared to the utter devastation in most places.    Mind you, with visibility only 50m I'm heavily influenced by what I just happen to drive past.   Saint Louis is as we know:  I found two trashed jeeps at any rate.   (At the time I suspected at least one had got away, and we were passed by a single jeep/mg with only a driver about the time I was sniping the airfield.)

2 and 5, the remaining civvies, are way behind with teh ammo lorry.   The other lads (two soldiers and the medic) and I jump out of the bmp ambulance a little short of the airfield.    This shouldn't take long.  

We look for the sniper with x-ray eyes but don't find him:  I suspect he is long gone.     There are bodies just in side the main gate of the airfield that were nothing to do with me.   We move east and shoot two seperate stragglers near the building on the southern road.     But after that it's no good.   You can't fight in this weather.   The AI can shoot me from much further away than I can see and sending my own loons forward just gets them killed on a one for one basis, which doesn't help

Endpost.

[THobson]

lose the pallets and the box

The pallets cover the fire, to give the latter a non-standard look.  I quite liked that.  The box comes with the building I am afraid.

(You have to crawl to get in, which isn't ideal.)

Say more.  This is the ruin with the rescued civis?  What is preventing you from waking in?

if your squad numbers are low perhaps one or two of them could join you.

Neat idea.

[macguba]

Ah, well in that case keep the pallets.

The ruin with the civvies was seemed a bit sunk into the ground.   I'm sure if I entered by a door or a window, unless there was a door round the back that I missed.    I would actually swear that it has sunk since I was last here.

On with the story.   There's no way to fight in this weather, and there is nothing else for me to do so I'll just have to wait till the sun comes out.    Pity I can't write this at the same time.  ;D

The weather is fantastic:  I love that the mission is actually big enough so that the weather has a real impact on how you play it.   There are however two problems.    Firstly, the changes are too fast and unpredicable.     When the rain came last time it was a real nuisance because at the time I needed visibility.    Sure, I changed my plans and made the best of it, but I had to finish my sniping job in the rain and then there was only just enough rain for me to finish the job I wanted to do in the rain.    In other words the length of the rain was about right per se, but the weather changing faster than you can physically adapt your plans.   It doesn't matter how fast you think you still need to get physically from A to B.      Weather forecasts and/or slower changes will fix this.

The second problem is the weather being wrong for what you want to do.   Up to a point this is fine, it add interest to the mission.   But earlier on the mission was very, very hard because it was so bright, and now the mission is completely unplayable because its so gloomy.   Both of these extremes should be in the mission, but the randomness should be biased to provide more bad weather early on and more good weather later.    

[THobson]

The door for the ruin is on its west side.  I soak tested the movements of the vehicles for days on end, but not the movement of the buildings!!  I suppose I could periodically setPos it back (at the cost of another name).  It plays a more significant part in v1.01 than it does in the version you have.

It would help to know if other beta testers that have a long mission time (I think particularly of SEAL84 who has I think the longest so far) have notice anything like this.

EDIT:

Just read your latest post.  I agree about the speed of weather change, I need to slow it down.  It is actually not random though.  After a random intial period the fog and the overcast simply follow a sine wave, each of random period.  The rain is driven by the overcast level.  So each time it is played it will be different, but once the pattern is set for a mission it doesn't change.  Because the fog and overcast have difeerent periods (unless the same random number is picked) they get out of phase over time.

[macguba]

The west side was the direction from which I entered.

Try and avoid using too many red markers, since that is the colour of the player created markers.

If you press + as fast as you can you do actually get roughly 3x time acceration.   It is advisable to switch the sound off temporarily.

[Dubieman]

Wow I can leave for one day and alas! Another page. ;D

About the civvies, they didn't do anything. I ran into their cabin (these civvies nearest Vigny) and ran around them, nothing. Then some voice comes up saying "good civvies rescued" or something, then they sit their going about their existance. For some reason I thought they would join me.
Didn't seem to clear to me in the briefing so maybe more documentation on that? :-\

Haven't been able to play it more, too much to do...

[THobson]

Try and avoid using too many red markers, since that is the colour of the player created markers.

Holy-moly,  back to the drawing board - again!

If you press + as fast as you can you do actually get roughly 3x time acceration.

I have to have a small delay in the trigger that detects acctime othrwise it will not work.

It is advisable to switch the sound off temporarily

In what situations.  I don't follow.

About the civvies, they didn't do anything. I ran into their cabin (these civvies nearest Vigny) and ran around them, nothing. Then some voice comes up saying "good civvies rescued" or something, then they sit their going about their existance. For some reason I thought they would join me.

There is something wrong with these guys, but not always.  They have been fine for me but you are not the first to have this problem.  Also my son played this yesterday and when he got to the lodge the resistnace solder their was as dead as a do-do.  The whole civilain thing is to be re-done.  Sorry  Was this the first group of civis you visited?

[Fragorl]

For me it was the third and final group. There were two groups east of La Trinite; this was the one that was much further west/ closer to the lodge (talking from memory now, as I've just realised my savegame has become corrupted now - have to restart )

About the scripts; no, there is no real benefit (it would be more tricky to use this system) save not having so many sqs files. I think you had about 83  

[macguba]

It is advisable to switch the sound off temporarily
In what situations.  I don't follow.

When you are banging the + repeatedly.   ;D   Don't worry about the delay, its not worth the trouble.

When I first started meeting civvies I was also slightly confused though it didn't take long to work out.    Perhaps a little more clarity in somewhere in the instructions wouldn't go amiss.

Anyway I let the mission soak for 45 mins while I went and did something else.   When I came back the rain had stopped and the mist was clearing.     We moved from the loiter position towards my favourite old sniping position.   On the way we found one sniper overlooking the base.     On arrival there was nothing to see so I arranged my loons into all round protection - one of them also has an M21 now - and sat down to to wait.    Still nothing happening so I moved position a little to bring the fuel station into view and in that area I found a soldier and a sniper to drop.   Returned to the squad.    From the recent failed excursions onto the airfield I'm expecting at least one patrol of about three on this side (which we haven't seen) and a Vulcan and a few soldiers on the far side which are still too far away.    

We wait.     The fog lifts, inexorably but interminably.   Suddenly it's all action:  8 calls in close contacts and I turn to see figures running in from the south.    He drops all three of them without return fire.     Lucky I'm still paranoid enough to put in an all round defence.    My little heart is still pounding when Irena, the demon sniperess, calls a contact at 200m and pumps two rounds into him.

Cross at being beaten by a girl, I move forward a little, into the open.    Suddenly a whole world of runners opens up.   Between us we knock over eight or nine.    One or two distant ones escape.  The far side swims into view and - at last! - the mysterious Vulcan.    417m.    The running woman crosses my field of view as the second, and successful, rocket, arcs across the runway.

We wait.   I pan across the airfield, looking for targets.    Several slowly come into focus:   blemishes on the runway verge that you missed on the last pass gain definition as the fog continues to thin.    Occasionally there is a cry, "Run, runner!"      Irena does her bit, on occasion hitting runners at well over 300m after just two or three shots.    I wonder what's happening up at La Trinite, and contemplate sending or leading a patrol up there, when a Vulcan comes racing onto the field.   Ah-ha, there was a Vulcan up there when I did that recce run earlier.   This suggests that the threshold has been reached and all remaining northron forces are heading this way.     We'll stay here for a bit.    I think there was only the vulcan and one or two small patrols in 3, though I'm not sure.

It's close now, the end.    I can smell it.  Which reminds me: something about

- at least two of your team need to be alive and in a vehicle
- at least one of your team needs to be alive and not in a vehicle
- at least one of your team needs to have been killed while in a vehicle
- at least one of your team needs to have been killed while not in a vehicle

While trying arrange for as many of these as possible, it transpires that there are still soldiers in 3 and soldiers and a tank, would you believe it, at the northern end of the airfield.  Still hidden by the mist but able to blow me sky high the second I jumped into that vulcan by the fuel station.    

....

Well much time has passed.    The tank was dealt with easily, and I repaired the vulcan I had so carefully preserved many hours ago.   We went running around and up to 3, where we found and splashed a few loons.    Ran around 3 on foot at length, while 7 and 8 ran around the airfield.   5 still covering the airfield, 2 died some time ago in mysterious circumstances.    8 was also killed, I suspect by 5.   Game time is now 4.15 and its getting dark.

Any suggestions on where that pesky last loon might be?   There was a report but it turned out to be the running woman.

[SEAL84]

The door for the ruin is on its west side.  I soak tested the movements of the vehicles for days on end, but not the movement of the buildings!!  I suppose I could periodically setPos it back (at the cost of another name).  It plays a more significant part in v1.01 than it does in the version you have.

It would help to know if other beta testers that have a long mission time (I think particularly of SEAL84 who has I think the longest so far) have notice anything like this.

?!?!?!?!?!

Am I missing something or are we actually suggesting that the building is moving?

I can assure you, sirs, that it is not.  I've been entering on the west side, on the right side of that wall...it appears to be a door that you can run through, although given that the building is on a bit of a slope, it is sunken into the ground.  As we all know, buildings in OFP don't contour to fit the landscape, so it is a bit wierd when you're inside it.

[macguba]

I have suspected buildings of sinking during missions in the past, though I've never managed to prove it.    I haven't got the energy to run back there and check at the moment, unfortunately.      Even if it is happening to me that doesn't mean its happening to you.

I was hoping to finish tonight but the pesky last loon has temporarily beaten me and its starting to rain again.    I leave it running overnight, in case he walks into somebody's sights.

[THobson]

Any suggestions on where that pesky last loon might be?

Having experienced this myself   I was quite paranoid about the scriping to deal with this.

The last northron loons should all end up in the group previously led by Andropov and should all be situated close to his tent.

Oh please don't let ther be a missing last loon problem

[XCess]

I actually don't mind the idea of searching around for the last loon. Hunting to kill war criminals after the war ;D