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Author Topic: (Review Completed) [SP] Operation Distant Strike  (Read 8006 times)

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Offline mathias_eichinger

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(Review Completed) [SP] Operation Distant Strike
« on: 22 Mar 2007, 14:23:56 »
Hi all!

Here is my first entry for ArmA beta testing. It is basically a Black Op mission and I am going to rephrase my Readme:

In this mission you are part of an elite Special Forces team that has just been inserted at the Sahrani coast. Your task is to kill
two important officers and to destroy a coastal navigation beacon.
This mission includes the Urban Patrol Script by Kronzky.

UPDATE:

The helpful suggestions have been included in the mission, many thanks to bardosy, BensToCool and jow!

*Intro is now longer
*Added Ammo and Weapons at both objectives
*Officers are now in a real HQ
*Savegames added
*Mission is now a "one man show"
*Outro added

I would be grateful for further (final?) feedback!

Cheers Mathias

UPDATE #2: As beta tests did not reveal major showstoppers and the mission was generally well received I think it is ready for review.

OFPEC Review
« Last Edit: 20 Aug 2009, 04:18:07 by hoz »

Offline bardosy

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Re: [SP] Operation Distant Strike
« Reply #1 on: 24 Mar 2007, 14:21:50 »
hello mathias,

I exemined your mission. And I found the bug:
You must rewrite the switch trigger condition, because OBJ_2 is not the tower name. OBJ_2 is the marker name. And marker is not an object...

I will write more on Monday.
Fix bayonet!

Offline bardosy

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Re: [SP] Operation Distant Strike - Bug eliminated
« Reply #2 on: 26 Mar 2007, 09:42:48 »
I played this mission at weekend.
Sorry, but I couldn't write more - only about the bug - at saturday.

Intro:
Too short intro... One Humvee, one T-72 and one zodiac.
Short, I mean ununderstandable... It's only a draft or the final version?

Briefings:
Links don't work in the objectives. Other is fine.


Mission:

I lead my men directly to the officers and can kill tham easily.
Please insert a saveGame after officers killed.

In this action I found our good, old "hold-fire" bug. I ordered my men hold fire, but one of them (the medic) refuse my order and kill the patrol... :)

After officers I reurn to the shore (formation: delta, combat mode: hold fire) and tried to sneak to the peninsula.
The peninsula is a hill and I know the AI have problem with slopes (from Perpetua), so I left my men in the neck of peninsula and I killed the two guards of LORAN alone.
When I killed the guards near tower, the WP (HUD indicator) show to the safehouse (fuel station)... I think it's could be better aftre the destroy the tower.

When I blowed up the LORAN, the switch trigger start working and a lot of enemies attack us on peninsula. We fought well, but we run out of ammo and I lost my men. But I had no chance to breake through to the land, so I started swimm. In the ocean I lost my equipment (NVG too) and when I reach the shore near to the fuel station, I saw nothing in the dark.
Without weapons I started run to the safehouse and I found a civilian there. He said me something and then mission ends.

No outro


my notes:
1., assessination is too easy
2., after LORAN is too hard (for me)
Fix bayonet!

Offline mathias_eichinger

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Re: [SP] Operation Distant Strike - Bug eliminated
« Reply #3 on: 26 Mar 2007, 15:31:12 »
Hi Bardosy!

Thank you for the test!

The intro is more a placeholder, until I get the hang of making decent intros and outros.
Ok, I will add some more patrols/men close to the officers. I did not insert a savegame because it is constantly available by default - but might look into that.

Hmm...I took some distance between myself and the charges (went downhill) before detonating them. Well, as the mission designer I was expecting the attack and this obviously bought me time to bypass the city and patrols on the left flank on the waterline (lost a soldier tough).
Will cut the size of the patrols anyway.

As for the "hold fire bug": We need to hope for Patch 1.06.  >:(

There's a problem still bugging me: Everytime I add something inside the mission folder, not the editor or change an item inside the mission folder (e.g. create a description.ext, change the length of the intro...) my ArmA encounters a problem upon restart and crashes to desktop. Have you experienced this as well?
This has yet prevented me to give more choice of weapons and additional ammo to the player and his squad (to make the attack at the LORAN more survivable).

Thanks again

Mathias

Offline BensTooCool

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Re: [SP] Operation Distant Strike - Bug eliminated
« Reply #4 on: 26 Mar 2007, 21:39:11 »
Intro
I'm not much of a judge when it comes to intro's but like Bardosy said its a bit too short.

Briefing
Briefing was good, told me what I had to do and gave a bit of background, links all worked, objectives all worked, could do with a bit of tidying up though, Also no option to change your weapons.

Mission
Finding and killing the Officers was a bit too easy they were just standing around a fire in the back of some house not really what I'd expect two high ranking Officers to be doing, maybe you could add some tents and make It look like a small HQ, the enemy soldiers I personally thought were a bit too highly skilled for just myself the few AI I had (however I'm not that good controlling AI anyway).

Once I killed the officer I made my way towards the tower along the beach, when I got there I was a little disappointed, only two guys guarding it and they wasn't'  much challenge, this area could defiantly do with some improvements. Once I blew the tower I found a bit hard making it back down the beach it took a few attempts to do so which got a bit annoying since I couldn't save anymore but I finally made it and completed the mission.

Summary
Shows promise to be a good mission the 2nd objective really lets you down, you need to improve this area other than that it just needs a bit of fine tuning.

Recommendations
Tidy Up Briefing
Add a Weapon Selection in briefing
Add some ammo crates around town or at the tower.
Add a save game
Make all of team playable (this way if you die instead of reverting to a save you can continue on from AI player)
Adjust skill level of enemy soldiers
General improvements and fine tuning on objectives

Offline mathias_eichinger

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Re: [SP] Operation Distant Strike - Bug eliminated
« Reply #5 on: 27 Mar 2007, 00:46:50 »
Hi Bens!

Many thanks for your report, but would you care to be a bit more specific?  :)

You mentioned that I should tidy up the briefing - what is the "messy" part exactly?

I don't quite get what you mean when describing the first objective. You mention that "killing the officers was a bit too easy", yet you think that the AI is too highly skilled....sorry, now I am a bit puzzled....

You could not save anymore after you blew up the tower? You mean the "save all the time" feature, courtesy of BIS, is broken?

What is your opinion on the hunter force after the second objective: Do you think you could beat them with enough ammo? Or are there just too many enemies?
Besides, you can plant your charges, climb down the hill and detonate them on your way out to the extraction point (about half way to the beach left of the peninsula) which buys you enough time to escape - but maybe that's just my habit.

Your other points are excellent suggestions and I will work them into the mission once I have time (weapons selection and a longer intro have already been done).

Many thanks for your report!


Cheers

Mathias

Offline BensTooCool

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Re: [SP] Operation Distant Strike - Bug eliminated
« Reply #6 on: 27 Mar 2007, 01:03:58 »
Hi Mathias,

Ok I'll try to explain my points better, the problem I saw with the first objective was I guess the way the enemy AI were patroling or moving about so it wasn't hard to pick them off but the AI in general I thought were too skilled, I kept getting killed by 1 shot from a guy miles off, there accuracy was just too good for me.

The second objective I just wanted to see more defending that tower, it was basically just two guys standing about clueless, I killed them both before either of them hit the ground. I didn't run out of ammo myself but I think sometimes it might just be useful to have a crate stashed about somewhere so you don't have to take up an enemy AK.

The Hunter force were ok but again because of their high accuracy they can pick you off on the hill coming down from the tower area too easily.

Finally on the save game thing I think because i'm set to veteran It only lets me save once thats why I suggested you could add a trigger that lets you save repeatedly or just update the game after each objective.

Offline bardosy

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Re: [SP] Operation Distant Strike - Bug eliminated
« Reply #7 on: 27 Mar 2007, 08:04:41 »
Thank you for the test!
Your welcome! You helped me a lot before... ;)

Quote
I did not insert a savegame because it is constantly available by default - but might look into that.

The save possibility in the ArmA and the saveGame is not the same! saveGame is a checkpoint. If I save the game one second before an enemy kill me from 5m, I couldn't load the game, because he will kill always. And in that situation I can use the checkpoint.
Additionally, only in cadet mode are unlimited save possibility. If you play in veteran mode you can save only once. So I suggest you to use saveGame in your missions, when you feel this is a checkpoint.

Quote
Ok, I will add some more patrols/men close to the officers.

No. It not necessary... I mean, I could add some tricky to prevent the player go straight to the officers. It's too simple. Maybe add a MG nest between the start pos and the officers and player must take around.

Quote
Hmm...I took some distance between myself and the charges (went downhill) before detonating them. Well, as the mission designer I was expecting the attack and this obviously bought me time to bypass the city and patrols on the left flank on the waterline (lost a soldier tough).
Will cut the size of the patrols anyway.

I also except for counter-attack. It's very good realizm: everybody hear an explosition.
And before blow up, I placed my men and I took a place too. Then blowed up LORAN and killed a lot of enemy, who come. But my ammo was out. The weapon selection could solve this problem, but I could remove 2 satchel (leave only one) and add more ammo.

Quote
As for the "hold fire bug": We need to hope for Patch 1.06.  >:(
Maybe it's not bug, but feature... In OFP I miss this feature: "hold fire, but defend yourself". I think this bug is this feature. Very unrealistic a completly holdfire soldier. He see the enemy at 50m and realize the enemy will kill him, but don't fire...
Do you understand what's my opinion?

Quote
There's a problem still bugging me: Everytime I add something inside the mission folder, not the editor or change an item inside the mission folder (e.g. create a description.ext, change the length of the intro...) my ArmA encounters a problem upon restart and crashes to desktop. Have you experienced this as well?
This has yet prevented me to give more choice of weapons and additional ammo to the player and his squad (to make the attack at the LORAN more survivable).
Two suggestion:
1., if you modify the description.ext, you must realod the mission in the editor. Usually I load an other mission and then load the current mission again. It will reload the description.ext
2., maybe you made some mistake in the description.ext (fogor a bracket or something). It could cause crash to desktop.


Keep up the good work!
Fix bayonet!

Offline mathias_eichinger

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Re: [SP] Operation Distant Strike - Bug eliminated
« Reply #8 on: 28 Mar 2007, 11:14:40 »
Hi Bardosy!

Thank you for your input!

On the "hold fire" feature: You might be right, but I don't know how specific this feature is, i.e. would my soldier check wether an enemy nearby is going for him or just passing by clueless in the dark?

Cheers

Mathias

Offline jow

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Re: [SP] Operation Distant Strike - Bug eliminated
« Reply #9 on: 30 Mar 2007, 21:32:36 »
Hi! I just played this mission the following way.

First i went to the 3 houses where the patrol is walking by.
I decided to wait a few seconds until they walked away.
Went to the waypoint - killed one especas with the silenced m9 - leaned towards the fire and killed the two officers - that was really easy!

Then we ran in staggered column to the mast and the trouble started - the silly medic refused to hold fire and didn't follow me but fired at some guy
So I had to run back - killed the guy and sent my medic to my other men - then i let them stay there - ran to the mast and killed the 2 guys

As the waypoint switched already I thought: OK objective done?!?!? - so i ran to the safehouse on the left side in the low water without shooting a single time - but 1 of my guys got killed and i'm not sure if they managed to reach the house (so i guess i did not activate the trigger, thats why I could escape so easily?!)

And the debriefing told me the mission was a success - but i had not destroyed the mast :(

OK skip the first part if that's not important ;)

Here are my suggestions:

1. As this is a spec-ops mission at night I would suggest to make it a one-man-show (no teammates) - would also erase the hold fire troubles
2. Make the mast a must-do objective so that you can't finish the mission successfully without destryoing it

Besides some small things I really liked the idea of that mission  :good: (although i hate night missions)

Offline mathias_eichinger

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Re: [SP] Operation Distant Strike - Bug eliminated
« Reply #10 on: 02 Apr 2007, 22:18:05 »
Hi jow!

Thank you very much for your suggestions and the test - even more so as you hate night missions. I hope I have time to update this one until the end of the week.

Cheers

Mathias

Offline mathias_eichinger

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Hi all!

I have updated and revised my mission with great help from Bardosy, Bens and jow.
Please check the first post.

Cheers

Mathias

Offline jow

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Heya mat!
I gave the new mission a first try yesterday and this time it was really difficult .. but that's good!
I passed the patrol and went to the place where I found the officers in the older version.
BUT then I found a lot of barbed wire .. and some very well trained especas too :P

So far I made like 3 attempts, but i always got killed before i could actually reach the officers :(

But hey I will make it for sure .. somewhen ;)

Will make a long review as soon as I finish it for the first time!

Offline sharkattack

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hi mate got youre pm and as requested have had a go at your mission...

overview
=======
nice text  with pic ... unit badge and a grunt with gun no border
briefing
=======
short and to the point ... all links work ... more info available via link if player requests :)...
mentions youre team ? ... i have no team ... weapons selection available but needs sorting ... 6 or so of each available for selection ... i can only pick one
mission
=======
start on beach pretty close to first objective:) no long march for me !
move to a well laid out enemy camp .. spot the gaurds and the enemy patrol along with maching gun post .. i give them the good news ... proceed to the tented area find the two officers and a map in the same tent ( same tent everytime :()
i also give them the good news ... i get a hint telling me objective complete and text saying got the illegitimate persons ...� i head back the way i came staying close to the shore,dodge a four man patrol and head for the cliffs at lighthouse ... slott the x2 machine guns and the three guards at lighthouse ... now i place three charges in the tower and let rip ..............
NOTHING ! the tower disapears but the base remains ... no objective ticked off ... anyway i head on towards the fuel station unchallenged i arrive....
 i see a civilian at fuel station after deciding not to kill him i approach he tells me to get in the cellar (his lucky day) ...
 mission ends..
=============
my thoughts ... (as requested)
a good mission and for someone who isnt a fan of night ops i enjoyed it ..until i reached the lighthouse ... probably only fires trigger if lighthouse base is destroyed not just the tower...had a feeling there was more to come after lighthouse was destroyed ...
found the start a little easy loons were in the same place easy to establish there route
also officers in the same tent together maybe split them up and make them start in different tents each time..nice camp though...
maybe add more text when objectives are met and a little music

looking good mate ...:good:

*edit
ahem..
after it was pointed out to me that the lighthouse wasnt the target( :P) itried again
this time having blown up the correct target two maybe three patrols emerged from balmopan
they proved to be stiff competition...the gunfight that followed drew more gaurds to the area
having learnt a painfull lesson i decided next time to legg it instead of engaging ..
waited until i had a good headstart before detonating satchels after giving the enemy a wide berth
i reached the saftey of the fuel station

« Last Edit: 16 Apr 2007, 22:18:48 by shark attack »
"HOLY SARDINE" - see Shark-Attack meet his match

Offline mathias_eichinger

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Hi Shark!

Many thanks for your second look!

Oops, I really need to sort out the Briefing - the second objective was the antenna tower right next to the lighthouse, not the lighthouse itself   :sorry:
It is located a bit hidden east of the lighthouse, and yes, it's destruction does provoke an enemy reaction and the objective would tick off.
I am very grateful for your helpful comments!

Cheers

Mathias