(Review Completed) [COOP5] Operation Blue Ribbon

[BensTooCool]

Information
Name: Operation Blue Ribbon
Version: Final
Author: BensTooCool
Type: COOP Max 5 Players
Addons: none

Mission Summary
An opportunity has arisen to deliver a devastating blow to the SLA you and your elite team are sent in to take advantage of this opportunity, you will deliver this blow at the Base Pesadas West of Eponia. The mission gives you the opportunity to plan your attack from different locations and times of day.

Known bugs
None So Far

Thanks for any help.

OFPEC Download

[LeeHunt]

hey there,

Downloaded the mission and gave it a whirl. No bugs or anything I noticed.  I played for about 20 minutes and got massacred.  Its enjoyable combat and you give the player a choice on how to conduct this attack, but maybe the mission difficulty could be changed?  Its 5 against seemingly endless waves of SLA, in broad daylight with enemy riflemen in towers.  I de-PBO'd the mission and could see an incredibly large amount of enemy reinforcements swarming in.  Because its broad daylight the player doesn't stand too much of a chance.  So maybe if you could change the difficulty level and also give the player some kind of edge to work with?   The Briefing has a lot of information but maybe some intelligence or suggestions that could help?  A last minor point, your starting location flashes as a titletext too quickly right at the start of the mission.  But enjoyable and i look forward to playing again.

[BensTooCool]

thanks lee

You've pretty much touched on all my concerns, I definitely need to lower the skill but its hard to know how to set it for MP.

The reinforcements I intended to be overwhelming, I feel it pushed the action and gives motivation to be quick, efficient and get out before they come however I might need to give you more time to complete the objectives before they turn up.

The titletext thing at the start I cant seem to make longer I have a intro.sqs with the following in "titlecut ["South West of Pesadas","BLACK IN", 50]". I'll have to look into that.

If you have any more ideas to give the player an edge let me know. 

p.s. I could do with some name suggestions I hate Kill Joy, it sounds so lame 

[LeeHunt]

Couple points:

-I think the player starting off near the bridge could give you a name for the mission. something related to the bridge?

-The reinforcements from what I saw in the mission editor are set to move right away, there was no trigger or variable to "release the hounds" if you will. Perhaps after the base garrison is halfway decimated or something like that you could have them move in?

[BensTooCool]

I have a condition in the way point that activates the reinforcements

[Cheetah]

Not tested, but my feeling tells me that waypoint conditions are deceptive and not always 100% trustworthy. I suggest synchronizing a trigger (with the condition) with the waypoint instead of the condition in the waypoint.

Of course you can test it yourself, in the mission editor check they stay put until the variable gets activated.

[BensTooCool]

I did check but only once, I'll probably take your advice though and use a trigger.

[BensTooCool]

Updated and changed the mission name.

Mission Name: Operation Blue Ribbon [Coop5] - V1.02

Main Changes

• Fewer enemy soldiers in Base
• Lowered enemy skill level
• Changed reinforcement response time
• Changed Extraction method

Also did a few other minor things

[LeeHunt]

hey Benstoocool,

Definitely much better  .  I liked the improvements and still a challenge. 

My main comment would be that perhaps you could change timing and general approach of the Special Forces-- they are attacking uphill with the sun in their eyes against an enemy base in bright daylight.  Maybe give the player an option on the timing (you could add actions and use skiptime etc)? 

But definitely better and a good fight!

Lee

[Cheetah]

Please update the first post with the correct version and remove the missionfile in any others. Because not all people tend to read the whole topic before playing the mission. The same with me, I always assume that the first post got the newest version, not. Well will result in two test reports (probably) so it's a good-good for you anyway. Please fix it before any more guys download the outdated mission.

[BensTooCool]

thanks lee

I definitely like that idea about allowing the player to choose the time of day so I'll look into it (if thats what you meant by timing)  as for the positions, I wanted to add a another location but the ones I have already are the only ones where you can approach without really being seen however if change the time of day then I might add more locations.

[BensTooCool]

Updated mission to final version. Thanks for all the help

[sharkattack]

ben
heads up before review   
----------------------------
played this today  with a full house on artaks server
nice mission ... 
however  we couldnt end it  ... no extraction ... 
----------------------------

[Cheetah]

Tested this one today with Shark attack and Swelego on Artak's server - OFPEC MP testing

ArmA Version 1.05

Briefing

Have played this one before in SP mode so I already knew what was expected of me. The briefing is fine, it's descriptive and the objectives are clear. Well, the final objective - the extraction - misses a marker and we weren't able to complete it but I'll write more about it at the end of the report. The map is a bit crowded with markers near the base. I suggest that you cut down the amount of markers in the base, maybe just one marker which points shows the enemy base. There is no need to add a marker for each objective as you can say that there is a lack of intelligence, or anything to prevent the map from getting crowded. The same with the extraction markers, there are three of them and one is enough for me.

Mission

We felt that the sniper was useless and decided not to use it after the first try went bad for us, we got eliminated pretty fast, not even being able to complete a single objective. On the second try I noticed that there are multiple insertion positions which adds up to the replayability although I think that there are only two of them. Nevertheless, it was worth is as the second time we assaulted the base was different from the first and we were more in control because of the advantage we got from the terrain. What we did notice was that there is no spectate script (for example Kegetys' spectate script) and a seagull can be frustrating when you want to know where all of your friends are. I encourage the use of a spectate script, people can even learn from those by watching the movement of someone.

Anyway, we chewed up a lot of the SLA soldiers inside before reinforcements were being called in. They took a while to get there, I suggest that you shorten their arrival a bit or let them come in waves. For example, two fast UAZs followed by two or three trucks full of men a few minutes later. Right now we were able to pull of all the objectives moments before the reinforcements got in the base.

The objectives are a challenge to complete, especially the one with the officers. They are pretty hard to find, but aren't all placed at random locations - I think that two of them are at fixed locations. This doesn't make the mission replayable, but was handy while trying to complete the objectives before reinforcements moved in. As I was tired of my weapon, being too soft for the longer ranges when we got detected, I changed to a AK74+GP25 but failed to find ammonition for the GP25 in the wooden shed behind the oil reserves. Would be nice if those would contain GP25 HE grenades, instead of only M203 HE's. The first three objectives all got ticked off as they should and you notify the player when an objective gets completed - well done.

Finally - the escape - having tried this in SP mode before I knew that we could get a hard time to end it. The same thing happened again, the mission didn't want to end. I ran west, crossed the bridge and used the radio. They told me to execute the evaction plan, but no long range recce patrol came up. I moved further west towards the Placco Paraiso (or some mountain overlooking a road) but I couldn't see friendlies and Shark attack and Swelego couldn't either with their seagulls. So we ended the mission right there, not wanting to waste more time. I haven't had the time to look in the mission editor, but I will do that sometime soon.

As you want this reviewed, please take a look into it.

Overall

Enjoyable, a good challenge for a five-men squad. Sometimes hindered by the amount of static soldiers, the player has to move in order to kill once he enters the base. Before that the enemy just got slaughtered while trying to run out of the gate. The reinforcements could've been timed a bit better.

[savedbygrace]

This Mission has been reviewed and can be found in the Missions Depot.

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