(Review Completed) [SP/QG] Internal Security

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi all! Here`s a new mission, it requires Queen`s Gambit this time and is now considered be finished by me. Anyway, the mission details:

Mission: Internal Security
Version needed: ArmA 1.08
Type: Single Player only
Teamswitch : No
Island: United Sara
Addons: Queen`s Gambit
Mission by: Mathias Eichinger
Version: Final 1.1

A little about the mission:

You are about to graduate into South Sahrani`s most prestigious unit: The Royal Guards.
Your final exam is a shooting test with live ammunition in which you have to liberate
your Commanding Officer from captivity.

Edit: Mission has been modified according to reviewer's feedback. If the problems with the helo transport system persist, it needs to be taken out. Right now it is still the same with a moving marker for the helo added.

Have fun!

Mathias

OFPEC Download.

[Denz]

Tested on ArmA 1.08 Veteran Difficulty with FROMZ 1.4 sound mod, Durg's Vegetation Fix and DMSmokeEffects 4.3b

Overview
I liked the picture, it reminded of a painting of Pointers (dogs).
At first I didn't understand the "final confidence shooting test"

Intro
Nice idea! I was thinking, what is this an advert? Lo and behold it was  

Briefing
Fine for a mission of this type. Good detailed instruction on controlling the Helo.
Typo in Notes: "ot hit Radio option 4"

Mission
Training:
From the way the targets are angled I think you thought I was going to work my way through the building properly- through the front door and towards the loading area. I didn't   I went straight through the loading entrance. Maybe add a little diagram or description for the "proper" method of clearing a building. Is the message regarding completion of this stage on a timer? I'd shot all the targets and waited a little while before the message came. Perhaps use a distance trigger, so once the player is under 1m the trigger is activated (I don't know if this would cause a problem when outside the building).
Not your fault, but I accidently shot the officer on my first attempt - the bullets went through the target  
edit 2:
In the radio message, instead of "given his life" > put his life in your hands (or placed his)
Hostage Rescue:
Maybe add in the briefing about taking the 4x4 as I called the blackhawk the first time. Although I suppose it doesn't matter what option you choose  
It took me a couple of attempts to get this part right  
Now because of the fact I had DMSmokeEffects loaded I may have cheated a little on the rescue part. I took smoke grenades from the 4x4 and after clearing the terrorists outside I lobbed two smoke grenades across the courtyard and sprinted to the building. Using a combination of sidesteps and leaning I managed to eliminate the remaining terrorists and rescue the Chancellor.
- On one attempt, frustrated by the lurking shooters I took to lobbing grenades over the wall and killed most of the hostages  
Terrorist Camp:
Ok, I don't know if my briefing was suppose to update with the new objective but it didn't. The radio message explained what I had to do though.
Boarded the blackhawk and had it land just outside the forest by some farm buildings. I put everyone into a column (compact) formation and went straight up the middle between the raised ground.
Again, because I had the vegetation fix loaded this may have had an effect on this part of the mission- to the better I think.
Man, this was tense (loved it   ). Working my way forward, I spotted the small camp through the foliage and then all hell broke loose. I arranged my squad in a wedge and prone while I crawled for the camp. I arrested the leader and ordered him up to the path. I called a couple of my fastly diminishing squad to guard him while I went back to the fight - and contacted you to find out just what I was supposed to do now  
After the firing had died down, I pulled the remains of my squad back into close column and set off back down the path and back to the helo.
Mission complete in 40 mins, 7 kills and 7 casualties - not my personal best

Outro
Fine, a nice little scene to wrap the story up.

Summary
I think a little more direction in the briefing updates would be good and maybe a hint to say that it has updated.
The rescue part works well, a little frustrating but then it is CQB. Maybe have a little cutscene/message where you identify the terrorist group or are told the whereabouts of the leader. Perhaps a terrorist on a rooftop acting as lookout and to compound the frustration *evil laugh*
The forest was great, really tense and frantic. The lack of the briefing update hindered me though as I wasn't sure what I had to accomplish.
It could do with some more units to kill though.
The mods I had loaded obviously affected the mission. I should try it without them.
Pretty good so far mate.


edit:
Did a little diagram in paintshop although I'm sure you could do much better  

[johnnyboy]

Hi mathias, this mission is my kind of mission.  Very fun and different.

Overview:  Picture is cool.  But maybe you could photoshop some text onto it to make it a recruiting poster.  Maybe:  "Do you have what it takes to be a Royal Guardsman?" or simply "Make Sarahni proud, and join the Royal Guards now!"

Also, I agree with Denz, in that I don't understand "final confidence shooting test".

Intro:  Great idea.  I recommend playing this up further.  Make it more obvious that it is a recruiting adverstisement.  Make it "cheesier" somehow.  Maybe with closeups of soldiers smiling after blowing something up...  It's good now, but it could be really funny.  Needs voices.

Briefing:  Told me what I needed to know.  I went in the right door, but I understand Denz's point.  If you go in the wrong door, it won't work right.  Maybe put two traffic cones to mark the entrance, and tell player to enter building marked by cones.

Mission:

1. This mission is worth the effort of adding voices.  You could recruit them like LCD did for O-Team.   I would have voices for captain during training.  Radio voices for call to the Hostage objective.  More radio voices for the drive there, or nervous talk among the player team during the drive.

2. At or near restaurant, you might add one or two terrorists on the second floor of a building or two.   Or place three or four, and then randomly remove all but one. This keeps the player guessing on where that upper sniper might be...

3. After killing the outside guards, hostages came running out.  The terrorists could have shot them, why did they let them go?  Might make it more exciting if they start killing hostages once you get to the entrance of the restaurant compound...

4. Hostage objective completes, even if there is still a terrorist left alive.  This surprised me.  I like it actually, as war should not be predictable.

5. Waypoint to forest activates, but I do not see new objective in briefing.  I never saw the forest objective in briefing until I completed the mission.  I think this is a bug.

6. Helicopter script worked well for me.  No problems at all with that, except the LZ marker is hard to see on the map.  It seems it is transparent.  I would make it a solid color, so player can see it better.

7. Forest fight was fun.  Alone, I hate forests, because you usually get killed before you see the enemy.  But with a squad of twelve, it was good.   Is there randomness built into the terrorist placement and movement?  That would be good, so that it plays differently each time.

Outro

This mission was so good, I think it needs a stronger outro.  Some of the soldiers were talking during the outro, so you probably want to disable radio to keep them silent.  The final shot of the blue beret man, looked like he was pointing his pistol, which seemed wrong.  Maybe you can tie the outro to the intro somehow, like the soldiers joke about the Royal Guards motto from the commercial...

Overall:  This is a good and very fun mission as is.  With voices and a stronger outro, I think this would be a great mission.

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi Denz and Johnnyboy!

Many thanks for the kind words and suggestions. Voices would be cool, but I have never done them before. What is involved in bringing voice samples into a mission?

Cheers

Mathias

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi all!

Just added Beta 2 with slightly more enemies and a longer intro. Beta tests welcome, could be the final version if nothing bad comes up.

Cheers

Mathias

[Cheetah]

Internal Security

Package

Lacks a promo picture. Readme is fine, but the filename could do without the %20. Don't ever use spaces when saving missions from the editor 

Overview

Picture is average, the text on it sure is clear but the two guardsmen in the image are not. Maybe a poster like what LCD did with O-Team. Lacks a version number and author name.

Intro

Pretty good intro, some parts should be shorter to have a more action packed intro. It is kinda stretched at the moment, not something you expect from the superb guards.

Briefing

Like the briefing, objective is clear but the plan section text could be split into two paragraphs. What you might want to do, as already suggested it have a map with the route to take. Maybe add some information about the guards or other background info - always fun to read about the guards. Other than that, briefing/map are fine.

Mission

There is a problem at the start of the mission, I don't know when my time starts. Maybe have a starting line or square marked by something from where the player starts. A counter could add tension too, and an instructor would show that it is a training exercise. Maybe even more RACS forces in the area. About the 4x4, didn't spot it and used the chopper to get to Bonanza. First time I played this one I got a message to try again, you might want to make it clear that the player has to restart the mission, or have the player get back to the starting line and run the time limit again.

Custom voices for the officer and radio messages would be welcome to improve the atmosphere. After rescueing the officer and after the text, you might want the radio message to pop up sooner.

As I took the heli to the real hostage situation, I could see the waypoint around Bagango. Can't you hide them, because it may be possible that more players use the helicopter. Alternatively you can add a radio message telling the player that he can take the 4x4.

Got a lot of teammates for the Bonanza situation, too much maybe. They weren't really useful anyway - got rid of most of the terrorists myself. Everything went smooth, no problems with hostages running away. You did a good job hiding some of the terrorists if only a bit. They sure nailed me a few times. Chopper has a bit of a problem landing close to Bonanza, not really a problem but it looks like a bug in the landing script (well no bug probably but to prevent a crash - result is awkward).

The heli flight is a bit dull, please consider adding a conversation about the situation. I'm sure that such a conversation would take place in any reallife hostage situation during flight. Once I arrived - east of the forest - I split my team into two groups. The first followed the southern road while the other team went in north following the hill. Man, it was one hell of a fight that ensued in the southern part - sadly my team was eliminated. 5 KIA. Bullets were flying everywhere and more and more partisans showed up. They ambushed the northern team as well, but they only took 3 KIA... damn bad way to start this fight - but it was going to get worse.
I rushed towards my northern squad or what left and took them towards the enemy camp without any resistance.

There were no guards in the camp, maybe you did this on purpose, but it sure looked weird. On my way back to the helicoper hell broke loose again. I lost my remaining teammates in the fight, and barely managed to reach the helicopter with the captured leader. The problem was that I outran my teammates, their stamina wasn't as high as mine I guess. But, what matters most is that we got the leader. Suffering 11 KIA makes it not a really succesfull mission, but sure teaches me that when splitting in teams the AI can't handle the situation on their own.

Outro

LOL. johnny style outro. LCD sure is disappointing not having done something similar 

Overall

An enjoyable mission which could do with a few improvements here and there, mainly in finetuning and polishing the mission. Nice mathias  Almost ready for review.

[johnnyboy]

 

Haven't had time to replay the mission, but had to see the new outro.  Very cool!   

I didn't know that animation existed.  Are there more fun animations like ActsPercMstpSnonWnonDnon_DancingDuoIvan?

If yes, where can I find them?

I also see you tidied up the beginning by clearly marking the entrance, and blocking the back door.

The only problem here was there seems a very long delay between shooting the last target, and when the objective completes.   If triggers seems too slow, you could try using a loop to check when all targets down instead.  And one other small point in this part.  The training officer walked to the wall, and stood facing the wall.  He should face back into the room when done.

Anyway, looking good.  Will try to replay the whole mission later to see all the changes.

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi Cheetah and johnnyboy, thank you for helpful the comments!

@johnnyboy: there is a "ActsPercMstpSnonWnonDnon_DancingDuoStefan" move as well, I found it in the list for Queen`s Gambit moves.

[bardosy]

Hi Mathias,

yesterday I tried this mission...

Very good begining... I was shooting to targets, but when I enter to the factory building, I got a WP signal (yellow square) (in regular mode) with text 'resolve hostage situation'. But I didn't got any new order. So I hesitated and then I got a TitleText: you are slow...blahblah, try it again... I was completly confused and I just stay and then I got a new TitleText: hurrah, you saved the officer... But I never arrived the officer.
Then nothing for a while, so I call for the heli and then I got new objective.
I order the heli to take down, but it take down on a rooftop. And I cannot order it to land somewhere else. My men could get in, but I cannot reach that rooftop, so I couldnot enter.

Retry.

I ordered the heli for a very clear field next to the factory. I ordered it to land, and - you cannot believe it - it land the same rooftop. I tried to order it to go to an LZ ON the clear field, and it fly up but didn't go to the LZ and every time, when I ordered it to land, laned on that rooftop... ((

Tomorrow I will try again:
maybe I had to use the 4x4 and not the blackhawk?

Could you add some G36 ammo to the 4x4? I guess it's good to there is no weapon selection on the briefing, because it's a practice. But when the situation come serious, I want to get more ammo, but there was not.

[mathias_eichinger]

Thank you for your test, bardosy!

But hold on, Beta 3 is imminent!

Cheers

Mathias

[bardosy]

OK. I'll wait. Today, I have no time for playing anyway...

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi all,

I have updated the first post with Beta 3 of the mission, still waiting for Beta tests.

Cheers

Mathias

[snafu]

Package

Promo picture is unique. Something I have not seen before and fits well with the mission. Readme seems fine. The file folder could use a version number? Not a huge issue though.


Overview

Picture is good and fits in with the mission which is a nice plus. Description is nice.


Intro

The introduction was really good. Reminds me of the Army/RAF/RN Recruitment adverts over here. 


Briefing

More than adequate. Description on how to use the helicopter was sufficient. Having no weapons selection makes sense given that you are on a training mission. Just one grammar issue though.

Instead of "but take them down" it should be "so take them down." Makes more sense with the rest of the sentence IMO.


Mission

Mission started off fine and I rescued the CO without a problem. Only weird thing was that a US officer was there at the start point. Anyway, I hopped in the truck and drove through the town which was a bit empty; maybe put a couple parked cars there to make it seem alive? Arrived at the location, stormed passed the Ural and engaged the two gaurds at the entrance. Then there was a loud BANG.

Died from Partisan grenades: Reload.

Moved up to the yellow Ural and there are Civillians moving about in front of me, almost shot one.  Are they supposed to stay in the compound? Doesn't bother me as it makes you check your fire. Killed the two insurgents at the entrance then went in and killed the rest with my AI getting two kills. Got the hostages but nothing happened, turns out there were two partisans hiding around the village. Hunted them down, killed 'm and next objective came up. Called in HAWK, loaded my two AI guys and set off for the forest. Dismebarked with my squad and told HAWK to hover above the forest.

I've split my group into two teams with me advancing up one side of the forest and the other advancing up the other side. Just hit GH40 and some speech came up saying "no problem...Pride of Sahrani" or something along those lines. My second team made contact with some partisans at GH38 and took one casualty so I made them retreat back to the aid station. Meanwhile I advanced on their position to lend a hand.

Died: Reload.

Swept the area around GH38 and found no more partisans. Advanced to my original part fo the forest and discovered the camp. Told my team to hold fire while Team Blue, the bigger force, attack the camp. I went up to the camp to scout it out and although the partisan was facing me he seemed to immediately know where I was when I got to a certain point. I decided to attack the camp and successfuly eliminated the gaurds albeit taking one casualty. I called Blue Team to return to formation and then went and captured the Partisan Officer. He was captured without problems. Then I advanced down the valley back to the chopper and was ambushed a few times resulting in my death.

Reloaded. I advanced down to the end of the valley myself and gave my AI the order to get in the RACS Blackhawk. After they crossed a certain point the mission ended. However I was my section was still enagaging a couple AI guys at the time.


Bug

Helicopter does not always seem to land where you point the LZ at. Could you point out in the briefing that the user should only choose wide open LZ's?

Also there is no space between 'Internal' and 'Security' in the mission selection area.

Outro

Liked the outro. Gave me a chuckle.


Overall

I like the mission as it is very unique. Don't know of much hostage rescue missions going about! But it also has a good firefight  later on which should satisfy anybody who likes grunt type missions. I have only encountered minor bugs thus far so overall the mission has a solid foundation.

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi snafu!

Thank you very much for testing my mission, seems there just a few bugs left...

[The-Architect]

Could you remove the review request until they're fixed dude.