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[SP] Hog's Breath v1.2 [Review Complete]
HailStorm:
Version 1.2
Mission: Hog's Breath
Mission by: HailStorm
Current version: 1.2
Story: conduct an air strike on an enemy convoy in the South Sahrani desert.
Version needed: ArmA 1.14
Type: Single Player only
Island: Sahrani (sara)
Addon Requirements: none
Special Features:
- Two Separate difficulty Levels; Veteran difficulty won't be a milk run!
- 60+ lines of recorded dialog, using proper aviation radio terminology and lingo
- a level of realism and immersion not yet seen in an aircraft-related mission, including actual aerodrome procedures
- built-in contingency plans; break your jet, and you (may) not be forced to walk home!
- it's not a mission that forces the spamming of high-powered weapons! think tactically to complete your objectives
a little bit about this mission:
I've had this in the making for a long time, well over (heh, two years now). The reason it's taken so long to do, was because I really, really didn't like the flying model in ArmA, yet also felt that flying was too under-appreciated at the same time, so a lot of it was me working on it for a week or two, then getting frustrated with all the bugs and everything and leaving it for a while, then coming back to do some more later.
This mission is both a revolt against those "fly-straight-to-this-area-and-spam-missiles-rinse-repeat" objectives that seem to be the norm with flying missions in ArmA, as well as proving the concept that you can take a relatively simple mission and take it to another level by introducing a standard of immersion and realism not yet seen in a mission of this type. it started as a simple play-around in the mission editor, to a personal challenge to see how far I could take the concept/premise. so, the mission may seem have echoes of a really newbish mission (eg. waypoints, unimaginative targets, etc.) but I've attempted to show that these things, that are often the cause derision due to lack of realism, actually can add to the immersion if you put it in a finely polished and executed package - to show what you really can and cannot do with ArmA.
It's also the first mission I've ever considered fit for a beta release, so it should be interesting to see how it goes.
Change log
- v0.898 beta
Initial Release
- v0.899 beta
- Locations of way points and flightpath placed on map via markers.
- Altitude cap raised from 100m AGL to 150m.
- mission will no longer immediately end upon the convoy reaching it's destination when the player has ejected and is attempting to exfiltrate - mission will wait till the player has completed the exfiltration before moving to the lose outro.
- Removed R-73 AA loads from 2 of the 4 interceptor Jets.
- added several smoke grenades to the gear screen.
- ammunition cargo removed from the trucks parked in the Hangars.
- Convoy driver skill upgraded.
- A few spelling errors and weather report errors rectified.
- v0.941 beta
- added new (and much improved) 'intro' and 'outro - win' cut scenes.
- fixed the evac call from the island not triggering correctly.
- added more enemies to the second objective
- added new dialog and radio messages
- added "bitchin' betty" audio warning track to the below the radar segment. The player will now get an audible "WARNING: ALTITUDE!" from betty if they are flying above 110 metres, to warn them of the altitude infringement at 150 metres.
- altered November Two wreck demolition.
- v0.944 beta
- fixed radio chatter to proper 'cfgRadio' format - radio calls will now not overlap or play with time acc. on.
- added two difficulty levels - regular difficulty features less enemies, and a higher altitude cap.
- added repair/re-arm point at the western end of the airfield. unlimited reloads on regular difficulty, a single re-load on veteran.
- tweaked trigger positions and added new radio clips to improve mission immersion and resilience.
- v0.945 beta
- Added new script that makes the 'destroy convoy' waypoint lock onto any surviving ural trucks (regular difficulty only)
- Added new radio call warning the player when intercepting fighters are within 4KM (roughly two miles)
- FIXED: properly Removed the R73 missiles off 2 interceptor jets.
- rejigged some trigger parameters to enable the mission to be able to be completed using alternative vehicles (like an AH-1).
- waypoint text now uniformly changed to capitals (OFP style)
- edited a frame in the intro movie to get a better profile shot of the A-10
- v1.0
- Final Release Version
- Added Credits
- v1.1
- fixed several spelling errors in the briefing
- changed outro flyover altitude to hopefully prevent crashing
- changed several parameters of the Obj. Bravo helicopters (waypointing, Weapons)
- v1.2
- Added code to prevent abandoned boats from preventing the mission progressing
- Extended the UAV intro to better sync with the sound effects
Anyway everyone, hope you have fun with this, it's a flying mission that that I hope should have a different 'feel' to it. oh, and by the way, I apologize in advance for my really, really bad American accents - I'm Australian, so it's not really natural for me to do them (though the air traffic controller is supposed to have an Aussie accent!).
- cheers
HailStorm
Edit: This mission has been reviewed and is available from the Missions Depot.
mathias_eichinger:
Hi Hailstorm!
Now for the first beta test of your mission:
Overview
Nice one, with a good, fitting picture.
Intro
At first I was a bit puzzled about the unusual perspective and the strange sounds of the intro, but then I realised that it was an aerial observation camera. But I thought it was an UAV because of the low altitude above ground. Not really story-telling here, but a nice view anyway.
Briefing
Very extensive and complicated for the average Mathias. I am interested in military aviation, yet I don't know the USAF lingo, so especially the weather Briefing did not make much sense to me.
Mission
The detailed approach to the takeoff procedure was really interesting. I began in front of the ready room, passed by some very cramped Harrier hangars. Good job on the eyecandy here.
Then I got various clearances from the tower (all properly voiced), took off and headed towards the mission area.
As the ArmA controls and my bad luck have it, I had no Joystick available, and the Hog behaves like a freight ship in the air when controlled with keyboard and mouse. It was hard to fly the craft itself, even harder to keep below 100 m and impossible for me to loiter, spot and engage targets.
Bottom line: For expert pilots and the players with a joystick: A must-see, it looks promising at the beginning. Keyboard jockeys might be as bad off as me.
Cheers
Mathias
HailStorm:
Hey Mathias, thanks for giving this one a look in.
Intro: yeah, i'm not the greatest at camera scripting, and it definitely shows in the intro and outro - win; what i really wanted to do with the intro was to have a tv-set overlay or similar attached to it, to accentuate the fact it's from the viewpoint of a someone in a command centre (hence the background noise) all my attempts have failed so far, so this is more of a placeholder showing off the basic idea than the true viewpoint i want to achieve.
the meteorological forecast: i was torn between omitting a weather report entirely, which would definitely feel missing for a flying mission, or to put a proper aviation-standard one in, to which almost everyone wouldn't understand, and i chose the latter. don't worry about feeling like you can't understand it, it's there more for immersion purposes than giving the player any actual, tangible info (it basically says 'clear skies, low wind'). for those who are interested, i'll add some translation notes in the readme.
mission: Mathias, did you play this one with waypoints switched on or off? the reason being is that if the waypoints are followed correctly, several things happen; 1) the A-10 is flown out to the north, over the water and then takes a long, swooping flightpath around to the west and southwards (so the 100m clearance bit doesn't have any obstacles that the player has to navigate above/around), 2) a savegame, and 3) the 100m clearance is annulled before your reach land, long before any hostiles worth shooting at - enabling you to climb to any height you want when you actually get to the point of blowing stuff up.
the next version will have markers on the map to make this bit clearer, and to enable waypoints-off flying (hopefully), also, raise in the altitude cap is probably a good idea too if the keyboard controls are the limiting factor to the overwater flight.
if you actually flew straight to the target after taking off, under the 100m, i'm impressed you got all the way to the desert in the first place without busting it - it's incredibly hard to do and not what i intended for the mission. i agree, the A-10 handles like it's magnetically drawn to the ground when under keyboard control (and joysticking it isn't that much better) try to do small amounts of bank and pitch movements - there's no time limit, take your time, do wide sweeping, controllable turns if you're not under fire. banking over to large degrees at low level will get you into trouble quickly. oh, and one other thing - keep you speed above 200km/h (110 knots on the A-10's HUD) at all times! you'll stall out and likely crash at anything less.
i'll have a new version up and running in a few days, but feedback before then on anything else i can fix up would be great!
mathias_eichinger:
Hi Hailstorm!
Yes, I had the waypoints switched on, with all that you describe happening. I took incredibly wide turns (more like a Boeing 747), too wide to find my targets and even then I crashed numerous times.
Zipper5:
You could try using this addon for the mission, HailStorm. I find it makes the A10 a lot more realistic, plus somewhat easier to fly - doesn't bleed so much speed when turning. Might help some of the issues with the current terrible A10 flight model.
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