Radiation Hazard

[Ext3rmin4tor]

CONTENTS:

- SQF script to simulate a radiation source which damages the units inside a certain area
- 3 .paa files for the HUD image
- Description.ext which contains definitions for images and sounds used by the script. If you already have your own Description.ext for your mission simpli copy/paste the definitions inside it.
- Sound folder containing GeigerCount.ogg file (Geiger Counter sound used by the script)
- A test mission (radTest.Intro folder)
- A Readme .txt file containing infos on the script usage.

This script aims to simulate a radiological hazard. It is thought to be used together with an area trigger activated by anyone and activated repeatedly. If a unit steps into the area trigger you can launch the script passing the trigger "thisList" as argument. The script arguments are an array of units, a radiation level represented by a real number and a matrix. Each element of the matrix is a two element array which contains a vehicle classname and a number which is the radiation damage percentage reduction. This allows you to shield a vehicle against radiation like in real life, for example MBT like T-72 and M1A1 are radiation shielded. You can find further infos on the usage in the "Readme.txt" file provided within the .zip file and in this topic in the ArmA editing section:

http://www.ofpec.com/forum/index.php?topic=32707.0

The demo mission is very basic. You start with a USMC fire team. The radiation area is Rhamadi town (it is a 150x150 circle trigger). Try to step inside the radiation area (adjust the value in the activation field of the script, if the radiation level is too high you might die instantly, a good value for infantry is 0.025, it means your health will be damage by 2.5% per second). There is also a M1A1 MBT which can partially shield you against radiation if you are inside it (the script parameters are alredy set inside the trigger but you can modify them). When inside the radiation area you should hear the Geiger counter sound and both a HUD symbol and a warning message should be displayed.

[bedges]

Is the sound interactive, i.e. the clicks get faster and higher pitched the closer you are to the radiation source?

This would make for some potentially thrilling gameplay (find a path through a minefield of hidden depleted uranium shells by sound alone, etc)...

[Mandoble]

Just an idea, if a unit gets radiated it cannot be healed by common ways at all. So, if a player gets radiated, a script running in background ensures that his health level never gets avobe a point determined by the radiation level. And might be, in that situation, the only way to recover full combat performance (even radiated) is to use some kind of drugs. You might create a complex and interesting system around the radiations.

[Ext3rmin4tor]

The sound doesn't change, but it might intensify if you use multilevel radiation method as described in the linked topic since there are more than one instances of the script running at the same time.

It might be a nice idea to follow Mandobole's suggestion, the problem is that saving max health level for each units might require a lot of space (the only thing that comes up into my mind is to keep track of the max health with an array data structure which contains an entry made of a pair (unit, maxHealth) and having a search script to run every time a unit tries to heal and look if there's an entry in such table), but it would be nice you need to get drunk with Vodka to remove radiation effects like in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.  . I'll think about that.

[Mandoble]

You dont need any array as you can use internal unit variables using setVariable and getVariable commands.

There you may store the current radiation level per unit (which might increase along the time). A background script checks the health of each unit where this variable exists, and if the health is greater than this value, the heald is corrected to 1 - the current radiation level. So, no matter how many times a medic healths you, if you have a radiation level of 1, you will die.

[Ext3rmin4tor]

I didn't know of these commands. They're useful since you can define custom object properties. But still there is the problem of what object to use as "special healer", that might require an addon. I can do thing in a more simply way, that is the radiation will decay over time like an exponential function (the higher level of radiation you have the longer it takes to recover from them), each value of the function is the max health you can gain but you won't need any "special healer", just time to completely recover. What do you think?

I'll try that when I have some time

[Mandoble]

For sure you dont need any special addon. You may include some vehicles or even buildings with menu actions added to remove that radiation. So, if a unit gets there, the unit might activate this action to remove the radiation effects.

[bedges]

Depends on the mission. The player must complete a task in a certain area which he knows is irradiated, becomes very ill and must take extra care in the following section while his strength returns. Or, the player must complete a daring task and succeeds, but what's this? Radiation! Quickly find the antidote before you are overwhelmed!

It opens many new gameplay possibilities 

* bedges thinks of Mandoble's 'The Forest' with fondness...

[Ext3rmin4tor]

In any case I was thinking about internal variables. You still need an array to keep track of the units affected by radiation or you won't know the vehicle name needed to access the internal variable. Am I wrong?

[Mandoble]

For that you may just use a trigger covering all the map which list might be checked once every 10 seconds.

Bedges, good point, The Forest has several scripts related to severe health problems of the player, including simulated vomit with sound, particles and animation and red out vision. I dont have OFP installed anymore, if you have, try it and if you want, feel free to convert all these effects to ArmA.