[MP/COOP/A.C.E.] 1-10 Combat Search and Rescue [TEF]

[Jackal]

Title: Combat Search and Rescue [TEF]
Author: Jackal
Mission Version: 2.00 (A.C.E. version )
Download:[/b]  See attachment.

Story:

You and your team are members of the Combat Search and Rescue unit. Your mission is to infiltrate hostile environment and successfully recover downed air crews. Here is your chance:

An F-15E, callsign "Foxtrot23," was hit by an SLA surface-to-air missile during an aerial recon mission over Sahrani. The aircraft was unable to maintain altitude and dropped off of radar. We have detected the pilot's emergency locator signal offshore. The WSO (Weapon Systems Officer) is still missing in action. Enemy radio chatter indicates SLA elements are actively looking for both of them. Let's go get 'em.

Gametype: MP COOP
Players: 10 (minimum of 2)
Arma version: 1.14 (tested with 1.16 beta)
Addons: A.C.E. (tested with version 1.09)
Mission time: Minimum time 25 mins to 1.5+ hours depending
Intro: No
Parameters: Selectable Number of Revives
Revive: NO YES
Time: Daytime
Weather: Stormy and windy

Known issues: No known issues  

Installation: Copy the pbo file into your "ArmA\MPmissions" folder.


NOTES:
-2.0 version uses A.C.E. effects, Norrin's Revive scripts, Wolfy's enemy Camps, and Kronzky's UPS scripts
-Many improvements over 1.0x version
-Uses Jackal's "popsmoke.sqs" script
-Improved artillery script based on Ext3rminator's older version uses Nemesis9's explosion effects
-Several new custom sound files

Mission concept:
This mission is meant to foster teamwork amongst players. Voice comms recommended. Players play as a member of the CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) UH-60 team or CAS team (FFAR UH60). The mission starts out with the simple objective of finding the pilot at a known location offshore but there is more to it than just rescuing the pilot. His WSO (F-15 Weapon Sytems Officer) is still missing  . The mission encourages teamwork, tactics, and good piloting skills because you will need all three if you expect to make it through the mission. No revive. A.C.E version 2.00 and beyond has selectable revive options. Every player slot has a role to fill but some are more important than others. I tried to create something fresh for ARMA using the ability to swim and interact with AI to a small degree. The ultimate goal however, is to create a realistic scenario with a definite theme- Combat Search and Rescue. While it is not a "shoot-em-up" there is (or should be) a satisfying level of action in this mission.

Special:
-Every player has a "Water Survival Pack." It is a smoke/dye marker meant to mark one's location at sea or on land. You won't need to carry a smoke grenade to use it. You can only use it once but can "get another" one by entering an aircraft.

-Radio chatter

-There is a hidden objective in the rare case that some players are playing as the FFAR UH-60 crew AND their chopper goes down. If this happens, a new objective will require the CSAR UH-60 team to rescue surviving CAS players and bring them to base before mission will end.

-There is also HQ advice on how to get home in the unlikely event that the rescue chopper goes down but at least some of the crew and main objective survives the crash.

-At the forward operating base you start out at there is a kinda cool sequence where AI soldiers appear to be repairing a 3rd chopper that has seen some action. I put it in for ambience.

My request to you:
Play it and suggest improvements or notify me of errors.





EDIT: 4/17/2009 Uploaded latest version and edited top post to reflect changes
EDIT: 8/21/2009 A.C.E version 2.00 uploaded. 

[laggy]

Is it not possible to play this with just 1 player?
This looks like a nice idea for a mission, but I won't be able to gather a MP session for a while 

Laggy

[Jackal]

Laggy, technically it is "possible" but impractical because for the first objective the pilot will need to locate the downed pilot at sea and another player acting as a rescue swimmer will have to jump out of the chopper and make contact with the downed pilot. At that point he will join your squad and you can go from there. That is why the mission leader is the copilot, NOT the pilot, so that players can share the workload. Piloting sounds easy but many a chopper got "swamped" or lost at sea in beta test sessions  . From observing a few play-throughs on the [TEF] server, sometimes the player pilot would have to return to base for repair leaving the swimmer stranded out there with the downed pilot  . That is what the survival pack is for because it is really hard for pilot to spot a person bobbing in the water otherwise. Door gunners and flight engineers make great spotters to aid in the effort so the more players present the more realistic the mission will feel.

That is why i recommended a minimum of 2 players but ideally having a full crew for both birds would make for an enjoyable gaming experience. My experiences has shown that a solid group of 4-7 players should be able to accomplish the entire mission working together.

[Ironman]

I completed this mission without ever firing a single shot nor did enemy shoot at me ever.... I think I saw a UAZ but I was flying over it to fast for it to shoot at me.

Is this more of a training mission? I could have easily done this by myself but I played it with about 10 other guys.... people on TS and ppl not on TS....

I got a mesage after I picked up the pilot saying that boats were coming.... No boats showed up at the base when I got there.... maybe they were suppose to move to the pilot position in the sea and I just got the pilot too quick....

[Jackal]

I completed this mission without ever firing a single shot nor did enemy shoot at me ever.... I think I saw a UAZ but I was flying over it to fast for it to shoot at me.

ironman thanks for the feedback. can you tell me what player slot you were in, how quickly you and your team left the base? Basically a summary of how you played it? I will have to look into triggers.

Did the objective tick off when you returned the pilot back at base?
Did he leave your squad at arrival back at helipad?
Did you get to objective #2? the WSO?

EDIT: I don't want to give the mission away but since it is in beta, once you return the pilot to base, these hidden objectives appear:
3. Recover F-15E WSO "Joker23Bravo."
4. Return Weapon Systems Officer safely to base.

[hoz]

Gave this ago tonite, 3 average players. We have a lot of problems with just the pick up of the pilot. Maybe it was wreckless driving but we tried 4 or 5 times before we gave up.  A few times we got him to join but could never get him into the helo. So basically we tried it a few times and never got past that point and then just moved on to another mission.

The mission objectives don't flip to fail when all the players are dead, or when the chopper dies. Can you still complete the objective if the helo dies and everyone bails?

[Jackal]

A few times we got him to join but could never get him into the helo

If you deploy a swimmer to him he should join your group every time.

The chopper must hover within 4 of downed pilot for 5 full seconds before he "movesincargo." This requires a bit of practice because the margin is small. It would be too easy if the distance was 15 or 20. This forces pilot to get in close to him just above water level. If you order AIpilot to stop (halt) moving instead of ordering him to board chopper, you can hover above him steadily...but the storm and sea conditions may make it more difficult.

Here is the trigger where he gets in your UH-60 chopper:
TIMEOUT MIN:5, MAX:5, MID: 5
CONDITION: pilot1 distance chopper1 < 4
ON ACTIVATION: pilot1 moveincargo chopper1

The mission objectives don't flip to fail when all the players are dead,

I will look into that...the fail trigger currently looks like:
(grouped with CSAR team) VEHICLE NOT PRESENT
COUNTDOWN MID:10,MAX:10,MID:10
TYPE: END2

Can you still complete the objective if the helo dies and everyone bails?
Yes if you can get back to base and get the other chopper (uh60ffar) I tried to make the mission open ended. as long as you get the pilot and wso back to base you will complete the misison (unless your CAS uh60ffar chopper gets shot down then you will also need to get those plyers back to base as well before mission ends).

@ironman: I will look into why boats did not come.

[hoz]

For us the boats came in too quickly we thought especially for the n00bs. It really puts you into a high pressure situation if you can't fly well and the boats start attacking you as you are hovering above the pilot. Anyways we will give a go again this week. The first bit of the flight is a bit boring, I wondered if it could be spruced up with some radio chatter about the first objective?

[Ironman]

I completed all the objectives and they all triggered fine.... there were just no enemies that I saw....

When we started we probably spent like 3min trying to find ammo crates cuz no one has weapons. Then we went in the chopper and saw the weapons. Next we took off and I just flew out in the ocean because it said expect enemy in cities/towns.... so I just flew at about 15m or less the whole way to the pilot.... swimmer got out at 0m in alt pilot joined and hopped in chopper. Picked up swimmer then went back to base. IDK if that first pilot ever left the group because I was the chopper pilot, not SL. We landed and I am assuming the SL ordered the pilot out... then the hidden obj came up. We hopped back in and got to the obj while only seeing a UAZ (MG I think). Picked our guy up and went back to base. Very simple mission. Maybe I am just that amazing of a pilot lol.... all bow down to me... no, jp.

[Jackal]

Ironman,

we probably spent like 3min trying to find ammo crates cuz no one has weapons

At the start of the mission there should be a hint screen that tells players something like "weapons available at your chopper."

Good work on obj 1. That is how it is supposed to go down-nice and quick. I did try to throw a couple of enemy boats in to hamper your rescue ... but it sounds like their mid,max,mid time on their waypoint were to long to get to you in time. i'll tweak them a bit to make obj1 more "spicy."


The AI pilot is scripted to join grpnull on arrival back at base. That way the players don't have to order the AI out of chopper.

We hopped back in and got to the obj while only seeing a UAZ (MG I think). Picked our guy up and went back to base.

Second obj is supposed to be a alot more intense with enemy closing in on the WSO and seeking to engage your team..I'll fix it.

[hoz]

Ok got the pilot picked up and headed back and then the pilot ejected by accident a few meters before we landed

There isn't any spectating scripts for the downed player so we stopped and moved on to another mission. It really sucks to leave the player as the bird, you should consider adding spectating for downed players.

So far overall I found the excitement at the pilot rescue, the trip back and forth is really boring, some radio chatter, like custom voices could dress this long haul up a bit. 

Look forward to getting to the next objectives.

[Jackal]

hoz and ironman thanks again for the feedback.
I'm putting in Kegetys spectate script and have already started implementing custom sound files.
When new version is ready I will post it.

Keep the suggestions coming.

LAST EDIT: 4/17/2009: Ok guys. try it again.
Here are several changes made:
-Kegetys Spectate mode 
-Found/Fixed enemy waypoints (should react better) 
-Developed and added a new arty script based Ext3rmin4tor's old one and Nemesis9's cool water explosion script. (And yes, it is possible you might get hit by arty) 
-Mixed and added several new custom sound files for immersion factor. 
-Removed Mando storm script (sorry Mandoble) and made weather rainy instead. 

[hoz]

We had a chance to give the previous version a try again, this time we noticed a bit of lag where the pilot was reporting he was over top of the unit in the sea, and we were telling him to move a few meters north or west. Basically still having trouble getting this guy into the helo.


We will give the new version a try.

[Jackal]

We had a chance to give the previous version a try again, this time we noticed a bit of lag where the pilot was reporting he was over top of the unit in the sea,

I noticed this too, and was a reason why I pulled Mando storm out and replaced with regular rainy weather. Not saying that Mando storm was a culprit, just that it was running when several other things were happening. So I removed it for performance purposes. Try the new version.

and we were telling him to move a few meters north or west. Basically still having trouble getting this guy into the helo.

I would recommend you try to tell the downed pilot to halt once he joins your team and then position your chopper next to him (remember within 4 for 5 seconds since trigger for him to getin is a "timeout"). It is far easier to maneuver the chopper to him when he is stationary than trying to order AI to swim to you. Sometimes the AI don't comply the way you want -that is the main reason I put the timeout trigger in because using commands to order AI into a hovering chopper was not consistent enough. We found that by using the port main gear wheel as the landmark to judge your distance to him will prevent the possibility of dropping the chopper on his head (killing him and fialing mission) and will give you better visual reference from outside view.

[hoz]

Ok with the new update we were able to do the first rescue on the second attempt. 

We ran into some issues on the second part. The helo died and we had really no way back to the base. Are there boats to find? The long walk back (like 6km) we gave up to try it another day.

I was getting multiple " Use water Kits" action options up to 4 i had at one time.  It doesn't make sense to have this option on land does it?

Love the atmosphere sounds now, good job on those.

[Jackal]

The custom sounds took me a while but i think the opening sequence sets the mood. I can add more but I don't want the file to be too big. I guess it is a matter of balancing each ogg file's sound quality.

I will add some peripheral stuff (boats, vehicles, etc) in some towns etc in case of the CSAR bird going down with no secondary bird necessary. Will notify when it's available. Any other suggestions? This is good stuff.

[hoz]

We finished the mission tonite, 2 of us in 18 mins. I think the rides back to the base should have some appropriate radio chatter and I think because the mission is fairly basic you could use a short intro/outro.

When getting the second guy over land, we didn't receive hardly any resistance. On the way back we were attacked by the roaming uaz's and we almost ran out of fuel but we made it.

[laggy]

Hi Jackal,

Tried this last night with two players and we really like the idea and mood.
It is a kind of mission that really differs from all the standard infantry/tank seize and hold missions.
The briefing and atmospheric sounds were well done and really helped the immersion.

We flew in pretty much straight ahead (me as mission leader and door gunner) and found the F15 pilot by the orange smoke. That's when the going got tough.

As my pilot was trying to pick him up the enemy boats showed up and unfortunately I was positioned at the wrong door gun side. Before I managed to react and change door gun the blackhawk was caught in a hailstorm of enemy fire that broke all windows and killed me instantly

My fellow pilot survived but soon realized that he alone would not be able to pick up the F15 pilot AND keep the enemy forces away. As he (in panic) turned the chopper around he shouted a sad "Sorry old chap !" to the poor bastard in the water and flew away with bullets swarming all around.

Not the most noble thing to do, but realistic 

Will try this next session with more players hopefully 

Suggestions:

The mission can be quite (too) hard for let's say 2 players and if there is no technical reason for it I would enable the AI for other group members. This will make the mission more flexible in terms of players numbers. I can understand if you don't want respawn, but AI that can mount i.e door guns would make sense.

A small intro like Hoz is saying would also be nice.

Laggy

[hoz]

Enabling the AI in this mission would also help with providing some gunners when playing with just a couple of players.

[Jackal]

Laggy and hoz, thanks for the feedback.

Enabling the AI in this mission would also help with providing some gunners when playing with just a couple of players.

I think I disabled the AI because I didn't want players having to deal with JIP and updating all new players with variable statuses etc. It was simpler to just have whoever was present start together. I suppose there could be something added where if no human player is in the gunner #1 gunner #2 spots that AI automatically spawn at mission loading to take over those duties.

When getting the second guy over land, we didn't receive hardly any resistance.

This is where the mission is supposed to get intense but the way the enemy is laid out they don't seem to be presenting much of a challenge it seems. If i tossed a shilka in nearby it would be too much I think. This part of the mission was supposed to be almost too intense where sometimes you would give up landing at WSO and instead insert fellow teammates to fight their way in, get him, then have human pilot pick them up when things lightened up. Got any suggestions to get his to work better?

Your help and suggestions have turned objective 1 into something fun and unique so thanks for that. I am also in process of adding "alternate" transportation back in case your chopper is shot to hell at objective 2. I was even thinking of populating pita airfield with enemy but am trying to keep server performance a priority. anyone know of a good area spawn script that isn't just a bunch of AI waiting to be shot? Something more realistic?

[hoz]

You could add some randomness to the location. The objective at sea doesn't matter that much. but the second objective. you could switch it up by adding  3 random locations all within the same general location. I noticed some deep valleys near by which would maybe make it more difficult.

[hoz]

I was testing out mando hitching this evening. And it includes this HUD for picking up objects. I immediately thought of this mission. You should download and have a look atleast.

[Jackal]

Hoz,

i have been away for the last week but i intend to implement the improvemnts as you suggested. I do have both downed objectives on random placement radius of like 700-1000 meters but the game seems to always put them in the center of this circle. instead, i might set up a series of game logics and have a script randomly choose say 1 of 4 locations and place the objective there with all related triggers. that may be more reliable for giving the mission some randomness to the players.

as far as the mando hitching, i will look into it.

[Jackal]

*BUMP*

This mission has now been resubmitted as an A.C.E. mission (v2.00) with selectable revive. (I do not know when the non-ACE version will be released.)

Please check the top post to see new enhancements. The mission has been tested using ARMA beta 1.16 and A.C.E. 1.09. Thanks to everyone who has submitted feedback.