(Review Completed) [CAMP] Perpetua

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi Bardosy, here is my report of Mission #3: Ghosts

Intro and outro

Great camerawork as usual.

Briefing

As good as always.

Mission

I had a long jog towards the objective and I managed to run fast trough the valley between the 2 MG nests losing only 1 man in the process.
At the amush point I had to retry several times to get the right moment for the barrage, and a single T72 escaped nonetheless.
I heard 3 distant explosions shortly afterwards, so I presume these were AT missiles, hitting the tank.

I moved onward to Ixel, cautiously picking the enemy from the distance. The eastern part of Ixel was rather easy to clear. The western part, however was a different story. You did place the units very good, but I had a good amount of frustration and retries where they were. I think I am beginning to hate BIS for removing the KillCam. Well, after I cleared each and every house and blowing up the radio tower, I finally managed to finish the mission. Quite a hard piece, but I consider the unit placement very realistic!

Cheers

Mathias

[mathias_eichinger]

Moving on with Mission #4: Stop for a minute

I picked up an M113, raced towards Masbete and arrived there just in time. I was able to occupy a house position and shoot from the windows. The assault was pretty impressive, but I managed to kill them all without losses to my squad. Then I was ordered back to Ixel. Wondering from where the assault would come, I took position in the center of the HQ. And then it came, tactically perfect over the ridge and trough the woods. My gunner and my squad succeded to finish them all, but at the expense of my squad.
I really like how you made the attackers in both cases taking advantage of the terrain!

Also, one happens to note the amount of detail you put into your base layout, the HQ with vehicles, bunkers, men and bodies feels very believable. And I did not encounter a single bug. Keep up the good work!

Cheers

Mathias

[mathias_eichinger]

Reporting about Mission #5: Capriccio

Intro

Hmm...I did not quite get why the Americans are in need of Gomez to investigate the facility...why don't they send their own agents?
But it is a good twist to bring some stealth action to an "ordinary mountain trooper".

Mission

The boat dropped me off and I ran towards the base without disturbance. I tried to crawl along the fence on the south side, trying to solve this mission without violence...the vigilance of the tower guards thwarted my effort. I sneaked and gunned them until I reached the gate, and worked my way inside.

I killed several tower guards inside the base, when some unfortunate savegame-timing and your sniper almost made me giving up. I had just hit the save button when he was about to take aim. This tough and deadly guy added some difficulty and need for fast reaction to the guesswork of what guards I needed to kill and which way I had to go.

Very funny twist with the "beer factory", but should'nt it be a brewery? On a further note: I tried to exit the compound via the hole you mentioned, but I found none at the point marked on the map. Am I missing something?

I finally found the chemical weapons at the industrial buildung, and the spetznaz gave me the creeps until I found him! Good choice of unit placement! On my way to extraction I managed to bump into a patrol and had to retry again.

Bottom line: A very interesting mission that adds much to an already good campaign.


Cheers

Mathias

[bardosy]

Hi mathias!

I did not quite get why the Americans are in need of Gomez to investigate the facility

The CIA didn!t want sacrafice any agent...

I tried to exit the compound via the hole you mentioned, but I found none at the point marked on the map

It's not a really hole, but there is NO fence. I destroyed (with script) the fence on this point. Are you sure there is an intact fence there?

Very funny twist with the "beer factory", but should'nt it be a brewery?

Thanks! I'm not a well English speaker. But I usually like play with economy/tycoon games and I guess you're right! (Nobody can be more expert about beer, like a German! )

A very interesting mission that adds much to an already good campaign.

Thank you!

When you fight with guards, they use their non-SD weapons? Had you strange feeling why didn't ring the alarm?
I need this information, because I used an alarm script if the guards detect you twice. But I'm thinking on change it to one time. But if the alarm start, the mission will be very hard...

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi Bardosy!

Maybe I am blind, but to me the fence was solid. But keep in mind, I tried to escape from inside. Maybe your script destroys the fence as I close in from the east and outside?

Thank you for the compliment about my beer expertise  . On a side note, I am Austrian, not German which is not completely the same, at least not since 1945. 

Hm, I felt strange indeed because I did not rang the alarm inside very often. The guards always used normal Kalashnikovs, the only one with a silenced one was the Especa at the industrial site off-camp. It appeared to me that the alarm was seemingly connected to the sniper, but I think the tower guards just did not notice me before their death while the sniper did. I also killed a patrol of 2 and a lone patrolling soldier on the main road at the entrance (the patrol) and between the huts east of the main road (lone soldier).

On your "detected twice": Maybe it is a bit complicated. I had a retry where I tried to follow the main road and pick all the guards. That sounded the alarm bell because there were many soldiers close to me to notice me. On the other hand, the retry which brought me success lead me trough the huts directly to the east of the factory. There I killed the lone soldier without him noticing me (by taking aim).
The sniper however just leisurely walked past me, about 10 m away only to turn out of a sudden towards me and killing me, which looks like "hyper-sensitive-at-a-glance-detection".

I think I can follow up with a report of "Dead end" later today, so stay tuned. 


Cheers

Mathias

[bardosy]

Maybe your script destroys the fence as I close in from the east and outside?

Not script destroy fence in the begining of mission, but I'll check it! Thanks for note me.

...at least not since 1945.

I have an oldie turist information book titled: Wien, Deutcheland...
By the way, I'm Hungarian, so every summer spent a week in Austria by bike.

Very funny twist with the "beer factory", but should'nt it be a brewery?

OK. I'll fix it!


You will be the first who test Dead end...

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi Bardosy, I am able to give you a report about "Dead End"!

The Briefing says that we infiltrate by HALO which is to my knowledge starting at HIGH altitude with a Low parachute opening. It hast been quite popular on some OFP blackop missions and I was looking forward to this rapid descent in ArmA!
Well, it was just a normal parachute flight... But that's not your fault, I have not yet spotted any ArmA HALO script. 

Onwards... the outpost was quickly taken and I advanced dowards the ambush position. Here I had to wait quite some time, but in the end the convoy appeared. I did not use so much time because I chose the AT rockets in the weapons selection. But one might need the time to look for the right Satchel charge employment and afterwards for a hiding place.

I had to do several retries and ended up with restraining my AT guys from firing. The rest suppressed the infantry very well and I was able to pick the BRDMs from a distance. That distance caused a little bit of stress because I had to salvage the truck under the menace of an advancing superior enemy force. Now I managed to do it and send my men back to the extraction point.

That's when I encountered the only letdown of this mission. A full enemy squad plus BMP right in front of me on my way to the extraction point. Huh? I mean, Papa Bear mentioned that they would be AFTER me. And the only road to the outpost has always been in plain sight, the outpost itself lying isolated in rugged terrain.  So...how can there suddenly be a BMP, "armagically" just before my extraction point? 

I see where you want to go with this, but I would like to suggest to have some pure infantry force helicoptered in to take a look at the outpost. This way you can still have the player sandwiched in between and fighting bitterly at the last moment... without BMPs appearing out of nowhere.

Otherwise a mission just of the right difficulty that requires a good amount of planning to keep the Ural!

Cheers

Mathias

[bardosy]

Well, it was just a normal parachute flight...

I know what did you feel. Sorry. But: I must insert the player to the right place is very difficult with a real halo. But a normal parajump from plane will alarm the outpost and other hostile forces, so I must explain why they are careless. And if you can imagine, this normal para flight is the end phase of a HALO.

Here I had to wait quite some time, but in the end the convoy appeared.

I must create the convoy in a non-forrest place to the AI. And this place is a little bit far. But now the player get time to place a perfect ambush with pipebomb or mine...

Otherwise, if you cannot take the outpost very quickly, a revive unit (with BMP) attack you and you must fight down this unit and same time prepare for ambush.

A full enemy squad plus BMP right in front of me on my way to the extraction point.

In my first try of this mission, when you attack the convoy a very heavy enemy force (with tanks) come up from the village behind the Pass. And it could be realistic. But it was very slow. The player have a lot of time to extract.
So I insert that squad to suppress you and make a hard escapeing feeling.
When I tested it, I hurry to EP and I had no problem with that squad, just my men report it and I had fear, but they didn't harm us. And when the BlackHawk come, the BMP start shoot to the BH, and BH use her minigun against the squad and that was SO pretty.
I'm affraid if I'll relocate this squad, they will not arrive in time and the player will bore.

I see where you want to go with this, but I would like to suggest to have some pure infantry force helicoptered in to take a look at the outpost.

I'm affraid the helicopters will fight with each other and BH will not land for extraction...
A pure infantry squad can climb from the base to the nowhere and fight, but BMP not: it's your truth. But I need this BMP to shoot to BH. A pure soldier will not shoot.
Maybe I can replace the BMP to the road and come where the convoy was come, but it will stuck in the wrenck of the convoy.
OK. I will try without this BMP!


Thank you for your advice!

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi, I've got some further notes on the mission

But I need this BMP to shoot to BH.

The BMP and the enemy squad appeared in a little forest patch between the crossroad and the outpost. In fact, I never saw the BMP. It just killed many of my men before one of my AT guys disposed it with a rocket. Keep in mind that your blocking force was some distance BEFORE the EP, I think I did not make this clear in my report.
As BMPs and oppsing side infantry squads don't tend to cohabit peacefully, it's most time either BMP OR player at the EP, not both. Sooo...if you appear at the EP it's most likely that you already killed the BMP and hence it could not shoot at the Blackhawk.

I'm affraid if I'll relocate this squad, they will not arrive in time and the player will bore.

Hmm...what if you base the helicopter with the blocking squad for the outpost nearby and start it as soon as the first vehicle or soldier of the convoy is down? The player is still busy with fighting the rest of the convoy and kidnapping the truck afterwards as he hears the menacing sound of a Mi-17 that flies to the outpost, drops off a squad and flies off long before the player can trigger the BH arrival...
Just a suggestion!

Cheers

Mathias

[mathias_eichinger]

ere we go...last mission: Nicest

I was thrilled by the prospect of mountain warfare but I must say that this mission impressed me the least. Why is that? Because of some bugs I guess...but more later on.

I hitched a civilian ural to the base and had a nice ride. Then I started climbing the mountain, and suddenly a well camouflaged enemy squad started firing. My squad hit the dirt and quickly fought them down. Oh, what's that?? Terribly accurate enemy artillery killing half of my squad. Ok, as long as I don't give away my own position I should be able to use my own artillery.

It was not to be, because when I set my squad to "don't fire" some of them would always refuse the command in the way of showing the proper icon and a second after being in fire mode again, and there's nothing I could do about it - strange bug.

So I "parked" them out of sight and firing range and guided my own artillery fire in. Despite looking good it was almost impossible to hit anything with my own artillery - terribly inaccurate compared to the enemy artillery. The mountainous terrain allowed for an unseen approach to the MG nests to pop up in the last moment. However, when the small enemy groups nearby started to call in artillery, themselves being less than 50 m away. I really think you should define a minimum distance to the enemy for artillery employment.

I worked this way towards the mountain top. Then I came closer to the mountain top base which had a really impressive layout. I suppressed it very much with artillery, but to a limited effect. As I discovered later, some of the artillery pieces on the left flank were destroyed, but I tend to attribute this to occasional AT shots from my and fellow squads. The ones on the right side could not be destroyed by own artillery.

Over the fence, as I entered the area, your over-accurate artillery and some MG gunners in medical tents cost me quite some nerve. As soon as I killed the MG guys, I got an artillery shell directly on my head. When I tried to sneak forward and kill the artillerymen up close the machine gunners got me.

In the end, I approached from the left flank where my tactic of closing to the artillery worked...only about 2 foot soldiers were to kill and strangely enough nobody lobbed artillery shells on me. When there was nobody left breathing I wondered why the mission did not end. Hmm... the briefing said something about C4. Luckily enough I brought 3 of them, and blew up 3 artillery pieces. Now I went for the ammo boxes which sould yield supplies of C4. Well...I got the "3 Bullets" symbol and the loadout screen did not appear. Looks to me as if they are all empty

More of my luck, I found a full M136 launcher and was able to destroy the last 3 guns in this (sorry to have to say this) very boring finale.

Bottom Line

Please take a look into the Bug that does not led me set my soldiers to "don't fire", set a minimum range for enemy artillery employment, and make enemy artillery less acurate and own artillery more accurate. And please, leave the disposal of damaged enemy artillery to the engineers.
Sorry to sound so harsh here, but this mission simply is not as enjoyable as the others...

Cheers

Mathias

[bardosy]

Hello Mathias!

You are the first whe tested this mission, so I had no possibilities to improve it, only from my experience...

In the earlier missions - like Ghosts - I used my own arty script, but cheetah and others said: it's too unrealisticly dense and heavy, so I was looking for a more realistic script. I fould Mr. Murray's script and I implement it to this mission. I like it, because the shells not come from the nothing (like in my script), it's come from a real gun and if you destroy a gun, the enemy couldn't support their men in full capacity.

But I feel the same like you: my arty didn't kill anybody, but their arty kill half of my squad. I exemine the script and there is no any handicap for the enemy. So this feeling was/is wrong. Or(!) the enemy gun (D30) have a better ammo... ()

When I tried first, I want modify this script, but later I changed my mind: I think it could add some more feauture to this mission: You must relocate your (and squad) position AFTER when enemy spot you, and you have no possibility to my usual tactics: when I see the enemy, let's prone and eliminate all hostile. Now I must move...

I'll exemine how can I modify this script to detect the minimal distance. (If I understand you correctly: If the enemy who spot you and you are less then 50m, the enemy not call arty)
By the way, when you reach the highland on the top, the script will not call arty to you, but in thet highland, the D30s can see you and shoot you with direct fire.

More info: the all enemy soldier in the slope can call arty for ANY RACS solders. Not only you are there, three other RACS squad advance on the slope andt the SLA soldiers call arty to them too. So it is possible, that you are ON the higland and guns started shooting to an other RACS squad in the danger zone (on slope).

This is my solution to your "hold fire" problem: Your men and an other RACS squad mixed and not your soldier started shooting. I don't know it is correct, but I can imagine it.

Sorry to sound so harsh here, but this mission simply is not as enjoyable as the others...

Mathias, I'm really-really thankful for your help!!!

Please take a look into the Bug that does not led me set my soldiers to "don't fire"

If your soldier denied your order, then it's an ArmA bug, IMHO.

set a minimum range for enemy artillery employment

OK. I'll try it!

make enemy artillery less acurate and own artillery more accurate

Are you sure? I ask it again... Because there is no difference between the two fireing method.
I could add more dense to RACS fire method, but I1m afraid from cheetah...

And please, leave the disposal of damaged enemy artillery to the engineers.

Oh, I forgot: there is a lot of ammo boxes on the highland, so you have nearly infinit stachels.

What is your suggestion, when the mission ends?
- if all enemy destroyed? It could cause the "last loon problem" and it's bored too...
- When the guns can't shoot? (damaged or crew killed)
- or when the player reach a position?

Thank you for your help. Now I'm working on a new mission (the last one in the campaign).

[Cheetah]

Dead end

"cannot load vlajka.paa" (in the briefing)

Mission

I miss the NVGoggles as default equipement, I like to use them occasionally in these situations, not enough light in darker places (forests etc). Anyway, I give some orders, line - engage - fall back into formation and begin my approach. Well placed enemies, they make it a pretty hard fight and I die twice (first time I catch a grenade, the second time I couldn't shoot, forgot that you can't shoot while giving orders - pretty frustrating ).

This time I let the enemy come to me, I shoot one guy in the radio tower and order my team to wait and get down. There are three enemies rushing towards us and they are easily taken care off. The man in the radio tower (the other guy) starts shooting but is quickly disposed off. I hate those tents, so I get a few grenades and throw a grenade on each of the tents, worked great. We move into the outpost and kill another soldier. I grab the NVG of a soldier in the tent, a few grenades and wait until the objective gets ticked off. It feels as if there is a too long timout before the radio kicks in and tells me what to do next. Maybe you could let this be a little faster, because I ran to every corner, tent of the camp before the trigger activated.

Good savegame and radio, we make our way towards the road. No casualties so far. I don't know if there are any tanks in the convoy, to be sure I lay a satchel at the T-junction and I let my men take up position at both sides of the road. No I change plan, I position my men in a U-form around the T-junction, hopefully the convoy isn't too long. Order them to get down and I wait. I've taken up position on the eastern side of the road, in the "deepest" position of the squad. What I mean by that is that I'm on our flank, probably will end up close to the convoy's rear, well that's my intention.

Then radio messages begin to show again. The convoy is moving, great, right on time. Hmm, now I'm asking myself if I set up my men into the right position, I don't know if the ural comes from the base or goes to the base. So I change my U-form to a both-sides-of-the-road ambush, don't know if I forgot the information from the intro (saw that a week ago), but I'd like to know where the convoy comes from next time .

Those birds, the rain, and not knowing from what direction the truck will come adds to the atmosphere though. I hope that the truck comes from the south, probably won't do that though, my defense is worse versus a northern approach, bah.
Damn, forgot to put my men on hold fire, oops. Anyway the UAZ catches a rocketed and goes up in flames, I order my men back into formation and run towards the north, they came on the weaker side, damn. I lose one or two men, don't know and order my AT soldier to target the BRDM. In the meanwhile, I put some surpressive fire on the BRDM as there are a few soldiers coming out of it, while reloading the BRDM blows up.

I get a radio message soon after telling me that there's a huge hostile force coming towards me and that there is a new evac zone. The problem is, there was no truck in the convoy. Only one BRDM and a Machine Gun UAZ. I'm going to look for it, although I'll be up against multiple enemy squads, probably.

There are about two squads and a BMP moving towards my evac zone, I see them in a distance because I'm not using the road to get to the base, instead I go straight towards the base. I lose a couple of my men in a firefight, there are now multiple small skirmishes. My men are scattered, I order them to move towards the evac zone and move on towards the base alone. They all die and I move towards the base myself, I take out the BMP2 with an RPG I found and the T72 kills me, I load the savegame where I'm awaiting the arrival of the convoy.

Retry
I order my men to hold fire this time and wait, just got the message that the convoy is on the move, so I guess I have to wait about 5 minutes, that's too long in my opinion.

Takes a bit too long, so I move north. The leading UAZ drives a lot of road, are they in safe mode? Anyway, the UAZ and BRDM pass and I wait for more to come. Yes, finally there is the truck I'm after (I think it is that one). The problem is the BRDM driving behind it. So I wait for them to pass and order #2 to target the BRDM. A firefight starts, the leading vehicles return and make it a lot harder for my squad. Surprisingly I lose no-one, only some injured guys but everyone can walk. I get into the ammo truck and make my way towards the outpost, I order my team to the evac zone by using a mapclick.

Pretty strange that I have to look for a signal and suddenly there's a smoke grenade. The chopper lands and a BMP2 fires with the machine gun, no real damage. My team arrives and gets in, when they are all in I get in too and we fly.

Debriefing
Strange, the objective telling us to attack the base is active, none is ticked off, don't know if this is a general campaign problem though.
Time - 23 min, score 4300.

Outro
Fine. Although there are some errors in the texts.

Nicest

Intro
Couldn't follow the intro? The US soldiers escape?

Briefing
Okay, this one is clear. The notes section explains some stuff in the intro, but nevertheless I suggest that you show USMC soldiers arriving on Sahrani. What happens with the US CIA guys?

Mission
My men get ordered to go into the civil truck, that's what it is for. Good that there are no problems here.

Good conversation, well done with the destroyed armour. Upon arriving I get two RGO grenades from the truck and order my men to disembark. Orders: Formation stag. column and engage.

I look at my map, we're going to move southwest. The game saves and we start our march. Going to test the artillery as soon as possible. I take point and guide my men through over the mountain. A few minutes later I spot the first SLA soldiers waiting for me to arrive, lucky me spotted them first so I prepare an artillery strike. I miss the target, about three SLA soldiers and kill them before the 2nd round of artillery shells touches the mountain. We advance pretty fast until I spot a bunker and order an artillery strike, the artillery is off target and I order my squad to open fire. Suddenly artillery hits my position and kills two of my men. Good thing to know that the enemy is using artillery as well. If they would've used HE ammo instead of SABOT (I think they used that) we would've been wiped out completely.

We have a hard time advancing, enemy artillery, sand bunkers and squads coming over the edge of a hill. Nice. There are some grenades exploding and I don't know who's shooting at me, are there mines or something? Anyway after a retry we make our way pretty deep into their territory. So far I lost #2,3,4 which isn't that much.

I constantly request artillery fire in front of me, using the landmarks and #2 to get an idea of my position and estimating distance etc to pinpoint enemy defences as well as just randomly clicking on the map towards the SW. I lose #7,8 because of artillery and MG fire. There's a BRDM coming my way, the artillery just missed him, #8 died before he could shoot to I took the launcher and destroyed the vehicle.

Formation line, we're now closing in on the enemy lines. Damn, artillery incoming, lose two more of my guys. Request backup as I've only got two teammates left. With artillery I hit their defensive line, after a few more artillery strikes I move in. The backup still hasn't arrived, they must have waited for me in the base, damn. Seems like the artillery did well, their line has been severly weakened, only a few soldiers were waiting for me and got killed. I'm now using the artillery to smash their next line.

Good another squad is coming to help me, don't know if it's the squad that will join me soon. Probably not. Anyway, the artillery is useful, going to use it a great number of times before moving in. The other squad has a lot of KIAs, damn. I snipe a lot of SLA troops with my G36, still waiting for my reinforcements. The other squad got two men left, several shilka's are in our way. Have to use artillery to use them while I'm looking for RPGs as additional equipment.

I found a M136 launcher, got some grenades and move in on my own. My teammates will provide cover. I get hit multiple times trying to run to a field hospital, I make it alive, get healed and prepare my next move still using artillery. I kill the gunners manning the enemy artillery. Kill MG gunners and destroy the shilka.

Started to destroy some cannons, but then got hit by the shilka, destroyed it and had to crawl to the medic tent. Once I arrived there I was shocked to see four soldiers inside, shot them all and healed myself. Now I only had to blow up the remaining cannons / MG nests, damn that will take a while.

Well done, I don't have to destroy all of the guns / nests that saves me the awfull work of blowing them all.

Debriefing
Score 17000, time 30 minutes.
Objectives not ticked off, weird problem, during the mission they are.

Conclusion
Looking forward to the final mission of the campaign. I enjoyed the mission, it's not my favorite though. (that's the where I had to defend Masbete)

[bardosy]

I miss the NVGoggles as default equipement

Give you NVG as default for whole squad?

It feels as if there is a too long timout before the radio kicks

There is a timeout for eliminate the outpost. If you can clear it before times run, you will be not punished; but if times run and the outpost is not clear, a hostile squad come for revive the outpost and waste your time for ambush.
Can I set shorter this timeout? (Can you easily clear the outpost without punishment?)
Or if you clear the outpost, skip this counter? (<-- I'll do this!)

The problem is, there was no truck in the convoy. Only one BRDM and a Machine Gun UAZ.

Ops! Maybe stucked somewhere in the forest? The convoy is: UAZ, BRDM, Ural, BRDM.

I have to wait about 5 minutes, that's too long in my opinion.

Yes, I know. I used 4x time.
But you're right. I'll check how can I speed them up...

Anyway, the UAZ and BRDM pass and I wait for more to come. Yes, finally there is the truck I'm after.

Lucky bastard! When I tested it, I must fight with the whole convoy...

[bardosy]

Lucky illegitimate person!

Thats funny! I love the forum engine!!! I wrote 'lucky b@startd'...

Couldn't follow the intro? The US soldiers escape?

Yeah, I finished it in the v0.47... No escape.

What happens with the US CIA guys?

In mission #8 he will return.

If they would've used HE ammo instead of SABOT (I think they used that) we would've been wiped out completely.

Nope. They used HE... the D30 guns have only HE ammo = 30Rnd_122mmHE_D30, Sh_122_HE

There are some grenades exploding and I don't know who's shooting at me, are there mines or something

No mines. Maybe SLA GL soldier?

The backup still hasn't arrived

They come from the base where you get out from truck. And AI have a little problem with slopes, so it's take a little time when they can follow you. (Exactly they never join you, but follow you).

Once I arrived there I was shocked to see four soldiers inside

I saw it too.. The enemy AI use the hospital. These soldiers was hitted by my arty support and they go there to heal, but I don1t know why they didn't return to their position...

Well done, I don't have to destroy all of the guns / nests

Maybe it's not crear from the briefing: you must destroy only the guns, not the MG-nests.



And what's your opinion about Mr Murray's arty script? Did you feel fair or feel your support is not to accurate and deadly like the hostile?

As I read, you use a lot of arty support. Wasn't there ammo shortage? If the cannons use their all ammo (30) half of the guns (3) get an extra clip, but it reduces density (and inform you by radio).

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi Bardosy!

I 've got some further notes on "Nicest":

Maybe the accuracy of the cannons at the fort is due to direct fire. I recall being shot at and missed when still on the slope of the mountain. Also, your enemy groups are just 3 or 4 men in strength which are way harder to hit as a full 10-men squad spread out. It could be that the accuracy of the enemy guns is a misconception of mine.

On the "hold fire" bug...are you sure that it is an ArmA bug? It worked perfectly when I kept my soldiers from firing on the Ural truck just one mission earlier.

The ammo boxes: Yes, I noticed them. But on interacting with them i got the "3 Bullets" icon and the loadout screen would not pop up. Whereas you get an "M16" icon for equipment/ammo you can pick up, e.g. from a dead soldier. So I was forced to look for a rocket launcher.

IMO, the mission should end when all the cannons can't fire anymore (gunners are dead) since this is the reason for climbing the mountain and assaulting the base. Alternatively, you could make the reinforcement squad arrive via helicopter and have the mission end then.

Looking forward to the last mission too.

Mathias