(Review Completed) [SP] Last Tango In Bagango

[johnnyboy]

Last Tango In Bagango
Arma Single Player Mission
Version: 1.O Final  (Edit: Re-uploaded August 28 to remove stupid addon)



Scenario:  With help of civilian contact "El Cojon", find and destroy supply caches in Bagango.

Style: Fast, action oriented mission.  You play as Northern spec-ops, raid the town, destroy three objectives (whose locations vary each time you play).

Addons:   NONE

Features:
- Custom voice interactions
- Intel available dependent on player actions
- Over 100 custom voices and sounds
- A few surprises
- Objective Locations chosen from pool at mission start, so varies each time you play (better replayability)
- Fun intro and outro movies
- Over 30 scripts

Thanks a million to all you beta testers!

OFPEC Review

[bardosy]

Hi Johnnyboy!

Sorry for the late test! I left my memory stick at the office...
But yesterday evening finally I could play with Tango.




Intro:
Wonderful intro! I loved it! Funny and - I know - it could be a hard work.

Briefing:
I got an error message. See the pictures! (I used v1.05)
Anyway it's OK.

Mission:
1., How did you do it: the player's team start in Delta formation? It was cool!
2., Please use subtitles! It could be more understandeble for a non-English speaker.
3., Let's give us more time to exemine the map! I almost miss the funny scene when civilians got the weapon from tractor.
4., Damn BIS civilians! They are very stupid. They stucked in the town.
5., Nice scenery! But a little bit block my men... I know, it's a compromise.
6., Thanks for the Ambulance!
7., I really suprised the secondary expositions in the 2nd objective. Great!

After the 3rd explo, the mission become a nightmare... Everywhere are enemies and my men stucked in the town. Finally 3 men and me could reach the house where the garage guy wait us and we escaped with the red Skoda. The mission was completed, but 3 men was in Bagango... But I was thankful when mission ended and I had not to go back for my men.

Outro:
None...
I hoped I could saw a funny outro too...


Overal:
very good story! Funny things. And damn good urban fight.
It's not your fault, but the BIS AI is not the smartest in urban area...

[bardosy]

Other pics...

About the nice syamian twins...

About the first objective...

And you can see on the map how my men lost in the urban area...

[bardosy]

Oh, and I almost forgot:

Advise...
It's up to you to save your mission as addonfree or...
But I made a mission with armed civilians and they was blind and dump and stupid... I hate them.
And I found an armed civilian mod (it's not a real mod, I think it's just config files in the pbo, because it's few KByte).
And you can put armed civilians who smart as a normal ArmA soldier. The difference is HUGE! this tiny addon save my mission idea.

[johnnyboy]

Bardosy, 

Thanks a million for your feedback and time.  I really appreciate it.

Wonderful intro! I loved it! Funny and - I know - it could be a hard work.

Thanks.  I am going to publish in the scripts section some fully functional outhouses (an outhouse is the outdoor toilet) later.  I have multiple fun modes for them.

Briefing: I got an error message. See the pictures! (I used v1.05)

Thanks.  I think my init scripts must be creating a marker from the mapfact addon.  Will fix.

1., How did you do it: the player's team start in Delta formation?

No secret here.  Just set Formation to Delta in first move waypoint.

Please use subtitles! It could be more understandeble for a non-English speaker.

Understood.  I will fix this.

Let's give us more time to exemine the map!

This I'm not sure about.  I'm worried the player will get bored if there is too long a gap.  Maybe I will add a few seconds here.

Did you play through the civilian conversation more than once?  If so, you would have noticed that the 3 objectives are in different random locations each time you play (3 locations chosen from possible 9).  I'm hoping this adds to replayability of mission.

5., Nice scenery! But a little bit block my men... I know, it's a compromise.

I don't understand this comment?  Please explain further.

., I really suprised the secondary expositions in the 2nd objective. Great!

Excellent.  I am worried that it is overdone.  Should I tone this down a little?

After the 3rd explo, the mission become a nightmare... Everywhere are enemies and my men stucked in the town. Finally 3 men and me could reach the house where the garage guy wait us and we escaped with the red Skoda. The mission was completed, but 3 men was in Bagango...  But I was thankful when mission ended and I had not to go back for my men.

It is a tough urban fight.  Eventhough I have played it a 1000 times, I never survive with more than two guys.  I know its not realistic to leave guys behind, but for now I let the mission end when player makes it to exfiltration point.

Outro: None...   I hoped I could saw a funny outro too...

I know I  need a funny outro...and I have been trying to think of one.   It will probably be about how "El Cojon" got his name.

About the nice syamian twins

I love this siamese twins pic.  Too funny.  Never happened to me.

And you can see on the map how my men lost in the urban area...

The AI does have a tough time navigating in town.  The civilians often run off to crazy places, but I can usually herd my soldier AI pretty well from objective to objective.  But holding their hands is distracting and gets you killed!

I'm thinking of making this into a coop mission.  Human players could cooperate and clear much easier.

And I found an armed civilian mod (it's not a real mod, I think it's just config files in the pbo, because it's few KByte).
And you can put armed civilians who smart as a normal ArmA soldier. The difference is HUGE! this tiny addon save my mission idea.

Thanks for the advice.   I was afraid fewer people would play if I used an addon.   I would like to make the dumb civilians smarter.  I will see what other beta testers think about this...

Once again, thanks very much for the detailed reviews and pics.  Taking a pic of an error message is the best way to communicate those.

I am going on vacation for 6 days today.  My  wife won't let me bring the ARMA computer!  What kind of vacation is that, dammit?  But I will work on this mission as soon as I get back.

I will be reading the forums however, and look forward to more feedback from beta testers!

[bardosy]

johnnyboy,
I wish you a nice holyday!!!
I salute to all of ours wives, because they are so nice to tolerate the time what we spend with ArmA.

Just set Formation to Delta in first move waypoint.

There was a WP to the player? I didn't notice it. I never use WP to the player, but I will try to set the player's formation in the init. Thanks for the tip.

If so, you would have noticed that the 3 objectives are in different random locations each time you play.

WOW! I didn't notice it. I will do an other try then...

5., Nice scenery! But a little bit block my men... I know, it's a compromise.
I don't understand this comment?  Please explain further.

OK. The ArmA mission designers always have to make hard decisions: withouit addon and a little bit dumb or smarter with addon. It's a difficult question. And when I set up a scenery: fences, sandbags, fortress, barbedwires, warning signs.., I have no free hand because the AI (even the soldiers) blocked, stucked in this object. So I want make a nice scenery, but I have to reduce the object, to avoid the AI stuck... E.g.: I made a mission when the player must accross a river on bridge. And the other side I set up a checkpoint (I didn't block the road, but) I set up MG nest on the side road and barbed wire and warning sign. And the player's men stop at the middle of the bridge and didn't want accross. So I must delete the whole checkpoint.
Well! I mean it's a hard decision to set up fences in a town. It's nice but it's blocked the AI. I don't want suggest to reduce the scenery! It's OK. I just mentioned it...

Excellent.  I am worried that it is overdone.  Should I tone this down a little?

Of course NOT! It was wonderful! First time I lost half of my squad in the secondary explosition...

It will probably be about how "El Cojon" got his name.

I love this situation/story/feeling... Don't you want to make a campaign with this setup?

I was afraid fewer people would play if I used an addon.

Yes. This is my opinion too. I just planning a campaign where I need this addon. And I thought the players could DL a tiny addon for a campaign. But - I know - not for a single mission.


Have a nice holyday!

[johnnyboy]

Well! I mean it's a hard decision to set up fences in a town.

I see what you mean.  The sidewalk fences in town are built in to Bagango.  I did not place them.  In fact I at initialization I have code that destroyed some to get them out of the way.  Maybe I should do that for all the sidewalk fences in Bagango.  It will make it easier for the Player to cross the street.  I don't know if AI will be any better though.

I have campaign ideas, but not sure I have time.  How many hours did you put into Perpetua?

[bardosy]

The sidewalk fences in town are built in to Bagango.

No. I found normal fences in near the second objective: the ammo cache was in a building and around this building was fences. But not the nice fences, like in a normal garden, but ugly one. I thought you put these... But now I will check it in a pure map.

I have campaign ideas, but not sure I have time.  How many hours did you put into Perpetua?

It's hard to count it.  But I guess: about 2-4 evening per mission. Beta tests and debug and script writing and cutscenes inclueded, but voiceover exclueded.

[101]

Hi johnnyboy!

I tried your mission today! The "Last tango in Bagango" very exciting mission: varied with unexpected episodes and action-packed! The mission is difficult...to me!   For mission to taking many manoeuvres and tactics: really challange and battlefield the "tango" mission! I have to like excellent enemy placement.

I have one problems in the mission: the dialogues! The (character) voices a little bit low, many times in gameplay it is hear scarcely audible!

Any pics your mission:





HMWW wreck and fire arms cache after detonation...

   

In advance of fuel cache attack...



...and after. We are victory!

   


Really great job johnnyboy, go on like that, I'm waiting for more from you!

P.S.: I like it a RACS soldier in farm house latrine...



 


             

[johnnyboy]

Hi 101!

Thanks much for the review and all the great pics.  The pics are a great way to see how you approached the mission.  It also shows that you are skilled at squad control, placing your units to "watch direction" for good cover fire.

The (character) voices a little bit low, many times in gameplay it is hear scarcely audible!

I plan to add English text along with dialog to help with some of this. 

Artillery support

There is no artillery support, so that was likely the secondary explosions from destroying the arms cache (scripted by me).

Glad you liked the placement.  Note that the 3 objective placements are randomly selected from a total of nine possible locations (with six placements randomly deleted at mission init).  So each time you play the mission, you would have a different combination of objective placements, and likely take a different route through the town.

P.S.: I like it a RACS soldier in farm house latrine...

Thats my favorite part too!  Did you notice the clue to him being there?

Thanks again for taking the time to try my mission, and mark up the screen shots. 

I plan to add a good outtro cutscene to this.

[Cheetah]

Last Tango in Bagango

Package

You might want to include a picture for advertising purposes / for the review later. Readme is fine.

Overview

Please cut it down to one page. I can't even get to the second page, the arrow isn't working. Maybe you could add a border to the picture? The picture is cool.

Intro

In the beginning there's a bit of lag, not too bad though and it disappears after a few seconds. I'd like to see a voice over here. Other than that the intro is very enjoyable, well done. You're doing a good job at telling the story. Well scripted too. It's probably pretty hard to get the guy in the latrine with his eyes above the door and the Los pantalos to get armed and walk through the building.

Briefing

Error: marker... already reported.

Good story, I like the details you give. Yes, I wonder how El Cojon got his name. I like the notes about friends / foes, well thought of that stuff johnny!

I'd like to see other ranks. Right now the highest is a Colonel, lowest a Corporal. You might want to have a Lt, Sgt and a few corporals or whatever you like most. I noticed that there is no medic in my squad, would've liked a medikit script or medic. There are a few M113 Ambulances around, but I got injured in the beginning of the mission, quite hard to heal in that case.

Mission

I like the beginning, nice twist with the guys over there. Amazing how you thought of the guy in the latrine, with the rifle against it. Well scripted. Text accompanying the voices are a must however.

Good amount of action at the beginning of the mission and towards the end. I had to look for the 2nd ammo cache and the fuel myself. Probably messed up somewhere so I didn't get the information. Maybe too trigger happy . The after - ammo explosions are cool, but in my opinion the script lasts too long. Right now it continues to run I think, you might want it to end after 5 minutes.

Like the emplacement of the sniper and a few guys in the buildings. Most of the move though the buildings, I like that dynamic element. Adds to the replayability.

Good that you order reinforcements to move towards the town, think that there was a truck coming towards Bagango and later on a few M113s. Evaded them though as I moved out of the city towards the extraction point.

Ending the mission went well. All objectives ticked off. Refreshing idea with the hintc to give the mission completed signal.

Overall

Well crafted mission, has a lot of extras, probably missed a lot of them. The mission is replayable because of the objectives randomly chosen from a pool. Felt as if the mission is almost ready for review, just a few more things to be fixed and new things incorporated. Keep the good stuff coming!

[johnnyboy]

Cheetah,

Thanks much for the feedback.  I know you are busy with many formal reviews right now.

[LCD]

just how long is this mision ? cuz w/ ma amount of free time i need 2 rearange my time table 4 ny beta testing during weekdays 

nywayz ill try testing it thid week...

LCD OUT

[sharkattack]

hi  johhny
had  a look at last tango   ... nice  work ..

overview   
======
nice pic   ...  text  is ok  a little long
======
intro
======
up there with the best  nice camera  work  ...
shame about the music ...
======
recieved an error messgae upon  main briefing page
no entry bin config.bin/cfgmarkercolours.map_marker colour red1  ?

briefing  is well laid out .. all markers work ..  no weapon selection   

mission
======
enjoyed  playing this   ...  however  i struggled  to hear  voice acting  at times ... maybe subtitles
nice   scripting throughout   and  unit placement  is spot on ...  nice ending  all  were ticked ...
found  the  gameplay  choppy at times  ... maybe lower the view distance

[101]

Thats my favorite part too!  Did you notice the clue to him being there?

When we killed the RACS soldiers in the farmhouse, then I see the latrine. I have suspicious M16 weapons, that to staying near latrine! Come up to latrine, open the door and I see soldier...I have to surprised! And kill him...

Good idea, interesting script, I liked it...!

[johnnyboy]

@LCD:  I have alot of feedback now, and plan to fix and release a new version.  How about if you wait until next weekend to beta test the new version.  I'm guessing it takes 30 minutes to an hour.

@Shark:  Thanks for the test, will address your pionts after Cheetah's below...

@101: You are observant!  You saw the clue!  Thanks for the cool pics.  Its a bit of spoiler now though...

@cheetah:  My earlier reply got cut off...Once again, thanks for the thorough review.

Intro: In the beginning there's a bit of lag

What can cause lag in an intro?  Is the engine loading the main mission at the same time?  Since the intro doesn't have too many units and waypoints, I'm not sure why this would be...

probably pretty hard to get the guy in the latrine with his eyes above the door and the Los pantalos to get armed and walk through the building.

Definitely.  That's where alot of my time went.

I'd like to see other ranks. ... I noticed that there is no medic in my squad, would've liked a medikit script or medic.

I didn't pay attention to ranks, will fix.  I think I'll add the medkit script shark is using in Tiptoe.  I didn't want a regular soldier medic with the especas (wish BIS would give us an especas medic).

Text accompanying the voices are a must however.

Glad you liked the farmhouse encounter, its the heart and soul of this mission.  Adding text for voices is now my highest priority...especially for my non-English speaking friends (and everybody else who has to struggle with my cheesy voice acting).

I had to look for the 2nd ammo cache and the fuel myself.

Intel available dependent on your farmhouse encounter results.  You either get zero, one, or two of the objective locations identified.  You always have to find the 3rd on your own.

The after - ammo explosions are cool, but in my opinion the script lasts too long

I'll shorten it up a little.  They do lessen in intensity and frequency as time passes. 

Thanks Cheetah, hope to release new (possibly final version) in a week.

@Shark:  Thanks for the beta test bro!

shame about the music ...

I'll have to think about some cool music here.  Maybe Barry Manilow...

no weapon selection   

Yeah, I know.  I guess I need it for replayability.  Does weapon selection screw up soldiers having weapons added via init scripts?  Right now I have scripts running on squad members to add RPGs, nades and silenced pistols.

enjoyed  playing this   ...  however  i struggled  to hear  voice acting  at times ... maybe subtitles
nice   scripting throughout   and  unit placement  is spot on ...  nice ending  all  were ticked ...
found  the  gameplay  choppy at times  ... maybe lower the view distance

Will add subtitle text.  Thanks for the compliments.  I enjoy unit placement, and make an effort to not have "statue" guards.

Is view distance something I should control in mission?  I thought that was a player setting mostly.  This is a good idea, since this is a one-town CQB mission, there is no real need for long view distance.

Thanks again to all for the feedback!!!!

Long live OFPEC!!!!

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi Johnnyboy!

I found your mission very entertaining and very well scripted.

Overview

Funny pic of a guy spying in a latrine, great idea!

Briefing

Very informative and funny to read, told the story further.

Intro

A very well scripted piece of camerawork (Cojon entering the latrine, the Pantalones arming themselves...).

Mission

Met some enemies behind the truck at Cojone's farm but I managed to kill them and Cojon survived the firefight injured. Great conversation with Cojon afterwards, the voice acting is really good!
I managed to get to the first arms cache with no losses and there I picked up the medic M113 to keep us safe from bullets. Drove that thing like mad trough Bagango, rolling over any enemy opposition. I arrived at the fuel cache and I let my squad disembark to provide cover (the location being a bit more exposed than the courtyard. Sadly, I lost all me men. After I few retries I was able to get away from there without being RPGed. While driving around I noticed the second arms cache and I blew it up, ran towards my APC, was shot at and hit, but I could get in right in time. Then I drove in a wide arc towards the extraction point, got stuck in some bushes and finished the rest of my journey on foot.

Conclusion

Mission with a great hilarious humor touch, excellent voice acting and scripting, much action, you even scripted secondary explosions from the caches (or it could have been battle between the warring factions). The civilians were running around a bit cluelessly but I think that is what civilians in ArmA do...they provided many adversaries tough. I doubt if I could have beaten the mission without my little "cheating". So it is a great mission with excellent story and absolutely recommendable.

Keep up the good work!

Mathias 

[johnnyboy]

Matthias, thanks alot for the praise, and your time testing the mission.   I really appreciate it.  Yes, the secondary explosions were scripted.

I never thought of using the M113 that way (smart idea on your part), so I may decide to lock it.  Will think about it.

One thing I did notice about the M113 is that the enemy does not shoot you while you are in it.

Regarding stupid ARMA civilians, except for using a civilian addon like Bardosy suggested, I can't make them behave any better.

I'm currently modifying the mission per earlier feedback (subtitles, first aid, adding outtro, etc.), and will be posting a new semi-final version in 3 or 4 days.  I then hope to get one or two more beta tests from you folks to make sure I didn't add some crazy bug to it...then I it will be ready for formal review.

Unfortunately, I started a new job, so don't have as much time for this...

[101]

@101: You are observant!  You saw the clue!  Thanks for the cool pics.  Its a bit of spoiler now though... Wink

Sorry, I did not want to tell the punchline...

[johnnyboy]

Patch 1.08 caused some problems in this mission:

1. Faces changed.
2. Secondary Explosion script no longer works.
3. Cutscenes slightly off because units arrive earlier or later than camera expects them too (this is REALLY annoying, as it is very time consuming to get camera placement aligned with unit movement...).

There may be more patch related problems, as I have only tested with patch for about 15 minutes.

I am working on improving this mission anyway, so will fix all the above, and hopefully be out with new version within a week.  Including a fun Outro.

[bardosy]

I patched my ArmA to 1.08 and I think it was a bad decision... I must spent to my weekend to reintall 1.05.
I tested my mission and they works fine, but the ArmA... It became VERY laggy (15-20 sec frozen, 1 sec gameplay...etc).

[bardosy]

Unbelievable! I captured it yesterday... This is 1.08.

[johnnyboy]

Wow, Bardosy, that is not good...

I actually have no new performance problems.  It might even be performing a little better for me.

Have you tried resetting all your Video settings?  Maybe search the BIS boards for someone else with a similar problem who fixed it somehow?

By the way, my secondary explosion scripts started working again after I removed some addons.  So now I have only 2 known problems with Tango:

1. New faces (not really a problem, I will pick a new one, and then redo my mission .jpg pictures).
2. Units arriving early or late to cutscenes.  This is time consuming work, and does not give me confidence for the future.  Will we have to re-work cutscenes for old missions every time a patch comes out?

[bardosy]

Hello johnnyboy!

I tried to set low everything and restart arma and set up normal again, but the problem is still exists.
Not this video... It's the worst state, when everything became bad. But the whole game is instable...

I tried the begining of Last Tango and I noticed only one problem in the intro, when El Cojon arrive with the tractor and the camera zoom not to El Cojon, but next to him.

I'm really happy to you could fix the secondary exposition, because I love it and if you publish it, I will use it...

[firecontrol]

Not sure if you still want feedback for this... but here goes.

Overview
I LOVE that picture... hahaha. Very nice overview!

Briefing

The briefing is informative, and to the point. Notes section does a good job of differentiating civvies. I did get a small error here though, not sure if it's my game or the mission: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v462/FireControl/arma2007-07-0920-30-01-76.jpg   I actually got that error on any loading of savegames, too.

Intro

Very funny! I like the way you bend the AI to your will... good scripting. Overall a great intro.


Mission

Good custom voices, love the humor. "They search our houses but not under our tractor." LOL. Found that tricky RACS guy in the outhouse as well, thanks to a previous post.
I placed all but one of my sabotuers in a semi-circle around the Northeast part of town as me and my buddy
went in to destroy the objectives. This was fortunate, as they provided great overwatch, even sending a couple RPGs into some enemy vehicles that came in.  Very nice. Near the end, El Cojon went off on his own and wouldn't respond to me... he'd say "roger" but wouldn't move. I could hear him speaking very faintly there near the end, but couldn't make out what he was saying. Found the last weapons cache... and drove over the guard with an M113... splat. The secondary explosions are kinda cool, but I think they go on too long. Very fun and action packed! There are enemies everywhere.. up and down! Love that sniper on the smokestack, btw.

Outro

None. Was looking forward to some more witty humor.

Summary

Excellent mission. I enjoyed playing it. Hope you get this thing finished and reviewed soon. Much fun!

[Gielovic]

Hi,
Although I'am not a very diehard player I finished this mission the first time i played it, here's my feedback

Overview
Looks nice, nice text and pic

Briefing

Nothing wrong here, a good briefing, I like the fact that you have to contact that guy (what was his name again:P) which extends your briefing, or at least add the new objectives. I had to find the third ammocache myself, i don't know if there is some civillian which is able to tell you where it's located during the mission, but that might be nice.

Intro

Nice intro, the tractor-boy drives a little bit to far. I didn't look at your script but perhaps it's easier to target the man and use the relativeposition. Overall a great Intro, especially the toilet-scene:D


Mission

The mission was continously exciting. In the beginning things aren't too difficult, although the first ammocache didn't blow up with only one satchel charge, a bit strange, the whole of the house has to go down. I liked the explosions afterwards (nice detail). As I said earlier somewhere else i lack leader skills so all my men where shot before i blew up the fuel-truck. Only El Cojon was still alive. I was lucky because i got shot while healing at the APC, so i switched to El Cojon and his MG. I was situated outside the town and had to run far. I think the problem is the fact that El Cojon is playable, it happens to me all the time that playable AI's just stop following my orders, or stop moving at all. Never mind, you won't be able to fix it as it's just another bug:(.
I searched through the whole of Bagango and killed almost every enemy i saw. The M113's are too lame, they don't even shoot at me while standing in their front +- 50 metres away (i was lucky:)). I picked up some AT and shot them both. Then i finally found the 3rd cache, after blowing up the MGtruck first. After a new (nice) explosion i went off and found one sniper in front of the 'smokestack' (if it's called like that tnx firecontrol;)). I guess he needs to be on top?.
Well the end wasn't difficult as i ran all the way to the forest. I was proud i made it out alive with almost no-one alive in the town.
Finished it with:
40 infantry kills
2 M113 killed
1 MG-truck killed
1 Refueltruck killed
and one own trooper

Outro

None, but there wasn't too much left in Bagango to show .

Summary

It's a nice mission which is very challenging. It's very nice you have to fight with civ's against civ's. The idea of the short and long pants is absolutely brilliant. The AI in the city sometimes sucks. Enemy's simply don't shoot at me which made it too easy at some points. However thats not something a mission maker is able to change. Perhaps you should try to use the urban-patrol script, as it makes enemy's react at your presence. (dunno if you use it already  )
I didn't see any bug which is great. The mission feels solid, without errors or any problems at all. Keep up the good work

[johnnyboy]

@firecontrol & Gielovic:  Gentlemen, thanks very much for testing this mission!  I greatly appreciate it.  I am working on the outro right now, and hope to submit for a final beta test within a few days.  Here's some specific responses to your feedback:

@firecontrol:   Thanks for all the praise!  I will address a few your points:

I did get a small error here (in briefing)

An addon sneaked in.  Fixed in upcoming release.

Nice intro, the tractor-boy drives a little bit to far.

This was an ARMA 1.08 problem.  AFter the patch, he drives too far (this is troubling, as how many people's cutscenes are disturbed by this patch?  It would suck to have to fix old missions and cutscenes after each patch).  Fixed in next release.  Arma 1.08 also changed the faces, and I don't like the face you saw for El Cojon.  Fixed for upcoming release.

I placed all but one of my sabotuers in a semi-circle around the Northeast part of town as me and my buddy
went in to destroy the objectives. This was fortunate, as they provided great overwatch, even sending a couple RPGs into some enemy vehicles that came in.

 

Smart tactic.  I never tried it that way.  I've played this a zillion times, and never finish with more one two squad mates left.  I'll have to try it that way.

El Cojon went off on his own and wouldn't respond to me... he'd say "roger" but wouldn't move. I could hear him speaking very faintly there near the end, but couldn't make out what he was saying.

Civilian AI blows.  They get stuck or take off sometimes.  He wasn't saying anything scripted, so you didn't miss anything.

and drove over the guard with an M113... splat

LOL.  Good move, but I think I need to lock the M113s, since the enemy AI never fires on them when you are in it.  What do you think?

secondary explosions are kinda cool, but I think they go on too long.

I'm shortnening that up a bit.  Thanks.

Outro - None. Sad Was looking forward to some more witty humor.

Outro in process as we speak.  It may be straying from "witty" to "twisted" though...

Thanks again and stay tuned!

@Gielovic:

Thanks for your time and praise sir!  I'll address a few of your points:

had to find the third ammocache myself, i don't know if there is some civillian which is able to tell you where it's located during the mission, but that might be nice.

War is dynamic and imperfect, so the intel you get is dependent on your actions.  You may get some or none depending...

the tractor-boy drives a little bit to far. I didn't look at your script but perhaps it's easier to target the man and use the relativeposition.

Before ARma patch 1.08, the camera shot was perfect.  Fixed in upcoming release.  Thanks for the advice.  I will look at how I fixed it, as targeting the man might prevent it from breaking again with a future Arma patch.

i switched to El Cojon and his MG. I was situated outside the town and had to run far. I think the problem is the fact that El Cojon is playable, it happens to me all the time that playable AI's just stop following my orders

In my new version, El Cojon is no longer playable (but he still joins the squad).  This doesn't really fix dumb Civ AI though, unfortunately.  Its just a limitation of ARMA that we have to live with.

The M113's are too lame, they don't even shoot at me while standing in their front +- 50 metres away (i was lucky:)).

Wow, that is very strange.  The M113s have always been very dangerous to me.  I will have to test this a little more.

found one sniper in front of the 'smokestack' (if it's called like that tnx firecontrol;)). I guess he needs to be on top?.

Thanks for finding this!  Did you save the game before this happened?  I bet a save game ruined his DISABLEAI "MOVE" command...  I know a way to fix this...so now its on my list to do!

Thanks again for your time and the thorough review.  This really helps!

[johnnyboy]

El Cojon hates to miss a party!!!  So a new improved version of Last Tango in Bagango is now available for a few more beta tests.

Change log:

-Added outro (hopefully equal in fun as intro)
-Added subtitles.
-Fixed marker addon error.
-Removed some objects to reduce intro lag.
-Trimmed overview.
-Changed civ waypoints to "seek and destroy" to make them more aggressive.
-Modified ranks.
-Reduced duration of secondary explosions.
-Added First Aid script.
-And more!!!

I thank all the Beta Testers thus far, for helping me find and fix flaws:

- Bardosy
- 101
- Cheetah
- Shark Attack
- mathias_eichinger
- firecontrol
- Gielovic

And a huge round of applause to ARMA's Best Voice Actress:  Mrs. Johnnyboy!

[Rellikki]

Package
The package is fine. It has everything it needs.

Overview
Nice overview. Short, good description of the mission and a fine picture.

Intro
Funny observation point. The intro was pretty exciting. Nice voice acting - interesting accent.

Briefing
The briefing is fine. Nice ideas with the religion stuff and those.

Mission
I moved to the house and eliminated the RACS soldiers. Only when I reached the waypoint, they "noticed" me, even
they were killed. Some RACS guy came out from the crapper... Well, that was unexcepted... We moved to the crossroads
in the west and took position from there. I planted a satchel on the first cache and sabotaged it. Had to circle
around from north for the fuel cache because there were too many explosions. One of my team mates got stuck near the
fuel cache, but luckily, there was the skoda next to it, so I could board him there and drive to safe distance. Then I sabotaged
it. We had some urban fight in the northern side of the village for a while. We kept advancing to the south, house
by house. I decided to check what's inside the yard between the big yellow houses and there it was, the second
weapons cache. I placed a satchel charge there from the crates and detonated it. Then we ran to the excraction
point and mission got completed.

Debriefing
Nothing wrong here. Completed the mission with 18 infantry kills... and one friendly one. + M113, hummer and a
fuel truck. Duration 22 minutes.

Outro
The outro was very funny. Nice ideas and camera tricks. How did Cojones get on top of the traffic pole?
I spotted one spelling mistake:
sargent -> sergeant

Summary
It was a pretty cool mission. I enjoyed the cutscenes, they were pretty well done. The voice actors were good too.
This would be a pretty good campaign too, in my opinion.

Project Beta Approved

[johnnyboy]

Relliki:  Thanks alot for the feedback, its much appreciated.  I'll fix that spelling mistake.

I was worried the mission is too hard, because I complete it only one out of every five tries.  You breezed through it in 22 minutes!  Note that it is replayable, because there is a pool objectives of 9 caches, that is randomly reduced to 3 at mission start up.  So the cache locations and cache defenders differ every time you play.


Nice voice acting - interesting accent.

The voice acting is all me, except the reporter is my wife.   I hope my cheesy spanish accent does not offend true spanish speakers.   No disrespect is intended, I am just a poor actor is all.

[LCD]

wow...    da outro is just magnificent..... mebe ull give me some ideas 4 mine ill contact u sometime later (now i need 2 off 2 job )

but 1st heres da beta report

package

 

overview

 

intro

 

briefing

1) mebe some weapon selection... us being a spec ops shud give us more flexibilty in weapon choice (i hate da shortened AK... love da long 1s
2) remove da whole team from playable... 4 da SP ver... it cud b nice in case of playin MP

mision

1)mebe have da conversation w/ cojon done in titletext ? instead of sidechat ?
2)ny case u shud add callsigns 4 da players group... nd callsign 4 nygroup dat uses radio
3)mebe add identity (using description.ext) 2 el-cojon... cuz he joins my group nd hes not named el-cojon in my group list
4)da recorded voices r little low (i have 2 raise deir voices 2 hear clearly... nd den my radio orders 2 da group is very very high)
5) mebe punish da plyer 4 not being stealthy while savin cojon ? enemies shotin cojon nd his friend ? so he goes w/o intel nd w/o help
6) 1 of da civies dat joins me has a skill of expert? i was thinkin his simple civ
7)mebe addin retry point after el cojon joins me ?
it cud b nice touch 2 have 2 weapons really under da trucktor... (use weapon holder)
9) wat do da mine on da cache does ? it doesnt seem 2 get activated or nything ?
10) da buildings were da ammo caches get destroyed... but da ammo cache stays inj place... mebe delete if some time after da explosion ?
11) u have all da player radio msgs after some time done on global channel... move it 2 side or group chat
12) i sugest u may want 2 clear civies from da area of ammo caches (dey get cought in da explosions...) use a domove command on every civie dat gets close or somin like dat
13) dere is a sound file mising... called truckerVamanos
14) dere is a hint det gets sayin "hint in start outro triger" or somin like dat...
15) i broke da ending part... i went dere b4 takin out da fuel cache (mebe add som1 sayin u dont move till u finish ur mision or somin da like) nd den got all my soldiers inside da truck... it didnt end but wen i got out 2 made da fuel cache 2 explode da truck folowed me... den i went back in nd da mision didnt end....

outro

   so good

but b4 every black cut... da camera moves a lil in da truck... try 2 make it stop movin only after da black outs

summary

its cool nd almost ready... some small fixes nd its 1 of da most funny things i ever played

LCD OUT

Project Beta Approved

[johnnyboy]

LCD:  Thanks much for the detailed review!  Much appreciated!  But I am a little mad at you, because now I have more work to do....

I'm putting a few questions to you at the top here:

Q1:

4)da recorded voices r little low

.  Was this all voices, or the voices at the farm when cojon is interroated by the RACS?

During the interrogation, the voices should not be loud because they are talking to each other, not the player.  They should only be loud if player creeps up close.

Q2:

add callsigns 4 da players group... nd callsign 4 nygroup dat uses radio

  Good idea.  How do I do this?  Is this SetGroupID?

Q3:

but b4 every black cut... da camera moves a lil in da truck... try 2 make it stop movin only after da black outs

  LCD, I don't understand this.  Could you explain this problem better please?


Other feedback:

1) mebe some weapon selection

 
I guess I have to do this for player preference sake.  But I think it will conflict with the weapons I added to them via the init (satchels, rpgs, nades, silenced pistols).  Will do it though (I guess I have to remove the addweapon stuff from their inits).

remove da whole team from playable

 
That's a personal preference thing.  There is no real rule that a SP mission should have only one real character (except for a campaign where you need character continuity).  I am a bad player, and can't beat this mission without a playable team.

conversation w/ cojon done in titletext ? instead of sidechat ?

 
This was a deliberate choice I made.  I use titletext for cutscenes, and chat for "live" conversations.

2)3)mebe add identity

Good idea.  Will do.

mebe punish da plyer 4 not being stealthy while savin cojon ? enemies shotin cojon nd his friend ? so he goes w/o intel nd w/o help

If you don't act fast, one or both die before you can get intel.  But I agree that if you don't do it quietly, you should be punished, but I can't "cheat" and have them always killed by hidden enemies...  I also have a complexity problem, where once the intel conversation starts between player and cojon, it needs to finish without an interruption, because the permutations are too complex to handle (or not worth the effort).  But your point is good, and I have thought about it before.  I think I will send alerted troops to investigate if too much noise at farm (but they will arrive after the consversation).  A few shots by Western guns are not an alarm though, as the RACS bullying the locals is a normal activity in my story.

6) 1 of da civies dat joins me has a skill of expert?

  I did this because civs act so stupid under combat.  I'm hoping he will be less stupid (and more likely to stay with the squad) if he is expert.

mebe addin retry point after el cojon joins me

  I'm not sure.  The farm sequence is the most interesting, and has different outcomes if replayed, so I like the player to replay it.  The player can always choose to save.

9) wat do da mine on da cache does ?

  I think this is an ARMA bug.  There are no mines at the ammo boxes (I checked the editor and searched the mission.sqm to be sure).  I have an ammo script that removes all weapons/magazines, and then adds stuff to the boxes...and it also has NO mines.  Weird.

da ammo cache stays inj place

  Good observation.  Will remove or sink them.

u have all da player radio msgs after some time done on global channel... move it 2 side or group chat

  Will fix!

clear civies from da area of ammo caches

  Good idea. 

sound file mising

  Dammit!!!

hint in start outro triger

  Oops.  Dammit again!!!

15) i broke da ending part... i went dere b4 takin out da fuel cache (mebe add som1 sayin u dont move till u finish ur mision or somin da like) nd den got all my soldiers inside da truck... it didnt end but wen i got out 2 made da fuel cache 2 explode da truck folowed me... den i went back in nd da mision didnt end....

Oh LCD, why do you have to break my first born child???  Good find, I must fix this!

da outro is just magnificent

  Glad you enjoyed it!  I've seen it 1000 times while editing it, and still get a laugh out of it.

Thanks again for your time and the thoughtful feedback.  This is VERY helpful to me.

Maybe I'll call in sick to work today, and finish this sucker...will it ever be finished?  Arggggggggh!!!!

mebe ull give me some ideas 4 mine  ill contact u sometime later

  Anytime my friend.  Happy to help any way I can.

[LeeHunt]

not done withe mission yet and going on vacation, but wanted to say i about split my pants when i heard the rebels called "Los Pantalones" etc.  Hilarious.  An overview picture with an outhouse makes a mission a must play  . will give the betatest report for your's and a few other's when i get back, but great work so far!

[LCD]

Was this all voices, or the voices at the farm when cojon is interroated by the RACS?

didnt hear da voices of da interogation

its all da rest

Good idea.  How do I do this?  Is this SetGroupID?

exactly

LCD, I don't understand this.  Could you explain this problem better please?

in da outro u have da driver tellin da story... nd da player sitin near him...*.... den black out nd show how da story goes....

lil bit b4 da blackout da cam stops folowin da driver.... just a 1 second tingy... but i noticed it...

I guess I have to do this for player preference sake.  But I think it will conflict with the weapons I added to them via the init (satchels, rpgs, nades, silenced pistols).  Will do it though (I guess I have to remove the addweapon stuff from their inits).

ArmA is beter dan det... it wont clash

LCD OUT

[DarkAngel]

Using Arma 1.08, Veteran mode

Intro:

Loved it. Lots of humour and good solid camerawork. "El Cojon" grinning at the camera was particularly amusing, as was the location of his OP. Volume of speech etc all seemed good.

Briefing

Clear and simple. I enjoyed the notes section with the player character musing over the names. And the idea of long trousers being against the religion is...well, pretty crazy. But fits in with the fun character of the mission. Nice to be playing OFPOR for a change. No weapons selection, which is fine. It's a small point, but the Insert marker is an arrow when it could be the start marker. Also, the arrow points South and we start off facing West.

Mission

Noticed the "move" waypoint, which is unusual if playing in Veteran. Normally I prefer to do without waypoints (they cut down on my freedom to go and do the mission however I want) but hey, I'll go with it. Follow the waypoint to meet "El Cojon". As we near his house, I hear myself say that he's got company. Get my squad to stop and I move around the North side of his place on my own. The Sureno officer starts interrogating our buddy. When the officer orders the grunt to search the house, I move in and waste them all, leaving my soldiers to bring up the rear. Luckily the weapons weren't in the house anyway. All the dialogue is clearly audible - actually it seems pretty loud, but that's fine. There's a slight pause between the RACS soldiers being killed and the dialogue with El Cojon starting - might make more sense to bring that dialogue in right away. Just as El Cojon and his brother join our group, a RACS survivor turns up and kills one of my men. We move off towards the Northern arms cache, as that's the nearest objective. No more waypoints - I'd argue that in that case you don't really need the one at Casa Cojon. The town seems very quiet, which suits me just fine, so I decide on a direct approach to the target. This turns out to be a foolish error as we run into some RACS who waste half my team. I destroy the arms cache but get taken out by a Hummvee. Reload to start of mission. It might be nice to put a savegame in once Cojon joins the team.

This time, having killed the RACS, I notice the guy coming out of the outhouse - very nice. I retry a couple of times but keep getting killed - just not having a good day I think! Will try again a bit later on, but so far it's an enjoyable, if challenging mission...

Debriefing/Outro

Haven't played yet.

Project Beta Approved

[johnnyboy]

Darkangel, thanks much for your time and feedback thus far!

Intro:  Loved it. Lots of humour and good solid camerawork. "El Cojon" grinning at the camera was particularly amusing

Thanks!  I'm glad you mentioned the grinning at the camera thing...it was a small subtle touch that I wasn't sure worked or not, so its cool you noticed. 

idea of long trousers being against the religion is...well, pretty crazy

LOL.  I was struggling with how to tell the two civilian factions apart, and noticed that civ models were roughly half with shorts, and half with pants.  The idea grew from there.

Thanks for the tips on the markers...I will likely change per your suggestions.

....the "move" waypoint...

  Valid point.  I should drop it (it was there just to start the team in delta formation).

All the dialogue is clearly audible - actually it seems pretty loud, but that's fine

LCD's last review said it was too low, and should be turned up.  When I balance your two reports, I think I will leave it as is...

There's a slight pause between the RACS soldiers being killed and the dialogue with El Cojon starting - might make more sense to bring that dialogue in right away

I'll see if I can shorten that up.  My thinking was to leave the player a little time after the farm fire fight to verify the immediate area is clear, and give Cojon time to recover and react to the situation.

Casa Cojon

"Casa Cojon"...I like it!  I might have to work that into the dialogue!

put a savegame in once Cojon joins the team

My selfish reason for no savegame is I like for the player to replay the farmhouse encounter, as its dynamic in its outcomes (different objectives revealed, or none, depending on how it plays out).  But you're the second person to say this, so I should probably add the savegame to be courteous to the player.

Thanks again for the thoughtful detailed feedback...it really helps.  I look forward the to the remainder of your review, and I'm betting you won't be disappointed by the outro!   

- JohnnyBoy out

P.S. I look forwart to beta testing your Moondark mission.  Hopefully I will have some time in the next few days...

[smoke52]

package/overview:
good, has all the info needed

intro:
i like the intro, it sets up the mission well, with some humor to boot

briefing


mission
i played this mission when you first released it and its much improved. i like how soldiers come out of the buildings when you get near, same with the guys patrolling inside. in one building one guy was walking back and forth between windows like duck hunt

the only problems i ran into was my squad not following me around town, i had to just forget about them and do the mission myself. they all eventually died and i was the last to finish the mission...

another thing is when you rescue the guys at the very start and he starts talking to you, asking the question "do you like to tango" well hes laying down while saying it, get him to stand up.then also at the end of the mission the truck sound wasnt found.

outro
love the outro, only nit pick is when the soldier shoots the camera you should use the dowatch command or something to get the chick to look at the guy who shot the camera as she screams her line.

summary
great mission. its quick and has lots of dynamic elements. good voice acting and the humor is what makes this one stand out

Project Beta Approved

[johnnyboy]

@smoke52:  Thanks a lot for your time and feedback.  Much appreciated.

i like how soldiers come out of the buildings when you get near, same with the guys patrolling inside. in one building one guy was walking back and forth between windows like duck hunt

 

Its alot of work, but missions are better when AI defenders move around, rather than be statues, so I try to keep them moving.

only problems i ran into was my squad not following me around town

Thats the frigging AI pathfinding in town.  Its possible to move them around with you, but you really have to micro-manage them by commanding them.  And there are a few paths they just won't take (like use gates in walls, etc.).

[Cojon] hes laying down while saying it, get him to stand up

I know.  This is really the biggest remaining flaw.  His script does the following on him multiple times:  setBehaviour "CARELESS", setCombatMode "BLUE", setUnitPos "UP", allowFleeing 0.  I even repeat setUnitPos "UP" before Cojon says every line, but half the time he will stay on the ground.

The civilian AI is not cooperative.  They seem to remember they were in danger (eventhough nearby enemies now dead), and will go prone until this memory fades.  My next idea is to have a twin El Cojon unit across the island who will have no memory of danger, and after the farm firefight, teleport him in to replace the first Cojon that was present during the firefight.  Hopefully his "danger memory" will be clean, and he would stay standing.  But having two units means alot of editing to the dialogue scripts...  I might have to do it though.

use the dowatch command or something to get the chick to look at the guy who shot the camera

Good idea.  The other goofy part, is her built-in animations have her glancing at her clipboard, as if she was reading the lines she was screaming.  Will fix this.

great mission. its quick and has lots of dynamic elements. good voice acting and the humor is what makes this one stand out

Thanks again for the feedback.  I think I am really close to finishing this now!

[johnnyboy]

Ready to reveiw!!!!

Finally!  It was a long hard road, but my first born child is ready for review.

Once again I would like to thank all the beta testers, as this mission has been improved greatly thanks to you:

- Bardosy
- 101
- Cheetah
- Shark Attack
- mathias_eichinger
- firecontrol
- Gielovic
- LCD
- Lee
- smoke52
- DarkAngel

El Cojon wishes you all good health, long life, and high frame rates.

Time to pour myself (and El Cojon) a well deserved cervesa fria (i.e., cold beer!).

- johnnyboy out!

[firecontrol]

I had just downloaded this earlier this week with the intention to test, but life got a little crazy lately. In any case,
Good to see this going for review! A really funny, enjoyable mission.

Good work Johnnyboy!

[johnnyboy]

Thanks Firecontrol!  Things have been hectic for me too, so I didn't get to help out testing during Project Beta, but should squeeze some in this week.

I look forward to trying your final version of The Raid as well.   Its a high quality mission.  Good luck on the review!

If you have time, give Last Tango another whirl, as I think you will enjoy the new outro!

This stuff sure is addictive...I've got a zillion new ideas for missions, and not enough time...

Oh yeah, here's the final list of fixes to the mission:

v1.0 Final Fixes
-------------
- Forced cojon to stand in intel dialogue by using the talking animation.
- ammo boxes disappear after done burning.
- player can't screw up end trigger by going to extraction point before objectives complete.
- fixed camera leaving truck cab to early.
- fixed mine appearing at ammo boxes (my bug after all LCD!!! good find).
- Eliminated move waypoint (but still have team start in Delta form)
- Intel dialogue starts sooner.
- Added savegame.
- Now punishing player if farm not taken down queitly (a few m16 shots ok though)
- Added weapon selection.
- Added callsigns for players and identity for El Cojon.
- Removed debugging hints.

[bardosy]

Sorry johnnyboy, but this mission is NOT addon-free. I DL yesterday and tried it, and I got a usual error message about downloadable content: editorupgrade102

[johnnyboy]

Damn!  Sorry about that.  A stupid addon sneaked in. 

I fixed it, and re-uploaded the mission to the first post.

My apologies for wasting your time on that...

[bardosy]

No problem, this is my job...

[Cheetah]

I'll review this one.

[johnnyboy]

The real estate market is crashing, the DOW is crashing, the US economy is heading into a recession, global  credit markets are tightening, price of gold is rising, a new Bin Laden tape is released...and all I can think about is the pending review of Last Tango in Bango...

What will be the fate of El Cojon?

The suspense is killing me...

[firecontrol]

Lol! I'm sure it's gonna do well, if I were reviewing it I'd give it a good score.
But what's in a number anyway? Mission enjoyment is all subjective, some people like missions for reasons other people hate them. I say no matter what the score, all that matters is that quality missions are being put out.

Hopefully I get to play the final version soon, looking forward to the outro.

[Cheetah]

Sorry for the lack of information to you johnnyboy, the review should be up sometime during the first half of next week. Depends on how soon the staffers will take a look at the pending review which will be added probably tomorrow (for spelling check etc).

So, you can soon start worrying about the US instead of about Last Tango hehe . Don't worry, it won't score a 2 

[LeeHunt]

i like your comments Johnnyboy, the world is falling apart, but what will happen to El Cojon?  The world is always crashing somewhere  .  Anyway i got massacred a few times playing this great mission and didnt get a good beta report done in time, but i'm looking forward to playing the final version and hopefully winning!

[johnnyboy]

The review is out!  Hoorah!   

The suspense is over.  Thanks Cheetah for the thorough review.  Much appreciated. 
And thanks to all the Beta Testers as well, whose suggestions greatly improved this mission.  And thanks to OFPEC...the most supportive site there is.

El Cojon is happy now...sipping a mojito watching a beautiful Sahrani sunset.

Johnnyboy can now get back to fretting about the economy...and of course...working on his next mission (El Cojon Strikes Back?  Son of El Cojon?  El Cojon Meets Godzilla?  Hmmm...).

[Cheetah]

Review Completed

thanks for the enjoyable mission!

Feel free to continue the discussion of this great mission.