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This is a mission which I started last year then put to one side. Well I've dusted it down and updated it for Resistance. It's not really impossible - a truly impossible mission is trivial to create and completely pointless - but it is very hard.
You are given every chance - top quality squad, full weapon selection, even a couple of savegames. There is no scripting of any consequence and none of the enemy loons have fancy weapon loadouts.
- You lead an infantry squad ... change the flag on the flagpole and conquer the base, what could be easier muahahahahahah
- Kolgujev
- No extra addons but it does use all the official weapon addons (Uzi, Hunting rifle, etc.) so you probably do need OFP v1.91, can't remember when they all came out.
- Zip attached (28k)
- Known issues: no overview pic, no intro
- Please cast your eye over the gear selection and make sure I haven't forgotten anything.
- Is it too easy? Or is it unfair?
- All comments welcome!
Many thanks.
Edit: This mission has been reviewed and is available, with required addon, from the Missions Depot (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=82).
Edit: Latest version is 0-51. 728k thanks to the sound files. Grab it from:-
macguba's operation flashpoint page (http://www.freewebs.com/macguba/)
Full details on the latest post in this thread.
15 Jan 04
Edit 24 June 04
New version (0-55) now available! Grab it from macguba's operation flashpoint page (http://www.freewebs.com/macguba/)
Or from the mirror Kaliyuga very kindly provided:-
http://members.cox.net/kaliyugadesigns/Un-Impossible_Mission_0-55.zip
Edit 19 July 04
New version (0-56) now up. Grab it from the spot Kaliyuga very kindly provided:-
http://members.cox.net/kaliyugadesigns/UnImpossible_Mission_0_56.zip
Edit 28 July
New version 0-58. (http://macguba.tripod.com)
See end of this thread for more details.
Edit 18 August
New version 0-60. (http://macguba.tripod.com)
Seem to have missed 0-59 from this post ... anyway, see end of this thread for more details.
Edit 3 October
New version 0-64. (http://koti.phnet.fi/artoeija/)
Seem to have missed a couple from thispost ... anyway, see end of this thread for more details. Thanks to Artak for putting this up.
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Looks like fun... I will try it later when I get home tonight.
;D
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Scince u tested my mission, I'll test it later. I just installed gamespy arcade and am now addicted to MP play.
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Thanks guys.
max, don't feel obliged to test my mission in particular just because I tested yours (though obviously it would be nice), but do feel obliged to test somebody's mission.
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:o wow!
A shit hot OFP player I am!
let me tell you this was a fun mission!
I started out with a Bizon 6 mags, RPG 2 rockets, and I ended up with 12 bullets for the Bizon and no rockets! I mean I was shooting left and right.
I started out, beautiful atmosphere. Then, all of a sudden, soldiers come crashing left and right to my postion. I mean litterally just popping outta the fog! It scared the shit outta me sometimes! After all of them were dead, along with two of my men, I advanced up the hill killing another 3 or 4 more soldiers and what not, until I couldn't move becausee.... Snipers were at key postions atop the hill, which actually took me a whuile to find them n kill em! Once they were out, I went to the top of the hill and took out, what seemed to be, a whole sqwuad of soldiers! ONce the AH-64 came into sight I took it out with an RPG, using the last none I had to take out 4 soldiers. At 4 or 5 minutes of frantic button puching I finally cleared the hill! ;D Yea I'm good! I swear to god I musta killed around 15 dudes! Whew! Glad that's over. So I did the little flag thing! and that's as far as I got now!
- No Overview Pic? You bad man!
- Soldiers just seemed to lolly dag around without a carew in the world
- The AH-64 wasn't really a threat to me and my men. It just circled around.
- Awsome atmosphere! I LOVE IT!
- American weapons are avalible for the selection... not sure if you want to do that (although it does make it easier!).
- No really organized base at the top of the hill...
- The briefing is a tad scant, maybe you should add a little more info?
For the difficultly thing, it's perfect! The AI soldier are for shit, but that makes it easier for the player!
Man, let me tell you, I am sure looking foward to playing the rest of it tonite! ;D
EDIT- Just read ur post above, disreguard some of my comments ::)-EDIT
Tanks! 8)
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lol well I'm glad to see you had fun with the Easy part ... (Captain Winters - Easy - geddit?) getting down the hill is a lot tougher than getting up it. ::)
Overview pic will come when I can be bothered. ;D
Which soldiers were lolling around? :o Can you remember where? 'Cause I'm not having that.
The choppers aren't really a threat while you're walking. It's different if you get into a truck. I'm going to put some more vehicles in to tempt people to do just that heheheheh
All weapons are available ... this is not meant to be a realistic mission, its partly just a bit of fun and partly an exercise in mission design.
I'll make more of a base at the top of the hill, that's a good point.
Briefing - what do you need/want to know?
How many of your loons were left once you were at the top of the hill?
Did you see any Abrams or Bradleys?
Thanks Cap'n!
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lol well I'm glad to see you had fun with the Easy part ... (Captain Winters - Easy - geddit?) getting down the hill is a lot tougher than getting up it. ::)
lol.
As I ran up to the top of the hill and reached it, a group came running up to me. I took out half of it without them even returning fire!
In the briefing, I'm not sure what to include... lol, well it's supposed to be a fun mission, so... umm... maybe the enemies you'll encouter. are they lightly/heavily armed, why are you putting ur flag up, why are you attacking the base? Stuff like dat :)
Once i got to the top of the hill, I had 6 guiys left, but some were injured... ::) :) ;D
Tanks! 8)
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Great mission. Macguba with your permission I'd like to edit it and make it MP for the OFPEC match because I think it would be superb in multiplayer have the missions depot as west and the Intel depot as east. The otha guys in the convo r in the match as well so c wat they fink.
Okay the mission,
Overview
No pic. :'(
Briefing
Nothing amazing, but it was good. Told you straight what the mission was and what else had happened.
Mission
I aint completed it yet so this aint final. Silence. Perfectly quiet then BOOM! An M16 erupts, screams, AKs start chattering a grenade impacts near me, some more screams. the rat-atat-ata-atat-atat-tat of an M60 goes off. More screams. Frantic radio messages:
'2 IS DOWN'
'OH NO! 4 IS DOWN'
'DAMN! 6 IS DOWN'
'5, REPORT STATUS'
'5, IS DOWN'
I pulled myself together and my remaining 4 men. We managed to push the attack back, myself racking up 6 kills. Some sniper was about to get me so i gave him the good news, then some Machine gunner ran blindly into my path so he recieved 6 bullets. It was over in no more than 30 seconds. Bodies everywhere. Shit dude that came outta no where. I turned towards the hill and started running off with my men, i heard a sniper shot ring out but dissmissed it, a few more shots then silence. I hit the dirt, behind a rock. wait a minute, where are my men?? I order them to report status. The following appears.
'3, IS DOWN'
'DAMN! 7 IS DOWN'
'OH NO! 8 IS DOWN'
Bollocks. I run up further. More snipers shots. I hit the dirt. Where is he? Another shot, ground sprays up in front of me. There! I launch a grenade round into him. BOOM! Hehehehe that was funni. Run on. BANG! Sniper. I'm dead.
Second time
Start of in a town this time, hmmmmmm. Wot 2 do. I quickly set my men to danger and get down, after remembering what happened last time. 2 soldiers pop up. 2 AK rounds from my buddy next to me and there dead. Nice one Vladimir. I consult my map. I run to the base, and get in the truck. Uh-oh!! Here comes a helicopter, My men are just coming through the fog I can see them. I knew what was coming next. The AH1 swoops down, firing a TOW. BOOM! Takes out half my squad. Suddenly, out of nowhere M16 and M60s open up, the AKs return fire. I see men falling everywhere. My men, the enemies. I have 2 men on the truck. I drive, but just as I leave the base a rocket sends the truck tumbling down the hill. :P There is something about this mission that compels me 2 play more. Good work.
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(http://www.spielerboard.net/images/smilies/lool.gif)
That's just the kind of reaction I'm hoping for. :)
Originally this was no more than an intellectual exercise in mission design but I think it's reached the stage where it's worth turning into a proper mission. I'll make a base on top of the hill, add a background story to the briefing, make a small intro ... all that usual stuff.
If anybody gets a good screenshot for the overview pic please attach it to the thread - obviously I'll credit you if I end up using it.
I would of course be perfectly happy for somebody to make it MP, (wait till it's finished) but I don't really think it's suitable for the ofpec match. If you were going to play it MP the only way would be as co-op humans vs. AI, otherwise it would be very dull for the people playing West.
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not so sure I like the random starting points though :P
two out of three times I started and immediately died before I could take a step :-\
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all right.. I played it a few more times and it's really fun...
but I still say if you start looking at an ambulance... you're in big trouble...
and if you start with two tanks right in front of you .. you don't stand much of a chance either...
apart from those frustrating two possiblities.. it's really fun and challenging....
makes picking a load-out interesting too... cause you're not sure exactly where you're starting at..... ;)
(http://home.earthlink.net/~kaliyuga420/hilltop.jpg)
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pllayed your mission, loved it and i couldnt find anything wrong with it.
ps: i wouldnt exactly call it im possible ;)
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Right, latest version (v0.4) attached to this post.
Changes from v0.3:-
- Addons. Regret to say I've slightly lost track. You definitely need Kegety's Editor Addon (http://www.ofpec.com/editors/resource_view.php?id=356) and lots of official addons. I hope that's all but I may have cocked it up. Let me know if you get floods of addon error messages.
- Changed player's group from ordinary soldiers to Spetz Natz and increased skill. (Makes it easier)
- Increased probabilities of some West groups. Added one or two more. Changed some waypoints. (Makes it harder)
- Made "ambulance" and "tank" infil points slightly easier
- Added interaction with civilians + cutscene
- Added transport to all infil points
- Opposition at infil points more varied
- Changed system of savegames
- Added basic mission accomplished cutscene
- Added background to Briefing
- Added base at flagpole
Chopper - thanks :) Did you get to the very end?
Kali - nice pic! Might use that one. The forces at the ambulance are no bigger than anywhere else ... anyway I've made that fractionally easier. And I've changed the tank thing too. The load-out is simple to one extent ... take as much as you can carry ;D Random starting points are all part of the fun ... there are more than two ... or three... ::) This is one mission that will never be quite the same twice.
I've added some civilians - can somebody check them out to make sure the cutscene works?
Many thanks all.
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Hey Macguba,
I tried playing but I got an error message stating I was missing six addons, one of them being "objects". If I'm not mistaken (and I may be), that is referring to objects.pbo or possibly objects1.pbo, which I think is part of the old editor addon. Kegetys v1.11 Editor addon does not use that.
I found this out the hard way when I was trying to place some trees in a mission. I had v1.11 editor addon installed in a second computer I was using for addon testing. I got the same "objects" missing error message. So I believe what is happening is a mix of old and new editor addons.
***Researching***
OK, I just checked Kegetys v1.02 editor addon. Objects1.pbo and objects2.pbo are part of that addon and not part of the v1.11 addon.
So now the question is, are the same objects available in both versions?
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kk, i bb tommorow morning w/ sum feedbak ;D. bettr b good!
Tanks! 8)
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her i jus spiced up da 1 kali took:
(http://www.realityfactory.ca/tmmweb/hilltop.jpg)
Tanks! 8)
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Spiced up? ::) Looks like it came out a little blurry or something on my screen at least.. and you took all the guys out of the bottom half? :-\
anyways.. Mac I'll give it another go...
at the ambulance spot the problem seemed to be that everytime i spawned there I got shot in the back promptly :P
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at the ambulance spot the problem seemed to be that everytime i spawned there I got shot in the back promptly :P
Yup, that's the idea ;D
But seriously, folks ... the enemy are advancing across open ground and they don't know you're there till you give them the good news. Hit the dirt immediately the mission starts (good advice for all starting points).
deaddog - I was worried something like this might happen. I intended to use only BIS addons and Kegetys .... Here's the list of addons from the mission.sqs
   "G36a",
      "XMS",
      "Steyr",
      "6G30",
      "AH64",
      "bis_resistance",
      "Bradley",
      "editorupdate102",
      "objects1",
      "BRDM",
      "CoupeR",
      "gcessna",
      "CoupeB",
      "SkodaE1",
      "su25b",
      "Kolo",
      "BMP2"
   };
   addOnsAuto[]=
   {
      "G36a",
      "XMS",
      "Steyr",
      "Bradley",
      "AH64",
      "bis_resistance",
      "6G30",
      "BRDM",
      "CoupeR",
      "gcessna",
      "CoupeB",
      "SkodaE1",
      "su25b",
      "Kolo",
      "BMP2",
      "editorupdate102",
      "objects1"
I'm not even sure what they all are - there's no cessna in the mission so what's that doing there? They are all just scenary so I'll take the problem ones out .... once I know what they are. Gunslingers addon isn't in my addon folder (checks ... AH-HA! I seems I have Gunslingers editor upgrade in my ordinary addons folder and Kegetys editor update in the Resy addons folder ...
Right, I'm going off to see if I can fixt this.
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Object1 is from Kegetys' old Objects addon. It should no longer be used. Every object in it is in Kegetys' newer Editor Addon v1.11.
It looks like you should be editng the mission in a clean OFP environment, using a mod folder that only includes that addons needed for the mission.
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Whew, well we're making progress.
The latest version (v0.42) is attached. It requires two small addons:-
Kegetys' EditorUpdate (http://www.ofpec.com/editors/resource_view.php?id=356) (65k)
Kegetys' Editor Objects (http://www.ofpec.com/editors/resource_view.php?id=553) (5k)
The Editor Objects did not appear to be in the Ed Depot - God only knows where I got them from originally, but I've put them in there now - and the text I've inserted there explains everything (I think)
Quote from Kegetys - "I hid quite many of the things in Gunslingers addon which were more or less useless to keep the addon clean and easier to use. All the old objects can still be used with the CamCreate and CreateVehicle commands."
I think these object addons put the objects back in the editor, plus some other good stuff. - macguba
The other mystery addons were cars. In the editor I added a red Skoda coupe, a blue Skoda coupe and Skoda Estelle. This gave rise to the following list of addons:-
"CoupeR",
"gcessna",
"CoupeB",
"SkodaE1",
"su25b",
none of which appear in either of my addons folders. Can anybody shed any light on this? I have removed these vehicles and replaced them with ordinary cars.
Edit: I've just seen the Avon Lady's post. I don't fully understand what's happening here. When I take objects1.pbo out of my addons folder and leave in Editorupdate102.pbo (which is kegetys version 1.11 I believe) the number of objects available in the editor goes down. So objects1.pbo is essential to create the mission. It also appears to be essential to play it.
One of the particular objects in question is a "Rose recliner". If anybody can tell me how to insert that from the Mission Editor without having objects1.pbo in your addons folder I'd be glad to hear about it.
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I want screenshots from whomever beats this...
because... there's no way...
I fixed the problem with the mission myself by editing the mission.sqm and re-pboing it so i could play it...
I managed to get to the top of the hill... and left about three enemies up there.... along with the tank ...
all my guys died...
I ran and got in a jeep... took the jeep to the bmp ambulance/brdm and traded up a little...
then cruised to the base.... where there were several tanks and several more squads waiting for me to take on ... single handedly .... with my BRDM :P
It was fun for a while.. but i'm calling it quits on this one..
I'm not that much of a masochist...
no bugs.. just 8 vs 100 :P
don't get me wrong.. Asmo has a few of these kinds of missions...
I usually beat them out of pure hate for those AI bastards and then never want to hear the mission's name mentioned again... lol ;D
I began to ask myself the same thing I was asking myself in real life...
why are we "taking" this hill with nothing on it but 100 solidiers?
and if you don't kill them all the flag isn't going to stay up anyways right? :P
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lol thanks Kali. If anybody beats this I wanna see a screen shot of the debriefing screen. Not that I think it can't be done, (I'm sure it can) I'd just love to see it.
As for "why" you're taking this hill ... well, it's because this isn't really a proper mission. I'm just tarting it up a little so I can submit it to the Mission Depot. In fact I made as a mission design exercise, to try and create the most difficult mission I could while still making it possible. It was the 4th attempt, the others all being failures. (Too easy ... you'd be amazed at how difficult a mission can be and still be winnable.) The next phase, if there is a next phase, would be to try and reduce the number of enemies.
Obviously I haven't beaten this myself yet. I suspect the way to do it is either to be really fast - take the hill before the mist clears and then take the base (and thereby end the mission) before the tanks get there - or take it really slow, find a good spot to hide and take out the guard groups one by one as they come at you. Then seek out and destroy the armoured units one by one so that they can't concentrate at the base later.
Glad you didn't find any problems though, that's always a good start. Thanks for having a go.
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hey.. not a problem...
it does say impossible in the name so you know what you're getting yourself into ;D
just got a little frustrating for me....
I took the latter approach of the two you mentioned.... and waited for the patrols to cycle through and come up on me and my squad
The way I ended up getting as far as I did was by taking out a couple squads and then having the bulk of my group move in without me while I circled around and got the flag myself and hopped into a jeep :o
:cheers:
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Ok I played this mission for a whole hour and used my second save (from capturing the flag) right around the base. When I get to the base (my men are scattered all over the map) it has 2 squads of Americans and 2 M2A2 Bradleys! To top things off I didnt grab any AT stuff. It's IMPOSSIBLE to take the base. The best I've done is killed 5guys and 1 M2A2 with 'nades. !!! I just remembered I have satchel charges. HAHA! I'll post & tell u if they worked.
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Ok this sucks. Mow theres a M1 too :o? I'm never gona beat this mission ::) You win this mission is really hard and well deserving of the title "Impossible Mission"
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Pretty hard mission.
When the mission started someone shot me on the head. I tried again. This time I was near a forest. There were only two soldiers. They killed all my men and me. Then I tried again. Then I started near an Abrams and a Bradley. They killed us all. Then I tried again. This time I was near the top of the hill!! I was happy. I climbed and climbed. When I was on top of the hill, all my man died and then me. Then i started again but this time I used the shift - endmission cheat.
It's impossible to beat this mission. But it was a pretty good mission.
Well done :thumbsup:
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I did it ;) :wow:
took me all night... it's now 5:30 a.m and I'm ready for sleep ;D
attached you will find my evidence.... lol ;D
I think you need to include some AT weapons somewhere on the map...
cause I took out the last 6 tanks with satchel charges ;)
My weapons of choice for beating it going by the loadout I had when I played would have to be:
Bizon to start
M21 after you take the flag
G36 mmmm.... this weapon rules... hadn't fired one in a while.... but it did me well on this mission.....
Silenced pistol is a must have
and a whole lot of satchels.... think I used about 14 in total ....
for those stuck at the end base if you really want to stick it out....
heres what I did.... get lots of satchels.... and then wait for the tank to take up a stationary position somewhere and put one right underneath..
there are only two ways into that base that is pretty well held so I used some satchels to knock down fences so I would have more ways to sneak inside... ;)
also... try placing a satchel where you think the tank would go to if you were spotted by it.. then creep back and fire off a few shots at the tank with your gun ... you'll draw it out to see if it can find you and right into your satchel hopefully...
anyways.. my lack of sleep is making me ramble.
Ladies.... feel free to attach your own screenshots when you beat it ;) ;D
:toocool: :gunman: :toocool:
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WOW! Kali that's amazing, well done. You're are a complete hero. :wow: :toocool:
I'll change some of the west loons to LAW soldiers. There are five sets of ammo crates scattered about the map so topping up on satchels and rockets shouldn't be a problem as long as you have tubes.
I haven't tried it with Bizon - usually I give all my loons G36 which IMHO is probably the best all round weapon since it has optics and both burst and fully auto modes. But the stealthy approach obviously helps.
Did you discover the cutscene with the civilians? They give you another save and some hints and tips, though since you're the expert I think I change those to what you said....
Thanks again for giving it another try. Sleep well!
@polat - thanks for giving it a go. Glad you liked it!
@hooahman - thanks to you too. Now that you know it can be done ....
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Hmm.. didn't see any civilians at all.... and I was around a fairly big area...
I started near the base of the hill... where the first scud ends up being in the CWC campaign and pretty much went straight up.,...
and then i grabbed a jeep from the top and ended up down by the BMP ambulance and BRDM ....
drove back along the road to the little broken up town at the crossroads near the base and went up into the forest overlooking the base...
and started my whole satchel charge scheme.... and killing soldiers then ducking back into the woods for a little while...
all sorts of fun stuff.... ever try crawling around underneath a tank when they know you're there and you've just laid a satchel :o
hehe... yeah it was pretty rough goin there at the end....
but once I got to the point of only having two tanks and three guys in there guarding the base.. I thought I had it beat for sure... I blew up the two tanks with satchels and killed the guys...
and here came three more tanks up the road and a squad of guys from over the hill..... :o
I figured that the trigger was probably west not present or whatever.. so i drew one of the M2A2's pretty far out around the woods.. and he spent a while lookin for me over there....
there was also a UAZ that I drove for a while and it managed to draw alot of fire from a squad of soldiers.. got the tanks attention as well when it was just sitting in the woods.....
I should have left a satchel on it ;D
I did notice something about my score though....
I killed 15 crew members but only got credit for a couple tanks...
I think this is due to the satchel charges being used to kill the tanks.. they weren't quite dead yet...
I was going to go back and finish them off..
but that's really cool that it still ended with them mostly damaged.. as long as the crews were killed :)
and those friendly kills I got were on purpose.... If I can spare the satchel .. I'm going to blow it up ... ;D
that tends to work well as a distraction if nothing else :)
all right.. I'm off to work on the misson I was going to work on last night now.. lol ;D
* a good ( I think) V-80 mission.. with no addons needed
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oh.... and you should be able to save whenever you want maybe... ???
since it is so hard.... or maybe give a couple more at least
doesn't make too much of a difference I guess... but I saved alot..
like.. really alot... maybe 7 or 8 times at least just to be safe with all that running around I did
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That's a good place to start from, it's nearer than all the others. And yes, that wood beside the base is very handy. I've been one worse than under a tank with a satchel - I've been under a tank right next to a mine I just laid. Staring at the mine, wondering if I'll crushed or blown into smithereens ... dry mouth and wet hands ... no other game does it to you quite like this one.
For the benefit of our readers I should say that most of the tanks are Bradleys - there are only a couple of Abrams.
The civvies are in the south - you won't meet them by accident. There is a hint in the Briefing that they might be worth talking to and there is also a marker on the map, but I'll make it all a little more obvious.
You're probably right about the savegames, I'll add at least one more. The thing is that I have to make this into a playable mission now ... I'm tempted to make it more difficult now but it's probably not a good idea.
You were right about the west not present trigger. The ending conditions are pretty mild - your whole squad in the base and no enemy right next to you - but after my most recent playtest when I killed 3 loons in the base just by spraying it from the hillside with my trusty G36 (oh that was fun, 4 mags in burst mode as fast as I could reload) I'm going to have to make the trigger area bigger so that the mission doesn't end in the middle of a firefight. In theory you don't have to kill anybody to win the mission, if you could decoy them all away, switch flags and then sneak into the base ...
Looking forward to your chopper mission. Thanks for all the detail btw, it's really nice to know how somebody has played the mission. Really helps with improving it.
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oh.... and you should be able to save whenever you want maybe... ???
since it is so hard.... or maybe give a couple more at least
doesn't make too much of a difference I guess... but I saved alot..
like.. really alot... maybe 7 or 8 times at least just to be safe with all that running around I did
How did you manage to save 7 or 8 times? By my count, there are four save oppurtunities. The built in save, autosave a few minutes into the mission, another for the flag and another the civies. Macguba, are there any more?
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I'm a big fat cheater when it comes to savegames... ;D
especially when it comes to beta testing a mission.... helps me be able to make comments like... "needs another savegame or two" ;)
there are a couple different ways to save whenever you wish and there's
actually one program that will allow you to save just by pressing a key
you can find that program on ofp.info I believe
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When I said there were four saves, that's only from reading Mac's comments. I can't get past the first two. ;D
I thought I was doing well until an Abrams decided to sit on me. It's a bad feeling when that big gun is tracking your every move. Get too far away and he can shoot you. :P
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There are four - the regular save you always get, one when you start to approach the hill, one on taking the flag and one if you visit the civvies. The next version (out tomorrow I hope) will have a fifth, when you approach the base. If this was an ordinary mission these would all just be automatic retries, but you can't have a retry when there are baddies around so I'm giving the player the retry but with the flexibility to use it when he wants.
I could obviously add more, but then I'd be tempted to add a couple more small enemy groups. Whaddya think? (That's right, we're not even close to the limit of 63 groups ;D)
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i was da 1 who beat da mision b4 ;) :P
ill do dat 1 wen i get som free time ;D
LCD OUT
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If you think it's hard now, try playing it from the Finnish Defence Force mod. The sounds are better (except helos) but the weapon recoil is more pronounced. Also, it's harder to use the sniper rifle when it keeps jumping around :)
On the other hand, you can carry more M203/AK grenades. If you can hit anything with them ;D
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Ladies and Gentlemen, I am glad to report that this one is virtually finished. Grab the latest version from:-
macguba's operation flashpoint page (http://www.freewebs.com/macguba/)
The zip is 712k, thanks to the speech files. The only addon you need is kegetys editor addon (http://www.ofpec.com/editors/browse.php?browsewhat=3&category=3_5), which you should have already. OFP v1.91 is advisable ... it might work on 1.85. The last bit of work I did was in 1.94.
Changes from last version:
- Added Overview pic
- Added speech to cutscene
- Solved addon issues
- Innumerable minor improvements to make it more fun
- Difficulty broadly unchanged
Known issues:
- the voice files are really dire, I was just playing around trying to get the thing to work. They will be replaced for the release version
- no lip synching yet, no point till I get the right sound files in.
For beta testing purposes only, I have added a morphine radio call: hit 0-0-0 to be setdammaged to zero. This will not be in the release version.
As ever, all comments welcome.
I'd particularly appreciate it if somebody would head south and check out the cutscene with the civilians and the stuff that happens at the end of it. There's an empty chopper down there which is fun to fly in zero visibility
Many thanks.
Spoiler below - highlight to read.
If you want some real fun, unpbo the mission and open it in the mission editor. Create a trigger:-
Condition: true
On activation: "_x setCaptive true" forEach units sn
Now hit Shift - Preview, select your favourite gear, and have a ball.
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Is that a Kilt or a skirt? ;D
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lol it's a piece of hot pussy .... if you fancy Angelina .... ::)
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Well, everytime I start thinking I'm making progress, I get killed. :P
Kill a couple of Bradleys, take out an Apache, kill a few snipers and grunts and then, BAM, take one in the back. ;D
My new strategy will be to never stay too long in one location. Shoot and scoot, as it were.
BTW, my personal style is to kill everything that is a threat. I don't like to sneak around too much. I've been trying to slowly circle the hill at the base, stick to the woods and pop out to shoot a few time. Hasn't been too successfull so far.
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yeah It's a tough SOB that's for sure, but it can be beaten
:cheers:
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Done it in 3 hours 13 minutes. I lost everyone but two getting up the hill then two after I'd changed it. Died once during this, but last sae wasn't too long ago. After being surrouded at the top of the hill, I decided to run away to the south. Took out 6 dudes on the way to the civies. How about adding the option of taking the bloke with you and coming back to get him later if you need help? I really didn't want him following me around everywhere, he stayed in the truck ready for a quick getaway ;)
Filled the truck up with weapons and ammo, headed to the base east of the old base. Leaving two with the truck I took my Bizon and LAW Launcher, I went towards the base. I took out all 3 APC's before running away to get more LAW's. I got an AA Launcher instead and went to wait for the chopper to show. It showed about 10 minutes later and I some how managed to hit the bugger. I found the pilot crawling into some near by tree's and gave him the good news ;D
After getting my LAW Launcher back and saving I went to tackle the last of the armour. Thats when I started getting killed every two minutes. Ended up going and getting the BMP2 ::)
Only thing I found strange was all the bases around the 'old base' were empty :-\ And there was a horrible lack of Bizon rounds >:(
For some reason I can't take screenshots, they come out as a big blur of colour, so you'll have to take my word for it ;)
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Bloody Hell Munk well done! Did you allow yourself any extra saves or did you do it with the ones that were there? Thanks for giving it a go.
How about adding the option of taking the bloke with you and coming back to get him later if you need help?
Not quite sure what you mean. My intention was to give you an extra man as a reward for going to see the civilians. The ammo truck has weapons so you can arm him - it's the only place on the map, apart from bodies, where you can get weapons.
How did all that stuff with the civvies work, btw? Is it worth the trip?
And there was a horrible lack of Bizon rounds
I know, it's a minor problem that's been bothering me for a while. All the other weapons that you are likely to take (eg G36) are American and you can get ammo from bodies: Bizon is the front runner Soviet weapon, but obviously the Amis don't have it. Might put a graveyard of Russian Spetz Natz somewhere. ;D There are six sets of ammo crates around the map, each with 50 Bizon mags or whatever it is.
Only thing I found strange was all the bases around the 'old base' were empty
Originally I had a strict rule of no eye candy: everything in the mission had to have a purpose. However, that has obviously changed so I'll add some wrecks and things to the nearby bases. I hadn't thought of using it as, well, a base.
I found the pilot crawling into some near by tree's and gave him the good news
A heartwarming story. ;D
Overall, do you think it's too easy?
Kali - you've been deposed as my OFP hero. ;D
deaddog - try and get to the civvies in the south, you get an extra man, an extra savegame and a few other goodies. You're right, staying one place looks good on paper but it doesn't really work though it might work outside the "ring road" - that way you're unlikely to have a group on a guard waypoint coming up behind you.
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No extra addons but it does use all the official weapon addons (Uzi, Hunting rifle, etc.) so you probably do need OFP v1.91, can't remember when they all came out.
1.85 ;)
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I only used the saves I gained during the mission. I think it was down to me using my men to distract the AI while I crawled to the flag then fucked off south ASAP ;)
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I tried this and died. Lots. Hahahaha! Nah, only about 5 times. But I finished it! (I'd send the screenshots, but my cpu has no power - freakin blackouts). Score was 6600 - and that was with some friendly kills (sorry bout the BMP ambo).
Haha - if all else fails, set your men to danger, and prone - as long as noone chucks grenades, you can't lose!
Took me about 5 hours like that though. :o
Anyway, cheers all.
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Ooooooooook, I'll try this out. I know it's quite old but I want to beta test and this is the newest, quite addon free, SP, non-SEB NAM, and that I hand't allready tested that I could find.
:beat: *Gets Macgubad* :beat:
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Kali - you've been deposed as my OFP hero.
Hmm does that mean I need to beat this again then?
Still if you look at my screenshot waay back there you'll see that I had a finishing time of 1h and 21min, with 52 kills accounting for a score of 7660, and four of those little silver button deals :o , so are we going for score or time here? ;)
Looking back I do want to play with Deaddog's suggestion of using the FDF Mod with this mission for fun so maybe I'll try and put up a better score to rightfully reclaim my status ... lol ;D
:cheers:
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Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! My beta was deleted. Oh fuck! I've written so much!
Bloody hell!
I'll just take the cons and pros then:
pros:
+ no bugs
+ allow tactical desicions
+ non-linear
+ panicing gameplay(don't usaully like this but in this mission its perfect)
cons:
- hard in the base
- rather weak camera
- rather weak overview
- rather weak briefing
- a lot of frustrating retry button pressing
- No limit on morphine
I finnsihed the mission in 48 mins and cleared the base+reinforcements all by myself. No cheats used. 8)
I used so much morphine I have to see strange colours for the rest of my life now.
I see myself as a bad to avarge player, this mission is not impossible, it's hard but it shouldn't be called impossible.
:beat: *Gets Impossibled* :beat:
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I've read the thread and man, you guys sux in OFP. Why am I getting killed so often in MP if I owned you?
Only Kali made it and he used Savegame cheat. I think that'll make me the OFP Hero. ;)
I got around 20000 in score, I'll upload pics( 8) ) later.
I might tell you my story too. :P
:beat: *Gets Best* :beat:
EDIT: Sorry, it was just 16000, but I own u anyway. ;D
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http://upl.mine.nu/uplfolders/upload4/Shithot.gif
http://upl.mine.nu/uplfolders/upload4/shithot2.GIF
I own you m8s!
My story:
OK, mission starts. I'm all like "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" and throws myself behind jeeps or wtf it is, anyway, I get shot, and if I dont get shot I lost half of my squad. So on the 4th or 5th try I just ran to the south as soon as I started. Lost one man. Got to the civvies(love 4x speed)and grabbed the chopper, too bad it had no ammo, I tried to reload it with the Ural Ammo but that didnt work. Why?
Anyway, so I fly away since the chopper had no ammo it was quite useless. I parad down just above the flag along with my men. Most of them died in the landing. I was all like "YOU BASTARDS! CAPITALIST BASTARDS! YOU STINK! HOW COULD U VOTE FOR BUSH YOU STUPID F*CKS!? GRENADES HURT EH?!". Saved. It took me a few tries to get to the flag pole until I relized that the flag automaticly changes. Doh!
Reinforcements dropped in, I got scared to death. After a quick clearing of the flag area(there was about 10-15 infantry) I left my men there to take any reinforcements while I ran off to the base, what you have to do for your men eh?
4x speed, I ran just to the left of a sniper but I deared not to stop since he would kill me easy if I were a still target, I just ran and got wounded by him several times, I love morphine.
When I got outside the base(SW)I saved again, started to pick some infantry down around and in the base with my M21. Then all of a sudden some brilliant US CO came up with the idea to snipe me! I had like 3 or 4 snipers on me! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Shit! Shit! I just ran my ass off trying to hid in the base, and what waites me there? 3 fuckin Bradleys! Luckily I had 3 LAWs left since I hadnt used any so I started to blow the bradleys and picking of the infantry. At least when I stayed in the sides of the base the walls would cover me from the sniper fire. I saved once the bradleys were killed and then that stupid CO came up with another idea, send in some friggn choppas! ARGH! Choppas aint bad when you're infantry, I guess, but somehow these were. If they had a line of fire they gave me hell by sending in some 30mm presents. Stupid captialistic bastards.
I started to clear out the area of infantry, hiding behind houses to avoid chopper and sniper fire. Most of the infantry were cleared out and what happens? An Abrams rolled in! Followed by a Bradley and some jeeps+MG and infantry. He oughta be kiddn I thought. Crap. 4th Save.
I started to play hide and seek. There weren't many LAWs in the base, I think there were 3 in an ammo crate, 3 in a truck and 3 in a dead body. Reinforcements continued to drop in the whole friggn time, I only killed like 10-20 infantry guys before I got here so thats not a surprise but that makes the base so bloody hard! Some comical situations turned up when I tried to shot a chopper with LAWs and my only cover from an Abram was a truck which was my last LAW scource, if it would've blowed up I was doomed. Eventually, after much retrying and loading I finally beat em, on my own! And whats left? I had one man still alive which I had called down in the last minute from the hill, though it was just a few infantry guys left he didnt really do anything.
:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:
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lol I love these stories. ;D ;D Thank you everybody for having a go. Will write a proper post when I get time. ;) Keep up the good work. Kali, you don't have to try the current version its not that different from the last one. It's the next one that will be really .... um ..... testing.
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I've read the thread and man, you guys sux in OFP. Why am I getting killed so often in MP if I owned you?
::) Anytime you want to test that very interesting theory of yours out, let me know ::)
As long as it's not past your bedtime or on a school night for you ::)
Also bear in mind that this is a new version since I played it last , and the version that I played didnt have the morphine that all you junkies are raving on about ... lol
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lol, the morphine compensates your savegame cheats. ;D
EDIT: But Kali's prooly better than me, I just got the hill more easy by using that chopper I have to meet him some day in MP, once I get a lower ping. :P
:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:
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Still if you look at my screenshot waay back there you'll see that I had a finishing time of 1h and 21min, with 52 kills accounting for a score of 7660, and four of those little silver button deals :o , so are we going for score or time here? ;)
you could do points earned (score) per minute of gameplay (time) :P
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i beter dan ya armsty :P
2 times using morphine (1 after i falled wen runing)
only da saves macca gave us (used 2)
on vet mode
67 kills if i aint wrong
58 mins
5 golden stars
14960 points :P ;D
http://lcd23.tripod.com/impos_mis.JPG (oder 10 G36 soldiers on da oderpage)
it was lots easier dan last taam :-\ it seemsw dat da enemies r lot less dan last time ? da only hard part was @ da start (startin near lot of soldiers but we solved it (w/ no1 dead 8)) by telin all get prone nd scanin horizon (i started in a town 2 da east of da hill) - den i left em dere (after killin 2 M2A2s nd som jeeps nd da soldiers nd did da mision alone (w/ num 2 behind me so i can check my position :P using report status) mebe all da enemies attacked da rest of da team ? using guard WP ? nd da oder thing was da end part it took me ages clearing every1 around it nd it didnt end - dere were groups coming 1 after 1 - nd i was runin on X4 waitin til som1 started shoting (but dey sux didnt hit me hard - nd dere was medic tent dere so i didnt use morphine ;)) 2 kill em - nd i even got da 2 M1A1 u realy shud change da endin condition i think
bugs/sugestions list
1) make somin nice 4 da morphin - use 2 much get som effects :P mebe use resources 2 paint da playersworld in some funky solors (nd even change em quick wen he uses it lot of taamz)
2)plz gimme intel on da enemies air abilites - so i cn know how meny AA launcher i shud bring :P
3) GPS - i got 1 of ma soldiers following me just 2 get mapos
4)ma start point wasnt da para point (on da breing) i didnt noticei didnt start dere - nd start running east while i shud had run west (even tho i di notice it somtaam later n changed ;D)
:cheers:
LCD OUT
P.S im ya hero right ? ;) :-*
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i beter dan ya armsty :P
I still got more in score than u, and lesser time! I'm still the hero. ;D 8)
:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:
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played on vet ? :P
its not ma fault dat da mision didint wanna end ::)
o also used less morphine ;) :P
LCD OUT
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of course I played on vet. 8)
Because u wasn't good enough to kick every1 arse. ;D
I like strange colours :afro:
j/k
:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:
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Right, time for an update.
Firstly, thanks to everybody who's tried this. Love the stories and the suggestions. :thumbsup:
Secondly, I completed a new version just before Christmas. I didn't post it because there were still things I wanted to change. However, I'll post it tomorrow as is: it won't include any suggestions from the recent posts, but hopefully I'll get some time over the next week or so to make the real new version.
Thirdly, it's clearly still too easy. Making it harder does not present a problem. I am particularly keen to hear suggestions on how to make it more difficult without just adding loads of extra enemies. The current version is probably slightly easier than the previous one.
For the avoidance of doubt, when this sucker is done I be very flattered if somebody converted it to FDF mod or anything else. Also, this mission might be suitable for co-op in MP: I don't know anything about MP so I can't do the conversion, but there is very little scripting so it shouldn't be too hard. If anybody wants to do a conversion, get in touch.
Specific points that people raised:
- Morphine was for just for beta testing. The final version will have one shot only.
- Weak camera, says Armsty. Guilty as a weasel in a hen house, says I. The Overview and Briefing seem ok to me, what did you think was wrong with them? Bad luck on the matrix swallowing your original writeup though, I hate it when that happens.
- The standard Ural ammo truck does not resupply the chopper by default. The chopper is just for transport, it can't have any ammo because then it would make hacking the tanks too easy, which would mean more tanks, which would mean it would be too hard without the chopper ... which is no good.
- Yes, the snipers are not there to stop you getting up the mountain so much as to stop you getting down again. ;D
- LAWs at the base. There are ammo crates there and hopefully some dead LAW loons around. There are lots of ammo crates elsewhere, so if you have to go and get some, you have to go and get some.
- Score/Time debate. If anything, it's score. One of the premises for this whole thing was that time was not going to be an issue. If the mission designer is allowed to impose a time constraint then it's too easy for him to create an unpossible mission.
- Number of enemies at the start. This was too variable (occasionally I got none) and the new version smoothes things out a little.
- Ending trigger. It's just a standard playerandsquadpresentbuttheenemyisnot which presumably leads to the hunt for the last hiding loon. I thought I'd added a fleeing command but I'll check.
- Chopper intel. You can in fact entirely ignore the choppers. I once found the crew of one disembarked and guarding the base: I think they must have run out of fuel and landed somewhere. How many AA missiles you take or don't take is not that big a deal. There are several AA loons here and there for you to drop, particularly near the flagpole.
- GPS. I really wish you could disable the "F2 where am I?" thing. Navigation in fog was supposed to be one of the things that made it hard. If you want to use your buddies to navigate for you, well you'd better keep them alive.
- LCD, of course you're my hero. :P
- The insertion point marker is just that, only a marker. There is nothing else there. The new Briefing text includes a hint that you don't start there. Anyway, this mission does not strive for realism - you are supposed to retry the start several times, why do you think there are so many start locations?
- Only Vet mode is acceptable. I have put waypoints in for the Cadets, but there is a hint at the start saying play it in Vet.
Oh, and for the record, my only successful proper completed attempt:-
74 kills + 2 Bradleys for 20,060 points
3hs 44 mins (but I was exploring as well)
No morphine
Killed twice
Thanks again everybody!
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i was bored, so i made some calculations to make the beta testers' scores a little more comparable:
Armstrong's score: 333.33
LCD's score: 257.93
Kaliguya's score: 93.82
macguba's score: 89.55
each score is the average amount of points the player earned for every minute that passed in the game. i couldn't get armstrong's pics to work so i just worked off the info he posted (16k points/48 mins).
i think it would be a cool little thing to have in the mission to be able to check your "score" via the radio (and its easy to do):
(time/60) / rating player
idk if that would ruin any atmosphere you were hoping to establish though, and it also doesn't take into account how many times the player died, morphine used, or "stars" earned (i never learned what they meant :P)
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Wooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! And with such differency. 8) :P ::) ;D
@ Macca: about briefing: Can't remember exactly what it was that made me think the briefing was weak. I have to read it again or something. However, I am one of those types who will gladly spend more time reading the briefing than completing the mission.
:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:
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That was a mistake .pablo, Armsty's NEVER going to let us hear the end of this. ;D ;D ;D
Armsty, yes in that sense you are right about the Briefing: it is not a great long fancy one. However, since this is not a particularly realistic mission, there is no virtue in having a big background spiel.
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OK, the new version (0-51) is going up now. This is the one that was created just before Christmas. There is a future version already in progress: I'm hoping to release it next week but I've got to make it harder first. Get the current one from:-
macguba's operation flashpoint page (http://www.freewebs.com/macguba/)
Or right click on the link below and Save Target As:-
http://www.freewebs.com/macguba/Impossible_Mission_0-51.zip
Change list from 0-50 to 0-51
(The new difficulty level is slightly easier.)
Making it better
===========
Tarted up the Old Base and eastern base a little
Found and fixed a couple of minor bugs
Slightly improved the cutscene
Added waypoints for Cadet mode
Slightly improved the position and setting of the flagpole
Rationalised patrols around base of The Hill
Added fleeing trigger to help the mission end
Adjusted probabilities for enemy attack groups at player start positions.*
*Previously, a typical start position was faced with three attack groups each with a probability of presence of 70%. This meant that the chance of all three appearing was 34% and the chance of none appearing was 2.7%. The typical figures have been changed to 90%, 60% and 60% which reduces the all or none chances to 32% and 1.6% respectively. In other words the standard distribution of numbers of attackers has been reduced. This makes the game a little fairer and more consistent.
Making it easier
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Added dead Spetz Natz camp with Soviet weapon ammo
Added execution site (ditto)
Added transport and field hospitals to empty bases
Added second field hospital to the Old Base
Added two UAZGs (FIA ambulances)
Added boat near civilan village
Added more hints and tips
Reduced a few enemy probabilities
Area of end fog trigger reduced
Added an extra savegame available after about 15-20 minutes
Making it harder
============
Added West repair vehicles
Added one foot patrol
Added one motorcycle patrol
Added snipers to guard towers at hilltop
Revised and improved sniper placement
Added one (75% prob) sneakily placed loon
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Oh maen, do I have to complete it again to keep my title? I haven't got time, I have to define every friggn house on Nogova! :-\
Just a Q though, I haven't tested it:
If you don't take the flag and go straight to the end, what will happen then? Will you complete it?
:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:
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No, you don't have to play this version ... it's not going to feel that different. Wait for the next one, which will be much harder. 8)
Heading straight for the base is actually not a bad tactic: it breaks up the resistance there into two chunks - before and after you change the flag. However you must change the flag - the end trigger is
- flag changed
- player and whole group inside the base
- no enemies within about 100m (I think) of the base
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Sounds like fun, I'll give it a go! Plus I'll be wanting someone to test out my nearly finished mission soon (my first one, aw bless).
Ade :D
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- player and whole group inside the base
so dats ewas prooly ma prob ::) i was way ahead of em ;D
LCD OUT
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MacGuba,
Glad to hear you're going to make this an official mission - it's far too good to be just an exercise. Great atmosphere, with the enemy emerging from the fog - I thought taking the scoped G36 would help but with visibility down to 50m, may as well have stuck with my (t)rusty AK!
I got bounced by an Abrams at the start of the mission but I sent an RPG soldier after it and he destroyed it before it fired on my squad - haven't seen a vehicle since.
Since then my plan has been to head north of the start point using the trees as cover as much as possible, then splitting my squad and approaching the hilltop from the Northwest and Southwest (I keep getting killed here. Darn, I'm a lame player).
All the way north, I could hear a helicopter in the distance, this made me nervous everytime I reached open ground.
Overall, this is an action packed mission with ambushes galore and a great atmosphere of suspense - the simple objective makes it more open ended than a lot of more elaborate missions and also gives it good replay value, which I don't think mission designers always consider. Can't wait for the next version... ;D
Ade
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Thanks Ade. You could replay this mission over 100,000 times and it would never be identical. Well ok that was about three versions ago and it's assuming my maths holds together.
If anybody does play this mission over 100,000 times, I very, very definitely do not want hear from either them or their psychiatrist. ::)
And you're not a lame player - this mission is difficult, you are supposed to get killed a lot. There are some vehicles, but not many. Well done on slotting that Abrams so quickly. Your plan is as good (or bad) as any: in general there is no preferred route up the Hill.
I confess I'm struggling a bit with the next version: making it genuinely impossible is of course trivial, requiring no more than three minutes work. Making it even harder, but still possible, is much more difficult.
I'm thinking about changing the name: votes please everybody. (Result is not binding on the author!)
Impossible Mission
Unpossible "
Un-Impossible "
Possible "
Other suggestions welcome.
oooooh oooh oooooooooooh I just had an idea to make it harder. ;D ;D ;D
LCD, if I ever have to go into combat I want you to be anybody but my squad leader. ;D
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lol heres ma one :O
Un-Impossible
make it harder ;)
if I ever have to go into combat I want you to be anybody but my squad leader
i aint like dat wen workin w/ real ppl (i just keep da AI behind cuz i dont like 2 get less points cuz dey get shot) :P my n ma friends go 2 paintball nd we actualy do prety good ;) (learned som tactics from OFP ;D ;))
:cheers:
LCD OUT
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;) It's gonna be harder.
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How 'bout:
Macgubas roaster-you-upper-hard-as-eatin-a-McDonalds-burger-without-throwing-up-kick-ass mission
:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:
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I did it. After 2 h 44 min. with score 16620.
Many times of "Shift" "-" savegame.
It is really a fantastic game.
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sshhhhhhhh, nobody's supposed to know about that. ;D Anyway, glad you liked it wps.
The new version is supposed to be ready ... for some reason I'm having dreadful trouble with the ending triggers which is what's holding it up. Triggers firing when the variable in the condition is false, that sort of thing.
It's slightly more fun and much harder. On one beta testing run all of my squad were killed ... in spite of the fact that for beta testing purposes they all had invincibility eventhandlers. ::) I've had to add a setdammage 0 loop and make myself setcaptive true to test it efficiently.
Armsty I love that name ... though it won't fit at the top of the Briefing. :(
The new name poll (see about 4 posts ago) is still open.
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New Version Available!
[/b]
Grab the new version (0-55) from here. (http://www.freewebs.com/macguba/) It's a rather hefty 4.2 meg. (If the download is too slow I'll email it to you.)
Or right click on the link below and Save Target As:-
http://www.freewebs.com/macguba/Un-Impossible_Mission_0-55.zip
Summary of changes:-
- More fun
- Harder ;D
- Tarted up a bit
As ever, all comments and suggestions welcome.
Full details of changes:-
=========================================
Un-Impossible Mission
Combined changes list from v0-50 to v0-55
=========================================
Note: 0-55 is much harder than 0-50.
0-55 formal release candidate
0-54 last version before name change
0-53 unsuccessful test on Winter Nogojev
0-52 backup version
0-51 previous published beta
0-50 beta version everybody played over Christmas and New Year
Making it better
================
Tarted up the Old Base and eastern base a little
Tarted up some of the start positions
Improved the position and setting of the flagpole
Added Kozlice weaponholder at civvies
Added Hunting rifle to civvy that joins you
Improved the cutscene slightly
Added Intro
Improved ending cutscene
Added music
Removed beta testers infinite morphine
Added single use morphine (radio menu)
Added waypoints for Cadet mode
Added choice of endings
Improved ending triggers
Added easter egg on completion of long version
Fixed many small bugs
Improved a few other minor bits and pieces
Changed name from "Impossible Mission" to "Un-Impossible Mission"
Streamlined triggers
Removed excessive eye candy
Making it easier
================
Added dead Spetz Natz camp (with Soviet ammo)
Added execution site near flagpole (ditto)
Added second field hospital to the Old Base
Added two UAZGs (FIA ambulances)
Added more hints and tips
Added an extra savegame available after about 20 minutes
Removed guard group
Benchmarked second helicopter
Making it harder
================
Added convoy of West repair vehicles w/dismounts
Added motorcycle patrol on the roads
Added foot patrol around top of The Hill
Added guard group
Added patrol near Base
Added VCP north of civilian village
Added dismounts to jeeps w/mg
Added seperate dismount group to Bradley guard group
Added several sneakily placed loons
Added sniper group near Old Base
Added two groups of civilians for you not to shoot
Revised and improved Hill sniper placement and increased probabilities
Improved patrol route near the Base
Increased typical guard group from an average of 5.5 loons to 7
Increased minimum number of loons in typical guard group from 2 to 3
Increased hilltop patrols from average of 6 loons to 6.5, min 4, max 9
Increased probabilites of start attack groups
Increased probabilities of jeeps w/mg and Bradleys
Enlarged fog off trigger area slightly
Speeded up fog clearing
Delayed first savegame by a few minutes
Rationalised patrols around base of The Hill
Fixed AFV crews disembarking problem
Rigged fuel station in Old Base to blow if badly damaged
Added fence with gate around flagpole
Added minefield
Added dummy minefield
Added extension to the Old Base
Added small cemetary outside Old Base
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Uh... Macca... I'm 'posed the get movin' with ma Mission Editin' Comp' Submission, you gimme a har' time ya hear? Ahhh, I 'ill try 't ou' as 'lways. And I'm like shit cool yo! ::) ;D
:beat: *Gets Cool* :beat:
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http://members.cox.net/kaliyugadesigns/Un-Impossible_Mission_0-55.zip
here's a faster download link for everyone ;D
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Thanks m8, much appreciated. :thumbsup:
(I've attempted to create three websites today, from free webspace providers. One, it turned out, had no facility for uploads at all; one did but didn't allow .zip files; and one downloaded buckets of spyware onto me even though I told it not to. I was not a happy bunny at the end of that lot I can tell you.)
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Armstrong, I think LCD is rubbin off on you. My english teacher would've beaten you with a stick for that post. :D :o
Anyways, Macguba, I've overlooked this for some reason and just noticed this, so I'm gonna give it a try. Sounds like fun.
I'm not sure if I want to enter the Mission competition. Some ppl are gonna break out some top notch stuff. Voice acting is one thing I'm not setup for. Plus I've just started learning the advanced stuff. Damn it'd be hard. Ahh hell I see what happens with my mission, and maybe I'll get a Tshirt. ::) ;D
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This thread has been dormat for a while which is why you haven't noticed it before GRK.
I forgot to say that features of the new version include
- player's choice of endings (Easter Egg if you go long)
- implementation of all suggestions from this thread
- Intro
- and did I mention that it's harder? ;D
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LOL
this was fun and I really should give it more time. Took me a few times before I figured starting pos was a bit random...
Little thing in the intro:
When the cam is in the chopper, you see the NV googles pop up on the Spetz, looked a bit weird. Was that on purpose? If not add the NV's either before or after the cam.
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Lol, yes, there are a number of starting positions. I don't think I'm giving much away by revealing that, whichever one you start at, you're in the shit.
Yes, the NVGs get put on deliberatly in that shot ... it was meant to indicate final preparations for the drop, but you're right, it doesn't work very well.
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maybe you could use some Playmove animation with the binocular and then quickly put the NV up once the hand is near the head ? Or someother hand-to-head thing.
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I've tried a few playmoves and none work at all: I suspect you can't use animations when units are in a vehicle.
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Dude, I get a missing addon error, object1. And yes, I have Kegs editor addon.
:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:
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Grrr, I thought I'd nailed that one.
Easiest solution for the time being is if you open the mission.sqm and delete it from the addons list. The objects in question are all contained within Kegetys addon and I did test this to make sure it would work without objects1, but it must have crept back in somehow - stupidly I didn't check the mission.sqm immediately before posting like I should have, sorry. :-[
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I have the same problem as Armstrong. How do I get to mission.sqm fromthe downloaded file?
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Use amalfi's unpbo 1.5 from the Ed Depot - Tools. It will open any .pbo, including official missions so you can see how BIS did things. A very good way to learn.
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Great utility.
I took out all references to objects1 in the mission.sqm.
For the mission I now get:
No entry 'Config.bin/CfgVehicles.Bush10'
and the intro:
No entry 'Config.bin/CfgVehicles.Tree21'
I worked backwards through this thread to get the latest version of the mission (Kaliyuga's post on 24 June) and downloaded the editor addon referred to in the readme file.
I guess this is a beta test of the readme file as well
:)
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Right.
Sorry about all this folks, though I suppose that's what beta testing is for. ;D
I have formally upgraded myself to General Barron's addon editor - a long overdue move and a good one - which means in the new version all of this is definitely and finally solved. Finding the objects that were causing the problem was ... um ... well shall we say that it was marginally less fun than sexual intercourse. It turned out that after I solved this last time I accidentally added some new problem objects, which is why hacking the mission.sqm didn't work.
As a temporary fix the easiest thing is probably to get objects1.pbo from the Ed Depot here. (http://www.ofpec.com/editors/resource_view.php?id=553) Chuck it in the addons folder, it won't conflict with Kegetys addon editor though I'm not sure how it gets on with General Barrons. Or better still, just wait till I get the new version up.
Which is easier said that done because those wankers at freewebs have canned my site without reason or notice and they're not responding to me emails, so I've got nowhere to post the new version pro tem. Grrrr. Working on it.
Edit: we're expecting to have a link up by close of play today Monday Rocky Mountain time-ish.
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Here you go everyone ;D , I replaced the earlier version I had uploaded with the new one to save on space
http://members.cox.net/kaliyugadesigns/UnImpossible_Mission_0_56.zip
:toocool:
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Thanks Kali! :thumbsup: Your OBE is in the post.
I've got a very basic site up at geocities here. (http://www.geocities.com/macguba/index.html) However when you try and d/l the file it says "We are unable to process your request at this time." ::) Yes I have uploaded the file ... but I've done enough for one night.
New version is 0-56. Change list:-
Solved editor addon (objects1.pbo) problem
Removed stupid NVG thing from Intro
Few minor tweaks to Intro
Tidied up readme
Improved roadblock
I have tested it with both General Barron's (http://www.ofpec.com/editors/resource_view.php?id=612)and Kegetys' editor addons and it worked fine. I hope that you can all report the same. ;D
Edit: THobson I've just realised you're not in the readme. :-[ ..... Fixed.
Edit: The d/l from my poxy site (http://www.geocities.com/macguba/index.html)is working now. I think they just imposed a delay. I got 60kb/s.
To summarise, you need the mission and General Barron's Editor Addon. (http://www.ofpec.com/editors/resource_view.php?id=612) AFAIK Kegetys' editor addon will work fine. OFP 1.91 or higher.
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Uh, OK. I think I'm quite forced to try it out now then. Shiiiiiiite. Haven't played OFP for 2 weeks or so and I'm gonna start with this mission. Ugh. You make me sad macca, I wanna kill ppl in Soldiers that I got today man. ;D
Aaah, it's for my own good, I have to keep my reputation of best Impossible Mission player up. Yeah. 8)
I'll try it out tomorrow. Apocalypse Now Redux is on telly in 2 minutes. 53 minutes more stuff. Napalm. Ugh ugh.
:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:
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Thanks Armsty, looking forward to the report of your death ... innumerable times. ;D
I have beta tested 12 missions in the last few weeks, some of them several times. They are:-
Nocturnal
Destroy weapons cache
Liberation of nogova
Shatterpoint1986
Embassy defence
Desert dessert
Defensive strike
Desert ambush
Airborne bridge assault
Fighting back
Checkpoint Charlie
Colonel Sanders
Of the authors concerned only two (ponq and THobson, thank you chaps) have attempted my mission. In the week since the latest version was posted there have been no comments at all.
Now I don't necessarily expect every single one of these authors to play my mission. Some will test the missions of other people, and it may be the authors of those missions who, in turn, test mine. In other cases my beta test was only a couple of days ago and the author has not had the opportunity to respond. However I do expect every single one of those authors to beta test somebody's mission, even if it isn't mine.
And it's not just me. For example, Calamity has not had much luck in getting testers (I can't because my comp doesn't get along with 'Nam stuff) in spite of getting out and doing some testing himself. There are too many people who are happy to benefit from this board but have not put anything back. It's not as if beta testing was difficult. If you haven't done it before all you have to do is play the mission and mention any points that come to mind. Just telling the story of what you did can be helpful to the mission designer. You don't have to write an essay - even a single comment can be valuable.
The point is that we are all in this together: if your mission has been tested by the community it is only fair to return the favour. If we all do our bit then what goes around, comes around, and everybody's mission gets properly tested.
Remember OFPEC's slogan:-
By[/i][/u] the community, for[/i] the community.
Un-Impossible Mission v0-56 (http://www.geocities.com/macguba/index.html)
mirror (http://members.cox.net/kaliyugadesigns/UnImpossible_Mission_0_56.zip)
General Barron's Editor Addon. (http://www.ofpec.com/editors/resource_view.php?id=612) AFAIK Kegetys' editor addon will work fine.
OFP 1.91 or higher.
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*bump*
See last post.
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Had a go at this. Died twice ::) - Thinking about it thats probably good for me
First time got wiped out at the start.
Second all but one guy was killed by a grenade wielding maniac who was soon cured ;D, started moving up the hill, did not see much until the very top when i crawled next to a sniper although i could hear m2a2s and a cobra. Started killing the enemy as they came running towards me (shooting the legs). Was killed by a AA guy >:( then the last survivor had his head demolished as well.
So this is a very hard mission (although I am sure i would have done better without the lag)
One major problem I had was on some attempts it would CTD with no errors (could be my fault), I disabled ECP and it worked ok.
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Tried this one out. Can't report much since I died in 1 minute in the 5 times I tried :P I'll keep chipping at it until I actually get somewhere. Sounds like a fun mission though.
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Chaps, Thanks for downloading. :thumbsup: It is meant to be very hard. ;D (Check the readme for the story behind the mission.) The secret at the beginning is either to make a run for it and hope for the best, or to hit the dirt and make an all round defence. It is usually possible to get away from the start alive with few or no casualties to your squad.
Rapter, I haven't had any problems with ECP but I'll look into it. It does fiddle with some ECP settings.
I am aware of the lag issue: the new version is considerably better. In the meantime its probably best to turn off ECP and maybe lower your settings a bit: you don't need viewdistance higher than 500 till well into the mission.
The best news is that the editor addon problem seems to be licked, since neither of you had any trouble. :D
I hope to post a new reduced lag version tomorrow.
If you get fed up of dying IM me and I'll tell you how to activate the stupendous cheat that I use for testing purposes. Shhhhhh .......[/color]
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I tried it again with ECP and it did start but crashed when I pressed escape. I think it may be something to do with me not your mission.
Just remembered I messed around with ECP a bit ago so that may be it.
Nice atmosphere though.
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Okay macguba, I try to dl it now. I just haven't had much time lately and I have a 56k modem... Okay, stopping the excuses and trying it now. ;)
Edit; Get "download error" messages. Geocities problems? Gonna try it again tomorrow.
Edit2; Yes, the mirror works. Gonna play it NOW!
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Aw crapolo. Sorry macca, I just didn't got time. Besides I'm lazy. And reachin for the OFP CD is very much work. I'll see when I come around grabbin' for it. And I'll slap thoes muddabitches who haven't tested your mission but you tested thems. :P
:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:
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No worries, Armsty, there will be plenty more versions for you to test. 8)
Raptor, there is nothing in the mission that should conflict with ECP - there are lots of scripts but they are very small and simple.
Tarados Qeng you're right, it won't d/l. Dunno why - the file is there and I'm supposed to have a bandwidth limit of 3gig a month so there's no problem there. Try again later, or use the mirror Kaliyuga kindly provided. Or test one of the untested missions on this board (like Calamity's). What goes around, comes around. ;)
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Re-tried the mission with a fresh ECP install and it worked brilliantly, the lag was much less this time and I encountered more enemies. Did not reach the hill this time as I was killed by an M2A2 who was hiding behind the one I just blew up. So it seems the problems I had were all my doing, typical. ::).
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Phew. You had me worried for a while.
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I tried it out a couple times. I don't understand why there is a drop zone marked, when a player spawns randomly at a certain location. Made it to the hill once with most of my squad, but the enemy just keeps on coming. It is kind of annoying after you kill about 40 soldiers and some how more just appear. I never made it to the flag. There is a lot in the mission to be appreciated, like the morphine thing and replay value. After half an hour of trying, it seemed to get pointless. It is not to hard. It just takes a long time. I'll keep testing it. I still need to check on what the civilain can do for me.
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:o I started at the T crossing (or near it, at least :P), and I ordered my men into a wedge, you know, keeps me from getting hit first from the front. But as soon as they were all into position, and we started off going NE-ish, I hear two gunshots and see 2 fall over and blood sprayed everywhere (ECP man ;D). So we drop, and I start moving back to attack them, and me squaddies are trying ot get back inta formation. Lost about 7 of me squadmates on the first try (my comp lagged for some reason).
Ok, restart. I run north and they still catch one of my guys, but I dont care yet. I run up the hill throughsome forest, and I think, where is the enemy now? Then a hint pops up sayin sommat like "So, you decided to take the hill,eh?" and another one about needing to save there. I, being the ignorant fool that i am ;), didn't save it, and I found meself in a crossfire of two snipers and like three or four infantry. And of course me squad hasn't even emerged from the forest yet (grrr stupid collision detection). I get killed and notice 2 said I was dead (how'd he know that, he was in the forest....)
One more try. I start by the cammo tent thing. I decide to lay an ambush for the first wave, so the d**n AI gets into position, facing the wrong way. 2 and 5 get shot before anyone on my team gets to pop any heads. I take care of the jeep and a few infantry, and 4 dies. So I decide to run for it. I make it to the trees and turn around and see that all me squaddies got injured by a grenade blast about 10m away. (so I make them stop and continue on my own, with 7 (still ok)).
I send 7 up the hil in combat mode, and I never hear from him again. So I try and flank the hill, going up the east side. But, I find meself inches away from bullets holes in the ground, and they were coming nearer. I poke me head out when I dont hear any more bullets flying, and sure enough, I gets meself a new eyehole.
fun mission macca, but the always went for me poor ole head... :(
Test it more later tonight mebbe.
AnarCHy
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Cool, guys, thanks. :thumbsup:
The drop zone marker is simply there to confuse you. ;D
I'd really appreciate it if you visit the civvies in the south. :thumbsup: I've not had a report on that bit.
The point of the mission is that its meant to be so hard that, in reality, you never complete it. 8) Or put it another way, it is meant to have have infinite replay value. Everything is randomised so it is never the same twice.
Part of the way to win is to play it smart, so that you are not overwhelmed by waves of enemy. 8) There is no createUnit btw, they are all there at the start and once you kill one, he is dead. Getting near the top of The Hill is not the hard part: getting to the flag is hard, and getting off The Hill is hard. Taking the Base is really hard - I've never even attempted it with this version. ::)
Whereever you start, its always in wedge formation. And whereever you start, you get bushwhacked almost at once. :P It doesn't really matter where you go up The Hill, the defences are roughly equal all the way round. There is usually a weak spot, depending on how the probabilities of presence work out, but it is in a different place each time you play.
We all love that ECP blood. :D
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Yay I couldn't get it to work before cause of that damn object 1 but you're using GB's editor. I grabbed the mission. I'm not using ECP cause the savegame = crash on load is still rearing its ugly head so no ECP. :'(
OFP reg visuals looks so crappy.
;D
overview: okay, text is standard Macca format. Pic is of some crossdressing guy with stubble and a big hat, I dunno what the hell it is?
intro: Alright, I liked the little blackout text and I got to the MI17 but my sound is fooking up and sometimes vehicles make no sound and the music stopped so I quit the intro there, and went to the briefing. to fiddle with audio in mission later... >:( :P
briefing: Good for this kinda mission, I liked the little circus music there. The notes are very impersonal. :D
The dropzone marker confused the hell outta me as I was knowwhere near the damn place. ;D :D
outfitted my team with mainly bizons and uzis plus LAWs and one with a sniper rifle and that guy did surprisingly well for the only guy with a unsilenced weapon.
Grabbed an UZI, LAW, glockS, binocs the regular. :)
Mission: I died 7 times at the start, I just kept hitting the retry button. ::)
Finally got used to the damn fog and got a decent mission going by wiping out the first wave with ease, my squad performed like the little bloodthirsty angels they are. Pop one guy boom, another, another... ;D After owning OFP for so long I knew immediatly where I was, right under the big hill. SCUD site in the CWC mission.
We restock and heal after injuries from a nade, and three M2A2s roll up, get blown up and we restock. Start up the mountain. Do a save cause I will not get the start so perfect ever again. Kill two snipers looking at the scenery and my squad dispatches a roaming infantry group. And I'm 3/4 up the mountain methinks.
That's as far as I've gotten so far... :)
I've bad predictions for what's coming up. 2,3, and 4 reported three brams at the base, I think its the base, and two more M2A2s and I can see a ghostly Cobra flying around my head like a big moquito. I'm gettin ready to wet my pants now.... :'( :'( :D ;D j/k
Once past the start, the mission is much much easier until you hit the hotspots I think. :o Right under the big hill is awesome to start at, all those ammo crates aww good.
Fun though, I'll try and finish later... :-X :P
EDIT: I was right under the hill and was very close, screw the civvis, I didn't want more trouble. :D ;D
But they might help, I heard tey join you or something... ???
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Jesus, macguba, you trying to make our heads explode or somethin? This crap is hard. My first five or six times playing, I got wiped out at the start, getting ambushed by multiple MG Jeeps and infantry. Finally I got past that part, and started for the hills.
Getting to the hill had different variations for me, but everytime my whole squad was annihilated except for maybe one guy. Sometimes some Bradleys would roll up, sometimes I didn't see many enemies on the way to the hill. But those snipers took a toll on my soldiers. It didn't seem to make a difference how many I picked off, because there would be two more that I never saw.
The farthest I've come so far was to the top of the hill (I think), where there's a couple squads just hangin out. I started to dismantle them, and then I finally began to move around to find stragglers. Sure enough I end up being killed by a soldier that's hiding in the same bush as me :P.
Equipment-wise, I set up all my soldiers with bizons, and some rpg and strela launchers. I definitely think silenced is the way to go, but I have yet to see how far that can carry me.
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Ookay. Finally tested it.
Overview - Kinda okay, though I didn't like the pic.
Intro - Very good. One of the best intros I've seen.
Briefing - Good, clear and fine. Plenty of weapons available, eh? Grabbed Steyr Aug, Ingram, RPG launcher and gave boys launchers and Ingrams and Scorpions. Even one heavy grenadier. Okay, ready to go.
Mission - It just was too much for my machine. Even when I reduced resolution from my normal 1024x768 32 bit to 800x600 16 bit frame rates were only 6-8 frames/sec. When there was no one else on the screen. So, it was not even nearly playable. But still, I tried!
Started. Shot a couple of Americans with my Ingram. Then ran towards the hill. Saved. I got there firing not another shot! That maybe because the AI guys had problems too, because my machine was too slow. I was next to the wire around the flag. "Open the gate". Gaah, where's the gate, I can't see it. Shot a couple of Americans that appeared. Some more appeared. Got shot.
Loaded savegame. This time some American snipers on my way. Shot them (quite a miracle to shot them when it's 5 frames per second. Got to a some sort of a building with bodies in it. Shot a guy on the floor. Took some hand grenades.
When I came out, got a radio save game. Used it. Then ran to the wire. Billions of Americans around it. Just ran and found the gate. No one shot, thanks to my slow machine. Opened the gate. Ran to the pole. The flag changed and got another "earned radio save game" message. Got shot 3 milliseconds later. Quitted. It's no fun playing with these frame rates.
It may be too hard for me or not, but I'm positive it was too hard for my PC.
I'll take another look when I upgrade my machine. I don't know when that is. :-\
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Jesus, macguba, you trying to make our heads explode or somethin?
Lol yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to do. ;D The secret is to take your time, get down south to the civvies to get a little help, (watch out for the roadblock just north of them) and make good use of the fog. Running straight up the hill, as you have discovered, just gets you killed. ;) The snipers are on probabilities so there are different ones there every time and they are all well hidden. If you want to get right into the mission to test it IM me and I'll tell you how to unlock the mega cheats.
Personally I take all LAWs: there are plenty of AA soldiers around to pick up a missile when you want to zap the choppers. The problem with giving one of your loons an AA at the start is that he just uses it on a tank. There are only two Abrams in the mission btw, but the number of Bradleys varies. They are spread out so you shouldn't meet them alll at once.
The Overview pic is half Guba and half Angelina. An unimpossible picture for an unimpossible mission, at least that's the idea. I've rewritten the Notes section of the Briefing but I've kept it as designer's notes: this mission is about the designer (me) and the player (you). The character you play is not important here.
The new version (0-57) (http://macguba.tripod.com)[/b] is up on my site, though there seems to be a delay before they allow you to download. If anybody knows any good free webspace somewhere I'd be glad to hear about it, geocities is proving nasty. The main change is that it is less laggy. If you already have 0-56 just keep playing that unless you have lag problems.
Full change list:-
Removed/streamlined some triggers
Removed many static objects
Added setViewDistance commands to help with fog and lag
Improved fog removal script
Moved start position of enemy repair group
Moved waypoint of guard jeep/mg group
Added more hints & tips
Changed morphine from radio to action menu
Fixed Bradley dismount group bug
Rewrote Notes section of Briefing
Thanks to everybody who has had made comments. I must say I've been very impressed by the response to my "Post 95." The whole beta forum has just lit up. Well done everybody, keep up the good work :thumbsup:
Edit: I've just discovered why the file download doesn't work, at least indirectly. The filesize limit is 5mb, which is fine (this file is just over 4) but deep in the help stuff it says "We suggest that you keep each of your files under 2MB." Well we all know what that means. ::) I have to say I am sick of webspace providers lying to me.
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Tarados Qenq I've just seen your post. :) Thanks for giving it a go. 8) Sorry about the lag, it is the mission's fault and not your kit. The new version (0-57) is much better.
You clearly benefitted from the probabilities - it does occasionally happen that you get a clear run. Always make the most of it, the mission tends to make up for it later! ;D You did bloody well considering those frame rates. (There is something peculularly satisfing about dropping a baddie at slow rates.)
Glad you liked the Intro and pleased that the gate thing worked ok - it's new and you're the first person to have tried it. Thanks again. The pic isn't very good but I really can't face changing it. I've put so much work into this mission already I just want to get it finished.
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Well well well. I gave her a go and boy did she drive me nuts.
I played 0.56 about two hours. The first bit was easy. I finished off everything that moved or could have moved and made my way to the civilians at the South point of Kolgujev. Lost my first man at the roadblock at the crossroad that leads to the civilians.
The civilian leader was very friendly to me and I'm pretty sure there was some flirting in the air too. Used my first savegame there as I had earned two by then. One because of surviving for some time and one for meeting the civilians.
Then I tried my everything to find some rockets for the Hind but no luck. I figured you must have placed some AA units up on the hill and decided not to push my luck with the weaponless Hind. So I took the BMP-2 and an ammo truck and started heading back towards the hill.
Back at the same roadblock I met three Bradleys and they got the better of my number two. I had to punish them for it because they also took out the ammo truck at the same time.
So I drove to the West side of the hill and paid a visit to my fallen comrads at the old Spetz Natz base. Used another savegame just before that and earned another savegame as I went in the camp. Some patrols came and I wasted them with the help of my teammates. Then I moved a bit higher on the hill and used the last savegame I had.
Now, everything was easy and even enjoyable up to this part. This is where the mad stuff begins.
The snipers on the hill - omg plz lol wtf :'(
The patrols, oh the patrols..
Is it me or does my AI act really stupid when going up a hillside? plz
I couldn't use the BMP-2 because it was a deathtrap because of the many enemy AT and AA soldiers. I couldn't advance by foot because the snipers always got me.
So, spending a lot of time and replay times on the hillside I decided it was time for a break. I ate some macaroni and grinded meat stuffed in a bowl and felt like I was ready for another beating. What I failed to realise was that it had been at least 1,5 years since the last time I played a single player mission. I clicked PLAY - "oh no this starts over" - EXIT - "now where's that resume button" - "hello?" - "BAH!"
I might have a sudden urge to drive myself mad with it again sometime. Until then, this is Artak signing out. :D
PS.
AMD Athlon XP2000+ processor
1024 Mb of 266MHz RAM
Gainward GeForce4 Ti4200 with 256Mb of 266MHz RAM @ 1024x768x32
Using kegety's DXDLL thing I got a steady framarate of 6-8 fps
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If anybody knows any good free webspace somewhere I'd be glad to hear about it, geocities is proving nasty.
I use tripod. But i don't have any files that big, not sure how they'd work. But I've never had any problems with it, except for the popup.
www.tripod.com
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Is there a place to rearm the Hind? I kind of wish that could be added. Of course you have to fly the unarmed chopper to a rearming point. Even with the rockets you you still have to watch out for the AA fire and the Cobra. It was hard enough getting to the Civilians, I was wanting more than an armed BMP.
I was also wondering why there is a civi truck driving around. Is it a way to get past the check point? If so maybe expand on that idea. Have trucks going all over the island. That way the player can use it to get his team around the island if he wants. That would take a lot more editing and scripting and I would understand if you did not added.
Also are there any plans for the rest of the island. Maybe have some kind of objective on the other end of the island. Or atleast have some patrols maybe. I was thinking there could be some abandon equipment there. Maybe a tank or somthing?
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Thank you all, gentlemen, much appreciated. :D
Blunt - I'll have a look. I tried to find some but no luck. I don't mind paying $10 or something one off.
There are no rockets for the chopper. It does say that somewhere (in the hints I think, or maybe that's just the mythical v0-57) The chopper is there so that you don't have to slog overland all the way back north, but I didn't want to make it too easy to take out the tanks, but there are lots of AA soldiers around so maybe I should rethink that. I can appreciate that it would be annoying.
The real benefits of the visit to the civvies (apart from the dubious joys of a second rate cutscene of course ;D Oh, Artak, I can assure you she goes like a train. ;) ) are really the extra man and the extra savegame. The hints and ammo truck were added to help make it worth the trip. The BMP2 is really a red herring, it's never going to do you much good.
There are two civvy trucks driving around. If you shoot the occupants you get a mission failed. They are there solely to make it harder, since in a bit of confusion you could get carried away and zap them. It does say in the Briefing that civvies must not be harmed.
OrangeLeader you're right, I'd like to make more of the whole civilian population thing but there's too much in this mission already - I've spent the last week taking things out. (These static objects create much more lag than you might think: its not that I've been lavish but there are a lot of locations and each one needs a few barrels or something.) It woluld be great to have some kind of system whereby you could get past the roadblock in a civvy lorry, but its easy to defeat anyway - particularly once you know its there - and anyway I can't afford the triggers.
Every now and again an Abrams crew bale out. I got hold of an almost undamaged one the other day for some reason. Sadly it was too late in the mission to do me any good.
Well Artak, you've proved you're the master - that kind of approach is indeed the best way to attack this monster. Kill as much as you can before starting on the Hill. You did well given that framerate. New versions are better. The savegame you got at the dead spetz natz camp was actually for setting off the end of the fog. The snipers on the Hill are very, very evil. And yes, the AI sometimes has trouble with the slope (as does the player). That's why I chose this location for the mission, it's the most difficult ground on the three original islands.
Bad luck on pressing the wrong buttons, its happened to me too. If you look it up again from the main menu you might get a resume.
Particular questions:
- Artak, when you met the Bradleys at the roadblock on the way back, did you notice any dismounts?
- Did you feel the civvies were worth the trip only once, or would you go back there on each attempt? Or not worth the trip at all? What changes would you like to see for that bit, apart from better sound quality in the cutscene obviously. ::) (And ammo for the chopper.)
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Ok, its my turn
Overview
What? Are you kidding ;) this isn't overvew of real mision, tells only, who is author, what addons needed "Enjoy" And take a hill. What hill? With what? Who where when? Add more info "You know all this, im just trying to be realistic ;D"
Overview picture
Too well camoflaged, didn't see any
Intro
No (or its my computer)
Briefing
Good, and big briefing, link to markers and another pages... Lots of weapon selections, well, this is quite realistic, but it would be easier to player if start position would be every time in same place :)
Mission
Well, what I can say, HARD!!!! :P lots of fog, and enemy attacked in start of the mission, I managed to die in 2sec :D Well, taked a truck, left my teammates, and sneaked to the flag"that was hard" and then, one problem, "how im supposed to kill all these ruskies in the base?"
And, this mission was quite laggy. There is hard to say anything constructing to you, as I already said, im trying to be realistic. Well... but some quys to those WC:s in top of the hill :D suprise element
Infact, this mision was quite good, myself I would give 7-8/10 because some problems.
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Thanks m8. :thumbsup:
I'll look at the overview text. What are you saying about the pic, you don't like Angelina's legs? ;D
There is an Intro and other testers have said it works ok, so it may be something to do with your comp. Can't imagine what though. :-\
Yes, I know it would be easier if you always start in the same place .... that's why you don't. ;D
The lag is a problem, it is being addressed. Did you actually manage to change the flag?
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Amazingly I didn't get much lag. Nor did I get close to the flag yet. I figured that takin the flag first meant I had a nice firing platform later for the base and the over abundance of rockets and weapons at the flag...
What spetz natz camp? If it ends the fog, plz I need to find it. :P
Well I found out I'm only 1/2 up but got up there easily after killing two snipers. Then I realized you had about four squads just sitting on top. My gawd, my guys acted like idiots, they mow down one guy and turn around to find the damn cobra to look at it. Of course, there are about 20 more loons coming at them, so I have to dispatch them... >:( Dumb AI. Eventually, I'll get to the flag and get lucky with these damn squads. My save right now is after killing about 30 ppl on top and there is one more squad + snipers roaming around. I might get the civvis later... :-\
This is one tuff mission Macguba... :P
But fun at times. ;D
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Thanks for giving it another go m8. The spetz natz camp is in the woods to the west of The Hill: if you want to know the exact position go to the civvies, after the cutscene you get a whole bunch of markers revealed on your map. It has nothing to do with the fog - that was just a coincidence. Its only purpose is as a rearming point for players using Soviet weapons. Yanks weapon players get lots of dead bodies to use as ammo crates.
Taking the flag gives you no advantage per se in attacking the Base.
In one version I had an extra 12-15 enemy loons around the flag, but I decided that was just silly. ;D
All the AI in the game have high skill but yes, sometimes they are still verrrry dumb.
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Macguba you have to see the genius in my plan if I can at all take the damn flag and clear part of the hill a little more.
Being up on that hill protects me fro those damn abrams cause the turrets will not go so high. I dunno about the bradelys... :( ;D
The cobra will be finished off immediatly once the flag is down.
When is the fog supposed to leave anyways?
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When you were about halfway up the Hill you got a hint giving you an extra savegame, remember? The fog had already started to disperse when you got that hint. It takes about 10 minutes (its randomised) for it to disperse completely.
To help with lag there are also setViewDistance and benchmark commands going on at the same time. If your benchmark is less than 4200 you'll be left with viewdistance of 850 which is less than you're used to. (The default is 900 I think.) If it's more than 4200 your viewdistance will be set to benchmark/5. Benchmark and viewdistance are measured in the same numbers, so if you had a benchmark of 5000 the script would gradually increase your viewdistance from 850 to 1000. You can of course override the script by setting your viewdistance manually using your Options menu. This is all in an effort to evade the lagdemons.
You can't avoid those Abrams for ever I'm afraid ... you'll have to kill them (and the 4-7 Bradleys) in the end. ;D The Cobra (sometimes there are two: the second one is the only benchmarked unit in the game) is usually no trouble. There are lots of AA loons on top of the Hill who will be happy to lend you missiles. ;)
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Ohh yea I noticed the fog going a bit after acsending the hill some.
I guess I haven't reached the 10 mintues OFP time. Or maybe I need to setviewdistance higher as I cannot tell between viewdis and fog. :P
I'm not avoiding the abrams. ;D Just simply firing down onto them and they can't fire back cause their turrets do not go that high. Bradelys? Pfff, I outfit all my men with laws and CGs and hope they act a little smarter.
I'll try getting the flag soon... :P ::) :)
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Right, thanks to Blunt's advice and a considerable amount of blood, sweat, toil and tears, here is a link to my newest site. (http://macguba.tripod.com) It ain't pretty but it works. Probably. v0-57 is there for you, here's the changes list from 0-56 again in case you missed it on the last page.
Removed/streamlined some triggers
Removed many static objects
Added setViewDistance commands to help with fog and lag
Improved fog removal script
Moved start position of enemy repair group
Moved waypoint of guard jeep/mg group
Added more hints & tips
Changed morphine from radio to action menu
Fixed Bradley dismount group bug
Rewrote Notes section of Briefing
The main difference is that this version is much lower lag. (It occurs to me GRK that 0-56 doesn't have all that funky setViewDistance stuff I've just been talking about. The fog disappears fractionally faster than 10 mins, but not much.) Coming soon in 0-58 will be new Overview text and something done about the chopper near the civvies.
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I finally got to the flag! Haha. Even though it's only me armed with a bizon, clips running out. I don't know how your supposed to get to the flag, but I grabbed a jeep, and started ramming the fence. It didn't collapse, so I tried to use a little OFP engine help. I just started driving into the fence pressing left and right, and before i knew it, I had the jeep propped up on a fence post, fully in the air. Lol, I wish I had a screen cap. program. Than I ejected from the jeep and got the flag.
As I started down the other side, thinking about how good I was, I noticed a group of soldiers down the hill. (Now I got a G36). I fire prematurely and that alerts them. So I get out of sight and move for another angle. As I stand up to shoot my first victim, he stands up first, and while simultaneously rising, he fires a shot right through my skull. Like that movie "Sniper" when the dude gets shot through the scope, that was me. Well I forgot to save after I got the flag, so I gotta kill all those troops again.
All in all, the replay factor MAKES this mission. I think you said that was your intention, but I can't remember. Plus all that reverse psych you pull on us, making us want to beat it. I must say, I'm stuck wanting to beat it now.
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I'm stayin with 0-56 until I beat it, I don't wanna reload and have to do all that stuff again... ;D
Blunt, there was a gate thing they talked about before or don't use a jeep, just run at the fence at 4X and you blow past it or through it with ease. :)
Rest assured that I'll grab the latest version once I complete the 056 version. This is actually a fun mission if you get going and the replay value is amazing, although that is why the mission is so good. Replay value makes 75% of it. Everything else was good but didn't fit together well. I know its an exercise in misssion making but.... :-\ :P
PS: Macguba and you yelled at my mission cause I had to many goons running about.... :D
Here's my revenge.... ;D
And yours for having your mission kill me 500 times... ;D
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I finally got to the flag!
Well done that man! :thumbsup:
You're supposed to get through the fence by going to the north end, where the fences are different, and you get a yellow action to open the "gate". However I can see how that would be easy to miss in all the excitment. The jeep way sounds more fun though. ;D
Thanks for the tripod tip btw, I've got a basic site up which hopefully means that everybody can get 0-57, the lower lag version.
Yes, it is supposed to have the "just one more go" factor. There is a little easter egg (don't get overexcited) if you make it to the bitter end. However, you've only done the easy bit. I've got up the Hill once or twice myself, but I've never got down it again. :P
PS: Macguba and you yelled at my mission cause I had to many goons running about....
;D ;D
I can smile at comments like that because you will NEVER beat the Un-Impossible Mission. 8) :P ::) ;)
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Haha, I'm in the base. But there's still 100 dudes, and they're all coming right for me! Did you use an ai knowledge sharing script for this? It seems like once one sees me they all do.
Anyway, from the hill, I made my way down the northern side, encountered some troops, but not many. Gotta keep an eye out for snipers though. I crossed the road, and headed east towards the base, then approached the base from the north. Yikes.
After trying to kill some tanks with my 2 rpgs and getting killed myself, I decided stealth was the key, so I snuck into the base and used a savegame. This is where I'm stuck now. I think I got all the infantry within the perimeter of the base once, but there was tons of squads enclosing, not to mention the tanks, of which I killed none.
Well, instead of working on my own mission tonight, I'm gonna be playing this, lol. Good job. I was totally immersed last time I played. I wouldn't take a step without a good observation of my surroundings, and I probably would've pointed my mouse at somebody and clicked had they walked into my room at the time. I'm gonna have to DePBO this beast and have a look at some of your techniques.
By the way, what's a good, free, screen cap program, so I can prove my greatness once I win?
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I took the Hind and landed right by the flag. Bypassed the gate all together. How I got through the AA soldiers and the cobra I dopn't know. I like to think it is my expert flight skills :joystick:
Can't wait till the final version. Also about arming the hind give it a couple rockets not all. That I think would make it worth going to see the civs.
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macca your site is down.... :'( or at least it doesn't like me because it says the page/file was not found...
ahh!! I'll just play 0-56 for now. ;)
Expect more "reviews" more like war stories from me soon :)
AnarCHy
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Here we are, tried 3 (4 mebbe...i dunno) more times.
Have fun wit dese:
ok...so maybe coming in from the north side isn't the best idea after all. I am in a base, and i cant find the da*n entrance, so i run along the wall, and finally i find the one to the west. I leave through it just as me squad enters the exit, and then i hear d**n 2 is down, 3, report status, d**n 3 is down, 4 is down, oh no...5 is down. So i think hmm, do i really wanna stay?
As I am charging up the hill I notice a sniper, witch I mistakenly took as a bush, so I was trying to hide in the sniper, he turns around, and I panicked and started shooting madly wit ma HK. He gets dead, and I breathe in. ok, I run up the hill a little more and notice two snipers apparantly playing chicken, they were facing each other. I wasn't noticed until I shot the second one once, but they were both dead long before they could react. And, I wound up in a mess of trees. I find a sniper that is dead already, so i run up the hill wondering "wtf?" and i see another sniper peering down at me (mebbe he killed his buddy). Funny thing was, he didn't shoot. so i ran past him, (unknowing of his relaxed state.). Find meself in a mess of (high on summat) guards runnin around. I heard a shot in the distance, but all me squaddies are dead (so heh what..?). I dont shoot and they dont notice me. I kill one guy, and they still dont notice me, so I move meself around an edge and I finally get noticed, by a guy just standing inches away from me. He lays down, pulls out a glock, and fires. I hurt badly, but then i get shot from what i think is the sniper from down the hill...
Reload at half past the hill. I run around as fast as i could to the SW side... and i find meself in ashootout with a sniper, of which i couldn't see. I take a couple of shots in what i think is his direction, and then he somehow finds out how to turn his bullets, because i swear they were coming around the side of the hill... swear it... (mebbe im just going crazy, no?)
Reload again half way up. now runnin round to the east side. I take care of a sniper, and get the savegame thingy. I save. Finally reach a ravine and start travelling up it. I reach the top and see a west guy standing there in the open. I kill him, and of course now everyone who passes there goes prone. they all seem to know where i am at, they're all staring at me, even though I was below the ledge. I decide to see what happens if i charge out across open ground. Not one single bullet fired!!!???!!?!? how is that possible? Then I noticed something weird. everything was about 5m above the ground1 Mebbe it was because i was messin with resolutions to get better FPS, but wtf? Then I crawl under the fences, to the flag, take it, start running down the hill. I maybe reach about 2-3m away from the ledge, 2-3m away from safety (kinda), and some bloke wot got an M21 goes and shoots me. I fly off the ledge and see me body go tumbling down the hill.
wow, if it were any crazier I would've exploded. I was so immersed I died and I decided to fall "asleep", i just slammed me head down really hard on me keyboard. I've got the letters G,H,V,B,N, and M on me forehead now, along with a funny looking bruse. (only was in the crevices...)
again, great mission macca. well done.
(ps, sorry such bad writin, had to do it fast, (in de mid. of de mission))
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Yes, I get the flag, maybe that problem is because I downloaded the first version, because another links didn't work, batchwitch or something? And that was cool to be rambo, firstly I went to WC, then I crawled to the flag, crawled to jeep, and went down the hill, but it lagged so much, and I goed about 180 km/h and I crashed to the tree, :P
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Sorry everybody, the new site has been taken down. :beat: Apparently it violated the conditions of service. It seems you are allowed to upload files, but as soon as anybody tries to download them the site gets closed. I suspect this is what happened with the previous ones, tripod did at least provide the help pages which enabled me to figure this out.
Blunt is the leader at the moment! Well done on making it to the base ... not that you'll last long. ;)
Did you use an ai knowledge sharing script for this?
No. If you read the readme you'll discover the self imposed rules for creating the UnImpossible mission and such scripts are not allowed. However, many enemy groups are on guard waypoints which has a similar effect.
I'm gonna have to DePBO this beast and have a look at some of your techniques.
By all means - looking at other people's missions is a good way to learn. A lot of units and waypoints have placement radii, if you reduce these to 0 it makes the map easier to understand.
By the way, what's a good, free, screen cap program, so I can prove my greatness once I win?
That's a good point: it is a tradition with the Impossible Mission (as it used to be known) that you post a pic of the debriefing screen as proof. I used to use SnagIt (download free, google will find it).
I took the Hind and landed right by the flag. Bypassed the gate all together.
Blimey, that's good flying. No, I don't know how you got past the AA either, except that they can't see in the fog. I've been playing with the hind: the radar/rocket combination is devastating beause it allows you to see throught the fog while the enemy AA units can't. On one go I took out 2 Bradleys, an Abrams, a jeep/mg and sprayed the top of the hill with rockets before being hit by the cobra. Even then I could have ejected if I hadn't been greedy. Rather than have just a few rockets I think I'm going to change it: I've spent many, many, many hours playtesting this to get the force balance right and the rockets unbalance it too much. Remember that I'm trying to make this as hard as possible. ;) I could add a couple of Vulcans but that makes it harder if you don't use the chopper and also, as a new vehicle, adds to the lag problem. Plus it stops you using the bird for transport, which is what its really there for.
I heard a shot in the distance, but all me squaddies are dead (so heh what..?).
OFP really is a fantastic game. If this was real, with a spetz natz squad running around causing havoc, the island would be in an uproar. You'd get jumpy soldiers firing at each other all over the place, right? Well that's exactly what happens - I have seen some fantastic blue on blues. Excellent one recently: two Bradleys blasted a 5t truck at less than 100m. The truck loons jumped out and the Brads wasted 'em with cannon shells and machine guns. They were so busy shooting at their own men that I managed to pop both of them with my LAW before they noticed I was there. On another occasion the Cobra set about the infantry squad inside the base and kept coming back till they were all dead. I watched it from the hillside, a smile on my face and an AA launcher on my shoulder.
... and i find meself in ashootout with a sniper, of which i couldn't see. I take a couple of shots in what i think is his direction, and then he somehow finds out how to turn his bullets, because i swear they were coming around the side of the hill... swear it... (mebbe im just going crazy, no?)
That's happened to me too. You're convinced that they have heat seeking bullets but it usually turns out that the sniper is in a completely different place than you thought.
Then I noticed something weird. everything was about 5m above the ground1 Mebbe it was because i was messin with resolutions to get better FPS, but wtf? Then I crawl under the fences, to the flag, take it,
Never seen that. But hey, what does it matter how you get to the flag?
wow, if it were any crazier I would've exploded. I was so immersed I died and I decided to fall "asleep", i just slammed me head down really hard on me keyboard. I've got the letters G,H,V,B,N, and M on me forehead now, along with a funny looking bruse. (only was in the crevices...)
Thanks m8. :thumbsup: It's quotes like that that make it all worthwhile. Glad you liked it.
And that was cool to be rambo, firstly I went to WC,
I'm pleased somebody noticed that. :) In a mission like this I thought you might need one. :P
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Downloading the version frm Kaliyuga's link. Cudnt download from ur site a few days ago. Anyway sounds like a fun mission. ;D
Gooner
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Good luck m8. ;D
Yes, Kali's link (v0-56) (http://members.cox.net/kaliyugadesigns/UnImpossible_Mission_0_56.zip) is the only one working at the moment. I've created four websites so far that have either refused to accept the upload, or refused to accept anybody downloading. ::) And that's not counting my original one. Tears of frustration.
0-58 is nearly ready so 0-57 is going to be consigned to history I think. The 0-56 -> 0-58 changes are all minor apart from the reduction in lag.
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Good luck m8. ;D
Yes, Kali's link (v0-56) (http://members.cox.net/kaliyugadesigns/UnImpossible_Mission_0_56.zip) is the only one working at the moment. I've created four websites so far that have either refused to accept the upload, or refused to accept anybody downloading. ::) And that's not counting my original one. Tears of frustration.
0-58 is nearly ready so 0-57 is going to be consigned to history I think. The 0-56 -> 0-58 changes are all minor apart from the reduction in lag.
Well, first, I am lookin forward to 0-58, and second, a friend in OFP i was talkin to earlier said he could host your mission (if people's internet don't agree wit kali's)
Hell, you could put your whole website up there if ya wanted to (lucky b****rd, has unlimited space on dat thing)
If ya want to i can send ya 'is email over PM,
AnarCHy
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Lol ;D wot a fun but yet frustrating time i had ;D . Really is difficult but i like it.
I dnt think i can tell u much different frm what the others have said but i'll at least tell u how i did and what i thought.
Overview
Lol ;D Luv the pic, great legs ;D Yeah this was fine i thought.
Intro
Didnt work the first time but tryed it again, took a while to load. It was very good, nice angles. The shots inside and outside the helicopter were lovely, how did u do that? wanna try shots like that myself?
Very good ;D
Briefing
Lol , luv the music, again how did u add it to the briefing? Anyway seemed like a perfect briefing, HUGE weapon selection, lots of detail. Yeh again very good.
Mission
Ok now as soon as i start playin i now this is gonna be solid!! The fog!!! Creates a good atmosphere. Anyway get attacked pretty much straight away, thinking ive dealt with the threat and grenade takes me out :-[ , i'll never be that confident again :( :'( .
Anyway started again and i was in a different place, nice. This time i thought i cud get my men on the ural and head off to the civilians. Whilst i was thinking that my squad was obliterated and i was the only one left :'( .
So i decide to get in the Ural, but it wont drive properly, it wont steer left!!!!!!!! So after crashing into a few trees , i leave the truck and move the hell outta there after come under fire, i cant see anything. I RUN RUN RUN!! into some forest, i keep running and running and lay down. I check my map, where the hell am i!!!!!! I'm totally lost!!!!!!!!
I take a wild run around the forest and move out of the forest, i can hear a jeep somewhere but cant see it. I move forwards and guess wot i see, my words were at the time " for fucks sake", i see the same Ural i hd left before and realise that i have been doing cirlces in that damn forest and have come out where i started!!!!!! ;D .
I decide fuck it lets go for it. I put my NV goggles on and dash in the trees, i notice three guys standing around. BANG BANG!!! there gone. "Yay im doing well", i thought , BANG BANG!!! BOOOOOOOMMMMM!! I was gone, some guy had sniped me out in the trees. :'( .
Well i will obviously try this later and try and get further, but so far its frustrating but great fun.
Nice mission
Gooner
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I got the flag finally after your hordes of evil yank squads charged the same little ridge a dozen times. I must have stolen about 4 dead ppls rifles and emptied each trying to kill these guys on the ridge cause they kept coming and coming. :P My squad finally decided it wanted to fight, but they didn't help much being behind me and safe from the enemy... About 95% of the troops on top are wiped out save for a few snipers or lonely squaddies who are alone and wandering and I haven't seen them yet. :P ;D
I liked the little gate thing, I've never seen a big wire fence just "slide" open, but hey lots of strange things happen in this mission.
Promptly shot the dumb cobra down. And it was almost midnight so I decided to wait until the morning to assualt the base. I'll be sure to get the fuel station first.wink wink ;)
And I found some barn with dead east guys but some decent weapons in it. That makes me feel better now that I have a barn full of weapons + all the dead guys weapons. :)
OFP really is a fantastic game. If this was real, with a spetz natz squad running around causing havoc, the island would be in an uproar. You'd get jumpy soldiers firing at each other all over the place, right? Well that's exactly what happens - I have seen some fantastic blue on blues. Excellent one recently: two Bradleys blasted a 5t truck at less than 100m. The truck loons jumped out and the Brads wasted 'em with cannon shells and machine guns. They were so busy shooting at their own men that I managed to pop both of them with my LAW before they noticed I was there. On another occasion the Cobra set about the infantry squad inside the base and kept coming back till they were all dead. I watched it from the hillside, a smile on my face and an AA launcher on my shoulder.
Wish this would happen to me, maybe the yanks can help me out by killing about 30 of there own. Then I'm in the clear. :D
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Us your compass to figure out direction, if you are alone. If you have a group memeber left, ask for his position and you will get a grid square.
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post #139(?), GRK:
it happened to me a lot during the original CWC campaign, not so much for resistance. I found out that the first scud was blown before I got to it...i was so confused.
i did hear a large explosion followed by a lot of gunfire before then...mebbe this was supposed to happen, but the SCUD shouldn't have blown up...
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this was the most fun one i think I have done, because I made it up to the flag and back down to the base, without any morphines, saves, or squaddies to help me!!! :P
I was startin to fight down around a place with sandbags and three motorcycles, andthen a Bradley and an Abrahms come rollin up and half my d**n squad gets blasted wit one shell :-[ poor defence on my part...
Then, I tell the others to engage at will, stop, find cover, and get 4 and 6 to follow me up the hill. They take care of a sniper while i am trying to keep these greanders of our back. Two grenaders and one hvy. grenadier (popped a 'nader and the hvy. guy).
I tell 4 to wat for me near some brush behind a tree, and 6 still followin me. I reach the top, and 6 (forgot to take of engage at will) having the stupid AI judgement he had, started shootin and lobbing grenades wit his M203. He did actually quite well; took care of a whole squad, and he veen started shooting at that annoying cobra (grr...so annoying)
I run and steal a jeep, open the gate, and run the jeep up the wall. 8) So it is on its' side,I am trying to find a good defence position, and then some bastad wot got a G36 starts shooting at me. I couldn't find him, but luckly i could leave now that i got the green tick
I bust up to 4x speed, and run past three guys walkin aroun with there glocks out. I see 6 take out one right next to me, then see 6 go flying off te side of the mountain! some bloke got a 'nade in the little nitche there, and 6 had no wheres to go. ::)
Run down the hill, find four splayed out lookin scared o sommat, and see like 8 snipers go running down the hill. 8! in a pack? ...hmmm you sure that be realistic?
I decided to take another route...'round the east side until I can see the base. But, of course there is an abrams as well as two bradleys waiting for me there, so I sneak around them, go around to the side that i thought had a hole. (it did......) then those patrolling M1A1's and bradleys come back, and start snooping around. so i make use of a small OFP trick.
change teh speed to 4x, run up against the fence and point me mouse up as far as the guy could go, and eventually the guy ran up and over the fence. (had to stop there, too many tanks runnin around)
on the other side of the next fence over, I can see three guys sittin around, doin nuttin. So, I shoot one from one angle, they all turn that way and I run around back 'o dem. I start moving through the base until I reach a destroyed SCUD, and it seems like a good spot to pick off straglers and patrollers. I got like 1 or 20 of them before they started shooting back. I got hit from...behind. Some stupid sniper up on the hill had had me in his crosshairs the whole time! I saved before I started picking off people so I could start there again...but wow. again, I cannot say this enough, fun mission macca!
AnarCHy
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Yes, it's the link to
macguba's working operation flashpoint page - no really (http://macguba.tripod.com/)
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Yes folks I've finally got it working, I hope. It's still not pretty I know, but I've got better things to do. Money changed hands and Tripod have got the deal .... assuming they stick to it. 0-58 is finally up. 0-57 is out of the game. The big difference from 0-56, the version everybody has been playing, is that there is noticeably less lag. (Mind you, if you're a 4x lagplaying specialist, that might not be a good thing. ;D) I have also incorporated the suggestions that people have made.
Changes from 0-56 to 0-58
Removed/streamlined some triggers
Removed many static objects
Added setViewDistance commands to help with fog and lag
Improved fog removal script
Reduced ECP settings slightly
Moved start position of enemy repair group
Moved waypoint of guard jeep/mg group
Added more hints & tips
Changed morphine from radio to action menu
Fixed Bradley dismount group bug
Added a couple more AA loons
Replaced rocketless Mi17 with damaged Chinook
Rewrote Notes section of Briefing
Improved Overview text
I thought long and hard about the chopper and have decided to go with a new one altogether, rather than have rockets. (The frustration of no rockets obviously had to be changed.) The Chinook has crashed near the village and must be repaired before you zoom off: there is a repair truck there anyway. You don't get to fly the Chinook very often anyway, so it'll be fun, and probably more robust against AA and Cobras than say a Blackhawk. The Overview pic is staying the same - I know its not universally popular but its not that bad and frankly I don't have the energy to change it.
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It's very flattering that so many people are playing this and coming back to it, thank you. I really appreciate the comments and stories, keep 'em coming. See, I told you beta testing was fun!
AnarCHy, many thanks for the offer, much appreciated. I seem to have got it sorted for now.
Lol wot a fun but yet frustrating time i had . Really is difficult but i like it.
Good, that's exactly the effect I was trying to create. :)
I dnt think i can tell u much different frm what the others have said but i'll at least tell u how i did and what i thought.
Everybody's view is worthwhile, even if you say exactly the same as has gone before that's still useful because it confirms it.
Luv the pic, great legs Yeah this was fine i thought.
Lol yes a self portrait ...
The shots inside and outside the helicopter were lovely, how did u do that?
Blanco's logiccam script, grab it from the Editors Depot... I think. Or dig it out of the .pbo.
Lol , luv the music, again how did u add it to the briefing?
Bloodmixer's sound tutorial and an onBriefingPlan command in the init.sqs. You have to put the music file in the Sound folder.
HUGE weapon selection
It's all of the BIS weapons, so you can't claim "I could have done it if I'd had XYZ."
Anyway started again and i was in a different place, nice.
If you get down to the civvies they will mark all the starting locations on your map.
So i decide to get in the Ural, but it wont drive properly, it wont steer left!
I checked it out and it was fine - it must have been damaged in the firefight.
I check my map, where the hell am i!!!!!! I'm totally lost!!!!!
Lol good, that's what the fog is for. :)
i see the same Ural i hd left before and realise that i have been doing cirlces in that d**n forest and have come out where i started!!!
LOL!
I liked the little gate thing, I've never seen a big wire fence just "slide" open, but hey lots of strange things happen in this mission.
That little script was more trouble than it looks, or was worth. ;D Strange things we like. ;)
And I found some barn with dead east guys but some decent weapons in it. That makes me feel better now that I have a barn full of weapons + all the dead guys weapons.
The barn is an execution site, there are dead spetz natz outside and their weapons are in the crate. The idea was to provide a rearming point for players using Soviet weapons (if you have American weapons you can use bodies) but actually the barn gives you a kind of refuge. Its the kind of thing that some players will make good use of in an original way.
If you have a group memeber left, ask for his position and you will get a grid square.
A handy tip, and one that I wish - for this mission at least - was not there. Then you would have to navigate. In fact the position of the loon will be marked on the map in green, even in Veteran mode. It shows you where he is more accurately than just a grid square.
this was the most fun one i think I have done, because I made it up to the flag and back down to the base, without any morphines, saves, or squaddies to help me!!!
Bloody hell that's amazing! I've never got close to that. Shows you the virtue of moving fast in the fog.
I was startin to fight down around a place with sandbags and three motorcycles,
The sandbags enclose an ammo dump.
8 snipers go running down the hill. 8! in a pack? ...hmmm you sure that be realistic?
I'll need to look into that. The snipers hidden around the top of the hill are grouped so they can share information but they are supposed to stay where they are.
change teh speed to 4x, run up against the fence and point me mouse up as far as the guy could go, and eventually the guy ran up and over the fence.
Have to look into that too, and see if I can put a stop to it. ;D
I got hit from...behind. Some stupid sniper up on the hill had had me in his crosshairs the whole time!
Yup! It's not called the Un-Impossible Mission for nothing you know...
but wow. again, I cannot say this enough, fun mission macca!
:thumbsup:
Grab the latest version 0-58 from here. (http://macguba.tripod.com/) See last post for details.
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I've downloaded the latest mission macguba, unfortunately it reports a missing addon: KEGmakarov.
I have been playing the previous version 0-56, I will just continue with that meantime.....will report on my progress another time as it is getting late.
Planck
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WTF? Checking now ....
Yes you're right. I have no idea how that got in there. New version on the way but I've got to get some breakfast first.
Edit: Frankly I still don't understand quite what happened, I removed that problem, then got the dreaded missions bis_weaponpack for some reason ... then I found something else that was wrong....
Anyway, 0-59 is up (http://macguba.tripod.com/) (in very small writing for some reason) and fixes that addon error. No doubt it has introduced a new one ....
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Hello again
Still cracking on with this mission, i luv the openess of it.
Anyway just got one question, i de-PBO ur mission and looked at ur sounds and music etc. I played the briefing music and was only about 30 seconds or so. How did u get it so short, i think the real version wud go on for a few minutes? did u edit it to make it shorter? if so how did u cut it down? cos that wud be useless for me wen i add custom music.
Cheers
Gooner
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Yes, I did cut it down. I used a program called Goldwave free from the web. I don't really know how to use it but I managed to chop off the end and then I found a button called "fade out" which did the trick.
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Re: Post #95 above.
I did not get far with my testing. I am away on an annual familly holiday at the moment and will be testing this mission when I get home in a couple of weeks. Just found this internet cafe in Destin where we are on holiday
One thing that puts me off some of the beta test missions is the large number of addons that are needed.
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I've come up with an excellent tactic for the beginning of the mission.............JUST LEG IT!!!
I did that and thw hole of my squad survived ;D up until the point where we met the bradleys, stupidly i crwled up2 and placed a satchel charge. That took care of the bradley and the whole of my squad. :-[ .
I was left to dash into the forest under a hail of bullets. I decided i mite as well make the lng journey dwn to see the civvies. After a lng trip i reached them, nice cutscene and voices ;D .
After all that running the civilian Nikolai thought a nice welcome present wud not be fried kipper but instead a bullet in my head >:( :'( Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Damn u Nikolai!!!!!!
I'll keep u informed ( revenge must be taken on Nikolai)
Gooner
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JUST LEG IT!!!
Lol ;D yes sometimes that's a brilliant tactic and sometimes you run straight into one of the attacking groups and get wiped out. ::) I know the range of angles they can come in from (they are all on placement radii) and know where the gaps are, but you'll have to work them out. 8) That's partly why there are so many starting positions.
Nicolai doesn't usually shoot you, you must have got a huge negative score for zapping your own squad.
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Oi! A lot going on in this thread! Gone for a few days and already there's like 50 posts more. :o
- Artak, when you met the Bradleys at the roadblock on the way back, did you notice any dismounts?
- Did you feel the civvies were worth the trip only once, or would you go back there on each attempt? Or not worth the trip at all? What changes would you like to see for that bit, apart from better sound quality in the cutscene obviously. ::) (And ammo for the chopper.)
I didn't notice anyone jumping out of the bradleys. Though there might have been some infantry.. can't say for sure because I was panicing. Definitely not three whole squads though.
I felt the civvies were actually worth the trip, but it might be just me. I could imagine going straight for the hill, but I like to play everything I can get out of a mission. Hehee, yes the huffing and puffing mic sound effect was really creepy ;D otherwise the cutscene was excellent. Showed good taste in humor and women.
I wouldn't want to see any ammo for the chopper actually. It's fine as it is. Maybe even attach a fuel leak script to the chopper. Give it 2-3 minutes of air time.
Maybe, in addition to the resistance (civ) sniper joining your squad, you could have five resistance (civ) soldiers created to some woods near the hill and have them follow your squad to the hill. Or whatever. A little spice here and there.
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Thanks m8. There's only one squad in the Brads, and sometimes its only about 4 loons, so you can miss it even if its there.
I think I might invest in a better mic .... that was the best I could get with my very limited sound editing skills. ;D Good enough for government work.
In the new version (http://macguba.tripod.com/) the old chopper has been replaced with a damaged Chinook which you have to repair with the repair truck (which was there anyway). Fuel leak is a good idea, I might add that.
If you feel extra extra loons would be the best thing to make the civvy trip more worthwhile I might add a downed pilot or lost soldier, who joins your squad as you leave the civvies. I'm not going to change the cutscene so it has to be consistent with that.
This mission is nearly finished now. All I really need is for somebody to fight their way through - probably using cheats - to check the Base Objective and that both the endings work ok. (You get a choice of endings: go short for a dull but worthy cutscene, or long for the easter egg.) If you want to use the cheat, unpbo the mission and look at the start of the init.sqs. Remove the ; to activate one or both scripts.
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Hi there, dnt mean to be an arse but ive been trying to understand the logiccam.sqs in ur .pbo and cant figure it out, was there a tutorial for it cos i cant seem to find it in the editors depot. Ive searched under blanco and there aint nething there :-\ :'( .
Cheers
Gooner
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I had a feeling Blanco sent it to me direct. There were some instructions ... too big to post here. Let me ask Blanco if he can submit it to the Ed Depot.
It's not trivial to make it work so you're not being an arse.
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Yes, I did.
The post about Logiccam is HERE (http://www.ofpec.com/yabbse/index.php?board=27;action=display;threadid=16197), but all links are down atm. My host has deleted his site by accident.
I'll send him an email to host it again.
You're not an arse at all ,Gooner , without the instructions it's very difficult to understand :)
I see what I can do and submit it to the editor depot.
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Thanks alot Blanco ;D ,
It was just the main script i was confused about but i shud be able to figure it out cos ive been looking at Mac's intro.sqs and seen wot he's dun. All i'll need to do is just play around with the numbers i think.
From what i saw in Mac's intro, this logic cam stuff looks very good, definetely wanna use it.
Wud be good to see those links working and to see a tute in the ed depot but there's no rush, well i kinda understand it now but i'll ask in the editing section of the forum.
Thanks
Gooner
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It's up again :
http://www.ofp.at/index.php?act=download&dlid=476
It's pretty big for a demomission (4mb), it contains custom music
I wanted to show you many examples so you got something to start with and the music... well the music makes it less boring for me too...
It's not easybecause you have to deal with lots of numbers... but hey nothing is really easy in OFP and I'm sure when you see those lovely camera angles,... you will give it a try.
I'll submit it to the editor depot later today.
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Cheers, downloading now ;D .
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logiccam is pending now.
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OK Macguba.
I have at long last completed your mission.
With the 0-56 version I got as far as changing the flag and clearing the troops in the old base from the hill with an M21.
I did more or less the same with this version (0-59).
I armed all with bizons and a few RPG's and satchels.
I visited the civilians first, repaired the chopper, but couldn't find any fuel for it, so left it alone. I noticed the barrels but they were too far away from the chopper to refuel from.
I left my men in the village and went and cleared the roadblock. I then used the 5t truck for transport to the hill, I also took the BMP. On the way to the hill, we stopped off at the area near where the bikes were and cleared a lot of troops from there and also another 5t truck and some jeeps. We left the BMP and truck there and continued north on foot
I left my guys somewhere safe (The old spetz camp in the forest), made my way carefully up the hill taking out any troops and snipers I came across.
Once at the top, I started taking everyone out, little by little, until there was nobody left. Then I went and changed the flag.
By this time more troops had arrived on the hill, so I took them all out, and any others that decided to make the climb. Then a bunch of black ops arrived and I proceeded to take them out too.
Whilst I was doing this, there was an almighty explosion from somewhere far off, it was still loud though. I just shrugged my shoulders and carried on
Once it got quiet again I then crawled carefully all over the hillside looking for any snipers. I found lots of them and continued round the hill till I had cleared what I could find. This took a long time and when I had finished I knuckled down and picked off the troops in the old base from the hillside. Whilst doing this I noticed the cobra had crashed into the old base taking out a ural, ural fuel, fuel station, all ammo crates, and a couple of buildings. This explains the large explosion earlier.
I also noticed a Bradley lying on its side about 100m from the base. Either it got caught in the explosion or one of the Abrams had collided with it and knocked it over. I suspect the latter. It was undamaged, so might prove useful later.
Alas, by this time night was falling ( yes it took this long). I made my way to the ammo dump north of the hill, took out 2 jeeps in the area then mined the road because I had observed some bradleys patrolling the area.
I hunkered down and awaited results. First victim was an Abrams, the crew evacuated and I killed them. Next came 3 Bradleys to investigate, two of them fell victim to mines and the crews didn't fare much better once they got out. The third stationed itself a little further north down an incline, this one I just LAWed.
So that was 4 bradleys accounted for and 1 Abram. I got one of my guys to find a jeep and go fetch a repair truck. Once he got back I repaired the Abrams, then left it there.
I made my way to the base and LAWed the 2 remaining bradleys. I also gave the remaining Abrams 3 LAWs and it was badly damaged.
I got 3 of my men to crew the repaired Abrams and told them to attack the damaged one. Meantime 2 repair trucks had arrived at the damaged Abrams, presumable to repair it. I shot the drivers. My Abrams arrived and took care of the remaining one.
So the base was mine, but there must still be troops about, so I got the Abrams, and used it to dunt the Bradley that was lying on its side. I got it upright and got 3 more of my men to crew it. I then got both vehicles to cruise around the base area looking for survivors.
They found a bunch of enemy troops and killed them.......MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
Yes and No.......I had an option to carry on and clear the map of the remaining 8 loons.
And I just knew they had to all be snipers.
Suffice to say that they were all found on, or crawling up, the hill........MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.......FINALLY.
Nice Easter Egg btw.
I tried both endings, they both worked fine. The count for remaining troops was exactly right....it WAS 8 left.
One or two little things, which may or may not have anything to do with the mission, it might just be game quirks.
1/ If I selected all my men and asked them to 'Report Status', more often than not they would all respond, except '8'. He needed his own private invitation before he responded.
2/ My men would report every single contact they came across, even ones they couldn't possibly see ( there was a hill in the way after all), BUT, my character would very very rarely report any contacts. I could be staring them in the face and he would not report them or their positions to the men.
I really enjoyed this mission, I took my time with it, that is why it took me so long to complete. I was careful and methodical and didn't try to rush anything. ( that and the fact I am half deaf and blind anyway ). I still have 3 radio saves left too.....do I get another easter egg?
Debriefing attached
Planck
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Holy Shit!
Planck mate that is ... fantastic. Thank you very, very much, I really appreciate that. And well done! You are now the UnImpossible Mission King. This version is harder than all previous ones so you have done exceptionally well. I am absolutely thrilled that you completed it, and that it took so long. This is precisely what I was aiming for, a mission that could be done but would take an extraordinary effort to complete.
I armed all with bizons and a few RPG's and satchels.
Ultimately its a matter of opinion which is best: for a long time I swore by the old G36 but in the end I think the benefit of the silencers and the extra ammo outweighs the lack of optics and lower power. As a matter of interest, where did you start?
I visited the civilians first, repaired the chopper, but couldn't find any fuel for it, so left it alone. I noticed the barrels but they were too far away from the chopper to refuel from.
The chopper should have had a little fuel. Did you try to fly it?
Once at the top, I started taking everyone out, little by little, until there was nobody left. Then I went and changed the flag.
You make it sound so easy!
Once it got quiet again I then crawled carefully all over the hillside looking for any snipers. I found lots of them and continued round the hill till I had cleared what I could find.
This is a good way to deal with them - they are not well protected from behind. I'll have to do something about that. ;D
This took a long time and
I can imagine it would...
I noticed the cobra had crashed into the old base taking out a ural, ural fuel, fuel station, all ammo crates, and a couple of buildings. This explains the large explosion earlier.
The fuel station is wired to blow if it gets damaged, but I don't know why the Cobra should crash. It's not impossible it was shot down - you get some fabulous blue-on-blues in this mission.
Alas, by this time night was falling
This is the line that impressed me more than anything. That's what I call patience and persistence.
Meantime 2 repair trucks had arrived at the damaged Abrams, presumable to repair it.
That little support convoy has been more trouble than you would expect. However, it's obviously very easy to kill, which is fun, and it has a genius for turning up at THE most inappropriate moment and thereby making you laugh.
So the base was mine
Do you notice/how did you deal with the snipers covering the Base?
so I got the Abrams, and used it to dunt the Bradley that was lying on its side.
You are a clever boy. ;D
I got it upright and got 3 more of my men to crew it. I then got both vehicles to cruise around the base area looking for survivors.
I suppose that's a good way to deal with the snipers....
Nice Easter Egg btw.
Not what you're expecting. 8)
I tried both endings, they both worked fine. The count for remaining troops was exactly right....it WAS 8 left.
Good, thank you. On test runs (with innumerable cheats activated) I ususally get a couple of dozen left. When the numbers fall they get orders to go up the Hill. I know that vehicles screw up the count but I'm not sure if anything else does... It's never a big deal anyway. The vehicle crews (its usually the wretched support convoy) get orders to bail out and walk.
1/ If I selected all my men and asked them to 'Report Status', more often than not they would all respond, except '8'. He needed his own private invitation before he responded.
2/ My men would report every single contact they came across, even ones they couldn't possibly see ( there was a hill in the way after all), BUT, my character would very very rarely report any contacts. I could be staring them in the face and he would not report them or their positions to the men.
I have no idea about either of those. I can't think of anything in the mission that could cause this, it's certainly not deliberate. Your loons are very high quality which does seem to give them an extraordinary ability to see through fog, hills, etc.
I really enjoyed this mission
Good!
I took my time with it, that is why it took me so long to complete. I was careful and methodical and didn't try to rush anything.
The only way to get anywhere.
I still have 3 radio saves left too.....do I get another easter egg?
Bloody hell! Well you certainly deserve one .... here you go. (http://waterman.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&num=1056677463)
26 hrs 35 mins
68,460
I'm gobsmacked by the time. I've never had a score that high, you must have killed virtually every unit in the game yourself.
I have to say Planck I am absolutely chuffed to bits by this. This mission has taken two years, on and off, and its turned out to be just what I was trying to create. Plus I'm relieved it all works.
The latest version has a few minor changes. I'm planning to make one or two more small changes on the basis of your excellent report, but this is basically the finished version.
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26 hours!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF ive got a long long long long way to go. Still battling away at it, but not getting terribly far :'( . I'll report back with a better post once i get sumwhere.
Nice link by the way ;D ::) ;) .
Gooner
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I thought I was doin okay but I stopped playin, this mission is addictive ;D, so I could finish my mission for the competition. Had a nice position on top of the hill after takin the flag and clearing the place... But today I look at the mission and the save on top of the hill is gone! 6 hours down the drain! AHHH >:( :P :P....
I guess I'll grab the new version later and start from scratch... :P :P
Thanks for Planck's link. Made my day. ;D :-X
EDIT: Holy crap, that thread is 11 pages long, thank you Macguba.
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Yes I thought you'd like that link. ;D
If you need the latest version (the one Planck played) grab it here. (http://macguba.tripod.com/)
Remember, it's a very open mission. You can do it any way you like.
Edit: Planck, I bet that chopper crashed because it ran out of gas. I'll need to do something about that.
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Hey Macguba.
I think you are correct about the cobra, it may indeed have run out of gas.
As a matter of interest, where did you start?
I started around about the bicycles, it is hard to tell exactly..........it was very foggy.
The chopper should have had a little fuel. Did you try to fly it?
I did try to fly it.....but it wouldn't start 'Out Of Fuel'.
I even tried to get one of my guys to fly it......same result.
Do you notice/how did you deal with the snipers covering the Base?
I took out a few snipers round the base myself including the one in the tower. The tank and bradley dealt with any others that turned up.
you must have killed virtually every unit in the game yourself.
Not quite, the rest of my team got some. I mostly kept them out of harms way.
My total tally was:
262 soldiers of all the various kinds.
2 5t Trucks
2 Repair Trucks
6 Bradleys ( I ended up switching my men back to the BMP whilst looking for the remaining 8 enemy loons. So I destroyed the Bradley we had)
But don't get the wrong idea.....I did die a few times.....I didnt manage to do the mission without getting killed a few times.
I was killed twice by falling down steep slopes on the hill.
I was killed once by a tank, which shouldn't really have seen me, but it might have had my position reported to it by another unit.
And I was killed once, by a sniper.......I crawled right past him...then he shot me......like I said.....I'm half blind. ::)
Ohh........and I lost 2 men.
Planck
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Being half blind and completing this mission is no small feat. Imagine what you coulda done with those 26 hours.... :P
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Sounds like I cocked up on the chopper fuel, sorry. The new version has a slightly different arrangement anyway.
Bicycles it would have been - it's arguably the best place to start. The start positions are actually very different so once you know them (and boy do I know them) its very easy to identify them.
I have come across the chopper crew wandering around a couple of times. They run out of gas but if they survive the crash (or land, I don't know what they do) they continue working their waypoints on foot, brave fools.
There are up to about 6 snipers overlooking the Base, (in tree towers and the high ground to the east) not counting the ones on The Hill. They are all on probabilities of course, so you may have been lucky, but the tank would naturally negate them anyway.
Glad to hear you died falling down the Hill - the mission was placed here precisely because it was the most difficult ground on any of the islands. (I think Resistance had just come out at the time though I didn't have it.)
The tank that got you must have been lucky. I can't tell you how much I've wanted to put some kind of info sharing script in this, but I've been true to the original principles and there isn't one.
Overall though, that's a very impressive record of not being killed. Near the top of The Hill in particular can get very sticky with dozens of the blighters all around you. It gets like a Highland midge attack sometimes.
2 casualties is the way to go. Your squad mostly just draw attention to themselves and get killed. Even if they inflict casualties at a ratio of 5 or 6 to 1 it's not really helping you that much. Better to keep them out of trouble and use them when you really need them.
As I said before, bloody amazing effort and very much appreciated. Thanks again.
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Great mission. Atmosphere is excellent, even I'm missing the intro - AllI can see is the Un-Impossible Mission title and a shot of some vehicles for about a half a second, then it jumps to the briefing. BTW, nice music ;D
A small glitch in the briefing: you will presume (well, it is probably explained in the intro - I never saw that) that you start somewhere near the drop zone, which you don't. And the briefing will be, in any case, shown after the intro, which, I presume, explains why you're not even near the drop zone, so it might be good to add some P.S. style info to the briefing that you missed the dz, and some large area marker showing "you're somewhere in this area". It wouldn't give away the players position, and since you can always tell your loons to report in and tell their position... well, it's your call.
The mission itself is excellent, deserving its name..
The random starting positions are finely made, and after the first try the player will be on his toes.
Anyways, I've still got to change the flag... BTW the "living room" up there was a nice touch.. ;D
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Thanks m8 :thumbsup:
That's odd about the Intro, I have no idea what it could be. It's supposed to start with a dark screen, then some text, then a shot of a chopper on the ground with vehicles. Most people seem to be able to play it without any problems.
The Intro does suggest that you don't know where you are and the Briefing mentions that navigation will be difficult because of the fog. The intention is to create a sense of confusion for the player and originally there were no clues at all - not being at the DZ was a complete surprise. However that proved to be unpopular, hence the hints. Discovering where all the start postitions are is part of the adventure so I'm not going to put an area marker, but thanks for the suggestion.
Glad you liked the living room. ;D There's a toilet up there too.
Oh, Planck, I figured out what caused that big explosion. The chopper got low on fuel and headed for the fuel station: unfortunately the AI isn't smart enough to land and refuel, it just hovers there until the gas runs out and it crashes on the fuel station BOOM. The new version has refuel routines for the choppers so it shouldn't happen again.
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Well, if you'd put the area marker in with a radius of, let's say, about two clicks ;D
But maybe it isn't so good idea..
Another thought crossed my mind: what if the player would, after some twenty retries, mysteriously start at the DZ.. :o
Of course with the attack as per other starting positions..
@ the chopper mess: I think that BIS didn't design the AI to survive 26 hours of hide-and-seek ;D A brand-new tactic to deal with AI vehicles - wait until they run out of gas!
I figure Planck is glad for having a toilet ingame...
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Hey Macguba
I figured it might have been trying to get fuel, it was too much of a coincidence that it just happened to land on the fuel station.
@The_Mark
Actually neither I or any of my men saw the chopper at any time in the mission before it had crashed, so it didn't bother us any.
The first time I saw the chopper was after it had become an ex-chopper. ::)
Planck
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Right, you can grab the latest version (v0-60) here. (http://macguba.tripod.com/)[/url][/b] Everybody has a chance to refuel and there is a refuel routine for the chopper(s). Most of the changes are a consequence of Planck's epic triumph. No more can you wait for the enemy to run out of gas, or for it to get dark .... full details below. All that's left to do (hmmm, where have I heard that before? ::) ) is the Outro.
Using the DZ as a rare start position did occur to me at one point and has many attractions: if I wanted to do a lot more work on this I'd probably do it ....
The chopper doesn't bother you in the fog unless you're daft enough to get in a vehicle. Then it picks you on radar and you have a TOW up your jacksy before you can fart.
Changes from 0-59 to 0-60. Overall the new difficulty level is probably very slightly harder.
Making it easier
Removed dismounts from heavy armour group
Added conditional (group <= 8 ) extra loon to your group after civvy cutscene
Making it harder
Increased number of LAW soldiers slightly
Added 50% chance of second Abrams in heavy armour group
Issued NVGs to many enemy loons
Removed Cadet waypoints
Making it better
Added fuel station at main junction
Added fuel barrels at road end start position
Added refuel routines for choppers
Added fuel truck to West support group
Fixed units crawling up Hill at end
Improved Chinook setup
Exchanged a damaged jeep for a damaged jeep/mg
Replaced morphine script with better First aid script
Added voices for the extra loon joining conversation
Added voices for new first aid script
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YO ;D
hat sounds topkool ;) ;D
ill test it ;) i need 2 make new record... so right now i invite armsty 2 play this again (new ver new record ;D unless ny1 elkse broke his 1 ?)
friday is ur day im tellin ya ;) ;D (dats if me good comp is back by then ::))
LCD OUT
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Armsty has been knocked off his perch by Planck, who is the current Un-Impossible Champion. He is the only person who has beaten the current versions (v0-55 - v0-60, which are all substantially the same difficulty).
The earlier version (probably v0-50) that Armsty (and Kali and one or two others I think) beat was significantly easier. This is because every time somebody does well I amend the mission to nullify the method they used. ;D But there's not much I can do about Planck's technique. :booty:
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wat did plack do ? :o
nywayz.... he betta b carefull cuz im right behind him ;D ;)
LCD OUT
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Planck is the only person to beat the current version ... post #161 on page 11.... and yes he did post a screenie of the debriefing screen as tradition demands.
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yeah but wat was hes tactic u cant do nythin bout ? xept playin till all the AI soldiers gpt bored + sleepy and suicide :P ;)
LCD OUT
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Lol that was pretty much it. ;D
I discovered two small bugs in the version I posted. :( Play it anyway, they're not a big deal. New version coming soon.
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Grab the new version (0-61) here. (http://macguba.tripod.com/)[/b]
Change list from 0-60:
Fixed cutscene starting bug
Fixed extra loon joining bug
Brought static objects in Intro into line with Mission
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But there's not much I can do about Planck's technique
Well, you can't do anything about OFP AI, which doesn't spot you if lie under a spruce.. They won't notice you even if they hit the dirt right next to you (Happened to me at the hilltop, one of them crawled under the same tree - well I killed him and them, strangely enough, his buddy shot me through his body :-\)
Anyways, I find the pass uphill from the CWC scud site to near the toilet mch too easy. I've only seen one sniper on the route. Use the route and you have no trouble reaching the hilltop (I assume after this post it won't be so easy ;D). And besides, the only trees on the top are quite near the end of the route, so you can just crawl up there and start sanitizing the top.
And I figured the cause of my intro bug - it was caused by an addon error. Nothing to do with the mission, just my OFP. Some old, deleted addon still screws with my flash. Damn.
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oops....that was....interesting...
Maybe because I was running ECP the lag made this happen...but here goes..
I started out fine, a little more difficult now with ECP (laggg), and immediately dropped down to find a good field of fire.
My squaddies started shooting at the MG jeeps (I started at teh base...hmm..), and so I naturally had to keep off the infantry.
I finally reached a lull and ventured outside, and saw 3 squads heading straigh for me and my squadmates. They, funny enough, ran right past me and the squad (lag prolly). Anyways, I start running up the hill, but I hear those annoying bumping sounds, like if you were in a BMP and ran into another. The sounds are endless, and I cant figure out what is happening, but...
As it turns out, the chopper had crashed but not died into two bradleys, who therein carried it straight down the hill, and ran into the patrolling M1A1's, so I am lookin down from the hill and see this humungous heap of tanks, and every once in a while see the chopper blade poke out.
I think the chopper saw me, because the next thing I saw was the top Bradley go flying, and die, and an M1 and the other bradley explode. The chopper was gone, and the last M1 was badly injured, so they jumped out in time to get blown towards me by the tank exploding....
I was laughing my azz off when I got a nice warm piece of lead in the head by a sniper....
Just thought I might share some lag stories from the unimpossible mission...more coming.
AnarCHy
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sry but the review gonna b lil late... have som political stuff 2day... and assumin i wont get arrested or shot ill beta it wen im back :P ;D
LCD OUT
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Bah! I dont need this mission to prove Im better than LCD. Alpha Pink is comming for you LCD! ;)
I'll test it when I get time, maybe, but only on sundays between 12-3. :P
:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:
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bah it CTD while i was securing the base :-X :'( (not really but i dont have taam right now so more on dis l8erz ;) :P)
so ill review wat i did wen im back home
and full review somtaam l8rz :P
LCD OUT
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ok heres the review (4 wen it cted)
intro : ok
breifing : put a mision finshers list in the notes part 4 the ppl who were brave enuff 2 test it as beta testers ;) :P (or dont that just somin i wanted lol.... mebe put the statistics 4 the champion... so when u give it 2 reviewing ask ppl 2 send u if they pass it nd we open som championship in the cartel or somin else ? lol)
arming : i armed my men like that :-
1 (me) : g36 2 RPG 1 scatchel
2 : sniper rifle 3 scatchel
3 : bizon 3 RPG
4 : bizon 3 scatchels
5 : bizon 3 RPG
6 : bizon 3 scatchels
7 : G36 3 scatchels
8 : bizon 3 RPG
what i planed 2 do
assign the ppl w/ silenced weapons as red team and reg weaps as green team... and have them used each 1 wen i need him (green wen need firepower, red wen need tealth)
mision :
@ the start i told green 2 hold fire and told em all 2 stop after 2 sec a squad run into us and we shot em... ;D and then accidently used my 1st aid kit (OFP action menu aint that good :P)
and then i (alon) started going 2 the hill... on my way i heard that the spotted M2A2 so i run back blowed 2 of em (didnt move very fast) and 3 blowed the last 1 (and himself... my 1st casualty)
so i left em there and moved to the hill (running on X4) while i got there i think they blowed jeep w/ MG and and some truck (now all on open fire) i run into a black op and he didnt fire on me (prooly a X4 bug cuz i moved just behind him) so i continued crawled 2 him n shot him... next i started going uphill... i think that from the north side (not sure cuz u never give us GPS even tho i alwayz ask :P and cuz i made som strange turns there) and i killed on my way up somin like 3 squads and a sniper from the tower and earned my 1st save (didnt use it yet) so i continue and clear the area and save... and killed ::) so i retried and started runnin like crazy nd the sec sniper missed me :P ;D i turn kill him nd thesoldier that was aiming @ me... and i change the flag... and go into that building that acts as ammo stash clear it (1 soldier laying nd not shoting :P) and take a g36 (till now i fought w/ MP5 from the BO and M16 that i took wen i run outta ammo).... at this point 2 of my units die... and they fight off another truck w/ soldiers... now i begin climbin down hill every cm have a sniper and there were three squads.... after dying twice i clear the area use another save point and discover i was goin downhill on the southside ::) :-X so st00pid me climbs uphill again kill another soldier that i discover there (he prooly run away or somin) and start goin down the other way after rearming my g36 ;D :gunman: on my way down i take.... 2-3 snipers (not sure ;D) and grab 1 of their sniper rifles shot half of a squad pattroling there and get my G36 and shot the rest ;) ;D and start going down again... on my way down i shot another squad (their really slow @ reacting) and take a law instead of my RPG (that i already shot killin a squad on the hill) so now i have 2 G36mags, 3 LAWs, 1 scatchel.... i get a position somwere and take a look and fdo the thing that was the mistake of the day 4 me :-X i saw a M2A2 standing alone so i think "heres a lil wanderin M2A2 i shud shot it" and shot it... and suddenly outta somwere M1A1 comes out nd from the other side somin like 2-3 M1A1 and 2-3 M2A2 (i didnt stay there enuff 2 count i just hide :P) now what i did is 2 kill som soldiers that came lookin 4 me w/ the G36 and takin a m16 shotin a mag n killin another 3 soldiers so i run quick and took a sniper rifle and returned 2 my hiding i nthe meantaam (was really mean) the tanks started searchin 4 me so i waited somin like 5 mins on X4 till they relaxed 1 M1A1 parked near me so i used the scatchel on it and the rest came back 2 look 4 me... so i killed 1 M2A2 but the rest didnt give up yet :'( so i started usin my sniper rifle killed like 5 ppl w/ 1 mag and suddenly what did i c ? a group of black ops walkin around on safe ::) so i shot 1... and then suddenly it bcame 4:30 and i had 2 go ;D so i alt-tab and it CTDed (not that bad actually cuz i still had them tanks 2 kill nd i started runnin outta ideas ::))
thats all folks ;)
so conclusion
1) im bit rusty in playin OFP
2) make the first aid kit apear only after im injured... and state i have only 1 :P
3) black ops walkin on safe is good 4 the player no good 4 the mision ::)
4) al em tanks r immposible :P ;D
LCD OUT
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Many thanks everybody for playing. :)
@The_Mark - There are in fact several snipers on/covering that route, but one of the features of this mission is that almost everybody is on probablity of presence. Next time you play it it won't be so easy. Also, when you get a bit of good luck like that, you normally pay for it later. ;D It isn't a bad route though - all routes are much the same for opposition, but there are substantial differences for things like ease of ground and the cover available when you get to the top.
I always keep away from dead bodies - weird things like that happen to you, plus the game gets confused as to whether you want to fire or pick up a grenade. The AI are all on very high skill .... but a prone spetz natz under a tree in the semi-dark is virtually invisible.
Sorry to hear about your addon troubles, but glad to know the Intro is ok.
@AnarCHy - LMAO. :D :D :D That image of a chopper shooting at you while trapped between two Bradleys .... Sorry about the lag ... I've been through the mission several times with a fine tooth comb and taken out all I can, played with setViewDistance and everything, but its just a big mission. :( I wanted to make an impossible mission with just a few enemy units but it turned out to be ... well, impossible.
@LCD - glad to hear you weren't arrested. :) Sad to hear about the CTD: >:( I have not sufficient technical knowledge to comment by I get "freezeup" crashes regularly when I alt-tab. Blackops on safe, :o that's not good .... ah yes, they are a motorbike patrol. They must have lost the bikes and started walking. I'll need to look at that again.
Happy to hear my little Bradley trap worked. ;D If you see one Bradley alone he always has an Abrams nearby - they are in the same group but its amazing how often the second vehicle is hidden by trees. There are a maximum of 3 Abrams (in two groups) in the mission: they are not really supposed to appear all together so you were unlucky. I've moved one of them slightly so its less likely it will happen again. However that is the sort of thing that is meant to happen if you go direct start-hill-base. :P
You're right about the first aid kit: its a recent addition in that form and needs some control or information around it. I thought I might just get away with it but obviously not.
And you have to remember that I've been working on this for a while: and everytime you beta test it it gets harder. ;D 8) You did bloody well to get up and down the hill though: the average player can, after a few attempts, change the flag but that's it.
Thanks again everybody, your comments are much appreciated. :thumbsup:
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bah i got up n down 2 the south n the north in da same mision :P :o ::)
i also can give u my first aid kit script... didnt test it on resistance tho (somin old from ma 1st misions... tested n workin on 1.46)
gonna give it a try next taam wen i have somin like 4-5 hrs free ;)
LCD OUT
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Stupid internet....
I got a virus in me comp that wiped out a small file which windows needed to start up wit :(
So I had to clear C: and E: (two 80GB hard drives :) ) and re-format them both, then install XP again.
Gonna test the mission more tonight when I hae enough time, and me...backside.....asn't hurting so much ;)
AnarCHy
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I've been playing this mission once in a while, but the lag is just too much...
My crappy 'ol pc just won't handle this...
So, can't report on anything as I just need to lay down somewhere and wait for the AI to shoot the nme as I can't aim due to the lag :P
Of course if I crank down the vD to minimum along with other graph settings then there's not much lag...
But then you need to be 2 ft. away from a target to recognise it... ::)
What if you went and broke that no scripting ban in your mission and use a thing from CoC called AI on Demand?
Would lose the lag from the mission... Possibly completely...
(Don't know where else you might find AI on Demand other than a beta MP mission, called Bastige Battlefields (by bn880), which can be found somewhere in the Official Forums... )
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@ HateR_Kint - I'm sorry about the lag. :( It offends my sense of achievment - I set out to make an un-impossible mission that anybody could play and in that endeavor I have utterly failed.
If you have the energy you could open it up in the mission editor and delete a lot of the static objects - they are big culprits. You could also remove the minefield triggers in the woods to the south of the Old Base, and just not go there. Reduce viewdistance to 500 - it makes a surprising difference to lag even in the fog when you can't see more than 10 feet.
If I had my time over again I would of course do this very differently, and use scripts and createUnit commands to reduce the lag while keeping it fair. However I never thought it would get so bad so I stuck to the old rules. Now it is too late - it's virtually finished and I just want to be rid of the wretched thing. D'you know I have only one mission in the missions depot? (Lookout! (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?ID=426) - play it, its fun.) And after the amount of time I've spent on mission editing that's pretty depressing.
@AnarCHy - that is very bad luck. You have my sympathies.
@LCD - I've done a big test on Noname.
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I'm sorry about the lag.
Well, my pc should not lag so much, but I guess it's growing weary on the insides or something ;D
Well, I'll give it another shot/whirl/etc at some point...
(Damn RL responsibilities ruin my OFPing... :P )
D'you know I have only one mission in the missions depot? And after the amount of time I've spent on mission editing that's pretty depressing.
:D
I've been making missions since OFP came out (almost, took a while to learn it...) and I have not one mission in here.. Not even one beta ::)..
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I...must have gotten a spawn bug...???
I started on a group of enemy...it wasn't too fun trying to get back out but... :-\
Lost me squad and started over.
ok. Started at the amo dump, but not much I wanted there, so we hid inside it till the two bradleys came rolling around, 2 got off a rocket, took out a bradley, and 2 flew up the hill from a blast by the second bradley :P
3+4 take out the rockets, and both shoot at the same time...stupid ai..
anyways, no more bradleys around, and no tank sounds near, so I start up the hill. My group mainly dealt with the snipers, and I watched for those stupid naders. (ahh here they come, I thought) nope, it was a regular group but ??? my group gets blown away by a grenade, so I turn around and see I am cornered with grenaders on one side, and a group walkin around on the other side. I charge up the hill and hide in a bush, and they eventually dissapate (phew :P) turn around and I find a sniper ramming his gun up my a**! I got a shot off into him and he did to me, and we killed each other...
not fun! I didn't save! (oh wait, maybe that is a good thing)
Ok, restart, and I am at the base. Nothing was happeneing and so I decided to check it out, I peek around the corner and see the M1A1's and bradleys strolling around, and four/five gruops just standing there. (hmm...mebbe sommat like a tank got in dere way)
I shot off a grenade and got about 6/7 of them and then they came :P stupid timing, because the chopper starts raining it's shells down onto us! Never done that befoe to me, but oh well. :-/ I start to shoot at the chopper when it comes around for another pass, as my group deals with the infantry. (My specialty :D shooting at the pilots of choppers, and stealing those.) I got the pilot, so the chopper "lands" (the lag does this sometimes) in the base. I kill the gunner and tell my squad to stop. Jump into the pilots seat and turnon manual fire (:) hehe..) and go shooting up the tanks. Someone has an AA launcher somewhere or a vulcan is around, because the next thing I knew was a bright orange light and the chopper explode... :( I was doing so good too!
's all the same, my squad got taken out as soon as I left...
I was still playing 0-60 but I will play 0-61 now.
Mebbe a script or something that checks whether the chopper pilot/gunner is dead, and automatically revives him? As I know you want to weed out any things that make it easier for people :)
Have you done anything about the fence hopping trick I did playing...0-56? You said ya would ;)
Play more tonight (mebbe, if I have time), becuase this mission is too fun to put away!
AnarCHy
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ok played again... not full review yet cuz i played only 1 hr (som of it on X4 so it doesnttell ya shit bout gamin taam ;))
ok here wat i did... again squad is 2 parts.... firepower (1 M21, 2 G36) nd 4 silenced (HKs) and i got me self HK 2... all squad got a mix of scatchels n RPGS (mostly 1 scatchel nd 2 RPGS or the other way around.... xept now we got 2 AT4 launchers wit us ;D)
breifing (last taam i had music rutnd off or somin but now... i think da music os ok but mebe 2 loud :P)
Game :
started on da road on da south of da hill (u prooly know wat i mean ;)).... we killed da squad dat run above us on start easilly nd started holdin fire ;D run away a bit (every1 on prone) nd waited till da M2A2 move away :P dey got bout 100 M from us nd left so we continued till we reached a big stone :o nd i told ma soldiers 2 hold da stone (da only russian held ston on da island ;)) nd climbed up da hill (plz plz i want GPS its hard 2 navigate in da fog.... nd GPS shud b spec ops standart ;D so after movin in general direction north west i c a sniper (actin blind... i was runnin) nd shot it i fell 2 ground again nd continued crawlin more carfully cuz i assumed im getin close.... suddenly i c a leader runnin towards me... i killed him nd 2 ppl b4 dey detected me... det sent his soldiers panickin around me... all easy kills ;D next thing is anoder group dat i shud easily... here i used ma save went 2 soldier dat had MM1 nd shot all around (alwayz wanted good taam 2 test it... never have dis thingy cant c shit so deres notin 2 aim 4 :P) nd it wiped noder 2 squads nd a sniper :P... so now da base dere pretty much clear... i 1st thing went into da house w/ ammo stash in it on da way i killed a sniper on a tower.... eaily took care of da soldier inside da house (AI suck @ CQB.... put him outside i think) nd captured it den got out started 2 go closer 2 da flag (w/ only 1 HK mag left) saw da head of AI leader nd throw a grenade on him... earsed da rest of da squad w/ half mag... changed da flag (nd finally got a savegame) on my way back 2 my squad i got noder savegame (never got da going uphill savegame... fix dat :P) so now i plan on findin som blackops 4 HK nd takin over da base now w/ full force :P
more after i finish
LCD OUT
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Thanks chaps! I will:
- Reduce the volume of the Briefing music.
- Put the ammo barn guard outside. He's never shot me, but then I know he's there. I was hoping he'd get somebody by surprise but its quite clear that he hasn't. Actually I might just delete him.
- Find the missing savegame. (Edit: I just checked and it worked fine for me. It's number 1 on the radio menu.)
- Check the placement radii of the enemy groups at the start, they shouldn't be mixed in with your squad. They are meant to start pretty close sometimes though. Retrying the start is intended to be a feature of the mission. Occasionally you get no attacks at all (the attacking groups are all on probabilities) and it sounds like this may have happened to you at the base. However, you tend to pay for such statistical bounties later in the mission. (Edit: checked and they seem to be OK. AnarCHy, can you remember which start position it was? Choices hidden below so as not to spoil. Highlight to read.
- inside base
- edge of village
- old scud position, tucked under hill
- tree junction with lorry
- main junction with ammo and jeeps
- bikes under trees
- bmp ambulance
- ammo dump, bikes and abrams
- extra line to confuse people
- ditto[/size]
- Continue to have no GPS in the mission. ;D I've tried to make everything as hard as possible: navigation, the ground you have to cover, (Planck was killed twice by the mountain itself), time of day and so on. The fear of being lost is part of the experience. I'm used to navigating on real mountains in real fog and this is surprisingly similar. If you don't keep a clear head you do start to panic.
There are two groups of blackops I think, and five lots of ammo crates around the hill including the secret stash, so finding HK mags shouldn't be a problem. The ammo crate in the barn has a couple of bizons, and there are a couple more at the dead spetz natz camp.
Congratulations on stealing the chopper. :thumbsup: After I did that I added lots and lots of AA loons. ;D (No vulcans. There were some but I took them out to help reduce lag by having fewer vehicle types.) The secret is to use it quickly to zap just a couple of tanks and then dump it. You never get away with being greedy in this mission because there are so many enemy on guard waypoints. Reviving the pilot would be "cheating" by the mission designer according to my self imposed rules for this thing, but thanks for the thought - yes it is true that every time somebody does something I add a twist to stop them doing it again. 8)
The chopper does chew you up occasionally, and once it gets a fix on you it just keeps coming back. The good news is that I've seen it do the same thing to an enemy squad.
I haven't fixed the 4x fence hopping trick. Not sure how to really - it didn't even work for me. Anyway its not a big deal: if you want to take the risk of staying in once place for a while on 4x that's up to you. ;D
The groups stand around because of the fog. They are on guard waypoints and have been called in to help. However, because of the fog, they can be 30 yards away and not detect you if you're quiet. So they just stand there until you are detected again. I could script them to do something more interesting, but I want to keep this on simple triggers and waypoints as much as possible. Plus it would add yet more lag.
The differences between 0-60 and 0-61 are small: if you have a good savegame on 0-60 play on from that. 0-62, the version on my hard drive, will be up later this week. Only changes will be a few more minor tweaks and the outro.
I'm not bothered about game time, its not a race. Somebody will eventually do it in less than 26 hours. I've changed the flag in less than 10 minutes, admittedly in an easier previous version. :P Changing the flag is of course the easy bit. ;)
HateR_Kint, you gotta finish one. It is really hard, all the polishing up crap like making outros is tedious, but you just have to be determined.
Latest version is still 0-61. (http://macguba.tripod.com/)[/b]
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lol.... remove em MM1s :P i never got shot by 1 of those.... and i wiped half of the hill forces just by shooting randomly :P
nywayz im not allowin u 2 release new version.... till i finish dat 1
LCD OUT
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Good point. I've reduced the expected number of heavy grenadiers at the top of the hill from 4.5 to 1.5 and removed the 6g30 from the ammo crate. I still want to keep the chance of you doing that though, its tricky to get the range right but fun when it works.
The next version won't be that different: there has been no significant change in difficulty since 0-55. although it has drifted up slightly as things have been fixed. (0-55 is MUCH harder than 0-50, which was the version everybody played last Christmas/New Year.)
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also do somin w/ da 1st aid thingy... i keep usin it unintentioly :P
LCD OUT
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No, having a custom action is deliberate. Makes it harder. :moon: Plus changing it means another trigger (to detect if the player is injured) and there is enough lag already - I've spent hours and hours stipping stuff out and reorganising bits to reduce lag.
If you want rid of it shoot yourself in the foot and use it to heal.
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u r BAKA :P (i know words in japanese ppl)
nah.... just make this triger.... thats AI cheating.... remove the 1st aid completly then
LCD OUT
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lol ;D
Are you saying you can't beat it with the first aid thingy in there? ::) ::) ::)
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baaaaaaaaaaaaah
i already got rid of it... its just annoying that all... its not realy harder or somin like dat... after all im gonna b da next un-impossible champion :P
but it did made me som probs (but da AI jsut stared @ me till i finished nd den i shot him ::))
also da voice actin sux... specially da 1st line :P ;)
LCD OUT
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also da voice actin sux... specially da 1st line
Lol, you're right there. ;D
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A small lag reducer.
You have a trigger with the condition:
fuel chopper1 < 0.2
You might save some processing if you put this check in a script that loops every 30 to 60 minutes (rather then the current 0.5 seconds)
I still cannot get anywhere near beating this. I loose to many men in the first few minutes.
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Blimey, that's a good spot. :thumbsup: I meant to put that in a script but I forget. Now done, thank you.
If you're bored of getting stuck, have a look at the start of the init.sqs. I've had loads of reports on the first bit of the mission but very few on anything much after changing the flag.
The start is hard. I reckon on being killed myself (never mind squad casualties) on about 1 attempt in 3 and I know where they're coming from.
There are three recognised tactics for dealing with the first 30 seconds of the mission. One, take silenced weapons and hit the dirt in all round defence the instant the mission starts. Two, just leg it and hope there's nobody coming the other way ... retrying if there is. ;D And three, playing the wretched thing so much that eventually the probability of presence stats work for you and you don't get attacked immediately. :P
There is definitely going to be an outro btw, I've been working on it today. It has a nice effect at the end.
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bah i just tried 2 continue from were i was n4....... nd it sayz da save file got errors... f00k it :P
cuz i wanna finish ma mision tomoz... it means i gotta b awake 4 more an 3 hrs ::) so ill play it on da nigh of thursday i think (or wednsday but less likely :P) so... u now u must publish new version b4 i play it... since im startin again... i dont wanna test dis nd da next :P
LCD OUT
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Ahhaha! :D :D :D I began this time around the south T crossing, with a load of bikes scattered around. :-\ A few groups came at us, and I cut them down. I stopped my squad hidden in some bushes near the road, and hopped on a bike. I started stouth, or hwta I thought was south, but I found myself on the north side of the hill??? what??? Anyways, I turn around a pedal as fast as it would let me. Get near to the T crossing and the 3 MG jeeps are just sitting there, so I pass them (no one shoot wtf ???) anyways, I feel lucky so I go down to the civvies, which takes about 1/2 hour because of the bike i'm on (lol all the way there on a bike hehe). I find that it is blocked on the road, but I can pass without anyone shooting. (fix dat, I would shoot a spetznas on a bike, wouldn't you?) I pass the chopper, and the other...stuff...and talk to the civvies. I get Nikolai and Lukin, after some odd triple-talking woman, and we board the...non-chopper (don't wanna spoil it) and we go run down some americans. I pass the block and find four missile people shoot at me, so I died :P dang, I was doing kind of good this time! (but me whole squad died.)
Hehe a large selection of stuff there, why so big? I wouldn't think the americans would leave it...all there now would they? Especially if they know about it? Meh I don't care it is a bonus :D
Nothing I could find wrong other than that and the no-shooting on a bike bug(?).
Good times,
AnarCHy
p.s. no lag this time! ECP was the problem (and maybe the 6GB of addons I had at the time :P)
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Thanks I will.
Bye the way, I was thinking - fuel around 0.2 and waiting for 60 minutes might be cutting it a bit fine. 0.3 should be ok. I am sure you figured that out anyway.
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I've been beating the outro into shape ... my god cutscene making is hard work ... it should be ready in a couple of days or so - that's all there is to do. Oh, and I'll have another crack at those dreadful sound files in the cutscene. The volume controls don't work.
The fuel check I've done every 15 minutes... its a bit complicated because I've dropped into an existing script so I didn't want to take any risks. Anyway, that's a lot slower than every frame which is what it was before. ;D (Triggers check every 0.5s if the condition is "this": otherwise they check every frame like an @ command.
AnarCHy, I don't know why these guys didn't shoot at you. Or rather, I do: its the advantage of the fog combined with the poor light combined with the fact that spetz natz (and blackops) are very hard for the enemy AI to see. (In another mission I've actually been prone in touching an enemy guard in a patrol group without being detected.) I can't do anything about it. Using a script to fix this would break my self imposed rules. Anyway, they got you on the way back so what are you complaining about. ;D
I cycled down to the civvies once. It took so bloodly long I nearly took the bikes out. ::) Glad to hear you got both loons, that's the first time anybody's checked that. I take it you didn't have a full squad at the time? (If you did you shouldn't have got Lukin.)
There is indeed a wide selection of stuff there: the intention was to offer a spot where the player could rearm his squad if he realised that his weapon loadout was wrong. It is restricted to two weapons of each type.
I've packed every goodie I can think of into the village to make it worth the trip. The original idea was to have a wise old man in a cave who could offer advice on completing the mission to people who were stuck. However, in order to make it worth the trip I had to add more and more. You have to remember that this is still a mission design exercise, not an ordinary mission, so the occasional hole in the plot must be expected.
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As a matter of fact I didn't have any squad at the time lol.
;D :P
ahh, im great. The only time I worry about my squad is when we are all under attack, and if they are doing any good! Sometimes, though, that require teamwork (which this obviously does) I usually keep my squad (even partially) alive.
AnarCHy
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Oh and btw:
Thanks chaps! I will...............................................
- Check the placement radii of the enemy groups at the start, they shouldn't be mixed in with your squad. They are meant to start pretty close sometimes though. Retrying the start is intended to be a feature of the mission. Occasionally you get no attacks at all (the attacking groups are all on probabilities) and it sounds like this may have happened to you at the base. However, you tend to pay for such statistical bounties later in the mission. (Edit: checked and they seem to be OK. AnarCHy, can you remember which start position it was? Choices hidden below so as not to spoil. Highlight to read.
- color made it readable
- color made it readable
- color made it readable
- color made it readable
- color made it readable
- color made it readable
- extra line to confuse people
- ditto[/size]
.....................................................
- tree junction with lorry
:D
AnarCHy
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As a matter of fact I didn't have any squad at the time lol
;D 8)
Thanks m8. I've tested it and yes you're right, at the edge of its placement radius one of the attacking groups would virtually overlap with yours. That is a little close, I've moved it back a few feet. Obviously I've moved another one closer to compensate. Checking around the map this happens in one or two other places as well - I hadn't allowed quite enough for how far back your own squad goes. But if you hear "8 is down" before you have time to hit the dirt you'd be well advised just to click the retry button without further delay .... your weapon selection is preserved.
The unerlying problem is that the placement radius is round: I want an ellipse to give a relatively constant distance, but a wide range of bearings. Sadly we're stuck with circles, which means in order to get a decent range of angles the distance is sometimes a little closer or further than ideal. I could script it but that's sailing very close to the wind as far as design rules are concerned and anyway not worth the trouble.
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OK I have looked at the begining of init.sqs. I don't want to be invincible - just yet. But a comment on the invincibility script. There is the line
"_x addEventHandler [{Hit}, {_this select 0 setDammage 0}]" forEach units sn
follwed by an infinite loop.
Could you drop the infinite loop if you also add the line:
"_x addEventHandler [{Killed}, {_this select 0 setDammage 0}]" forEach units sn
Just a thought.
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You probably could. As with everything else in the mission this little script has a long history. It started out just for me, and the killed eventhandler is no good for humans - it doesn't bring you back to life fast enough to prevent the death dialogue. I need to update that script before release anyway, it needs more instructions.
Edit: actually you still need the infinite loop for the player. Even with that script running you can still be killed. Could take out the ai units though, which would help the lag that little tiny bit.
Second edit: script amended. Everybody gets hit and killed EH, player gets setdammage 0 loop and optional setCaptive true.
I greatly appreciate the way you keep finding lagdemons for me to zap. :thumbsup: Keep 'em coming!
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Yeh I forgot about the player.
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Release candidate [/size]published! (http://macguba.tripod.com/)
Yes folks its finally here, after two years: the final version (0-62) of the Un-Impossible mission. This is essentially the finished article, any changes will only be in response to beta testers comments or anything I find wrong in the final series of tests. I'll leave it up for a few days before submitting to the Missions Depot. The big change from the last version is the addition of the Outro. Full change list below. All comments welcome, particularly relating to the later part of the mission and the outro. If you unpbo it you can find cheats in init.sqs.
THobson, in the end I put the group back in the setdammage loop for the invincibility script. Turns out that the one combination that actually makes the loons invincible is that loop and the hit EH. Killed EH doesn't cut the mustard. I suspect I discovered that a long time ago and then forgot.
Changes list from v0-61 to v0-62. Overall the new difficulty level is very slightly harder.
Better
Added Outro Win
Improved first aid kit script
Added recce picture to Briefing
Reduced volume of Briefing music
Changed various titletexts for titleRscs
Added credits to mission accomplished cutscene
Fixed motorbike patrol running out of fuel
Changed motorbike patrol from "safe" to "aware"
Replaced chopper refuel trigger with slow script loop
Various other minor fixes and improvements
Easier
Added a few Soviet weapons to ammo crate at spetz natz camp
Moved some inital attack groups back very slightly
Moved Guard WP of smaller Bradley/Abrams group
Harder
Increased enemy probabilities at start positions
Reduced the number of enemy Heavy Grenadiers
Moved useless execution barn guard outside and changed him to blackop
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ur next om ma list :D
now wen i have long time :D ill do a test
nywayz i have some idea 4 ur lamp prob... there was some script that lopped flare under a lamp nd it look oright... u can prooly find it in the ED :P
LCD OUT
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Don't worry about the lamp problem. I'm beginning to think I'll use daytime and skiptime commands to make sure it happens in daylight. You don't usually bury people in the dark anyway.
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wheoll I just tried this about 20+ times and always died in the first 5 minutes. Gonna take a brake now and try again later. But I don't know if I dare because if I ever get this one through I may be done with OFP for life time.
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New version up. v0-63 (http://macguba.tripod.com/)[/url] plays very similarly to the previous one, the differences are mostly cosmetic and minor bug fixes. The lamppost problem has gone away - I've altered the script so that the cutscene always happens in daylight.
The Outro is noticeably better and I've even managed to work in a Saltire (Scottish flag) at the end. (I'd appreciate somebody checking the outro in the mission editor, you know how these things can screw up on other computers.)
There are also two custom onPlayerKilled scripts active during the mission, and I've randomised it so you can get either of those or either of the BIS ones, giving a total of four possibilities. I feel confident that this feature will be thoroughly tested. ::)
However the most important change is that there are now more cheats that you can activate from init.sqs. They vary from full invincibility to a little bit of help with ammo. It is legitimate to use them in beta testing, so that you can see how the mission pans out although obviously you can't then claim to have beaten the mission.
I've just made four genuine attempts with the default weapon loadout, as a wee test to make sure this version is working. Only once did I make it out of the initial killing zone (with just one loon alive) but got shot when I went back to pick up weapons.
Many thanks as ever to all beta testers. Your work is valuable and greatly appreciated.
Change list from v0-62 to v0-63
Added more cheat possibilites to init.sqs
Added two custom onPlayerKilled scripts
Added a few more NVGs to West
Improved Outro
Added flares to Outro
Created seperate camera script for Outro
Fixed chopper ECP bug
Fixed Intro ECP bug
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WARNING - READ THIS FIRST!!!
THIS WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN AS AN EMAIL FOR MacGuba (that goes some way to explaining its length lol )
BUT SINCE I COULDNT FIND HIS EMAIL ADDY ON HIS SITE etc I DECIDED TO POST HERE.
DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO KNOW OR CERTAIN EVENTS, ENDING OF MISSION ETC. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!! -
MAINLY INTENDED FOR MAC (FOR OTHER SCREENSHOTS EMAIL, MSN ME etc.)
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Hi Macguba, just thought id send you a quick email (Edit After finishing writing: well mabye not actually) about your mission Un-impossible.
I was at OFPEC looking through forums (I was looking for a script, im a third rate mission maker trying to get better :p ). And saw the thread about this Un-Impossible mission. I only read the first couple of pages (well there was a ****load of posts about it) then skipped to the last page and got the link to your site, where I downloaded the mission. That was about 24 hours ago. I played it twice and got killed the first time, and all of my squad except 1 and me the second time within about 2 mins. I later worked out it was south east and south west of the hilltop respwctivly. Anyway, around 6pm when I got in I decided to give it a proper go. If you want to about read it here is my story. Id just like to note id never played any previous versions and my first try was yesterday. (Version 0-63).
[Im sorry its really long. But this is a shortened version!
My squad was equipped mostly silenced (me and 2 others with HK's remaining and a couple of bizons) except for 1 soldier who had a Dragunov, and the medic who had a M21.
When the mission started I looked round, immediately ordering everyone prone and snipers hold fire.
As expected (since it was third time I tried) enemy came in quickly. Took first squad out with no casualties. Ok , this is bettter I thought. Well suffice to say that wasn't the last of them, another 2 or 3 squads came. We killed them but lost 2 men, including the dragunov carrier. Another squad not long after that, then came the dreaded sound of an Abrams. I had just started ordering people to pick up laws when the tank came to the entrance and stopped. I ordered to Hold fire, as only 2 of us had laws. I then used the first save (the normal save that comes with OFP) because in that tank I spotted a golden opportunity. Unfortunatly my squad were right in front of it, so when I moved them , the tank spotted us. â€Â¦ Loadâ€Â¦
This time I tell them to halt, and go out the back entrance (Well the opposite entrance anyway) and go round the perimiter. Sneaking behind the tank, I crawl up, and place the satchel in the perfected distance that will damage it enough for AI the crew to bail, but not to completely disable it. I then take out my law and get behind the ridge. In the first of many frantic but so called co-ordinated moments, I fired my law , just as I order my guys to run the opposite way of the tank (so the satchel doesn't kill them , and yes that's how close they were). Then without reloading law, just duck as the tank turned towards me, a few seconds later I see its turret turn towards my comrades , so I Touch off, and quickly run to the tank to neautralize the crew that inevitably bail out. Its worked. Its immobobile, but the turret still works (one side of tank in red, the other in orange, turret yellow-orange - Remember for this will be important later!!) Then comes a Truck and a couple of jeeps. They don't know what hit em! At this point I decide to get out, cause I hear a cobra circling above. Thank god for my squadmate number 7, who through the mist took out the Cobra as it came past within 100m with his strela . I quickly re-arm myself and prepare my squad to move.
I set out in a column formation on a road out west. I make some checks of the land and other features to check my intitial suspicions about where we started are correct. When the road starts turning north west im 100% sure. The place we started in was the OLD BASE! (which is of course the main objective - great! , Well that's what I thought at the time that it would make it much easier, little did I know what was coming later however :p )
I started to plan my route up the hill. Me and my 5 remaining guys from the intitial firefights. I was coming in from the north west and for the lower part of the main hill chose a route what I thought had the least bushes (less likely hood of snipers normally). It took a long time, because I was stealhy, methodical, and painstakinly slow at some points going up. During this time I got the message (so you've survived this long, you get a savegame)m and used it. When I checked the map to see how far id gone, I was only half way up! Ah well.
Further up the hill I got the savegame option for being nearer the top. I didn't use it immediately, even though I was taking it slow I waited before I was just south of the big rock about 75 m before I used it. The reason. Id spotted my first sniper. It was the one south of the rock. I took him out with the HK. I then crawled forward, and 7 was under fire from the bushes just to my left and killed. I spotted where the fire was coming from and took him out. Crawling forward I spotted a squad but my squad held fire because of the continuing possibility of snipers bespite my silencer. One of my teammates spotted one to my half left. I took him out silently aswell. I then ordered the open fire on the squad near the top of the hill, started taking them down, but a sniper, who ended up being really near to the last one I killed (but I obviously didn't spot him first time) took 3 of my squad out. I eliminated him, but then as I turned back to the enemy squad, A machine gunner gave the good newsâ€Â¦ Retry. ..
This time I dealt with the snipers and most of the squad silently, then contined moving up the hill slowly, positiong my men individually to cover each other as we were going up etc. I was just about to look over a crest when a whole american squad ran past "GO GO GO". All hell broke loose. A hand grenade took out my medic. And we were firing at even closer ranges that the start of the mission. After the first squad was dispatched I quickly orderd my men into s slighly further up position and covering all angles. I was on Point with men covering left right and rear. The next 5-10 mins was the most intense OFP experience for a long , long , long time, possibly ever, and that's saying a lot! That moment, which occurs when I forget I was playing a game, acting on pure instinct, and genuine fear are the greatest moments ever!
At least three squads came from various angles came at us. After the exchange there was 4 left in my squad including me. I eventually got up to the perimiter of the Yank Flag, and placed a satchel on the barbed wire hoping to blow it on my side! No such luck, I geuss you thought of that. I then went to the left side (as I was looking at it) where the barbed wire things were , hoping to squeeze through. I just got to the corner when the "Open gate" action came up. Thank f**k for that I thought.
It was that moment when the enemy chose to emerge for their next attack. A fiece rain of silent death fell upon them, but they came up behind and vanquished up my 2 flank gaurds. Only me and 1 other left. Im on my last mag.
More americans come.
Im now out of ammo, with 3 americans less than 5 metres away, and they have just shot my last squad mate. There are so any bodies around, I pick up dead yanks G36 which is lying but a metre away and dispose of three more of those capatilist scum!. Another squad comes, I'm at the gateâ€Â¦ I'm so close. Im on full auto, taking them down, then I'm shot from behind injuring my legs.
I turn around and open fire at the remenants of another squad who have came from behind. Then a g36 soldier from the opposite side ( who I was shooting at 5 seconds ago) finish the job. d**n! So close. Now I have to start from back down below the rock. I was stuck between the rock, and the american army!
Then followed a pattern of half a dozen restarts, all similar to what I just said above, varing slightly the route, and silently dispatching a few other snipers accordingly. Mostly however I was coming the same way, positiong my men carefully and efficiently but took soâ€Â¦.. longâ€Â¦.
Eventually after half a dozen or so many ongoing firefights up the same areas, and many "GODDAMMIT!"'s After getting shot near the flag, I eventually thought I had it. After some fierce CQB against overwhemling numbers, and also taking out squads from long range who were further down the hill my squad was at the gate, with no enemy incoming.
My squad at this point consisted only of me and one bloke, who was racking up kills big-time at this point in the position id gave him. All others had been killed. 2 on the way up and the rest around the top. As I crawled ( I dared not stand up, id been waiting so long for this, and killed so many god-d**n americans, I got to the flag. There was a few guys in the ruins who I took out and some people trying to sneak up behind my number 2 who I also dispatched. I got worried for a second (it seemed like an eternity) when I got to the flag and there was no option to take it.
My feeling when it changed to the russian flag and I got savegame was of huge relief (I used the savegame immediately, cause I knew if I had to go through that another time(s), my monitor would have been at risk of destruction) .
I waited only about 30 seconds, only seeing two yanks in that time and eliminating them. Only now did i realise I had at least one peice of lead in me! During the actual fighting i hadnt even noticed id been hit! I used the medi-pack function (that you only get one of) to heal myself (Lol the group radio is pretty funny)
I took a fresh HK from a black op, and ordered my number two in the jeep. I had a plan but we had to be quick, there was no time for him to rearm, but he still had a single LAW. I could hear the bradleys on their way to the base, so I powered down the hill in the jeep straight towards it, jumping straight over an American sniper on one of the jumps down the hill,
I was thinking infantry wouldn't get there fast enough. As I drove down I saw three bradleys on my right powering towards the base. d**n they were fast, was it too late already? I ordered dismbark just outside the front door, after we came under fire. I was running to the entrance to the base when I came under MG fire from the bradleys, for just half a second. I thought I was a gonner, but my number two had used his only LAW at just the right moment and took the bradley which firing at me out. I took this opportunity to take my own LAW out , and used 1 of my laws to take out a second bradley. I saw to my right as this happened my number two being killed, so I didn't risk reloading my law and getting shot, instead it was time for plan Alpha.
Since there was only one bradley left in that group I felt confident that if I was quick, I could hop in the gunners seat of the M1 I partially disabled earlier (aha yes my plan all along. Cunning, at least I thought it was ) . I traversed looking for the target and annihilated him with a sabot round. No-one inside was alive enough to get out. I did a 360', spotted infantry coming in from the other side of the base. Switch to MG. FIRE! Not that long ago id spent hours fighting oncoming infatry using silent weapons, so using an MG felt from an Abrams like justice.
Because I was playing without third person, I kept going in 360 sweeps.
By shooting everything that moved, coming in from directions, I took only a single law hit, but luckily it was the side of the tank that wasn't as damaged, and I wasn't going anywhere anyway.
When I heard another Abrams , I thought it was over, but it drove in fast, right past me, so I got too shots off, then as its turret faced me a third shot fired disabling it. The fourth SABOT destroyed the tank. I chose at this time to use the save that u get for approching the base now that I was safely (hehe well sorta) within the tank and had shaved off another abrams.
On more than one occasion, the infantry got so close I had to hop out, and fire a HK mag to dispatch them, reload and hop back in. I heard a couple of more breadleys, and made holes in the outer wall so when they drove past it, theyd get a tank shell in their body.
2 more bradleys destroyed. More infantry, this time a lot, switch to heat. Disturbingly my tank was getting low on ammo (well MG and sabot). After quite a few dead yanks and some hairy moments, I waited a while and had no contacts. So I got out and did a base search. I saw 3 or 4 guys hiding behind a biuling and shot them. As I moved to the other side of the base I heard a bradley revving up.
I took out my law. I still had the law from when earlier which I didn't fire. I reloaded, just in time. It came side on and I took it out. I took out the crew still using my HK. I went for ammo.
I was at the ammo crates when a sniper round landed nearby. I ran for cover , but the second round hit me before I could get there. Deadâ€Â¦.d**nâ€Â¦ Retryâ€Â¦
I had a have quite a few retrys from when I saved in the tank., the first retry the tank got blown up, the second I got shot while engaging a squad during a foot sweep. But it was the couple times that the sniper hit me from close by in the woods to the north that was getting on my nerves. The sniper who'd killed me the first time was on the hill within line of sight of the tank so him and a couple of his mates were dealt with by that.
Eventually, I was happy the enemy were coming in in only ones or twos or threes, so I was on foot, moving between the biuldings and corners in cover around the base. All the enemy were shot again with HK. Infact the only time I hadnt used HK a burst of G36 fire I explained earlier (but technically I hadnt since I died that time, anyway..). So I decided, even though it was taking a risk , I ran out to the jeep and started driving round the perimiter. I got out once and shoot a sole guy on the opposite corner of where the main fighting had been who was glitched in a biuling and only his feeet popping out, then I got back in the jeep and started driving about a bit more.
I spotted an infantry squad coming in from the hill!. A bit late I thought. I couldn't use the tank, because Id blown that up with a satchel before I got in the jeep, so I debused and engaged them. Luckily for me they didn't return fire. Once again back in the jeep, but circled round and was just back in the base about to goto the medi tents, when the mission complete message came up!
( YAY1.jpg ) gooddammit that was hard.
Quite a few retrys, mostly after painstakingly long amount of time, then having to get motivated to do it all again, was it worth it? I looked at the time. I started plainly it around 1745-1800. Id had a few 20-min breaks after a particularly annoying death - going so well. then blam . One of those times was too get my dinner - a few hours late, but I had to do something to get my adrenaline back down to stealth mode (those firefights, even silenced on one side, are intense!.). And also my system needed a reboot (my PC is older than Flashpoint lol ).
The on completion the clock now read 0142. Id been playing, and particularly around the flag, replaying and getting so close yet not close enough a few times, yet this time id done it! Then I realised I hadn't visited the civilians. Even though it gave me the choice to finish , me being never one to give up a challenge, chose to take my battered jeep south.
On the way I went over a drop and ran straight into an American squad! I ran one of them over, I think an AA soldier, and just kept on driving, didn't want to die now, cause I wasn't sure about the retry time even though it said updating retry position on completion of main objectives.
I got to the town and by this time id been fighting for quite a while on my own, so It was nice to have some company again!
After getting the info from the civs and fixing etc the chinook I headed off to the Landing Zone area to see if there was anything interesting. I did a sweep and got out for a foot search but no sign of anybody or anything. So I got back in and flew to the spetz camp. Civvie stayed in the chopper on the road while me and my new spetz buddy got out to deal with anyone who was there. I spotted them first, but buddy was on open fire, and he took most of out himself! (I thought that was pretty cool, and ironic!) I got a screen shot of him sitting down at the fire afterwards ( chill1.jpg) - by this point I had seen a lot of killing so give me a break! We then went back to the chopper and headed back to main base. I wasn't expecting anyone to be there, and I didn't realise my LZ (just to the east of the base) was hot until id landed and ordered spetz out. The civvie dude was gunner and he took out the squad (well half squad) around the base, while I took out a couple of guys in the other side before taking spetz into the base. Didn't see anyone obvious so I took an enemy count on the radio. There were still 104 Americans left!!. I decided that I should know when to quit.
Id completed my objectives, raised the flag, defeated the Americans at the base, made contact with the civilians (and although it wasn't objective, cooked some sausages at the spetz camp in the woods). It had taken another hour or so since the main objective (I had to retry once after I saved at the civvies when me chopper got AA'ed. Doh!)
So final finishing time was around 3am - 9 hours. I hadn't chosen to continue before I went to see the civvies etc, so I chose to end the mission there.
Again if you chose to read it I'm sorry its so long (it took quite a while to write it too as you can imagine)]
Im glad I completed it. It took careful management and positioning of my men to complete the first objective. Then after my number two seemed to sacrifice himself for me at the Bradleys, I was on my own for the duration of the base attack. Good thinking about use of the tank when it came at the start and good luck that it was the main base I started at! I used all the saved that came with the mission that I received, plus I used the one you always get on OFP near the start when I spotted the opportunity with the Abrams. Despite this it's really hard when you've put up a brave fight for 45 mins and you have to start from back down the hill.. againâ€Â¦ to get motivated to do it again. Not to mention when you've just rearmed etc a chopper and you get blown out the sky (least that only happened once)
But hey, no one said it was gonna be easy!
Played Vet mode as requested. Tracers and Third Person view off. Super AI on.
Ive attached obligitory screenshot score and such like. No cheats were used, and nothing was edited. I havent seen anything untoward except for a few tactics from the early posts in the forums (but they would have been older versions) and I only got the mission yesterday and tried it properly today! Patience, resileence, and a bit of luck saw me through
The endings were very nicely made and a good reward for all the hard work the player has doneâ€Â¦ but my squad and me just eliminated sh*tloads of enemy, and we end up getting blown up when were getting extracted!â€Â¦.haha what away to go
I chose laugh, - followed not long after by punch macgubi! (don't worry im a fellow Scot , so you can punch me back soon
Ive played OFP since it came out on demo ages agoâ€Â¦ used to play a lot. I took a break from it but am getting back into it now and still have enough residual skill to get me by. Just.
You've obviously spend a lot of time on this and although ive not given much back and mabye made you spend a year reading this, that's because I couldn't find anything wrong or glitchy with it! (there were a couple of blackops running about on their own , that was maybe supposed to happen) everything else in the mission seemed to work fine, at least on the side I fighted on.- So well done!
Its Great work. This sort of thing is that you have done is why Operation Flashpoint is the best game ever made , on any platform , ever! And thanks to people like you, people like me can go into a whole other zone.
Oh by the way. You reference to Ace Rimmer at the civilian meet was a nice touch , that alone made it worthwhile for me. Great! - What a guy!
I would greatly appreciate if you could reply to this, even if you've only read the start and end, to confirm you got the email. Id like to know how many people have been able to complete these latest versions ?
And also the experiences other people have had , coming from other directions and such like - and also your view on the way I did it and how I started at the base.. lol
Perhaps in a couple days when I get some sleep etc I can deal the with other hundred Americans that remain! Is there any extra reward for this i.e a separate cutscene, cause if there is I could be tempted to try.
Sorry again for length if yove read this. I don't normally reply to these, but in this case a whole day has been devoted to it, so ove made an exception
TIME OF START - 1800 (rough) on 16/9
TIME OF MAIN OBJECTIVE - 0142 on 17/9
TIME I CHOSE TO EXTRACT (i.e after Civvie contact etc) 0306
ACTUAL MISSION TIME - 2hours 6mins
Teammembers - All of main squad killed except me. Civilian and Spetznatz from other squad that joined survived (well none of us did, but you know what I mean
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You wont see the flash , cause I've shot you in the ass.
Sneaker
EMAIL sneaker_gdh@hotmail.com
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Don't Talk Crap. - Actions speak louder than words.
Gordon
EMAIL gordon@rahamilton.freeserve.co.uk
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WOW! Thank you Sneaker, I read all of that and I'm going to read it several times more. It's great to have such a detailed report, I really appreciate it. I have, as you say, put a great deal of work into this, and it's nice to get a response.
You are now the Un-Impossible Mission Champion. The only other person to have completed this version is Planck (also a Scot) although others have completed earlier (easier) versions. He took over 26hrs mission time and scored over 68,000. (See page 11 of this thread.) The flag raised on the Hill in the Outro is now a Saltire, I think it is on your version if you want to look again. I struggle to do a fully cheated run through in less than 2.5 hours gameplay.
You played extremely well and you were also very fortunate - you rarely get a chance to down the chopper before the fog clears. However, your skill in disabling an Abrams was vital: Planck did the same thing I think. Which only goes to prove that my first instinct, 2 years ago, to have no armour was correct. The mission is too close to finished to take the armour out - plus it is fun to have it in - but I will rethink it slightly.
then skipped to the last page and got the link to your site, where I downloaded the mission.
Was there anything in particular that attracted your attention?
I played it twice and got killed the first time, and all of my squad except 1 and me the second time within about 2 mins.
Good. ;D That's what is supposed to happen.
I later worked out it was south east and south west of the hilltop respwctivly.
If you want to give it another go there are more start positions for you to find, as you will have seen from the map the civvies gave you.
My squad was equipped mostly silenced (me and 2 others with HK's remaining and a couple of bizons) except for 1 soldier who had a Dragunov, and the medic who had a M21
Silenced is probably the best way to go: sniper rifles at the start are no use at all because of the fog. There are plenty of snipers around for you to pick one up later if you want it.
Thank god for my squadmate number 7, who through the mist took out the Cobra as it came past within 100m with his strela .
That's lucky. It's quite rare to get a glimpse of the chopper in the fog. Sometimes there is a second chopper.
I crawl up, and place the satchel in the perfected distance that will damage it enough for AI the crew to bail, but not to completely disable it.
The critical moment. 8)
Then comes a Truck and a couple of jeeps
I'm quite proud of those. They can be a bloody nuisance if you're not careful - that M2 on the back can take out half your squad in 2 seconds - but if you are on the ball they are easy - and fun - meat.
The place we started in was the OLD BASE! (which is of course the main objective - great! , Well that's what I thought at the time that it would make it much easier, little did I know what was coming later however :p )
Ah yes, the old false sense of security. ;D
and for the lower part of the main hill chose a route what I thought had the least bushes (less likely hood of snipers normally).
Correct. Although in the open you have more chance of being found by a patrol. Also there is nowhere to hide if a sniper does spot you.
Id spotted my first sniper. It was the one south of the rock. I took him out with the HK.
Like everybody else, the snipers are on prob of presence so he may or may not be there next time.
The next 5-10 mins was the most intense OFP experience for a long , long , long time, possibly ever, and that's saying a lot! That moment, which occurs when I forget I was playing a game, acting on pure instinct, and genuine fear are the greatest moments ever!
:) That's what its all about. Do you remember "After Montignac" in the original campaign? When you are lost and alone and trying to get to the extraction point where you are captured? That mission made my palms wet and my knees shake. That's the feeling I wanted to recreate here.
and placed a satchel on the barbed wire hoping to blow it on my side! No such luck, I geuss you thought of that.
I did deliberately choose the type of fencing that you can't blow up. I think that's a mild unfairness in the game in general, but it's hardwired and therefore legitimate for me to use. Also as you discovered its a red herring - there is no difficulty about getting into the fenced area.
I got worried for a second (it seemed like an eternity) when I got to the flag and there was no option to take it.
There is no action because it's designed so that one of your loons can do it without any hassle. Also you're not going to go there and not change it. The delay before things happen is only as long as it takes the trigger to notice you are there, and then there is 3 seconds before the new flag goes up and you get the savegame, but it feels like an eternity. 8)
I could hear the bradleys on their way to the base, so I powered down the hill in the jeep straight towards it
I pleased to hear you felt you were in a rush. One of the subtleties of designing this mission was to put doubt in the player's mind whether he is supposed to be attacking the Base or defending it. In fact there was no need for you to rush at all - the Bradleys weren't even going to the base, they're just on a guard waypoint.
so I didn't risk reloading my law and getting shot
Very wise! How many times have we all been killed that way...
I could hop in the gunners seat of the M1 I partially disabled earlier (aha yes my plan all along. Cunning, at least I thought it was )
As cunning as a particularly cunning fox who is a Professor of Advanced Cunningosity.
I chose at this time to use the save that u get for approching the base now that I was safely (hehe well sorta) within the tank and had shaved off another abrams.
There is a 50% chance of a third Abrams, in the same group as the second.
But it was the couple times that the sniper hit me from close by in the woods to the north that was getting on my nerves.
Tee-hee, I thought that having the Base covered by hard to spot snipers would annoy somebody. ;D
Id had a few 20-min breaks after a particularly annoying death - going so well. then blam . One of those times was too get my dinner - a few hours late, but I had to do something to get my adrenaline back down to stealth mode (those firefights, even silenced on one side, are intense!.).
I know that feeling. ::)
And also my system needed a reboot (my PC is older than Flashpoint lol ).
I pleased to hear that. No I don't mean I'm pleased you have an old PC. ;D But the earliest manifestations of this version (round about the late 50s) suffered severely from lag and I'm glad that the problem has been solved.
Even though it gave me the choice to finish , me being never one to give up a challenge, chose to take my battered jeep south.
That's the spirit! I never thought of somebody heading south at this point but there's no reason why you shouldn't.
I wasn't sure about the retry time even though it said updating retry position on completion of main objectives.
There is an automatic retry on completion of the main objectives which you could go back to. You also get an additional radio savegame once you elect to Continue.
I headed off to the Landing Zone area to see if there was anything interesting. I did a sweep and got out for a foot search but no sign of anybody or anything.
Nope, there is nothing there. It is the start position for a group of jeep/mgs so it's theoretically possible, if they have been fleeing, to find them there.
flew to the spetz camp. Civvie stayed in the chopper on the road while me and my new spetz buddy got out to deal with anyone who was there.
Again, there is nobody supposed to be there but it is close to the start position of a guard group and you do sometimes find somebody in the area.
so I took an enemy count on the radio. There were still 104 Americans left!!.
You did well - I've never completed it with anything like that number, usually its 30-40. (Actually I've never completed this version at all.)
Again if you chose to read it I'm sorry its so long (it took quite a while to write it too as you can imagine)
On the contrary, I'm delighted you wrote so much. :thumbsup:
Good thinking about use of the tank when it came at the start and good luck that it was the main base I started at!
You can't win this one without both good thinking and good luck.
I used all the saved that came with the mission that I received, plus I used the one you always get on OFP near the start
I was once concerned that there weren't enough savegames but they have such a huge impact I really didn't want to give any more. From what you said it seems to be about right - you had 2hrs of gameplay and there are 6 possible savegames so that's one every 20 minutes.
Played Vet mode as requested. Tracers and Third Person view off. Super AI on.
You get no waypoints in Cadet, plus a hint and titletext at the start telling you off. Tracers I think are fair anyway, and 3rd person/Command view is part of the game. Super AI makes little difference as everybody is very high skill anyway (though not max).
Ive attached obligitory screenshot score and such like.
8) Always good to see. :)
a few tactics from the early posts in the forums
That's not cheating anyway, that's making good use of Intelligence Assets. ;D
Patience, resileence, and a bit of luck saw me through
And skill.
The endings were very nicely made and a good reward for all the hard work the player has done.
Glad you think so, yours is the first report on the Outro.
and still have enough residual skill to get me by. Just.
Some people struggle to get past the start. With some luck and persistance the good average player can change the flag but can't get any further. You have to be a genuinely strong player to get off the Hill.
You've obviously spend a lot of time on this
Several hundred hours over two years.
and although ive not given much back
No pal, you've given plenty back. :)
that's because I couldn't find anything wrong or glitchy with it!
*smug glow* :P
(there were a couple of blackops running about on their own , that was maybe supposed to happen)
They were probably the motorcyle patrol after having dismounted. It's a small group to start with. Everybody is on probability of presence and its not unusual to find groups of only 3. Also, once you're well into the mission, you find a lot of small groups: they are the rallying remnants of a group which has been 3/4 destroyed and has fled.
Its Great work. This sort of thing is that you have done is why Operation Flashpoint is the best game ever made , on any platform , ever! And thanks to people like you, people like me can go into a whole other zone.
It's comments like that that make it all worthwhile, thank you.
Oh by the way. You reference to Ace Rimmer at the civilian meet was a nice touch , that alone made it worthwhile for me. Great! - What a guy!
Lol you're the first person to notice that.
I would greatly appreciate if you could reply to this, even if you've only read the start and end, to confirm you got the email.
I haven't had a message from you other than the post. Replying to such an excellent beta review is a pleasure.
And also the experiences other people have had , coming from other directions and such like - and also your view on the way I did it and how I started at the base.. lol
Read through the thread, there are some good war stories. I encourage people to post rather than email me so there isn't really anything I can add.
I think you played it extremely well. The Base is probably one of the better places to start at, though they are all designed to be reasonably consistent. Certainly there are no fundamentally "easy" or "hard" ones, it's more a question of geography, plan (where you are going first) and personal taste. The secret was that Abrams you captured: it enabled you to mow down the approaching enemy sufficiently fast to trigger the end during a "hole" in the attacks, rather than having to take out another 10 or so groups. As for going up the Hill, you naturally did the right things: watch for snipers; just below the top conduct a reverse slope defence against the groups coming down from the top; and don't take the risk of standing on the summit (there is a sniper you may not have seen who would have shot you).
You have also proved a theory which I've always had: that speed can win you this mission. 2 hours is very fast and it helped you: there were plenty of guard groups heading towards the Base from the other side of the Hill when the mission ended. That's not a flaw, it was designed like that, its just that nobody has done it before.
The alternative approach, which Planck took, is to take it very slowly, slowly catchee monkey. Clear the road patrols, wander down to the civvies and take out the roadblock, ambush guard groups. Equally valid of course, it takes longer and you get more kills. When Planck got to the main end there were only 8 Americans left.
From what you've said it's clear that I have to make it slightly harder to capture that Abrams.
Perhaps in a couple days when I get some sleep etc I can deal the with other hundred Americans that remain! Is there any extra reward for this i.e a separate cutscene, cause if there is I could be tempted to try.
Yes there is. Not only do you not have to sit through that worthy but dull mission accomplished cutscene again, you also get a modest easter egg for your pains.
Thanks again for all that. I've sent you an email and I'd love to see the screenies.
If you do see the Outro again I'd be grateful if you'd look at your squad carefully: it should be the same as when you finished the mission. This is a new trick in OFP, I don't believe its ever been done before in a Single Mission. It works for me, but its always nice to have confirmation.
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Hi i replied to your email as youve probly noticed :).
i think i forgot to mention this :
If you do see the Outro again I'd be grateful if you'd look at your squad carefully: it should be the same as when you finished the mission
Yeah i remember it from the first time actually - me the civ dude and the spetz from the otehr squad were all present and correct for the extraxtion - including the correct weapons ( i.e what they had last) so that was pretty nice.
And flashbacks to my comrades dying was particuarly poignant since none of them survived. For mother russia :)
Lol you're the first person to notice that.
Next time i'll try floating down on a crododile from a C130 so i can steal Colonel Blakes's parachute as he tries to escape, then i can drift straight into the flag area. - You know it makes sense! 8)
and 3rd person/Command view is part of the game
True. It is the individuals choice what they do. But i chose not too use it. Not having the ability to peek over crests or round corners is what maid it so intense and unperdidctable and why the positiong of my men and points was so crucial since i couldnt see anything except what i could see!
For me, crawling to the flag with 3rd person on would be no fun, cause i wouldnt be shitting my pants from not knowing what was wating for me, or searching the main base for survivers - too easy to see where the enemy is. Setting snap ambushes can be a bitch, but when it works the feelings great.
That intense feeling i was talking about, is just made better that way. [:Cue crazy tank gunner sequence]
(Although trying to land chinooks in tight spaces can be difficult lol!)
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This is all good stuff...........Slow method or fast method.........we russian-scots lead the world in 'Changing flags on hills heavily defended by american troops'.
By the way.....I did notice the reference to 'Ace Rimmer'......I didn't mention it because I didn't think many of the forum members would know what I was talking about.
Planck
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Yeah planck indeed. Although it didnt seem like a fast method, since i was prone for most of the time on the hill, sneaking about as best i could. then Dying and Doing it again :p
But i have to take my hat off to you - 26 hours is some time! How did you split it up if you dont mind me asking!
I still have a company to deal with and you only have a section :-\
Oh by the way, i watched the Outro properly. First time i pressed escape at a certain point, as i tought that was it. :P
If id only waited another 5 seconds last time i woulda seen the Saltire raised :)!
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It took me 26 hrs and 35 mins......mostly because I crawled all over that hill taking out the snipers.
I don't have any section left to kill, I managed to get every single american soldier. The island is clear of americans in other words.
What Macguba meant was...... when I cleared the base, there were only 8 americans left to deal witjh........I think. I carried on and dealt with them also.
I didn't of course play the mission in 26 straight hours......I did use 2 saves I think.........or was it 3.....hmmm. I just carried on the next day from the previous saves.
Planck
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This is a continuation of my story of the Mission Un-impossible that I posted a couple days ago. (see page 15)
After a short but well needed break from the game I chose to load my last saved game -which was at the ruined village with the russian equip and others. When I chose to extract last time All main objectives were comlplete and 104 yanks remained, in a time of just over 2 hours.
However, at my last save game which is where i am contunining from, the time passed is roughly 1hr 50 onwards. - the main objectives are comlpete - the difference being i hanvn't visited the old spetz camp or the main base again as i did before i chose to extract last time. - so there are yet more americans still to kill!
So if you spent a week reading my last post then you might like this too lol
Im afraid its even more story and less review based than the last post.
May contain things about certain areas or events within the mission so if you dont want to know then dont read!
You have been warned!
[Once again I apologise about length if you choose to read it.
On loading, all main objectives were met so I chose continue. All my squad have been killed, but ive been joined a a civilian sympathiser and a spetz from another squad. New objective - eliminate all american forces! Enemy count - 118!
Ok so I knew that the north was relitivly clear from earlier, so I chose to begin my search south of the hill. I rearmed and got spetz to heal, get more mags and civvie to take a dragunov. I took the chopper and landed just east of the Ammo and repair truck zone trying to conceal the big mofo of a chinook in the trees. On getting out there was no enemy immediately obvious. There was a dead enemy machine gunner nearby who id ran over earlier but that was it. I began my search on the woods to the east. Nothing was found, so I backtracked and went to the woods to the west. On stalking through, I spotted a stationary enemy squad. Spetz was with me about 20 m back while civ was on edge of woods to cover us if we needed to retreat. We were both armed silent, and took out about half the squad in a few seconds, otehrs tried to run away, most didn't make it.
I waited a few mins - eventually the squads law soldier came on our left flank on his tod. He never made it another 5m. I waited another few mins until I was happy it was clear. Then ordered the squad to regroup east of the woods, to overlooking the ammo area, hoping the enemy squad whos machine gunner I ran over there would return. No squad came , but instead a jeep. It turned onto the road paralel to us.
The 3 of us opened fire. After this I waited some more. Nothing. Turned to the North and got a position to look towards the hill. Using my binos I expected a few snipers. What I got was 2 snipers I could see, and a squad. I squapped weapons with civ, giving me the dragunov - then set a couple of satchels I was carrying on the woods behind me (I learned from this mission - you cant be to careful when it comes to watching your ass.) I took out the sniper, I think about a KM+ away. Neither the other sniper or the squad seemed to react. I then took out the other sniper, before turning on the squad, still a good distance away.
As I was sniping the squad , some rounds landed nearby. Observing, it was from a machine gunner left of the squad. In fact, it was a second squad , now on their way through bushes towards me but still some way off, so I continued firing to eliminate the first squad. I did a 360 sweep. To my left, on the northern edge of the woods behind me, I could see 3 guys heading this way. I took out their sniper, then lost sight of the rest. I ordered spetz to cover that side and then turned back to the second squad. That's when I noticed, there was now a third squad in front of me moving to my right only 100m away, between me and the second. I opened fire along with the other 2 members of my squad. Concentrating and switching targets whenever anyone stopped or turned our way, 1 or 2 managed to escape to the right into trees from the third squad. By now though the second squad was decimated. I turned to the trees to my front right scanning for targets. Then I got a fright as I heard an m16 burst close by.
Within two seconds I'd turned, seeing as I did that spetz was dead, then observed that there was a fourth squad in sight - in broad daylight - less than 20 metres away , blew my satchels, and shot the man closest to us before an American body landed right in front of me from the explosion.
Id lost another man, a third of my firepower, but had taken out over 4 squads in the process. I swapped the dragunov for spetz's bizon, and took civ and flanked right a bit, then came in from the east to the big depression south of the hill, hoping to find the remainder of the third if any had survived, and hoping another squad id seen there on a previous recce would still be there. Sneaking in , instead I found 2 MG jeeps, and took out their crews. I placed a satchel at each and one inbetween , all on a 10 minute timer, hoping if anyone came to investigate, they would die. I chose to exfil from the same area the same way I came in, knowing it to be safe - aha but it wasn't!.
2 enemy soldiers came on top of us less than 5 metres away, they were silently dispatched. Then another 2 came. Déjàvu anyone? Luckily it must have been the remnants of a squad from earlier, or the others fell back.
I did a quick scan. Holy crap! There was a squad to the north, stationary overlooking where id just been! 75 m away! I cant believe I missed seeing them as I sneaked in and out, but lucky I was being slow and stealthy cause they obviously hadn't spotted us. - it must have been the squad i was expecting to be down the hill a bit, but then you never know with this mission!
I got into a better firing position and got civ to do the same. I think we took out about 6 or 7 of them, then fell back. I was on my way back to the ammocrates/repair truck area, when I spotted another enemy squad. This was the squad in the position id been waiting too ambush earlier! They must have got bored of whatever they were doing and came back. I got civ to pick the dragunov back up and I picked up m21 from a nearby dead sniper.
We got in position and fired, they tried to bug out, having lost 3 men before they even realised they were under fire. Only one yankee tried to return fire, but his rounds were wide when an M21 round pierced his cranium as he was pulling the trigger. The rest didn't get far.
So far, so good. I did a enemy count. I think it was 60somehing, but a good start in a relativly short space of time. We rearmed, I picked up anotehr satchel in preperation for me next trick. I then did a few hundred metre wide sweep to make sure there wasn't anyone to muck up our take-off (i.e bloody AA soldiers!). During this I found a yank standing on his own, who was killed shortly afterwards. I took off, and headed towards the old spetznatz camp. On the way, right in front of my cockpit I saw the smoke of an AA round whizz past less than 5 or so metres away from left to right. Damn that was close, I swing round and came to the road, then did a 360 and prepared to land. Anotehr AA round exactly the same as before, but travelling up at what seemed like a higher angle. Ths first one missed because of luck or speed, the second because of the fact I was coming in to land fast so it couldn't adjust down. Phawor!
I got out and left civ at the chopper. I went to take take care of the squad near the spetz camp ( I knew they were there from my last game, i.e I visted there before quitting) but when I got to the area, I noticed they were on the move and active. This is all I needed. A pitched fight in the middle of the woods! I took out one 2 of them. I heard explosions. As u turned I realised it was from the satcehls I placed in the depression earlier. When I turned back the enemy squad had seemed to dissapear. Oh shit, I thought. Crawling through I saw one of them and injured him before he went prone. Then I took a single M16 or XM round to the arms. I couldn't see where from. I moved to behind a tree, but took a second round, this time in my legs. I decided I should bug out, but as I was crawling to the edge I spotted who I thought was shooting at me. I turned and fired. He fired at the same time. We both died.
FOR ****'s SAKE.. r
After doing the stuff again (taking out squads etc - unfortunatly Spetz had died again! - but this time from a sniper I forgot to take out before the fighting started) and evntually getting back in the chinook near the ammo/repair truck, I made sure I flew the long way round, anti clockwise to come in without the least fuss top the spetz camp. No AA this time. I got the the squad in the woods, and placed a satchel right in the middle of them, then fell back and blew it up. I was a bit too close still when somehow 1 of them spotted me and they went prone - I touched off, taking the whole squad out. I was alive, but had blood on my arms and I couldn't walk. Luckily the BMP ambulance was nearby. I got back in the chopper and flew back to civvie village to rearm. I decided while I was there to take the BMP, in order to scour the hill-side of remaining snipers. I came in from the west where I knew it was relitvly clear and where it wasn't so steep. Took out a couple snipers on the way up.
Eventually got to the hill top, turned towards the base and bombarded it with High Explosiv shells. Some more dead yankees there now. I also used most of the HE at the trees which had warning markers ronud it since I was too afraid of going in myself.
I was going to then use the BMP in a downward spiral, to find snipers or run over their bushes, but a word of warning - don't let the AI drive on the edge of a hill - not even for a second! .we went speeding down the northern side, (You know how tanks can get speeding downhill :p )I saw through the sights after going past we just missed running over a squad. When we got to the bottom and slowed down I turned the turret and took them out. It turned out to be only a few guys , but since we were going down so fast, the LAW and AA dude didn't get a chance to take a shot at us lmao. After this I took the BMP back to civvie base to Re-arm it. On the way there, we ran into three yankees in almost the same spot id ran into a squad when I came this way in the jeep. The advantage of the BMP however was that they were all dead within seconds.
When I got there, I did an enemy count. Only 32 Americans left. I decided to use my last save (that you get for continuing) at this point. I decided to take the chopper to the top of the hill along with civ to see what we could see. Not a lot!. On the way round I took out a few snipers but couldn't see anything else. By this point wed been fighting quite a while, so civ decided to take a leek in the outhouse near the top of the hill, as he didn't want to piss into the wind at that altitude, especially if it resulted in him staining his own land. (leek.jpg)
We got back into the chopper and took it to the west village where the medi tent bit is, the only area id not really sweeped properly yet. I got out, and left civvie there, while I did a foot search of all the surrounding landâ€Â¦and all the the woodsâ€Â¦ Nothing. The only intresting thing was a piece of barbed wire that seemed out of place between two of the large wooded areas. So I continued.. on foot.. now on the south sideâ€Â¦ circling round to west of the LZ , then eventually deciding that I hadnt found anything, so I aint gonna keep running!. Civ came to pick me up in the chopper, and I got back in as pilot. I did a circle of the hill hoping my gunner would take out any remaining snipers. He only saw one (well actually I saw him, but he shot him). Ah well. After another pass I landed back on the top of the hill.
During a sweep to the north, west, and southid taken out 5 snipers. 3 of them from less than 5m away with my trusty Glock 17S and the other 2 with a 5.56 round to the head via a G36. Then as i was overlooking the south of this damn hill I spotted movement in the depression where the jeep mg's were. I had a G36 at the time but it didn't take long to fing a dead yankee sniper with an unused Rifle. I lost the squad for a while, but eventually picked it up again , this time pretty close. I waited for them to turn their back briefly then took them out (there was only about 4 or 5 of them). Around the same area I spotted a sole G36 soldier (mabye that squad was his rescue party). I then went to the west, and found another 2 snipers. I took a enemy count. 20 Loons remaining. Where the fuck are they? There cant be 20 more snipers. I assumed there was anotehr couple of squads hiding somewhere. I was on my back to the top of the hills so that I could take the chopper for another search when I ran into yet another sniper. Except this one was moving towards the top of the hill. 1 second after I spotted him, Civ came on the radio. "6 o'clock, sniper , 50" - oh crap , enemy at the chinook! - it wasn't the same sniper as I was just about to take out. I got to the top, just as I did, I saw civ take out the sniper with his g36, who was on his way towards him.
I wasn't sure what was going on, but I knew one thing - the americans were pissed!. They wanted either us dead on their chopper back. Or both! Enemy count said 18. I placed a satchel at the top underneath the chopper fearing the worst and then took civ for a sweep to the east. We took out another sniper on his way towards us. When we turned back and moved back towards the chopper, a yankee machine gunner had just arrived at the flag area. This was getting serious!. I blew my satchel sending the chopper about 15 metres and the solder to everon. At that set up a defensive point in the ruins where the sofa is. I was on one corner - Civ was on the other. I only had to wait a few seconds before the first enemy came into view. He was taken down, then someone to the left. Then civ started giving contacts, 3 oclock, 50. We were in the ruins and the americans seemed to be throwing everything they had left at us. This, once again was intense!!!
Defending my corner, I turn round to check noone had sneaked up behind me, then turn round again to see a half squad of soldiers emerge. I go prone, taking a round from an XM as I do, another couple landing above me before I get the chance to fire back. Im now prone, injured and scareed.
I go back to kneeing to reduce my profile and risk of getting shot from the diagonal. I watch my side(s) and civ watches his. I turn to see someone in the process of throwing a hand grenade. Everone who plays flashpoint knows those moments. You have about half a second to react. I sprinted out of the ruins towards him. I didn't even stop to shoot, just dived down prone, and in that moment the hand grenade landed behind me. When I got out, the wall must have shielded me, cause I was ok. I was now prone right in front of him. He took a burst of fire to the chest. I ran back to the ruins to see civ shooting another american as he came into line of sight. He was reloading his pistol as I got back into position. Crazy.
As I did, a few more americans were in view. I took out one, then moved front right to the window. I took out another. Some bullets landed behind me. I didn't see where they were from, but civ seemed to take care of him. I stood back up, yankee had gone. Mabye to regroup.
By this point I felt like I was at the 2nd chopper in blackhawk down. There may be only 15 or 20 americans, but it felt like more when you were holed up last stand alamo style and they come every which way. I reloaded my magazine yet again. I was on fully automatic.
More shooting, more contacts.
Eventually,after a brief respite (about 10 seconds), i heard breathing behind me. As I turned I realised it was more than one guy, but where I was I couldn't get an angle. I turned back to the main gap. A sniper had just appeared out of nowhere. I was staring down the barrel of his sniper rifle. I pulled the trigger just in time. If id waited another nanosecond id probably have been dead. I was reloading, when a blackop appeared at the door. If hed turned to shoot, again id probably been dead. I was having a lot of close calls in these little ruins. No, he was facing to my right, and instead of shooting me he placed a satchel. Him being within the process of standing back up I poured lead into him. I then heard the recognisable sound of a (another) satchel being placed behind the wall to my rear right. I quickly turned and moved to get a fireing angle but he was already gone into the bushes. Civ took a shot at him, but had to reload after the first.
This was somehting knew to me! (satchel.jpg , satchel2.jpg)
Id never in my entire OFP gaming had an enemy AI soldier dynamically place explosive like that in order to break a strong point even if it was just some ruins. For a split second I thought it was great that the AI had done something like that.
Then I realised that if he was running away, it might explode at any second, invariably killing us. Thos sly American bastards!
I used my radio and did an enemy count. Only 3 left. I decided therefore to take my chances outside rather than mabye getting blown up. I order civ out to the east. I was planning to give chase to the blackop. Before I did I picked up a HK checked the immediate perimiter, seemed clear, but I spotted where the second blackop had placed his satchel. As I started to run east I ran into a - but he was facing the other way, blisfully unaware of what was about to happen to him. I took his sniper rifle and continued on. When I got to the edge, the blackop was already down the the ridge below - I suppose if he was smart enough to blow them he woulda done it by now - but a couple of M21 rounds in the back made sure he never did.
I then did a radio check again. Just to make sureâ€Â¦ - yup 1 loon remaining.
I decided it would be prudent to be careful, not wanting to get shot by the last guy! I ordered civ back into the ruins, then I started crawling to the west. I quickly spotted the familiar bushy head of a sniper - - FOR GODS SAKE THAT'S A LOT OF SNIPERS! - mabye ironic he was the last guy. I sneaked up behind him and pulled out my Glock. He went prone, but didn't turn around. It seemed as if he knew what was coming to himâ€Â¦ he was the last American.
All objectives complete. Time for extractionâ€Â¦.
Sorry as always about long length]
All I can say is im glad that was over (in a good way) . I planned my route etc in order to cover areas that I had not covered during the initial objectives, and it seemed to work well.
It took quite a long time to locate snipers etc - and I obviously missed a lot at too (hence at the ending!)
And used the BMP as a firebase for a short time aswell which worked once id cleared most of the squads (i.e laws) - my only regret is that if id known about repair truck etc at the civvie village before I went there, I wouldt have satcheled the knackered abrams I used at the base, and then it woulda been easy(ier).
I have to nit pick at the fact that once I got down to a lower number i.e 30-40 it was really hard to find people (I spent ages looking in some places and found no-one). However that said when the number got ever lower, about 20 they seemed to converge on us - which was good. I would have liked if that happened a bit earlier though. Some other points were good. Like when the squads seemed to be still working together when I attacked the one on the south hill side (i.e reinforments coming to me)
My style had switched from completely silent on the earlier objectives to a mixture or silent and sniping in order to meet this last objective. I used the Chopper to get about mostly, and the BMP for a short while. Nearer to the end I was using a G36 (and of course my trusty silenced pistol) for since I wasn't sure of what to expect. The ending was good. Once again I was sitting there shitting it hoping I could survive not this time in attack but in defence! - Intensity at its best. I spent ages searching for nothing - but that's not something to complain about its just part of the map. - the deal you make when you attempt a challenge like this. Although I didn't search to the north because of the danger markers - mabye that's where the blighters were hiding?
This time it took me from about 7PM yesterday till 3AM this morning, so about an hour less devoted the the cleanup than as all the other objectives the other day.
However actual mission time was now 5hr 24 min (total)
- that's an extra 3 hours 20 mins
- compared to 2hrs 6mins before (or about 1hr50 if i ended as soon as the Civ cutscense was over) more than an hour longer than for all the other objectives. This was due to the combination of ambushing and patrolling etc.
(obviously i died less aswell, once near the start during an initial recce and the time i described above, and once when i got sniped while searching (but that was after my final save so wasnt so bad with only 32 yanks left)
Once again thanks for the great map.
Ive never seen the satchel thing though. Was that scripted or just a consequence of unusual circimstances letting the AI do its thang? (and would it have blown)
If you read you would have seen that i found a couple of jeeps at the depression ( i cant remember whats there, a UAZ and ammo crates i think) to the south of the hill. One of them worked the other didnt once when i checked after killed its occupants. I take it the other one wasnt patrolling etc because the otehr was disabled (mabye it was in the same group/leader - but wouldnt they get out on foot?)
Oh and that was one fine easter egg! Thanks!
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Sneaker that's fantastic, thank you. Nobody has played this section in this way before (Planck only had 8 yanks left) so its all good stuff.
On loading, all main objectives were met so I chose continue. All my squad have been killed, but ive been joined a a civilian sympathiser and a spetz from another squad. New objective - eliminate all american forces! Enemy count - 118!
A nice little summary. :)
No squad came , but instead a jeep. It turned onto the road paralel to us.
Probably the remaining vehicle of a road patrol.
The 3 of us opened fire. After this I waited some more. Nothing.
If you're quick about taking out an enemy group they never actually detect you. Consequently no Guard group is sent to help them. If you have a good ambush position it can sometimes be advantageous to let one of them live long enough to figure out what's going on ... risky though!
then set a couple of satchels I was carrying on the woods behind me (I learned from this mission - you cant be to careful when it comes to watching your ass.)
I never thought of that, good idea: I'll put it in the hints and tips the civvies give you.
then observed that there was a fourth squad in sight
This is the dilemma of being spotted. You no longer have to look for trouble .... it looks for you. By this stage there are a lot of groups on Guard waypoints.
- in broad daylight - less than 20 metres away , blew my satchels, and shot the man closest to us before an American body landed right in front of me from the explosion.
Woo-hoo!
On the way, right in front of my cockpit I saw the smoke of an AA round whizz past less than 5 or so metres away from left to right. d**n that was close, I swing round and came to the road, then did a 360 and prepared to land. Anotehr AA round exactly the same as before, but travelling up at what seemed like a higher angle. Ths first one missed because of luck or speed, the second because of the fact I was coming in to land fast so it couldn't adjust down. Phawor!
Lol I know what you mean. I had four miss in about five seconds once, it was surprisingly exhilarating. Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh.
We both died.
:( Bad luck. The disadvantage of having so many Amis left is that you are a bit thin on savegames.
I decided while I was there to take the BMP, in order to scour the hill-side of remaining snipers.
The BMP was originally placed as a trap - you get in it and the chopper whacks you. It's only once the remaining enemy get to less than, say, 50 that it's any good to you and it is ideal for clearing snipers since they can't hurt you. Virtually every squad has a possibility of a LAW or AT loon so it's not risk free though.
Eventually got to the hill top, turned towards the base and bombarded it with High Explosiv shells.
Lol I've never done that, it would be fun.
I also used most of the HE at the trees which had warning markers ronud it since I was too afraid of going in myself.
Lol that didn't do any good .... it's a minefield. You were right not to go in though, you would almost certainly have been killed or injured. There are markers around another wood to the NW of the base but its actually safe. This news is actually buried in the hints and tips you got from the civvies.
so civ decided to take a leek in the outhouse near the top of the hill, as he didn't want to stain his own land. (leek.jpg)
Lol
Nothing. The only intresting thing was a piece of barbed wire that seemed out of place between two of the large wooded areas.
It's on the map, nothing to do with me. Does look a bit odd.
I wasn't sure what was going on, but I knew one thing - the americans were pissed!.
Lol
We were in the ruins and the americans seemed to be throwing everything they had left at us. This, once again was intense!!!
:)
I turn to see someone in the process of throwing a hand grenade. Everone who plays flashpoint knows those moments. You have about half a second to react. I sprinted out of the ruins towards him. I didn't even stop to shoot,
We certainly do know these moments. You usually don't have time to shoot till after the wretched thing has gone off.
A sniper had just appeared out of nowhere.
The sightlines are very difficult in that area: people have tendancy to appear and disappear as if by magic. The shape of the ground changes a quite a lot depending on your terrain detail too.
This was somehting knew to me! (satchel.jpg , satchel2.jpg)
Id never in my entire OFP gaming had an enemy AI soldier dynamically place explosive like that in order to break a strong point even if it was just some ruins.
Neither have I, that's fantastic. It's the game itself, nothing to do with me.
FOR GODS SAKE THAT'S A LOT OF SNIPERS!
Lol yes there are. It feels like about half but in fact only about 15% of the enemy are snipers. This is partly deliberate to make it harder - snipers are both harder for AI to detect and better at detecting than ordinary loons - and partly just a consequence of the size of The Hill. It's a big area so to cover it properly needs a lot of snipers. Most enemy squads include a possible sniper. (All on prob of presence of course.)
Sorry as always about long length
No, its good. :)
All I can say is im glad that was over (in a good way).
Lol I know what you mean.
I wouldn't have satcheled the knackered abrams I used at the base, and then it woulda been easy(ier).
It's good that you did ... the extended bit of the mission would be a bit pointless if you have an Abrams with a driver and a hidden repair truck. There is no serious opposition so, apart from the endrush in the ruins it just would have been a tedious clearing up exercise.
I have to nit pick at the fact that once I got down to a lower number i.e 30-40 it was really hard to find people (I spent ages looking in some places and found no-one). However that said when the number got ever lower, about 20 they seemed to converge on us - which was good. I would have liked if that happened a bit earlier though.
You are spot on, they converge on the top of the hill once you get down to about 20. There are still some problems with that routine though, and I'm glad to hear it worked. In fact the new version will have a completely new script for this. It's the vehicles that are the problem. Interesting to hear that 20 was too few: I was going to make it less, on the grounds of Planck's report, but given your report I think I'm going to have a rethink.
Some other points were good. Like when the squads seemed to be still working together when I attacked the one on the south hill side (i.e reinforments coming to me)
That's just OFP being a great game. It's such a complex situation that the mission designer is basically hands off at this point. The sophistication of the game has taken over and the remaining American loons are in bad way psychologically. For instance some of the groups you saw moving were probably guard groups on their way to investigate false reports of contact with you. Occasionally you see spectacular blue-on-blues. One of things I wanted to do was bring out the best in the game and I think that's happened - for example the blackop placing satchels.
The ending was good.
Good,a mission this long needs a good ending.
Once again I was sitting there sh*tting it hoping I could survive not this time in attack but in defence!
Lol that one was deliberate. There is a constant interplay in the mission between attack and defence. Even if you know which you're doing at the time you don't know which it will be in ten minutes.
I spent ages searching for nothing - but that's not something to complain about its just part of the map. - the deal you make when you attempt a challenge like this.
That's why I made it optional. It could be very frustrating and I didn't want to put the player through that unless he wanted the challenge. I've done everything I can to restrict the area: you shouldn't have to look outside the ring road, which is the natural boundary.
Although I didn't search to the north because of the danger markers - mabye that's where the blighters were hiding?
Certainly possible, but there's no reason for them to be there rather than anywhere else. There are no "hiding" routines.
Once again thanks for the great map.
My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it and thank you for the report.
Ive never seen the satchel thing though. Was that scripted or just a consequence of unusual circimstances letting the AI do its thang? (and would it have blown)
Natural. Nothing to do with me.
i found a couple of jeeps at the depression ( i cant remember whats there, a UAZ and ammo crates i think) to the south of the hill.
Ammo and BMP ambulance if you mean the depression to the SSW, UAZ and ammo if you mean the Scud location from near the end of CWC.
One of them worked the other didnt once when i checked after killed its occupants. I take it the other one wasnt patrolling etc because the otehr was disabled (mabye it was in the same group/leader - but wouldnt they get out on foot?)
I've found that too: the jeep appears undamaged but you can't order your loons into it. Sometimes you can get in but it won't move. Don't understand why. Tthe jeep/mg is not a robust vehicle in programming terms: it sometimes feels like it's meant for cutscenes and eyecandy rather than as a fully fledged fighting vehicle. The game has many examples of this sort of thing, it's one of the reasons mission designing can be so frustrating.
Oh and that was one fine easter egg! Thanks!
;D
Thanks again for that, all good stuff and much appreciated. Email the pics to me, I'd like to see them.
Edit: ah, just got 'em, thanks. Nice to see the squad was correct in the Outro again.
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One more for fun.
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Sneaker, how long did it take to write that :D? It took 20 min from me to write text, what was about 1/4 from that ;)
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I have to nit pick at the fact that once I got down to a lower number i.e 30-40 it was really hard to find people (I spent ages looking in some places and found no-one). However that said when the number got ever lower, about 20 they seemed to converge on us - which was good. I would have liked if that happened a bit earlier though.
I've been working on a new script for this anyway, which is now thankfully working. It starts to send the loons up the hill when the number gets down to between 12 and 34: it partly depends on how many there were when you elected to extend, and is partly random. In other words if you had 104 like you did, then it will be between 28 and 34. (There is also a further random element which principally affects the timing of the command.) If it was say 80 it would be between 22 and 32. If it was 19 it would be between 12 and 15. If it's below 11 they start going up straightaway.
I considered having a higher maximum than 34 but decided against it: 15-20 odd was quite intense at the hilltop and this is not supposed to make things harder, just more fun. 40 arriving more or less at once might be a bit too much.
Oh, and something like that is not nit-picking: IMHO that's a good helpful beta comment. Just the sort of thing I want. :) Comments on this solution are of course welcome: do you think these numbers are about right?
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@ Peter. Yeah it takes quite a while, can take me a good couple hours sometimes when you include going through all the mistakes etc.
@ Mac - 118 ;) , 104 was when i ended the mission last time, but 118 was my last save (i.e where i had to continue the mission from to complete it), sorry if i didnt make that clearer - lol not that it makes much difference.
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118, 104, pah. What's a poxy 14 splash targets to an OFP maestro like yourself. ;D
Now, a question for you all: I seek opinions. I have on my hard drive the original version of the Un-Impossible mission. It was a more or less working mission which in fact I posted for beta testing a long, long time ago. The thread is on page 23 of this board: I think the version at the start - it's not been automatically deleted because its so old - is the version I've posted here.
(I also have what I think is the version from the end of that thread, which is rather harder but in a sense less interesting because it's from a random point in the the middle of the design process, rather than the start. The current Un-Impossible Mission (0-64 on my hard drive, coming out in a few days) is of course the end of that process.)
I want to give it a very modest amount of smartening up it and offer it to the public. It could justifiably be submitted to the Missions Depot as a stand alone mission. (Although the score wouldn't be that great.) Alternatively, I could include it in the Un-Impossible Mission download as a wee bonus mission. Whaddya think? Is it a fun idea to have it included with the main event?
I've attached it so you can look if you want. This is the earliest version extant of the Impossible Mission, as it then was. It's not even that hard. :-[ Bug reports appreciated but beta testing comments not required - this is a take-it-or-leave it job.
I've just played it for a laugh. 46 mins, 20 kills, 2 casualties. Actually took about 1hr20. I used a total of two savegames, one ordinary and one cheat since I didn't want to be there all night. It's been so long I had no more idea of where the enemy were than you will.
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I've attached it so you can look if you want. This is the earliest version extant of the Impossible Mission, as it then was. It's not even that hard. Bug reports appreciated but beta testing comments not required - this is a take-it-or-leave it job.
Hm, certainly no where near as polished as the 'main one'. A good wee laugh certainly but nothing special. Mabye some replay value due to the fact it doesnt take centuries to complete however. - as you say wouldnt get a very high score as a stand alone mission. Therefore id polish it up a bit, mabye give it a short outro (something like, "you thought that was hard?...wait till you try...etc") and release it as a warm up to the main event in the same .zip. Its also something they can try if they need a break.
No bugs found. :) However, will mabye try a couple things later to test the AI.
Slight concern about placement of an MG guy around rock (south east of town) cause he mabye has potential to glitch there - but was a good place to put him as far as ambushing my squad goes :p.
Complete in 19mins, with as many kills. I used the normal savegame when i approached the town. Cant remember how many i AI started with, but only 3 finished.
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v6-3:
I have eventually begun to make some (modest) progress. I started near an Ambulance (BRDM?), got away from there with no casualties - but didn't kill many enemy either. Went West then South to the civilians. There is a guy there lying in a pool of blood that just keeps doing 360 degree rotations.
Neat reference to Red Dwarf (smoked kipper)- will there be more? - I don't suppose you could get a â€ËœH' on someone's head, arrange for some vindaloo and an out of tune guitar? Are the accents deliberately 'refined'? Showing my ignorance but I thought â€ËœHallo' was a spelling mistake until I looked it up, I am so used to seeing â€ËœHello'. Others may think the same and not look it up. I will leave it to others to cover the combat. I will nit pick the small stuff.
Went north took out some guys by a road junction, three M2A2's turned up and got blown up. Still no casualties, but from previous tries, clearly a long way to go.
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@Sneaker - thanks for that. A ggod wee laugh but nothing special I think is very fair. ;D I don't consider this an up to standard mission - looking at in the mission editor it is full of poor editing but then it is two years old. I wouldn't consider releasing it all if it didn't have historical interest. 19 mins is embarrassingly quick from my point of view: I do have a noticeably harder version and my latest thinking is to do a sort of combined version with some of the poor editing replaced. As you say, it makes a nice break from the main event.
@THobson - sadly there are no other RD references, although it would be nice. Yes you started at a BMP ambulance with a BRDM hidden behind it: enough armour for 8, you see. The spinning man sometimes spins and sometimes doesn't: he adds to the atmos when he doesn't. I'll have another crack at stopping the spinning.
Hallo is correct: hello is a modern corruption. Hallo, a derivative of the old word halloo, was invented shortly after the telephone was invented, to give you something to say when you answered the phone. The accents are just how we speak I'm afraid... it was a struggle to get the lady to do it all (she only agreed because I threatened to ask somebody else :o ) and accents were too big an ask. I'm going to redo my bits anyway because they are so bad. Many thanks for the comments, keep 'em coming.
Edit: I've given that spinning bastard a switchmove to keep him out of trouble. He looks a bit dead now, but what the hell.
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Not much to report on the combat side. Now I have the map I thought I would pay our American friends a visit at the various locations marked in blue - which, if I am not mistaken, seem to cover many of the possible starting locations.
Drop Zone - nothing
Ammo and Repair truck - nothing, but on the way there I took out 5 guys on motorbicycles, 3 guys in a truck and two jeeps with machine guns plus the odd ones and two's soldiers.
Truck - nothing
Filed Hospital and cars - nothing.
I am now at the old base. One guy dealt with. I have just mined both entrances to the base and am contemplating scattering a few stachel charges about.
Obviously a long way to go.
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The blue locations are indeed the various starting locations. There is nothing at the DZ. The others have what they would have if you started there: the ammo/vehicles etc.. There are patrols along the road and the Base, being special, gets some new troops, but in general there are no enemy at the start positions other than at the start.
You do have a very long way to go, but it sounds like you are making good progress. You are the first person to play it in the way it was "intended" to be played.
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Likes and dislikes so far:
LIKES:
- The atmosphere is fantastic, the fog is very effective. Especially in the early morning, but even later crawling through misty forests, or seeing ruined buildings appear out of the mist later in the day is great. I expect we will now see a lot of copy-catting of this.
- The openness is great. Once you are in the mission (more of this later) you can think long term and are not constrained to any one way of doing it. I am really enjoying this aspect. I know it comes from reading some of the posts but I am treating this not as a change the flag and get away mission, rather I am treating it as a kill all the enemy mission - oh and change the flag along the way. The design allows for this. I enjoyed booby trapping the old base and mining every road when I found some mines, it remains to be seen if any of that will payoff, even if it doesn't it felt like a realistic thing to do.
- The randomness of the reinforcements has a very realistic feel. I was killed several times dealing with the road block near the civilians. Reinforcements turned up at unpredictable times and in unpredictable ways. Once I had the M1A1 and M2A2 combination and once I had 3x M2A2s (other times I died before the armour showed up). This last one is the one I survived so I know there is at least one Abrams out there but I have not seen it yet on this attempt.
- I do like the accents. To have used a Russian (or any East European) accents would have kept the perspective of the game in the west (here we are, westerners playing at being foreigners). To have very clean accents put the perspective very much in the east (this is how we Russians talk amongst ourselves, if you get my meaning?). In my question in an earlier post on this I had assumed this is what you were doing, I was going to suggest that using some regional accents for the villagers might simulate the regional accents that would be apparent from a Russian point of view. Eg the villagers talk about the 'Russians' leaving (not 'our soldiers') so they must not be Russian and so would speak Russian with an accent.
- The use of reinforcements is forcing me to use tactics that for me are unusual in OFP but that feel very realistic, hit and run away (and it doesn't need to be a big hit either). I know there are several campaign missions that script the arrival of enemy reinforcements, but that is just the point, in the campaign missions it is all scripted and predictable - in fact they often tell you it is about to happen and from where.
- I really like having a mission where I can take the long view. I plan to wear them down over however long it takes.
- In-game weapon availability . This could be a challenge. There are a lot of ammo crates and a lot of AA soldiers. The former seem bog standard with no added weapons, so keeping my guys rearmed with HK mags will be a problem I will have to deal with at some point. The latter put me off using the Chinook, but also provide ammo to take down the enemy choppers when I get to where I want to do that. But again I will have to work at it.
- The size - it is like having a whole campaign in one mission, with no one tell you what to do next.
DISLIKES (I realise some of these you have done deliberately - I am just giving you one data point):
- The unforgiving and random nature of the start. I had MANY retrys before I eventually got in with my squad intact. It felt a bit like having a great game but having to throw a double six, three times in a row to start. It felt too random, not much to do with skill. But of course I may be wrong about this last part, I certainly had more success one morning rather than my usual - evening with a glass or several of wine session. :)
- The game assumes I am going up the hill a bit too soon for me. In my progress around the base of the hill checking forests and the like for hidden enemy I kept getting the hint message telling me I had another save available - and then the mist cleared! So I now have to go looking for a sniper rifle before I really wanted to. Well that is my current plan anyway.
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Thanks THobson, this sort of beta report is music to a mission designer's ears. I'm particularly pleased that the likes section is bigger than the dislikes.
I am treating this not as a change the flag and get away mission, rather I am treating it as a kill all the enemy mission - oh and change the flag along the way. The design allows for this.
You are exactly right. I spent many, many hours thinking about how to make this more difficult without just adding loads more enemy. It is actually, as you say, a "clear the map" mission, but disguised as something else. It is very very hard just to go and do the objectives - Sneaker did manage it but he was fortunate, especially in capturing an Abrams at the old base itself. (Although of course it took great skill to effect the capture.) I can't make that impossible but it is now harder to do.
I enjoyed booby trapping the old base and mining every road when I found some mines, it remains to be seen if any of that will payoff, even if it doesn't it felt like a realistic thing to do.
Seems perfectly realistic to me. Certainly worth a try. If you catch anything it will probably be around the base.
The randomness of the reinforcements has a very realistic feel.
It's just guard waypoints. Nothing more than that, although obviously with many hours of playtesting to get the right groups in the in the right place. Shows how sophisticated they are.
The use of reinforcements is forcing me to use tactics that for me are unusual in OFP but that feel very realistic, hit and run away (and it doesn't need to be a big hit either).
This is one of the nicest aspects of the mission. Here we are, playing a game three years old, and experienced players are having to invent new tactics. How cool is that?
I really like having a mission where I can take the long view. I plan to wear them down over however long it takes.
The scale was a surprise. It was not my intent to build a vast mission, it just turned out that you need to to make a fun unimpossible mission. The problem - from the mission designer's perspective - is that human players have a memory. They can remember how they got killed, go back to a retry and deal with the threat. Once you know exactly where the enemy are its easy. After many experiments I discovered that the only way to make the mission I wanted to make was to have it enormously random. (You can make a genuinely impossible mission with a fixed position, but that is no fun.)
In-game weapon availability . This could be a challenge. There are a lot of ammo crates and a lot of AA soldiers. The former seem bog standard with no added weapons, so keeping my guys rearmed with HK mags will be a problem I will have to deal with at some point. The latter put me off using the Chinook, but also provide ammo to take down the enemy choppers when I get to where I want to do that.
It is not my intention to deprive you of ammo: I'll add HKs to the crates if needs be. There are three groups of blackops you can steal from: a small one at the execution barn; one patrolling the road on motorbikes; and one hidden in a wood somewhere who get switched into a guard waypoint on some event, I can't remember what. There are HKs and mags (and bizons and Uzis) in the ammo lorry at the civvies, and bizons at the spetz natz camp and execution barn on the hilltop.
The large number of AA loons is more to give you weapons to shoot down the enemy choppers rather than to prevent use of the Chinook. Do you think there are too many?
The size - it is like having a whole campaign in one mission, with no one tell you what to do next.
I know, it's great.
The unforgiving and random nature of the start.
I'm very pleased by your comments here. This is exactly what I was trying to achieve: sufficiently difficult that frankly some players would never get past it, but actually it's perfectly possible - although frustrating - to get out with everybody alive. Somebody complaining about it - having done it - is precisely what I was trying to do, so I'm happy even if you're not. ;D In fact you can often get out with two or three men down: I die about 1 time in 3 I think. Making the actual attacks fairly random, yet keeping the difficulty level about the same each time, proved very hard and I admit it's not as consistent as I'd like it to be. It's true you pretty much have to be sober, which I admit is not a strength of the mission. ::)
The game assumes I am going up the hill a bit too soon for me. In my progress around the base of the hill checking forests and the like for hidden enemy I kept getting the hint message telling me I had another save available - and then the mist cleared!
Both the save and the mist clearing are triggered (with random delays) by a simple group leader present trigger around the hill. The exact area of the trigger has been changed many times. I'll look at it again with a view to making it slightly tighter around the hill. The intention is that the mist starts to clear once you start to go up, not just when you are skirmishing around the edge. The problem is that the trigger can't be too small otherwise the mist can't clear fast enough. It took hours of testing to get the mist clearing speed right - it actually happens in three phases. If you just use 0 setFog 200 or whatever it clears too fast at the start (you can actually see it receding) and too slow later on.
Many thanks for the comments, keep 'em coming. The next version (0-64) is ready apart from some new voices by me and the stuff in this post. Should get it up in a couple of days or so.
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On the ammo:
- I wouldn't make it too easy. I chose HKs because I thought being occupied by the the Americans I should be able to pick up some mags. and I can - but I notice that the Black Ops I have killed so far mostly (only?) have UZIs. That is fine, it is just another thing to manage.
- same comment on the AA soldiers. I did not bring any AA with me, assuming that I would find some there, and I have. I don't think there is too much. In fact now the mist is clearing am trying to remember where the nearest ones are so I can take out the chopper.
Other:
I like the way the chopper heads for where the action is. Is this just standard WP stuff or are you moving a waypoint?
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Uzis? Some of them have XMSs I know, I didn't think any had Uzis. I'll check all this (it's not exactly a tough job ::)) - it is part of the design parameters that ammo should not a big issue so it's important. I'm not too bothered if ammo for obsure weapon is hard to come by but the standards - HK, bizon, G36, Steyr, etc. - shouldn't be difficult.
I'll leave the AA loons has they are. If you keep low and fast there isn't usually a probablem going where you like as long as its outside the ring road.
There are two choppers, one always present and the other on a probability. One is on guard and one on S&D but I can't remember which way round. No lines of code on the choppers apart from refueling routines. chopper setWPPos getPos player would not be allowed anyway: if you permit that sort of thing making an un-impossible mission is too easy. (There are a couple of setWPPos commands later on I think, but they are to set positions under set circumstances and it just saves switch triggers and waypoints which helps with the lag.)
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Black Ops on the motor bikes had UZIs - well at least one did. Ammo is now no problem. I will explain later when I get home. I can't remember having so much fun.
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I got some time earlier than I thought
So I completed my round trip of the newly marked locations. Got a few more enemies along the way and one of my guys sighted the Abrams but it vanished into the mist. Arriving back where I started the mist was now less intense and I saw that I had taken out more of the loons than I had first thought. I had already killed the crew of a 5ton truck so I got all my guys in it and went back to the civilian village and put drivers in the vehicles there. So we had a convoy of the 5ton truck, the ammo truck, the repair truck the hospital UAZ and the BMP heading north across country protected from the chopper by the mist.
There is a forest just south of the â€ËœThe Hill' and south east of the hidden ammo etc in the depression. I parked the vehicles along the west side of the forest and mined the approach to them. At the NW corner of the forest is terrific place. The land is raised, has some trees as cover, overlooks valleys to the west (including the depression with the ammo) and east, and has a full view of the south face of The Hill. Nobody can approach without being seen except from the forest. I got my guys into position here and scattered a few satchel charges all over it. I won't go into the tortuous detail but lets just say that once we started shooting the infantry kept coming - and dieing. They just could not get close, and of course with groups on guard all I have to do is stay here and they will all come my way eventually. One of my guys took out the cobra, then I heard what I had been waiting for - one of my guys had seen the Abrams. We all then run into the forest, move west and rearm at the truck. After a time the place where we had been was covered in enemy infantry, the Abrams was there as well. The satchel charges dealt with the infantry. The Abrams was just too far away, but with no infantry to protect it, it was a simple task to crawl up and put a satchel charge next to it. I have tried practicing not quite killing an Abrams with a satchel charge and could never seem to do it. But it worked this time. Crew got out and got shot, the Amrams is badly damaged but not dead. I had my repair truck just round the corner ;D
So I feel the tide turning. I have been skulking about chipping away at them and running at any sign of strong resistance but steadily I am making progress. I did real damage from the firing point at the NW corner of the forest and with my newly repaired and rearmed Abrams I now ready to go at them (except I think I heard another chopper).
Still no casualties, my objective is to complete this mission with all my squad intact.
I love this mission, but as I said I hate the beginning.
The jeeps with machines guns are neat. Kill the crew and others get in to replace them - scripted or just normal AI?
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I sat in the tank at the flat area at Dj55 and killed a few more soldiers (I was wrong about hearing another chopper), the whole area is now littered with bodies all around - most from before I got the tank. In a way it felt easier then - that Abrams is a LAW magnet. No more infantry have turned up for a while now. I have a few plans for the next step (up or around? with the BMP or without? - no question it will be with the Abrams) - but unfortunately they will have to wait. I may not get much chance to have more time on it before the weekend.
Paradoxically, having such a strong tank in the mission might have made it easier. It was certainly spooky having an Abrams running around and knowing how many shots it would take to kill with the LAWs etc., but no other tank could survive a satchel charge so well and so be amenable to capture. Still, what do I know - I have not got to the end yet!
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You were right about the Uzis, (not that I doubted you) I'd forgotten that blackops with handguns get Uzis.
So we had a convoy of the 5ton truck, the ammo truck, the repair truck the hospital UAZ and the BMP heading north across country protected from the chopper by the mist.
Ah yes, happy days ... I remember making convoys like that.
At the NW corner of the forest is terrific place. The land is raised, has some trees as cover, overlooks valleys to the west (including the depression with the ammo) and east, and has a full view of the south face of The Hill. Nobody can approach without being seen except from the forest.
I did the exact same thing once ... I'd forgotten about that. It's a good spot.
I have tried practicing not quite killing an Abrams with a satchel charge and could never seem to do it. But it worked this time.
I have now investigated this thoroughly and the trick is to put it to the side - front or back doesn't work.
but steadily I am making progress.
You are.
Still no casualties, my objective is to complete this mission with all my squad intact.
Don't get too greedy - this mission has a knack of biting you in the bum when you do.
I love this mission, but as I said I hate the beginning.
All the best relationships are love-hate. ;D
The jeeps with machines guns are neat. Kill the crew and others get in to replace them - scripted or just normal AI?
Normal AI. They start off with some loons in cargo (everybody on probs of course) so the cargo loons get assigned to gunner/driver positions if required. I'm really pleased with the jeep/mgs: I spend months trying to make a mission with you playing them but it didn't work. You just die a lot. I was halfway through making this and suddenly thought "Hmmm, if you die a lot while playing them they might be fun to shoot" and they are. But if you don't hit them fast they are deadly.
In a way it felt easier then - that Abrams is a LAW magnet.
Just as well it can take a few. ::)
Paradoxically, having such a strong tank in the mission might have made it easier.
It does. I'll be very interested to hear about your experiences: at the moment I'm minded to take it out. I have just redone it so that it has better support, but with the plan you just used that support would not have caused you any trouble.
Thanks for the detailed comments - looking forward to the next installment....
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I have now investigated this thoroughly and the trick is to put it to the side - front or back doesn't work
I did it by accident, well actually I was keeping the tank between me and where I thought there were some loons
Still no casualties, my objective is to complete this mission with all my squad intact.
Don't get too greedy - this mission has a knack of biting you in the bum when you do.
I can be very patient and tenatious.
Paradoxically, having such a strong tank in the mission might have made it easier.
It does. I'll be very interested to hear about your experiences: at the moment I'm minded to take it out. I have just redone it so that it has better support, but with the plan you just used that support would not have caused you any trouble.
I was really pleased with the plan, it was just a case making some luck. I have been thinking about what would make the mission more difficult - but the problem is it needs to be a balance. Having the mist clear later would have been a problem for my way of doing it - but it would make other ways easier. Having an Abrams running around in the mist is a real issue, but it can be captured. One thought occured to me - how about a script that sets the fuel and ammo to 0 when the crew abandon the vehicle, it would make it harder to bring it back into operation and is not too much of a cheat. I actually think killing the tank at that point would also be quite justified.
Thanks for the detailed comments - looking forward to the next installment....
No problem, I'll be back
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I have moved the mist clearing trigger back a little: previously it was extended to make the mist clear earlier, but as you say its always a balance. Whatever I do somebody will find a way to defeat my intentions ... which is of course the idea.
The mission is now so big that's its sometimes hard to remember that it's not a proper mission, it's just a technical exercise in mission design. Scripting damage to the tank (or ammo loss etc) is not allowed by my self imposed design rules. Even starting the tank with less ammo or health than normal wouldn't be permitted. I have been very strickt with myself. I agonised for a long time over whether init line commands to keep snipers in place were allowed: in the end I decided that was acceptable. If I don't want you to capture the tank I should have made a better job of designing the mission so that you can't.
I have failed twice on my original intent: the mission is too big for my old computer, so I couldn't have made it at all. But my old comp was crap, so that's not such a big deal. Also, the mission has been beaten, and it was my original intent that nobody would actually beat it.
However, if people are going to devote 30 hours to playing it (even Sneaker actually spent about 18 hours playing it) I think that counts. And of course it must be the case that the mission CAN be beaten, and having somebody beat it is the best way to prove that. The underlying idea was trying to discover where the edge is, and I have done that. There is no edge, really. You can make it as hard as you like, somebody will figure out a way to beat it. (Unless it really is impossible, rather than Un-impossible.)
Best of all, it has turned out to be MUCH more fun than I ever could have hoped, so overall I regard the exercise as a resounding success.
Oh yes, and any ideas you have for making it more difficult would be greatly appreciated. :)
Edit: I might script the tank so that it doesn't stay still for very long. Actually I can virtually do that with waypoints .... that would be allowed. Waypoints and switch triggers I can use freely.
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I understand it is an exercise in design - which as a pity, because it is a damn good mission and if you would relax your own rules it would be great.
Just because BIS did not include something in their AI is no reason not to make improvements. You could implement standing orders to all tank crews are to destroy their vehicle if they have to abandon them. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. You could be really nasty and put a delay of several minutes on the explosion - that would be getting a bit unfair, but - I would argue - pretty realistic!
I agree a doMove getpos player would not be in the spirit of this - or any other well designed mission. But a domove to the most recent friendly casualty would be absolutely fine, in fact I thought that is what you were doing with the chopper. The fact that the AI was doing itself is all credit to BIS.
As you say, to make it impossible is easy. If you make it fair then it will always be beatable somehow. But it depends on what you mean by beat the mission. Some missions are easy if you throw away your squad. As I said before I am determined to get my whole squad out intact. That is a rule I set myself (not just in this mission but in all of them) and I will keep trying different tactics until I do it.
30 hours on it? I am not timing myself but at my rate of progress I expect it will take all of that and more. So what? I enjoy being in the mission and steadily turning the tide, not through luck but through tactics.
I will keep thinking about how to make it more difficult - but of course that may open up a possibility for other tactics to work better. :)
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and if you would relax your own rules it would be great.
Do you just mean the start, or are there other things as well?
You could implement standing orders to all tank crews are to destroy their vehicle if they have to abandon them.
Hmm.... that is the sort of thing which I suppose could be allowable. Not keen though. My latest plan for the Abrams is to somehow detect when it gets to the place it was called to by its guard waypoint, and then switch it into a S&D waypoint on that spot. That would certainly be allowable and would keep the tank moving, thus making it much harder to capture. However, I'm fairly confident that can't be done, so I'm trying to think of workarounds. All suggestions welcome.
So what?
Exactly. No time limit is one of the design parameters.
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somehow detect when it gets to the place it was called to by its guard waypoint
I don't know how to do that, because I don't know how to detect where the guard waypoint would send it. What you might do though is to have a marker somewhere/anywhere and every few seconds check the tank's distance from it. If the change in distance between two consecutive checks is less than some threshold then switch trigger it to an S&D waypoint that you move to its current location. A loop of every 5 seconds or so would not significantly impact lag either, just a thought. You would need to be a bit careful with the interval and the threshold - tanks can move very slowly when going up hill
Bugger! If it works and you do that to the infantry as well then my tactic of luring them into a booby trap would be less reliable. On balance though I think this would create a more realistic behaviour for units on guard. Currently they just get to where you were, and if you are gone they just stand around. Switching to S&D would seem more realistic.
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Do you just mean the start, or are there other things as well?
Well yes I do mean the start. As it currently stands it will put me off playing again. I have no problem with having to deal with something difficult immediately the game starts. I would just like the outcome to be more dependent on me than on the throw of a dice.
I also had in mind the behaviour of the tank. Destroying a vehicle that is being abandoned seems like good practice and just because BIS did not implement it then I see no reason why you should not. I think the switch to S&D when the tank is stationary would also represent good, realistic behaviour. If it were me I would implement both the switch to S&D and the destruction of abandoned vehicles (the last one randomly to represent less than perfect perfomance of the crew under pressure)
Edit: also I would not agonise over whether the snipers were to stay put. They would really be ordered to do so - just beacuse BIS AI does not do that naturally should not be a bar to what you do.
The main thing is to be realistic and not cheat, no side should get knowledge of the other side that they could not reasonably have - otherwise script away to make it realsitic - is this heresy to you?
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As I said before I am determined to get my whole squad out intact. That is a rule I set myself (not just in this mission but in all of them) and I will keep trying different tactics until I do it.
Apologies for the pomposity of the above statement. I have excuses but nothing really worth saying
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Lol I didn't think it was pompous: I practiced the same thing myself in the whole of the Resistance campaign once I figured out that it mattered. Now I tend either to take that view or use them as decoys, depending on mood and circumstance.
The snipers and one or two others did get a bucketload of init line commands in the end, for pretty much the reason you state. The AI engine is designed for open play rather than specific start conditions and the command were provided to allow you to keep loons in place if required, so it seemed wrong not to use them.
Using scripts but not to allow one side information or advantage that it could not have is pretty much what I've done. It was never my intention not to use scripts at all and in fact at the last count the mission folder included 45 .sqs files and 2 .sqf's, which is hardly consistent with no scripting. ::)
My intent for the start is that it should be:
- a complete nightmare for the first half dozen times you attempt the mission
- sufficiently hard that a few players will give up at that point
And once you know what you're doing it should be:
- extremely difficult - but possible - to get away with your whole squad intact
- tricky but perfectly possible to survive yourself and get away with only a few casualties*
- relatively straightforward to get away yourself with most of your squad dead
- random in terms of the opposition's axes (and type, to some extent) but reasonably consistent in terms of difficulty
- sufficiently random that, even once you are familiar with the locations, you never really get a firm grasp on what happens at all of them
- not a barrier to replaying the mission once you have been well into it once
*You get up to two replacements at the civvies for precisely this reason. The first replacement is not conditional because, originally, I never thought anybody would ever get there without casualties.
I would be very pleased to hear your thoughts on which of these have been accomplished and which have failed. Do you think your determination to get through without casualties makes you view the start more harshly than I do?
Obviously everybody else is welcome to comment as well. I am obviously concerned that somebody might be put off another attempt by the start, although I can see how that could be hard to square with deliberately making it really, really tough. ;D
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· a complete nightmare for the first half dozen times you attempt the mission
I am not sure this changes after the 6th attempt :)
· sufficiently hard that a few players will give up at that point
I think you will have succeeded here
· extremely difficult - but possible - to get away with your whole squad intact
It does not feel difficult - it feels random
· tricky but perfectly possible to survive yourself and get away with only a few casualties*
it does not feel tricky it feelsâ€Â¦ wellâ€Â¦ random
· relatively straightforward to get away yourself with most of your squad dead
I would restart. Edit: but once I have finished the mission I might want to try it with a smaller squad
· random in terms of the opposition's axes (and type, to some extent) but reasonably consistent in terms of difficulty
A success - except I must have dropped lucky to get clean away this time
· sufficiently random that, even once you are familiar with the locations, you never really get a firm grasp on what happens at all of them
A total success
· not a barrier to replaying the mission once you have been well into it once
Well I know how I feel now, but really the whole experience of the mission, once in, is such I can see myself relenting - there really is no other show in town (except a couple of missions of my own of course ;D)
You get up to two replacements at the civvies for precisely this reason. The first replacement is not conditional because, originally, I never thought anybody would ever get there without casualties.
It is not the replacements that is my concern it is the casualties.
But this is only one data point - I am telling how I see it. If you see it differently then stick with it - it is your mission not mine
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All data is useful, particularly from such a dedicated and helpful beta tester as yourself. I am not much of a data point on this matter anyway, since it's not at all random to me - I know exactly what might be coming. I'm not shy about restarting 3 seconds into the mission. Sometimes you need to - I wish it didn't say "8 is down" the very second the mission starts but the only way to overcome that is put the attack groups further away, which in turn means you sometimes get time to have a cup of tea and read the paper before strolling off without meeting anybody at all.
This is not so much important for the mission as interesting to me. The problem of how to make it random yet consistent is one that I never really solved .... so you mentioning it feels a bit like somebody poking an old wound. ;D I'd like to do it better of course.
Sorry to be a bore about this, don't feel obliged to answer if you've had enough. In what ways did it feel random?
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As far as the times I have had to restart when playing this mission, I found that once I managed to detect where I was, and in which direction safety for me and my men lay in, I could fairly consistently manage to escape with all my men intact 80% of the time.
You have to be quick most of the time in deciding where exactly you are though.
The other 20% is an acceptable amount of uncertainty for me.
Planck
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Thank you Planck. If it can be done 80% of the time then I relent on my comments. My tactic (because I don't know the start points - nor the safe directions) is to go in with all silenced weapons, hit the deck and go to stealth immediately. Deal with the initial attacks and then crawl away, in what for me at that time is a random direction, before the M1A1 and M2A2 (a deadly combination) turn up. {What a complicated sentence!} I generally choose to go down the gradient - for no reason other than that it doesn't require me to decide at the time and I don't want the game to think I am going up the hill for a long time yet.
Mac - the randomness I refer to is that, give or take the odd glass of wine, my skill level is pretty much constant, my tactics are the same but the results can be very different. I admire Planck's tenacity to play the mission so much he has developed a detailed experiential knowledge of the start points. But the real intention is that a group of soldiers bail out of a chopper into the mist, they don't land where they expect and they don't know where they have landed. To be attacked very soon is a reasonable expectation - to start taking casualties in the first couple of seconds feels unfair. But hey life is unfair - I guess I am coming round to the way it is, after all it has been known for real para drops to land on top of the enemy.
One option might be to reduce the randomness of the initial attacks, but delay them slightly, but that works against what you are trying to do - random but consistent.
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All data is useful, particularly from such a dedicated and helpful beta tester as yourself.
Thank you for the comment. I am beginning to wonder though if a beta test by me is a kiss of death for a mission. Several of them result in either total silence or - in one case - the complete abandonment of a campaign.
http://www.ofpec.com/yabbse/index.php?board=23;action=display;threadid=19626 (http://www.ofpec.com/yabbse/index.php?board=23;action=display;threadid=19626)
http://www.ofpec.com/yabbse/index.php?board=23;action=display;threadid=19251 (http://www.ofpec.com/yabbse/index.php?board=23;action=display;threadid=19251)
http://www.ofpec.com/yabbse/index.php?board=23;action=display;threadid=18946 (http://www.ofpec.com/yabbse/index.php?board=23;action=display;threadid=18946)
http://www.ofpec.com/yabbse/index.php?board=23;action=display;threadid=18433 (http://www.ofpec.com/yabbse/index.php?board=23;action=display;threadid=18433)
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ROFLMAO!
Don't worry, this is mission is in a "finished" state - I could post it now. However there is a list of improvements - including the stuff you have mentioned - that I want to make before drawing a line under it.
A massive attack at the very start is an essential component of a mission like this. However, I agree with you - casualties within the first two or three seconds is unfair.
I have discovered two tactics that work: silenced weapons and all round defence as you use; and just legging it. However that requires a good knowledge of which directions are relatively safe, which takes a bit of time (or an examination in the editor) to acquire. If I'm testing with a vulnerable squad that's what I do, retrying as soon as I take a casualty. In fact its even trickier because depending on what I'm testing for I'm fussy about which start position I'm at. I always get away ok after a few minutes of trying. And nine times out of a thousand there will be no opposition at all. ::)
I'm going to lay out the statistics here, as much to keep my own head clear as anything. I haven't done this for a while.
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You don't have to read this section
The start positions are all different but most have three infantry attack groups. These groups have probabilities of presence of 90%, 75% and 75% respectively. (These probabilities are the result of many hours of playtesting and statistical analysis) Each group has a random composition of between 3 and 9 loons, (ditto) with an average of 6.3. Thus you can be attacked by anything between 27 and 0 loons, which is indeed a pretty broad range. The loons all have the same skill and are a broad mix of all infantry types - soldiers, medic, machine gunners, LAW soldiers, G36, Steyr, XMS, etc..
However, when you look more closely, the likely numbers narrow down considerably.
Prob of 0 groups = 0.006 => virtually 0
Prob of 1 group = 0.094 => 10%
Prob of 2 groups = 0.394 => 40%
Prob of 3 groups = 0.506 => 50%
0 groups => 0 loons
1 group => 6 loons
2 groups => 13 loons
3 groups => 19 loons
Combining all that gives an expected number of attacking loons = 15
The possible angles of approach of each attacking group leader cover an arc of up to 45%: with loons spread out either side of him, and obstacles like trees or buildings, that probably gets out to 60%.
For simplicity's sake, let us say that the number of loons is equally likely to be 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8. (This understates it slightly but we can add back at the end.) If we look at three groups that means that each number of loons from 12 to 24 is equally likely. The standard deviation of that data is 3.74 so call it 4, (there's a spot of adding back) so in other words two thirds of the time when there are 3 groups attacking there will be between 14 and 22 loons. (The average is 18 and it turns in statistics that the +/- range given by the standard deviation captures about 2/3 of the data. I have used the stdev for the population rather than a sample, but it doesn't make a significant difference here anyway.)
2/3 is 14-22 (2/3*0.5= 0.33)
1/6 is 23-27 (1/3*0.5= 0.08)
1/6 is 9-14 (1/3*0.5= 0.08)
When 2 groups are attacking there are between 8 and 16 loons with a mean of 12 and a standard deviation of ooooh 2.58 well I suppose we'll call it 3.
2/3 is 9-15 (2/3*0.4=0.27)
1/6 is 16 (1/6*0.4=0.07)
1/6 is 8 (1/6*0.4=0.07)
When 1 group is attacking, well its only 10% of the time and there are fewer than 9 so we'll leave it at that.
Summing these 6 probs gives 90% which is good. If we say that 14 is much the same as 15 and round everything off we come to the final table of probabilities of expected attacking loons
7% 23+
33% 15-22
43% 9-14
17% 0-8
Whew. Well we've got there. If anybody spots any significant mistakes in that lot please tell me!
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OK you can start reading again.
The very rough overall conclusion is that
- about 20% of the time you are attacked by 20 or more loons and you are toast
- about 20% of the time you are attacked by fewer than 10 loons and you should be ok
- about 60% of the time you meet between 10 and 20
- there are other significant factors such as the direction and timing of the attacks, this analysis covers only one aspect of the randomness
The interesting thing is that THobson, Planck and I are all correct. In spite of all my efforts THobson is right, it IS still too random. From Planck's experience it would seem that about 20 loons is the maximum you can deal with. However, the good news is that you only have to make about 5 attempts to meet with fewer than about 10 loons. While this is more than enough to toast you early on - not least since they are probably coming from two directions - once you know what you're doing it shouldn't be too bad.
A large number of loons attacking is always going to be hard to deal with. However, a small number can still be devastating if they catch you quickly or happen to come in on an axis that is not well covered. In other words, you won't get an easy run as often as these figures suggest.
I was concerned yesterday that I would have to do a major rethink on the starts. However, I'm more relaxed about it now. THobson, I suspect you were just unlucky and had a tough sequence: next time it should be easier.
I can also now reveal that previously, the percentages were 90%, 70% and 70%: I put them up to 75% because I wasn't getting enough complaints about the start being too hard. ::)
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next time it should be easier.
Radom events have no memory so I can't count on that.
If I get time I will have a look in the editor and work out exactly the probabilities of each possible number of loons. Sad I know but it is the sort of thing I like to do.
It is not just the number though, 3 loons from one direction are easier than 1 from each of 3 different directions.
ROFLMAO!
Means what? I am the wrong side of any age you care to guess at to know what this means.
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Roll on floor laughing my ass off. It's internetspeak you know, the Young use it. It's the superlative of lol (laugh out loud), ROFL (roll on floor laughing) being the comparative. Actually, lol means "I smiled" and ROFL means "I chuckled out out".
I should also add to my previous post that this analysis doesn't cover all the start positions, some are different although playtested to be about the same difficulty.
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Thanks. I needed that.
During my lunch-time walk by the Thames today I was thinking about randomness with consistency.
My thinking so far is: if you make everything random then you cannot guarantee consistency. There will always be a finite chance of one extreme or the other occurring, but if you introduce some dependencies you might be able to do it. For example, have one group with a probability of existence of 50% and have another that is certain to exist if the first group does not and certain not to exist if the first group does. So it is consistent and it is random. I am not saying do exactly that in your mission but if you haven't already, it might be worth playing with this concept.
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It's a good idea and I played with it some time ago. It isn't actually used in the mission though I can't really remember why: it does put pressure on number of groups (since you are using two groups to create one) unless you start having some really convoluted logic. Using Resistance to reinforce West would of course be a total no-no.
It's really only relevant at the start position - over the rest of the map the rest of the randomness pretty much balances out. However, when you have so many possible start positions, it gets really messy really quickly. I decided quite early on that what happened at a start position would not be influenced by whether the player was present or not. Though this is not so much a fundamental design rule as an excuse for laziness.....
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I had the 'convoluted logic' option in mind - not the two for one option. Anyway just so long as you had thought of it.
I might experiment with this a bit, it seems to have some useful possibilities.
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It has excellent possibilities. Very useful, once the player knows the mission, for inducing the fear factor: you know (because you haven't met them yet) that there is somebody out there looking for you.
Or for creating pseudo random opposition. If you combine it with setPos commands for the whole group and some nice convoluted logic, the possiblities are endless. In fact it would save you groups in the long run, since you could have say 100 possible locations but need only 30 groups to cover them, if you wanted only 30 used. No extraneous guards where the player isn't.
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I now have a lot of ideas for a mission - I just don't have a 'plot'.
Anyway, I said I would work out the exact probabilities of every possible number of starting loons. I lied.
Instead I have written a program that simulates one million occurrences of the mission starting at BMP Ambulance & BRDM (it is now a simple matter to feed in the probabilities for the other starting locations and check them as well). In the table below I show the % number of times that a particular number of loons were generated in the one million simulations (give or take a bit of rounding).
#Loons %
0      0.6
1     0.0 (this is an impossible outcome)
2      0.02
3      0.27
4      1.1
5      2.3
6      2.8
7      2.2
8      1.8
9      3.1
10      5.6
11      8.1
12       8.8
13      7.7
14      6.5
15      6.4
16      7.6
17      9.0
18      9.1
19      7.6
20      5.1
21      2.8
22      1.2
23      0.4
24      0.1
25      0.02
26      0.0024
27      0.0
Interesting that there was not one â€Ëœfull house' in the 1 million simulations.
Interesting shape if you plot it.
Would you be interested in the result for any of the other locations?
Edit: Actually it is not too surprising that there were no occurrences of 27 loons. The probability works out at 1 chance in a million. Or to put it another way - it will happen 14 times for each time you win the UK lottery!!
Edit2: I ran it again, this time for 10 million mission starts and got 27 loons 9 times.
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Now that's cool. (If you're a spod. ;D)
This is really interesting stuff. 0.6% for 0 is exactly what I got on my steam powered spreadsheet, which is reassuring. The figure for 2 is odd - it should be 0, since that is also an impossible outcome.
Also good to know that my figure of 20% for ten loons or fewer was spot on, but that 20% for 20 or more was flat wrong - the actual figure is 10%. In between is then 70% rather than 60%. I was assuming that both tails would be equal whereas of course the high end is much less likely. It's noticeable that if you make it below 10, rather than 10 and below, the figure drops to 14% from 20%, and down to 4.5% on the high end for 20+. Between 10 and 20 inclusive is 81.5%. Planck's figure of struggling 1 time in 5 actually suggests that 18-19 loons is where it gets really hard.
I've plotted these on a graph and it shows 3 clear peaks, which is what you would expect with 3 groups. They are at 6 loons, 12 and 18 - again, pretty much what you would expect. The trough between 12 and 18 is the most undesirable feature in my view.
You will have noticed by now that most of the starting locations are much the same. The ammo depot in the north with the Abrams looks interesting, but in fact it isn't and in any case has been changed in the new version. You are now guaranteed an Abrams and a Bradley: the Bradley is guaranteed to have 3 dismounts. The only uncertainty here is whether there will be any more dismounts (who all start mounted) and the singe infantry group which is on 50%. In other words, the only real uncertainty here (apart from precise axes of attack) is whether that infantry group is present or not.
If you wanted to examine one more closely the jeep/mg groups at the ammo/fuel station/repair junction in the south is probably your best bet.
However, the key question is how to smoothe it out a bit. The ideal is of course a more or less normal distibution.
Edit: and yes, on a test run this afternoon I got a 0 attack. ;D A 1 in 167 shot, which was particularly annoying as I wanted to be shot at.
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The figure for 2 is odd - it should be 0, since that is also an impossible outcome.
No it is not - unless I have read it wrong. At infil6 I think you have only 2 loons per group that are certain if the group exists. In fact that is the case at most locations.
You will have noticed by now that most of the starting locations are much the same.
I didn't get that feeling when I was keying in the probabilities, but I have not run the result yet.
Do you have a C compiler? I would happily give you the source code - which now has all the start locations entered. All you need to do to change the start location is change a variable to infilx where x = 0 to 7 (I used infil0 for the Ammo & UAZ, the others follow your marker names). You woudl also easily be able to change the other probabilities to match your current version.
Your graph looks exactly like mine - it even has the same colours.
I take it spod is good.
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Ah, it's more than possible. I thought all the groups were minimum 3, but maybe not. It could be a mistake, but it could be a spot of cunning editing from the past so I don't intend to change it. *checks* Ah yes, that one was at one time accounted more difficult than some others so I reduced the probs there.
In that case your analysis will give slightly lower numbers than mine further above. My definite loon has a prob of about 55%, so my overall figures will tend to be about 1.5 loons higher overall.
I know nothing about C, sadly.
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You don't need to know C - the program is written - you just need a compiler. There are some free ones about, I just can't lay my hands on one at the moment.
Can anyone please give mac a C Complier?
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I know nothing about C, sadly
No need to be sad. It is a bloody awful language, but the best I have got at the moment.
I don't suppose you have Microsoft Visual Basic? You would need either the learning edition of the developers edition (I only have the learning edition so I am not able to distribute programs) I would convert the program to VB if you could run it.
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I used to know a little BASIC. And I once wrote a couple of macros in Excel. Other than that my programming skills are strictly confined to OFP code.
Would be nice to be able to do the analysis though. In particular to play with it a little. The 90-70-70 came from a massive spreadsheet (subsequently ceremonially burnt) testing everything in multiples of 5.
The other news is that the Abrams is staying in. I've used a couple of switch triggers to swap it between guard and S&D waypoints: the guard sends it to you and when it arrives and spots you it goes to S&D. Back to Guard if he loses you. (The Bradley group have been given the same routine.)
I've already fixed it so that his accompanying Bradley is always present, and the dismounts in the Bradley actually get out. The version you're playing has them trapped in the back. ;D
The extra triggers have been offset by removing 12 ammo crates and some sandbags. init.sqs has a bundle of addweaponcargo commands so for the first time you really do have total ammo resupply available. It turned out, of course, that the HK is the only primary weapon that doesn't have its mags in a default ammo crate.
The next version is basically ready - I just need to check it still works. This mission is so damn complicated now, I really worry about knockon effects of changes.
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Well ive just read the last few posts as if it was in swahili, but anyway i think the consenses was about randomness and the whole train of thought was brought about by the start of the mission.
Sorry to backtrack a little , but here goes:
First to the point of tanks,
You could have a script to detect when theres no support around it and when there isnt it doesnt stay around too long, or as youve said combing a search and destroy WP.
As for for crew destroying tanks im not so sure about. You could do it, although i would be more against it. If it was done, id rather have some warning, for example create an A10 LGB thats called in to stop the equip falling into enemy hands by bombing the tank(s) and area, so youve at least got some warning and a chance to exfil.
Now for the other stuff,
I dont agree with everything that is said about random and I personally dont think it should be easier at the start.
If its possible to only get 1 squad in your location, then even if you get everyone appear and reinforments come in fast at the start, it might be opposite at different areas and not so many loons about, therefore you cant complain about randomness because its a balance, even if its possible to get unbalanced
On principle, 99 times out of 100 i play until i die. In other words i dont restart until i bite the bullet. This is mainly because of it can be too easy to get into the frame of mind if someone dies or something even goes slightly wrong, you go for the restart button. I prefer to play on cause shit happens, too bad. This meant i had a couple guys die at the start, which would technically make it harder. However because of the point i made above, it doesnt make any difference.
Theyre gonna come either way, so its not random behaviour, (mainly due to constraints with the AI, but also waypoints)
Although sometimes frustrating, most of the time later on in the mission was of suprise, such as crawling right past a squad and not realising it was there until you are on your way back from placeing some satchels. Without so many variables on things like positioning this wouldnt happen, and the mission would be worse off.
By adjusting small parts and trying to make them more friendly ,even just the start, would affect the mission as a whole, i think negativly.
- if the 'randomness' follows rules, its not random!
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Well ive just read the last few posts as if it was in swahili, but anyway i think the consenses was about randomness and the whole train of thought was brought about by the start of the mission.
;D Your Swahili is better than you thought. :thumbsup:
First to the point of tanks,
The tank thing is settled for the time being. I don't feel comfortable in this mission having crews destroy tanks. I think its a fantastic idea for a general mission, but here I don't want anybody to say "I could have done it apart from that special script". (Even if it's bollocks) The solution I've worked out - just waypoints, triggers, setWPPos commands and variables - is within the design parameters and seems to make a difference. The armour does tend to sit around a bit while on S&D, but once they lose sight of you they go away instead of sitting around waiting to be boarded.
I dont agree with everything that is said about random and I personally dont think it should be easier at the start.
An argument, cool. :) Sorry discussion.
it might be opposite at different areas and not so many loons about, therefore you cant complain about randomness because its a balance,
You are correct. And this mission does have a habit of doing you a favour and then making you pay for it. I suspect THobson was just unlucky when he did the start. The random genertor in OFP is not that good: when you get one result you tend to get it again on the next throw. Thus, if you have a hard start and retry, you'll probably get a hard one again. This is most obvious is start locations - if you hit retry again and again and again you will restart at the same place as the previous try far more often than one time in eight.
On principle, 99 times out of 100 i play until i die. In other words i dont restart until i bite the bullet.
This is good from my point of view - beta testers with different playing styles are vital.
meant i had a couple guys die at the start, which would technically make it harder.
Obviously it is slightly harder if you have fewer loons, but actually it doesn't make that much difference. The mission is so hard that as long as you have a three or four loons to watch your back, carry ammo for you and fetch vehicles that's all you really need. You've got around 350 enemy loons to drop to clear the island: even if your guys get 10 or 15 each before they die it they can't win the mission for you.
By adjusting small parts and trying to make them more friendly ,even just the start, would affect the mission as a whole, i think negativly.
The start groups are not just the start groups, they form the bulk of the opposition. They are the endless waves of groups that just keep on coming and coming. Most of the other groups have specific jobs, such as snipers, armour, road patrols, etc.. Small changes in these start groups do not cause any significant difference to the mission as a whole, although small changes can affect the start significantly. Large changes in these groups obviously do affect the mission as a whole.
Having looked at all these numbers at present I am minded to leave the start groups as they are. Originally I was very concerned by some of THobson's comments, but having done the sums I'm a bit easier in my mind. I've lost track of exactly what was changed when, but I did make the start slightly more difficult because I wasn't getting enough complaints about it: in the great spurge of beta testing the mission enjoyed a few weeks ago everybody made it past the start without too much trouble. I think now its probably at about the right level overall, though I'd like to smoothe things out a little. The dips in the graph are not attractive, and it's too steep around 10 and 20.
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You don't need to know C - the program is written - you just need a compiler. There are some free ones about, I just can't lay my hands on one at the moment.
Can anyone please give mac a C Complier?
If you send me the code, I can most likely get it compiled... we are talking C++ here, correct?
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Homefry:
Thanks. I can compile it. The reason mac would need a complier is so he can change the probabilities and the locations etc. for his current (and possibly future) version. No we are talking C not C++.
macguba:
I will have a look at some of the other starting locations tonight. I have a suspicion that there may be some differences.
I've already fixed it so that his accompanying Bradley is always present, and the dismounts in the Bradley actually get out. The version you're playing has them trapped in the back
You are now telling me that the version I am playing is not difficult enough!!
However, the key question is how to smoothe it out a bit. The ideal is of course a more or less normal distibution.
Well err...
if you introduce some dependencies you might be able to do it.
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You are now telling me that the version I am playing is not difficult enough!!
Yep. :o (Only marginally though. You had the Bradley anyway (it was on 75%) and there were infantry around at the time ... another 3 or 4 wouldn't have made much difference and you might well have popped the Brad when they were still in the back anyway.) This is a feature of the beta testing: each version tends to be harder than the last because bugs get fixed. I do introduce compensating changes from time to time, but of course every time somebody completes it I am tempted to hike the all the probabilities a bit.
Actually the key question is, at this stage of the proceedings can I face making the changes? Probably not is the answer. I can't use dependencies for the start groups at this stage anyway - that would be a huge change in the mission which is something I don't want to do at this stage. I'm just desperate to get the wretched thing finished. For example it took many hours to figure out where each group goes after the start and introducing new, conditional groups ... well I can't face that again. I've published two final versions already, and the next one is not final as it is.
What I might be able to do is adjust the group probabilities, or adjust the individual loons probabilities, to straighten things out a little.
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well I can't face that again
I can understand that.
What I might be able to do is adjust the group probabilities, or adjust the individual loons probabilities, to straighten things out a little.
I don't know if I would do that. You have three peaks in your histogram - so what, the mission works and you would not have known if I hadn't done the simulation, I would not worry about it. Rather than make more changes you might want to just want to learn to live with the distributions you now have.
I was conscious though that you were looking at the randomness with consistency as a more generic issue, not just related to this mission. In that context building in deterministic dependancies rather than allowing total randomness I am now (as a result of the last 24 hours) convinced is the way to go.
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Sneaker
i play until i die. In other words i dont restart until i bite the bullet. This is mainly because of it can be too easy to get into the frame of mind if someone dies or something even goes slightly wrong, you go for the restart button
I can see that and I agree with it, if I could also offer an additional perspective: if I get to a point where for some reason the mission is now un-doable (at least by me) it feels a bit like cheating to continue and so discover more about the mission design and then take that knowledge back to an earlier part of the mission.
I guess the point is, however we play we need to be honest with ourselves.
I was impressed by how you completed the mission. I am much more dependant on having a healthy squad around me. Mac made a comment about how relatively few loons the squad will take out. With my way of playing I spend much more time spotting than I do shooting. My squad does most of the work. I put my hand/eye coordination issues down to age - that is my excuse anyway
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Mac
Obviously it is slightly harder if you have fewer loons, but actually it doesn't make that much difference
That was , infact my point ;D. I said something about it not making any difference in the following sentence although it mabye wasnt clear what i meant lol - it doesnt make a difference beacause like the variables, its just a balance - few may die later, or you might getyour whole squad through at the start, then run into an mbsuh two minutes later anyway :)
Thobson
I am much more dependant on having a healthy squad around me
So am i :). Indeed it would have made it easier if i did, and i used them i thought reasonably well just to do the first objective, positioning them to see where i couldnt etc.. the difference being most of them were dead by the end of it lol,
When i saved at the various points, i definately wasnt wanting to start from scratch, and also at that point i didnt know how many loons were left lol.
Later on , without civvie, id problaby have taken longer, or still be trying to complete it - hes da man!
In Hindsight, i have thought i could have used one less save, since i used two on the hillside, but because of the variablity of the map, chances are that if i didnt id run into some patrol at the most inopportune moment.
it feels a bit like cheating to continue
Indeed i was only commenting on different playing styles and theres no point on conituing if you dont want to, and i do the same. With both styles, as you say you can take information from when you restart (or die) into the next go so its infact the same :)
Happy hunting.
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Here is the analysis for the Old Base and the Ammo & UAZ. Really quite different.
Old Base Ammo & UAZ
Loons % %  ÂÂ
0 0.6 0.9  ÂÂ
1 0 0  ÂÂ
2 0.03 0.7  ÂÂ
3 0.3 2.5  ÂÂ
4 1.1 3.9  ÂÂ
5 2.3 4.2  ÂÂ
6 2.8 5.0  ÂÂ
7 2.1 7.3  ÂÂ
8 1.7 9.8  ÂÂ
9 2.9 10.7  ÂÂ
10 5.4 10.2  ÂÂ
11 7.9 9.6  ÂÂ
12 8.8 9.3  ÂÂ
13 7.8 8.6  ÂÂ
14 6.3 7.1  ÂÂ
15 6.1 5.0  ÂÂ
16 7.2 2.9  ÂÂ
17 8.7 1.4  ÂÂ
18 9.1 0.6  ÂÂ
19 7.9 0.2  ÂÂ
20 5.6 0.06  ÂÂ
21 3.2 0.01  ÂÂ
22 1.4 0.0023  ÂÂ
23 0.5 0.0002  ÂÂ
24 0.14 0  ÂÂ
25 0.0232 0  ÂÂ
26 0.0036 0  ÂÂ
27 0.0001 0
  ÂÂ
Expected numbers:
OldBase 14.2
Ammo & UAZ 9.9  ÂÂ
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macguba:
Here is the C program I did the simulation with. I am sending it to you for two reasons.
1. One you might find a C complier (it really is written in C and not C++ so free compilers are easily found) and you may wish to use it for analysing later versions of the mission yourself. It is a simple matter to change.
2. If you want you can update the probabilities in the program with those for your latest version and send it back to me. I will happily run the program for you and send you the results.
The file is just a normal text file that can be opened and edited in Notepad. The .c extension just tells the compiler that it is a C program.
The probabilities are stored in two arrays.
GrpProb contains the probability of each group existing. For example:
GrpProb[1] = 90;
means that Group 1 has a 90% probability of existing
LoonProb contains the probability of each loon existing if the group exists. For example:
LoonProb[1][6] = 32;
means that the probability of Loon6 in Group1 existing is 32% if Group1 exists. Change the [1] to [2] and you get the probabilities for Group2, and similarly for Group0
(note I have numbered the groups from 0 to 2 and loons from 0 to 8.)
There is a section in the Initialisation procedure for each of the possible starting locations, The comments should clearly identify where.
In case you ever do run the program the line near the top:
int StartPoint = infil1;
tells the program which of your locations to do the analysis for (I followed your marker names and used infil0 for the Ammo & UAZ location). So you only need to change this line to refer to the location you want to analyse.
The output format is ugly but works. It takes 4 to 5 seconds to simulate 1 million mission starts.
Anyway - if you want to update the probabilities and send it back to me I will send you the analysis.
I tried to send this by PM but could find no way to include an attachement.
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These are very interesting numbers. My immediate reaction was to do some test runs.
Bizons for everybody. Hit the dirt defence. Play till the end of the initial attack. When the other start postiions came up I just hit retry.
Old Base
1) died - bizon ::) (1 casualty before I went down)
2) no casualties
3) no casualties
4) 1 loon injured
Ammo & UAZ
1) died - M16 (I was first casualty)
2) no casualties
3) no casualties
4) no casualties (but this is the third time in a row the rear attack group (70%) has not appeared)
BMP Ambulance & BRDM
1) died - G36 (first casualty)
2) 4 casualties. never saw the enemy myself
3) died (2 known casualties when I went down)
4) no casualties
This is not a big enough sample to draw any firm conclusions but my findings are
1) I take a couple of goes to warm up
2) I've played this mission before
3) The 70% probs are the ammo & UAZ are a mistake - they should be 75% like the others. I mean I probably missed them out when increasing everybody else to 75%, not being on the circle that start position does get forgotten sometimes.
4) BMP Ambulance is still too hard because most of the attacks are from behind where the player can't help.
(Edit: just seen your next post)
(Edit edit: and the previous ones. ;D)
Just found something called lcc-win32 which claims to be a C compliler. Now I just how to figure out what to do to it.
Can't get that to work, found another one called Miracle C. I can open the file unimpossible.c and click "compile" and it gives me an output window with this in it
Miracle C Compiler (r3.2), written by bts.
Compiling c:\documents and settings\duncan\desktop\un-impossible.c
Initialise
IntRand0_99
LoonsInGrp
main
19% cg space used
Time taken: 0.078 seconds
The trouble is I don't really know what I'm trying to do. Is compiling the same as running it, or do I have to run it after it has been compiled?
Ah-ha, making progress ... compile, build and run. All I have to do now is figure out how to stop the dos window with the output from vanishing as soon as it appears.
Bingo. Run it in a dos window. It's a long time since I typed cd\
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With regard to my squad when I played this mission.
I lost 1 man at the very start, however, I carried on and made it to safety with the rest of my men.
I got a replacement man when I visited the civvies in the south.
Now, I tended to keep my men holed up in a safe location whilst I went out and dealt with things like snipers and the odd enemy squad.
I used my men to help only when I thought I might need them, but on the whole I tried to keep them safe.......after all........the leader tries to look after his men.
They were very handy if I needed more ammo, but this didn't happen often as there was a good supply in the barn near the hill summit.
I lost my second man at the old base.
We had cleared the base, everthing was quiet, no enemies about that we could detect.
But a lone sniper crawled into the base and killed my man, before he was also despatched by me.
It was a surprise, I really thought we had them all, although I was wondering why I hadn't yet got the base clear end of mission message......and retry update.
Immediately after the sniper was killed, I did get the base clear message and retry update message.
So, the sniper was the last enemy near the base.
And it didn't take too long to hunt down the remaining 8 enemy soldiers, to get my easter egg.
I was happy enough to have most of my men alive, although writing to the wives of the two casualties was a harrowing enough experience. ::)
Planck
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Plank: Only 2 casualties and the first one at the start which hardly counts - as we have all been discussing. I am impressed.
Having captured the tank I am finding it a liability. There are still far too many loons with AAs and LAWs. The BMP is a death trap. I did use the tank to pound the trees on the side of the hill with HEATs and was pleased to see as I crawled up later some dead snipers as a result. I am begining to think that mac could make the mission completely impossible by having a fully armed empty Abrams waiting at the civilian village!
I must be able to find a better way of using it.
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LOL!
The BMP is actually a deliberate trap. Perhaps I should add a second to really lure people in.... or a T55 or T72 ... hmm .....
I played with an Abrams yesterday and you're right, it's not nearly as handy as you expect it to be. Sneaker used it in a huge melee around the Base near the end and I think that - plus bombarding the Hill - is possibly the best use for it.
Virtually every squad has the possibility of a LAW or AT loon. AA is not every squad but is still pretty common.
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macguba: So you got it working?
Edit:
The 70% probs are the ammo & UAZ are a mistake - they should be 75% like the others. I mean I probably missed them out when increasing everybody else to 75%, not being on the circle that start position does get forgotten sometimes.
The probabilities of individual loons are also lower here. Very many at ~32% or so. Elsewhere they are areound 50%+
Edit2:
Actually BMP Ambulance & BRDM is where I got clean away - hows that for luck?
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It is working though I haven't had time to play with it yet.
I'm obviously going to have to go round these probabilities again. It's no surprise, they've been mucked about with so often.
3 peaks is not, as you say, a big deal. It offends my sense of elegance more than anything, it doesn't have an effect in the mission that the player could possibly notice.
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@THobson
Armour is not very useful on this mission, unless it is to bombard the hill with heat.
There are just too many AT soldiers about.
Like you I captured an Abrams.
It was not my intention, but thats the way it went, I also had a Bradley, and the bmp.
But this really was ok, because by this time, there were only 8 americans left to kill and they were all snipers.
Otherwise I doubt I would have continued to use the armour.
Planck
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Yeh. Here I am with a powerful long range gun and I keep getting into melees with infantry. It doesn't take a rocket scientist (but I had to sleep on it)....
Plan is: circle the hill at a distance and HEAT every movement (and many trees) to see what happens
Sorry mac this doesn't help you with your beta testing now you have made capturing the tank nigh on impossible, I am playing this bit for fun ;D
A few more comments on the mission.
I had thought my tactic of getting a secure firing position would draw most of the enemy into the killing zone around me and so make the rest of the mission simple. Well it did draw quite a few loons - but really only a fraction of what is there. So congratulations on having enough groups on guard to make life difficult, and enough doing other things that I now need to go after them. I honestly thought that with the casualties I had inflicted and capturing the tank it would be a breeze ::)
The scenes after the player gets killed are great. I like the scene from the view of the person that did the killing and I think it is really neat that at the funeral you show his name.
Bye the way. I just realised I am happily rearming my US weapons at a Russian Ammo Ural. Is this a feature of OFP or of the mission?
Plank: Capturing a Bradley must be much more difficult than getting an Abrams. I am even more impressed.
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Planck's Bradley capturing story is excellent ... its in the thread somewhere.
Capturing the Abrams is still perfectly possible so your play is valid. Anyway, you're having fun so keep going. The Russian ammo Ural is presumably the one you found at the civvy village. It is indeed loaded with US ammo. This is to save you the tedium of loading them from the ammo crates nearby by hand. One of the principles of this mission is that there is plenty of ammo. That lorry has two weapons and 20 mags for every weapon in the game. The ammo dumps all have both kinds: this is because the Base has to have both kinds, or at least at did once upon a time. It is a bit unrealistic to have both ammo types present at the same place but the Briefing does make mention of "a mess" and capturing supply convoys. However this is one small example of the extra suspension of disbelief that you need to enjoy this mission. (Far bigger is the absurdity of the underlying plot. ::))
Glad you liked the onplayerkilled scripts. You get a random choice from four: the two BIS ones, a funeral by me and a gunsight view by Sui.
There are obviously some groups on guard at the start of the mission. Some of the loons you shot in that bit turkey shoot position were just the local groups wandering around that part of the countryside. However, other groups switch from patrol to guard under various circumstances, so you never get everybody on guard at the same time. Since you haven't been up to change the flag yet you still have a long way to go. :)
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I think you might be able to make the start fairer. I have had another look in the editor (I am trying to do this only to look at specific things I have thought of so as not to spoil the mission) . All of my squad are 'In Formation' and facing north. If you changed the 'In Formation' to 'None' and had them looking in different directions would it help deal with:
BMP Ambulance is still too hard because most of the attacks are from behind where the player can't help.
Well I have done one round of 'The Hill' with my Abrams and dealt with 5 or 6 infantry groups, plus several snipers - the HEAT really makes them fly! I have decided I really like having the Abrams. Capturing it should be very, very difficult. Perhaps you should make it impossible.
EDIT: I was hit so few times that even a T72 could have coped with it
Still I am not going to give it up on this mission.
You asked me to let you know if mining the roads had caught anything. On my way round I saw that the mines at Ammo & 3 bikes had caught a Bradley. That explains why at the road block north of the civilian village both an Abrams and a Bradley turned up but when I set the trap south of 'The Hill' that caught the Abrams, the Bradley was absent.
EDIT2: Even though I am safe in the Abrams I keep hearing the ping of a sniper's bullet bounce off the armour. Who are they trying to kid? Or is there a chink through which they might hit us?
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Sneaker used it in a huge melee around the Base near the end and I think that
Lol i wouldnt quite call it that, wasnt till the loon count was lower i even dared to get in, and i spent ages to get it to the top of the hill , and killed 2 half squads around the base and another few guys and a sniper or 3 before i took it back to the village. (when we , ahem, accidentally went down the side of the hill..)
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from behind where the player can't help
, dunno about that...
I also had people die at the start, two. - most of the rest of my squad died around the flag area, even in an so allround defence they started getting overrun by people i couldnt see until they were right on top of me lol, just repeating the start of the mission effectivly. damn, sweating just thinking about it.
the russian that joined me later was killed in the engagement to the south of the hill, so all russians except me died . Although civvie made it to extraction.
The familiies of the dead were told it was a helicopter accident.
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I am certainly impressed about the way you were both able to deal with all those infantry mostly on your own.
macguba:
A couple of points of detail about the mission.
- when I arrived at the firing point I used south of The Hill there was a US fuel truck parked just north west of the hollow where the ammo crates are (around Dg/Dh54). I took this out with a LAW, keeping a tree between me and The Hill before I let my guys go weapon free.
- when I was doing the round trip of the base of The Hill in my Abrams I saw (at a distance) two more US support vehicles. 1x fuel and 1x ammo I think (they were some distance away and I was too busy taking out the infantry squad that seemed to be supporting them). Like the first support truck, they were just parked in the countryside for no apparent reason (they were west-ish side of The Hill). I left these vehicles alone as I might need them later.
On the analysis program:
I said the output was "ugly but it works". If you delete the lines (or use // to make them into comments)
   for (count=0; count < 30; count++)
      printf("\n%d %d",count,Occurrences[count]);(these lines are very near the bottom of the program) and replace them with:
   for (count=0; count < 10; count++)
      printf("\n%2d %6d %12d %6d %12d %6d ",count,Occurrences[count],count+10,Occurrences[count+10],count+20,Occurrences[count+20]);The output will be a bit tidier and easier to read.
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Later:
I could not have done this with a T72. As I circled the hill and took damage I returned to my base south of The Hill to rearm and repair. The infantry followed me so as soon as I was ready to set off again there they were nicely lined up coming over the brow of the hill.
I know I have not finished yet, but it is progress.
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Later still:
I changed the flag (I liked the gate) got back in the tank and drove down. I saw one sniper on the way and my gunner got him. Went back to my base south of The Hill to rearm - just to be on the safe side. headed for the Old Base. I heard a few explosions when I was enroute so my mines clearly caught something. Met some infantry near the wood south of the Old Base. Went west a bit so I could look down into the base. I saw then that my mines had caught 2x Abrams and 2x Bradleys. You evil man!!
The base was full of loons - and my satchel charges too remember? Well it did me no good. I had no action to detonate the charges!! I was annoyed about this. But sitting in an Abrams overlooking these loons was not too bad an alternative. Later when I disembarked the tank I got the action to detonate the charges. I elected not to do so being in the base myself by this point. I still had the action even after getting back into the tank - so there is some sort of OFP 'feature' at play here.
I disarmed the mines at one entrace to the base where there was a crewless but not yet dead Abrams. Back to my own base. Got everyone into vehicles for another convoy: Hospital BMP; Ammo truck, Repair truck and BMP2 with me in the lead. Back to the Old Base. I am now brining the second Abrams back into action.
Oh and a few snipers have turn up at the base. I am currently outside so I may get to use my satchel charges eventually.
It is now about 17:30 game time
I liked the snipers in the towers - everywhere I look there is great attention to detail.
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All of my squad are 'In Formation' and facing north. If you changed the 'In Formation' to 'None' and had them looking in different directions
Good point. I hadn't thought of that. I'll have a think.
Capturing it should be very, very difficult. Perhaps you should make it impossible.
The only way to make it impossible is to take it out. I have - and am still - considering it. I'm hoping the new trigger/waypoint arrangement makes it virtually impossible. Normally when you sneak up to armoured vehicles they don't know you're there, but now, once it loses contact with you, it runs off back to its secret loitering point. If you find that of course you're laughing, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.
Still I am not going to give it up on this mission.
Good!
Here's a question for you all. If, when you're in an Abrams or any tank, you get hit by a LAW, do you usually take out the LAW soldier before he hits you a second time? The reason I ask is because I could replace the LAWs with ATs. The AT missile is about twice as powerful as a LAW, so if you usually drop the loon before he fires a second time I will replace them. On the other hand if he normally gets two shots off then the LAW is better, since if he misses with the first he still has the second, and the third.
On my way round I saw that the mines at Ammo & 3 bikes had caught a Bradley.
Lucky you! Except it wasn't luck of course.
I keep hearing the ping of a sniper's bullet bounce off the armour.
I didn't realise "absurd optimism" was hardcoded into those loons ....
d**n, sweating just thinking about it.
:D
The familiies of the dead were told it was a helicopter accident.
I always tell them it was on a death-or-glory secret operation, which they can't be told about.
when I arrived at the firing point I used south of The Hill there was a US fuel truck parked just north west of the hollow where the ammo crates are ...... I saw (at a distance) two more US support vehicles. 1x fuel and 1x ammo I think
There is one support group for West. It has a random composition of vehicles (though there is always at least one repair and one ammo I think) and some dismounts. It starts at a secret location and mostly just has support waypoints. It's behaviour is consistently weird: the other day I found an abandoned repair truck which neither I nor my loons could board. I think the support waypoint is fairly fucked up if the truth be told. However, it doesn't really matter: the West armour can repair successfully with it, which is the important thing, and these guys add a lot of fun to gameplay because they have a knack of turning up at the wrong place at the wrong time. It caused a lot of trouble for the extended ending of the mission, which is now fixed.
I said the output was "ugly but it works".
I haven't had time to play with that yet but I'll make the changes.
I could not have done this with a T72.
Well that's some consolation for me!
Nice pic .. it's no small matter to get the tank up there even if nobody is shooting at you.
(I liked the gate)
Bloody nightmare that was. It turns out that
gate1 setPos getPos gate1
makes the bugger move.
I saw then that my mines had caught 2x Abrams and 2x Bradleys. You evil man!!
Lol you've won now. Since you have already cleared the snipers around the base they (and a bunch of infantry squads, but you won't have any trouble with those) were the last obstacle.
so there is some sort of OFP 'feature' at play here.
I think you're right. Some actions are disabled when you are in a vehicle, but you beat the system be getting out and in again.
I am now brining the second Abrams back into action.
Shouldn't be long now, then. ::)
It is now about 17:30 game time
15 hours pluse retries .... and you're doing it the quick way. It's not bad, is it.
I liked the snipers in the towers - everywhere I look there is great attention to detail.
:) That's how it's supposed to be.
Many thanks again for all that, keep it coming.
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I think it would be a mistake to get rid of any of the armour.
At the moment, the fact that there is armour about forces you to be extremely careful.
I didn't really plan on capturing any armour, but I took the opportunity when it presented itself.
At one point, whilst searching for the last 8 loons, I had the abrams, the bmp and the bradley all sitting on top of the hill........it took ages for the AI drivers to get their vehicles up there, but eventually they made it.
Going back down again was fun, but the AI nearly always refused to come down....I suppose they judged it as too steep. I had to go up again on foot and bring them down myself. The AI are just a bunch of cissies at times.
My original intentions towards the armour was to destroy it, but as I said, when the opportunity for capture presented itself, I took it.
On the question about LAW soldiers.......If I was able to locate the LAW soldier after he had fired, I would take him out as quickly as possible.
If I was unable to locate him quickly enough.........I ran..........got repaired and came back.
Planck
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"There are 1 enemy loons remaining".
I sent 2 guys in the hospital BMP back to the civilian village. I thought it would be neat - and easier, to finish them all off using the chopper as an elevated and mobile gun platform. When they got in the chopper I got the bad news. I should have rearmed and refueled the chopper when I was there.
I did blow the satchel charges just for the hell of it - 12 of them! Nowhere in the base would have been safe. Pity about the 'feature' that prevented me doing this when it mattered. I would have felt really smug, mined both entrances and booby trapped the base hours ago and now the mines have killed 4 armour units, and the satchel charges would have taken out a whole infantry squad.
So there we were guarding the Old Base 2x Abrams and 1 x BMP2. Nothing happend for a long time. Being in tanks we were mostly moving around the outside of the base. It occured to me that perhaps we all had to be in the base so I got all the vehicles to move in and - end of mission (should I choose to). I didn't choose to. 14 Loons left. To be told they were most likely to be in the ring road - or however you described it - was very daunting. Only 14 in that enormous area.
Because I had read some of the posts I reailised I had to go to the top of the hill. I think in the final mission you perhaps should give a stronger clue about where they will head for. You might also want to check whether the trigger for completing the mission is too restrictive about us all having to be in the base. The briefing only said - secure the base - and what could be more secure than being guarded by 3 armoured units?
So another convoy 2xAbrams 1xBMP2 up to the top of The Hill. It is quite a slow journey. I have only been able get up on the western side. The top was alive with snipers. Shot 2 or 3 and ran over about 10. Now "There are 1 enemy loons remaining". Two points:
- Perhaps a different phrase when it is down to 1 :)
- Where the hell is he! Finding him is proving quite tedious.
You asked about killing LAW soldiers. I rarely see where they have fired from so unless I am with another tank they are usually able to get a second shot off - if they can see me for dust that is! Best to keep well away. The AT and AA soldiers will shoot from longer range and I do have more luck spotting them for that reason. Will the AI not rearm and reload if there are ammo crates about? If so the AA and AT soldiers can - eventually - have more than one shot.
OK, back to the hunt for the "1 enemy loons" - more reflections later.
EDIT: Oh yes - still no casualties.
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I think it would be a mistake to get rid of any of the armour.
The armour in general is staying. The only question is about the Abrams in what I call the "medium" armour group. If it goes it will be replaced by a Bradley, but as I say I think it's probably staying.
At the moment, the fact that there is armour about forces you to be extremely careful.
Exactly. Armour adds diversity and fun.
The AI are just a bunch of cissies at times.
Yep, they sure are.
If I was unable to locate him quickly enough.........I ran..........got repaired and came back.
This supports my view that LAW soldiers with multiple rockets are more dangerous than AT soldiers with one.
"There are 1 enemy loons remaining".
Yey!
I sent 2 guys in the hospital BMP back to the civilian village. I thought it would be neat - and easier, to finish them all off using the chopper as an elevated and mobile gun platform. When they got in the chopper I got the bad news. I should have rearmed and refueled the chooper when I was there.
The chopper will fly and has enough gas for a one way trip to anywhere on the island. Dunno if it will fly with an AI pilot though, I must check that. There is ammo, repair and some fuel at the civvy village, but you have to fly over to the barrels which is an interesting little challenge in the fog. (But not too hard.)
I did blow the satchel charges just for the hell of it - 12 of them!
Cool! I did something similar in a mission I played the other day. I shudder to think how far the scudlaunchers flew.
I got all the vehicles to move in and - end of mission (should I choose to).
I'll slacken the area a little and reword the Briefing.
14 Loons left. To be told they were most likely to be in the ring road - or however you described it - was very daunting. Only 14 in that enormous area.
This is supposed to be helpful: the idea is to point out that you don't have to clear the whole island, just the heart of the mission area. Which is still, I admit, a pretty large patch.
I think in the final mission you perhaps should give a stronger clue about where they will head for.
You're probably right. Combined with the remark above a little rewording is probably required. However, when you think about it, it is obvious - there is nowhere else they could converge on.
Perhaps a different phrase when it is down to 1
You are of course right, but given the lag problems I'm not going to have another trigger just for that.
- Where the hell is he! Finding him is proving quite tedious.
Just wait. He gets an order to head up the Hill every few seconds. He could be coming from a long way off, and you know how much trouble they can have climbing the Hill. Alternatively he may be hiding in a bush 50 yards away, too scared to fire in spite of his allowFleeing 0 command. He has also been healed so he is not crawling.
they are usually able to get a second shot off - if they can see me for dust that is!
Thank you chaps, you have answered my question - my gut feel is the same as yours.
will the AI not rearm and reload if there are ammo crates about? If so the AA and AT soldiers can - eventually - have more than one shot.
In theory yes I think so, but they are pretty crap at it.
Oh yes - still no casualties.
Are you saying the mission is too easy? ;D
The mission will end where-ever your squad are btw, they don't have to be at the top of the hill or in the base.
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- I've changed the wording of the hint from "There are X loons remaining" to
"Enemy loons alive - X"
Any better suggestions appreciated.
- The Chinook will fly with an AI crew, though they report status red, no ammo, no fuel. But we know they generally report "no Y" before they actually and finally run out of Y.
- The East present ending trigger has been relaxed slightly and the second objective has been reworded from "Take your squad to the Old Base and secure it." to:-
"Secure the area around the Old Base and occupy it with your squad."
- "Clear the map" Objective now says
Clear the map of the remaining West soldiers. (Read the notes the civilians gave you.)
rather than that stuff about "most will be within the ring road." The hints the civvies gave you already already say to get your squad inside the Base and also to go up the hill at the end, but I've reworded it to make it less depressing.
New version coming today or tomorrow.
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Better would be to use this in the activation field of your trigger:
if (count thislist==1) then{hint "There is 1 enemy loon remaining."}else{hint format ["There are %1 enemy loons remaining.", count thislist]}; newCount = false
It would stay true to your original intent.
OK so I have spent about 1 hour waiting for this last loon to turn up. I even got everybody out of their vehicles and had them running around like nice little targets. I checked in the loo (nice touch by the way) and in the barn. I thought maybe he was stuck in one of the support vehicles I told you about. So down I went in the BMP and blasted them to bits - still no luck. Back up to the top.
Ridiculous I know, but I even starting going round the bodies on the top of the hill giving them the coup de grace with my pistol in case any were pretending to be dead!
I told you a beta test by me is the kiss of death for a mission!
I guess he is stuck somewhere. I had a problem like this with my mission - Defensive Strike. I dealt with it by having a script run at the relevant time that every few seconds checks the distance of each loon from a given marker, and if they had not moved more than a specified amount I setPos-ed them somewhere where they needed to be - but out of sight so the player will not notice.
Edit:
I saved it after the Old Base was captured - I may go back and try again from there. I would hate to come all this way and not finish. It may be sufficiently random that he doesn't get stuck this time.
The Chinook will fly with an AI crew, though they report status red, no ammo, no fuel. But we know they generally report "no Y" before they actually and finally run out of Y.
Bugger. I believed them. I should have just told them to fly. I did check it out first in a little missionette to see if the AI would fly. I was struggling to see how I could get them to land once they were up in the air - but Disembark works
The hints the civvies gave you already already say to get your squad inside the Base and also to go up the hill at the end,
I forgot all about that.
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Sorry for the multiple posts, I do edit them as well but if I do that when you are reading them you may not notice.
A very minor picky point of detail. If you are in a vehicle at the top of The Hill and you follow the road from the flag it will send you down a very steep slope. Slightly to the left is a more managable slope where it realy ought to lead.
I am afraid I am one of those people that cannot help spotting continuity problems in films.
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I just checked back over the changes list and the version you are playing still has the old triggers for sending loons up the hill, which did do this occasionally. I would recommend a using cheat savegame and running all over the area on 4x to find him. Fix the chopper and put a couple of loons it in to fly around too. It's more than possible he is a passenger in a vehicle somewhere, the support group vehicles are particularly annoying on this point. And please accept my apologies, I know how annoything this is. The new version is much more robust, though it doesn't have that setpos trick. I might try and add that in.
I didn't know you could do the if then thing in a trigger, that's perfect.
Edit: yes we're both posting so much I check back over your posts in case. Multiple posts are fine because it does help avoid confusion.
The road is annoying: I did try to change it once but I couldn't find any road pieces that were curved enough to avoid the steep slope. It looks better with the road than without, so I left it in and hoped nobody would notice. However, as you say, the attention to detail is mostly OK so this stands out more than it should. I'll have another go.
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Mac: I have been editing and adding posts while you were too. A quick scan back might be worth it to see if you missed anything.
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Wilco. As it happened I think I had everything anyway.
I fixed the bloody road. That's been one of the problems with this mission, it just keeps getting better which means I have to go back and improve other things which used to be ok, but are no longer good enough. When I first re-posted it a couple of months ago my intention was to check for bugs, bung on an intro and that was it.... but it's all got a bit out of hand. ::)
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Crikey, every time I visit this thread I have a whole novelette to read.
Never mind, its interesting enough.
@ THobson
I bet your one remaining loon is a sniper and he is somewhere on the hillside hiding under a tree or in a bush. Probably making his way up to the top, only stopping when it gets busy with your guys trundling about.
Planck
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@Plank
If only! I have had guys standing doing nothing on the top of the hill for ages while I was well away. Tell you what. I will leave it run all night without doing anything and see what state things are in in the morning.
@macuba
I went back to my save just at the point where I could choose to continue or not. I chose to continue. I got the repair truck into the base and repaired the fuel truck. Me and another guy drove them down to the civilian village. Repaired and re-fuelled the chopper. Flew back up to the old base. Re-armed the chopper and got 2 AI guys in one as gunner one as pilot and got them to fly over the top of The Hill. And a real waste of time that was. The chopper did not fly over the top of The Hill. It chose to fly around it quite some distance below the summit!
So 2xAbrams back to the top of The Hill. Eventually got back to the dreaded "There are 1 enemy loons remaining". Got one tank to disembark and stand around the summit and I took the other tank to all the vehicles I knew of and blasted them all even the dead ones. I looked in the editor to see where the support trucks had started in case one was stuck there - there wasn't one. Back to the road block and shot all the vehicles there. Game time it is 19:30 and dark so I gave up.
I want to write a fair summary of what I felt about the mission but am not in a frame of mind to do that just yet.
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It does sound like there is a loon stuck somewhere. :( :-[ I've found the best way to find the last guy is just to take my whole squad on foot and just trawl up and down the gridlines on the map on 4x. You've won, this is a technical problem (and its a beta test) so using a cheat save isn't cheating.
Write the conclusion when you are in a good mood. You had a bad time at the start and a bad time at the finish but a good time in the middle.
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Another point of detail. When I went back to the civilian village to repair and refuel the chopper the civilian that had been rotating in the pool of blood when I first visited had moved to near the hospital tent, and he had stopped rotating. If the civilians cannot behave you might want to get rid of them after their cut scene, or keep repositioning them.
EDIT:
Is there a pattern to where you normally find the last guy?
A thought - only a bit of a cheat. When they are down to about 10 or so, kill all the ones outside a given radius and those that seem not to be moving. Though I still think setPos might be better.
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I've never seen him move. He has an animation now, which keeps him stationery. I should really heal him, since there is now a hospital nearby, but the blood really adds to the atmosphere. Perhaps I'll try standing him up, healed, and just leave the blood on the ground.
The only pattern to the wretched last loon is that it is usually vehicle related. Which makes it hard to find because he could be anywhere (even outside the ring road) but easy to find because you are only looking for a vehicle rather than a loon. Once I found him trapped in a building in the village on the east side of the hill with the hospital and police jeep.
The version I'm trying to post at the moment (the wretched site updater thing isn't working) has a much better script for the ending than the triggers you have. It doesn't have setpos, though it will in due course.
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I have given a detailed commentary of what I was doing as I played the mission so here are my overall reflections, with a few points I forgot along the way.
Overall it is a mixture of:
- stunning use of weather, enemy disposition, etc. and fantastic attention to detail; and
- tongue in cheek humour. Two points stand out for me. The overview picture which is certainly un-impossible and the "smoke me a kipper" reference to Red Dwarf.
In other words it is just good fun and a perfect antidote to anyone wanting to take things too seriously. People not familiar with Red Dwarf might think the dialogue a bit naf - but who cares?
The start - it is only just getting light, there is a dark red dawn and it is foggy. This is absolutely perfect, any earlier it would be too dark, any later and you would miss the effect - and the fog utterly transforms the atmosphere giving a very closed, claustrophobic feel.
A point on timing: does the Intro have the same conditions? The Intro feels lighter than the mission - I can see stars at the start of the mission, but I don't recall seeing them in the Intro for example.
Moving around in the fog is an incredible experience, the shapes of enemy soldiers materialise as you get close, and you do need to get close to see them, buildings and whole villages just appear out of the mist. I did most of the early part of the mission on my belly and am now on first name terms with every blade of grass in south/central Kolgujev. Wonderfully atmospheric and realistic. There are only two things missing from the experience and you can do nothing about them: the cold damp feeling that you get in fog, and the deadening effect fog gives to sounds. The fact that I noticed their absence shows how much of everything else was right. The fog lifts very realistically - except that the final bit when the player starts going up The Hill clears perhaps a shade too quickly?
Anyway, for the early part of the mission I certainly felt like the underdog, I was greatly outnumbered and every time I started to do something about that more enemy turned up, in random ways. I have looked in the editor at how you got the loons to leave their Bradley at always (for me) the wrong time and place, but for them of course it is exactly right. Very neat, and very realistic. Do they get back in if they fail to make contact with you?
The one thing that is predictable about the enemy and that is if they know where you are, you can be certain they will be there soon. So if you have gone - but left behind a few satchel charges (I used 9 in the trap south of The Hill), then you can start making real improvements to the odds.
Once I captured the Abrams the game changed. It was still fun, but I lost that gut tightening feeling of being hunted, instead I was now the hunter, the only question was how to go about it. By circling The Hill at an appropriate distance I was able to deal with most of the infantry. The trick is not to get too close. But what a transformation it was going from crawling up close in the fog, killing a few with a silenced weapon and then clearing off, to putting HEAT into the middle of an unsuspecting group at long range and then switching to the machine gun to deal with any survivors. So it was fun and I enjoyed it but on balance the change, for me, was a deterioration. I agree that the Abrams should stay. It is spooky knowing it is out there in the fog somewhere. Capturing it cannot be made impossible without cheating a bit, but is there anyway the loons can change their tactics once you have it? Like for example going to HOLD STEALTH or something, or maybe another chopper turns up?
Talking about loon behaviour, at the end the snipers on the top of The Hill seemed oblivious to the three armoured vehicles that kept running them over (that was the only way I could get most of them - gun elevation is a real problem for a tank with a target at short range.)
The openness of the mission is fantastic. It is possible to do things that seem like a good idea and don't pay off for several hours - if at all, or not do them and just battle through. Mines and satchel charges can be real mission winners. For example your nasty surprise at the Old Base that can be neutralised with a bit of intuition and forward thinking. On reflection I regret not scattering satchel charges all over the summit of The Hill when I was there changing the flag. That would have been in keeping with my approach to all the rest of the mission - I think I just got lazy when I got the tank, I didn't even look to see if there were any satchel charges around.
There are a lot of ammo crates that were mostly useless to me. I had HKs and the crates had no HK mags. (I know you have changed this) I used the crates to get mines, satchel charges and the occasional LAW but that was it. The key for me was the ammo truck at the civilian village.
What I really like are missions where the use of the brain is as important as the use of the trigger finger. This mission certainly has that.
On the stuck loon at the end: Well that is what beta testing is for. He really is stuck somewhere. I got all my guys to disembark their vehicles so as not to exhaust their fuel (that would have been a bit embarrassing for the two in the chopper) and left it run over night. My squad are all still there this morning and "There are 1 enemy loons remaining" still. I am playing version 6.3 which I think is still the latest uploaded and I suppose I am a bit surprised that a â€Ëœfeature' like that has survived so long.
Will I play this mission again? I believe so - but not for a while. When I do I will now always mine and booby trap the Old Base and I will always try to make use of the raised piece of ground south of The Hill I described in my earlier post that has such a wonderful (almost) all round view and I will always seek ways to lure the loons in to booby traps. (I actually found that piece of raised ground by accident, I had the same plan and was heading off somewhere else when I noticed it). The question is, will you change the mission to prevent or neutralise any of these tactics, or will you take the view that so long as what the loons are doing is realistic these are perfectly acceptable and reasonable things to do?
If I think of anything else I will let you know.
Oh - almost forgot. This is without doubt the best mission I have ever played.
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Overall it is a mixture of:
- stunning use of weather, enemy disposition, etc. and fantastic attention to detail; and
- tongue in cheek humour.
Why thank 'ee koidly maaster.
People not familiar with Red Dwarf might think the dialogue a bit naf - but who cares?
Certainly not me. The smart player will figure out that something that naf has to be a quotation.
This is absolutely perfect, any earlier it would be too dark, any later and you would miss the effect
Lots of trial and error, that was.
A point on timing: does the Intro have the same conditions? The Intro feels lighter than the mission
The Intro is actually few minutes later I think, and the level of fog varies considerably throughout it. This was necessary to enable you to see what was going on, while still keeping the atmosphere. If I really liked doing cutscenes (as opposed to hating it) I would completely redo the intro, using the original timing and fog and shooting everything very very close up to increase the feeling of an oppressive atmostphere.
There are only two things missing from the experience and you can do nothing about them: the cold damp feeling that you get in fog, and the deadening effect fog gives to sounds.
I've felt the damp. The sounds are never dead though, you're right, which is a shame.
The fog lifts very realistically - except that the final bit when the player starts going up The Hill clears perhaps a shade too quickly?
The fog lift is a three stage process - if you just use setFog 0 its too rapid at the start and too slow at the end. Although there is some random element, its all automatic - once the life starts it keeps going till its clear. You can't really see it at the start, but it is possibly too quick as you say: I was aiming for the fastest speed that you wouldn't notice, in the hope that you wouldn't notice that the fog had gone, continue to play as if it was still there and get shot.
I have looked in the editor at how you got the loons to leave their Bradley at always (for me) the wrong time and place, but for them of course it is exactly right. Very neat, and very realistic. Do they get back in if they fail to make contact with you?
There are two Bradley dismount gangs. One (the lot with the Abrams) is in the same group as the wagons. They couldn't get out in your version and in anycase the died on a mine. The other lot, with the dismounts in a seperate group, have a little script to make them dismount when you are detected. They don't have orders to get back in. I might try and fix that.
I agree that the Abrams should stay. It is spooky knowing it is out there in the fog somewhere. Capturing it cannot be made impossible without cheating a bit, but is there anyway the loons can change their tactics once you have it? Like for example going to HOLD STEALTH or something, or maybe another chopper turns up?
It's hard because of the design parameters, which I don't wnat to change now having come so far. Loons changing behaviour or an extra chopper would not be allowed, since it's a scripted reaction to something you've done. What I might do is hold back the second chopper, and make it certain rather than on a prob. The original design focusses too much on making a new attempt fun because I thought it was going to be a much shorter mission - in fact not many people will play it twice.
Talking about loon behaviour, at the end the snipers on the top of The Hill seemed oblivious to the three armoured vehicles that kept running them over
Dumb AI. They are all very high skill.
The openness of the mission is fantastic.
This has been the real find of this process. I made a very open mission because my experiments with difficulty showed that if you create something fixed, it doesn't take long for a human player to figure out how to get round it. So I had to create a mission with nothing fixed, and it turns out the result is really fun.
It is possible to do things that seem like a good idea and don't pay off for several hours
And you can't say that about many missions. ::)
There are a lot of ammo crates that were mostly useless to me. I had HKs and the crates had no HK mags. (I know you have changed this) I used the crates to get mines, satchel charges and the occasional LAW but that was it. The key for me was the ammo truck at the civilian village.
It turned out that the HK was the only major ammo type not spread copiously about the map. This has indeed been changed. Most players will use G36, bizon or HK but I wanted to allow for all playing styles. The ultimate prize goes to whoever completes it with a kozlice. The ammo truck is a present from the mission designer to the player. You have a huge amount of ground to cover and a lot of loons to shoot, so you need some encouragement. You could create your own ammo truck, by loading stuff from crates into a vehicle, but this saves you the trouble.
What I really like are missions where the use of the brain is as important as the use of the trigger finger. This mission certainly has that.
Good!
On the stuck loon at the end .... I suppose I am a bit surprised that a â€Ëœfeature' like that has survived so long.
I'm really sorry about that. It has been tested many, many times and it is pretty rare, you have been unlucky again. If you can post the savegame somewhere I'll play it and find him for you. The version I can't post because the bloody website isn't working has a much better script for the ending, and the version I'm working on now will include your setpos trick. You have been playing the latest published version.
Will I play this mission again? I believe so - but not for a while.
I hope you do. Wait for the finished article anyway.
The question is, will you change the mission to prevent or neutralise any of these tactics,
No, I can't. If I have vehicles, somebody will place mines and satchels. I long ago realised that the most perfectly difficult mission has no vehicles at all, but I kept them in for variety and fun. (f you are really clever and lucky you can capture a Cobra: that's partly why there so many AA loons. I'm not trying to stop you flying the Chinook all over the place, that's an unfortunate side effect.)
As for using ground to ambush the enemy, well there really is nothing I can, or would want, to do about that. Except near the Base of course, where I have added extensions and minefields to slow you down. The map as a whole is too big to do taht everywhere, and in any case there is no processing capacity left for more objects.
If I think of anything else I will let you know.
When you get to see it, I would appreciate comments on the Outro.
Oh - almost forgot. This is without doubt the best mission I have ever played.
Thank you! :thumbsup: Glad you enjoyed it.
Many thanks for all your comments. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your reports and they have been extremely helpful. Greatly appreciated. I have been very fortunate in having many excellent beta testers for this mission over the last two years, including people like EX-GRUNT who you haven't even heard of.
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About Law soldier question.
At the old base i got destroyed once i didnt see from where as it was the more damaged side i got hit so i died, - he probly would have got a second off anyway , and the time i survived i got hit once on the less damaged side but managed to locate him while he was reloading.
Perhaps to balance it out you could have half or 1/3 or 1/4 etc of squads have an AT soldier instead of law, but i wouldnt remove them comlpetely , cause as you say, if they miss...
There are a lot of ammo crates that were mostly useless to me
I actually thought this was meant to happen, cause it meant i would be swapping weapons betweeen my squad, and picking up american weapons (a few fresh HK's from blackops were a godsend - since the lack of ammo was evident even at the old base) and so mean sometimes things got really desperate and even changing to the good ol' M16 was on the cards at some points.
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Mac if you do get chance to find my loon here is a saved mission. 2, 3 and 6 are standing around at the top of The Hill, their Abrams is there also. The mission is now the next morning - I let it run over night. I have checked... no better not tell you, I may have missed something, but I feel like I have checked everything. Take a look at what the satchel charges did to the old base.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/trevor.hobson/Operation%20Flashpoint/Un-Impossible/save.fps (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/trevor.hobson/Operation%20Flashpoint/Un-Impossible/save.fps)
Another point. When the mission appears in the list of missions, before you even get to the Overview its name is truncated slightly. It might help to lose the hyphen in Un-Impossible.
Loons changing behaviour or an extra chopper would not be allowed
Well it would be realistic for them to behave differently if they knew we had got one of their Abrams
Also, I am with Sneaker on the ammo thing. I thought ammo management was meant to be part of it. Until I found the ammo truck.
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OK, I'm in. There are only about 2 undestroyed buildings in the whole Base ...
Anyway, if we were smart we'd figure out a way of using a spectator script on this.
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Did you find the chopper crash sites? There are one or two Cobras and the loon could be trapped in one of those.
I'll update this post with any thoughts or questions. No luck yet, obviously.
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Well I found where the chopper I killed crashed. It is upsidedown. It didn't occur to me that he might be in there. It is just west of the forest that was behind my base south of The Hill.
I went to all the possible starting locations and shot up any closed vehicles and, I think, went in all the buildings I could. Is it possible that he is on a very steep part of The Hill and unable to get up?
EDIT: I went back to the chopper. The crew were both dead. My guy in the chopper keeps reporting a car - could this be one of the civilian trucks?
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There are two civvy lorries driving about, which are usually reported as cars. Don't shoot them, you get a mission failed.
I've done a fair bit of running around - probably covering a lot of ground that you have - and I checked the offlying island to the north. I don't feel I've finised yet but I have a suspicion that something weird has happened and that, in the ordinary sense, there is no loon to find. I'll check the chopper later.
The secret ammo dump has gone. Vanished. That must have been one hell of a bang. On my second visit I found the remains of an ammo crate, which let me have a LAW, but it was half buried and didn't look like an ammo crate.
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The chopper isn't the problem. The crew are all present and correct - and dead. I did nothing to the secret ammo dump - it was ok when I left it! I will go and have another look.
I once had a guy start off inside a building that had no exit.
I told you I give the kiss of death to missions. Imagine what it like testing my own missions when I attract so many gremlins.
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That is strange. I start from the same file that you have and go back to the secret ammo dump and it all seems to be ok!
(We are talking about the same place - in the hollow south and slightly west of The Hill?)
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@THobson
Your man is somewhere in the area of the Ammo dump.
Something like DJ44........Dj45......Ea44.......Ea45.
EDIT
Just tried it again to try and get an exact fix.
I found a JeepMg with 2 american soldiers in it at map reference.........Di43
Both are still alive and although I am parked with the Abrams beside them, they don't seem to care at all.
@macguba
You are evil
btw.......I Laughed
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[size=10]HOORAY![/size]
Di43 it is. It only says 1 loon remaining because that's how the game counts them. When they die the mission ends correctly..... although the Outro is screwed up. (That bug is also fixed.) I take it, Planck-the-Magnificent, that you assumed that THobson and I had covered the ground inside the ring road thoroughly so therefore, by a process of elimination ...
I know exactly what's happened too, its the standard problem although this lot were paticularly hard to find. They get the end mission orders, start out, but something distracts them and they forget what they are supposed to be doing. They are highly scared, and although they got an allowFleeing 0 command they probably saw the Abrams and did a runner.
I am also relieved: this problem has been solved by the new script which is already in 0-64, the version that will be published as soon as bloody Lycos/Tripod fix their bug.
Thanks Planck.
@macguba
You are evil
btw.......I Laughed
;D At what in particular?
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New version 0-64 (http://koti.phnet.fi/artoeija/) up.
I'm having trouble with my site, or rather Lycos/Tripod are having an "error on page" party so Artak has kindly stepped in to help.
The big differences are
- Outro Loose added
- Outro Win player dead bug fixed
- New script for sending loons up the Hill at the end of the extended version (much better than the old triggers we've been having so much trouble with)
- More/better/fixed dismounts for the Bradleys
- New waypoints for the first Abrams group so it's harder to capture it
- More LAWs
- HK (and other obscure mags) now in ammo crates
Changes list from v0-63 to v0-64
Overall the new difficulty level is slightly harder
MAKING IT BETTER
Added Outro Loose
Improved credit titles in mission accomplished cutscene
Improved Intro slightly
Second and Fourth Objectives reworded for clarity
Fixed singular/plural problem in count hint
Improved dirt road on hilltop
Replaced triggers with script to send loons up Hill at end of long version
Consolidated some triggers to reduce lag
Reduced area of fog off trigger
Fixed ammo shortages
Removed redundant ammo crates
Removed benchmark command from second chopper
Fixed medium armour group dismount bug
Fixed spinning civilian
MAKING IT EASIER
Made gate open action available to all loons, not just player
Reduced probability of a start group from 75% to 50% (offsetting Bradley increase)
East present in the Base end trigger area enlarged slightly
Removed loon in execution barn
MAKING IT HARDER
Increased probability of third Abrams to 67% (from 50%)
Restored conditional dismounts to heavy armour group
Increased probability of Bradley in medium armour group from 75% to 100%
Restored probability of second chopper to 67% (from 35%)
Added LAWs to blackop groups
Added couple of extra blackops at execution barn
Revised waypoints of medium and light armour groups (controlled by switch triggers) to keep them moving
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@Planck
Thanks I will have a look tonight. I know there was one jeep with mg at the ammo dump. I had previously hit it with a heat. I guess this is another one close by. I must have visited that place several times in my search. I did assume though that if I got out of the tank and run about a bit any loon nearby would start shooting. Not a good assumption it seems. Anyway by that time I had spent so long in front of the screen that my eyes were hurting, my head was hurting and was getting a bit fed up. What a bugger - it has made the end quite an anti-climax.
@macuba
I had a strange problem that might be related - more OFP than your mission. After one of my forays with the Abrams I got back to my base to repair, rearm and heal. I got 2 and 6 (the medic) to get out of the tank, I kept telling 2 to heal at the medic he said he would but just never moved. In fact the only instruction he would actually do anything with was to get back into the tank. I Aborted the mission so as think about what to do. Next time I went in I saw him in the process of being healed and everything was ok then. That solution did not help with the last loon problem though. I guess it is features like these that have kept the BIS campaign missions rather simple.
I still claim the prize for completing the mission with my squad fully intact. 8)
In the latest version did you decide to leave the infantry group probabilities as they were? The Ammo and UAZ starting point seemed a bit out of line with the others.
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The prize has to be split: Sneaker did it in a much faster time but with loads of casualties ... I wouldn't care to opine on the virtures of speed versus losses ..... ::)
I've seen weird stuff with the medic tents in the Old Base on more than one occasion. The other day I had an Abrams basically in the same position as the tent: just the back of the tank was sticking out of the tent. An adjacent loon could not detect the tank. So far as I could see the tank was not damaged (though I couldn't see much of it) but one LAW blew him to eternity. Nothing to be done, sadly, its just one of the "features" that make this great game a bit frustrating sometimes.
That jeep had the luck of the devil. I had loons run over a whole area right next to him: I was once on my way to that area when my Abrams hit one of your mines and I was killed: and I cleared the woods to the SE of him so I was probably no more than 150 yards away (with a full squad) but nobody saw him.
In 0-64 I have not deliberately played with the starting group probs - that is a task still before me. The to do list is:-
Fix wounded civvy (done)
Increase LAW and AT loons in four groups (done)
Improve cutscene voices
Setpos trick for stuck loons at end
Check and improve start group probabilities
Consider player's loons start directions
Bradley dismounts get back in ?
Adjust timings/waypoints of second chopper to make abrams more difficult?
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Lol - So we are still someway off the final version then.
I didn't think there was only one prize. Planck got there first, Sneaker the fastest and me the safest. We should all get prizes.
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Lol yes, prizes for everybody. I think you're all bloody heroes, I haven't even attempted this version. I virtually did 0-50 I think it was, about Christmastime, but the new sequence (starting at 0-55) I haven't even attempted.
I think it was 0-62 that I posted as the real, final, release candidate.....
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Yes I completed this harder version first, and as has been said probably it took me the longest.
But, I only lost 2 men, also I imagine I got the biggest score.
Just glad that THobson has managed to complete it now.
That jeep at the Ammo dump.......I know ther eis a jeep there already, I remember killing it when I did the mission.
I did that part at night and whilst I was dealing with that jeep, I noticed there were headlights out in the countryside further north.
It turned out to be another jeep, I killed this one also.
Thats how I knew to check for it because it seems to get stuck in places.
What is a jeep doing up there anyway?
Planck
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@Planck
Thank you so much I never would have found them. When I replied this morning I had in mind a different ammo dump. As you said they are oblivious to the Abrams, so I got out to see how they would react. The gunner started shooting, but I think at the tank not at me (either that or I was so close the bullets were going over my head). Anyway I shot them both and the mission ended. You are a star. :thumbsup:
@macuguba
You said you would like my comments on the Outro.
Very funny. I loved the music, it was just right. No prizes for guessing which country you come from. It was totally fitting, had it been the Stars and Stripes instead of the Cross of St. Andrew the whole thing would have felt quite futile. As it was it was funny.
You said it was screwed up but you had fixed it. I am not sure what you had in mind. A couple of things I saw were:
- I had a squad of 9 at the end of the mission, but I had 10 in the Outro - was one of them the female civilian? - I think they all looked like soldiers but it was very quick
- punch macguba has a bit of a white border (Oh and I wasn't able to get my mouse over to that option either ;D)
A suggestion:
I have seen some posts about transferring data from the mission into the Outro, I did not read them closely so I don't know if this is possible. Instead of showing graves and a dead Spetz Natz is it possible to show the actual dead members of the squad in the place they actually died?
The debrief told me I had taken 25 hours and 14 minutes - but I had left it run overnight to see if the recalcitrant loon would turn up. 14 hours would probably be a better guess. It also said I had killed 2 friendly Urals - that was when I was looking for the last loon when I was shooting everything - even long dead snipers!
Thank you. I have really enjoyed this and I loved the sense of humour. Even though I now cannot look at a computer screen for more than a few minutes without getting a headache!
Different subject:
Based on your earlier post where you gave a statistical analysis I thought you would appreciate being able to do the simulation with both normal and antithetic random numbers to compare the results, so the program I sent to you has that feature. Near the top there is a line:
int Antithetic = False;
Just change False to True (note: this is case sensitive) and you get antithetic random numbers.
That, anyway, was the theory. I have just tried, and the program gives exactly the same results whichever value I set for Antithetic. This is marginally less likely than Guba wearing a skirt! I have found the problem, one more small change I am afraid.
In the random generating routine (near the bottom of the listing) there is the line
   if (Antithetic = True)
This needs to be changed to:
   if (Antithetic == True)
That fixes it.
I am now going to have a rest
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You said you would like my comments on the Outro. Very funny. I loved the music, it was just right. No prizes for guessing which country you come from. It was totally fitting, had it been the Stars and Stripes instead of the Cross of St. Andrew the whole thing would have felt quite futile. As it was it was funny.
Glad you like it. :) Even more glad it worked ok.
You said it was screwed up but you had fixed it. I am not sure what you had in mind. A couple of things I saw were:
- I had a squad of 9 at the end of the mission, but I had 10 in the Outro - was one of them the female civilian? - I think they all looked like soldiers but it was very quick
This remark is more interesting that it looks. When I watched the Outro the player was dead, which screwed it up. Obviously for you he wasn't, which confirms a suspicion of mine which I'll come back to in a minute. It wasn't the female civvy (at least I hope not) it was Nicolai. The 10th was an extra loon you never got because you didn't take any casualties before visiting the civvies. He is supposed to be deleted.
- punch macguba has a bit of a white border
I know, I have no idea what causes it or how to get rif of it. It seems to happen on my titlersc for no particular reason.
A suggestion:
I have seen some posts about transferring data from the mission into the Outro, I did not read them closely so I don't know if this is possible. Instead of showing graves and a dead Spetz Natz is it possible to show the actual dead members of the squad in the place they actually died?
In theory, we have figured out how to transfer information from mission to outro. However, it is at best combersome (using setDammage levels of gamelogics to transfer numbers for example) and it is extremely temperamental. Just getting the information of which of your loons are alive and which dead is hard enough, and although it currently works for me, I am not at all convinced. I suspect previous runs disturb the savefile where the information is kept.
Thank you. I have really enjoyed this and I loved the sense of humour.
I'm sure some people won't but hey, sod 'em.
Even though I now cannot look at a computer screen for more than a few minutes without getting a headache!
I'm not surprised!
I haven't looked at the stat analysis for the opening yet, I've been fixing the other things. Thanks for all the stuff on that, it's going to be handy.
It turns out you can't (or at least it would be hard) to have the loons facing all round at the start of the mission. In Formation overrides the setDir commands and I can't use None because then the whole multiple start location thing begins to unravel. I daresay it could be done, but not by me for this mission. ::)
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I can't use None because then the whole multiple start location thing begins to unravel.
So your squad start where you put them in the editor but you start at the random locations? I bet that could be embarassing.
In Formation overrides the setDir commands
What about a setDir a fraction of a second after the start of the mission? The player would never see it.
I haven't looked at the stat analysis for the opening yet, I've been fixing the other things. Thanks for all the stuff on that, it's going to be handy.
You are more than welcome. Let me know if you would like some changes made to it. I could easily get it to do all the locations at once rather than one at a time for example.
Just downloading 0-64 now. I will probably play with it a bit but I will only make a concerted effort to complete it again when you have absolutely the last final, final, ultimate, never to be changed version. I got my son started on 0-63 yesterday. 0-64 is for him once he realises that his current tactics are bloody useless and he needs to start again.
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Just read the readme for the new mission. I saw it was longer than the one for 0-63 so I thought I would have a look. Loooong list of beta testers - one interesing name:
macguba
My son has just got the first radio save available (~30 minutes in?) - he is approaching the summit and is down to three men. He is hooked.
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I got my son started on 0-63 yesterday. 0-64 is for him once he realises that his current tactics are bloody useless and he needs to start again.
And people call me evil. ;D
So your squad start where you put them in the editor but you start at the random locations? I bet that could be embarassing.
It is. I'll look into the millisecond later thing: I'm not convinced it will work very well, not least because there is an awful lot of init stuff already.
Loooong list of beta testers - one interesing name:
macguba
Lol at one point I needed one more name for the balance in the credits in the mission accomplished, and since I have done about ten times as much testing as everybody else put together ... the beta testers go back two years, which is partly why there are so many.
Longest readme you ever saw for a mission. ;D
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Longest readme you ever saw for a mission.
Well actually...nearly.From the description THobson gave of his mission I thought it sounded like the same old storyline, I was not wrong. But the unoriginal storyline is made up for by the great gameplay of this mission (despite being a bit hard) One thing that greatly impressed me about this mission was the readme included, it was head and shoulders above most.
http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?ID=1061 (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?ID=1061)
It scored an 8! mostly thanks to your help and advice. If he thinks mine was hard wait untill he sees yours!! He also clearly did not figure out the easy way to do it ;)
...and another thing... I completely agree with Planck:What is a jeep doing up there anyway?
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Hey, congratulations! It was about a 4 the first time I played it, but I knew it had potential. Well done. :thumbsup: *goes to nick good ideas from readme*
I have no idea what the jeeps are doing out there. There is a jeep group that has a guard waypoint southeast of that little ammo dump, and the other jeep group is supposed to drive along the road, but that's it. What I suspect happens is that they flee there. The old ending triggers made them allowFleeing 0, but I always suspected them of fleeing again anyway. The new script loops the allowFleeing 0 command.
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Actually I need a 4 and a 7 to get a run!
I will be having another look at that simulation program in the next few days. Improvements are:
- Run for all starting locations, not just one
- Output the results to a file that can be imported into a spreadsheet.
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Right, well I've been looking at the start positions.
First off, I played them all. Including the results already posted a couple of days ago, the results are given below. (I was tired for the second session, and not playing quite so well.) As before everybody had bizons and it was hit the dirt time. Easy/Medium/Hard refers to the state of things before the changes.
Old Base - Easy
1) Killed - bizon (1 casualty before I went down)
2) no casualties
3) no casualties
4) 1 loon injured
5) 1 casualty
6) 1 casualty
Slighty increased loon probs in the 90% group and improved waypoints of the two 75% groups
Field Hospital - Easy
1) 1 casualty
2) 2 casualties
3) Killed - M16 (sixth casualty)
4) no attacks
Increased left attack group from 75% to 80% and reduced individual probs. Reduced placement radii of other two groups, which means they don't start on top of you, but do get there quicker. The original result surprised me - I thought it was medium.
Edit: also reduced radius of left attack group
Truck - Medium
1) 3 casualties
2) 2 casualties
3) 5 casualties
4) no casualties
No changes. The only one where everything panned out as I expected.
Edit: put one group back slightly
Ammo & UAZ - Easy
1) Killed - M16 (I was first casualty)
2) no casualties
3) no casualties
4) no casualties (but this is the third time in a row the rear attack group (70%) has not appeared)
5) no casualties (ditto)
6) no casualties (ditto)
7) 2 casualties (attacked from the rear at last)
Increased group probs from 70% to 75% and increased all 33% loons to 50%. This start position was clearly missed out on at least two rounds of general difficulty-increasing.
Edit: put 3 in each group back to 33%
Main Junction - Hard
1) Killed - M16 (first casualty)
2) no attacks
3) Killed - M16
4) Killed - M16
Reduced loon probs in all 3 groups, particularly the two jeep groups. Changed attack angles slightly. The problem here is that the player is in the open and on point. Tougher than I thought it was.
Bikes - Easy
1) 2 casualties
2) 2 casualties
3) Killed - M16 (first casualty)
4) no casualties
Rearranged probs and angles slightly.
BMP Ambulance & BRDM - Medium
1) Killed - G36 (first casualty)
2) 4 casualties. never saw the enemy myself
3) Killed (third casualty)
4) no casualties
5) 7 casualties
Moved rear attack groups back slightly. Another surprise - I had this one down as hard.
Ammo & motorbikes - Hard
1) Killed (bizon)
2) 5 casualties
3) 3 dead + 1 injured. Never saw the enemy myself.
4) 3 dead + 1 injured
Changed tank waypoint, reduced probs of infantry attack group and changed start position of infantry group to make it easier.
Edit: adjusted waypoints to make it slighter harder again
Using THobson's most excellent little programme, I was able to spot a number of mistakes in my probabilities and also see that difficulty and number of loons were not closely correlated. This is exactly what you would expect given the different start positions and attacks. I also used it to check the new probs: in general it smoothed things out in the 10-20 loon range, making it less random. Tended also to reduce the tails, which has the same effect.
I was happy with the start positions till THobson pointed out the problems .... these changes make me fairly happy again, or at least it will till I test them .....
There is probably a tiny increase in overall difficulty because you can no longer get the easy-peasy start at the UAZ. For the other start positions I would say the overall difficulty is roughly unchanged.
Thoughts?
Edit: that was 38 attempts. In 10 I was killed (twice by my own men), in 21 there were acceptable casualties (<2) and in 7 I survived with heavy casualties. It's true that I know what do to, but I'm not a particularly strong player and still managed a decent start more than half the time.
Second edit: I've been testing the new starts. Early indications are that the changes have been too big.
Third edit: I now added small placement radii to most of the attack groups' first waypoints which are usually very close to the player's group. This just mixes up the angles a little on retries. Latest results - these were being tweaked as I went along. As you can see it's more even now. The "optimum" result would be 1 killed and 6 dead over four tests.
Old Base
1) 1 dead
2) 1 dead
3) Killed through a wall
4) 1 dead
Field Hospital
1) 2 dead, 1 injured
2) 4 dead
3) 3 dead
4) 2 dead
Truck
1) 2 dead
2) no casualties
3) 3 dead
4) Killed - hand grenade
Ammo & UAZ
1) Killed - M21
2) Killed - G36
3) Killed - M16
4) 1 dead
5) Killed - M16
6) Killed while reloading - G36
7) 1 dead
8) 3 dead
9) Killed - M16
10) 3 dead
11) 1 dead
12) 2 dead
Main Junction
1) 2 dead
2) 2 dead
3) Killed - jeep/mg
4) Killed - jeep/mg
5) 2 dead
Bikes
1) 2 dead
2) no casualties
3) no casualties
4) no casualties - but two of these three n/c were hard
BMP Ambulance & BRDM
1) 1 dead
2) 1 dead
3) Killed
4) 2 dead
Ammo & motorbikes
1) 1 dead
2) 1 dead
3) 4 dead
4) 1 dead
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Gee mac that is alot of work.
On the new results:
Ammo & UAZ seems to have gone from easy to pretty d**n difficult. Overall the number of 'No casualties' has come down significantly.
On balance I wish I had never complained - the starts now seem tougher! I suppose I will just need to get over it.
I see you have already done a lot of work, so I hope this in not too late. Attached is revised program that outputs its results to a text file that can be imported into Excel (and I presume other spreadsheets) to make further analysis easier. Obviously the probabilities contained in it are the old ones, so if you want to use the program you will need to change them. There are instructions in the readme file on how to run the program and how to import the results into Excel.
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Editing posts with attachements seem to wrong for me, hence the new post:
I suggest what is needed are some design criteria. What is an unacceptable start:
- Too many 'Killed' that is for sure,
- also too many 'No casualties'
but how many is a reaonable number of casualties?
I suggest a target of most outcomes in the range 0 to 2 casualties at the start (or 3 if you must!). If you are getting 4 or more right at the outset it would seem a bit unfair.
Once you have a reasonable set of criteria then I guess it is just experimentation to get there.
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Ah, into Excel, that's just what I need. Yes it has been a lot of work but I think I'm getting there. The UAZ results are worse than they look: a total of 9 loons went from 50% to 33% over the course of that dozen trys and if you look at just the last four results they are ok.
Also, today the game was harder than yesterday. The bare figures cover a multitude of sins. What's really important is that the two really hard ones - Main Junction (jeeps/mg) and the Abrams start at the wee ammo dump are both now playable rather than virtually unplayable.
0 casualties is a highly undesirable result. Up to 2 counts as 0 because you get replacements for them. On the other hand more than 3 is bad because this is me playing, knowing exactly what's what. I must try testing them standing up with crappy weapons. ;D
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Thinking about the directions your guys are facing at the start. I can now see setDir will not work, even just after the start, as they all start to move back into formation so the setDir instruction will be lost. Toadlfe has a 'watch' script that enables individual units or groups of units to be told to watch specified points of the compass. Might be worth looking at that.
I was rude about my son's tactics the other day. Perhaps I was a bit unfair. What he does at the start is to get everyone to hit the deck, stop and scan the horizon. I had completely forgotten about the scan the horizon command. He is still using noisy weapons though!
0 and 1 casualties are the same as one of the replacements are conditional. It's at 2 or more when you feel the pain. More than 3 and really the mission becomes more of a one player affair with the squad providing a bit of back up.
Anyway as I have said before I am providing only one data point. Others may have differnet views and the only view that counts is yours.
Bye the way I asked my son what he thought of the start. He thought it was 'good, realistic to be attacked soon after you land'. So there is another data point.
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Being quite new to this site I am not sure if it is considered bad form to poke around using the editor in other people's missions. If I shouldn't be doing it let me know and I will stop.
I was intrigued as to what you had done to make capturing the tank more difficult. Two questions:
- Is a unit on Guard if it is on its way to a Guard waypoint or does it have to get to the Guard waypoint first?
- when using setWPPos is the index number used to identify the waypoint the same as the index number you see when looking at waypooints in the editor? (if so should the trigger at Cj46 refer to WP 6 & 7 rather than 7 & 8?)
Very neat by the way.
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Some people do get slightly nervous about folk poking around other people's missions. My view is that it should be STRONGLY encouraged - it's a very good way to learn ... either how to do things, or not do things, as the case may be. I am merely flattered if anybody chooses to unpbo any of my missions, and all I ask is that if you blatently nick something (which is totally fine) you mention the source in your readme. The only possible bad consequence is deliberate plagiarism, (which is a genuine problem in the addon making community, but not usually in the mission making community) and as long as you avoid that then IMHO only good can come of it. Any comments (or questions) anybody makes having studied my missions are extemely welcome.
To answer your questions:
1) I can't remember but you can easily build a wee test missionette to check
2) No. It is displaced by one. setWPPos regards the original position of the unit as 0 and the first placed waypoint as 1. This is a typical example of OFP code confusion: the waypoint numbered 0 in the actual waypoint GUI is in fact waypoint 1 according to setWPPos.
I think I've got all mine right but it is the sort of thing that can very easily go wrong, so if you think I have made a mistake please point it out.
I have done a fair bit to make the capturing that Abrams more difficult:-
- change waypoint position to take it away from the Base (where it is so useful)
- fix bug so that the dismounts can actually dismount from the Bradley
- increase Bradley prob from 76% to 100% (reducing
seperate infantry group prob at that start position from 75% to 50% to offset this)
- increase probs of Bradley dismounts
- add variable condition to move waypoint to prevent Abrams group from being sucked into the Base early on
- whole new sequence of waypoints and switch triggers to prevent Abrams from being stationery in danger zone when it is not aware of nearby enemy
- new loitering position for Abrams which would be quite hard to find during the mission. For example waypoints are placed to make it hard to follow the tank by means of flattened bushes/trees, and the route has been selected to make it hard to keep up with the track marks on foot. (They fade with time)
- second chopper now hovers out to sea for at least an hour, so with a bit of luck - if you do capture the Abrams - it will just zoom in and zap you
- and as you have discovered, the real punishment for capturing the tank is that the mission then becomes less fun
I don't care if you capture one of the tanks in the heavy armour group, that can only (realistically) happen so near the end of the mission that it doesn't really matter.
(There are three armoured groups, which I refer to as light, medium and heavy. They are, respectively: all Bradleys; one Bradley+one Abrams; and up to two of each.)
I greatly value the opinion of good beta testers, and, being probably the most experienced beta tester myself I can safely say that beta testers are usually right. Consequently, although I have no qualms whatsoever about ignoring/disagreeing with the opinions or comments of beta testers, I take all of them extremely seriously and my default position is to accept their suggestions.
If this was a normal mission I'd probably try and give the player 30 seconds before the first attack came in. This start is harsh, but then it is supposed to be. And I love the idea of a player trying it three or four times and dying within 10 seconds each time and saying "this mission is a piece of shit", because it isn't: you can survive with fewer than 3 casualties 3 times out of 4 once you know what you are doing. And the thing to remember about all these tests I'm doing is that I'm not a particularly strong player, even though I do know the ins and outs.
I've decided against any setDir thing: the player's group will start clean, in the default configuration. I did look at toady's watch script when it came out, but it is the sort of thing I'm trying to avoid in this mission and in any case, my job is to make it more difficult, not easier. Plus there probably isn't time for it to work anyway: you don't often get more than 5-6 seconds before the shooting starts.
All feedback is welcome so by all means get your son to post his comments. (Assuming you have told him the internet exists.)
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As I said earlier - amazing attention to detail. I saw the new loitering position for the medium armour group. I had not realised you chose it to avoid flattened bushes! Good one.
I realise now how I got the Bradley in that group. It was pure luck, but I could not have done it more accurately if I had known what I was doing. I got into a fire fight just NW of the Old Base - this must have attracted the medium group. We then passed each other in the fog as I went west and it went east - one of my guys did report seeing it but I didn't. When I got to the ammo dump I scattered some mines around in what turned out to be in or close to the medium group's loitering position. Now if only it had taken the Abrams as well I would not have been able to capture it.
My first question about the behaviour of a unit that has been switched to a Guard waypoint, but before it gets there is something I will write a little missionette to check, but my reason for asking the question was less to get the answer and more to prompt you to consider whether the behaviour of the medium group is one that you want. Scenario: firefight in the south, medium group attends, sees nothing and starts to return. Does the group have to get home before it comes back, or will it return as soon as there is more action, even before it gets home? Actually I can understand if you don't care about the answer - one is certainly more realistic than the other but the other just adds to the uncertainty. I will still write the missionette though.
A thought on how the difficulty can be increased without cheating. Currently when the infantry dismounts from their Bradley they go to S&D at the location of the Bradley. It would not be cheating, and from the player's point of view would look more realistic, if the location of the S&D waypoint was where one of east units had been detected (something like KnownLoonPos getPos _thislist select 0 in the trigger, then use KnownLoonPos to move the WP))
My son certainly knows about the internet. He is currently in the final year of a 4 year degree course in computing. I am not sure why he is not posting himself, maybe he is embarrassed by his dad being here. (Actually I think he was a bit embarrased for my sake by some of the rather nasty comments (since fixed) in the reviews of a couple of my missions)
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I remember the answer now: the group doesn't have to be at the guard waypoint, once it starts going there it is on Guard. When I was testing this new setup there was one run when it wasn't quite right, and the tank was called into action, failed to detect anybody, ran away again and 200 yards later was callled back into action, didn't detect anybody and so on.
I like that thought on the positioning of the S&D waypoint - that would be fine since the lads dismount only if the enemy is known to be there anyway. They would just run around randomly anyway. I might offset it slightly to confuse the player.
OFPEC reviews (and beta tests) do occasionally have comments which are unneccessarily harsh in tone, but they are usually thoughtless rather than deliberately hurtful.
I suggest you order him not to post on OFPEC under any circumstances. That should probably do the trick. ;D
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Lol. I bet you are right.
Just looking through the mission. What happens if the player chooses to continue, there are <=11 loons left and one or more of them are in a vehicle that is stuck >600m from the flag. I may be wrong but I think they stay stuck.
It seems (just) possible for the loons to head off up The Hill if there are as many as 34 of them. If the player does what I kicked myself for not doing and that is litter the top with satchel charges and all 34 are wiped out in one go. Again I may be wrong, but it looks like there could be a delay of up to about 2 minutes before the game ends.
Just tell me stop when this gets irritating. :)
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Just tell me stop when this gets irritating
;D I've been irritated by this wretched mission for some weeks now, so you don't need to worry about that.
If all the loons are dead then _count=0: the delays are all of the form _count*x so the delay would be 0 and you'd get straight to the end of the script. It's true that if _count was 34 and you zapped them just after the delay started then you would have to wait a while before the mission finished, but given that it would already have taken probably 15 minutes to get them all up the hill I don't think that's a big deal. It's all pretty unlikely anyway, and hard to fix because I'd have to interrupt the delay to recount, which is possible of course but I really don't want to have to test that script again. It's really hard work.
I'm not sure you're right about the other point though. If a vehicle was stuck more than 600m away then the unstick section would grab the vehicle (since it's more than 250m away) and move it. I think. The loons inside would then get the unassigncommands which should get them out. Even if it doesn't, the vehicle is now in a findable place.
The good news is that I found a couple of uncommented hints in that script, which have now been commented. I've also put a note giving the location of object 42683, which is a tree on the east edge of the small wood to the east of the hill, where the blackops start.
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Well my logic ran like this.
Script starts with <= 11 loons.
Flow goes: Wait1 -> Wait2 -> Section2 -> drive
and if the vehicle is stuck it stays stuck.
There may be other scripts doing stuff that effect it
It was just a thought.
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There are no other scripts, but the flow is actually
Wait1 -> Wait2 -> Section2 -> setpos -> normal -> drive
At least I think it is.
I can't believe I first tried to do what this whole script does in two triggers. No wonder we couldn't find that jeep.
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There is no: setPos, normal or 250 in the script I have so it looks like you have it fixed in a newer version.
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Ah, more than possible.
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Hah yes this is a later version. Couple of quick comments:
- I think _time should be time
- If section1 is missed (as it will be for <=11 loons) the only way for loons to be forced out of their vehicle is if they are <= 600m from the flag, and if they are stuck....
Edit:
Oh I see. when it gets down to just them they are setPosd and are then < 600 m from the flag.
Neat. But it fails if you have > 3 stuck vehicles (or one stuck vehicle with attendant loons giving a count > 3)
Edit2:
tree 42683 look like it is just over 600m from the flag, so I am back to thinking it doesn't work for loons <= 11 and a stuck vehicle > 600m from the flag (unless the setPos un-sticks them - not sure that can be relied on as we don't know what causes them to stick in the first place)
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It doesn't really matter if its _time or time: _time is a reserved local variable which returns the time since the script started.
It does indeed fail if there is more than 3. However, I've only encountered one loon stuck once in many, many tests, so I'm not too worried about it. The nature of the ground over which the mission is fought does not lend itself to loons getting stuck in any case. Plus, he would have to be stuck outside the ring road for the player not to have a decent chance of finding him anyway.
You are correct that if section 1 is missed loons in cargo will stay there. I have therefore amended the script so that section 1 is not missed - you now have to go through it.
I suspect - though I haven't tested - that the setPos will move the whole of a stuck vehicle.
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I didn't know that about _time. Interesting, thanks
Edit:
Just found it in comref:
variable _time is reserved. It is used to keep time elapsed since script execution started.
What's the icon for a red face?
Going through Section1 should deal with any number of stuck loons - well it will at least get them all out of the vehicles.
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Just thinking about this:
second chopper now hovers out to sea for at least an hour, so with a bit of luck - if you do capture the Abrams - it will just zoom in and zap you
I didn't capture the Abrams until about midday. I visited the civilians, dealt with the roadblock did a round trip of all the possible starting lacations scattering mines and satchel charges, took out the various units patrolling the roads and then made the ambush. Most of that was done on my belly with very careful approach to each of the starting locations.
Are you really dead against having west's behaviour modified by east capturing one of their prize tanks?
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I thought about the timing briefly. The problem is that Sneaker did the mission very quickly, so there is no "correct" answer. However I think I might move it back further.
Having the chopper behaviour altered if you have/haven't captured the Abrams is a total no-no. That's what made making the mission so interesting. If I want to stop you, I have to think of a good way to do it. Having this pressure has resulted in things like that new waypoint/trigger sequence, which is far more interesting for the player anyway. I've also made 4 groups anti-tank groups by giving them up to two LAW, one AA and two AT loons. They won't all be present of course, but there is at least a chance of them giving you a good whack.
Edit: I've changed the time so its between 1.5 and 2 hours into the mission rather than 1-1.5. Can't really leave it any later because the mission might be over: I have captured the Abrams at the start position. However, since the prob was only reduced as a lag reducer, and it will be out to sea, I've put it back up to 100%.
Reminder: latest version is still 0-64. Grab it here (http://koti.phnet.fi/artoeija/) thanks to Artak. One week on and Lycos/Tripod still haven't fixed my site. I just get standard emails which strongly suggest that my emails are not being read.
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Well if imposing these rules on yourself leads to things like the waypoint/trigger arrangement, then I am all for them. Stick with it.
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I have amended the script that deals with the moved waypoints of the Bradley group and its seperate dismounts. As suggested by THobson, the waypoints are now placed onto the first detected east loon, rather than just onto the west groups' leaders current positions.
The new version includes the immortal line:-
[bradleyGuard, 4] setWPPos [(getPos (list dismount1T select 0) select 0) + ((random 60) - 120), (getPos (list dismount1T select 0) select 1) + ((random 60) - 120), 0]
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That is neat. Presumably there is something similar for the other WP as well. I was wondering what happened if the S&D waypoint happens to land in the middle of a forest so I wrote a little missionette to test it. I am sure you tested it also, I was pleasantly surprised by how realistically the armour behaved.
There is always a danger that by defending against one set of tactics a weakness is made against other ways of doing it. With that caveat:I've also made 4 groups anti-tank groups by giving them up to two LAW, one AA and two AT loons.
The way I did it if any of these groups were in an un-wooded part of The Hill (mainly on the west side) it would have made no difference to me. I took those infantry groups out from long range. The infantry near the Ammo & UAZ and on top of The Hill were quite a different matter.
At Ammo & UAZ I had no option but to get in close to find them amongst the trees but it was when I got to the top of The Hill in the Abrams for the first time that I really took a pounding, I just could not depress the elevation of the gun enough or quickly enough. I had to retire quickly and go and get repaired. I may be wrong, but I think the infantry followed me, either that or they did not rearm while I was away because the next time I got to the top there was no problem. If it was not the loons on the top that chased me it must of been some of the others because some certainly did.
So: LAW soldiers on the top of The Hill can be deadly to tanks - espcially if
- they stay there and don't go chasing down The Hill
- they rearm when they get the chance.
Some infantry groups certainly committed suicide by chasing me back to my base.
There may be some none cheating ways to deal with these points - but the solution might make other ways of doing the mission that much easier.
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I didn't test the S&D in the forest thing: I thought about it, and decided that if the enemy was in a forest the armoured group would'nt be called in anyway. If it was, they'd just mill around on the edge of the forest until they lost contact and the waypoints were reset. Being armour they are much less likely to get stuck than jeeps.
I did think of you blasting these AT groups from long range, and smiled. And then I thought of you missing one and your little armoured column being completely taken out in 6-7 seconds and I smiled even more. ;D The secondary weapons theoretically make them slightly easier for your loons to spot but that doesn't matter. The point is that these groups are a genuine threat to an Abrams. Although why they'd be carrying so much ironmongery against an spetz natz attack remains a mystery ..... ;D
Some of the infantry on the hilltop are switched into Guard when you appear, so they probably did follow you. I suppose I could write a routine that detects if you're in a vehicle and changes their behaviour but I've got to draw the line somewhere. AI rearming is always a problem: the plain fact is that they don't do it by themselves as far as I can see. Again, I suppose I could write a rearming script ..... somebody might have done it already, I'll try the Ed Depot. I wouldn't count that as cheating provided they actually took real ammo from real ammo crates or bodies. If you want to stop them rearming you can shoot them as they bend over to pick it up.
I confess I wouldn't have taken the tank up the hill, that's too much like hard work. I would just have shelled and shelled and shelled.
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If you want to stop them rearming you can shoot them as they bend over to pick it up.
I guess that stops them doing just about everything ;D
I confess I wouldn't have taken the tank up the hill, that's too much like hard work.
All that armour plating feels very cosywhen you know there are snipers about!
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Also:
Fixed medium armour group dismount bug
I can't figure out how these infantry get out of their Bradley.
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They just do. They are part of the group and dismount and mount as the group leader demands. Scripting not required.
Fixing the bug was just adding assignAsCargo commands: previously they had only moveInCargo, which means that the group leader doesn't "know" where they are.
*Thinks: you moron macca, just use the In Cargo field* Actually I won't change it because the current system ain't broke so I ain't a-gonna change it.
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Thanks. That helps. I saw the assignAsCargo commands and wondered why they were needed when you already had the moveInCargo command.
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I've seen AI re-arming without any prompting from anyone.
I did a little test on Desert Island.
I put me and two enemy soldiers down.
Only one of the enemy soldiers had ammo.
As soon as the mission started I shot the loon with ammo.
Once the second loon stood up again, he ran over to the body and started collecting ammo.
It also works if I place a dead enemy soldier who is not part of their group.....giving him 0 health.
Unfortunately, they will not pick up a weapon or ammo from a dead enemy soldier though.
They would rather die than use an enemy weapon.
Planck
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Hmm, I need to look into that. I did a wee test mission this morning and they did nothing.
Edit: A quick experiment (not an exhaustive test) suggests that a loon will NOT rearm either from body or ammo crate UNLESS
1) he is completely out of all ammo
AND
2) the dead body from which he can rearm was a member of his own group
I achieved the body by shooting rather than 0 health slider, which might make a difference.
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In my experiments the loon re-armed from a dead member of his own group and a dead soldier of his own side, but not in his group.
Also he would re-arm from an ammo crate by himself, without prompting.
However, he would not change weapons with a dead enemy soldier.
Running ECP here, but doubt that makes any difference.
Planck
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Strange, it doesn't work for me. Even tried it in ECP.
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I have seen references to ECP in several places - what is it?
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@THobson
Oh my oh my.........
Have you been living without ECP?
You should get it.......go here to find out about it:
http://www.ofpec.com/editors/ecfg/
I repeated my experiments, I did them about a week ago.
Everything still works as I stated previously, except, they wont use the ammo crates now...........strange.
Planck
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Thanks. Interesting. As a result of previous experiences I now avoid using any addons - the only exception I have made is the editor update required for mac's mission here. I am still not persuaded I want to change, I may even remove the editor upgrade when I have finished playing with mac's misison. I mainly want to ensure that any missions I make can be played by anyone.
Edit:
A few quotes from the link you showed:
Note 1: In a multiplayer environment all computers must have the ECP installed and running, otherwise there will be 'modified bin' error messages.
Note 3: If you use a plugin (INQ or DR) then you'll have to download the new INQ or DR config for version 1.071 from the plugin downloads below.
The default version of JAM will not work with the ECP. Download the ECP-compatible version below. This component is an optional addon and will work with any of the available ECP configs (ECP, ECP/DR, ECP/INQ).
This is exactly the sort of stuff I want to avoid.
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ECP on MP is a bit of a nightmare, using it is a quick and effective way of gaining unpopularity. ECP on small SP missions can be quite fun - the blood spurts and explosions for example. It's too laggy on most comps for big missions like this one.
The trouble with addons is that afew of them are fantastic. It's a classic baby & bathwater situtation.
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I don't need any babies - too much trouble
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I did my stint with babies already. :P
Actually macguba........I played this mission using ECP......and of course veteran mode.
It was laggy in places, but the pace at which I played it meant it didn't matter too much.
And I have an absolute ton of addons in my addons folder THobson.
I have never had any serious problems with it......but then I gave up doing multiplayer a while ago.......56k connection etc etc.
Planck
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I have just had another look at the end cutscenes (basically I like the music - Armenian Philharmonic!) I noticed a few more things.
Cut scene if you choose to end the mission after the first 2 objectives:
- You may wish to disable radio at the start of the cutscene, my guys gave me a radio message about seeing a vehicle, though goodness knows what it was they saw (that bloody jeep is miles away)!
- The problem I told you about with the text "Punch macgubaâ€Â¦" with it having the irregular line at the top, well the same applies to some of the text in the cutscene, especially the list of beta tester names. (I still cannot select that option by the way) ;D
The extraction cutscene: Towards the end the camera moves into a close-up of the piece of ground where the chopper was when it got hit. On one run through the chopper was hit so hard it had been blown some distance away and so all I got was a close up of a piece of brown earth.
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Thanks for these. :thumbsup: Glad somebody thinks the music is ok, my flatmate hates it.
The enableradio false bug was introduced .... somehow, I have no idea how. Fixed.
Punch macguba squiggly line is fixed. I hadn't noticed it on the beta testers names, I'll check. Sadly, clicking is never quite going work, but if you send me an IM each time you click it I'll walk into a door. ::)
The camera shots at the end do sometimes go wrong. It's a BIS script (apart from the flag changing bit) so blame them. Another favourite cock up is when the A10 flies behind the mountain, sometimes you just get a shot of the mountain. There are a whole bunch of these possibilities (for example, were you in the chopper when you were killed) and I'm not going to fix them. What's good enough for BIS is good enough for me. ;D
@Planck - I have tried ECP with it, not least because I use the ECP spectate script for testing. Very handy for finding that last pesky lost loon. ECP variables are set to switch off all the stuff that's irrelevant to try and keep lag to a minimum. I find it slows things down just too much for my taste, although I do like some of the effects.
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How about making sure the chopper gets hit before the player boards?
I am intrigued by the idea of a spectator script. That might be a baby worth having - just so long as there is not much bathwater
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OK. Now I am being really picky. In DeathNew.sqs Guba's name is hard coded into a Titletext, but there is a variable _hero that should also contain this information - using that would make the script more generally applicable.
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The timing of the death of the player was really difficult. I experimented with all kinds of scripts, triggers and waypoints before getting this very simple version that guarantees the player dies in a cinematically pleasing manner. It's all in the timing. Move the A10s waypoint by 100m and they come in from a different angle at a different time. I'm not touching any of it. It's only the Outro anyway - no more than 5% of players will ever see it.
You should get ECP just to try it. The spectator script in the mission editor is really helpful sometimes.
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The Debug Spectator in ECP is very handy, but, so too is this new X-Cam Console by Silola, very very handy little gadget.
It's not perfect yet, but it does work well enough to quage the possibilities.
Hmmm.........must stay on topic. ::)
Planck
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HOLY SH*T! THIS IS BIG!
This better be a good mission! D/L it now, I'll post later about my
victoms
[sinister laugh follows] ;D
Just make sure you post how many Ivans there are in the mission so I can compare.
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You should get ECP just to try it. The spectator script in the mission editor is really helpful sometimes.
I probably will have a look - slippery slope this, before you know it I be addon crazy like many others!
I'm not touching any of it.
I know the feeling
@Sophion-Black
Well I had 9 Ivans at the end but mac gave me an extra one for the Outro. How are your victims doing?
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JEZ!
for me LAG! (Cheepie 2001 computer)
Hmp, i'm not up for playing Spetz Natz (Russian). but I think I'll do alright (computer threw me off!). I'll try it soon as i get back
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In the mission you play as Ivan. I had 9 left - not 9 killed. How long did I play it? Close on 14 hours of game time (that is not time spent playing the game it is the time that passed in the game). Sneaker did it in less than 1/2 that. Planck took longer but he was the first.
The readme file tells you which addon you need. Do it, it is well worth it.
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LAG LAG LAG LAG!
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Hey m8, nice to see you here. This is a big mission indeed - if it's lagging too bad, then give up - there are plenty of missions out there that need beta testing more than this one, which as you can see from the length of the thread has had a pretty good going over from some excellent chaps.
Use Flashpoint Preferances to check your benchmark. If it's below 1000 you have no hope at all. Sneaker won the mission with a benchmark of 1500 but it wasn't pretty. If you're in that range there are a few things you can do to help the lag situation:
- don't use ECP or similar mods
- turn down graphics settings to minimum
- empty your addons folders of all extraneous addons: put the addons in subfolders
- the first 10-15 seconds can be quite bad as the game initialises everything: if you can survive that it tends to get better
THobson - you should look at some addons, if only to know what you aren't really missing.
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@Sophin-Black
Will you please not edit your posts out of all recognition. It makes the subsequent replies look stupid.
@macuba
My son has some British Paras and Marines. They look interesting. Do you have any specific suggestions?
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Not really, I'm not a big addon man. The standard by which all addons are measured are those produced by Ballistic Addon Studios (BAS) but with the addons depot down they are hard to find. BAS's own site closed under the weight of popularity. Their best known units were US Deltas and Rangers and a number of helicopters. They also produced an island, called Tonal, which is very nice but too demanding on memory to make anything except small missions.
Talking of islands, the two that keep coming up are Trinity and Sarugao. You can probably get them at ofp.info, which has the biggest store of addons. (They don't check or rate them though, unlike the addons depot, so you don't really know what you're downloading.)
Other decent outfits include a Finn called Kegetys, Red Hammer Studios, Everon Cartel.
There is something called FDF mod, which stands for Finnish Defence Forces. It is both a mod in the ECP sense, and also a mod in the sense that you get a comprehensive set of new units to play with. It's a huge download (400 meg I think) so only if you have a fast connection.
Lastly, it's not an addon, but at moments like this I always recommend the Retaliation campaign. Excellent, and no addons at all.
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@Sophin-Black
Will you please not edit your posts out of all recognition. It makes the subsequent replies look stupid.
<THobson>HA... oh wait, oops.
<#> Hey, I got to '5,7 target 5t truck' ;D Then it crashed, but oh well I tried.
my kills were only:
soldier x2
MG
Is that good?
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Da** no Russian language avalable!?
@Macguba
The tips didn't work, hopefully i'll catch your next mission.
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OK well never mind, thanks for trying.
I've posted some screenies from the mission (all from cameras rather than gameplay) over on the official forums. (http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard311/ikonboard.cgi?s=d712ab35c511c3e92811ce3c30802c36;act=ST;f=55;t=42843) The release version will be posted this week, all being well. The changes from 0-64, the version Artak's is hosting, mostly involve cosmetic stuff and minor improvements to the start position attacks to make them less random. I'd post what I 've got but tripod are still being crap so I can't upload it to my site. The pics worked though, in fact there are a couple (http://macguba.tripod.com/) that aren't on the forum.
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Thanks for the information on the add-ons I will have a look.
I tested the lose end of mission (or loose as it is spelt in the game). Very good. I have not seen that done before. Two comments:
- After the de-briefing the scene has the ubiquitous "Wait a moment" message. How about something else? For example: "Later..." or "The Civilians get their retribution" or something. I think even a blank screen might be preferable. I realise you may be trying to make it a surprise. I make my comments even with that in mind.
- I am not sure about the guy on the bike. He is a bit unsteady and creates dust even when he is hardly moving. He is also leaving the scene.
OK so it is three comments
- it looks like a lot of thoughtful work for something almost no one will ever see.
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Actually it wasn't too much trouble ... it was only a couple of hours work, apart from getting him to swing convincingly, which was another couple of hours. I can't remember enough about simple harmonic motion to do it right, so it's a pretty crude compromise but its better than nothing.
Nothing to be done about the "Wait a moment" text unfortunately.... you can change it in description.ext, but it is the same as the onloadintro text and it's real tough to think of something that will do in both situations. The Wait a moment is not just a game default, I wrote it in. I tried it with just blank but the delay at the start of the intro is too long .. you start to worry that the game has crashed.
Loose is not the same as lose. It's called loose because it fires on a loose trigger ending, which is fundamentally different from a numbered ending like End#1. Numbered endings fire only if ALL triggers of that type have fired. Loose ending fires if ANY loose ending trigger has been fired. In this case, it's not really an issue, it just gives the extra outro. This is blatent pointhunting I have to say. ;D
I added the bike loon in because the shot was too static without him, it needed something. I'll try something else.
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Loose is not the same as lose.
Indeed, loose is the opposite of tight and lose is the opposite of win. Another case of BIS doing "dammage" to English spelling. Or do you really think they meant to call it a 'loose' ending as opposed to the 'tight' endings given by the numbered ones?
Nothing to be done about the "Wait a moment" text unfortunately
Pity.
The Wait a moment is not just a game default, I wrote it in.
I noticed, and wondered why.
Actually it wasn't too much trouble ... it was only a couple of hours work, apart from getting him to swing convincingly, which was another couple of hours.
That is a lot of work in my book. In the remaining life of the galaxy you will probably have spent more time watching it than the sum total of the rest of humanity
This is blatent pointhunting I have to say
Go for it. All you need now is a reviewer that is able to complete the mission!! (I have had a couple of missions reviewed that can be done quite easily - so long as you think about it, and all I got was "ridiculously hard at times". Goodness knows what they will make of this mission!!)
Edit:
I had a look at your harmonic motion. I cannot figure out how it works in the script, but it looks good on the screen.
(I think direction = a + b*sin (c*t). where t is time is how I would have approached it.)
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Loose is correct I think. (Unlike dammage.)
I am concerned by the review, which is why I've been pointhunting. It is now as clear a 9 as you will ever find - I just hope that whoever reviews it figures that out. If if just pisses them off I could find myself staring at a 7 which would piss me off. The cheats that you have doubtless discovered in init.sqs are designed to help - at least they can see all the cutscenes.
On the SHM, that was just the sort of thing I couldn't remember. I have a bloody physics degree for goodness sake, its a disgrace.
The script just decreases the speed of rotation as you get close to the endpoint, and speeds it up as you move away from the ends. The numbers are all just trial and error, that's why it took so long. I thought it would take 10 minutes ....
I've changed the bike for a motorbike. The puff of dust looks more convincing and he drives off across the scene in a convincing way. And, as you say, only the people who shoot the woman or get caught out by blowing up a civvy truck will ever see it. And the reviewer of course. ;D
I am happy to announce, that as of when I started to write the post, the Un-Impossible Mission is finished. I need to give it a final run of tests, to make sure nothing has been screwed up, and then it is done. The "to do" section, miraculously, is empty.
Many thanks again to all my beta testers. Not only did you find mistakes, and make literally hundreds of good suggestions, but your enthusiasm and stories kept me going when I felt like chucking it in. I really appreciate all you have done. :-*
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Best of luck with the review.
I am not sure what I am going to do with all my spare time now.
Oh, I see Rome - Total War is now out....
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;D I ordered it today.
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Me too ;D
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Oh, if you think of anything else, comments and suggestions still welcome. I won't be ready to submit for another couple of days at least.
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Only a few thoughts of the type: I wonder if he....
- fixed the mission name truncation in the list of available SP missions
- made sure the second chopper does not run out of fuel
- got rid of the clicking sounds in the voice dialogue
type of thing.
I do think you might wish to look at using the sine formula for the swing, it should results in less of a jerk at each end of the oscillation, but who the hell will see it and will they notice anyway?
Are you absolutely sure there can be no re-occurrence of the stuck vehicle? That would be the killer.
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Wow, Thobsons been well into this ;)
Ive been pretty busy recently so havent had much time for flashpoint, but will get round to trying .64 or whatever the 'finished* version is , problably at the weekend.
*congrats to mac, i hope u can draw a line under this, and have fixed everything u want to (and dont worry about tiny things that might come up), well done :)
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Lol THobson, I was kinda hoping you would come up with a list of things I might have forgotten about.
1) Un-Im... or UnIm.... I know it is slightly truncated in the list of missions and I don't like that, but I experimented with various forms of the name when it was changed from Impossible mission and that was the best one. I considered changing it but the name appears in so many places I would be bound to miss one, so I'm going to leave it as it is.
2) The second chopper now appears 1.5 - 2 hours into the mission and does not run out of fuel. (The first chopper doesn't run out of fuel either.) Both choppers make a trip to an outlying island to the north to simulate going somewhere to refuel, though they don't land or anything.
3) Yesterday I completely re-recorded my voices for the cutscene, the new ones being marginally less crap than the old and virtually click free. The girl doesn't live locally so hers will have to stay for now: I've editing them in Goldwave as far as my limited abilities will allow so they are better than they once were, but there is still the odd click. The tinny echo effect has been eliminated.
4) The swinging body isn't worth more work, it's intellectually unsatisfying and if it was important I'd fix it, but ..... it is one of the many remaining imperfections in the mission. The trouble is my whole bloody life is on hold till I finish the wretched thing so I'm keen to get it done.
5) I'll never say never, particularly about tricky things like stuck vehicles, but the mission is much more robust than it was. The jeep that caused all that bother was working under just a couple of triggers, which on many, many test runs worked fine about 3 times out of 4. So you were slightly unluckly. As you know, the script had already replaced the triggers when your incident occurred: since then, under your advice, the script has been improved several times. On a fair few test runs there have been no incidents of stuck vehicles. I will make a test with a jeep roughly in that place check that it works.
6) I checked the beta testers names, and in the latest version there are no squiggly lines above them.
Any more thoughts like that very welcome. I did a quick run through the last few pages of the thread but I could easily have missed something.
The final version, nominally 1.00 but in reality 0-66, (0-65 is a backup version) will hit the missions depot in a couple of days and certainly before the weekend. Things will continue to come up, so I expect to make a 1.01 before the review is done in a month of two's time. With a mission of this complexity there is no sharp line between "final beta" and "first release", but 1.00 will be something I'm happy to put my name to.
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One (final?) comment.
I think the absence of an hyphen in 'UnImpossible mission' in the list at the begining is less likely to be noticed than the absence of half of the 'n' in Un-Impossible mission. I don't think it is necessary change all references just that one.
Ok it is two comments:
At the end what about an absolutely cast iron, copper bottomed, iron clad, safety net (which probaly would not be safe if it was made of those materials!). Something like deleting all loons > than a certain distance from the flag, and over time steadily reducing the distance. Only start this after a long time (so that it would only kick in if something went wrong). That way you could guarantee the mission will end. If you have someone devoting the time necessary to complete this mission I think you owe it them to make sure it finishes, even if you do cheat to do it.
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1) That's a good idea, I'll try that.
2) I've been thinking about that too. I've been testing that script this morning, and there are no problems at all with stuck vehicles - the loons just disembark. However, I found two other major problems with it, only one of which is fixed so far. ::)
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I have often written programs that had problems, I fixed the problems only to discover more. Eventually all that changing killed whatever structure there was and I found the best solution was to start again. I had a bit of that feeling looking at Uphill.sqs
As this really is absolutely key to the mission I would be happy to have a look through it if a second opinion would help.
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Well, the good news is that I not only fixed the outstanding problem, but also the problem that it introduced and another independent problem. ;D
I've added a line to delete anybody other than a cobra more than 1760 away from the flag... yes I know its metres not yards but a conversion would be inelegant.
Latest version of the script attached - second opinions very welcome. At present it seems to be working.
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Wouldn't attach to the last post for some reason.
Edit: aaarggh it thinks it is.
Edit: the real name is
uphill.sqs
if you want it to work in the mission. The TEST part is just to get it posted here.
Edit: that version still has a problem. New one coming.
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I am not sure I understood much of that.
I will focus on
New one coming.
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Lol, I can't say I do either.
Anyway, here is the latest version.
It's still not working correctly. I don't really understand why not: I think it may be something to do with the way the game handles vehicle units. Or it may just be a mistake.
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Ahha! Found it. Had a couple of == instead of >=.
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A gift.
It took exactly 10 minutes. I know because that is how long it took for my pizza to cook.
To change the amplitude of the swing change, wait for it _swing
and to change the periodicity of the swing change, you guessed _period
It doesn't look too bad as it is
I will now have a look at the latest uphill
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You know guys............
Un-Impossible Missior looks just as good as Un-Impossible Mission.
However if you really want to change it, the difference is minimal........unless english isn't your first language.
;D ;D ;D
Planck ;D
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A present? For me? Oh, you shouldn't have. :-[
That's pure dead brilliant, thank you. :D I love the little pause at the end of each swing, so much better than before. Very kind.
@Planck ... hmm, yes the Un-Impossible Missior ..... an interesting thought ...... ::)
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Done it. This one appears to work the way it was supposed to. There were a couple of typos in the last version.
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Bloody hell... I can't keep up. Here are my comments and questions on WORKSuphill.sqs.
General points:
For each unit that is in a group of N units that unit will be given the required instructions N times for each loop (applies to both Sections1 & 2). I suppose it gets the message home. I think writing it from scratch an alternative might be to ignore units that are not group leaders and then run all the instructions for each member of each group. I would not suggest you change now though.
There are several hints that have not yet been commented out.
Specific
1.
; these variables ensure that the setpos loop is done only once
_pass1=false
_pass2=falseThe comment is not correct. The setpos command is done every second time through the Section2 loop if loons <=3. (_pass1 = false in Section2 ensures this. The code is good the comment is not.)
_pass2 is not used
2. allowGetin false is used in Section2 but not in Section1. Is this okay?
3. What does setUnitPos {auto} do? I presume it is ok to use lowercase?? Comref shows all uppercase.
4. Section1: _cargo is a sub-set of _group. I think therefore that all of the following is redundant:
"_x setUnitPos {auto}" forEach _cargo
"_x allowFleeing 0" forEach _cargo
"_x setBehaviour {aware}" forEach _cargo
"if (alive _x and (not canStand _x)) then {_x setDammage 0.2}" forEach _cargo
"_x doFollow leader _x" forEach _cargo
"_x doMove getPos flag1" forEach _cargoas it is all repeated immediately for _group
5. This appears a lot:
_trigList = list mapTrig
_upList = +_trigList
_count = count _upList
Why this and not:
_trigList = list mapTrig
_count = count _ trigList
?
6. The line:
? (alive _endLoon1) and (_endLoon1 distance flag1 > 250) and ((flag1 distance _endLoon1 < (_pos1 + 2)) and (flag1 distance _endLoon1 > (_pos1 - 2))) : _endLoon0 setPos [(getPos object 42683 select 0) + 2, (getPos object 42683 select 1) + 5, 0]
Should read:
? (alive _endLoon1) and (_endLoon1 distance flag1 > 250) and ((flag1 distance _endLoon1 < (_pos1 + 2)) and (flag1 distance _endLoon1 > (_pos1 - 2))) : _endLoon1 setPos [(getPos object 42683 select 0) + 2, (getPos object 42683 select 1) + 5, 0]
I will now have a look at the latest.
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Bloody hell... I can't keep up.
Lol yes it has been a bit of a shambles, sorry.
For each unit that is in a group of N units that unit will be given the required instructions N times for each loop (applies to both Sections1 & 2). I suppose it gets the message home. I think writing it from scratch an alternative might be to ignore units that are not group leaders and then run all the instructions for each member of each group. I would not suggest you change now though.
The multiple passes are required for some reason: with single pass a fair number of loons just hide in forests. I suspect that they are so stupendously scared that the allowFleeing 0 command kinda wears off.
There are several hints that have not yet been commented out.
I think I got them all in the BETTER version.
1.; these variables ensure that the setpos loop is done only once
Fixed
2. allowGetin false is used in Section2 but not in Section1. Is this okay?
Yes. Section 1 is not about getting loons out of vehicles really: section 2 is.
3. What does setUnitPos {auto} do? I presume it is ok to use lowercase?? Comref shows all uppercase.
OFP code is supposed to be case insensitive. It usually is, though rare and obscure counterexamples have been reported. There are some units (eg snipers) that have setUnitPos "down" commands: this keeps them on their bellies. "Auto" allows them to stand up, which means they don't have to crawl up the hill.
4. Section1: _cargo is a sub-set of _group. I think therefore that all of the following is redundant:
It would be if the loons in cargo were in the same group as the vehicle. If they are a seperate group then you need to duplicate the code. In fact, the only group where this occurs is the Bradleys (light armour) and it's unlikey they would still be alive, but you never know. If a group is totally in cargo in a seperate vehicle you can't grab them with a West present trigger.
Edit: yes of course I should have added the arrays together. Duh-oh.
5. This appears a lot:
trigList = list mapTrig
_upList = +_trigList
_count = count _upList
The command + is vital: it crystallises the array. If you don't use it, then the array you are dealing with updates automatically while the loop is running. Consequently lots of bad stuff happens becuase your counters get screwed up as the number of loons in the array changes. The number can go both up and down of course. You could code your way out of it but this seems easier.
6. The line:
Code:? (alive _endLoon1) and (_endLoon1 distance flag1 > 250) and ((flag1 distance _endLoon1 < (_pos1 + 2)) and (flag1 distance _endLoon1 > (_pos1 - 2))) : _endLoon0 setPos [(getPos object 42683 select 0) + 2, (getPos object 42683 select 1) + 5, 0]
Should read:
? (alive _endLoon1) and (_endLoon1 distance flag1 > 250) and ((flag1 distance _endLoon1 < (_pos1 + 2)) and (flag1 distance _endLoon1 > (_pos1 - 2))) : _endLoon1 setPos [(getPos object 42683 select 0) + 2, (getPos object 42683 select 1) + 5, 0]
Now that is a very impressive spot. :thumbsup: I found it myself, sadly: it is the most important change between WORKS and BETTER.
Many thanks for hacking through this. I've found several other minor mistakes in the mission while trying to fix it.
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OK It is now 'glass of wine time' so you won't get much coherent out of me after this for today.
One comment:
Have you seen how far away 1760 is from The Hill?? Instead of:
"if ((_x distance flag1 > 1760) and (not (typeof _x == {cobra}))) then {deleteVehicle _x}" forEach list mapTrigWhat about something like:
if (_time <60*30) then {_killdist = 1760} else {_killdist = 1760 - (_time - 60*30)*(1760-250)/(60*45)}
if (_killdist < 250) then {_killdist = 250}
"if ((_x distance flag1 > _killdist) and (not (typeof _x == {cobra}))) then {deleteVehicle _x}" forEach list mapTrig
For the first half hour it will kill things > 1760 away. for the next 45 minutes the distance will reduce steadily until it is killing anything >250 away.
Just a thought.
I will have a look through the latest version tomorrow if that is okay.
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Ah yes, now that's what I need. :)
BETTER is not very different from WORKS: hints commented, hint delays removed, that last point you mentioned fixed, one or two other details.
I'm not that thrilled about having a killzone effect at all. I choose 1760 very carefully (as you would expect ::)) to exclude the village in the west and the base in the east, both likely trouble spots, but include all enemy start positions excep the roadblock crew, who have waypoints to bring them in anyway. The Abrams loitering area can't be in the death zone in case the last 3 loons is a fully operational tank. (Highly unlikely I know) I'd like to make the support group start safe too, but that's less important.
The thing about this script is, a little like the Outros, most people will never need it. I mean the ones who get to the finish - Sneaker and Planck didn't have any problems and they were still working off the old trigger system. The script itself is a backup, and the killzone is a backup to the backup.
What I will do is look at re-centering the zone. The top of the Hill is not in the middle of the relevant area, so I might be able to make it a bit smaller if it's around the right centre.
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Just saw your latest post - we must have been posting about the same time. Well I have learned a lot more from your answers than I helped you. Thanks. I should have remembered from the "There are 1 enemy loons remaining" that loons in vehicles don't get picked up by the trigger.
Now that is a very impressive spot.
Actually not really, I know the sort of mistakes I make and so I have learned where to look. I saw you had fixed it anyway in the latest version.
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The killzone thing was just a thought, as you say a back up to a back up. I know Planck and Sneaker had no problem - but I did and you cannot imagine how pissed off I was when it happened. All worn off now by the way. :)
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I've changed 1760 to 1400. That's really as small as possible - the constraints are the tank guard waypoint in the west and the snipers/infantry to the east and NE of the old base. I'd forgotten that the support group have a waypoint that brings them into the main area.
I know what its like when a mission doesn't end after just an hour of play, so what it's like after 20... well, I'd rather not know. Was most impressed by your forebearance.
Actually, reading back through my last post, most of it was stuff I learned myself (the hard way) while making this script.
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A few random over-night thoughts (not related to any posts that I might not yet have read):
Point hunt:
"Wait a momentâ€Â¦" looks like you are relying on OFP default settings. "Don't go awayâ€Â¦" or something similar would show you are not.
Uphill.sqs:
Section2:
"unAssignVehicle _x" forEach units _group
units _group orderGetIn false
units _group allowGetIn false_group comes from
_group = group _kand _k comes from
_k = _upList select _iSo _k could be a vehicle. What would _group be in that case? Would it include all units in the vehicle? I think not from our discussion yesterday evening. In which case should the three lines at the top of this point refer explicitly to the units in the vehicle and not just to the vehicle itself?
Unlikely - but possible:
What happens if a Cobra is still alive at this time? Will setfuel 0 (Section2) cause it to crash? Will it even get to that point in the script in a sensible time? (If it is the last unit alive it will be checked every 10 seconds to see if it is <= 700 from the flag, only if it is will there be any attempt to get the crew out. How far will it fly in 10 seconds? ). Edit: actually it will probably get caught by the code fairly quickly - but what about the fuel?.
You might want either to have some code that deals explicitly with a Cobra, or exclude it from all the code except: move getPos flag1
Though I can now see a problem with this last option: if the player has run out of AA, or can't be bothered to trek around collecting more the mission will not end. Better I think is to have code that safely gets the crew out of the chopper.
Other:
I still think you are being too generous to BIS in assuming that â€Ëœloose' is not a spelling mistake. I will not mention it again, promise. Unless someone else does!
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Point hunt:
"Wait a momentâ€Â¦" looks like you are relying on OFP default settings. "Don't go awayâ€Â¦" or something similar would show you are not.
Thundering chamberpots! Good thinking Batman! Which is best/least bad
Please switch off your mobile phone now
This is exciting, isn't it?
Your film will start shortly
Loading . . . stand by
_group comes from
Code:_group = group _k
and _k comes from
Code:_k = _upList select _i
So _k could be a vehicle. What would _group be in that case? Would it include all units in the vehicle?
_k can indeed be a vehicle. _group works just fine, it grabs the group of the vehicle. It does not grab anybody in cargo who is in a different group. I don't know what would happen if, say, the vehicle the driver and commander were in different groups, but that doesn't arise here. Nor do I know what would happen if the vehicle had started empty and the crew been moved in, but again it doesn't arise. As it stands it works for this mission and, since I don't actually like scripting, making it generally applicable is not a priority. ;D
Unlikely - but possible:
What happens if a Cobra is still alive at this time?
Hadn't really thought of that, will look into it. When I tested it with Cobras yesterday the crew turned up running up the mountain ok, or died in the crash I suppose. Anyway I placed Cobras at various distances and they never caused a problem.
I still think you are being too generous to BIS in assuming that â€Ëœloose' is not a spelling mistake.
I remain convinced that they meant loose, not lose. You could easily make a mission in which the loose ending was a win and the numbered endings were lose. (For example, destroy any one of half a dozen widely scattered scuds for a win: get captured, lose your squad, run out of time for a lose.) In fact, since the loose ending has no debriefing text, you wouldn't actually do that. That's another reason why I don't think it's lose: they would have had debriefing text. I feel loose is kinda meant as a cockup ending, one that you are not really supposed to get. Although the Outro thing argues against that. We could ask on the official forums I suppose. ::)
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The line that puzzles me is:
"unAssignVehicle _x" forEach units _groupIf _group is a vehicle does this unassign the crew? I am not at home so I can't test it.
We could ask on the official forums I suppose.
Maybe not. :)
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Units which are vehicles are confusing things in OFP. What is the unit? Is it the commander, the vehicle, or what? I don't honestly know, and I think it changes depending on the context anyway.
I suspect _k is actually the vehicle comander, for example the driver in a jeep/mg. If you assume that then everything makes sense. Possibly. _group is never a vehicle.
In this particular case yes, the crew of all vehicles in the group jump out. Or rather, everybody in the group jumps out of the vehicle he happens to be in. Loons in cargo also jump out, provided they are part of _group. If they are in their own group they stay put, which is why there is that cargo bit in section 1. It gets the cargo lot out, while leaving the actual crew in so they can continue to use the vehicle. The command crew is confusing, it returns everybody in the vehicle including all cargo.
I've changed the hint at the end so it says "There are x enemy loons/vehicles remaining", which will hopefully give a clue as to why the number sometimes goes up.
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Which is best/least bad
Please switch off your mobile phone now
This is exciting, isn't it?
Your film will start shortly
Loading . . . stand by
Yours is a sense of humour I appreciate but cannot replicate. You choose. I would comment that the last one seems too much like it has been system generated to get you any credit. If it were me I would go for something like "Don't go awayâ€Â¦". It is clearly not system generated and works for any situation, but there again I can be a boring old fart at times. I would not have referred to needing a tissue for example. :o
In this particular case yes, the crew of all vehicles in the group jump out.
Well the acid test is do they all get out and as they do then it works. I think I can learn a lot by looking at this all in more detail when I have the time.
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Just curious. Why go through all the business with _seed and _base to generate a random number between 0 and 22? Would _base = random 22 not be just as good?
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No. At least I don't think so. The generation of the random number _base is complex because the bounds of _base vary depending on what _startCount is.
To understand what's going on, test some values of _startCount. For example, if it is 16, you go to section1 when the number is reduced to between 12 and 14. If it is 32, you go to section1 when it is reduced to between 16 and 20.
This is necessary because the number of loons remaining at that point can vary between 8 (Planck) and 104 or whatever it was (Sneaker). The moment at which they all start up the hill should vary depening on that number: if you start high, at 100, you don't want to chase them down to 11 before they start running up the hill: 30 is much better. But if you start with 25, you do want some time searching the map - checking the places you haven't been to yet and so on - before they start up the hill.
If it is below 11 then it is of course immediate, which is a regrettable weakness. That number (11) is not entirely random, though it is impressionistic.
PS - please send my royalty fee for your sig line to the usual account. ::) ;D
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I think I will simulate it. It looks to me like whatever startCount is, _base will always be between 0 and 22, though I imagine the shape could be strange.
Edit: I am begining to see. Did you dream this up or was there an algorithm you had in mind?
PS - please send my royalty fee for your sig line to the usual account
Oh dear - am I commiting plagarism? I will change it.
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Loon count necessary to go to Section1
Below the Blue line will go straight to Section1
Above the Magenta line will not go to Section1
Between the lines it will depend on the random number generated during each iteration.
Both lines remain flat for StartCount > 81
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Kills necessary to go to Section1
Fewer kills than the blue line and will not go to Section1
More kills than the magenta line will certainly goto Section1
Between the lines it will depend on the random number generated during each iteration
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You are right (of course). It is not the same as _base = random 22
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;D Lovely graphs!
I knew there would be a few kinks in the line but it didn't really bother me. There is so much inelegance in this mission that one more example didn't seem to matter. Also, like Watson-Watt, I'm a great believer in "second best today". Actually those lines are pretty good: the only problem is the kink in the low 20s. Even that is unavoidable with a crude system like this: the problem them was to do with the rounding of small random numbers to whole numbers, which is how loons come. There isn't much point in generating a command "random 1" if you have to round it up to 1 afterwards. ...
These imperfections are [deliberately] overwhelmed by the double randomness: not only is it random (within limits) but its different on every iteration. Consequently, even if you know the algorithm - if you can apply such a grand word to this - you still have no idea when it will happen. The best part is that the more iterations there are the more likely it is: in other words, if you spend a long time looking and can't find them, the more likely it is that the random _base will come good for you.
This was a classic example of necessity being the mother of invention. The original version had a sort of _base=random 22 thing, but after Sneaker played (and had such a different _startCount from Planck) I realised that something slightly more sophisticated was required. This bag of knitting just grew out of hair-tearing: ah that's it ... no it isn't, what if its X, damn, well ok, I'll bolt on this ... no bugger that doens't work either, right, THAT should do it. Again, if I'd known what was going to happen I'd have drawn the graphs first and then figured out the function. It's only y=mx+c after all.
And yes, _base will always be between 0 and 22. I worried more about the upper limit than the lower: the lower fell out of the game but the upper was just a finger in the air job.
And the sig line comment was a joke of course, put it back. ;) Not least because it works: 100 people have d/l Lookout! in the last few weeks.
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Even knowing how it works I would hesitate to predict what will happen in any particular case. In principle because of the repeated iterations once the count (loons left or loons killed depending on the graph) gets between the two lines it will eventually move on to Section1 without another loon being killed. But the neat thing is that the time between iterations is dependent on the number of loons alive at the time. So you could end up waiting a long time. In fact the only thing you did not randomise is the time between iterations.
Edit: I think the effect of doing what you have vs _base = random 22 is to delay the move to Section1 when startCount >12 and <=80. On the first graph the initial diagonal magenta line would continue up until it hit the (backwards) extension of the horizontal magenta line at the top. If my logic is correct these lines would meet at startCount = 34. The blue line would be unchanged.
Bye the way, it was not a simulation I just used a spreadsheet
100 people have d/l Lookout! in the last few weeks.
I intended to be one of them, I am not yet but I will be.
I was not quite sure how to interpret your comment about the sig. I only quoted what was in the review. I will put it back when I get home
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Even knowing how it works I would hesitate to predict what will happen in any particular case.
That was the idea.
But the neat thing is that the time between iterations is dependent on the number of loons alive at the time.
Yes, I was pleased by that notion. It is just what you want to happen.
In fact the only thing you did not randomise is the time between iterations.
Originally it was, but I took it out - if its random already you don't need it.
Lookout!, by the way, is quite fun and has some nice ideas. There isn't really much scripting in it. It was my first real mission and it shows, and it suffers a little from being old. For example, stuff that was supposed to be out of sight is now visible because you can put the viewdistance up. And in those days the only way to make an arty script was to setPos an M2 to the place you wanted a bang, setdammage 0 it then setpos it out again.
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I have seen those artillery srcipts that setPos an M2, kill it then move it. So you clearly could not camcreate a shell in those days. That must be a loooong time ago
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/me pulls out his walking stick and bends down to rest his arthritic ridden knees...
You could laddie, but way back then no one knew about it.
This was before there was a command reference, and everything anyone knew about editing was from experimentation and trying things out for themselves. Not to mention good old lustypooh...
There were a lot of scripts using the old m2 machine gun, because out of everything it was the hardest to see but still gave a good explosion ;)
I remember someone writing a scud impact script using M2's making a circle from the center of impact... god, those were the days ;D ;D
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Well I haven't been called laddie for a long time - except when I lived in Scotland, and anyway that also was a long time ago.
everything anyone knew about editing was from experimentation and trying things out for themselves.
A good description of me 6 months ago before I found this site.
Surely it would be in BIS's interests to be very open about publishing all the command stuff. I know of no other game that is so old that still has such a strong following.
All completely off topic, but macca started it. ;D
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BIS showed their quality there: they made the best mission editor ever and then were surprised when the whole thing took off. Once they realised what was going on they became very supportive, considering they weren't making any money (directly) out of it. They even invented new commands to help the community, onMapSingleClick being the most famous example, and to this day they watch the official forums very closely and comment whenever they can add something really useful.
Anyway, the on-topic news is that I've been testing (and playing Rome Total War ::) ) the release version will be out in a couple of days.
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I was in Singapore earlier this year and saw in the Straights Times that OFP is being used by the Singaporean armed forces for training.
I have looked at RTW. I expect another single minded commitment will be required for that (just like MTW and STW). I think I will play about with it for a bit, but not seriously - I am still having too much fun with OFP.
I look forward to the release version. I will definitely brave the start, I will still try to capture the Abrams, with the hope and expectation that I will fail and have to do the whole thing the hard way.
I downloaded Lookout! yesterday. I didn't live long - too much red wine. ::)
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Lol I'm quite proud of the start ... if you do it right the first contact is very easy, but if you don't use proper tactics you come to grief.
Quite a few countries are using VBS1 now I think.
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Yeah... OFP was a strange one when it first came out.
I don't think BIS ever intended it to be big in the editing department. They sort of threw the editor in as an after thought, and seemed a bit surprised when everyone got into it.
As Macca says, to their credit they soon came to the party in a big way :)
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I really liked your opening gate. I hope you don't mind, but I have used your idea to create a more general routine where you can specify such things as how far the gate will open and whether the gate opens clockwise or anti-clockwise. It doesn't require GameLogics either.
What do you think?
@Sui
I am glad they did
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Of course I don't mind. :)
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Hi there!
I'm interested in the translating thing! Do u need it a french translator? or is it already done?
If yes, u do need one, where can i dl the mission not pboded?
Thx
-EDIT- i tried unpbing the latest version available, but it doesn't work :-[
-EDIT- err, actually i DID manage to depbo the mission ;D. Currently translating...
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Yes please! I do need a French translator. Klavan has volunteered to do the Italian and Mooseman the German.
There is a Briefing (not long) and Overview and some lines of speech which are scattered thoughout the mission. Take the briefing and overview from the mission: I'll find all the other bits and post a text.
I'm not sure what to do about the readme - its far too long to translate. I think I'll produce a very short version.
Many thanks, its greatly appreciated. Obviously translators see their name in lights when the credits roll.
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I could do a bit of Spanish, its like a second language, well, I'll say I speak 1 1/2 languages. ::)
If you need me that is, I'll grab the mission. :)
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GRK yes please! I've just got your IM, I'm a bit behind as I had houseguests this weekend. The Briefing is not too long and the Overview is just, well the Overview... there are about 20 lines of speech buried in the mission, don't try to find them I'll dig them out and post 'em. I'm not quite sure what to do about the readme, its too long to translate. Anyway, tomorrow (hopefully) I'll post a "translators' pack". In the meantime, the Briefing and Overview are in the mission and you can start on those.
Many thanks. :)
The latest version of the mission (0-64, which has been out for a couple of weeks) is here. (http://koti.phnet.fi/artoeija/)
Edit: I've attached a zip which is the "translation pack". It includes the briefing, overview and a text document which has all the other bits and pieces (such as hints and cutscene dialogue) from around the mission.
Thanks again everybody. :thumbsup: :D
Translations are for sense: I would rather have good French, Polish, etc.. than an exact, but awkward, translation. What matters is that the player understands what's happening.
When you're done, post your translations in this thread or email them to me at arathorn@macguba.fslife.co.uk If there are any questions, please just ask. :)
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Thanks, I never have a whole lotta time these days, this little pack should help. :)
As for the translating, your right Mac, you gotta know verb tense and irregualar verbs, and expressions.
Like
me gusta
you wold think I like
but actually its
it pleases me.
Rough but you get the idea. I've not seen many free translators that are good. :P
:cheers:
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Good translation is extremely difficult. Also, the English in this mission is often very colloquial and therefore particularly hard to translate accurately and directly. Fortunately, direct translations are not required: as long as the rough sense is communicated, that is what really matters.
Needless to say I have already discovered something that has been missed out of the translation pack (it's a big mission, even I forget about parts of it) but rather than post it now I'll wait till I've found all of missing bits and post them all together. It won't be much, I know the pack has most of it.
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1st part of the french translation
Don't worry, that's not the first translation i've ever done ;D
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errrrm... i can't post the mission.sqm: too big even when zipped >:( >:(
-EDIT- forget about that, i'll use your translation pack. Expect reply in 2-3 days, 'got a lot of work (university and jobs :-\)....
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Well, I finally got around to doing some. Translating isn't the most exciting thing in the world. :D
I'm about halfwaythrough the notepad doc, dunno about that readme. Its awfully big. Maybe just the smaller important parts. Starting the overview tommorrow. I expect to have the overview and notepad doc done by the end of the week at least. The briefing may be a bit longer, next week I think.
I don't think it matters to you, this mission has had 420+ replies so its been up awhile. What's another 2 weeks... :P ;D
cheers
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Forget the readme, its far too long and boring to translate. There is a short version of the readme in the text document in the translation pack.
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Wow the briefing was rather odd. I tried not to screw up any html stuff for ya, and I'm pretty sure your links should work. ::) :P
But its done. And I didn't get to the readme in the translation pack though...
Hey here you go, the briefing has almost no english as does the overview, the text doc has espanol under the english.
Its in the .zip...
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:thumbsup: Thank you!
I haven't had time to touch this for about two weeks. :( Will get it all sorted out as soon as RL permits.
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holll-e-shat
how did it get so many posts?
u are quite popular macguba.
this must be the worlds best mission so i must try it
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I have been travelling a lot lately (I still am - it is 4am local time here in my hotel room), so have been out of touch with my games machine. Anyway giving thought to lag (of both game and jet varieties), and based on my memory of the mission it occurred to me that some further optimisation might be possible.
If I remember correctly there is a repeating trigger that is used to get a list of all the living loons. This information is not needed very often but because it is a repeating trigger it is constantly taking CPU resource. How about having a fire once trigger that fires at the start of the mission. This would give a list of all the loons at the start, and then later when you need to know the living ones you could create a new array of only the living ones.
So that the initial list was made up of individual soldiers and not a combination of soldiers and vehicles it would be necessary to select the crew of each unit, not just the unit. Something like:
_units = list <triggername>
loons = []
_i = 0
#loop
_veh = _units select _i
loons = loons + crew _veh
_i = _i + 1
if (_i < count _units) then {goto"loop"}
This could be run at the start of the mission and with loons being a global variable it would be permanently available for the rest of the mission.
Syntax not guaranteed - I am just coping with jet lag and humouring my body clock. Anything to avoid working.
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It's been so long since I've had a chance to look at this I really can't quite remember ..... the problem is that the array is used in several different places at several different times - the new trigger replaced 6 or 7 old ones. At the time it made quite a difference to looking at the map in the mission editor.
I did start making little loops and scripts, but abandoned the attempt as being too much like hard work. Now I've forgotten too much, I'd miss something. In principle you're right though, it would be better for lag. However I feel this trigger is already pulling its weight in lag reduction.
Thanks for the thought - surprised to hear you're still thinking about it. I haven't had a chance to touch it in ages ... still want to finish it though, may in the new year .....
@penguinman - yes, you are right. ;D ::) Well, it's certainly the most beta tested.
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I hope this is almost ready for submission. You'll kill our poor missions depot staff, they will be out of work/school for days. ;D ;D
What's left to do anyways? :P
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I have been struggling with a problem of getting the original crew of a vehicle to get out and not get back in their vehicle. The solution was a surprise, it seems unassignVehicle does not work on the original crew of a vehicle. I cannot remember the details of Uphill.sqs but I think this might be an issue there. Hence this post.
A solution is to assign one of the crew to grpNull and then assign the rest of the crew to that crew member.
Here is the link
http://www.ofpec.com/yabbse/index.php?board=6;action=display;threadid=21193&start=0 (http://www.ofpec.com/yabbse/index.php?board=6;action=display;threadid=21193&start=0)
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Just seen this and followed the link - I've answered there, it was solved in uphill.sqs. Thanks for the heads up though. (I was away over Christmas so I didn't see this at the time.)
I might be able to cobble together some time in the next few weeks to finish this. There's nothing to do except make the translations work, although that's a bigger job than it sounds.
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Everything is in this game - we must all be certifiable masocists.
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OK, at long last its up. In the Missions Depot Pending pile. (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?ID=1209) Finished. Done. After two and a half years. :)
Actually its not quite finished: it is still English only. Many thanks to those who provided translations: I've been having a little trouble making it all work properly, but I expect to have everything sorted out in the next couple of weeks.
I think the last version posted was 0-64 so here is the change list.
1-00
-First public release of finished version
-Fixed NVG cutscene bug
-Improved robustness of timing in win Outro
0-68 to 0-99
-Do not exist
0-67
-Test version for multiple languages
0-66
-Fixed flag Objective so that you can't complete it from a chopper
-Fixed wounded civvy
-Improved end script so trapped loons are setPossed out of trouble
-Fixed Outro squad bug
-Fixed some minor fenceline gaps/overlaps
-Added little naughty to mission accomplished cutscene
-Improved jeep patrol waypoints
-Improved Bradley dismount script so that the loons now re-embark
-Added wee bonus mission
-Expanded & improved the readme file
-Improved civvy cutscene
-Changed bike for motorbike in Outro
-Changed tank waypoint and reduced probabilities at Ammo&Motorbike start
-Increased group probabilities at Ammo&UAZ start
-Reduced probabilities slightly at Ammo&Repair truck start
-Moved rear attack groups back slightly at BMP ambulance start
-Increased probabilities slightly and improved waypoints at Base start
-Rearranged probabilities and angles slightly at Bikes start
-Rearranged probabilities at Field Hospital start
-Added placement radii to first waypoint of many start groups
-Increased second chopper probability to 100% from 67%
-Delayed arrival of second chopper
-Increased LAW and AT loons in four groups
-Improved Overview
0-65
-Backup version
It's a big and complex mission so I'll leave this thread open in case anybody finds anything. I feel confident that one or two new bugs have been introduced. ;D
The zip includes a bonus mission, the Possible Mission. This is the earliest surviving example of what became the Un-Impossible Mission.
I would like to express my immense gratitude to everybody who helped with this. Couldn't have done it without you, it's as simple as that. Thank you. Your name is in lights in the mission accomplished cutscene.
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Congrats are in order + a lot of alcohol and illegal stuff since its time to get wasted! ;D :D
Good on you Macguba. Though its a pity our spanish and other foriegn counterparts can't enjoy the mission in their native language... :P
2 1/2 years.... ::)
:wow:
And if this doesn't get a 9 or above I'm gonna..... :gunman:
:booty: :cheers:
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I found this mission a tremendous inspiration, and I am sure many others will as well. Great stuff.
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GRK, don't worry, the Spanish and so on will happen. It's proving tedious and I'm stuck on it (can't get stringtable.csv to work) and I've submitted it without to help motivate me to get it done before the review is done.
Actually, I've just been informed that I'm going skiing on the 19th so it will be done before then, if I'm spared.
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Getting the translations working is going well. Stringtable.csv is at last working and I think I've found all the text in the mission to put in it. No doubt there's a hint or radio command somewhere I've missed.
As for the translations themselves:-
Spanish, French, Italian - Almost done. A few bits were missed (my fault) and I've asked the translators to fill in the gaps.
German, Polish - Trying to re-establish contact with the people who offered.
All other known languages, including Welsh - Looking for translators.
If anybody is interested in helping out I've attached a translation pack consisting of the Briefing, Overview and Stringtable files. Between them they have - I hope - all the text in the mission. There is also a shortened version of the readme. I'm particularly hoping for Russian, Korean and Czech.
Thanks all!
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Here's the translated text you sent me. Can't get to the readme yet... :P
And I don't want to be a stickler, but about the morphine. Wouldn't that seriously handicap the player's ability? Or is it all in good fun? ;D
And I've had morphine before, it sends you into one hell of a dreamlike state and you get all light and fly away to sleep... ::) ;D
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Thanks for that. :thumbsup:
Morphine ... well historically in OFP the magic setdammage 0 scripts were known as morphine scripts. No, I don't know why. Since the original idea had been all fancied up (first by nt3n, then General Barron, then me) it seemed appropriate to make a reference to its origins.
Since the wound could be that your arm has been blown off I don't think it really matters. ;D
It seems to me unlikely that a player who was taking morphine in RL at the time would be able to complete the mission.......
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Well yea, its all in good fun. ;)
I suppose those cobra pilots are loaded with the stuff... ;D
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Right, I'm going to solve this now. This mission is posted in the Missions depot and is currently under review.
Un-Impossible Mission (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=82)
The final changes were the addition of French, Italian, Spanish, German and Polish translations. We're having slight trouble with the Polish, but other than that the mission is finished. If you have further remarks to make, please post them as Comments in the Missions Depot.
Many, many thanks to the beta testers, translators and everybody who helped. I really couldn't have done it without you. :toocool: