OFPEC Forum
Missions Depot => Mission Discussion => OFP - Reviewed Missions => Topic started by: Gruntage on 03 Aug 2011, 16:18:10
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Author: Gruntage
Version: Final (v2.1)
Required Addons: FOX2 Zodiac (Included)
Mikero's Editor Upgrade (Included)
SFP_Gbat (Included)
Game Version: OFP 1.96 OR CWA v1.99
Mission Description:
Five elite US Special Forces operatives are tasked with eliminating the Russian AA presence in the village of Houdan on Malden. You, Commander David Webb, will be coordinating the assault directly. Make use of stealth and the element of surprise to bring swift, unrelenting destruction upon the Russian forces. This mission offers a variety of special features, outlined below:
Features: -A unique UAV grid/screen,
-Customised text
-Basic voice acting for use in radio messages & cutscenes
-The ability to coordinate the operation through the action menu.
-Randomly created tanks and vehicles
-Random patrols and patrol sizes
-Custom music
-Two dialog interfaces
This mission was designed to be fairly quick, yet immersive and enjoyable. Hopefully I have accomplished this...
WHAT'S NEW?
As most of you will know, the mission was taken down temporarily for almost a complete rebuild, in order to address the numerous bugs that had reappeared. This I have done. Although a 'rebuild' may seem pretty extreme, it really wasn't as much work as you might think.
The mission was stripped down to its very basic structure, and then essentially rebuilt; brick by brick almost, eliminating bugs as they appeared. So, the new version (v2.0) is the result of the recent rebuild. The old changelog has been removed, as I like to think of this new version as being a clean slate. Plus, the old changelog was pretty extensive, and most of it was unnecessary. I have included a very brief changelog in the readme however.
So, what is new? Quite a few new features have been incorporated into the mission. What you think of these new features is a matter of supreme importance, as I am eager for feedback on this new version. New features include:
- Flare traps
- The reworked extraction system (gone for something very simple)
- The tweaked detection system
- Communication between outposts surrounding Houdan
- Smarter AI (through the use of a couple of nice little scripts used in another mission)
- Increased number of patrols
- Basic tracking system (a small group will investigate any triggered traps, or if Houdan is cleansed of hostiles (more details in the briefing))
- The briefing has been altered, to remove any confusion on the usage of certain terms
Most of the mission is as you remember it. The location and plot is the same, as are the insertion points. Hopefully though you will notice a change. Whatever caused the previous bugs, like the mission not ending because the zodiac won't move, have been dealt with. The AI being reportedly stupid has been fixed; the...er...problem that caused this has been removed ( ;))
The mission has not undergone a makeover as such, which was what I had originally intended to do. But, enough changes have been made to constitute as a rebuild or a major update. To see so many bugs appear at once I suppose was discouraging, but hopefully they have all been sorted. It's very difficult though to gauge what the player may run into. I've NEVER encounted ANY of the bugs that the beta testers have come across first hand. I guess that's the beauty of beta testing; you need others' points of view.
Anyway, that concludes the 'what's new' part. I'm eager for constructive feedback, and I'm sure you're all eager to see what changes have been made. Though I am quite sure that not all of the changes will be approved by all. That's another challenge that has been difficult for me: accomodating everyone's desire.
So, the new changelog, from v2.0, starts here:
Changelog:
V2.0 - Rebuilt version, much improved on earlier versions, new features implemented (outlined above)
V2.1 - Version submitted for review. Few alterations to gameplay, mainly to make the mission more realistic.
(By the way, if you want the old changelog back for whatever reason, just let me know and I'll put it back)
Known Bugs
Hopefully all bugs have been removed. There shouldn't be anything that prevents the player from completing the mission (except perhaps the Russians themselves :)). But, as I said before, it's up to you guys to let me know of any bugs because I very rarely come across any first hand.
This mission has been reviewed and is now available from the Missions Depot (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=300)
(http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/xx242/GruntONEJT/Rattlesnakepic.jpg)
(http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/xx242/GruntONEJT/oprattle.png)
Best Regards,
Gruntage
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Hi,
It's good to see missions for ofp over here again. I'll try to test your mission and I'll give you my review
EDIT: Man when I Start Ofp game I get this. 'Addon FOX2_Zodiac' requires addon 'SFP_gbat' Then I start your mission I can see the Intro but when Intro is finished, the game doens't work for me, it's shutdown. :confused:
Cheers,
Aldo15
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I've added the missing addon 'SFP_Gbat' to the zip file. Maybe your game shuts down because you didnt have the addon.
Hopefully this is fixed now
Regards,
Gruntage
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No sir, that addon isn't in you zip file. I tried to put all addons on my addons folder, but I still get the same problem. :dunno:
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@Aldo15: He has uploaded a new link that will give you an updated version of his mission with the missing addon in it.
Played this one with Arma: Cold War Assault v1.99 on veteran mode.
If the addons you used are available somewhere, please provide working links.
Overview
Great example of how an Overview should look. An in mission image, dressed up some and text that explains the mission in few lines as possible. Mission version number also helps prevent confusion in the notebook page.
Intro
Great selection of music, good use of dialog, timing of traffic was well done, camera movement flows smoothly and the conclusion was great.
Briefing
Well written and organized beautifully. Although some of the information was repetitive in more than one area of the brief. Limited but relative gear selection was appropriate. Links functioned correctly.
Kilo squad's sacrifice while the specops exfiltrated seemed to label Kilo as expendable. I couldn't help but wonder why a special squad would be called in if Kilo was already in the Area of operation and could perform the tasks easily enough.
Mission
I chose hard for the difficulty.
The inability to shut the boat motors down in OFP has truly vexed missions like this one where stealth becomes ridiculous with a motor humming throughout its duration, but this is obviously no fault of yours.
MY APPROACH...
It was nice only having to control one extra unit during the operation even if I only used him for his satchels. It was good to see the others dismount, run to their positions and await my orders.
I truly do not put much trust in AI decision making when the balls are to the wall in this game and so as I always do, I slithered into the town alone. I proceeded to plant my 3 charges, on the Empty Shilkas while picking off the smaller patrols and eventually having to engage the larger patrols. This did not prove hazardous since I was able to clear out the entire squad before the timer counted down. I was careful to choose my assault angles that allowed for easy trigger action with fewer readjustments. I meet up with my team mate and grab one of his satchels to finish the job and then move to the outer limit to detonate. Before doing this, I save the game.
I detonate the shilkas and nothing else happens. The Commence attack action remains, no objectives tick off, no alarm sounds, no responding units ever show face. I go ahead and activate the commence attack option in the action menu and the other units proceed into town. Perhaps you should reconsider your decision of sending them all to the same position in town? They would have been target practice had I not cleared the town already.
Anyhow. I get another addaction to place charges. Those work great too. They each run to their shilkas and put down a charge and then return to their previous position. Another addaction orders them closer to the boats. Another addaction allows me to detonate their charges where the alarm go offs immediately(I was expecting a delay from having no power). Another addaction gets them in the boats. The boat revs up to take off but never moves. I had forgotten all about Kilo until I hear the exchange of gunfire and explosions in town. The tanks made short work of them though and proceeded to the shore where they quickly dispatched our boat and then us. Once that happened, instead of ending in failure, the debrief read as successful, the objectives ticked off and the debrief was shown.
Debrief was also well written.
It's obvious that you place too much dependency upon the other specop units when the player is where objectives and other key game changers should be focused. Even on hard difficulty, the units do not respond well unless they actually spot the player while they are in aware mode(squad mate goes down).
Objectives should be tied to the status of the target unit and not the execution of a script which may or may not be executed.
The alarm should be played only if a unit is in town. You can place a unit in the third floor of a house but make sure they are the source of the alarm so if they are killed, the alarm will not sound. You could also loop that alarm in a script.
Place a gunner inside each shilka to increase difficulty, set them to combat so that they keep the lights off and dont move a driver in to keep it static.
I also would not rely so heavily on addactions to advance the mission.
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Thanks for the interesting feedback SavedbyGrace. This should keep me busy for the next couple of days :D
The inability to shut the boat motors down in OFP has truly vexed missions like this one where stealth becomes ridiculous with a motor humming throughout its duration, but this is obviously no fault of yours.
Yes this was an issue which I unfortunately failed to solve. I tried removing the fuel from the boat, but no difference. Perhaps removing the driver temporarily would fix this? :scratch:
Now, about the other problems you were experiencing. The whole mission is more or less composed of a single chain of events, from start to finish. Whilst this did seem like a good idea at first, it's become quite apparent that a lot of problems would ensue should something go wrong.
You infiltrating the village and detonating those charges inadvertently muddled up the whole chain of events. This isn't your fault. I said in the briefing that you could infiltrate the village by yourself. But at the time I was unaware of the consequences of doing so. Whenever I tested the mission I adhered to following the chain quite rigidly, so I encounted very few problems. So, destroying the Shilkas early resulted in the mission failing to progress. Again, not your fault, only a few miscalculations made by me.
So, I'll obviously need to rework the 'addaction' command issuing, and give the player some more options. I'll also need to improve the village guards' awareness. So, plenty to be getting on with :D
In version 1.1 I'll give the player the option of infiltrating alone as you did, and also the option of assaulting the village as one group. I'll also improve the alarm system, and only have Kilo squad arrive as a result of the alarm going off, rather than acting as an expendable squad as you say.
Thanks again for the good feedback SavedbyGrace :good:
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Don't worry over the boat issue. It's an OFP bug that folks have learned to just deal with and does not affect the mission so badly that it cant be ignored. Besides, removing the driver has nothing to do with the motor running. I think the boat runs because the water is constantly causing it to move which initiates its hard code in the addon config of playing the motor sound(that's only a theory though).
Your current system would be okay if you could simply add one trigger which executes a script once all the ZSU's are destroyed. That script would complete the first objective, remove the current addaction from the player, execute the looping alarm script, send reinforcements to Houdan, add all the other special operators to the players group and allow him to control the evac. This way you can keep the current play option while adding another quite simple one which would take little time to create.
It would also be great to see an outro with a conclusion to the story.
Good start though.
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@Aldo15: He has uploaded a new link that will give you an updated version of his mission with the missing addon in it.
Oops I'm sorry I didn't know that. I'll downlad it right now, but now I must wait for a new version. :D
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My gaming rig is back into the action, so I decided to test this one...
Impressions:
Intro looked great, that slow and relaxing music really suit atmosphere.
Briefing was quite good, I didn't read all the sections of it, sadly, unless this would be a campaign and I would be forced to follow all events of the storyline constantly. As far as I've seen, there was some grammar mistakes, but that doesn't bother at all.
Surprise - an unseen dialog, which lets you choose difficulty, pops up. Good so far. I tried to play on hard level. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but it wasn't hard at all, when you're handling thrustful UZI and taking care of all enemies easily. I thought there will be more patrols around, not ~5 of them walking around. I would like you to increase amount of soldiers inside the town and maybe use 'random appearance' script, which would let to expect different situations every time.
Suggestions:
How about an additional lightning lamp in Houdan? It's so dark, I don't think russians are so irresponsible to not set a one. Let's say, there's one shining lamp and it turns off when alarm is activated, because of purpose to make potential enemy life harder. Also, reduce timeout/countdown parameters on a trigger, which is supposed to activate when all Shilkas are taken out. It takes too long, IMO. Firstly, I understood it as a bug, because I ran to ship after detonating everything, got into it, and nothing even happened. Of course, I was wrong, just need more patience.
I recommend to expand night-life of Malden - put some patrolling cars (one could be enough) along the roads of Houdan to increase difficulty, sounds of nature, like owls, wolf in forest, a camp with a burning bonfire in the distance, maybe it would encourage player to become a 'seeker for adventures' :D.
Conclusion: more patrols, night-life, camps or addtional outposts in the distance, further from Houdan territory, a hovering chopper after you eliminate all ZSUs (remember to make boats neutral with 'set captive true'), shining lamp in the town, faster alarm activation on hard difficulty.
Also...:
In overall, it was fun, but it would be much more interesting to meet more enemies (variety of units is alwyas good, too, like air, armor lurking around perimeter).
BTW, debrief text made me think that there will be another operation for Webb and player will be able to participate in it... Am I right? :)
P.S.: Wasn't player's insertion/extraction Zodiac out of fuel after Shilkas got wiped out? I shot driver and took it to move away, but couldn't do so, because through radio I saw an 'out of fuel' message...
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Thanks for the feedback Inlesco :D I've managed to sort out the problems you and SBG experienced. I've also included some more patrols like you mentioned :)
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New version 1.1 is now available to download. See my original post for details of changes made :D
Regards,
Gruntage
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More of my thoughts, this time after I've played v1.1...
It's really better than last time: mission became more difficult, players gets more freedom to use different tactics because he can tell his mates what to do. I like that, as wise quote says, "Responsibility comes with a great power".
I didn't spot any light vehicles driving along roads, only BMP. Well, I would like to see a patrol truck coming after black ops team kills first enemy in Houdan. Spawns worked well, for some reason it looked like magic in the moment.
Anyway, a little encampment was being seen further from Houdan, also a couple (or 1) of tents were added. The only thing Shilkas base lacks is a fortified look. Add sanbangs with an MG, try to configure Shilka's gunners to turn off their lights off (as far as I know, it's possible to all units in vehicles, except MG's). Fire on the opposite side of town is recommended. Some sitting soldiers around warm flames, talking 'shit' like 'Vodka', etc. Also, you can use editorupgrade103 to add more selective objectives like guardian towers and so on.
What's needed in short: guardian towers, shilkas without lights on, more encampment, fortified town style, 'situational' reinforcements, coming to Houdan after player do something important there (but still without being noticed).
That would be all I wanted to mention probably.
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Thanks Inlesco :D I agree, some more decorative items added to the base would be nice. The BMP you saw was part of a randomly created tank script I made; so sometimes it'll be a bmp, other times a t72 or t80.
Things to add in 1.15
-A few items to give the base a more fortified look, including fortresses, watchtowers
-Possibly add a few more vehicle spawning scripts, to create trucks and/or brdms.
-Add dialogue between Russian soldiers within the base
That should keep me busy :)
Thanks again
Gruntage
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Player with Arma:Cold War Assault 1.99 on veteran mode
First play through...
Difficulty = Hard
Wow, noticed the increase in numbers immediately. It almost caused me to rethink my choice of difficulty but I persisted. After observing the patrols for a short while, the obvious weak points became evident. I typically like to eliminate all foot mobiles as I go but the high numbers and doubled patrols were a sure deterrent from that strategy. That forced me to seek out the stealthier lanes and cracks in the defense while remaining unseen. The Shilkas being occupied was a definite improvement in reality and played a tremendous part in my route. I was frustrated that they were able to spot me on my belly when in reality, I would have made no noise at all but it only added to my determination to overcome the defenses.
I was able to, again, crawl in, plant 4 charges and exfil without detection. I retreated to the trigger limit of the furthest charge and saved the game. I set them off and a count down timer began. BTW, that timer counts down 5 seconds for every number you tick off on screen, so it's not an actual 20 seconds. Explosions of such magnitude would have rocked the country side and alarms would have started screaming seconds after everyone realized what the hell was going on. So, I would reduce the delay after an explosion to 5 or 10 seconds(however long it takes a human to recognize that something is wrong and run to the nearest alarm)
The particle effects on the explosions were a great addition but you failed to add the same features to the responding armor.
The boat was locked because I could not board it nor get anyone else to board. So I set my guys near a hill and waited to see what would become of us. That needs correction for sure.
After a while, I activated alpha and the alarm sounded again. I haven't attempted alpha during the mission but am wondering if that alarm would sound had I activated it at the start. I don't think it's necessary to have the alarm attached to them. Instead, place a trigger that swallows the whole area, West detected by East and in the condition field, place a global variable that will prevent the trigger from tripping until the radio has been activated. That way alpha can't get away with storming the town with non silenced weapons without raising an alarm.
I had a few close calls as well. I crawled right out into the open and one large patrol walked it's route less than 2 meters from me. Recognizing my folly, I froze. I thought if I don't move, maybe they will think me a log. It must have been true because everyone of them walked right by me except for the very last one. The last unit happened to stop in front, facing me while he waited for the others to continue(leader must have paused at a way point) It took him a second but it shortly dawned on him that the log in front of him was holding a gun. When he began to unsling his weapon, I dispatched him and turned to the others but they were too many.
I was glad to see the satchel crate in one of the tents. I noticed it in the last version as well.
To me, the shilka having their lights on made perfect sense. Why not? The towns power had been cut, no planes can see the lights before the radar picks them out and it produced spotlights appropriately. Win win.
My second play through...
Difficulty = Moderate
I noticed the drop in group numbers, unoccupied shilkas and the random armor patrol in this one. It played out much the same way as the harder version only with less difficulty. Hmm, what a concept.
Further suggestions
On the moderate version, I would place crews of the other Shilkas as well. Near the tents and fire would be a good spot. It was good to see some patrols of lesser numbers. It allows to adjust strategy when possible.
Realistically(on the harder version), it looks like overkill having so many numbers in a patrol so close to the town. The outer patrols make sense but having 24 guys walking a circle around the city limits looks absurd(sorry but true).
Obviously couldn't see the end but I did try and take out the responding armor with satchels from my team mates, which meant I hung around. I took out a BMP and 2 tanks. Then began to make my way back to the town but lost heart when I seen the numbers mounting on the hill crests as though everyone knew exactly where my team was at. The first wave of armor too, drove to the exfil position even though we were never spotted on the run. One of the tanks drove right into the water until it was kissing the boat.(I dislike when mission designers cheat by sending enemy to the players position. It's a cop out for creative response)
Almost there.
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Thanks for the extensive feedback SBG :D
To begin, a new version is now available to download, which now includes the changes yourself and Inlesco suggested.
I was able to, again, crawl in, plant 4 charges and exfil without detection. I retreated to the trigger limit of the furthest charge and saved the game. I set them off and a count down timer began. BTW, that timer counts down 5 seconds for every number you tick off on screen, so it's not an actual 20 seconds. Explosions of such magnitude would have rocked the country side and alarms would have started screaming seconds after everyone realized what the hell was going on. So, I would reduce the delay after an explosion to 5 or 10 seconds(however long it takes a human to recognize that something is wrong and run to the nearest alarm)
The alarm timer has now been fixed, so it is now definately a 20 second timer. I increased the duration of each tick to make it easier for the player to locate and eliminate those who detected him and his group. But after several tests I realised that it was too easy, so I reverted it back to its original state.
The particle effects on the explosions were a great addition but you failed to add the same features to the responding armor.
Yep I completely forgot about those. The particle effects applied to the Shilkas are now applied to the other enemy tanks.
The boat was locked because I could not board it nor get anyone else to board. So I set my guys near a hill and waited to see what would become of us. That needs correction for sure.
Ah, a similar issue to what happened in v1.0. Yes I realised at once what had happened, I didnt anticipate anybody to actually destroy the Shilkas without clearing the village first. So, in order for the mission to have progressed, the village must have been completely free of hostiles. This has been changed now. As of now, the player does not need to clear the village, only destroy the Shilkas. In other words, it is now possible to infiltrate the village, place the charges and detonate them without killing anybody and still be able to complete the mission.
I must admit I really did not think that anybody would be able to do what you did on hard difficulty. I guess the saying 'expect the unexpected' is highly appropriate here. So now, to make the mission progress you just need to bring about the destruction of the Shilkas.
After a while, I activated alpha and the alarm sounded again. I haven't attempted alpha during the mission but am wondering if that alarm would sound had I activated it at the start. I don't think it's necessary to have the alarm attached to them. Instead, place a trigger that swallows the whole area, West detected by East and in the condition field, place a global variable that will prevent the trigger from tripping until the radio has been activated. That way alpha can't get away with storming the town with non silenced weapons without raising an alarm.
Hmm interesting. I was a bit stumped when I first read this. Was there an option to use 0-0-1 then? If so, then there really shouldnt have been. During testing I was trying to find out how the alarm sounded, so I used the radio code alpha to do so. I must have forgotten to remove it. Well, it's gone now anyway lol. My apologies for leaving that in, it must have caused a bit of confusion :whistle:
Anyway, I made sure that Kilo squad will only arrive to help if the alarm goes off but not if the shilkas have been destroyed. So there shouldn't be any issue of them arriving at the wrong time.
To me, the shilka having their lights on made perfect sense. Why not? The towns power had been cut, no planes can see the lights before the radar picks them out and it produced spotlights appropriately. Win win.
I'm kinda in two minds about this at the moment. I thought it would have been more realistic for them to have their lights off, so that the player would think them empty. I've left them on for the time being, it depends what others think about this.
Realistically(on the harder version), it looks like overkill having so many numbers in a patrol so close to the town. The outer patrols make sense but having 24 guys walking a circle around the city limits looks absurd(sorry but true).
Yeah you're probably right there. I've decreased the group sizes quite substantially. Before the changes the group sizes were as follows:
Easy mode = 5, Normal mode = 8, Hard mode = 12
Now, they are:
Easy mode = 4, Normal mode = 6, Hard mode = 8
These group sizes may be too small now lol, let me know if they are and I'll increase them a little bit.
Obviously couldn't see the end but I did try and take out the responding armor with satchels from my team mates, which meant I hung around. I took out a BMP and 2 tanks. Then began to make my way back to the town but lost heart when I seen the numbers mounting on the hill crests as though everyone knew exactly where my team was at. The first wave of armor too, drove to the exfil position even though we were never spotted on the run. One of the tanks drove right into the water until it was kissing the boat.(I dislike when mission designers cheat by sending enemy to the players position. It's a cop out for creative response)
Tbh that exact same thing happened to me when I was first testing the mission. I wasn't sure why the tank decided to take a swim. Maybe because it saw the boat and it was simply programmed to go over there. I'm really not sure lol.
Anyway, this shouldn't be an issue now that it's possible to complete the mission without clearing the town first. You should be able to do that exact same strategy again and not be met with a showstopper. The zodiac is fast enough to leave the area and not have a tank on top of it. At least I hope so...
Btw, nice picture, would make a good overview image :D
Thanks again SBG, I think I'll start work on an outro now and get some more radio msgs in (not too many, only a couple more)
Regards,
Gruntage
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Ah yeah, alpha, I forgot they were actually kilo. Makes sense now.
The group sizes are just right at around 8. I tend to only engage the lower numbered squads so I don't lose focus on the target. If you want to increase difficulty, you can simply move the waypoints around with a slow looping script every 2 minutes or so.
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Ah yeah, alpha, I forgot they were actually kilo. Makes sense now.
The group sizes are just right at around 8. I tend to only engage the lower numbered squads so I don't lose focus on the target. If you want to increase difficulty, you can simply move the waypoints around with a slow looping script every 2 minutes or so.
Ah I see now. Well, the trigger which is synchronised to Kilo's waypoints have:
? Detected and (not aadown)
Where 'Detected' is whether or not the alarm has gone off, and 'aadown' becomes true if all four shilkas are destroyed.
This should mean that Kilo will not arrive if the shilkas have been destroyed. They should only appear if the alarm has gone off. The only issue with this is that Kilo will be quite close to the Shilkas when the satchels are detonated. I guess I'll have to move their waypoints away from the Shilkas so they don't get caught up in the blasts.
I might give the player the option of calling in reinforcements himself via the radio. Not sure yet.
As for Kilo triggering the alarm, that shouldn't happen as in order for them to be there in the first place the alarm must first be triggered.
I'm currently working on an outro atm which should be finished in a few days time :D
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I would definitley suggest inserting a radio trigger with Kilo support as the channel text, synchronized with Kilo's waypoint to head into to town. That gives the player complete control of his support.
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New version is now available to download :D An outro has now been added, as well as the option to radio in the support squad.
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Bump ^^ A new version is now available for testing :D I'm eagerly awaiting feedback :)
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Haven't forgotten. Others need testing too and trying to split my free time equally. Will get back to this one as soon as possible.
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Thanks for the heads-up SBG, take your time :)
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Is anybody else going to test this mission? It's been a while since I last heard any feedback :)
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Yes, sorry. We've been caught up in the middle of the MEC and trying to get things in order for judges and intel ads was swamping. I'll do my best to give it a test run this weekend. Sorry for the delay.
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Hey gruntage, i tested your mission, but i couldn´t finish it. at the beginning a M1A1 shoots from the shore, then i get detected because of the tank and i get furiously killed by russians, what function has that tank in the shore? :dunno:
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Hey gruntage, i tested your mission, but i couldn´t finish it. at the beginning a M1A1 shoots from the shore, then i get detected because of the tank and i get furiously killed by russians, what function has that tank in the shore?
Hi, sorry about the late reply. I have to admit I have absolutely no idea why the tank chose to attack. During all of the tests I performed that has never happened before lol.
I'll release 1.25 without the tank. In answer to your question the tank was put there to engage any russian armour that approached the insertion area. During one test it was able to distract the enemy armour long enough for the player to escape believe it or not. But, in order to prevent any future problems with the tank, I have removed it.
There shouldnt be any reason now why the mission can't be completed lol, at least, no reason that I'm aware of :)
EDIT: New version (1.25) is now available for download and testing :D
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Played version 1.2 with CWA on veteran. This time around I chose the easy setting.
It played out similar to previous test runs as I used the same tactics. I plan to play again using different tactics on harder selections.
Things I noticed different.
Big improvement in the wildlife area. Birds, crickets, frogs,etc. were good for immersion.
Speaking Russian voices from patrols.
A couple of new trucks drove through the town, bringing the environment to life even more and also increasing the challenge of maneuverability. The Fuel truck that come into town from the north(I think), got stuck on the corner of a building while turning. It was ruining immersion a bit so I popped him in the head.
Set off the bombs and was blasted by the main gun of a BMP while making for the boat.
Reloaded and this time ordered everyone prone and to the shore. The armor was closing in and so I ordered Kilo into the fight to distract them and it did that well enough.(although I felt bad using Kilo like that)
Was able to get into the boat this time. But the boat never moved. I got out and shot the driver and tried to board in his place but it wouldn't let me. The mission ended successfully a few seconds later.
The outro was super. The only thing missing now are voices for the debrief.
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Thanks for the good feedback SBG :good:
Now, about the fuel truck. I have a random vehicle creation script which runs from the beginning of the mission, which basically creates a vehicle from a selection of four types, and then sends them on their waypoints. The problem with the vehicles not negotiating the junction in Houdan is quite annoying, because like you say it ruins the immersion. So, I am considering removing that script and perhaps putting a UAZ there instead.
The whole issue with the boat not moving is still one which continues to bug me. I'm not entirely sure why the boat refuses to move, or rather, why the driver is unable to follow his waypoints. So, I've come up with three possible options to solve the problem:
- Remove the driver as soon as the boat reaches the shore, allowing the player to make his own extraction at the end of the mission.
The only problem with this is that it isn't realistic, and could easily ruin the immersion. So, I came up with option 2:
- Have one of the black ops (who are with you in the mission) drive the boat, also allowing the player to make his own extraction.
I consider this to be the best option, because at least there won't be issue with the boat not moving. It's also fairly realistic, so this might be the option I go with. Option 3 is:
- Have the player drive the boat at the start and at the end.
Probably not the best option, as I don't really want the player inserting the team anywhere along the coastline. Chances are I won't go for this one.
Let me know what you think is best on this one :D
At least now you were able to see the outro, which is a huge improvement on past versions :D Thanks for the compliment, but I think I'll improve the text a little bit; perhaps changing the colour, and maybe the font.
As for the voices, well, to tell you the truth I'm not entirely comfortable doing the voices. I did the voices the radio, which was fine. But I'm not a gifted voice actor, and I certainly cannot do any American accents. Perhaps, you would be interested in doing the voices? As you saw there's only a couple of stuff to be said. I noticed that the voices in your mission 'The Kolgujev Contract' were pretty good, and that's the standard I would be looking for.
Again, thanks for the positive feedback. I'll see if I can get v1.3 done soon.
Regards,
Gruntage
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A simple solution to that boat issue is to have the boat setdir facing away from the shore once the player is 200 meters away from it.
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Ok that seems to work fine; the boat now faces away from the shore. Hopefully the boat will now move when it's supposed to.
I'll make the other changes I mentioned and release it as soon as possible :D
EDIT: I may have just worked out why the boat didn't move for you. Were all members of your team dead? I just noticed that this:
? !(alldead) and !_aMsg and (("alive _x" count _b) == ("_x in zod" count _b)) and (ap in zod): _aMsg = true; [[West,"hq"], "r13"] exec "sideradio.sqs"; goto "SUB"
'alldead' is called when all members of your team are killed. So, if all team members are dead then clearly the boat won't move. I'll rectify this in the next version.
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No, none of my guys were dead.
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Ok that narrows it down slightly. Were all black ops in the boat? There should have been 6 in total, if they were alive. The boat is ordered to wait until all party members are in the boat as well, so if a group member is refusing to move for whatever reason, then the boat will also not move.
To get around this, I might consider having all group members move to the zodiac cargo when the player gets in.
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I was the first one on the shore and the last one off.(As all great leaders strive to be...Ahem) All of my men were accounted for and picking their noses when I boarded the raft.
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Hmm what a strange and puzzling issue this is :scratch:
Well, I've made a couple of hotfixes, and I'll release the newest version shortly. As of now, the boat will have its direction changed to 115 (away from the shore) when all personnel are in the boat. If the problem persists then quite frankly I'm stumped :no: .
I just tested it and the boat moved away fine. It could just be something which happens occasionally. But, I am confident that changing the boat's dir when all personnel are on board will solve the issue.
I still havent decided what to do about voice acting for the outro.
I should have version 1.3 uploaded tomorrow. There was something I was meaning to ask, when does the reviewing stage commence? Does it begin when a mission is free of bugs? Or does it begin whenever the author chooses?
I'm just curious as I'd like to see this mission reviewed sometime in the future :D
Thanks for taking the time to test my mission thus far :)
Regards,
Gruntage
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Sorry for not having released a new version for sometime, but I've been snowed-under with work and I've barely had time for OFP. I'll try and get a new version up this weekend
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Take your time. There is no deadline for user made projects. The review process can be started by a staff member as soon as you place "PLEASE REVIEW" into the title of your first post for example "[SP] Operation Rattlesnake v1.3 (PLEASE REVIEW)"
If during the review process, the staff member finds another showstopper, he'll stop the review and ask you to fix it. Once it has been corrected and uploaded as a new version, the process will continue until all is well.
Voices for Outro? The best way to get offers is to post a copy of your stringtable or commented section of all the text to be recorded within your thread. This is so that volunteers don't have to unpbo and dig through your files to find what needs to be said. Simply list it like this in your first post if you're not using a stringtable...Stalker team leader: "Stalker one one actual to command, come in. Over"
HQ: "Go ahead Stalker one one. Over".
Stalker team leader:"Targets are fubar and we're OscarMike to primary exfil. Over"
HQ: "Roger that Stalker one one, if you haven't called in Kilo yet, they're standing by for distraction, how copy?"
Stalker team leader:"Good copy command, see you on the flip side. Out"
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Thanks for the clarification SBG. You'll be pleased to hear that I think I've fixed the issue of the boat not moving at the end of the mission; I did what you suggested and changed the boat's dir when all personnel are on board.
As with all of the issues which were found during testing I never seem to experience them first hand, so naturally I'm not completely certain that the boat issue has been resolved. If the problem persists I'll just have to try and come up with another solution.
Thanks for the heads up on the voices :D
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Once again it seems that college has taken up just about all my spare time, so I probably won't be resuming work on this for a while. :dry:
Any free time I do get will be spent finishing this.
Thanks for all feedback so far :D
Gruntage
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A new version has finally been uploaded :D
I believe I've fixed the problem of the zodiac not leaving the area when the team is ready for extraction. If not, well, I'll have to come up with something else.
I still need to add some more custom voices to the outro, but I've been focusing mainly on making it possible the mission to be played through properly without any errors.
Once I know that there aren't any showstoppers, I'll add a few extras and I'll put it up for review :)
Thanks to those who have tested my mission thus far.
Gruntage
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Your link is telling me that the file is temporarily unavailable.
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Hmm that's strange. When I tried the link I was able to access the file.
So if the megaupload link doesn't work try the rapidshare link :)
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Please keep all links on your first post to prevent confusion.
I think it just hadn't processed yet. It works fine now. (both of them)
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Tested this with CWA 1.99 on veteran. Played the hardest setting.
Everything played out as it did in previous plays with the exception of a few things.
There is no acknowledgment for contacting kilo.
The BRDM does a good job of driving through the town.
The end is still presenting problems.
Before my guys can even make it to the beach, armor comes rolling down the slopes and watch post to prevent exfil. In addition to that, a BMP rolls right into the water next to our boat and stays there. A few moments later, another wave of armor rolls onto the beach and a tank decides to swim next to the boat as well but since they are not made for that, it explodes and destroys the boat. Now, I'm left without an escape route.
2 ways to solve this...
Either prevent the armor from driving too close to the beach
OR
I still think you should have the boat leave after insertion and sit at a waypoint out in the water somewhere. When the shilkas are dead, enable a radio trigger for the player to call the boat and then click on the map where he wants the boat to go to for pickup. This way the player can choose an appropriate exfil point.
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Thanks for the feedback SBG. I guess those tanks really like that spot on the beach :D. I think I've fixed it now; I tweaked the waypoints of the tanks a little bit and from what I saw myself, they won't approach the beach area now. I sat near the boat after destroying the Shilkas for 30 minutes and not a single tank approached the shore.
I was contemplating having an A10 appear once the Shilkas are destroyed, so as to provide cover for your team to leave.
As for your first point I'll work on that as well.
Thanks
Gruntage
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Hey Gruntage I tested your mission yesterday and it's so great.
Played with CWA 1.99, Veteran and I chose "hard mode"
I think SBG told u the necessary, so I give u a suggestion. I liked the patrols at the town, but I think you should Fix your patrol script, because the crew units aren't synchronized with the script, because I've killed one of them and the alarm wasn't activated. I also want to tell u, it'd be better if you add some voices to the mission, for the outro, and maybe add music when the units be talking in the outro.
Well, that's all my friend. I'll be waiting for your next version, and I say again, Great mission pal. I uploaded a picture.
P.S Do you know to speak spanish?
Cheers,
Aldo15
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Thanks for the feedback Aldo
Very interesting indeed; I've never noticed that the crew weren't synchronised with the alarm countdown. That can be changed easily. As for voices in the outro, that's definately something I'll work on once all possible showstoppers are out of the way.
I have been working on another project but I will put aside some time to make these improvements.
Unfortunately no I cannot speak Spanish. If you want the mission in spanish then that can be arranged.
Regards,
Gruntage
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Version 1.4 is now available to download.
I've finally gotten around to adding voices to the outro, as well as a few extra features. Some sound effects have been added, as well as an extra scene to the outro.
Hopefully there are no showstoppers now. If the Zodiac is still causing problems or if those tanks really can't stay away from the beach, then I will need to rethink the evac strategy.
Thanks for all the feedback so far
Gruntage
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Anyone going to give any feedback on v1.4? :D
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I will eventually. Sorry, I'm spread pretty thin and I've got a lot of things to balance. I've still got some betas in the Arma2 section before drifting back this way but its going to be at least a week before I get to them. I know your anxious, just be patient, please.
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Alright, thanks for the heads up SBG
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A new version (v1.45) has now been uploaded. I've made a couple of changes to the gameplay which should make it easier for the player to leave the mission area (which has proven to be quite difficult). An A10 now appears once the Shilkas are destroyed to destroy the enemy armour approaching Houdan (the player will now be able to see the nice particle effects upon ending the mission)
After intensive testing on all three difficulty settings I have not found any bugs that could be potential showstoppers. If the player accelerates time during the first minute of the mission the zodiac does have a tendency to not follow its waypoints. But this has only happened once.
I still need to add a few more radio messages. Hopefully the final version will be ready next week :D
Thanks to all those who have tested my mission thus far
Regards,
Gruntage
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Okay, I've finally got a new report on your mission, mate...
v1.4 of the mission was played on OFPR 1.96.
Intro is as good as it has always been - calm, relaxing soundtrack chosen to give user an impression of how easily NATO military can spy their enemies by using satellites. It's all fine at this point, but maybe some context of missions pre-history would perfect-en entire intro and then it'd contain everything that matters. Sometimes I find watching an intro much more enjoyable than reading 4-5 pages of briefing text.
Briefing is greatly detailed, contains all the needed intel and maybe too much, depending on player's taste. Although I don't think there is anything wrong with it - we obviously can't make everyone happy with our design choices, so it's all fine! :good:
...and then the action begins. Of course, having everything voiced would enhance the atmosphere and that 'realistic environment' feeling probably. One thing I've never liked while playing on hard or medium difficulty levels is too long column of a group walking around Houdan by rule. Sometimes it doesn't seem realistic enough, so in your case I'd go for reducing number of enemies appearing dynamically each time. I managed to reach the beached and overall it was fun to see "fireworks" in the distance, calmly moving away from operational area.
Outro sets the victory mood and that's all about it - I can see that it did its purpose very well.
Suggestions:
- IMO, you could remove Zodiac and go for CoC Combat Swimmers instead of using the boat for evacuation. Players like freedom and independence, so under-water arrival and an escape would be a proper solution.
- Minefield'd beaches to prevent enemy appearance on them. What do you think about it? It'd make entire mission more challenging than ever!
- Very optional: any hint of a secret objective or an additional mission to take care of because of unexpected events.
- Well, outro dependence on how many of the objectives you've made is always a welcome and great feature for a single mission, it extends replayability a couple of times, at least.
- Any custom ambient music from franchises like STALKER or Thief to enhance feeling of the tension in the area. Such tracks it the background can make a good effect on player's impressions, I'd say. Emotional context in night missions, no matter what they aim for, is important and probably needed.
That's it for now, I do hope you find this helpful. ;)
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Wow, some very interesting feedback there 'Lesco.
Intro is as good as it has always been - calm, relaxing soundtrack chosen to give user an impression of how easily NATO military can spy their enemies by using satellites. It's all fine at this point, but maybe some context of missions pre-history would perfect-en entire intro and then it'd contain everything that matters. Sometimes I find watching an intro much more enjoyable than reading 4-5 pages of briefing text.
Thanks for your kind words. I had intended the intro to be the 'quiet before the storm' :). When I started designing the intro I already knew what music track I wanted to use. So I needed to design my intro around that music track. Because the track is quite short, I had to limit what information I show in the intro, and make up for it in the briefing. I didn't want the the track to finish and with the intro still going (it does atm actually but only for a couple of seconds). I also want the player to be able to read everything I put in the intro, which means having the text visible for long periods of time. I might consider tweaking the intro, but I'm not sure yet.
About the briefing. It could probably do with being trimmed down a little bit. There are some parts which aren't entirely necessary (the information about weapons can probably be reduced).
Now for those suggestions :D
Combat Divers. Hmm it sounds interesting. I'll have to look into those.
I did consider placing mines on the dunes, but because of the poor quality of OFP AI I decided against it. Placing mines would discourage the player from the using the 'infiltrate as a group option'. If it was a solo operation (just the player, no one else) then placing mines would be fine.
A secondary objective. It sounds good, but if I do choose to add one it would probably be situated close to the main objective. Even though I strongly advocate allowing the player roam freely around the island, I do feel that in missions like this, one should draw a line somewhere. In other words, I'd much rather have the player and his team stay within a certain boundary, without having to stray far from their primary objective.
Random patrol sizes. This is definately something I'll be adding the next version. After several tests I have been able to randomise the sizes of the groups patrolling the village. Sometimes they could be as big as twelve or as small as two, depending on the difficulty.
Ambient music during the opening stages is definately something I'll be adding as well.
Some very valid suggestions there 'Lesco. Very good feedback indeed.
At least you were able to finish the mission this time, which is a huge improvement on past versions (annoying bugs prevented the mission from ending properly) :D
Thanks for your time 'Lesco
Gruntage
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More suggestions on the way:
- Creating a frontline not far from Houdan would enhance realism feature. I guess russians know that US holds other part of Malden and they must prepare fortifications appropriately. I'd make a border-zone between Houdan and Lollise with mines, sand-bags and that stuff.
- When enemy finds out that AA systems in Houdan are gone, they could randomnly start firing artillery shells on the town and player with his team should be forced to leave the area as fast as he can.
- Paratroopers arrival from air after alert or completing main objective would make mission more intensive, I believe. Board a group of Spetz Natzs or something similar into a Mi-17 and it will make escape more interesting for sure!
- Changing alarm sound at Houdan... I know it's optional, but something from Vietnam or WW2 era should fit better, anyway. Browse freesound.org to find anything to your liking.
- Dynamic patrols, encampments guarding the beachead line?
- As for an additonal objective, yes, it should be situated close to Houdan, somewhere on the West, moving closer to a barn there... Just my 2 cents.
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Again, some very interesting points there 'Lesco.
The fourth suggestion is definately something I'll add in the next version. The others are worth considering, particularly the artillery shells.
Thanks for your input 'Lesco
Gruntage
EDIT: Have decided to remove Kilo force from the mission. Doing so would allow me to build up a small 'border zone' south of the base. With Houdan being a frontier zone, not having a small camp to the south would be somewhat unrealistic. Kilo were in many ways an expendable force.
EDIT 2: Have decided to place numerous patrols along the southern road (with possibly a tank). Briefing and scripts have been changed accordingly.
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The final version has now been uploaded and is ready for review :D
Just thought I'd address a couple of points that Inlesco mentioned.
After due consideration I have chosen to incorporate only a couple of 'Lesco's suggestions. The random patrol sizes and a second music track have been added. But I have decided against placing a secondary objective, artillery and an Mi17 filled with reinforcements. All of these were considered possibilities, but in the end I decided against them.
I don't want to fall into the trap of overdesigning a mission. My mission was designed to be relatively quick, small, and ideal for 15 minutes to 1 hour of fun. But I felt that adding aspects such as artillery might ruin the immersion and realism. Using the artillery as an example, I can't see artillery being used against five special ops lol. I'm not saying I dismissed your ideas without any thought 'Lesco. So I hope you don't take offense to my comments.
If I change my mind about any of your suggestions then I will certainly add them before the review process is complete.
Thanks to all who have beta tested this mission :)
Hopefully no bugs will be found. I've played the mission through many times in the last couple of days and so far I haven't found anything (but then, whenever I've played the earlier versions I wasn't able to find any bugs then but others did lol)
EDIT: Let me know if there are any problems with addons, or any error messages concerning addons. I have removed the 'lampa' addon from the mission.sqm, so hopefully you won't get any messages like 'missing addon: lampa'.
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I have a free time tonight, so, Downloading right now. I was waiting for it.
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I've tested 1.5 and it seemed to run completely smoothly. Almost everything was fine, except some things of objects layout at Houdan (if we consider Op. Rattlesnake as realistic as possible), but those are not worth to mention, because it will be nothing but an explanation of my personal opinion.
Speaking of outro, penultimate scene was quite stupid - Hinds got kicked out of the airfield as little russian toys by over-effective shells. If I were you, I'd change them over with a smoother type of explosion.
All in all, it was a fun, entertaining experience. It's indeed ready for a decent review. I'd like to write one, but, well, I'm not allowed to.
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Thanks for your feedback 'Lesco. I do agree I think I'll take that chopper scene out.
EDIT: New hotfixed version is up, with that outro scene taken out (I wasn't sure why I put it in there to begin with lol. Think I was just trying to add an extra scene for the sake of it really)
EDIT 2: Made a couple of little additions to the a base; few more wood fences and wires (making the base look more fortified). I've also randomised the shilka locations (well sort of, only by a distance of about 30m maximum from their original position).
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Hey Gruntage, I'm sorry for post late, but this is my review of your mission v.1.5
I liked the intro, I just want to tell you, it'd be better if you add some satelite sound when it starts.
I didn't see bugs in the mission, I just want ask one thing, maybe you could make a script to 'hide enemy units'
because I saw several enemy dead bodies on the ground and their friends walk over them, and I'd want to make a script to alert all enemy units if they see their dead friends. I don't know if that can do, but it'd be good. I want to take a suggestion from SVG, it's use 'onmapsinglemap' command to disembark and to embark to units. In the outro I didn't also see bugs, I agree with inlesco, maybeo you should change 'laserguidedbombs' for another bombs.
I'd also want to add some units coming fot the sea or jumpimg from heli, just to make the mission most hard. What do you thinking? It's better for the sea. Ah I forgot in the mission, The 'Hospital' was destroyed by one shilka,I'll suggest you, add some heal script, because it's not funny to shoot injured.
That was my review
Cheers,
Aldo15
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Thanks very much for your feedback Aldo.
I've decided to halt the review process (for now), while I make substantial changes to the gameplay (your ideas will be taken into consideration)
Regards,
Gruntage
EDIT: Some new changes have now been added to the mission (see changelog). These new features need to be tested before the mission is submitted for review again.
EDIT2: Download link has been changed to Rapidshare, due to the shutting down of Megaupload.
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New version (v1.6) is up for download. Anyone for testing it? :D
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Hey Gruntage. I've tested your v 0.6 from your mission, and I must say it's so nice. :good:
I didn't see bugs in the intro. In the mission, well uff! I liked 'disembark\embark view' I chose point number one. I also liked you put those shilkas in ramdom places, so it's better. About your 'detect dead bodies' script, I'm not sure if it's good, well it's good, it works when I tried in the mission editor when a demo mission made by me, I made two and I tried two, and I must say two script (yours and mine) works perfect, but in your mission it didn't work, so I killed a enemy troop and another units walk over him and they won't change their behaviour, maybe you leave some soldiers without that script. I think it'd be better if some units appear from a point when I'm leaving the town, to make mission more interesting and more difficult to complete. In the outro I don't remember I've seen bugs, just a question did you remove choppers scene?
Well it's a good mission. Great Job my friend
Best Regards
Aldo15
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Thanks for the feedback Aldo.
There might be a slight chance that the bodies script I made doesn't apply to all the troops in the village. I'll have to double check that.
And yes I did remove the chopper scene from the outro. It didn't really serve any purpose, it was more or less put in there for the sake of making the outro longer.
Possibly you left the mission area very quickly, so you didn't get chance to see the Mi17 full of troops appear. But I will consider adding a few more.
Regards,
Gruntage
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Hey Gruntage
I understand you, maybe your script needs some arrangements, about chooper scene,it doesn't matter, the outro is still good without it. Maybe I can't see your Speztnazt soldiers because, I destroyed the shilkas when I was like 200mts from the town.
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Final version is up and ready for review. Made the couple of changes that Aldo suggested. As far as I'm aware the mission is bug free :)
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Hey Gruntage, I've tried your final version. 'Detect dead bodies' now works fine, well and the Mi17, I'm not sure if it left its spesnatz, because I didn't see them, even I was wating for them, but I had to lie on the ground, so a enemy tanks is coming to my position.
Gruntage you'll be thinking I'm a boring boy, but just a suggestion: If you added those fire,smoke and explosions effects in the outro, Why don't you add them to the mission, Well if you want, it's optional, but for me, It'd be better if these shilkas have these effects. Don't you think?
Well, I think this mission is ready for review, I didn't find any bug in it,.
Cheers,
Aldo15
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They were added in the mission lol. All tanks have the same explosion effect, even the shilkas lol. I didn't use the 'fuel explosion' type because it could cause a lot of lag.
As for the Spez Naz, I'm surprised they didn't find you. Guess they weren't looking in the right place ::) :)
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Played again with CWA 1.99 on veteran.
Overview
Still great
Intro
The button press to change the scene should play before the camera swap rather than after the @camcommitted command. Other than that it looked good.
Briefing
I had the feeling that it was way crowded this time around BUT I strongly believe that it was due to my repeated replays of the mission. So for a first time play, it would be fine.
Have you considered adding more satchels and ammo for each weapon to the briefing area so that the player can carry four satchels from the start?
Mission
The landing choices are a nice add but not game changing enough to justify the extra work. Always good to see some randomness though. I chose LS3(The original) because it makes the most sense by sea. I also chose, like a fool, hardest again. I enjoy trying to sneak through the patrol routes. I used the exact same tactics from my previous attempts and it worked fine as usual. I didn't notice the detect dead body script working in action but I did experience some confusing situations where I was hidden and out of sight and was somehow detected. I did see a Spetznaz patrol walk directly atop a dead body with no consequence and the BRDM drive over one with no reaction. So, I have to reason that it does work but with special circumstances or a delay.I liked the added sandbags and fences to provide more cover or concealment. There was one ammo crate that was out of place to the outer perimeter and would probably look and feel better inside or around one of the open buildings in the town.
There are a couple of things that I don't like about the mission and have not liked since the first test. One, are the player hints that he has been detected. Two, is that you send the enemy to the players positions even when he has not been spotted. The latter has always been a peeve of mine since I feel that it is a cheat for mission designers. You still use it after the alarm has been set off and it could potentially ruin the evac. With that said, it wasn't until after I was in that boat that I noticed allied response to the area armor. Had I read the briefing a little slower, I would have probably waited around some to watch the fireworks and contribute some my self.
Outro
It was great to FINALLY view the outro. It certainly made me eager to play more missions by you. You did get the particle effects credits wrong though. Babylon's barrel fire script was only used in the KC intro and then tweaked for medic tent fires in the mission. Vitja3000 was the author of those particle effects. Also some of those sounds were gotten from soundsnap.com. All that aside, your cinema efforts were great. Something else to look forward to in future missions. Do you plan on working on more missions?
Overall
Even with my negatives, this is still a complete package and really declares much about your dedication to improving your work. I truly look forward to delving into more creations by you in the near future. Change that credit mistake and we can review this one.
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Good to see some feedback from you SBG, it's been a while :D
About the deadbodies script. Somehow I must have forgotten to apply the script to the units you mentioned. I'll get onto that straight away.
EDIT: Hmm, the deadbodies scripts are proving to be more difficult than I thought. I need the scripts to detect whether or not an entire dead group has been hidden, and if another group happens to come across them, the alarm timer will start. The only resources I have found are for individual units. I think I may have found a solution, but as always, assistance is welcome :D
Come up with a temporary solution, just testing it to make sure it works.
Extra satchels. To be honest I hadn't considered that a possibility. I think I must have wanted the player to interact more with the resources available to him during the mission (namely his teammates and crates in the village). I also didn't think it was possible to complete the mission with only two magazines of whichever weapon is chosen. But, I will certainly consider making it an option.
EDIT: Player now has option to select at least four satchel charges
About the intro part. When you say wait after the @camcommitted command do you mean just before the 'mission title' part comes up? I think that was the only instance where I used '@camcommitted'. In any case I will make that improvement.
I understand now what you meant about the intro. I'll make the changes you suggested.
The ammo crate. Think I probably meant to put an M2 there at some point but changed my mind. I'll move the crate elsewhere.
EDIT: Ammo crate has been moved
Now, about those two other things (the hint etc). Think I read on a similar mission that you think hints should be kept out of the mission. A fair point indeed. Now that I think about it, the player doesn't really need the hint (he has the alarm siren). So yes, I'll remove the two hints (the 'you have been detected' and the 'alarm has been risen').
EDIT: Hints have been removed. Though I was contemplating having them only in cadetmode, and perhaps doing this for the alarm countdown as well. Not sure at the moment though, depends what others think.
As for the troops going to player's position, I'll tweak that so that they don't go to the exact position of he player (maybe 200-400m away perhaps).
EDIT: Fixed this (at least I think so). The reinforcement groups will not go to the player's exact position, but more to the approximate area of where the player might go (in other words, about 200-300m from the evac sites)
As for the credits, yeah I'll fix that :)
EDIT: Fixed
Hehe this is probably the first time you've seen the outro. Allowing the player to finish the mission has been a problem that I was trying to fix for ages. Good to see you were finally able to finish it lol :D
I'll make the changes you suggested, and hopefully it'll be ready :)
As for more missions. I do have a sequel of sorts on the line up. I suppose I could divulge a little information about it. It'll be part one of a three part story. Hopefully it'll be finished by late Feb or early March. I wanted to focus on getting Rattlesnake finished and up before I focus my full attention on my other project.
I should have the things you mentioned sorted out this weekend and hopefully it'll be ready by early next week.
Thanks for the extensive and excellent feedback SBG :)
Gruntage
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The final version is now up and ready for review. All changes suggested by SBG have been implemented.
The last week has been spent applying finishing touches (the changelog shows these changes). The deadbody detection scripts have proved to be quite difficult to improve. But, they are now functioning as they should (I hope). It's possible now for every group (within the village) to detect other dead party members of other groups (within the village), unless the player hides them. So, the player has to now....'clean up' his mess :D
If any error messages pop up, or if there are still inconsistencies with regards to the dead body detection scripts (such as groups not detecting deadbodies for whatever reason) then let me know.
Other than that, it's ready.
Time to resume work on my other project :D
Many thanks to the beta testers who have played this mission to death :D Some of you are probably sick of the sight of it lol :whistle:
Regards,
Gruntage
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I will test your mission today and give some feedback a.s.a.p. This will be my first time testing op rattlesnake so Im expecting a shiny polished creation which is always a good thing..
Some time later
ok Here is my test results of your mission creation. Operation Rattlesnake
Intro:
This has very good camera work... Along with the grid screen your camera effects do simulate a UAV recon operation. The text, font & sounds are a refreshing change & a credit to your effort.
I dont know much about UAVs but what I do know is that they are drones controlled from spies on the ground. Miles from harms way.. I know of one kind of UAV named the predator. The predator is U.S military hardware & its advantages are used against a poorly equipped opposition. The predator I think can deliver a payload of two maverick hellfires or stingers maybe four.. I'm not entirely sure but maybe an LGB.
I wonder are satellites included under the abbr. UAV ?
Anyway my point is. What is this UAV doing flying sorties in a sky heavily defended from A-A. Perhaps you know more things about UAVs that I'm not aware of. Or shilka's for that matter. Could a UAV simply destroy the priority targets in question?
My guess is that this drone can fly at altitude distances safe enough from ground threats.. Therefore unable to attack these specific targets.
If this is the case it might be an idea to elaborate some info about the UAV in the briefing.
If I have highlighted a problem here then my suggestion would be to have a strela or shilka destroy the UAV in the intro...
Example; You could end the camera footage with a ZSU or missle firing in the general direction of the camera logic, Terminating the footage.
This would look asthough the UAV has gathered enough intel to begin a black-ops mission.
You wouldnt have to remove any of the great camera content...
Overview:
Typical overview, Good in-game picture present, mission name. It does what it does..
Briefing:
A well written briefing & feels military authentic. Explains the objectives clearly. (Idiot-proof) :good:
Mission testing duration:
Test runs = 1 hour
Easy = 13 minutes
Normal = Approx 20 minutes
Hard = Approx 30 minutes
Preference:
enquistor NVG \ LLaumax sky pack
Veteran \ Super AI
Easy = Landing site 1
Normal = Landing site 3
Hard = Landing site 4
Mission recap:
Easy Mode
We disembarked & sprinted to Houdan. I left my team on the outskirts of the village (under cover mode). I got from the coast to the sandbags unoppposed, no detection. This could make sense as with good intel a black-ops team would exploit this weakness for the insertion.
Anyway after a 4 man patrol had pass my position I moved in and primed my first charge. Maintaining stealth I crawled off to the next target and eventually I had primed 3 charges over 3 targets...
On my way to the 4th target I returned to an ammo crate I'd seen earlier... Took a satchel and moved on to the final ZSU. Once all the targets was sabotaged I decided to shoot my way out in an attempt to flee the area.. To my surprise I seen that the detection was quelled by the fact I killed a whole group before the timer run down. (Nice scripting\triggers etc) Though soon enough we tripped the alarm..
I ordered my team to move closer with weapons-free to cover my escape but they was quickly cut down by a panicked soviet patrol. My team was K.I.A so I proceeded fast to the extraction. When I was well clear of Houdan I turned around, Touched-off my charges. And watched the amazing display of destruction. The particle effects are a nice addition and modernising. :good:
Anyway I carried onwards to the extraction with the increasing sound of T80's coming fast. I felt like my legs couldnt carry me fast enough... It was a relief to hear then see the strafing A10....
I boarded the zodiac and we departed.. The mission ended once we was clear and the outro was excellent.. Time in the mission took 13 minutes and was easy, as was selected...
Normal Mode:
this time I took my squad into Houdan and we went with no mercy or stealth. Weapons free we cut down anything that moved and lasted a good 3 minutes before detection.
The alarm sounded & tanks poured in from all sides, My squad was k.I.A...
I sabotaged my targets & blew them up one by one.. I did this to inflict casualties in the blasts.
With many open buildings in Houdan I was free to move around with plenty of cover. I killed many soviets which seemed like a one way fire-fight. I was swift and efficient exploiting the abundant cover. I even aqquired an RPG and took some BMPs out on my way to the extraction..
When I reached the extraction I was greeted by a destroyed BMP and a single dead black-ops (day) on the water-line. I'm Assuming the BMP destroyed the Zodiac and then the A10 came along and destroyed the BMP. I didnt complete the mission because it didnt end, no debriefing and no outro to see... Again too easy
Hard mode:
Cautious this time I brought my team close to Houdan & left them on the perimeter. I brought them simply to cover my escape route and bearer-ammo...
During my stealth sabotaging a soviet infantry patrol discovered my carelessly placed team. I left them to hold fire and by the time I ordered them to shoot back I had lossed 3 men.
I sent the remainding team member back to the shore line ready to depart.. Now detected again I still finished my objectives (eliminating the ZSUs) and sprinted off to the extraction. enroute to my extraction tanks and infantry came up close and personal so I quickly hid in some bushes.. I was swamped by infantry that didnt budge so after a few minutes I started to pick them off. Until I ran out of ammo.
By now I had learned the AI even equipped with NVG was rediculously easy to kill. There was a couple of situations in the fight where the a.i had seen me but didnt open fire...
While I was reloading one AI had already spotted me, aimed at me for what seemed like a long time, then I glocked him..
After realising the AIs lame attempt to infiltrate my extraction I just got up and ran to the zodiac, In plain view of T80s, BMPs , infantry. Also I was concerned about the A10 busting the tanks right on my position
Anyway I boarded the zodiac along with my waiting last man... But the boat didnt turn around and leave the area.. Instead two T80s arrived and we all just sat there looking at each other..
The zodia seemed to be having difficulty making a 180 degree turn.. It was trying to but kept bumping the sandy shore.. again the mission didnt end
Problems \ bugs
take into consideration I did some test runs to comfirm my suspicions of these problems
*Ammo crates in the shed float slightly off the ground
*The Zsu dont engage on contact.. I danced in their headlamps, shot HK rounds upon them. And even tried to get anothers attention by cutting troops down with an M2 machine gun. Also if you destroy them one by one they dont seem bothered theres a breach..
*the enemy ai seem to be more stupid than normal. I dont know whats causing this.
*Problems at the extraction as explained in the recap
*Repeating voice.... I killed a group of soviets... After each kill in the group a trigger of some kind repeated the same voice, saying the same words in Russian
Suggestions
*create an alternative extraction, Plan B in the event of disruption
* Do somthing about the difficulty modes.. ie removing cross-hair\3rd person view etc for hard mode... Theres just not enough difference in the modes apart from that theres more infantry and random positions for the ZSU.
Outro:
Absolutely fantastic. A real treat that makes you feel like the objectives endured was an important accomplishment. The cinematics are satisfying and also points towards a sequel.. :good:
Overall: 4\10
The mission is certainly a quickie. In and out and the jobs done. The insertion with a zodiac and your team crouched low in the craft give the impression of a much needed stealth approach.. Sadly it turns out using stealth is not absolutely crucial to the success of the mission.
I can see gruntage youve put alot of effort into this mission and are eager to see it reviewed final. But it still needs editors attention and tuning
I would like to give this mission a permanent place on my [SP] missions list but for now I will just have to wait for the next version. Good luck with this and happy editing , hope my beta test has been of help. !
(http://)
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Wow very interesting indeed.
I find it quite surprising (and most unsettling) that so many bugs have appeared once again despite many tests; back with a vengeance I guess. The tanks moving to the zodiac's position is a particularly annoying bug that I cannot solve. It seems that, because the tanks have, well, a max skill level, they will go to where they think the player is. This is probably enhanced through the usage of super AI.
I will consider moving the zodiac elsewhere, though it's my guess that the tanks will still go to the zodiac location.
About the UAV. That's actually satellite footage, so no they wouldn't be affected by Shilkas. UAV of course means 'unmanned aerial vehicle', so yes I would imagine that some satellites would come under that term.
I'm quite surprised that the shilkas didn't engage you. During my tests they would often open fire (it was almost impossible to enter the base during one test). So I'm at a loss as to why the IQ of the AI suddenly dropped. They should be at their maximum skill level. So I don't know how this could be solved.
Repeating voice. The sound clips are chosen at random from a (large) selection, with a random amount of time between each clip. If sound clips repeat then that's just a result of the randomness. This will not change.
Seems like I have a lot of work to do. Though I'm still surprised that so many bugs appeared at once after not making an appearance for so long...
Thanks for your test
EDIT: Have decided to rebuild the mission from scratch (basically strip it down and eliminate bugs that way). Review process halted. As frustrating as starting again may be, I feel that it is the only solution. Hopefully a rebuilt version will be up soon. With so many bugs appearing again, many of which cannot be solved through simple editing, it seems that I have no other choice. When this mission is next up for testing/review, it will have had an extensive makeover. Mission will be moved to the boneyard for the time being.
Thanks to all those who have tested my mission this far
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A rebuilt version has now been uploaded and is awaiting testing. Details on what has changed has been included in the first post of this thread.
Constructive feedback is needed :D
Have fun!
Gruntage
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@Gruntage :good: ..
(http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/6684/play1m.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/855/play1m.png/)
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INTRO:
Very Well rounded intro. Love the camera angle and the information that is given to the player. Great!!
MISSION:
Before I get into it here are my points
**> Selection of landing spot great.
**>Selection of difficulty great.
**>Alarm system from each enemy patrol, really good. It gives you time, while still being in stealth mode.
I started at landing zone 4 and started south-east of Houdan. My buddy and I walked up the beach and camped for a second. I scouted area to see patrols.
First patrol that came across of 4, took them out less then 20secs. Entered in the base, another patrol of 2, took them out! Placed 1st satchel by Shilka1. Which was entering the base/town directly South-East. Shilkas in my opinion were easy to find and blow up.
Went off north to the other shilka, found placed satchel. Went off west to the other shilka, placed satchel. Since I didn't want to run the risk of my fellow AI's giving me away, I told my other guy to drop his satchel and I grabbed it so I could use it for the remaining shilka.
I grabbed it, ran back into town. Came in from the east again and moved to the road which was in center of town. Took out single patrol guard, also another 2 patrols that were there.
As I came up to the road, a patrol of 4 spotted me, oops :dunno:. Took them out with 1second to spare!! Nice....Then moved west to the last shilka, planted charge. Then set out for extract.
I took my fellow soldier with me and ran like crazy and blew off all 4 satchels. As that happened I ran east of the road along coast line to extraction point which was the way south of Houdan. I ended up saying heck with waiting for my AI buddies as they would of held me up. I made it to the extract, but lost 2 AI's and the other's were MIA.
Great mission, only took me about 20mins, of course that was just first playing on easy mode just to test my beginner skills. Next time I'll have to put it on hard. :good:
Overall good mission.
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Thanks for the test NightJay :D Easy mode was designed to be....easy lol. There are a few other features that make the mission harder if you play in veteran mode (additional camps, larger patrols etc). You'll probably notice a huge difference if you go from easy straight to hard lol.
Glad to see you were able to finish the mission lol :D
Thanks again for the test :D
Gruntage
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Anybody else want to give v2.0 a test? :D
I know I've uploaded new versions in quick succession (which can be a bad thing) but the latest version has been up for a while. I'm eagerly awaiting feedback :)
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Finally, I was able to set aside some more time for beta testing tonight. Played with CWA 1.99/veteran/Landing Site 3/Medium difficulty.
Intro
Keyboard clicks are spot on and make far better sense now. :good:
Briefing
Noticed the addition of more satchels. :good:
Mission
The base around Houdan looked "Occupied", which is what it has been missing from the start. The additional sandbagged and barbed wire fences, ammo crates and even the relocation of two of the Shilkas seemed to make a bit more sense. The medium setting seemed to be the most logical setting from a defensive stand point IMO; too many infantry is overkill and poor use of resources while smaller numbers can not adequately guard the assets. In any case, The distance camp fires (hilltop and checkpoint), when combined with that patrolling BMP, REALLY brought the entire area of operation to life. It provided a sense of awareness by the enemy rather than a relaxed mode of duty.
The dead body detection added so much to the mission that it affects the players' overall strategy, It forces them to not only choose the proper engaging angles but the right timing as well, since you have to get the bodies hidden before another unit(s) walks up on the cadaver(s).
I did not trip any flare traps. Rather, there were green flares being launched from mission start. The flares were also another factor to alter a players gameplan,
It was great to see the enemy not knowing where exactly the player was. Although, I was engaged by units from the western checkpoint and I expected armor to respond but nothing happened. I suppose it's difficult to strike a balance between challenging and fun when designing a mission.
I took a significant hit to frame rates once the alarms went off
Outro
Looks great except for the websites used credits. You typed in OPFR.info and it should be OFPR.info.
Overall
No bugs, but then, I haven't tried the alternate extracts yet. I can begin the review process if you like and finish the testing during the review. Let me know.
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Ah thanks for testing my mission again SBG
So, about the difficulty settings. Creating a smooth and logical 'step up' in difficulty has been a big challenge whilst making the mission. I wanted the amount of units in each setting to make sense, as well as to give them a suitable degree of skill. The number of units in most of the patrolling groups is random, so if you were playing on the 'easy' setting you could end up seeing only a couple of units patrolling the base. I suppose this fulfills the purpose of the 'easy' setting to some extent. I wanted the 'easy' setting to provide a quick, yet enjoyable mission. The amount of units in the hard difficulty can appear a little excessive.
So, I wonder whether it's worth tweaking the amount of units in the village. Perhaps having the same amount of units per difficulty setting, but varying amounts of skill? :scratch: Whilst this may make the village defences more logical, it may take away the some of the function of the difficulty settings in general.
About the lack of responding armour. I have tweaked the armour a little bit so that they don't surround the player and make escape impossible, like in previous versions. The farthest checkpoint to the west does have a T72 nearby which will deploy if the alarm is sounded (or if the player is detected by guards of that checkpoint). So, this will probably stay as it is because I think adding additional armour may create frustration rather than enjoyment (I know in hard difficulty that tank is quite difficult to bypass).
I can't imagine why your framerates would take a hit though. I think it depends on when the alarm went off. If you had just destroyed the skilkas then the alarms would sound (the particle effects can cause damage to framerates). White flares also deploy around the time of the alarm sounding, so that could be the cause. I'll look into it but I haven't experienced any drop in framerate except for when I destroy the shilkas.
I'll make the quick change to the outro :)
The hard difficulty has presented a few problems in the past, such as enemies zero-ing in on the player's position in a very short period of time. There are no scripts that give the exact position of the player to the enemy, but there are a couple of scripts that make it easier for the enemy to track the player (through the use of an sqf). It's possible that the high degree of skill of the enemies is responsible for this 'problem'.
I can make adjustments to the patrol group sizes if you think it would benefit. I'll make the quick amendments and upload a new version shortly. Once it's up then I guess we can begin reviewing (finally :D)
Best Regards,
Gruntage
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So, I wonder whether it's worth tweaking the amount of units in the village.
I was going to suggest ideas for this but did not want you to feel that you need to keep changing this project to make it enjoyable, because it is enjoyable. My suggestion was that rather than add more units to the patrols and creating a train of group members for the hardest setting, I would have placed a group sitting around a fire at one of the shilkas, added a couple more 2 unit patrols to walk the interior of the camp, perhaps in different directions to increase the challenge of threading the defensive routes and finally, add just a few more units to each checkpoint to increase the challenge of exfiltration. Additional armor removes from the fun in my opinion because the player has equipped himself for stealth and does not possess the ability to battle the armor, unless he takes the time to kill an rpg unit and all of his buddies and then hide their bodies. Even then, he will not have enough rockets to combat the armor, unless you change the armor to BMP's because the A-10 fails to eliminate the T80's and it takes 3 shoulder fired rockets to disable one. Again, these changes are not necessary to seal this mission up. I would much rather see it reviewed and you move on to another awesome project before you become burned out and lose interest like so many editors do.
So, this will probably stay as it is because I think adding additional armour may create frustration rather than enjoyment
I wasn't actually suggesting for you to add more armor. It's great with the way you have it now. It provides a moving threat while not overwhelming. I was only saying that I expected it from the amount that you had respond in the previous versions.
I can't imagine why your framerates would take a hit though. I think it depends on when the alarm went off.
I should have written that better. I was never detected and thus the alarms did not sound until I activated the satchels and blew the shilkas. The FPS dropped to an almost annoying stutter but never became unplayable. I did not know about the white flares( perhaps you could insert a condition that the player be close to the camp before those are spawned to reduce some lag?) Also,if you had a helo respond, I never spotted it because I was focused on encountering ground units. Perhaps you could remove the helo with reinforcements and just have the reinforcements come from the checkpoints to help reduce lag as well. Air units induce tremendous lag due to the engine constantly calculating x,y and z coordinates for them.
But like I said, the mission is already good as it is.
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The final version has now been submitted for review :)
I decided to make some of the changes you suggested SBG. A small group of troops has been placed around a campfire, which is randomly placed next to a shilka (the dead body detection script has been applied to them). I also decided to remove the mi17, and replace it with a small group of Spez Naz. The size of this group is determined by the player's 'rating', or rather, how much of a threat the player is. This group is only present in the hard difficulty.
I looked into the lag issue and I think it's been resolved. But let me know if the problem worsens for whatever reason (by all means halt the review process if the lag becomes unbearable).
The mission should be free of bugs, but it seems that whenever I've released a new version, something always pops up lol >:(. So, let me know if you encounter any problems.
Thanks to all of those who have tested my mission. This mission would not have come this far if it wasn't for the amazing feedback provided. :clap:
Regards,
Gruntage
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Seems that I forgot to apply the alarm script and part of the body detection script to the newly placed 'campfire group' (bunch of guys sat around a fire near one of the shilkas). This has been fixed now (was quite annoyed when I realised).
Anyway, mission should be functioning properly, and is awaiting review :)
Will hopefully have some spare time to test other projects this weekend :D
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thanks for this mission
gruntage
i always like your missio
here is my walkthrough
time taken 45 minutes
i made 2 stop arround a corner
i plant satchel on first two shilka who are down on the road very easly.
than i take one satchel from 2 nd moved towards other shilkas
i easily planted charger on third one,i dodged that 8-10 soldiers patrol(2 snipers) i noticed,i had no chance to killing them,so i dodged them many times,i killed rpg soldier nd a soldier there,when i try to crew of fourth shilka alarm raise on,i successfully planted satchel nd start moving toward mountain nd touch off the charger mission accomplished,t80,t72 nd bmp came somewhere nd start roaming around the base,my rest of squad get caught between armor nd infantry and i lost them,
i reached in extraction point and mission ends
i notice one thing you can not get unnoticed while putting charger on shilka which is crewless
enjoyed the mission
cheers
gw
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i notice one thing you can not get unnoticed while putting charger on shilka which is crewless
I've disproved this many times. It is possible to go completely unnoticed until the point of detonation. You must be patient, crawl and avoid contact at all costs. If you leave a trail of bodies and the other patrols find them, they will raise the alarm.
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crew is careless but group of two soldiers(rpg nd soldier) notice me everytime,there is a officer to in the middle of town.
its easy to dodge snipers petrol nd bmp,but i find hard to dodge that rpg and ofiicer,
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Good to see some discussion on my recent mission. Like what SBG said GW, if a group is detecting you every time it's probably because you forgot to hide the bodies you left. When I tested the mission on hard difficulty I too had my work cut out infiltrating the village undetected (I'm assuming you're playing on hard difficulty). The skill of each soldier and vehicle is the same, which rules out the possibility of one group or one soldier being more skilled than others.
The base was carefully designed so that it is hard to sneak in and out unnoticed (unless ofc you're playing on the easy setting). Interesting though that you saw an officer in the centre of the town. I guess that, because the majority of groups within the village have 'guard' waypoints assigned to them, they're exploring parts of the town by themselves (quite clever really lol, one of the aspects of CWA AI that I like)
Also, if I recall correctly the shilkas on normal and hard difficulty are crewed, but they have their lights off so it's hard to tell if they are crewed or not (can't remember for sure whether I removed the crews entirely from all versions). When crewed the Shilkas are quite efficient at detecting you and your team.
Good luck!
Gruntage
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@gruntage
i played with medium setting
3 shilkas have crew inside,its very easy to detonate charger near to them,
why you set snipers at lower rank in your mission,they walk in last in group formation.
officer in village detect me everytime,so what i do,i detonate charger within 20 seconds nd start crawling towards hills,when 20 seconds time ends i touch off all four chargers,
a-10 arrived nd tanks too,but my squad mates got killed by armor everytime,extraction point is very much far on hill.
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All of the enemy units in each group are the same rank the last time I checked. I suppose that, as you're playing on the medium setting, the skill of the shilkas is not as high as it is on the hard setting, hence the ease of placing charges next to them (unless you dance in front of their turret).
As for the officer always detecting you, I believe he's equipped with nv goggles on medium difficulty, so it's easy for him to see you (so naturally you should make it a priority to take him out).
And yes it is quite difficult to get every team member back safely. The extraction areas need to be a great distance from the base for obvious reasons. The best strategy I find is to select the 'move as group' option at the start, and send your team to whatever extraction you use (unless it's one which is on the opposite side of Houdan), and then infiltrate alone. That way you needn't worry about your team members.
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i play mostly by laptop,my laptop is of simple configuration,
i think you should have provided law to soldiers as obtion,if anyone want to play it as a battle,two ways of playing will make this mission like a thriller,i like your mission always,what the point for four insertion point :scratch:
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i think you should have provided law to soldiers as obtion
Fair point. The mission was designed to be done using a stealth approach, but you could always grab an rpg from a soldier in the town (the mission would become too easy if I gave the player a weapon that could destroy all four shilkas from 200m away, within the space of about 30 seconds). At least with satchel charges you have to use caution and skill. That's probably why I didn't give the player or his teammates LAWs.
What's the point of four insertion areas?
To add to replayability and the special feature factor. Going from the same place consistently would mean using the same strategy which would get a little boring after a while. By choosing your insertion you can explore new strategies. Granted, the insertions are all in similar locations, so I suppose having one to the west of the base would have been good.
Anymore questions? ;)
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one thing i must say,upper side of village is well defended as comparison to down side of road.why spetnez not in town,they have good detecting power in ofp. :yes:
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That's a good question. The spez naz groups (which number two the last time I looked) were assigned 'guard' waypoints, so they do occasionally venture to the east and southern side of the base. I hadn't really noticed a difference in defence within the town. Four groups circle the town to make for a thorough defence. If you approach the town when most of the four groups are on the west and northern side then obviously the east and southern side will appear poorly-defended.
This of course allows the player to infiltrate. It's up to the player to calculate when the best time to venture into the base is (the best time would ofc be when most of the patrolling groups are on the opposite side of the town to you).
Think that addresses your points.
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Played this, Gruntage - fantastic job! Installed OFP for it (ok, this isn't quite an obstacle today :D ) and immediately was set back to that awesome and incomparable atmosphere.
The mission was great. I (and number 2) first knocked on the back door which means that I went west of the village and cleared out all reinforcement troops (including that dangerous Spetsnaz unit). Then I went "arcade" and shot all 4 Shilkas with RPGs from the distance, which took me some reloads :) but eventually I got them all. Vamoosed further to the west, ordered 3, 4 and 5 to take cover in some bushes, then went around the village to get them out of there, as they were surrounded by enemies, though undetected. It was good to meet them as I really was dry on ammo. Then we went to the northeastern escape point.
Loved the outro too! Great work.
Alright - so as you don't have anything current to test/play, I thought I'd say thank you for your efforts on Black Lands by playing this. :) It was a lot of fun and - I'd love to see some new stuff from you as you're a very experienced mission designer!
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Heh, I didn't realise anyone was still playing this :D Thanks for your comments. Very old project now though, but I still play it every now and again for nostalgia.
I have started (but never finished) a lot of projects over the years (for both ArmA 3 and OFP), but I'll be honest, what's put me off finishing them is the fact that they're not really original and there isn't really anyone to test them. I made missions for people to play and have fun with, not really for myself.
Reason why I haven't been able to look at Black Lands this week is because I've had to work in the evenings. I have got some free time this weekend though so I will give it a look.
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In my opinion originality isn't the only deciding factor. Quality also is which is why I encourage you to release some more stuff as I saw a lot of it in the mission. :) (among some original things like the countdown and the possibility to prevent the alarm)
Don't worry because of BL - I still haven't got far after the latest update. :(
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Hey Gruntage! I've just got on vacation this week and decided to check out some of the gems I've enjoyed back in the day!
Damn, I read my own comments in this thread and it looks like I used to take all of this a little too seriously, as if we're making official missions to be released in a retail version :D. Well, life goes on and teaches you things. Time heals, time teaches, I guess.
Just wanted to chime in and ask how you're doing, my friend. Perhaps you're up for a quick OFP / Arma CWA MP game or something? Chererio!
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Hey dude! Long time no see :D
It's really nice that people are still playing this even after all these years. I was just barely out of high school when I made it! It's funny really that I haven't come close to making anything anywhere near as good as this since and I've been dabbling in A3 for nearly a decade.
I guess we did take this stuff seriously back then; we all wanted to make the next Abandoned Armies, the next Black Lands or the next Unimpossible Mission. We were all driven to reach new heights, and I do miss the community back then. I always wanted to make missions for other people to play and not for myself, so when things went quiet I kinda lost my motivation. But perhaps that will change once A4 bounces around in whatever decade that happens to be :D
Anyway, I'm doing pretty good these days. How are things with you? I haven't played online OFP in years :D; will have to see how it feels to play .
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Hey @Gruntage!
In short - thanks to my stubbornness and outright stupid excessive curiosity [that OFP Editing probably sparked], I got a little bored with OFP editing back in 2012 and started doing web programming (you know, the typical tech stack for a self-taught newbie: PHP, Javascript, CSS, HTML, MySQL, Wordpress, Woocommerce, Magento and stuff).
I fell in love with it because of the variety of problems to solve and varying projects to work on. Still doing programming to this day, ~11 years later (freelancing now). :D
I have some more free time to dedicate on things I used to enjoy now and that's why I'm slowly coming back into the Armaverse / OFPverse. Slowly, but surely.
Perhaps you use Discord? My nickname is inlesco there. We could probably chat a little there, recalling the olden days and whatnot.
And BTW - there's this nice OFP / ACWA Discord community (the biggest and most active one I've seen so far) of die-hard OFP maniacs. Check it out :D. Link: https://discord.gg/SUhSseCe
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Oh, and about the seriousness of our intentions that you and I mentioned - I was in high-school at that moment. A very chaotic time period, so to say :D.
And the ambition was through the roof... To possibly travel to Czechia and work at BIS there. IIRC, I even applied to BIS for a 2011 Summer internship in Mnisek Pod Brdy. Probably crazy for a 17 year old to do, though, come to think of it.
You got me chuckling with the part mentioning Abandoned Armies and other outstanding OFP missions and us trying to follow in the footsteps of our OFP Editing and Modding forefathers. :D
We did the best we could, though. We should be proud of ourselves (I'm not too proud, though, as I lost a ton of unfinished OFP missions I had back in the day, sitting on an old HDD :D).
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That sounds awesome! I did consider at one point going into a computer science-related career, but my heart was always in design which is where I ended up and still am to this day :D
To be honest I don't think applying to BIS back then was that crazy; it could easily have led to something. I think Zipper made a mission or a campaign (Operation Cobalt I think) for Arma 2 that I think got him noticed by the guys at BIS and he was hired as a developer if memory serves.
Yeah I think we did a good job and we had quite a lot to live up to considering what came before. I kinda wish I had gotten into editing sooner when there was still a flurry of activity on here; I might have been able to produce more missions. But it would have been tough for my teenage brain to get around all of the scripting required.
I do indeed use discord! I'll PM you a link