(Review Completed) [SP] Abandoned Armies

[macguba]

Reading through mikero's highly enjoyable last post, I am struck by two things.    Number of loons in Vigny house is variable?  Good.  But have 3 more likely.   The old set up was better than the new one.

Secondly, I think you should weaken the squad that comes into Vigny slightly.  "Vigny is to be investigated, not run away from".    You can't leave, it's just not what  you would do.   You need to spend a minute over Tatyana's body:  you need to search for weapons or ... or whatever else is there.   If you haven't checked the place out thorougly before the cutscene - and most people won't , we behave like moths when you show us a fire - you really want to do it afterwards.    Squad coming in is fine - you warned us about it - but at the moment it can be quite hard and slightly easier would be better.    There is no real reason to rush the player out of Vigny anyway.

[THobson]

There is a monstrous amount of good stuff here.  Thank you for it.  I am digesting it all and I will respond to it all.  I am tempted to respond to somethings immediately, but then that might make you wonder about the thing I left out.

But
Note the deliberately big but
I am supposed to be working today and this evening I leave the country for a week.  I will have intermittent access to the internet and no access at all to the game.  I will have access to some stuningly good food though so it is not all bad.

I have found the error with the truck and the gamelogics:


Now fixed.  Sorry.

Fragrl. Divide by zero!!  Holy moley.  Thanks for spotting it.

[THobson]

What the hell.  The worst they can do is fire me.

If I replied to every point this would go on for pages, so let me make some general comments and then I will deal with the specifics.

I am glad you all seem to like it.  For all the good things that you have pointed out thank you  the ego boost is helpful fom time to time.  Also if you have made a point that is not covered below then that should be taken as ‘I agree - thanks'

@macguba
Overview picture - yes indeed v1.00 everyone was squashed up. in 1.10 they are stretched out.  I did the calculations for this latest one - I clearly need to re-do them.

Intro:
Evil has come to Malden vs Evil came to Malden.  You are right of course.   Every time I see it in the Intro it jars, but when I go to edit it in the file it seems okay and I leave it.  The feeling in the Intro should swing it.

Non-perfect blackout - I am stuck on this.  It is night, the camera is in the corner of a barn (guess which one) with a tiny filed of view.  I will keep trying.

The three loons surrendering - you spotted the weapons.  It is a pain.  The switch move for them getting up into the surrender position leaves the weapon on the ground and the one for them dieing from the surrender position has them dropping their guns.  I will have to live with this unless there are some subtle switchmoves that I am not aware of.

Why no shots of me?  Well that is me standing next to Anna my sister.  How strong are your views on this - it is the second time you mention it I notice.  The problem is one of timing and the length of the music score.  I suppose I could try and stretch that out.

Briefing

"... an overzelous, frightened or drunk US naval captain shot down what turned out to be a civilian Russian airliner with the children of several Politburo members on board...."

In the Background I have tried to deal only with things that have really happened (apart from the nuclear exchange of course).  I was thinking of the Iranian airliner that was shot down by the US Navy battle cruiser Vincennes in July 1988 killing all 290 people on board.  Overzealous and frightened might fit, I can also go for incompetent but I can't go for drunk - sorry.  I also chose a Chinese airliner because (my view) whatever else can be said of the Soviet regime it was tremendously pragmatic.  If such a thing were to happen I think they would gain maximum capital out of it in the UN and then have got their retaliation in another way.  Also remember the S Korean airliner shot down by the Russians in 1983 with a US Congressman on board.  These nations can be very pragmatic.  I felt the Chinese might be less predictable.  This is not post facto rationalisation of the type I did on the St Marie minefield.  I really did go through this thought process when I dreamt up the scenario.  As always I am open to persuasion, any thoughts?

Mission

Don't put the civvy body so near the soldiers

Which body and why?  There is the woman, the man the policeman and two covered bodies.

Briefing pic of uncle nic is good.

I thought it might help the player to recognise him later

Vigny squad.  My original intention here was to keep the player off guard and get him running.  In v1.00 when I saw several of you were using this squad for target practice and as ammo crates I increased the probabilities of several of them existing (from 50 to 100%).  I did nothing with the timing.  It should still be circa 2 minutes from Tatyana biting the dust.  Seeing all the comments, I now have a different intent for that group.  So I will drop its strength and possibly delay it slightly.  My intent now is to teach the player that having hit somewhere very bad things will come your way if you stay around for too long.

10 savegames,  plus one every 90 minutes or so.  Before I saw your post I was wondering if I was too generous.  All suggestions welcome.

La Pessagne
The empty net.  There are nets at several of the camps.  Some have trucks in but I wanted some variety and so not all are occupied, La Pessagne is one of the empty ones.  As this is seems to be the first one the player comes across (it isn't when I play) it probably does seem strange.  I will put something in and empty another one.

Light is good, is the mission a little later now?

To be precise the mission starts 24 hours and 10 minutes later than v1.00.  The 10 minutes is for the light (very well spotted) the 24 hours is so the Intro is not on the 10th.  Even though it is December and not May I wanted there to be no confusion over whether I had changed the date from its default or not.  In fact I don't think there is anything in the mission that tells the player the date - apart from the watch and that doesn't have the month - but I might change something later.

stringtable.csv - This is my first attempt at using voices and before I started I posted a question about why use a stringtable.  The only arguments in favour seemed to be: All the text is in one place; if the speaker is killed you don't get the text; it makes multi language much easier.  None of these is a concern to me.  Against using a string table is that it is one text string for one sound.  Some of my sounds (the radio message for example) is one sound file synchronised with several titletexts.  Also I thought coloured text was not possible with stringtables - I have no data on which I base this.  I am a newbie to all this - how can it help me?

Lodge

Didn't try anything fancy, I assume you have tested all combinations

Multiple times.  But you still caught me out in v1.00.  I have approached the lodge on foot and in a vehicle, I have stopped and not stopped and I have sat tight in the vehicle when ordered to get out.  What I had not done was to crawl into the trigger area - that is why you got a shot of only your feet at the start of the scene.
Has anybody driven into the lodge cutscene?  I was pleased with this.

Cutscene shots of Tatyana.  Good idea - I was trying to make it clear that what had been happening on that bed was a significant part of the story Alexi was telling to Ruslan.  That can still be achieved.  Thanks.

Medical box:  Yes it works.  I don't know if it has some capacity limit - but it does heal.

Civis
GameLogic problem now fixed - what a bummer, I thought it was really neat.  I never noticed it because I only ever take one loon with me on this trip and then only for him to report status if I get lost.  

Indeed the scenes need work as does the second group returning with the medic.  I think I know what to do about that.  As for the loons getting into the lodge - yes the problem is there are too many of them and one or two usually show from the outside.  But that is where they really are.  My logic was wholly based around what you might do.  Me trying to think like mac doing a beta test: Hmm so the civis are in the lodge are they?  well let's just put a dozen or so satchel charges round it and see what happens.  Boom, two red crosses get shot - good.  I think what I will do is setPos them away once they are inside.  The only way to find I have cheated is to blow the bloody place up.

Houdan

With all the comings and goings I notice my loons are not in good shape.

I am sorry I am not with you.

The AI shooting you through the fog is something you can live with to an extent - its just an annoying little "feature" in the game - but you are placing snipers to take advantage of it which isn't fun.

Well I am not doing it deliberately.  I am putting them where it feels like they should be, but if the feature is a problem I will get rid of these.  It is meant to be difficult, but also realistic and fun

.    How it is now is how you thought it was first time around, if that makes sense.

It makes a lot of sense thanks.

Mission title - yes I was wondering about that after I changed the story line,  but then I thought  The name seems to be getting reasonably well known, and they are after all still abandoned - just not in the way they were in v1.00.

lined up or piled up bodies.  I tried piled up, but they don't - they merge into one another so what you get is a jumble of head and legs.  I will see what I can do to untidy them a bit.

@mikero:
Lol - love you descriptions.

You don't need to save at the very start.  If you play again and don't want to sit through the Intro you can just hit the escape key.

Loons in the house at Vigny - there are always three, but I have noticed that one of them always legs it as soon as one of the others is killed.  He must have got away the first time you played it.

Message triggers plural as I drive near bodies

Now fixed only the Tatyana lament can be triggered if Alexi is in a vehicle.

noticing message triggers (apart from woman) are inconsistent, they appear to be things i should have triggered before heading for campfire.

I originally had it so these messages would not be played if the bodies were visited after the scene with Tatyana.  Then I thought:  Well he still does not know whether one of them is his uncle or not.  Tatyana was kept prisoner and didn't know where here father is.  Also I thought that most players would go for the house first and so miss them.  If they feel illogical I will put them back as they were so that you get them if you visit the bodies before the cutscene but not after.

Once again.  Thank you all so much.

[macguba]

Lol I read your first post and though "hmm ... mid afternoon at the latest."   ;D

With overview pics you need to experiment.    Pure calculations don't cut it:  the optical effects of the page are significant so trial and error is the only way to find what looks right.

Forget the blackout, you've done what you can.

What happens if you removeWeapon in between the animations?

The problem with having a Chinese airliner (I remember well both the events you describe) is that there has been no previous mention of China.   Why should that incident have anything to do with Malden?   It needs to be something Soviet to make sense.

At Vigny the two soldiers stopped where they were after shooting the girl.   After I shot them there were three bodies, one of them a  civvy.   Either move the civvy or, better, have the soldiers come up to the girl and go into safe.

10 savegames is not sufficient.     Deep in the heart of the mission a time based rule is fine, although 90 minutes is harsh - 45 would be better (one attention span.)       The start of this mission is (rightfully) slow and as I've said before slickness is essential.    Therefore the option of a savegame after every cutscene or event is essential.    Count them up and add a couple for luck.     I'd forget about adding them and just give something like 24 or 36 at the start and leave it at that.   Nice and simple.    

If you wish to imply that the net should shelter a truck that's fine, but put some barrels in the corner or something.

I never used a stringtable till the final versions of Un-Impossible but I wish I had.      There is no problem about using it with coloured text.    The real benefit is that it just makes life MUCH easier.   All your text is in one place instead of scattered throughout the scripts and triggers.   If you want to change something it makes life much simpler because you know you have found all the instances of it.   I'll try and write you a little tute next week.    I condede that switching to it will be a little tedious.

I drove into the lodge cutscene.  It's a little surprising that you can hear the first shout, but then the "get out of that vehicle" makes up for it.  It worked fine.

My logic was wholly based around what you might do.

 ;D ;D ;D
Setpossing away is fine.   The first group of civvies should shelter in the ruin until you leave:  for me they just vanished, presumably into the lodge but they were supposed to be fixing it.   Or maybe send them to a nearby copse to wait, then setDammage a couple of trees.

Loons not in shape:  they were in safe not aware and also were no longer keeping low, although I don't think there is a commmand for that.   Formation was ok.     Not a big deal.

Snipers overlooking the airfield are fine, you're expecting trouble there.   Snipers overlooking Arudy are a bit dodgy, take them out.

Jumble of heads and legs sounds fine to me.

No harm in keeping the name:  problably not worth changing at this stage.  Just a thought.

The third loon at Vigny must have legged it.   I thought I saw three, but when there were only two I put it down to expectations.   Make him higher rank if he is fleeing.

Bodies in Vigny:  no reason why you can't have different sound files depending on whether you have had the cutscenene or not.

[THobson]

 ;D
All is clear and helpful as ever thanks, except one thing I am puzzled by:

The first group of civvies should shelter in the ruin until you leave:  for me they just vanished, presumably into the lodge but they were supposed to be fixing it

During the first part of the cutscene they should get out of the truck and go stand behind Yuri.  Then Yuri tells them to go get some wood and repair the lodge.  The next shot you get is a front view of Yuri with the civis running off in the background behind him - or at least you should.  They actually do go to a wood and then come back, enter the lodge and it is repaired.  They only come back when Alexi is some distance away so the player is unlikely ever to see then walking through the walls into the lodge and the lodge then magically being made whole again.

I spent a few hours playing this afternoon.  It is a relief after so long building and testing.  Things were happening I had not seen before.  We all moan about some of the 'features' of OFP, but really there is a tremendous engine there.

I am now off to pack and then head for the airport.  I will be back at the end of next week.

EDIT:
Fragol:  I found the code that was generating the error.  It is in four scripts that each run at approximately 5 minute intervals throughout the mission so I am astonished that the problem has not become apparent earlier.  It will not spoil the mission for you.  If you got to the stage of killing Andropov what this bit of code is doing is not that important.  I will fix it though.  I think the problem is that I am trying to access the -1th element of an array.  Just a guess.  Will check it out when I get back.  Thanks again.

Best of luck everyone.

[GI-YO]

here comes anothr long winded and slow review from my self. I have been waiting for a new version of this mission so i'm looking forward to skulking through the fog looking for loons (and I hope I dont brake it this time and get the correct ending!)

OVERVIEW - picture a bit bigger.

INTRO - I liked the fact you have explained why the soldiers are on the island, not just on their holidays  .I think that music is from STAR WARS! and if so greeeaaat choice (wish I had my X-wing....) The voices seem more alive this time. I'm not sure if the fiction notice at the end is nessacary, but you must have your resaons for including it.

BRIEFING - landing point has changed  ;D but by the looks of it I will still have that pesky pistol  . The main text has changed and it all reads well. The picture of uncle is a nice touch.

MISSION - (here go's nothing.....) oh the memories this concures slogging my way up the hill. moan over. As i crest the hill i see the houses to my right so walk across before sticking my gun into the back door of the house and killing the occupants. After grabbing an M16 and some 'nades i spot a runner so get hit in the back with my pistol. I then save my game and realise I shouldn't have done so at such an early stage. I may have missed this but you could mention you only have 10 saves. I get the cutscene with tatyana and then kill the two goons who are juist standing in the rain not doing anything. I stop here as the sun is shining and a book with pictures in beckons me. More soon.

GI-YO

[SEAL84]

So I reinstalled OFP and forgot to copy the mission and my savegame, so I'll start fresh with 1.10....I'll see if I can test this weekend.

Dunno if I'll play Larry the Looter again though ;D

[Mikero]

Walkthru 2 of many

realise now my disorientation was due to a conviction the mountain base was occupied by enemy. I was using my old tricks of trade to get round authors and scour all around it first. Turns out I was wrong, again, and the tables were switched on me later when things that shouldn't be, were occupied. Suspicion dawning I had to forget all I knew about what authors do, and play the game, not the man.

apres Le Lodge:

5's unarmed. Oh yes, it had to be female, what a storyline. Never knew you could hodge-podge the engine to have anyone in any squad. This is becoming magic stuff.

savegame and scan the groups gear.

No good, not good at all, useless weaponry fix it Mikero. I'll use jeep mule as last resort, what has the author left me in camp?

Beginning to feel good, I'm young, I survived, I felt like i could lead this group. Cutscene told me how I felt about it too.

Sound of choppers overhead. I'm going to try and pop one, they'll fly low over here. Nope, viz too poor.

I notice how limited my squad is in law capacity. Arm them to the max I can, I take hunting rifle, I mostly use mule-jeep.

Radio option as I near radio, turn it on.... Check vehicles, civil, ok transport the civils, i need that. Got weapons? Nope, am gonna take mule jeep as well, I suspect some civils might join my squad. Turns out I was wrong. Radio msg to get any1 in my squad to turn radio on didn't work, similar to 'put out fire'. 1st play thru this game, i triggered the message by walking away, all totally fine by me.

I dismiss all ideas of using roads, direct compass bearing only, chopper is worrying me, I hope mist holds, I stop to check that flash was sound of thunder, not a missile. All ok. #2, my civil driver is having a hard time, too bad, he'll catch up or I'll waypoint him later. Still convinced enemy will be at 2nd camp.

Worrying about M2 jeeps, am trying to time their arrivals if I spot them again, trying to guess how far they patrol. Still far too weak to take them on. I need satchels, god, i need satchels.

have crossed two roads, now want a peeky boo at the camp from above I hope. Get #3 to tell me where I am. No sign of enemy at any time. Mist is driving me mad, this is fine.

cutscene triggers as I crawl towards hut.

I 'know' the undocumented features here. I try a different tack, I get my squad (4) in the mule jeep then I get in civil, soon as i do, the civils tell me to wait, i switch to 3rd person to make sure they're all in and dont need to, another msg tells me they're done, ready. No enemy sighted, I risk it and tell the jeep to go alone to base camp. I make my own way. Quick scout of hut reveals one body close by a radio, but nothing else I could see useable, except car. #2 now warns me that mule jeep is low on fuel. Hmmm, dont like the sound of that.

Am still curious about those m2 jeeps, i decide to take road, the mist is just driving me mad. My confidence is building I navigate successfully back. No enemy anywhere.

Cutscene: bad dialog, the civils won't be safe, they repair "what they can live in".

Lost it how I gained an extra member, #6. I Dont bother retry to find why, all I know is there's at least another two _possibly_ available for my squad. I'll get the civils, i want those soldiers. Am expecting, again, that this will be an ambush so decide to take all along with me. So far, not sure who's dumbed down to hell and back, I want a firefight to find out. Am intitially thinking lame mission, collect a few more civils and get a brownie point or two, then, like a thunderstorm building up, i detect lag, ever so slight, i know now this'll be bigger than Ben Hur.


Mercy me, #6 can have a LAW. I'd normally take an M2, but it doesn't 'feel' right in the mist. I rearm him top to bottom. My mule jeep was the right decision.

Worried about fuel, and, lol, #2 refuel at barrels. He gets there, but i'm not convinced he's close enough. I get in and do it myself.

All loaded in civil truck. Off we go.

The choppers bugging me again. I change my mind and load #2 with a machine gun. While he's at it, I examine map. Trinite sounds too risky, i need a firefight, Larche is marked as occupied, I'll test them out on may way to civils. Am pretty sure I'll need to run like hell afterwards. I want to see what goodies these towns have for later. Dont think the M2 jeeps are up here, I'll test that now. (wrong, wasn't i)

Savegame.6 to go.

[Mikero]

Walkthru part 3 of many

Larche
let civil cruise it's own way down the slopes, thinking m2 is good choice a bmp would have blapped by now, Larche looms 20 meters out of the mist, rpg hits me, goodnight. Retry

cruise down and get out at safe distance, run my way in. Fog works both ways, loons. Squad slaughtered as we crawl our way in during heavy rain. At one point my #3 (I think) got up shouldered his rifle and was cut down (all were in danger mode)

retry:

answered phone, left game running to test, squad cut down  500 meters from Larche. Enemy Patrol is randomly in area. My Squad was 'pointing' in 'wrong' direction to me, a clear indication i've missed something. Would have gone x4 to try this tactic again, but *appreciated* the author prevented me from doing so.

retry: perhaps two sentries dead, then cut down again. I'm approachinbg directly from sw, this angle is clearly wrong, the buggers are using bushes to get close to me. Gonna circle.

retry:

attack larche via west road where i can get a clear flat view of anything coming near us. No bushes in my way. spot idling M2 jeeps and take out 2 of them before the others move off (hunting rifle). They remain disinterested in me.

furious firefight with severely agressive ai taking us on. using cheatsaves like mad to progressively knock them off. lag, very very slight. As soon as ai enemy are 'detectable' in mist, they either shoot us dead, or we shoot them. The lag in fact is adding atmoshpere, it's like having another sense in the game, like smell or in this case feel. Finally notice that I am in fact slightly hurt from Vigny. I had my chance at passagne, and missed it. Silly me. Am quite prepared in *this* game to drive all the way back there, am deeply suspicious of roaming squads and want to check the area one more time (but I dont)

Seemed like 100's of enemy, which in fact turned out to be no more than a traditional squad coming at me. It's not the way it 'felt'. Mercy me, a mash tent. I heal, then spot a sentry incongrously in safe mode. Shoot him then all hell breaks loose as his 'friends' pick us off. Retry:

Do this again and realise 'safe mode' is quite ok, these guys are on the other side of town, it's not a bug. I keep count, there HAS to be four of them. Sure enough. The mist is insane. (I love it). Strange sound of G36 I want that gun badly but turns out there wasn't one. Notice NV goggles available, start loading my squad with them, not enuff to go round, expecting another patrol any moment. Sure enough, another patrol, or i think so at least, the mist prevents me knowing if I'm near stragglers or patrols. Decide my greed is killing me so race for the truck full of goodies, load #2 in a now-empty M2 jeep and race for the mountain hideout. Sound of abrahms long way away coming to Larche. I'm too undermanned, I'd normally stick around and pop it, but this mist has changed the whole dynamic of how I do things. Noticed any restart, the enemy aren't where they were last, I can't apply my usual attrition tactics. Again, I badly disorient going 'home', it's the mist, I am damn good at Nav, I can't use peripheral vision anymore to 'know' where I am. Dawning on me that mist is my friend, that the ai doesn't hunt me to extinction once it can't "detect" me. This goes in my mental notebook. This, is going to be a huge mission, I have to learn everything again.

Fall into camp, think of sending everyone out on 1km radius to 'see' how the land lies, decide no, this mist keeps me safe. Chopper again, its clearly patrolling, not hunting. Ok, another thing in the mental notebook.

Decide I'm undermanned, I have to have more squad, I'm hoping the last? civils will join me as armed soldiers.

Cup of tea time while I think trhu how to get to that last? civil area. Is it ambush, is it ok like before, are there patrols. My experience of Larche is not helping me decide.

[Mikero]

@macguba

>vigny

damn good advise. Will desist from interjecting at you because I've notcied we both look at the same mirror, you on the inside with scripts looking out at how a player plays it, me on the outside seeing my reflecltion and how I play it. We both see the same piece of glass.

@THobson

>you dont need to savegame....

to HELL WITH YOU. I feel safer doing it!!!!

ps: go on your french eating binge, a long one, this game will take ages to digest, you dont need to patch it piecemeal. There are no ShowStoppers.

[Mikero]

Wakthru part 4 of many

Los Civils Tres

quick note that walkthru is a chained series played in a train track game. This is wholly inadequate. My attack on Larche is just one of one squillion approaches I can take, it has simply affected my next squillion possibilites.

I check map, I want more civil-soldiers, I now know strategically I'm safe. Am thinking of the title text message in cutscene. to how can I harm them, what damage can I inflict. Am thinking, played right, I'll "own" the west side of this island. I have map markers saying so. It affects my thinking on Trinite, am not ready for it. I've knocked at both armies, do I want to ibmalance them? do i want to keep them even? What's going to work here.

Right now I'll use transport again to the civil area, I'd prefer a runwalk across mountain ridge, but my experience of truck-use has been good so far. This is my main objective, back of my mind is Goisse. let's see how far I change my mind, if at all. Decide to take a dogs leg direct east approach accross rdiges, I want to avoid Larche Valley, am severely scared of it.

savegame, 6 left (i picked up another in larche)


My navigation is again woeful. I stumble into the civil area, this was not my intent. It turns out safe, I did not expect it so.

Cutscene: excellent, of course. diction clear and distinct, no mumbling.

Info content excellent, it's affecting my decisions what-to-do, It is very clear to me that I'm in charge, the order to get the civils to safety made that clear to me. I AM the leader here.

Scrounge hut find nothing but a dead body, not sure what it was / why it was. Fits perfectly in game, just wanted a storyline behind it's discovery.

Ok, I said to girl I would only think about Houdan, That'll stay for later. I'm going back to base camp, I want that medic, I want Goisse. The thing I dont want is that forest, I seem to get cut to shreds, If I'm gonna take this enemy on, it's going to be on my terms, flat, clear, open ground with mist so deep you can drink it. Trinite is too big, I haven't the soldiers enough who can carry Laws to take on convoys, I have to believe the cutscene info. Trinite can wait. It can wait forever for all I care.

As I load up and drive back to my hideout it strikes me Arudy looks vulnerable, I can grab my new found medic if I need him. Let's have a small diversion., #7 is in safe mode, I soon change that.


Savegame, 5 to go

[Mikero]

Arudy

I get on west road to Arudy and decide to use it, I can out-drive any patrol I find in mist. Soon to be buggered thinking.

Just as I unload at a safe distance below Arudy skyline, a 4 jeep patrol sweeps past me. God in heaven, I 'thought' i'd crippled them. Both armies are now, so obviously in hindsight, using them as road patrols on their respective borders. Fortunately, they ignore me.


sniper 200 on my left, movement in Arudy, I'm in deep doodoo. I Erun towards mountains. I'll take them on, but it's always gonna be on my terms. My little band of guerillas cannot match this ferocious, aggressive ai. I circle to boulders above Arudy, #8, the medic becomes available. This surprised me, OF COURSE, it all 'makes sense'. Is all the scripting this good?

Half my squad are looking in opposite direction. Is this an ofp bug, is this 'natural' a squad will always protect it's flanks? I tell em to look at 12 oclock. They do.

I bag two walking sentry, my squad's not cut down, I have them under control. There's a chance they'll protect me as we crawl our way in.

2, maybe 3 more baddies around tents/mesh. The squad is doing the hard work. Squad collects nvg's and better arms as we crawl in. One of the baddies is a sniper, medic gets the M21, it's the best tool for him.

I grab the open truck just for the hell of it, I'm not hanging about, race back to mountain camp and figure this may be the main feature of my game play.

WHOA!

Inexplicably, one of the residue M2 jeeps with driver-only from Larche is there waiting for me. I shoot before thinking. Was this a defecting soldier? Dunno. Suddenly, mist is clearing and whole safety feeling goes out window. I just dunno, I have terrible feeling of committing a mortal sin.

POT of tea time

Save Game 5, maybe 4 left

[Mikero]

Walktrhu 5 of many

Goisse

Ok, being leader isn't enough. I'll win battles, lose wars, have to think like a General. I'm fixated on Goisse. Scenario is building where cvilians will start to occupy west and and I'll get support. Have decided to severely unbalance opposing sides, it's a win win for me. either they'll give up, join me, or fight each other. I can't keep pinging both.

I'm looking at my objectives, all are harder than tuff. Not prepared to risk my small band against entrenched enemy. I've watched #5, she's always in right place right time, and was a very bad girl during the Arudy assault. Now I need to know about #2, he's the only important one in any squad, either he can spot things i dont, or he wont. I'll test him at Goisse.


Mist is clearing, it's now 9am. back into truck people. IF i spot any M2 jeeps have decided to take them on.

I clear the mountain ridge and a T80 now parked in Larche takes me out. I forgot to remain scared of the place. Restart

I use well worn track to passagne. I decide to use roads, I want those jeeps. Enemy activity has been far less around that way. Sure enough, all the way to goisse, no enemy. Disembark at last boulder group in valley before goisse, sounds of jeeps, cant tell east or west direction take a punt they weren't behind me. Up they come from Goisee, I'd done more early damage at Larche than I thought. Only one has a gunner. My squad are magnificent, I dont fire a shot, they do, and take out a vulcan for dessert.

Sure enough one of the sentries now comes at us, I am now expecting this agressive behaviour, again the squad deals with him while I try using my hunters rifle which I now resent holding. It's not doing the job against agressive enemy, worse than sniper. If there were any more enemy around goisse they've fled. I switch my squad to Alert mode, I want them very responsive in movement now. I getting ready to run. The lag is building up, I'm nervous. I switch #2 to a LAW, the machine gun is no longer what i want. I checked him out on the attack, my squad surprised me.

New plan is cooking. The west of the island is mine, the lag is subsiding, I'm after that T80 in Larche, if it's still there, from there I'll hit St Louis, that should be enough wobble to cause the armies to change their truce, or something....

Every time I put #8 in an M2 jeep my squad kill him. I get in each position of both jeeps, finally #2 tells me he 'got' the AA guy, I load #8 again, all is ok. I take off in convoy and it's a schmozzle, #2 stuck,  #5 'somewhere',  plenty of "where are yous". Back to basics, get in the truck people.


savegame, another 5 left

[Mikero]

Episode 6 of many

Larche Encore

I take the roads from Goisse to Larche, I want the T80 that might be there, St Louis is my objective.

I get to the T junction west of Larche (1km) and discover for the 1st time that the bloody signposts are LYING. They are OUTRIGHT LYING. Jesus! The author is an evil man. In my case Larche is indicated as Pessagne and Lolisse!

I start my way down hill and hit a savegame (4 left) A bradley is bravely trying to climb the pass and my favorite T80 behind it. I think they're investigating goisse.

I eject out with squad too late, restart.

I pop the Bradely, and wing the T80. it retreats and 3 of my squad are ordered to go finish it off. They fail, it comes back, and then we all have a go. Chopper is overhead. Time is 9:30, mist isn't really there.

Enemy squad comes up the canyon and more or less finish us off. Restart

Enemy squad nowhere to be seen (this time, they are IN larche)

I can hear tanky noises Larche direction and decide I still have enough armamement I rearm the Law guys at the truck and down we go (walking)

From here on, the whole episode turns to mud. My squad go dumber than dumb in presence of Vulcan T72 and Abrahms. It takes a gustav and 4 laws to DAMAGE the abrahms alone. Don't care a rat's arse what the specs say, this is cheating. Bigtime. I'm pretty damn furious about this, it spoilt it for me, bigtime.

Many cheatsaves later I bludgeon my way back into Larche, as soon as those god-damned crap tanks were disposed of things came back to 'normal' my squad started hitting things they should hit, two squads of enemy hit things they should hit (me). The Vulcan was lethal at long range, crap at short, this I accept, I dont accept the Abrahms, it's not on. ****FOUR**** AT GUYS including me could not hurt it. This is big big cheaty cheat cheat. Ultimately, I'm left with my sqaud intact and a badly damaged abrahms I guess I can repair, if this is the intention, go to hell. My squad didn't respond well in M2 jeeps, they'll fare worse in a tank or two. This is bad stuff.

The T80 died 'normally' at 3, the T72 at 2.  There is no excuse for this, it must be fixed.

[THobson]

mikero:

It is not France this time.  I am currently in Malaysia - and about to go to bed.  

Great reading.  Thanks.  Sorry about the toughness of the Abrams.  They are just standard issue, I have done nothing with them, but I could weaken them if the general consensus is that they are too tough.