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Author Topic: (Review Completed) [SP] The Black Gap  (Read 22104 times)

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Offline Sui

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(Review Completed) [SP] The Black Gap
« on: 21 Oct 2003, 09:57:38 »
Just when you thought this mission was dead, never to see the light of day again! It's the 'one year on' anniversary special! ;D

Note: Beta testing is complete. I still appreciate any feedback you may have for me though

The Black Gap



U.S. command are using spearheads of heavy armour to push for more Soviet controlled territory. With the Soviet defenses still surprised and unorganised, this tactic has been working well... until now. The latest advance has been slowed by poor weather and roving bands of AT infantry. Your Airborne infantry platoon has been called in to clear the way for the tanks.


I've reworked a lot of things in this latest version, and gotten the action happening much more along the lines of how I want it :)

This mission has come very close to being scrapped on a number of occasions, simply because I've overcomplicated it ;D
It was made with replayability in mind, which means there are many things I have to check to make sure they're working right.

As such, I would be very appreciative if you could please include the following information in any feedback you're kind enough to give me :) :
  • The first objective on your list when you finish
  • The last objective on your list when you finish
  • If your Lt. dies, where/when/how it happened, and your opinion on the Platoon order interface.
  • Whether or not you continue to hear Alpha squad's radio calls (it's be heaps of annoying 'group move to...' calls).
  • Your opinion on the Formation Guide. Too annoying? Does it show up enough?
  • Difficulty when assaulting L'Espace Noir
And of course anything else you think is pertinent.

Get it here (Release v1.00)
You can grab it here.

No unofficial Addons are required.
Made using OFP v1.96 (Resistance is required)

Anyway, hope you enjoy it. Any feedback at all is greatly appreciated :)
« Last Edit: 23 Aug 2010, 14:50:41 by RKurtzDmitriyev »

Kaliyuga

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #1 on: 21 Oct 2003, 10:11:21 »
 Link's not workin ... :(

but I'll give it a go when i get the chance to download it ;)


Offline Sui

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #2 on: 21 Oct 2003, 10:15:23 »
Oops... my typing is getting to be as bad as my French :P

Should work ok now...

Kaliyuga

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #3 on: 21 Oct 2003, 10:34:16 »
 that did the trick ...   ;)

Offline Tim Pink

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #4 on: 21 Oct 2003, 10:34:43 »
oh happy day oh happy day

im downloading now, i cant wait to play it
"Whoever said nothing is impossible, never tried slamming a revolving door."

Offline dmakatra

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #5 on: 21 Oct 2003, 11:02:24 »
Cool! I'll download this as soon as I'm back from school.

:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:

Offline Hawkins

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #6 on: 21 Oct 2003, 12:16:00 »
Please just bear with me on this one, as it's still pretty rough at the moment. This mission has come very close to being scrapped on a number of occasions, simply because I've overcomplicated it ;D
It was made with replayability in mind, which means there are many things I have to check to make sure they're working right.

No no no!  :noo: ;D Don't scrap it. :P It was fun! Didn't even lag that much once I lost a squad and wasted some enemies.  :-X ;D

The first objective was seize the pass and the last was to take over the platoon. The first one didn't tick off. ;)
My LT got hit by a sniper. The platoon interface is nice. I like it. Simple and easy to use. Just that I couldn't switch my platoons formation for some reason. :-\
The formation quide was great. It helped a lot! :)
The difficulty was ok. Not too hard, but I was expecting some armor. ;)
I don't speak french so I don't know. ;) :P

Didn't encounter any enemy when moveing to the pass. Where are those AT squads? I'll probably try this again and use a different tactic when attackin' the pass this time. ;)
What's stage 1? :P
When I was ordered to blow up the roadblock, I got a LM_BackTreeline on the radio. A faulty cfgradiothingy I believe. ;)
During the last cutscene, use disableradio since I was getting reports of tanks from my men. ;)

So far this is ok. ;D Anctiously waiting for the next version! :)

Hawkins

Edit:

Gave it another try. :)

This time my LT survived through the whole mission. Everything worked smoothly. Met some AT patrols too and wasted them. I had two objectives: Seize the enemy OP point and Seize the pass. ;) This time the seize pass objective ticked too and I didn't get the radio error I mentioned before. :) Waiting for the next version. Unless there's some other things needed to be tested? ;D

Hawkins
« Last Edit: 21 Oct 2003, 13:34:53 by Hawkins »

Offline Batdog

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #7 on: 21 Oct 2003, 12:53:34 »
Sounds cool. 8)
Downloadin now. Proply give my review tommorow after school.  :D

Rattin
"Why are you calling me brother."- Solid Snake
"I'm you. I'm your Shadow"-Liquid Snake

Offline dmakatra

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #8 on: 21 Oct 2003, 16:47:43 »
Just a note to all ppl trying to download this mission: It will not work pressing the open button, you need download it completley. Maybe you should put that in your first post Sui?

OK... Here we go. This beta can be quite strange since I'm going to tab in and out of the game like a fool and writing my german homework in notepad all the time.

OVERVIEW:
Niiiiiiiiiiiiice! 2 things though: The Chinook looks a bit fuzzy and the shadow for the pic is a bit wrong. Even with those minor problems this is one of the nicest overviews I've seen so far.
INTRO:
None? Boooooo!
BRIEFING:
Very good. Better than Facile Ground's if you ask me. Facile Ground had a briefing where you was all fuzzy in the head when clicking on links. You didn't knew what you had read and not read. I especially liked the formation description. I can't wait until the ltn is dead! ;D
But if you ask me, MG gunners should be close to me in formation as well as the grenadiers. Also, I think you should add 2 more LAW ammo, you get them anyhow in the ammo crates later and it's just unnessesary to play around with the AIs radio-action commands. And BTW, where the f*ck is my M21?! ;D
Have you even touched the skill bar? All my soldiers are veterans.
MISSION:
Haha! Lol, good one! First I thought you had accidently used titlecut instead of titletext. Anyway, of we go! Nice idea with the formation yellow dot, but I think you should be given the choice of turning it off in the radio. And what about adding Vektorbosons chopper dust script at the landing? I love the drop command!
Russian contacts that close to base? Forget it. They wouldn't come that close in daylight.
Is there a way to change the direction of the markers depending on the direction the squad is moving/looking?
60 meters? You can say 62.751245 meters instead. Use round numbers. 20, 50, 100, 150, 200, 300, etc.
For being squads that can hinder the US army tanks they are in very small groups. 2 man squads? You oughta be kiddn. That's no AT squad, that's a patrol. And I don't think anyone would have engaged in a firefight between a 2-man vs. a platoon, make em run away, hide, attack&flee tactics.
I would like to see a radio option showing the statistics of the other squads. Basics stuff like men left but perhaps also some more advanced stuff like number of units they have killed, if anyone has runned out of ammo, if someone is wounded, if a guy is wounded, who is wounded, and if a guy is dead, who is dead, etc.
I'm no millitary genius but if I am 2nd in command shouldn't I be in the HQ squad?
A fortified outpost? Take it down? If you're going to follow the realism in the mission so far the guy who said that would actually say "What should we do, HQ?". Of course this will not effect the rest of the mission since HQ hears this message but it's a minor detail I would like to see fixed.
Nice. This sounds like a lot of fun. But I would like to see a small dialog between Papa Bear and HQ squad and see if we should take it down or not. Also, Charlie squad started to move before the order was given.
Oh there was the outpost! I thought it was straight ahead to the west but nope. Maybe you should add something in the radio message like "Look to the south!" or something.
I've been spotted. Ah man! That's great. Engage! Bam! Bam! Yay! We beated them. My squad did nuthin, good ol' Charlie Squad, you can always trust him. But don't give AI handguns, they can't handle them.
Ah maen! F**k Charlie squad! They were too slow... :-\ Anyway, back to formation!
Uh... Don't the russians react when their OP gets blown away? I was expecting a counter attack of some sort... does that do anything?
I'm getting close... but the marsch there was boring. Nothing happend after the OP, could you at least add some music or a hind flying over ones head or something? Perhaps something like the mine clearing in Facile Ground? Maybe a conversation between the squads or the ppl in my squad? That's one of the areas where most missions fall. The conversations and the social side. That's why I love Devilchasers Nightwatch. (LOL! OFPECs auto censor is strange. ;D The real name of the mission is N-i-g-h-t-w-a-t-c-h)
The squads kept firing like maniacs on the tower. Don't know why.
Wait. The fire at the M2 on top of that tower. You know how the AI handles empty M2's, you have to setcaptive the M2 after it's man is nailed.
I'm sorry but then it gets all laggy(it's my computer, I guarantee it). I'll see if I can make it later when I got more patience. But you really have to fix that M2 bug, all my men is firing at it. This is a great mission so far. I liked Facile Ground but I didn't think it would deserve 10/10 since it wasn't groundbreaking. It was just a combined arms assault with some extra spice in it. However, this IS groundbreaking with the command engine and all. Keep up the good work.

Oh, and if you need voice samples; Sign me up!

:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:
« Last Edit: 21 Oct 2003, 18:21:13 by The real Armstrong »

Offline Tim Pink

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #9 on: 22 Oct 2003, 04:59:19 »
Hey Sui

I loved the mission

Nice overview and briefing.

The first objective was to destroy the OP, which i did and it ticked of.
The last was to Support the 5th amoured in capturing Arudy and that ticked off as well.
The LT died once from a sniper near the OP but it only happened once out of the 3 times i played it.
I liked the interface, simple, easy to use.

The annoying part was waiting for the other squads to form up near the flanking position and when assaulting the town of Arudy it took 4ever for them to get there.

On the way to the Flanking position i think you could get a way with adding patrols to fight because even if the L'Espace Noir force heard the gunfire the crap visibility would still allow you to flank without giving your position away.

The assault on the pass was bit difficult but after breaking through the other squads pretty much just overrun any opposition and the town of Arudy was a push over.

Other wise i loved the mission, good job.
R u planning to add an ending cutscene?

Thanx
Tim





« Last Edit: 22 Oct 2003, 05:00:09 by Timothy Pink »
"Whoever said nothing is impossible, never tried slamming a revolving door."

Kaliyuga

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #10 on: 22 Oct 2003, 05:20:16 »
 Played it once today....


 First objective was to take out the OP which I did.....  and grabbed myself a AT4 while I was at it  

 Moved into position for the assault on the pass....   battle here was good.. I lost my only two guys in this firefight...    Used my AT4 on the fuel truck parked on the hill early on...   :o    

  One thing I noticed is that after the area is clear and the roadblock is blown up the tanks still went around instead of using the road..  I think you could fix that by moving the bunker and tower just a little farther from the road perhaps....  (just by a meter or two would probably be sufficient)

 I found the assault of Arudy to be a little too easy as well.. but the tanks got in there a good ways ahead of the infantry so they did a good job clearing it out for us. (on the way there I called out a tank somehow in the town over the radio when there was no way I could have seen it over the hill)  

 and I got the radio messages  about clearing the tower after I already had.. but that's just me

 Overall.. the formation guide is nice.....  you can't even see it if you actually stay in formation so I like it :)

 I'd say just make the battle at Arudy a tad bit tougher.... or else let the infantry move up sooner after the tanks head in.

:cheers:

asmodeus

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #11 on: 22 Oct 2003, 10:34:14 »
Hey there Sui!

Well, I had very limited time to check this out, but I did give it a quick go and have a few things to mention.   ;)

1.  Are you planning on using a dust script for the helicopters?

2.  IMO you should have an savegame when the ch-47 takes off after dropping everyone at the LZ.  

3.  I think there should be an option to turn off the Formation Guide.  It's cool and all, but it distracted me..  (ooo what pretty flashing lights...*bang*  dead...)   ::)

And that's what happened... I got shot by the first enemy we came across while running down a hill!  I was just starting to aim at him, but it was too late..  lol   ;)

I'll try it again later, if I have the chance.  I liked the briefing, overview, scripting and ideas so far!  (and the part at the first in the ch47 is funny)   ;D

l8rz

Asmo

P.S.  Love your website!   :beat:   ;)   :P   8)
« Last Edit: 22 Oct 2003, 10:37:48 by Asmodeus »

Captain Winters

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #12 on: 22 Oct 2003, 15:03:59 »
Hey Hey!
YAYY! This better be the sequel to Facile Ground! I'll test it when I have some time. Proably by saturday!

Of course school is what I'm in now  :'( >:(

Tanks! 8)

Offline Sui

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #13 on: 23 Oct 2003, 02:58:35 »
Thanks everybody... feedback is much appreciated :)

I'm just about to take my PC out the back and shoot it (I'm upgrading to a luvly P4 :)), so the next version may not be around for a week or so. I've written all this stuff down though... as I thought, I'm going to be making some fairly major changes.

Just addressing a few points...
  • Oops... yeah very rough. Looks like I've still got a de-bugging hint and and sidechat error in there :P Thanks Hawkins.

I've also since discovered that I left a debugging condition in which means you always get the same first objective :(
The next version will have it choose between one of two. At least this way you always get to listen to the russian radio at the OP ;)
  • Chopper dust. Maybe... however there wouldn't be much as it's raining. If I could find an effect to suggest downwash without a lot of dust I might put it in.
  • Russian patrols. Yes they would, and they are 2 man AT teams for a reason ;)
  • Marker Direction. If you can find me a command to do that I would be very appreciative.
  • Option for squad statistics... you get that if you are leading the platoon. (Try the Squad Report button). As platoon sergeant, you shouldn't have access to that.
  • Failure to clear the OP in time results in there being more bad guys at L'Espace Noir ;)
  • The M2's aren't setcaptived as: 1. That doesn't work on an empty vehicle.   2. They get re-crewed by AI in it's group.

So if your guys are shooting at it until it explodes, they probably saved your arse ;)
  • I will be revising the number/placement of troops in the valley. It's definately a bit too unpopulated ;)
  • I'll also look at ways to speed up squads getting into position/advancing on Arudy.
  • LOL Kali ;D Nice work with the AT4. I take it you were satisfied with the result? ;)
  • I'll tweak the tank paths (they normally go through the road on my machine)
  • Arudy opposition... I'll tweak that as well.
  • Savegame at chopper. Crap, I thought there was one? I'll make sure it happens every time...
  • I'll also re-examine the formation guide. Do you think I should reduce the time it stays up? I have it set to stay up for 20 seconds, and be invisible for 40...
Thanks guys. I'll be making those and many many more improvements for the next version.

I'm eager to hear any more feedback or comments, if you've got 'em :)
« Last Edit: 23 Oct 2003, 03:01:07 by Sui »

Offline dmakatra

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Re:Done, Done... onto the next one...
« Reply #14 on: 23 Oct 2003, 07:57:50 »
The thing is, they'll keep shooting at the M2 until their ammo runs out. And they can't aim so they'll never blow that M2. They don't save my arse, they get me killed by not covering me when I'm under fire(and lag).

:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat: