Home   Help Search Login Register  

Author Topic: (Review Completed) [SP] Abandoned Armies  (Read 214660 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline THobson

  • OFPEC Patron
  • Former Staff
  • ****
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1485 on: 07 Mar 2007, 23:19:24 »
I am enjoying your story.  Rest assured there are only a certain number of groups that will come looking for you, once they are dead that side is then on the defensive - permanently.  When making the mission I got to know the player's squad as individuals.  Tell me about them.  Who is still alive and where have you placed them in the team.  You know about 3, clearly, yet you are short of AT ammo.  Any regrets?

Offline OAM

  • Members
  • *
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1486 on: 07 Mar 2007, 23:49:37 »
Actualy, I've been saving them for tank crews.  I know I need all the help I could get, but I'd feel so bad if they died (I have a hard time getting rid of things cause I feel that way  :laugh:)  Recently, I've been able to clear two squads by myself, due to flanking and getting in a good firing position.  If I don't find a tank to steal soon I may as well call up my guys.

My only regret so far is not checking at my base how much AT I had before I used some at 3.  Though the tanks I could find would make up for that.  (Though at St. Louis I did pick up some mines)

More story tommorow, today is busy with church.  I plan on checking the airbase for tanks.
« Last Edit: 08 Mar 2007, 00:20:30 by OAM »

Offline remcen

  • Contributing Member
  • **
  • a.k.a. hottentotten_mike
    • IM:UC
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1487 on: 15 Mar 2007, 01:35:14 »
just wanted to say thanks for this top notch mission and OAM's reports - grateful for his reports cos unfortunately my weak nerves do not cope with the dense atmosphere of the mission.  i get shot every few minutes cos i just wet my pants in fear :laugh:

again: i second that this is the best mission i have ever played. sorry for not being able to give you a full critique - i was only able to play it for like half an hour or so due to...well, see above.
but i recommended it to a friend and i'll try it a few more times, i promise  ;)
we're looking for members: IM:UC MOD

Offline OAM

  • Members
  • *
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1488 on: 17 Mar 2007, 17:42:01 »
That reminds me to play, I got distracted by a few things, but sometime this week I'll take it back up again.

Offline Montaz

  • Members
  • *
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1489 on: 22 Mar 2007, 02:57:44 »
I'm sorry I haven't had the idea of saying thanks to THobson and the community earlier.

So now I'm doing it: THANKS

Thanks for such an interesting mission, such an incredible atmosphere and such an amazing campaign. Because in my opinion, abandonned armies is much more than a mission, it's a whole campaign in itself.
I finished it last November, I think, and I remember it accurately. It is by far my best Realistic-shooter/FPS experience.

I advised some hardcore OFP lads to play it just a few minutes ago.

I had never feared and got immerged that much in a video game since Fallout or Doom 1.
Thanks for all, I hope you'll release another great campaign like this one for OFP or even ArmA in the future !   :good:

Alex

Offline THobson

  • OFPEC Patron
  • Former Staff
  • ****
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1490 on: 22 Mar 2007, 20:21:40 »
That really is very kind of you.  Thanks.   :D

While I did put a lot of my life in to the mission, many others on this site contributed significant time and effort themselves through the beta testing board, so it wasn't just me.  I have no plans to make another mission but I do hope it inspires others to make their own.  If ever you feel so inclined I can strongly recommend the ofpec beta testing board.

Offline DrKissinger1

  • Members
  • *
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1491 on: 10 May 2007, 07:20:04 »
I'm afraid I can't quite judge the mission yet, having seen very little, I must say that this looks to be one hell of a ride.

In any case, I just had time to get started this afternoon, getting very lost in the mountains, meeting up with the resistance, and rescuing the first batch of civilians from the shack to the southwest. I've gotten another mission to rescue more civilians, but I decided to go on a raid or two to scrounge up some more weapons, as most of my squad are still packing shotguns. I tried taking on the garrison at Arudy, but that was out of my league for the time being. Normally, I would be able to quietly recon the area, position my squad, and ambush the bastards, but the extremely low visibility rate makes that next to impossible. It makes it tough to navigate, too, since you can't see landmarks until you're about to trip over them. I just have a couple of questions:

1. Does the fog/rain ever clear up? Or is it a constant to keep lag down?

2. When I first met up the resistance, the "leader", I forget his name, said that he had marked my map with fuel stations, convoys, patrol routes, etc. I see the fuel stations. However, the only other markings I see are vertical arrows pointing upwards over most of the towns, which I would assume represent garrisons (why an upward arrow, by the way?). I've decided that ambushing a jeep patrol would be my best bet for gathering weapons and transportation, but I don't see anything on the map representing patrol/convoy routes or anything like that. Am I missing something? Or did the resistance member just misspeak?

Offline DrKissinger1

  • Members
  • *
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1492 on: 10 May 2007, 09:29:36 »
Ah, I seem to have encountered a bug (though I hesitate to call it that. Most likely a problem with my setup). I haven't had any problems or error messages so far, but the game consistently crashes to the desktop whenever I approach Houdan on the third set of orders, presumably when a cutscene is supposed to begin. My system is pretty beefy, and I haven't been having any major lag issues. Have you ever seen this problem?

Offline bedges

  • Administrator
  • *****
    • OFPEC The Editing Center
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1493 on: 10 May 2007, 09:41:17 »
welcome to OFPEC drkissinger!

in answer to your questions, the fog is not constant and in fact is quite intelligently scripted as with most things in this mission - you'll find out about that as you play ;) as for the convoys routes, check all your information, including within the text of the briefing. it's very unlikely that anything is missing.

the mission was so thoroughly tested i am doubtful whether the CTD is caused by a bug. THobson will be able to clarify that, or perhaps it's been covered in one of the hundreds of beta test posts.

on a side note, we prefer it if you modify your previous post if there are no replies to it - saves space and bandwidth :good: take a peek at our posting guidelines for a couple of other things to avoid.

once again, welcome to the site - abandoned armies is about as good an introduction to the possibilites of editing as you can get, i'm sure you'll be inspired.

Offline DrKissinger1

  • Members
  • *
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1494 on: 10 May 2007, 19:56:51 »
Ah, many thanks for the warm welcome! I believe I made a post or two here waaaay back in the day, in the early days of OFP, but I'm hoping I'll be able to contribute more meaningfully with the release of ArmA.

You're probably right about the crash. It's most likely the result of sloppy addon placement. I always forget what's supposed to go in /addons and res/addons. I'll have to do some housekeeping. Is there a list of the official BIS addons available?

Thanks again for the welcome. I'll check the briefing text when I get a chance to play again.

EDIT: Well, I've taken a closer look at the briefing on the map screen, and I'm still not seeing any markers or information regarding convoy or patrol routes. All I have is the current mission to search Houdan (which I'm still putting off, since I'll probably have to reinstall OFP to fix whatever's bugging me up) and the overall objectives of killing the two leaders. Each general has a link which tells me a little bit about their territory, but nothing on patrols and convoys and whatnot. Is it really there, or am I missing something?
« Last Edit: 11 May 2007, 07:01:29 by DrKissinger1 »

Offline THobson

  • OFPEC Patron
  • Former Staff
  • ****
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1495 on: 11 May 2007, 10:04:40 »
Apologies for the delayed response I have been away for a few days.  Regarding a CTD.  I have never had that at Houdan, nor has anybody reported it before.  As bedges points out the mission was thoroughly tested by quite a few people so I suspect the problem is not with the mission itself.  You mention addons.  These can cause problems, for example, failing to run at all, minimal fps, whole armies being wiped out in the first few minutes of the mission etc.  Also any addon that "improves" the weather can also have a significant impact on visiblity.   Several people have simply uninstalled OFP and then reinstalled a clean version of basic game + resistance + 1.96 + editor upgrade.  So far that has solved their problems.  There is a way of managing addons that I cover in the readme file.  The key links for this are:
http://andrew.nf/OFP/BedtimeReading/modfolders.htm
and
http://andrew.nf/OFP/BedtimeReading/PristineAddons.htm

You should give the term 'addon' its widest possible meaning.  Anything that is not from the official game should be suspect, for example if you have an edited version of Malden the likelihood is that the mission will not work correctly.  Even if all you have done is "change a few textures" as some people have done.  The reason for this is that the modifcation could well have changed some object IDs

The map is updated to show the two bases, the out of base fuel stations and the frontline towns.  The convoys and patrols you need to find.  It is also a warning that using roads might not be a safe thing to do.  As the mission progresses you may find more information on this topic.

I hope this helps.  Best of luck
« Last Edit: 16 May 2007, 21:37:54 by THobson »

Offline DrKissinger1

  • Members
  • *
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1496 on: 14 May 2007, 21:05:10 »
Ah, ok. All fixed after a reinstall, many thanks! Anyway, now I have a couple of new questions.

My team and I are armed to the teeth with sniper rifles and AT launchers, and we've already massacred enough soldiers for the weather to clear up. However, we don't have any armor, and we still can't quite take out those Abrams/T80/T72/Vulcan armored columns that roll in whenever we hit a town. Is it possible to steal armor, or at least a repair truck, anywhere? I managed to disable an Abrams with a mine at Larche, and it would be... Helpful, to say the least.  :D

Offline THobson

  • OFPEC Patron
  • Former Staff
  • ****
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1497 on: 16 May 2007, 21:36:42 »
Quote
Is it possible to steal armor, or at least a repair truck, anywhere?
Well yes it is.... maybe.  There are many ways of skinning this particular cat.  Just keep looking.

I suspect the weather might be about to take a turn for the worse.

Offline OAM

  • Members
  • *
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1498 on: 27 May 2007, 00:56:48 »
Restarted, I had a error with the save games, I doubt its the same one of beta testing fame, but its similer.  Anywho this new game is one wild ride, a very unique spin to it.

I start off normaly, get to the lodge ok, use the truck to go get the 1st group but...  On the way back I just happen to intersect the Northies Jeep patrol.  I pas close enough infront of the lead jeep to tap it.  No fire at first but then I get ripped to shreads.  All in the back are killed and me and my #2 in front barly survive, luckily he was all from the starter team I took with me.

Back at base, I get no info cause all died, so i play as such.  I decide to move camp as I don't know what in the way of reinforcements will come around.  Decide to go to the opposite side of the forjd from Vigny, at the end of the dirt road.  My driving skills wind us up elsewhere as usualy, see pic - Base.  (Ohhh ya, for this one I'll put pics up of the action summary)

Decide to recon Goisse.  Come in from the West and find a patrol, take it out.  Marked as blue dot on map.  Run and hide in bush.  Patrol passes by.  As it leaves, that same jeep patrol parks right in front of me  :no:  CAuse I'm still POed, I pop the last three gunners, and the guys that get out, but they drive off.  I run up to get a LAW, witch is always one of my early game objectives.  One jeep comes at me and I pop all three guys as it turns the corner.  Marked as Red Dot on map.  I walk over, but the passing patrol comes back and I use up my one nade and take out about four bunched up, Orange Dot.  I run and hide in a building on the outskirts, marked with a yellow dot, and am surrounded, green circle.  Thats where I am now.


Offline THobson

  • OFPEC Patron
  • Former Staff
  • ****
Re: Abandoned Armies by THobson
« Reply #1499 on: 27 May 2007, 09:22:17 »
I really like it that you carried on after taking casualties when rescuing those civilians (even though you got a warning that you may be missing some information. :good:

That is part of what I wanted people to do,  shit happens and when it does you just have to carry on.  I am really please that at least one person has done that. 

If you survive you will now have quite a tough mission and there are things going on across the island that you will never know about and may never see, but hey, that's life and anyway you may later decide to go back and do the mission again but taking more care over those civis next time. :D