(Review Completed) [SP] Operation Night Owl

[smoke52]

well i got it killing the armor and i changed the missile type to the hellfire. the heli doesnt kill itself anymore, but its still not powerful enough to kill the hangers which are the next objective after the armor. the missiles keep bouncing off them, hehe

how can i make them even more powerful? should i use that "M_Ch29_AT" shell?


edit:
another couple question popped up...
how do i stop the heli from saying "LAUNCHER1 SWITCHING ON MCC"?

the missile seems to be travelling along the ground. i dont think i changed a setting anywhere. how do i get it to climb then come down on the target?

in the "mando_javelin_air.sqs" file i have the "_cruisealt" set to 80

[Mandoble]

Last parameter of mando_javelin_air is radio comms, set it to false to do not have messages from the chopper.

If you didnt change anything, the active seeker range should be 500. So the missile will head to the target directly when closer than 500m and will climb to cruisealt and then aproach the target area if further than 500m, so try with shots having the chopper 1500 away of the targets to have that climb, cruise and dive effect. The most powerfull warheads are mando_scudconv.sqf and  mando_missilehead2a.sqf (both uses "Bo_GBU12_LGB" for the explosion), mando_missilehead1a.sqf already uses "M_Ch29_AT" for the explosion.

[smoke52]

man i just cant get them to kill the tanks 100% of the time like your older script did, and killing the hangars isn't as easy either. i tried to copy all the default versions of the scripts overtop and changed only the settings you mentioned in the above posts and its still not working for me...so im going to forget it.

Thanks alot for your time Mandoble. i'm just going to use the old scripts. the older scripts worked fine except maybe 1 out of 10 games the missiles wouldn't lock no matter what. im close to the final release for this mission.

[Mandoble]

I got your attached mission and did the proposed changes, the choppers destroy all the tanks as well as the hangars without problems. I'll send you the resulting mission later by mail.

EDIT: Not sure about your mail capacity so I attach it here.

Changes:
- Removed all scripts related to OLD laser attack system.
- Removed the two triggers of launchers in position, 1 is enough now as they will attack by their own to your targets
- Added four radio triggers to activate/deactivate each launcher so you may administrate better their missiles (8 each)
- Added launchers_in_position.sqs executed when launchers reach the attack area, this activates also the 4 radio commands.
- Added mando_javelin_air.sqs, powerfull enough to kill both big hangars with a single hit and any other structure, tank, etc.
- Changed init.sqs to add the targeting system for both choppers
re positioned the choppers so they dont fire so close to the targets and targets cannot attack them.
- Included mando missile v2.2b
- Just for my testing, I changed the time to day, fog to none and the insertion point, so I can start firing missiles almost immediately.

The procedure to order an attack is as follows:
- Use the radio to activate the desired attack helicopter
- Aim with the laser and activate it
- Use the action to transmit the target
- Keep the laser over the target till missile hits it
- Move to the laser to next target and so on.

If you deactivate the laser, next time you activate it you will need to transmit the target again.

[smoke52]

Thanks again mandoble, i appreciate the time you put into helping me.

latest and probably final release is up for download! check first post for link.

v1.1.0
-missile script updated to mando_missile v2.2 *
-Intro changes
-Overview picture changed
-Briefing changes
-Patrol route changes/additions
-UAZ Patrol jeep added
-Score fixed
-Helicopters at the Pita heliport are now unlocked, but have no fuel
-Less objects
-Added more savegame triggers
-Made some scripts for efficiency
-other minor tweaks and fixes

*Big Thanks to Mandoble for taking the time to update his script on my map, heres what he changed:

v1.1.0 Changes
=============
- Removed all scripts related to OLD laser attack system.
- Removed the two triggers of launchers in position, 1 is enough now as they will attack by their own to your targets
- Added four radio triggers to activate/deactivate each launcher so you may administrate better their missiles (8 each)
- Added launchers_in_position.sqs executed when launchers reach the attack area, this activates also the 4 radio commands.
- Added mando_javelin_air.sqs, powerfull enough to kill both big hangars with a single hit and any other structure, tank, etc.
- Changed init.sqs to add the targeting system for both choppers
re positioned the choppers so they dont fire so close to the targets and targets cannot attack them.
- Included mando missile v2.2b

The procedure to order an attack is as follows:
- Use the radio to activate the desired attack helicopter
- Aim with the laser and activate it
- Use the action to transmit the target
- Keep the laser over the target till missile hits it
- Move to the laser to next target and so on.

If you deactivate the laser, next time you activate it you will need to transmit the target again.

[Mandoble]

Glad to see it is working for you now. Anyway, even with quite accurate shots it is quite hard to see and destroy all the tanks by night before any of them flees away, perhaps you may adjust the objetive so than no more than three or four tanks reach the exit area or something like that  Or modify the trigger to add some time between first tank is destroyed and crews run to board them, or move the final move WP of the fleeing tanks far to the NW so the player will have some few secons more for a pair of extra shots.

[smoke52]

alright i made the small change and updated the download link

-it takes 3 tanks to escape now instead of 1.

july20 update: i tried doing the above but it didnt work, so i changed it back to one tank escaping. you will just have to select the right order to kill the tanks

[LCD]

File: [ArmA] Operation Night Owl(0.98 MB) Version: 1.10 Requires: 1.08 Author: Smoke52 Score: 5 Type: Single Player Addons: Map Misc Addon Description: Lasers! Explosions! If that's what your looking for then this is the mission for you... It doesn't matter how you do this one, as long as you get it done. Depending on the style of your play you can find this mission hard or easy. But it will be entertaining anyway.

Reviewer: LCD


Overview:
The picture is a standard one. It could have been more interesting, but it does the job as it is.
The text is brief and explains exactly what you are going to do in the mission.


Intro:
The intro begins well, showing the player scanning the beach before landing on it. After that the camera moves around to much instead of cutting between the scenes, resulting in a weak intro.

One scene tries to set the general atmosphere for the mission using wolf howling and some some soldiers talking (with custom voices, I think the maker could have added voices for the mission itself too),  but the result is somewhat not connected to the mission.

Note : Big parts of the intro are played in the dark. I could not see large parts of it untill I turned my brightness/gamma correction up a notch.


Briefing:
The briefing is split into three parts : On the first page there is the regular briefing explaining the mission step by step, the notes section gives you a more detailed briefing and it also has another page explaining the exact situation in the area (Terrain/Weather/Who is taking part in the mission). Both extra pages do good work, but the author could have added some more background story to make it suit my taste. All the Links and markers seem to be working, the markers are a little bit dense around the mission area, but not in a really bad way.

In my opinion the maker could and should have explained in more detail how to make the whole laser designator part work. I'm also missing the weapon selection part.

The briefing also includes a credits section, that's a thing I don't like in a briefing, the place for credits is the readme and maybe the intro/outro, also it seems that no beta-testers are mentioned in the credits.


Mission:
As the author notes in the readme the mission includes one bug that occurs when you use the quickmap, in my opinion the whole script could have been dropped as it doesnt really affect the mission. Anyway I think that sending in a mission with a known bug should be avoided at any cost.

Anything else in the mission (except the aforementioned bug) works without any showstoppers and it offers you some nice fights and sneaking opportunities. Ths difficulty is not too hard, but you may need some patience when playing as veteran.

The author goes some way trying to make the mission feel alive with couple of trucks and patrols moving around, this thing works at times but more attention should have been given to the reaction of the enemy to the player, because right now some of the enemy soldiers move around on careless mode and don't engage the player even if there is a firefight going on around them. There is also the same issue with bases not changing their alert status even when the base near them is under attack (note that the bases are very close to each other.)

Also it seems large parts of the mission depend on the player doing everything the way the author planned it, a thing that reduces the freedom feeling ArmA has, a thing that also should be avoided if possible.

There are also some small things that could have been improved (like the chopper selection method) or even all around changed (the really funny alarm sound, you have to hear it to believe it.).


Outro(s):
None


Special:
The mission has a couple of bonus objectives and three different endings that add to replayability (including a lose scenario). One of the endings plays fine while the two others could have been executed better (one is too easy to achieve and the lose scenario gets activated if only one tank is destroyed).


Summary:
Operation Night Owl is a mission that gives you your regular fix of SF action with some shootouts and places to sneak around, but it lacks the attention and care to detail to make it go above average, with a little more testing and pushing some of the ideas to the limit this mission could have achieved a higher score. Right now the mission is fun at parts, but lacks that touch that could make you say WOW!


Scores
Overview - 6
Briefing - 5
Scripting - 5
Camera - 4
Overall - 5/10

The beta thread for [ArmA] Operation Night Owl can be seen here.

[LCD]

ok mision is reviewed *grin*



Operation Night Owl review

Feel free to open the after-review discussion!

LCD OUT

[bedges]

holy crap he writes english!

where's LCD and what have you done with him?!

[LCD]

ive been sick dat day

LCD OUT