(Review Completed) [SP] Search and Destroy

[snafu]

A little bit about the mission itself:

The mission involves a patrol of the newly arrived 1st ID in the S.Sahrani mountains on a search and destroy mission. Some deviously fiendish SLA escaped to the mountains after the Battle for Paraiso Airport and are now up to mischief with supply convoys and neighbouring villages.

What role the player will have:

Standard Rifleman.

Which island:

Sahrani

Version of ArmA required:

1.09 and up.

Needed Addons:

Cameron McDonald's 1st ID which is available here: http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=1185

EDIT

v 1.0 out!


From Readme:

Search and Destroy by -snafu-.

v 1.0

NEEDED ADDONS: Cameron McDonald's 1st ID addon.

Grab here: http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=1185

RECOMMENDED ADDONS:

VFAI Addons (smoke specifically): http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard311/ikonboard.cgi?s=bb5aaf75d2a1f68a55ba96de090d5e7e;act=ST;f=70;t=69090;st=0

Wolfrug's DSAI: http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard311/ikonboard.cgi?s=bb5aaf75d2a1f68a55ba96de090d5e7e;act=ST;f=70;t=73074;st=0


This is a mission I made for Cameron McDonald's 1st ID addon. His addon inspired a 5 minute mission editor like myself to try and create something decent.

So don't expect something spectacular. It's just a mission that will alow you to jump in and have a blast with  Cameron McDonald's addon.

In essence, this mission was a learning experience for me. If you want to have a go at making a mission feel free to de-PBO Search and Destroy and see how I did things.

Install and use this mission at your own risk.

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The mission involves a patrol of the newly arrived 1st ID in the S.Sahrani mountains on a search and destroy mission. Some deviously fiendish SLA escaped to the mountains after the Battle for Paraiso Airport and are now up to mischief with US and RACS supply convoys.

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Bugs and future plans:

If you have questions of any sort, contact me. (see contact details below).

No more future plans. This is the final version. All bugs should be squashed.

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Changes from Beta 1:

- Fixed mission.sqm errors.
- Changed ending to compensate for my lack of knowledge in this area (still does not work).
- Changed the reinforcements. They should participate in the assault this time. (Hopefully - They should hit the village JUST before your squad).Still doesn't work
- More units added with probability of presence to spice things up. (Basically you will either encounter heavy or light resistance en route to the camp).
- Added Promo and Overview pictures.

Changes from Beta 1.5:

- Fixed ending.
- Completely re-worked the core of the mission by adding Kronzky's Patrol Script.
- You now call by radio when you and second Squad should attack the HQ.
- Objectives not being checked now fixed.
- Added radio messages (albeit without voices) to add atmosphere.
- Added more infantry groups.
- Added more 'story' to the briefing and debriefing.
- Fixed overview pic.

Changes from Beta 2.0

- Added voices.
- Added random weather script.
- Added RUG Body Armour Script. (This increases the survivability of your squad. If it says 'sol1 is down!' that just means they are knocked out and will come to. The same applies to your character. It also changes the game play because you can give first aid to knocked out comrades. Just walk up to one and 'give first aid' should be in the action menu).
- Updated UPS to v2.0
- Hidden objective that is fired if you have enough soldiers left alive (WIP)
- Changed insertion point and area patrolled.
- Tweaked number of enemy.
- Few minor adjustments.
- Basic Intro and Outro added.
- Fixed mission.sqm error.
- Removed QG sound requirement for the outro.

Changes from Beta 3.5

- Added enemy group.
- UPS marker now hidden.
- Missing sound error fixed.

Changes from Beta 3.6

- Hid radio option until you reach the place to use it.
- Fixed spelling, changed codeword 'Alpha' to 'STORM'.



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Things to do:

- None.

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Contact details:

- broch_loon at hotmail.com
- BIS Forums (www.flashpoint1985.com). PM me. Username is -snafu-


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Credits:

Special thanks to LeeHunt for his voice acting.

The guys at OFPEC (Wink0, mathias_eichinger, Rellikki, schuler, johnnyboy and Denz) for testing my mission and their advice on how to make it better.

Mandoble, Sparticus76 and Rommel92 for helping me with the trigger that can reveal the hidden objective.

Imutep and AMS for their camera scripting tutorial. If it were not for that there would not be an intro and an outro.

Cameron McDonald and Co. for the 1st Infantry Division Addon.

Chris for his excellent ArmA editor. If it wasn't for his tool there would be no briefing or overview.

[WinKIller0]

Hi snafu great to see a new mission maker 
Beta test of [SP]Search and Destroy by Wink0

Package
Does contain anything needed +a mission editor folder for players (to use?), not needed but definetly a plus for author. You might allthough want to change the name because when you write my mission, it's in .pbo file my%20mission. So maybe cahnge your namesomething like: mymission

Overview
Yes, I figured out what I had to in the mission and what had happen. Big problem was that the picture you implemented to the overview didn't exist when you converted the mission to .pbo. To get it work please add your desired image to your arma missions editor mission folder (for i.e: My Documents/Arma/Missions/MyMission).DIdn't find any typos

Briefing
Short, provided the information you needed for the mission but left some empty spaces to the plot, like why opfor escaped there from the airfield? All links worked well but you might want to consider removing the routing link, this is just my opinion but it isn't really needed, no typos founded here either.
One of the thing I missed though in the briefing was the weapon selection. I know that you want player be the standard rifleman in the field but most of the players would like to see it. Notes were fine, I like diary like notes 

Missions
First of all, let this be clear. never ever place something that could take out your entire squad.  Here's explaining story to tell what I did (I'm trying something new  )
-"Aah, sun is shining and birds are singing"
-"life's good isn't it?"
-"Yep"
-BLAM!
-"one is down!"
-"this is two taking command, this is two taking command"
-"Oh noe 3 is down"
-"oh noe 2 is down!"
-"Damnit it to hell"   
The sniper were in good location in that mind you know where it is, but on the other hand it was also in bad place if you didn't have any clue what's expecting you. Basicly one sniper almost took out my entire squad, not good. You might want to consider changing it or removing it as in my opinion there should be anyone at that point. 
I don't know why, but my entire squad used 10 minutes to get to the valley, yes we shooted the incoming opfor with no ease, I myself got 4 kills thanks to new recoil system at basic rifle. They looked like they were in combat somehow, I don't know why. Think you might have accidently cahnge the waypoint settings?
The other squad coming from the south was quite overpowered to be handled with the opfor defense at the objective. At the time my squad was in the valley the other was in the town securing all buildings  no kills for me. That's all of the mission. Now some lists I'd like to see being improved (in my opinion you don't have to change anything if you don't wanna)

1)Add complexity, let's just say we can't hit the direct attack there and we need to take out like artillery base first.
2)Change sniper location, it was horrible for my AI comrades
3)Change the starting position, it's too way long to walk from there to objective even with few fights before
4)Make waypoints so player's squad wont be in combat
5)Make both squads be at the same time in the town, more infor you can find here under the adding complexity- Synchronize you can find more info, good to be read for begginers
6)More soldiers, more shooting= more fun. But if you want to US drive over the opfor it's cool
7)Add some radio chatter, start something simple, i.e waypoint is triggered make to it's init lin

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player sidechat "AMAGAASSHHH SHOOT", it makes everything more authenticated, trust me 
8)Finally I'd like to point out why you haven't been able to finish the mission (one reason), the seek and destroy waypoint does not trigger ever. if you order a team to move into seek and destroy waypoint they'll use that waypoint till they're dead or mission is completed.
If you want to finish the mission when all the opfor is killed make a trigger surrounding the objective, make it triggered by OPFOR and put instead of present, not present. This means when the OPFOR isn't present (aka they're dead or have fled the area) the mission is completed, and don't forget to put End#1 to the condition

Summary
This is a good start for mission editing. This will be a great mission and you've a great start now. I like to see this more 

-Wink0

PS. Check th link I provided it gets you started,cheers 

[snafu]

Never expected a reply so fast, thanks Wink0!

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi snafu, just had a go at your mission (just the pbo, did not look at in the mission editor).

Package

Alright, had everything it needed, especially the promo pic was beautiful.

Overview

Pic not working, remember it has to be a format of n^2, eg. 512*256 pixels or 256*128, or something in the line of that.

Briefing

It could contain a bit more story as Wink0 pointed out, but I am quite happy to have no weapons selection. After all, I am just a lowly grunt in a conventional infantry formation an not a SF dude.

Mission

Really nice, as you put the bird sounds in there. Sniper was quite an obstacle for my AI guys, but what the heck, such a sniper is not unbelieveable. They way to the objective was a bit long, but only because the squad leader went prone every 20 meters or so, might be the waypoint setting as Wink0 thinks. There could be a few more enemies as well.

You might consider the use of Kronzky's Urban patrol script here. This script is easy to use and it sends any squads you place in the editor on automatic patrols. But when they hear you firing, they come at you, it's like a constant stream of soldiers. This could be too much for a lone BlackOp, but since you are in a squad, it provides for a hard battle when not overdone, eg. too many squads. Look for it at www.armaholic.com.

I arrived at the objective and all the men there are dead, nothing to do and the mission did not end. You might want to synchronize the waypoints of both squads (F5 in the editor). Alternatively, put the second squad with a "hold" waypoint, make the next waypoint a "move" one, then put in a trigger that is set to "switch", acitvated via radio and synchronize that trigger with the hold waypoint. Voilá, you can make the second squad attack when you deem it right.

The objectives did not tick off. To do this, put the line "1" objStatus "DONE" in a trigger that covers the area of approach, and the trigger should be of the "East not present" type. Likewise, do so with "2" objStatus "DONE", on a trigger covering the village area. There could be some problems with a single enemy remaining in the area and the trigger  not activating therefore, this known as the "last loon problem". I don't know the workaround by heart, you might want to search the editing forums for the most elegant solution to mission endings.

Also, radio Alpha was not available for the extraction. If you want to end the mission by extraction you should put in a helo, hold/move it like I suggested for the second squad with the radio, and the end triggers' condition should read mysoldier in helo1. Maybe with quotation marks for the soldier's and helicopter's name, don't know right now.

Bottom line: A promising mission, I have no problem with typical grunt work like long patrolling and fighting roving bands of enemies. Just make sure that the mission never gets dull, always make sure to have something for the player to do, read or see.

Keep up the good work!

Mathias 

[Rellikki]

Played with ArmA v.1.11 Beta. Veteran difficulty.

Package
Were all those subfolders with the same name necessary? Also, you don't need to include that openable folder of the mission in the package. The PBO file is enough.
I liked the promo screenshot, good job on it.
The readme has everything it needs.

Overview
The overview picture's size is incorrect, thus causing an error and not displaying. The dimensions must be 128px, 256px, 512px,... I'm not sure how to say it in english... powered up by two? Mathias explained it above, though.
Anyway, otherwise the overview was fine. The description was good, I also write my descriptions like that.

Briefing
The briefing was good. Short enough and nice. Didn't spot any grammar issues.

Mission
We moved up a little and behind the hill there was already an enemy waiting for us... We took him out without problems. After some while, another enemy patrol ambushed us from a valley. We took them out eventually, but three of our guys got killed.
Some minutes after we arrived to the outpost and then the hell broke loose. Enemies kept coming from every direction and our team leader got killed and I took his position. I ducked cover from behind his dead corpse while shooting the incoming enemies. The situation calmed down a bit after and my team mates 'naded the last remaining enemies. I moved up to the waypoint, after which nothing happened. I suppose this is where the mission is supposed to end.

Summary
I think it was an OK attacking mission. It could use some more work though. First, you should make the objectives to be marked done, after they are. Second, maybe you should change the player's group's behaviour to 'Aware' at some point. I didn't like how the AI kept proning behind every bush on the way to the outpost. Third, fix everything else I mentioned above and make the mission end properly.

[snafu]

Thank you Mathias and Rellikki for the report.

[snafu]

Beta 2.0 now up. Check first post.

From the ReadMe:

Changes from Beta 1.5:

- Fixed ending.
- Completely re-worked the core of the mission by adding Kronzky's Patrol Script.
- You now call by radio when you and second Squad should attack the HQ.
- Objectives not being checked now fixed.
- Added radio messages (albeit without voices) to add atmosphere.
- Added more infantry groups.
- Added more 'story' to the briefing and debriefing.
- Fixed overview pic.

Is the firefight to the enemy camp too hard?
Is taking the actual camp itself too easy? I was thinking about having a few Especas patrolling around it with the UPS script?
And what do you think about the players starting position? ie Is the squad positioned too close to the objective?

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi snafu! Here's my report for Beta 2

Overview

Nice picture you have chosen, fits the mission very good.

Briefing

The Briefing was informative, and the map was not overloaded with markers. Well done.

Mission

It was way more fluid this time, the squad leader did not crawl around, and UPS provided my squad with a heavy beating. I was alone at the point where the second objective ticked off. Maybe you should do something about that, because I was actually on a run from heavy opposition, when the Briefing indicated that I had "cleared the mountain area".

The subsequent village objective was therefore not too difficult and I was glad about the help of squad 2, else I wouldn't have made it.

Looks good so far! 

[snafu]

Thanks mathias. Looks like there are just some minor things left to sort out.

[schuler]

My test; I think you should just look at what you would do as a squad leader and go with your thoughts on that. would you like to be under his command?  waypoints, behavior, waypoint times. Sometimes waypoint times lets the leader see things, observe a bit. but like what iam seeing. Little things like that, can make a mission , good job so far.

Pic and map fine, ‘Notes part of briefing, very good, nicely put.'

And hey squad 2 is Alpha? Or is that the attack? ,   ‘properly' an Assault, attack is not a military term . never use the word attack! Sorry in advace havint got to that yet!
 And ‘Radio to Attack,yuk' can be hidden by scripting till needed, if you want,

such a sniper is not unbelievable. By Denz

I think its very realistic! Like the movie Saving Private Ryan.
Cool like real combat sometimes you don't have a clue where fire is coming from.

Mission, I have been killed over and over again,,,, I guess I need to listen to the leader a bit more. ,,,, but iam checking out your game at all engages. Part of my testing!!,,, i keep advancing ,,, not my job as player radio, but looking at your AI control!!!  AI enemy is working very well, too well at the moment LoL.  We are just getting over that first hill. if you do as commanded your less likely to get killed,,, but i had to play around

3min into game,20 min of play    LoL  Its 3;30am time for bed.
Enjoying your mission
Cheers schuler

[snafu]

Sometimes waypoint times lets the leader see things, observe a bit.

In my first Beta (the crappy one) I had the waypoints set so the squad would move, stop and then observe - repeat. Everybody said it was not fluid enough and it indeed did take a lot of time for the squad to advance but I had a hard time trying to compensate for that by adding in stuff to keep the player entertained. As a consequence I changed it so the squad moved a lot faster.

However I was thinking of putting in team switch (to be Section Leader) so you could play it more tactically. What do you think about that?

And hey squad 2 is Alpha? Or is that the attack? ,   ‘properly' an Assault, attack is not a military term . never use the word attack! Sorry in advace havint got to that yet!
 And ‘Radio to Attack,yuk' can be hidden by scripting till needed, if you want,

'Alpha' is the code to start the assault.

Cheers. Will change it to assault.

I'm not sure how to script that. If someone would show me how to I will gladly put it in.

I think its very realistic! Like the movie Saving Private Ryan.
Cool like real combat sometimes you don't have a clue where fire is coming from.

I'll put the sniper back in.

Mission, I have been killed over and over again

lol

Tell me about it. With the UPS random patrol script it's pretty hard to get the difficulty right. Sometimes my squad gets surrounded and slaughtered, sometime only minor resistance is encountered and sometime the difficulty is just right.



Cheers for the test schuler.




EDIT:

I'm also going to be putting in voices for the radio messages. Maybe have a go at an outro.

[johnnyboy]

Snafu,

Welcome to the wonderful world of mission making.  Here's a quick beta report:

Briefing

Short and to the point, with good working marker links.  Good briefing.

I agree with Matthias: No weapon selection is cool when I'm a grunt.

Mission
- I liked the jet noise overhead.  That is good for atmosphere.

- Day mission...thank god!  Night missions are bad for my eyes...

- How did us grunts get there?  Should there be a vehicle there?  Should a driver say "good luck" and drive off?

- First firefights in beginning were challenging and chaotic.  That's good.  Should some of these enemy squads realize they have been found and run back to the compound?

- After first objective ticked off, the squad moved to the waypoint where I assume they are waiting for player to use the radio.  But the squad just stops, and will stand there like retards forever.   This sort of AI problem makes the player lose immersion.  The simple cure for this is for the squad leader to order player to radio the command.  That keeps things moving instead of the player wondering why everyone stopped and are just standing there.

- While at this waypoint the Radio Start of Attack objective was already checked, eventhough I did not make the radio call yet.

- After radio call, we attacked the compound.  This seemed too easy.  I hardly shot anybody.  The compound was not fortified in any way.  Just some enemy running around to be shot. 

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Summary
This is a good basic mission, and it all worked as advertised (except the radio objective ticking off too early).

Suggestions

- Intros and Outros are a lot of work, but worth it if you want your mission to shine.  It will expand your skills, and its fun (if you have the time).   

- All radio traffic should be voiced.  Once you have one line working, (ogg file, lip file, edited description file, and stringtable file) you will know how to do it, and the rest of them will be easy.  I believe there is a sound tutorial on this site to walk you through all that.  Voices add immersion and are worth it!

- Add a little voice chatter for the squad (usual grunt whining, bragging, etc.)

- Maybe add more defensive cover objects in compound so its harder to kill all the enemy without getting closer.

- Add  surprise twist or two.  Like a tank or bmp at the compound.  "What the hell?  Intel didn't say anything about armour!!". 
Or an escaping vip officer.  Fast escape vehicle takes off and needs to be taken down (optional objective). 
Or escape chopper (that's behind the buildings and obscured, so hard to destroy before its in the air). 
Or some sort of surprise defense element (mines, hidden mg nest, smoke thrown to mask escape, static defenders behind fences that pop up once attack starts). 
Or prisoners in compound that run for it, sometimes blocking your fire, and the enemy starts shooting the prisoners... 
Or call in helicopter air support, and have enemy AA soldiers take it out...
Or...

Keep up the good work sir!

Johnnyboy

[snafu]

Thanks for the Beta test johnnyboy.

I have been busy the past couple weeks so I have not been able to touch ArmA. However I have a few days respite so I have been working on the mission again.

Change List:

- OPFOR Outpost now fortified. Not too much though as it is supposed to be 'hidden' somewhat.
- Voices going to be implemented
- Number of enemies changed slightly
- Working on the objectives issue. Some problems with it though.

- How did us grunts get there?  Should there be a vehicle there?  Should a driver say "good luck" and drive off?

I thought about this. I'll give it a try but the insertion point is full of hills and trees so the AI might have some problems. Will give a go though.

Should some of these enemy squads realize they have been found and run back to the compound?

I'm not really sure what an enemy would do in such situation. I just went with the assumption that being in enemy territory they would try and fight off an attack aggressively and once the enemy was defeated would melt away into the surrounding area (effects of studying Robert E Lee for a year on my part).

- While at this waypoint the Radio Start of Attack objective was already checked, eventhough I did not make the radio call yet.

Fixed.

- After radio call, we attacked the compound.  This seemed too easy.  I hardly shot anybody.  The compound was not fortified in any way.  Just some enemy running around to be shot.

I have put some fortifications up ie razor wire and sandbags with soldiers at the ready. Yet to play test it like this though.

- Intros and Outros are a lot of work, but worth it if you want your mission to shine.  It will expand your skills, and its fun (if you have the time).

I will have a go at a small outro. Are the camera scripting tutorials for OFP still relevant to ArmA?

- Add  surprise twist or two.

I'll see if I can come up with something.

Add a little voice chatter for the squad (usual grunt whining, bragging, etc.)

What do you mean exactly? Like DSAI?

[johnnyboy]

Snafu,

Glad to hear you're adding voices.  I was just throwing a few ideas your way, but only do what works for you, and seems worth the effort (sometimes a feature that sounds simple turns into a nightmare because the AI won't cooperate...so know when to give up and move on to some other feature).

Are the camera scripting tutorials for OFP still relevant to ArmA?

I think so.  You might want to search a bit, or post that question directly in the Editing forum topic.  Or take a mission you've seen that has a cool intro/outro, and Un-PBO it to see how they did it.  That's how I learned the camera scripting for Last Tango In Bagango.

http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=117&page=0&game=ArmA&cat=sp&sort=scod

I'm not really sure what an enemy would do in such situation...effects of studying Robert E Lee for a year on my part)

By all means keep it as is.  I have no military experience or study...just an idle thought to mix in some scripted enemy behaviour with the AI combat behaviour.  (BTW, I like history, wish I had taken more in college).

I'll see if I can come up with something.

 

About voice chatter, for immersion, it helps to have your squad mates making comments during the down time, or about the current situation.   When walking or driving before first contact, guys can be complaining about the CO, the heat, the bugs, their girlfriends, ribbing each other...whatever.  It may not be appropriate in this case, as they may be in stealth mode, as they expect imminent contact.

Action chatter can take the form of a shout if a particular unit gets killed. Or when the first objective ends, someone can say something like "I think we got them all".  Or someone shouts a taunt once the firefight is on.

These are small things that add a little immersion, but may or may not be worth the work to you. 

I do really like Wolfrug's DSAI, because of the random nature of it.  I can't remember if there is a parameter that controls the frequency of comments though, because too much chatter can seem contrived, annoying and repetitive (imo).

I look forward to the next version, RL permitting.

[Denz]

Ok, armed with my trusty notepad and pencil I set about another beta test.

Tested on ArmA 1.12b with Durg's Vegetation Fix. Veteran Difficulty.

Overview
Good picture and a good description of the mission.
It's always a good idea to include a version number in the overview, especially if you plan to update the mission.

Briefing
The briefing is ok. It gives some background to the mission which is always a plus in my book.
Typo in Notes:
"pretty low up on ammo" > don't need the "up" in there.
The Notes are written as if they are a diary and as such, you could write a date etc. to make it fit the diary format more.

Mission
Ran up the hill and encountered enemy patrols straight away. After a hectic few minutes I managed to swap my rifle for an AK74 PSO (I prefer scoped weapons in this sort of environment). Then fought a running gun battle across the hillsides with enemy patrols appearing from in front as well as behind.
Used the radio to inform the other squad to begin the attack, fought of another couple of soldiers and the mission ended before I got to the enemy outpost.
Time taken 14 minutes and I don't think our squad lost a single person (I may have upset the dynamics by having the scoped weapon)
Suggestions:
As you near the outpost, with those enemy groups use the allowfleeing command to simulate them running back to the defence positions.
If they are being assaulted from two directions the enemy are more likely to stand their ground rather than launch an immediate counter-attack but then again I suppose they are supposed to be desperate men.
Also, I'm not sure all the patrols are that realistic, criss-crossing the countryside like that.
Have at least some soldiers on hold waypoints defending the outpost for a decent final challenge. Maybe have another bunch of stragglers coming in to camp.
Take a look at johnnyboy's suggestion for some chatter amongst the troops.

Summary
Not a bad little mission. Now you have the basic set up completed it's time to work on the little details that add to the player's immersion.
For example, you could have a Command & Control helo orbiting the hillside. Or even just some radio chatter from them and (not gamed) support units.
Intros and Outros while a lot of work do add alot to the overall mission experience.