(Review Completed) [COOP4] - Steal 'da Choppa!

[iGnotuS]

After struggling with the editor and the scripting part, I've managed to scrap up a mission that I'm quite satisfied with. This mission is not part of the realistic or serious way of playing, but morelike a mission which you can accomplish in many ways with good group of friends.

Since this is my first mission, I'd appriciate feedback a lot. I'm still pretty confused about the scripting part, so the objectives placed in this mission might not work as promised. However, I've tested it out many times with my own gaming group and at least we were able to complete the mission. I guess that means it can't be that bad?

So please: test out this mission, send in some feedback and maybe some hints & tips!



Mission details:

• Co-op for 4 players
• No respawning (Seagul)
• Side: Independent
• Player unit(s): Royal commandos
• Date: Jun. 7 15:30
• Weather: Sunny
• Located in Iguana & Estrella, Sahrani
• Objectives: Steal U.S helicopter, eliminate high ranking officer, return to secret base

Briefing:

Your team has been undercover for two weeks acting as a part of the townspeople of Iguana, waiting for the right moment to strike. A nearby U.S base has finally began to gather some equipment. Most of the weaponry has arrived from a major base in Estrella, a local town near the Western shore of Sahrani. With the weapons supply you've just received from the OPFOR troops, you are now ready to steal the U.S helicopter located in Iguana, and make a strike at their major base in Estrella. This won't be easy, so be careful!

Note: this file is for MP use only. If you want to play the mission in SP, load it up in the editor and export it to SP.

[iGnotuS]

o_O Ok I'm a friggin' newbie here, so please tell me what file I should upload?

The current file in the .zip is MP file only, and it shouldn't work in SP as far as I know. If you'd be so kind to test out if it works in MP, so I'd at least know it works there

P.S: What do you mean by you can't dePBO it? I've edited the PBO file with notepad, so that might be the reason why it seems broken. I really don't know. Also, I've compiled and exported the MP mission file from the following files: briefing.html, stealdachoppa.jpg, description.txt, overview.html, mission.sqm.

[Cheetah]

Yup, I had double checked it that I had the correct file (the newer one). Anyway, the file currently attached is playable, and it wasn't just removing the spaces between the words in the filename. I'll report back later..

EDIT: using notepad to edit the pbo file was probably the source of the problems, a MP mission should by the way be playable in SP mode, which is what I'm going to do.

And there is a program that can dePBO files, as this can't be done by ArmA itself.

[iGnotuS]

Alright, thank you for your help. Can you please remove this discussion from the thread? I don't think it's any of use to anyone else anymore.

[rhysduk]

Ignotus:

Theres is no need for me or anyone else to remove the discussion. Its not off-topic in anyway.
This is, after all, the BETA Testing board. Where all the nitty gritty goes on.
Keep up the mission making 
All the best
Rhys

[sharkattack]

my no 1 tip  i can offer is
when dealing with the mission reviewers at ofpec
check youre grammar,spelling before posting..
seems to be very high on ofpecs things to look for when reviewing list (and rightly so i may add)

good first attempt mate ... nice idea ...   

[Cheetah]

Steal da Choppa

Played this mission on my own so some comments aren't true in your case as you recommanded four players for this mission.

Briefing

I suggest putting in links in the briefing to markers on the map. As it is now I didn't have a clue about where to do stuff after taking the chopper - luckily the waypoints showed me where to go. Uhm you might want to check the spelling of the briefing. The briefing is okay, I think that it could've been written a bit cleared though. With additional information on a seperate page or in the notes section.

Weapon selection: M4 ACOG + Launcher, 6 HE Grenades, M9 pistol with two magazines, M136 + two rockets, two hand grenades and four magazines.

Mission

Crossing the bridge with my team is possible, but they are a bit slow to do so. But it's something that's not too important for a coop so nevermind. Anyway, I engage the enemy soldiers patrolling the area and succeed in getting a visual on the chopper without too much trouble. That's good as the difficulty shouldn't be too high, at least not for this part. Anyway, I try to move closer towards the chopper and take out two more enemy soldiers more or less guarding the chopper. As two of my three teammates refuse to get in the chopper I'm like whatever so I let them run towards the other side of the island. They don't make it, I can tell you that.

The other guy gets in as gunner, a bit useless as he's an AI but he probably took out one guy during the take-off, couldn't see didn't bother checking. I flew towards the little town in the north, forgot its name, and the first time I got shot at and died after taking too many rounds - probably one in a lethal position. After reloading (saved about halfway towards the town) I put the chopper down earlier and got out with #3 moving in column formation towards the occupied town. Immediatly we came across a few patrols, heavy skirmishes took place and I had to reload numerous times, had been stuck on a reload (1 minute after landing the chopper) for about 20 minutes - that really pissed me off, hehe. My problem though, shouldn't have saved in such a dangerous position.

Anyway, clearing the town proved to be more trial and error than I'd hoped for. So for me the difficulty, or here number of enemies could be lowered. Because not only did it prove to be trial and error, my pc also lagged a bit. But this depends on the player, one likes to have numerous shootouts, I like a realistic battle. After killing the officer and most of the guy left in town I decided that it was enough. I don't know if I had to clear all of the enemy units as the objectives didn't get completed upon killing the officer and I was not in the mood to go hunting for that remaining soldier.

Overall
The start was good, the second part wasn't too enjoyable for me. Two important drawbacks, the numerous enemies and the objectives not getting ticked off? Anyway, stealing the chopper was nice. With three human teammates it would've been better, with good coordination etc etc..

[iGnotuS]

The objective should tick off once you actually run over it. You can also do this just by flying over the position, which is kinda sad. However, the mission briefing says  there is no actual objective in the assault, so it's up to you how many enemy troops you wish to destroy.

As for how you could approach the helicopter position.. There's three cars nearby the area where you spawn, so that makes the way over the bridge less of a pain in the backside.

Yeah, I know the grammar is kinda off. I rewrote the briefing a couple of times in the process of trying to get the mission work. It should be fixed in the 'final release', if there's ever going to be one. I'm no native speaker or anything, so that might have an effect on the text looking kinda off the track. Sorry about that!

P.S: The base in Estrella is intentioned to be a pretty difficult spot to hit, but there are some holes in the defences. You just got to find them

Thanks for the feedback!

[Cheetah]

Together with Trapper I played this mission during the OFPEC MP testing of yesterday evening.

Briefing
-No weapon selection, you might want to let the player know that there is ammo at the starting position.

Mission
-No HE grenades for the AK74+GP25 in the ammo box.
-A lot of soldiers are inside eachother, seems like they're stuck there.
-No team respawn. Don't like the normal seagull cam.
-Good that M1A1's come in after a certain period of time (first obj).

That's all. Died while attacking Estrella, the M2 got me from about a kilometer.

[Trapper]

Definitely needs map links. Iguna setup felt just right for 4 players, though I didn't survive. Incorporating kegety's spectating script in map without respawn is a must I think today.

What I really got to get used to is that I'm playing RACS, have to work undercover in my own country and attack my allies. At least ArmA story wise. And there are eastern and western weapons available. But as you say it's a map just for fun, not really my cup of tea. 

[Cheetah]

Review Completed.

Let the post-review discussion commence!