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Author Topic: (Review Completed) [Campaign] The Magnificent Eight  (Read 20141 times)

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Offline gambla

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EDIT:  21 August 2009     > please review      :check:

> last changes: reworked "object failed" in mission 6 "Resurrection"       - 21 August
> last changes: "cutscene error" fixed in mission 6 "Resurrection"         - 20 August
> last changes: "marker config error" fixed in mission 6 "Resurrection"
> last changes: mission 3 :  "Hunapu"

   
Hi,
this is my first campaign for ArmA. I'm not very familiar with scripting, so it's very basic. As matter of time, i too have waived big cutscenes, i just woud never get it finished. Now i hope i can release the second part this summer. I'm not a native english speaker, so please excuse any bad or very simple english language.  


About the Campaign:
____________________

Inspired by books and other missions and campaigns, i liked to combine my favourite role as a Sniper with being the leader of a Special Forces-team behind enemy lines. The main and only real features of this campaign are the ability to transfer the health-status and weapons/ammo (weaponpool) from one to the next mission. This is based on PMC's "First Fight"-Campaign, so all credits go to them.

As far as the game allows and it's still fun playing, i've tried to make the campaign as realistic as i can:

- The main objective is always to keep your team alive. So if you die once or any team mates, don't complain the missions are to easy. Btw, the difficulty will increase with the missions.
- You need to care for your weapons and ammo, don't waste too much. Check your surroundings for any weapons and ammo, you may need it the next mission.
- Being deep behind enemy lines, be careful and patient like a real Sniper. Make use of your environment, plan your next step.  

Thanks again to the beta-testers: Zipper5, Cheetah, schuler, mathias_eichinger, savedbygrace, bert



Download:
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EDIT 06 August 2009    > attached "version V1.2 Final"



Details:

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Title:        "The Magnificent Eight" Part I
Version:       v1.1
Date:          6 August 2009
Missions:      6 of 12
Type:          SP-campaign  
Game (version):  ArmA 1.14 - Queen's Gambit
Role:          Team Leader / Sniper
Difficulty:    increasing
Island:        North Sahrani
Author:        gambla
E-mail:        gaza(at)gmx.de    


AddOns:
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   EBUD SOCOM             http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=886
   RHS Hind                   http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=1099
   RHS Hind Fix               http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=5619    (edit August 4)
   SCUD Launcher           http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=1459
   ZU-23 23MM Antiaircraft Truck FIX       http://www.armedassault.info/index.php?cat=addons&id=147
   ZU-23 23MM Antiaircraft Gun (v 1.13)   http://www.armedassault.info/index.php?cat=addons&id=145



Features:

________

- Team Health saved:

At the end of the mission, your and your team's health status is saved and you start the next mission with that status. If a unit dies, it will not be replaced in the next mission.

- Weapon Pool saved:

At the end of the mission, weapons and ammo you are carrying are saved and you start the next mission with that equipment. Additionally, later in the campaign, there will be a vehicle for storing weapons and ammo in.



Story:
_______

September, 2006. North Sahrani is suffering for decades under a communist regime. People are starving, a healthcare doesn't exist. But daily corruption allows a few privileged to live in prosperity. The tension was growing, so South Sahrani got afraid of a coup d'etat of the northern SLA. The US government, supporting the southern kingdom, reluctantly agreed to do very few clandestine recon missions. One of theses missions ended in a total desaster, the contact to the four operators of team "Outlaw2" was lost. As it was assumed, that they are either dead or moved to an unknown location, no rescue mission was ordered. Not at least for obvious political reasons...

"Leave no man behind" has been your credo for years, since your first tour at the age of 20 as a Lurp (slang for LRRP (Longe Range Recon Patrol)) in the Nam. You served your country, did your job and fought for freedom, but eventually you fought only for your brothers in the teams. Today, as a retired Captain, you were on holidays in the beautiful south of Sahrani and planned to visit your relatives, the Gastovskis, in Obregan later. This is when you got word of the captured US soldiers. After struggling for days and sleepless nights, you decided to do what you can do best, you go back to war...

Using your old connections to the Marines, eventually some cammys, a M9SD and a CRRC fell off a truck. You too asked your friend to inform the US headquarter of your mission two days after you've left for the North. From the Gastovskis in Obregan you learned of an old POW-Camp on the Isla del vida, offshore the east coast of North-Sahrani. Things slowly came together...



Known bugs / issues:
     
_________________        

- This campaign uses saveStatus and weaponPool, so this requires to delete any old savegames of this campaign in your  Arma-folder, usually located here: "My documents/ArmA/Saved/Campaigns/TheMagnificentEight".

- Reverting in the campaign is not possible without the risk that your saves and weapons get lost/corrupted.

- Cutscenes on every mission-start:
This little intro is needed to give Arma some milliseconds to delete any dead AI ("deletevehicle"), otherwise you first see their dead bodys, then disappearing the next moment. And this way, the dead AIs are not displayed in the roster on the screen bottom.

- Mission 1:
Due to darkness and the bad weather (ranges from heavy rain to no or slight rain) the visibilty can range from good to very bad.

- Mission 6:
An error msg. appears: "'burst'/ is not a classname...". There's a fix to download but i never made it work.



Credits:       "PMC" for their great Campaigns
_________



Beta testers:  Zipper5, Cheetah, schuler, mathias_eichinger, savedbygrace, bert
_____________




Radio Codes:

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US Marines Headquarter:       "Arizona"
Player=Allen Falkner:       "Ghost1"
Team:             "Outlaw2"



Changelog:      
___________

6 August 2009:

-mission 3 :  "Hunapu"  - End-trigger fails         = done
(trigger timeout reduced)

previous changes:

-added Outro                          = done

-delete Loose-condition "team truck not alive"      = done
-extend briefing-notes, more information, story      = done
-Background Story only in first mission         = done
-Note: Important to search ammo for next mission!   = done    

-mis1: ability to turn off alarm                  = done (by savedbygrace)

-mis2: link to Camp does not work                  = tested ok
-mis2: define correct truck / lock others               = done
-mis2: rund down / behaviour of one patrol         = tested and looked realistic

-mis4: lock vehicles                        = done

-mis5: note to get back to the camp          = done

_______________________________________________________________________________________

OFPEC Download
« Last Edit: 24 Aug 2009, 18:59:23 by NightJay0044 »

Offline Zipper5

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #1 on: 22 Dec 2008, 16:06:34 »
Nice to see you've got the first part released, mate. Will be sure to test it out. Any chance of secondary mirrors? Rapidshare won't let me download anything from it. :(

In terms of the this:
Known bugs:       - Mission "Resurrection":   error msg.: " 'burst'/ is not a class..."
___________

I believe that this is caused by the RHS Hind. You can fix it by including this fix that RHS made for it:
http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=3599

Hope that helps you out. :)

Offline gambla

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #2 on: 22 Dec 2008, 16:46:29 »
Hi Zipper5,
just added a mirror and attached it to my first post. Thanks for the link to the Hind-fix, but i'd already tried this and it didn't work.  :dunno:
But i keep on working on it...
« Last Edit: 22 Dec 2008, 16:53:00 by gambla »

Offline mathias_eichinger

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #3 on: 06 Jan 2009, 21:55:14 »
Hi gambla, had a try again with your campaign...

Campaign Overview

Nice picture, I like the use of woodland units for a change.

Intro

It just shows some US units that are arrested. Not bad, but nothing special either.


Mission #1: Comeback

Briefing

Great story that you have got here. The plan is very good to follow, the map is tidy and not too many markers are used.

Mission

I board my boat on the little island, cross the water and then I am ashore in enemy territory. As last time, reaching the barracks was no problem. The silenced pistol was great for killing the guards, lying a few meters in front of them. Probably because of that the men in the barracks did not really react. only once or twice there was somebody coming after me. There are a few good placed units tough that took me by surprise.
In the end, it was not overly difficult to free my men, arm them and kill the few units that formed the counterstrike (or did I overlook some of them?).

The rest was easy: Just run towards the boat, disembark at my "home island" and reach the tent.

Outro

None present.

Conclusion

A nice start for a campaign and the lack of a rifle at the beginning of the mission makes it a nice change to many other missions

Cheers

Mathias
« Last Edit: 06 Jan 2009, 22:00:23 by mathias_eichinger »

Offline gambla

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #4 on: 07 Jan 2009, 14:30:15 »
Hi Mathias,
thanks for the test. I made it an easy start to get in the Game, so this was intended. I'm happy that there are no major issues so far. Hope you enjoy the next challenges... :) 

Offline mathias_eichinger

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #5 on: 11 Jan 2009, 21:06:21 »
Ok, on with

Mission #2: Escape

Overview

The overview has got a decent picture. Good work here.

Intro

Very short scene about getting on the move, could be better.

Briefing

The Briefing is good as always, contains the information one needs in a concise way plus it offers the background story.

Mission

As I started to move out, I rapidly got company by an UAZ and a few soldiers. Luckily, me and my squad were able to win this fight, as the UAZ proved to be a necessary tool of survival.

Note that I am playing on 1.15 beta, which probably explains the aggressive engagement of the MI-17 door gunner. The helo circled over us and killed me numerous times on my dash to the woods. Finally I used the UAZ'  MG to get rid of this threat. On the way to the camp there were a few more enemies, but they were fairly easy to beat. Nice little mission, but the prepared camp at my end point of the mission is a bit illogical.  :D

Outro

None present.


Cheers

Mathias

Offline gambla

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #6 on: 13 Jan 2009, 19:04:30 »
Thanks again  :)
yes, following the story, the camp was prepared by the "Player" (as full professional Green Beret  :D) in advance to provide food and medical treatment for the rescued pows. Don't forget that he could do this easily before the SLA were hunting them... Or do you mean something else with "illogical" ? Maybe i've just overseen something ?  :dunno:

cheers mate   

Offline mathias_eichinger

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #7 on: 13 Jan 2009, 20:18:25 »
Nope, I was referring to the camp.

Offline hamis

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #8 on: 30 Jan 2009, 19:51:42 »
Well,i can't even find the boat before first mission is over(successfully).What could cause this?ECS mod?

Offline gambla

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #9 on: 31 Jan 2009, 09:36:22 »
Sorry, when don't you find the boat ? After your rescued the pows, you should find the boat where you left it ?

Offline hamis

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #10 on: 31 Jan 2009, 10:19:00 »
Sorry,i mean just when mission starts from small island with just me and boat.

Offline gambla

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #11 on: 02 Feb 2009, 13:44:05 »
Due to darkness and the bad weather (ranges from heavy rain to no or slight rain) the visibilty is ok or very bad (but realistic). Afai remember, just go NW down to the beach, theres even a marker on the map where to find your boat.

Offline hamis

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #12 on: 03 Feb 2009, 16:43:56 »
Sorry,i have to be even more clear.I mean mission is ending before i get to boat.About 10 sec from start i hear something like "2,3 follow 1" etc and mission ends.

Offline gambla

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #13 on: 13 Feb 2009, 14:50:54 »
@hamis:  Sorry for being late. Maybe i had to change something for testing... I'll have a look into it.

@mathias: Have you finished it yet ?

Offline savedbygrace

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Re: [CAMP/QG] "The Magnificent Eight" Part I - beta
« Reply #14 on: 14 Feb 2009, 08:15:05 »
I'm surprised there has not been more feedback on this one.
Campaign overvew pic is excellent. Text is descriptive enough and you even included a border. Kudos.
Comeback
Overview
Mission one overview was okay although the pic gave me the feeling of a night time operation. Text was good.
Intro
Was good but ending was long and drawn out.
Briefing
Links worked, Plan and notes were great, markers were good. No weapon selection followed the story somewhat.( I must say though..a silenced M9 and ammo is not that difficult to come by for a retired veteran and so 2 mags seemed a little unprepared to me) but no complaints, you balanced it nicely to prevent a forced waste of ammo.
Mission
My first instinct was to ignore the insert marker and make landfall at the southern tip to prevent being spotted rambling up to a pier in a motorboat :). This however proved time consuming because the AI refused to use the southern slope of the island. I would add setdammage to that open gate section and add a new closed section OR barracade it with wire to prevent the player from using that entrance. In addition, I would add wire barracades at the shore to deter the player from using that obvious entrance. You could also insert a comment in the intel section that the southern shore is mined with AP explosives as a heads up.

Anyways,
The camp was laid out nicely, one patrol making its way around was good. A small response. I would change the behaviour or setunitpos the tower guards though when the alarm sounds. Also, the guards at the northern approach gate did not respond to the alarm.(I came through the southern gate)

PLEASE make that dang alarm to where we can deactivate it by addaction in that command tower or by approaching a section of the building where it is coming from?

PLEASE have the AI auto equip them selves i.e pow1 domove getpos ammotent or uaz1, pow1 playmove "whatevertherearmanimis", pow1 addweapon "ak47" etc.
I know it adds to the objective for the player to have to order his guys to arm but come on.....they keep going to the same dead guy who has no weapons and besides that, they are supposed to be trained SF units, they can decide for themselves what to get and they should have been paying attention to where the enemy stashes their stuff, patrol timing and numbers and other escape critical things. I would prefer to take on the response squads on my own rather than have to babysit these supposed soldiers in to equiping themseleves. Just increase the response squad number a bit and add something like "Grab a weapon and as much equipment as you can carry and fall in at the north gate. I'll be there waiting" then print a hint for the player to guard the guys while they heal and arm themselves. One of the guys also got stuck in the clutter of dead enemy that I took out with a grenade by the fire. I had to shoot his sorry arse like a lame horse.

Returning to the start point was a good idea BUT......the second missions start point nullified any immersion created by the first because why return to the southern island when the actual camp is on the mainland? why even start from that island? I would move the start and finish point to the mainland where mission 2 picks up OR in the water half way between the two.

Escape
Intro
none
Briefing
Camp link does not work
Mission
The moving was slow going as I did not trust the AI and so I would take point and engage any that I encountered before they had the chance to see my men.
The camp is illogical because the player arrives in a boat. Why would he sneak so far inland to search for a camp spot and then risk setting one up? Why not place the camp in a cove along the shore and hide it by trees and bushes? Why not make "return to the camp" part of mission 1 and make the primary objective of mission 2 to get to Hanupu and recon for land transportation?
Outro
None

Hanupu
Intro
I already do not like the cutscene at the beginning of each mission. It is not needed.
Briefing
All links work, text is good but the plan does not specify that the player must grab the correct truck.
Mission
All vehicles(except the chopper) were unlocked and so I endded up taking the repair ural, uazmg, and bmp ambulance and then had to backtrack to discover the actual ural was on top of the hill that I never bothered to search. The mission would not end otherwise. The road patrols were rundown by me and the checkpoints were undermanned it seemed.

TheMap
Intro
None
Briefing
Links work, text is decent with a few grammar errors
Mission
Starts out good. Plays well throughout. Patrols bring it to life. Taking eponia was easy enough except that there were no ammo crates by which to grab a satchel or mine to combat that BMP-2 that shows up when your kicking butt. There are a couple of rpg units but if you don't get em, then you are stuck tossing grenades.
I decided to go for an ammo truck in the base near Eponia, which meant clearing it and the surrounding fields. The fields were nothing and the base proved to be tough but I got my ammo truck, got the map and returned to the hideout. Problem #1 Do you have to be exactly where the marker is to end the mission or can I pull the truck into that church and end the mission. #2 It did not give me the ammo truck in the next mission that I worked so hard to attain. It gave me the ural back. I was upset.
no outro.

« Last Edit: 17 Feb 2009, 07:39:39 by savedbygrace »