[MP coop 1-8] Once Upon a Time... Version 1-15

[Ebden]

Never had a crowd to test the mission tonight, but I did work on the English stringtable a little.  Second draft posted with this thread.

[hoz]

Great update...

I think that you should hide the respawn button for airport until the town is cleared. Then add another one for the barn because at one point we got pinned down at the warehouse, where we just would respawn and then die continuously. Then you can hide the barn and show the airport once the town is cleared out.

After you get weapons and the cut scene starts, I think you should move the players during the cut scene to the warehouse. Or you could add 3 random spots  and move them to one of these to mix it up a little.

Still dunno why we go back to the barn after the first cut scene. Seems silly why don't we just goto the weapons cache?

Found that after the briefing we had lost our maps.

In this round we really found us battleing all the guys near the warehouse. its like all the guys came in  from town. You may want to save some guys for when the player actually gets into town. Overall the enemy forces weren't afraid to shoot back and we found it way more difficult. You may want to dumb it down a bit now that the enemy is fighting back. Then you can increasingly make it harder as you add other missions/episodes.

Good job so far... I think you need to add some sounds/ music I haven't really noted any yet.

[fleepee]

I think that you should hide the respawn button for airport until the town is cleared. Then add another one for the barn because at one point we got pinned down at the warehouse, where we just would respawn and then die continuously. Then you can hide the barn and show the airport once the town is cleared out.

As the respawn points are determined in the revive_init script, the markers used for respawn points are set at the beginning of the mission, I'm not sure I can hide or make them appear later in the mission...
I'll check it, and perhaps I should add one at the barn...

Still dunno why we go back to the barn after the first cut scene. Seems silly why don't we just goto the weapons cache?

You're right, the barn point was only made for dialogs, it's not important...

after the briefing we had lost our maps.

I still think that it's logical as civilians not to have maps at the beginning, but it's sure that it's not very good for starting the mission...

we really found us battleing all the guys near the warehouse. its like all the guys came in  from town

It's because of UPS scripts, once ennemies spotted, they're sharing informations and do flanking manoeuvres to shoot you, i'll let at least one squad without ups in the village.

I think you need to add some sounds/ music I haven't really noted any yet

there is some music in the cutscenes in V1.4, i'm waiting for the final english texts to add voices.

edit: V1.4 uploaded

[Ebden]

I still think that it's logical as civilians not to have maps at the beginning, but it's sure that it's not very good for starting the mission

I agree.  I even think the pistol should be ditched, since we don't meet enemies until after retrieving weapons from Dimitiri's Brother-in-law.

Of course, players should be encouraged to scavenge other characters for equipment.  Is it difficult to add a trigger when attacking Lopatino, say after the first Russian is killed, that Igor reminds others to check Russian bodies for usable equipment, like maps and weapons.  This will fit the next mission too, if Flee's intent is to start the group organized into a loose militia with a full compliment of basic equipment.  It fits because Igors reminder, and the human player's effort to make sure they each get a map, compass, gps, etc, will give more legitimacy to all players starting with equipment in chapter/mission 2 (even if a player finished w/o full equip, the character would assumedly continue scavenging for equipment between missions).

As for the music, there is the neat French Partisan's song.  It just hit me...French song, Eastern Bloc country near Russia...Do they speak Russian or French?

The following links depend on who actually controls the radio broadcast in your mission.  Is it the Russians or the Chernarus people?  I wasn't sure what you meant in the mission with the quote about the song playing for 5 minutes.

Here is a link to some 80s-era cold war songs  http://www.inthe80s.com/coldwar.shtml

Here is a link to Russian war songs, 20th century  http://www.sovmusic.ru/english/list.php?part=1&category=war

Of course, Sergei Prokofiev composed the soundtrack to the propaganda film "Alexander Nevsky," beant to boost Russian optimism against Nazi Germany (also won the Stalin Prize in '41).  Battle on the Ice might fit  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXr0m7SaGvs

[hoz]

Played again last night 3 of us...

Its coming along nicely. The town battle works well now, although we've only had one go through. I still think its a bit on the hard side. the airport is extremely difficult if you don't pick up some scoped weapons. so I think you need to consider making it increasingly difficult to keep the players interest. I think it will go along way to giving the player the desire to play on.


Still think you should auto move the players after the tank cut scene to the warehouse. Often the tanks are shooting the truck we are driving in.

I think you should add a repair truck to the town. one that won't get blasted up. In the first version we were able to steal a LAV and repair it with a truck and use it in the airport. which made the airport battle alot easier.

During the final cut scene in the town (once cleared out) you should add some dialog about getting some better weapons. Encourage taking the ammo truck it really helps.

Consider stashing some ammo in the warehouse.

I think the air port could be dressed up with some  containers, broken vehicles, along the run way for cover. its a brutal battle if you don't come prepared and there is no cover at all.

The airstrike in the last version isn't working properly... never saw the helo come in at all and then never had any option to run it again. In the first version we were able to run many air strikes again it helped with the battle.

The mission never ended properly, you might want to use a trigger that doesn't look for every last man. Perhaps when 98% of the enemy is defeated its time to end it.

[Ebden]

Its coming along nicely... I still think its a bit on the hard side.

I hosted with 4 others playing, for 5 total by the time we were en route to the airport.  The beginning worked well.  One friend was surprised to find himself off in the woods (he was the hunter), but we all had good spirit about starting as civilians, despite (or benefited by) the confusion of trying to regroup to attack Lopatino. 

I agree with Hoz about the mission difficulty, but only slightly.  The difficulty is fun, we all enjoyed being forced to scrounge from dead enemies, but taking back Lopatino took too long in the end, only picking up the pace once two others joined the game.  As a side note, the JIP seemed to work fine.  They all appeared, gathered equipment from enemies, and joined the fight no problem.

We had so much fun with the town, and as a stand alone mission I might suggest to leave the difficulty as-is, but as part of a larger campaign, I suggest toning it down a bit at Lopatino (more on the airport in a moment).  Perhaps sizing the occupying force to one platoon (25 or so soldiers, for lack of a reliable source on Russian military organization).  Keep the vehicles as is in the town, they make for good sport.  I wouldn't put an ammo crate in lopatino, we can get ammo from the civil ural by the warehouse, the farm, another near our spawn in south Lopatino, and also the ammo truck and dead enemies.

We finally cleared the town, searching a bit to find the last couple soldiers crawling off on a hill.  We definitely used our share of respawns this time.  Once on the way to the airport in two vehicles we took from the roadblock to the west, we found another soldier crawling, and then I received the text about trying the radio.  immediately after, I crashed to desktop.  It was a clean crash, no lag, no apparent hangups, but my hosting of the mission simply quit, leaving the rest of the guys stuck for a minute or two. 

As it stands, we never saw the airport, but from reading hoz's review, I would probably suggest the same.

[fleepee]

Thanks for your feedbacks!

As both of you are not talking about revive and mobile respawn, I imagine that they work allright!

Still think you should auto move the players after the tank cut scene to the warehouse. Often the tanks are shooting the truck we are driving in.

That's why the move to the farm was usefull, it permited to avoid the attack...
I will better move players during cutscene to one of the respawn point: Lopatino south, which is not far from the weapon cache.

I think you should add a repair truck to the town.  you should add some dialog about getting some better weapons. Encourage taking the ammo truck it really helps

There is a russian support group of an ammo, a fuel, a repair truck and an ambulance, and as supporting, they can be anywhere...
But I will add dialogs about the importance of stealing them.

Consider stashing some ammo in the warehouse

I thought once about moving in the warehouse or Lopatino south a rpg7 ammobox present at the weapon cache, it needs some dialogs about it, but as 2 launchers and 8 rockets seems to be a lot for a civilian, I think it's logical to only have it at the weapon cache, and then manage to get better weapons and ammunitions in Lopatino. Some PSO, PKP MG to pick from dead russians, and the hunting riffle is efficient!!

The airstrike in the last version isn't working properly. The mission never ended properly, you might want to use a trigger that doesn't look for every last man

I'll check it... It's very important to have air support at the airport, as the objective gets hard to complete without it! I'll add wrecks at the airport and will make a different ending condition.

[hoz]

Noticed tonight when you JIP you're shown the cutscenes. Plus new tasks are assigned even ones that have been completed.

The option for air support leaves once the player dies. is everyone allowed to run an air support?

When you JIP you're with out your guns.

[Ebden]

When you JIP you're with out your guns.

I think Flee wants it that way. JIP players vis-à-vis civilians act as new combatants against the Russian invasion.  They'll have to scramble for weapons in this chaotic first episode!  (at least that's the justification I've accepted)

[fleepee]

When you JIP you're with out your guns.

I think Flee wants it that way.

it's exactly that!

I think I fixed problems with jip players, i'll upload v1.5 tomorrow...

[hoz]

Now in this version the tent isn't working. it was working in last version.

[fleepee]

I think i was using a variable name that was also used in another script...
V1.6 uploaded seems to work corectly and adds too the possibility to choose between 2 units for mobile respawn man.

[hoz]

Still same problem now with this mission and the mobile respawn.

[fleepee]

ok...
here is v1.7...
I've deleted the choice of unit in charge of mobile respawn...
Air support should be available again after dying at the airport...
Air support is temporary no more restricted to the first playable slot (Igor)
I tested it this afternoon with a friend who played Igor, but he had to leave the game before we reached the airport, so when I arrived there, I wasn't able to call air support...
I hope all is working good now!

[hoz]

Ok ran it through tonight and its really coming along now.

Mobile respawn is working again.
Cut scenes are looking much better.
The battle isn't too hard.
The air strikes option didn't come on for me the leader, I was in a vehicle when it was assigned. Maybe you should move it to the actual radio for the leader.
The town cleared comes too quickly there are plenty of guys around so maybe you need to increase the radius slightly on the trigger.
I still think you should hide the airport respawn until its time. I'm pretty sure its duable even if you need update norrins array mid game.
You should add more dudes to the air port who are lingering in the forest and maybe some dudes at the other end of the runway. so far the runway battle seems to be tough if you don't have a tank or an attack vehicle but too easy if you manage to capture one.

There is still a few gotchyas but now thats it running smoother we'll be able to have so more testing.