OK, my usual, Vet mode, 756 benchmark
DownloadTook several attempts and was very slow but got there in the end.
OverviewPicture is too big and seems to be elongated up-down. Why is there a picture of a black op when the text is about F18 pilots? And how on earth can two downed airmen start WWIII??
IntroSpeech is excellent - good script, good acting. Also good music. However the pacing of the camerawork is too slow, particularly the opening and closing shots. Start the titles with the name of the mission and your name, with the acknowledgements coming aftwards.
BriefingPlan: It's not an A10 its an F18. And two days ago is not consistent with the intro speech either. And Ithought destroying the plane was a secondary obj, so why is it mentioned first? There are some typos - check the spelling.
Links don't work. The whole thing is inconsistent with the Intro - change one or the other. (For example, where is there farmhouse? If you don't know where it is, why was it mentioned?) Don't say "start here" much much more military and specific: "You will be inserted by helicopter here."
What does "rescue the pilots" mean in gameplay terms? Where is the exfil point?
Intel Report: Not very clear or very helpful. Who is in the pictures? ETA where?
Notes: Have some more background on why and how this could escalate into WWIII and what you can do to prevent that happening.
Gear: This is a bizarre selection. Give each man a basic loadout and leave all the funny stuff to be selected by the player. Either everybody has NVGs or nobody. Binocs for the player only, with one spare pair in case the player wants one of his buddies to have them. Give some flexibility on magazines, grenades, etc..
Group: Player should be at least a corporal. 3 man team is odd, usually these kind of guys work in 4 man patrols. Or is this based on a real unit? If it is, lets have a little info on the unit.
In other words, the structure of the Briefing is fine, but a lot of detail needs to be changed. (Hope I don't sound too negative, I'm looking forward to playing the mission!)
Had to leave off to do some RL. More coming later.Took the M21 and started the mission. Got a thing in the Action menu saying "Reserve Grenades". Dunno what it means but I clicked it and nothing happened. Nice weather for the time of year.
The first obj (destroy the radio) has been ticked green but I haven't done anything yet.
Moved north. Spotted the little position by the big rock and dropped one man. Moved north again to cover the road and noticed another loon at that postition, which is very well placed and could dominate the whole area. Dropped him to and decided to move in and clear the position for safety's sake.
Moved on and found the secret base ... was immediately shot. Went back to savegame (cheat) and tried again. Dropped 4 guards. Poor reaction - the patrolling pair didn't react at all to a guy being shot 5 yards away from them. Nice looking base, perfect spot. Move it even further into the gully.
Went into the base, guessed correctly that there would be loon hiding in the tent ;D dropped him with my pistol and collected the docs. Like the way they stay with you once you have them. Disappointed in the pilot's location though ... an all too familiar spot.
Good little base, liked it. The guards are over-armed though, these guys are supposed to be militia. Two of them had sniper rifles with scopes plus and Ingram. I would suggest downgrading the arms a little and perhaps adding another loon.
(There is a weakness in the mission at this point, in that I've had two combats and no opportunity of healing. I'm not suggesting a hospital tent in this base - that would unbalance it - but if you make the team up to 4 the extra loon should be a medic.)
Plotting my next move when I heard distant shellfire. Moved off and got hit by a two man sniper patrol walking down the road. Hmmm ... not impressed by that, you don't sent two man foot patrols down a road. Two man checkpoint/guardpost maybe, vehicle patrol certainly. But these loons are just mincing around generally which is not good mission design.
Second attempt I wasn't quick enough and they detected us. Siren sounded (from where?) and a hint said "you were detected mission failed" but there were no red crosses and the mission didn't end. I suggest you lose the siren and the hint. Replace them with Radio messages from Papa Bear, the first one saying "the radio waves have gone mad - you've been spotted" and the second one saying "According to our listening posts the pilots have been moved. Get to the exfil point." and if appropriate giving you the optin to destroy the plane if it hasn't been done already.
Third attempt I dropped both of them without any trouble. Moved NW into the woods then N. Dropped a two man patrol near the far edge of the woods. Again, this isn't very good game design. Imagine you are the militia leader. You suspect that an SAS/Delta/SEAL type team are going to try to rescue the pilots or destroy the aircraft. Do you send two of you men - probably friends of yours - into the woods to look for them? No you don't, because if two local part-trained militia meet 3 or 4 of the best trained soldiers in the world, we know what happens.
What I'd hoped to see was a VCP (vehicle check point = roadblock) on the road, light AA postitions covering possible heli insertion points, MG/OP positions covering the open ground (like the one you had). Random patrols in the woods are not realistic and not fun. You also have too many snipers - the vast majority of the militia should be AK47/74. Haven't seen a single loon with a Kozlice yet.
Spotted the aircraft ... it's an A10. Keep it like that if you can, saves a pointless addon. Moved in, sniped the patrol and the two M2 gunners and the gunner's mates hidden behind the sandbags. The plane wiggles a bit - try a different place. It also appears undamaged and has landing gear down. Try and make it look at bit more as if it crash landed. The crash site should be much busier - civilians are a notorious problem in such events, also senior officers and souvenier hunters. There should be a VCP blocking the road from each direction and some vehicles around - officers' jeeps, perhaps a lorry for the guard. Also some comfort for the guard - a fire and a tent. You could even have some civvy sightseers.
Placed a satchel under the plane but when it went off I was immediately shot by one of my own men. This means it's unlikely I'll be able to get the mission to finish. Anyway, I'll leave a bomb there and see what happens later.
Used my usual route at the north end of the fence, blowing a hole with a satchel for my loons. Attacked and cleared the house, lost one man. Collected the pilots who joined my group, presumably while staying captive because they were not shot. Got them weapons. No green tick for the obj and no instructions as to where to go next.
Again, no vehicles to borrow. Too much walking in this mission. I'll mince around for a bit and see if I can make anything happen.
(Aside: weather - I'm very fed up of the thunder sound. Storms don't last that long anyway. Make the weather improve in the middle of the mission and then get worse again.)
Nope, got shot by one of these poxy patrols while on 4x speed, so giving up. Btw, where is the chopper threat? My poor loon has been carrying the Strela that you put into the first base, but we haven't needed it.
CommentsThis is a sound mission with lots of good stuff in it. There are some areas that need work:
- Briefing, Overview, Gear selection etc.
- The objectives are all messed up
- The patrols are no good. They are overarmed, frequently too small and badly placed. Imagine you are the militia commander. What would you do?
- Not enough transport
- The good bases are very good but the others (eg at the A10 location and where the pilots are) are pretty poor
- No medic
That's it. Keep up the good work.
Just read your comments below ... changing gear selection is easy, just borrow the description.ext from the Tutorial Mission in the Ed Depot. It's far too important (and this is far too good a mission) not to get it right.
Topic: (Review Completed) [SP] Waiting For The Hammer (Read 9420 times)