(Review Completed) [SP] Un-Impossible Mission

[macguba]

Phew.   You had me worried for a while.

[OrangeLeader]

I tried it out a couple times. I don't understand why there is a drop zone marked, when a player spawns randomly at a certain location. Made it to the hill once with most of my squad, but the enemy just keeps on coming. It is kind of annoying after you kill about 40 soldiers and some how more just appear. I never made it to the flag. There is a lot in the mission to be appreciated, like the morphine thing and replay value. After half an hour of trying, it seemed to get pointless. It is not to hard. It just takes a long time. I'll keep testing it. I still need to check on what the civilain can do for me.

[AnarCHy]

   I started at the T crossing (or near it, at least  ), and I ordered my men into a wedge, you know, keeps me from getting hit first from the front.  But as soon as they were all into position, and we started off going NE-ish, I hear two gunshots and see 2 fall over and blood sprayed everywhere (ECP man  ;D).  So we drop, and I start moving back to attack them, and me squaddies are trying ot get back inta formation.  Lost about 7 of me squadmates on the first try (my comp lagged for some reason).

Ok, restart.  I run north and they still catch one of my guys, but I dont care yet.  I run up the hill throughsome forest, and I think, where is the enemy now?  Then a hint pops up sayin sommat like "So, you decided to take the hill,eh?" and another one about needing to save there.  I, being the ignorant fool that i am  , didn't save it, and I found meself in a crossfire of two snipers and like three or four infantry.  And of course me squad hasn't even emerged from the forest yet (grrr stupid collision detection).  I get killed and  notice 2 said I was dead (how'd he know that, he was in the forest....)

One more try.  I start by the cammo tent thing.  I decide to lay an ambush for the first wave, so the d**n AI gets into position, facing the wrong way.  2 and 5 get shot before anyone on my team gets to pop any heads.  I take care of the jeep and a few infantry, and 4 dies.  So I decide to run for it.  I make it to the trees and turn around and see that all me squaddies got injured by a grenade blast about 10m away.  (so I make them stop and continue on my own, with 7 (still ok)).

I send 7 up the hil in combat mode, and I never hear from him again.  So I try and flank the hill, going up the east side.  But, I find meself inches away from bullets holes in the ground, and they were coming nearer.  I poke me head out when I dont hear any more bullets flying, and sure enough, I gets meself a new eyehole.

fun mission macca, but the always went for me poor ole head...  

Test it more later tonight mebbe.

AnarCHy

[macguba]

Cool, guys, thanks.  :thumbsup:

The drop zone marker is simply there to confuse you.   ;D    

I'd really appreciate it if you visit the civvies in the south.  :thumbsup:   I've not had a report on that bit.  

The point of the mission is that its meant to be so hard that, in reality, you never complete it.     Or put it another way, it is meant to have have infinite replay value.    Everything is randomised so it is never the same twice.

Part of the way to win is to play it smart, so that you are not overwhelmed by waves of enemy.    There is no createUnit btw, they are all there at the start and once you kill one, he is dead.    Getting near the top of The Hill is not the hard part:   getting to the flag is hard, and getting off The Hill is hard.    Taking the Base is really hard - I've never even attempted it with this version.  

Whereever you start, its always in wedge formation.     And whereever you start, you get bushwhacked almost at once.      It doesn't really matter where you go up The Hill, the defences are roughly equal all the way round.     There is usually a weak spot, depending on how the probabilities of presence work out, but it is in a different place each time you play.

We all love that ECP blood.  

[Dubieman]

Yay I couldn't get it to work before cause of that damn object 1 but you're using GB's editor. I grabbed the mission. I'm not using ECP cause the savegame = crash on load is still rearing its ugly head so no ECP. :'(
OFP reg visuals looks so crappy.
 ;D

overview: okay, text is standard Macca format. Pic is of some crossdressing guy with stubble and a big hat, I dunno what the hell it is?

intro: Alright, I liked the little blackout text and I got to the MI17 but my sound is fooking up and sometimes vehicles make no sound and the music stopped so I quit the intro there, and went to the briefing. to fiddle with audio in mission later...

briefing: Good for this kinda mission, I liked the little circus music there. The notes are very impersonal.
The dropzone marker confused the hell outta me as I was knowwhere near the damn place. ;D

outfitted my team with mainly bizons and uzis plus LAWs and one with a sniper rifle and that guy did surprisingly well for the only guy with a unsilenced weapon.
Grabbed an UZI, LAW, glockS, binocs the regular.

Mission: I died 7 times at the start, I just kept hitting the retry button.
Finally got used to the damn fog and got a decent mission going by wiping out the first wave with ease, my squad performed like the little bloodthirsty angels they are. Pop one guy boom, another, another... ;D After owning OFP for so long I knew immediatly where I was, right under the big hill. SCUD site in the CWC mission.

We restock and heal after injuries from a nade, and three M2A2s roll up, get blown up and we restock. Start up the mountain. Do a save cause I will not get the start so perfect ever again. Kill two snipers looking at the scenery and my squad dispatches a roaming infantry group. And I'm 3/4 up the mountain methinks.

That's as far as I've gotten so far...

I've bad predictions for what's coming up. 2,3, and 4 reported three brams at the base, I think its the base, and two more M2A2s and I can see a ghostly Cobra flying around my head like a big moquito. I'm gettin ready to wet my pants now.... :'( :'( ;D j/k

Once past the start, the mission is much much easier until you hit the hotspots I think. Right under the big hill is awesome to start at, all those ammo crates aww good.


Fun though, I'll try  and finish later... :-X

EDIT: I was right under the hill and was very close, screw the civvis, I didn't want more trouble. ;D

But they might help, I heard tey join you or something...

[ocnick]

Jesus, macguba, you trying to make our heads explode or somethin?  This crap is hard.  My first five or six times playing, I got wiped out at the start, getting ambushed by multiple MG Jeeps and infantry.  Finally I got past that part, and started for the hills.  

Getting to the hill had different variations for me, but everytime my whole squad was annihilated except for maybe one guy.  Sometimes some Bradleys would roll up, sometimes I didn't see many enemies on the way to the hill.  But those snipers took a toll on my soldiers.  It didn't seem to make a difference how many I picked off, because there would be two more that I never saw.

The farthest I've come so far was to the top of the hill (I think), where there's a couple squads just hangin out.  I started to dismantle them, and then I finally began to move around to find stragglers.  Sure enough I end up being killed by a soldier that's hiding in the same bush as me  .

Equipment-wise, I set up all my soldiers with bizons, and some rpg and strela launchers.  I definitely think silenced is the way to go, but I have yet to see how far that can carry me.

[Tarados Qeng]

Ookay. Finally tested it.

Overview - Kinda okay, though I didn't like the pic.

Intro - Very good. One of the best intros I've seen.

Briefing - Good, clear and fine. Plenty of weapons available, eh? Grabbed Steyr Aug, Ingram, RPG launcher and gave boys launchers and Ingrams and Scorpions. Even one heavy grenadier. Okay, ready to go.

Mission - It just was too much for my machine. Even when I reduced resolution from my normal 1024x768 32 bit to 800x600 16 bit frame rates were only 6-8 frames/sec. When there was no one else on the screen. So, it was not even nearly playable. But still, I tried!

Started. Shot a couple of Americans with my Ingram. Then ran towards the hill. Saved. I got there firing not another shot!  That maybe because the AI guys had problems too, because my machine was too slow. I was next to the wire around the flag. "Open the gate". Gaah, where's the gate, I can't see it. Shot a couple of Americans that appeared. Some more appeared. Got shot.

Loaded savegame. This time some American snipers on my way. Shot them (quite a miracle to shot them when it's 5 frames per second. Got to a some sort of a building with bodies in it. Shot a guy on the floor. Took some hand grenades.

When I came out, got a radio save game. Used it. Then ran to the wire. Billions of Americans around it. Just ran and found the gate. No one shot, thanks to my slow machine. Opened the gate. Ran to the pole. The flag changed and got another "earned radio save game" message. Got shot 3 milliseconds later. Quitted. It's no fun playing with these frame rates.

It may be too hard for me or not, but I'm positive it was too hard for my PC.

I'll take another look when I upgrade my machine. I don't know when that is.  :-\

[macguba]

Jesus, macguba, you trying to make our heads explode or somethin?  

Lol yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to do.  ;D    The secret is to take your time, get down south to the civvies to get a little help, (watch out for the roadblock just north of them) and make good use of the fog.    Running straight up the hill, as you have discovered, just gets you killed.     The snipers are on probabilities so there are different ones there every time and they are all well hidden.     If you want to get right into the mission to test it IM me and I'll tell you how to unlock the mega cheats.  

Personally I take all LAWs:   there are plenty of AA soldiers around to pick up a missile when you want to zap the choppers.    The problem with giving one of your loons an AA at the start is that he just uses it on a tank.    There are only two Abrams in the mission btw, but the number of Bradleys varies.     They are spread out so you shouldn't meet them alll at once.

The Overview pic is half Guba and half Angelina.   An unimpossible picture for an unimpossible mission, at least that's the idea.    I've rewritten the Notes section of the Briefing but I've kept it as designer's notes:  this mission is about the designer (me) and the player (you).  The character you play is not important here.

The new version (0-57)[/b] is up on my site, though there seems to be a delay before they allow you to download.   If anybody knows any good free webspace somewhere I'd be glad to hear about it, geocities is proving nasty.     The main change is that it is less laggy.   If you already have 0-56 just keep playing that unless you have lag problems.


Full change list:-

Removed/streamlined some triggers
Removed many static objects
Added setViewDistance commands to help with fog and lag
Improved fog removal script

Moved start position of enemy repair group
Moved waypoint of guard jeep/mg group
Added more hints & tips
Changed morphine from radio to action menu
Fixed Bradley dismount group bug

Rewrote Notes section of Briefing


Thanks to everybody who has had made comments.   I must say I've been very impressed by the response to my "Post 95."    The whole beta forum has just lit up.    Well done everybody, keep up the good work    :thumbsup:


Edit:  I've just discovered why the file download doesn't work, at least indirectly.   The filesize limit is 5mb, which is fine (this file is just over 4) but deep in the help stuff it says "We suggest that you keep each of your files under 2MB."    Well we all know what that means.        I have to say I am sick of webspace providers lying to me.

[macguba]

Tarados Qenq I've just seen your post.     Thanks for giving it a go.    Sorry about the lag, it is the mission's fault and not your kit.   The new version (0-57) is much better.  

You clearly benefitted from the probabilities - it does occasionally happen that you get a clear run.    Always make the most of it, the mission tends to make up for it later!    ;D You did bloody well considering those frame rates.   (There is something peculularly satisfing about dropping a baddie at slow rates.)    

Glad you liked the Intro and pleased that the gate thing worked ok - it's new and you're the first person to have tried it.   Thanks again.    The pic isn't very good but I really can't face changing it.  I've put so much work into this mission already I just want to get it finished.

[Artak]

Well well well. I gave her a go and boy did she drive me nuts.

I played 0.56 about two hours. The first bit was easy. I finished off everything that moved or could have moved and made my way to the civilians at the South point of Kolgujev. Lost my first man at the roadblock at the crossroad that leads to the civilians.

The civilian leader was very friendly to me and I'm pretty sure there was some flirting in the air too. Used my first savegame there as I had earned two by then. One because of surviving for some time and one for meeting the civilians.

Then I tried my everything to find some rockets for the Hind but no luck. I figured you must have placed some AA units up on the hill and decided not to push my luck with the weaponless Hind. So I took the BMP-2 and an ammo truck and started heading back towards the hill.
Back at the same roadblock I met three Bradleys and they got the better of my number two. I had to punish them for it because they also took out the ammo truck at the same time.

So I drove to the West side of the hill and paid a visit to my fallen comrads at the old Spetz Natz base. Used another savegame just before that and earned another savegame as I went in the camp. Some patrols came and I wasted them with the help of my teammates. Then I moved a bit higher on the hill and used the last savegame I had.
Now, everything was easy and even enjoyable up to this part. This is where the mad stuff begins.

The snipers on the hill - omg plz lol wtf  :'(
The patrols, oh the patrols..
Is it me or does my AI act really stupid when going up a hillside? plz

I couldn't use the BMP-2 because it was a deathtrap because of the many enemy AT and AA soldiers. I couldn't advance by foot because the snipers always got me.

So, spending a lot of time and replay times on the hillside I decided it was time for a break. I ate some macaroni and grinded meat stuffed in a bowl and felt like I was ready for another beating. What I failed to realise was that it had been at least 1,5 years since the last time I played a single player mission. I clicked PLAY - "oh no this starts over" - EXIT - "now where's that resume button" - "hello?" - "BAH!"
I might have a sudden urge to drive myself mad with it again sometime. Until then, this is Artak signing out.  

PS.
AMD Athlon XP2000+ processor
1024 Mb of 266MHz RAM
Gainward GeForce4 Ti4200 with 256Mb of 266MHz RAM @ 1024x768x32
Using kegety's DXDLL thing I got a steady framarate of 6-8 fps

[ocnick]

If anybody knows any good free webspace somewhere I'd be glad to hear about it, geocities is proving nasty.

I use tripod.  But i don't have any files that big, not sure how they'd work.  But I've never had any problems with it, except for the popup.

www.tripod.com

[OrangeLeader]

Is there a place to rearm the Hind? I kind of wish that could be added. Of course you have to fly the unarmed chopper to a rearming point. Even with the rockets you you still have to watch out for the AA fire and the Cobra. It was hard enough getting to the Civilians, I was wanting more than an armed BMP.

I was also wondering why there is a civi truck driving around. Is it a way to get past the check point? If so maybe expand on that idea. Have trucks going all over the island. That way the player can use it to get his team around the island if he wants. That would take a lot more editing and scripting and I would understand if you did not added.

Also are there any plans for the rest of the island. Maybe have some kind of objective on the other end of the island. Or atleast have some patrols maybe. I was thinking there could be some abandon equipment there. Maybe a tank or somthing?

[macguba]

Thank you all, gentlemen, much appreciated.    

Blunt - I'll have a look.  I tried to find some but no luck.   I don't mind paying $10 or something one off.

There are no rockets for the chopper.    It does say that somewhere (in the hints I think, or maybe that's just the mythical v0-57)    The chopper is there so that you don't have to slog overland all the way back north, but I didn't want to make it too easy to take out the tanks, but there are lots of AA soldiers around so maybe I should rethink that.   I can appreciate that it would be annoying.

The real benefits of the visit to the civvies (apart from the dubious joys of a second rate cutscene of course  ;D    Oh, Artak, I can assure you she goes like a train.   ) are really the extra man and the extra savegame.    The hints and ammo truck were added to help make it worth the trip.   The BMP2 is really a red herring, it's never going to do you much good.

There are two civvy trucks driving around.   If you shoot the occupants you get a mission failed.   They are there solely to make it harder, since in a bit of confusion you could get carried away and zap them.  It does say in the Briefing that civvies must not be harmed.  

OrangeLeader you're right, I'd like to make more of the whole civilian population thing but there's too much in this mission already - I've spent the last week taking things out.    (These static objects create much more lag than you might think:  its not that I've been lavish  but there are a lot of locations and each one needs a few barrels or something.)  It woluld be great to have some kind of system whereby you could get past the roadblock in a civvy lorry, but its easy to defeat anyway - particularly once you know its there - and anyway I can't afford the triggers.

Every now and again an Abrams crew bale out.   I got hold of an almost undamaged one the other day for some reason.  Sadly it was too late in the mission to do me any good.

Well Artak, you've proved you're the master - that kind of approach is indeed the best way to attack this monster.    Kill as much as you can before starting on the Hill.    You did well given that framerate.    New versions are better.   The savegame you got at the dead spetz natz camp was actually for setting off the end of the fog.    The snipers on the Hill are very, very evil.    And yes, the AI sometimes has trouble with the slope (as does the player).   That's why I chose this location for the mission, it's the most difficult ground on the three original islands.

Bad luck on pressing the wrong buttons, its happened to me too.   If you look it up again from the main menu you might get a resume.


Particular questions:

 - Artak, when you met the Bradleys at the roadblock on the way back, did you notice any dismounts?    

- Did you feel the civvies were worth the trip only once, or would you go back there on each attempt?   Or not worth the trip at all?   What changes would you like to see for that bit, apart from better sound quality in the cutscene obviously.     (And ammo for the chopper.)

[Peter haroski]

Ok, its my turn

Overview
What? Are you kidding this isn't overvew of real mision, tells only, who is author, what addons needed "Enjoy" And take a hill. What hill? With what? Who where when? Add more info "You know all this, im just trying to be realistic ;D"

Overview picture
Too well camoflaged, didn't see any

Intro
No (or its my computer)

Briefing
Good, and big briefing, link to markers and another pages... Lots of weapon selections, well, this is quite realistic, but it would be easier to player if start position would be every time in same place

Mission
Well, what I can say, HARD!!!! lots of fog, and enemy attacked in start of the mission, I managed to die in 2sec Well, taked a truck, left my teammates, and sneaked to the flag"that was hard" and then, one problem, "how im supposed to kill all these ruskies in the base?"
And, this mission was quite laggy. There is hard to say anything constructing to you, as I already said, im trying to be realistic. Well... but some quys to those WC:s in top of the hill   suprise element

Infact, this mision was quite good, myself I would give 7-8/10 because some problems.

[macguba]

Thanks m8.   :thumbsup:

I'll look at the overview text.     What are you saying about the pic, you don't like Angelina's legs?   ;D

There is an Intro and other testers have said it works ok, so it may be something to do with your comp.   Can't imagine what though.  :-\

Yes, I know it would be easier if you always start in the same place .... that's why you don't.   ;D

The lag is a problem, it is being addressed.   Did you actually manage to change the flag?