(Review Completed) [SP] Angelina's Reign of Terror

[DonKnottts]

NEW NEW NOTICE: VERSION 1.10 NOW AVAILABLE -- ATTACHED HERE AT 49.1k IN SIZE.

NEW NOTICE: VERSION 1.06 NOW AVAILABLE -- ATTACHED HERE AT 48.4k IN SIZE

NOTICE: I'M SORRY I FAILED TO ATTACH THE MISSION.  I HAVE ATTACHED IT NOW VIA MODIFY FUNCTION


Edit: This mission has been reviewed and is available from the Missions Depot.


My mission is a single player scenario made in OFP:Resistance v1.91 in which the player leads a six-man team to kill Angelina on Nogova.  NO ADDONS REQUIRED.  

The zip file is 34.6k in size.

The deal is that General Guba is on vacation or something so he leaves his girlfriend Angelina in charge of the town of Lipany on the island of Nogova.  Naturally she goes mad with power and starts killing civilians.  Your green beret A-team (which is on the island to help the Resistance) has to go into the town and take her out.  You lead half of the team, the other half is under AI control.

Please let me know your thoughts not only on the intro and outro, but on the gameplay.  Too easy?  Too hard?  Blatant disregard for realism or narrative conventions?  Anything strike you as lame?  Please advise.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen.

You may e-mail me at:
mattt108@hotmail.com

[macguba]

Sounds great .... but the mission isn't attached to the post.

[dalton]

maybe it should've been in the missions ideas forum

[Sui]

Welcome to the forums, DonKnottts

As your mission is under 50kb, you can attach it to a post for people to download. If you'd like to post something larger, I suggest you check out this thread here.

I'm afraid we don't allow 'email me please' posts for beta testing missions, as that is really recruiting rather than beta testing...

So if you could please either attach your mission, or post a download link. Thanks

[DonKnottts]

MacGuba, dalton, and Sui -

Thank you for reminding me to attach the mission to my post.  I thought I had included it originally, but I think because I went to the Preview screen prior to posting it got lost from the message.  I was careless and didn't even notice.  I have modified my original post now and you should be able to see the mission file there.

Thanks!

[Calamity]

Ok,
First pass.
I know McGuba will make a comment about changing the "Get Ready" as the mission loads. Since I just learned how to do this myself I will include a bit of sample code here.
For the Intro/Outro
onLoadIntro="--- your text here ---"
and for the Mission
onLoadMission="--- your text here ---"
Right then.
Overview.
Nice! I have been thinking of using real pictures. You just got there first! I like how you included beta information on a second page. As it didn't break up the flow I will assume that this was intentional,however, I wouldn't leave it there when you publish.
Oh Yeah, you should also put a boarder around the Picture. Looks a little naked just sitting there, nothing to break it up from the notebook and all.

Intro
WOW! I LIKE IT! A man after my own heart! The intro tells a nice story. Really sets up the mission. The camera movements were just right and all the characters moved to their places right on queue. Well put together. On my first pass I didn't see any thing wrong with it.

Briefing
Good detail in the briefing. You might consider putting a picture in there though. Maybe of Angelina? The Notes. They were in the same font as the mission profile. Don't know if that was intentional. If it was you might include something at the top that notes why like FAX or Top-Secret or some other thing that tells the player this was Intel supplied by the home office. :~)
I think you should have a weapons selection in there. I see that you custom configured the load out for the mission, but even a rudimentary weapons list might be appropriate. If you want the player to use the load out you've selected, then give them cz47s and other lower class weapons. Then at least, you did provide them with a choice!

Mission.
Get no more than 30 seconds into the mission and Whoa! A woman with an AK-47! I Love it! What ambiance! The guy with the "let'em have it", nice touch.
Try a frontal assault. Take out too loons on patrol and a BMP foolish enough to come out of town. Start running in to town and... LAG! Just in time to get capped by some loon. Couldn't get my gun on him fast enough.
Start up again. This time cap the friendly with the Dragonuv. I wanted his gun...
Frontal assault again. Make it a little further into town. There I get some more bad guys before I get capped.
Third try. Decide to keep my M16 because the Dragunov didn't do much for when I got in to town. This time try tactics. Flank left with my squad. Take out the BMP. Deploy my Guys for crossfire and wait for the bad guys to come out. Finally pay attention and notice the other squad that was mentioned. They are setting up on the right flank and holding a position outside of town. Re-group my men and approach from the north. Hope to set up crossfire. Advance to the Church and set my guys up to support me. I move through town I keep hearing about my guys dropping. I get within sight of the objective and BAM 3 times in a row get capped by a well-placed rooftop sniper. Nice!
This time I maneuver to a position east of the objective. And what do I find? A BMP sitting they're begging for me to take a ride! Should I jump in or not?...
Stupid Question.
Next thing you know I'm popping off guys left and right. I get a report another one of my guys just bit it, but who cares. I'm invincible in a BMP! Then the dreaded words... "T80 200 yards!" Oh Crap. This could be a problem...
After a couple tries I use the BMP to obliterate all the enemy I see,then it's time to get out. I find some loons have escaped my total destruction, but I get them eventually.
Before I go up and give it to Gubas B*tch I decide I look around to see what eye candy has been left for my pleasure. I am pleased to find a hospital and some ammo creates. Good placement. Not to obvious, but not too hard to find either. Those ammo crates though... I start to get the jeabers that I might be needing the mines and satchels they hold... Only time will tell.
Well, I'm off too off the witch. I Blithely go walking through the door and what do my eyes behold, an officer and the business end of his AK! BLAT, BLAT, BLAT. is the last thing I hear...
The whole house is littered with guys!
After a few more restarts I finally get Angelina.
Grab my guys that are left and my trusty BMP for Armored Transport and roll back to base.

Get a nice little outro too. Love it! I like the twists.

All in all, a very good mission! Had the right balance of difficulty and open endedness that's the hallmark of OFP. The scripting and camera was good. The enemy re-enforcements came at just the right time. You can take my earlier suggestions or leave the mission as is. I liked it enough to move it from my Beta to my regular missions folder. It's a keeper!

[macguba]

Right, here we go ... don't worry about not attaching the mission before, that sort of thing happens to everybody ... I haven't read Calamity's review apart from the Get Ready part  ;D so I won't mention that...


Overview

Excellent.   Put a border round that fun pic:  nick one from the Tutorial Mission (or where you like) if you're not sure how to make one.    Break the text into two paragraphs - it just looks slightly better.    Putting the boring stuff on a second page is how I do it myself.


Intro

This is good, and because it's good I'll spend a little time on it.  

- At the start have a little movement further up the street, either coming towards the camera and/or moving right to left.  This will compliment the general movement of the civvies.

- The camera swoops too high in moving from the first position to the second.  

- The first shot over the square is too static:  have a couple of loons moving around.

- Angelina is too ... lonely.  Give her a couple of sidekicks (standing to the side and behind in a formal arrangement) and/or some objects, if you can find any suitable ones.

- Some of the camera swoops are too violent.   Slow them down a little or switch directly from one shot to another.

- As the first civvy is being shot, or immediately afterwards, use a playmove on the second loon to make him kneel or something.   Again, he is too static.

- After the two blokes have been shot the shooter should go into safe mode.   (Though I'm not sure how that looks with just a pistol)

- Make a stronger distinction between the civvies who are prisoners and those who are just spectators:  perhaps have a fence.  At the moment they are a little to close.

- The end is no good:  you can't see that loon walking away very well because there is somebody in the way, and it's not clear where he is going or how far he gets.


Briefing

Plan/Notes.   As is often the case, the information is good but the way it's presented needs a little work.     Put a general summary of what's going on on the first page, along with the Objectives and links to other pages such as details of the plan and the enemy.  (It's very easy to use such links, check snYpir's tute or the example in the Tutorial Mission.)     There are several things you need to talk about:  keep relevant information together and separate it from other sections.     Virtually every Briefing can be divided roughly into

Mission/summary/objectives - Plan page
Situation                                }  one or more linked pages
Enemy                                    }
Plan details/friendly forces     }

Stuff that goes in Notes must be stuff that doesn't sit happily in the Plan:  for example personal thoughts of the player character, designer's notes, whatever.

You wouldn't get CAS on an assassination mission: say that the Shilkas prevent chopper insertion/extraction.    I'm not sure where I'm supposed to escape to at the end.    Need more information on what the other half of the team is going to be doing.  

Lose the bit in notes that it's by you, we know that.


Map.    Too many markers piled on top of each other, I can't read them.    It's practice to colour code them:   perhaps blue  for friendly forces, red for enemy and green for support elements like the ambulance.   Lose the big green arrow and the red hatching, they're not adding any information.


Gear.    I don't know what the green berets use, but for a mission like this you might expect something more exotic than M16 ... on the other hand it's refreshing to be restriced to it for a change.     There should definitely be a little gear selection available - a grenade launcher, some grenades, perhaps a couple of satchels, maybe another pair of binoculars - just to let the player rebalance the squad a little to his own personal taste.


Group.   Good to see quality and a rank structure.   Do we have two medics with NVGs?   One would be sufficient, particularly since we have the ambulance and there is probably a field hospital somewhere in town.


Mission

I shot the two Resy fighters at the start ... should have got a mission failed ending for that.   ;D    The postitioning of the ambulance is a bit cluttered:  get it out in the open a little.  The driver should be a medic (I didn't check).

Ah, I see we have two sniper types ... Is there any reason why they can't be day black ops like us?   Some confusion as the other half of the team run off, a civvy car starts turning the junction and we have a contact at 200m.   My boys deal with it, it was just a wee patrol I think.    There should be some radio chatter here, the other squad there are setting off, perhaps a good luck from the Resy boys.

We advance towards Lipany, I can see smoke....  BMP reported, my finger is on the trigger when somebody else gets it.   Moving forward, this is horrible, out in the open with no axis but straight on ... I think the other squad are dead (should get a sidechat if they are) .... we exhange casualties with the enemy.   I press on, try a cheeky shot at the Shilka which is almost hidden behind the wall, hit the wall and get what I deserve.

Second attempt.   Head north this time like I should have done the first time (and would have if I'd know what the others were going to do) spot the sentries and drop them.   The music should probably start the second the mission does, there seems to be a small delay.  Damn, too slow on that BMP again.   ;D   Came into town by the church, which was still too soon:  small enemy patrols all over the place, I didn't even see who got me.


More later.

[macguba]

Right,  new day so I'm going to stop dicking around and get on with it.   Shoot the Resy loon, I want his Dragunov.    Move north and get a position overlooking the Church.    (Don't start the music when the sentries are dropped, that creates atmosphere in itself:  start it when the mission starts.)    Drop a few baddies, using my scope for spotting and the rifle for suppressive fire as much as anything else.    It goes quiet.  I think the other squad have one or two guys left.

Move further north till I'm on the hillside opposite the road leading up to the town hall, since I'm assumng that's where she is.   Drop a couple more loons:  take out a BMP I can just make out in the mist.   Move towards the town, faintly see a bloke standing in the doorway of the town hall, drop him.   There are a couple of loons in the square too, they're behind the fountain from my perspective so my squad get them.    Move a little closer .. is that?  is it?   It is you know.  Bang.   Headshot from 250m, I can hardly see her:  we're still outside the town.   "Well done! etc"    It says get out of there or something, not sure what to do but no other possibilities so head back to the UAZs.  

Get back, short delay, sniper from the other squad appears, music starts, wondering what to do, a UAZ drives off, mission ends.

11 mins
2000 points
11 kills + BMP + Angelina


Outro

Cool!


Now I'm off to read the other review.   ;D


Comments

Overall this is pretty good.    You shouldn't be allowed to shoot the Resistance ...  I basically bypassed most of the mission by using the Dragunov.    If it is your intention that the player should be able to do this - and I strongly think that it should, since it adds so much to replayability - then you need  a better way of doing it.    A simple puzzle at the start of the mission, rather than just giving it to him in gear selection.     You could use a weaponholder to have it leaning against a wall beside an otherwise unarmed Res loon.     Or, inside the big house at the start position, have a couple of resy ammo crates and weapons: put an officer or something by the door as a clue to the fact that this is a bit of a resy HQ.     There is a reasonably obvious vantage point in some trees at Ib76:  a good player might go there to observe the ground and he might find a resy loon with binoculars keeping watch, and a dragunov (or the resy hunting rifle) beside him on the ground.... there are lots of ways.

Opened it up in the mission editor and went for a walk around town.    Don't just use one type of ammo crate, use a small variety.   East only of course.    Move a couple of the parked cars in the square to elsewhere in town - there are too many there and too few elsewhere.   You have lots of civvies wandering around which is good, (don't make them all solos though, have some in pairs and threes) and one at the bus stop ... so have a bus.    Put the dead bodies in the square in a line in an out of the way corner, as if the clearing up has started.   Perhaps make some of them the body object, rather than dead loons.   Perhaps have an ambulance beside them with a couple of medics or unarmed soldiers and /or civvies as if they are loading them up.

There is too much birdsong in the town:  birds fly away when the shooting starts.  Don't use anybody present for the effects triggers, just do this

Condition:  true

which means you can make the area 0 which makes for a cleaner map.  It's worth writing something the text field of such triggers ... particularly with complex mission when you come back to them after a break it's helpful if everything is labelled.    Put a radio on the ground next to the flasinet sound so we know where it's coming from.

I was pleased to see you are using placement radii:  use probability of presence as well.  That makes the mission different everytime.  Given Calamity's experience it would probably be better if the mission was a little easier in terms of the number of enemy, but it makes it more interesting if it's different each time.  Sometimes there is a sniper on the roof, sometimes there's one on the balcony:  occasionally there is both... so the next time you allow for them but then when you arrive there are neither.   ;D

The reinforcement trigger never fired for me because I never got close enough.   You don't need all those waypoints along the road - the truck pauses at each one.     Just put the destination one at the end and they'll find their way there just fine.    As a general rule use as few waypoints as you can possibly get away with.   The unload and getout waypoints following each other I'm not sure about:  I suggest you observe the behaviour and check that its really what you want.   I tend to use empty vehicles and make the group get in at the start, it causes less confusion later on.    

I've only just noticed the infinite radio savegames.    If you're going to have radio saves - and I don't think this mission is long enough to warrant them - then tell the player.   Use radio channel 10/0 so that it's quicker to do. 0-0-0 rather than 0-0-8.    If you really want one I'd say one is enough.

The Resistance moving forward to provide a receiving line for you is excellent.   Player waypoint is fine but the waypoints for the other squad are hopeless.    They should be in Aware-Wedge the whole way;  reduce the number of waypoints (waypoints get loons killled as the can stand around waiting for the the rest of the squad, then the whole squad just stands around).    You need to think more clearly about what this squad is suppposed to do.    At the moment its just another squad coming in on roughly the same axis is you and thereby causing confusion.    It should either get right into Lipany or stay outside:  in either case it should have a hold (or perhaps guard or seek&destroy+cycle) waypoint at which it waits till you have zapped Angelina, so that you then withdraw together.   There must be some comms with the squad, reporting progress to each other, casualties and so on.    Maybe give it a marker so you always know where it is.

I had no lag problems:   benchmark 5660.   Taking out most of these waypoints will help, as will removing a lot of these effects triggers and objects.


Summary of important points

- Reorganise Briefing

- Gear selection

- Mission failed on shooting Resistance (but not if enemy shoot them obviously)

- Dragunov/Hunting rifle (I like the idea of making it a hunting rifle)

- Remove unneccessary waypoints and effects

- Fix other squad's waypoints

- Radio savegames


That's it, well done.    Almost all of what I've written is suggestions for improvement rather that criticism, what you've got is mostly pretty good.    :thumbsup:

[Planck]

I tried this mission also.

I don't have much to add because macguba has more or less covered most of the salient points.

I enjoyed this mission, it took about 15 mins and got a score of -2100.

Reason for this is I was lining up an enemy soldier in my sights and fired.........just at that point a sniper from the other squad passed in front of my line of fire........he took the bullets instead......so I got a negative score. Not my fault honest.  

Unlike macgube I stuck with the script and kept my m16.

I didnt lose any of my squad......we all made it back to the uaz's.

I really liked the Outro  ;D


Planck

[dmakatra]

I'll play it later but from what I can tell from your description of the mission is that the story seems very weak. I don't see why she natrually should go nuts and kill civillians. Anyway, I'll take a look at the mission tomorrow or later today.

:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:

[dmakatra]

OVERVIEW
OK... I can't really see what the pic is... a chicken on a plate?
Like I said before, I can't see why she's executing civillians. Why can't Col. Blake execute them instead? Would surley be something we hadn't seen before.
INTRO:
Same thing here I'm afraid. Why the slaughter? I know I sound like an old woman complaining about everything but I find this very important. Otherwise the camera angles were nice but I had a hard time beliving that Angelina has such a dark voice ;D and if this is the same conflict as the one in the resistance campaign if I'm not misstaking it's 1983 not 1985. Bringing ahead people 2 and 2 and get them killed by a single officer is quite, well, I don't know if it's unrealistic but I wouldn't do so since it's extremly inhumane and I think it would be bad for russian morale if they stood everyone on the square executing civillians with a mad officer blowing 7 shots in everyone...
BRIEFING:
It would look nicer if the O in Reign Of Terror would be replaced by a small letter.
Markers too tight.
Use links in head briefing as well.
I don't see any logic why the civillian slaughter should stop by killing the leader. If none argue when Anglina orderd the slaughter why should it stop? It would just be ordered by the highest officer instead.
MISSION:
If the town is so strictly occupied that they even start a civillian mass-slaughterd I have it very hard to belive that yellow civillian cars drive around, especially when they see some NATO guys with bad-ass weaponry closing in.
Snipers with bush-cammo in an CQC-Assault team? No way mate! Get rid of the bushes and give me some MG support or whatever.
After some really nice street fighting, that included a double LAW-thru-house-opening-right-into-a-Shilka, I reached the square. Still, I find it hard to belive that they just dumped the executed there. Could they at least toss them into a hole in the ground?
There's a civvie just standing there which is quite strange cause I sent a bullet just past his nose and nailed a russian in the head and he didnt even blink.
Here I died. I retried and when I reached the main street that leads into the square I started popping russians on the square and in the building. Accidently I actually popped Angelina right in the head and I wasn't even near the square, which I found before I died, is the hard part. You really should fix this so that it'll be a challange to kill her. And maybe if the player is too slow to reach the house let him/her chase Angelina 'cause she's trying to escape in a car or something.
OUTRO:
OMG! I love it! I laughed and laughed and laughed! In your face! But don't kill Guba, make him escape or something, would be cooler. And I didn't read the last titletext so I won't say anything, but, but, but... nevermind...
OVERALL:
Nice mission and Lipany is the king of CQC in OFP. Nice placed enemy units(xept Angelina)made it a nice experience if you ignore the story.

:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:

[DonKnottts]

Wow! Calamity, MacGuba, Planck & Real Armstrong -- thank you so much for your excellent feedback.  I have a lot of good info from you to work from and I am already working on a new version.

For my new version I am:
- Changing the overview picture from the picture of a partially-carved Thanksgiving turkey to a more appropriate in-game screenshot with a border.
- Adding description.ext weapons selection and getting rid of "Get Ready..."
- Working to improve the loon arrangement and camera work on the intro sequence.
- Working to better balance the gameplay in light of the "snipe from the hillside" solution that MacGuba found.
- Hoping to tighten up the triggers and waypoints per MacGuba's excellent detailed advice.
- Correcting the "crack shot" line at the end of the outro, as it does take her a shot or two at 5 meters  to start scoring hits on her target...
- Hoping to implement other improvements.

A couple of questions for you all if you are game:
- I originally had the final loon from the intro sequence make his way to a Green Beret camp and participate in a "briefing the troops" scene as part of a much longer intro.  But this was too long, redundant (in light of the info in the Briefing), and not as dramatic as the first part of the intro.  So now he turns away in disgust, hopefully personalizing a little bit all of those nameless civilians we see scurrying about the streets in the intro.  Is there a better way to end it?  Should I do a close-up on Angelina's reaction to the executions, showing her face rapidly cycling through numerous unrelated mimics to demonstrate just how unhinged she is?
- I know how to end the game if the resistance soldiers near the UAZs are killed, but how do I make it so the game knows if it was the player who did the killing as opposed to the Russkies?  It's beyond my present skill level...
- In the outro, where you see yourself, do your clothes look right?  Would you dress that way (black jeans, shirt tucked in, "Nogovo" t-shirt)?  Or would you rather wear Man6 garb i.e. leather jacket & green pants?  And your wife, does she look right to you in that outro, or is there a better face/clothing combo to use?

In answer to your various questions and concerns:
- MacGuba pointed out that the singing birds are too numerous.  I'm sorry but I love those little invisible guys -- they cheer me up quite a bit.
- The flasinet is coming from inside the building on the SW corner of the Lipany town square, with the hip young couple out front.  There's a bar in there, they are drinking their cares away while the East & West fight over the town.  The radio is not visible for that reason.
- Why does Angelina "naturally" go nuts?  Thinking back to the cut-scenes in the original story, it's clearly she who is putting Guba up to all of these island invasion shenanigans.  I simply speculated based on this information that maybe she is basically a power-hungry, paranoid individual in the old Soviet mold like Stalin.  He wiped out his most talented officers in a purposeless purge prior to WW2, for example, which is one reason why the Russians did so poorly against the Germans in the initial part of Operation Barbarossa.  Also deliberately starved 10 million Kulaks to death in a bizarre feat of vindictive social engineering in the 30s I think.
- Why all the slaughter?  It creates a dramatic impetus for the player to succeed at his mission.  Per the point above, it is my assumption that in this situation Angelina's death would put an end to the indiscriminate killing.  Or at least send a message to the occupation force that those who order such practices may face consequences.  And if you think about it, you really do have to kill an awful lot of Russian soldiers and officers to get to Angelina anyhow.
- Why the bushy/sniper camo?  I was thinking along the lines of Viet Cong sapper/commandos, vegetation sticking out of their backs, rushing past the camera on old Vietnam documentaries.  Also, it's not strictly a CQB mission, with some fighting at 150+ yards, armored vehicles, etc.  Plus I think the bushy snipers look cool, even though they can't carry much in the way of weapons.
- Why 1985 instead of 1983?  Good question.  Guba wasn't a general in those days anyways, right?  Had he even met Angelina back in '83?  I need to review those cut-scenes from the original game...

One last question:  When I do my new version, should I post it in a reply to my original post, or modify my original post to contain the new version?  Don't want to break the netiquette or hog bandwidth...

Thank you all again!

[macguba]

No no no keep the turkey .. but give it a border and make it bigger.

At the end of the intro, all you need to do is improve the camera angle so that we get a better view of him turning away, and make the shot a few seconds longer.  Or perhaps have him get ina car and drive off ... maybe make it two of them turn away.    In any event, when the mission starts the same guy (make him the only civ in the game who is, say, man5 or something so we recognise, plus the same face of course) should be armed and facing you, implying that he is the resistance guy who passed on the news about Angelina.  But the unrelated mimics sounds  cool too.  ;D

To each of the Res/civvies you need to addEventHandler "killed".    There is stuff in the Ed Depot, they are not difficult to use.     When the civ is killed, the eventhandler will start a simple script that you write:  it can be the same script for all civs.   The script will use the side command to check the side of the killer:  if it's West, it will set a variable to true which will fire an End#2 trigger.

Clothes in the outro are not a big deal, just use what you think is best.   If I was going to change one it would have been Guba, give him the outfit that most resembles a uniform to make him easier to recognise.     Maybe have the initial shot of both you and your wife:   Guba shoots you, then the missus pulls out a handgun and shoots him.

That's fair enough on the flasinet, I never heard it in the game of course.  ;D

Keep the snipe from the hillside solution, it adds to the openendedness of the game:  but yet, make it more deliberate.   It wasn't too easy - I was killed once and wounded the second time.

If you love the birds, then keep 'em  

You could add a CIA briefing to the Briefing with background on Angelina's character, why she's nuts and a statement to the effect that we believe her deputy is much more reasonable.

The Kulaks were indeed one of the better known of Stalin's crimes.

If you want the sniper types, then one per squad is sufficient.   Two felt odd.    Personally I'd leave them out, though that does affect gameplay since snipers are better even than blackops.

When you make the new version, delete the old one from the thread.  Whether you add the new one to the first post, the new post or both is merely a question of taste.   Don't worry about bandwidth or space on the server, we have plenty of both.    The file size is limited to 50k to keep it that way.

The date question is interesting:  obviously it should be before 1985 because Nogova was invaded before the original CWC 1985 campaign.    However it can't be that much before because when he invaded nogova Guba was still reasonably sane ... so perhaps 1984 is right.    Remind us somewhere - perhaps in the Notes - that Nogova and Kolgujev are under the Soviet jackboot but the Malden Islands remain free.

[Sui]

I managed to catch a nasty flu virus today, so I thought I'd play some OFP while I 'rest up' ;D

[size=0.5]By the way, if the boss asks I was in bed all day. Shhh![/size]


Not a bad mission, Don... there were a few niggly little things that I would have done differently though.

As always, this is all my opinion. So fair enough if you think I'm wrong/stupid/simply don't want to do it that way. Your mission, your choice

Overview

• As stated previously, the pic needs a border
• Maybe space the first page out a bit more. You've got that whole page to use to balance the text and picture.

Intro

• Nicely done! Sets the scene well.
• Some subtitles would be good for some of the longer voices... my russian is pretty rusty
• Possibly add a bit on the end with the 'dissident' talking on a radio (say to the Green Berets or something).

Briefing

• WEAPONS SELECTION!! Please :) I always feel inadequate without my grenade launcher...
• Maybe re-think the team composition a bit. Is it really necessary to have all those LAW Launcher?
• Possibly condense or re-organize the briefing... it's always good to keep the objectives all on the first page if you can. Macca had some very good suggestions above...
• Huh?! Second team? Where did they come from? ;D

Nah, I wasn't quite that slow, but I did wonder what they were going to do. More info on their role would be nice[/list]

Mission

• Nice friendly unit/scenery placement at the start. It really gives the impression of the resistance helping to 'set-up' the assination attempt.
• Maybe make the music in mission a little bit softer. You can use something like:

0 fademusic 0.5

To halve the volume and make it easier to hear the radio/gunfire etc.
Just one of the things I like to do in missions, as sound can help to keep the player alive :)

• Communication... I think you should give the other Green Beret squad a few radio calls. "Approaching town from the East", "Taking casualties", "Enemy Armour spotted" etc.

It really helps to immerse the player if they get the feeling that the AI is really participating. Makes the whole thing seem more 'real' ;)

• Enemy composition... I have to confess I found it to be a bit easy. Admittedly my new BEAST computer makes mincemeat of any old FPS issues I used to have...
  I suggest making a few 'small squad' sized groups of bad guys. Instead of having them static (as with most of the guys), give them patrol routes. You could even use placement radius (both on the guys, and the waypoints) so the player doesn't know where to expect them from.
  Another techinique you could use is to put a few guys inside buildings, in cunning spots. But be a bit careful and too many evil concealed guys can make it frustrating.
  
• Angelina was a bit too easy to find I felt. I lobbed a grenade into the building (I was trying to clear the OpFor out of the lobby) and ended up killing her.

I reckon make her placement random, within a few buildings around town. You could make her location recognizable by having her car/bodyguards/helicopter/lines of adoring fans hanging around outside whatever house she ends up in. I dunno, just a suggestion ;)

• Civilian units/scenery was well done. It didn't seem to be crawling with them, but I definately got the impression that it was a town full of life

Outro

• Ha ha. Nice way to finish up

Overall a well put together mission. Urban combat can be a bit of a chore in OFP, but due to the units being put in sensible places it wasn't too bad. There were a couple of times I got shot through buildings, but as the mission maker there's not a lot you can do about that.

Thanks for sharing Don ;)

[The-Architect]

Bonjour  ;D

I don't mean to be a >place your expletive here<, but I wasn't impressed with this version of Angelina's Reign of Terror.

Far too short and far too easy. That's what I think about this mission. If it wasn't for the house to house street fighting I'd have been disappointed. Luckily there was enough action so that I wasn't.

I didn't like the idea of civilians wandering around as I was spraying bullets about the place. I know if I was in the "town" I'd be hiding under my bed.  

The whole Angelina killing bit...
Piece of cake. I just jumped into the BMP that was parked near the square and obliterated the building she was in.   He he he, I didn't even see her but was informed of her death.  ;D
As for the discussion concerning her motives. I don't really think she needs one does she? Surely if she's gone a bit la la, there isn't gonna be any motive. I don't want to get into the story so I'll stop there. I just think it was a bit weak, not unfeasable.

The only real bit of excitement was when a T80 rolled down the street, much to my surprise and capped one of my guys. The only team-mate I lost I might add.

I did like the camera work in the cutscenes though even if the story was a bit whiffy. Although it was nice to see that my wife got revenge for my murder, I was totally perplexed when I saw that she seemed totally un-phased that I had just been gunned down in front of her.

I can't honestly say that downloading this mission was worth the 3 second wait. However, with a bit more work on the story and perhaps another objective or two thrown in to make it longer, I would be happy to give it another go. But hey, that's what the Beta testing forum is for.

Sorry if I seem a bit harsh.

[DonKnottts]

I want to thank Sui and The Architect for their helpful comments.  I have made changes that I wanted to share, so I posted the new version 1.06 in my original post at the top of the thread.   Any thoughts are welcome.

Changes include:

- Added an overview shot of Angelina with a border.
- changed the date to 1984
- enhanced the intro sequence, mostly added additional loons and rearranged them
- reorganized the briefing, clarifying and adding content
- added weapons selection, including a couple sniper rifles
- added radio chatter from Bravo squad
- changed resistance fighter's weapon to an FN FAL to reduce the temptation to shoot & loot (I experimented with event handlers, but ran into some problems.  I need to work with those some more before I can implement a real solution there)
- added some hand motions to the girl with the AK74 at the beginning
- changed save sequence to 0-0-0, maintained infinite saves so that the less talented can play
- spiffed up the triggers and waypoints
- added some random east soldiers on the hill to keep snipers on their toes
- tweaked the T80 reinforcement response for added realism
- made it possible for Angelina to escape: ten minutes after West troops are spotted her nerve breaks and she runs for it.  Hopefully this time pressure will make a difference to the sluggish players.
- added a "Loose" outro depicting Angelina's escape (if I can implement a punishment ending for resistance-slayers, this outro will also have to play -- otherwise it will play the win outro)
- numerous other tweaks

I kept the two snipers for each team.  The way I see it is that a green beret team in-country has to have snipers on hand, and they work in pairs (a spotter & a shooter).  But frankly I just think they look cool.  I still need to do Angelina's psych evaluation.  I will be doing research in my wife's DSM to make sure I get the paranoia thing right.  Does anyone know her last name?  Where she comes from?  I don't even know her rank.  I didn't want to randomize her location.  Making it so that she can escape seemed like a big step to me -- in that if you kill her while she's running for her UAZ it's not clear how Guba finds her bullet-riddled body lying on the second floor of city hall in the outro sequence.  I suppose some helpful Russkie non-coms dragged her back up there to keep the crows away?

I am hearing from most of you that killing Angelina is too easy.  Chucking grenades, sniping through the window, or blasting away from the turret of the BMP all can take her out.  I find that the easiest way of all is to carefully shoot a LAW right through the window of Troska's office from a fair distance due South.  But I'm not sure that this gameplay problem can be overcome.  Maybe I could set up multiple randomized fixed sites for her to show up in, all inside the city hall building?  I'm still not sure if that would work.  Maybe a different sort of Angelina, more flighty and wily, would react more quickly and move around the town in unpredictable ways, adding more of a challenge?

Killing the resy loons, killing the resy loons, killing the resy loons, what is wrong with you people?  Don't you know that they are on our side?  I will figure out this AddEventHandler "killed" issue I swear to God.  It's just going to take some more experimentation on my part.  Hopefully the weapons selection option will take the edge off.  BTW, in my version of Nogova in 1984, the Resistance often carry FALs which they got from British army surplus, in addition to the more common AK74s swiped from the Reds or armalites donated by the USA.

Architect -- your wife is unfazed when you are gunned down because she is a serious badass.

I am concerned about the difficulty level.  I like these things short and light, but I know you all are hardcore.  Keep the comments coming and I will hit that balance in due course.

Thank you all again.

- DonKnottts

[macguba]

The vital thing with difficulty level is to get it where you want it to be.     The think is to avoid making it heavy and hard when you want it to be short and light, or vice versa.   The community at large has in my view an emphasis on difficult missions which I'm not too keen on:  personally I would like to see more slightly easier missions.

Randomising Angelina's position and having her run away are both good ... don't let them get away from each other though.   If she's random we need time to find her.    Altertively, you could make her harder to kill:  put a medic in the building or put her on a slow setdammage 0 loop.   She should be pretty high skill.    Making her setbehaviour combat will at least make her lie down and prevent the sniping approach.

As for the end scene, add a pair of medics without guns standing side by side beside her, that might just imply that they have brought her in.

[Calamity]

Hey DonKnottts,
Don't change the difficulty level! If I don't get killed a bunch of time's it's not worth it! I like to just run around with no concern for my safety. (Goes back to my Quake and Half-Life days in the Death Match Arena!)
I'll download and test the new version when I get home tonight, but I had a quick thought about forcing the player to go Inside, and preventing random Law rockets or sniper rounds from destroying the building and taking out Angelina.

In simplest terms, don't place her in the building until the player enters.
I would do it like this:
Place Angelina on the far side of the island.
Create a trigger inside the building.
Group the trigger to the player. (When Vehicle Present)
When the player enters the building the trigger fires a script "Randomize_Angelina.sqs"
Create a second trigger Conditions: Not(Alive Angelina_guard) and NOT(Player_inThe_house). Actions, Loose.

Use the "Camera.sqs" to move around the Building and get some positions where you want Angelina to appear. The value you are looking for will be the _camera CamSetPos [x,y,z] value. Save the [X,Y,Z] Values for each of the locations.

The "Randomize_Angelina.sqs" script should look like:
Player_inThe_house = true

Angelina_loc = Random N
:N being the number of locations you've chosen

? Angelina_loc >= 1 : Angelina setpos [X1,Y1,Z1]
? Angelina_loc >= 2 : Angelina setpos [X2,Y2,Z2]
? Angelina_loc >= 3 : Angelina setpos [X3,Y3,Z3]
.
.
.
? Angelina_loc >= N : Angelina setpos [XN,YN,ZN]

exit

With this if the player kills the guard before he enters the building, the mission will end with a loose and Angelina will have "escaped". When the player enters the house, Angelina will appear at one of the pre-defined locations you have chosen. This also eliminates the question of the player killing Angelina en-route to here car. It is presumed that she escaped. No moving bodies inconsistency either.

More to come...

[Calamity]

Awe, Ya got rid if the turkey! I liked the Turkey! But yes, I see you put a border around your new Pic. Good deal.
Downloaded the mission, played through it. Again, Probably my lack of experience as a reviewer, but I didn't see much wrong. (I'm much better at solving clearly defined problems I guess.) Gona play through again and see what I can screw up.
Actually I do have a suggestion for the intro. As our Hero approaches the bike the music score ends. The lack of music is deafening. I might suggest another score, since the second score is the right mood for the scene. The Motorcycle departing should have an up beet. Something that hints to the player that their going to do something about the atrocities. A wrong is going to be righted. Something like that…
The weapons selection is good. All most too good! I feel like we were slamming you for no weapons choice, now I'm slamming you for too much choice. Ah well, balance right? I may be suffering from my original prejudice with regard to giving the player older, down-level weapons. That way there are some hard choices to make. That may be good for a campaign, But I can see why you'd want to leave it this way for a SP mission, Keeps em' coming back. I'm not helping here am I. Enough on that.
The in game music, Good for empty spaces, but there should be a way to shut it off when the action starts.
Went to try out that sniper hill. Got a nasty surprise when an enemy sniper came over the rise and shot me! Didn't matter anyway. My visibility was turned down enough that I couldn't see much further than the first row of houses anyway. And even they were shrouded in mist and haze.
I decided to move into town, as I got closer I was then able to make out Angelina, Yep I took her at 250 meters. Really do need to make the player go into to town. That randomized location script and building trigger will really force the player to move in.
I should turn and burn right now, but I just can't resist a slaughter. So I hang out and pick of some more guys. I even once move through town burning and pillaging. It's what I do, it is my gift… :~}
But eventually I run back to base, None the worse for ware. Get in the jeep and head to the alpha site, sorry I mean "The Secret Hideout" (Too much SG1).
Mission ends on the high road. I never do get to see the hidden base.

Ok, Now that I've played through…
I ripped the mission and took a peek inside. DonKnottts I bow to you. You did all that camera work with triggers. Not a single script! I could never do it that way I'm too lazy. But it looks just like a Bis mission in that regard. To that effect, if you would like some one-on-one assistance for the Scripting suggestion I made, Please feel free to shoot me a mail.
I'll have to agree with previous posts. With the availability of a sniper rifle and Angelina always in the same spot, an easy 250 Meters away, the mission is just too easy. You've put a lot of work into that town, I know I've intentionally went in there for the mayhem factor, and a crafty player will never see it. This defeats the re-playability of the mission.
Either eliminate all the sniper rifles, I'll pause here until the cacophony of objections dies down, or find a way to force the player into town. I go back to the suggestion in my previous post.
Also, I'm an obliterator; once an objective is complete I like to linger around until I can't find any one else to kill. Keep this in mind. I don't know how many other players are like me. But the availability of a super weapon, in this case the BMP, and a target rich environment, is too good to pass up. You can either find a way to force me out before I turn everything to ash and trash, Choppers and 6 tank platoons coming into town would do the trick. Or, you could provide a reward for clearing the town. A second, hidden objective…
Just a thought.

Calamity out…

[DonKnottts]

Thank you Calamity and MacGuba for your excellent input. I have incorporated additional improvements and I feel that this most recent version is about as good as it's going to get.

This is a slightly plainer version of the mission -- I deleted some bird songs and cars and got it in under 50k for posting here.  The final (mission depot) version will have all those things put back in.

I have included a primitive event handler in the resistance guys to punish the player for killing them.  I did this without scripts, simply by having the event handler increase the rating of the "killer" to an unfeasibly high level.  Only the player will trigger the ending with a high rating level: on the others (i.e. enemy) it should have no real effect.

I have included no such event handler in any non-resy civilians, because the player would probably not be able to avoid killing them accidentally with all of the ordnance flying around the town.

I made the resy-killer ending the same as the "loose" ending, with the idea that the killing of a resistance guy results in a scrubbed mission and Angelina's escape.  Otherwise, killing the resy loons would result in the player seeing the "win" outro which would be bad as I intended that to be a reward for the effort of killing Angelina.

It is possible to kill Angelina FIRST, and then kill the resy loons, and *then* see a logically impossible outro cut scene of Angelina escaping.  Therefore, I had to add a special message that informs the player in this circumstance that skilled Soviet medics have revived Angelina from her apparently dead state.  It's cheesy, but I must admit it appeals to my sense of the ridiculous, which has obviously guided my efforts in the creation of this mission.

With help from my wife and her DSM-IV I added the CIA psych eval of Angelina to the briefing.

I realized that given the year in which this mission occurs, 1984, if the player is succesful in his mission then the events of the main OFP Red Hammer storyline are impossible. Angelina could not have gone on to appear in all those cut scenes if she was killed in 1984!  Therefore, the events of the official campaigns occur in a universe in which the player of my mission fails in his assassination attempt.

Inspired by your comments I have added a randomizer that puts Angelina in a different position each time you play.  Most of these are within the city hall building, but others are nearby so that the mission cannot *always* be solved by a quick LAW shot thru Victor Troska's office window.  This should also prevent hilltop sniping from always working.

However, Angelina does not roam about, nor does she have any healing abilities.  I thought these would make the mission too difficult, especially given the time constraints.  I want to avoid having the player scour the town looking for Angelina, which could get complicated if she played the standard loon trick of sliding ghost-like into a solid building and hiding there.

At this point I want to make sure that the difficulty is balanced, and that there are no more obvious bloopers.  Thank you all again for your comments!

- DonKnottts

[Calamity]

Donnottts,
Looking Good.

Intro:
I see you've done something with the music score. It didn't have that period of dead air. The music faded out in a real nice way… Very, on-queue. I guess I'm trying to say; it fit real nice this time. Good job!

Overview.
I think it's complete enough…  :~)
I must admit, When I read the letter home I had to get up and share it with my wife. Had me in stitches with that one.

The Mission
Now, since I've reviewed this mission before I won't go into too much detail…

Went with the XMS this time. Started out, didn't try to kill any Resy guys. Just ran through he mission. Approached Lipany from the north. One of my guys eliminates the BMP that rolls out.
I die a few times as I approach the main Avenue into the center of town. Got a couple of sentries there that are a real pain in the ass. Good placement.
Finally take them out and take over the courtyard to the east of the main Avenue. Hold that with my guys as I pick off the sniper on the roof. As I'm running back and forth between the street and the courtyard, some of my guys by it. Before I know it I'm just down to my sniper. I tell him to hold for me while I advance through an ally way to take out a Shilka. Die a couple of times here as well. Got some guys in the courtyard that keep picking me off as I shoot and scoot. But I preserver and finally make it into the back yard of Angelina's house. Heal up and grab a couple of satchel charges. There's some dudes still running around the back yard area, so I'm obliged to send them on their way. Finally get the back yard secured, so I move around to the front and take out a Shilka that's taken up position in the courtyard.
I do a quick savegame and then storm the house from the back yard. By this time, though, a T80 has taken up position on the other side of the courtyard and a couple of times he takes me out with his .50. And the  couple of times I don't die I get the message Angelina has fled. Now how can that be? I never saw her run out. So once more I go back to my savegame point and instead of running into the back yard like I've done every other time, I turn around and look back to the courtyard. What do I see running away, weaving and dodging in that tight little green skirt? It's Angelina! I drop to my knees and start to follow her in my sights. It's s so wrong to shoot a woman in the back. I hesitate on the trigger. Then I remember those innocent civilians she had executed and the steal returns to my fingers. BLAT, BLAT, BLAT… But Angelina is a wily one. I've missed my mark! Flick the selector to full auto and Rat-a-Tat-Tat-Tat-Tat I go. Finally after I empty my clip I look out and see…
Nothing. No body, no smoking crater, nothing. Then I get told. Angelina has escaped. Crap I'm a bad shot!
So I reload to the save point. Spin around, and this time I'm looking down the barrel of her gun!
BLAT, BLAT, BLAT, it goes, and I'm the off to meat my maker.
Third times the charm though. I spin around. She didn't see me. 50 meters out, zigging and zagging. I wait until she is going to slide under my dot. Then I pull the trigger. It was already on full auto, so four rounds fly down range, cutting the air with their supersonic shock wave. Only to end in a resounding Splat, Splat, psewt, Dink.
Angelina goes stiff as the bullets enter. Then she crumples to her knees. As the last breath of life leaves her lips she topples over onto her face.
Time to make my exit. I commandeer that BMP, My favorite way out of town. I take a couple minutes to indulge myself and pick off some troops that are still running around, before I take my leave. I get back to base, hop into a jeep and drive off down the road. Mission ends. And all is well. Except that I lost every guy in my squad!

After Action Review
The mission feels balanced to me. I tried to look at it as if I was playing for the first time. As such I got killed a bunch of times. But that's how I judge a good mission. It has game play, as long as you're forced to go into town. I didn't explore Angelina's various placements too much though. I'll have to try again at a later time.
All in all though, I think your right, it's done.
Though in the future you might want to release a version that uses BAS Deltas & Rangers…. Just a thought

Calamity out…

[DonKnottts]

Thank you all so much for your help!

I have posted the finished mission to the mission depot.

No changes from v1.10 except thanked you guys in the credits.

Keep on rockin'!

- DonKnottts

[The-Architect]

If no-one else gets to it first I'll review it when I get round to it. There is a rule however that states I have to work from the oldest to the newest missions, so don't be phased if it takes a while.
 


Edit: This mission has been reviewed and is available from the Missions Depot.