(Review Completed) [SP] Abandoned Armies

[macguba]

I am in bed with flu but will look at it soon

Och, flu is such a bore.    Get well soon and all that.    

If you're tight on the webpage forget it, its not worth the trouble.    I'll dig into the scripts:  fixing it will not be the problem, its just finding all the relevant bits.    The vital one I was missing was debug, that pretty much should do what I want.  

[GI-YO]

Right then i'm back for more.

MISSION (continued) - i get my group armed with the weapons out the crate and turn on the radio so theres some more objectives to complete, by the looks of it this mission may take days to complete! I get everyone into the truck, time is 6.45AM. Drive east then disembark by the dirt tract and make my way on foot to the civi's. they form up and then i sprint back to the truck and load them in, heading west now back to the mountain hut, haven't seen any one else on my travels, now 6.51AM. With a bit of nifty navigation i make it back to the lodge in the hills, thats one group of civilians who are safe. Two more to go.I have to go and have some luch and do some chores but i'll be back laterto carry on this monster of a mission. I might start ambushing convoys to capture some war booty for my rubbishly euiped forces.

 just noticed that the civilian links on the brifing page seem to be linked to the wrong location. The radio message link is linked to the civi's in the SW area of the map not the civi's near the woods. I decided to rescue the civs first and then do the killing last so i head for the civis on the hill near vigny with my armed budys, leaving the truck in some bushes and making my way their alone on foot, i get a report of a veichle 7 oclock 100 meters but ignore it. Im nearly at the hill. lighting and rain make for good concelemant, hope there arent any bad guys around. I get to the hut no baddys, not sure if there is spose to be voices here, just text on screen and then the 4 civs join my group. I finaly find the lodge and another group of civi's are safe, also managed to collect a few AK 47cz's so my groups fire power is improving. Going for the final group of civi's now. Starting to notice a helicopter buzzing about quite regualry so will have to watch for him as it gets light. time is 7.23AM.hop back into my truck after dropping of my pals and drive straight on an east bearing, with a hint of south (not sure how that is said  ;D) and cross the main road. searching for the civs. I find them nd get them to load into the truck. Set a heading a bomb cross country and finaly find the lodge. Now i have some hints. I will isten to those. Now for the hard part of the mission. I have to go to work soon but i will continue tomorow. Cant wait!!!

GI-YO

[THobson]

@GI-YO

I am going to completely redo the civilians.  You have exerienced something that many have not but my son did - when you get to the civis in the SW the resistance soldier there is dead!! - that was why you got no voice.  Not sure what caused it, maybe it was being close to the fire.

Keep at it!  The descriptions reall y help me to understand some of the things that are going wrong.

[XCess]

I took a Jeep MG and 2 with me to La Trinite. 2 jumped on the MG and I stopped the jeep west of La Trinite fror him to give cover from the northrons in the town. By the time I'd reach the town he was dead without firing a shot   He was set to Open Fire Engage At Will, Combat and i gasve him a watch order over the town.. no help.
I just ran in stole the Ural ammo and drove off. Left the Ural ammo in Dourdan and moved SE to give me highground over Houdan. Spotted a Vulcan and LAWd it (i had an SVD with 4 mags and a LAW with 3 LAWs equipped). Checked the village with my scope and there was no one around so I went to the hamlet to the east. Here there was a t80 and a t72... time for some fun
I was to the NE of both tanks and hiding in some bushes. Put both LAWs I had left into the t80 and legged it after the t72 started inspecting.
Cam back equipped with three LAWs and hid in the bushes on the south side of the buildings, 10-20 metres from the t80... the t72 somewhere else.. to the south I think.
The t80 was being repaired by a 5t Repair. Put all three LAWs into the tracks and ground near the t80. Turned out that the crew was turned out and I'd kiled em (how did I not notice this???) and the 5t was overturned. The t72 parked up next to the t80 and I just jumped in and drove off.
Drove towards Arudy and saved.

Now.. each time I resume the mission I get sent back to La Trinite just after the death of 2... whenever I die teh game crashes... no CBT just blackness..

[SEAL84]

SEAL84 and Xcess, if you have not been put off by all this I would be interested to know of any similar experience you have had,  SEAL84 was last heard of a whisker away from hitting Stamenov, with an empty T80 nearby.

Indeed...I'll try again tonight.

[macguba]

@GI-YO
Here's a quick tutorial on compass point descriptions.   They go like this:

North

North Northeast by North

North Northeast

North Northeast by East

Northeast

East Northeast by North

East Northeast

East Northeast by East

East

Those in bold are important, in italics are obscure.    Obviously its similar for the other quadrants.    "East with hint of south" would usually be said as East-southeast or written ESE.     East-southeast by east (ESEE), which is East with a really tiny hint of south, is something you would really only use in navigation - it's too troublesome to use in general conversation.


@XCesss
I once wasted a great deal of time trying to make a jeep/mg mission.   It didn't work.   Being a gunner on one of these things is the fastest single way of getting killed in this game.   It's right up there with laying a satchel, setting the timer to 30s and then not moving.   You're not much off driving or in cargo.  


@THobson
I pretty much figured out what I was trying to do.   Those two variables are the critical ones.

[THobson]

Those two variables are the critical ones.

They certainly are.  If a text file could wear out from usage then mine would look like:
DeBug = <warn patch>
_setEnvironment = <deep hole>

I feel a bit guilty not responding more than I do, but I have just checked and in the first week this mission has been on this site it has had more comments than my previous mission ever had, and that was spread over 3 months.

Just so you all know I am not being idle.  I have tried unsuccessfully to replicate what happened with XCess' convoy, but I have changed the logic so that if that sort of thing happens again the other convoy will be released and so a war will start.  I think it is only fair that if you go to the trouble of making your presence felt on one convoy at La Trinite then north and south will take it out on each other.  XCess seems to be doing well taking them down a bit at a time, but it will be a hell of a long job.

I have fixed the bug that caused macguba's north base to go on alert too soon, restructured the south base, changed the dialog at Vigny, changed the storyline somewhat, CHANGED THE START LOCATION - no more flogging up that damned hill, enabled the empty armour in the bases to be re-armed.  etc. etc.  Still a long way to go though.

[macguba]

I created a test version of the mission, based on the original version not the cheat version.

- The weather and debug variables were set

- anti 4x trigger deleted
- AV and AT mine triggers deleted
- many static objects around the map deleted
- several empty Abrams, Shilkas and support vehicles placed near lodge

- three civvy locations moved to near lodge
- Vigny stuff moved to near the lodge, soldiers deleted, Tatyana setCAptive true
- Player start moved to just outside the lodge trigger area and the player was made setCaptive true

- Lodge cutscene file edited to skip the bulk of the scene.   Kept Mountain_CutScene = true at the start and jumped to just after the camera was destroyed.   Kept
[Ruslan] join Alexi
"0" objStatus"DONE"
"6" objStatus"ACTIVE"

- radio trigger added to setDammage 0 the player's group and vehicles of the player's group


Actually it took several attempts to get all this right.     On the "successful" run - I use the word inadvisedly, as you will see - I started near the lodge, moved towards the lodge and had first Ruslan then the other 3 join my group.    Heard the radio message.    Went to fetch 3 lots of civvies, all acted correctly.  (I had had trouble with this but I think it was just me doing htings too fast and the scripts stepping on each other.)

When I had my final and correct squad of eight we jumped into 3 Abrams and a Shilka and set off.   I had not been anywhere near Tatyana.  Green ticks for find uncle Nic and the three civvy objectives.

Moved towards Arudy and trashed the squad there.   Moved to west of La Trinite with everybody on hold fire.   Waited for a convoy from the south and trashed it.   Moved to east of 3, the Shilka got trashed but I saved the crew with my magic radio trigger.   Sent them to walk back to the lodge.

Our three Abrams headed north and came over the skyline to get a view on the airfield.    Got "oh theres a war on" message.    Massive armour battle at long range.    Had to put the viewdistance up to 3.5kmm which is why I'd deleted lots of stuff.    Killed Andropov and lots of others, I think there was a tank left and certainly some infantry.    

Chopper in Vigny fjord activated several times.

Ran south on 4x to overlook Chapoi.   More interesting tank battle.    Killed Stamenov and cleared the place out.   Enemy tanks turned up form time to time.     Lost an Abrams but managed to put the guys in a captured T80.   Very low on ammo as the ammo truck I had managed to preserve was blown up by one of the enemy tanks which turned up from time to time as one of my tanks was rearming from it.

At this point I was getting hints "East phase 1 pass 4".  In fact we got to a much higher pass than that but can't remember.    I think we also got a "West phase 1 pass 1".     Are the southrons East?     Never saw an East phase 2 message.

There was nobody much about.   I had gone down to the remains of the tent a couple of times and shot a few stragglers.    It was just a case of waiting.    Mission time was probably about an hour but I'm really not sure.     I had to go out, so I decided it to leave it to soak.  I came back, many hours later, to find the debriefing screen.    How has it ended, I thought?     It is possible for my chaps to end the mission because the only outstanding objectives were to destroy the two armies, although I had nobody going near the northern base we were covering the southern one.

4 green ticks
2 black blobs for the two kill army objectives
3h51m
19800 *    
loads of kills
3 civvy kills, I believe Stamenov and his two bitches
Casualties:-
  me (but we have debrief screen not you are dead)
  6x Karl Danek
  2x Ruslan Ivanovich
  five assorted others




Edit:  Well of course I'd forgotten that you get the debriefing after death in the mission editor.     I ran it again, this time collecting all the civvies, then shooting them and myself.   I noticed that some of the civvies, while in my group, did not have names.    When they were dead they were listed as man2, woman3, etc.

And of course the multiples earlier were because my magic script was bringing them back to life ... although I hadn't realised they had been killed.   So no mysteries after all then, I was just killed.

Just seen your post.  I think you respond quite a lot and I'm impressed you've manged to change so much so quickly.      

[THobson]

First: that sounds like a lot of fun.

Second; southrons are west and northrons are east.

Third: there are two ways to get the debriefing screen.
1 Tatyana is killed before her cut scene
2. In this version - all the loons are killed.

Neither of those seems to have happened.  I am now totally confused.

Tatyana is unlikely to be targetted by anyone, not only did you set her cative but she is also a civilian (one of very few on the island)

hints "East phase 1 pass 4".  

That indicated the northrons have entered the endgame and are defening their base.  Killing Andropov is enough to cause this.

Never saw an East phase 2 message

There must be > 20 northron loons still alive

EDIT:  

Just saw this:

3 civvy kills, I believe Stamenov and his two whinees

Stamenov is west.  I guess you blew away the two women that were with him.  The only other true civis are 2x lunatic women that run up and down the island and Tatyana.  Could she have been killed?   The debriefing screen would have said something about it.

Bye the way - with all that armour early on, how did you deal with the choppers?

[macguba]

Neither of those seems to have happened.  I am now totally confused

Forget it.   I suspect what happened was that I was killed and my flatmate move the screen on when he wanted the computer for something.

On a previous run Tatyana was killed.   She was near the lodge and, having finished trashing the airfield, I was on my way south when suddenly the cutscene started and the mission ended.     Ah! I've suddenly realised what happened - the murderer must have run all the way across the island.   Edit:  no, he can't have done, the cutscene never happened.    So somebody did shoot Tatyana, though I have no idea who.   This was before she was setCaptive.   She had nobody near her so it is unlikely she was killed by a stray round or anything.   I really have no idea what happened.

I meant to ask you about the choppers.    I took Shilkas with me but for a long time they weren't a problem.   Flew over us many times without striking.     It wasn't until I got to Chapoi that they started attacking us and I took out one with a sabot and a second with a single machine gun round - it must have killed the pilot, or maybe somebody hit it simultaneously or something.

The civvy kills were two women and a policeman.    Even though Stamenov is west, I think he must show up as civvy in the debriefing.    Are there any other police on the map?

And yes, it was a lot of fun.  ;D   The tank battle at the airfield went on for ages - at over 2000m nobody, human or AI, can hit anything.   But each tank is surrounded by explosions.     Sometimes I couldn't fire for ages because I was obscured by smoke from near misses and friendly tanks muzzle smoke.

[THobson]

Tatyana's death in the cut scene is caused by a unit having a fired EH that sets her damage to 1.  He starts on an offshore island and is setPosed during the cutscene and then told to fire his gun.  In Phase 4 of defend the base all units > 500m away are setPosed to the base.  If you got the southrons down to < 5 loons and he got setposed into a battle and fired his gun before he was killed then that would explain her being killed and the mission ending while you were leaving it soak.
Sorry only just figured that out.

Even though Stamenov is west, I think he must show up as civvy in the debriefing.

I suppose he must, but other civis that are grouped with east or west show up as belonging to that side

Are there any other police on the map

Only the dead one at Vigny - err a bell is ringing in the back of my mind.  In Saint Marie or where ever I put the mine field there is a police vehicle I think.  I need to check if that is the case and if he starts off setdammage 1 or whether I leave the mine field to do its work.  That would explain why in de-bug mode the mission starts with a hint telling me someone is in the minefield.  I will check when I get home.

[GI-YO]

Im back for more!

@macca

Thanks for the compass info, I can sorta use a real one but I just point and say "that way". harder to do on a pc screen  

@thobson

I'm glad to be helping on this project. As they say 'By the community for the community'

MISSION (continued) - With all the civs safe I begin to figure out how im going to go about this. I decide to take a single man recce to the nearest village Arundy to see whats happening, now baddys here but a nice 5ton truck. Im saving and then leaving it in the road, maybe ambush the peole that occupy this small camp.more as i go.That didnt work very well. Saw one jeepMG so gunned down the crew only to be wasted by a nother jeep behind him. Tactical change. going again. I get lost on the way and miss the convoy so i take the 5 ton truck back to my lodge and get my group to load up on grenades. I head back to Arundy and await the convoy, with some more ammo i cant lose.I hop into the yellow car and try and find Arundy, miss it but chance upon the village down the raod with the petrol station. I laucnh my attack with a grende and after a few well aimed shots the small garrison is gone. I load all thier weapons into the Ural and then a small group of soldiers arrive, i hide in a building and shoot one of them and they seem to run away so i hop in the truck and speed back towards my lodge. (as you can probably tell i play these type of missions slowly and I like to prepare for proper combat so i may take a while, but at least i will destroy the baddies in one go ;D, I call it the 'old lady' combat tactics but it works).I head back towards Dourdan looking for convoys and spot one leaving as i come into view of it. The sun is coming up and the fog is clearing  . did you tell the fog to leave. I quite liked it!Im going looking for RPGs and other big guns, and to shoot up the reserves in the village.Looking at the convoy they seem to be struggling to negioate around the houses instard of going straight though the middle of them and down the road, but Ai is like that i suppose.I try to get into dourdan alone a few times but get shot.This mission make take me weeks to complete looking at my progress so far   but i shall stay at it. I might start using my sqaud to assist me, but i can see them being mown down easily. Off to work I go. more tomorow.

GI-YO

[THobson]

@GI-YO

It sounds like you play the way I do.

This mission make take me weeks to complete

That was my intention.  I want to create a place that people can go back to, not to repeat the same mission but to progress the existing one.

did you tell the fog to leave

Yes

Looking at the convoy they seem to be struggling to negioate around the houses instard of going straight though the middle of them and down the road,

Do you recall the specific place this is happeneing?

[THobson]

@macguba

The civilian police casualty I think is caused thias way.  I ahe put a police jeep in the town with the mine field and in its init line I have put setDammage 1.  This of course kills the jeep and either that or the mine field kills the police man.  I have now inertest the line:  driver this setDammage 1  as well.  I think that mighht fix it.

Tatyana:  The easiest way to avoid Tatyana being killed in the way I described earlier is either to delete her in the editor, or to simply change her name.  The cutscene on her death is triggered by a {killed} EH that is put on her in one of the initialisation scripts.

[djackl]

Do you recall the specific place this is happeneing?

I noticed it happening in La Trinite, the convoy wasn't going into the town, it was trying to go around and sorta getting confused on the way, this happened even when I didn't attack the convoy.