Better to be leader or not?

[SneakyPete]

I'm creating a mission where you are a member of a squad being inserted by chopper, but would like to be able to select different weapons in the breifing, adding to the replay value of the mission.

I don't really want to be the leader of the squad because of the exit chopper nonsense and the mission plays better if you follow orders.

Would it be pratical to start as the leader in the chopper, then let the squad join another grp with a new leader activated by a trigger before we hit the beach or is that just tooooooo unrealistic.  :-\

[Chris Death]

hmm - no offence, but i seem to reckon a big lack of
imagination of yours

Without that the seconds arrow on my watch makes half a round,
i get plenty of ideas how this could be solved.

What about:

a) start as single man in briefing, then joining the group

b) dialogue at the beginning of the mission

c) custom action menu at the beginning of the mission

d) some equipment part in a camp, before mission starts

e) chopper drops an ammo box at insertion

f) ammo boxes were already dropped before at insertion point

g) to give your idea also some sense;

You start as leader, but one guy of same rank is also in chopper.
You and this guy have some chit-chat conversation about who's
the better leader - you play with fingers: straight or not straight
he wins, now he's the leader

Or: you just tell him: OK, if you're so good, then you lead the
squad and i'm gonna lean back to have a lough

Or: etc....

~S~ CD

[456820]

or you can have a new objective t meet up with friendly resistance in a near by forest and you get a load of wepaons of them or something along them lines

[macguba]

Or just add the weapons to the chopper so you can select them while in flight ... I think that works ....

Weapon selection and squad leadership are both critical aspects of planning a mission.   Keep them very clear and separate in your head.    If you want the player to select squad weapons, why then you want your player to be squad leader, at least for a while.  If you want the leader of the squad to change during the mission then you need to incorporate that properly into the plot.

[SneakyPete]

Hmmm no offence Chris Death but... my imaginations working fine and after reading your post I imagined plenty of ways of inserting a frag grenade into a bodily orifice of yours and pulling the pin   ;D

My question was about realism,

Yes I know I can start the mission as a single man or add dialogue to the mission etc, or a million other possibilities, my imagination believe me is working fine, but I want to keep the mission real to life, but still allow the player to choose different weapons purely for the replay value.

So basically all I was asking was do the players prefer to have a choice of weapons and not be the leader or would they rather lead the squad and have the choice. (Maybe this would have been better in the missions thread) I seem to remember a few negative comments on mission reviews when the player was the squad leader.

I appreciate the helpful comments minus the sarcasm.

As for:

d) There is no camp - You start in the chopper
   
e) Chopper drops ammo box at insertion - not very realistic!
   
f) ammo boxes were already dropped before at insertion point - again not very realistic.

I imagine soldiers in the real world would take their weapons into combat not pick them up when they arrive.   I can imagine the scene now  "bagsy the M4"  LOL  ;D

Also a game of Scissor, Paper, Stone in the chopper to decide who's going to be leader whilst being entertaining is not exactly militarily correct.   (Goes away to check comref for SwitchMove "ScissorsPaperStone")  


Thanks for the constructive comments mac and 456820.  I'll try the weapons in the chopper.

And yes I'm grumpy today, sorry!

[StonedSoldier]

if your wanting to true to the military, the player could be a Sgt and have a Cpl in the squad, and just have a custom action or trigger whereby you order the Cpl to take point in effect he leads the squad and you follow, and have another action or trigger where you can retake command of your squad

Also addweaponcargo and addmagazinecargo works nicely in vehicles although for some strange reason OFP always leaves you with 2 frags when you choosing mags, so you may want to play around with that.

[SneakyPete]

I had not thought of that StonedSoldier, an excellent idea!

Thanks mate.  

[Chris Death]

Also a game of Scissor, Paper, Stone in the chopper to decide who's going to be leader whilst being entertaining is not exactly militarily correct.   (Goes away to check comref for SwitchMove "ScissorsPaperStone")  

Did you ever watch Operation Dumbo (Danny Glover & Ray Liotta made a running gag out of it)  

However - because you say: there is no camp

You asked for realism (i remember you asked also for: practical),
but anyways: It's for sure more realistic change for including
a CAMP, than having a leader change upon no reason, how
you suggested first.

You say: ammo-drop is not realistic, but you were first, who
started talking about leader change.

OK, i don't wanna start here some discussion, as this leads to
nothing but lot of beers  ;D

I just tried to offer you a few suggestions and that sarcasm,
is just sometimes my usual approach - sometimes it's there,
sometimes not (depends on how day was going).

You shouldn't also forget, that this forum is international,
and something what is funny (but not offending) here, isn't
it there. So sorry if i hurt you, but that wasn't my intension.

At least i tried give you 7 different solutions, which should
show my will to help and not to make only NON-CONSTRUCTIVE
suggestions, like you let me appear at the end.

~S~ CD

[SneakyPete]

Don't worry about it Chris Death my sense of humours returning, honestly I'm just a little short with people today!  Your advice was appreciated and my bad if I misinterpreted your comments.   :cheers:

I know a leader change is also unrealistic, but was prepared to sacrifice that one thing to allow the player to select weapons.