Possible new mission/campaign

[MajorGrunt]

Below are some thoughts on a new mission/campaign.  It is a long post 

1.   Little or no intelligence at start. 
2.   Small group - no more than three to begin with.
3.   Completely behind enemy lines.
4.   Opposition approximately 500 - battalion (Includes police, "visiting Russians", pro Russian insurgents.
5.   Locate and liberate an undercover agent and his information.
6.   Plot will change over time.
7.   Team has to stick together.  Radioman, decoder, leader.  All three needed (must stay) alive to communicate with HQ.   
8.   There is an anti-Russian underground on the island but well hidden and suspicious.  Most people are very scared and will not cooperate.
9.   Multiple endings?  Get the agent and leave, fight your way out, or completely defeat the indigenous troops. 

Scenario:  The major superpowers are no longer engaged in a cold war but they are still in competition for resources and maintaining some advantage over each other.  A small independent island nation near Russia and formally a part of the Soviet Union has discovered it has a scarce mineral deposit of value to the two major powers.  Both powers have been trying to arrange an exclusive deal with the local government.  However, the local police are in the process of assumed control of the island and the Russians have rushed military volunteers with limited equipment to assist the island maintain order at the request of the local police commandant.  The since the current island government has been very weak and unable to adequately control the police, a local underground has formed to attempt to establish a stable democracy. The arrival of Russian troops has increased the membership in the underground but also the restrictions on its activities have increased.  The US has had an agent on the island for some time attempting to make contact with a member of the local underground movement and to keep tabs on the activity.  Communiqués from the agent have stopped. 

Three Navy Seals have been selected to go to the island on a covert misson and locate the agent and if he is still alive, extract him and his information.  The Seals will carry nothing that would identify them as agents for the US.  The team consists of a leader, a radioman and a coder/decoder.  All three are always required for communication so the team must all stay alive.  They will be delivered by submarine off the coast and they will swim ashore with special aqualungs that will not be sufficient to get them back.  Once they locate the agent they will need to find some way to rendezvous with the sub after making appropriate radio contact to arrange the pickup.  Since the world situation is rapidly changing the three must be prepared for the case that the US and other world powers may make overt military operations against the current junta and their Russian supporters. 
There is no intelligence on the strength and location of either the Russian or indigenous forces nor on the location or identification of the underground.  The only thing the SEALs have is the last location of the island agent but that information is two weeks old.  The only arms and equipment the SEALs have are Russian. Each has a Bison, a suppressed pistol, night vision goggles and the radioman has Russian radio equipment.   

Play: 
1.   The three SEALs have to make their way to the last known location of the US agent.  They don't have GPS since they don't have the Russian version of it, and somehow I would like to shut off the "Report Position" so that no team member can tell what grid he is in - no navigation cheating.  That may not be possible.  But I want the team to navigate by compass and map only.
2.   Of course the agent is not at the last known location.  But there are clues as to where he might be.  The team will have to find these and properly interpret them.  All the while moving at night in unknown territory with patrols on the roads, in towns and on the parameter of bases or staging areas.   Since the current authorities do not feel an invasion is imminent, there are no beach fortifications or regular patrols.  However, there are random beach patrols and occasionally civilians on the beach at night.  Moving during the day will be risky. 
3.   The location pointed to by the first clues will be empty also but there will be clues to the most recent location. 
4.   Once the agent is found, he provides what partial intell he has on troop strength and last locations.  He also has information about the underground but it is incomplete.  He has the names and locations of five potential contacts but probably only two are real underground and three are double agents.  The team needs to figure out how to tell which is which. 
5.   Once the intell on the troops is sent to HQ, the agents receive additional objectives.  The political situation is worsening and armed interdiction may happen.  But HQ wants the location of any and all air defenses on the island.  HQ recommends that the team attempt to contact the underground since they might already know this information. 
6.   After a partial list of the air defenses are reported back to HQ, the team is advised that an assault is being planned at three different points and the team must pick one of these and attempt to clear the air defenses in that area.  They will need to steal the munitions to do this. 
7.   After the selected area is cleared, the team learns that the political situation has changed again and the West has decided not to intervene militarily.  Reprisals against the islanders occur and security around installations increases. 
8.   The islanders maintain contact with the outside world with several radios and a satellite phone exchange (The towers and transmitters for all the radio stations are at one location.)  There is also radar mounted on the highest point of the island that would give warnings of any air or sea intrusions into their space.  HQ thinks that if these three installations can be destroyed almost simultaneously, then an invasion would be possible and the island military would not have a chance to call for outside help.  Of course another beach area would also have to be cleared of AA.   The initial team will be supplemented with two additional three-man teams and re-supplied with munitions for these tasks. 
9.   If these tasks are successful, then an invasion will take place and the remainder of the mission will be to eliminate the opposing military forces on the island.  The SEAL team will be used for hit and run strikes behind the lines as required.  All new objectives will be sent by radio to the first team leader.  The Rules of Engagement (ROE) will change throughout the mission and only near the end will the teams be granted free-fire orders. 

I am not at all sure if all of this can be included in a mission.  Also there are numerous details to work out to polish the various stages of the mission.  Since it is a Long Range Patrol and a Long Range Recon Patrol type of mission it may not be of interest to many ofp players.  (There will be lots of sneaking and not much run and gun activity.) 

In terms of multiple endings they could find the agent quickly and decide not to check in with HQ and just leave the island or I thought that perhaps the island agent could randomly be captured or killed and then the team would choose to leave the island and meet the sub.  A homing device would have to be provided so that they could locate the sub once they are at sea.  The third ending would be to check in with HQ and get the additional objectives. 

All this would likely require new scripts and perhaps some new addons.  I would also like to find a way to temporarily disable the compass in certain areas of the island where there might be large iron ore deposits, just like what happened to us in Alaska.  Then the team would have to depend on the stars, sun and moon. 

I have reviewed this in part with thobson who has provided good input and advice.  He feels that many of the things I want to do would be best done or only done in a campaign since status changes are not readily facilitated in a single mission.  It is not too hard to see that this mission/campaign is envisioned as a pre-Abandoned Armies scenario.  In fact the last play could see the SEALs getting away from the island as the police (Stamenov) start to take over completely and more Russians come in to reinforce Andropov and his Russian contingent.  The NATO or US forces would have landed on the island just before the SEALS decide to escape. 

However, with ArmA supposedly on the horizon this may well be too ambitious since most folks will be turning their attention to ArmA.  Any thoughts or comments?  Please note that I am an absolute novice at mission writing.

[Patrick Reckitt]

I really do like that idea.

At beginning you could say that the agent has been comprimised, and has gone into hiding, but the us has no information about where he is hiding so until you find the agent it would be a race against time to find out where the hell he is before the russians do. Personly i would have thought that Nogova would be a good setting for this. Nice big area plently of space to hide particuarly in the mountainus region to the north

[MajorGrunt]

Thanks for the reply Patrick.  Nogova is a good idea as is the idea to have the opfors hunting for the agent as well.  From my limited knowledge of the mission editor, that might be an additional complication but it sure would enhance the interest from the very beginning.  I hadn't picked an island yet but I will look at Nogova.   I will have someone staying with me this summer who is rather knowledgeable about the ofp editor so I may get some actual work done.  I will need to do a complete storyboard and decide whether it can be a mission or if it must be a campaign.

[SgtSlick]

Not everyone would like to play a game where they just move around all the time. have some situations where a firefight is inevitable like:

1) crime takes place near your location and the police think you did it.
2) drunken civilian fires on you after trespassing
3) small Russian patrol locates the agent and hold him hostage just as you arrive.

other alternate endings could be:

1) the underground could be penetrated by Russian special ops. and you end up arrested (blowing up a political storm)
2) HQ calls off the mission and cancels all objectives after they find out that you have been detected, but you are oblivious.


things like that. but overall it sounds good. but you will have to have more people than three. I would say four:

1) Player
2) Assistant
3) RTO
4) Reg Soldier

(now in days the radios have their own computer that decodes the radio message)

[Patrick Reckitt]

A marksman or demo man perhaps instead of a reg?

[MajorGrunt]

Thanks for the reply and suggestions Frank.  I have thought about random problems like coming ashore right on a beach party or encountering some drunken policemen on the beach.  Since this starts as a covert op, the ROE (Rules of Engagement) would have to be something like you can fire only if fired upon until such a time as the agent is either located or it is determined that he is dead.   Any of the three things you mentioned or more could be triggered random within specified locations.  One of the problems I have in my mind is how to dress or configure the operatives.  I don't quite see them as going around in black op gear with weapons at the ready.  I like some way to make them appear as workmen or the like with their gear stored in bags.  At least until some point when it might become clear that the operatives are on the island. 

The additional endings would be good, however, I think too much complexity will definitely make this a campaign and not a mission and new addons would be required.   That wouldn't be a bad thing but it would simply be a bigger task for me to undertake. 

Four members would make a full fire team and might just make it harder to move covertly.  Precisely controlling the OFP AI can sometimes be a real pain!  I understand about the built in encryption gear in the current radios, however, I was attempting to use older Russian or local civilian gear so if it was lost or captured it would not point to American agents.   Secondly, with 3 people needed for communication, the entire team would have to be taken and compromised before any commo spoofing could take place.   My idea of the specialized roles was to require that the entire team survive in order to maintain communication. 

Patrick, each SEAL is fully trained in explosives and as designated marksmen so any of the 3 could fill these roles with the right equipment.  They would have to get this equipment from local supplies. 

Thanks again for the input.  It is very good to have others sharpen ideas. 
 

[Patrick Reckitt]

I would presume that the SEALs woul be dressed in resistance camo then.

[SgtSlick]

well, here is an idea to start off the campaign:

Instead of four SEALS dressed in full gear, have their equipment the same as modern Russian gear. Reason for this is because if you have older gear, your missions would be more difficult (in real life). Batteries will go like crazy on such old equipment, and what would happen if any parts failed or broke. If you had modern Russian equipment you could just bribe a low officer to fork over a replacement part or raid a base covertly, just taking a selected part. You would have to keep rendezvous with other allied forces minimum. So just asking another sub to send in a spare would be very risky.

To start off the campaign you could have the men land on the beach as fishing civilians and have their cover "We were fishing and our motor started to sound funny so we beached here to look it over." In real life, it would be a smart idea to do some fishing (pays off to be a spook  ;D), it would allow a longer "cooling time" and make the story more believable.

Also, getting explosives or potentially explosive material from locals would raise a "red flag" and compromise the mission. So it would be better if you would be able to have a munitions cache somewhere. It could be submerged offshore, buried, or just hidden in your sleeping quarters. but the most important thing to do is to keep it hidden, and somewhere safe from people that will see you if you make a run to get more ammo or equipment.

[MajorGrunt]

Frank and Patrick:  You guys area great and starting to get the old gray cells (and I do mean old) warming up!  I thought I detected a bit of the old spook in your earlier thoughts - I came from that arena a long time ago (60's and 70's).  That is one motive behind this original idea - I want to try and make a realistic as possible covert mission that in the end adds a bit of fantasy with some run and gun sequences.  I still read The Jane's Reports and get my copy of Eye Spy to keep myself partially up to snuff. 

On with the reply.  The Dress for the team is a problem.  If I use Russian, local police, resistance, or local civilian dress then I have lot of other problems such as the right papers, being able to explain why I was in a given area as well as having a proper cover story.  Plus the editor doesn't give me many options for selecting the various characters and once you select a character you have to assign their relationship to the other characters.  Choose wrong and your player gets shot right off the bat.  In reality trying to act like a Russian or policeman or local has lots of potential danger so I was thinking perhaps of making the SEALs appear as off-islanders, perhaps as you suggest Frank as fishermen, who come to the island looking for work or fishing the local waters.  Fishermen would have radios and other gear in which could be hidden various items.  This way initially we could keep them from being considered as hostiles from the get go.   I am not entirely sure how the Russian army works, but I do know there are ways to steal things from supply areas so that the lost would be a long time in being detected, if ever detected.  That is of course until they are used!  Then the story changes any way. But having caches is also a good idea.    (Sailors and Marines among the worlds best scroungers!)

As for the radio I still want to op for the civilian type transceiver, perhaps significantly modified under the covers for UUHF satellite frequencies but still using batteries that could be obtained locally.  Since very low power is need for the satcom frequencies, the batteries would last a fairly long time, the antenna is very short and inconspicuous and the rigs are small.  Plus they are easily disabled if it appears they may fall into the wrong hands.  With the power being low and the frequency high, the units would have a small effective ground range; hence comit (communication intelligence) detection would not be very easy.  The alphanumeric encryption might be handled with a modified PDA carried by the encoder/decoder that would plug into the radio in an innocuous AUX or earphone socket on the radio.  Having the radios also function as real civilian radios would aid the cover.  It would take a pretty good techint group to determine the functions of the radio and PDA and they would not likely be on a remote island.

This is fun working out these details.  I think I will start a storyboard, assuming this will have to be a campaign to deal with the complexity.  There may not be many OFPers who would not understand or appreciate the nuances that we have considered for the sake of realism.  A long "no shoot" time in the story line might also turn some people off but I sure would like to see what kind of campaign could be made. 

[Wolfrug]

Wow. This really, really, really sounds good to me! Some (not so) minor thoughts :

I realise you're only in the storyboard stage yet, but you should seriously start to consider the limitations and potential of the OFP engine. A campaign would be quite profitable, I believe, for a number of reasons:

Eye candy. I cannot stress this enough. Ever played Conspiracies? I never played past the first bunch of...err...area-things, admittedly. Mostly since I'm not that good at German and I apparently missed some large slice of storyline, and I wasn't much for OFP-approximation of zombies. BUT : the surroundings were simply amazingly beautiful. Of course, I'm not saying you should invest quite that much (=hundred of mb's of addons) into eye candy, but by making smaller missions you can add more placeables and units and such without risking too much lag.

Eye candy is vital, together with good voice acting and camera scripting (a.k.a. Abandoned Armies) to keep interest in the plot, when there's no shooting going on. Remember that while the player isn't engaging the enemy, blowing up stuff or playing soldier, you're basically scripting a movie. OFP isn't made for a relationship drama or love story or 2001 Space Odyssey. It IS made for war movie, spook thriller and action however. Which means that whenever there isn't explosions or special effects or cool gadgets being showed on screen, you have to have some pretty hard-boiled dialogue, good atmosphere and fascinating plot to keep the "viewer" interested.

Also, the original plot you outlined (going from a few overt actions with a lot of sneaking about undetected, into full-scale SEAL behind-the-lines sabotaging work) sounds like it could have elements in it for everyone. The question is where you want to put the focus : on the initial sneaking-about, or the later more "common" OFP-gameplay elements.

I suggest you build up a strong storyline. Add a lot of characters; resistance members, agents, double-agents, adverseries, allies. Develop the original trio's character as well, make each an individual, so keeping them alive isn't just a matter of gameplay, but something the player actually WANTS. Ergo, make 'em more than just that stupid AI bastard running around 5 meters behind you. Do this through the initial phase, make sure to add as many dynamic elements as you can : what you say or do or how well you do it determines factors in later stages of the campaign. I.e. you let a resistance leader die instead of compromising your cover, and later it's revealed that man could have given you vital info on an enemy encampment you're supposed to scout out, as SEAL operatives.

Basically, you could combine the two parts of the mission into a harmonic whole that all cadres of OFP players could enjoy. The initial "roleplaying" or "adventure" styled missions could be passed the easy and fast way, with a minimum of extracurricular activity. For instance, HQ could leave it up to your judgement of the current situation if wether or not you should try to infiltrate the town by night and attend the secret underground gathering you've heard of (thus maybe gaining valuable information/aquaintances, against the risk of getting caught by town police/Russian patrols), or head off into the night and gather the intel yourself.

Wouldn't it be great if you'd find that your actions could change the entire course, or ending, of the campaign? That that one captured and tortured professor emeritus of Lipany University you rescued was elected president when everything was over? Or that because you were compromised too early that one time, everything escalated into nuclear warfare, the last Nogovan Times ever printed having the words "US NAVY SEALS identified as the saboteurs!". Or any number of alternate endings.


Yes, I know. WAAAY too much work. But I've always been one to think that you should aim high rather than low. As long as you can reach at least a couple of your goals, you've probably gone further than most. And hey : Armed Assault is still some ways off. And besides, scripts, recorded voices, general storyline, dialogue, character concepts etc are easy enough to port over to Arma. So don't despair.

I'll be following this project with interest.

/Wolfrug out.

[SgtSlick]

That is a good idea, make the characters "round" (in literacy terms). You could have a guy in your team that has the "spooks" every once in a while. In formation he might just whistle, stating he's advancing. Then run a few meters ahead, stop, search the area then return to formation. even go as far as changing his emotion (mimic) to show he is scared or frustrated. Little things like that could make a big difference. make the characters active parts of the storyline. Not like "what the player says goes" attitude, but have ever so often a situation where the team thinks they should do something else instead of what you decided. put options like "abort the mission", and "refuse/skip mission". it will add a whole lot of realism to the game play.

A good point that the campaign implements is the local newspaper. it could open for more possibilities. for instance: police may be in a stand off with someone near your objective, or police could be "cracking down on crack" where drug raids are going on, celebrations could be planned (good for cover), Russian generals could be quoted as leaving for a family event. the possibilities are there, its just the matter of how much are you willing?

[MajorGrunt]

I but started to dig a hole and now perhaps I am making a canal!  To say that I enjoy the comments you guys have made would be an understatement.  Wolfrug, Frank and Patrick you have been a great encouragement and help.  I will start the storyboard soon and I will share the initial results with you all.  For now I think the campaign will be called The Fox and the Hound.  (This was an old game found in Egyptian tombs.)  One of the first steps of the storyboard will be to flesh out the characters in the opening missions and continue to add characters as require. 

While doing the storyboard I will need to attempt to learn as much about the editor's capabilities and techniques as a seventy-year-old grunt can learn.  A young man from Kazakhstan will be staying with us for the summer has much experience with OFP and I will attempt to use his youthful knowledge as best as I can.  I am also a friend of the authors of Too Young To Die so they may help me as well. That help would have to be long distance since they are in Italy.  (I'm in Texas.)  I have no experience with Editor, making skins, addons or cut scenes so there is significant learning ahead of me.  I will try and borrow as much as I can from what others have already done. 

Wofrug's thought about the campaign focus is a good one.  I will have to think about that as well as of all of the possible endings.  I would like it to story that would grow realistically from the as the plot unfolds; with as many "Oh, my gosh!" moments as possible where the player would have to think about what to do next.  I have always wanted to have the missions of an ofp campaign to smoothly follow one another where if one person gets killed he is not in following missions and whatever the player has accumulated at the end of one mission carries over into the next.  All this may not be possible but I want to try. 

As I development the storyboard I will keep in touch with you and solicit comments and suggestions.  I truly appreciate everything you have contributed so far. 

[Patrick Reckitt]

How is this going along?