(Review Completed) [SP] Combat Episode 1

[mcnorth]

Updated today with version 1.03. The following changes have been made.

1.  Reduced the size of the patrols at the ruins

2.  Added a radio notice when the hidden objective is revealed. Hidden objective is also revealed sooner.

3.  Added a radio notice that a chopper is headed your way.

4.  Briefing now lets the player know the soldiers needing rescue are on the 2nd floor.

5.  Added a suggestion about how to approach the ruins.

6.  Mission now starts with all units fully equipped. Can still be changed at start up if player is inclined.

7.  Fixed two links in the briefing.

8.  Added a couple of save game points.

9.  Slowed down the BMP that shows up around the ruins.

[_spitfire]

Nice one,

No problems encountered.  I like the freedom of how to complete it amongst other things.

The enemy patrols are all in wedge formation and moving very quickly even before they are aware of my presence.  Maybe you could slow them down and set them to SAFE until an alarm has been triggered.

Also liked the chopper inserting enemy soldiers.(attempting to in my case, I shot it down.)  Perhaps another one later on in the mission would be nice or even a patrol by an attack chopper or two.

I really like longer missions and I came across a proper officer in between yankee and zulu.  Maybe you could make this guy another objective.

Good job.  Can't wait for episode 2.

[LCD]

ill test dis mision 2day hopefully

LCD OUT

[LCD]

ok run it again.....

comments

1) da 1st objective is not so bad now... try usin da allowfleeing command if ur not already (fin in da comref) cuz im not sure if da last 1 was fleeing or just tryin 2 flank us
2) i still think u shud hide da radio msgs till da other squad is resqued... so no player just run away nd leave em dere
3) u have 2 savepoints 2 close... lewave just da 1 b4 da chopper
4) da chutes parachuted 2 far from me so i actually didnt look 4 em nd continued... makin em nice eyecandy but prety useless
5) da BMP came really late into battle dis time (actually suprisin me b4 enterin da truck... killed 1 squadm8 b4 i got it
6) i think u shud add a medic 2 da friendlies waitin 4 us... cud help ppl dat lost deirs (i did 1ce)
7)u have extra space in 2 radio option "LZ  yankee" (triger radio bravo)
8 ) dis time i decided 2 go around nd went thro wilderness 2 LZ nd got on a cliff disembarked from truck but cudnt convince my soldiers 2 go down cliff w/ me... so i went back alone nd finished da mision... i think u shud make me wait 4 em or somin

no outro

all in all its quite fun mision

LCD OUT

[mcnorth]

@ _spitfire:

Can you give me some insight how things played out around the ruins? Did you assault it or stealth it? Too easy? Too hard?

The enemy patrols are all in wedge formation and moving very quickly even before they are aware of my presence.  Maybe you could slow them down and set them to SAFE until an alarm has been triggered.

That makes sense. They should be casually patroling until contact is made.

Perhaps another one later on in the mission would be nice

There is another one that triggers when the player goes into a different section of the map. Maybe I need to move the trigger so that it's more likely to get used.

I really like longer missions and I came across a proper officer in between yankee and zulu.  Maybe you could make this guy another objective.

There are a number of roadblocks like this one on the map consisting of an enemy squad with BRDM, an officer with driver and UAZ. Actually there are a lot of targets of opportunity, many guarding boats and other ways off the island. I'm afraid if I make any one of them another objective it will steer the player to a specific LZ and keep the misison from playing in a variety of different ways.

Thanks for your insights.


@ LCD:

1) Allowfleeing at 0 is one of the many ways I tried to avoid the last guy hiding. Another way is that he follows a script that gets the position of the player and sends him there every so often. There is also another script that continually sets his behaviour to aware, on the chance that he switches to danger or stealth when he hides. I'm really hoping that problem is solved for certain. It's been a headache.

2) I tried messing with hiding the radio messages. I tried to set it where the one for Xray would only show when you were close to Xray, and the same for Yankee and Zulu. The radio then had blank spots above or between the call for extract message and the RTB message which I thought looked kind of crappy so I left it alone. I'm sure there's a way to do it and make it look clean with scripting but I take forever at that sort of thing. As for leaving the guys in the ruins maybe a stripped of rank and admonishment ending. I really want to leave the player with as many choices as possible, saving his own ass and leaving the others to die being one of them.

3) Agreed, the first savepoint is a goner.

4) The para drops use a random factor for getting your position and dropping. Sometimes closer, sometimes farther away. (within limits) In any case the dropped squad should assemble and then hunt you down but It sounds like that didn't happen unless you just out ran them. I'll test this a bit more to see if they are doing as they should. Thanks for the tip.

5) The BMP is on a pretty long patrol circuit. He isn't sitting off somewhere then triggered into action which may explain why he surprised you. To me that's good news because he's less predictable which is just what I wanted.

6) Excellent idea with the medic!

7) Good catch.

Steep terrain is a pain in the ass in this game.

No outro - I'm not doing those yet. I thought I was pretty lucky to get this far. 

Thanks for your input.

mcnorth clear

[mcnorth]

version 1.04 upped on June 2, 2007.

changes are as follows.

1. Patrols are set to safe so they don't act like they are alerted before they even see you.
2. Deleted a save game point. It was pretty pointless.
3. One of the units needing rescue is now a medic.
4. Corrected a text error in one of the radio commands.
5. Radio notifications are no longer text, now they are voice.
6. Added another enemy paradrop that you may or may not encounter depending on how you play the mission.
7. Added a US weapons cache. (I think I did that in 1.03 but forgot to mention it)

cheers

[Cheetah]

Combat Episode 1

Package

Please add a nice picture for advertising (review picture).

Overview

Looks good.

Intro

Some lag on my PC. Like the content.

Briefing

Fine.

Mission

The radio sound warning the player of the incoming chopper needs text. Don't know why there is a 5th radio option "kill 1st squad"? Why would the player use it?

No voiceover of the text at the extraction. Radio triggers are set at "repeat", which means that you can call the chopper in multiple times (well, you get the radio conv. a few times).

Nice optional objective. Adds up to the difficulty and possibilities. Good that I could find an Ural at a village called Tagdal (or something like it).

45 minutes - 15160 points

Outro

None. I suggest that you think of one, it's worth it.

Overall

Sorry for the short report, but I couldn't think of more points and wasn't in the mood to write a whole report on my movements. In short: 1st obj without casualties, optional one - headone fight - lost one guy, evac at Yankee.

The mission feels as if almost complete and ready for review, well done.

[mcnorth]

Please add a nice picture for advertising (review picture).

Is there any criteria for size, borders, etc.?

Don't know why there is a 5th radio option "kill 1st squad"? Why would the player use it?

Damn!!! I was supposed to disable that. I use things like that to bounce around the misisson and test various elements. (Kill off a squad, warp to different places, etc.)

Radio triggers are set at "repeat", which means that you can call the chopper in multiple times (well, you get the radio conv. a few times).

This is intentional. If you call him in and he starts taking ground fire you can send him back, kill the enemies then call him in again. If He's on his way and another patrol jumps you before he gets there, you can bug out if necessary, RTB the chopper and then call him to another LZ.

Re: Outro
Good advice. I'll give it some consideration. Back to camera stuff. Ugh.

[mcnorth]

1.05 (interim) just upped. There was a stupid mistake in 1.04. Other changes are as follows.

1.  Included a screenshot in the package.

2.  Added radio text to radio voice overs where it was missing.

3.  Added radio voice overs to the evac chopper communications.

4.  Disabled some cheats that I use for testing but forgot and left in the last version.

    (still no outro. Just drawing a blank on ideas)

[Cheetah]

Is there any criteria for size, borders, etc.?

For size I recommend 256x256 px, take a look at the reviewed missions board to see what pictures are used (for example how the default one looks).

[johnnyboy]

McNorth, I've been giving v1.05 a whirl.  Here's some more feedback:

1. Still dig that Quicksilver tune.  This time in the intro, the defenders toward the end don't fire much, if at all (eventhough the ambience fire is there).

2. I like the new radio voice overs. 

3. Not sure about need to tell player about inbound enemy chopper.  I prefer surprises, but its no big deal either way.

4. Since I was hinted to stealth my way to the ruins, I chose to leave my squad (minus a few dead), in the trees just south of tee road intersection south of ruins.  I proceeded to trees behind ruins, and timed entry to ruin to when BMP wouldn't see me.  Still had trouble here.  Often spotted by many of the patrollers, but when truly careful, could make it upstairs unspotted.  Good tense moments when patrol in column formation walks between ruins right by the front.  When too impatient, I would try to shoot my way out, which is dumb.  Using cover of ruins, you can take down many opfor, but there's too many.  Best to wait til mostly clear, and order new friends out (after stocking up on silenced pistol, etc.).

5. Don't like the teleporting of the guys to the back, as it breaks the immersion.  But I understand your problem.  I am familiar with that building class, and trying to get AI to move through the building to the rear on their own may be impossible.  I think they only like exiting via the front, which would expose them to fire.  This is a good mission, so this isn't a show stopper.

6. Would be good for ruins guys to greet you on arrival upstairs.  "We're sure glad to see you, man...this place is crawlin' with commies!".  Or, "There's only ONE of you?  Oh man, we are SO screwed!".  Currently, these guys are statues.

7. Unfortunately, my original squad I left at the tee, got into heavy firefights while I was at the ruins.  Even with several retries, and sending them further south, they kept getting wiped out.  Probably better to leave them at edge of woods immediately south of ruins, but I didn't want to go back that far save-game-wise, so I lost them.

8. Took my new 3 pals thru the woods west.  Then across open ground to next spot of trees, etc.  Great fun covering them, and bringing them to cover, then having them cover my next move forward.  Dropped the BMP, lost a man, and commandeered a UAZ with MG.  This gave me mobility to haul ass.

9. I chose to ignore LZ Xray, and head to Yankee.  Jammed to lip of Passo San Andres.  I dismounted to try and scout over rim and look down road thru pass, as I figured it was a chokepoint and logical place for guards.  But never got to scount, because second chopper with paras arrived.  There's only 3 of us, so I didn't risk engaging and decided to blaze down pass road to Yankee LZ.  Soon as we hit bottom of pass I took a hard left to lower terrain by water (good move as there was a squad or two on road).  Saved game.

10.  Had a helluva time taking out squads at Yankee with 3 guys.  Best approach was to leave gunner in UAZ toward the beach so he was below line of sight from road.  The medic and I then covered different directions, and I used commander view to see when enemy would come over rise at us, and direct fire.  After many re-tries, finally took them all, and called for evac.  ARMA AI is quite good at flanking!

11.  Evac chopper at Yankee pissed me off.  This has been an intense run-for-your-life mission, and I'm ready to evac.   Often the chopper never landed, he circled and split.  Twice he touched down, and the took off right before I could get on board.  Once I was able to get on board, but he left my medic, and then flew into some trees.  So Yankee never really worked out for me.  Note that he was taking some light gun-fire part of the time (probably from squad at next rise to the west on the road).

12.  OK, time to try for Zulu instead.  Now I blaze west on road (leaving Yankee squads un-engaged) to find a squad just over the rise by the road.  Surprise them and drive right through them (but take fire and lose my gunner).  Rip past the BMP coming up the road (he never fires on me), and on into next populated town with the chopper.  Get ripped up here.

13.  Tried taking this a few times more stealthily, once from overlooking coastal mtn top, but sharpshooter AI got me.

So I haven't beaten this yet, but I do really like the mission.  It covers alot of ground, has a definite "on-the-run" intensity I like, and you have total freedom how to approach it.  I was only really bummed by the Yankee chopper extraction not working out.  Perhaps because he was taking some fire (i.e., I didn't secure the LZ well enough).  Any hint on how to get Yankee chopper to extract me properly?

And how about some ammo in the chopper's MG so I can help fight our way out?

Bottom line is this is enjoyable and addictive mission.  My time is limited, so I wouldn't have persevered if I didn't find it worthwhile.

Speaking of time, how is the house coming along? 

I understand about writer's block for outros...that's the only thing holding me up finishing Last Tango in Bagango....

[mcnorth]

johnnyboy,

First and foremost, my apologies for taking so long to get back to you. I don't know if email notification failed or it was lost among an overwhelming  amount of garbage email.

Quicksilver did some pretty cool stuff (some weird stuff too) and is probably best known for Fresh Air. Strange how some music is timeless.

I don't know how to account for various approaches to the ruins. Personally stealth is the only consistent way I can accomplish that objective. LCD on the other hand just blows in, kills everything then heads out of town in the truck. (Incidentally there are a number of trucks scattered about)

I like your idea about interaction when meeting the guys at the ruins. In fact I think that is a shit hot detail that needs to be added.

With exception of the paras all of the patrols pretty much stick to or around the road system. It just didn't seem realistic for patrols in an occupied territory to beat the bushes unless they are in pursuit. Consequently you can leave your squad hunkered down in a brushy area and they'll survive until you return, provided they don't try to kill someone.

Your experience with the evac at Yankee is something I spent countless hours on. The bottom line is that the LZ has to be clear. If one of the road patrols engages the chopper he will abandon his assigned task and do other stupid things. The mini gun ammo was removed in one of the many efforts to prevent him from deviating but, like everything else, it didn't work. I should add it back. The chopper can be rtb'ed if the LZ isn't clear and recalled after it is. So if he's engaged he can be sent back to base, the player can either kill the enemy squad or let it pass and then recall the chopper. I just couldn't find any way to get that chopper to land in a hail of bullets.

The house (actually it's a duplex) is finally past the paperwork stage. There was a 7 week holdup on design which is an agonizing loss of time when you're talking about Alaska's short construction season. The footing should be ready to pour by day's end and hopefully the stem wall a week later. Getting out of the dirt and onto a deck will do wonders for my mental outlook. No ifs ands or buts, the shell has to be up, closed in and finished on the outside before the snow falls. For one guy that's quite a lot of work. So I hope you'll understand why I don't get to updating this mission for quite awhile.

I played Last Tango some time ago and thought you had some excellent creative ideas. The guy in the outhouse caught me by surprise. I missed the tell tale clue. It's those little things that seem to make a mission stand out from the norm. Nice job!

[schuler]

I've got this one, please mark as in progress. 
cheers schuler

Review Completed].

Feel free to start the after-review discussion.