Guns of ParaisoPackageA zipped file with both the .pbo (mission file) and a readme would be nice. The readme should include any general information, if you want to be even more perfect, add a few advertising pictures.
OverviewNone. But I know that you'll include one in the next (?) version of this mission if you're going to update it. As an overview is really easy to make yet it adds a lot.
IntroNone. It is low on the priority list as this is your second mission. I encourage you to add the intro cutscene to any upcoming missions though.
BriefingThe map is a bit crowded, do you know that it's possible to hide objectives and markers in the beginning and add them while objectives get completed? I always find that a good way to prevent the map from getting crowded. I do at least advice you to hide the markers in the beginning and let them appear during the mission after certain objectives have been completed.
You might want to check the briefing for missing spaces (especially around text to map markers) and things like PAPPA -> PAPA.
The mission sounds both long and interesting, I hope the initial walk won't be as boring as I think it will be. And taking the city of Paraiso could bring up problems too, well I'm eager to look and be surprised how you keep it interesting.
The notes section is fine, with modest advertising on a seperate page. I'd change the squad to: #1 leader, #2 MG, #3,4 Grenadier, #5 Medic. No weapon selection in the briefing, but I read that we have an ammo crate at the start of the mission which is fine in MP missions although a weapon selection wouldn't have hurt either (instead of the crate).
MissionMissed the crate, it was probably on the island we started at, I immediatly jumped in the boat with my men. Looks a bit silly to let us drive the 200m in the boat only to get off our small island. You might as well let us start on the mainland, well I think we started on a small island.
Anyway, upon hitting the beach the Terminator thema kicks in and we move towards our first waypoint, about 3,4 km NW. Hopefully we'll get a lot of entertainment during that trip. The waypoints leads me to the M113 I have to board at the end of the mission, please add a waypoint for every objective that makes it easier for some players. Although it's not a biggy for me, could have as well turned off waypoints in my opinion. But I suggest that you keep them displayed.
I'm a bit closer towards the artillery position, I'm at a small army outpost at Gd61, +/- 2,6 km from the M113 at Paraiso. Which means that I've walked about 1km on 4x speed without anything going on. Not too bad, but I hope that there will be some action soon. In MP you always have other to keep it funny, in SP it's a lot harder to achieve that with AI teammates
. You might help a bit by adding some music if you know for sure that there won't happen anything. Or have some hint telling you that there might be civilian vehicles at Geraldo. By doing that the player has another option to get close to the guns in less time.
My WP distance is 2,1 km, I'm actually getting pretty close to the marker now and it just turned light. Well done, keep the player in the dark until the action as I like the day
. Weird though to see the AI still wearing the NVG, not a problem though, you don't really have to fix that.
1700m and I spot the first enemy, not bad but I recommand adding a combat patrol about halfway to keep the player busy and aware. Now, I was glad to have the 4x speed option. The sniper gets killed fast, you might want to consider to remove the netting and sandbags near him because the only thing they do is to make him die easier (easier to spot). After proceeding about 50m from the killed sniper I spot two bunkers. Seems like my target, let's go in and blow some.
Damn, they are decoys. Sadly, I can't follow the 2nd voice so I don't know what to do. You might want to consider updating the objectives, show a hint "Objectives Updated" and change the objStatus. Nice idea though to have the decoys here, but to make things clear I suggest that you add radio texts as well. Do the same with the Foxtrot-go-into-action-voice please.
There's a cessna flying overhead but I don't know what it's doing so I'm going straight for Paraiso now. Upon doing that I hear that we've eliminated the artillery, which we haven't. Or was it me hearing stuff that isn't there?
Anyway, we are on the move towards Paraiso now. First, I come across a small patrol guarding a red cross BMP, they are easily taken care off. As my teammates have trouble getting of the mountain I decide that I can use the BMP to squash some enemies. Hey, I have to compensate the lack of firepower with something. After a bit of driving through Paraiso my teammates got into action probably from the mountains overlooking the city, and I made contact with a friendly unit fighting the SLA.
The only thing I had to do was kill three lonely soldiers, I saw some dead bodies, both sides so there have been a number of skirmishes. Anyway, the objective was completed when I killed the third SLA soldier and a M113 came to my position. Now I'm sure, those must be computer voices, would be better to have real voices? I'm sure that there are enough people out here at the OFPEC forums to do some voice overs for you. Just create a new topic at the recruitment board.
Two teammates got killed, #4,5 probably from long range fighting. Two mates got stuck at the mountain, they never managed to get to the town. They remained at the wooden targets. Don't know if it was luck, but the M113 moved after about thirty seconds without the two others in the M113. So the mission actually got completed and I didn't have to worry about getting it completed with those two stupid teammates stuck at the mountain.
What I suggest is to look carefully at the fight in Paraiso. It could've been improved so that the player actually gets the feeling that there are heavy skirmishes between us and the OPFOR. But, more important, be sure that there won't be a last loon search. Mine was a short one, you could prevent this by not having the combat in the city but outside at an outpost guarding the road towards it or something like that. This prevents fights in the city and thus makes the last loon hunt less of a problem.
About the objectives, none got completed. I, and probably most people, would like to see objectives getting ticked off on the briefing. Oh, and you can replace the debriefing title, now " Ending #1" to something like " Mission Completed" in the briefing.html.
Debriefing3220 (one silver ball), 45 min, 7 loons killed, 2 casualties.
ConclusionThe mission is okay, it could use some improvements mentioned in the report but has potential. Well done for your second mission.
Be sure to include an overview next time though, it's one of the basics of mission design.