(Review Completed) [SP] OPERATION RATTLESNAKE V2.1

[Gruntage]

Author: Gruntage
Version: Final (v2.1)
Required Addons:  FOX2 Zodiac (Included)
                           Mikero's Editor Upgrade (Included)
                           SFP_Gbat (Included)

Game Version: OFP 1.96 OR CWA v1.99

Mission Description:

Five elite US Special Forces operatives are tasked with eliminating the Russian AA presence in the village of Houdan on Malden. You, Commander David Webb, will be coordinating the assault directly. Make use of stealth and the element of surprise to bring swift, unrelenting destruction upon the Russian forces. This mission offers a variety of special features, outlined below:

Features: -A unique UAV grid/screen,
                       -Customised text
                       -Basic voice acting for use in radio messages & cutscenes
                       -The ability to coordinate the operation through the action menu.
                       -Randomly created tanks and vehicles
                       -Random patrols and patrol sizes
                       -Custom music
                       -Two dialog interfaces

This mission was designed to be fairly quick, yet immersive and enjoyable. Hopefully I have accomplished this...

WHAT'S NEW?

As most of you will know, the mission was taken down temporarily for almost a complete rebuild, in order to address the numerous bugs that had reappeared. This I have done. Although a 'rebuild' may seem pretty extreme, it really wasn't as much work as you might think.

The mission was stripped down to its very basic structure, and then essentially rebuilt; brick by brick almost, eliminating bugs as they appeared. So, the new version (v2.0) is the result of the recent rebuild. The old changelog has been removed, as I like to think of this new version as being a clean slate. Plus, the old changelog was pretty extensive, and most of it was unnecessary. I have included a very brief changelog in the readme however.

So, what is new? Quite a few new features have been incorporated into the mission. What you think of these new features is a matter of supreme importance, as I am eager for feedback on this new version. New features include:

- Flare traps
- The reworked extraction system (gone for something very simple)
- The tweaked detection system
- Communication between outposts surrounding Houdan
- Smarter AI (through the use of a couple of nice little scripts used in another mission)
- Increased number of patrols
- Basic tracking system (a small group will investigate any triggered traps, or if Houdan is cleansed of hostiles (more details in the briefing))
- The briefing has been altered, to remove any confusion on the usage of certain terms

Most of the mission is as you remember it. The location and plot is the same, as are the insertion points. Hopefully though you will notice a change. Whatever caused the previous bugs, like the mission not ending because the zodiac won't move, have been dealt with. The AI being reportedly stupid has been fixed; the...er...problem that caused this has been removed ( )

The mission has not undergone a makeover as such, which was what I had originally intended to do. But, enough changes have been made to constitute as a rebuild or a major update. To see so many bugs appear at once I suppose was discouraging, but hopefully they have all been sorted. It's very difficult though to gauge what the player may run into. I've NEVER encounted ANY of the bugs that the beta testers have come across first hand. I guess that's the beauty of beta testing; you need others' points of view.

Anyway, that concludes the 'what's new' part. I'm eager for constructive feedback, and I'm sure you're all eager to see what changes have been made. Though I am quite sure that not all of the changes will be approved by all. That's another challenge that has been difficult for me: accomodating everyone's desire.

So, the new changelog, from v2.0, starts here:

Changelog:

V2.0 - Rebuilt version, much improved on earlier versions, new features implemented (outlined above)

V2.1 - Version submitted for review. Few alterations to gameplay, mainly to make the mission more realistic.


(By the way, if you want the old changelog back for whatever reason, just let me know and I'll put it back)

Known Bugs

Hopefully all bugs have been removed. There shouldn't be anything that prevents the player from completing the mission (except perhaps the Russians themselves  ). But, as I said before, it's up to you guys to let me know of any bugs because I very rarely come across any first hand.

This mission has been reviewed and is now available from the Missions Depot






Best Regards,
Gruntage

[Aldo15]

Hi,

It's good to see missions for ofp over here again. I'll try to test your mission and I'll give you my review

EDIT: Man when I Start Ofp game I get this. 'Addon FOX2_Zodiac' requires addon 'SFP_gbat' Then I start your mission I can see the Intro but when Intro is finished, the game doens't work for me, it's shutdown. 

Cheers,
Aldo15

[Gruntage]

I've added the missing addon 'SFP_Gbat' to the zip file. Maybe your game shuts down because you didnt have the addon.

Hopefully this is fixed now

Regards,

Gruntage

[Aldo15]

No sir, that addon isn't in you zip file. I tried to put all addons on my addons folder, but I still get the same problem. 

[savedbygrace]

@Aldo15: He has uploaded a new link that will give you an updated version of his mission with the missing addon in it.

Played this one with Arma: Cold War Assault v1.99 on veteran mode.

If the addons you used are available somewhere, please provide working links.

Overview
Great example of how an Overview should look. An in mission image, dressed up some and text that explains the mission in few lines as possible. Mission version number also helps prevent confusion in the notebook page.

Intro
Great selection of music, good use of dialog, timing of traffic was well done, camera movement flows smoothly and the conclusion was great.

Briefing
Well written and organized beautifully. Although some of the information was repetitive in more than one area of the brief. Limited but relative gear selection was appropriate. Links functioned correctly.

Kilo squad's sacrifice while the specops exfiltrated seemed to label Kilo as expendable. I couldn't help but wonder why a special squad would be called in if Kilo was already in the Area of operation and could perform the tasks easily enough.

Mission
I chose hard for the difficulty.

The inability to shut the boat motors down in OFP has truly vexed missions like this one where stealth becomes ridiculous with a motor humming throughout its duration, but this is obviously no fault of yours.

MY APPROACH...
It was nice only having to control one extra unit during the operation even if I only used him for his satchels. It was good to see the others dismount, run to their positions and await my orders.
I truly do not put much trust in AI decision making when the balls are to the wall in this game and so as I always do, I slithered into the town alone. I proceeded to plant my 3 charges, on the Empty Shilkas while picking off the smaller patrols and eventually having to engage the larger patrols. This did not prove hazardous since I was able to clear out the entire squad before the timer counted down. I was careful to choose my assault angles that allowed for easy trigger action with fewer readjustments. I meet up with my team mate and grab one of his satchels to finish the job and then move to the outer limit to detonate. Before doing this, I save the game.

I detonate the shilkas and nothing else happens. The Commence attack action remains, no objectives tick off, no alarm sounds, no responding units ever show face. I go ahead and activate the commence attack option in the action menu and the other units proceed into town. Perhaps you should reconsider your decision of sending them all to the same position in town? They would have been target practice had I not cleared the town already.
Anyhow. I get another addaction to place charges. Those work great too. They each run to their shilkas and put down a charge and then return to their previous position. Another addaction orders them closer to the boats. Another addaction allows me to detonate their charges where the alarm go offs immediately(I was expecting a delay from having no power). Another addaction gets them in the boats. The boat revs up to take off but never moves. I had forgotten all about Kilo until I hear the exchange of gunfire and explosions in town. The tanks made short work of them though and proceeded to the shore where they quickly dispatched our boat and then us. Once that happened, instead of ending in failure, the debrief read as successful, the objectives ticked off and the debrief was shown.
Debrief was also well written.

It's obvious that you place too much dependency upon the other specop units when the player is where objectives and other key game changers should be focused. Even on hard difficulty, the units do not respond well unless they actually spot the player while they are in aware mode(squad mate goes down).

Objectives should be tied to the status of the target unit and not the execution of a script which may or may not be executed.

The alarm should be played only if a unit is in town. You can place a unit in the third floor of a house but make sure they are the source of the alarm so if they are killed, the alarm will not sound. You could also loop that alarm in a script.

Place a gunner inside each shilka to increase difficulty, set them to combat so that they keep the lights off and dont move a driver in to keep it static.

I also would not rely so heavily on addactions to advance the mission.

[Gruntage]

Thanks for the interesting feedback SavedbyGrace. This should keep me busy for the next couple of days 

The inability to shut the boat motors down in OFP has truly vexed missions like this one where stealth becomes ridiculous with a motor humming throughout its duration, but this is obviously no fault of yours.

Yes this was an issue which I unfortunately failed to solve. I tried removing the fuel from the boat, but no difference. Perhaps removing the driver temporarily would fix this? 

Now, about the other problems you were experiencing. The whole mission is more or less composed of a single chain of events, from start to finish. Whilst this did seem like a good idea at first, it's become quite apparent that a lot of problems would ensue should something go wrong.

You infiltrating the village and detonating those charges inadvertently muddled up the whole chain of events. This isn't your fault. I said in the  briefing that you could infiltrate the village by yourself. But at the time I was unaware of the consequences of doing so. Whenever I tested the mission I adhered to following the chain quite rigidly, so I encounted very few problems. So, destroying the Shilkas early resulted in the mission failing to progress. Again, not your fault, only a few miscalculations made by me.

So, I'll obviously need to rework the 'addaction' command issuing, and give the player some more options. I'll also need to improve the village guards' awareness. So, plenty to be getting on with 

In version 1.1 I'll give the player the option of infiltrating alone as you did, and also the option of assaulting the village as one group. I'll also improve the alarm system, and only have Kilo squad arrive as a result of the alarm going off, rather than acting as an expendable squad as you say.

Thanks again for the good feedback SavedbyGrace   

[savedbygrace]

Don't worry over the boat issue. It's an OFP bug that folks have learned to just deal with and does not affect the mission so badly that it cant be ignored. Besides, removing the driver has nothing to do with the motor running. I think the boat runs because the water is constantly causing it to move which initiates its hard code in the addon config of playing the motor sound(that's only a theory though).

Your current system would be okay if you could simply add one trigger which executes a script once all the ZSU's are destroyed. That script would complete the first objective, remove the current addaction from the player, execute the looping alarm script, send reinforcements to Houdan, add all the other special operators to the players group and allow him to control the evac. This way you can keep the current play option while adding another quite simple one which would take little time to create.

It would also be great to see an outro with a conclusion to the story.

Good start though.

[Aldo15]

@Aldo15: He has uploaded a new link that will give you an updated version of his mission with the missing addon in it.

Oops I'm sorry I didn't know that. I'll downlad it right now, but now I must wait for a new version. 

[Inlesco]

My gaming rig is back into the action, so I decided to test this one...

Impressions:

Intro looked great, that slow and relaxing music really suit atmosphere.

Briefing was quite good, I didn't read all the sections of it, sadly, unless this would be a campaign and I would be forced to follow all events of the storyline constantly. As far as I've seen, there was some grammar mistakes, but that doesn't bother at all.

Surprise - an unseen dialog, which lets you choose difficulty, pops up. Good so far. I tried to play on hard level. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but it wasn't hard at all, when you're handling thrustful UZI and taking care of all enemies easily. I thought there will be more patrols around, not ~5 of them walking around. I would like you to increase amount of soldiers inside the town and maybe use 'random appearance' script, which would let to expect different situations every time.

Suggestions:

How about an additional lightning lamp in Houdan? It's so dark, I don't think russians are so irresponsible to not set a one. Let's say, there's one shining lamp and it turns off when alarm is activated, because of purpose to make potential enemy life harder. Also, reduce timeout/countdown parameters on a trigger, which is supposed to activate when all Shilkas are taken out. It takes too long, IMO. Firstly, I understood it as a bug, because I ran to ship after detonating everything, got into it, and nothing even happened. Of course, I was wrong, just need more patience.

I recommend to expand night-life of Malden - put some patrolling cars (one could be enough) along the roads of Houdan to increase difficulty, sounds of nature, like owls, wolf in forest, a camp with a burning bonfire in the distance, maybe it would encourage player to become a 'seeker for adventures' .

Conclusion: more patrols, night-life, camps or addtional outposts in the distance, further from Houdan territory, a hovering chopper after you eliminate all ZSUs (remember to make boats neutral with 'set captive true'), shining lamp in the town, faster alarm activation on hard difficulty.

Also...:

In overall, it was fun, but it would be much more interesting to meet more enemies (variety of units is alwyas good, too, like air, armor lurking around perimeter).

BTW, debrief text made me think that there will be another operation for Webb and player will be able to participate in it... Am I right?

P.S.: Wasn't player's insertion/extraction Zodiac out of fuel after Shilkas got wiped out? I shot driver and took it to move away, but couldn't do so, because through radio I saw an 'out of fuel' message...

[Gruntage]

Thanks for the feedback Inlesco  I've managed to sort out the problems you and SBG experienced. I've also included some more patrols like you mentioned 

[Gruntage]

New version 1.1 is now available to download. See my original post for details of changes made  

Regards,

Gruntage

[Inlesco]

More of my thoughts, this time after I've played v1.1...

It's really better than last time: mission became more difficult, players gets more freedom to use different tactics because he can tell his mates what to do. I like that, as wise quote says, "Responsibility comes with a great power".

I didn't spot any light vehicles driving along roads, only BMP. Well, I would like to see a patrol truck coming after black ops team kills first enemy in Houdan. Spawns worked well, for some reason it looked like magic in the moment.

Anyway, a little encampment was being seen further from Houdan, also a couple (or 1) of tents were added. The only thing Shilkas base lacks is a fortified look. Add sanbangs with an MG, try to configure Shilka's gunners to turn off their lights off (as far as I know, it's possible to all units in vehicles, except MG's). Fire on the opposite side of town is recommended. Some sitting soldiers around warm flames, talking 'shit' like 'Vodka', etc. Also, you can use editorupgrade103 to add more selective objectives like guardian towers and so on.

What's needed in short: guardian towers, shilkas without lights on, more encampment, fortified town style, 'situational' reinforcements, coming to Houdan after player do something important there (but still without being noticed).

That would be all I wanted to mention probably.

[Gruntage]

Thanks Inlesco I agree, some more decorative items added to the base would be nice. The BMP you saw was part of a randomly created tank script I made; so sometimes it'll be a bmp, other times a t72 or t80.

Things to add in 1.15

-A few items to give the base a more fortified look, including fortresses, watchtowers
-Possibly add a few more vehicle spawning scripts, to create trucks and/or brdms.
-Add dialogue between Russian soldiers within the base

That should keep me busy   

Thanks again

Gruntage

[savedbygrace]

Player with Arma:Cold War Assault 1.99 on veteran mode

First play through...
Difficulty = Hard

Wow, noticed the increase in numbers immediately. It almost caused me to rethink my choice of difficulty but I persisted. After observing the patrols for a short while, the obvious weak points became evident. I typically like to eliminate all foot mobiles as I go but the high numbers and doubled patrols were a sure deterrent from that strategy. That forced me to seek out the stealthier lanes and cracks in the defense while remaining unseen. The Shilkas being occupied was a definite improvement in reality and played a tremendous part in my route. I was frustrated that they were able to spot me on my belly when in reality, I would have made no noise at all but it only added to my determination to overcome the defenses.

I was able to, again, crawl in, plant 4 charges and exfil without detection. I retreated to the trigger limit of the furthest charge and saved the game. I set them off and a count down timer began. BTW, that timer counts down 5 seconds for every number you tick off on screen, so it's not an actual 20 seconds. Explosions of such magnitude would have rocked the country side and alarms would have started screaming seconds after everyone realized what the hell was going on. So, I would reduce the delay after an explosion to 5 or 10 seconds(however long it takes a human to recognize that something is wrong and run to the nearest alarm)

The particle effects on the explosions were a great addition but you failed to add the same features to the responding armor.

The boat was locked because I could not board it nor get anyone else to board. So I set my guys near a hill and waited to see what would become of us. That needs correction for sure.

After a while, I activated alpha and the alarm sounded again. I haven't attempted alpha during the mission but am wondering if that alarm would sound had I activated it at the start. I don't think it's necessary to have the alarm attached to them. Instead, place a trigger that swallows the whole area, West detected by East and in the condition field, place a global variable that will prevent the trigger from tripping until the radio has been activated. That way alpha can't get away with storming the town with non silenced weapons without raising an alarm.

I had a few close calls as well. I crawled right out into the open and one large patrol walked it's route less than 2 meters from me. Recognizing my folly, I froze. I thought if I don't move, maybe they will think me a log. It must have been true because everyone of them walked right by me except for the very last one. The last unit happened to stop in front, facing me while he waited for the others to continue(leader must have paused at a way point) It took him a second but it shortly dawned on him that the log in front of him was holding a gun. When he began to unsling his weapon, I dispatched him and turned to the others but they were too many.

I was glad to see the satchel crate in one of the tents. I noticed it in the last version as well.

To me, the shilka having their lights on made perfect sense. Why not? The towns power had been cut, no planes can see the lights before the radar picks them out and it produced spotlights appropriately. Win win.

My second play through...
Difficulty = Moderate
I noticed the drop in group numbers, unoccupied shilkas and the random armor patrol in this one. It played out much the same way as the harder version only with less difficulty. Hmm, what a concept.

Further suggestions
On the moderate version, I would place crews of the other Shilkas as well. Near the tents and fire would be a good spot. It was good to see some patrols of lesser numbers. It allows to adjust strategy when possible.

Realistically(on the harder version), it looks like overkill having so many numbers in a patrol so close to the town. The outer patrols make sense but having 24 guys walking a circle around the city limits looks absurd(sorry but true).

Obviously couldn't see the end but I did try and take out the responding armor with satchels from my team mates, which meant I hung around. I took out a BMP and 2 tanks. Then began to make my way back to the town but lost heart when I seen the numbers mounting on the hill crests as though everyone knew exactly where my team was at. The first wave of armor too, drove to the exfil position even though we were never spotted on the run. One of the tanks drove right into the water until it was kissing the boat.(I dislike when mission designers cheat by sending enemy to the players position. It's a cop out for creative response)

Almost there.

[Gruntage]

Thanks for the extensive feedback SBG  

To begin, a new version is now available to download, which now includes the changes yourself and Inlesco suggested.

I was able to, again, crawl in, plant 4 charges and exfil without detection. I retreated to the trigger limit of the furthest charge and saved the game. I set them off and a count down timer began. BTW, that timer counts down 5 seconds for every number you tick off on screen, so it's not an actual 20 seconds. Explosions of such magnitude would have rocked the country side and alarms would have started screaming seconds after everyone realized what the hell was going on. So, I would reduce the delay after an explosion to 5 or 10 seconds(however long it takes a human to recognize that something is wrong and run to the nearest alarm)

The alarm timer has now been fixed, so it is now definately a 20 second timer. I increased the duration of each tick to make it easier for the player to locate and eliminate those who detected him and his group. But after several tests I realised that it was too easy, so I reverted it back to its original state.

The particle effects on the explosions were a great addition but you failed to add the same features to the responding armor.

Yep I completely forgot about those. The particle effects applied to the Shilkas are now applied to the other enemy tanks.

The boat was locked because I could not board it nor get anyone else to board. So I set my guys near a hill and waited to see what would become of us. That needs correction for sure.

Ah, a similar issue to what happened in v1.0. Yes I realised at once what had happened, I didnt anticipate anybody to actually destroy the Shilkas without clearing the village first. So, in order for the mission to have progressed, the village must have been completely free of hostiles. This has been changed now. As of now, the player does not need to clear the village, only destroy the Shilkas. In other words, it is now possible to infiltrate the village, place the charges and detonate them without killing anybody and still be able to complete the mission.

I must admit I really did not think that anybody would be able to do what you did on hard difficulty. I guess the saying 'expect the unexpected' is highly appropriate here. So now, to make the mission progress you just need to bring about the destruction of the Shilkas.

After a while, I activated alpha and the alarm sounded again. I haven't attempted alpha during the mission but am wondering if that alarm would sound had I activated it at the start. I don't think it's necessary to have the alarm attached to them. Instead, place a trigger that swallows the whole area, West detected by East and in the condition field, place a global variable that will prevent the trigger from tripping until the radio has been activated. That way alpha can't get away with storming the town with non silenced weapons without raising an alarm.

Hmm interesting. I was a bit stumped when I first read this. Was there an option to use 0-0-1 then? If so, then there really shouldnt have been. During testing I was trying to find out how the alarm sounded, so I used the radio code alpha to do so. I must have forgotten to remove it. Well, it's gone now anyway lol. My apologies for leaving that in, it must have caused a bit of confusion  

Anyway, I made sure that Kilo squad will only arrive to help if the alarm goes off but not if the shilkas have been destroyed. So there shouldn't be any issue of them arriving at the wrong time.

To me, the shilka having their lights on made perfect sense. Why not? The towns power had been cut, no planes can see the lights before the radar picks them out and it produced spotlights appropriately. Win win.

I'm kinda in two minds about this at the moment. I thought it would have been more realistic for them to have their lights off, so that the player would think them empty. I've left them on for the time being, it depends what others think about this.

Realistically(on the harder version), it looks like overkill having so many numbers in a patrol so close to the town. The outer patrols make sense but having 24 guys walking a circle around the city limits looks absurd(sorry but true).

Yeah you're probably right there. I've decreased the group sizes quite substantially. Before the changes the group sizes were as follows:

Easy mode = 5, Normal mode = 8, Hard mode = 12

Now, they are:

Easy mode = 4, Normal mode = 6, Hard mode = 8

These group sizes may be too small now lol, let me know if they are and I'll increase them a little bit.

Obviously couldn't see the end but I did try and take out the responding armor with satchels from my team mates, which meant I hung around. I took out a BMP and 2 tanks. Then began to make my way back to the town but lost heart when I seen the numbers mounting on the hill crests as though everyone knew exactly where my team was at. The first wave of armor too, drove to the exfil position even though we were never spotted on the run. One of the tanks drove right into the water until it was kissing the boat.(I dislike when mission designers cheat by sending enemy to the players position. It's a cop out for creative response)

Tbh that exact same thing happened to me when I was first testing the mission. I wasn't sure why the tank decided to take a swim. Maybe because it saw the boat and it was simply programmed to go over there. I'm really not sure lol.

Anyway, this shouldn't be an issue now that it's possible to complete the mission without clearing the town first. You should be able to do that exact same strategy again and not be met with a showstopper. The zodiac is fast enough to leave the area and not have a tank on top of it. At least I hope so...

Btw, nice picture, would make a good overview image  

Thanks again SBG, I think I'll start work on an outro now and get some more radio msgs in (not too many, only a couple more)

Regards,

Gruntage