Dynamic Take And Secure - Randomized round-based A&D

[galzohar 31]

Based on Dynamic Cache Hunt, trying to get something more balanced, I have decided to go with something much more similar to infiltration's Dynamic Take And Secure (DTAS) game-mode.

In this game-mode a zone will be placed randomly. The defending team will need to pick a location for the objective inside that zone, and a smaller zone will be placed there. The attacking team will then need to pick their starting position and insertion type (currently jeeps or boats), and then attack and capture the objective zone. In order to capture the zone your team must have more attackers than defenders in the zone, similar to AAS. Capture time will be much faster the more attackers minus defenders you have inside the zone. Original DTAS had a small zone and didn't allow 1 player to capture, but in order to balance this for Arma I have made the zone bigger and allowed 1 player to capture although with a noticeably longer capture time (compared to 2 or more players).

Every 2 rounds the zone where defenders can place the objective will switch places. After the 1st round and every 2 rounds after that, defenders and attackers will switch sides, so that every zone location will have every team defending and attacking it once. Final score must differ by at least 2 points, so you cannot simply win by successfully defending or attacking 1 more time than your opponents, which adds a lot of balance to the game-mode, as even hard/easy-to-defend zones will always make you defend them once and attack them once.

ACE/ACRE: Mission does not depend on ACE or ACRE, but will detect, support and use them if they are running on the server. It requires ACE only because of the "requires ACE" module, and will work with vanilla if the module is removed. This is done to prevent non-ACE players from crashing ACE servers. Script will also end the mission for ACE users on vanilla servers, non-ACE users on ACE servers, and non-ACRE users on ACRE servers and will display an appropriate message. For ACE you will have ACE equipment added, and for ACRE you will have PRC-343 radios for all defenders and PRC-148 radios for all attackers.

Overall it is strongly recommended to play this with ACE! Note that the spectator script for dead players and players who join mid-round will be disabled if ACE is not running, and of course the equipment options will be much less interesting.

If you play ACE on a public server, you may want to edit the missions and add the "requires ACE" module to the missions to prevent a bug where vanilla players joining can crash the server even if they are kicked by a script out as soon as they finish loading the mission.

RH M4 and HK416 pack: Same as ACE/ACRE - Those weapon packs are supported and will be available (and required) if the server has them. If the server isn't running them they will not be used/required. It is also possible to only run one of the packs on the server, though someone missing one of them will only get a message saying he is missing an RH weapon pack.

Features and mission parameters adjustable by admin:

Note: If you don't want to get into setting parameters, default parameters are designed to work well.

Best of X rounds - Sets maximum number of rounds. Increase for less server restarts and possibly more city destruction. Default 11.

Time Limit - When time runs out, attackers lose. May need to decrease for low player counts and possibly increase for extremely high player counts or extremely patient players. Default 10 minutes.

Last Players Countdown - Time limit gets cut down to this value when there are less than 20% or only 1 attacker (west) left alive. May need to slightly increase for extremely high or extremely low player counts. Default 135 seconds.

Maximum distance of objective from random position (meters) - The radius of the zone from which defenders can pick the objective position. Default is different for each island.

Minimum starting distance from objective (meters) - How far the insertion position must be from the objective. Default is different for each island.

Capture zone radius (meters) - Distance from objective you must be in order to count as a defending/capturing it. Default 27.

Minimum Setup Time - Time given to set up between rounds. That is, change gear, check the map for new objective locations and do some planning. Might need to be increased for more organized play, or decreased when using preset loadouts (see next parameter). Round will not start until objective and insertion positions have been chosen. Default 20 seconds.

Loadouts - "Class-based" uses the new class-based system where you pick a class appropriate for your side. "Customized loadouts (limited by parameters)" uses the old system where everyone can pick any weapons available in the ammo crate based on the other parameters chosen. "Customized loadouts with everything (ignoring parameters)" is the same except with the ammo crate having all equipment, igonring parameters. Default is "Class-based".

Attacking Faction (for class-based loadouts only) - The faction used for attackers when using class-based loadouts. Current options are "US Army", "USMC (desert)" and "USMC", all using same equipment. Choosing "USMC (desert)" when ACE is not running will default back to US Army. Default depends on island.

Defending Faction (for class-based loadouts only) - The faction used for defenders when using class-based loadouts. Current options are "Takistani Millitia", "Chernarussian Insurgents" and "Chernarussian Guerrillas", all using same equipment. Default depends on island.

Marker Name Length (letters) - Number of letters shown on player map marker. Default is 3, so for example "JohnDoe" would have "Joh" written next to his marker.

Night/Day - Play either during the day, or at night with either 1/4 moon, 1/2 moon or 3/4 moon, to suit the style of game you want to play. All settings are also playable with nightvision disabled. Default is day.

Night vision - "No" nightvision, "NV" for night vision goggles only, or "Thermal" for night vision goggles and MX2A. If night with no night vision is chosen, flares are provided in the default loadouts, and in the preset loadouts for squad leaders and grenadiers. Default no NV.

Night sights - Same as night vision, but for weapon sights. Relevant for custom loadouts as well as marksman and scoped MG preset loadouts. Default is no NV sights.

Side weapons - "Faction only" gives west only US weapons and east only Takistan weapons (though Takistan had its armory extended a bit). "Side only" adds non-US weapons such as G36 and HK416 to west and weapons such as SA-58 to east. "All weapons" option is also available to give both sides equal availability of weapons. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is all weapons for balance purposes.

Weapon types - Sets the maximum weapon "size" - "Pistols", "SMGs", "SMGs/shotguns", "rifles", "heavy" (such as light machinegunes) and "very heavy" (such as medium machineguns). Affects custom loadouts only. Default is "heavy".

Caliber - Sets the maximum caliber weapons allowed - "5.56 / 5.45", "5.56 / 5.45 / 7.62X39", "7.62X51 / 7.62X54 / 9X39", "50cal" and "25mm". Affects custom loadouts only. Default "5.56 / 5.45 / 7.62X39" (for M16s, AKs and light machineguns).

Explosives - Sets the available types of explosives. None means no explosives of any type. "Grenades" allows grenades and grenade launcher rounds. "Grenades/Satchels" adds satchels. "Grenades/Satchels/Mines" adds mines as well. "Grenades/Satchels/Mines/Advanced Mines" adds things like claymores and other more advanced mines added by ACE. "Everything" allows everything, including explosive rocket launcher ammo all the nasty toys that ACE provides. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is "Grenades".

Scopes - Disables/enables any scoped weapons. Note that this does not enable sniper rifles if you do not choose to allow 7.62X51/7.62X54 caliber weapons. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is scopes enabled.

Launchers - "Light" allows disposable launchers only. "Medium" adds M136s RPGs. "Heavy" adds everything else, but without explosive rockets if "Explosives" is not set to "Everything". Only affects custom loadouts. Default is "Light".

Crew Served Weapons - Sets availability of crew served weapons. "None" will allow nothing, "machineguns" will allow machineguns only and "everything" will allow everything (including automatic grenade launchers and heavy AT rockets). Affects custom loadouts only. Default is no crew served weapons.

SF weapons - Sets availability of special forces weapons. "None" will allow non-SF weapons only. "Non-SD" allows special forces weapons that don't have suppressors. "SD included" enables suppressed weapons as well. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is "Non-SD".

Future weapons - Sets availability of future weapons, as in, weapons that aren't really used in the present. Mostly includes SCARs and M110s. "No" disallows those weapons while "Yes" allows them. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is "Yes".

HuntIR - Sets availability of HuntIR monitor and M203 grenades. "No" disables them, while "Yes" enables. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is no huntIR.

Less Than Lethal - Sets availability of less than lethal weapons such as flashbangs and CS gas. "No" disables them while "Yes" enables them. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is no less than lethal weapons.

High Capacity Magazines - Sets availability of high capacity magazines that are usable in rifles. "None" allows only standard magazines, "light" allows the smaller types and "large" allows all of them. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is no high capacity magazines.

Note: That default parameters are recommended and should provide good balance. Imbalanced parameters or a combination of parameters that can cause imbalance will result in a warning at the start of the mission and are listed as such in the parameter screen.

Currently known issues:

- Deafness and fatigue effects are not reset between rounds. Still looking for a way to fix it, but if I can't find any by the time I want to release an update, I'll just make the mission kill you when a round ends to reset those effects, but mess up the scoreboard.

- ACRE has a bug with switching your soldier which prevents it from working properly with the class-based system, so if you use that, make sure to disable ACRE in TS3 until they fix it. Other than that, mission fully supports ACRE.

- If you choose custom loadouts instead of class-based, uniform may or may not fit the terrain.

Porting mission to other islands:

Porting is very straight-forward - requires a simple copy-paste of the mission, adjusting the bottom-left and top-right empty markers which set the possible objective spawn area as well as the "bases" where dead players spawn, re-arm and spectate between rounds. Distances may need to be adjusted in the "islandspecific.sqf" script. Default parameters are defined in "islandspecific.hpp".

Mission is already ported to quite a few islands, all available in the download.

Thanks:

- KJU for helping with class switching system.

- Tonyzz for making the logo.

Download links:

Mediafire (v1.05):

http://www.mediafire.com/?hl4k0poygttj4ey

Armaholic (v1.05):

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=14058

Enjoy!

Edited September 1, 2011 by galzohar

[kremator 1064]

This sounds great. Does it support AI soldiers as well?

[galzohar 31]

No. AI may or may not be supported in the future, but overall it's too much work to implement when you consider how terrible AI will be at playing this game mode.

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.01:

- Fixed some small issues with ACRE radios not being given properly on rare occasions.

- Added RH M4 and HK416 pack support.

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.02:

- Hopefully fixed the ACRE wrong radio issue for good.

http://www.mediafire.com/?0qg903u72076b15

[tacticalnuggets 24]

This looks pretty cool, wonder why i didn't notice it before

[turin turambar 0]

Oh, i loved this mode in Infiltration. Thanks!

Arma 2 always lacked a objective focused, competitive mode.

Edited July 16, 2011 by Turin Turambar

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.03:

- More fixes.

- New: Zone is not completely random, but rather defenders pick the position for the objective from within a randomly placed zone, and attackers choose their insertion point and method (currently jeeps or boats).

- Due to new objective position concept, mission should work much better on other islands, and have been ported to many of the famous islands, and is now easier to port to additional islands.

- Increased default "last players countdown" to 135 seconds, to give attackers a slightly better chance.

- Improved view distance menu and adjusted default view distance setting on an island-specific basis (so "heavier" islands have lower default view distance) to minimize problems for players who forget to set their view distance.

First post updated accordingly.

I still have no idea how to fix the issues I had when trying to make this mission class-based with character model changing based on class and based on whether he is attacking or defending, so the mission is still just US vs TK, and those simply switch roles between attack/defense. Hopefully one day I can sort the issues out and have a class-based mission out.

I could just make a class-based mission without changing the soldier model accordingly, but don't want to have US soldiers with AKs defending an attack of M4/SCAR-armed takistani insurgents, and also don't want to have imbalance caused by defenders/attackers having different equipment depending on which team is defending/attacking.

Edited July 21, 2011 by galzohar

[trips 10]

Just had a quick try with a few of us at MAG and we couldn't figure out how to place the defending zone. Is there a minimum player limit?

[galzohar 31]

Use action menu on flag. Same goes for changing view distance and choosing attacker starting position.

Of course the defenders must first choose the position for the objective, and only then the attackers can choose their insertion position. So if you only had players on bluefor side you wouldn't be able to choose anything because nobody on opfor have chosen the defense position (and there isn't anyone to defend it anyway). Opfor defend the first round, and attack the next 2 rounds, then defend 2 rounds, etc. Defenders always need to pick first, because attackers can't pick their attack approach until defenders picked the position for the objective.

Edited July 21, 2011 by galzohar

[trips 10]

None of us could find anything other than change view distance.

[galzohar 31]

I found a small bug with the ammo crate when not using ACE, will upload fix soon, but the "select objective position" action still worked - It should only have messed up the ammo crate.

Seems like I messed something up with making it dedicated-compatible, will hotfix ASAP. For now this should still work on hosted servers.

Edited July 21, 2011 by galzohar

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.04:

- Fixed issue with round not starting on dedicated server.

- Fixed gear issue for non-ACE.

http://www.mediafire.com/?3k465daak67cchg

By the way, I am still trying to figure out how to deal with changing player models, but still can't figure out how to deal with issues related JIP and disconnecting players.

Edited July 22, 2011 by galzohar

[turin turambar 0]

Any server using this mission?

[galzohar 31]

Just to let you all know I haven't quit on the project. I've just been slow in the testing department because my friends want to play coop all the time.

So far I've managed to make the class-switching system working so class-based play is fully implemented, however there is still a bug in ACRE that prevents ACRE from working correctly when using this system. I also still need to test that the implementation of the new system did not break the option to use the old "custom loadouts" system where everyone can just pick whatever they want from the ammo box that has all equipment out of the equipment allowed by the server parameters.

Once I get everything properly tested I'll release the version with the asymmetric class-based loadout system, and let you switch from west units to east units when you switch sides from attackers to defenders (giving attackers advantage of better class options so that they have a chance against the advantage defenders have just because they are defenders, and also allowing for some gear, which would otherwise be imbalanced, to be used, due to being able to limit it and make it have a cost, ex marksman having less grenades or saboteur with claymore only having an ak-74u).

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.05:

- Working class-based system, while still having the option for the old system. This is now the default option.

- Automatic killing of AFK attackers (still next to spawn 100 seconds after round starts)

- Various other improvements and bug fixes

Note: Due to a bug with ACRE, it will not work correctly with the class-based system, and should be disabled in TS3 while playing until ACRE fix the issue. Other than that, the mission still fully supports ACRE.

Note#2: Mission now requires ACE (using the "requires ACE" module), but will work with vanilla if the module is removed.[/b] This is made to prevent game crashes from non-ACE players joining into an ACE server.

First post updated with relevant information.

http://www.mediafire.com/?hl4k0poygttj4ey

Edited August 22, 2011 by galzohar