[SP] Apocalypse - Invade. Control. Conquer

[markb50k 1]

Came across a script that randomly places IED's along roadsides near towns and cities. they can be disarmed aswell.

Could add a nice lil twist to the Apoc missions, If its not a big hit on performance that is. It uses a game logic and a function module. here's the link- http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=17260

Your thoughts?

will take a look.

---------- Post added at 10:40 ---------- Previous post was at 10:38 ----------

Is there any way this mission and lost can be put on sixupdater? I noticed there are no missions on there but it would be cool if the addon files could be updated that way.

Not sure that SP type stuff like this is meant for Six Updater. Usually its to keep your MP mod set in sync, yes?

[kiberkiller 10]

I just gave 2.6 a shot for the first time and I love it. With the respawn feature in place and MHQ I can now just play it however I want and not worry about less fun stuff.

Incredible job, Markb50k, the mission is becoming more and more polished with every update, well done!

One of the few things that aren't polished yet is the 0-8 menus, IMO it's incredibly cluttered right now. I have played Lost and Apocalypse for a long time now but it's still very confusing every time I have to use that menu.

You probably don't have time to make a proper menu for that so I'll just give you a simplest possible solution to that problem.

Keep the 0 - 8 menu as it is, but move all the most used features (0-8-5 and most of 0-8-7) to a separate menu, either in a pop-up menu accessible from a player action (preferable solution. That way you can make a list of things you can order and one button "Order" in that menu. It would be about 100 times more streamlined than current solution) or alternatively just move those actions to a 0-0 menu but restructure it so that each action has as small amount of button presses as possible.

This is the last thing that is, in my opinion, necessary to make this mission a finished product.

---------- Post added at 12:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:56 PM ----------

Also some small stuff:

* Start Time option selection works funky, the selection is nowhere near the actual position of the cursor.

* Even if I leave all civilian factions at 0, civilians still spawn.

* I think that AI ordered choppers sometimes blow up when they're spawned on the ground because one of those killed me recently and I'm 90% sure there wasn't any friendly choppers in the air near me.

[markb50k 1]

I just gave 2.6 a shot for the first time and I love it. With the respawn feature in place and MHQ I can now just play it however I want and not worry about less fun stuff.

Incredible job, Markb50k, the mission is becoming more and more polished with every update, well done!

One of the few things that aren't polished yet is the 0-8 menus, IMO it's incredibly cluttered right now. I have played Lost and Apocalypse for a long time now but it's still very confusing every time I have to use that menu.

You probably don't have time to make a proper menu for that so I'll just give you a simplest possible solution to that problem.

Keep the 0 - 8 menu as it is, but move all the most used features (0-8-5 and most of 0-8-7) to a separate menu, either in a pop-up menu accessible from a player action (preferable solution. That way you can make a list of things you can order and one button "Order" in that menu. It would be about 100 times more streamlined than current solution) or alternatively just move those actions to a 0-0 menu but restructure it so that each action has as small amount of button presses as possible.

This is the last thing that is, in my opinion, necessary to make this mission a finished product.

---------- Post added at 12:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:56 PM ----------

Also some small stuff:

* Start Time option selection works funky, the selection is nowhere near the actual position of the cursor.

* Even if I leave all civilian factions at 0, civilians still spawn.

* I think that AI ordered choppers sometimes blow up when they're spawned on the ground because one of those killed me recently and I'm 90% sure there wasn't any friendly choppers in the air near me.

Thanks for the feedback. Appreciate it. It was a good idea, the MHQ and respawn, so thanks.

- Menu : hmm, its something i can look at, although i dont want to add an Action. Got alot of complaints about ever-present actions on your scroll list. But this work will be a lower priority.

- Start Time selection. Didnt notice an issue with mine and not sure what you are seeing. But for a one-time use dropdown thats functional, again i'll take a look if im in that code again.

- yes, there is no option for 0 civilians period. No dropdown selection just makes the game choose the defaults (Chernarus or Takistani depending on environment). Not sure its a necessary feature as they have no tactical importance (yet) and dont seem to draw on CPU much given how i implement them (they are cached).

- all helicopters spawn far out towards the reinforcement entry points (squares lining the edge of the map). Depending on size of map they may spawn closer I guess, since the game figures a point between the entry point and the destination. I spawn them and do setPos them to a very high altitude, but i guess there can always be exceptions especially when AI is concerned. I'm guessing it was a pretty rare occurance, yes? Either way, not much i can do about it, with all the moving pieces, but if i am working on that code, i'll give it another look.

[kiberkiller 10]

- Menu : hmm, its something i can look at, although i dont want to add an Action. Got alot of complaints about ever-present actions on your scroll list. But this work will be a lower priority.

It would be great if you could get it sorted out because frankly it's very annoying right now.

- Start Time selection. Didnt notice an issue with mine and not sure what you are seeing. But for a one-time use dropdown thats functional, again i'll take a look if im in that code again.

This happens:

It didn't capture the cursor so I drew it where it was on that screen.

It's not a big deal, just a small bug.

- yes, there is no option for 0 civilians period. No dropdown selection just makes the game choose the defaults (Chernarus or Takistani depending on environment). Not sure its a necessary feature as they have no tactical importance (yet) and dont seem to draw on CPU much given how i implement them (they are cached).

I thought that they affect CPU. If they don't then it's not a big deal.

- all helicopters spawn far out towards the reinforcement entry points (squares lining the edge of the map). Depending on size of map they may spawn closer I guess, since the game figures a point between the entry point and the destination. I spawn them and do setPos them to a very high altitude, but i guess there can always be exceptions especially when AI is concerned. I'm guessing it was a pretty rare occurance, yes? Either way, not much i can do about it, with all the moving pieces, but if i am working on that code, i'll give it another look.

It happened only once and it might just be a helicopter crashing straight on me.

Though there was a blue smoke coming of the place it has crashed, which I though what was always placed on spawned vehicles.

[DogonCrook 1]

"Not sure that SP type stuff like this is meant for Six Updater. Usually its to keep your MP mod set in sync, yes?"

I use it as a Mod manager, mostly to keep ace updated. I believe when you download ace they suggest using it, so there are a lot of sp users. It also updates islands and troops, weapons etc.

[markb50k 1]

It would be great if you could get it sorted out because frankly it's very annoying right now.

This happens:

http://i.imgur.com/HCqQX.png

It didn't capture the cursor so I drew it where it was on that screen.

It's not a big deal, just a small bug.

I thought that they affect CPU. If they don't then it's not a big deal.

It happened only once and it might just be a helicopter crashing straight on me.

Though there was a blue smoke coming of the place it has crashed, which I though what was always placed on spawned vehicles.

hmm, yeah that is strange and you just might have gotten unlucky where some aircraft crashed right there. but yeah blue smoke means a friendly spawned vehicle. so, ill keep an eye out.

---------- Post added at 18:55 ---------- Previous post was at 18:54 ----------

"Not sure that SP type stuff like this is meant for Six Updater. Usually its to keep your MP mod set in sync, yes?"

I use it as a Mod manager, mostly to keep ace updated. I believe when you download ace they suggest using it, so there are a lot of sp users. It also updates islands and troops, weapons etc.

well i dont have a problem with it being put up there, but i likely put out version much quicker than they can be updated on SIX, so there may be times where SIX thinks your version is out of date when in fact you have a NEWER version.

[Fenrisulven 1]

Doesn't seem to work for me "1.62 (Release Candidate #3) build 95248". All I get is the "Initializing factions..." screen.

[markb50k 1]

please confirm you have 2.61 version. 2.6 had a problem in my faction initialization. i put out a version soon after.

[Fenrisulven 1]

please confirm you have 2.61 version. 2.6 had a problem in my faction initialization. i put out a version soon after.

Turns out Armaholic still links to 2.6, I will check out the new version thx. I like the concept of this mission and you seem to have put a lot of work into it.

__ EDIT

It works now but I have no idea how to play it. Can't find a big enough vehicle to transport my squad and requesting a transport is ridiculously expensive :crazy_o:

Anyho I'm probably missing something.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Fenrisulven

[ht-57 0]

It works now but I have no idea how to play it. Can't find a big enough vehicle to transport my squad and requesting a transport is ridiculously expensive

Anyho I'm probably missing something

Hey fen ,

Capture all the camps on the island/map. that's the idea. The more camps ya capture and the more enemy's ya off the more support points ya get.

May I suggest this, "kiss" Keep It Simple Stupid- Instead of trying to control a whole squad or worry bout any reinforcements, just lonewolf it for a while. Then add one guy to search buildings for ya {150 points}, or call in one piece of armor or CAS{350 points} to help if you see you are outnumbered when trying to take a town. You can also start with a MHQ which is a lav and one squad member {no charge}. Then give yourself 1000 points to start. {This btw is more then enuff 4 me to take most any island as long as I don't get smoked from enemy air power} when you get wounded or the lav gets damaged and your stuck in the middle of nowhere you can then upgrade your MHQ to a Field hospital or a repair depot.

But most of all have fun! I hope some of this helps ya out

cheers

[markb50k 1]

I love hearing different folks strategy. Pretty good advice there ht!

Remember that if you give your soldiers back to the AI you'll get support points as well.

[Fenrisulven 1]

I don't know. It feels like I'm fighting the whole war single handed. The AI isn't aggressive enough and battles tend to halt and I'm the only one capturing camps, lone wolf style. I'm sure its by design but, make it optional to have cheaper reinforcements perhaps? That way you don't have to wait for hours until you can request new guys in case you mess up. Just an idea. Nice missions though and I like the ability to set up factions and all that. Scavenging for weapons is pretty interesting and I like how civ vehicles are not always fully fueled and in mint condition. In a way it's a pretty realistic setup, if you ignore the abandoned camps and military vehicles scattered all over the map. Keep up the good work.

BTW I noticed a few bugs. I ordered in a mortar to my HQ and lost points, but no mortar showed up. Also when I tried to move a static MG from a camp using a car, I spawned as a gunner in it, miles away from civilization *dafuk* :crazy_o: I was out of grenades and could not suicide and I really didn't want to run all the way back so I had to quit the mission. Maybe add the ability to "respawn"?

[markb50k 1]

I don't know. It feels like I'm fighting the whole war single handed. The AI isn't aggressive enough and battles tend to halt and I'm the only one capturing camps, lone wolf style. I'm sure its by design but, make it optional to have cheaper reinforcements perhaps? That way you don't have to wait for hours until you can request new guys in case you mess up. Just an idea. Nice missions though and I like the ability to set up factions and all that. Scavenging for weapons is pretty interesting and I like how civ vehicles are not always fully fueled and in mint condition. In a way it's a pretty realistic setup, if you ignore the abandoned camps and military vehicles scattered all over the map. Keep up the good work.

BTW I noticed a few bugs. I ordered in a mortar to my HQ and lost points, but no mortar showed up. Also when I tried to move a static MG from a camp using a car, I spawned as a gunner in it, miles away from civilization *dafuk* :crazy_o: I was out of grenades and could not suicide and I really didn't want to run all the way back so I had to quit the mission. Maybe add the ability to "respawn"?

Seems youre playing a completely different mission than everyone else...

- when you order a mortar, you have to "PACK" then "UNPACK" your HQ again to get the upgrade. I will be putting a quick Hint up that tells you that in the next version.

- you have the ability to respawn already. read the release notes for vs 2.6 in the first post.

- not sure what happened with you spawing in the car a million miles away from everything. I've never seen that, but i know where in the code to confirm. will take a look

- The AI should be continually moving on to the next objective. You can confirm this by looking at the map, youll see all your friendly forces and their waypoints. If you don't see this, let me know.

- I never feel that im fighting things singlehandedly. Most of the kills i see every mission is from AI on AI somewhere far away from me.

[BlackADD3R 1]

Just a question, at mission start am I supposed to be alone? with no troops to command? On one mission I had one henchman following me but then he got wounded and stopped following me. also, I am playing as OMOH unit but my following troop was reg. force Rus infantry. can I start the game with a squad of men that belong to my same unit? or is it all based on gaining points to then buying men? It's awesome by the way...

never mind, I re-read your old post where you said:

Nope youre not missing anything. You dont start with any underlings. The storyline is that you are a pathfinder, flown in on the first wave. so you can lonewolf it if you like. Your allies via their own devices will carry on the war without you.

If you want troops you can request reinforcements for yourself. When that group arrives it will join you. The more support points you acquire via killing enemy, capturing camps, the better the stuff you can request.

Edited July 27, 2012 by BlackADD3R

[Fenrisulven 1]

Seems youre playing a completely different mission than everyone else...

- when you order a mortar, you have to "PACK" then "UNPACK" your HQ again to get the upgrade. I will be putting a quick Hint up that tells you that in the next version.

- you have the ability to respawn already. read the release notes for vs 2.6 in the first post.

- not sure what happened with you spawing in the car a million miles away from everything. I've never seen that, but i know where in the code to confirm. will take a look

- The AI should be continually moving on to the next objective. You can confirm this by looking at the map, youll see all your friendly forces and their waypoints. If you don't see this, let me know.

- I never feel that im fighting things singlehandedly. Most of the kills i see every mission is from AI on AI somewhere far away from me.

Tried it again, packed and unpacked the HQ but still no go.

Can't find respawn in the menu. Where did you hide it?

AI is moving to new objectives, for a while but like I said, after some time the AI tend to just chill at already captured camps and I have to do all the work. They do create waypoints but nowhere near enemy or uncontested camps.

Maps tested Takistan and Zargabad.

[ht-57 0]

Mark.

Yet another request- Would it be possible to add custom weapon/ ammo boxes to the west.

Even if it doesn't make sense for the mission as it is for the general public. I would like to add RH_MGS weapon pac. Is there a place in one of the scripts I could add the class name to the array to make that happen?

[markb50k 1]

Packing and unpacking take some time to happen are you waiting until it says hq deployment complete?

I can't reproduce your error so I'm trying to figure out exactly what's going on

Respawn happens automatically when you die. There isn't a menu option for it

As for your friendly groups you can see what kind of missions your forces are doing by viewing your order of battle display. 0 8 5 1

Foot patrols can either be long range patrols or camp patrols. Camp patrols stay near a friendly camp. Long patrols pick an objective to travel to, one of the blue circles. The waypoint doesn't get put right on the objective but progressively placed towards the objective as it travels. Mounted patrols do move straight toward an objective. See if That makes sense with your situation

---------- Post added at 04:49 ---------- Previous post was at 04:45 ----------

Mark.

Yet another request- Would it be possible to add custom weapon/ ammo boxes to the west.

Even if it doesn't make sense for the mission as it is for the general public. I would like to add RH_MGS weapon pac. Is there a place in one of the scripts I could add the class name to the array to make that happen?

Not since I changed the way weapons and ammo are placed. Basically a random soldier type is chosen and the weapons and ammo from the config entry of that unit type are added to a box. Its much less coding for me and it gives me the effect i want. So a replacer config of rhs weaps for vanilla weaps would automatically work or adding a faction that carries those weaps would be another option

[kiberkiller 10]

I've been playing a lot of Zargabad lately and I almost always noticed that AI usually goes for the middle camps first which usually results in most of AI forces on both sides murdering each other at the start and making me roll around, capturing camps around the edges.

Maybe it would be a good idea to make AI "deep strike" less and start attacking from the edges?

I think the problem might lie in that you pick random camps for AI to attack (you do that, right?) and since there are more camps in the middle, they usually always go for them.

If that is the case, maybe you could solve it by making AI start with the Camp closest to their chopper point first?

[Fenrisulven 1]

Packing and unpacking take some time to happen are you waiting until it says hq deployment complete?

I can't reproduce your error so I'm trying to figure out exactly what's going on

Respawn happens automatically when you die. There isn't a menu option for it

As for your friendly groups you can see what kind of missions your forces are doing by viewing your order of battle display. 0 8 5 1

Foot patrols can either be long range patrols or camp patrols. Camp patrols stay near a friendly camp. Long patrols pick an objective to travel to, one of the blue circles. The waypoint doesn't get put right on the objective but progressively placed towards the objective as it travels. Mounted patrols do move straight toward an objective. See if That makes sense with your situation.

Yes unpacking don't take very long. I did however have my HQ close to some buildings (to protect it from air). Maybe that caused the problem?

A menu option is what I requested when I said "I was out of grenades and could not suicide and I really didn't want to run all the way back so I had to quit the mission."

I like the missions though, it's nicely scripted. It's just that I'm more accustomed to fast paced WF missions :p Like I said, it seems that the fighting subsides relatively quickly. Within an hour or so, I only see a few occasional battles, usually between infantry. Is it perhaps because reinforcement points are used up?

[markb50k 1]

The points aren't used up. It's just that once the initial groups are attrited there's waits between the new reinforcements. I can look at speeding up reinforcements when a sides forces are low

[kiberkiller 10]

I figure it's because since support points are only gained when you actually capture something, and the AI seems to be much more interested in patrolling (not gaining more points) and fighting each other (losing points) than actually capturing stuff and gaining point, in the long term, the pace slowly goes into decline.

I have a theory that it could be fixed by making less camps (so that AI doesn't stray too much) that give more points on capture but I cannot say for sure.

It would be also better if it was possible to make AI more active and aggressive and prioritize actually capturing stuff above everything else but I don't know much about inner working of ARMA AI so I'm not sure if that's even possible.

[markb50k 1]

I've been playing a lot of Zargabad lately and I almost always noticed that AI usually goes for the middle camps first which usually results in most of AI forces on both sides murdering each other at the start and making me roll around, capturing camps around the edges.

Maybe it would be a good idea to make AI "deep strike" less and start attacking from the edges?

I think the problem might lie in that you pick random camps for AI to attack (you do that, right?) and since there are more camps in the middle, they usually always go for them.

If that is the case, maybe you could solve it by making AI start with the Camp closest to their chopper point first?

Yeah or we could add more camp locations away from the center. Maybe you could help me with that? If you can follow the instructions I gave ht57 on how to add more camps. Basically adding some arrays to the init_island.sqf.

Result would be a better dispersion of the fighting

[kiberkiller 10]

The points aren't used up. It's just that once the initial groups are attrited there's waits between the new reinforcements. I can look at speeding up reinforcements when a sides forces are low

Maybe add a "reinforcement speed" options? Like "x1", "x2", "x5"? That would allow players to chose the pace of their game.

[markb50k 1]

I figure it's because since support points are only gained when you actually capture something, and the AI seems to be much more interested in patrolling (not gaining more points) and fighting each other (losing points) than actually capturing stuff and gaining point, in the long term, the pace slowly goes into decline.

I have a theory that it could be fixed by making less camps (so that AI doesn't stray too much) that give more points on capture but I cannot say for sure.

It would be also better if it was possible to make AI more active and aggressive and prioritize actually capturing stuff above everything else but I don't know much about inner working of ARMA AI so I'm not sure if that's even possible.

AI doesn't use support points. It just follows the schedule of reinforcements. Again I can look at speeding up reinforcements

Keeping a steadier flow of forces will prevent bogging down and improve the flow and action

---------- Post added at 13:30 ---------- Previous post was at 13:28 ----------

Maybe add a "reinforcement speed" options? Like "x1", "x2", "x5"? That would allow players to chose the pace of their game.

Good idea. I can do it for each side like the relative strength ratios so you can adjust difficulty. Easy add

[kiberkiller 10]

AI doesn't use support points. It just follows the schedule of reinforcements. Again I can look at speeding up reinforcements

Good idea. I can do it for each side like the relative strength ratios so you can adjust difficulty. Easy add

Aha, I see. That sounds good.

One more question, is there somewhere I can learn about weather models whatever weather module you're using has? I'd like to edit the mission to have heavy overcast, rain and lightning. That's what I do with most missions I play.

EDIT: Nevermind, I suppose you're using RUBE and it doesn't have much to choose from.

Edited July 28, 2012 by kiberkiller