Urban Conquest by tvig0r0us

[delta99 34]

Sounds great. I will try to pop on a little later and check things out.

Now you just have to fix the VON on your server and we will be good to chat about this ;)

[katipo66 94]

Thanks man...

A few questions, the AI settings: is it possible to have a default setting, or what is the difference between masterful and default?

Porting to other maps: I've done this with varying success, is there any info on where best to place markers and locations units and the need to have all 3 factions present etc.

This more a request about an option for the concept in general, I ported to Reeshman, a very large user map... As I like the large warfare/cti type, this seemed to work but obviously AI attempts to get to cp"s by running, what I think would be nice is an option where AI can use transport to move to cp.

[delta99 34]

I think tvig0r0us created this specifically for smaller Urban type maps and should leave it as is without too many changes especially larger accommodating ones like this. Even on Although I haven't played a lot on Fallujah yet, it starts to get a bit unplayable or not nearly as fun as Zargabad.

In other words the mission works and plays extremely well as is and the replay-ability even on just Zargabad is tremendous. Don't mess too much with something that is excellent at this point.

[katipo66 94]

I think tvig0r0us created this specifically for smaller Urban type maps and should leave it as is without too many changes especially larger accommodating ones like this. Even on Although I haven't played a lot on Fallujah yet, it starts to get a bit unplayable or not nearly as fun as Zargabad.

In other words the mission works and plays extremely well as is and the replay-ability even on just Zargabad is tremendous. Don't mess too much with something that is excellent at this point.

Yes i understand its designed specifically for small urban type maps, just a request :)

[delta99 34]

Vig0rous, I was on your server just now testing things out. I fired up a mission for 60 minutes no score limit. Odd thing I never saw before was that within about a minute or less the Resistance had about 90% of zones. OPFOR was wiped out a few minutes later and BLUFOR struggled with about 3 zones to start. We eventually started taking zones slowly and at the 3 minute mark left in the mission we outscored Resistance and took the game.

Not sure if this was just some weird coincidence on how the mission started out.

Also, I know you've been working on AI entering buildings more but I don't think I saw a single AI enter a building during this hour match. Just something I thought I'd point out in case you were still working on that.

[PlacidPaul 11]

First congrats on the mission and learning the code ArmA2, the arma community will benefit enormously from having Tvig around.

So i'll give my first impressions. I'll start by saying that i've kinda moved on from intensely fast paced explosive gameplay, similar to battlefield. And I spent alot on a gaming rig to do just that. :p So yea, my first impressions was that it was a little too fast paced for me, and i was matching the fast paced environment with my play, but i continued and found that it does force you to slow down and think about your movements quite abit. Not checking corner = kills you

So it's definitely very well balanced and demonstrates how flexible ArmA is. I'm not a very competitive gamer and more interested in coop, and it suits me just fine there aswell. I'm more interested in the experience and really liked whats there. The chaos is great, i like that side of it, and wouldn't want any arrows, flags, signs, or pansy handholding garbage, even though a constant GPS would be nice, it ultimately takes me out of the moment and experience. Games don't need to be orderly to give a great experience, especially war! Knowing your spawn site makes people in repetitive fools, its just human nature.

Even on Although I haven't played a lot on Fallujah yet, it starts to get a bit unplayable or not nearly as fun as Zargabad.

That brings me to this, I thought the Fallujah experience was fantastic, I almost :inlove: myself. But, yea it isn't quite the great "game" that Zargabad is yet. I thought the two sided standstill was very interesting, it was a better experience than game. So while some:j: in this thread hoped for more organization, i hope for more CHOAS! Some kind of force in Fallujah that could break the lines and create choas would be amazing. Do they have thems in da military. :confused:

So great job tvig, i like your choas and would like more!

[delta99 34]

So i'll give my first impressions. I'll start by saying that i've kinda moved on from intensely fast paced explosive gameplay, similar to battlefield. And I spent alot on a gaming rig to do just that. :p So yea, my first impressions was that it was a little too fast paced for me, and i was matching the fast paced environment with my play, but i continued and found that it does force you to slow down and think about your movements quite abit. Not checking corner = kills you

I don't find it overly fast paced unless you leave too many vehicles enabled. But that is also the beauty of this mission. For the folks that like a lot of vehicles and such it works well. For those that don't you can just go in the parameters and disable whatever you like or set up the numbers that make for a nice balance.

Personally I enjoy more of an infantry experience so at times I will disable all vehicles. It would be nice however to have an option to only allow transport type vehicles. Because when you are playing infantry only and if you happen to spawn way away from the action it can take a long time to get to the front lines. But this is usually near end game when you are controlling the majority of the zones.

I may have mentioned this before but clans/squads could use this mission and create mini-missions on their own. For instance, they can task a squad to clear and hold the center mosque in Zargabad or something of that nature. Because of the continuous combat going on all over the place it makes for interesting scenario's like this.

[tvig0r0us 27]

Thanks all of you for your input on the gameplay. There is definitely a much slower pace to the Fallujah mission once the sides have established territories on the map. I think this mission plays best when you limit the size of the AO to about 2 x 2 km. Once it gets larger, the action starts to thin out or you wind up spawning in areas that require a major hike to get back into the thick of things. You could jack up the troop count, but even then, when enough death happens, the respawn time may not be able to outpace the rate at which soldiers die. There is a point where it ballances itself out depending on the size of the AO so you really have to tinker with it to get to a comfortable consistent pace of gameplay.

@Katipo66

I will definitely need to write up something to help with porting the mission. I've been heavily concentrated on getting the code to run right and implementing all of the features that I would like to have in the game. As stated above by Delta99, I only intended the mission to cover a smaller environment and did not code the AI routines to do much involving the use of vehicles for transportation purposes. The completely dynamic structure of the mission would make getting all of the right factors to come together an improbable event and thus does not warrant an attempt on my part to incorporate that into the mission. For me to make that happen would require me to force a more structured approach to spawning and AI routines which would detract from the feel of the combat. I appreciate your input in the matter though.

@Delta99

In regards to the AI making little use of the buildings. In my experience with the ai in this game I've found that when they perceive a threat they tend to address it before completing any kind of move assignments. As a result they wind up clearing the zone they have been assigned to patrol more times than not which causes them to be assigned a new target zone. Once that happens the patrolling team regroups and heads off. For whatever reason, this seems to happen alot more on Fallujah than Zargabad. To your experience with the resistance taking over early in the game. I would consider that one of the most beautiful things about the dynamic nature of this mission. There is absolutely no telling what will happen which is exacly what I had in mind. I was telling Placid Paul about an experience I had while testing that was very similar to yours. The east charged out of the gate and took over most of the map leaving only a few zones for the west and a few for the resistance. I was playing to 4000 points with no time limit. The east held their ground until they got around 3000 points. Within a minute the resistance made a huge push through the eastern side of the map and the west pushed in from the west, completely destroying the entire eastern army. West went on to beat the resistance team by only 300 points. It was very intense. I could not be happier with the absolute unpredictable nature of the mission.

@Placid Paul

Thanks for the props my friend. I had a great time playing the other night with yourself and Jack. I hope we can do that again soon.... like tonight!! I really feel that the area of Fallujah is just a little bit too big for the game mechanics to play out exactly the way I want them too. I may wind up knocking a few capture points out of that mission. The cool thing about that map is that it's so big I'll be able to make 10 Urban Conquest missions on it before I run out of room. Something I plan to do BTW;)

In any case, I think I've wrapped up the code for v1.03 and I am currently picking urban settings to use for the mission. As I said in an earlier post, I plan to make a couple of A2 only versions so the A2F croud can enjoy the mission too. I appreciate all of the great input I've had from the community here and I'm looking forward to sharing more of my mission ideas with you all.

Cheers:D

[katipo66 94]

Thanks anyway bro :)

[delta99 34]

Latest version is looking super solid. Hopefully tvig0r0us will release this sucker soon.

[tvig0r0us 27]

Thanks anyway bro :)

I hope you'll still be able to enjoy the mission for what it does do. It's very fun;)

I have reworked the AO for Fallujah and it's now a bit smaller with more points in a smaller area. Makes for a more spectacular battle! I also updated the CLA Afghan mission in the same way. CLA Afghan is a challenge to move around in because the city is very tight and restricts movement alot... at a bit of a detriment to the AI, but it still provides for a pretty interesting battle. All new versions are up on the server. I'll be working on other versions in the meantime.

Cheers:D

[HomerPepsi 10]

Tvig, when you gonna take a stab at an SP missions?? :cool:

[delta99 34]

Set unlimited time and unlimited score and left my server running the same battle for about 6 hours straight. I came back to it periodically through dinner and such. There were pushes by each side at various times when I checked but overall the balance is superb.

I did notice that some AI seemed to be getting stuck after all these hours but probably to be expected and probably not something that is worth debugging or trying to fix. I also ran into some issues with AI not following my lead (ie. regroup command) but they would follow movement orders and everything else. Not sure I would know how to reproduce so again probably not something worth looking into without more info.

And LOL, I had a DayZ player come in with the DayZ mod enabled and they kept spawning without weapons and other odditiies as is to be expected. I told the player to restartart without DayZ enabled and they were fine from that point forward.

[tvig0r0us 27]

Tvig, when you gonna take a stab at an SP missions?? :cool:

The plan is to try to recreate Squad Level Tactics with all of the things that I wanted to do but couldn't because of the constraints of the Dragon Rising engine. It's gonna be a while though.

Server is now running with the following missions:

CLA Afghan

Shapur BAF

Zargabad

Sount Fallujah

A2 Utes

A2 Chernarus- Chernogorsk

Coming soon:

Takistan North and South

North Fallujah

More on Chernarus still undecided

Quesh Kibrul

Any suggestions for other maps locations, feel free to put them up.

Cheers:D

[delta99 34]

Not sure if Lingor is suitable but if so would love to see that.

[delta99 34]

I've been on your server running A2 Chernarus - Chernogorsk for the last 80 minutes and there is 10 minutes left in the battle.

As per usual the battle has been absolutely fantastic throughout.

BLUFOR held most of the West side of the city with the major battles for control of the North gas station, church zone and farm land to the NE. Somehow the resistance held only 2 or 3 zones the entire time at the docks. I can see why, its hard to attack that area. They weren't able to expand much but they were able to hold the docks.

Somehow OPFOR managed to swing around and start taking some zones from the West side. Not sure how that even happened.

[delta99 34]

TVig, just so you know and don't waste time with a duplicated effort I have started a version for Lingor. You did not explain the other night about some of the other required markers but I think I figured it out. I wasn't able to get the template stuff going for some reason so I just ended up dpbo'ing the Utes version and working from that. Worked straight away.

Lingor could probably support at least a couple of versions.

I just need to play around a bit more with setting the zone locations and the other markers. Lingor is pretty tricky because of all the foilage and hills.

As per usual though I ran a mission for about 30 minutes and the battle was great.

I did have one minor issue with it not recognizing Lingor Units. I think I placed them properly but they show up weird as BLUFOR units when they should be OPFOR and I think they do NOT show up as part of the parameter selection (which I thought would pick it up automatically). Maybe I'm missing something minor.

Oh, and one minor thing overall. The "Leave Group" action I think needs a confirmation or something for it. I hit that at least 75% of the time when I am trying to recruit and the recruit moves far enough away to remove the "Recruit" action item.

I will let you know when I have something a little more complete.

[tvig0r0us 27]

TVig, just so you know and don't waste time with a duplicated effort I have started a version for Lingor. You did not explain the other night about some of the other required markers but I think I figured it out. I wasn't able to get the template stuff going for some reason so I just ended up dpbo'ing the Utes version and working from that. Worked straight away.

Lingor could probably support at least a couple of versions.

I just need to play around a bit more with setting the zone locations and the other markers. Lingor is pretty tricky because of all the foilage and hills.

As per usual though I ran a mission for about 30 minutes and the battle was great.

I did have one minor issue with it not recognizing Lingor Units. I think I placed them properly but they show up weird as BLUFOR units when they should be OPFOR and I think they do NOT show up as part of the parameter selection (which I thought would pick it up automatically). Maybe I'm missing something minor.

Oh, and one minor thing overall. The "Leave Group" action I think needs a confirmation or something for it. I hit that at least 75% of the time when I am trying to recruit and the recruit moves far enough away to remove the "Recruit" action item.

I will let you know when I have something a little more complete.

No units outside of the units found in the arrays from the init.sqf and description.ext will show up in the params selection. They should, however, show up in the game as it checks for all valid units that belong to a faction contained in the params selection first and includes them or valid units that are not in the arrays at all, that way when you edit the missions you can insert any unit from any addon and have them show up in the game. Vehics will show up regardless.

I've been taking some time going through all of the missions I have so far and making sure the vehicle ballancing is good (ie. proportioning the cars with the armor) and pairing them down to only units from specific versions of the game. A2 maps have all A2 units and vehics only, and OA maps have all OA units and vehics. I did keep BAF in the Shapur version. Anyhow, if anyone wants specific versions of it they can easily be added. I'll probably release 1.03 soon with less map versions than I was hoping for. I just haven't had all of the time I would have liked to keep making them lately, but I'm pretty sure the code is where I want it.

As far as the leave action, I'll have to take a look at the action priority, but I have no plans to add a confirmation to the action. Just be careful;)

Cheers:D

[delta99 34]

No units outside of the units found in the arrays from the init.sqf and description.ext will show up in the params selection. They should, however, show up in the game as it checks for all valid units that belong to a faction contained in the params selection first and includes them or valid units that are not in the arrays at all, that way when you edit the missions you can insert any unit from any addon and have them show up in the game. Vehics will show up regardless.

I figured it out with the proper addition to init.sqf and description.ext. Works as expected. I now just have to mess with the units enough so that it makes sense. Probably will fix the civilians too so that it uses Lingor civs. I even added a Lingor vehicle just to see how it would work and it picked it up fine.

As far as the leave action, I'll have to take a look at the action priority, but I have no plans to add a confirmation to the action. Just be careful;)

Yeah, it isn't much about being careful but rather anytime in the midst of you hitting the middle mouse button thinking you are hitting Recruit yet the unit moves an inch outside of the zone causing the recruit action item to disappear you then select Leave Group by accident. It is almost bound to happen no matter how careful one is so I think this will be a very sore spot for new people and turn them off. Maybe I'm just clumsy but don't think so :)

[delta99 34]

I was just putting on the finishing touches to the Lingor version and discovered that the Lingor units are still not working properly.

As far as I can tell the correct units are spawned correctly at start but anytime one of the AI gets killed and respawns they could potentially spawn on the West side as one of the EAST side Lingor units. The EAST units all spawn correctly I think even after respawn as the proper East side Lingor units. As a human WEST side player I never spawned into an Lingor unit on the West side. However, I didn't test for that specifically by continually respawning and only died a few times during testing.

I removed Resistance units completely for testing purposes just because it was easier to see what the heck was going on.

[ht-57 0]

I agree about a sp urban conquest!

I've yet to find a server playing this. I tried a few times searching for "team vigorous" as posted on first pg but no joy.

[delta99 34]

I agree about a sp urban conquest!

I've yet to find a server playing this. I tried a few times searching for "team vigorous" as posted on first pg but no joy.

This is just as enjoyable in SP as it is COOP and/or plain multiplayer. All works great. I've had my server up with players on all 3 sides and it has been great. I've also played this thing solo for hours on end.

The server is usually up unless TVig is changing things after some minor fixes etc. Which could be happening a lot as he is nearing getting ready to release the latest version.

If you are still around this evening I will fire up my server with Zargabad and you can join in. Search for Delta99 as the host.

[delta99 34]

I thought I would create a time lapse video of the map to show the zones changing over the course of a battle. This one is from Zargabad and I filmed for about 30 minutes but timelapsed it down to 30 seconds. It is cool to see the zones changing and the lines of battle forming:

[tvig0r0us 27]

I agree about a sp urban conquest!

I've yet to find a server playing this. I tried a few times searching for "team vigorous" as posted on first pg but no joy.

Thanks for checking it out ht -57. The mission is playable as single player, coop or pvp, but it must be loaded through multiplayer. The ai are completely independent and do not require anyone to participate with them, so you can join the battle alone if you wish. My appologies about the server. It's been down while I finalize the new release which I anticipate will be coming along in very short order. Expect a vast improvement over v1.02;) I'll have the server back up tomorrow night with the name Urban Conquest 24/7. I hope you'll stop by when it's up and join me for a game or two.

Awesome video Delta! Added to the OP. The battle rages on:D

Cheers:D

Edited August 25, 2012 by tvig0r0us

[ht-57 0]

TYVM delta, Tv!

I've been playing sp via multiplayer but I have to crank the amount of AI and vehicles way down to make it playable.

Seems to be a bit much @times to have the same machine for host and client, I guess in my minds eye that there would be a performance gain if there were a "true" sp variant. looking forward to the new version.