Faction Limitation

[lev 21]

I was wondering if there is a reason for keeping this in the game and if Arma3 might do away with it. What I mean is the factions being limited to BLUFOR, REDFOR, INDEPENDENT, and CIVILIAN factions. It seems to me that it would be better to allow mission makers to specify the number of factions they want to be made available which would open up the possibility for more complex scenarios and possibly new gameplay elements (TvTvTvTv... as an example). Is there perhaps some sort of engine limitation that requires the number of factions to be limited in this fashion? If not I think removing the limitation would benefit the game and community since there wouldn't be any loss of functionality if mission makers wanted only the default factions but would also allow mission makers to include more if they wanted to. In terms of development, I don't think it would require too much work to change?

[Kristian 47]

This would be swell, but maybe not the way you describe it. I'd like to see addon makers being able to create custom factions, so for example when FDF makes a release,

they don't have to add the units to independent side, but they could make their own side. This way the pre-set factons wouldn't be crowded when using multiple mods that

add many factions.

[luizsilveira 5]

That's an interesting point/limitation, but I don't think number of factions is the only problem. Like you said, factions are limited to 3+Civ, but certain units are allocated on certain factions. For example, I couldn't do a US vs. Afrenian (on Duala) mission. I don't think I could do, for example, a RU vs. Taki as well or, "politically incorrect" as it may be, US vs. UK forces. And so on. If there is a way to do it, I didn't find it.

I understand having asymmetric warfare is already quite an advance but being able to decide who is blue, who is red and who is independent doesn't look aaall that difficult to implement and would open an ocean of possibilities.

[smookie 11]

Yes you could do that in ArmA2 with little knowledge.;

[Smurf 12]

"Team"

As much as I like to have something like this, don't think that is within BIS's scope for the moment.

Yes you could do that in ArmA2 with little knowledge.;

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Side_relations

[katipo66 94]

Agree with OP, would be great to be able to set any combination up without any 'hacking' or grouping to different faction etc.

[Foxtrop 10]

Im agree with the RED VS RED, it would be cool to change the side of a country without using scripts in every single unit, maybe a table with the countrys and the faction

Edited August 25, 2012 by Foxtrop

[luizsilveira 5]

This is what I meant and I think I was misinterpreted. I know there is a way to allocate sides to units, and one can even make two US units fight each other. But, like most things, it involves scripting (even if very light) and quite a bit of micromanagement. As often, what should take a couple of minutes takes a couple of hours.

What I meant was to assign a whole faction, for example RU will be BLU. It also goes on the way of Kristian suggestion, although I do understand why (engine-wise) there would be limitations to blu/red/ind/civ.

I have a hard time understanding the "it can be done" culture of this community. It's great that so many things can be done but I don't understand the lack of reception to features that would make it easier to get things done. Often it looks like the aesthetics and the challenge of mission making is more about overcoming UI limitations than about the mission/gameplay itself.

[Olympianmind 1]

I would like modders to have this readily available for them. i am not big on modding for I am fairly young and just beginning to try it.

[sapped 10]

Agreed, always find this to be a big limitation for mission making since OFP, surprised BIS still didn't change it all these years,

really like to see this feature in the next game

[okdante 0]

That would be a great feature. Be free to assign any single unit, group or faction to any "team". Limitless possibilities without the need of extensive scripting. Definitely deserves it's own thread.

Note, the highly creative minds and storytellers are usually not the same as those with technical brains and there's not always an option for those two to collaborate :) Like in SW like Adobe CS, you start with an idea, sketch, and then use the program according to ur needs, not start with messing up with and looking at the program and then just try its features. Any SW should emphasize the first approach and give u as little limitations as possible.

[dragon01 902]

Indeed. It always bothered me that you can't make, for instance, a Russian invasion of Takistan without modding in an alternative faction. Or a joint American-Russian counterterrorism operation (somewhat unlikely, but could be fun). I hope that such scenarios would be possible in AIII.

[Pyronick 21]

ArmA 3 needs a simple user interface for side and faction relations, just a few tickboxes or dropdown menu's - and it should be modding friendly to accept additional faction mods.

It'd be a great feature to have to create certain operations where you for instance have the US Army fighting rogue US Marine which are belligerent towards all other factions (incl. civillians if possible)

And I hate the fact that sides/factions cannot change during a mission. I'd love to see that at some point during a mission or campaign an action of a single faction (or just one man) could trigger a war with other sides/factions, make allies with other sides/factions and change the balance by doing so.

It would create an entire new dimension in the game. The dimension of diplomacy - where you have to abide certain rules of engagement previously not possible in the ArmA series.

[ProfTournesol 956]

ArmA 3 needs a simple user interface for side and faction relations, just a few tickboxes or dropdown menu's - and it should be modding friendly to accept additional faction mods.

It'd be a great feature to have to create certain operations where you for instance have the US Army fighting rogue US Marine which are belligerent towards all other factions (incl. civillians if possible)

And I hate the fact that sides/factions cannot change during a mission. I'd love to see that at some point during a mission or campaign an action of a single faction (or just one man) could trigger a war with other sides/factions, make allies with other sides/factions and change the balance by doing so.

It would create an entire new dimension in the game. The dimension of diplomacy - where you have to abide certain rules of engagement previously not possible in the ArmA series.

Yep, i really agree with this.

[dmarkwick 261]

User defined factions would go a long way to solve the whole "ArmA3 balance" issue :)

[mr. bravo 17]

Totally agree.

I'm not a scripter or mission-builder myself, but everytime I see discussions about scripting factions in Arma2-missions, people complain about it being glitchy and doesnt work very well. Like icons not showing correctly, AI not always responding correctly, and things like that. At least in multiplayer. Almost same thing with independent stuff. It's practically a banned method in some clans/communities.

In our mod-project we've added Swedes to both blufor and independent, so mission-builders at least have some proper choice. But it would be better to not have pre-decided sides for all factions, but rather let mission-builders assign a high number of "teams" in the editor instead with different icon-colors.