Dynamic Take And Secure - Randomized Round-Based No-Respawn A&D

[galzohar 31]

Dynamic Take And Secure

By Gal Zohar

Overview

Insipred by Infiltration's Dynamic Take And Secure (DTAS) game mode. The goal was to create a randomized PvP game mode that has no respawns and a round-based system, while keeping it interesting and balanced.

Features

Attackers should capture the objective area from the defenders before time runs out, while defenders need to prevent them from completing their mission. Game is played in a "best of" system. To keep it balanced, your score must also be higher than the enemy by at least 2 points.

The objective area is picked at random from pre-defined areas, while insertion position and method can be selected by the leader of the attacking squads.

Once there are more attackers than defenders within the objective area, they will begin to capture the zone. The more attackers in the zone, the faster the capture speed. Capturing alone takes 60 seconds, while each additional player will bring down the duration significantly closer to the minimum capture time of 20 seconds.

Equipment is given based on a class system. Available classes depend on whether you are defending or attacking. Attackers have superior equipment available.

Each squad of attackers can choose their insertion method and position, and start the round already mounted into their vehicles ready for rapid deployment. Defenders start at the objective area, unaware of where the attackers are coming from.

Attackers and defenders swap roles every odd number of rounds, while the objective location changes every even number of rounds. Combined with difference in equipment availability, this creates balance in this assymetric scenario. Additionally, winning team must lead by at least 2 points, to make sure that the side swapping is balanced symmetrically. For example, in a "best of 9", the match will not end if the final score is a 5-4, but rather continue until one team has a lead of 2 points.

Mod Support

The following mods are not required, but are supported (and required) if the server/host is using them. Players who are missing the mods can still connect, but will get a message telling them which mods they need to download, as well as being killed at the start of every round while getting the same notification. By default, mission will choose the first mod available for each side (attack and defense). Parameters include options to choose a specific mod for each side, which will be used if available, and otherwise revert to default of first available mod.

- IDF

- HLC AK Pack

- RHS Escalation: Can use both factions, only USF or only AFRF.

- Task Force Arrowhead Radio: Automatic channel and frequency configuration. Removal of radios from players waiting for next round. Players without the mod can still play with no radio.

Localization

If you are running an installation of the game in one of the supported languages, the all mission text will appear in that language. If you have any experience playing the mission and are fluent in both English and your own language and are willing to make the mission available in your language as well, please contact me.

Following languages are supported:

- English
- Russian (95% of text is localized)

TODO

- Support additional mods.

- Improved spectator script (current script is just a basic camera switch).

- Add custom sound notifications for beginning and end of round.

- Bug sometimes causes people to spawn inside objects, unable to get out. For now, defenders can "unstuck" (by using the action menu) 10 seconds after round starts, during the first 30 seconds of the round. Please vote for BIS to fix it: http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=7957

- Bug preventing helicopters form spawning flying over water in multiplayer. Please vote for BIS to fix it: http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=21806

- Finish Russian localization, as well as any other languages I can find people who are willing to translate into.

Special Thanks

- ArmA-IL community for testing and playing.

- ArmA3.RU for picking up this game mode.

- Excess3 for the logo, the IDF mod, most of the Russian localization and the notification icons.


Servers and Events

Mission is often played on the ArmA-IL IDF PvP server. If you have Play withSIX, you can join it by clicking here. For more information about game times you can visit our community on facebook (times are in Israel time, GMT+2+daylight savings).

Visit our homepage at http://www.arma-il.info.

Follow PvP events for DTAS by joining the ArmA 3 PvP Community Steam group:

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/arma3pvpcommunity

This mission is also played by the Russian community ArmA3.RU.

For US time zone, join 29th Infantry Division Arma 3 Steam group for events:

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/29thID-A3#events

Gameplay Guide Video

RHS Gameplay Video

UAV Usage, showing both operator and ground operation points of view

Download

Mediafire (v1.14)

http://www.mediafire.com/download/jg2p4iylwydd4me/dtas_1-14.zip

Armaholic (v1.14)

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=20326

Make ArmA Not War:

http://makearmanotwar.com/entry/MOFUSojfRA#.U-p3AfmSweo

Please support! Edited May 3, 2016 by galzohar

[Predator.v2 10]

Interesting, will try out this mission this evening.

There is just one objective and no respawn? What are the default time limit, cap zone sizes, combat area (any "borders"?)?

[galzohar 31]

Default time limit is 10 minutes. Seems to be more than enough for objectives in areas that have any sort of cover, yet not too much as to bore the defenders to death.

Default zone size is 25 meters. Too small (think if it was a point flag objective) and defenders don't have to watch too much. Too big and attackers will not have the time to make sure it's clear. Since defending is generally easier than attacking, zone size is tweaked to tip the odds towards attackers as much as possible. Keep in mind that you don't have to be inside the zone to defend it. You only need to prevent attackers from entering it with overwhelming numbers. So even with 0 defenders in the zone, you can still win if no attacker survives inside the zone long enough to capture it.

There are no borders - You can go anywhere you want! Defenders start right on top of the objective with no vehicles, though, so they can only get so far within the time limit. Attackers start wherever they want (chosen by the group leader via the action menu on the yellow cinder blocks) at least 1200 meters away from the objective and with vehicles, and defenders don't know where they started.

All above values are configure-able by the server admin via parameters.

Edited April 19, 2013 by galzohar

[zeep 3]

Nice one Galzo, will follow development and definitely try it online at IDF when i have enough time to play for longer periods.

[Predator.v2 10]

We played a few rounds yesterday, nice pvp mission!

Although we noticed a few small issues.

-Mission name (in the server browser) isn't very "eye-catching". Unless you already have a full server, you hardly get any new players.

-Most guys don't really "understand" the game mode and many leave shortly after joining, when they are stuck in the start location. Maybe some on screen messages to "explain" the mode, would help.

-We played some rounds at night without NVGs and we'd love to have some flares for the grenadier kits (or at least some chemlights).

Next to that, we loved the "one-life" idea!

[galzohar 31]

Originally I intended attackers to have NVGs and defenders to not have NVGs, so only defender grenadiers have flares. The "No NVGs for everyone" option was added later. I'll definitely add flares to attackers for next version.

I'm not sure how to "explain" the mod in a way that people will actually read, considering that anything longer than 4 words will generally be ignored. There is already a timer and "waiting" message at the top of your screen. I'll try think of another way to make it clear, but I'm open to ideas (again, think "4 words maximum"). The best I can think of right now, is that if you join mid-round you will get a "waiting for next round" hintC window.

As for mission name, if you have any idea for an "eye-catching" name and/or prefix I can add to it, again I'm open to ideas. In any case, though, it seems like people just sort by either ping or player count anyway.

Added note: Mission is not meant to run in "persistent" mode and will bug out if you leave it running with no players. I'll try looking into it for future versions.

Edited April 21, 2013 by galzohar

[zeep 3]

Looking forward to play.

Hopefully sometime there can be a real start screen for this gamemode coded. Instead of in the blocked area in-game. A screen wherein you can choose your loadout and all other options whatever they may be. Also save some favorites and default. Then enter the game ready to go.

[galzohar 31]

In the future you will default into spectator mode if a round is in progress, with an option to close and re-open it. If no spectator script that easily allow it (ex: a port of the ACE spectator script with all the improvements it offers over the original keygetys version) is available by the time ACRE is publicly released, I'll try look into modify existing options, but don't hold your horses, as spectator/camera scripts are not easy to mess with. At worst, eventually there will be ACE, hopefully with a proper spectator script I can use easily.

The blocked area is just so much easier to make than a UI screen. UI is a LOT of work and something I simply don't have the time to go into, especially when I can get the same result with simple action menus that everyone are already used to (due to UI being so difficult to create). Even the timer at the top of the screen took me a while to nail down. Of course, if someone volunteers to create such UI, he's more than welcome to create it and send it to me. Basically, all it needs is have every action menu option available on it to make it sufficiently functional.

In any case, the way the engine works means I have to put your soldier *somewhere*, and putting you in the water at the corner of the island will cause problems with transitions between swimming and normal animations (unless BI fixed it already, but so far even at start of round on perfectly solid ground some players are stuck in swimming animation and have to suicide before the round starts to fix it). In any case, none of this matters until someone volunteers to make a UI screen, so once it's done I'll consider other options for where to put the players' soldiers in between rounds.

[galzohar 31]

Another known issue:

Bug sometimes causes people to spawn inside objects, unable to get out. Unfortunately, the only real way to fix it is wait for BIS to fix the findEmptyPosition function to work properly. Please vote for it: http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=7957

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.01:

- Attackers start in vehicles at start of round.

- Players can choose to prefer being a driver. Drivers will be chosen arbitrarily based on player preferences.

- Last playable slot is now named "Insertion Master", and can control the insertion position and type instead of the leader. If the slot is not in use, old rules (leader chooses) still apply.

- Everyone now have 20 seconds of invulnerability for players and vehicles at start of round.

- After 10 seconds and before 30 seconds since round start, defenders can use the action menu (default mousewheel) to "Un-Stuck" themselves, teleporting to a random position near the objective. This is to work around the issue with findEmptyPosition.

- Mission should now work properly on servers with "persistent=1" enabled.

- Attacker marksman now has flashlight if mission is at nighttime and "Nightvision" parameter is set to "Nobody".

- Removed option to choose mitsnefet type when the server isn't using the IDF mod.

- Added automatic rifleman for defenders with 3 100-round magazines and no grenades/smokes.

- Added Zargabad version.

First post have been updated.

Edited May 16, 2013 by galzohar

[7DAP 10]

I apologize in advance for my english.

Excellent mission!

Most of all it was pleasant, that there is no respawn.

Interesting to play in the dark of the night, without the presence of the "Nightvision" for both parties.

Now server playing only this mission every day, except for Sunday evening.

Let's try to changes.

[galzohar 31]

Hotfix - 1.01a:

- Fixed bug with moving players into vehicels.

- Fixed bug with "Un-Stuck" action.

- Fixed bugs with the start-of-round 20-second invulnerability for players and vehicles.

- Made marker names 70% transparent for players in a vehicle another player is driving, so that the driver name is clearly visible on the map.

Hopefully this is all that was in need of fixing.

[.kju 3244]

Fine game mode galzohar :)

A few questions and notes:

# Would you be interested to host a cup with it on the PvPscene league hub?

# Why is the port of the Kegetys observer script not suitable?

# Why not use playerSide?

# Possible to add a non vehicle option please.

# Please make the prepare time configurable - 2 minutes is way too much for organized teams.

# The RPG launcher is AT and AA plus guided - quite overpowered..

# Ability to revive/heal unconscious players would empower the medic class.

# Would be nice to make the round win condition configurable more easily - like to make bomb planting/rescue type also possible.

[galzohar 31]

1. I don't really have time to work on mission, organize the Israeli community AND organize a league, but I sure will support a cup if someone wants to run one.

2. I need to be able to start and stop the script at will via scripting commands. For the port I could only figure out how to start it, but not how to give control back to the player. If you look at the code, you can see the ACE spectator script calls are still there, and are simply disabled because there is no ACE for ArmA 3 yet. With the ACE spectator script, starting and stopping it was quite easy.

3. Was never too sure how playerSide works (most specifically - when it initializes to the correct value).

4. It is possible and shouldn't be too difficult to implement, but I would prefer to avoid adding options nobody will ever use. Currently, the minimum starting distance default is set so that there is almost no chance for defenders and attackers to start within line of sight of each other. Since that distance is large, transport vehicles are needed to compensate, and also allow for attacking from multiple directions. None of the vehicles currently in DTAS have any weapons, so they can't really be used in combat anyway. Also, options other than jeeps are not very effective most of the time, and are only kept in to remain compatible with island-based maps (where you might not be able to have the insertion on the same island as the defenders), and to give options to those who really wish to explore and maybe find a use for those other insertion types. In any case, removing vehicles altogether would require either increasing the time limit by a lot or reducing the minimum starting distance, and both can have very un-desirable results.

5. It already is in the parameters.

6. Yes, but I find it is still better to have it than to have no RPG at all. Once more realistic RPG options are available, the current RPG will be replaced. Also, I thought it was only guided for AA when used with the AA missile, which is not available in this mission?

7. Yes, it would make medic better, but:

a. It would also reduce realism and confuse players.

b. It gets pretty weird gameplay-wise in a game with no respawns, where you think the enemy team is eliminated but then medics sneak up and revive everyone.

c. Once there is a spectator script, you will likely never use it as there's always a chance of being revived, making the mission more boring for those who die and don't actually get a successful revive.

The only reason there even is a medic class, is because people requested it even after knowing how useless it would be in the current system. For defenders, the medic is the only one carrying FAKs.

8. Making them configureable is not a problem, but scripting the other options will take work and may not produce desirable results. I have tried missions before with different types of objectives, and they just didn't work well because for some objective types defenders would almost always win, and for other objective types attackers would almost always win. The current objective system is made to give attackers and defenders as close of a chance to win as possible, though it still does favor defenders. In general, when an objective is too large, it is too easy to defend because it will be hard to find the defenders inside before time runs out. If it is too small (flag capture, bomb planting, etc), it will be too easy to defend because defenders only need to observe a single point, and having multiple objectives will either make it too difficult and not fun for defenders. If it can be shot from afar then it becomes very difficult and frustrating to defend. Other than the balance, the current objective system used is made to maximize the chance the round will end with one of the teams being eliminated if both teams are playing properly - Time limit and actual capturing only happen when at least 1 player was not playing properly. I find that this objective system is best for forcing the 2 teams to fight each other within a time limit when no respawns are available.

If you have any other ideas, please share them! Thank you for your interest in DTAS.

[.kju 3244]

Thanks for your answers.

ref 1) Anyone from the Israeli community interested/capable to run the cup? Or Arma3.ru?

ref 2) Did you try terminate script and selectPlayer combo?

You could check also the observer mode used in Blitzkrieg. Should be easy to integrate.

ref 3) playerSide is 100% reliable as far as I can tell. Otherwise use side (group player).

ref 4) vehicles make it very easy to notice where the attacker is coming from; has also lots of abuse potential

ref 5) copy and thanks

ref 6) have to double check the AA part. however we had the guided AT killed the jeep across very long distances a couple of times - very lame..

ref 7) revive doesnt have to mean that you can always revive a dead - hence why i also said unconscious

ref 8) actually we find defending way too easy atm as you start already at the location

overall the area/terrain / target and start positions define the playability

the large viewdistance, the vehicles and defenders at the target certainly are the key factors of the current gameplay

[galzohar 31]

Hotfix - 1.01b

- Fixed issues with starting in vehicles. Hopefully for the last time.

- Can no longer put on and take off mitsnefet while inside vehicles (IDF only).

@KJU:

1. Not sure, I'll try to ask around. In any case, feel free to post on http://www.arma-il.info with more details so people can see what you're planning. As for ArmA3.RU, you're probably better off asking one of the Russians :)

2. I'll try this when I have the time, but I don't have a lot of time right now and the time I have is usually spent on fixing more urgent issues with DTAS. Also, it will be best to include a "first person spectator only" option, at least for non-ACRE servers.

4. With RPGs for defenders (even with lesser RPGs once those are available in-game), I don't think there is much abuse that can be done with the vehicles. As for making you easier to spot - As long as you don't drive them too far you should be OK. The purpose of vehicles is to allow the game mode to spawn you far away at a safe location without forcing you to march a long distance when it isn't necessary.

6. Again, when lesser RPGs are available I will replace them, but as long as you are aware of the capability you can just choose your disembark position accordingly and never get blown up.

7. To make a proper revive system (such as the ArmA 2 module or ACE wounds system) and tune it properly would be too much work, and of course will be confusing to players as it will only be present in DTAS or in the few missions that use said system. Plus, once you are unconscious, even if you have little chance to be revived, it will prevent you from spectating.

8. Defending is indeed to easy, but I think it is as difficult as I can make it without completely breaking it. Once more content is available, the attacker equipment will be upgraded and the defender equipment will be downgraded, but currently defenders have the worst equipment possible that still makes sense, while attackers have the best.

9. Without the vehicles I think the overall gameplay wouldn't be too different, but round duration will need to be greatly increased to compensate, which is undesirable.

Edited May 18, 2013 by galzohar

[galzohar 31]

Hotfix for new Alpha patch is now available on the ArmA-IL IDF PvP server. Will upload it here as soon as it goes through some testing.

[BlenderRUS 6]

Fixed DTAS due to removed classes in the latest stable Arma 3 update.

Download: ARMA3.RU FTP

[giorgygr 61]

Congratulations galzohar.

An excellent game-mode.

[galzohar 31]

Thanks.

First post updated with download link to hotfix 1.03c:

- Made compatible with Alpha version 0.58

- Default time limit is now 11 minutes, and can be configured in the parameters to any round number between 5 and 20 minutes.

[galzohar 31]

Hotfix 1.03d:

- Another try fixing the issue with having all players start in vehicles.

- Made sure mission ends correctly on the server and does not need restarting by admin.

Sorry about all the vehicle hotfixes, but I don't have enough testers to fully test it (which is also why the current system is quite simple with rather arbitrary vehicle assignments). I hope I got it nailed this time.

Edited May 25, 2013 by galzohar

[drill 1]

That's a good mission. Thank you for it.

I propose to add some wind deflection of bullets script to the mission (if possible), until there's a better native or ACE3 support of it.

If you'd like, my very basic implementation of it might be used (similar to ACE2 implementation):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bj886v20p45zm82/_wind_deflection.sqf

It's a one-file script. It's just needed to be execVM'ed once somewhere (in init.sqf, for example). The effect of wind to bullets of different calibers depends on parameter "AirFriction" of ammo class (I guess, that's not the true purpose of this parameter, but it gives generally right proportions among different calibers). I've tested it with dedicated server and it seems to be working in MP correctly, though not 100% sure.

I also wrote a basic MP dynamic wind scripts (if someone find it useful):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s48y5ghcgch8sqq/wind.zip

(with MP sync, _wind_deflection.sqf is included in zip and is runned automatically). To activate it, just run '[] call compile preprocessFileLineNumbers "wind\init.sqf";' somewhere (in init.sqf, for example).

[galzohar 31]

The problem with wind in ArmA is that you don't have the visuals you would normally use in real life to properly compensate for it (and I'm speaking from experience firing an M24 and calculating wind offsets using only what you can see in the field such as bushes and trees). Add to that the fact that people won't understand how it works (because it's not a part of the game), and the fact you can't use RL knowledge to properly work with this modification, and you get something that does more harm than good.

I'm all for realism enhancements, but I'm afraid adding such a script into this mission is not something that would take things in the right direction.

[drill 1]

On my opinion, you're generally wrong, because you consider the problem only from point of view of the shooter. But surely do as you think is right. Sorry for some offtopic, no more comments about it from me.

[galzohar 31]

Hotfix 1.01e:

- Revised all kits, especially snipers, to fit with Alpha version 0.6 and to try and answer many requests from players without hurting the game balance.

- Cleared vehicle cargo.

Edited June 7, 2013 by galzohar