Escalation - Squad-based PvP with respawns

[galzohar 31]

In this game mode both teams fight to capture and hold a traditional zone. However, there are quite a few rules that take it to the next level.

This mission is available on our ArmA-IL IDF PvP server, so feel free to join us there (filter for "IDF").

Also played on ahoyworld.co.uk server (filter for "ahoyworld" and join the PvP server)

Main features:

Squad-based play

Special weapon loadouts, vehicle locking, and some of the logistics are only available to players in a large enough squad. Most vehicles cannot be taken away from main base alone. These, combined with the fact any squad leader can kick offenders off of his squad and lock it to prevent unwanted members from joining, make it much more difficult for the lone wolves to interrupt the tactical play of those who are trying to help their team to win by working together.

Scaling by Player Count

Score granted for holding the capture area and maximum score required to win scale with number of players so that the round duration will be approximately similar regardless of how many are playing (while the max score per player can be adjusted by the admin).

Availability of weapon loadouts and vehicles as well as the minimum number of squad members required to unlock certain features scale in order to have all (or at least most) roles (both infantry-based and vehicle-based) are utilized.

Balance

Starting positions and available equipment (as well as the player-count requirements to unlock certain equipment) were made as balanced as ArmA 3 Beta and Stratis allow.

Score is balanced between kills, vehicles abandoned or destroyed, and holding the actual zone, in order to encourage players to take a balanced approach when it comes to rushing into the capture zone as opposed to trying to stay alive. Playing too aggressively will increase the enemy score due to casualties, while playing too passively will increase the enemy score due to them holding the capture zone. Score granted for vehicles scales based on the type of vehicle destroyed, and abandoned vehicles grant the enemy only 70% of their score value (rounded down), and only when they actually respawn.

Equipment is limited, within reason, in order to make the mission feel like a real military engagement, while at the same time making sure you always have at least some sort of a choice when it comes to the equipment you use.

Respawns

Respawn happens in waves, so that all dead players come back at the same time and can therefore work together more easily to get back to the fight together. Wave intervals are somewhat random, so that you never know exactly when the next respawn wave will happen.

Once alive, you can either deployed to any MHQ that isn't blocked due to combat taking place in its vicinity, or make your way there using any of the vehicles in your base. Remember: You cannot take a vehicle from main base by yourself. Work with your teammates if you want to use vehicles together.

More details and exact rules are available on the in-game briefing.

Enjoy!

Download 1.02 (Mediafire):

http://www.mediafire.com/download/926mcrn7lvhtc73/esc_100_1-02.zip

Download 1.02 (Armaholic):

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=19419

Edited September 28, 2013 by galzohar

[.kju 3240]

Please add a short bullet point summary, and a few ingame screenshots to get a better idea.

[hogscraper 10]

Looks like both download links on the Armaholic site are broken. Mediafire works, though. Can't wait to try this out.

[galzohar 31]

Maybe Armaholic are having a techincal issue or something. I upload to mediafire and Armaholic mirror it themselves, so yeah the mediafire link is always updated first.

I'll try work on a better overview for the first post. Just need to find the time between working, playing and improving the missions :)

[SavageCDN 231]

Great concept galzohar - running on our server for now (forced 1st person view):

http://arma3.swec.se/server/data/538

Edited August 7, 2013 by SavageCDN

[galzohar 31]

Revised description in first post.

Regarding screenshots, not sure how much that would help, as it is difficult to show game mechanics with screenshots. Also, there is no actual base layout - Vehicles spawn based on where the game's spawn system chooses to place them, and even if there was - Showing it would not do much... As for the map itself, there are basically only 4 markers - 1 for capture area, 2 for main base spawn protection areas, and 1 for the advance limit of your MHQs, so again not much to show there. The main focus in making this mission was on the actual gameplay and making sure it works. It still lacks (and probably always will lack, unless someone will provide some help with changing it) UI menus - Everything is done by using the action menu on the player or on the relevant objects in the main base (ammo crate for loadouts, yellow cinderblocks for MHQ teleport or reset, the player for locking/unlocking nearest vehicle and group management...).

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.00a:

- Adjusted loadouts to work with inventory space changes introduced in ArmA 3 Beta 0.76.

- Assistants now have a backpack containing the extra ammo (2 for AT/ATGM, 1 for AA), but it is not possible to carry both a launcher and a backpack at the same time (backpack will be removed).

- You can now have 2 times as many assistants (AT, ATGM and AA) as you can have gunners.

- Overall loadout availability adjusted to account for the above changes.

Edited August 16, 2013 by galzohar

[galzohar 31]

Added version 1.01b for Altis using Dev build:

- New location on Altis

- Added UAV operator and carrier

- Some minor tweaks to rules.

Edited August 30, 2013 by galzohar

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.00c Beta Dev:

- Fixed capture rate calculation to make more sense - Currently if enemy has a lot of players in the zone but you have more, then capturing is much slower than intended. Next version it is fixed.

- Spawn protection is now limited to 10 meters above ground (After reading the about the "dogfight" incident in the other thread)

- Updated briefing to indicate that score for abandoned vehicles is no longer rounded down (just flat 70% of score value), but is still 0 for abandoned transport jeeps.

- Service trucks can no longer be used as transport.

Please vote to get those bugs fixed so that vehicle repair/rearm/refuel can work properly:

http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=11873

http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=13661

Edited September 1, 2013 by galzohar

[zeep 3]

Great fun, played my first PvP on Altis!

Some thoughts and suggestions:

- Possibly can you have some information visible on the HUD like a cap countdown with in-range indicator, when the player is in range of the objective?

It can be something minimal like "IR" in the corner of the screen and maybe a countdown when capping.

- I'm all for an empty HUD but some headings to objectives, visible for a few seconds when you i.e. open the Compass would be very helpful.

Also, can you make the compass bigger? Or is that only possible through modding?

Cheers!

[galzohar 31]

No cap countdown, as that would provide information about the number of enemies around your position.

Basic navigation skills are basically a requirement for playing ArmA. I know it's difficult, but in the end that's how the game is and I don't think I'll be trying to change that.

Compass adjustments are not possible in a mission, only a mod. Maybe you can ask the ACE guys (or maybe they'll just do it anyway).

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.00d Beta Dev

- Fixed vehicle markers.

- Reduced yellow line distance to 500 meters (down from 550).

Edited September 1, 2013 by galzohar

[galzohar 31]

Just FYI, once the game is released the Stratis and Altis versions will be merged. Possible new addions in the upcoming 1-2 weeks: More locations on Altis and calling for supply paradrop.

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.00e Beta Dev

- Fixed repair/rearm/refule script to work 99.9% of the time (rather than fail most of the time).

Still working on supply drop script with my limited free time, but it's coming along nicely.

[zeep 3]

What is the yellow line?

I tried to move a MHQ yesterday, it said i can't cross the yellow line and warped me back. I looked on the map and saw no yellow line.

Why couldn't i move the MHQ?

[galzohar 31]

Hmm, everyone I know could see the yellow line. Try look better :)

It is all explained in the briefing. In any case, you should probably not move an MHQ if you do not understand the rules, as you will likely cause more harm than good.

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.00f Beta Dev

- Capture rate calculation now gives lower weight for players on a side that has more players.

- Supply paradrop request is now available in the communication menu. You must be a squad leader of a large enough group to call it in, and it has a significant cooldown which scales with the number of players on the enemy side. Use it wisely.

Edited September 7, 2013 by galzohar

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.01 Beta Dev

- Fixed problems with vehicle markers. UAVs will now also appear on the map.

- Fixed vehicle service bug that prevented it from working on tracked vehicles and UAVs.

- Fixed problems with vehicle locking: MHQs will not automatically unlock when the locking squad does not have enough squad members, but will not unlock when they are too far. Other vehicles still get unlocked automatically when abandoned by the locking squad. Destroyed vehicles can no longer be locked/unlocked.

- UAV carrier removed - Instead, UAVs spawn in main base.

- Only UAV operator can carry UAV terminal.

- First aid kits can only be carried and used by medics.

- Automatic rifleman now only has 1 grenade and 1 smoke grenade.

- Adjusted vehicle respawn rules and spawning. Tanks are now available for both sides!

If there are no issues with this version and no major changes are made until release, the Startis version will probably be converted to 1.01 on September 12.

[galzohar 31]

Hotfix 1.01a Beta Dev

- Fixed bug with medics not being able to carry first aid kits nor change loadout.

- UAV operators are now deleted upon death in order to disconnect them from their UAV (until BIS allows for a less destructive solution like removing the UAV terminal from dead bodies or simply disconnecting a UAV with scripts).

- Restored basic items (map etc) to players waiting for the next respawn wave.

Edited September 7, 2013 by galzohar

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.01b Beta Dev

- Vehicle locking is now more efficient (action is added to the vehicles rather than the player, and use of nearestObjects is no longer needed).

- Vehicles can no longer be locked if they are moving or if they have a driver who is in a large enough group different than you.

- AFK list no longer includes AI UAV pilots.

- UAV operators are now deleted shortly after they die as a workaround for not being able to delete their terminal. As a result, the UAVs will remain use-able after the operator's death, and not require recovering the terminal from the dead operator.

- Engineers are now equipped with mine detectors, and are the only ones who can use mine detectors and explosives.

Edited September 13, 2013 by galzohar

[SnR 1]

Your latest DL link goes elsewhere. Thanks for a great mission.

[galzohar 31]

Fixed link. At work so can't directly access mediafire, so I hope it works. If it doesn't, I'll fix it as soon as I get home (in ~10 hours).

[galzohar 31]

Version 1.01c

- Internal script error fix.

- UAV operators are now deleted server-side instead of client-side to prevent potential bugs.

- "Engineer" renamed "Explosive Specialist".

- Stratis version updated to 1.01c

- Stratis initial MHQ positions updated to account for new yellow line distance.

Edited September 13, 2013 by galzohar

[WH_Boomer 10]

~S~ all,

Just a quick shout out to Galzohar for his work on this mission. The War Hawks hosted a ArmA 3 Launch party that was live streamed on Twitch TV with Frooglepete and MalakithSkadi. We used this and DTAS on our dedicated server without any mission related errors.

Thanks for the work, and thanks for joining us for the fun Galzohar.

~S~

WH_Boomer

[galzohar 31]

I'm thinking of maybe automatically deleting all dead bodies and dropped items in order to prevent getting a serious performance hit. Another alternative (or maybe in addition) is to run a large radius cleanup (that can make the server stutter for a few seconds) every 10-15 minutes.

The obvious advantage is possibly an improvement in performance for long rounds.

The obvious disadvantage is not being able to loot the dead bodies, so your dead buddy AT-specialist is gone and now that tank can roam free.

Another completely different alternative is to make the default max score lower, so that rounds end faster and don't reach the point where performance become a serious issue.

Regardless of the above, next version will most likely have a much higher availability of light AT (1 per 6 players rather than 1 per 10 players, and assistants 1 per 4 instead of 1 per 5).

Opinions?