[SP] EOD Squad 1 - something a little different (Stratis)

[sproyd 2]

EOD Squad 1

Features

• You are a member of an active EOD squad tasked with maintaining an explosive-free MSR
  
• Work under time pressure with a deputy to disable mines ahead of an advancing convoy
  
• Command an assault support unit in case you come under fire
  
• Polish: 2 Part mission, dynamic briefing, dynamic tasks, dynamic mine placement, time change, multiple possible outcomes, radio, supports
  
• 
  

I thought I'd make something a bit different and technical for my 3rd published mission and so I thought the concept of an EOD squad would be pretty cool! I've had great fun making it although with a few technical difficulties which should now be mostly ironed out. Thanks to Larrow for his help with some of the scripting. Rather than copy pasting the briefing here, just check it out in-game. Its fairly self-explanatory.

Things to please report

• If any of the Tasks don't have a destination, please let me know. The destinations won't kick in until you've completed the prior task (intentional).
  
• If the enemy sets off any explosives please let me know. This shouldn't happen.
  
• If the convoy gets stuck (for more than a minute) then let me know where/why
  
• If you have deactivated all mines but the task doesn't complete
  
• If the task completes but you HAVEN't deactivated all mines in the area
  
• 
  

I've ironed out most of the bugs so none of the above should happen but then again, I'm playing it my way and you may uncover other bugs.

Upcoming Features

• Better fail detection (won't fail all tasks)
  
• Better enemy AI behaviour
  

* The enemy troops placing the mines, are actual troops. If you catch up to them and kill them there will be no more mines and the convoy will make it through. That isn't recommended seeing as you aren't well armed.

If you complete the main objective and you haven't killed the SF troops, part 2 involves you body swapping to a UAV operator who needs to hunt down the SF camp site using a quadrotor, and then calling in a massive artillery strike on the area to wipe them out once and for all so they stop menacing our supply route!

CHANGELOG

V1.7 - Released 01/10/2013

- Tweaked: mine zones

- Tweaked: part 2 (UAV part)

- Tweaked: music - cruising volume now available

- Tweaked: other various

V1.6 - Released 24/09/2013

- Fixed: Tasks now continue to other playable characters

- Added dynamic music - plays while in the car only and at a certain late-mission event.

- Added radio options to turn up/off the music coming from the car radio

- Added to Steam, link below

V1.5 - Released 22/09/2013

HUGE UPDATE

- Part 2: A completely new task, once the main objective is complete... Hint: it involves UAV and mortars

- You can now radio in for the convoy to stop/go in case they are moving too fast or you want to take your time. This also uses side chat in-game. No recorded sounds yet.

- Added: a small interception force on the MSR. I'd recommend unloading your assault guy at each checkpoint.

- Tweaked: ranks for playable characters to ensure you takeover from the other EOD guy if need be and can still control the assault guy.

- Fixed: Task completing before all mines deactivated at each checkpoint.

- New Known Issue: Tasks from Part 1 don't carry over to Part 2. Working on a fix.

V1.1 - Released 02/09/2013

- Made it so that enemy aren't visible (setCaptive) to friendly AI (i.e. at the air base) until shot at and damaged by player.

- Added mines to enemy ATV cargo for realism

- Added tip in Briefing to indicate that mines only need to be deactivated not collected

V1.0 - Released 01/09/2013

Steam Mission Link

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=181119048

Edited October 1, 2013 by sproyd

[Beowulf 10]

Thank you for sharing the mission.

Good and interesting concept, but I think that it would benefit from giving the player a little more time, or means to stop the convoy. I barely managed to disarm the mines, but didn't have a chance to take them from the road and stow in the car. Imagine what the driver of the convoy's leading vehicle must think when driving straight into laying mines in the middle of the road. Some radio chatter would be a nice touch too, like simple statements about completion of disarming at each intersection. And lastly - the enemy SF team has been dealt by Air Station security (which is fine - I don't get my kicks from killing every enemy on the map), but it bugs me, that I couldn't find any mines on them, nor on the quads :) Maybe they're just that good with resources management, and optimised mine usage in relation to potential gain from enemy materiel destruction.

Anyway - I enjoyed it, and furthermore - I like your non standard approach to mission design.

[sproyd 2]

Beowulf, welcome to the forums and I'm really glad that your first post was the first post commenting on my mission!

Thank you for sharing the mission.

Anyway - I enjoyed it, and furthermore - I like your non standard approach to mission design.

Thanks for trying it and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Good and interesting concept, but I think that it would benefit from giving the player a little more time, or means to stop the convoy. I barely managed to disarm the mines, but didn't have a chance to take them from the road and stow in the car. Imagine what the driver of the convoy's leading vehicle must think when driving straight into laying mines in the middle of the road.

This is a good point, when I was playing of course I knew exactly where to go, where to stop, what to do so the convoy catching up never became an issue for me. What would you suggest? This is still a mission so the impending convoy is meant to be time pressure on the player. The last thing I want is the convoy stopping while the player dawdles deactivating the mines.

In regards to stowing the mines in the car that was never the intention although from a realism POV of course that is what an EOD squad would do. The question is - is that taking the realism a step too far towards boredom? As it stands it doesn't bother the AI drivers to drive over deactivated mines.

Some radio chatter would be a nice touch too, like simple statements about completion of disarming at each intersection.

Would you be happy with text radio chatter? I could record something of course but I have a Kiwi accent (think Rocket from DayZ) so its not going to match the American voices of the squad

And lastly - the enemy SF team has been dealt by Air Station security (which is fine - I don't get my kicks from killing every enemy on the map), but it bugs me, that I couldn't find any mines on them, nor on the quads :) Maybe they're just that good with resources management, and optimised mine usage in relation to potential gain from enemy materiel destruction.

This is hilarious as the Air Station security was a last minute addition when i realised I hadn't armed the base as I arrived there. I never played back through the mission but I'm surprised they managed to kill the SF troops as they divert away from the MSR at the last intersection!!! I might actually setcaptive the SF troops so they can't be seen by enemy AI unless they take damage (i.e. I hit one of them with a bullet). This will solve that issue.

In regards to mines on the quads, this is a point I thought of but never implemented. Good on you for picking it up. I think I will put various mines in the quads although I'm not going to go as far as removing them everytime they place mines as that would introduce more scripting complexities and there is an element of randomness to mine placement.

Thanks for the feedback - any other takers for something other than "Special Forces team assaults enemy position at night and must kill all of teh baddehz!"?

[Beowulf 10]

Beowulf, welcome to the forums and I'm really glad that your first post was the first post commenting on my mission!

Yeah, I was lurking on the forums for quite some time, but finally snapped and joined the Dark Side.

This is still a mission so the impending convoy is meant to be time pressure on the player [...]

You are right, convoy behind you brings up the tension. So maybe a note in the briefing stating, that the EOD squad doesn't have to dispose of the mines, just disarmed them?

Would you be happy with text radio chatter? I could record something of course but I have a Kiwi accent (think Rocket from DayZ) so its not going to match the American voices of the squad

Text radio chatter is better than none and in my opinion insanely increases immersion (sorry, that adjective was just for the alliteration). But voice acting is always welcome and for me it is additional plus, however cheesy it may sound; so if you feel like doing it why not give it a try? I would offer my help, but I come from Poland, so my accent would be ridiculously strange in that case.

I might actually setcaptive the SF troops so they can't be seen by enemy AI unless they take damage (i.e. I hit one of them with a bullet). This will solve that issue.

I'm fine in finishing the mission without firing a shot, but in my case it just seemed like the were shot in one spot and not even disembarking from their quads.

I think I will put various mines in the quads although I'm not going to go as far as removing them everytime they place mines as that would introduce more scripting complexities and there is an element of randomness to mine placement

I didn't expect to see such complex behaviour as it would be extremely time consuming (as I imagine), just a minor detail.

Anyway, I am looking forward to play more of your missions (managed to finish all 3 so far), they are very entertaining and interesting from design point of view.

[sproyd 2]

Made a few of your suggested changes and released v1.1 ;) changelog in OP

[gnarly_rider 0]

Thanks Sproyd, good little mission, and nice 3rd one.

I concur with Beowulf's comments; I barley had time to complete the mission before the convoy rolled through. Whilst putting the pressure on, its a little too annoying IMO. Also didn't fire a shot (sawa quad bike vanishing at first locale)

I'd rather have the convoy behind me with either the option to radio it to stop and hold in place, or much bigger time gap to it starting

There are other options for adding tension though; a two man OPFOR sniper team overmatching one of the mined areas, who open fire as soon as you arrive, would really add some tension. Especially if their position is randomized, or in fact which mined location/s they appear at is randomized. You could for instance have 3 man patrols at a 200m randomised radius out from each location, with each man say 10-25% probability of spawning, or something? I think you see what I'm suggesting?

Also, would love the convoy route to go say through Agia Marina, with mines at one of the street intersections, and again randomised couple of 2 man patrols in general lcoale, with again randomised chance of being present. Perhaps one using one the the house patrol/spawn scripts.

Another way is for such randomised patrol locations/occurrences/counts to actually spawn further away from mined locale (say 400m), with a trigger to move to that locale when you activate BLUFOR present ''trigger. So they attack once you are immersed in de-mining... Means your AI will have to pull their weight, and you have to deploy them smartly at each locale for overwatch...

Just some ideas to spice it up!

[sproyd 2]

Excellent, this was just the feedback I was looking for in order to improve the mission. I'll do an update once I'm back from Italy in a couple weeks. Of course those who haven't played the mission yet please do so - its in a fully playable (and hopefully enjoyable state) and I look forward to your feedback.

[sproyd 2]

I'm back from Italy so did a big update today! Check the OP for changelog - I'm super happy how this is turning out. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

[sproyd 2]

Updated with music, fixed the task bug and now launched on Steam. Link/info in OP.

[gnarly_rider 0]

I was going to ask when it would be on steam... ill try it tonight

[gliptal 25]

Very nice, will test ASAP.

Yay!

[sproyd 2]

Released a few little tweaks. This is shaping up to be my favourite mission. I think one of the recent BIS updates has tweaked the behaviour of mines and so the mission is now much harder - the AP mines should cause more issues than before which is great!

[gnarly_rider 0]

- the AP mines should cause more issues than before which is great!

Yeah I had noticed you must be prone now to deactivate AP mines; crouching still triggers them... Nice work, will give it another run this week sometime.

[mathias_eichinger 64]

Hey, this is one fine little mission -

Overview and Briefing are well made, and I really like the concept of disarming mines, since it is something you don't do too often in a BIS game - the UAV task is a little addition, and since I never managed to hit the few spec ops on the ground with artillery, I am glad that you did is as a "partial" objective, e.g. not mandatory. I am looking forward to see and play more of your missions :).