Random Missions

[Dark6-6 10]

Most of the posts I found were very old or somewhat irrelevant, apologies if my search didn't find what I needed.

I am new to editing, but have access to some skilled people.

I am interested in having a PvP map with random missions that have objectives on both sides. Sa-Matra's wasteland, for example, spawns random bases and aircraft wrecks, etc, but those are fairly simple.

I would like to create some unpredictable and intense objectives that will have BLUFOR and OPFOR scrambling with a real sense of urgency that seems to be missing from many missions.

Mission Types:

Rescue Downed Pilots

Helicopter Goes Down in a random area. On crash, a percentage of the crew is killed instantly, wounded, or still up if injured. I will be using BTC revive to increase the fidelity of the first aid simulation.

OPFOR gets points for killing them, or a huge bonus for capturing them (that might be more advanced, but some kind of morale system, leads to them surrendering if help doesn't get there fast enough). Possibly, Pilots will go to ground to escape while transmitting coordinates over radio.

BLUFOR needs to rescue them...

Convoy Hit by Ambush

A few hunters or ifrits get hit from an ambush. Similar idea to helo, but with more troops involved.

Kill HVT

Officer is going to be moving from A to B, points if you kill him before.

Destroy Building

Opfor or Blufor will need to destroy a building, and the opponent needs to protect it.

Defend Area

This is a centerpiece of my idea: A mission similar to insurgency where AI is garrisoned in an area, and as the area is taken, the squares of the map turn to red or blue as the teams fight over the area. I would like the ability to call in reinforcements on both sides as the fight escalates.

Recover Crashed Drone Data

Pretty simple, drone shot down has data...whoever gets there first can "start download" but can be interrupted by someone attacking. Pretty classic game mode.

Rewards for Completing Missions:

AI Squad Attack to Cursor on map:

CAS Ticket for strike

Mortar Strike

Artillery Strike

Resupply Crate

I realize there is a ton of work needed, and I'm hoping people can give me some pointers. Sa-Matra, Tonic, and Rarek have all been really inspirational, as well as the Arma 2, PITN, Kol9n, Fireball, and many others whose work I look to emulate.

Thanks in Advance for any advice.

I'm assuming I need to just create a bunch of invisible markers around the map and have some kind of table trigger preset groups, triggers, event markers, etc...

[Pac Man 10]

I am new to editing, but have access to some skilled people.

...

I'm assuming I need to just create a bunch of invisible markers around the map and have some kind of table trigger preset groups, triggers, event markers, etc...

I'm not entirely sure what it is that you're asking. How to implement all of those dynamic objectives? In that case, it can be quite a daunting task for a novice to script such a mission for MP. Here's some constructive advice, as you're down playing an aspect of Samatra's wasteland as "simple". That's only what you perceive. If you're a coding novice & trying to create a more complex MP mission than wasteland or domination, it isn't going to happen. As it certainly involves much more than editor placed invisible markers to do it. Add to that, you're not only scripting for MP, you're scripting for sides aswell.

I would suggest you get in contact with the "skilled" persons you know, present your ideas & let them go from there. Be around when needed though for testing, as this serves to motivate the ones making the mission. As for yourself, a great place to start for a novice editor is scripting single player scenarios as MP scripting is opening a whole new can of worms. SP scripting is straight forward. If something works... it works. There are no locality issues & no need for MP optimization on top of that. I suggest taking a look at one of the many scripting guides around. Even ones from Arma1 are very valid. On another note, if you're going to dive into MP scripting head first, I would atleast start with a small & straight forward scenario.

PS: I hope I didn't come off as a jerk. I'm simply trying to save you from what 99.9999% of the time, are false ambitions.

Kind Regards,

Pac Man

Edited September 24, 2013 by Pac Man

[kylania 568]

Pac Man speaks the truth. "Simple side missions" are anything but. You're basically creating a new mission for each one BUT you have to clean up after yourself and work it into a larger scope. There's been plenty of examples of side mission scripts, and I think austin medic made a whole side mission suite the other week in this forum that might be of use.

I'd pick one of your ideas and try to make it a stand alone mission. That'll teach you what you need to do for just that. Then try to turn that whole mission into a single script. Once you have that you should be able to repeat it for your other ideas with one or two tricks.

[SavageCDN 231]

^ here's what Kylania was referring to:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=22637

[Dark6-6 10]

Thanks for the advice. I was hoping to pull up the code examples from some similar missions but the source on Sa-Matra's is obfuscated to prevent more people from ripping off his work. The examples you provided should be a good starting point.

I've got the mission details figured out, and a friend is a programmer, so I'm hoping we can bang something decent out together. One of my main concerns is optimization...when comparing Wasteland or Domination style maps from one author to another, it appears some run much more smoothly. I'm sure some of that is server side, but I suspect bad or sloppy code contributes to that as well.

I've been running through the wiki but there aren't as many examples as I'd like.

Again, thanks to everyone who responded, the advice is very much appreciated.