[SP][UNSUNG] Vietnam War SP Mission Pack

[mathias_eichinger 64]

And I am nagging again, this time in River raid: I boarded the boat, there is no radio message to get it moving, so I waited for 30 minutes of in-game time, to no avail. It sits there motionless, yet fully loaded with my squad.

[Kommiekat 11]

And I am nagging again, this time in River raid

Hahahaha!!

Sorry, I don't mean to laugh.

That one's tom3kb.

Oh TOOOOOOOOMM!

You're wanted.

[tom3kb 15]

And I am nagging again, this time in River raid: I boarded the boat, there is no radio message to get it moving, so I waited for 30 minutes of in-game time, to no avail. It sits there motionless, yet fully loaded with my squad.

From mission briefing

Your squad will start this mission in Tim Lat village. Boat will wait for you there, we do not want to lose another boat today

You have clear info in briefing that boat will wait in extraction point.

You dont use the boat, you move with your squad on foot. ;) Boat is there only for story, Your squad was transported to village on board, boat will stay close to village (waiting to take your squad to base) becose on river is not safe. Enemy has some rpg-s and HMG-s in AO.

Ps. In new update i will probably "Lock" the boat and maybe add some more info to briefing, so there will be no problem. :)

@KK

:p

KK you would like to see a gamebreaking bug in my mission. ;)

Edited May 16, 2014 by tom3kb

[mathias_eichinger 64]

Ah, crap, that comes from playing the other Patrol boat mission earlier, where you are supposed NOT to set any foot on land :o

Then I can give you some feedback in the coming days.

River Patrol is a nice long mission with large stretches of patrolling are interrupted by bursts of combat action - feels realistic for me and does not feature any bugs.

S&R is also a long patrolling mission, which is quite eventless until the player hits the SA-2 missile, then it becomes a hair-raising running gun battle back to the helo. All optional objectives work without a bug as well. Great job and congratulations.

Edited May 31, 2014 by Mathias_Eichinger

[savedbygrace 2]

Hope you fellas don't mind some more feedback on this pack before the next version. I installed both mods and played some other peoples Vietnam missions, most of which seem to have released them and vanished from the community. In any case, this was next on my list. I put a couple of days aside and now present to you my gatherings.

AA Charlie

Overview

Decent image but could use a quick summary of the mission

Intro

None

Briefing

Good amount of info, helpful tips, etc.

Mission

The date in the bottom right corner read, 6 1 1985. Should be 1965

This mission reminds me very much of a mission Nettrucker began working on in Armed assault that I took over and never published, called Guns From Hell. Of course I invested serious time in a 10 plus minute Intro with action packed scenes and full scale drama that never got to see release. This actually makes me want to re-imagine it and build it for this mod. Unfortunately, this had no intro but the blaring sirens declares the story in a nutshell.I understand that this is a ZSU mission but if the ZSU is destroyed as the player runs for cover, are there any spare rockets to fit that tube on his back so he can stay in the fight? My player actually started with an empty tube and no rockets in his gear. And all those ammo crates surrounding the batteries were void of any surplus. Even after a thorough walk around the base, I failed to see anything that could aid my defense. Anyhow....I used the SAMS auto-targeting system (even after they had fired their rockets) to direct my own view for incoming planes. This was a good indicator for my virtually blinded eyes. I love and hate the deafening system induced by ACE. It was a new and worrying experience for me and also an immersion killer because the sounds of war are one of the only ways to convey the feel and chaos of combat. Regardless, I just watched the SAMS and other outgoing tracer fire to pick up on approaching targets, kept my barrels cool until the target was too close to target me and let go a barrage for it to intercept.

The sirens, the moving trucks, targeting SAMS and rare occasions of running infantry and close call plane crashes compiled to build a decent ambiance but was short lived since the planes didn't last long against our aggression and Ho Chi man war cries. In fact, as soon as the last plane is destroyed, the mission abruptly stops. You didn't even give me time to reflect on the burning plane that churned up a section of airfield in close proximity to my battery, I couldn't even thank Buddha for his guiding hand. Some time to survey the damage would be great.

Outro

An outro would have been better.

Overall

Great start but quick and empty finish.

Patrol Boat Charlie

Overview

I guess there's enough historical photos of the Vietnam war that they just must be used somewhere. I prefer in game images since they provide a better foresight of what is to come. The summary could be improved as well.

Intro

None

Briefing

Perfect in my opinion. Markers are very helpful, directions are spot on and helpful tips are handy.

Mission

I was actually looking forward to a mission of river patrol but this was not what I had imagined. Regardless, the start was fine. I discovered that the AI do not reload the guns automatically and so engaging from the actual boat was a tedious process of fire til the front gunner is out, pivot the boat to let the rear gunner have some fun while I reload for the front gunner and rinse/repeat. My rear gunner was shot during the static portion of this process and went into a wounded animation but the funny part was when the boat was in a position to fire from his gun, he fired and went back into the wounded animation until I guess he bled out and vanished into the water. That put me down a man for the rest of the patrol. The landing and cautiously moving through each village was fine except that none of the villages had definite boundaries and so I would engage one group of enemy and wander around until I luckily stumbled across the remnants of their group that had fled to hiding. It was a touchy situation and more than once had me wondering what I was missing. Completed the first and third villages and doubled back to wander through the second again and found the remnants of that enemy group in the field beside a crater. All tasks completed but the mission did not end. I sped up the game to run around the villages, got back into the boat to return to my start point and ended up engaging another patrol that was near the first beach patrol that killed my gunner. Cleared that, returned to base and nothing happened. I used the lost key to teleport back to the third village and run back to base and nothing still happened. I forced the mission to end at that point.

Outro

None

Overall

Not a bad mission actually. The smoke was a good indicator of trouble in an area but the enemy did not always stay near to it. If you could force the enemy to stay within the confines of the village and prevent them from fleeing, it may make for a higher tensioned gun fight and prevent the frustration of doubling back over already covered ground. Adding a final task to return to the boat and then base would conclude the patrol nicely or you could simply end the mission 20 seconds after the final task is complete. I also recommend the addition of cinema as this always completes the experience. The gunners not auto reloading their guns in that boat must be a mod issue.

Recon Charlie

Overview

Finally, an in game image. Kudos for that. But a lack of a good summary is not very helpful to the scenario viewer.

Intro

None

Briefing

The time in the top left does not match the time in the bottom right during mission load. Under the Notes>>Mission text "Get to the Recover before Yankee does"...Shouldn't it be "Get to the crash site before Yankee does"?

Mission

Following the recon guys to the crash site was torture. There was no race to secure the site for them. They just casually walked along the coast, burping, farting and talking. I decided to run on ahead and was rewarded with smoke as an indication of the smouldering remains. I arrived, inspected the site and surrounding terrain and decided that it was not a good defensive position. So I set my guys up on the western ridge, watching in various directions. I stayed up there with them.....for 20 minutes til nothing happened. I decided to wait next to the chopper, thinking there may be a countdown trigger but nothing going. I noticed the recon stopped at the crest at the first hill before the crash site, so I ran to them thinking that I missed some instructions. Nothing. I decided to walk up the coast some, in the direction away from the start point and crash site and happened across the enemy lying prone. I dropped back, flanked up the hill and took out a few that were trying to flank me along the river. The recon team began spraying at me and I found that one had flanked right up the hill to my left and so I turned on him, took out another in the river bed and the mission instantly ended.

Outro

None

Overall

It's not a bad mission. Well, okay, it is, but its just a trigger or something that is keeping it all from happening correctly. Maybe I messed it up by running ahead, but it really doesn't matter. That sort of thing should not break the mission. When I read the tip to keep my head on a swivel, I became anxious to see what tricks you had up your sleeve. Needless to say, I was a little let down. Another thing that you should work on, is your abrupt ending of missions upon task completion. I'm not saying delay it for unheard of amounts of time, too many already do that. Use the task completion trigger to change a global variable, which then activates the end trigger that contains a countdown timer. OR add a small script that has the players group radio back or comment about task completion or does a quick camera sweep of the players group and the AO before ending. Just some thoughts.

BTW, Did anyone else notice that the section of river in that area, just before the river heads North and for a good distance northbound, is missing the water texture? The water is there because my guy must swim through it but the water is only seen on the shallow edges. I can't give a grid reference because the grid numbers are screwed up as well. Is the mod team still making fixes to this or is it a lost cause to report this?

River Raid

Overview

Good image, Good summary. One mistype..."where we lose two patrol boats" should be "where we lost two patrol boats"

Intro

None

Briefing

Good information, well placed markers but many misspells. I won't spend my time doing corrections unless you guys plan on improving the missions.

Mission

My first thought was the boat was waiting for me. The fact that it looked too small for all my guys didn't weigh in until they began getting in and vanished. The boat went no where. No response and no way to communicate with them. So rather than go through dismounting, I just restarted. A walk through this way different jungle wouldn't be so bad. The walk was probably a better option anyhow since I was able to approach each objective from my own chosen vantage point. No loss of life, my medic was wounded once in the last firefight but we cleared the tasks with no problems and made it back without a hitch. I can only say that each objective was not well guarded and I didn't have the firefights I was expecting. The "Task Accomplished" hint also occurred promptly after the last enemy in the area was killed. It was a spoiler that said there was no need to check out the area any closer and to just move on. Perhaps add a "any member of group present" condition to a specific point in the village on those objectives to prevent that sort of thing. It would also be nice to at least have the boat sweep the river when I have disabled the HMG and at least broadcast a radio message declaring that you are retrieving those dead American soldiers. Makes the player feel better about just leaving them there.

Outro

None

Overall

The boat malfunction was thought to be an error but after reading this thread, it apparently was not. Locking it will not prevent players from trying to get in, but adding "A patrol boat has dropped your team in this village and will await for you to disable the HMG before sweeping the river" may go far in keeping the player and his group from swimming. But everything else ticked off as it should have. A pretty good romp through the jungle.

S&R

Overview

Good in game image. Decent text but perhaps a well placed conjunction or two wouldn't go amiss. For example: "Destroy (an) enemy AA rocket launcher (and) save our pilot whose plane was shot down by (an) SA-2

Intro

None

Briefing

Quick and concise, not a lot of fluff. Some grammar issues but otherwise fine.

Mission

This was a good mission except for the long, boring runs. Once I arrived into the Area of Operation, the tension became a steady stream of hallucinatory visions and quick snap rifle turns at those stupid laugh sounds the jungle makes. I actually thought at one point I saw a structure through the trees, my focus was such as that. The unfair playing field was as always the AI disregarding concealment and spotting you, even if you happen to be prone and in heavy vegetation. Boo. For the longest time, I didn't see any enemy. I picked up the pilot and went straight for the downed plane(or at least where I suspected it was). I searched that area pretty good before my first encounter. I had my group wait while I scouted ahead, when I stumbled across a downed Huey. I was checking it out when VC began shooting at me. I used the cover of the Huey shell and made quick work of them, surprised that I had gotten pretty good at guess aiming without the cursor. I grabbed some extra grenades and decided with my new found confidence to engage the SAM site solo. That was a mistake. Those darned AI see right through the thick bushes when I can't, making it a lopsided skirmish. Even so, I manage to clear the hill, plant some satchels but am pinned down by responding patrols as my ammo runs low, and those damn apple grenades don't seem to work. I call my group in for help and we end up clearing it up. My medic gets hung up in the collapsed netting on the hill and I had to order him into the SAM to break the stuck position.

I spot some more netting on the adjacent ridge and work my way there to demo it, near to blacking out from added weight(thanks ACE for that needless stupidity to a game). Clear that area for no reason, and move on to search for the plane. I'm already running over 2 hours of game time and losing my patience with this needle in the hay stack. Luckily I spot the white of the cockpit canopy(no wonder I can't find it; it blends in with the jungle. Some smoke would have been a great helper.) Before I can get close, we are engaged by the VC around it. During the firefight, the plane ends up taking enough damage to force it to explode(shouldn't that have happened already), killing any VC within proximity to it. I make my way toward the extract and encounter 2 more patrols along the way. My AI behave like morons at some points, especially if I am wounded and rocking like a turtle on his shell. A unit crawls within a meter and rather than bandage me, he just keeps yelling, hes bleeding out, need a medic here, hes not going to make it, etc. Duh! So I have to reload from the last save point. I make it back to the chopper and bam the mission ends.

Outro

None

Overall

The run through the jungle was just too long and boring(cut it in half). The fun part was definitely the AO. The grenade not working deal is a bug in the Mod no doubt because it has happened in other missions as well. The player will go through the motion but no grenade will be seen and thus no effect. Your inventory remains the same as well. It seems to only happen with those apple grenades(They suck!). Ahem, anyhow, The randomness of the plane was great, The optional tasks were great, the amount of enemy were good and my battles would have been much quicker and less frustrating had those apple nades worked at all. Everything made sense, even the long journey to and from but for sake of fun and less miserable, time consuming "W" key holding and fast forwarding, perhaps ending the mission when the player has created a good distance between himself and the nearest enemy group would be better. Wreck the plane and add the same smoke you guys had in those villages in patrol boat charlie.

No Mercy

Overview

Good image, good summary. Seize (the) US outpost in Ha Nam (and) destroy (an enemy armor convoy). Written the other way, makes it seem like the player has armored vehicles.

Intro

None

Briefing

Short and sweet, just the way it should be. Of course some spelling errors are present.

Mission

This was probably your best mission in the pack for me. It was step by simple step action, with short travel distance in between and enough freedom to tackle each task however I chose. Each task was fun and not so overwhelming that it took an hour per task. They were also diverse enough to prevent rinse/repeat syndrome. The first task has the potential of being bloody or short and sweet, dependent upon how the player placed his ambush. Since it reminded me of "Bomberman" from OFP, this one became familiar quickly. I played this mission twice. The first time, my demo placement took out the first APC but only crippled the second. This allowed the whole squad to dismount from the second but were promptly blown up by the first vehicles explosion. The rest were picked off pretty quick but then that task completion/savegame never happened due to the non destroyed M113. I grabbed an M16(I hate the crappy AKs) and a LAW before advancing.

The randomness of where the road patrol encounter will be is its strongest feature, since depending on how well the first task goes and how long you take re-gearing, the second could potentially be in a different location every play through. I mistakenly pressed the radio for 4th to attack as soon as I cleared the first task(forgetting about the patrol task) and when I arrived on scene to Ha Man, the 4th were closing in fast on the outpost. This caused some confusion because at distances, the units appear without helmets and so I was killing members of the 4th, thinking they were the enemy since they were already close to the sandbags. I swam the river to get close to the HMG but discovered that I was now enemy of both sides. I had to restart.

This time, my demos took out both APCs immediately, which revealed a mod bug(shown in image)with the M113 and its cargo. Since very few were able to get out or maybe they were thrown from the top of the armor, I was not able to find any laws but was able to grab an M-21(lucky me). The second task went off the same but in a different location, which made it tactically different. Now I had the sense to hold off on the assault green light until I had my men positioned across the river from the outposts. Ordered the assault and began with the HMG and mortar emplacements before sweeping the rest. With the heavy gun down, I could cross using the bridge this time and did so, cautiously. 4th had moved in nicely and before I could make it across the bridge (shooting from cover while skipping from beam to beam) the 4th had cleared the bunkers and the mission ended.

Outro

None

Overall

About the only complaint I would have for this one is the abrupt mission endings that seem to be a feature of your missions.

Final words

My favorite is obviously No Mercy.

Second would be AA Charlie (If the length of the battle and options for engagement are increased respectively.)

S&R comes in third for the AO experience.

Patrol Boat Charlie was fun, but needs to be able to end. If not for that, and the last loon issues, it would have easily taken third.

River Raid fifth, because of the room for improvements.

Recon Charlie needs the most improvement.

M113 bug from No Mercy http://tinypic.com/r/331itdz/8

I certainly hope you guys plan on building that campaign with Cinema. Campaigns are stories that need to be experienced. Without the immersion of cinema, its just a bunch of SP missions connected in order. Not much of a experience in that.

I would consider adding TeamSwitch to each mission, so that the player can switch to his squad mates if they become stuck.

Now, off to pester some other poor suckers mission.

Edited August 13, 2014 by savedbygrace
Add image

[tom3kb 15]

@up

Thanks for this feedback.

I can only write about my missions so...

1. Sorry for the grammar and other mistakes in texts, i know English only from movies and games, i never lern English in school. Thats why there are many grammar and spelling mistakes and briefing is simple and short. Some people like this type of briefing, short and simple like in OFP times. ;)

2. I dont plan to add cinematics, working on cutscene take for me almost the same time as working on simple missions. Thats way i add intros and outros only for campaigns (but in my older mission packs: SP, RACS you will find simple intros before missions).

3. No Marcy is my favorite mission to :) S&R is little boring on start but i like to play mission like this from time to time ;) During "war" you dont have whole time action, there are also boring parts, patrols etc. I know that in River ride i could add better info about "not using the boat", i hope that sooner or later players will notice that info in briefing. In some missions there are not to many enemy units becose im not a big fan of missions -> "6 man squad fight against company" :) When i make missions only with one squad i dont put to many enemy units and in this mission i wanted to have only few small groups of enemies.

I have one question, did you play with Unsung 2.6 and with ACE (i want to be sure)?

I dont plan to release any updates in close future becose there are no gamebreaking bugs in my missions in this pack, maybe Kommiekat will want to change something someday.

One more time thanks for very good feedback and good suggestions.

Edited August 13, 2014 by tom3kb

[savedbygrace 2]

Just checked out the UNSUNG page on Armaholic and it looks as though it was updated on Monday. Since I had just downloaded the pack last week, I assume I have 2.5. Yes, I played with ACE because there are a couple of missions that required it. But I will definitely remove that from the launch next time. Don't apologize for the grammar, I understand. I just didn't want to offer corrections if you had no plans on fixing them.