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Zeus Feature Request Thread

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I didn't find anything on the forums so I'd like to start a thread to share and discuss features that we would like to see implemented with Zeus. From what I've seen and experienced, Zeus looks like a really unique gameplay mode that offers us that sandbox feeling that we've been looking for for a long time. I think a lot of us has ideas for what we want to do with Zeus and what we want to create with its features.

I'll start off my list here:

1. Line of Sight object/unit vision for Zeus - i.e. Zeus can only see what the players can see. I'd go into detail about the multitude of things you can do with this in Zeus but I'm sure everyone already has their own ideas about it.

2. Map camera movement - this is so that you can easily navigate the giant terrains available.

3. Grouped object saving - so you can quickly add large numbers of objects that you commonly use (think this was mentioned in the live stream actually)

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To answer no.2: You can, open map and press middle mouse button.

To answer no.1: Why do you need this for Zeus, it isn't a RTS. By all means mod Zeus to make into one but the vanilla experience doesn't need a "fog of war". Remember this is a sandbox feature and it should stay as one in its vanilla form. You need to make mission flow decisions that can be on the other side of the island so that the players can make a helo insertion, that's just one example. Limiting the view of Zeus to what the players see negates this.

Also, what happens if you have separate objectives, 1 in Kivala and 1 in Pyrgos, how would this work then?

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To answer no.1: Why do you need this for Zeus, it isn't a RTS. By all means mod Zeus to make into one but the vanilla experience doesn't need a "fog of war". Remember this is a sandbox feature and it should stay as one in its vanilla form. You need to make mission flow decisions that can be on the other side of the island so that the players can make a helo insertion, that's just one example. Limiting the view of Zeus to what the players see negates this.

Also, what happens if you have separate objectives, 1 in Kivala and 1 in Pyrgos, how would this work then?

The same argument could be made against having a cost system, which they are clearly implementing. The ONLY reason to have a cost system for Zeus actions is to make the gameplay adversarial. Adding Zeus fog of war support is only a logical extension of these functions for Zeus gameplay.

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1. ability to control/delete/move all units (even ones you add using the normal editor before the mission or mcc afterwards)

2. assign gear to specific players/units

3. editable init line for all units

4. types of waypoints (get in , get out , patrol and so on)

5. more objectives: steal, destroy (vehicles, buildings), rescue (hostages), ambush (convoys, HVT patrols) as standard objectives.

6. Convoys

7. triggers

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Here are the suggestions I could think of, I bolded those which I think are particularly important.

-Better integration with the 2D editor, aka make it more like a 3D editor. For example, allow seamless switching between 2D and 3D editor.

-The ability to save templates/missions, so if you do a mission on Zeus you could be able to save it for later use. Perhaps saving groups of soldiers/objects and such.

-Let us create custom waypoints besides "Move" , such as cycle, loiter, land, etc.

-Allow Zeus to issue squad level commands to AI soldiers, perhaps allow him to switch to the tactical view.

-Allow paradropping empty objects

-Add instant explosion modules instead of Howitzer/Mortar/Rocket, for when you want to simulate something exploding not due to shells.

-Instead of a square box representing an entity/object, show its real silhouette(for easier rotating and placement)

-Add an intuitive way to change the available loadouts on respawn, including the loadout name, clothes, equipment, perhaps special abilities and such(Medic, Engineer).

-Add more modules from the 2D editor to the Zeus, for example the supports module.

-Add a parameter that can allow zeus to take control of any AI unit in the game. (Or a specific team, depending on the circumstances).

-More control over AI or players, such as placing them directly inside a vehicle, changing their inventory, paradropping them, etc.

-A module that changes the independent faction loyalty, or maybe even loyalties of all factions/squads.

-Allow a forced interface Zeus the ability to give himself a player entity, which upon death would respawn like a normal soldier, or just return him to the Zeus interface.

-Add a module which allows Zeus to grant and remove zeus-abilities to other players. (But those players would be an inferior zeus which isn't capable of granting/removing more players zeus abilities)

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The ONLY reason to have a cost system for Zeus actions is to make the gameplay adversarial.

I would argue it as a control mechanism that means the Zeus player has a tactical challenge of providing the right tool for the right job as opposed to spamming auto-kills or attack helos and winning the game without the player input. As a tabletop Game Master of a few years I could easily solve my player's plots by saying "Oh and then a dragon ate your opponent and became your best buddy forever", whilst going into extreme detail about how this dragon was the best dragon ever and his buddies all thought he was a demigod. To someone into draconic demigods (the GM) this is amazingly interesting and fun. To the other 5 people sat in the room it isn't. As sad as it is, many online forum discussions include "That Guy" threads that tell such tales- these people exist.

Having a resource meter is a nice and simple mechanism hinders the 'godmoding' god ruining the game for everyone else by making it too easy or difficult. Whilst adversarial surely is in the mix (and already discussed) there are plenty of compelling reasons as to why a resource meter would exist in non-adversarial missions.

Rather than forcing a 'fog of war' mechanic, why not the inverse? The RTS RUSE did this in a very clever fashion by dividing the map into sectors and allowing you to blot out enemy vision or giving false flags to your enemy. There was no Fog of War unless you actively stopped an enemy from seeing that location, and an enemy they could see might be false intel. I'd much rather see those in effect than complicated LoS mechanics.

On topic:

Whilst I've only actually tested it for an hour, I'd love to see an arrow showing the front of units. I've spun them around over and over only for them to face the same way every time. Just a small arrow at the front of the model to show which way it is facing would've saved me so much fiddling around!

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To answer no.2: You can, open map and press middle mouse button.

To answer no.1: Why do you need this for Zeus, it isn't a RTS. By all means mod Zeus to make into one but the vanilla experience doesn't need a "fog of war". Remember this is a sandbox feature and it should stay as one in its vanilla form. You need to make mission flow decisions that can be on the other side of the island so that the players can make a helo insertion, that's just one example. Limiting the view of Zeus to what the players see negates this.

Also, what happens if you have separate objectives, 1 in Kivala and 1 in Pyrgos, how would this work then?

Thanks for 2, didn't know that.

For 1: what if I wanted to do a dual DM experience. One DM is charge of trying to sabotage the players and the other DM is in charge of trying to help them succeed. It wouldn't be fun for the opposing DM if anything he placed down could be seen by the friendly Zeus regardless of player LOS. This is just one example of a potentially cool/fun gameplay mode that wouldn't be possible without this feature.

I'd also like to clarify I am not asking for this to be default. I want it to be feature that can be editable by the mission maker. Just like how Zeus abilities can be limited by the mission maker, I want this to be a feature be determined by the mission maker. This falls in line with the Arma is a sandbox philosophy. Let the devs make the engine work for us and we can determine what and how we want to play.

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Thanks for 2, didn't know that.

For 1: what if I wanted to do a dual DM experience. One DM is charge of trying to sabotage the players and the other DM is in charge of trying to help them succeed. It wouldn't be fun for the opposing DM if anything he placed down could be seen by the friendly Zeus regardless of player LOS. This is just one example of a potentially cool/fun gameplay mode that wouldn't be possible without this feature.

I'd also like to clarify I am not asking for this to be default. I want it to be feature that can be editable by the mission maker. Just like how Zeus abilities can be limited by the mission maker, I want this to be a feature be determined by the mission maker. This falls in line with the Arma is a sandbox philosophy. Let the devs make the engine work for us and we can determine what and how we want to play.

Gotcha, and I agree actually.

I was talking about COOP missions with 1 GM.

Edit:

Can we get some visual indication (from GM pov) that an objective has been completed? In the live stream the GM clicked the green arrow to say an objective has been completed but no indication came on the screen to confirm this.

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The same argument could be made against having a cost system, which they are clearly implementing. The ONLY reason to have a cost system for Zeus actions is to make the gameplay adversarial. Adding Zeus fog of war support is only a logical extension of these functions for Zeus gameplay.

exactly. and nothing is wrong with options. infact that is what the focus seems to be partly. i'd really like a zeus vs players mode with limited resources for example. could be very interesting for the zeus player.

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^this^

would like to see the ability for 2 friends to hook up on MP and be able to play a fully dynamic mission where zeus is computer controlled so the players can just PLAY...with different missions and outcomes with each play-thru.

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1. Secure implementation into existing mission types (ie. Wastelands, BECTI, etc) allowing only a server side list of player id's / unique BEID's to access the Zeus mechanics - Admins.

2. Ability to place Air* vehicles as flying as per object property in editor.

3. Have toggles for adv AI commands so it doesn't overwhelm the GM / complicate it for new players.

4. Script executing like when previewing in editor.

5. Unique tags for each unit spawned and have that viewable when looking at stance / health / fuel unit properties so as to have something to target with script execing.

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Beside many of the already mentioned requests I would really like to see more detailed options for the weather effects. Although, the current system of normal, overcast, rainy, storm is easy to access for beginners, it makes it very difficult to "simulate" a weather change mid-session. A more gradual approach with sliders like in the normal 2D-Editor would be much nicer!

Futhermore, more options for the awesome fog would be great, for example a density slider! :D

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few things i find missing

right click on action/waypoint to set actions like attack, take cover, etc

ability to synchronise waypoints for coordinated movement. maybe able to have a go signal that triggers the waypoint when needed. altenratively link waypoints with time.

right click on soldier/vehcile to set its inventory

arrow pointing which way unit is facing.

be able to save the set up. so all the time that goes into setting up a mission isnt lost and can be reused/shared

AAR. seriously. with all the unexpected going ons in Zeus itd be friggen cool to be able to review what went down.

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3 things missings for now:

-Communication with preset messages between Zeus and players (big mess actually with the chat, mic, many languages,...)

-Better global visualisation for Zeus of the objectifs created and their states

-More objectives that are also preset, for exemple: rescue hostage, the interaction system between the civs and the players should already be preset,collect intel, the same, Zeus should just be able to click the objective, not starting to do some command line, and etc...

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Please, make adjusting height and direction of an object available without placing an object first on the ground.

Current state is:

You have to first place object on the ground and only then you can set the height.

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Only feature I request:

- Put it in the back of the To Do list and focus on delivering what's missing.

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Only feature I request:

- Put it in the back of the To Do list and focus on delivering what's missing.

There is always one and there is also a dedicated thread for requested features...

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1. The ability to over rule A.I. or to use some sort of prisoner behavior. (Tired of my kidnapped civilians scattering like cockroaches.)

2. Ability to assign objectives to units. (IE: Kill this Officer)

3. Ability to set units to patrol in a loop of set waypoints. (May already be implemented but I couldn't figure it out.)

4. A better control scheme for lifting units off the ground. (Like hold alt and scroll wheel?)

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2. Ability to assign objectives to units. (IE: Kill this Officer)

This is my request number 1, along with the ability to set the unit's height before placing it down on the ground.

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I would love to see the ability to take over control over AI units of choice.

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Only feature I request:

- Put it in the back of the To Do list and focus on delivering what's missing.

omg from the whole team working on Arma 3 i believe only two developer working on Zeus

so plz stop this bs cry with "why bi not working on jets or optimization and put all team to work on zeus"

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Gotcha, and I agree actually.

I was talking about COOP missions with 1 GM.

Edit:

Can we get some visual indication (from GM pov) that an objective has been completed? In the live stream the GM clicked the green arrow to say an objective has been completed but no indication came on the screen to confirm this.

I actually have a game mode concepted out that depends on this feature. So another +1 to having LOS/visibility controls or "Zeus Factions".

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On the create tree portion of UI, I'd like a new top branch which could be called "favorites" or "shortcut" or "quicklist". Units from the master tree could then be added or deleted from this branch. This would be for speedy and efficient placement of new units by the GM. If the GM only intends on using an infantry squad and a tank during the mission, it would be much quicker then clicking through the massive master tree list.

Edited by PitViper

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Some of these were mentioned before, but I'll mention them again:

I'd like to see objectives tied to objects, this would allow them to complete without needing Zeus to take his attention away from building to set the state to completed.

Also to be able to set an object's height before placing it, so it doesn't have to go on the ground first.

I'd also like it if the jet (hopefully soon jetS) would fly forward. currently, when raised up from the ground, they freefall and nose down, and unless placed very high up, plummet into the ground.

At least an attack waypoint, so that units don't have to move so close or take so long to recognize a target.

and finally, I would like to see GBUs added as ordinance you can drop, like mortar rounds or missiles. This would allow Zeus to perform "airstrikes" by dropping a GBU wherever JTAC lased (use thermal camera mode to see the dot) without having to deal with the hassle of placing a jet and hoping it'll drop a bomb.

EDIT: I was notified by a developer that bombing runs similar to what I have described will be implemented once the jets are released. Looking forward to it!

Edited by the_Demongod

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possibility to modify and customize inventory when adding an unit! (the same way as it is possible to do with popular mods ie: VAS)

and definitely an integration into the 2d editor, i don't understand why we are still prevented from easily creating detailed environement using various 3d objects that since opfp1985..

Edited by Lightningstrike

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