Zeus Feature Request Thread

[djotacon 190]

I need a roll dice indicator inside Zeus to show the result of the roll to all the players.

Impersonate actions to control every npc at all tiems

Instant revive to every npc and player at all times too.

[iconoclastdx 5]

TRIGGER INTERACTION!!!

It would be VERY handy to be able to visualize and change editor placed triggers while in game. eg. you have a semi complex trigger that spawns/moves/embarks units/vehicles/aircraft that you anticipate deploying some time during the game but it turns out that the game it turning out unexpectedly and you need to move/modify/delete the trigger to maximize game fluidity/fun. That would be AWESOME!

Sorry, caps lock keeps sticking.

[nordstage 10]

I want to be able to spawn specific weapons and ammo (and perhaps customize a crate that contain contents of my choice).

This would be great for guerilla-type missions where you get a reward in form of more and more advanced weaponry but don't want to give a full crate of goodies.

I'd also like a feature to select what kits are able to be chosen upon respawn of the players.

And a question: Is there some documentation somewhere as to what crates contain what things? Like "basic ammo crate" - what does it contain?

[Belbo 461]

I wonder why the remote control module is so restrictive:

If you could talk over VON via a remote controlled AI unit, you could play npcs for your players, walk up to them and give them hints, orders, quests, whatever. That was a function that I was hoping to see in the last update, I hope someone changes his mind and puts it in.

And the option to give orders via a remote controlled unit was something that I'd rather deemed one of the most important part of remote controlling units. Otherwise you would have to change between zeus view and remote controlling for every single action you want your AI units to perform.

Zeus offers awesome opportunities to use Arma 3 as kind of a p&p-like game. But you'd need some more options to interact with your players for that. (And dragons. Definitely dragons.)

[duzda 10]

We need Zeus save mode (while you are in preview and use Zeus) for Editor so we can alligne stuf.

When you make mission, and you use preview, and you turn on the Zeus. And you place fance, building (etc) you cant save so it automaticly load intro 2D editor. It is much easer to edit that way and way too faster. (Because off aligne, small rocks, busshers etc.)

Optional: Good 3D editor lika MCC implemented in 2D editor.

[ataribaby 54]

Please add FIA guerrilla version of zeus mode. When I tried edit existing mission after respawn I was spawned as NATO soldier when I used Blueforce FIA classes and as AAF when I used hidden Independent force classes. I really want real guerrilla version next to AAF version. Best is to make FIA as independent side there so I can choose what sides to be friendly to. If its technical problem then blueforce FIA version is enough.

[novemberist 2]

Not strictly Zeus specific, but would it be possible to make the AI automatically respawn (and use tickets) at respawn points the same way that human players do, while keeping their last waypoint or task ... so they would act like "bots" in e.g. battlefield 2, counter strike etc. ?

Also you should be able to tell AI units like snipers to engage a specific target without moving from their positions.

[NotBrad 10]

Early yesterday morning, I was playing the new Zeus game-mode after downloading the Development beta off steam, and noticed that although the boundary protected the players from unit spam and object modification that would break the

game-mode, it also prevents the Zeus or moderator from airdropping supplies and vehicles for the human players, which in many of the games I have played since then, logistics and getting supplies to players seems to be the biggest issue. So... the application of a dome would greatly improve the Zeus players abilities in the area of providing the players on the ground with the correct equipment, without having to worry about them running past the placed equipment without them realizing that they had it available. But at the same time, it would be ludicrous for the Zeus to be able to spawn hostile helicopters above them, but would at the same time be a great addition to be able to have hostiles drop onto the player position from above by parachute. So there could be some balancing issues that I acknowledge, but if a way to implement this could be to have multiple placement boundaries pertaining to different categories of objects, that would be broken down into 5 properties for each boundary.

1. SHAPE (sphere/dome, circle, rectangle, box)

2. LENGTH (in the direction a player is looking so as not to change scenery within their field of view)

3. WIDTH (to perform the same function that the circle does now, so hostile units are not too close to players without them being able to see them first)

4. OBJECT TYPE (allows specific types of objects to have greater placement radius to allow scenario flexibility)

5. FACTION (so that based on scenario, hostile units and objects can have greater placement radius than allied objects)

If you have any comments or additional Ideas, feel free to post them, or if certain things need clarification, I will be glad to do so. Any criticism is welcome, as it will allow the generation of new ideas.

[NotBrad 10]

Early yesterday morning, I was playing the new Zeus game-mode after downloading the Development beta off steam, and noticed that although the boundary protected the players from unit spam and object modification that would break the

game-mode, it also prevents the Zeus or moderator from airdropping supplies and vehicles for the human players, which in many of the games I have played since then, logistics and getting supplies to players seems to be the biggest issue. So... the application of a dome would greatly improve the Zeus players abilities in the area of providing the players on the ground with the correct equipment, without having to worry about them running past the placed equipment without them realizing that they had it available. But at the same time, it would be ludicrous for the Zeus to be able to spawn hostile helicopters above them, but would at the same time be a great addition to be able to have hostiles drop onto the player position from above by parachute. So there could be some balancing issues that I acknowledge, but if a way to implement this could be to have multiple placement boundaries pertaining to different categories of objects, that would be broken down into 5 properties for each boundary.

1. SHAPE (sphere/dome, circle, rectangle, box)

2. LENGTH (in the direction a player is looking so as not to change scenery within their field of view)

3. WIDTH (to perform the same function that the circle does now, so hostile units are not too close to players without them being able to see them first)

4. OBJECT TYPE (allows specific types of objects to have greater placement radius to allow scenario flexibility)

5. FACTION (so that based on scenario, hostile units and objects can have greater placement radius than allied objects)

If you have any comments or additional Ideas, feel free to post them, or if certain things need clarification, I will be glad to do so. Any criticism is welcome, as it will allow the generation of new ideas.

[PitViper 0]

There's been alot of talk about visibility requests. On that matter, I'd like a toggle or variable which limits the visibility of the units by the zeus to what its associated team can see. It would give the zeus more imperative to use UAV's creatively as well.

[Ophichius 10]

I'd love to see Zeus mode steal some UI elements from various RTSes, as a way of lowering the workload on Zeus. Those of you familiar with Supreme Commander will note a huge number of these are functions implemented in SC.

Quick select groups: Let players bind groups of units to a quick recall key to later select them all again with one keypress.

Camera location bindings: Let Zeus bind specific camera locations to quick recall keys, so they can snap their camera back to an area of interest instantly.

Patrol orders: Give Zeus the ability to issue a series of waypoints that will be circled in order until canceled. This lets players quickly set units in motion and ensure they stay in motion without constant babysitting. Even if it's just a squad walking up and down a road endlessly.

Relocatable waypoints: The ability to pick up a waypoint and relocate it is incredibly useful. Sometimes just for adjusting a patrol or move order that's not quite going where it ought to be, other times for rapidly redirecting large numbers of forces without having to re-select them all. (e.g. A player band-box selects 8 squads and orders them to move 5km, if they wind up spread out or separated, hunting them all down for another group selection to re-adjust their waypoint takes extra time. It's easier to just pick up the waypoint and move it.)

Waypoint binding (I don't really know a better term, sorry.): Allowing units to 'stick to' a waypoint chain as their own. For instance if I order Squad 1 to move to waypoints A, B, and C in order, then select Squad 2 and order them to waypoint bind to A, Squad 2 will now also move to A, B, and C in order. (And in keeping with relocatable waypoints as above, if I move A, B, or C both squads will move towards the relocated waypoints.)

Pre-placement attribute adjustment: Let players pick the stance, formation, and caution level of units before spawning them. Similarly, let players pre-adjust heading and altitude.

Coordinated move orders: This would require waypoint binding, but a coordinated move waypoint would cause all units bound to it to adjust their speed to arrive at the waypoint at the same time. For instance, you could bind an infantry squad and a helo to the same waypoint, and the helo would arrive exactly when the infantry does.

LZ/pickup zones (Stolen directly from SC): Allow designating a LZ and pickup waypoint for transport vehicles. Any infantry unit waypoint bound to the pickup waypoint will be transported to the LZ waypoint by the transport, and vice versa. When not transporting units, transports loiter at the pickup WP. This allows for easy creation of air assaults.

Halt/Pause waypoints: Waypoints that a unit will pause at for a set amount of time before continuing.

Waypoint diversity improvment in general. Think of anything a squad leader might order their squad to do and allow a waypoint for it. Attack terrain (for CAS/artillery bombardment/suppression fire), retreat (move with rear facing towards the waypoint), dig in (orders units to find cover as maximum priority and only return fire after having found good cover.), etc.

A simple trigger system. Let Zeus place trigger zones with a simplified set of conditions (If entered by <faction>, if entered by <unittype>, if empty) which can then be attached to halt/pause waypoints. So one could cue up an infantry squad at a halt waypoint, attach an 'if entered' trigger to it, and the squad would halt until triggered.

Allow triggers to trip other Zeus effects as well. For example, place a set of inactive distant battle sounds and tracer effects, tie them all to a trigger, so players tripping the trigger will cause ambient battle noise to spring up. (For grins, one could theoretically make a trigger tied to a lightning bolt, allowing semi-automagic smiting.)

ZvZ(vZ?) mode: Basically a full-on RTS mode with competing Zeuses (Zeusii? However you pluralize that). Think of it like CTI, but with commanders using the Zeus interface instead of having to go through High Command or menu-based interfaces. This would need some tweaking of the Zeus interface, including some sort of fog of war/sight line mechanic, but could be really neat.

In general, I think Zeus has awesome potential, but to really be a flexible, powerful tool for on-the-fly use, it needs to reduce the workload on the player considerably. It's the same problem faced by macro-scale RTSes, and could really benefit from some of the same solutions of automation, powerful waypoint flexibility, and creation templating.

[novemberist 2]

I haven't been able to test Zeus with human players yet, so i wonder: Is it possible to group human players to AI units and put them under their command? This would be really nice...

Also I'd really like to see some more small details(or RPGish elements), like access to all the animations and stances available for AI soldiers (salute, sitting down, "stop the car"-gestures etc.), ability to talk to players as AI (not as Zeus) and to interact with objects (open road bars, gates etc.) or using flashlights, switching on/off the lights of cars. This would really add to the immersion and ambient feeling of missions.

Edited February 24, 2014 by novemberist

[nordstage 10]

Early yesterday morning, I was playing the new Zeus game-mode after downloading the Development beta off steam, and noticed that although the boundary protected the players from unit spam and object modification that would break the

game-mode, it also prevents the Zeus or moderator from airdropping supplies and vehicles for the human players, which in many of the games I have played since then, logistics and getting supplies to players seems to be the biggest issue. So... the application of a dome would greatly improve the Zeus players abilities in the area of providing the players on the ground with the correct equipment, without having to worry about them running past the placed equipment without them realizing that they had it available. But at the same time, it would be ludicrous for the Zeus to be able to spawn hostile helicopters above them, but would at the same time be a great addition to be able to have hostiles drop onto the player position from above by parachute. So there could be some balancing issues that I acknowledge, but if a way to implement this could be to have multiple placement boundaries pertaining to different categories of objects, that would be broken down into 5 properties for each boundary.

1. SHAPE (sphere/dome, circle, rectangle, box)

2. LENGTH (in the direction a player is looking so as not to change scenery within their field of view)

3. WIDTH (to perform the same function that the circle does now, so hostile units are not too close to players without them being able to see them first)

4. OBJECT TYPE (allows specific types of objects to have greater placement radius to allow scenario flexibility)

5. FACTION (so that based on scenario, hostile units and objects can have greater placement radius than allied objects)

If you have any comments or additional Ideas, feel free to post them, or if certain things need clarification, I will be glad to do so. Any criticism is welcome, as it will allow the generation of new ideas.

In the parameter settings for the mission you can chose which range you want to be able to spawn things. I always have mine set to 0 when hosting. Makes a serious Zeus a requirement, but then again, the whole gamemode kinda does.

[amm1992 10]

Have to agree with a lot of what is said, and I am not short of a few niggles from this game mode, but my main ones I would like to see and hopefully they plan on adding them are:

- The ability to make AI enter and leave vehicles

- The ability to set a radius around placement area for vehicles and men to patrol randomly

- The ability to set guard points so no matter what the ai will avoid moving too far from that point.

- The ability to set someone as a hostage so they can be rescues (and won't run off if a civilian) and then they join your squad and leave when they reach an extraction point (if one is set, although i guess the zeus could do this)

- The ability to pre-configure a custom faction/loadout that can be easily loaded and ready to use when next playing i.e Dressing up a faction like a drug gang etc.

- The ability to actually control the ai properly, I KNOW that this is just a measure to ensure the zeus does not go around killing them easily but not being able to use a scope is rubbish and can't even control the squad, really makes some of the missions boring.

- The ability to remove that random respawn point that appears when you spent too long placing the other one.

- The ability to create para-drop points (although to be honest they should have the ability in general to eject from planes and helicopters more especially when there going to crash seems stupid this functionality has for some reason been removed)

And im sure there is loads more little niggles but its only beta and we will hopefully see it evolve into a truly free to do what ever we want program.

[KeyCat 131]

Haven't read thru the whole thread so sorry if this have been requested before or of this already exists in Zeus.

- Option to completely disable the blue "forcefield" around players. For me personally it's enough to know that I can't spawn objects close and that blue curtains are really distracting and blocks the view.

- Possibility to make (as in A2:OA) and use Compositions.

/KC

Edited February 25, 2014 by KeyCat

[eem 1]

1) Zeus UI - +1 For All Waypoint settings available

2) Zeus UI - +1 Ability to change group leader icons - at least to match symbols on map and High Command

3) Drop Tactical View and replace it with Zeus analog...

4) Drop High Command and replace it with Zeus analog...

5) Zeus UI - Ability to join two or more groups

6) Zeus UI - Ability to split groups

7) Zeus UI - +1 for spawning at altitude

8) ...

[LtShadow 41]

I also think Zeus should feature a "Save Mission" mode so you can come back to your work at a later date, or if the game crashes and there is no record of our work then we have to start over. :\

As well a unit command option i.g. Get in as (Gunner, Driver, etc...) or command a tank to specifically fire at a target.

Only requests from me! :)

[Bouben 3]

Please, add countdown for tasks completion so that we can make "Defend this sector for X minutes".

[NotBrad 10]

In the parameter settings for the mission you can chose which range you want to be able to spawn things. I always have mine set to 0 when hosting. Makes a serious Zeus a requirement, but then again, the whole gamemode kinda does.

what I mean is have independent ranges for different item types, that will only be visible when placing that type of item.

[Jubeto 10]

The much requested Line of Sight and Fog of War mechanic might require a bit too much work. However an easy solution would be to only be able to see enemies which have been spotted by the troops controlled by the Zeus, obviously this would be a feature which can be toggled on or off. It really emphasizes the importance of reconnaissance and allow the players to engage in more tactical warfare. It would at least in my opinion increase the immersion of two military organizations trying to outsmart each other.

Currently the only way to give individual positions to the AI troops is by having them separated from any unit groups. If the troops are in a squad they will try to stick to a formation as long as they are not engaged in combat thus ignoring any orders for more tactical unit placement. We need an option for free formations to fix that or alternatively individual troop commands prioritizing over squad commands. In the case of free formations the whole squad is ordered into some area they could spread out there within X meters from the squad leader and you could define the range by a simple slider and reposition the troops as you please.

Adjusting unit health/skill and perhaps some other settings as well need to be done individually and it is very tedious, I'm not 100% certain though since I haven't played as the Zeus much so you may correct me if I'm wrong. An option to save these settings for future unit spawns and adjusting the levels of multiple units at once would be great.

Unit placing inside and on top of the building is extremely unpractical. The unit placement ignores all buildings and tries to spawn them on the ground on the other side of the building as if the building wasn't there in the first place. Then you have to drag them under the building and correct the height. You should be able to place the unit on roofs or floors just by mouse overing the area or in case of rooms by zooming inside the building and then place them in there with a simple click.

Zoom in and out as the Zeus with mousewheel needs a sensitivity slider in the options and Zeus keybinds need an editable section as well.

+1 for Zeus being able to give squad commands.

Edited March 3, 2014 by Jubeto

[Nashable 10]

As a developer of a Zeus vs. Zeus game mode (http://www.playdefiance.com/) there are a few things I've run into so far that would be so much better if they were in the game engine rather than hacked in via scripting. My top 3 asks as of today.

1. Fog of War in Zeus view - via scripting this could be done via a hideobjects command, would likely be very expensive on the cpu in a script. Would be even more awesome if there was a visual darkening of the map/camera similiar to what you see in an RTS
   
2. Ability to set Zeus editing permissions per object. This allows key vehicles (in my game mode we have an MHQ and VIPs) that I'd like to protect so the Zeus can order them but not allow Zeus to move/delete etc.
   
3. Zeus player can set types of waypoints - Even just the basics of Move, Land, Cycle, Unload/Load etc. would allow for a better use of transports and combined arms as a Zeus player.
   

[novemberist 2]

Some things I's like to see in the future:

1. Ability to give players limited access to the Zeus interface (e.g. Military Structures only) -> useful for enabling players to build custom bases themselves and place objects wherever they want

However there would be a need to limit the players camera movement, so this can't be misused for scouting enemy positions.

2. Enable infinite loop of music tracks (right now music stops after the track is finished)

3. Zeus can set number of slots for specific spawn classes (e.g. allow only one sniper per side etc.)

[Sambråk 10]

A ghost outline would be nice, so you can see if the vehicle you're about to put down is about to collide with anything. :mad:

[[lb] boggler 10]

Zeus replaced mods like mcc for our community group and reinvented the whole gameplay of arma. We are really impressed of the possibilities and every day is a different gameplay experience. You don't need the acknowledge of all the scripting anymore and you don't need to be like kju or other infamous mission-designer to create a complex scenario without fps drops and gameplay busting scriptloops.

There is just one little thing I do not understand and what we really miss, to use a revive script like norrins, btcs, etc. and keeping the possibility to change the place of the respawn module.

The revive script is necessary to keep fireteams together and the changeable respawn module is great to place join in progress players or starting a mission from a different location without changing the whole mission template in the editior.

Nothing is more immersion breaking than the need of a random helicopter to place a jip-player or a player who accidentally pressed a "join at base" -button.

So i could wait until someone with a lot of more scripting experience edits a revive script which doesn't need a respawn-west marker any more and uses the zeus/respawn module or i can ask for a revive module like arma 2 had.

I would really like to see a simple revive module again, which i can sync with the respawn module and just would have a the choices who can revive (everyone, medics, players with faks/medkits)

A solution would be much appreciated.

Edited March 7, 2014 by [LB] boggler

[Bouben 3]

boggler;2639140']Zeus replaced mods like mcc for our community group and reinvented the whole gameplay of arma. We are really impressed of the possibilities and every day is a different gameplay experience. You don't need the acknowledge of all the scripting anymore and you don't need to be like kju or other infamous mission-designer to create a complex scenario without fps drops and gameplay busting scriptloops.

There is just one little thing I do not understand and what we really miss' date=' to use a revive script like norrins, btcs, etc. and keeping the possibility to change the place of the respawn module.

The revive script is necessary to keep fireteams together and the changeable respawn module is great to place join in progress players or starting a mission from a different location without changing the whole mission template in the editior.

Nothing is more immersion breaking than the need of a random helicopter to place a jip-player or a player who accidentally pressed a "join at base" -button.

So i could wait until someone with a lot of more scripting experience edits a revive script which doesn't need a respawn-west marker any more and uses the zeus/respawn module or i can ask for a revive module like arma 2 had.

I would really like to see a simple revive module again, which i can sync with the respawn module and just would have a the choices who can revive (everyone, medics, players with faks/medkits)

A solution would be much appreciated.[/quote']

Maybe JetFox's work could help you?