[SP Campaign] M.E.R.C.S. - mercenary expendable ruthless covert selfish

[fisico2014 13]

Ok, I've always been a player sp, I have not much time to the coop. I really like the campaigns.

Thanks for your answers! :)

[Kommiekat 11]

"Game within itself." - Awesome, thanks, that's a great motivation! I'll do my best to keep the quality - even if I won't make the contest on time.

Absolutely. One of the best I've played so far. You use new editing techniques that are awesome.

On the bad side, I have no chance of doing missions for A3 at this quality. Looks like I'll have to sit back an enjoy others works.

1. It 's not just misspelling. It's the way something is said that I Native English speaker would do differently. No big deal

2. Well, I felt that Raif is being too friendly too soon in the game. He has lost the effect of being kidnapped and shocked by the ordeal. He's too friendly with the other guy who travels with him, too soon.

He just saw people being shot down, just kidnapped. He should still be angry about this. That's why I thought it better to have him a Merc who joins the ION outfit and makes money.

How evil or not you make him sounds interesting.

It's your mission, you story. You do what you think is best!

Cheers

[IndeedPete 1038]

Great to hear! I'd say my editing techniques are within normal parameters. :D

One advantage of these rather small missions is that they're actually quite simple. Drive there, do this, go home. So far no complex scenarios but still addressing one or two aspects of the game. I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed playing them myself. I thought like "What? That can't be fun! I have to add this here and explosion there and action and why the hell is there no big ass war going on?!". But then I've started playing and decided to expand it further, into a full campaign.

And for quality ensurance reasons I see this project like I see my real life work: as software development. By using simple concepts regarding organisation, planning, testing, capsuling repetitive code into functions and even trivial stuff like variable name conventions I can save a vast amount of time when editing, keep my motivation up and I'm able to maintain a sufficient quality level.

1. Yes, I am not a native English speaker. But neither is Raif, so why not let him do it wrong some times?

2. We'll see where the story goes. But I've got lots of different feedback. Some really like it and find it believable, some come up with critical (and legitimate) questions and some don't like it at all. I, myself, really enjoy the controversial deiscussions I've caused with this because it just means that users are actually interested in what I did. :cool:

[fisico2014 13]

Usually, completed campaign, very good! I hope the second part, what will happen to the AAF

[Kommiekat 11]

Usually, completed campaign, very good! I hope the second part, what will happen to the AAF

Yes, please make 20 more missions!

[neofit 65]

Hi,

Impressions from the campaign are positive. There are spoilers ahead, so don't read if you haven't played yet. This is your one big SPOILER tag. So, some observations:

* I like that RPG-lite feeling of getting loot, making money, getting ranks, etc. Maybe a dynamic mission generator would have worked better, rather than making each one by hand?

* At first I was thinking that an option to sell loot found in the field would have been nice. But OTOH, after about the third mission you have your favourite gun, your favourite scope and ELVB harness, you don't need the market for much more but vanity clothes. I don't know what to suggest here, this isn't a medieval RPG where you can keep the player interested in the shop by selling him more and more powerful weapons and armor.

* Please, in a game where loot is important, do not ever, ever ever end a mission automatically, while I am not done checking all the corpses. Since I am #1, it should end when I say like '0-0-end mission' or something.

* In case I moved in too early on the objective, like I did for the rescue mission where NVGs were recommended, a radio option to SkipTime for 1 hour would be nice, so we don't have to revert to the previous mission.

* In the checkpoint mission, you recommend using a Police Vest + Barrett. Since there are no Barrett guns in the game, I suppose you meant a "beret"? ;)

* In the same checkpoint mission, I suppose that we were supposed to relieve the AAF at the outpost? They started embarking on the Strider, then one said "Negative!", all disembarked and stayed at the CP till the end.

* I like to keep my movies and games separate. I don't mind reading a long briefing (when it is hopefully properly formatted with paragraphs and not in one huge wall of text), but I hate sitting through cutscenes. Please give an option to "Skip" them. So I would have missed the, sorry, silly premise of how I got there, no problem, I wish I had actually.

* Make use of the "Current tasks" window. I know, you are crafting a conversation and all, but I am driving or on the lookout or doing something else and overall I'm not interested in npcs acting cute, or I may have saved the game and came back hours or days later, so I shouldn't have to go read the conversation log to find my next task. I know it happened after the very first cutscene when I was supposed to get into the car, then in other places but I don't remember where, sorry.

* When #2 says "low on ammo", due to engine limitations since OFP, it's a pita to rearm them. It would be nice if you had a team switch feature so we can take control and rearm him, or at least give him a backpack so we can put stuff directly into it.

* The mission with the ransom did not make much sense. I understand you were trying to use a movie trick in order to generate a car chase, but it didn't really work out for me (and it's the use of these cheesy tricks that makes me hate most action movies). Here is how it played out. Too close? Too close again? Again, too close? WTF, a car chase, and now I am too far and it failed before I even found a car?

First of all, I am in overwatch, so as soon as the guy opens fire he's dead. That's the only thing that makes sense, there are two of us and one with a scope. But ok, you pull the rug from under the player's feet and generate this car chase. What was accomplished? You made him waste more time, because apparently he was supposed to think that hey, I'll stay somewhere near that car that may or may not be just scenery, in case there is a movie twist during which I cannot move and do what I came here to do, and there is a car chase afterwards? And in the end: a car chase in Arma? Really, with its AI? :) On my n-th attempt when I took what is technically an "underwatch" position by that car, the chase ended by a tree 20m from where it started.

My suggestions. Advise the player to take position outside the stadium. No magic movie twist, the pirate pulls out his gun, the player attempts to do his job. At this point in the campaign he should have an SMG (don't give him the AR yet) and no scope, so there is a high chance he will miss. If he does, then the pirate reaches the car and the chase starts. If the player hits the pirate, congratulations on a job well done. Stick to what makes sense and to the spirit of Arma. If we wanted silly plot twists with car chases, we'd be playing GTA ;).

* I had similar feelings about the long driving mission. So you put mines all over the place on the shortest route? Let's try offroad on the North side? Boom. Offroad South? Boom! What was accomplished? I never thought that "woah, what fun, mines I can do nothing about" but more like "what a waste of time, if one of the roads on the long detour south has more mines, I'm playing something else" :).

Also, were we supposed to get ambushed at some point? Besides an empty checkpoint and an "it's a trap!" shout, nothing happened. So maybe instead of mines there should be some dynamically spawned ambushes? Allegedly this car has armour plating so it should be able to absorb a few hits before the client gets a bruise and we get the "failed" message? And again please no scripted ambushes where the client would be killed all the time, so we have to look for another then another then another road, it's like using mines.

* To sum up the last two items: missions where multiple failures are scripted in are not very fun. We have indie jumping puzzle games for that ;).

My 2 cents. I hope it is not too negative.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Usually, completed campaign, very good! I hope the second part, what will happen to the AAF

Thank you, glad to hear!

Yes, please make 20 more missions!

More is underway!

@neofit: That's a huge post! Thanks for playing, let's get to the details:

Impressions from the campaign are positive.

> Thank you!

* I like that RPG-lite feeling of getting loot, making money, getting ranks, etc. Maybe a dynamic mission generator would have worked better, rather than making each one by hand?

> No, I find automatically generated missions quite boring and they can never reach the quality a "proper" mission can have. Though it most certainly would be a challenge to create such system but I rather seek the challenge in fully creating the scenarios on my own.

* At first I was thinking that an option to sell loot found in the field would have been nice. But OTOH, after about the third mission you have your favourite gun, your favourite scope and ELVB harness, you don't need the market for much more but vanity clothes. I don't know what to suggest here, this isn't a medieval RPG where you can keep the player interested in the shop by selling him more and more powerful weapons and armor.

>True. I was afraid these balancing issues would come up sooner or later. You can get high-tech equipment after the first mission. Just hire additional mercs and get them killed to take their stuff. I need to fiddle around with the prices and rewards / loot. Also there's more planned for the shop system, maybe camp enhancements or light vehicles up to littlebirds etc. That way you can make at least use of the money later on. Also, I'm aiming for a wide range of scenarios where you can apply different gear (which you would have to buy - at least partially).

* Please, in a game where loot is important, do not ever, ever ever end a mission automatically, while I am not done checking all the corpses. Since I am #1, it should end when I say like '0-0-end mission' or something.

> Typical issue of being the developer is that I know when stuff happens and how to behave in all situations, that's what I need testers for. Thanks for bringing that up.

* In case I moved in too early on the objective, like I did for the rescue mission where NVGs were recommended, a radio option to SkipTime for 1 hour would be nice, so we don't have to revert to the previous mission.

> Since there is already an option at the camp to rest and by that changing the mission start time I don't think it would make much sense. Of course, no-one can keep you from simply waiting somewhere during the mission. I might include the option though it kind of breaks with the preparation aspect.

* In the checkpoint mission, you recommend using a Police Vest + Barrett. Since there are no Barrett guns in the game, I suppose you meant a "beret"? ;)

> Notepad's autocorrect fooled the stupid non-native speaker once again. Thanks, I'll fix that. ;)

* In the same checkpoint mission, I suppose that we were supposed to relieve the AAF at the outpost? They started embarking on the Strider, then one said "Negative!", all disembarked and stayed at the CP till the end.

>That's funnny and shouldn't happen at all. I guess some AI fail again. Are you running stable or devbranch?

* I like to keep my movies and games separate. I don't mind reading a long briefing (when it is hopefully properly formatted with paragraphs and not in one huge wall of text), but I hate sitting through cutscenes. Please give an option to "Skip" them. So I would have missed the, sorry, silly premise of how I got there, no problem, I wish I had actually.

> Thought about this too, will implement in the Beta. Yes, the story is one of my biggst headaches at the moment. I've got feedback from testers in both ways: Some like it and think it's a good base to develop interesting characters which - let's face it - the Armaverse lacks, and others question the legitimate logical flaws. You simply can't believe how DAMN HARD it is to make up an actually believable story line that's not as trivial as all those "you are First Managing Commander Officer 33-11 and your job is to go deep behind enemy lines totally alone, blow up 55 tanks and kill 16 officers to prepare an invasion we won't have to do at all in the end, because you scared the shit out of our enemy with blowing up 55 tanks on your own..."

I'd say I think of something regarding the story but you can't simply turn on creativity. Maybe you simply can't meet everybody's taste.

* Make use of the "Current tasks" window. I know, you are crafting a conversation and all, but I am driving or on the lookout or doing something else and overall I'm not interested in npcs acting cute, or I may have saved the game and came back hours or days later, so I shouldn't have to go read the conversation log to find my next task. I know it happened after the very first cutscene when I was supposed to get into the car, then in other places but I don't remember where, sorry.

> Again, developer's view is kind of limited. I see to it that players will get more hints of what I thought was obvious. (Especially when they can skip cutscenes.)

* When #2 says "low on ammo", due to engine limitations since OFP, it's a pita to rearm them. It would be nice if you had a team switch feature so we can take control and rearm him, or at least give him a backpack so we can put stuff directly into it.

> I'm against teamswitch because you would be able to steal your buddy's equipment! Maybe I'll include an automatic re-arming routine for him.

* The mission with the ransom did not make much sense. I understand you were trying to use a movie trick in order to generate a car chase, but it didn't really work out for me (and it's the use of these cheesy tricks that makes me hate most action movies). Here is how it played out. Too close? Too close again? Again, too close? WTF, a car chase, and now I am too far and it failed before I even found a car?

> The car chase mission is my weakest one I totally agree. Playing it is a piece of cake sometimes and sometimes it's a pain in the ass.

First of all, I am in overwatch, so as soon as the guy opens fire he's dead. That's the only thing that makes sense, there are two of us and one with a scope. But ok, you pull the rug from under the player's feet and generate this car chase. What was accomplished? You made him waste more time, because apparently he was supposed to think that hey, I'll stay somewhere near that car that may or may not be just scenery, in case there is a movie twist during which I cannot move and do what I came here to do, and there is a car chase afterwards? And in the end: a car chase in Arma? Really, with its AI? :) On my n-th attempt when I took what is technically an "underwatch" position by that car, the chase ended by a tree 20m from where it started.

> The original version of this mission actually worked like this. But it went wrong in 50% of the cases. It felt too easy, the guy didn't get in the car. The driver got out of the car for some reason etc.

My suggestions. Advise the player to take position outside the stadium. No magic movie twist, the pirate pulls out his gun, the player attempts to do his job. At this point in the campaign he should have an SMG (don't give him the AR yet) and no scope, so there is a high chance he will miss. If he does, then the pirate reaches the car and the chase starts. If the player hits the pirate, congratulations on a job well done. Stick to what makes sense and to the spirit of Arma. If we wanted silly plot twists with car chases, we'd be playing GTA ;).

> We'll see.^^ Also some general words on the "spirit of Arma": I like doing experiments with the game, and this campaign is actually a big one. I'm trying to avoid these "blow up 55 tanks" missions which seem to embody the "spirit of Arma" by applying new concepts to the battlefield. I agree, the AI destroys most of them in the process but I think it's worth trying, I'm optimistic in this direction. And several racing missions for A3 are on the market, so it is possible and sometimes fun to break out of the boundaries - or to realise that this game fotunately has so few.

* I had similar feelings about the long driving mission. So you put mines all over the place on the shortest route? Let's try offroad on the North side? Boom. Offroad South? Boom! What was accomplished? I never thought that "woah, what fun, mines I can do nothing about" but more like "what a waste of time, if one of the roads on the long detour south has more mines, I'm playing something else" :).

Also, were we supposed to get ambushed at some point? Besides an empty checkpoint and an "it's a trap!" shout, nothing happened. So maybe instead of mines there should be some dynamically spawned ambushes? Allegedly this car has armour plating so it should be able to absorb a few hits before the client gets a bruise and we get the "failed" message? And again please no scripted ambushes where the client would be killed all the time, so we have to look for another then another then another road, it's like using mines.

> Hm, the mines shouldn't be too much of a problem, means you shouldn't encounter too many of them. But it is your job to protect the guy after all, under any circumstances. So watch the damn road! ;)

There are units supposed to show up at the empty checkpoints, maybe they're just too slow to come up behind the houses. Also the car can take 10 times more damage and the VIP 5 times more. So you must have taken some bullets. At the moment I have no idea how to simulate actual armour or bullet proof glass on the vehicle. I thought about randomised ambushes by bandits or so. I decided to release the mission in its current state to get feedback like this. I'll try to improve it. Thanks for that!

* To sum up the last two items: missions where multiple failures are scripted in are not very fun. We have indie jumping puzzle games for that ;).

> Life encounters you with unfiar situations, find a way to deal with them. ;) No, I actually see your point, there's a lot of balancing to do but that's what I have you players for: To tell me when stuff's too tough, too unfair or simply not fun to play.

My 2 cents. I hope it is not too negative.

> No, this was a perfect and very detailed post. I can't thank you enough for taking your time and sharing your thoughts! I mean, I love the comments saying "Dat shit is the best I've ever played!" as it gives me buttloads of motivation. But how should I improve without criticism? I hope I didn't lose you in this quite early Alpha already and I'd like to welcome you back to the Beta state. Looking forward to more thoughts!

Edited May 7, 2014 by IndeedPete

[Kommiekat 11]

Another idea if I may?:

I needed NVG for the rescue mission, yet it was day time, therefore not needed.

Another mission I need Police baret and Kevlar.

I'm under the impression that I really don't need these to do the missions, what I would do if I could, is to MAKE the player purchase these items before they can be done.

Missions are locked and can be unlocked when necessary items are purchased.

If player does not have enough $, fine, they can do more missions and earn more $ to finally unlock the locked missions.

Just a thought.

[surfer 42]

I'm putting my continued feedback here instead of PMs.

Watch out, spoilers ahead!

- The factory ambush and the rescue mission played very nice! Well, ending before you could pick the loot wasn't so nice.

- The initial scene still could be polished. Make the other guys run and have a trigger so once they are out of radius they turn enemy so the Mercs start shooting. In my case they got shot 2m behind me before I even turned around.

- I still think the first mission should be an easy test if you are willing material without handing you a gun already. This could be "Return a Hunter we left during battle" or something similarly simple.

- When in the helicopter your name in the text-windows becomes "Cargo:"

- After I littered my optics I had them back for free at the next mission. Once you start allowing to sell items this could create an exploit.

- You could forbid to pickup friendly weapons or warn the player that after each mission Merc property would be taken from you.

- The rebel pickup with MG should only be borrowed, not sold. Textwise.

- You could autotimeskip to missions that require nighttime. There will probably be other missions that require daytime the same, will there?

- Somehow the rain at the first missions should be saved for later missions. You probably used it to support the desperate feeling of Raif but to me it makes the arrival on Altis/Stratis less clear.

- The shooting scene at the stadium was cheating the player, the men dropped instantly. You should allow them to have a chance to survive and thus allow multiple endings.

- At the VIP transport mission I swapped cars vs. a pickup at some point. Don't know if I messed up your plan for the mission but I got to the airport without being hassled. Piece of cake ;-)

- Maybe the transport mission requires countdowns for each section, because I drove around the whole island cross country and wasn't touched.

- Something else: I didn't test it yet but can you use the toolkit even when you're not an engineer and can you use the medkit when you're not a medic? Derving from this you might think about the player getting licenses in engineering, medicine, etc or before he is allowed to drive tanks, fly helicopters, etc. This could be as simple as a purchasable unlock of certain item categories.

- Think about replayability for each mission. Tell the player where he could improve! Make clear if you got 100% of the mission or if there was something you missed.

- When I intentionally save&exited before getting into the firefight at the rescue operation, the mission quit with numerous errors and wouldn't allow me to continue at that stage.

Keep it up! Excellent work so far!

One more: The music is a little repetitive, maybe switch it off and only activate chosen tracks at chosen locations or events. Thanks!

Edited May 7, 2014 by Surfer

[IndeedPete 1038]

@Kommiekat:

Sure you may share your ideas! ;) Originally, it was actually planned this way but then I thought, why limiting the player? If he wants to go on a mission without pants then let him go without pants. Maybe he somehow finds a way to turn that into an advantage. :D Also, the field says "recommended", means I suggest you to take NVGs and by that imply to play that mission at night. But you don't have to.

That's why you can buy the car there. Of course you can sneak in at night without being noticed and try to extract the hostage without drawing attention. But you can also take big guns, buy some support and play Rambo. Killing all the pirates might even be more lucrative as they carry money in their pockets. Even your buddy's equipment supports both ways. He has silencers and NVGs but also a grenade launcher if you want to go loud. Also, you don't have to buy police stuff for the checkpoint mission. I just thought it would add a nice touch to the scenario. Maybe because I'm a total perfectionist when it comes to character customisation. I spent countless hours in RPGs to pick the perfect equipment for every occasion even if it doesn't affect the gameplay at all, just because it feels wrong not being properly dressed. I wonder what that tells you about my mental state. :D

Lastly, it could become a major game breaker if the missions would unlock based on equipment. If the player fails to properly organise his funds he can't continue the campaign.

@Surfer:

Awesome to hear you liked it! And thank you big time for your feedback!

- The factory ambush and the rescue mission played very nice! Well, ending before you could pick the loot wasn't so nice.

> Yes, neofit already mentioned this and I will add something to let the player decide when the mission is done.

- The initial scene still could be polished. Make the other guys run and have a trigger so once they are out of radius they turn enemy so the Mercs start shooting. In my case they got shot 2m behind me before I even turned around.

> That was kind of the effect. But I'm currently rethinking the whole story base for this project. I already have a rough idea on how to make it more believable and still stick to the major premisses.

- I still think the first mission should be an easy test if you are willing material without handing you a gun already. This could be "Return a Hunter we left during battle" or something similarly simple.

> This would also become more believable if I expand my new idea further.

- When in the helicopter your name in the text-windows becomes "Cargo:"

> That's part of my Conv system. It's set to "VEHICLE" in this scene which causes the script to determine the role within the vehicle. It says "driver" for the pilot etc. I'm not happy with it, it was just a temporary solution I forgot about.^^

- After I littered my optics I had them back for free at the next mission. Once you start allowing to sell items this could create an exploit.

> That originates in the merge of the old classname system from Arma 2 when there were no attachements and the new modular system. The classname for the weapon you've picked up is one which comes with a stock scope. Then you remove the scope manually but the classname of the weapon doesn't change automatically. Finally, my script for saving the loadout registers the classname of the original weapon and the scope. Upon loading the next mission you will be added the original weapon and an extra scope. More a minor issue in my opinion. An if a player really somehow uses this exploit and spends his valuable time for a few digital bucks more than he kind of earned it. xX I'm more concerned about disappearing items. Sometimes I loose pistol mags or handgrenades.

- You could forbid to pickup friendly weapons or warn the player that after each mission Merc property would be taken from you.

> I don't see how since the weapon of a unit is just represented as classname, not as object. I can't properly identify a specific weapon. And I don't want to. Looting your poor comrades that died for you? Then you're a selfish ass, but that's not the worst trait for a merc I guess... Also, think economically, turn your loss into a win.

- The rebel pickup with MG should only be borrowed, not sold. Textwise.

> Could be and was the original idea. But that would require to bring it back in one piece. And I was too lazy to implement consequences if the player totalled it. Soemthing for future versions.

- You could autotimeskip to missions that require nighttime. There will probably be other missions that require daytime the same, will there?

> A clear NO! Time as well as weather are continious in the contract missions! Means the player can influence the start time which adds replayability and dynamic to the camapign! The Intro and the Renegade end on the other hand have fixed time and weather conditions to create specific scenes. You can play all missions at night, at day, in the morning, precisely at 12:00, I don't care, it's fully up to you and how you want to approach the contract. But I thought of having certain conditions, e.g. "Client needs power plant to be taken off the grid at precisely 22:57 for his covert ops to move in" or something similar.

- Somehow the rain at the first missions should be saved for later missions. You probably used it to support the desperate feeling of Raif but to me it makes the arrival on Altis/Stratis less clear.

> Weather conditions are partly random, based on the prior state as well as the time of year (summer). Replay the mission and you will likely experience different weather. The first missions starts with clear sky and sun. The next mission has a high possibility to have the same weather conditions. It is less likely to have some sort of rain, and stuff like fog should appear only one time in ten missions. Again, dynamic. Of course, real weather does not work that simple and fast weather changes seem weird sometimes. But I study in a village where it can change from sunshine, to icestorm, to fog and back to sunshine within hours. That's why I always carry sunglasses and an umbrella with me when I leave the house... :D

- The shooting scene at the stadium was cheating the player, the men dropped instantly. You should allow them to have a chance to survive and thus allow multiple endings.

> Maybe, as I said before this is my weakest child. I should rethink the whole concept of this mission.

- At the VIP transport mission I swapped cars vs. a pickup at some point. Don't know if I messed up your plan for the mission but I got to the airport without being hassled. Piece of cake ;-)

> Funny exploit, slipped through my tests. Thanks for the info.

- Maybe the transport mission requires countdowns for each section, because I drove around the whole island cross country and wasn't touched.

> I will likely add random ambushs or outlaws / bandits roaming the rural areas there. Mines alone are not thrilling enough.

- Something else: I didn't test it yet but can you use the toolkit even when you're not an engineer and can you use the medkit when you're not a medic? Derving from this you might think about the player getting licenses in engineering, medicine, etc or before he is allowed to drive tanks, fly helicopters, etc. This could be as simple as a purchasable unlock of certain item categories.

> Good point I actually ran into yesterday when I was working on the next mission. It recommends to bring a toolkit but you can't actually use it without being an engineer. Quick workaround: making the player an engineer in the editor (now he's squadleader or so.) But I have to find a long time workaround as it would be stupid to buy a medkit and then don't be able to use it. I look into it, maybe I even have to write my own config for the main character so he can use medkits and toolkits simultaneously. A license system was actually my first idea when I started to create the shop. If you noticed, the shop gives information about the origin of a weapon. First idea was to have to buy producer's licenses to unlock certain gear. Maybe something for the advanced shop system later on.

- Think about replayability for each mission. Tell the player where he could improve! Make clear if you got 100% of the mission or if there was something you missed.

> I thought about having optional goals for achieving extra money. But ATM it would require me to rewrite some major parts of the system. We'll see about that.

- When I intentionally save&exited before getting into the firefight at the rescue operation, the mission quit with numerous errors and wouldn't allow me to continue at that stage.

> Weird, maybe I can reproduce that but it could also be one of Arma's savegame bugs.

Keep it up! Excellent work so far!

> Will do!

[neofit 65]

* In case I moved in too early on the objective, like I did for the rescue mission where NVGs were recommended, a radio option to SkipTime for 1 hour would be nice, so we don't have to revert to the previous mission.

> Since there is already an option at the camp to rest and by that changing the mission start time I don't think it would make much sense. Of course, no-one can keep you from simply waiting somewhere during the mission. I might include the option though it kind of breaks with the preparation aspect.

I know there is this option to rest at the camp, I'm just telling it like it was during my playthrough. "Oh, I miscalculated, it's too early, let me wait a couple of hours in that hut". Better than "Revert, try to remember what you bought and where, run to the main guy, rememeber that you forgot to select a mission, run back, select it, back to the guy, listen to his cutscene, etc." :).

* In the same checkpoint mission, I suppose that we were supposed to relieve the AAF at the outpost? They started embarking on the Strider, then one said "Negative!", all disembarked and stayed at the CP till the end.

>That's funnny and shouldn't happen at all. I guess some AI fail again. Are you running stable or devbranch?

I am running stable. Something similar happens when I assign groups into a vehicle. Say I have 4 guys and assign 1-2-3 to get into a vehicle, anywhere. The game will give orders to 1 to embark as a driver, and 2 and 3 "in the back" for instance. If before they embarked I give the order to my remaining #4 guy to embark as a driver, he will say Negative and stay outside. Maybe something similar happened in the mission, the leader told everyone to embark "anywhere", then tried to go in as Commander but couldn't since somebody was already assigned to that position, so when he couldn't embark he told everyone to disembark too?

* When #2 says "low on ammo", due to engine limitations since OFP, it's a pita to rearm them. It would be nice if you had a team switch feature so we can take control and rearm him, or at least give him a backpack so we can put stuff directly into it.

> I'm against teamswitch because you would be able to steal your buddy's equipment! Maybe I'll include an automatic re-arming routine for him.

Then:

1. Disable it till after mission 3 or so, because by then we won't be needing anything he may carry

2. Give him a backpack so we can drop some magazines directly into it

3. Or: so what if the player steals his stuff? You should reward creativity :). Like that idea you gave me, and that I hate myself for not thinking about first, to hire some guys then kill let them get killed to pick up their stuff. You can roleplay around this "stealing from your buddy" thingy by imagining that you persuaded him to give you his stuff. Then respawn him with the same stuff for the next mission.

> The original version of this mission actually worked like this. But it went wrong in 50% of the cases. It felt too easy, the guy didn't get in the car. The driver got out of the car for some reason etc.

IMHO it doesn't matter, this is mission #2, I'm still in sandals and with an SMG, it should be easy.

> We'll see.^^ Also some general words on the "spirit of Arma": I like doing experiments with the game, and this campaign is actually a big one. I'm trying to avoid these "blow up 55 tanks" missions which seem to embody the "spirit of Arma" by applying new concepts to the battlefield.

That's not what I mean by spirit of Arma. By it I mean an engine with "things that makes sense". OK, mostly. AI permitting. Realism, sandbox, and control. In that for instance if you meet 5 guys, whether you are in the open or behind sandbags, you're done. It's up to the designer to limit the number of tanks to blow up to about 30-40, it becomes unbelievable beyond 50 :).

[IndeedPete 1038]

I know there is this option to rest at the camp, I'm just telling it like it was during my playthrough. "Oh, I miscalculated, it's too early, let me wait a couple of hours in that hut". Better than "Revert, try to remember what you bought and where, run to the main guy, rememeber that you forgot to select a mission, run back, select it, back to the guy, listen to his cutscene, etc." :).

Yes, I'm thinking of some kind of portable control interface where you could also trigger extraction. Would be nicer than simply add actions / supports and could offer some possibilities later on.

I am running stable. Something similar happens when I assign groups into a vehicle. Say I have 4 guys and assign 1-2-3 to get into a vehicle, anywhere. The game will give orders to 1 to embark as a driver, and 2 and 3 "in the back" for instance. If before they embarked I give the order to my remaining #4 guy to embark as a driver, he will say Negative and stay outside. Maybe something similar happened in the mission, the leader told everyone to embark "anywhere", then tried to go in as Commander but couldn't since somebody was already assigned to that position, so when he couldn't embark he told everyone to disembark too?

Hm, I don't have these issues. Any (AI-)mods installed?

Then:

1. Disable it till after mission 3 or so, because by then we won't be needing anything he may carry

2. Give him a backpack so we can drop some magazines directly into it

3. Or: so what if the player steals his stuff? You should reward creativity :). Like that idea you gave me, and that I hate myself for not thinking about first, to hire some guys then kill let them get killed to pick up their stuff. You can roleplay around this "stealing from your buddy" thingy by imagining that you persuaded him to give you his stuff. Then respawn him with the same stuff for the next mission.

Hm, there are also other issues with teamswitch. Triggers & scripts will break and he's also invincible, so the player could "cheat" by putting Raif somewhere in the corner and just solve the mission with the buddy. (Yes, a careful player could also command him remotely to clear the map of enemies.) The current state of development is too far already. Reworking everything to make it teamswitch-proof would require a lot of work and testing. Also, it interferes with the gameplay in my opinion. I think I'll focus on automatic rearming, he simply takes care of himself. Backpacks might be required for other stuff later on.

IMHO it doesn't matter, this is mission #2, I'm still in sandals and with an SMG, it should be easy.

It's not necessarily the second mission. You are free to pick other missions first. Even more in future versions. Of course it is thought of as second mission, but I have to take into account that the player could have advanced equipment already.

That's not what I mean by spirit of Arma. By it I mean an engine with "things that makes sense". OK, mostly. AI permitting. Realism, sandbox, and control. In that for instance if you meet 5 guys, whether you are in the open or behind sandbags, you're done. It's up to the designer to limit the number of tanks to blow up to about 30-40, it becomes unbelievable beyond 50 :).

I see your point but experiment stays experiment. I would like to make the engine dance for me in as many ways as possible. Sometimes it goes wrong and I have to tweak the experimental setup or parameters a little.^^

[surfer 42]

I'm afraid I managed to break the stashing system and mission completion. Sorry :rolleyes:

So here's what happened:

We have been on this assboring shift at an AAF roadblock, while the AAF was probably fishing at the nearby lake which seemed to be quite popular. Anyway. So I'm about to frisk that old truck when I find some explosives and a handgun in the back. Ok, I'm thinking "Dude probably wants to do some fishing at that fabulous lake with those explosives and the handgun is for protection." So I grab that dynamite and his .22 and let him pass, I mean what should I do? Shoot him in the face?

Some moment later one AAF asshole starts yelling to me on the radio, someone got hurt while fishing blahblah...

I was like "Ach, gimme a break."

Next car is some bloke with a pickup, going full speed, nearly killed me when he stopped at the closed bar gate. So I ask him for his papers, the usual procedure. And that idiot has no better idea than to turn around and drive off. So I shot his tires. Idiot got so scared he jumped out and ran the rest of the way (to the lake), he even forgot his fishing rod because that was everything I found when I searched his car. Turned out he was a civie. So what.

A few hours later, it turned night already, that's when the shit hit the fan: Shots where fired from nearby trees. My buddy reported a technical, but did he aim his .50 caliber? No, he just stood there, trying to get shot. Before I could take control of the .50 I got hit by shrapnel and the lights went out.

Next thing I remember is someone pressing the revert button, lots of error messages pop up and I'm back at camp Maxwell. So I thought it was just a dream but when I found the explosives in MY backpack and my rifle was gone the whole Matrix shit became clear to me! Another revert button later I'm back at the VIP transportation briefing I had half a day ago. But those explosives where still in my back and still my rifle was gone. Morpheus gave me the red pill!

A minute ago I was failing the roadblock mission and then Seargant Kickass told me my dues were paid and that I was invited to stay with the mercs. Shit, everything was spinning, time was not a constant anymore. That's when I snapped.

So I thought "I wanna have my fun before the whole shithouse goes up in flames", placed those explosives right at the briefing area, jumped on a quad and blew the whole camp Maxwell to hell when I drove off. If I only had my rifle I could have finished the job...

In short: My character was killed, I had to revert and because of my full inventory my rifle was lost while I still had the explosives. Even when I reverted further into the past I couldn't get them back and I couldn't aquire the missions on my laptop anymore because they probably have been accomplished in the future :confused:

Anyway, I had my fun again! Just wanted to drop you a note, hoping you would be able to fix the involuntary time travelling, paradox or whatever happened.

Cheers,

Surfer

[IndeedPete 1038]

I'm afraid I managed to break the stashing system and mission completion. Sorry :rolleyes:

I'm actually surprised it took that long. But at least you got a good story out of it, the guys at the campfire would love to hear it if they weren't dead.^^ Both in Star Trek and Doctor Who they're totally serious about this time travel stuff but what does a Czech game developer do? "Hey, let's build reverting into the game, so users can travel back anytime. Sure, that won't break the universe!"

I was afraid this day would come. Since I'm saving all your weapons, accomplished missions etc. in the profileNameSpace they're accessible within the whole game. And the value is not mapped with the current or last mission - it is just one value for each variable. In short: Reverting breaks the timeline, the universe and all the rest. I'm researching ideas on how to get this working. But honestly, I have no idea yet and I also have no clue how BIS did it. I'm afraid they just used some kind of campaign weapons pool which doesn't provide the functionality I need.

The Doctor and Me are working on a solution. Maybe we have to connect the TARDIS to the Arma 3 core, so we can use their flux capacitors. In the meantime stay out of time travel! :D

Edited May 8, 2014 by IndeedPete

[IndeedPete 1038]

Small development SITREP!

I think I've sorted out the reverting problem. Scotty and the Doctor both agreed, that all we have to do is re-configuring the frontal deflectors and then circle around the sun with warp 8 to create a contamination field around the time anomaly and resolve the paradoxa. In the meantime I've rediscovered the good old saveVar from OFP which still seems to work perfectly as it saves/loads the variable in question based on the mission. In short - problem solved. Furthermore, I've added the possibility to skip the briefing by hitting space. And I've prototyped a portable interface, the "TacPad" where you get some basic info, hit the wait button and call for extraction during a mission. It's still WIP and not really pretty but I hope I can add more mission specific buttons on the right in the future.

Oh, and I'm happy to say that I've finished the sixth contract mission. We had a little "problem" with our tire but fotunately there was a nice Blueflag Engineer close-by willing to help us out. ;)

I'm not sure yet if I should support the Alpha or wait until Beta to roll out the updates in one piece. Maybe I'll do something in between by offering a system update but keeping the content back for now. I don't want to annoy players of this project over every single mission I build.

[orcinus 121]

Ooh, an InDeedPete campaign. I still have fond memories of Grey Skies; great to see you back in action :)

Hope to get to play this through next week.

Cheers

Orc

[IndeedPete 1038]

Oh, yes. Good old times. Grey Sky - where I spent countless hours to create the main base and then the performance sucked because of all the AI units doing stuff. It started pretty well and it's really sad that I never had the time to finish it. Thanks for reminding me of my old work and let's hope M.E.R.C.S. won't go down the same road!

I plan to release an update this weekend or in the beginning of the next week - not sure yet due to lot of work outside of the Armaverse. It will contain changes regarding the backend system and will add some minor features / fixes - stuff most users won't even notice. I'm not sure yet if I should also deliver content (changes) already or if I'll hold them back for now. I haven't completely solved the story issue so I'm still hesitating. In short - take your time. ;)

[IndeedPete 1038]

I'm just in the middle of developing the 8th contract mission "Riot Control". This is what I'd like to refer to as "Well, shit..."-moment of the day. Told those protesters to go home in peace. ;)

I must admit that, while I should be developing for you, I had far more fun by running over those poor civies with the Bobcat. Diabolic fun. :devil:

[fisico2014 13]

Hi IndeedPete, have you thought to use ion on other islands, some mission in Duala, for example, forest or Takistan, in helicopter carrying the team.

Killing a drug dealer for example in Duala (Colombia in real life).

You can use all maps A3MP.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Hi, yes I thought about including maps and weapon packs later on. But that's something for the distant future and I certainly wouldn't include any maps or addons in the MANW-Edition. If everything works out and I'm not bored with the scenario once I've finished M.E.R.C.S. I could think of a spin-off or extension using different islands. I've always thought that a campaign taking place worldwide would be cool. But that also requires tons of factions with proper uniforms, equipment etc. It would be stupid if the player walks through the icy forests of Namalsk in nothing more than T-Shirt, Shorts and Flip-flops fighting Greek insurgents.^^

[d4ni3l3 10]

The problem for those maps is that you can't save in single player because on resuming you have a lot of errors. I don't know if they solved this issue but I don't think so.

EDIT

Sorry, I just saw that they fixed the problem.

Edited May 11, 2014 by D4NI3L3

[IndeedPete 1038]

UPDATE

Hi there, I'm happy to present you the first update. It comes with some major changes regarding the technical background, a few new features and a partly reworked intro. However, this update contains no new content. Also, because of the technical changes you have to restart the whole campaign once you've installed this update. Updated parts listed below.

Changelog

0.51 Alpha - 11.05.2013

• FIXED: Reverting to ealier missions is now possible and should not cause any errors.
  
• FIXED: Very Important Pickup - Car change had no consequences.
  
• FIXED: Minor spelling mistakes.
  
• FIXED: Buddy had no NVGs on night missions.
  
• CHANGED: Switched from Profile Namespace to Campaign Namespace for making crucial variables persistent. First mission will clean garbage from ealier version. Restart of the whole campaign required.
  
• CHANGED: Licensing changed to APL-SA
  
• CHANGED: Raif's Story
  
• CHANGED: Cleared CfgFunctions of unused third party works.
  
• CHANGED: Buddy won't run out of ammo for his primary weapon.
  
• CHANGED: Minor changes to the shop and rest systems.
  
• ADDED: TacPad, providing mission info and wait as well as extraction options.
  
• ADDED: Very Important Pickup - Armed Patrols
  
• ADDED: Most cutscenes and briefings can be skipped now by pressing Space.
  

0.5 Alpha - 04.05.2013

• Initial Release
  

Known Issues

• This project uses TPW civilians. Players using the addon version will face problems. Officially, this campaign does not support any mods.
  
• Ransom Demand: The fleeing car might be crashing against something or the passengers disembark randomly and walk instead. I'm researching ways to rebuild this mission.
  
• Conversation System: With some resolutions the dialogs will interfere with the cinema border. I'm not sure yet how to solve this issue.

License

Content created by IndeedPete is published under the "Arma Public License Share Alike (APL-SA)". You are free to take or change anything you can use, just give me a mention in the credits.

All authors of third party content gave me permissions to use their works in the MANW Contest.

Download

Dropbox v0.51 ALPHA

I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to Vote & Support if you like what you saw so far! :)

---------- Post added at 10:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:47 PM ----------

@D4NI3L3: Thanks for the heads-up. But I thought more about the official expansion island etc. (If there will be one. Hopefully not in the pacific.)

[fisico2014 13]

ok, new story. It proves. thks!

[IndeedPete 1038]

Armaholic mirror updated, thanks guys! :)

Armaholic v0.51 ALPHA

[Drumheller 19]

This sounds pretty neat. I'll be following it and playing it once it gets a stable release. I'm glad the player-made campaigns are starting to come out for A3. They were some of the best aspects of A2.