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

[turin turambar 0]

Riot mission was nice, pushing the cars with the bobcat and scaring civs, though I had to play it twice because I had one of those occasions where you kill all (or it seems so) the enemies but the mission won't finish, because maybe some single enemy got stuck outside of the combat area or whatever. Mission designers should be very careful when designed objectives like that, sometimes a enemy runs away to a far away hill or he in in the combat area but he is stuck in a bush and you can't see it.

Scaring the vip mission (the one with the uav) has been the best for now. Having to search and follow the car, choosing when and where to attack (and with care, you don't want to kill the vip!), all while avoiding aaf patrols and using the uav for monitoring everything felt cool as hell.

A question, the "police" missions where you recommend police vest + beret... is there any penalty if you don't wear them? A npc that complains you aren't a real policeman or something like that? In the previous mission I found a police vest so having that, I just bought the beret so I had always the recommended loadout.

Overall I like the mission variety and the feeling of progression, as you obtain more equipment and the difficulty and overall lethality of the missions increases.

[turin turambar 0]

Panzerfaust was inconsistent. I had problems completing it, related to the AI. I chose to cover the attack from the hill. The Black Arrow squad lost themselves in the west part of the combat area, sometimes they disappeared, sometimes they went back and forth in the fence area, only once I got to see them fire the Titan launchers, but I think they hit obstacles in the way like the bunkers of that area. The allied tank likes to step over their own allied soldiers at the start, in another occasion a 4 man AAF squad was behind a small ridge camping and chilling around (in the middle point between the briefing area and the objective), they wouldn't attack. And the goddamn MBT are so tough, I used up two pcml guided missiles in one and throw all the mortar and he was still alive.

I did it finally restarting a few times until I tried changing roles and doing the main assault, then the Black arrow mercs used their titans much better, and also it seems our friendly tank had better luck and didn't explode within 120 seconds of starting the mission. So I "did it" without actually doing anything at all.

All this is in the stable version, no mods.

Eye for an eye. How much you have to destroy of the main base to consider it done? Do you have to kill all the hostiles? I used all the mortar shells and all the uav rockets and killed all the vehicles and 95% of the troops, do I have to go to kill the remaining 5%? (and you don't even need the uav or get close, you can use the mortar from the base and just 10 well space shells of the mortar destroy almost everything).

BTW, the "change uniforms, use satchels" option is almost broken. When I changed uniforms, my very expensive backpack disappeared (which is bad enough) but also I couldn't carry the explosive charges because precisely, I didn't have a backpack to put in there!

edit: ok the backpack didn't disappear in the second try. In fact the mission, if anything, was too easy. Getting the uniforms is super easy, just 4 guys, then you can plan 4 big charges, and blow up everything, return to the base, and finish it all with a few mortar rounds.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Turin Turambar

[IndeedPete 1038]

First thing is really one thing that annoys me. There's no way of designing a situation llike this without flaws. The way I did Riot Control it can easiliy happen that one or more AI get stuck somewhere and the player has to go looking for them which is quite annoying. Second option could be to despawn enemies which are still alive but what happens if the player is just about to shoot them? It will look weird. Third option could be the "Seized By" tiggers but they are really inacurate. If you let them fire from the OPFOR view, i.e. the mission is accomplished when OPFOR thinks they're defeated it will turn out like it already does in most cases - the player has to hunt down every single enemy. If you do this from the BLUFOR view there could be a whole enemy army behind the next hill - if the BLUFOR doesn't see them he considers the area as seized. Lastly, it kind of feels odd when Raif says like "Clear, let's go home!" if there are still guerrillas running around. In my opinion this shows one of the major flaws of this game - discussed a thousand times but still present - the AI. Pathfinding is so messed up, you can't just put a waypoint somewhere ont he map and actually rely on the AI moving there. Also you can forbid them to flee - they won't give a damn and just hide or stuck instead. Horrible, and it drives me insane. Sometimes I wish there was a CoD-Mode where the AI just stupidly runs towards the player and ignores all that tactics and morale bullshit. It would be a relief in some situations like in Riot Control, but for the most standard combat scenarios obviously not applicable.

Glad you liked Protection Money. Many people were complaining that they can't find the guy or they always kill him or can't find the drone etc. This mission demands some thinking and planning which many players don't seem to want. M.E.R.C.S. is not a railway shooter with straight gameplay and clear paths. However, again due to (drving) AI, it can easily become unfair when the HVT gets stuck somewhere...

With that police stuff - it actually was the intention to have some kind of (dis-)advantage but I've never found a way to really apply it. So for now, wearing police stuff is really just eye candy to fit the scene and doesn't fulfil any useful purpose. As you said, it is recommended, not required. Again, many players misinterprete this optionality as a must-have. Then again, careful reading is what most people tend not to do when being tasked with something - at least according to our yearly school surveys around here. ;)

Glad you like it. Well, the capture Stratis sidemission somehow messed with the balancing because you can easiliy farm expensive equipment right from the beginning now. But in earlier versions you really just got a pistol, then an SMG, maybe some mags, clothing, a small backpack and so on. The AI's skill as well as equipment is also increasing. While fighting low skilled pirates, FIA and AAF at the beginning, later on there will be more better trained mercenaries or BLUFOR / OPFOR units, all set with much higher AI skills.

Yeah, Panzerfaust is like Russian Roullete - either the friendly AI actually manages it to ge to the AO, engage and survive or they're being wiped out within seconds and you're on your own - that's Arma. But again the horrible pathfinding strikes and shows why all these greatly advertised "Combined Assault" scenarios are actually pretty hard to achieve. They're running over each other, some squads are too slow, some get stuck, some actually walk around the big hill to the north. xX It's like kindergarten and also listed under Known Issues already. I sometimes hope the MANW jury will play my project and think: "What on earth did we program there?! We're really selling this AI to actual users?!" :D Well, it will stay a dream I suppose... - and yes, the MBTs are tough enemies but a nice challenge.^^

To complete An Eye For An Eye you have to kill two officers (one inside the camp in front of a white board and one patrolling the camp) and destroy all vehicles at the camp. I've noticed that one pickup outside of the south-western wall is really well protected / hard to hit. Had the same problem that I fired 6 hellfires and 24 mortar shells into the camp and that bloody car was still alive. Another weakness in A3's damage model. Same with grenades - you need to throw them right on top of an enemy or he will most likely survive and kill you. "Area damage" must be a foreign word to the engine.

I have no clue why the change uniform action would remove your backpack - there's not a single command messing with backpacks. Here's the code for the dressup, there's no logical way of how your backpack could get lost:

// Closet
IP_Closet addAction ["Change Uniform", {
IP_Closet removeAction (_this select 2);
[] spawn {
	["IP_BlackScreen", false] call BIS_fnc_blackOut;
	sleep 0.5;
	{
		_unit  = _x;
		_items = uniformItems _unit;
		removeUniform _unit;
		_unit forceAddUniform "U_O_CombatUniform_ocamo";
		_unit setObjectMaterial [0, "Campaigns\IP_CMP_MERCS\txt\clothingMOD.rvmat"];
		_unit setObjectTexture [0, "Campaigns\IP_CMP_MERCS\txt\clothing_rus_coBA.paa"];
		{_unit addItem _x} forEach _items;
	} forEach (units group IP_Main);
	IP_Disguise = true;
	{_x setCaptive true} forEach allUnits;
	skipTime 0.25;
	sleep 0.5;
	["IP_BlackScreen"] call BIS_fnc_blackIn;
	sleep 0.5;
	[iP_Buddy, "That's horrible, I look like a nazi!", "DIRECT"] call IP_fnc_simpleSentence;
	[iP_Main, "And it's so uncomfortable! 'Futuristic design' my ass.", "DIRECT"] call IP_fnc_simpleSentence;
	[iP_Buddy, "At least it will get us into their base.", "DIRECT"] call IP_fnc_simpleSentence;
	saveGame;
};
}];

Or did BI change some uniform commands again? Need to check that...

Ah, just saw your edit.^^ Yes, the mission is quite easy. It's more meant to be fun and shooting around with big guns for a change. There are also "bigger explosions" triggered when destroying something at the camp, so there's a nice firework to watch. Oh, and if you take the mortar the enemy will dispatch a patrol to hunt you down but since they're coming from the camp they get killed by mortar shells most of the time.^^ Also, the uniforms might come in handy later on...

[turin turambar 0]

My progression has been "fair" and steady, as I didn't the clean Stratis sidejobs... in fact, I just did the first one right now (just before doing the last 'first hub' mission), obtaining some nice equipment (mx mg, satchel charge). If they are bandits, pirates, etc maybe they should have only pistols, smgs, revolvers, maybe some 5.56mm rifles? That way you could control somehow the balance.

I'm liking a lot the variety of the missions and the imagination put in them. You have put some effort in making them feel unlike the typical "go and advance to point A and B and kill enemy soldiers!" which I played already for the 100th time.

Yeah, I get the recommended objects are just recommended. For example when rescuing the girl you could go guns blazing, or you could go by night and with a silenced weapon avoiding most enemies, as I did. In some missions I noticed if you search well enough there maybe items that help you in the mission if you didn't get the recommended.

And you know what, in Eye for an Eye I should have reverted and tried again hiring a pair of AT soldiers, thats what the functionality is for.

The idea of the permanent stash is great. Not only because you can buy equipment bit a bit which gives you that rpg feeling of progression, also because it feels great to loot something in a mission (like a AT launcher, nvg or a explosive charge) and then use it in a later mission that recommends it without having to spend your hard earned money on it. It's the "you are smart!" compliment that rewards attentive players. And yes, I noticed in the first mission you can get free shit from the Ion chopper ;).

And then I reached the second hub with its plot twist and new features. Permanent free mercs but in limited quantity, camp enhancements and defenses, buying vehicles... great. It's what BI should have made in their campaign.

If anything, I hope I can come back to Stratis or have another set of hideouts to clean in Altis after the first mission because now I have reasons to win the extra money.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Well, at the moment this whole capture Stratis missions was - as I said in another post already - just one afternoon of work, hence it's totally repetitive, generic and unbalanced. Still needs some polishing and additions in other words. I mainly did it to quickly test the mod weapons on "living" targets. :D

Yes, I've tried to make each mission about some aspect of the game. Hence there are driving missions, looking for someone, rescuing someone, protection etc. The missions itself (at least in the first part of the campaign) are rather small and simple, less complex, each focusing on some aspect of the game. Later on it gets more towards standard military operations, larger battles and stuff - but that's due to the story, there are still some rather unique missions coming. However, I also don't like this repetitive "You are NATO Mastercaptain 83-14, stationed on Stratis with your totally secret special-ops-forces-commander-3000-unit, now go out, blow up 56 tanks, eliminate 361 enemy officers and then extract by helo!" I realise that my project is nowhere near realistic but it's a game after all. I do enjoy these "standard NATO missions" from time to time if they are well done, but I quickly lose the interest if I have to create them.

True, you don't really need the recommended stuff. For example, you can find a drone terminal in a pile of trash next to the crazy guy in a small shack in "An Eye For An Eye". "Sauerland Express" actually provides two ways to obtaina repair kit during the mission. Either go to the officer before delivering the trucks and he will assign you a repair specialist - or, if you've closely watched the environment when passing the small village, there's a civie changing a tire on his car. You can ask him to borrow his repair kit (or just kill him and take it), he's even glad if you return it to him after you're done. There's tons of this stuff hidden in M.E.R.C.S. and sometimes you can also steal a tank somewhere or do similar stuff - it's meant to support many different gameplay types. Actually, if I recall it right there's one of these huge sniper rifles hidden in the first mission but I totally forgot where.^^ Then there are small details like recurring textures and stuff, names or side characters showing up from time to time int he background and so on.

I really enjoy games in general which let you build something or change the game world permanently. Not necessarily like RPGs do but already small details do the trick. Finding a new armour or weapon and it's showing up in the next cutscene - brilliant! I love the Mass Effect trilogy because you can keep and develop your Shepard over all three parts. I think I've beaten the whole trilogy more than ten times by now with five or six different Shepards - hell, I even recall many dialogues.

The advanced shop functionality certainly adds something, as intended. Not perfect yet because there's nothing to do around the Altis hub but I'll think of something. Fun fact most people probably won't notice: The bulk of the mercenaries in the second hub is not there from the beginning. On your first visit the only ION associates are the player, McMillian and (depends on decisions) the buddy, apart from that it's just Knights. Mercs are not arriving until after the first mission. ;)

In light of the contest deadline I must focus on testing the current release now and will only fix crucial bugs. After that, development will continue and I can return working on features and maybe even voice acting...

[corporal_lib[br] 396]

Glad you made it, congrats! I'm really sorry you ran into troubles. :/

So, in order to to nail down what's causing this weird behavior could you be a lamb and provide me some data?

Thank you for your kind words! Doesn't matter how the contest turns out this project is a huge success for me! ;)

I´ll try to help you nab it....

- Arma 3 DevBranch or Stable?

Stable, I won´t touch the devbranch not even with a 8 foot stick lol

- A list of mods you're using.

Too much to list... Maybe EastvsWest messed with the explosives, but it is strange, cus the metal container was ripped apart, all objects we´re scattered around, but the task wasn´t completed =P

- What kind of explosives did you use to take down the generator and where did you place them?

At first, 2 SLAMs... then I used one SATCHEL charge under the container and one right above the generator =P didn´t tried a LGB, maybe this could work

[EDIT] Yeah, pretty much indeed, EastvsWest may be the cause, Pete... replayed the mission on another set, mod heavy, but not that heavy and without EvW and the explosive charges were enough to accomplish the task... gotta test the nikos mission now...

[EDIT2] Nope, couldn´t find any money on Niko´s cold body nor money staches nor silver suitcases, no money, only ammoboxes and even If I get 20 km away from altis on boat, no mission accomplished message =P

All of his bodyguards had the "take money" action, but Nikos himself was money-less 8*and no money bills on the floor or around....

Ohh maybe i´ve done one mistake on the very last mission!

I´ve killed Nikos, but I didn´t searched for money or any other loot... I´ll try that mission again and report ya!

cheers!

Edited October 21, 2014 by Corporal_Lib[BR]

[turin turambar 0]

Badass one is very problematic.

First, why use a cutscene when you call the airforce? I don't see shit in it, it's all black, because it was a stealth mission so I'm doing it by night. But more importantly, the A10 crashed 4 TIMES into water in the cutscene, failing the mission. edit: 5 times already. I'm going to try the dev version, and see if it's better there.

---------- Post added at 10:43 ---------- Previous post was at 10:05 ----------

Badass one is very problematic.

First, why use a cutscene when you call the airforce? I don't see shit in it, it's all black, because it was a stealth mission so I'm doing it by night. But more importantly, the A10 crashed 4 TIMES into water in the cutscene, failing the mission. edit: 5 times already. I'm going to try the dev version, and see if it's better there.

edit: nothing, impossible to do.

[IndeedPete 1038]

@Coporal: Ah, so SLAMs don't work anyway (maybe I should include them too if they can be remotely triggered), only satchels and charges count at the moment. Problem is that this generator object can't be destroyed (I actually tried an LGB...) so I have to script around that fact. I don't know the mod EastVsWest but it might be that it's changing some engine-related stuff like the eventhandlers. Not sure why modders do that. But as said a thousand times: Use mods at your own risk!

It should proceed when all OPFOR are dead: Nikos, one squad (8 people) and one armed car (2 people). There's a small dialogue and then the action to search Nikos' body will be added.

@Turin: I know, I'm currently in the process of finding out what's happening there. I can't reproduce the issue, it's working fine for me but you are now the third one to report that it never works. Drives me mad if I can't see it for myself. I've recently noticed that there's some line of previous debug code left. Might be interfering with the original fix for this issue. Pain in the ass, I can tell you. Oh, and it actually is quite a cool cutscene if not played at night. Noticed as well that it doesn't really work in the dark, I might just raise the aperture for the duration or see if I can apply an NV filter.

For now, to pass it until this freaking bug is sorted out there's always [] call IP_fnc_cheatEndMission; Pasted into the debug console it will take you back to the hub, mission completed. Sorry for this gamebreaker, it's freaking me out that I don't experience it!

[turin turambar 0]

If for some people it never works like me, and you don't have problems... well, what's the difference between one version and the other? I would start looking at stuff different between versions that *in theory* shouldn't affect anything, like different languages. Do you have the game in English? Do you test the compiled version apart from the one in the editor? Did you test the 2 versions, steam and normal? Etc

I'm a professional developer, believe me I have experience with inexplicable shit that can't be debugged. :P

[IndeedPete 1038]

Nah, I don't expect it to be the language or game version (provided you run 1.32 stable). I know the pain, been working for a software company myself. But I've got a new lead, two actually. First thing is this leftover line of code which was also messing with the velocity, next to the original fix. The basic problem is that the plane is spawned as "Flying" but apparently the velocity is set for a plane with dir 0 and not the dir I apply to it. So it's basically being pulled somewhere else. Stupid, but the first fix calculated the correct velocity and added it to the plane. Then again, as KK said in my thread here, I'm running this whole spawn process within a scheduled environment, means the engine is free to put it on hold if another thing seems more important. So, in theory, the plane could be spawned and then the script is put on hold for a small amount of time to process other stuff. My new idea is to editor place and then hide it, we'll see if that works out.

---------- Post added at 06:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:34 PM ----------

Just popped out a small update!

Changelog

0.93 Beta - 21.10.2014

• FIXED: Badass One, Finally nailed down the crash bug (hopefully).
  
• FIXED: Randomisation scripts affected Nikos in some cases.
  
• FIXED: Transport heli was still full of free stuff.
  
• FIXED: Shop System, glasses were not listed.
  
• CHANGED: Home Sweet Home, Raif is now an engineer to be able to fix vehicles.
  
• CHANGED: Home Sweet Home, autoheal after returning to hub.
  

Download

Addon Version

Dropbox v0.93 BETA

Steam Workshop v0.93 BETA

Campaign PBO Version

Dropbox v0.93 BETA

MANW Contest Page

Vote & Support

[turin turambar 0]

And now it works ;)

The surprise was when I saw why you did the cutscene... because you change roles with the pilot! Cool, I feared there wouldn't be any air part in the campaign because the merc scope doesn't allow it (in special I like choppers).

And btw I can see the cutscene fine, before it was superdark, maybe it was related to where the hell was the plane spawning.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Ah, you can't believe how much of a relief this is! Really glad it's working now! (At least for you...)

I raised the aperture when it's (roughly) too dark to see the planes. Same trick is used with the Glass NV. Downside is that the stars are shining a bit too bright and fire will cause messy graphic artefacts. But for the duration of the cutscene it's fine. It really is out of scope for this project, hence the workaround with playing another character.^^

Oh, and I've also sorted out the texture problems another guy had with the planes. Looks like BIS changed the configs and turned the hidden selection numbers around. Not sure why they'd do such evil sorcery but of course it messed with my beautiful textures...

[turin turambar 0]

Give me spoilers. Which one is the commander vehicle, the "Ace of Spades"? Does it have to come in a convoy to the city? is the one parked near the government building? I shot with missiles a few vehicles in the city and nearby but didn't have luck. And I'm pretty sure I also blown up the vehicle parked in the front area of the building. In the end, I was shot down and the pilot was rescued by myself.

But the mission has a few problems: in one of my tries I switched back to the main character and he was standing up and being shot by the enemy! I was killed in a few seconds, of course. I checked it again and yeah, the dumb AI stand up alone when you switch between soldiers, so he can attract enemies while I'm with the pilot flying around. And in another occasion, while I was restarting again the mission, enemy soldiers spawned super close of the starting point and started firing at me even while the cutscene hadn't finished!

A pair more of questions and pleas.

-Are you supposed to hear tales in the campfire of the first camp? I got nearby a pair of times, but I never heard anything.

-Please increase the amount of "volume" or weight assigned to the stash, as I already got problems to store stuff. If you have a pair of AT launchers, a MG, a pair or rifles, and ammo for everything, you already got to the maximum, and can't even store stuff to sell it later. And it would be nice to be able to collect a good repertoire of weapons and accessories with time, just because.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Real spoiler: The AAF commander is not there.^^ But to fulfil the task you need to destroy like five vehicles parked in front of the government building, some armoured. It's a bit tricky to hit with the unguided stuff (I've actually never managed to do so) and you usually need to relocate to get eyes on them for using the laser. In the end, going in with satchels or captured AT might even be the best option. But as you noticed when Badass One goes down the task is canceled and replaced by the rescue task (provided the pilot survives the crash). If you don't control him he will actually try to get to your position - well, if the crappy pathfinding or enemies don't interfere. So, to finish the mission you just need to make sure the AAF's HQ is destroyed. And thererfor Badass Two is invicible. It was also a bit tricky to create because there are many unknown variables in that scenario. Shit can go sideways within seconds and the mission needs to somehow handle that.

Yes, unfortunately the AI that overtakes Raif is not the smartest. I usually put me an my squad to "Stealth" and "Hold Fire", but he's still assigning targets. Not sure how to handle that as Raif's life is an important factor - on the other hand it's just unfair to fail the mission because he dies. Idea behind this was to make sure that the player is really careful in looking for a good spot but it obviously needs some tweaking.

Which way of insertion did you take? Patrols are random but of course I can adjust the AO or put the starting point a bit further away. Raif is invicible during the cutscene but if the enemy already fires on you it doesn't really help, I get that.

The camp fire thing is actually an action you have to trigger. When the fire is on (at night) you can approach the guy standing in front of it and encourage him to tell you a story. He will than do that in a small cutscene provided you haven't heard all of his stories yet. This feature is a bit neglected as there are only three stories or so. Originally, it was planned to communicate super secret hints for roaming the island or background of the characters via the campfire stories. But I've never developed it further so it's just a nice addition but nothing special. Maybe I'll continue with that when enriching the sidequests.

Sadly, the capacity of the box is given by the engine. I might be able to look if there's a bigger box available. Other than that I'd have to create an addon for a custom box with more space. It can get stuffed fast, so for now you have to manage your gear wisely.^^

Funny thing though, some mod weapons have totally odd capacity values. You can put like five or six M16s into one backpack. oO

[turin turambar 0]

Which way of insertion did you take?

I used the car insertion (actually, it was the quadbike). Which btw, I discovered you have take care of it! If you extract in a mission without the vehicle is lost. It makes sense and is more realistic, but somehow I imagined you didn't buy a vehicle but a base upgrade that gives you that vehicle in the garage always. I was wrong.

If you can't change the capacity of the box, at least put a second one, that should be faster and easier ;). It would be another object you have to track across missions but that should be easy as the same code will serve (unless you hardcoded everything :P).

[IndeedPete 1038]

Ah, I'll check if I can move the insertion point then. Yes, if a vehicle gets destroyed it's gone permanently. Especially painful when your precious 25.000 bucks helo gets shot down on a strafing run. :D

Originally you were supposed to be able to steal or capture vehicles during a mission and take them back to the hub but I found it would be silly if the player somehow ends up having a tank in his garage...^^

A second one would be possible, though I'd have to check capacity and so on when adding gear to the box. The box's name is actually hardcoded but just because it didn't make sense to parameterise such a special function like the player init, there's too much campaign specific stuff going on in there anyway. Then again, I might add a capacity checker to the shop so you won't be able to oevrload the box or stuff gets lost because the engine can't add it. I actually like the limiting component: "You have some extra space already, so see to it to use it efficiently!"

[turin turambar 0]

The question, if I drop a weapon in the ground in the hub, will be there when I return next mission?

And goddamn the close quarter battle end was hard. It was a good mission, some stealth entering and exiting the city carefully and with planning, after some combat in the beach and in the road to the power plant, but I had to play 6 or 7 times the last part with the paratroopers falling from the sky on top of you.

---------- Post added at 22:33 ---------- Previous post was at 21:29 ----------

Force Recon on the other hand was too easy, maybe you should add a pair of infantry patrols on the main road, one before reaching the town and other after (and it isn't like most people won't drive around the town itself). At least Ian drove pretty well.

You should check out the script that save the weapon's attachments. I did see weird things happening like smg silencers and magazines I had equipped losing themselves in between missions.

omg I forgot to buy a rebreather for the "wet" mission...

Edited October 21, 2014 by Turin Turambar

[IndeedPete 1038]

No, it will disappear. Only stuff you're wearing and the box's contens are stored. Only immaterial thing are the uniforms. Once bought uniforms can't get lost.

Yeah, that's a tough one but I'm a bit proud of it. First time I finished it it was five in the morning and I was soaked in sweat. Don't know why but those paratroopers are insane. Might be the terrain or so but I had them hammering at my position really from all sites. Two or three through the front gate, some coming up behind me through the fence and another two actually tried to flank over the hill to the north - amazing, that's how I like the AI. Not to mention that I've lost my whole team the CSAT officer...

Force Recon is pretty easy, yeah. It's more supposed to be a big cutscene. But I can add some patrols or extend the mission - like the extraction part where the mission succeeds could actually be made playable. Interesting that you let the AI drive, quite a risk. It's working for me but it just takes too long.^^

Never had problems with the attachements though a grenade or single mag gets lost sometimes. Equipment that goes into the box should be disassembled as much as possible because Arma only allows me to grab the single classnames and not every item attached to the gun. I'll do some testing.

As usual, the redbreather is optional, quite handy for a stealth approach though. However, if you still have the OPFOR uniform (BACU is the shop name) it might be good to wear it... *cough*undercover*cough*

[turin turambar 0]

I lost the ability to use the "free" named mercs, even if they are still alive. They are chilling in their favorite place. Is that normal?

I'm after Force Recon but before Surfin ROA and Diplomatic Incident.

[miller 49]

Thanks IndeedPete

ArmA3.de Mirror updated:

M.E.R.C.S. - mercenary expendable ruthless covert selfish (v0.93 Beta) by IndeedPete

Kind regards

Miller

[turin turambar 0]

Ok, I found the bug. We will talk about my honoraries later :P.

Force Recon is a special mission where the merc system is ignored and you are escorted by Ian, right? Well, if in the hub mission previous to Force Recon, in the right side of the merc pool (selected mercs) you have the named mercs, they will be erased from there, instead of deselected or "moved" to the left list. I had all of them selected in the right list because the game remembers your selection from the previous mission, so if you don't bother to check out that screen, you will find yourself without pals in the next mission.

I solved replaying the hub again previous to FR and deselecting everyone, but you know, they shouldn't disappear.

Also, search for the string text "waist too much time" from a debriefing, and replace waist with waste ;)

[IndeedPete 1038]

@Miller: Glad to hear, tahnk you! Didn't know there was a German Arma 3 webpage. I've been looking for German communities but the forums I've found were pretty much dead. :/

@Turin: Yeah, you can't take a team to some missions, like the drunk mission or Force Recon. Not sure though why the listing doesn't work after that. To fill the list the mission checks if these unique guys are already in your team and then removes them from the pool. The team variable has been cleared on the breifing and on mission start. Scratch that, I think I know where I made the mistake. A rather unlikely thing happened but still, I should fix that. Thanks for pointing that out to me.^^

Oh, and thanks for the correction. Someone else mentioned that on steam already but I wasn't able to find it. It was most likely one of these 3-in-the-morning-dialogues. :D

[turin turambar 0]

I wanted to ask you for a while.

http://i.imgur.com/MkfZppP.png (754 kB)

What's the deal with these short pants? I have seen in several missions, in both the hub and the missions themselves, in soldiers, bandits, mercs etc.

Intended, or a bad name in a config file?

[IndeedPete 1038]

It's actually a civil clothing but I repurposed it as possible mercenary outfit. Not really combat effective but stylish (well, if you are into that type of clothes). It's the most expensive and probably most useless piece of clothing in the shop. :D

[turin turambar 0]

Done the surfin' mission. I wonder how

the people that don't use the csat suit will do, as there is a good amount of enemies around and Arma isn't a proper stealth game, the enemy are alerted with almost anything

. I was thinking that maybe the captain should do a little patrol or something, so maybe some people could try to snipe him from a tower or something like that.

Diplomatic Incident.

Ohh again with problems clearing an area as one objective wants. I cleared the big FIA base, the allied squads already came in, patrolled a bit and went away, I looked in the buildings, I walked all the perimeter (and it's a 100x400mts area), my mates are in "safe" mode as they don't see or hear any enemy, and nothing, the goal won't comply. And a tank crew has to come right?

edit: worked in the second try.

Edited October 22, 2014 by Turin Turambar