[SP/COOP] West To East: Dynamic Battles

[sttosin 67]

yep... just getting back in after a month straight of work and it's come a long ways... had a blast today on altis and cherno summer... keep it up StTosin!

wants me a takistan version lol....

CosmiC10R,

Welcome back. Thanks for the feedback.

Takistan release later tonight.

Here it is: Takistan Version

Edited March 4, 2015 by sttosin

[cosmic10r 2320]

CosmiC10R,

Welcome back. Thanks for the feedback.

Takistan release later tonight.

Here it is: Takistan Version

Thank you Sir ;)

Some fun

[sttosin 67]

So, this time tried on Bornholm (my first sight on this map - cool so far except grass coulour :) ). Played with really nice feeling of the war going on around till I died (about half of hour). Good to see some very welcomed improvemetns. I'll focus on problems, I saw to be constructive though:

1. Radio comm would be better with some audio editing/distortion/hum added etc. I hate to point my own work as an examples, but anyway check how in Hetman radio samples are processed to actually sound as radio, not someone talking with cristal clear voice, like standing just next to you.

2. From the start there was some choppers spawned with the comm suggesting, I called them, which isn't true.

3. Not sure, if anything should be done about, but sometimes IS annoying, when camera interrupts my play several times in the minute. I would try to implement some interval limiter and show that camera view only, if from the last such view enough time passed. IMO no need to show that way every single spawn/kill. When you do, in time it may become tiring too fast. Such eyecandies IMHO should be dosed carefully to keep them fresh. Or make it switchable on the fly eg via supports menu (0-8).

4. Dynamic text displays spawned units by their classname, which rarely looks good. I would sugget to use display name instead. (getText (configFile >> "cfgVehicles" >> _class >> "displayName")). Similar - names of supports looks a bit "makeshifty" in_this_form. Also optionally current allied/known enemies groups position could be given by a marker - just an idea (vanilla may be used - MARTA module is still on place in A3, I'm using it in HWS), this tiles/sectors markers are working nice enough to me.

5. Once I saw medevac used for group insertion. Units with ambulance ability can be filtered out using their config (attendant=1 IIRC).

6. Saw few times choppers landing/trying to land (and crashing) on the trees/buildings. Kinda sucks. It is possible to find flat and empty area for LZ.

7. I still would welcome arty support, if limited of course. Should be kinda more basic and available than CAS IMO.

8. I would love to hear that chatter from that another mod. :) Also radio chatter of such kind from my finghting allies, if would not make radio comm too messy.

9. Is availability of the support anyhow bounded/dependent on player actions/progress? IMO would be nice if so and if player would be notified about that progress in some cool way (even if "arcadey" - kinda does no harm in such kind of scenario IMO) just to keep him motivated and rewarded for the efforts. Eg just by gaining X map coorinate number by pushing toward east - to convert such gain somehow into support points or just some displayed progress motivator. Also see 11. as an idea ofr such progress handling.

10. Aerial support could be spawned farther to make more believeable feeling of support actually sent from somewhere (so it also requires a bit bigger delay bewteen request and support on place, currently it feels kinda magick - not that I have something against magick though :) but rather not intended? ). Still, increased delay in such fast paced gameplay may be not so good.

11. This is pretty intense scenario. Tension/pressure all the time. Not an issue, just a fact. I'm sure many preffer that way. As for me though, in time it becomes mind tiring - nearly no time to think calm nor rest. Constant chaos. Perhaps could be worthy of consideration adding some chain of objectives, marked milestones en route east eg basing on the locations or crossroads between player's init position and eastern shore - stage 1: take this town (rest there/replenish ranks/ammo etc) - stage 2: take that hill next (again rest when done by the way) etc. Such key positions would be kinda realistic and could be in advance nicely garrisoned with defensive hostiles to clear + some ammo etc to obtain. IMO nice diversity, that by the way would allow me to feel a bit less like a Mario bro running and running, just chasing the horizon in the one direction, if you know, what I mean.

:)

All right. That is it this time. It's getting better and better.

1. Is there a way to dynamically process the sounds in game without manually editing each file?

2. Is fixed

3. Is further toned down. 5% chance of happening when enemy near vehicle is KIA.

4. I used that originally but some were empty in RHS groups at least at the time. Will look again.

5. I knew that would come up soon. It's gone. I actually specifically call the medevac vehicle but it's not worth the variability. Fixed.

6. Fixed. Stratis version updated on steam. This one kicked my average coding skills butt. I used SHK random location selector script.

7. If West gets Arty then East does also

8. Will need to talk with our team. Might need to remain separate. Not sure yet.

9. Not tied to progress....not yet. I need such a such a system.

10. Fixed. Not negative effect IMO so far. Might require better tactical planning.

11. Will think about rest time. As for tasks I have thought about but I never really like the default task system. Makes every mission feel the same to me. I know it's a great system. I will continue to think about it.

Thanks again for the pointers. This mission is improving thanks to feeback/suggestions such as these.

Also thanks to all for the nice feedback on steam/pm :)

[sttosin 67]

Thank you Sir ;)

Some fun

Anytime CosmiC10R. I linked the video on first post. I saw you had a Takistan gameplay one as well.

[Rydygier 1302]

1. Is there a way to dynamically process the sounds in game without manually editing each file?

In Hetman I did manual editing - results are better, more thorough then, but you can also play simultanously some hum sample as simple makeshift. IIRC in Arma 2 such method was used for vanilla comm. Not sure about Arma 3. Anyway, no scripting command to dynamic sound shaping except global volume.

4. I used that originally but some were empty in RHS groups at least at the time. Will look again.

Eventually they should fill all the gaps. Anyway, you can make it conditional - if not empty, use description. Otherwise - classname.

7. If West gets Arty then East does also

Sure, even better then. Some scripts are around, mostly for player called arty, even one my own, autonomous, for AI, no calls. Spawned shelling is also easy to script, whole thing is about balancing the accuracy.

As for tasks I have thought about but I never really like the default task system. Makes every mission feel the same to me. I know it's a great system. I will continue to think about it.

You can do own system. :) it may be static, just markers on the map, showing offensive plan with key points and some notificsations/consequences when reached. Player, if want, even can ignore them after all.

Thanks again for the pointers. This mission is improving thanks to feeback/suggestions such as these.

Thank you for the mission and all work put in it. As you know, I know, what that means. Good job ang good luck. :)

[sttosin 67]

Boys and Girls, the latest update introduces Mortar play for West support and the enemies also will use Mortar and even their Artillery. All that is possible with Rydygier's Arty Fire For Effect script! Epic explosions from East and West with impact on gameplay.

Get it here: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?168779-Fire-For-Effect-The-God-of-War-smart-amp-simple-AI-artillery

Replaced: Alpha Radio for just ground forces with Mortar Team. Now to bring in ground forces you will rely on that heli insertion. They land smarter now. See changelog on OP for more...........

[Rydygier 1302]

I did some debug on this "_newETA" RPT logs. FFE assumes, so in general arty group members are manning artillery pieces and is checking for ETA for each unit to take lowest value. So if any member of arty group is not in the arty vehicle, but on foot or in another vehicle, getArtilleryETA returns nil. It shouldn't break anything, still I'll try to make some workaround for such mixed arty groups.

[sttosin 67]

I did some debug on this "_newETA" RPT logs. FFE assumes, so in general arty group members are manning artillery pieces and is checking for ETA for each unit to take lowest value. So if any member of arty group is not in the arty vehicle, but on foot or in another vehicle, getArtilleryETA returns nil. It shouldn't break anything, still I'll try to make some workaround for such mixed arty groups.

Aha. Thanks Rydygier!

Is there a way to make everybody FFO?

Is it a matter of deleting the classnames in there?

[Rydygier 1302]

Everybody non-civilian allied of whatever group present on the map are FO by default. Just do not (re)define RydFFE_FO. It's by default an empty array, and then everyone may call for fire.

Actually you need additional config to change/limit that: to put something into this array to switch to the limited FO mode.

BTW you may consider enabling FFE debug. It will nicely visualise pending fire missions on the map. Not realistc, but making player awared about incoming shells will give him extra chance to survive in some cases. The fact, arty works that way - sudden death - may be not enough answer for player's frustration due to being killed too often like that. It's a game after all. :) You can also manipulate with accuracy of arty fire, but seems fine to me.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Rydygier

[sttosin 67]

Everybody non-civilian allied of whatever group present on the map are FO by default. Just do not (re)define RydFFE_FO. It's by default an empty array, and then everyone may call for fire.

Actually you need additional config to change/limit that: to put something into this array to switch to the limited FO mode.

BTW you may consider enabling FFE debug. It will nicely visualise pending fire missions on the map. Not realistc, but making player awared about incoming shells will give him extra chance to survive in some cases. The fact, arty works that way - sudden death - may be not enough answer for player's frustration due to being killed too often like that. It's a game after all. :) You can also manipulate with accuracy of arty fire, but seems fine to me.

So even RHS Escalation units?

[Rydygier 1302]

Even. Only side matters by default - must be the same or friendly.

BTW just released FFE 1.13. this RPT spam for mixed arty/non-arty groups should be removed now.

[sttosin 67]

Even. Only side matters by default - must be the same or friendly.

BTW just released FFE 1.13. this RPT spam for mixed arty/non-arty groups should be removed now.

Nice! Will upgrade to 1 .13. I remember only getting the prompt for that rpt however only after I spawned a UAV, then the mortar starts firing.

I will use the debug later tonight.

[tortuosit 485]

Will play it soon, do you think it can be played with bcombat?

EDIT: Should have read your first post :) Looking forward very much.

[sttosin 67]

Will play it soon, do you think it can be played with bcombat?

EDIT: Should have read your first post :) Looking forward very much.

Glad you got your machine back mate. Let me know what you think of the mission, suggestions, etc.

[sttosin 67]

I forgot to mention Tilos version was released

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=405096892

[tortuosit 485]

Was at the very beginning... Fought my through the first enemies. And then... there was an even more important job to do at home. Related topic: "don't mess with your wife if she wants you to do something", haha.

Well in the beginning of your mission I thought that interruptions, where screen gets black shortly, camera changes and some situation is reported, those moments were a bit confusing at first.

Started on Altis...

[sttosin 67]

Related topic: "don't mess with your wife if she wants you to do something", haha.

Started on Altis...

Amen on that statement lol.

The mission kinda throws you in the middle of the battle and the system should become apparent after a bit of battles.

[sttosin 67]

OK people. I want to just post this for those following, the current state of affairs of West To East.

I have decided to always use the Stratis version as the Master version. This also means it is my beta version. All the new content and gameplay features will be tested here and uploaded to Steam as soon as it's coded.

I have scripts to automatically sync all the other West to East Mission for different maps' files from Stratis'

Because uploading all these 8 different missions to Steam takes about 20 mins altogether, I will not be uploading every single time I modify the master copy. If anyone has any ideas on automatically uploading to Steam please let me know.

If you want to be a beta tester always getting the latest then subscribe to the Stratis Version

Others will likely get updates about once a week.

I have discovered some good maps through this process so I am still taking map requests for the mission :D

Edited March 14, 2015 by sttosin

[sttosin 67]

Latest version non-steam:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tk45hlim0y9outr/WestToEast_03142015.zip?dl=0

[tortuosit 485]

Saw a minor problem that a support truck was reported and then the video feed showed it exploding :D. Well I know about the problem of spawning vehicles at the wrong place.

BTW, as for ArmA, due to its complicated mod/mission mechanics and dependencies, I'm not interested in auto updates -> steam workshop anyway.

[sttosin 67]

Saw a minor problem that a support truck was reported and then the video feed showed it exploding :D. Well I know about the problem of spawning vehicles at the wrong place.

BTW, as for ArmA, due to its complicated mod/mission mechanics and dependencies, I'm not interested in auto updates -> steam workshop anyway.

Haha. At least you know what happened to the truck ;).

I have a solution for the spawing issue. SHK's script a few posts ago. I use it for West Heli Insert and spawning the mortars atm. I will convert all other vehicle spawns to use the same approach. So the find flat areas with no object around 10/20m or so.

As for auto update, there is some really cool benefits to subscribe to missions automatically imo. Of course it has its downside. You get to be a tester. :cool:

[cosmic10r 2320]

some Takistan Gameplay Edited March 16, 2015 by CosmiC10R

[cosmic10r 2320]

and some Sahrani

and Isla Duala

:p

[tortuosit 485]

Thx Cosmic.. sttosin, can you maybe add options to start at a specific time? I mean, I like night missions, but now I often restart mission if it starts at night. E.g. Tilos was new to me so I wanted to play it and this way enjoy the new island, but at night its not possible.

However I think, you should open the debug console via description.ext, then players can do what they wish.

[sttosin 67]

Thx Cosmic.. sttosin, can you maybe add options to start at a specific time? I mean, I like night missions, but now I often restart mission if it starts at night. E.g. Tilos was new to me so I wanted to play it and this way enjoy the new island, but at night its not possible.

However I think, you should open the debug console via description.ext, then players can do what they wish.

I just enabled debug console for Tilos. I will get the other ones later. Will look into UI scripting. Got a lot to learn.