[COOP] Vigilancia Aeternum

[Nikander 123]

 

 

Insurgency force is invading the nation. Blufor HQ has identified a number of occupied square-kilometer areas and the enemy is expanding territory at a steady pace. Your mission is to search the grids marked red on the map and destroy one main objective in each of them. The objective may be a weapons cache, fuel truck or communications antenna. Insurgency expansion will slow down with each completed objective and shall eventually be defeated in the end.

 

 

 

 

Featuring

• Co-operative mission for 16 players
• Dynamically changing areas of operation
• Multiple terrain versions available
• Parachute insertion option in MP lobby
• Persistent contractor career gameplay mode
• Arma 3 standard revive for injured players
• Teamkiller punish dialog with kick to lobby
• Evac, Supply drop and CAS menu for team leaders
• Automatic intelligence information markers
• Standard dynamic player groups management
• CUP, RHS, TFAR, ACRE2 and ACE3 support
• No modifications required

 

View the current changelog, 10-APR-2017 v1.0

Download mission at cybercorps.org/vigilance
 
 
Nikander

Edited April 11, 2017 by Nikander
scenario update

[lukio 18]

So I've just tried this out on our dedicated server - some feedback:

 

- Works out of the box without configuration

- Love the simplicity and the gaining ranks / additional access to the arsenal

- Sometimes it's not really clear what needs to be done to win over a sector, for example I destroyed a fuel truck and ammo crates and killed to the best of my knowledge all hostiles in the vicinity, but the sector did not change

- Sometimes enemies and friendlies are only shooting blanks / are invulnerable to damage, especially after respawn or when a vehicle got deleted, new enemies that spawn are vulnerable and will also fire

- Bodies do not get removed, after quite some time this leads to desyncs,  same with the backpacks that get replaced by tfar.

- Helicopters get removed instantly after landing

- A bit many IEDs on the road, like 3 or 4 right after another within 500m

 

Edit: Two other things that have puzzled us

- The pickup helicopter arrives and lands, but the pilots simply leave the helicopter, is this intended?

- The group menu thing and respawn on teamlead did not seem to work, are we missing something?

[Nikander 123]

So I've just tried this out on our dedicated server - some feedback

Hi lukio and thanks for the feedback !

 

- Sometimes it's not really clear what needs to be done to win over a sector, for example I destroyed a fuel truck and ammo crates and killed to the best of my knowledge all hostiles in the vicinity, but the sector did not change

The only thing that is intended to be done to win over a sector is to seek and destroy one and only one main target in each. When you destroy the main objective you should get a notification message saying the grid is clear and its' color should change to blue. At this point also the time when enemy takes the next area is delayed by half of the preset expansion time. If you destroyed a Zamak fuel truck and didn't see the message, then that is clearly a bug - So far I haven't witnessed this in my own testing.

 

- Sometimes enemies and friendlies are only shooting blanks / are invulnerable to damage, especially after respawn or when a vehicle got deleted, new enemies that spawn are vulnerable and will also fire

I have also noticed the invulnerability and shooting blanks issue and I'm going to fix this. I'm getting strange error report entries, so I was thinking this might relate to those but this needs more investigating. Thank you for reporting this.

 

- Bodies do not get removed, after quite some time this leads to desyncs, same with the backpacks that get replaced by tfar.

I have enabled the garbage collector option in Eden editor and that logs another error that I'd rather not like to see. I didn't actually test thoroughly to see if the bodies were actually removed, but with you reporting they don't, I believe the option is bugged - I'm going to try and come up with a workaround for this.

 

- Helicopters get removed instantly after landing

Helicopters obviously should not be removed instantly after landing, but instead when no player is closer than 1000 m or if they are severely damaged - I will double-check my BIS respawn module settings.

 

- A bit many IEDs on the road, like 3 or 4 right after another within 500m

Roadside IEDs should not appear with that many numbers - I will tweak that to next version.

 

- The pickup helicopter arrives and lands, but the pilots simply leave the helicopter, is this intended?

Pilots leaving the pickup helicopter to player is indeed intended behavior. I am planning to have them take a passenger seat right after landing but this will have to wait for some later version.

- The group menu thing and respawn on teamlead did not seem to work, are we missing something?

Group menu is using the BIS Dynamic Groups feature, could you tell me more about your findings with this ?

 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Nikander

Edited July 27, 2016 by Nikander

[lukio 18]

Hi lukio and thanks for the feedback - I will be making improvements and try to fix the issues to the best of my ability:

 

1. The only thing that is intended to be done to win over a sector is to seek and destroy one and only one main target in each. When you destroy the main objective you should get a notification message saying the grid is clear and its' color should change to blue. At this point also the time when enemy takes the next area is delayed by half of the preset expansion time. If you destroyed a Zamak fuel truck and didn't see the message, then that is clearly a bug - So far I haven't witnessed this in my own testing.

 

 

7. Group menu is using the BIS Dynamic Groups feature, could you tell me more about your findings with this ?

 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Nikander

 

Good to hear about that invulnerability thing, it was pretty weird being surrounded by AI and they just keep on pointing their weapons but do not shoot or take damage. We had some occurances where this took place for quite a while and as soon as someone from the group reentered the zone, all hell broke loose (after some time).

 

1. There was no message - however as mentioned we also experienced intermittant desync issues while testing (7 players) and we restarted the mission believing it was a bug. In the meantime I believe it was related to the desyncs as while testing it locally it was not reproducable.

 

7. the double tapping U (from what I was told) to get the menu did not work.

[Nikander 123]

Good to hear about that invulnerability thing, it was pretty weird being surrounded by AI and they just keep on pointing their weapons but do not shoot or take damage. We had some occurances where this took place for quite a while and as soon as someone from the group reentered the zone, all hell broke loose (after some time).

 

Fixed this issue with revised version v0.59, changelog updated.

 

1. There was no message - however as mentioned we also experienced intermittant desync issues while testing (7 players) and we restarted the mission believing it was a bug. In the meantime I believe it was related to the desyncs as while testing it locally it was not reproducable.

 

Arma 3 known issues mention desync and bandwidth problems but needs more playtesting still.

 

double tapping U (from what I was told) to get the menu did not work.

 

Press "U" once - menu activated on release. Default BIS Dynamic Groups function.

 

Thanks for your help,

Nikander

[DRACUS 18]

yep.. The enemies are always doing spawn even after the zone is captured ...

 

Need to fix that  ;)

 

But nice mission keep going!  :)

[Nikander 123]

But nice mission keep going!  :)

 

Thanks DRACUS, I most certainly will.

 

Released an updated version today, see the current changelog and my mission Script Design Document.

 

 

Nikander

[Nikander 123]

New features, bug fixes and tweaks with the new update made available for download here.

 

Nikander

[yomato26 3]

This sounds awesome, giving it a shot on my server now. Would be awesome if you added CUP mod support on this too! :)

[yomato26 3]

After playing for a few hours last night, really liking this mission. 

 

Some suggestions:

Spawning - As per comments above by other users, the enemy spawning is a bit borked. I had 3 guys spawn in 2 meters away from me during a firefight and shoot me in the head lol

IED's - I feel like this is just a RNG? Are there actually fixed locations of these or is there like a 1/10 chance of hitting one every 10 meters on a road. (would be cool to actually see them and defuse)

 

Is there any HALO or recruit AI options? Especially the AI would be useful to recruit a pilot to fly you around or to at least have the Transport helicopter pick you up and take you somewhere rather than just land near you get out and run away.

 

Keep up the good work, really liking it so far :)

[Nikander 123]

the enemy spawning is a bit borked. I had 3 guys spawn in 2 meters away from me

 

Enemy spawning will be revised for the next release.

 

Are there actually fixed locations of these or is there like a 1/10 chance of hitting one every 10 meters on a road. (would be cool to actually see them and defuse)

 

Yes, these are actual AT mines in fixed locations on the road at least 100 meters apart. Hard to detect in high speeds and without a mine detector device.

 

Is there any HALO or recruit AI options?

 

HALO jumping can be enabled by session admin in the multiplayer lobby. Assembly area for parachute insertion is at the windsock in base camp.

Recruit AI is not planned at the moment.

 

have the Transport helicopter pick you up and take you somewhere rather than just land near you get out and run away.

 

It is intentional to hand over the transport helicopter to player as soon as possible. Use color smoke grenades to have helicopter land in a safe spot.

 

Keep up the good work, really liking it so far :)

 

Thanks for your feedback and suggestions - only this way I can improve and develop the mission further !

 

 

Nikander

[Nikander 123]

Close Air Support added, among other tweaks and bug fixes. Download version 0.69 at Vigilancia Aeternum homepage.

 

Nikander

[Nikander 123]

Added support for CUP weapons, vehicles and units - together with mandatory bugfixes and tweaks. Vigilancia Aeternum v0.70 now available for download.

 

 

Nikander

[jus61 54]

Good work

 

You can try it here

 

Server IP: 94.250.222.20:2302

 

ADDONS: @CBA;@TFAR;@ACE;

 

FREE ADDONS: @Blastcore Phoenix 2;@Enhanced Movement

[jus61 54]

How can I disable the AI?

 

EDIT:

 

Please integrate: http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=23069

[Nikander 123]

You can try it here

 

Server IP: 94.250.222.20:2302

 

Thanks for the try-out, you made a nice modification of Vigilancia Aeternum, however, I didn't see any indication that it was modified from the original - please adhere to Arma Public License Share Alike (APL-SA):

Section 3 – License Conditions

Your exercise of the Licensed Rights is expressly made subject to the following condition. 
a.  Attribution 
1.If You Share the Licensed Material (including in modified form), You must:
.....
b.indicate if You modified the Licensed Material and retain an indication of any previous modifications

Keep going and have fun !

 

 

Nikander

[Nikander 123]

Removed base camp Arsenal officer (in underwear sometimes), added more CUP mod options and other tweaks.

 

Download version v0.72

 

 

Nikander

[frankfranconi 24]

This is a great mission, we've been having fun with it for a while now! I love how it gives players just the right amount of freedom to allow for some variety in gameplay without getting too sandboxy and being too easy. Also a huge thank you for still actively working on improving it.

 

A few thoughts:

• As was mentioned before, AI spawning is ridiculously aggressive. In towns they spawn in houses that have been cleared just before and in open terrain it often happens that multiple groups come out of some reeds in the middle of nowhere in intervals of 2 minutes.
• There seems to be a problem with people having their original backpacks replaced when getting revived. Not sure you can do anything about that though, as you're using BIS revive (great decision by the way, I think it works very well and I'm always in favor of using the 'platform option').
• Good job on bringing back the rank system, as some players find it very rewarding.
• On the same note, it's great that you offer support for CUP vehicles.
• IED spawning is out of control, there are sometimes 5 in just 100 metres of road. I'd say a maximum of 5 on a kilometre  would be a more appropriate count, as the roads are basically not usable right now.
• It's great that we can now select respawn positions with multiple tents. An option to spawn in the base would be much appreciated though.
• I think you managed to balance the vehicle count per objective really well. Before it was overwhelming, but now it's perfect.

Don't get me wrong, even with those criticisms the mission is very much playable in its current state and extremely enjoyable.

 

Thanks for the amazing work!

[Nikander 123]

Releasing another improved version, see changelog here.

 

Download version v0.73

 

 

Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming !

 

Nikander

[frankfranconi 24]

Added: utilizing respawn position map (A3 1.60)

Tweak: revised roadside IED spawning frequency

Tweak: adjusted locations for spawning enemies

Those are exactly the changes I was looking for, very excited to try it. Thanks a lot!

[Tuskegee_99th 43]

Hi Nikander,

 

I've been enjoying this mission with my group. I was wondering about ACRE2 support? I noticed you mention TFAR support. Does this mean ACRE2 would not work in this mission? And, if not, any chance you'd consider adding support for ACRE2 at some point? Thanks.

[Nikander 123]

any chance you'd consider adding support for ACRE2 at some point? Thanks.

 

Thanks for the feedback, added support for ACRE2 items in career gameplay mode. See full changelog here.

 

Download version v0.74

 

 

Nikander

[frankfranconi 24]

Very nice, especially love the objective target icon at close proximity and the AI spawning changes with cleared houses. Those are going to take care of the last remaining possibilities for frustration.

This is an extremely polished mission by now and I'm happy to say that I was able to get some friends more involved with Arma thanks to it!

 

Are you thinking of porting it to Tanoa any time in the future? I'm very glad you released the mission under APL-SA so we can do it ourselves in case you don't have the time.

[Nikander 123]

I'm happy to say that I was able to get some friends more involved with Arma thanks to it!

 

Great, so glad to read such positive feedback !

 

Are you thinking of porting it to Tanoa any time in the future?

 

The mission has already been ported to Tanoa and currently going through final tweaks and playtesting.

 

In the meantime, download version v0.75 on Altis with support for RHS mod USAF weapons and vehicles. See full changelog here.

 

 

Nikander

[frankfranconi 24]

Oh wow, you're really knocking it out of the park as they say. Especially with RHS support now, because I've always had a personal preference for it over CUP units.