[ALiVE, SP/COOP 1-20] Inshallah [Insurgency]

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

@scottb613 Thanks for the kind words.

 

I just hopped on the 3CB page. They replied a couple days ago they are aware of the issue, that it's fixed internally, and will be in the next hotfix. Good news. :)

[scottb613 246]

Hi Hero,

 

Couple more generic questions if you don't mind (LOL - this may be more Arma generic as opposed to mission specific) ?

 

I see you went through the trouble to setup hospitals on the bases... I'm running only the mods you specified in your "required" list... I normally add a combat medic to my team... What's the big picture on handling wounded from the squad leaders perspective - do I need to micromanage the medic ? Should I be calling for a "dustoff" transport helicopter when someone gets injured - is there a way to pickup the bodies of the fallen and have them transported back to base ? Will the combat medic automatically treat injured team members ? I've noticed - I can call out an "injured" status on myself and sometimes the medic will treat me - other times I seem to be left to my own devices...

 

The resupply crates seem to work with BAF - how do I get my team members to resupply themselves when low on ammo ? I don't see any option in the command menus to - "go over there and grab ammo"... Related - last night I messed around as a BAF sniper - couldn't seem to find ammo for my .308 - would you happen to know which BAF kit box has the ammo ?

 

Are you using the Alive AI Skill Module - are the BAF units set higher than the OPFOR ?

 

LOL - this is truly a great mission - really - enjoying it immensely...

 

Regards,
Scott

 

 

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

@scottb613 The medical locations were something that I originally added only for people that wanted to use my missions as a template and add ACE to (I believe ACE allows you to designate objects as medical and you can heal at them).

 

Though since then, 3CB added the medical vehicles, so I believe you can command AI to heal at them using the Fkey + 6 option while looking at the 3CB ambulances, but honestly, I haven't tried. I guess the same can be said for the other vanilla/CUP medical objects and vehicles I have around the bases. 

 

I think there's a chance you and AI will automatically (or can be commanded?) to heal near medical objects such as vanilla medical HEMMT, 3CB ambulances and vanilla/CUP field hospitals/tents, but I've never personally tried. When I play, my sessions are generally short (around 90 mins at a time), so I rarely face this kind of dilemma. And when I do, I find it just as easy to dismiss my AI (ALiVE Menu > Commander Actions > Personnel > click on unit you want to "leave group) and recruit new ones either at the recruiter or to be delivered through Logistics (to "join my group").

 

What I will say is, I always have at least one or sometimes two medics in my group at all time. I never leave home without them, and manually healing I do a lot. If you get hurt, you can click the medic's Fkey and give an injured order. That, or click the medic's Fkey and then 6 and you'll see a list of hurt solders. Select one and he will heal him. Another way is to click the medic's Fkey, and look at the injured soldier (not ideal in the heat of battle), and the option for the medic to heal that soldier will appear in the scroll wheel options.

 

I agree with you though, I wish BI made this process better by default. Tell you what, I'll test out the medical objects I placed at the bases as soon as I can and let you know what they can and can't do. I should probably know the answer and not just dismiss the guys in my group anyway. :) 

 

The resupply boxes are just for ground and air vehicles. Infantry cannot rearm from them, unfortunately. This is why I placed 3CB ammo and supply boxes everywhere. Try clicking each unit one at a time (cumbersome I know), look at the box you want the AI to rearm at, click the unit's Fkey, then 6, and there should be a "rearm at..." scroll wheel option. Though don't be surprised if you get a "cannot comply" or "negative" response (freaking Arma, man).

 

If it seems the reason they can't rearm is because of how cramped I placed the boxes, you can try requesting one with Logistics and then manually moving it somewhere out in the open. To do this, open the ALiVE menu, click Commander Actions, Logisitcs, then select the air drop (NOT VTOL delivery. That one is finicky!) option, and have a 3CB ammo box get dropped. Then open the ALiVE menu and and under Player Options, enable logistics (it's off by default). When you approach an ammo crate (or any logistics object you request) a scroll wheel option will allow you to move the crate, and "unload" the crate.

 

It should work. If AI are still too stupid to rearm at the crates, you know, dismiss those fools and recruit more. :)

 

Regarding the sniper ammo, I placed all the 3CB ammo boxes at I think all the bases. You'll see one on the northern base, for instance, to the left of where you originally spawn, before the helicopters and campfire and tents. They are placed beneath a camo net. I'd be shocked if one of those boxes didn't have the ammo you needed. If not let me know.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

^^^ If that ammo you need isn't there (again let me know if it's not in any of the ammo boxes), you could rearm at the Virtual Arsenal, no?

 

Anyway, I'm curious now about the AI healing so I'll look into this as soon as I have time. If none of the objects I placed allow it for AI by default, maybe I can add an auto heal trigger near the tents or something. That would be neat if possible.

[DA TO 0]

There are not too many enemies.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

32 minutes ago, DA TO said:

There are not too many enemies.

Hi @DA TO Enemies spawn in clusters around the map. The idea here isn't to shoot every second, but to patrol, find Intel on enemy locations, and all in all is an attempt at replicating a long term persistent campaign not dissimilar to US/UK occupation in Afghanistan circa the early 2000's.

 

A few things...

 

As the insurgency progresses, assuming you don't destroy their civilian recruitment HQ's, they will grow and grow in strength. To the point where if you do nothing, the map will be overrun with enemies. You want to avoid this.

 

Also, you can request a task at any time via the ALiVE menu (there is an entry in the map menu telling you how to do this). If you request a task, an enemy is almost 100% going to be there or somewhere nearby, depending on the task (though friendlies around the map could feasibly destroy these targets for you before you get there. This is a living breathing battlefield).

 

Lastly, if you want a mission with constant fighting, I mean just non-stop terrorist killing, well this is not the mission for you. I personally don't find that fun or realistic.

 

That said, if the consensus is the mission needs more enemies (or less!), I can change that. But I won't be making any changes to this unless that's the consensus, and personally I like it just fine the way it is. I have fun exploring and talking to civs not knowing if enemies are around or not. That's the point of the mission, to discover their cells and take them out.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

@scottb613 Hey so good news! Actually it's pretty cool so I'm glad to have learned this myself! :)

 

So I just ran a quick test in the editor. Just me and a 3CB rifleman. I took all FAK's out of his inventory for the test. I placed down a field hospital (the tent that looks like a medical station), and a 3CB ambulance. Then I shot the guy in the leg so he was bleeding and limping.

 

If you press his Fkey, so in my case F2, then 6, you'll see an option to make him heal at the field hospital or the tent depending on what you are looking at. In both cases he will heal himself! Even with no FAK's or medical stuff on him! How sweet is that!?!? :)

[scottb613 246]

Hi Hero,

LOL - wow - and a massive thank your for the wealth of information you shared... Reading with enthusiasm now...

Regards,
Scott


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[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

22 minutes ago, scottb613 said:

Hi Hero,

LOL - wow - and a massive thank your for the wealth of information you shared... Reading with enthusiasm now...

Regards,
Scott


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Yeah it's really neat! I meant to say above the ambulance works for healing too.

 

Also, I mentioned it on Steam, so feel free to go through the posts and check out the post, but there is a bug in ALiVE currently where your force pool reverts to 0 when loading a persistent save. This is already fixed internally and will be included in the next ALiVE hotfix (which I'd expect soon).

 

Just pointing this out so you don't get too attached to a persistent save. You'll be able to start your campaign officially here soon.

[scottb613 246]

Hi Hero,

Ahh - plenty of new tricks to try... I didn't think there was a way to drop squad members - had asked previously on a generic post and the consensus was "not possible" - Alive comes through once again... I think you have a good balance on the map - I never have trouble finding a fight - I do start most missions from the northern base...

Question - will you ever see the insurgents actually placing IED's ??? Looking forward to my next run in the Stan...

Side Note: A month or so ago watched a decent movie on the subject at hand "Hyena Road" - courtesy of Netflix - worth watching if you haven't seen it...

Do you play SP or MP - if you play SP - Voice Attack is the best thing since sliced bread for controlling your squad verbally... I've tried all the major players and it's the best $10.00 I've ever spent on a utility for sims... I have a pretty sophisticated profile - using "woofer's" as the model... Makes everything way more immersive and sure beats hunting for keys in the heat of battle... Also worth a look if you haven't seen it...

Thanks for all you do... I'll try this next weekend when I get in...

Regards,
Scott


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[scottb613 246]

Hi Hero,

Ahh - plenty of new tricks to try... I didn't think there was a way to drop squad members - had asked previously on a generic post and the consensus was "not possible" - Alive comes through once again... I think you have a good balance on the map - I never have trouble finding a fight - I do start most missions from the northern base...

Question - will you ever see the insurgents actually placing IED's ??? Looking forward to my next run in the Stan...

Side Note: A month or so ago watched a decent movie on the subject at hand "Hyena Road" - courtesy of Netflix - worth watching if you haven't seen it...

Do you play SP or MP - if you play SP - Voice Attack is the best thing since sliced bread for controlling your squad verbally... I've tried all the major players and it's the best $10.00 I've ever spent on a utility for sims... I have a pretty sophisticated profile - using "woofer's" as the model... Makes everything way more immersive and sure beats hunting for keys in the heat of battle... Also worth a look if you haven't seen it...

Thanks for all you do... I'll try this next weekend when I get in...

Regards,
Scott


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

@scottb613 Hey thanks for the movie recommendation! Netflix is like the only thing tv related I have so it's always a good day to actually have something good to watch. :) I'll check it out.

 

Yes, IED's will spawn. Though bare in mind it can take an awfully long time for the insurgents to place them. Due to this, I'll look a bit more closely at it once the next ALiVE update comes out. I can always turn up the density if need be.

 

I primarily play alone (I host my own server but it's almost always just me leading a group of AI). I've read about voice commands in Arma and it does sound like it would make the game more fun to play and easy to play. I've never actually never heard of that specific program so thanks for the recommendation. 

[scottb613 246]

Hi Hero,

Oh - I was just asking if you visually see the AI models placing the IED - or do they just get virtually planted... I wasn't questioning how prolific they are....

Yeah - I'm strictly SP - so yeah - anything that helps with managing AI improves the game for me...

Here - if interested - take a gander - this video convinced me - now I could never go back to Arma without it (obviously decent headphones with a mike is needed):

Regards,
Scott


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[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

@scottb613 Hey so on the IED's, I'm actually not too sure if they are placed by the IED Fairy or if a guy physically walks and places them. I don't honestly ever see too many in Assymetric mode, and when I do they were already there before I reached the area and I've never thought to Zeus it. What I do know:

 

1. IED's work in a few ways in ALiVE. One is placing the module unsynced. This will add a ton of IED's on mission start, and because this happens on mission start, I highly doubt anyone would be placing them (they spawn on mission init).

 

2. When the module is synced to an Asymmetric Commander, it behaves differently than if unsynced. This is the setting I use because this way only allows IED's to spawn in insurgent held areas, which is why there are much fewer with this method, and why it takes a lot longer to see IED's in general (the insurgents need to establish themselves).

 

That said, it would make sense with the Assymetric mode having a person physically place them, because I believe they rely on IED factories. And we both know those are physical items sometimes with physical supply boxes. 

 

So I actually just asked the devs and the reply was hilarious although not too useful: "We use a dynamic system based on the user. Our immersiometer™ detects and analyzes your desired level of immersion and distributes this data to the other modules."

 

Will the answer forever remain a mystery? Is the IED Fairy real? :)

 

If I get an actual answer or take the time to Zeus around I'll let you know. Civilians will actually physically arm themselves so it would make sense if IED's were physically placed by a guy too.

 

And thanks for the video. It seems cool!

 

 

[scottb613 246]

Hi Hero,

 

Hahaha...

 

Thanks - that's what I was looking for - I didn't know if I should be looking around for little groups of suspicious looking guys hanging around in a particular spot for too long... Appreciate all the info - I'll leave you alone now before I become a pest...

 

Regards,

Scott

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

 

@scottb613

 

Hey you're no pest! I make these missions exactly for players like you, and I enjoy talking about the game and ALiVE and lots of other things! Don't ever hesitate to post in my threads. That's what they're here for. :)

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Ok so just a quick progress report. The next ALiVE update is going to add some amazing features. Some highlights include:

 

1. Being able to remove an insurgent HQ without blowing it up

2. RHS and 3CB logistics vehicles (currently defaults to vanilla vehicles but will now use assets from these factions)

3. Persistent CQB

4. IED placement has been refined and will now line some insurgent held areas (and you'll get a reputation boost with civs if you successfully disarm them!)

5. A much better Lythium index (civs will spawn more often)

 

And lots lots more.

 

Regarding the missions themselves, I've made the decision to remove the RHS/Project OPFOR dependencies for at the very least, all my 3CB vs Taliban missions, and have replaced them with CUP (I have various reasons for doing this, not worth going into). Assuming I'm not inundated with error spam and script errors with my RHS US vs Taliban, I'll leave Project OPFOR in them for now. But the leash is short, and that might change either way (my top priority for these missions are to be clean examples of how to make and experience an ALiVE setup. I will not tolerate senseless error spam or out of date mods in my missions!).

 

Anyway, just hang on tight. As soon as ALiVE releases, or at the very least, releases a stable test build, the updated missions will be ready to go (do not download the PBO on the front page of any of my 3CB vs Taliban missions until I bump the thread again with instructions please).

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Update. At some point today, I'll be releasing, if I had to guess, 10 or so of my missions on Steam Workshop. ALiVE will update at some point today, so please wait until you see it go live on Steam before playing the missions.

 

Note the change to CUP and Autigergrad's Taki civs for all 3CB vs Taliban ops.

 

Also, it is MANDATORY if you have any persistent saves, to reset them. See the first post for instructions (I recommend deleting all ALiVE saves, no matter who's missions they are, due to the scope of this update. Run the code in any SP scenario, doesn't have to be mine, or just place a player on any map in the editor, and when in the mission, enter the code I wrote...without quotes, and click local exec in the esc menu. But replace the word Clear with Wipe).

 

Give me a little bit of time, but to see my missions, click on HeroesandvillainsOS's Workshop on my Inshallah steam page and you'll see them all in a bit.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Ok, I have 10 missions over on Workshop now. 2 missions that aren't on BI Forums (yet. One is a CBA/ALiVE only showcase on Tanoa, the other is a very simple in-and-out mission on Thirsk Winter). And two missions that are only here are NOT on Workshop because they are kind of broken (Oasis of Marah on Diyala has issues due to stuttering and By the Sword on Clafghan has issues because of a new CTD, probably because the map is extremely poorly taken care of by the author. I may see how the original Clafghan map by the original author is holding up though. TBD. I think Nremik may have broke some stuff when he adopted it but that's just a guess)

 

All Workshop pages have links back to the forum topics here, so please, if you have mission specific questions, ask in the appropriate thread. If a general question, any of them are fine.

 

Just waiting on Friznit to update ALiVE. 3CB updated today too so everything should be running well now.

 

EDIT: Just decided to add my Steam profile to my sig here to save people having to search for each op. 

[8LacK5naK3 192]

You`re doing a fine job, sir, and we salute you for it

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

5 minutes ago, flyingpig said:

You`re doing a fine job, sir, and we salute you for it

Thanks. :)

 

Side note: I swear, if anyone gives me shit on Steam for still having Project OPFOR units in the screenshots, it won't be pretty. There is no way in hell I'm going to waste time to post new ones for CUP.

 

I know it gets crazy over on Steam regardless so hopefully this doesn't end poorly. It's so safe and civilized over here. Wish me luck!

[scottb613 246]

Hi HaV,

 

Or - Steam being Steam - just ignore them all...

 

Thanks for the effort !!!

 

Inshallah is a favorite - and one I keep coming back to...

 

So - I'm assuming you arm the civilians and they play the roles of both Civilian and OPFOR since they seem to be the only faction available now in your "Required Addons" list ???

 

Regards,
Scott

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

4 minutes ago, scottb613 said:

Hi HaV,

 

Or - Steam being Steam - just ignore them all...

 

Thanks for the effort !!!

 

Inshallah is a favorite - and one I keep coming back to...

 

So - I'm assuming you arm the civilians and they play the roles of both Civilian and OPFOR since they seem to be the only faction available now in your "Required Addons" list ???

 

Regards,
Scott

Ha yeah. It's a rough crowd. Thanks for the encouragement. 

 

No, the Tak civs from Autigergrad/AuburnAlumni are necessary because CUP, believe it or not, never integrated Taki civs into their mod. The mission now requires CUP Units, Vehicles and Weapons too. If you can't see those on the required mods section, let me know.

 

I believe CUP may actually integrate his civ mod directly into their pack the future. Basically though, yeah, his civs will look very similar to the insurgents. Except the insurgents will obviously be armed.

 

I also may update the 3CB missions to include the 3CB logistics module/object too. I never added it because I didn't know what it did (I thought it was the same as the servicing menu, which the missions currently have, where you can resupply/rearm/refuel vehicles). Apparently their logistics object lets you change vehicle loadouts on the fly so that's cool. If it does what I think it does, I may push another update tonight, because right now it takes me like 5 minutes to put mortar pieces and ammo in my trunk lol. Hopefully a logistics center will make it a faster process. I'll have to check it and see.

[8LacK5naK3 192]

18 minutes ago, HeroesandvillainsOS said:

Side note: I swear, if anyone gives me shit on Steam for still having Project OPFOR units in the screenshots, it won't be pretty. There is no way in hell I'm going to waste time to post new ones for CUP.

 

I know it gets crazy over on Steam regardless so hopefully this doesn't end poorly. It's so safe and civilized over here. Wish me luck!

 

Steam users will always point out anything like that. It`s just the nature of having the widest distribution point available for what you do. You`ve got every single user, from the hardiest hardcore infantry realism guy to Buford T. Lifeserver with instant, updatable, in-your-face access to what you post up there.

 

Just don`t worry about it... you`ll post new screenies eventually :P

[domokun 515]

7 hours ago, HeroesandvillainsOS said:

Thanks. :)

 

Side note: I swear, if anyone gives me shit on Steam for still having Project OPFOR units in the screenshots, it won't be pretty. There is no way in hell I'm going to waste time to post new ones for CUP.

 

I know it gets crazy over on Steam regardless so hopefully this doesn't end poorly. It's so safe and civilized over here. Wish me luck!

Quality mate. This'll make it really easy to get my squad onto your missions.

Just one remark, in the meta tags for "Scenario Gameplay", you might want to replace "multiplayer" with "coop" as it'll be more accurate and help your missions better stand out from the crowd.

Take it easy