[ALiVE, SP/COOP 1-20] Battle of FATA [Insurgency]

[tourist 617]

Man, I was so busy playing around & testing with the various primary needs and revive systems I told you about in ALiVE forums that I totally forgot to report to you and the other thread readers that the updating of the mission from the ols HV_Taliban to the new version following your instructions here had worked absolutely smooth and inspired me to rename my Bundeswehr ORBAT addon as well to something more... fitting than "test_mod" :lol: 

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Thanks!

I'm pretty happy with the faction. One thing I'm looking into though is the ballistics protection of the "uniform" Eric J has in place for his fighters and civs. I use these guys as a base for the HV_Taliban faction, which I then arm with a combination of Project OPFOR, RHS and vanilla gear. Mostly, it's very enjoyable and I'm proud of it, but at times and at some distances guys can take more shots than desirable to go down due to the embedded ballistic protection on the base clothing. And "uniform" ballistic protection is pretty unprecedented in Arma 3. As far as I can tell, only his faction is built this way. Others, including vanilla, give their fighters protection from vest and backpacks only. Or pretty much most of the ones I've looked at that is.

I've asked Eric J if he would mind taking another peak but I haven't heard anything from him yet. Assuming this is something he is unwilling to correct, I'll likely just re-dress the units when Project OPFOR's next update becomes official. Their new LOP_AM_OFP in the test release is really great for a Taliban group and will provide great clothing for HV_Taliban.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words and good luck on your new faction name. :)

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Updated. HV_Taliban and Eric J's Taliban Units have been removed as dependencies and replaced with the new Project OPFOR Middle East Militia and Middle Eastern civs.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

ALiVE update 1.2.7 has brought mission makers some amazing tools for adjusting overall profile proliferation speed. This has allowed me to go in and really fine tune the growth of the insurgency, and will really be beneficial for long term persistent dedicated server players.

 

I've also added the new "Real Weather" feature (dedicated servers only) to reflect the day/month for Islamabad, Pakistan.

 

Mission updated.

 

Known Issue: ALiVE 1.2.7 introduced a bug where debug markers show for all custom objective modules placed in the mission. This does not effect the mission or have any consequences in any way and will be fixed in the next ALiVE update.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Minor update. Ambient traffic (with a percent chance of having hostile occupants) and ambient goats and sheep have been added. Full list of changes in the changelog.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

I added a link to a version of FATA which *might* have superior sound than the original to the first post (if you hate hooing owls a night and silent dead zones, this may be the link for you!). Please use it at your own risk, I will not support that version of the map. 

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

In preparation for the upcoming 3CB vehicles update, the mission now supports 20 player slots instead of 8. Players can now choose between two 8-man fire teams, 2 dedicated medic roles, and 2 dedicated pilot roles.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Yesterday's series of 3CB updates have brought about some additions to the mission! Burnes Foxhound has been removed and replaced with a swath of incredible landrovers, including ambulances for players to use and for HC support, police vehicles parked near the civilian detention center, night gear crates and medical crates, 3CB vehicle resupply points and much more!

 

Updated and full change log in the first post.

 

A quick note on Steam Workshop. I will be bringing all of my missions over, however, I'm waiting for a platform and ALiVE update, and then some quick internal testing on ensuring the balancing is where I want it to be and that everything is working on 64-bit as it should.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Update to ALiVE 1.3.0 standards. This includes manned mortars and turrets for CQB units. I've also edited the mission for performance and increased the rate of the Taliban proliferation speed.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Update. Various balancing and performance adjustments have been implemented.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Update.

 

Some small adjustments have been made to balancing, as well as some common sense edits (re-positioning of one of the AI recruitment centers to minimize the chance of spawned AI getting stuck, etc).

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

I just pushed a small update for this op. I noticed the friendly reinforcements could come in a bit less often then I'd consider desirable, so I added some extra groups to hold our bases (which will increase the likelihood of having optimal conditions for reinforcement delivery), and slowed down the insurgency proliferation speed ever so slightly. 

 

My favorite thing to do right now is to request tasks from the ALiVE menu. That way I always have a "real mission" on the board as I patrol and clear towns. I especially like this in the very beginning of the operation (I usually need the tasks less often as the mission progresses because I'll have several HQ's revealed by then, but having one active is still nice from time to time). The HVT task is especially cool because it can occasionally stuff the objective with tons of enemy patrol groups and lead to some epic firefights.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

I'd also highly recommend using the alternative link to FATA I posted in the first post. The original map has some sound issues and I think it's fixed in the other link.

 

If you try this op with the alternate link and notice any dead spots for sound, shoot me a PM.

[4-325Ranger 62]

Hello HnVOS,

 

I downloaded several of your missions this week since I noticed the ALiVE update and some of the recent changes with VcomAI. I've been away from ALiVE/ACE type missions for about a year and have been concentrating mostly on scripting in missions I make (or try to make). I've broken open the missions and I really like how you've laid things out. Thanks for all this great work (and making Prophet on Reshmann, I love that map!)

 

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around an issue with the ALiVE insurgent set up - how it ends... I did parse through the wiki; also in the ALiVE forum I found an old post you and a few others were discussing about this very subject. In it, a script is referenced, but there was never any confirmation that it worked and the posts just kinda stop. I also don't know if the most recent version of ALiVE has this one solved, or if you just keep getting tasked through C2ISTAR and the force pool eventually runs out for one side of the other? I just wanted to know if you could shed any light on this topic. Thanks -

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Hi @4-325Ranger

 

Currently, there really is no obvious end game, aside from clearing the map of insurgents (which even IRL would be the most likely end game as well, I’d assume, for this kind of counter insurgency occupation). 

 

The thread on ALiVE forums you reference, was based around the discussion of an automatic “mission complete” trigger once all the enemies were dead. Unfortunately, I had no luck with it, because it was triggering randomly, ending my mission before it was “over.” I believe the reason for that was due to the way OPCOM cycles, which momentarily makes the trigger thinks it’s time to fire, ending the mission with enemies still active. 

 

What I do currently is, I keep auto-tasking off, and request tasks manually from the ALiVE menu (its under Commander Actions > Tasks > Generate a Task). This allows me to have a mission available at my discretion. If you prefer, you can also turn on auto-tasking from the same menu. This will allow tasks to generate one after the other on its own. 

 

Going back to the end game concept, again, it’s really up to you to determine when it’s “over.” One thing you could do after clearing the map is to do some fly-by’s to make sure you got everyone. I guess you could also cheat it by revealing all active profiles in the ALiVE menu (its under Module Settings > Debug Virtual AI).

 

I like the open-endedness of not really knowing one way one the other at this point. It feels pretty realistic, because right now you’d need to scout it out. That said, I can see the appeal of wanting to know for sure one way or the other. I’m just not aware of a way, or even if anyone else has discovered one at this stage.

 

Anyway, thanks for playing and unpacking. Reshmaan is a map I like a lot too. Been playing the FATA one recently but I should start that one again. :)

 

EDIT: Also if you ever have any missions you made that you want to share, feel free to reach out. :)

[4-325Ranger 62]

Hey,

 

Thanks for the detailed reply. That all makes sense and is about what I thought, just wasn't sure based on the resources I'd checked.

 

I'll run an idea passed you for thoughts. I thought about placing several HVTs in the editor throughout the map, say maybe 25 or so (more targets - longer insurgency) kinda like the "kill-cards" application.

 

They'd have a trigger associated to provide a hint that GuyA the "Jack or Diamonds" has been killed. This could occur in any random mission you were running in the area based on auto-task or direct tasking. They can all be tied to a task completion/mission end module that fires when the last insurgent is killed and the trigger condition is met..

 

I'm not sure what syncing them to the virtual AI system would do?

 

As far as missions, I have an old Takistan Insurgency (like everyone else) that needs some updates. I'd be happy to share once it gets an overhaul. My pet project right now is an Unsung mission I'm trying to debug for release, but I'd be happy to share that as well once I get it hashed out.

 

Thanks-

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

The problem as I see it with manually placed units is, I don’t think codes you’d run on them for the tasks would work within ALiVE’s virtual space. I mean, I doubt it, but by all means give it a try. Though bare in mind, even if it worked in virtual space, the problem might still be:

 

1. When virtualized, OPCOM will command them to objectives. So they’ll move around a lot 

 

2. If not virtualized at all, when killed, they’d be alive again when loading a persistent save

 

So you really could only do this as long as the units were virtualized. But would the code to call the mission on the unit still work? My best guess is no, if using an !alive trigger, once virtualized the trigger would fire (almost positive this is the case) but again, I haven’t tried.

 

As far as missions go, no worries. ALiVE or no, if you have anything cool you want to ever share feel free!

 

 

[4-325Ranger 62]

Ah, yes some very good points. I'll do a smaller sample and test just to see what happens, thanks for the feedback, very likely back to the drawing board.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

@drdetroit Updated Workshop and standalone PBO. I saw the issue you were talking about, which is weird because I've been playing this one myself and never noticed. I didn't see the Virtual Arsenal object get destroyed or anything like you did, but I did see the entire area on the SE base spontaneously hopping around every 10 seconds or so. Weird. So I can definitely see how this could destroy the objects. What I did was, I disabled damage on all Loadout Manager and Virtual Arsenal objects at all three bases, and also slightly moved the location of these objects on the SW base too, which so far seems to have made this bouncing stop. Either way they shouldn't get damaged anymore even if they go all hoppity hoppity again. :)