campaign [SP/CAMP] Underdogs

[Undeceived 392]

 

 

 

 

 

UNDERDOGS

 

 

Author: Undeceived
Version: 1.92 (updated December 15, 2023)

 

Review (spoiler-free) at

 

 

 

 

D E S C R I P T I O N

"We were totally excited when we finally got the green light for the job that our contact Manos had told us about. Just a simple burglary - a pile of money waiting for us in return. At that moment we didn't know that this would be the trigger of a terrible nightmare and a wearying run for our lives..."

A story-driven mini-campaign (5 missions, cutscenes, multiple endings) about a group of Altian kids trying to survive the consequences of a deadly coincidence.

 

 

 

T R A I L E R S

 

F E A T U R E S

• Story-driven SP mini-campaign (5 missions)
• A civilian style "crime thriller" - take a refreshing break from the daily military duties
• Cutscenes
• Multiple endings
• Many ways to solve certain tasks
• Crafting of certain needed improvised items
• You can adjust the brightness in night missions

 

 

A V A I L A B L E   L A N G U A G E S

    

 

 

 

 

 

R E Q U I R E M E N T S

• Everything is part of the campaign download

 

 

I S S U E S

• Playing with other mods apart from the required ones could break the missions or cause bugs. Other than that I have no clue what happens in the Arma dev version, so better play in the stable version.

 

 

 

 

 

A D D I T I O N A L   I N F O R M A T I O N

Spoiler

W A L K T H R O U G H   M I S S I O N   4  (spoilers ahead!)

Spoiler

 

How to save Manos in the 4th mission?
 

There are in total 7 (depending how you count even 9) ways to save Manos. They are spread around in the area, you have to keep your eyes (and mind) open and check if you find something useful.
If you still need help then read all solutions in the next spoiler.

 

Spoiler

• Smoke bomb: Create a smoke bomb and block the sniper's view. The ingredients can be found in Manos' shack (powder sugar, heatpacks), behind the shack (old rugby ball) and in the workshop nearby (duct tape). The workshop is just southeast of Manos' shack, on the other side of the main street. After having collected everything, construct the bomb in the workshop. Now you still need matches (Manos' shack). Then go back to Manos' position (make sure you still stay behind the wall) and select "Throw smoke-bomb" in the action menu. Wait for the smoke, then drag Manos away.
• Burn the tires (smoke): Find Costa, he's in the construction site in the blue "Find Costa" marker (east of Manos' shack). If you choose so, he'll lead you to a stack of tires. Get Manos' quad (the key is in his shack) and load the tires on it. Now you need some fuel to ignite them. There's a empty fuel canister in the workshop mentioned above. Fetch some fuel from the surrounding vehicles (or the quad itself) and take the matches from Manos's shack. Now get the quad to a good position not too far from Manos and ignite the tires. You will need some driving skill and speed, as (obviously) they become very hot after some time. Position the quad in the sniper's view angle, eject and get into cover (behind the wall). This part is quite complicated, but the wall of smoke that emerges is definitely worth the struggle.  Wait until the whole quad burns, then drag Manos away.
• Garbage containers: There are two of these big garbage containers with wheels around. One is behind the workshop mentioned above, the other one is at a house between Manos and Costa (construction site). Take cover behind it and move it to Manos. Now drag Manos away. You might have to reposition the container while dragging Manos.
• Cars: Use your or the cop's car to block the sniper's view (just as with the garbage containers). This one requires some speed and skill too (just like with the quad), I got shot by the sniper almost everytime. But it's definitely possible.
• Bus: The omnibus will return to the town after some minutes. But you have to go in Costa's direction first, then the corresponding trigger is activated. It will make a loud noise when stopping. Look for it in the south. Approach the driver and "kindly ask" him to give you the keys. Easy sniper's view blocking.
• Smoke grenades: After approx. 10 minutes another reinforcements wave will arrive (two guys coming from the southwest). One of them has 5 smoke grenades. Use them to block the sniper's view. Easy too.
• Kill the sniper: Of course this is also possible. Requires some orientation and map reading skills though, as you will have to spread out widely to flank him. You can use a vehicle (Manos' quad or a car).

 

 

 

C H A N G E L O G

v. 1.0 (beta)

• First beta release

v. 1.1 (beta)

• Bugs eliminated

• Fixed showstoppers (difficulty way too hard)

• Optimizations

• Video in main menu has the right resolution

v. 1.2 (beta)

• Completely renewed (massively expanded) the 4th mission
• The player can now adjust brightness in dark missions
• Non-skippable cutscenes are now shorter when watching them again
• Bugs eliminated, optimizations, blah blah...

v. 1.3

• More optimizations (nothing big)
• End of beta phase

v. 1.4

• Added Steam Workshop link
• Public release

v. 1.5

• Chinese translation added (Chinese simplified)
• Added new version of Psychobastard's A3 Wounding System
• Bug fixes and optimizations

v. 1.55

• Hotfix for Chinese translation

v. 1.6

• MOCAP Melee and CBA are not required mods anymore
• Added alternative takedown / knockout system and situations
• Chinese translation (Chinese simplified) was expanded

v. 1.7

• Script correction due to a change in the Max Life Pack mod

v. 1.8

• Max Life Pack added to the campaign download (thanks to Maxjoiner for the permission)

v. 1.9

• Lots of bug fixes and optimizations
• Removed Psychobastard’s “A3 Wounding System”, replaced it with “Grimes Simple Revive” by KC Grimes, which was adapted by KingN for “The Forgotten Few”, which was adapted by Undeceived for “Underdogs”

v. 1.92

• Further bugfixing and polishing

 

 

 

B E T A   T E S T E R S   A N D   C O N T R I B U T I O N S

Clayman @ assaultmissionstudio.de
h- @ ofpec.com
mathias_eichinger @ ofpec.com
johnnyboy @ ofpec.com

Chinese translation (Chinese Simplified) by KelMG (special thanks!), IamNotG4(Gay3_LYX) and Nercon 

 

 

 

 

 

D O W N L O A D

                          Underdogs v. 1.92

 

 

 

 

 

[Undeceived 392]

I need the forum thread link for the in-game links. 

"Coming soon" means rather days than hours or minutes (maybe tomorrow this weekend).

 

I'll release it on Steam Workshop and on Armaholic and some other sites. The first two required addons are not on SW though.

[EO 11275]

Man, I'm all over this, looks like a welcome change of pace.....For the Life of a Friend still one of my favorite memories from A2.

   

[spotter001 82]

Ok, a campaign by one of the best content creators of the community. Personally, can't wait to start it!

[corporal_lib[br] 396]

Yay! Another Undeceived campaign! I´ve got onboard the Hype train and started hitting F5 viciously (jk)

 

On a serious note: it features MOCAP, so I guess we´ll be able to beat the crap outta some NPCs, right? (I play with MOCAP on dialy, but it is nice when a mission - or even better: a campaign - has it on as a feature) =D

 

Cheers!

[Undeceived 392]

It will take some more days, I've got some good feedback from the beta testers, which I want to adress. I hope I can release it at the weekend.

 

MOCAP is required, yes, but to be honest, I only used one "must-have"-animation of it - the player doesn't have to do THAT much in that situation. 

Altogether you could probably use it to kill some baddies with it (in the hope that it doesn't break the scenario process ) but I didn't explicitly design situations where it is a key feature. That said, there are some low profile and sneaking phases in the campaign though.

[Undeceived 392]

Hello guys, ok, here we go (see first post).

 

PLEASE

• Read the "ISSUES" segment in the first post!
• Give feedback and report bugs.

Thanks.

 

 

[corporal_lib[br] 396]

Wow... That was INTENSE! As a "leftist", I´ve loved the whole plot... specially the ending! Great catharse and a nice urban/ragtag tale =)

 

Your missioncraftsmanship (such a looong adjective) amaze us as usual, Undecieved! Thank you so much! The immersion, the challenging shootouts...and the smart use of scripts and ambiance mods made this so refreshing! Keep it more coming ;D

 

BTW, a small nagging:

 

The sniper and some shooters overall were too damn precise... couldn´t drag Costas on 4th mission without cheating - the sniper would mow me down whenever I´ve tried...had to use invencibility code to complete the task... otherwise, quite intense playthrough! 8D

 

Cheers!

[Undeceived 392]

On 19.4.2017 at 11:24 AM, corporal_lib[br] said:

Wow... That was INTENSE! As a "leftist", I´ve loved the whole plot... specially the ending! Great catharse and a nice urban/ragtag tale =)

 

Your missioncraftsmanship (such a looong adjective) amaze us as usual, Undecieved! Thank you so much! The immersion, the challenging shootouts...and the smart use of scripts and ambiance mods made this so refreshing! Keep it more coming ;D

 

BTW, a small nagging:

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

The sniper and some shooters overall were too damn precise... couldn´t drag Costas on 4th mission without cheating - the sniper would mow me down whenever I´ve tried...had to use invencibility code to complete the task... otherwise, quite intense playthrough! 8D

 

 

Cheers!

 

Thanks a lot, lib, much appreciated!

 

 

One question:

 

Spoiler

Didn't you find out any solution to save Manos? There are in total 7 or 8 ways to solve the mission so that the sniper can't do anything. Some are harder, some are pretty easy.

 

[spotter001 82]

Finally managed to start this campaign, been trying for two days. The v1.68 had some problems and i thought it was up to the game until i stumbled upon a German forum where some guy suggested turning ReShade off. The intro was very good and the story sounds interesting.

[nes4day 2]

Great campaign, though curious question.

Spoiler

Is there any other plot choice points prior to the final mission? Besides how to save Manus?

 

[Undeceived 392]

Hi and thanks!

 

Spoiler

No, only the three possible endings in mission 5 resp. in the cut scene after.

 

There are some small decisions but they don't affect the plot at all. They're rather necessary design additions to take care of the players freedom.

 

Do you have any ideas for an alternative plot? :)

 

[icebreakr 3157]

Goddammit, I really miss coop in your amazing stuff ;)

[Undeceived 392]

27 minutes ago, icebreakr said:

Goddammit, I really miss coop in your amazing stuff ;)

 

 MP is a life's mystery for me, mate... I don't even dare to open that book.

 

Thanks for popping in.

[corporal_lib[br] 396]

On 19/04/2017 at 5:16 PM, Undeceived said:

 

  Hide contents

Didn't you find out any solution to save Manos? There are in total 7 or 8 ways to solve the mission so that the sniper can't do anything. Some are harder, some are pretty easy.

 

 

By Saving, you mean ACTUALLY SAVING HIM... aka not letting him bleed to death after he confesses the rich guy conspiracy? Or saving by dragging him out of the line of fire? The sniper had a really accurate aim, so he could headshot me in a heartbeat if I´ve tried to supress him... either way, I´ve tried to flank him, but then Manos would die before I could do anything new... so after 10 tries I´ve activated "invencible" cheat and killed the whole cop murder squad...and then the Mano´s dying confession cutscene was triggered

Anyways, I haven´t tried the latest updates, so I could try more creative ways to save Mano if the sniper isn´t dead eyed or manos doesn´t bleds to death too quickly lol

On my defense, I´ve already tried to park the car Mano´s house to try to use it as cover, but after the cutscene it is no longer there =P

 

 

I have to replay the last mission and try the other 2 possible ending then =)

 

Cheers!

[Undeceived 392]

Spoiler

Ehm, Manos bleeding to death?? This isn't supposed to happen and I never had it. The player has unlimited time to save him (which only means dragging him away - there is no plot string where he survives - nice idea though... ).

He also should not be killed by the cops (apart from a random ricochet shot maybe which was meant for the player).

 

Btw. if you're interested and don't plan to replay the Manos mission: I added a small walkthrough for all possible ways in the first post.

 

[corporal_lib[br] 396]

Wow.. I didn´t noticed there was some crafting actions like those you´ve listed! I definatly need to replay 4th mission (and the last for extra endings)

 

btw:

Strange thing: I kinda runned "out of time" 3 times on 4th mission, Manos got shot to death if I took more than 3 minutes to get near him and shot back the sniper or the killing squad, anyways, nice to know there´s so many creative ways to save him, I´ll try them all... your work still amazes me each time more lol

 

Cheers!

[Undeceived 392]

I'll double check I checked that part with...

 

Spoiler

...Manos bleeding out or being captive-false.

 

About him bleeding out I'm absolutely sure that I never touched this subject. The only thing I can imagine is (as always ) that some additional addon messes something up.

What I know and CAN say though is that he's captive-false when the player is dragging him. That's why covering his ass with something is obviously important. It's healthy for the player's ass too of course.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

EDIT:

Checked it now:

 

Spoiler

Manos' damage doesn't change and he's set to captive the whole time, except when the player is dragging him.

 

@corporal_lib[br], does that make sense for you - I mean: Could Manos have died by another cause or were you dragging him or getting shot while close to him? Or are you using any additional mods? Thanks for your feedback, mate!

 

 

[AZCoder 921]

Jeez I'm just now seeing this. I don't have time to keep up on the threads these days.

Sounds like my type of campaign. Look forward to playing it.

[Undeceived 392]

Have fun, AZCoder. Looking forward to your feedback. 

 

Btw. I added a new trailer in the first post, it's the campaign's intro cutscene.

 

 

[AZCoder 921]

The pacing of this campaign is like flowing water, very natural. It really pulls you in too, one of the most intriguing things I have played in Arma, although not quite done yet. Have to take a reality break :)

I had one bizarre issue in the 3rd?? mission:

Raiding the police station, Costa was wounded and I went to bandage him, selecting the red First Aid option. It went on and on and on and on, I eventually gave up, completed the police station task, returned to Costa, tried to carry him but that bugged out (he was floating in air not moving), so I left him behind since reinforcements had arrived.

[Undeceived 392]

That's a nice description, thanks a lot. 

 

On that issue you mentioned:

Spoiler

I'm gonna implement the newest version of Psychobastard's first aid script. I didn't test it yet, but it should be more stable. We'll see.

 

[AZCoder 921]

I finished this campaign ... it kind of feels like an indie game, as opposed to being an Arma scenario. Especially with the end credits, kind of a neo noire retro post modern thing. I hope the BIS devs play this, it shows a lot of thinking outside the box, creative use of the game.

 

When I was with Manos and he got shot, I was trying to get my guns out of the pack when the car pulls up with guns blazing. I ran for cover screaming, LOL. Not ashamed to admit it. Managed to survive that mission with lots of wounds. Created a smoke bomb and used the trash can to get close before deploying it, saving Manos of course. Well, saving him is relative. Not sure how you did the video on TVs, will have to figure that out, and image on a cell phone, maybe it was the Maxjoiner mod, not sure. I'm one of those weird Arma players that gets bored with plain old combat missions, at least combat without meaning, and there was a lot of meaning to the combat here, so well done, this is truly one of my favorites!

 

 

[Undeceived 392]

Wow, AZCoder, thanks a lot!

 

Haha, nice emotions, interesting to see if/how immersive it is for real as I played these parts countless times and didn't feel anything anymore. 

 

Sure, open up the scripts, that TV thing is pretty simple but ingenious code, cudos to KK or Larrow (I don't remember right now, but I think it should be stated in there).

 

Again, thanks!

[inlesco 233]

Hey Undeceived, 

long time no see (or it was probably me who was too busy to check-in into the forums :D). This campaign looks superb. The trailers do a good job! Gonna try it tomorrow, mate, and provide feedback, if there's time ;)

I always like a nice story to be thrown at me, especially in the Armaverse :P