Tac-Ops Mission Pack Military Operations

[Strike_NOR 898]

So far I'm loving it. It has much of the good stuff from LoW! Keep it coming! :)

 

The only "bug" I have noticed is that the links in the tasks/objectives do some weird zooming in and out on the map, only tried first two missions of "Beyond Hope".

 

10 out of 10 will play again tonight.

[h - 169]

Agreeing with everyone here, really well done stuff. :)
Haven't played in a while, so I'm really getting my fat ass handed to me constantly :P

Criticisms (not necessarily related to the scenarios):
- As bipods can't be adjusted it's absolute General Major PITA trying to find some contour in the ground that would allow to actually aim where I want to aim; 4.987 times out of 5 you can't find one
- Snipers not being able to properly carry two primary weapons just plain sucks.
 

Spoiler

- When you blow up some of the enemy transports in Avenging Furies (went with Falcon) with some luck you get both of the first vehicles, the technical and the troop transport so that everyone dies, which leads to the following annoyance:
You can not access the inventory of the dead passengers, and if you then get in into their seats they fall out of the truck but some body clearance immediately sucks them into the ground taking their inventory with them
So good luck with "find mines, launchers, anything.." as suggested by James because the mother earth has them. Maybe the bodies shouldn't be hidden if the player is right next to them (it should actually have a wider diameter because pretty immersion breaking to have bodies disappear which were there 10 seconds ago)......

EDIT:
 

Spoiler

Completely forgot, a bug(ish):
Avenging Furies (the Falcon part) ended while I was in firefight with some infantry coming from Syrta after destroying the vehicle cavalcade (a while had passed, saw friendlies coming towards me from the convoy and then spotted the enemy), my guy saying something about all QRF being dead while being shot at.

 

Edited November 15, 2017 by h -
Addition

[KiTooN 63]

Finished Beyond Hope, really impressed by this first scenario and the scale of it. Mostly positive experience, and pleasantly surprised to see some objectives moved when replayed.

Spoiler

Minor bugs to report :

- In the first mission of Beyond Hope, if you choose to engage the enemy patrols before launching the main attack, the mortar fires at you. In some cases, it continued firing even when nobody knew our location.

- Sniper version of Avenging Furies, at the end of the recap, the Black background dissapeared while the Mission Completed title was shown.

 

 

Ambiguities :

- I didn't understand how many targets I could mark for fire support on the first mission. In one case I marked every single enemy position on the map, on some other case, I could only mark 3, the last being replaced by the new one.

- The chemlight of the injured survivor is too fade to see. Am I blind ? I would suggest either increase the volume of his voice so he can be localized or change the type of chemlight used.

- The mortar teams can be eliminated from afar, or using fire support. Although, the objective does not count until you get close yourself which is a bit strange.

- On some occurences, the rebel QRF in Sniper version of Avenging Furies survived with only the driver of the technical. It was counted as a failure and I got some nice words from Falcon. Or maybe, I'm just bad at it.

- Mechanized Infantry version of Avenging Furies, the last part is unnecessarily difficult, even if positioned correctly, there's always a 30mm cannon somewhere to finish you of before you can pop smoke.

- Infantry version of Avenging Furies, cleaning up the buildings was the most frustrating part (or might be fatigue as I did it last). I think you should consider lowering the difficulty of this part. Played with an AI with 0.2 precision and 0.8 skill, and spent more than an hour on it, around 20 restarts.

 

Can't wait to test the rest !

[blindside 24]

 

• Issues with "Disintegration Point"

Spoiler

On Disintigration Point as Special Forces, during the second rocket attack on the T-100 Varsuk, before the rockets even impact, my character reports to HQ that the rockets had missed their target. It seems to trigger once the rockets enter the area in the sky instead of after they impact. 

Spoiler

Made it pretty obvious that it was scripted to miss. Not an issue, but would be a lot better / less noticable if the player reported it after the impacts.

 

Best part about this mission once reaching one of the objectives is: it's the first time I've ever properly and intentionally used a claymore mine in ArmA. effectively. :)

 

Spoiler

Spike launchers on Disintigration Point fire on their own without being manned. I had cleared all the POIs of any and all infantry aswell as destroyed the tank, however I still failed when the assault began. This got me confused and frustrated as im about 2 hours into the mission on Veteran. I decided to trouble shoot the issue and discovered that the 2 launchers at Point Congaree fired on their own. I had figured it was enough to clear the camps of infantry, however it was not.

[ravenholme 50]

2 hours ago, blindside said:

 

• Issues with "Disintegration Point"

  Reveal hidden contents

On Disintigration Point as Special Forces, during the second rocket attack on the T-100 Varsuk, before the rockets even impact, my character reports to HQ that the rockets had missed their target. It seems to trigger once the rockets enter the area in the sky instead of after they impact. 

  Reveal hidden contents

Made it pretty obvious that it was scripted to miss. Not an issue, but would be a lot better / less noticable if the player reported it after the impacts.

 

Best part about this mission once reaching one of the objectives is: it's the first time I've ever properly and intentionally used a claymore mine in ArmA. effectively. :)

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Spike launchers on Disintigration Point fire on their own without being manned. I had cleared all the POIs of any and all infantry aswell as destroyed the tank, however I still failed when the assault began. This got me confused and frustrated as im about 2 hours into the mission on Veteran. I decided to trouble shoot the issue and discovered that the 2 launchers at Point Congaree fired on their own. I had figured it was enough to clear the camps of infantry, however it was not.

 

Can confirm that they are not scripted to miss, because I've taken out the tank every time with the strike.

 

Going to add my voice to those saying that these missions are absolutely fantastic, the briefings especially were great for setting the scene and immersing me from the off. Lessons have definitely be learned from Laws of War (which was also brilliant) and I think that you (BIS) are definitely onto something with this style.

 

One oversight/bug though, in the first mission of Stepping Stone

 

Spoiler

At the first hardpoint you assault in the infantry path of the mission there is a building with an HMG in it, overlooking your approach. All well and good, except that the poor CSAT gunner is stuck with the low-mounted HMG variant, so he can't actually see or shoot anything overlooking your path of advance.

 

[blindside 24]

30 minutes ago, ravenholme said:

 

Can confirm that they are not scripted to miss, because I've taken out the tank every time with the strike.

Ahh didn't realize :) atleast that makes me feel better. 

 

Spoiler

I have come to my own conclusion that the artillery in my playthrough is just horrible lol. I needed to use guided and laserguided rockets to engage armor in the second part of the mission however.... none hit their mark. Even with a laser guide. I overlooked the fact that I am using ACE which I know affects artillery. (I have most features disabled however).

 

[eriktrak 76]

Steel Pegasus / LZ Nowhere:
 

Spoiler

1. Immersion breaker: during the  mission introduction on the VTOL the speaker should change the manner of his voice and talk louder after the ramp is opened due to the wind noise.
2. Immersion breaker : At the chapel where the injured soldiers are located. AAF forces used to wander there and killing immediately - this is happening during the speak of Jeremy Collins. That area should be a safe space for 1-2 minutes after arrived and should be no EI inside. 
3. At the chapel: only 1-2 EI soldier appeared -> mission end. In the first release there were a lot of soldier attacking and a lot headed there from the north.
4. At the chapel : multiple waves of enemies would be better. 1st wave only a few -> 1 minute for rearm -> 2nd wave : main forces arrives
5. Floating rocks and bush south of the doctor at the destroyed truck
6. Cannot deploy the mortar - don't know why it was important to get it

 

[M. Glade 524]

Problem with Avenging Furies

 

Spoiler

When you finish mission there are still enemy Ai around and damage is enabled when the text starts, should disable damage for player when this happens (also after I died I was able to hear the guy shooting).

 

 

[acesential 3]

Some feedback in regards to the Steel Pegasus missions:

 

Spoiler

I feel that perhaps the enemy's capabilities to fight back against your vehicle may have been a touch too overbalanced- at times, it almost seems like every other soldier has a rocket launcher. This was especially apparent during the side mission to rescue the wounded soldiers in Breaking Through.

 

Likewise, in Final Strike, it feels as if every other soldier has a grenade launcher, which makes the mission a bit of a tedium of driving in, getting your wheels knocked out, killing the enemy, then going out and fixing your wheels. I do understand that, realistically,  the enemy should have these capabilities to fight back against a force multiplier like your vehicle. But it feels like the mission's design is very much about these close quarters engagement and I just feel that there either isn't enough feedback for the player to better deal with the situation, or that the enemy's capabilities just be a bit too good for a truly enjoyable mission flow.

On top of that, I didn't realize that one of the things knocking my vehicle out so readily was a fixed grenade launcher... that could attack me without LOS, through vegetation. I'm fairly confident this is what's happening- in fact it seems like the AI is much more fond now of shooting through bushes and grass and finding their mark quite well regardless... perhaps I'm just not moving enough.

 

That's my feedback though- would definitely like to hear what other people feel about it.

[RSF TheCapulet 59]

Only two missions into beyond hope.  So far, I love every minute of it.  It reminds me a ton of the original Arma 2 campaign.  Wide open and totally unforgiving.  

 

Spoiler

In the second mission of beyond hope, I did notice one small issue.  I watched the vehicles spawn in the town to the west before they headed off to counterattack.  Might have them spawn a bit further off, if possible.  The sniper branch of that mission gives the player a lot of opportunity to get a birds eye view over that area while still being able to make it back to the fight in time on a stolen ATV.  

 

 

[blindside 24]

Spoiler

 

Fun times :)

[M. Glade 524]

One thing I really love about this Tac Ops DLC is bringing back Coops from A2 (at least his voice actor) some nostalgia seriously hit me, thought I was playing harvest red for a minute. 

[AveryTheKitty 2626]

I have a Tac-Ops related OPREP suggestion: Eden object compositions and such. :)

[thetacticalcat 12]

Issueon steel pegasus: unable to get to the RV point without them all dying or something, I can't actually even see it, so I'm unable to progress. The characters keep on talking etc. but it says I failed getting to the ERV.

Edited November 16, 2017 by R0adki11
added spoiler tags

[R0adki11 3949]

@thetacticalcatplease remember to use the spoiler tags.

[thetacticalcat 12]

Spoiler

Sorry, didn't really think of it as a spoiler just based on the starting image of a crashed VTOL. :P

 

[R0adki11 3949]

@thetacticalcat as this is a dev thread, any mission comments must in spoiler tags.

[cosmic10r 2331]

No major spoilers but does contain mission info from am optional objective and main objective... mainly the incoming radio

 

Intense firefights in the second part... i keep coming up on guys and we dont seem to realize each other is an enemy lol

 

 

[jakerod 254]

Stepping Stone Spoilers

Spoiler

I played through each Stepping Stone mission once as infantry and the first mission as SF. Here's some feedback:

 

Overall for Stepping Stone

- I feel like Beyond Hope was better in the atmosphere department especially when you compare the first Stepping Stone one. It's still a fun Operation though.

- I think dead bodies disappear too fast and too noticeably. I had one CSAT guy who I shot from about 20m away (after he ran through a wall I think) disappear as I walked over to his body which was weird. A similar thing happened to a friendly guy who died right next to me. He disappeared after about 15 seconds.

- There were two scripting errors in this operation that I mention below.

- I feel like I don't have as many good stories from this one when compared to Beyond Hope and I have played more "missions/perspectives" in Stepping Stone than Beyond Hope. Maybe I just wasn't be as ballsy or something though.

Mission #1:
Special Forces:
- If the gunner on the mortar is dead and you're standing 10m away from it they will still say they're going to call in an airstrike. I feel like your  character should immediately explain the situation in this case.

- There was some kind of missing file/function error in a black bar when the airstrike is aborted. I tried to get a screenshot but steam wasn't being cooperative.

- Is the airstrike being called something that always happens or does it only happen if you take too long?

- I was able to identify the old Soviet armor from the first mortar position... actually further away than that really. I'm not sure if that's intentional or not. I do think it would have been cooler to have this armor somewhere that it was in the original OFP campaign but I think the only time that would have worked is with a shilka wreck near Saint Marie or armored wrecks in Chapoi. Or maybe armored wrecks between Chapoi and Le Riverie.

Infantry:

- As someone else said, the static MG in the house at the first objective was too low or the AI wasn't paying attention. He had a good opportunity to waste me but didn't.

- The objective after the first one where you're supposed to cut the guys off completed before I was even near the position I was supposed to secure. The same is true for the third one. The other squad got to it much faster than me and cleared it while I was still 100m away which was a little disappointing.

- The path finding for the friendly IFV is kind of annoying as you approach the last objective. I told my IFV to move up to my position and he drove down into Cancon and got himself blown up as he approached the objective from the far side. Although I used this to my advantage the next time, drove into Cancon, parked it behind a wall and engaged from there.

 

Overall (for Mission #1):

- I felt like the infantry portion of this mission was a lot less atmospheric than the Beyond Hope missions. I felt like there were long stretches of time where the other friendly squads just sat there and there was no combat. Maybe some artillery strikes in the distance could liven it up a bit. It just didn't feel like a large assault as I was moving up to the first objective but I might have been playing too cautiously and that allowed the other squads to clear things out faster. The SF one was better about it though. 

Mission #2:

Infantry
- After Houdan was taken, I looked down toward the beach with binoculars and saw the guy in the blue house. My character then reported taking fire from it even though he never fired. Maybe he should only report it if the guy actually fires.
- When I cleared out Dourdan I got a black popup error about missing func infpersistence or something like that at about the same time as the infantry surrendered I think
- I'm not sure why but the mission would not complete and the inf persistence error stayed on my machine. I'm assuming they're related. I would have taken a screenshot but Steam wouldn't take it. I'm not sure if I needed to do something else but all the remaining enemies that I could fine had their hands in the air. The counter-attack had been destroyed.

- Nice touch with the dead guy propped up against the wall in the blue house. I was a bit confused by him. It only seems kind of weird because that's never happened in a mission before. So I got a little distracted by it and killed by someone else.
- I was a bit disappointed that an enemy armored counterattack didn't force me to an evacuation helicopter after we took Houdan but that armored  counter-attack at Dourdan kind of gave me that good ole Ambush nostalgia feel. Is it possible to be forced to evacuate?
- I was walking along the road between the two objectives near the beach. I walked into a group of czech hedgehogs and said to myself "I feel like there should be landmines here". Then there was a beep and a boom. I survived but then #2 stepped on another one and got himself killed. That was good placement. The AI was a bit annoying. I backtracked and went around but two of my AI still decided to walk through that area and trigger another mine. That will teach me to follow roads though.

- The static MG east of Dourdan didn't fire back at me even though I spent about half a clip firing at him. I feel like he should have been able to locate me by that time.

- I lost my IFV in Dourdan for some unknown reason. Maybe a mine but it seemed like a weird place for a mine. It just exploded behind a destroyed BTR on the main road in the center of town. I didn't hear anything fire and all the enemies enemies were already dead or surrendered. There was a crater next to it and part of the house was destroyed but that might have already been there. It was kind of confusing.

- One of my AI got stuck at the front wall of Houdan and I had to use a pickup truck to nudge him about 15m away from a wall. He refused to move otherwise. Probably not much can be done about it. He also was better after I died and reloaded the mission before I got him unstuck.

- Does your guy same something if he kills civilians in Houdan? I fired a UGL round, missed, it exploded behind a wall, and he went "I'm not going to get away with that." I wasn't sure what he was referring to but I assumed killing civilians. I died before I found out if I hit civilians.

 

Special Forces
- Haven't played yet. Was going to reload my infantry one and see if I can get it to complete once Dourdan is clear and then move onto it.

 

Overall (for Mission #2): I enjoyed it but was disappointed it didn't end. I understand it was probably just a small bug though. Look forward to trying the Special Forces role. I found this mission more fun than the first Stepping Stone one but that one does have it's moments too.

 

[metalcraze 290]

It is really good. Now if only ArmA3 had a full-length campaign like this instead of a filler original campaign and then the one that should not exist.

Sad that it's only by the end of a game's lifetime that we get an ArmA-quality experience like this. Proper combined arms operations, a degree of freedom in approach to the main objective, hidden (and not so much) secondary ones, some nice branching, while no unbelievable stuff that ArmA3 original campaign and "showcases" were chock full of. And it is replayable.

 

If ArmA4 is gonna happen and will stay true to ArmA - it should have a campaign like this. Preferably with the ability to pick a different squad in every mission (sadly not all TacOps missions allow for this and I'd like to play every one of them from a different perspective)

[Wiki 1558]

In No Reprieve,
 

Spoiler

 

how many APC are there?

I destroyed 1 Mora and 1 Gorgon with artillery, but didn't get the achievement.

 

 

[froggyluv 2135]

 

 Pumped to see the reviews on Tac -Ops -sounds like  some much needed quality SP warfare. Dev Branch aint agreeing with me so gonna have to wait till Stable

[Wiki 1558]

One thing:

In the intros, we have text-on-screen and images.

On the outros, only text-on-screen.

 

It could be nice to add some images aswell.

 

Also, in second mission of stepping stone, the last objective doesn't tick as done when the mission ends (sf role)

[jakerod 254]

8 hours ago, wiki said:

In No Reprieve,
 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

how many APC are there?

I destroyed 1 Mora and 1 Gorgon with artillery, but didn't get the achievement.

 

 

Spoiler

Maybe you need to take out the disabled Strider. I think I might have seen an active one too. I also thought I might have seen 3 non-Strider APCs but I'm not sure if I saw the same one from a different angle and just assumed it was the same or not

 

[Vidikk 9]

20 hours ago, wiki said:

In No Reprieve,
 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

how many APC are there?

I destroyed 1 Mora and 1 Gorgon with artillery, but didn't get the achievement.

 

 

Spoiler

 

Two FV-720 Mora near to one another, one AFV-4 Gorgon. No need to target anything else, just these 3. Got my achievement instantly after the artillery did its job.

 

 

Edited November 18, 2017 by Vidikk
not a bug, deleted wrong info