Dynamic vietnam missions

[Bagel 0]

For the past seven days (24 / 7) I have been working on a dynamic mission/campaign for OFP. You will need both the Chain of Command and the SEB Nampak to play it.

I have got it to a beta stage and need people who are serious to playtest it for me, help improve the scripting and give suggestions.

It is a Vietnam setting, and the game is as long as you want it to be. It is fully dynamic, using probilities to initiate action, which in turn are dependent on your actions. You play a US company commander and you have to secure the entire area from VC/NVA infiltrations.

Although the scripting is not cutting edge, I think you will find the concept compelling and very enjoyable.

If you would like to have a beta copy for testing, e-mail me on nagelj@mweb.co.za and I will send you the folder.

All I ask is that you give feedback, improve the coding and give suggestions.

Thanks

Bagel

**********************************************

Latest version download:

http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/nagelj/files/tourofduty1_75.zip

Latest manual download:

http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/nagelj/files/readme.zip

**********************************************

[KeyCat 131]

Sounds cool Bagel, one question tho... Is it SP or MP? It sound like SP in your description but if it's MP capable I may be willing to give it a go with some of my friends.

BTW, funny thing that you picked the same name as the dynamic Vietnam MP mission I'm working on the past week or two

/Christer (a.k.a KeyCat)

[Bagel 0]

Sorry dude ,Chain of command is for single player only and is an intergral part of my game. Why don't you give it a bash anyway , e mail me on nagelj@mweb.co.za

[KeyCat 131]

I'm mainly into OFP for MP but I may send you an e-mail after the holidays

/Christer (a.k.a KeyCat)

[Spinor 0]

Hi,

this is Spinor from CoC. I'm very interested in your mission and will write an email. Alternatively (or additionally), you can post it in our forum at

www.thechainofcommand.net

We have a special section for user made missions.

[Bagel 0]

Here is a copy of the readme, it will give you an idea of the game concepts, if you are interested then e-mail me and I will send the folder for you to test. nagelj@mweb.co.za

Tour Of Duty

============

By Bagel

Introduction

------------

TOD is an attempt to create a dynamic battelfield scenario for Operation Flashpoint, not using

overly complicated scripting, but rather playability. Every game will be different and totally

unique situations will arise in each new game. The setting for the game is Vietnam and essentially

centres around two opposing dynamics. From the US perspective it is the number of VC that they kill,

from the Vietcong perspective , it is about infiltration and capturing the hearts and minds (H&M)

of the local population.

This version is a beta, and I am looking for people who want to build onto this game, improve the code

and to give as much feedback as possible to myself ( nagelj@mweb.co.za)

Game overview

-------------

You will need the Chain of Command MOD and theSEB Nampack Ver 2 to play this scenario. At this point I would like to give huge

credit to the guys who developed these two addons, they simply rocks!!!

The Iadrang map has been divided into five seperate regions, four of them are regions of operation,

the other is across the "border" region where the VC/NVA bases are located.

Each region of operation have five villages, marked as red dot markers, these are the centre focus of the game

and are critical to the game concept.

The Tour1.sqs is the main driving file, it re-evaluates the battle every 3 to 5 min (cycle) and based on the scores and

precense of units, drives the game along a path, all based on calculated random probabilities.

The firebase serves as the US HQ and you have the following order of battle to begin with:

1 X HQ Section ( your section)

3 X Aircav platoons (3xsections each)

2 X Specop teams

4 X Hueys (transport)

1 X Huey (supply)

1 X Chinook

3 X M113

3 X Open Trucks

Game dynamics - Vietcong

-------------------------

Each region has a H&M score, from 0 to 100. This then represents the % probability that a new

VC mission is created at the next cycle i.e. if the H&M score is 56 in region 2, then on the next cycle

there will be a 56% chance that a new VC mission is launched from across the border.

A Vc mission entails a VC squad between 3 and 6 leaving it's base from across the border and proceeding

to one of the five villages in it's region of operation. If the squad reaches its destination ,village,

the H&M score for that region is increased by one point. The squad will then reassign itsself

to another village in it's region of operation and continue to increase the H&M score in the area until

it is destroyed by US forces.

When a region of operation has a H&M score of above 65, NVA squads are then created and they

proceed to move across the border to pre-defined strategic areas i.e. road junctions, hills etc.

Therefore the VC are driven by sending over missions to villages, to increase there numbers,

the US have to interdict them. This is the main tenemant of the game

Game dynamics - US

-------------------

The Us begin the game with a full order of battle and 0 resource points. For every Vc that is killed the US get one

resource point (RP). RP's are used to reinforce depleted squads and acquire more hardware and

artillery support.In addition and very importantly , every VC death decreases the H&M score.

The "special" menu of the COC interface has been used extensively to aid the US operations and to enhance them.

The first is "AIRMOBILE OPS". What this button does is to take the four transport Hueys and move them

to a point on the map (onmapsingleclick) where they will all land and unload their human cargo.

This just enables the US player to quickly do a platoon landing without all the COC clicking usually

required. As this is a fundamental part of the game it has been simplified.

The next is "Air Support", here the Us ca call either a napalm or bomb strike with a click on the map.

In the mission A10's are used. In my game I use the Phantom F4, but I put A10's in for ease of testing,

some might not have the F4 addon.

The Next is "Specops". This enables the player to insert either of the specop teams via parachute by

clicking on the map.

Specop units can also be tasked to set up observation posts, when they do this they will report all

enemy movement within 450 metres of themeselves. This is currently the only proactive way the US

can gain intelligence of enemy movement, otherwise it can make contact by patrolling areas.

Another one is "Troop Loading", this is just an easy way to get anyone of the platoons to loadup onto

the heuys automatically, without all the squad by squad clicking using standard COC.

The last one is "SAT View", this will give a satelite camera view of any location on the map

by clicking (onmapsingleclick).

The concept of reinforcement is dealt with by having to get a squad back to base and then moving them

into a predesignated area, marked as barracks on the map. once the squad is in this area it

will be replenished, provided sufficient resource points are available.

In your own HQ squad I have included an action (AddAction) whereby you can instruct your section to

setup mortars. You will see two mortar teams in your squad, they will setup their mortars in the direction

you are facing when you give the commnad" place mortars".

Beta issues

------------

As this is a beta, I have a hint box coming up every cycle which can tell the tester firstly

how many US and VC are in each region, the current H&M scores per region, the number of VC killed

since the beginning of the game and the last turn, as well as the balance of the US resources.

I have not yet completed the replenishment of vehicles , I will ow do this with the new typeof command (1.91)

At this time the US have unlimited artillery (105mm) and 4 mortar fire missions. This will be tied into the use of

resource points.

There is a generic error coming up from COC, I think I have used one of their variables, this bug needs to

be squashed.

I am working on the intelligence section whereby villages pass info onto US or VC depending on H&M score.

At present the mission has no ending, this will be put in easily, but I want to get the gameplay and the balance right before

deciding what is a victory and what is a defeat.

Conclusion

-----------

I have played this beta a number of times now and have had a great time dealing with the "Dynamic"

flow of the game, plus everytime something new happens.

What I ask is that all feedback, improvements (I am not defensive, I just want a perfect game!!!, wish lists

re-coding, debugging is done and communicated to me at nagelj@mweb.co.za.

I really hope you enjoy!

Bagel

18-12-2002

[jonstyle 49]

I sent you a request. This sounds relly interesting!!

[vaga 0]

Well tried to start it.. but I'm missing 2 addons... mortar2 and f4phant ... can't find anyone of thoose... Any suggestion ?

[jonstyle 49]

I get the same message.

(finally got the pbo though... )

[theavonlady 2]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (vaga @ Dec. 21 2002,19:36)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">mortar2<span id='postcolor'>

That might be the mortar from Fortress OFP's addon page.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"> and f4phant<span id='postcolor'>

An F4 Phantom addon was just released. Search for it or go to one of the up-to-date addon sites.

[Ex-RoNiN 0]

Sounds very interesting, but I don't like betas, so all I offer is my moral support

[Bagel 0]

In respect of the Addons, you can edit the airstrike.sqs and the airstrike_napalm.sqs. Just look for the "f4phant" createvehicle command and change it to "A10".

With regards the mortars, I got it from

http://ofp.gamezone.cz/index.p....24.news

The F4 was also found at this site.

Bagel

[jonstyle 49]

Is it F4Rocket and F4bomb by "OFPman1"?

I found these, downloaded them, tried to get into the campaign in the mission editor, but still "missing addon f4phant.  

Tried to edit the f4phant CamCreate stuff in the files you mentioned above. Still getting that dang message

[Bagel 0]

I can't remeber where I got the F4 addon, Jon I will e-mail it to you.

I have updated the Tour of Duty mission and have sent e-mails out to all who requested the first version.

It is much improved and all bugs are out. I have moved it to the Maldern map (jungle maldern found at

http://ofp.gamezone.cz/index.php?newlang=eng

The same place I got the mortar addon.

The IaDrang valley was freezing on me. The game is now very playable and I am having fun. Please let me know what you think and give possible improvements.

Thanks

Bagel

[Bagel 0]

I have finally come of age, I have managed to upload my files to a server! I know, I know ! but us oldies are learning.

Here are the url 's

Tour of duty v1.1

------------------

http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/nagelj/files/tourofdutyv1.1.zip

F4 Phantom

------------

http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/nagelj/files/f4phant.zip

Mortars

-------

http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/nagelj/files/mortar1.zip

Please give me feedback

Bagel

[Eviscerator 0]

this sounds great, just one thing, where/how do i install it? the zip just opens up into a folder with all the mission stuff in, so that points to putting it in the mission editor missions folder...but there are no .abel/.eden's on the end...so im completely confused...

[Bagel 0]

Sorry , still getting the hang of the zip thang !

You can create a dir in your user\yourname\missions , and name it TOD.abel or tod.simabel_jungle (if you have jungle malden) or try TOD.ia_drang if you wish, I still get freezed on this map.

I have updated TOD to v1.2, added new vehicle workshop where you can drive your M113 section into the park and get more M113's if you have sufficient resources.

http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/nagelj/files/tourofdutyv1.2.zip

[Hawkins 8]

I'm just downloading this now... Just one Q, why don't ya use the mortars that come with the NP2? They are excelent and they're also provided for both sides.

Hawk

[ebud 18]

I've been playing this one off and on the last few days, and I think it has real potential. I would love to have the groups edited a bit, such as having the recon ship be a Loach, or even make it a real pink team, but this is just minor. The dynamic qualities of this seem really well done. Once it's polished, it is really a whole game unto itself.

I think the way the units are reinforced, or more "points" are awarded could be reworded so that it sounds less "gamey" , but that's just my preference.

One thing that might also be interesting is the use of sniper teams and how that would affect enemy morale. I would also place more emphesis on recon units, both on the ground and in the air, to find where the hot spots are, then perform the air assaults.

Just an example, I had one of the ground recon teams watching a village, when some VC decided to nose around. I then had to decide where to shift the forces from to deal with the new threat. I already had one airassault going on, so I decided that I could send in a couple truckloads of troops to take care of this. On the way, they were ambushed and all truck drivers killed. Then the recon team was spotted and needed extraction. Then by the time the extraction ship made it to the recon team, 1/2 of them were dead. I totally forgot about the airstrikes and artillary fire which could have given them more time.

Man, this really is an exercise in frustration Your putting out fires all over the place if you get spread too thin.

I really look forward to seeing this finished. It's really too hard to tell how the dynamic engine works unless you play it literally for days. By playing it, I have no idea if it's working as intended or not.... it seems to work, but how well I can't tell. I just know it is pretty intense, enjoyable, and a big challenge all at the same time

Now this, along with some of the really good Nam SP missions, is why I wanted to do the Nam pack in the first place.

Now hurry up and finish this thing

Ebud

[Eviscerator 0]

ive been playing it a hell of a lot too, this thing keeps on sucking me in for hours at a time, i agree with the observation problems, scouting an entire island with only a couple of helos is pretty hard, i usually steal the cobra and start flying around all the roads (as the ai stick to the roads and finding a black soldier on a yellow road is pretty easy), also setting up patrolling routes for each platoon, but its pretty hard to have a decent coverage of all regions, maybe a couple more platoons would help, also ive noticed charlie platoon(2nd and 3rd squads) doesnt have the 'in formation' option when it starts, is there a way to turn this on? also there are no refueling/repair/ammo trucks for the helos so patrolling in a cobra can only go on so long as eventually you are going to run out of ammo, i also noticed you said the ratings were out of 100, ive had mine up to 350 on one region (my first time, i was really bad) and it was always VC is this a bug? ive been playing around in the editor, mainly to make things easier on myself, and its normally handy to have a couple of ai controlled cobras on your team, so you can send them to the hotspots which means you dont have to use artillery (which is good when the friendly squads are close to the enemy), also im not sure if you are going to keep the updates but adding a marker for where each region is might be good for the moment, i also did small things like adding the resupply trucks, if you are up for suggestions i think something like a H&M for the americans would be good, but rewarded with information rather than troops, so if an american presence is in a town for say 5 minutes a 'general area' of a couple of enemy squads is displayed on the map, anyway this is a great mission, and as ebud said, hurry up and finish it!

[Bagel 0]

Thanks for the feedback guys, the challenge here is to get a balance between the forces, too many US and no VC appear, too little and you are all over the place.

In my latest version I have included another M113 squad, and am toying with the idea of a ARVN platoon/Co. The problem I am having at the moment is that I am running out of markers, is there a way to increase the possible number in a game. As you can see, this mission uses plenty markers as the backbone of the game.At 100 at the moment.

Right now I am busy with trying to get a squad that is wiped out to re-appear at base so you can reinforce it at the barracks. I have it working but the games is crashing out to windows once in a while, I need to sort this bug out. I think the problem is an incompatibility with Chain of Command. Spinor showed me where to edit a COC file and this might be causing another bug. Getting a squad to reappear is not the issue , getting COC to reintergrate it is.

Just to give a better picture, each regions H&M starts at 20 points, i.e. a 20% chance that a new VC mission will be initiated in the next cycle, set at about 2 minutes, this setting can be changed to slow the game down if you wish (tour.sqs). Everytime a VC squad reaches the vill 5 more points are added to the H&M score for the region, thereby increasing activity in the next cycle for that region. That squad is then reassigned to another vill in that region. When the region H&M reaches 65 the NVA get involved and start sending in heavily armed squad to predefined areas on the map, this is only now working correctly and I will be posting TOD V1.3 later today.

I am a little too close to the game to judge the balance, as I understand the engine, with the current US forces I kick major butt and never get close to a NVA mission.

To answer some questions :

The engine is working, I have spent hours tracking a VC squad as a VC, follow them through their total mission, the only real issue now is to get the balance right, i.e. the number of US forces, time allocated to a cycle, the number of % points given to a region H&M once a VC squad gets there, the number of negative H&M points given to a region when US kill VC, These are the main drivers in this mission.

"Just an example, I had one of the ground recon teams watching a village, when some VC decided to nose around. I then had to decide where to shift the forces from to deal with the new threat. I already had one airassault going on, so I decided that I could send in a couple truckloads of troops to take care of this. On the way, they were ambushed and all truck drivers killed. Then the recon team was spotted and needed extraction. Then by the time the extraction ship made it to the recon team, 1/2 of them were dead. I totally forgot about the airstrikes and artillary fire which could have given them more time." EBud

Man, this is why i like this so far, every game is different and open to your own strategy. I agree it is cumbersome at time, that is why I have tried to use as many "special" options in COC to lighten the click load. COC is awesome and as it is refined so will this be.Having said that, once you are into the swing of thing in TOD and the initial learning curve flattens out, it is really enjoyable and much less hectic, still with replayability.

What I do to sometimes lighten the load is send a delta squad to the barracks, they then get reinforced to 8 members, then deploy them by parachute "special" menu and you have an Alpha reaction force.

I have added a fuel, ammo and repair truck, I have also set that whenever the helo's return to base that get refueled and repaired to full status.

After the new squad bug is sorted, I want to work on the intel side of things. I originally wanted a US H&M driven mainly by death of US soldiers, ran into a problem that when I try to count total US on map, if troop in helo thay are not counted, I will get around this by doing a sum of all "count units". Once again I am fresh outa markers !!!

After intel is sorted, I want to implement a counts that check to see if the ratio of VC to US in a region is greater than say 2 to 1 , then order the entire VC/NVA contingent in that area to do a base attack on the US.

I didn't use the SEBNAM mortar fo two reasons, primarily because it is created with sandbags in the field, not good, and secondly operated by one soldier, also not too good in my view.There is nothing wrong with the ones used mind you , good addon job.

Under they special menus , there is an ammo box drop option, this sends the supply helo to the point clicked on the map and it drops a SEB ammo crate and returns.

Also on the list is VC missions not only being H&M, but including mine laying and sniper missions.

I have a version of TOD for the Ia_drang map and will post today.

The H&M score in a region can go above 100 right now, I will cap it, but this has no effect on play per se,as I take a random number between 0 and 100 and compare it to the H&M score, so in effect anything over 100 is 100.

Please keep the feedback coming in and thanks to the guys who have contibuted already.

Bagel

[Spinor 0]

Hi Bagel,

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The problem I am having at the moment is that I am running out of markers, is there a way to increase the possible number in a game. As you can see, this mission uses plenty markers as the backbone of the game.At 100 at the moment.<span id='postcolor'>

Is there a limit on the number of markers? I though not because I haven´t run into any problems with the Command Engine (old version) that uses usermarkers. For every click it creates a marker, so in one session there will probably a few hundreds.

In any case, try to reuse markers. Do you have to display all 100 markers at once? If not, use the commands setMarkerType, setMarkerColor to change them to what you just need.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Right now I am busy with trying to get a squad that is wiped out to re-appear at base so you can reinforce it at the barracks. I have it working but the games is crashing out to windows once in a while, I need to sort this bug out. I think the problem is an incompatibility with Chain of Command. Spinor showed me where to edit a COC file and this might be causing another bug. Getting a squad to reappear is not the issue , getting COC to reintergrate it is.<span id='postcolor'>

Outright game crash? I thought there will be some scripting error message, at most. I only experienced crashes from scripting by using wrong marker types, marker colors or unit types. Could you send me your latest version?

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Man, this is why i like this so far, every game is different and open to your own strategy. I agree it is cumbersome at time, that is why I have tried to use as many "special" options in COC to lighten the click load. COC is awesome and as it is refined so will this be.Having said that, once you are into the swing of thing in TOD and the initial learning curve flattens out, it is really enjoyable and much less hectic, still with replayability.

<span id='postcolor'>

We are currently working on reducing the click load of the CE2 by using the onMapSingleClick command, i.e. you no longer have to doubleclick+return to place a marker but a single click will suffice. In addition we are introducing dialogs which make the interface much more intuitive.

Keep up the great work. Your mission is just what we intended for the Command Engine.

Spinor

[The_Captain 0]

Great job, bagel.

I'm really intrigued by the whole H&M and VC mission idea... I may want to use that system for seal command.

Dynamic missions really and truly rock...

You might want to consider updating this mission to dialogs when you get a chance... Lots of potential, lots of fun...

I *really* like the idea of a border, and vc missions being launched... and it works pretty well, too...

Any chance I can borrow a little bit of that? =D

Great job, bagel.

Oh, and ebud.. I sent you an email and a PM via ofpec about SCom.

[Bagel 0]

You are most welcome to use any part of this mission, the common objective here is great OFP missions. If i can help in any way, give me a shout.

Hello Spinor, here is the situation:

It seems that when I reach more than 100 markers , it interferes with COC, as you know my mission used plenty markers too, and I have cut them to the bone, re-use them etc. What happens is if I add any more markers

to the game, when I click on a unit and give it a waypoint it will not recieve it and the marker does not change to a WP marker. If I go and remove one or two of my newly created markers it then works ?

I am getting two type of crashes at the moment, the main one is a total crash to windows. Now that you mentio it, this is happening since I have been trying to recreate wiped out squads using :

?(alive (leader sectiona1)): goto "sq1"

"sebnam_acofficer" createunit [getpos baseflag,sectiona1]

#sq1

?(alive (leader sectiona2)): goto "sq2"

"sebnam_acofficer" createunit [getpos baseflag,sectiona2]

#sq2

?(alive (leader sectiona3)): goto "sq3"

"sebnam_acofficer" createunit [getpos baseflag,sectiona3]

#sq3

etc etc

This does work and a new squad is created back at base, so I am not sure if it is this, but the game crashes and I can't seem to link it to a given event, it seems radom, as if a variable reaches a parameter and then bombs ??

Here is the latest version :

http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/nagelj/files/tourofdutyv1_3.zip

New:

Wiped out units are recreated back at base with one officer, get them over to the barracks for reinforcements

Added new M113 squad and a re-supply,fuel,ammo convoy.

NVA fixed and squad creation now includes heavy weapons.

Heli's are automatically refueled and repaired when back at base.

Thanks for the interest.

Bagel

[The_Captain 0]

ok, bagel, I was wondering if you could help recode your VC/NVA moving Ai to our Scom project.

A few of us are working on it, including ebud from above... Your AI system works great, but right now, I'm busy working on the interception screens, so perhaps down the line, you could help us code that in...

In essence, SCom is a fully dynamic Navy Seal command game, which plays along the lines of xcom, seal team, rainbow six, and OFP. We've got most of the in game stuff assigned to be done, but you see to be doing well in the AI bit. We're not using the comman engine, by the way... What we need, is the system (on a new island), that moves different types of squads of VC around the island, generating new ones at will, and assigning them different missions and destinations.

To keep down cpu lag, we're having each VC squad have a specific leader type (hw leader, infanty leader, recon leader, sapper leader), and then, when contact between the seals and the VC is made, a squad is generated.

So, commands that order the leaders around and create them would work fine. I *love* the H&M system.

The VC also operate on a 'score' system... any action that they take gets a score (pos or neg), and any action the seals take gives them a score.. In the monthly reports, the net score is the seal score for that month, and that determines funding levels.

Ok, I've done a crappy job of explaining the gameplay to you... but we just locked down our features, and I can get a design doc to you. I *think* you have my email already, because you send me an early version of TOD.

We don't need the VC AI coding for a while, say a week or two, but here's my email if you'd like more info:

thecaptain_ps@hotmail.com

TOD rules,

The Captain

President of Privateer Studios