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theavonlady

Axe-Point Redux

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I really like the Combat Addon Team's M113 pack and wanted to play a mission where M113s take on a major role. Not too many out there but then I remembered snYpir's 2 year old mission, Operation Axe-Point, which I reviewed on the MOM section at The FAQ a long time ago. In Axe-point, the player commands an M113 as gunner and an AI squad in tow.

So I started tinkering with it. First, I just changed it to use Combat's M113s. Such great looking vehicles with those antiquated original OFP troops - blah! So I modified it some more, replacing the NATO and Russian troops with Suchey & Earls. And I couldn't resist swapping OFP's BMPs with those from VIT's Russian APC pack to even the score.

The result is a mission I call Axe-point Redux. Much the same gameplay as the original version but much better toys. You can download Axe-Point Redux from here. I hope you like it. smile_o.gif

The Readme (very important) :

Quote[/b] ]********************************

***                          ***

*** NOTES FROM THE AVON LADY ***

***                          ***

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

August 23, 2004

Way back in October 2002, I gave a 2.5 out of 3 star rating to snYpir's mission, Operation Axe-point,

in the mission's M.O.M. review at The OFP FAQ. It was one of the first missions designed for the

player to command an M113 from the gunner's position. Besides that, it had a lot of other good things

going for it, like an excellent storyline and briefing, good scripting and challenging objectives

that aren't ridiculously suicidal.

There were, however, two things I didn't like about the mission. One was snYpir's mission triggers

that ended the mission even if you were still alive. This would happen when your performance was so

poor that none of your AI squadmates or your supporting AI squadmates remained alive. You might have

been playing the mission for an hour when, all of a sudden, it ends and you get reprimanded because

none of your AI teammates or support units are still standing.

Another thing I didn't like about the mission was commandeering OFP's original M113 APC. It just

looks totally unimpressive. My fussiness has recently been satiated by the introduction of the

Combat Team's impressive M113 Addon Pack. Now those are APCs worth dying for!

So, I decided to modify the mission slightly to conquer those two gripes I had with the original

version.

First of all, I added a prompt dialog shortly after the start of the mission, asking the player if

the mission should run with the same player performance termination triggers as the original version

or whether the mission should continue playing as long as the player remains alive.

This slightly modified version of the mission can be found in enclosed file "Axepoint.abel.pbo".

Other than adding the difficulty level dialog, no other changes were made to the mission. And, like

the original version, no unofficial addons are used by this version of the mission. So it will likely

work with any version of OFP that snYpir's original version worked with. It should certainly work

with all OFP versions from 1.75 and above.

The other enclosed modified version of the original mission is called "Axe-point Redux" and can be

found in file "AxepointRedux.abel.pbo". Not only does it include the difficulty level dialog change,

mentioned above. It also requires the use of the following great addons, that really make for a

superior mission playing experience:

- Suchey's & Earl's Marine Assault Pack

  http://www.filefront.com/?filepa....ack.rar

- Combat Team's M113 Addon Pack

  http://www.filefront.com/?filepa....121.rar

- Combat Team's Modern US APC Crew Pack

  http://www.filefront.com/?filepa....v10.rar

- VIT's Russian APC Pack, version 1.4

  http://www.filefront.com/?filepa....v14.rar

- BAS' JAM 2 addon

  http://www.filefront.com/?filepa....AM2.zip

For this addon dependent version, I had to adjust some SKILL level settings of some of the AI units.

I also outfitted the player's M113 with SMAWs instead of LAWs. I also packed in one of Suchey & Earl's

Javelin AT launchers for the player's use. Do not give this to one of your AI teammates. They cannot

fire it correctly. Neither can you, unless you are familiar with its in-game use. Otherwise, you'll

kill yourself instantly.

I personally found this mixture of addons makes for great eye-candy and fantastic mission playing.

Try it. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

For those of you playing OFP with total modifications, such as the EECP or Y2K3 mods, you'll

automatically make use of some of those very same addons just by running the addon-free version of

Axe-point. I've personally tried it with the EECP mod. However, I still think the Axe-point Redux

version is a few notches above the standard version.

For those of you that are concerned, yes, I've contacted snYpir about modifying his mission and have

received his approval to release it. SnYpir's original README text follows below. Note that his email

address and other information may have become obsolete since the time the README was written almost

two years ago.

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

***                          ***

*** SNYPIR'S ORIGINAL README ***

***                          ***

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

readme for Operation Axepoint 1.2 - 5/7 Mech Inf Assault on Lolisse and Wilsons Point

hi folks,

welcome to my first OFP mission! hope you enjoy it - I think its a bit different to most of the missions that are out there at the moment!

installing:

unzip the file "Operation Axepoint.abel.pbo" to your OFP missions subdirectory.

my system:

i run this mission on a 600mhz pentium III with a voodoo 3 2000 video card. i've encountered no big lag problems. (it does slow down a bit while the artillery is falling, though).

bugs:

I put this mission together fairly quickly so there may be bugs, if so plz email morpj97@hn.ozemail.com.au and i'll fix em rigth away. Make sure that they are my bugs and not due to OFP.

multiplayer:

haven't played multiplayer at all yet - but I made the two other section commanders (Bravo_Officer and Charlie_Officer) 'playable' so i guess it'll work multiplayer. Try it and see.

difficulty:

different difficulty levels have a big effect on the number and type of enemies in this one. veteran is the only way to go.

campaign:

as soon as the developers of OFP pull their fingers out and let us all know how to make campaigns i'll build more missions in the same style as this one. All the terms and tactics that are used in this mission are based on real stuff we do in the Aussie army.

thanx:

Lustypooh's command reference

Johan Gustafsson's scripting tutorial

epaga (for Sunrise Skirmish - was helpful)

Axle Online

changes in version 1.1 (from version 1.0)

- added a couple of cutscenes

- fixed a couple of typos

- general tweaks to make the mission flow a bit more

changes in version 1.2

- made dude who used to sit on chair stand up because he didn't always want

 to sit in the same place

- straitened up waypoints during initial assault so the 1-9 command takes

 the M113 directly towards Lolisse (almost anyway)

- added some more bad dudes (not many though)

- Timings changed slightly on some sentences

- A few more hints so you know whats going on (eg when trucks rock up)

- Made it impossible to be the driver of your APC. this prevents people from

 blasting through the enemy waypoints at top speed in a vain attempt to trigger

 something.

- other things i can't remember

i also thought about making a night version or a play as the enemy version

but i think i'll just design another mission instead. the next one will be

something to do with terrorists. if u really want a different version of this

mission email me or just do it yourself if you can follow whats going on.

 

-=snYpir=-

morpj97@hn.ozemail.com.au

plz email me and tell me what you think!

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Now theres some of my favorite addons put into use, never played the mission before, i guess the time has come. Might not be very realistic to use marines with army M113 and crew but still cool, thank you smile_o.gif .

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Avon the way you explain it is like you're garnishing a desert or something. I may have to try this out. BTW avon, you're going to love my mission coming up that makes good use of just about every vehicle in ofp. Quality too. Maybe ill send it to you once im finished.

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Looking forward to your mission, BB.

Comments and constructive criticism on the Axe-point mission(s) appreciated.

Just remember that the credit goes to snYpir for the mission. I just did a bit of converting and tuning.

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