Ranks and a progressive war...ideas inside

[Psycho1 0]

First of all, I gotta say that this game is the bomb:) I've been playing almost nonstop ever since I got it....too bad I have 56k:(

I just started to do some mission editing when I got some ideas.....I got them from World War 2 Online. Would it be possible to setup a server that would basically have the whole island as a battle field.....the server would detect which side controlled what so you could look at the map and see what the Russians controlled and what the Americans controlled. The map would never end until the whole island is conquered by a side. You'd have to put a lot of cities, vehicles, etc. but in WW2OL they obviously use many servers to do it....and I think it could be possible to rig up many servers for it in OFP if the netcode allowed for it, modding will probably be needed, but it might just work.

You could also have it detect each players kills and deaths and promote you to different ranks once you meet specific goals(it would save your stats so when you exit you don't lose them). This would be awesome if you have a huge amount of players participating, it wouldn't work well with just 10 or so people. Granted I only played WW2OL for a short time a few months ago, but I remember it being okay to play on 56k. They had pretty good netcode for it.

One of the major obstacles I see with this plan is being able to gather up a lot of awesome servers and being able to get them to work in unison in the game.....maybe Codemasters could do it and charge a $9.99 monthly fee to be able to play on it....I'd be willing to pay that to be able to participate in a huge war that you can gain rank in.

Since the war would be never-ending unless a side captures the whole island, it would be a must to be able to join while the game is in progress of course.

I know this would take a lot of time to setup, but it would be so awesome. Please tell me what you think, and if you think it could be done, or if it's just too much work.

[FetishFool 0]

We have that right now.

Just without the ranking system. But we COULD have that, too. If someone made a script that changed a person's name once they were premoted.

The mission that you're referring to is called "Capture And Hold". It usually involves only 5 or 6 cities that need to be captured.

Since it's so few cities, the game won't end when they're all captured by one side. Instead, one side gets points, and the other loses points.

At the end of the round, people see how many points a side has to see who wins.

[Espectro (DayZ) 0]

The only reason to do this was by making one HUGE tournament.

The maps would be balanced, and there would be maybe 6 maps for one island.

In the beginning of the tournament, you choose your side. (West or East).

The maps will then be played, and games will last 1 hour each where the specific cities captured will be reported. Future maps will then become altered so that when the next game starts, they will still be holding the cities one team has taken.

Kills get reported, and ranks are created.

[Psycho1 0]

Yeah.....but like you said, it only involves 5 or so cities. I'm thinking more on a grand scale, lots of cities stretched out all over the island. When you don't have many people in the game, it could be a problem since one side might take over a lot of territory, but in WW2OL they slap in AI to account for that.

Plus, I have not seen a dedicated server hold a large capture and hold map......Since it would be dedicated you could leave and come back and still have your stats and not lose all the land you gained(unless they took it while you were gone;)

[Balschoiw 0]

The main problem i see is the large ammounts of troops. The vehicles and soldier data ( even objects ) are permanently updated from the server you run game on. This will cause heavy lag for sure, cause the current netcode doesnt support this issue. Another problem is the comp you play on my friend. Even with 1.4 Ghz and the latest gfx card the game will go down cause of too much data it has to handle. Simply make a test : launch editor and place over 50 heavy units that move in a map and you will know what i mean. OFP calculates everything very correct (positions, azimut, bullets ballistic flying, state of unit, speed etc...) and it will make your comp go down the more units you have. I dont know any solution for areas not in player reach to be emptied while in a game and i am afraid this wont work.

[KaRRiLLioN 0]

I've made quite a few cap and hold (CH) missions that are fairly large with 4 capture points. We played it with about 20 ppl and it was a blast, but the reason I haven't made one for capturing the entire island is primarily because the netcode can't handle enough people to make it work well. You'd have to have plenty of troops available to guard captured areas...probably like at least 30-40 people per team with some vehicles so the netcode would really need some work for that.

It's a great idea, and I'd love to implement it, but at this point in time it's not yet feasible. Perhaps a capture half of the island one round and the other half the next round? =)

[Psycho1 0]

I see what you mean....the netcode would have to be really restructured for it to handle all those players, plus being able to hook up multiple servers to work in unison like in WW2OL. Since it wasn't OFP's goal to be massively multiplayer like WW2OL, it would probably be almost impossible to implement.

Perhaps an idea for the sequel to OFP?

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Perhaps a capture half of the island one round and the other half the next round? =)<span id='postcolor'>

I'll be there, just let me know the time and the place:)

[KaRRiLLioN 0]

Hehe, I haven't had the pleasure of trying 20 people on my server but if I did, I think that'd be a cool mission to try is capturing the top half of Everon or something.

The hard part is getting some people to take Tanks and stuff to hold the positions instead of everyone taking choppers. =)

[suchey 0]

A bit of a twist along the same lines of this idea...

If BIS added the ability to keep server stats such as kills, wins, etc...the server could then be tied into a web page...the web page would consist of a graphic of one island broken into individual districts...each district is represented by one mission available on the dedicated server. When a mission is won or lost, the stats are passed into the web page and the district in question is marked as either Russian or NATO conttolled. Once a set percentage of districts are contolled by one side or the other, a side is declared victorious. Rank could be assigned via the stats as well...perhaps on a kill to death ratio built into the page. I know that this isnt as robust a system as outlined above, but all it would require is the ability to retrieve stats from a server and the rest could be accomplished using somthing like PHP. Throw in some creative map makers and additional functionality could be added. Certainly not something thats out of the question.

[Psycho1 0]

That sounds like a good idea:) I'm not so sure that we would definitely need BIS to allow the servers to keep stats, because I recall in Delta Force Landwarrior that a squad setup a server that kept stats.......and knowing Novalogic(developers), they didn't get any help from them I imagine.

I don't see why it couldn't be implemented, all it would take is some creative ingenuity:)

[CCCP 0]

Such type of missions and MP play that what our squad is after.

We waiting now a long time for Conquest, which supposed to be along the same lines type of mission.

Also Stronger Than All league seems to be setting up similar idea.

But we defenetely hope for more. AI defenetely needs to be included this way number of forces can be increased beyond just the player MP playable limit, and strategic and tactical command skills come into play nicely.

We would like to gather all the missions of the described types in a view to setup future Strategy & Tactics league/tornament (STRATAC). We collected some conquest types made by OFPItalia, and other like WelcomeToEveron beta, ideas for project Conflictia and some similar ones.

We also would like to invite everybody interested to cooperate/participate in that enterprise, give ideas, missions and whatnot to make it what most of us actually want it to be.

please send in your stuff, suggestions, etc to the address:

stratac@ofp.ussr-online.net

[FetishFool 0]

I played two out of three of KaRRiLLioN's cap'n'hold maps with him on the RadishVille server two days ago.

They were awesome. Perfectly balanced, and just perfect.

I didn't experience any lag, but a lot of people reported that they were lagging hard due to the amount of vehicles and so many players. It was 10 on 10 for most of the time. But nothign less than 8 on 8 that day.

It was really fun for me and Kamikaze because we're really good chopper pilots. I went back and forth with my UH60 to pick up fresh troops, then paradropped them whereever they wanted me to.

While Kamikaze went around with his Hind and killed them as they captured towns.

Fun fun fun, EH!

[Espectro (DayZ) 0]

This is the war going on in SWAF against PLA.

http://seawolves.reaper.org/swaf/war/autowar/swaf.htm

[suchey 0]

where can I download your capture and hold maps KaRRiLLioN?

[KaRRiLLioN 0]

Try this link:

My OFP FTP

If that doesn't work, try an FTP client with

Username: ofp

Password: ofp

IP: 209.193.133.66

It's just a link to my MPMissions folder so there are several other missions in there besides mine.  My missions are labeled like so:

CH_<mission> = Cap and Hold

CTF_<mission>

TDM_<mission>=Team DM

R_<mission>=Race

C_<mission> or C#_<mission>=Coop or coop mp campaign (something I'm working on is a mini mp campaign)

Not all of my missions are meant to be completely serious.  For example I have a couple that are built around the large Canyon on Malden, namely CH_Canyon Clash and CTF_Crevice Crash.  It's just fun as hell to go plummeting over the sides of that canyon. =)

[Psycho1 0]

I just thought of another idea......We could start a capture and hold mission at the middle of the island, the Americans and Russians start at their own cities. The goal would be to get to the enemy held city and capture and hold their flag for 60 seconds. When that happens, that side wins that particular mission, and now the side that lost the city will have to start back one city and the winning side would now have the base they just captured as their base. The next mission to play depends on the outcome of the last mission. I think we could work something out so that the server knows which mission to pick next depending on the outcome of the last mission.

This could definitely work with 10 people(or less depending on server's banwidth) on each side, and if we could work in a ranking system it would be even better. We'd have to have a huge amount of missions on the server for the big islands, since their are a lot of cities to battle over:) This way you wouldn't need join in progress since after one side captures a city a new mission must be used. I'm thinking that this could work out well, let me know what you think of this new idea.

[KaRRiLLioN 0]

One thing I've been thinking of that would be really cool is to divide the island up into several sectors that are about 300x300 or something depending upon how complex this needed to be.

Each area would be considered neutral or unoccupied--except for each team's base.

Then, each time one team stayed at that area for more than say 30 seconds or so and was the only team there, then that area would be deemed conquered. If another team came to conquer it back then they'd have to hold onto it for say 60 seconds or something before it would change back to neutral, and then another 30 seconds to conquer it. Now in order to conquer an area that team must have a physical presence in that area without the other team there at all for that period of time.

Each time a team conquered an area, then using the createvehicle command in a trigger, they would get "reinforcements" like a tank and a few troops to guard the area.

Once one team captured all spots on the island, or a predetermined number of spots on the island, then they would win the mission. Play this scenario out on all 3 islands in this way: The first mission starts on Everon since this is the "neutral" island to begin with. Whichever team loses has to defend their "home" island. I.E. if the Soviets lose, then the next map to fight over would be Kolgujev. If the Russians were to win that mission, then it would go back to Everon. If the Soviets won that one then it would go to Malden. If NATO won it would go back to Everon--conversely if they lost, then the Soviets would have won the "war" so to speak.

I think this is highly doable, but you'd have to determine which sectors would be vital for control and how complex you'd want it to be. For example, you could just do this on a town basis where control of all towns would be a win, or you could literally divide up the island into control sectors like 400x400 squares. Obviously some areas have more importance than others. IF a team captured the airport, then you could spawn reinforcements in the way of SU25's or A10's, and some extra choppers, and for towns, spawn AI tanks and troops. It'd be really flexible depending upon how long the mission maker wanted this to last. Also, using a vehicle respawn script you could determine how often a team gets "fresh" reinforcements when they lose a tank or chopper. That way when you lose a vehicle it really makes a difference because the other team would have more time to take an area from the other team. Another option to make it harder as well would be to make it so that a team must own the area directly adjacent to other areas that it wishes to conquer. That way people aren't so prone to try to fly a chopper clear across the island for an area that clearly couldnt be guarded against enemy advancement.

Now the way I see it, since 20-25 ppl is a max for most servers, especially depending upon the number of vehicles and AI, it would be most wise to probably concentrate on towns as the "conquer points" since that would lower how many ppl you'd need. Also as suggested in an earlier post, with Everon especially you might want to divide the island in half and fight over the top portion first, then the next mission would be for the lower portion. That way a pitched struggle over Everon could last quite a while.

One thing that I can't get to work right for something like this is the way I'd like markers to appear. Right now I can use the typical objective-style markers to show who controls what areas. For example a flag style marker will say "Unoccupied" or "Soviet Controlled", etc. What I want to be able to do is use the shaded-style markers for this. These are the colored grid-like markers that shade in an entire area a certain color. The problem I'm having is that I can't hide them like the other markers do. Perhaps there's another command for this, but it'd be nice to shade an entire area the color of the "owner" of that area.

Anyway, this is just an idea that kinda popped into my head. I'll try to create a mission for this to see how workable it is.

[FetishFool 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Espectro @ Jan. 17 2002,05:49)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">This is the war going on in SWAF against PLA.

http://seawolves.reaper.org/swaf/war/autowar/swaf.htm<span id='postcolor'>

Sorry KaRRiLLioN, I didn't read most of your post.

But doesn't this war between SWAF and PLA work?

Can't we use this format?

I've always dreamt of a massive LAN at a baseball stadium. Where East has Kogujev, and West has Malden.

They have 1000 or so human soldiers on their side, with no respawning. And they can choose what and where to attack. Even eachother's home islands.

And moderators of this battle will be Resistance and Civilian.

Each side will most likely want to land on Everon. So when the battle starts, they have to choose what cities to take first. They'll land on boats and air. LST's will slowly bring equipment over.

Of course, Lamentien and Morton will be prime targets for West. And the Airport will be prime targets for the East.

Then both sides will spread from there.

[FetishFool 0]

Has anyone here played Global Warfare MOD from Half-Life?

That is EXACTLY what OPF needs to be. Global Warfare was suuuch a great game. But then OPF came and replace it

But GW used APCs and Helicopters to bring reinforcements from the base to the battle field.

Players will spawn in their own base, and have time to rearm. Then they will have to board the Helicopter or APC before it leaves. The transports left every 30 seconds. And only one would be available.

The opposing side could destroy the enemy transport, so the enemy will be delayed about 3 minutes before they get reinforcments.

GW has most likely grown to a massive game by now. But back then when it was still in v1.0, it was so fun. All they had to do was add supply drops.

[-A-V-Trekkie 0]

There´s something like this coming out in Germany...

But you fight only on one city in a war and only 8 vs 8 cause more does netcode not.

Mainly squads play but single players can join the resistance...

It´s a lot more but i´ve got no time to tell you.

Perhaps we will make english too.

[Psycho1 0]

Do you have a website explaining it and stuff? I'd like to check it out.

[-A-V-Trekkie 0]

its in german and under construction but the concept is done:

http://av.clanzone.at/RC/index.php

[KaRRiLLioN 0]

Fetish, from what I can see about that war, it is interesting, but I'm looking at making something a bit more dynamic that can be changed on the fly while playing, rather than just having a battle over a sector a day and then marking it on the map.

The main thing I'm still formulating are the basic rules for how to win a territory. Right now I have the basics down so a team has to hold a territory for 60 seconds without an enemy presence there and then they control the territory. If an enemy comes onto the territory, then the controlling team has 30 seconds to drive them off before it becomes contested again.

Here's the different states a territory can be in:

Unoccupied--no team has a presence there

Contested--at least one team has a presence on previously unoccupied territory

Controlled--a team has held onto the territory for at least 60 seconds without enemies there

Controlled2--a team has held an area for several minutes and it takes longer for another team to contest it.

Conquered--complete control. Cannot be taken back by enemy

I'm thinking of these rule additions--if a team controls a territory for more than say 5 mins, then it will take the other team 3-4 mins of having a presence there to put the territory back to a contested state. If a team holds it for 10 mins, then that territory becomes permanently theirs.

So far I have the Everon airport as a test site and most of it is working well. I'm still figuring out logistics for the "scoring". Since I'm not using a regular point score, I'm having vehicles awarded for controlling territory. Each team has a home base and when they hold territory for a certain period of time, they earn a vehicle that appears at their base. They also get addtional AI troops that will appear and hold the territory. Another thing you'll earn is respawn ability for your vehicles so that they are "repaired" if you lose one.

Each team starts out with a small number of vehicles, like a truck, a jeep, a light tank and they'll have to conquer territory in order to get more.

There is a limit to how many vehicles a team can get, of course, and some vehicles are only available through certain areas, i.e. planes at the airport.

Anyway, I hope to have a single-territory test available sometime soon with Everon airport. I just need to make sure I get the logistics all worked out.

[CCCP 0]

Exactly idea I was hoping for...

KaRRiLLioN - we already tested your C&H maps and they are quite good in functionality, scale and rather distinctive nature of play on them.

Now to the idea of "dynamic war" you are working on. It's very promising and we higly interested in getting it to work.

We have some resources on mission making, which we can discuss to aid you if needed?

Hope the work is progressing? I'd like to have more discussions on structure, viraety of unit types, and especially logistics since teams would need ammunition and supplies for this type of scale. Also the original positions do have to be somewhat balanced in a sense that let say one side wouldn't start closer to the airport so it would get ealier airsuperriority and such.

And last but not least how about work with us to setup a league/tourney using your missions?

[enjoy_yourself 0]

Hey, Karrilion, what's the state of work? Let me know pls