Zeus Gaming Nights

[bn880 5]

...oh brother...and i have been fighting alongside these guys for such a long time. We look like the monthy python crew with guns mixed with a flavour of the 3 stooges multiplied by a factor of 10 with a pinch of charlie chaplin and add to that a little tweak of mr. bean. Lovely ain't it.

Oh well we may just have to:

Quote[/b] ] Some things in life are bad

They can really make you mad

Other things just make you swear and curse.

When you're chewing on life's gristle

Don't grumble, give a whistle

And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life...

Always look on the light side of life...

If life seems jolly rotten

There's something you've forgotten

And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.

When you're feeling in the dumps

Don't be silly chumps

Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...

Always look on the light side of life...

For life is quite absurd

And death's the final word

You must always face the curtain with a bow.

Forget about your sin - give the audience a grin

Enjoy it - it's your last chance anyhow.

So always look on the bright side of death

Just before you draw your terminal breath

Life's a piece of shit

When you look at it

Life's a laugh and death's a joke, it's true.

You'll see it's all a show

Keep 'em laughing as you go

Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

And always look on the bright side of life...

Always look on the right side of life...

(Come on guys, cheer up! )

Always look on the bright side of life...

Always look on the bright side of life...

(Worse things happen at sea, you know. )

Always look on the bright side of life...

(I mean - what have you got to lose? )

(You know, you come from nothing - you're going back to nothing.

What have you lost? Nothing! )

Always look on the right side of life...

Did you sing along? No? Don't worry, you will get to when we start the missions in transit.

[Warrior Xâ„¢ 0]

Did you sing along?  No? Don't worry, you will get to when we start the missions in transit.

Okay. Now you are just scaring me! I can imagine certain people on TS singing this song, and i don't wanna hear these certain people sing    

[bn880 5]

Ahh yes, but that's what makes us "speecial". So now I hope everyone is convinced that Zeus is a great place to enjoy large scale coop missions.

[Jinef 2]

A bunch of Zeus nutjobs ruined my thread.

*break downs and cries*

[Baz 0]

*gives Jinef a "there there, its ok Jinny pie" hug* i'm here for you, cry on my shoulders if you want *shudder*

[.pablo. 0]

so, when is the first night going to be? one of the best ways to get lots of squads involved is to just start playing, even with only a few people/squads, and let it spread by word of mouth.

[kevb0 0]

I'd like to play soon, too. Would you like any help with mission making, Jinef?

I'd like to try a WGL game, but I can't find any servers running missions, or anyone playing them for that matter. Is there a Zeus WGL time?

I downloaded WGL5, and it's awesome. I like the mortar system and the helicopters. Top notch mod.

[.pablo. 0]

Quote[/b] ]I'd like to try a WGL game, but I can't find any servers running missions, or anyone playing them for that matter. Is there a Zeus WGL time?

WGL 5 is still in its beta stage, so the only server running the latest build of WG is a private beta-testing server; once WGL 5 is released, though, Zeus will be running it.

[Cibit 0]

We have regular co-op nights on Saturdays and Thursdays

All are welcome but we do hope you have the correct addons before you connect. Please check our help thread for info

http://www.ofp-zeus.com/nuke....9d08fdc

If you wish to arrange some serious gaming then PM or MSN me or one of the other admins before the night you want to play

[Jinef 2]

Kevb0, to help me make mission I simply need people to start mission making themselves.

I suggest you download the mission called regina assault and use it as a template to make your own mission idea. Any questions, MSN/PM me.

My own mission development is slow atm as I have really little time for game related issues. However I made a nice text file for certain zeus members a while ago and will post it here now:

Infantry Leading on a MP server. This is for leading an infantry section of 12 men or below. Bits of it can be applied elsewhere though.

Quote[/b] ]

Leading Checklist:

Assignment Screen -

> Take your position as squad leader.

> Watch who takes what in your squad and memorise their positions/roles.

> If you feel you need an extra MG/LAW/Grenadier order someone to take it.

Briefing Screen:

> Do not commit to mission, you should be last to go green.

> Read the briefing and formulate your own private plan.

> View your soldiers and memorise their gear/names. It's a lot nicer to know names.

> Clearly communicate to your squad to memorise their numbers (so you can quickly order them) and standby to start.

> Optional - You may if you wish want to give your squad some idea of the plan, however they don't need to know all of it and it may well change as the mission goes on. If they know too much it is very tempting for them to rush it. Which could get people killed.

In Game:

> Keep it Simple - Your little plan may require 6 fireteams converging from 5 different directions in a staggered time pattern with covering fire from 2 directions. To convey this to a bunch of OFP players will take 4 hours and will *NOT* succeed.

> 2 Formations always: Travel in Column formation and attack in line.

> If you need a fireteam on a flank to cover deadground select a capable person and 1-3 dependents. What you don't want is two independent sections, you want the fireteam to have clear and direct orders.

"Move to the

edge of the forest 150 NW. take up positions to fire at the enemy near the BMP. Wait for our fire as signal."

There should be no chatter between them, they need to have a simple task which they can follow without cluttering up the net with chat.

Verbal Orders:

Simple, Concise and Clear. Think about what you are going to say. If you ramble what you are thinking (Like I do sometimes)

it doesn't inspire confidence. Look at the situation, decide on action and commence that action.

Keep it firm but friendly:

You have the ability to delay the entire mission or do a restart if one person goes out of formation to do his own thing.

People will accept that when you are the leader they do as you say or they do not have you as leader. YThe admin enforces this. However I very rarely ran into these problems. It is up to you. I give certain players more leeway. A really good one is:

"Number 6 you are now special forces platoon scout, I need you to go 4kms NW and scout at that farm that looks very suspicious."

When something goes well, say so. "That was a jolly good show, well done guys, no casualties."

Casualties:

Low is good, none is best. People want to play, not sit there watching others play. You need to kill the enemy with minimal casualties.

This is hard to do well, it requires constant realisation of the situation and strong control over the squad so that people do not fire when you don't want them to, they do lie down behind rocks/bushes when you want them to and they do kill the enemy when you want them to.

Have fun while doing this - it is a good feeling when you actually have control. I know how frustrating it is when you are simply a figurehead leader over a bunch of rambos, you have no say what goes on.

The players on Zeus learnt something from when I was leading. It is still fun to play OFP when being lead. If you feel like they are just a bunch of Rambos, remember these are probably some of the best teamwork orientated coop players in OFP so it's more likely you are not making a good impression.

There is also a threshold for leading people, OFP is a stress relief at the end of a hard days work for many people. Sometimes a CTF is far more enjoyable than hardcore infantry section coop.

[Cibit 0]

Hope every one had fun saturday night once it all kicked off

C U Thursday night

[.pablo. 0]

thursday i'd like to get into some pvp; nothing against bech or coop or whoever was leading, but saturday was a little too sloppy to be fun. jinef told me that someone new was leading, and i'm fine with that, but i was annoyed when chaos failed to result (or rather, when the little chaos we experienced failed to magnify itself due to the lack of an intelligent enemy). in other words, if my side is making bad tactical decisions or is unorganized, i want to be destroyed decisively, and that didn't happen saturday. i think with human opponents it might have gotten a little more interesting...(could bech be made pvp?)

anyway, i look forward to thursday!

[redface 1]

i have been dreaming about player vs player coop action all my life    

anyone care to clarify what "PvP Coop" is about?

It's either coop or player vs. player=multiplayer, right? Or what am I missing?

[Shinbusan 0]

Player vs Player Cooperative

Means two sides of conflict / battle act as in normal coop game (it is multiplayer aswell by the way) but they fight against other side which act the same way.

Well, it is just a term.

The real sense of it means we play a kind of team deatchmatch, with some tasks, but we do it in other way then it is done usually in team deatchmatches. We do it more for the athmosphere of 'real battle' (oh, I know it is impossible of course), then for winning.

That is what I think.

P.S. You can compare it to:

On one side paintball match (speedball).

On the other a bunch of freaks, in military uniforms, with Air Soft Guns, hunting other group for few hours in deep wood, with using maps, compasses, military tactics.

[wheres my rabbit ? 10]

well there really just attack & defend missions with limited or no respawn..sometimes with ai squads to control

i think where it becomes "coop" is down to the players really.with the emphasis on teamplay rather than 12 guys onto 12 guys each running round the battle field doing there own thing..

[.pablo. 0]

Quote[/b] ]anyone care to clarify what "PvP Coop" is about?

pvp - 'player vs. player' [sometimes 'platoon vs. platoon'] co-op; take any co-op, and make the other side playable, and you have a pvp (provided you have people playing both sides).

Quote[/b] ]The real sense of it means we play a kind of team deatchmatch

i think referring to it as deathmatch isn't very fair. whereas in any deathmatch a key point is the balancing of power, so that the winning team is determined by the skill of its players, in pvp there is no attempt to balance the forces, and very frequently there is a large imbalance (one side has armor, the other does not, one side has air support, the other does not, etc.).

Quote[/b] ]well there really just attack & defend missions

the thing is, they don't have to be; of course, most military engagements (and missions in ofp) can be referred to as "attack and defend," but pvp by no means necessitates that type of mission.

Quote[/b] ]i think where it becomes "coop" is down to the players really

that is as true for regular co-ops as pvp, so i disagree with the implication that pvp is any less a co-op than regular (1-sided) co-ops. in fact, co-op by its very definition is a type of mission where the goal is to cooperate.

[bn880 5]

A PvP coop is basically as you describe, however it also usually involves a lot of AI under command of humans.

[Commando84 0]

i got a mission that has some of your features , but its a west cooop mission from the start that i later have evlved into a possible player vs player coop    But i need to work some scripting stuff out on it still, its almost complete  

.pablo is right

[Jinef 2]

The real definition from the mission designer:

PvP Coop

The missions we label as PvP Coop are missions designed to stress the use of tactics instead of player reflexes and skills.

The PvP Coops I make are usually platoon vs platoon sized. The blank slots are filled by AI under human command making a total force of around 100 soldiers. Because of this the game is not influenced by 1 soldier on a lucky streak. The outcome is only influenced by the most advantageous positions of forces, tactics and leadership/coordination.

Of course it would be lovely to have 80-100 players fighting with real structure and command however OFP and potential commanders just cannot handle that yet.

The most noticeable difference between coop pvp and normal pvp is the emphasis put on the commander. In a 12 vs 12 league match it's the individuals and the team that make the winner, rarely the team leader. I have never seen pvp league matches where the commander of the force is given all the credit for success. Whereas in PvP Coop it is always the commander who gets the full responsibility of the mission outcome. In my Coop PvPs the 'commander' is usually the platoon commander of lieutenant rank.

The use of AI is not a bad thing, it averages out the force making it more important for the commander to execute a more proficient plan.

The only problem with this system is that as more people play the platoon commander and more ideas are shown, people become better at attacking and defending. Better to a degree where they surpass the AI's abilities as they did in normal PvP from day one. The only answer to this is tweaking the AI to provide a more human response (as in WGLZ) and waiting for Armed Assault.

So, that is the main point of Coop PvP, to diminish the skill of a single player and to emphasise the use of tactics and proper leading.

[cain2001 0]

this is not possible due to the lack of ais IQ.

Best combination is to use Ai vs Ai only. Let Players be platoon officers then have one Company guy. The rest of the players should be tank division commander. Because Ais in Tanks are equal to humans in tanks.

I have played 22vs22 C&H Riverbattle once which was a warzone with moving cars and tanks everywhere. People were pinned down. No side made a new movie. Untill a couple of guys took a car went around north with it and came down on the other side of the river and capture the north town east has. A brillian tactical move which led to west victory. If there was a battle like this with ais involved it would ruin it, just as it has ruined CTI.

Ais should never be allowed to be out in the open, only station in some MG, tank or drive supplies trucks to the frontline.

Idea is really but but OFP cant handle it, it would be better if we made a text based game

[Jinef 2]

Quote[/b] ]Untill a couple of guys took a car went around north with it and came down on the other side of the river and capture the north town east has. A brillian tactical move which led to west victory. If there was a battle like this with ais involved it would ruin it, just as it has ruined CTI.

Umm, please do not confuse this type of game with others as you mentioned. Your example shows how these games are quite different from the games this thread is advertising. 4 soldiers jumping in a car and running around shows how unrealistic C&H is, not how amazing their tactics were.

Capturing a 'flag' with 4 guys instead of a concerted platoon effort leading to a victory is just utter bollocks. If your platoon uses smoke, artillery and better fire and movement to lead to victory then fine, if they simply sit in a trigger area for 2 minutes that is very stupid.

AIs ruining CTI: There was not much to ruin anyway. It is a really badly done game type. I really do hate playing it most of the time. Give us a proper force structure, a proper plan and remove the RTS money shit and you will have a worthy game type. All the AI do in CTI is bulk out the forces so 4 people can happily play for 5 hours letting noone else use the server.

DIE CTI.

[cain2001 0]

oh your thinking even bigger

well its good, but ofp Ais are too unrealistic to make it all work. The scripting part in the map is pretty easy. But as soon someone can use a m21 and pick off 50 infantry it kinda ruins the game.

Thats why im not a great fan ofp coop, since its not good enough. Its fun untill you get shot by a PK soldiers 1000m away. ECP seemed to smooth it all up but its still far from good.

Get started now and maybe you can use the mission template for Armed assualt and make it work :P

[.pablo. 0]

Quote[/b] ]But as soon someone can use a m21 and pick off 50 infantry it kinda ruins the game.

that seems like a good point; idk whether a typical squad/platoon would have access to that kind of weapon, though; jinef?

Quote[/b] ]Its fun untill you get shot by a PK soldiers 1000m away

well thats more a problem with ofp's ai than with co-op, and one that has been addressed, with HD weapons, editing of the ai for less accuracy without affecting the weapons, editing of ai sight and vision, etc. not to mention that you might be just as likely to get shot by someone from a great distance if you were running around by yourself while they were in a formation with 9-12 eyes scanning their surroundings for movement.

[Jinef 2]

Western ORBAT has roughly 1 sniper to each infantry platoon. Whereas they are much more common in eastern ORBAT.

In Regina Assault there is 1 West sniper.

Here is a little story to describe to you how when playing with a realism mod like WGLZ the entire OFP experience changes.

Bn880 is the west sniper.

I am on east, I am just a squad leader. We have Lwlooser as our platoon leader.

We fight off the West mainly. Every so often there is a shot echoing across the battlefield as an M24 fires. Noone can find where the fire is coming from.

We then shake out and plan to kill the sniper.

My squad is in the centre, Looz's squad is on my right and Napy's squad is on my left. We slog all the way up the mountain and start to flush out the sniper. We kill a few stray soldiers with massive firepower from our AIs and Bn880 makes a last stand before being cut down by 20 AIs.

We then start to head back. We then stumbled across the enemy platoon commander (killswitch) and killed him as well. Total casualties of this was maybe 6 guys.

I think you need to play the type of mission I made with the gameplay I made. Then comment

www.ofp-zeus.com

[Balschoiw 0]

Quote[/b] ]Western ORBAT has roughly 1 sniper to each infantry platoon. Whereas they are much more common in eastern ORBAT.

I guess you confuse snipers with sharpshooters.

In no way there is 1 sniper per platoon.