Realism, Teamwork and Enjoyment.

[Jinef 2]

The Situation

The Zeus community has vast experience with OFP MP and for the past 2 years we have been playing and developing coops with increasing levels of human integration into the enemy force. Over the past months we have been playing missions every Thursday and Saturday, usually coops where we stress the teamwork and realism in the gameplay.

The Problem

The main drawback in any cooperative mission is the Artificial Intelligence, and I am sure I do not need to state the reasons why.

Possible Solutions

We tried to remedy this situation firstly by small teams of humans who mingle in the main force and add an element of uncertainty to any engagement, this however proved too ineffective in influencing the mission and isolated the people on the enemy side from the comms and teamwork.

The second remedy was humans in command of AI squads under the control of an officer character. It proved highly enjoyable in cooperatives however the AI was still flawed and many issues arose with getting AIs out of non-local vehicles etc. etc.

The third remedy recently developed is AI under the command of a human commander via a remote command system, much like Chain of Command's CE yet for MP. This system is still as flawed as the AI it relies on.

Visions of Gameplay

The gameplay I am personally trying to achieve is based in realism, relies on teamwork and gets very intense and enjoyable. Past experiences at Zeus show this gameplay is possible on a public server; as long as people are willing to cooperate and listen to their assigned leaders.

So, the scenario I devised is very simple and linear. It is designed to encourage teamwork at the squad and fireteam level in order to provide a highly enjoyable experience to all involved.

The Scenario

A USMC Rifle Platoon (Mounted In Trucks) on the road to Khandar drives over an IED. 1st Squad are all killed or injured. An insurgent was spotted running to the Village north. The Platoon consists of HQ, 2nd and 3rd squads and a Medium MG team. Coy HQ orders the platoon to move to the village and secure it.

The Factors

> The weather is clear.

> The terrain is flat and unfavourable.

> The enemy has cover and concealment. The USMC Platoon has neither.

> The USMC outnumber the insurgents 2:1

The Win Conditions

> If the insurgents are all killed, the USMC win.

> If the USMC lose 50% of their force, the insurgents win.

> If neither condition is reached in 30 mins, nobody wins.

Hypothesis

The insurgents will need leadership, communication and initiative.

The USMC will need leadership, communication and lots of ammunition.

The First Test - Thursday

If you are interested in joining please read carefully below.

On Thursday 16th June at roughly 20:00 Zulu (GMT) we will play the mission properly for the first time. The mission will be conducted on the Zeus Addon server. I am personally hoping for around 45 players and if this test is successful this can become a weekly event.

What You Need: Addons

The scenario was developed using WGL5 June 4th beta. Apologies if you dislike WGL yet rest assured if there is a solid player base I will make versions for other mods.

You will need to download WGL5 and the Zeus Common Addons pack. Total download size is around 270mb.

Download:WGL5

Download:ZCommon

Help:Zeus Addon Help Thread

Due to several reasons the server will be using the 'EqualModRequired' configuration. This means that you will not be able to connect unless you have your addons set up correctly!

CORRECT: <table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">-nosplash -nomap -mod=@wgl5;@zcommon

INCORRECT: <table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">-nosplash -nomap -mod=@wgl5;hiSky;@ECP;FFUR;finmod;finmod;@ECP;DMA;@zcommon;LSR;BAS

What You Need: Teamspeak 2

Teamspeak 2 RC2

A microphone is not required however you must be able to hear orders and information given via voice comms.

Connection Information

Server IP: 80.190.227.54 OR zeus.gotf.net

Server Port: 2500

Server Password: red45

Teamspeak IP: 80.190.227.54 OR zeus.gotf.net

Due to the high number of players one important measure will be taken to ensure maximum optimisation.

> No Custom Files

I know you love to show the world your Lara Croft and Monkey faces, or play your FMJ soundbites for the Nth time however the reduced network traffic will allowe quick connections, low to zero desync and a happy server machine overall.

Contact Us

> Post Here

> Go On Teamspeak

> Go On IRC - #ofp-zeus @ Quakenet

> Post on Zeus Forums in this thread:

Zeus Forums - A&D Mission Thread

Afterthought Rambles

I noticed when playing in the BCL league that it was still possible in these late days of OFP to get large numbers on a server, it seems that there is more than enough players out there, they are just isolated in their own little communities. It seems that many communities and clans are willing to cooperate with other servers and this is a good opportunity for that.

Please understand that I find playing CTF, C&H and CTI tiresome. There is no correlation to reality and the incessant respawn creates a very flippant attitude in the players, allowing them to devise such tactics as 'chopper bombing'. I dislike player vs player battles simply because of the way in which it is done. I hope my mission will remove the unrealistic boundaries and really get the players to focus on widely accepted tactics to destroy the enemy, instead of 'player skill' or 'weapon choice'.

My fears:

> De-Sync

> WGL5 Instability Issues

> TDM Mentality

Ok, hope to see some replies.

[dslyecxi 23]

This sounds like it should be a lot of fun. Expect to see some people from ShackTac and some of the SA OFP Goons show up.

[Nathan Bedford Forrest 0]

FIRE AND MANOUEVRE, BLEEEEEEEEEEEE :P

As Jinef said, expect to be slapped into following 'realistic' fireteam/squad etc tactics. As much as it pains me to say, rambo leroy tdm uber 1337z0r people won't go down very well :P Looking forward to playing [shooting in the face] with blokes I haven't played with before.

[Shinbusan 0]

Great.

What I would like to see next is to get ZEUS community vs CFOG community in this scenario (but we do not use ZCommon pack). If this mission is possibble to cut to not use yours pack, then we can host it on our very good server with WGL5 (well, we use CoC Arty / Mines, BDM_Lorient and Sarugao Islands in addition).

We can assure you that we will play in very real manner, no TDM behaviours. But I would like to play it with my team (we play together only coops for 99,99% of time), as it is much different then playing with some not known bunch of players (and there would be no language problem, as we are all Polish in CFOG).

I was going to make something similar in FFUR2006, but it is not a good mod for MP (stability sucks).

So if you are interested, PM me what and when we can do and we will do it with pleasure and we hope we will stand for highest standards.

Regards

P.S. I have some interesting mission as well, but it was not fully tested so it is not playable atm.

P.S.2. Our server is very good as I said and we do not want to play without our custom faces, as they are VERY important to us (most of us have our real faces in game).

[Metio 0]

very nice idea, I just came back to OFP after long time, and with latest addons this remain the best sim-war...

so I still DL right now..

I'll try to join you.

just one questions, crossair will be ON or OFF ?

ciao

[Nathan Bedford Forrest 0]

Crosshair off and no third person Just the way we like it. Ironsights ftw :P

[Guest Ti0n3r]

This sounds pretty nice. I'll try to be there

[deanosbeano 0]

count me in.sounds fantastic.

[ryankaplan 1]

me and my fellow kazahk men will be there.

[strango 5]

I'll do my best to be there.

[gunterlund 0]

damit Jinef, now I have to miss work... 2000GMT... crap..Well its for the good of the corps.

[Jinef 2]

Ok everyone. The server is configured for Thursday. I strongly suggest you set up your addons in advance to ensure no problems on thursday. I do not plan to wait a few hours doing tech support.

[Nathan Bedford Forrest 0]

^^^^ yep. The Zeus IRC channel, TS and the forums will always be available for any addon related questions [and this thread too]. We would recommend you load up your addons and see if you can get on the server before the gaming night on Thursday. We won't be able to wait for anyone to get their addons sorted at the start. However, as games last 30mins you may get someone on the night who can give you some last minute addon help etc

[Jinef 2]

Ok we did preliminary tests of the scenario tonight.

I changed the mission design slightly to ensure the insurgents actually adhere to their intended objective. They cannot leave the village area and have to defend it.

Shinbusan: The lack of custom files is just temporary. I want to see how the server responds to such a large number of people. It is on 100mbit and fast processors etc however this mission will be intensive.

[Jinef 2]

Shinbusan, I will definitely want to organise something with you lot. If you give me a rough idea of your numbers I will make a mission to suit a Zeus vs CFOG scenario.

Got an idea for the type of mission you want? I could make one in around an hour.

Shall we make a date for Sunday maybe?

[Shinbusan 0]

I'll ask is this sunday is o'right for most of us. I guess yes.

ATM we have 30 people active on our new forums (http://szarego.webd.pl/cfog/forum/portal.php - only Polish language I am afraid) but I think on such event I can organize 10-12 people. But I'll make a list today-tommorow and I give you more precision number. But we are not a clan, so there is no some... a must in our group and you never know how many people will come.

About mission. No matter, but I would like to see something in a type of your example above. Realistic mission with realistic squad tactics. For start it would be better to not use heavy equipment, as it can lag sometimes in WGL. And consider to give us a wide variety in rucksack magazines Default content in WGL rucksacks are often not the best choice.

Regards,

Grey

[Jinef 2]

I think the Zeus people might require more time to get organised for a match with you guys. We might have to stick it forward to next week or something.

Well, instead of making hassle for mission makers maybe WGL should actually sort out their loadouts ....

My missions are generally 100% infantry, or some sort of supported infantry. I feel that is what OFP is best at. The tanks and helicopters are usually out of place on the scale of terrain in OFP.

[Shinbusan 0]

Aye, my thoughts mate. This sunday is to close.

ATM I have 9 people on the list, I think more will come. It means I will have 9-15 people for our battle. We can set some rules out of mission scripting, if it is better for you. After all, it is about enjoyment, not winning at all costs.

P.S. I like to have some assessments like one cobra or Bradley or few mortars, as it adds a lot to cooperation, but it must be a slight force to not get all tasks from infantry...

But then, in Black Death (one of our favotite missions, I am not sure is it done by ZEUS), infantry do additional role, and the workhorses are Apaches.

[deanosbeano 0]

Quote[/b] ]I changed the mission design slightly to ensure the insurgents actually adhere to their intended objective. They cannot leave the village area and have to defend it.

hmm i dont want to sound presumtious, but there will be insurgents in a village and usmc attack that village and insur.. defend ?

if this is case will the insurgents be same side as civs and look same etc ,so that if usmc start shooting civs who arent player ,they are penalised ?

just asking i will be there anyway , but was intrigued with the defend village type map.

[strango 5]

I changed the mission design slightly to ensure the insurgents actually adhere to their intended objective. They cannot leave the village area and have to defend it.

I'm not sure how you set it up, but it would be best to allow insurgents to leave the village, but not leave it totally undefended and if a case comes about where there is no insurgent presense in the village, but there is USMC then USMC get the win.

It's not unrealistic for the insurgents to be able to send guys outside the village to do recon and harrasement tactics.

[Shinbusan 0]

Bad news. We use older version of WGL. Let's wait with this event to full release (as we do not want to change version now).

Sorry for disturbing

[.pablo. 0]

1. AI needs to be improved (taking cover needs to be added)

2. game mechanics need to be improved (no more running 10km with no effect)

[Shinbusan 0]

I hope you plan to publish some After Action Report and maybe conclusions. Regards.

[og.. 0]

Videos from tonights gaming; Yelling, whining, laughing, 203s, richochets, coloured smoke and IEDs.

Enjoy!!

http://ofpc.de/wargames/download.php?list.5

[Jinef 2]

Review: Platoon Attack 1 - First Test

From the few people I asked the general response was positive.

From the criticism I got and from what I saw myself the following will be changed/added.

Modifications In Next Version:

> Larger area for insurgents to defend

> Marker to depict mission boundaries

> Customised weapon loadouts

> Removal of AI originating from disconnecting players

> Modification of Network Services Init To Prevent Desync

To clarify, I believe the desync was caused by a failed initialisation of NS and that the number of players on the server was quite sustainable. I will be making some changes to the startup sequence in an effort to kill that bug.

As for the gameplay, I found it highly enjoyable, more so in the daylight versions. It was quite different always having to be concious of your position on the battlefield and taking cover took new meaning with the increased terrain detail, sparse objects and deadly open ground.

On a sidenote the test ended when they put on a coop mission, so the shit missions that followed were not part of the test

So please offer your views on what you thought of it and what other scenarios you think would be good.

Shinbusan: Let us hope WGL5 is released in a timely fashion then. Or use a different modification.