CoC_CEX Battle Group

[walker 0]

Hi all

I promised this mission on CoC_CEX release but a close family illness has meant I have had little time to work on it and have had to postpone its release till now, it is still a little rough at the edges and I have not totally checked all the end conditions.

This is the single player version.

The mission lasts up to 4 hours. You control an all arms battle group in contest against a full battalion plus; controlled by the ArmA AI (all hail the ArmA Guard Waypoint)

The mission was originally intended as a load test so it may chug on slow machines that said we are already load testing at two battalions a side now so who knows what CoC_CEX in ArmA is capable of but please let us know about any bugs as you are supplying valuable beta test info.

The mission now has a briefing though it is not as complete as I would like this is part of the sit-rep to get you in the mood.

Quote[/b] ]SITUATION IN GENERAL

At 02.22 Hrs ST Our spy satellite network over the Atlantic islands were taken out by enemy hunter killer satellites and ground based blinding laser and maser systems. The space battle is still fluid and we await the arrival of new spy satellites being re-tasked from from the Pacific and or launched from the space shuttle. The battle is still going on in the international space station and both sides are threatening to bring it down if the other takes control. At 02:35 Enemy forces of about a 2 battalions strength based on Rahmadi invaded the South of Sahrani.  We won the first battle for the Air Field we destroyed a couple of companies of enemy paratroopers who attempted a coup de main there. Both forces fixed wing assets are completely destroyed, the enemy's comprehensive mobile air defence took out the last of our local fixed wing assets. We are awaiting the arrival of a carrier task group so we can reassert air superiority in 2 days time. The enemy naval forces have retired to their harbours to pick up more reinforcements the round trip of 12 hours means it will take them another 4 hours to put another two battalions on the beaches but the enemies fixed wing air landing capability means they could land another battalion every 2 hours if they had the Air Field; that must be prevented at all costs.  

Download the mission files at:

http://www.thechainofcommand.net/downloa....ion.zip

Mirror from Armaholic thanks to Big

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=2018

You will need the CoC_CEX (Command Engine) this is the strategic interface that allows you to control large groups in ArmA go to the forum thread to download it and to read more about how CoC_CEX works.

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....t=67904

Here is the youtube video so you know what it does

The video only shows a squad under CoC_CEX control this mission gives you just shy of a battalion to control.

Have fun tell us all about the bugs otherwise we cannot fix them  

Kind Regards Walker

[Shashman 0]

Cheers for the release, will try it asap

Also, I wish your close one a swift and full recovery

[manzilla 1]

I second that. Regards to you and your family. I hope for a fast and successful progression back to health. Thank you for working to release this AddOn and mission. The fact that you take time to work on this stuff through these difficult times is remarkable and greatly appreciated. I will try this when I wake up. Thanks again, take care.

[mrj-fin 0]

Great to see some mission whit that brilliant system.

[walker 0]

Hi all

I just finished the mission found a few minor mission bugs but no real show stoppers.

3 hours 4 mins.

Had loads of fun.

Really happy my overall strategy paid off. Basically a defence and counter attack. Held the original line after setting up some ambushes on the flank roads. Then I fainted an attack on the west flank before switching to the centre and east. I moved up to Monte Yorito and formed a new defense line and absorbed the AI attacks before resuming the central line attack around and through Somato, using cobras for the initial breakthrough followed up with infantry to secure the flanks then a full on three tank platoon breach on out onto the southern plane and victory

I split time 50/50 between the Command Engine and controlling individual groups I also spent some of the none CoC_CEX time as a CAS pilot working in the centre and east flank to break up enemy counter attacks and for the initial breakthrough. Most of the CoC_Cex time was at the start and middle but once I had set the strategic conditions to win I then spent more time nursing my groups along.

The mix of strategic map, tactical group and individual action was excellent not hard to get it right when you, can decide what needs to be done rather than the the mission designers waypoints and triggers. This is what CoC_CEX is about, freedom to choose your role on the battle field.

When I switched in to control individual squads the overall feel of the battle going on all around was inescapable, since your the commander you know what the commanders intent is but when you are out of the command loop working on an individual action the enemies actions and sounds of battle start to play on your mind and really build up the tension. Do I devote time to get this squad to the exact point I want, or do I need to deal with that big battle that is taking place on the opposite flank?

Was my strategy and tactical placement enough?  

At one point I was acting as commander of the weapons platoon AT squad (they had got hung up after fire fight and needed some medic help and reorg. I moved them up on to my east flank in the hills above the central plane they needed to be forward of my east flank tank platoon. I could hear the central platoon of tanks and infantry in a very heavy fire fight but my AT needed to be up protecting that east flank.

As I came up I saw the east flank M1A1s in a very heavy engagement lots of smoke, they took out an enemy tank platoon but the last T72 made it in to knife fighting range and took out two of the M1A1s as I arrived. The last two M1A1s took it out; and my AT squad passed through to the edge of a forest 300m beyond the M1A1s, I could hear more tanks approaching so I got my men facing the right direct but in V formation.

Over the next 3 minutes My squad and the Abrahams executed a perfect 90 degree crossfire ambush and slaughtered 2 tank platoons and two BMP2s but the BMPs troops managed to AT one of the M1A1s. I switched to my nearby MG section of the weapons platoon and ran them up to protect the last M1A1 but as we passed through to the site of the ambush I could hear more vehicles. At first I thought they were trucks but a little while later I realised it was Shilka with BRDMS and more BMPS. I started to switch back to the AT squad to find they were already engaged. But BRDMS and Shilkas are the bane of infantry suddenly I was loosing troops left right and centre. My AT commander got killed, so I team switched back to the HQ squad.

And in the centre Charlie squad of 3rd Platoon no longer existed and Alpha platoon of the tank company was taking a real mauling with two tanks damaged.

Now I wanted some payback!

I moved my 1st platoon from their reserve position they had inherited after the initial phase of the mission so my left flank was once again protected; then I switched to one of my CAS units I had brought down to protect my open east flank east of Paraiso.

Now I spent the next 15 minutes doing sneak around and pop up attacks first on the shilka (which had already been killed AT team or M1A1? I don’t know) then on to open up the centre and take out the enemy logistics convoy. Eventually after a repair refuel and rearm and more killing the AI got real pissed at me and every time I popped up I was being MGed or attacked by shilkas they even came hunting for me and in the end an enemy AA guy sneaked through my lines and took me out. Back to HQ and then some refuelling of my CAS units before another 2 shorter CAS runs AI seemed to be wise to me  by then

Then I pushed the remains of my 3rd infantry platoon out round Somato and two of my M1A1 platoons through it before following up with my Tank company HQ for the final push through to the Oil Fields and then on to the invasion beaches to win. It was little more hectic than that two BMP squads another platoon of tanks and then a couple infantry platoons but I limped on to the beaches in an orange tank with red track, the victor.

Kind Regards walker

[manzilla 1]

Walker and the CEX crew,

I've been playing this mission this morning and it's fantastic. Until this mission I was playing the demo versions and all though short(which I usually do not like to play) they were a blast with CEX. Rarely do I sit down for extended periods of time and play ArmA. Mostly because of my job and first love, managing/trading securities is an all day affair, but hey it's Sunday.

After playing this mission i gotta say... WOW!! CEX is truly a game changer and the mission is excellent. Since CEX's release it's getting harder for me to play a mission with out, except for EvoSP, Dynamic War and a few others. It just doesn't feel as complete with out the command ability. It would be great if the community would make a concerted effort to persuade mission makers to update their current SP missions to incorporate CEX, politely I should add.

Anyways, thanks for getting this mission to us and no doubt a much bigger thanks for the release in light of your current situation. I have a few more hours until Asian markets open and it's gonna be hard for me to stop playing and get on the phone with my traders.

When I finish the mission and get some work done I will post any bugs I've found.

(Lastly, I apologize for mixing in some praise for CEX on this thread. It just seemed easier to praise both in one post.)

[walker 0]

Hi all

Some reports on speed and playability would help us with the load test

Snakeman has told us that on an AMD 2800+, 1gb ram, radeon 9800 128 Pro it lags too much. The number of units is well over 1000 so memory and or processor may be key in testing.

Part of what the beta testing is about is for us to know what system specs to recommend for the different scales of mission.

I will be releasing a multi battalion mission similar to this but with more objectives for both AI and the player to be called "CEX Battalion Strength" hopefully it should cripple more peoples computers of a higher spec, if not then we have to wait till extra command levels are added to CEX to find what the limits are.

Then we can do the graph and the relevant calculations to work out what the expected loads are.

We need more data to create the graph.

Kind Regards walker

[Elgarion 0]

I played it for a while, it's a fine mission. Now I'm waiting a coop version!

Great job!

[froggyluv 2136]

Specs:

          E6400 @3.1 ghz

          7900 gs @600/790; 162.18 driver

          2 gig 800 ddr2

          Commando Mobo

Settings:

             Terrain -very low

             Object+Texture- very high

             Shading- normal

             Shadows- disabled

             AA- very high

             blood- very high

             visiblility- 3000

             Res- 1440x900x32

Mods:

         Six_Pack1;RHS + Cam Mcd's Replacement;Chammys

FPS remained at 20-25 sometimes dipping to 15-17 during huge front on front tank action. No stutter or texture loss

[Jblack 0]

Walker this is great, but it's really slow, any advice on how to improve response speed?

[manzilla 1]

That's the point of these missions. It's a test to see what systems can handle. If enough people give their system info, FPS, etc. they will be able to figure out the best size to make their missions. Look at Froggyluv's post above yours and provide that info.

[gunterlund 0]

Hi Walker

Tried to run this mission and all is did was crash the game with an out of memory error. Any Ideas

System Spec

Intel E8500 3.5 Ghz

2 gigs OCZ ddr3 ram

Asus 9800gx2 card

Vista 32 Bit

Latest drivers on all

Asus Striker extreme II Mobo.

Startup parameters

-mod=beta;DBE1 -nosplash -nomap

On a side note.

Game also locks up using CEX with fewer groups as well. Had to disable hardware acceleration and EAX sound. Kept getting a clicking noise in my headset.

[manzilla 1]

Startup parameters

-mod=beta;DBE1 -nosplash -nomap

Where did you put the 3 CEX .pbo's? From the looks of your startup line, it seems you put the .pbo's in the main AddOns folder.

If you do, I'd recommend using the mod folder method. If you do have CEX .pbos in it's own mod folder within the main ArmA directory, you need to add @CEX to the startup parameter.

Like so:

-mod=beta;DBE1;@CEX -nosplash -nomap

This maybe the reason you can't get CEX to work in game.

[gunterlund 0]

Oops sorry they are in there as well. Otherwise it wouldnt even run.