Evolution

[OrLoK 20]

hello all

Im sure Ive stated all this before in the dim and distant past, but here goes...

Evo and Domination, IMHO captured the public imagination due to their size, scope and longevity.

Plus, for some, the ease of transition from other games like the BF series.

As has been said many times before each has their pros and cons, I did, however, become frustrated with the amount of servers running just these missions (albeit in various forms and versions) and found that most servers running other "proper" missions usually needed selected and rather large addons, which made them impractical to play.

In fact I recently found a nice server (ARMA1)which just had ACE installed, but delt mainly with the traditional mission types. Unfortunatley my style of gameplay had been affected so much by the hand holding of both Evo and Dom that I was more of a hinderance to the other players than a help! And i thought i WAS a proper team player! and trying to find my way around with no GPS was nigh impossible I'm ashamed to say.

Anyway I digress.

Yes, I want to have Evo and Dom in ARMA2, but I also want one life only missions (perhaps with medical aid) and less predictable AI and targets to combat.

This thing with E+D (i wonder if i can abbreviate them any more?) is that once you have taken over, for eg, Cayo, you pretty much know where to LZ then snipe then move in and its a bit repetative after a while, ACE spiced things up with the less kill probability, but a quick look at yer score board (something i personally loath in ARMA) shows whether you've got a wound or a kill.

I suppose though after re reading this that any mission one has played gets repetative after a while, here's hoping the dynamics I've been reading about in ARMA 2 can alter this.

It would be nice though if more support roles could be made (either through ACE or within the missions themseleves) as there are alot of folk out there who get a kick out of assisting in the mission rather than taking part in direct combat. (Pilot/engie/medic etc). Or if supportive actions got one some kind of recognition/reward?

I don't mean powerups or a sexy new weapon, but for eg, when an area is targeted for attack create a FP randomly some way away from the target and if one drives a truck there, he can pick up an "ammobox" or AI troops to help bolster the front line.

Just a vague idea but i think you get what i mean.

At the moment, especially in E, you are rewarded for non team play and just for racking up kills. the more you remove those rewards or boost up the rewards for non rambo activites the more you will see less narcicistic play IMHO.

Scuse the rambling post, but Ive had very little sleep and the beer monster got me last night. I'll prob re edit later.

Rgds

LoK

[Heatseeker 0]

I honestly hope we get something better for Arma 2, if mp ends up like Arma did i'll stick to SP.

Real coop, no "points", ranking up, money, factories just none of that crap.

Evolution could work if it was smaller in scale and teamplay oriented, it wasnt.

You dont need to use the games full arsenal on a single mission, that will end up in a mess.

[Richard Bruce Cheney 10]

I play EVOLUTION BLUE singleplayer, and it takes days for me to complete it. It's a ton of fun, showcasing the best that ArmA has to offer. Ambushes, artillery strikes, air attacks, night missions, coordinated assaults and much more!

I love the ranking system and would like to see even more ranks and perks for progressing.

The EVOLUTION mission that someone pulled from the ArmA2 pbo plays closer to a warfare mission than anything. But I was surprised to find a hidden bonus in that mission : the ability to SAVE!

Hopefully, someone will convert the EVOLUTION missions to ArmA2 and include this ability - that would be super duper COOL!

:bounce3:

[Cionara 10]

I like and play Evo on Arma2 a lot. But often I find myself grindin and rushin for points.

It would be great if the whole team unlocks things together not each player for himself.

You are Corporal when the whole team has 300 points and so on...

That would be cool =)

[Misfit Leader 1]

And how many respawn to do it ?

[Dwarden 1124]

you forgot that A2 allows way more dynamic AI life for ambience, primary and side mission modules ...

so think of these wishes as evolution of quick coop missions ...

[kazesim 2]

(Sorry about the book-length post but I have way too much time on my hands until ArmA2 is out)

Like just about everyone else in ArmA, I basiclly just played Evo, and still do...when I can find a server under 250 ping...

I thought Evo was the best mission because, unlike the others, its scale actually matched that of the game world, and because it gave you the oppertunity to play any role you want. You could do anything from cappin AI with an MP5 to getting shot out of a repair truck by some random AI they had missed when the town was captured. Basiclly, I liked Evo because it encompassed everything the game had to offer; every town, vehicle, and weapon (BLUFOR at least), into one mission.

I will agree, however, that the mission design did not encourage teamplay at all. Why sneak into a city with your squad of other players to destroy the radio tower when you can kamakazi in there with a hmmwv and a satchel charge? Why escort your teamates into the city in your tank when you can rank up faster sitting outside the town on that hill? I can think of a few things that can be fixed in Evo to increase the teamwork and make it more "realistic".

The best fix would just be adding revive, Iv only played on a few revive servers but it does seem to keep everyone together, especally if someone can only be revived by a medic. This gives an advantage to teamplay that people actually care about, when you get taken out by an AI with a AK-47 at 800 meters you might not have to wait for the chopper ride back, if the medic gets to you fast enough (i.e is nearby).

The second biggest one is what I call "VEHICLE OVERLOAD". Why wait for the guy flying transport to get back when you can just take your own helo? Theres another tank in the hangar, Im sure nobody will care if I take this one for myself...Basiclly, I think there are too many vehicles in Evo, not too many types of vehicles, just numerically too many that anyone can use. Once you have ranked up by sitting on that hill outside Paraiso with a Hmmwv Mk19, you can use any vehicle you want, which dosent really promote teamplay, and isnt very realistic.

I would really like to see Evo as more of a role-based mission, where the role that you pick on the login screen (or picked in-game via a dialogue, which might be better since it wouldnt put hard limit on the number of role slots) actually determines what you do in the mission. After all, Cobra pilots are not typically cross-trained as tank crewmen. Armored vehicle crewmen drive the tanks, pilots fly the planes, infantry get access to more weapons and equipment, specilized infantry get access to other options like building the FARPs, MASHs, sandbags, morters, howitzers and other static weapons and what not, depending on role. This dosent mean that there couldnt be any "ranking up", as Cionara said; it could be a team rank-up, an escalation in the war, achieved by capturing citys and doing side-missions (not kills), with the pilots having access to better planes and infantry having access to better weapons and so on, I think the rank mechanic was important, as it gave you somthing to work toward, other then the end of the mission that could be days away.

Finally, I think the scripted airstrikes and AI-squad-summon functions should go. With the many new vehicles and weapons in the game the air and artillery can be handled by players and would make the mission far more cooperative. I also think that every player should not have the ability to make an AI squad, this leave absolutly no advantage to joining a player squad, the ability to create AI should be reserved for those playing the squad leader role, and other players should only be able to join squad leaders. There wouldnt be a set limit on the number of squad leaders, or any role for that matter, how many play each role should be a matter for the players to decide.

After playing tons of Evo, and even making my own custom single-player version of it (after learning how to script and spending hundreds of hours writing it), I think these are the some of the most important revisions that could be made, and hope they serve as useful suggestions to other mission-writers when ArmA2 is released.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

What we need is either Evolution or Domination to become a much slower game. Now we even have ranked versions of Domination, a system that I really don't like, and has made the two game modes more and more equal. Personally I'm a great fan of roleplaying, but I tried modding Domination into that, and found that even that had its downsides.

The biggest fault as I see it, is that it is very hard to play these two modes realistically in the way they are designed. And there are basically no consequences ever for playing like an idiot.

I have nothing against 'funds' like in Warfare, but I'd like to call them mission points, awarded to the player who can then transfer it to the global pot.

Basically we now have two quite equal game modes, for the typical fast paced run & gun Battlefield and COD players. But for us that want's to play realisically, we only have seagull oriented objectives. What we lack is a dynamic grand scale respawn mission (with limitations), that are suitable for those who like to play realistic missions. With concequences for the stupid player, but will still work ok for the careful yet somewhat unlucky player.

I might propose a new 'game mode' (like Domination and Evolution) in a few days, if a good mission maker is up to the task :) I modded Domination rather heavily, but I'm not confident enough to make somthing like that from scratch. All those JIP issues, yuck.

[11aTony 0]

Now, where is someone to make this evo into 2.0? I didnt play this one much but I think you cant do sidemissions, recruit, no admin support and so on. It seems that there is bunch of scripts in mission already but not much of them enabled.

It would be really nice.

[-)rStrangelove 0]

What i'd like to see would be a terrorist version of Evo. There would be no enemy army waiting for you in a city, there would be terrorists lurking in houses and walking secretly among the civilians.

When there are just a few players in the city, nothing happens. The players should be forced to bring in support trucks or other vehicles to help the civilians and so gaining respect. At a random time hell breaks loose and players find themselves surrounded.

Should be fun. Also, searching houses for hidden weapons and bombs should be more fun more, due to ArmA2 offering more enterable houses.

[andreher 10]

hi,

i saw some servers running evo fun and evolution version 0.3...

where can i download these?

---------- Post added at 11:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:02 AM ----------

btw, is there any mission with like a TDM, with respawn and veicle respawn (all veicles)... yes like BF2, there to download?

i just want to play versus with my friends with unlimited respawns and veicles, just for fun

[nedley 10]

hi,

i saw some servers running evo fun and evolution version 0.3...

where can i download these?

---------- Post added at 11:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:02 AM ----------

btw, is there any mission with like a TDM, with respawn and veicle respawn (all veicles)... yes like BF2, there to download?

i just want to play versus with my friends with unlimited respawns and veicles, just for fun

If you join a server, you download the mission to your PC.

You can find it in My documents, 'ArmA2' or 'ArmA2 Other Profiles', Your Profile name, MPmissions.

As for the TDM. You can make one in minutes, use a template from Armaholic.com to make life easy for yourself.

Play about with the editor and read into vehicle respawn scripts.

99% of Arma1 editing applies to Arma2.

Good luck

[tirramissu 0]

It's quite unfinished. AI recruiting and others menus (on 't') do not work, radio towers do not 'call' reinforcements, Damaged vehicles disappear or respawn (in case of player faction), etc. etc. etc.

[11aTony 0]

Yes, and you weapons loadouts dont save at ammobox 1 even though there are scripts for that in mission.

[Hedgehog 10]

If you join a server, you download the mission to your PC.

You can find it in My documents, 'ArmA2' or 'ArmA2 Other Profiles', Your Profile name, MPmissions.

As for the TDM. You can make one in minutes, use a template from Armaholic.com to make life easy for yourself.

Play about with the editor and read into vehicle respawn scripts.

99% of Arma1 editing applies to Arma2.

Good luck

Sorry, but can u upload this mission on the file exchange network, my internet channal in my house is too bad, to play this game on the internet, but I want to play it LAN...

[palanoid 0]

the in-built evolution campaign ends after conquering the 3rd town gilevodsk(forgot the spelling), as when i went to the 4th town zelenogorsk there were no enemies/civilian. :(

@hedgehog i can pm u a link to download if u need it,i found it in some german gaming clan forums.

[andreher 10]

ive send u a pm

[goose4291 11]

I've currently opened a thread in the ArmA 1 User missions forum to debate the pro's and cons of evolution, and it's various features as I'm working on a more co-op orientated version. Please join in the debate as no doubt once I get hold of ArmA 2 I'll start working on that one too!

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=74420

[7 0]

Thanks to who ever supplied ArmA 2 gamers with the Coop Marines Evo. It's almost the only mission being played now.

And one server is appropriately named "www.Call-of-duty-gamingclan.de".

Anyone know any good, mature servers with 3rd and crosshair disabled? I've never been in a server that disabled 3rd person, even in PVP servers, which is kind of weird because 3rd person gives you a cheating advantage in cities. :S

[radioshack. 11]

The only reason why this mission is played so much because there aren´t so much more out there at the moment...

[DFA_Graywo1f 0]

one thing my squad did to evolution in ArmA 1 was. we disabled the score and made you the highest rank after just one kill. and to be honest it was a whole different mind set when you were not able to see your score by hitting the "I" key. because it was dissabled and you were already the highest rank after your one kill i quickly found out that our squad was working together much easier and not running off after that lone squad for an easy few points. so EVO will work, just take out the score and BS ranks :) and also randomize the towns. that way its always different...... EVO got so old in ArmA one because it was ALWAYS Parasio then Somato then Cayo bla bla bla blaaaa ZzzzzzzzzzZzzzzzzzz

[dale0404 5]

Domination Maps ftw!

[andreher 10]

one thing my squad did to evolution in ArmA 1 was. we disabled the score and made you the highest rank after just one kill. and to be honest it was a whole different mind set when you were not able to see your score by hitting the "I" key. because it was dissabled and you were already the highest rank after your one kill i quickly found out that our squad was working together much easier and not running off after that lone squad for an easy few points. so EVO will work, just take out the score and BS ranks :) and also randomize the towns. that way its always different...... EVO got so old in ArmA one because it was ALWAYS Parasio then Somato then Cayo bla bla bla blaaaa ZzzzzzzzzzZzzzzzzzz

how to do that

[Binary 0]

how to do that

1.) unpbo mission file

2.) open description.ext

3.) change rank-scores to 0

4.) re-pbo

5.) voila

[goose4291 11]

one thing my squad did to evolution in ArmA 1 was. we disabled the score and made you the highest rank after just one kill. and to be honest it was a whole different mind set when you were not able to see your score by hitting the "I" key.

Sorry to bother you, but how do you stop players from looking at their scores? What scripting is needed to inhibit the use of the "I" key?