Proposals & debate on a new version of Evolution.

[goose4291 11]

After playing the servers for a few months, I've decided to attempt a new variation of Evolution. I would like some input on the following alterations.

(i) New island. Am I not the only one tired of slogging across Sahrahani? Anyone wish to suggest a potential new map.

(ii) Removal of civillian vehicles, and the massive number which are available at the airbase this would force more team based play regarding the transport issue. Personally I'm sick to death of everyone just running off to do their own thing. This would also limit the chance of a player running off and opening a new town before ones been finished.

(iii) Switch of side. RACS? SLA? Or US. Pro's and cons please.

(iv) Removal of side missions option. Can only help to reduce lag caused by people starting multiple missions.

(v) Streamlining of support options. I mean, do we really need ICBM's?

Any input on the above proposals would be greatly appreciated.

[shunday 0]

Here are some suggestions based on my opinions of what evolution lacks.

Mainly cooperation issues and replay value.

1. Definitly tired of playing it the same way every time, but Sahrani has a good set of varying terrain. What could be done, so that people doesnt have to download new maps is having the town that is supposed to be attacked be non-linear, either through random or include a choice from one of the players, possibly even having an overall commander with some other options available.

2. Yes! Less vehicles! Possibly add more vehicles based on number of players. It may not help getting rid of lonewolfs or lack of vehicles, so maybe some sort of delay/restriction script is in order here even if it wont solve the problem in itself. Other games have solved this through longer vehicle respawns or synched player pool respawns.

About towns being opened, you could restrict it to only one town at a time.

3. Doesnt matter that much, but US is prefered mainly because of all the equipment.

You could use RACS or civilians as a surprise faction coming in on either side and doing some damage.

4. Side missions sure breaks cooperation. If you want them to stay, you could make them a part of the main mission and in the vicinity. Side missions could either make it harder or easier for the main mission, depending on the result.

5. No need for heavy support. Make artillery support less effective. It spoils the gameplay for other players.

Even though evolution isnt that realistic, icbm-ing towns always seemed and looked ultra ridiculous.

There are more options to create better gameplay and cooperation but im guessing you want to narrow down the work a bit.

[goose4291 11]

Right, so far this is what I've got planned. Guys, I'd really like some input on these ideas, that way I don't put something together no-one wants to play.

(i) Keep the map as Sahrahni for the moment, but with all towns (Like Total Evolution) (Once I've got it working, I'll transfer it to other maps)

(ii) Civillian vehicles will be removed. This will focus more on team transport, as players wont be able to move around as fluidly (Also with the inclusion of the lives system, may lead to Search and Rescue missions for downed pilots!)

Respawnable Vehicles at the base

Number of transport humvee's: 2

Number of 5t transport trucks: 2

Number of little birds: 2

Number of repair trucks: 4

Ammo trucks: 2 (Ammo supplies replenished via script every time a town

is taken)

Fuel trucks: 2

DC-3: 1 (Everyone wants to do a paradrop, own up!)

Respawn time of these vehicles will be twenty minutes, to try to encourage more teamplay, and less suicidal dashes into enemy territory

Repairable Vehicles at the base

M1A2: 1

Stryker (Grenade Launcher & TOW): 1 of each

Stryker (M2): 2

Humvee (Grenade Launcher & Tow): 2 of each

Humvee (M2): 4

Vulcan: 1

UH-60 (Minigun): 1 (No FFAR version, as it's too overpowered)

AH-1: 2

Harrier: 2 (No A-10, it's way to overkill)

(iii) Sticking with the US as Blufor

(iv) Totally dropping side missions

(v) Removing several of the heavier support options, as well as para-ammo crate (Focuses the need to protect the ammo trucks). No MHQ's or HALO drops.

New proposals

(vi) Set the number of lives to 10 (Stops suicide runs)

(vii) Retain the revive system as seen on several servers (Extra life awarded for reviving, focusing efforts on team play)

(viii) Gear selection. M240 unlocked from the start (Try to include fire support as a role within the mission.) Reduce number of satchel charges to 1 (Removing the latest tool in the griefer's arsenal: Blowing up of bridges). You don't need more than 1 satchel at a time!

(ix) Squad selection. Maximum number of AI will be 2, only available at key scores (i.e. 1 AI will be available from corporal upwards to allow the players to man a vehicle fully by themselves and 2 AI at the top level so the Abrams can be properly manned.) the AI classes available will be Rifleman, Crew or Pilot to allow Player medics to have a greater role and score some points (As it stands a player can recruit a medic, which hardly seems right)

(x) Increasing points scored by a medic for healing a player, and repairing vehicles.

Gentlemen, I can only stress I need your input before I commence this. I see the threads been viewed 40 times, but only one reply. If we all put input into this, we can make a fantastic evolution variation!

Edited June 15, 2009 by goose4291

[wld427 1705]

well i think the Ai shoudl go to 7 or 9 more like a squad.

Change teh side to RACS.

We at project RACS ave an entire library of wquipment fo ryou to choose from. The armor pack, m113s, and many nice helicopters and aircraft.

[goose4291 11]

well i think the Ai shoudl go to 7 or 9 more like a squad.

Change the side to RACS.

We at project RACS ave an entire library of wquipment fo ryou to choose from. The armor pack, m113s, and many nice helicopters and aircraft.

As I've said in the Project RACS mission thread, I'll work on a Project RACS variant at the same time as I commence this project. :) Just bare with me, I'm having difficulty remembering how to make missions. It's been over 4 years since my last OFP release!

As it stands I'm just wanting to retain the 'vanilla' units that come with the standard game, to reduce the number of addons required to increase the number of people more likely to use this new version. The only exception to this was I'm toying with the idea of putting it on a new island, purely because Sahrahni is so damn repetative.

[kazesim 2]

Basically what we all seem to be talking about is a version of Evo that is more like Domination. In case you havnt played it, here is a summary: There is only 4 blackhawks and some repair/ammo trucks at base that respawn if destroyed, all vehicle are drivable from the start but they can only be obtained as random rewards for clearing citys. All weapons are unlocked. All vehicles can be repaired by airlifting them to the wreck station at airbase. There are 2 MHQs that can be airlifted via BH, you can load an ammo box in them and drop it. Players can teleport between MHQs and airbase and can also para. Citys are populated with enemy at random, one at a time, there are also random side missions that come up for extra vehicle rewards. Citys are reinforced via Mi-17 until the radio tower is destroyed with satchels. The enemy also occasonally attacks the airbase. Most people play Domination with ACE mod.

In case you havnt played it I hope that gives you some ideas. The only part I dont like about it is the side missions, they tend to split the team up. I belive that there should only be one target at a time since the server populations tend to be so low.

As for the proposals:

New Map: I would suggest just keeping Sahrani and making more attackable citys, mainly just to avoid the time cost of making a map. I think Evo just seemed repetitive because we were restricted to a limited "path" from city to city that never changed. It would be better to use the Domination model and do random single citys at a time.

Civilian Vehicles: I dont think it matters much if they are removed from the target citys, as the distance between random target citys is usually too long to bother driving.

Respawning vehicles: Hmm this one is tricky...Vehicles, especally powerful ones, should be a rarity. I think that both the Domination and Warfare models work well, either you get random vehicles as rewards, or you buy certain vehicles with reward money, physically locking vehicles until the player has achieved rank tends to promote grinding tactics (i.e HMMWV Mk19 on the hill with FARP). But simply allowing anyone to drive a reward vehicle regardless of rank wouldnt really be Evolution would it? (Though everyone seems to play unlocked servers anyway). Anyone else got ideas on this?

As for removing the massive number of rank 1 vehicles at airbase; good idea, now everyone wont be taking their own HMMWV.

US as BLUFOR: OPFOR dosent have enough equipment to be player side, the game was really designed to be played as US. RACS is basiclly US with different uniforms...ya I would stick with US

Dropping side missions: Good idea, they didnt help in Evo, and they somtimes split the team up in Domination, with such low server populations you want to concentrate all the players at one spot.

Support: I agree that every player should not have the ability to call in strikes, and that the ICBM and chemical bombs were a bit over the top. I guess what I would suggest is the method I used in a singleplayer version of Evo I made for myself called Kill Stuff. Which is that artillery strikes with different munitions can be called in from a single moveable radio placed at the FOB (later). These strikes would have a relitivly long reuse timer to prevent overuse like on Domination, and to increase the "wow factor" when one is actually called in.

In addition you said removing MHQs and HALO. I think that removing HALO is a good idea because if anyone wants to para they should do it out of a player-controlled aircraft (hopefully with other players). Completly removing MHQs though tends to make the trip back after a death pretty tedious, and is only really good for the pilots flying taxi. My suggestion would also be the method I used in Kill Stuff, which is to make a single MHQ, but it isnt an M113, I used a small camp with a couple tents, an ammo box, and the aformentioned support radio to make a forward operating base, the camp could be moved by the player via action, but in this case it should probably be moved by loading it into a vehicle. If it is destroyed (mabey if command tent is destroyed?) it respawns at base.

Limited lives: I dont really see the need for this one, just because Iv never seen limited lives or suicide tactics have an affect gameplay, and limiting it to 10 lives really just makes death that much more bitter (and if you will notice, most people disconnect just after they die).

Revive: Probably the best single way to promote co-op gameplay, definitly use this. ACE mod incorporates it by default and it definitly promotes teamplay and communication, although you dont want to make it 100% effective, because that will promote suicide tactics if someone knows they can just get revived Battlefield-style.

Gear selection: Really I never saw a need to lock gear at all in Evo, no single weapon is really that much more effective then any other (i.e, the Barrette .50 cal is about as effective as the M24). The exeption is the launchers like the Javelin, I would suggest limiting the ammo for these like Domination does instead of preventing players from using them altogether, but once again, I guess unlocking the weapons wouldnt make this "Evolution".

As for satchel charges, they are good for more then just demo'ing the tower (like respawning helos) and I dont see the need to limit it to one per person (exept for the bridge blowing of course, though Iv never seen that happen). Also, there are 15 satchel charges in ammo trucks by default, if you are limiting them, make sure to take those out.

AI: Your idea of a max of 2 AI with no medics is good, wanna avoid that AI "spam" that makes it feel like a singleplayer game.

A few suggestions:

1) Use the Domination model of TK notifying, the game system sucks and will report players dieing in another players helo crash as a TK. Domination uses a hint message whenever a player is TK'ed, telling everyone who it was, this works better because it only reports it as TK when it really was a TK. I havnt seen the code, but Im guessing it goes somthing like this:

player1 addEventHandler ["killed", "_this call playerTK"];

V

//PlayerTK

if ((_this select 1) != (_this select 0)) then {(use broadcast hint to notify)};

2) Mabey write the city spawning script so that is puts enemy units inside buildings (some of them at least), it is fun to clear buildings even though the AI tend to suck in them. It would be harder to clear a city though, since you would have to search them all...mabey mark occupied buildings on the map via script.

3) One thing I did on Kill Stuff was use GameLogics in potential enemy citys to mark good locations for static weapons, like at the end of streets, alleyways, hilltops, etc. Have the script search for and put static weapons on random gamelogics so they arnt so...you know...random.

Finally, I wanted to ask if you are going to port this mission to ArmA2 (10 days!!). I plan on getting ArmA2 and would really like to see an improved version of Evo to really make it co-op.

Anyone else have opinions on these suggestions?

[-)rStrangelove 0]

After playing the servers for a few months, I've decided to attempt a new variation of Evolution. I would like some input on the following alterations.

(i) New island. Am I not the only one tired of slogging across Sahrahani? Anyone wish to suggest a potential new map.

(ii) Removal of civillian vehicles, and the massive number which are available at the airbase this would force more team based play regarding the transport issue. Personally I'm sick to death of everyone just running off to do their own thing. This would also limit the chance of a player running off and opening a new town before ones been finished.

(iii) Switch of side. RACS? SLA? Or US. Pro's and cons please.

(iv) Removal of side missions option. Can only help to reduce lag caused by people starting multiple missions.

(v) Streamlining of support options. I mean, do we really need ICBM's?

Any input on the above proposals would be greatly appreciated.

(i) I'd like to see a desert (CATs Afghanistan port) or jungle island for Evo.

(ii) Only respawnable transports should be placed at the base, all important vehicles should be brought in by AI pilots when a player demands them, like recruiting units does work now. The new vehicle should be locked, can only be unlocked by the player who demanded it. If he leaves it unlocked in the field and it's taken by another player it's his own fault.

Totally redo the points for the various ranks. Make them 10 times higher, like Corporal with 200 points etc. Make earning points be depended on how many human players you have in your squad. In a squad with 4 players each player gets 4 times more points per kill. Include a revive script which only works for soldiers together in a squad. That way a squad is forced to stay together easily, without the need of teleporting MHQs & flagpoles. Plz - no teleporting!

(iii) I don't like the OpFors, RACS or US would be ok for me. What i would like to see would be civilians running around in the cities, which pretty much cancels out chemical & large ARI strikes, but it would be cool if ppl would need to be careful about their shots.

(iv) Yep, side missions have to go. Instead make a random target in each city. Why do we always have to blow up a com tower in each city? Rescue VIP, download data from an enemy laptop, deactivate a nuclear warhead before it goes off etc etc.

(v) I only would like to see pinpoint attacks, no more large areas getting bombarded. Nuclear blasts look cool, but it's just lame gameplay. No more weapons of mass destruction plz.

Thx for reading. :)

[goose4291 11]

Basically what we all seem to be talking about is a version of Evo that is more like Domination. In case you havnt played it, here is a summary: There is only 4 blackhawks and some repair/ammo trucks at base that respawn if destroyed, all vehicle are drivable from the start but they can only be obtained as random rewards for clearing citys. All weapons are unlocked. All vehicles can be repaired by airlifting them to the wreck station at airbase. There are 2 MHQs that can be airlifted via BH, you can load an ammo box in them and drop it. Players can teleport between MHQs and airbase and can also para. Citys are populated with enemy at random, one at a time, there are also random side missions that come up for extra vehicle rewards. Citys are reinforced via Mi-17 until the radio tower is destroyed with satchels. The enemy also occasonally attacks the airbase. Most people play Domination with ACE mod.

In response to your message, I suppose I would like to make Evo a little bit like domination, but not too much as I really don't like domination you see! Plus, if I make it too much like domination, it'd cease to be evolution!

New Map: I would suggest just keeping Sahrani and making more attackable citys, mainly just to avoid the time cost of making a map. I think Evo just seemed repetitive because we were restricted to a limited "path" from city to city that never changed. It would be better to use the Domination model and do random single citys at a time.

Although Evolution has a limited path route at the moment, thats purely down to the players. I'm not too sure I'm too keen on the AI telling me which city to take, even if it is random. I'm working on a new proposal, which will be mentioned shortly.

Civilian Vehicles: I dont think it matters much if they are removed from the target citys, as the distance between random target citys is usually too long to bother driving.

I'm not too sure how much Evolution you play, but usually what happens is, one town is taken then a bunch of lone wolves jump in the nearest transports (Usually 2 cars to a city) then bugger off at speed to the next town. Surely limiting the number of transports available as soon as a town is captured (i.e. having to wait for a helo, or someones AI to bring up a truck) would enforce more team play.

Respawning vehicles: Hmm this one is tricky...Vehicles, especally powerful ones, should be a rarity. I think that both the Domination and Warfare models work well, either you get random vehicles as rewards, or you buy certain vehicles with reward money, physically locking vehicles until the player has achieved rank tends to promote grinding tactics (i.e HMMWV Mk19 on the hill with FARP). But simply allowing anyone to drive a reward vehicle regardless of rank wouldnt really be Evolution would it? (Though everyone seems to play unlocked servers anyway). Anyone else got ideas on this?

This comes back to what I was saying earlier about trying to keep a line between Evolution and Domination I think.

US as BLUFOR: OPFOR dosent have enough equipment to be player side, the game was really designed to be played as US. RACS is basiclly US with different uniforms...ya I would stick with US

Although I think you're right abouting sticking with Blufor, I disagree with what you say about the SLA. Everything you need is there, it's just limited (no choice between Stryker or M113 for an APC, for example)

[

Support: I agree that every player should not have the ability to call in strikes, and that the ICBM and chemical bombs were a bit over the top. I guess what I would suggest is the method I used in a singleplayer version of Evo I made for myself called Kill Stuff. Which is that artillery strikes with different munitions can be called in from a single moveable radio placed at the FOB (later). These strikes would have a relitivly long reuse timer to prevent overuse like on Domination, and to increase the "wow factor" when one is actually called in.

I quite like this, but I still think it'd be nice for every player to be able to call in a strike as and when they need it. I like what you're thinking with reference to a cool down time...

Limited lives: I dont really see the need for this one, just because Iv never seen limited lives or suicide tactics have an affect gameplay, and limiting it to 10 lives really just makes death that much more bitter (and if you will notice, most people disconnect just after they die).

Thats the point.. if you've racked up sufficent points to fly a AH-1, you're not likely to cannonball run it into combat.

Revive: Probably the best single way to promote co-op gameplay, definitly use this. ACE mod incorporates it by default and it definitly promotes teamplay and communication, although you dont want to make it 100% effective, because that will promote suicide tactics if someone knows they can just get revived Battlefield-style.

Coming back to issues about accessability and downloads, I don't think it wise to make it ACE orientated. I was intending on using a revive script like one of the popular severs (I think it was UDDP or something like that) uses. Basically your mates have got 3 mins to revive you.

Gear selection: Really I never saw a need to lock gear at all in Evo, no single weapon is really that much more effective then any other (i.e, the Barrette .50 cal is about as effective as the M24). The exeption is the launchers like the Javelin, I would suggest limiting the ammo for these like Domination does instead of preventing players from using them altogether, but once again, I guess unlocking the weapons wouldnt make this "Evolution".

I'd agree with that. The only thing I'm proposing on unlocking is the M240, just to give infantry fire support as an option.

As for satchel charges, they are good for more then just demo'ing the tower (like respawning helos) and I dont see the need to limit it to one per person (exept for the bridge blowing of course, though Iv never seen that happen). Also, there are 15 satchel charges in ammo trucks by default, if you are limiting them, make sure to take those out.

I realise they can be used for more than just demo'ing the tower, but mostly I see charges applicated by TK'ers and griefers. I'd think our priority is to limit there 'fun', without going to extreme options (I was thinking about making the bridges invincible through a script, however I don't want to remove the chance of an accidental collapse (i.e. Helo crashing into the blasted thing)

1) Use the Domination model of TK notifying, the game system sucks and will report players dieing in another players helo crash as a TK. Domination uses a hint message whenever a player is TK'ed, telling everyone who it was, this works better because it only reports it as TK when it really was a TK.

I quite like this.. I think it's going into the proposals list.

2) Mabey write the city spawning script so that is puts enemy units inside buildings (some of them at least), it is fun to clear buildings even though the AI tend to suck in them. It would be harder to clear a city though, since you would have to search them all...mabey mark occupied buildings on the map via script.

I'm not too sure how I'd do this, I'm sure this'd increase the number of scripts running as I'd have to write one for every individual town, surely?

3) One thing I did on Kill Stuff was use GameLogics in potential enemy citys to mark good locations for static weapons, like at the end of streets, alleyways, hilltops, etc. Have the script search for and put static weapons on random gamelogics so they arnt so...you know...random.

Again I like this.. nothing more confusing than finding an OPFOR howitzer facing a brick wall directly in front of it!

Finally, I wanted to ask if you are going to port this mission to ArmA2 (10 days!!). I plan on getting ArmA2 and would really like to see an improved version of Evo to really make it co-op.

Possibly, it mainly depends on ArmA 2. I personally don't want to jump over to a game thats bugged to hell, so I'm going to leave transferring over a month or two. (This also depends on if my 'lil laptop can handle it!)

---------- Post added at 10:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:40 AM ----------

)rStrangelove;1312002'](i) I'd like to see a desert (CATs Afghanistan port) or jungle island for Evo.

As I say' date=' eventually I'll port it over to a different map. Out of the two you suggest, I think the Afghani one, due to Super AI in the jungle shooting through bushes!

)rStrangelove;1312002'](ii) Only respawnable transports should be placed at the base, all important vehicles should be brought in by AI pilots when a player demands them, like recruiting units does work now. The new vehicle should be locked, can only be unlocked by the player who demanded it. If he leaves it unlocked in the field and it's taken by another player it's his own fault.

I'm not too sure about this, as it really wouldn't limit the number of 'power' vehicles on the map.

)rStrangelove;1312002']Totally redo the points for the various ranks. Make them 10 times higher' date=' like Corporal with 200 points etc. Make earning points be depended on how many human players you have in your squad. In a squad with 4 players each player gets 4 times more points per kill.[/quote']

I really like the second half of this idea, as the joining squad feature in this mission is pretty much redundant as it stands. I'm not to keen on the ranks idea, I still want to make this fun and accessable.. too high a point score and some less 'experienced' users may not find it as fun.

)rStrangelove;1312002'](Include a revive script which only works for soldiers together in a squad. That way a squad is forced to stay together easily' date=' without the need of teleporting MHQs & flagpoles. Plz - no teleporting![

[/quote'] I like this revive script as you've put forward, but it does have drawbacks.. namely the squad thing. Probably best to stick with a time limit of say, 3 minutes.. means anyone can revive you, but they have to be close.

)rStrangelove;1312002'](iii) I don't like the OpFors' date=' RACS or US would be ok for me. What i would like to see would be civilians running around in the cities, which pretty much cancels out chemical & large ARI strikes, but it would be cool if ppl would need to be careful about their shots.[/quote']

This is you're strongest and best idea... the concept of civvies running around. Particularly if a big penalty (i.e. 20 or 30 points, same as shooting a POW) was applied to breaching ROE and shooting the blighters.

)rStrangelove;1312002'](iv) Yep' date=' side missions have to go. Instead make a random target in each city. Why do we always have to blow up a com tower in each city? Rescue VIP, download data from an enemy laptop, deactivate a nuclear warhead before it goes off etc etc.[/quote']

I'm glad you're in agreement like everyone else about sidemissions needing to go. However, your alternative objectives sound a little Domination-y :)

)rStrangelove;1312002'](v) I only would like to see pinpoint attacks' date=' no more large areas getting bombarded. Nuclear blasts look cool, but it's just lame gameplay. No more weapons of mass destruction plz.

[/quote'] Yep.. you're right and I think everyones in agreement on this.

Thank you for your input.

---------- Post added at 10:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:02 AM ----------

Okay.. after those two lengthy inputs here's how it stands..

(i) Sahrahni island, but using the total evolution scripts (Means more towns to take. Once completed will port to new maps.

(ii) Civillian vehicles, both at base and in towns, to be removed.

(iii) Sticking with US as BLUFOR. Will work on a PRACS version at the same time as best I can.

(iv)Side missions WILL be dropped (Unless someone can find a good reason to keep them in)

(v) Only support options will be Precise strike and Small Artillery barrage.

(vi) Lives fixed at ten Still under debate

(vii) Revive script as seen on the UDDP severs. No change to it.

(viii) Gear selection will feature an unlocked M240 and only one satchel charge per player from the start. Otherwise, standard evolution setup. Still under debate

(ix) Increasing points for medics healing players and engineers repairing vehicles Still under debate

New suggestions

(x)Porting of TKing script from Domination.

(xi) Revamping of scripts to make OPFOR sensibly place fixed weapons.

(xii) Introduce civvies running amok in the cities (would need to find a way to remove them once the towns been cleared, to reduce Lag)

(xiii) Multiplyers introduced to increase the score of players who have joined player squads in game. (Not sure how to implement these once again, sorry)

Anyone who wants to put pros and cons of these ideas feel free as always.

Anyone wishing to put new ideas, as always feel free.

Anyone who wishes to put some input (i.e. Scripts and the like) towards this also, feel free.

I know it appears I've not done much, but I'm taking my time until we come up with a finalised idea. Don't want to delete something then have to re-implenet it later!

Hope to hear from more of you.

[-)rStrangelove 0]

Actually i noticed...

usually what happens is, one town is taken then a bunch of lone wolves jump in the nearest transports (Usually 2 cars to a city) then bugger off at speed to the next town.

and...

(xi) Revamping of scripts to make OPFOR sensibly place fixed weapons.

make for a good mix.

Why are the roads between cities safe to travellers? Let's place some random bunkers via scripts. Anyone speeding down a road with a civil car will get ripped to shreds. Instead you'd have to wait for armored vehicles to drive in front of you, clearing the roads.

How to do that?

Where to place bunkers is dependant on which city was just freed and which one will be attacked by the players (most likely). Inbetween both cities we can search for roads via scripts (you can cut strings until you have the name of the p3d model, then search in a list of p3d road models).

We'd need an array where we define neighbors for each city. So in case the players freed somato, both paraiso and cayo would be neighbors. paraiso will be cancelled out because it was already freed. Which leaves us with cayo as the next potential target. Now we could either make it totally script based (2 cities -> search for pos in the middle, then search for nearest road) or we setup 'neighbor' markers in the middle between both cities.

Anything could be spawned randomly near a road, bunkers, mines, a waiting vehicle patrol, an entrenched commando squad.

Just an idea.

[Punisher5555 0]

Can we make the MHQ if we have one drivable by anyone right at the beginning? Or maybe make some sort of spawn point base nearby that has to be captured first.

[goose4291 11]

)rStrangelove;1312121']Why are the roads between cities safe to travellers? Let's place some random bunkers via scripts. Anyone speeding down a road with a civil car will get ripped to shreds. Instead you'd have to wait for armored vehicles to drive in front of you' date=' clearing the roads.[/quote']

I like this, it'd bring a new slant to those boring drives :)

If you can get it to work, let me know and I'll add it. I'll start playing too..

Can we make the MHQ if we have one drivable by anyone right at the beginning? Or maybe make some sort of spawn point base nearby that has to be captured first.

Sorry mate, as I said I'm ditching the MHQ. I'm trying to move Evolution back to being slow, tactical team play... not respawn into battle and charge into Battle like Call Of Duty.

[kazesim 2]

As for the civilian cars, I ment that for the randomly spawned city targets (as in nobody is going to drive from Bangango if Cayo is the next target), if you are going with the linier Evo method, are you including new citys or sticking with the original ones?

For the revive script: I was using ACE as an example, it has a very good revive system but I think the time you have to revive someone is too long, it dosent really keep people together. As for the ACE mod: I think that missions should be made for the unmodded game first then mabey be ported to a mod.

I really like that idea about the civilians, Domination does that but you only lose 1 point so you can kill them for fun lol.

It is possible to put enemy (and mabey civilians too) inside buildings without having an active script running, you just put a section in the city spawn script that finds buildings, checks if they are go-in-able, picks random positions, and creates units in them. The only thing you need to track is the marker names and numbers so that you can delete them when the city is captured. If you want I can give you a copy of my city spawn script from Kill Stuff, its about 150 lines long so I wont post it here right now.

[goose4291 11]

As for the civilian cars, I ment that for the randomly spawned city targets (as in nobody is going to drive from Bangango if Cayo is the next target), if you are going with the linier Evo method, are you including new citys or sticking with the original ones?

I'm thinking of adding a few more cities, along the lines of Total Evolution. Just getting to grips with the scripting.

For the revive script: I was using ACE as an example, it has a very good revive system but I think the time you have to revive someone is too long, it dosent really keep people together. As for the ACE mod: I think that missions should be made for the unmodded game first then mabey be ported to a mod.

Don't worry mate, I understand you were using that as an example. As I say, I'm just looking at how to get my paws on the revive script the UDDP's server uses.

I really like that idea about the civilians, Domination does that but you only lose 1 point so you can kill them for fun lol.

I do too... it'd make players a lot more carefull when throwing 500lb bombs and artillery around!

It is possible to put enemy (and mabey civilians too) inside buildings without having an active script running, you just put a section in the city spawn script that finds buildings, checks if they are go-in-able, picks random positions, and creates units in them. The only thing you need to track is the marker names and numbers so that you can delete them when the city is captured. If you want I can give you a copy of my city spawn script from Kill Stuff, its about 150 lines long so I wont post it here right now.

If you'd message me that, it'd be grand. I'll be honest even though I've been making missions for OFP/ArmA for years, I've used as little scripting as possible, so that'd be a great help!

[subs17 9]

My request for Evolution is add everything regarding the best vehicle and weapon mods especially whats available in Acemod. Side missions in Domination are quite cool maybe side missions along those lines would be the way to go. As for versions red/blue with both easy(low kills for promotion), unranked, hard. For base attack vary it according to the highest ranked player so 5 Speznaz troops by helicopter for lowest rank and maybe hercules/An22 Cub with 20 troops + UAZ with weapons or armored convoy consisting of 5-10 vehicles.

[goose4291 11]

Side missions in Domination are quite cool maybe side missions along those lines would be the way to go.

You say that, but the Domination side missions have a different affect in that they unlock new vehicles for the players to use, rather than the players score unlocking them as in current evolution. The only way I could think of getting that to work would be to have the vehicles set to "locked" as the mission starts, then "Unlock" the vehicles once said side mission is complete, then the players would still require the points to fly/drive said vehicle.

[Punisher5555 0]

By spawn point I mean like "moving" front. Like if you capture all the towns in the south and capture the base at the harbor then you have the option to spawn there to get your ground vehicles to fight in the north. Instead of driving for a half hour to the front which is very boring (one of the reasons people hate EVO).

[goose4291 11]

By spawn point I mean like "moving" front. Like if you capture all the towns in the south and capture the base at the harbor then you have the option to spawn there to get your ground vehicles to fight in the north. Instead of driving for a half hour to the front which is very boring (one of the reasons people hate EVO).

Actually I quite like that, as everyone's dependant on the Helo pilots at present. Any idea how to script it?

[RumpleForeSkin 0]

Call me a little picky but could the forces used (whether it be US or RACS) be a cohesive force as in using the hardware from one particular branch of the military.

It annoys me to no end that they just mixed and matched the units in arma without any research as to what that particular fighting force would actually field. ( ie Strykers in a freakin Marine unit, cobras mixed into an Army force)

[bushlurker 46]

This is all sounding VERY interesting guys!

A brief thought or two on sidemissions, limiting ammo and equipment, etc...

I fully agree with whats been said on the topic of Evo sidemissions splitting team focus on low population servers - they're just points-earners.

I liked the variety and randomness of Domination sidemissions but.... this isn't a new Domination you're planning.....

I also agree with limiting certain equipment - a bit - otherwise everybody is a sniper - all the time, or everybody's toting javelins, etc etc etc....

How about combining the two??? You EARN things like that through sidemissions...

Capture arms convoy, intercept arms dealer, etc etc

A bit like earning rare decent vehicles in Domination, but the possibility of a cache of (otherwise unobtainable) javelins, or satchels, etc

Just an idea

B

PS - I also fully support the "civilians" idea - Domination has a random civilian population option... people treated it as eyecandy, or as practise targets... I've been playing with that recently...

Recently I've been using Doc Strangelove's Taliban replacement config... suddenly the Civilians and the "badguys" look EXACTLY the same - except one is armed, the other isn't... suddenly it got a LOT more fun!

Of course - the response was to shoot anything that moved - regardless...

Next I'm going to impose a HEAVY penalty (points, or a "sinbin" or something) for civilian killing... That should really get players paranoid and keep them on their toes...

How do you tell whether its a civilian or a badguy?

If he kills you, he's a badguy...

But by then, of course - its too late!

And killing civilians is NOT an option..... hehe

Makes people think twice about arti as well.....

Now if only I had an idea of how to script a SinBin.....

Edited June 18, 2009 by Bushlurker

[madrussian 347]

I never really tried Evo in Arma1, so please pardon if I'm way off base here.

Seems like based on everything I read, there really wasn't a way to lose in Evo, so it was just a matter of time as you made your way around the map.

My suggestion: Give Evo a Overall Defeat, so there's something overall at stake. (I'm assuming there's already an Overall Victory.) Make the Overall Defeat scalable, so even if you've only got a handful of players, they can have a nice tense experience where winning is very much in doubt.