COOP 1-8 Terror from the Seas

[nichevo 2]

Updated 31 October 2009.

A force of insurgents has landed on southeast Utes. You play as a squad of Marines tasked with crippling this invading force.

The mission is designed for 1 to 8 players in co-operative multiplayer.

Mission features:

• No addons required.
  
• User-selectable objectives. There are three different objectives -- neutralising the insurgent leader, destroying a stash of supplies, or taking out an enemy mortar position. Choose to do any one alone, or if you have the time, try to do all three.
  
• User-selectable difficulty setting: you choose how many enemies there are -- "Tiny", "Small", "Medium" or "Large".
  
• User-selectable time-of-day. Play the mission at any time.
  
• Random enemies -- all soldiers have random equipment and skill levels. All squads have randomly varying sizes and most follow randomised waypoints. This allows for greater replayability as the mission is never the same twice.
  
• Random weather.
  
• Uses the BIS first aid modules -- if you get hit there's a chance your comrades can drag you to cover and apply first aid.
  
• Custom spectate script. No player-controlled crows!
  

This mission, as far as I can tell, is complete. It has undergone hours of play-testing already so I am fairly sure there are no bugs. Well, no major bugs anyway.

Updates 31 October 2009:

• Added: Option to alter grass (e.g. turn it off).
  
• Added: The HMMVs at the base now carry a modest selection of ammunition.
  
• Fixed: Spectate script could hear crying civilians at any distance.
  
• Fixed: One randomised weapon loadout carried mismatching ammo/weapon.
  

Latest version (31 Oct 2009) download locations:

Armaholic Mirror

SW Depot Mirror

Original version download locations:

ArmedAssault.info Mirror

I would love to hear your feedback! :D

Edited October 31, 2009 by nichevo

[dale0404 5]

SWDepot Mirror:

Terror from the Deep COOP1-8

[Razorman 10]

A force of insurgents has landed on southeast Utes. You play as a squad of Marines tasked with crippling this invading force.

The mission is designed for 1 to 8 players in co-operative multiplayer.

Mission features:

• No addons required.
  
• User-selectable objectives. There are three different objectives -- neutralising the insurgent leader, destroying a stash of supplies, or taking out an enemy mortar position. Choose to do any one alone, or if you have the time, try to do all three.
  
• User-selectable difficulty setting: you choose how many enemies there are -- "Tiny", "Small", "Medium" or "Large".
  
• User-selectable time-of-day. Play the mission at any time.
  
• Random enemies -- all soldiers have random equipment and skill levels. All squads have randomly varying sizes and most follow randomised waypoints. This allows for greater replayability as the mission is never the same twice.
  
• Random weather.
  
• Uses the BIS first aid modules -- if you get hit there's a chance your comrades can drag you to cover and apply first aid.
  
• Custom spectate script. No player-controlled crows!
  

This mission, as far as I can tell, is complete. It has undergone hours of play-testing already so I am fairly sure there are no bugs. Well, no major bugs anyway.

Download from here.

I would love to hear your feedback! :D

Needs respawns, needs revives, needs grass on/off filter, needs difficulty select, otherwise not bad.

[madrussian 347]

Sounds extremely cool. Gotta check this out! (I especially like seeing the built in custom spectator script as a feature.)

Needs respawns, needs revives, needs grass on/off filter, needs difficulty select, otherwise not bad.

IMO, plenty of missions (especially if on the smaller side), are fine without respawn or revives. Difficulty settings are always nice, but certainly not a necessity. In short, having or not having these things does not necessarily make a mission good or bad. The good news is there are all kinds of missions coming out, so for the most part we can all be happy. :)

[oldbear 390]

ArmedAssault.info Mirror and News:

We have also added this release to your personal author profile

If a release or contact information is missing, feel free to drop a PM, it will then be added.

And here is the BBCode if you want to add our Mirror to your release post :

[url=http://www.armedassault.info/index.php?cat=multi&game=1&id=156][img=http://www.armedassault.info/mirrorgen2/3403675.gif][/url]

If you prefer a text only BBCode please copy and paste the code below :

[b]ArmedAssault.info Mirror :[/b]
[url=http://www.armedassault.info/index.php?cat=addons&game=1&id=156]DOWNLOAD - Coop 1-8 Terror from the Seas (v.1.0) - [140 KB] from ArmedAssault.info[/url][/spoiler]

[nichevo 2]

Thank you for the feedback. I really do appreciate it. :)

Needs respawns, needs revives, needs grass on/off filter, needs difficulty select, otherwise not bad.

You're right about grass. It's easy to implement (I think) and there's no reason not to.

As for respawns and revives, personally I think smaller co-op missions like this do well without them. Fear of death can make the game more enjoyable, and the BIS first aid stuff means you sometimes get a second chance.

I'm not sure what difficulty selection you're after beyond what's already included (enemy size and objective choice). Would you be able to elaborate on what you might like?

Sounds extremely cool. Gotta check this out! (I especially like seeing the built in custom spectator script as a feature.)

Thanks. :)

I thought about using an already-existing spectate script, but most of those are quite complicated. I thought I would keep things simple.

IMO, plenty of missions (especially if on the smaller side), are fine without respawn or revives. Difficulty settings are always nice, but certainly not a necessity. In short, having or not having these things does not necessarily make a mission good or bad. The good news is there are all kinds of missions coming out, so for the most part we can all be happy. :)

Having played this mission with my tester friends I can say there's a pretty big difference between doing the easiest objective (probably destroying the supplies) with a "tiny" enemy force and doing all three objectives with a "large" force. I can do the former on my own, with my meagre skills. The latter I've not managed to accomplish with friends helping (I think this'll be our long term goal).

SWDepot Mirror

Mirror and News

Cheers for the mirrors. The more the merrier. :)

Edited October 4, 2009 by nichevo

[galzohar 31]

I usually prefer to play missions that are designed around no revive/respawn, simply because those missions are usually more realistic and overall better and more fun to play. I mean, if you want a respawn-based mission, domination/evolution do a great job at that.

As for grass, I'm already used to editing every mission to a nograss version, takes me 2 seconds ;) but yeah, having it an option is nice (but I'd still have to make a nograss version that has the default option as no grass, in case someone wants to play it when no admin is present).

[Mercx 10]

looks good cant wait to play! :D

[l mandrake 9]

any chance of enabling AI in co-op?

[nichevo 2]

any chance of enabling AI in co-op?

I actually didn't expect that people would want to play with AI. But that would certainly be possible.

Would I be correct in assuming you'd also like the respawn mode where you take over AI soldiers on death?

Just out of curiosity, may I ask what you use AI for? Do you take them with you or do you leave them at base as spare bodies to control if you die?

[l mandrake 9]

i would usually take a squad with me, and team-switch if killed (but this isnt essential).

[hotel 10]

This mission has become my new favorite next to Cipher. I can play them single player and multiplayer. Turning off grass on Utes seems pretty unnecessary to me. No respawns are the only missions i play because "anybody" can rack kills with respawns enabled.

GREAT JOB ON THIS MISSION keep it up!

[nichevo 2]

This mission has become my new favorite next to Cipher. I can play them single player and multiplayer. Turning off grass on Utes seems pretty unnecessary to me. No respawns are the only missions i play because "anybody" can rack kills with respawns enabled.

GREAT JOB ON THIS MISSION keep it up!

Thank you very much. I'm really glad you enjoy it. :)

I have actually made a version of the mission where grass is a configurable option, and made a few tiny bug fixes on the side, but I am reluctant to release anything I've modified without playtesting. I'm afraid that bugs will sneak in otherwise. :eek:

Your kind words may have increased my motivation, however. :p

[CarlGustaffa 4]

I disagree strongly on the respawn comments as a "general comment" (??). Domination and those other respawn based missions could need a competitor, where you 'd still respawn but would be far less convenient to die.

However, for this mission, I have no problem with no respawns. It doesn't take that long to complete, and if you're over your head or too few at the time you can reduce the difficulty. It's not as dynamic as we like it, and naturally not a two day ordeal. I prefer looong missions with lots of ground to cover (maybe by foot). So I want call it a favourite or ground breaking, but it's a nice mission that plays out well and is well suited for small squads like our own. We had a great time playing it a few times.

No grass on Utes? Not needed, as terrain/grass doesn't make it a problem. Any mission on Utes can have enforced grass imho. Force it on. Utes plays well in almost any circumstance, and is perfect for small missions like this. Also grass have very little impact for me compared to other settings or compared to the fps hit in Arma1. Our Domination edit plays now with enforced grass and we have limited weapon selection turned on ;) It's friggin dangerous, but fun nonetheless.

Edit: Thanks for:

* No artillery/mortar support. It would only break the thrill. Thanks for not going the "more bang" route.

* No addons required. Makes the mission reach more people, without fuzz.

* A difficulty setting. As squad sizes vary, this should be a standard in all missions.

* No revive. Mission is too easy and short to have it in. Revive missions usually have waaay too much enemies anyway.

Edited October 28, 2009 by CarlGustaffa

[nichevo 2]

Thanks for the reply.

It's not as dynamic as we like it, and naturally not a two day ordeal. I prefer looong missions with lots of ground to cover (maybe by foot).

When it comes to mission making I try to follow the KISS principle. So my missions are shorter and (hopefully) less buggy. Not that I have anything against longer, larger missions... if someone's brave enough to make one more power to 'em!

But it's a nice mission that plays out well and is well suited for small squads like our own. We had a great time playing it a few times.

That's basically what I hoped it would be. A straightfoward co-op mission for a small group. I'm glad you had some fun with it. :)

[nichevo 2]

I've updated this mission.

Updates 31 October 2009:

• Added: Option to alter grass (e.g. turn it off).
  
• Added: The HMMVs at the base now carry a modest selection of ammunition.
  
• Fixed: Spectate script could hear crying civilians at any distance.
  
• Fixed: One randomised weapon loadout carried mismatching ammo/weapon.
  

If the hosts of the various mirrors could let me know if and when they update their mirrors, I'll be happy to update the first post.

And as always, I appreciate any feedback. :)

[dale0404 5]

SWDepot Mirror Updated:

Terror from the Seas v1.1

Edited October 31, 2009 by dale0404

[galzohar 31]

Would be nice if both file name and mission name would follow conventions, as in start with Co08 and have the version at the end of both the file name and the mission name. Saves quite a bit of effort when updating/playing it on a running server.

[nichevo 2]

Terror from the Deep v1.1

I wish it was Terror from the Deep.

How awesome would an X-COM mod for ArmA be?

I wonder how many SMAW shots it would take to down a lobsterman?

[dale0404 5]

I wish it was Terror from the Deep.

How awesome would an X-COM mod for ArmA be?

I wonder how many SMAW shots it would take to down a lobsterman?

Lol, fixed. :p

[PaperCut 10]

Sweet, I like Utes missions as I don't have difficulties with lag on account of the Island being small. Going to give it a run through

Thanks for the mission man :)

[PogMoThoin 10]

Excellent mission, a few of us tried it this evening and were well impressed. Keep up the good work.

Have You any more neat 6-15 coop missions like this or can anyone suggest some?

[nichevo 2]

Thanks for the mission man :)

Excellent mission, a few of us tried it this evening and were well impressed. Keep up the good work.

Thank you for the kind words. :)

Have You any more neat 6-15 coop missions like this or can anyone suggest some?

For ArmA 2 I've one more coop mission: Rescue Major Savinkov. It has a rather similar "feel" to it, aside from the fact you play as Chedaki. I am hoping to (eventually) release an updated version that adds a grass on/off option and makes a few tiny changes, but the version that exists at this time of writing is quite playable, except for the 5% chance your exfiltration boat will get stuck on its way out to sea. :(

[galzohar 31]

Eventually, this mission is quite challenging when played for the first time, however it is extremely easy after you failed/succeeded it a few times due to lack of randomization. Also the officer assasination mission is incredibly harder than the other 2, but again since he can only spawn in 2 locations (at least as far as I've noticed) it's just too easy. Give him more like 50 possible locations and you're up for a much better challenge!

I would also probably add a few enemies (3~5) randomly patrolling (waypoints with placement radius or some random patrol script) around the mortars and supplies objectives, and give some of the current patrols more randomization as well.

Another thing that would be nice is to place some ammo in the humvee's cargo so that you don't have to pull it out of the ammo boxes at the start.

I think this mission has great potential if it's improved just a bit.

[nichevo 2]

Thanks for the feedback. :)

Also the officer assasination mission is incredibly harder than the other 2, but again since he can only spawn in 2 locations (at least as far as I've noticed) it's just too easy. Give him more like 50 possible locations and you're up for a much better challenge!

It's actually 4 locations, but I take your point, it's far from 50.

I would also probably add a few enemies (3~5) randomly patrolling (waypoints with placement radius or some random patrol script) around the mortars and supplies objectives, and give some of the current patrols more randomization as well.

I would say there already is fairly decent randomness going on. Let me explain how it works.

There are four enemy force size settings -- "Tiny", "Small", "Medium" and "Large".

On "Tiny" each objective has its own squad of men who guard fairly close by. These squads, I admit, do not have much randomness in their patrols. This is so there's always some resistance when you approach an objective.

As the enemy size setting goes up, more patrols are added. These squads range the entire area marked on the map as under enemy control. They have, on average, about four waypoints each. Each waypoint has a fairly large random radius (and these were as large as I dared -- as they are now I infrequently see men take a little swim in the ocean and I did not want to increase the chances of this, nor did I want them encroaching on the American base). Each waypoint has a timeout, causing the squad to wait a random time before moving on. Some waypoints are marked as "Seek and Destroy" so the squad will scurry about the area unpredictably.

On the larger settings, there also exist squads instructed to "Guard", which makes them chase down any enemies they learn about.

In addition, there are a few sniper-type soldiers who take lone, hidden positions. Their presence is not determined by the enemy size settings, but instead each simply has a low probability of existing.

Finally, I should mention that every soldier has random weapon loadout and random skill. Most squads have a size that is partially determined by the enemy size setting chosen, and partially by pure randomness.

I understand that randomness, by its very definition, means that you may have missed some of these elements on any particular play-through. It would be unfair of me to ask you to play again and again until you find the enemy generated in a way that matches your expectations. But I would simply ask, is what I've described the kind of thing you were thinking about? I have to say, I'm not just putting down MOVE > MOVE > MOVE > CYCLE and leaving it at that.

Another thing that would be nice is to place some ammo in the humvee's cargo so that you don't have to pull it out of the ammo boxes at the start.

I saw your similar comment here and took it to heart...

I've updated this mission.

Updates 31 October 2009:

...

Added: The HMMVs at the base now carry a modest selection of ammunition.

...