OA - Campaign Suggestions

[Flash Thunder 10]

I want to feel like im part of an actual war rather than my fireteam doing everything and everyone else not doing anything.

Bring the voice acting a couple levels up BIS this will help carry the momentum of your storyline, A2's wasnt carried well do to the lack of seriousness the story needed.

I would like to see some Epic Cutscenes, of somebody be interrogated and executed or your fireteam getting captured and held hostage with some twists here and there.

I heard you're already polishing the campaign but please make missions feel like less BUSY work and give the secondary objectives more purpose and achievement, saving civilians doesnt do anything.

[Alex72 1]

Agreed with OP. Keep it to the basics with interesting missions instead of WARFARE. That can be enjoyed online whenever we want. :) Respawn or revive would be nice for the MP campaign (if MP this time also).

[SASrecon 0]

- No warfare missions: I hope we won't see any base-building, buying units or flag capturing anymore on this campaign, they kind of ruin the intense atmosphere. Otherwise the Harvest Red campaign was really good. However, I don't have problem having one or two High Command missions where you command an infantry platoon for example, it can simulate rise into command position nicely.

- No "everybody must survive"-rule: This is a mixed bag - on the other hand forcing all team characters to survive allows to create various personalities and dialogue to soldiers, on the other hand it is REALLY annoying to have AI kill itself all the time, forcing player to load a save games frequently. In multiplayer this is also serious nuisance. But 1985 CWC and Resistance didn't have forced survival rules yet they were very engaging and atmospheric campaigns in their own right.

+1

Hope for no warfare missions , i loved the first few missions of ARMA2, i found them very immersive and engaging. In a very good campaign (which i'd expect from BIS) i like to be led, giving orders is something which i find ruins the atmosphere for me. Warfare missions just made me drop the ARMA2 campaign and leave it unfinished.

About the 'everybody must survive' rule, please remove it, sometimes you can't help it if one of your men goes down, a bug i remember from pre-patch campaign is that miles just ran straight into the enemies in the second campaign mission, there was no way i could have revived him and with several attempts he died straight from a shot to the head.

So long as the campaign is very detailed, realistic and believable imo it will be good. Cutscenes and animations in most cases are good because they bring your squad together in what would usually be a very open world.

I don't particularly mind quite linear missions as long as you can get through them alive (another bug i remember is that in one cutscene a uaz kept running over your squad :D) a good option to have if you are being led is to voice an opinion e.g. in the first campaign mission after you cleared the village and gathered intel, at the next waypoint there was an option to go get some rnr or continue to the peak to laserdesignate some targets.

By detail and realistic'ness' i mean for example some reconnaisance missions or briefings on uav recon (scouting a village for terrain and target houses, not just 'laser target recon' if you get what i mean (recon doesn't always mean destruction or crippling enemy defences)) and intel from spies etc, the briefings just get you so much more involved in the campaign and an example which clearly showed the opposite it OFP:DR, there weren't any briefings/cutscenes before missions so it removed gameplay factor (from what i heard)

The briefing cutscene in ARMA2 at the very beginning was excellent, organized and creative.

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I want to feel like im part of an actual war rather than my fireteam doing everything and everyone else not doing anything.

being part of a bigger battle rather than being the the only force fighting the war while the rest of the army sits around twiddling their thumbs.

OA is a good place to incorporate this:

The chance to enlist in various roles within the US Army from

basic infantryman to pilot and tank crew.

to get an equal balance of special forces and regular army units. For example, you could get intel for army units as part of a reconnaisance unit/ uav controller(which i liked in ARMA2, shame it's movement was so jerky and flir wasn't realistic)/plane pilot(/observer) so earlier actions could have an effect/hinder you on later missions.

I'm guessing main mission ideas have already been made so most of the suggestions here won't be of much use but cutscenes, sidemissions and small details can still be put in ;)

I'm looking forward to this campaign and hope its as good as/better than the good ol' OFP campaigns

Edited October 14, 2009 by SASrecon

[That guy 10]

Though i have not yet reached the Warfare missions in the campaign, I have to agree. They just dont fit in well with a narrative character based story. Now high command missions could be very cool in a campaign(as its been said before, it does not make sense to build new units out of thin air in a realistic manner).

In my mind it will be hard for BIS to make the campaign in OA with out being accused of "phoning it in". After all, harvest red is really good, and BIS will have to live up to it. OA could simply be a linear mission based format such as in CWC or ArmA1. Some will no doubt enjoy that alot more (and it will probably be much more stable), but alot of the appeal of HR would have been lost. Also, BIS risks the "failure" of the ArmA1 campaign all over again (you could play in a number of roles in those missions too) with faceless nameless soldiers.

In my opinion the best solution is to have several set characters in the beginning of the game, and you select witch one to play as through out the game(SPC. Bill infantry, WO2 Nik avaition, SFC bob SOF, SSG ted armor). unfortunately this runs into the trouble of essentially having 4 separate campaigns (which i am all for) for BIS to plan, script, voice act, and test.

But lets just live in a fantasy world where this option is actually viable. It would be cool to have one "main" infantry based campaign with little mini campaigns for the other branches included. each one would have a different flavor and play style, and that way one is not forces into playing a role they are bad at (say, flying), but are still able to finish the campaign story line

However, we have not gotten any solid info on how the game will pan out, but if BIS puts as much effort into OA as they did into HR then I am sure it will play out just fine. I will go out on a limb and say it wont be like the campaigns in OFP. why? those campaigns were awesome because you were the underdog. for most of CWC it seemed like you spent most of your time running away and trying not to be smashed to bits by the huge soviet army. I highly doubt that OA will have that same vibe :p

As far as the cut scene debate, I really liked how Harvest Red handled them (viewed through a first person perspective). It gave the whole experience a very authentic feel.

[Daniel 0]

A mix of mission types ranging from convoy escort and taxi work to some seriously large combined arms battles where you simply play the grunt would be awesome! Just no Warfare ta. :)

[osmo 0]

- Respawn option: For co-op gameplay this would be good to have so that people would not have to wait while others play and/or have the host load the game. Amount of respawns or disabling them should be adjustable by the host/admin.

There is respawn option already. It can be selected by the mission maker in the description.ext file.

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Description.ext#Respawn...

[SASrecon 0]

Daniel;1463298']A mix of mission types ranging from convoy escort and taxi work to some seriously large combined arms battles where you simply play the grunt would be awesome! Just no Warfare ta. :)

I'd love to smash a enemy convoy to bits with an apache :coop:

but as long as taxying a convoy is part of an immersive storyline i'm fine with that too :D

Ooh there could be a convoy mission where you're ambushed by a huge squad and you have to get to safety (a sort of escape&evasion mission a la OFP)

[[GLT] Legislator 66]

I agree with most of you, no warfare mode in the new campaign! :)

Designing it could be very easy ... simple mission tasks:

- reconnaissance

- convoy attack / defend

- sabotage tanks, anti-air, bridges, fuel depots, radio towers ....

- capturing of enemy troops

- evacuation of civilians

- carpet bombings

- patrolling duty

- commanding a tank group

- chopper missions

- airplane missions

- classical 'take that hill' missions

- special forces operations

- taxi missions

- guard duty

A good mix of them + storyline + interesting characters + consequences within the missions. Didn't save that convoy? Next missions without many weapons. Lost your attack chopper? Next mission without it. The player should get the feeling that his actions have influence within the war although he might only be a small part of it.

Ah and shouldn't become a 4-men-save-the-world-scenario :(

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Never felt like a "4-men-save-the-world-scenario" to me. The 4 men approach, of which you really had to control one, made it better to me than having to deal with numerous characters.

Don't see the RTS argument either. I've played without ever building a single base thingy. AI handles that. I'm doing the scripted parts of the mission.

[Blake 0]

There is respawn option already. It can be selected by the mission maker in the description.ext file.

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Description.ext#Respawn...

Of course there is such option in existence. But I was talking about optional respawn selction for co-op side of Operation Arrowhead campaign. Purpose of this thread is not to discuss what the average gamer might do with the mission editor...

[CarlGustaffa 4]

No thanks to respawn on coop campaign, unless it is significantly tougher in OA. Since only description.ext defines respawn (system, delay etc), BIS would have to make different versions of the coop campaign to suit both modes unless engine is changed.

The last thing I want is reload/respawn nightmare. Like in OFP, Arma1, and for some missions, OFDR.

[bonchie 39]

Some of the most memorable moments from OFP (and Arma2 to some extent) came in downtime. It adds greatly to the immersion and feeling of a greater war going on around you.

Chopper rides in with dialogue (where you start at an active base with other things going on), truck rides through the countryside to an objective, walking around a firebase getting orders and then loading up and heading out, and even the building the base mission in OFP where you had to go on a simple patrol. I still remember the mission where you are hanging around in a town with your squad, talking and stuff for several minutes until the call comes over the radio that the commander has been attacked. It's all just engrossing.

Not everything has to be bullets flying, explosions everywhere type stuff. The balance was there in OFP and I think if you attain that again you'll get the same response that campaign got.

[zdavid99 10]

have to disagree with most poeple. I Liked the CP Warfare missions allot but i rarely likes to play Multiplayer.

I agree the bugs spoils the fun to some extent but Dow is still the

only mission i really like in the campaign.

I like to be able to both drive/walk around and do some fighting/Shooting but i also like

to be in command so that i have some control of the other allied units as well.

I like the combo of FPS and RTS in the Warfaremissions to be able to send units all across the map to where i need them most instead of relying on the AI to send units somewhere where they are not needed.

And why should WF mission be MP exclusive? nah i want them in the Campaign too.

[bonchie 39]

have to disagree with most poeple. I Liked the CP Warfare missions allot but i rarely likes to play Multiplayer.

I agree the bugs spoils the fun to some extent but Dow is still the

only mission i really like in the campaign.

I like to be able to both drive/walk around and do some fighting/Shooting but i also like

to be in command so that i have some control of the other allied units as well.

I like the combo of FPS and RTS in the Warfaremissions to be able to send units all across the map to where i need them most instead of relying on the AI to send units somewhere where they are not needed.

And why should WF mission be MP exclusive? nah i want them in the Campaign too.

Because they are unrealistic and really take you out of the narrative.

Warfare in stand alone missions is fine. Doesn't work in a campaign.

[Clavicula_nox4817 0]

Like, seizing an airfield that has known MBTs, with nothing but HMMWVs and no tank support? It happened in Generation Kill. Not sure about how real that mission was, but the series is supposed to be fairly accurate. And those guys were force recon, just like Razor.

.

I'm okay with your premise, but the Marines in Generation Kill weren't Force Recon. They were Reconnaissance, but not the same thing.

According to the screenshots presented so far, the army troops are representing the 82nd Airborne Division, so they shouldn't be operating anything bigger than an LMTV. That is to say nothing of attached units, but in a pseudo-Afghanistan environment, there is limited use for things like armor. Humvees, pickups, and helicopters are the mode of transportation of choice and a light infantry setting provides a large variety of mission types.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Yeah, I was just made aware of that in another thread. Now I feel that most missions wasn't too applicable to a force recon team, but it's not something that is bothering me too much.

Warfare works perfectly well in a campaign, as long as we get optional things to do:

Warfare happens in the background, it's up to you if you want to command the whole thing, take part of it, or wait and do some scripted event that eventually comes up. Waiting is a big part of war ;)

[Blake 0]

It's stated in official OA website that OA will take place in 24 hours and roles vary from tank crew, spec ops, pilot and infantryman. I really don't see how they can fit ArmA2-style Warfare modes into that. I certainly don't want to see thing like M1A2 tanks being built for $1500 in Mazar-e-Sharif...

By respawn in coop I meant it could be an OPTION not forced, I'd probably never use it unless missions last for 3+ hours.