-BZ- Wardog

I ran through some other tips on Ambush mission..but for some reason..the tips always assume I am farther along in the mission than I've reached...Now I know there's gotta be away to do this without retreating to the duast off point.?!..Mayday!

I guess getting "out alive" and retreating to the beach isn't the defeat I thought..I've since made it past tehis mission and curently getting my chopper basics down...

Well inspite of advice to NOT play MP until I mastered SP...I ventured into basci MP play last nite after getting game installed and fully patched....For simplicity is used Gamespy Arcade...I seemed to find sessions easily enough and even joined the pre-game shell(I call it)..got entrered in to game and "Waitied for server"...but Just as game went to launch..everytime I got dropped before entering.....Now..I only patched up to 1.46...and I did see many other players who were in shell with me..they got dumped too.... I do have a linksys router on a lan set-up, but it is configured as a DMZ host so I didn't open any ports(and I didn't open any ports for gamespy arcade either)..So...is this "dumping" thinkg a fluke?..common on 1.46..or possibly related to my router set-up? Report....

Karrillion, "In Battlezone you actually have haulers that go out and gather metal and then bring them back to the base, so it isn't really all automatic" This WAS how assets were aquired in BZ 1..However, In BZ 2 ..the system was much more like you describe(areas of high concentration where materials would be recycled for assets). In BZ 2 "Scavengers" forage for "loose" recyclable "Scrap", when that "loose" is exhausted, the player can "plant" a Scavener on a "scrap pool" , then the Scav "morphs" into a extractor(like a oil rig) that then extracts scrap and produces assets. Your concept of having "high concentrations" of areas rich with recyclable items(to produce assets$ is very similar. As to some players not liking "micro-management"..well that in all RTS is the key, to balance between management, and action. In BZ 2 obviously the commander is in charge of all resource management aspects, but at the same time, GOOD commanders balance their "base building, management" responsibilites with being up in the front lines with his wingmen...If He fails to do this, and the other commander is "in the action" then his forces are outnumbered and usually at a disadvantage. The key is balancing the commanders responsibility to manage base area and assets, but also provide incentive for him to be involved with attacking.

Karrillion, "In Battlezone you actually have haulers that go out and gather metal and then bring them back to the base, so it isn't really all automatic" This WAS how assets were aquired in BZ 1..However, In BZ 2 ..the system was much more like you describe(areas of high concentration where materials would be recycled for assets). In BZ 2 "Scavengers" forage for "loose" recyclable "Scrap", when that "loose" is exhausted, the player can "plant" a Scavener on a "scrap pool" , then the Scav "morphs" into a extractor(like a oil rig) that then extracts scrap and produces assets. Your concept of having "high concentrations" of areas rich with recyclable items(to produce assets$ is very similar. As to some players not liking "micro-management"..well that in all RTS is the key, to balance between management, and action. In BZ 2 obviously the commander is in charge of all resource management aspects, but at the same time, GOOD commanders balance their "base building, management" responsibilites with being up in the front lines with his wingmen...If He fails to do this, and the other commander is "in the action" then his forces are outnumbered and usually at a disadvantage. The key is balancing the commanders responsibility to manage base area and assets, but also provide incentive for him to be involved with attacking.

I am a relative Newbie to OFP but not a newbie to online gaming and for that matter game, testing, development and mechandising... So...pardon if I ask what appear to be "easy" questions..but frankly leave a veteran online gamer abit puzzled. 1st...Friend or foe? I've noticed that unlike most online games, opposing forces are not( apparently by game esign) easily distinguished...Meaning..they all "kinda" look similar...Well this spark of realism, might be balanced with practicallity IF when I targeted(pointed at) a foe, I got a indicator he was a enemy by just having my crosshairs turn red( like in cadet mode in sp)..But so far I don't see that happening in MP..I point at a "enemy" and I must in a split second discern..friend or foe?....yes..I got the advice before.."learn to recognize textures"...well..I have a very poweful pc and typically run 1024x768 in 32 bit color without a problem..but even at that res..its tough to decern the helmet shape of a West trooper form that of a EAST trooper at all but near point blank range. If I was gonna design this game( which I have some experience in) As much as it would remove a part of the realism..I would allow the "targeting" of foes to be a bit easier(by making foes show up as red[when targeted] ) as opposed to green when friendly forces.Guys...please refrain from flames and protests..I appreciate the game as a great game..but I do think realsim should be balanced with "fun" and in this case..a little easier identification would[to me] be helpful., Perhaps game designers could give a game host a option to allow "Friend /Foe" ID. "Now you see them..Now you don't" I know netcode is improving..but last nite I observed a few occasions where I watched a "trooper" avatar appear to be there 1 second..and completely gone the next..only to re-appear a few meters away..a few seconds later..In my other online gaming we call this "Visual world vs Predicted world " adjustments...I want to know if this is a common problem, and if so..are the more recent patches "fixing" this problem..if not.. In my other online games we have found a adjustment called "multi-world" frequency that allows each player(depending on the capabilities of his PC) to adjust the time between adjustments for "predicted vs visual world" so that the "now you see them..now you don't" effect is greatly reducable.My question is..is there anything similar to allow Higher powered PCs to reduce the time interval between predicted world and visual world? Lastly..cheating... I am a veteran of the Battlezone world I and II..we all celebrated the ground breaking marriage of action/ and real-time strategy that was(and still is)Battlezone..But sadly I watched BZ 1 die a premature death due to hacking(script kiddies).But BZ 2 in it's brilliance implimented and near "hack-proof" code called "lock step"...in this system a host machine checks the assets of all players vs a accepted (and appropriate set of game assets) every few seconds..IF a player hacks/supliments, augments/alters his game assets the host machine kicks that altered asset player(boots his ass) and the game proceeds smoothly ...and now..although over 2 1/2 years old..BZ 2 remains essentially hack free..to the joy of its players....I have noticed the "modified Config" thread started, then locked here on the board..I only ask..in fact encourage the devs to impliment a similar "lock step" system to prevent the hackage(that killed BZ 1 and many other similar games) from infecting OFP...I saw you were considering to give host the option to "kick" modified assets I encourage this...and ask you to "universallize" that which IS acceptable..your game will be better and live longer for it...Better life through game vigilance I always say....

Karrilon, as suggested in the other thread about your map/mods..could you please include a readme file wtith install instructions..another thing, I urge you to keep a incentive to aquire resources in your project.. .6. " The economy is not finished, so you don't recycle vehicles or anything yet, but you can build up to 5 recyclers and they will automatically earn you money every 60 seconds. I may leave this in just to lower the micromanagement. I haven't decided yet. Any suggestions on a good economy model are welcome" I'd suggest a merger of the 2 plans, 1 u need territory to "maintain capacity"...your recyclers produce income, but they have a limited capcity to "hold" income, therefore the more territory you hold, the greater capacity you have to HOLD $..The more $ you have the larger units u can build..if u lose territoy, you lose $ capacity, ergo you can't build larger units..and yes..I basically "borrowed" this concept from another online rts/action hybrid game Battlezone II(seeing how your recyclers that "automatically earn you $" is exactly what happens in Battlezone II). But then you create incentive to capture territory(it increases you max storage capacity) and then when your capacity is sufficient, you can build larger units which will be required to destroy enemy base, because enemy base defenses should be adequate, in-and-of-themselves to repell most foot soldier based attacks.

Karrilon, as suggested in the other thread about your map/mods..could you please include a readme file wtith install instructions..another thing, I urge you to keep a incentive to aquire resources in your project.. .6. " The economy is not finished, so you don't recycle vehicles or anything yet, but you can build up to 5 recyclers and they will automatically earn you money every 60 seconds. I may leave this in just to lower the micromanagement. I haven't decided yet. Any suggestions on a good economy model are welcome" I'd suggest a merger of the 2 plans, 1 u need territory to "maintain capacity"...your recyclers produce income, but they have a limited capcity to "hold" income, therefore the more territory you hold, the greater capacity you have to HOLD $..The more $ you have the larger units u can build..if u lose territoy, you lose $ capacity, ergo you can't build larger units..and yes..I basically "borrowed" this concept from another online rts/action hybrid game Battlezone II(seeing how your recyclers that "automatically earn you $" is exactly what happens in Battlezone II). But then you create incentive to capture territory(it increases you max storage capacity) and then when your capacity is sufficient, you can build larger units which will be required to destroy enemy base, because enemy base defenses should be adequate, in-and-of-themselves to repell most foot soldier based attacks.

I am a relative Newbie to OFP but not a newbie to online gaming and for that matter game, testing, development and mechandising... So...pardon if I ask what appear to be "easy" questions..but frankly leave a veteran online gamer abit puzzled. 1st...Friend or foe? I've noticed that unlike most online games, opposing forces are not( apparently by game esign) easily distinguished...Meaning..they all "kinda" look similar...Well this spark of realism, might be balanced with practicallity IF when I targeted(pointed at) a foe, I got a indicator he was a enemy by just having my crosshairs turn red( like in cadet mode in sp)..But so far I don't see that happening in MP..I point at a "enemy" and I must in a split second discern..friend or foe?....yes..I got the advice before.."learn to recognize textures"...well..I have a very poweful pc and typically run 1024x768 in 32 bit color without a problem..but even at that res..its tough to decern the helmet shape of a West trooper form that of a EAST trooper at all but near point blank range. If I was gonna design this game( which I have some experience in) As much as it would remove a part of the realism..I would allow the "targeting" of foes to be a bit easier(by making foes show up as red[when targeted] ) as opposed to green when friendly forces.Guys...please refrain from flames and protests..I appreciate the game as a great game..but I do think realsim should be balanced with "fun" and in this case..a little easier identification would[to me] be helpful., Perhaps game designers could give a game host a option to allow "Friend /Foe" ID. "Now you see them..Now you don't" I know netcode is improving..but last nite I observed a few occasions where I watched a "trooper" avatar appear to be there 1 second..and completely gone the next..only to re-appear a few meters away..a few seconds later..In my other online gaming we call this "Visual world vs Predicted world " adjustments...I want to know if this is a common problem, and if so..are the more recent patches "fixing" this problem..if not.. In my other online games we have found a adjustment called "multi-world" frequency that allows each player(depending on the capabilities of his PC) to adjust the time between adjustments for "predicted vs visual world" so that the "now you see them..now you don't" effect is greatly reducable.My question is..is there anything similar to allow Higher powered PCs to reduce the time interval between predicted world and visual world? Lastly..cheating... I am a veteran of the Battlezone world I and II..we all celebrated the ground breaking marriage of action/ and real-time strategy that was(and still is)Battlezone..But sadly I watched BZ 1 die a premature death due to hacking(script kiddies).But BZ 2 in it's brilliance implimented and near "hack-proof" code called "lock step"...in this system a host machine checks the assets of all players vs a accepted (and appropriate set of game assets) every few seconds..IF a player hacks/supliments, augments/alters his game assets the host machine kicks that altered asset player(boots his ass) and the game proceeds smoothly ...and now..although over 2 1/2 years old..BZ 2 remains essentially hack free..to the joy of its players....I have noticed the "modified Config" thread started, then locked here on the board..I only ask..in fact encourage the devs to impliment a similar "lock step" system to prevent the hackage(that killed BZ 1 and many other similar games) from infecting OFP...I saw you were considering to give host the option to "kick" modified assets I encourage this...and ask you to "universallize" that which IS acceptable..your game will be better and live longer for it...Better life through game vigilance I always say....

Actually Balkan, as others pointed out, I probably had PART of the Mod downloaded to my comp when I entered that game, but not the WHOLE thing...Others pointed out, that I wouldn't be kicked, just I wouldn't have been able to "see" assets I didn't have installed. If you look below this thread a couple threads, there is a Thread specifically about the Build and Conquer Maps/Mods..there are links to the creators(Karrilon) website..be sure you use some of the links losted later in that thread, because he notes updating his maps from the earliest post to the last...and as pointed out, Download and unzip them into your MP Missions folder....I hope this helps..remeber I'm new at this game(But NOT new at online gaming)

Exactly....

Karrilon great work in expending the horizon of OFP..Only question is..where do I unzip your creation into?..I was told originally to unzip them into addon folder..Now I see someone said into MPMissions folder..which one is it?..where do I unzip them, addons or MP missions?

OK OFP Pros...So...when I then NEED to dl and install the addon..so when I dl the addon from the authors website, I assume I just dl it to desktop, then winzip it into my OFP folder?..Or is it more complicated..and then..in the future, when BIS updates with a NEW patch..will I then need to RE-install the addons? Thanks in advance.

Balkan, Remember..I'm the newbie here...I didn''t have the map...apparently OFP has the ability when players join, that each of the joiners can dl (from the host?) enough components so the Mod/Map runs normally even though I never specifically installed it..(Vets you can help me out on this) But it seems as long as host has the map, you can play..I found it a good blend of action, but My Co's kinda were "feeling there way" on the use of resources and RTS side of gameplay...seemed they went for position on the map, but the time they blaced "base camp"..opponents had jump in build tree and made M1A1's enough to waste wour base, before we had anti tank weapons to stop the on-slaught..my attem,pts to place land mines was too little/too late.

For whatever reason, It appaear the problems resolved overnite..today I mangaed just fine most games online.. By the way..I heatrily recommend the Build and Conquer Map Mod I jumped into. I had seen about this on numerous board posts, this Mod/Map gives a "quasi-RTS" component to OFP..as a Hardcore Battlezone 2 Veteran, I love the idea of resource management, coupled with down on the fronline actions.. Although I was just a fot soldier through most of the game, I heard the Co- and another player devising strategies to maximize weapon "purchases" as resources were aquired... I'd like to see a full fledge developer sanctioned enhancement of this styple of game.

OK...I'm ready to pull thr trigger and buy this game....I am a veteran online game players..but very particular about BUYING games because the oh-so-often end up as worthless wastes of time and end up deleted a week later, and 40$ down the drain...but I think OFP has shown me enough to take the chance and lock-n-load...So....Where do I start... Assume I know how to install the game..and assume I have a massive highly able pc that can play anything...Now..are the Updates automatic?..or do I dl them from the webssite here and then install?..after that...whats next?..what about thise EYE Thing?..where's the multiplayers?.....Wheres the medic?..where's the online mens room?..Mayday! Mayday! I NEED SUPPORT! Gimme the basics to get up and running....then point me to the iggest tree on the battlefield so i can Hide...I mean....take cover....

Well I ponied up and bought the game..One of the features I saw talked about was the "Voice over the net" real time comms...Now I play alot of Battlezone II Online and we often use Battlecomm for this purpose(a better version of Roger Wilco)..But I need to know if the voice coms are included in the stock/patched OFP game, or if there is a specific voice com program most regular online players use...

This is my 1st post on the OFP Forum so I should introduce myself...I am a veteran online gamer with years of play on Battlezone 2 (and 1) Homeworld, Fleet Command and a host of other Janes (flight sim) Games.. I am as they say" A child of the 60's...So I grew up mainly in the 1970s and my thread titles are often tinged with 70's rock music and heavy sense of humor..but my questions are more down to earth and generally meant to educate myself to this game  before I dive in fully...so..without further delay I need some quick educating on OFP. 1st..Joystick mapping and control...I am a big fan of being able to re-map my keyboard commands to my Microsoft Precision Pro II Joystick, I've found I can easily remap the commands to the "Hat"...But cannot map forward, backward and L/R motion to the main stick itself?! I am only playing the demos at the moment and wonder if the Full game gives you FULL control to remap they motions to the main stick. Now..about the "Tommy can you SEE Me?" idea...One apprehension I have about OFP Is that in playing the demo..I often get killed by enemy I can't even see..Now..YES..this is a reality of war..but doesn't make for the Most Fun gaming expeience...I'm wondering if there is a particular viewpoint, angle or range control that will give me maximun "field of Vision" so I can at least see the bad guys before they plink me. Last....Really ..how active is multiplayer..basically Single player games I pick-up in bargin bins play for my 9.95 and toss...But online I play for hours on end..I need to know..whos' gonna be out in the MP field? And what makeup of games will I find?(meaning..mostly foot soldiers?..mix air, armour and footsoldiers?..tell me what  I can expect... Thanks for the help guys.. And how godd is the "quality" of online play..I mean connections, lagg warp etc, My system is high end, connection cable..so...let me have it...

I think I know enough of general military tactics to duck and cover..its the basic "camoflage' and 1 shot kills that are abit of an adjustment compared to many online "war" games..here, you are felled with 1 shot..no respawns and its game ovr..when playing against comp..I found to kinda trail my ai into battle let them take the fire then return fire( andborrow my dead mens LAWs and grenades etc)..its just them pesky AI hnnkered down over a knoll you glimpse a flash and ..game over..