TA-50

How did the non-animating finger EVER effect play in OFP? I've played OFP since day 5 of it being commercially available, and I can safely say I've NEVER had to reference someone pulling a trigger, silenced weapon or not. They call "fire" or "go" or whatever over the command system (either the inbuilt one or teamspeak) and you let rip. If you're watching the guy's trigger finger you're not watching your target and you're gonna miss. Infact, I can safely say I've NEVER needed to watch the trigger finger of any unit in any game I've ever played. Brilliant. +1 Deadmeat [Note: This post was good enough to make a lurker login.]

Try the USMC Marker Pack, available at ofpec.com. Â It has well over 90 map markers for briefings and maps. Â Check out the various Chain of Command (CoC) missions, they use these markers very well for SPOT and SALUTE reports. WGL does have its pluses though, its the only mod I know of that converts the maps to 6, 8, and 10-digit coordinate grid squares. ~TA-50

Although OFP's method of controlling members of the player's squad has stood the test of time, I admit I was intimidated by it. What's more, the squad control system, using both F1 thru F-12 and the numeric keys beneath, limited squad sizes to only twelve members. Not to mention the seperate action menu. Scripting has worked around these limits, and we've seen products like the Chain of Command interface and General Barron's real-life combat patrol come out of the community. But I'm just wondering what BIS will have come out of the box. So will ArAs move away from OFP squad control and perform like games like Full Spectrum Warrior and Brothers in Arms: with their contact sensitive point-and-click interface? Or perhaps Ghost Recon 2 & 3, with their map-like interface? Or will ArAs retain a revamped version of OFP interface? Personally, I'm a fan of FSW's and Brothers in Arms (semi-) intelligent AI squad members who react to contacts in a realistic manner, and are able to be quickly moved about with the click of a mouse. Any comments?

Yeah, I agree with the idea that players should be able to control both the fireteam while having the option to move individual units. If the arrangement of AI in teams is hardcoded one way or another, I think it'd turn alot of people off.

lol, same thing here! Anyway, look at the industry trend: for example, Battlefeild 2 recently went gold, and is due in stores 21 June. Â Yet their releasing their demo only a few days before it hits the shelves, on Friday, 10 June. If we don't even have a gameplay video or trailer for ArAs, we may be hard pressed for a demo for a while.

Arty is the "King of Battle" for a reason: it's the number one killer on the conventional battlefeild. I think artillery should have a role in ArAs, and OFP has shown us serveral different ways to implement it. I've enjoyed CoC's UA system, Snyper's SP/MP Support Pack, as well as WGLs mortars. But I believe game play with artillery should be similar to the arty in the GroupLink scripts. With the GroupLink scripts, enemy officer units in contact are likely to call fire on your last known position. It brings a new pace to OFP when done right because you have to learn to quickly move off the objective after you assualt thru or conduct an ambush. ~TA-50

@Sputnik Monroe: Exactly!

Global Security.org: USMC Ground Element - Organization Documents ~TA-50

Hehe... looks like someone watched too many Delta Force or SEAL movies :-) Na, what I mean is that regular army squads usually consist of 5 to 10 people, only special forces use 4 man squads (guess where they copied it from... nazi germany). I'm in the US Army Dark Soldier... The standard dismounted light infantry squad consists of approximately nine soldiers: One Squad Leader (SL) Two Team Leaders (TL) Two M203 Grenadiers Two SAW Gunners Two Riflemen What I'm saying is that if the player is acting as a SL, then he would control semi-intelligent AI TLs, who in turn control their fireteams. Â I would prefer to see some functions delegated (as an option), especially when players are in the thick of things. With this mindset, it would be easier for players to control larger groups thru delegation. Â Imagine acting as a platoon leader or platoon sergeant, but having only four squad leaders appear on your roster. Â How many of us has wished we could have squad leaders report to a player when we're building missions in the editor?

IMO, OFP players already mirco-manage their squads. Â In general, the military works by a rule of fours. Â There are rarely more then four soldiers directly controlled by one soldiers. Â For example: Company Commander: 4 Platoon Leaders (plus XO & 1SG) Platoon Leader (& PSG): 4 Squad Leaders Squad Leader: 2 or 3 Team Leaders Team Leader: 3 or 4 soldiers I know this next comment might provoke some, but who truly utilizes every soldier when they play with a 12 soldier squad? Â Especially when that squad is dismounted light infantry in contact. Â Look at how one uses a 12 player squad, and contrast it with the player who uses the smaller 3 or 4 character squad. Â Its the same condition we see when one plays a RTS and only has a few troops remaining on screen. I would like to see ArAs turn into something where a squad leader can latch together and hotkey groups (fireteams) together on the fly. Â Semi-intelligent fireteams controlled with the "F#" series might be better controlled, especially when on the offense. On the other hand, of course players want to control of every member. Â But under certain conditions. Â When I'm on the defense, or in ambush, I truly emplace each and every soldier and major weapon system.

I really like this idea.

Ditto, I'm currently in the Army. There a number of resources available, and number of knowledgable members in the community, regardless of whether they're prior service. Â The only thing to keep in mind while you research for your mission is that the US Army is going thru a transformation. Â Its moving away from the traditional division mindset (Legacy Force) and moving towards units of action called Brigade Combat Teams (BCT) (Interm or Objective Force). Anyway, if your building a mission, just remember that the smallest conventional unit formation is the battalion. Â Its rare to deploy/fight/train as anything smaller than a battalion level. Hope my rambling helps, later. ~TA-50

CTI, There's nothing quite like pitching your talents against those of another human player.

Looks sharp. Keep up the good work.

Kuri's EECP is a unit replacement mod built around the last ECP core. Â I've been using it for months now. Â It replaces many BIS units. Â For instance, it replaces BIS West soldiers with soldiers from HYK's pack. ~TA-50

Awesome work!

I downloaded this a few days ago but haven't posted yet. This addon has great potential. I can't wait for the patch. Thanks RHS!

Kuri, Please consider updating E-ECP using the current ECP technology. Tons of new material has come into the community since your last update. I don't want to see ECP's current hardship stiffle E-ECP's potential. ~TA-50

Speechless... Anyone else ever notice that the OFP community produces really outstanding material around finals time??? ~TA-50

You need to look here and check-out the PMC Command Campaign before you write-off the CoC CE. Â Its later missions (use the end mission cheats to unlock if neccesary) use a great mix of infantry units supported by tanks, bradleys, and light rotary assets. Â (Although you seem to want armor units supported by infantry.) ~TA-50

Ping??? From a SINCGARS radio??? The only radios which make noises (besides the squelch) that I can think of are our motorola "bricks". Even the self-diagnostic on the SINCGARS doesn't 'ping', it just clicks and squelches. If your certain there's a ping, I can draw one from the arms-room on, say, Tuesday and record it for you, but I don't recall any pings bud.

Arty Both 105 and 155 Arty support enabled Airstrike A10 w/LGB, cluster, and napalm Fixed Wing CAS A-10 Rotary Wing CAS 2x Apache, and 2x Kiowa Warrior Extraction Helo Randomly chooses Blackhawk or Chinook QRF (Quick Reaction Force) [use these often] 1) Two Blackhawks with 6 infantry each, land/repel on map click 2) Trying out three little birds with 4xLSR deltas each, land on map click. Works well, quick landings Infantry -3x M977s with 6x infantry, dismount at map click -3 squads of 6x infantry dismounts -3x M2 Bradleys with 6x infantry each Armor -2x Abrams Don't use the following often, but they're still in the scripts: -paradrop 2x squads of 6x infantry from 2 C-130s -paradrop supply crate The only lag encountered is an initial FPS drop from ECP at beginning of the mission, and a FPS drop when the script is first triggered and the units are camcreated.

I'm definately not SF, but I recently served as an RTO in a light infantry platoon. The US Army infantry has different RTOs for different purposes. At the platoon level, there are often two RTOs. One RTO is an organic assest, and is the platoon leader's link to the rest of the company. (At the platoon level and below, squads and teams communicate with ICOMs: often similar to the cheap two way radios sold at stores Walmart.) Platoon level RTOs are responsible for sending and recieving situation reports (SITREPs), operations orders (OPORDs), warning orders (WARNOs), sensitive item reports, liquid, ammo, casualty, and equipment reports (LACE); and spot and salute reports. They also keep time on the objective, record enemy prisoner of war (EPW) information, coordinate with air and ground transportation assets, and call for mortar fire. The second RTO is usually an attachment, one of two forward observers for feild artillery. These forward observers are capable of calling in army, airforce, and naval aviation air strikes as well as naval gun fire, but the US Air Force also has their combat controllers, who specialize in lasing targets for airstrikes, and I understand they are often attached to SF units and exist in the Rangers. Hope that answers your question. ~TA-50

I love CoC CE, but I admit I was intimidated to play, let alone script with it a few years ago. Â I don't know how the community feels about it now, but I don't see too many missions using it. If your going to use the CE, have you thought about how large of a unit you want the player to control? Â Personally, I see two options: 1) Player controls one armor platoon of (four) tanks. Â Or a mixed armored cavalry/mech inf platoon including bradleys and abrams supported by mounted infantry. Â Allowing players to control each tank in the CoC CE, or a team of wingmen (two vehicles) allows the player to concentrate on bounding and travelling overwatch and moving the tanks from one terrain feature to another. Â CE is also pretty well suited for mounting and dismounting dismounts. 2) Player controls armor, cavalry, or mechanized infantry company which falls in line with TOE. Â An armor company, for instance, might have three 4-tank platoons, and a scout platoon consisting of HMMWVs with M2s (.50 cals) or TOW launchers. Â Each CoC marker would indicate a platoon or the wingmen of a platoon. Â The player might sacrifice some realism because of having to manage so many assets, however. In my opinion, both OFP and CoC CE are optimized for infantry combat. However, armor combat follows the same norms and standards of infantry combat: such as use of cover and concealment, and fire and manuever. Its just that scales are greatly increased by mechanized movement. ~TA-50

Honchoblack is right. Now we don't need to reinvent the wheel here. I have a feeling this kind of thing (tying actions to a weapon: the radio) was done before with either a BAS or WGL radio in a mission. I'll browse thru some missions this afternoon and see if I can find anything.