ODO: Off Day Ops

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Kyoptic
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ODO: Off Day Ops

Post by Kyoptic »

I am in the process of finishing a set of missions designed to be completed over a long session on non-gamenight days. The general ideia behind these will be missions that have multiple objectives designed to be completed over the course of 2-4 hours, while being 1) super JIP friendly and 2) very scalable.

How are we doing this?
Essentially the missions will have the objectives in tiers. Completion of all the objectives in one tier will unlock sequentially better equipment at base. Completion of all the objectives of the final tier will end the mission.

The tiers do not necessarily need to be completed in sequence, but the completion of an earlier tier may be necessary to unlock the equipment and resources required for the next (e.g: you may need plentiful AT, explosives, or vehicles which are only unlocked by completing a previous tier).

WIP: A ticket system. Each objective gains you a number of tickets depending on its type, difficulty etc. You start with 10-30. You die, you loose a ticket. You loose all the tickets, game over.
-> If anybody has links to a good script that displays this intuitively it would be much appreciated. Current version is ugly and still needs some work to function as desired.

Missions so far:
1. SKIRMISH - FIA: - Beta ready
An FIA cell attempts to regain control of NW Altis, in the vein of Resistance Alive. AAF forces are backed by CSAT air support. Some humanitarian objectives, some sabotage, some assassinations. Increasing influence among the civilians grants the cell more income and thus better equipment, and eventually foreign backers provide the rebels state of the art weapons systems.

2. MOTHERLAND - CDF: - WIP, 60% Complete
A platoon of CDF conscripts proves their worth against Russian backed CDzK forces operating in their AO, eventually removing CDzK and Russian regular troops from Northern Chernarus for good. Starting with very basic cold war gear, should the platoon of conscripts impresses CDF HQ with its performance, it may gradually find modern equipment and vehicles find their way into their hands.

3. COMBINED OPERATIONS - USMC: - Planned

USMC Force Recon conducts operations to cripple the Russian presence on the small island of Utes. Small teams insert to conduct recon and take out AAA and SAM sites, before USMC airpower gets to work on establishing Air Superiority and bombing important targets.

Release schedule:

I intend to release SKIRMISH and MOTHERLAND together, hopefully to increase their longevity. ETA: A couple of weeks, give or take. COMBINED OPERATIONS I'll create and release when I have the time, but hope to include the ALiVE Air Commander as an essential part.
Making the world a better place, by shooting people in the face.
StRiKeR
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Re: ODO: Off Day Ops

Post by StRiKeR »

This is good to hear, missions like that are very much needed right now. Ive thought about the concept of progression levels with unlocks too which seems a good idea to allow players to trade challenge level for playtime. A ticket system seems probably the best way to handle respawn in a seeder, also allowing players to choose objectives to reacquire tickets should they run low. The real challenge I see for the future in this type of mission is introducing enough dynamics and changing variables that replays arent linear and follow the previous playthrough to the T. That would be the perfect seeder then. It would be perfect If there were ways to randomise objective locations, introduce dynamic contact, reactive AI elements, and other "out-of-the-loop" events like maybe a base camp defense once a certain tier is completed and the enemy launches a counter-offensive. However, some of that may burst the ~3 hour playtime for the average seeder mission in one sitting?
Kyoptic
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Re: ODO: Off Day Ops

Post by Kyoptic »

StRiKeR wrote: Sun Oct 22, 2017 11:28 pm The real challenge I see for the future in this type of mission is introducing enough dynamics and changing variables that replays arent linear and follow the previous playthrough to the T. That would be the perfect seeder then. It would be perfect If there were ways to randomise objective locations, introduce dynamic contact, reactive AI elements, and other "out-of-the-loop" events like maybe a base camp defense once a certain tier is completed and the enemy launches a counter-offensive. However, some of that may burst the ~3 hour playtime for the average seeder mission in one sitting?
Counter offensives are something that can be scripted without too much difficulty, but randomization is a real difficulty for me. Truly generated randomization, at least.

My skills (well... patience) with Arma's scripting at the moment limits my randomization to a number of locations that are already predetermined, which is better than nothing but not ideal.

RE dynamic contact, I am considering experimenting with DAC with one of them. Having played with it on a mission for the OPTRE mod I really liked what it had to offer, and the AI's aggression is beautiful relative to vanilla arma or Alive. Alive helps a little, as it's never the same number of squads in the same place, and roadblocks/camps etc are generated to a degree, but Alive isn't aggressive enough in its reinforcements as a general rule, and for randomized generation of (fun) objectives is not something I have the time to learn how to do and implement correctly for now.

At the moment, SKIRMISH gives you plenty of options - but they're all pre-set (though the contact in and around the objectives varies within a range). The order you play each objective will be dependent on the commander's overall strategy, the number of players that start playing the mission, and the amount of stuff you can steal to bolster your own equipment before you get the next tier of equipment unlocked. I've tried to design it that any one of the initial tier missions are equally easy to complete, whether that is reflected remains to be seen.

For MOTHERLAND I'm going to try and introduce more randomization for objectives, but there will be certain pivotal aspects of it which will be relatively fixed (like securing the road along a supply route to get your first proper tier of equipment or pushing back CHDzK forces from certain sectors).

COMBINED OPS will again have more scope for randomized objective locations, forcing the players to start with solid recon and pinpoint strikes rather than fighting toe-to-toe, and I am hoping to be able to include some more interesting CAS and aircraft roles there.

RE the playtime. The way the SKIRMISH and MOTHERLAND are set up is so you'd probably require at least 2h if you're aggressive, well organized and have 2-3 relatively full squads. Realistically, it's the sort of mission I'm hoping can be run throughout the day until it's complete, so that even if the player numbers fluctuate from 4-20 then back to say, 12, it is still possible to complete over the period of 4 or 5h total (even though I don't expect any one person to be there the entire time). COMBINED ARMS may turn out as a more compact mission purely due to the size of Utes.
Making the world a better place, by shooting people in the face.
Tom
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Re: ODO: Off Day Ops

Post by Tom »

Why not patrol ops with addons?
Even just a "lite" version adding ACRE and/or ACE would make it completely different...
Smolof
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Re: ODO: Off Day Ops

Post by Smolof »

We had that already Tom and it wasn't that great.

I like the concept of these missions and am looking forward to it. Also gonna try some randomisation stuff on the weekend to see what's possible. Maybe an extension to DAC would be nice, that combines all that in one mod.
Kyoptic
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Re: ODO: Off Day Ops

Post by Kyoptic »

UPDATE:

1. SKIRMISH - FIA
The version I intend to release is on the test server. Feedback is welcome.
2. MOTHERLAND - CDF
In creation still. ETA, a week->10 days for initial version on test
3. COMBINED OPS - USMC
Utes is a small island that suits specops and recon. Considering which assets are best suited and most interesting. Ideally: Harrier jets -> Problem, they are difficult to land on and use with any of the carriers (LHD on map or placed, Vanilla Carrier). Less ideal: attack choppers. Less interesting, less dynamic interactions with JTAC and specops teams.

Plan is for 2 USMC Force Recon Squads (26 men), small SEAL Team (6 man), support team (4 pilots - Logistics/CAS/Etc).
Making the world a better place, by shooting people in the face.
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Wombat
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Re: ODO: Off Day Ops

Post by Wombat »

I'm loving the idea of this project. If you ever need help with testing, feel free to hit me up.

About the consideration of which assets to use for Combined Ops, I agree that Harrier CAS would provide more interesting gameplay than a Viper. You are also right that the Harrier is a challenge to pilot due to how the short take-off and vertical landing works. However, I don't think you should let that stop you from choosing it. I would advice that you include a crash course tutorial in a briefing tab for Harrier pilots to help guide them on how to take off and land to avoid accidents. I could help with writing that if you are interested.

You could also consider giving the commander the choice whether he wants to use the Viper or Harrier for CAS (could be done through a parameter option which overwrites vehicle spawn or simply put both aircraft on the carrier deck).
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