The April Fools Campaign

[Hovis]

Yes it's officially now a campaign. Even if not literally. For those who don't know April Fool is the coastal battery assault mission that most people seem to enjoy. Since folks enjoyed it, or seemed to, I don't care which, I've posted a follow up to Wiggy.

More Fool You is set the afternoon of the raid, a few hours later. This time the players command two mechanised infantry squads as they battle along the coast road. It includes a spectator script, as well as a couple of other cheeky scripts to make things crazier. I haven't beta tested it and I'm not sure what the difficulty level will be, I may have to ramp it up, or tone it down, but it's hard to gauge when there are combat vehicles on the scene.

In keeping with player requests I've kept it simple, follow the road and fuck fuckers up, and I've also made it a twenty player mission, with the emphasis on providing respawns for all. So control of the AI troops is important, keep them alive, but not necessarily out of the fight as you may need them. It should also provide a gentle work out for anybody with ambitions towards being a ground vehicle driver.

[Ludicrouse]

This one gonna have any actual waypoints?

[Hovis]

This one gonna have any actual waypoints?

No. Grown ups use a map and compass. End of the day I want to ween these wet nosed-bitches onto veteran difficulty soon anyway, so way points are irrelevant.

[Ludicrouse]

Sorry Bread but thats a crock of shit... Waypointing is an integral part of mission creation at any level, otherwise missions are gonna end up with everyone running around the forest shouting "Where the fuck are the enemy?".

Admit it, your just being damn lazy and cant be arsed to figure out how to properly script and layout your mission, hell you dont even have your Mission titles set right.

[Hovis]

Sorry Bread but thats a crock of shit... Waypointing is an integral part of mission creation at any level, otherwise missions are gonna end up with everyone running around the forest shouting "Where the fuck are the enemy?".

Admit it, your just being damn lazy and cant be arsed to figure out how to properly script and layout your mission, hell you dont even have your Mission titles set right.

If my missions were bathroom installations there'd be water spraying out of the sink fittings and shit all over the floor inside of a week, I won't dispute that, they are cowboy jobs at best. But fuck it, the combination of smoke and mirrors, coupled with just making things dirt simple, is generally successful. I'm learning as I go too, and things will get more sophisticated as I get the hang of it. I'm not going to cock around for days with fluffiness and scripting details if I can put out a mission that's fun to play and more-or-less works most of the time in a few hours. We need missions, lots of them.

[Ludicrouse]

Bread, it doesnt take along time to get to grips with it... Bagpuss has a total of about 5 days of experience with the ArmA editor yet his missions are fucking awesome.

Go to the BI Wiki site and read.....


Now bear in mind im not knocking your Missions as they are to be totally honest very good concepts, they are just poorly put together. A good analogy would be to liken them to IKEA furniture, great idea, cheap but your ALWAYS missing one little bit that makes it all come together.

[Hovis]

Sounds like a knocking to me. I'm going to set Kampf on you.

[Hovis]

In the spirit of high speed, shake and bake missions a third in the campaign is on the way.

The mission is called Flying Fools, it's a spec ops mission for six players. The six man team parachutes into the mountains, regroups at a hidden weapons stash, then attacks a US base to capture it. Sounds like too spicy an assignment for so small a team right? Well that's why they have an ace in the hole. Radio Code Alpha summons a little help.

[Hovis]

The mission has been sent to Wiggly. :D

[Hovis]

Next in the pipeline are:

- April Showers. The players lead a civilian revolt using stolen guns and suicide bombers. Getting radio commands to work and a bomb script has given me all sorts of fun ideas. :D

I basically want to run missions on every interesting location on the island. There are a few cool secluded buildings, spooky woods, meadows suitable for large scale tank fights, and plenty of small towns to fight over. I want to see how we all settle into roles and who likes what the best though. Sniping seems popular, as does small unit CQB, so I'll try to put both into effect, though I want to move upscale to combined arms as well, maybe a mission with four players where each leads an entire squad.

And a new campaign.

Codename: Pete Tong. A training exercise on a long abandoned island seems to be going completely tits up for a platoon of soldiers from the US 101st Airborne, as their parachute jump is disrupted by a freak gust of wind that scatters them throughout the forest.

However they are about to be introduced to a whole new understanding of how wrong things can really go when they realise that the island is nowhere near as deserted as they thought (this will be a zombie campaign).

What I'm hearing about zombies is you need a LOT of them to make them a threat in open combat. That bodes bad for multiplayer. So stick them in a forest, in the dark, and suddenly we have ourselves a fearsome enemy.

[Maurgrim]

There is a nice ruin of a castle of some sorts in a mountain area. Perfect for Take + Hold.

Zombies are meh. Enough of them are a threat even on open terrain as they take a motherload of bullets to drop and the next thing you know is 4 are next to you and start to eat you. Very funny though when you start to hear their breath once they're close enough :p

[Volw]

Make it at night w/o moon in a heavy thunderstorm .. and don't forget to remove night vision :D

[Gunhead]

Make it at night w/o moon in a heavy thunderstorm .. and don't forget to remove night vision :D

Awesome idea! Heavy rain, pitch dark, only flares available. :D

Can you remove squaddie markers from the map display and GPS as well? Makings of a proper "Where the fuck are you guys?! OH SHIIIIEEEET!" experience.

[Endangerment]

bread your making all these missions, do u not do any work for your job

[Hincey]

Ludi have you ever actually tried to play your OR bagpuss's lvl in ArmA? Have you ever played ArmA for that matter? The maps look all well and good but try play em with any great sucess. We couldnt.

[WiGgLr]

I don't see anywhere where feedback on Sean's or Ludi's maps has been given (this isn't a dig at you Hincey, we're all to blame a little here if we have played the maps).

It is very easy to give feedback to Hovis and The5th because they are actually playing the maps they create along with the rest of us and we can discuss what is good or bad with the map whilst on teamspeak with them. Which is why we have played several different versions of the maps that Hovis and The5th create.

The ease of giving this feedback through a medium where those who can't be bothered to type it out (most of us) can respond is what allows test versions of maps to be remade very quickly. I haven't played a Sean or Ludi map yet, but Hovis and The5th's maps are very fun to play

[Hincey]

True dat.


How about you ludi and the bag of pus actually plays the game with us then we can tell them?

I really like the look of ludi's map tbh it was just the fact the whole thing with the transport was a problem but now fixed (i think, havnt played it since)

But for the simple mind of myself (and most others) playing Bagpuss's map it was confusing to say the least :p

The key to making things alot easier: Bullet points!
I'm a stoner. I dont wanna have to read the wall of text to see wtf i have to do! Just give me nice simple bullet points for the different objectives ;)

[Ludicrouse]

I really like the look of ludi's map tbh it was just the fact the whole thing with the transport was a problem but now fixed (i think, havnt played it since)


That was fixed, but i know understand why you didnt follow what the waypoints told you and waited for the BlackHawk, thanks to Hovis you dont know what waypoints are. :p



The key to making things alot easier: Bullet points!
I'm a stoner. I dont wanna have to read the wall of text to see wtf i have to do! Just give me nice simple bullet points for the different objectives ;)

That was fixed in the last version i pushed up to Wig, i cant be 100% sure tho so someone will have to check.



As for not playing ArmA, LOL Hincey. Ive been playing the damn thing almost non-stop for the past week and a half. Cant afford to spend the moolah on the full game for a while so i cant play with you guys is all, but this way i can still make missions. I have about 5-6 of us Beta testing mine and Bags's Missions before we send them to Wig so we know exactly how hard they are and tbh, ive toned mine down alot but you still want a challenge if you guys wanna be any good.

[Hincey]

Just tried that mission again and the whole feel of it is pretty cool, hard but cool now that we didnt get shot up otw in to the LZ

[Bagpuss]

True dat.

How about you ludi and the bag of pus actually plays the game with us then we can tell them?

I really like the look of ludi's map tbh it was just the fact the whole thing with the transport was a problem but now fixed (i think, havnt played it since)

But for the simple mind of myself (and most others) playing Bagpuss's map it was confusing to say the least :p

The key to making things alot easier: Bullet points!
I'm a stoner. I dont wanna have to read the wall of text to see wtf i have to do! Just give me nice simple bullet points for the different objectives ;)

Whilst waiting for pray.com to actually deliver the full fat version of the game, i'm using the unlimited trial version. This makes playing on a legit server a total waste of time as BI's protection system makes me shoot worse than Coub. hence the reason we're using MP across a VPN.

As for the mission itself, it was desingned to be hard, especially if you don't / can't follow the basic instructions from the AI squad leader, and even more so if you dont read the briefing. With the exception of the beginning sequence the OPFOR AI is set to max level, and hence it will rip you a new one if you charge in all guns blazing. Unlike alot of the MP missions available the goal is not to kill everything you encounter, but rather just focus on the mission goals / objectives. Removing the threat to these goals / objectives is assumed to be something your squad will do.

The mission was balanced in single player mode, MP mode, and even with the AI playing both sides and TROOPMON+ monitoring the results of every engagement. It is doable, but again, you just have to use some smarts and think a little about what you're doing. Its also been tested out numerous times by our little band of merry soldiers running the trial, and undergone alot of revisions. Believe me when i say its doable, and with the correct setup and co-ordination, its not actually that hard.

All of the above touches nicely on the difference between Hovis' missions and the ones Ludi and myself have made [None of which is are a bad thing]. The example i've seen from the Bread school of diplomacy are a quick "Get in there and kick some ass" type of mission, whereas Ludi's and myself's is a "Quick get in there and kick some ass ..but be subtle about it and here's why" approach. Both approaches have their merits, but obviously not everyone appreciates both of them. One is good for the quick fix of shooting the crap out of something and the other is a little more involving.

I think the 3 of us that are experimenting with the mission editor are fairly novice at it in the grand scheme of things, but given time and a little patience, i'm sure we can find the right balance of complexety vs quick fix for the cutom missions being created.

Last point.

I didnt want to put up a wall of words, or hijack Hovis' campain thread, but it might be a good idea when commenting on other peoples missions to actually post in the same thread as the mission submission.

my 2 cents ...

[Flufball]

Bagpus the biggest issue with your map is that the helicoptor is rather buggy, either the AI pilot bails out when its landed and leaves the damn thing for us to fly (not to much of a problem but it takes a second or two to realise this has happened which isn't so good under fire) or bails out when its flying and the thing crashes (at least in single-player/multihosted lan server for self).

But your right, mabey if your submiting a map, creating a feedback thread for it would be a good thing.

[Ludicrouse]

Bagpus the biggest issue with your map is that the helicoptor is rather buggy, either the AI pilot bails out when its landed and leaves the damn thing for us to fly (not to much of a problem but it takes a second or two to realise this has happened which isn't so good under fire) or bails out when its flying and the thing crashes (at least in single-player/multihosted lan server for self).


Only reason the Pilot would bail out is if the BH is damaged as it takes a completely different waypoint to make him leave the vehicle than it does to pick you up, believe it or not lol.

Your breifing does tell you to keep your head down and look out for enemies at the LZ lol

[WiGgLr]

there are 4 of you making maps btw, not 3

Bread
Sean
Ludi
and 5th

(in no particular order)

Did you 4 all get the FTP login today?

[Flufball]

Yes and we shoot them, not much we can do about a stragler that escapes our site, or if someone bugs and can't move and then the pilot jumps out regardless, don't get me wrong the mission looked fun, if I could actualy get into the bloody mission you see? :p

Anyhow, what we need is super-ninja101 to edit this discussion into its own thread.

[Ludicrouse]

Yes and we shoot them, not much we can do about a stragler that escapes our site, or if someone bugs and can't move and then the pilot jumps out regardless, don't get me wrong the mission looked fun, if I could actualy get into the bloody mission you see? :p

Anyhow, what we need is super-ninja101 to edit this discussion into its own thread.

There is an issue with people standing under the blackhawk as its coming in to land and causing it to spazz out and crash or damage itself but thats a game bug itself and not anything to do with the mission editing.

Ive noticed a few people seem to be rather impatient and i could easily see them standing underneath the bleeding thing and causing it to crash into a tree or something... People seem to find it hard with restraint sometimes as they are so used to CSS and PS.

[Bagpuss]

The thing with the start of that mission is that its entirely possible for the pilot to get shot ..and of course a UH60 with a dead pilot at the helm will crash / land etc. The 2 miniguns will engage any target in that area if they actually see it [and it does look kinda cool when they open up on that church]. Also if the UH60 takes too much damage from small arms fire prior to hitting the LZ, the crew will bail. As the sqaud on the ground its your job to see that this doesnt happen. Fleeing enemies are a problem, and that is a risk you run by letting them get away.

Next up, and this is true for all the Helicopter based insertion / extraction is that it will only land if nobody is stood inside its landing area. If PFC Joe Muppet is stood underneath it when it attempts to land shouting "WTF, Where are my NV goggles", the helo will hover, and in some cases move off slightly and touch down. On this particular part of the mission your Squad leader actually tells you to move to a safer position ready for the UH60 pickup. If you watch carefully the AI troops all form up at this position, its your job as part of this team to move to that position also, the same is also true once you arrive at the airfield [And the airfield landing zone is marked out by a bigass letter H with a circle around it, so no excuses for standing where the UH60 is going to land here].

Seriously folks i have tested this 100's of times [as the guinea pig platoon can verify] and only on 1 - 2 occasions will the UH60 be damaged enough to bail upon hitting the LZ or the pilot gets hit by a stray bullet. The AI for the OPFOR troops on the hill is set to 5% if you cant deal with the 4 guys up there you're going to have serious problems later on in the mission where its set to 100%.

As i keep saying, and will continue to keep saying, .....Follow the waypoints, they are there for a reason and the reason is not to put the game into EZ-Mode, but rather to get people used to working as a team, and to actually give you some clues as where to go. If i wanted to make the mission more complicated i would just remove the AI squad leader, delete all the waypoints, and dump a UH60 at the start point. The problem with this is that then somebody would actually have to read the mission briefing.


Wig, Ludi has done OFP editing before i think, but i stand corrected, cheers ... 4 people playing with the mission editor

[WiGgLr]

*whew* calm down :)

I think what we're finding is that 15mins is a good time for a mission to last, unless you are able to respawn a lot. If you die and have to wait 30-45mins until you can play again, it's not really that fun.

I don't think I have played your maps or Ludi's yet, so can't comment on them. However, Bread's and 5th's last 15-20mins and are good for breaking us into the game.

[Hovis]

I've retooled the More Fool You mission (the one with the BMP2s) to make it more of a solid fight, less cocking around trying to get snipers off roofs and more street combat. You can also bring in reinforcements, so things more like part of a real battle. Not to mention this improves the chances of success dramatically.

I also learned how to script a trigger to be activated when an enemy unit routs, as well as when it's wiped out, which makes hunting the last of an enemy less ballache and also allows for proper defence missions. As such I've made a follow up to the Flying Fools mission called Last Stand. A dozen Spec Ops (this map is really designed for between 6-12, so there's respawns), armed to the teeth, have to hold the mountain ruin against a hundred enemy troops. It's not as suicidal as it sounds though, because they have set up anti-personnel grenade traps on the route up the slope.

I'm going to try to get both these missions onto the server in time for a morning session. :D

[Ironman]

I tried messing with the editior but I've got some problems with it. Any good guides out there?

[Hincey]

The 5th was talking about there being a nice guide to making maps m8 ask him.

[Hovis]

Google is your friend. Look for both Armed Assault and Operation Flashpoint tutorials. There are several.

[Ludicrouse]

The only Mish making one i have seen is in German.

Your best bet would be to look on the web for OFP ones.

[DarthS]

Awesome idea! Heavy rain, pitch dark, only flares available. :D

Can you remove squaddie markers from the map display and GPS as well? Makings of a proper "Where the fuck are you guys?! OH SHIIIIEEEET!" experience.

Yeah, stick it on a random zombie instead for lol's.

"Sarge, is that you? Sarge? SARGE? ARGHHHH!"

Might have a crack at this one myself. I'm sure this mission malarkey can't be as complicated as all you lot are making out. :p

[Hincey]

Played a bit more on Sean's map. Something isnt right. Are you meant to be able to spawn as a patrol that's job is to walk around and around a town?
Thats the point of veiw from which i played the map twice and once we left it on long enough for the ppl from the other team to advance on our position. By that time me and Gun had TK'ed 2 of our squad members for night vision and got them just about in time to get shot in my legs so i end up having to crawl. If it does work as i think it should then imo the start needs alot shorter "intro". From what i hear the other team (only played the side that just patrols around a city) have to go arse about face to even get near to any action. This means that as soon as we have ppl like Kampf online that loves to TK friendlys and/or shoot at nothing and aware the enemy that we are there inturn making us have to restart the mission again and go through the process of getting to the action again

[Bagpuss]

The playable OPFOR [Red dudes] and CIV [Yellow Dudes] were degugging tools for me, dont play them as they will be removed at a later date.

[Hovis]

I suspected they were left overs from mission making (for those who don't know, you have set up several player characters over the course of making a mission so you can see how the various parts of it pan out).

Meanwhile I have learned how to make rooftop snipers stay crouched, so they can fire and be fired at. Win :D

The next installment of the April Fools campaign, the battle for the airbase, is taking shape. So far it's an infantry based take and hold, although in truth for much of the battles opening shots the players job is to basically survive as tanks from both sides lock horns and American Cobra gunships rape the fuck out of everything. If you make it through that shitstorm the next phase is to advance up the hill (those who have played the first phase of the battle will know it's the hill that surrounds the main target town in that mission), then there is heavy fighting in and around the airbase itself.

Secure the airbase and reinforcements are summoned both by air and from behind the lines to meet the enemy counter attack from the nearby city. Survive that second shitstorm and it's job done.

This mission will run a little longer than the others and is either going to be the easiest or the most difficult, depending how things play out for the AI forces. If the friendly AI troops get lucky then you'll have a very easy time of it, but if the US forces get the best of them then you're going to have to take on tanks.

[Hovis]

Right that's done, uploading to server now. Look for CoOp20 Fools Rush In. :D

[Flufball]

Only see Fools rush in and you can play as yanks on that...

[Hovis]

There a yank officer listed as playable? He's the set-up guy, as in the bloke I run around the US base with making sure everything works. His monkey self should be deleted. Simple answer, don't play him.

[Gunhead]

We gave "Fools Rush" a go last night with Fluf and Irish and a couple notes/suggestions on it for the loafy one:

- Taking the airfield seemed to stop the mission progress. We mulled about there for while but there was no US counterattack, only a couple Abramses presented themselves to the T-72/BMP feeding grounds. Is there maybe some event trigger missing?

- Maybe consider reducing the number of OPFOR T-72's, switch some of them for BMP's or add a few Abramses or AT Strykers. It was only the 3 of us and AI troops and we pretty much steamrollered everything once the Cobras were taken out with Shilkas. There seemed to be a very small killzone on the road leading up to the hills where majority of the yank armour was butchered in one spot - missed the action as AI tanks did the killing there while i was making the skies snake-free with the Shilka but might be an idea to have the Abramses come down as a wide front over the hills rather than a column on road. As a preview it's a good one and suits the April Fools nicely, just crank up the difficulty and it'll be quite enjoyable tank battle.

[Flufball]

I'm thinking we might have broke that map when I accidently team-killed that helicoptor full of reinforcements with my tank cannon and then had to fight my way through friendlys intent on killing me... Just a thought... :p

[Hovis]

Here we see the problem with balancing tank missions. If just one of those Abrams tanks is 'unmarked', to use the football expression, by a friendly T-72 then you're all in trouble. If two or even three of them are then even with two squads of infantry you're basically fucked.

What I didn't factor in is how effectively manning the squad Shilka would sort out the Cobras, I'll have a look at tweaking that. The Cobras tended to even out the numbers of tanks a little.

The problem basically comes down to getting the balance exactly right. I could resort to cheap triggering tricks to get things even, but that's not how I roll. Basically I think I'll just ramp it up a bit. See how things go.

[Flufball]

Cobras go down to Human mounted AA tanks fast. And my points go up even faster when in them, so put more in please, I like farming helicoptors...

[Hovis]

Just for that you get Harriers.

[Hovis]

Okay I've done some revisions. I've made it so there are more weapons crates, and thus more access to Strelas because without them you can't really hurt Harriers. I've taken out some friendly Shilkas so you have to do more of the work yourselves in the Anti Air stakes, and I've thrown in Harriers and upped the Littlebirds to Cobras. I've not touched the numbers of friendly tanks, but have added a couple more to the US side, I think the Harriers will prune Russian numbers appropriately. I also took out the playable West officer, and took out some things that were basically just there for cosmetic effect, like escaping trucks and Blackhawks, to spare system resources.

If somebody could let me know how long it took between the airbase being captured and mission completed that'd be good to know as well, if the mission ends long after the fighting has stopped that'll need to be looked at as well.

[Volw]

Littlebirds are broken .. they mostly don't attack ground units at all. They are decent at shooting down other helis tho.

[Ludicrouse]

Littlebirds are broken .. they mostly don't attack ground units at all. They are decent at shooting down other helis tho.

True, also the Harrier GBU's wont attack ground targets that are not Laser Designated as the GBU's themselves are Laser Guided.

[Hovis]

That's how the laser guided bombs always worked. There used to be a placeable item you could download that was literally nothing more than an LGB target, you place it and the A10s would drop fat ordnance on it. Dunno if such a thing is coming out for ArmA though. The big pisser for me is that the SU-34s won't attack a damn thing. The AI procedure for target acquisition and engagement is too slow to work on a high speed jet.

[Hovis]

I'm now working on the sort of culmination of the Russian infantry squad missions, the Siege of Paraiso. Basically it's going to be a balls to the wall night time infantry battle for the city. Worth pointing out some key factors now.

1. Russian infantry by default don't have nightvision. This will make things difficult until you can get some kills and nick some sets.

2. It's going to be ruthlessly difficult to complete the mission without serious concentration and teamwork. I'm worried I might be getting a reputation for making easy missions, so you're all going to eat lead here. Lots of it.

[Gunhead]

Sounds good. Put in a decent supply of flares and AK's with the 'nade launcher and/or those mannable searchlights - would be a tad over the top if you'd have battle the enemy all the time by aiming for those SAW muzzle reports...

[Hovis]

I've tested the opening few minutes of the fight, there's plenty of light from burning vehicles and muzzle flashes so you can last long enough to grab some nightvision. :)

Sorry to break it to you kids, you will be seeing a lot of SAW muzzle flashes on this one.

[Hovis]

Right, the mission is up. Get in there you schlags. :D

[Volw]

Sounds good. Put in a decent supply of flares and AK's with the 'nade launcher and/or those mannable searchlights - would be a tad over the top if you'd have battle the enemy all the time by aiming for those SAW muzzle reports...

Not needed, played similar mission back in OFP.

Whole squad should find some decent cover, with everyone having a different fire sector. Then, one person sprints from one side of the formation to another. This should light up the area quite a bit .. just mind 'the runner' when you are shooting.

[Hovis]

Okay the properly labelled and most recent version of the Siege of Paraiso mission is on the server. I've added more friendly troops, helicopter and tank support (from another flank) and a friendly paradrop. I also took out the civilians to lessen the work your PCs have to do. It's still a little heavy going at the start, but it picks up once the first really heavy fighting is over.

[Hovis]

Okay I've reworked the siege mission pretty heavily, because it was a laggy and near impossible slaughter in the early stages. I've set the mission to take place in daylight, 6:30am, which gives a huge frame rate boost because of the lighting, I've also scaled down the forces a little. It should run a lot better now, and actually be doable.

[Hovis]

Other improvements I've moved the start point in the Fools Rush In mission so that it's at the fuel point, which saves about half a klick of running at the start. I've also added more vehicles (now there are three BMP2s and a Shilka) so there's less need to walk up the damn hill. Also added some wrecks and crap to deflect the incoming friendly tanks, so there should be fewer friendly troops run over in the opening phase.

Ideally I'm hoping to cut the play time on those missions down a bit and optimise them to be played by 4-8 players, two per squad minimum.