fa3_c41_hornets_nest

Help make Party-approved missions harder
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SuicideKing
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fa3_c41_hornets_nest

Post by SuicideKing »

First mission, hope you guys liked it!

Had quite a detailed discussion with Eagle_Eye for version two, and Peasant has informed me of a typo in the briefing, so I'll make sure that gets fixed. And IFV1 will be renamed to BV (but the description will read Bravo IFV for planning purposes, if that's okay?).

I had originally planned on it being a 2 squad mission, but Eagle_Eye suggested another one + MMG for larger sessions, so do tell me how balanced it was. I know Bravo didn't even enter the town, so I'm curious if some areas need more enemies.

Otherwise fire away! My notepad is out.

p.s. https://github.com/ninjaProtocol/Arma3_ ... t_v4.Altis
Last edited by SuicideKing on Fri Nov 27, 2015 11:52 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Ferrard Carson
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Re: fa3_c41_hornets_nest

Post by Ferrard Carson »

A nice, tight corridor mission with enough enemies to keep things interesting, but not so many that it turns into a slog. The terrain is nice too, with two key vantage points (the starting ridge and the radar station) and one secondary vantage point (the equal-height summit to the west of the radar station), while the lowlands are dotted with vegetation and buildings giving way to an urban area. I only have a few suggestions, and only one of them is a "must do":
  • Dispense with the Sector Control interface - This is the only "must do." To be frank, the Sector Control stuff is gamey as hell, and that's something we strive to avoid in the FA main session. During the afterparty, it's okay, but main missions should never have an indicator both on the UI and floating in mid-air telling us "You control this sector now!" The CO should not be moving units around to paint a map - they are a Platoon commander, not a Splatoon commander, after all.
  • Move the "CO Vehicle" to an attachment - I understand that your concept is for the CO to be traveling in the passenger seats of an HMG-armed Ifrit that they command, but I'll repeat myself from the "Good Morning Astan" thread: The .50 cal MRAP adds nothing that isn't already there from the Marids and Kamysh, a good CO should not be worrying about micro-managing an HMG-armed MRAP, and if they're seated inside, it's a recipe for Kentucky Fried CO.
  • Premount everyone - It's a minor thing, but you can make the mission start smoother by simply premounting everyone. The only reasons you would want to not premount people is if 1) you are using choppers, as they infrequently explode when anyone is premounted in them, and 2) if the platoon can pick between several modes of travel, which is not the case here.
  • Check your MMG vehicles - One of them is half underground and half frozen in mid-air (Zitron could walk under the engine block), and the other's front grill is buried in a rock. Neither are behaving properly and had to be fiddled with before they behaved.
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SuicideKing
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Re: fa3_c41_hornets_nest

Post by SuicideKing »

Thanks for the feedback, Carson!
Dispense with the Sector Control interface - This is the only "must do." To be frank, the Sector Control stuff is gamey as hell, and that's something we strive to avoid in the FA main session.
Haha, I knew I'd get in trouble over this! :lol: Will remove it. While I had thought it'll give a nice sense of progress, the real reason for sectors was this:

The Spawn AI module. It lets you spawn a constant stream of AI, and if you use the "Sector Tactic" module, they all move to control sectors not owned by their sides. So I had thought, if the mission was too easy, I'd have reinforcements drive in from the northern town, who would attempt to regain control of the sectors. The objective would be to hold all sectors (and thus the town) completely for at least a minute or two. The simplest way to do this was to add sectors (I'm a noob at this stuff, after all).

Anyway, will remove them, don't worry!
Move the "CO Vehicle" to an attachment
I need some more info on this. Should I:

A) Keep an armed Ifrit as an attachment and remove the two crew slots from CO's group
or
B) Convert the Ifrit to unarmed, keep the crew (or just the driver)
or
C) Convert the Ifrit to unarmed, remove crew slots.
or
D) Both A and C?
Premount everyone
But I wanted people to look around the base...be like "woah look at all these cool but useless AAF people!" :(
Check your MMG vehicles
Added them last minute, so will check them. Apologies!
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Re: fa3_c41_hornets_nest

Post by SuicideKing »

Another question, I've changed IFV1's marker to BV.

Crew descriptions are:
Bravo IFV Commander
Bravo IFV Gunner
Bravo IFV Driver (Repair)
Is this OK?
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Eagle_Eye
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Re: fa3_c41_hornets_nest

Post by Eagle_Eye »

SuicideKing wrote:Another question, I've changed IFV1's marker to BV.

Crew descriptions are:
Bravo IFV Commander
Bravo IFV Gunner
Bravo IFV Driver (Repair)
Is this OK?
That seems fine.

I would say you can do one of 3 things with the CO vic.
  • Leave CO and Medic with an unarmed IFRIT. Medic can drive while CO is in map/comms
  • Leave CO element as 4 men, add in UAV/JTAC and have the option for host to slot (UAV/JTAC are handy when playing with low playercounts imo)
  • Go with the mech template and include COV (another Marid). Probably not a great idea, as there is enough armor already.
Personally I would just leave CO and medic with an unarmed MRAP, so that they can move around as they wish.

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Kefirz
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Re: fa3_c41_hornets_nest

Post by Kefirz »

A COV (Marid) is equally bad as an armed Ifrit.

Leaders (CO/SL/FTL) job is not to kill, their job is to coordinate the other guns for a collective effort, not to get some.
Basically just change it to an unarmed Ifrit, and have the default slots of CO, Medic, JTAC, UAV. It's the only logical choice.
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Ferrard Carson
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Re: fa3_c41_hornets_nest

Post by Ferrard Carson »

SuicideKing wrote:The Spawn AI module. It lets you spawn a constant stream of AI, and if you use the "Sector Tactic" module, they all move to control sectors not owned by their sides. So I had thought, if the mission was too easy, I'd have reinforcements drive in from the northern town, who would attempt to regain control of the sectors. The objective would be to hold all sectors (and thus the town) completely for at least a minute or two. The simplest way to do this was to add sectors (I'm a noob at this stuff, after all).
You can approximate this functionality by using "Guard" waypoints (possibly gated behind a HOLD waypoint and "OPFOR Present" switch trigger) - to a certain extent, groups on a "Guard" waypoint will move towards any trigger that has "Guarded by <APPROPRIATE SIDE>" in its setup, and otherwise they will path towards and engage any enemy that they know about.

Otherwise, you can set up some pretty impressive reinforcement waves or counter-attacks through simple "OPFOR Present" switch triggers to move groups from "HOLD" to "SEARCH & DESTROY" waypoints with proper spacing and timing.
SuicideKing wrote:Should I:

A) Keep an armed Ifrit as an attachment and remove the two crew slots from CO's group
or
B) Convert the Ifrit to unarmed, keep the crew (or just the driver)
or
C) Convert the Ifrit to unarmed, remove crew slots.
or
D) Both A and C?
I would suggest Option D (move armed Ifrit to an attachment, leave the CO / CO Medic with an unarmed Ifritini). More attachments equal more granular options for the session host, and the CO and their medic will still find a vehicle of some kind very valuable.
SuicideKing wrote:But I wanted people to look around the base...be like "woah look at all these cool but useless AAF people!" :(
Yeah, my own Baby's First Mission featured ridiculously complex set-pieces like that. Fully-realized UN and Russian bases built from scratch, helicopter overflights and a random story-based SAM team in the mountains by the UN base, an overflight of fast-movers and a Hip landing VDV reinforcements at the Russkie base... All of which was more or less ignored as the players drove out of the base and onwards to their bullet-y demise.

That's sorta how it goes. If you want players to pay attention to the set-pieces, make us either drive past them or fight over them.

~ Ferrard
"Take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turnin' of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurtin' before she keels... makes her home."

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Re: fa3_c41_hornets_nest

Post by SuicideKing »

That seems fine.
Excellent! That's done then.

Okay, so I shall do the following:
  • HMG Ifrit as a free attachment, CO will get an unarmed Ifrit.
  • CO will be a 2 man group, as I'm not sure what JTAC, UAV will do in this mission.
  • CSAT will be pre-mounted, base personnel will remain (it's a simple "sites" module after all).
  • Add some civies in the town, though I'm scared of killing frame rates.
I'll explore reinforcements, maybe for v3. Thematically doesn't make sense for FIA to send more people down from Molos, but I do have an...explosive idea. :science101:

Thanks a lot guys! Already fixed the other stuff.
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Re: fa3_c41_hornets_nest

Post by SuicideKing »

Extra Ifrit is called Command Vehicle and COV. Won't add civies this time.
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