Ryko

I'm pretty sure this is connected to spawning the Black Wasp, but I don't know why it's throwing that error.

Yup, already top of the list and I think fixed for 057 Will check Blame arma, the T-140 is meant to be very powerful and it very much depends on where you hit it. If you are hitting it on the front you are intended to have a very tough time.

Change Log 056 --------------------------- 1. Kill for velocity now restricted to players outside of vehicles (ie., forgetting to pull your chute). 2. Assets from uncompleted subobjectives now clean up after main AO is completed. 3. Vehicle nudge action now only flips vehicles in base. 4. New reward vehicle classes earned in secondary missions now properly propagated to players. 5. Added vehicle ammo drop and vehicle fuel drop miscellaneous rewards. 6. Fix for main AO not completing error. 7. Tweaked position of secondary arsenals by ground vehicle servicing. 8. Gave laser batteries to default loadout of armor commander. Whoops! 9. Tweaked how UAV view functionality works, 8/4/6/2 buttons now slew the camera N/W/E/S in 150m increments. 10. Slight increase to vehicle respawn times. 11. Developed vehicles functionality. By default, Armor groups (Hitman and Gambler) are limited to one vehicle per group. The first vehicle occupied by a member of the group is the vehicle that is 'claimed'. 12. Added GUI messages for Gambler, Hitman, Vortex, Viper, Reaper and Talon with condensed rules that player must agree to in order to join squad. 13. Tweaks/fixes to some secondary missions. Added Destroy Prototype Tank secondary mission (thanks Stanhope). Added timer to retry a secondary mission spawn if one hasn't spawned (fallback condition for if a secondary mission doesn't spawn due to an error). 14. Added new East Wind secondary mission. 15. Tweaks to main mission generation, in particular anti-air resources. 16. Engineers can now deactivate mines and other charges. 17. Tweaks to helicopter ammo drop 18. Tweaks to default marksman loadout, which had some DLC kit. 19. Fixed restoration of custom weapons and gear when player reconnects. 20. Renamed Romeo squad to Zulu squad. 21. Overhaul of Keybinds and toggled functions; squad radar and name tags are now not controlled by keybinds, but by toggle buttons in the new KEYBINDS + INTERFACE button on the IA4 menu. 22. Light overhaul of map interface. Empty player vehicles now show up on map as yellow icons; locked vehicles show as cyan. Name of vehicle appears based on zoomed in distance. Vehicle icons on map can be toggled on or off in IA4 interface options. 23. Spotting results are now stationary based on the spotted target's position when they were spotted (they no longer move with the target). Spot markers in the world interface fade out after 10 seconds, but fade out on the map over 30 seconds. 24. Fixed bug where gunners wouldn't see spot markers in the gunner interface. 25. Overhaul and fixes for vehicle servicing and pylon weapons replacement. 26. Custom squads overhauled. Added mission parameter to allow custom squads to be created without squad leaders, allowing for one-man squads.

Thanks for your interest, @hadi5918! I am fixing bugs picked up from the last beta test, and will be running the next beta test this week, probably on Wednesday. We are getting close!

Yup, tracked the bug and it's fixed in 056 Not sure what this means as you are determined to be engaging an AO when you are 1000m away from the center of the AO "balloon" Balance conversation, which we had in spades on server Yep, looking into that Just because they were dull for you doesn't mean they were dull for other players participating in them, again, balance. As well, just because the AO completed doesn't mean all the OPFOR disappear, some still remain and they are moving to the next AO. Each AO is going to be slightly different, with between 0-3 sub objectives (which add additional forces). If you're outside the engagement distance (1000m from center) you won't be considered as participating. This is arbitrary and cruel but it's the only way I have available. You still get points for kills regardless. As well, you get 25% of the reward per minute (or it could be 30 second, can't remember) you are in the AO, and lose same every cycle you are outside of the AO. So if the AO completes the second after you respawned, you'll still get some level of credit. Fixed in 056 Enemies do spawn in houses, they leave garrison when they're shot at so they don't sit there for target practice. One thing I've noticed that's not playing as intended is that Gambler and Hitman are taking and one-manning multiple vehicles per squad, restricting it to a single vehicle per squad should help cut down on the amount of assets that engage the AO. In our exchange on server today, you suggested that I don't play the mission, and that while I'm coding the mission I don't have a feel for how to create a mission that plays well. I reacted strongly to that ("You can make your own mission") mostly because there's an implicit assumption that making missions is easy. It's not, because it's not just about the code, it's about finding solutions to problems raised by players. You suggested that there are too many assets in the AO, making it unfun for regular infantry, which is a legitimate concern, but if I just restrict the vehicles used by players then it becomes overly difficult to complete the AOs as presented. If I reduce the enemy vehicles to make it easier for friendly infantry to complete the AOs, now the AOs are too easy to complete. It's a dog chasing its own tail, and the only way to find the right balance is to tweak it slightly with every revision. I don't claim to have all the answers, nor do I claim to be an expert in making missions. I have had a bit of experience, I'm trying my best here, and I'm also trying to incorporate everyone's suggestions and criticisms (yours included) in order to make a balanced mission everyone can enjoy. There are going to have to be compromises to get to that point, it's not going to be perfect, but my hope is that everyone can live with the final product.

Thanks for your feedback Scar, I know if you didn't care you wouldn't write. The problem is that as time goes on, IA3 becomes increasingly hard to maintain, and the only reason IA4 is running as well as it is, is because we have abandoned the underlying code of IA3. Zero, in terms of code, but both missions are "capture the island" scenarios, with the same underlying mechanic. The differences between them are essentially cosmetic. There is a destroy radio tower secondary objective. If you're talking about a priority objective in the main AO, it's been replaced with a "destroy radar vehicle" sub objective. I'm happy to expand additional side missions over time, as an initial release, it can't have absolutely everything and the kitchen sink. As for the random rewards, the general concensus is that this system didn't work as intended. The rewards were for the TEAM, but the players who completed the side mission felt the reward belonged to them. So even the way you put it "THAT reward you always wanted", isn't applicable, because it wasn't your reward, it was the team. With reward points, you are free to save up for the reward you always wanted. Not sure what you mean by this, as you well know IA4 only has one main base. Right now we've been testing off of the Terminal base for consistency and convenience, but there are five other bases that can be selected by parameter or random chance. Well, it's in there mostly because Bohemia spent a lot of effort giving us a system to do so. Flying jets and choppers may not be your thing, but it is the thing for a lot of people, and as you've correctly pointed out, one pilot can devastate an entire AO, so this system (as it will ultimately become, not quite there yet) will integrate reward points into this, so that you can't just go out with 4 cluster bombs and wipe out the AO. You'll have to have a fair number of points to accomplish this. Can it be abused? Probably. As for using repair/rearm HEMTTs to get ammo back, the end game on that will be to remove those vehicles and replace them with custom script that essentially brings the service pad elements with them. (re secondary missions giving additional reward vehicles) This adds some of the flavour back from the side missions, and something special as a reward that benefits the team generally. Regarding your other point about a "proper admin team (quanitiy and quality)" I can only say that in the context of reward vehicles on side missions in IA3, if a player decides to take one who didn't participate in the side mission, that's not against the rules. Based on discussions in-game, I've changed this to affect only players outside of vehicles. Now when you crash your vehicle into a fence at 140 km/hr, the vehicle will probably be totalled, but you'll be flung outside the vehicle in the revive state. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - R

Beta 054 is ready for testing, we'll be running a beta test tomorrow (Wednesday) at 1900 UTC on EU1. Change log: 1. Tweaked Zeus functionality to align with IA4 units (spawned units & vehicles have reward point event handlers and custom actions). 2. Armor commander and gunner can now carry toolkits. 3. Tweaks to cleanup script to reduce rpt spam 4. Fix to vehicle locking 5. Fixes to integrate with battleye filters (thanks GhostDragon) 6. If fog is set to none, it will reset to no fog every weather change to prevent fog build up. 7. If you're running and you press your vault key, you'll jump (a present for Plant1ng). Unfortunately this means that double-tapping V to eject from a plane does not work (use the scroll wheel or another keybind instead). 8. Added some explanatory text to squad join button to explain how to join / why you can't join a particular squad. 9. Added a welcome message to explain beta test and feedback options. Outside of beta, will be used to show Ahoyworld news and server rules. 10. Added HVT and other imagery to secondary tasks. 11. Fixed and tweaked what happens when players are wounded. No wound should automatically kill a player, rather it should put the player into the incapacitation state. Enemy units will no longer execute incapacitated players. 11A. The only exception to this are velocity-related accidents. If you fall from the sky or drive into a wall at greater than 15 m/s, you will die. 11B. Player who are incapacitated while in a vehicle are now ejected from the vehicle as they could not revived while in the vehicle. 12. Added a new squad: TALON. Talon is responsible for flying the CAP jet (Black Wasp / Shikra / Griffon) to defend other assets in the AO from air threats. 13. Fixed a bug where players participating in secondary (side) missions were not receiving reward points on mission completion. 14. Completing a secondary mission will add a new non-faction, non-opfor vehicle to your reward list. Example: Playing NATO against CSAT, completing a secondary mission will add an AAF vehicle to the reward vehicle list. 15. Tweaks to how vehicle loadouts are assigned. Some non-faction vehicles when purchased by players as rewards will be given a new paint scheme. 16. Tweaks to reloading vehicles with dynamic weapons in an effort to fix those issues. 17. Default loadouts for CAS and CAP planes have been adjusted. 18. Added Faronaki as a new AO. 19. Added air service marker on the Carrier (yes, it's possible to change vehicle weaponry and service on the carrier). 20. Fix to dynamic groups (had an issue where players couldn't join certain groups). 21. Players who are kicked from a group (example: CAS/CAP pilots lose their vehicle, or Vortex pilots lose their second vehicle) are now assigned to a new group of orphans called ROMEO. While in this group, you are considered a basic rifleman, but have no access to an arsenal. Additionally you accrue 3% damage per 10 seconds. Go back to base and change roles.

Well any rifleman fits that description

The way custom squads are currently set up, you have to take a squad leader, you can take as many default riflemen as you want, but you can only take one each of any other specialized role (Rifleman AT, Rifleman AA, Medic, etc). You can't make a squad full of Riflemen AT. The 150 round magazines aren't supposed to work with anything but the SAW version of the SPAR, if you're using them on regular assault rifles you're essentially exploiting an error (which I can't seem to reproduce). IIRC they actually do weigh 5x more than the regular magazine.

Ok, I've added this as a mission parameter (you can choose how many players are connected before CAS roles are disabled in the squad menu: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or Never disabled, or always disabled. I'm going to leave this as never disabled for now as I still want to test CAS functionality (particularly how splitting out Talon works), but going forward we now have that option.

My only thought there is that the enemy presence scales with player count, so yes, there are more players, but there are more enemy units as well, I think you will find a bit of resistance to completely removing the CAS role. Also it'd be a matter of defining what that number is: you had suggested 30?

I'd say the only real solution, you've hit on - you need to either find comrades who will cart missiles for you, or bring a vehicle. For whatever reason I don't see players using vehicles effectively, they'll spend 10 minutes loading up an armed Hunter and then ditch it to go on foot at the first opportunity.

That's certainly feasible to implement. Would players be allowed to purchase CAS/CAP vehicles with reward points, and use them? Or completely verboten?

So we had a great staff discussion on CAS vehicles in I&A yesterday, thanks to all who participated in that. We have some ideas on future directions. First though, a couple of points. 1) Staff policing the mis-steps taken by CAS is a sizeable amount of what EU1 admins do (essentially, reminding players that they need to be called in, that they can't go weapons-free on an AO, etc). 2) A general concensus that this is a fluid issue that's not going to be solved through code. With this in mind, my suggestion in terms of how to proceed is looking like this: A ) Split out the anti-air planes (Black Wasp for NATO, Shikra for CSAT, Griffon for AAF) into their own asset group (Talon?). Rationale: 1) Right now there is only one role in a 64-person server that's eligible to fly planes, and there is a wait for that role. Especially as the role has access to two planes (if you die in the Wipeout, nothing to stop you from just up and flying the Black Wasp). 2) Plane respawn timer should act as a disincentive to stay in the role, rather, should cycle the player out into a new group unless a new vehicle is purchased with reward points. 3) Enemy air is now a frequent threat, having a dedicated CAP resource is probably a good thing as players are not flocking to the rifleman anti-air slot. B ) Add confirmation boxes when taking non-infantry roles. Method: when you attempt to take a slot like Vortex, Viper, Reaper, you are presented with a series of informational confirmation boxes you have to click on. Rationale: 1) Presents the players with the server rules, so they understand what they are getting into. For example, present them with confirmations that they must wait requests for CAS support, that they can't attack unrequested targets. 2) Means that when staff warns / kicks players for abusing CAS, there is no defence that they didn't know server rules. 3) Yes, players can just click-click-click through the boxes, but having them there might actually educate players. Regarding other suggestions made in this thread: * Application systems for slots: the problem with this approach is that Ahoyworld's philosophy towards joining our servers is that all slots should be available for all players without restriction, so an application system works against this. * Reward points for role - kind of smells a bit like whitelisting, plus there are ways to game the system (begging for donations) that don't actually solve the problem. Plus it would probably mean you have to play in a role you don't like before playing in a role you do, which is also against the philosophy. Not finalized yet though, please discuss.

You mean, spend reward points, and at missiles magically appear in your backpack? That's not gonna happen...

So there has been some strife lately surrounding the presence and use of CAS jets in I&A 4. Rather than have me come up with a unilateral decision I'd like to discuss the issue and figure out a means of how these vehicles are implemented so a reasonably high majority of players are happy. ISSUES and considerations: 1. A reasonably good pilot in a CAS vehicle can level an AO pretty much single handedly and indiscriminately, making it less fun for other players. 2. A poor pilot can lose the vehicle quickly, meaning when CAS support is actually needed it's unavailable. 3. Many players love to fly these vehicles but their inherent power means they have to be rare. 4. The current layout of enemy forces in the AOs include armored vehicles, which mean it's not uncommon for players to desperately need CAS support. (feel free to add to this list so we can have a fulsome discussion.) Possible directions: 1. The no fun option: remove CAS vehicles and present them as support rewards (Bohemia has CAS support modules at the ready). 2. Make Reaper and Viper groups accessible only with reward points. 3. Implement some kind of voting or application system for CAS roles. 4. Increase spawn/respawn timers for these vehicles. Your thoughts, please. - Ryko

Ironically enough it's not that much work. There's a bit of nip and tuck to make it all work together but the base mission was actually based on Stiletto, so not much work to get it running with RHS / TFAR / ACE

Thanks for your comments, Scar. Responding in reverse order - I have no ego to bruise, I figure if you didn't approve of it in some way you wouldn't bother to participate. Be heavy in your critique. I'm balancing a couple of factors here. 1) Players love to fly. If we made the jets super rare, I'd hear about it from the players that love to fly CAS. As it stands, there is a 45 minute respawn timer on the Wipeout, and 40 minutes on the Blackfoot, so I feel like it's somewhat delayed to have those assets constantly in the air. 2) Players are generally poor at dealing with armor as infantry. Yes, you can have a rifleman AT on the ground, but it doesn't take much for that guy to get taken out, and then everyone is mowed down by the enemy armor. Having CAS support is crucially important. 3) the UAVs are highly under-used by the current player base. I don't think I've seen a UAV strike mission used yet, mostly because those rewards are available to Squad Leaders / Team Leaders, and for some reason those roles are rarely used. I do take your point that a well-used CAS vehicle can lay waste to an AO, and I do take steps to make the AO more challenging when friendly CAS is in the air, but from what I've observed over several sessions, it's fairly rare that a Wipeout lasts the entire mission. I will bring forward the horrible problem of players "claiming" reward vehicles generated by side missions. It was always an ugly situation when a reward vehicle spawned from a side mission, and players uninvolved in that mission jumped in to the reward vehicle. Since the vehicle was awarded to the team, it's also not against the rules for them to do so, but it always lead to harsh outcomes. I'm not missing that dynamic and reward points make the success factor much more egalitarian. What I will say about side missions is that I intend to incentivize them a bit more by offering that special vehicles (ie., non-faction) may be purchased by people who participated in a successful side mission. I recognize this is cold comfort in the current system where only an Armor squad could use a Kuma (you've raised the issue of what players use reward points for after they've purchased their higher-end infantry gear) but I am thinking of adding a parameter option to make the use of armor more liberal, ie., non-armor players can use armor. I'll be discussing with mods whether this should be a default EU1 setting or whether we like the segregation of Armor squads. I have increased the amount of anti-air threat in the AO, but as I've said in the past I can't make it a flat increase or that Anti-Air threat will decimate the ground pounders. A big part of this is just Arma AI, some times I see the units sit there with their Titan AA launchers tracking a friendly jet and not firing... I can't fix that level of AI stupidity. Yep, that's a known and annoying bug that I'm looking to fix. It's hard to quantify this, especially because from what I've seen of your play style, it's not exactly fair on the AI. You sit on a hill about a km away from the side mission, destroy the vehicles with Titan rockets, mow down the infantry with your Hunter's weapon, and then cruise in to mop up the rest. To put it simply - you're not supposed to be one-manning these missions, and I don't really want to put myself in the position of writing missions based around a single user's play style. There are some scripts at play to deal with the fact that regular Arma AI is more or less helpless against this form of attack - they won't natively engage targets outside of a certain range - so I help them by having them have the option to call in Air support, or additional squads to move in to attack the threat. In "real life" an OPFOR wouldn't just sit there and take it. As for a fixed amount of enemy force - in an ideal world, the mission wouldn't spawn units until it "knew" how many players were going to engage it. If I create a side mission with 2 squads of infantry and 2 squads of players show up to deal with it, I will get complaints that the side missions are too easy. Similarly if I spawn 7 squads and two players show up, they will take a look at the regiment of enemy inf and complain that it's impossible. I feel like a dynamic number based on the player count is still the way to go, it's just about finding that sweet spot (right now the side missions will spawn the same dynamic rate as a main AO, but with a 40% reduction in that number. I might move to 50%, we'll see). This is currently the case. Vehicle respawning is tied to the type of vehicle that was destroyed. Utility vehicles like quad bikes and hunters respawn very quickly: the base time is around 4 minutes (the respawn cycle is checked every minute, so it's as little as 4 minutes and as much as 5 minutes for these vehicles). Special vehicles like APCs are 20 minutes; Slammer is 30 minutes; choppers are 10 minutes; attack choppers are 40 minutes; CAS plane is 45 minutes; Anti-Air plane (Black Wasp, etc) is an hour. Vehicle de-spawning is a bit trickier. If the vehicle has been destroyed in the field, it's automatically added to the respawn queue. If it's abandoned in the field, it'll only be destroyed for being abandoned if the nearest player is more than 500m away, and it's been left alone for 15 minutes. I recognize this is much different than how I&A3 handled despawned vehicles, especially as when a vehicle despawns, it's pretty much immediately put back into circulation at base. Two reasons why I'm going this different route: 1) Encourage players to not use their vehicles as disposable transport. 2) Prevent the situation where a player takes a vehicle into the field, moves into position, but their vehicle despawns because it's considered to have been abandoned, so now it's not there when they go back to it. I can tweak the above numbers, but I feel there are plenty of other options to getting into the AO, and methods for retrieving vehicles, that make the above approach reasonable. I have certainly had complaints from players on point 2, especially ("My vehicle despawned while I was running back to it."). Well, it's a pub server. I don't think it's fair to lock up all the vehicles. Plus, you yourself said you amass more reward points than you know what to do with, if you think there's a shortage of vehicles, there's nothing stopping you from buying a new Hunter for 500 points.