Ryko

This is incredibly cool.

It'll be some time this week. Tweaking a few things based on great feedback.

I've checked the logs and the script is running: if you were seeing the dead bodies, then the clean up script is probably working as intended. The script is designed to clean up bodies and wrecks that are outside the immediate visual range of the player, so you don't run up to scavenge equipment from a body, and it suddenly despawns because the it's time to run the script. Once all players are far enough away from a dead body, it will despawn. I'm fine tuning the timing and distance for these checks, in order to improve performance. I'm going to change these static boxes to arsenals as that's fairly easy to accomplish, but this version is the first time I'd heard of that bug or I would probably have done it sooner. No, it's not. The secondary missions are tasks, if you click on the task on the map you will be reward with information about what you're supposed to do. Yeah, that's a bug. Thanks for posting

Good catch! Thanks for that.

Thanks folks, I'm sorry I couldn't be there for the actual test. Family stuff I couldn't get away from... This has been the bane of my existence, next to vehicle respawning. I have no idea what's causing this. I think it's related to using publicVariable to try and send a large chunk of text, but I don't see where I do that. Hmmm, this kind of sucks because it means Bohemia uses the createVehicleLocal in one of its scripts, and I'm disabling the command as an anti-hacking measure. I have a sense it's connected to vehicle smoke launchers as it stems from 22:22:09 File A3\functions_f\Effects\fn_effectFiredSmokeLauncher.sqf [BIS_fnc_effectFiredSmokeLauncher], line 52, however I'm surprised they'd use a local effect for that. Achilles uses its own functions, and since I have disabled the ability of clients to remotely execute functions and scripts on the server unless they are specifically whitelisted, I am basically reduced to waiting to see what functions and scripts produce this error, and then whitelisting them. 048 should fix achilles, and a variety of other things that weren't working... I'm not sure what's causing this, but I'm investigating. I had heard a report that it's linked to opening up the static inventory boxes, so I will be replacing those with standard arsenal boxes, by popular demand. Yup Nice one Stan There are some provisions in the mission for faster removal of dead bodies and wrecks; my intention with the cleanup script is to try and remove bodies that have been clearly abandoned by players so they don't immediately despawn in full view of the player. Every "cleanup period" the script checks all dead bodies and wrecks to see if they're within a certain distance of any player, and if not, they are removed. Further, there is a scaled acceleration so if we are more than 20 players, both the frequency of this cleanup period, and the distance from any player, are reduced. I'll continue to fine tune these numbers. As for the presence of enemies, that is such a tricky thing. If I scale back the number of enemies, people complain that the AOs are completed too quickly. That's a Bohemia/Arma thing, not related to the mission. I'll definitely have to check where it went... I don't know why they're still doing that, I've gone to great lengths to try and get them to stop doing that... These were both functions that didn't make it into the whitelist, they're there in version 048. I'd like to eventually implement this, for both Crossroads as well as the specialized roles (Sierra/Tango recon, Armor, Vortex trans, Viper and Reaper CAS). I think those doors are locked by Bohemia. I'm not sure what's up with the grenadier role, but I've seen that before, as well. Again, another function that wasn't whitelisted, it's entered now and that should work. All players, even Vortex pilots, are classed as "rifleman" - it's the squad / role that determines whether you can fly a heli or not. I'm glad to catch that, that's a common way hackers are able to give themselves a method to run scripts on the server. Not that I'm saying you did, but that's why that command is disabled, as the mission will never need to run that. I'm sorry to say that this isn't actually that useful a comment, unless you can give me some additional context (ie., you encountered FPS problems in a specific situation and it fluctuated a lot - good one second, bad the next). I don't know anything about your computer and internet connection, which are both huge factors in determining how your client runs the mission. Most people report better FPS in 4 than in 3. Yes, the setFog command wasn't whitelisted - the weather commands are now available.

AW MVP 2018: all the donators and subscribers, you folks keep this place going! AW most friendly admin/staff member 2018: @Chuck AW most helpful admin/staff member 2018: @Mark T AW most helpful user *Non-staff* 2018: Oh dear. I should really spend more time on servers AW strictest admin/staff member 2018: @S0zi0p4th AW most absent staff member 2018: @S0zi0p4th AW most active staff member 2018: Tough call, too close to call AW friendliest user 2018: @GamerbugUK AW most tacti-cool ARMA player 2018: @Noah_Hero

We're all the poorer without you, and I hope you're never a stranger!

opinions are always welcome. We've gone back and forth on this but the majority concensus was that players like it better to have one main base as was the case in I&A2, rather than unlockable FOBs as is the case in I&A3. The difference in I&A4 is that the main base location is randomly positioned between one of the six airfields, including Terminal. On EU1 when we launch, we will probably set the default base location to Terminal because it appeals to the general pub player. Right now in beta testing we are spawning the base in the random locations (or non-Terminal) to identify specific base problems: for example, in last night's test we identified that the Huron's spawn placement is no good, as it exploded every time on spawn/respawn. If everyone has access to the Titan, then there's no point in having an AT specialist, or specialists at all for that matter. We have lightened up on restrictions, so that if you are in the field and you need to pick up someone's AT launcher, you can do that (you just can't run with it). This is to encourage players working as a team to complement each other's roles. There's no perfect solution for this. What if you drive a vehicle into the AO and take a bunch of fire from the enemy units, distracting them while the other players complete the objective? Now you get no points, despite being vitally important to the completion of the mission. Or a repair specialist, or other specialist roles, who aren't awarded by kills. Also, if you kill every enemy in the AO, you will likely have accumulated more points than the objective reward, just by individual kill points. If you die in the AO on your own, because you weren't within range of a medic or a team that can save you, then I think you might be doing it wrong. Points are subject to balancing That's unfortunate, but the same check prevents a player from griefing other players. Your situation is probably more rare than teamkilling, which I think we can all agree needs a defensible solution. See my comment to TheScar above I think it will take some getting used to, but in this system if you're not sure if your target is friendly or enemy, spot it and it instantly gives you a target notification that it's either enemy (red target square) or friendly/civilian (no-shoot indicator). You didn't have to go to the map, check your location, estimate your direction and distance to what you're looking at, etc. Plus the spotting system allows for the UAV to actually be useful, rather than relying on poor callouts by a UAV operator. And your spots are visible to other players. I think the system is just a whole lot better than current. Feel free to tell me why I'm wrong. Plus "now I can only see friendly so I cannot be so sure if its friendly player or not" - makes no sense to me. It's a vanilla arma action, you need to be parked fairly specifically near its range to get the action. Since it's so flakey, that's why I added repair/rearm/refuel pads. #blameBIS and see my comment to TheScar, above Balancing, but yes, I think it will be better than reward vehicles Heavy assets like the Slammer and the Marshall operate on a delayed start, but yes, I think it will work better

In the default parameter selection (likely what will run on EU1) the armor roles are fluid, meaning any of the roles can perform any of the functions. In the strict parameter setting, only the individual roles can control their various functions (only the Driver can get into the driver seat, etc). Again, by default only the driver and commander had access to repair kits, but I suppose for the sake of completeness there's no really great reason the gunner shouldn't have access to it as well, so I'll add it. These are Arma problems, not mission problems. Panther vs BTR is probably going to be in favour of the BTR. Panther is there to allow GAMBLER & HITMAN to server as combat taxi while they wait for Slammer & Marshall style vehicles to spawn/respawn. Sounds like a players problem, not a mission problem I'm curious about the difference between 800m and 1km, but I have no real qualms about extending it. That's not intentional, the AFK script is really only meant to run on pilot slots or if the server is completely full, so it is definitely bugged (should also have kicked you from the server if it was working properly).

My recollection is that derp is scattered throughout the entire mission in various ways, like cancer. It's one of the reasons we started over from scratch in 4.

Here's the layout of awards: all these points can be modified by a mission parameter which augments or reduces award points by +/- %, depending on whether the parameter makes the mission easier or harder. By default, there's no modification. All these points are subject to change: they are placeholders as we figure out balance. Complete primary objective: 400 points. Complete secondary objective: 600 points. Both of these amounts are modified by your time in the relevant AO. When you first get the notification that you are engaging the (primary/secondary) mission, that's telling you that you've been there for under a minute. Every minute you are present in the AO, you get 25% of the final award. So you have to remain in the relevant AO for at least 4 minutes to receive the full award. This also decreases by 25% for each minute you're out of the relevant AO, until you get the message that you're no longer engaging the mission. This helps mitigate those scenarios where you die and then the AO completes, and you'd get nothing, as well as rewarding players who have been in the AO longer than other players. The following awards are assigned as soon as they are completed, rather than when a particular objective is completed. Kill an enemy soldier: 25 points Destroy an enemy vehicle: - Tank: 300 points - Air vehicle (plane/helicopter): 500 points - Other vehicle: 150 points Heal a wounded player: 150 points (not sure if this is working) Revive a player: 250 points (not sure if this is working) Transport pilots in Vortex also have a special reward cycle: every 30 seconds they are in the air transporting players, they receive 5 points per player in their cargo. Points for kills are shared between members in a squad: if you are within 300 meters of a squad mate who receives reward points from a kill, you will receive 33% of those points. This is primarily to reward vehicle crews (commander & gunner) but (theoretically) it also incentivizes a squad to stick together. So if a player kills a soldier, he receives 25 points, and any squad mate within 300m will receive 8 points. Points for kills are also shared with the Platoon commander: he will receive 10% of all points generated. This is primarily so that over time he can afford to purchase UAV missions, ammo drops and vehicles for squads. There are also point penalties: Teamkill a player: 500 points Kill a civilian: 300 points I'll have a think about this, but my instinct says no. It's pretty easy for enemy vehicle crews to abandon their vehicles (especially if they flip them) which would mean enemy vehicles can become pretty easy to come by. There's a mechanic in place to discourage players from using non-class weaponry, but I can't imagine a mechanic which would do the same for enemy vehicles. Actually @Stanhope isn't right in this case - he doesn't join your squad, he runs on a local loop so that he constantly tries to keep up with you, but will engage targets that he becomes aware of. He also has a program to try to revive you if you get incapacitated. However, there have to be no active enemies nearby, and he has to have a medkit (he doesn't have unlimited supplies). Right now he's a work in progress and might not make the final cut. Right now, the cooldown is that the UAV's actually not great at conducting a strike. The UAV will vector into a strike position, and then attempt to engage your selected target. However, if it loses track of the target, it might actually engage another target of opportunity. But once you give the UAV a strike order, it will try for some time to fulfill that order, and is unavailable during that time. It's hard to spam that function, and frankly, in testing the UAV has been more useful as a recon tool. It's also noteworthy that the UAV isn't targetable by enemies while it is in recon mode, but when it goes into strike mode it is targetable by enemies (and, in testing, has been shot down on several occasions). Again, the point values on everything are subject to change. It's also worth noting that players can share points, so if there's a need for a high-caliber vehicle, it's a matter of getting the entire team to cooperate and pony up the required points.

By request, here is a the code which defines the reward costs in I&A4: You need a little information to unpack this information, as it's lifted straight from the codebase. Faction identities: 1001, 1002 and 1003 are NATO, NATO Pacific and CTRG (western) factions. 2001, 2002 and 2003 are CSAT, CSAT Pacific and Viper (eastern) factions. 3001 is the AAF. Each reward is the name, the cost, and the roles it's limited to; for miscellaneous rewards, the description is appended as the fourth item. I encourage people to discuss / debate the relative costs of these items. I expect these to iron out over time.

This must be a 3 thing, because that file doesn't exist in 4.

I think the problem with having a combo "Heavy AT" role and relying on that person to defend against both armor and air is that they can't carry enough rounds to do both, and will invariably have the wrong round loaded to deal with the threat required. Splitting the functions between two roles makes sense to me. As Stanhope mentioned, there's a static armory beside each of the ground service pad and the helicopter pickup points. I'll make a sign which indicates this. What it does is this: when you walk up to it, it automatically fills up with 8 magazines for each weapon you carry. If you want more than that, walk away and approach it again. I find this better than the arsenal because of backpack limitations, and there can be a significant delay in loading the arsenal for some players. Yup, the default setting is now that the side missions will not time out. 800m. So what happened here is that you were detected by the enemy, and they created a search and destroy waypoint to confront the threat. I always hated how when they were engaged beyond their effective range, enemy AI would just run around like chickens with their heads cut off, or worse, just sit there and take it. Now, they may not know exactly where you are, but they will take steps to react to you (including calling close air support, and vectoring units from other areas). Smoke deployment is a vanilla arma functionality. Technically, you should have gotten something, if you didn't get the notice that you were "no longer engaging the secondary mission". The way it works is that every minute you're in either the primary or secondary mission, you get 25% of the reward when it's applied. So if you engage the mission for 4 minutes, you will be fully rewarded. Every minute you are outside the mission radius, you will lose 25% of the reward. So if you participate in the mission, die, pop back in base and then see the task completed successfully, you should be rewarded something. This is why those reward notifications exist; they tell you what you are doing, and if you'll get reward points. I was surprised by that, too, but then again, I don't think players would show any kind of mercy to AI soldiers, so... what's good for the goose, right? Yup. They are there so that it's not so simple to locate and eliminate enemy presence; you actually have to ID targets. Civilian vehicles are there as well similarly for vehicle operators targeting with guided weapons. Basically, it makes it so that it's not 100% guaranteed that if you target something, it's an enemy. Also, the vehicles are there for players to steal if/when their own rides get wasted in the course of a mission. The feature might not have broken in subsequent AOs - civs and civ vehicles only spawn in towns and villages, if it's an exterior AO like a mine or solar plant, they don't spawn. 32 seconds, which is forever when you're under fire.

Looks like Sharo just earned himself a ban!

I noticed the overflow thing as well, and I have noted that issue in the RPT.

Um... not abiding by any specific standards for 4, either, so... sorry

I'm super impressed with the attention to detail and what you've come up with here. I'd be happy to work with you to bring these to fruition. How would you imagine this being enacted?

Bonne chance!

Sure. As an example, in the Missions\Priority\priorityarty.sqf file, we changed _position = [[[getMarkerPos currentAO , 2500]],["water","out"]] call BIS_fnc_randomPos; to _position = [getMarkerPos currentAO, 10, 2500, 10, 0, 0.1, 0, [], [0,0,0]] call BIS_fnc_findSafePos; Technically there's a whole loop there to ensure it's a flat and empty space, but it's probably not necessary because BIS_fnc_findSafePos has its own gradient detection (that's what the 0.1 is for in that statement).

Invade & Annex has now been updated for the Arma 1.86 (Warlords) update and is running on EU1. Any issues, please note it here. Thanks - Ryko

... and EU1 is now running I&A3 again.