Mark T

What a difference a year makes, this time last year we were looking at closing shops and now I would say we are pretty stable for at least another year

 
As mentioned numerous times before, thank you all for your support and long may it continue.
 
I would like to apologies on the delay of IA4 and its new AWE counterpart, it has taken a lot longer than we had anticipated due to a number of reasons. (real life) Hopefully it wont be too long now.
 
Lastly, This will be my last update, I have decided that I will call it time come the end of this month and step down from the staff team completely.
I just want to thank each and everyone of you for your support especially those in the staff team and to those that brought me in, helped me along the way and trusted me at the top, thank you, you know who you are ❤️
 
Over and out x

What a difference a year makes, this time last year we were looking at closing shops and now I would say we are pretty stable for at least another year

 
As mentioned numerous times before, thank you all for your support and long may it continue.
 
I would like to apologies on the delay of IA4 and its new AWE counterpart, it has taken a lot longer than we had anticipated due to a number of reasons. (real life) Hopefully it wont be too long now.
 
Lastly, This will be my last update, I have decided that I will call it time come the end of this month and step down from the staff team completely.
I just want to thank each and everyone of you for your support especially those in the staff team and to those that brought me in, helped me along the way and trusted me at the top, thank you, you know who you are ❤️
 
Over and out x

I&A4 version 070 change log

FIXES
1. Overhaul of Rescue Civs secondary mission (Civs weren't spawning in buildings, or near OPFOR defenders).
2. Random revive from incapacitation, should be much less often. If you self-revive once, you won't self-revive again until respawn.
3. Overhaul of all sub-objectives to improve success conditions.
4. More work on custom groups. Maybe now it works? Who knows!
5. Admin scripts (should) be visible now for staff
6. Slung weapon was being detected as a non-class weapon for purposes of the gear restriction script (lolz)
7. Weather regulation script had an error which could result in a sunny (default) setting producing rain. Should now work as intended (Default parameter = sunny weather)
8. Player vehicles shouldn't be deleted in zones allocated for other bases.
9. Assets from secondary missions were sometimes caught up in orphan units subroutine after main AO was completed.
10. Possible fix for UGV reward asset
 
TWEAKS
1. Arsenal quartermaster animations changed so he doesn't walk through the table.
2. Removed more trees at Abdera runway.
3. Opfor awareness process won't run on groups where all the members are dead.
4. Given that BIS has changed how createVehicleLocal can be abused and that this abuse is no longer possible, removed createVehicleLocal from disabledCommands list; custom smoke countermeasures deployment has been removed and we're back to Bohemia's local solution.
5. The vehicle at the Repair depot sub-objective now has some flavour damage.
6. Updated secondary task names for better visibility on map.
7. Tweaks to main AO win condition
8. Civilian vehicles should now despawn after AO is completed if player is significantly far away, and hasn't been claimed by player
9. Vortex players should no longer be considered as potential targets for ambient anti-air spawns
10. Finessed ammo box deployment from helicopters (could spawn too close when helicopter was landed)
11. Reward gear is now added to arsenal, not put into inventory, after purchasing.
 
NEW
1. Added Teamkills history list for admins. Will only populate with information after admin connects (historical information will not be populated).
2. Admin can see current Main AO status, reflecting how many units are left in the AO before it is considered complete
 
Plus, we are trying some new server config options which might help with situations where units controlled by the headless client are not detecting players.

@Xwatt @MidnightRunner
 
Hello there
Hello everybody. At this point I would like to thank you sincerely. Your commitment was very noticeable. I always thought it was great fun. It brought the comunity together and always gave great pleasure. Such an assignment is not self-evident. I understand very well that at some point you burned out and that his real life had priority. I'm looking forward to further action and who knows maybe there will be something coming up... So thx again ❤️
 
Your Mastif

Ace on EU1 is a little problematic, the mod set has been kept to client side only mods because we want to keep the server as accessible to new players as possible! That means you are not required to download any mods to be able to play. This will hopefully keep the threshold for joining our EU1 server as low as possible.
 
We also arrange weekly game nights on EU2, where we run TFAR beta on top of the default EU1 mods. This is to ensure better communication and better quality of play and immersion as well. These game nights employ or more coordinated squad and command structure and a specific mission to complete as a team.
 
ACE among others used to be an essential part of the Enhanced Server (AWE). The Enhanced server has been inactive for a while but the plan is to restart the AWE server once I&A4 is out of beta. As far as I'm aware I&A4 is pretty much feature complete, but we are still ironing out performance issues and the occasional bug.

We have changed the way we host the squad xmls to avoid problems with third party hosting websites.
 
Here is thew link to new member xml: http://tags.ahoyworld.net/ahoyxml/members/squad.xml
 
If you are part of member xml use this link from now on. The old one will no longer be updated and may or may not continue working for people in it. In case of any problems make sure you are using the new xml.
 
 

Short answer: you never noticed.
 
Long answer: we have had public consultation in the past regarding direction, both internally and externally.  Please don't ask me to drag it all up because it was done through a combination of forum posts, Telegram (which we no longer use), and Discord, which is a pain in the ass to navigate historically.  I'm willing to bet there are forum posts here as well if someone where to search for them.  One thing I will tell you, is that there have been (and continue to be) mutually exclusive hopes, wishes and expectations for a successor to 3.  One excellent example is the FOB system from 3.  Some people love it, other people hate it (we've had multiple people pine back to I&A2's system with just a central base, and decided to work off of that).  At some point you have to make a decision and run with it, hopefully that accommodates the majority of players, or you might as well pack up your things and go home.
 
What I've learned: if you try to develop a mission through public opinion and concensus, it'll never get done.  And it'll certainly never please everyone.  Most of the time it's because the revision cycle is a merciless process of people saying "I don't like that" but not saying how that could be done differently or better, leaving it up to the mission designer to take stabs in the dark with different approaches.  Which other people now don't like.
 
What I've also learned is that people who take the time to write responses are people I want to hear from, because they obviously care about what's being developed.  Unfortunately I can't accommodate everyone's desires, and as I'm sure you're well aware, the Arma engine isn't capable of everything we want to do.  But I will say that every feature that's in there is there for a reason - most often to address a specific deficiency from how IA3 was designed, or to address gameplay issues from how we see the mission played.
 
 
I would say that at least I'm being consistent.  I'll harken back to what I've mentioned earlier in this post: you are entitled, and encouraged, to give your opinions, your earnest criticism, the whole thing.  I have no ego to bruise.  But if it's general feedback, I can only respond with general changes. For example, when you say
 
 
... it's up to me to interpret what you say in order to make any kind of changes.  Is it the squad system?  The role-specific arsenal?  The mission structure?  Rewards?  The direction of the mission?  I can infer a lot based on how 3 works, but unless you say something like "I don't like how the squads are set up", or better yet, "I want there to be nothing but custom squads" then it's up to me to just take deep breaths and try something else.

Hello Dirty,
It has been more then three years since the ban. Iam un-banning you from our servers, just behave and play by the rules.
Please read The Rules of Ahoyworld.
Ban appeal is successful.

The point of the Zeus squad is that it's intended for Staff players to deliberately recuse themselves from gameplay.  You don't show up on the map, enemy AI won't target you, and you get a whack of reward points that you can use to reward individual players.
 
Not being in the Zeus squad in no way impairs staff's ability to use Zeus powers.  It's tied to your UID, not your squad.  So if you are playing, and you need to pop into Zeus to fix something, you are able to do so.
 
 
If someone - anyone - can point me to anything that prevents this issue - namely, all Zeus users being kicked at random intervals - I'll gladly implement it.  We've asked Bohemia, notable coders, everyone's stumped.  Yes, there are some drawbacks with the system I've implemented to get around that - namely, that a Zeus module is dynamically generated when you ask for one - and you've hit the main one, that when you leave Zeus, your module is destroyed, along with the links to items that you've spawned.  That said, there's nothing that stops you from using Achilles to add objects in Zeus to bring them right back into your interface.
 
 
It's to clean up the interface, following a theme of simplicity.  Also, putting it in the admin menu gives me a lot more flexibility to do things like respawn specific vehicles, sent hint messages to players, etc.  Stuff I can't do within the context of the scroll menu without several layers of sub-menus.
 
 
See above
 
 
Feel free to elaborate.  We've already eased a whole lot of restrictions we started with based on feedback, and if you can point to specific things, I'm happy to discuss them.  Many of the things people do complain about (long spawn times, role-based gear restrictions) are there for long-debated and resolved reasons, but if you have new points to consider, don't hesitate.
 
 
Please elaborate... I find the paperwork comment very confusing
 
 
As of ... two versions ago?  This is no longer the case.  All role-specific purchasable weapons are now by default "purchased" which means they can be armed straight from the arsenal.  Based on a discussion we all had, no less...
 
 
It's never been my intention to force people into absolutely predetermined squads, that's why I have the custom squads functionality.  It's not something I can test on my own for obvious reasons, so every beta test I am responding to how it chooses to break (and it almost always does).  Custom naming of squads had led us into more than one ban situation thanks to people's creative choice of naming, or using the names for advertisement, and apart from the lolz, I can't see a great reason to have something which is just one more thing we have to enforce.  If people don't want to play here because they can't name their custom squad D1CK BOIZ I'm not sure we're worse of without them.
 
 
There's no great way for me to determine who's "participating" in the mission or not, apart from their proximity to the bad guys.  And generally, if they're sniping targets or destroying vehicles from over a kilometer away (the current threshold for when you are participating or not), you're outside the AI's capacity to engage you back, so I don't know if that's worth rewarding.  You'll still get points for kills, you just won't get your share of the mission objective reward points, which frankly, aren't going to be as much as vehicle kill points anyway.
 
 
The part that says Beta test is there for a reason... optimization is where we are right now, and it gets a little better every version.  This is a long discussion but suffice it to say I don't want 4 running at lower frame rates, the whole point here was for better performance by culling old/bad code, and if it's a matter of streamlining / removing features to get back to good performance, than that's what happens.
 
 
See above... by default, all role-specific gear is considered purchased at mission start.  Gear like non-faction weaponry still needs to be purchased at this point, but I suppose if there's overwhelming demand that you should be able to leave the NATO base decked out in complete CSAT gear and weaponry, well, we can go there.
 
 
I'm not an expert with UI, and Arma doesn't give you a ton of options.  If someone's got a better flair for it than me, I welcome the assistance to overhaul it.  What I'm most concerned with is creating an interface that is easy to understand and intuitive.  I clearly have not gotten there, because we get the question every session, how do I join a role? despite several layers of hints, suggestions and tooltips.  Remember that the whole point of this system is so that people don't have to go back to the lobby to take a different role, which is a major perk in my opinion, as well it is a bit more stable (in some ways) than Arma's stock system.  (and yes, much more unstable in others, I will fully concede).
 
 
Well, this is the hardest part of balancing the mission, I've got Xwatt saying we need to not punish players for being outside the AO, and you suggesting we need to reduce the reward for players being inside the AO   Neither of you is wrong, it's just a matter of balancing how to reward players.  I welcome your suggestions.
 
 
Ah yes.

I can't agree more @Jenkins, I suggested the American style because that would, in my opinion, help open up the leadership roles, make them more accessible. With that said, some people would more likely take up those roles and with time, a level of leadership would train itself to work together, which in turn would make the newcomers' experience a bit more seamless, when they jump in a role of a rifleman. In my opinion teaching the community, and providing less daunting environment where they can easily hop in to learn should be the goal for us, so the community can grow. We, as players can do so much, lead by example, and offer help along the way, but ArmA's learning curve is already pretty steep with the million keybinds, adding a communication layer over it with TFAR, for people who just started to participate in these missions can be intimidating.
I've heard too much that nobody wants to step up. I encourage all of you to take on these roles when situation arise, a little bit harder, but get your feet wet, because the appretiation from your fellow lads after, even when you try to carry out a hastily made half-baked bad plan, is worth the effort.
Making the SL role more accessible and providing the option with an extra TL in the squads could provide more opportunity to get the experience, give more capacity to SLs to help their TLs learn. I usually join in at the latest time i can as to fill the missing roles if needed, and lately i've seen that SLs likely taken, but TLs are empty.
 
Either way, even if the squad structure stays the same as is, it's upon the community to cultivate an environment where people won't feel intimidated to take these roles, and in the same time everyone can find the courage to tackle the challenge. I'm sure, if anyone interested, the more experienced guys and zeuses are willing to help, just ask for it. In the times i've been around, everyone (ofc with a few exceptions) was more than happy to help or eager to learn, this is why i personally prefer to hang around in this community. Great potential, incredible amount of effort from the zeuses, staff and regulars every week.
 

also:
 

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In I&A you would have been dead on approach, you would have lost your main rotor at least twice, blown up about 6-8 times. Hitting the fence is wonky, sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. The very first landing you did, you tried to use the buiilding as cover, yet you still landed on the far side of the compund, exposing yourself.
In KOTH these might work, but AI is far more efficient with lock on missiles and everything else.
 
And just curious, because i dont really like compilation videos, how many landings didn't make into this video. How many ended up in flaming wrecks. Skill is one thing, but consistency is the key. If you blow up 10 times then make it once and record the one to show it off as skill, well, in I&A and ovarall anywhere, wont get you good pilot status. Doing one extraordinary stunt is not as impressive as doing the less extraordinary but still hard to do stuff all day every day.
 
What about the 99% J-hook landings? There are far more landing types out there for every situation. Barrier landing, out of trim cutback, etc. Every situation requires to use the appropriate landings. Flying is so much more than just speed. Starts from picking the LZ while doing a map-recon. Fisinhing it with getting back to base intact. Reliability is key here, on a long OP like I&A or zeus ops, players prefer a pilot who gets them to the fight, every. single. time. And not in front of an enemy squad to get instantly moved down while the heli leaves riddled with bulletholes forcing the players to watch the respawn screen and hop on the same heli just to repeat this process fr about 5 times more until one day, finally they get to fire at least one bullet and take down an enemy with it.  
 
Being overconfident, disregarding the environment factors (big difference between KOTH player accuracy and available weapon systems and I&A AI behaviour) makes you less of a reliable pilot, hence they will mock you, until you adapt to the environment and needs of others. In I&A infantry wants to be on the ground, in cover, not immediately under fire while landing. In KOHT, they want to get next to the other guy just to shoot him and tbag him. Big difference. A good pilot takes these into consideration, not just trying to do the best airshow. Entertaining yout passengers is one thing, but you have to know when you can do a barrelroll to entertain, and when you have to switch to serious mode and place your passengers' safety above everything else. And by safety i dont moean get them disembark and whatever happens to them afterwards is on them. No. You are resposible for that. That would be like, here, im gonna drop you in a pond filled with piranhas, if you die, its on you.
 
If you accept an advice, slow the approach, pick safer LZs, and take the humble approach. Be consistent, They want to get there, they want to fight. Help them achieve their goal.
Either they trust you to do safe landings, getting them close to their goals, being consistent, every single time, or they will find another pilot and mock you when you say you are the 3rd best pilot in the world. Because in their eyes, you are fulfilling your goals (flashy, dangereous, unnecessarily extreme landings just to flex your skills) and not helping them achieve their goal (get on the ground and fight, not hopping on a helicopter, taking part in an airshow then die on approach).
 
Good luck

Nice avatar, lol'd.

Hey and welcome! Good to have you here.

That credit belongs to @Mark T:
 

Thank you @ansin11 I'm very happy you feel that way! I must confess I felt a little bad when the chopper crashed into you, that was just so random.

Finding the balance between making the mission challenging enough to be fun, yet not too hard is a fine balance which we are constantly trying to maintain. I also want to assure to everyone that we try to make the mission seem immersive and more realistic that playing against AI, while taking great care in not to kill anyone outright. Personally I'm glad this discussion is being had and also think it should be ongoing.

P.S, I knew the kill farm would be tricky while building it!

 

I guess this is the best place to give feedback about Sundays zeus mission.
 
I want to start of by saying that on Sunday I did a piss poor job at squad leading.  Going in I was prepared to do some team-leading but found myself as a squad leader for basically the entire OP.  Because I was initially a team leader I missed some key aspects of the briefing, specifically that armour squad gold was basically under alpha's command.  In addition I found myself task saturated most of the time.  From rewatching the stream I noticed that often people tried to reach me and I did not respond.  In the majority of cases my mind hadn't even realized that someone was trying to talk to me.  On the one or 2 occasions I did register that someone was trying to talk to me but did not respond I was simply too preoccupied to respond.  That's entirely on me.  When I got squad lead I should've taken a moment to sit back, think about what I've now got to do and then systematically do it.  I didn't, I just started to do shit leading to a very unorganized squad.
 
Now for some feedback of the mission.
The fog levels and wind levels were insane.  Nobody in their right mind would start an attack in those circumstances.  AI could see you from 800 meters away while you yourself could hardly see 200m in the valleys.  On the hills visibility was a bit better, about 400 meters.  Combine that with multiple static .50s and you're basically doomed.  I could see an insane amount of stuff on my map but when I actually took my laser designator out and looked I couldn't see anything.  On top of that the wind was so strong that smoking any approach to anywhere was impossible.  Leading us to have to run across an open ridge-line, with enemies on both sides that we cannot see nor engage that can see and engage us, to an objective from which we're being engaged but can again not engage ourselves.   The actions of Zeuses needs to be better coordinated.  From rewatching the stream I noticed that multiple zeuses were suppressing the same squad while others were seeing where they could put down mortars to get people to move up.  Suppressing is done to keep people in place, so how can a squad simultaneously be expected to move up?  Also, while the intention of mortars might be to get people to move that's not always how it's perceived.  Getting mortared while only moments before being suppressed, by enemies that cannot be seen or engaged, has no real benefit on gameplay in my personal opinion.  Also, 3-4 rounds will do, no need to put a barrage of 10-15 mortar rounds down, at least not the first time a squad is being mortared at the same position.  There has to be a rule that at the very least 2 people should be in an armour squad before it's allowed to leave.  A single crew armour piece is useless in missions like these because you can't set up on a hill far away and kill everything from a safe distance. Zeuses should be required to partake as players in these missions from time to time.  I feel that it's important that a zeus is put on the receiving end of what they do. As for a conclusion I feel that Sundays mission would have been more enjoyable if the fog wasn't there and if zeuses were just a bit less heavy handed. 

I really like the idea to spawn ground vehicle rewards at the side mission first and then, after ten minutes or so, move them to base if nobody took them. Sounds like a simple yet effective improvement to me.
Sure, it doesn't cover every eventuality, but as this thread shows it's safe to say that it's practically impossible to cover every eventuality.

I'm sure we discussed having rewards spawn at the completed side mission (land veh) but not sure where that discussion ended, I'll have a browse around to see if it was doable.

Nominating Alwin for PltCo. "okay listen up, the plan is... I have to go eat" 

It is a 'unique identifier'. Essentially a unique number for each person. In Arma it is the Player ID wich can be found on your profile-tab (and wich is the same as your Steam ID), and in TS you can find it by clicking on 'tools'->'identities'.