JaSmAn

Context needed. When, where, who, what happened? Otherwise, not very useful IMHO.

@oO_ScarFace_Oo totally irrelevant post on what should be a serious topic for those who care about seeing this community improve.

I was ASL during this op and all it seems MAT was upset at the quality of information they were getting (or not getting for that matter). It seems the behaviour in the video was a result of MAT being upset at the lack of communication - hear the opening comment in the video - "we've been left in the dark for so long I,m just leaving it." If anyone has an issue with the amount of information they are getting they should speak up during the op and not act out like this. This incident resulted in ME getting a complaint, which I addressed with an Admin through the right channels. The rest of Alpha seemed OK with my communication and I didn't get any other complaints. I agree with @kman. Unfortunately this sort of behaviour (not specific or limited to Moonfire) is becoming way too common on AWE and frankly, it's put me off from taking even a TL role, much less ASL (some might be happy about that!). However, it is limited to a few players. It's too bad that they are the "well known" guys, which makes them feel like it's ok to have fun any way they want but have very little regard for the rest of the community.

@Ryko the "waking animation" was actually a black screen for a long time which then went to a respawn screen.

Ben don't feel too bad about the mission and the way it ended up. Some people gave you a hard time, but if they have opinions they should post them here along with suggestions on how to improve. Here's my suggestion - and I'm going to sound like a broken record - IT'S ALL ABOUT THE ORDERS and the chain of command. In real life, combat operations go to wrong all the time, like this one was supposed to. The story is a crashed chopper, everyone's lost their kit, command is down, orders are not flowing. So, in real life, soldiers have standard procedures which they follow, as well as a standard chain of command. One of the things we do worst is AWE is give orders properly and follow chain of command. Very simply put, most ASLs (including whoever was ASL during your op) have no idea how to give clear orders ahead of the mission. I just watched the stream and ASL says "we have no orders....." Not good. EVERYONE should know what the hell is going, and last night, nobody did. As a mission designer it is your job to help the ASL (or PlatCo) give good orders. In other words, you need to give him the scenario, the intel, the possible situations that may develop, and in a case where you need a heavily scripted turn of events like this one, some hints as to what might happen. In other words, "what happens if the chopper gets shot down....." If you did, then ASL didn't pass any of that on to the TLs or the TLs didn't pass anything down. A couple of specific things: 1) The respawn was in a bad place. I spawned back after the crash and immediately got shot in the head. That means I lost 4 minutes, and when I came back the second time I had no weapon and it took me a good couple of minutes to find one. I was combat ineffective for a long time, and then it took me even longer to sort of make sense of what was going on. Suggestion, move the spawn to a safe place, inside a house or something like that. 2) My Shacktac stopped working on respawn. This was bad, because it's hard enough to find your squad with it, more so without it. I don't know if that was unique to me. I think that what you want is for people to get organised as soon as possible to get on with the mission. On the flip side, TLs were terrible at getting people organised. I lost my team and never found them again until the very end. I'm pretty sure they weren't looking for me. TLs have a responsibility to make their team function and not just run off, which mine did. 3) Where I think things got very wrong was when the tanks showed up. I heard you say that the reason you put the tanks in was to keep people in the compound. But that was never going to happen. I think everyone just reacted to, "tank, we have nothing to kill it with, get the F out!" 4) You had a chance to let people regroup at the airfield. I'm not sure if it was you who placed the infantry there or not, but there were bad guys with RPGs at the airfield and it was only natural for the pilots and ASL to get the plane to safety. When the RPG hit the plane, that was it, game over. My suggestion would be that you should have kept the airfield safe and delivered an Overlord message to secure the airfield, or something like that. I think this just shows that players won't react how you expect, and if you expect them to react a certain way you should tell them. In other words, give them a Standard Operating Procedure ahead of the game. My final thought, and a repeat of my previous comments: improve your briefing, take time to give good clear orders and intel. No mission in real life would happen without these. They shouldn't happen on AWE either. And one for the community - ASLs and TLs, learn to give good orders! Ben, don't get discouraged; don't give up on making missions. And finally, I'm happy to help you write orders, give ideas for future missions, etc....

I'm hoping we can do something. Judging by the turnout over the last two week I'd say our dear AWE has lost popularity!

Again, I don't know much about programming, but I'm sure there's a way you can sort this out. We know that there are no people on the server at certain times - predictably. Surely we could limit the enemy advancing significantly during those hours and limit them to defend missions?

I think the MSO concept is good, but it's missing one thing that I think would be key to my proposal - an overview map - some way of understanding what is actually happening on a grander scale. The MSO I played (and it's only been one) was quite boring - basically get in a car, go to where you are told and shoot. No communication as to why we are doing things, etc. I keep thinking back to Falcon 4 and the dynamic campaign there.

Had a quick look and this very clunky with complex points mechanisms and not a very intuitive mission format. The map is the right idea though, although I would make it more simple.

Had a quick look and this very clunky with complex points mechanisms and not a very intuitive mission format. The map is the right idea though, although I would make it more simple.

I don't know about programming, but maybe there's a way to limit the enemy advance when there's no one on the server? Maybe a script that says the enemy will defend and fall back when there's x amount of people on and only counter and advance when there's more people?

@Copey I have no idea how to code, but I'd like to help any way I can....

There's a difference in what I have in mind - it would be a constantly running server, not once a week like MSO. The more I think about it, it could be a mix with Gauntlet. Gauntlet is a sort of "special forces" type operation, with specific missions, get in, get out. My idea would be more like regular infantry battles, pushing the enemy back or defending against counterattacks, etc. It's a moving front.

What I read about Patrol Ops is that it's just a random mission generator, with scaling based on players strength. Similar to Gauntlet just that the missions are less scripted. Or am I wrong about Patrol Ops?

Guys, Has there ever been any consideration given to running a dynamic campaign (right term?) on AWE? I'm envisioning a map with a constantly moving Forward Line of Troops (FLOT) where, for example, Red makes a push into a town and Blue then moves to push them out. I remember Falcon 4 had something like this. In Arma, this would give players an opportunity to engage on their chosen front without the need to spawn missions every time (a la Gauntlet). I'm not sure what the enemy spawn mechanics would be, but I am sure there are plenty of people on the server that can work it out! Any thoughts?

Another excellent guide. Medic is most fun when you know what you are doing and you are able to help many people. Hopefully this guide will also help the rest know when they actually need a medic, when it's worth asking for a stitch and when you should just patch yourself up.

Is there an official start time for the next one?

Same here...... would have liked to join this one! Hint hint as well!

I feel so lucky having lived through this experience!

It was an informative session. I am sad I had to leave early but it was getting late. Some comments: 1) One general comment about all the training sessions I've attended (about 3 now) - can't help but feel that they are quite improvised and not very scripted. The guys running them really do a good job once there, but maybe put more time into the script, objectives, etc. We should not try to bite off more than we can chew by trying to fit too much into each session because it then drags on, people start leaving, etc. 2) Don't let people decide when they think they've done enough of something. At one point you asked "would you like to go on to shooting?" Like anyone will say no! But we'd never had a chance to practice bounding more than once. If we don't know formations and how to bound, we don't know the absolute basics of infantry movement! I know people get bored, but if they want to get on to shooting they should shut up, stop f'ing about, listen, get the task done, and then we can move on. 3) We spend too much time setting up. This is always the case, but I think we could improve this by giving instructions either in the forum or in the mission description ahead of time. For example, "as soon as you join, grab a your basic rifle loadout, include smoke grenades, and then form yourself in your teams in an orderly fashion. Team Leads get one HMVEE per team." 4) I agree with Noah's suggestion that breaking into smaller groups would have been better. That way each group gets a chance to do more practice without having to wait for others. It also would be good to make sure that you are balancing the groups with people who have done it before or know what we are talking about with groups who have absolutely no experience, that way everyone learns together. Please don't interpret as gripes. It was a good session, thanks for running it.

Is there a way to see all the Gauntlet mission descriptions?

The clue is in the definition of "role", which according to that so infrequently used tool called the dictionary is: the position or purpose that someone or something has in a situation Position - where you sit in the hierarchy - obey orders. Don't give them if you're not supposed to. Purpose - what are you there to do? Do you have the right kit to do it? In other words, let the medics do their stuff, pilots to their stuff, etc. Do what's expected of you and respect what others do. Situation - Know the mission, know the orders. Adapt accordingly. Play according to the situation. For example, my AT guy gets killed, I'm the Medic, his AT launcher is right there and the BMP that is killing my teammates is within range. Should I, as the medic, shoot the BMP? I think yes, the situation demands it. Does that mean that I as the medic walk around with an AT launcher just in case? No.

Yeah, wanted to use the vehicles to cover our advance, which is why I chose the open ground.