AW Invade & Annex 2 Changelog and Download

[Rarek]

Would it be possible to make the side missions much harder ? I noticed that 2.81 removes meeting the mole and just going to the side mission, players can do them in minutes and by themselves.

 

My suggestion is make them harder and longer to do bring back meeting the guy who tells you the side mission location and make the side mission more heavily defended, also make the guards patrol radius bigger so you can't sit on a cliff and fire an NLAW from 600 meters away and complete it.

 

Better yet make it so you have to capture the enemy vehicle and return it to the mole or a 2nd mole ? once you hand it over you then get to reap the rewards

 

All fantastic ideas for side missions and something that we intend to do. I'm only home to grab some paperwork so I have to be brief, but here's my reasoning for the difficulty and selection of missions.

 

The main issue at the moment is time; I've just started a new job so don't have much time at all to develop the mission and so side missions are placed at a lower priority than various bug fixes. I'll be developing more and more over time to get a good mini database of missions, but for the moment they'll stay simple and quick while I sort out the rest of the framework.

 

The Talk to Contact mission also, unfortunately, ties in with the issue of time. With the script I'd written, JIP players wouldn't have been able to talk to the contact and therefore not complete the mission, ergo if the side mission had been there for a while, chances are that a large number of players would be unable to complete it. I need to update bits and pieces to make that possible, but for now I've simply removed that particular mission.

 

When it comes to unit quantity, it's a difficult thing to gauge. Our mission is, as far as I know, one of the best at handling large amounts of enemies, but we're still under strain. Running an Alpha server will, after ~12 hours of constant play, produce a 90,000 line error log; it's very unstable and very heavy at the moment and AI are the most destructive when it comes to server load and FPS. This, coupled with the fact that there are currently no vehicles I can put at side missions such as light armour, tanks or AA vehicles, means that there is only a very small presence.

 

All of that said, increasing the patrol radius is a good idea. Also, rest assured that, as above, I will be producing more and more side missions once all of the kinks are worked out.

 

The best thing with suggestions / issues like this is to submit them in our ArmA 3 I&A Bug Tracker. If you put them in there, I get a lovely list of what needs doing and you get to keep track of what I'm doing and how I'm doing it.

[Melbo]

Fantastic work. Having an absolute blast with this.

 

Would there be any way to add in a small amount of mouse control and a small level of zoom to the UAV?

 

Maybe add a OpFor weapon cache for the explosives side mission as a reference to what to blow up instead of an empty building?

 

Limit classes weapon usage. AT can only use AT weapons, marksman only class able to use snipers etc. At the minute we are seeing everyone pick up a sniper and AT.

[razgriz33]

Cool suggestions, i know the UAV part would be difficult but im sure the other stuff is do-able

[Melbo]

Yeah I was looking at the UAV script and I was a little lost for adding those features. Would be nice though as I can't really see a lot using it at the moment.

[Rarek]

Fantastic work. Having an absolute blast with this.

 

Thanks, Melbo. Always brilliant to see someone enjoying the map!

 

Would there be any way to add in a small amount of mouse control and a small level of zoom to the UAV? [...] I was looking at the UAV script and I was a little lost for adding those features. Would be nice though as I can't really see a lot using it at the moment.

 

The UAV at the moment, as you might now, is a little bit of a cheat. Look at the menu background when you join the game; it's the same effect as that. It's actually a function created by BIS that, tweaked by me here and there to make dyanmic positions, availability and thermal imaging possible, is built into the game for their own use in the menu and the beginning of showcase missions. Quite a few people have requested camera movement and zoom, though it's really not a priority; one I have the mission running stably (for more than 24 hours) I can start focusing on this sort of thing.

I may remove the colour distortion on the camera as that causes the most problems when trying to see enemies, but I encourage you to try and use the various thermal imaging modes available (press Num 1 - 9). They help a tonne for seeing enemies.

 

 Maybe add a OpFor weapon cache for the explosives side mission as a reference to what to blow up instead of an empty building?

 

Ammo boxes can't be "dead" unfortunately, so I can't easily create a weapons cache. That said, I'll be changing the building to something else as we've had issues with it not registering as being blown up (see http://www.ahoyworld.co.uk/tracker/issue-27-breakable-side-mission/). I'll try and find something more applicable, or you can make suggestions in that ticket.

 

Limit classes weapon usage. AT can only use AT weapons, marksman only class able to use snipers etc. At the minute we are seeing everyone pick up a sniper and AT.

 

A tricky thing to limit. I might introduce this as a paremeter in the future, but for now it'll stay as it is. People don't like coming into a server and being restricted to choosing a specific class. Add it as a ticket if you really want this feature implemented.

Thanks once again for your input, Melbo! With people like yourself reporting bugs and making suggestions, this mission's only going to improve!

 

It's also worth mentioning that once all the basic mission bugs have been worked out, we'll up the mission to co40 (and keep putting out a co30 version if you prefer that).

[Melbo]

In regards to the weapon cache mission, how about spawning in an ammo cache and setting

clearweaponcargo this;  clearmagazinecargo this;

in its init and placing that in the building that gets destroyed to trigger mission complete?

 

Just finished a 4 hour session on our server with about 20 players (had to lock it in the end due to randomers joining and messing around) and we had no bugs at all. I will try and get some feedback off the guys tomorrow at some point and will post in here. The majority of it was "make a better map" so nothing related to the mission file!

[Apollo]

Having alot of fun on Your server, been obsessed With it since I started testing arma 3 a week ago

 

I like flying around in the chopper, but when Im on the ground I like playing medic. Ive read all the posts in this thread and I saw that the revive script could be implemented, will it be on the AW-server? I saw a few serveres having a script that let you stay on the ground for a set amount of time in order for medics to revive you, and if you were revived you had a set amount of lives, so that you couldnt be revived forever.

 

This is probably the script refered to earlier in this thread, but how about editing it before its implemented, so that the grace period before Death is random, remove the lives thing and make it so that a dice roll decides if you can be revived or not if you get shot. (if possible, depending on where you are hit, if that stuff is tracked and not too heavy to use).

 

Oh, and i think that restricting, at least the main and side arm is a bad idea, but limiting the AT and perhaps the explosives to a certain class would make some classes in a Squad more valuable and increase the need to work tactically. Also increasing the need for a good team leader to keep crazy medics and specialists from running up front getting killed

[Richie]

Any chance of getting the latest update ?

The latest public files are 2.81 but your sidebar shows 2.82.4

 

Even if that's a developement build we would love to jump in and try it out Since discovering the Invade & Annex mission we havn't hosted any other mission.

[tedbell]

I agree about the medic part - give the medics a chance to be useful - especially while infantry is being fine-tuned during alpha. Having a respawn timer plus a revive script will give much more imprtance to medical personnel.

 

Havivng no teleport makes pilots very useful - In fact, with the option to HALO jump from base in the old Domination maps, I never used a single chopper because it was so much easier to halo jump in the middle of the action and start firing away! Pilots in Invade and Annex are very needed and respected for their role.

 

Please give medics the same importance!

 

thanks for a kickass mission - my favorite Arma3 mission by far!

[Rarek]

Any chance of getting the latest update ?

Hiya, Richie! I've been more-or-less away for the entirety of this Easter weekend so I haven't been able to put much time into the mission, but I've left 2.82.4 on our server to see how it runs. From what I've heard back, everything's running nice and smooth and the features I've added haven't broken anything (after a few quick hotfixes, at least).

Long story short, if there aren't any huge problems with it I'll be releasing 2.82.4 tonight.

 

I agree about the medic part - give the medics a chance to be useful - especially while infantry is being fine-tuned during alpha. Having a respawn timer plus a revive script will give much more imprtance to medical personnel.

I'm all for a revive script and having it so that only medics (or at least those with a med-kit backpack) can revive fallen soldiers is a brilliant idea. When I get a little bit more time I'll do some more testing with the =BTC= Revive script and see if I can get it to fit comfortably with our current set-up. If I can, I'll make it a parameter in the mission (enable / disable revive).

 

Havivng no teleport makes pilots very useful - In fact, with the option to HALO jump from base in the old Domination maps, I never used a single chopper because it was so much easier to halo jump in the middle of the action and start firing away! Pilots in Invade and Annex are very needed and respected for their role.

You're one of the few to realise this, tedbell. I've always stood by that ArmA is much more fun (and people put a lot more effort in) if they can't just immediately respawn right on the front lines. Having dedicated chopper pilots ferrying troops to and from objectives provides fantastic immersion. I will implement MHQs (mobile respawn) when the larger map, Altis, is released, but even then I may restrict it in certain ways.

It's worth mentioning that I'm very aware that revive is a feature that a lot of people want. I want it too and mean to implement it, just in a way that doesn't impact the rest of the mission and keeps the high, some-what polished standard that the mission is kept at.

 

[tedbell]

Rarek - thanks for thinking of medics! When I modded domination for myself, you had to kill X number of enemies to get enough credit to respawn at the MHQ and it would deduct from your score when you do. This also prevented BF3 style play where you could just teleport, get killed and re-teleport endlessly. Perhaps putting in this type of requirement could be considered. Domination used this to call in airstrikes at a cost of 5 or 10 points each if I remember.

 

You could also allow medics to create MASH tents that would allow a limited number of heals to anyone who enters. A strategically placed MASH tent could allow for more emergent gameplay without killing teamplay.

 

The reliance on choppers adds so much to the immersion factor in I&A - I hope adding MHQ will not diminish this, but there is plenty of time to figure it out. Good work!

[Richie]

Nice

I can't wait

[winstonsmith]

Any update on release?

[Rarek]

Any update on release?

 

Working on it right now, winstonsmith. Should be up tonight; trying to get everything nice and fixed.

[winstonsmith]

Good things come to those who wait Thanks Rarek, Great work

[Rarek]

Updated to 2.83.

 

It should be of note that this isn't a feature-heavy update and is mostly bug-fixes. If this runs nice and stable we'll start adding pure content from here on in.

[k0rd]

thank you so so so so so so so so much for removing mortars

[Rarek]

thank you so so so so so so so so much for removing mortars

 

Gladly. Apologies I didn't remove them sooner; players on the Ahoy World server didn't catch on that you could use them for quite a while, but once the word spread it was utter havoc.

[winstonsmith]

UKGZ edit is now live on our server. Edits include Revive, TK punishment, restructured squad sizes and some classy server spam. Plus disabled blufor AI as default but that only really affects server admins. Thanks again guys keep up the good work

[Rarek]

UKGZ edit is now live on our server. Edits include Revive, TK punishment, restructured squad sizes and some classy server spam. Plus disabled blufor AI as default but that only really affects server admins. Thanks again guys keep up the good work

 

Glad to hear everything's up and running, winston. As always, let me know if there are any problems.

[danne]

Managed to break side mission immediately. "Smugglers den" mission as usual. Took the boat to the area and accidentaly broke the bilding while firing grenades at enemies.

Also found another bug, but that was related to ARMA and not the mission. Still kind of funny: http://youtu.be/cSGgthCfccs

Repeatable not only by myself, but also by another player who didn't even see the ruined building (another bug i guess).

[Apollo]

Cant wait for 2.84 Rarek, will you be adding revive script and option in the mission cfg as for this upcoming version?

[razgriz33]

I too have to thank you for removing mortars, they are hated by me for breaking everything, they couldn't be used responsibly.

 

Unfortunately I've not had chance to play today but looking forward to it tomorrow!!

[Rarek]

Managed to break side mission immediately. "Smugglers den" mission as usual. Took the boat to the area and accidentaly broke the bilding while firing grenades at enemies.

Also found another bug, but that was related to ARMA and not the mission. Still kind of funny: link removed for readability purposes

Repeatable not only by myself, but also by another player who didn't even see the ruined building (another bug i guess).

 

Holy christ, danne! Way to break physics and belly-flop the floor!

 

I'm doing solid Side Mission testing tonight until I can fix that no-good, dirty, stinking, bastard of an issue. The problem is this: say I create a building called theBuilding and I spawn it in front of me.

//Assuming _pos is a pre-defined position in front of me
theBuilding = "Land_I_Stone_HouseSmall_V1_F" createVehicle _pos;

I then check if the building is alive and show it's current state of damage (0 being alive, 1 being dead) using:

_isAlive = false;
if (alive theBuilding) then
{
	_isAlive = true;
} else {
	_isAlive = false;
};
_dam = getDammage theBuilding;
hint format["Building Alive: %1\nDamage: %2",_isAlive,_dam];

When that code is activated (in a trigger, let's say) it will show a hint like so:

Building Alive: true
Damage: 0

Now most buildings will remain alive until their damage hits 1. However, buildings in ArmA 3, due to some strange bug or a slight redesign, instead change into other buildings. That's right. They actually transform into different "damaged" versions of themselves. That's fine, visually, but from a mission-making perspective it's a real arse.

 

The current issue is that unless the building's damage goes from 0 to 1 in one hit (using a satchel charge, for example), it will stop tracking damage once the building has "transformed" and therefore is permanently alive. If I spawn a building and mortar it, for example, after three mortar strikes the building will get stuck with these statistics:

Building Alive: true
Damage: 0.41245135

Short of just saying that the mission's completed if the building's damage is over 0.4 (which I tried in this latest version, but it obviously "transforms" before that point), I'm looking for a more elegant and long-lasting solution that doesn't involve me having to test every bloomin' building to see when it transforms itself into a hat or something.

 

Long story short, I'm still looking for a solution. Feel free to pitch in if you know the answer.

 

Cant wait for 2.84 Rarek, will you be adding revive script and option in the mission cfg as for this upcoming version?

 

If I can get this damned bug sorted, yes.

[RyBo]

 On behalf of the Elektro Police Dept. server we would like to send a HUGE thanks for all your work. I was one of the many to download on Armaholic. I was able to add Revive,Mobile spawn,TK kicker,View distance options,Helmet cams, Vitural crates.Player Map markers with names, etc all first day.

 

 Everyone who joins says its the best "DOM" on the server list. In doing so people think I did all this work. So we leave all credits and intro photo's original to thank Rarek and the AW community!

 

  I just updated your map last night and I am trying the classic DOM revive from Norin. Works great if your affraid of people abusing the mobile respawn. At the moment I have it set so only a "Commander" has control over the mobile spawn (camp fire, lol). Glad you removed mortars but when we Admin we always had one mortar crew up. Kind of miss it for the times when you have low server population. Also love the new side missions. I havent dug i the files to see if you can earn a CAS chopper yet. I added one cause ARMA is not ARMA without full military might being thrown down on the enemey. 

 

 All in all we thank you for your very hard work. Credit is and will always be due too you!

 

 Things players asked for on our server which I added and worked.

 

-Virtual ammo boxes "glad you added them yourselfs!"

-Revive/mobile spawn

-Anti TK system

-View distance changer

-Helmet Cams

-Player map markers with names

-1 more pilot slot

-1 CAS KA-60 (Just in case a fly boy pubber comes in. Its not as OP like the LB.)

-More Vehicles in general (noticed you did the same with the update!)

-Ive added more but here at work atm I dont remember, lol.

 

Above each is listed in order of people "begging/cry/wishing/asking me to add it in.

 

 I have even made the mission 50 players. That I might not recomened unless you have more CAS/Mortars. It becomes a mad house even with AI groups maxed. I moved it to 40 players like you did in the update. I'm just really glad to see some of the scripts ive thrown in being updated to the new verison. Plain and simle, Epic.

 

 My other admins want to change the .PAA file to one of our's but at the moment as i said you need full dues. In the mean time if you come up with a branding badge,icon etc would like to add it to our .PAA so people know who made it. Let me know or throw the info in the next (read me) file. Again THANKS!!!!!!

 

(EPD)RyBo

 

PS. First Post!