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My experiences as a guest on your server


Guest Stip

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It was fun playing with ye. 

As for the staff, everyone is different. There are those who likes fun, messes around and the serious ones... You can't befriend them all and getting used to one kind and then talking to the other can be challenging. It is not like a milsim unit/public server where you got people to follow a procedure when it comes to the rules. We all just mess around, and there are some who don't like that and there are some who loves to join in.

 

As for the suggestions!

The whole AI and map editing thing... I agree we need a new AI system, but reworking the vehicles into pools? Forget it, the layout is just fine. 

The idea of the Co-Pilot seat being without a certain amount of ground forces hit me. Although it is a great idea and all, but we are very infantry focused.

The idea of an ASL instructor slot? I find that useless, there are manuals on the forums under guides as well as Team Leader roles you can learn from. Being a Squad Leader is hard without Platoon Commander, but you gotta trust your gut. Do you see yourself fit or not. One last thing... there are sometimes training nights where you learn leadership as a Team and/or Squad Leader!

The last suggestion... you're not the first to say that... but if you feel it was unfair, either post a ban appeal where you explain the situation or talk to the person who kicked ye. Don't try to argue with them, just ask them and when you got a decent answer, accept it. Most of us accepts our punishment, because after a bit of thinking you realize what you did wrong.

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5 hours ago, Stip said:

My suggestion would be a buddy system. New player comes on more than once or twice? Pair him up with a buddy.

Good idea but hard to do on AWE since there is always JIP and maybe the only available slot might be in a team of just new guy.

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

dont make a full squad of new players in MSO, spread em out.

Is already done since the session with the big amount of new players.

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

Ive been in a few sessions where gameplay screeched to a halt because of a debate going on about how many pilots were allowed to fly, who was there first, people pulling rank, backdoor politics etc.

shouldn´t happen since it is clearly stated in the rules when to take vortex and when not.

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

After that, follows the debate (and sometimes even begging plees, for CAS missions).

Easy as the one above: Pilots may suggest the use of CAS during missions planning but never during active operations. So there should be no begging. You can suggest it and then hope that the commander in charge gives you the go for it. If he doesn´t than there will be no CAS until he gives you another call.

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

"Rules are rules and you will follow them!" as said/yelled to me by one of the members (english native speaker). Only to see the same person in Vortexing around at his own leasure, debating ASL on air, generally disobeying said rule.

That is why you can report players at: Player tools -> whistle -> report player or report admin. Use it if you think that someone is behaving wrongfully!

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

I have noticed a big difference in user experience depending on who is in the ASL, Vortex and TeamLead position. Ranging from just difference in tactics , use of procedures to style of communication.

100% agree with you but if you don´t like te person in charge or the playstyle you don´t have to play.:lol: I know this sounds dumb but if I join the server I have a quick look on the players and then decide if I really want to play because I also made bad experiences with people completely missmanaging their team or squad.

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

1. Increase the Roaming AI so the whole map feels like a warzone. We are now just moving from base to a mission area and back without any actual threat. (Dont give me the bs about spawnrates.. add markers and assign them to spawning dynamic AI).
2. AI is too weak and doesnt use a lot of tactics.

The AI level can be setted a lot higher so that it completely rushes you and tries to surround you but mostly this isn´t the case because it is mostly setted to level normal because of just a few players/new players online. So nothing has to be changed here since it is already possible to activate things like this at every server restart.

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

3. Put the vehicles at base in a pool. Depending on the spawning tasks, out of the array certain vehicles are spawned. This will result in more dynamic approaches to the mission. No longer does ASL have all the vehicles to choose from, but only a random selected small option. (Currently 90% of the current tasks are started via air) (Just make sure that there is always a boat in the pool)

I don´t like this idea because it takes away options and maybe someone wants to do one specific approach that is than no longer possible. And to the thing with the 90% heli insertions: that is already being discussed I think because there might come in an AA mod that would force you to fly lower than 30 meters until the AA would be destroyed.

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

4. A destroyed vehicle should remain destroyed until the tasks end. The new task will cleanup all the active vehicles and randomly selects new vehicles for the next task.

Well now we have respawn times I think so it will now also take a while and this could couse trouble if there were just a few players online and they than may waste all their assets (for example because the AI is setted to hard).

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

5. Task end when all players are back at base.

I don´t like this because now it is possible that the next AO spawns directly near you what forces you to continue combat instead of RTB and rearming what makes the game more dynamic I think.

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

. Vortex CoPilot seats no longer have a set amount of boots on ground required. But is used for teaching future pilots in the prodecures, communication and advanced
flying techniques.

Also don´t like this one. The seat amount is there because it just makes no sense to have 2 vortex teams on one fireteam. You can easily handle this with one vortex guy: he inserts them with a little bird, RTBs, gets a CAS Little Bird (if requested by the commander in charge), makes CAS-runs and can even reinsert people with that Bird. Also teaching of flying techniques should not be happening on the server. You can practice with the AWE Modset in the Editor by yourself and I am sure there are plenty of youtube videos who can help.;) If you want to do training with someone together: Hop onto the server when it´s empty with the person. And for comms training: Just be Rifleman LAT or something similar when you are new so you learn things like that before you go for AR/Teamlead/SL/Vortex.

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

2. Vortex 2 can be slotted by request of ASL. This can depend on mission and availability. Vortex 2 must unslot immediately on first request of ASL. 

As said: it is mostly not needed. The number of 16 players is there to make sure that CAS will probably used after there is a good filled Alpha and an AT-squad. Because when the AT-guys are good you don´t need CAS. If you then feel like you need it you can than order it. If you need it before for some reason than your Vortex 1 can do a run.

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

3. ASL decides which Vortex Team does what kind of ASL Mission, in what time frame, duration, and type of mission. Vortex must rearm the required weapon platform suited
for the mission.


(ASL and Teamleaders)
4. Mission planning is done in a closed environment with the teamleaders present. Teamleaders can offer advice and input but ultimate call is with ASL.
5. ASL decides what vehicles are used, by which team and in what manner.
6. Teamleaders must brief their teams appropriately before mounting any transport vehicle. (In Time sensitive missions, teams can be briefed during transport.)
7. Teamleaders make sure that the squad has the appropriate gear and items to fulffill the mission as planned by ASL. 

All of this should and mostly also is happening.

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

8. At the end of the mission a short(!) debrief is done per team to discuss both postives and negatives.

I would not force that onto players. But if you want to have a debrief just ask for it and it wil most definitly happen.

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

9. Add a ASL Instructor Slot. Which has access to the same gear as an ASL. Its only function is to help train aspiring ASL's and guide them on the field.

I don´t agree. If you want to be SL you should already be able to manage teams more or less so you should have experience as Teamlead. To learn that just before you be Teamlead be AR so you get a better insight of how TL works and you also get in charge sometimes but not for super long time periods and if you are completely new be Rifleman LAT or something similar so you mostly don´t get in charge while learning the comms protocol and how to play in general.

 

5 hours ago, Stip said:

10. Engage in meaningfull conversation before coming down with the ban hammer or kick. Use breakage of rules as a teachable moment . (Multiple offenses excluded ofcourse)

This also is definitly happening at the moment. Just when you behave completely wrong you might get kicked/banned without a warning.

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My opinion as a player:

 

6 hours ago, Stip said:

new players, that are maybe not as vocal as myself, have a hard time entering that group. My suggestion would be
a buddy system. New player comes on more than once or twice? Pair him up with a buddy. Show them the ropes.

I, and a lot of other players especially those of the enhanced server, are always willing to help out new players as good as we can.  I don't care if i'm doing homework or am under fire ingame, if someone messages me on TS with a question i will reply as fast as possible (in the case of homework this will be instantly but if i'm under fire ingame i first have to find some cover and tell me direct ingame superior).  If you have multiple question over the course of multiple days don't hesitate to message me multiple times, i'm always willing to wherever i can.
 

6 hours ago, Stip said:

Some of you, have a hard on for rules. Rules are rules. And you wrote them, thought of them, worded them, they make sense to you. As a guest 
I have to obey these rules even if I dont agree with all of them.

I also don't agree with all of them completely but also obey (and enforce) them.

 

6 hours ago, Stip said:

Ive been in a few sessions where gameplay screeched to a halt
because of a debate going on about how many pilots were allowed to fly, who was there first, people pulling rank, backdoor politics etc.

Shouldn't happen, the rules are very clear on how many people have to be in which slots for a certain amount of pilots to be allowed.  If the debate is to who was first i believe there is an order written down somewhere.  And in case of a tie in that order it's first come first serve.

 

6 hours ago, Stip said:

this person if spotted by a senior staffer wouldve been told of, but it's an example of everyday going ons 
on the server. 

Help us change that by making us aware to it.  It could very well be that a staff member might even be in the server but not on long range comms, so he couldn't possibly know what was going on.
 

6 hours ago, Stip said:

I have noticed a big difference in user experience depending on who is in the ASL, Vortex and TeamLead position. Ranging from just difference in tactics , use of procedures to style of communication.

I've noticed this too, and yes it can be annoying. I just always try to have the most fun i can in every situation.

 

6 hours ago, Stip said:

1. Increase the Roaming AI so the whole map feels like a warzone. We are now just moving from base to a mission area and back without any actual threat. (Dont give me the bs about spawnrates.. add markers and assign them to spawning dynamic AI).

I don't have any objections to the idea, however if you increase the roaming AI the server has to work harder, decreasing server performance (including FPS).

 

6 hours ago, Stip said:

2. AI is too weak and doesnt use a lot of tactics. Please take a look at a well scripted ASR_AI and compare it to the current AI mod if used (serverside). 

Feel free to make a mod request, there is a subsection for it around here somewhere.
 

6 hours ago, Stip said:

3. Put the vehicles at base in a pool. Depending on the spawning tasks, out of the array certain vehicles are spawned. This will result in more dynamic approaches
to the mission. No longer does ASL have all the vehicles to choose from, but only a random selected small option. (Currently 90% of the current tasks are started via air) (Just make sure that there is always a boat in the pool)

Downside is that if we happend to have enough players of for, for example, hammer and no armor spawns ...  One could fix this by spawning in some type of armor by default, but then you'd also have to do that for vortex, HAT, ...  And i think you'd end up with something similar to what we have now.
 

6 hours ago, Stip said:

4. A destroyed vehicle should remain destroyed until the tasks end. The new task will cleanup all the active vehicles and randomly selects new vehicles for the next task.

Kind of linked to the previous but i do like the idea of destroyed vehicles staying destroyed until mission end.  It will force people to be careful with assets, especially helis and jets.

 

6 hours ago, Stip said:

5. Task end when all players are back at base.

What happend to me a lot:  I join in and take a humvee to the AO together with 2-3 respawned players/JIP players.  It's a 10 km drive (on which we crash our vehicle (twice)), when we finally get within short range radio range and are about to call in to the highest in command the mission ends.  We now have a humvee filled with supplies and several guys good to go to the next mission.  If we'd  drive back to base to only see the mission spawn within 2km of the previous one, well i'd be kindof annoyed.  I've seen people ragequit over less.

 

6 hours ago, Stip said:

1. Vortex CoPilot seats no longer have a set amount of boots on ground required. But is used for teaching future pilots in the prodecures, communication and advanced flying techniques.

Thing is that the copilot can also be the wingman in case of 2 single seater jets.  So you'd just have 2 pilots.  If you want to learn about procedures/comms/techniques, you can always ask people with experience being a vortex some stuff.  During long road trips you have to have something to talk about right?  And when the training nights restart you should be able to ask stuff there.
 

7 hours ago, Stip said:

2. Vortex 2 can be slotted by request of ASL. This can depend on mission and availability. Vortex 2 must unslot immediately on first request of ASL.

I don't think that giving ASL this 'power' is a good thing.  And besides it technically is already kind of possible, ASL (and anyone else) can ask a moderator/admin if he/she can 'break' if it benefits the overall gameplay.  Just be sure to ask this only once.  If you keep asking admins/mods you'll most likely only annoy them.
 

7 hours ago, Stip said:

3. ASL decides which Vortex Team does what kind of ASL Mission, in what time frame, duration, and type of mission. Vortex must rearm the required weapon platform suited for the mission.

This is already the case if i'm not mistaken.  Well, it's not always ASL it can be platoon command if there is one.
 

7 hours ago, Stip said:

4. Mission planning is done in a closed environment with the teamleaders present. Teamleaders can offer advice and input but ultimate call is with ASL.

It's up to the highest in command to decide where the briefing is being held and who is allowed to be present.  I don't think that everyone should be present during the briefing but what ASL (and others) should not forget is that A1 and A2 isn't the same.  A1 has a marksman and A2 an engineer that can bust through walls.  And yet i've seen A1 being send to knock down doors and A2 to provide overwatch.  (Yes i was the marksman, but hey i had some fun firing my 7.62 down in that city)

Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that a marksman should be present in mission planning but if he suggest to his TL that he could possibly do more good at the overwatch than when knocking down doors, TL could suggest to ASL to switch A1s and A2s roles.  (ofc before you leave, if you're already in the air on your way to the obj it's too late)

 

7 hours ago, Stip said:

5. ASL decides what vehicles are used, by which team and

If ASL is the highest in command that is indeed correct.

 

7 hours ago, Stip said:

6. Teamleaders must brief their teams appropriately before mounting any transport vehicle. (In Time sensitive missions, teams can be briefed during transport.)

Yes they should, if i don't get a brief from my TL i simply ask: what's the plan?

 

7 hours ago, Stip said:

7. Teamleaders make sure that the squad has the appropriate gear and items to fulffill the mission as planned by ASL. 

I've been told by my TL to put on a helmet instead of a cap, i've been told to take british instead of american gear, ...  I did all that. I've seen TLs saying to their marksman to take a semi auto instead of a bolt action.

 

7 hours ago, Stip said:

8. At the end of the mission a short(!) debrief is done per team to discuss both postives and negatives. This is a teaching moment and should be considered as such. We are here to have fun, but also to better ourselves.

If you want it ask for it, i think most of the time you'll get one.
 

7 hours ago, Stip said:

9. Add a ASL Instructor Slot. Which has access to the same gear as an ASL. Its only function is to help train aspiring ASL's and guide them on the field. 

The problem with instructor slots is that you can make one for every role.  Before you hop into ASL just play as TL for a while, occasionally ASL will go down and you'll have to be acting ASL.  The upside of that is that nobody blames you for messing up then, ASL shouldn't have gone down.  

 

8 hours ago, Stip said:

10. Engage in meaningfull conversation before coming down with the ban hammer or kick. Use breakage of rules as a teachable moment . (Multiple offenses excluded ofcourse)

Always.  Shouldn't even be a consideration to do this or not (as long as we're talking off EU3 AWE, if someone is TKing everyone he sees on 1 or 2 that's something else).  

As said before: just my personal opinion as a player.

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11 hours ago, Stip said:

So lets start with how I feel as a guest on your server.

Thanks for taking the time to write this detailed post.  I can tell it's considered.  My thoughts specific to the mission follow, as I agree with the command-level discussion points raised previously.

 

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"Rules are rules and you will follow them!"

Might have been a bit harsh, but you have to realize that the modded server has been running pretty much continuously for over two years, and the rules have evolved over time. It's not like we whipped them up in a fit of passion.  Many of the rules are common sense, but most have evolved because they addressed common scenarios (like everyone wanting to be a pilot, or a team with heavy assets destroying all the enemy and leaving nothing for the other squads to do). If you have an issue with a particular rule, you use these forums to make a suggestion or discuss it.  Otherwise, you follow the rules, or you play somewhere else... it has to be that simple, otherwise it ruins the fun for everyone (and no one likes a big ol' rules debate in the middle of an AO).

 

Quote

May i propose a fairly big, but certainly enjoyable, change to the mission file. (This is not a big change in scripting).

This is my absolute favourite thing to hear from people who have no experience with how our mission works.

 

Quote

(And by the way, look into moving half of the code server side. Not only does this protect your work, but it keeps file sizes a lot smaller and leaner.)

The downside is that the other half of the code has to be transmitted to the clients, which means everyone lags as the server has to transmit all the data across X platforms. Arma works the way it does for a reason.  That said, if you have a mission you'd like to submit that works stably this way, be my guest.

 

Quote

1. Increase the Roaming AI so the whole map feels like a warzone. We are now just moving from base to a mission area and back without any actual threat. (Dont give me the bs about spawnrates.. add markers and assign them to spawning dynamic AI).

Gauntlet uses a system of ambient AI that spawns outside of mission zones, and it's dynamic to the assets that are used in the mission, so anti-air AI will spawn when air assets are used, and anti-armor AI will spawn when armor is used. Version 52U of the mission unfortunately had a typo in a file that may have broken ambient AI, but that's been fixed in version 52V.  Gauntlet specifically does not use markers for a variety of sane reasons.

 

Quote

2. AI is too weak and doesnt use a lot of tactics. Please take a look at a well scripted ASR_AI and compare it to the current AI mod if used (serverside).

EU3 uses VCOM AI and VCOM driving. We've used ASR_AI in the past and found it impacted quite negatively on everyone's fps, most notably the server's.

 

 

Gauntlet's been through literally years of development, and I'm sure our user base would welcome new and different challenges, so if you have a mission to propose, we're welcome to the idea.

- Ryko

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Good post, I'm also new and understand how you feel.

The gameplay experience varies greatly between different teamleaders/ASLs, but you also have to make the distinction between their personality and their leadership ability.

 

If you have a good teamleader you should have a good idea of whats going on, what kit you need, where your headed etc, you shouldn't have to ask too many questions. Unfortunately sometimes you may not agree with that person, however they make the decisions on the ground so you have to follow. If they fuck up, its on them, not you.

If they are abusing their power or generally being a dick then you should report it.

 

You posted some nice ideas for server changes, others have already commented and provided feedback so I won't go into them.

I do find the lack of armour annoying sometimes, but that's how it goes, I play on EU1 as well to get my fix.

 

I get the feeling that you see a bit of disorganisation within the server, I agree that sometimes it is like that, however when I'm on the ground in AOs 95% of people are concentrating and on lock-down. It generally does go to shit when ASL gets killed, you got no long range radio and no one knows what the fuck is going on, but that seems fairly realistic to me :).

 

I do understand the need to have a buddy system, coming on the server for the first time is fairly daunting as you gotta get used to all the mods/keybinds/rules and try figure out the missions etc, after a couple sessions this goes away, but I would suggest that new players get put with a "friendly" veteran that can show them the ropes.

 

 

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