'Cipher' - full dynamic [SP & MP/Coop] with unlimited replayability

[logimenn]

Hi,

Mission is pretty nice. I finished it a few times. Always on daytime at 75% and 100% difficulty. I hate night etc. in Arma2.

Basically everything is ok in mission but sometimes AI soldiers just try to flew or they r running in distance/hiding in a trees not even trying to kill me. Not all enemy's but mostly one squad or just few soldiers. Helps save reload,then they'll back in bussines :-) I dont think it was supposed to be like this.

Also please make crates contain more weapons (like Javelin, M136, maybe few enemy guns like AK74,AKM etc.) cuz at this moment I only use G36/K with SMAW and 2 or 3 rockets. Mines are useless cuz I never now where the enemy armor is and where he wants to go so ill stay with SMAW.

Sorry for my english.

Great mission and as for me the BEST from all missions for ARMA2 :-) I always enjoy killing russians and shooting to enemy tanks and APC's.

[Grizzle]

This mission just gets better with each new release! Keep up the excellent work Wiper!

I'm really digging the ambient citizens, cars, motorcycles etc. Adds so much to the immersion.

A must have for every SP player!

[Greg]

Some more miscellaneous feedback...

Issue:

1) Reloading a saved game in multiplayer causes the host to load successfully, but the other players get a black screen after the map I think. I have no idea if this is standard ARMA2 behavior or mission specific.

A few questions:

1) If I load equipment in the briefing screen, does that remove items from the truck? If not, it would allow me to access more heavy weapons and ammo (which is not a bad thing). Just wondering.

2) Are all the possible enemy units active every mission or is there a point system or such. I notice I often see 1x helicopter 1xbmp, 2xjeep etc, that is, regularly see the same set of enemies, just at different times and places.

3) Exactly what does the new enemy difficulty value do? (eg. 100%, 75% etc.)

Suggestion:

1) I'd like to access more AT and AA weapons during a mission if necessary. Perhaps they could be found in enemy / civ trucks parked around the nearby towns. Perhaps there could be 1 or 2 supply drops we could retreat and resupply to. The situation is that if I encounter a enemy chopper or armored vehicle, I can lose half my team and have no guaranteed way to access more weapons. Last night, a BMP and a Vodnik were sitting almost on top of the objective briefcase, so without heavy weapons I could not approach.

My friends and I are loving the mission, keep up the great work

[Wiper]

Thanks for your enthusiastic feedbacks, guys.
It definitely keeps me going and although feeling wasted with it from time to time it even pushes me forward

New version 1.31 on its way, already containing a helo drop for the insertion and a often suggested revealing system for the suitcase, probably disabled at 100% difficulty.
For the helo drop, although technically ready, I'm not quite sure how to link it gamplaywise with the existing parts, f.e. will a contact guy lead the team to the truck/ammo or is it just noted in the briefing etc...

Also the testing needs to be done but currently some not too welcome RL issues do a bit of a delaying factor.

Some more miscellaneous feedback...

Issue:

1) Reloading a saved game in multiplayer causes the host to load successfully, but the other players get a black screen after the map I think. I have no idea if this is standard ARMA2 behavior or mission specific.

sigh yes, I remember I once made a test and nothing really worked with MP reloads and I must admit that I didnt care since then. Didn't even had hopes for getting that sorted after I read so much about MP/campaing/reload issues.
If we're lucky the black screen is just a misload of the BlackIn in the init.sqf, but who knows. Definitely need to dig into that at one point

A few questions:

1) If I load equipment in the briefing screen, does that remove items from the truck? If not, it would allow me to access more heavy weapons and ammo (which is not a bad thing). Just wondering.

No, the gear pool from the briefing is completely independant form the weapons cargo in the game, i.e. gear loadout let behind in the briefing wont show up in the mission and the truck/crate has always the scripted contend loaded at mission start.

2) Are all the possible enemy units active every mission or is there a point system or such. I notice I often see 1x helicopter 1xbmp, 2xjeep etc, that is, regularly see the same set of enemies, just at different times and places.

All inf units are set in the editor hence always the same and active from the first minute.
For the armored units a point system is used to spawn them. The max points are slightly random and reduced by some degree for the SpecOp light verison.
Theres only one hind patrolling randomly (or covering when orderd by AI) and returning to a random located base on the map border somewhere for refuel and repairs.

3) Exactly what does the new enemy difficulty value do? (eg. 100%, 75% etc.)

100% simply is the default setting, same as the versions prior to the skills options versions.
Settings lower than 100% mainly do 3 different things:
1) The AI communitactions are limited in a linear way , i.e bunching up and encircling is reduced.
2) Air cover has increased time on base / reduced time on station in a linar way essentially making the Hind more absent on lower difficulty settings.
3) For all enemy AI units (Inf, Armor, Air) the accuracies and general skills are reduced in a non linear way, mostly because the default AI skills in Cipher are already reduced and in particular because accuracy and aimingshake settings are only properly effective just within a small bandwidth.

Suggestion:

1) I'd like to access more AT and AA weapons during a mission if necessary. Perhaps they could be found in enemy / civ trucks parked around the nearby towns. Perhaps there could be 1 or 2 supply drops we could retreat and resupply to. The situation is that if I encounter a enemy chopper or armored vehicle, I can lose half my team and have no guaranteed way to access more weapons. Last night, a BMP and a Vodnik were sitting almost on top of the objective briefcase, so without heavy weapons I could not approach.

Well, would have targetting practice helped out a bit ?
lol kidding but seriously, where did all of your 12 SMAW + 3 Stingers go before you needed to finish off those 2 buggers guarding the case ? If you say a BMP and a Vodnik have been there, then only a third APC should have been an issue beforehands...
But anyway when you faced the situation, did you have in mind that Stingers are very effective against APC's too ? Also there should be some satchels in the truck.
Even some well placed HE hits with the rifle launcher convinces APC crews quickly to abandon their can

Generally spoken I'd like to keep the amount of heavy weapons as low as possible, without making it impossible to win of course. Reason for that is that I think with a sheer plenty of HW some aspects of the mission might get easily spoiled - careful planning comes to mind for example or just being "motivated" to really hit with one shot. Imagine 10 or more SMAW HEDP shots you may pounder at a bunch of AI guys. While it may be effective on one hand does it not take out the challenge to go in for a tense close combat on the other ?

I dont say that I'll never add any ammo (air drop by call i find always a neat idea in a mission ), but the amount of heavy equipent in the current mission ( 15 shots including the stingers, plus some satchels and plenty of HE against max 4 apcs OR 1 T72 and 1 light apc and one chopper) should suffice in 99% of all cases even with wasting half of the ammo, does it not ?

My friends and I are loving the mission, keep up the great work

Thanks !

[Alpha-Kilo]

Wiper,

I can understand what you say about limiting heavy weapons. But I respectfully disagree:

In an open combat envirionment such as Cipher, the player may want to see how different weapons affect the outcome of the mission in different play-throughs. Sacrificing some features you carefully designed may serve as a way to appreciate the sheer fire power of missiles compared to rifles.

I do believe that playing the mission every time with too many heavy weapons does indeed limit the experience but doesn't the user have the right to decide this?

Saying this, i fully understand that it must feel strange for you to allow the user to "abuse" a mission you have been putting your heart and soul into.

[galzohar]

The user has no right to decide any difficulty-related options, unless it's specified as a difficulty option

I mean, you can make yourself invulnerable too, but then the mission will suck. Unless it was clearly specified by the mission author that "playing in this mode is too easy" (such as by making it a server option for "easy" and "hard"), then it is his fault that there is a very easy way to complete the mission, and therefore it's also his responsibility to prevent it.

If you give me as many heavy weapons as I want (unrelated to any difficulty settings), you can rest assured I will use them, at least until I've decided the mission sucks with them in which case I'll edit it so the difficulty is more suitable for me, but if a mission made me go that far than it's a failure on the mission maker's side IMO.

Bottom line: Keep whatever weapons you find suitable for your mission, rather than what people ask you to put in. If they want to try toys out, there's always the editor.

[Greg]

I think alpha-kilo is simply saying 'give me a set of toys and let me choose what to play with'. I tend to be this way, re-playing the same mission using different equipment and even reloading part way to try different tactics.

galzohar it sounds like you lack self control But I hear what you are saying, if you give me the best toys, I will use them and I will dominate, and the mission will be boring.

Wiper said to me 'where did all of your 12 SMAW + 3 Stingers go' well, only one guy was equipped for AT role and he got shot. The truck was destroyed by the enemy chopper, so they all went up in smoke! Of course that makes a new challenge of trying to survive with limited resources Searching dead soldiers and enemy vehicles for weapons.

[galzohar]

Now you learned to not leave important stuff in a truck

Anyway it's not a matter of self control, it's a matter of trusting the mission maker to make the mission challenging for me when I give it my best shot. If I have to handicap myself to make the mission challenging then it's a flaw in the mission.

[Alpha-Kilo]

Greg, this is exactly what I mean. Cipher is all about re-playability with different weapons and tactics.

Galzohar, if it is not a matter of self control, it might have something to do with imagination. Choosing not to use a certain weapon does not mean you are handicapping yourself, it shows you can think up an alternative strategy. Allowing such creativity is definitely not "a flaw in the mission". In fact, it may make the difference between a good mission and an excellent one. Of course this is just my humble opinion.

[galzohar]

If there's an easy way to do something, and you choose not to use it, it's definitely handicapping yourself. This is understandable if the mission is just poorly made to be too easy, but in a good mission shouldn't be needed to make it challenging.