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galzohar

ACE ad 30 Dynamic Cache Hunt - Random objective attack/defend round based mission

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Long time since I released a PvP mission... But since there's practically no popular PvP missions out there other than AAS, and I had an idea, which is actually very old, but in the past I didn't have the technical knowledge nor enough public interest to actually get it up and running, so here it is.

Every round opfor need to defend randomly placed caches, while bluefor try to detroy them before time runs out. Bluefor start at a slightly random distance and completely random direction away from the caches. Before every round the caches will be marked on the map for both sides, however while bluefor can see their own starting position, opfor cannot and therefore does not know where the attack will come from even if bluefor decide to rush in a straight line.

There is no medical system and no medics in this mission. With the current alternatives, unfortunately this is the most realistic option. For this mission though this actually works great gameplay-wise, so have no worries.

Mission can be enjoyed with any number of players between 4 and 50.

Requires ACE 1.8 (or higher) with ACEX.

Features and mission parameters adjustable by admin:

Note: If you don't want to get into setting parameters, default parameters are designed to work well.

Best of X rounds - Sets maximum number of rounds. Increase for less server restarts and possibly more city destruction. Default 11.

Time limit - When time runs out, bluefor loses. May need to decrease for low player counts and possibly increase for extremely high player counts or extremely patient players. Default 10 minutes.

Last Players Countdown - Time limit gets cut down to this value when there are less than 20% or only 1 attacker (west) left alive. May need to slightly increase for extremely high or extremely low player counts. Default 105 seconds.

Setup time - Time given to set up between rounds. That is, change gear, check the map for new objective locations and some planning. Might need to be increased for more organized play, or decreased when using preset loadouts (see next parameter). Default 60 seconds.

Loadouts - "Custom" means players pick their gear from a crate. Other settings will give the players weapons based on their class, including a claymore for each player (which can work for blowing up an ammo cache) as well as a LAW launcher for each attacker. "Standard" gives standard modern weapons (mostly M4A1s and AK-74Ms) while "old fashioned" gives old weapons (mostly M16A2s and AKMs).

Night/Day - Play either during the day, or at night with either 1/4 moon, 1/2 moon or 3/4 moon, to suit the style of game you want to play. All settings are also playable with nightvision disabled.

Night vision - "No" nightvision, "NV" for night vision goggles only, or "thermal" for night vision goggles and MX2A. If night with no night vision is chosen, flares are provided in the default loadouts, and in the preset loadouts for squad leaders and grenadiers.

Night sights - Same as night vision, but for weapon sights. Relevant for custom loadouts and marksman and scoped MG preset loadouts.

Side weapons - "Faction only" gives west only US weapons and east only Takistan weapons (though Takistan had its armory extended a bit). "Side only" adds non-US weapons such as G36 and HK416 to west and weapons such as SA-58 to east. "All weapons" option is also available to give both sides equal availability of weapons. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is faction only.

Weapon types - Sets the maximum weapon "size" - "Pistols", "SMGs", "SMGs/shotguns", "rifles", "heavy" (such as light machinegunes) and "very heavy" (such as medium machineguns). Affects custom loadouts only. Default is "heavy".

Caliber - Sets the maximum caliber weapons allowed - "5.56 / 5.45", "5.56 / 5.45 / 7.62X39", "7.62X51 / 7.62X54 / 9X39", "50cal" and "25mm". Affects custom loadouts only. Default "5.56 / 5.45 / 7.62X39" (for M16s, AKs and light machineguns).

Explosives - Sets the available types of explosives. None means no explosives of any type. "Light" allows grenades and grenade launcher rounds. "Light/satchels" adds satchels. "Light/satchels/mines" adds mines as well. "Light/satchels/mines/advanced mines" adds things like claymores and other more advanced mines added by ACE. "Everything" allows everything, including explosive rocket launcher ammo all the nasty toys that ACE provides. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is "light/satchels/mines/advanced mines".

Scopes - Disables/enables any scoped weapons. Note that this does not enable sniper rifles if you do not choose to allow 7.62X51/7.62X54 caliber weapons. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is "yes".

Launchers - "Light" allows disposable launchers only. "Medium" adds M136s RPGs (and only to east if "faction weapons" isn't set to "all weapons"). Heavy adds everything else, but without explosive rockets if "explosives" is not set to "everything". Only affects custom loadouts. Default is "light".

Crew served weapons - Sets availability of crew served weapons. "None" will allow nothing, "machineguns" will allow machineguns only and "everything" will allow everything (including automatic grenade launchers and heavy AT rockets). Affects custom loadouts only. Default is "none".

SF weapons - Sets availability of special forces weapons. "None" will allow non-SF weapons only. "Non-SD" allows special forces weapons that don't have suppressors. "SD included" enables suppressed weapons as well. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is "Non-SD".

Future weapons - Sets availability of future weapons, as in, weapons that aren't really used in the present. Mostly includes SCARs and M110s. "No" disallows those weapons while "yes" allows them. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is "no".

HuntIR - Sets availability of HuntIR monitor and M203 grenades. "No" disables them, while "Yes" enables. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is "No".

Less Than Lethal - Sets availability of less than lethal weapons such as flashbangs and CS gas. "No" disables them while "Yes" enables them. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is "No".

High Capacity Magazines - Sets availability of high capacity magazines that are usable in rifles. "None" allows only standard magazines, "light" allows the smaller types and "large" allows all of them. Affects custom loadouts only. Default is "none".

Note: That default parameters are recommended and should provide good balance. Imbalanced parameters or a combination of parameters that can cause imbalance will result in a warning at the start of the mission and are listed as such in the parameter screen.

Currently known issues:

- Deafness and fatigue effects are not reset between rounds. Still looking for a way to fix it, but if I can't find any by the time I want to release an update, I'll just make the mission kill you when a round ends to reset those effects, but mess up the scoreboard.

- Some weapon setting combinations can create unfair imbalance. I'm probably going to just leave this to admin discretion though. Just keep in mind the "faction weapons" setting can be set to "everything" in order to give both sides the same weapon availability, and that the default settings (as well as "standard" and "old fashioned" loadouts) are meant to be balanced.

Porting mission to other islands:

Porting is very straight-forward - requires a simple copy-paste of the mission, adjusting the bottom-left and top-right empty markers which set the possible objective spawn area as well as the "bases" where dead players spawn, re-arm and spectate between rounds. Starting distance may need to be adjusted. Check init.sqf for more details. Just watch out for water, rivers, or otherwise impassable terrain.

Download links:

Multiupload (v1.04):

http://www.multiupload.com/DDXJKBSBJZ

Armaholic (v1.04):

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=12889

Edited by galzohar

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This mode sounds great. I really like the idea of the setup time.

I'll definitely check this out and if we like it it'll definitely show up on the MAG public server.

One question, how do you feel about people editing your mission?

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No problem, as long as proper credit is given and you don't re-publish a broken version and that you make sure it is clear that the versions are different.

Of course, if you have any suggestions I might implement them myself.

Edited by galzohar

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Apparently I accidentally placed the bipod SVD and the TOW CSW, so this actually doesn't work with 1.6 stable if you enable those weapons (not enabled with default settings so will still work on 1.6 with default settings). In any case should work fine with 1.7, and I will publish a new version soon with an additional parameter for high-capacity magazines and additional ACE weapons added between 1.6 and 1.7.

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Nice galzohar! Would you like us to add the mission to the ACE included missions?

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Sure, you're more than welcome to.

Edit: Added explanation of new parameter to first post, and updated ACE version requirement.

Edited by galzohar

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Sure, you're more than welcome to.
Thanks, included and will keep up2date.

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Currently known issues:

- JIP players will get "included" in the round by the server but not by the client if they JIP while a round is not in progress but finish loading after the round is started, thus will remain at the base and even if the rest of the team dies the round still won't end (will wait until that JIP player dies, time runs out or objective is complete). Hopefully fixed for next version, but still needs testing.

- Deafness and fatigue effects are not reset between rounds. Still looking for a way to fix it, but if I can't find any by the time I want to release an update, I'll just make the mission kill you when a round ends to reset those effects, but mess up the scoreboard.

- Some weapon setting combinations can create unfair imbalance. I'm probably going to just leave this to admin discretion though. Just keep in mind the "faction weapons" setting can be set to "everything" in order to give both sides the same weapon availability, and that the default settings (as well as "standard" and "old fashioned" loadouts) are meant to be balanced.

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I just realized ACEX_RU and ACEX_USNavy don't add any weapons, thus the mission should not require them (updated first post accordingly).

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I'm working on a new version for this with some small issue fixes, however I'm lacking manpower for testing some possible problems and their solutions. If you're interested in helping to test, please post here or send a PM.

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I can test, also any chance of a non ace version?

Is it only weapons that ace required, which i could just take out if you dont mind.

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Feel free to create non-ACE versions. Indeed all you need to change is the populateammocrate.sqf and the defaultload.sqf scripts, and remove the "requires ACE" module from the editor, and remove the line that calls the ACE function to remove unconsciousness from the roundclient.sqf script. The hard thing left to do though would be to get a working replacement for the spectator script and put it in the appropriate places in the roundclient.sqf script, or remove spectating altogether.

What's your time zone/availability? Got steam/messanger/skype? Please post/PM with contact info.

Edited by galzohar

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Version 1.02:

http://www.multiupload.com/66MZY61PTI

Made some fixes to the description in the fist post.

Some fixes for minor/rare issues, though there are still some rare bugs that I can't seem to find a way to reproduce/fix. Hopefully it'll be an improvement over the last version.

New version requires ACE 1.8.

Edited by galzohar

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The more I play this the more I feel that attackers got the easy end of the stick. Destroying the crates with launchers is relatively easy. However if I remove the launchers and force the use of satchels/claymores, then attackers will be at an even more obvious disadvantage.

I was thinking of 2 possible solutions:

1. Add a 3rd cache and/or increase number of caches based on number of players. The problem with this is finding the right number, and not ending up with spreading caches all over the place (2 adjacent caches are quite easy to destroy, currently I have minimum distance between caches, but when more are added the area where they can be needs to be increased to make that minimum distance possible).

2. Remove launchers but make it so attackers only have to destroy one of the caches (and possibly add more caches if it proves to give them too big of a disadvantage). Problem is that with too spread out and/or too many caches, defenders will have to spread their forces thin and/or run back and forth between them hoping to catch attackers, and if the caches are too close together then attackers will be at a clear disadvantage.

3. Make the cache marker approximate for attackers, instead of an accurate position, so they still have to look for the caches, probably in an area of ~50m radius.

I'd love to hear some ideas, otherwise I'll probably end up going with #3.

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I might suggest they have to be a certain distance from the cache before they can blow it up with rockets or what not.

or put barriers or (give defenders the option to build) around the caches preventing direct long distance shots.

or hide them in buildings where possible.

edit: I would also go with the 50 meter radius idea

Edited by Sleep

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Limiting distance would require implementing scripts that have no basis in realism and thus will not be intuitive and will kinda ruin the immersion, so I'd rather avoid such solutions. Building stuff is not practical, because with scripting you can't really predict anything (cache positions are random), and with defenders building it not only it would be very complicated, it could result in some messed up situations like indestructible caches. But thanks for the feedback. #3 for now does seem the most reasonable.

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Version 1.04:

- HuntIR and less lethal weapons now have their own parameters. Default settings have them disabled.

- Cache location marker for attackers is now only an approximate position.

- Imbalanced parameters are now listed in the parameter screen and a message will be shown for everyone at the start of the mission if imbalanced parameters were chosen.

- Hopefully fixed some JIP issues.

http://www.multiupload.com/DDXJKBSBJZ

Updated first post with up-to-date info.

We also played it a bit on PvP gaming night on Zeus #2 server and it seemed to be working great, though attackers still win a bit too much.

Edited by galzohar

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