Evo Blue TG Edition Eval Weekend - 26-28 Oct

[loyalguard]

After the success of the Evo Blue Beta Test Session earlier this week we have resolved all known "TG Edition" related bugs and errors and have made attempts at reducing overall lag, CTD, and disconnect issues. So, this weekend Evo Blue TG v.RC1 will be running from Friday night (early for European players) through Sunday night (26-28 Oct) for a long-term evaluation. If this version fares well we will make any small adjustments required and release the full version for permanent replacement of Evo 3.0.

Again, here is a quick summary of all the modifications we have made to the orginal Evo Blue release:

All points requirements for ranks have been removed. You will immediately become a colonel and have full access to all locked vehicles and weapons as soon as you spawn (previous bug resolved).

HALO Jumps have been disabled.

Respawn time has been increased to 75 seconds.

There are fewer vehicles available at the base. The following have been removed: 1x AV8B (GBU), 1x AV8B, UH60 FFAR, 1x MH

The rate of reinforcements has been adjusted to help reduce lag (New).

The support request system has been significantly modified. Only the Team Leader (not squad leaders) can make support requests so there is only one person on your team who can make requests. In return, there are no point requirements for support requests but there are time limits between each type of request. Here is a list of the available types of support:

• M224 Mortar HE - Fire 10 60mm HE mortar shells - 60 secs. between requests (New)
• M224 Mortar Smoke - Fire 5 smoke mortar shells - 60 secs. between requests (New)
• M224 Mortar ILLUM - Fire 1 white illumination mortar - 60 secs. between requests (New)
• M119 Artillery HE - Fire 6 105mm HE Artillery Shells - 5 mins. between requests (Renamed)
• MQ1 Predator AGM-114 - Launch 1 Hellfire from a Predator UAV - 5 mins. between requests (Renamed)

Chemical Strikes and ICBMs have been disabled. Red smoke is no longer visible at target locations. Damage assessment messages have been replaced with a "Fire Mission Complete" message.

So hop on this weekend and let's give this mission a thorough test. One of the things that needs a lot of scrutiny because it is a new feature in Evo Blue and becuase it was modified so heavily for TG is the support request system. Take turns in the Team Leader position to make sure you can select it without problems and try to use all the assets available to you (appropriately of course) to make sure they work as designed.

We are also very interested in any disconnects or CTD's you may have. If you suffer any CTD's try to make a note of what you were doing when it happened to help us better diagnose. You may also want to check your arma.RPT file for error or CTD related insight as well.

Please make sure to post in this thread if you encounter any problems or have any fedback (there is a message shortly after you connect that reminds you of this that you have to aknowledge before continuing). Thanks for testing this and your help making TG a great place to play Evo!

[loyalguard]

A couple of quick notes...

-If you drop friendly AI from your squad they do not disappear as they did in previous Evo versions. This is a bug that is being worked on by KilJoy.

-Evo Blue TG is not in the normal map rotation on the server. So, if the server crashes or the mission is finished the server will revert back to Evo 3.0. If you see it on 3.0 notify the Admins and it Blue will be reloaded. I will try to monitor the server status as much as possible this weekend to make sure it stays up but there may be some gaps.

[ANGELofDEATH]

Well done tonight guys.. TONS of fun.. No one CTD'd that I heard of.

I heard a little chatter about removing friendly AI.. Well, I can see positives and negatives of removing the AI.

The positives of removal..
some players abuse the use of AI..
When there is a good population using them for your own squad to move around by yourself avoiding teamwork.
They tend to kill POWs/ shoot friendlies when in same vehicle with POWs.

negatives to removing them..
when the population is low (2 or 3)we need AI to help.
recruiting SpecOps in for downing towers, AA for air cover, AT for those extra rockets we all seem to need.
and the most important.. as support roles.. to drive the support trucks around... and man the vulcans

So right now I vote to keep them.. unless someone can make better arguments to get rid of them.

[JAMerica]

Originally Posted by ANGELofDEATH

.
when the population is low (2 or 3)we need AI to help.

recruiting SpecOps in for downing towers, AA for air cover, AT for those extra rockets we all seem to need.

and the most important.. as support roles.. to drive the support trucks around... and man the vulcans

IMHO, the only valid reason to have AI on a server is to drive the support trucks and guard the base.

If you're playing on a server with such a low pop that you need AI squads to do anything of note, or keep you company, you might as well be playing SP on your own comp. Or another mission.

I find AI incredibly annoying on the server as people just tend to let them run loose. Since they are insta-respawn and quite willing to commit suicide, I really don't think they add much to the game.


*Note* I haven't played Blue Evo, but these observations are from previous Evo on TG and I'm sure they are still valid.

[chaka]

That was great, the first MP game I've had where the players and AI weren't juddering around from lag. It wasn't 100% lag free but far better than any other server I've tried. Well done.

[BarnacleofDoom]

Was on last night briefly and other than getting the red or yellow chain occasionally, I experienced no problems.

It was nice to see a lot of combined ops going, as well. Usually we're pretty heavily infantry but everybody - armor, air, etc - was working together quite well.

-BoD

[tHa_KhAn]

Originally Posted by JAMerica

IMHO, the only valid reason to have AI on a server is to drive the support trucks and guard the base.

I agree. If you're not playing a vehicle(any) support role then A.I. is not necessary. It becomes a convenience and is often used as an exploit(not bringing proper kit, etc) more than as valued team members. When used as valued team members and kits are picked to balance out the players already on the server, I don't have as big a problem, but often they're used as ammo resupply or sacrificial lambs.

[Sam Hoy]

If I may forward just a short suggestion, I think it would be interesting, even if just on a trial basis to remove the medic positions and supplement in riflemen slots.

[Satmax]

I hopped in Sunday afternoon for a bit and had a great time. I only crashed once and I don't think it was because of Evo.

Everything went pretty well and it was a hell of a fight for the small group of us to get that damn Paraiso radio tower down!

Regardless of Isanatrix's insane Harrier bombing runs, Paraiso had plenty more cannon fodder to replace what was lost.

I played as team leader and had no problems whatsoever. However, I did experience a strange bug. Upon respawning, when I run up to the ammo crate, GEAR appears in my menu, but it quickly disappears, then reappears, rinse and repeat. I can only access the crates if I click fast enough before it disappears. I'm not moving during this and am practically standing on top of the crate. I've tried it from different distances but still get the same results.

[Atlas]

First of all I'm enjoying Evo Blue more so than 3.0. The only issue I've seen this weekend besides the residual AI left in vehicles from people that have left the server is joining and already being assigned to a squad to a leader that has left the server. It's a problem only because when you click "my squad" it only show's yourself and the squad number you're in, without the option of joining a "real" squad that is still in game.
The one other thing I had a question about was if it was true that the amount of reinforcements depended on the amount of players in the server. This is a good idea IMO.
With a large enough player count, a small squad could be dedicated to countering the convoy as the larger squads attack the city. I believe that would add another twist to the already interesting Evo Blue if the convoys spawn far enough away from the town that's under attack.

Thanks for your work. Looking forward to some longer Evo nights.

[loyalguard]

Thanks for everyone's help in testing this new version of Evo. Since we have had such good results, will leave this version running until I have the 1.0 release version based on RC1 built (within a day or two and then you won't get the warning message when you first spawn).

Regarding some of suggestions and other feedback you've made:

AI - The AI issue is one that could be problematic. I believe the "not dropping" issue is being worked on but there this no timeline for a hotfix. We can look at a wide range of options from zero allowed to perhaps only a maximum of two SL (man a tank along with a human, fill out a stryker, drive support vehicles). From the way the scripting works it is much easier to remove the option altogether rather than limit the numbers but I will look at both options and we can discuss it further

Medics - Interesting suggestion! The medical M113 is very under utilized in Evo and perhaps this would get it to be used more often. Perhaps we could look at only one medic as well. Again, let me look at some addtional options

Crates - I too have encountered this problem. I think one of the problems is that the crates may be took close to the triggers that give you the option of changing viewdist, recruit, request transfer etc. I will look into moving some things to perhaps alleviate the problem

My Squad - This has always been a little buggy. Unfortunately, unless Dr. EyeBall (the creator of the script) comes out with a fix it is something we are stuck with I am afraid.

Thanks again for all your feedback!

[BarnacleofDoom]

Managed to get on briefly during the ShackTac invasion (may I call it that?) on Saturday. Only oddness that happened was that I was driving a Hummer through a town and I was suddenly killed. After that, I could not enter a vehicle until I abruptly appeared in a LB and then continuously switched between the LB and what appeared to be a Ural... stayed like that until I left and rejoined. Liking Blue overall though. I presume that there is a Evo Red running around somewhere. Would it be easy to make the same mods to Red and occasionally run it?

[tHa_KhAn]

Barnacle,

Loyal is still tweaking Blue, but we have discussed him modding Red and making use of it in events.

[Satmax]

Originally Posted by JAMerica

IMHO, the only valid reason to have AI on a server is to drive the support trucks and guard the base.

If you're playing on a server with such a low pop that you need AI squads to do anything of note, or keep you company, you might as well be playing SP on your own comp. Or another mission.

I find AI incredibly annoying on the server as people just tend to let them run loose. Since they are insta-respawn and quite willing to commit suicide, I really don't think they add much to the game.


*Note* I haven't played Blue Evo, but these observations are from previous Evo on TG and I'm sure they are still valid.

I don't use AI for the purposes that you mention. After practicing with them more and more, I use them as effectively as possible. Manning the vulcan, MGs or grenade launchers being my most favorite and using them to secure a perimeter.

You say that if I need company and want the use of AI, that I should enjoy myself on SP or another mission. The servers are usually ghost towns until the weekends. Why should some of us who do use these tools properly, suffer? Why not just enstate rules against using them during populated server times when enough players are on to negate the use of AI? We have a mandatory rule for the use of TS, why not for this as well?

It just seems rather extreme that those of us who play during the times when hardly anyone is on have to resort to playing SP missions until you come on to play because you dislike AI.

I apologize if this comes off a little strong. I haven't been around here for very long but I do enjoy playing with this group. Since I utilize the Arma servers quite a bit and enjoy myself, I became a supporting member to pay back for the enjoyment and because of that I feel that I should be able to voice any concerns.

EDIT: Just thought of a wonderful reason why to keep AI in.

Keep the AI in Evo because they are best used for CLEANING UP after groups of players leave the server with destroyed vehicles everywhere. Atlas and myself have logged on many times at 2 in the morning to find the map a mess with vehicles strewn everywhere. Instead of embarking on a commie-killing mission, we play "maid service" so that the next group of players come on have the equipment available to them. It's a thankless service that is easiest to perform with the use of AI.

[JAMerica]

Originally Posted by Satmax

.....
EDIT: Just thought of a wonderful reason why to keep AI in.

Keep the AI in Evo because they are best used for CLEANING UP after groups of players leave the server with destroyed vehicles everywhere.

Right, that was the point I made in the first line of my post you quoted. I used to do late night recovery as well, until it got really boring. (another good use of AI is as a medic that stays out of the fight)

We seem to agree. I have not, do not, and will not have a problem with AI use for limited supporting roles. I'm not entirely sure why you quoted my post as a counterpoint to your opinion.

My point was, too often (although not lately, there server has been dead since august), I've been on the server often with people throwing wave after wave of insta-spawn, suicidal AI into towns "to help" clear it and that's what I don't like. What's the challenge with having access to infinitely respawning super snipers at your disposal? IMO, it falls under the same principle TG uses to restrict access to almost all the other assets in the game.

There's also a problem with persistant AI, their master long gone......I've been on the server with AI left behind roaring around the country side in the M1A1 obliterating everything in their path and activating cities 1-2 cities ahead of the current city.

I guess, while you may use AI responsibly, many people can't be bothered..so yeah, my preference is to limit the use of AI on the server to limited, non-combat support roles. It eliminates more problems than it solves.