Re: (CO-RTS-24) Hold The Line by |TG-7th|Shiner

**Shiner** · 04-30-2007, 09:45 AM

Thanks for the note Peardog!

I was working on the missions literally all weekend, so anytime you logged in it could have been very unstable. I did end-up re-writing most of the scripts I have produced just for this mission (again). The JIP thing with a moving spawn is very tricky. It just doesn't seem to work consistently during a mission or switching between the editor preview and a dedicated server. I have applied a new approach that I hope will work on the dedicated server environment. BTW I saw you had joined while I was testing the new script.. I don't think I had applied it to every character slot which could explain the inconsistency.

I'm still refining the scripts and sounds for the mission that I hope will help get people moving since there are lots of things going on. I will likely add an "extract" waypoint marker to help people get out of a town that has been lost.

I've also changed the assault timers to be time based so they will fire more consistently (but with less variability). One of the things I'm playing around with is some randomness to the direction the enemy assaults from so it plays differently.

Things I changed this weekend, but have not uploaded yet:

After capturing a zone enemy troops will be destroyed after ~3 minutes. This is a compromise to keep the server from being over-loaded and allows the server to concentrate on the conflict area. The downside are all the ai going dead around you if you are still stuck in a lost area.
JIP spawns v3. Hopefully they are moving the characters to the correct respawn area and getting ONLY the current objective. Please note that the JIP will process through all the stages that have already been completed on the map (markers will be moving lots), but only the audio and radio message for the current objective should be received. If the setPos on JIP joins doesn't work, I may have to kill JIP players.
Tweaked the way enemy are spawned to improve their assault.
Less $$ awarded for each 60 second interval, but $$ awarded for each convoy that arrives at extract zone.
Groups are recycled (thus eliminating the stall that prevents further ai from respawning).
Enemy ai vehicles are now locked. This is necessary to ensure the mission continues to advance to Corazol. No more parking a captured tank next to a repair truck and picking off wave after wave (Moore :-) ). Ideally this mission should take 10-15 minutes per defensive objective (x4) and 20-30 minutes per assault (x4) or ~120-180 minutes. Testing will be necessary to see if my estimates are correct.

**peardog** · 04-30-2007, 06:51 PM

I did note that..while I was told that a certain Point was lost..I was standing in that point with no baddies..wondering why... Maybe Directions Given as Orders to Fall back, not because the point is lost, but because you are told to do so.. I mean we are in the Military and Shouldn't question the Commander giving the orders... ;-)

Also a script that nukes the player if he fails to fall back... Point or Money penalized if you don't fall back. Something like that...

Peardog..

**Shiner** · 04-30-2007, 09:33 PM

Originally Posted by peardog

I did note that..while I was told that a certain Point was lost..I was standing in that point with no baddies..wondering why... Maybe Directions Given as Orders to Fall back, not because the point is lost, but because you are told to do so.. I mean we are in the Military and Shouldn't question the Commander giving the orders... ;-)

Also a script that nukes the player if he fails to fall back... Point or Money penalized if you don't fall back. Something like that...

Peardog..

Yeh the points being captured are based on the zone being "seized by" the AI. This is something calculated by the BIS command and is based on time in zone and type of forces. They didn't publish the calcs, but a tank is worth more than a bmp which is worth more than a soldier. Its beneficial for me since I want to have the "fall-back" effect in my mission. In the newest version there are audio prompts to "leave the area" which is the closest built-in voice-acting I could find (after listening to them all

and their should also be a radio message from HQ.

**SGT.Moore USMC (RET)** · 04-30-2007, 10:49 PM

Originally Posted by Shiner

[*] Enemy ai vehicles are now locked. This is necessary to ensure the mission continues to advance to Corazol. No more parking a captured tank next to a repair truck and picking off wave after wave (Moore :-) ). Ideally this mission should take 10-15 minutes per defensive objective (x4) and 20-30 minutes per assault (x4) or ~120-180 minutes. Testing will be necessary to see if my estimates are correct.[/list]

Just trying to think outside the box..... Heh Heh..

**Shiner** · 05-01-2007, 12:57 AM

v3e posted to the servers

Added those fixes above and Air Support for Hill66 via radio command! Not sure if hill support will be effective.. but anything could help.
An ai infantry squad is also included in the assaulting wave, We shall see if it arrives in-time to be meaningful after some more testing.

Edit:

After pondering this some this morning, I may make Air Support (AH1Z) available throughout the mission (at the current objective) and charge the caller for using it... This should prevent it from being over-used.

BTW I may have messed up the latest version of the air support. I scripted spawning in two cobra's and never tested with 2 instead of the 1, as I realized what time it was and ran to bed.

**Shiner** · 05-04-2007, 09:37 AM

*Bugs Reported/Witnessed

*JIP player joined and some existing players in-game were teleported to respawn.
*Server became overwhelmed at Hill 66 after 3 waves with 5 players. I will consider options. Capping # of Helo spawned at 2 or 3 and armor or moving away from the enhanced AI and back to standard ai. Investigate getting helo's to paradrop their troops.
*Implement a "hoover" and "bury" script from evolution that cleans up dead units.
*Air support currently calls friendly choppers = # players on server.. fix so only one is called at a time.

Potential Game Changes:
*Consider giving $$ for being in-zone only.
*Consider limiting weapons available in first two defensive positions.

**Shiner** · 05-07-2007, 01:55 PM

Just to keep everyone updated I'm on version 3i of this mission on my test machines. I haven't uploaded the newest version and will delete out the older version when I find the server empty because they aren't in a playable state.

I've been working on optimizing the mission so the server doesn't get overwhelmed by Hill 66, but unfortunately the "deleteVehicle" command, which I implemented to clean up the battlefield can cause CTD. The 1.07 patch has a fix for this so hopefully that will help the mission greatly.

I still am unable to test JIP fixes without having another willing person, so those issues are potentially lingering.

Current Changes v3i

4 or 5 times the cash is awarded every 60 seconds for being present in the current objective zone (Slightly larger area than zone shown on map).
Removed vehicle purchasing from spawn 1; close enough to walk-it and I don't want someone surrounding the town with anti-tank objects.
AI vehicles should be killed and deleted after each objective is completed to improve performance. Dead player bodies should be deleted using evolution bury script
Convoy spawns are now 1/2 as frequent as before and no more civilians are spawned in. This takes something away from the atmosphere, but reduces lag considerably.
AI Enemy Infantry group now spawns in separate location from the armor groups to improve timing and add another element to the assault. Armor and Helo spawns reduced to compensate.
Helo spawns maximum of 3 at a time regardless of difficulty or players connected.
Weapon selection added to the briefing and once spawned in the selection will be stored so you always spawn with that kit. It is now definitely worth taking the time to select your kits before joining starting the mission.
More weapons/ammo boxes added through the conflict zones.
Enemy artillery will spawn at Hill 66 and/or FARP if enough waves have been stopped. Look for further items, such as paradrops to increase the difficulty with each wave.

Things to consider:
Currently most deployable objects are free. It is possible for someone to literally surround an objective with impassible objects. I am considering turning-on the "team-cash" and making deployable items draw down this amount. This allows me to limit the "cheating", but wouldn't punish an individual wanting to setup a defense from also being able to afford purchasing vehicles later in the game.

Remove chopper purchase spawn from US FARP, but add a single UH60.

**SGT.Moore USMC (RET)** · 05-07-2007, 05:24 PM

Originally Posted by Shiner

I still am unable to test JIP fixes without having another willing person, so those issues are potentially lingering.

If you ever see me on TS, or the server. Dont hesitate to give me a hollar. Time permitting I would rather help test this mission to get it working, than to Replay another mission.

**Shiner** · 05-09-2007, 10:40 PM

Thanks Moore, my time will be extremely limited in the next few weeks because of work commitments, but I do want to continue testing and development of the mission and really appreciate your past help and offer.

v4 is now on the public server. The primary change was implementing a pool of team credits used to purchase the deployables. This pool is set at a minimum of 100 and does accumulate (factors in player count) during the mission similar to personal credits.

If you do play the map, I would appreciate any feedback or bug reports here as well. TY!

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