Need playtesters for a mission

I created a multiplayer mission (my first one so be kind) based off of a discussion I had with a colleague who works in the coal industry. This scenario is rooted in a loose interpretation of what could happen in an area of Georgia this fellow told me about. Apparantly the Tkibuli area is on the global radar as an investment opportunity in Georgia.

The Real-life Tkibuli:

http://www.tkibuli.org/

The remaining Mindeli Mine:

I could use some playtesters to try it and help me tighten it up. Anyone with a server willing to give it a go?

Breifing:

The Coal reserves of the Tkibuli-Shaorskoye deposit represent an important asset to political independance.

Control over this mine impacts not only the socio-economic future for the Imeretian inhabitants, but also the energy security of a nation.

Recent conflict in Abkhazia has forced the closure of mines in both Tkvartcheli and Akhaltsikhe. Thus, the Mindeli mine in

the Tkibuli-Shaori deposit is the only coal reserve remaining under exploitation. Control of the deposit and processing

facilities is critical to the development and maintenance of economic efficiency, social value and ultimately; national

environmental and energy security.

Insurgent forces from Ossetia are staging a strategic offensive to seize control of the processing centers in Tkibuli and the

Mindeli mine. Considering the dense civilian populace surrounding these assets, it is critical that a precise engagement of enemy forces is ensured to minimize collateral damages. The support of Imertia citizens is crucial to the preservation of our borders.

Let me know please if you can help me out with this.

Operation Chimney Sweep_MPx8.miz

Thumps up for the Intro. Most credible story i have read so far.

Thumps up for using real-life-pictures and real-life-links.

yeah - when my buddy in the energy sector was talking about the area and how residents are concerned about an ossetian invasion taking away the last of their livelyhood it got me wondering if Tkibuli was in game. Not only is it in game but beautifully representative of the area.

i'd really like to work more on this mission and flesh it out as it could play pretty good with that terrain.

Your actual setting is summer, 1.juni 2009, kutaisi, 6:15 am: no weather..

Go for realistic weather conditions and daylight-conditions:

Set the appropriate day you want and set some realistic weather.

-------Day:

Missioneditor / weather/time&day: #0 = 1.juli 2009

#1 = 2.juli 2009

etc.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=872354&postcount=39

You can check your actual choosen date in the ABRIS / Submenu Options.

------Weather:

The weatherhistory for Kutaisi, 1.juni, 2009, 6:00 am is :

+17 °c

1023 Hg ( hint for calculation: 750mm = 1000 Hg)

2 m/s windspeed

wind variable (no main direction)

windgust 0 m/s

View: clear view

No significant clouds (means no clouds or no clouds under 5000ft. Means in ME: clouddensity = 0 or 1 with cloudbase > 1700m)

No rain

done.

Your ka-50 of the first slot has an right engine-failure at startup. This causes several errors. Maybe also the navigation-errors and the gnss-errors (http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=53699). Look for activated failures in the mission.

Personal i like the long flying to the target. Looks good for me.

hmmm. odd - is that ka-50 1.1? i'll check it out.

thanks!

edit - no failures set in the mission... did you use auto start or manual ?

hmmm. odd - is that ka-50 1.1? i'll check it out.

 

thanks!

 

edit - no failures set in the mission... did you use auto start or manual ?

Here i have BlackShark v1.1.

I used the manual start. But i bet no autostartprocedure could solve this problem.

Could it be a copy-protection-problem? To me it looks like such a problem.

I will put this mission into my MEditor, make some changes, compile this with my BS-version and let's see what comes of it!

This week I will test your mission also.

I'm curious about it.

I have tried it. I'll say my opinion about it as SP mission.

Lack of info at the very beginning. I'd like to see where supposed threat zones are, predicted flight route etc. Also, I'm not interested in Georgian geography so it would be good idea to mark some zones of interest on map before mission starts.

I've got shot down twice on approach so I cannot tell more about mission :D

All of these problems are solvable if you open mission in editor and see enemy position. But it's kind of cheat for me.

So, please add more info, chart with marked predicted enemy position, known enemy position etc (not necessary correct and accurate).

There must be some info on which someone judged to send pilot in action (with no ground support), make flight route etc. Present it to pilot.

Salute! :thumbup:

@ dooom

You're Mission run's on "STP I" Server...

You want the "Trackfiles"?

Thanks guys... I will take all suggestions in when I get back home from business trip... Gab. Toronto today, then Vancouver, then Calgary then home on the 18th for well deserved rotor head time

I will issue another version then. I wonder if there are enough targets? Also, is it long enough?

This mission will be tested today on my "Spare-Time-Pilots III" server at ca. 18:00 (UTC+1 Summertime).

Everyone feel free to join. :)

TeamSpeak3 Server:

Servername: =STP=

IP: 193.192.58.225

Port: 5630

Passwort: stpTS3

Tried on the STP-server yesterday, together with some well experienced pilots.

plus:

- Very nice location! Everybody liked the landscape where the mission is located! Thank you for that :)

minus:

- Very hard in my mind! As briefed you have to stay low. But when staying low it is nearly impossible to do a proper recon from a safe distance because of the (nice) terrain. The result is that you get shoot down earlier or later without warning. I also felt that the enemy units are nearly everywhere when you are at the lake.

Nobody of us survived a significant amount of time.

Maybe all is about a better explained briefing as mentioned in one of the previous posts.

So, here is the =STP= Feedback to "Operation Chimney Sweep".

First: Thank you very much for your hard work and this mission!

The flight was very funny :)

There are some suggestions for improvement:

1st.

The first view messages appears for each Ka-50. We started with four Ka-50s and the same messages came one by one.

Do it like this:

Triggername: "Start Ka-50#1"

Triggertyp: Once

Trigger-Rule: Unit in Zone - Ka-50#1 - Triggerzone

Trigger-Action: Set Flag - 1

Triggername: "Start Ka-50#2"

Triggertyp: Once

Trigger-Rule: Unit in Zone - Ka-50#2 - Triggerzone

Trigger-Action: Set Flag - 1

Triggername: "Start Ka-50#3"

Triggertyp: Once

Trigger-Rule: Unit in Zone - Ka-50#3 - Triggerzone

Trigger-Action: Set Flag - 1

.

. (for each Ka-50)

.

Triggername: "Start Message"

Triggertyp: Once

Trigger-Rule: Flag is true - 1

Trigger-Action: Message "bla bla bla"

So the message appears only once (the first time the first Ka-50 enters the zone).

Second thing is: I'm german and my english is very bad. I didn't understand this messages because they disappeared to fast. Please let them stay for 60sec.

2nd

The first convoy before you enter the first lake is moving through the wood.

You are not able to see them. Also you don't know that there are enemies outside the targetarea. Eighter you delete this enemies (also in the villages) else you change the mark for the target area in the ABRIS.

In my point of view delete it because of -> 3rd

3rd

The FARP is to far away.

Suggestion: Place the FARP directly at the beach in the southeast of the first lake.

There is a flat land and a T-road-cross. Place the FARP-service units on the road southeast of the new FARP position and let them drive to the FARP once all the Strelas and Shilkas in the area around the first lake are destroyed.

So the player is abel to "free" the FARP and the service units are able to advance to it.

4th

In the villages around the first lake some enemies are covered behind trees and buildings.

Please adjust this units so the player is able to see them. I know it is not realistic but it is a important thing to handle the difficulty of a mission.

If you add a enemy it have to be in sight of the player. There must not be a barrier in the bearing to the player. This are my experiences.

5th

The two convoys attacking the buses at the industry buildings have to be triggered later. The convoys have to be triggered if the first Ka-50 crosses the mountain range in front of the second lake.

You don't have enough ammo to beat this convoy in this point of the mission.

You have to rearm first. Meanwhile the convoy killed all civilians.

6th

The enemies in the village behind the second lake are placed at the averted hill side.

You have to rise VERY high to be able to fight this enemies. In my point of view you should place this enemies at the facing hill side in the far end of the village.

So you are able to hover behind the hill in low altitude.

7th

There is now message for the end of the mission. Neither for lose nor for win the mission.

This is important.

Result:

The mission is very good. I will keep it on my server. I hope you will bring some of this changes. If you need help, tell me. If you want I can edit the mission.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

I uploaded the Tacview file of the server:

http://www.file-upload.net/download-2508925/Operation_Chimney_Sweep.txt.acmi.zip.html

Just unzip it.

exactly what i'm looking for - great suggestions!!! I appreciate teh patience with it as it will improve.... i promise.:smartass:

********spoilers*

I was hoping that the intel that they were taking the enrichment facilities was enough to hint that enemies would be found around the "industrial" complexes in the towns. i.e. if you note where they are all located - they are all with an APC at the industrial-type ground buildings that have the "holding tanks" on the ground.... perhaps a "photo" attached to the briefing screen of these complexes would be enough.

Maybe i will copy dragons code for random placement and have fewer troops around the tkibuli area randomly placed at facilities for mission start.

great suggestion on putting the FARP at south beach lake one. maybe I should set it as target for the first convoy and move them out of the woods ... if they aren't stopped, then they secure FARP and have to be "cleared"

*******

at the moment i am off to get drunk with customers in a hotel bar in Toronto. I'll try to incorporate these changes when i get back home after the 18th... I would mind making the changes myself if you don't mind Dragon2781... that's how I learn :D but if you let me ask questions to help me make it better, I'd appreciate it.

thanks all - keep the comments coming.

Of course you may ask questions :)

In my point of view the difficulty of the mission is very good, given that the enemys are not covered behind buildings and trees. The numbers and the type of enemies is very good. It is enough for 8 players and the most enemies are light armored so you are able to kill them by the 30mm.

The hardest enemies are the Strelas because you get no warning. But this is ok because they are placed in sight of the player and the targetarea is marked in the ABRIS.

If you want to add random enemies you have to place the double or the triple quantity and activate them by 50% or 60%.... you have to play around with this value.

It is a lot of work because every enemy have to be a separate group and every group must have a random-trigger.... this are a looooot of triggers!

Edit:

A important hint for the random triggers:

Now you placed the FARP at the southeast-beach of the first lake and you want that the service units will be activated once the area is clear.

To check this you have two options:

1. You list every enemy in the area and ask for "unit dead".

2. You add a huge triggerzone to the area, list every enemy inside this zone and ask for "unit out of zone" (dead units are "out of the zone").

Now if you add random triggered units this check is not working anymore!

You set a holdingtime of 23h to every enemy and activate them by a random trigger of 50%-60%.

So some enemies will stay deactivated and this units are still "alive" and "in the zone".

So the rule of the "area is clear" trigger will be false even there are no active enemies anymore.

There is no way to check "is the area clear?" if you are using random triggered enemies!

Flew your mission on the STP server today(thanks again for having them online). On the first flight in I was shot down by a sam. The mission ran for 1.38h( is that server on time or mission time) Because of that I supposed that the area is almost cleared. On the second try I really liked the landscape of course like the others and how the targets are placed. It really felt like an special operation. Sadly the first shilka I ´ve hit my shkval so I had to get close and was shot down. However I´m looking forward to fly it again. Briefing with a map and some target points would be nice.

So the rule of the "area is clear" trigger will be false even there are no active enemies anymore.

There is no way to check "is the area clear?" if you are using random triggered enemies!

Quite false, all you need to do is to set a flag that is triggered true if a group of enemy units spawn. Also, it's alot easier if you don't use a "unit in zone trigger", and you simply use a group dead/alive trigger. So:

Trigger 1:

>Mission Start("activate random1")

>Random(50)

>Set Flag 1

>Activate group (random1)

Trigger 2:

>Mission Start("activate random2")

>Random(50)

>Set Flag 2

>Activate group (random2)

And so on.

Next, clear the flag when a group is dead:

Trigger 3:

>Once ("random1 spawned and dead")

>Group dead (random1)

>Clear flag(1)

Trigger 4:

>Once ("random2 spawned and dead")

>Group dead (random2)

>Clear flag(2)

Now, the trigger that activates when these groups are dead:

>Once ("All spawned enemies killed")

>Flag is false (1)

>Flag is false (2)

> <insert your desired actions here>

Now if you really wanted to use in zone triggers, it would work very similar, and wouldn't be hard- except you'd have to make a separate trigger for every unit.

I have a mission in development still that actually uses this. I was actually inspired by your mission, Convoy Hunting, and the goal is to make a vastly more randomized mission for higher replayability (88 groups each with a 20% spawn chance) with more action (the FARP is recaptured using drops from Mi-26s, the enemy counterattacks, some of the enemy groups have patrol routes, etc). I had to figure out a way to tell when it was safe for the Mi-26's to drop off the FARP service vehicles, and I used the above tactic.

Speed your my man!

Excelent! Yes! Clear Flag!!! I don't thought that way!

Awesome!

Once the patch is out I have to work on my missions to include this.

ok i am going to start work on this again this week. Thanks for the suggestions.

Dragon, I am not sure i understand this issue:

The first view messages appears for each Ka-50. We started with four Ka-50s and the same messages came one by one.

can you elaborate?

also - how do you trigger an "ending" message? Should i just set up a trigger to recognize all unite dead?? Thats seems like a rather looong trigger rule