Tommy going to Vietnam (mission alpha test)

[rge75]

I recently started working on a Vietnam mission for the Huey (should end up in a campaign). If you're now thinking "wait, isn't SFC Tako already working on a Vietnam campaign with the famous Manny - and isn't this a brash copy"...well, yes and no. I wrote Tako and our campaigns will cover different aspects. My campaign will play in the early years (1964/1965). However, the idea is to get a similiar "look and feel" like Tako's Bay of Hogs. This means, it should be story driven and it will be about flying and following orders. No sling load and stuff like this. I even used the same message sound as in Bay of Hogs :music_whistling:

 

So far, I'm working on my very first mission. I think it would be nice if some people could have a look at the current version to get some feedback if I'm on the right way.

 

Actually, it's running with Vanilla, but Starways Vietnam mod is highly recommended for this. The final campaign will most probably need a few mods though.

 

NOTE: this mission is FAR from being complete. It's very early stage and it only covers about 33% of the whole final mission (that's why you start airborne close to the LZ). There's currently also no way to get a "mission accomplished". So once all 3 Platoons are disembarked, the mission doesn't continue yet. It's just to test if this one part of the mission is "understandable". I mean, it's clear to me what to do, but I need to know if it's also clear to the others.

 

Edit: Since english isn't my mature language, please also let me know about wrong sentences or misspelled words in the radio message (I'd recommend a private message to avoid story spoilers).

 

It for sure will take quite some time to finish the mission. So don't expect the full campaign in the near future. My target is to have about 8 missions in the end.

 

2nd NOTE: As mentioned, I try to get the look and feel of Bay of Hogs. This means the campaign won't be historical correct. It's more Hollywood than reality.:D

 

Screenshot from Landing Zone

 

Landing Zone X Ray at Ia-Drang Valley.

 

 

Unfinished mission for test purpose only

EDIT: Removed file / updated mission in post 8

 

Simply put it into your missions folder.

Edited August 24, 2016 by rge75

[FastForward]

Too bad I'm grounded for several weeks after a shoulder surgery and I can't use my right arm, but I promise you I'll try it and give you my feedback as soon as I can fly again :thumbup:

[rge75]

Get well soon! Had the same issue 2 years ago....

[Cibit]

Is it single or MP?

[rge75]

It is single player.

[Cibit]

Thank you I would love to try it out. So this is pre 65 build up? A teams, montagnards and spooks;) I'll wear my tigerstripes with the MACV patch to fly it :)

[rge75]

Thanks, I'm looking forward to some feedback. Keep in mind that it's only a part of the full mission though. It's more to check out if people understand what to do and if the triggers are more or less right ;-)

 

Let's say I took my ideas out of some documentaries as well as from the movie "We Were Soldiers". I'm not a Vietnam pro and I'm not aware of all the "details".

 

My ideas about the campaign are as follow (MAJOR SPOILER about the campaign):

 

 

M1 Arrival at Nam / some easy task to do

M2 Training at Camp Halloway

M3 First day at Ia-Drang, disembark troops, Nov 14 1965

M4 Second day at Ia-Drang / maybe some special mission

M5 3rd day at Ia-Drang / maybe something else

M6 something in February 1966

M7 battle of Bong song

M8 TBA

 

So there should be missions where you fly alone as well as missions with other Huey.

 

This is all not to be carved in stone yet though and it could change completely. The attached mission in the first post is from M3 and it's only the part where you disembark troops.

 

 

[rge75]

Looks like the "Alpha" wasn't very interesting to test for people, so i decided to upload the "90% done" beta-mission for testing. Currently you're starting in the air close to the LZ. This is easier for testing than to always have to fly from the base to the war zone first. But it will be changed in the final version.

 

Known issues:

- AI doesn't land in LZ (will have a look into it)

- AI doesn't follow the next waypoint after disembarking (they fly home on the direct way/will have a look into it)

- One AI Huey isn't set to silent/mute yet (will be fixed)

- a similiar message appears once (will be removed)

- Mission description missing (will be done later)

 

Not tested yet:

- different speeches/rating from peterpilot Steve when getting close to the base

 

Anyway, I flew it a couple of times and it seems good to me so far. But it's for sure different when you created the mission and when you exactly know what to do. That's why I could really need some people who like to test it :helpsmilie:. The only disadvantage will be that you'll already know one of the missions from the upcoming campaign ;)

 

I think it should still work with Vanila (not tested though). As mentioned, I highly recommend the Starway Vietnam mod as well as the Vietnam Huey skins.

 

Long story short, here's the mission file:

Edit: Removed. Updated file in post #12

 

And here's a teaser screenshot:

 

 

Edited August 24, 2016 by rge75

[Cibit]

Hey Ray, its lack of time for me not lack of interest. I hope to give this a whirl tonight when the broadbandits start stealing my bandwidth:)

[rge75]

Thank you for the information. I can send you the updated version which also contains the start from base as well as updated AI flight plan.

[Cibit]

Rgr that would be great thanks:)

[rge75]

Rgr that would be great thanks:)

 

 

There we go... file attached.

 

Just as a side note: I'm using the "Tan Tent 4" object in the base. So the base might look pretty empty if you don't have the Rangers79 mod installed. But it will work anyway.

 

Known issues:

- AI might be not perfect when landing in the LZ...not my fault though ;-)

 

Not tested yet:

- different speeches/rating from peter pilot Steve when getting close to the base

- not yet tested with latest DCS build

Huey_Tommy_Vietnam_03.miz

Edited August 24, 2016 by rge75

[Cibit]

Hey I enjoyed that so far.

My thoughts on it would be using the CTLD script to embark/disembark troops though that would stop you using the F10 for making choices.

Make it multiplayer too as AI slicks are unreliable.

Give your slick doorgunners, its always nice to be able to return fire in a hot LZ

Have you added weight or high temperatures to the mission. That was some struggle for a slick, the kind of performance I would expect from a fully loaded gunship with doorgunners.

 

:)

[rge75]

Hey I enjoyed that so far.

My thoughts on it would be using the CTLD script to embark/disembark troops though that would stop you using the F10 for making choices.

Make it multiplayer too as AI slicks are unreliable.

Give your slick doorgunners, its always nice to be able to return fire in a hot LZ

Have you added weight or high temperatures to the mission. That was some struggle for a slick, the kind of performance I would expect from a fully loaded gunship with doorgunners.

:)

 

Thanks for the constructive feedback :thumbup:. It was interesting to see how somebody else is flying the mission. Nice approach to the LZ btw :joystick: It looks quite different in Vanilla though without the palm trees.

 

Embark/Dosembark:

I'll have a look at the CTLD script. The reason why I made it with two groups and enable/disable is because this simply seems to work, no matter how many updates they'll make to DCS. I mean, the default embarking/disembarking seems to make problems. I first used it and the troops (once again) decided to run into the trail, not only killing themselves but breaking the Huey into two pieces. I don't know the CTLD script and I suppose it will be developped with further updates.

 

F10:

I don't use the F10 feature because I have to. It could easily be done without chosing by simply using a trigger and a message like "land at the smoke marker or fly home". But in fact I *wanted* the player to have some interaction ;-) So you think it's distracting?

 

Multiplayer:

The mission for sure would have potential for MP. I'm sure it would be pretty cool to fly with many Huey to LZ X-Ray. Especially because not everybody could land at the same time. But it will be for a campaign and (afaik) you can't make a campaign MP? Beside that, I'm not into multiplayer which means I couldn't test it. And last but not least, it would probably be quite some additional work to set even more triggers for the other Huey. Anyway, if somebody else would like to create a MP mission out of it, then I'll for sure not deny permission. Doing the other SP missions will take enough time and I therefore currently have no plans to do a MP mission.

 

Doorgunners:

I'd like to add ONE doorgunner only but I'm not sure if it's possible or not. Maybe I didn't fully understand the ME yet ;-) It seemed like it's either slick or "complete gunship". There's a slight "problem" with the doorgunners though. First, they anyway don't seem to hit anything. Second, it shouldn't be possible to destroy the whole NVA with rockers or whatever. I mean, it's the battle of Ia-Drang and the US solders needs to remain a minority. That's also the reason why I actually set the soldiers to invincible. I wanted to make sure that there aren't suddenly US soldiers or NVA once you arrive at the LZ for the 2nd time. Anyway, if it's possible to add one doorgunner only (I could probably live with the compromis of two, as long as you don't have rockets), then I'll add it. I'll also need to have a deeper look into it.

 

Weight/temperatures:

I read that they normally had 6 soldiers to transport. That's why I set the additional weight to 600kg. I don't know the weight of an average soldier including rifle, helmet and all that, but I simply thought 100kg might be ok. Adding a doorgunner for sure would also add some additiona weight. I did not add the weight to the AI though. As for the temperature, I didn't care about yet - might look into it! Any proposals?

Edited August 27, 2016 by rge75

[Cibit]

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=143107&highlight=CTLD

I never minded the morse code, what was a struggle was reading the text. A 40" TV means moving your focus to the top of the windscreen to read it. I quit the test when I passed the orange smoke again. Try clearview for the text chat, it moves the text down a bit IIRC

Never RTB'd so missed the music:doh:

 

I like the choices it makes for a more interactive mission.

 

The trouble with me is I rarely fly SP except to try stuff out. For a more fulfilling experience I prefer MP especially dropping into a hot LZ. It is so cool to land in a multi ship flight under fire:)

 

Check this out from about 5 mins, or watch it all. You see the CTLD script being used to drop off troops

 

In ME there is a tab when you select the helicopter to change loadout, skins fuel etc. You can create a new payload. Call it guns or whatever and then click on the corresponding station to assign doorgunner, either M60 or minigun.

If you need any help with ME just ask. I will help if I can

Edited August 27, 2016 by Cibit

[rge75]

Thanks, I never noticed the edit function of the loadout. It was pretty easy to change. So yes, there's one door gunner on every slick now ;)

 

Just wondering about the CTLD - were there never problems with soldiers running into the Huey? I noticed that several times (e.g. in a Bay of Hogs mission as well as in mine before I altered it).

 

And I agree that playing it this way in MP is for sure fun if you have the right guys to play with. But I suppose there are quite a handful of SP guys who will be happy to also get some more missions.

[rge75]

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=143107&highlight=CTLD

I never minded the morse code, what was a struggle was reading the text. A 40" TV means moving your focus to the top of the windscreen to read it. I quit the test when I passed the orange smoke again. Try clearview for the text chat, it moves the text down a bit IIRC [...]

 

What do you mean with clearview? Setting the checkbox in the ME to clear previous text? This doesn't make a difference on my screen. What I could do is adding a line feet before the first text. This way everything would be slightly down.

[Cibit]

Clearview is a checkbox to have the text presented differently. It doesn't clear the text. If that makes sense

[rge75]

Sorry if I don't get it. I have a checkbox "Sicht säubern" in the ME which IMO means "Clear View". But what it does is clearing (deleting) previous messages before showing the new message. So I don't quite understand what you mean. However, I now added an additional line feet to every text message.

[Cibit]

Ok my understanding that clearview presented text without a box around it, a fairly new feature since 2.0 and not remove text before the next message.

[rge75]

You're right according to the release notes of 1.5. But I simply can't see a visual difference in the game, no matter if I enable this check box or not.

 

We're talking of this checkbox in the lower right corner, aren't we?

 

BTW, may it be that the CTLD/Mist needs quite some ressources? It seemed like I had a lot more stuttering when accelerating the time (no problem with default speed though).

 

I think I'll actually leave it the way it is and I'll start working on the next mission. CTLD for sure is great from what I've seen, especially when you have the whole battle a lot more dynamic with less scripted things. In my case, it isn't urgently needed atm though.

 

Edit: About the temperature for this mission. I read that the temperatures were "normal" in the morning of this battle. They became a lot warmer during the day. So I didn't increase the temperature too much. I set it to 27°C (80,6°F).

Edited August 28, 2016 by rge75

[Cibit]

Hey Ray, I was only offering suggestions. No need to change anything really. I enjoyed it immensley, was a lot trickier than a lot of flying you get in SP:)

Look forward to the next instalment:thumbup:

[rge75]

You're welcome ;-) Suggestions are always good. They make you think about it. I mean, the door gunner was a very good suggestion and that's why I added it.