The Blue Sun Mod

[Xiola]

Thats reallyt interesting, Vader, as my strategy is completely the opposite.

I try and engage the enemy at long range using fast auto snipers or assualt rifles.

Each of my team has a pistol,mp5 or P90, an assualt rifle such as the tavour or HK416 6.8mm and a fast firing sniper such as the g36 sniper version(forget its name) it has a to ready of .31 and accuaracy of 71.

I try and pin the enemy down with my assualt rifles while my snipers aim their shots and fire. Seems to work good for me

I like having 6 team members as it gives me more options in a fire fight.

I hate indoor fights at close range as I always seem to get caught by grenades

[Vader]

for sniper weaponry i strongly recomend the range of stefan uribe from cali cantinos. he has a silenced 7,62 and a russian equivalent sniper rifle all silenced and rather quick. i have to give it to you that the sniper g36 is the fastest siper rifel in the game, but since this cant be equiped with a silencer it is pretty useless in the game. since every enemy (regardless Fighter or thug) has a gps spotter and nightsight and a radio to get alarmed instantly when someone is loudly inhumed, giving a clear shot unsilenced is tantamount to alarming the whole crew of his fellows...
but when you aim and shot a silenced weapon then eaven in the night you can switch off sometimes four or more enemies on one spot. my favort weapon for this is the norinco (7,62) it has but a capacity of 10 rounds but the are well placed and deadly as hell. she had about 85% accouracy, and that is as i recal the best silenced one in the game...

[Kyle]

Interesting feedback on addressing hostile towns. I'm happy to see that there is a time of night that's superior than others when attempting to use concealment to the maximum.

Also useful is the interesting tidbit that a location can have 200+ units assigned to it, but that only 35 will appear when a map's reloaded. The others are "patrolling" in the region, which is a clever explanation for the engine's limitations.

Thank you all for the feedback.

I too use the interiors for most of my engagements, but since so many of the enterable structures are identical, it starts to feel sort of like a rail-shooter. I want to be able to utilize the inside and the outside simultaneously, but the AI seem to have the eyes of a hawk and simultaneous communications with one another. As was mentioned earlier, if an AI isn't killed immediately, it seems as if all of his buddies know exactly where you are.

R@S, do you think that it would be possible to supply some extra entry points to the maps? I'm thinking about having them located in areas where it's more unlikely for AI to automatically spot the squad. Too many of them are located RIGHT UNDERNEATH STREET LIGHTS, and who, in their right mind, would decide to infiltrate there?

For example, Porto Viejo could have additional entry points at:
1) either end of the beach since the squad entered by walking along the shoreline
2) in a dark alleyway, since the squad negotiated itself through the city by deliberately staying on the routes with the least lighting
3) or, for a sizable amount of money, a NPC could be supplied near a bar who will see to it that the squad is smuggled into a region in the back of a truck. If a map has a number of trucks present, then an entry point can be assigned near the tailgate of a truck, and to make this even more interesting, this entry point could be randomly assigned to wherever trucks are parked.
4) Perhaps supply one-three randomized entry points at ideal locations, such as a park with heavy foliage and nearby walls.
5) Entry points available near sewer grates (if there are sewer grates available, I can't recall right now if they are).

And so on and so forth.

Anything that avoids having just the entry points where they are now would be an improvement. In my opinion, the default entry points are just too obvious.

[R@S]

Originally Posted by Vader

when someone is loudly inhumed

Do we have yet another reader of our dear and beloved Terry Pratchett in our midst? And one that has also discovered the joy of reading his books in English, with all the puns and play with words

Kyle
I feel that adding more spawn points, ones that gives you cover, would make the game too easy. As it is now there is a random element when you enter a town, and that causes you to alter your tactics accordingly. If you have a safe place you'd use the same tactic all the time and the game would become tedious after a while. I want the game to continue to be challenging, forcing you to try different tactics and evolve ones you already use, that way the game never gets boring.

But there could be a compromise. When working on the Field Radio I discovered that I could add a spy to the game. You could use that spy by sending him to enemy cities, and through the radio you could find out how many enemy defenders the city has. This spy could be used to "smuggle" you into a city for a fee. But I fear it would be too easily exploited and I would have to add a hefty cost to prevent it. I'd have to think about it further.

[Vader]

Hello r@s,

well it´s me matze, yep the one who done the mister sister pic^^,

and i still love terrys books to no end^^

if we would set the entry points somewhere else, the points kyle mentioned, the game would loose one major factor: frustration. dont get me wrong, normaly i would do anything to get rid of frustration in real life. but in this game when i get frustrated it shows me one thing for sure. my tactics arent worth to beat the enemy. i think we need these signs, the are to me like a slap against my head. the motivate me to try harder. and a valid point of kyle was that if you stuck to your tactics for ever the game runs like a train and gets boring. ever since the classsystem was forged^^ i went full sniper. it changed completly my few and my tactics. a whole range of guns now is more interesting as before. when i have completed my my current sniper carrer, then i want to go from stealth to screaming gunner^^. and then the range of mgs is in my reach^^.

the game is faszination pure... i havent seen another game that kept me for so long.

on another side note: since i still recall that r@s you where working on the ARM project: sometimes i miss one mission that wasnt developed. since i´ve read the metro 2033 book i imagened one situation. imagening to hold your fort. meaning an oncoming rush in bible conditions has to withheld. imagine in waves for instance twenty ore more tamgos running, yeah running i said, and you have to really burst the waves^^.
in the game we now have some truly wonderfull sniping mission, but sometimes in the wee hours^^ a man/or a woman wants to go beserk^^.
these oncoming wave mustn´t be wielding fierce weapons youst sheer mass would suffice... i think that would be fun^^

so long, lost my red thread^^

[Kyle]

R@S,

That's pretty cool that what I basically proposed could be incorporated into using the field radio. I agree with you that the intel should come with a price.

I can "sort of" understand having to be forced to use tactics at the same old entry zones, but...

The default four spawn points are almost always on the main thoroughfares, most of which are brightly lit at night. Now, I can understand perfectly well using these spawn points when casually moving through a region, but to use them for infiltration and assault purposes? I don't think even the Three Stooges would pick those spots. It just seems far more immersive to me that new entry points/methods be added wherever it's strategically and believably sensible to do so.

Those new points could be randomized, so that they're not always available when the Player is about to enter a region, forcing the Player to make more challenging decisions. A $ price tag could be added, so that perhaps only The Best of them are available if money is put in the pocket of a nebulous spy working on your behalf.

However, having to pay a hefty fee every time seems unrealistic to me as well, but could occur every now and then just to keep the Player on his/her toes.

Heck, said spies could be an asset as well as a deficit in another way: perhaps they could be caught, captured, and held hostage by the enemy. Whenever this is done, any other potential spies in the ENTIRE game-world will STOP working for the Player until that captured spy is safely rescued. Spycraft is dangerous work, and one wants to be sure that the person that one is working for is not a double agent, thus the need to rescue those who become captured before anymore spywork is done on behalf of the Player; they want to ensure that they're not being betrayed.

There are other ways that this capability could be limited, such as assigning random patrol routes for the enemy. For the life of me, I've yet to enter a map ("friendly" or not) that has patrols. Weird! If this was done, even the "best" location could be quickly compromised by a patrol of 2-4 enemies who just happen upon the scene, or come up on the squad's back as they move deeper. These random patrols could also be spawned at random times, and at random locations, perhaps entering at, or near to, these new entry points for the very sound reason that these key spots SHOULD be patrolled due to the vulnerabilities they present to those who occupy the region.

Randomized traps such as mines could be set near these areas.

And the list could go on...

Using the default entry points may chronically force tough and desperate tactical decisions, but they're almost always the same, and again, those entry points are sensible for friendly regions, but not hostile ones. By opening up more entry points/means of entry, one not only deepens immersion but also opens up gameplay.

This game is challenging to me nearly all of the time anyway. Even when I happen into a random ambush as I travel from Point A to Point B, and the enemy are far away and they've yet to determine exactly where I am, so that I have a great advantage, once the shooting begins, even my best laid plans are to the wind. And that's with everything in my favor. If randomized patrols were added along with the new entry points/means, I'm confident that this would keep the pressure high (even elevate it to greater heights not yet experienced in 7.62), force the Player to fully utilize one's wits, and lead to a very fulfilling experience.

[R@S]

I'll be releasing the next version in a couple of weeks and this is what I plan to work on for it.

A few new missions, one for the campaign and a few others available whenever the player feels confident they can be completed without too much loss of life. I think a jailbreak mission for Luna would be nice, I don't feel right leaving him in the cell all game long

I've been thinking about an upgrade function for the cars, like in HLA where you can increase the armor and such, but without the "breakdown" function. I think I'll be using the base mechanic for it and have already removed the >10 reputation limit for his joining mission. I'm not sure yet if there is a limit on how many cars the game can have, every update requires a new car in the ini's. There are now 7 cars, and if I give them all at least 1 upgrade level it would mean 14. I might skip the BTR and FMVA1, they already have enough armor and trunk space, but the others could all use more armor. I'm also thinking of adding more speed to some, maybe increase the trunk capacity of the Ford, GAZ and Jeep at the expense of their speed. It would mean that I would go back to armor levels closer to vanilla and they would be vulnerable if they aren't upgraded, but that's the cost of progress I guess.

I'm not sure what to do with the economics of capturing cities, I'm playing with the idea of adding a tax function for the Mayors. I think it's possible to add a loss of reputation if the tax is set too high, but I haven't really looked into it yet. And there's still the monthly payment issue. If we add a tax, it would be payed out in a monthly fashion and would not help much in the recruiting and maintaining of the milita. Maybe add a bonus when a city is first captured? But I have to work on in a bit when time permits, and due to all the testing needed, time is not abundant for that kind of tinkering.

[Kyle]

R@S,

Being able to upgrade vehicles sounds like a VERY cool idea. I like it a lot.

I have no idea how the Hard Life Addon implemented "breakdowns," but even that sounds intriguing to me. "Improve" a vehicle too much in one way, such as by adding too much armor, and it eventually breaks down due to the suspension system not being suitably upgraded to handle the extra load (such as the constant breaking down of uparmored Humvees in the Iraq/Afghanistan occupations). One might have to first wisely upgrade one system before improving another.

But I could see where all of this micro-management could get too cumbersome, yet if it was setup so that the potential negative consequences of adjusting a vehicle could be completely avoidable by simply never choosing to participate in any special enhancements, then it would be up to the Player as to whether or not he/she wanted to dip a toe into those waters.

Players who are "into" this kind of thing would love it. I certainly would.

The upgrades could start out more simply, and with fewer negative consequences, such as being able to swap out the standard engine for something more powerful, allowing a vehicle to travel faster and to carry more weight.

The same concerns exist with the larger economics system tied into the towns and cities. Taxation and the like sure sounds interesting to me, but if I had a penny to gamble with, I'd wager that most of the community members would more greatly appreciate an increase in missions and campaigns, both in number and in depth (fleshing them out more, such as by adding on even more possible consequences for the choices one makes).

That said, for those who enjoy the more free-form way of playing, expanding on the economy and its relationship to capturing/maintaining territories, would be right up their alley, as would opening up a universe of possibilities by adjusting their vehicles.

Happily for me, I like it all. I'm just surmising what the other members may be more itching for.

Like more entry zones and randomized enemy patrols (subtle hint, REALLY!).

Have to go. Studying to do.

Go microeconomics!

[R@S]

The vehicle breakdown system in HLA adds the necessity of fuel and a chance that the car will stop working when traveling. There are several spare parts available, like new tires and exhaust pipes and what not. The player needs to refuel, change tires and stuff like that. Personally I never liked that system and that's why I chose not to do such a thing.

The new car upgrade script is complete and tested. You can upgrade the Ford, Willies, GAZ69 and Hummer 3 times each and the Ural, BTR and FMTV 1 time. The upgrade inreases armor, trunk capacity and speed.

The tax system is almost done, I'm about to start testing it more thouroughly to check the balance. This is how it works, first you need to set it up with the banker, he'll be the one collecting it in an account at the bank. You'll get your taxes every day(I might change that to once every week), just withdraw the cash if you need it, or move it into your other account and get some interest rate. I might set it up so that the tax money gets added to the player automatically, to minimize micromanagement. Or I could let the player choose with a dialog option at the banker.

There are 3 classes of towns and they pay a different amount of tax. Cities with civilians pay most, locations with special income pay middle and Bases with only guards pay least.

You can only set the tax rate globally, you can't set a rate to an induvidual city. There are 3 levels, High Tax, Normal Tax and Low Tax, the High Tax rate decreases player reputation in the cites while the Low Tax rate increases it.

After some testing I'll start adjusting the tax rates to find a good balance. Then it's time to start working on some new misssions.

[Kyle]

R@S,

The vehicle upgrade system is done? Nice!

I too would have to agree with you about changing flat tires, refueling, and whatnot as it was implemented in HLA. That level of micromanagement is usually very tedious. As is having to stop to feed oneself and one's comrades. There are very few games that can pull that off without it feeling like an absolute chore; STALKER being one of them. I think that one of the reasons why it works so well in STALKER is that one's traveling in an intermittent hostile environment. If a radioactive blowout occurs, and one's hungry at the time it happens, then there's a good chance that one's not going to make it in time to a sheltered area when the radiation starts really pouring out.


In terms of handling taxes:
I like that the taxes can be set at three different levels, and I appreciate the fact that different types of areas will generate different levels of revenue. Nice and sensible.

While taxes may be collected daily, I too am leaning towards the notion that the newly generated funds are only made available to be used in the economy once a week. This could be justified by the accounting that needs to be done, the transference of funds, auctioning off of repossessed property for citizens who are delinquent in their taxes, etc.

I have a mixed reaction in regards to whether or not the taxes are automatically added to the Player's own account. On one level, that would reduce micromanagement (one account versus two), but on the other, what if the Player desires to have the economies to be able to run rather autonomously, with only occasional direct interactions? In that case, having two accounts would be less micromanagement than having one.

It might be interesting to add a level of realism to the tax system in this way: corruption.

It would require the player to think through about "withdrawing" tax funds for his/her own direct personal usage. Yeah, taxpayers tend to look down on such behavior.

Perhaps a dialogue tree could be setup with the bankers that whenever the Player decides to make a transfer from the public to the personal, he then has the option of giving the banker a bribe. Successful transfers will always be equated with giving the banker enough of a bribe that he'll go out of his way to use Goldman Sachs his accounting skills to cover up the fraud he's participating in. The bigger the bribe that one gives the banker, the more effort he'll put into keeping the corruption covered up; think Goldman Sachs-level of evilness here. The more money the Player wants to be transferred to his own account, the more money the Player will need to give the banker to do a good job covering up the unethical behavior.

There should always be an element of chance of discovery whenever any portion of tax reserve is transferred to the Player's account. The more money that's pulled out of the system, the greater the odds of being discovered (remember though, that if the banker is given a large bribe that it reduces the chance of being detected by the masses because he's worked harder at hiding the corrupt act).

I'd also make the inverse of this situation true. If the Player transfers money from his personal account into the tax reserves, then the Player can gain a higher reputation with the taxpayers. I'm assuming that a higher reputation not only results in cheaper prices from the sellers, but also in a higher morale from the security forces stationed there.

These injections of the Player's funds would also further reduce the chances of being caught with tax related corruption later. It's amazing how many crimes go unpunished simply because the investigator can't believe that a certain "hero" would be capable of doing such a crime.

Now should the Player's corruption be discovered, it would be interesting to have a consequence that's more severe than just a loss of reputation. If it's really bad, a group of rebellious civilian militia could appear that the Player would then have to contend with. As the situation worsens, the size and armament of these rebels would increase, till a tipping point is reached: not only would militia be present, but they would then invite an enemy-faction in to aide them in their open rebellion.

Ambushes on the road would become more frequent, and so on and so forth.

Couple the odds of this happening based on the tax rate in a region, and one could have a real powder keg of a situation. Getting caught in corruption's bad enough, but imagine how much worse it would be if taxes were high preceding and at the time of being caught! Yeah, it would be easier to recruit rebels as the insult to the people is worse.

What I like about this taxation system is that it acts as more of an incentive for the Player to partake in the open sandbox elements of the game. A Player who may never have thought about conquering a region would certainly be tempted to do so now.

Thoughtful tension. I like that!



Keep up the good work. More exciting advancements are on the way, and I can't wait to get a crack at them!