The Blue Sun Mod

[R@S]

I dunno, but here's what it looks like:
Magpul Masada



I've added a banker in Puerto Viejo. I started by using the one from ECOmod but ended up re-writing most of it. Let me tell you, I had some serious problems trying to figure out how to calculate the interest rate on the account. I left the loaning system pretty much intact, but I plan to alter it since it wasn't really complete in the ECOmod. Guinneapig said he was going to add some debt collectors but never got that far in his work. I think I'll do it, maybe add some Repo men to steal the player's car if the repayment is overdue, not just start fighting with the player. That'll be a great incentive for honoring your debts and paying your bills on time

For now the banker uses the same place as the ECOmod one, but I plan to make a mission for him. I haven't decided if I'll put him in Puerto Viejo or the player base, I want him to be accessible whatever faction the player works for.

Since the new class system is almost complete, it's time to start thinking about the global AI and the capturing of cities. Since I first must add the Reloaded maps so that I don't have to do that after it's complete, I'll wait a bit until they're uploaded and I have a few willing testers. In the meantime I'll be working on improving the outsourced mod and I hope people will share what they would like to see in this next project. How should it work? What should militia cost? Should there be several levels of militia, like in JA2?

[Ninja2dan]

At what phase of the game, or CGL, does the player begin having militia available? If it's fairly early on, I think I'd like to see several "levels" of militia available. Something that allows you to pay a fee to upgrade them, with the max level depending on current CGL. The higher the militia level, the better equipment they are likely to have. And, if possible, the higher-level militia will also get a little better skill?

As for cost, I really don't know. It's been so long since I played the game last time, and I don't even really remember ever having used the militia for anything. They basically just sat at my base, which was never even attacked. Their fee should be equal to their quality and function though. If they make it a lot easier for the player to survive a battle, then they should be priced accordingly. Remember that the easier a battle, the less ammo is used, and the more loot can be picked up. So the easier the battle, the more profits.


With your suggestion about vehicle repo, what happens to any equipment in the trunk?

[R@S]

The equipment will be lost. But since the HLA guys made a user function that can store the ecuipment, I might be able to provide it later, if the player pays his debt.

As the banking system works now, if the player defaults on his loan, the bank account and all the money the player has will be set to 0, even if the player actually has the money to pay it back.

The militia, recruit, regular and elite, will have different stats depending on their level, if that's the way we'll go. And they'll have better equipment to, and all this will reflect in their cost. Maybe also add the possiblity to send them to capture towns, it's how the current system works. But it's still only in my head, and I'm not sure where this'll lead, that's why I'm asking for input.

[Ninja2dan]

In the vanilla game I did try capturing towns on my own, but nearly every time I would lose the town just minutes after I left it. And it didn't matter if I was working towards the Government side or the Rebels side, the towns would always revert back to someone else's ownership.

I'm wondering if you guys have been able to successfully capture and hold a town after leaving it, without having to place militia there. And what benefit does capturing a town actually have? This isn't Command & Conquer, towns don't provide additional income or resources, so I don't know what the purpose even is.


Knowing that about the banking system, I can't see myself ever using it. Knowing that even if I had $2m in cash, if I for some reason forgot to pay towards a loan for only $150k, I'd actually lose the full 2m instead. Not worth the risk. But what about people that owe $100k, and only have $25k in cash? If the loan defaults, they'll lose the $25k but their debt will be cleared back to $0?

The same goes for the auto repo. The player could have over $1m worth of items in the trunk, but if they are late on the payment they not only lose their car but also the entire stockpile of items inside it. Those just seem like overly-harsh punishments for being late on a payment for what ever reason.

I think I'd rather see something that is a form of punishment, but more along the lines of an annoyance and reminder to get their payment made. The idea of random encounters from "The Muscle" would work well for this. But instead of sending a group of well-armed thugs after the player's group, how about a larger force with low-tech weapons? This way the player can't exploit the encounters as a means to stockpile on weapons and ammo. Using more enemy will in theory overwhelm the player's group, and even if the player survives with minimal injuries the annoyance of these frequent battles might get them motivated to pay their bill. What do you think?

[Chortles]

R@S, your "Magpul Masada" actually makes me think of the Remington ACR (supposed military/LE version of what was the Masada, while Bushmaster is responsible for the horrendously overpriced civilian ACR), but with "MOAR RAILZ." I see the collapsible/side-folding stock and the side/bottom rails, and it looks like you're using the 10.5" barrel; only critique is that the 12 o'clock rail isn't full-length. So long as it's not a "redundant" gun with only aesthetic difference (I've already slotted it into the "rails-accessorized close-quarters carbine" role in my head), cool by me.

Please note that "levels of gear" are already accounted for with existing generic NPCs; just take a look at "BS_Soldier.inv" for example in the editor, where you have several different equipment sets across and within CGLs.

I should note though as a JA2 player, one rather "unbalancing" thing about v1.13 is that because your local support (and thus mine income) doesn't drop when you stall, there's no impetus or urgency in going aggressive against the Queen's holdings. Once I take Drassen's airport sector and the mine sector, I then proceed to hunker down for weeks on end to train militia and my mercs, the latter usually by importing mercs to act as trainers for high-LDR/high-WIS mercs who can then act as training cadres (both for other mercs and for militia). Eventually the outcome will outstrip my expenses, especially if I can get away with letting contracts expire on the higher-priced mercs; then take Alma (whose "gun range" sector gives a bonus to Marksmanship training to mercs training the skill there), and eventually it just grows to the point where I can afford the "luxury" of using Skyrider's $100-per-sector helicopter service as a regular ferry.

R@S, I'd still like to be able to do this in BSM, but just keep this anecdote in mind when designing the militia. (I should note that even with high LDR and the Extended Ear headset, the JA2 v1.13 militia AI was extremely inconsistent with following orders.)

I have to admit that I'm not a fan of the class system simply because of "forced specializing" but I'd be willing to try out whatever version you've got at the moment. At one point I had my Cameron carrying a suppressed SR-25, a M4 Super 90 (M1014), an M1A (or M14 "proper" variant), and a full-auto AR, mainly using "Aimed" mode, which should tell you something about where I'm coming from on this and what my preference is. (Though I recognize that the vanilla game does "force specialization" by its point allocation method of customizing each merc, on top of their basic traits.)

[R@S]

If you don't wanna play with the class system, I've added a turn on/off function in the outsourcedconfig.ini file. I'll do this for anything new I add that might be in conflict with realism.

I know that there are many people that dislikes anything that isn't based on realism, but most of the criticism I've gotten is from people that has never actually tried it, only read about the changes on a forum. A long time ago I made some changes on grenade damage and got a lot of flak for it, but once people had actually played a little with the new setting the criticism ceased. The lesson here is, never complain about something without having at least given it a shot (this isn't aimed at you Chortles, you just left the door open for me to get this off my chest)

When talking about the 3 levels of player guards, I was mostly meaning their attributes. But I will give them different gear, the recruits will have cheap stuff while the elites will have the expensive imported stuff.

The economy will be a big task to delve into, and I agree with you regarding JA2, I tend to do the same as you there. Luckily there are a lot of factors that will be part of it, and with a lot of work we might get it to work. There is of course always possible to trick any system, and since there's an "Easy Money" option in the game, one could easily bypass any system we make.

I had an idea last night before I fell asleep, that always happens to me.

As you might know, if one hires a merc you can tell him to wait for you, and if that place is a "Standard" sector he'll wait until his contract ends. It might be possible to add some dialog options to a waiting merc, like train militia. So if the player wants to train the existing militia, he'll have to recruit a merc for it and leave him in that town. We could then play with the merc salaries to tweak the economic system. I think this will be worth investigating.

[QuickDagger]

Hey R@S, how are you?!

I´ve been out for a while but, after noticing the down of Strategy First Forums I´ve found this 1C forum. And, it makes me feel happy to know you are still active.

Congratulations for the BSM mod, I´m already playing it and it´s great!

Keep it up!

In 2009 or 2008 I´ve found Van-d-all on Mount & Blade Forums and that´s all from the old guys.

Any news from afp?

I´ll be around.

Cheers!

[R@S]

Hey Quicky, glad you found this place and that you're enjoying our work. I remember you really investigated some aspects of 7.62 and made some interesting discoveries, do you have any new discoveries for us or are you just enjoying yourself playing?

I saw afp over at the ARMA2 forum, but that was half a year ago, and he was active over at sixthsense back then too, dunno his whereabouts now. But I guess he's up to his old tricks wherever he is

I still have sporadic contact with some of the old guys, and some of them have found their way here since SFI went down.

Laterz

[lucifer1306217]

First, I never said all "variants" were the same, nor do they perform the same. Aspects of a firearm such as barrel length, weight, lining, muzzle brake style, fittings, method of attachment, rifling twist, and even age/use can cause variants of the same style to differ in performance. Stocks, grips, mode of fire, and every functional component can also cause variances in performance data. What I'm talking about is when a weapon is a nearly 100% identical copy of another other than the name. Where every little part is interchangeable with the other. Where upon inspection, with markings removed, one person could not tell the difference between the two, then I really don't see the point in having them.

You are trying to compare an M4 with an M16, or an AK-47 with an AK-74? Those are completely different weapon systems, with different calibers, barrel lengths, or other major functional differences. There are no simple cosmetic differences between them.

If someone were to lead me to a table covered in different AK-47's, all fresh from the factory with identical handling and identical number of rounds put through them, but just made by a different factory, then nearly 99% of them will fire the same. Sure, different factories will have different tolerances that lead them to produce items that are slightly better or worse than the other, but their overall performance difference is going to be so slight that the average shooter will not be able to tell. I'm talking very minimal MOA changes, doesn't matter if it was made in Russia, China, Yugoslavia, or wherever.

[IceShade]

Uhh... Where did this come from?