Topic: Convoy Raid mission

[FPF-SCM_TraceyG_XC]

Its ready, works in single player but needs testing in a campaign. This mission is written totally from scratch and has no code at all from the Taldren Convoy Raid mission.

It draftes 2v2, contains 4 freighters (currently) and 1 Q-ship. To win the mission you must destroy or capture the majority of the freighters (ie more than 50%, so currently that is 3 out of 4 freighters). Since this is a convoy raid, it does not remove AI ships if an enemy human opponent is present (which would be silly in a convoy raid).

It allocates bonus prestige according to Starfleet Battles rule S2.0 Victory Conditions, Commander's Edition (I don't have later editions).

It uses all 27 different map terrain types that can be placed into a D2 map (some of which are quite treachorous, more on this later). It also uses a large map.

It awards medals for PvP combat as well.

Originally I had the attacking team warping into the system at the start of the mission, however DieHard proclaimed he would not use such a mission in a campaign, so I removed that aspect.

If anyone would like to test this mission, please feel free to do so. I may make various minor changes to it, however, by and large it is mostly complete and ready to go at this stage. Anything else I do to it will be largely cosmetic or simple things like adjusting the start positions, maybe change the number of freighters (or possibly make the number random) etc etc for game balance. All of which, of course, requires feedback from players.

For now, you can grab this mission from me on MSN, or PM and I'll email it to you, along with a single player campaign mct file. If someone would be kind enough to set up a test server, that would be much appreciated. 

[Dizzy]

wtg, tracey! I'd love to use your mission on SG4! Sounds like a cool mission!

Q. Does the AI use era specific drones?

Q. Will the Rom AI cloak?

Q. What does the freighter spread look like and do they travel in the same direction and at what speed?

Thx.

[FPF-SCM_TraceyG_XC]

wtg, tracey! I'd love to use your mission on SG4! Sounds like a cool mission!

Thanks, and by all means.

Q. Does the AI use era specific drones?

Yes.

Q. Will the Rom AI cloak?

As far as I know it should. Has this been a problem in other missions?

Q. What does the freighter spread look like and do they travel in the same direction and at what speed?

They are roughly supposed to start in single file, with a maximum speed of 12 and all moving towards the border together. I had this at speed 15 initially but the freighters escaped too easily. If in playtesting this speed is too slow or two fast etc. it can be changed easily. If you want the freighters splitting up and heading off in different directions, well, DieHard tried out the mission and found that it was a bit of a race to stop all the freighters anyway, so having them head off in different directions might be a bit much. But try it out first and then offer feedback.

[Dizzy]

afaict, the last batch of servers never saw the AI cloak. That actually helps the Rom player when his AI stays visible. Mb it's the latest patch?

[FPF-SCM_TraceyG_XC]

It could depend on the difficulty setting too, on the lowest setting, the AI wont use ECM or shuttles, although this can be manually changed from within a mission script. I'll make sure all the AICloakOfficers are set to on, that should fix it.

[KAT Chuut-Ritt]

I got em hosted for you Tracey 


http://www.boomspeed.com/chuutritt/Missions/Met_TGConvoyRaid.scr

http://www.boomspeed.com/chuutritt/Missions/01MissionTesting.mct

[FPF-SCM_TraceyG_XC]

Thanks heaps Chuut! 

[Bonk]

Thanks Tracey!    I'm looking at tossing it into the SFB-OP missions with your others, but will it come up any more often when used with NW and EEK missions? (as it is the SFB-OP missions are 10% Tracey's but you'll only see them about 0.1% of the time - one sighting in the last server, with up to five missions choices offered each move)

P.S. Chuut - best to zip the scr for distribution - this way everyone gets the same copy of the file. Unarchived, every downloaded copy will have a different date and may not pass CRC checking.

[FPF-SCM_TraceyG_XC]

At the moment I set the fWait variable to 5, this means it won't come up very often. So in the mix with all the other missions, it may not come at all. If this is the case, I can recompile it with a different setting, however, too many missions with too high a setting causes problems, because you then you get missions appearing where you dont want them... eg. patrol missions when you want a planet assault. I usually only use the higher settings for planet and base assaults.

[FireSoul]

You should put the warp-in back in, as long as it goes towards the intended start point. that travel should not affect the mission and would make it an even more unique D2 mission right there.

[KAT Chuut-Ritt]

My hosting service doesn't accept .zip files Bonk.

[Bonk]

Ok try it now it is Zipped.

Says forbidden! oooh!  I gotta have it now!

[Bonk]

You should put the warp-in back in, as long as it goes towards the intended start point. that travel should not affect the mission and would make it an even more unique D2 mission right there.

I agree. The starting point is the same thing. The warp-in to it would be a neat effect.

[Bonk]

At the moment I set the fWait variable to 5, this means it won't come up very often. So in the mix with all the other missions, it may not come at all. If this is the case, I can recompile it with a different setting, however, too many missions with too high a setting causes problems, because you then you get missions appearing where you dont want them... eg. patrol missions when you want a planet assault. I usually only use the higher settings for planet and base assaults.

Roger, I'll toss it in anyway. I'm not getting base missions etc. where not desired (using stock missions matching settings - almost). Everything is coming up where it should. I am getting some patrols offered on planets as I'm offering five missions (intended). Your missions are very rare though. Maybe you could compile a seperate copy with fWait variable to 3 or 2 for me to test this with? (only if its not a bother and might be helpful..)

[KAT Chuut-Ritt]

.ZIP files dont work but should be ok for single player testing downloaded unzipped I believe Bonk.

back to non zipped link.

[Bonk]

.ZIP files dont work but should be ok for single player testing downloaded unzipped I believe Bonk.

back to non zipped link.

Some hosts can be a bugger, oh well, thanks for trying. (will still work fine as scr for now, for single player or further redistribution)

[FPF-SCM_TraceyG_XC]

Bonk, if you want a recompiled version with a different fWait setting, it only takes 2 seconds 

[Bonk]

Bonk, if you want a recompiled version with a different fWait setting, it only takes 2 seconds 

That would be so cool! Just mail me the test copy if its not a bother. Any chance you could try it on your other 12 missions for me to test if this one works out ok? (only 24 more seconds... lol)

[FPF-SCM_TraceyG_XC]

The other mission I wrote nearly two years ago now, I lost all the source code too about a year ago, hence starting from scratch again. The experience of making those missions came in handy, however, since I was aware of a few bugs in the previous missions and was able to correct for them in writing new ones from scratch (which is much easier). So, eventually I will get around to writing new versions of those patrol missions as well 

[Bonk]

Oh right, I had forgotten about that. I had a feeling you might not have the source for those anymore. Oh well, the single mission to test would still be a bonus. Great to hear you're looking at rewriting the old ones too!