Vulim Empire Coup (Full Version)

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Ghstbear -> Vulim Empire Coup (2/21/2010 2:49:12 PM)

I have finally finished a campaign I have been working on for around a year. It has been tested at least three times by myself and a friend. It is designed to handle a brand new squad, or an experienced one. The story line is for a new squad, however. I started one off with three green pilots and by the end had six on the squad with an average of regular. Enjoy, and feel free to post discussions of it here.



LarkinVB -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (2/21/2010 3:40:04 PM)

Great news ! The included doc file is asking for a password though.



Ghstbear -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (2/21/2010 7:09:53 PM)

Yes, yes. Not to be read until mission 12. It wouldn't make much sense before that.



drgrieve4 -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (7/17/2010 2:03:21 PM)

Hi GhstBear

Have been playing the campaign. Congrats on providing such different objectives and twists it has been a blast.

[Spoiler alert]




























Playing the mission where you need to find the General in the city. I have destroyed the first squad, but when I find the general I got a message saying he can't move or talk and then I'm hit by extreme number of enemies. I can take some of them out but I'm sure it is not meant to be possible. Am I doing something wrong?





Ghstbear -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (7/19/2010 10:24:58 PM)

Yes. They have his titan restrained. There is still somewhere you're not visiting. Do you want me to give you more? That mission is definitely a detective episode! I did have someone other than myself complete it, but it can be frustrating!



Ghstbear -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (11/12/2010 3:52:44 PM)

Did you ever complete this mission? or the campaign?
Some of the best parts (IMO) came after this mission.



LordSteel -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (11/18/2010 9:26:57 PM)

I just downloaded but probably won't play it for a couple weeks until I have more time.  (I also want my poor 6-man team to expand to 7 or 8 first.)



Ghstbear -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (11/19/2010 12:39:07 AM)

Relax, it was made for starting teams. In the beginning things are real easy. You'll get more pilots as time goes on.



LordSteel -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (11/24/2010 7:19:18 PM)

I made another group of pilots to run this campaign. Probably start it on Thanksgiving while my wife cooks up the turkey. [:D] I'll post feedback after I've run through a few missions.



LordSteel -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (11/26/2010 5:47:16 AM)

Ok. Now I feel like a noob.

I can't figure out how to launch the campgain. I don't seem to have an option for it in my battle module...

so. can anyone give me some pointers? [&:]



LordSteel -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (11/26/2010 5:48:51 AM)

oh nevermind. I figured it out. GEEZ. [8|]



LordSteel -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (11/26/2010 4:02:02 PM)

Well, I didn't finish the first mission yet.  Since I had elminiated all TOS designs but my 3025 Inner Sphere Battlemechs, those were the designs that I faced in the mission.  Unfortunately, those mechs have HUGE engines to bring them to the proper weight ratios for each design (inefficient, but that's 3025 for ya).  Anyway, a chain of THREE, yes-three, engine explosions wiped out 3 of my 4 mechs, killing one pilot.

I may have to re-think my own mech designs somewhat, as going all cc brings me too close to these explody-mechs.

I like what I see so far.



Ghstbear -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (11/27/2010 1:23:19 AM)

You can selectively choose which titans the computer picks for battles by marking them private or public in the factory. You don't have to delete them all. [X(]
Maybe you need all of them sent to you. Even if you choose to battle the Inner Sphere (ahh that's bringing it back!) all the time, you may want to use some of the premade titans from ToS. Some of them are pretty good ideas. It does save time.



LordSteel -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (11/29/2010 8:02:36 PM)

Hey, Ghstbear.  I know that I don't really know you but I'd like to ask a favor.  Could you post the first map of this campaign without a password?  I'd like to see how you worked the timing and the entry of titans into the mission.  (For example, whether the mission just sends in titans based on the player's total weight or if you specified quantities and weight types to come in on various vectors.)

If you like, you could just email to me at Bryan.Beck@unisys.com.  Thanks!

Oh, I eliminated the TOS model mechs to make it easier for me to compare various designs in the Headquarters.  I can just use T-merge to stick them back in, I'm sure. (But yes, I make all my own designs private so I don't have to fight anything with GMs. [:'(] Those poor 3025 mechs....)



LordSteel -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (12/1/2010 4:05:21 PM)

Well, I played the first mission again with my experienced group. The number and/or weight of the opposing forces is definitely impacted by what you bring into the mission.

IIRC, I faced:

First Wave: Wolverine(110T), Jenner(70T), Spider(60T), Centurion(100T), Rifleman(120T)

Second Wave: Stinger(40T), Commando(50T), Warhammer(140T), Phoenix Hawk(110T), Battlemaster(170T), Oscout(70T)

It was a blast. I got low on ammo toward the end (generally I use limited ammo levels because I only face my own tonnage) because there were more targets than my typical quick-combat solo games. Escorts helped with the first group, causing the Spider's engine to blow (which kept the Jenner down and severly damaging the Wolverine and Centurion).

I'm not sure I'll play this campaign again with my experienced group (none of whom have died). I got nervous when I saw both the Warhammer AND Battlemaster emerging from the forest with the 2nd group. Fortunately, their skills seemed low, so I didn't take severe damage.

I should finish the remaining 3025 mechs this weekend and will post them afterwards.



Ghstbear -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (12/3/2010 2:24:38 AM)

There are massive amounts of spoilers in this post - beware!

I really would not feel comfortable giving away the missions like that. Maybe if you complete the whole thing. [:'(]
I can tell you the information you were looking for:

First you have 8 titans on your team that are assaults. The type of titans each pilot has will matter later in the campaign. (I guess you already know that you only do each mission in a campaign once. That team is now ready for the next mission.)

That being said, if you take your total titan size and multiply it by 600% that is the size of the opposing titans. I am curious how big your team was. I did make this mission with the beginning squad in mind. That means about 120-150 tons perhaps. The opposing team will come with 900 tons then. Remember that you have help of 1600 tons. A larger team will have a little more trouble. The biggest key, though, is to let the big guns take on the first force. (They don't seem to care too much about saving you anyway, do they? There's no sense in helping someone who doesn't help you.) That leaves your force to attack the second force. That team appears at 600 seconds into the fight.

All enemies are completely random. They come in at opposite vectors. Their jocks skills just mimic yours.

If you win I give you 50 development points. I don't do that too often. I feel you need it to get ready for the future missions. It good everyone survived. Keep up the good work!



LordSteel -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (12/3/2010 3:43:20 PM)

I understand you don't want to give away a mission that you built yourself. I guess I'll just have to goof around more with the mission editor to figure out how to make my own (I'm looking to replicate some of the Gray Death Legion missions from the novels but allowing the player to assist the Legion using ToS hardware.)

I started the second mission last night with the beginning team. I nearly gasped when I saw the type/quantity of titans you threw in there. And THEY weren't 3025 mechs! Fortunately, you also did something to those titans (I won't say, so no spoilers) which greatly helped - but it did cause me several seconds of consternation as I considered what my 3 recon and 1 medium titan could do against a force like that. [8D]


So far, I must say that I'm finding the campaign pretty fun - yes, I know I've hardly scratched the surface. How long did you spend building the entire campaign?

[Edit]

Size of my advanced group: 6 pilots, probably around 570 tons, maybe more. I don't think that 600% was the multiplier - that seems a bit high. Anyway, I think I can see how you arranged the random mechs into the fight. And then you had specific mechs in mission 2.

For LarkinVB - your map editor must be AWESOME to allow such flexibility in mission construction. I keep on getting more and more impressed.



Ghstbear -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (12/3/2010 11:30:56 PM)

It took a whole year for all 14 missions. The more dazzling special effects are yet to come. I didn't make the missions to be about meathead blasting away. Sometimes you must think about what is happening, and how to solve it. For instance, that mission was easy - too easy. Definitely a setup. So don't miss dialogues. Later you will see more than one mission as your possible next one. This makes a sort of choose your own adventure. That means you have to understand the storyline.

It is good to go through someone else's campaign at least once to get an idea how to make one. Think about what you like, and what you don't. Map creation is a language with it's limits like any other (programming) language. When you see someone else 'speak' within those limits it helps you to learn.

I guess the reason I don't feel comfortable is that I think one must work for it, then they appreciate it more.



LordSteel -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (12/5/2010 11:37:13 PM)

I understand (being a computer programmer myself).

I'm definitely willing to go through the campaign before being able to view any source maps (if you do decide to give me a peek). I was just very curious about what the map editor will allow, for example:

Will it allow limit on player mech sizes, weights?
Will it allow player to face a much larger (or smaller) mech force with specified pilot rankings? (I think I already know the answer here)
Will it allow specific titan designs to be used or are they always random? (Again, I think I know the answer now)

Anyway, I'll keep plugging away at the campaign as time allows. I do read the briefings, debriefings and ingame dialog (which is what gave me hope in mission 2). You've obviously put plenty of thought into this and I do like your idea of branching missions.

(BTW, take a look at my posted 3025 conversions - might be fun to toy around with.) <-- shameless plug [:D]



jureidinim -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (12/6/2010 11:46:24 AM)

Hi LordSteel,
Ghstbear can confirm this as he is still more active with the editor - I haven't made campaign/missions in awhile - but just to help you with your questions:
- No limit made on squad size. However, you can (i am foggy on this but i know it can be done) set opposing teams titans such that it scales a bit to the player's team. I believe its the "mandatory" setting on the titan. example, set up six titans on opposing team, leave 3 on mandatoiry and 3 off. The 3 "on" will always show up, but the others will only appear if it needs to match the players team tonnage when the game starts. It will even distribute the difference in tonnage.
- You can set parameters on force size as compared to player team (just like u can in  a hotseat skirmish game)
- Specific titans can be selected for the opposing team or u just leave it to weight class, or range type. There are other filters that can be used for the computer to select a random titan

for your original question, i haven't played this campaign so i'm not sure what timings you are referring to, but the editor does allow you to set up engagments different ways with opposing titans. For example;
- You can set a time (turn number) they appear. This can be specific or within a range (so it changes every game)
- You can set triggers - say on a hex if your titan enters a specified set of hexes
- You can set some behaviours of the enemy titans - say put on patrol but set them to only engage if they get hit, or if they spot you
- you can set a titan on map with a huge start time (say 999 turns) then use a CALL event when something happens to release this tian. this makes that titan somewhat unpredictable as it is only revelaed if that trigger occurred.

As an example - i had done the following in one of my campaign missions (Hold Out):
- your team was to act as a spotter for a bombing run on an enemy facility
- i set the target hex(es) (from where your team would "spot" the base) as triggers to call a enemy titan i had hidden in a corner of the map behind mountains so he couldnt be attacked/seen and it was trapped except for 3 hesxes.
- that hidden mech had a simple move route from point A to B (covering those three hexes).
- On the third (final) hex, i set a trigger to cause an explosion (damage set in editor) on the hex with the enemy base.
So the player fights/sneaks his way to the target hex, and get some text showing them calling in the air strike. The trigger releases (calls) the hidden mech which starts moving. Once it reaches the final hex, the explosion is triggered and the player now gets the message to leave the area. Since i could set the specific titan i wanted as the hidden one, i knew its speed and so how may turns it would take to cover the three hexes. That allowed me to be specific in the text to the player as to the ETA of the bombers. 

Hope that helps :-)



Ghstbear -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (12/9/2010 4:36:51 AM)

Jureidinim said it well, and is a good campaign writer. [&o] I have done his Rebel Hunters campaign. The last two missions were my favorite from that one. The others were a little easy. I know he made another one recently that I must try out. I have to test out my friends first: Tit for tat.

Basically, to sum up: A player is allowed to have or bring any number of titans they want officially. They can be any size they want, and any skill. On a few missions I requested less - and enforced it. You'll have to jog my memory if and when you get there as to how I did it.

I tried to reward for having a variety, instead of just the big boyz. [:)]

You can set their opposition to vary according to their weight - which is more satisfying to them. This way will only allow guidelines in selection of titans by the computer.

Or you can set specific titans. This will allow for specifics in the storyline, but it is harder to program for everyone. In this campaign you will be able to tell which of your enemy is locked because they will be titans from ToS, and not the Battletech mechs you are running.

These same principles apply to skill set as well.

At maximum, it is conceivable to send a person against 16 enemy titans, and lock them in at assault. That would be worst case scenario. You can do this by having four teams, and destroying all of the player's allies. The player is stuck in this case because they are limited to just one team, even if it is assault. The point I come away from this with is: why bother? If you want to destroy someone's team you can go ahead and set booby traps. Then they learn not to play your missions. [:D] I would much rather keep it real. Always give them just barely what they can handle. Then when they win they feel "Wow! That was close! That was great!" If you're going to set traps the best thing to do is give them clue to avoid them, or solve them.



LordSteel -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (12/9/2010 4:57:33 PM)

It's all good. My finals will be over next Monday, and then I'll have a bit more time to play the missions. I'll post more comments once I complete a few more.



jureidinim -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (12/10/2010 3:50:07 PM)

@GhstBear-Would love to hear your feedback on the last campaign I did as that was the first time i tried a branching campaign. [:D]  

Good Squad based games are rare and usually needs mods to be decent. This game is a true gem in that department and does draw me back time and again - I am getting the itch to play again so I think your campaign here (Vulim Empire coup) will be a good entry point for my new squad [8D]

@LordSteel - Feel free to ask more questions - the more mission/campaigns created the better for us all.  [:)]



Megrez -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (7/15/2011 3:12:03 PM)

Hi Ghstbear,

I'm trying your campaign but I'm stuck on mission 7. After 4 or 5 messages appearing at the beginning of the mission (and related to the main plot of the campaign), the game interface crashes without letting me doing anything: have you got an updated version of the file related to that mission?

Megrez



Ghstbear -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (7/16/2011 4:20:30 AM)

Wow. I tested it again just to be sure, but it does work on mine. What version are you using? What second does it freeze on? How many pilots are active in the mission? A friend and I tested each mission many times to assure that it was completely sound. Perhaps you hit upon a situation that I never came up with. If that's the case, I can modify it and send it to you. We may have to start it as mission one, because I have found before that once I change a mission, it forgets that my team was already well along in the campaign. I know you went through a lot of work to get there!

Let me know, and we will see what we can do. I hope you have enjoyed it thus far. Have you had to take notes? It's quite a complex story. It's been a while since I have done anything with this.

Dear Larkin,
Do you have any insight on this? This mission uses a special setup where the player does not appear until about 13 seconds into the mission. Perhaps if he doesn't have enough pilots it has a problem quoting a name. I must wait on more info.



LarkinVB -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (7/16/2011 10:29:00 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Ghstbear

Dear Larkin,
Do you have any insight on this? This mission uses a special setup where the player does not appear until about 13 seconds into the mission. Perhaps if he doesn't have enough pilots it has a problem quoting a name. I must wait on more info.


The problem is in the code when player squads will arrive later during a mission. I think I fixed it and reuploaded 1.2.2



Megrez -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (7/18/2011 12:17:40 AM)

@ Ghstbear:
tnx for replying...
well... I'm actually using version 1.22. I've got a standard full squad (8 jocks) on mission 7.
My team is quite normal, apart the fact that I use two titans (SUPERNOVA and TORTUGAND) that I won during previous missions and which are not on official factory database, plus a personal titan-desing (the BERKUT). Anyway I don't think that's the problem 'cause I used these titans also during the previous 6 missions [&:]
I'm trying to attach a zipped archive with screenshots of messages I can see on the screen before the game crashes.

@ Larkin:
What should I do? Should I retire my squad from the mission and restart the mission after installing the new version you uploaded?



LarkinVB -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (7/18/2011 6:59:15 AM)

Install v1.2.2 again and you should be able to continue the mission with the autosave. If you don't have an autosave, you have to retire the squad and restart the mission. 



Megrez -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (7/24/2011 5:58:48 PM)

Dear Larkin,

The revised v1.2.2 solved my problem with the game: I was able to play mission 7.
To say the truth, It took me more time to solve the crash-thingy than it took me to play the mission itself.
A the beginning of the mission, my group spawned near the location where Gen. Trachino (if I remember well his name) was placed with his group, and I could easily sweep his titan away from the battle.
My leader didn't participate to the battle ('cause the battle itself lasted only few seconds) and was counted as "retired" [&:] at the end of the skirmish.
Anyway that was not a great problem...
I played mission 8 (...a mission with a funny particular ending), and now I'm trying mission 9 (hopefully I chose the right one...).

Meg



LarkinVB -> RE: Vulim Empire Coup (7/24/2011 7:23:43 PM)

I made a quick test and the first jock of my squad was marked as reserve as it will only appear in second 62 instead 12. No idea wether this was intended by Ghstbear.





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