[DFX] Comment request

[K-Sax]

Good afternoon all, as I'm well aware the DF community has become smaller, but I still enjoy map building immensely. I have a simple request, would any of you fine gents and ladies let me know what thier thoughts are about my recent map submission. I am looking for feedback on how I can make the next one even more appealing to the community. :-) all comments are welcome, cant get better without knowing what's wrong with them. So please let me know.

Maps link:
https://novahq.net/clicktracker.php?Item=Maps&ID=11795

[Baldo_the_Don]

If one of the subgoals is to eliminate all resistance, you have to make sure all the enemies are accounted for in the 'win subgoal' event. Also, if you have an event that kills or vaporizes enemies before the player can kill them all, then that subgoal can no longer be completed.

I think it's a good idea to keep in mind that AIs can see the player through trees that the player cannot see them through, so you should adjust enemy engagement ranges and accuracy so that the player isn't getting sniped to death through three-hundred meters of forest.

Personally, I hate getting wiped out by enemies that respawn right behind me. That's an immersion destroying cheap trick, and it puts me in an invidious position of having to decide to either camp out all the respawns (boring), attempt another route that's also riddled with respawners (and may not be possible), or quit the mission in frustration. Spawn them in different spot and redirect them to their post, preferably where the player can see them coming.

Those are the nits I had to pick. Otherwise, decent work, K.

[K-Sax]

Sweet. Thank you very much. I will work on those. I had a feeling the people were just a little out of control on the map. Next one I'll focus more on missions and less crazy shooting. ;-)

Thank you again for the feedback

[K-Sax]

It's me again! I've made another one and asking for some comments. I've attempted to take the advice above and hope it's on par now. If you get some time let me know. Comments are appreciated. On to the next one. :-)

https://novahq.net/clicktracker.php?Item=Maps&ID=11800

[Baldo_the_Don]

The thing is that I played your maps here in the DFWIQ mod. There are a few obvious item discrepancies to be accounted for, but altogether, I get a very clear picture of the stuff you're going for. Keeping in mind that the exact experience you're presenting is not what I'm having, after a quick BMS2MISsing, I can still make a few suggestions.

The grass coming up through the floor in the tents and buildings? Lay down tiles under them, tiles make the grass disappear. Want a helipad H tile to be on top of a concrete tile? Assign the H tile to a higher layer.

I start AIs with these values:
Accuracy 1: 45
Accuracy 2: 90
Fire Timer: 10 (Default)
Attack Distance: 999
Max. Engagement Distance: 99
Min. Engagement Distance: 9

The 45/90 accuracies I got from the later missions in DFBHD. That's what all the enemy AIs had. My impression is that when an AI attacks, they fire with accuracy 1 for 1 second, then switch to accuracy 2. That initial wild burst gives a player a margin in which to react. I don't know if AIs ever revert to accuracy 1 without an event or after a respawn.

The 10 second fire timer is probably high, but AIs constantly firing seems unrealistic in most situations.

What I like about the 999 attack distance is it's slightly more convenient to type than 1000. The effect of a long attack distance is that, sometimes, if you shoot at an AI from beyond their engagement distance and miss, they'll still return fire, despite not technically being able to see you. That can be exciting.

If an AI's max./min. engagement distances are equal, that AI will not approach a target from where it's attacking, or it will keep moving along its waypoint list while attacking. Sentries in towers, shooters inside buildings, and gunners on emplacements work better with equal engagement ranges.

Other'n that, I had a chance to try to figure out how to get AIs to occupy specific positions in the BH. I didn't want an unarmed pilot sitting in the door, I didn't want a guy with the SAW piloting or on the minigun, and after playing to the end of the mission, decided I wanted all the shooters on the right side of the BH. I went through some experiments and noticed that passengers and gunners will attach to points in numerical order, so by spacing out eight AIs, I got the pilot in first, the gunner in second, and with the four extra AIs I added and spaced out, got the SAW friendlies in the right side door in positions 6 and 8. With a new event redirecting the extra four AIs off the BH once everyone was in place, it worked like I wanted it to.

I also tweaked the M4 pickup to be standing on its buttstock on the top step of that shack, leaning on the door. Then I changed it to an AK47 and laid a revolver and a frag grenade next to it, and a stuck combat knife into the bannister. These are all seperate pick ups available in the DFWIQ mod.

But the only major changes I made to the mission itself was a Win Red event involving an area trigger that wasn't in the mission (possible DFWIQ incompatabilities) which triggered an instant loss, and minor tweaks on the BH speeds and waypoints (it kept nosing into the terrain). The Mil-26 insertion and landing seems solid.

I needed to change the loadout a little since the Barret isn't in the DFWIQ mod.

I set up health regeneration. I didn't find any med packs in the mission, but I did find eight NULL markers, two were sitting on tables in a tent, so those might have been health power ups. I think health regen is more expedient, though.

And I don't know how DFX handles destructibility, but nearly everything in the DFWIQ mod is destroyable, so I had to activate the Indestructble checkbox on almost everything. It's annoying 'cause, for instance, if you move to the position of a tent or cargo container you just destroyed, the visuals start glitching once you're 'inside' the destroyed thing.

All tolled, though, you made a sweet, solid little assassination mission, K! I think it's good work.

[K-Sax]

Thank you for the information on the people. I will definitely use this information in my next one. It's about 90% done, so I'll be back shortly. :-) next ones a little different then the first two, but the 4th I'm hoping will be my master piece. :-)