CO-OP Suggestion

[Sphee]

My suggestion to you is making a new CO-OP server (or a weekly event, which ever you choose works) which switches the teams, so for example on Muttrah City, the US side will have bots, and the MEC side will have players, same rules apply, Thanks.

[=VG= m823us]

We use to do things called opfor Fridays, where we would take the bot sides. However, people hated it after a few maps and would drop out since they didn't like the kits. 

I know @=VG= Melon Munchertried to spark interest via a poll and had a poor turnout from people responding. 

[Sphee]

Just now, =VG= m823us said:

We use to do things called opfor Fridays, where we would take the bot sides. However, people hated it after a few maps and would drop out since they didn't like the kits. 

I know @=VG= Melon Munchertried to spark interest via a poll and had a poor turnout from people responding. 

Was it the same exact idea?

[CptHawk]

yes.

TEDF also puts on events on new maps and layers every so often.

 

[Sphee]

Well the idea I'm proposing is much simpler, it only requires the bot ratio be set to 0 I believe for all bots to be on the US side, a new CO-OP server would be preferable so as to not interfere with the original CO-OP server

[CptHawk]

your proposal is exactly what opfor fridays was.... it was literately just a side swap, and m8 explained above why we dont run it anymore.

[Vanillapop]

I loved opfor fridays

[R-CON LangMaster]

Hm, i think many maps would need abit of changing? pavlosk, muttrah, masira, sarema, alot of maps has a transport from carrier, and bot never land trans.

[=VG= 0100011000101]

2 hours ago, LangMaster said:

Hm, i think many maps would need abit of changing? pavlosk, muttrah, masira, sarema, alot of maps has a transport from carrier, and bot never land trans.

 

4 hours ago, Sphee said:

Well the idea I'm proposing is much simpler, it only requires the bot ratio be set to 0 I believe for all bots to be on the US side, a new CO-OP server would be preferable so as to not interfere with the original CO-OP server

its not that easy... sure you can chosse maps like muttrah alt or maps that dont start at the water but you have also to change the spawnpoints and movment of the bots. another thing is that the bots have different vehicles. air assets dont need a warmup, they are autorearming without crates or helipads, bots dont need a crewman-kit...

so its not that easy. on the other hand you dont need another server for this because if you got templates and maps you can just restart the server and load another maplist. if im not mistaken.

if we have two servers for coop the mainproblem is that we divide the serverpopulation. and opfor with 12 player should be very hard.

and finally what m8 already said. Many players don't want to play 5 maps in a row without a scope and tend to feel stressed. opfor is similar to some nam maps such as ghost train you start with 35 players and at the end there are 16 left. and then you can only win via tickets, which takes three hours...

 

[=VG= XOR]

4 hours ago, LangMaster said:

Hm, i think many maps would need abit of changing? pavlosk, muttrah, masira, sarema, alot of maps has a transport from carrier, and bot never land trans.

The way it was done required every map be modified on every update, especially those maps with carrier starts,I believe, but it could actually be done without doing so, just a simple matter of inverting cappable flags, getting bot trans helis to drop passengers on flags (which they don't but is trivial to fix - change helis to type landing craft  & teleport bots to ground on heli ejection) & changing ticket count balance,number of assets and assets spawn times, which could all be done at runtime server side. Let me know if anyone's interested in the run time code, used to use it as part of a mutator with scripted spawn logic. on a now defunct server.

4 hours ago, =VG= Vanillapop said:

I loved opfor fridays

Most people who still play, myself included, did & do. Would be nice to have it back at some point.

[=VG= keed]

@Sphee Thanks for the suggestion! The second server idea was discussed a while back, but didn't go anywhere. I would also like to point out that maps in OPFOR mode are less stable, sometimes horribly unbalanced and do not uphold the standard players would expect from normal gameplay.

I want OPFOR mode because I get to play with different toys and fight on maps from a different direction.

What I think is a better implementation if we would be able to run opfor layers of maps, without having to set anything up server-side. For example Sbeneh STD and ALT. On STD you are MEC against Rebels, on ALT it is the other way around. The flags are different but it seems that both maps are equally popular and it can be very refreshing to switch to ALT after the usual plethora of US maps.

However I am no DEV and my free time is not being discussed here.

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

15 hours ago, Sphee said:

Well the idea I'm proposing is much simpler, it only requires the bot ratio be set to 0 I believe for all bots to be on the US side, a new CO-OP server would be preferable so as to not interfere with the original CO-OP server

It's quite a bit more involved and complicated than setting bot ratio, as noted by some of the replies above.  Maps for OPFOR COOP need to be changed on a per-map basis, and these changes are undone by PR Updates more often than not, requiring all that work to be redone each and every time.  We've never been fond of the idea of running a second PR COOP server, especially for OPFOR COOP only, because we don't like the idea of splitting up the already waning player base of PR COOP between multiple servers.  The idea has always been more of a public event day on the main VG PR COOP Server, and has been "OPFOR Fridays" in past.  If it returns, it would likely follow that same idea.

[Sphee]

Thank you for your replies, they give great details as to why this wouldn't work that well. I understand the issue here now, it would be a huge time waster after every PR update to redo all the changes made, which is very reasonable, OPFOR Fridays seems like a very interesting idea. with the right maps, I don't think it will require a lot of effort to revive it, perhaps have it as bi-weekly if players don't enjoy it every week, until then, thank you all very much, I appreciate your comments.

[KilRoy-]

My opinion guys, I'm not sure if it's possible. A coop server which can randomize sides. For instance Mutrah, we're US side then in the map cycle, Mutrah repeats where we will be MEC, in another cycle as insurgents etc.  

I think admins to do a proof of concept (POC) for the gamers to experience it and there will be a poll if they like it or not. Though it may entail a lot of admin intervention or server restarts and may not be possible to automate.  It's like randomizing a playlist, you can't predict the next song.

If the randomize side is feasible to be coded by the devs, with a config which the admin can switch on or off, or a script to execute by the server admin to enable or disable the mod.

Cheers.

[KilRoy-]

Hi,

Another suggestion is to make the bots operate as a squad and not doing lone wolf.  There was a bot mod in the BF2 days that accomplished this, I can't remember the mod.

Another suggestion, is if it's possible for the bots to have various skills, one bot is what we currently have, stupid but sharp shooters and another skill is more human like behavior, like the bots using cover to their advantage (not running around) and yet still aggressive. This somehow simulate deployment but with more fun. The problem in deployment servers is the waiting, humans tend to stay and hide, their leaders do not initiate a full force attack or counter-attack, human players in deployment though tactical, tend to be more on protecting themselves rather than a full scale/all out approach towards the enemy. Deployment simulates  real life modern combat however is not fast pace and not as fun as in coop.

If we can have the above bot behaviors, it will be more interesting right? If you've played before the half life counter strike coop, their bots have the behaviors that I suggested.

Cheers.

[=VG= XOR]

@KilRoy- as far fetched as perhaps even you might think some of your suggestions are, it's all actually in some shape or form possible server side, but just takes a lot of testing at most, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY is a breach of server license, so you're unlikely to ever see any of  that happen.

https://www.realitymod.com/forum/licenseapp.php

[Sphee]

10 hours ago, KilRoy- said:

My opinion guys, I'm not sure if it's possible. A coop server which can randomize sides. For instance Mutrah, we're US side then in the map cycle, Mutrah repeats where we will be MEC, in another cycle as insurgents etc.  

I think admins to do a proof of concept (POC) for the gamers to experience it and there will be a poll if they like it or not. Though it may entail a lot of admin intervention or server restarts and may not be possible to automate.  It's like randomizing a playlist, you can't predict the next song.

If the randomize side is feasible to be coded by the devs, with a config which the admin can switch on or off, or a script to execute by the server admin to enable or disable the mod.

Cheers.

If this IS possible, it wouldn't be a good idea. If a single map has 4 versions of it, Std, Alt, Inf and Lrg, then it will be as if the whole server is playing that map for the entire day, which will make players bored overtime. I like the concept, but it needs to be thought very well through.