[Kyle]

R@S,

Don't let an ounce of stress form on your brow over not being able to supply me with the default textures. You're plate is already substantially full. But if you happen to be able to get it to a state that you're happy with, don't hesitate to reach me.

That said, let me see if I can convince you to add even more to your plate! Yes indeed, I'm a generous guy, aren't I?

Once the shipment arrives it can be picked up at your local bartender, but that might be changed to a centralized point to at least give it something negative.

I'm not keen on the idea of having the equipment orders shipped to just one centralized point. It's just seems too "gamey" to me.

But you could come up with a semi-viable back story that takes away the sense of it being "gamey." Perhaps that the region is such an unstable cauldron that arms restrictions are exceptionally tight, and that the deepest penetration that the suppliers can get "highly specialized" orders in is to one port, which is a neutral location, and one that is, sadly, routinely patrolled by potential combatants from every faction, some of whom are plain clothes agents with sly eyes and twitchy fingers... Man, I like the sounds of that! Alright, so it might work and not feel gamey... Another way to jab the Player in the eye for making special orders is that the order is randomly placed at the location, forcing him to have to sneak and skulk about checking out one shipping container and crate after another in the hopes that he finds his order sooner than later... Yeah, the more I talk, the more I like listening to myself! Imagine that! My wife wouldn't be surprised at all.


Another structure that you could establish seems a good deal more plausible to me than the above, and that's whenever an order arrives, there's a 15% chance of enemy plain clothes agents patrolling the area, as well as a 25% chance of enemy bounty hunters/mercs being entrenched in a sweet ambush position or two (randomly determined, of course!). These enemies would be "active" immediately upon the Player's spawning into the city/town. The items would ship to whatever locale one ordered them from, whether it be from a bar or a black market dealer. One could up the believability factor by reducing the odds of an ambush by 5-10% by ordering one's weapons through the black market, but as I mentioned before, this is a premium means of purchasing the products. Who knows, maybe the Player could be allowed the option of paying extra just to reduce the odds of his shipment being detected and used as a trap against him and his squadmates.

If you want to get really nasty with the "detected shipment" you could also include a 50% chance that by the time the Player gets there, the weapons have been removed from the area and taken to another city/town! Ohhhhh man, that would suck! By searching the corpses, the Player would find out where the location was, but would have to infiltrate the unfriendly area and search the trucks/crates/cargo containers in which his shipment was randomly placed.

I wouldn't place it too far way, at most, perhaps 1-3 locations away from the original delivery point. Again, randomly determined (the further away the shipment's been redirected to, the more time the enemy had in securing it before the Player arrived).

What I also like about the "detectable shipment" scenario is that it really increases the level of uncertainty. Suspense, even without direct action, can really get the adrenaline pumping in a good way.

Which causes me to wonder: is it possible to have plain clothes agents on a map without having their weapons already in hand? Talk about an immediate attention getter! It would be neat if the AI of undercover agents could be written so that they don't take immediate action for 3-7 minutes, using that time to get into position to do a sudden attack from the rear.

All of the above could also be balanced out by adjusting the likelihood of detection based on the Player's level and just how hated he is by opposing parties. The more of a thorn he is, and the more effective he becomes, the more resources are devoted to ambushing him where it's likely he's going to be, such as picking up a shipment of equipment. I would probably cap the maximum level of detectability at 45-50%, because, once again, ambiguity is exciting too.






It's hard for me to not imagine that with the new rank-based AI that you're working on that morale wouldn't be affected by whomever is killed. That exists in the title to a limited degree already, doesn't it? It sure seems like it to me, and makes perfect sense. If that could be increased even more, then more power to you. I also think that it's a good idea to include the target's rank in its dog tags. Yes, it's more believable to have to zoom in to search for the rank on the epaulets, but it's also a chore (like having to manually mix up one's ammo for magazines, but I'm not a stubborn bugger so I won't say another word about how annoying and time consuming such "features" are), so, to speed up gameplay and increase the "fun" factor, presenting a more simplified solution seems perfectly fine to me.


Having contributed to many mods over the years, I genuinely sympathize with badly wanting cool features that another modding team is working on, but I also totally understand why they'd want said features to appear in their own creation first. It's a matter of pride, and, of course, creator's choice. If there were a more formal "merging" of the two mods into one enormous supermod, then I'd expect the sharing to be more open, but then the circumstances are very different from what they are now.


I have a feeling that if the producers of Back in Action don't make some substantial allowances for deep modding, that a good deal of those frustrated players will be much more willing to finally come 7.62's way. It's been AGES since a title has adequately come close to inheriting Jagged Alliance 2's mantle, and the community rightfully devoted to that title are quite reasonably frustrated.

Turn play or not, there's nothing like 7.62+BSM's gunplay. And I routinely sing its praises wherever I go. If BiA ends up being another nosedive into the ground for this genre, then I'm completely confident that 7.62's and BSM's numbers will grow. And deservedly so.

The work is terrific, and deserves praise, even if due to engine limitations, it'll always be a "diamond in the rough."



Before I forget, R@S, could you alter the main BSM screen so that it also displays the current version number? Yes, I know that one could check the Read Me, but I'm a "proactively" minded kind of guy, and its display would certainly eliminate any future confusion about what version a person is/isn't playing.

Also, I advise including a Read Me in the very first compressed file with a brief description of how to install the mod (I'd just include the text from the very first post). This is in case anyone passes the files along to anyone else who isn't acquainted with this thread, and also in case it's ever offered up for download through another site.



Have a Great Weekend, All !