The Blue Sun Mod

[R@S]

@Veilrider
I'll see if Geroj feels up for it and if he can take some time away from his studies, I'd like to add the PO 3.5 x 21 scope as well. As for the EOTech with HK mount I'll ask cyr_v if we can use his, he's the one that made such things for HLA.

@Kyle
Thanks for your concern, I'm starting to feel better today so I think the worst is over.
The reason the class and level up system is turned off by default is weird and would take too long to explain. But in the 2.0 version it will be turned on as default again. It is actually a very popular system, at least for those who has actually tried it. And now it seems like BiA will have a similar system, but not as advanced by the looks of it.

@Headshot
Paquito is somewhere in the sector you left him, so look around a bit more. Start by checking near the entry points. All three mini-campaigns share this quirk, any companion will stay in a random location in the sector you left them(started campaign). If you can't find them, exit the sector, travel a bit and then return, if you are lucky they might be in a spot where they are easier to find.

@Loss Leader
There might be mortars in the future, I think one of our Russian friends are working on it. But it's a very complex thing to add, so it's not possible to say if it will done. I might look into it as well, when I have some spare time, but then it would be moar of a tweak solution than a good one.

[Kyle]

I'm happy to hear that you "turned the corner" and are finally starting to feel better. Being sick SUCKS. The only upside to it is the joy one feels as one's body finally starts kicking the illness' butt.

I'm happy to hear that your class based system is popular with those that have tried it. The extra degree of control is nice to have, and allows more influence on the tactics that are exercised out on the field.

I'm not surprised that what's been cooked up for BSM is more robust than what's been done for Back in Action, especially after the announcement that there won't be any fog of war in the game.

Such a design decision to me is just stupefying. Listen to any veteran, or read any firsthand account of a veteran's recollection of combat, and the majority of their experiences is tied to the great threat of the fog of war. It's what causes terror in the hearts of all the combatants, no matter which side of the conflict they're on. A person's willingness to step into The Great Unknown is what courage is all about. Hopefully it's courage mated with intelligent choices, and a good deal of plain Luck as well.

Last night, I had my squad attack the base that holds the documents that Lond wants. I headed straight to the nearest warehouse, closed the doors behind us, and assigned three men to the two front doors and Kelly to the single rear one. Would I have liked to have her firepower devoted to another one of the front doors? You bet. But not knowing exactly where the enemy were outside meant that I had to deal with the economics that I had, so the opportunity cost of covering our backs was the loss of badly needed firepower to the front.

BiA's system is going to make all of that critical thinking, all of that suspense, just nonexistent!

The only way that I'll ever purchase that title is that if they release modding utilities robust enough to do away with the badly misdirected game mechanics. I could care less about how awesome the graphics are. Really.

I have to say though, that at the rate that the PC gaming producers are insisting on including heavy-handed "punish the consumer" DRM, limited installations, and the like, the more that I'm choked out from buying products I'm interested in. Last night, Crysis Maximum Edition was for sale on Amazon.com for just $2.99, but there's no way I'm ever going to install it on my system with the crap that comes with it. If BiA has SecuROM, or any other invasive ware on it, I won't be getting it no matter how awesome it is.


I'm happy that an attempt's going to be made at getting more Russian optics into the game. Let's hope that it works out.


In regards to the mortars, one of the things that I like most about 7.62 is its strict focus on infantry vs. infantry parameters. I would prefer to have lightly armed and armored vehicles to make an appearance before mortars, but I think that getting operable vehicles that can be crewed is more than likely a massive endeavor, so I've never even mentioned it before till now. If mortars can be made a reality, then great, if not, then great too.


I hope that by the time you read this that you're all better!

[ZK2112]

Thanks R@s. I'll be keeping my eyes open for the next BSM version.

JA:BIA huh? I've just had a feeling from the day it was announced it was going to be bad. I don't have much faith in bitComposer, big difference between JA and Zoo Tycoon And when they pulled that "give us your opinions on turn based combat" crap I lost what little interest I had.

[IceShade]

Playing JA2 gives me ideas as well.

Is it possible to give magazine counters different colours, based on their contents? (AP ammo red, HP blue, etc). And is it possible to obscure these counters when in combat?

[R@S]

Sorry, I can't do anything regarding the text displayed for the ammo count without that part of the source code, which isn't available. But I have thought about adding color coding for the clips, leaving it up to the player to keep track on what they put into them. I can make new clips that have red or blue tags and add them to the stores, but I can't prevent the player from putting HP bullets in an AP clip once it's empty. And the task of editing the model skin as well as the shop image for all those clips would take a lot of time, maybe you can take some time away from playing JA2 and help out?

Thank you very much heimdal, not just for passing on my message, but also for giving such good support to out German friends, vielen dank

[Kyle]

leaving it up to the player to keep track on what they put into them

Brilliant!

If you're going to follow through on the color-coded magazines, perhaps go with three different codes, something like:

default (for ball/FMJ rounds)

blue (for hollow point or whatever rounds)

red (for armor piercing or whatever rounds)

and

violet (for mixed magazines of the above).

Perhaps just make it look like there's a single strip of colored masking tape stuck around the magazine, near its bottom.

Maybe orange too, for whatever mix.

Nice idea with the color coding of the magazines. Hope it works out.



By the way, has anyone here played "Alfa Antiterror"? If so, could I get some two sentence summations as to whether or not its worth purchasing. Thanks!

[Veilrider]

Kyle: Alfa Antiterror

In my opinion

Yes I've played it, No I wouldn't recommend it. The Plan and Go system it uses is no fun for battles. Not a patch on E5/7.62.