Home » MODDING HQ 1.13 » Flugente's Magika Workshop » New feature: Covert operations
New feature: Covert operations[message #309312]
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Mon, 20 August 2012 01:08
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Flugente |
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Messages:3507
Registered:April 2009 Location: Germany |
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New game mechanic: Covert Operations
There is now a new major trait selectable on the IMP website:
Covert Operations will let you play as a spy. The following story shall illustrate this before I explain this feature in detail.
When the liberation of Arulco began, it was of the outmost importance for the rebels to deny the airspace to the army. The north-east SAM was their first target.
The revolution leader, knowing full well how fortified the military installation was, resolved to sending one woman to destroy it. This shall be her story.
Irina was an expert spy. She would blend in in Arulco. She could play the role of a helpless peasant woman just as well as that of a ruthless elite royal guard. This assignment would be a walk in the park, and pay her handsomely.
After arriving in Arulco, she checked her gear. She had 2 packs of C4 that she could detonate remotely, that should suffice. In the ruins she found something invaluable: arulcan clothes, left over from some poor woman that had left this ruined city long ago. If she put these on...
... nobody would be able to tell the difference between her and a local civilian.
With her head lowered, she could bass by the patrols on the road to Drassen. While making a pause to eat in Drassen she even dared to talk to the local militiaman, those fools had no idea who she was. She silently chuckled, this was too easy.
However, she knew that the patrols on SAM site would more alert. They would eye anyone with suspicion, especially civilians. She would have to switch cover.
She needed a military uniform.
Luckily there was also a female soldier in this part of town. When nobody else was there, Irina quickly subdued her.
She dragged the corpse to a remote part of town and took the uniform. Now she was able to carry guns in the open, nobody would get suspious. By the time the local milita found the dead soldier, she was long gone, and on her way to the East.
Irina walked straight though the main gates of the facility and greeted the guards with a nod. Amateurs. They didn't even bother checking her ID.
She stepped inside the control center. It was small, with monitors and a control system taking up one side of the room. With a glance, she noted where the C4 would cause the most damage. Murmuring an apology, Irina slipped by the officer on guard and into the bathroom. She set the detonate frequencies of her bombs. Now the hardest part would come.
The officer in the building wasn't going to leave, and he didn't leave the control station out of his eyes. Killing him with her garotte would be too dangerous, there was a high chance he would raise the alarm.
With a smile, the spy used her trump card. Deep out of a hidden pocked, she produced a silent, easily hidden dart gun with expensive, but utterly lethal neurotoxin darts. Without raising any attention, she shot one into the neck of the officer. The timing had been perfect, he did not even realise that he was hit. Even if he had, nothing on earth could save the man now. In under a minute, his entire nervous system would break down, and her way to the control station would be free.
Continued in part 2.
[Updated on: Mon, 20 August 2012 01:16] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Re: New feature: Covert operations[message #309313]
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Mon, 20 August 2012 01:08
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Flugente |
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Messages:3507
Registered:April 2009 Location: Germany |
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She casually dropped the armed bombs next to the control station and the computer screens. Now she only had to walk out of here and blow the trigger. Then the rebels could land external mercenary platoons everywhere in this part of the country, and overwhelm the ramshackle defenses.
Irina walked outside, barely acknowledging the officer who seemed... rather occupied with himself. His face had lost all colour. The man tried to scream, but no sound came from his throat.
A few minutes later, the guards of the installation raised the alarm. The commander had suddenly spasmed. and then collapsed outside. Confusion was rife among the soldiers.
No enemy contact had been reported in the last weeks. The commander had always been healthy, what had happened?
Before they could phrase any coherent plan of what to do next, two immense explosions shattered the entire control center. The whole backside of the building blew open. Every piece of equipment was shattered. Two controllers, rushing in to inform Army HQ of the commanders unexpected demise, were ripped apart.
The control center was destroyed. The anti-aircraft rockets were undamaged, but utterly useless without any means of controlling them. They couldn't even contact HQ, the long range vox unit had been inside the building.
Hidden behind a tree outside the base, Irina smiled. Her mission had been a full success. The base had lost every strategic value. It would take the army weeks to replace the equipment.
If her assessment of the rebels she had seen so far was correct, the army would not get that time. All that was left to do was to contact Miguel. The mercenaries the rebels had hired would land within the hour, steamrolling the ill-equipped garrisons of Drassen. Once the army would have realised this and had sent reinforcements, Drassen would be in full revolt.
This was the opening move of a war that would set this whole country on fire.
Irina smiled. Before this war was over, she would have ample opportunity to use her skills.
She retreated into the swamps south of here, to her next target...the garrison city of Alma.
[Updated on: Mon, 20 August 2012 01:18] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Re: New feature: Covert operations[message #309314]
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Mon, 20 August 2012 01:08
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Flugente |
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Messages:3507
Registered:April 2009 Location: Germany |
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This new game mechanic allows you to disguise your mercs. They can disguise as civilians or soldiers. They will then not be detected by the enemy, as long as they do not raise suspicion.
This is very strongly tied to the new 'covert ops' trait (new trait system only). A merc without this trait can only disguise as a civilian, and will be automatically detected if he comes to near to a soldier.
You will be discovered if:
- you attack anyone, plant bombs, pick locks etc.
- as civilian:
- you have any weapons, armour or explosives that are not hidden
- you have any camouflage
- you behave uncivilian-like
- you are in a restricted sector, like Orta. Civs will be shot on sight here.
- as a soldier
- you target 'fellow' soldiers with your gun
- you are drunk
- you are close an only have the first level of this trait
- your equipment is better than what one would expect from a typical soldier
- you carry a suspicious amount of weapons
These are just some of the conditions for exposure.
There are also some special items for this feature:
- civilian clothes is a new item with which you can disguise yourself as a civilian
- a garotte is a devastating close combat weapon that can instantly kill someone... if the target is unaware, and you are familiar with this.
- a neurotoxin dart will inject a devious drug into the target and kill him a few turns later
- items can now be covert, which excempts them from detection. This works on guns as well as on LBE items itself. So a 'covert' revolver holster can hide any revolver in it.
Not that as the enemy checks our inventory, and as LBE gear can hide gear, this feature will work as intended only with NIV. In order to make it work for OIV, I have to adjust the inventory checks (no LBE), so hiding equipment gets much harder... really, just play with NIV
Corpses can now be picked up and dropped. They will keep their colours, skin, hair etc. This is recommended to use, as being seen near a fresh corpse will cause you to be discovered.
More on this soon.
[Updated on: Wed, 22 August 2012 22:27] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Re: New feature: Covert operations[message #309347]
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Mon, 20 August 2012 19:47
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Gambigobilla |
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Messages:693
Registered:July 2008 |
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lockieIt's a mod , guys , when it's released try it and either enjoy or don't play again , more choice IS better .
And thanks Flugente for all your work :ok:
Yup, i totally agree. My choice of play is more like role play, not powerplay. So any new features are welcome. But sometimes it's becomes very very tempting.
[Updated on: Mon, 20 August 2012 19:47] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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First Sergeant
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Re: New feature: Covert operations[message #309355]
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Tue, 21 August 2012 00:13
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Flugente |
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Messages:3507
Registered:April 2009 Location: Germany |
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Sandro
Wow... I was planning to do this.
One suggestion: Do not allow to take usable enemy uniform, if that enemy was shot or stabbed, so the unarmed combat gets a little more space in the gameplay.
And I am not sure if it is balanced to have it as a major trait. Its usability may not be every-day, and lately this trait may become obsolete.
That might be tedious to find out (a lot of places to check in the jungle that is the Hit-functions), but will be possible to code... I'll have a look.
Well, it's a trait that focuses more on roleplay. The least thing you can achieve with this thing is to scout ahead of your squad when attacking a city, and determining weak positions.
Lexx
Nice feature, but wouldn't this make the game a little too easy? Like, if I can walk into the SAM locations and explode the terminal to disable the rockets, then there is no reason why I should openly attack such locations at all, as the covert ops solution seems to be faster and easier.
True. But there are not many locations you can really leave alone (2 of the 4 SAMs are in or next to your cities, so that leaving troops there bears the hazard of sudden reinforcements coming from that direction).
Also, staying undercover is not that easy. When disguising as a civilian, you have to hide all your weapons. And as a soldier, your equipment underlies rigorous checks. In the above story, had I carried an M16 to the SAM, they would have discovered me, because at that point an M16 is 'too good to be true' for a soldier.
@Hazapuza: Note that, at least until now, this feature will NOT require a new game, as it is savegame compatible... at least back to r5480.
@Maalstrom: When its finished. If there are no objections to this, I plan to add this to the trunk ~ next weekend.
And... to those concerned that this will make the game to easy... note that altough it currently can only be used by the player, minimal changes would allow the enemy to use this too. :cloud8: The problem is that the AI would simply rush up to you and shoot you in the face, which, while certainly refreshing, feels like it could need a bit of tweaking.
One idea would be that after a certain number of towns lost, Deidranna makes truth of her curses and deploys a few irregular forces of her own... similar to kingpin's assassins. But not one, but say, a small team of them. Tough this is just an idea.
[Updated on: Tue, 21 August 2012 00:17] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Re: New feature: Covert operations[message #309487]
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Sat, 25 August 2012 02:07
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Flugente |
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Messages:3507
Registered:April 2009 Location: Germany |
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Update: This feature is now in the trunk (revision 5529).
- GameDir of revision >= 1529 is needed, otherwise you will experience crashes because of missing STI files.
- This is savegame compatible (back to r5480). However, you will propably want to start a new game, as only IMPs can select the new trait in the IMP creation process.
- Should you, however, decide to lend that skill to existing mercs in their profiles: This is the skill number 20.
- This skill is new trait system only. Also, while still possible with OIV, I strongly recommend using NIV with this feature (with OIV you will have some serious drawbacks, as you can't hide anything in your inventory).
- The new dialogue for the handling of corpses (decapitating, gutting, stripping or picking up) requires a knife in your first hand, as it is directly based on the old decapitation action.
- As suggested by Sandro, if you kill a soldier with bullets or stabs to the torso or legs, you won't be able to use this uniform later on.
- There is no animation for carrying a corpse, you just have the item in your hand (it does not fit into the inventory). Other people with knowledge in animations might add some here ?
- Similar, the civilian clothes, garotte and corpse items have only placeholder pictures. Hopefully, this ugliness will drive capable people to make good pictures here...
- To those who are interested: When covert, the AI does not react to you if in green state. On yellow, they are sometimes driven near you (because you suddenly become a bit interesting). On higher alarm levels, they will cling to you. This is achieved by reducing the amount of 'noise' they hear from you on lower alarm levels. They don't really follow you, they just follow the sounds you make...
- The garotte is a new melee weapon designed for the covert ops trait. It deals low damage, but has the cahnce to deliver instant kills. The propability for this is raised by your covert ops skill (look in SkillSettings.ini for the settings). It is severely reduced if the enemy is alerted, and if he sees you. Thus, it is a perfect weapon for quick takedowns on unsuspecting enemies from behind, but almost useless you attack the enemy in the open.
- LBE gear with the COVERT entry in their -tag will hide all equipment inside from enemy inspections (when covert, your inventory is checked by the enemy for suspicious items). All other items can also get that entry directly. At the moment, the Standard holster, C1, C4, PSM and Dart gun have this tag.
- Recruitable NPCs (but not the rebels) are at first known to the enemy as neutral. Thus, on recruitment, they will be covert civilians or soldiers (Iggy and Conrad). As long as they have this initial covert property, they are not bound to the usual trait restriction, which means that Iggy and Conrad are treated by the enemy like soldiers, even though that should normally be impossible, as only mercs with the trait can disguise as soldiers. Once they lose this initial cover, they can't regain it.
- Even mercs without the trait can disguise as civilians. But they will automatically be discovered if too near to the enemy.
- There is now a new ammo type property. We can now set ammo to contain neurotoxin (used on the neurotoxin darts, item 1578). Any ammo with that property will add the 'lifedamage' drug effect on the hit target (except tanks). Anyone with that effect will die in a few turns. This is unreversible, there is no cure (until I might be convinced to add one). Only way to slow the effect is by resetting the timer: hit them with another dart :snake:
Be careful with these thingies, friendly fire is even more regrettable than usual.
Not recommend with non-dart ammo, because 'Why would you?'.
[Updated on: Sat, 25 August 2012 02:21] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Re: New feature: Covert operations[message #309518]
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Sat, 25 August 2012 21:12
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Randok |
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Messages:320
Registered:March 2004 |
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I go to a spy (of enemies-without turn) and a convenient moment I want to attack the enemy ( with turn ).
[Updated on: Sat, 25 August 2012 21:14] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Master Sergeant
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Re: New feature: Covert operations[message #309520]
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Sat, 25 August 2012 21:22
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Randok |
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Messages:320
Registered:March 2004 |
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Ctrl+Shift+Alt+T
PS What this little stamp shows the portrait (with white stripe)
[Updated on: Sat, 25 August 2012 23:53] by Moderator Report message to a moderator
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Master Sergeant
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