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DEFINITIONS

• Objectives: Can be a military or civilian objective. Does not refer to Tasks generated by the CSTIR.
• Command Support Tablet: A tablet that can call in logistics, close air support, and handle tasks. In our mission, CSTIR is also tied to this tablet, to make it easier to blacklist.
• CSTIR: Command, Sitrep, Tasks, Intel, Logistics. In our mission, CSTIR is also tied to the Command Support Tablet, to make it easier to blacklist.
• CQB: Close Quarters battles. Refers to the script that handles placing AI into buildings in a given objective.
• CQB radius: The radius around a player to which AI are spawned in buildings, inside objectives.
• CQB Helicopter Radius: The radius around a player-controlled helicopter to which AI are spawned inside buildings, inside objectives.
• PLANE Radius: The radius around a player-controlled plane that AI will spawn.
• HELICOPTER Radius: The radius around a player-controlled helicopter that AI will spawn.
• PLAYER Radius: The radius around a given player that the AI will spawn. This value does not reflect any other values and is only applied when the player is on foot. Reference CQB Radius.
• CIVILIAN Radius: The radius around a player to which civilians will spawn.
• Operational Advance: Refers to when a faction (usually Blufor, but can also be opposing factions) pushes the frontline in a given direction. Is not related to generated tasks.

FACTIONS

United States Armed Forces

1. BLU_CAV_USAF_F

Russian Armed Forces

2. OPF_CAV_RAF_F

INTRODUCTION

When the mission loads, ALiVE does a few extremely useful things. The first thing ALiVE does for us, is it creates a file that it can continually write to. This is the same file that maintains the presence of what's referred to as profiled units. These profiled units are always present (more information below). After Alive is initialized, it will begin cycling between automatically generated tasks, which are pre-configured inside the” alive” folder in the mission directory. The first AO initializes when the mission is loaded. However, these AOs can be stopped at any time via the CSTIR tablet OR via the text commands, which will be added later. The AOs are drawn from a list that exists inside the mission directory. We can alter this list at our discretion. We can also generate new tasks, if players get bored. These tasks can be created at any time, by anyone who has a CSTIR interface, which has been tied to the Command Support Tablet. Automatically generated tasks can be turned on or off at any time. We do this by using the commands which will be implemented at some point soon. Until then, we will use the Command Support Tablet. By navigating the menus, you will be able to do many things, including manage combat logistical support, close air support, and many other things. Since many of these functions render certain playable parts of the mission (such as Apollo, Buffalo, or Raider) useless, we have simply prevented players from accessing this piece of equipment and have also removed those functions from this mission entirely. Below you will find a full example of a map that has been indexed by ALiVE, and what it looks like when “Debug Mode” is enabled. https://1drv.ms/u/s!AluIO9RMWh-7j31SnrL-kbOUi5hv?e=nsm1DZ  ***

TASKS IN DEPTH

To manage the tasks, we must first open the tablet by using ace interact > CSTIR > Tasks. Once there, you will see a UI, where you will select “Auto Generate Tasks”. For “faction”, you MUST select O_CAVRussianAF or Russian Armed Forces (other factions will not work). Distance will determine how far away the objective is (for Altis we recommend medium). Military Assault/Defense and Civilian Assault/Defense refers to the type of objective you're contextually interacting with. Military refers to military airfields and bases, while civilian refers to towns and civilian airports. You must select ALL player names in the “Assign To” dialogue. After you have selected your desired mission parameters, select Auto-Generate Task. The AOs will now rotate automatically, until the island is taken over (when there is no more opfor left on the map). On the old version of the map, 7th Cav Full Spectrum V4, the tasks were a crucial and integral part to finishing the mission. In fact, you could not progress without taking these "AOs". With ALiVE, the tasks simply provide a direction for players to go. The tasks are, in no way, related to the progression of the map. The map itself can be cleared of AI as players go to these areas, but the areas themselves do not contribute to the overall completion of the island. The only thing the AOs do for the players, besides providing a point for them to go to, is to take points away from the enemy commander, which will gradually weaken his hold on the island.

AUTOMATIC TASK GENERATION

As discussed earlier, tasks can be created by the ALiVE system without any player intervention. This is very similar to how previous iterations of Tac2 were designed. Keeping in tradition with previous version of the server, ALiVE has the possibility of creating and stopping the automation of tasks. Below is an outline of how to stop tasks. BE AWARE that enabling/disabling automatic task generation doesn’t affect the CURRENT task, it only affects what happens after the current task. In the event that there are no tasks, enabling automatic task generation will, as its name suggests, automatically create AOs on the fly with a plethora of different tasks.

STOPPING AUTOMATIC TASK GENERATION

The steps for stopping automatic task generation are outlined below.

1. Under self-interactions ALiVE > C2ISTAR > Tasks https://1drv.ms/u/s!AluIO9RMWh-7j3o58pqPfKYb2Jbd?e=9r8sYZ

2. Select “Disable auto generated tasks for my side” https://1drv.ms/u/s!AluIO9RMWh-7j3v1aJHZU8S0v4zz

3. With “Russian Armed Forces – OPFOR” selected, select “disable tactical tasks” https://1drv.ms/u/s!AluIO9RMWh-7j3v1aJHZU8S0v4zz

Upon competing these steps, ALiVE will STOP task generation. It will not stop any current tasks. To do that, you must delete the task from the support tablet. You can see which tasks you can alter in the second screenshot; we can edit these entries by clicking on them. We can also see that we can also create additional tasks here, separate from the main AOs.

STARTING AUTOMATIC TASK GENERATION

The steps for starting automatic task generation are outlined below.

1. Under self-interactions ALiVE > C2ISTAR > Tasks https://1drv.ms/u/s!AluIO9RMWh-7j3o58pqPfKYb2Jbd?e=9r8sYZ

2. Select “Enable auto generated tasks for my side” https://1drv.ms/u/s!AluIO9RMWh-7j3v1aJHZU8S0v4zz

3. With “Russian Armed Forces – OPFOR” selected, select “enable tactical tasks” https://1drv.ms/u/s!AluIO9RMWh-7j3v1aJHZU8S0v4zz

Upon competing these steps, ALiVE will START task generation. It will not stop any current tasks. To do that, you must delete the task from the support tablet. You can see which tasks you can alter in the second screenshot; we can edit these entries by clicking on them. We can also see that we can also create additional tasks here, separate from the main AOs.  

DELETING UNITS

As discussed previously, ALiVE writes to a file. If you delete a unit that has been profiled, you are not removing the unit from the previously mentioned file, you're simply removing it from the virtual space. When ALiVE wants to spawn units near players, it references this file (this is how we have populated towns without spawning anything when the mission loads). When the unit you deleted is near a player and ALiVE calls it to be spawned, ALiVE will spawn the unit you deleted alongside everything else that wasn't deleted. The only way to delete units that ALiVE has created, similarly to how you would previous iterations of the server, is to also remove them from the file. We do this by setting the health of the unit in question to zero and move them to the middle of the ocean, where ALiVE will detect its state, and remove it upon next garbage collection cycle. For Zeus spawned units, unless you manually profile the units (which is extremely intentional), you DO NOT need to do this. However, if the units are profiled, this course of action MUST be followed.  

GAMEMASTER

DO’S AND DON'TS

When a Zeus is online, they should opt to stop the auto generated tasks as outlined above. Game Masters should opt to take towns and similar objectives, as opposed to allowing the AO to rotate naturally. They should act as a Command and Control element in the chain of command and MCCs should revolve around attacking known enemy strong points. This includes towns and military installations. A Zeus can place down task markers for players as a point of reference, but before doing so, it is advisable for the Zeus to completely stop ALiVE generated AOs. A game master should resume AOs or tasks after their operational advance is over. When you place down a unit, it MUST be from the Russian Armed Forces faction under opfor. If you wish to make an MCC from scratch, it's not advisable, but it is doable and can still be done reliably. When making the MCC, all units that are placed ARE NOT WRITTEN TO THE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED FILE. This means that you can place units and delete them without suffering any repercussions. However, units spawned by ALiVE must be dealt with as outlined in the “Deleting Units” section. Units you have placed can be profiled by AliVE. You would do this if you wanted to bolster the enemy commander's forces in a given area. For example, let's say you wanted to add some armor to the last enemy held town on the map. You could drop some armor down, then navigate to admin actions and select "profile all unprofiled units" (get out of the Zeus screen, otherwise the UI won't show up). This will profile everything and hand it off to the headless client. Now the enemy commander has all the armor you just put down and will start using it. However, BE AWARE that doing this will ALSO PROFILE EVERYTHING ELSE ON THE MAP. This essentially means that everything at base and elsewhere will also be profiled. In doing so, EVERYTHING THAT ISN'T A PLAYER WILL DESPAWN AND RESPAWN BACK TO A LOCATION WITHIN 2M RADIUS OF ITS LAST POSITION. This does not apply to map objects, and only applies to vehicles and other Zeus placed items, including items added via the loyalty points system. Vehicles that players are in will not despawn, but if a crate is left on the floor, the crate will despawn and respawn where it was.  

GAMEMASTER and SPECOPS

Zeus can create missions, such as assassination, HVP extraction, and escort missions via combat support/CSTIR tablet. Players who want to partake in these missions which aren't available in the regular AOs can ask a Zeus for missions. These missions hamper the enemy commander greatly, by placing units from its reserve pool onto the map. Officer assassinations, vehicle destruction, and building destruction, all work to hamper the enemy commander's ability to command and control. When completing rolling AOs and spec-ops missions, we can take over the island faster. However, due to the innate limitations of the engine which Arma utilizes, it is highly advised to have players together when above a squad size (9 players). Both spec-ops and regular players should be operating together, perhaps not on the same objective, but on nearby objectives. For example, spec-ops could kill a target inside the town while it is beset by gunslinger elements. Additionally, when Loyalty Points are implemented, for every completed Spec Ops mission we can add loyalty points to the players. Teams should be kept to between 4 (fireteam) to 9 (squad). When starting spec-ops, instead of selecting every player (like you would to resume the AO), only select players who are participating in the mission. For every new task, you must add new players who join the spec-ops team.

CREATING FULL ARSENALS

The Combat Support Tablet is extremely OP and can do a lot of things that we do not want regular players having access to. As such, it is extremely important to avoid dropping arsenals whenever possible. If a player or several players need access to an arsenal, the preferred method is to TP the player to base, then TP them back to where they were. Let me be as clear as humanly possible; DO NOT CREATE ARSENALS IN THE FIELD, EVER, FOR ANY REASON. IF a player gets a Combat Support Tablet, they can call in Airstrikes, logistical support, and so on. Although these features are currently set to Disabled, there remains the capability of altering tasks and alternating current and future AOs.  

AI SPAWNIN RADIAI

ALiVE assigns a radius around a given player or player-driven vehicle that spawns AI. There are several elements to this, referenced in the Definitions section. The radius for players and helicopters is 800; the radius for CQB is 400; the radius for civilians is 400; the radius for planes is 0 (more information below) (measurements in meters).

PLAYER PILOTED ASSETS

VCOM AI and ALiVE work in such a way as to make ground-based game-play the most enjoyable aspect of the mission. We have integrated weapons teams in our faction mod, which will allow the AI to setup their static weapons and use against armor or players. This includes mortars and tow systems. Additionally, when HOG is in play, HOG will not spawn any AI on the map. As such, HOG is limited to its capability to search for enemy targets. When a player is not in an area, nothing will spawn for HOG. Much the same, helicopters of all types have a limited spawn radius. This means that helicopters will not activate whole towns as they fly over and will instead only activate AI around the aircraft, so that when players get out, targets in the area are already spawning for them. Armor and other vehicles have the same spawn radius as foot infantry do; 800m.

VCOM AI

Because our faction mod was made to be used with VCOM, we have included tripwire mines and bouncing betties, which are utilized by weapons teams and units. As VCOM or ALiVE call for tactical withdrawals, units will lay down mines as they retreat. This means that advancing through tightly held areas will require Havoc. VCOM AI also implements UXOs, which spawn when munitions are used. This means that if HOG drops a bomb, it has a chance to be defective and can go off when someone touches it. Additionally, the AI do not go unconscious, as you might have experienced on earlier versions of the map. Rather, they rag-doll when shot and can get back up to begin firing at you. Moreover, the AI will also utilize their weapons more effectively, opting to fire their 40 MM grenades at players more often and more accurately.