A work in progress version that combines the shooter mechanics that Arma provides with a challenging dynamic gameworld and underdog gameplay. Everything is and will be done in a way I personally enjoy it with the group I play with.
As this is currently work in progress all things may or may not change. This version is best played with 4 to 8 people and is currently a good chunk harder than the official version. You dont have to like it, but that will not influence the development.
Biggest chances from the official version:
- Limited Arsenal: Unlocks have vanished from this version in most cases. You
can use what you loot.
- Shops: Looking for a specific gear or just need to stock up? Shops let you
spend money to secure permanent supply lines.
- Vanilla Revive System: Tired of being shot while reviving or not being able
to treat fatal wounds? A complete rework got rid of most issues.
This version, once finished, should be full of content that makes Arma fun (like shooting stuff, blowing up stuff and working together as a team) and way less of the boring stuff (like managing garrisons, driving around endlessly and not utilising what the game offers). It should give the players a more dynamic world in which the can not only play the way they want to, but also world that reacts to their playstyle in a meaningful way.
Sound like a lot of marketing speech and I agree, it is. Thats why I will try to note down the story of fixing the code and gameplay of Antistasi: (Note, I am one of these rare "vanilla only" arma players, so this might be coming from a unknown perspective)
Branded with a new name, this version is the first release version that
is different from the official version. The biggest difference is that this
version will stay a mission and not a mod. While the official team claims that
it is easier for players, I disagree. Also it would make alot of my code
incompatible, so thats a no go for me.
First big chance is the Limited Arsenal. Everything you loot, steal or get
your hands on any other way ends in there and will be available in the arsenal
in the quantities you have it. There are basically no unlocks any more and you
got to manage what ou have and how you use it. Equip for the mission ahead,
not your standard loadout, cause that will deplete quickly if you dont loot.
To balance that out, there are now shops that allow you to buy an hourly supply
of the gear you need or want, featuring all weapons and items provided by your
mods. Being tiered and linked to cities under control, the shops will give you
a nice progression from the worst weapons to the best weapons based on their
config value. Keep in mind that most mods are having way better weapons than
the vanilla ones, so they are showing up quite late in the game.
The revive system has been completely reworked for vanilla. Instead of doing
an endlessly long revive animation in which you are stuck, revive now works in
multiple smaller steps, which each heal the downed player a bit till they are
ready to be up again. Medics are faster with higher amount healed everytime,
but every class can heal everyone. As the system now uses medikits and first
aid kits make sure to bring a few of those.
The entire system can now be turned off with a parameter, if you want to play
with a third party medic system that isnt ACE. ACE still gets detected automatically.
Lockon missiles have been severly nerfed in this version, giving them a way
lower chance of hitting their target, making helicopters, planes and vehicles
a far bigger threat for both sides. The system is not perfect yet and probably
needs more tweaking to find the right balance between overpowered and useless.
The dataformat and startup code has been heavily reworked and reduced the setup
time by roughly 95% (8 seconds to 250 milliseconds) making servers way more
responsive in the beginning. Also around 50 files have been partly or completely
cleaned up, streamlined and equipped with headers so everyone can use these files.
Due to the change of the dataformat currently only Altis and Tanoa work, as
these are two maps we currently play on. Malden will follow eventually, for
other maps I will finish the dataset at some point in the future.
Without talking too much about what the team has done so far, lets talk about
the problems that are still in the gamemode at this point.
The biggest problem of all is that the systems in the game are not working
together in a way it should be expected in an open dynamic world. The impact
the player has is heavily limited and feels quasi nonexistent for most players.
A second nearly equally big problem is the fact that the game gets way too
easy around the midgame and most players I have talked with enjoy the early
game way more as it has a scarity of resources and limits options. If you lose
alot of good gear in an attempt to storm an outpost, in early game this can have
significant impact on your next missions, in the lategame you just equip the
loadout again and retry.
The third big issue is the AI, which can be so incredidable stupid it hurts.
Even the integrated scripts are nearly helpless and do not prove a challenge
for an experience group of more than 4 players. Their inability to land, fly
planes, utilise vehicles or just fight on the ground makes this gamemode (as
most other unmodded missions) a shooting range for human players. While this
is part of the fun, most of the times reinforcements are not even arriving at
their destinations as players can intercept transport methods too easy or the
AI manages to break or outright destroy the transports before arrival.
All together that leads in a spiral where the AI uses more and more heavy
vehicles to fights players, which in turn get either frustrated at having tanks
send against their 2 man rebellion or better armed than most modern militaries.
And as soon as the players have their hands on some vehicles the AI is barely
able to fight them at all.
Sprinkle in a bit of missions wihtout real value, some missions with the chance
to instantly fail the mission or ruin your rebellion completely and just alot
of systems that seem to contradict each other, and you get the state of the
gamemode. As neither me nor the people are happy with this state, I will start
to change that bit by bit.