LAB6 presents ESCALATION

[winged flume]

A team vs team, teamwork oriented set of game modes.
Join us tomorrow, 19:00 CEST, for the first playtest, PC only.
LAB6 discord: https://discord.gg/wVe6XkjV9y
Workshop: https://reforger.armaplatform.com/workshop/5ACAD731DF897924-LAB6Escalation

One small detail, it's first person only!

[scarlet plover]

Do yall allow derivitives for the purpose of customizing the experiences?

Say, swapping the vehicles and Uniforms out throught way of Dependency

[winged flume]

Yes, all LAB6 mods are able to be customized as anyone sees fit, we encourage it!
But keep in mind we have custom loadout implementation, defined as a role, so they need to be implemented in our shared standard.

[scarlet plover]

That sounds absolutely amazing!

[lucid carbon]

But technically it's not ideal yet to customize maps or factions, later it will be improved, so we can make many map variations easily. What we have not will probably change a lot.

[scarlet plover]

On a side note has the frame issues regarding the map markers been fixed?

[winged flume]

Yes, we want to make it clear, this is minimal viable product release.

[winged flume]

Not sure what you are reffering to, maybe post in https://discord.com/channels/105462288051380224/1066377958832480348 if you have concerns with it.

[scarlet plover]

Is it possible to randomize Maps? Say, on server restart/game over, without any intervention, its a different region?

[lucid carbon]

No it's not so far yet, we'll need to solve how to run a live 24/7 server definitely, after we playtest it.

[slim crypt]

This is sick can’t wait to play

[clear osprey]

Looking very nice guys!!! 🙂 Came out of nowhere with this one!

[lucid carbon]

Well, the map marker mod was required to make it feasible 😉

[scarlet plover]

You sneaky devils you
ya had it all planned from the start

Are the defenders and attackers random?

[winged flume]

Not in the initial release, but we do plan on utilizing randomization in the future.

[scarlet plover]

One last question
How do vehicle spawns work exactly? Similar to squad where Armor is on a timer?

[lucid carbon]

Yeah it's like in Squad

[scarlet plover]

Just a minor bug, but
The USSR build US assets

I placed down a US ammo box as a Russian trying to grab some AK ammo

[lucid carbon]

hmm probably wrong config, thanks for taking a look. That was the purpose of our first playtest, find such things 😄

[scarlet plover]

We're throwing it on DarkGru tonight, should get alot of attention

[lucid carbon]

Nice, thank you 🙂 Just keep in mind it's veery limited now. Like the minimal viable product for first playtest.

[scarlet plover]

Cant wait to see it develop

I already love what i see, the amount of quality of life features alone make this enjoyable
Ill keep you noted on any bugs, and especially if theres any crashes that arise from the mod

Honestly, just a Spawn Protection feature and this gamemode is near perfect

We do a little trolling

[lucid carbon]

Sure we plan to have spawn protection too 😄 there are very many features essential for having a live server, like the map rotation, randomization of factions, and so on

[scarlet plover]

Correction, we do alot of Trolling

At least the vehicles respawn, that alone is amazing

[clear osprey]

for me a couple of the us jeeps there were almost too high off the ground to get in and activate the physics

[scarlet plover]

i can see Russian map markers, including FOBs and barracks and such. Just a minor inconvenience, nothing too major

[clear osprey]

vehicles could be an issue if you can see the enemy vehicles on the map. luckily i just made a mod for that! 😉

[scarlet plover]

Great idea!

[clear osprey]

you can still see your teammates in vehicles, just not the vehicles, so that should prevent you from seeing enemy positions

[scarlet plover]

It seems changing teams causes a great amount of issues

[winged flume]

It's because you are admin, that's how the map marker mod works, admin/Gm sees everything 🙂

[scarlet plover]

I completely forgot about that! Only thing is that I didnt host it locally, I double clicked the Scenario
Usually that doesnt log you into admin immediately

[winged flume]

Anything specific?

[scarlet plover]

mostly the map markers, as mentioned prior, as well as allows a huge opportunity to troll

[winged flume]

Hmm, we do have custom faction code, but it should be compatible with markers, will look in to it, thanks for feedback.

[scarlet plover]

Im not logged into admin and still getting them so im sure it doesnt have to do with that

In the meantime we will use the addon mod that removes Character and Vehicle markers

[winged flume]

Keep in mind the UI is still not controller friendly, so it most likely will be a problem for consoleros.

[winged flume]

Are you sure, I'm just testing now and it seems to work okay, right side is admin, left side is client.

[scarlet plover]

I merely respawned and it kept all the same info from when I was on the other team

Im on the US but I can see the two soviet vehicles I interacted with when I was on Soviets

[winged flume]

Ohhh it must be some issue with single player, okay, we will take a look.

I have to go now, but good luck with playing it, thanks for the feedback.

One small note, keep in mind that if you are not in a squad for a while, you get kicked from the server, there is a warning about it.

[scarlet plover]

That will be a game changer! Thank you!

[fallow path]

Xbox controller players aren’t allowed to even join, the UI doesn’t work

[vast vault]

Mainly on the select factions list

[lucid carbon]

we know, we didn't develop controller compatibility yet
tbh I didn't even try it with controller, I am sure it won't work

[fallow path]

Our friend was able to get in with the D-Pad at least

[vast vault]

But that was a struggle apparently

[lucid carbon]

We'll consider gamepad support later, depending on playtest outcome, and depending on how many people will want to play this

[scarlet plover]

The only thing they say they need is the ability to see the outline of whats selected

Appearently the DPAD works, but it doesnt show whats selected
"All we need is button outlining" according to one of the players

[scarlet plover]

The matches dont restart on their own automatically

There will have to be a GM on to manually restart servers everytime a match is completed

Thats probably the most game breaking of the issues found so far

On the good side of things many people showed interest in the event we ran, and despite a good 80% of our players being turned off by the inability to spawn the rest of them that managed to get in, a good 14 people, loved it

No doubt the gamemode will be popular once the bugs are worked out and people put their own spin on it

[hasty summit]

As a console Player with little time, this mode will be a game changer. Actually being able to join a game, use commutation and work as a team will be awesome!! Thanks for your guys hard work!!

[fallow path]

Once you guys get the controller stuff figured out we can definelty get a solid test of 80 players hopefully! But cheers for you guys making a game changer!!

[gaunt cargo]

Sounds like a Rush mode from battlefield lol this might be fun if done the right way

[scarlet plover]

Its Invasion from Squad

[gaunt cargo]

In what ways does it differ from rush?

[scarlet plover]

You dont spawn on the points when you take them

And you cant spawn on the Objectives

You have to build FOBs with Logi
Thats the biggest discernible difference

[fallow path]

Also appears some people can build their fobs and whatnot and some can’t

[winged flume]

The build location is a little bit finicky, we can enlarge it

[fallow path]

Otherwise lots of potential here! I’m excited to see what y’all bring! One of our servers will be running it!

[winged flume]

The excitement goes both ways, we never expected such a response 😄

[winged flume]

So you played on console and your radio worked as intended?

Feel free to leave feedback on ticket count and asset prices.

[fallow path]

Joined the discord so I’ll be in there, but one thing blocking us from getting the players into it is defiantly the controller support!

[scarlet plover]

Supplies is too lenient

The FOBs should cost nearly a truck full so that theyre much less.... spammed
And their placement is deliberate

As it stands you can max out a FOB and have more then enough cause youre more likely to run out of space to build then you are supplies with even a single truck
Should take at minimum like 3 trucks to build things up fully

One last thing, maybe have certain objects ignore terrain when placing, as it does in game master
Trying to build barracks in forests is a nightmare

[winged flume]

Traditionally, taking ammunition would use up supplies, and respawning would only spawn you with the mags that you had, we will have to come up with some clever ways of tracking this.

Short term it might just need balancing.

[tawdry dove]

100% NEED this on console. Not even just for me but I know that a large majority of the reforger playerbase is console. And this might be something much more their speed than conflict to ease them into arma.

Probably don’t touch another game for a year tbh.

[tawdry dove]

I know in the grandscheme of things we are extremely new, but it always scared me things were being developed or implemented without any thought of console or gamepad.

[gritty grove]

@winged flume Nice work, I like the building/supplies and squad mechanics.

[winged flume]

Problem is mostly of UI/UX, managing focus and where to map new inputs like building on controller etc.

[lucid carbon]

we are fully aware of it all, just it would have taken lots of time and shifted our MVP months further. That's all.

Meanwhile I think if one can buy a cheap mouse to get past the menus, it should work. Well minus the building UI and maybe radio.

[winged flume]

Time to see how console players see this game 😅

[gentle forge]

@winged flume Do you plan to have any docs for modders? or maybe even samples? case of use - changing factions, or adding this game mode to non vanilla maps

[lucid carbon]

It's planned, yes, once we get the foundation more suitable for that.
Goal is to make it easy to make new map configurations and factions, both for us and everyone else.

[gentle forge]

👍

[hasty summit]

Oh sorry I was saying can’t wait for it to be console friendly. I will test tonight though

[winged flume]

It might come sooner than you think 🙂

Been up since 5 am 😅

Building will not work unfortunately, we are not sure what is best button layout for it, suggestions welcome 😄

Suggestions as to how to map this to xbox controller welcome 🙂

I understand B is always back

[spice wind]

I haven't gotten to fiddle with it much does building work similar to conflict?

[winged flume]

It's first person only, no flying camera, and you must build these things with an action.

[spice wind]

Hm... well the parts with the arrows I can offer a really simple solution, that being the d-pad. For back I would use the B button. Maybe A for select/place and RB+right stick (if I am remembering right this is how you rotate in gm, I would imagine this can translate decently to first person building) for rotating

Just what I think, I'd recommend testing before adding as it may be really inconvenient in actual gameplay

This may be obvious I realize but eh better to say the obvious than not and it not be obvious to someone

[lucid carbon]

Version 1.0.7 has been released

• Added experimental gamepad support (so far only faction&deployment menus work, building doesn't work)

• Fixed wrong faction building configs being used

• Fixed tutorial signs at main bases

• Fixed wrong namtegs being shown

• Increased FOB range to 150m

[scarlet plover]

Sweet!

[fallow path]

I’d definetly be down to help write some controls that Xbox could@ise for building stuff

[scarlet plover]

The only tricky one I can think of would be the button to open the building menu

Once you figure that one out, the rest are as simple as just using the Bumpers and Triggers to navigate the different options, and using left and right on the DPAD to rotate it

[winged flume]

I think we will use something on D pad

[fallow path]

Best idea

My friend just got in with ease using the DPAD so it’s better than yesterday

[scarlet plover]

Once you get that out the way, playtesting can being en masse
Seeing as 85% of this games playerbase is literally Console Controller players

[tawdry dove]

@scarlet plover getting on soon, this still up on darkgru?

[scarlet plover]

It indeed is, we will have it up for public testing, until I can develop an In House variation of it

[tawdry dove]

What if we could just use the cursor on screen with the right stick. Atleast for the spawn menu. It’s already programmed into the game they should make much better use of it.

[tawdry dove]

Would a radial menu not work? Such as hold rb and select w right stick (or something idk I haven’t been able to play this masterpiece on console yet)

[scarlet plover]

Perhaps this has something to do with the issue regarding it not restarting itself?

[winged flume]

I'm not sure, we will have to look in to it for next version.

[scarlet plover]

Most players cant build whatever their squad leaders place down

[fallow path]

The switching factions can be a problem as well

[scarlet plover]

is there a way to modify Stage cooldowns?
Whether it be adding our own, or picking what vehicles spawn when?

[scarlet plover]

Whats the timer on each wave?

Recon, Light, Medium, Heavy

[scarlet plover]

Found another bug regarding the wave system

In an actual match, it will skip all of the stages and spawn everything immediately

In the workbench things take their time and work properly but when I published this and tried it in singleplayer, this happened

[scarlet plover]

It seems that some vehicles on the US side ignore the preparation phases Engine lock

[winged flume]

You have to look at top of the sand pile, we will enlarge it..

[winged flume]

Then they must have engine startup logic disables. But it doesn't matter, the preparation phase collider will stop them from exiting main anyway

[winged flume]

PR_AssetSpawner::GetAssetTypeRespawnTime && PR_GameModeClass::PREPARATION_DURATION_S

[winged flume]

You must have defined asset as belonging to first stage, easiest would be to have your project up on github so we can see how you did it 🙂

[tawdry dove]

Seeing this mod has made me the most excited I’ve been for reforger since launch. Desperately hope to start seeing more populated servers host this. Bound to happen after you guys fully figure out gamepad support. This simplified and streamlined game mode is perfect to ease console players into arma.

[tawdry dove]

So happy you guys took the time to circle back on this and add support for console so fast, as well as seem to be planning to roll out several great qol changes soon. Keep up the great work! 🙂

[winged flume]

@scarlet plover feel free to join our discord, we can discuss development there

[winged flume]

We got some nice feedback from it, now it's time to process it and formulate plan for further development.

[lucid carbon]

just keep in mind that most likely we'll change lots of things in upcoming week(s) regarding map configurations, prefabs, etc.
with aim to make creating more maps easier of course

[winged flume]

Small announcement, we will be working on the following changes until next release:

• Spawning on FOB will consume supply
• Attacker & defender randomization
• Prefabs for game mode so map more layouts can be created easily
• Prevention of spawning when there is no supply or enemies are too close
• Building of fortification items available for everyone
• Controller layout for building

[gentle forge]

is it possible to attach freeroam building feature to supply truck?

it might cause some issues with blocking roads with sandbags, but, i guess it can be solved with a supply truck from other side

[scarlet plover]

No like, it literally wasn't there for them, they could not see it on their end no matter how close they got

[scarlet plover]

Sure, shoot me a link

[scarlet plover]

I set each vehicle as Heavy, and I set them to either Armed Transport or Armored Transport as there were absolutely no Armored Personnel Carrier Assets Spawners placed at your current game modes locations
I edited the PR_FactionManager

[tawdry dove]

I mean this is the purpose of the tank trap’s. They put the assets in the game we might as well use them as intended. 🤷‍♂️

[lucid carbon]

you can use existing building UI from the mod to build from trucks already

we have custom build ui because it's less cheaty, and because integrating 'freeroam building' would be time consuming, and prone to break whenever new game update ocmes up.

[scarlet plover]

Placable Items is a thing now
Maybe a custom box that spawns items for building in it, and taking from it takes supplies?

That way you load individual sandbag walls and stuff into trucks and move them to the front, then have guys place them down when theyre out there

[warm trench]

@winged flume great work, hope more server can host it with modern mods too

[lucid carbon]

load individual sandbag walls and stuff into trucks and move them to the front
there is no need for such complication, you can achieve all that in Escalation already. You load supplies into a vehicle, then you can build from it, anywhere.
Also In next update we'll let everyone place simple assets such as sandbags, so it's not restricted to SL only.

[scarlet plover]

Wouldnt mind seeing mounted tripods converted into placable objects, so offensively setting up mounted MGs or setting up defensive MGs in better ways, and eventually mortars, becomes a strategic possibility

Two man teams, one carrying the gun and one carrying ammo

[winged flume]

Testing out layout randomization today 🙂
For now we are thinking keep attacking and defending main bases always be in the same positions, only their factions change, since most layouts are crated to ensure balance (harder to capture for attackers as it progresses).

[winged flume]

Controller layout testing

[hollow oak]

how do you spawn on fobs?

When i placed one i could see it on the map but it didnt give me the option to click on it.

nvm i got it

[lucid carbon]

Today at 21.00 CEST (in 1 hour) we are planning to have a small playtest.
Server name: Escalation PvP | Teamwork, Squads & Roles

Things to test:
Ensure everything still works after refactor of our prefabs and world configurations
Gamepad controls for building mode (hold DPad-Down to toggle it)
Advance and Secure game mode - symmetrical sequential capture of flags (like in Squad)
Tweaked capture rate of flags (now it's slower and scales differently)

[lucid carbon]

Hello , we have released our next update.

It mainly contains structural changes aimed at making world configuration easier and more sustainable, which will help both us and others to make many new maps or factions.

Escalation has been split into two mods:

Addon with core game mode data: https://reforger.armaplatform.com/workshop/5ACAD731DF897924-LAB6Escalation

Maps pack: https://reforger.armaplatform.com/workshop/5DA518C5BE1B958A-LAB6Escalation-Maps

Also we have added gamepad support for building mode, which can be toggled by holding DPad-Down (later there will be proper in-game hints for controls).

Now our Github page is public:
https://github.com/jpetanjek/Project-Refine/tree/master
It contains documentation for creation of worlds and factions:
https://github.com/jpetanjek/Project-Refine/blob/master/Docs/Readme.md

Next we are going to continue on planned gameplay improvements, such as consumption of supply points when respawning at FOBs, building mode improvements, etc.

[lucid carbon]

@trim python I think we will add it to our game mode at some point, we like Squad's rally points too
#reforger_conflict message

[trim python]

This is exactly what is needed. Thanks for working on it.

[lucid carbon]

Small update

Added flexible faction randomization, which lets server owners configure through config.json which factions will be used.
Documentation is here: https://github.com/jpetanjek/Project-Refine/blob/master/Docs/GameModeConfiguration.md#faction-randomization

Next we will focus on making the game mode compatible with 0.9.9, at the moment it's not clear how long it will take.

[austere spire]

Is this going to be new official game mode like Combat Ops? Or just a mod like Capture & Hold / Hexcavate?

[lucid carbon]

It will be a regular mod I guess? 🙄

[trim python]

Hey... is there still anything going on?

[chrome shale]

This mod kinda runs like the squad system