New Co-Op/SP scenario - Dev Blog

New Co-Op/SP scenario - Dev Blog

We recently released Team Deathmatch, a PvP only game mode, and next up is a co-op and solo play focused scenario. The mode is simply titled Combat Ops, and the key goals are replayability and randomness. You're inserted into a conflict zone, sandwiched between two hostile factions and you'll be assigned randomized primary objectives and optional secondary objectives. You can choose to engage hostiles, or try to avoid conflict and let the factions fight each other while you tackle the objectives.

Image: new Bluestone PMC faction engaging hostiles

It's a war out there

Let's talk about the NPC conflict first. It's not meant to be the star of the show but to give a dynamic backdrop for your operation. Behind the scenes it plays a bit like a 'mini RTS'. To start with, the two enemy factions (let's just call them Red and Blue) both control an area of the map with a no man's land in between. Here's an example of the Red vs Blue territories on Mologa:

Then, scattered around the map are 'camps'. These are not necessarily literal camps with gates and guard towers, but areas of interest the NPCs will endlessly try to conquer and fight over. Both factions have a 'main camp' that periodically generates reinforcements and sends out assault squads to capture enemy areas. If you cause enough trouble, the main camp may also send out 'hunter squads' that are trying to find an eliminate you! Outside of the camps, you may also see enemy strike teams arrive by helicopter, so if you see an unknown Little Bird fly by, that's them!

Example image of a 'camp' - this is a neutral one with no sentries, and has a couple of spawn locations for potential objectives. Not every objective has to be in a camp, but you would expect an ammo cache is in a secure location and not in the middle of a forest.

Enemy forces are created inside the red/blue areas of control. Sentries stay close to their initial location, while patrol squads start roaming using the many patrol routes placed in each map (all modes use the same routes). Patrols don't perfectly follow the waypoints, it's more of a guide where they should go, and they can also at certain points branch off to a different route. The previously mentioned assault squads (capture teams) don't follow routes, instead they proceed from one camp to the next, engaging threats along the way.

Image: Example of patrol routes (the purple mess).

Regardless of their objective (patrol/sentry/assault), all squads respond to threats. At individual/squad level they react to threats they see and noises that they hear. At the strategic level, there's an 'alert' system, and the faction's AI manager will direct available squads to respond to alert locations if they are able. This ensures all squads can end up in a fight beyond their visual/audible range, different squads just respond to alerts at a different priority (sentries don't wander far from their initial area). We've never done a dev blog on the AI system in general, so if there's interest we definitely can!

All together, these systems create an ongoing NPC conflict. We don't simply play some fake 'battle' sounds around you, so if you hear gunfire it means someone is really fighting. That doesn't mean that ambient sounds don't have their place, for example distant sounds of artillery would be perfectly appropriate. In the same vein the 'warzone' feeling could be amplified by random events like jet fighters flying overhead, recon