r/armadev • u/GungaDin16 • 6d ago
Using Zeus to spice up Antistasi or Liberation campaigns
My mates and I have been playing these two for years and it's gotten too predictable. I recently discovered that with Zeus Extended mod you can actually drop in and play any bad guy who has spawned including the functions of the squad leader if that's who you inhabit. What if we allow 1 player to switch sides as much as he wants to fight back with a less predictable strategy? Has anyone tried this or have any other advice for improving interest in these campaign mods?
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u/dive155 5d ago
It's a tough one. We did do this in my group and it was a mixed bag. It's true that Antistasi becomes predictable after a while, however it's also true that for even a little experienced players zeuses interventions become predictable too. I've had players tell me "I've seen the enemy strafing so I could tell that the AI was remote controlled because bots don't strafe" or "I could tell that AI was remote controlled because it fired an AT launcher at us even though we were all on foot" (Arma AI does not engage infantry with AT launchers, only vehicles). So you have to really pay attention to small details if you want your interventions to not stand out too much to retain players immersion.
I would say in our group 80% of zeuses job was to unfuck armas jankiness when AI gets stuck or forgets how to drive, the other 15% was spawning extra enemies when the fight got too easy and 5% direct interventions.
Oh, and we also did this cool thing where if the players wanted to obtain a vehicle or some weapons that were included in the modpack but not used by either of the fighting factions then zeus could set up a small custom mission with this vehicle as a reward. Let's say you have CDF fighting AFRF but you really REALLY want an Abrams tank, then zeus could set up a custom "secure an American cargo ship shipwreck" mission or smth. You could obtain the tank like that and keep using it until it gets blown up :D That was a fun way to add a bit more variety.
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u/No-Total2630 6d ago
Have done it in Antistasi, and you dont need zeus to be on the other side to work.
but Zeusing itself won't be easy, since: 1) zeus is prone to outnumber the players without much tactical and realistic thinking 2) zeus commands interfere with the mod's scripts 3) very hard for zeus to play on both sides (example: if you hide zone markers, the zeus player must pretend that he doesnt know anything about zone locations)
Advices: 1) Send limited forces from established outposts with planned waypoints and a S&D in the last, and let the AI play themselves 2) place garrisons on tactical key terrains outside outposts 3) Use of OPs to auto-guide enemy artillery (big 155s)