QueueP Posted July 2, 2018 Report Share Posted July 2, 2018 (edited) A GUIDE ON HOW TO ZEUS or STORYTELLING AND YOU The initial tip I want to give any budding Zeus is to co-Zeus with a more experienced member of the community before undertaking an actual mission. I also highly advise reading this guide then playing around in the Editor for a while. FOREWORD Something that is extremely important to note in all gaming and other forms of activities/media that you participate in with others is the RULE OF FUN (alt. the RULE OF COOL) reigns supreme. If your personal fun weighs heavier than others’ then you should not try to Zeus, period. This does not mean that what some feel are anathema to what they find fun that you should not Zeus, however, because people are different and there are different forms of fun. They can just choose not to join in if they find the mission you’re making/assets they want are not in the mission.Another VERY important facet of Zeusing is the storytelling aspect. You are a storyteller, the Master of Games if you will. You control the flow and the general feel of the mission. A well set up mission will feel a lot smoother and controlled than a slap-dash half-assed attempt at setting a mission up.If you are going for boring and slow i.e. Generation Kill and then thrust the players straight into action suddenly then that is your prerogative. However, if you then overshoot on the boring and slow and completely overwhelm the players when they’re supposed to see action they will not like it. That’s where balance comes in. Balancing your game is almost impossible when you start out, as well as the difference between a few and a lot of players. This is something that will come with experience, but it’s better to err on the side of caution than to completely overwhelm the players in all aspects.1.0 BASICS Anyone can use the Zeus tool. Literally anyone. However, to become an adept game-master or storyteller you’ll need a few more tools in your kitbag and I will explain the basics below. 1.1 Concept The first thing you’ll need to figure out before you venture into the deep end that is Zeusing will need a concept – an idea for the mission. There are several types of missions, but the most common ones are ‘seize and hold’, ‘search and destroy’ and ‘search and rescue’ with variations therein. I will give a short list of interesting mission ideas that you can try out with your first few missions that are basic enough for even QueueP to understand. · Search and destroy – find something that needs to be destroyed. This something can be a person, a building, a goat or anything else you find interesting. Examples include: a High Value Target (HVT), an informant that needs to be silenced, a supply cache that need to be destroyed, a friendly asset currently controlled by the enemy. · Search and rescue – find a friendly force or Very Important Person (VIP) and rescue them from whatever predicament they find themselves in. Examples include: stuck under fire, captured, wounded and stuck, lost in the wild, taken hostage by another unrelated faction. · Seize and hold – take control of something and hold that thing. Examples include: take and hold a town, hold a Forward Operating Base (FOB), hold off enemies until reinforcements arrive. These concepts can be used in combinations with each other. Concept example: X-ROADS: You are to take and hold (SaH) Feyd al-Abr in the southern region of Fakeistan. Within that town there is at least one known enemy leader (SaD) that need to be killed. He was last seen in the northern part of town. 1.2 Enemy and friendly forces Get an idea of which side the players will be on (OPFOR / BLUFOR / INDFOR) and who they will be facing. Something that can be included under this topic is also friendly forces, for example allies in the field. Have a basic idea of what the enemy and their assets will be within the mission, for example militia or regular forces. This will need to be balanced in relation to the friendly forces’ assets. More on that later. Enemy assets also include any kind of strongholds, strong points, known roadblocks and/or mines. You will also, often, brief them on air and/or ground assets such as helicopters, fixed wing and armor. Enemy example: X-ROADS: The enemy forces will consist of a mix of Islamic militants and Russian scouts. They will work together to hinder your attempts to seize the town and kill the leader. They will have up to BTRs (an armored vehicle) in ways of armor and the roads will be mined with IEDs (improvised explosive devices). You will be acting on your own. There will not be any suicide-bombers. They will not have any air assets. 1.3 Difficulty Something that also need to be considered is how difficult you want the mission to be. If you have Zeused a lot of missions and know exactly how hard a mission will be you obviously won’t need this section, but if you haven’t then a good idea is to start calmly and ramp up equally slow. A difficult mission is fun whereas an impossible one is not. This is a case-to-case basis, obviously. Difficulty example: You have two squads (around 12 people) and have briefed them up to but not including the heavy armor you are going to send at them. This means that there is a facet of the mission they are yet unaware of. This can be used to spice up a mission which can make an easy mission into a challenging and rewarding one if used correctly! However, if it’s used when they have armed themselves only to fight cars and trucks and a main battle tank (MBT) rolls over the hill they will have a hard time dealing with it. This can then anger the player(s). 1.4 Other important details Other important details include civilians in the area and any other details that you feel need to be included (for example storms, important weather and other important events) and the Rules of Engagement (RoE). Detail example: X-ROADS: The area is littered with old mines that aren’t marked, so be careful. There will be civilians in the area, so you’ll have to be careful as you pass through the towns on your way there. ROE will be orange until further notice. [Quick guide to RoE – green: fire at will, orange: fire only when fired upon, red: don’t fire, regardless] After you have decided these things you will need to mark the objectives on the map using something called map markers. They will also be explained further below, but they are marked accordingly in the map marker module. When you have decided upon these things, not before, you go to briefing. 2.0 BRIEFING During the briefing you will gather all the command elements of the platoon. During off-hours this will usually only consist of a couple of squads and maybe an additional asset. During a main mission it will most likely include a platoon HQ (headquarters), Forward Air Controller (FAC), Radio Telephone Operator (RTO) and other details from PLTHQ as well as squad leaders (SLs) and asset commanders. Those are a lot of moving parts and gears and therefore you should be prepared for the questions that will arise. The way to give a good briefing is to be concise, informative and open to questions (CIO). I have given examples above of what a briefing can sound like, but I will write it out in full below. X-ROADS: You are to take and hold (SaH) Feyd al-Abr in the southern region of Fakeistan. Within that town there is at least one known enemy leader (SaD) that need to be killed. He was last seen in the northern part of town. The enemy forces will consist of a mix of Islamic militants and Russian scouts. They will work together to hinder your attempts to seize the town and kill the leader. They will have up to BTRs (an armored vehicle) in ways of armor and the roads will be mined with IEDs (improvised explosive devices). You will be acting on your own. There will not be any suicide-bombers. There will not be any air assets. The area is littered with old mines that aren’t marked, so be careful. There will be civilians in the area, so you’ll have to be careful as you pass through the towns on your way there. ROE will be orange until further notice. The objectives have been marked on your map. Any questions? After you have answered any questions the Setting Up phase begins. It can already have begun and when you get more experienced the phase will be set up quicker and quicker each time. 3.0 SETTING UP Here begins the bane of many a good mission idea! Setting up a mission can and should take time until you learn what your strengths and weaknesses are. You need not, however, set up the mission in its entirety. The opposite is true where you should instead take your time and plan where to set up your mission. Make sure to, even here, plan and have at least formative idea of where you want your units to be placed. This is something that even the most experienced Zeus still has trouble with, mind, so this is not something that you can become an expert at immediately. In your first mission you are highly advised to use the Zeus tools available to you to place and move units around and not experiment too much during the mission until you feel more acquainted with the tools. TIP 1: Place units that will lead to initial contact first so that the mission may begin faster. Be cautioned however that if the map is flat enough the players may see what you are spawning in. This is a no-no! TIP 2: Make sure to place all of your fortifications and/or a placeholder for where you want them before the mission begins so you may set them up quicker, for example roadblocks or barricades. TIP 3: Make sure to, when spawning in reinforcements, spawn them where the players can’t see, regardless if you use the Reinforcements module or not. It breaks immersion! 3.1 Bases and fortifications As anyone knows who has played a Zeus mission the enemy have a lot of various places to be, garrison and fire out of. If you do not intend to use already placed bases and houses (advised, by the way) you can spawn in your own. They can be found under Groups > Empty and then under the various titles, such as Military. A tip is to play aroundwith these tools in the Editor to get a basic idea of what kind of fortifications there are! There are too many to list. Here is a link on how to set up Zeus in the Editor by Tomo. https://www.fuckknows.eu/forums/topic/4740-setting-up-zeus-in-the-editor-video/ TIP: Using the pre-built fortifications and buildings is highly advised when placing custom buildings. An example would be under Military and then Fortifications & bunkers and then looking around to find one you like. You can also spawn one in and then change how it looks/deleting certain items so it fits your idea of what it should look like. 3.2 Placing units When placing a unit, it will automatically spawn closest to your cursor. They can be placed from the map-screen (M) and from direct view. When they are placed from the map they can however get stuck on and in things, so it is advised to place them in direct view to start with. You can either place Units or Groups. Units are individual entities of whatever thing you want to spawn, for example a single armored vehicle or soldier. Groups are instead several of these entities at one time, for example a squad or a host of vehicles. 3.3 Starting the mission Starting the mission is as simple as placing down the module Create a teleporter (found under Player, not Players - confusing, I know). You need to place at least two, one at spawn and one where you/they want to start. When spawning in new teleporters they will all be tied in to the same network meaning that any more you spawn will just be added to that network. If you remove one of the teleporters the players will not be able to teleport to that area any more. Example: The players want to start outside Feyr al-Abr to the north, about two kilometers away. The Zeus then spawns in a teleporter both at spawn and names it thus as well as the start and names it thus, so the players know where to go. They will be named Alpha and Bravo (… and Charlie and Delta and so on) unless altered. It is highly advised to change their names to clarify where they go. 3.4 Simple tips Units and groups When selecting a single unit click at the icon at the base of that unit. When selecting a group click the rectangle above it (even single units have been assigned a group). If you click a unit you can alter its individual stance and other options best experienced in-game and if you click the rectangle above them (group marker) you will have another host of options. These can be used to alter the combat state of the group from Careless all the way to Stealth, their Mode of Attack (for example Hold fire or Engage at will) as well as their movement speed from Limited to Fast. Waypoints When you have sent your units or groups toward an area you can double-click the waypoint itself to change their behavior when they arrive at that waypoint. If you have made a waypoint close to a building where they last had reports of where the players where you can change the mode from Move (the basic mode) to Search building and they will do just that when they arrive at the waypoint. This is also true when assigning multiple waypoints (see below). TIP: To get a patrol to look relaxed and calm put the unit on Safe (lowers their weapons) as well as the speed to Limited (makes them walk). This will, however, make them react slower to enemy contact (usually intentional by the Zeus). Searching for placeable entities/items In all folders a search table can be found at the top. Use it! However, you need to know the name of whatever you are looking for. If you do not you can always just type the first letter and then scroll down the list until you find it. Setting up an Arsenal outside of the start area Any and all objects that are placed can be assigned to become an Arsenal, however it is advised to go into the Singular items, then search for ‘Supply’ in the Empty tab. This is what is used in spawn and players will usually recognize this as the Arsenal. You can then find Add Full Arsenal by either searching or finding it under the appropriate tab. There are two options, either works. Click the object you want to make an Arsenal and the players will then have to access the arsenal by using Ace Interact. After this is done you can usually remove the arsenal (so as to not be abused by those pesky players!). 3.5 Keybinds Double-clicking a unit > Opens up a bunch of options, for example the Arsenal for that unit. This can be done to several units if marked at the same time (for example changing their stance or their loadouts). CAUTION: If you mark players at the same time they too will be altered (for example their arsenal equipment and loadout). TIP: You can also damage individual parts of units, both vehicles and infantry. This can be used to enhance certain situations for example damaging the avionics of a helicopter or the tail rotor for special events in a mission! G > Get AI to exit a vehicle or turret (instantly!). Even drivers and/or loaded civilians will exit the vehicle. End > Kill a placed unit (any) or group (all). CAUTION: Vehicles explode. Del > Deletes a placed unit or group if you’ve marked the group marker (all units will be highlighted). L CTRL + C and L CTRL + V > Copies and then pastes all placeable entities (anything, really, that you can click on as a Zeus) excluding players. Examples include units, groups, fortifications, single pieces of clothing, items and basically everything in the game. Hold L Shift and click/hold L M Btn and drag > Changes the facing of a placed entity. Hold L CTRL and click/drag to other entities > Joins entities into a larger group. Hold L CTRL, click a single unit and drag with L M Btn away from other entities > Makes that unit leave its group. Hold L SHIFT, click a group and drag with L M Btn away from other entities > Makes the group disband leaving single units. Double-clicking a waypoint > Opens up a host of various actions that can be taken when arriving at that waypoint, for example: Search and destroy or Search a building. Hold L CTRL then right-click > Assigns more than one waypoint. Shows a +-symbol when holding L CTRL. Hold L CTRL and L ALT then right-click > Closes the loop/waypoints into a patrol. Overwrites VCOM parameters (they will always move in the patrol pattern). Shows a rotational-symbol when holding both buttons. 4.0 CONTROLLING THE UNITS 4.1 Easy controls made hard or controlling infantry Now you’ve made it so far and hopefully have learned at least bits and pieces! Here comes the controlling of units that can make the mission both ten times better and worse. By directly controlling a unit (usually CTRL+L Mbtn or using the Zeus module) you basically turn yourself into that individual with all their loadout like any other time you’ve been in a mission. TIP: You can also alter their loadouts if you double-click the unit which opens up a menu and then clicking ‘Arsenal’. This will load the arsenal and you can mix and match just as usual. This can be used very effectively to, for example, make the players aware that an attack is coming from an unknown angle by firing close to them or at them, generally. This will usually alert them to the danger, but sometimes it does not. Staggering the threat ever upward is fine, for example missing first, then hitting closer and closer and eventually wounding the soldier and then outright killing them if they do not get into cover. This is up to the Zeus in question but is, as with everything else when zeus-ing, a balancing act. 4.2 Controlling armor and other vehicles Seeing as all vehicles in the game have spots, for example driver and gunner, you can also control these individually as a Zeus. By clicking the armored unit or vehicle you will get a few choices in the form of small circles with different symbols - for example driver or gunner. If you then zeus-control one of these (CTRL+L Mbtn or Zeus module) you will then take that AI’s place in that slot. This is usually something you will need to do if a vehicle has got stuck in a rock and you don’t want to just drag it out of there, for any number of reasons, and want to make it look better. You can also control individual gunners or loaders in heavily armored targets and such doing what was written above, for example making players aware of a mounting threat in the form of armor or vehicles. TIP: This can also be done to any and all vehicles, including air, water and land assets. 5.1 MISSION SETTINGS 5.1 Altering the environment, mission parameters and ending a scenario When setting up a mission there are multiple ways to change the general theme of the mission as well as the feel of it. It can be rainy (not advised when you have a lot of players due to lost frames), hard wind, foggy and so on. It can be night-time, dawn, dusk - whatever time you want. You can also change the name of scenarios, do in-game briefings and set up mission objectives (which we don’t do in FK due to immersion problems). 5.2. Changing environmental settings When going in to the modules under Zeus you can find a tab called ‘Environment’. That tab lets you change the weather, time of day, wind speed and many other things. It is advised that you not toy around too much with the advanced weather effects until after you’ve tried them out in the Editor. 5.2. Mission parameters Changing mission parameters is quite easy and can be found in Scenario settings as well as Environment. 5.3 Changing the time Setting the time to night-time will obviously change the darkness level and it is something that most Zeuses still have to fiddle around with to get the actual time they want. Another way to do this is to speed up the time needed in Time Acceleration found under Scenario settings. This will then allow the Zeus to halt the time (x0) or go back to a normal speed (x1) and keep the mission going from there. It can also be used quite effectively in missions where they land during the day but it turns to night during. 5.4 Changing the name Changing the mission name can be also be found under these settings which some Zeuses like to do to enhance the feel of the mission, for example naming them something they find cool. 5.5 Creating intel You can create intel to enhance missions where they need to find information on the whereabouts of a certain thing, person or place (or what have you). This is done by clicking the Create intel option under Scenario flow and then clicking on the ground. This will open up a pop-up menu that is quite easy to follow, but a general tip is to make it either a laptop or a folder. It will then spawn an item that you can manipulate like any other object in the game. Creating intel can be used in a number of ways in a mission, for example to give a position on an HVT or some such, and can be shared only to the person accessing it or to the whole side (all the players on that side). This can be decided in the pop up menu. The actual intel can be a lot of things but it is essentially a text document with information in it that can be accessed by interacting with it by the players. Briefings To make briefings you open up the Briefing-option under the same tab and then name the briefing, for example PRIMARY OBJECTIVE or CAPTURE THE TOWN or something similar. In the information box underneath you can then write what you feel is needed, but a reference would be to use the examples above in Chapter 1. This can be done to speed up briefings if you have prepared the mission beforehand (for example in a Word-document or similar and then copy and paste it into the Briefing’s information box). TIP: This can be used to enhance the feeling of some missions, but can also - according to some - break the immersion in not being told in person. It is at your own discretion! It is also a simple way to remind the players what the objective(s) was (were). Ending a scenario Ending a scenario means that you effectively shut the mission down moving to the ‘debrief screen’. It is here that you choose a new Zeus (during off-hours) or take a small break before the next mission begins (during main hours). There are several ways to end a mission but the most commonly used ones are Mission completed and Mission failed. This option is also found under Scenario settings. 6.0. SEQUENCE OF EVENTS Any and all missions tend to follow a certain sequence of events that most Zeuses should know about so they can prepare accordingly. 6.1. The sequence of events when starting a mission are as follows: Pick a Zeus (usually done in off-hours through a straw poll and main through Zeus requests in the Discord). Zeus picks a concept. Zeus calls out assets and/or special squads. Assets are assigned. Platoon (if any) is assigned. Squad leaders are assigned (the order of medics and/or 2ICs being called out differs usually). Medics are assigned. The rest of the positions in the squad(s) are filled. The game is launched by an Admin, usually the Zeus during off hours. The players then set up their kit as they wait for briefing. This is where some Zeuses already have a plan in their head and start the Setting Up phase (see Chapter 3) by finding places they’d like to use in the mission or even spawning in fortifications and/or placeholders. During this time the objectives are often marked on the map giving Platoon an overview on what it is they are supposed to do during the mission. Platoon (if any) comes up with a plan, otherwise whoever is decided to be in command does, on how to tackle the objectives. Sometimes the Platoon element cannot start this pre-planning process and have to wait for the actual briefing. During this time the Setting Up phase has started in earnest and the players will start to wait for a teleporter (a pole) to start the mission. A briefing is had by the Zeus to the Platoon element as well as the squad leaders (and any asset commanders). After this the planning starts in earnest where Platoon comes up with a plan on how to tackle any and all objectives. After this the various squads are given tasking and once they are done and have no more questions and any mistakes and/or flaws have hopefully been found in the plan the squad leaders brief their squads. The Zeus plants down a teleport pole for the players to go through (this might happen before this, at any time, really - as soon as the Zeus is ready!). The mission begins! Edited July 2, 2018 by QueueP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gditz Posted August 5, 2018 Report Share Posted August 5, 2018 Guide is approved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts