0.98.4 is now out, here's the change log:

ai: if a bot carries two sandbags, he no longer creates both of them in a row
campaign: fixed final mission extraction decoration showing early
online: team teddy hunt package added
online: added support for declaring certain factions joinable by clients vs all or one
online: fixed aa emplacement related faction resource change sync issue
vehicles: added rotation_range for non-hidden passengers in a vehicle
vehicles: improved position and orientation smoothening related to sync errors, behaves less snappy now
usability: winter bullet trails made darker to make them more visible
mapview: when entering map view, the squad markers now start updating right from the start
general: fixed script log cleanup
general: added possibility to have layers optionally processed when loading a map; map config can now be used to declare <include_layer name="layer1.koth" /> style inclusions
modding: quick matches can now autostart a script by adding quick_match_entry_script in map_config
modding: added player color data in player XML query
modding: added possibility for an overlay to have package and map specific overloads by mimicking target folder structure, e.g. media/overlays/zombiemod/packages/vanilla/maps/map1/dirt.png
modding: spawn point respawning via map can now be disabled; added allow_spawn_point_selection in match settings

hehe, the zombiemod mention in the map overlay - nothing gets by you on the IRC.

1 minor suggested alteration for the Squad set-up.
It might be nice to have the Player Squad "Tag" reset after you log out.
That way you are "opting-in" to a squad when you first go online.
Helps to keep it more as an actual "Squad" mechanic and not a "Clan" style set-up.
It's a great little mechanic! And I am super happy to see it implemented.
Thanks.

[Edit addition]
Oh, on another semi-related note:
What's going on with the Ai-Squad settings?
Have the guide lines been altered a bit?
When you select "Stealth" now you actually get a few Ai troops to follow, but they are never carrying silenced weapons. Are there intended behavioral changes? Like they are supposed to hold fire until you fire, or are fired upon? Or are these settings simply being adjusted in these final phases and they are just a bit peculiar right now?
The AI Squad-Type settings do definitely seem different since .98

And player request:
Would you consider making the Silenced Pistol available to low level players?
I know these extra things unlock later, but it would be nice for a bit of a "weapons bridge" to allow new low level players to be able to effectively participate in "Stealth Missions". The trade-off being they can't carry grenades or C4, or any alternate 2nd slot load-out stuff. But at least they could come along and not set every thing off with loud guns. It seems like a worth while trade for access to just one simple, short range silenced weapon.

At the very least have the Pistol available to low level players on the new "Final Map", or Boss Map, whatever it's called. It's a really neat idea, but man, new players that don't know what's goin' on and can't get a silenced weapon take a bit of extra grief. And you find yourself running away from them and not helping them.


Also: Engineer/Repair kits?
Is the an official or dominate thread for this conversation? (I know there are concerns of things like spamming repair and "puppy-guarding" the armory. But I'd like to add some ideas or suggestions if it's possible, again.)

That's it, thanks guys! Your games great and I hope it gets more support!

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Not sure which one, remembering the tag or not, is more preferred out of these but you can quickly drop out from the previous squad without going to profile settings by
* saying /part in chat
* clicking on self with LMB with squad modifier held down


AI squad settings haven't changed, apart from the last squad slot now becoming filled properly.

It hasn't been pinpointed why the thing with Stealth config would happen, but it hasn't been noticed to happen in single player so far. Did you had it online? How much XP do you have?


Even if the pistols were available for 0 XP instead of 250 XP, there would be plenty of people not using them.

It's not certain what we will do with the 1st final map in online Invasion ultimately, it could be removed altogether or changed to suit run&gun play style.

A newbie will use the pistols, will most likely alert the enemies because bad cover or stuff, thus he won't have the unalerted state which gives him a 100% kill chance.
If a base is alerted, the suppressed pistols are almost completely useless so that he will get back to a "loud" weapon which might screw up every tactical approach in the 1st boss map.

To the Ai Squad issue that pasik responded to: I play almost exclusively online (Primary SASInvasion, rare-backup InvasionUS). I mainly play on SASInvasion and I am currently rank for 10 AI troops, and this is were I notice the difference in AI followers. I'll try to provide what details I am certain of.

Before:
Stealth setting was "No AI Followers". This is what we selected to ensure no one was following at all. (I know you can do the same by dropping the AI Follow Squad Maximum Number, but Squad Type is faster for switching)

And honestly the other 3 settings (Default, Destroyer, Assault) didn't seem much different from one another. Yet I always assumed it was because it would just switch troops out with others properly equipped to fill the intended rolls for the style of "type" (ie Destroyer more rockets and Assault more Mg's?). I often had the feeling that Default was the mostly likely to allow you a full squad of AI quickly and so used that a lot.

Now:
Stealth gets you a few troops (yet as stated before they are never silenced) usually for me about 3-4.
But I don't notice any major behavioral changes in those selected "stealth" AI.

And Default seems kind of hit or miss for me sometimes. I know it is sometimes just no AI nearby. But I have had games where, no matter what, I just can't seem to get followers. I've actually disconnected and reconnected on occasion to see if that helps. It seemed to. (I'm still "testing" sort of as I play)

Like I said I play almost exclusively on SASInvasion. Ranked for 10 Ai followers. I don't remember the rank name, but I pretty sure I have the silver eagle (wow that sounds super lame and not military'ish) whatever that is. And at the very least Stealth Type seems to certainly behave differently now then it did before.

I don't mean to suggest that the AI squad mechanic is broken at all. Just different than before .98 (or maybe .97? I've been absent for a bit) And was just inquiring if anything had changed over the last few patches in the area of AI Squad Type and behavior.



As to the Silenced Pistol:
Yeah. You got some good points, both of you. I was just trying to think of a way to allow new troops to have a chance to be involved in stealth. But I guess, 250xp isn't that high.
So is it possible for a low ranked new player to USE an MP5SD, it's just they can't actually buy it for themselves?
I guess we could hand out mp5's?

The "Final MAP":
It's a cool idea, don't drop it! You really got something there.
If anything at this point the enemy AI on that map seem SUPER AGGRESIVE and Infinite. They seem to come from every direction, or spawn all around you. I know you guys fixed the Destruction of spawn points, so they DON'T spawn now once we destroy a tower. And that has made a big difference.
Maybe it's just a matter of community knowledge too right now. I see the potential for intense prolonged loud firefights on that map as long as the players stay in a tightly packed group. Really working together.

I was also thinking, maybe just more buildings, alleys, dark spots. Fill in the gaps more with broken cars, old tanks. And more ladders. The aggressive AI can be dealt with, but as what may be a "Stealth Map" more cover would be helpful. Kind of Favela style, just not as densely packed.
It's a really cool concept, just needs some tweaking. Oh and more rocks and maybe broken rock walls in the surrounding open fields. For those of us that set flare out there. There are some really long open stretches of land with absolutely nothing. You can sneak, but that one of those spots that AI seem to come from everywhere and you have nothing to hide behind. (Plus it just feels really barren)

OKAY, shit I'm done. Sorry you know, I save it all up and dump my one big post or two. Then back to playing.
As always, just Discussion and Suggestion, never Demands. Hope it's not entirely incoherent. Thanks again.

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One thing that changed was that the game now remembers your last selected squad config in your (server side) profile. Also someone was saying the configs might be going off-sync between a client and the server. That case had huge XP as well so it could be related to that instead. Could be related to filling of the last squad slot as well; maybe AI now prefers joining a player squad so much it goes off charts when you have lots of XP even if your config would be stating otherwise.

I can relate to this, it would be nicer to get closer to the enemies going from cover to cover.

I think it might be this. I was noticing today some strange sync issues in SASInvasion. Like random deaths, issues with vss not registering hits right. And I know at one point the server seemed to lock up on when it was supposed to load into the "Final Map". But I did notice AI Followers more frequently.

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