Global Operations - October 10th, 2013

Flip

Edit history:

Flip: 2013-10-10 11:02:06 am

2013-09-16 09:06:45 pm

1-Up!

Game Page: Doesn't exist yet

Global Operations (Any %) (Individual Level) (Easy)

Decision: Accept

Congratulations to Carsten 'djcj' Janssen!

Thread title:

Flip

2013-09-16 09:06:46 pm

1-Up!

Run Information

Global Operations (Any %) (Individual Level) (Easy)

Verification Files

http://v.speeddemosarchive.com/GlobalOperations

Please refer to the Verification Guidelines before posting. Verifications are due by Sept. 30, 2013.

Please post your opinions about the run and be certain to conclude your post with a verdict (Accept/Reject). This is not a contest where the majority wins - I will judge each verification on its content. Please keep your verification brief unless you have a good reason otherwise.

After 2 weeks I will read all of the verifications and move this thread to the main verification board and post my verdict.

djcj

2013-09-17 06:39:32 pm

To make sure that verifiers are not confused: the HQ/IQ/LQ/MQ folders still contain the old run of c1m03. The new one is in the folder go_canada_109/.

presjpolk

Edit history:

presjpolk: 2013-09-20 08:00:34 am

2013-09-20 07:59:57 am

HELLO!

OK going to download this one to look at. No verifications yet? Oh I see it's a lot of files Smiley

Thank goodness for wget -r

ktwo

Edit history:

ktwo: 2013-09-23 08:39:52 am

2013-09-21 02:58:34 am

I have no previous experience with this game. It looks very similar to Counterstrike, so it's not that hard to see what's going on for most of the time.

A/V: Good (I watched the HQ-versions, but only skimmed through the videos with a fixed timer)
Legit: Looked good to me (with the usual disclaimer that it's difficult to spot incoherences without having played the game)
Gameplay: The parts that can be verified by me (such as moving efficiently from "point A to point B" or aiming) looked good. Little time (if any) was lost on getting stuck on corners etc. There are also a bunch of things that I can't really comment on if done optimally. Was the waiting around for timed events optimal? Death abuses? Character choices? Equipment? Luck? How to deal with the NPC? etc. I won't list every question I have. There is no point explaining every choice to someone who has never played the game. There is one thing that struck me as odd, however. In c1m10, why did you waste time trying to shoot the guy just below the bridge? He just ran away in the other direction and you were mere seconds away from completing the level anyways.
The run comments mention that a couple of levels are not "runnable". These levels are "protect a room with hostages against waves of enemies until the timer runs down to 0" and similar. I don't know what the precedence is for cases like this, but without any means to speed these levels up, I don't see much point in publishing them as speedruns. Even if that means a sort of incomplete individual level table.

Overall: I recommend accepting all except ~~c1m10 (unless it can be explained why time was spent on shooting the fleeing guy) and~~ c1m05, c2m02, c2m06, c2m07, c2m11 and c2m13 (unless it can be explained that they are sped up in some way).

Edit: I changed the recommendation for c1m10 after explanation from the runner. I have no strong opinion on the levels with a fixed timer. I say it's up to the sda admins to decide if those levels should be accepted as well. At least I have pointed out the issue.

I have no previous experience with this game. It looks very similar to Counterstrike, so it's not that hard to see what's going on for most of the time.

A/V: Good (I watched the HQ-versions, but only skimmed through the videos with a fixed timer)
Legit: Looked good to me (with the usual disclaimer that it's difficult to spot incoherences without having played the game)
Gameplay: The parts that can be verified by me (such as moving efficiently from "point A to point B" or aiming) looked good. Little time (if any) was lost on getting stuck on corners etc. There are also a bunch of things that I can't really comment on if done optimally. Was the waiting around for timed events optimal? Death abuses? Character choices? Equipment? Luck? How to deal with the NPC? etc. I won't list every question I have. There is no point explaining every choice to someone who has never played the game. There is one thing that struck me as odd, however. In c1m10, why did you waste time trying to shoot the guy just below the bridge? He just ran away in the other direction and you were mere seconds away from completing the level anyways.
The run comments mention that a couple of levels are not "runnable". These levels are "protect a room with hostages against waves of enemies until the timer runs down to 0" and similar. I don't know what the precedence is for cases like this, but without any means to speed these levels up, I don't see much point in publishing them as speedruns. Even if that means a sort of incomplete individual level table.

Overall: I recommend accepting all except [s]c1m10 (unless it can be explained why time was spent on shooting the fleeing guy) and[/s] c1m05, c2m02, c2m06, c2m07, c2m11 and c2m13 (unless it can be explained that they are sped up in some way).

Edit: I changed the recommendation for c1m10 after explanation from the runner. I have no strong opinion on the levels with a fixed timer. I say it's up to the sda admins to decide if those levels should be accepted as well. At least I have pointed out the issue.

UraniumAnchor

2013-09-21 09:45:46 am

Not a walrus

For levels you can't speed up: We have Sky Chase on Sonic 2, so it's not like it'd be the first time.

djcj

2013-09-22 06:55:41 pm

Let me explain c1m10: It looks slow, indeed. What you have to do in this level is to activate the engines by pressing four buttons in the engine room of the ship and then press the button in the bridge to aquire control of the ship and win the level. You basically have to wait for the bridge button to turn green and then hold it. You can start to press it sooner, but if the engines aren't completely activated it won't turn green and nothing happens. So what I did was running straight to the bridge and estimate the right moment to press the button. You can see it turned green just about a second before that loading bar turned full. I hope you can understand what I mean. Just to give you a hint, normally my time when running this level was about one minute. You have to rely on your computer controlled team mates so it's quite a bit random.

LotBlind

2013-09-26 09:45:30 am

this could use maybe another verifier, but I'll be watching Skies of Arcadia for another 2 weeks Smiley

NMS

2013-09-26 02:44:23 pm

Ok, I watched all the non-fixed time levels. I'm also not familiar with the game, but it seems reasonably straightforward. The death warps are a little confusing, but I'll take the runner's word that they get him closer to where he needs to be.

Based on the equipment choices, I take it carrying a main gun, like a sniper or assault rifle slows you down? If so the class and weapon selections seemed reasonable for the missions. There were one or two missions where it seemed at least possible to select one of the faster classes rather than commando, but it might require an unreasonable amount of luck to survive and have the AIs cooperate.

Letting the enemy plant or start to disarm the bombs in order to defuse or detonate it immediately was nice. It's too bad the runner wasn't able to get a faster run of 1-11 using this.

Killing off hostages seemed time consuming, especially in 1-7. I guess each team member can only have one hostage following them? In that case, could a different weapon (or grenades) be used to kill them faster? Or could you actually rely on your teammates to rescue some?

While it seems like there might be some minor improvements possible, these runs seem pretty solid overall, so I vote accept.

Ok, I watched all the non-fixed time levels. I'm also not familiar with the game, but it seems reasonably straightforward. The death warps are a little confusing, but I'll take the runner's word that they get him closer to where he needs to be.

Based on the equipment choices, I take it carrying a main gun, like a sniper or assault rifle slows you down? If so the class and weapon selections seemed reasonable for the missions. There were one or two missions where it seemed at least possible to select one of the faster classes rather than commando, but it might require an unreasonable amount of luck to survive and have the AIs cooperate.

Letting the enemy plant or start to disarm the bombs in order to defuse or detonate it immediately was nice. It's too bad the runner wasn't able to get a faster run of 1-11 using this.

Killing off hostages seemed time consuming, especially in 1-7. I guess each team member can only have one hostage following them? In that case, could a different weapon (or grenades) be used to kill them faster? Or could you actually rely on your teammates to rescue some?

While it seems like there might be some minor improvements possible, these runs seem pretty solid overall, so I vote accept.

presjpolk

2013-09-27 01:10:08 pm

HELLO!

OK starting to watch this. Would have liked more level-by-level run comments to know what was going on.

I'm going to assume all that time selecting weapons doesn't count for timing? Seemed slow on a couple levels but if it's not timed then no worries of course.

Was going up the wall in 1-2 intended? It not, good work.

1-4 shooting your own guys? heh.

As for the hostage thing, is the case that the level only ends when all hostages are either rescued or dead, then? If so, 1-7 seems to make sense, though I would agree that not having to knife the last guy would be helpful obviously.

Yeah, I agree it's too bad 1-11 can't or didn't use the defuse trick. Really noticeable once you know what's going on there.

Alrigh tneed to do some work. Will do 2-x later.

djcj

2013-09-28 02:39:55 am

Quote:

Was going up the wall in 1-2 intended?

You mean the part in Chechnya where I was sliding up so I could reach the cave section? That's an exploit, it was not intended by the developers.

presjpolk

2013-09-28 04:53:55 pm

HELLO!

2-8, whatever was supposed to happen there must be pretty slow if killing everyone like that is really better!

Lots of those unrunnable levels in the second set.

To the best of my understanding I can't find any serious issues though. Accept

Warepire

2013-09-30 12:58:32 pm

Heavy Metal Powered

Watched only the HQ version. I am quite familiar with this version of the Lithtech engine which the game internally uses. I have however never played the game.

Video quality: Great
Audio quality: Great
Cheating: None found

(I will only comment on levels where I have something to point out)

This public verification topic makes me wish I knew about the Lithtech engine detail while the run was in the making. It feels kinda evil to bring this stuff up now.

Campaign 1, Antarctica: Can you skip going through the first two buildings by using the slope to the right?
Campaign 1, Sri Lanka: Can you grenade boost over the wall if you put the grenade on the side of the steps? (Other Lithtech engine games allow you to "explosion-boost" your jumps)
Campaign 1, North Africa: Can you use the damaged wall directly to your left to go on top of the first building (and maybe even indirectly get to a floor of the 2nd building that has less hurdles)?
Campaign 2, Antarctica: Same question as Campaign 1.

Even if these suggestions are possible and save time I doubt they will save more than a handful of seconds each , so I don't find them large enough to require rejection.

Verdict: Accept!

Also, have to love that AI:
djcj (with 1 HP left): I need a medic!
AI: No!

Watched only the HQ version. I am quite familiar with this version of the Lithtech engine which the game internally uses. I have however never played the game.

Video quality: Great
Audio quality: Great
Cheating: None found

(I will only comment on levels where I have something to point out)

This public verification topic makes me wish I knew about the Lithtech engine detail while the run was in the making. It feels kinda evil to bring this stuff up now.

Campaign 1, Antarctica: Can you skip going through the first two buildings by using the slope to the right?
Campaign 1, Sri Lanka: Can you grenade boost over the wall if you put the grenade on the side of the steps? (Other Lithtech engine games allow you to "explosion-boost" your jumps)
Campaign 1, North Africa: Can you use the damaged wall directly to your left to go on top of the first building (and maybe even indirectly get to a floor of the 2nd building that has less hurdles)?
Campaign 2, Antarctica: Same question as Campaign 1.

Even if these suggestions are possible and save time I doubt they will save more than a handful of seconds each , so I don't find them large enough to require rejection.

Verdict: Accept!

Also, have to love that AI:
djcj (with 1 HP left): I need a medic!
AI: No!

djcj

2013-10-01 01:51:47 am

@Warepire:
Campaign 1, Antarctica: No.
Campaign 1, Sri Lanka: No, there are no damage boosts in this game.
Campaign 1, North Africa: No.
Campaign 2, Antarctica: No.

Warepire

Edit history:

Warepire: 2013-10-01 08:17:18 am

2013-10-01 08:17:10 am

Heavy Metal Powered

Quote from djcj:

@Warepire:
Campaign 1, Antarctica: No.
Campaign 1, Sri Lanka: No, there are no damage boosts in this game.
Campaign 1, North Africa: No.
Campaign 2, Antarctica: No.

That settles that, I have nothing to object to at all for this run.

Flip

2013-10-10 11:02:18 am

1-Up!

Decision Posted.