Fan Mission: The Outpost by angua & greebo (2009/10/17)

[ported]

Fun mission. Somehow (at first), breaking with all traditions of the genre, I thought you were supposed to rambo it...

 

 

So I completely missed the underwater entrance until I was leaving. I thought I had to enter through the main gate, so I jumped up and down in front of the torch across the moat until I was spotted, and immediately ran up to the gate and crouched to the side. The gate opened, and all but one outpost Builder ran out to the torch, allowing me to sneak by and shut the gate on them-- firmly locking them outside. (I had to try this twice because they got me the first time.) Then, I blackjacked the last Builder inside the outpost after he went back to "patrolling". The Bishop upstairs stays unaware of the entire situation.

 

Since one Builder always stayed inside right at the gate, maybe increasing the light level there would prevent this scenario? If I couldn't sneak by him, I wouldn't have made it.

 

 

Naturally, I'm going to play through again as a "real" thief .

[angua]

Thanks for the feedback, I'm happy you guys like it

 

I absolutely could NOT frob the coin stack in the chest with the gold bar.

There is no coin stack in the chest with the gold bar If you mean that object in the upper right, that's a func_static ink pot... If it really does look like a coin stack, it can be replaced with something else or removed in an upgraded version of outpost.

If it only took a week I expect a sequel next week

Possibly not any time soon, since we had our personal "release" in August, which took 9 months. We're currently spending most of our time maintaining this project...

[Baddcog]

Yeah, looked like coins to me (as much as anything). I don't know if anyone else noticed though, I probably wouldn't update just to fix that

 

 

 

[etdarkb]

Yeah... Someone other did noticed those `coins.'

I just played this mission and as other said I think it is really nice, the only annoying part is that you put frobbable non-loot objects in the chests.

Trying to grab the loot and making a noise because you take an hammer and slashed it against the chest sounded an unfair fake-difficulty to me.

 

I also loved the `free', `no kills', `no KO' levels. What kind of thief are you?

I played Master difficulty level, as I like play ghosting.

[SeriousToni]

Can't wait to get my hands on that editor after playing this little piece of mission. Seems to be a bit faster than good old DromEd

[Peldra]

Nice little mission. Old fasion thief play style. Nice!

[LEGION]

Hell, sorry! I forgot to comment this mission, it was the second DarkMod mission I played and I was greatly entertained! After getting into the kitchen I instantly got the good old THIEF-feeling!

 

The optics looked very nice and I enjoyed the readables though I never can have enough. I can´t remember nothing I didn´t liked. Ok, it was very short, but for a one week mission there was nothing to complain.

[nbohr1more]

Loved this mission as well. (And it doesn't kill my poor old Pentium 4...)

[greebo]

I've been asked to add a poll to this topic, so there you go. Given the age of this little mission and the quality of all the missions that came after it I'm almost curious what the results will be.

[Jon Irenicus]

Just finished this on Master difficulty. It's a delightful tiny FM

I especially liked the readable materials, they are very convincing.

And I don't know why, but there's something very enjoyable in robbing from the Builders/Hammerite under their noses!

Thank you angua and greebo. Nice Job! Keep it up.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Jon Irenicus

[Kaaiman]

Even at the end of 2021 this FM is quite enjoyable, although with some years of TDM experience one can notice this is definitely an older mission. I think FM standards have increased over the years.

What I really like about this mission: nice atmosphere, no unrealistic sprawl of lit candles in empty/unused rooms (as many missions tend to have), many movable items (perhaps a bit too many), nice readables, good plot, alternative routes,

Spoiler

and of course the operable main gate!

What I think could be improved: it's totally quiet! Ambient tracks would really add to the gameplay. Also,

Spoiler

there were many empty beds. Overall the place felt a bit too empty. It seemed the outpost priest had a room, but was totally absent (though leaving his candle burning). Poor bishop, left all alone in a remote outpost, and no one to discuss theology with...

At least the priest could just have been sleeping in his own bed...? And where did the (to be) punished cook, the other mentioned 'staff' and the forger hang out this night? Also, on the 2nd floor the clergy had to go to the bathroom in the basement and let the staff fetch water from the put to wash their bodies. I hope the architect of the mentioned new chapel would fix that too!

Then the chest in the forge room: I don't know whether the asset of the metal chest was already available in 2009, but using it would certainly add to the steely atmosphere of the room.

And finally, the number of items available in the shop is very abundant. I think one could easily do with just the initially provided equipment and the arrows that can be found in the mission itself.

So, I would really like to encourage the authors to pick up development and spend just one another week to improve the FM. With the above mentioned improvements, this already great mission would really stand out between other missions of this size!

 

I also found a texture bug on the forge, see attachment.

(Yes, I play on 21:9 (2560x1080) widescreen, which plays perfectly fine when ignoring the stretched menus and readables)

Edited December 27, 2021 by Kaaiman