The Exiles (Co-op Campaign)

[Sirbomber]

Here's something I was working on and forgot about for several years.  Since some people have been asking if there are co-op maps that don't have the Blight, I figured I might as well give out what I have.  Included are 4 mission files, custom maps for the missions that don't use vanilla terrain files, a modified techtree (basically gating off certain techs until later missions, and completely removing Recreation Facilities/Forums since they're worthless anyways), and briefing/story files for each mission (no reading ahead!).  Have fun!

Host "Midas" type games if you want to play these missions.  They're also fully functional in single-player mode, available through the debug menu, but probably not beatable since they're not balanced for solo play.
The story so far:
Basically, the Blight never happened.  The Eden/Plymouth split still took place, but the two colonies remained in contact with each other.  Eden still pursued their terraforming project in secret, but the project became public knowledge before testing had begun due to a leak.  Shortly after this occurred, Chairman Nguyen was found dead in his lab, with all terraforming research data destroyed.  Eden/Plymouth continued to grow and expand, but their relationship was built on distrust and paranoia, and each colony evolved into oppressive regimes at constant war with one another.  You and up to 3 other players are the commanders for a small group of rebels, the eponymous Exiles, fighting back.  Your only hope at survival is staying hidden, playing your enemies against each other, and performing hit-and-run strikes wherever possible.  The fight for your freedom won't be easy.  Are you up to the task?

9/30/2020 Update: New version released containing mission 5, updated versions of missions 1-4, and updated briefing/map files.
10/02/2020 Update: Fixed some multiplayer-only bugs in mission 1 and 3 introduced while refactoring.  That's what I get for only testing a multiplayer game through the single player debug menu...
10/29/2020 Update: Improvements to mission 5, plus OP2 1.4 incompatibility fixes.
12/13/2020 Update: Yet more OP2 1.4 feature creep incompatibility fixes.

[Vagabond]

Sirbomber,

Thanks for posting! I was able to setup a 3 player session and we played through these missions. We beat the first and third mission and lost on the second and fourth. I think we may retry the second and fourth this next weekend. The briefing and missions all seem well done.

We didn't encounter any bugs so far, so that was nice.

The fourth mission was very sneaky with one of the wreckage sites. The AI worked perfectly against us although we will know what to expect next time.

It was also nice we managed to get the game working without Hamachi, just using NetFix. I wonder if someone can drop these missions into the GoG version of Outpost 2 to play? I wanted to test op2ext from GitHub to make sure it is working before incorporating, so we didn't fiddle with the GoG stuff.

-Brett

[Vagabond]

Sirbomber,

Mind if we put these 4 co-op missions into the next release of Outpost 2?

We managed to beat the fourth mission at a later date. Well done. We didn't try the unit only mission again, it is on the docket for a future match again.

-Brett

[Sirbomber]

Be my guest!  Let me know if you have any feedback.  I'm more than willing to adjust the difficulty if you were having problems.  When is the release planned, by the way?  Finding these inspired me to get back to working on them.  I'm working on the AI for mission 5 intermittently.  Depending on when the next update comes out, I might have it ready for inclusion.

[Vagabond]

Do you scale the difficulty based on number of players, or is it constant? For 3 players that have beat the campaign and are knowledgeable but not veteran multiplayer, the difficult was just right. Except the second mission could be made a bit easier. I will try to replay the second mission this weekend if I can get the people that played last time and let you know if it is the same turnout.

I wish there was a way to read the briefings from in game.

Since the game download was pulled, we want to restore as soon as possible via the next release. I guess it depends on how well the testing goes, but I think it could be pretty close.

-Brett

[Sirbomber]

I posted a new update; see the first post in this thread for the download.  The first four missions have had bugs fixed and have been rebalanced so they should be easier if you're not playing with a full 4 players.  Mission 5 is also now available.  Source for the entire campaign so far is available here.

[Vagabond]

We had tried to replay a couple of these missions 2-3 months ago but we couldn't get the internet connection to work. It seems to be a bit iffy when Outpost 2 multiplayer will or will not work. We tried again yesterday and after about 40 minutes got all 3 of us into a match. We tried Mission 5 and were soundly defeated about 4 times in a row in quick succession. The first playthrough or two we were just figuring out the mechanics. After that, one of the three of us would eventually make a mistake with one of our vehicles and the AI would descend on our location and wipe us out.

I think we will have a chance to play again next weekend. Would like to try mission five and two again if it materializes.

Thanks for posting the updates and new mission.