As long as you have the framework setup properly, there really is no wrong or right way to make a mission. It's all going to hinge on whether you guys are having fun.

I've been working on a Clafghan insurgency for a couple weeks-ish now, and I'm finding so far the obj placement modules are doing a pretty good job populating the map. One thing I'd recommend is turning on the random camps option in the Military Objective module for the insurgents so your guys have plenty of chances to see combat out in the vast hills. On anything higher than the low setting, overall objectives ramp up a lot, so for performance, I'd keep it at low and then maybe handcraft additional ones and place them yourself to fill in the gaps if you're not happy with the density. If you do that by making some of your own, stick a custom objective module over those camps and the enemy commander will pick them up.

I'd also make sure you have some helicopters available for some of your squad mates to fly because walking those hills are treacherous. Maybe even consider adding Advanced Rappelling by Duda so you can fast rope out and not worry about needing to land.

The map CLA CLAFGHAN has just been reindexed and will be included in the next ALiVE release (it's by author Nremik and I'd really recommend using that version which is on the Steam Workshop, and probably Armaholic). I can link you the new index, but considering ALiVE is unplayable now with the new CBA update, I'd assume an official ALiVE update is coming and that will include the index for the map.

EDIT: Looks like the next CBA update will fix the problem. Give me a sec and I'll link you the new index.

Unzip this folder and inside, you'll see a folder called x

Place the x folder inside your mission folder. Though remember to remove it once the next ALiVE update comes.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qlv0tx6bklatax7/clafghan.zip?dl=0

@Mannulus We're using CLA Clafghan and it seems to be working great. I currently have the camps at low but I might change it to medium.

Just be advised, putting camps above low will immediately bring you over the warning number for objectives. Offhand, I think going from low to medium will net about 30-40 new objs which you may want to avoid since you specifically asked about performance.

Since you plan on playing with a lot of people, and a lot of people in different areas of the map, balancing population versus performance will be tricky. But stick with it and you'll find a good balance.

For military objective placement, the camps might be populated regardless of the module settings. If not, just limit the module to huge objectives only, and then blacklist any of the objectives it might catch.

@Mannulus Thanks a lot! I currently have the civ placement on Objectives only (I got a few prespawned Installations to start creating insurgents). Regarding the military objective, can I set this to just spawn units so that camps are autocreated with troops or should I keep that Objectives only as well?

Yep you sure can. Either way will work, really. I use both options off and on depending on what I'm after. Putting the obj modules to "place units" will place all the units around the objectives for you. I *usually* prefer this when possible to keep things simple, but sometimes I definitely do make it "objectives only" and let the commander decide which units to send to where. I guess it depends on how quickly I want to get into the action.

In the mission I'm working on on Clafghan, for the civ obj module, I originally started with using "objectives only," and then manually placing and virtualizing some enemies in the towns, but some of the cities are really big and to populate them, I was basically placing as many as the module would spawn by itself. So to avoid some of these big cities being empty on mission start, I went back to using the "place units" option and it looks pretty good.

But that said, in missions where I place a big emphasis on a slow pace, interrogating civs and not having constant contact, I definitely tend to just place "objectives only." Either way is a good way it just comes down to what you're after and how quickly you're after it, if that makes sense.

We're playing my mission RESTREPO on our server as we speak.

Some tips I would give for Clafghan....

1. Go with High or extreme Civ population as the settlements are sparse so when you DO get to one, you will have plenty of civs to speak to and plenty of civs for insurgents to recruit.

2. Because about 80% of the map is unpopulated mountain terrain....I spent a great deal of time setting up custom mountain camps for the taliban (insurgents). Then I placed custom objective modules at those locations so the OPFOR Commander would know to protect and secure those camps. Also...if you add sheds or other buildings at these locations..the OPFOR commander WILL create IED factories, HQs, etc at those locations. So you can add many more Assymetric objectives than just in the towns.

Plus...you can get some epic firefights in these mountain ranges. So there's a bonus.

3. My philosophy on just about every Insurgency I make is that I make the BLUFOR Commander synced to a Military obj module and a Civ Obj Module but only for larger objectives.

I make the Assymetric Commander module synced to a Civ Obj Module with no filters and NO Military modules.

The reason I have this set up is because with ALiVE, I found that syncing an Assymetric commander to a military module eventually had unrealistic IED factories, etc. set up INSIDE my bases, which was an immersion killer. The taliban aren't gonna have weapon caches in the barracks of Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan..ever. Also...I prefer to keep the insurgency within settlements and not attacking fortified bases with well armed and trained soldiers.

4. Vehicle spawners-I'm starting to become a scrooge when it comes to vehicle spawners for several reasons.

a. Players on my server are starting to neglect the logistics vehicles I placed in the camps and instead..are using vehicles as "disposable objects" that they drive to a location..then abandon on the battlefield.

b. If you have 2 Helicopters and 2 MRAPs..and that's it...versus an unlimited supply..suddenly your entire strategy changes in how you approach using them.

Also...I'd recommend setting friendly reinforcements at 500 or higher for a persistent campaign. I set ours to 200..and after 2 weeks of sessions in this campaign...we are now completely out of logistics reinforcements. The Taliban have been kicking our ass.

a. Players on my server are starting to neglect the logistics vehicles I placed in the camps and instead..are using vehicles as "disposable objects" that they drive to a location..then abandon on the battlefield.

Is Woody still playing with you guys? He was always really good at cleaning up everyone else's abandoned vehicle messes lol.

You can (and should) blacklist your bases (and/or bases or places you don't want units to spawn in) in the enemy mil/civ obj modules. And others too, like civ placement, etc.

Place markers around the bases you don't want them spawning inside. Name the markers. Then put those marker names in the blacklist lines of the modules, separating them by a comma and no spaces.

Example:

Blacklist line: Base1,Base2,Base3

Another insurgency tip I would share would be that IMO, the default values in the Assymetric Commander module for simultaneous attack objs (10) and min civ recruit (2) cause the insurgency to grow too fast.

Depending on what I'm after, for simultaneous objs I like 4 or 5 and for min civs I like between 4-8(ish). My personal opinion is that not adjusting these makes things get out of hand extremely quickly and the insurgents will repopulate like freaking bunnies with civ recruitment centers all over the place. You'll need to do some testing by debugging to find a good balance but I would absolutely recommend you tinker with these two settings, and also civ hostility and preplaced installations for the icing on the cake as well.

I think I placed all of my camps in the 50 priority level and I made their size about 20-30ish so units didn't patrol too far away from the camps.

@Mannulus Do you put any infantry groups there using the Custom Module or leave it as an objective only?

I personally use both options, depending on how many units are already on the map without the cust obj. Generally speaking, if I go to the trouble to hand craft a compound or a camp, I usually also want it to 100% have enemies there but if the mission feels good without them, keeping it obj only will give the place a "random" element. Maybe it'll have units, maybe it won't.

Either are good choices. The important thing is that an objective is there.