OFP-Res.
The one big weakness is the damage model.
As for house-to-house, yeah it sucks with the original game, but that's largely due to some poor config choices with hand grenades (indirecthitrange is _Way_ too high).
By the way, I've been playing with NP2 lately, and it's an impressive improvement gameplay-wise. They boosted dispersion on the weapons, so full squads engage and the bullets fly. The IHR of the grenades, mortar shells and thumpguns is reduced, so you can't clear buildings by popping one on the roof. Plus, if you play with my little shrapnel toys (like claymores), being behind cover (like a bump in terrain, a rock, a building, a body) makes a helluva lot of difference.
THe overall effect is pretty darn cool. When they start shooting at you, you usually have time to take cover before being hit. The whole squad gets on line. Fixed MGs are behind sandbags and far more accurate, making them the long-range threats they should be. I wrote a little mission where a battery of 105s preps LZ-Xray. Right as the last shell splashes, 4 ARA ships pull up, and saturate the edges of the LZ. As they pull off, two waves of 4 hueys come in at treetop, and plop two platoons of Aircav on X-ray in 30 seconds. One platoon secures the LZ, while the other advances towards Chu Pong in echelon left (left being the uphill side). The rightmost element makes contact with the Recon/Security element of the defenses, causing the AI to commit the reserve units. The other AirCav folks attack from on high, while the far group flanks around and tries to take out the position (with pits for a dshk and a 60mm mortar). That mortar's more scary than lethal, but the dshk usually gets about a squad before it's neutralized. As that site is cleared up, the enemy counterattacks on the LZ. Kill them, and the hueys come back in and take everybody home.
The next improvement will be an aircraft pack. They've got a version of the Spad more or less ready, but I need to give them proper napalm (tumbling bombs, fireball, smoke, burning patches, crispy bodies, the works). Since the "whizzing shrapnel through the air" coding necessary for a CBU is already written, I'll probably throw that in too.
Mm.. and I need to do some decent-looking WP anyway....
yeah, OFP/Res's strengths are the size of the battlefields and engagements, and the versatility its scripting/mod system offers us. Its weaknesses are: well, the graphics engine is about a year out of date (and being optimized for long view ranges, doesn't have all the fanciness of the "bandbox" games), the damage system could be better, the AI is optimized for infantry (which means helos and tanks have trouble spotting inf. platoons 1000 m away, and planes have trouble hitting waypoints), and the default infantry units are much better shots than they should be (so the maximum distance a guy with an AK74 will fire at an infantry guy is 250m, but when he fires at that range, he hits). There's not much we can do about the graphics (but I still think they're plenty good), but skillful mission editing can take care of the AI, and NP2 fixes the engagement issues.
It would still be nice to have a grenade that works the way it should (like in the Rainbow Six franchise).
