Octopus Overlords

Door Kickers 2 community map replay, "DISAPPEARING ACT". A simpler community mission, highlighted by the use of a CIA team and taking place at night. One undercover agent has access to most of the house and uses that access to scout out the opposition.

Workshop location: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2893624746

This is another Door Kickers 2 mission using the random map generator with the map size medium and also medium enemies. Mission type is HVT capture. I actually cut the video off at the time the HVT was escorted off the map, because for some reason DK2 wouldn't finish the mission for me till I'd killed the rest of the tangos. Generating code is 0xD5F290B2

In this randomly generated mission, a CIA Squad is tasked to rescue an unknown number of hostages from a house with a yard. The settings for the mission are medium map size and medium number of hostiles. Generation Code 0x376CF652

This is another mission I selected using the Random Workshop Map function in DK2, "NP_In plain sight [NVG]" by Ninja_Prime. It's a good example of how overpowering the use of NVG can be for your troops.

Link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2706100836

Door Kickers 2 | Clearing an apartment using the Fallschirmjaeger Platoon mod

This mission was created with the random mission generator, it is a simple "clear the hostiles" task. The soldiers are from the Fallschirmjäger Platoon mod, available at https://www.nexusmods.com/doorkickers2/mods/165/. There are now several military unit mods available on Nexus and other locations that are in pretty good shape. Right now I have as mods the USMC, US Army, GSG9, KSK and as mentioned the Fallschirmjäger.

Door Kickers 2 | Objective Morning Knife - a randomly generated mission fought with a US Army Squad

This is a randomly generated mission, medium map, medium tangos, "clear the hostiles" mission. For operators I'm using a Nexus mod, US Army Rifle Platoon, found at https://www.nexusmods.com/doorkickers2/mods/108

Also, this is a recording of gameplay, not a cinematic replay. So you can see all the actions a player takes, moving their operators and setting up actions. One soldier was lost, a couple more wounded. It is almost 38 minutes long as I was trying to be careful. I took some time at the beginning to highlight the different soldiers in the squad, their weapons and load out. Also, and forgive me for this, there are some times in the video where nothing seems to be happening, but it's just me thinking about my next move.

I'm posting this to give an idea of how the game is played, rather than those replays I previously posted that only show the "finished product", not the work that went into planned out the mission as it went along.

This is a great little mission downloaded from the Steam Workshop, I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission I. It has some nice touches that demonstrate the quality of the creator IrgenPacer, who has quite a lot of missions (38 at this time) in his DK2 workshop. There's a nice movie reference in the title and the mission objective:


Also he has created the mission in several very interesting ways. One is that the player's two operatives are predefined, you can't swap them out for someone else or alter their weapons. That's quite clever since it allows the map design to be tailored for those operatives. Also it allows some nice flavor to the mission with the "Lethal Weapon" movie reference and characters.


Finally, the cinematic replay. It's pretty short, but I lost several times before I was able to do it cleanly.

Door Kickers 2 | Replay of Steam Workshop mission I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission II by IrgenPacer



This is a video of the cinematic replay of the Steam Workshop mission "I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission II" by IrgenPacer. Lots of fun and a very interesting map with two levels, although only one level is actually playable. Fantastic attention to detail.

Steam Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2841321474
IrgenPacer Workshop page: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/765 ... shopfiles/

When one of your guys takes a few hits, do you switch him back and lead with someone less injured? It's hard to keep track of who's who, but someone definitely took a bullet or two at one point.

TheMix wrote: ↑Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:05 pm When one of your guys takes a few hits, do you switch him back and lead with someone less injured? It's hard to keep track of who's who, but someone definitely took a bullet or two at one point.

Yup, I did swap point and follow positions. Your operative can have three states of health: uninjured, the word "injured" in yellow and then the word "injured" in red. The next state is disabled or dead . Under the hood, each guy has hit points, or health points if you will. As you become injured you lose hit points, but the quantitative value is invisible to the player. Weapons cause different damage and there are various modifier to the "hit" roll, things like cover, armor, etc. But since this isn't XCOM, you just know that they either haven't been hit, are lightly wounded or more seriously wounded. As far as I can tell, wound status doesn't effect abilities; this is somewhat a concession to play-ability but also in the context of a firefight that might only last a minute or two it makes sense.

Interestingly, a couple of the squad mods (different military units) include a medic who has health kits. These restore health to an operative which is clever. On the larger maps, being able to restore health might be important to mission success.

Another interesting item with a couple of the mods. The US Marine and Army mods actually allow you to call in mortar support. I haven't used it in combat yet but it is another clever bit added to the game by the modders.

Door Kickers 2 | Steam Workshop mission I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission III by IrgenPacer, Part 1

This is a video of some gameplay of the Steam Workshop mission "I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission III" by IrgenPacer. Lots of fun and a very interesting map with two levels, quite cleverly done.

This is Part 1 of my playthrough attempts, where I die. That happens a lot.

Steam Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2841321599
IrgenPacer Workshop page: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/765 ... shopfiles/

My one operative is an undercover agent who, depending on loadout, can move covertly around enemies.

There are some items to note in the video. The mission objective at the beginning mentions that I will probably need a thermal torch, so I go to my operative's loadout and select one. Notice carefully that at the bottom of the loadout screen my concealment status changes from "Covert" to "Suspicious". That means that a bad guy, if I get to close to him, will be suspicious of me. That ends up getting me killed.

Also watch carefully when my operative first moves to the right elevator. Look at what the electrician has to say

Door Kickers 2 | Steam Workshop mission I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission III by IrgenPacer, Part 2

This is a video of some more gameplay of the Steam Workshop mission "I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission III" by IrgenPacer. Lots of fun and a very interesting map with two levels, quite cleverly done.

This is Part 2 of my playthrough attempts. Notice the very, very clever way the map creator made the map seem like it has multiple floors.

Steam Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2841321599
IrgenPacer Workshop page: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/765 ... shopfiles/

A bit more explanation. At the beginning you'll notice how I change the loadout of my operative to go back to "Covert" status by removing my frag grenade and body armor. Now my agent can go right past bad guys... almost. When the elevator arrives at the upper floor (very, very cleverly done), you'll notice some rooms have red hash striping. That means even if my agent has "Covert" status, moving into that room will cause any bad guy seeing her there to recognize her as an enemy. If she leaves that room unseen, she will return to "Covert" status. This is an important gameplay tool.

This is a Cinematic Replay video of the Steam Workshop mission "I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission III" by IrgenPacer. Lots of fun and a very interesting map with two levels, quite cleverly done.

Steam Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2841321599
IrgenPacer Workshop page: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/765 ... shopfiles/

So here is the full mission replay, shown in what is called Cinematic mode; no dotted lines or that kind of gameplay stuff, just the fun stuff . All my guys make it out alive, although wounded. The final jump into a pool on the lower level is so cool; many kudos to the created of the level for thinking up those awesome details.

And one more for tonight, this one is really big screen worthy. Steam Workshop mission I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission V by IrgenPacer, Cinematic Replay



This is a Cinematic Replay video of the Steam Workshop mission "I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission V" by IrgenPacer. Another interesting map with two levels, fire, explosions, all quite big movie stuff.

Steam Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2854971651
IrgenPacer Workshop page: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/765 ... shopfiles/

Wait... what happened to mission IV?

Edit: The fire was pretty cool. And "GIBSON!!!!! Noooooo....!!!"

TheMix wrote: ↑Thu Jan 12, 2023 11:27 am Wait... what happened to mission IV?

Edit: The fire was pretty cool. And "GIBSON!!!!! Noooooo....!!!"

IV was a larger mission and it was getting late. Maybe later today...

TheMix wrote: ↑Thu Jan 12, 2023 11:27 am Wait... what happened to mission IV?

Here's your missing mission

Door Kickers 2 | Steam Workshop mission I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission IV by IrgenPacer, Cinematic Replay





This is a Cinematic Replay video of the Steam Workshop mission "I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission IV" by IrgenPacer. Move your four operatives through a dark and scary parking lot and buildings. Find the two missing cops and the "evidence" and then escape.

Apologies for the camera movement which was jerky at times, but the action was happening on both ends of the map.

Steam Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2850805072
IrgenPacer Workshop page: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/765 ... shopfiles/

And the final mission in the series, which doesn't end well

Door Kickers 2 | Steam Workshop mission I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission VI by IrgenPacer, Cinematic Replay



This is a Cinematic Replay video of the Steam Workshop mission "I.P.Gibson&Glover: Lethal Mission VI" by IrgenPacer. Glover has rowed to a fishing boat to rescue Gibson and destroy the terrorist weapons. Sadly, things don't go well.

Steam Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2894193323
IrgenPacer Workshop page: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/765 ... shopfiles/

Doh. And it seemed to be going pretty well up until those last couple exchange.

Door Kickers 2 | Steam Workshop mission Office Politics by  thedefenders23, Cinematic Replay

This is a Cinematic Replay video of the Steam Workshop mission "Office Politics" by  thedefenders23. There are three hostages, lots of tangos and not a lot of options!



Steam Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2572322229
thedefenders23 Workshop page: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/765 ... id=1239080

This is the amazing map of the mission "A shootout downtown" by 业精于勤，荒于嬉 showing the incredible detail that can be found on these maps. This is the biggest, most crowded one I've seen.

Steam Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2626200761

And one more tonight...

Door Kickers 2 | Steam Workshop mission Stronghold Raid No.1 by  RusHeR, Cinematic Replay



This is a Cinematic Replay video of the Steam Workshop mission "Stronghold Raid No.1" by  RusHeR. There are three weapons to sabotage. Sadly, one of the operatives doesn't make it out.

Steam Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2850904913
RusHeR Workshop page: https://steamcommunity.com/id/radomirni ... id=1239080

What killed your guy? Looked like a secondary explosion after your grenade. That sucks. If you'd just waited another second before entering you'd probably have been fine.

TheMix wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 1:38 am What killed your guy? Looked like a secondary explosion after your grenade. That sucks. If you'd just waited another second before entering you'd probably have been fine.

The bad guy inside the room had a suicide vest. If you watch the video closely you see that the grenade explodes and then a moment later as the trooper is starting to enter the room, the vest explodes

Your point about waiting is correct. Unfortunately there's not a "wait one second" command you can put into the order stack, but I could have of course just given him another "Go" command order. I am just in the habit of rushing my guys into a room to take out any tangos while they are still stunned. Which is sometimes a bad habit.

You may have noticed in my videos I've posted that I'm not the most careful player . The game really rewards planning, both in selecting loadouts and planning movement and orders. But still, many missions are designed with traps and I'll end up getting my troopers killed on a few run-throughs before I figure out the best strategy. That's why you'll notice at the beginning of this video that I toss a grenade, it is to a location where sometimes a bad guy is waiting for me to turn the corner. And also, just before I breach the gate, I toss two grenades at two spots where I know bad guys are waiting. Really good players would have positioned their troopers out of any potential lines of fire, then breach the gate and slowly kill the bad guys waiting in ambush. I'm just not that patient

Guessing you don't do super well in XCOM.

TheMix wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 11:08 am Guessing you don't do super well in XCOM.

I save scum a lot

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 1:07 pm

TheMix wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 11:08 am Guessing you don't do super well in XCOM.

I save scum a lot

You are not alone, my friend. You are not alone.

Your great AARs prompted me to buy this a while back, JZ. But I still haven't really dedicated any time to it. What advice would you give a junior Door Kicker looking to start the game?

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 1:47 pm Your great AARs prompted me to buy this a while back, JZ. But I still haven't really dedicated any time to it. What advice would you give a junior Door Kicker looking to start the game?

Be patient!


(In the "do as I say, not as I do" column.)

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 1:47 pm Your great AARs prompted me to buy this a while back, JZ. But I still haven't really dedicated any time to it. What advice would you give a junior Door Kicker looking to start the game?

Since it's been a 150+ hours since I've started this game I'm trying to remember... but the first missions you'll want to try are in the "FNGs Welcome" area of the Missions, found by clicking "Missions" from the main screen and then scrolling the left-hand column till you see that category. There are seven missions there and all are pretty small but introduce the mission types. I seem to recall that the first time you play these missions you get to see the little tutorial videos that are available in the game. However, in case I'm wrong, you can find those videos from the main screen. On the main menu screen there is a "?" down in the right hand corner. Mousing over the question mark displays "How do I play this game?!". Click that and you'll be able to view a number of small videos that guide you through how to play the game.

Alternatively, if you just want to get some playing in to work on your techniques, go to the "Mission Generator". It is also found through the "Mission" selection from the main screen and then scroll to the bottom. For your initial runs, use the settings I've selected in the image below:

This will give you the simplest missions to try and since they are randomized you can keep doing it and see new maps each time.

As far as Steam Guides, I can recommend "Door Kickers 2 - Door Kicking For Dummies". It is a little out of date but has great info on how to do certain things that aren't obvious from the tutorial videos.

And this image is something that every DK2 player uses constantly:


And here are my settings, top image below. An important one is near the top left, "Colored plans". This makes sure that each trooper has their own unique color path, essential for seeing who is doing what. And the bottom half of the right column are the key bindings. If you click the "Change" button you'll see the bottom image. At the top right of that screen are the numbers "1" and "2", "1" being the default layout and "2" changes the layout to have the camera pan keys be WASD and the Go Codes 1234. I use that since I'm very used to WASD for camera movement.




I think all this should get you started. Please post any questions you may have. And like any game, the best way to learn is to try it over and over. The missions are set up nicely this way as they have a restart option if you select Esc.

Wow, once again you go above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks!

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 3:25 pm Wow, once again you go above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks!

Always happy to help! And now, something (almost) completely different... CIA gamplay

Door Kickers 2 | Example of CIA gameplay from mission Death Dealers

I'm posting this video to show an example of the gameplay using the CIA Squad. The undercover mechanics are very clever in DK2, allowing agents to hide in plain sight. As can be seen in the video, things don't go as smoothly as initially planned, but Fergie comes through and saves the mission... so far.

Some explanation. There is a cool mechanic in DK2, Concealment. At the bottom of the image below you can see the rating scale labeled Concealment. Depending on the equipment your agent carries (and the clothes they are wearing), the scale can go from not-concealed to Suspicious to Covert. In the example the agent's concealment is rated suspicious, he might slip by if seen at a distance, but if seen closer it will be obvious to a bad guy that he is an enemy. What you want is to be Covert, so well concealed that you can walk right past a bad guy and he won't give you another look.


In the image below the team is demonstrating how to be hidden . See those blue "eye with a slash through it" symbols next to my three agents? That means they are fully concealed, in Covert mode. Any enemy walking into the room wouldn't give them a second thought. Also in the image is something else important. See that yellow staining on the floor? If an agent was standing in one of those yellow areas, their status would go from Covert to Suspicious and the eye would change to a yellow color. Any bad guys walking into the room would immediately become suspicious of the agent and after a moment or two hesitation, would open fire. Obviously the fact that an agent can stand on the only non-yellow area in the room and somehow be considered non-suspicious is a bit gamey , but it works with the other game mechanics.


Finally the gameplay video. In this mission two undercover agents start off in a room in a middle of a complex where there are some weapons to sabotage. They are unsuspected (in Covert mode) so they move to be able to cover the room and open fire. That other agent is "Fergie". She appears in the occasional mission in DK2, in deep undercover mode. She's always lightly armed but she's a wizard at combat.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention, when you are in Suspicious mode, due to standing in yellow stain or doing something you shouldn't be doing, it is possible to go back into Covert mode by moving to a non-yellow area and after a couple of seconds you'll revert to Covert again.

And here's the completed mission shown in cinematic mode. The mission is successful, but I lose an agent.

Door Kickers 2 | Mission Death Dealers, Cinematic Gameplay

Two agents have infiltrated a terrorist base to destroy some weapons. They meet deep undercover agent Fergie and are able to complete their mission, but only two survive.

Sure, being careful is important, but sometimes you just want to blow stuff up

Two undercover CIA agents rescue three hostages

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 13, 2023 7:37 pm Sure, being careful is important, but sometimes you just want to blow stuff up

<snip>

I laughed. Well played.

Door Kickers 2 | Tough Hostage Rescue Operation Laughing Coin, using the Mission Generator, 1st try

I used the Mission Generator to create a mission with medium hostiles, medium sized map and hostage rescue. It was very challenging. Code was 0xA040B8C5

If you wish to recreate the mission, use the above settings in the Mission Generator.

The settings in the Mission Generator look just like this. It is important to get the code correct, best way is to copy and paste.

Door Kickers 2 | Tough Hostage Rescue Operation Laughing Coin, using the Mission Generator, 2nd try

I used the Mission Generator to create a mission with medium hostiles (3 of 5), medium sized map (4-7) and hostage rescue. It was very challenging. Code was 0xA040B8C5

This is the second attempt at the mission. The first cost three of four troopers but got both hostages out. In this one all four troopers survived but one of the hostages died. I cut off the replay after the hostage was rescued as nothing much happened after that.

If you wish to recreate the mission, use the above settings in the Mission Generator.

As in the previous post, use those settings. I made it a point this time to get more of my troopers out alive, but I was a wee bit late rescuing one of the hostages.

Door Kickers 2 | Operation Laughing Coin, a closer look at the initial planning

I used the Mission Generator to create a mission with medium hostiles (3 of 5), medium sized map (4-7) and hostage rescue. It was very challenging. Code was 0xA040B8C5

If you wish to recreate the mission, use the above settings in the Mission Generator.

This is a close up look at the initial planning for the mission. The idea was to drop smoke to cover movement, blow the gate and rush to the window to kill the executioner before he could carry out his assignment.

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 14, 2023 12:20 am

Door Kickers 2 | Tough Hostage Rescue Operation Laughing Coin, using the Mission Generator, 1st try

I used the Mission Generator to create a mission with medium hostiles, medium sized map and hostage rescue. It was very challenging. Code was 0xA040B8C5

If you wish to recreate the mission, use the above settings in the Mission Generator.

<snip>

Ouch. So much for patience, huh?

I guess you missed that first door opening? I didn't think it would go well when you advanced the soldier and turned his back on the open door.