Thanks for your comments and suggestions...

Merry Christmas everyone!
Until 5 January, you can:
>Change the enemy flag to a Christmas Tree
>Add Santa Hats to your squad

>Big change to the QUICK FACTION GUI and the "SELECT LOADOUTS AND SQUAD SIZE" GUI- been meaning to do this for a while, glad to get it off the 'to do' list!
>Added a Glossary

Two new difficulty options:
1) Start with zero VICTORY POINTS instead of the default 50
2) Lose the mission if VICTORY POINTS fall below zero - only for the most masochistic of players

When editing your squad you can now add the following Heroes to your support:
>Space Marine melee
>Chaos Space Marine melee
>Alien Queen
>Design your own melee unit (give them a lightsaber to make them a Jedi or Sith)

And add the following Heroes to the enemy side:
>Space Marine melee
>Chaos Space Marine melee
>Abomination (from JM's Effect)
>Design your own melee unit (give them a lightsaber to make them a Jedi or Sith)

>Fixed that you were not rewarded for killing special forces

I am conscious that IFA 3 is one of my most used mods in the QUICK FACTIONs and it has been hidden in the Workshop for a while now. For those of us lucky enough to have it installed we can still use it, but it is a problem for new players. I am hoping it will come back soon. If it does not, I'll look to remove it as a dependency from the QUICK FACTIONs. I'm hoping it is hidden because they are about to release a CDLC version.... we can all dream!

Just tweaked the image for today's update a little bit

Thanks for your comments and suggestions...

As a big fan of WebKinght's "Improved Melee System" I have added more supporting features:

> To really test your melee skills added Rome and Barbarian QUICK FACTIONs (including civilians). Getting this to work is what made this update take so long!
> Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines QUICK FACTIONs updated to include melee units. I also made changes to units and vehicles to add variety (there are new dependencies though!)
> Jedi and Sith Heroes added to Star Wars QUICK FACTIONs
> "Add Bayonets" added as an option in the "SELECT LOADOUTS AND SQUAD SIZE" menu. It adds bayonets to weapons from Faces Of War, IFA Lite, GLOBAL MOBILIZATION and PRAIRIE FIRE that can take them. These DLC/MODS are all compatible with Improved Melee System.
> Updated the script for killing melee units with conventional weapons (firearms, grenades, bombs etc) to stop the VICTORY POINTs from spamming. Although you'll now get the opposite effect; if you kill multiple units at one time you'll get rewarded once. I think this is better than spamming though.
> Thanks to WebKnight I have included scripts that will reward you with VICTORY POINTS for killing units with melee weapons or fists.
> Because melee kills are pretty hard to pull off you'll get a 5 VICTORY POINT reward when one of your squad makes a successful melee attack.

QUICK FACTIONS:
> Vietnam War US Marines no longer requires a Mod, just CDLC PRAIRIE FIRE
> Added Vietnam War Australian units using CDLCs PRAIRIE FIRE and Western Sahara

In the "SELECT LOADOUTS AND SQUAD SIZE" menu you can now:
>> "Add Gas Mask" - Requires DLC CONTACT, just cosmetic, does not effect gameplay
>> "Add UN Helmet" - Requires CDLC Western Sahara

If you were in a support vehicle and all your squad got killed a new player unit was meant to be created when the support left. However, there was a bug in the script. It's now been fixed.

(On the 25th just changed the image, decided it was not obvious enough the guy in the middle was a pirate. New image is much better)

Thanks for your comments and suggestions...

I have been making THE ASSAULT more compatible with WebKnight's brilliant "Improved Melee System". Already you had the option to add a melee unit, now...

> Option to change all enemy infantry to "Hybrid" Melee Units. Hybrids will sometimes use firearms and sometimes a melee weapon. Does not apply to Independent units.
> QUICK FACTIONs will have bayonets attached to their weapons if they can use them. If you want AI to use bayonets make sure you select AI to use them in the Addons Options
> Melee units are now required for Japan WW2 and all WW1 QUICK FACTIONs
> WH40K units use WebKnight's "IMS: Warhammer" Mod
> Hardest of all! Created a script to give you VICTORY POINTs for killing melee units. It still needs some work as I'm pretty sure it sometimes rewards too many points.

> Western Sahara CDLC QUICK FACTIONs, including civilians

> To make it easier to edit units in the VIRTUAL ARSENAL before deployment, in the final menu added buttons: "Edit Enemy Units", "Edit Independent Units" and "Edit Civilian Units"

> Fixed issue where the game would freeze at the end of support if all your squad are all dead.
> I've been trying to stop the flag at the enemy base from spawning on roads... I think I've fixed it.. hopefully...

I needed to make space in the QUICK FACTIONs menus so I removed Magma Troopers

Ha ha! No sooner had I put this out and a large Improved Melee System update came out! Hopefully it does not break anything here, and I will update QUICK FACTIONs that use it for next time!

Thanks for your comments and suggestions...

> In preparation for Western Sahara I have added "Mali" as a Historical QUICK FACTION. Factions included so far are France, China and Insurgents. China is a bit unrealistic; they are part of the UN forces but their combat troops are limited to base defence. However, I thought it was a rare opportunity to use modern Chinese forces. I have also added Malian civilians.

> A big tidy up of the QUICK FACTIONs menus.
> JM's Effect QUICK FACTIONs: Removed helicopter insertion for 'Alliance', 'Geth' and 'Collectors' and changed them to paratrooper insertion - they actually come down on rocket packs. Changed some Geth to desert camo for a bit of variety.
> I am adding Improved Melee System as a dependency of some QUICK FACTIONs. So far this includes:
> Nassau
> Boer War
> RAVAGE Survivors
> Star Wars requires Lightsabers and Force (which is an addition to Improved Melee System)
> Some Warhammer 40K Factions require Ramiris' Melee (which is an addition to Improved Melee System)

> Fixed a longstanding issue where at the end of providing vehicle support you weren't returned to your original position
> Fixed an error in my script that stopped melee units from spawning properly
> Fixed issue with zombie type units not assaulting your position in the final mission.
> Fixed small issue with "Clear the Area of Enemies" not appearing in the hint box during the mission (it was stuck on "Standby")
> Fixed Nassau civilians sometimes having modern head gear

> If you kill a melee unit you don't get VICTORY POINTs. I'll seek to fix this
> Tried adding Arma 3 Primal, but found the units way too easy to kill. They are cool though. Will have to think if there is a better way to implement them.

Just a small update this week as this is my third update in 10 days! My annual leave ends today though, so the pace of updates will slow down again :(

QUICK FACTIONs
From 'JM's Effect': Systems Alliance, Krogans, Geth, Collectors.

Civilian QUICK FACTIONs:
From 'JM's Effect': Humans, Asaris, Batarians, Salarians, Turians.

I have now used up all the buttons available to me in the BONUS QUICK FACTIONs GUI!! The only way I can add more QUICK FACTIONs is to take some away. With 'Western Sahara' coming out soon I'd like to add factions representing the UN mission in Mali. I might cull some factions to make room, apologies in advance if I remove a favourite.

Melee units and enemy Heroes with melee weapons will now spawn closer to the player so they have a chance of reaching you without being killed! You can turn this off in the Options Menu.

Melee units can come in groups of one, two or three - previously it was just one.

By default, RAVAGE Zombies have extra Hit Points to make them more challenging. If they have decent armour on though it can be very hard to kill them. You can now turn the extra HP off in the Options Menu.

I'm pleased to say I figured out how to stop 'Improved Melee System' from removing the black background during set-up. I'm really happy about this as I want to use 'Improved Melee System' a lot more in the future and it made set-up look really ugly.

Boo! Halloween is here! Here is a monstrous update...

SPECIAL QUICK FACTIONs:
> Mutants faction using 'Devourerking's Necroplague Mutants'.*
> Ravage Zombies*
> Demon faction using 'Zombies and Demons'*
> Husk Zombie faction using JM's Effect*
> Husk Faction using JM's Effect
> Aliens using 'Max_Alien'

*These factions spawn closer to the player than normal enemies.

I've also given Ravage Zombies more hit points to make them more challenging. I wanted to increase HP of zombies from 'Devourerking's Necroplague Mutants' but the Event Handler did not effect them.

HEROES
> Mutants from 'Devourerking's Necroplague Mutants'
> Alien Queen and Alien Predator using 'Max_Alien'
> Predator using 'Max_Predator'
> Jedi and Sith using 'Lightsabers and Force'
> Demon using 'Zombies and Demons'
> Husk Zombie using JM's Effect

New MISSIONS
> Destroy the Hive Mind
> Destroy the Egg (from Aliens)

> Zombies/Aliens/Predators are no longer picked from the 'Options Menu'. Zombies and Aliens are now under BONUS QUICK FACTIONs and the Predator and the Alien Queen and the Alien Predator are now under 'Heroes'.


> Fixed a scripting error when creating enemy troops from 'Legion Base - Stable'

Unfortunately when using 'Devourerking's Necroplague Mutants' and 'Max_Alien' I'd regularly get an error box (black box in the middle of the screen with white text). Once it appears it seem struck there of the rest of the game. It seems to be an error with the Mods, I don't think I can do anything to fix it. It's a shame as it is quite distracting.

Thanks for all your feedback and suggestions and patience for this long delayed update,

*New* SPECIAL QUICK FACTIONs: These are QUICK FACTION's that don't work with the VIRTUAL ARSENAL as they require special scripting. So far I have created (find them under BONUS QUICK FACTIONs):
> 'Space Marines' from WH40K
> 'Chaos Space Marines' from WH40K
> 'Necrons' from WH40K
> 'The Covenant' from Operation TREBUCHET First Contact
> 'Spartan II' from Operation TREBUCHET
> 'Spartan III' from Operation TREBUCHET

QUICK FACTIONs
Updated 'JM's Long Live the Empire' factions and added:
> Lava Troopers
> Magma Troopers
> Death Troopers

Really glad 'Legion Base' is no longer ACE dependent. Have now added:
> Clone Troopers (2 versions)
> Trade Federation
> Mandalorians

> For your post apocalyptic missions: NATO in CBRN (from CONTACT)

> You can now add a melee unit in the 'Side Missions and Extras' menu, requires 'Improved Melee System'.

HEROES
> The Covenant added to Heroes

> I'm ashamed to say the Space Marine scripting issue I identified in the last update was actually down to my script not TIOW2. It's fixed!
> Fixed an issue with Prairie Fire NVA QUICK FACTIONs not loading properly (getting stuck at creating the diver). Thanks to Hanss for identifying the issue.

As always, thanks for your suggestions...

QUICK FACTIONs
> PRAIRIE FIRE Navy Seals + some other QUICK FACTION changes from the latest PF update. Find the Navy Seals in the BONUS QUICK FACTIONs, I'll move them into HISTORICAL QUICK FACTIONs at a later date.

HEROES
> Webknight's excellent Greenskins added to enemy HEROES and included in the QUICK FACTION for Orks. Greenskins are not playable - but are awesome!
> Necron Warrior added to enemy and player HEROES. The Necron Lord added to enemy HEROES, they don't appear to be playable, they crash my game whenever I try to play as them.

SPECIAL FORCES
> Special Forces added as a new Side Mission and added to many QUICK FACTIONs. Special Forces have a high skill level and are hard for your AI squad to see and hear. Only one Special Forces unit will appear at a time.

> In the Game Options menu you can choose to hide side mission markers for greater immersion or to make the game harder.
> Only one Alien Queen will now appear at a time, and killing them gives extra VICTORY POINTS.
> Predator now re-spawns - but only one will appear at a time.
> Fruits asked if there was a way for players to create their own QUICK FACTIONs, sadly I don't think there is. But I wanted to come up with an easy way to re-load your unit designs. Now, in the menus to create your Player and Enemy Squads you'll get the option to Load your last squad. Only uniforms and equipment are loaded though, so:
>> Faces and voices will revert to NATO faces and voices for your squad and CSAT for enemies
>> You'll still have to define insertion methods, support, missions etc

> Something about how WH40K Space Marines and Necrons are scripted means when playing as one your kills are not registered, i.e. it does not recognise that you fired the gun that killed/destroyed the enemy or object. This means you won't get rewarded for kills and some missions where you need to kill or destroy something won't complete properly. Also Space Marine enemy HEROES won't appear as a Side Mission even when you have seen them. The same applies for Chaos Space Marines.
> When playing with Improved Melee System the black background to the opening menus disappears, have no idea why

Thank you for your suggestions.

> Added the option to add Heroes to your Support options. These are individual powerful units. I have scripted in Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Spartan 2s and Spartan 3s. These Heroes are also added to the appropriate QUICK FACTIONS. I picked these units as they have scripting which means they do not work in the VIRTUAL ARSENAL - so would not normally work with THE ASSAULT. I have also added the option to create your own Heroes using the VIRTUAL ARSENAL
> The enemy side can also include Heroes.
> More Heroes will be coming!
> Updated 'JM's Long Live The Empire' factions after his last update.

> When you are in a mortar the hint box (top right corner) will stop appearing as it gets in the way of the Artillery Computer.
> By default support vehicles are now locked (i.e. you can't get out of them), this can be turned off in the Game-Play Options menu.
> When you Teamswitch to different positions in a vehicle you will still be the commander, which means you can direct the vehicle driver where to go.
> Reduced the number of Aliens, play testing showed I had the numbers way too high
> I increased the speed in which your squad are previewed as requested by Trve Kvlt

Fixed a problem that stopped enemies from spawning after a while - still not sure exactly what was causing it though!