How to make characters appear randomly in a mission/scenario?

One of the things that makes SWAT 3 replayable is that not only is suspect and hostage placement randomized, but also the number as well, so no two playthroughs the same.

However, I'm trying to make something like this happen in the scenario editor. Obviously, the cells will make the character placement random but because you know how many you've put, you expect the same number every time. So I was wondering if it's possible to make a scenario that will place certain characters, or a certain number if the game feels like it?

The only way that I can think of to do something like that (without the source code) is to make an app that would generate scenarios with this random element.

You would have to create a bunch of them ahead of your game session though.

Multiplayer or single player?

It already exists in multiplayer. Set hostages and suspects to "R" random.

He means in scenarios.

In Worldcraft of course it is easy to put somewhat random enemy spawn points but can't be done in a "scripted" scenario.   At best like I said an app can be created for scenarios that makes the spawn points random based upon the cells.   If you rendered a bunch of scenarios before going into the game they would seem random to players.

An updated scenario editor would be a good project for someone in Python or Visual Studio.

After thinking about this for a bit the easiest way to do this is an app that would load in an existing scenario that defines all the possible characters that you want to be able to use and then randomize the final number. It would output variations of the same scenario but you would never know how many suspects/hostages there would be.

Why not just use Swat 3's built in Random mission feature? I guess the purpose is to have appropriate characters as chosen by you and with the gear you have chosen for each map setting?  for example: you wouldn't want doctors down in the sewer map.

wrote:

Why not just use Swat 3's built in Random mission feature? I guess the purpose is to have appropriate characters as chosen by you and with the gear you have chosen for each map setting?  for example: you wouldn't want doctors down in the sewer map.
 

Yeah this is what I was talking about. Also, let me give you some examples from the campaign:

When you are to rescue the Foremans, the number of suspects vary. Sometimes, it's 6. At most, it's 8. And they're always wearing black clothes and masks. Also, in the Nightclub, there's a random woman who is sometimes a civilian, and other times a suspect. So, my wish is to have a scenario be restricted to certain characters, but number (if any) is randomized.