First ArmA demo.

[Red October1984]

The first ArmA looks cool. I just find combat very extremely hard. Any tips for me? Im thinkin about getting this. But i need to be able to play it to buy it. The 'puter wont run Arma 2. I tried the free version. If this was a console game, It would be the best. But this is just way too hard. :timeout:

[Skybird]

Nanny your AI boys carefully.

Always stay low and hidden.

Play stealthy, defensively, engage only at your codnitioons, but then with all your group focussing on one hotspot (overwhelming firepower).

Always stay low and hidden.

Set up ambushes: make them run for you in pursuit, and behind the corner, int he woods, in that trap let your buddies take care of them.

Always stay low and hidden.

I read in another forum some guys' assessment that ArmA is less a big infantry battle simulation with Hollywood-style long lassting firefights, but seemjs to be more representaive for special peraitons and commando-style firefights: short, limited, onesided. That descporitioons matches my experience with it very well.

Always stay low and hidden.

Move slowly, do a lot of scanning, or have one member of your group being a sniper and only scanning atv all direcitons from elevated positions, well-concealed. Give order to that guy to not engage targets.

Always stay low and hidden.

The enemy AI you will find to have some deficits. The hostile platoon not reacting when one of theirs gets dowend. Not reacting to firefights that are quite close to them. Friendly routefinding sometimes messy, or they want to sqeeze themselves into that car, no matter what, despite your orders to not do that, but follow you or sdtay where they are. Some things there are buggy/broken. When the AI starts to kill your nerves, it is time to either play online against humans, or to quit.

And best advise is: always stay low and hidden. Also reload only after having found cover, not whilebeing exposed.

P.S. Best ignore vehicles, their physics are terrible. This is about infantry, and for that it can do a good job. For flying fun, go for a flightsim, for tanks go SBP. Did I already say you should stay low and hidden? Good.

[Red October1984]

Danke Herr Skybird. :D

I have a mission in the very limited demo mission editor thing.

My Humvee has to get to the destination. I have one gunner. When i get there, I get shredded, torn, blown up, destroyed and mangled. :D

I'll try something different. This plays like a better America's Army.

[Skybird]

Danke Herr Skybird. :D

I have a mission in the very limited demo mission editor thing.

My Humvee has to get to the destination. I have one gunner. When i get there, I get shredded, torn, blown up, destroyed and mangled. :D

I'll try something different. This plays like a better America's Army.

Get off that Humvee immediately at mission start, then sneak your way in. No vehicles, never. the game is good fun, but it is best played in Ninya-style, or as lone sniper from long range.

Most people ignore the campaign, it is pretty much pointless to play it.

I used to do my own thing, using the wholoe map, inhabting the settlements with randiomised patorls, and some overland patrols, than marauding the country and use it as my personal Survival Island. I think that way it is used best. I did the same with Flashpoint before. Hours and hours of fun. I spend up to 2 days and nights of gametime out there. Just when you have lewarned the schemes by which the AI manages to fight back, it becomes less interesting sooner or later. And then you will find it easy to run full annihilation missions with just yourslef or with a team of two or three - and will survive, also easily. Many new players just are not used to the lethality of the game, and are comparing it to the kind of shooters they had before. But this is no Unreal Tournament.

A better alternative of course is to switch to Steel Beasts Pro. :D

[Skybird]

American Amazon has ArmA Gold for 8 dollars. For that lil' money you cannot do much wrong.

LINK (http://www.amazon.com/ARMA-Gold-Edition-Pc/dp/B0010B675K/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1343082058&sr=8-4&keywords=arma)

[Red October1984]

I am definetly going to order ArmA. Ive been playing more. I absolutely suck at dismounted combat. I am good at ordering vehicles around. I havent gotten a kill with that shaky M4 Aimpoint. I am going to set up a sniping mission next. This is just the demo, so it's limited.

This is waaayyy more fun than America's Army. :rock:

[Skybird]

I am definetly going to order ArmA. Ive been playing more. I absolutely suck at dismounted combat.

Shoot from a lying position. Get closer. Different weapons have different sights, there are other scopes that are better for shots at longer distances.

Edit missions in editor, or set up your own. You can add ammo and weapon creates so that you can pick your equipement of choice in-game.

Learn to not use vehicles, if you want a better chance for survival or staying undeteced. It is not uncommon in this game that you crawl longer distances. Use the terrain, tress, bushes, to hide behind. Movement also will attract attention - when the enemy is looking at your direction, freeze. Timing helps - at night I have had situations when a patrol passed me so close that I could touch their feet, I had a blacksuit though. Ghillie suits also are great. Silenced weapons. Best in that regard is the MP5SD. Attracts no attention, almost. But only at close distances, and inferior sights (it could not use better ones - in the game -, since it lacks the precision over greater range, also it lacks the push). I recall one night battle when I laid flat in high gras and they were running all over the place, and I waited for opportunities to pick them out one by one with an MP5SD - and when they returned, they stil did not see me.

I personally prefer to always equip my whole team with silcned pistols as an alternative second weapon.

Oh, and if possible aim at heads. That will kill any enemy, no matter his body armour, with one shot.

Alternatively, use the M107. :D

I do not know that demo mission. But if you have a small team to command, do like this immediately: Give them order to hold fire, to go into alert or stealth mode, and make sure they all fall flat to the ground. If there is a medic, tell him to stay back a bit, keep him safe.

Also, give them a "Stop" command, so that you can move around without the whole group following you. In this constellation, thy will reports sigfhtings, but will not enaged as long as they are not getting engaged, and they will fire ionly with silenced weapoins in inventory if the enemy comes too close. Yoiu then can move them either individually, by jumpoing from one guy to the next and move him (my preferred way), that way you can gain superior tactical psoitons for everybody and make sure all zones of interest get coverage and good firing zones. Or you scout with the leader, anbd then order your mates to get to you, or move point them to individual positions on the map (you then have to end that "Stop" Command, alse they still stay frozuen to the ground where they are). If you move other troopers to anothe rplace, then go back to your leader, they will immediately give up that position and get back to you. - As I said, the AI needs to get nannied.

The game has some bugs. When yoiu have a pklatoon and transport them in a vehicle, no matter which one, it can happen that after you disembark you find yourself having lost command and somebody else have taken over. Or that while moving by feet, they suddenly start running for some vehicle two kilometers around to board it, and not listening to your orders. That is another reasons why I avoid vehicle use like the plague. The bug poips up randomloy. Sometimes it does, sometime snot. But when it does, it pretty much ruins the remainder of the mission. Telling this from experiences with huge own scenarios. Maybe it does not happen with standard small scenarios.

The platoons in the game can have up to 12 men (editor!), though the default size is I think 8, and commandos 4. If you have a platoon, make sure you have 1-2 LMGs or MMGs, 1 sniper, 1 medic and 1 -2 guys with silenced weapons. Set them group in ambush, and let those with silenced wepapons open the fight. When the enemy approaches to examine what is going on, have the rest of ther group open fire at the last oney only. Have the sniper distanced from the group, in elevated positions, not shooting, but scanning at all directions. That way he works like a grounded AWACS. :)

Use remote-controlled bombs to sack enemy patrols after you have watched them and decoded their movement pattern.

You see, there is plenty of fun you can have with this game. I am in that phase now that it does not interest me that much anymore (no challenge, AI issues), but it took a long time to bring me there. I used Flashpoint, ArmA, and ArmA2. That's quite a journey.

If the enemy AIU starts to annoy you since it poses no challenge anymore, give your group wepaons only that make noise and are good at closer diatnces only, so that you are forced to approach to closer distances. That raises the challenge and helps to avoid issues with the AI not reacting adequately when getting engaged with an M107 at 1500 meters.

[Red October1984]

Ok. WOW! This is like the "Dangerous Waters of first person shooters" and i couldnt be happier. I always dreamed of a game like this. :D:D:D

The demo, sadly, doesnt let me set up a sniper mission. I would have to equip my single mission guy with a sniper rifle. It wouldnt be a big change, but, my platoon is rolling heavy.

I have 1-3 LMG's
I have 1-3 Riflemen with M4 Aimpoints
I have 2 medics
I have 1 sniper
A couple of these guys have M136 Rocket Launchers

I had to roll in and secure an intersection in a nearby town.

I lost 3 men.

I lost my Humvee in the attack to an RPG. All i had was the 5 ton.

My next objective was to meet up with 2nd platoon. I started to roll out in the 5 ton, but just outside of the first town, there was a lonely BRDM-2 sitting there. I couldnt resist. Now 1st platoon IS truly rolling heavy. I get to 2nd platoon's position, and they have a humvee and an M1A1 Abrams.

I gain all of 2nd platoon. I now have more riflemen and one medic. It brings my number from like 4, to 12.

We roll out. 1st platoon (red team) in the BRDM-2, Green Team (half of 2nd platoon) in the M1A1 Abrams, and Myself and Yellow Team (other half) in the Humvee. We have to go and clear out a small town nearby. We set off rolling heavier than before.


This is where i saved my game. I had to do some work around the house.


Usually, I play it like Rainbow Six Vegas and have my team do stuff for me. But, i really like this game. Is this "Flashpoint" game like it? Ive heard of Operation Flashpoint and played one of them on Xbox.


ArmA is the best! :rock::rock:

[Dowly]

The 2001 Operation Flashpoint is the predecessor of ArmA 1.

[Red October1984]

The 2001 Operation Flashpoint is the predecessor of ArmA 1.

Is it similar gameplay? :hmmm:

[Dowly]

Quite the same game basically. :hmmm:

[Red October1984]

I'll look into it! :D I am truly enjoying getting my ass busted by RPG's in the demo. Even thought i have a tank and BRDM, i get blown up. Ive never heard of Arma before joining subsim. I think that Arma should be a console game, they would make tons of money off that.

[Dowly]

Don't think ArmA would work on consoles. A lot of it's longevity is thanks to
modders and mission makers.

BTW, if you get Operation Flashpoint, you might want to get the Resistance
addon too. Both Flashpoint and Resistance have great singleplayer campaigns. :rock:

[Lionclaw]

There's ARMA: Cold War Assault, which is a re-release of Operation Flashpoint + Resistance expansion. :)

[Red October1984]

Thanks. I think my next amazon order will be IL-2 1946 and ArmA Gold. Comes to about 20$ with shipping. None of the good offers are eligible for free shipping or i would snatch Dangerous Waters too.

Operation Flashpoint is on the waiting list for me. I havent beaten the 3rd single mission, the one i described above. I always lose track of the squad. I think the command system is a bit cumbersome and it doesnt always work right.....but it sure as hell is fun. My Green team in the tank rockets off and the Red team in the BRDM decides to take a different route while im trying to flank around back in the Humvee with Blue team. :down:

[Skybird]

If vehicles and teamjobs and heavy stuff and getting your tank busted by RPGs is your thing, there is no way you can avoid SBP. What Falcon 4 is for modern jet combat and ArmA for infantry and Dangerous Waters for modern submarines, is SBP for mechanised landwarfare.

ArmA is being used in the military for tactical training/demonstration, it then is called VBS (virtual battle space), and is very expensive and comes in several modules. SBP is used by a dozen Western militaries in tank training.

[Red October1984]

I remember you telling me about SBP one time. I actually looked into getting it. I didnt want to drop the money on that at the moment. My machine probably isnt powerful enough for it. I have a VERY weak GPU. I have to run the first ArmA demo on low graphics setting. I would like a cheaper mechanized warfare game that would work on a 32 mb Intel Chipset. I think it was 100$ was it? For SBP? I tried Steel Fury demo but it didnt work real well. It was a bit confusing. I didnt play it all that much. T-72 Balkans on Fire demo works fine, but it hasnt sucked me in like ArmA, IL-2, SH3, etc.

I want to get a nice gaming rig sometime. But it isnt in the budget. :shifty: :wah:


I think ArmA was VERY well done. The vehicles are hard to drive sometimes. But it is doable.

I have a question going in another Thread here.

OFP: Dragon Rising and Red River. How similar are they to ArmA. Because those are very cheap at my local gamestop and it is more or less in the same series as ArmA.


EDIT: I hit post 401!!! :D :sunny:

[kiwi_2005]

The first ArmA looks cool. I just find combat very extremely hard. Any tips for me? Im thinkin about getting this. But i need to be able to play it to buy it. The 'puter wont run Arma 2. I tried the free version. If this was a console game, It would be the best. But this is just way too hard. :timeout:

Arma is to elite for me, this game is for the pros, therefore i wont go there! :haha: I just stick to simple old Battlefield 3 & AA 3 for me. Arma's a good game im not rubbishing it.

[Skybird]

I remember you telling me about SBP one time.
Just one time? Damn, I'm getting old.
:D

[Skybird]

I remember you telling me about SBP one time. I actually looked into getting it. I didnt want to drop the money on that at the moment. My machine probably isnt powerful enough for it. I have a VERY weak GPU. I have to run the first ArmA demo on low graphics setting.

Hm, I have run the actual SBP on a Pentium IV years ago, and for a short time even on something lower.

Anyway, if youz ever get interest, hea dfor their fourm and ask for soembody giving you a guest license. You then can download the sim, install, and for as long as the other guy allows can run on his loiscence, but only online. That should be sufficient to see what your machine puts up in performance. SBP is not demanding a top machine, not at all. Some people run it on laptops.

P.S. I just checked my old review from 2006. They gave a minimum spec of P3/800MHz, and a recommended P4/2GHz, with minimum RAM 128 MB and recommended RAM 512. I ran it on a P4/3GHZ with 1GB back then. The minimum gfx card they listed as a Geforce 3 or better with 64MB minimum, better 128MB. I had an FX5900XT with 128 MB back then. DirectX9.0c is a must now. In how far recent upgrades have effected their recommendations, I do not know riught now.

[Red October1984]

I may do that sometime.


How big is the sim download? I have a very bad internet connection.


Online only games are worthless to me. Maybe next time i'm on vacation or something. A hotel with nice fast free internet.

:up:

[Skybird]

I may do that sometime.


How big is the sim download? I have a very bad internet connection.


The main download is devided into 5 RAR-archives of 162 MB each and 1 archive with 142 MB. A patch for that version is another 33MB. That is almost 1 GB, all in all.

As far as I know, the guest licence only works online, since your machine needs the other guy's dongle licence information and constant data traffic. You can install the game and read the manuals without that guest license and without own dongle, but you cannot launch the sim.

There is no, and there never will be a demo, they have made that clear.

Their upgraded minimum specs now list a P-IV with 2.5 GHZ as the minimum.

The sim comes with many single player missions as well, several hundred more are downloadable - from platoon over company to reinforced batallion action.

In the tanksim forum, there is my stickied SBP resources thread that gives you links, info and a list of vehicles. The list is pretty long now ;)

[Red October1984]

SBP doesnt look like a hot option right now.

Any other mechanized warfare games that are cheaper and will run on a 64 mb GPU?

I like ArmA. Im putting that down to buy. ( I GOT MY FIRST DISMOUNTED KILL!!! :D SO EXCITED!!!! )

Dont get me wrong. SBP looks amazing and wonderful. But. I dont have the extra money for that, or the internet connection. :wah:

[CCIP]

Red October, stop buying games and spend some money on your darn video card, and possibly other hardware. Especially if those games are SBP. You can get a pretty good 1GB video card for what that game costs alone. You really do need a better system :O:

[Skybird]

^ that. Not just a video card, it helps little if CPU is the bottleneck, and RAM is insufficient. Get a system. It must not even be a top notch system for the games you usually mention.

[Red October1984]

Red October, stop buying games and spend some money on your darn video card, and possibly other hardware. Especially if those games are SBP. You can get a pretty good 1GB video card for what that game costs alone. You really do need a better system :O:

I admit. I really do. :wah::wah: But. I have a laptop. And i dont have money for a new system. :wah::wah: I am trying to save up here....but....yea. :shifty: I'm just making do with what i have. I wouldve bought a new video card ages ago if i could replace a laptop card. Is there a way to plug it in and have it externally? Everything else on my laptop is good. The SH5 detection tool just said that my GPU is the only thing wrong. :/\\!!:/\\!! Next year, I am going to have a summer job and save up for a new gaming rig desktop.

[Herr-Berbunch]

. . . there is no way you can avoid SBP.

Costs say you must avoid! :yep:

[Skybird]

Costs say you must avoid! :yep:

Since you can fold over a hardcopy CD and the printed manual (it is not too thick and is included as pdf in the installation anyway), it now costs only 100 dollars, currently 82 Euros (before, it was 125 dollars). That's less than two new EA games (49.95 Euros) or exactly two new games for 39.95 Euros, that you stop playing after some weeks or months. SBP I play since 2006, and the first version included: since last century :) By my math I'd say it is possibly the cheapest game I ever played, basing on costs-per-gaming-hour. Very cheap! :D

The pros pay for the same sim 16 thousand dollars per 8 seat license (in 2006), it has only some additional options for tutoring and unlimited map size (PE is limited to 24x24 km or so).

[Red October1984]

I never buy new games. I wait for the price to go way down. Or buy used.


I never pay full price. :cool: