ARMA II Thread

[Schroeder]

I think communication is a big issue in general (I'm guilty of that as well). We don't tell the others what we are up to and simply move. Our group has been separated time and again because of that. I sometimes took out the binoculars to scan the area just to find myself all alone after putting them away again.
Maybe we should really have a squad leader who is in charge. He could then coordinate our movements or at least keep the group together. Everybody who moves tells then the squad leader where he will go ("Schroeder, moving forward to take cover behind the red house".)

[Hottentot]

I'm usually bad at spotting infantry unless I'm in some good position overlooking the area from a distance (which, I suppose, is exactly where I should be with that rifle.) Last night when I was advancing with the rest of you, I had no idea what you were shooting at: trying to find enemies on the ground level is pretty difficult since the rifle's scope zooms in and only shows such a small area. Naked eye, on the other hand, doesn't work unless the AI shows a silhouette against horizon.

So as far as communication goes, we could be calling out the general positions of the enemy too. Infantry especially since they blend in with the surroundings pretty well.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Hottentot

Dibs on that role. I have been trying to put markers on the map as I have seen threats while looking for a position, but the problem is that sometimes the targets move so my markers are not up to date. I suppose there is a way to remove them too and therefore put new ones for updates? I would gladly play eyes for the rest of you seeing that I'm usually searching for high ground position for sniping anyway.

Marker can be deleted by hovering mouse over it and pressing delete.

Also, as you're placing one, when it asks for name, you can use the arrow keys
to change the marker type and.. err.. is it shift+arrow keys to change the color?

As for IDing friendlies, helmet is usually the best way to differentiate between
friend and foe. And of course, the weapon he is carrying.

[Oberon]

Perhaps I'll just skip ARMA for a while then, I suck at infantry and it appears I suck at tank too. In regards to using the in tank comms, Raptor, I think that typing is probably not a brilliant idea, as in the time it takes to type out 'infantry 2 o clock close' there's an RPG in the turret.
I'll bring up the Shacktac idea again, so that we can have proper lines of communication between elements and if someone in the infantry is talking then it doesn't block communication between the tank crew.
Task Force, turn up the Teamspeak volume if it is being drowned out by the tank noise, or turn down the arma volume, we really can't afford to be using typing.
We need a leader, I nominate Arclight, and a plan to attack the target, however not one that takes four and a half hours to come up with, but a simple list of roles that each person will be putting in.
For example, Hottentot takes the laser and scouts the objective, Dowly takes the Harrier, they take down the tower, Raptor commands the tank to move up and take out the armour and infantry, then Arclight, Hunter, Penguin, Schroeder, and Takeda move in on foot with support from the tank, with Arclight liasing with Raptor to give an approximate location of the infantry forces so Raptor can tell me where to not shoot at.
Again, I think the Shacktac radio can help us here in so much as it enables local communication between infantry and then area communication with the tank commander, Forward observer and Air support.

Above all, talk, don't say 'somewhere', state '1 o clock from my location', this is vital for the infantry and helpful for the tank. Map markers can only go so far and in the time it takes to check the map the enemy can ambush you or change location.

I'm sorry if I'm sounding a bit anal here, but when I teamkill someone I don't do it for sport (well except when I MLRS'd Task Force, but that was for the irony), I do it because of poor situational awareness, and tbh, at the distance I was shooting from the colour of the uniform would have made very little difference. If you want someone else to be the gunner, Task Force perhaps, then that's fine with me, but we need clearly defined roles, a leader and better communications.

That's my thoughts anyway, because last nights attack on that town was not a pleasant experience for anyone involved.

[Hottentot]

Huh? I must have left before all this took place. From my point of view everything was going nicely and everyone was having fun.

[HunterICX]

^Ow I agree, last night was a disaster.
and again I apologize for my F-Bomb spam through the mic as I got really frustrated with the events.

As pointed out the problem is still our communication and the lack of leadership, we pretty much are doing a half arsed job at things without saying to the rest where we go what we do. Not talking about how good/bad people are but that there's just too many incidents which involved us all and is caused by all.

We can talk about what to do here in this thread as it won't get anywhere but we should just put it into action in the game.

starting with the 3 basic questions when joining the session:
1)Who's in charge or who has taken the role as leader
(none=are you up for the task? give it a try...better a bad leader at least then having none at all)
2)What's the situation (what are we doing? Side mission, Main objective, organizing etc)
3)What do you need? (role to pick, need something flown in or driven to the target etc)

HunterICX

[Raptor1]

Originally Posted by Oberon

In regards to using the in tank comms, Raptor, I think that typing is probably not a brilliant idea, as in the time it takes to type out 'infantry 2 o clock close' there's an RPG in the turret.

Oh, I didn't mean typing it, I just meant setting to the vehicle channel and using the in-game voice communication thingy. We rarely use ArmA II's voice comms because we have TS, but we have access to both at the same time so we can use that for talking within the tank and TS for general communication. Might help make things less confusing.

Anyway, I agree that just having slightly better communication could solve a lot of our problems. We don't have to formulate some sort of complex radio protocol; just informing everyone else of what one is trying to do and where or, alternatively, asking what one can do to help is enough. That way the rest can take that into account or inform one of what he should do and everything becomes less confusing.

As for roles and such, I don't think we should try too hard to have fixed roles or organization structures, but it is a good idea to have a commander for the infantry (either pre-designated or just somebody who takes command if it doesn't seem like there's somebody already doing it) who is in charge of both deciding where to go and coordinating with support and such. If somebody doesn't agree with him then we can start arguing, but that still beats asking "what are we doing?" (as I often do) and getting no answer in reply.

Speaking of the tank, I do think it's my role as the (usual) tank commander to prevent friendly fire incidents and I seriously screwed that up yesterday. If we do that again, I shall (while coordinating with the aforementioned infantry commander) try my best to keep an eye out on the infantry's position at all times. That way the gunner knows where they are and I can inform them if there are any threats to their position.

Originally Posted by Hottentot

Huh? I must have left before all this took place. From my point of view everything was going nicely and everyone was having fun.

I think things started breaking down yesterday when our base was attacked and completely trashed slightly after you left, then we attacked a town and managed to inflict more casualties on ourselves than the enemy did. So that was somewhat frustrating.

I put the base and all our vehicles back together, BTW. I also put the Linebackers in marked and easily accessible positions in case we come under air attack again.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

Oh, I didn't mean typing it, I just meant setting to the vehicle channel and using the in-game voice communication thingy. We rarely use ArmA II's voice comms because we have TS, but we have access to both at the same time so we can use that for talking within the tank and TS for general communication. Might help make things less confusing.

Anyway, I agree that just having slightly better communication could solve a lot of our problems. We don't have to formulate some sort of complex radio protocol; just informing everyone else of what one is trying to do and where or, alternatively, asking what one can do to help is enough. That way the rest can take that into account or inform one of what he should do and everything becomes less confusing.

As for roles and such, I don't think we should try too hard to have fixed roles or organization structures, but it is a good idea to have a commander for the infantry (either pre-designated or just somebody who takes command if it doesn't seem like there's somebody already doing it) who is in charge of both deciding where to go and coordinating with support and such. If somebody doesn't agree with him then we can start arguing, but that still beats asking "what are we doing?" (as I often do) and getting no answer in reply.

Speaking of the tank, I do think it's my role as the (usual) tank commander to prevent friendly fire incidents and I seriously screwed that up yesterday. If we do that again, I shall (while coordinating with the aforementioned infantry commander) try my best to keep an eye out on the infantry's position at all times. That way the gunner knows where they are and I can inform them if there are any threats to their position.

Ah, we all have off days, usually not all at the same time though which is what happened yesterday. My only problem with hearing the infantry comms as well is voice overlap, so if you're pointing out a target to me or telling me the infantrys location at the same time that Arclight is directing fire towards a target then I can't hear what you're saying. Likewise it could get confusing for the forward observer and Close Air Support. It might make things a bit boring in regards to radio chatter, but it keeps things easier in terms of communications.

I think things started breaking down yesterday when our base was attacked and completely trashed slightly after you left, then we attacked a town and managed to inflict more casualties on ourselves than the enemy did. So that was somewhat frustrating.

I put the base and all our vehicles back together, BTW. I also put the Linebackers in marked and easily accessible positions in case we come under air attack again.

Ah, thanks for doing that. Yeah, HT, we got baseraped by a Sukhoi. Ordinarily I doubt such a thing would have occurred no matter how many choppers were in the air, but the main target was just around the corner from the base so it was registering the main target has having helicopters near it, so the Sukhoi got a trip out to play.

[Hottentot]

Well stuff happens and is going to go better next time. Like my sig quote loosely translated would say: "We wanted the best, but it turned out as always."

[Oberon]

In the meantime, here's a motivational video to get the blood pumping for a Red Storm Rising-esque scenario:



I found Celle2, a lovely looking map, no domination for it though so might have to make one from scratch. Might also be worth getting the Russian armour pack for some T-64s and T-55s to add some variety to the Russkie arsenal.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Oberon

I found Celle2, a lovely looking map, no domination for it though so might have to make one from scratch. Might also be worth getting the Russian armour pack for some T-64s and T-55s to add some variety to the Russkie arsenal.

Found this one:
http://code.google.com/p/op4dominati...elle_ACE.Celle

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Dowly

Found this one:
http://code.google.com/p/op4dominati...elle_ACE.Celle

Aha! Fantastic, well done that man.

[Raptor1]

Right, so is everyone agreed, as we've talked about yesterday, that we should run some stand-alone missions after we're done with the current Chernarus Domi and then following that up by giving Celle a try as our next Domination map?

If so, how many here would be in favour of trying a Cold War-themed scenario again with Celle? We'd have to get some mods for additional vehicles and weapons (which we'd have to decide on beforehand; by what I can tell the most historically appropriate stuff for the Celle map would be West German and some British equipment, though we can always have things of other NATO nations) and we probably won't have access to most of the fancier stuff found in the standard game, but it could be an interesting change from the stock stuff.

Alternatively, does anybody have other suggestions for maps and mods that might make be good?

[Oberon]

I'm currently grabbing the Project 85 collection, it looks like it has a pretty good overview of Cold War equipment in it, I remember downloading it back when I played Operation Flashpoint and I was impressed by it back then.
I'll have a look at what vehicles there are in it and post a suitable list here.
The next question is, are people alright with using Cold War era weapons, for example, iron sight weapons as opposed to weapons with scopes.

[Hottentot]

Count me in. I have been missing Cold War stuff since Flashpoint. (Though I'm so spoiled by the rangefinder that I probably can't hit anything without it anymore unless I can get an SVD somewhere.)

I can't hang around for long tonight, but there should be some intel markers for you in the next main target in case you're playing.