Actual combat????

[Psycho78 10]

Don't forget you can lean too; get behind large solid objects and lean, use your scope and your right-click zoom. I find it easier to map keys to toggle lean rather than hold-and-lean.

If you just want to practice, go into the Mission Editor and make a simple mission with just you and one enemy facing away from you. Investigate what it takes for him to notice you. ARMA2 is different but very rewarding.

[lugiahua 26]

it's simple:

In the Behind Enemy Line mission, enemy has dogs as spotter/trackers. It is highly likely that enemy dogs were hiding somewhere near your position...

[andromedagalaxe 10]

The first thing you should do is scout cover. If you are controlling the engagement (put you squad on hold fire) look first for good firing positions behind cover. If you do not have a scope on your weapon, you have to use your binocs to locate the enemy.

It takes awhile, but depending on your monitor size you will be spotting enemies at 300m after some practice. Get yourself into a secure position (use the lean function) to protect yourself.

[nodunit 397]

And don't forget to roll when prone (same function as lean but don't do it too much in first person)

I remember when I first started playing OFP, it took a long time to get used to it and even identify uniform out of environment..throughout the experience I've learned very important things.

A. Go WITH your team mates or behind but not far ahead, they are more likely to know what is going on than you until you are better trained in the understanding of what to do.

B. Don't run everywhere like someone said.. The AI are very keen on seeing things especially people running, if you say run up over a hill on an enemy squeez and THEN go prone behind a bush they will see you crest and either shoot you, pin you flank you.

C. Often pause to look around if you think the area is hot, use everything you have and stay crouched unless sprinting, also crawling through grass before you come up on them will help you.

And D.. As someone said, concealment is important but also remember that concealement is not cover, a bush and some of the walls ingame wont stop those bullets and there will be many times that you will need to think 'is it a good idea'..there will be many cases where it will be better to just go around, stay low and not engage at all.

[Drumheller 19]

A lot of good advice here. I'll reiterate some of it that should make some significant differences in your game:

-Turn grass off or get the GDT grass mod. AI can see through grass in ArmA and you can't.

-Always get behind cover when you're in combat. It can be a tree, a pile of dirt, or a man made structure. Get behind cover and pop out, locate your target, shoot, get back behind cover.

-Try to figure out how to best utilize and command your AI. ArmA is by far the game with the MOST buttons I have ever played. EVERY key on my keyboard is bound for ArmA. Setting your AI into teams, using them to flank the enemy, making them take point, etc will greatly enhance your survivability in game. ArmA is about squad combat. It's not a FPS but it's a MilSim. You can't do stuff on your own.

-Most importantly: change the AI accuracy in your player profile! They are ridiculously accurate AND can see through grass. This made me almost quit arma when I first started playing. Once I changed it and stopped getting sniped from 400 yards from the armor crew with his ak74su I started enjoying the game immensely. Doing this particular step will vastly change your arma experience.

To do this:

1. Go to start>documents>arma 2 other profiles>your profile name>yourname.arma2profile

2. scroll down until you see the "class difficulties" selection. In each difficulty section you will see:

skillFriendly

skillEnemy

precisionFriendly

precisionEnemy

You want their skill to be decent, but you want their accuracy to be marginal. These are my personal values for each difficulty level:

skillFriendly=0.89999998;

skillEnemy=0.89999998;

precisionFriendly=0.5;

precisionEnemy=0.2;

This makes your teammates shoot at 50% accuracy and the enemy at 20%. Trust me you WILL still be shot. You can adjust it according to your preferences, but I recommend starting at these levels and tweaking as you see fit.

Remember that you have to change these values in all four difficulty sections(assuming you ever want to go above recruit difficulty). Just copy and paste.

-Lastly, if you want to play online and have me guide you through some of this stuff, send me a PM.

[stk2008 14]

Really the AI can see through the grass? I am sure some one did a test and it proved they could not...or not as good any way?.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Really the AI can see through the grass? I am sure some one did a test and it proved they could not...or not as good any way?.

This is how i think it works.

RLVW0qSgXPw

[celery 8]

Really the AI can see through the grass? I am sure some one did a test and it proved they could not...or not as good any way?.

Going prone postpones initial detection but staying down will not conceal you after you've been noticed.

[stk2008 14]

Ummmm so he shot then telerported only 0.3meters away from location he shot from and they knew straight away so they did see him in the grass though they should not have been able to?.

Maybe this test should be done again but he should be further away from the enemy.

Last test he telerported 300meters away from place he shot from and they had no idea where he went?.

[celery 8]

Ummmm so he shot then telerported only 0.3meters away from location he shot from and they knew straight away so they did see him in the grass though they should not have been able to?.

Maybe this test should be done again but he should be further away from the enemy.

Last test he telerported 300meters away from place he shot from and they had no idea where he went?.

From what I gathered, he teleported to the other side of the enemy formation.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Ummmm so he shot then telerported only 0.3meters away from location he shot from and they knew straight away so they did see him in the grass though they should not have been able to?.

Maybe this test should be done again but he should be further away from the enemy.

Last test he telerported 300meters away from place he shot from and they had no idea where he went?.

Ugh. If the text goes away too fast just pause the video next time.

I was behind them, i teleported in front of them(In a position that is safe if i dont fire first). The AI always 'guesstimates' your position and 'somehow' their estimated position of you is 0.3 meters away from the real position, even though i teleported ~200 meters from the location where i shot the bullets. Which was behind them.

Later in the test i teleported behind a building, which the AI cannot possibly see trough because it uses a different system then grass to block the AI's vision. Just to prove that this way of testing normally works, and the grass is kinda broken.

Celery got it right.

Edited September 2, 2010 by NeMeSiS

[walker 0]

Hi all

The question of AI seeing through grass has been answered and discussed in full with example videos as well as missions to experiment on this and other aspects of ArmA Myths here:

Mythbusters ArmA edition

Kind Regards walker

[Garfield2010 10]

Thanks for all the advice guys

[andromedagalaxe 10]

Nemesis, that is a good demonstration. The AI obviously can't see you until you fire, but then the game "cheats" when you are only using grass as concealment.

But as I made the point in another thread, YOU can see the AI when they are prone, even with the filter that is supposed to limit this to simulate ground cover.

So is it fair or not?

[celery 8]

But as I made the point in another thread, YOU can see the AI when they are prone, even with the filter that is supposed to limit this to simulate ground cover.

So is it fair or not?

You can't see the AI when you're prone because the grass is blocking your view, while the AI ignores the grass layer completely and aims accordingly. Unfair for the player.

[dmarkwick 261]

The grass should not be seen as anything other than eye candy. It has no ingame value other than aesthetic. Knowing this, you can act accordingly :) and place yourself appropriately for the game mechanics. Or you can lose the grass completely.

[maturin 12]

The grass should not be seen as anything other than eye candy. It has no ingame value other than aesthetic. Knowing this, you can act accordingly :) and place yourself appropriately for the game mechanics. Or you can lose the grass completely.

That's not true. Lie down in a road like an idiot and you will be killed.

Grass is great for hiding in, but once the bullets start flying, find cover.

[Devil Dogs SF 13]

Grass works for me also, many a time I've saved myself by laying completely still as a patrol passes by.

[dmarkwick 261]

That's not true. Lie down in a road like an idiot and you will be killed.

Grass is great for hiding in, but once the bullets start flying, find cover.

I don't think it's the grass, but the terrain type. So type "road" may have no value whatsoever, while "rough grass" (my labels) would have a high value. I just played some missions with no grass settings and I seem to get the same gameplay.

[Imperator[TFD] 444]

I don't think it's the grass, but the terrain type. So type "road" may have no value whatsoever, while "rough grass" (my labels) would have a high value. I just played some missions with no grass settings and I seem to get the same gameplay.

Correct.

How easily you are detected depends 100% on the texture type of the ground you're on. So hiding in a forest with grass on/off will still have the same results. Lying down on a runway, and somehow, putting grass on it will do nothing to help you hide.

So use this to determine your tactics.

[murmur 10]

This thread seems to have been derailed a little, but I do have some advice for the OP if he is even still watching...

If you are having trouble seeing the enemies your AI teammates or even yourself are calling out, quickly find a place to hide, go into your map, and look for the red circles that represent the enemies your team is aware of. Then, hold down shift and left click on one of them, that will make a green waypoint on your screen when you exit the map, just look for that and you'll be able to see exactly where that enemy was.

[maturin 12]

I don't think it's the grass, but the terrain type. So type "road" may have no value whatsoever, while "rough grass" (my labels) would have a high value. I just played some missions with no grass settings and I seem to get the same gameplay.

Well, that's the only way to do it. Making all those little grass sprites block LoS would make the supercomputer that controls the U.S. nuclear arsenal catch fire.