Newb's First Impressions

[LoneCrow66 10]

At the risk of bringing down the wrath of the "reality" afficionados, you can use the 3rd person view (keypad Enter) when stuck in a prone position. As far as I'm concerned, such a view can be used to replace the missing "peep over" view that you otherwise cannot do in ArmA2.

I really need to get a gaming mouse :) usually to hit KP Enter you have to take your hand off the mouse. I'd probably map that to a button.

Last night was a little more fun, things are starting to get a little easier.

They REALLY need to replace some of the gun sounds. Really cheesy when inside a tank. Doesn't sound anything like a real weapon from inside or outside for that fact.

Are there any real good sound packs?

[concurssi 11]

I use JSRS personally.

[LoneCrow66 10]

Regarding spotting the enemy and vice-versa, I just set up a test mission in the editor which might explain a few things. There are about a dozen screenshots in the full set here- http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/showthread.php?7273-Spotting-the-enemy&p=50448#post50448

but most exceed the BIS forum pic size limit so I can't post them here,but here's a couple to be going on with-

Our guy crawls out from behind a house to eyeball the hill and sees no enemy up there..

Wrong! this enlargement shows there are 5 bad guys!

The moral? Ask Santa to bring you a telescopic or thermal sight so you can see them better..:)

See this is a good example how do you know with your ROE that these are bad guys? Will you just start shooting at them? You really can't tell what type of uniform they are wearing..

I know they are not US troops but they could be partisans or something.. do you want to pull the trigger and kill friendlies?

I'm just saying in a lot of these "wandering around" sort of missions I think the ai would not be shooting so quickly at such long distances..

[walker 0]

Hi LoneCrow66

Well I can spot they are Russian Uniforms. And the one on the right has an RPG, without a rocket loaded, on his back. The colour is the main give away on the Russian uniform. Also look at their helmets and boots.

Most experienced ArmA players learn this; in a little time you will too.

If the OP could set up the same shot with a US equivalent shot you would easily spot the differences.

The real thing to learn is not to be seen and see potential contacts first. This then gives you time to observe and assess. That said part of this game is about those abiguous moments. ArmA is simulation not an arcade game, though it can simulate an Arcade FPS if you want, the key thing about a simulation as compared to an arcade FPS is that the environment is cluttered and nuanced. Decisions require finer control and better skill.

Over time spotting who contacts are becomes second nature, though like in real life in a moment of close up instant reaction you can make a mistake. In fact the main thing ArmA teaches you is to move in such a way that you engage the enemy at that 100m to 300m or greater distance, thus reducing that risk. 200m to 300m is the sweet spot for engaging with assault weapons out to 500m with a magnifying scope. 300 to 500 when engaging with an GPMG, move it on out to 800m plus when using most magnifying scoped MGs.

Do not worry we all went through what you are experiencing. ;)

Kind Regards walker

Edited February 17, 2011 by walker

[concurssi 11]

I'm going to ask this again.

By the way, what were the ranges of the grids? I think six numbers was like 100m, four numbers was a kilometer, or what?

[pooroldspike 129]

..how do you know with your ROE that these are bad guys?..I know they are not US troops but they could be partisans or something.. do you want to pull the trigger and kill friendlies?..

Friendly fire incidents do happen in real life..;)

All we can do is minimise the chances of it happening by reading the pre-mission briefing and map to get a good idea of where our own guys are going to be.

Then during play, if people pop up in other areas, the chances are they're enemy.

If you've got binocs or telescopic sight, take a peek at them to find out,their uniforms and helmet design are good for ID-ing them as friend or foe.

Personally my favourite spotting tactic is to stay stationary (if time allows) for as long as possible and hope the enemy walks into my sights, rather than me walk into his.

"It is good that the customer should come to the shop"- Baron Manfred von Richthofen about the constant Allied patrols into German airspace.

[MissionCreep 12]

At the risk of bringing down the wrath of the "reality" afficionados, you can use the 3rd person view (keypad Enter) when stuck in a prone position. As far as I'm concerned, such a view can be used to replace the missing "peep over" view that you otherwise cannot do in ArmA2.

What would " reality" aficionados say about command view? (Num "." -if you are squad leader, often (?) disabled in MP) You can see over walls, around corners and through walls, floors and ceilings of buildings. If Arma 2 AI wants to fight dirty, I'm willing to fight back dirty.

Edited February 17, 2011 by MissionCreep

[pooroldspike 129]

PS- scroll down to the 'Western Gun Fight' video for a great example of what I said a couple of posts ago about how to patiently watch, rather than run around like a headless chicken-

http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/showthread.php?6314-Teach-me-oh-wise-ones...

---------- Post added at 05:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:22 PM ----------

What would " reality" aficionados say about command view? (Num "." -if you are squad leader, often (?) disabled in MP) You can see over walls, around corners and through walls, floors and ceilings of buildings. If Arma 2 AI wants to fight dirty, I'm willing to fight back dirty.

Haha! yup, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do..:)

Always remember-

"This is this"

Edited February 17, 2011 by PoorOldSpike

[maturin 12]

Hi LoneCrow66

The real thing to learn is not to be seen and see potential contacts first. This then gives you time to observe and assess. That said part of this game is about those abiguous moments. ArmA is simulation not an arcade game, though it can simulate an Arcade FPS if you want, the key thing about a simulation as compared to an arcade FPS is that the environment is cluttered and nuanced. Decisions require finer control and better skill.

Over time spotting who contacts are becomes second nature, though like in real life in a moment of close up instant reaction you can make a mistake. In fact the main thing ArmA teaches you is to move in such a way that you engage the enemy at that 100m to 300m or greater distance, thus reducing that risk. 200m to 300m is the sweet spot for engaging with assault weapons out to 500m with a magnifying scope. 300 to 500 when engaging with an GPMG, move it on out to 800m plus when using most magnifying scoped MGs.

On the other hand, the AI is quite skilled at spotting and long-range accuracy and maneuver.

Once you get up close, your human reflexes and senses open up an enormous skill gap over the AI. More importantly, the tactical decisions you make when simply walking down a street, are vastly more complex and effective than anything any AI ever made could produce with anything less than a custom-built environment and a supercomputer. CQB may get you killed a lot because of its intensity, but it makes even a competent player a god of war.

[tswords 10]

I'm going to ask this again.

MGRS Grids MOE (Margin Of Error)

4 Digits = 1000m

6 Digits = 100m

8 Digits = 10m

10 Digits= 1m

hope that helps :D

[concurssi 11]

Margin of Error?

That wouldn't happen to be the same thing as the distance from one side of the box to the other would it? :D

[tswords 10]

this is sliding offtopic but i cant help but to answer a question about the military....gahhH!

the difference between Military MGRS and BIS MGRS is the Military numbers their grids ON the line, whereas BIS numbers them INBETWEEN the lines. so, a BOX in BIS is equal to a "crosshair" IRL.

in laymans terms....yes that would mean the space between the 2 sides of the box. lol.

[concurssi 11]

Awesome, thanks :)

[Atkins 10]

I'll add some more newbie impressions:

+ Large open environments are mind blowing

+ Slow paced action

+ Multitude of stuff you can do

+- Graphics are nice, if they just would be consistent. LOD switching :(

- Clunky movement in CQC

- Crosshair? Why...

- Bad performance :-(

- 3rd person view? Why...

- Driving some vehicles is hard cos of the same little periscope view with black background. Using 3rd person view feels like cheating cos it gives u so much better view + it eats away the immersion

- I have to use about 20+ addons to make the game run smoother and to fix some visual stuff.

- I hate the constant robotic radio chat; "Enemy, 200m 3 o'clock etc..." especially when the guy is right next to me and he could say this without the radio.

[PuFu 4600]

I'll add some more newbie impressions:

+ Large open environments are mind blowing

+ Slow paced action

+ Multitude of stuff you can do

+- Graphics are nice, if they just would be consistent. LOD switching :(

Depends heavily on your rig, especially your HDD read speed

- Clunky movement in CQC

Seems bis is working on improving around here (note the last beta). Some community made content that is due to be released in the near future is aim to change the CQC anims.

- Crosshair? Why...

Can be disabled in the difficulty options (local or server side for MP)

- Bad performance :-(

Not sure what you mean really.

- 3rd person view? Why...

Can be disabled in the difficulty options (local or server side for MP)

- Driving some vehicles is hard cos of the same little periscope view with black background. Using 3rd person view feels like cheating cos it gives u so much better view + it eats away the immersion

i agree that some vehicles would need modeled interior. I am not sure if it's worth the gain vs the possible performance loss.

- I have to use about 20+ addons to make the game run smoother and to fix some visual stuff.

Again, this is higly dependent on the rig. I have no issue with it (see spoiler for rig). Could you be more precise about what addons you are talking about?

- I hate the constant robotic radio chat; "Enemy, 200m 3 o'clock etc..." especially when the guy is right next to me and he could say this without the radio.

:D very true. The last part about the radio might get fixed rather sooner than later

[Atkins 10]

Depends heavily on your rig, especially your HDD read speed

Not sure what you mean really.

Again, this is higly dependent on the rig. I have no issue with it (see spoiler for rig). Could you be more precise about what addons you are talking about?

Ofc the performance is rig related, but on a general note there seems to be some heavy optimization needed for this game if you have seen the amount of messages about this subject in the Troubleshooting section. I guess this is the cost of having a sandbox simulation and not a corridor-shooter :)

I am mostly running all GTD mods + other performance + visual mods.

Can be disabled in the difficulty options (local or server side for MP)

Can be disabled in the difficulty options (local or server side for MP)

I know that these can be disabled. It was just my first impression that wtf are these doing in a simulation game that is supposed to be ultra-realistic.

I was kinda disappointed when I first tried this game online and i had the crosshair forced to me :(

I suppose server owners run with the lowest common nominator settings to maximize the player amounts.

Anyway, altogether i am really happy about the game. And I am eagrly waiting for PR:ARMA2 and I44 2.5.

If only I could run the game with decent framerates without fiddling with x amount of addons + OCing and whatnot tricks and tweaks.

[PuFu 4600]

Ofc the performance is rig related, but on a general note there seems to be some heavy optimization needed for this game if you have seen the amount of messages about this subject in the Troubleshooting section. I guess this is the cost of having a sandbox simulation and not a corridor-shooter :)

I am mostly running all GTD mods + other performance + visual mods.

That is true. But i also believe, that from BIS perspective, it is pretty damn hard to get it right for such a range of different systems. All in all, there are parts of code that could be optimized some more (again, this is something you can see being partially addressed by the betas, especially the last ones).

I know that these can be disabled. It was just my first impression that wtf are these doing in a simulation game that is supposed to be ultra-realistic.

The bolded part is your answer. I always prefer to be able to customize a lot of things rather than fewer.

I was kinda disappointed when I first tried this game online and i had the crosshair forced to me :(

I suppose server owners run with the lowest common nominator settings to maximize the player amounts.

The public servers, although the bigger part of the MP part of this game, are not the only one. from my POV, in order to play this game right, you need to be part of a community/squad/clan and have your own server. There is a really difference regarding the quality of the gameplay between public and private gaming sessions.

[Atkins 10]

I forgot to mention in my first post that:

- the amount of keys to remember is overwhelming

[pipscouse 10]

I forgot to mention in my first post that:

- the amount of keys to remember is overwhelming

Loyalguard has produced a really good keyboard layout that you can print off. You should be able to track it down using the search function. I have it positioned just below my monitor - invaluable.

[Imperator[TFD] 444]

You'll get to the point where remembering keys just becomes natural habit.

I couldn't tell you what all my bindings are as an actual key but I sure as hell remember the movement I have to make with my fingers to make the key press.

[pooroldspike 129]

I forgot to mention in my first post that the amount of keys to remember is overwhelming

Try doing as I do and make your own small 'key charts' written out on a piece of paper and keep them in front of you on the desk, one for infantry, one for tanks, one for helos etc.

By chopping the keys into convenient bite-sized chunks like that you'll soon imprint them on your memory.

For example I can play as an infantry squad leader and never have to look at the key chart because the key presses have become second nature.

[Atkins 10]

Naturally i will learn the keys in time. No worries there.

Just saying that as a noobie the amount was just a bit overwhelming. Part of the reason is that some menus/keys etc. are not "fps-standard". Perhaps if the Control option screen was larger so that you could see all the keys at the same time, it might help.... idk...

[PuFu 4600]

in the games manual (both printed and .pdf form), you can find the following keyboard chart.

btw atkins, arma is not your generic FPS shooter, so i don't see why it would use the "standard" layout (if there is any for that matter)

[pooroldspike 129]

Bit of a discussion about quick AA2 key commands here-

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=116685

[Rail82 10]

Naturally i will learn the keys in time. No worries there.

Just saying that as a noobie the amount was just a bit overwhelming. Part of the reason is that some menus/keys etc. are not "fps-standard". Perhaps if the Control option screen was larger so that you could see all the keys at the same time, it might help.... idk...

Typically when I get a new shooter, the first thing I do is go and change all the keys around to fit my style. I usually have my own standard key layout I use for games, and it's pretty similar across the board depending on what kind of things you can do in game. EX. When I got TC R6V2, the hide behind cover key was a feature I never had to incorporate in my layout, so it changed my standard layout a little bit for that game.

With all that said, I was too overwhelmed with the amount of controls needed for this game. I didn't even know where to start with changing the key layout, and so I just didn't mess with it. I have kept everything at default for the first time pretty much ever. Once you get used to all the controls and the key layout though, it all flows pretty smoothly.

I think for the amount of controls, they did a pretty nice job laying it out. Although I don't like M for the map key, every shooter puts the map on the M key and it's just awkward to get too. I usually put the map at tab, caps, left shift, left ctrl or left alt depending on whats free, but decided to keep it at M for Arma.

The keys are tough and overwhelming, but after a month, your fingers will be flying around without you even thinking about where they are going.