Spotting an enemy?

[jannikn 1]

Okay, I've played Arma 3 for 9 hours now, and I've played Arma 2 for 300 hours.

BUT.. In Arma 2 I have always played like wasteland where I was independent, meaning I can shoot everyone. Or played DayZ where it's kinda the same thing.

Now in Arma 3, I have played some warfare and stuff but I simply can't spot enemies :confused:. When I see someone, I shoot. Then I hear some people raging, then I found out, it was friendly fire. Is there any easy way to see if the person is enemy or friendly. I try looking at the clothes and camo, but it looks alike. Kinda .

Help me out here guys :cool:

[tremanarch 6]

spotting: write in chat or use microphone, or do you mean magic burritos over enemy heads (should play fantasy then not war simulator if u like magic)?

no in arma u got to confirm ur target - thats part of the fun though. dont play too trigger happy

[paragraphic l 2]

Open up the editor.

Place different units on it and try to recognise the differences.

Might be wise to turn the ammo slider all the way down ;)

[Iroquois Pliskin 0]

When I see someone, I shoot. Then I hear some people raging, then I found out, it was friendly fire. Is there any easy way to see if the person is enemy or friendly. I try looking at the clothes and camo, but it looks alike. Kinda .

Help me out here guys :cool:

I initially had the same problem... Camos kinda similar in style, but play for another 10 hours & you should naturally come to recognise the subtle gear differences & the more pronounced colour difference. :)

[SkyeFyre 10]

Yeah, it takes a lot of practice. When I first started playing Arma 2 years back I had a similar problem but with practice you'll learn how to differentiate the differences in uniform. There's really no quick tip other than maybe play with the editor as paragraphic suggested. It's going to come down to your own ability.

[WCG 1]

(should play fantasy then not war simulator if u like magic

Um, this is a game. If it were real, I wouldn't be playing it (certainly not after the first time I was killed!). But there's no reason why people can't have different preferences, and I hope there are enough options to make (almost) everyone happy.

[johncage 30]

well it is a simulator after all, not just any war game. some of you guys picked up the wrong item i guess, sorry if that's the case. but at least we know bis's tactics of appealing to the mainstream are working. and it's steam so they are unlikely to return the game. once again im very impressed.

truly sorry to you guys who bought the game on mistaken assumptions. hopefully 32 dollars was not that big of a dent.

[tremanarch 6]

Um, this is a game. If it were real, I wouldn't be playing it (certainly not after the first time I was killed!). But there's no reason why people can't have different preferences, and I hope there are enough options to make (almost) everyone happy.

you are righ tI must excuse for my generous answer here had a discussion prior.

ALso with the new Helmet Hud system there could maybe something. For my tastes I just like hardcore - but I wont force it upon other people!

[SmallBlackSheep 0]

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?149190-Friendly-Fire-And-You-Learn-The-Uniforms

[Cyper 18]

Um, this is a game. If it were real, I wouldn't be playing it (certainly not after the first time I was killed!). But there's no reason why people can't have different preferences, and I hope there are enough options to make (almost) everyone happy.

I think that is quite obvious.

What he meant was most likely that if your preference isn't simulators then it makes no sense to pick one and demand changes that has little nothing to do with simulatorsIt's like.. you don't pick a romantic movie and demand it to be an action movie because action movies is your preference. You don't pick CoD and demand it to be more like a sim. All genres have a right to exist, even niche ones, without being diluted because of the tyranny of the majority.

Well, to answer the OPs question its all about practise like most of the game. In order to avoid friendly fire, try to really confirm target before you fire. In the end you will be an expert in seeing the difference between friends and foes in the same way as you will gain knowledge about how to play the game, to survive etc. So try to confirm target, and dont think so much just play. Experience is the best teacher.

[RuecanOnRails 10]

Everything is controlled by the servers. Simply don't join a server that doesn't allow easy distinct ways to tell if a unit is friendly or an enemy. Get on side chat and confirm your target, give them a chance to reply then announce your shot. If after all that you still hit a friendly you have a bit of an excuse as the person in question could not be identified visually or over coms. Whether to take a shot or not is a big part of arma and requires team work and communication.

I'm assuming you found arma through wasteland and dayz, and never really played the core game. If that's the case, I highly recommend going back to arma 2 and playing through the campaigns. One play through one veteran difficulty and I can just about promise you'll be much improved at differentiating units.

With all that said, you could also ignore all of that and filter out servers with high difficulties that allow you to spot an enemy then check your map to see their icon colour. The game really can be played anyway you want, however you are bound by server settings if you choose to play online.

[defk0n_NL 2]

Okay, I've played Arma 3 for 9 hours now, and I've played Arma 2 for 300 hours.

BUT.. In Arma 2 I have always played like wasteland where I was independent, meaning I can shoot everyone. Or played DayZ where it's kinda the same thing.

Now in Arma 3, I have played some warfare and stuff but I simply can't spot enemies :confused:. When I see someone, I shoot. Then I hear some people raging, then I found out, it was friendly fire. Is there any easy way to see if the person is enemy or friendly. I try looking at the clothes and camo, but it looks alike. Kinda .

Help me out here guys :cool:

Go to Options>Control>Show: Weapons>Reveal Target;

Bind it to a different key. Its default settings is double binded towards zoom causing difficulty to spot enemies. Occasionally it will reveal a Red Rectangle above a enemies last known position.

[bad benson 1733]

1.

uniforms. just use your binos before you shoot...geez

2.

weapon sounds. learn the difference between weapon sounds. it's kind of hard at the moment since they sound pretty similar. but just paying attention in general will help. if a friendly with an MG just passed you actually register it. this way you won't mistakenly shoot him when he fires off auto bursts near you.

3.

most important for team based and TvT modes. knowledge of the overall situation.

know where your team is attacking from. this will help you to judge if someone is an enemy just by checking which direction he's focused on/firing/walking.

although "game modes" like dayZ and wasteland suggest that this game is just about shooting everyone you see it's actually about the tactics involved in successfully doing so too. stuff like 3d and minimap spotting took a lot of potential from battlefield 3 for example. arma isn't large scale battlefield. it's arma. and in this case restrictions make the game. this game isn't just a military themed shooter it's about military tactics.

having said all that. most arma 3 servers i've been on so far have such low difficulty settings that they show a green name when you point your crosshair on a friendly unit. hell most of them show spotted enemies on the map.

this exactly shows why too many options are not the best way, people degrade the game to something it's not and then wonder why they suck at it. people will never learn the most basic stuff just because they are so used to some hud element constantly telling them "point gun here! shoot this!" from other games. glad you are actually asking for tips instead of just keeping on shooting friendlies.

in any case common sense will solve your problem. just use the information at your disposal and when in doubt just don't engage (i know crazy idea, right?)

[SkyeFyre 10]

Couldn't agree more. When I first got into Arma 2 I came for the authenticity and hardcore experience. I chose Elite right off the bat and have never played on anything lower. It was a rough start (as I'm sure you can imagine. Going from Serious Sam and Doom, to Arma) but there really is no better way to learn than to dive in headfirst. The training wheels just dilute the experience.

[lev 21]

It is fine as it currently is. The uniforms have enough difference that you can generally tell the differences at 100m or less with your naked arma eye. The other thing is servers that want to can have a HUD overlay showing you friendly troops.

A more advanced answer is that when played realistically, players should be depending on team work and coordination to accomplish tasks. Maneuvering should be coordinated between friendly elements to prevent friendly fire. It is also generally advised not to take enemy equipment to prevent confusion and friendly fire incidents. On the firing player's part, you should always do your best to positively identifying hostiles before firing but take consolation in knowing that if you TK or FF a player who is rambo-ing then there isn't much that can be done to prevent that so just give a simple apology (to be cordial) and keep on playing. That being said, not all missions are created realistically and may not give you many options to coordinate or choose your weaponry in which case you're at the mercy of the mission so just roll with it.

[mr_centipede 31]

To quote some lines in Blackhawk Down movie, "Watch where everyone is shooting, shoot in the same direction."

[phoboss 1]

I have to agree, I don't see the problem with telling the two uniforms apart. Take your time, look where the target is shooting at, if unsure, DONT FIRE! I kinda have to admit that I get a little pissed when being TKed. In other games I don't see it as that big a deal, because there's a lot of action going on, and with all the explosions, tank fire and general shooting going on, it can happen. But ARMA is a lot more slow paced than, lets say Battlefield. And it really pisses me of that people can't take the 20 seconds to confirm their targets before they start shooting.

When in doubt, just don't shoot. You wouldn't risk shooting a friendly in real life either.

[WCG 1]

What he meant was most likely that if your preference isn't simulators then it makes no sense to pick one and demand changes that has little nothing to do with simulators.

You are right, of course, but the original post was by someone who'd played Arma II extensively. So it didn't seem like he was looking for a completely different kind of game.

Now me, I've never played any other Arma game. I would have bought Arma II for the Day Z mod, if only it could have been played single-player, but I wasn't interested otherwise. I'm still not interested in multiplayer games, and I'm not particularly interested in military stuff, either. But I was so impressed at what I'd seen of Arma III that I just had to buy it.

I'm still impressed by it. There's not much game there for single-player fans, not yet, at least, and there might never be. But that's OK. I knew what I was getting into. I like sandbox games, and I love the fact that you can approach problems so many different ways. Really, it seems like, if you can think of a solution, you can probably do it.

I may never play this much, but it's still an incredible game. And it's only in alpha!

[ColdSnap 1]

Might be wise to turn the ammo slider all the way down ;)

An alternative to this is to add a simple command to your own character in the initialization window:

this setCaptive true;

All AI will disregard you even if you shoot at them.

[johncage 30]

how does anyone have trouble with this? the uniforms are a different hue and they look different too. the iranians have a huge robot head.

[charliemilk 10]

If I play Wasteland on most servers there is a blue square above same team players. So I just shoot everyone else.

[Zickefoose 1]

Occasionally if you wheel scroll the target you will get there name pop up and faction colors. Though, I do believe it works like the range finder. Only on certain difficultys. Other than that, identify your target. Can't tell? Dont shoot... sneak up closer and see if you can manage to identify them.

[samco 1]

With all the soldiers wearing Head Mounted Displays and augmented reality googles this should be taken seriously because its not so sci-fi to mark an area where the enemy is present ...again disable it for elite players.

[dayglow 2]

If you play on recruit then a colored hue will be cover people. Red for hostile, green for friendly, white for civilians.

[Zyromkiru 10]

Due to the failure of the server host for putting a simple marker on your allies if I shoot a friendly because I'm not sure I say tough cookies. If I don't know then it's not my problem