Getting Started.....

[GReeves 10]

Hi everyone,

I just purchased ArmA II: Combined Operations from Gamefly and I will be able to download them sometime next week. I've heard a lot of good and a lot of bad about this game, so I thought it was time to find out for myself.

I've played the first Ghost Recon for about seven years and I've been running a small clan for the nearly dead game since last year. We actually lost three members recently because they got tired of the strict coordination and tactical precision I encourage everyone to take part in. I decided it was time for me to find an active community with more hardcore members, so here I am. My plan is to see if I even like the game, join a realism clan, then start my own squad after I learn the ropes of ArmA.

I have a few questions.

1. What should I expect from this game? I'm aware that it isn't the average shooter and I shouldn't be overwhelmed by the complexity of it. Is there anything I should know before plunging in to the world of ArmA? How does it compare to Ghost Recon 1 as far as gameplay goes?

2. Should I patch my game? After being totally confused by several massive patches, I asked an old clan mate who owns ArmA II: CO and he said I shouldn't patch at all. Agree? Disagree?

3. How difficult is it to mod the game? I've made several mods for GR1, but modding that game is pretty straightforward. Scripting is as simple as pointing and clicking, and there is no .xml work whatsoever. How flexible is the engine, and what cool things can I do with the editor?

Thanks for your help. Can't wait to get into the field.

[chrisb 196]

There’s going to be lots of views regarding your questions, I’ll keep mine pretty brief.

1/ You should expect anything and everything from the game, its that simple. Its complex but once your into it, you’ll have little to no problems. I think its best to plunge in and discover, it’s a vast open world ready for anything you want it to be, war/conflict wise. GR was a great game for its day, but how to compare.. Well GR, if put in a matchbox would mean this series put in a box the size that takes a 42†LED. Not sure if I even understand that.. Lets just say there’s no comparison, this series is vast.

2/ Yes you should patch the game right up to the current 1.62, then better still, right upto the latest beta or stable latest, I found 1.62.103419 beta to be stable, so have stayed there a while. I’m amazed your friend hasn’t patched the game..

3/ Now I don’t make mods and my scripting is so basic its embarrassing, however I use lots of mod/addons/scripts and collect much of what’s released. Most modders like the engine and the tools provided to mod, but that would be better said by a mod/addon maker.

The ‘Editor’, what can be said there, well there’s a whole world in there, infact there’s a whole 260 odd worlds at last count, in my A2 island list… You can do 'anything' mission wise, it’s what the game is about imo, the best thing on pc or console ‘ever’ and ever likely to be.. Same with A3 now, its all about the Editor, can someone let me out now;)..

Welcome aboard..:)

Edited June 6, 2013 by ChrisB

[GReeves 10]

1. Haha, okay.

2. So do I need to download every single patch, or is the latest one cumulative?

3. Sounds exciting.

4. Which squad/clan would best interest me? I'm sure it is hard to suggest just one, but which one would give me the best realistic milsim experience?

Thanks, I'm sure I'll enjoy my stay here.

[chrisb 196]

This site; Patch 1.62 requires that you already be at 1.60, if this is not the case go further down the page and find the right one for your game, then progress to 1.62.

Beta is here if you want to go further upto date, beta is undoable, i.e. Expansion folder, so if you want to go back to patch 1.62 just remove the Expansion folder..

4/ Can’t recommend a clan/group, I play with friends in a closed group, against other closed groups. But there are plenty out there, look for the clan/group thread and post in there..

[GReeves 10]

5. How does the 'roster' work? In Ghost Recon, you can have up to nine players in co-op. The squad is split into three fireteams of three. Because our fireteam concept consists of four-man teams, we would do this:

ALPHA

Soldier

Soldier

Soldier

BRAVO

Soldier

Soldier

Soldier

CHARLIE

Squad Leader

Alpha Leader

Bravo Leader

In ArmA co-op, how many players can you have? Are you just placed in a company, or can you subdivide the roster into platoons, squads, and fireteams?

[Harzach 2517]

5. How does the 'roster' work? In Ghost Recon, you can have up to nine players in co-op. The squad is split into three fireteams of three. Because our fireteam concept consists of four-man teams, we would do this:

ALPHA

Soldier

Soldier

Soldier

BRAVO

Soldier

Soldier

Soldier

CHARLIE

Squad Leader

Alpha Leader

Bravo Leader

In ArmA co-op, how many players can you have? Are you just placed in a company, or can you subdivide the roster into platoons, squads, and fireteams?

In Arma, you can do pretty much whatever you want. It all depends on how the mission is designed. I suppose the theoretical maximum number of players is unlimited, but you are limited to a maximum of 144 groups.

[GReeves 10]

Awesome.

6. If I decide to start my own squad later on, how much competition would I have? Would people bother to join a new clan when there are so many bigger, better, and more experienced ones out there?

7. How do you go about hosting a server? In Ghost Recon, we had to use GameRanger because the official server browser is no longer supporter. Would I have to rent an ArmA server or can I easily run a dedicated server? Do I have to run a dedicated server, or can a player just start up a server?

Edited June 6, 2013 by GReeves

[MissileMoose 10]

Awesome.

6. If I decide to start my own squad later on, how much competition would I have? Would people bother to join a new clan when there are so many bigger, better, and more experienced ones out there?

There seem to be dozens of "tactical realism" communities springing up each day, I can guarantee you that most of these contain nothing more than immature kids trying to impersonate, thus disrespecting, real life units. I strongly recommend avoiding these, especially those which brag about being led by serving personnel. However, there are numerous humble communities led by such personnel, they're not all the same.

As for developing your own community, it's certainly possible if you have unique ideas and don't follow what seems to be the norm today. Thriving communities aren't build overnight though, it takes a lot of work and can be expensive.

7. How do you go about hosting a server? In Ghost Recon, we had to use GameRanger because the official server browser is no longer supporter. Would I have to rent an ArmA server or can I easily run a dedicated server? Do I have to run a dedicated server, or can a player just start up a server?

You have a few options here.

Player hosted

Launch the game and navigate to Multiplayer, (iirc) in the bottom left there should be an option to create your own. Input the details and select your mission, people will be able to join. However I'm fairly certain in Arma 3, performance would be lower than if you used the dedicated executable.

Dedicated/Rented

You will find all information here. I recommend also taking a look at this tool.

Edited June 6, 2013 by MissileMoose

[chrisb 196]

The only point I would add to would be your (5), a lot of what groups clans etc can do with this series, is often restricted by the players pc’s. Its very heavy going on many systems, in our group we pander to the lowest systems, mine happens to be one of those, for A2. However, as I tend to do a lot of the mission making it doesn’t matter, I build larger missions/mini-campaigns that are breakdown-able, i.e we allow a total of 200ai, maybe at a push 250ai max, this is to keep ai intelligent (cpu heavy). I would not expect us to engage more than 30/40ai at any one time, 50 tops (single engagement), this way the mission is kept fluid and the ai intelligent.

Reason being, as said, its cpu heavy the ai, keeping enough cpu power going for ai is very important if your playing against them for the majority of your games. This is more for smaller type skirmish combat (modern warfare), not large scale battles, whereas this is less important as your not dealing with the ai so intimately when engaged, therefore not as noticeable. When you are in smaller scenarios its very noticeable when ai are performing poorly.

Rule of thumb guide, keep your fps above 25-30 throughout missions, start getting below that and ai will suffer..

[GReeves 10]

What's the most rewarding style of play? I'm sure it's a matter of personal opinion to a point, but how do you feel? Is it more fun to run a covert special operation with a small team behind enemy lines? Fight using conventional warfar tactics? Take part in huge battles as the commander?

[Masharra 10]

All really. I just tend to avoid the 5men vs the Army of x Nation.

Want a great community to play with?

http://ciahome.net/

zeus-community.net

op4gaming.us

As for

4. Which squad/clan would best interest me? I'm sure it is hard to suggest just one, but which one would give me the best realistic milsim experience?

http://www.goarmy.com/ :P

[MissileMoose 10]

http://www.goarmy.com/ :P

That community must be really awesome, they even have images of real-life people! Where can I find their TeamSpeak information?

I see what you did there... ;D

[GReeves 10]

I'm checking out Comrades in Arms. I would like to find a clan that wouldn't mind me playing to get a feel for the game before I start my own clan. In other words, I don't want to insult anyone by playing in their squad for a few months, leaving, then starting my own team. Clanhoppers can be bothersome and it probably doesn't help your reputation.

This "GoArmy.com" clan.....I think they're taking things too seriously. I mean, do they actually expect people to do real fitness training so they can play ArmA?

:D

[Masharra 10]

Well, you dont actually "join" CiA as much as you just play with them regularly. I myself am in a different clan but play with them more :P

[GReeves 10]

Do you actually designate a Platoon Commander in-game? If so, how many parts of the mission does the Platoon Commander get to plan? Can he assign weapons to players, or do they choose for themselves? Can he choose what assets and support elements will be used and available in the mission? What I mean is, can he decide to have his platoon have access to a UAV, be inserted in two CH-47s, and have an Apache for CAS? Or is that all up to the mission designer?

[chrisb 196]

Why not design your own missions..

First before anything, I would go into the 'Editor' and try some simple scenarios, very easy to do, place as many or as few units as you want (few really first). Short simple 5min scenarios to make, will really help get you trained you up in the game mechanics. Also have a look at the different units, vehicles, aircraft, armour etc, etc.. Fly, drive, test etc, get used to using everything you feel you may want to use when playing.

It will get you very familiar with the game prior to playing with a group/clan etc.. When you do get into a group at least you'll have the basics..

[GReeves 10]

Okay, sounds good. I should have everything sorted today (installed correctly, patched, etc.) so I can stop pestering with the questions :D

[chrisb 196]

Pester as much as you like, we're all willing to help, if we see your post..:)

[GReeves 10]

Got ArmA II: Combined Operations installed tonight. Failed the training course, crashed a few billion-dollar helicopters, and got wiped out in my own four-enemy mission. A good night :D

1. Could somebody give me specific instructions for patching? There is a patch for 1.50 to 1.60, but no patch TO 1.50.....I also don't know which patch I should use on my freshly installed game.

[ceeeb 147]

Combined operations actually gives you two different builds of the same engine: Arma2, and Arma2 Operation Arrowhead (Arma2OA). Arma2 started at build 1.0, Arma2OA at 1.50.

Arma2OA is obviously the further developed version, which is the one you will use almost all the time. The Arma2 build is only likely to be used to play the original Arma2 campaign and missions (which tend to not work as designed in Arma2OA).

As far as I remember, installing the 1.60+ patches for Arma2OA will also patch Arma2.

All patches and info is available at www.Arma2.com

Edited June 12, 2013 by ceeeb

[GReeves 10]

Thanks.

1. So I just need to install 1.6 and 1.62 since Combined Operations starts me at 1.5, correct?

2. Yeah, after installing ArmA II I tried to install ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead. It told me that I already had the game installed and asked if I wanted to reinstall. I just said "continue" and it worked fine. I deleted the shortcut to ArmA II and I'm just using the Combined Operations game.

[sander 14]

That is correct. The 1.6 patch will update Arma II to its corresponding patch level and update OA to 1.6. After that the 1.62 patch can be applied. Starting up Arma II separately from CO can be useful when encountering problems in the Arma II campaign, but using the Combined Operations as default will suffice for most purposes.

Regards,

Sander

[GReeves 10]

Seems my CO is already patched to 1.62..... cool.

Anyway to change between semi and full automatic without cycling through grenade launchers, frags and smokes? Seems like you could get killed trying to switch fire modes during combat.

[GReeves 10]

I can't wait to get my internet running consistently again so I can start playing online. So far I'm really enjoying the training missions, armory, and editor.

The campaign is a bit disappointing, mainly because of all the cut scenes, AI that hog every single enemy contact by rushing ahead of me and aimbotting them, and the RIDICULOUS voice acting. You should have seen the grin on my face when Master Sergeant Miles got executed in the warehouse.....he quite possibly has the most maddening voice on the entire planet. "We...are...here...to...help...the Chernarussians. Is...that...clear enough...for...you...Marine?" Then you get the great radio commands and confirmation messages. "enemy...HELICOPTER...at our...LEFT FLANK." Sounds like they put three different voice actors' recordings together to make them. Your own character also is pathetic.....he seems to think he has to shout everything in a low growl even when he's standing next to someone. "OKAY SIR WE'LL MOVE OUT IMMEDIATELY!!! I UNDERSTAND SIR!!!"

Aside from that, the game is really fun. I love flying the helicopters, especially the attack birds. Is fastroping from transport helicopters only implemented with mods like ACE2?

[GReeves 10]

How do you successfully attack a ground target with a jet like the A-10 or F-35? I can't lock on with the missiles, and to aim at the target you have to point the nose of the airplane at the target, which usually makes me crash into the ground. What am I doing wrong?