Campaign Episode 1: SURVIVE - Feedback thread ** SPOILER WARNING! **

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Loving the campaign so far.

Two things with Radio Silence:

1) When the mission starts, if you speed up time to 4x to skip the ride, when you get out, mission does not proceed.

2) Your own mortars seem to have so much dispersion, it's impossible to hit the 3 towers and complete that task. Most of the shots end up outside the perimeter of Mike-26. It's quite frustrating to keep reloading saves and trying to hit the towers.

I'm still at that point after many loads, trying to find out if I can at least take out one of them. I've tried shot by shot to "guide them on" or a full barrage on a single location, and the outcome is always the same, task failed, 90% of the rounds miss the towers.

Any tips?

[HKFlash 9]

Loving the campaign so far.

Two things with Radio Silence:

1) When the mission starts, if you speed up time to 4x to skip the ride, when you get out, mission does not proceed.

2) Your own mortars seem to have so much dispersion, it's impossible to hit the 3 towers and complete that task. Most of the shots end up outside the perimeter of Mike-26. It's quite frustrating to keep reloading saves and trying to hit the towers.

I'm still at that point after many loads, trying to find out if I can at least take out one of them. I've tried shot by shot to "guide them on" or a full barrage on a single location, and the outcome is always the same, task failed, 90% of the rounds miss the towers.

Any tips?

Destroying the towers/completing the task is not mandatory, you can still complete the mission. Just try to take out as many enemies as possible.

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Destroying the towers/completing the task is not mandatory, you can still complete the mission. Just try to take out as many enemies as possible.

Yeah, I understood that, hence the manual reloading.

It just seems like the task is pointless, you seem to be forced to fail it due to mortar imprecision and you are instructed to make the shots count. Kinda rubs me the wrong way as a person who loves to not fail tasks if you can avoid failing them. :p

I'm still biting myself wondering if I could've made it to that chopper in the first mission. So I'll probably replay that to see if it's possible. :D

EDIT:

I just shot a full barrage at the middle of the base that eliminated every enemy and just walked in the base, still failed the task, I suppose because the towers didn't collapse. :(

Edited October 25, 2013 by Sniperwolf572

[jinzor 31]

Can somebody tell me what the Patrol missions are there for? Incase anybody doesn't know what I'm asking about, you can actually leave Camp Maxwell and go explore the island, but you can't go to specific areas (like the airfield) otherwise you'll be mortar'd and killed almost instantly. Are they there just to provide an illusion of free choice when you're at Camp Maxwell, or what?

If that's the case, this mission should have been expanded a bit more, maybe add a few randomly generated sub-missions within it, such as "steal this item (maybe a Ghillie suit, or a special weapon?)", at some remote area being guarded (or, if you don't want to clearly label it out for the player, spawn one close to the player and have the player spot it, then have the character say something relating to it (e.g. "Jesus, it's an enemy patrol(!) Should I go back or take em(!?)"), sort of like the armory but with more sense.

Edited October 25, 2013 by Jinzor

[RSF TheCapulet 59]

Loving the campaign so far.

Two things with Radio Silence:

1) When the mission starts, if you speed up time to 4x to skip the ride, when you get out, mission does not proceed.

2) Your own mortars seem to have so much dispersion, it's impossible to hit the 3 towers and complete that task. Most of the shots end up outside the perimeter of Mike-26. It's quite frustrating to keep reloading saves and trying to hit the towers.

I'm still at that point after many loads, trying to find out if I can at least take out one of them. I've tried shot by shot to "guide them on" or a full barrage on a single location, and the outcome is always the same, task failed, 90% of the rounds miss the towers.

Any tips?

I had the same luck. Tried both map and spotting method. Ended up giving up and shooting them with bullets instead.

[metalcraze 290]

Very meh campaign. Way way too much handholding. Kerry do this that way, Kerry go there this way, Kerry follow me, Kerry bla bla bla. Heavy railroaded scripts all around.

Why the need to appeal to a casual player so much? Why can't the campaign be good for once in this game?

Instead it's just a bunch of crappy unrealistic and short missions that just involve squad vs. squad fighting with zero creativity or variety whatsoever.

ArmA sucks as Call of Duty, stop treating it as such.

Just to put it into perspective

OFP/ArmA1/ArmA2-style "eliminate the commander" mission

You are a sniper or specop or whoever, you sneak behind enemy lines, sometimes with escort, you do your best to avoid patrols, then the next challenge is to eliminate the target in one hit and quickly disappear

ArmA3-"we hired a bunch of Call of Duty players as designers"-style:

HOOAH let's move in blow shit up kill everyone HELL YEAH (just remember to follow your leader on rails). Kerry go check officer's body if it's our target. And don't complain it's no different from any other mission we send you on in ArmA3!

Worst campaign design in OFP-ArmA history. PMC 2.

Edited October 25, 2013 by metalcraze

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Very meh campaign. Way way too much handholding. Kerry do this that way, Kerry go there this way, Kerry follow me, Kerry bla bla bla.

Sounds like military to me.

Heavy railroaded scripts all around.

Why the need to appeal to a casual player so much? Why can't the campaign be good for once in this game?

Instead it's just a bunch of crappy unrealistic and short missions that just involve squad vs. squad fighting with zero creativity or variety whatsoever.

ArmA sucks as Call of Duty, stop treating it as such.

I'm not sure what you expected, it's an introductory part of the campaign where you are not a person of any relevance to influence any decisions of your higher ups (even if you did have a say on what missions to go on). We could have another "leet ranked soldiers do freeroam missions" but that didn't quite end up being liked the last time, did it?

If you liked CWC, it's the first part of the campaign up to move to Malden, pretty much the same story progression. I don't see any "casual cod-ing". The closest it got to that for me was the ending of the last mission.

Why the opposition to squad vs. squad combat? Is the "we are heavily outnumbered" type of opposition at all times really necessary?

How would you define a good campaign that hasn't been officially attempted and labeled as shit after OFP? We've had "cog in the machine", was labeled shit. We've had "PMC's saving the island", was labeled shit. We've had "Leet operators behind enemy lines", was labeled shit. We've had "Multi point of view Afghan" was labeled shit. And now we've gone back to the roots to a great extent.

I'd love to hear what you think would be a great campaign, since I've seen a variety of official campaigns and you label them all shit.

[antoineflemming 14]

Sounds like military to me.

I'm not sure what you expected, it's an introductory part of the campaign where you are not a person of any relevance to influence any decisions of your higher ups (even if you did have a say on what missions to go on). We could have another "leet ranked soldiers do freeroam missions" but that didn't quite end up being liked the last time, did it?

If you liked CWC, it's the first part of the campaign up to move to Malden, pretty much the same story progression. I don't see any "casual cod-ing". The closest it got to that for me was the ending of the last mission.

Why the opposition to squad vs. squad combat? Is the "we are heavily outnumbered" type of opposition at all times really necessary?

How would you define a good campaign that hasn't been officially attempted and labeled as shit after OFP? We've had "cog in the machine", was labeled shit. We've had "PMC's saving the island", was labeled shit. We've had "Leet operators behind enemy lines", was labeled shit. We've had "Multi point of view Afghan" was labeled shit. And now we've gone back to the roots to a great extent.

I'd love to hear what you think would be a great campaign, since I've seen a variety of official campaigns and you label them all shit.

Well, technically, the US Army wouldn't fight battles like that anyway. Doctrine is to go for the "we outnumber our enemy 3 to 1" type of mission.

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Well, technically, the US Army wouldn't fight battles like that anyway. Doctrine is to go for the "we outnumber our enemy 3 to 1" type of mission.

And the funny thing is, the situation is so screwed up in the Arma 3 campaign for the BLUFOR, it might even be remotely plausible. But it still doesn't happen. Which I believe is good.

---------- Post added at 23:11 ---------- Previous post was at 23:09 ----------

Just to put it into perspective

OFP/ArmA1/ArmA2-style "eliminate the commander" mission

You are a sniper or specop or whoever, you sneak behind enemy lines, sometimes with escort, you do your best to avoid patrols, then the next challenge is to eliminate the target in one hit and quickly disappear

ArmA3-"we hired a bunch of Call of Duty players as designers"-style:

HOOAH let's move in blow shit up kill everyone HELL YEAH (just remember to follow your leader on rails). Kerry go check officer's body if it's our target. And don't complain it's no different from any other mission we send you on in ArmA3!

Worst campaign design in OFP-ArmA history. PMC 2.

So a campaign made of "we are stealthy super special forces bros missions", got it. :j:

[mistyronin 1181]

Well, technically, the US Army wouldn't fight battles like that anyway. Doctrine is to go for the "we outnumber our enemy 3 to 1" type of mission.

But that's in the Pentagon sandbox, in Real Lifeâ„¢, that has happen some times lately. One of the most known, Operation Gothic Serpent ( 160 rangers and delta vs thousands of guerrilla ).

So to me the campaign story makes sense. Also that the AAF takes almost a day to find the camp... When I was in he military, some of my mates disappeared for hours without anyone finding them ( and it was more little than Stratis ).

Besides that how do the AAF know the exact number of survivors? who has killed who and where? in RL there is what's called "fog of war", until the hq collects and process all the field reports they don't have much idea of whats happening out of their sight. And if the army is not really experienced and disciplined...

I also agree with rehtus777 that in the field no one would salute a higher rank, as that would be the same as marking him as a target for enemy observators.

Edited October 25, 2013 by MistyRonin
Orthography

[Brisse 78]

I'm on the mission "Radio Silence" at the moment and I liked the opening of the campaign but this mission is just ridiculous.

So I'm moving up on the enemy base with my squad. There is me and three guys. I failed to destroy the towers. I can take the base without too much effort, sometimes I loose a squadmate or two but afterwards I can't save and here the ridiculous stuff starts. The squad moves north and two enemy MRAP's comes towards us and dismounts. They pretty much instantly kills my entire squad. Their aim is unrealisticly good. I die every time and have to reload back to before the assault on air station mike-26. I have tried probably 30 times now and I'm getting tired of it. Please BIS do something about this mission, it's not enjoyable like this. I'm playing on Veteran, sometimes I tried to take down the difficulty level but it does not help me get through this mission.

[thr0tt 12]

"Tipping Point"

Too much for me, restarted from the end part of that mission so many times now only to be blown up or team blown up almost immediately, keep moving does not appear to make a difference. Great that its not scripted but to the point of unable to continue until the randomness allows you to ?

[2nd ranger 282]

I'm on the mission "Radio Silence" at the moment and I liked the opening of the campaign but this mission is just ridiculous.

Please BIS do something about this mission, it's not enjoyable like this. I'm playing on Veteran, sometimes I tried to take down the difficulty level but it does not help me get through this mission.

Really? I cleared the base without incident (the mortars having failed to hit any towers), and although I was somewhat puzzled by my squad leader's desire to move down from an elevated position and to go and meet the MRAPs head-on instead of letting them come to us, it was only a couple of fireteams. At the end I think it was just me and the team leader left, but I didn't think it was any harder than the rest of the episode, which is generally pretty easy.

[metalcraze 290]

Sounds like military to me.

No. Real military actually has armor. You know that thing you encounter in the 2nd mission of CWC. But here it's just infantry and nothing but. Never an armored car taking part. Even AAF plane is flying on rails and is nothing but part of cutscenes.

I'm not sure what you expected, it's an introductory part of the campaign where you are not a person of any relevance to influence any decisions of your higher ups (even if you did have a say on what missions to go on). We could have another "leet ranked soldiers do freeroam missions" but that didn't quite end up being liked the last time, did it?

If you liked CWC, it's the first part of the campaign up to move to Malden, pretty much the same story progression. I don't see any "casual cod-ing". The closest it got to that for me was the ending of the last mission.

Except by the time I've reached 8th mission (which took much longer than 3 hours) in CWC I already had fights involving armor, trying to escape enemy patrols, joining a new side of the conflict. As exactly the same soldier.

In this campaign every single mission has a main goal of "kill all infantry". There's never any armor. Even armored cars are just part of the scenery. It's even impossible to become a commander of your squad since the design always has you a last in line for that position.

Not to mention that in ArmA1 campaign you had sniper/stealth specops missions right away. Even CoD has you playing as different soldiers (idea they clearly snatched from CWC)

Why the opposition to squad vs. squad combat? Is the "we are heavily outnumbered" type of opposition at all times really necessary?

Because squad vs. squad combat in every single mission without any variety (like armor - see above) is dull and cheap. It's as if every mission in ArmA3 has exactly the same template:

Go to point A - must kill everyone there - move to point B - the end.

How would you define a good campaign that hasn't been officially attempted and labeled as shit after OFP? We've had "cog in the machine", was labeled shit. We've had "PMC's saving the island", was labeled shit. We've had "Leet operators behind enemy lines", was labeled shit. We've had "Multi point of view Afghan" was labeled shit. And now we've gone back to the roots to a great extent.

CWC is held in such high regard because it was very varied and creative. For a game where a dev boasts about how sandbox it is on every corner - every single mission (incl. showcases) has nothing but killing stuff guns-blazing as a primary goal. Even night missions.

In CWC you were taken through all kinds of mission types even as a lowly grunt. And it always looked like a major war with choppers, tanks, APCs, saboteurs etc. working towards a common goal. And best of all - even in grunt missions there always was some degree of freedom of approach to anything. Enemies were attacking you with equal force, not sending small groups CoD-style every N meters. Missions were also lengthy, here some are as short as 10 minutes.

Also Resistance and BAF campaigns are good too. For many of the same reasons.

Edited October 25, 2013 by metalcraze

[rehtus777 10]

No. Real military actually has armor. You know that thing you encounter in the 2nd mission of CWC. But here it's just infantry and nothing but. Never an armored car taking part. Even AAF plane is flying on rails and is nothing but part of cutscenes.

Did you not walk up to the soldier's standing around in Maxwell and listen to them give pieces of information about what is going on during this conflict? I'm not going to give out spoilers, but basically it was a "mop up mission" to clear Stratis while NATO pulls out. Also, the Island of Stratis isn't really geared for Tanks and such....too rocky...too many hills. As for the Green Forces, it sounds like they are a rag-tag bunch of soldiers wanting their Island back....they most likely don't have armored stuff.

I believe you are too "over critical" (as usual)... the campaign is solid and fun to play.

[Sniperwolf572 758]

No. Real military actually has armor. You know that thing you encounter in the 2nd mission of CWC.

I was specifically talking about "Kerry do this, kerry do that" part of your comment to make a point that a low ranked guy is obviously going to follow orders given, not military combined arms tactics.

Except by the time I've reached 8th mission (which took much longer than 3 hours) in CWC I already had fights involving armor, trying to escape enemy patrols, joining a new side of the conflict. As exactly the same soldier.

In this campaign every single mission has a main goal of "kill all infantry". There's never any armor. Even armored cars are just part of the scenery. It's even impossible to become a commander of your squad since the design always has you a last in line for that position.

Not to mention that in ArmA1 campaign you had sniper/stealth specops missions right away. Even CoD has you playing as different soldiers (idea they clearly snatched from CWC)

Because squad vs. squad combat in every single mission without any variety (like armor - see above) is dull and cheap. It's as if every mission in ArmA3 has exactly the same template:

Go to point A - must kill everyone there - move to point B - the end.

CWC is held in such high regard because it was very varied and creative. For a game where a dev boasts about how sandbox it is on every corner - every single mission (incl. showcases) has nothing but killing stuff guns-blazing as a primary goal. Even night missions.

In CWC you were taken through all kinds of mission types even as a lowly grunt. And it always looked like a major war with choppers, tanks, APCs, saboteurs etc. working towards a common goal. And best of all - even in grunt missions there always was some degree of freedom of approach to anything. Enemies were attacking you with equal force, not sending small groups CoD-style every N meters. Missions were also lengthy, here some are as short as 10 minutes.

Alright, sure, that makes more sense on what you want rather than your initial ranty post without any clear explanation.

I suppose the situation here is different. The story itself makes a strong point to indicate that there's only a few men left across the island with whatever else being concentrated at the main airport and subsequently denied to the rest of the forces that were left on the tiny island when the backstab happens. They're literally scrapping their gear here.

Tank battles, to me, don't fit too well at this point in story or Stratis itself. Sure, they could've tossed in an MRAP mission maybe. Planes seem to serve the same purpose as the tanks in the CWC second mission. They're these insurmountable opponents that you have to hide and retreat from. Sure, they're not a threat and their ammo seems scripted, but considering how the default plane AI would pretty much ignore you, I'd say they were forced to do so to make you at least slightly in danger.

Sure, CWC, by the 10th mission you encountered some tanks in the second mission, you've driven a truck and maybe killed a BMP or two if your AI died. But I wouldn't class it "so diverse" as you do "all kinds of mission types". You killed infantry.

• First mission you ran about training.
  
• Second mission you stormed Morton and you could passively watch the battle as your tanks and helos wrecked stuff up but either way, you were killing infantry.
  
• Third mission you went to a village and killed some infantry alongside some tanks only to be pushed back by the armor.
  
• Fourth mission you drove a truck then went to a forest to kill some infantry.
  
• Fifth mission you went to a road to kill some infantry.
  
• Sixth mission you went to Montignac to kill some infantry and a BMP.
  
• Seventh mission you were lost and had to sneak your way to the end. If you were brave you killed a BMP or stole a tractor. The most "diverse mission" so far, but still in the end it's 99% killing or avoiding infantry.
  
• Eighth mission you killed some infantry and extracted in a truck.
  
• Ninth mission you drove a truck and killed infantry.
  
• Tenth mission you stood in place and killed some infantry.
  
• Eleventh mission is the first that really breaks the mold and has you ambush tanks with AT mines and from here on tanks are introduced and whatnot and it becomes really diverse.
  

I'd say the diversity is to be expected from the next chapter of the campaign from the way they seem to be setting it up, especially with the strategic map. We're only a third of the way in. Especially considering how there is a strong influence of CWC to the point you team up with a faction named exactly the same as the one in CWC.

I'd say it's much better than the original concept of "specops brohuahua come to Altis but a nuke lands" we've been expecting. My major complaint would still be that now I have to wait for the chapter two for at least a month, if not more. :p

Edited October 25, 2013 by Sniperwolf572

[rehtus777 10]

I also agree with rehtus777 that in the field no one would salute a higher rank, as that would be the same as marking him as a target for enemy observators.

Yes....and in the US Military, the enlisted only salute the Officers.....an enlisted person would never salute another enlisted person. If you're an Officer, the lower rank salutes the higher rank "First"....and if you are an officer of the same rank (lets say...a captain meeting a captain), the one who sees the other one first, salutes first. {Side Note. If a Captain is given a leadership role by a high ranking officer and another Captain is ordered to report to the Captain of high importance, then the Captain of lower importance has to salute first.}

It's been 21 years since I've been in the USAF and that is how we did it. Also, when we were in Desert Storm or on maneuvers, you never saluted an Officer while hostilities were in the area.

Edited October 25, 2013 by rehtus777

[txalin 2]

the campaign is solid and fun to play.

Indeed. Cannot believe that i didn't have a single bug during the whole campaign. Also it's fun to play. Well done BIS, very well done :D

[maddogx 13]

I'm not going to give out spoilers, but basically it was a "mop up mission" to clear Stratis while NATO pulls out.

That's true, but it does raise a rather interesting question:

If the NATO forces on Stratis were basically already on their way out, and the AAF+CSAT apparently wanted them "gone" (or dead, whatever), why did they not just wait a few days for them to actually pull out? That way NATO would also be gone, but there would have been no risk of retaliation. Those extra few days of NATO presence don't seem like enough reason to start killing people who are leaving anyway...

"Oh, you're leaving next week? NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" *shoots him in the face*

Doesn't make sense to me.

As far as I can tell, there was no logical reason for them to start massacring the NATO forces instead of simply waiting a few days and avoiding an unnecessary conflict. (Unless the whole point was to spark a conflict, but... why? :confused:)

Maybe it will be cleared up in the last two episodes, but as it stands this seems to be a huge plot goof.

Edited October 25, 2013 by MadDogX

[2nd ranger 282]

As for the Green Forces, it sounds like they are a rag-tag bunch of soldiers wanting their Island back....they most likely don't have armored stuff.

Well, actually there is a Gorgon AFV sitting in the military base in the last mission. As soon as I saw it I thought "huh, I'm glad none of these guys knew how to use that". Similarly, in the Mike-26 mission when I heard 'motorized reinforcements' were on the way, I assumed the incoming Striders were going to be armed, but it turned out they weren't, and we only had to deal with a couple of fireteams.

[trent 14]

Even CoD has you playing as different soldiers (idea they clearly snatched from CWC)

wat.:d:

[antoineflemming 14]

That's true, but it does raise a rather interesting question:

If the NATO forces on Stratis were basically already on their way out, and the AAF+CSAT apparently wanted them "gone" (or dead, whatever), why did they not just wait a few days for them to actually pull out? That way NATO would also be gone, but there would have been no risk of retaliation. Those extra few days of NATO presence don't seem like enough reason to start killing people who are leaving anyway...

"Oh, you're leaving next week? NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" *shoots him in the face*

Doesn't make sense to me.

As far as I can tell, there was no logical reason for them to start massacring the NATO forces instead of simply waiting a few days and avoiding an unnecessary conflict. (Unless the whole point was to spark a conflict, but... why? :confused:)

Maybe it will be cleared up in the last two episodes, but as it stands this seems to be a huge plot goof.

CSAT. The Iranians are calling the shots, not the AAF. And the Chinese and Russians are probably calling those shots. WW3's a-brewin'.

[-ghost-tf 12]

That's true, but it does raise a rather interesting question:

If the NATO forces on Stratis were basically already on their way out, and the AAF+CSAT apparently wanted them "gone" (or dead, whatever), why did they not just wait a few days for them to actually pull out? That way NATO would also be gone, but there would have been no risk of retaliation. Those extra few days of NATO presence don't seem like enough reason to start killing people who are leaving anyway...

"Oh, you're leaving next week? NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" *shoots him in the face*

Doesn't make sense to me.

As far as I can tell, there was no logical reason for them to start massacring the NATO forces instead of simply waiting a few days and avoiding an unnecessary conflict. (Unless the whole point was to spark a conflict, but... why? :confused:)

Maybe it will be cleared up in the last two episodes, but as it stands this seems to be a huge plot goof.

NATO took ALL the furniture, the AAF wants it back.

[antoineflemming 14]

Yes....and in the US Military, the enlisted only salute the Officers.....an enlisted person would never salute another enlisted person. If you're an Officer, the lower rank salutes the higher rank "First"....and if you are an officer of the same rank (lets say...a captain meeting a captain), the one who sees the other one first, salutes first. {Side Note. If a Captain is given a leadership role by a high ranking officer and another Captain is ordered to report to the Captain of high importance, then the Captain of lower importance has to salute first.}

It's been 21 years since I've been in the USAF and that is how we did it. Also, when we were in Desert Storm or on maneuvers, you never saluted an Officer while hostilities were in the area.

True. Makes the officer a target. Not to mention Kerry calling SGT Adams 'Sir'.

[mistyronin 1181]

Yes....and in the US Military, the enlisted only salute the Officers.....an enlisted person would never salute another enlisted person. If you're an Officer, the lower rank salutes the higher rank "First"....and if you are an officer of the same rank (lets say...a captain meeting a captain), the one who sees the other one first, salutes first. {Side Note. If a Captain is given a leadership role by a high ranking officer and another Captain is ordered to report to the Captain of high importance, then the Captain of lower importance has to salute first.}.

I was not in the US military, but more or less was the same ( in my case the enlisted men had to salute NCO and Officers, cuz in the Army I've served the NCOs are not enlisted, they attend a military academy for two years ).

BTW beside in the field, in my homecountry you couldn't even salute in the gate of the bases because of the terrorist thread ( neither use the uniform when outside the base in certain regions for the same ).