Starting the scouting missions in Adapt

[LowFlyZone 10]

Don't forget that you can load up supply on a truck and drive it back to your base. The content will go automaticly in the ammo boxes

Are you freaking serious? I need to go check this then. I did 3 of the sidemissions yesterday (ones from the second camp), I drove back to base in the pickup I stole from the weapons dealers (after it was filled to the brim with ammo and explosives) and when I got to the base the game loaded and my truck was gone. So I threw out my toys and quit the campaign because you know, all that recon for nothing! :rolleyes:

[lugiahua 26]

I also play scouting (and basically whole campaign) as role playing, mentally imaging that all the small missions I did have some kind impact in the whole war.

[nicolasroger 11]

Are you freaking serious? I need to go check this then. I did 3 of the sidemissions yesterday (ones from the second camp), I drove back to base in the pickup I stole from the weapons dealers (after it was filled to the brim with ammo and explosives) and when I got to the base the game loaded and my truck was gone. So I threw out my toys and quit the campaign because you know, all that recon for nothing! :rolleyes:

My trucks always disappear too. but when I looked in the ammo crates, I am pretty sure my stuff was there. I remember specificly seing 7 green smoke grenade in the truck that went into the ammo crates.

Maybe someone else can confirm that.

[erazor 10]

doubt that it works .... i brought back 20 med kits in an ATV

I never once was able to pick up medkits from the crates throughout the entire campaign

I also brought back multiple Rangefinders and NVG's .... never once did they show up in the crates.

[Deadfast 43]

There are some magazines that will refill automatically every time you come back from patrol. As far as I can tell only what you have on your person counts.

By the way, in case you didn't know, you can actually return to the base at any time without forfeiting any uncompleted side missions. In other words, it might be a good idea to do a few missions, RTB to unload the stuff and head out again.

[Rydygier 1309]

never once did they show up in the crates.

I would add to that, after some time these three crates used for storing stuff, we found (I mean rifles, ammo, some attachements - things, that ARE stored) are overflowing. New stuff brought from scouting will appear inside regardless, but if you take anything from full box, you cannot put it back, only on the ground, what probably mean disappearing of that stuff after next scout mission. There should be more boxes added, when needed, or these should be of unlimited capacity.

[LowFlyZone 10]

Ok I think it's safe to say the ammo (ddn't loot any weapons to test) does appear in the crate(s), I saw stuff in the ammo crate at Gori that I know wasn't there before, judging by the sheer number of items and the crate was full. So not everything could make it into the crate. I lost some needed ammo like my ABR 7.62 mags but other stuff was saved. I also looked at the support crate and found the extra attachments I had looted.

So I can confirm it works, limited by the crate capacity.

[nicolasroger 11]

Yes it works. It is just that some items are not saved, like medpack, night vision google, range finder, uniforms etc.

So I keep thinking that what I had in my truck got saved (if it was ammo and guns)

[matt_gold 10]

I had the same question.

When I moved away from the camp, I was told the scouting mission would begin if I went further. Then when I went further, I got booted back to the campaign menu.

Also, if I finish the fuel truck job, are these scouting missions gone for good?

[best2nd 10]

I had the same question.

When I moved away from the camp, I was told the scouting mission would begin if I went further. Then when I went further, I got booted back to the campaign menu.

Also, if I finish the fuel truck job, are these scouting missions gone for good?

That's because you replayed the mission.

Scouting missions will be gone when you complete the entire mission set.

[trooper117 10]

This thread is a god send... thanks guys!

I'd have missed all of these side missions. Why on earth have the dev's designed the campaign this way? it's beyond me. :(

Right, will revert and see if I can get these missions going in game tonight...

[ex-PFC Wintergreen 10]

To activate the side mission, you simply need to "set them as current objective" before leaving the base on foot.

Thank you so much! I was just trying to do these missions and walking away jumped me into the Supply Network mission instead of "scouting." I would never think to do that.

[Variable 322]

I think just walking away from the camp is enough, isn't it?

[five_seven5-7 56]

I think just walking away from the camp is enough, isn't it?

yes, no need to select them. Some side missions will appear if you are in the region even without listen the introductory dialogue from FIA mates.

[Jona33 51]

The scouting missions would seem to be a brilliant time to use the strategic map. You click on the mission you fancy going to, maybe have a quick line of dialogue with Stavrou saying "Can I take some guys with me". You're then able to leave the base with maybe 3 other guys to form a small team.

[RUFFNEK 10]

I must say, first time I finished one of the side missions I was kind of expecting some sort of acknowledgement in the very least. Not saying I need a parade but these guys are sitting around and gossiping about stuff, you go out (by yourself) and theres no mention of it. Also would be nice to report, (You recovered, 4 grenades, 9 mags, 2 rifles etc for the rebels.)

The one mission called "Abandoned battlefield" - It says that you must recover "VALUABLE" items, so my logic dictates that I steal the truck, load it with items like NVG, health kits, HMG's, scopes etc...took about 35mins gathering stuff and loading it into the truck, get back to base and *poof* - nothing. I saw a couple mins ago that crates dont keep items like that, would have been great knowing that..

Some sort of overview of what the side missions entail would have been great. It didnt make sense that you go out on patrol, the whole point of Operation Flashpoint/Arma is to show you arent a lone wolf like COD and games alike, its about squad based missions. It was strange that you couldnt recruit the guys gossping to assist you AND why cant you keep the stuff you worked so hard to get!

GPS, NVG's, health packs and vehicles. The one weapon dealer mission took forever to get done coz I ran so far, I bring a quadbike back and yay cant use it..

[OMAC 254]

While I think the scouting missions are a great idea to extend campaign playtime, they should be more connected with campaign plot. I agree with RUFFNEK that, either everything gathered on scouting missions should be preserved for later use, or there should be some description of scouting missions that informs player that vehicles, and any equipment in them, will not be preserved. As it is now, players waste lots of time stashing equipment into vehicles, get pissed off when the vehicles and stashed equipment vanish, and there is no benefit to or acknowledgement from the guerrilla cell for your scouting efforts. I'm fairly sure (?) that items in your personal inventory will be preserved, however.

The weapon dealer missions are especially frustrating since the mission descriptions suggest that you are attacking the dealers to get their weapon cache.

[wattywatts 76]

Since patch 1.18 (April 30th) all equipment (except unequipped goggles) should be saved to weapon pool.

Added: Full item / gear persistence

[OMAC 254]

Excellent! Another reason for me to restart the campaign. I didn't play any scouting missions in Survive, and none at first camp in Adapt, either. I played all but perhaps 2 campaign missions before April 30.

I should say that other than the desperate situation with Bingo Fuel (no NVG), I didn't really have any problems with equipment, other than the disappointment of some lost equipment from vehicle cargo after scouting missions. I religiously collected scopes of all kinds, which is crucial. But then I have not finished the whole campaign, as I just finished the first mission of Win a few weeks ago.

Note that there was something funky with equipment regarding the loadout option at mission briefings (map screen at mission start, as in Arma 2). I know that loadout selection at the briefing screen was re-implemented in A3 rather late. You select loadout in camp from tables and crates, and then go to mission hook-up point. Mission starts, with briefing screen. You can then select other weapons for you and your team (Team/select unit/Gear, as in A2); I think that you have the entire saved weapon pool at your disposal. That is good, but is a little confusing after you just spent considerable time collecting equipment/weapons/ammo in camp. Anyway, if you get killed, and have to restart mission, I think you are back to the default loadout for the mission (for example, whole team has suppressed weapons in Bingo Fuel even if you selected others at briefing); the weapons you selected for your team from the briefing screen (map) are gone. This is unlike A2, where you always are back to the loadout you selected from briefing when you restart mission. You have to revert to the preceding "camp" mission if you want the special loadout for you and your squad that you selected at the mission briefing screen.

I think I have remembered the above correctly. If not, I apologize. In any case, the above is not a very big deal, just a detail, really.

[Axe22 10]

The task you get 'Scouting (Optional)' clearly states that you need to leave the camp at your own discretion...

Seriously guys... READ!!!

This is true but it is not clear at all from that text which comes up when you click on it that the one called "Scouting (Optional)" is in any way related to other side missions! Or which ones are side missions and which ones are not! Or that side missions even exist at all!!! I thought there was one sort of free form side mission called Scouting (Optional) that could be done over and over as many times as you want and all the others were scripted main missions that you find out about by interacting with the troops. I still haven't figured out the link to "make this the current mission". Sometimes that link changes checkmarks around and sometimes it doesn't, but it never makes the current mission get set to the one you choose. Some of them you click it and the "Report In" mission unchecks, others it does not. It just doesn't make any sense. Why would the Report In get unchecked when you change to a different current mission? Why? Don't you Report In before every mission? Or after? Or both? In fact, there is not even any indication of which one is the current one! They all look the same. Sometimes two or three of them are checked, other times only one. Sometimes they have the link to change to the current mission, sometimes they don't. And now, after days of playing the game, I find out that there are side missions to do??? This is the kind of stuff that ought to be plainly laid out at the very outset of the campaign before you ever board the first helicopter.

The whole tasks interface while you are at the camps is entirely convoluted and confusing. To start with, they are missions not tasks. They don't become tasks until a mission is underway. Missions are comprised of sequences of tasks. Like Report In is a task done during the camp mission which has the task of assigning you to a team and an objective. That would make sense. Like almost every procedure in the game it is baffling because there are no tutorial type missions that teach you how these things work...like, for example, teaching you that the UAV is located inside a bag and has to be built and connected to the terminal after you build it and only then flown etc., or that the leaders in the camps don't let you "Report In" though it tells you to talk to them to go on the missions right when you arrive in camp. Or that the scroll menu does things other than allow you to change your weapon depending on circumstances. I kept expecting that the first thing you do when you arrive back from a mission is to Report In to the camp leader! Then he tells you which subordinate team leader to go report to. That would make sense to me. But he never lets me report in! Most of them simply don't talk to you at all. You aren't allowed to Report In until you are ready to leave. Report In apparently means the same as Attend Briefing. That's when it happens when you start the briefing. That just doesn't make any sense at all to me. Shouldn't it be called Start Briefing? It took me forever to even realize that you can start the next mission right away if you want to. Not until after I got to the other island and the "Adapt" branch. The whole time I was in the "Survive" branch at Maxwell I sat around for like a half hour after every mission waiting for the next mission briefing to start. Except for a couple of times when I accidentally talked to the right guy and saw the Start Briefing link to click. Because it wasn't clear or explained anywhere how to talk to the right guy that lets you click to start the briefing. "Report in to who?" is the question I could never answer. Does he have a name?? Not the camp leader? What? MAKES NO SENSE. It's the first one on the list so I naturally assumed it is the first thing you do. But nope, it's the last. MAKES NO SENSE. I never wanted to do the Optional scouting mission, which isn't really a mission apparently, and so I never tried to do it. Maybe if I had it would have been more obvious that there are side missions somehow connected to it in some bizarre manner. I still don't get it. After playing for a week, after watching dozens upon dozens of youtubes, after plowing through the forums, after reading reams of community created explanations...and I still don't understand how the missions get started or selected. I still don't understand the Report In mission. Or why it is mixed in with the missions when it is really a task. MAKES NO SENSE.

At one point I wanted to simply skip over the supply truck one at Bomos after 82 attempts because it was too damn hard, or to intentionally fail the stupid thing so that I'd never be trusted as a leader again and I wouldn't have to deal with that lame menu thing ever again. Or at least switch over to one of the other missions for awhile and come back to it again later. It was plain that the order of missions could be changed around if you want to do that because there is a link on them to change them to the current one. I assumed every one of those others were all main missions since there is no indication whatsoever that they are not. But that cannot be done. I thought the game glitched out and skipped all but one of the missions there. I asked "Why didn't it go to the next mission?" I guess now I understand it can't be done because all those others are not part of the campaign but are optional side missions. Every single one of them. Yet not one of them is marked as either Optional or Side Mission. I suppose I understand now, maybe, that the link to change the current one has nothing to do with the current main mission, only the side ones? Is that how it works? Dunno, because it MAKES NO SENSE. And that the one marked as an Optional one is not even a mission at all. I guess it's just a separator on the list to delineate between the main ones above and the side ones below? Is that right? Who knows...certainly not me. IT JUST DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL. And with no guidance it is impossible to figure it out. Trial and error error error error error error error. Experimentation is the only way to learn it? What? Who came up with that idea? Haven't these guys ever played a game before? I mean the gaming industry is pretty mature. There are reasonably well established sorts of standards for teaching noobs how the thing works. Tutorial missions. Built in manual. Walk through cutscenes or videos. Examples. Game devs are some of the smartest people in the whole field of computing. Somewhere these jokers missed the boat on all that. Maybe they were trying to Report In at the time.

So the fact that I can read, and did read it, does not make clear any of this nonsensical interface and mission starting procedures at the camps.

Edited June 15, 2014 by Axe22

[OMAC 254]

The "Report In" tasks at the camps are only for "Main missions," the mandatory missions of the campaign. There are 5 optional scouting "missions," one for each camp, which can only be started by leaving the camps by yourself in any direction. The "Side Quests" are optional, scripted tasks of each scouting mission, and can be activated and appear in the task list either by overhearing guys talking at the camp, or by approaching certain areas during the scouting mission. The side quests can be completed in any order, or not at all, but will always appear on the map and task list during scouting sessions once they have been "activated."

It is confusing that all three mission types (main missions, scouting missions, and side quests) appear in the task list at the camps. However, only main missions show up in the campaign menu; sessions when you were doing the scouting missions are indicated, but side quests accomplished during the scouting missions are never shown.

I think that some limited instructions and descriptions of the three types of missions should be included in the field manual, if they are not there already.

See here: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?172046-Scouting-and-side-missions-FAQ. My spoiler in that thread gives more info on the scouting missions from Gori and Topolia.

Edited June 15, 2014 by OMAC

[Variable 322]

main missions, scouting missions, and side quests

Wait. What are side quests?

Edit: If I understand the FAQ correctly, side quests are the objectives that you do WHILE you are scouting? The abandoned battlefield for example?

Edited June 15, 2014 by Variable

[Axe22 10]

Wow that was a fast reply. Thanks for the info it was helpful in understanding the structure of the missions a little better. I'll have to give it a try to better understand it all. Still not too clear on the difference between side missions and the scouting mission. Sounds like the same thing to me. As if the scouting mission is a particular type of side mission that gives you access to start the rest of the side missions...or actually the currently selected side mission?

Since you are a beta dude maybe you could forward the suggestion that all missions ought to at least be color coded or marked or something as side missions or optional or scouting or main to better identify them in the lists. Well the scouting one, if there is only one per base, is well distinguished already and clearly marked as optional -- which I immediately equated to a side mission when I first saw it because it is specifically identified as being optional. Still, it would be nice to be able to look at the list and know which ones are main, or side without having to go look them up in the campaign menu. Actually I'm not sure I know what the campaign menu is. I assume you're talking about the one that comes up immediately when you choose Play Campaign from the game's main menu and has the Expand button in the lower right corner. If that's the one, then the problem is that you must quit and restart the campaign to go see it and figure out if a mission is main or not...unless you have a good memory for mission names. And the bit about changing the current mission I still don't really get. If it only applies to side missions and never to main missions then it's the term "current mission" in the link that throws me off. That characterization makes me think of the main missions not the optional ones. So perhaps the text of it should be altered to indicate it only applies to the side missions...maybe "Select Next Side Mission" or "Select Next Scouting Mission" would be better.

I still feel the procedure you follow in the camps to initiate missions is convoluted more than it need be. In my opinion, treating the time spent in camp as a mission in itself consisting of several tasks (e.g. Report In, Find Team Leader, Start Briefing, Equip, Assemble, Start Mission, (play the mission), RTB, Report In) would go a long way towards making the whole experience easier to follow. Walking out of camp or using the vehicle, at your discretion, in order to start scouting is very straight forward and obvious...I like the way that one is handled just fine. But starting the main ones and the side ones still seems a bit weird to me. The side ones have that built in dynamic where you must discover them first, so maybe that's why they seem so strange. Calling them discovered or uncovered missions or something along those lines might help I suppose.

EDIT: If the scouting mission is a sort of master mission for all the side missions, then the list should have that one on top of all the side missions and the side missions should be indented below it to better indicate they are all a subset of the scouting mission. Formatted like an outline.

Edited June 15, 2014 by Axe22

[OMAC 254]

Wait. What are side quests?

Edit: If I understand the FAQ correctly, side quests are the objectives that you do WHILE you are scouting? The abandoned battlefield for example?

Yep, that's correct.

---------- Post added at 12:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:03 PM ----------

Actually I'm not sure I know what the campaign menu is. I assume you're talking about the one that comes up immediately when you choose Play Campaign from the game's main menu and has the Expand button in the lower right corner.

Yep, that's it. There is a screenshot of it in my spoiler in that other thread.

EDIT: If the scouting mission is a sort of master mission for all the side missions, then the list should have that one on top of all the side missions and the side missions should be indented below it to better indicate they are all a subset of the scouting mission. Formatted like an outline.

I very much agree. I don't think that side quests should be listed in the main task list at the camps unless it is clearly indicated that they are optional objectives of the scouting mission. As it is now, they can easily be confused with Main Missions. Only missions should be in task list, eg. Main Missions and Scouting. One idea: when a side quest is activated, a hint could come up saying, "New objective [or side quest] for scouting mission activated." Or something like that. Then people would know that one would have to start scouting to tackle this new objective, and not look for it on the camp strategic map or in the task list.

[Axe22 10]

Looks like they changed it to use indents and it looks much more sensible now. I finally get it! Staggeringly fast response to the suggestion (less than a day), I'm astonished. Could really give some schooling to the whole software industry on how to handle customer response. Most outfits batch requests up, then decide which ones they'll respond to and which ones they'll ignore, then get them all done in one giant update which doesn't come out until like 2 or 3 (or more) months down the line...only then do you find out if you've been ignored or not. And if yours wasn't also requested by some threshold number or percentage of their client base, guess what you get? That approach makes sense for large complex requests, but the trivial ones you gotta wait for. And usually the trivial ones get ignored or overlooked on some back burner somewhere. Bravo Bohemia for setting a shiny example of how things ought to be. I knew it was possible all along no matter what they all say.

I have now given the scouting missions a go so I got a much better understanding of them. What is confusing to me now is the "Set as current mission" link. When you select a side mission as the current one while you are in the camp when the main missions are also displayed, it switches the checkmarks from Report In and whatever current mission is up, over to Scouting and whatever one you chose as current. So it unchecks the main bits and checks the side bits. Fine. Looks good. Makes perfect sense. But then when you leave camp and you get the list with only the side missions in it, nothing is checked as current even though you just selected one in the camp. And you can choose the current one again which need not be the same one you chose at camp. Additionally, no matter what you choose there is no waypoint for the current mission placed on the map. Like when you start the main missions, the first objective has a waypoint to show you where to go and often a couple of secondary ones as well. Not that a waypoint is needed especially in Scouting because all the side missions are made obvious on the map and there is only ever one place to worry about for each one and you can just set your own. Still it would be nice if it did set one based on what you choose as current so that you can have two active waypoints like you can during a main mission. It is helpful to be able to set one manually on some approach path you want to check out and still see where you are relative to the final objective as well as your approach while you are moving over there. All of this brings up the following questions in my mind:

1) Which one is current if you just close the Scouting only tasks list after leaving camp without selecting one as current? Or if you leave camp with the main mission still selected as current (i.e. You never select any side mission as current all either in camp or after you leave)?

2) If you select a different one than you did in the camp, which one will you do?

3) Does it even matter if you choose a current side mission? For example, if I select Abandoned Battlefield as the current one after I leave camp (or both before and after I leave) and then I run on the map over to where Vet Clinic is displayed (bypassing the abandoned battlefield area), will the Vet Clinic mission start up as I approach? If so, then what is the point of having a link to select one of them as the current one (all it does is put a checkmark next to it in the list, but it has no effect at all other than that)?

4) Can you complete more than one side mission during the same Scouting mission? If so, then what is the point of having a link to select one of them as the current one since no waypoint shows up? Seems like a pointless exercise to select one, and pointless exercises lead to confused players.

I am thinking that current mission is not used during scouting at all. If that is the case I have a suggestion... When you choose one at camp it should be already selected in the second list after leaving. It should do that already regardless, frankly just so people don't get confused and think they have to do it when they really don't and then they end up wondering why it got unchecked. There ought to be a waypoint placed right in the middle of the area of operation for whichever one is set to current. If none was ever set to current then no waypoint need be placed anywhere...but whenever you chose one, then it should put one there and get rid of any others. If during the mission you change your mind and want to go do a different one, or when you finish if you want to continue to another one, you should be able to go into the tasks list and set a different one current to get the waypoint to the new area of operation (and lose the old waypoint). When you finish one, there should be a waypoint placed back at the base. If you then choose another side mission to do on the same scouting, then the base one vanishes and the new one appears. Or maybe there should simply always be one set at the base no matter what you do while you're out and about. That way if you don't finish and decide to bail on the whole scouting mission without completing anything, there will always be a waypoint at the base.

Just an idea is all.

Edited June 17, 2014 by Axe22