Weapon tests

[WhiskeySixx 10]

Just an FYI,

You might want to demonstrate this......

If you get an RPG (AT Round) and fire at the Infantry hatch on the Slammer (including the Up Armor), You can roast it with a single RPG..... To burn the Opfor tank, it takes 4 to the engine block and 3 on the hatch of the turret.

[pooroldspike 129]

..If you get an RPG (AT Round) and fire at the Infantry hatch on the Slammer (including the Up Armor), You can roast it with a single RPG..... To burn the Opfor tank, it takes 4 to the engine block and 3 on the hatch of the turret.

Thanks mate we'll take your word for it..:)

Yes I like the RPG for short-range work because you can aim it at any spot of your choice, but the lockable Titans and PCML's automatically lock onto the centre of mass which might not be a weak spot.

These two other guys also mentioned weak spots on page 1-

Maturin said- "the tanks have hitzones now. If you get a weak spot, you can kill a T-100 with a single RPG (unguided) to the front. And last night I cooked a T-100 with one RPG to the rear turret"

Alinixwissen said-

"Slammer(both):

underside of the tank (1 AT mine is enough to bail the crew other tanks take at least 2 the Kuma takes 3)

crew hatched (at the rear of the tank)

T-100:

rear and side turret

structure between the turret and the main body

Top of the turret

Kuma:

top of the turret

side of the turret

structure between the turret and the main body

no garantee for that info but thats what i have experienced"

Edited May 12, 2014 by PoorOldSpike

[pooroldspike 129]

CLAYMORES against VEHICLES

No effect against these first four (T-100, Kamysh, Hunter, Marshall), not even the Hunter and Marshalls tyres were blown out, they must be heavy-duty military tyres.

But these 3 were hurt bad, top left is the Zamax truck which had it's tyres blown out, but it didn't burn.

Top right is the Offroader, it burnt bad, and bottom is the Quadbike which was also toasted-

Summary: the Claymore can't hurt tanks. light armour and lightly-armoured wheeled vehs, but it can hurt softkins.

Edited May 13, 2014 by PoorOldSpike

[pooroldspike 129]

APERS MINE IN ACTION

(Hey noobs- if you haven't already guessed, APERS stands for anti-personnel.

There are currently two APERS mines in AA3, one is simply called 'APERS Mine' and is the subject of this test, and the other is the 'APERS Bounding Mine' which jumps in the air, I'll test that later.

Another kind of anti-personnel mine can be sown in groups from an artillery shell which i'll also test later)

The APERS Mine looks how mines should look- thoroughly nasty..

They sit on the ground like this but of course would be harder to spot in grass or night.

Here I run past it at about a metre away and it doesn't explode..

But on the return run I get very close..

and it goes off, ouch that hurt..

Next, I place one in the middle of a bunch of infantry and run at it to find out its lethal blast radius..

..the blast kills and injures people out to a range of about 5 metres..

SUMMARY:

They detonate if you get closer than about a metre even if you don't step on them, maybe they pick up vibration of footsteps through the ground, or have an IR body-heat detector or radar fuse.

Tactically squads should stay dispersed from each other by over 5 metres so that if somebody gets blown up nobody else will get hurt.

Ideally squads should move in single file if mines are suspected in the vicinity, so that only the point man gets zapped

Edited May 14, 2014 by PoorOldSpike

[five_seven5-7 56]

Whats the principle behind the claymore in game?

In reality the damage its based on the joules from each ball bearing, on the game its based in a explosion (pressure)?

[Greenfist 1863]

Whats the principle behind the claymore in game?

In reality the damage its based on the joules from each ball bearing, on the game its based in a explosion (pressure)?

Well, the deadly blast is directional in the game, so it at least tries to imitate shrapnels. But steel balls should have some penetration capabilities, right? I suspect they don't in game.

[pooroldspike 129]

I've carefully examined vehicle softskin targets for signs of claymore ball bearing holes but haven't seen any, so presumably they're abstracted in Arma3.

For example this one had its tyres and windows blown out by a claymore blast into its side but I can't see any holes in the bodywork-

Edited May 14, 2014 by PoorOldSpike

[pooroldspike 129]

APERS BOUNDING MINE

It's another ground-sitter and is triggered by an IR or radar fuse when some poor schmuck gets too close..

You can run past it at about 10 metres range like this and not trigger it..

But if you try to run past it at less than around 10m like this you've had your chips..

..because it'll pop up like this..

and detonate at head height..

Now let's find out its lethal radius.

I place one in the middle of the group and run onto it..

..and it hurts people out to about 20 metres..

SUMMARY: It's more lethal than the non-bounding APERS Mine because by popping up and detonating in the air, its blast and shrapnel is spread over a wider area, and it can detect people at a greater range.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's a recap of the explosive toys currently in Arma3, the Explosives Specialist carries all the items in the top pic, and the other 3 can be found in Explosive crates-

At great personal risk, so far i've tested these below. When the local natives see me coming they run for cover shrieking- "Aieee! it is he who walks with danger!"

M6 Slam AT mine (page 5)

Explosive Charge (p 6)

Explosive Satchel (p8)

Claymore (pp 10/11)

APERS mine (p11)

APERS bounding mine (p11)

Edited May 14, 2014 by PoorOldSpike

[13islucky 10]

Here's a question though: can you dodge the bounding mines by going prone below a certain distance? I'm thinking that at extremely short ranges you could theoretically avoid the shrapnel as it goes off above you, but I've never done it before (hopefully I'll never have to find out) and I have no real experience with them.

[Gutsnav 13]

Here's a question though: can you dodge the bounding mines by going prone below a certain distance? I'm thinking that at extremely short ranges you could theoretically avoid the shrapnel as it goes off above you, but I've never done it before (hopefully I'll never have to find out) and I have no real experience with them.

Nope. There's ball bearings on every side of the mine except the top. Deadly as hell. There's no way to dodge these things other than not triggering them. Well there is a small hole for the propulsion system, but it's way too small to hide under.

[Greenfist 1863]

But you should always hit the dirt when you see a mine about to bounce.

I just tried it and found that if you're standing 20m from the mine, you die. At prone you'll only receive about 30% damage.

At 30m it's 8% prone and 24% standing.

[pooroldspike 129]

ANTI-AIRCRAFT FIRE TESTS

I'll test the other mines later but meanwhile I thought I'd start this test series to find out at what ranges enemy bots will engage with various weapons. I'll begin with small arms and work up through heavier stuff and missiles later.

I set it at dusk so we can see their tracer and muzzle flashes better.

I'm flying an unarmed Hummingbird slowly at a group of 7 bots on the headland.

RIFLEMEN

They begin opening up at about 400 metres and I start taking hits-

Zoom-I see no tracer but can see their muzzle flashes and hear bullets cracking, the chopper was riddled and dropped like a stone into the sea a few seconds later..

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AUTORIFLEMEN

They opened fire at about 600m, plenty of tracers and I was in the drink within seconds..

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Mk 30 HMG .50

They started shooting at about 1000m, the high-velocity tracers came up so fast that I was barely able to capture them for a screenshot. I was dead meat real quick, nobody better mess with them boys..

Edited May 15, 2014 by PoorOldSpike

[pooroldspike 129]

TIGRIS in action

It packs Titan AA missiles and a twin 35mm cannon..

The bot crew launches a Titan at about 1200 metres..

Grids are 1000m at this scale..

Missile about to strike home..

Direct hit! The cannons also open up..

..and pour fire into the chopper during its fatal descent into the sea..

[pooroldspike 129]

The choppers view from the start of the show-

It detects the Tigris at about 6kms range but can't positively identify it, the readout reads 'Tank', and the blip at top (arrowed) is a vague yellow. The unarmed observation chopper is quite safe at this long range and has done its job by detecting something out there for other friendly units to check out and deal with..

..but let's be gungho for fun and get in closer..

Aha, now at about 3 kms out we get a positive I.D. and the blip has turned red. The Tigris hasn't fired yet so we could still u-turn and get the hell out if we wanted..

..zoom sees nothing..

..but let's continue flying towards the beast..

..and at about 1200m I suddenly hear a crazy warning trilling sound like a canary on crack, the radar panel turns red to signify I've been locked, and a Titan comes flying up, don't you just hate it when that happens?..

..ouch..

..and as the chopper drops like a spinning stone, the Tigris hoses it down with cannon fire for good measure..

SUMMARY:

There are too many permutations to test, so bear in mind there are variables that might or might not affect results, such as-

Difficulty level (I used Regular)

Day/night

Fog/mist/rain etc

Human crews might perform better

Different choppers and aircraft might be harder or easier to shoot down depending on their size, radar/IR signature and ability to withstand damage, and whether they can jam missiles or pop flares etc.

Speed and altitude would also play a part, for example a contour-hugging approach would give good cover.

Edited May 16, 2014 by PoorOldSpike

[pooroldspike 129]

Bot Missile Specialist (AA)

He fires when the chopper closes to about 500 metres range-

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Note: all the above AA tests were carried out with bot shooters, but human shooters do much better.

For example as we just saw, the bot Missile Specialist (AA) fired at 500 metres, but if you're human you can lock on and fire at about 1250 metres (below)-

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The Tigris under human control also performs much better.

As we saw in the earlier Tigris test, a bot crew will begin firing AA missiles and the twin 35mm cannon at about 1200 metres range, but as this test below shows, a human gunner can open up at an incredible 9000 metres (yes,9 kilometres!)

Your standard zoom through the Tigris gunner optics sees nothing except a label (this is Regular difficulty level as are all the tests)..

But the zoomed view reveals the chopper..

And it appears on the map 9kms away as a faint blue ghost. (the blue becomes more solid when you get a positive I.D later)

..so just lock him and let fly..

At night you can use IR to see him..

Tactical note: of course during an actual game there's no guarantee you'll spot incoming targets at such long ranges, especially if you're looking the other way, or weather/visibility is poor, or if he's approaching from behind hills etc.

Edited May 17, 2014 by PoorOldSpike

[pooroldspike 129]

Bot Tigris vs NATO Greyhawk (CAS) drone

I set the drones 'this flyInHeight 25000' and the Tigris shot it down with combined missile and cannon fire (below) which was surprising.

It doesn't look like its 25 kms high to me, I must have got the fly in height script or waypoint procedure wrong?

Edited May 17, 2014 by PoorOldSpike

[Grumpy Old Man 3545]

This thread is an inspiration and an incredibly good source of information to help balancing missions.

Keep up the good work!

[kolpo 1]

Bot Tigris vs NATO Greyhawk (CAS) drone

I set the drones 'this flyInHeight 25000' and the Tigris shot it down with combined missile and cannon fire (below) which was surprising.

It doesn't look like its 25 kms high to me, I must have got the fly in height script or waypoint procedure wrong?

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/Photos4-newPB/AA3-Grehk1_zpsf139a3e9.jpg~original

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/Photos4-newPB/AA3-grehk2_zps45fc6f6f.jpg~original

The flyInHeight altitude is the altitude the aircraft shall attempt to fly in, it is not the altitude it starts in, for this do you use this in init: this setPos [ getPos this select 0, getPos this select 1, 25000]

[pooroldspike 129]

Thanks guys i'll experiment with the fly in height thing later..:)

Meanwhile-

ENTER THE FROGMEN

There are 3 ways to hurt/kill submerged frogmen-

1- by throwing grenades into the water.. like I'm doing here. (note how hard it is to see frogmen)..

I jump in to see what happened. One guy has let go his rifle and is sinking, either dead or out cold..

His mate shoots me, what cheek! I've heard real-world frogmen are issued with rifles that fire underwater! I WANT ONE!

2- Underwater gunfights. I become a frogman myself and jump in to try out my super-duper new underwater rifle..

yup it works fine..:)

It's effective even at this extreme visibility range....

3- shooting an underwater rifle from land

There are 10 frogmen in the water and I target one of them with my UW rifle. His icon (yellow circle) begins to pale out as he sinks (arrowed) either wounded or dead..

..I also chuck a few grenades among the survivors which injures or kills more, and they begin shooting back at me from underwater, and down I go..

SUMMARY: remember the above 3 ways are the only way to kill/hurt frogmen. See pages 13/14/15 for more frogmen tests to confirm it

Edited May 24, 2014 by PoorOldSpike

[Gutsnav 13]

I wish you could drop smoke / chemlights underwater...

Anyway, do you think you could test out the Naval Mines? And the effectiveness of shooting at underwater Frogmen? Thanks

[pooroldspike 129]

I wish you could drop smoke / chemlights underwater...

Anyway, do you think you could test out the Naval Mines? And the effectiveness of shooting at underwater Frogmen? Thanks

Well I stood on the jetty and sprayed the submerged frogmen with ordinary rifle fire but didn't seem to hit anybody, I'll wheel up a cannon and mortars etc to have a go at them in future tests.

Smoke grenades- we can chuck them into the water, they sink to the bottom and the smoke comes to the surface like this..

That's it on the seabed with its smoke bubbling up..

Edited May 22, 2014 by PoorOldSpike

[pooroldspike 129]

AT MINE

There are currently two kinds of AT mines in AA3, one is the M6 SLAM AT mine which blasts a molten jet of explosive at a passing tank (see page 5 of this thread), and the other is the AT Mine (below).

The AT mine is the flat 'dinner plate' kind and detonates in two ways-

1- when a tank rolls over it without touching it

2- when a tank track crushes it

(Infantry won't detonate it, I ran a guy over it several times but nothing happened.)

Scale comparison against a rifle-

I placed one in the middle of the road and drove a tank over it without touching it..

..and it detonated under the tank; presumably it has sensors that detect tanks.

Note the severe damage readout at top left..

In this test I drove close by it but it didn't detonate; maybe the sensor can only detect tanks directly above it..

..and in this next test I drove at it to crush it under the track..

..and it blows.

It dishes out the same treatment to this Hunter, namely it detonates if the Hunter drives over it without touching it, and also detonates if the Hunters tyre crushes it.

It won't detonate if the Hunter passes it to one side by a few inches.

But the Offroader and Quadbike WON'T detonate it at all, not even if they drive over it or crush it under a tyre..

SUMMARY:

AT mines pack quite a wallop; one is enough to trash a main battle tank, and they also make mincemeat of light AFV's like the Hunter.

But lightweight softskins such as the Offroader and Quadbike are IMMUNE and will never detonate a mine.

Tactically, we wouldn't usually put them in full view in the middle of the road or the tank driver would see them and go around, but at least we'd have made him stop, and slowed the enemy advance.

We could of course deliberately place a few across a road to force him to divert when he sees them, so that he'd drive over others we'd cunningly hidden in grass nearby.

M6 SLAM AT mines (page 5) are tactically more flexible because they can be placed unseen on the grass verge to blast tanks that are using the road.

Edited May 20, 2014 by PoorOldSpike

[WhiskeySixx 10]

You do not need a script for elevation when spawning an entity. In the editor (F1, units) when you add a unit, bottom left you see elevation. This works for positive and negitive values (above water and below). Just type in your values and press enter. If a plane... just set special to flying.. and the elevation where you want it.

[pooroldspike 129]

NAVAL MINES

There are currently these 3 types in the game-

The Moored mine is anchored to the seabed, it has sensors that will detonate it when a vessel gets around 10 metres, or bumps into it.

It can either sit on the surface to scare enemy ships away-

..or can be moored deeper like this to stay out of sight. (use the Elevation option in the editor and set a minus number)

This one is at -5 metres..

The Bottom mine sits on the seabed and explodes when it's sensors detect nearby vessels at around 10 metres. Place it with a minus number, this one is at -10..

The PDM-7 mine sits on the seabed. Its sensors only have a range of about 5 metres so if it's placed in deeper water it won't detect vessels on the surface. It's therefore primarily a shallow water mine and shouldn't be placed deeper than around -5.

NOTE: remember rubber boats can't be detected by the Moored mine and the Bottom mine, but can be detected by the PDM-7.

Also don't place the Moored and the Bottom more than -10 deep or their sensors won't reach the surface.

For the same reason don't place the PDM-7 deeper than -5.

Below: this pic shows a Moored mine at -10 and is just to give an idea of what -10 metres looks like.

Edited May 23, 2014 by PoorOldSpike

[Gutsnav 13]

Not to be annoying, but what about the PDM-7's? The PDM-7 is a beach mine, you place it practically in the surf. It's to stop amphibious assault craft, but I'm not sure how effective it is against other vehicles. I'm interested to see what damage they will do against AFVs (Marshall, etc.) and boats and stuff.