Seriously. What is ArmA 3 About? (Spoilers, maybe)

[doubleblind 13]

tl;dr How did we get from "Altis is no longer part of Greece!" to "Corporal Kerry makes bang bang noises"?

There have been threads about this in the past and I've been through plenty of them, but none have really answered the question: what happened in the 5-10 years before The East Wind? Many of us know the plot of the campaign, at least as much as we can, but what happened in the 10 years leading up to it? We know there was a coup d'etat in 2026 that a few kindly gentlemen took displeasure to in the form of bullets, a civil war, the Jerusalem Ceasefire in 2030, and eventually CSAT and NATO. But I still have a lot of questions like, in no particular order:

1. Why was CSAT doing what they were doing, which I'll codename "Operation MacGuffin" for OPSEC purposes (read: spoiler prevention), on Altis when a massive, technologically advanced alliance of nations surely has plenty of facilities back home without a bunch of Americans having a middle school basement party next door?

2. Who was the FIA fighting from 2026-2030 if the AAF didn't exist until the Jerusalem Ceasefire? Based on the newsreel cinematic from the beginning of the campaign I think the 2026 coup was the Republic of Altis and Stratis (that's a lot to type so for the rest of this post I'll refer to the government in Pyrgos as "Steve") breaking away from Greece with the aid of some paramilitary force. But who was Steve's paramilitary force and where did they go? Where did Steve get enough manpower and hardware to take 270 km² against the Hellenic Armed Forces?

3. When and why did CSAT get involved? I have to believe that the only economy that's indicated to be doing well in any way at all can do better than absorbing the vast money sink that Steve must be. If it was for Operation MacGuffin, see question #1.

4. Miller and the rest of the NATO forces go to some pretty extreme lengths to stop Operation MacGuffin. Don't you think somebody in a NATO member state government might have said "Hey guys, this seems a little extreme"? I mean, in the Bootcamp campaign we even see the effects of Operation MacGuffin and nothing comes of it except one slightly forced line of dialogue over the radio.

So to reiterate: Why is Ben Kerry shooting people in the nation of Steve?

[ratszo 17]

"MacGuffin"..., the name itself is a clue:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin

[doubleblind 13]

It's most certainly a clue, although in this case I feel like somebody who hasn't finished the campaign will have no idea what we're referring to. Especially since the only details I've presented about Operation MacGuffin is that NATO doesn't like it (not much of a surprise) and that it takes the form of people doing stuff. Should I rename it as Steve's brother Stan?

More relevantly, do you have any idea what is happening in this world? At this point I don't even think the Armaverse's residents do.

Edited April 6, 2015 by DoubleBlind

[theevancat 277]

Iran got bored and decided to play with some toys in Greece?

I dunno. I just drive the truck, I don't plan the war.

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

Maybe this entire thing was a teaser, a joke for the real Arma 3 campaign with the Expansion. Or maybe there is something. Something more... Maybe Miller knows... Maybe the answers are within the Combat Research and Development Group.

[five_seven5-7 56]

Its normal, also Arma 1 had a MacGuffin involving mass grave and hadn't developed that idea. MacGuffins are great for screenwriters (Lost and other shows), they implant little object a inception and the public tries to get an explanation (human nature) for it.

[2nd ranger 282]

1. Why was CSAT doing what they were doing on Altis

Presumably because Altis experiences a high level of seismic activity, based on the images you find in the CSAT facility near the end. Makes it a good place to test their device.

2. Who was the FIA fighting from 2026-2030 if the AAF didn't exist until the Jerusalem Ceasefire?

They were the AAF before, they were probably just restructured after the ceasefire. From the FIA Faction info : "Believed to be chiefly composed of former and defected members of the Altis Armed Forces, disparate fragments of opposition to the 2026 Kavala coup d'etat joined together in the grind of bloody civil war."

I think the 2026 coup was the Republic of Altis and Stratis breaking away from Greece with the aid of some paramilitary force.

No, Greece has nothing to do with it. Altis is an independent nation. The 2026 coup was the armed forces seizing control from the government, followed by the civil war between the armed forces and those who opposed the coup, the latter faction becoming the FIA.

Frankly though, I think BIS made up or retconned most of the story as they went along, so trying to make sense of it is tantamount to writing fanfiction.

[chortles 263]

They were the AAF before, they were probably just restructured after the ceasefire. From the FIA Faction info : "Believed to be chiefly composed of former and defected members of the Altis Armed Forces, disparate fragments of opposition to the 2026 Kavala coup d'etat joined together in the grind of bloody civil war."

According to the AAF's own Faction info, the Pyrgos government requested international assistance following the Jerusalem Ceasefire and CSAT was among the participants, so whatever the actual motive on CSAT's end there was an official (cover) story.

Frankly though, I think BIS made up or retconned most of the story as they went along, so trying to make sense of it is tantamount to writing fanfiction.

It's not really a secret that after the jailings in the autumn/winter of 2012 BI rebooted the plot.

[drebin052 324]

It's not really a secret that after the jailings in the autumn/winter of 2012 BI rebooted the plot.

There's still a lot of more back story for BI to clear up that's for sure.

Like background info for the "bad guys", Vahid Namdar (the commander of the CSAT battalion on Altis) and Ostad Attar (the CEO in charge of the weapons development company behind the device; used to be called Red Pegasus Engineering). Or the events in the two decades prior to Altis, like when/how was CSAT founded, what happened to Takistan after PMC, the 2016 oil crisis (mentioned in the T-100's field manual entry), etc.

The 2011-2012 storylines were a lot more in-depth when it came to the character backgrounds and events, but now we have nothing for the current version of The East Wind...except for Kerry's "What the hell?" one liners.

[devilslayersbane 28]

There's still a lot of more back story for BI to clear up that's for sure.

Like background info for the "bad guys", Vahid Namdar (the commander of the CSAT battalion on Altis) and Ostad Attar (the CEO in charge of the weapons development company behind the device; used to be called Red Pegasus Engineering). Or the events in the two decades prior to Altis, like when/how was CSAT founded, what happened to Takistan after PMC, the 2016 oil crisis (mentioned in the T-100's field manual entry), etc.

The 2011-2012 storylines were a lot more in-depth when it came to the character backgrounds and events, but now we have nothing for the current version of The East Wind...except for Kerry's "What the hell?" one liners.

And a protagonist whom you don't see in the prequel campaign for bootcamp. It would've been nice to have some background on Kerry (make us care, plz). I cared more for SSG Adams than Kerry throughout the entire campaign and he died in the second mission.

[ratszo 17]

..., I cared more for SSG Adams than Kerry throughout the entire campaign and he died in the second mission.

Yeah!, Adams was a real soldier, a soldier's soldier --not like that pot-smoking hippy, Kerry....

[Jona33 51]

And a protagonist whom you don't see in the prequel campaign for bootcamp. It would've been nice to have some background on Kerry (make us care, plz). I cared more for SSG Adams than Kerry throughout the entire campaign and he died in the second mission.

Check the driver in "Damage Control" (I think it's that one, the final mission of bootcamp). They snuck Kerry in there.

[chortles 263]

Ya'll look at SSG Adams highly, but all I could think from listening to him was "if anyone is going to get us green-on-blue'd, it'll be SSG Adams"...

[theevancat 277]

I couldn't connect to any of the main characters. If it were me, I'd probably put in some fifteen minute car rides where they talk about movies or something. Basically Quentin Tarantino characters.