What i expect from "Old Man"

[maxl30 81]

I expect a short but good singleplayer scenario what tells me more about Tanoa, the pacific CSAT and CTRG/regular pacific NATO troops and i hope it brings more animals to A3, special pacific animals, i hope also

well get static Cargo and Tank Ships (pacific and mediterane) and a pilotable Ferry.

 

 

[beno_83au 1362]

14 hours ago, maxl30 said:

 

 

 

 

Is that a wombat? In the Pacific?!!!???!?!?

 

But yes, it would be nice to see a bit of a relaxed campaign (thinking back to the final mission from OFP:CWC). The name alone suggests that in a way I guess.

[pierremgi 4737]

Pacific, peaceful animals or pacifists?
If you consider Australia as a tiny island, Wombat in Pacific doesn't hurt. 

[lexx 1331]

You better drive down those expectations, because I'm pretty sure half of that won't happen.

[GEORGE FLOROS GR 4206]

Spoiler

https://vimeo.com/grumpyoldman

and his epic dancing banana !

 

I think this is old time classic !

[EO 11225]

Is this a curiosity thread or has there been some recent news about "Old Man" that I've missed? 

[joostsidy 682]

13 hours ago, EO said:

Is this a curiosity thread or has there been some recent news about "Old Man" that I've missed? 

'curiosity thread' is an apt description.. 😆  There is no new official news.

[Wiki 1558]

DUnno why, but I feel I'll be kina disappointed by this one.

They said it will be an open world and that's not what I like :(

 

Makes me feel like Harvest Red in ArmA 2 in which we only had 3 story driven missions (take out the radio station to the siege of zzlenogorsk).

Then we had missions in which we had to search the whole map for 1 guy and after that, warfare missions.

[lexx 1331]

There was more than one warfare mission? Never even finished the first, because it was so unfun and the performance was atrocious.

[Wiki 1558]

42 minutes ago, lexx said:

There was more than one warfare mission? Never even finished the first, because it was so unfun and the performance was atrocious.

 

Yeah, missions Razor Two and Manhattan = search the whole map thing, open world missions

 

Delaying the bear, Badlands and Dogs of War = warfare missions

[Janez 506]

I don't think 'open world' type scenarios are inherently bad, it's just Arma 2 missions (as the game itself) were unfinished by far. They somewhat patched game breaking bugs but still remains poorly executed.

I mean, scouting missions in East Wind were pretty cool for the most part, right? So, if they combine a bunch of them with some good reasoning to do them story wise and decent main narrative, then it may just work out.

[Wiki 1558]

45 minutes ago, Janez said:

I don't think 'open world' type scenarios are inherently bad, it's just Arma 2 missions (as the game itself) were unfinished by far. They somewhat patched game breaking bugs but still remains poorly executed.

I mean, scouting missions in East Wind were pretty cool for the most part, right? So, if they combine a bunch of them with some good reasoning to do them story wise and decent main narrative, then it may just work out.

I don't say it's bad.

Just that I don't like it that much.

 

Concerning ArmA 3 and the scouting missions, I didn't enjoy them much:

at 1st, we were alone, felt like one man army.

After a few updates, we could have a small team to do it, but still: didn't feel like a realistic feeling to me.

 

take out 2 IFV /APC, find a crash site, take out 1 SF team, find radio position, take out 3 outposts.... all that with 4 guys with us... yeah, sure...

[lexx 1331]

^ the 4 guys stuff doesn't trouble me in that scenario. The main issue is that even with these events happening, AAF and CSAT are unable to track down the rebels. For me, this just doesn't work in the year 2035 on a tiny island like Altis. It should have been a matter of days to kill em all.

[mmm 35]

Makes me feel I should probably go back to play ARMA 2 properly to see through the campaign. But alas, for whatever flaw ARMA 3 had there's such a long list of improvements over ARMA 2 that are really hard to give up. Plus all the "crutch-addons" I need for single player.

 

In a prefect world what I personally want from ARMA ideally is Jagged Alliance 2 with combat simulation done in real 3D world. Not sure how many get my reference, if not just think fallout 2(I"ve not played though) I guess. Those are games more than 2 decades old but in today's term they'd be the definition of "open world" and "non-linear". However I'm quite concerned about their definition of "non-linear" base on Tac-ops DLC. As for "open world", I wouldn't call making you go to 3 corners of the map and shoot everyone present as open world either. It's worth pondering how those older games bound by their technical limitations, had to chop the world into hundreds of squares separated by loading screens yet managed to capture the..."openness" feeling. I hope they can achieve some of that with the DLC. But then again judging by their long standing tradition to keep their SP design as vanilla as possible, the desire to make content palatable for as broad player base as possible, generally how ARMA mechanics(my concerns are commanding mostly) works for SP thus far, and realistically the amount of labor they can afford for the project, I have a modest expectation. Actually I wonder if they will deliver at all at this point. It's always been framed as "something extra" after all, and it seems sadly not that much of the ARMA player base is that enthusiastic for SP in general.

[Callsign 127]

On 3/4/2019 at 10:05 AM, lexx said:

^ the 4 guys stuff doesn't trouble me in that scenario. The main issue is that even with these events happening, AAF and CSAT are unable to track down the rebels. For me, this just doesn't work in the year 2035 on a tiny island like Altis. It should have been a matter of days to kill em all.

Who's to say NATO weren't jamming CSAT satellite surveillance, or Miller's team destroying AAF surveillance capability in their 'need to know' missions referred to by James?

Considering the really small number of troops you fight on Stratis after the initial Green-on-Blue, I can see AAF pulling troops back to Altis as they think they've finished Aegis off on Stratis and want to concentrate on defeating FIA on Altis. Perhaps only once AAF realise that CTRG are present, or that more NATO forces are doing quite a bit more damage than they realise do they ask CSAT to intervene which is why Miller finally decides to bug out.

 

On 2/28/2019 at 2:17 AM, maxl30 said:

i hope it brings more animals to A3, special pacific animals

I seriously doubt it - I think we'll get a CSAT super techy looking static ship and some superficial bits and pieces, then I imagine the scenario will be something akin to Apex Protocol in story-telling, but with perhaps a Tac-Ops/ Scouting mission feel to it - I imagine it'll be CTRG again, probably deployed ahead of the main NATO occupation, culminating in CSAT getting involved to tie up both East Wind and Apex Protocol.

Either that or, considering the delays, it might be something bigger, but consider BIS have said previously only three people are working on it, it seems unlikely.

Seems a shame to finish Arma 3 on a bit of a damp squib though 😕

[joostsidy 682]

2 hours ago, mmm said:

It's worth pondering how those older games bound by their technical limitations, had to chop the world into hundreds of squares separated by loading screens yet managed to capture the..."openness" feeling. I hope they can achieve some of that with the DLC. 

As a fan of those kind of games I can say it is actually in large part *because* of these tile based engines that they achieve open world feel. Whether it is Colonization, X-Com or Fallout, their tiles constrain multiple elements of meaning and interaction in individual tiles or limited areas of tiles. In that way the most essential game mechanics are represented in a concentrated form and at the same time huge maps can be used in the game, sometimes the size of continents.

 

With realistic 3D game representation, there is a paradox that it seems to promise space and freedom of movement and action, whereas in reality it's actually limiting in many ways. In these types of games there are often many restrictions, for instance because the world representation is limited by computer power and number of assets and animations. There is no such thing as viewing distance in Colonization.

 

For 'Old man' I'm also having some doubt if they are actually going to do it, I too believe that it is a kind of experiment / extra thing. And as always, people's wishlists start interfering immediately with their reasoning powers. Arma development has always been one of slow iteration. My strategy has always been, expect nothing, be pleasantly surprised with what you get. I don't have time to think about it anyway, because I'm too busy playing Arma.

 

 

[stburr91 994]

I don't really have any expectations, other than that the project does in fact happen. This project was to take the place of the promised proper single player conversion of the Apex campaign. If they cancel this project, that would be two cancellations of projects they said they would deliver. 

 

As far as what the campaign will be, who knows.

 

Just an idea, but one I think would be pretty cool.

 

You play as Miller, and like in the Laws of War campaign where you go back, and forth in time, I hope you do that as Miller, and we finally get to see what he was up to during all those times he disappears. You  know, fill in all the blanks,  and add in some current day missions to wrap up the larger campaign. 

 

Well, as least I think that would be cool. 

[lexx 1331]

7 hours ago, Callsign said:

Who's to say NATO weren't jamming CSAT satellite surveillance, or Miller's team destroying AAF surveillance capability in their 'need to know' missions referred to by James?

Considering the really small number of troops you fight on Stratis after the initial Green-on-Blue, I can see AAF pulling troops back to Altis as they think they've finished Aegis off on Stratis and want to concentrate on defeating FIA on Altis. Perhaps only once AAF realise that CTRG are present, or that more NATO forces are doing quite a bit more damage than they realise do they ask CSAT to intervene which is why Miller finally decides to bug out.

 

 

That was about the scouting missions on Altis. There's CSAT JTAG units within range of the camps using drones, there's AAF planes flying in the sky, there's patrols (mechanized and on foot) driving around.. and yet they can't find the guys hiding out under clear sky in an old factory. They even have a shooting range outside and don't mind making campfires at night. It's just impossible for the AAF / CSAT not to find them within days unless the whole island is still in civil war mode with skirmish encounters around every corner, thus 100% occupying all of their assets.

 

Stratis is a different situation-- this is full chaos with nobody knowing what's going on. Altis on the other hand really is not.

[mmm 35]

@joostsidy No sure I completely follow you but I agree for ARMA the performance consideration really limits how you can fill the empty open terrain. As for expectation... Well, I think the earlier promise prior to ARMA 3 release was a "sandbox" campaign, how much they accomplished that... I'll let everyone be the judge for himself. While I'd like to play some more ARMA too, I just can't seem to be able to find the "sandbox" SP experience. While there are some partial matches, I find myself more often fighting the mechanics and quirks of ARMA than enemies.

 

@lexxI'll cut BI some slacks on the "believability" of the event or context. Taliban lasted to this day and it's not like they're up against an incompetent opponent, more comparable scenario say Mosul or Fallujah took months to conclude even then the insurgents just reconstitute later and fight another day. Technology can never eliminate fog of war, especially when human terrain is involved. If you take nitpicking a little further a tiny 270km² island fielding such a diverse and logistically heavy arsenal, somehow managed to get in a civil war against itself and draw in the full involvement of 2 superpowers is rather incredible by itself. However I'd fully welcome them representing aspects of war other than just shooting in more depth in SP scenario, and arguable that's the only place it can be done. Who'd care about "Laws of War" in a competitive MP game lol?

[lexx 1331]

6 hours ago, mmm said:

Taliban lasted to this day and it's not like they're up against an incompetent opponent, more comparable scenario say Mosul or Fallujah took months to conclude even then the insurgents just reconstitute later and fight another day.

 

This is not a good example and I can show you why:

 

I'm not giving BI fire for this. I merely replied on wiki's remark about the "4 guys squad" situation, which is not that big a deal if you see the bigger picture (literally).

[joostsidy 682]

4 hours ago, lexx said:

 

This is not a good example and I can show you why:

 

Lexx speaks truth, I stepped in a boat on Altis and sailed east for three hours. I ended up in New Delhi..

[lexx 1331]

I was too lazy to crop the pictures. 

[Ex3B 265]

19 hours ago, lexx said:

 

That was about the scouting missions on Altis. There's CSAT JTAG units within range of the camps using drones, there's AAF planes flying in the sky, there's patrols (mechanized and on foot) driving around.. and yet they can't find the guys hiding out under clear sky in an old factory. They even have a shooting range outside and don't mind making campfires at night. It's just impossible for the AAF / CSAT not to find them within days unless the whole island is still in civil war mode with skirmish encounters around every corner, thus 100% occupying all of their assets.

 

Stratis is a different situation-- this is full chaos with nobody knowing what's going on. Altis on the other hand really is not.

Actually, I think its reversed.

Altis has a civilian population. With war and what not, who is to say that there aren't many civilians making campfires. You see some civy vehicles while scouting, in one case I found a civy pickup with a bunch of backpacks packed up as if the civy population was packing up to leave.... but no actual civies... still its implied that they are there (such as driving up to the checkpoints with people in Civy clothes, and at least one of the altis requiem missions you meet civilian hunters). So... distinguishing a guerilla camp from a refugee camp could be more difficult... also altis is bigger.

 

Stratis is tiny. Take a quad bike from maxwell to the com station... super short. Gunfire there should be heard all over stratis. They also had campfires going at maxwell. All the other military bases were overrun... how would they not check out that older one right at the center of all the other skirmishes... not to mention you can see buzzards circling overhead in at least 1 of the scouting missions...

The small size of stratis + lack of a civy population except for 2 towns, should make the base very very easy to discover.

 

It took them a long time to discover it, and when they did, they just shelled it and didn't follow up, and instead allowed NATO to regroup and assault Agia Marina (although, I suppose you could argue that they were waiting for CSAT to arrive before assaulting the base... still it should have been LGB'd into oblivion after the first night.

[Callsign 127]

Sorry, I seem to have disrailed the thread, please can we get back to talking about 'Old Man'?

[lexx 1331]

Not much to talk about though. We know nothing outside of this screenshot and even that isn't telling us much. Just your normal day at BI promotions. 😄