News from the front

[Gordy 0]

If those are mercs, that's fantastic.

I'll have them use mine M4 pack.

He, He, He, He!

[Madus_Maximus 0]

Aye, mercs use a lot of western weapons too, if not more in a lot of cases, such as the SLR (FN FAL) and G3. Some M16's and M4 varients should be thrown in there too.

[Sgt. Stryker 0]

but still no one has commented, russia doesnt export AK74's so how did these guys get them? If mercs would use some type of AK it would be eigther a 47 or a 10* series am I correct? They shold make a diff weapon pack for them, not every single soldier or fortuane uses an ak, in fact most of them dont.

[Gollum1 0]

but still no one has commented, russia doesnt export AK74's so how did these guys get them? If mercs would use some type of AK it would be eigther a 47 or a 10* series am I correct? They shold make a diff weapon pack for them, not every single soldier or fortuane uses an ak, in fact most of them dont.

The weapons are Earl's and they're top quality, is it really worth it to make a new pack that would take s**tloads of work and maybe not be as good just to change the calibre of the AK's?

I know I won't freak out if they use AK-74M's instead of AK-107's.

Yes, every single merc doesn't use AK's IRL, but maybe these do? They seem pretty much fictional anyway.

[calm_terror 0]

well most would want the stopping power of an ak over the pussiness of the ak74..

but alot would use heavly customized m4's, car-15's, m16's, FN FAL, etc.. along with AK47's.

to give them AK74's is very wrong the only ones who use those is the Russian goverment and a few that have been captured off dead russians. the FN FAL and AK are 2 of the most used rifles in the world.. but whatever they are the ones who did the fake UAZ and BRDM.. also some might point out that the BTR-T is only used in russia and has not been exported yet.. it is suppost to be a "cheap" way to upgrade but it actual is very exspencive.. the israeli T-54/5 convertions are alot cheaper and actual more protected. but those are not exported either.. and most merc companies could never afford actual armour.. or afford to maintain it..

[Wick_105 0]

WOW I really like where you guys are going with this. southafrican mercs add a new twist to the whole tonal thing I really like your Idea. my buddies father-in-law was with executive outcomes as a helo pilot (or so he says) so I'll see if I can get you some pics of there birds.

and on the ak-74 thing when I was in CFB Kingston last year on a tasking we were lucky to have a class on forign weapons most of wich had been captured from bosnia or kosovo and some other countries I cant remmember but there was 5 AK-74's that they showed us and then they told us the storry about them, they were given to the U.N. observers by an old man who said that his sons and some of there friends got them from a russian speaking man and went to "play war" with some serbs....long story short ambushed serbs fought back the ak74's gummed up from the packing grece all but one died father picks up dead sons and ak's takes to patrol base end of story

during the 90's russian commanders had to find a way to pay there men and buy food to feed them since wars need guns they sold the reserve weapons to all sorts of countries allong with ammo keeping the russian army together.

[Angantyr 0]

I think you can get many AK74s at Tonal's black market which is very well known for its weapon trading. Why shouldn't the mercs buy some when they have the oppotunity?

Anyways I'm looking forward to roaming through the jungle with these units.

PS:Are the palms on this pic [http://img47.photobucket.com/albums/v143/thirtyg/today/16.jpg] new?

I can't remember such a bright plant on Tonal (maybe because I haven't played on it for some weeks).

[ThePara 0]

As none of us are members of such an organization, I think it's a little presumptuous to say 'what's right and wrong' on what kind of equipment they carry and what kind of equipment they can and can't get their hands on. For all we know these companies may very well have had contacts with the Russian government to get such weapons, as perhaps the company employed former Russian SF personnel. I don't think it's impossible that such a company would come across weapons like an AK-74 that is 'impossible' to get outside of Russia.

Why don't you just keep your gripes to yourself about how 'oh this is so very wrong and shouldn't happen' or 'but they did do this wrong in the past so blah blah blah', it's a quick fix of a config to edit what weapons are carried....and if you're so dead set against it, just don't download it. It's not even out yet, and could for all we know be a ways from realese and you're already gripping.

Oh, and on the topic of armor, it's a documented fact that companies like Sandline and Executive Outcomes have employed them in the past. Do a little research on these companies, you'd be surprised.

[Sgt. Stryker 0]

i wasnt griping i was just wondering, i think itd be sweet it it was some fictional russian merc guys, i was just curious. And trust me it is hard to get an ak74 along with the ak74 ammo, but who knows its all fiction anyways right?

[Gordy 0]

If these are mercs, it would be cool to have a different weapon for each of them. There are so many of them + mods.

Optics, camo, mags, stocks, silenced, and so on.

Also handguns:

Glocks, H&Ks, Sigs, 1911, Beretta.

[Guest major gandhi]

it would be nice if bas could add this random soldier unit thing to this mercs too. This was a feature of the civilians of the Tonal pack, so you could put ten menR on the map and they were chosen randomly from the avaiable units.

[Heatseeker 0]

Maybe... BAS has rebuilt the tonal pack, replacing the government troops with these fellas, adding a couple extra vehicals and improving Tonal so it runs smoother, so we can put more than 2 squads of these in those citys without major lag .

[Toasty McGrath 0]

The pack's gonna rock when it comes out. I can't wait to mow down some mercs... oh, they're on our side? better send in the Blackwaters to do it then... mercs on mercs. kind alike iraq

[Eviscerator 0]

Looking great guys

[Rishon 0]

Tell Us, NOW!!! Seriously, when people tease me to get things it COMPLETELY destroys my want for them, as they don't look cool anymore it's just "Ok, thats it, too much teasing, I Don't Care anymore."

Oh no, oh no! BAS, stop your current line immediately or this guy will be too teased and won't download your OFP addon!

They look great.

That *Sniff* That was not nice. *cries* Naw, as long as the Teasing is showing what these guys can do. I really don't care. But this is just making people drool over.....Vehicle riding and Anim Scripts.

[MontyVCB 0]

Sandline, Executive Outcomes or similar organizations were the first thing that came to my mind too.

No matter what, the units look very nice indeed. My only beef is i'd like some more polys on the boonies brim. ;)

or these guys could be a purley fictional bunch of merc's to be honest i would say they were russians.

[Gollum1 0]

The pack's gonna rock when it comes out. I can't wait to mow down some mercs... oh, they're on our side? better send in the Blackwaters to do it then... mercs on mercs. kind alike iraq

There are mercs fighting mercs in Iraq? I do think these are more government-employed mercenaries, meant to offensively destroy the rebels.

Private security contractors are different, you don't see Blackwater men conducing raids into Iraqi towns, I don't think the Coalition would be too happy about that. And why would they? They just provide security, but they see their share of action.

[ThePara 0]

Wonder what's wih all the silence all of the sudden...

[WinterJet 0]

Here's a really good account from a Contractor out of Iraq

http://www.navyseals.com/community/articles/article.cfm?id=3933

Excellent read.

[badlymad 0]

If these guys were mercs, i'd suppose that they should be armed with the same weapons (AK47s, FALs, G3s, etc.) as the rebels and militia due to easier access to ammo. Ak74s could be used, but finding 5.45mm ammo out in the jungle wouldn't be so easy.

The mercs could also have air support in the form of hinds or MIGs, since its been documented that many former soviet bloc pilots went to Africa to work as mercs or as contractors for the UN.

[bucket man 2]

Yes some kinda air support would indeed be very nice. Its not even unrealistic in anyway. Im sure all here know about the Biafra war where swedish baron(?) went to help Biafra with armed civilian helicopters.

[dreday 1]

Quote[/b] ]

@DreDay

AK-74's CAN be mounted with sound suppressors, see here and here.

DeadMeatXM2,

Ok so I see that you guys have done your research... Still, PBS-2 suppressors (the ones that you have on your AK-74Ms) can not be fitted on AK-74 mainly because they require a sub-sonic round to be fired.  While some supressors can accept any round (as M|N|0N has pointed out), PBS-2 would be blown off the muzzle by a supersonic round due to its unique pressure requirements.

Unfortunately, the 5.45mm sub-sonic rounds can only be fired from the short barrel of the AKSU (even than its muzzle has to be modified to fit the PBS-2). Firing these rounds from the longer barrel of AK-74 is prohibited due to their tendency to get stuck.

As a matter of fact, the 5.45mm sub-sonics have quite awful ballistics by all accounts.  That is why Russian forces still use AKMs that fire much better 7.62mm sub-sonics.  That is also the reason why the new generation of 9mm subsonic rounds  was developed for silenced AS VAL and VSS rifles.

As to the links that you've posted...  First one details a suppressor that reduces the noise of a 7.62mm round to a level of .22LR (which is still quite loud).  I can only imagine that the AK-74 (which is noticeably louder than AK-47 without its standard flash suppressor) would produce an even louder noise.  This Finish device sounds like a nice tool for protecting the hearing of reservists on a rifle range, but I don't think that I would translate to the silencing effect in OFP.

The second link does briefly mention that suppressors were designed for AK-74, however they don't produce any evidence of that.  On the other hand, there is quite a bit of information in Russian media that shows that no such thing has ever existed.

So in the end, my point is this… Of course, someone could make their own suppressor and mount it on AK-74.  However, without proper sub-sonic munitions the result would be rather dubious.  Moreover, I don't see why anyone would go through all this trouble when both the suppressors and sub-sonics for AK-47/AKM are relatively easy to obtain and work much better!  After all, have you ever seen any pictures or footage of supressed AK-74s? I've seen dozens if not hundreds of pictures of suppressed AKMs, but not a single one of AK-74...

I realize that this is a minor point, but I also realize that your mod prides itself on realism.  Either way this is certainly not a gripe on my part, just a way to communicate a small inconsistency that I saw in your upcoming release (which I am looking forward to regardless of this issue).

Peace,

DreDay

[Dauragon 0]

Looks Schweet

[Tim Pink 0]

Damn, Looking really good guys, really really good.

* Runs off to write some gritty jungle music

Tim

[ebud 18]

To answer a few questions.

You don't like the weapons? Think they are wrong? Take it up with earle, I'm sure he thinks they're fine.

The pattern in the camo is totally cutom hand made by myself, but is loosly based on Rhodesian camo.

The gear is a mixed, easily puchased off the shelf and customized, but the uniforms are totally custom made.

These are NOT western contract workers or mercs, but are recruited from eastern countries and integrated into the TDF through Executive Outcomes, hence the Tonalan style uniforms and NOT a mix if civ clothing and uniforms. Also since they are recruited from eastern Europe they use eastern weapons.

The BTRT was given to use by Sebastian Müller, very nice person that he is.

This is all fictional, as is the whole Tonal story. There is nothing right or wrong with these guys. I can justify just about anything with the Tonal story as it's all made up.

There is no campaign to go along with the addons, just missions.

There is no hype, just a couple of pics and a couple of posts.