ArmA is too hard

[W0lle 1047]

This thread is about ArmA being too hard for certain people, including the thread starter.

It is not about Rambo, not about COD4/BF2 and it is not being used to request things again that has been requested a million of times by now, like reload on the move and better animations.

Stick to the topic or don't post at all. Spamming threads to increase your postcount doesn't work here.

[desertjedi 3]

I actually don't find the enemy AI in ArmA that accurate at all. I only play MP co-op and my AI skill levels are at defaults. [i play MP co-op even when alone so I can evaluate a mission and possibly edit it for when I do play with friends.]

But I know that when the enemy shoots at me that they are missing...a lot - sometimes laughably so. Often, you can tell the enemy couldn't hit a barn at 100yards by watching their tracers.

I find the enemy AI to be far less accurate than a human player but my AI mates (at skill level 1.0) are pretty good shots - better than myself at longer ranges. Their problem isn't accuracy - it's situational awareness.

Couple of pointers for staying alive in ArmA:

- Play with friends (real people). People (hopefully) are much better in terms of situational awareness and squad tactics than AI and the synergy between people can make you an incredible fighting force.

- Always shoot and move - if you can. As noted, just like in RL, when you shoot, you give your position away and that is where the enemy will concentrate their attack.

- Realize that in Arma you WILL be flanked. This one thing I REALLY enjoy about ArmA...the enemy AI is smart enough to flank you. I've been killed many a time from being flanked.

Why do I die in ArmA? It's the ultimate question and a hard one to answer. It has nothing to do with accuracy or reflexes. One answer is that I'm not playing smart - like a trained soldier would (assuming I could even approach that). Probably the best answer is that I'm playing missions that really should not be played alone (even with AI teammates) and I cannot rely on my AI mates to protect my flanks like human players would. Playing a mission alone with 7 AI mates is a world away from playing with 7 guys experienced in tactical shooters. You know when you play alone in a mission named Co30-xxx, that you're in for some trouble.

The very best times I've had in gaming aren't when I had a lot of kills, it's when I helped a team of people survive and accomplish the mission. Playing a mission for a few hours with a few kills, no deaths and completing the mission is much more satisfying than getting 30-35 kills and 5 deaths in a 45-minute gaming session. And I have to say that probably no other game sets the stage for this kind of gaming like ArmA does. But all that depends on your gaming mindset.

[guynumber7 0]

Okay, well ill give the lower acc a try. Thanks!

[Trapper 0]

I actually don't find the enemy AI in ArmA that accurate at all. I only play MP co-op and my AI skill levels are at defaults. [...] but my AI mates (at skill level 1.0) are pretty good shots.

If it isn't your own server setup you don't know how the host altered the the enemy and friendly AI settings in config. It's always overriding your own setup and will be combined (not replaced) with the unit skills set in a mission file.

Noticing to have the crack shots only in your blueforce AI sounds much like a custom difficulty setting that was mentioned above.

[desertjedi 3]

Quote[/b] ]If it isn't your own server setup you don't know how the host altered the the enemy and friendly AI settings in config.

I should have been more specific. It's always my server. 95% of the time I play alone , the other 5% I play with a friend and I always host.

[GeneralCarver 0]

Yeah. I do see a lot of the guys commenting that arma is a simulation, and ment to reflect reality more than most games.

However, can you blame them? I mean, it is sold as a "game". On most games sites you don't find it listed under "simulation", its listed under "action" usually.

And others things to consider.. being the ballastics and AI are more real, the visual side of ArmA is not. Its way easier to spot stuff at 400 yards in real life than on your pixelated computer screen, unless you have a very high end system and can run max detail at a high screen resolution. However, a VAST MAJORITY of players do not have this type of setup.

So, i can empathize w/ the complaints. But overall, people do have to realize they can not play ArmA like other games, you gotta use proper fire/cover/movement tactics in this game.

[RyanRyzzo 0]

I've bought ArmA a few months ago. It's a great game, but it has severe problems with AI awareness. For example: Stealth missions are the epitome of cretinism.[Gryphons sub-mission] It seems it is about Rambo. Going in alone, that doesn't really bother me much, but the fact that the night is pitch black, the AI obviously don't use NVGs, the base is completely blacked out except the occasional UAZ and the blinking light in the radio mast. And suddenly rounds come flying at me, the siren is screeching at I'm dead about 200 metres away up the hill making no noise and pretending I'm not there. That is due to the fact that I'm using True Range, but without it, the AI don't engage the enemy over 500 metres. What should I do? The other thing that bugs me: Where should I enter the base? I can't climb over fences and before I can satchel the barrier I'll be wearing a 7.62 mm in my face. The entrance seems to be from the front gate...

A lot of anger and frustration is released! Pshhhhh!

Ahh.. that felt good.

But, to shortly say: It's the best public virtual military simulator of all time, second only to Operation Flashpoint and it's just a game. Worth every penny!

[GeneralCarver 0]

Quote[/b] ]

If you want missions how you like - open the editor and start making good missions/campaigns. What are you waiting for?

I'm a little bothered by this comment. You don't have any empathy for the average user. Making missions in Armed Assault is VERY HARD. Its basically a semi-pro activity. I do it, pretty well infact. But I got a degre in computer graphics, programming and web expereince. Without that, I couldn't have learned what I did. The editing support documentation by the community is confusing at best.

=EDIT=

Yeah. Looking at Second's post below. Well put. Most everyone can use the editor to place units etc. But where most people get lost is implementing scripting of course, but even the briefing. Its too bad that BI wouldn't create a way of editing a briefing in the editor. I think its important to remember that very, very few of the players for this game have any scripting or html editing experence at all.

[Second 0]

It doesn't take horrible amounts of coding experience to make simple and entertaining missions, which uses very simple things like triggers. Sure support for understanding basics could be much better, i remember how lost i was for a long time using just very basic methods.

I personally think that there are only few more easy-to-learn/use missioneditors as this is. And none of those are for first-person-shooters but for wargames...

Ability to do missions that are worthy to be released (and not put down by angry crowd) is whole another issue.

[Rommel 2]

Q. Over-Accurate AI

A. Find a AI accuracy mod, there is plenty out there that lowers the AI accuracy. Or make your own.

Q. Stupidity of Missions

A. Mission Editor.

[Wolfrug 0]

If you're lost in the world of mission editing, you know you can always pop over to www.ofpec.com and find some beginner's tutorials and ask questions in the forums, not to mention download dozens of ready-made scripts that are easy enough to implement in your missions as you need and want them That's kind of the point of the website, and yes, it caters to ArmA not only OFP.

/plug off

Regards,

Wolfrug

[desertjedi 3]

Quote[/b] ]Yeah. I do see a lot of the guys commenting that arma is a simulation, and ment to reflect reality more than most games.

However, can you blame them? I mean, it is sold as a "game". On most games sites you don't find it listed under "simulation", its listed under "action" usually.

Well there does exist a niche out there for hardcore, "real-as-is-possible" combat games. When UBI abandoned "the tactical shooter" in favor of games like Vegas, there was basically nothing out there to satisfy this part of the market. And nothing really has come out since. But the desire for hardcore, realistic games is still there. But if that's not your style, a couple of reviews should clue anyone into just what type of game ArmA is.

Quote[/b] ]being the ballastics and AI are more real, the visual side of ArmA is not. Its way easier to spot stuff at 400 yards in real life than on your pixelated computer screen

IMHO, that's a very minor point. There are probably even bigger knocks against ArmA we could come up with.

Quote[/b] ]Making missions in Armed Assault is VERY HARD. Its basically a semi-pro activity. I do it, pretty well infact. But I got a degre in computer graphics, programming and web expereince. Without that, I couldn't have learned what I did.

I'd have to disagree with you there. Arma is written in such a fashion to make editing accessible. And the community has provided incredible amounts of not just reference material but tutorials and even some of what I'd call technical writing on the subject. The amount of material is simply astounding.

I think you're greatly underestimating yourself here. Yes, writing missions like Evo and Sabotage are quite complex but I've never seen a game where you could make significant mission changes so easily.

[sander 14]

Making missions in Armed Assault is actually not that hard. The mission editor is user friendly, there are good community provided manuals and tutorials to help people and usefull tooling.

Easy to use tool for briefing, description, init and overview files:

ArmaEdit

The main guides:

Mr Murray Editing Guide

Alex Sworn editing guide

The older OFP guides still have their value too for Arma:

Mr Murray OFP editing guide 2.0

Ueber reference guide

Do not try to make something very intricated right at the beginning, start simple and add as you learn.

Regards,

Sander

[Col. Faulkner 0]

Tweaking the attribute values, as mentioned up-thread,

does help a great deal. I did so and now find that I can

avoid stopping bullets quite well (my AI buddies, with their

kamikaze battlecraft, still take horrific casualties, though).

[NoRailgunner 0]

Bohemian Interactive wikipedia isnt that bad.  

- ArmA: Difficulty

- CfgAISkill

[wipman 1]

Hi, open a thread like this one it's like open the hell gates; it's really

fun to see how the mods don't close it and how my damn warning

levels don't go down (according to the forum rules) because "supposedly..."

"it's too dangerous" to take down warning levels on me, anyways;

it's fun to see a thread like this one opened awayting for a flame bath

that closes it down for ever; gung ho for the man who opened it,

gung ho for the mods & gung ho for the ab-slut vodka. Let's C ya

[Placebo 28]

fun to see how the mods don't close it and how my damn warning

levels don't go down (according to the forum rules) because "supposedly..."

"it's too dangerous" to take down warning levels on me

The reason your warning levels don't get reduced is 1. You consistently fail to show any remorse for your previous rule breaking 2. You consistently break the rules (for example discussing moderators decisions in public).