how can i improve my situational awareness?

[Alex72 1]

Without FSAA in this game it also gets harder to maintain SA. There is fillrate ofcourse but its reserved for really good pc's so far. The AI target calling also made me confused most times and i had to look around me all the time (paranoid style) to try and know where enemies were. These are 2 things that right now makes it harder than it should be. ARMA2 is already hard (wich i love) thanks to the amazing vegetation, and thanks to that the enemy AI move more behind cover. A camoed enemy in the ARMA2's vegetation is hard to see already and with the lack of FSAA and proper direction called out from your squad it gets even harder.

But were hoping for FSAA and improved callout system and we should be able to start using tactics more proper than having to be more hyper paranoid than needed. :D

Alex

[privateguba 0]

In OFP once you learn to use your AI squad you rarely shoot anymore. They're much better at mowing down enemy troops than you even if you are a master sniper.

Have at least 2 machine gunners on your squad. They're the killing machines.

On big/dinamic missions I do like this: Go 100 meters, stop, scan, go another 100 meters. Learn to 'read' the terrain. Go from good positions to good positions (bushes, rocks). Keep your squad on hold fire.

When you locate enemy squads, set up an ambush position. OFP dinamic missions are a game of ambushes. The first units to position are your mgs. Give them the best positions. Then the rest of the squad.

Keep them on hold fire. Give the oposite mgs to your mgs.

***Use your binoculars***. Reveal all targets (usually right mouse button).

Then give the engage at will / open fire command and keep right clicking like hell. You don't need to select your units and tell them to engage this or that, just keep right clicking like hell on all opfor units you see. ***Use your binoculars for this***

10 seconds max and a 12 man enemy squad is gone. Just remember to have the enemy mgs dealt first.

The rest of the enemy squad may try to make a run to get in firing distance for their assault rifles, but the rest of your squad will destroy those that escape the mgs.

In OFP this felt almost like cheating. It's like you're in control of 11 gun-turret-drones. Well, for all intents and purposes that's what they are. Right clicking with your binoculars keeps giving them acurate position for firing.

Buuuuut, I don't know if those tactics will work as well on ARMA1 and 2.

[Baff1 0]

They work fine in ArmA still, but it makes for a boring game.

[kt187 10]

He wants to know how to become more aware if his surroundings.

1. Play paintball (nothing is closer to actual combat for civilians)

2. Play Swat3 or Rainbow six

3. Just be obversant( in real life) and look for human shapes in and cover

4. The enemy will rarely be in the open so if your shot at, take cover and look in the directions where they can be shooting you from.

IF you dont have awarness at this stage in your gaming lifing then you'll probably never do better then an average gamer.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Reveal all targets (usually right mouse button).

I reccommend assigning a new key to the reveal function. In online games where 'extended map info' is turned off, the character reveal-talk is just annoying as hell.

[okarr 10]

reveal target only works if you are squad command though, doesnt it?

i have had good results in the SP campaign my problems are/were more with MP Coop. i guess i just have to get more team work going on the servers i play.

i guess you all know these situations were one AI takes out 5 or 6 people in a row and every one on TS just goes

"WTF, where is the guy"

i found the best thing to do in such a situation is to come back as the door gunner on the huey and blast the little shit from up high :D

(given that you have taken care of the shilkas and tunguskas :D )

Edited June 17, 2009 by okarr

[CarlGustaffa 4]

No, (in Arma1 at least) reveal works for everyone, and the revealed unit will be revealed to everyone in the squad. In Arma2 maybe even nearby out-of-squad units? After a unit was revealed by you, the AI squad commander may send anyone to engage that unit. Hopefully in Arma2 this behaviour of sending everyone in the squad to their doom has improved.

[Jorge.PT 10]

i guess i just have to get more team work going on the servers i play.

Yes that's the right attitude, forget all about those go up a hill, down the hill, around the hill... This game is to be played in organized way, as long as you stick with your team, just shoot to where everybody is shooting!!!! :p

[Blackbird_CaD_ 10]

I can understand if it's hard to see where the enemies is in this game.

Because all enemies far away is a bunch of jaggies because of the lack of AA.

"Hmm.. is that a bunch of grasshoppers or is it a enemy? Naaah it looks like a bunch of grasshoppers"

*SPLASH your brain gets blown out*

oh it was not a bunch of grasshoppers, it was a enemy in the shape of jaggies.

[An Fiach 10]

The fear of death (popularly and unfairly labeled as cowardice) is what kept me alive through real deployments and it's what keeps me alive in ARMA/OFP.

eh FOD and Cowardice are distinctly 2 different things

[galzohar 31]

The fact is even the best resolutions don't allow you to properly ID a target to a realistic distance. A target at a couple hundred meters takes up a couple pixels at the very best if he's standing out in the open. Lack of anti-aliasing only makes things worse. Until the zoom feature is fixed to allow detecting targets within a reasonable (realistic) distance, don't expect to see the AI before the AI sees you, assuming he's not programmed to ignore you. AI is not limited by pixelation/resolution, AI is only limited by what the game code tells him to ignore even though he can see it.

Online you will still get killed by people you can't see if they're more trained than you in telling the difference between a terrain pixel and a player pixel.

[Typheus 10]

Play it as though you really would die. Then you find yourself making decisions like: would I really run across that gap? Don't I have any smoke grenades? Do I already think that there's someone over there?

It's slower gameplay, but if you wish for longer gameplay... ;)

Worked wonders on Call of Duty 4. Getting 20 kills and maybe 1 or 2 deaths in a match by not playing it like Counter Strike.

[privateguba 0]

reveal target only works if you are squad command though, doesnt it?

I think if you're being commanded by AI, if you get a binocular and reveal targets for the squad it also helps a bit. Yeah, I only play SP.

[Typheus 10]

About the whole anti-aliasing thing.

Is it supposed to be a really noticeable difference between 2xAA and 8xAA? Cause I messed around with it for awhile in Far Cry 2, and eventually took a couple of screenshots. I can't see any difference to be honest. Maybe a couple of dirt smudges on a building in the distance were clearer, but it didn't improve my ability to see enemies.

[Herbal Influence 10]

One aspect of "situational awareness" which is the no-egoshooterview is discussed in http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=74908

And http://ttp2.dslyecxi.com/basic_rifleman.html tells about it (scrolling needed).

Edited July 1, 2009 by Herbal Influence
yep ! ;-)

[frederf 0]

I reccommend assigning a new key to the reveal function. In online games where 'extended map info' is turned off, the character reveal-talk is just annoying as hell.

God yes that's so annoying. I hate how it's bound by default and 99% of people don't change it.

Also the mindset of "0 kills and 0 deaths is better than 1000 kills and 1 death" really helps.

[galzohar 31]

God yes that's so annoying. I hate how it's bound by default and 99% of people don't change it.

Also the mindset of "0 kills and 0 deaths is better than 1000 kills and 1 death" really helps.

That's not situational awareness, that's digging a deep hole and staying in it, which is the exact opposite.

To be honest the main reasons that makes someone that you didn't see shoot you are:

-You're alone and have to scan all 360 degrees, rather than with teammates that can help you spot enemies before they spot you (multiple scanners = multiple chances to detect enemy first, especially if you divide sectors, and if the enemy does detect you and kill someone at least you have teammates that can shoot back). Mostly a player/teamplay issue.

-Game limitations (targets too far are too small, and when you zoom the FOV is too small and even then targets that are even further are still too small). Mostly an engine issue.

-Long travels resulting in less careful play, which is required if you don't want the game to take forever (or if the game is time based in some way). Mostly a mission design issue.