ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead discussion thread

[sparks50 0]

Just solve it with difficulty levels. easy: your buddies magically respawn where you aint looking, Hard: the present system, you have to reload if a buddy dies.

[kireta21 13]

easy: your buddies magically respawn where you aint looking

I think it would be better to take advantage of new "wounding" system. I mean when your buddies got shot badly they were unable to do anything more than screaming for help. Basically making them immortal, in way that still allows them to be downed by enemy fire like any other NPC, just making them unable to die from it.

Edited March 31, 2010 by boota

[jakerod 254]

You could also use setcaptive on them so the enemy won't fire at them and also use enabledamage false. That way they won't die but they won't be getting shot at. It could lead to a few awkward moments but I think it could work. Or you could only allow them to get wounded, and then have the deattach from the group and move to the back. That way they aren't always at risk.

[enad 11]

I think I have a decent solution to this. It's a bit complicated and definitely wouldn't work in all situations, but every time a Team mate is wounded they go into the wounded animation(rolling on the ground etc), like boota said above, and you must call in a medivac helicopter. Then the next mission he's back in action. It wouldn't work in all situations and isn't super realistic but its the best I got.

[EricM 0]

I think it would be better to take advantage of new "wounding" system.

Probably the way to go for "easy" mode : Critical characters can be wounded and incapacitated but never killed, so that you can patch them up if necessary.

[instagoat 133]

Maybe one could take inspiration from other games, such as Empire. There, Units that have been "killed" in battle have a chance of being healed after the battle, reducing casualty levels. You could have "important" characters that survive wounds all the time, while the other squadmembers have a percentage chance of returning after being critically injured in battle. (If they survive, they carry their experience over to the next battle, or are replaced by a newbie, like in OFP:R)

[TangoRomeo 10]

Or simply ditch the character driven storyline, and instead have a pool of dependable personnel to choose from. Dead and incapacitated personnel would be out of the campaign for good. Realistically, considering the rather short mission intervals and overall campaign length, i would expect a buddy getting injured in the last mission, not being available for the next, depending on the severity of injury. Could also add some additional replay value to the SP part.

[jakerod 254]

Or simply ditch the character driven storyline, and instead have a pool of dependable personnel to choose from. Dead and incapacitated personnel would be out of the campaign for good. Realistically, considering the rather short mission intervals and overall campaign length, i would expect a buddy getting injured in the last mission, not being available for the next, depending on the severity of injury. Could also add some additional replay value to the SP part.

I would imagine that no one would be coming back after injuries. I think the campaign takes place over the course of 24 hours. I don't want to ditch the character driven story though.

[arigram 0]

Considering that Arrowhead is almost ready and has been in development for a while, you are just setting yourself up to be disappointed. Better keep your ideas for your own campaigns and missions and this thread for actual information on the expansion.

[jw custom 56]

The AI use ladders in ArmA II. I was so shocked that they were doing it that I almost forgot to shoot the guy after he reached the top and aimed at me. Its fairly rare but I very rarely use them. It tends not to me smart. I almost hope they won't use them because i'm gonna get sick of guys climbing ladders every 5 seconds. Although in the right cases it will be good.

I have yet to see AI climb ladders on it's own in vanilla ArmA 2, i see it often with GL4 though :)

[Takko 10]

I've seen AI climb ladders in ArmA 1 (Without Addons) and getting into houses at times

and in ArmA II as well.

[raizjames 10]

I thought they've released a second trailer with all these comments and discussions, damn it!

[SASrecon 0]

New OA open beta discovered by Myke.

Keep all discussion about the beta on THAT thread, not this one:http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=97322

April fool's fun over, good one myke! :p (unless I was missing something :D)

Edited April 2, 2010 by SASrecon

[-Shifty- 10]

Hey guys, sorry I didn't read through all of these pages, I'd just like a little bit of information.

What factions are there? We know there's the US army, will there be Marines (damn I hope so). What major improvements are we facing here? Anything with the AI? I heard there's an RWR with planes now, finally -.-

I'd like BIS to fine tune instead of pour out tons of new features. They should improve what they've got before moving on.

Also, the big thing I don't understand: is this an expansion (You need ArmA 2 to play it) or another game all together?

Edited April 4, 2010 by -Shifty-

[That guy 10]

reading is your freind. you dont even have to look back more than a couple pages to see some good lists of new shiny things in OA

[EricM 0]

@ shifty : you don't need Arma 2 to play it, it's stand alone, but if you do have both, you will be able to use the extra content of Arma 2 in Arrowhead (talibans in chernarus, or russians and marines in takistan...)

So, NO Marines by default in OA standalone, but YES if you combine the complete package (Arma 2 + OA), which is the way to go.

As for factions, it will be at least Blufor (including US Army, UN, Czechs and Germans sub groups) and Taliban/mujaidin style opfor + possibly a third armed group (probably a local low-tech conventional force a la CDF/Chedaki) as they touted a new 3 way warfare. The latter is speculation on my part though.

[Alex72 1]

Damn i never saw the very end of the latest OA trailer until now lol. Counter measures popped. :) Thaught the ARMA2 logo at the end was the end...

[Laqueesha 474]

@ shifty : you don't need Arma 2 to play it, it's stand alone, but if you do have both, you will be able to use the extra content of Arma 2 in Arrowhead (talibans in chernarus, or russians and marines in takistan...)

So, NO Marines by default in OA standalone, but YES if you combine the complete package (Arma 2 + OA), which is the way to go.

As for factions, it will be at least Blufor (including US Army, UN, Czechs and Germans sub groups) and Taliban/mujaidin style opfor + possibly a third armed group (probably a local low-tech conventional force a la CDF/Chedaki) as they touted a new 3 way warfare. The latter is speculation on my part though.

U.S. Marines were in the first ArmA 2, I don't see a good reason why they wouldn't be in Operation Arrowhead. Heck, the AH-1Z model was practically ported from ArmA 1. :D

[EricM 0]

U.S. Marines were in the first ArmA 2, I don't see a good reason why they wouldn't be in Operation Arrowhead.:D

Precisely for that very reason. Because Marines are already in Arma 2 and the story of Arrowhead is about the army, what's the point (storywise and business-wise ) to include the Marines for free in Arrowhead ?

- Storywise it is not needed. We don't even know if there is a sea front in the maps provided. A little change isn't always bad.

- It is an incentive for people to buy Arma 2 as well is they want the complete pack Army + Marines = more money for BIS

- For those who already have Arma 2 they don't feel screwed to have paid a full price [insert bug rant] game with half the content if late Arrowhead buyers get everything and more cheaper.

I might be wrong, but that's how I expect things to be as an entrepreneur.

Edited April 4, 2010 by EricM

[nomdeplume 0]

But not all features from OA will work on Arma 2 content, e.g. FLIR, unless the content has been updated to support the new features of the engine. So content that isn't updated specifically for OA will then be "second tier" type stuff that's not fully functional. They could perhaps include the OA-enhanced content but not have it available without the original game installed, but I don't think that's really BIS's style.

My greatest hope for the series is that BIS develop an approach to integrating community-made content into the base game (where the maker approves of such, of course). I think this could greatly increase the value of the game as well as give credit and recognition to the work of modders, without being overly costly to BIS.

For your second point, it's not really any different than when companies put old models of things on sale to clear stock. If you bought it when it first came out you paid a premium compared to someone who waited for the sale, but you also got to enjoy the use of the product for a lot longer. I can't speak for anyone else, but I personally have had more enjoyment from Arma 2 (bugs and all) over the past 10 months than from any other game, with only Falcon 4 even coming close.

So, IMHO, it's irrelevant. People knew what they were getting when they bought Arma 2, and I don't think anyone was unpleasantly surprised when they announced an expansion with an updated engine.

[Alex72 1]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I personally have had more enjoyment from Arma 2 (bugs and all) over the past 10 months than from any other game, with only Falcon 4 even coming close.

You can speak for me too bud. :)

[Flash Thunder 10]

Its a great deal seeing how OA is not being sold at full retail on release.

True FLIR

added lasers/torches

New Sound Engine (alone will be freaking awesome)

New factions and Islands

Dynamic Town Generator

Probably the Stable release of the 3D realtime editor

Redone HUDs/optics and added countermeasure systems

and a whole lot more priced for about 30 US dollars

Thats a F***KING deal if you ask me, lets just hope its polished and not rushed released.

Someone else continue im drowning in drool. :)

Edited April 4, 2010 by Flash Thunder

[Alex72 1]

...Continue

New campaign

New scenarios (SP missions)

New MP games/modes

New sounds (plus the overhauled sound engine mentioned)

...Maybe activated 3D editor... Maybe

Prolly im even missing something. :)

Yeah it will be a w e s o m e.

[Laqueesha 474]

...Continue

New campaign

New scenarios (SP missions)

New MP games/modes

New sounds (plus the overhauled sound engine mentioned)

...Maybe activated 3D editor... Maybe

Prolly im even missing something. :)

Yeah it will be a w e s o m e.

Not to mention new factions with new textures and models. :D

[-Shifty- 10]

So no Marines in warfare in OA then? That's a shame. I was really looking forward to using the Marines in the MP.

Don't get me wrong, the US Army has some nice stuff, but I prefer USMC vehicles. I'm still disappointed we didn't get CH46s, CH53 super stallions and better armored HMMWVs in ArmA 2.