How closely do you think ArmA simulates real combat?

[RBerry 10]

Was wondering how accurately you guys think ArmA simulates being in combat.

Do you think playing the game is anything like the real experience?

[DracoN 10]

If Ai attacs in city, this is very impressive, almost like real life.

All direction covering and so on.

I was very suprised if i saw that.

[-GLT-Sarge 10]

not even close.

you never can make it feel like in real life

[nominesine 0]

No, and to be honest I'm quite glad that there's is a big difference between playing a violent game and experiencoing violence in real life.

[-RIP- Luhgnut 10]

you don't have the fear factor involved with Arma2. You're not playing for your mortal life. When being shot at in real life, your adrenaline is pumping, you're mind goes into a state of confusion, heart rate increases, blood pressure increases, respiratory systems go into overdrive, and if you're lucky, you only wet yourself.

None of that happens in Arma sitting at your nice safe desk with a beer.

[whopper_with_cheese 0]

its a game, nothing like real life soldiering.

cant give 'actions on' orders to AI before a contact/mission...so you're micro managing them in the heat of the battle.

i.e. action on civvy found, action on enemy spotted, action on contact, action on lost etc.

Would be nice if there were simple commands to manage fire teams in heat of the battle, i.e. for advancing and covering each other.... basic infantry minor tactics stuff

AI has no concept of obstacle crossings (i.e. road/fences)...they dont stop and check for enemy ambush, cover each other and then move across the one by one.

communications are always effective...i would dearly love to see signals being implemented properly. i.e. VHF affected by range, terrain etc (Stop and setup a proper antennae in a tree if need be). Hummers or other vehicles nearby can extend the signal range...

When contacts have been made, u cant regroup and issue a plan to the AI...again u have to micromanage them for every waypoint u want them to take...u cant bring the map up, show which team memebers where they need to get to/cover and HOW they are going to get there (i.e. might need several waypoints to avoid being seen whilst moving into flanking position).

Obviously most of these issues are alleviated by playing online, IF everyone is using voice and is "on the same page" regarding tactics.

[{sas}stalker 10]

as real as sat in front of a desk with a mouse in your hand is compared to sitting in a foreign country with a gun in your hand, So basically, nothing like

[Schurer 0]

Question: "How closely do you think ArmA simulates real combat?"

Answer: About as closely as an egg simulates an electric guitar!

As has been previously mentioned this is a game - sure you do fire a 3d model of a rifle, drive a 3d model of a HMMWV and get shot at with 3d bullets, but it's nowhere near the real deal.

Of course SOME aspects are simulated, but to a very limited extent I must say.

Yes this is a combat "simulator" but in no way does it par with the real deal - I for one should know, what with two tours in Iraq and one tour in Helmand, Afghanistan as an infantryman :-D

One thing that does impress me though is the sound of bullets cracking over your head as you're being shot at, that's nicely done.

[Big Dawg KS 6]

Closely enough...

[p75 10]

Quite accuate, but there is alot to improve...

[Hunin 0]

I love how on every single message board concerning simulations once the realism question comes up a mirriad of people feel the need to state the obvious.

I'm sure RBerry is perfectly aware that his harddrive won't jump out the PC and clob him to death when he's hit ingame.

To give my opinion on topic:

There are alot of things missing in terms of procedures that you can't very well simulate using AI.

The realism increases if you play within a well tuned group of humans in MP.

The dynamics of combat that you can experience then is quite lifelike, especialy aided by the fact that nearly all assets playing a role in warfare are ingame.

Of course there are too many areas that are lacking in fidelity to list them here, but having that in mind I don't know another program even coming close.

Sometimes f.e. I even prefer flying helicopters in ArmA despite the "bad" represenation to flying Blackshark or Lock On, the reason beeing that in ArmA you interact with a huge array of realistic componants.

Of course actualy flying the Ka-50 in BS is more exiting then in ArmA, but in BS you don't have proper ground assets that behave even remotely close to what they can do in ArmA.

Bottom line, it's the closest you are going to get right now on the market.

Edited August 18, 2009 by Hunin

[Big Dawg KS 6]

Bottom line, it's the closest you are going to get right now on the market.

Unless VBS2 becomes available.

Oops, not supposed to talk about VBS... quick change the subject.

[Hunin 0]

erm it's terribly hot in Germany today. How's things over at Spam Level?

[Big Dawg KS 6]

As you can see, spam level is quite high (and rising).

[guiltyspark 10]

IMO pretty poorly at the moment.

You are not getting much done on the realism front if you cant even enter buildings half the time. but im sure thats more of an AI issue than a BIS issue.

But still its the most realistic on the market.

All im saying is if you gave BIS a budget of say..... 40 million dollars....

You would get quite the realistic game with all the features to make it as realistic as possible.

But as it stands arma is too slow on the control front to simulate combat.

And then there is the fact that no video game EVER will simulate combat as it is

[Guest]

Hmmm...

I think BIS dev's should win the lottery. Then we could see a very very good game!

[Big Dawg KS 6]

All im saying is if you gave BIS a budget of say..... 40 million dollars....

Seems a little low.

[Second 0]

Hmm on immersion level i've played better. In that ArmA2 isn't at it's best in my case, well atleast demo.

It has lots of potential, but AI unfortunately shoots most of it to knee. Seems that even when Ai was taken big step form ArmA, it's still "one of it's own kind". There is not much idea of taking it slow, no "thought" involved. And that affects to my play as well, hardly ever enemy escapes from my sights. It feels too easy.

Every time i see AI standing in middle of airfield. AI taking insane 100 meters long rushes while being shot at... mmm... Ugly.

When i hit the ground and see AI still moving tactically (doing slow walk) around while he gets shot at... Ugly.

Terrain... Too smooth. Forests? Too smooth soil.

MP? Mostly as bad as SP, even worse in days of ArmA. In realism sense.

Controls? i don't like a bit.

Better game to represent firefights? I highly enjoy Vietcong. If i want to go thru those feelings and experiences i went thru in exercises (no real combat experience here), Vietcong currently is first one to get launched in my computer. Sadly don't work much on 64-bit Vista, and there is no way to repair it! It's not necessarily more realistic than ArmA (it has it's share of arcade stuff), but it feels more realistic. And it's controls are fast and easy to handle.

Sure that depends of point of view, and of what realism one likes. I like immersion factor most now days and don't really care for weapon and vehicle spec. realism.

ArmA2 seems to be rather good game thou. If i would like to do patrols at night and stuff like that ArmA2 as well as ArmA are great games. Mostly it's problems are in combat.

[bricks 6]

Of course there is going be to be sweat in your eyes and that annoying itch under your helmet but this game is the single closest (thus most realistic) gaming experience to my time in Afghanistan I've ever had. In fact its leaps and bounds ahead of most other"Tactical Shooter" games in the simulation aspect. NHL 09 is probably the "most realistic" hockey game but it definitely not the same as playing hockey, it's a simulation.

That being said I very rarely use the AI (I played the campaign in Co-op and don't use AI in mp) and I'm comparing the infantry combat with my experience because I have limited experience in vehicles and none in aircraft.

Also what mods you use and most importantly who you play with will drastically affect this game. With a good mod (ACE), the right group of players and a little bit of patience will make Arma 2 simply amazing. There is a reason the engine is used in by a large portion of NATO countries' military as a training tool.

[Reverend Crast 10]

Was wondering how accurately you guys think ArmA simulates being in combat.

Do you think playing the game is anything like the real experience?

It's like playing guitar hero comparing to playing a real guitar. ie.. not even close.

[enforcer1975 0]

Grafics sux compared to RL... :D

I don't think A2 is anything near RL situations. IF so then it's poorly implemented. No door opening on cars etc...Animations from the 70s. Even Vanilla BF² does that better.

[Zipper5 74]

Grafics sux compared to RL... :D

I don't think A2 is anything near RL situations. IF so then it's poorly implemented. No door opening on cars etc...Animations from the 70s. Even Vanilla BF² does that better.

Since when does Vanilla BF2 have that? News to me. :eek:

[-Paladin- 10]

no basic infantry stuff in their

no difference between gear,vehicles,weapons

the characters hit the dirt in full run with both knees first!!

I am shock!

No realistic ai behaviour, like one sad to much micromanagement

no ai difference in tactics

wrong movment

[USSRsniper 0]

Not accurate at all, it's just like every other sim. Sure weapons might be accurate but you don't feel fear, adrenalin(sometimes you do but not always), and you don't fell tired after running..

Not matter how realistic the sim/game is it will never be 100% realistic/authentic. I bet if you play ArmaA 2 and go to war, you will be the first to die :D

Unless VBS2 becomes available.

VBS2 is realistic as ArmA 2... :icon_rolleyes: Yes even expensive software is not realistic at all.

ArmA 2 is realistic as one can make it, if you get people online to play by real life tactics it will be pretty realistic.

Edited August 18, 2009 by USSRsniper

[BoxiouS 10]

I've never CTD'd in real life.

The game is the least arcadey war game on the market, so in answer to your question, no, not at all, but compared to every other game out there it's easily the closest thing.