Squad member out of ammo

[Rhammstein 10]

I absolutley hate having to post about this, but I promise I spent a solid 30 minutes searching here, and using google as well.

I am on the Harvest Red mission on campaign, out of the 4 areas I need to take, I've taken two. My men are healthy, but one is out of ammo, so I'm certain others are getting low. (The AI can be a little dumb, I've watched them shooting into the ground...)

I simply don't know how to rearm them or get them ammo. My first instinct was to head to our tiny base, which is nothing but an APC with a few soldiers, and I've built two small bases where I've taken enemy positions. Is there something I must build for them to get ammo? Is it something simple I'm not aware of?

I can continue but I'm technically a man short, and I'm not exactly playing on easy settings. Also, obviously I'm still a little new. Thank you, and forgive my having to post, but I have no choice.

P.S. I believe it's my heavy gunner who's out, and I need him like a fat kid needs cake!

Edited September 8, 2009 by Rhammstein

[kozzy420 21]

I usually just switch to the character that is out of ammo (go to map then units then change to that guy), and then pick up one of the enemys weapons after I have killed them.

Wont be good for you if you want them to keep teh same weapon, but for me If I cant find any ammo for my main cahracter or any of my characters, I just pick up a enemy gun on the ground!

[Nazul 10]

This is another 'feature' that has been there since 2001 and annoys the piss out of me having to micro manage troops to get ammo!! They seem in Arma2 to only pickup 1 ammo mag at a time too, so you have to redo these key steps over again. ANNOYING!!!!!

Press F* key for unit then 6 for action then it will say "take GUN from blah blah" which will pick up ammo as well as changing gun.

Or you can use this mod which works great http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=83926

Micro AI should be called Micromanaging AI.

[Rhammstein 10]

Now I'm stuck on Harvest Red, I've captured 3 of 4 objectives, but there's just no way to complete the mission. The enemy has at least two vehicles, which I try my best to take out with RPG's, but running back and forth for ammo for the RPG gets my guys injured constantly. They haven no less than 10 men, and my guys are just stupid, they won't take cover like I do when being shot at, say if I'm near a structure of some kind, they wander around until they get shot. I'm getting really pissed off, this sucks, I can't imagine how I could possibly win this unless I force my men to stay two miles away in the woods, while I try to do it all myself...

---------- Post added at 01:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:28 AM ----------

I usually just switch to the character that is out of ammo (go to map then units then change to that guy), and then pick up one of the enemys weapons after I have killed them.

Wont be good for you if you want them to keep teh same weapon, but for me If I cant find any ammo for my main cahracter or any of my characters, I just pick up a enemy gun on the ground!

I went to the map, selected units, selected him, it highlights his name, but it doesn't like, give me control of him. Can you help me a bit more, I'm sure what you say is possible but I can't find any info about this at all. I have an enemy with an AK right in front of me to use to get a weapon for him, also I'm in a capture point where I can buy weapons, can I just do what you said, but rather than take a weapon from a dead enemy, buy ammo at this spot I'm at? Because I just filled out all the ammo I needed for myself... I just can't get control of "Rodrigez", to get any kind of ammo, and he's my heavy gunner. This sucks because without him there's no possible way I can continue the game. I'm very upset there's nothing about this in the manual, or anywhere on the net.

[kozzy420 21]

Now I'm stuck on Harvest Red, I've captured 3 of 4 objectives, but there's just no way to complete the mission. The enemy has at least two vehicles, which I try my best to take out with RPG's, but running back and forth for ammo for the RPG gets my guys injured constantly. They haven no less than 10 men, and my guys are just stupid, they won't take cover like I do when being shot at, say if I'm near a structure of some kind, they wander around until they get shot. I'm getting really pissed off, this sucks, I can't imagine how I could possibly win this unless I force my men to stay two miles away in the woods, while I try to do it all myself...

---------- Post added at 01:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:28 AM ----------

I went to the map, selected units, selected him, it highlights his name, but it doesn't like, give me control of him. Can you help me a bit more, I'm sure what you say is possible but I can't find any info about this at all. I have an enemy with an AK right in front of me to use to get a weapon for him, also I'm in a capture point where I can buy weapons, can I just do what you said, but rather than take a weapon from a dead enemy, buy ammo at this spot I'm at? Because I just filled out all the ammo I needed for myself... I just can't get control of "Rodrigez", to get any kind of ammo, and he's my heavy gunner. This sucks because without him there's no possible way I can continue the game. I'm very upset there's nothing about this in the manual, or anywhere on the net.

I sent you a private message, but Ill sum up what I wrote quickly here.

What I did when I started up ARMA2 was this... I pressed "M" to bring up the map.. then I selected the UNITS section.... then I selected the character I wanted to control.... and after I highlighted the cahracter I wanted to control, ON THE RIGHT SIDE I SELECED "TEAM SWITCH", which allowed me to control my Sniper or Healer so to speak instead of my main character. Hope that helps.

I have done this many times in the past when I want to either A) get ammo manually for my CPU controlled teamamtes or B) Manually use my sniper or healer teammate to either snipe out bad guys or heal a temaamte manually instead of relying on the computer to do them.

Edited September 5, 2009 by kozzy420

[nomdeplume 0]

You can also hit T in the game to bring up the team switch menu rather than going through the menu.

[JackandBlood 10]

Just "move to" the guy out of ammo to a dead guy, use the #6 submenu, click gear. The gear UI for said guy will display, then you can pick and choose what you want your guy to loot off the corpse.

You can direct your guy to loot a specific corpse (say you want your squad to have additional anti-armor capabilities) find a dead AT corpse, "move to" command guy to that corpse then submenu 6 and gear. No need to switch to the guy and lose command. In the earlier campaign missions (before you get money and buy stuff) I always do this so Razor team will have 3 guys with rifles AND RPGs for dealing with light armor, and Robo stays heavy MG. Incidentally if you are traveling by vehicle, you can load up (gear command again) the vehicle with ammo and weapons looted from your victims if you anticipate a fierce battle that will require resupply. Its kind of tedious tho. (Going from dead guy to LAV-25, then to another dead guy, and so on)

What I have trouble with is trasnferring munitions between squad members. I'm a better shot then Razor 2 so I feel I should have the DMR in some situations. If the mission is under way all i know to do is drop my gear, have Razor 2 goto my gear then have him drop his and take mine, then I goto the pile of gear and pick up his stuff. Tedious, and it can lead to bugs where Razor 2 wont use the rifle i swapped with his DMR and will permanantly have his sidearm drawn. ( well I guess he could be pissed that I took his baby and so refuse to use the junk i gave him...)

Edited September 5, 2009 by JackandBlood

[Rhammstein 10]

Kozzy420, no "Team Switch" menu appears.....? I'm about to give up. I go into the map, select unit, select razer 3, the idiot with no ammo, and no menu appears, not for team switch, nothing. His name only highlights a kind of orange when I click it, where I can then click to view his gear etc etc. All I can do is make him drop equipment. Man oh man....

That reminds me, "Rodrigez", the idiot who decided to put 3 rounds into the dirt and lose all his ammo, won't even draw his sidarm, not even under attack. They don't take cover either, they wander around until they get shot, all the while spamming (NO AMMO). Man I know this game is complicated but no more than the Stalker games and it better get fixed soon.

---------- Post added at 10:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 PM ----------

Just "move to" the guy out of ammo to a dead guy, use the #6 submenu, click gear. The gear UI for said guy will display, then you can pick and choose what you want your guy to loot off the corpse.

You can direct your guy to loot a specific corpse (say you want your squad to have additional anti-armor capabilities) find a dead AT corpse, "move to" command guy to that corpse then submenu 6 and gear. No need to switch to the guy and lose command. In the earlier campaign missions (before you get money and buy stuff) I always do this so Razor team will have 3 guys with rifles AND RPGs for dealing with light armor, and Robo stays heavy MG. Incidentally if you are traveling by vehicle, you can load up (gear command again) the vehicle with ammo and weapons looted from your victims if you anticipate a fierce battle that will require resupply. Its kind of tedious tho. (Going from dead guy to LAV-25, then to another dead guy, and so on)

What I have trouble with is trasnferring munitions between squad members. I'm a better shot then Razor 2 so I feel I should have the DMR in some situations. If the mission is under way all i know to do is drop my gear, have Razor 2 goto my gear then have him drop his and take mine, then I goto the pile of gear and pick up his stuff. Tedious, and it can lead to bugs where Razor 2 wont use the rifle i swapped with his DMR and will permanantly have his sidearm drawn. ( well I guess he could be pissed that I took his baby and so refuse to use the junk i gave him...)

I don't understand how to get to the menu you speak of, this... #6 submenu. Perhaps one I figure this out, I'll be able to have him pick up the weapons. I have the game saved, with him standing directly in front of two dead enemies with plenty of ammo, they were shot from afar having never fired a shot, and honestly at this point I don't care what weapon he uses, I just need him to have a damn rifle!!!

Please, I can't believe I can't figure this out for myself, I've spent exactly 90 minutes just now tabbing out of the game and reading your text very carefully, and I just don't see any way of getting this idiot, razer 3, rodrigez, to pick up a damn weapon. I at least made him drop his rifle so he'll use his sidearm (he refused to use it before, when he was out of rifle ammo, he'd stand there and not shoot at anyone!!!!

Thanks for any help, and my god I hate to bother you guys, you've been so helpful, but, I dunno, maybe I've somehow damaged the game.

Off Topic: If anyone can explain this. When you adjust difficulty. When you change it to custom and adjust the amount of troops, it seems to have no effect. Does it merely make them less efficient? And the other way of adjusting difficulty, not selecting custom, but say, selecting expert for my squad and novice for them, does this actually have effect, mid-mission, and do the custom adjustments and standard adjustments (novice/expert, etc etc) do the same thing? This is not a huge concern, please, I need razer 3 to get ammo, it's been 3 damn days I've been stuck, it's insane!

You can also hit T in the game to bring up the team switch menu rather than going through the menu.

This does not work, has no effect at all. I tried pressing the "T" button in-game, while in the map, everything. So far I have not witnessed any way of taking control of another character of my team, this is driving me insane.

Edited September 6, 2009 by Rhammstein

[Nazul 10]

This is another 'feature' that has been there since 2001 and annoys the piss out of me having to micro manage troops to get ammo!! They seem in Arma2 to only pickup 1 ammo mag at a time too, so you have to redo these key steps over again. ANNOYING!!!!!

Press F* key for unit then 6 for action then it will say "take GUN from blah blah" which will pick up ammo as well as changing gun.

Or you can use this mod which works great http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=83926

Micro AI should be called Micromanaging AI.

Im not gunna type it again

[Rhammstein 10]

Im not gunna type it again

I don't expect you too, I was hoping for an explanation written differently. Thanks for your help, but hey, "dont" type it again buddy.

It wasn't my fault I couldn't take your advice and make it work, I'm not going to take the time to explain why, but little bits of info were left out. That doesn't matter you did your best to try to help me and that's what matters. It's this matter of "submenu 6", I just didn't get it. I've figured it out. I'm good now, having hell getting this mission done tho.

I've taken the 3rd area of 4 in Harvest Red, and since I'm doing this on the hardest setting do you guys think I'll be any good online, or is it a completely different animal all together?

Edited September 6, 2009 by Rhammstein

[jakerod 254]

1.) You hit F3 to select #3 in your squad.

2.) You tell him to move to a dead body.

3.) You then select him again using F3.

4.) You hit "6" (the one above the T & Y) on your keyboard.

5.) There will be an option that says gear* and it will have a number next to it.

6.) Hit this number

7.) It will take him a second but he will go by the body and an inventory menu will pop up.

8.) Use the menu to have him take a gun.

*Sometimes gear will be on a second page. To access the second page hit 0 (above O & P).

[Rhammstein 10]

1.) You hit F3 to select #3 in your squad.

2.) You tell him to move to a dead body.

3.) You then select him again using F3.

4.) You hit "6" (the one above the T & Y) on your keyboard.

5.) There will be an option that says gear* and it will have a number next to it.

6.) Hit this number

7.) It will take him a second but he will go by the body and an inventory menu will pop up.

8.) Use the menu to have him take a gun.

*Sometimes gear will be on a second page. To access the second page hit 0 (above O & P).

I figured it out, didn't realize I had to select him a second time once he'd reached the corpse. I then pressed 6, and got the menu, and had him take his weapon, dude only had two clips on him, so 3 in total, but a huge help. Now razor 4 is empty lol, so I'm in the middle of a red zone fighting like hell and trying to get him ammo as well, because he's too dumb to at least use his sidearm or take cover either. I mean, if you're combat ineffective you shouldn't be standing around making an easy target of yourself! Hopefully this will all be taken care of in a patch.

Thank for you for "exact" insruction, had I not figured it out, your advice would have saved me. You're the only one that made it clear I had to select the unit "again" once he'd reached the dead enemy, thank you a very much.

Now, I gotta figure out how to take this area, I've taken out at least 25 enemies, 2 apc's and 4 cars, and it just never ends! I may run alll the way back to an area I've taken just to get a ammo for my RPG.

Edited September 6, 2009 by Rhammstein

[maturin 12]

The '6' menu is a beautiful thing.

[Rhammstein 10]

Is it possible to buy items for teammates, the same way I can buy myself stuff at friendly locations? The reason I ask, is I have one more guy, Razer 2, out, and I used the 6 option and commanded him to buy, and the it said something like, and it was my order, "purchase from that grenadier" or something, I think meaning me, but when the buy menu comes up, it's just the menu I see if I try to buy for myself, is there a way to buy for him? Promise last question, I've got everything figured out. And I think I'm gonna turn down the difficulty, it's just too hard and I'm too new.

[jakerod 254]

Is it possible to buy items for teammates, the same way I can buy myself stuff at friendly locations? The reason I ask, is I have one more guy, Razer 2, out, and I used the 6 option and commanded him to buy, and the it said something like, and it was my order, "purchase from that grenadier" or something, I think meaning me, but when the buy menu comes up, it's just the menu I see if I try to buy for myself, is there a way to buy for him? Promise last question, I've got everything figured out. And I think I'm gonna turn down the difficulty, it's just too hard and I'm too new.

I don't think you can. Best bet is probably to throw your stuff onto the ground and then buy stuff and then give it to your guy. A bit hectic but it will probably work.

[froggyluv 2136]

@Op- You might be interested in using the VFAI mod which enables AI to pick up weapons/ammo on their own initiative.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=83926

I've really grown to love and rely on this mod as I hate babysitting my guys in the middle of a firefight.

[Rhammstein 10]

@Op- You might be interested in using the VFAI mod which enables AI to pick up weapons/ammo on their own initiative.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=83926

I've really grown to love and rely on this mod as I hate babysitting my guys in the middle of a firefight.

I'm actually using now, but I refused to let the game beat me, and wouldn't use it until I actually got a squad member to take the ammo the way the game intends. I am LOVING that mod now, and now I can keep the difficulty on hardest, because I don't have to babysit them.

I just wish there were a mod to have them take cover when we're being confronted by like 3 grenadiers, a tank, and two APC's! They'll stand in terrible spots no matter how hard I try to manipulate the game and options to get them out of harms way. I find myself just having them regroup and running away as fast as I can so I can regroup, leave them there, and go work on them myself... Sucks. When vehicles aren't involved, it's not nearly an issue, but they need to patch it so when confronted with a vehicle that an rip them in two, they'll run for cover, and just just say "enemy vehicle 100 years front uhg, girgle, girgle...MAN DOWN!!!!" LOL, it would actually be funny if they kept talkign while being torn apart.

[kozzy420 21]

You are a soldier Rhamm, beating the game on the hardest difficulty is no easy task (;

[JackandBlood 10]

I don't think you can. Best bet is probably to throw your stuff onto the ground and then buy stuff and then give it to your guy. A bit hectic but it will probably work.

Yep the ole throw your shit on the ground (cuz when you buy it'll automatically sell your stuff to fill the slot), buy, then drop, then command your subordinate to pickup the ordinance you want him to have, then pick up your own shit. All just to give razor 2 some AT capability (or whatever it is you were aimming for). Was this mission even playtested at all? F this im making my own mission, one where I get to shoot people and have fun.

[jgdj19 10]

I just wish there were a mod to have them take cover when we're being confronted by like 3 grenadiers, a tank, and two APC's! They'll stand in terrible spots no matter how hard I try to manipulate the game and options to get them out of harms way. I find myself just having them regroup and running away as fast as I can so I can regroup, leave them there, and go work on them myself... Sucks. When vehicles aren't involved, it's not nearly an issue, but they need to patch it so when confronted with a vehicle that an rip them in two, they'll run for cover, and just just say "enemy vehicle 100 years front uhg, girgle, girgle...MAN DOWN!!!!" LOL, it would actually be funny if they kept talkign while being torn apart.

setting them to danger can help with them taking cover. have you done this?

submenu 7 then 2

[fabrizio_t 58]

I just wish there were a mod to have them take cover when we're being confronted by like 3 grenadiers, a tank, and two APC's! They'll stand in terrible spots no matter how hard I try to manipulate the game and options to get them out of harms way. I find myself just having them regroup and running away as fast as I can so I can regroup, leave them there, and go work on them myself... Sucks. When vehicles aren't involved, it's not nearly an issue, but they need to patch it so when confronted with a vehicle that an rip them in two, they'll run for cover, and just just say "enemy vehicle 100 years front uhg, girgle, girgle...MAN DOWN!!!!" LOL, it would actually be funny if they kept talkign while being torn apart.

I'm implementing something like that, a mod that features some kind of AI threats evaluation, dynamically triggering predefined behaviour patterns (currently: CONTACT, ASSAULT, ENGAGE, PINNED, RETREAT, SPECIAL).

Each unit type in the game is defined by a sort of threat matrix defining its power and combat capabilities (AP, AT, AA, ...).

The mod also features autonomous AI calls for artillery strikes, CAS, heli insertion/extraction and sports raw cohordinated strike tactics.

All in all the mod is pretty green, no chance i'm going to release it in the current buggy state ...

Also unless many ArmA2 bugs are fixed (findcover and sethidebehind implementation, air units pathfinding problems, spotting issues) it will probably never work as expected :(

Edited September 7, 2009 by fabrizio_T

[no use for a name 0]

that sounds cool Fabrizio...hope you (aka BIS ;) ) get it sorted out

as for the OP, if you need to rearm multiple squadmates, I find it easier to take the weapons myself and put them in a vehicle and then have them board it. Then you should just be able to go to the map, units tab, then click their name(s). That will bring up a gear menu with the stuff you dropped in there. Saves a little bit of time/clicks since you don't have to go thru the menu dance for each guy.

[Rhammstein 10]

that sounds cool Fabrizio...hope you (aka BIS ;) ) get it sorted out

as for the OP, if you need to rearm multiple squadmates, I find it easier to take the weapons myself and put them in a vehicle and then have them board it. Then you should just be able to go to the map, units tab, then click their name(s). That will bring up a gear menu with the stuff you dropped in there. Saves a little bit of time/clicks since you don't have to go thru the menu dance for each guy.

Thank you. I've now passed that mission which took 3 days, and now it looks as though I'm faced with another that will be far worse.... I really miss having the USMC involved, I hate having no damn support. I mean, a 4 man team doing all of this is entirely unrealistic, am I missing something? IRL there's no damn way 4 marines, even the 4 best in the world, could manage these missions. Badlands especially. Although I'm looking forward to it. I feel like not many people could do these missions on the hardest settings, so when I manage to complete them, it feels good. It's nice to experience military combat without having to watch people die and take real lives, I love this simulator more than any of you can imagine.

But seriously, as a Simulator, is it really.... realistic to have only a 4 man team to take all of these strongholds? I mean I understand I have other resources at my disposal, cars and trucks I find, weapons etc etc from enemies, stealing enemy vehicles. But I think the guys I'm working for are a little cheap not to provide me with several APC's, since they don't help at all, it's just us four marines working on the ground. I only occasionally see one of them manning an MG guarding a stronghold I've captured, and sometimes I'll see what I think is a friendly on the map, but that's it. Is it really like this, they just expect us four to do all of this?

Edited September 8, 2009 by Rhammstein

[Rhammstein 10]

I have two questions, one incredibly simple, first: Why is it not possible to revert to a save when playing a scenario? Like you can in campaign mode? This makes no sense as it lets me save any time I like, and under options I have it set to unlimited saves. So I guess you gotta start over entirely when playing a scenario? This is bs if so, i was five seconds from ending a tough mission when somehow one of my men took a head shot. I took my time and was having fun, not worrying because I thought I could revert. This is the second scenario mission, the first I completed with no problems so I didn't know. I hope I'm somehow wrong about this, these missions look like a blast and it's nice to be able to save as each objective is accomplished, that plus the fact that some of these missions can take hours right? Or are they all quick missions unlike the campaign. Because at least this will be good, I could easily change the way I do things and save tons of time.

Second: Is there a simple way to enable god mode/invulnerability, for myself? Easily? I see ways of doing it but they call look so complicated. I don't want to cheat and ruin the game, it would take everything that makes the game great away from me and destroy it. I only want to experiment with realism stuff, and being invulnerable helps greatly, and could save me an awful lot of time.

[no use for a name 0]

Yeah it's unrealistic to have 4 guys fighting a war; but do you want total realism or fun?? I personally like a balance of both. You know what they say, war is 9/10ths of waiting with 1/10th of sheer terror (something like that). Besides, by making your team "marooned" with no support, it makes you think more tactically about situations. Instead of just calling in air/artillery strikes on enemy positions all the time and moving in to clean up; you have to think about your assault, what weapons to take, should you commandeer a vehicle to help with the attack, etc. This puts the player in the front row seat instead of just sitting back waiting for the cleanup IMO.

As for your other Q's; You can revert single missions; but I think you're talking about the quick-mission editor/creator. No you can't save because it's all ambient combat module and there's no "Victory" triggers...you just play until you get killed or get bored.

And I don't know of any 'code' to make you invincible. More than likely you'll have to edit some .cfg file or create a script to use in a mission