shoot officers first?

[Ozz13 10]

When you happen across enemies, do you take out officers first? I do, Not sure if there is any advantage. I figure if you take out leadereship the others will be less organized. Is this how it works or is no difference in that regard?

Other than that I target longer range threats to shorter range.

Edited November 18, 2009 by Ozz13
grammar and spelling : P

[maturin 12]

The officers are more likely to have a higher skill rating and thus be more aware, but the AI second-in-command is prepared to take charge at the drop of a hat. Do enough damage to the unit and they'll lose all cohesion and eventually break entirely.

[jakerod 254]

I forgot about that tactic. I can't remember how well it works. This is the order at which I target:

Special Forces

Snipers

Machine Gunners

AT Soldiers

Officers

Grenadiers

Everyone else.

[Guest]

I think i would fail in the real forces.

I just shoot the first mother f*cker i see.

:D

[HyperU2 11]

I shoot the ones shooting at me. ;) Maybe my own officers first.

[andersson 285]

It helps taking out the leader first. For a short moment they need to reorganize, then they loose high rank member which is bad for morale. Then I pick out high threats like machinegunners, snipers, grenadiers, rpg and so on.

If you are playing with friends try to take out 1,2 and 3 at the same time, that confuse them quite a bit and is really bad for their morale it seems.

[sic-disaster 311]

Usually i get the guys that can do the most damage first: MG gunner, sniper if long range, then grenadiers.

If there is any friendly armour around and i see an AT soldier i hit him like a mack truck, otherwise he can live a little longer.

I dont really think it is all that useful taking out an officer first in terms of breaking up enemy coordination, considering it takes about a second before nr.2 takes over command and starts issuing orders right away.

An officer 'might' have a higher skill rating (though i'm not sure about that) but that still won't hurt me more then 200 RPK bullets.

[Whiskey_Tango 10]

take out the ones that pose the biggest threat to you, snipers, machine gunners, then proceed to destroy whats left...irl your going to target officers first if they are attacking...havent really noticed a need to in this though

[walker 0]

Hi all

My priority:

AT (if I am in Vehicles or Guarding Tanks)

Officers

Snipers

MG

Special forces

Grenadiers

AT (if I am not Vehicles or Guarding Tanks)

Riflemen

Medics (if they are a threat)

Kind Regards walker

[max power 21]

Usually I take out the guys with the good eyes, first. Officers have binoculars, snipers have scopes, and special forces have high skill. Next, I go in order of damage and range from high to low, then specialties. Machinegunners next, because they will engage further out. Then go medics. At soldiers, I don't care about, unless there is friendly armour around. If so, I engage them when I see them. If I see a medic healing anyone I usually attempt to kill him and the guy he's working on at that time.

[MQ-9 Reaper 10]

Officers & machinegunners & any special asset the opfor has (artillery,...) for the initial assault. Immediately followed by the snipers, then the rest of the platoon.

After this the opfor is far less dangerous.

[arthur666 10]

I read sometime back in Arma1 that the higher the rank of the SL, the less likely the squad would be to flee. So, shooting the SL would have the possibility to break morale, as someone stated earlier. Especially if there are only privates left.

[-=seany=- 5]

Also remember this works vice versa. If the AI see a group of enemy inf and the squad leader is visible they will go for him as a priority.

[spangg 0]

It's nice to see all your feedback guys, but I believe the op wants to learn if there is any difference if he prioritise whom to shoot against the AI. Does the game let you gain any advantage by killing the squadleader and such. Any ideas on that?

[lt.chris 0]

It does effect their ability to maintain organisation especlly if you land something like a m203 to kill the leader along with his number 2 and 3 becuase then they got to go though the "oh no 1 is down" oh no 2 is down" "oh no 3 is down" and then finally another AI can properly take over but by that time more damage should have occored on the team your attacking so they should be alot easier to kill. Even if you cannot kill his 2 and 3 simply killing the leader would give you a extra second or two to kill more of them before they can react.

[max power 21]

It's nice to see all your feedback guys, but I believe the op wants to learn if there is any difference if he prioritise whom to shoot against the AI. Does the game let you gain any advantage by killing the squadleader and such. Any ideas on that?

As I was saying, as you take out the squad members with the high skill and special optics, their ability to keep track of you and detect you at range degrades.

[NeMeSiS 11]

It does effect their ability to maintain organisation especlly if you land something like a m203 to kill the leader along with his number 2 and 3 becuase then they got to go though the "oh no 1 is down" oh no 2 is down" "oh no 3 is down" and then finally another AI can properly take over but by that time more damage should have occored on the team your attacking so they should be alot easier to kill. Even if you cannot kill his 2 and 3 simply killing the leader would give you a extra second or two to kill more of them before they can react.

Also, the squadleader has the highest rank, the lower the rank of the squadleader, the lower the morale of the whole squad, which makes it more likely to make them flee/surrender.

They also have binoculars (and usually high skill), which makes them able to spot enemies better/faster and call them out for the rest of their squad.

I personally aim for the squadleader, after that i just shoot whatever is easiest to hit. (There are some exceptions, when i am protecting friendly armor for example)

Edited November 19, 2009 by NeMeSiS

[zoog 18]

I actually never really paid attention to the roles of the enemy. Normally I just shoot anything that comes into my sight.

[Ozz13 10]

Appreciate the feedback. I wasn't aware of the morale factor, so I'll have to read up on that and see how it works. Thanks!

[pj[cz] 2]

Also when an AI unit isnt set on engage at will, shooting their commander will reduce the vlume of return fire they produce because the AI when not in engage at will mode ussually waits for the leader to assign them targets. Also sometimes it takes a while before they realise that 1 is down and that makes them pretty disoriented

[johncage 30]

i choose the easiest targets first. guys out in the open, etc.

[HyperU2 11]

Got the chance last night during Cipher, not sure how much it helped. But this is basically my natural order.

73K-aE7iSLE

[max power 21]

Yes. Whoever is actually shooting at you is naturally the first one to go.

[jasonnoguchi 11]

seriously, even in RL warfare, there is no advantage in taking out an officer leading an attack. Nobody is going to notice it because the rest of the squads will already be under the C&C of their fire team leaders in attacking your position. (ex-SF operator for 8 years) The only officer on the field we take out are those decision makers garrisoned in their base.

[nomdeplume 0]

Arma doesn't have autonomous fireteams though. Killing the leader will reduce the group's rank which could result in them fleeing sooner.