Commanding gunners and buying weapons in towns

[brydling 10]

Hi,

I am new to this forum and pretty new to the game. I played Operation Flashpoint ALOT when it was new (and several years after), but I've never tried ArmA 1.

In OFP I remember that flying a helicopter or driving a tank and pointing out targets for the gunner was really easy. I can't exactly remember how it was done but I think that you had a mouse pointer while driving? In ArmA 2 all that happens when I move my mouse is that the vehicle moves. And if I delete these assignments in the controls setup, nothing at all happens when I move my mouse. I've found one way to do it, hold down Left Alt and look around without steering. But I still don't have a cross to aim with, so I have to guess where the middle of the screen is. How do you guys do it?

I have played the campaign one time. I love the gameplay in the last missions where they mix strategy and action. I have one problem however. I can't seem to build anything in a captured town except for a UAZ? If I need to buy some new stuff I have to go the whole way back to HQ, and that can take an hour in a slow tank! From what I have read it seems like I should be able to buy weapons in towns. But the things I have read have been about multiplayer.

[Door a jar 0]

Hey Brydling,

I'm not too shabby with flying the helicopter in ArmA 2, but I have a major issue with targeting them also.

I do have the armour down fairly pat so maybe I could at least help you out with that. As the tank command you can give your driver move commands using WASD, which I'm sure you've got down.

Targeting with armour (default keys) right click on your target to tell you main gunner to engage. Once the main gun swings around Left control + left mouse click will give the order to fire. Sometimes for whatever reason the gunner tries to engage BMP-2s, or worse BMP-3s with the coaxle which never ends well for your tank and crew. Control + F will order the gunner to switch back over to the 120mm smooth bore. If the gun isn't loaded yet the gunner will tell you to piss off until he's got a round in the breach. Just wait a second and give the fire command again.

Hopefully someone else will come along and answer you're other questions. I've gotten to really enjoy commanding tanks, it would be even more so if BIS implemented a real penetration value which make for much better tank duels.

Hope this helps though,

-Cheers

[brydling 10]

Thank you Door_a_jar!

However, I usually play as the tank driver because I don't find the AI driver good enough. Also, I find the AI doing a better job than me with the commander's turret. As the commander you have a sight, but as a driver you have the same problem as in a helicopter.

Another question. When playing as a helicopter gunner, is it possible to stabilize the sight on one ground location so that you don't have to compensate when the pilot moves the helicopter? As a tank gunner, the turrent rotates automatically as the tank rotates to always point at the same spot. As a helicopter gunner with an AI pilot who doesn't understand that he has to keep the chopper stable, I'm in trouble.

Edited June 26, 2010 by brydling