CaptainDawson

Guys I'm kind of slightly annoyed right now. The game crashed on the LAST MISSION of East Wind and when I log in again, I start at the beginning mission of Adapt. ALL my progress is erased. I didn't delete anything, no mods, etc. I got work and school to do and don't have infinite amounts of time to play, so it took me months to get to this end mission. I would hate to have gone this far and not be able to finish!! Any help appreciated. I'm a inexperienced new player, so I'm happy to hear whatever advice you have. Thanks

There it is Why do you think nearly 5 years and 65 pages of forum posts later there are still players making accounts to report Game Breaking glitch of turrets, not realizing this has been brought up 500,000 times already. Because it hasn't been fixed. That's the problem. This discussion doesn't really have a point anymore.

I agree that vehicle spam/unlimited rearm is the problem. That doesn't invalidate the fact that aircraft in and of themselves are also a large problem in this gamemode for the above mentioned reasons. Has nothing to do with Antistasi. The combination of rearm problem with unrealistic vehicle capabilities and balance is the problem. Very few players I've played with actually enjoy the planes and the problems they bring with them. As soon as Telos gets activated and Neophrons start rapid firing their rockets in there its time to leave the server cause skill doesnt matter at 10 FPS. That plus nightime, and just watch all the players leave a stalemate server for a fresh match. Infantry combat brings out the best in Arma, not the unrealistic flying-on-rails arcade planes. Everyone knows Arma is glitchy, but some of the vehicles are just on another level when it comes to retarded physics and unrealistic durability. GBU literally meters from a unarmored Shikra and it survives, one Vorona hit on strongest part of Slammer's armor destroys it, through the ERA. That kind of stuff is far from the only problem though. One Kajman or Shikra exploiting bad view distance and lag can literally flip an entire match with Blufor 3 sectors from Opfor base, likewise, one Blufor Pawnee whack-a-mole guy can ruin Opfor's whole offensive by backcapping empty sectors near the center of the map and sticking turrets everywhere. Both I experienced today. Neophron can literally "carpet bomb" with rockets without unlimited reload, can it do that in real life, sure. But is anyone really gonna argue that a CAS jet with its 40 or so rockets against infantry on the ground is fair or fun, when battles are typically smaller than 12 versus 12? Something tells me the "force multipliers" in Warlords are not proportional to their opposition. And that is an understatement. Any of the planes for that matter. Any time we spawn in a match with Neo rocketing the contested sector spawn we just leave. There is no reason to play this, and I'm not going to stick around to save 13500 CP each for more Blackwasps to be spawnkilled. Or 40,000 for SAM which dies to a pebble which it was unfortunately placed upon. The biggest problem of all is non-participating players, which I blame on poor game organization and unnecessarily difficult menus. Sure there are stupid players, but its hard to blame them when they gotta click 4 buttons just to move out of the TK zone. Almost never see less than 30% of team in base. While a couple actually good players decide the whole match in one on one whack-a-mole combat. This is a mess, indicated by the fact that only a fraction of players still play warlords compared to how popular it was when it was released.

Honestly. You have the correct idea, and I 100% agree with you. There is already an AI airstrike function in Zeus for all the aircraft, spawns a plane far away that flies an attack run and drops bombs or fires rockets and cannons at the assigned target. There's plenty of time to shoot down the plane before and after, and the attacks are much more tactically realistic and balanced than the absurd CAS spam we see with player controlled planes. Again, multi-million dollar air superiority fighters from two factions would not be operating from ridiculously short dirt airstrips less than 10 km from the enemy front line and airbases. They would operate long distance from bases in friendly territory, spend only a small amount of time in hostile AA territory, commence attack, then quickly leave. In real life planes don't just hang out 24/7 in heavily defended airspace launching rockets into a city with no fear of being shot down because the AA is useless. I'd like to join a game that is not a nighttime stalemate with single Neophron with 999 ping zooming around unopposed because titan can't lock on to his heavily dsyncing aircraft in the view distance that takes him 3 seconds to fly outside of.

I agree, I think that while all of us have our favorite vehicles and tactics, Warlords would be a lot more realistic, more balanced, and a more enjoyable experience if we saw a bit more aim towards Infantry and combined arms tactics, instead of the extreme tank and plane camping the game has devolved into. I'm 100% fine with nerfing or even removing Rhino if it meant it would help balance the game. But we need to nerf camping in general, not just Rhino. Redux, while it still has some issues, is IMHO much better than default warlords, and it's the natural progression of the game. Randomized sectors so the same thing doesn't happen every time, unlimited reload has a cooldown, and not all players have Blufor as the default slot, etc. Players should never spawn directly into an enemy squad that is capping your defense sector, and I shouldn't be able to teleport and appear 25 feet behind a T-100 and one shot him with Vorona while hes capping my sector. Maybe, when your sector is under attack, you could spawn on the opposite side of the sector from the enemy and you have to walk back into the sector like you're the reinforcements. Not spawn right where campers are waiting for you! Lock equipment to faction for goodness sake, so very tired of seeing Ghille/Special Rig/Viper Helmet/Vorona loadout, we need to be able to distinguish players more realistically! There is more than enough gear for each side to choose from. Tanks shouldn't be able to be spawned so far behind enemy lines, should only be in or near controlled sectors. The game is WAY too long, please put starting base locations in such a way that we don't have to stalemate around Anthrakia every time! Redux also adds a few more sectors around the center of the map, much more interesting and allows you to even bypass and flank Anthrakia in many cases. Redux introduces accelerated night, very great addition! No one wants to play their entire match only at night. After Redux is tweaked a bit more, we'd love to see Redux on all the servers. Currently its not usually full. No one is under the illusion that Warlords is a realistic simulation, but if we could just add a bit more balance and Fog of War to the mix, it would make it much more immersive and fun for all involved. Nobody wants to join a game and see its night and stuck on Anthrakia again, with Neophron spamming rockets on contested and Rhino camping infantry spawns. We want it to be like Warlords was when it started, players working as a team to decide what is the best course of action instead of everything being a given. Given that AAC will be camped, given that tanks will camp with thermals, given that Anthrakia will be a stalemate... we want original gameplay and skill-based tactics, and that comes by making the players play the sectors instead of sitting in spawns or camping in vehicles.

Air is not a valid tactic when only airbase is camped into oblivion. "Just kill the campers" is not a long-term valid tactic when certain players spend hours camping and immediately return to their camping position as soon as someone spends 30 minutes trying to track and kill them. Takes 20-30 minutes sometimes to prepare and execute an ambush against a large force of hull down tank campers at Charkia. That is not equal effort to camper who can respawn in 10 seconds, teleport, and immediately respawn his tank or call a heli. When Opfor loses planes on the runway or their AI get shot down, you just spawn planes at another airbase. When Blufor gets one wipeout stuck on the middle of the runway, now there is no ability to use air whatsoever until the wipeout despawns. I don't need to mention how half of Blufor team sits in AAC spawning aircraft to be shot down from island. There is no reason you should be able to spawn a heavy tank behind enemy lines a point blank range. Only time your theory works with a Black wasp is when you have at least one dedicated Blackwasp pilot who will stick around long enough to protect Blue ground assets. After 10 blackwasp crash before landing, its gets old and he tries another option. Reality is, even one inexperienced Opfor pilot and one tank camper can easily suppress Blufor air for more than half of the game. Do I need to mention how the lock on distance for Blackwasp ATGMs is so short that it is slightly difficult to get a kill while you are also dodging the 12 Tigris with unlimited ammo that are spread across the center portion of the map? Trust me, I've tried, but at a point skill doesn't really matter anymore. The fact of the matter is, it's not one individual factor that imbalances the game, its the combination of many issues with the poorly balanced map layout. Fact of the matter is that even expert players like Kullwarrior and Gene don't stand a chance spawning a Blackwasp when Blufor air is being suppressed, many times I have seen them connect and then quickly disconnect as soon as they see how awful the game is. I also do this all the time, in fact I leave more games than I actually play. Winning the game is not as much about skill as it is about knowing where and how to spawn camp. ONE SINGLE PLAYER on either Blufor or Opfor who knows what he's doing can camp the other team into oblivion. Only thing is, that combination of other issues means it happens to Blufor more than Opfor, reflected in the ratio of controlled sectors. Again, I shouldn't even need to make any argument complaining about the game being unbalanced. When I log into a server and 80% of the time Opfor has more than 2-3 times the controlled sectors, perhaps that should indicate something about the balance. It doesn't take a genius to understand this. Last game I played I was top on the leaderboard, over 30 tank 12 aircraft kills, all without anyone spawning one rhino the whole time I was on. By taking advantage of the unlimited arsenal, I simply sat in controlled sector Opfor was targetting and spawned in loadouts of maximum Titan, Vorona, and AA with Bergen. Just knowing where to stand I racked up so many tank and heli kills, but meta of camping with tanks and helis meant Opfor just kept spawning more tanks and helis for me to kill instead of putting infantry on the ground to cap the sector. I gave up after the 2rd time backcap sweeping Anthrakia, Powerplant, Airfield, Compound, Rodopoli, Gravia, and Agios completely by myself and then losing them 20 minutes later because everyone on my team insisted on spawning in the same contested sector so they could be spawnkilled again instead of defending. All I want is to have back the combined arms meta instead of one side spawning waves of tanks and aircraft to steamroll and camp the other team, and the other team waiting for them to leave sectors so they can be backcapped because they can;t fight on equal footing. The meta needs to be fixed, and its as simple as reassesing unlimited ammo, spawning tanks farther from the front, and balancing sector layout. Spawncamping needs to be nerfed, and Whack-a-mole needs to be nerfed. More randomized spawn location, re-locking sectors like in redux is a great solution but we need it on all servers. PS as for convoluted tactics months ago, I was testing whether I could make Blufor win by preventing noobs from wasting CP on planes that would immediately be shot down, did this by convincing them to not take AAC. If that third of players who sit at AAC instead fought on the ground, we had a better chance at winning. (Too much for me to expect that players would actually teleport from spawn, but lesson learned). It's not 100% impossible to win without any form of air or air defense. Here's a secret, players on the ground cap sectors, not planes. In fact, when whole entire Opfor team is in T-140, Tigris, and Mi-48 pummeling Blufor instead of defending, it leaves all sectors open for me to backcap in my Ghille and Prowler. Incredibly, it actually was working until they insisted that sitting in AAC being spawncamped is an essential part of the game.

We will stop spamming Rhino when we can actually have a chance to use planes and tanks and infantry without fear of immediately being sniped from unseen enemy miles away. (Ironically similar to how Opfor complains of Rhino, except few know how to use Rhino and many know how to spawn camp with T-140, double tap "N" and point and click, versus trial and error with Rhino plus getting instakilled/arma'd in warehouse every other time). The sector layout greatly favors Opfor and anyone who has played the game more than a few times knows how the game devolves almost every time. In fact, I go so far as to say the only time Blufor ever wins is when Opfor fails to utilize their strategic airbase advantage, or when experienced Opfor players leave their team. The spawn camping and whack a mole meta can be fixed, or people can continue to leave because its not fun to die constantly by CAS and HE spam as soon as you spawn. I've played Redux a couple times and if nothing else, I have high hopes that changing the starting base locations makes a big difference in how the game plays out. Hilarious when Blue starts on Molos side and suddenly Opfor is crying and accusing Blackwasp players of spamming Rhino because they are so used to dominating Air, the other day Opfor Neophron spam crybabies tried to vote kick all Blue jet players because they realize they can no longer camp them out of existence.

Nope, as far as I'm concerned when it comes to PVP, Blufor only has the Rhino. It's really not a foreign concept that camping tactics on both sides are cancerous and ruin the gameplay, and anyone who has played more than 3 games knows it. It devolves to the point where Blufor is camped into oblivion and the only possible way to counter any of it is by spamming Rhino or waiting for competent Opfor players to leave the game so that Blufor can actually launch its own jets. Black Wasp is 100% pointless in any Warlords match where there are halfway competent airfield campers, and by that I mean literally almost every match. Its debatable how powerful the Black wasp is when its paired against the Shikra, none of the Blackwasp's AG missiles mean a thing if it can't use them. But this is all besides the point, what good are any of the planes in general when its not possible to take off the ground? Forget the whole bLuFoR pLaNeS aRe WoRsE debate it doesn't matter when Blue's only usable airbase is camped into oblivion, and Red's isn't. Do I need to mention the island by AAC for the 1,000th time? Over 90% of the games I've played, Opfor is camping AAC at the critical portion of the match. Don't compare it to Blufor camping, we all know there is no comparison and we all know it goes one direction. How often and how long are campers at Molos? How long and how often are campers at AAC? One single player can completely suppress Blufor's use of any aircraft for more than half of the game. No one can walk or drive tank to counter him across the water. Cant use planes because they cant land, can't use boat because boat versus T-140 or Tigris over open water at close range is not a contest. If they happen to kill the camper, he can come back in only 5 minutes in a heli no one can shoot down because Blue still has no air. They turn to Rhino because there comes a point in every match where there is no other option. Planes not usable under camping, Slammer underperforms against T-140, infantry pointless under spawn camping, what else is there? Again, look at kill rates on top 3 players and it tells the whole story of who is camping and who is not. Is Rhino way too OP? Yes! Please remove it and also remove all other spam tactics so that people can just play the game and not instantly die on spawn at contested sector. We're talking about the critical part of the match surrounding Anthrakia, once players from one team are tired of getting camped they leave the game and allow the opposing team to win. I'd rather there be no Rhino and actually be able to play on the ground then have Rhino and die by incessant spawn camping. You still haven't answered my question, if the Rhino is so ridiculous, please explain to me how Blufor is supposed to deal with 3 hull down T-140Ks in hills at Charkia using thermals to see from outside the infantry view distance, firing unlimited 125 and 30mm HE into contested sector spawns, with repair trucks behind them so any time they are hit they can pull back and repair to full health in 5 seconds. All Blufor sector spawns are on the West side of the map until they get past Anthrakia, T-140s mow down everything that spawns including infantry, vehicles, and any planes stupid enough to land at main airbase. There is no reasonable way to counter without Rhino. A couple infantry spending 30 minutes flanking and attempting to kill all 3 T-140ks with rockets is not a permanent solution when camping players with already enough CP to buy 5 T-140s can in seconds spawn another one and set right back up where he was 3 minutes later.

I found that in Redux, at least sometimes, Opfor is the default slot in the menu. This definitely helps to some extent. May I suggest removing Teamkilling altogether to solve the ever present issue at base? No one is under the illusion that this is a realistic game, for the sake of humanity can we please have TKing disabled? 60 second delay works sometimes but I have never seen the spawn camping issue go away. Why? Seriously why is it necessary to have 10 players separated from the team killing each other on a server? It was a good idea to have a base for each team it's a cool idea, but with what we know now, isn't it time to just eliminate this whole issue? I agree that a more aggressive AFK kick would do wonders, that plus TK disable could mean we could have contested sector spawn as default. Seriously, the map is huge already for 48 players, having more than 50% of your players sitting in the spawn at any given moment really kills the fun of the game. 2 or 3 Blufor fighting 2 or 3 Opfor at contested sector, 10 players camping, 10 players spawning aircraft at airfields and the rest at base in a full server is hardly a battle.

The fact that peeps get all salty the second I get in a Rhino proves they don't know how to play the game. Rhino can be extremely easily countered it is predictable and obvious where Rhinos go because any non-redux game is literally almost exactly the same every time. This last game, I killed myself several times in Rhino due to dsync and getting arma'd. Whereas, Neophron can use the awful lag to easily avoid AA missiles even at point blank range lock on. That being said, yes the Rhino ATGM is ridiculously OP when it's UNLIMITED, and so are all the other weapons that are unlimited. If it was limited to the 4 ATGMS that come with the vehicles that would be a reasonable balance to the vehicle, with lowered CP cost of course. But if you're going to do that then we're gonna need to explain how I'm supposed to combat 3 T-140Ks sitting outside the infantry view distance lobbing unlimited 125mm HE into the contested sector spawn without me using a Rhino. And no, one player walking 30 minutes to get behind them with a vorona and expecting to win against all 3 of them its not going to happen. (Ask me how I know) Right now I'm attempting to play Redux. I have to walk 400 meters on open runway to kill one T-140 who is sitting in a hanger like a wimp, while some hacker or exploiter is 1500 meters away with unlimited voronas ATMGing every player that spawns on contested sector which is in an open field. Meanwhile >75% of my team is in the spawn because teleport is blocked in base again. That's why I go in Rhino, because skill or lack of skill is not what wins the game anymore when everyone can predict the layout of the whole game. Remove Rhino for all I care, I'd rather have a balanced game but that can't happen with CAS spam and Whack-a-mole meta the way it is.

Please, can we can we please just auto teleport players to Contested Sector on start, or at the very least make Warlords more straightforward and simple? Often I see over 5 times as many players in spawn as there are in the contested sector any given time I log in. It is usual to see more than 10 in spawn and usual to see less than 5 in contested in a FULL SERVER. Nearly every single time I attempt to play non-redux warlords Blufor is losing pitifully because no one is actually teleporting from the base. There is no reason to make players search through menus and make a map selection for contested sector when there can only be ONE contested sector at a time. What is there to select? Why do we even spawn at the base, the contested sector is the only place you can capture initially, that is where all the players should spawn by default. If they want to go to an already seized sector or do something else, there's no problem with using the menu to select from the many different sectors available. But I shouldn't have to spend my entire game trying to explain needlessly complicated teleport every time another player joins, for them to rage quit minutes later tired of getting CAS spammed on spawn, and cycle continues. "Hold 'I' to fast travel" the server message says. It's not hold I, its: "I" / Strategy / Fast Travel to Contested Sector / search through map to find the single contested sector on the map, not to mention new player doesn't even know what contested sector icon even looks like. None of this is necessary. Almost without exception, dozens of players sit in spawn and either do nothing, or teamkill the entire match. Please let the players all spawn near the action in contested sector by default, if they want to play casually on their own and not use voice chat, now they are near the fight and don't have to ask how to teleport. The only time we even need to spawn in the base is when we need to defend it. Lack of players in the contested sectors immediately stagnates the game, greatly increases the time for one side to win, and makes the entire experience much worse for both teams. Just spawning all players in the contested sector would make the general purpose and idea of Warlords much more clear to new players, increase new player interest and retention for Warlords, and literally cut the match completion time in half.

My feedback, same as the last 6 months. 2 players, one Kajman and one T-140 abuse unlimited reload and repair to fire from out of range of missiles and rain down ripple fire on hopeless new players. 2 players that have a decent understanding of how to abuse poor game meta completely run roughshod over the entire server for nearly whole "Anthrakia stalemate" portion of the game. This tactic ruins what immersion is left and players are demoralized and don't want to play anymore. As someone who has used these tactics in the past, it even becomes pointless for the aggressor when he realizes there is no point to the game when one player has complete control to massacre contested sector spawns from a ridiculous distance with no repercussions because noobs don't know how to counter an enemy they can't see. When someone has died 4 times in a row immediately as soon as they spawn in the contested sector, guess what? They don't want to teleport to contested sector anymore because it isn't fair. I know because this is why I always rage quit Warlords. If >75% of players are not going to the contested sector, the game will always stalemate and drag on for dozens of hours. Until someone who knows how to spam Rhino ATGM joins Blufor, Blufor almost always has their hands tied behind their backs as they are stuck with the majority of noobs and players who don't have as much experience abusing ripplefire tactics as Opfor veterans. I don't know what others see but this is literally all I see nearly every time I log on a server that has been running more than 2 hours into a match.

I know how to use the script in the decription.ext file to add text and small background pic, but how do I change the full screen background for a multiplayer singleplayer mission? I'm referring to the background which usually shows the map the mission is on. I know this is possible to change the picture without mods, I have played many stock workshop missions with custom backgrounds. I've been looking online but haven't been able to find a working solution yet. I'd like to know what file type, size, script, file location etc steop by step how to do it if anyone knows. Thanks!

@vikingbjorn thank you, you have perfectly summed up how we feel about Redux. Now everything has been discussed and rediscussed at this point. It's pretty clear that the current Redux is not going to cut it without some significant changes. My last few things to say on Redux, adding to what @vikingbjorn said, is that removing the Arsenal would be the end of Warlords' popularity. Honestly Warlords lacks the appeal it had when it was originally released. When Warlords first came out, it was as it should be: Everyone could choose how they wanted to fight, and work out a strategy to fight as a team. Then some people realized that some stategies were excessively overpowed and started spamming that one tactic. Mostly spawn camping certain sectors like AAC. Now that everyone knows most spammy tactics, both teams are dominated by a few expert players who massacre everything using unrealistic tactics. Yes I am one of those players. Yesterday I mowed down a platoons worth of armored vehicles by teleporting back and forth near their paradrop locations with a Bergen and Vorona. Because this is how you get ahead in the game, counter spam with spam. Redux will fix this, but at what cost? IMO, changing the base and sector layout and countering spammy tactics is all that is needed to make Warlords unpredictable again. Players already know what to do, the same old thing every single game. Same spawn camp AAC, same Rhino ripplefire spam, and same Neophon mow down AI with HE rockets. Limiting the use of the ammo truck (single use), Rhino (timed reload, several minutes to reload ATGMs), and Airplanes (limit time they can fly or better yet, disable reload) is far better than simply increasing the prices to match the players complaints. Before writing me off, please consider my argument! Example: Navid is a single-use weapon on KOTH instead of increased permanent buy cost for a reason! Endgame vehicles like Rhino and planes NEED to have a counter, they can't be allowed to operate unhindered for the whole match! Let us play on more equal footing, force players to make a new strategy as a team on an alternate map layout. Instead of having to deal with one-sided air spam and constant camping. Nobody wants a beat down they cant fight back against, you see the player numbers go down as soon as this happens. We want it to be like when it first came out: Discovering new tactics and strategies to win, not the same thing over and over again. Redux has a many great additions, but the real problems are not only not adressed, but arguably made worse. If a T-140 comes into a Blufor sector without warning, there is literally almost nothing they can do. No easy access to AT. No one brought AT because they didn't find them or not enough CP? Blufor now lacks Vorona, huge disadvantage when going against tanks! Paradrop launcher crate? Now the tank can easily spot them. Arsenal is what allows players to switch roles and customize their experience. I understand the removal is to counter exploit of it, but most will agree after the security changes, hacking and exploiting has become fairly rare. The arsenal is one the the places Warlords shines! Warlords does not need a massive overhaul. It needs only for the spam tactics to be eliminated. Change the sector and base layout, it does not take a genius to see that Blufor is getting unfairly camped at AAC nearly every single match and that the war on Anthrakia is extremely predictable. Randomized sectors is great, though hiding the enemy's progress might be a bit too far. There are so many cool vehicles and game mechanics that are yet untapped in Warlords. Warlords is awesome and has so much potential, we just need players to have a reason to play it again! Thank you @Jezuro for all your work on this project, I hope that whatever solution you come to it will restore Warlords to its full potential.

@Jezuro , got a few people on the server last night to do a quick trial. I still need to test a few things with vehicles, just to see if I can find any bugs. Here are my thoughts: AI: The AI are more challenging than the stock Warlords. I personally think this is great, it makes capping sectors a little more nuanced than simply mowing down helpless AI. There are 3 problems with this however. 1. There are still WAY too many AIs considering their skill and accuracy increase. I know Warlords is not canon in the Armaverse, but let's be real. AAF currently have more AI than the entire realistic population of Altis. The current amount of AI between Telos, Lakka Factory, Neochori, Kavala, Georgios, and Nidasos should be their ENTIRE manpower. Please consider keeping the skill the same, but reducing the amount of AI significantly. I suggest removing one third to one half of the current AI to make up for the increased skill. Move a fair portion of those AI into buildings, either starting position inside or locked in with DisableAi "PATH" command. These two things combined would not only make sector caps quicker, but also increase the immersion and encourage real tactics besides mowing down everything with a HMG car. 2. The extra sectors combined with the AI skill will make the game take LONGER. This is definitely a bad thing. The longer the game, the more players give up and leave. Team balance parameter and disabled team switch means the player numbers can decline quickly once the game gets to a point where one side has an advantage, because new players will not want to play on the losing side. If new players happen to join on the losing side and are getting seal clubbed, they can't switch teams now, so they will just leave and go play fortnite. Shorter game can be easily attained by reducing the sectors and/or decreasing the amount of AI. 3. Many players (mostly new players) will not like the increased AI difficulty, considering that there are literally thousands of AI. We already have players who don't know what they're doing, logging into Warlords without ever playing the SP campaign or any of the training tutorials. That's not our fault, but having some way for players to learn the basics of Warlords in game would be great. And again, decreasing amount of AI would help this. Balance: Starting players on the Opfor slot list is VERY effective. I had a friend who is new to Arma play, and he went on Opfor despite wanting to play with me on Blufor. He didn't even realize how to switch teams, but of course once I told him he couldn't switch because of the team switch parameter. While it can potentially be very annoying at first, I think this is a good addition. Preventing cheaters from switching teams once they know where everything is is important. Having some of the noobs spread onto Opfor means we probably won't have to deal with situations where Opfor is stacked with veterans while Blufor is 95% new players like we do now. Of course, players who wanted to play on Blufor and find themselves locked to Opfor will inevitably rage quit sometimes lol. Contested sector teleports: Adding a bigger teleport spawn area on contested sector is nice, but I noticed that when you fast travel to contested sector, you always spawn on the same side regardless of what sector you teleported from. I can imagine when redux goes live, it won't take long for campers to discover that everyone spawns in the same side of the sector. Possible solution to prevent camping, increase size of the restricted zones for the rest of the sectors. I see some sectors like Oreokastro have already been increased. Asked some players about their experiences: We have 1.5 or 2km view distance on Redux instead of 4km on default Warlords, they want 4km back. Instant rearm for vehicles, should at least take a little bit time (I suggest at least one or two minutes for realism) Once in a tank, sectors are extremely easy to capture, leading to a very big difference between infantry and vehicle capping since AI are more skilled. Again, AI need to do more than stand there and be mowed down. Meta of mowing down AI with a HMG cal vehicle can be fixed by putting at least a few AI to garrison buildings. No briefings for novices. In may people's opinion we need a concise briefing for new players to at least understand the basics of the game. We are sick of saying "Hold I to fast travel, click Strategy, click Fast Travel" in side chat for the entire game. White name hard to see on map There is an issue (which I haven't confirmed) that the Xi'an AI pilot does not exit on landing, preventing the player from flying the Xi'an. They still don't like the night (I suggested accelerated night but regular time day, they liked it. Another suggestion, start in very early morning with real time to allow more daytime fighting) They don't like the rain (random weather is nice addition, but when it's continuously bad weather it gets annoying. One game I played it was night and raining for a significant amount of time. Maybe add parameter for maximum time length of fog/rain) According to random noob, it's "not very fun". Presumably because it is hard to learn Warlords without help and he keeps dying. Some say Redux is still better, some others say the original Warlords is better.

To be a little more specific, the Redux server is [EU] #11. Currently at 0 players... I guess I gotta get a discord squad together if I don't want to play by myself

I agree. While I still think vests, backpacks, and helmets should stay faction limited, Blufor will really be at a disadvantage if they don't have access to some of the most powerful weapons. The fact that Blufor does not have the Vorona is not the main problem though, the problem is that Opfor has better armored vehicles altogether! Without the Vorona, it will be very difficult to kill things like the T-140K seeing as the lag and dsync issues can really make the Titan useless compared to the Vorona in many scenarios. The Vorona also is the only man-portable weapon that can feasibly destroy tanks while they are dropping by parachute. A very big advantage as I have found out! To say that the game takes place in the year 2035 but give NATO an outdated variant of the Merkava without Active Protection Systems is a bit ridiculous. There are Merkavas with Trophy APS that can defend against ATGMs and AT shells, seems like that would be a reasonable thing to include on the in-game Slammer seeing as the real life Merkava it is based on one has it now in 2019. I have a mod downloaded that adds APS to the stock vehicles, it really adds purpose to the Slammer when it can no longer be one-shotted by Vorona. Fun fact, today's Merkava is fully capable of intercepting and destroying the Kornet missiles the Vorona is based on. Kind of funny to assume the Vorona could be carried by a single soldier as well, since the real life system needs a crew of two and is used on a tripod or vehicle mount, but maybe that's besides the point. Maybe it's time for some balance, I mean, do you think such a heavy AT weapon can be reloaded and ready to fire in literally 5 seconds? Assembly and preparation takes nearly a minute on the real life counterpart lol. It's been awhile since we've seen changes to the stock vehicles... I feel like it would not be unreasonable to expect more capable NATO vehicles and less spammy man-portable AT weapons. Opfor has ATGMs on its APC, and the T-140K has a secondary weapon that is basically as powerful as the Nato APCs main weapon! They have better mobility, even the Ifrit is faster than the Hunter and even has a smoke screen. Don't get me started on the helis and planes... I understand that there will never be a perfect balance between the two factions, but whatever we do, we need to avoid making the balance worse! Maybe even add A-143 to NATO for reduced price. We have so many awesome vehicles and assets in Arma that aren't being used in Warlords, and they have a lot of potential. Perhaps even add NATO and CSAT heavy artillery vehicles, but limit them to 3 shots only, 10 minute reload time, and only medium range radius. Cheap Greyhawk CAS drone limited to 2 missiles, single use? Hey giving Blufor CAS drones but not to Opfor could be a balance to the Opfor superiority even... We need more variability in terms of targets, tactics, and otherwise. It's currently very repetitive. When it gets to the point that Blufor doesn't even bother to spawn tanks or APCs because they know they can be destroyed so easily, you know we have a problem. Hey, maybe we can have access to some of the AAF and FIA assets on the NATO faction to at least add a little balance. In the campaign, NATO's ally FIA uses Gorgon APCs. FIA camo Gorgon on Blufor faction would be a nice addition and balance to CSAT's more powerful BTR. BTR can withstand up to 2 120mm APFSDS shells and it has access to 4 ATGMs which can each kill a tank in one shot. The NATO Marshal is severely lacking in comparison seeing as it cannot kill tanks yet can still be destroyed in a single hit by practically any AT weapon. Is there any way we can add the Gorgon, there is already a NATO camouflage you can unlock for it in-game with a script!

This. I completely agree. That seems reasonable, and with the randomized sectors we likely wont have to worry about airfield camping the way we do now.

Ok, how about this, don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet: Instead of basing the restricted zone off of the individual sectors, perhaps you could make the the limit a set distance radius from the most forward points facing the opposing team, while leaving the rest of the map open. For example, Blufor's limit of operations could be everything on their side of the map, but they are restricted from going farther than like 3 km from their most forward capture points. The limit would only be on the side towards the enemy, giving them a clue which way they should go. Something like this perhaps.

I will give it a try and get back to you. That's a good idea! I was not able to ever repair the Rhino though regardless of who called in the repair truck, so I assume there is some other problem... I will test again today though. Small thing to add, maybe the Rhino should be a bit cheaper if it can't ripple fire anymore? Now that we need to drive significant distances across the map it would be nice to have the Rhino more accessible, especially since Opfor's APCs, AA, and tanks almost all have a significant advantage in driving speed! Honestly I think a good idea would be to simply leave it the way it is in the current Warlords, but make the sector restricted areas larger and re position the sectors so that players cannot camp airfields and bases as easily. One of the most fun aspects of Warlords is being able to go behind enemy lines and recon, we just need a way to do this without players being able to exploit it. Keeping the awesome randomized sectors you've added while keeping the ability to go behind the lines could be workable if we can figure out how to stop spawn camping. One great way to stop camping: make it so they cannot call tanks OR supply boxes more than 2 km away from their front line! Idea: Use the restriction zone system from Redux to control where you can SPAWN units, not where your player can go. Deny the Bergen backpack, deny filling a vehicles inventory with extra AT missiles, and they can only carry up to 4 AT rounds on their person which is much more reasonable. Take away their supply line, and you will not have people sitting on an island sending a stream of missiles into AAC. Shouldn't have to be dealing with stuff like T-100s and Tigris on an inaccessible island near AAC! We want to still be able to do recon and amphibious landings behind enemy lines, but we need to be limited in our resources while in enemy territory. That would stop most camping IMO, and also bring new importance to the awesome transport and sling loading mechanics.

@Jezuro Early assessment from testing Redux (in case anyone didn't see it on the discord): I played a few matches with MaRii, Rollingace, and a few other players today, we tested stuff and coordinated between Opfor and Blufor to test theories. My main takeaways: There are a lot of good ideas in Redux, but there are also a lot of problems. Here is a bit of my early personal opinions on Warlords Redux: The Good: The new function for selecting and deleting vehicles and AI is a lot better than the current system. Different colors for different action menu selections is a nice touch. Random weather is a nice touch. Random bases and sectors is awesome. Not being able to spawn vehicles on player location unless you are in a captured sector. Not knowing where the enemy base is a cool idea. Notification that enemy is capturing one of your sectors is great. Selecting a sector far away takes a longer time to get there for vehicles, requiring vehicles to take more time to get there is a good addition. This is a good counter to the current meta of just spawning a Tigris or Cheetah right next to the enemy AI and just immediately mowing them down. AI is significantly more skilled. 5 minute cooldown on Ammo and Repair truck. I got 50-70 FPS, probably mostly because there were only 4 players, and the view distance was only like 1500m. Glitches: When you reset the sector, the boundaries are reset to what they were before. But if you happen to be outside that newly set boundary after the time of the reset, you don't die from being outside the zone, and you can literally go wherever you want inside the restricted zone! I drove to Opfor base, selected its sector, and then capped it in 30 seconds before they could even have time to react. Bases seemed to have no AI defense. Seeing as the enemy can sneak up on your base without you knowing until the last second, it would seem they need at least some form of AI defense. I could not for the life of me get the repair truck to work on the Rhino. It worked fine on the Slammer. Getting the reload and repair mechanics to work was very spotty even when following the on screen instructions to the letter. Balance: The first game we played, our first sector was AAC guarded by 3 tanks and APCs. We had no access to AT, so as you can imagine, capping that sector was kind of impossible without cheating. Trying to sneak past MBTs to steal an AI's Titan and shoot him without him noticing is really hard. If your game starts near Telos, and the noobs all vote for Telos, the game is effectively over at that point. No access to Arsenal OR Anti-Tank weapons, there is no way they will cap it in a reasonable amount of time. True you might grab one or two Titans from the AI, but if a noob misses his shots or wastes them, what else do you have to kill those tanks?? The sectors directly surrounding your base should not have any kind of AI tanks or vehicles. Regardless of where you teleport from, you always spawn on the same side of the contested sector. (At least every time I tried it.) While it is not always on the exact same spot, always spawning on the same side of the sector means spawn campers are going to do the exact same thing they're doing now. The Bad: AI is significantly more skilled, a good thing IMO, but it is to the point that some players will have a really hard time killing and give up if they can't have easy access to the Arsenal. Making the game more difficult while also removing the Arsenal may be a bit too much for most players. Aircraft and helis are effectively almost useless due to the restricted zone. A heli or plane will often have to do a 180 directly over the contested sector to avoid being autokilled by the restricted zone, meaning CAS support is basically impossible. While restricting the zone to a limited area is a good idea in theory, cooping up all the players into a tiny area definitely goes over the top and ruins some of the best things about Warlords IMO. The AR-2 Darter. Unless we are planning on just banning it altogether, in Redux it would be extremely overpowered because it can go anywhere on the map, whereas any player or tank or aircraft is bound to a tiny area of operations. Not only that, he can use thermals to find the Opfor base really early in the match. The Rhino. In the current Warlords Redux, the Rhino will be FAR FAR more powerful than it is now. Why? Because in Redux it is effectively the ONLY usable beyond line of sight weapon with the absence of CAS. Not only can it fire outside of his team's border area, but it is basically immune to attack if he is under cover outside the enemy's area of operations! The same goes for any vehicle firing from the safety of his own team's area. The restricted area is just too much IMO. The More Bad: For those who have not tried Redux yet, wide swaths of the map are restricted zones for the majority of the match. For parts of the match, there is only a tiny area of land you can access without being killed in a restricted zone. At any given time, the restricted zone could be different for Blufor than it is for Opfor. Think about it. Blufor will have areas they can use their vehicles that Opfor can't access, (like current unselected sectors) except that in redux the enemy's area of operations is an impossible to guess shape, covering wide swaths of the ENIRE MAP. There are a lot of potential exploits that could start manifesting as a result of this. Especially due to the fact that one team doesnt know where the enemy's restricted zone is or what shape it is. Imagine a dogfight between 2 planes, they each have different giant MAZE of areas and dead ends they can and cant access, how on earth can these planes even fly a straight line without hitting a restricted zone barrier? What about a sniper, he could be near a contested sector for the opposing teams and be sniping their contested sector spawn, but if he is inside the restricted area for the opposing team, they can't come to him to kill him! If he hides behind a building he is basically INVINCIBLE, not even a plane can fly behind the building to kill him because of the giant restricted area. Recommendations: 5 minute cooldown on Ammo and Repair truck is in theory a great idea. It is annoying that only the player who used it can see the remaining cooldown time. We should need to unlock a repair or ammo truck before it can be used. MaRii used my Repair truck before I could, and now I couldn't use it for 5 minutes even though I bought it lol. The AI skill is way up but there still seems to be way more AI then necessary. As discussed on the forums, some of us think a better option would be to DECREASE the amount of AI, while also increasing their skill. Put some of them inside the buildings so players don't just use one HMG truck to mow down everything in 2 minutes. Limiting the players to a such a small area within the restricted border is too much. Such drastic measures are probably not necessary to fix the imbalance and camping. IMO, all that needs to be done is add the things listed under "Good" parts of Redux to the current Warlords, and we would have a much better game. Add to that giving Opfor and Blufor equal access to airfields, (Blufor needs something besides the easily camped AAC) give Blackwasp at least somewhat equal armament to Shikra (8x ASRAAM), limit gear to faction, etc. Again, randomization of bases and sectors alone is enough to fix a lot of the repetitive tactics we're seeing on the official servers now. Besides the bad things, I think Redux has a lot of potential and I was happy to see some of the improvements in it! This is only my opinion, I'm open to hear what others have to say about it.

I like this idea. It would be great to have the match start at early morning in the dark, to let us play though the morning and get to the PVP before nightfall.

Thanks mate, I appreciate the input!

Hi, I was recently donated a dedicated server. Lately me and many other players have been getting extremely tired of the repetitive spamming and griefing that goes in the official servers. Now that I have access to my own server, I'd like to see if I can set up an unofficial server running similar missions to the official ones. The idea being that I will set up my own trusted admins to attempt to keep the missions at least playable. Make changes to the default Warlords, like re-balancing sectors and addressing the camping tactics etc. However, I have very little experience with setting up servers, besides making a few temporary servers on my PC. My question is, is it feasible for me to make a workable dedicated server setup using a residential router and internet setup? Can a server host 40-60 players using the average household network hardware, or do I need the "latest and greatest" network and server equipment to expect to host large missions like on the official servers? Do I need to be concerned with setting up advanced security firewalls and such, or does Battleye handle everything? Would I need to take measures to protect my home network, etc? I am currently testing the server on LAN. Any tips on setting up a server, besides what is already on the forum? Any help appreciated, thanks

That and the fact that most players apparently don't seem too interested in playing on the new map. Shame, because it's a great map. I was looking forward to playing it with other players, but looks like most have given up on it. People will generally join the server where they see the most players I guess.