ISparkle

Tbh, I am sure some people who are in milsim community within ArmA already are also excited about alien stuffs. Most likely, they will use aliens in their fun ops. I am excited to see what they will bring forth with aliens (should BI choose aliens to be actual faction that can go up against every factions in game instead of some 'Empty' prop).

Yeah, it is why I don't think it makes sense to put Spetsnaz on the same level as some CSAT non-specialist units really. Tbh, I wished more for Viper level protection for them as Vipers are tougher and resilient to fight against and they wear something that looks similar to what Russians are developing irl. I love the looks of current uniforms. Just being greedy here really. But, now, I can complete the alien nerd farmer loadout with tinfoil hat I suppose. Lol

I really hope that Spetsnaz get more than just a chest rig. Because, as is, they just get one shotted basically. It would be fine if AI knew how to spec ops pretty well but as is, they will just be gunned down waaaay easier than CSAT soldiers because of their lack of protection. Maybe just remix of existing gears perhaps? One shotted spec ops is not really a threat as enemy AI just like how CTRG isn't much of a threat due to their low armor.

It depends on the mission but you'd for sure want body armor if you expect gunfights or any sorts of hazard. Same goes for helmet. It is like US Army and Marines on long patrol in the hostile territory. They are not sure they will have hostile contact 100% but they do still have body armor. Spec ops are still soldiers and humans. They wear body armor if their mission is combat and involves entering hostile territory with possible armed contacts (in this case, Spetsnaz entering Livonia in the midst of NATO-LDF training exercise iirc which you can expect to not be too overly friendly with Russians), I'd expect Spetsnaz to have body armor protection as they are no fools. Probably lighter in that they will sacrifice some degree of protection for their speed (like sides of body having no armor).

It will be disappointing to see Spetsnaz without any sort of body armor. Pretty sure spec ops soldiers are not some superhumans that can withstand bullets with their muscles. It was disappointing to see CTRG rolling with minimal body armor and it will be disappointing to see Spetsnaz without body armor. Because it seems like their uniform isn't exactly going to be armored unlike CSAT uniform.

That sounds like you need to bring that up to Exile server admins, not CUP mod team.

Pretty sure it isn't unheard of for soldiers/marines with specialized roles to carry two weapons such as smg/shotgun being carried with rifles (including sniper rifle).

I think this might be true because I sometimes run 3 way fights and as soon as player enters, both AI factions of different color seem to love targeting the player first.

It says Russia will vote on membership. Unless that newspaper is quite dated from the date Contact campaign takes place, it still wouldn't be a CSAT since they had set the major vote date on the membership on some date of 2039. But one thing probably for sure is that they will be competing with NATO for alien goodies.

I have never had issues with suppressed weapons. I've used vanila weapons with and without suppressors for a while and vanilla game weapons do not have subsonic rounds. Suppressors do make a huge differences that I can observe. Same goes for most mod weapons. I know for sure RHS and SMA weapons with suppressors work very well to the point I feel it is very unfair to the AIs (lol). I think one of the weapons mods you might be running could be the culprit of that tbh. If I remember, Russia only sells vehicles and weapons to CSAT. They are not part of CSAT in the lore afaik. Makes sense for them to not use CSAT uniform.

They will know when a member of their group is killed. They share the knowledge instantly of whereabouts of enemy if they know where the enemy is. I haven't had them snap to my position and headshot me in return in a while if I am well concealed. Or even behind the bushes. Also, 100m or 200m... it all depends on whether you are suppressed or not and your distance to them. ArmA 3 AI as is, they rely on visual and audio clues. At least that is my impression. Yep. They don't know the pos immediately. I can confirm this.

But it is true if you use mods like ACE and RHS because those give scripted reaction. And doesn't APEX cutscene after first mission have flash? So if it was implemented in vanilla. I am sure AIs will be stunned .

Haven't had all knowing, almost always headshotting AI like those in alpha for a while. AI definitely isn't all knowing and not hitting you 100% of the time even at 100% skill everything unlike in the past. AIs are super easy to sneak up now more than ever. Pathfinding is better than what it used to be but still very much lacking as AI still like to run into things or stop all together. So, pathfinding I think needs to be looked at first.

Ah great! I am glad there will be user action for it.

Can there be a functional person size decon shower? Because vehicle one seems to turn on and actually spray water now (even though I am not sure how to turn it off). Also, what sort of assets will be purely cosmetic without actual functionality outside of campaign? If almost all of them are going to be purely cosmetic, I'd love to see placeable modules in Eden and Zeus for them to enhance custom scenarios further.

Pretty much this. They had plans for more next-gen ish future tech planned before people lashed out at the idea of it being set in 2035. So BIS actually dialed back iirc from alpha days. On a tangent... sucks that my copy wasn't recognized as a supporter's edition btw. =(

Oh, sorry, I meant to say 'all those streamers'. Shows that I need to proof read more. You sure about your claim of those streamers are only popular because they only do modern stuffs? Pretty sure their channels' contents say the otherwise. They will use vanila CSAT as enemies if CSAT is appropriate to go up against. And they've been using stuffs mix and matched for the longest time depending on the looks they are going for in a mission or campaign. Or they will use vanila faction stuffs when they cycle through to keep the interest of their communities alive. And people still watch them. And I know for sure those streamers used CSAT as their enemies before as I can just search them up on Youtube with their name and CSAT in it. Also, popularity of these streamers/videos in the communities are way more than just, 'he runs around with m4a1 sopmod'. For example, I enjoy watching jester814's contents because 1. How he and his unit operates regardless of assets they are using. 2. He can be very funny. 3. He plays the same game as me and I find the game fun and he does too. 4. They do stuffs as big units which I may or may never do in the future. I don't watch jester814 because I am looking for current gear loadout stuffs. Because I can look up Youtube and find bunch of real life combat footages for that if I want. So yeah, I'd say them getting popular because they do current stuff is a generalization. And I haven't really seen much alien stuffs compared to bazillions of m4a1 or modern weaponry or modern day militia/spec ops/military groups. For one scifi mod, you get tons of different retexture/models of modern day weaponry/gears and vehicles if you look into workshop. You see railgun stuffs flooding workshop? I don't. You see many new 2035 stuffs? I don't. They are very far and between. I see a lot more modern day stuffs in the workshop for sure though. So, the new addition to near future and scifi contents in form of spin-off DLC is welcome. Also I agree with chrisb. ArmA is only realistic because of some of its players choose to play it that way. Engine is built to be a sandbox. So... it can be played in completely non-realistic way like AIs do. Damned AIs always running over things and drunk driving into electric pole or so.

Pretty sure popular ArmA streamers use vanila assets one way or the other. And you cannot generalize all streamers as going after the same thing as everyone. Some are into milsim, some are in between and runs vanila ops to mixture of using current and 2035 stuffs in between current day stuffs. Some strictly run scifi based ops from their favorite franchise such as Halo, Star Wars, WH40k. I don't know where you got that impression of no one using vanila 2035 assets? Don't tell me you don't consider milsim groups using 2035 'helix' truck as not using 2035 assets. Or using USS Freedom or VLS. Besides, current day stuffs are flooding in Workshop currently. No need for current day stuffs as you get to see it flooding workshop and outside of the game while next gen stuffs are rare to see.

I am new to the forums, but I have to say, I am really unsure why people are displaying almost 'allergic' reaction to this DLC. How is it more overdone than say... 'Russians bad! America good! Sidekick Europe neutral!' trope video games (especially shooter games) have been doing for years and years? Ever since the beginning of any shooter games, we've been shooting other humans who are service members of other countries. Can anyone explain to me why repeating this for the entirety of this franchise is a-ok but something new like next-gen weapons, vehicles and gears are a no-no (refer back to ArmA 3's initial release when people realized Americans didn't hold M16/M4/M249 SAW in their hands which are looking to be replaced by 6.8mm rifle platform irl)? And why are completely non-human possible foes are a no-no when we haven't really seen them in action in ArmA? It's not like the game lost its moddability and milsim aspect because of those. People still play with their M4/M16s in their ops, right? They still can do milsim things with MX weapons or Katiba depends on which faction you play. Also, I am pretty sure when games/companies rely on fictional names with altered designs, it means there are licensing issues to deal with which is eliminated when they use fictional names/altered designs. I think game companies have been doing so for decades tbh. If they don't and they didn't pay the licensing fee, they'd get sued, i.e. humvee maker suing Activision, EA getting sued over Bell aircrafts. So, I don't really understand why ArmA has to be restricted to this little box of 'real world stuffs only' when the game is a sandbox milsim. Now that's out of the way... my only concern in this DLC is that alien faction will not be fleshed out and all we get is some static needed to be scripted to move aliens.I hope this is not the case. I want to see those car sized aliens move around on their own and be on all 3 sides so that they can be used against all 3 sides. Also, I do also hope for working decontamination showers without jumps and loops of scripting because not every single one of us are coders/scripters just to use it in our Zeus co-ops.