itsabughunt

Yeah it sounds like on of those robot voice menus that all of the big companies have manning their phones these days: TARGET that T-72 at TWO SIX. fire TARGET that bmp TWO at TWO FOUR. fire

So I have played a few FPS games before (mostly Tom Clancy type) but I have never played one in a multiplayer mode before. In fact the only game of any kind that I've ever tried multiplayer is on a Neverwinter Nights. I play on a NWN persistant world called Avlis. With that game there are servers running basically all the time so players can talk to each other, buy or sell things with AI merchants, fight monsters or whatever. I very much enjoy that my character can evolve over time and acumulate equipment and wealth. But I've always lamented at how I dont know of a similar concept but with modern combat instead of fantasy. So now I've stumbled onto this new Armed Assault game and I'm really impressed with what I've seen so far. OFP sounds cool too but AA is really the one that has my jaw dropping. Yet it leaves me wondering how it works. I'm still trying to wrap my head around what this game is going to be like. Do characters just run through "modules" along with the other players or is it like a world that is always running? What I mean is it like you start with the same gear every single time and your character is exactly as skilled as he was last month? Or do you have characters who can collect weapons, clothes, money, vehicles or even homes and does he become more "skilled" at tasks like firing weapons or driving vehicles? I understand that "clans" exist so you can play with (and against?) teams of other players but other than that I don't know anything in particualr about how that works. OK, I hope all of this makes sense. Like I said I'm pretty new to the world of multiplayer games. Maybe some of you can suggest a different modern combat game that does what I'm looking for in regards to "persistance". I am sure I would like to learn how AA works and play this anyway someday even if it is more like modules and everyone has the same choices of equipment. PS: I hope I posted this in the correct forum, please move it if I screwed up. Thanks

OK I dont agree with some things said here. As to whether any of these vests being able to stop rifle rounds it is a fact that a hit on the front or back ceramic plate can most certainly be defeated. And most pistol rounds or shrapnel are no problem even without the plates. Heck, police officers have been wearing body armor that can stop many pistol rounds for well over a decade and it even fits under their uniform shirt. I dont understand why some people think its so hard to stop handgun rounds. Now there seems to be a perception that being hit (and defeating) a bullet will send you flying through the air or will scramble your brains. A couple problems with these view - First a bullet CANNOT have more energy than was imparted to it from the weapon. So it cannot have wildly more energy than was felt as recoil by the person firing it. Now gas operated weapon systems will tap off a little bit of energy and damp it due to the spring in the weapon. But the person getting hit simply WILL NOT feel some vastly greater impact energy than the attacker felt as recoil. This is basic physics and its indisputable. Now it is possible that a person who is hit on the ceramic plate by a rifle round might be knocked over but they will not be sent flying through the air. This is one reason why so many popular movies are total garbage. Watch the video here: http://www.pointblankarmor.com/news.asp# The soldier does not go flying against the Hummer. It does knock him down but if you pause it right before the bullet hits you will see that his stance was not at all braced for an impact so of course it dropped him. Standing like that he could have been dropped just as easily if someone had sucker punched him in the same place. Now there is the view that having very protective helmets cannot work because the impact will cause brain damage. Hmm, well I can only say that a rifle round penetrating your skull will almost certainly kill you. I'd be much happier with the chance of having the concussion than having my brains sprayed all over my teammates. A similar argument people use to dismiss the modern chest armor is that if a rifle round doesnt impact the ceramic plate than it probably won't be stopped. Well so what? I'd very much prefer to at least slow it down and possibly have it stop halfway through my chest than blow through completely unimpeded. Some people take an "all or nothing" view on body armor and I really don't get it. A couple posters have pointed out that body armor has a great many innovations ont he way and this is so true. http://www.ccm.udel.edu/STF/index.html

Thanks for the information everyone. Persistant or not, ArmA looks really great. I hope there will be some sort of "starter clan" or something because I have literally no experience playing any FPS as multiplayer. I'm comfortable with the usual key controls and the flow of the game as it pertains to single player but I'll have a lot to learn about multiplayer jargon and etiquette.