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Flogger23m

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Posts posted by Flogger23m

  1. Posted · Edited by Flogger23m

    Don't be a drama queen; ArmA's helicopters are miles more realistic than BF4. I shouldn't need to point out that there are intermediate steps between simulation and arcade.

    And SWAT's AI actually does nothing. It entirely lacks the ability to make decisions on its own. It essentially has one routine, and that is stacking up and walking through doors, with an option to throw various round objects in the meantime. And once inside, yes, it can walk over a handful of pre-set movement nodes (as if ArmA's AI can't be scripted to do that?), and usually taking bullets to the face in the meantime. It's not like they actually use cover or tactics beyond that. That kind of AI is completely meaningless outside of the tiny indoor environment it was carefully tuned for.

    So I'll say that about your comparisons. Other than that, it's difficult to engage with your vague blah-blah-blah-ing.

    At least it was tuned for something. It works exceptionally well in the environments present in game. The same can not be said of ArmA 3. AI can not function in doors in ArmA 3 (which the campaign, and combat occasionally takes place in) and does not do much of anything outdoors. Yes, the AI in SWAT does not run off on its own; they take commands. Which are more flexible than anything ArmA 3 can offer. Try synchronizing an attack from multiple angles in ArmA with the AI. There are no hold commands, no way for them to throw a grenade, and they will move into open areas and not clear the space they are attacking. I've tried many times in ArmA 2 and 3 to get the AI to do anything other than return fire at each other. They simply can not do more and the command menu is damn near worthless making it even more pointless.

    Which is why the campaign/missions in ArmA are so basic and eschew any real commanding or infantry tactics. Move here, pick up a truck. The missions essentially move you in linear pathways and don't allow for any tactics thanks to you being a one man army, regardless if you have worthless team members or not. The AI simply is not flexible enough to allow for any real scenarios, so instead BI focuses on silly "sandbox" missions.

    Vehicle wise the helicopters in ArmA are indeed only a hair away from Battlefield realism. Aside from limited fuel and ammo there is not much separating the two realism wise. Same with the armor. Point and click shooting, absurd driving mechanics. Although BF3/4's tanks do have more realistic driving mechanics as they have weight to them and can knock down and crush more things than their ArmA counter parts.

  2. Posted

    How long does it take you to tell them to board a chopper, fly 20km to a town, find a landing point, disembark and then move into the town?

    Logic disconnect. "But ArmA does this, and that!" Well, it does an atrocious job at doing all of that. Additionally, that is not the argument. The argument is quality and ability to do relevant and useful things. Stacking, breaching, banging and clearing. While moving to every area of the room automatically. SWAT's AI works well for doing what it is intended. It can be better but it is a 9 year old game. No, they can not jump into a space shuttle and fly into space but that is not what a SWAT officer does.

    An infantryman does not fly a helicopter. Which, by the way, is horrible in ArmA. If you are looking for proper helicopter dynamics, mission scope and relevance ArmA 3 is as realistic as Battlefield 4. Get a flight simulator because ArmA 3 is absolutely terrible with helicopter flight and logistics.

  3. Posted · Edited by Flogger23m

    The problem with BIS is they do not care to make a simulator or even a tactical shooter. The game has little tactics. "Move here, shoot him" is not tactical, which is all the campaign and user missions allow for. The game is very short on realistic mechanics, from firearm handling to actual tactics. The devs focus on absolute garbage like RTS inspired modes. ArmA 3 is not a simulator, and never will be unless a new development team steps up.

    The issue is the fans keep buying the so called "battlefield simulator" which simulates nothing . Like battered wives the ArmA fans keep coming back for another raping telling themselves ArmA is the Falcon 4 of everything. And BIS makes money off of it.

    ArmA 3 is as much of a simulator as the Goat Simulator. That is how realistic it is. The difference is one development studio is making their game as a joke and one isn't.

    Well, A3 still has most versatile and impressive AI in games industry to date. Can't deny that.

    In SWAT 4 I can order my guys to stack up in under a second. I takes me 60 seconds to manually to this in ArmA 3, and even then, they might wonder off course into enemy fire. And they can not clear, throw grenades or do anything else aside from chance stance and stop shooting. I'm calling BS.

    What i don't understand is why BI never actually took A3 seriously or its features. We have a setting based in the future but the vehicles and weapons are still pretty basic, like what actual advanced weapons do you see ingame? the vehicles for example,

    -No Advanced Countermeasures or Defence Systems

    -No Fire Control System

    -Tanks from 1990 era are far more advanced than the vehicles in A3, and ArmA 3 is set 45 years later if based on 90 design vehicles for ex

    -Air Vehicles are not very advanced either for their time and are somewhat lacking in advanced weapons and again systems

    -Infantry weapons are again basic and are the still the same as weapons based on todays weapons which is somewhat interesting because the game is set 21 years from now...

    Like how hard would it have been for BI to implement a simple Bipod system for machine guns and sniper rifles, too much work for them i quess.

    And then comes the control & command system.

    - Nothing still the same as before which is clunky and very difficult to use. For example theres no improved GUI for doing simple tasks like getting into a vehicle or opening a door, planting a explosives etc. Commanding troops is fine but the menu system for other actions (player actions) is very annoying and outdated, this again was brought up by the community in past topics before A3 even in A2 yet BI ignores these requests.

    Im just gonna say it and call BI lazy and incompetent, i could sit here all fucking night and go on but im tired and doing other things now, ive turned my back on BI because i honestly see no other reason for the lack of features or the things i have mentioned to be implemented in the first place, to me the genre is dead and they killed it with their own lack of support and negligence.

    Because to me this is just another expansion pack but masquerading as new game, and if this is best BI can do these days then i am not impressed and not interested in their games.

    And this. ArmA is no simulator. Red Orchestra, Rainbow 6 and SWAT were better simulators. Anything aside from the infantry aspect of the ArmA series is essentially CoD/BF level.

  5. Posted

    Like the UE4 screens. Picture of some of optics:

    We thought it would be a good idea to pop our heads up for a second and let everyone know that things are moving along well. Paperwork is close to being done and other legal issues are being wrapped up. We are also getting in some much needed feature work as well. We will keep you posted on our timeline once it becomes a bit more clear.

    Since I'm here, I might as well show off the optic choices you will have when you first start playing Ground Branch. More will be added of course, but these should cover most of your needs when getting started. And yes, we know the reticules on the holo and reflex sights are not accurate. They are the way they are for testing at the moment. :)

    http://www.groundbranch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Optics.jpg

  8. Posted

    Looks like Ground Branch will be going straight to Early Access in a month or so rather than starting a second Kickstarter campaign. Personally I think this is a better idea as they spend more time on development and no money gets lost to Kickstarter fees. Read more here:

    http://www.blackfootstudios.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6998

    It will also likely be the first Unreal Engine 4 game available, even if in buggy alpha form. Some early WIP UE4 screen shots:

    http://www.groundbranch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/CharacterSets1.jpg

    http://www.groundbranch.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/WIP_KH_Outside_01.jpg

    * I started a new topic because the old one was roughly 7 years old with lots of out dated information (game engine, some other features).

  9. Posted

    So, I finished the game and this is my little review:

    Jesus Christ WTF have they done to Rainbow Six?

    The game is a decent (decent, not good) shooter with a few tactical elemnts in it. Those tactical elements are: Telling your two guys to go to a cover position. Choosing out of three different ways to burst into a room (Stealthy is not one of them).

    The Leveldesign is ok.

    The Gameplay mainly consists of clearing rooms. That isn´t a bad thing, BUT:

    It doesn´t seem to be of any importance if you use silenced weapons to do so. Many times as soon as you begin fighting into a room scripted reinforcements will show up and ruin your stealthy ambitions. Later in the game I completely gave up on silenced weapons and went with a nice Shotgun+Assualt rifle combination. Enemy´s in the next room won´t be alarmed by minutes of gunfire and grenade explosions leaving them quite vulnerable to your assault. Enemy AI is borderline stupid, they walk into lines of fire even if already a dozen of their comrades have been shot there. The game soon becomes a repetitive assault the next room and kill every living thing in it series. Gameplay mechanics such as a coversystem and blindfire further show that this game is as far away from the original series as it can be. Your bullets always come out from the center of the screen, even if you are in third person (WTF?!).

    The Story is uninspired and fast forgotten, just like the characters.

    There are AXE Advertisements everywhere (Seriously WTF!?)

    And to top it all it ends with a "To be continued" Message.

    It took me less than a day to complete this game.

    Conclusion: Man am I glad that I didn´t pay for this.

    I think I might have to reinstall Raven shield to clean my soul from this game.

    BTW: Does anybody know some good Mods for Raven Shield?

    Its been out for 7 years and you just figured out that the Rainbow 6 series is dead? Last good game was Raven Shield.

    Look into Ground Branch, which is on UE4 and going to have a Kickstarter in January. More along the lines of Ghost Recon, but it is the closest you will get to an R6/GR sequel.

  10. Posted

    I am trying to make a mission in ArmA 3 and access some pre-made loadouts that I keep on a text document. Specifically, the weapons are from mods. However, I can not find a way to minimize ArmA 3. In ArmA 2 the windows key allowed me to instantly minimize seamlessly, so if I had to look up and copy/paste a loadout I could with ease.

    With ArmA 3 I seem to be able to minimize once. After that, I must quit the game and restart it to be able to minimize. I tried control alt delete (try to go to task manager to manually minimize the game) though it instantly brings ArmA 3 back into full screen. Control shift escape does absolutely nothing.

    I thought the copy/paste format of ArmA 2 was inefficient and unnecessarily slow, but manually typing out every loadout for every single mission makes things even more slower. To the point where it will take 20 or so minutes just to loadout my squad.

    If anyone knows of a work around to make ArmA 3 minimize seamlessly like ArmA 2 did I would appreciate it.

  11. Posted

    Wow just watched a couple of there DEV Vids and I gotta say their customization is just awesome and so far the game is looking great! Can't wait to see where this will go.

    Well, with luck, they get $25,000 on the Kickstarter they will launch in the next few weeks. Then we will have to wait a few months for it to go up on Early Access. Then we will be able to see basic builds of the game for ourselves. Personally I am kicking in $15, maybe more if I can afford it. The loadout has a great interface much like many flight sims. While the 3D aspect is not needed, this type of loadout editor should have been included in ArmA 3's editor IMO. This is just one feature that Ground Branch is developing that truly pushes the genre forward.

  12. Posted

    Mod support will be added. With the bugs, I guess we might have to wait a week or so longer. They should have released this as an Early Access title if they ran out of funds. Kickstarters would still get the final game... just later. And I think most of us would have preferred to wait another 6+ months to get a better game.

  13. Posted

    We already have a realistic or realism based infantry game which is RO2, and moving away from what made PR great to begin with, that being a wide-scale diversity in equipment, just might not be a good thing. That said, it doesn't matter to me but it might alienate some or a good portion of the PR community.

    Have they given a timeline as to it's current development process?

    RO2 deviated too much from RO1 and introduced some odd mechanics. I think an infantry only Project Reality 2 will be great. There is also the level of detail difference between infantry and vehicles. Vehicles require an absurd amount of work to get even close to realistic levels. The worst thing for a game is to have simulator like infantry fighting arcade like vehicles.

    I wish them luck, and while I disliked Project Reality for BF2, I will look into this. I am also following Festung Europa, which will hopefully be what RO2 should have been.

  14. Posted

    Not sure if this was posted on the previous pages, but Ground Branch is going to start a smaller Kickstarter campaign to get the game built up enough to put on Steam (and non-Steam) Early Access. They are looking for $25,000 only and are mainly targetting previous Kickstarters and followers.

    Politely spread the word as much as possible. If they can make $100,000 like they did last time, perhaps it can speed up the process.

  15. Posted

    @Flogger23m: Glad to hear you at least getting some enjoyment out this. Arma3's AI main problem is that they are built for WWII type medium range combat (exempting trench smartness) with really no exclusive sub routines for fighting indoors -they fight the same either indoor or out. And at least outside, they are getting much better at map object cover ie abandoned cars, walls, trees etc.. but don't have any of that for indoors. So I was curious, from the video I've seen of Sabre, do you ever encounter 'squads' of enemies or are they all running solo? Do they run both indoors and out and do behaviors change at all if they do - I'm guessing no on the last one..

    I really want to support these types of Devs that are fighting to bring back the hardcore Tac shooter but again, focus on the AI first and foremost. It really doesn't matter the quality of models, the amount of models, the lighting or anything if your squaring up with buddies to fight a bunch of idiots. Makes the gamer feel like an idiot for preplanning and roleplaying cop :p

    Exactly my point. It just isn't good in doors. Out doors, for out door combat, the AI is leaps and bounds better than Takedown's in their respective environments. And I agree with the AI. Takedown's AI is bad. AI can be a bit better than Raven Shield when it comes to flanking, but is otherwise rather dumb. I feel like we were lied to as the AI was supposed to be a "strong development" point. The AI is certainly a step above bot AI, but is not much more than that. It is stuck in roughly 2003, which is rather bad. For a modern tactical shooter you would think it would be better. The UI is like a terrible console port as well. So much for the console versions not making sacrifices to the PC version...

    Here are my general thoughts on Takedown:

    Was thinking of doing a really long write up of the game, but I sort of posted my thoughts on various aspects in various threads, so I can keep it simple here:

    The core game seems good, but it is in alpha stage if the goal is to be like an R6/SWAT successor. The maps are good, though some maps have most the doors open which is very odd. Aside from that, they are very much like R6/SWAT maps. Bullet penetration and body armor works great. If someone is wearing body armor and you have a 9mm, be prepared to dump a bunch of rounds in them where as a rifle takes them out in 1-2 shots.

    AI is Raven Shield like, though at times more oblivious. As in, dumping rounds above their head with no reaction. Other times it is aimbot hacker like. The variance and how it can change on a whim can be frustrating. AI does flank, which is good. They can not lean out, use grenades, and do not work as a team. They tend to stand around or walk basic paths much like older R6 games. No shooting while another advances. Occasionally, the seem to zip around at abnormally fast paces. Pretty basic, much like older R6 games. A bit disappointing for late 2013, IMO.

    Animations are bad. Leaning is almost useless, can't move while doing it and you only lean out a tiny bit. Menu UI is horrid; essentially console like with no indication when you click something. Graphic options are resolution, Vsync, brightness and low/med/high. Terrible. Loadout editing is done in the main menu, and you customize 4 sets. In each mission you choose which set. Want to change before the mission? Exit to the menu. Forget what number 2 has? Exit to the menu.

    Friendly AI follows you. That is all they do. They call out tangos and often are effective at engaging them, though they can get stuck. Can not choose their loadout/armor. Overall, that is a slap in the face for SP players like myself.

    Grenade throwing is odd. Flashbang effect does not last long enough IMO.

    Mission briefings play a small video, sometimes with images and map sections. You get about 5 sentences read to you and that is it. Choose your insertion point, loadout, and enter. Mission complete puts you in the menu with a "Mission Complete" text and nothing else. You can then restart or exit to the main menu. No after action report or anything.

    5 real missions/maps, and a killhouse modular map.

    2D ArmA 2 style scopes suck.

    Lack of polish and detail; doing something like hacking a terminal or grabbing a suit case have no sounds. Objective indicators are also odd. Plain text that appears in the center of the screen which is annoying. Timer in the upper center should be moved to the upper left or something.

    Like in R6, enemies rarely surrender. If they run out of ammo they do, but you can't restrain them. So you execute them.

    Door breaching is unimpressive. As mentioned, many doors are open on maps anyways...

    To sum it up, the game needed more development time. And the UI and loadout interface needs to be redone from scratch. AI needs some considerable work to be done. SP needs more AI commands. There is a lot of potential here, and the overall feel is like Raven Shield. I get that feeling when playing and am actually enjoying myself in the SP. I just wish the AI was smarter and I could use my friendly AI more so it would be less about twitch and more about... tactics.

    If you are a co-op player, luckily the friendly AI and loadout issues are not a problem and I think the overall experience will be better.

    They had the right idea, but ran out of time and money. Cutting some stuff is understandable, but too much just did not make it. I personally hope they can make the title Early Access on Steam, get some more funds from 505 Games (Payday 2 sold very well) and develop the game for another 6+ months. If that can happen, I am sure the game would be rather good.

    In summary, I am hugely disappointed.

  16. Posted

    Superior to A3? TD's AI is a joke. They don't seek cover, they don't move about the terrain in a realistic manner (they waddle about actually), and they sure as hell don't utilize the terrain to their advantage.

    AI utilizes the terrain and cover to it's advantage, peeks and leans, and engages the enemy.

    Looked the same as Takedown, aside from the fact they can crouch. However, the ArmA 3 AI has extreme difficultly moving around in doors. They essentially stay in one room, unable to move elsewhere. They go prone at any given chance, but that is about it. Good luck getting them to run into a building, return fire, and exit it. Likewise, friendly AI can hardly follow you through two rooms without getting stuck or lost in or outside the building.

    Takedown's AI does flank you, occasionally successfully, though often times they run and snap into cover and seem to just stay there. Clearly, the AI needs a lot of work in Takedown.

    I've actually been having some fun in the SP. The maps are nice and have a Raven Shield feel, but the AI is dumb like Raven Shield. Dumber in some cases. The lack of commands to give to AI team members and the ArmA style loadout process (editing in a text document) to change their loadouts is a complete pain.

    Overall the game lacks a lot of polish and does feel like an alpha. If they could have kept up the work for a couple of months and got someone to do some work purely on the AI, the game might have been rather good.

  17. Posted

    Not as good as OFP? Never played that, but the AI in Takedown is far superior to ArmA 3 indoors. At least they can navigate most of the time, which is impossible in ArmA 2/3.

    That being said this game is essentially Letdown: Red Sabre. It is essentially the alpha build. Bugs aside, the game lacks polish, content, and is feature barren. Most of the things that make R6 or SWAT tactical are not implemented, or are but are not practical at all. The game needed many more months before being pushed out. It became apparent that the game would be rather basic a while back, but I never thought this much would be cut. I will post a more detailed post later if I get around to it.

  21. Posted

    The AI is indeed a let down. The SP is not the focus of this game sadly, and instead the co-op is the focus. I intended on playing SP 95% or more of the time... I guess I will try co-op, but I much prefer AI to human players. I was really hoping for SWAT 4 or better friendly AI. If they sell enough copies there may be an addon or sequel that fleshes out the SP more. But for the time being, this is essentially a co-op title.

    So if you liked playing co-op in R6/SWAT, then this should deliver.

  22. Posted

    Terrible analogy. As you've said, you already bought the game. Guess what? When the game gets polished... you'll be all set then wont you?

    How about I pay them my money when their product is finished? Crazy concept, I know. It is absurd to pay early for a product and then get something incomplete at launch. The video game industry have been getting away with it more and more as of late. Try that in another industry and see how it works out. And the sad thing is, half the fan boys here actually support the release of an incomplete game. And I am not talking about content, BTW.

    What a bunch of whining little children. I'm ecstatic about the release. THANKS BI! Game has come a long way since Alpha! I know there will be patches to enhance performance as well a our phased campaign releases!

    It has? What, it doesn't crash every hour? Grenade throwing is just as crappy, the editor saw zero changes. Oh, we did get a few extra incomplete firearms and vehicles with a terrible interface. Some improvements right?

  23. Posted

    I think there's currently a disease with certain gamers at the moment, don't why and how it started or how to fix it other than cutting off certain people's internet.

    ... or BI can actually make improvements on some very seriously antiqued areas of the game rather than release a heap of garbage content and a graphics update. They're becoming like the CoD developers - releasing the same game with new weapons/units. They also went the future route to.

    Give me a good old M4 or FAL, and make both sets of animations for it. Complete the damn thing before jumping to futuristic content, which not surprisingly, also lacks both sets of animations. How about a 3D editor which swaps to 2D mode like Jane's USAF did in 1999? An AI command menu that isn't a clusterfuck?

    Improvements are what I want. Not more futuristic content that is more or less of low, garbage quality.

  25. Posted

    While I respect your opinion and concerns, I always find the ArmA community/fan base's concerns laughable. We can get huge threads amassed about the gender of our targets, yet everyone seems to be content with the worlds most cumbersome and antiquated command system known in video game history. The AI is still dumb as a sack of rocks with severe difficultly following you. Female or male character 3D model, does it make a difference if the damn hostages can't be rescued and extracted without getting lost 15 times over 1 kilometer while running in a straight line?

    Fix the AI, make hostage AI workable, and fix the garbage editor UI. When aspects that actually matter and define the gameplay are ironed out, then we can worry about the gender, race, or skin color of the characters. Sadly, I don't think we'll ever see such improvements in this series/from this developer.

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