Inkompetent

In the ArmA 2\AddOns directory. I think the file 'missions.pbo' would be a good place to start :D

For unpacking missions (and as such -PBO-files), check this site out for the tools: http://ace.dev-heaven.net/wagn/PBO_Tools Eliteness is a bit do-it-all program. Can do a lot with the right DLLs for it.

My bad. Completely misunderstood you. And I had the impression from earlier tirades with ACE2 that stamina control was more or less non-existant as well. But okay, stamina level is controllable. Stamina EFFECTS are not. ^^

Well, the BAF campaign was really good! And the OA one wasn't too shabby either ^^

An attachTo-camera or camera otherwise following the aircraft ought to be possible, like a scripted 'spectator' mode, although I don't even want to imagine the delays in control input on that camera from the pilot, when it comes to the observer's (and thus another client's) end =/

Thanks for the link. *Some* kind of additional control over stamina definitely needs to be in the game. I agree with galzohar that the same fatigue for high ready as for running is sad (at least with an assault rifle. With a machine gun I can understand it), but when it is all or nothing it's kind'a worse... =/

Welcome to the undying game! To answer your questions: 1) Patience 2) Don't bother with addons until you've learned what you want from the game, or at least find a mission that looks cool but that requires a certain addon 3) Try out the in-game editor. It is a good way to set up simple training scenarios and learn weapons and vehicles 4) For multiplayer, look around for an open community that can help you discover the game. There's everything from small, casual groups to large, hardcore milsim-groups and TvT (team versus team) leagues. People generally don't mind teaching, as long as the student is open for learning :) 5) Check out the User Missions forum section for some additional single palyer fun. www.armaholic.com is a lovely place to find downloads of all possible kinds as well.

Little Bird or variants of the UH-60 are best learner-helicopters imo. Although the Cobra is pretty nice to fly as well. The Mi-8/17 and Hinds are like flying bricks, and the Apache is quite clunky too. Decent agility but horrible lift. The Little Bird is very agile and responsive and got a lot of lift compared to weight. The UH-60 variants are pretty balanced and easy-to-fly helicopters, although nowhere near as agile as a Little Bird. And turn-keys are very important imo. They allow some degree of yaw when speeding forward (good when using unguided rockets or other fixed weapons), and most importantly they allow you to turn the entire helicopter at low speeds, without tilting. Pretty neat when landing.

That is true of course. Those short-range IR missiles only have a few seconds of burn time, but then again aren't really meant for longer than a 3km or so tail-shots, and double that in front-shots. Especially when firing upwards the range ought to be quite horrid due to fighting gravitation.

Make a group of 4 playable US solders. Then make another group of 4 playable US soldiers. Give one of those groups a Russian group leader, and set the Russian guy's chance of presence to 0%. Congratulations! You now have a US vs US team deathmatch. Just because something hasn't been done, doesn't mean it *can't* be done ;) Uniform-changing can also be done in a way in missions. The workarounds are clunky, but it's doable. Although not in player profile (which I understand why, since it'd completely defeat the purpose of being on a specific side and looking a specific way in a specific mission).

Not this argument again :P The field of view provided by first person, as well as the worse hearing, lack of physical 'feel', and lack of 'sense of presence' etc, etc makes first person in the game just as unrealistic as third person. It's just a matter of taste. @OP: No idea, I'm afraid. Just had to straighten out ArmAriffic ^^

Well, for example for this particular case you could use: if (score player1 < 100) then { hint "You have too low score to afford this weapon."; } else { player1 addScore -100; player1 addWeapon "M9"; };

Uhm... In real life AIM-9 Sidewinder has a speed of Mach 2.5. AIM-120 AMRAAM has a speed of Mach 4, Vympel R-27 a speed of Mach 2.5-4.5, and Vympel R-73 a speed of Mach 2.5. The Strela-3 and Igla have Mach 0.9 as speed, and the Tunguska Mach 2.5. Think the missiles in the game match that quite well? Although it can be percieved as too fast considering the minimal view range and engagement distances in the game. At least for air-to-air combat.

Even mutliplayer-score can be fixed to display correctly with a bit of scripting, despite the same side shooting at eachother. To make the sides 'appear' different, just have one side with an 'enemy' group leader, and set that leader's probability of presence to 0% with the slider in the editor. The group will now 'belong' to the other side.

Awesome! That I've been missing sorely from the game! Then I have no issue what so ever with running at high ready! :D

That's all good. But does the soldier GET tired from having the weapon at high ready? ^^

Not entirely sure I like that last one. Not because it shouldn't be possible to run with the weapon up, but it *is* bloody tiring to have a weapon at high ready, and since there is no built-in stamina penality for having the weapon at high ready I think it was a good compromise to not allow the player to run with the weapon up. Then there was some point for the player to actually carry the weapon normally, where it isn't just voluntary (like lowering the weapon when standing still/walking is).

Well, blowing up a melon isn't really hard, and explosive ammunition does exist for quite small calibers, although it is very expensive and of doubtful use. When you get to .50 caliber and higher explosive ammunition starts packing a punch though. As for the sound of the weapon it's probably a later added sound effect.

I think he more meant a general CQB-mode, so pretty much just looking over the sights to be able to maintain the usefulness of ACOG-equipped rifles somewhat at close range. :)

Yeah, you lose rudder control very quickly in helicopters in A2 unfortunately. Can barely yaw at all at I think over 45kph due to an exaggerated 'wind funnel' effect (the drag along the body of the helicopter 'gluing' it along its direction of travel). There are a few tricks to flying. For fast turns, simply bank sharp and pull the nose up. You'll bleed lots of speed if you do it too sharply, but it gives pretty neat maneuverability. And as a bonus it can be used to achieve fast stops. Especially in Little Birds. Secondly for landing it is at high speeds useless to try to 'break' the helicopter other than with sharp turning. Instead 'glide' into your landing zone. Pull the nose up a bit to start slowing down, and use the 'decelerate'-key (default 'Z') to prevent climbing. This allows you to pull the nose up slightly more. It requires a long distance to slow in at, but also allows you to fly very low and avoid detection, and it lets you stay in better control of your helicopter and maintain good awareness of the surroundings. With the fairly low speed when nearing landing it is pretty easy to either do a sharp break by pulling the nose up (and gain a little altitude) or break by turning, without doing anything drastic. We don't have as good controls in A2 as real helicopters do when it comes to the tilt of the main rotor and the rotor blades, but flying isn't all that different. A2 actually got a quite okay flight model for helicopters.

How about you check the Completed addons forum section and download it to see for yourself? ;)

Against a soft target at short range I think the damage could probably be compared. A very heavy bullet for the 9x39 would be able to cause quite some tissue damage, while a .50 would over-penetrate. However I do think that it is indeed exaggerated in the game. Especially against armour. The low velocity bullet of the VSS is notoriously bad at penetrating anything, while the .50 is designed for it. Edit: After checking some energy values and armour piercing capabilities the 9x39 SP-5 and SP-6 ammunition has about a third of the bullet weight of the .50, and a third of the muzzle velocity. Even with a steel core giving the SP-6 quite decent penetrating capabilities (punches through avarage (I'd estimate class III) body armour at 100-150 meters) it cannot anywhere, and I mean anywhere compare to a .50 as far as energy goes. And with a steel core the argument for effectiveness against soft targets goes straight out the window too.

Properly silenced rifles are rarely used, since to be really silent you need subsonic rounds (ammunition that after passing the attached suppressor has a speed lower than sound), and for subsonic rounds who have a weaker propellant charge than ordinary ammunition you need a weapon modified to work with that little propellant (i.e. lighter bolt/weaker spring/adjusted gas valve). After all that hassle you end up with a short range weapon, both in ballistic curve and stopping power/penetrative capability. There's a reason only special forces, during very special tasks, use this kind of weapons. They are most often useless. As for muzzle velocity a subsonic round has to travel at less than roughly 340m/s. Usually lower than 330m/s to get some leeway for varying air temperature. That can be compared to 'ordinary' muzzle velocities of assault rifles usually being 750m/s or more. One compensates with a heavier bullet to retain stopping power, but it never fully compensates over distance. How the most common rifle suppresor works (the variant I'll describe is made in all-steel, and is alled a 'reflex suppressor'. They usually last around 300.000 rounds for an assault rifle) is like a 'sleeve' you put over the barrel. Often you have at least half the length of the suppressor going back over the barrel, but that varies depending on weapon, barrel length, caliber, and other factors (for example the SOPMOD suppressor for the M4A1 SOPMOD has a very short sleeve to allow simultanous fitting of a M203 grenade launcher attachment). At the front end of the suppressor you have several chambers separated by 'baffles' (think a metal membrane with a hole in the middle, where the inner edges are curved inwards towards the barrel). The more baffles you have, the more silent you get, but it also creates a heavier and longer suppressor. The long 'sleeve'-part is an expansion chamber. This is where most of the gases from the muzzle will escape back into, drastically reducing the velocity of those gases once they finally leave the suppressor, and each baffle helps catching more of the remaining gas. This actually has a lot of advantages. First the baffles sort of act like an extended barrel since the holes aren't that much wider than the bullet diameter, thus helping propel the bullet with the remaining gases and increase its muzzle velocity slightly more. Secondarily the design of a reflex suppressor, thanks to reducing the violent force of gases behind the bullet actually reduces the muzzle-exit turbulence that usually screws up a bullet's precision (happens to all non-suppressed rifles), and thanks to that gives a somewhat better accuracy as well (only distinctively noticable at extreme ranges). The most common use of suppressors though is with ordinary full-power ammunition. They are used to drastically reduce the muzzle flash, and to distort the sound of the shot to make it harder to identify *as* a shot, and to lower the sound frequency of the shot so much that it makes the shooter harder to locate by hearing (high frequencies are easy to pintpoint the direction too. Low frequencies are not). They are not supposed to make the shot silent. However the bonuses of the suppressor comes with a drawback, in addition to the cost and extra weight/front-weight of the weapon, and that is that a suppressor shifts the weapon's zero. You won't hit in the same spot with a (reflex) suppressor as without. This is noticable even at as short distances as 50 meters. At 300m you probably wouldn't even hit your target if you aimed at him. This means that you have to re-zero your weapon if you want to use a suppressor, and thus mounting/dismounting a suppressor in the field would never be done unless necessary. If you are a sniper you could of course transport the rifle without the suppressor mounted, but you would attach the suppressor when you prepare to shoot, since that's what your rifle is zeroed for. However it appears that the benefits of using a suppressor aren't usually needed for a rank and file soldier, and thus the military avoids the expenses, and suppressors remain a special forces item since they perform the kind of operations where the use of a suppressor really matters (i.e. being hard to locate/identify as shooting). And even then a suppressor is actually a pretty special thing and its use depends a lot on the kind of mission.

You still require LOS for most BVR-weapons to work. Just because something is out of view range doesn't mean it is out of line of sight. But indeed GPS-guided weapons, CCRP-lofted bombs, and secondary sources providing target data can get around this (grand example is Apaches firing Hellfires with Lock-On After Launch mode).