pooroldspike

This is MistyRonins excellent map again, showing that the MAJORITY of people in Donetsk and Luhansk speak Russian, so my idea is that they should ask Putin if they can join Russia (like Crimea did), then everybody will be happy. Or is it a bad idea? Does anybody here have a better idea?

Guys, guys, like I said earlier in this sensational thread, the keyword to understanding this whole business is MAJORITY..:) News reports say a 60% majority of Crimeans were in favour of joining with Russia, but other people say the vote was faked. Likewise, how can we know what the majority of Donetsk and Luhansk citizens want? We MUST have good reliable figures, but where can we get them from?

I saw this in a Readers Digest:- "As an observer in Italy in WW2, I relieved the previous observer at the observation post and glanced through his log, and this entry caught my eye- TIME: 14:24 hrs- "Called in 6 mortar rounds on enemy motorcyclist despatch rider moving along road" RESULT: "Rider accelerated"

Saddam's WMD's could easily have been a few flasks of deadly plague germs for pouring into US water reservoirs, he probably kept them hidden under his bed but the weapon inspectors forgot to look there. "Does America realize the meaning of every Iraqi becoming a missile that can cross to countries and cities?" Saddam Hussein, September 29, 1994 So he had to go, and the world's a slightly safer placer now..:)

Poor Old Spike said: For example, I heard that the majority (60%) of the Crimean people were in favour of joining with mighty Russia, how can we know if 60% is true? Hmm...my common sense tells me that if I was a citizen of Crimea, I'd be happy and secure knowing that Crimea is now officially part of Russia, and that no country will dare attack Crimea and incur Putin's terrible wrath..:) At the moment, Donetsk and Luhansk HAVEN'T joined Russia, so Kiev is freely bombing the krap out of them.

Incidentally, as this is a US Politics thread, I just wonder why America has never had a woman President? Personally I'd like to see Sarah Palin re-enter the political arena, she'd make a great President because nobody better mess with her! "For the female of the species is deadlier than the male"- Rudyard Kipling AIDE- "Madam President, Kim Jong-un is making threats against America again!" PRES PALIN- "Who the hell is he?" AIDE- "That chubby spoilt brat who runs North Korea" PALIN- "NUKE HIS ASS!"

Ah, but how can we know if something is a lie or not? For example, I heard that the majority (60%) of the Crimean people were in favour of joining with mighty Russia, how can we know if 60% is true? Crimea is therefore stable and peaceful because they've now joined Russia, and Ukraine will never dare attack mighty Russia's friend! So if Donetsk and Luhansk also joined Russia, they'd get mighty Russia's protection too..:)

Thanks Misty Ronin for the excellent maps and sitrep..:) It seems the Kiev govt are bullying the Russian-speaking Donetsk and Luhansk areas and they don't like it. Incidentally there are terrible videos on Liveleak of Luhansk civilians killed by an airstrike from Kiev, one woman has nearly had her legs blown off but is still alive. Perhaps Luhansk, Donetsk and other eastern regions should do what Crimea did and join Russia. That way, Kiev wouldn't dare attack them because Putin would send in the Army and Air Force to protect them?

I've only just seen this thread, it was started 4 months ago and has run to over 300 posts, so can somebody give us an update on the current situation in Ukraine? Tell me if I've got this right?- 1- The MAJORITY of people in West Ukraine (including the city of Kiev) don't like Putin, and they want to form links with Europe. 2- The MAJORITY of people in East Ukraine (east of the Dniepr river), like Putin and they want to form links with Russia. Is there a map somewhere on the net showing exactly which areas are for or against Putin, and how many people are in those areas?

Increase your mouse speed by going to Control Panel> Mouse> Pointer options> Speed to 'Fast' (At least that's how it works in my Win 7)

Look to your left, there's the box of goodies.. Run up to it, twiddle and click your mouse wheel to get the rifle from it.. Run back to the guy at the table, twiddle the wheel and run to the firing range. (Look around and head for its yellow lettering). This new guy will tell you to get some ammo out of this new box.. Go to it, twiddle and press the mouse wheel again to take some ammo, press key 'R' to reload.. Then start shooting..:)

Next test, I stand behind the tank and he can't see me.. But as soon as I edge out to the right he opens up and I get my ass handed to me.. Next test- I backpedal keeping the tank between me and him and he can't see me.. But when I move out from behind it he starts shooting and I get iced..

TANKS AS COVER I placed this bunch of AI bot NATO Riflemen in a tight group behind a Slammer, and the AI bot CSAT Rifleman up the road couldn't see them, he just stood there doing nothing. (I stripped the Slammer of ammo) Next I spread them out a bit.. ..then placed the CSAT Rifleman (circled) and he immediately goes prone and opens fire on the guys on the outside (only he has ammo for the test, nobody else does).. They start to get fidgety.. ..and after a minute of him shooting there are 4 dead (red circles) and most of the rest have scattered in all directions, including some who'd have been better off staying in cover behind the tank, but that's bots for you, they run around wetting their pants at the drop of a hat.. Next I place these 3 behind the tank and the CSAT guy can't see them.. But when I drop prone he shoots me (note blood spots), obviously he couldn't see my small-target ankles under the tank before, but when I went prone it blew my cover and attracted his attention. He never fired at the two who were behind the cover of the tracks.. In this next test I started myself behind the right-hand track and dropped prone, but he couldn't see me and never fired.. But when I wriggle sideways to the left from behind the track, he sees me and blows me away..

There are two types of UAV's in Arma3, (full size UAV's, and backpack-UAV's), I did some backpack-UAV tests here if anybody's interested- http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?175240-Weapon-tests/page18 They don't carry weapons, just powerful day/night zoomable optics and a laser designator. They're fun, they can even open doors and fly inside buildings but my only gripe is that enemy Riflemen can shoot them down too easily at longish ranges,

I've not tried silenced rifles in Arma3 yet, but they seem quite realistic in Arma2 where at longish ranges their slow moving bullets have trajectories like rainbows. The bot squad usually don't even know they're being fired at for a while and just stand around until you hit one of them, or a bullet whizzes past somebody's ear or kicks up some dust. They then go prone or run around but they still can't figger out where your shots are coming from, so you can carry on picking them off until at last they spot you and begin returning fire. I'll test out some silenced rifles in Arma3, which ones are they? Will I find them in crates or what?

Okay I just ran some mini-drone tests in the 'Weapon Tests' thread here- http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?175240-Weapon-tests/page9 and they're fun, you can even open doors with them and fly inside.. :) (PS- if the link doesn't take you to page 9 of that sensational thread, flick the pages to it manually)

Enemy Rifleman bots will shoot at mini-UAV's, here three of them on the road (red circle) shoot it down; note its rotors are shot off and its damage panel has turned red and it begins dropping like a stone. They must have eyes like hawks to hit such a small moving target at this range.. But bots are slower to spot the drone if you can get directly above them like this. They're sitting ducks and I wish I had a grenade or a water-balloon to drop, but like I said mini-drones are completely unarmed in Arma3.. Mini drones can open doors! "Okay muchachos, you come out or I'm coming in!" "Show me your badges authorising you to be here!" "We ain't got no steenkin' badges!" "You picked the wrong drone to mess with, GET DOWN ON THE GROUND! NOW!"

Another example of the gunner's powerful optics: 3 enemy Riflemen are almost invisible in standard external view (circled).. ..but his fully zoomed gunners scope view spots them easily.. Night ops, this is the gunners unaided eyeball view.. ..and his NV view.. ..and his IR view (i've zoomed it, and also activated the laser for fun) Mini-UAV's are very vulnerable, here I bring one down with a single rifle shot.. I almost feel sorry for it (sniffle)..

I'll run some tests later to find out exactly what Arma3's mini-drones can or can't do..:)

But if you want a real ingame minidrone to play with, these are the babies you need- MINI-UAV TESTS The NATO job is called AR-2 Darter, and the CSAT job is called Tayran AR-2, they do the same stuff so I'll go with NATO. Place your character as a UAV Operator. He carries the UAV in that backpack.. In the menu select 'Assemble AR-2 Darter'.. Select 'Open UAV Terminal'.. Select the UAV (left), then select 'Pilot' (right).. Select 'Start Engine', and 'auto-hover', then simply fly it with the standard helicopter keys. You can switch from 1st person (pilots HUD view) to 3rd person (external view) and gunners view (he has day/night optics but no weapons, just a laser designator).. 3rd person external view (UAV yellow circle), your character is blue circled.. Pilot's view.. But you can switch to the gunners view via the menu anytime, it's much more flexible because his camera can point indepedently of which way the UAV is pointing. (he's called a gunner but hasn't got any weapons, just a laser designator to call in arty and air) This is the standard gunners view.. and this is his medium zoom.. and this is his full zoom..

Incidentally, I don't know if anybody's mentioned it yet, but apart from 3rd person there's also the Tactical View (below at max zoomout) which centres on you and your boys (circled) and can be panned around to give a "mini-drone view" of the area. And as regards ordinary 3rd person view, the military already simulates it by using periscopes to peek over walls and stuff (below), so why shouldn't we? Like I said before with my mini-drone pics on the previous page, future warfare (where AA3 is set) will be a very scary place, so the 3rd person and Tac Views simulate that "no hiding place" aspect to perfection...UGH...my adrenaline just kicked in at the thought and I feel faint, welcome to modern and future warfare everybody, can you hack it?..:) http://www.swatscope.com/

Thanks Manesh that's interesting info,I wish I had your patience to get into the nitty-gritty of number-crunching..:) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TACTICAL AND HIGH COMMAND VIEWS (Old hands already know about this, so this post is aimed primarily at newcomers.) If you place a man in the editor like this.. ..his view will be restricted to just 1st person (eyeballs view) , or to 3rd person (slightly higher view) like this, (toggle with Enter (num)).. ..but if you go back to the editor and place a High Command flag anywhere on the map like this.. ..you'll get a useful Tactical View option like this for a higher view of the area (key '.' (num)) But if you've got other men in your squad like this, you don't need a High Command flag.. ..because you can still get the Tactical View like this..(and note you get 3 men icons at bottom left).. However, placing a High Command flag.. ..will give you the option to shrink your 3 men icons into 1 like this by hitting the High Command key combo (left Ctrl Space), which is especially useful for de-cluttering if there are a lot of units on the screen in larger games.. Incidentally, the Tactical View can be zoomed out further like this (key '-' (num)) for a "mini-drone" view to simulate the "no hiding place" aspect of future warfare..

Thanks I might dabble with it sometime but I don't know much about scripts and stuff, I'm just a grunt wargamer and only know how to switch on my computer and do a few key presses and mouse clicks to make my little men and tanks run around shooting their guns..:) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RPG AGAINST HUMMINGBIRD It's a non-lockable rocket launcher so you have to use your eyeball to allow for gravity drop. It can fire AT or HE rockets but I'm using AT in these tests. No gravity drop at this short range so you can't miss whether you're using crosshairs (below) or the scope.. ..a single hit makes mincemeat of the Hummingbird.. -------------------------------------------------------------- RPG AGAINST BLACKFOOT Whoosh.. ..just the one hit trashes the Blackfoot.. ..and it's barbied.. In another test the Blackfoot landed hard after taking a hit and the crew legged it leaving this cockpit damage.. SUMMARY: The Grenade launcher can down a Hummingbird or Blackfoot with just one or two hits, but actually getting a hit is difficult and I often completely missed even against the close-range static choppers in the test. The RPG is much more powerful and easier to aim than the gren launcher, but at longer ranges against moving targets it'll be harder to score hits.

GRENADE LAUNCHER AGAINST BLACKFOOT I presume it's better armoured than the Hummingbird, and that its toughest armour is on its front. (i've added the red sighting lines again to show how the corner must be placed on the target).. ..a hit.. ..the first hit had no effect but a second hit sends it spiralling out of control.. ..and it crashes into a tree or telegraph pole..

Thanks guys, here are some follow-up tests- Throwing the smoke on top of the bad guys doesn't seem to totally blind them because I get shot when running across the road.. But crawling prone behind a wall of smoke in a high wind like this does give good cover as Lucky suggested, because I crawled this far across the road before I was shot.. ..and two walls of smoke like this give excellent cover to a crawler, because they didn't spot me or fire at all, and I could have carried on crawling all the way to the Grand Old Opry if i'd wanted.. SUMMARY: At least two walls of smoke are needed to provide excellent cover for a crawler. You can try crawling with just one smoke wall but there's a chance you'll be spotted. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GRENADE LAUNCHER AGAINST HUMMINGBIRD The gren launcher is a dog to sight properly and it's down to personal preferences, but I use this method- I imagine two red lines going from the sights, and put the corner on the target to guarantee a hit, (but it only works at short ranges).. WARNING!- if theres a gap (yellow) like this below, right-click to close the gap (as in pic above) or the red-line method won't work.. ..a hit.. ..it lands heavily and the crew get out and run.. ..the holes and dinks on the front are the only visible damage, I fired just one grenade. In test re-runs there were crew casualties..