pooroldspike

Yah, the scope view can't see through Standard smoke in this long range test, but the sensor still locks on to the invisible T-100 bless it's little heart..:) The stage is set: the fool on the hill (me) sees a T-100 600m away.. The scope IR view.. I break the lock, pop the T-100's smoke, shoulder the Titan and can still get this fresh lock through the smoke.. ..even though the Day scope can't see through it.. ..and the IR scope can't see through the smoke either.. (noob note, the square means it's a poor quality lock but I always fire anyway because you can't wait forever to get a solid lock (diamond box and a trilling canary sound). After 3 shots through the smoke the fat lady starts singing and the smoke clears.. (Incidentally I forgot to set the wind to light, it's blowing hard at maximum (100) from the left but the burning T-100 proves a strong crosswind doesn't affect AT missile accuracy).. Fun quiz question:-does anybody know how I popped the T-100's smoke from up on the hill, or shall we ask Penn and Teller?

Thanks mate I just ran these tests and yes, the denser the smoke, the harder it is for the scope to see through it like you pointed out. And like you also say, missiles can still be locked on no matter what the particle density setting or range is. High particles setting, eyeball view. (incidentally this view is exactly the same for Standard and Low particle settings, eyeballs can't see through any density, so there's no need for me to repeat this screenshot for them).. High particles setting, Titan scope view. The T-100 is very faint.. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Standard' particles setting, Titan scope view. The T-100 is slightly more clearer to see.. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Low' particle setting, Titan scope view. The T-100 is easy to see.. Summary: The High/Standard/Low video particle density settings do affect smoke density like Sniperwolf said, but even the thickest ('High') smoke still won't stop human AT missiles locking on as he also said. (And remember, bot missilemen will never fire through smoke, so popping smoke will completely protect your tank against bots. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- PS- I threw in this extra test to see if popped smoke drifts with the wind? and this is the result, I set the wind to maximum (100) from right to left and also tossed a green smoke grenade for good measure. The popped smoke doesn't exactly drift, but it's certainly leaning a bit in the wind direction. That's because the smoke grenades keep pouring out smoke for about 2 minutes..

Can Rifleman (AT) units see through smoke? Answer= Yes if they're human In the earlier Titan AT tests we discovered that the human Missile Specialist (AT) guys firing their Titans can see and fire through smoke, but now I've just found out the human Rifleman (AT) guys can do it too! Here's the Nato Rifleman (AT) with his PCML launcher, you can either sweep it around and keep hitting 'T' to get a lock like this and fire through the smoke.. ..or you can look down the scope (default key 0 numpad) to see right through the smoke like this, and lock on and fire.. Next up is the CSAT Rifleman (AT) with his RPG launcher, it's not a lockable weapon and therefore can't be locked at any time (even if there's no smoke). He could take a potshot through the smoke but risks wasting a valuable rocket.. ..so you have to look down the scope to see through the smoke to fire. (reminder-it's not a lockable weapon so don't waste time jabbing the lockon key) Summary: (including earlier Titan tests) (Bots will never fire through smoke, so we're talking about human players here) Missile Specialist (AT): his Titans can be locked and fired through smoke with or without looking through the scope. NATO Rifleman (AT): his PCML can be locked and fired through smoke with or without looking through the scope. CSAT Rifleman (AT): his RPG can't be locked through smoke, so use his scope to see through the smoke and fire using your eyeball to judge trajectory (it can't be locked remember) Tactical note: If your tank is under enemy bot AT missile or gun fire and you don't know where it's coming from, you can pop your smoke grenades (default key C) because enemy bots can't see or fire through smoke. and it'll buy you time to move behind a house or into dead ground etc, Only human AT missilemen can see and fire through smoke.

And our tank MG's are pretty good at killing infantry and softskins..:) PS- If your tank is under enemy bot AT missile or gun fire and you don't know where it's coming from, you can pop your smoke grenades (default key C) because enemy bots can't see through smoke. and it'll buy you time to move behind a building or into dead ground etc, Only human AT missilemen can see through smoke, I ran tests on pages 6 and 7 here- http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?175240-Weapon-tests/page6

I always keep APFSDS loaded by default (I call it being "loaded for bear") because APFSDS will kill EVERY vehicle in the known universe (tanks, light armour and softskins). I mean, if you're only loaded with HEAT or HE and an enemy main battle tank shows up, you're up scheisse creek because you'll lose vital seconds switching to APFSDS. (Israeli tank doctrine:- "whoever fires first wins") Only if I'm positive no MBT's are around will I switch to HEAT to engage light armour, and HE to duff up softskins and infantry. Typical APDS round (this is 120mm Abrams)

Explosives maximum remote detonation range is 300 metres Only 3 types can be remotely triggered, namely the Explosive Charge, the Satchel Charge and the Claymore, and the maximum detonation range for each of them is 300 metres as these tests demonstrated. (I got the explosives out of that Explosives crate and used the buggy to scoot down the hill to place them at the road junction, then scooted back up and dismounted, then walked forwards and backwards to find the maximum range. (Roll your mousewheel and the 'Trigger Bomb' option comes up if you're in range) Bang, I trigger the Explosive Charge 300m away. (Intervening buildings and hills won't block the radio signal) Noob tip- if you're setting up an explosive ambush in the editor or mission builder and want to know exactly how far 300m is, you can either use the map grid to judge distance (each square is 100m at this scale), or you can temporarily put a 'Placement radius 300m' on yourself like this below (the dotted blue circle). This is the test map, the explosive is the red circle at the junction at bottom right, exactly 300m away. (Don't forget to reset Placement radius to 0 before you save the game)

Postscript to the earlier Missile Specialist (AT) tests: As we saw earlier, he's able to lock his Titan onto an invisible T-100 through smoke like this.. ..and here's why, it's because the Titan's sights can see through smoke! ..which is why he can let fly and burn the tank! Tactical note: if there's lots of smoke obscuring things all over the battlefield, human players with Titan AT's can therefore use the sights to scan around and see what's lurking behind the smoke even if they don't want to actually fire. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Next test: Will Missile Specialist (AT) bots fire through smoke? Answer= No That's Johnny Bot on the left, I popped the T-100's smoke and ordered him to run up to this firing position, but he just went prone and wouldn't fire.. ..and not until the smoke cleared did he let one fly.. Ha ha that's my boy, you're a soldier now..:) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Incidentally I've patched up to 1.18, most of the new additions seem to be cosmetic and don't affect the tests as far as I can tell) PS- I test at 'Regular' difficulty level

Smoke at night I just repeated the Slammer tests on a dark December night and the results are exactly the same as for smoke in daylight, namely smoke in Arma3 blocks tank line of sight, regardless of whether you're using naked eyeballs, DTV, NV,or IR. (I thought the sensors might be able to see through smoke in the cool of the night because of less distraction from a hot sunbaked daytime landscape) So the most we can hope for (day or night) is a brief fleeting glimpse of the target through the smoke as the smoke cloud roils and boils. Also, even though smoke blocks sight, it won't stop bullets or shells, so we can always pour concentrated fire through the smoke to hopefully nobble whatever's on the other side..;) (And remember,Missile Specialists (AT) will lock on through smoke day or night even though the target tank is invisible, bless their little cotton socks.) Here are some pics from the Slammer night tests- No smoke:- NV view looking over the Slammer in the foreground to the T-100. I threw in an infantry platoon near the T-100 for good measure.. No smoke:- gunners DTV picks up nothing.. No smoke:- IR (whitehot) view. (Note the T-100 shows up bright because I drove it around for a few minutes to make sure it was warm enough to show up on IR) No smoke:- IR (blackhot).. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SMOKE: the T-100 pops its smoke grenades; the Slammers NV can't see through it.. SMOKE: IR (whitehot) sees nothing either, just this black screen. Likewise, IR (blackhot) also produces a black screen, so does DTV.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PS- As an interesting postscript to what I said earlier about how a hot tank shows up bright on IR, I just ran these night tests (without smoke) to illustrate it further. I placed a T-100 empty and cold, and although it shows up on NV like this just below and to the right of the crosshairs- ..it WON'T show up on IR because it's stone cold, and only the warm-bodied men show up.. I then ran over to the T-100 and drove it around for a minute or two, and now it shows up on IR. If I'd driven it around for another few minutes it'd have glowed even brighter. (Noob note- The obvious tactic during gameplay is therefore not to drive your tanks around too much unless you have to, in order to keep their IR signature as low as possible, and switching off the engine when you park)

Next we'll test out the Slammers ability against smoke.. I run over to board the T-100 and pop its smoke grens as before, then run back to the Slammer and get in. This wall of smoke confronts the Slammer.. The Slammer gunners DTV (Daylight TV view), the T-100 is faintly visible for a couple of seconds at a time, so you'll have to be quick on the trigger before the roiling smoke obscures it again.. The Slammers infra-red sees nothing through the smoke, but as you sweep the gun around, the T-100's name comes up indicating you're either on or very near to the target, so it's certainly worth firing and hope you'll get a hit.. (And just for the record the Slammers NV sees zilch).. Summary: The Slammers DTV can vaguely see the T-100 through the smoke but they're only fleeting glimpses and you'll need to be quick to lay your sights on it and fire before it disappears again. The Slammers IR can't see clearly through smoke, but it senses there's something out there and flashes the T-100's name on the screen when your guns pointing roughly at it (at least on lower difficulty levels), so take the shot. The NV is blind but later I'll run some tests at night to see if it performs better. (Remember, AT Missilemen can lock and fire through smoke)

VEHICLE SMOKE GRENADES The stage is set; I'm a Missile Specialist (AT) vs a T-100, I won't fire yet.. I board the empty T-100 and pop the smoke grenades. (noob note-also known as 'countermeasures', default key 'C') ..and by the time I run back to the firing position the smoke has blossomed thickly, but I still get a lock and fire 3 missiles through the smoke at the invisible tank.. Bingo! I run forward through the smoke and find the missiles have done their work well.. An earlier pic to illustrate the smoke cloud in relation to the T-100.. (Incidentally this is the Night Vision goggles view looking at the smoke, I thought I'd give it a try earlier but it can't see through it).. Summary: Smoke won't prevent missiles locking on because the missile sensor will still detect the tank. (Point your launcher at the smoke and sweep it around while jabbing the 'T' (lockon) key until it locks)

Okay Mister Bridge, try these 4 Sandstorm MLRS babies on for size! I targetted them on the bridge, indirect firing from about 3kms range.. That's the bridge there.. The Sandstorms dump all their 48 rockets on and around the bridge.. I go down to inspect their handiwork but find the bridge is still intact, although half the town has been rubbled! I'm running out of ideas what to throw at the bridge next! Wonder if there are suitcase nukes in ammo crates?

Thanks guys, I've added your test suggestions to my test list..:) -------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile I've become obsessed with trying to knock a bridge down but haven't been able to do it and am pouting and sulking like crazy (sniffle).. It's in the town just northeast of the airfield on the Stratis map. First I laid 21 Explosive Charges smack on top of it.. another angle, I triggered them from this position.. ..then ran down to see the damage, but there was none, no crater or scorch marks or anything, not a sausage! Even the snake seemed to be saying "You're gonna have to do better than that, sonny!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enter the dragon! I restart the test and bring up a T-100.. ..and hammer the bridge supporting pillar with 12x HE-T, 12x HEAT-T and 24 APFSDS-T rounds, but it's not even scratched! I restarted and fired all the rounds at at the roadway section but that wasn't scratched either! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay the gloves are off, I restart and bring up a Scorcher.. ..and pour all its 32x 155mm HE shells into the bridge, but again it's not even scratched! (noob note- the Scorcher crosshairs only move the gun left and right; to move it up and down you have to hit default keys PgUp and PgDown, adjusting by watching where your shots fall. The 'ELV' data readout indicates your current elevation, and you can also see the gun barrel at bottom right)

Good questions Rory I'll put them on my test list..:) -------------------------------------------------------- Meantime here are some tests I've just done using Explosive charges as roadside bombs As we know, they can't be placed on the open road because the driver will see them and jam his brakes on, so we have to put them on the verge hidden in the grass like this- (I turned off the red triangles in Configure>Game>Show detected mines=Disabled to show how they're hard for any tank driver to see with the naked eye. There are 6 down there)- And here they are with the red triangles enabled- Another view of the 6 charges, I don't think it matters which way you face them, as the blast radiates outwards equally in all directions- Triggered by radio command (the T-100 is stationary for the test) I climb aboard to see the damage, the right track has been trashed meaning the tank is as good as immobile because it can't be driven in a straight line- (but note sometimes a tank CAN still drive okay if the track reads 'red', so try to drive it anyway) Okay now just for the hell of it I've placed 14 charges, it was the most our guy could carry (there are 5 charges per Explosives crate)- I trigger all 14- The 14 have wrecked the track making the T-100 undriveable, and damaged all other areas of it- Summary:- More tests indicated that 1 charge might damage the tank if you're lucky, but you need around 3 to stand a reasonable chance of doing some damage and maybe wrecking a track. If you use 6 there's a good chance that a track may be wrecked, and anything over 6 gives you an excellent chance of doing some serious harm. The fact that the charges weren't placed right up against the tank means there's an "air cushion" between the charges and tank that helps the tank survive. (Remember in an earlier post I placed 6 charges right up against the tank with no air cushion and blew it up in flames)

Explosive charge (not satchel) against T-100 I place one at the front of the stationary tank, I'd have liked to have pushed it right underneath but this is as close as I could get it- Bang.. (noob note- a tank running over charges won't detonate them. There are two ways to trigger them, either by rolling your mousewheel to get the menu and selecting 'touch off 1 bomb' to trigger them by radio from a safe distance like in the pic below, or by setting a timer and running like hell. All the tests are against a stationary tank, but against a mover you have to plant 1 or more charges as 'roadside bombs' hidden in the shrubbery, and trigger them by radio when the tank moves adjacent to them. You can't place them on the road or the tank will see them and jam on its brakes. I'll test out the roadside bomb tactic later) I climb aboard the T-100 that I placed the charge against in the previous pic and find it's been immobilised with wrecked tracks. Note the blast marks on the road. I then placed several more charges and detonated them individually, each blast inflicted more cumulative damage until eventually the gun jammed too. (In further tests I placed charges at the rear, and damage built up like before, but the engine seemed to come off worst) Okay the pussyfootings over, I restart with a brandnew tank and place 6 charges and will detonate them all simultaneously to hurt the tank, not easy like before, but baaaad.. The shock lifts the tank off the ground- Burn baby.. That test was an interesting experiment , but in a real battle you'd probably never be able to get near enough to a tank to lay 6 charges close up to it like that.

Thanks Gutsnav, I've drastically edited and amended my earlier post to take into account all you've said..:)

M6 SLAM AT-mines vs T-100 I selected a Nato Explosives Specialist. He carries 2 SLAMS by default. Here's one on the ground, they're funny little things and look like miniature juke boxes. The front is concave and the blast fires along the white arrow. You don't order them to fire,they've got sensors which automatically trigger them into firing when a tank is near. Place them by facing yourself in the direction you want the blast to go, then roll your mousewheel and select 'place'. (Note an option to set the 30-second timer comes up, it's for if you want to creep up and place one alongside a stationary tank and leg it fast) Incidentally their backs are flat like this- IMPORTANT!- place them pointing at about 45 degrees across the road like this- I placed 6 mines at 45 degrees on the verge and drove this T-100 along the road. The first two mines damaged it and this third blew off the tracks and disabled it- (the game places the red triangle markers on each mine at lower difficulty levels, or you can toggle them off via Configure>Game>Show detected mines=Disabled) SUMMARY- in early tests I simply placed them in the middle of the road, they usually went off when the tank drove over them, but damage was not always great. Next I placed them along the verge pointing at 90 degrees straight across the road, and although they all went off, they all missed and the tank wasn't even scratched. That's because there's always a delay of about half a second before they detonate, which is just enough time for the tank to move out of their blast zone. The key is to face them at 45 degrees so that the tanks angular momentum won't carry it out of the mines blast zone before it detonates. PS- I ran followup tests by placing them further back from the road (below)... ..and although they all detonated, they had no effect, on the tank, no matter whether I faced them at 45 or 90 degrees, and no matter whether the tank was moving slowly, normal or turbo, so the mines blast must run out of punch at longer range, or miss the tank altogether. So like I said earlier, the optimum placement seems to be as close to the road as possible, facing at 45 degrees. Incidentally, if you're not sure which 45 degree direction to face the mines because you don't know which way the enemy will be coming down the road, don't worry,you can face them any way and they'll still detonate and hurt him just as much regardless of which direction he moves into their blast zone from..:) Just to clarify, these 3 shots illustrate why the mines should be angled at 45 degrees across the road- The WRONG way- this mine is at 90 degrees straight across the road, and the moving tank is safely through it's blast zone before it detonates- The RIGHT way- this mine is angled at 45 degrees and will catch the tank before it moves out of the blast zone- And like I said earlier, don't worry about which way the enemy might come, as the blast will still get him regardless of whether he comes from left or right--

Yeah I've always had a healthy interest in explosives, here are the goodies which the the Arma3 NATO and CSAT Explosives Specialists both carry- The 3 below are not carried by the Explosive Specialist but can be picked up from Explosive Crates. Note the 'Explosive Satchel' is more powerful than the smaller 'Explosive Charge'

I've got some ideas for 'Evasion and Escape' manhunt-type missions where you and your mates have to get out of enemy territory on foot or by vehicle. But it's too easy because you always know exactly where you are because your icon is always on the map. Is there any way to remove the icon so that the map is completely devoid of unit icons? That way you'd have to realistically navigate by noting landmarks and the lie of the land, and working out your position from them. At the moment the only way round it seems to be to print out a map and play with it in front of you on your desk, and not look at the ingame map.

Post here if you like InstaGoat, I don't mind..:) -------------------------------------------------- Kamysh 30mm cannon vs Panther tests Only armour-piercing APFSDS-T rounds can penetrate the Panther hull (below) Test results summary- APFSDS-T vs Panther hull= Panther usually burns after being hit by about 50 rounds. (note the Kamysh carries 60 rounds). MP-T vs Panther hull= no effect. It's the high-explosive round, the Kamysh carries 140 rounds but all 140 poured into the hull front, side and rear had no effect. APFSDS-T and MP-T vs Panther tracks= crew bailed after just a few rounds. APFSDS and MP-T vs Panther gun and optics= gun disabled. (The Kamysh also has a 6.5mm MG but it can't hurt the Panthers hull, tracks, optics and gun)

Many posts are about various bugs, glitches, innacuracies and gameplay issues etc, so I'm just wondering if they're ever addressed by the devs? For example tank crews bailing if a burst of HMG fire hits the tracks is just plain unrealistic and should have been fixed long ago, or can't it be fixed?

I can see GTDawg's point of view, I bought Arma3 thinking it'd be better than Arma2, but it's not better as far as I can tell, or am I missing something?

Dunno if somebody's already mentioned this, but in the real world there are two types of SAMs, namely IR homing and radar-guided. Flares protect against the IR's, and chaff (and jammers) protect against the radar-guideds. So popping flares won't stop a radar-guided, and popping chaff won't stop IR's. Are there radar-guideds and chaff in Arma3? (Sorry but I haven't tested out the whole AA missile thing yet.)

My advice to newcomers is to FORGET Showcase and similar training missions because they often have their own special parameters and give you a distorted, manipulated view of gameplay which you'll have to un-learn when you start to play the proper game. Just get straight into the Editor and make your own little missions so you'll know EXACTLY what's going on..:)

Yeah bots are dumb shits but I try to look on the bright side and regard it as a challenge to my commanding ability to get the bots under my command to perform halfway intelligently. But if we're attacking against a bot army, it's a piece of cake to trash them and not much of a challenge. I played hundreds of play-by-email Combat Mission games over the past 10 years against human enemies, but with realtime games like Arma3 we have to play singleplayer against stupid bots most of the time, so I'm trying to find a server to hop into where my teammates and the enemy will all be human..:) "Those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, care for nothing else thereafter"- Ernest Hemingway

I don't know for sure,that's another thing I'm testing. At the moment I'm trying to work out the artillery chain of command thing and the 'In Formation' and 'None formation' thing. For example I place my Scorchers about 3kms away, but when the test begins, they start moving up to the front line (even though i didn't order them to move) and I have to hit 'Stop' to stop them, or else set them up with zero fuel. At the moment I always make sure my spotter (me) has a decent rank like Captain or Major etc, and that the Scorchers are manned by Sergeants or Corporals. I can't be sure, but they seem to follow orders better if I outrank them. Another thing I need to test is why Scorchers sometimes refuse to fire and say to me on the radio "Cannot comply", or "Adjust coordinates".