pooroldspike

Here's a small chart of the gradient tests- M1A1- 16 km/h (10mph) Bradley- 14 km/h (9 mph) Hummer- 64 km/h (40 mph) Top-class marathon runners do about 20 km/h (12 mph) on the flat, so the M1A1 was only slightly slower than that on the steepish gradient, which doesn't sound too bad to me. Joggers do about 10 km/h (6 mph)

Test 2: Bradley on the same climb. It did 13-15 kmh on the road- And offroad the speed was in the same speed bracket of 13-15 kmh- Test 3: Hummer (It had no commander position so I kicked out the driver and drove it flat out myself) On the road it went like a bat out of hell around the 62-66 kmh mark- And it was iin the same 62-66 kmh speed bracket offroad- Conclusions- Surprisingly the M1 was fractionally faster than the lighter Bradley. And going offroad with all 3 vehicles was just as fast as going by the dirt road.

GRADIENT SPEED TESTS (vanilla Comb Ops 1.57) Test 1: M1A1 The climb is pretty steep- Ready to go- On the road all the way up, the speed fluctuated around 15-17 kmh because of tiny undulations in the slope- (I was commander and kept hitting the 'W' key to make sure the driver kept his foot down) And paralleling the road but going offroad this time, the speed was the same:- 15-17 kmh.

1.09 seems to be only a very minor patch that tweaks a few missions, so is it really essential to install it anyway?

More advice for new players:- go here and rummage through this juicy bundle of illustrated threads- FEW GOOD MEN- http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/forumdisplay.php?123-Armed-Assault-II

I just downloaded 1.09 to desktop, here's the relevant bit of the readme- ===ARMA 2 UPDATE 1.09 === Copyright © 2011 Bohemia Interactive. All rights reserved. This free update is sponsored by Sprocket http://www.sprocketidea.com/, the online store where you can buy Arma 2 and other games directly from the developers. ===SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS=== * ANY ORIGINAL VERSION OF ARMA 2 from 1.00 (including the Steam version, note that Verify file cache and autoupdate will not work properly until the full 1.09 is also out directly on Steam) * DirectX 9 from February 2010 or newer is required and should be updated during the patching process automatically as needed or you can update your version of DirectX from www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/ ===HOW TO INSTALL THE PATCH=== Run the patch exe to apply the patch setup automatically. It will install all content of the patch to the folder with your ArmA 2 installation (default is C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2 or Bohemia Interactive\ArmA2). Please note that it is not possible to rollback to a previous version after the installation of this patch, only a full reinstall of the game is possible, if you want to keep your previous version you may want to backup the entire game installation folder before applying this patch. Missions 1.08-1.09 Changelog --------------------------- * Fixed: I2 - mission is not failling before the takeoff. * Fixed: C1,I1 - SD pistol mags were missing. * Fixed: C5 - high command icons were not loaded. * Fixed: C6 - task waypoint for transport important POW is fixed. * Fixed: C3 - smuggler not shooting. * Fixed: C2 - Pepan is not at the pump. * Fixed: I1 - Shilka was too strong. * Fixed: I1 - Razor is hunting down one enemy on whole chernarus. * Fixed: minor fixes in (CZ/RU) dubbing protocol. ---------------------------

Personally I often seemed to have trouble with downloads (of any game), so nowadays I always try to get a boxed disk version, they always seem more reliable and easier to work with.

Softskin vehicles like cars (and windscreens) can deflect bullets if they hit at a shallow angle (think stones skipping off water), but I should think smaller lighter calibres would be deflected easy than heavier ones.

Just to get it clear, you're talking about OA, right? Or AA2 or Combined Ops?

First rule for newcomers- BIG IS NOT NECESSARILY BETTER! Sure, some people like big missions full of a zillion units, but others (including me) like smaller faster-moving missions. Heck you can even play auto-generated one-man Armory Missions, just you alone against the bad guys, great fun. Personally I like to set up small games in the editor (they can only take 10 minutes to create), just a single squad like this ready to rock n' roll under my command against the enemy- PS- Second rule:- DON'T RUSH INTO EXPANSIONS AND MODS AND ADDONS! Get comfortable with the vanilla (ie straight out of the box) game first, but you can patch it to the latest version, (currently AA2 1.8 and OA 1.57) I play almost-vanilla Comb Ops 1.57, the only thing I've added is a 'Summerpack' mod to turn Chernarus lush green instead of default autumn colours, and at the moment I've no plans to add anything else.

There is nothing like a cyber dame..:) http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/showthread.php?100-Nothing-like-a-dame/page14

Aother thing- the assassin in the 'Day of the Jackal' took a pot at de Gaulle with a funny little rifle that fired an explosive bullet, presumably at low velocity because there wasn't much noise from the muzzle blast (silenced?), and not much recoil. Are such explosive-bullet-firing weapons pure fiction or do they exist in real life? MELONS-

Who can tell us about body armour? How good is the current stuff used by various nations at stopping bullets? I presume it can stop pistol shots just like bullet proof vests which have been around for many years, but it can't stop rifle shots. Why doesn't somebody invent body armour that can? I'm sure troops wouldn't mind wearing very heavy armour if it made them invulnerable to all small arms fire including MG's.

I'm just a grunt wargamer not a PC expert, but I think I read somewhere that we have to balance the processor, RAM and video card properly so that they all work together as a team, and it's no good upgrading just one of them if the other two can't keep up.

The Editor is so easy to use I'm surprised more people don't build their own missions, you can create one in less than 15 minutes no kidding. We do that over at The Few Good Men club, building a mission then putting it up for download, then we have a crack at it in singleplayer mode and compare notes about how we got on, discussing what tactics we used, posting ingame screenshots etc. Quite often its hard to win at the first attempt, and it's great fun playing it several more times (think 'addiction'), tryng new tactics and approaches until you get a win. Go here and scroll down to the FGM Armed Assault Section to see what I mean- http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/forum.php? there are currently only about 6 of us into AA2 and we welcome new members.

Thanks to Inkompetent for the great suppressed/silenced writeup..:)

Incidentally the games M107 50-cal (12.7mm) sniper rifle usually kills with one shot. I don't think I've ever seen anybody just be wounded, they drop dead as if poleaxed.

Yes you need every bit of tactical cunning to stay alive, so that makes them great for training. The enemy have the nasty habit of coming at you from more than one direction at once so you need eyes in the back of your head; personally I like to put a house or big boulder behind me to protect my back, then I only need to watch my frontal 180-degree arc instead of the full 360 degrees..:)

I know in singleplayer that if you laze a spot that's not in the LOS of the AI-controlled A-10, it won't drop its LGB. For example if you laze the wall of a building, the A-10 won't see the spot on the wall if he's flying somewhere on the far side of the building because he hasn't got x-ray vision. But when he orbits into a position from where he can see the spot on the wall, he'll radio something like "Target 500metres southwest", and after lining up, will drop the bomb on it. So when lazing spots on buildings, I always try to laze the roof rather than the wall, so that it's easier for the A-10 to see, like this- CALLING IN AIRSTRIKES illustrated thread- http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/showthread.php?7486-Calling-in-airstrikes

I'm no firearms expert, but surely the basic laws of physics dictate that a small 5.56 is bound to decelerate faster due to air drag and therefore be ineffective at longer ranges, whereas a bigger 7.62 decelerates slower and has a greater effective range? Likewise, if an enemy is hiding behind a wooden fence, surely a 5.56 would lose most of its kinetic energy penetrating the fence and barely scratch the guy behind it, whereas a 7.62 would punch through and hurt him badly?

The auto-generated Armory Missions are bloody hard, I only win about 1 in 3 if I'm lucky, it's just you--and you alone-- against the bad guys in true Rambo style..:) For example, choose a rifle to try, and you'll be plonked at a random spot on the map to play with it, then after a while (average 45 seconds) a message will come up offering you a mission (Attack,Defend,Survive,Steal,Hunt etc) which you can accept or decline. If you decline it, it'll offer you another mission after about 45 more seconds. The missions are auto-tailored to suit whatever weapon you chose to try, e.g. if you chose a rifle the AI enemy will be mostly infantry, and if you chose an AT-launcher or SAM, they'll be mostly AFV's or Aircraft. Sadly many newcomers don't know the Armory Missions exist. Like I said, you have to wait for about 45 secs to be offered a mission, so stick around. IMPORTANT:- You only get a few Armory weapons to play with after buying the game, and have to 'unlock' the rest by racking up points for winning armory missions later (a bit silly if you ask me), but luckily you can get instant access to ALL weapons by inserting the line armoryPoints=50000; into your profile. Here's part of my profile showing how the line looks sitting in there- floatingZoneArea=0; headBob=0.062641099; armoryPoints=50000; sceneComplexity=300000; viewDistance=2400; Waddya say Johnny? "In town the sheriff's the law, but out here it's me!"

I only play vanilla Comb Ops, so I don't know about how anything works with Zeus or Ace or any other addons. My tests are therefore only valid for people who are singing from the same song sheet as me:- vanilla Comb Ops..:)

And they'll come running up bless 'em- Regrouped..:) And now they'll all follow you again to the ends of the earth- SUMMARY- To split a squad, firstly slap a 'Stop' order on everybody to root them to the ground. Then select the guy(s) you want to take with you and hit 'Regroup' (ie 'stick with me'), and off you go. To re-form the squad later, select everybody and hit 'Regroup'.

SPLITTING YOUR SQUAD Select all 5 men and give a 'Stop' Order- Select any man (in this case No.2) and give him a 'Regroup' (ie a 'stick with me') order Run off and No.2 will stick with you like glue- When you want to re-combine the squad, select everybody and order them to 'Regroup'-

How do all you guys get on with Comb Ops silenced rifles? Their muzz velocity is so slow and their trajectory so like a rainbow that I swear you can pull the trigger then go have a cup of tea and still be back in time to see the impact. It's fun though to keep popping away at the enemy while they just stand there like sitting ducks because they can't hear the silenced weapons soft 'phut' and don't know they're being shot at til one goes down or somebody notices puffs of dust at their feet..:) Are silenced rifles used much in the real life military? How does their muzz vel compare to a 'proper' rifle? And if the enemy is wearing a bulletproof vest, would a silenced round have the punch to go through it? How do silencers work anyway? They look like thick cylinders on the end of the barrel, but what goes on inside?