rye1

I wonder what this 'expert combat simulator' looks like.... Add a bandana, fake medals, big mouth and bigger ego and ta-da!

OT so last post. ASR, Zeus is +1 to vanilla. There's obviously room for improvement, it puts you off seeing their tracking patterns. I don't know how it would be improved technically, maybe others do. I've never had them flush me out but I've had them surround me.

If you call the absolutely no brain patterns the AI create and use, then yes, of course it's stupid. If it was logical, say searching specific spots or priority spots in buildings where you heard fire, or getting to an advantageous position to look over then +100. Never going to happen, instead we'll have them wander like headless chickens.

Investigate as in gun up, I'll walk over here. Oh now I'll walk over here, do a 360 and walk back this away! It looks stupid, is stupid.

Psychomorph and Panda good points. Thinking ahead then yes, those complex operations will probably allow for extra standard gear useage but I wouldn't say constantly and those tactical considerations you've thought of are a realistic problem. Nice points for realism. I've numbed down my reply because it was too long. Are slings used? Yes. Points heard, more points could be added i.e. Rappel, CT, CP teams or if you are breacher, driver, etc, who constantly use slings. Realistically used? Yes. One element of 'tactical Arma' complete. Immersion lost = 0%. :p Aesthetically, for the animations, it is applicable. That then comes down to if they are willing, benefit vs cost (visual pro vs workload and $) and how it will affect gameplay (+ or -). If they are willing then it's more headaches to find out what animations to use, what animations go with what weaponry (MG vs AR vs .50 cal). Is it going to be quality or just one plain animation? Will it be linked in with the gear system? It's all a fuss for little. The best they can do is a more realistic animation and that's it. The 'dust' is a realistic problem in no way related to Arma; even if they add jam's it will not be that complex. The realistic solution is a muzzle cap. All problems, solved, by carrying some homemade, easy to use, plenty to carry, small caps for your muzzle. You can fire through them with no POA/POI change. Dust and dirt problem solved. So, is this applicable to Arma? No. With the first step to drawing, as the sling is pushed to your side, what is stopping you from pushing it all the way behind you or tucking it behind your thigh? Slinging it 'around you' is better than 'over the back' for me anyway. The first position demonstrated would be the logical one for transitioning to a secondary. Is that applicable to Arma? I'd say yes. Now in relation to where you need it for an immediate threat situation, you can drop it infront of you. Once you then need to go prone it is put behind your back. The second position he shows us is of less use in Arma and is more administrative, in CQB you would be banging that muzzle against every obstacle with that technique. So is that technique applicable to Arma? No. You'd lose immersion without collisions and even with all this transitioning you may end up dead if the animation wasn't that fast because it has to adapt to people's use for it. For instance I'd use it against immediate threats, then it would have to be bloody fast. If I use it because I'm out of ammunition and in cover, I wouldn't really care about it being THAT fast because I'm not in any immediate danger. If you weigh these up then the developers would probably have to go with the realistically fastest animation and test it. 4:30 is demonstrating throwing it over the shoulder. At that stage you can engage whilst holding the rifle, if it is an immediate threat that should be your first and final option. There are lots of sling manipulation techniques. Could this be applicable for Arma? Probably. Either way if they improve that animation, visually it would be better and to me I could see it being faster than the current one seen in the videos. Those videos are some good visual applications for animators to look and think, think at least, where could we do better? Is current standards a quality we want and is it worth it to dip into something better? I say if I saw a video of the 'Infantry' or 'CQB' promotion of A3 with some really good quality animations, with literally little to be worried about, it would be a seller. The SMK animation videos really sold me too, some of the animations looked like reality, a real human right there, crouched and engaging. Animations are so important, no more bending your back 90 degrees to shoot into the air, more fine tweaking and you'll create a huge hit. Oh yeah and P.S. Whoever made the pistol animation, the grip and stance. To me it is literally perfect. +1. Sold. I think the first thing I'll do is shoot the pistol in A3.

It was 6 months ago so you can re-test this one if you like: AI facing away from you. You're about 50meters out, slowly walk towards them. See what happens. Last time I played around with it they'd put their weapon up and instantly turn around randomly to engage. Like spidey senses. Test the prone one, they just bring their weapon up and turn and engage. Be cool if they shouted contact or something. :D You lose this immersion when they are instantly alert, you cannot tell if they are really alert unless they have their weapon up. So you can't tell their suspicion levels, it's not like MGS with a big !!!! above their head, but if they acted as if they were suspicious it would be better I believe for feeling like you're against some kind of intelligence. In RVS they get suspicious and go into rooms, etc. Like other AI mods when they search, look around corners, etc.

Sorry a bit off-topic but someone mentioned visibility. Tested about 6 months ago, if you are static and an AI is walking obliquely towards your area they won't notice you for a good 15m. If you move it's a lot larger footprint. They have to fix the insta-turn around and shoot at you because they have spidey senses, especially when you're camo'ed up say in a ghillie.

It looks very good, the buildings look great. Large and full of rooms to perspective. The streets have their mini-alleyways, different types of walls, exterior objects. New terrain features seen too, such as the dried up concrete river bed running through one of the towns. You crossed a bridge in the vehicle video interview, possibly an aqueduct. That looked interesting because if I remember correctly it had stairs either side, I could imagine intense urban combat there. Hold the bridge type missions. To say they have 50+ villages, you won't be disappointed.

These two points. +1.

Just give us the good stuff. Mega-satchels to blow shit up!

Clicks on topic. Is not about actual Urban Warfare (UW). Leaves with sad face.

In terms of performance, how would it really affect the average Arma player? How low of a drop of fps or what issues would it cause? LoD issues as mentioned, what else?

I have mine just over half way, and with my mouse settings and sensitivities it is very reactive and I can target transition quite quickly. Well, as quick as I can make it currently. I used to play with it off but now I just can't, even though some small situations were better with it off, the majority are with it on.

Then again, who uses slings constantly? Not many of the armed forces. Just sayin'. Transitioning without, hold the rifle with weak hand, use strong hand for pistol.

A mini-game operation! Take out a spleen, no extra cost. "Do an operation, in an operation, while you operate, while you're operating!"

@NoRailGunner; a Quick-drop is a great idea, I hate fiddling around with the currently inventory system but it does the job anyway personally not as fussed about it. I wish there was a "fill all slots button" i.e. you can click on a magazine now and it has the arrow right for put into your inventory, left for put into the box or whatever you've opened, there should be two arrows right for filling your inventory with ALL of this certain item. Would make it tonne easier. Skip all the clicking for exactly the same thing, "I JUST WANT MAGAZINES!". @Zukov; Looks great, he's holding it correctly (someone watched Art of the Dynamic Pistol) and in a good stance. But still a slow transition and quite iffy. @KBourne; Well Jason Falla, come on. Ex-AUSOF. He's going to do it the right way. The only time I have seen 'over the back' is with the German KSK (but then again some of those blokes carry 2-3 primary weapons), very rare to see and obviously has those tactical implications which end up, for Arma's purposes, being less useful and realistic as to putting it below you. It's on a sling, you drop it infront of you and off to the side; many tactical schools teach it that way and that way only. You have two hands, one drops and swings the sling and weapon outward as the other begins the first steps to drawing the pistol. Weak hand comes back up and you've completed the draw and are ready to engage. Also agreed about binoculars and other handheld devices. I feel sorry for the animators.

For this to work the transitions must be able to be done whilst mobile otherwise it would be stop-start, stop-start.

What would that include? A CQB DLC.

"CQB" is an acronym for Close Quarters Battle. It was coined by the British SAS as far as I know and formed a catch-all category to throw anything to do with fighting in or around buildings. Since "fighting in and around buildings" is a mouthful by anyone's standards, people use the British term (which has now moved onto FIBUA, FISH and CHIPS military acronyms and so on). Reference: Suarez International. *Rye vanishes back into the darkness* Anywhoo, with gamemodes you can only 'isolate them'. It's hard to isolate it to only long-range fighting unless the map, terrain and equipment allows otherwise the player will make those decisions, and that may mean getting closer. In terms of "CQB gamemodes" you find that mission makers isolate you to city terrain with restrictions for movement in cases, or with a spawn in buildings or streets keeping you close at arms. With those types of maps there is heaps of room-to-room battles and fights within buildings, again Arma let's it down in multiple ways -- i.e. blocked in doorways or stairwells, clipping off the invisible barrier 1-2inches from the wall. That doesn't mean it's not fun, but sometimes it can be frustrating, most of the time Arma is fine, there is room for improvement. Room for room fighting improvement? :p

SWAT 4 had a good system for that though. Stack -> Options you can chose i.e. breach and clear. In Arma you could have nice simple ones -> Stack and buttonhook. But still, no idea about AI. Just ideas. @Iroquois. True, if collisions were in A3 you could see the difference... for instance if the handgun has same "power" as a long pistol (9mm), sometimes it is smart to make a transfer if there is no space for the "long pistol" (HK MP5 etc) in CQB and you would clip less, other than that yes pretty useless and mainly aesthetics unless you run out of ammunition, jam, etc (all the same, transition to primary due to INSERT LIST)... As you said, "fixing gunplay should be utmost priority". I think the patch that helped the netcode did a lot for CQB a while back, it meant you used less rounds to engage enemy, didn't randomly die from a round 4 seconds ago, etc, etc, and people enjoyed fighting AI more; they could have at least a semi-fair fight. Those camping prone cheating bastards. :p @Chortles. "Here's a stationary draw using a chest rig holster mounted seemingly center of mass, not impeded by the rifle or stock thanks to the positioning of the sling." You said that a while back, I don't think A3 will allow for "gear placement" but if it did then a cool feature (a good idea for ACE 3 too) would be to allow for pilot (high chest) holsters and so on, for faster transitions, better in confined spaces (vehicles, cqb). Gear is KIND OF linked to combat effectiveness. Backpacks improved Arma a hell of a lot for example -- you can carry your spares and back-ups, now a mounting system for different optics is another huge improvement, plus fatigue etc and the improvements you hardly are aware of until it happens. In terms of AI and room clearing methods (lol'ed at patterns), it's too much but field ops methods would be great in the Arma series obviously like bounding, overwatch, break contact, so on -- not for CQB (Needs too much work). Anyways back to PLAYER CQB. The low-ready (2xcntrl) is a problem. Just like pistol transitioning it is static. If you could go low-ready, lean and come up to high-ready without coming out of the lean then that would be ++ for Arma 3. Instead in Arma 2 you come out the lean, pause, come up to high ready then you have to click the lean button again to go into it. TOO SLOW. DEAD. Then again most animations have that tiny lag/pause - crouch to stood up for an example.

Sail by AWOLNATION. Awesome song.

Stacked up properly as well....

Good points. In reference I was just fending off the 'realism' comments in regards to H2H/melee so you are spot on, agreed. https://dev-heaven.net/issues/25357 Vote it up!

There are PVP ladders but rare. OCB has made a few PVP ladders in and around the Australian communities. They would be awesome, but convincing them is another matter. They are too super 'tacticool' to realize the tactics of training are not the techniques of reality. I'd love to see a huge clan versus clan battle because clans tend to be a place that hones their own individual style and way to play, it's interesting to see one pitted against another. I think we need a gladiator ring...

As stated based on your reply it occurred to me that you either did not read the sentences properly, did not fully understand them or chose to ignore them even though they were key points to your statements, hence repeating. I've given you the rope, it's your funeral in this debate.