percster

It's by design. As an engineer, your toolkit includes a lot of things, but not a spare tail rotor. Without the advanced flight model, most helicopters are reasonably stable to fly even with damaged tail rotors. Just put the pedal to the metal to keep it from becoming a vomit comet -- apply maximum counter-torque to keep it from spinning out of control.

Hey, only TFAR is (somewhat) supported at this point, so you were bound to run into issues using ACRE. That said, there should be a quick and easy workaround for the NATO issue if you're up for the tiniest bit of editing. I haven't tested it myself, but I cannot see why it shouldn't work. You can either open NATOdialog.sqf and comment out the check in line 6 or you can change the check itself, which you'll find in /AI/hasRadio.sqf.

Tasks created as failed from the get-go and no mission markers on the map are the most common "join in progress" issues. You can try logging out and in again, possibly in a different slot, but the only reliable fix is to reinitialize the map. However, it only really becomes a problem in the case of refugee/POW rescue missions. Without a map marker, you have to scan large areas manually, and since they are inside buildings, that can become rather tedious, even with thermal vision.

I haven't noticed this as an issue, neither in the latest version in MP nor the SP release. If you take out all wheels on one side, the crew should abandon their vehicle. In fact, we did just that about an hour ago on the official server: popped a Gorgon's tires with 7.62mm and everyone dismounted, leaving the vehicle up for grabs. Same with an unarmed Strider last night. So it might have been one of those freak incidents, like hitting a Mora with 5 PCML to little effect. Usually, however, taking out tires is a rather reliable way of forcing the crew to dismount.

If you "steal" a static, it is disassembled and two backpacks spawn on the ground: one for the bi-/tripod, one for the weapon. You can then grab those backpacks and either store them in your arsenal or you can reassemble the weapon at base and store it in your garage. Or you can set it up in a controlled area for the AI to man it. Persistant save includes deployed static weapons.

I'll try to comment on this from an SP perspective (~50h into current game): 3+ aircraft/helis and a column is not "reinforcements", that's a proper counterattack. Those are quite overwhelming in the beginning of the game when the AAF has plenty of funds and income. It does, however, become much more manageable once you've overcome the initial onslaught. They run low on funds (110k+ down to 2-8k aka "poor"), which is when counterattacks happen less often and are more infantry-based than before. The early columns of 2 Gorgons, 2 Moras, a Strider and some infantry turn into a Strider and some trucks. You still get the occasional armoured column, but much less often. These early columns present a window of opportunity though, although it might be a bit gamey. If you manage to unlock PCMLs or even Titans, you can drive the AAF into financial trouble really quickly by employing hit-and-run tactics from 1k+ away. Generally speaking, don't bother trying to defend against these monstrous displays of power. Poke the bear, retreat into the mountains and rain hell down upon them. The initial poking can easily be done with a mortar, which is the single most powerful piece of equipment you can acquire in SP. A pickup or an SUV full of PCML combined with a mortar is entirely too much for the AI to handle as long as you can avoid being spotted from the air. As for air attacks: destroy a roadblock, steal a static .50cal and set it up at your favorite position for mortar attacks. UAVs and gunships remain a threat, but all the other helicopters can easily be taken down with a static MG. A static AA works against UAVs if you set it up in your mortar base, but you risk loosing it to counter-fire from enemy mortars. You can grab enough gear at roadblocks to unlock the most fundamental neccessities: PCMLs, NVGs, assault rifles, armour, 40mm HE. For me, the level of difficulty dropped massively once I unlocked the tools for long range combat: Lynx, Titan AT, LRPS/DMS/TWS/Nightstalker. The AI, unfortunatly, is still helpless when being engaged at 800m+. Properly guarded convoys still are really difficult if you are the only thing drawing their attention, but everything else, including taking and holding bases, becomes manageable. Mortar + Titan go a loooong way. That said, it's soooooooo much easier in MP. PS: the default area is a nightmare, despite safer routes for NATO. It provides plenty of spots for ambushes, but troops from the base arrive very quickly which leaves little time to salvage gear.

As far as I know, siphoning fuel into barrels is not possible. But the military camps in and around cities come in a variety of flavours, one of which might contain a solution to any fuel problem one might have. *wink* MEVs, civilian ambulance, MASH camp and medics amongst POWs as well as spawning partisans. Some items seem to be too large to be loaded onto any vehicle, including flatbed trucks. My suggestion: sweep the area, bring in your cache, automatically transfer everything in a 250m radius into it. Default settings are what I used in my first playthrough as well. If you ramp it up to max, it's a different beast altogether. Static deployments are still scarce, but roaming patrols become abundant, maybe overwhelming. Default numbers of patrol groups allowed me to secure Gvozdno by killing precisely 6 soldiers, and Krasnostav had another 10-15. At max settings, I had to strip corpses for ammo twice before I even had a chance of escaping Komarovo, a clean sweep was out of the question entirely. When I hopped into my boat again, the area around my little stronghold was littered with black spots on the map, 30+ easy. So if you want something to shoot at, crank up the number of foot patrols. ;) However, due to the unorganized structure of the enemy forces, difficulty drops immensely once you acquire something like an AFV or an MBT as well as supply vehicles.

Couple of questions, if you don't mind. Mission 2: Mission 4: Otherwise it's quite entertaining so far. Well done, mate.