Sg3 on 27/5/2012 at 13:24

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Clicking on the tank works if you don't care which troop goes into which vehicle position, and if you can see the tank. Since I play on maximum difficulty settings (except for A.I. skill), there is no external camera, even in command mode. Much of the time, I don't have visual on the vehicles (they're often half-way across the island). I also usually want a specific troop in a specific seat, for ease of selection later. In this case, the orders get ugly.

There are a few more interface issues which I haven't mentioned, too. Just one example is the assigning of teams--they got it backwards. Instead of 9, 1 for assigning Team Red and 9, 9, 1 to select Team Red, it should have been 9, 9, 1 for assigning Team Red and 9, 1 for choosing Team Red. Selecting the team is done far more often than, and needs to be done more quickly than, assigning the team. And even when you have a team selected (unlike when you have units selected normally), you can't give them an order on the map unless you opened the command menu before selecting them. Stupid!

BIS are like Albert Einstein--can split a fucking atom but can't match a pair of socks. I'll just have to live with that. It isn't that bad. You won't see me actually bashing the game--I try to convince my friends to play it, albeit somewhat apologetically--I want them to have an idea what I'm asking them to get into before they go through the trouble, because most people end up not liking it after they try it. I loved Operation Flashpoint and I love Arma 2, myself. However (and this is my entire point which I've been getting at with my last two or three posts), you must concede that those who do not care for the series do have a valid point. They are missing out on some awesome stuff by dismissing the entirety, but they are correct when they point out that the interface, physics, and infantry movement are generally clumsy and awkward.

Ted O'Toole on 28/5/2012 at 22:57

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The greater community of Arma isn't really into the vanilla game. The ACE mod is very popular for example.

If you really want to multiplayer ARMA, I'd suggest you get the Yoma Addon sync program which can be used for updating various mods, and managing stuff. The Day Z guys are working on a Mod server for Day Z since there are new alpha versions every couple of days.

Join an Arma gaming group, there are plenty out there. I prefer to play with Zeus Community since they tend to play realistically, but not to the point of role play and you can still have a laugh. Other groups can be really shitty about sticking to real life regulations and stuff.




Not taking away from dram or w/e, but BIS are pretty often ridiculed for terrible programming. In fact I'd go as far as to say it was the original OFP mod community who made Arma what it is, since a great deal of the mods, those that added to the realism and upgraded the AI, were if not incorporated directly, they were certainly taking into consideration for the development of Arma. Still, as good as Arma 1 and 2 were on launch, the mod community make the games better and corrected a lot of the silly goofs that BIS have an annoying habit of letting slip.

Ted O'Toole on 29/5/2012 at 00:41

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Yea the maps are pretty decent, unless you come across the AI pathing glitches at bridges or terrain lvl difference, the rocks and terrain decor that make you die.

Programming errors for the most part I'm sure.

Edit: They wern't always indie ofcourse. They used to run under Codemasters until either artistic differences or money or w/e meant BIS walked away, which is why we have Arma and not OFP. Speaking of which, that release looked so nice and even played ok for a few missions. Got shitty boring really quickly though.

As for BIS currently, I think theyre doing pretty good. They charge a ridiculous amount for the military training modules and now with steam sales in the bag, licensing the engine and new flight sim IP, they're a far cry from some poor scrub indie developer programming in cold rooms wearing mittens.

Sg3 on 12/6/2012 at 10:31

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So Lieutenant Duck and I were in an Apache helicopter, looking to mess up some bad guys on a game of Capture the Island in Arma 2. It was his first time in a helicopter, I believe. I had steeled myself for the usual display given by noobers to Arma of a general inability to target enemies on radar despite being clearly told the very simple (one-keypress) process for doing so. I was determined not to let my frustration show at being shot at while not having, as the pilot, any way of returning fire.

Well, imagine my surprise when the noobery never came. "T-72! Directly in front," I said, and a second later there was the whoosh of the Hellfire and a kaboom. Holy mackerel, he did it. I bet he'll fumble the second one. Nope. Again and again, the Duck fired the cannon and missiles with satisfactory effectiveness, and smoke clouds attested to the newly evident fact that the ladies are not the only things which need fear the Duck's presence.

Then it happened. "APC, front," I hollered, then delivered a confusing array of conflicting advice to my poor gunner: "Use cannon on the APC. Wait, there's a tank! Missile! Hit the tank! Switch to Hellfires and hit the tank." But I was missing the real threat. I guess there's no way we could have seen it, since it wasn't showing up on radar and was too far away to identify visually.

Whoomph, said the SAM as it struck our bird. It didn't come from any of the threats we knew about. Not sure if it was a shoulder-launched one or one of those static defenses which don't show up on radar, but it did the job. Our engine was out. "Oh, shit, they got us--we're going down. Autorotating!" As our stricken 'copter descended below the treeline, I heard my ducky gunner fire one last Hellfire missile. I heard a large boom and grinned despite the situation: he got that T-72 as we were crashing.

I did pretty good this time, and the crash-landing was gentle. "Get out, get out, get away from the chopper! Run!" And we boogied it away from the downed helicopter in opposite directions. Sure enough, a couple of seconds later, a shell exploded almost directly on the Apache. Two shells later and our ride was a pretty fireball rising over the trees. So Mr. Duck and I, armed with only a carbine and a very crappy pistol between the two of us, sneaked through the woods, away from the tanks racing to the crash site. We eventually made our way to the closest town, which was enemy-held, and stealthily took it. It wasn't that well-defended--in truth, virtually deserted, but the Duck was required to snipe an enemy machinegunner with his carbine (for the pistol is worth beans at anything farther than fist range).

After we took the town, we requisitioned an automobile from it and drove to our own HQ, whereupon Mr. Duck abandoned the war effort. And that is how we lost the war, but Mr. Duck did an excellent job of his first time as a virtual Apache gunner.

Sg3 on 13/6/2012 at 06:16

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Yeah, that was the game being a prick and giving you the most unpleasant welcome it could. I have, literally, never gone even half that long in a CTI game without seeing enemies before. It's like the game was trying to give you a boring impression. Made up for it with that helicopter stuff, though! Air always was my favorite. : )