ArmA2: Tips for a beginner?

Promac

Hi All,

Just started playing ArmA2 and while it's a lot of fun, it's a bit daunting. I'm playing through the campaign currently but it's tough going - have to replay missions quite a lot due to stupidity. I'm still stuck in MW2-mode and find it hard not to rush into every situation.

Thought some people on here might have some advice on getting to grips with it all.

Cheers

PogMoThoin

The best way to learn is probably to get online and on mumble with us and we can answer any questions You got straight away

dreamers75

Never go in 1st.
If you can see them, they can see you.
If your missile has a lock on an something, they also have a lock on you.
Move from cover to cover and always make sure you have a shot from cover. You die more times moving from cover or being in crap cover.
Running away sometimes is the best tactic.
Your AI guys will get you killed, Maxmillian will get you killed a lot more.

SP is good but online with humans as your team mates makes the game a ****load more fun. But the learning curve is a bit steep and very daunting especially as Arma 2 uses all the keys on the keyboard and with Ace it uses even more :O

Promac

The AI guys are pretty stupid I have to say.

How do I get online with you guys then - is there a dedicated server?

I'll probably play out more of the single player to get used to the controls more but I'm looking forward to getting some decent multiplayer games too. Sounds like great craic.

dreamers75

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055787671


if you follow the guide in there you can download the ACE mod. The launcher pic contains the IP of the server hosted in ireland so ping is great.

The game itself takes a bit of getting used to regarding mods.

Promac

Cheers, I'll have a go at mods later but I might stick with the vanilla version for now.

Maximilian

You need to purge yourself of all MW2 impulses. They key to success in Arma is patience. If you know there is enemy somewhere, don't rush in. Move to a different position. Always try and maintain an advantage. Ideally you never want to be engaging at short range if you can help it. It's a lot easier said than done.

Also, be careful of any nearby Kdjacs running into your bullets.

But yeah - try and get ACE up and running and join us on the server and on Mumble. You'll learn stuff you never knew about the game and have a great laugh to boot. You don't need to be an expert to go online with it and nobody is going to call you a noob etc.

Multiplayer in this is about 100 times better than the campaign. It's a completely different game in fact.

cashville

You should download the ACE mod and get on to the server with us. Any questions you have we'll answer on the fly as we're on Mumble. Trust me, you will have loads of fun. Like Max said 'MP is 100 times better than SP'.

Get familiar with all the keys. Crouching, running, going prone, changing from your rifle to your Anti-Tank, leaning, changing fire modes. You'll need this all to be second nature or else you'll get merked very easily.

As per kdjac - always stay in cover. Always have some other cover you can retreat to or move laterally to sharpish. If there's a single tree in the middle of a field trust me - it's not good cover.

Don't get tunnel vision. You really have to be aware of what's going on 360. The amount of times I've been taking pot shots long range at someone and another enemy has ran right up from the side and taken me out.

If you put some time in and don't get frustrated early on you'll really enjoy this game.

kenon

Campaign is a bit muck I agree but I think its a great warm up to playing online where we play on veteran. On veteran the AI rarely give you a second chance.

By the way, the bonus mini-campaign that came with the latest patch is actually really good. There is a fantastic battle for a village at the end were you are stuck with minimal bullets and an AK. (Makes you love the DMR even more after playing it).

So yeah, I wouldn't run from the campaign just yet. Get confident switching from cover, shooting from long distance, learn the keyboard thoroughly etc

My number 1 tip for a beginner is use the Z key (go prone) a lot. It will keep you alive.

Promac

Nice tips, cheers!

It's kinda frustrating playing the single player as it's fairly buggy and quite unforgiving. I tried bootcamp, got as far as driving a hummer to some village that was being attacked, crashed into a wall and died - had to start from scratch again.

Still a cool game though - spent about 5 minutes trying to shoot skeet and getting frustrated because a shotgun shouldn't be THAT inaccurate only to realise that I had to lead the targets and get out of the habit of shooting with my cursor.

Quite impressed by the size of the game zone too - running through fields and hiding from choppers and planes, heading for some place on the horizon that actually turns out to be real and not in the next load.

cashville

Good to hear you're enjoying it. You should try and get the ACE mod and come on the server, the numbers had dwindled there for a while but since the release we've had some cracking games.

Gonzovision

Alright if I join ye lads? Haven't really got that far in the campaign tbh but I'm willing to give mp a shot. Ace is downloading at the moment. Looks amazing though.

Just 1 question. In addon sync it has download beta 61974 in red at the top. Do I need this? I'm currently on 1.05.

dreamers75

gonzovision wrote: »

Alright if I join ye lads? Haven't really got that far in the campaign tbh but I'm willing to give mp a shot. Ace is downloading at the moment. Looks amazing though.

Just 1 question. In addon sync it has download beta 61974 in red at the top. Do I need this? I'm currently on 1.05.

nah 61974 is the last beta before the patch, Betas have stopped for now.

Should be fine setting up ACE everyone here recomneds the arma luancher as it just works.

PogMoThoin

gonzovision wrote: »

Just 1 question. In addon sync it has download beta 61974 in red at the top. Do I need this? I'm currently on 1.05.

No, this was for informing of the latest test patch, You're on the latest with 1.05. Before the 1.05 patch came out they released it as a beta for everyone to test and report back. There'll be betas for the next 1.06 patch sometime soon. You've found a game developer who cares for its gamers, Operation Flashpoint which was released in 2002 is still getting updates and the latest 1.05 patch for ArmA 2 contained Eagle Wing, a bonus mission as Christmas present to the players. Ace and other mods are completely made by the community

PogMoThoin

Most importantly, there are no experts with Arma everyones a noob, we're still learning new things 6 months later playing every week. Even more stuff to learn now with the Ace mod introducing new things. Its a game thats ever evolving, updating and modding

Promac

Found a great intro guide here:
http://reddawn.co.nz/BasicsGuide_Final_250709.pdf

Quite funny too

PogMoThoin

Promac wrote: »

Found a great intro guide here:
http://reddawn.co.nz/BasicsGuide_Final_250709.pdf

Quite funny too

Cool, I've added it to our tips & tricks sticky
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055623100

Gonzovision

Cheers lads that was class :P Very enjoyable. Got a few kills once I learned how to use the map and find out how to go where I was supposed to! Didn't die as often as I thought although Lightning killed me a few times lol. Can't believe I've had this sitting here for months and never gave it a proper go. Looking forward to more games and learning more about it.

Gonzovision

It was funny alright. I shadowed a guy for 10 minutes thinking he was with me only for him to turn around and kill me lol.

Hmmm when I got rid of my Javelin I seemed to be ok, was able to run around. Before that I was just falling on my face. I don't know though that was my first multiplayer game. Hadn't played vanilla at all. I was afraid to fly anything though and when I was driving to a location i was going through a ploughed field my jeep got stuck and blew up.

Maximilian

Looks like I missed a fun filled evening. Still, Dances with Smurfs 3D is bloody mindblowing.

PogMoThoin

The fatigue thing only became an issue with this mission and the last Ace update (sat), before that it was fine to carry 2 weapons and a smaw. I think they've tweaked it a little too far and it'll prob change again in the next update, Ace is a beta after all. We could pick the other AI version of Ace domination tomorrow as this is probably a parameter set by the mission, not the mod. You've only seen one night of one single mission, more to come.

Get on mumble tomorrow, its much more enjoyable when You can relay your status or ask for help
Mumble ip: 84.203.243.163 and default port

Best tip for finding Your way is to use Your gps, its easier than constantly using compas and map. You can keep it visible by clicking right control + m. These are the little handy tips we can give on mumble, its much easier through voice chat

PogMoThoin

Updated the server just there, there was 71MB, so You'll all need to update with Yoma before You join or You'll not be able to play. Remember to delete extra files. We're now running version 211 on server, You can check Yours by checking the version.txt file in the @ACE folder

PogMoThoin

You need to turn back on Your crosshair after each Ace update, goto the userconfig\ACE folder and modify the ace_clientside_config.txt by commenting out the line (put // before the #define ACE_NOCROSS)

//#define ACE_NOCROSS

dreamers75

Not a big fan of the fatigue system, but i now carry satchels and a DMR.

Soon as i drop my load i can run forevr

dreamers75

gonzovision wrote: »

Cheers lads that was class :P Very enjoyable. Got a few kills once I learned how to use the map and find out how to go where I was supposed to! Didn't die as often as I thought although Lightning killed me a few times lol. Can't believe I've had this sitting here for months and never gave it a proper go. Looking forward to more games and learning more about it.

Mick?


Should get on Mumble, it may not seem like it but we generally do have a plan of some sort to make things dead. Except fridays.

dreamers75

PogMoThoin wrote: »

You need to turn back on Your crosshair after each Ace update, goto the userconfig\ACE folder and modify the ace_clientside_config.txt by commenting out the line (put // before the #define ACE_NOCROSS)

//#define ACE_NOCROSS

Dont mind not having it, makes for some interesting shoots in CQB with a DMR.

cashville

dreamers75 wrote: »

Dont mind not having it, makes for some interesting shoots in CQB with a DMR.

I don't mind not having it either. For close quarters I just fire a few shots and re-adjust quickly. You get the nack of it pretty fast when your ass is on the line, it makes close combat really frantic and the AI aren't a perfect shot every time any more so it is forgiving.

Maximilian

LIGHTNING wrote: »

It was fun! I manged to Paveway two BMP`s full of russian troops and then while thinking I was great I flew straight into a crane.

That's how it's supposed to be done. Extra drama.

PogMoThoin

Get used to clearing the side mission only to have Max blow up the chopper while tying his laces or something

bandit197

Another beginner here, I've had the game for a while but haven't really had time to play it. Pog has me convinced to give it a go tho. Installing ACE now

Promac

I installed the addon server, all the default addons, mumble etc. But couldn't connect to mumble and couldn't find the server in the multiplayer list in game.

I'll try again tomorrow.

dreamers75

Promac wrote: »

I installed the addon server, all the default addons, mumble etc. But couldn't connect to mumble and couldn't find the server in the multiplayer list in game.

I'll try again tomorrow.

Its the age of lazyass-ness

Enter the server ip into arma launcher and save it , you only need to hit JOIN GAME from that and you go straight onto server.

In Mumble setup a quick connect and if you join mumble 1st you get an Overlay in game of who is online and who is talking (handy that but might need to change the default font size its quite big on default)

The Boards.ie Tactical Shooters ArmA II Server is up running fine so far:
http://arma2.swec.se/server/data/125832

Server ip: 217.78.4.73 or do a filter search for boards.ie

still using the lanparty mumble:

Mumble ip: 84.203.243.163 and default port

Promac

It's a great game. I got 3 TK's and 1 actual kill. Fun though

Sterling Archer

Hi all, just ordered my copy of ARMA 2, it'll be my first PC based Shooter style sim (been a C.O.D Ghost Recon guy for a while, but going on what i've read first thing is to forget all i know :P), so some time will be needed to get used to the the controls, so i've started to download everything in the MODS YOU NEED thread, anything else i should get, i'll be aiming for online play once i've got the hang of the controls

Regards Shane

Promac

That should be enough to get you going. It's worth playing through the campaign as much as you can for the sake of learning the tools and make sure you complete the boot camp - for aircraft I did it a lot and I'm still a crap pilot so keep going back as much as you can stand it.

After that, get online and get slaughtered along with the rest of us