Arma 2 Catch All

That was very helpful, thanks.

edit - Ah crap, it looks like it does require Combined Operations. Hopefully it will be on sale again soon!

syndicatedragon wrote:

That was very helpful, thanks.

edit - Ah crap, it looks like it does require Combined Operations. Hopefully it will be on sale again soon!

You can currently buy the Steam version of Operation Arrowhead from the devs for 25% off ($15).

ebarstad wrote:

You can currently buy the Steam version of Operation Arrowhead from the devs for 25% off ($15).

I don't have the Steam version of Arma2, so I'm guessing that won't work? Maybe Combined Arms will go on sale during the (theoretical) Steam sale.

edit- I see they have a standalone version on sale too. Hmm.

The worst thing about the LOST mod is not having binoculars when you start out (though perhaps this depends on the class you take at the start). I always take a medic to begin with so that I can heal myself, but trying to determine whether or not a town will be safe without binoculars is tough. And you have to be so deliberate and cautious, which makes binoculars even more valuable if you can find them -- or a weapon with a good scope.

After trying out the ACE mod, I want those mines in LOST so that I can create ambushes. That would be so awesome.

Team Leader or Commander or similar classes start with binoculars. But then no med pack, which is why I've been wounded for a while.

I think the worst thing about LOST is the command menus. Some of it, I'm sure, is because I haven't played any of the ArmA2 tutorials. Like when I go to command mode and set a waypoint for a different squad and they acknowledge it and then don't move there.

But then there's LOST-specific like the order to load enemy ammo box contents into the nearest vehicle, only to be told there isn't one (I parked the Humvee right next to it).

The good news though is that this game I've accumulated 10 soldiers and a Humvee. Now if only I could find a damn truck to carry my cache, which is pretty far away at this point.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

But then there's LOST-specific like the order to load enemy ammo box contents into the nearest vehicle, only to be told there isn't one (I parked the Humvee right next it.

Sometimes I think this is because you don't have enough room or the right type of vehicle -- I think those all receive the same message.

I was able to transfer the contents by hand, so I don't think it was that. I mean, it was a few crates at an enemy camp, total haul was like 6 rifles and a handful of magazines. It all fit in the Humvee.

ebarstad wrote:

The worst thing about the LOST mod is not having binoculars when you start out (though perhaps this depends on the class you take at the start). I always take a medic to begin with so that I can heal myself, but trying to determine whether or not a town will be safe without binoculars is tough. And you have to be so deliberate and cautious, which makes binoculars even more valuable if you can find them -- or a weapon with a good scope.

After trying out the ACE mod, I want those mines in LOST so that I can create ambushes. That would be so awesome.

Opening loadout does rely on the class you pick - I don't pick medics purely because I want the binoculars. If you pick a British leader/marksman then you get the binox with the range finding numbers included, which are nice.

Also the ACE mod works in LOST, but you then will want to start as a medic, or you'll bleed to death the second time you get shot.

My current gang finally went up to double figures over the weekend and we have a couple UAZ jeeps, a Ural truck and two BMP-2's now... if only I had some gas for them. One of the BMP-2s is an ambulance, which is really useful, as I can heal up there.

With a good number of men on my side I've taken to ambushing the enemy now - using the commands to send one guy into town to run by some unmarked houses and then return to formation. Shortly after the bad guys who respond to the warning call the house puts out will, hopefully, wander by me, at which point the fight is very short, now I have a couple guys with RPKs and one SAW. Sadly, to find SAW ammo I have to go back to where the "friendly forces" started off and pick through the bodies of fallen comrades, so I may have to give that up soon.

The other trick is to set up my followers in a tree line with the hold fire command, then use my scoped AK103 to take potshots at a distant patrol and then run and shoot to draw the patrol past my ambush. Give the weapons free command and hide in cover until the gunfire stops.

I think the Mi-8 helictoper that was the bane of my existence for a while is out of fuel, because it landed in a town near my base cache and hasn't moved since, even when I've been in a gunfight one town over.

Oh yeah, I have a problem with Hinds. I keep my guys prone so we don't get spotted. I was so excited to find a surface-to-air missile launcher! Except... no missile in it? It doesn't mention an ammo type in its description, so I figured it was a one-shot disposable: Igla 9K38. But no. Haven't found any ammo for it yet either.

I haven't seen a Hind yet - I only gave the faction spread a "1" for Russian vehicles, going almost entirely for local stuff, which seems to mean a lot of UAZ, Technicals and BMPs and, in the air, a lot of "Hips" rather than "Hinds."

Similar to you, practically the first house search I did turned up an AT launcher... with no missile. It's still in my cache, in the plastic wrap, as I haven't found ammo for it yet.

Despite the quirks and bugs, I'm having a great time with LOST.

In my most recent game, four of the five starting friendly squads were able to hold their own at their starting location in the north eastern corner of Takistan. While I was on the other side of map, I was able to grab some intel off a corpse about some POWs nearer to the friendlies than to me, so I had them secure the POWs until I could get there. Meanwhile, I was able to locate and secure a base with a UAZ and a Land Rover with some sort of missile launcher on top, plus an empty Ural. I also located a gas station and, further on, a fuel truck parked together with an ammo truck. Jackpot!

As I skirted across the top of the map, off-roading to meet up with the friendlies, I discovered a camp with a helicopter and then a vehicle repair camp near the POWs, where I could repair and refuel my Land Rover. I released the two POWs and they've joined my squad. Now, together with the other four squads, we're moving to take the airport in the northern part of Takistan.

What I'd like to be able to do is break off a two man team to take the helicopter I found, but I'm not sure how best to do that via the interface. I also want to grab my main cache and haul it to wherever there are a bunch of dead soldiers so that I can vacuum up all the loot, but that might have to wait. Maybe I should take the heli myself, with one of my two squad mates, grab the cache, and come back to the airport once we've secured it. So many options...

Hehe, I carried mine around for hours before the big DOH! moment.

I started out on the Cherna map in the northeast, north of Olsha. I've barely begun to search Krasnotav.

A tribute video to some of the Arma 2 Island creators. The maps are pretty amazing.

It turns out if you tell your squad to regroup and follow you, and one of your guys is driving a Humvee, he will run over your other squad members without a second thought.

Have any of you tried out the Shack Tactical Movement mod? Looks like it would be extremely helpful for moving through buildings.

Messed around with Lost some last night, totally digging it so far. I haven't found much on the settings you configure when picking your class as well as the screen that comes up shortly after the game launches. Anyone have any recommended, AI density (I guess it would be) numbers they are using, or able to explain what a single digit increase equates too?

By the way, I tried running this on the Fallujah map, wow what a slide show and I never even got close to the city. Tora Bora was fun though, stole a hind out from beneath a couple of enemies noses (well I killed them first), that was fun to fly around in for a while, before I got a bit crazy dodging gun fire from another Hind and crashed.

Redhwk wrote:

Messed around with Lost some last night, totally digging it so far. I haven't found much on the settings you configure when picking your class as well as the screen that comes up shortly after the game launches. Anyone have any recommended, AI density (I guess it would be) numbers they are using, or able to explain what a single digit increase equates too?

I left everything default.

Redhwk wrote:

By the way, I tried running this on the Fallujah map, wow what a slide show and I never even got close to the city. Tora Bora was fun though, stole a hind out from beneath a couple of enemies noses (well I killed them first), that was fun to fly around in for a while, before I got a bit crazy dodging gun fire from another Hind and crashed.

I've had periods where the game slows my machine to a crawl. I found I couldn't use the same graphical settings I do in Day Z, even though I'm playing on the same map (Chernarus).

I also found a fully fueled pristine Hind on the edge of the town I was invading. After a few grisly crashes (I should probably break out my joystick), I realized that I should just have one of my squad fly the thing! Which was a great idea as he's better at flying and shooting that I am.

So I was finally able to fly to my allies on the map. The shame of it is, they've been getting slaughtered by an enemy Hind the whole time I've been farting around by the airfield. With a Hind of my own, and a crew to fly it, I was able to force it down.

I'd recommend you search houses until you find some troops or rescue some POWs, then have them fly it.

Just stole a Ka-52 from a mobile base north of Sosnovka.

Let's see how you like me now, stupid enemy man.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I also found a fully fueled pristine Hind on the edge of the town I was invading.

Great. Now I have chopper envy.

What I didn't know I'd love about the Hind is the troop capacity. I fit my whole squad in it.

But really, what I'd like is a gunship so that the guys in the back can actually make themselves useful by manning some mounted guns. When only the pilot has a machine gun, he is constantly making these strafe passes followed by slow slow turns.

Redhwk wrote:

Messed around with Lost some last night, totally digging it so far. I haven't found much on the settings you configure when picking your class as well as the screen that comes up shortly after the game launches. Anyone have any recommended, AI density (I guess it would be) numbers they are using, or able to explain what a single digit increase equates too?

On the first screen, I think the numbers are essentially ratios per side. So, for example, 1 BAF and 1 PMC would mean BLUFOR would be made up of half of each. The actual numbers would then be determined by the second screen. I'm not sure how the vehicles play into that ratio, though.

On the second screen, I found the default numbers favoured OPFOR a little too heavily, so I cut air and vehicle patrols in half and bumped enemies squads down to 50 from 75. I then keep friendlies at 5 or whatever the default starting number is.

Redhwk wrote:

By the way, I tried running this on the Fallujah map, wow what a slide show and I never even got close to the city. Tora Bora was fun though, stole a hind out from beneath a couple of enemies noses (well I killed them first), that was fun to fly around in for a while, before I got a bit crazy dodging gun fire from another Hind and crashed.

I downloaded a bunch of maps yesterday to check out. Chenarus already runs like a slideshow for me on this mission (10-12fps), so I'm not sure which maps I'll actually be able to use besides Takistan or Zargabad. I've played Lingor online and Duala in SP using a modified version of COOP 20 Takistan Force, so maybe I'll try those next. The Fallujah map is pretty cool, though.

Edit: Sorry, the forum didn't like that URL. Removed.

You'll be wanting a Chinook. You can sling a truck underneath too.

Meanwhile, in ArmA multi this past weekend...

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I found I couldn't use the same graphical settings I do in Day Z, even though I'm playing on the same map (Chernarus).

DayZ hard sets several graphical settings in the mod that override your own settings. Most notably the night time settings, but also the view distance. In the game I had it set all the way to 10000 and having really only played DayZ I thought my machine was handling it fine. But I ran some benchmarks in regular ARMAII and it was a slideslow. I dropped it down to 3000 (I think DayZ may force it as low as 1500 or 2000) and it ran so much smoother. He also forces terrain detail so people can't set it low and turn grass off.

Vega wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

I found I couldn't use the same graphical settings I do in Day Z, even though I'm playing on the same map (Chernarus).

DayZ hard sets several graphical settings in the mod that override your own settings. Most notably the night time settings, but also the view distance. In the game I had it set all the way to 10000 and having really only played DayZ I thought my machine was handling it fine. But I ran some benchmarks in regular ARMAII and it was a slideslow. I dropped it down to 3000 (I think DayZ may force it as low as 1500 or 2000) and it ran so much smoother. He also forces terrain detail so people can't set it low and turn grass off.

Also keep in mind that on some settings, you're actually pushing more work onto the CPU (shadows on low is one of them) and so if your comp is already CPU (which it very well might be on some maps for the simulation), reducing settings might actually make it worse.

Well, I guess I was feeling a bit too cocky last time, preparing to take the airport. My two guys and I moved ahead, while we waited for the other four squads to move up to our position. I just wanted a better view of the air field. Across the valley, though, were two enemy squads of about five men each. At about 300-400 meters away, we battled it out and eventually my squad mates and I prevailed, mainly because we took shelter behind our Land Rover.

As we headed back to meet up with the other squads, two or maybe three armored SUVs came out of nowhere, completely decimating three of the four squads -- all but one guy. The fourth squad, which hadn't caught up to the others, was finished off by a Hind. While this was happening, my two guys and I ran for our lives, abandoning our now ammo-less Land Rover. We made it to a small camp across the valley, but we were all low on ammo, so we had to backtrack and loot the bodies of the enemies we had killed earlier. Again we regrouped at the small camp, trying to come up with a new plan. Beyond where we were and in the opposite direction from the SUVs, we spotted some buildings with watchtowers, so we headed that way, hoping to fortify our position. I radioed the sole survivor to keep his head down and meet us there if he could. I hope he makes it.

So in order to equip rescued POWs do you have to have your weapons cache setup? Can you not have your unarmed guys rearm off a dead body?

I think my favorite class to start as is US Army Operator (Assault), SCAR-H with a M203 and ACOG is tasty.

I haven't found a way to order your teams to rearm off dead enemies. You have to go through the run of load-to-truck->drive to cache->unload to cache->organise AI equipment.

When you're up to 38 followers that can get quit annoying, so I'm hoping one of the other guys playing knows a trick or two.

If there are dead bodies close by, you can select one of your guys, press 6, and then click on Gear. He will go to the nearby body and open up a Gear screen. You can then equip him. A little bit tedious, but it works (most of the time). Or, if you're running ASR AI, your guys should equip themselves if there are bodies near by.

ebarstad wrote:

Also, two AI mods I highly recommend are: ASR AI and TPWC AI suppression system.

These sound interesting, but I've not been able to find the right combination of CBA, Extended_EventHandlers that will get them to load without errors.

Redhwk wrote:
ebarstad wrote:

Also, two AI mods I highly recommend are: ASR AI and TPWC AI suppression system.

These sound interesting, but I've not been able to find the right combination of CBA, Extended_EventHandlers that will get them to load without errors.

I use Six Updater to keep up to date. I think the latest ASR AI might also require the Arma 2 OA beta, but I'm not positive on that.

If you haven't used it before, Six Updater isn't super user-friendly at first glance (although, it's gotten much better in recent versions). It basically lists a bunch of mods (which you can search through). You can then select one or more, right click, go to Updater Actions, click Install or Update Mods. It then downloads the mod and puts it in its own @mod folder and tracks updates for you. If a mod requires CBA, then it downloads the latest version compatible with your game.

ASR AI also has a config file. You can use Six Updater to process this and put it in the proper place by right-clicking on ASR AI (after it's installed), selecting Updater actions, and then Process Userconfigs.

This is my shortcut command-line arguments:
"D:\Games\ArmA 2\Expansion\beta\arma2oa.exe" "-mod=D:\Games\ArmA 2;EXPANSION;ca" "-mod=Expansion\beta;Expansion\beta\Expansion" -mod=@CBA;@CBA_A2;@CBA_OA;@ACE;@ASR_AI;@TPWC_AI_SUPPRESS;@markb50k_Lost -nosplash -world=empty -cpuCount=2