guod: "I think we need another boot camp. A couple of you crusty old goats who have been doing this forever want to volunteer for a one night kiddies training session to teach some inside baseball stuff?"

Having spoken to guod, I have decided to volunteer to instruct a class in Basic Platoon Movement (ArmA 2). Please vote in the poll as to which date would be best for you. The class will happen on the SimHQ server at 1600hrs EDT. The session is intended to smooth out some common problems that Platoons experience during a mission. We will be covering:

1. Advancing to Contact
2. Fire and Maneuver
3. Radio Procedure
4. MOUT

Any Questions? Let me know.

Maneuvering would be a lot easier if we had separate comms channels. Listening to what everyone is doing is distracting. We should have more channels and we should make sure everyone is in the correct channel before we commit to a mission.

SHQ had that initially for ArmA and the result was horrendous. There was lots of confusion and when a SL and FTL would die, and someone had to take command, they wouldn't know what the overall plan was because they weren't privy to what the FTL was hearing from the SL.

It's a game, so it's not perfect, but having a bunch of people talking over a shared net happens in real life, so it's not out of the realm of realism. The "easy" solution is for SLs to not talk as much over TeamSpeak so the FTL can pass info to and from the fireteam. There's a tendency for SLs to micromanage fire teams, either out of necessity (FTL doesn't know what to do or isn't following orders) or because they don't realize they're doing it. That's not a dig on anyone, it just happens sometimes.

Breaking down fireteams into their own channels is, in my opinion, a recipe for confusion. Having one squad per TS channel, with SLs coordinating over channel command, works very well by comparison from what I've seen.

Group VON is a good tool for doing fireteam-level comms (though not perfect), and TS works well for squad-level. The two combined do a very decent job of handling comm needs, though there are things like ACRE that can potentially make it even nicer (though they come with a technical/installation facet that makes them a bit of a challenge to adopt as a group).

Actually... I appreciate you volunteering for this instruction LT, but I'm not sure how this wasn't ok'ed through me in the first place.


I don't feel we need this training, how we play ain't rocket science... and I sure the hell don't want this to become another Tactical Gamer, a great group with way to many SOP's and General Orders... it's why I don't play with TG anymore, I love their teamwork and tactics, but they go overboard IMO, way too many rules to know and follow, and if you don't know them or screw up, they just kick you out right then and there... no, we will not become like other gaming groups...


SimHQ is a small unit, with a simple rule of basic knowledge gained by reading just 5 short articles... we KISS, Keep it simple stupid... and frankly, if you can't figure out our very basic rules, then you don't need to play on MM. JMO.


Now don't get me wrong, I appreciate the desire... but thats not for SimHQ's small unit co-op... and if Doug wants the server being ran with a bunch of rules and guidelines, which he hasn't told me yet, then great... but then he can show up and start running MM. lol (posted in a joking way, to get doug playing with us, not a disrespectful way.)

Simple...

1. Read the 5 basic articles on team/sqd movement.

2. Follow your TL, Follow your SL orders.

3. Report... "Contact 270, 1 tank with infantry, 500 meters".

4. for URBAN training, you might want to read my SWAT article, which covers building searches.

5. Have fun, and KISS.




Of course, if a bunch of members wanted to get together and practice movements or whatever, thats good... just saying I don't want a full 10 step reporting system on our MM server.

Feedback/comments/rebuttals welcomed.

Its still simple magnum ..

1, After reading the 5 articles, practice getting into them from a 1st person perspective over different terrain and stances.

2, Get pratical experience following your TL through several different types of ennviroments weather it be open desert or jungle.

3, Practice reporting and calling out targets in an active warzone where you dont know your heading off the top of your head and dont have time to get your compass out.

4, Again, get practical training of urban combat, arma2 isnt exactly great at this and deffenitly has quirks that you dont read about from an article about another game.

5, Get some practice in an enviroment where it doesnt matter if you make a mistake and dont need to worry about someone tellin you to read the sticky which doesnt tell you everying anyway.

Rember, its a lot easier for someone whos been playing arma for years to say its easy, but for someone whos newer to the games its still all pretty complex

# 3 is of interest to me. You cant pull out your compass while looking through the gun sight or while zoomed in. I have figured out that you can "cheat" a little to get ranging by pressing the spacebar, but a compass tape or somesuch would be invaluable.

Would love to hear what you guys are doing to stay oriented.

If we are not engaged, then I just keep my crosshairs centred on the target, unzoom, and bring up the compass to report a cardinal heading, e.g. "contacts to the north east."

If we are engaged and I don't have access to the compass I use two methods. First is to report directions relative to our direction of advance. If we are advancing north, I can say "contacts right side" and everyone can safely assume contacts are to the north east or east. Same with "contacts rear" - they're going to be south. Downside of this is if you have a complex plan with multiple teams branching off and doing different things, it gets complicated.

Second is to report contacts relative to landmarks. I've seen this happen in a few combat videos out of Afghanistan. Basically observe the contacts, find a landmark close to them, and report their positions relative to it, e.g. "referencing the closest guard tower, contacts low and to the left" or "contacts moving away near the T-intersection."

Fine, if you don't want it, I won't do it.

Mis-understanding here... sorry, that was from my iPhone which makes it hard to proof read...

By all means if the training session is wanted then do it, I'm just saying it won't be mandatory attendance to play on our server, and be sure to keep it simple, as a SL I don't want a 5 minute military report in battle... KISS.

and as for the Doug thing, that was a joke to pressure him into getting on and leading a mission or two.

I'd be down just to get some extra Arma2 in besides Monday nights; but weekends usually don't work for me. I like to do stuff out of the house so I'm usually not available Fri/Sat days/nights (reason why I missed the last two Warfare sessions). If it was on a weeknight I'd be there

I remain interested.

Same here, Fransky. Not to put words in Magnum's mouth, but I think he didn't want the impression to be made that this training was mandatory or part of some shift in the SimHQ servers way of operating.

Hopefully, I am not alone (and Doug's comment implies I am not) in saying that a little time together on the server hashing things out would be appreciated. Heck, I'd be happy to have somebody walk us through the server interface even.

I have limited free time, and only play ArmA on Military Monday. As such, I have only played at times when conversation was not really part of the agenda. Unfortunately, this means nobody has time to clarify a technique or critique particular approaches to a given situation. It seems like a great opportunity to get together and just plain talk about the mechanics of how things work. I don't know your background, but many of the players are either veterans, law enforcement, or otherwise able to contribute greatly to such a session.

In Summary:

I remain interested.

...but can't make the 21st...

I'd be interested Fransky. I won't vote on a date, I'll just go with the group.

What we really need is a basic Squad Lead 101. Seriously, you can count the number of SimHQ Squad Leaders on one hand.

Yep, good point Brennus. IMHO it's so hard to design training events for ArmA2, we have a huge range of skill levels. From players still trying to learn the keys and the basic operation of the game to players who are interested in the finer tactics.

That's part of what we'll talk about if we get more than 5 people. (so far)