Hi guys,

Today we've gone a bit overboard and have a total of six new/updated missions to play. Four of these are campaign missions that the team played through only once, but have since been revised for general play. Changes include bug fixes, reduction of playable slots, and in some cases new objectives. Plus two new missions from me with British forces. We may have a lower turnout due to the holiday, but we've got a range of missions now covering the gamut from 4 players up to 20, so we should be good.

See you then!

Hope to be back in town by start time... if not next week for sure.

Hua!! I'm so there.

Unfortunately not gonna make it tonight
Will be there next week though.

It sucked to miss last week, I'm going to try and be there tonight!

I am there and I am recovering from the booze...violence has arrived!

I'll be there. I am Where Is Beef by the way.

Going to try. Got some social things going on this evening.

Can't the book-club wait??? j/k

I'll be there. Was hoping to get BAF installed before the games begin but it's not looking too promising. Gotta love DSL!!

BAF is small - I think I DL'd it with a 2-Meg connection in under 40 mins -

Not sure what's going on with me - seems some plans might be generating on the fly here - more to follow


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no can do after all, sorry

Got in for one round before having to drop to help my kids clean up, very fun for a Arma2 Military Monday FNG like me, usually I miss it as I'm on the West Coast and commuting home at this time, but that was great and I will try to join you guys again in the future if I work from home or something.

P.S. sorry Jedi that I didn't know how to drop ammo from my pack (I was an ate up AG), I went and read the FM on how to do that for future AG duty.

gREAT GAMES TONIGHT... GREAT MISSIONS TOO... OUR TEAM IS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER EACH WEEK.


can u tell i used in game comms.

Yup, good games! Sorry I didn't take command earlier Magnum but I was takin' screens, but it should be worth it!

I couldn't make it. Sounds like good times, glad to hear it.

Devil's advocate here ... comms are too saturated with upwards of 20 players these days ... I sometimes can't make head nor tail of what the hell I'm supposed to do. I think there has to be some sort of radio discipline here and everyone being able to hear global (command communications) isn't the way to do it.

My two cents.

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Im on the West Coast now too Krudger - and there were a few people that hung around for some after-party missions.

Thanx for putting up with me and teaching me how to use in-game VOIP again, guys - been 2-years for me. I got a lil overwhelmed with my first mission: night time and being asked to laser mark targets - that's why I backed out of that one for the sake of the mission.

SimHQ use to run one of those perpetual campaigns during the other days of the week with the first ArmA - has that been discussed again? I can always go to a public server with one - but it was nice to have that private practice area back then,

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We should try the latest version of EVO for OA, I dled it and itis quite nice, would be cool if we could get a few people together every night for evo. was always my favorite casual play on ARMA 1 (over Domination)

Add to that the problem of some people still not using the Team channel when using comms, and it becomes even more problematic.

Pretty nice gameplay last night. Nice to see some old and new faces joining us last night. Comms discipline was overall pretty good and formations were looking great. Looks like we need to work on keeping momentum when team leaders go down; there were a few instances last night where teams were unresponsive to their squad leaders or to the rest of the team after sustaining casualties. It sucks when people go down, but somebody's got to step up and take control of the team or the squad in those situations. But anyway, overall a pretty fun evening of play.

I had a fantastic time guys! Welcome back Lionpride. It's great to have you back.

I've found this to be the biggest problem when the mission leader AND my team leader are giving out orders at the same time.

Well we've already discussed and tried other options in respect to in game comms...

1. We have alot of players now due to new releases and new missions, but as soon as we go to multi-channels we will drop back down to 12 players and not need multi-channels. lol

2. Now remember, our missions are based on a over size squad... that means that the SL'er is the one running the mission... what seems to happen is that the fireteams get spread out to far from each other and then they become really their own squad. A SL'er should make sure and direct fireteams more closer together to support and assist each other, fireteams SHOULD almost always be in vision with the other fireteams. But we seem to run our squad missions as platoon missions, me included, by having the SL take cover and direct from the map, giving orders to fireteams as if they were squads. So as leaders wee need to think and plan the way the missions are designed for... squad missions. (This of course excludes sniper, air, and armor support.)

3. SL'ers should give a good plan of attack at the beginning of the missions, then only re-order or micromanage when things fall apart. There is way to much talking, ordering, and micro-managing from squad leaders... now I bet every single one of you just said "No Poop Magnum... your the biggest violator" and guess what... I know, a problem i have and need to work on... how can you help? Lead some damn missions so i won't have too. lol.

4. Team leaders should remember that their suppose to be using the in game order system for their people... you shouldn't be on comms saying "formation line", or "rejoin formation", theirs keys for that and a character voice that says it for you to your people. While a team is moving or bounding another team, their is no need to talk unless theirs contact... either have them (your troops) stay in formation via in game commands, or point to a place you want them to go, behind a wall... and order "go there". That way the SL'er can adjust teams over teams speak as he see's fit... if contact is made, the contacting team lays suppressive fire and reports the contact (which was rarely done till AFTER the firefight last night). The team engaging shouldn't be ordered to move unless in a kill zone, they take cover and suppress while the other team flanks and kills.

5. The point is, our simple comms system works and works well... but I know for a fact, I hear it, whether in a fireteam or next to you, because anyone can hear you if their close enough... people think they can talk and joke around to there team over in game comms. If that unnecessary chatter would stop (like it's suppose to be on MM) then we wouldn't have a comms problem.

and while I'm here...

1. If you take a chopper, know how to fly it and how to use it in a combat enviroment... your not their to do mad rush fly overs to see who fires... your their to be behind terrain, where you pop up and scan, then lower... report... pop up and scan, engage... lower... slide slip elsewhere and repeat. If a SL has to tell you over and over to get out of the kill zone, you won't be flying again on MM.

Thats really it... I thought we did extremely well, and think we played and won every mission... none were over complicated, and none overly easy.

From my perspective - being gone for so long playing MMOs - I have to say that I DID learn one thing while playing those God-forsaken games - basically, a good lead didn't have to micro-manage the guys what to do unless it got to the point where we lost a large group of people to battle. Everyone knew their character and its capabilities - and you did yer job.

There was nothing more frustrating then a group who was off doing their own thing (getting us killed) and not taking ownership - Leads would drop Raid all the time and tip-toe around the issue not to hurt feelings, but the successful Raids had a group that would listen and execute.

Here's my proposal - ideally;- have a less-aggressive mission built/made that focuses on fire-team work, comms, and execution and use that as our jump-off point every Monday. Then move on from there --- perhaps the mission-builders could drop in an old vehicle or target (as opposed to an AI character) and one or two positions for training facilitators to critique the mission as we go -- ala Training Time Out --- and Im not talking about an hour long mission, just something quick to shake off the webs and limber up.

Military Monday... is for... Military Monday.

You have 6 other days in the week to learn, practice, train or whatever... actually, your not suppose to arrive at MM till you know the basics and have read the 5 tutorial articles... but thats a general rule, meaning we don't "teach" on MM.

Just FYI.

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Indeed, I have read all the briefings - read them then (two years ago-when they were published) and read them again - The perception that I get is that there a lot of new faces and people like me are trying to get use to the team-oriented game-play of SimHQ - I could jump on a public server and run around like a tard - I guess I might learn something there ----

Not trying to ruffle feathers - I will concede

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Neither am I... and I highly encourage members to use our 24/7 server on more days then MM... a small group of 4 to 6 is a great learning inviroment... Just saying MM is for MM.


Actually... I think LtFransky is setting up some type of ArmA2 training... maybe he can share more info on that.

I thoroughly enjoyed last evening, it reminded me of the good old days.

I will say one thing though, I took Lead on the tail-end mission and yeah...that RAID was truly a raid, right out of the staging area we had a head on fire-fight.

Issues I noticed: The tow-HMMMV had major driving issues - and the communication was sub-par regarding it. When you lose an entire team due to vehicular issues the momentum peters out quickly. I was checking my six for Bravo to assist in the assault. By the time they arrived to the village we were clearing out houses and getting zippered by Static MG's. Sum it up: Move fast, if the vehicle is bogged (Similar to any real-life issue) dump it and start running toward the gun fire, you're bound to find us there...(heh)

Armor played a major role in supporting the assault of that fortified position, thankfully it had a great hull-down position overlooking the village and compound. Once Bravo showed up they did fantastic...clearing houses and finishing the mission was important.


I think the biggest issue of all was the confusion of SL, once I was hit the acting 2ic in the HQ squad did not notice the SL badge in his GUI (accidents happen) and was unresponsive.

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The mission before was a blast, safe and cautious...and chaotic!

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I enjoyed MM - its so great to be back w/o pc issues.

What a comedy of errors -- or a scene from Kelly's Heroes -- that was. Deadmeat couldn't get the icon to drive (the wheel) so I tried and had the same problem. I think there might be a bug in there somewhere, but the wheel would appear for a nanosec then go away. As I'm trying to click on the wheel, Deadmeat had a disco (I think) and dropped off. UTR and Fransky (I think) were patiently waiting for the thing to start rolling. I gave up and jumped into front passenger seat, then the truck took off...with an AI driver who must not have received his learners permit yet...and when I looked over to him he was leading the team (stripes icon). He was running into stumps. Backing up 5 feet, then driving right back into stumps. I tried to get him to turn, or get him out so I could try to drive again, and somehow finally got the wheel. By then the bus had left the station so we made a beeline for the wall, then it took me out of the drivers seat and put the AI driver back in! At that point Brennus (I think it was) said head for the wall on foot, so Fransky, UTR and I arrived late. I had a satchel and placed it at the tank.

I never thought about trying to chase the AI out of the command role via the menu. That may have worked, or not.

After what happened last night, then the fiasco with my screen freezing a couple of weeks ago (which didn't happen again after that night, btw). Maybe its working fine and I'm missing some key commands, but I'd better stick to being a ground grunt. Don't seem to have much luck with vehicles.

LMAO!! It's not the Keystone Kops, it's the Keystone Army!

I've seen weird stuff like this. I can't say for certain, but it seems as though if you are under an AI leader, and that AI has not ordered you to get in or drive, then you sometimes can't get the wheel icon at all. I've actually seen cases were I did get into a driver seat, but my AI leader didn't want me there and I was kicked out of the seat!

Strange.

I was the gunner in the M1A1, so if this is the same mission your referring to, then I wouldn't have been barkin' orders. I'm 99.9% positive it was Enven that was in command...

That is hilarious, too bad you didn't shoot the AI in the face and trek on.

All in all, it was a blast to spend some time gaming. I may be on later tonight PST- just to run some missions for the sake of enjoyment. (Work is killing me today.)

You're right. It was Enven. Thanks.

All great and salient points. I guess I hadn't put two and two together, but now that you mention it, that is exactly what happens...several teams of 4 that go attack instead of one squad attacking.



At the end of the day, I understand it's your house here, so I do say this with respect, but understand I do do this for a living. I'm more than happy to discuss/debrief the particular mission you are talking about. In fact I welcome it because I think some insight could be brought to light. That said, the "pop up" is THE WORST tactic to utilize against small arms when you have the limited visibilities we do w/in the game engine (oh, and in real life, too). It's not 1982 and we're not fighting the Russian horde. And I didn't take anywhere near the damage that you think I took.

I'll leave it at that until I hear if you want to debrief more. I promise, it will be a professional exchange if you're interested.

Beyond all that, good set of games, all.

Good set of missions last night, reminded me a lot of our early days in ARMA 1 for some reason. Enven (and anybody else) I will probably be popping in and out of TS all evening, my new GPU showed up today and I am quite anxious to play around with it online So I will be up for ARMA 2 fooling around for most of the night me thinks.

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Yeah - during that mission with the driving debacle - I ended up as Team Lead of [Charlie], I think - There's no way, in hell, you guys wanted me as the lead of anything just yet --- :P

That being said - Good to see that Im not the only Nub wanted to get some action-on-the-side, as it were, and look fwd to coordinating with you guys from the left-coast on the off days.


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FWIW I think you are thinking of Alpha team - Bravo team (fatty's heroes) was leading the way

Military helo pilot?

No - I think he meant he games for a living - - lol


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http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2972023/A_Haiti_pic_or_two.html#Post2972023

Oh snap!

Heh, you said DoDo

Heya Gator, I had no idea you did that for a living. I need to pay more attention.

S!

I was wondering if anyone would catch that.

Thanks for the publicity, Fatty. And for what it's worth, I always enjoy your missions w/ the aviation element. Great mission design and fun to play, on the ground or in the air.

Thats cool, and much respect... seriously... but really, I know I'm old school, cold war trained... but you can't tell me the new tactic is for a thin skinned bird to fly over the kill zone over and over... I was watching, you were being engaged and smoking from the hits on each run... it's not the fact that it's "my house", it's the fact I was squad leader. Not trying to be controversial with you, just really want to know... that is the tactic for a scout, little bird now?

There seem to be two chief problems with using the AH-6 as a stand-off platform. First, the AH-6's weapons are on fixed mounts, so the aircraft has to be moved to aim them, making it difficult to remain stationary. Second, the cockpit is big and unarmoured, with the pilot's body almost fully exposed to the enemy. Incoming fire therefore has a good chance of striking the crew, especially when the AH-6 is oriented towards the enemy.

Reading a little bit about GOTHIC SERPENT, it seems that AH-6s were (are?) mostly employed for quick hit-and-run strikes, exploiting the AH-6's great speed and manoeuvrability to make fast gun runs at street level, avoiding small arms fire or at least absorbing it in non-essential areas.

@Magnum,

I think what Fatty says above is really the issue. You are absolutely right...a scout shouldn't be in the middle of the tracers. But the AH-6 (as modeled in Arma2) doesn't have the sensors to be as helpful as I think you were hoping. The trade-off, at least as I perceive it, is to make a run-in at high speed, lay down a large amount of suppressive fire (w/ the mini-guns) and then egress. Maybe it was one of those times when the game engine smiles upon the brave, because I didn't really take much damage despite what you may have seen. But standing still and scouting could result in one well-placed bullet into the bubble and the pilot knocked out of play.

What I find amusing is that the previous mission, where you used the well-armored Apache to scout, as it was designed to do, resulted in you getting shot down. I'm not saying that's the wrong play for that particular platform, just amusing when you consider the balsa and tissue paper construction that is the MD-500 (compared to the Apache).

As for you being the Squad leader...you're right. I know the general ROE here is that the SL makes the call, period. Right or wrong, it's just different in the aviation community where the aircraft commander has the final say on what happens to his aircraft. So I apologize for not following the local ROE. I don't agree w/ the decision, but I understand that's not necessarily the point. And for what it's worth, that's why I posted the AAR in another thread. Just to give some perspective. I certainly plan to continue playing w/ a great group of people next Monday as long as I'm still welcome (and as long as they don't send me to the boat...which I'm hearing rumblings about).



Just a quick follow up... I'm not an Army Scout pilot, so I don't know what their tactics are. And if I was, I probably wouldn't discuss much of them here. But generally, as a helo, your one major defense against small arms is energy, which usually comes from speed. Unless you have really well trained gunners, optically guided munitions are going to be defeated by energy and changing the three dimensional picture rapidly (jinking). You can usually pull that off in Arma2 as long as you have speed.

Thanks also gator, glad you enjoy those missions. Been trying to incorporate helos a bit more into new missions. Any feedback is always appreciated.

Fatty, about the heli in that new hostage mission. I noticed last SEAM that as a pilot there was no option to switch to the AI gunner position, so the AI takes over the pilot controle(auto hover). Is there a way to manage that in cause you flying without a human gunner? Thinking about it..is this switching posible in a MP game?

Would be great!

Only if the server has team-switching enabled. Otherwise, you cannot switch seats without physically exiting the cockpit and getting back in. As pilot, you can enable manual fire which gives you control over weapon selection and firing.

NIXER use to fly low - prob only about 10-20-meters off the deck and lay waste to all who should oppose - quickly "jink" and egressing through his entrance route - it was impressive - no extreme forward movement observed - [sorta LIKE THIS] - we need that dude back ... no offence

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I found this amusing - <---- me waiting for Mag to respond

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The Squad Leader (at least the way I perceive it) is and Overarching Commander - that includes vehicles as well as personnel - that being said - you're right - the A/C Commander does have the final say in the Air Frame - but is given specific tasking by their Command and if that tasking isn't clear (I would imagine) the A/C Commander would clarify prior to the mission.

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I would agree with this - if the helicopter was caught off guard - ... BIG IF - great tactic - otherwise combat helicopters (including scouts) tend to use the bob-up method

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When I post this, it's to address your post and it's not meant to continue an argument w/ Magnum, as we've PM'ed and are good to go, or at least so I perceive. But...





No, they don't.

Please refrain from making posts in this manner - this is your quote - not mine -



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Interesting what you perceive to be an "argument" and what I feel is a discussion ---

Obviously we could play these games all day - the cloak and dagger crap - I'll assume you're a combat helicopter pilot and leave it at that -


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Relax, sunshine. It was a typo w/ the forum code. Obviously the "quote=LIONPRIDE" got bumped up to the wrong place when I was cleaning up the quotes. It has been corrected.

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I'm not sure why you think you've been wronged. The "argument" comment was directed at Magnum just so he understood I wasn't arguing against his valid points. It had nothing to do with any of your posts. As for your bob-up question, we can certainly discuss it w/ in the confines of OPSEC, something I have no doubt you are familiar with.

I thought Fatty's post to my Haiti pics made it pretty clear. I wouldn't call myself a "combat" helicopter pilot. There's plenty of other people out there that qualify for that title more than me. But I have spent time studying and then flying Ps diagrams, SAC-T, and even just conducting simple ISR while trying not to be seen or heard by some dudes in a LSV waiting for their next refueling "customer." None of that involves sitting in a hover w/ zero kinetic energy. That's all I was getting at.

Hey - Hey - only my wife gets to call me names - unfortunately none of them are as kind as yours


Never said I was "wronged" - thought we were discussing combat helicopter tactics - not a pilot myself - but have studied for many years


I'm in COMMS - so I know OPSEC - I would LOVE to talk about it some time over a beer - but I don't have that magic "need to know"



Understood ---


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Eh, it's not so much the "need to know," just not needing to blast it out on the interwebs. The beer idea is probably the best solution.

Now, as far as talking helicopters, I'm all in. Even those "ugly" orange ones that I think you're used to seeing.