Just invested an absurdly small amount of money in ArmA 2 on Steam last weekend - $9 or something! - and have spent a few hours just getting to grips with the absolute basics - like running around, controlling views, things like that - not being particularly good at mere FPS let alone something as seemingly awesome as this one. It really does look like the kind of game I was waiting for, even though I didn't know I had actually been waiting for anything.
I loaded up Brothers in Arms the other day and that was kind of fun but not exactly what I wanted. This looks to be the goods though - interesting scenario, seemingly infinite re playability once the mission builder is mastered, plus good realism features. It strikes me as being a kind of IL-2 series for infantry.


I have started reading a very interesting tactical guide by Dyslexic (or something similar) which is great but I have a few more basic questions relating to singeplayer. Due to my lifestyle and location, I will be playing offline. That's one reason why I didn't mind getting the steam version as I don't really plan on modding it.

1. I started on Veteran, just as I thought it might instil some good habits for later on. What's the difference between this level and the easier ones?

2. In the 'armoury' missions you get the option to go to a shooting range in one of the challenges. This tends to be an airfield. Where are the targets?! All I can see are some static mock-up tanks and some hangars and other structures. A couple of times there seems to have been some kind of missile flying up or down range. Is THAT the target?

3. Very similar to above. One mission I am supposed to hunt wild game in 6 minutes but can only find deserted buildings. Is the info on my map and I am just missing it?

4. Is there any way to jump over low obstacles? Haven't found the key yet if there is one.

5. In the armoury missions for the downed UH-1, you have to defend the area from the enemy. Sometimes I can do this but once or twice I have got a 'Fail' message saying that the enemy had infiltrated the area. Fair enough, but how do I know where the area actually is? I had assumed it was the ground in front of the chopper as that's the way the gun is pointing and where most things seem to arrive.

6. TBA - but probably about how on earth you manage to fly a helicopter. Just had a quick spin late last night and was utterly utterly hopeless, but it was interesting. The range in this game is very impressive. I also had quick try of being a rooster! there must be some tough intra-squad games involving that, I'm sure.

Any answers or links to answers would be great. Also if you have any other info you think might be handy, please post.

Hi. In my experience the armory is a pretty basic mission type. I'd suggest heading over to a website like armaholic.com, and checking their mission download area for some single player missions. These will probably be much more focused and well documented, and probably more fun than the armory.

www.armaholic.com

Another thing you can easily enjoy offline, is the multiplayer WARFARE mode. Just load up a LAN game and choose a WARFARE mission like "Superpowers". Then choose a playable slot (AT is good to start) and leave the other slots as AI. When you start, there'll be a brief voting session for a commander. If you don't vote yourself commander, an AI will be selected (which is OK for starting out), and you will see an objective assigned. The AI will stock up and head out, and so can you. Many hours of enjoyable play there alone.

In a similar way, you can download the multiplayer "Domination" or "EVO" mission, and run it the same way offline. These types will have more in depth features created by the mission makers.

Also, be aware that your Steam version can certainly use every ArmA2/OA addon out there.

Have fun!

not exactly sure on the absolute differences, but the main ones tend to be smarter AI, no dots on the sides of the screen (showing green for friendly, red for enemy, white for netural), no "target" markers etc.



cant help with that i'm afraid, never played the default single player missions.



V key makes you step over, so you can get over most fences, walls etc, wont get you anything over waist hight though. (its also a good way to get of rocks if you've clipped into them!)



again not played the default single player missions, but in MP the "defend area" areas tend to either be a circle or square around the object your defending.



practice, practice, practice, also a joystick make things a lot easier if you have one, flying with the keyboard+mouse is difficult if your throwing it about the place, how fatty and adlabs do it i have no idea!



i know you said you dont really plan on modding, but some of the mods are great, if you want to go really hardcore you can get ACE which i belive works offline as well (but dont hold me to that!), theres also some very good maps and some of the single player missions are fantastic! Good place to go is http://www.armaholic.com/ where you can browse around and see if anything takes ya fancy

That offline-online mission idea sounds ideal, thanks Adlabs6.

Meatsheild - for the 'v' key alone, I am most grateful. It was bugging me having to find a gate in the shot-to-pieces picket fences around every single house in that mission. The fact that there are icons in other levels is good to know. Less realistic but possibly more useful for me as I'm not that serious. Anyway, thanks again for the help.


Looks like I'd better check out armaholic then.

Guys. i don't have any experience with ARMA. I just stumpled across it due to the new Takeon Helicopters, which is based on ARMA. I don't even know what ARMA really is..is it an FPS or a flightsim with a focus on gaming? And you can even do land combat?

Try the demo: http://www.arma2.com/demo/index_en.html

If you like tactical combat games with huge open maps and tons of vehicles and weapons, then you're right at home. The flight models/physics are very basic and isn't on the same level as ToH; but the multitude of other options can really make it whatever you want it to be (infantry, armor, air, water...just about anything)

Hi there,
Just like FlatSpinMan, I have been struggling with this game. I played Operation Flashpoint quite a bit back in the day and since Arma 2 came out everyone seems to really like it, but I have never been able to really get into it.

The comment about using Multi player off line was fantastic news as I'm also pretty frustrated with those Armory missions too. I had no idea you could do that...why don't they put that info in the game manual ?!

I got on the multi player screen and picked a scenario but could not change out of being the commander to one of the other soldiers.
My name was listed as the Commander, and all the soldiers had a box with AI in it next to their name. All I could do was delete the AI soldier from the mission...but not replace him with me. How do I take my name out as Commander and put it in one of the soldier slots replacing the AI soldier ?

Also, on the screen I was on, I did not see any Warfare or Domination options. I just got a list of maps, and then each map had a selection of missions to pick from. It did look like there were alot of great missions to try, but I'm NOT ready to be the commander in them, I'll be lucky to just follow orders and not get shot LOL.

If anyone could help me out that would be great, as this certainly seems the way to go in learning the game and enjoying it more.

Thanks, Tracy

Tracy and FlatSpinMan, and any others - If you are interested in meeting me on the SimHQ server and learning more about the game and how to play missions with us just let me know - either by replying in this thread or sending me a message. We'll get set up in teamspeak so we can converse, and then jump on the SimHQ server and run around and figure it all out. I'll answer any questions about how to play that I can. Co-op missions are really THE way to enjoy Arma (in my opinion!) and you would be missing out by not giving it a go. We play on Mondays and Thursdays at 8et

As far as play Multi in offline mode as suggested by Adlabs - "Superpowers" I believe does come preloaded with the game and is in the missions list. The others that he mentioned "Domination" and "Warfare" (there are several versions of each)would need to be downloaded from Armaholic.com and extracted into your missions folder (or MPmissions-not sure which)in order for you to play them offline.

Again, let me know if you need a hand, and the info to connect to teamspeak and the server is well laid out at the top of the Armed Assault Series Forum.

I would participate in an instructional session. Better understanding of how you play missions would help a lot when I join the Tactical Thursday missions. Great fun, highly recommended!

I will watch to see if something is scheduled.

Hey that's a very kind offer, thanks. I'm sure coop is great, I played a couple for IL2, but the probs for me are time, timezones and timing.
Right now it's hard for me to take you up on this but I really do appreciate it.
I'll probably be back with more questions soon, but u haven't actually played it since I last posted.