A few comments guys, on topics I think will help all of us with leadership and general gameplay. I am speaking in reference to our play at SimHQ, not to any real world context.

A fire team leader has a broad decision making horizon on the ArmA2 battle field. When a squad leader places a waypoint for a fire team leader, that marker comes with the expectation that the fire team leader will use is own common sense to take a position near that marker that gives his team good cover and/or concealment, and an advantage over view of the operations area, if possible.

This should all be automatic. No need for lots of questions and answers, and radio traffic to do these basic things. In fact there should be ZERO radio traffic for this to happen. When you get to the waypoint and are in position with best nearby cover... do something that makes sense. Assign your team to scan your local area, seek as much overview toward the operations (or the way there) area as you can.

Now you can make a meaningful report to the squad leader. "Alpha at waypoint, two man patrol spotted 900m at 140 degrees." or if no contacts try "Alpha at waypoint." Just that simple. If the squad leader wants to hear from you again, he'll call you. Just sit there and await further orders, scanning and providing overwatch for nearby teams.

For comms, work to say the VERY FEWEST words possible. I try for three words or less when ever possible. "Alpha copies, moving", "Alpha at waypoint", "Contact 140 degrees", "Alpha strength 3, no targets"...

What more needs to be said? Try to be the lowest maintenance fire team in your squad.

agreed! Also, there's no need to reiterate something the squad leader just said over TS. We all heard it, so just say "Alpha, let's move!" and we'll follow

exactly... the squad leader lays out the basic plan of attack in the briefing or map screen at start... fireteam leaders move out and accomplish their mission, with the goal of a task complete and the safety of the fireteam.

Now with a surprise flank, the SL might make on the fly adjustments, but for the most part FTL's will continue with their mission, engaging anyone in their way.

Way to much comm talk, especially by one member who will remain nameless at this time... the enthusiasm is great, and the dedication is great, but lead your troops, keep them safe, accomplish your assigned task. period.

Also, about the truck incident, sorry another member got mad, but in keeping with my rule above... when a 5 ton transport truck starts taking fire, and can't get out of the kill zone because of blown tires, then as a FTL it is my responsibility to dismount my troops, find cover, then wait for new orders from the SL. We did everything right, the SL in that incident probably didn't know the truck couldn't move... but i sure wasn't going to put my troops in harms way, which was proven 30 seconds later when the truck blew up... and instead of disconnecting in anger, you should of stuck around for the debrief, and you would of learned what happened.

It's a game people... players will make mistakes, hell as SL I got the whole team killed twice last night because of bad decisions... learn from it and move on.

We also want some honest feedback on the missions, are they easy to understand and carry out? Are the missions easy or hard? what problems do you see with the server? teamspeak? or just our style of play... give feedback, but understand...we are NOT trying to be like other larger more organized gaming groups.

See you next time.

I couldn't have said it better myself Magnum. Besides, its so nice knowing that you can screw up on the battlefield and die from the comfort of your own home and know that you can simply respawn and try it again! Sometimes virtual life IS better than reality.

Are shifting or lifting of fires of any use in the game?

Does the High Command module work for you guys online (SL giving waypoints to FTL) or are you using markers?

we actually haven't learned or tried that... would be intresting if it worked thou, but i think the mission has to be made to support that.

For the record, I wasn't mad, just irritated. We had just gone over how orders must be followed, and then.. well...

I was in the truck, the tires were not blown until the BMP-3 shelled us. The driver stopped, the truck was simply driven into that fence. I was in third person mode, so I saw the entire thing happen.

We had taken a total of one round when the driver turned sharp left in the town. The SOP for an ambush on your convoy is to push through the killzone and either return to rescue men left behind, or keep going to your objective.

I'm sorry, but you are the last one to cast aspersions about disconnecting in anger. For the record, I was merely frustrated at the obvious flouting of the rules by the person that just said they needed to be followed.

I highly recommend it specifically for SimHQ. No need for sub-ordinate commanders means it's even easier to use.

Ultimately, the commander can hit Ctrl-Space and place waypoints for each group in the same way you add them in the editor. You get a great map view and even when looking out of commander view, you can see where your units are by "live" markers in-game. There are many other short-cuts also.

I've been playing around with it for AI and it works very well. It could even help if you don't have enough players to fill all groups (e.g. Charlie Team = All AI)

It takes some practice, most certainly. So don;t poo-poo it until you've put in some time testing it.

It doesn't work in dedicated server...

Damn ...

It didn't work on a "Listen" server either last time we tried, that's why I asked. I think the High Command leader can still use it to get status and position overviews on the map, but the subordinate human player as squad leader sees no way points or orders.

Heads up, we have played high command on a LAN using where I was the company commander and two players were each platoon leaders, in turn using HC to control their squads. Have had up to 8 players in HC missions.

We have played a ton of HC on the LAN and online on our server and it's worked like a charm everytime. I cant recall if we've tried it on dedicated yet but will give it a whirl. What HC wont do is pass on the HC function to the next guy in the group if you die using group respawn but it will allow you to retain HC if you use base respawn.

It is IMO one of the best features about Arma 2.
Los

We probably need to get more info from D, but that was one of his suggestions to make our server better, his server/missions use some of those features so maybe theirs a way around it all to work.

Yep hopefully so. Thanks for that information Los.

I'm working to learn to use these modules now. I've got the Ambient Combat Module figured out now, so that we can make it do what we want on a dedicated server. I've got a new patrol mission ready for tonight that uses a customized ACM.

I'll make HC my next priority.

I've spent a lot of time designing and playing missions w/ HC Module as my holy grail has always been a FPS game that allows you to simulate being a platoon or company commander and this baby is heading very much in the right direction. Right now you can use the high command module and even if you have just a few humans they can get the feel of operating within the framework of a "realistic" platoon sized mission. Of course if you do something like tactical gamer where you 45 guys doing a mission you may not need the HC module but for smaller teams or even single player it fits a nice bill right out of the box.

There are some very exciting things in the works from Mod designers wrt High command. So for instance (I just found this out)
If you use
Code:

this setvariable ["chainofcommand",true]; in the HC module

in the company commander's High Command Module init line, and issue an order to move to one of the platoon leaders, it will send the order all the way down to the fireteams (eventually) and they will move in formation behind their platoon and squad leaders.

This way as a company commander you dont have to have direct command over 9-10 squads.Unfortunately the groups will bunch up,at the waypoint but there's a guy who's got a fix in the works for that as well as troops running hog wild instead of staying in closer formations during contact.

Also CEX2 is in the works!

Los