ArmA II Specialisation

[DaiSan]

So... I'm sitting here bored and thought I would bring this up again.

 

Now I have mentioned this in the past and it is something we started to adopt in the early ArmA days but I think got lost in the Domination days due to multiple weapons loadouts etc. Now we seem to be playing more missions (whether they be Vanilla or ACE, doesn't matter) I think it is again becoming relevant.

 

Specialisation.

 

Now I'm not implying that everyone can only play one role in missions etc, but if there are enough people then playing as your preferred role is both better for the player, and better for the team.

 

There is a caveat to this though.

 

You may prefer being a Sniper, but are you really willing to stay put for a large amount of time, merely observing, and possibly not firing a single shot in an entire mission?

 

Or you may love that M249, but do you still try and spot everything before you shoot it rather than using it for it's intended purpose, Suppression?

 

What I'm proposing is this.

 

Take a look at at YOUR gamestyle and try to match a role to it. Once you have decided on it, try practicing it in game, not just on Missions but in the Dom server or any public servers you play on. If you like it then try reading up a bit about the actual Real World tactics that role employs.

 

Personally I think it will help US as a team to have people that practice their preferred role so we know that if and when we are engaged, or engage the enemy, the Machine gunner will immediately start throwing lead towards the enemy whether he can actually see them or not. The Granadier will start putting down heavy fire rather than dying with all his grenades still in his webbing. We can ALL start using grenades more. What's the point in dying with full magazines and unused grenades when they could have kept you or a team mate alive if they were used.

 

Surely this can only benefit our effectiveness in general and make the game more enjoyable as we gel more as an efficient fighting force.

 

Like I say, this is just some general musings but surely worth a thought?

[Hajimoto]

Excellent post Dai-San!

The thing that separates our community of players from the bunny hoping, dolphin diving, no-scope sniper head shot while in a full run is ArmA II. It is truly a thinking mans game and your post certainly makes me question the vehicle maintenance role I typically choose

Seriously though, role specific play style is as valid today as it was during ArmA and adds a dimension of reality to already engulfing gaming experience.

[Batwing~SPARTA~]

I like your point with this post.

 

I am not sure how I would consider my role but I know I am consistent in what I do and I try to do it all the times.

 

I play always as Engineer / Demolisher / Transport Chopper pilot

 

I like to take care of assets, repair what I can and support for vehicles and possibly steal and reuse enemy assets, trying to desable better than destroy at first. Also I try to take care of the MHQ relocation and maintanance.

 

Also I like to infiltrate to take down the Comm Towers while the rest of the squad keep the enemy busy. During my infiltration I perform AT duties

as needed.

 

My payload in ACE is usually:

MK 16 w/GL - either Acog or TWS

AT Launcher - either Metis or SMAW trying to carry 2 or 3 rockets depending on weight conditions

Vector

Possibly a Satchel.

 

I tend to use a Bike to store the satchel there instead of carry it with me all the time (paying attention the bike does not despawn on me )

 

Due to the kind of weapons I use, I need to be part of a team engaging within 300 mtrs to be effective at the best. With Metis longer range of course.

The new ACE GL aiming improvement allows me to be effective with grenades up to about 350 - 400 mtrs.

[Kavlarakos~SPARTA~]

Especially not to mention that once upon a time we played with designated pilots who brang people to the AO and back. These guys have proven themselves throughout their flying skills. They announced takeoffs and fetched ammo boxes etc.

 

It´s really frustating after boarding a chopper together with 10 other guys and the pilot is crashing into a tree just 10 seconds after taking off...

[KalXen~SPARTA~]

Especially not to mention that once upon a time we played with designated pilots who brang people to the AO and back. These guys have proven themselves throughout their flying skills. They announced takeoffs and fetched ammo boxes etc.

 

It´s really frustating after boarding a chopper together with 10 other guys and the pilot is crashing into a tree just 10 seconds after taking off...

 

 

The pilot comment brought a memory to mind - just make sure to be flexible as we do need to grow people into new positions even if its not their strongpoint. Many a time in TacDom we would look for team leaders with no response. Instead we had 5 people raise their hand to fly the chopper because they didn't want to try something new. Give others an opportunity. Take opportunities provided.

[Hunter~SPARTA~]

Dai, I know you hinted at this, but I just want to reiterate something real quick. Some people don't read the implied statements very well. Using medic, for an example. Just because you play as a medic role in Domination so you can heal yourself and occasionally revive a teammate is not what Dai is getting at here. To be a medic "specialist", you need to fully play your role of patching up your teammates and quickly getting to downed players, in the most self-less ways possible. Not just when it is convenient for you or you're not "busy" with something else.

 

Most importantly, though, is the practicing bit. Especially when it comes to TacDom, or similar missions, that is not the time to "figure it out". Again using medic as an example, you should definitely already know everything there is to know about epinephrine, bandages, etc and so on.

 

Just my two cents on the issue.

 

Personally, I love me some logistics. I couldn't care less if I didn't fire a single round as long as the personnel or assets I'm delivering brought the pain. Good enough for me.

 

 

- JHunter

[GooniversalSoldier~SPARTA~]

I agree fully you guys here. Personally, i have seen a fair amount of good teamsmanship on ACE recently. Makes me think there is still hope for us all

 

 

I think maybe something akin to the fly list could be implemented, at least on TAC days...but instead of a list allowing people to fly/not fly we have a list of 'trusted' pilots for the ACE server who can fly...this would of course require policing from us Sparta members.

 

Maybe the fear of the big red ban hammer will snap people into line ;)

Edited March 21, 2011 by GooniversalSoldier~SPARTA~

[SirSmokalot]

You can count on my "sparkles and smoke" on target; as well as smoke for Extraction ;) - Fwd Air Controller at you're service.

 

You can also count on me for CQB, Covering fire, among anything that gets me in the thick of it. 1 - C4 = standard no matter my mission as I like to blow stuff up

[Jeff~SPARTA~]

well, dai, according to this theory...i'm a jack of all trades. demo, medic, MG, engi, pilot...you name it, i'm there.

 

as an aside, while keeping this in mind: check your targets, especially if your a SAW w/TWS guy. i kinda hate getting surpressed by my own team :S

 

all in all, well said Dai.

 

Jeff

[OrcFace_McStompYou]

JHunter, I'm with you 100%, especially when it concerns the medics. I try to focus on healing/reviving whenever I'm on, but too often I see medics engage new targets after someone goes down. If they enemy isn't preventing you from reaching the wounded soldier, don't give them a reason to start. If they are, half the time a smoke grenade does a better job of getting you there than bullets. Shooting draws attention to you.

 

That said, some comm improvements would make life much easier for medics. I don't know all of you by voice yet, so if you need healing, make sure you announce who you are and whether or not you can come to me or if I need to get to you. "Hey Orc, heal me" is bad. "Orc, JHunter's legs are shot out" is much better.

 

I am making a formal promise here though: I am willing to play dedicated medic anytime I'm on. If I'm in a medic slot and you've announced you're dead or wounded, I will try to get you back in the fight ASAP. If I'm not doing that, call me out on it and I'll either give you a damn good reason why or an apology followed by a dead sprint to your location.

Edited March 22, 2011 by OrcFace_McStompYou

[Jeff~SPARTA~]

Ork, just a thought, from real-world training/experience: the best thing you can do for your wounded buddy is get fire superiority.

 

basically, don't waste your life getting to the wounded guy. for that matter, have someone else bring the wounded man to you. the medic shouldn't be running around in the open.

 

also, as a missed note on specializations...AMMO BEARERS! AT weighs an asston, we all know this. so do MG belts (especially my preferred 7.62mm ones.) so, find a buddy, have him lend you a hand. E.g. killer and i running around, i have the SMAW and a rocket, killer has 3 more on hand for me. our weights come out a bit closer to even, and neither of us is overloaded and passing out everytime we turn around. just a thought.

 

also, as a thought, carry an MG, OR AT, OR demo. carrying more than one at a time makes for overloaded people in a hurry. and, overloaded people are a detriment, believe it or not, as the entire team constantly has to wait for you to stop, regain your stamina, and catch up.

 

Jeff

[Donziboy2]

Ok, hmm, my playstyle....

 

/me Hopes on Santa Rambo's lap

 

Can I have an m249 chambered in the m109 explosive ammo with 200 round belts and a long range scope with TWS and Night Vision?

 

Ive noticed I die alot as medic...

[OrcFace_McStompYou]

Ork, just a thought, from real-world training/experience: the best thing you can do for your wounded buddy is get fire superiority.

 

Jeff, I agree, especially the part about bringing friends, but the medic should not be trying to attain fire superiority on his own, especially with the new ACE wounds. I was talking more about engaging groups of AI that are engaging another, unrelated group, or worse yet, engaging enemies that haven't even spotted you yet.

[Jeff~SPARTA~]

i'll agree to that one, wholeheartedly.

 

donzi, no...no, you may not. 5.56 already kills me fast enough, i don't need 25mm replacing it.

 

Jeff

[EL_n00biachi]

Half the people who posted here hardly play on the server anymore,this means that the usual roles they played are now filled in by others.

 

Batwing always takes care of the MHQ's,lately its been Hajimoto when hes on...

 

For leadership i usually look at Haji,Chris,Goon, and a few others who hardly play anymore fe Grizz and Zeno all of these guys are good,skillfull pacient(sp?) concerning AO activation ;they usually abide to the roadmap wich is:

1:MHQ in place without activating the MAO.

2:Taking out the D30's\find the spotters\observers and kill them.

3:Taking out all or most of the armour.

4:Enter the MAO on foot.

 

Lately i've found my self moving away from being a medic,about 2 weeks ago i got annoyed crossing entire AO's because some people dont stick with the main group...so they are on their own and ..well..im the medic...so i do it,im pretty sure that if there was a top list of people who revive others im up there at the top right below Rolf and\or Dizko fe...the usual suspect medics but like i said some players rush or stray to far and it made me move away from my medic role.

 

And so now im what people call "Haji's B@#$%" ..cause hey! you gotta follow the guy with the music right?!

Im not meant to be a leader,i have my own views on this game and i can hardly live with the fact that there's such a thing as an MR\MHQ or ammobox drops...things like these make this Milsim an arcade sci-fi shooter....tho not even Crysis has these futuristic features.

 

Imagine if there were no ammobox drops,no bs mobile respawns....and you actually had to set up a FOB near MAO's the logistics alone would force people to fill in roles they dont have to now because you can just respawn or call in an ammobox.....its the difference between an arcade game wich ARMA2\Domination is right now and something that looks more like a MilSim.

 

I've started to look at the editor more and more and perhaps i'll come up with my own edit of Domination.

No ammobox drops.

No MR\MHQ

When you die,the penalty should be severe...sadly we cant use Haji's "1$ per death" feature but 5 minutes on the bench and losing your gear fe sounds about right.

No SThud or DC,always on Vetmode,and ACRE.

 

Im sure not everyone would like this but for a TacDom session this would be really interesting.

 

Anyway too much typing;sorry for that.

 

I have to say that it took me over 20 years of gaming to find you guys,i'd just like to thank all of you for the fun times you give me.

Zeno's dedication to the servers and his willingness to put in hard labour to make all our 45 year old virgin's ARMA2 dreams come true is amazing....TY Z!!

 

 

Sorry for the spelling mistakes and the long random story but....anyway....

Edited March 22, 2011 by EL_n00biachi

[Rolf]

From my experience on the ACE and non ACE dom servers, I'd agree that specilisation is a good idea so long as you've got a decent number of players on the server however. If there's only five or six people attacking the main AO then it helps to be as flexible as possible regarding roles (You might argue however that if there's a small number of people on the server then attacking the Side Missions might be a better idea).

 

When it comes to combined-arms operations, specilisation is highly beneficial for the non-infantry tasks such as piloting helicopters or jets, crewing tanks or IFV's or providing mortar support. I tend to find theres not a shortage of pilots willing to lend a hand at airsupport but there seems to be a dearth of people able to provide effective mortar and armour support.

 

For myself as a player, I'm not sure if i've properly specialised in anything yet. I'll gladly be an enthusiastic rifleman, driver, medic or engineer and i'll happily help out with logistics like loading kit and ammo (Not just ammoboxes) into vehicles. I'm a below average chopper pilot and a poor fixed-wing pilot so I tend to shy away from these roles. I haven't worked out how to set-up mortars yet and I still haven't got the hang of the satchels in the latest version of ACE so i'm not to be relied upon to blow a radiotower just yet. My comms skills are very shoddy so I prefer to listen rather than to bark out requests and orders. I am willing to learn new roles however and improve my comm skills though so I'm not ruling out any role in the future.

 

 

Regarding ACE domination I'd concur with noobiachi that a decent roadmap should be in place before setting out to tackle an AO, i'd probably add a little bit more just to complicate matters:

 

1. Don't set off the AO before a clear plan is agreed on how to tackle the AO. If you're not aware of a plan then ask around to see if there is one being formulated before charging off to the AO ahead of everyone else.

 

2. Appoint a leader or ask for a volunteer and have him/her come up with a plan.

 

3. Make sure that the roles are balanced within the squad(s) assigned to assaulting the AO. Ideally in each squad you'd have at least a medic and a commander to call down artillery etc.

 

4. Make sure the weapon loadout is balanced too. Bring AT, AA, satchels and designate ammo mules for each squad.

 

5. Get the MHQ in position

 

6. Without alerting the AO if possible, knock out anything that can land artillery on you.

 

7. Take out as much armour as needs be.

 

8. Start taking camps, blowing radio towers etc.

 

9. Organise extraction and make sure everyone is picked up.

 

10. Plan next AO and cue Hajimoto's music.

 

I have noticed that quite a few people do enjoy the logistical side of things so it would be good to play some domination without being reliant upon the ammo boxes. In one game at the weekend I think a bunch of us loaded up a humvee with 70+ 81mm mortar rounds for a particular AO and i've started to pack MTVs with spare AT and AA ammo. With enough players it would be a decent challenge to try and organize effective ammo supply by loading up trucks and humvees etc with everything we need for a few AO's and moving out in convoys. It might be frustrating seeing a truck that you've just spent half an hour loading ammo onto, getting destroyed by a Hind but it would still be rewarding to have no reliance on the magical ammo box system.

[iron]

... With enough players it would be a decent challenge to try and organize effective ammo supply by loading up trucks and humvees etc with everything we need for a few AO's and moving out in convoys. It might be frustrating seeing a truck that you've just spent half an hour loading ammo onto, getting destroyed by a Hind but it would still be rewarding to have no reliance on the magical ammo box system.

 

 

Agreed. I'll gladly drive a 7ton to and from an AO. But i would prefer not having to drive by myself the whole time.

[MedicSN6]

 

When you die,the penalty should be severe...sadly we cant use Haji's "1$ per death" feature but 5 minutes on the bench and losing your gear fe sounds about right.

 

 

Next thing you know we'll be popping quarters in to a slot at the front of our machines.

[Hajimoto]

Next thing you know we'll be popping quarters in to a slot at the front of our machines.

 

LOL, What I was proposing was not a commercial enterprise venture at all. N00b and I were talking about avatar consequence and I was saying, imagine if we played a game like ARMA II and there was a true hard core mode. You die and you avatar is gone, poof thats it, unless you pay a nominal fee to have him reanimated and even then it would be with reset stats.

I just think that there are plenty of the "Spawn, Shoot, Die, repeat" type of games out there and none that are truly hard core and must be played as if an avatar death is final. There are a few people that would would be interested in something that hard core.... Lord knows my shelfs are full of $50 dollar let downs.

[peter~SPARTA~]

http://xecompany.hrmdirect.com/employment/openings.php

[Watchman~SPARTA~]

If I'm not leading a mission I prefer what I see as a supporting role, so Medic or Demolition.

You can put me down for those.

[GooniversalSoldier~SPARTA~]

I try and lead or at least direct stuff when i am on and am happy to do so any time i am in TS or in game. If you all want more push push from me, let me know an i can lock things down more fully even. (though i could sure use the new server admin pw *hint *hint)

 

Personally, i enjoy going in without MHQ's and ammo boxes aplenty. I find that convoy inserts, fast roping in un-supported or boat assaults to be the most fun. Admittedly, we need a fair sized group to do it effectively, but i will push for more of it.

 

Noob, if you want to make some missions or scenarios or even a new dom knock yourself out, we love that kind of stuff.

 

 

Also, i almost exclusively play as a team leader or grenadier/support grenadier when in game.

[Rolf]

Agreed. I'll gladly drive a 7ton to and from an AO. But i would prefer not having to drive by myself the whole time.

 

I think that if we were to use a logistical approach then we'd definitely want a few people looking after resupply. I wouldn't like to see one guy getting overworked and tired out by having to shift ammo for everyone by himself. Having a couple of people on the job speeds things up dramatically and cuts down on the tedium.

 

The way I see it is that at the start of a mission everyone begins at base. This means that everyone can initially help out loading up the trucks from the main ammobox. If enough stuff is packed by everyone then this should cut down on the amount of work that the "log squad" have to do without taking their job away from them. Having packed everything the log squad can drive the trucks as part of a convoy and if there are enough people, can crew a humvee as a form of convoy protection whilst the other squads are engaged at the AO etc. Ideally, all resuply should be conducted by the log squad as a whole just to keep them functioning as one unit rather then having them spread out across the map.

[DaiSan]

Right, you lot are taking this FAR to literal.

 

I am not telling people to take specific kits, or how to fly or play Medic.

 

This applies to players who I would consider 'Experiencef' players as well as new players on the servers.

 

IF you are moving as a team and you are engaged by opfor, Return fire, especially if you are carrying a Heavy Machinegun or a Grenade launcher. Too many times all you hear is incoming fire and absolutely NO suppressing fire going out. It doesn't matter if you can't get a bead on the enemy, use your ears and put fire down in their general direction.

 

I don't care exactly what you carry, but I DO care if you have a Machinegun and don't use it. Or you have a Sniper rifle and your running forward to engage.

 

Let your weapon dictate your role, if you don't want to Snipe take an assault rifle etc.

[MedicSN6]

Right, you lot are taking this FAR to literal.

 

I am not telling people to take specific kits, or how to fly or play Medic.

 

This applies to players who I would consider 'Experiencef' players as well as new players on the servers.

 

IF you are moving as a team and you are engaged by opfor, Return fire, especially if you are carrying a Heavy Machinegun or a Grenade launcher. Too many times all you hear is incoming fire and absolutely NO suppressing fire going out. It doesn't matter if you can't get a bead on the enemy, use your ears and put fire down in their general direction.

 

I don't care exactly what you carry, but I DO care if you have a Machinegun and don't use it. Or you have a Sniper rifle and your running forward to engage.

 

Let your weapon dictate your role, if you don't want to Snipe take an assault rifle etc.

 

Agreed.

 

From now on I'm only gonna take a pistol and about 15 frags.