[Sun] 12 Jul 2015 (Ghost Hawk Down, Sunny Side Up)

[audiox]

Tonight a dashing 32 of us showed up to have a good evening of much shooteyness.


Tonight we played :

• Trail
• Ghost Hawk Down
• Huzzah II
• Rebel Alliance Pt. 3
• Roomservice

After-party :

• Trail
• Shipping Problems
• Tank U Comrade

Please leave feedback to the mission makers in the mission making feedback threads.



As always, comments are most welcome below. Also, if you have a nice story be sure to tell it. Videos are always much appreciated, and will be appropriated by our propaganda departement if you tell us about them.

If you think commanding seems like fun, yet hesitate because you worry that you won't come up with a reasonable plan on such short notice, then check out our leadership programme.

If you want to test out an updater/launcher for all your mod needs look no further than our Comrade head's marvellous contraption.

Did you notice that some vehicles/players had way cool FA Tractors on them tonight? That's because of the power of our squad tags. Get yours whilst stocks last.

[zitron]

Killing Orcas in Ghosthawk Down

[SuicideKing]

Zitron's extract was ace.

And I need a new computer badly, framerate gets annihilated in towns...much like Bravo with that GMG in Ghost Hawk Down

Thanks Netkev for being supportive of the field-promoted ASL in Huzzah II!

[Ralian]

I have no nerves left to spare after ghost hawk down. It was my first real mission as ASL, and of course our CO conveniently died early on, leaving me in charge. I made the call to proceed with charlie's original objective, but I didn't know the air would be so thick with lead. Zitron did an amazing extract job for those of us that were left (maybe six from Alpha) that involved a LOT of smoke, tracers and risk. I don't know how we made it out of that.

[fer]

Comrades, here's a useful flowchart for COs to use mid-mission:

Am I the CO? -- No (Great, now get back to shooting enemies, comrade )
|
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Yes
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Am I the most forward element OR alone on a flank? -- No (Good, carry on leading, comrade )
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Yes
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Note: Commissars may be instructed to change the last element of that flowchart to

Serious Note: This thread for aspiring COs is mostly still accurate, particularly this passage:

But the others - the other comrades - aren't they here to enjoy a quality tactical experience? Am I responsible for their fun?
Comrade, we are all responsible for each other's enjoyment in a Folk session, but as the CO your plan and subsequent orders will have more impact than most. However, you are not responsible for ensuring that all of the comrades are happy all of the time (because only the Party can mandate universal happiness). Simply avoid making plans that do not respect other comrades' time. For example: ordering the platoon to stay back at base whilst you take to the skies in an attack helicopter and personally kill all the enemies.

Consider that whilst the comrade who slotted as ASL accepts that he/she/it may have to step up and become the CO in the event of your demise, that doesn't give you carte blanche to make plans and then die cheaply. If you are thirsty for hands-on CQB, the CO slot may not have been the best choice. Always slot responsibly, or be sent to Tigershark's Correctional Facility for Young Gentlemen*

* Still not endorsed by the Party or the Catholic Church

[audiox]

[Sparks]

He probably got the spinny side back upright in time...
...probably...

[Peasant]

My overriding memory of this session is during Huzzah II, right at the start, when IFV 4 got attacked by AT from Katalaki. I saw two PCML missiles heading straight for us. One hit, but I think very aggressive evasive maneuvers (full reverse!) and smoke managed to defeat the second. Also, it appears that a BTR can survive a PCML rocket to the front armor. Does anyone know what defeats lock from ATGMs in Arma? Is just smoke enough? Does the smoke do anything?

My other question is from Ghost Hawk down and Rebel Alliance Pt 3. Essentially, when is it necessary to clear buildings. Bravo spent a lot of time clearing buildings in Ghost Hawk Down and all that it seemed to result in was most of Bravo 1 getting killed. Especially the way the AI in Arma defends buildings, it seems an awfully risky proposition every time you clear a building. Should you go room-to room only when the objective is to clear the area of all enemies? Or should every compound that is passed through be cleared, to prevent surprises later?

But it was great fun everybody, and well done to all the squad leads and commanders- those were some tough missions

[madrak_the_red]

I learnt that mortars are powerful, and can reduce an enemy force to 30% in short order. I also learnt that audiox has no care for human life, and that next time he orders me to run across a square I *know* is being watched by a 50 cal I should throw down my weapon and run to the hills to live in peace.

Also, apologies to IFV2 in Huzzah II. I am not sure what killed you, and any sitting around you did was because I was scared of you dying. And then you died under my command anyway :'(

[Eagle_Eye]

Re: Clearing buildings/towns.

Most missions should make it pretty clear what needs to be done. The mission objectives in ghosthawk down only say to destroy the crashed helo, and kill one single officer (who it should tell you is dead), before evacing with charlie team. So in that case the only downside to not clearing buildings is that there might still be bad guys in there later.

In the rebel alliance missions, I try to make it fairly clear again what the objective is. In part 1 and 4 there are multiple buildings/compounds to clear, and you do have to get every single enemy AI (unless someone wants to come up with a nicer way to get around the problem in a simple way), In part 2, the objective is to clear the whole town, but that shouldn't be too impractical because the town is fairly small. In Part 3 from what I recall, the CSAT field HQ is marked on the map. The objective is marked with a square/rectangle border, showing approximately how much of the town needs to be cleared to trigger the endings, while the briefing says to clear and hold the HQ. Once again its really about reading the briefing, and rereading it quickly if you should happen to get a field promotion (How many times have we left the intel at the crashsite/laptop even though it explains the process in the "administration" tab?)

It sounds a bit stupid (and I probably do it myself in missions made by others) but sometimes people just refuse to absorb the briefings. Not that I always get it right, but I don't try to add any fluff. If it looks like embellishment, it probabaly means its actually a hint to the players. It can be annoying when there is one straggler left in a building, but I think scripting for that situation would just lead to more problems, and its easier to rely on the intervention of one of the hosts to call the mission at that point (One thing I am always afraid of is a mission being ended by a trigger while teams are still engaged in firefights).

Edit: Just took a look at pt3. The marker (and trigger) was showing the whole town, even though the enemies only really occupied one corner. Made it a bit smaller so that there is a manageable amount of houses to clear.