[Sun] 23 Aug 2015 (AAF is best AF)

[fer]

Interesting. Members of Alpha will turn themselves in at the nearest police station for questioning. Arrangements will be made for a show trial.

[Sparks]

our Fire Team was the closest to the convoy (on the other side of the road from where we started) - and I don't remember hearing any fire before I heard the rocket. I was hiding in the top floor of our building with another AR guy, who's wall was facing the convoy's direction (I was overlooking the street), so he may be able to tell you more.

I believe that was me, I have tape of the incident and I think it was our RAT who fired first; but I didn't have eyes on the convoy so I don't know if they'd seen us and stopped anyway before being fired on (that convoy did that the first few times I played this mission with Folk).
All I know is that I had the good sense to lie down on the floor in that room to wait for the convoy to get to the town without seeing me and putting 120mm shells through the window...

[ZeCatnip]

Hmmm. Indeed confusing. So our Fire Team was the closest to the convoy (on the other side of the road from where we started) - and I don't remember hearing any fire before I heard the rocket. I was hiding in the top floor of our building with another AR guy, who's wall was facing the convoy's direction (I was overlooking the street), so he may be able to tell you more.

Pretty sure that was me, no incoming fire before I heard to whoosh of the PCML. Then everything went to hell pretty much.

[zitron]

Don't worry guys, in the Party's special edition re-release video, it would be edited to have the convoy (call sign 'Greedo') shoot first.

[darkChozo]

I was the AT guy in Soviet's FT, I definitely didn't fire until well after the shooting started. I don't recall hearing any gunfire beforehand either, though I couldn't see the convoy from where I was.

[Sparks]

Managed to actually get through the session without major technical difficulties this evening, despite lots of niggly update hassles on Saturday (thanks to audiox and head for trying to fix things!). And I managed to not futz up a nice landing during the pre-session fun, which always puts me in a good mood.

Hornets Nest
Bravo 1 FTL with AJAX (AR), Sam (AR), Jigsor (RAT), ZeCatnip (R) and Leander (R)



If I'm honest, this one wasn't the best in the world ever. Not because of the mission, that seemed fine; but Bravo squad got put in harms way once or twice and were constantly being plinked at by enemies 500m out that we rarely saw and it got frustrating towards the end there.

Things started out okay - our plan in the initial briefing went well, there wasn't too much logistical hoo-ha at the start, our dismount was relatively clean and my paranoia about buildings and hidden enemies proved wrong this time (Railan is obviously a soft touch). But the helo noise from the pre-session fun was present throughout. Thank you Arma bugs, nothing like constant low-level engine noise to give you low-level stress, drown out audio cues of incoming fire, make comms harder and generally degrade the fun.

We dealt with our initial contacts at OP Iowa (and thanks to those comms worries, I damn near dealt with Bravo Medic too, sorry!), then pushed off east in support of Charlie squad. This took us from good visibility and cover to end-of-the-rifle visibility in brush on flat ground. And then there was no brush and a 500m jog through open terrain wearing these funny round bullseye things. BSL had the excellent idea of getting in the IFV and driving off. I came up with the more excellent idea of running and not being in an IFV that every RPG in the AO was pointed at. Unfortunately we didn't run fast enough and had to do the last 250m in the bullet magnet. Which was magneting bullets as we got in. By the by, "We're in, go, we're being shot at" should not be responded to with "Hang on a minute, we're shooting at someone"...

Once we'd reached and secured OP Kansas, we pushed in further southeast to support Charlie. Then we got orders to go back to OP Kansas and then do a wide flank on the hill north of the town which Alpha had just charged down. In an area with no cover and little concealment. On a slope so the whole town could see us. And then we got shot at from the hill Alpha had supposedly cleared so now we were being shot at from the left and the right. As I was thinking this was pretty messed up, some armour of some kind decided it had a hardon for Madrak's IFV (it was probably being crewed by the people who'd worked so hard to fill those sandbags on the road from OP Iowa) and shot at it with something big, heavy and explosive and missed which would have been funny if it hadn't hit us by accident and killed AJAX.

By this point I was not feeling the love. Except maybe in that way you feel a spouse's friend's annoying purse dog taking a less-than-platonic liking to your shin at a long dinner party with insufficient room for kicking.

We all got prone in the very deep gully for cover, and with our belt buckles now behind terrain and our asses still exposed to anyone within a ten mile radius, pondered the map while people grabbed ARs from AJAX's cold dead hands and AT from anywhere it was handy, and I reconned a few nearby possible places for EI to be hiding in with 40mm grenades. Then we heard BSL was down, and not having much better to do, figured we'd be silly and go run after him. Somehow we weren't all dropped in the 100m sprint and we actually got to shoot some UGL rounds where we thought his assailants might be while Bravo Medic got him back up. And then the mission ended. One casualty, few kills, and honestly it didn't feel like we'd been of much use.

That's kindof the kicker really. I don't mind dying, it happens a lot. I don't mind never shooting at people, I'm happier flying helos and medicing to be honest and even being the reporter's cool at times. But not being of any use? Thats... difficult.



Surfs up
Alpha 1 AR with Netkev (FTL), TheWotsit (AR), Ccrasus (RAT), Mort (R) and SuicideKing (R)



Well, now the technical fun kicked in. I went AR to get a break from FTL and our FTL dropped out with connection issues right at the start Our mission plan was to present a target, draw out the enemy technical and kill it, then kill the rest at our leisure. My mission experience was stumbling along in a bushy gully for ten or twelve minutes trying to keep us roughly together until Netkev's computer let him come back in and FTL, then three or four minutes of a long-range AR shooting match with a bunker that got interrupted by a nearby enemy with a UGL. I then bled out while that enemy waited for SuicideKing to come back to revive me, the rest of the team having gone east to the mountains south of the surf club. The enemy shot SK and let me bleed out, so I then spectated some fun helo action and watched the WORST ROOM CLEARING IN FOLK HISTORY YOU GUYS

Seriously, out of curiosity, were people out of grenades, or was Tubby just not passing on intel of where Zitron was, or did everyone just get disoriented in the dark?

Nicely played though Zitron

Also, I thought the lighting was good. Night time, no NVGs, pitch black, tension everywhere? Don't change a leghumping thing (well. No. Do give us chemlights and flare pistols. But apart from that, the pitch blackness was excellent and I'd have had even more fun if that bloody helo noise had gone away and I'd been able to listen to audio cues).



Lightning Strike
Alpha Squad Medic with Kefirz (ASL)



So I had to restart Arma to fix the helo noise and that dropped a few markers in the map. But apart from that, this was relatively clear. I pushed forward with Alpha 1 to point Talc (that triangular enemy OP at the northwestern edge of the minefield), healed up a few people, nicked Aquarius' UGL rifle when he died and noone else in Alpha 1 claimed it (waste not want not), then we retreated back north to WP calcite, then I healed some more folks and then ran back to WP Talc on my own to heal some more people and then ran back to WP calcite to heal even more people. Honestly, I was giving out FAKs at that point just to save on the running. Then they all pushed on AP blizzard. It did not go well. I offered to help with some of my 17 smoke grenades as they retreated initially (no, I really had 17, check the tape, when I nick stuff from a truck I don't mess about). They regrouped and pushed up again and then approximately 87% of AP blizzard exploded simultaneously and all I heard was "...medic!...."



So, being dumb, I tried to push up with the My Little Pony band-aids but unfortunately the enemy had place one of their Broneys behind heavy smoke cover where I couldn't see him and he shot me in the head from 300m away. That'll teach me to be visible to radar...

The rest of alpha pushed forward, actually got to within HE shell range of the AA gun and then discovered why load-bearing walls are important things.

Meanwhile Bravo's sole survivor committed seppuku with high explosives but managed not to kill the 50cal he was aiming at



A box in a box
Alpha 1 AR with Railan (FTL), AJAX (AR), Jigsor (RAT), Nim (R) and Mabbot (R)



Ah, the controversial mission. Actually this one was the most fun I had all night. AR, several rungs down the pecking order, no way I'm gonna end up ASL...

We pushed into the town from the north-east by a slightly different route than before. I got two kills early on, then was dropped out of nowhere by some EI I never saw. Mabbot (I think) got me back up and we continued to push into the town, me getting seperated from A1 for a few minutes along the way. Once we'd cleared a few buildings, we were pointed at some and told to go hide and wait. I got upstairs, checked the window let me see the street, then lay down to avoid any incoming fire and not be seen. I may have had intemperate words for AJAX poking his head out the window

Then this happened. I couldn't see the convoy (can tell you all about the floorboards though) so I don't know if it was stopped or not, but from that point on, it's safe to say they knew summat was up and the plan was toast. We split across the MSR and some engaged EI around point 5 while I unloaded a box or two at the convoy to clear up any dismounts, then ran around looking for a better vantage point. Railan bought it at some point while I was distracted and AJAX took command and brought us all towards point 5 to repel the dismounts. Just after that, Fer decided to push up and complete the mission so we headed to the north side of the MSR again and pushed northeast to get up towards them. However in the process AJAX bought it (and I was worried I might have friendly fire'd him but nope, turned out some bad guys had gotten past us as we pushed up). So suddenly it was just me, Nim and the remaining half of the SAM team (Jacob) and I was now A1 FTL (feck's sakes!). Then CO bought it and the order came down - "Run away! Fucking Road Trip man!". So we ran away and stole a truck. We tried to link up with the new CO/ASL, but then he was shot and FFS am I now CO? HOW THE... nope. Just nope. Not having that.



Yup, instead of trying to pick anyone else up or rescue anyone or complete the mission, I, dear reader, said Fuck This For A Game Of Soldiers and legged it. And we lived. So there.



Afterparty



GlugGlugGlug

Okay, this rocks. I may have to rebind my swim up/swim down/drown keys though.
And I'm damn certain that I actually hit the Battlefield 4 shot-behind-cover bug in the first mission too.

Oh and that second mission was a draw. YOU WERE BLEEDING TO DEATH MADRAK, IT DOESN'T COUNT!

Shipping Problems

Not my most survive-y of rounds these. I blame the standing order against nudity. And a certain someone thinking outside the box

[Soviet]

AH-6 Laying the smack down.

God that ending to Surf's Up was amazing though. I was like, well, I really need to balance this more in AAF's favor, even though they have the bigger guns. And then NATO went and died.

Wow, the beginning of these two videos are me seeing you and you seeing me spook'd my face off.

Edit: And I'm almost certainly the LMG that nicked you after I saw your muzzle flashes, you hit me back with the burst right afterwards

Also, I was amateur hour when we swept that house, but after our pointman went down and I hosed the door I thought I watched Zit go down, guess it was wishful thinking.


As for boxinnabox, me and dark were waiting in the same house - I was literally looking at him when it all went down - after our HEROIC street crossing, with A1 scattered through both floors. Still not a clue who shot the thing but it was just silence...silence....silence... then I saw the PCML streaking past our building through the open balcony and it all went straight into fun from there It really wasn't us! This time!

[ZeCatnip]

On a tangential note, what mod are you using that gives you that lovely display of Red and Blue teams?

[Sparks]

On a tangential note, what mod are you using that gives you that lovely display of Red and Blue teams?

STHUD, part of the ShackTac user interface Tovarich. See the Party's guide on permissible client-side mods...
(Also, install swifty, it'll manage the installation and updates for you).

[SuicideKing]

And then the mission ended. One casualty, few kills, and honestly it didn't feel like we'd been of much use.

Hmmm. Though I think this is a discussion for the mission thread, but do you feel that it would have been better with just two squads? I suspect I'm suffering from confirmation bias and we'll have to try that mission on Tuesday once.

(Love the badger! )