ARMA Session 12/5/12 AAR

[=VG= Calv]

So after action report for the mission.

After semler and ingo were hit at the island I hung back and ended up forming a team with lupago, eclipse, and iffn who then moved together with FT1 to the SE of the camp and moved up to assault.
Lupago was taken down by the static machinegun a moment before I disabled it but after that my team had a fairly clean assault, moved towards the tent and checked the mortars.
Moved out to the boats and landed on the coast with no problems. Moved out to RV point then onto OP2 with no contacts.
Had bad sight lines from OP2 so started shifting NE until had visual on 2 static weapons at the camp.
At this point a 4-5 man patrol started heading down the road from the west towards ft1's position and a 3 man patrol was heading from the sw towards them. Attempted to warn FT1 but they were unable to get visual on both patrols until they were engaged.
Opened fire on the patrols when they engaged FT1 and neutralised around 5 of them before being taken out by a machinegunner that I believe came from the camp.

Overall everyone did a good job, were some comms issues with people transmitting on the wrong radio but that's to be expected so not a huge issue.

[Pvt. Pirate]

at 1200 GMT+1 i got a phone call by a friend who invited me to a medieval market. after having been to the market, we played Xbox 360 kinect sports and forgot the time. i was back home at 2400 GMT+1. so i couldnt be on this mission.
reporting back for disciplinary punishment.

on a sidenote: he is an afghanistan veteran and i told him about this event and he was interested in joining the upcoming events and would be grateful to help by leading training missions (communication, giving proper orders, moving in formation) and assist mission builders.

[Iffn]

Follow-up to Calvs report:
After Calv got shot, Savage, Eclipse and me pushed forward to take the camp, supported by I believe Castor's squad from the village and later on by the respawned Semler and Ingo. Despite losses, we were finaly able to take the camp and advance to the next checkpoint to win the mission.

Capturing the island in the second attempt went much better with, as far as i know, no losses but everyone died in the attempt to capture the second objective "Camp" due to the presence of a bmp 2 and some aimbot-guided bots.



Despite the problems I had getting the damned thing to work, ACRE makes ArmA 2 much more believable. Looking forward to the next event!

[lupago]

I was a bit disappointed for the absence of people we had, but, though i was killed at the beginning it was a good ACRE trainging, i understand it completely now for the future events.

[chrisi123]

Pvt. Pirate LAN_WROTE ...

at 1200 GMT+1 i got a phone call by a friend who invited me to a medieval market. after having been to the market, we played Xbox 360 kinect sports and forgot the time. i was back home at 2400 GMT+1. so i couldnt be on this mission.
reporting back for disciplinary punishment.

on a sidenote: he is an afghanistan veteran and i told him about this event and he was interested in joining the upcoming events and would be grateful to help by leading training missions (communication, giving proper orders, moving in formation) and assist mission builders.

would be really nice!
and il like the mission yesterday and especially the way we played :)

[=VG= Speirs]

Short feedback:

+ locked server
+ selected players
+ exellent briefing
+ ACRE training
+ ACE mod
+ experienced squadleaders
+ balanced squads
+ tactical teamplay
+ plan and implement


- few ppl (3/5 Squadmembers)
- no batteries for rangefinder
- no earpluggs
- small selection of weapons

It was absolutely awesome! A great progress.
Special thanks to Calv for the briefing, to Savage for the administration.
Thanks to all who participated.

[=VG= Calv]

Earplugs and batteries are only available in ACE which we haven't started using yet.

Intend to keep the weapon selection quite limited partly for realism, but mainly to remove the distraction of picking what weapon to use. In future campaigns it will likely be a choice between the mk16/mk17. Once we're using ACE there is the possibility to carry two main weapons so I may add an m24 or m40 sniper rifle at that point.
That said if there are specific weapons that people want included I'm open to suggestions.

As a sidenote I intend to push people to learn to learn to read and use the map grid references, I want to stop the practice of just throwing up map markers for everyone to see, it's unrealistic and lazy. I noticed this happening quite a lot during the mission when targets were sighted etc, need to get into the habit of being able to identify a map grid based on surrounding objects.

[=VG= Speirs]

Calv LAN_WROTE ...

Earplugs and batteries are only available in ACE which we haven't started using yet.

My mistake. I thought we would have played with ACE. Would be desirable in any case.

[=VG= Calv]

We will eventually, just introducing things slowly, I expect to start using ACE after this campaign which has 2 more missions to go.

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

After Ingo and I were waxed right off the get go, we took advantage of the open player slots left from poor RSVP's pre-event, starting over at US Base in the SE.

With no boats at the US Base, our only hope was to trek across country, avoiding Chernogorsk and Electro, to meet up with attack forces at the Barracks objective. We ran well over 6 kilometers and linked up with Savage and the remaining elements of Fire Teams 1 and 2.
As I approached an opaque green tent, the raunchy smell I brewed up on our horrendous hike must have given me away, as a spray of gunfire ripped through the tent walls directly at me regardless of my low, cautious approach.

Luckily, I took the rounds in my hip, and a huge sack of wet weed I had stuffed in my pockets on the hike actually helped to deflect the bullets from any serious injury. Like a fiberous mat of hay armor, my stash minimized the hit, and after Ingo moved in and sent the two tangos to meet their makers, he patched me up and we continued to clear the Barracks.

Seemingly quiet, and empty, the camp suddenly came under fire from a lone gunman behind a short wall. Ingo took aim, and the gunman promptly gave up the ghost. The Barracks were now fully cleared, objective complete.
We all beat feet to the next RV point, and then proceeded to lay out the Russian grass I nabbed onto the hot pavement in the sun to dry. All in all, we lost many men, but completed both objectives.

[edit note: I was guilty of wrong radio transmits, and I am ACRE trained. Just shows we need to do this more often]

[suomikeizari]

Report, FT1.

we started off by making sure everyone had their loadouts checked, Radios setup and ground rules understood.
as a fresh graduate from FTL training I made sure I had an experienced combat veteran in my team, and so I recruited Ford/Gaz in my lot.
Next team-members joined as they wanted meaning Speirs, and Charry.
This way I had a motivated group with people who I could trust on and who trusted me.
The landing on OP1 was smooth and easy, we cleared the small town nearby with no contacts, after this we regrouped with the remainder of FT2 and FT3 along with SL.
We decided to do a flanking move while the rest of the Squad would assault.
If I remember correctly the assault was almost perfect and we took the point with minimal casualties.
After taking out the Artillery camp we moved back to the boats and went mainland.

After regrouping on RP and setting up on the hills surrounding the barracks.
We decided to move to the town nearby due to lack of visibility and cover on the hill, this was a mistake for the enemy saw us moving to town and started a barrage of grenades, at this point me and Speirs died. I hope Ford/Gaz can continue my report. (he succeeded as FTL)

Our first attempt Kind of failed due to lack of players (some joined later)
We should start these events with a random map to get comfortable with your team and get your mods set up.
also getting some speed before starting really should make things easier.

my FT worked really well under pressure and did everything as I commanded, couldn't have better men under my wing :)

Another thing I must voice out is the lack of training, we should really make some smaller events (like locked Insurgency)
where FTs can train their skills and situational awereness.

And here is the weapon request: HK417 4x HOLO (1st choice).
If not possible I'd like a m16a4 M203 ACOG.

[=VG= Calv]

Castor =VG= LAN_WROTE ...

Another thing I must voice out is the lack of training, we should really make some smaller events (like locked Insurgency)
where FTs can train their skills and situational awereness.

And here is the weapon request: HK417 4x HOLO (1st choice).
If not possible I'd like a m16a4 M203 ACOG.

The other guys I play ARMA with talked about his recently and we couldn't really come up with any effective way of 'training' FTLs. The information they need to know is fairly limited and can be explained in a few minutes, the main thing of FTLs is experience which is really only gained from doing, which outside the event is really down to you to take a team leader role on public servers and get the randoms to fall into line. If you get random pubbies working as a team then you'll be fine as FTL during events.

You've mentioned elsewhere the idea pre-set teams which I am fine with, it makes things a lot easier. However, it is going to be down to the FTLs to set this up. As SL I don't really get a good feel of who works well with who. So as an FTL if there are people that you would like to have on your team then get their consent and let me know, then you can setup training sessions with them and so on. If making teams I would prefer that FTLs pick at least one player that they feel to be inexperienced and can train up, so that we don't end up with one team full of new players.

Regarding training in the missions, next week during the warmup I will be doing training on mounting and dismounting vehicles, and we will then train on moving and clearing in urban environments. During this I will demonstrate the buddy team system and how effective it is in an urban setting. I may also go through how to move in a formation and do some contact drills (basically how to react when fired upon).

Also, next week we're marines so it's M16A4s all around. ACOG/GL variant will be in the ammo crates.

[=VG= SavageCDN (Inactive Duty)]

Thanks to Calv for the mission and to all those that made it out.

I think what we are doing now could be considered 'training'.. at least that was the intent at the start. Most things will come over time.. especially things like FTL experience. Saturday was my first time leading a FT and boy do I need some more XP.

[suomikeizari]

yeap, excellent work on the mission :)

[=VG= SavageCDN (Inactive Duty)]

Calv LAN_WROTE ...

Earplugs and batteries are only available in ACE which we haven't started using yet.

Intend to keep the weapon selection quite limited partly for realism, but mainly to remove the distraction of picking what weapon to use. In future campaigns it will likely be a choice between the mk16/mk17. Once we're using ACE there is the possibility to carry two main weapons so I may add an m24 or m40 sniper rifle at that point.

This will be even more of a problem once we start using ACE on a regular basis.... there are soooo many items. What about using a loadout editor like LEA or some other way of assigning a gear template to a player based on unit class? Or does ACE have a built-in way of doing this (like the weapon/ammo on respawn ACE module)?

Obviously for training and so on having all items available in a crate is a must.. but for missions we do want to avoid the 20 minute "lock and load" scene if possible.

[lupago]

I was going to tell u that in the ACE training mission we need more stuff in the crates, we run out of earplugs and other usefull staff to train.

[=VG= SavageCDN (Inactive Duty)]

Yes my ears are still bleeding from yesterday...lol

[lupago]

You should try to shoot that at, m107... thing was something like that, horrible!.

We also learned how to use the ropes for the vehicle movement with the BH

[=VG= Calv]

SavageCDN =VG= LAN_WROTE ...

Calv LAN_WROTE ...

Earplugs and batteries are only available in ACE which we haven't started using yet.

Intend to keep the weapon selection quite limited partly for realism, but mainly to remove the distraction of picking what weapon to use. In future campaigns it will likely be a choice between the mk16/mk17. Once we're using ACE there is the possibility to carry two main weapons so I may add an m24 or m40 sniper rifle at that point.

This will be even more of a problem once we start using ACE on a regular basis.... there are soooo many items. What about using a loadout editor like LEA or some other way of assigning a gear template to a player based on unit class? Or does ACE have a built-in way of doing this (like the weapon/ammo on respawn ACE module)?

Obviously for training and so on having all items available in a crate is a must.. but for missions we do want to avoid the 20 minute "lock and load" scene if possible.

lupago =VG= LAN_WROTE ...

I was going to tell u that in the ACE training mission we need more stuff in the crates, we run out of earplugs and other usefull staff to train.

There's a trigger in the mission that adds basic items (earplugs, medical items) to everyone at the start. I'm assuming from your post that you lost the items when respawning? Did you have any of the items/weapons you were carrying when dying after respawning or was it back to the basic stuff?

As for items in actual missions, due to no respawn it shouldn't be an issue. Ammo, backpacks and such will be split for one crate per team as in the last mission. Simplest way to do it and there isn't going to be that much equipment in there so shouldn't keep people standing around too long.

In the training area I only included weapons that are likely to be used in future campaigns. The M4 and MK16 are the main choices because they both have access to all the various attachments (UGL, RCO, Holo, CCO, Silencer) and are accurate in that those units would be likely to carry them.
The explosives are unlikely to be used too much either but figured I'd put them in so people can get a feel for laying tripwires and such. The SLAMs do need some explanation though as the various settings are not clear ingame. They are great though as they can be used as magnetic mines for vehicles or stood on their side and used with an infra-red tripwire/sensor.

I will be doing more focused training for things that are relevant to missions as and when it comes up.
For example before this week's mission I will be going through: Moving in formation, contact drill/falling back, mounting/dismounting vehicles, urban clearing.

[=VG= SavageCDN (Inactive Duty)]

Calv LAN_WROTE ...

There's a trigger in the mission that adds basic items (earplugs, medical items) to everyone at the start. I'm assuming from your post that you lost the items when respawning? Did you have any of the items/weapons you were carrying when dying after respawning or was it back to the basic stuff?

Yes at least I did.. no earplugs after respawn and I don't think there were any in the crates.. or at least they had been picked clean. I can't remember if it kept weapons on respawn or not.... I think with ACE if you use the weapon respawn editor module it respawns you with the weapons/items you had at your time of death, rather than what you originally started with.

I'll test it out again today and let you know.

[=VG= Calv]

SavageCDN =VG= LAN_WROTE ...

Calv LAN_WROTE ...

There's a trigger in the mission that adds basic items (earplugs, medical items) to everyone at the start. I'm assuming from your post that you lost the items when respawning? Did you have any of the items/weapons you were carrying when dying after respawning or was it back to the basic stuff?

Yes at least I did.. no earplugs after respawn and I don't think there were any in the crates.. or at least they had been picked clean. I can't remember if it kept weapons on respawn or not.... I think with ACE if you use the weapon respawn editor module it respawns you with the weapons/items you had at your time of death, rather than what you originally started with.

I'll test it out again today and let you know.

Dunno if you've made changes to fix it, but tested it out and when dying you respawn with the same gear you had and earplugs will still be equipped.
Also if you do somehow lose equipment like that which isn't in the crates, disconnect and reconnecting will reset you back to the starting equipment.

[=VG= SavageCDN (Inactive Duty)]

Ok roger thanks.. didn't end up having time yesterday to check it out.