16/02/2013 - Community event AAR

[=VG= Calv]

Demon-2
Calv (Driver)
Starchy (Gunner)
Antoin (Driver)
Harry (Gunner)

I'll start by avoiding any and all blame for there being no satchels in the vehicles. Semler loaded a medical box and launcher crate into Demon-1, while I loaded a medical box and basic weapons crate into Demon-2. At no point was the word "satchel" mentioned to me :p

So after loading up, I believe I had Echo-2 in my vehicle, and I think my subordinate vehicle was empty. Shortly after starting, Antoin informed me he was getting heavy desync and eventually disconnected around the first dismount area, leaving Harry to drive/gun.

At this first area the vehicles didn't do much, we essentially just twiddled our thumbs for several minutes.
At the next area (the one that needed the satchel) I decided to keep my vehicle with the team I was transporting. So after they dismounted I moved around the left of the city, covering their flank. Which was lucky I did as not only did we neutralise many contacts within the city, but also found a 3-man patrol that had flanked the entire length of the city and was almost behind the dismount location.
When the town seemed to have settled down, we had been taking fire from a single-shot rifle that seemed to be south someplace. Turned out to be 2 contacts laying just over the southern ridge-line that were unhappy when I parked my mounted gun next to them :(
During all this Harry had disconnected leaving me with one vehicle, my gunner (starchy) was concerned with his ammo supply, so we unloaded as much ammo from our current vehicle, switched to the now empty vehicle, and towed the other.

Several hours later a satchel arrived and we mounted up and left that place.

The next town to clear was the one with the parallel main roads and minaret (I probably should've taken note of town names), after dismount the infantry seemed to be taking heavy fire from the town. So again I drove on Echo's flank but couldn't fire on much due to the heavy trees. So while they were busy cowering behind a wall, I drove forward to the northern-most road for a clear sight into town. Neutralised numerous contacts inside the town, and held position while waiting for the infantry to catch up and move into the town.
We then slowly progressed along the road neutralising more contacts that came running around the corner away from the Mk19 vehicle. Didn't work out as they planned.
While driving out the minaret compound to reform at the centre of town we heard several hostile voices inside the buildings, which we then reported to the numerous infantry running past our vehicle, which then proceeded to run in the opposite direction. So after a few minutes of no-one going near the compound, me, starchy and Gaz moved up on foot and cleared it ourselves. One contact was neutralised.

Next up was the gas station town, which began a bit disorganised due to desync. One minute I was following the vehicle in front towards the town, the next I was alone. Quickly pulled off the road and to some minor cover on a small hill for Echo to dismount. Attempted to provide cover fire for them but had no visual and we were too far forward of everyone else to do much yet. Held position and used my vehicle as cover for a wounded guy as he was patched up.
Once the assault began in full I began moving to the trees east of the town, came under heavy fire and just as I was about to decide to move further in, another Demon vehicle came flying down the hill straight into a rocket. Provided some cover until the other demon teams had the situation under control then moved round to the west of town.
From the west had good sight lines into the town, but no visuals, despite taking heavy small arms and mg fire. Seemed all contacts were inside buildings. Starchy began lining up a shot on one such contact but took a bullet before he could fire. Moved back to heal him, then remained on the perimeter as the infantry cleared the town.

I think it was at this point that the Banter guys disconnected and Liquid's team piled into my vehicle before I could drive away.

Next town was the northernmost one, the vehicles held position out of sight until the infantry had eyes on the town and were ready to move. This town was very spread out with no visual obstructions, so the vehicles essentially surrounded the town from the hills and neutralised most of the threats.

Was at this point we began our journey back to base.
First stop along the way had a fair amount of contacts and I drove my vehicle down the main street while infantry cleared the buildings on either side. Was expecting to take an RPG at any moment but came out unscathed.
I "think" it was at this town when we began to take some mg fire from a compound to the southwest, my vehicle was extremely low on ammo so we went full assault on the compound and drove straight through the wall, neutralising several contacts before running completely dry on ammo and starchy taking a bullet. Demon-1 pulled up to join us too and took down a couple contacts outside the compound before taking some wounds. After patching starchy up one more contact ran into the compound and was quickly neutralised and we reformed with the rest of the vehicles.

Rest of the journey back was uneventful except for Gaz getting his vehicle shot by a rocket like a noob. After I stopped laughing I turned my vehicle around and neutralised several contacts from range before moving up with the rest of the infantry. The area was cleared and Gaz was laughed at some more.

We returned to base and mission accomplished.

Feedback:
* Late start - Yeah it sucks, but shit happens.
* Roles - I can imagine some of the VG guys not being happy about sitting in a vehicle the whole time, I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but had a good laugh with the guys I transported and with starchy. And managed to make our vehicle tactically useful by keeping it moving in useful positions.
* Squad/team slots: I realise that the main focus was to have each of the three gaming groups have their own teams. But if we do another mechanized infantry mission it could be worth considering forming 6-man teams. For example if the driver and gunner had attached themselves to the fireteam they were transporting. They'd still remain with the vehicle but the infantry and vehicles would've been more aware of each other during assaults and supported each other more effectively. It would also have removed some of the burden off of Poff as it would've been one less squad to deal with. Would only do this with cars though, if we used Bradleys having them in a seperate squad makes more sense.
* Convoy size: 6 vehicles in convoy was possible a bit much, if we have that many people again would probably be worth using the strikers to cram more people into less vehicles.

Overall I had a good time, was laughing most of the night and the few small issues we had didn't really cause that much of a problem. And Gaz's vehicle getting hit by a rocket directly in front of me was a perfect end to the event. :D

[=VG= SavageCDN (Inactive Duty)]

Great report too bad I missed Gaz eating an RPG.

Will add my AAR after the intense hangover clears


Also if you experienced any technical issues yesterday during the event please post them here so we can troubleshoot. I know there were a few players having issues with ACRE which required disco/reco or ACRE sync. Not sure if these were 'normal' ACRE issues with a large group of players (we've never had 40 on the server at once before!!)

De-sync was a bit of an issue at times however there are a few tweaks I will make to the server's bandwidth settings to hopefully clear up the problem.. understanding that regardless of any settings Arma can just de-sync at times.

[=VG= Nvram]

Server FPS were pretty low around 15 fps or even less the most time

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

Nvram =VG= LAN_WROTE ...

Server FPS were pretty low around 15 fps or even less the most time

On that note, it was still surprisingly playable - "Arma" playable, I call it - and of course such frame rates would not be playable in other games, say Planetside 2 or even a fighter plane game such as War Thunder.

My AAR will come later today, along with Group Photos for the players. Still on first cup of coffee.... !coffee

[=VG= Gaz]

I'd like to say i took that rocket. LIKE A BOSS.
I was still hauling it with no wheels or engine bro, got it pulled over to the side of the road out of the way so you could go flying through... Me and ciro dismounted and took down a MAAWS prepped for calv's fleeing MRAP.
With 2 broken arms and 2 wrecked legs, i think me and ciro did a decent job of clearing abit of that village on our own till the rest of you Rag tag bunch showed up!

[=VG= poffadder (Inactive Duty)]

Vader1-1: Poffadder
Vader1-2: Savage

The mission was completed successfully with minimal casualties to an acceptable standard. Those insurgents are going to have a hard time finding RPGs now.

The squad play was great, I think we all worked fairly well together. There were times when I was watching above with the satcam and I could distinctly identify each squad and fire team in Fox and Echo as they moved forward to take objectives. Reaction to contact was good after a few attempts.

Communications on the command net were good, never lost touch with any of my squad leaders. I would have preferred to have more communication between fox and echo, but since it was our first time trying this out I think we did a cracking job.

We did have technical issues that made comms difficult. For instance I had no comms with Riddle (Outlaw1-1) and Ibux had no comms with some of his squad members.

The missing satchels were probably my fault, I should have put more emphasis on the presence of caches.

We managed to lose three MRAPS and two blackhawks, some of the MRAPS were discarded due to the lack of a crew. Lets try not to waste as many assets next time.

The mission took too long to get going again. (More preset stuff should resolve this.)

I will have a full briefing posted before the next event to avoid it having to be explained from scratch at the start. I will also have the server up the day before for squad leaders who want to do some preparation or training.

Signups will be conducted in a more orderly fashion for the next event, to avoid last minute crowding.

Please let me know what you thought about the chain of command. Where can we make improvements? I know I made mistakes and need some criticism.

Also WE NEED MORE LEADERS. I want to run around with a gun listening to my FTL shouting at me too.


Overall good job and thanks for making it a wonderful event. I hope to play with you all in the near future.

!gundown

[ridDle]

To my defense that one blackhawk was due to the horrible lift script! Flying repair truck anyone? We would have repaired the downed black hawk and had both if it weren't for that -.-

[=VG= Calv]

poffadder =VG= LAN_WROTE ...

We managed to lose three MRAPS and two blackhawks, some of the MRAPS were discarded due to the lack of a crew. Lets try not to waste as many assets next time.

I was towing the extra MRAP from my team until ordered to leave it behind, not sure why. But after we lost the MRAP at the next town I heard talk of going back for the one we left, did that not happen?
Also we brought Gaz's MRAP back to base, new coat of paint and it'd be fine ;)

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

Demon Squad

=MRAP M2 Command=
Demon1 SQL - SemlerPDX

Demon 1
=MRAP M2 Prime=
Demon1-1 (FTL) - Gaz
Demon1-2 (MEDIC) - Ciro
=MRAP M2 Sub=
Demon1-3 - Ingo
Demon1-4 - Sparky

Demon 2
=MRAP M2 Prime=
Demon2-1 (FTL) - Calv
Demon2-2 (MEDIC) - StarchyDuke
=MRAP M2 Sub=
Demon2-3 - Harry
Demon2-4 - Dumbfoundead

Demon 3
=MRAP M2 Prime=
Demon3-1 (FTL) - Speirs
Demon3-2 (MEDIC) - Iffn
=MRAP Mk19 Sub=
Demon3-3 - Nvram
Demon3-4 - reV

____________________________


Squad Lead Review

I was the Demon Squad Leader, responsible for a 6 MRAP Transport Convoy for Fox and Echo Squads. I had each fire team split in two, with my FTL's and Medics in the Primary MRAP and their 3rd and 4th team members in Subordinate MRAPS, with the weapons cargo loaded into the Primary vehicles. These were instructed to keep in the center or rear of the convoy during transit, with Hold and Secure ROE.

Due to some last minute technical updates, the Mission Briefing took place the morning of the operation, and we were issued our 6 MRAPS for the operation. Calv and I loaded two of the Primary MRAPS with weapons cargo, although during the confusion of the load, I neglected to load ordinance of any kind. At this point, I was not briefed as to the primary objective - either due to coms issues, or the confusion at the start - but I do load MSO vehicles often, and usually pack them for all possible scenarios.

All apologies for the large delay due to lack of ordinance.

When it became clear that supplies were needed, Vader 1 attempted to contact Outlaw but range became an issue. I took it upon myself to drive the command MRAP to a tall hill 600 meters east of the AO. Once there, I was able to contact Outlaw 1 (PITN) and order an ordinance supply drop - less than 5 minutes later, the Blackhawk landed and ordinance was added to the Command MRAP, and delivered to the troops.
_________________


Gunners Review

My gunners were having technical issues reloading their M2 mags and therefore, when players disconnected, we consolidated into remaining MRAPS.
On that note, I'd like to add that more than once the call came through to warn Demon gunners to check fire - Mk19 launchers should never be fired once a friendly force has entered the AO. M2 gunners should never fire blindly in such cases, as well. At other times, it is important to lay down return fire, even if enemies are not spotted, in the direction from which we are being engaged.

Suppressive fire should be done in short 10 round bursts around the area of fire, often only so long as to allow friendly forces to move up and engage. Never unload a belt in such a scenario - also, when enemies are sighted, try to take the time to range in the M2 so that you can get first rounds on target, in order to fire a minimum amount of ammunition. In skilled hands, the M2 can nearly become a one-shot one-kill weapon.
_________________


Drivers Review

My drivers were, in a sense, press-ganged into their roles and were indeed unaware that their coop duty in this operation would be vehicle borne. Regardless of this, I am proud of the speed at which these drivers were able to perform an unpracticed symphony of movement as well as they did. Our brief on formations consisted of less than a few sentences of instruction - Sub's in front, Prime's in center/rear; Herringbone Formation upon halt - but none of these players have trained or drilled in either of these concepts together like this. With one "HALT" order, over and over, they pulled off of the main road, Left/Right/Left/Right, etc.

As we lost vehicles, we also lost players - this negated the need to go back for abandoned MRAPS at that time.

Only on a couple of occasions did I need to repeat an order, and if I was short or curt with any of you, just know it was merely the pump of the game talking - I value each of you as good gaming friends! I did think it would not be hard to lead 6 vehicles, but I was proven wrong a few times - this proves that it does help to have one player or two dedicated to leading and coordinating, so that those players can just "play" within the confines of the COOP Common Goal that is the mission.
_________________


Poff took a pic of one such Halt - here is the pic - be proud:

Demon Squad MRAP Herringbone

Final Review

Next time, it has been suggested to take fewer vehicles, but to speak on this event: My Subordinate MRAPs could have benefited from also having an AN/PRC-148 Radio on Channel 2 so that I could directly assist in leading them at times.

It would have allowed someone to tell me that Gaz had to disconnect during the Refuel at the local gas station. We waited for several minutes before I went up there and heard the news. Long, unknown breaks can be frustrating to the masses if they do not know the situation. When they do, it helps morale for them to know about how long they may have to "chill" - they may grab a drink, or hit the head to drain some.

My team responded fast, as can be hoped, as orders propogated down the chain - with practice, this would be even faster. In the future, all disabled or abandonded vehicles should be noted for retrieval by post-event MSO players. JIP Markers, in game AAR's and even Notes on the sign board can facilitate this, so long as our database is up and running.

This will become permanent one day very soon - consider that we could plan the night before, set up our vehicles, brief our team, and rally the next morning with all our gear waiting for us. This will curb the long setup times.

We may not run events with this many people in the future, but MSO does have the ability to make for great events. I look forward to Poffadder and Savage's MSO when it is as they want it.
_________________


I'd like to thank Demon Squad for doing what we had to do, and for doing it well!

Special thanks to the Bantewagon Squad, and LAMBS, for joining us (and putting up with the occasional periods of waiting). And a big thanks to Poffadder for leading us, and to Savage for his hard work on the mission and design elements!
!cheers

As promised, here are some of the better group shots that Poffadder took:
(originals available by request)

______

In the Land of Opportunity, "The American Dream" is up to the individual to define for themselves.
My YouTube Channel | My Camping Photos

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

[=VG= poffadder (Inactive Duty)]

Calv =VG= LAN_WROTE ...

I was towing the extra MRAP from my team until ordered to leave it behind, not sure why. But after we lost the MRAP at the next town I heard talk of going back for the one we left, did that not happen?

Yeah that order came from me, in hind sight it was a bad call but I was not expecting to lose another vehicle. I wanted to keep the MRAPs that we had as full as possible to avoid an uneven distribution of forces. We did not go back for it because we had enough space in the vehicles that we had at the time.

[=VG= Calv]

SemlerPDX =VG= LAN_WROTE ...

Gunners Review

My gunners were having technical issues reloading their M2 mags and therefore, when players disconnected, we consolidated into remaining MRAPS.
_________________

To expand on that, the issue seemed to be related to M2 mags that weren't completely full. For some reason it refuses to load "used" mags at all, but will only use the first mag in your inventory. Could just have been coincidence but loading the ammo from outside of an empty vehicle seemed to work better too, but not 100% on that. With some messing around of swapping and dropping M2 mags I managed to reload a couple into my vehicle over the course of the mission, but it was a huge hassle. If we use vehicles again we should ensure to have a vehicle ammo box loaded in one (if that's possible), or consider having the vehicle's SL taking an ammo truck.

Also, I realise this was the first time driving in vehicles like we did for many people so it was a lot of playing it by ear, but for future missions we should make it much clearer on how to react when contact is made.
Obviously when approaching an AO a stop and dismount is done.
However, when unexpected contact is made en route, like for example on the way back to base we had a couple contacts appear from some small buildings after the first couple vehicles had driven past. This situation could've gone really bad, really fast. As the lead vehicles kept driving through the town and halted at a secure distance, while the rear vehicles seemed to stop in the middle of the buildings.
I'd say the default action in these situations should be to drive on. Whenever unexpected contact is made, especially in an urban environment, the vehicles should keep driving until they reach a "safe" location where they can spread out and dismount.
Even if a vehicle is disabled, it sounds harsh, but they should be left behind temporarily while we reach a secure location, then work backwards to clear the way to them.

[Jager]

Fox 2
TJ - FTL
Nixxen - Medic
Jager - MG
Lupago - AT / Grunt

Heard quite a bit of action and even managed to get wounded, but for the most part it was pretty quiet was hoping for more hostiles :p
I didn't have any overview of the ao's but it felt like the previous event had more hostiles, even so it was enjoyable.
While I don't mind getting support from the MRAP's if the enemy numbers ain't high then we are left with a lot less to do, and while an Apache gunship is a lot higher force multiplier it has the luxury of leave our friendlies "in-the-shit" coming to assist when needed.
Random suggested fewer vehicles and I agree, at least if we come across equal enemy forces like we did on Saturday.
Vehicle duty can be boring and requires a special mind set, I don't mind taking my turn if we do more of these.

I did muck up a tad with the slots figured banter might bring 10-15 people but forgot to notify poff about that, lambs brought roughly 7 but we also got a lot more from the VG community than I expected ^^

Thanks to VG for the hosting / management of the OP!

[=VG= Calv]

Jager LAN_WROTE ...

Random suggested fewer vehicles and I agree, at least if we come across equal enemy forces like we did on Saturday.

Yeah, been trying to think of the "best" convoy makeup for the number of people we had. Swapping the MRAPs for Strykers wouldn't make any difference as they both hold 5 passengers. Bradleys hold 6 I believe, but then also have a ton more firepower plus thermal so are not a good choice.
Possibly the most ideal setup would be along the lines of 2x MRAPs and 2x MTVRs. We would've only needed a single team to drive/gun the MRAPs, and the infantry teams could take responsibility for driving the MTVRs, parking them up and doing a full dismount so nobody gets stuck with a dull driving role in a non-combat vehicle. Would've given us more boots on the ground without completely removing heavy gun coverage if needed.

[IHarryXx]

I believe that anyone stuck in a Driver/Gunner role should of had a 148 or 117 tuned into the command channel. When I was driving I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing until Gaz ran up to me saying that I needed to move my MRAP to the other side with everyone else.
Also from what I saw especially my fireteam Demon 2, orders weren't being issued on Fireteam radios (343) so once again I was left in a dark spot most of the time.

This is partly the reason why I left half way through, my TS crashed but recovered however due to me operating my MRAP alone and the fact I was kept in the dark with orders I completely lost the urge to play and left. If the comms structure can be worked on then these events will become alot more enjoyable. I don't mind sitting in a vehicle for most/all of the game aslong I actually know whats going on.

-Harry

[=VG= Calv]

I did suggest grabbing a 148 at the start before we got the vehicles, in hindsight I should've made it an order. In future all vehicles should have a 148 mounted as standard.


As for the orders, at the first town (when you informed me that Antoin had d/c) we didn't get any orders, so all the vehicles sat doing nothing.
At the next town we again didn't really get any specific orders, it was really down to the driver/gunners to use their initiative. I'm sure I said that I was moving to the left of the town to support echo, after that I didn't give any new orders because we didn't have any, I was moving as I saw fit. If you were unsure of what you should've been doing you could've asked over the radio.

There's also the fact that this was the first time using vehicles in this manner, so SL/FTL were essentially making it up as we went. Personally I don't tend to give that many orders to team members, I expect them to use their initiative and stick with me without me having to specifically order them to follow me, which works fine on foot, but clearly not so well in vehicles.

[WillBant]

Hey gang!

Jager pointed me in this thread direction and below is my take on the whole Saturday night dance we enjoyed :D

Echo -1
Will
Brad
Welshy
Tegyr
Lechuckle
Sean (tigre)

Echo -2
HeXey
Greg
Rousel
Aeru
Bannaspin
-Another person who will tell me off for forgetting

Anderson was folded into Foxtrot from our lot as well.

I?ve not really got anything to add for an AAR of what happened without simply repeating the messages you guys have thus far left.

From Echo?s point of view the mission went well no KIAs on our part but not for insurgent?s lack of trying with one particular close encounter seeing myself and my rescuer introduced to the business end of a PKM from about three feet. Also another one seeing me covering Sean carrying Tegyr (the medic) back over one hundred meters of fire sweep ground.

Couple of points for improvement from my eyes, please bear in mind that these points are offered without any idea of how you guys normally operate. I also appreciate from the chatter prior to the start that this was perhaps the most people you have ever dealt so please don?t take any of this a being more than suggestions for ease of future MSO sessions.

Issues
1.The use of markers. Much of the time I was completely unsure of the situation because no markers were placed on the map to denote friendly forces or identified enemy firing points. This limited my situational awareness to what I could work out from the radio and what I could see which was very difficult while running three radios. I am not advocating ACE map markers as they are the hiding place of those who can?t read maps in my eyes but simple ones such as a marker pointing out where Demon is going, where are fox holding etc would have helped.

2. A clearer indication of what was planned would have helped. By this I mean that my teams and I were constantly thrown in at the sharp end for no reason. The most important and repeated example of this was the ?Drive until shot at. Then throw the infantry out and tell them to advance while the MRAPs threw fire at anything they could see?. This lead to a least two incredibly close blue on blues. One of which lead to my team running back past Demon 2 (calv and starchy) screaming in terror like the women we are as mk19 was poured into the position I had been told to clear five meters away. Another that saw .50cal stopping our bound mid move and in the open (under enemy fire) as fire was sent across our line about 2meters in front of us, on both occasions we took hits and lost a man to unconsciousness in the open.

This also had a knock on effect at the start when we came underfire and Demon became static due to no statement of intent from the CO. We took casualties and time to get going again when ideally we should of punched through rather than haphazardly engage ghosts.

A simply dismount point in or around cover which would allow infantry a moment to organize before barreling in would have made all the difference here.

Minor issues

Needed coms with my MRAP, whether attached to me or simply on my net. I needed to be able to steer fire through something other than shouting at Starchy and calv or trying to be heard over the coms to Demon lead (actual).

Cache could have been dealt with viva .50cal on the box or m19. Don?t be afraid of gaming the system if there is a risk of the mission losing steam. The cache is the most minor of points however as these things happen, don?t let yourselves get hung up on it. One supply issue is a non-issue and will undoubtedly happen again as mistakes always do in big arma games.

Make sure to receive a clear confirmation from those you seeking to reach. I missed a call at one point due to the amount I had going on and only found out I had dropped the ball when an unfamiliar voice yelled ?Echo where the hell are you?!? into the radio while I was trying to get the wounded into cover.

Would recommend that Fox and Echo (infantry) elements operate both fireteams on a single 343 net in future (e.g. Fox is on 343 5 and Echo on 6), sorting movements was made longwinded due to need to communicate with Echo2 lead (HeXeY) even though both fireteams where acting as one unit.

Strong points

Demon fire swept the villages with fire comprehensively and clear bounds where being taken on both sides of target villages in order to cut the road leading out of the village and to secure the flanks.

When attempting to reach other elements 99% of time response was prompt and clear. Was also given clear clarification when I requested it.

Props to Poff for the last village that banter cleared. He was nearby when I started bounding echo into the town and he passed our movement around the chain quickly and clearly. Allowed me to concentrate on leading my infantry and helped a great deal.

Once dealt with the ?satchel issue? never came up again and demolitions were promptly placed at all further caches with minimum fuss.

Never had to worry about the buildings on my flank Fox, cleared their areas very well and held down their flanks very much to their credit.

After the satchel town mission flowed well and we moved from objective to objective quickly and easily.

Driver of rear MRAP (I don?t know your name sorry!) was helpful + understanding and helped pick up a squadmember (Rousel) having trouble with ACE weight system bug (blacking out while weighing only 7kgs). Yah you ran him over but I got a cheap laugh at Rousel's expense so I don't give a hoot.

Bag kit system was a great little idea (FTL needs a 117, because it wipes your kit I lost mine because I had already taken the 117 from the crate).

A general thank you for everyone on the command net putting up with my radio troubles early session.

To finish
Had a very good night, few issues but they did not detract from the overall experience which was a lot of fun.
Very nice bunch of guys all round with special shout outs to our greeter Gaz, our valiant leader Poff and my driver gunner double dream team of Calv and Starchy in Demon 2. Really enjoyed ourselves and the talk is very much pointed at if you?d have us we would like to pop over again next month please!

Also need to offer up a couple of quick apologies, one for all of us disconnecting so totally. Saturdays aren?t great nights for us as many have Sunday commitments or work all day Saturday so we had to call it a night early.
Also on my part apologies for a couple of gripers you may have heard. We don?t normally play stuff like MSO so the disjointed feel of an open ended mission was jarring for some but they got into the swing of it =)

Thanks again fellas. Was a pleasure.

Also reckon this is worth a share. From Sean?s Fraps. Someone (think it was Random from Lambs) got too close to the cache

[=VG= Calv]

WillBant LAN_WROTE ...


Then throw the infantry out and tell them to advance while the MRAPs threw fire at anything they could see?. This lead to a least two incredibly close blue on blues. One of which lead to my team running back past Demon 2 (calv and starchy) screaming in terror like the women we are as mk19 was poured into the position I had been told to clear five meters away.

That came second place as my highlight of the evening :D

Markers - I don't like the idea of using markers during a mission as it seems a little bit like meta-gaming, but more of a clearer plan at the start would've made them unneccessary anyway.

Planning - I wasn't on the infantry comms net so haven't really commented on this, but for this kind of operation where multiple towns are going to be hit, a simple plan would've sufficed. Something as basic as organising the teams into a line, and then having the teams maintaining that line when clearing towns, e.g. when approaching a town, Fox teams clear the left side of the road, Echo clears right. Simple idea that would've given the vehicles a better idea of where to stop to benefit the team they were carrying.
The other option is to re-group after each AO/town and brief the SL/FTLs on the assault plan for the next AO, place some dismount markers etc

Comms with MRAP - Agreed, think I mentioned in one of my previous posts that it could've been simpler to attach the driver/gunner to the team they were carrying and essentially remove the Demon squad altogether. This could've also removed the 3-radio burden as the vehicle could act as RO between the SL and CMD, or FTL and SL.

The other possibly simple option would be to mount a 343 radio in the MRAPs to give them comms with the team they carry.

Cache - Agreed, we had a box full of launchers in the MRAPs, wasn't sure why we didn't just rocket it.

343 nets - I'd say that this is down to the SL/FTLs. I know the Lambs guys have operated multiple teams on a flat 343 net before when it was clear the teams were operating in close proximity, but personally I dislike having other teams on my 343 ch. It's often hard enough hearing 148 radio in combat with just my team members, could become a real nightmare with more teams on it.
That said, if you as SL and your teams prefer a flat net for you guys, it doesn't really effect anyone else so I would've just switched over to one ch if I was you.

FTL Loadout - When making the loadouts I considered giving the FTL a 117, but ultimately decided against it due to the fact that the majority of the time they only need the 148 to comm with SL who has the 117. Plus if desired they can grab one from the crate, or select the CMD loadout which is pretty much identical to the FTL one but with a 117.
Could be worth changing the name of the CMD loadout to Squad Leader as I'm guessing you would've picked that loadout then.

As you mention though, most of that is due to inexperience with managing large numbers of people in one mission. For our first time it was surprisingly smooth.

[WillBant]

Calv =VG= LAN_WROTE ...

WillBant LAN_WROTE ...


Then throw the infantry out and tell them to advance while the MRAPs threw fire at anything they could see?. This lead to a least two incredibly close blue on blues. One of which lead to my team running back past Demon 2 (calv and starchy) screaming in terror like the women we are as mk19 was poured into the position I had been told to clear five meters away.

That came second place as my highlight of the evening :D

shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuttttttttt uuppppppppppppppppppp

I didn?t know the CMD loudout was something I was meant to look at, I assumed it was for COs, JTACs etc calling it squadleader is a good idea and I'd back it myself. It doesn't matter to much though, I got a 117 either way in the end. And on the 343, I wasn?t aware I had the choice to move people around my channels. Call it new guy syndrome I guess!

On the planning and the coms overall, I?ve said my piece it?s down to you guys to work out where you?d like to run with it.

Calv =VG= LAN_WROTE ...

Markers - I don't like the idea of using markers during a mission as it seems a little bit like meta-gaming, but more of a clearer plan at the start would've made them unneccessary anyway.

I hate to sound like a dick on this point but when rolling with third person and respawns player placed markers are not really meta gaming. They help direct fire, provide clear communication and prevent blue on blue. Like I said, not talking about the ACE group markers here, they are meta gamey, just player placed markers. If you were to keep them on command channel you can make sure that they don?t end up meta gamey as all they?d be then is a command aid and commanders need all the info they can get. I really feel they?d of helped. That Mk19 moment is a good example, simply place a marker for dismount and then echo and fox?s first waypoints. This would of cleaned the whole attack up with three markers.
No need to cover the map in stuff =)

[HeXeY]

Why hello there!

Though I'd drop a wall of text here.

So yeah, I got to lead. Hooray...
Started the mission picking guns, thanks for letting me have my HK416. Ended up picking up a 117 as the FTL of Echo-2, and it sure helped, made it easier on the comms for Will I believe as he just had to see if I got the message, and we were done with that.

Both me and Will ended up having some fuck ups with the 117 where we could only hear the beeps as the radio was engaged/disengaged for a while. This happened as we approached the down where we realized we were missing satchels. This put a major hinder on our situational awareness, but eventually we, thanks to Greg, managed to fix it but dropping the radio, and picking it back up. Arma makes so much sense luckily... We got this fixed just before we moved in to town to look for the cache.

As I had no idea what was happening I lead Echo-2 around the right side of town on the ridge, clearing the buildings there, and drawing some fire/shooting someone, pretty sure they were enemies.. would love for the FTL/SL/CMD kits to have binocs.

On the town with the gas station, we had some fuckups where Echo-1, I believe, was dropped off quite a bit ahead of Echo-2, and I had to kinda improvise as I was not sure exactly what was going on.

Ended up getting up on the ridge on the left hand side of the road putting some fire into the compounds just before the gas station. Eventually Echo was ordered to clear the compund, and Echo-2 had to run a insane distance across the open, but we somehow all made it. I ended up running all around the place, my team doing their thing, which was just as well as I ended up going with Greg, our medic, to try and save Tegyr, Echo-1's medic. Some smoking, shooting and running later I had to be saved myself. But we all made it to the town south (?) of the gas station eventually.

After this, only 2 or 3 of Banter Wagon chose to stay. I had a sleeping pattern to maintain as I work shifts so I'm not always that flexible on playtime, other times I'm infinitely flexible.



Regarding comms:
Everyone, I like to think that Banter aren't that bad at it, but we are at times, (not me of course, I'm perfect), need to use comms more knowingly (can't find the proper word...). But we had a lot of cases where people would talk over eachother on the 117 net, especially when you tried to call in the helis. I for some reason decided not to tell you at the time, no idea why, but command and Outlaw were talking over eachother, you had comms when the helis approached town the first time, and command was lead to believe that Outlaw could not be reached. When you try and call someone, give them a chance to answer, like 5+ seconds.

There was also a case, in the town with the minaret I believe, where Will was sending a message to command and he said "break", released the radio and started talking again. During this small pause, which he did notify of, but not sure if you are familiar with it being used, command came with a reply. And as such, command and Will were talking over eachother, neither could hear the other and I had to relay the little info I managed to snap up from command to Will.
So basicly, give time before you start talking on the radio, try and avoid interrupting unless it is very important, and we need to agree on the use of "break".

"Break" could we used during long messages to let important messages interrupt and come through, give the messager time to take a breath and think over what has been said and what still needs to be said, and for us foreigners, translate some of the stuff we're about to say, it doesn't always happen as fast as we'd like. Please try and avoid holding the key while talking, again, to let important messages come through and such. Use "break".
Unless you lot have very much against it of course...

[=VG= Calv]

HeXeY LAN_WROTE ...


would love for the FTL/SL/CMD kits to have binocs.

On the town with the gas station, we had some fuckups where Echo-1, I believe, was dropped off quite a bit ahead of Echo-2, and I had to kinda improvise as I was not sure exactly what was going on.

Regarding comms:
Everyone, I like to think that Banter aren't that bad at it, but we are at times, (not me of course, I'm perfect), need to use comms more knowingly (can't find the proper word...). But we had a lot of cases where people would talk over eachother on the 117 net, especially when you tried to call in the helis. I for some reason decided not to tell you at the time, no idea why, but command and Outlaw were talking over eachother, you had comms when the helis approached town the first time, and command was lead to believe that Outlaw could not be reached. When you try and call someone, give them a chance to answer, like 5+ seconds.

There was also a case, in the town with the minaret I believe, where Will was sending a message to command and he said "break", released the radio and started talking again. During this small pause, which he did notify of, but not sure if you are familiar with it being used, command came with a reply. And as such, command and Will were talking over eachother, neither could hear the other and I had to relay the little info I managed to snap up from command to Will.
So basicly, give time before you start talking on the radio, try and avoid interrupting unless it is very important, and we need to agree on the use of "break".

"Break" could we used during long messages to let important messages interrupt and come through, give the messager time to take a breath and think over what has been said and what still needs to be said, and for us foreigners, translate some of the stuff we're about to say, it doesn't always happen as fast as we'd like. Please try and avoid holding the key while talking, again, to let important messages come through and such. Use "break".
Unless you lot have very much against it of course...

They have Vectors, which function the same as binocs, no? Haven't used binocs that much so unaware if there is a magnification difference.

The gas station town was my due to desync on my end. By the time I realised, it was too late to turn back or anything so did my best to provide some cover while everyone caught up. Was a bad situation but everyone adapted to it well.

Yeah, I know the Lambs guys have comms pretty much sorted, with correct usage of over, out, and break to keep things organised, but we haven't really done much "official" comms usage with VG. Most people are loosely aware of what the terms mean, but lack the practice for them to be used instinctively.

[Iffn]

Demon 3 Vehicle 1:
Demon3-1 (FTL) - Speirs -- 148 CH2 -- 343 CH3
Demon3-2 (MEDIC) - Iffn

Demon 3 Vehicle 2:
Demon3-3 - Nvram
Demon3-4 - Rev


From the technical side, the mission felt surprisingly playable, despite the 40 people on the server. I died in the 4th engagement, however, form what I saw, I feel like there should be some tactical adjustments next time we roll with that many people.

-Rather than moving as one convoy, a "large" force like this could be much more effective if the it was devided into smaller elements, which could move more flexible rather than seperating it into vehicle operators and food soldiers. This would allow the 'high command' to focus on the bigger picture rather than to micro manage each unit.
For example, each 6 or 8 man group could get a specific objective, defined by the 'high command', such as securing part of a town, clearing a road of ied's or searching for a weapon chache. Once completed, the group can move on to the next objective without having to wait for everyone.

-Assaults on an objective don't always have to follow the road. Doing so from a better or multiple directions through open terrain from different directions is more effective. The open terrain allows the long range blufor weapons to terminate a hostile rpg team much earlier then in a avenue with trees on either side. The attack from multiple directions allows the different elements to be more effective, however the risk of friendly fire increases when merging with other units.


Looking forward to the next events on this scale. We'll get better time we adjust our tactics.


And on the notion of map markers:
A far as I know, the position of all major US Army vehicles as well as all known enemy positions in a combat zone are maked with GPS in there network to enhance there situational awareness. Therefore, using map and unit markers would even be realistic, at least for squad learders or vehicle commanders.

[HeXeY]

We won't necessarily have to use "over" and "out", though it would probably make it clearer, but atleast try and use "break" at times.

Atleast I did not have binocs, neither in the form of the good old ones, or a Vector. Might've chosen the wrong kit though... -.-

But thanks for the game!
Hope we can do it again and you want us back!

[=VG= Calv]

Iffn LAN_WROTE ...


-Rather than moving as one convoy, a "large" force like this could be much more effective if the it was devided into smaller elements, which could move more flexible rather than seperating it into vehicle operators and food soldiers. This would allow the 'high command' to focus on the bigger picture rather than to micro manage each unit.
For example, each 6 or 8 man group could get a specific objective, defined by the 'high command', such as securing part of a town, clearing a road of ied's or searching for a weapon chache. Once completed, the group can move on to the next objective without having to wait for everyone.

And on the notion of map markers:
A far as I know, the position of all major US Army vehicles as well as all known enemy positions in a combat zone are maked with GPS in there network to enhance there situational awareness. Therefore, using map and unit markers would even be realistic, at least for squad learders or vehicle commanders.

Moving as one convoy doesn't really have much relation to splitting into smaller elements. The smaller elements were already there. We had 3 seperate squads operating together, and then those squads were split into 2-3 teams. I wasn't on the infantry net so I'm unsure how the orders were given, but I would've expected each of the 2 infantry squad leaders to be given specific areas of the town to clear, which they would then split again between their FTLs.
So while everyone were all in the same area, the smaller elements with specific tasks should still exist too.

BluFor trackers do exist, but they're not available for each individual soldier to view.
My personal opinion on marker usage is as follows:
Group markers - no limit, feel free to place markers for every enemy or friendly position you feel is relevant for your team.
Side markers - Only placed when all SLs are in one place, so during a briefing at the start, or a re-group after an AO is cleared.

The main takeaway from it is that a quick brief before an assault makes things go much smoother. e.g. After clearing a town, SLs huddle together, next target is announced, dismount locations marked, and areas of responsibility noted.
Only takes a minute or so, no micromanaging is needed from the CO, just simple task assignment: Squad 1 - clear the east side of town, Squad 2 - clear west side, Squad 3 - Overwatch/Support.

HeXeY LAN_WROTE ...

We won't necessarily have to use "over" and "out", though it would probably make it clearer, but atleast try and use "break" at times.

Atleast I did not have binocs, neither in the form of the good old ones, or a Vector. Might've chosen the wrong kit though... -.-

But thanks for the game!
Hope we can do it again and you want us back!

Over/Out can make a huge difference to comms clarity though. As you mentioned there are a lot of times when people end up talking over each and such. By using over/out it becomes much easier to know when you can transmit without cutting someone off.

[=VG= Speirs]

AAR - Demon 3

Demon 3 Vehicle 1:
Demon3-1 (TL) - Speirs -- 148 CH2 -- 343 CH3
Demon3-2 (MEDIC) - Iffn

Demon 3 Vehicle 2:
Demon3-3 - Nvram
Demon3-4 - Rev

I had some issues to lead cause my headphone is damaged. I was able to hear only on the left side. On the other hand there was not much to lead. We where damned to play the taxi for our grunts - that means we're driving from A to B and then we wait until they cleared the town. My Squad and myself didnt expect that we are sitting in a vehicle the whole saturday evening ...

Demon 3 had almost no kills, the moral was low. We've lost MRAP M2 Prime hit by a RPG 7. Our Vehicle was standing on a hill and i decided to move closer to the town to provide some covering fire. Unfortunately there was alot vegetation and the view on the town was pretty bad. Me and Iffn got heavly wounded. The MRAP M2 Prime was completely destroyed. Praise to the other teams who have secured us very quickly.

Towards the end of the mission our team has opened the fire on friendly units. I apologize and also take over the responsibility. Please keep in mind the terrain was very flat and many trees blocked the view. All in all we had really bad conditions for direct fire support.

Feedback:
* clear roles next briefing
* fixed formation for vehicles

Suggestion:
* formation training with a convoi

Note: you will laughing at this point but some ppl have no clue what "left" and "right" means. My vehicle got almost rammed by a teammate - the safety distance and driving speed has not been met!


Wrong formation (our formation):






Correct formation:

[=VG= Speirs]

Iffn LAN_WROTE ...

Assaults on an objective don't always have to follow the road. Doing so from a better or multiple directions through open terrain from different directions is more effective.

...

Looking forward to the next events on this scale. We'll get better time we adjust our tactics.

You're absolutely right Iffn. It was my incompetence as FTL. I was predisposed to act defensive. The firepower was not used effectively cause of the positioning. I would like to quote what you've already said: We'll get better time we adjust our tactics.