=VG= SemlerPDX

Yea, or you can compromise and use something like a more affordable HOTAS, even the X52 like I use - even CH Products has some affordable stuff (and sure, it's not made out of stamped metal like the $500 ones, but still functional). It is a journey that requires a desire to keep trying, to remember stuff like custom button arrangements on joysticks and controllers, and all the stuff we click around the cockpit with the mouse. That said, it's very worth it because it's very realistic, and equally unforgiving. Give the sim a try with a few ground procedures on a mouse and keyboard a bit before investing in anything too expensive, but spend your money wisely. It's only a few bucks to buy the base game, the mod is free, and you can check it out as is just to see if clicking around the cockpit and finding a way to look around that you like is your kind of game. We totally want more players!! Just don't spend too much before you know if it's your flavor (or your wife's, rather!) If it is, it can become a very involved hobby well worth spending a fair bit of money on like all good hobbies.

HA! Love the "Dog" pic! I used to spend quite a bit of time in Arma 2 Life servers, either as a cop, merc or drug runner - too much fun! Good luck to you, I might find you one of these evenings if I get in the Arma Life mood. Cheers!

We're still growing our player base, and there are so far only a handful of =VG= members that have followed us on this Falcon journey. I'm so impressed with the number of new players, but this simulator isn't for everyone. If anyone is interested in BMS and would like some help getting into this, post up and we'd be glad to help you get started! Thank you for hanging with us, Trader! Most BMS pilots seem to join some rather strict realism squadrons, but VG is focusing on a casual public server with a cooperative "come as you are" atmosphere. I really appreciate all the help spreading the word, and I will be back to flying with you all myself before too long. Thanks to everyone who's been helping promote the VG BMS Server!

Server updated to 1.5.2 -- report any problems relating to this version here. Thanks!

Good point - I will examine the wording on our posts and notices, and edit them as appropriate to help clarify the options. Seosan is merely our "Humans Only" airbase so as to accommodate plenty of players without traffic patterns, etc. being clogged up by excess AI flights.

This can happen when a certain airbase gets bombed out by OPFOR. I have investigated and verified that airbase has been repaired back to over 50%, and I tried to frag a flight from 120th at Seosan.... the flight fragged just fine, found myself on the tarmac for a RAMP start, and exited the sim. I'm going to assume we're in the clear now. It's rare, but this shit does happen - usually takes a short while for the AI to repair the base, but in the event it doesn't get fixed, it's good to let us know so we can mark the time/date in case we have to revert the save file several hours or more. Seems the trouble is over for now, please try again and report any successes or failures.

Per admin, SenorRhinoX will be unbanned in one week /locked

VG PR COOP Server (and the Event server at port 16587) are Updated to 1.5.1 -- please report any problems here in the forums. The maplist is very generic to start with, similar to the default setup we ran starting at Mutra-- we'll get alternating maplists recreated as soon as possible, but for now our goal was to get the server back online and running asap. To any admins working on the servers, there is a .rar file in the root of the updated server containing all pre-updated files, and some servers have old files with the extension .OLDEVENT or .OLD with todays date. Use these for references when moving forward with projects. Do not reused old files, but compare values in new ones and append as needed. With the addition of the Polish faction, a lot has changed, forcing us to update new files instead of reusing old ones. Also note that a few Map names have changed, so new maplists must go off of the maplist.con.NEW and the names listed in that file (anything in that list is the new currently available default for COOP).

I can answer that - Yes, it does. Event cancelled, reschedule TBD. EDIT: Updating server(s) and ETA is back to less than 2 hours. Thanks for your patience, everyone!

Our 2 public Arma 3 servers do not run any mods, they are Vanilla servers. Find details on VG Servers in the Game Servers tab along the top: http://veterans-gaming.com/index.php?/game-servers/

Our Arma servers could definitely use some love. The Insurgency Server is a fairly straightforward game mode - map squares occupied by OPFOR are red; we clear them out sometimes building to building to clear the zone and turn them green. Liberation is slightly more in-depth, but similarly can be played with a bunch of players, or a small group, or even solo or with a friend. Maybe we should discuss a date to swarm our server(s) with a bunch of Arma players, see how things go. We also have a 3rd server for running events, where we give a week or two for people to sign up - and anyone can suggest a mission for an event, even non-VG members. If, for example, you find a well tested mission that requires a handful of players, we can schedule signups and even create an easy to sync modlist if needed. I'd be happy to play a support role or lead a squad in an event, and I'd be happy to help organize a group Arma event for anyone who asks.

We used to have a medals and ribbons system on older VG website, this one doesn't have it. I'll see about making up something official people can put in their forum signature - that's about all I could do, if people DO want to earn wings at VG again... Former requirements were not skill trials, though, but 90 hours logged on the VG Falcon Campaign.

Meh - Static must have gotten busy... he's a Harrier NUT!

First you blindly memorize buttons and the order to push them just to get in the air with your buddies, then it starts to make sense and you study the systems individually and how they operate, then you just keep flying and build on successes while learning from failures, watching youtube vids at work and then playing at home. lol BMS and most combat flight sims are difficult cuz it's the real deal, but remember: the real deal was designed by humans to fly in an efficient and intuitive manner regarding controls, so it's really not that hard once you jump into it. Best tip - view all of those buttons you see in the cockpit as belonging to separate sections, realizing that some sections get switched in the beginning and ignored throughout the rest of the flight, which really helps a person to not get overwhelmed by the 1.3 million buttons and switches in one of these fully modeled cockpits.

@ranger_12 signups was only for the high commander position. The rest is "just show up to the event until it's full"

?!?!! The next step? Consider me confused... VG Events do not risk fracturing player base, they don't run every day! VG Events WOULD be running on the locked second (event) server, there isn't a chance that it would run on an unlocked Main server as it's an Event and it allows freedom to edit server files. No events should have their first aim to run on the main server. Is there some reason to run an event on the main server as opposed to the event server that I am unaware of? Is TEDF's new campaign going to run on the main server? And if so, why not the Event Server? Cuz that's why I created those other servers - including ease of setup (and ease of flipping it back to "regular PR COOP"), etc. etc. etc. Only in the most general sense is this the same as an OPFOR event that blocks people from playing BLUFOR, which is a managed adjustment of the entire team(s). Forcing vehicle players out of those roles (as opposed to merely asking for volunteers) is much more inline with "micro" management of teams. If you cannot see how these are vastly different, I gotta suggest that your focus on these concepts is far too narrow. Again, I feel it is an admirable idea to ask for volunteers from the "vehicle regulars" pool of players to give up those roles for an event, allowing newer and other players to try those roles, but I hold to my opinion that players should just be allowed to play the game in the role(s) they enjoy, as enjoyment is what it's all about. If you all want to give an event such as this a go, have at it. If people enjoy it, that would be wonderful. What should really be asked, though, is how and why does skilled/experienced regular players in vehicles during our Events detract from the fun and enjoyment of the other players in infantry roles? And is that something that can simply be fixed by way of the Event design / objectives?

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

I'm not a fan of the notion that players who prefer to play PR in vehicles are somehow "bad people" or "whores" compared to the players who prefer infantry roles. It's a combined arms game, not an infantry game. Having said that, of course I know the vehicle players can be known for not relinquishing said vehicles when there are too few infantry to actually play or progress the current map/mission. Still, the opposite is also true - infantry squads don't always disband to form vehicle squads when infantry cannot progress without fire support... In the end, it's just a game - people are gonna play it the way they enjoy it. It's one thing to ask people to volunteer to comply, but... Forcing someone who enjoys one aspect of the game to play in another role as if they are some kind of "whore" for enjoying what they enjoy just sounds very arrogant. Coming from a stance of "forcing them to try new things" is equally presumptuous when we assume they've not already tried many of the ways to play the game already, as if we've provided the only time they have tried "something different". This concept in this vote is admirable for those who are voluntarily relinquishing vehicle roles they would normally operate, allowing others to have a go at the vehicle roles, but IMO doing any "forcing" feels wrong on some level at least. Asking certain vehicle regulars to voluntarily choose a different role is one thing, but actively enforcing this concept seems like it would be both too much work and too much hassling of our players for a public event designed to be fun and entertaining. It's important to look at concepts such as "entertainment" and "fun times" objectively, and not subjectively.

(unrelated/unhelpful/inappropriate comments have and will be deleted - watch your manners and your attitudes people, we're trying to host a gaming group with a friendly and fun atmosphere here, and we won't tolerate immature ignorance)

There is a Discord that we frequent when looking for other Pilots to fly with, it's called the Falcon Lounge, I believe -- it is frequented by nearly all of the "Discord using" BMS players across the globe AFAIK. Like Rotblut said, we are trying to encourage new people here at VG to sit in the Pilots Lounge channel of our TS3 Server (ts3.veterans-gaming.com) because TS3 also has a smartphone app, and a way to view the names of people in all channels on a website as well i.e. To be clear, I'm happy you've taken the initiative to improve something for this community! We merely feel it's important to funnel our players to one or two services that we've already set up so as to not further fracture the player base across multiple social platforms. I hope we're not coming across as completely illogical here on this matter. Looking forward to flying with you all again soon when I feel like returning. Cheers!

I'm fairly sure he means it should follow proper SOP from the manual, and all angles and heights should be within acceptable margins according to the spirit of the lesson (don't cut corners, keep it professional), and not that every number should be exactly the same at all time intervals. Even in real life, every carrier landing is slightly different due to the challenge of a moving platform on windy, choppy seas. Perform in a way that would not get a real pilot fired - that's probably a good rule

That is something I can train people in, and I'd be happy to help you go pro -- an hour with me, and a few crates of 40mm, and I'll have you dropping them in 3rd story windows from 4 blocks away on the first shot. Grenadier was always my favorite 'attack' kit in any game, and I've spent countless hours in offline sessions just firing (in PR and Arma 2/3). The very coolest trick a Grenadier can do is a MRSI (multiple round simultaneous impact) where multiple grenades all hit the same small area within a second, giving the enemy zero time to react or disperse. Not all tactics are available in all games, but skill with a UGL does translate between different war games for the most part. example of MRSI (although it's in Arma 2):

I'm looking forward to hosting these workshops every week on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a few hours each time, one week, they will be AM, the next, PM -- numbers will be small so we can keep handle on the group and maintain focus on the Workshop objective. We want the number to remain small so we can better manage the session, and the sessions will be short - ranging from 1-3 hours tops. Example would be 8-12 players with 1-3 Hosts/Directors. m823us already mentioned many scenarios that would work well, such as "Learn the Map" sessions, "Kit Training" where people can take kits they normally would not in a less difficult setting allowing learning/training, and even "Vehicle Teamwork Training" where we can take a large number of the same vehicle and everyone gets to work together in various group/formation tactics. That last one, even if the "training workshop" is not possible in a real COOP match (few maps have 15+ Abrams), they will serve to build teamwork, communications, and even small group tactics that CAN apply to a real COOP match. So, obviously, these workshops are not going to be geared to train the "Know-it-All" players who have logged hours into the thousands -- though we would like to encourage such players to take up Team Lead or Host roles during Workshops if they would like. If we design and run them correctly, even seasoned players should find the Workshops useful if everyone can learn at least one new trick, or gain a better idea of the COOP concept and how to better communicate and coordinate with others. *We are still looking for Map Makers familiar with PR coding because we'd like a few specific maps edited with more/less vehicles of certain types, and in some cases, some restrictions lifted so, for example, a Squad Leader Training can bypass "minimum squad members required for...." limits to allow more actual Squad Leaders without so many squad members needed (imagine base building tutorials, but can build 5 fobs right next to each other for training/instructional purposes). Whoever is interested in helping to make these Workshop maps can post up here, or contact me in a private message.

VETERANS-GAMING is an international community with less than 50% American players (for the record), and our server is centrally located in Germany for such reasons. We have members from over 40 countries on 5 continents - as a community, we choose to speak English as our common language, though this will never change. Non-English speaking players are VERY WELCOME, so long as everyone follows the rules, except in cases where communication is absolutely required and therefore a language barrier becomes a game-breaker. Groups of non-English speaking gamers are welcome to use our TS3, as well, and for example we have a small Norwegian group that hangs out at VG (but many of them do not speak English). Any player who finds themselves "wrongly banned and they couldn’t defend themselves cause of the language" may post up here in the forums (we can translate text) and we can help them resolve the issue. Please let your friends know that they are indeed welcome here, but they must understand the rules and follow them, and if there is an issue, tell them to write it up here in the forums. We are very fair, and we hand out second chances for minor infractions all the time!! While it is helpful to have PR Admins and VG Members who speak a variety of languages to assist in communications, a real bonus, we do not consider it a problem that requires immediate attention by way of electing "translator admins". If an admin is elected that is able to assist in those languages, that would be wonderful and helpful. We have internal discussions regarding players we feel would be a good fit for admin on the server. It's good to know this is something you would be available for. We will be watching you over the coming weeks or months, and will let you know if we are considering you for an Admin position on the PR Server. In the meantime, it's helpful to report players when no admins are online using the !R report function (and you may also use this system to make a note for an admin to review because we read these almost daily, but please do not spam !R reports in game). Thank you for your interest in Admin'ing here - we keep an eye on potential candidates to be sure they posses the same spirit, maturity, and positive attitude we expect from potential new PR Admins and VG Members here. Get to know the other regular players, PR Admins, and VG Members here and make some friends, too. We do not promote people we do not know, so get known. Cheers!