=VG= SemlerPDX

Pre-Plan CAS mission with SoBad today - it was night in Korea. We took out the 225th AAA Battalion, just wiped it off the map with Mk-20D Rockeyes - an anti-armor cluster bomb. They're small bombs, we carried 12 each under the wings of our F-16's. SoBad had a fault and couldn't extend his landing gear, so he performed a belly landing and I watched the sparks fly down the runway as I was on my final approach. Any landing you can walk away from is a good one! Here's a pic that shows my Target Pod looking at a Mk-20D exploding over the target:

Awesome! Almost looks more "Empyrion" than ED. Sound very cool, gonna have to check it out sometime.

VG Falcon BMS Public Server It's time for a new beginning... VETERANS-GAMING is proud to announce that our new upgraded server is now live! The VG BMS Multiplayer Campaign will now run on a dedicated server box powered by a Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor, 12GB of ECC (Error Correcting Code) 1333MHz RAM, a Samsung EVO SSD, and an ATI R7-240 with 2GB of DDR3 VRAM, all on a dedicated 1Gbps network. The server will remain in Kansas, USA and is open to the public! We will be launching this server in the 64-bit version on the default Korean Theater of Operations. All players will need to launch BMS in the 64-bit mode in order to connect to the new VG BMS Server. Helpful instructions here: How to Connect We will be hosting a public 24/7 Korean War Campaign that will span for several weeks until the DPRK is so overrun by BLUFOR that missions are all extremely far flights or no worthwhile targets remain. The old VG BMS Server will remain online for the next few weeks while we try to get this notice to everyone. Find connection instructions here. New VG BMS Server IP Address: 205.161.30.10

The Bradley works very well in a proper mil-sim like Arma 2/3, and very deadly with the TOW's when you need to say something mean to the enemy. I always preferred the Stryker platform though, with slat armor for a little survivability in the land of RPG's. Or is the 30mm cannon on the Stryker a different weapon? The sound of that cannon popping off slow and methodical, HE rounds tearing up the AO and slaughtering any bot that gets within a meter of the shot is engraved in my memory. And of course in Arma, it doesn't "overheat" like a video game. Still a very cool post here and neat info about the cannon!

Yes, I have a private group, but I don't know how to change the name of it (never looked it up) so it's just the SemlerPDX group. When I want a truly populated group, I just use Mobius PvE. There is a handful or few here that play ED, regulars and =VG= clan members. PBAsydney showed me a passenger loop that makes serious bank, and I showed a few more people here that route, and they've spread it around a bit. In my Python with 112 Passenger Capacity (all Coach) I make over 10 million credits in one full loop on this short back and forth, easily less than 30 minutes. Requires that you have Horizons DLC (route requires planetary landing) and also ship cannot be too large (route requires outpost docking). I'd be happy to show you around, we could get a group together sometime I'm sure. I also enjoy the Bounty Hunting as well, and can help support less armored ships if needed so we can take on more variants of enemies. Most of us who play squat in the VG TS3 Elite Dangerous channel when we fly so others can see and join if they want. Seeing someone in that channel usually triggers me to want to fly, that's for sure!

Very cool!! Nice job, bro!

I'm happy to announce that the VG BMS Server is getting a hardware upgrade! I've been working this week to install and configure Windows and Falcon BMS on the new hardware and can report that it is very, very fast! It should be at it's final home NOC after a few days more. Huge thanks goes out to our friend Belgriffen for his help and support of the VG BMS Server! Next week, we are moving our BMS Server over to a Quad-Core Xeon CPU, 12GB of ECC RAM (6x2GB), a Samsung EVO SSD, and a new dedicated 1Gbps internet connection. We will not be able to keep our old IP Address for the new server, so our current server will remain online for a few weeks or so to help smooth the transition and get the word around that the VG BMS IP Address has changed. We are expecting the new server to be available to the public starting next week if all goes well. This is a major upgrade for us, we've been a bit hobbled as BMS continued to grow over the years and our hardware did not keep up with that pace. Our current server is an aged Intel Core 2 6400 CPU with 4GB RAM and a 30Mbps connection (shared net AFAIK). We've had some in-game issues lately with frequent "gear-up crashes" after successful landings and subsequent taxi, and we suffer from an occasional blue flashing "pause" message at times. These problems are rare, but we are unsure if they occur due to the 24/7 nature of our aging server and random bugs, or in-game engine issues we can't control. Desync between multiplayer flights is luckily not an issue, and many of us fly in rather close formations despite our many thousands of miles of real world separation, with the server being in Kansas USA. I will post further updates as we get the new server finalized. Once again, the old VG BMS Server will remain online after the new server launches and we'll try to get the word out to everyone we can. Here's hoping our server issues will minimize after this massive upgrade! Thanks to all our regulars for flying with us, and we hope you will help spread the word about our new IP Address! New IP (not yet active!): 205.161.30.10 Updates coming soon!

lol at the neg rep - you'll walk it off, Jersans. But seriously Jersans, you're an admin and "role model" for the public players here - you shouldn't need to be told to RTFM, you're supposed to be telling others to!!

lol - same here! Apaches on Ghazala FTW! Started with mouse, and was a great day when I got my first joystick with analog throttle lever so I could "hover".

removed ban from banlist per admin report /locked

Very cool info! I never read about that cannon before, but I've fired it plenty out of the Bradley in PR and Arma. If anyone wants a funny history of the Bradley, check out the movie "The Pentagon Wars" with Kelsey Grammer and Cary Elwes. Thanks for the post, Inch!

A crash can do that, so can a server reset. If it was exactly at the top of the hour, it was likely the automatic reset which does a number of things and takes about a minute (60 seconds) to come back. That's when the fewest players are online, and so that's why it's set to that time. It's gotta happen at some time, and it's gonna break up a match once in awhile. I'm not fond of that sort of stuff either, bro. Trust me.

Since the beginning of VG and the early days of VG PR COOP, we have enforced the Squad-Asset rule by specifically named Squads. Back in those days, I played during the "off hours" mostly along with RobotFungus and LittleTortiaBoy, etc. We found it necessary still to ensure assets that were claimed were not taken by someone else. BUT - seeing as how someone who loses their asset will then wait for it to respawn, therefore taking care of their own claimed asset, I could see how mixed squads could exists during low player count times. If this were to move forward in discussions, I'd like to hear how other servers operate during low population times. If we ever approved mixed asset squads against the Squad-Asset Naming rule, there would need to be some designation that tells people that the Squad Leader knows they are operating mixed assets such as an "LP" designation in the Squad Name (or something equivalent). Also, if approved, we would need to adjust the master VG PR Rules and possibly add notes in the MOTD's on the server(s) - and some public announcement here on the site as well as you Admins spreading the word to the peoples. Until this IS approved by the majority of the VG Administration, let's stick with the rules and discuss the matter here. Still wondering if anyone here is going to create a list of maps that would be more preferable during low population times. It's literally all I need to make this system complete and to give it some testing...

Seriously, do your research. That video that was linked to is a joke. ThioJoe only started doing "real" tutorial videos as of October 2016. As this video was released April 2016 with the word "Free" in the title, it is clearly a joke. To quote Joe from his own channel: So, in conclusion, the method in the video doesn't do anything at all and you are trying to understand "real science" through this joke gibberish.

Yes. Two different things.

That would be a suggestion for developers of the base game we're playing... We don't have that sort of free reign over the core code. We get MOTD's, that's it. The server itself turns off the PR COOP and changes out some files and restarts it; my rotation system is not part of PR, just a bunch of batch scripts I threw together, really. What does this mean? Set the map rotation as normal? Please clarify if I am missing something because this suggestion gave me a mild form of brain cancer... (j/k) The map rotation is a text file called maplist.con and it has the names of the maps we wish to run. At VG, we have 5 variants currently, so the maplist is different most every day of the week, and they automatically change each day at about 0700 GMT. On Fridays, it's an OPFOR Only rotation. Changing the rotation involves a server stop/restart (again, forcefully occurring each morning). There is no "normal" one unless you are referring to one that starts with Muttrah City and that is just arbitrary. What I'm proposing here as a possible solution to the OP is to set the map rotation to LOW POPULATION Setup (a button available to certain PR Admins) and leave it that way all night. The next morning, the forced rotation change will occur and automatically switch the server back to "normal" or whatever that day's rotation is set to.

Okay, because the maps were not released as part of the PR Installer package, it means that people with "normal" PR will attempt to join our server, and will get kicked for not having the map pack installed. This causes a split in the community of PR gamers, and while we have attempted such things in the past, the issues that arose included confusion and "hassle" for those who needed to take extra steps to connect to the VG PR COOP. As the goal is to be as inclusive as possible with our Main PR COOP Server to public players, we do not run any add-on components like this, even though this Map Pack is Official and would be allowed to run without a password by the terms of our license agreement with PR. So, we have 2 other servers. I'm just waiting for Poff to meet me and help me work out the Mumble issue, and we'll be able to run whatever we want separate from the standard PR COOP -- and also it will mean that Events will be easier to host and participate in because Mumble will work by default and no lag will arise while running more than 1 PR server at a time. This Map Pack could and should be part of an Event, but we don't host them on the standard PR COOP for the above reasons.

When no admins are online, when it's late and the population is low, if the voting system is not enabled, there is no way to change the current map. What amazing feature do we have disabled because low population? Also "once again"? What OTHER amazing feature do we have disabled? You guys aren't referring to systems that are unused due to exploits or performance issues, are you?

Sorry SemlerPDX but Double is right in this last comment. Too many times you see a noob CAS pilot fly directly to the AA of the fortress, with the obvious result (CAS down) other than aproach from a side angle to destroy the AA emplacement. But this further drives the post off topic! Can you see where I am coming from? Basic TRANS routes on Muttrah City ... I think ZZANG1847 already put it best for this topic when he wrote "4. Be ready to say "No" when necessary. If someone tells you to drop a crate at the mosque when BTRs/BMPs are right next to them, tell them to "GO F&^K YOURSELF."" But we could make CAS videos and tutorials as well. Could help those noob pilots learn how to approach the fortress and kill the AA properly in a CAS chopper.

These sorts of comments are unnecessary and not constructive. And they are starting to bother Kav, who posted this video and thread to help newer pilots envision the concept of routes, not to dictate some kind of SOP, or pull back that "fourth wall" and reveal every little tick of the AI and the system. Please stop treating this tutorial for beginners as some sort of "spoiler" as if learning the finer points of PR is part of the game. These are exactly the sorts of things that dedicated pilots note - locations of threats, avenues of approach, common taskings, etc. I don't see every single map or "safe angle" to kill every threat noted here in this thread, what I see is something that will greatly help new Trans pilots learn what is required and to hopefully apply it to other maps on their own.

This is no longer the case. FOB digging has been disabled and we will likely be leaving it that way. This will certainly change the dynamics of a low population mission. Keep that in mind while choosing which maps would be best for a low population time period. Because of this, and because we will likely not be able to accommodate such a mechanism, it might be best to proceed with testing a Low Pop setup system at least for a few days or a week.