Would like to try out Arma, now that I bought it - where to start?

[Fector 29]

Hope my post fits this subforum, if not feel free to move it

Hey there,

I am one of the gazillion people, who bought Arma CO just to be able to play this fine mod. Thinking I am missing out on another, possibly very enticing, experience, I'd like to try out the base game as well.

There should be some Arma vets here - would one/some be so kind and point me where to start? This includes what community sites to visit (armaholics?), which mod to choose (ACE?) or if it is better to stick with vanilla, if playing the campaign before jumping into multiplayer is necessary, should I straight go for OA or play Arma 2 first, etc.

All in all, I'd like to get a quick briefing on how to get into playing Arma smoothly. I'd eventually figure it out anyway, I guess. But since I am here, I might as well ask to get a running start.^^

Looking forward to your input.

[aru_azif 70]

most people start at the tutorial :3

[Jukez 44]

Notice, that you cannot play Arma2OA if you have DayZ enaibled.

You have to launch the game without DayZ launch parameters, and then disable it from the expansions menu.

[Xucphra 453]

I had a lot of fun running through all the training missions to learn how the system works. The campaigns are best played with friends, and those big town capture game modes (Civil war and Mountain Warfare I think) are pretty good.

Just grab some people you know and screw around with it, most of it is pretty entertaining. Just be ready to deal with bugs, there's so many you'd swear Arma 2 was still in beta.

Make sure you do everything through Operation Arrowhead, because you can play all the same things as in regular Arma 2 with the extra features.

[grezvany13 56]

Before starting with ArmA2 (or DayZ for that matter) I suggest you do the in-game training missions, mess around the Armory and do the campaigns.

ArmA2 and ArmA2:OA are the same, except for some small changes in the training missions and of course the campaign. So running CO will give you both at the same.

When you feel you know the basics of the game, join a random Domination server (player vs AI) and tell everyone you're new to the game. Usually people will start helping you and tell you what to do, otherwise go to another server. My favorite domination servers are hosted by TAW.net (search for them by hostname); it's a great clan with a lot of good players.

As for mods; don't start with them unless you meet someone who can help you with them. Especially the ACE mod can be a pain if you don't know how it works...

[Allie (DayZ) 97]

here is a nice website for missions, addons and other interesting stuff for the arma series:

http://www.armedassault.info/index.php?cat=news&game=1

[Allie (DayZ) 97]

But indeed find some Domination mission, good mission to learn the tricks.

Stay away from addons and mods for now, they can be a pain to install or to make sure all players have the same version of the addons.

ACE does rock tho, alot of domination servers will host a domination version for ACE, but like i said start out without any extra mods or addons.

[Spockrock 18]

The campaigns are best played with friends

unfortunately, the campaigns aren't suited for multiplayer and will break if you attempt to play them with friends.

OP, don't touch Red Harvest or Operation Arrowhead, those campaigns aren't designed well and will probably give you headaches. if you have BAF, play that, it's the best singleplayer campaign since OFP. otherwise just stay away from singleplayer missions provided with the game.

there are some decent user-made campaigns on Armaholic. but the best ArmA2 experience is its multiplayer.

now, depending on what you like better (PvP/non-PvP), you should try either Project Reality or some populated public vanilla server that has admins on most of the time and is running Domination. that's the most popular coop mission and is a good place to start.

you shouldn't start with ACE because it's a bit more complicated, and there are practically 0 public ACE servers that have people on. most ACE players play with their clans/friends on closed servers.

Edited August 17, 2012 by Spockrock

[gizm0 96]

Try your hand at editor and custom tailor your own mission to play with friends

[grizzle 21]

As another poster stated, do not start with ACE. It changes the base game mechanics far too much. Get familiar with vanilla then move to ACE once you are comfortable with the game. Personally, I tried ACE once for a very short while, then promptly uninstalled it.

[Sephka (DayZ) 51]

Take a look at this.

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/18677-arma-2-in-all-its-glory-ultimate-mod-thread/

[Fector 29]

Thank you all very much for the helpful information so far, especially Grezvany13 and Spockrock.

As for mods; don't start with them unless you meet someone who can help you with them. Especially the ACE mod can be a pain if you don't know how it works...

you shouldn't start with ACE because it's a bit more complicated, and there are practically 0 public ACE servers that have people on. most ACE players play with their clans/friends on closed servers.

Fair enough. So the best course of action would be to start with vanilla CO and maybe later to expand on that, right? ACE's features and the community opinion of it sound very good to say the least - it's a pity to have to wait. :)

Btw - when we say 'vanilla' - does that imply, that I do not even use the Arma2 OA Beta patches? I would guess these should be used always, right?

Another thing that struck me was:

unfortunately, the campaigns aren't suited for multiplayer and will break if you attempt to play them with friends.

Srsly? Because that would've been my next question - is it possible to conveniently play with my 2 DayZ mates vs AI in missions or campaigns (side question: is 3 men even enough to have fun in coop?)...I guess the answer is no, then? Why is that so?

I've seen (ACE)Arma2 communities, where people seemed to be able to show up with a whole platoon or even a company of organized players to play tailored missions, be it PvE or PvP and I understand this might be the 'ultimate' way to play the game and it seems to be the ultimate way to play it. As nice as this may be, I am looking for something a bit more accessible and less time consuming to play with 2 friends. Do we have to go multiplayer dm style to achieve this or is there another way?

OP, don't touch Red Harvest or Operation Arrowhead, those campaigns aren't designed well and will probably give you headaches. if you have BAF, play that, it's the best singleplayer campaign since OFP. otherwise just stay away from singleplayer missions provided with the game.

Unfortunately, I do not own BAF. How comes, that the campaigns quality differ to such a degree? I've only tried out the beginning of RH and OA and they felt a little like a mixture of CoD (the quasi cinematic bits) and...DayZ, as in doing nothing for the most part (don't get me wrong, it feels right in these games).

My squad seems to employ a very careful and slow approach to things and I am a bit puzzled on my specific duties during the mission. Getting to the waypoint is quite obvious, but whether I am supposed to scout/cover a certain direction/etc is not very clear to me, yet. But I guess this is normal and a feature, as opposed to the mentioned headaches, right?

I have to add, though, that my playtime was very limited (only waiting for mates to come online/server to come up) and many things might clear themselves up after prolonged play as well.

there are some decent user-made campaigns on Armaholic. but the best ArmA2 experience is its multiplayer.

now, depending on what you like better (PvP/non-PvP), you should try either Project Reality or some populated public vanilla server that has admins on most of the time and is running Domination. that's the most popular coop mission and is a good place to start.

Thank you. I'll give those a try.

Take a look at this.

http://dayzmod.com/f...ate-mod-thread/

Shame on me.

Edited August 17, 2012 by Fector

[OrLoK 16188]

Hello there

The bohemia forums are the best place to look as well as sites like Armaholic.

We cant give you a definite guide as there is just far to much choice in terms of mods missions.

Rgds

LoK

[-=seany=- 65]

I too can recommend TAW's Domination server ( takistan). This is a very fun mission Vs AI with other humans. It's also great to get in a tank or apc and lay some fire down after paying DayZ. Getting to try out the FLIR cameras etc.

As someone else mentioned, the Editior is very powerful, but also easy to use. I like to use it for trying out vehicels and different weapons. You can very easily, for example, place a group of 12 ai soldiers in a town then place your self outside with and AI buddy or two and then play it out and see what happens.

As for mods, probably better off not to use any for the moment ( most servers wont let you use them)....but if you really want to use some I can recommed: J.S.R.S sound mod and Blastcore FX mod, you can use both of these on the TAW server.

Anyway, glad to see your giving the base game a try, hope you have fun!

[Fector 29]

Yeah, the hardest thing seems to be picking the way to play this game. Too much choice...

Edited August 17, 2012 by Fector

[rndmplyr (DayZ) 29]

OP, don't touch Red Harvest or Operation Arrowhead, those campaigns aren't designed well and will probably give you headaches.

I highly recommend you to try Red Harvest if you think you can accept some (read: many) bugs. The Red Harvest campaign was one of the greatest single player campaigns I've played so far because of the total freedom, the good story with its twists and the influence you have on the outcome. There are several bugs, but you can survive them. I had to replay one mission because it ended too fast so I couldnt finish a secondary objective I needed, but I was done in 1 hour with that. A rather hilarious one was an MV22 crashing into a tree in a cutscene :D. And if you have played Red Harvest, play EW if you have got it. It's awesome.

[Spockrock 18]

"vanilla" means the original game without custom modifications. as for beta patches, they're just that - patches. even if they add content, it's still "vanilla" content. it's what the game comes with "out of the box"

So the best course of action would be to start with vanilla CO and maybe later to expand on that, right? ACE's features and the community opinion of it sound very good to say the least - it's a pity to have to wait. :)

you don't have to wait, it's just that there's not too many people to play with on public servers. like I said, most ACE players are in one clan or the other and don't play on public servers at all. second problem is most missions are designed for 10-30 players, and even if you have a friend willing to play ACE with you, it might not be very enjoyable with just the two of you.

then again, a lot of missions aren't made with ACE in mind, so using it in them doesn't make sense (for example, using ACE can break the singleplayer campaign).

my advice would be to join a EU-based clan that regularly plays ArmA 2 with ACE.

as for campaigns. Red Harvest starts off at a good pace but then descends into Warfare hell. if you want to play some ArmA 2, playing some of RH won't hurt. but I'm telling you, the first time you're forced to play that awful RTS-hybrid you'll ragequit. not to mention the bigger RH missions can easily be broken and become unfinishable.

concerning multiplayer capabilities, I can't tell you how RH is in that regard, but in Operation Arrowhead there's no practical way to play the campaign together. what they (BIS) did was they added 3 additional playable slots, which you can access if you open the missions in multiplayer. but those slots aren't part of the same team. so oftentimes you'll be finding you and your friends separated scattered around the map. one way to deal with it is to meet up first, kill the AI friendlies and take their spots, but in some missions even that is impossible. not to mention that some missions break just by playing them in multiplayer (become unfinishable, therefor there's no way to progress to the next mission without using cheats)

[grezvany13 56]

About the ACE mod; yes, it's by far the best mod ever made for ArmA2 and should be used by everyone. However, due the chances it makes it also makes the game a lot harder.

For example I play ArmA2 with some friends now at our own (home)server and I suggested to use ACE to make it better. Within 2 hours everyone begged me to return to vanilla because it was too hard :D

- it adds even more keybinds to remember

- you have to watch which gear you carry, otherwise it's too heavy

- AI is improved (better and harder)

- aim and fire doesn't work, you have to calculate distance, height difference and wind when you fire a weapon

- teamwork is required, otherwise you won't make it at all

Here's my order of learning ArmA2 to the fullest:

1) complete the SP training missions (learn the game)

2) complete the SP campaigns (experience the game)

3) play around the Armory to use other weapons and vehicles

4) play around with the Editor to master the vehicles (especially choppers!)

5) play some MP domination (learn teamwork)

5a) play some other MP gamemodes

6) download and mess with some mods (extra weapons, vehicles, etc)

7) download and play some COOP missions with friends (armoholic.com is your best friend)

8) install ACE and go back to point 3...

If you noticed you really like ArmA2 (which you'll know when you hit point 6), try to find a clan or community so you'll meet players with more experience. They're happy to help you to go further and even teach you some things you've missed by playing "alone".

And don't be afraid to go back to the Editor and train how to fly or drive a vehicle, because everybody will like you when they see you know what you're doing and you'll enjoy it even more when you saved the lifes of your teammates.

The default COOP missions (as in SP mission) are terrible. I suggest, when you're ready for it, to download some custom COOP mission or even COOP campaigns which are designed for it. They're a bit harder, but much more fun and usually without the bugs.