How to play this game?

[160thSOAR]

Hello everyone! As you must be able to tell from the title, I am new to ArmA 2. In fact, I'm not even sure if I can call myself new, as I haven't even played yet. I'm still downloading the game.

At any rate, I am coming over to ArmA 2 from a Battlefield background. I've played both Battlefield:Bad Company 2 and Battlefield 2. I've had to delete BF2 to save Hard Drive space, unfortunately. So I will only be playing BFBC2 and this game.

I'll tell you what I'm good at and bad at in the Battlefield games. With a few exceptions, what I am good at and bad at in one game usually applies to the other.

The Good:
Flying Helicopters
Sniping (BF2 Only)
M203 Usage(BFBC2 Only)
Driving Humvees and other light vehicles
Using Submachine Guns and high ROF, low DMG assault rifles like the F2000
Using AT Weapons
Flanking and combat while mobile

The Bad:
Sniping(BFBC2 Only)
Using high-recoil fully automatic weapons
Driving Armored Vehicles
Flying Planes(BF2 Only)
Fighting from a completely static position. This basically means when you and a group of allies are holed up behind cover shooting at another group of enemies who are holed up behind cover. I absolutely suck at this and usually die very fast when this happens.

That's all I can remember for right now. Due to computer troubles, I haven't been able to play either game for a while.

I know that ArmA 2 is a very different game from BFBC2 or BF2 and requires a completely different way of fighting. Generally, when I have to do this type of transition, I absolutely suck at the game I'm trying to move into. I was hoping that I could minimize this by getting help from people who are more experienced than I am before I even start playing. Basically, what I want to know is what bad habits from Battlefield I have to break. General tips are nice too, but breaking bad habits is my main goal for this thread.

I would also like to know how helicopters fly in this game compared to others. Similar controls? Harder or easier to fly? That kind of thing. But this fairly unrelated and just something I'm curious about.

Thank you very much!

[ArmAriffic]

WELCOME TO THE BI FORMS

The Good:
Flying Helicopters
Sniping (BF2 Only)
M203 Usage(BFBC2 Only)
Driving Humvees and other light vehicles
Using Submachine Guns and high ROF, low DMG assault rifles like the F2000
Using AT Weapons
Flanking and combat while mobile

The Bad:
Sniping(BFBC2 Only)
Using high-recoil fully automatic weapons
Driving Armored Vehicles
Flying Planes(BF2 Only)

GOOD:
-
Sniping is WAAAAAY different in arma 2, you have bullet drop and ballistics
M203 usage is harder in arma 2
ArmA has terrible vehicle handling
again, smg's are not like in any other game, in arma there is ballistics
at is pretty much the same but there is rocket ballistics in arma
unless you get some ai mods the ai will spot you so flanking is hard to do

BAD:
-
go prone in arma and you will get less recoil
in arma there is 4 positions, gunner, commander, driver , loader
planes are pretty easy to fly in arma

[Günter Severloh]

Hello and welcome to the community.

As for some advice follow this guide:
Tactics, techniques and procedure Guide
http://ttp2.dslyecxi.com/

If your going to get into Multiplayer then review this topic and download the guide:
New to Multiplayer? (Read this guide)
http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=93078

A good way to find things out is to test things out in the editor.
For more info on the editor:
http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/A...Mission_Editor

[160thSOAR]

Thank you very much for your help!

@ArmArrific: I've shot an Airsoft sniper rifle before. Although the distances were nothing compared to real life, the pellet was much more wind-affected than a bullet would have been. The other problem was that I could see more than I could hit through the scope. At any rate, it was really difficult and I was very bad at it.
Oh well. I didn't come play ArmA 2 for the sniping. More for the Humvee with M2 and V22 Osprey. I'll probably be flying/driving all over the island and crashing with those a ton in SP mode.

Thanks for the info!

@Gunter Severloh: Your links were most helpful. I had already read the first one. That guy put a ton of work into his guide. I would pay for that if it were an eBook. The second one was good too, although it wasn't really what I was looking for. Thanks!

EDIT: Where are the gunsights for the weapons zeroed into? Does this differ in different weapons? Does an attached suppressor change it?

[lsp]

l o l

[MissileMoose]

l o l

Very constructive.

@Original Poster

Welcome to the BIS forum.

I recommend you try out the editor, maybe read a few guides (I'll try to find some) as it's a fantastic tool.

-MM

[160thSOAR]

Well, I played ArmA 2 for about 5 hours last night. I am absolutely awful at it.

This game is completely different from anything I've played before. Your view bounces up and down a huge amount, but that doesn't really bother me and is a pretty good simulation of running. The problem is that whenever you turn quickly, the entire world blurs into a mess. I can see what this is intended to do, but it doesn't work at all. I don't like it. Is it possible to turn off the blurring?

I spent most of my time trying to shoot targets in the first training mission. After a few hours of practice, I finally managed to get to a score of 10. The gunsight doesn't move where I expect it to.

Helicopter flying is extremely difficult as well. Instead of a WASD/mouse configuration, the controls are a complete mess. Tilting the mouse right and left and using the A and D keys seem to do the exact same thing usually. However, when the chopper is upright the mouse acts like a rudder but when I'm tilted at all it just seems to bank me more. It's really strange and I'm going to have to spend a very long time messing around with the controls to make them more Battlefield style, if it's possible.

How do you open the parachute?

What is a good key for switching between 1st/3rd person view?

[birtuma]

Blur: Set postprocess effects to low or none

You also can reduce the headbob in the settings...

Parachute: Mouse wheel menu

View switching: Enter (numpad), you dont need this too often, so it doesnt matter what key you take.

[160thSOAR]

Well, I've been messing around in the Armory a bit and I've discovered that I'm not too bad at operating crew-served weapons.

@Birtuma: I have a laptop so there's no Numpad. I'm looking for an alternate key, because I do use that function quite a bit. At the moment I'm using "P", but I discovered that doesn't work very well in multiplayer.

[Günter Severloh]

This should help you with the controls and majority of stuff in the game:
http://cdn.steampowered.com/Manuals/...f?t=1299122957

Its the official PDF manual for Arma2.