Arma 2 from a new person's perspective.

[John Stamos]

Hello. First and foremost I would like to say I took interest in Arma 2 when steam made some acknowledgments of it months ago. Through some gameplay videos and other screenshots I took heavy interest. I also have about 4 of my friends interested as well. We currently have the demo but there's some issues I don't understand.

Let it be known I've been browsing these forums heavily ever since I got the demo. Unfortunately it seems many of the players here were/are heavy involved with Arma 1 and Operation Flashpoint. (Games that I never knew existed up until the release of Arma 2.) This is fine of course because I believe nothing is better than a small tight knit community. Though when browsing the forums I can't seem to find any "new" information regardless of how hard I try.

I was reading about different mods and such, like warfare and CTI. I cannot seem to distinguish the 2. I'm not even sure exactly what CTI is, how how do I join the games? Is it a custom mod? Must I download it?

Furthermore I find when I join games, (some are more obvious then others, like a TDM or Deathmatch), I'll find I'm just "dumped" into a huge landscape in the middle of nowhere. I can't find a way to type to my team members and no one responds to voice chat, I look at the map only to find some spots where I think I should go, but for all I know everyone could be afk in a corner because I can't get any response. Is it because everyone is so knowledgeable of the game that they just do work like no one's business? or is everyone as new as me and entirely clueless as what's going on? I wish I knew!

Please let me reiterate, I enjoy this game entirely. But as a new person there's so many unanswered questions that through the website and extensive forum browsing I can't seem to find answers for. This is my attempt to answer all those questions.

Maybe if I make a list of newbie questions, it'll help out anyone else in my position.

-What's the multiplayer cap?

-What different modes are there with the stock game?

-What exactly is this CTI mod, as it seems to be the most popular(?) Is this like the Dota of Arma 2?

-Why am I able to see all my enemies on the map when I'm 90% positive
that most of them aren't in line of sight? (I realize my teammates can reveal positions as well.)

-Is there a way to chat in game via text?

-I find this is heavily modded game, sorta like Oblivion. For those who played Oblivion vanilla and remember some of the flaws, there were alot of issues that were fixed via player modifications. Eventually there was a list created that was thought to provide the "best" experience for Oblivion without changing the overall gameplay. Is there a similar list for this game? Mods that shouldn't be played without?

Of course when I think up these threads, I tend to forget everything as I'm typing them so I will come back later when I have more questions. I hope you all understand where I'm coming from and don't take this as a negative post. I really enjoy Arma 2 (demo) and my friends do as well, but we just feel so lost right now. It's like trying out an MMO that's been around for 10 years and trying to understand what's going on. It's not newbie friendly!

I hope someone can help me with these questions and provide even more information on topics I haven't touched or don't even know about! Thank you in advance I appreciate the opportunity to be able to voice my thoughts on this game.

[MareNostrum]

As a new player I had the exact same experience with multiplayer and I thank you for starting a topic on it. I also do not see the point of all the coop 30 evolution marine 30, whatever the missions called, and dominate servers. You spawn in a giant airfield miles away from any actual combat. All your teammates are running around spawn crashing vehicles into walls. I also had the experience of people ignoring me when I tried to type to them in chat "wheres the objective? whats the point of this game mode, etc..." Later I found out that if you go to the flagpole you can change your spawn to a location thats actually closer to the combat zone, but there was still almost zero teamwork.

Infact I experienced MORE teamwork in the demo than the full game for some reason. In the demo on the coop servers with a cap of 6 players the team was more likely to stick together. In the fullgame coop servers have so many players that they all just run off on their own. I don't understand how theres any fun in those missions . How could someone play these barbaric game modes.

I've seen all those youtube videos of people having fun and using teamwork in armed assault 1 and 2 but its hard to find. It feels like I'm looking for the holy grail of simulation epicness, hopping from server to server but finding none

[ghodan]

I've seen all those youtube videos of people having fun and using teamwork in armed assault 1 and 2 but its hard to find. It feels like I'm looking for the holy grail of simulation epicness, hopping from server to server but finding none

Joint http://ic-arma.net/
those guys play more serius then public server chaos.

[No Use For A Name]

1. -What's the multiplayer cap?
Depends on the server, but I think 64vs.64 is the game's max

2. -What different modes are there with the stock game?
There's quite a few; but I think the more popular for REAL players are Force on Force, co-op, and warfare.

3. -What exactly is this CTI mod, as it seems to be the most popular(?) Is this like the Dota of Arma 2?
CTI = Capture the Island. I've never played it tho because co-op is where it's at ; but I assume it's like capture the flag but with more resources (like Force on Force)

4. -Why am I able to see all my enemies on the map when I'm 90% positive
that most of them aren't in line of sight? (I realize my teammates can reveal positions as well.)
This depends on the difficulty settings; clients use whatever the server is set to

5. -Is there a way to chat in game via text?
yes, use the / key. also you have to be in the right channel for others to see your text. use the , and . keys to change your channels. If you want everyone (including enemies) to see use Global

6. -I find this is heavily modded game, sorta like Oblivion.
The game's just been released so the mod makers are still hard at work; but you could check out and ask this question in the Arma2 modding forum. If there's a new mod coming out, it'll be there. The more popular ones for Arma were sound and special effects mods, and then ACE was probably the most ambitious gameplay mod that changed just about everything.

as for servers, you really need to find a good group of people to play with that are mature and use tactics/teamwork. I've never had ANY fun on some pub server with a bunch of kids running around like idiots thinking this is BF2.

[cm]

This is simply one of the problems with pubs and domination/evolution etc.

The servers go to shit because everything becomes unorganised. If you want to really experience the game, approach your local clan/squad/arma community. I'd recommend the Tactical Gamer servers tbh because they are always polite to noobs, play seriously, and kick/ban people who don't.

(btw the server isn't up yet, and I'm not a TG member either).

The unfortunate thing about arma is the game REALLY depends on who you play with, more so than other games. Luckily, there are a ton of small communities who will play the way it's mean to be. Joining a random pub is not really recommended. Joining clan servers is more likely to get you into a serious game.

One thing I should mention is to introduce yourself as someone new but willing to learn. If you start pressing buttons and walking around willy-nilly, you'll soon find yourself out of the server as quickly as you got in.

Hope that helps.

BTW, CTI = capture the island (a term used in arma1, OFP when the only maps were islands).

[dvolk]

ArmA 1/2 MP is not the place to look for teamwork. Like it or not, teamwork in ArmA is an big inconvenience, so you'll only find it on private servers.

Don't give me that crap about the unwashed masses on public servers. I played ETQW and the worst public server had more teamwork than the best ArmA 2 server. That's because in ETQW you didn't get anywhere alone, while playing alone is the best way in ArmA.

[Mc Speedfreak]

as arma2 has just been released there a a tonne of new servers up atm which are loosely run as public servers. there you find an insane ammount of people "shooting the shit" or trying to figure the game out.

in time more and more serious servers will appear.

[whisper]

ArmA 1/2 MP is not the place to look for teamwork. Like it or not, teamwork in ArmA is an big inconvenience, so you'll only find it on private servers.

Don't give me that crap about the unwashed masses on public servers. I played ETQW and the worst public server had more teamwork than the best ArmA 2 server. That's because in ETQW you didn't get anywhere alone, while playing alone is the best way in ArmA.

2 big mistakes here :
- ETQW has better teamwork "because you can't do without". I can't count the number of games overwhelmed with statspadders or worst, lemmings. FYI completing an obj by lemming is no teamwork
- ArmA rewards single player over team. Just popping out of my head, a dedicated transport pilot in CTI can be the difference between a loss & a win

In general teamwork is only what YOU do to achieve it. Don't expect it to magically come from the game itslef, it comes first and foremost from you. "ArmA has no teamwork" is meaningless

[Balgorg]

I agree with most of the above, and yes when you first start playing multiplayer its hard to know what to do. When I first started with Arma 1, I was kicked of maps for no apparent reason, possibly because experienced players thought I was arsing about, when infact I was just damn lost and couldnt find the chat key........ But once you get into the swing of things the teamwork can really pay off. In games like evolution you have to slog it miles to the next destination, if your rank is too low you have to rely on pilots to pick you up, and drop you off.

There is nothing more satisfying when yer out in the middle of knowhere and you flag down a passing copter for a quick lift.

The new Evolution map is a WIP, so its not as good as the old Evolution maps. Stick with it and it will all make sense. This aint no COD.

[SAbre4809]

Look for the proper servers that are properly admined etc. And try join a clan or something. Look here: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=75086

Also the game mp cap is: Whatever the server can handle.