ArmA III: BinnZ's impressions

[Binnatics]

That might be the explanation. Although I've been thinking about your first reply as well... it does make sense. So far I've only been using the nightstalker at night time, but I have no idea what it will be when used in daylight.
Funny side detail on the scope; when you hit an enemy in the leg, his leg turns a little darker. As if the warmth is lowering already when you pierce it with a cold bullet  :-D

[Art Blade]

I think that the silhouette is dark as in warm. Shooting the leg causes blood to pour out that is warmer than the skin surface of the rest of the body, hence darker.

[Binnatics]

Sorry, this is really getting confusing. I use the thermal sight that makes warmth glow bright. And when hitting a corpse, the part that got hit turns a little darker. As if it cools off. It is probably only a helpful thing, not meant to be reality. Because dead bodies on the ground (recently killed) show as bright ad living creatures. Which makes sense since they don't cool off just like that. I don't know, whatever ^-^

[Art Blade]

lol

[Binnatics]

Since my last report I have completed the Adapt campaign. I won't tell the story to not spoil it for others, but the last fight, where NATO is supposed to come in, was somewhat a disaster.
In the next campaign, called "Win", Corporal Kerry is back under NATO command. He first starts as a soldier, but rapidly climbs up to his commanding position and even makes a small promotion after a couple of missions. First you command you guerilla friends, then you start commanding NATO groups in what seems to be the last heavy strike against AAF forces. CSAT, the other main enemy, has drawn back from Altis, and NATO, who came in with a huge force, is winning terrain quickly. At, or close to, the front lines Kerry operates in small tasks helping in the battle. I must confess I like the guerilla strategies much more. Again I'm operating in a well organized battle system with shouting commanders and rushing missions. Not really my thing. In my last mission, the one I'm currently stuck in, I need to hold a position in a small village that we just secured. Incoming tanks make life impossible. You have an UAV (drone) in your possession and I checked youtube again; that thing is the key to winning. It's again so damn hard to figure out how to fucking control the damn thing. I will have to dig into the players guide, because until now I completely suck at it.
There's no headquarters in between the missions, so no free roaming or cool missions. All my snipers and scopes that I collected in the previous campaign are gone, I have to deal with standard NATO armoury stuff. I hope this s#!t changes fast, and I do have good hope something is going to happen. This captain Miller, the British commander that helped me reach the guerrillas and was always busy with secret stuff, he seems to have a major role in this last campaign. Something else is going on; we keep being disturbed by heavy seismic activity on our missions. I hope these two factors will change the gameplay a bit, because the military C&C-like battlefields aren't exactly my cup of tea. There are still fights involved, and you still have freedom to complete a task your way, but usually it's already complicated enough to at least accomplish the mission without dying or failing, and if I can't pick my own weapons choice I feel pretty damn limited >:(
One good thing I discovered though. It is possible to revert a mission to its start, where you can still choose your loadout. Careful though; if you choose to revert to a mission prior to your current one, all missions you completed after that mission, will be gone. You will have to do them all again. Happened to me once, glad it was only one mission I had to replay, and it wasn't such a bad one ;D

So much for the third campaign now. Sergeant BinnZ - out

[PZ]

Dang, Sgt. BinnZ - thanks for the warning.  Sounds like you need to find just the right attack method, which will likely be quite different than prior attacks.

[Binnatics]

Indeed. They want you to learn. Not a bad thing. The game has much to offer. I just hope for more of what I've experienced in the adapt campaign. That was simply outstanding. :)

[Binnatics]

After a pause I gave it another shot. I reverted to an earlier moment in the mission, because during the attack on the village, I had lost both my UAV drone aircraft and a AMV vehicle of an accompanying squad. Figured I'd make a better change leaving these things in tact, especially the drone. I saw on youtube that someone was able to defeat in incoming tanks with the drone's missiles so I tried to do the same.
It was a very hard fight. Once you control the city, 6 tanks are coming in from 3 different directions, accompanied by foot soldiers of all sorts and some multifunctional vehicles. It's extremely hard to get them all down. You have helicopter support and artillery, but both remain useless in my hands. I can't make them attack the moving targets on the battlefield. There must be a way, but I haven't managed so far. So I made good use of the missiles and finally I brought the total amount of armed vehicles back to 3 tanks and one more MRAP vehicle. I used a rocket launcher I found along the way to defeat the 4 remaining tanks, because they were already in between the buildings, where they are easy  to approach if you do it carefully. In the mean time my men were getting slaughtered one by one due to the incoming troops and finally the MRAP finished the job. At least they managed to hold off the main group of soldiers so that we didn't loose the position while I was bust defeating these tanks. I went searching for extra rockets on the ground near dead soldiers and the last one I found was for the MRAP. Once all the enemy vehicles were defeated, we won the mission. I had one man still standing on my side. The rest of my 7 soldiers were down.

This mission was heavily frustrating, and the lack of proper support during the mission was a major pain in the a$$. It's funny that they offer both artillery support and a CAS helicopter, but all they do is fly in or launch some explosions somewhere in the battlefield. All the main target I had to take out myself, nice >:(

I think it's my lack of knowing how to properly guide the support, I should dig into that. But during the attack you are under heavy time pressure. Once the tanks manage to reach the centre of the village, the mission is lost. So while you try to get some tanks down with the drone's missiles, you don't have time as well to coordinate a precision attack for incoming support. Well, at least I couldn't.

Countless times I've been thinking "why the literal f@#k don't these generals send in some proper defense to guard the terrain we win? They are all held steady at the main airfield and aren't used in the battle while we, a bunch of foot soldiers with a bit of supportive technology are force to do the heavy job?"


I'm glad though that this mission's over. The next mission starts promissing. I get a call from my elder commander James, from back in the first campaign. He has been attacked and asks my help. In the mean time the shouting a$$hole general commands me to go in a truck to join battle against AAF remaining forces. I choose to let hem shout and go for a rescue of my old boss. He's not to be helped though, but he speaks of Miller being in trouble nearby. For once I feel free again, search the surrounding area for weaponry and go on my own task, letting that horrible NATO commander cook in his own fat >:D

I think I will soon discover what is going on with all these earthquakes in the area 8)

[PZ]

Nice story, BinnZ  :-X

I can't say 'm fond of frantic action, but in a military simulation I suppose some of that is inevitable.  Seems like you have to make use of all your resources to make the mission reasonable.

[Binnatics]

Yep!

I played around with the next mission today. Turns out to be the end. lol, that's pretty disappointing. But, meeting Miller seems to explain some of the weird appearances. Then the game is over.
Funny enough, there will be an additional mission. And that is quite a piece :o
You will be thrown into a total chaos situation on Altis, with a simple mission; escape the island! And to make it all even more exciting; no savegames at all!!!!
You will have to use the skills you've learned throughout the campaign in order to stay alive. It's not easy, and some great surprises are to be found during your play. I haven't succeeded yet, but I hope I will get it done tonight ^-^
I sure do have a love-hate relation with this campaign ^-^

[Art Blade]

 :-D

[PZ]

 ???

[fragger]

From what you've reported Binn, I think you've done well to get through :) This game doesn't sound like my cup of tea, but it does sound quite involving for anyone it appeals to, which is certainly no bad thing! I admire you for your tenacity, Sarge :-X

[Binnatics]

 :)

[PZ]

Same here - I can jump into FC4 at any time because it is more of an arcade game with very simple controls. I love the idea of ArmA3, and will definitely go in once I have larger blocks of time to be able to devote to the game.

I'll probably start modding straight away, just like in ArmA2