ArmA MP Rocks!

[JediMaster 451]

I've played quite a bit of coop ArmA the last week or so and I'm loving it. While it still has issues that need fixing bug-wise and some of the OFP legacy annoyances are there, it is definitely better than OFP in every way.

If you're on the fence about getting this one, get down and get it!

 

It doesn't matter what version you get, either, as the 1.05 patch normalizes all versions (DL or DVD, any country) to the same state. It will be getting a N America release in May which means it will show up in retail here instead of requiring mail order or digital DL.

[Guest IndioBlack]

I've played quite a bit of coop ArmA the last week or so and I'm loving it. While it still has issues that need fixing bug-wise and some of the OFP legacy annoyances are there, it is definitely better than OFP in every way.

If you're on the fence about getting this one, get down and get it!

 

So how does it compare with Joint OPs Escalatation ?

 

In Joint Ops:

 

The maps are endless

There are good mission builders available.

Lots of downloadable missions

It plays on LAN

If you die in the game, you can re-spawn.

Graphics are excellent

Variety of Game types: Cooperative, King of the Hill, Team King of the Hill, Flagball, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch.

You have Helicopters, Tanks, Boats, but not Planes.

Flight models are simple.

Control is with mouse, keyboard and Joystick. But joystick just emulates key-presses.

 

Would I be getting a better game if I bought Armed Assault ?

[+Fates 63]

And I here that 1.08 patch is on the way as well....

[Guest IndioBlack]

One other question:

If you play ARMED ASSAULT on LAN, do you need a disk for each computer?

You don't with Joint Ops

[JediMaster 451]

Good question about the CP. It's securom I think, so you might be able to pop the disc out once the game starts to start it on another computer.

 

Anyway, Joint Ops itself emulated OFP (ArmA is just OFP 1.5) so the gameplay is very similar. The AI is different, though. Coop OFP/ArmA was always better because the JO AI was just irritatingly stupid. I can't count the number of times a guy would stand on the other side of a hill firing nonstop at me in JO. How did he know where I was? He did. He also wouldn't move from his stop to come over the hill and shoot me, he just kept trying to bore into the earth with bullets.

 

I think I like the OFP/ArmA islands more than the JO maps, though.

Only one area did JO win--motorbikes. They're ok in ArmA, but in JO those things are FUN. Actually, I guess all the ground vehicles physics was superior in JO, but ArmA missions allow so much more scripting.

[Guest IndioBlack]

Good question about the CP. It's securom I think, so you might be able to pop the disc out once the game starts to start it on another computer.

 

Anyway, Joint Ops itself emulated OFP (ArmA is just OFP 1.5) so the gameplay is very similar. The AI is different, though. Coop OFP/ArmA was always better because the JO AI was just irritatingly stupid. I can't count the number of times a guy would stand on the other side of a hill firing nonstop at me in JO. How did he know where I was? He did. He also wouldn't move from his stop to come over the hill and shoot me, he just kept trying to bore into the earth with bullets.

 

I think I like the OFP/ArmA islands more than the JO maps, though.

Only one area did JO win--motorbikes. They're ok in ArmA, but in JO those things are FUN. Actually, I guess all the ground vehicles physics was superior in JO, but ArmA missions allow so much more scripting.

 

Perhaps you mean the JO AI was incredibly prescient ?

Yes indeed they can see you, and shoot you through hills. But that's if you up their alert status to Red. In making your own maps, you can go for the more realistic Yellow alert, or have an easy time with Green alert. Plus you have the ability to adjust their vision and shooting ranges to the yard. Or maybe it's a metre. In other words you can decide how alert they are, how soon they spot you, and how far they can shoot.

Regarding their movement - you can indeed programme them to come at you. It's a bit of syntax that often map-makers can't be bothered to implement. Or, the results are not necessarily worth the effort: If you carefully place an AI, set his alert status, vision range, gun range, and propensity to come at you, that's an awful lot of effort to see destroyed in an instant by an attack run from a rocket-firing Helo.

 

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for an argument here with JO versus ArmA. It's always down to personal preference. But what I'd like to know is if our bunch of LAN playing JO fans would have a good time with ArmA, or would we find the things we like about JO no longer there: For instance you can respawn (OFP made you die and sit out the game); map-builder is accessible; there are loads of downloadable maps; the play area is enormous (unlike the Battlefield series); there's a variety of game types. If you told me the flight models are better, and you can use a joystick that gives you fine control rather than emulating keypresses, I'd be mighty interested. Although respawn is pretty essential, because no-one likes sitting out and making the coffee whilst everyone else has a great time.

I'm just after a bit more information that I can't get anywhere else, so that we can make an intelligent decision on whether to go for it or not. I wouldn't even be contemplating it, if it wasn't for the fact that ArmA has a Harrier.

So I really would appreciate any further comments.

[+Jarhead1 27]

I am thinking of buying this game too, but i am partial to the Blitzkrieg games too, for the command elements on the game but this looks good too

[JediMaster 451]

Perhaps you mean the JO AI was incredibly prescient ?

Yes indeed they can see you, and shoot you through hills. But that's if you up their alert status to Red. In making your own maps, you can go for the more realistic Yellow alert, or have an easy time with Green alert. Plus you have the ability to adjust their vision and shooting ranges to the yard. Or maybe it's a metre. In other words you can decide how alert they are, how soon they spot you, and how far they can shoot.

Regarding their movement - you can indeed programme them to come at you. It's a bit of syntax that often map-makers can't be bothered to implement. Or, the results are not necessarily worth the effort: If you carefully place an AI, set his alert status, vision range, gun range, and propensity to come at you, that's an awful lot of effort to see destroyed in an instant by an attack run from a rocket-firing Helo.

Ah. Well, in NONE of the coop maps I played were the AI set at anything but Red then. I guess both NL and the 3rd party guys were too lazy. Granted I stopped playing the game about a year after release...

 

But what I'd like to know is if our bunch of LAN playing JO fans would have a good time with ArmA, or would we find the things we like about JO no longer there: For instance you can respawn (OFP made you die and sit out the game); map-builder is accessible; there are loads of downloadable maps; the play area is enormous (unlike the Battlefield series); there's a variety of game types. If you told me the flight models are better, and you can use a joystick that gives you fine control rather than emulating keypresses, I'd be mighty interested. Although respawn is pretty essential, because no-one likes sitting out and making the coffee whilst everyone else has a great time.

I'm just after a bit more information that I can't get anywhere else, so that we can make an intelligent decision on whether to go for it or not. I wouldn't even be contemplating it, if it wasn't for the fact that ArmA has a Harrier.

So I really would appreciate any further comments.

 

Ok, the helos fly more like real helos than they did in JO. In JO you could literally fly it with one hand on the keyboard and never crash no matter what. In ArmA you have to pay attention or you could crash VERY easily. You also seem to get shot down by a MANPAD or Shilka quite easily if you don't stay low and use cover.

ArmA, and OFP before it, have respawns as a mission-adjustable thing. Some missions indeed give you a single life. Some have so-called group respawn, where for example if you have 4 players in a squad of 6 (2 AI filling in) you can die and respawn until that squad is depleted, then you will stay dead. So in other words the first 2 people to die (or 1 person that dies twice) gets to respawn. After that, you're done. Yet other missions offer "normal" respawn where you just start back at base or wherever every time you die. Some let you respawn instantly, and I've seen delays as much as 60 seconds (a good way to discourage going Rambo without permanent punishment for a mistake).

As for how accessible the map builder is or isn't, I can't comment too much as I've barely touched it, but I'm not a map creator type. However, there are literally dozens of missions coming out a day.

 

Like OFP before it, ArmA comes with set maps. In ArmA's case, 2 islands, one of which is far larger than the other (the large one is where the SP game takes place as well). It's pre-filled with towns, buildings, etc. Mission makers place friendly and enemy units and you can make field bases with tents, bunkers, and sandbags and such anywhere you want.

It is possible to make new islands, I remember a few that came out for OFP, but it's VERY time consuming, and the terrain on the existing islands is so varied that people tend to stick with it.

 

There are other game types than coop, such as CTF and such, but I never play them.

[Guest IndioBlack]

Ah. Well, in NONE of the coop maps I played were the AI set at anything but Red then. I guess both NL and the 3rd party guys were too lazy. Granted I stopped playing the game about a year after release...

Ok, the helos fly more like real helos than they did in JO. In JO you could literally fly it with one hand on the keyboard and never crash no matter what. In ArmA you have to pay attention or you could crash VERY easily. You also seem to get shot down by a MANPAD or Shilka quite easily if you don't stay low and use cover.

ArmA, and OFP before it, have respawns as a mission-adjustable thing. Some missions indeed give you a single life. Some have so-called group respawn, where for example if you have 4 players in a squad of 6 (2 AI filling in) you can die and respawn until that squad is depleted, then you will stay dead. So in other words the first 2 people to die (or 1 person that dies twice) gets to respawn. After that, you're done. Yet other missions offer "normal" respawn where you just start back at base or wherever every time you die. Some let you respawn instantly, and I've seen delays as much as 60 seconds (a good way to discourage going Rambo without permanent punishment for a mistake).

As for how accessible the map builder is or isn't, I can't comment too much as I've barely touched it, but I'm not a map creator type. However, there are literally dozens of missions coming out a day.

 

Like OFP before it, ArmA comes with set maps. In ArmA's case, 2 islands, one of which is far larger than the other (the large one is where the SP game takes place as well). It's pre-filled with towns, buildings, etc. Mission makers place friendly and enemy units and you can make field bases with tents, bunkers, and sandbags and such anywhere you want.

It is possible to make new islands, I remember a few that came out for OFP, but it's VERY time consuming, and the terrain on the existing islands is so varied that people tend to stick with it.

 

There are other game types than coop, such as CTF and such, but I never play them.

 

Thanks, that's interesting. We're going to give it a go. The possibility of respawning makes it viable.

I guess I'll learn the answers to all my other questions fairly soon.

[TX3RN0BILL 3]

I must admit I don't have much experience in JO besides the MP demo, but I do have alot of OFP and some ArmA experience, and I can tell you that mission creation is probably the easiest in OFP. As for map-making, so far there are only third-party tools and the old official OFP island making tool (called Visitor, available for download for free) to make islands in ArmA, and yet some islands have already surged. PMC Tactical, the makers of the most commonly used third-party island-creating software (called WRPTool, also free for download), have already made islands that are more than 200 square kilometers large, and they haven't reached the limit yet (and these guys made islands double the size of the islands in OFP than the game shipped with originally). What makes ArmA-islandmaking different from OFP-island making is that in OFP when you made an island the whole island would load at the beguinning, whilst in ArmA, only the segment where the player is is currently loaded by the game, which allows for much bigger maps in ArmA than there were in OFP. Current max viewdistance in ArmA is 10 km, IIRC, which is double than OFP could handle at max setting.

 

As Jedi Master already stated, whilst in OFP the flight models were simple (IMHO even simpler than JO), in ArmA flying a helicopter will provide you with a real challenge, though rudder control still needs tweaking (you loose the ability to control it at far too low speeds for it to be realistic). As for the planes, unfortunately they're currently, with patch 1.08, barely flyable, but the entire community is expecting that to be corrected.

 

About the only thing you'll probably miss from JO in ArmA is the inability to walk on moving vehicles; it's a feature that the community has been clamoring for ever since it was demonstrated in a video of VBS1, which was a military training simulation that was based on the OFP engine and sold to the militaries of several countries (US and Australia come to mind), whilst later becoming available for the public as well, though with a hefty price tag. Curiously the feature was never implemented in the game, nor it's follow-up ArmA, nor VBS2, based on ArmA...

 

Oh and one other thing... I don't know if it would be possible in JO but in OFP it was possible for you to go hunting pirate sailing ships in your X-Wing, or chase Santa in his flying reindeer sleigh in a UFO, if you'd like... that's just a taste of how diverse the community-developed contents was (most addons are single files which you just have to paste or drag into your addons folder, and voilà - it's ingame!) and the ingame mission editor lets you mess around with everything! (although full/total conversion mods will surely also be available) .

Edited June 29, 2007 by TX3RN0BILL