Republic of Folk

Missions

• Swept (Adv)
• Ashore
• Khalid Pass (Adv)
• Lights Out (Adv)
• Cholo

Again we saw around 40 brave comrades stumble into the night, feeling their away around Takistani deserts and Chernarussian architecture. The classic we opened with today, Swept, saw a heliborn force smash against guerillas that had decided to dug in, instead of fleeing. Despite heavy initial losses the Army prevailed, thanks to some amazing tactical manoveurs like "flanking" and also "not dying". In Ashore the USMC rode their brave steeds right into Chernogorsk, ready to kick names and take ass. The CHDKZ Insurgents however agreed to disagreed with that plan and everything devolved in some miniature vietnam, with scattered soldiers being shot not only from street level but also from higher ground (which, if you've played ArmA for a while, is quite a novelty when it comes to the AI). Khalid Pass saw Guerillas and Russians fighting in a sea of wrecked vehicles with only flares and muzzle flashes illuminating the clear night. Lights Out was a bit of a drag, and it looks like I need to find a way to make it more interesting for BLUFOR

But still, thanks to all comrades for showing up, prevailing and getting shot in the face. Remember to include mission feedback and suggestions in your AARs if you have any! And don't forget the Mission Making subforum. If you got a great idea but feel intimated by the Editor don't fret. The more experienced mission makers are happy to help.

See you next time on

Note
We noticed some odd behaviours regarding mission markers today. If you were experiencing any of these issues please do tell and also what fixed it for you (if so). Being one of the first/last to connect to the mission might also be related so include that if you remember.

Swept
Deployed as INDFOR CO
The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming! I woke up in a nightmare straight out of The Bear Went Over the Mountain. Some poor kid dashed in to tell me his father had seen a brace of Russians across the mouth of the valley to the east, and even as I told him to get his family hidden somewhere safe, I could hear the rumble of Mi-17's overhead. "To arms!" I shouted at my brethren. "We're already ready, sleeping beauty," they replied.

Russian tactics usually involve the first force in position to hold still and lay in ambush while the second force moves in, so I sketched out a not-so-quick but oh-so-dirty plan for both my squads of dudes to skirmish and grudgingly give ground, for we had precious little ground to work with. A Hip can only carry so many people, though, so I presumed that we didn't have many enemies to attrit before we could simply counter-attack them, overrun them, and escape in the only safe direction, the direction from which they came.

Unfortunately, I was too slow in pulling back my forces, absorbed in re-positioning my HMG in a location with absolutely horrid cover. By the time I called for Alpha to pull back, they were all wounded and writhing on the ground like mating squid. And then the Russian Bravo and MMG decided to do some HSLD maneuver or some fancy shit like that. I think they call it "flanking" and "using terrain." I didn't go to Frunze though, and HMG and me got slaughtered, with the rest of my dudes following shortly thereafter.

Oops



Note: This is the mission where I had the "IntroImage not found" error, followed by no map-markers showing up for me at all. Slightly troublesome for a CO. I disco'd and recon'd and everything worked properly the second time around. Not rightly sure why any of it happened, and I got no corresponding bug report to work off of.

Ashore
Deployed as Alpha Squad Leader
WE'RE GONNA HIT THE BEACH, DEVIL DOGS! WE'RE GONNA HIT IT SO HARD ITS MOTHER CRIES! WE'RE GONNA F*** UP THEM CHEDAKI SO THAT THEIR MOTHERS DON'T CRY 'CUZ THEY DON'T RECOGNIZE THEM! WE'RE GONNA... die. We're all gonna die.

Our boats roared forth from the bay of the Khe Sanh and slammed into shore. Somehow, my Alpha 2 FTL had fallen off the boat like a green-faced kid in Basic, and reported that he was beginning the long swim ashore. By the time he caught up, a flaw in my squad briefing had been exposed - in the hopes of avoiding us killing our friends the CDF, I had made special note that there would be friendlies in the city. I had apparently given my squad the impression that the city was only filled with friendlies, so presumably Alpha 3 walked up to some Chedaki and went for a high-five. They got high-velocity 5.45 in return. To the face. At one point, just about all of Alpha Squad, save jRides, was either dead or wounded on the ground, with jRides desperately trying to bring some of us up. We pushed into the factory complex, cut apart at every turn by Chedaki completely hidden in the f***ing Chernarussian grass. "Landmines that shoot bullets," I called them for their tendency to just lay there in wait whilst we moved.

I spent more time healing dudes than anything else. I must have sutured, clamped, tourniqueted, splinted, sulfur'd, bandaged, ventilated, and kidney-punched nearly a dozen people back to health. This included patching up the CO something like three or four times - the last time, I must have clamped a nerve instead of an artery, 'cuz he couldn't walk after that. The hopes of all of BluFor eventually rested on me, my crawling CO, and Phalanx, the last unlucky dude from my squad, but us two Alpha dudes were slain by the same landmine shooting bullets, leaving Torso-boy to circle a PKM technical in confusion before Fer finally closed this hilariously bloody chapter on us.



Mission Comments: This mission was hell simply due to the way that the Chedaki would lay stock still in the grass. At one point, I knew there was a Chedaki ten meters ahead of me, but I couldn't draw a clear line of sight because of the grass, so he shot me in the leg first because due to my stance and my shooting, he was "aware" of me through the grass. All throughout the city, the Chedaki were just laying in tall grass, behind walls, or even in plain sight, waiting for us to pass within twenty meters. I really think the mission would be improved by simply making the enemy move, because being maneuvered on by ASR_AI is deadly and terrible in the most awesome way possible. Running into landmines that shoot bullets, knowing they're there, and still getting shot? Not so fun.

Khalid Pass
Deployed as INDFOR Bravo 1 Fire Team Leader
A blindingly fast and furious TvT, this mission went exactly as I hoped when I first conceived it. As I understand it, the Ruskies went balls-to-the-walls fast and ended up on Khalid Pass by the time the Takistanis were moving in, which is also just about how I hoped. Through some blundering advances, the Takistanis were able to seize the Abandoned Checkpoint from the Russians, while my fire team straight up assaulted a few Russians in the Abandoned Outpost to the south. We had finished clearing out the the crash site's southern flank and were about to wheel and provide a deadly cross-fire to complement Alpha's coverage from the Checkpoint when the surviving Russians broke and fled, radioing desperately on open channels for any fire support they could get their hands on. Total time elapsed: 11 minutes.

Good job, Bravo 1 - between the four of us, we killed seven dudes, and didn't lose any of our number whilst maneuvering forward. I'd call that a win.



Mission Comments: The nighttime settings worked out even better than I had anticipated, and both sides made good use of flares to light up the battlefield while the Hip burned in the center. Mission-makers might find some hilarity in the method through which I created the wrecked chopper and corpses. I did hear some complaints that the night was perhaps too dark for the Russians, since the particular angle of the moon washes out the western side of the pass in darkness, so I'll take a look at that, maybe see if I can get the moon directly overhead without it being too bright. Also, I'm impressed that we had so few technical issues with this one, given the way I plopped down probably close to 1,500 objects in the mission file. Two fully-populated bases, atmospheric AI movement for both sides, decayed fortifications for a kilometer of ridge-line, and a vehicle graveyard that puts Fuelraid to shame... I'm happy with how it turned out. If you liked it, look forward to more missions to follow this plotline.

Lights Out
Deployed as BLUFOR Bravo Squad Leader
Another night-time mission, this one even darker than the previous

The Spetsnaz are here to destroy our bimp. We can't allow that to happen, because then who would take our money and beat us at the end of the day? Bravo was tasked with defending the thing, so we arrayed our spotlights and cars west and north, placing our tripwires horrendously poorly (if we can a silhouetted shape of some sort like you get in the COIN interface, that would do wonders for tripflare placement) and pieing off the Northwestern quadrant of our sector. Seeing as we were watching the north and west like hawks, the Spetsnaz did the smart thing and came in from our East. After maybe half-an-hour of CDF troops trying not to trip and fall off of ladders in the horrendous darkness, the Russians suddenly started killing our dudes from within the city. Alpha doubled the rate of their falling back from the powerstation and came up behind the Ruskies, and the welcoming jaws of the CDF closed shut around the spec-ops dudes.

Aww yeah.



Mission Comments: I personally liked this mission a bit. The big thing I would want to see is, like mentioned above, a silhouette showing how our tripflare zones would be placed. I think finding a way to give the CDF flashlights might help, because a significant amount of our problems was simply that often times we couldn't see well enough to even move around. I'm not sure if the AO is too large - I know some comments were made on that, but given the force ratios, then I don't really see how the Spetsnaz could win with a smaller AO that doesn't scatter BLUFOR all over the place. All in all, find a way to get the HALO marker not to show up for CDF, get the tripflare silhouettes, and give CDF flashlights so we can move, and I'd say that would make the mission even better.

Also, let's find a way to keep the crosshairs. An issue I hadn't realized before, was that our at nighttime, we can't see whether our weapons are raised. Normally, you can tell when your gun is lowered because of the presence or absence of your crosshair. Without it, ya don't know until you click "fire" to raise it, and accidentally launch a GP-25 HE shell off the roof and near Bravo 1's position Also for that matter, without crosshairs, the GP is damn near impossible to use.

Cholo
Cholo
Cholo

~ Ferrard

Swept
A2 FTL
We were deployed directly in front of the enemies. Alpha1 was further up front, Alpha2 was a building behind. The idea was for A1 to engage and pin the enemy and then retreat, A2 covering A1's retreat.

A1 engaged the enemy, I tried to get eyes on the bad guys, peeked through a window aaand got 1-shot headshotted.

Ashore
Bravo SL
This mission saw us advancing through good 'ol fogged Chernogorsk. Bravo was not supposed to advance to the factory we were supposed to clear, but to provide cover fire for the other two squads. As soon as the factory came into view, B1 got shot up pretty badly by snipers on the elevators. It was dark and foggy, so it was impossible to spot those prone shooters. Anyway, command revised Bravo's plan and sent us to the complex through north, with buildings as cover. We went there, but met our demise soon enough by loads of enemies and a nasty Dishka. Also apologies for the horrible SL'ing overall, but I guess the only way to get any good at it is to force it

Khalid Pass
INDIE
AT guy, Alpha (2)? under Harakka
First guys to die in this mission is me and Issus, we ran to the abandoned outpost south of the crashed choppa. Turns out it was already occupied by nasty Opfor. Full auto AK to the back.

Lights Out
A2 FTL
Alpha was to defend the generator up north, if the Specnaz decided to destroy it. A2 was sitting on top of a hill with a good overwatch on the plant, but absolutely no cover, only concealment by bushes. Luckily, we were redirected with another Alpha FT down south back to Elektrozavodsk, as it was getting suspicious. Suddenly, gunfire and Bravo is being engaged. Command sends us to flank the enemy from behind. Dead on, we flanked the Specnaz, and together with Bravo, destroyed them.


About the mission markers - I did experience a bug in Swept, I saw no Mission maker placed markers, the reconnect as suggested by Wolfenswan fixed the problem. Don't think I was the first to connect, it is possible I was one of the last, as I was downloading the mission for quite some time.

Ashore
A3 AT

After being told that there are "friendlies in the city", we ran ashore while passing a few friendly looking dudes standing in a circle, who promptly turned around and killed our whole FT in the back.

Moral of the story is, there is no such thing as "friendlies in Cherno".


Lights Out
BLUEFOR B2 Grenadier

I suggested to strang who was our FTL that we could get on top of one of cranes. Little did thekev and I know just how dangerous trying to climb cranes in the pitch black is. We got to the middle of the crane, and I started feeling quizzy from the height. Not being able to find the ladder down, I decide the only way to go is up, which turned out to be a brilliant move.

After a long wait, I spotted 4-6 spetznaz sneaking in from the east from the coast. They were doing their HSLD thing with the 360 no-scope security pizza slice delivery. But they clearly were not covering their sectors because they missed me completely even after I stood up to shoot a flare at them for positive ID. Then bravo opened up and I was able to lob grenades at them with impunity. Managed to kill 3 (a whopping 40% of opfor!), would have been more if I didn't also suffer from the "dude where's my gun" problem Ferrad mentioned.

Swept
Defender Medic
We were deployed directly in front of the enemies. Alpha1 was further up front, Alpha2 was a building behind. The idea was for A1 to engage and pin the enemy and then retreat, A2 covering A1's retreat.

Squad Leader Black Mamba directed me to hang with Alpha 1 in the at the front-line of our defenses, ready for the inevitable casualties.
Before long we saw the enemy helicopters withdrawing overhead, and soon after came under heavy attack by the main enemy force to our west. We were outgunned and pinned down by concentrated enemy fire, and allowing yourself to be visible through any windows became a death sentence.
Seeing a dead body but no injured inside the house, I decided it was better to live to fight another day (or in this case, a few minutes) and managed to crawl away along the northern side of the buildings. The order was given at that stage for alpha 1 to fall back, but it was likely already too late, and the enemy force was beginning to flank us to the north.

From then on in the match I ran back and forth between bravo and the remains of alpha putting my medic abilities to use as we fought a losing battle. The healing action became bugged for one injured soldier, but shooting them once and then healing them did the trick. After that I ran forward to drag an injured guy to safety just as a well placed enemy RPG scored a hit right in the middle of at least half of our remaining forces. We were all left dead or dying on the ground, waiting for help from Bravo which never came, and after a while I bled out.

Ashore
C3 AR
After stepping out of the landing craft, I advanced alongside the rest of Charlie squad towards the south western side of the factory at a good pace, narrowly avoiding a volley of MMG fire which I could not see the source of. C3 arrived in one piece, taking out a few enemies both at ground level and on top of buildings, but our FTL harakka who was on point was shortly thereafter taken out by an unseen assailant down a road to our northeast.

I assumed command and we stuck to the wall of the factory, waiting for alpha squad to move into their positions so command could proceed with the next stage of the plan. Bravo were apparently chewed up and Alpha ended up taking a lot longer than had been expected, in the mean time some enemies had run towards C3's position and we were reduced to 2 strong. Once alpha were in finally in position C3 moved slightly northeast into the factory complex and I was killed by a single shot from the east (where I thought alpha were, but there may have been enemies hiding in the grass) as I passed by a gate.


(in progress)

Witness the glory of video!

~ Ferrard

The horror... the horror...
First I'm sorry, I had some wicked headache that drastically toned down the volume of my voice, and people had to constantly ask me to repeat.

Swept
ASL - insurgents
Where we witness once again that any tactic including withdrawal cannot be achieved in Folk. I had my two fireteams deployed in buildings, A1 in front of A2. A1 was to wait for them to close in on us, engage quickly, and then move back while A2 would cover, after which we would repeat the process. Plan sounded good, except we took casualties, and lost a lot of time trying to raise them. When we did it was too late, the enemy was on top of us. I should have given the order to abandon the wounded and retreat anyway a lot earlier.
Alpha survivors were all bunched up in the same compound and all died due to exploderizing everywhere.

Ashore
A1 AR
After landing, we very quickly lost our estimed comrade and FTL Tiger to some invisible bullet-spitting landmine. I took command and immediately my two remaining comrades were shot in the back. Was shot myself trying to rescue them. We crossed a street on our bellies, writhing in pain, and finally found the rest of alpha. One dude standing up.
After we got all fixed up, I decided Alpha was pinned down, so we would flank right and regroup to the first marker. The second I said that, bombsquad was shot and died.
So there we went, Astute and myself, on a trip around the enemy forces between Bravo and the rest of Alpha. All went well, we shot up a few dudes, maintaining what security we could as it was just the two of us.
Then, as we needed to cross a building entrance, I saw a dude, sent a few bullets his way to see if he would react. He did not. I then assumed he was friendly, and when I peeked again, he shot me in the face. Nice.

Khalid Pass
B2 FTL - Russians
The horror. Don't know how was the visibility on the East side, but me, I couldn't see shit. We were occupying the southern outpost, and waiting for the takis to come while providing security on the south-east in case these cowards would try and flank us. Apparently they didn't and were coming straight from the northeast, so I sent two of my guys downhill to flank them from the south.
Everything went very fast. I saw a dude due to the enemy sending flares behind us, shot him (according to the score, he didn't die), then I heard whizzes and cracks and explosions all over the place and my whole FT was down in less than 4 seconds.
After that I hid under the bunker (yup, you read right, underneath it), watched Bodge take bullets above me, and waited in ambush for the enemy to come.
I hade two dudes lined up in my sights, five meters away from me, and the muscles in my finger were about to cause their death when the mission ended.

Lights Out
B1 AR
We had great fun with Toppo trying to find our way in the dark city ("Let's get down from that building." "Huh, okay. You know where the ladder is?") and then took positions overlooking the northwestern side.
Man, I knew that field to the blade of grass by the time we got word that the Spetsnaz were coming from the East. ("Mamba, get back south, we're moving!" "Coming" *runs perpetually into the same fence without seeing it*)
At some point I finally unfucked myself, found a ladder, there was a tree clipping through it and I fell. Dude, I love this city.
Somebody happened to be right there though, and fixed me up real nice. Found myself a nicely concealed hiding spot overlooking a crossroads from where the spetsnasz would supposedly come, while Toppo and the rest of the fireteam scouted around, and stayed there while they were moving back to the BMP, or whatever it was that needed not destroyed.
Then I heard a few silenced shots clearly indicating the enemy had gone around me and was now behind me. By the time I got out of under my truck, the mission ended.

Oh, and yeah. Keep coming to the workshops, lads!

And that:

Halop wrote: Also apologies for the horrible SL'ing overall, but I guess the only way to get any good at it is to force it

Swept

Bravo squad lead. We started well, B2s AR providing extremely effective fire. B1 was positioned further back and was mostly ineffective. It seems we struggled to find positions where both squads could effectively fire, until we were flanked from the south east. At this point B2 was brutally murdered and I was gunned down trying to help B1 and get them to fall back. Washington (B1 member) has other plans and along with Macaco(?) did a lot of valiant last stand work against the Russians.
(B1 and B2 may be the wrong way around)

Lesson Learnt; Don't set concrete positions, allow fireteam leaders to position themselves accordingly in an area.

Ashore

Got off the boat, stopped to organise my fireteam, SuperU asked what the hold up was, instantly shot in the face.

Returned to command Lights Out

A few critiques of both the mission and my own command

Mission wise, I loved this. Giving the Occupying team flashlights would likely balance things out, maybe, they are appallingly bad in arma.
Some kind of crosshair/improved sight for the Spetznaz would be greatly appreciated. I know silenced guns aren't meant to be effective at much more than CQB, but that sight is beyond terrible.

What I did wrong;
If you're near invisible, don't put everyone in one big group and have them shuffle around together. Buddy teams would have been far more effective.

Don't place markers in global (someone letting me know this had happened would have been appreciated)

Don't open your parachute at 1200M after mistaking the clouds for ground fog

Macho man parachute landings are not recommended, especially when you don't have a medic. This however did lead to me finding the group of Blufor at the powerstation running south west as I went a different route due to my constant groanings and ended up blowing the church to try get their attention.

Eggs. Baskets. Splitting the group up in the HALO/HAHO landings between east and west would have been a benefit to all.

Don't freak out when the opposing team talks to you over von and suspiciously look at them, very, very slowly.