BloodInTheSand

I didn't, no. Purely for the sake of fairness I tested it all on a totally flat surface with side/rear/front impacts. That's the idea, trying to do some proper testing to put things to rest that I hear often on the enhanced server.

Hello again folks! Today I'll be testing out the usefulness of the various BLUFOR launchers available to us in game. We'll start out with the standard available anti-tank launchers and move on from there. For the purposes of these tests I have a group of russian armed forces infantry set up in a 50m spread at 5m intervals, a BTR-70, a BMP-2, a T-34, T-55, T-70 and T-90. As well as this if there are multiple versions of a launcher, I will be testing all of the available versions (Ammo and author, not colour scheme) and all will be used with optics if available (SMAW and MAAWS particularly). I will not be testing the RPG-7, RPG-26 or any of the anti air launchers (the stinger is fairly simple, point, lock, shoot. If they flare, repeat process as very few vehicles will be functional after a stinger missile lands) All rounds will be fired from a distance of approximately 100m, launcher permitting. Shots will be on the rear armour of vehicles, and on a direct impact to the first infantryman in the group. All tests will be run 10 times for maximum accuracy of results, and I will only be testing damaging rounds. I will also not be testing size and weight, as these are easy enough to spot from a quick glance at the arsenal. See what suits you best. Etiquette This is possibly THE most important part of using launchers. As always, follow your standard rules of engagement (Ask your TL or SL if you're unsure of these) and pick only targets that are within your effective range (ranging capabilities of the launcher). Once you have your target selected, designate it to people in the area using local chat to make sure they know what you're looking at and can potentially offer assistance, or prepare for the dismounting crew of the vehicle. This is especially important if the vehicle is close as it will allow your team members to get into an appropriate position of cover to protect them from the blast when your rocket impacts. Once your launcher is ready, loaded and ranged - make sure your backblast is clear. Have a look behind you to see if anyone is there, and call "Clear backblast!" in local to make sure everybody knows to keep away. Before firing, make sure to call out again - either "Firing", "Rifle!" or something to that effect will normally do the job. Backblast can be fatal - so making sure everyone is clear is your top priority, above engaging the target. Make sure to carry an appropriate launcher for what you are doing. For standard infantry, the M72A7 should suffice. LAT will want the AT4, MAT the SMAW or MAAWS, and HAT the Javelin. So, let's get on with the tests. M72A7 LAW The effectiveness of this launcher is often contested. As a very light, portable and disposable anti-tank launcher they are often an invaluable part of any infantry squad. Can also be outfitted with a laser, for some reason. Infantry: Upon testing, the launcher was quite effective against infantry. Killing all within 25m of the blast and causing shrapnel injuries to all outside, some shrapnel even landing close to me. BTR-70: At 100m, one round was enough to destroy the vehicle on 10/10 tests from different angles on direct impact. BMP-2: The same results, however the BMP was still able to move and fire for a short while after impact before it started to cook off (thick black smoke as it did so) T-55: No effect from one shot. However, the M72 was enough to destroy a T-34 in one shot on 10/10 tests. M136/AT4 - Range 400m RHS HEAT Infantry: Killed only the target of the impact, no injury to other targets Vehicles: Effective in one round to every vehicle excluding the T-90, which although damaged was still very much operational. HEDP Infantry: Very similar effects to the M72A7 round. Killed all infantry within 25m and caused shrapnel wounds to all other infantry, with some shrapnel landing on my position though none impacting me. Vehicles: Hell, this thing is an M72 in a different package. Effective in one round on all vehicles up to and including a T-34, with no effect on more heavily armoured targets. HP Infantry: Same as HEAT. Killed only the impact target with no further injuries. Vehicles: On 10/10 tests this destroyed every vehicle, including the T-90 in one round. Even able to destroy a T-90 from a glancing blow to the front armour. For the RHS version of the launcher, I'm calling this my "writer's choice". A fantastic launcher to carry. SMAW - Range 500m RHS HEAA For this test I will NOT be testing the NE rounds. Infantry: Killed all infantry within 25m, wounds out to 50m were minor. Vehicles: Effective on all vehicles from all angles. Definitely my "writer's choice" for the SMAW HEDP Infantry: Killed all infantry within 30m, knocked out and eventually killed out to 50m. Vehicles: Effective on vehicles up to and including the T34, no damage any higher than this. M3 MAAWS - Range 900m RHS HEAT Infantry: Killed all within 25m, no injuries to others Vehicles: Simply put this launcher is terrifying. Able to destroy everything except the T-90 on even the worst of glancing blows, with the T-90 surviving these with severe damage inflicted. Nothing stands up to the MAAWS HEAT rounds which makes them my writer's choice for this launcher HEDP Infantry: Killed all within 25m, injuries out to 50m. Vehicles: Destroyed everything up to the T-55 in one round, able to damage tracks of a T-72. A nice middle of the road round. HE These rounds are particularly nasty due to their ability to be set up for an airburst. Using the scroll wheel, you can set up a distance after which the round will detonate, drastically improving it's effectiveness against infantry. Infantry: Immediately killed all within 50m. Placed more to check and there were minor injuries out to 100m. Vehicles: Able to destroy everything up to and including the BMP-2 in one round. No damage to other vehicles. JAVELIN - Range Approx 2000m RHS Infantry: Killed within 5m of blast, no further injuries. Vehicles: Destroyed everything, including the T-90 even up to 2km away. The top attack ability of these launchers makes them very, very deadly. Summary M72: If you have the carry weight available, there is almost no excuse to not carry one of these. Perhaps not the most effective launcher on earth, but in a bind it will most definitely be better than grenades or nothing at all. AT4: Light and flexible. Top choice for an LAT who's hoping to put the hurt down on anything but the heaviest armour. SMAW: Unfortunately living in the shadow of the MAAWS. A fantastic launcher in it's own right, but just not flexible or deadly enough to compete. MAAWS: Medium weight, high effectiveness. Able to deal with just about every target in it's range. This is my writer's choice launcher and the epitome of MAT. JAVELIN: Long range, deadly but very bulky. Top and only choice for HAT. My recommendation is the RHS version due to it's extra effectiveness against infantry. Like last time, I will be adding more to this over time and adjusting what is written to better reflect the point I was trying to get across.

My next intention for testing is underbarrel grenade launchers, such as the M320 and GP25

Scream, run away and hope everyone else noticed? *DISCLAIMER: Please don't do this Good thinking. I'll add it now.

Done!

I'd say that sort of thing would fit better into a pilot guide rather than one about the grenades themselves, fitting into better coordinating landings. The issue can also almost totally be circumvented by checking the CTab first. The only colours of smoke I've ever seen AI actively use are orange and white, so for the most part it's generally quite safe to assume that if someone says "LZ Marked with blue smoke" that there's only going to be one plume of blue smoke.

Added 3CB smokes including a screenshot to show difference in plumes.

I'll be gradually making edits to this post to clarify wording or due to results from further testing.

I'll get a good set up with some wind when I get home later this afternoon and see how infantry respond to it.

For smokes I tested the vanilla and RHS M18 versions. Despite the vanilla smokes seeming to deploy slightly faster, the difference in behaviour between the two was negligible. Same goes for frags - both the vanilla and RHS M67 frags - again, very little difference in performance.

So, I've spent a few hours testing in the editor against a variety of units and I thought it was worth sharing my experience here. I have tested the primary BLUFOR grenades available on the enhanced server. Fragmentation grenades, stuns and concussion grenades, incendiary, smoke and finally anti tank grenades. I thought I would share my experience here. I tested them against a group of infantry spaced about 5m apart from each other, a BTR-70, a BMP-2 and a T-55 MBT as I believe these are all fairly standard representations of what we see on a day to day basis. For testing against infantry the grenade was thrown directly beneath the middle soldier with a spread of 20m between the first and last soldier. For vehicles, the grenade was thrown depending on what would suit it best. Frags underneath, incendiaries on top or on tracks, AT on rear armour. For the most part if a grenade is produced by multiple authors, I tested all variants available of the same model number. Grenade Etiquette: Please understand that people on this server, despite for the most part being proficient, are not mind readers. If you intend to throw any damaging grenade call this out several seconds in advance over your radio, and ensure that there are no friendly targets whatsoever within 30-40m of the blast radius to minimise damage to friendly assets. Although a pilot appreciates a smoke grenade to mark an LZ, please only throw one - and of the colour that has already been designated to the pilot. This is often blue as it stands out against most backgrounds and is rarely if ever used by enemy troops. Upon seeing an enemy grenade, regardless of what it may be - get yourself on the ground, preferably with some cover between you and the grenade, and while doing so make sure everyone nearby knows there's a grenade incoming. Keep it short and sweet as those fuses don't burn very long! Try to avoid calling this out over radio if it's coming towards you, as if the server is busy and there are friendlies in another location throwing down fire, you may interrupt them for no reason if they think they have a grenade incoming. Call out smoke you see with those nearby or over radio if you're really unsure - as much as smoke grenades can throw off your visual of an enemy, they can often be used as an indicator for the last known position of hostile forces. In the worst case, smoke near your position may be a mortar lining up to fire. Should you happen to make a mistake when cycling through grenades or have some other sort of accident, don't panic! You're going to want to get yourself moving away from the grenade if it's right next to you and you're close to cover you can hide in. If not you're going to need to get some distance and get on the floor, facing away from the grenade, to minimise damage. BUT the first thing you want to do is call it. Yell "Bad frag!" or something to that effect in local to let everyone else know to do the same. Cycle through your grenades using the 6 and 7 keys, 6 for lethal and 7 for not. Fragmentation Tested M67 Infantry: Kills infantry within a very short radius, approximately 3-5m. However this can be random. During several tests, other people were knocked out closer to the grenade, and some were killed further away. This is due to the fragmenting nature of the grenade - they let off shrapnel, just like vehicle explosions, which have the ability to kill out at longer distances than the initial blast radius of the grenade. On every test, every soldier was at least partially injured. BTR-70: Fragmentation grenades were surprisingly effective. On every test, two grenades thrown directly under the vehicle caused it to cook off despite doing very little damage on the first throw. BMP-2: Five grenades, no effect T-55: Five grenades, no effect. Stun/Concussion Tested CS Gas Infantry: For testing here I primarily used the CS Gas grenade as it offers the effects of a stun grenade (white screen and blinding sound) with a damaging component. All infantry looking towards the blast within the 20m radius were forced into an animation that caused them to be ineffective for 10-20 seconds. Infantry within 5m of the blast were injured, albeit minor injuries. Vehicles: No effect Incendiary Tested AN-M14 Infantry: This to me was perhaps the most surprising test. The incendiary grenade, the standard AN-M14 had very little effect on infantry. Only injuring the soldier it was thrown directly under with no effect at all to anyone further away. BTR-70: I did two tests here, one on the wheels and one on the top of the vehicle above the driver's compartment. On throwing at the wheels, as soon as the grenade popped - it started to damage the wheels. Immediately destroying the two wheels closest to the grenade. This, however, is not enough to disable a BTR though it may force a crew dismount as the vehicle is severely impaired (Speed limited to approx. 16km/h with a strong pull to the damaged side) BMP-2: No effect T-55: No effect Smoke Tested M18 Smoke grenades have no damaging effect on soldiers. However, white smoke grenades will obscure enemy vision. Coloured grenades seem to do this less effectively, but will reduce the accuracy of enemy fire. The major problem faced by smoke grenades is WIND. Similarly to bullets, smoke grenades are affected by wind speed and direction. Press Shift+K to check the wind direction, and throw the smoke grenade so that the wind blows the smoke towards your position to make sure you are properly obscured. ALL SMOKE GRENADES ARE AFFECTED BY WIND, HELICOPTER BLADES INCLUDED. Tested 3CB Smoke Grenades Here we have a screenshot for comparison, with a reasonably fast wind to the back left. Here you can see the impact point of the grenade, then the direction of the drift of smoke. On the left is an RHS M18 red smoke grenade - on the right, the 3cb blue smoke. The 3CB grenades do not seem to be as heavily affected by winds. From my experience, in these faster wind conditions where a normal smoke grenade is blown almost flat into the ground, the 3CB ones offer a higher plume which obscures enemy vision better. Despite there still being the same drawback to the coloured smoke, I.E it doesn't hide you quite as well as white or black smoke, it does offer you more cover due to the increased height of the plume on a flat surface in strong winds. Anti-Tank Tested RKG-3EM Infantry: For these tests I used the RKG-3EM anti tank impact grenade. Against infantry, the grenade must be thrown from almost the furthest possible distance - and even then, it will kill only the soldier it lands directly next to. Upon further testing the fragmentation effect seems to be minimal. Vehicles: No measurable effects. Thrown against every part of every vehicle I have above for testing, they were almost entirely useless. After five grenades against each type of vehicle, I gave up on testing these. I am unsure if they're bugged, as some of the Russian Armed Forces weapons appear to be, but as of the time of writing this post they seem to be a waste of carry weight. Bonus Feature: M72A7 LAW The effectiveness of this launcher is often contested. As a very light, portable and disposable anti-tank launcher they are often an invaluable part of any infantry squad. BTR-70: At 100m, one round was enough to destroy the vehicle on 10/10 tests from different angles on direct impact. BMP-2: The same results, however the BMP was still able to move and fire for a short while after impact before it started to cook off (thick black smoke as it did so) T-55: No effect from one shot. However, the M72 was enough to destroy a T-34 in one shot on 10/10 tests. Thanks for reading folks, and I really do hope this will help you to effectively pick your loadouts in the future - potentially save you some carrying weight, or increase your effectiveness as a soldier out there.

Bug report: Map: Takistan, potentially all. Version: 52XC Mission: Bug: Russian Armed Forces faction. Description: Just about everything to do with the faction. Arsenal is not whitelisted properly (Can use the Vintorez as an autorifleman for example). Only one person can enter a vehicle at a time - vehicles cannot take passengers, gunners etc.. Once a vehicle has been entered, the vehicle becomes unstable and is a bit temperamental for other people getting back into it other than the original driver.

Can confirm I'm ridiculously lucky. Who knew a frag would cook a btr from underneath?

Righto, so I'm an hour ahead of it. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to turn up really late or really early!

Just to make sure I'm not mixing myself up, this is labelled as 6:30. Does this account for DST? Will it be half past 6 or half past 7 BST?

The idea is that you take it up, complete your mission (destroy hostile air threats) and stick around until the radio tower goes down, then land and go back to being Vortex as usual. It's not meant to be kept in the air for extended periods, as, like you say, it's a waste of a vortex slot.

You're not wrong there. The AI mortars are crazy accurate at times. As for the rest I think this goes the same way as artillery. ASL already has indirect fire support, and with MAT and HAT mortars are far too slow and very much redundant.

I'm sure that role is only added to gamenights specifically for Leo's benefit. Anyway, signed up last night! Looking forward to this.

Think I'm just mixing myself up after a long Friday night leading to one hell of a Saturday morning.

Really? I was sure I read it somewhere. My mistake!

Was the server full at the time? I believe guests can/will be kicked to make room for donators, admins, Spartans etc so that may go a way to explaining it.

There's a sale on everything arma! 30% off apex. Arma 2 combined ops for £4! Crazy good deals, expecting a few newbies over the next few days.

Tap "I" Look Nope? Get one. Yep? No problem! Full process is 5 seconds (arsenal loaf times permitting) never mind just checking! Though I still understand @BlastaMastas point, can be frustrating if it happens repeatedly. Had the arsenal eat my radio 2-3 times in a row in the past, and with arsenal load times on busy nights that can be the difference between holding and losing a position, especially if it's a saw gunner having trouble.

As far as I know this is just an ongoing issue with the mod itself. Definitely a pain, but unfortunately there's very little that can be done about it - or that's my understanding at least.