Lindi

@Xwatt @Stanhope @Moritz 1804 @ShadowAce11
 

Sorry for the tks @ParabolicAJB and @Moritz 1804. I will try to do better next time.

Guess I'll have to try to clear Saturdays schedule!

I'll just drop a link here... dunno if it is helpful. Oh and Hi!
 
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=192094335&searchtext=helicopter+training&insideModal=0&requirelogin=1

I'm stepping down from admin to member because of personal reasons and generally feeling burned out from moderating.
Should have done this sooner, but oh well. Had a great time doing it, but as Ryko said "Stop when it isn't fun anymore".
 
- Miksi

I'll just drop a link here... dunno if it is helpful. Oh and Hi!
 
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=192094335&searchtext=helicopter+training&insideModal=0&requirelogin=1

Comms is something I want to get covered to a degree under basic conduct, as I feel it's important to teach people about unnecessary radio chatter etc.

EoTech G33. Holo + zoom mode ( ctrl + numpad / ) and works with nvg. My infantry needs are satisfied.
 
Vanilla Arco is good too.

I personaly do not feel the need to carry additional scopes.

 

I'm quite liking it so far! I like the civies being all around makes the world seem so much more alive.
 

This will be a rather limited guide on how to use the ATragMX.  It will only focus on what you need to do to get a zeroing for your scope.  Screenshot will be provided for most steps.  Let's get started.
 
 
Before we begin: 
We will need the following items on us: the ATragMX, a kestrel 4500NV, a microDAGR gps, a high powered rifle and a scope that has ACE zeroing.
 In this example i'll be using the M107 with the Mk 211 STD rounds, which are HEIAP rounds (high explosive incendiary armor piercing).
 

Step 1: Setting up the microDAGR gps.
This step will link the data from your vector to your ATragMX.  Meaning that you will not have to manually put in the numbers for the target.  This step only has to be done once.
 
First of all press left shift+home until you see the microDAGR in the top right.  Then press home twice.  You should now see the microDAGR. You'll need to click on the bars in the top-left as indicated in this screenshot:
When you click on that icon you'll see a new screen with 4 options.  You'll need to click on the 'connect to' option. 
After you clicked on the connect to option you'll get send back to the initial screen that looks different now:
Now your microDagr is linking the data from your vector to your ATragMX.  Close the microDagr with left ctrl+home.
 
 
Step 2: selecting your gun
In this step we'll select the gun we're going to be shooting.  You'll only have to select this once.

Open up the ATragMX by pressing left shift + home until you see the ATragMX in the top left corner.  Then press home and you'll see this: 
Now press the gunlist button in the bottom left corner.  A new screen will open where you'll need to select the gun you'll be using.  Once you've selected the right gun press open gun.  To know which gun is the right one you'll have to know which bullets you're using.  This can be seen in your inventory.  Alternatively you can make your own custom guns.  I'll probably make a tutorial about that on in the future.
After pressing open gun you'll be send back to the 'home-screen'.  Close down the ATragMX with left ctrl + home and move to the next step.
 
 
Step 3: Kestrel 4500NV
This step will explain how to get all the necessary atmospheric information from the kestrel and how and where to put it in the ATragMX.  Depending on how accurate you want to be you can either do this once at mission start or you can check this info periodically to see if the temperature etc. changed.  You'll have to do this at least once. 
I personally do it once right after loading my loadout from the arsenal.  If i'm taking shots at extreme ranges i'll also update this info.

First off start by pressing left shift + home until you see the Kestrel.  Press home twice to open it up.  Now use the up and down arrows on the kestrel to cycle to user screen 2.
Once you have user screen 2 open press home once more to just display the kestrel.  And press left shift + home again until you see the ATragMX.  Press home to open it up.  This should now be on your screen:
Now press on the Atmsphr button on the top of the middle column.  A new screen will open on the ATragMX, this is what you should see:
Now type the right data from the kestrel into the ATragMX like demonstrated in this screenshot: (Note that millibars and hPa are exactly the same)
When you copy pasted the info you can close the kestrel (press shift home until you see the kestrel then press ctrl home).  So now you'll see the following on your screen:
Now also close down the ATragMX and move to the next step.
 

Step 4: ranging the target
This step will get you the initial value you need for zeroing your scope.  In the next optional step you will (or will not) tweak this value a bit to account for wind. 
This step should be repeated every time you repositioned and/or if the target you're shooting at moved a significant distance.

To range the target first take out your vector by pressing B.  Then find the target you want to shoot at.  Now press and hold R and tab at the same time.  Keep holding them until a red box appears around the cross in the middle.  Now release both R and tab and you'll have a range and a bearing for your target.
Because we started with linking our vector to the ATragMX all the relevant information about the target is now inputted in the ATragMX.  Now you can chose if you're going to ignore wind influence or not.  
If you chose to ignore the wind you'll have to do the following: put the vector away by pressing B.  Take your high powered rifle and open the ATragMX up.  You'll see the following:
Now put the 2 values that are in the red circle into your scope.  For the elevation value (top one) press page up and page down for minor adjustments (0.1) and shift page up and page down for major adjustments (1). For the wind one (which in this case is just bullet drift caused by the spinning of the bullet) press ctrl page up and page down for minor adjustments (-x.x is to the left +x.x is to the right) and shift ctrl page up and page down for major adjustments.
You cannot put those values in your scope while having the ATragMX open so you'll have to memorize them.

If you chose to take wind into account do the things said in the next step.
 
 
Step 5 (optional): wind
 
First off press left shift +K, this will display an arrow in the top left of your screen. It indicates wind strength and direction.  Now open the kestrel again and switch to user screen 1.  Now put the kestrel on display mode again and open the ATragMX.  Click on Target on the top left column.  You should now see this:
Now take the bottom value from the Kestrel and put it on the 2 fields behind wind speed.  If the wind speed is constantly changing put the min value in the first field and the max value in the second field.  If the wind is stable put the same value in both fields.  Now press Done on the ATragMX (bottom left of the screen).  Close down the kestrel and put the new values in your scope.
 
 
Step 6: pull the trigger
I don't think this step requires a lot of explaining so i'll just leave this here:
 
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This concludes this guide.  This is how i use the ATragMX to fire at longer ranges.  You can, but don't have to, use it as a marksman on gauntlet.  I personally care it around with everything set up except the target and the wind.  I only use it when i'm shooting stuff more than 600m out and will almost never input the wind values.  
You are of course free to use it however you like.
 
Feel free to post any questions, comments, constructive criticism, ... below
Stanhope
 
 
 
 

Following talk about ACE Advanced Ballistics training and Ryko's post here:
I set on to find what it all means and how it works, because my previous attempts to play Marksman on AWE gave VERY chaotic experience.
Now I know why.
 
Advanced Ballistic test on AWE 31.7., COx Gauntlet Altis
test is aimed on how does Advanced Ballistics work with selected High-Powered scopes
 
First set of tests done on non-Marksman position (spawned as Rifleman)
Weapon: MK 18 Mod1, ammo: 5.56mm Mk262
 
1) Trijicon ACOG TA648RMR (marksman scope with 6x magnification but no dialing - only fixed reticle)
RESULT: scope is hitting according to reticle and with quite OP magnification for non-marksman
 
2) SUSAT L9A1 (primarily Autorifle/LMG scope with 4x magnification and VANILA dialing: 100m,200m..up to 600m)
RESULT: scope is hitting according to simplified vanila Arma dialing
 
3) TA31RCO (magnification is not listed, but feels like 3x to me, yet scope has MIL dialing)
RESULT: scope is hitting according to ADVANCED BALLISTICS - target 434m away is not hit on 4.3 MIL (like it would be on vanila) but rather 3.4 MIL as suggested by ATragMX after proper input

Second set of tests done in Marksman slot
Weapon: MK 11 Mod 0, ammo: 7.62mm M993
 
1) Trijicon ACOG TA648RMR (marksman scope with 6x magnification but no dialing - only fixed reticle)
RESULT: scope is visibly over-shooting when using Reticle. Since it's fixed reticle, it is likely because it's not made for 7.62mm calliber.
 
2) SUSAT L9A1 (primarily Autorifle/LMG scope with 4x magnification and VANILA dialing: 100m,200m..up to 600m)
RESULT: scope is hitting according to simplified vanila Arma dialing
 
3) TA31RCO (magnification is not listed, but feels like 3x to me, scope has MIL DIALING!)
RESULT: scope is significantly over-shooting when dialed to "7" (vanila value for 700m)
When dialing 5.7 MIL value offered by ATragMX, it is only slightly over-shooting, it is possible I do not have proper Gun&Ammo values (I'm suspecting Ballistic Coefficient)
 
3) AMS (3x-10x magnification sniper scope has MIL DIALING)
RESULT: same as TA31RCO - slight over-shooting when using ATragMX value
 
4) Leupold Mark 4 ER/T (max magnification not listed, but seems the same as LRPS - 25x, scope has VANILA dialing 100m,200m..up to 1000m)
RESULT: scope is hitting according to simplified vanila Arma dialing - I call this "cheater sniper scope of the year"
 
5) LRPS (max 25x magnification scope with MIL dialing)
RESULT: Just like TA31RCO and AMS, scope is affected by Advanced Ballistics and uses ATragMX values
 
 
TEST RESULTS:
Advanced Ballistics on AWE are governed by scopes used - MIL Dialing scope will enable them, even for NON-marksman position (currently only for TA31RCO)
other scopes are not affected even if they are high-powered (SUSAT and particulary Leupold)
 
Side notes:
1) Range Card is not pulling Gun & Ammo values when gun is equiped and loaded, making creating new Gun&Ammo combination in ATragMX impossible in-game
This is definitely due to "Advanced Ballistics: Disabled" server setting - tested in Editor that they appear when this is "Enabled"
 
2) When MIL dialing scope is equiped, ACE Self-Interaction > Equipment is not offering "Set Zero Adjustment" option to correctly ZERO scope.
This is also due to "Advanced Ballistics: Disabled" - verified in Editor.
 
3) Bullet Spin Drift seems completely turned off, even ATragMX is not showing any Windage values, despite Rifle Twist value entered in gun parameters (there should always be some Spin Drift, especially for longer ranges).
I'm again suspecting "Advanced Ballistics: Disabled"

Conclusion:
Currently (31.7.2017) according to Ryko's information, we have these Advanced Ballistic settings on AWE:
Advanced Ballistics: Disabled
Enabled for Snipers: Enabled
Enabled For Group Members: Disabled
Enabled for Everyone: Disabled
Disabled In FullAuto Mode: Disabled
Enable Ammo Temperature Simulation: Disabled
Enable Barrel Length Simulation: Disabled
Enable Bullet Trace Effect: Disabled
Sim Interval: 0.0
Sim Radius: 3000
 
 
This is actually not working like I thought it was. I will enumerate:
 
1) "Advanced Ballistics"
Having this disabled (in conjunction with second setting) is NOT making AB exclusive to Marksmen, it is OVERALL module setting and actually prevents AB from functioning properly:
* range card don't populate with Gun&Ammo data
* MIL scopes can't be properly zeroed (default zeroing is always slightly off - confirmed in Editor)
* likely cause of non-existent bullet spin drift and maybe other minor variables as well
 
2) "Enabled for Snipers"
When enabled, this makes AB work, when any player shoots through MIL dialing scope, regardless of their slot or gun.
(although AB is in crippled state if first setting is disabled)
 
3) "Enabled For Group Members"
I have not been able to find what this actually means, but in editor I letf it disabled and AB was working fine for Marksman/Sniper purposes.
 
3) "Enabled for Everyone"
According to some sources I red, this is the setting that would cause Server FPS problems when enabled. However testing in Editor, I can confirm this will STILL NOT affect NON-Dialing scopes and Vanila-style "Step-scopes" 100m, 200m, 300m....
 
4) "Disabled In FullAuto Mode"
When enabled, this prevents FullAuto weapons like Autorifles and LMGs equiped with MIL-dialing scopes from being affected by AB (verified in Editor).
If we want AB enabled, this should be ENABLED TOO, to prevent lag should some Autorifleman find himself MIL scope and start spraying.
 
5) "Enable Ammo Temperature Simulation" - additionaly populates Range Card with information, how does temperature of Ammo before shooting (e.g. ambient temperature) affects Muzzle Velocity due to influence of temperature on powder-burn speed, when bullet is fired. "Cold" gunpowder burns slower and lowers Muzzle Velocity.

6) "Enable Barrel Length Simulation" - complicates entering Gun data into ATragMX if you use silencer, since it will affect Ballistic Coefficient of the gun.

7) "Enable Bullet Trace Effect" - when shooting high-calliber bullets with high-powered scope, you will actually see Mirage caused by your bullet cutting through air. Pretty.
 
 
Suggestions for changes:
 
Following my testing, I would like to suggest following changes to AWE Advanced Ballistic settings and Scopes:
 
1) settings:
Advanced Ballistics: Enabled
Enabled for Snipers: Enabled
Disabled In FullAuto Mode: Enabled
All other settings to remain disabled and current Sim Interval & Radius values kept.
 
2) Scopes
* Blacklist "Leupold" scopes for everyone, they bypass any AB settings and allow simplistic vanila targeting on extreme ranges (25x magnification).
* Blacklist "Trijicon ACOG" scopes, they offer very hight 6x magnification and bypass any AB settings
* I'm not sure about "SUSAT L9A1", it cheats the system like Leupold/Trijicon, but only have 4x zoom, ranges to 600m and is intended for LMG, that is perhaps reasonable. Maybe whitelist it only to Autorifleman and FSG?
* I would also remove "TA31RCO", not because it's OP, but because it sucks. 3x magnification and requirement to use AB dialing to make it work.
It's basically punishment, to issue this to troops.
 
I would like to know, how does community feels about this.
I'll be glad to share all things I learned during testing about Advanced Ballistis on training session, should we choose to make AB work properly.
 

...you gotta keep those snappers clean, eh?

Nice build. Cannot help but notice the floss on the keyboard...

Let it be noted I fervently dislike writing things like this, but as a player and more specifically a veteran, I feel obligated to do so. 
 
Over the past couple months, I have seen a drastic decrease in organization and coherence on Enhanced due to an influx of newcomers. While, for the first couple weeks, becoming acquainted with the learning curve is to be expected, it is wholly ridiculous for this process to go on for months at a time. Additionally, with the typical process of "learning in the field" rather than through an official training night or a personal training session, vital concepts are being missed, ranging from improper radio use to failing to understand the medical system. Most importantly though, a sense of obeying the command structure is generally left out. 
 
I would highly recommend new players be required to attend a training night, or a personal session scheduled with an official Enhanced representative (mods, maybe Spartans and veterans) before being permitted to equip any roles that require a somewhat advanced knowledge of the systems in play on the server. How would this be enforced? That's a good question that I don't have an answer for. But is it becoming more and more necessary? Without a doubt, yes. I would be more than willing to volunteer any time I have to help with this process if need be. 
 
So that covers my little rant about player competence, now let's discuss a case of pilot competence that happened today (20/7/17) on the server. Names will be excluded for privacy.
 
Most pilots are extremely good at what they do, and I applaud them for the good experiences they help foster on the server. And I do not intend for the following to apply to them. Some, however, desperately need to be dealt with. Today, a player joined while I was piloting. Including him, there were two others on the server. He took the copilot slot. I immediately warned him that he was not allowed to be there; he needed to slot to Alpha. It took up to my fourth warning before he obliged and switched. In that time I was giving him warnings, he went over to the heli maintenance, spawned a helicopter (did not know what it was at the time), hopped in, and nearly took off. Carrying the single Alpha member in my helicopter (I assume the copilot was waiting for his reslot timer to end), I dropped him off to the AO and cleared a majority of the hostiles. After being shot down by a BMP, I disconnected. 
 
After leaving the server for roughly an hour, I came back and slotted up as an Alpha member. The copilot had switched to Alpha, then back to Vortex when I left. Upon reentering the AO, the pilot flew dangerously high and used autohover for landing, resulting in a nearly-shot-down situation. Upon landing, he continued to sit there for about 10 seconds, before turning his engine off entirely to communicate with Alpha Lead. He did return to base, but not before almost getting shot down again by the BMP due to his slow speed and high flight. Having to attempt landing three times (with that BMP still on him), he repeated this process while bringing in the FSG team. 
 
While he was making his trips, I notice something:
 
 
An Apache crash. That unknown helicopter he spawned was a two-seater Apache. During the time I was offline, he one-manned it, and proceeded to fly it into the AO and crash it. 
 
This was a "set up a comms tower" mission, so once Alpha and Nomad cleared the AO, he began to fly the crate in. Upon entering the vicinity, he was shot down by a BMP due to his once again linear path and slow speed. At that time, he disconnected.
 
My point here is that:
 
People should know the command structure, and know to obey the slotting rules. People, especially pilots and other specialty slots, should know proper conduct on the server. This is not a training server. You should know how to fly properly before touching these more advanced, modded models.   
-----
 
Once again, I would be more than willing to volunteer to help with training nights to help resolve these issues. Anything I can do to help I'm happy to. I had to put this rant/report out here, not because I wanted to, but because I felt responsible as a person who has a duty to the server and its population to obey the rules and make sure they're followed by others. The things above are beyond unacceptable, and need to be dealt with. 

Hi folks,
 
Just wanted to keep you up to date with development on AWE, I have managed to figure out ALiVE's ORBAT module enough to create some new factions that will be making an appearance in an upcoming version of Gauntlet.
 
1. Middle Eastern Insurgents
 

 
Here we see armed insurgents in their random outfits and headgear, lightly armed and armored. They use a selection of random uniforms, shemags and vests.
 

 
The more heavily armored insurgents, again, using a random selection of helmets and vests.
 

 
The PLA China faction, using their fashionable Type 7 uniforms, vests, helmets and backpacks. They use the QZ95 series of weaponry from APEX.
 

 
Middle Eastern Coalition forces, wearing desert cam. Led by the Iranian army, they use the KC2002 series of weapons and various HK/AK gear, technically the Katiba's shouldn't be chambered in 6.5mm but 5.56mm but who's gonna complain.
 
The best part is all these mods will come in at 22kb.

There are a variety of reasons tanks don't get used a lot.
 
1) Tanks on their own can devastate a mission when that mission is intended for infantry, so it's not that interesting unless there are a lot of players on, whereby the mission automatically scales up and adds additional enemy armour units.  Tanks become a bit more useful then.
 
2) If a mission is 10 klicks away from the base, it can take you a long time to get from base to the mission.
 
3) Most players just aren't that experienced at using a tank, and end up getting wrecked.  Ie., charge into combat because you think you're invincible, get destroyed by a single anti-tank soldier because you didn't see him.
 
4) Most players enjoy infantry combat over vehicle combat, so even finding enough players to get a tank squad going can be a challenge.
 
That said, you are certainly welcome to ask to use a tank, even if Alpha and Bravo aren't filled: Platoon Command or Alpha Squad Lead is empowered to flex the standard unit composition rules if it's beneficial to the players' enjoyment of the mission, or just makes sense to do so.  As well, any vehicle which doesn't require a commander, or has a heavy barrel gun, can be used as a transport vehicle - this includes most of the new Strykers.

For those of you interested in learning how to fly in the advanced flight model, I've written some notes below and made a short demonstration video to show you some of the stuff I'm talking about. It's a steep learning curve but it's also incredibly rewarding. Arma 3's advanced flight model offers probably the best simulation I've found so far of actual rotor-wing flight, and while it isn't quite the real thing, it gets stuff right that other simulators don't.
 
For those of you that are completely new to the advanced flight model, the key difference is that the main rotor now generates torque. The torque of the main rotor causes the helicopter to spin in the same direction, and if you want to fly in a straight line, you have to cancel out the induced rotation (hence why the tail rotor is called the "anti-torque" rotor).
 
To avoid confusion below, I will refer to "throttle" and "power" as "collective". But collective and throttle aren't actually the same thing -
Collective is a flight control that adjusts the angle of the main rotor to generate lift, also increasing aerodynamic drag and therefore reducing rotor speed, or RPM. Throttle is the main engine power and affects rotor RPM.  
In old helicopters, you'd have to carefully adjust the throttle to match the collective's setting so that the rotor RPM didn't reach dangerously low or high levels. However, in modern helicopters (and in Arma helicopters), you don't control the throttle. You control the collective and a governor automatically adjusts the throttle to maintain an appropriate rotor RPM.
 
Before venturing into the advanced flight model any deeper, I would suggest you get yourself a set of flight controls - some sort of analogue throttle control, a joystick and generic rudder pedals. It is possible to fly in the AFM with mouse & keyboard but the learning curve is much steeper, your movements will be sloppy and you'll find that building muscle memory takes weeks and months rather than days.
 
Your first challenges are going to be maintaining a hover, navigating taxiways and flying straight and level. All of these rely on building muscle memory with your feet, allowing you to correct the helicopter's axial rotation with an appropriate level of sensitivity in the anti-torque rotor. Note that, if you increase collective, the torque generated by the main rotor increases - so you have to apply more corrective pedal at a high collective than you would at a lower collective. In the video at the end of this post, look at how much the helicopter banks when flying straight and level, and compare that to how much the helicopter banks when taking off with full collective. The banking in this case is the amount of correction needed to counter the main rotor's torque.
 
Don't worry about landing until you've mastered the more basic flight controls. If you learn the basics first then landing will become much easier.
 
When conducting a landing in the AFM, it's much the same as in the standard flight model - drop collective, nose up, bleed off speed, gently touch the ground. But there's some further complications...
Ground Effect. This occurs when you're very low to the ground - the main rotor creates a bouncy cushion of air between the ground and the main rotor, as the air being thrust into the ground doesn't have anywhere to go. Ground Effect is actually your friend most of the time, it allows you to take off with less throttle and slightly cushions your landing at the critical point just before you touch down. But if you don't remember to take it into account, it'll be your worst enemy. Vortex Ring State (VRS). VRS occurs when you descend in a straight line without any lateral speed. The rotors descend into their own turbulent air and struggle to generate lift. The worst part of VRS is that the instinctive reaction is to increase collective, but this actually makes the situation worse (exact results depending on power-weight ratio). A helicopter in VRS will experience pronounced wobbling (like a magnitude 6 earthquake) and will move very unpredictably. To get out of VRS, you need to drop collective and nose forward to get out of the turbulent air. You'd better hope you're more than 30ft above the ground if this happens!  
And here's the video - some demonstrations and some useful knowledge to have.
 
Video Bookmarks:
Rotor RPM - 0:26 Vortex Ring State -  2:12. VRS looks different in vanilla Arma, ACE must be doing something here. Autorotation - 4:12 Ground Effect - 5:31 Traffic Pattern - 6:49 Free Flight - 12:15  
 
 

Still trying to process all of that....
 
*Ten minutes later*
 
I'll stay away from medic for a while, much safer for everyone.

Personaly went for TrackIR. About being a restless and moving around a lot I just bound a key to center view and fidgeted around with the sensitivity curves in the software to find a setting that suits me. Basicaly set mine up so that there is a slight dead zone before the tracker applies movement to the screen.

Because I have nothing better to do at 1:45 AM.

Hello, as some probably already know, with a few other players we have gotten an idea of placing billboards that promote AWE on Eu 1 and 2. Quite often i see players on those servers that really want more tactical realism/try to do that there. And quite often, when asked about AWE, i find out, they had no idea that it even exists or many answer something along the lines of "yea i heard about it, what is it tho?, like, I&A with 18gb of mods?". 

Therefore, my idea is to make some "tacticool" billboards around the base on Eu1&2 from the great pictures that we have on the forums, promoting, and informing players of the environment AWE offers. I have spoken with a few staff members, and they seem to like the idea, next step is asking @Ryko and the rest of core staff what they think about it, but to do that, having a few billboard projects made, would be useful. I would love it if you posted your favorite pictures from AWE and your ideas of slogans that could make players consider joining, or at least, checking out the "Enhanced" community, in this topic, also, it would be great to hear everybody's ideas and opinions. 


Cheers Miczils
Ps. if you want to take it a step further and make some billboard projects, that would be damn amazing : D .

@GandalfTheCray This mission file has been of great help to me, these days I manage to not miss all the M72/AT4s I fire! Thank you Sir!