How To EU3: A Beginners Guide

[Pancake]

Introduction:

 

This guide is designed to be a behaviour on eu3 guide that supplements this other guide that Josh wrote up a while back.

 

So, you’ve downloaded the repo, set TFAR up properly and have managed to connect to the server just fine. Great job, that’s the first step towards becoming a good eu3 player.

 

Now, what seperates a good player and a mediocre player you might ask? Quite a few things. How you behave on the server plays a big part in it, not just in dealing with other players, but in combat situations too. Common sense plays a big part in it, but unfortunately that seems to be in short supply across the world these days. This guide is to try and help you become a good player who survives through hell and back, AO after AO, instead of the player who gets killed in the first minute of contact and ends up having to be flown back into the AO time and time again.

 

First thing’s first, if you haven’t read the rules of EU3, DO SO NOW. That isn’t a request, it’s an order. If you go on without reading the rules and cock up majorly to the point where another player complains about you, you’re liable to get a bollocking from a moderator or admin at the very least, a ban at the very, very worst.

 

Now that you have read the rules, grab a simple role like rifleman, rifleman (AT), grenadier or autorifleman. Don’t play roles you don’t know how to use to their maximum capability. If you take a medic slot but don’t know how ACE medical works, you are wasting that slot for someone who does know the medical system. The same goes for leader roles, if you take one of them you will have a certain amount of responsibility in making sure your guys are equipped properly, that they all board and exit helicopters as well as following orders from higher up the chain of command. If you want to learn so you can play those roles then watch other people who know the role well enough and ask them questions. If you are completely lost when it comes to the medical system, check this guide.

 

Terrain and using it:

 

EU3 isn’t like EU1, it requires teamwork, foresight and thought when playing. You can’t just charge into an AO with a Navid and TWS expecting the AI to line up and receive your bullets, they act like proper soldiers on EU3, they will flank you, they will suppress you and they will fire sodding RPGs at you, they will do everything in their power to kill you once they see you.

 

So, with that in mind, it is a good idea to remain out of sight of them for as long as possible until you are ready to strike, that way you are in the advantageous position, not the AI. Utilizing the terrain and camouflage are important in that regard. I’ll get onto camouflage and other equipment later on in the guide but in the meantime, I’ll start on terrain and using it as an advantage. It should also go without saying that cover is super important, you shouldn’t start shooting unless you are behind decent cover (read: not a thin metal fence or some grass) or are near enough to some to run to once the enemy starts firing back

 

 

The map screen represents a lot of useful data, should you know how to interpretate it, providing the scale of the map, height of peaks in the region along with the elevation per contour line, in the image provided that value is 50m, meaning that each line represents a 50m increase or decrease in height above sea level between other lines. The more you zoom into the map, the finer the contour intervals become, allowing you to see the smaller differences in height, important for pilots when choosing their LZs. For those wondering, the 3 sheets symbol, up beside the time and player rank in the map screen turns the textures off, some detail remains at a greater zoom, such as forests and building icons.

 

 

Now, in this example scenario two OPFOR squads and an intel element have holed up in this town, the allowed AO is marked with a dot border.

 

 

A BLUFOR helicopter holding two squads and a recon element enter the AO from the East, using the low ground approach in order to get as close as possible. The pilot decided to land slightly SW of the LZ so they touch down behind the large peak of the hill in order to prevent the enemy seeing the helicopter. The infantry dismount and provide security as the helicopter lifts off (I’m aware I used OPFOR infantry markers for BLUFOR here, that’s fixed in the next image)

 

 

The helicopter departs using the same route it came in via, with the infantry moving off. One squad moves WSW to the south of the peak, holding at the cross point marked. The recon element, using the fact they are lighter equipped, take a looping path WNW in order to attack the OPFOR intel unit before they can retreat south once the attack begins. The Northern infantry unit advance West towards the cross marked and once they reach it, they alert the Southern unit so they too can continue the advance. The Southern unit will come into contact first, ideally drawing the eyes of the Northern enemy squad towards them so the Northern BLUFOR unit can get nice and close before engaging. In the meantime the recon element will have manoeuvred to a point where they can eliminate the intel team as they move South or West out of the building they had occupied.  Once the intel team is wiped out, the recon element can either support the friendly forces in town by laying down suppressed gunfire from the forest into the backs of OPFOR units or they can begin an exfiltration North.

 

The idea behind that scenario was the BLUFOR using terrain and elevation masking to the best effect in order to get as close to the enemy forces as possible before engaging, allowing a major element of surprise.

 

Equipment and Camouflage:

 

This part will be going over what is generally a good idea to take when playing any role (excluding primary weapons and launchers, check this guide for what each role can carry). The equipment you carry and how much of it will largely depend on your role and your playstyle, but a good rule of thumb to follow is to avoid going over 40KG weight when gearing up, as your stamina will deplete very quickly at that weight and above.

 

First, the clothing you wear, having it match the terrain you will be fighting in is a good idea, for example, when fighting on Chernarus it’s a good idea to wear any of the following types of camo; FROG M81, FROG MARPAT WD, ADR2, MARPAT Wood, OD, Type 4 Camo (what the JSDF wear) and the woodland camo uniforms at the bottom of the list. It may seem a bit roleplay-y to have to take camouflage clothing, but the harder you are to see by friendlies means the less likely they are to team-kill you by mistake whilst allowing the mission to have a realistic feel to it.

 

The same idea applies to the vest and helmet you wear, currently the arsenal in the mission limits the amount of vests you can see but if you use the virtual arsenal under the learn tab on the main menu of Arma you can see all the items. A vest with a good balance of armour, capacity and weight is important to take, too little armour and you’ll get put down real easy by the enemy forces, too heavy and you’ll be panting along as Armas fatigue system kicks your arse. The choice is ultimately up to you. Backpacks aren’t necessary, unless your role requires you to carry certain things, such as a reloadable launcher, or medical supplies, so for most basic roles you shouldn’t need a backpack.

 

Now, for the items you should carry no matter what role you play. You should always have a compass, watch, map, a set of ear plugs along with a radio, if you’re using the RF-7800S-TR then having a microdagr radio programmer is fine as it has a built in watch. The other BLUFOR radio is the AN/PRC 152, don’t take any other, as the different factions use different radio encryptions, meaning you won’t hear friendlies on the radio unless they also picked up an enemy radio. Whether you take NVGs is up to you, if you are going to take a set, I recommend the wide or gen 4 versions.

 

As a non-medic you should carry enough medical supplies to perform first aid on yourself at least once, which means you should carry under 10 bandages total, have a single morphine and perhaps an epi to nullify the heart rate drop of the morphine and a tourniquet. Tourniquets may seem useless, but they are so useful when your leg has 8 large avulsions on it, as they prevent blood flow to the limb, meaning there is little to no blood loss from it. A good mix of bandages is 3 basic or quikclot, 4 packing and 3 elastic as this allows you to cover and close most wounds you will likely suffer.

 

Grenades and ammo wise, you are best off carrying at least one white and either green or blue smoke grenades, a night time indicator of some type (chemlight or flare, ideally green or blue coloured) and 2 fragmentation grenades (the RGN grenades are smaller, meaning a further throw distance but smaller kill radius, RGO is vice versa, shorter throw, bigger kill radius). 1 or 2 magazines for your sidearm is normally more than enough (if you’re down to just your pistol something has gone horribly wrong for you) and depending on the role you have chosen, between 5 and 12 magazines (about 3 belts for an autorifleman) for your primary weapon should be able to see you through an AO.

 

­­Miscellaneous Survival Tips

 

Cover is your friend when in a firefight, you won’t last long without it.

 

I shouldn't have to put this here, but work together with your team. If everyone went off lone-wolfing, there would be a dramatic drop in effectiveness and increase in team kills. Together you form a cohesive unit with a greater effectiveness than single units wandering about the AO on their own.

 

First Aid Kits will be broken down into a basic and packing bandage, a morphine shot and a tourniquet, medkits will break down into a basic bandage, a tourniquet, an epi pen, a morphine, a 250ml saline bag and two packing bandages. You will need a backpack in order to pick up the medkit due to vanilla arma constraints.

 

Make sure to call out any enemies you see to the rest of your fireteam/squad, understanding where the enemy are so you can avoid or engage them is important.

 

Don’t let yourself get supressed by the enemy to the point where you can’t move, if that happens a flanking force will have an easy time picking you off.

 

Similar to above, don’t stay in the same area too long otherwise ambient AI will spawn in. This could be problematic if they spawn behind you and your team as they will move towards the sound of gunfire, potentially getting the drop on you.

 

After recent updates to Arma, suppression now affects enemies, it’s determined by the size of the bullet and how close they are to hitting them. This reduces their accuracy of return fire, so even if you’re missing, you are having a detrimental effect on the enemies’ ability to fight.

 

If you aren't sure if a unit is friendly or not, er on the side of caution and hold fire, if they start shooting you however, then there's a good chance its an enemy ai so go ahead and shoot back.

[Gurlanin]

I like it, but there are a couple of points I would make.

• Avoid taking basic bandages. Packing and Elastic are your friends, and you only need QuikClot on rare occasions.
• Double check what First Aid Kits and Medikits break down into on EU#3. Last I checked, Medikit didn't have 2 1000ml blood bags, but one 250ml Saline IV.

 

Other than that, keep it up!

[Pancake]

• Avoid taking basic bandages. Packing and Elastic are your friends, and you only need QuikClot on rare occasions.
• Double check what First Aid Kits and Medikits break down into on EU#3. Last I checked, Medikit didn't have 2 1000ml blood bags, but one 250ml Saline IV.

The basics are capable of stopping medium wounds which is why I carry them, saves using the packing bandages, haven't checked to see whether the quikclots or elastics are able to as well.

 

As for the medkit thing I had used the virtual arsenal to check and that's what it gave me, I remember getting a saline 250ml and an epi along with a mix of bandages on eu3 in the past, dunno if there's a specific setting they had changed to get that

[Ryko]

@Pancake - this is a great guide and I'd refer anyone to it.  The only thing I'd wonder about is the camo specifics - does different camo matter to the AI?  I imagine it doesn't, so really this is a role-playing thing - technically we'd all be better off wearing winter camo so we wouldn't FF each other.

 

I'd echo Hawkeye's thoughts on bandages, but I tend to lean on Packing bandages because bullets produces Avulsion and Velocity wounds, which PB's are the most effective for... and I seem to attract bullets.

 

I'll also reference this post (http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=26288) which seems to indicate that there is a definite advantage to keeping your weight below 40 kg.

 

Thanks also for answering my unasked question about suppression and the AI.

 

-R

[Pancake]

Main post edited to reflect the advice provided in the replies.