Basic position finding in ArmA... a how-to.

[firecontrol]

  I've noticed that a few people don't like to play in veteran mode (without a GPS) simply because their position is not shown on the map. It is pretty tough if you don't know where you are.

  I've made a short self-help video which will give you a down and dirty way to roughly find yourself. This is one of those situations where there aren't really any buildings or other distinguishable features beside the peaks of hills. I figure with a compass and a discernable landmark like a building, you should be good to figure that out on your own.

  ArmA's map marking ability is a little lacking, so I've made do. This isn't exactly "real-world", but works OK in ArmA.
Let me know if it helps anyone!

http://www.mediafire.com/?1nzc9ckimtm

-Fire

[LCD]

dats a great 1 m8

im surly gonna use dat way sometime

LCD OUT

[Cheetah]

Great stuff, never knew that 

Now concerning mission editing, why not make a mission that depends on the player making estimates of his position etc. Sounds cool to me . Like calling artillery, chopper pickups, being dropped in as a chopper pilot without GPS (turn GPS off.. even in cadet think you can do that in the description)

[firecontrol]

Maybe not a bad idea there.

Some kind of 'Extreme survival' mission for that super-realistic player.

Perhaps a mission where you, as a door gunner in a helo, are the last surviving crewman after being shot down or just plain crashing. You have no idea where you are since you're just the door gunner. Damned compass didn't survive the crash either...

There is a way to find South with just your watch though. It takes a little mental manipulation in ArmA since you can't rotate the watch... but it still works. You can find West/East based on the time of day and the position of the sun, but that's usually off by a few degrees, and over long distances, a few degrees can make for a big error.

Anyway, I'm trying to think of a way to explain the fact that you need to go straight South (or North) to get a compass, then you can find where you are... then you can radio for help. All the while being hunted of course.

Add some twists, turns, and excitement... could be interesting. I'd play it.

Any ideas?

[Cheetah]

Sounds really good I have to say. Like the movie 'behind enemy lines' (the right version, there's two of 'em).

You lost your pistol and have only your map and watch - nice. Of course a makarov is in some farmer's shed which you can use after talking to him or doing it 'the other way'.

Maybe talk to civilians to know important locations of the enemy, like HQs and roadblocks. So you can evade them, however civilians aren't really on your side so not all of them would help you - some do the opposite.

Other people got more ideas?

[LeeHunt]

i like the idea too. i'm a big fan of missions that challenge your brains more than your hand-eye coordination.  Finding your way around without a compass would be a cool mission. The difficulty could build too-- minor patrols when you have nothing but a Makarov or whatever else you find, and then tougher and tougher bad guys as you get further towards your goal etc.  You could have a lot more dilemmas based on dialogs and cutscenes, not just shoot your way out of everything. Conversations with locals etc that have to be handled deftly to avoid them calling the bad guys with their cellphones...