Hi, Arma2 guys,
While you're waiting to get the server up and running, I'm curious to see what you might think of the AAS game-type played on other servers. It's a PvP game-type taken from Novalogic's
Joint Operations. Joint Operation's AAS was my introduction to multiplayer gaming and it held my attention for many years (Co-op being a more recent interest) - it is really a lot of fun. I learned of AAS' availability for Arma 1 and 2 a few weeks ago and made contact with a formerly very active JO map maker who is currently active in the Arma PvP scene (just to see how AAS in Arma looked to him; I had helped him a
very little bit in some work regarding JO's Reality Mod a few years back). He said Arma AAS runs like it does in JO. I know that there has been a small desire to get in some A&D in OFP - AAS in Arma would scratch that itch in a big way. I think it'd be fun to play with you all (though I can't right now. . .), particularly given CiA's emphasis on fun team-play - I've always thought AAS would be perfect for folks who play as a team, with good comms (that's who usually wins in JO AAS).
If you guys have time and are open to trying it out, I'd be real curious to hear how a good round of Arma2 AAS looks to you.
My AAS contact is Tom_Anger - he provided his clan URL:
http://urclan.org/. I think they run an AAS server. I don't know much about any others and their activity, but I'm sure they'd love more players.
AAS is basically capture & hold, but you need to capture the flags in sequence. Respawn and free weapon selection, respawning vehicles and all the usual stuff. You cap flags ABCD one after the other, while the enemy must cap them in reverse order. So, 2 flags at a time are being contested, making for a more focused front line than basic c&h.
Attack&Defend is traditionally single objective, asymmetric, no respawn. The other team defends and the other attacks. Like "attack this radar" or "defend this bridge".
Just to point out the difference, I like both
Thanks for showing the differences, Pulverizer - I forgot about noting them. One thing to add regarding contested bases and their sequence of capture - sometimes, depending on the map, two or three can be up for grabs at the same time (this was the case for JO island-hopping maps and others, not sure what's available in Arma; the assets available at bases varied, as did the advantages and disadvantages of their locations).
I like them both, too!
What exactly does AAS stand for?
I've never played Capture and Hold in Ofp. The only experience I have with this is from the Half Life mod Day of Defeat where you don't have to capture flags in sequential order.
I think this game mode could be fun in an open world game like Arma if played with reliable people in a team. How does the respawn work? Which intervals are possible and how many spawn points are available?
AAS stands for "Advance and Secure". If you're killed, you choose to respawn at any of your team-held bases. Intervals and number of spawn points depend on the mission makers' design. For example, both teams start off w/ a main base. Additional bases for capture could be ten, labelled A through J. Both teams might start out with, say, Bases A+B and J+I, respectively, in addition to their main base (usually labelled X for both teams), with the option to start at any of those. All other bases could be neutral and up for grabs at the start or there could be a few neutral bases that open up others, once captured. The team that captures all the bases wins (or, if there's a time limit, the team with the most held at the end wins). JO is an open world game, too - that's why I thought it'd work nicely w/ Arma (probably better). The reliable team-play that CiA fosters is what has me excited about AAS' prospects in Arma.
There's a lot more to AAS (mostly good, some bad), but I think it's telling that the old JO guys are playing it w/ Arma instead of JO.
Sounds nicer than other respawn based games but I don't think I would be interested.
I'd really like to try this out. But since we don't even manage to gather a few people to test-play Arma2 on the server I don't think there's a big chance to get toghether 3 or 4 people to try out AAS on a public server with a CiA regulars fireteam..
depends if its a cia only event zwobot, i whould guess betwen 6-10 coop night regulars whould have the game bay now
@Zwobot: yeah, I think it'd be fun, but I'm not in a position to run Arma2 right now (definitely for the future, though).
I mention AAS b/c we've played an A&D mission a few times, w/ respawn up and running - definitely a lot of fun: the tension of PvP beats that of PvAI. This is particularly so here b/c the 'honor system' is honored. AAS under the conditions promoted @ CiA would be, truly, a great deal of fun.
I had good fun yesterday playing AAS first on the Armacalypse server (I was surprised to find so many people playing on it at this time because it usually is mainly frequented by US players) and later even more when I switched to Basecamp server where I joined their Mumble server and worked together with them in a team.
The OA AAS maps are mostly beautiful, more vehicle friendly than I thought because of the hilly terrain.
I think it would be cool to play some AAS with you. When you work together in a team with good comms and guys you can trust AAS is good fun even on a public server.
Any chance for some AAS missions then? Any required addons?
Another AA2OA bit to look forward to.Â
I will gladly join in an AAS session, when I can!
(08-07-2010, 02:03 PM)Overlord link Wrote: [ -> ]Any chance for some AAS missions then? Any required addons?
None addons required so far.
There are currently two relevant AAS servers.
The first is
"Basecamp", a german server with a Mumble server for communication (almost exclusively used by members of the community hosting the server). I spent last Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings on this server. On Sunday a peak of 80 players was reached - awesome!
The second server is
"Armacalypse", a U.S. server which is mainly frequented between 3 am and 10 am european time on weekends. They use TS3 for communication.
Both run OA only at the moment but this probably will change to Arma2 + OA + AAS addon package sooner or later.
I definitely will be on Basecamp again this weekend!
OA really brought life into AAS again; a few weeks ago you would never have found a server with 80 people on it. I hope it will last.
Zwobot, what kind of respawn system does Arma2 AAS have? e.g. if one team member dies, does he spawn away from the rest of your team and get separated?
AAS respawn is infinite.
When you die a black screen appears and you'll have to wait 5 seconds until you can do anything. After 5 seconds you can either choose to spawn at one of the bases your team is currently controlling or wait for a nearby medic to revive you.
This probably sounds lame to a Coop player like we all here are and at first I was sceptic too. You surely will die more often in an AAS mission than in a coop mission but mindlessly rushing enemy bases is not a favourable tactic nevertheless. You have to carefully work together as a team and coordinate defence and attack to be successful especially on the bigger maps which provide a wide arsenal of air and ground vehicles to use.
I usually try to stay alive rather than rushing into action but sometimes the situation requires a mad rush or two to seize an enemy held base but in my experience this is more of an exception rather than a rule.
Another "flaw" from a Coop player's perspective might be the extensive HUD information shown in AAS missions. You will always see a mini-map, the currently relevant bases for attack and defence and labels for your teammates on screen.
Although I could definitely cope without those HUD information, and playing without them probably would considerable slow down the pace, I think they are required to get the bulk of the more casual players onto the server. Playing with 60 people on a server is definitely more fun than playing with 30 or less.
This scale is what I like about AAS.