Comrades in Arms Discussion Board

(06-23-2015, 08:57 PM)Outlawz7 link Wrote: [ -> ]And yeah, ridiculous nickname. 

Private LOL ? LOL!

(06-23-2015, 08:13 PM)Varanon link Wrote: [ -> ]Back then, I thought there was some metaphorical or philosophical reason for the bird as a symbol of a free soul or something like that. I still wonder sometimes, if that was the reason for the bird as a death cam instead of a more traditional camera.

I don't remember where I picked this up from, but I read somewhere that the reason is an ancient Czech belief that fallen soldiers' souls transform into seagulls.

Interesting, so I was on the right track there.

(06-23-2015, 11:05 PM)Varanon link Wrote: [ -> ]Private LOL ? LOL!

T'was before I settled on a nickname, so with every new user account I just wrote the first few things that came to my mind thinking I won't stay around for long.

(06-23-2015, 02:39 PM)Variable link Wrote: [ -> ]When I first installed the game and started to play the CWC campaign, I liked how the weapon handling felt, the fact that you need to take aim and use single fire mode or else you won't hit shit. But I was yet to grasp the depth of the game until I reached the mission "After Montignac". For those who don't know it, it's the mission that have you stranded on Everon after your unit was scattered and killed. It has no objective other than "reach friendly forces" or something of that sort. I expected some instructions, guidance by HQ, anything, but the mission gave nothing to help me. When I understand that I am alone in this, I was immersed like I never was in any game at the past. I remember grabbing an M203 from one of my dead comrades' corpses and evading the Russian patrols. I was as scared as a game could get you scared. I had only one save and I struggled to keep myself from using it. It took several attempts for me to realize that I won't be able to shoot my way through this mission. I felt a sweet despair as I was struggling to get unnoticed to a trabant car in a distant hamlet that I wanted to use in my escape. It was thrilling, it felt alive, it was shockingly exciting. The understanding that this is something that I was never experienced before crushed down on me. I was immediately hooked like a worm.

Your account of the first time playing the CWC campaign is pretty much identical to mine. I remember saying to my self that this is freaking cool when I reached that "reach friendly forces" mission. The initial confusion followed by a sense of loneliness and fear. I had never experienced such freedom and adventure in a game before. A defining moment to say the least

(06-24-2015, 04:18 PM)McGregor link Wrote: [ -> ]Your account of the first time playing the CWC campaign is pretty much identical to mine. I remember saying to my self that this is freaking cool when I reached that "reach friendly forces" mission. The initial confusion followed by a sense of loneliness and fear. I had never experienced such freedom and adventure in a game before. A defining moment to say the least

Yeah.. Also, my playthrough of the campaign at that time was different from Alwarren's, and later on my second playthrough, I got a third option. The "Montinac must fall" missions had at least three different outcomes. One even had you escape from Montinac in a truck, getting ambushed near an old farmhouse.

It was all so fucking awesome! No other game had that feel to it

(06-24-2015, 08:16 PM)Varanon link Wrote: [ -> ]Yeah.. Also, my playthrough of the campaign at that time was different from Alwarren's, and later on my second playthrough, I got a third option. The "Montinac must fall" missions had at least three different outcomes. One even had you escape from Montinac in a truck, getting ambushed near an old farmhouse.

It was all so fucking awesome! No other game had that feel to it

I had the farmhouse version on my very first playthrough.

C'mon guys, more stories, where have you been in 2001? 

(06-23-2015, 11:19 PM)Variable link Wrote: [ -> ]I don't remember where I picked this up from, but I read somewhere that the reason is an ancient Czech belief that fallen soldiers' souls transform into seagulls.

I've never heard that one before. But the representation of soul by a bird seems to be some ancient belief of Slavic origin (possibly in other cultures as well)...

(06-24-2015, 11:30 PM)Misha link Wrote: [ -> ]C'mon guys, more stories, where have you been in 2001? 

Well in 2001 I only read about the game in a Level game magazine (actually found the issue with the review) that I subscribed, but was busy with other games at the time like Baldur's Gate 2 and Fallout Tactics. Of course not to mention I had no internet in those days and my PC was nowhere near the specs required for the game  The game was available that year as a "bundle" with the subscription of the Level games magazine, but I think I chose Deus Ex (which was an incredible game). But next year I decided to get Flashpoint with my 2003 subscription.

Even though my PC wasn't running it very well I loved the game from the 1st moment when I was shouted at by the drill sergeant. But the most memorable mission for me was escaping from captivity on Kolgujev only using stars to navigate (which didn't help much  ;D ). It took countless reloads... Can't even count how many times I've played Clean Sweep I and II.

I eventually found out about all the variety the game had to offer with all of the community created content and downloaded a bunch of addons, missions and campaigns in an internet café and burned it onto a CD (still have that one also).

But then multiplayer happened... When we had a cable TV installed in some 2005 we also had a broadband internet connection installed alongside (a measly 512/128 with a FUP of a 1 or 2 GB). That was when I bought Resistance and got a better PC. After completing the superb Resistance campaign began exploring the MP world. I soon grew tired of all the "Corridor servers" and found my way into coop. The servers I played on most at the time was the casual LOL server and the more hardcore Belgian Elite Force. That was where I came across the marvelous Finmod (FDF) 

Around that time I met a few Czech guys and we founded a clan called the Platoon Special Forces (web still works http://psf.phpnet.us  8) ). We had a server with Finmod, a squad XML with a logo (like all the cool kids) and had regular games, but eventually the guys seemed to lose interest and only the core remained.

Not sure how, but in 2006 or 2007 I came across Comrades in Arms. After writing to him on BI forums, I got the password from Variable and since attended practically every night. Met the guys like Zwobot, Fat Tony, Pulverizer, Overlord and the others. I have great memories of those days. It was around the time that Armed Assault came out. But then other things happened ... 

I have trouble recalling what happened last week but this is what I can remember about my introduction to ArmA. I was quite a latecomer to ArmA, only starting with ArmA2/OA.

I moved into my current flat in 1999 and I know I had broadband. I can't even recall what PC I had then but I know most of my gaming time was spent round my friend's place playing games like Rival Schools and Worms on his PS1.

A few years later another friend got Operation Flashpoint and always used to rave about how amazing it was but I tried it a couple of times and just found it frustrating how hard it was to shoot anyone and couldn't see what was so great about it.

I think a few years (and probably a couple of PCs) later I got ArmA2 Free which allowed me to try out the multiplayer and that's probably what got me hooked. I can't recall what kind of missions/servers were available for it, certainly not as much as there was for the full version but it was enough to let me see how much fun it was playing missions with other people rather than AI, so I soon got ArmA2/OA. I collected a large number of interesting sounding SP missions (and mods) for it but never got round to trying most of them and mostly only played the campaigns before I got more into MP.

I spent about a year playing PVP with United Operations, which was quite fun as there was about 40 players which allowed for some large-scale missions but they took about an hour in the briefing and that soon became rather boring when I was likely to die quite early on in the mission!

Eventually, like many of us, I heard about CiA from one of Variable's posts on the BIS forums and once I experienced the joys of Co-Op I never looked back.

I met my old Operation Flashpoint playing friend again a couple of years ago and now we both had a love of ArmA in common and were able to enthuse about it at length, much to the bemusement of our other friends. I believe he still plays with and helps admin an large online clan, whose name escapes me at the moment. We still haven't played together online as of yet but maybe we'll meet online one day.

Thanks for sharing the stories guys. I imagine it is almost impossible for a player not have a personal relation to this game. After all, we all have invested much in it in various ways.

I do recall playing OFP, but it never quite stuck. I think I found it too complex, and as a result I believe my first foray into a military style multiplayer game was also like others; Delta Force!


It wasn't until sometime afterwards I had a few friends playing DayZ -- in the early stages -- that I picked up the ARMA2 series so I could play with them. One of these friends was an OFP & ARMA2 player, specifically playing Domination with a few of his real life friends. I was intrigued so I joined them for a few nights; I was hooked!


I never ventured too far until ARMA3 was released as a Beta. I saw a post from Variable about these CiA co-op nights, which seemed like something that interested me; and the rest as they say is history.

Nice read all! Completely missed this thread.

I'll quote an edited version of my introduction talk on the internal forums , 4(!) years ago:


**********************
Somewhere in 2001, I got my own PC that was powerfull enough to run OFP 1.00. A friend of mine gave me a spare (pirated) copy, and I was hooked from the start. Playing the famous CWC campaign in my little room was something that started my to dig deeper in the game, and find the MP part. I started with the famous "battlefield" missions, which were pretty much huge C&H missions. Someone that wanted to start a CTI squad spotted me playing, and wanted me to help him start the squad called N-force in 2003. I never played CTI before, but soon I knew this is what I always wanted: A combination of Red Alert and Delta Force (yes I played Delta Force a lot before)! I agreed and built a website and forums and N-Force was becoming successful quite soon. We played in the 2004 CTI Team competition with the crCTI missions, and we made it to the finals. The quick success made us pumped even more and I was sure I would be doing this for some time. Playing against the legendary CTI squads (like SWEC, Alcoholic Fan Club, 88th or PLAF) was somewhat of an honor for me.

We were small and merged with another CTI squad, and became HotShots and were soon the 3-fold winners of CTITC. This was mostly due to the tight organisation and dedication of the members and involvement of everyone in tactics before the match. We drew tactical maps the week before each match, and did training of those plans. I mostly was the logistics guy, helping the front repairing and rearming, but I loved it, because It also involved proper concealment, sneaking behind enemy lines and lots of communication.
This was the best gaming experience I ever had, following a plan, and adapt to the situation as it went on, and work as a team in games that usually lasted about 2.5 hours.

In the meantime (2003) I started at the university. That gave me some more time (students eh..) to play OFP and I started playing it with fellow students, creating silly missions to play on LAN. I bought the GOTY edition and I started modding the crCTI missions (make CSLA, FDF and custom versions). I also co-ran some small CTI tournaments for smaller teams and individuals. I never made any Coop missions, I didn't really know it existed.

In 2006 I noticed the OFP Coop nights on the BIS forums, asked Llauma for the password, and joined as much as I could. The tournaments were over and I enjoyed the change in playing style. At that time the OFP games on FDF were pretty serious, but I liked following orders (and was too shy to lead). I remember playing with Balchoiw, Hardrock, Variable, LLauma, Post, Tony and the other old timers from that time. I played regulary, but when Arma became the standard I lagged behind a bit, lacking a decent PC. When I fixed it, I started playing CTI/Warfare again  and forgot about OFP a bit. When CiA got an arma server up, most of the old guys had left (?)  And games were scarce for me. CTI in Arma wasnt what crCTI for OFP was, and I lost interest in the game style pretty soon. From there to Arma 2 CiA games is a bit of a grey area with playing mixed CiA and warfare. At CiA I met some of the great people that are still here or unfortunately left already, but never really considered becoming a member as a real option.
Arma2 Warfare (the BIS version of CTI) became pretty popular (the Hotshots server was the nr1 server for Arma2 for long time), but I still don't like the change of gameplay in public games, and the lack of tournament didn't do our motivation good.  Hotshots died officially in 2014, and all the members scattered or left completely. It's fun to see everyone still lurking around the forums though, wishing each other Merry Christmas, but It's also a bittersweet memory.

The invitation for becoming a CiA member in 2011 couldn't be timed better, because I just finished the incredibly busy period of my graduation at that time, and started as a PhD.
************************************

The rest is known, I was quite active then, but I soon bought a house and real life simply eats too much time, and gaming is really scarce these days. I also lagged behind (again) with getting a good PC for Arma 3, so I pretty much missed half of the games in the transition period.

Fun to see our way into here are so different. I didn't really care for the campaigns and SP missions, apart from all the OFP campaigns.( I think I've never finished the campaigns of Arma 1, 2 and 3. )  I was lucky to have ADSL internet quite soon after the OFP release, so I jumped into random (non-coop) missions after completing the built-in stuff.

(06-29-2015, 07:07 PM)rundll.exe link Wrote: [ -> ]Nice read all! Completely missed this thread.

I'll quote an edited version of my introduction talk on the internal forums , 4(!) years ago:


**********************
Somewhere in 2001, I got my own PC that was powerfull enough to run OFP 1.00. A friend of mine gave me a spare (pirated) copy, and I was hooked from the start. Playing the famous CWC campaign in my little room was something that started my to dig deeper in the game, and find the MP part. I started with the famous "battlefield" missions, which were pretty much huge C&H missions. Someone that wanted to start a CTI squad spotted me playing, and wanted me to help him start the squad called N-force in 2003. I never played CTI before, but soon I knew this is what I always wanted: A combination of Red Alert and Delta Force (yes I played Delta Force a lot before)! I agreed and built a website and forums and N-Force was becoming successful quite soon. We played in the 2004 CTI Team competition with the crCTI missions, and we made it to the finals. The quick success made us pumped even more and I was sure I would be doing this for some time. Playing against the legendary CTI squads (like SWEC, Alcoholic Fan Club, 88th or PLAF) was somewhat of an honor for me.

We were small and merged with another CTI squad, and became HotShots and were soon the 3-fold winners of CTITC. This was mostly due to the tight organisation and dedication of the members and involvement of everyone in tactics before the match. We drew tactical maps the week before each match, and did training of those plans. I mostly was the logistics guy, helping the front repairing and rearming, but I loved it, because It also involved proper concealment, sneaking behind enemy lines and lots of communication.
This was the best gaming experience I ever had, following a plan, and adapt to the situation as it went on, and work as a team in games that usually lasted about 2.5 hours.

In the meantime (2003) I started at the university. That gave me some more time (students eh..) to play OFP and I started playing it with fellow students, creating silly missions to play on LAN. I bought the GOTY edition and I started modding the crCTI missions (make CSLA, FDF and custom versions). I also co-ran some small CTI tournaments for smaller teams and individuals. I never made any Coop missions, I didn't really know it existed.

In 2006 I noticed the OFP Coop nights on the BIS forums, asked Llauma for the password, and joined as much as I could. The tournaments were over and I enjoyed the change in playing style. At that time the OFP games on FDF were pretty serious, but I liked following orders (and was too shy to lead). I remember playing with Balchoiw, Hardrock, Variable, LLauma, Post, Tony and the other old timers from that time. I played regulary, but when Arma became the standard I lagged behind a bit, lacking a decent PC. When I fixed it, I started playing CTI/Warfare again  and forgot about OFP a bit. When CiA got an arma server up, most of the old guys had left (?)  And games were scarce for me. CTI in Arma wasnt what crCTI for OFP was, and I lost interest in the game style pretty soon. From there to Arma 2 CiA games is a bit of a grey area with playing mixed CiA and warfare. At CiA I met some of the great people that are still here or unfortunately left already, but never really considered becoming a member as a real option.
Arma2 Warfare (the BIS version of CTI) became pretty popular (the Hotshots server was the nr1 server for Arma2 for long time), but I still don't like the change of gameplay in public games, and the lack of tournament didn't do our motivation good.  Hotshots died officially in 2014, and all the members scattered or left completely. It's fun to see everyone still lurking around the forums though, wishing each other Merry Christmas, but It's also a bittersweet memory.

The invitation for becoming a CiA member in 2011 couldn't be timed better, because I just finished the incredibly busy period of my graduation at that time, and started as a PhD.
************************************

The rest is known, I was quite active then, but I soon bought a house and real life simply eats too much time, and gaming is really scarce these days. I also lagged behind (again) with getting a good PC for Arma 3, so I pretty much missed half of the games in the transition period.

Fun to see our way into here are so different. I didn't really care for the campaigns and SP missions, apart from all the OFP campaigns.( I think I've never finished the campaigns of Arma 1, 2 and 3. )  I was lucky to have ADSL internet quite soon after the OFP release, so I jumped into random (non-coop) missions after completing the built-in stuff.

Great story, Run! I didn't know you were in Hotshots. You guys were big  I knew Shifty-PK from the coop LOL server who used to be a member of Hotshots as well. By the way how is that PhD coming along?

Ha, Yeah fellow dutchie Shifty-PK was the squad leader for some years, and he was one of the members that really put a lot of work in getting people to work together, and was a really nice guy. He disappeared totally unfortunately.

about the PhD, it's getting along well finally, after a rough start. And I just got a date for the promotion: 15 dec. So I'm really busy finishing the writing now. So don't expect me to join too much games..  :'(