Pistols
Pistols are hand-held weapons that are intended to be used at short range. The maximum distance you should expect to use one at is about 50 meters. While firing beyond that is possible, the effects of the rounds will diminish significantly. Pistol rounds don't have much punch to begin with, and they lose velocity very quickly. However, they are extremely agile to employ in close quarters fighting, are easily concealable and are a good backup should your primary weapon fail.
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Shotguns
Shotguns are similar to pistols in their range, but far exceed them in their damage-dealing abilities. Shotguns are exclusively meant for breaching & close-quarters engagements. They generally have a very limited magazine capacity, even compared to pistols, but make up for it with how much of a punch they pack. Shotguns can fire several types of shells: Buckshot, solid slug, and even explosive projectiles. The most common round is buckshot, followed by slugs, with explosive shells being rare to see.
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Submachineguns
These are the next step up from pistols. Basically imagine a large pistol with a stock, a larger magazine, and that can shoot a bit further, typically with the addition of burst or full-auto modes, combined with very low recoil. Submachineguns generally lose their usefulness at around 100 meters. They are primarily CQB weapons employed by counter terrorist units. When equipped with suppressors, they can be very stealthy weapons to employ at night.
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Rifles
The mainstay of the infantry is the rifle. These come in a wide variety of styles and calibers, with an equally large variety of sighting systems and attachments. Depending on the type of rifle, you can expect to shoot with accuracy out to ranges of at least 300 meters, and typically out to 500 or 600 meters. They pack a punch that is considerably higher than submachineguns or pistols, and generally carry around 20 to 30 rounds of ammunition in each magazine. Rifles can come in all shapes and sizes, from close-quarters short-barreled rifles (known as "carbines"), up to much larger precision rifles that can reach out and hit targets at over a thousand meters. This is the primary type of weapon you will utilize in combat.
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Machineguns are the next step up from the battle rifle. These have larger magazines - typically being belt-fed - and can maintain very high rates of fire. They are larger and heavier than rifles, but make up for it in their sheer lethality. A single machinegun can easily put out as much firepower as several well-equipped riflemen. They play a key role in the suppression of the enemy, allowing the riflemen to maneuver, and come in three main types - light, medium, and heavy. Light machineguns (like the M249) tend to fire lighter rifle rounds - such as the 5.56x45mm round used in the M16 series of rifles. Medium machineguns use heavier rounds, such as the 7.62x51mm, and heavy machineguns are generally crew-served or vehicle-mounted and sling the upper range of rifle calibers - such as the .50 caliber BMG (12.7x99mm) employed by the M2HB Machinegun.
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Grenades & Grenade Launchers
Grenades come in a few varieties: Basic fragmentation grenades, smoke grenades, incendiary grenades, and stun grenades such as flashbangs. All are thrown by hand and have a correspondingly short range, making them ideal in close combat. When a grenade needs to have a bit more 'oomph' to its throw distance, grenade launchers are used. Grenade launchers come in two basic forms at the infantry level: Ones that can be attached to a rifle, and those that are standalone. The former is the type that team leaders will typically have; the latter is what you might see a dedicated grenadier using. Grenade launchers, depending on their type and ammunition, can give the infantry an indirect fire capability out to anywhere from 400 to 800 meters, though the majority are limited to 400. Grenade launchers can employ a variety of ammunition for various instances ranging from engaging enemy infantry to night illumination enhancements to close quarters battle. While their explosive power is relatively weak compared to other explosive weapons, they can be quite deadly and useful when employed in a proper manner.
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Anti-Tank & Anti-Aircraft Weapon
Anti-tank weapons round out the typical infantry weapon set. Some, like the light AT-4, are very simple: Aim and shoot. Others have features to enhance your accuracy - the SMAW has a spotting rifle to help your first-round accuracy, for example. Some have sophisticated guidance systems and fire-and-forget technology to allow you to more accurately engage and defeat enemy armor - the Javelin, for instance. Anti-tank weapons are generally the only reliable weapons infantry have that can defeat armored targets.
Anti-aircraft weapons are guided missile systems like the Stinger and Strela guided systems. They generally have a single shot and use infrared sensors to seek out and kill aerial targets, and can be effective against both helicopters and jets, as long as they're employed properly. |
Crew-Served Weapons
A "crew-served" is a weapon type that requires more than one person to carry it and employ it on the battlefield. For our purposes, this most often refers to the heavy crew-served weapons such as the M2HB .50cal machinegun, Mk19 grenade machinegun, mortars, artillery or portable missile launcher systems. Such weapons have a main gun component, a tripod, and heavy cases of ammo. Several people must work together to transport them, set them up, and keep them supplied. The benefit is that they have tremendous power compared to "individual" weapons, and are a major force-multiplier when employed correctly. These will be talked about extensively later in the guide.
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Pros
• Very rapid to begin - simply start the action and your character will reach down, grab the "drag strap" on the downed person's armor, and you're ready to move them • Able to quickly drop the patient to fight • Low-profile due to being crouched over • Able to fire while moving |
Cons
• Final movement speed is significantly slower than a fireman carry • You end up walking backwards, and thus cannot easily see where you're going without using TrackIR or freelook |
Pros
• Movement speed once "hoisted" is about twice as fast as dragging • Looking in the direction of movement • Can quickly drop patient in any direction |
Cons
• It takes several seconds to hoist a wounded player up into the fireman carry position, leaving both people vulnerable during the process • High profile (standing upright while jogging) • Cannot fire while fireman's carrying |
• Always designate a cover man to watch an EPW.
• The cover man is to always treat an EPW like they have a stashed pistol or grenade, and will use it the moment the cover man is distracted. • The cover man's sole job is to watch and maintain control of the EPW. The EPW is to never be out of his sight. • The cover man uses good judgment to determine if the EPW presents a threat, and if so, he takes the EPW down with well-aimed shots. The cover man knows that his judgment will be given the benefit of the doubt and does not hesitate to protect his teammates. |
• Always designate a control man to command an EPW.
• The control man is the primary person to give commands to the EPW and is in charge of getting the EPW from place to place. This avoids having multiple people giving conflicting and confusing orders to an EPW, which can get ugly quickly. • The cover man can serve as the control man if the tactical situation requires it. • Always search and disarm EPWs. Never assume that they were only armed with a rifle. • Always maintain a safe distance from an EPW. Five to ten meters is typically acceptable. • Force EPWs to always use a walking pace unless explicitly directed otherwise. • Let the EPW know that they can speak only when spoken to. This helps to prevent them from chattering away and giving away friendly positions. If they do not comply, you may be able to knock them out and drag them as need be, if using certain mods. |
Usage of Grenades...
There are a few things to say about the usage of grenades in Arma 3. First off is that, as with all things, practice is very important. Arma 3's grenade throwing improvements vastly help their usability, making them far more viable for all manner of uses. Some additional guidelines follow. • Grenades come in a variety of forms - be familiar with their uses. The main classifications are as follows: • Fragmentation grenades. These are the type most frequently associated with the word "grenade". They're designed to kill the enemy through blast and shrapnel effects. Most are on a 4-5 second time delay fuse, while occasionally you will get types that detonate on impact. • Flashbangs. Found in some mods, these grenades are meant to disorient the enemy with a blinding flash of light, and deafening bang. They are primarily employed in house-to-house fighting, and tend to have short fuses - 1.5-2 seconds is typical. • Smoke grenades. They are not offensive grenades, rather they're used to screen friendly movements, mask enemy positions, etc. More information about the tactical employment of smoke follows in a later page. |
• Use the brevity words "Frag out!" when throwing a grenade. This lets your teammates know that a frag grenade is being thrown.
• Use the brevity word "Grenade!" when you see an enemy grenade coming at friendlies. This lets your teammates know that a hostile grenade is incoming, and they should take cover. • Be careful when throwing grenades in an assault. You must ensure that there are no friendlies in the area you're throwing, and that none will run into it after it has been thrown. |
Right & Up...
Reading a map is easy once you know the basics of it. The main thing to remember is that the grids must be read right, and then up. See the following screen for an illustration of how it works. Due to the fact that the map grid is composed entirely of numbers, it's important that you do not transpose them, else you're likely to send someone far, far away from where you needed them to go. |
Tips...
• Map markers are visible to the chat channel you are "tuned" to when placing them. Ensure that you place markers in Side, Group, or Vehicle chat. Placing them in Global chat will allow the enemy to see them, which is generally considered to be bad for your long-term survival. • All map marker text should be written as succinctly as possible using abbreviations and acronyms. For instance, "aa" is anti-aircraft, "inf" or "ei" is enemy infantry. Alpha Squad becomes "A", waypoint becomes "wp", and so on. |
• Try to use the logical symbols when adding map markers, as time and the situation permit. See the picture above for sample markers.
• Adding a time to the mark can be useful in some situations. When doing so, use the in-game time (which can be seen in the upper-right of the map) so that players in different real-world time zones are not confused by it. |
Note also that the Arma compass has illumination on it for better readability at night. Also note that the compass, like other gear items, may or may not be available based on the member loadout in a mission. Also, in Arma 3, the compass can take a moment or two to fully stabilize once it has been turned.
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How to Read the Compass...
The compass is graduated three ways: The first and simplest is via the cardinal North, South, East, and West directions. After that it is graduated in degrees - 0 to 359. The direction matches the 360 degree system. North is marked as 000, East as 090 and so on. This is the inner, larger set of numbers, and should be used when calling out specific target bearings. The final outer set of measurements are known as "Mils", and generally do not have a use aside from communicating with artillery units. In the event that you do ever use mils as a direction call, remember that the numbers need two zeros after them. The "2" marker on the outer ring is actually 200 mils, for example. |
There isn't a great deal to say about Arma's watch, and its primary use lies in higher-level planning. For instance, coordinating a large-scale multi-group collaborative session might benefit from using in-game times for certain events to occur at (artillery fire, CAS strikes, and coordinating that with the start of a ground assault).
The other use of the watch is simply getting a feel for what the in-game time is, which can be useful if it happens to be close to dawn or dusk. Knowing that you have maybe 30 minutes of daylight or darkness can have a significant influence on your overall plan. |
One final use of the watch is in missions with limited communication setups. If "direct speaking" rules are enforced, the watch can be a method to synchronize various elements that are operating outside of audible range from one another. Clock position is often used for relative directions as well. Based on a 12-hour clock analogy, 12 o'clock means directly ahead, 3 o'clock means right and so on.
Like the other gear items, watches are inventory items which may or may not exist in the mission, based on the mission designer's intent. |