Arma 2: Hints and Tips

Introduction

ArmA II is not like other FPS. It is a simulation. Most, if not all that you learned in other FPS is wrong. You cannot stand out in the middle of an open street or field and expect to survive long in a real battle or in a simulation of real battle. Bouncing around in full kit in real battle does not stop you getting shot; and it tires you out real quick, and would probably break your ankles; so just as you would not do it in real life you cannot do it in ArmA II. You have no ubber body armor, no magic medipacs, no bunny hop rocket boots. It is just you, and what ever weapons you are carrying. If you get shot any where important you are going to die, often right away.

If you are a New Guy you are going to die and you are going to die a lot. Sorry but that is just the way it is but there are ways you get over the boot camp hump faster. That is what this section of the wiki will help you with.

You are going to have learn the, basic battle drills and the difference between cover and concealment. There Is a lot to learn but it is fun. Surviving in ArmA II is hard, but one day you find your self with a bunch of buddies hunting T90s like stone age humans hunting mammoths.

Sources of help

There are many sources of information for ArmA II
The ArmA II Official Website includes descriptions of:
The Factions
The Weapons
The Vehicles
The Area of operations

Official ArmA II Training Videos

There is an official ArmA II YouTube channel with videos under the Developer Diary title, describing basic controls, the use of the editor, commanding teams etc.
ArmA II YouTube Channel

Official ArmA II Manuals

There is a manual that comes with all copies of ArmA II. If you have not got one contact the publisher and report it to BIS.

For those with steam the US version can be downloaded here: PDF ArmA II manual for Steam customers

OFP and ArmA I hints and tips

There is a Hints and Tips link on the index page of this wiki; it leads to this link which is OFP and ArmA hints and tips. Most still apply!

The ArmA II Bible

Dslyecxi's ArmA II Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures Guide is considered to be the bible of ArmA II play. Much of it applies to both Single Player and Multi Player but it has sections that apply to Multi-player PvP and others that particularly apply to the Coop game form.
Dslyecxi's ArmA2 Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures Guide

Battle Drills

This page links to the basic Battle Drills

Battle Drills are the basic moves to perform in battle, that are trained in the military to replace the normal human reaction to threat, those of Fight, Flight or Freeze, they are a subset of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). This reaction is hard coded into to your Amygdala. The Amygdala reacts much faster than the conscious brain and can short circuit it. The idea of training a Battle Drill or SOP is to replace these reactions with useful actions.

Firing blindly may kill your buddies who are likely to be closer and thus occupying a larger percentage of your Arc, thus the Fight Response is replaced with the React To Contact Procedure.

Altering the Flight Response so that you do not get shot in the back is also useful, the highest casualties in war happen during head long retreat, it is very hard to fire over your shoulder while running in the opposite direction, so the Battle Drill that replaces head long retreat is the Break Contact Drill.

Also the Freeze Response is not always beneficial, freezing in the same spot that the enemy is putting down effective fire on, does not stop the bullets, the Freeze Response is replaced with the Basic Drill.

The difference between cover and concealment

Cover is something that prevents you being shot.

Concealment is something that prevents you being seen.

Concealment once busted is no longer concealment. Shooting or moving around, making a noise, or sky-lining your self, all bust concealment.
Examples
A bush is concealment not cover. Bushes do not stop bullets. That said unlike other games The ArmA II AI does not see through bushes. but running behind a bush, does not magically make you concealed from an enemy that saw you run behind it. Most of us learn this with the peekaboo blankie game as babies. Also all the other concealment busters apply, shooting from a bush and missing means the bush and you get it full auto.

A tree less than two foot thick is neither concealment nor cover. An AT rocket or pair of shoulders, beer gut, your fat backside, or rucksack; sprouting jauntily out of the side of a tree, attracts curious stares from both human players and AI, usually followed by bullets; which incidentally any thing less than a two foot wide tree will not stop. Interestingly even with a two foot thick tree, only one foot of a tree in cross section is near two foot thick in the line fire, as you move to the edges the thickness of wood decreases exponentially.

True cover is: Multiple walls of say more than one house, bullets of 7.62 calibre and above will go straight through most houses.
You Tube video Concealment does NOT equal Cover, Pt. 1
You Tube video Concealment does NOT equal Cover, Pt. 2

Thick lumps of terrain such as mountains are excellent cover.

There is a further detailed discussion here of the difference between cover and concealment on the BIS forums.

Multiplayer Hints and Tips

There are additional Multiplayer Hints and Tips here.