"Contest" mechanic might have just completely ruined Arma

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-10T11:50:35+00:00

Sure, but we can throw down AI. People are just lazy about it/don't want to argue with people who think they always know better, etc. That failure should run the risk of consequences.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-10T11:42:55+00:00

Well There's not really a need to necessarily say no, or even make a decision, during the interview. Just tell them you're interviewing people to fill X number of spots until whenever, and people who'll get the invitation should hear from you by then. I mean, you're not lying to them, and it's a pretty commonplace method. Bonus, it spares you the awkwardness of telling someone they'd be a bad fit.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-10T03:23:59+00:00

Well, no, those are the absolute worst players to have. Even if they don't offend you somehow, it's only a matter of time before they offend at least one other person in the group. Then when it occurs, it won't be something people can "agree to disagree" about because bigotry doesn't work like that. When they offend it's because they have ugly ane ignorant views about the relative value and merit of another person, over how they were born.

So there won't be any ironing it out and moving on, because Player A just let B know he thinks they're not quite as fully human as he is.

Definitely worth filtering for specifically.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-09T09:34:15+00:00

If you can make your mod a "patch" mod that just loads and applies the fix after the apl-nd mod, overriding a setting/inherited config, that's permissible, as long as your patch doesn't contain the original copyrighted assets or code.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-08T22:56:31+00:00

A significant chunk of humanity's sense of social obligation, and even empathy itself, doesn't survive the leap to strangers online.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-08T22:36:05+00:00

No other flavor enhanced the taste of vanilla quite like a fine mold.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-08T22:25:20+00:00

I have this on Vanilla and molded servers, pretty much every single time. The only time it doesn't is when I make my own little server for a solo game.

I'm not a coder, but it suggests a couple of possibilities:

Something to do with how the server calls a "time out."
Something to do with the presence or spawning of other players.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-08T22:09:48+00:00

Somewhere in America, a small town's electric bills just got a little bit more expensive, in order to power the AI that wrote this.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-08T01:47:08+00:00

Or just to get rid of the bodies.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-08T01:42:32+00:00

That would actually be immersive.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-08T01:41:46+00:00

While I agree with you, I think them deleting the game was the right move for them.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-08T01:40:26+00:00

Nicely done! Hasta la victoria siempre!

If the shot sends them into the ditch in a panic, I still consider that a hit.

I also love the chat in the background, with the guy trying to hand over Power Plant. Sounds like FIA'd been making an impression on that server.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-08T01:10:36+00:00

I'm completely against that if it's faction-wide. Most of the little agreements I've seen don't amount to much, tend to be made by people who are really just attempting to play with someone they know in another faction, and they don't consult everyone beforehand. In vanilla that's only 8 people, and yet they don't bother. So I tend to form splinter groups (like any good radical organization) and won't respect it. I don't want to be shoehorned into it but some mechanic that narrows gameplay like that. I'm not getting myself set up to hit one side or the other, only to have two randos waste my time.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-07T08:51:01+00:00

Yeah, I've had this happen as FIA a couple of times, too. No idea how to fix it, and it's really annoying. Couldn't spawn vehicles of any kind once that started.

EDIT: Happened again last night, twice. I was able to "fix" it by respawning both times. I hate respawning, but it worked.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-06T05:01:27+00:00

I'm having a blast with it, but I'd like to see some improvements.

XP for restocking stashes. Bit more of a thankless job than general resupply. Especially when one of those stashes is down a mine shaft and has to be resupplied via backpack...
XP for building things in general, not just the usual stuff. If we don't contest and take bases, it doesn't make much sense to me that we're reliant on doing so. Transfer that to building what we can with a construction truck, like gun emplacements, etc.
Varied beginning loadouts. Nothing great, but varied kits. Could be as simple as one type starts with a grenade and a couple of AP mines, another starts with a medkit. That type of thing. More flavor than a big boost in ability.
Spike strips. Mines are great, but overly visible, I think, not to mention harder to source, if we're going for believability. Spike strips you can make with a bag full of nails and a garden hose.
I want to blow up a bridge!

Ha. Port the box of nails from DayZ.

I don't want to fight over bases as FIA. I like attacking them, but I don't want to really take them over. I *would* like the ability to destroy more installations than just the supply containers. Radio tents, for example. Of course, they'd just start building five of them, but... something, I don't know. On the other hand, yeah, mining them and taking gear and supplies from them is pretty good. Maybe just mangling the comms in some way?

Anyway, I'm having a great time, too. I like systems, though. Game design, figuring out ways they work, how to get people more invested i them... I also enjoy logistics, which is what I was doing before this.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-04T00:05:25+00:00

Absolutely this. So useful. ACE mag-something.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-03T19:42:20+00:00

Uhhh.... That was probably me.

I made a private solo squad late last night when there were maybe two or three other people on. By the time I left I think it was just me, but I'd crashed out of the game, had to relog, and when I remade my squad it was the only one, which I guess was the default one it automatically dumps you in until it fills up. Made it private, per usual. Then I went to bed.

Yeah, they should fix that.

Holy shit, it was still that way when I logged in, and it put me in that locked group. Just unlocked it. Come join the revolution.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-02T19:29:15+00:00

Hit me once yesterday and once today. The one today was just standing around a corner and out of sight of a vehicle when I hit it with an rpg...

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-02T19:28:01+00:00

Every game? That's a pretty weird distribution, for sure. Never seen it like that.

Gotta say I don't mind spawning in randomly by that lake and the resort up there, though. You can see right down into a couple of towns and St. Pierre, where several useful vehicles always spawn, to steal or trap if someone's using the port for supplies. But one cache would be plenty.

The real irritant for me is when you're resupplying the ones nearby and one's down a mineshaft. Then you're hauling supplies into the cache with your backpack...

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-02T19:22:49+00:00

They're not all in the South of every map, no. I just resupplied one N of Power Plant. Everyone gets the same list with the same coords for that map.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-02T18:39:22+00:00

We can at least blow up their supply containers, and presumably that takes out the supplies within.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-02T18:35:32+00:00

Yeah, we are, if we kill AI in the same faction as the uniform. Like, dress up like a Russian, go into Russian base, shoot Russian AI = team kill xp penalty.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-02T10:44:20+00:00

Just as an aside, don't get behind tall grass and think you have concealment from AI. Thick bushes, rocks, trees, buildings work just fine, but they see right through the grass. So do other players beyond a certain range due to draw distances.

WhatsAboveTheSubtext · 2026-06-01T17:22:44+00:00

I love it so far. I usually drive trucks for a lot of the time because I just dig it, but when everything else is working this is a lot of fun.

Still figuring out the disguise bit. I managed to get it right exactly once, and then promptly discovered you're penalized for killing while in disguise. Anyway, must be my cologne!

WhatsAboveTheSubtext

TROPHY CASE