Tips on first steps in the game

[Art Blade]

If you are completely new to ArmA2, some tips what you can do.

First of all, I've been told that myself, the game can be so incredibly hard you might want to throw it in the darkest corner of your room  ;D

What is so hard, you might ask. Well, two things. 1) You don't see the enemies. 2) They kill you before you finally see them.

Sounds strange perhaps, but the first missions you will likely be fighting controls rather than enemies. So, to get started, you best take a close look at how the keys are bound, and there is a whole lot of bindings to check. I recommend you repeat checking once in a while and maybe check controls for vehicles later. And I strongly recommend using a joystick, even better if it has an extra throttle/thrust lever, they're then called "Hands On Throttle And Stick = HOTAS" :)

Then there is the game option with training missions and bootcamp. I did it the hard way and completed the entire trainings except the last two (high command and build) I keep that for later.

There is an option Armoury/Waffenkammer where you can unlock more and more items that you'll see in the game, like weapons, vehicles but also living beings - apart from soldiers, there are animals... I walked around as a rooster once  ;D The trick is, no matter what you choose, once you go test it, the game will offer you small missions and tasks. Some of them are dependent on what you're testing, ie you won't get asked to shoot if you're playing with a car. In the beginning it seemed absurd, but after managing a few tasks and unlocking more items, the missions get easier and you gain experience that will help you in the "real" game later. And it is a nice break from a hard game too, you can always go into armoury and "play" - if you turn off the tasks/missions (hit esc, disable missions) you're free to do what you want unmolested (there are no bad guys hanging out).

Then there are Scenarios. You'll find a set of predefined scenarios which you can play as are or... edit them, note there is an option for it. Edit means, you can for example add an ammo crate and a weapon crate to get a favourite weapon. Or you change time of day/night as well as weather conditions. You can then save those missions and re-play them and always edit them again if you want.

Then there is the real editor, with which you can for example place any vehicle on the map of your choice (Utes or Chernarus) - great for roaming - and if you want you can put a team on it and lead it around.

All of that should make you get more and more comfortable with the game and you might start to enjoy :)

If I can come up with more, I'll let you know, and if anyone else wants to add tips for beginners would be highly appreciated.

When I hinted enemies were tough, that was 1.02 version, and just now a newer update is out 1.02.58134, dealing with that issue  (again) ;)

[Art Blade]

Another tip, at least during the scenario mission, but as far as I know any mission that starts in a copter, you can hit "G" for equipment (or, rather, gear) and see the loadout of the entire team. You can then grab a different weapon, meaning someone else of your team gets yours. Funny thing, when you're supposed to be a machine gunner, you will still hear radio messages such as "heal the machine gunner" even if you're now proud owner of a sniper rifle.

[gvse]

A tech tip: I recommend toning down or even switching off postprocessing in video options if you find the image too blurry and the enemy gets difficult to spot.
Also the game can get quite choppy during the campaign, whereas it runs really smoothly in smaller scenarios/user-created missions (probably due to lesser strain on the processor). In fact, I have given up on the campaign and have taken to the editor as it gives you all the freedom you might want in designing your missions.

[JRD]

Wait... I'm a bit confused here... is it out already?
I checked gamespot and they say July 7. Amazon.com says July 20 (PC).  :-\

[Art Blade]

Germany was one of the first countries, hence PZ in the US only got the demo.

[PZ]

A tech tip: I recommend toning down or even switching off postprocessing in video options if you find the image too blurry and the enemy gets difficult to spot.
Also the game can get quite choppy during the campaign, whereas it runs really smoothly in smaller scenarios/user-created missions (probably due to lesser strain on the processor). In fact, I have given up on the campaign and have taken to the editor as it gives you all the freedom you might want in designing your missions.

Wow, scary to think of how the average computer would need to reduce the processing if you're seeing problems using an i7!

[gvse]

I don't have an i7. just a lowly quad core 2.4 ;)
The game is out and anybody can get it if you are ok with having a digital version. Nexway has the best deal as far as I know. It's also out on steam (at least in Europe).