Some newbie questions: Teamspeak, VON etc.

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Thirith
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Joined: Wed Aug 07, 2013 5:29 am

Some newbie questions: Teamspeak, VON etc.

Post by Thirith »

Hey there - this is Matt/Thirith, the chipmunk from yesterday's session. (Yeah, something wrong with my mic - trying to figure out what it is.) Yesterday was my first *real* session of Arma 2 MP, as I'm 99% single-player only. (Boy, that sounds sad.) Anyway, thanks for the game - it was very interesting, although I think that in order to enjoy it properly, I'd need to become more experienced with the rhythm and feel of MP sessions.

I had a couple of questions, in the hope that they aren't all answered in very obvious places that I was too dumb to find:
  • Teamspeak: What's the expected standard setup: voice-activated or push-to-talk? (If it's the latter, any tips for what the ideal key is?)
  • VON: I think this is what made me go all chipmunky yesterday. Teamspeak allows me to test my mic, and that seems to work. Any way to test the in-game VON, other than joining a game and having everyone ask who the chipmunk is?
  • Since I probably won't be able to join more than, say, once a month, any tips on how/where to find informal MP sessions to gain experience?
  • How/where can I donate to the upkeep of the server, especially if I do play more often?
That's it for now. I hope I didn't just break 99 rules of Folk ARPS etiquette!
Last edited by Thirith on Wed Aug 07, 2013 7:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Until now we scraped along the ground like rats, but from now on, we soar. Like eagles. Yeah. LIKE EAGLES... ON... POGO STICKS." - Grim Fandango

Black Mamba
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Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 12:11 pm

Re: Some newbie questions: Teamspeak, VON etc.

Post by Black Mamba »

Hell, and welcome, Matt!

Regarding Teamspeak: Basically all you really need to know is in that thread.
We do use push-to-talk, simply because voice activation tends to be quite uncomfortable for your playing partners (if you happen to eat something, breathe heavily or yell at your cat). I personally use left-ctrl as my ptt key, but it really depends on what your control layout is like (mine is like, heavily modified compared to Arma default). I know quite a few people use mouse buttons to deal with comms as well.

VON: welcome to Hell on Earth. That thing works when it wants to, and is not really the best around. You can't really test it outside of a server. Though, really, if you're not using a beta-patch, you shouldn't encounter any more problems that the average dude (which means, once in a while, you might go mute but there ain't nothing you can do about that). Emphasize on don't use beta patches. They will mess up your VON almost everytime.

Regarding the upkeep of the server: it all happens here. As much as Bodge likes to receive donations to redecorate the exteriors of the Party Dacha, though, you might want to play with us a bit more before deciding if it's worth your money. Contributing financially is not mandatory. The Party accountant might or might not kill me after reading this.

Finally, you can join us on the FA Skype Permachat. You can get all the help you want there, as well as informal sessions of Arma when they happen, but also of a lot of other games.

See ya around!

Edit: Oh, and you being lost with comms and all that? That's normal. The first sessions always tend to seem a bit messy, for everybody. You'll quickly get a hang of it.

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Thirith
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Re: Some newbie questions: Teamspeak, VON etc.

Post by Thirith »

Thanks for the reply! I'll make sure to check out the Skype Permachat. One last question concerning FA etiquette: I stuck around yesterday until I got killed in the third mission (Wideola?), at which point I thanked people and left the game. Is it okay to drop out in between missions, or is it more or less expected that if you're there at the beginning, you stay 'till the end? (Obviously I wouldn't think of dropping out in mid-mission.)
"Until now we scraped along the ground like rats, but from now on, we soar. Like eagles. Yeah. LIKE EAGLES... ON... POGO STICKS." - Grim Fandango

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fer
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Re: Some newbie questions: Teamspeak, VON etc.

Post by fer »

Thirith wrote:Is it okay to drop out in between missions, or is it more or less expected that if you're there at the beginning, you stay 'till the end? (Obviously I wouldn't think of dropping out in mid-mission.)
It's perfectly okay to leave the session if you've been killed and don't plan to play in the following mission. The only thing we ask (and this applies to all missions) is that you don't announce your death to other 'living' players - it's up to them to work out that you've been killed. Once you have been killed, you can either loiter in your original TS3 channel (listening to your comrades begin to panic as you fail to respond to them), or head up to the Limbo channel, where it's okay to talk because it's full of dead people.

Just as a further note: it's also okay to join a session at any time, however please be aware that we don't often include JIP slots in missions and never include them in the opening mission. Best thing to do is loiter in TS3 or Skype Chat - we always give a shout out when slotting for a new mission.

Welcome to the revolution! :)

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Thirith
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Re: Some newbie questions: Teamspeak, VON etc.

Post by Thirith »

Great, thanks! I love how welcoming this bunch of gun-happy pinko commies is (what with all the talk of comrades, revolutions etc.). :P
"Until now we scraped along the ground like rats, but from now on, we soar. Like eagles. Yeah. LIKE EAGLES... ON... POGO STICKS." - Grim Fandango

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Nothun
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Location: Germany

Re: Some newbie questions: Teamspeak, VON etc.

Post by Nothun »

what with all the talk of comrades, revolutions etc.
The "Motto" of FA: Simple Farmers fighting for a socialist agrarian Utopia.

Oh and we drive Tractors. and have AK's! And as long as we die with glory (or simply die) :psyboom: , we have fun at playing Arma.

I hope I said that right...
Not the Gulag! Please! I have Family! :cop:
"We all make mistakes, just none as grave as yours" -Spitnam after a Blue on Blue

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Nothun/

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fer
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Re: Some newbie questions: Teamspeak, VON etc.

Post by fer »

Nothun wrote:I have Family! :cop:
There's room enough for them too.

:colbert:

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HydrA-
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Re: Some newbie questions: Teamspeak, VON etc.

Post by HydrA- »

Hey Matt & welcome! We're close to being in the same boat, I was new about 4 Folk ARPS sessions ago. So I'm sure I can easily relate to many of the doubts/concerns/questions you may have :) If interested we should try getting into a squad together or possibly chatting up before a session if you need help with anything like the client-side mods, testing your VON or similar. As a matter of fact, I had VON issues as well and ultimately had to delete ARMA off of Steam and redownload it, before I could get it working :O

But welcome to the party man :jihad:
fer wrote:The only thing we ask (and this applies to all missions) is that you don't announce your death to other 'living' players - it's up to them to work out that you've been killed.
Ouch, I recall informing my Alpha squad that their medic was dead last Tuesday. It makes sense for them to determine whether or not you've been killed, I'll keep this in mind!!

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Kefirz
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Re: Some newbie questions: Teamspeak, VON etc.

Post by Kefirz »

Hydra, to be honest I think that mod downloader thing you had to install borked your whole game. I had a similar thing happen to me when I used Six Updater to play a bit of ACE/ACRE, in the end it was borked so bad I had to re-install A2 also.
''I am not going against tanks'' - Tryteyker, MAT gunner.
''Downboated so much, it's an u-boat now.'' - Boberro.
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HydrA-
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Re: Some newbie questions: Teamspeak, VON etc.

Post by HydrA- »

Kefirz wrote:Hydra, to be honest I think that mod downloader thing you had to install borked your whole game. I had a similar thing happen to me when I used Six Updater to play a bit of ACE/ACRE, in the end it was borked so bad I had to re-install A2 also.
Yeah I definitely think you're right about that, it did seem like a really sketchy application (the website of that community is even down now). Luckily with decent internet and Steam, it was easy to start from fresh. But for Matt, I'm not advising you to nuke your installation just yet, there are things that can be tested & done before having to do so, it may be something simple :)

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