Folk Workshop feedback

[Black Mamba]

It's good practice to force yourself into delivering accurate contact reports whenever you can.
They should include (not necessarily in that order):
- A bearing
- a distance
- a quick description of the contact nature
- if you are an element Leader, and/or are calling contacts on TS, you should also indicate which element you are.
- it might be godd to notify people if you're engaging/returning fire as well.

Reaction to Contact (including hasty evaluation of the threat, ROEs,...), breaking contact and peel-offs, and fireteam formation and spacings, I would be very happy to see.
And the use of mobile gun platforms as well.

Edit: And 30 seconds into Anvil's video of Cholo 2, I realize we need to get back to casualty reaction, too.

[Ferrard Carson]

Shooting down the Proposed Workshop Course on Contact Reports

Anvil, the specifics you're proposing is a loooot of work for very little payoff. Keep in mind that whenever you use those ArmA mission-making hotwords like "Random" or "Dynamic" there comes a whole shitton of troubleshooting and teeth-gnashing that is associated with that. The solution is much, much simpler, involves teleporting OpFor, and will be put in place either this coming workshop or the next.

What you can do in the meantime

You who are reading this thread, however, are more instrumental to the notion of better contact reports than you might think. If you're interested in the workshop, you're more likely than others to take leadership positions in the sessions. When you do, there's a simple way to get detailed contact reports: If you get an incomplete one, hound the reporter about it.

I'm getting into the habit of this, and I would encourage everyone else to do the same - if you are given an incomplete contact report, ask the person to clarify, and specifically ask for the 4 3 D's:

• Direction ("North-northwest,")
• Distance ("500 meters,")
• Description ("Fer, drunk, dancing next to the outhouse.")
• Dick

This ensures a sufficient contact report for you to work with, and it teaches that person (and anyone else paying attention) what a complete contact report is.

~ Ferrard

[Macaco]

If it helps to have a base for what should be reported in a contact report you can always use SALTA: Size Activity Location Time(can be ignored in arma) Action(you're own). Location can be a grid, or a direction and distance. Which you use depends on different factors. A grid and a map marker are probably the safer bet, but if the person you are giving the report to already knows where you are or is near you, distance and direction will be faster.

A salta report would sound something like this "Lead this is Bravo 2, I have two times technical approaching on the road at 035106, marked on map. We are engaging." That gets out the important stuff quickly without much fuss, how big/what the contact is, where it is, what it's doing, and what you are doing to it. This all lets him prioritize the 3 advancing tank companies 500m out that Charlie is running away from, over the pretty lady in the window a km out that his sniper team called in while breathing heavily.

There is also the SALUTE (Size Activity Location Unit ID Time Equipment) report but I've always felt it has more info than needed.

I think some lessons or short talks about different radio procedures in a workshop wouldn't hurt. We can discard a lot of stuff just due to us not actually using radios, but brevity and prowords would be a good topic to touch on.

[Anvilfolk]

Carson - understood I was over-using the word random them "for effect" (kind of like artillery barrages - of bad ideas, hurray!). One could make simpler variants of this using teleport and a limited array of units, but it would probably still be overkill. More widespread use of acronyms like the ones proposed by yourself or Macaco would probably be quite enough