10KM x 10KM

1KM x 1KM

100M x 100M

This scale all depends on your zoom level on the map and can be told by the number of digits you have available for grid references (10KM x 10KM will have 1 digit each side, 1KM x 1KM will have 2 digits, 100M x 100M will have 3 digits).

Some maps will not have the size to display a full 10KM x 10KM grid (due to being so small) so you will end up with a partial shown grid, the common scales to use would be 1KM x 1KM and 100M x 100M for judging travelling distances and ranges to things.

When judging distances (roughly by using the map grid squares) it tends to pay to think about what you are doing. If you are setting an overwatch position it pays to ensure that you are within 1.5km (1 ½ 1KM squares) of whatever the objective is so you are in view distance of it (The server draw distance being the limiting factor, fog also plays into this) or using the 100M x 100M scale to select a dismount point, so you don’t end up walking further than you planned.

To guesstimate (technical term) your distance to a building or objective while travelling, you will first need to orientate yourself using landmarks (Be it the Squad markers, landmarks, roads etc) to get a location as a starting point and then simply count the squares. When doing long hikes this is useful for planning hold points for other squads as Platoon, or planning stamina breaks as Squad Lead if carrying heavy loads.

3. Grid References
Sometimes Grid References will be needed to call in a strike (very rarely) or simply to let FAC/RTO/Whoever know the location they need to be looking for a reference marker for a strike when operating in large theatres with multiple strikes ongoing. A school child method of remembering how to call them out correctly is as follows “Along the corridor (X Axis), Up the stairs (Y Axis)”. 

Occasionally this will be referred to as the Top/Left method as the Top grid digits are mostly the easier to read ones as they won’t have as much clutter, but it’s the same as reading from the bottom. 

As mentioned in the previous section, the number of Digits for each axis depends on the scale of zoom for your map  (10KM x 10KM will have 1 digit each side, 1KM x 1KM will have 2 digits, 100M x 100M will have 3 digits).When calling in references to markers or locations ALWAYS use the 6 figure reference, which is the most accurate scale possible with the current map system (3 from X Axis, 3 from Y Axis). Normally in real life 8 Figure References would be given but that’s a little bit too much work considering the accuracy we can drop global map markers with.

4. Contours and how to read them
A contour on a map quite simply represents points of equal elevation above a given point. In the case of maps, it is used to represent big, huge, fuck off mountains. The density of the contour depends on the scale of the map, as more zoomed out/larger scale views will show less contours but have a larger interval between them (shown below)

In a nutshell, the more contours there are means the larger the hill, the denser they are means the more rapid and sheer climb that elevation represents. So if you see a hill with only one or two contours you can assume it’s more of a rolling plain than a mountain and vice versa.

This should be taken into consideration when planning routes (along with the elevation numbers) as cresting a large hill into the enemy with little stamina as you ran all the way up it is a very poor idea. Conversely, using the contours and elevation numbers allows you to select good firing points down on enemy positions providing the terrain allows you to do so.

Cresting high points gives a natural advantage to the enemy bear in mind before you have fully peaked onto the point and set up. This is because before you can see them in most cases, they can and will see your head. While infantry can get away with this by going prone and giving a much lower profile, Armoured assets and vehicles will be incredibly susceptible to fire without the ability to return it. As a result for any vehicle or armoured asset, it is best (if it can be avoided) to not crest a hill without knowing what is on the other side.

5. Elevation
In conjunction with the contours of a map, elevation figures are also shown.

Using simple maths, you can take the highest figure and the lowest figure and subtract them to give you the difference in elevation between two points. 

Quite simply elevation numbers need to be examined for approaching objectives as well as setting up overwatch points, as setting up an overwatch point with 50 meters of view and 5 meters of elevation lands you in a very awkward spot. Additionally the contours of “high points” needs to be examined as if you plan to assault a position post overwatch, are you going down a steep climb with no cover? Or do you have cover from the surrounding terrain due to its hilly nature?

While you can’t get every high point to be ideal, these are all factors to be considered when choosing routes and selecting points of overwatch and dismount.

Small changes in elevation (+/- 3 Meters etc) can be used to your advantage when travelling with no other cover, as seeing these berms along your route allows you to use them as physical cover both from enemy fire (assuming the enemy is on a lesser elevation) and from sight. As well as giving you chances to “peek” the enemy. While you may feel open and exposed, sometimes it is better than nothing.

6. How the Map can lie

Totally a wooded area or forest type thing right?

Not really....

The screenshots above demonstrate how you may think of one thing on the map is something, but it’s completely different when you get to it in person. Sometimes what you think is a forest or dense green area is nothing more than a smattering of trees, that huge building you saw on the map is nothing more than a large tin hut or a gazebo.

While the map does provide plenty of useful and accurate information, not everything is represented well and accurately. There is a saying, don’t assume it makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'. And now where is this more fitting than in Arma and with its map system.

Never assume something about a forested/wooded area or a building. If possible always examine it in person before you get to it or from an overwatch point and plan accordingly. If you blindly assume something is something else and it’s wrong, This will go from bad to “oh god people are dead” rapidly” in a combat situation.

7. Additionals: MagLite, the Compass, the GPS, and Map Tools
Maglite
There are several additional tools/items that can be used with map screen. The first and foremost of these (at least for me) is the MagLite (Maglite XL50 in the Misc section of the arsenal). Having this in your inventory will allow you to shine a light on the map during night ops. This is the only way you will be able to see the map in the dark, without it you won’t be doing much map reading. 

To use the Maglite on the map make sure it is in you inventory, go to the map screen and to to the ACE Self interaction Menu (Ctrl + Windows Key) -> Flashlights -> Turn on Maglite

 
Compass
The Compass on the map screen doesn’t give us a great deal of additional information considering we already have ShackTac. It will display your direction of facing (see the red line in the compass) to allow you to look at the terrain ahead of you, etc based on your direction of facing. This can be lined up with things such as the Map Tools to measure accurately (more or less) distance from you to a point or between two points along your bearing.

GPS
The GPS is a lazy mans item in my opinion but gives you 3 things.
1. Your 6 digit Grid Ref without having to manually figure it out.
2. Your exact Bearing and
3. Your elevation.


The GPS has the ability to get the Grid Reference, Bearing and Elevenation of anywhere on the map by simply Alt + Left Click where you desire to get information about. In my view this is only really useful for getting eleveation point measurements when they are not listed on the map itself,

Map Tools
The Map tools is perhaps the most useful of all the Misc Map items. Those of you in Mortar team should be fully aware of it to measure distance. To access the Map Tool, you first need to ensure it is in your inventory (Misc Items, Map Tool) from there you go to your map screen and use the ACE Self interaction Menu (Ctrl + Windows Key) -> Map Tools.

From here you have the 2 choices, Normal and small map tools. Normal gives you 1KM scale with smaller incemrents, small gices you 100M scale with smaller increments.
Normal 

Small

There are 3 ways to orientate this to measure distances. The first is by using the Self Interaction menu and aligning to your compass facing (Needs to be done each time you turn). The second is by just aligning to North and the third (and most useful) is simply by holding Alt + Left Click and turning the map tool to the bearing you desire. 

Example of the Aligning via ACE is shown below

8. Change log
v1.3 - 11/01/2020 - Re-did images again, small formatting and grammtical changes during rewrite,
v1.2 - 13/02/2018 - Re-did images after loss of them,
v1.0 - 05/04/2017 - v1.0 - Posted Guide,

Steps:
1. Press the Escape Key
2. Click "Options" then "Addon Options"

3. Once in the menu, change the drop down to "ACE Interaction Menu" (1)
4. Check the options for "Always display cursor for self interaction" (2), "Always display cursor for interaction" (3) and "Display interaction menus as lists" (4) then press "Ok" to save the changes

When done correctly, you should be able to use your cursor in both interaction menus and the menus appear as lists (See Below - NOTE: Due to Snipping Tool my cursor is not shown)

3. Ace Medical Menu
Another useful setting change (One which hopefully gets covered in the basic sessions I believe) is the enabling of the "ACE Medical Menu". This is a fairly quick and easy process which will drastically improve your Quality of Life when treating either yourself or another injured member. Rather than having to slog through your interaction menu time and time again to treat wounds, you can do it from one menu without having to re-open it. It is a lot faster and way more user friendly.

Steps:
1. Press the Escape Key
2. Click "Options" then "Addon Options"
3. Change the drop down option to "Ace Medical" (1)
4. Scroll all the way to the bottom until you find the option "Use Medical menu" (2). Change this to "Enabled" 
5. Click "Ok" (3) to save the Change.

With this change, whenever you want to treat yourself, you can simply press the default bind of "H" to open the medical menu.

To ensure the Medical Menu default does not clash with any natural key bind you (may) need to unbind the key used for "Last Help"

Steps:
1. Press the "Escape" Key
2. Click "Options" then "Controls"

3. Change the drop down option to "Common" (1) (If it does not default to it)
4. Scroll down and find the key bind for "Last Help" and delete the key used for it (2)
5. Press "Ok" (3) to save the changes

With this unbound, you should be able to use the Medical Menu without issue.

4. Ace Self Interaction and Interaction
Another quick thing I have done is switch around my Interaction and Self interaction keys. This is because I find it easier to press one key to use Self interaction and two keys to interaction with anyone else. This comes in useful when doing long menu tasks such as placing/arming explosives etc. Some may prefer it the base way but again this is a Quality of Life recommendation from myself

Steps:
1. Press the "Escape" Key
2. Click "Options" then "Controls"

3. Click "Configure Addons" in the bottom right

4. Change the drop down (If it does not default to it) to "ACE Common" (1)
5. Select the "Interact Key" and delete the current bind of "Left Windows". Replace it with "Ctrl + Left windows" (2) and click "Ok"
6. Select the "Self Interaction Key" and delete the current bind of "Ctrl + Left Windows". Replace it with "Left windows" (3) and click "Ok"

5. Ace Throwing (Grenades)
If there is only one rebind you take away from this entire guide - this should be it. Doing this will massively help with your Grenade throwing and stop those accidental spawn throws of frag and smokes, or those mid-mission accidental throws. This will also help you as it allows you to physically see the arc/path your grenade will probably take, meaning you can get it on target more often than not. On top of that you can choose whether to "Throw" or "Toss" the grenade, meaning your smoke shouldn't bounce like a Kangaroo into the next dimension.

Greater control and accuracy of your grenades will make you a far more effective infantryman. 

Steps:
1. Press the Escape Key
2. Click "Options" then "Controls"
3. Change the drop down option to "Weapons" (1)
4. Edit the "Throw" key and UNBIND it (Leave it empty) (2)
5. Click "Ok" to save the change (3) 
6. Reopen the "Controls" Menu and click "Configure Addons" (4)

7. In the "Configure Addons" menu, change the drop down option to "ACE Weapons" (1)
8. Edit the "Prepare/Change Throwable" key, Delete the existing key bind of "Shift + G" and replace it with "G" (2)
9. Click "Ok" to save the changes (3)

 

With this rebind, when pressing the "G" key, you will be presented with the Ace throwing system. This gives you various options such as Pressing "G" to cycle the grenade type, cooking it, throwing or tossing it etc. This multi-stage system will prevent any accidental mis-throws as well as allow you to see where your grenade will go with more accuracy.

6. Stinger Lock On/Ranging unblock
To allow yourself to actually lock on with the Stinger or Range with certain rangefinders which use the "T" key. You will need to remove an existing TFAR binding. Otherwise these things will not function and in the case of a Stinger to lock on, can be pretty deadly in not working.

Steps:
1. Press the Escape Key
2. Click "Options" then "Controls"
3. Click "Configure Addons" in the bottom right
4. Change the drop down option to "TFAR" (1)
5. Scroll down and find the key bind "SW Transmit Additional" (2), Change the existing key bind from "T" to something else (I use "Ctrl + R")
6. Click "Ok" (3) to save the changes

 

Removing/changing this binding will prevent conflicts and allow you to use Rangefinders and the Lock on function for the Stinger.

7. Rebinding the Zeus "Ping Key"
This is lifted straight from my TFAR guide, but due to it's importance I feel like restating it. Rebinding the Ping key will prevent pissing off the Zeus (and any Community Managers) as unwanted pings or spam pings due to a bad bind getting annoying very quickly.

Steps:
1. Go to your options menu via Esc Key
2. Click "Options" -> "Controls" -> "Configure Addons"
3. Change the addon drop option to "TFAR" (Should be bottom of the list) (1)
4. Scroll down to the Action "LR Transmit Additional" (2)
5. Double click in the "Assigned Key" column for the Action and rebind it (I use Ctrl+T)
6. Click "Ok" to save the key bind change (3)


8. Change log
v1.3 - 09/01/2020 - Rewriting due to transferance issues. Minor grammar changes in places
v1.2 - 23/01/2018 - Added section in 3. Ace Medical Menu to deal with any issues with "Last Help" bind clashing with the default Medical Menu bind
v1.1 - 22/01/2018 - Updated Section title to match Table of Contents.
v1.0 - 22/01/2018 - Posted guide.

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INDEX:

• 1. Things to Do and Don't...
  • 1.1 During Briefing
  • 1.2 During Overwatch
  • 1.3 On the Radio
    • 1.3.1 Longrange
    • 1.3.2 Shortrange
  • 1.4 Moving as Infantry
    • 1.4.1 On Foot
    • 1.4.2 With Vehicle
    • 1.4.3 With Armor (Knight)
  • 1.5 Moving as Armor
    • 1.5.1 As the Vehicle
    • 1.5.2 Outside the Vehicle
• 2. The Arsenal and You
  • 2.1 Guns and more Guns
  • 2.2 DMR
  • 2.4 LAT
  • 2.5 MAT
  • 2.6 HAT
  • 2.7 LMG
  • 2.8 MMG
  • 2.9 AA
• 3. Loadouts and what to bring

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• 1. Things to Do and Don't...
  • 1.1 Things to do during Briefing
    • Check your gear:
    • Do you have the right radio? (AN/PRC-152)
    • Are you in the right radio channel?
    • Is there useless weight on you?
    • Does it suddenly get dark? (If so, you might need NVG's)
    • If you are the rifleman: Maybe offer to carry some Ammo for an MAT. Use your spare weight!
    • Watch the map. You don't have to, but it makes it easier if you watch the Briefing drawing on the map. That can clear up things more, then just look at the jumbled mess it every now and then is.
    • Talk shit. You had to shut up during Slot-Up, might as well get it out of your system now.
    • Establish your Fireteams. 
      • Red goes with Red, Blue goes with Blue, etc.
    • If you get attachments that are new to the game: 
      • Show them the ropes.
      • Explain ACE interaction menus.
      • Don't be a dick and go "But everybody knows that!": Help them, they probably really don't!.
    • Do not fire your gun to try it out.
    • Do not throw any Grenades, Flares, ANYTHING. 
    • Do not deploy explosives.
    • Do not plant any mines.
    • Do not assemble turrets.
    • Do not attend the meeting unless you are a Squadlead or Assetlead.
    • Do not take any of the vehicles that might be at spawn.
    • Stay around your Arsenal. When SL returns they want to get their briefing done with you, and not wait for you.
• 1.2 Things to do during Overwatch
  • Secure your perimeter. Always look in the directions your objective is not in. Zeus is a cheeky one.
  • Dig trenches. It seems obvious but you can never have too many of them. If you ever take Mortar or Tankfire the Squad can spread out across them and minimze damage.
  • Spot for the gunners. As simple as it sounds. Call out targets and ranges for the specialists. Thats what they are there for.
  • Make conversation. If you are not engaged, talking to your teammates can help alot.
  • Ask questions if you have any. Maybe ask if the DMR will let you take 1 or 2 shots at a tree, teach you a thing or two?
  • Be patient. You are on Overwatch: Zeus hates you and WILL try to kill you. Eventually ;).
  • Check your gear, repack Ammo, reload your gun. Think, how next time you could be more efficient at this and plan out changes to your loadout.
  • Overwatch can be exhausting, but be aware that usually, when in a situation like that, shit can turn sour in a minute and you might be the saving grace of your Platoon by shooting down that one MBT.
  • If there is no reason to stay: Consider requesting to be allowed to move in. Platoon Leaders can't always tell what the situation is like at a given point. Never feel afraid to ask for specific orders.
• 1.3 On the Radio
  • 1.3.1 Longrange
    • Longrange channels are (usually) set by a script to this:
      • Infantry, Channel 1, Freq 69
      • Air, Channel 2, Freq 68
      • Armor, Channel 3, Freq 67
    • Adress whom you want to talk to first, then yourself: "Alpha, this is Bravo.", then wait for a 'This is Platoon, send your traffic' or a similar message
      • Disregard this when it is important, like a Tank rolling up on a Convoy. Sometimes the message is more important then the way you deliver it.
    • Keep the channels clear. Longrange is not for casual chatter. Ever.
    • If you are taking over Longrange because SL and/or Teamleads are dead, inform Platoon.
    • If you are taking heavy casualties and need backup, inform Platoon.
    • Air and Armor Channels are only for those assets and the RTO / FAC, not Infantry.
    • Platoon may ask for a SitRep, LocRep or AceRep.
      • SitRep is your situation: Are you under contact? Are you in danger? If so, relay this.
      • LocRep is your Location: Where are you? Ideally give a reference marker and the 6-Digit Grid at the top of your GPS.
      • AceRep is Ammo, Casualties, Equipment: How many injured, how many dead? Are you good on Ammo? How much AT do you have left over? 
  • 1.3.2 Shortrange
    • Shortrangechannels are (usually) set by a Script to this:
      • Alpha, Channel 1, Freq 110
      • Bravo, Channel 2, Freq 120
      • Charlie, Channel 3, Freq 130
      • Delta, Channel 4, Freq 140
      • Echo, Channel 5, Freq 150
      • Platoon, Channel 6, Freq 160
      • Armor, Channel 7, Freq 170 
      • Air, Channel 8, Freq 180
    • Once you join in, make sure you joined your Squad's channel as listed above.
    • Try to stay out of other people's Shortrange unless ordered otherwise.
    • If you call an enemy, try to give a direction. General Direction first (North-East, for example) and then actual Compass Degrees if possible. Don't just yell "Left". Left can be very situational.
    • During Mission, try and use Local-Talk over Shortrange, unless you need to relay important messages.
    • During the Briefing, do NOT ever use the Shortrange unless it is extremely important. Squadlead has to listen to the Briefing, not to you doing Com-Checks!
  • 1.4 Moving as Infantry
    • 1.4.1 On Foot
      • Keep your gun down (Double-Tap CTRL).
      • Call out if you need a Stamina Break.
      • Stay of to one side of Roads, so Vehicles and Armor can pass if possible.
      • Never dig a Trench in the Road.
      • Try and always be aware of nearby cover, in case you need it!
      • 360° Security. You are never as save from a Russian with an RPK as you seem to think.
      • Don't sprint unless you need to. Stamina is an emergency currency you don't want to waste.
    • 1.4.2 With a Vehicle
      • If you are in a Convoy, ask yourself/your SL the following:
        • Which position is our Vehicle in.
        • Is there a Speed-Limit.
      • Do not get too close to other friendly vehicles, ArmA can desync and cause vehicles to crash.
      • Come to a full standstill. If the SL says dismount, wait for the Driver to give his ok. Otherwise you might get squished.
      • Do not dismount unless you are told to dismount.
      • Storing things in the cars is possible, but also remember to take stuff out if you might leave the vehicle behind.
      • Remember, sometimes you are armored but not immortal, so don't think you'll live through big hits.
      • Do not park vehicles in the middle of the Road. Roads are reserved for moving vehicles, park to either side and keep a path clear in the middle.
    • 1.4.3 With Armor (Knight)
      • If you are advancing with Knight, try to not do the following:
      • Go off road through a forest, yes they can run over trees, but it slows them down massively.
      • Cross a river you have to swim through - they are multiple dozen tons of steel. They often don't float. Make sure they are amphibious if you have no other choice.
      • Expect them to charge in first. Yes they are a tank. But it only takes one good RPG to end them.
      • The best way to guard armor is to either side of it. Form a line along the sides of Knight, they'll be cool with that.
      • First and most important rule is: Do not stand in their way.
      • If Knight is moving with you, stand clear of them, give them a good few paces of maneuverspace.
      • Every now and then Tanks Breakdance - don't ever ask a TUSK for a dance, it's not very good and will step on your skull by accident.
      • Do not stand in front or behind them, so they can advance, retreat and fire their maincannon without squishing you.
        • Knight WILL squish you if you stand in it's way.
        • If you think the Driver can see you: No.
        • If you think the Commander can see you: No.
      • If you are on OW and Knight rolls up behind you, try and clear their overpressure zone. (The areas around and in front of the Barrel) It's probably easier for you to scoot over a few meters then it is for them.
    • 1.5 Moving as Armor
      • 1.5.1 In the Vehicle
        • Try and stick to the road. That way Infantry can expect your movement!
        • If you get shot, backing the fuck up is never wrong. It's better to run, live and fight another day then to die a fool-hero.
        • Thermal is your friend. Spot targets, check them with the map for friendlies, clear with RTO / Your commander that you are clear to engage.
        • Remember your overpressure cone when you have a cannon. It's bigger then you think. Try and avoid overpressure when possible.
        • Of you are given a Tank or similar, do not fire the main cannon at everything. M240 for Infantry, M2 (If available) for Trucks and Technicals and the main cannon for Tanks and other Armor etc.
          • APSFDS - (Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding-Sabot) better for heavy to medium armor (Tanks/BMP-s/BMD-s), 
          • MPAT - ( Multi-purpose Anti-tank) good for Light Armored or no armored vehicles (BTR-s/Trucks/Helicopters/GAZ etc.).
          • HE-FRAG – (High-Explosive Fragmentation) good at crushing buildings and dealing with dense groups of Infantry or light vehicles.
      • 1.5.2 Outside the Vehicle
        • If you lose your armored vehicle, inform Platoon HQ of the loss.
        • Don't ping Zeus unless your Vehicle ArmA'd. If it got shot and died, it got shot and died. Maybe you get a new one with Respawns happening.

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• 2. The Arsenal and You
  • 2.1 Guns and more Guns
    • One of the first questions I get is 'What Rifle can I take?', so I decided to make a quick list of them.
    • I will not list every Sub-Variant. Otherwise I would need to photocopy half the Arsenal.
    • Take a Side-Specific Gun. You can reference the Rules for more Details on this!
      • The Rifle-Branch:
        • HK 416
        • M4
        • AK-12
        • AK-74
      • The Bullpup-Branch
        • CTAR-21
        • F2000
        • Steyr AUG
        • TAR-21
      • The Shotgun-Branch
        • Izhmash Saiga 12k
        • M590A1 (Long / Short)
        • L128A1 Shotgun
        • Kozlice 12G
  • 2.2 DMR
    • DMR's (Designated Marksmen Rifle) are gived out only at the Squadleads discretion.
    • Only one DMR per Squad. 
    • Only Riflemen can be the Designated Marksman.
    • Usually the DMR uses a M14 Variant or SVD, but there is more options then that and it will usually be your own choice to make.
    • DMR is limited to a 12x Scope.
    • Remember to take a Range-Card.
  • 2.3 LAT
    • Usually the LAT is: M136 HEAT or the RPG-26
    • You are allowed 3 LAT per Squad, unless Zeus restricts it otherwise.
  • 2.4 MAT
    • Usually the MAT is: M3 MAAWS or the RPG-7
    • You are allowed 4 Rounds total for them. So one loaded with 3 additional rounds.
    • Do not forget the appropriate MAT Optics
  • 2.5 HAT
    • Usually the FGM-148 Javelin or the Metis-M.
    • HAT has the same Ammo Resctriction as MAT.
    • Your SL has to request HAT from Zeus & Platoon HQ.
      • 2.5.1 The FGM-148 Javelin
        • The Javelin is a Lock-On Launcher. Meaning you can not just fire it quickly
        • Toggle the Thermal Optic (Tapping N by Default), then use your lock-on key to lock the target.
        • You can use it to shoot down any target with a thermal signature, including slow moving Aircraft.
      • 2.5.2 The Metis-M
        • The Metis-M is Wire-Guided, meaning it follows where you are aiming.
        • The Rocket has a certain "Wobble" to it. Do not over-adjust for this.
  • 2.6 LMG
    • Usually the M249 / RPK-74
    • LMGs are usually 5.56x45 / 7.62x39 calibre
    • Remember bringing one spare barrel. It's not needed, but it is an insurance. You find them under the 'Other Ammo' tab in the Arsenal. They don't show with your usual Ammo.
    • You can bring any Size Magazine you wish.
  • 2.7 MMG
    • Usually the M240B / PKP.
    • MMGs are generally heavier then LMGs, using 7.62x51 / 7.62x39 calibres.
    • Same as LMG: Bring a Spare Barrel. A Single one will usually do you fine.
  • 2.8 AA
    • Usually AA is: FIM-92F ("Stinger") / IGLA
    • Same Ammo Limit as MAT / HAT
    • Do not take any of them unless it was specified by your SL.
    • Way to shoot them is:
      • Aim at Aircraft..
      • Wait for slow beeping to turn into a solid tone.
      • LMB to fire it and fuck up some pilots day.

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• 3. Loadouts and what to bring
  • 3.1 General Infantry Template
    • I generally recommend keeping your loadouts similar to this. It is a good baseline from which you can then specify what exactly you need for any given mission.
    • You Uniforms Camouflage is decided by Platoon HQ. He will announce it in Sidechat once he has made a decision.
    • The Vest and Helmet are up to the SL. 
    • Generally try to fit something that suits the Overall Camo.
  • Primary:
    • H&K HK416 D14.5
    • Scope: M150 RCO
    • Rail Attachment: LLM Vario-Ray
    • Muzzle Attachments: Optional Suppressor of your choice
    • Bipod: Harris Bipod
  • Secondary:
    • SigSauer P226R Combat
  • Launcher:
    • <None unless issued by Teamlead or Squadlead>
  • Utility:
    • Rangefinder
    • Map
    • GPS
    • AN/PRC-152
    • Compass
    • Altimeter Watch
  • Headgear:
    • Helmet Fitting the Camo
  • Vest:
    • 8-10x 30Rnd Magazine of your Choice
    • I recommend SOST when possible
  • Uniform:
    • 4x Bandage (Packing)
    • 1x Tourniquet (CAT)
    • 1x ACE Splint
    • 1x Morphine autoinjector
    • 1x Epinephrine autoinjector
    • 1x Entrenching Tool
  • A Good weight limit to keep around is 35 - 40 kg. If you are issued AT you may easily exceed this limit. Try to offload some weight by sharing AT Ammo with other Riflemen of your Fireteam.
  • You can always offer to carry additional gear for the AntiTank or the Autorifleman if you have the spare capacity.
  • If you still have spare weight after this: Consider bringing Grenades, or Explosives.
  • If you bring Explosives, try and bring Explosives that use the M152 or M57 firing device.
  • Test out how to use them in the Virtual Arsenal first. There is no harm in blowing yourself up there. 

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Update 3.0 – "Times they are changing."-Release. Removed some useless features from 2.3, added some others as well as some updated phrasing. All of this, just as the old ones, is in no way official or related to my Roles as a Trainer, nor does it represent the opinions of any Trainers besides myself. This is just my interpretation as a Player with 3000+ hours of experience. Updates are likely to follow when I find the time to get around to them.

Table of Contents

1. Cohesion
2. Leadership
3. Arrangement
4. Pathing
5. Problems
6. Engagements
7. Decisions

Cohesion
 

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First and foremost to perform a convoy mission is to trust and cooperate with the other vehicles and assets enough so that you do not get in the way of, overlap or block the other units within the convoy. If you are unable to do that then YOU will create problems that will cascade down to effect the entire convoy. Most of these problems can be easily fixed with a quick question if you're unsure of their response to a situation, or update the units effected by what you're planning to do.

Important positions

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First is to recognize the positions that are the most influential to the vehicles in a convoy.

• Driver

The driver is the most demanding and important position to be in when in a convoy, they are the ones who determine the safety of the convoy based on reaction, maneuvers, placement, visual acquisition, and ability to remain calm in stressful situations.

• Commander/Infantry commander (IC)

The commander or IC (Either a SL or person designated by SL to act as one) are to ensure the vehicles are working within the convoy together and making sure the drivers are staying within the intent of the plan the convoy had originally laid out. They are also to keep situational awareness to support the gunner or gain intel to make the decisions they need to make.

• Gunner

The gunner is to ensure that all enemy contacts along the way are dealt with as per the Commander/IC's orders, as well as be another unit that requiring situational awareness. They are the main line of defence to protecting a convoy and need to know that.

All three of these positions needs to trust and cooperate with each other and the other vehicles to ensure maximum protection and mobility. If there is no unit cohesion or if these three positions are neglected and left to inexperience for EVERY vehicle within the convoy, the likelihood of complications will increase exponentially (For the less math inclined, it will get significantly fucking worse).

Communications

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Always a top priority for any mission ever, communications gets another level of complication in convoys. Due to the quick response nature of convoys and the amount of positions that need up-to-date information, being able to report/order as quickly as possible should be top priority. You will also need to ensure that however quick you can communicate, you are also clear in what you are saying. This is going to be the hardest part, there are plenty of people who are not native English speakers, or have verbal habits/mannerisms which will lengthen comms. While this is usually due to a lack of experience, there are methods to help mitigate these problems with varying degrees of success. You may want to add on more radio channels for roles that need to communicate, such as for the drivers of the convoy. Keep in mind that while adding on more radio channels, certain positions can be overwhelmed with all of the radio traffics each channel they need to keep track of. Re-working or completely re-designing the communications might be necessary to ensure all positions that require a clear and steady flow of information will get it. Be careful of doing this though as all units these apply to will need to remember to use this new(ish) system, old habits will be hard to break and others might even attempt to refuse to use it. Do your best to to work out this cluster and remember, vehicles usually have intercoms. Using intercoms (as a stand in for the usual SR for the squad/crew) can theoretically allow up to 4 (6 if you have a LR backpack) different radio channels as well for a unit, only use as many you feel comfortable with and inform your leader.

Leadership
 

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While traditionally we have this as the platoon structure

This will need an additional addendum to make a convoy easy to control and working together in such a close proximity. To do this we need to again notice the most influential "leadership" positions that the convoy will need to listen to.

• Lead Vehicle

Surprisingly the lead vehicle in the convoy, They have both the most dangerous and most important job with the "leadership" falling to the commander or IC in that position. They will need to have the ability to adapt the convoy route/speed depending on the situations they will (usually) be the first to see and from their decisions it will cascade to effect the entire convoy. They are still under the armour lead or HQ as per the original chart and can be overridden with orders (not to be done lightly)

• Convoy Command (CC)

Ultimately the person in charge of the convoy and would in a traditional sense by the PLT HQ but can, in theory, given to another unit. They are to do their best to listen to all information they can get and make the final decision if needed. While also able to adapt the convoy route/speed, if they are not the lead vehicle they should understand they may be working off of old intel or any other possible complications it can bring.

• Assistant Convoy Command (ACC)

Essentially a 2nd in command for the convoy, in another vehicle, in case the CC is taken out or unresponsive. Arguably a harder position than CC considering they need to know when to take up the position, it's more of a redundancy in case everything has gone to shit.

• Rear Vehicle

Again, surprisingly in the the rear of the convoy, they have the 2nd most dangerous job and almost equally important role of leadership for the commander or IC in that position. They are to ultimately ensure that the rear of the convoy is protected and to call out any information to the convoy of any rear flanking units as the convoy moves.

Now that these major positions are recognized the platoon and convoy will know which units they should prioritize listening to for comms, while these units will know that their communications are paramount to the entire convoy.

Arrangement

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Next is how to analyze the structure and what types of vehicles/roles/personnel should take which positions within the convoy.

Traditional FK Setups

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This here is a typical FK convoy structure with 2-3 squads and 2 armour attachments. (Remember we have no standard so there will be variations, but they all usually have similarities)

As you can see it usually boils down to the front being two squads being the spearhead with knight (Usually an IFV for quick response after A and/or B has exploded) dividing with the last squad to support, the final knight (Usually the MBT as that is less suited to quickly responding to close contacts) with platoon as the trailing unit.

If we use the previous concepts explained earlier in this thread, we could surmise the lead vehicle is A, CC is Plt HQ, doubtful there's a ACC as the entire platoon drives together if PLT HQ gets more than 2-3 units, and the rear vehicle is also Plt HQ. PLT HQ would have little to no information on any changes to the situation, unless it came from the rear, and if the convoy was assaulted from the rear the PLT HQ would be fucked, with the lead vic (Since succession would usually go to A) wouldn't even know the rear situation or if the rear was attacked. On the other hand, if the convoy was in an encirclement ambush the lead and rear vehicles would be most likely targeted and destroyed. Giving little idea on who is in command, and giving the tank no infantry support from behind and significantly putting it at greater risk. (Yes it's encirclement but now the tank is next in line to be hit from behind, as well as all around)

My recommendation for this convoy from the beginning as a standard convoy set up would be this.

This new setup, theoretically, would eliminate the previous set-ups issue of leadership elements being able to be taken out so easily and if the convoy is attacked there is a high likelihood PLT HQ will be close enough to both ends of the convoy to respond appropriately should a vehicle unexpectedly blow the fuck up. Granted this system most likely still doesn't use the ACC option (B would be recommended) but now you have three major leadership roles within the convoy to help everyone know where contact is coming from and how bad it is. This set-up only really solves the problem of making sure there is some form of leadership, the other issues in this convoy are explained in problems.

Which position do I put this vehicle?

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Now there are many types of vehicles and capabilities, the vast amount of differences are already quite complicated and the only real way to fully understand these situations is to read this, this, and this for Blufor, while this, this and this for Redfor. That is a lot of reading, which adds to why convoy missions are usually dreaded by PLT because he won't necessarily know all of this information. This is why any armour lead and RTO are needed to ensure PLT makes the right call for convoy positioning.

Now with the design of a convoy there are two major formations that can be built, they are what I call the main column and outliers. A convoy doesn't have to only be a single line of vehicles going down a route, use of outliers for defence or recon can add on to this idea and create a larger safety-net for the main central portion giving the CC more flexibility and control of the situation than barreling into a checkpoint or a tank shell coming in from convoy right, blowing up the only MBT you have.

Outliers have a significantly more dangerous job as they will have little to no support if needed and will be essentially working alone, these positions will require a higher degree of caution and skill to survive.

With that out of the way there is a VERY generalized thing you can do when it comes down to this, so you don't ask all these questions during briefing and take 2 hours. Categorize vehicles by types like everyone else in the world fucking does. While you will miss the finer points of armoured culture you will have a basic understanding and not tell a tank to be lead vehicle through forests or up a mountain pass.

These categorizations could easily be

• Recon

A light vehicle that can be armed, unarmed, armoured, or unarmoured. Their purpose is to ride on the outskirts of the convoy on it's flanks or far ahead/behind to act as a recon unit, while being quick enough to catch up to the convoy or retreat away from contacts with hopefully little to no exploding. These vehicles can be, and usually are, aircraft. If these units are employed at least the convoy will get more of a heads up than a sudden stop by lead vehicle exploding or them trying to reverse, making the entire convoy turn into a mess.

• Soft-skin Transport

Vehicles that essentially have nothing that can stop a standard 5.56 NATO round but can be armed with a gun or shot out of (If you're lucky), this is the worst transport any infantry based units are going to be in as this vehicle is essentially unable to "push through" enemy contact without a high likelihood of casualties. I also like to categorize supply vehicles under this umbrella or mission critical vehicles that need to survive the convoy mission.

• Armoured Transport

The standard used for convoy missions involving infantry as they need to stay mobile and protected in the situation the convoy would need to "push through" contacts. Another important factor I would like to stress is all vehicles in my category of this use wheels, which are destructible, so while this is a typical vehicle you would use; you need to remember these vehicles will be fucked by grenade launchers or a few good rounds into their wheels, while also standing no fucking chance against anything higher than 7.62. They can be armed or unarmed, being armed should be a strong deciding factor to put those vehicles in locations that are more dangerous and likely to be used as a response unit.

• APC

The best choice for infantry to be transported in as they are usually just as mobile as the previous categories, usually a bit more armoured with a better gun, and has tracks which are much harder to break than wheels. These are the best at "pushing through" contacts with the caveat of being an easier to hit target, essentially impossible to do evasive maneuvers with, and low visibility for the driver, requiring a gunner and commander to pick up the slack. They are also usually not given out and if they are it's mostly with a knight crew; in other words if infantry get this without a knight crew, you need a dedicated crew from within your squad and they better know what they're doing. If you do get a knight crew, enjoy the comms cluster fuck it can bring and cooperation nightmare as they are in charge of the vehicle and the infantry are along for the ride.

• IFV

The best choice for armour as they are the bulky cousin of the APC, without the transport space (usually). They will usually have much better armaments and be very quick to respond to sudden threats, without having to worry about over-pressure to possible dismounted infantry. While unable to deal with heavier armoured targets they are able to deal with essentially everything else so long as the infantry give them space to work, maneuver and not run in front of them. Always assume it will be turning or moving if you're infantry and DO NOT think they will stop for your dumb ass all the time. Unless they specifically tell you to use them as cover, stay away from them by about 10-15m if possible.

• MBT

A fun role to be but one I wouldn't envy as the MBT is a very situational armoured asset to have in a convoy. The big brother of all vehicles they are essentially a rolling doom cannon to both enemies and friendlies alike, they are to be used to counter heavily armoured units or as a means to soak up smaller cannon shots in the hope they don't explode the rest of the platoon (Don't expect commanders to do this, it's quite suicidal for the MBT and generally not something they're going to want to test regardless). By the very nature of the convoy these units will be in close proximity to friendlies. (Unless used as outliers for flank support but that's very dangerous without proper recon elements) To truly understand how over pressure works please look at this near the bottom which talks about combined arms. In usual situations I would recommend having this on the other side of hard cover at all times for infantry, and if not possible, don't get out of the vehicle hoping the enemy don't blow you up first. Very similar to don't get in their way for any armoured asset, a nice safe range of 100-150m is preferable (good luck with that).

• AA/AAA

These can either be soft-skin or armoured, regardless I would recommend treating them similar to soft-skin vehicles in that they need protection. While their guns can (hopefully) depress enough to engage ground units, this is more of a last resort option since most AA don't have the best HE or AP rounds. Ensure they have the space to operate, if they need to engage aircraft they should pull off the side of the road and engage so the vehicles behind them don't suddenly stop and know they need to ensure convoy integrity.

• Aircraft

The only vehicle that will not add to the cluster of vehicles that's already enough of a pain to manage, just more comms. Depending on enemy AA/AAA they will either be best used as recon, flying nearby the convoy to support with their weaponry (Hope you have a gunship for this) or holding off away from the convoy waiting for quick strikes trying not to get shot down. These should not fly or hover too close to the convoy, try keep about a 50m distance from the convoy at all times. Being too close means when they get shot down they risk crashing into the convoy and generally distract the gunners/commanders as they watch them clip something and explode.

Now with those categorizations established (Make up what works for you, this is not set in stone) you will generally want to keep the more armoured units to the front or rear of the convoy for maximum protection. Now this all factors in to what you have at your disposal if you have no recon, I would recommend thinking of armour as a responding force instead of the spear tip. Your assets with better armaments are usually some you don't want to lose on first contact and since you're in a convoy you are not deciding the terms of first contact, only what is presented at first contact.

All of this can easily be adapted to other designs where the middle might not have a close guard if you have a good outlier system to make the main column easier to control, such as this example.

How fast do we go and how spaced should we be?

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Now that we've generalized the vehicles, we need a more experienced tip to understand terrain and vehicle speeds/weight. Each vehicle performs differently due to terrain or changes in elevation, terrain will determine the speed and spacing of the convoy, the situation the convoy is in or about to be in.

Choosing a speed for the convoy requires one to understand all the top speeds of every vehicle in the convoy, then how they would perform on elevation changes. For example if your convoy is going to drive up a 25 degree incline an MRAP is going to be severely slowed down as they have a shit ton of armour, while a Humvee would be less effected due to being lighter. The speed limit should be controllable for all vehicles, slow enough for vehicles to catch up if lagging behind, and fast enough to ensure a level of security over open expanses. A usual safe speed is 45 km/h but depending on how the situation changes and due to leadership call outs it should be changed to faster in open areas, or slower when entering rougher terrain.

Changing the speed and spacing of the convoy should be done intermittently, usually due to the lead vehicle as terrains and environments change such as this example.

Spacing is just as important to the safety of the convoy as it is to not ram each other. You generally want enough spacing to give each vehicle full ability to turn around if needed, including time for other vehicles to respond should a sudden change happen. I would recommend a 20-25m spacing in rough terrain, 25-35m in "normal" situations, up to 40 in open areas.

Urban environments are an entirely different realm and require a lot of thought when even attempting to go through. If at all possible avoiding urban environments would be the best option but if not, spacing for the convoy needs to be roughly 10-15m with a speed of about 20km/h. These situations will be put into more detail in the problems section.

As you gain more experience with vehicles and their capabilities the amount of time needed to determine placement will drop, this may seem like a lot of information (as it is) but you will be able to sort through it much quicker should you get used to a certain style.

Pathing

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So Zeus has given you a designated route you should take, this doesn't lessen the importance of studying the route and making alternative routes if necessary. If they don't give you a designated route then you have your work cut out for you. Regardless, you need to understand how to make a path and the basic ideas of path making to ensure you notice all the possible complications your convoy will run into. This information is needed for all drivers, command elements and whatever poor soul that has to pick up one of those positions mid-mission.

Reading the route

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Here is a route that has been predesignated by zeus in a mission we've had before

This is a route made up by a Plt after being given their objectives in another mission.

 

Making the route

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Taking what we've learned from reading the route this is not much more difficult, it only takes a slight bit longer. Creating the route from scratch is similar to designing a plan, not as difficult as you make it out to be. The first step is to draw up the most obvious and simple route from point A to B, ignoring all information given ahead of time. Next you look at the terrain around all points of the route within about a 2km distance, take note of forests, elevation changes, bridges, rivers, and all things you can determine from the map. After you've achieved the monumental task of drawing and redrawing lines, you then use all the information you have been given by briefing, this will be enemy disposition, possible locations, enemy assets, anything that you can't get from the map. Now try to put yourself into the shoes of the force attacking the convoy and come up with a few scenarios where you would want defences, ambushes, patrols, garrisons and the like that would effect the convoy route(s). Congratulations, after a probable 50 minute platoon briefing, you've designed a route for the convoy to take. Do not forget though you still need to come up with the arrangement of the convoy itself which can be easily done by adjusting the route to how you want your setup, or adjusting the setup to how you want the route, only another 5 minutes left and the PLT briefing is done.

Here are some examples as to how a rough idea turns into a complete route.

Adjusting the route.

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So during the convoy something has happened, always leave open the option to take another route. This is usually a last resort idea, doing so will confuse the convoy and will slow down the convoy as they reorganize. If you've had a backup route set up, good you'll make the confusion only a little better. If you need to turn around, hopefully you've designed the convoy to be able to easily do a 180 instead having the lead and rear vehicle literally switch positions. For responding to threats instead of changing the route entirely look at the decisions section.

 

Problems

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My personal favorite to deal with as it gives me the ability to yell and complain at people. These vague problems are to deal with the internal issues of the convoy that all units need to keep track of that most people ignore or forget.

Convoy size

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Size of the convoy directly relates to the flexibility and control the CC will have. As a convoy gains more vehicles the number of options the convoy has in planning and reaction, while this can seem useful this can easily overwhelm the convoy leadership in which action to take. Always control a convoy size you feel comfortable with, if you still have too many vehicles/assets you will need to reorganize (Dividing the convoy into sections) and/or delegating responsibilities to more units (2iC, AAC, whatever you trust) to better control the convoy. Always remember with more division and delegation, communication will become more complicated, additional channels may need to be used. Having too few vehicles in a convoy will severely limit what you can design, and if you can even respond to enemy contact. A rough average sized convoy that isn't too large or small would be ~6-10 vehicles, anything below is inflexible, while anything above risks being hard to control. If you have the option to choose this, see if you can get specific vehicles to control the size of your convoy. Sometimes you want to be quicker and hard to notice, smaller convoys will be preferred. Other times you'll want the ability to support one another, larger convoys will be preferred. Always see if you can choose your vehicles for yourself.

Sightlines

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More often than not vehicles are not assigned an area to keep track of (if able) within the convoy while moving or stationary. The convoy should have more directions being watched other than forward and behind, the middle section should be scanning their respective sectors to ensure full visual coverage for better defence and intel. Despite this it is natural, during contact, to look towards the direction of gunfire, but having the entire convoy looking in one direction opens the convoy up to flanking maneuvers or the possibility that the initial contact is actually a diversion. The gunner in the rear vehicle does not need to look forward when they can't even engage anything, allow all of the other convoy vehicles to deal with what's infront of you, your job is to protect the rear so look behind you can catch the technical driving up from behind.

Overtaking

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Overtaking vehicles is quite honestly the biggest problem (also being my biggest annoyance) for convoys here in FK. DO NOT overtake a vehicle in a convoy unless they are disabled, destroyed, unresponsive, or ordered to by that vehicle/convoy leadership. Any uninformed overtakes, regardless of the reason, drastically increases the chances of ramming, blocking in friendly units, running over possible friendly dismounts, friendly fire, total breakdown of convoy structure, blocked sight-lines, getting Arma'd, chain reaction explosions, so on and so on. If you are to overtake do not block sight lines for gunners you are passing or block vision/come in from a drivers blind spots. Always leave a reasonable amount of space (5-10m) between vehicles and do not perform sudden or jerky movements. This is just as applicable in combat situations and will be further explained in engagements.

 

Engagements

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Finally, explaining the external situations you will always drive into and never have a convoy mission without enemy contacts. Enjoy the read, as I try to explain all the external factors while keeping them summarized.

Weapons to be afraid of

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The enemy have guns. They have big guns, small guns, red guns, blue guns and you need to know which ones are going to fuck you up. Remember back to the arrangement section and what vehicles you have, this is how you determine the gun fear factor. I will categorize the guns similar to how vehicles were categorized, use whatever system you need to work as mine is very generalized.

• Small arms

These are weapons standard infantry can carry around without needing to set up and can shoot on the move (some exceptions). Even more generalized I would say anything 7.62 caliber and below, these will chew through softskins and have chances to penetrate armed vehicles. These are the least threatening of things you need to worry about, even if you only have soft skins because there's much worse.

• Grenades/Grenade launchers

The only ones you're really going to look out for are grenade launchers, but they still apply. Having someone throw or shoot HE grenades at you is generally not good for your health, and these will damage softskin and armed vehicles easily. Enough will just outright explode soft-skins, while armed vehicles will be more concerned about their wheels being blown off. These will fuck up convoys that have wheeled vehicles, but when is an appropriate time to dismount when your vehicle has been de-wheeled? If you're in a soft-skin you can either stay in get shrapnel and explosions killing you, or you can dismount and get shrapnel and explosions killing you. The moment the driver or IC determines the vehicle is fucked the best option is just mass pile out and scatter away from the vehicle, staying near it is a death trap regardless of you trying to use it for cover. Armoured vehicles have it a bit easier in the fact that only a massive amount of grenades dumped into it will actually blow it up. It's usually a toss up but when your armoured vehicle gets disabled you want to stay within the vehicle for as long as possible, or in between grenade rounds. The armour of the vehicle will shield most if not all people inside from grenades and jumping out/turning out in a panic is how it will kill units. If you're unfortunate and they're using HEDP grenades then armoured vehicles aren't going to be as safe. I have not personally tested the stun/flash-bang theory to attack a convoy, but if it does blind drivers this would be a very effective tactic. The only suggestion I have for flash-bang use is to try to remember the sides of the road and stop on those sides so the convoy can continue, driving blindly is generally a poor idea. More threatening than the small arms, but the terror factor of explosions everywhere is what really kills convoys (if armoured enough, these are the bane of soft-skins).

• Statics

The driver killers or convoy shredders, statics are what make convoy missions so dangerous. These weapons can either be set up on a tripod or used by an enemy vehicle, HMGs and grenade machine guns (GMG) will punch through anything less armoured than a traditional APC (Some are still penetrated by these in certain areas so be careful). While the GMG is essentially a grenade launcher but without the delay between reloading another shot, the HMG is the real MVP. If your convoy comes across these then you will need to assess the defensive capabilities of the vehicles you possess. Both will fuck up wheels and the HMG will snipe out drivers, leaving convoy vehicles helpless on the road and creating a traffic jam. Assume any enemy vehicle and roadblock to have at least one when assessing the convoy's next step. Prioritize these positions or vehicles second as the high rate of fire is it's main advantage.

• AT

Anti tank applies to anything capable of direct-fire projectiles that are able to damage an APC significantly. This can be shoulder-launched missiles, 20mm+ cannons (usually apfsds or equivalents but the point remains), and statics that have launchers. With varying degrees of success against higher armoured targets, these are the biggest threat to all vehicle types and are capable of destroying less armoured vehicles outright. You priority is to target these as soon as you see them, while they have a low rate of fire (usually) they are able to immediately destroy a vehicle within the convoy as opposed to the previous threats. I do not recommend pushing through any area with AT unless you are confident that the AT will have a hard time tracking the convoy and has a high chance to miss as it's shooting through trees or whatever. TOP priority, hope you kill them first or they miss the first shot.

• Mines

Mines, IEDs, anything put on/in the ground that goes boom, these are actually not as dangerous to the convoy as many people believe. While entirely capable of destroying one (sometimes more) vehicle immediately they are much easier to deal with. Use your eyes and look out for mines. The main advantage this type of weapon has over the convoy is that they are small and can be hard to see, if you're even expecting them in the first place. Should you come across mines and haven't blown them up the way they want you to, you can also just shoot them, avoid them, or defuse them. Shooting mines is the quickest and most effective way to solve the mine problem but stay clear of the mine (10m+) so the explosion doesn't get you anyways, it will give away the position of your convoy (if that's a factor). While avoiding them is a great way to circumvent the problem keep in mind that the rest of the convoy needs to know about them and that explosive isn't actually detonated remotely/proximity/IR-laser tripped. Defusing mines is the slow boring process that requires the convoy to stop every time, usually by sending out some EOD sacrifice or a drone. You will find unimaginative mines in the center of the road to usually be capable of vehicle destruction, more clever mines are on the sides of the road meant to blow up wheels (The most devious are actually anti-personnel mines making them even harder to spot but will still damage wheels) and slow down the convoy. While alone they're a simple threat, the problem is if the mines are actually meant to slow you down to spring an ambush. Shooting the mine will require the vehicle firing to stop or slow down, allowing the ambush to start. Avoiding the mine will require the convoy to slow down, allowing the ambush to start. Defusing the mine will stop the entire convoy, allowing the ambush to start. Be very careful when a mine is spotted and assume shit is going to go down.

• Artillery

Essentially a combination of AT and grenades. This is indirect fire that is a super grenade launcher. So like a grenade launcher it will chew through soft-skins with shrapnel or explosions, while armoured vehicles are actually capable of being exploded by them. Higher caliber artillery can even de-track APCs and MBTs so do not expect to be entirely unaffected if you're using these vehicles. Artillery is mainly used after your convoy has been stopped by some means (roadblock, mine, whatever) and will fuck you up even more. Should this start you need to get moving as soon as possible and push through whatever the hell is stopping you, either sit there and die or push through and most likely die. Usually artillery will not be shelling you while you're on the move, but if you are, just for stop for a second. If logic is followed they somehow managed to get your convoy position while on the move and launched a barrage to intercept you mid-drive, meaning if you stop the remaining rounds will just continue on and you can just follow in their wake. If logic is not followed then just speed up. Both situations would imply someone or something is tracking you and you should scan your areas better to find spotters.

Blind corners/Sharp turns

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Usually in urban situations, these turns will naturally be incredibly dangerous. Sharp turns in the open will slow the convoy down and possibly flip vehicles if you take them too fast. Blind corners, taken or not, possess the possibility of having hidden units waiting to shoot the convoy as they pass and massively slowing the convoy down. Understand both situations are perfect locations to the enemy to begin ambushing/engaging the convoy. Don't be too paranoid when coming across these areas, using recon or predicting the likelihood of running into enemies should determine how cautious your convoy should be.

Rough Terrain

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Hills, forests, jungles, rocky terrain, river crossings (no bridge), swamps and so on. While each location has their own issues they are all similar in how they effect the convoy. All situations will slow down the convoy, which you may want to reduce spacing. Why reduce spacing? Because these terrains will usually not be open and have turns where ambushed are likely. The convoy may not be able to support other sections due to foliage, changes in elevation, etc. The convoy will have so many blind spots, especially with how extreme the terrain may be, split decisions will make or break the convoy. This is the time for gunners to be on guard while drivers prepare for sudden changes.

Bridges

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Typically a bridge is a part of the road mean to go over water, they are also used to go over sharp declines in the terrain. This is a perfect place for the convoy to be shot. Bridges by their nature are flat open areas of land that bottleneck convoys into the perfect killing zone. Reversing while on a bridge is almost impossible, turning around on a bridge is just as bad, overtaking is suicidal and forming up the front or rear is limited in there is little space to work with. While bridges can be both a short 2 second pass or a minute drive, these locations will essentially "lock" whatever convoy vehicles on the bridge at the time as unable to support. Should you be under attack in these locations really think about pushing through contacts, just being on the bridge is a bad position and if something unexpected happens while on it your convoy is fucked. A very good location for the enemy to blow up to split the convoy, destroy a vehicle or two, stranding vehicles, while also ruining your path. If the enemy aren't feeling as mean but still want to be a bit ruthless, a few mines not powerful enough to blow the bridge can be placed on it just to punish a convoy that tries to speed on through.

Urban environments

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So full of problems this requires it's own section instead of being under rough terrain. Urban environments, just like fighting in them, is its own form of hell. Every corner is a possible AT, every trash pile is a (probable) IED, every window is a possible contact, this is no place for vehicles to be let alone a whole convoy. Moving through urban environments can only really be approached two ways. Stopping the convoy outside of the city/town and dismounting infantry to push in and clear, if it's too large or time consuming to do that have the infantry carve and protect a route through. Or pushing through without dismounting, having the gunners and turned out infantry protect the convoy and hoping you push through without stopping. Urban zones become more suicidal in relation to their size and density and will determine which strategy you employ. If for some god awful reason you get your convoy stuck stationary in an urban environment you need to ensure a 360 defence within a 100m radius around the convoy and push the fuck out. You will usually not have time to do proper clearing, unless you're creating a path, do not even bother clearing buildings. In short, never go into urban settings unless absolutely necessary.

Roadblocks

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The most common engagement your convoy will be running into. Usually a bunker or two with some walls or barriers, this is the most effective way to get your convoy to stop. Assaulting or going through is usually going to take time and you need to understand that these locations also usually have static weapons and sometimes vehicles reinforcing the defenders. In the best situation it will be in an open field and your convoy should be able to spot it from a few hundred meters away. Worst case you're cresting a hill, in rough terrain, or on a blind corner. For the best case scenario you will be able to (relatively) calmly get your vehicles/assets to form up to assault/suppress and decide to push through or dismount to engage. In worst case scenario your lead vehicle (If they haven't died or been disabled by now) will have to give a split-decision order of push through or convoy halt for dismount and engage, If the lead vehicle does get taken out the next vehicle will need to assume lead vehicle role and inform the convoy of the situation.

Turning out

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Everyone wants something to see in a convoy, especially the infantry considering they're literally going to sit and wait until everything has gone to hell. Some transport vehicles allow for turning out, while most assets can in almost all positions. You do not want to be turned out of your vehicle unless it is a safe area where you are not being shot at, for drivers try not to turn out as many vehicles cannot use their main guns if you are. Infantry (not applying to the IC if capable, they need it to asses the terrain) in the vehicles capable of this should stay in at all times unless you are going through urban or rough terrain and the speed has slowed down to 30km/h or less. If any grenades start flying your way, just get in the vehicle.

Aircraft

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Jets, helicopters, gunships, drones, whatever they fly they're aircraft. To deal with aircraft the convoy needs to spread out even more than it already is, getting on to the sides of the road so the aircraft can't just strafe down the road and blow everyone up. Aircraft is something you should not stop to engage unless you are the AA/AAA unit, just pull to the side of the road and deal with it if possible. Ensure if you're behind the AA/AAA you do not overtake (unless told otherwise), just wait for them to do their job and don't bunch up. What happens if you don't have AA/AAA? Speed up and hope your gunners can somehow plink rounds into the pilot. Front and rear vehicles should ignore the aircraft and just keep their eyes on the road to ensure they don't drive into enemy units/have enemy units drive up. Do not perform evasive maneuvers like an idiot, this will slow you down in the convoy (or the entire convoy) and the people behind you will run the risk of ramming you.

Engaging the enemy while moving

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When you are engaged the convoy will either be moving or stationary. If you are to keep moving do not overtake anything unless a vehicle is destroyed, disabled, or told to by convoy leadership/that vehicle that randomly stopped. The convoy should not stop, but split decisions by vehicle commanders might prompt them to halt to fire off a round or dismount (for some god awful reason). If this happens do not overtake regardless, you don't risk blocking the shot of the vehicle or running over dismounted troops. Figure out what is going on and see if you can get the go ahead to overtake, if not then hold there and support them (Dismounting should be the last thing on your mind) if possible. It should also be said dismounting is the exact thing you don't want to do when your convoy is meant to keep moving unless you are at a convoy speed of like 7 km/h or less (Which very rarely happens and if it does you're in a terrible position).

Engaging the enemy while stopped

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Now while stationary this is a bit more nuanced and depends on where the engagements are coming from. Should the front of the convoy be engaged the front vehicle will pull to the side of the road and hold position while up to 2 vehicles, deemed combat capable, will drive NEXT (if possible not on the road, allowing spacing and don't overtake) to the front vehicle on either side to create a stronger response to the threat ahead. The rest of the convoy should continue holding their position, watching their sectors, unless convoy leadership determines more units need to be shifted around. This is one of the few times where infantry should dismount if the convoy will be stalled for more than 2 minutes, remember to stay with your vehicle and create a perimeter unless ordered otherwise by convoy leadership. Resuming the convoy after the contact has died down should be simple and easy to do by this point, and if necessary the convoy can just push on if the front of the convoy needs some time to recuperate. Attacks from the rear will follow a similar method, though unfortunately vehicles will be slower to respond and have to turn around, be prepared to push on while the rear guard holds the line. Attacks to the middle section are actually quite easy to solve, if there are mission critical elements then the nearest combat capable vehicles will flank BOTH sides of the vehicle to ensure maximum protection while the front or rear of the convoy can move (determined by convoy leadership) to flank the attacking force (keep in mind using those elements may open your convoy up to attacks from the position that it used to protect). Having outliers are honestly perfect for these situations. Regardless of situation once contact dies down just reform convoy and go, GG.

Ambushes

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A hidden force waiting for you as you drive your convoy into it's kill zone. In theory, any force that engages you that you did not previously expect would be an ambush. Being able to understand the basics of ambushes will allow you to develop a method or plan to counter them. The purpose, or at least intent, of an ambush is to trap the convoy in a kill-zone where the convoy will be quickly destroyed. To do this the ambush will slow or stop the lead vehicle (most of the time, in more advanced methods, they could engage other sections to divide the convoy) and then attempt to limit/remove the mobility of the rest (or the part they care to destroy) of the convoy, to ensure the convoy remains in the kill-zone. Once achieved, the main force of the ambush or reinforcements will collapse onto the kill-zone with everything they have. Terrain is key to ambushes as they rely on natural factors to hide, limit convoy movement, kill zone viability, where to strike from, limiting convoy support and even more. Regardless of all this information there is one key factor you must do when ambushed, get out of the kill-zone. Most people will claim the best method to escape a kill-zone is to speed up and keep pushing through. For basic ambushes this is true, the point of engagement is usually in the kill-zone. Remember, while you can attempt to understand the enemy ambush, you don't know the actual kill-zone. More advanced ambushes can trick the convoy into panicking, making units push too far too fast, only to realize they drove straight into the actual kill-zone and they're out of position without support. Don't let the ambush control you, sometimes holding to fight is the better option, use the initial engagement to determine the intent of the ambush. If you decide to stand and fight you had best keep your convoy ready to move at a moments notice, the enemy is able to respond to your actions as well.

Decisions

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Now that you have done your best to recognize elements you would determine to be important for the convoy, now all you need to do is just let the plan go and expect everything you thought up to go to shit. Decisions is where you fix things on the fly and how to make sure this cobbled together piece of shit keeps going. The convoy leadership needs to be in constant communications to ensure the appropriate decisions are made to ensure convoy success. Contingency plans are the best option to deal with all the sudden changes, but never assume anything you've predicted will be 100% correct. You will need the time to assess the problem and the ability to swiftly respond to said problem. The convoy leadership needs to be confident in their roles and in the roles of the other units or miscommunication and disorganization will plague the decision making process. Wherever the decision needs to be made (front, back, middle, scouting) by whoever is in charge of that section of the convoy, they need to inform the rest of the convoy so there is no confusion and the CC can either agree with or make their own decision. Most of these situations don't allow time for doubt or hesitation, if you have concerns of the actions, voice them but perform the orders you were given regardless. If a unit or section tries to do something they think they should do, it is very likely they will get in the way of the convoy or others also trying to do what they think is best. There is no help I can give you on how to solve all the problems you'll be seeing, you just have respond as best as you can with all this previous knowledge. Take a moment, collect your thoughts and just do it.

Also why is this section so short? I wanted a catchy acronym and picking apart a real convoy mission would be a very long dissection requiring far too much information for the guide.

FEEDBACK PLEASE, primarily meant for zeuses and tag holders and focus lies on the FIREWILL mod.

Full sheet with additional data and weapons

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Df-XQe0-3jcM7i94_cNmvgxAe8GRTfvVYZSd9GuvPuE/edit?usp=sharing

Quick Info

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Most Firewill jets require a TGP to get acces to the laser and I-TGT for GPS targeting

The TARPS (F-14) makes actual pictures and stores them on your computer

Air to Air

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All

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Mod	Weapon	Type	Guidance	Lock Cone	Keep Locked Cone	Min Range	Max Range	cm immunity	Maneuverability	track Oversteer	track Lead
FIR	AAM-3	Short-Range	IR	90	180	10	5000m	0.98	90	1	0.5
FIR	AAM-5	Short-Range	IR	240	360	10	5000m	0.98	300	1	1
FIR	AIM-132	Short-Range	IR	90	180	10	14000	0.99	100	0.9	0.9
FIR	AIM-9H	Short-Range	IR	75	180	10	5000m	0.9	70	1	0.3
FIR	AIM-9L	Short-Range	IR	90	180	10	5000m	0.94	90	1	0.5
FIR	AIM-9M	Short-Range	IR	90	180	10	5000m	0.95	90	1	0.5
FIR	AIM-9P	Short-Range	IR	75	180	10	5000m	0.9	70	1	0.3
FIR	AIM-9X	Short-Range	IR	240	360	10	5000m	0.98	300	1	1
FIR	IRIS-T	Short-Range	IR	240	360	10	5000m	0.98	300	1	1
RHS	AIM-9M	Short-Range	IR	90	90	300	8000m	0.9	30	0.95	0.75
RHS	AIM-9X	Short-Range	IR	180	180	300	8000m	0.96	90	0.95	0.75
RHS	ATAS	Short-Range	IR	12	70	300	6500m	0.95	34	0.95	0.6
BIS	BIM-9X	Short-Range	IR	180	180	250	5000m	0.92	42	1.6	0.9
FIR	AAM-4	Mid-Range	Active radar	140	140	1000	15000m	0.98	35	1	1
FIR	AIM-120A	Mid-Range	Active Radar	140	140	700	12000m	0.97	35	1	1
FIR	AIM-120B	Mid-Range	Active Radar	140	140	700	14000m	0.98	35	1	1
FIR	AIM-120C	Mid-Range	Active Radar	140	140	700	16000m	0.98	50	1	1
FIR	AIM-7E-3	Mid-Range	Semi-active radar	140	140	1000	10000m	0.90	35	1	1
FIR	AIM-7E-4	Mid-Range	Semi-active radar	140	140	1000	10000m	0.90	35	1	1
FIR	AIM-7F	Mid-Range	Semi-active radar	140	140	1000	11500m	0.90	35	1	1
FIR	AIM-7M	Mid-Range	Semi-active radar	140	140	1000	13000m	0.97	40	1	1
FIR	MBDA Meteor	Mid-Range	Active radar	140	140	1000	30000	0.99	50	1	1
BIS	AMRAAM C	Mid-Range	Active radar	70	90	800	12000	0.95	23	1.1	1.06
BIS	AMRAAM D	Mid-Range	Active radar	140	140	800	13000	0.96	23	1.1	1.06
FIR	AIM-54A Phoenix	Long-Range	Active radar	240	240	2000	70000m	0.99	30	1	1
FIR	AIM-54C Phoenix	Long-Range	Active radar	240	240	2000	100000m	0.99	30	1	1

Short Range

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Mod	Weapon	Type	Guidance	Lock Cone	Keep Locked Cone	Min Range	Max Range	cm immunity	Maneuverability	track Oversteer	track Lead
FIR	AAM-3	Short-Range	IR	90	180	10	5000m	0.98	90	1	0.5
FIR	AAM-5	Short-Range	IR	240	360	10	5000m	0.98	300	1	1
FIR	AIM-132	Short-Range	IR	90	180	10	14000m	0.99	100	0.9	0.9
FIR	AIM-9H	Short-Range	IR	75	180	10	5000m	0.9	70	1	0.3
FIR	AIM-9L	Short-Range	IR	90	180	10	5000m	0.94	90	1	0.5
FIR	AIM-9M	Short-Range	IR	90	180	10	5000m	0.95	90	1	0.5
FIR	AIM-9P	Short-Range	IR	75	180	10	5000m	0.9	70	1	0.3
FIR	AIM-9X	Short-Range	IR	240	360	10	5000m	0.98	300	1	1
FIR	IRIS-T	Short-Range	IR	240	360	10	5000m	0.98	300	1	1
RHS	AIM-9M	Short-Range	IR	90	90	300	8000m	0.9	30	0.95	0.75
RHS	AIM-9X	Short-Range	IR	180	180	300	8000m	0.96	90	0.95	0.75
RHS	ATAS	Short-Range	IR	12	70	300	6500m	0.95	34	0.95	0.6
BIS	BIM-9X	Short-Range	IR	180	180	250	5000m	0.92	42	1.6	0.9

Mid-range

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Mod	Weapon	Type	Guidance	Lock Cone	Keep Locked Cone	Min Range	Max Range	cm immunity	Maneuverability	track Oversteer	track Lead
FIR	AAM-4	Mid-Range	Active radar	140	140	1000	15000m	0.98	35	1	1
FIR	AIM-120A	Mid-Range	Active Radar	140	140	700	12000m	0.97	35	1	1
FIR	AIM-120B	Mid-Range	Active Radar	140	140	700	14000m	0.98	35	1	1
FIR	AIM-120C	Mid-Range	Active Radar	140	140	700	16000m	0.98	50	1	1
FIR	AIM-7E-3	Mid-Range	Semi-active radar	140	140	1000	10000m	0.90	35	1	1
FIR	AIM-7E-4	Mid-Range	Semi-active radar	140	140	1000	10000m	0.90	35	1	1
FIR	AIM-7F	Mid-Range	Semi-active radar	140	140	1000	11500m	0.90	35	1	1
FIR	AIM-7M	Mid-Range	Semi-active radar	140	140	1000	13000m	0.97	40	1	1
FIR	MBDA Meteor	Mid-Range	Active radar	140	140	1000	30000m	0.99	50	1	1
BIS	AMRAAM C	Mid-Range	Active radar	70	90	800	12000m	0.95	23	1.1	1.06
BIS	AMRAAM D	Mid-Range	Active radar	140	140	800	13000m	0.96	23	1.1	1.06

Long-range

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Mod	Weapon	Type	Guidance	Lock Cone	Keep Locked Cone	Min Range	Max Range	cm immunity	Maneuverability	track Oversteer	track Lead
FIR	AIM-54A Phoenix	Long-Range	Active radar	240	240	2000	70000m	0.99	30	1	1
FIR	AIM-54C Phoenix	Long-Range	Active radar	240	240	2000	100000m	0.99	30	1	1

 

Bombs

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All

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Weapon	Catagory	Type	Payload	Guidance
AGM-154A JSOW	Glide Bomb	Cluster	1000lb	GPS/INS
AGM-154A-1 JSOW	Glide Bomb	HE	1000lb	GPS/INS
CBU-103 WCMD	Cluster Bomb	Guided Cluster Anti-Infantry	1000lb	GPS/INS
CBU-105 SFW WCMD	Cluster Bomb	Guided Cluster Anti-Tank	1000lb	GPS/INS
GBU-31 JDAM	GPS Bomb	Guided Bomb	2000lb	GPS/INS
GBU-31 JDAM w/BLU-109	GPS Bomb	Guided Bomb Bunker Buster	2000lb	GPS/INS
GBU-32 JDAM	GPS Bomb	Guided Bomb	1000lb	GPS/INS
GBU-38 JDAM	GPS Bomb	Guided Bomb	500lb	GPS/INS
GBU-39 SDB	Glide Bomb	Small Diameter Guided-Bomb	250lb	GPS/INS
KGGB	GPS Bomb	Guided Bomb	500lb	GPS/INS
GBU-53 SDB II	Glide Bomb	Small Diameter Guided-Bomb	250lb	GPS+Laser+IR+Active Rader
GBU-10 Paveway II	Laser	Guided Bomb	2000lb	Laser-Guided
GBU-12 Paveway II	Laser	Guided Bomb	500lb	Laser-Guided
GBU-24 Paveway III	Laser	Guided Bomb	2000lb	Laser-Guided
GBU-24 Paveway III w/BLU-109	Laser	Guided Bomb Bunker Buster	2000lb	Laser-Guided
GBU-24 Paveway III w/BLU-118	Laser	Guided Bomb Thermobaric	2000lb	Laser-Guided
GBU-16	Laser	Guided Bomb	1000lb	Laser-Guided
GBU-54 LJDAM	Dual-Purpose	Dual-Purpose Guided Bomb	500lb	Laser/ GPS/INS
GCS-1	Laser	Guided Bomb	500lb	Laser-Guided
EGBU-12 Enchanted Paveway II	Dual-Purpose	Dual-Purpose Guided Bomb	500lb	Laser/ GPS/INS
Paveway IV	Dual-Purpose	Dual-Purpose Guided Bomb	500lb	Laser/ GPS/INS
CBU-87 CEM	Cluster Bomb	Cluster Anti-Infantry	1000lb	Unguided
CBU-89 GATOR	Cluster Bomb	Cluster Mine	1000lb	Unguided
CBU-97 SFW	Cluster Bomb	Cluster Anti-Tank	1000lb	Unguided
Mk 82 GPB	Dumb	GPB	500lb	Unguided
Mk 82 GPB - BLU 111A/B	Dumb	GPB Thermally Protected Coating	500lb	Unguided
Mk 82 GPB w/DSU-33	Dumb	GPB Airburst	500lb	Unguided
Mk 82 GPB - BLU 111A/B w/DSU-33	Dumb	GPB Airburst Thermally Protected Coating	500lb	Unguided
Mk 82 Snakeye	Dumb	GPB High Drag	500lb	Unguided
Mk 83 GPB	Dumb	GPB	1000lb	Unguided
Mk 84	Dumb	GPB	2000lb	Unguided
Mk20 Rockeye	Cluster Bomb	Un-guided Cluster Bomb	1000lb	Unguided

Laser

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Weapon	Catagory	Type	Payload	Guidance
GBU-10 Paveway II	Laser	Guided Bomb	2000lb	Laser-Guided
GBU-12 Paveway II	Laser	Guided Bomb	500lb	Laser-Guided
GBU-24 Paveway III	Laser	Guided Bomb	2000lb	Laser-Guided
GBU-24 Paveway III w/BLU-109	Laser	Guided Bomb Bunker Buster	2000lb	Laser-Guided
GBU-24 Paveway III w/BLU-118	Laser	Guided Bomb Thermobaric	2000lb	Laser-Guided
GBU-16	Laser	Guided Bomb	1000lb	Laser-Guided
GCS-1	Laser	Guided Bomb	500lb	Laser-Guided

GPS

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Weapon	Catagory	Type	Payload	Guidance
GBU-31 JDAM	GPS Bomb	Guided Bomb	2000lb	GPS/INS
GBU-31 JDAM w/BLU-109	GPS Bomb	Guided Bomb Bunker Buster	2000lb	GPS/INS
GBU-32 JDAM	GPS Bomb	Guided Bomb	1000lb	GPS/INS
GBU-38 JDAM	GPS Bomb	Guided Bomb	500lb	GPS/INS
KGGB	GPS Bomb	Guided Bomb	500lb	GPS/INS

Dual Purpose

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Weapon	Catagory	Type	Payload	Guidance
GBU-54 LJDAM	Dual-Purpose	Dual-Purpose Guided Bomb	500lb	Laser/ GPS/INS
EGBU-12 Enchanted Paveway II	Dual-Purpose	Dual-Purpose Guided Bomb	500lb	Laser/ GPS/INS
Paveway IV	Dual-Purpose	Dual-Purpose Guided Bomb	500lb	Laser/ GPS/INS

Cluster

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Weapon	Catagory	Type	Payload	Guidance
CBU-103 WCMD	Cluster Bomb	Guided Cluster Anti-Infantry	1000lb	GPS/INS
CBU-105 SFW WCMD	Cluster Bomb	Guided Cluster Anti-Tank	1000lb	GPS/INS
CBU-87 CEM	Cluster Bomb	Cluster Anti-Infantry	1000lb	Unguided
CBU-89 GATOR	Cluster Bomb	Cluster Mine	1000lb	Unguided
CBU-97 SFW	Cluster Bomb	Cluster Anti-Tank	1000lb	Unguided
Mk20 Rockeye	Cluster Bomb	Un-guided Cluster Bomb	1000lb	Unguided

Glide

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Weapon	Catagory	Type	Payload	Guidance
AGM-154A JSOW	Glide Bomb	Cluster	1000lb	GPS/INS
AGM-154A-1 JSOW	Glide Bomb	HE	1000lb	GPS/INS
GBU-39 SDB	Glide Bomb	Small Diameter Guided-Bomb	250lb	GPS/INS
GBU-53 SDB II	Glide Bomb	Small Diameter Guided-Bomb	250lb	GPS+Laser+IR+Active Rader

Dumb

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Weapon	Catagory	Type	Payload	Guidance
Mk 82 GPB	Dumb	GPB	500lb	Unguided
Mk 82 GPB - BLU 111A/B	Dumb	GPB Thermally Protected Coating	500lb	Unguided
Mk 82 GPB w/DSU-33	Dumb	GPB Airburst	500lb	Unguided
Mk 82 GPB - BLU 111A/B w/DSU-33	Dumb	GPB Airburst Thermally Protected Coating	500lb	Unguided
Mk 82 Snakeye	Dumb	GPB High Drag	500lb	Unguided
Mk 83 GPB	Dumb	GPB	1000lb	Unguided
Mk 84	Dumb	GPB	2000lb	Unguided

 

Missiles

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Weapon	Type	Guidance	LockCone	KeepLockedCone	Min Range	Max Range	Hit
AGM-65B Maverick	ATGM	EO TV-guided	180		50	6000m	2600
AGM-65D Maverick	ATGM	IIR	180		50	6000m	2600
AGM-65F/G Maverick	ATGM	IIR	180		50	6000m	3200
AGM-65E/E2/L Maverick	ATGM	Laser-Guided	180		50	6000m	3200
AGM-65H Maverick	ATGM	CCD (Visual)	180		50	6000m	2600
AGM-65K Maverick	ATGM	CCD (Visual)	180		50	6000m	3200
AGM-88 HARM	Anti-Radiation Missile	Passive radar homing	160	160	100	15000m	4000
AGM-84E SLAM	Cruise Missile	GPS/INS IR+CG	180	180	50	40000	8000
AGM-84H SLAM-ER	Cruise Missile	GPS/INS IR+CG	180	180	50	40000	8000
AGM-84K SLAM-ER	Cruise Missile	GPS/INS IR+CG	180	180	50	40000	8000
ASM-2	Anti-Ship Missile	IIR	180	180	50	20000m	8000

Rockets

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Weapon	Type	Payload	Guidance
Hydra 70 M151 HE	2.75-inch Rocket	2.3 pounds Comp B-4 HE	Unguided
Hydra 70 M229 HE	2.75-inch Rocket	4.8 pounds Comp B-4 HE	Unguided
Hydra 70 M247 HEAT	2.75-inch Rocket	2.0 pounds Comp B HE	Unguided
Hydra 70 M257 FLARE	2.75-inch Rocket	One M257 Candle (Flare) 1 million candela	Unguided
Hydra 70 M261 MPSM	2.75-inch Rocket	9 M73 (Grenade) Submunitions	Unguided
Hydra 70 M282 MPP	2.75-inch Rocket	0.98 pounds (0.44 kg) PBXN-110	Unguided
Hydra 70 WDU4/A APERS	2.75-inch Rocket	96 flechettes	Unguided
Hydra 70 M156 WP	2.75-inch Rocket	2.2 pounds WP	Unguided
Hydra 70 M259 WP	2.75-inch Rocket	2.2 pounds WP?	Unguided
Hydra 70 M264 RP	2.75-inch Rocket	72 RP Pellets	Unguided
Hydra Smoke	2.75-inch Rocket	White smoke	Unguided
Zuni Mk24 HE	5-inch Rocket	9.5 lbs (4.3kg) Comp.B	Unguided
Zuni Mk32 ATAP	5-inch Rocket	15 lbs (6.8kg) Comp.B	Unguided
APKWS M151 HE	2.75-inch Rocket	2.3 pounds Comp B-4 HE	Laser
APKWS M247 HEAT	2.75-inch Rocket	2.0 pounds Comp B HE	Laser
APKWS M282 MPP	2.75-inch Rocket	0.98 pounds (0.44 kg) PBXN-110	Laser
CRV7	2.75-inch Rocket	HEDP	Unguided
Poniard	2.75-inch Rocket	HEDP	IR
Laser Zuni	2.75-inch Rocket	HE	Laser
SUU25	5-inch Rocket	Parachute Flare

Pods

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Pod	Type
ACMI - TACTS	ACMI
ACMI - CUBIC	ACMI
ATFLIR	ATFLIR Targeting Pod
ECA	Chaff adapter
AN/AWW 13 ADLP	Data Link/CG Pod
AN/ALQ 131	ECM Pod
AN/ALQ 184	ECM Pod
AN/ALQ 119	ECM Pod
Intripid Tiger II	ECM Pod
AN/ALQ 167	ECM Pod
AN/ALQ 99	Jammer pod
TARPS	Photo Pod
LITENING Pod	Targeting Pod
Lantirn Pod	Targeting Pod
Lantirn Pod w/ Tiger Eye	Targeting Pod
Sniper XR	Targeting Pod
Sniper XR w/ Tiger Eye	Targeting Pod

Keybinds

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UserAction 1	Afterburner
UserAction 2	ECM
UserAction 3	AMS
UserAction 4	I-TGT
UserAction 5	Fueltank
UserAction 6	TGP ON/OFF
UserAction 7	TCS/TGP Screen Zoom Toggle
UserAction 8	TCS/TGP Screen Mode Toggle
UserAction 9	MAP ON/OFF
UserAction 10	Fold/Unfold Wing

https://youtu.be/3SHnunBLpbs

I also just learned that 160 is used by Pltn SR, 170 by Knight SR.
Still, just pick any Channel that you're not likely to use for additional, anyone but your own channel is fine.

(Also, mods, if this isn't the right place feel free to move the post)thnx

The document is shown in the image below, a PDF is available via the link at the bottom of the post.

The first page shows a simple flow chart, providing a general template for the process of treating a patient, with the focus on determining what it will take to rouse an unconscious patient and establishing if the unconsciousness is due to pain or blood loss.

The second page provides a brief outline to the purpose of the chart, abbreviations used and some disclaimers. As well as several tables which outline the following:

• Different events which can occur following an injury and the associated blood pressure values. 

• Average values for the increase/decrease of blood pressure from morphine and epinephrine.

• Range of values for the increase/decrease of heart rate from morphine and epinephrine. 

• Average values for the increase in blood pressure from the administration of fluids.

• Corresponding ranges for blood pressure and heart rate, relating to the information non-medics receive from observations.

If anyone has any questions regarding any aspects of this, then please feel free to get in touch, or regarding anything they may wish to see in the future.

Link for PDF:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/feo57eu5thahtz9/FK BP.pdf?dl=0

Sections:

1. Vertical & Short Takeoff

2. Maintaining a stable hover

3. Transitioning from flying to hover and vice versa

4. Tips

1. Vertical & Short Takeoff

Vertical Takeoff can be performed while armed or unarmed, which is contrary to real life, where a certain weight limit is present. To start with make sure that flaps are all the way down (ctrl + scroll wheel with auto-vectoring on) then turn Auto-Vectoring off (ctrl+X or can be turned off via scroll wheel menu). Once flaps are down and auto vectoring are off, hold shift+ctrl and scroll down. This will increase thrust while adjusting the Pegasus nozzles to the vertical position. If successful, the plane will now be slowly taking off. While the plane slowly takes off, keep holding ctrl and keep scrolling down, as it may sometimes fly straight forward. After about 5 seconds or so, the jet will start lifting more rapidly. This is when you can stop scrolling.

Short takeoff is very similar. The only difference is that you keep auto-vectoring on, and the game will automatically adjust them to do a short takeoff. So just make sure that flaps are down, auto-vectoring is on and just hold shift.

2. Maintaining a stable hover

Now maintaining the hover is a fiddly part. It isn't too far from a helicopter to be fair, but it has some differences. Firstly, it turns horizontally quite slowly, and it is almost impossible to truly hover (you will mainly be at a speed of -5 to 5 kph.) The engine power in the top right and the speed are the two main things you should keep an eye on. Certain engine levels will cause the plane to do certain things. 50-65 will cause plane to go down. 66-74 will make the plane hover, and 75-100 will cause lift. To get a stable hover, you must make sure that the engine is around 70, whilst also making subtle forward movements to compensate for the speed variations caused by the lift.

3. Transitioning from flying to hover and vice versa

Once your in a hover, you'll probably went to get out of it and do some fast flying. To do this, make sure the engine level is above 75 and then simply hold ctrl and then scroll up. This will adjust the nozzles to the horizontal position and the plane will then accelerate forwards. Then, turn auto-vectoring on so that you can put the flaps up (ctrl+X for auto-vectoring then ctrl and scroll wheel up for flaps).

Transitioning from flying into a hover can be tricky. The idea is to slow down enough for the plane hover, while still being fast enough not to stall. To achieve this, drop the engine to about 40-45, then make sure that auto-vectoring is off and the nozzles are pointing downwards. I don't know whether or not flaps are necessary, but I keep them on anyway to stop from dropping. Then simply pull up to slow down. When the plane is at a certain speed (below 40 kph I believe) the harrier will automatically transition to hovering. Keep pulling up until the plane is at about 10kph. Then, level out and the plane should be hovering.

Tips

Please see @cineafx and @Guest's comments as they're actually qualified people when it comes to combat.

This guide will be covering a bunch of different topics for those who are new to FK and possibly new to Arma itself.

This guide integrates materials from numerous other guides but will drop and adapt some other items from those guides.

(If you are participating in one of my own or @ThePointForward's training events, all sections are mandatory reading unless they are marked with a * .)

Credits to: @ThePointForward, @NeilZar, @Rorkiy, @Guest, @Gditz, and @Kreeper for their excellent source materials. 

Topic Overviews

1. The Rules
2. Important Key-Binding Changes
   1. ACE Interaction Style *
   2. ACE Throwing
   3. ACE Medical Menu
   4. Ranging/TFAR Binding Overlap Fix
3. Joining Your First Main Mission
   1. TFAR Setup
   2. Server Info
4. Slotting
   1. Procedures
   2. Attaching
5. Off-hours
6. Spawn Conduct
   1. Expectations
7. The ACE Arsenal
   1. Insignias to Facewear
   2. Rifles to Backpacks
   3. Saving Loadouts
8. ACE Interactions
   1. "Normal" Interactions
   2. Self-Interaction
   3. Interaction Examples *
9. ACE Medical
   1. The ACE Medical Menu and Basic First Aid
10. Short and Long Range Radios
    1. Keybindings
    2. Use-Cases
    3. Conduct
11. BLUFOR vs REDFOR
    1. Assets
    2. Firearms
12. AT and AA Intro
    1. Launchers
       1. HAT & AA
       2. MAT
       3. LAT
    2. Backblast
    3. AT/AA Rules
    4. AT vs AA
13. Conclusion

Section 1 - The Rules

These are the most important rules to know. The full rule-set is required reading for training sessions, it is linked at the end of this list.

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• Main Missions begin at 7 PM (UK Time)
• First two missions are Main missions
  • 1st and 2nd Main respectively.
• In any role, follow the orders of your superiors.
  • Unless this order results in you breaking a rule, this is the only exception.
• Do not fire your weapon or throw "throwable items" in the spawn area during and after briefing
  • Throwable items are not just grenades but also include flares, chemlights, etc.
  • The discharge of firearms can only be relaxed by Zeus.
• Placeable objects are not allowed in or around the spawn, unless given permission by superiors.
• No team killing. (Intended)
  • Can only be overruled by Zeus.
• If Zeus has designated a mission as having respawns, you are not allowed to leave mid-mission.
  • If you have an appropriate reason, thus leaving the mission at any time when absolutely necessary is permitted.
• Side chat is for technical issues only, chit chat is not permitted.
• Distracting and unhelpful drawings on the map (in side chat) are not allowed.
• Your in-game name must be the same as your TS name.
• You are not allowed to build trenches on the road.
  • If you make a trench to defend your squad in a road, you must remove it before moving on.
• Remove all trenches when leaving an area.

(READ THE RULES IN FULL BEFORE YOU PROCEED WITH THIS GUIDE)

The full rule-set provided by NeilZar. (Required reading for Training Sessions)

Client-side mods must be whitelisted before they you can play with them on FK servers.

Make sure to reference the thread below for what mods are currently white-listed.

Section 2 - Important Key-Binding Changes (Credit to @Guest for his guide which I have adapted for this section)

Always make sure to save all of your changes accordingly and then restart you game afterwards.

This is to ensure that all of the keybind/addon setting changes you have made will actually work when you load into the training session.

(And to make sure you don't "accidentally" toss any grenades.)

ACE Interaction Style (Optional)

This is a vast QoL tweak for ACE Interactions which means you will not have to look all-over your screen in-order to selection an interaction.

On 22/01/2018 at 14:19, Guest said:

Steps:
1. Press the Escape Key

2. Click "Options" then "Addon Options

3. "Once in the menu, change the drop down to "ACE Interaction Menu" (1)

4. Check the options for "Always display cursor for self interaction" (2), "Always display cursor for interaction" (3) and "Display interaction menus as lists" (4) then press "Ok" to save the changes

When done correctly, you should be able to use your cursor in both interaction menus and the menus appear as lists.
 

ACE Throwing

This is the first of the two most important rebinds provided in this guide. This along with the ACE Medical Menu are required rebinds for training session. This will help you to physically see the arc/path your grenade will take, meaning you can get it on target more often than not. On top of that you can choose whether to "Throw" or "Toss" the grenade, toss will put the grenade much closer to you but is useful for covering you and your team-mates with smoke as the grenade will have a much more consistent path for it's final position.

Greater control and accuracy of your grenades will make you a far more effective infantryman.

On 22/01/2018 at 14:19, Guest said:

Steps:
1. Press the Escape Key
2. Click "Options" then "Controls"
3. Change the drop down option to "Weapons" (1)
4. Edit the "Throw" key and UNBIND it (Leave it empty) (2)
5. Click "Ok" to save the change (3) 
6. Reopen the "Controls" Menu and click "Configure Addons" (4)
7. In the "Configure Addons" menu, change the drop down option to "ACE Weapons" (1)
8. Edit the "Prepare/Change Throwable" key, Delete the existing key bind of "Shift + G" and replace it with "G" (2)
9. Click "Ok" to save the changes (3)

With this rebind, when pressing the "G" key, you will be presented with the Ace throwing system. This gives you various options such as Pressing "G" to cycle the grenade type, cooking it, throwing or tossing it etc. This multi-stage system will prevent any accidental mis-throws as well as allow you to see where your grenade will go with more accuracy.

ACE Medical Menu

This is the second of the two most important rebinds provided in this guide. Another massive QoL improvement and most consider it essential to properly treat yourself and fellow injured squad members.

Use of the medical menu will be covered in a later section and in the Basic Training sessions.

On 22/01/2018 at 14:19, Guest said:

Steps:
1. Press the Escape Key
2. Click "Options" then "Addon Options"
3. Change the drop down option to "Ace Medical" (1)
4. Scroll all the way to the bottom until you find the option "Use Medical menu" (2). Change this to "Enabled" 
5. Click "Ok" (3) to save the Change.

With this change, whenever you want to treat yourself, you can simply press the default bind of "H" to open the medical menu.
To ensure the Medical Menu default does not clash with any natural key bind you (may) need to unbind the key used for "Last Help"

Steps:
1. Press the "Escape" Key
2. Click "Options" then "Controls"
3. Change the drop down option to "Common" (1) (If it does not default to it)
4. Scroll down and find the key bind for "Last Help" and delete the key used for it (2)
5. Press "Ok" (3) to save the changes

With this being key unbound, you should be able to use the Medical Menu without issue. 

Section 3 - Joining your first Main Mission

TFAR Setup

Here is the overwhelming majority of what you need to know to join the FK servers. Make sure you have Task-Force Arrowhead Radio (TFAR) installed.

(Just loading the Arma mod will not install the Teamspeak plugin!!)

We are running the beta version which is found at this link. This is the only version of TFAR to install. If you haven't already installed TFAR's TeamSpeak plugin follow these instructions,

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• Download the mod from the Steam Workshop. (Make sure to download the Modpack from the Steam Workshop.)
• Navigate to the Arma 3 folder, (You must have "Show Hidden Files" enabled in Windows in order to see the correct folder.) and then find the TFAR Beta Folder.
  • All mods you have downloaded from the Steam Workshop will be found in a Folder titled "Workshop" inside of your Arma 3 folder.
• Find the .ts3_plugin file in this folder and install this plugin for Teamspeak. You are now clear to properly join the Arma server and have TFAR properly setup.

Now that you are setup with TFAR it's time to actually join the server. But there's a catch for FNG's joining main missions.

FNGs are not allowed to join the server before being pulled into ARMA start room during main missions.

Now keep this in mind before you join the Arma server. As soon as you have been dragged from the FNG Waiting Room to the Arma Start room, you are good to join the Arma server.

Here's the post which gives you the server IPs. DO NOT SAY THE PASSWORD OUT LOUD! This is because there are many people in our community who are live streaming.

Once you get the IP for the Arma server(s) below, ask someone for the password.

Now, onto slotting during main missions and off-hours.

Section 4 - Slotting

Refer to this guide below for all of the information you need to know about what each slot means for you as a player.

(Required reading for Basic Training Sessions.)

Procedures

Now, you've joined the FNG waiting room and are waiting to be dragged into the Arma Start room. Here's what you should expect unless a calendar mission is being run.

1. Slots cannot "technically" be reserved. Slotting is intended as a first come, first serve system.
   • Main missions will be slotted following the tags procedure.
   • Calendar missions can have asset/tag roles as reserved slots.
2. Tags procedure should be taken as follows:
   • Tagholders
     • A role will be called with that particular tagholder in mind. If the slot caller fails to state that they are calling for tagholders, if this is the first call for that slot, assume it's tagholders only.
     • This only changes in off-hours when slotting procedures is determined by Zeus, meaning the Zeus can set the level required for a certain slot.
   • Regulars+
   • FNGs
     • That's you!
3. When attaching to a squad, you may only take on the role of a Rifleman.
   • This is very important and is not flexible during main missions. During off-hours this may be relaxed or overruled by Zeus, but you should always initially slot up as a Rifleman.

Attaching

Now I just mentioned something called attaching, but you probably don't exactly know what that means. When there are people in excess for for infantry squads compared to their available slots per squad, certain slots will be designated as attachee slots. Attachee slots, for example, can be when there are enough people to fill the Alpha through Delta squads but due to people taking asset roles and those in the platoon lead element, there are not quite enough people to fill the Echo and Foxtrot slots. In this example, any slot specified as an attachee slot is fair game expect for Medic slots or pilot slots unless those slots have been specified as clear to use for attachment. When the admin takes you through the slotting screen and through the map screen, attachees are to go to each squad evenly.

Always attach! Never slot up late into a mission or at any time after slotting has finished as you may be taking the slot of a person suffering from technical issues.

Section 5 - Spawn Conduct

Expectations

Now that you've slotted up and you've been taken through to the spawn there are a few things you need to know.

Follow all rules that apply to the spawn area for both main and off-hours missions.

After you spawn in to your tent here are a few things to keep in mind beyond the "on-paper" rules.

• Don’t be disruptive, including shooting, throwing grenades or testing SR radio.
• Your Squad Lead will go to the briefing. (The statue where the platoon lead element is spawned). Briefings can take long periods of time depending upon a large number of factors, patience is key.
• If you feel like you may accidentally fire your gun in spawn, press (CTRL+ ~) or (CTRL + 1) to put your gun on safety.
  • (CTRL + #), # representing slots 1 and 2 (main fire-arm and sidearm respectively) will generally put your fire-arm into safety but certain mods do not support this keybind.
• Test this with your gun to be sure it will work.
• Platoon Lead will put uniform into Side channel
• Squad Lead can enforce vests and helmets as long as they are visually appropriate. (SL's will often enforce hardcover helmets, something you should hopefully already be wearing.)

Section 6 - Off-hours

Differences from Main Missions

Off-hours is much more relaxed and generally has a lower player-count compared to main missions. Whether or not tags are enforced for roles is up to Zeus. Off-hours is a good time to practice a certain role and learn.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes,  as long as you are genuinely putting your best effort in and working for the success of not only your team-mates but the success of the mission being enjoyable to play etc.

This is also when training sessions occur for a whole variety of different topics and the like. Don't be afraid to ask questions and learn. This guide can only get you so far.

(During off-hours having to leave during a mission, unless you are in a medic or leadership role, is generally more tolerated.)

Section 7 - The ACE Arsenal

This section will cover all of the major elements of the ACE Arsenal and how it is used during Zeus missions along with some other misc info.

If you are playing a traditional Zeus mission on FK servers, you will always spawn into a tent where a box is placed in the center of the tent.

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This box is not an ammo box but is an ACE Arsenal which allows players to customize their loadouts. Use the middle mouse button to open the Arsenal.

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Once opened, if you've never used the ACE Arsenal before, you will be bombarded by quite a few different options, but don't worry. These will all be covered in this guide.

Ammunition and items are stored in your uniform, vest and backpack.

When selecting ammunition for your firearm of choice, make sure to select your vest or backpack, then select the "Magazines for currently selected weapon" button. (This looks like a single magazine on it's own compared to 3 magazines together.)

Now, onto the very last item to just before some of the most important items.

Rifles to Backpacks

Rifles

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• Rifleman are not allowed rifles with a Underslung Grenade Launcher unless permitted by SL/2iC. (Maximum of 2 per infantry squads.)
• No bolt actions! Bolt actions are only given to the Prophet element.
• 7.92mm is the highest caliber ammunition you can take for any rifle as any role other than an Auto-Rifleman.
  • (SMGs can have higher caliber ammunition as they use pistol ammunition.)
  • 4x magnification limit for all members of the squad.
    • DMR is designated by Squad Lead. In Close Quarters Combat (CQC) enviroments, DMRs will generally not be designated.
    • The DMR can only be a Rifleman (no LAT!) and their optic has a maximum magnification of 12x.
• Attachments:
  • Secondary ammo - Which ammo is loaded by default in the UGL.
  • Primary ammo - Magazine in the gun. Tracers colors are red for BLUFOR and green for REDFOR.
  • Bottom Rail Attachments - Bipods and grips. I recommend the Grip-pod when playing as BLUFOR.
  • Muzzle attachments - Suppressors, muzzle breaks, flash hiders etc.
  • Top Rail attachments - Infrared lasers, flashlights and combos of both. Combos are switched by RHS keybind, (if those attachments are part of RHS).
  • Scopes - Choose an optic that not only fits your faction and weapon but your preference. (Base-game are fine but look out of place. Faction accurate gear is desired but not required.)
    • (Taking a Russian optic while playing as the USMC is an example of gear that is not allowed. If you are BLUFOR then take BLUFOR optics, etc.)

Sidearms

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• I personally don't take a firearm when I'm an Auto-Rifleman, Assistant Auto-Rifleman, Rifleman (LAT) or a normal Rifleman.
• Automatic sidearms are frowned upon, but not banned.
• Standalone Grenade Launcher can be taken but is bugged at the time of writing. Would recommend you avoid using this. Also see grenade launcher limit of 2 per squad.)
• Attachments work the same way as for any primary.

Launchers

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• Launchers for Anti-Tank (AT) and Anti-Air (AA) will be covered in Section 8.

Headgear

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• Headgear should be aesthetically pleasing with the rest of the gear. (If a helmet exists which fits with the Platoon specified uniform, take it.)
• Players can bring unarmored headgear, but AI can use grenades. (Hint hint!)

Uniform

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• Most of the uniforms have the same if not similar carrying capacity. But, their weight can vary massively, 
• Ensure all of your pre-built loadouts have these items:
  • 4x Packing Bandage (or 2x Packing and 2x QuikQlot)
  • 1x Epinephrine Autoinjector
  • 1x Morphine Autoinjector
  • 1x Tourniquet (CAT)
  • 1x Entrenching Tool
  • 1x Maglite
  • 1x Map Tools
  • 5x Cable Tie

Useful tools to carry (Optional, can be dropped to lower weight)

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• Defuse Tools
• Mine Detector
• Toolkit (If you are in a helicopter or armored asset role, take one of these!)
• Wirecutters (Used to remove fences obstructing a squads path.)
• Blood, Saline and Plasma IVs - only medics can use them (Do not take these as a rifleman)
• Personal Aid Kit and Surgical Kit - only medics can use them (Do not take these as a rifleman)
• IR Strobe
• SSWT Kit (Good for setting up positions as an AR + AAR teams)
• Range Card (for DMR)

Vest

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• Vests Differ in their carrying capacity and armour values.
• Intended use is to carry ammunition and grenades.
• Aim for 6-8 spare magazines for primary. (Bonus points for taking the same amount of spare mags as displayed on the vest.)
• Go over smoke grenades:
  • White smoke is used for cover, M83 White Smoke (vanilla) provides big screen and is least buggy.
  • Coloured smoke is generally used for pinpointing positions, friendly, enemy, medical and so on.
  • Colour meanings are not set in stone, but normal usage is:
    • Green - friendly position.
    • Blue - Landing Zone (LZ).
    • Red - enemy position.
    • Purple - Combat Search and Rescue LZ.

Backpack

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• Useful to carry one and bring something that might help squad down the line.
• Vary in weight and carrying capacity.
• Some backpacks are parts of weapons that have to be assembled. (Do not take these unless you are instructed to do so.)
• Some backpacks are LR Radio - These are all provided by the TFAR mod. Rifleman are not allowed to take these from the Arsenal.
  • If your SL and 2IC are dead in the Area of operations (AO) and you need to re-establish comms with Platoon HQ, any member of the squad is authorized to pickup and use these radio backpacks. (Refer to Section 6 for more on TFAR Radios.)

Other Misc Items

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• Voice: Always take NO VOICE.
• Watch: Take the default watch unless you're paradropping (especially at night). This is when you should take the altimeter watch.
  • The altimeter watch will tell you how high up you are and is essential to opening your parachute at the correct height in order to not crash into the ground.
• Compass: Just take it.
• Communication: SR Radios, take AN/PRC-152 as BLUFOR, FADAK as REDFOR.
• Terminal: Take GPS unless prohibited by Zeus or similar reasons.
• Map: Take it.
• Binoculars: Riflemen generally do not need them, but they are free to take rangefinders.
  • Laser designators are by default only given to SL's and 2ICs (2nd in Command).
    • Laser designators are used to specify targets with line-of-sight of infantry to be dealt with by assets which can use the lase codes or are able to see the laser designator's target.
• NVGs: Various versions, people should test them in spawn when night mission starts and pick what they like.
  • (As with all other loadout items it's highly encouraged to fit the faction you are playing as.)

Saving A Loadout

Let's say you have now created the perfect loadout for X role in Y and Z aspects. Well that's a pretty awesome loadout but the moment you leave the server, your game crashes or something similar occurs (intended or not) your awesome loadout is gone, poof.

(Cue the worlds tiniest violin.)

Well, here's how you prevent that.

First, give your loadout a quick look-over in your normal inventory to make sure it has everything you need.

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Second, open the ACE Arsenal and look towards the bottom of your screen. You should see a button that says "LOADOUTS"

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Third, click on the "LOADOUTS" button and look to the right hand side of your screen. This is where you can save, and load any loadouts you have made in the past.

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Use the leftmost text field to give your loadout a name. Distinguish it with the role, camo, weapon or the like.

Finally, click "SAVE" to save the currently equipped items under the loadout name you have specified.

You can figure out what "LOAD" does.

Misc Information

In the rare case that a Scenario (aka "Scripted Mission") is being played, no arsenal will be provided and the items on your character when you are spawned is what you are given, period.

(Sections 10 through 13 will provide more info on joining FK main and off-hours missions and other important info when you are prepared to join them.)

Section 8 - ACE Interactions

"Normal" Interactions

Normal Interactions involve you interacting with other things in your environment from vehicles to some objects etc. Pressing then holding (⊞ Win) the Windows Key, will bring up this menu.

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(Note how there are no options with normal interactions if there is nothing to interact with!)

Self Interactions

Self Interactions involve you interacting with yourself and attributes related to your equipment etc. Pressing then holding (CTRL + ⊞ Win) will bring up this menu.

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Interaction Examples *

Joining A Squad

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Cable-Tying (Can be used on any civilian and surrendered enemies, requires cable-ties is the user's inventory.)

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Section 9 - ACE Medical System

(Thanks @Gditz for the fantastic video.)

The ACE Medical Menu (and Basic First Aid)

The following guide is required reading for training sessions.

Section 10 - TFAR Radios

Keybindings

• Push-to-talk button in TeamSpeak   Direct Speech.
• Caps Lock   To talk on a radio.
• CTRL + Caps Lock   To talk on a long range radio.
• CTRL + P   To open the personal radio interface (the radio must be in the inventory slot). In that case if you have a number of radios - you can select the one needed. It is also possible to set the radio as active (the one that will be used for transmission). Also it is possible to load radio settings from another radio with same encryption code. 
• ALT + P   To open a long range radio interface (a long range radio must be put on your back, or you should be in a vehicle in a position of a driver, shooter, or pilot assistant). If a number of radios are available – you'll be offered to choose one. Besides, one of them can be set as active. Also it is possible to load radio settings from another radio with same encryption code.
• NUM[1-8]   Rapid switching of shortwave radio channels.
• CTRL + NUM[1-9]   Rapid switching of long range radio channels.
• CTRL + TAB   To change the direct speech volume. You can talk: Whispering, Normal or Yelling. Does not affect the signal volume in the radio transmission. (Please keep this volume to normal unless told otherwise by a Squad leader or superior).
• ESC   To exit from the radio interface.

Use-Cases for Short and Long Range Radios

(Credit to @Kreeper for his excellent comms guide)

Short-Range radios are used as intra-squad communication almost exclusively. Avoid attempting to communicate with other squads via short-range unless dire circumstances have arisen.

Long-Range radios are for all asset slots, Platoon HQ and for Squad Leads/2ICs only. As an SL/2IC you will use the Long-Range radio to communicate with other squads, Crossroads (Zeus) and Platoon HQ.

Platoon HQ includes the Platoon Lead, 2IC, RTO, FAC, Medic and Drone operator.

• FAC is responsible for coordinating and instructing all Rotary (Helicopters) and Fixed Wing (Jets/Planes) assets.
• RTO is responsible for coordinating and instructing all ground assets such as Tanks (T-72's), IFVs (Bradleys) and APCs (BTRs).
• If you need to coordinate with any of these assets you should call in to RTO or FAC respectively. The same idea applies to calling into Platoon.
• Crossroads (Zeus) is the mission maker, or "dungeon master" so to speak. Call into him if pinging him (CTRL+Y) has received no response in the cases of Arma screwing you over, aka "getting armaed".

Conduct

Starting a Long-Range transmission:

1. The intended actual you are addressing, "Alpha actual ..."
2. Who is transmitting, "... this is Charlie Actual,"
3. Your message, "Be advised, enemy Mi-8 in the air, it appears to be dropping paratroopers close to your position from the Western approach, ..."
4. A Qualifier "... over?"

Qualifiers

• Over - You have finished your transmission and are expecting a response from the other party.
• Out - You have finished your transmission, but you do not expect a response and the net is once again available.
• Break - Is for when a transmission "convo" is over, but you wish to start another one
• Wait - Give me x amount of time to respond, usually used in scenarios where danger is imminent to your or some other similar reason.

Keep messages short and sweet. If you need to stop mid-way through your message finish the first part of your message and then state "Break". Stop transmitting until you have finished the thought and have the necessary info to properly communicate the rest of your transmission.

When asked for your Status by platoon or whatever element is currently the lead element, use an ACE report.

1. AMMO - This can be a general ("Low on ammo") or more it can be more specific, "Riflemen are low on, but the AR is getting low.").
2. CASUALTIES - State your dead and if you have lost important roles such as medic, SL and or 2IC, specify this.
   1. Mention how many of your squad are stable but injured and vice versa.
3. EQUIPMENT - If you still have or are missing your AR (Autorifle) or AT (Anti-Tank Rifleman), specify this here.

Short-Range radio as previously stated is only for important intra-squad communication. If it's not important, keep it in "direct voice".

Section 11 - BLUFOR vs REDFOR 

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As of the RHS 0.4.7 update (August 12th, 2018), Launchers and Assets have been fixed to have playable levels.

This section is heavily based upon RHS based content. At time of writing (Late June, 2018) RHS USAF (AFRF to a lesser degree), assets such as tanks, IFVs and APCs are heavily bugged.

No patch has been released yet so it is advised that Zeuses avoid these assets or avoid placing infantry who carry RPG-26s. (The RPG-26 is extremely powerful at time of writing due to a inheritance bug.)

Assets

Here are the most common assets you will encounter and or use in Zeus missions from the BLUFOR AND REDFOR factions respectively.

BLUFOR

M1 Abrams - American Main Battle Tank (MBT)

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Cougar MRAP

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M2 Bradley aka Bradley IFV

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HMMWV aka Humvee

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M113 aka Lunchbox (aka a fucking deathtrap)

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Blackhawk (UH-60M)

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Apache (AH-64D)

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Chinook (CH-47F)

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REDFOR (Not everything is BMP, BMD, BTR, etc. Get it right.)

BRDM (Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina  or "Combat Reconnaissance Patrol Vehicle")

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BTR (Bronetransportyor or "Armoured Transporter") (Specifically the BTR-80)

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BMP (Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty or "Infantry Fighting Vehicle") (Specifically the BMP-2)

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BMD (Boyevaya Mashina Desanta or "Combat Vehicle of the Airborne") (Specifically the BMD-2)

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T-72, T-80 and T-90 (Russian MBTs)

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T-72

T-80

T-90

Mi-8 (Transport helicopter, can carry and fire rocket pods.)

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Mi-24 (Gunship helicopter, can also carry small amounts of infantry)

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This guide will not include pictures of INDFOR assets, uniforms or firearms due to the extremely large variety which exists.

Firearms

Due to the extremely expansive nature of firearms available to you courtesy of NIArms, RHS, 3CB: BAF (and a few other mods) a truly comprehensive non-biased list of all sides firearms would be not worth the effort.

With this in mind I have linked Rorkiy's "Weapons and Weapon Types Index Guide" which is far more comprehensive than anything I could integrate into this guide.

Detailed information on all firearms is available in the ACE Arsenal including minute of angle, caliber, weight and more.

Take these with a pinch of salt as RHS and NiArms does not use CBA so the accuracy of those numbers can vary.

(NiArms does have compatibility with ACE compared to RHS.)

Section 12 - AT and AA Intro

Launchers

There are a few simple (most of the time) differences between HAT, MAT and LAT.

AA is classified as:

• Any launcher with exclusive capability to lock onto airborne targets, (meaning it cannot lock onto ground targets.)

HAT is classified as:

• Any AT Launcher with a form of Lock-On
  • (Almost all HAT launchers are reloadable with no noteable exceptions.)
  • (Semantics are not important. If the launcher does tracking independent of the user's direct input, it has tracking.)

MAT is classified as:

• Any reloadable foot-mobile launcher.
• No available tracking mechanics as a part of the launcher.
• Is not a single-use/disposable launcher.

LAT is classified as:

• Any disposable single-use* launcher.
• Cannot be reloaded.*
• No available tracking mechanisms in the launcher.

LAT is the default type of launcher you should take when you slot as a Rifleman. Zeus determines what kind of AT/AA can be used (if any).

Platoon HQ will determine if a squad will take MAT, HAT or AA based upon restrictions placed by Zeus.

Backblast

AT launchers push a round out their barrel at an extremely high velocity using explosives. Hopefully you already understood this.

When this occurs extremely high pressure air and shrapnel will exit the back of the launcher. This requires a step to ensure you will not injure fellow squadmates etc.

You need call backblast! The phrase, "Clear backblast!", after you've gotten permission from SL should always be shouted before you fire the AT launcher.

Wait until you have confirmation from all nearby friendly infantry, and finally be ready to fire.

Keep this in mind at all times when carrying and using a launcher of any kind.

If you want to know the exact distance and total angle of the backblast from any given launcher, refer to the ACE Arsenal where you can view such details by selecting the launcher in your "Launcher" slot. (Who would have known!)

You will then see a detailed list of statistics related to the launch in the top-left region of you screen.

AT/AA Rules

These rules determine what and who can take launchers. This also includes what types of launchers.

• Rocket launchers are limited to Rifleman (LAT) and Rifleman.
  • This can only be relaxed by Zeus under any circumstances.
  • Anyone may pickup launchers in the AO to deal with armored targets, (unless told otherwise by Zeus, squad leader etc).
• The following combinations of rocket launchers are allowed:
  • Up to three LAT-Launchers.*
  • Up to one AA/MAT/HAT-launcher per squad **
    • AA/MAT/HAT launchers are generally quite heavy.
    • Due to this potential weight and the importance of having a round on hand at any time, more than likely you will want spread the rockets out to the rifleman in the squad.
      • Your squad leader is the final say in this regard but don't pester him about this unless it's absolutely necessary.
      • (A maximum of 3 rounds can be carried in the squad in total with one round already loaded into the launcher, aka 3+1.)*
• Zeus can and may change what squads take what launchers and how much they can take with the intent of improving the mission.*
• Platoon determines which squads take what kind of launchers.**

AT vs AA (and examples)

There are many different variants of projectiles that can be used in foot mobile launchers but we will only really be covering the two most important types to you as an infantryman.

Anti-Tank (AT)

AT is classified as any launcher (or launcher round) intended to penetrate a (variable) standard of tank armor. AT and ammunition for AT launchers can be used to fire at air targets, but it is comparatively, very ineffective to Anti-Air launchers (AA).

Here are some examples of Light Anti-Tank Launchers (LAT) and Medium Anti-Tank (MAT) from Red Hammer Studios' (RHS) United States Armed Forces (USAF) and Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (AFRF) mods respectively.

• RHS USAF
  • LAT
    • M136 AT-4

    • Quote

      

      

    • Can be equipped from the Arsenal with High Penetration (HP), High Explosive Dual Purpose (HEDP) or High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) variants. Must be readied by pressing the R key. (Bottom-right most image shows the fully readied launcher.)
  • MAT
    • M3 MAAWS

    • Quote

      

      

    • Can be equipped from the Arsenal with a High Explosive (HE), HEDP or HEAT rounds.
• RHS AFRF
  • LAT
    • RPG-26

    • Quote

      

      

    • By pressing CTRL + MOUSE 2 (aka Right Click), when you bring up the sight to fire the RPG, this view of the sight (shown in the bottom-right image) will be shown from a different prespective.

    • Quote

      

    • Can be equipped from the Arsenal but can only carry a HEAT round.
  • MAT
    • RPG-7V2

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    • Can be equipped from the Arsenal with HE, HEDP, Airburst, HEAT, Tandem HEAT and many other types of rounds.
    • If you want to know how to use the RPG-7V2 optics, please refer to the image below. This is a general reference image.

    • Quote

      

Anti-Air (AA)

AA is classified as any launcher designed to target and destroy Rotary and Fixed Wing Air targets.

Here are some examples of Anti-Air Launchers available in RHS' USAF and AFRF mods respectively.

• RHS USAF
  • FIM-92F (AKA STINGER)

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  • Can be equipped from the Arsenal.
    • (No other different types of ammunition outside of defaults for the Stinger are available.)
• RHS AFRF
  • 9K38 IGLA

  • Quote

                      

    

  • Can be equipped from the Arsenal.
    • (No other different types of ammunition outside of defaults for the Igla are available.)

Be careful with AA. Pressing the "Lock On" key will reset the lock on cycle so be careful! (Check your keybindings).

The Stinger and the Igla respectively acquire any target within the line of sight of their targeting system. Always be careful not to fire on friendly assets.

AT/AA Extended

Nick Aryson has created an excellent and detailed guide to using AT and AA, far beyond what this guide can provide. Please refer to this for more advanced concepts.

Section 13 - Conclusion

Yikes, this was a long guide but I really hope that it helped you to understand as much as possible before hopping in and playing with FK or maybe it just helped you realize that you had totally missed a really helpful aspect of Arma etc.

If all you take away from this guide is how to rebind a few keys and some frustration from having to read it due to required reading from a training session, then that's fine.

To those who have scrolled all the way to the end of the guide and have decided to ignore this guide due to it's immense size, take it in parts read certain parts one day, and then some more the next day.

If this guide has helped you play with, join and play with FK or even just show you something you didn't already know.

Thanks.

Changelog

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 01/07/18 - 1.0.0 - Guide Released

 02/07/18 - 1.0.2 - Added small section on how to place items in your characters inventory and revised a section on joining the server.

 08/07/18 - 1.0.3 - Added an image to help to users install the TFAR beta.

 10/07/18 - 1.0.4 - Replaced the TFAR install image with an uglier but more compact image and moved it's location. (See v. 1.0.3)

 24/07/18 - 1.1.0 - Changed how sections are arrange to be more effective for users just joining FK.

 24/07/18 - 1.1.1 - Further adjustments to the 1.1.0 patch.

 27/07/18 - 1.1.1_2 - Minor changes to layout and removed unneeded elements.

 13/08/18 - 1.1.1_5 - Removed outdated materials and adjusted formatting.

 29/08/18 - 1.1.2 - Changes to client-side mod section according to the new whitelist system.

 15/09/18 - 1.2.0 - A ton of revisions and suggested additions courtesy of @Guest (cheers mate) and a few changes of my own.

 20/02/18 - 1.2.1 - Remove missing imgur links. Replacements are WIP.

 Added:

  N/A

 Changed:

  N/A

Removed:

  Old Imgur links which no longer provide the original images. Fix soonTM.

Please leave feedback/suggestions for me!

(Note: I am avoiding major additions to this guide as it is designed to be a single thread guide and more additins may necessitate creation of an entirely new guide.)

What do we have:

• BRDM's: 4 Wheels, Small Gun (capable of 7.62 or 50.cal fire); this may also have a shitton of Rocketpods on top (seldom used tho)

• BTR's: 8 Wheels, 7.62 and 50.cal gun, may also have a long, small barrel, which is an Autocannon
  • The leftmost BTR is the BTR-80A. It has an Autocannon, similar to the one the Bradley uses. 

A BRDM (left) and a BTR (right)

• BMP's: Tracked
  • BMP-1's (left): Big Cannon, which has a reload time, White Rocket/Yellow Launcher on top
  • BMP-2's (middle): Long, thin Autocannon, yellow launcher on top
  • BMP-3's (right): Bulky, Big Cannon with a smaller Coaxial Gun

• BMD's: Tracked, Significantly smaller than a BMP
  • See Criteria for BMP's
• These are supposed to be Air dropped easily

A BMD-1 (left) and a BMP-1 (right)

A BMD-3 (left) and a BMP-3 (right)

• MBT's:
  • T-34 (left): Small, big Cannon, tall Turret "holding"
  • T-55 (middle): long Chassis, medium sized Turret "holding"
  • T-72 and up (both on the left): Scary af, sturdy looking, armoured Tracks, 

While we're at it I'm gonna mention AA and Helicopter's as well

• MI-8 (right): Round, big nose, kinda fat in general, may have Rocekt Pods (called "Hip")
• MI-24 (middle): always armed, long glassy part for 2 pilots with one having an elevated seat (called "Hind)
• MI-28 (left): always armed, round ball thing on top of Main Rotor, Big, long Fuck off Cannon below the Pilots, also scary af (called "Havoc")

Now for AA

• ZU-23-2: 2 barreled, static emplacement, 2 man crew
• ZSU-23-4: tracked, lightly armoured, 4 barreld, Radar capable
• ZSU-35 Tigris: Futuristic "I eat Helicopters for breakfast" look, 2 barrels (one on either side)

Some Tanks have different kinds and amounts of armour.

Here's a cute BMD for your troubles  

Not really. While the Su-25 doesn't have a targeting pod, it does have a laser designator that can be used to accurately guide missiles onto targets. It can be slewed around and stabilized.
The designator has a cooldown time proportional to how long it is kept on.

Pressing your "Next Target (Vehicle)" key (default "R") will activate the laser designator. A green light will appear on the bottom left of your HUD indicating the laser is on.

The yellow crosshair on your HUD indicates the position of the laser. When a laser-guided weapon is selected, you can slew the designator onto your target using the User Action 15 - 18 keys (found under "Custom Controls").
User action 15: Left.
User action 16: Right.
User action 17: Up.
User action 18: Down.
You will likely need to move the nose of your plane to more accurately place the crosshair on your target, but if you manage to slew it perfectly onto the target that works just as well.

You can stabilize the designator on the target using your "Stablize Turret" key (default "T". Make sure it isn't being overwritten by any other keybinds such as TFAR's "SW transmit additional" or "Lase Range"). This only tracks that area and won't follow the target if it moves.
The designator has fairly limited rotation. If you move the aircraft's nose too far off angle, it will lose track and switch itself off. Keep it on target until impact.

When within launch range, a yellow lamp will light up on the bottom-right of your HUD. A red lamp will light up underneath the green one when you're too close.

The missile locks on to the laser mark automatically and will follow it after launch.
You should only activate the designator after visually acquiring the target and deactivate it after missile impact to reduce the cooldown period. The green light will flash to indicate that the designator is cooling down.
Minimum cooldown time is 15 seconds. If you keep the laser on for longer, the cooldown will be 30 seconds long, and 60 seconds long if you keep the laser on for longer than that.
The laser designator automatically switches off after 60 seconds of use.

So, the process:
1. Activate the laser designator. (keybind: Weapons -> "Next Target (Vehicle)"
2. Select a laser-guided weapon.
3. Place the crosshair on the target, either by slewing it or maneuvering.
4. Stabilize the laser designator. (keybind: Weapons -> "Stabilize Turret")
5. Fire.
6. Deactivate the laser designator after impact. (keybind: Weapons -> "Next Target (Vehicle)")

Only the Kh-25, Kh-25ML, Kh-29L, and Kh-29ML can be guided this way.

http://www.rhsmods.org/w/su25

Basically: the A-10A does not have a targeting pod.
You can still pretend you have one. Using your "Targeting camera" keybind (default: LCtrl + RMB) your camera will move to the television monitor to the right of your climb and altitude indicators.

If you press "N", the monitor will switch to a thermal image. This acts similar to most fixed-wing targeting pod cameras: you can move the view around (through a limited angle), zoom in and out, and lock the turret onto vehicles and terrain.
This image is the direct video feed from the IIR seeker of an AGM-65D loaded on one of your pylons. Naturally, this means you won't get any video feed if you don't have at least one Maverick loaded.
 

Now you know how the A-10A video feed works. What difference does this make to its usage?

For one, this means that you won't see shit once you use your last Maverick, and that you can only get a thermal image - not NV or VIS.
More importantly, it means:

1. You need to manually guide the seeker onto the target before being able to engage it.
2. You cannot cycle targets - you must use the "Lock target" keybind (default "T" but this is overwritten by TFAR. Bind it to something else or rebind the TFAR "SW transmit additional" keybind. The "Lase range" keybind may also cause issues. Figure it out).
Because the "Lock target" function selects the target in the center of your screen, you need to be in the seeker view, with the seeker stabilized on the target, when you lock it. If the seeker is facing forwards, you can just lock looking through your HUD.

So, the process:
1. Enter the television monitor view. (keybind: Common -> "Targeting Camera")
2. Activate the IIR seeker. (keybind: Common -> "Night Vision")
3. Slew the seeker head onto a target and stabilize it. (keybind: Weapons -> "Stabilize Turret")
4. Lock the weapon onto the target. (keybind: Weapons -> "Lock Target")
5. Maneuver into position and fire.
 

You can also slew the IIR seeker without entering its view. You need to bind your User Action 15 - 18 keys for this (found under "Custom Controls").

On the A-10A HUD, there is a cross showing the position of the Maverick's IIR seeker view. If you have visual on a target from your cockpit, you can use the user actions to slew the seeker head onto the target without entering the TV monitor view.
User action 15: Left.
User action 16: Right.
User action 17: Up.
User action 18: Down.

http://www.rhsmods.org/w/a10a

A GUIDE ON HOW TO ZEUS or STORYTELLING AND YOU

The initial tip I want to give any budding Zeus is to co-Zeus with a more experienced member of the community before undertaking an actual mission. I also highly advise reading this guide then playing around in the Editor for a while.

FOREWORD

Something that is extremely important to note in all gaming and other forms of activities/media that you participate in with others is the RULE OF FUN (alt. the RULE OF COOL) reigns supreme. If your personal fun weighs heavier than others’ then you should not try to Zeus, period. This does not mean that what some feel are anathema to what they find fun that you should not Zeus, however, because people are different and there are different forms of fun. They can just choose not to join in if they find the mission you’re making/assets they want are not in the mission.Another VERY important facet of Zeusing is the storytelling aspect. You are a storyteller, the Master of Games if you will. You control the flow and the general feel of the mission. A well set up mission will feel a lot smoother and controlled than a slap-dash half-assed attempt at setting a mission up.If you are going for boring and slow i.e. Generation Kill and then thrust the players straight into action suddenly then that is your prerogative. However, if you then overshoot on the boring and slow and completely overwhelm the players when they’re supposed to see action they will not like it. That’s where balance comes in. Balancing your game is almost impossible when you start out, as well as the difference between a few and a lot of players.

This is something that will come with experience, but it’s better to err on the side of caution than to completely overwhelm the players in all aspects.

1.0 BASICS

Anyone can use the Zeus tool. Literally anyone. However, to become an adept game-master or storyteller you’ll need a few more tools in your kitbag and I will explain the basics below.

1.1 Concept

The first thing you’ll need to figure out before you venture into the deep end that is Zeusing will need a concept – an idea for the mission. There are several types of missions, but the most common ones are ‘seize and hold’, ‘search and destroy’ and ‘search and rescue’ with variations therein. I will give a short list of interesting mission ideas that you can try out with your first few missions that are basic enough for even QueueP to understand.

·         Search and destroy – find something that needs to be destroyed. This something can be a person, a building, a goat or anything else you find interesting. Examples include: a High Value Target (HVT), an informant that needs to be silenced, a supply cache that need to be destroyed, a friendly asset currently controlled by the enemy.

·         Search and rescue – find a friendly force or Very Important Person (VIP) and rescue them from whatever predicament they find themselves in. Examples include: stuck under fire, captured, wounded and stuck, lost in the wild, taken hostage by another unrelated faction.

·         Seize and hold – take control of something and hold that thing. Examples include: take and hold a town, hold a Forward Operating Base (FOB), hold off enemies until reinforcements arrive.

These concepts can be used in combinations with each other.

Concept example:

X-ROADS: You are to take and hold (SaH) Feyd al-Abr in the southern region of Fakeistan. Within that town there is at least one known enemy leader (SaD) that need to be killed. He was last seen in the northern part of town.

1.2 Enemy and friendly forces

Get an idea of which side the players will be on (OPFOR / BLUFOR / INDFOR) and who they will be facing. Something that can be included under this topic is also friendly forces, for example allies in the field.

Have a basic idea of what the enemy and their assets will be within the mission, for example militia or regular forces. This will need to be balanced in relation to the friendly forces’ assets. More on that later. Enemy assets also include any kind of strongholds, strong points, known roadblocks and/or mines.

You will also, often, brief them on air and/or ground assets such as helicopters, fixed wing and armor.

Enemy example:

X-ROADS: The enemy forces will consist of a mix of Islamic militants and Russian scouts. They will work together to hinder your attempts to seize the town and kill the leader. They will have up to BTRs (an armored vehicle) in ways of armor and the roads will be mined with IEDs (improvised explosive devices). You will be acting on your own. There will not be any suicide-bombers. They will not have any air assets.

1.3 Difficulty

Something that also need to be considered is how difficult you want the mission to be. If you have Zeused a lot of missions and know exactly how hard a mission will be you obviously won’t need this section, but if you haven’t then a good idea is to start calmly and ramp up equally slow.

A difficult mission is fun whereas an impossible one is not. This is a case-to-case basis, obviously.

Difficulty example:

You have two squads (around 12 people) and have briefed them up to but not including the heavy armor you are going to send at them. This means that there is a facet of the mission they are yet unaware of. This can be used to spice up a mission which can make an easy mission into a challenging and rewarding one if used correctly! However, if it’s used when they have armed themselves only to fight cars and trucks and a main battle tank (MBT) rolls over the hill they will have a hard time dealing with it. This can then anger the player(s).

1.4 Other important details

Other important details include civilians in the area and any other details that you feel need to be included (for example storms, important weather and other important events) and the Rules of Engagement (RoE).

Detail example:

X-ROADS: The area is littered with old mines that aren’t marked, so be careful. There will be civilians in the area, so you’ll have to be careful as you pass through the towns on your way there. ROE will be orange until further notice.

[Quick guide to RoE – green: fire at will, orange: fire only when fired upon, red: don’t fire, regardless]  

After you have decided these things you will need to mark the objectives on the map using something called map markers. They will also be explained further below, but they are marked accordingly in the map marker module. When you have decided upon these things, not before, you go to briefing.

 2.0 BRIEFING

During the briefing you will gather all the command elements of the platoon. During off-hours this will usually only consist of a couple of squads and maybe an additional asset. During a main mission it will most likely include a platoon HQ (headquarters), Forward Air Controller (FAC), Radio Telephone Operator (RTO) and other details from PLTHQ as well as squad leaders (SLs) and asset commanders. Those are a lot of moving parts and gears and therefore you should be prepared for the questions that will arise.

The way to give a good briefing is to be concise, informative and open to questions (CIO). I have given examples above of what a briefing can sound like, but I will write it out in full below.

X-ROADS: You are to take and hold (SaH) Feyd al-Abr in the southern region of Fakeistan. Within that town there is at least one known enemy leader (SaD) that need to be killed. He was last seen in the northern part of town.

The enemy forces will consist of a mix of Islamic militants and Russian scouts. They will work together to hinder your attempts to seize the town and kill the leader. They will have up to BTRs (an armored vehicle) in ways of armor and the roads will be mined with IEDs (improvised explosive devices). You will be acting on your own. There will not be any suicide-bombers. There will not be any air assets.

The area is littered with old mines that aren’t marked, so be careful. There will be civilians in the area, so you’ll have to be careful as you pass through the towns on your way there. ROE will be orange until further notice.

The objectives have been marked on your map. Any questions?

After you have answered any questions the Setting Up phase begins. It can already have begun and when you get more experienced the phase will be set up quicker and quicker each time.

3.0 SETTING UP

Here begins the bane of many a good mission idea!

Setting up a mission can and should take time until you learn what your strengths and weaknesses are. You need not, however, set up the mission in its entirety. The opposite is true where you should instead take your time and plan where to set up your mission. Make sure to, even here, plan and have at least formative idea of where you want your units to be placed. This is something that even the most experienced Zeus still has trouble with, mind, so this is not something that you can become an expert at immediately.

In your first mission you are highly advised to use the Zeus tools available to you to place and move units around and not experiment too much during the mission until you feel more acquainted with the tools.

TIP 1: Place units that will lead to initial contact first so that the mission may begin faster. Be cautioned however that if the map is flat enough the players may see what you are spawning in. This is a no-no!

TIP 2: Make sure to place all of your fortifications and/or a placeholder for where you want them before the mission begins so you may set them up quicker, for example roadblocks or barricades.

TIP 3: Make sure to, when spawning in reinforcements, spawn them where the players can’t see, regardless if you use the Reinforcements module or not. It breaks immersion!

3.1 Bases and fortifications

As anyone knows who has played a Zeus mission the enemy have a lot of various places to be, garrison and fire out of. If you do not intend to use already placed bases and houses (advised, by the way) you can spawn in your own. They can be found under Groups > Empty and then under the various titles, such as Military. A tip is to play aroundwith these tools in the Editor to get a basic idea of what kind of fortifications there are! There are too many to list.

Here is a link on how to set up Zeus in the Editor by Tomo.

https://www.fuckknows.eu/forums/topic/4740-setting-up-zeus-in-the-editor-video/

TIP: Using the pre-built fortifications and buildings is highly advised when placing custom buildings. An example would be under Military and then Fortifications & bunkers and then looking around to find one you like. You can also spawn one in and then change how it looks/deleting certain items so it fits your idea of what it should look like.

3.2 Placing units

When placing a unit, it will automatically spawn closest to your cursor. They can be placed from the map-screen (M) and from direct view. When they are placed from the map they can however get stuck on and in things, so it is advised to place them in direct view to start with. You can either place Units or Groups. Units are individual entities of whatever thing you want to spawn, for example a single armored vehicle or soldier. Groups are instead several of these entities at one time, for example a squad or a host of vehicles.

3.3 Starting the mission

Starting the mission is as simple as placing down the module Create a teleporter (found under Player, not Players - confusing, I know). You need to place at least two, one at spawn and one where you/they want to start. When spawning in new teleporters they will all be tied in to the same network meaning that any more you spawn will just be added to that network. If you remove one of the teleporters the players will not be able to teleport to that area any more.

Example:

The players want to start outside Feyr al-Abr to the north, about two kilometers away. The Zeus then spawns in a teleporter both at spawn and names it thus as well as the start and names it thus, so the players know where to go. They will be named Alpha and Bravo (… and Charlie and Delta and so on) unless altered. It is highly advised to change their names to clarify where they go.

3.4 Simple tips

Units and groups

When selecting a single unit click at the icon at the base of that unit. When selecting a group click the rectangle above it (even single units have been assigned a group).

If you click a unit you can alter its individual stance and other options best experienced in-game and if you click the rectangle above them (group marker) you will have another host of options. These can be used to alter the combat state of the group from Careless all the way to Stealth, their Mode of Attack (for example Hold fire or Engage at will) as well as their movement speed from Limited to Fast.

Waypoints

When you have sent your units or groups toward an area you can double-click the waypoint itself to change their behavior when they arrive at that waypoint. If you have made a waypoint close to a building where they last had reports of where the players where you can change the mode from Move (the basic mode) to Search building and they will do just that when they arrive at the waypoint. This is also true when assigning multiple waypoints (see below).

TIP: To get a patrol to look relaxed and calm put the unit on Safe (lowers their weapons) as well as the speed to Limited (makes them walk). This will, however, make them react slower to enemy contact (usually intentional by the Zeus).

Searching for placeable entities/items

In all folders a search table can be found at the top. Use it! However, you need to know the name of whatever you are looking for. If you do not you can always just type the first letter and then scroll down the list until you find it.

Setting up an Arsenal outside of the start area

Any and all objects that are placed can be assigned to become an Arsenal, however it is advised to go into the Singular items, then search for ‘Supply’ in the Empty tab. This is what is used in spawn and players will usually recognize this as the Arsenal. You can then find Add Full Arsenal by either searching or finding it under the appropriate tab. There are two options, either works. Click the object you want to make an Arsenal and the players will then have to access the arsenal by using Ace Interact. After this is done you can usually remove the arsenal (so as to not be abused by those pesky players!).

3.5 Keybinds

Double-clicking a unit > Opens up a bunch of options, for example the Arsenal for that unit. This can be done to several units if marked at the same time (for example changing their stance or their loadouts). CAUTION: If you mark players at the same time they too will be altered (for example their arsenal equipment and loadout).

TIP: You can also damage individual parts of units, both vehicles and infantry. This can be used to enhance certain situations for example damaging the avionics of a helicopter or the tail rotor for special events in a mission!

G > Get AI to exit a vehicle or turret (instantly!). Even drivers and/or loaded civilians will exit the vehicle.

End > Kill a placed unit (any) or group (all). CAUTION: Vehicles explode.

Del > Deletes a placed unit or group if you’ve marked the group marker (all units will be highlighted).

L CTRL + C and L CTRL + V > Copies and then pastes all placeable entities (anything, really, that you can click on as a Zeus) excluding players. Examples include units, groups, fortifications, single pieces of clothing, items and basically everything in the game.

Hold L Shift and click/hold L M Btn and drag > Changes the facing of a placed entity.

Hold L CTRL and click/drag to other entities > Joins entities into a larger group.

Hold L CTRL, click a single unit and drag with L M Btn away from other entities > Makes that unit leave its group.

Hold L SHIFT, click a group and drag with L M Btn away from other entities > Makes the group disband leaving single units.

Double-clicking a waypoint > Opens up a host of various actions that can be taken when arriving at that waypoint, for example: Search and destroy or Search a building.

Hold L CTRL then right-click > Assigns more than one waypoint. Shows a +-symbol when holding L CTRL.

Hold L CTRL and L ALT then right-click > Closes the loop/waypoints into a patrol. Overwrites VCOM parameters (they will always move in the patrol pattern). Shows a rotational-symbol when holding both buttons.

4.0 CONTROLLING THE UNITS

4.1 Easy controls made hard or controlling infantry

Now you’ve made it so far and hopefully have learned at least bits and pieces! Here comes the controlling of units that can make the mission both ten times better and worse.

By directly controlling a unit (usually CTRL+L Mbtn or using the Zeus module) you basically turn yourself into that individual with all their loadout like any other time you’ve been in a mission.

TIP: You can also alter their loadouts if you double-click the unit which opens up a menu and then clicking ‘Arsenal’. This will load the arsenal and you can mix and match just as usual.

This can be used very effectively to, for example, make the players aware that an attack is coming from an unknown angle by firing close to them or at them, generally. This will usually alert them to the danger, but sometimes it does not. Staggering the threat ever upward is fine, for example missing first, then hitting closer and closer and eventually wounding the soldier and then outright killing them if they do not get into cover. This is up to the Zeus in question but is, as with everything else when zeus-ing, a balancing act.

4.2 Controlling armor and other vehicles

Seeing as all vehicles in the game have spots, for example driver and gunner, you can also control these individually as a Zeus. By clicking the armored unit or vehicle you will get a few choices in the form of small circles with different symbols - for example driver or gunner. If you then zeus-control one of these (CTRL+L Mbtn or Zeus module) you will then take that AI’s place in that slot. This is usually something you will need to do if a vehicle has got stuck in a rock and you don’t want to just drag it out of there, for any number of reasons, and want to make it look better. You can also control individual gunners or loaders in heavily armored targets and such doing what was written above, for example making players aware of a mounting threat in the form of armor or vehicles.

TIP: This can also be done to any and all vehicles, including air, water and land assets.

5.1 MISSION SETTINGS

5.1 Altering the environment, mission parameters and ending a scenario

When setting up a mission there are multiple ways to change the general theme of the mission as well as the feel of it. It can be rainy (not advised when you have a lot of players due to lost frames), hard wind, foggy and so on. It can be night-time, dawn, dusk - whatever time you want. You can also change the name of scenarios, do in-game briefings and set up mission objectives (which we don’t do in FK due to immersion problems).

5.2. Changing environmental settings

When going in to the modules under Zeus you can find a tab called ‘Environment’. That tab lets you change the weather, time of day, wind speed and many other things. It is advised that you not toy around too much with the advanced weather effects until after you’ve tried them out in the Editor.

5.2. Mission parameters

Changing mission parameters is quite easy and can be found in Scenario settings as well as Environment.

5.3 Changing the time

Setting the time to night-time will obviously change the darkness level and it is something that most Zeuses still have to fiddle around with to get the actual time they want. Another way to do this is to speed up the time needed in Time Acceleration found under Scenario settings. This will then allow the Zeus to halt the time (x0) or go back to a normal speed (x1) and keep the mission going from there. It can also be used quite effectively in missions where they land during the day but it turns to night during.

5.4 Changing the name

Changing the mission name can be also be found under these settings which some Zeuses like to do to enhance the feel of the mission, for example naming them something they find cool.

5.5 Creating intel

You can create intel to enhance missions where they need to find information on the whereabouts of a certain thing, person or place (or what have you). This is done by clicking the Create intel option under Scenario flow and then clicking on the ground. This will open up a pop-up menu that is quite easy to follow, but a general tip is to make it either a laptop or a folder. It will then spawn an item that you can manipulate like any other object in the game. Creating intel can be used in a number of ways in a mission, for example to give a position on an HVT or some such, and can be shared only to the person accessing it or to the whole side (all the players on that side). This can be decided in the pop up menu. The actual intel can be a lot of things but it is essentially a text document with information in it that can be accessed by interacting with it by the players.

Briefings

To make briefings you open up the Briefing-option under the same tab and then name the briefing, for example PRIMARY OBJECTIVE or CAPTURE THE TOWN or something similar. In the information box underneath you can then write what you feel is needed, but a reference would be to use the examples above in Chapter 1. This can be done to speed up briefings if you have prepared the mission beforehand (for example in a Word-document or similar and then copy and paste it into the Briefing’s information box).

TIP: This can be used to enhance the feeling of some missions, but can also - according to some - break the immersion in not being told in person. It is at your own discretion! It is also a simple way to remind the players what the objective(s) was (were).

Ending a scenario

Ending a scenario means that you effectively shut the mission down moving to the ‘debrief screen’. It is here that you choose a new Zeus (during off-hours) or take a small break before the next mission begins (during main hours). There are several ways to end a mission but the most commonly used ones are Mission completed and Mission failed. This option is also found under Scenario settings.

6.0. SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

Any and all missions tend to follow a certain sequence of events that most Zeuses should know about so they can prepare accordingly.

6.1. The sequence of events when starting a mission are as follows:

1. Pick a Zeus (usually done in off-hours through a straw poll and main through Zeus requests in the Discord).
    
2. Zeus picks a concept.
    
3. Zeus calls out assets and/or special squads.
    
4. Assets are assigned.
    
5. Platoon (if any) is assigned.
    
6. Squad leaders are assigned (the order of medics and/or 2ICs being called out differs usually).
    
7. Medics are assigned.
    
8. The rest of the positions in the squad(s) are filled.
    
9. The game is launched by an Admin, usually the Zeus during off hours.
    
10. The players then set up their kit as they wait for briefing. This is where some Zeuses already have a plan in their head and start the Setting Up phase (see Chapter 3) by finding places they’d like to use in the mission or even spawning in fortifications and/or placeholders.
     
11. During this time the objectives are often marked on the map giving Platoon an overview on what it is they are supposed to do during the mission.
     
12. Platoon (if any) comes up with a plan, otherwise whoever is decided to be in command does, on how to tackle the objectives. Sometimes the Platoon element cannot start this pre-planning process and have to wait for the actual briefing. During this time the Setting Up phase has started in earnest and the players will start to wait for a teleporter (a pole) to start the mission.
     
13. A briefing is had by the Zeus to the Platoon element as well as the squad leaders (and any asset commanders).
     
14. After this the planning starts in earnest where Platoon comes up with a plan on how to tackle any and all objectives. After this the various squads are given tasking and once they are done and have no more questions and any mistakes and/or flaws have hopefully been found in the plan the squad leaders brief their squads.
     
15. The Zeus plants down a teleport pole for the players to go through (this might happen before this, at any time, really - as soon as the Zeus is ready!).
     
16. The mission begins!

Nick's portable AT/AA and target aquisition guide

So, I know i'm not the first to do a guide like this but the others seemed kind of lackluster in terms of details and were not updated since like 6 months, so here is my take on it. If you spot a discrepency or just a missing info, you can put it in the replies of this thread.

Table of content

• Abbreviations and differences
• Tips
• Launchers
• ERA
• Cage armor

Abbreviations and differences

Launcher types

LAT or Light Anti-Tank is a single shot launch system designed to be carried by infantry. Exemples include the M136 or the RPG-26 launchers.

MAT or Medium Anti-Tank is a multiple shot launch system designed to be carried by infantry. Exemples include the MK153 Mod 0 SMAW or the M3 MAAWS launchers.

HAT or Heavy anti-tank is a multiple shot launch system designed to be carried by infantry. By our ruleset, anything that can lock-on ground vehicles enters this category. Exemples include the FGM-148 Javelin and the Titan MPRL compact.

Rocket or Missile?

A rocket is an unguided rocket-propelled projectile while a missile is a rocket-propelled projectile with some form of guidance

Ammo definitions

HE: High-Explosive

HEAT: High-Explosive Anti-Tank

HEDP: High-Explosive Dual-Purpose

HEAA: High-Explosive Anti-Armor

AA: Anti-Air

AT: Anti-Tank

HP: High-Penetration

FRAG: Fragmentation

Tandem: Projectile with 2 warheads used to defeat protection such as ERA and cage armor

Thermobaric: Very high temperature explosion (Bunker-buster)

Airburst: FRAG that explodes in the air, usefull against entrenched units

HEATRAP: Short for High-Explosive-Anti-Tank-Rocket-Assisted-Projectile (big bullet)

Misc tips and tricks

1. If your launcher has an overfly top attack mode, you should always use it as it's more effective in general. Only exception is if you're too close to target or the sky is obstructed by a building.
2. KEEP CLEAR OF WALLS! If you fire too close to a wall or the ground you may end up injuring or knocking yourself out (Note that there are exceptions, certain launchers can be fired next to walls as they are launched from the tube before the rocket itself ignites)
3. Same goes with allies, they may not appreciate getting knocked out because you forgot to ask people to clear backblast
4. Firing a rocket during a night mission is like lighting a flare, ensure you are able to move to a new position after firing
5. Wireguidance is not a toy, if you miss, crash your missile. Certain launchers point downwards on your back and if the missile is able to, it will boomrang back to you, not an honorable death no?
6. When your squad has MAT, don't forget who has your ammo because no, you won't be able to carry all of it yourself
7. When you are part of the MAT team, you are as important as the medic, if you die, your squad will be left with no AT capabilities so don't take unessecery risks
8. As of the latest RHS update, single shot launchers have trouble with precision at greater distances to simulate how it is IRL. The range depends on the launcher but a rule of thumb is of around 200-300m before it loses accuracy

Portable AT/AA launchers

NLAW

In vanilla Arma this weapon seems like nothing special, but with Ace 3 it changes how the weapon performs. The NLAW is a 115mm AT single-use, fire-and-forget missile launcher. It has nightvision and a rangefinder. The missile it fires can adjust it's flight patern to compensate for gravity meaning that there is no so called "bullet drop". It can also be fired at moving targets by holding the NLAW target track key in the ace weapon controls, hold the key for 3 or more seconds while aiming at the moving vehicle and fire. If the target keeps it's speed and direction the missile will hit, otherwise it will be a miss, so it is reccomended to fire at tragets following an obvious path. Finally the launcher also features an overfly top attack mode that can be triggered by using the cycle fire mode key located in the ace keybinds. To make an overfly top attack, cycle the fire mode once and repeat the previous steps as if it was a regular attack. Note that on a stationnary target you will have to track it for 3 seconds anyway for a overfly top attack, else the missile just overshoots the target.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MBT_LAW

The NLAW tracking system

NLAW (BAF)

The BAF NLAW is the same in term of caliber and functions as the one described above but is still a bit different. It lacks nightvision, deals more damage and is around 1/2 the weight of the regular NLAW.

RPG-32

The RPG-32 is a reusable 105mm rocket launcher that comes with AT and HE options for the rockets. It has nightvision and a very easy to use range table.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG-32

Titan MPRL

The Titan MPRL is a 127mm AA missile launcher. It is a reusable launcher equiped with thermalvision, an optical zoom and a rangefinder. Use your vanilla lock target key to lock on an ennemy aircraft and wait until you hear a very fast beeping or the diamond on target has a dot inside. Launchers of this type are most efficient against helicopters and planes showing their rear to you, shooting at a plane frontaly or while it's showing it's side will have a high probability of the missile missing, be aware!

Titan MPRL Compact

The Titan MPRL Compact is a 127mm reusable missile launcher capable of launching both AT and Anti-personel (AP) missiles. It has thermalvision and an optical zoom. Due to it being shorter compared to the regular Titan MPRL, it's only able to shoot ground targets. But don't let that fool you, it becomes a real threat to even the most hidden of vehicles! The fact is, this launcher is able to lock on targets while in thermalvision mode while holding the lock target key in the ace weapon controls. Note that this only applies to the AT missile. To lock on, all you have to do is hold the key described above on a thermal signature (yes you can lock onto people), once a cross appears and the beeping changes fire! Now even if the target moves it is sentenced to certain impending doom. One last feature is that you can choose vanilla or ace 3 overfly top attack or direct attack. For vanilla all you have to do is press your fire mode key (default F) and for ace use the cycle fire mode key located at the same spot as the other ace keys (default ctrl+tab). With the ace overfly top attack selected you should see one of the lights change in the scope. Now for the AP missile, it isn't lock on, but wireguided! Launch it and move it freely using your crossair!

Wireguidance

RPG-7 (APEX)

Nothing really special about it, fires a 70mm HEAT rocket, has no optics and has a max ranging of 500m.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG-7

9K38 Igla (RHS)

The 9K38 Igla is a 72mm AA launcher with a minimum arming distance of 400m (won't let you lock on before that). Point the launcher in the direction the ennemy, wait for the diamond with the dot to appear and fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K38_Igla

RPG-26 (RHS)

The RPG-26 is a 72.5mm single-use HEAT rocket launcher. It has a maximum ironsight range of 250m. It has 3 sights, one for 0m, one for 100m and one for 50m-250m.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG-26

0m

100m

50m-250m

RPG-7V2 (RHS)

The RPG-7V2 is a 70mm rocket launcher capable of firing PG-7V 85mm HEAT, PG-7VL 93mm HEAT, PG-7VR 64/105mm Tandem HEAT, OG-7V 40mm Fragmentation, TBG-7V 105mm Thermobaric and the Chinese Type-69 airburst 75mm Fragmentation rocket.

It can equip the PGO-7V, 7V2 and 7V3 sights, 7V3 being the most modern and useful, note that they can be illuminated using the nightvision key. It can also use 1PN93-1 and 2 sights, the last one being a nightvision version of the PGO-7V3.

The ironsight can be adjusted up to 300m but let me explain how to use the scope. Each generation adds a new range table, for this exemple we will use the PGO-7V3 as you can quite easily base it off the others. So, you could class the rockets by range table: Left being for the PG-7V, right for the PG-7VL and middle for the PG-7VR and TBG-7V. The OG-7V and Type-69 rockets are kind of in a weird spot because they are lighter than all of the others, see picture below. Also the cross above everything is the bore sight, meaning that it's where the rocket aims when it gets out of the tube. Lastly, to use the manual rangefinder all you have to do is see where the target fits between the bottom and curvy line.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG-7

Here's an helpful image (thanks to JacobyWitness for finding it)

Illuminated PGO-7V3

The Type-69 Airburst in action, it was designed to bounce off the ground and blow up over entrenched units releasing deadly shrapnel.

RShG-2 (RHS)

The RShG-2 is a 72.5mm single-use Thermobaric launcher. It uses the same sights as the RPG-26.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG-26 (on same wiki page as RPG-26)

FGM-148 Javelin (RHS)

The FGM-148 Javelin is a 127mm reusable AT launcher. It is the same as the Titan MPRL Compact although much heavier, it weights 19.94kg loaded. It uses the same sight as The Titan MPRL Compact.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FGM-148_Javelin

Javelin Launcher (BAF)

In term of what it can do this one is nearly identical to the RHS variant but a bit more complicated to use. First it needs to be assembled by combining a javelin tube (in the launcher section of the arsenal) and a javelin CLU (found in the binocular section of the arsenal, can be used by itself as thermal binoculars) using the ace interaction menu. Once assembled it uses the same firing method as the Titan MPRL Compact. To reload it, you need to disassemble it, equip a new tube and reassemble it.

FIM-92 Stinger (RHS)

The FIM-92 Stinger is a 70mm AA missile launcher with a 400m minimum launch range. Point the launcher in the direction the ennemy, wait for the diamond with the dot to appear and fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIM-92_Stinger

M136 (RHS)

The M136 is an 84mm single-use rocket launcher available in 3 flavors, HEAT, HEDP (HE Duel Purpose) and HP (High penetration). HEAT is your regular rocket capable of penetrating 400mm of armor, HP allows for 550mm while HEDP can penetrate 150mm as it trades penetration for explosive radius. The sight can be opened using numpad / or the key set in you RHS options. To aim at targets that are immobile use the center pin, if they move slowly put them inbetween one of the side pin and the middle pin and if they move fast use one of the side pins (note that the moving part only applies to targets at 200m).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT4

ILAW (BAF)

The BAF ILAW is the same as the regular M136, but is lighter, only available in HEDP and HP variants and deals a bit more damage.

M3 MAAWS (RHS)

The M3 MAAWS is a reusable 84mm launcher. It has rockets that come in HEAT, HEDP and HE variants. It can be zeroed up to 900m and the addition of a scope makes the view clearer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Gustaf_recoilless_rifle

M72A7 (RHS)

The M72A7 is a single-use 66mm HEDP launcher. It has a maximum zeroing of 350m and can be equiped with an AN/PEQ-15 IR laser. This launcher is extremely light at only 3.49kg.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M72_LAW#US_variants

MK153 Mod 0 SMAW (RHS)

The Mk153 mod 0 SMAW is an 83mm reusable launcher capable of firing HEAA (HE Anti-armor) and HEDP rockets. It is equiped with a spotting rifle that fires a round with the same velocity as the rocket so that you can test your ranging before firing, beware, it gives out your position. Currently you can't range it without a scope, you have access to many of them but the best is the SMAW scope as it lets you range up to 500m using your ranging key. It also lets you range further manually since each of the bars on the scope represent 75m, 6 bars for a total of 450m on the scope plus the 500m of the launcher for a grand total of 950m. Finnaly you can add an IR laser or a Flashlight on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mk_153_Shoulder-Launched_Multipurpose_Assault_Weapon

9M135 Vorona (Tanks DLC)

The 9M135 Vorona is a 130mm reusable launcher capable of firing HEAT and HE. It has a rangefinder, thermalvision and an optical zoom. It is also a wireguided launcher.

MAAWS Mk4 Mod 0 (Tanks DLC)

The MAAWS Mk4 Mod 0 is an 84mm reusable launcher that can fire HEAT or HE. It can equip a flashlight or IR laser. It also has a manual rangefinder like the RPG-7V2.

MAAWS Mk4 Mod 1 (Tanks DLC)

A modernized version of the Mod 0. Now has a laser rangefinder and nightvision.

Panzerfaust 60 (RHS)

A WW2 era relic, the Panzerfaut is a single shot, 149mm HEAT launcher with a maximum targetting distance of 80m. The rocket's velocity is extremely slow, relying on an arc patern to achieve a greater effective distance. The launcher is near useless against modern MBTs (Main battle tanks), so why use it? Simple, dirt cheap and it can easily be used against lighter targets like APCs (Armored personel carriers) such as the infamous "Lunch box". Remember that due to the nature of this weapon, a very close range to the target is necessary to make it work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzerfaust

RPG-75 (RHS)

The RPG-75 is a single shot 68mm HEAT launcher capable of a maximum firing range of 300m. This old Soviet launcher is comparable to the M72 LAW in term of size and capabilities. To fire it, you will need to align the middle cross with the correct range number next to it (in 100m increments). To facilitate target aquisition, a rangefinder is present on the launcher.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG-75

RBR-M80 (RHS)

The RBR-M80 is a 64mm single shot HEAT launcher with a maximum firing range of 400m. Nothing really special about this launcher, except that the optic is kind of hard to aim with due to the distance between the small peep-hole and the range indicators on the front visor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M80_Zolja

RGW 90 (BWmod)

The RGW 90 is a 90mm single-use launcher equiped with an HESH warhead (HE Squash-head), which means it is perfect for destroying buildings. It also features a 2x scope with a 400m max range.

Leuchbuchse (BWmod)

 The Leuchbuchse is an 84mm rocket launcher capable of firing HE, HEAT-Tandem, HEDP, Illumination and Smoke rockets. It has a maximum range of 600m and can be equiped with a scope for more precision with a 3x zoom.

Fliegerfaust 2 Stinger (BWmod)

The FIM-92 Stinger is a 70mm AA missile launcher, point the launcher in the direction the ennemy, wait for the diamond with the dot to appear and fire.

Panzerfaust 3 (BWmod)

The Panzerfaust 3 is a 110mm single-use rocket launcher with a 2.5x zoom and access to the NSA 80 nightvison scope. It has a max range of 400m and uses a tandem rocket to defeat enemy ERA and cage armour.

Bunkerfaust (BWmod)

The Bunkerfaust is a 110mm single-use rocket launcher based on the Panzerfaust 3 launch platform. It has all of the features and limitation of its brother with the exception that it carries an HEDP warhead instead of a an anti-tank one.

Explosive reactive and cage (slat) armor

Explosive Reactive Armor

What is explosive reactive armor? Explosive reactive armor (ERA) is a form of protection designed to counter certain attacks from specified types of ammo by using it's own explosive force to remove any penetrating force from the shot. It is designed to counter HEAT, meaning it is a real nightmare for infantry as there aren't many carryable solutions since nearly all launchers launch HEAT rockets and not solid shot projectiles like APFSDS (Armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_armour

A T-72 (1985) equiped with Kontakt-1 ERA (The little green bricks)

So, how do you take care of targets equiped with ERA? Well you have 2 solutions, first is the most wasteful and is to fire 2 times at the same place. ERA has always had one weakness, reusability. See, when the brick is detonated it only offers a one time protection against the ennemy as the area is left unprotected. By firing twice at the same spot you ensure yourself a disabled if not destroyed vehicle (note that the russian or any type of tandem rocket will penetrate ERA and damage the tank as it is designed for this).

The same T-72 after being shot once with HEAT from an M136 launcher, the bricks absorbed the explosion and the area is now left unprotected (It looks damaged but don't mind it as the bricks count as part of the damage model, the tank modules are in-fact very-well functioning and it can still attack).

Now the second solution is really simple, aim for somewhere not protected. The bricks only cover the frontal and front sides of the T-72 as they add weight and only cover the areas where a tank would most likely get hit from the front. That means, it leaves some spots unprotected and if the vehicle is in an urban environnement they are easily targettable.

Spots left unprotected on the T-72

Cage (Slat) Armor

Cage or slat armor is a type of armor which is an alternative to ERA and comes with its set of advantages and disadvantages. It is cheaper to make than ERA and covers more parts of the vehicle but is way heavier, is less effective and makes the tank a bigger target. So what is cage armor? Like the name says its simply a cage added around an exisisting vehicle to protect it against HEAT.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slat_armor

Here we have a Badger IFV equiped with cage armor

Like ERA you can detonate it and shoot it again in the spot left unprotected (note that the russian or any type of tandem rocket will penetrate cage armor and damage the tank as it is designed for this).

Damaged Cage armor shot out by a HEAT M136 rocket, note that because it is less efficient at protecting the vehicle, the hull was still damaged, but the vehicle is still capable of combat and is still a threat.

You can also shoot at areas not protected like the front of the hull and the front of the turret. If you are in an urban environnement use height to your advantage and shoot the roof.

Areas that are not protected by cage armor.

I'll give you a quick outline on how to make sure CAS hits the right target and no friendlies. This will also ensure Comms are handled quick and efficient so CAS can get in to help you quickly. 

"FAC, this is Alpha, Requesting CAS, Over" === Making the Warning Call: This ensures FAC knows what's coming, takes her*his time and listens to you closely.
"This is FAC, Send it, Over" 
"FAC, Alpha has a BTR 200m N of Actual marker; Friendly position marked blue smoke, Over" === Informing FAC of Target, Target Position, Friendlie's Position, Mark of Friendlie's position
"Alpha copy that, BTR 200m N, Blue Smoke is friendly, ETA 2 mikes, Over" === FAC confirms information and gives a rough ETA
"Copy that, 2 mikes, Out"

The most important Information FAC needs are the following

• Target Description (BTR)
• Target Position (200m N of A Actual)
• Friendly Position (A Actual)
• Friendly Marker (Blue Smoke)

Examples for the above (Warning Call and answer has been made, we're now on the information part):

"FAC, Enemy Infantry out in the open between the Treeline and the Blue smoke, Blue smoke is friendly, Over"
"FAC, Enemy MBT right on top of us, Red building, Green roof, Danger Close, Danger Close, Over"

if you have something to say about this, feel free to comment and I will incorporate it.

Introduction
Terminology
1 FLIGHT BASICS
1.1 Taxi
1.2 Take-off
1.3 Flight
1.4 Landing
2 COMBAT BASICS
2.1 Weapons categorization
2.2 Combat HUD
2.3 Sensor display
2.4 Radar
2.5 Guidance systems usage
2.6 Commonly used munitions
2.7 Surface-to-air threats
3 COORDINATION
3.1 Terminology
3.2 Strike mission procedure
3.3 Airspace authority
3.4 Runway designation
3.5 NATO brevity codes
4 ADVANCED FLIGHT
4.1 Advanced landing
4.2 Emergency landing
4.3 Stalling
4.4 NoE flight
5 ADVANCED COMBAT
5.1 Air-to-ground combat
5.1.1 Loadout
5.1.2 Holding / Engaging
5.1.3 GPS/INS-guided strikes
5.1.4 Two-seater jets
5.2 Air-to-air combat
5.2.1 Loadout
5.2.2 Holding
5.2.3 Engaging
5.3 Missile evasion
5.4 Stealth

Footnotes
 

Introduction

This guide is meant to teach interested players how to fly, and how to do it competently. I will be going over many things you'll likely find useful, from the basics to big booms to not becoming a big boom.

This was designed for flight in Arma and on our servers, and may not apply to other servers. It definitely does not apply to other games, and much of what is mentioned would be ridiculous in real life or simulators.
While you may find short lists here, this is not a catalogue of munitions or planes. There are other guides for that.
This is not everything there is to know about flying and planes. I can't put every possible thing into the guide, no matter how basic, and there are many features I didn't bother including that you will learn from testing and experience.

Before starting, make sure you have a large view distance. Around 8000 is usually the default for jet pilots.

Let's begin.
 

Terminology

The guide will repeatedly make references to various factors, control surfaces, devices and indicators present on and affecting your plane. This section is a glossary for some of those terms. If you're completely new to this, I suggest having another tab open on this section so that you don't have to keep scrolling all the way up to find a term.

Axes of rotation

Attitude: the orientation of your plane relative to its velocity.
Pitch: the vertical angle at which the nose of your plane is pointed.
Roll: the angle at which your plane is rotated around the axis connecting its nose to its tail.
Yaw: the angle in which your plane is pointed relative to its velocity along the horizontal plane.
AoA: "Ange of Attack", your pitch relative to your velocity.

Forces

Thrust: the force of your engine pushing you forward.
Lift: the force of the air under your wings, pushing your plane upwards.
Drag: the force of air resistance on your plane, slowing it down.

Control surfaces

Elevators: the two panels on the sides of your tail. These move up and down, and control your pitch.
Ailerons: panels near the ends of your wings. These move up and down in opposite directions to each other and control your roll.
Rudder: the vertical panel on the back of your tail. This moves horizontally and controls your yaw.
Flaps: panels usually on the rear edge of your wing. These extend back and downwards, controlling both lift and drag.
Airbrake: large panels on the wings or hull of your plane. These extend vertically to increase drag and slow you down. Not to be confused with spoilers.

Altitude

ASL: altitude "Above Sea Level", i.e. your vertical displacement from the sea. MSL: "Mean Sea Level", basically the same thing for our purposes.
ATL: altitude "Above Terrain Level", i.e. your vertical displacement from the ground directly beneath you. Also known as AGL: "Above Ground Level".

Aircraft designation

Fighter: an aircraft designed primarily to engage enemy aircraft.
Attack: an aircraft designed primarily to engage surface targets.
Bomber: an aircraft designed primarily for dropping bombs. (This differs from attack aircraft in that attack aircraft are supposed to be capable of using various types of ordnance such as missiles and cannons).

Weapons

Launch platform: the carrier of the device from which a rocket or missile is launched. E.g.: a plane, helicopter, infantry-portable rocket-launcher, etc.
Hardpoint: a point on the wing or hull where a weapon can be attached.
Fire-and-forget: descriptive of a weapon that will continue tracking its target autonomously regardless of whether the launch platform is doing so.
Lock: a state in which a weapon has recognized and is tracking a target.
FCS: "Fire Control System", a computer-controlled system of components working to guide a weapon accurately onto its target.
Countermeasure: anything used to misdirect or disrupt a guided weapon.
PIP: "Predicted Impact Point", the expected location of impact of a released ordnance.
CCIP: "Constantly Computed Impact Point", a PIP calculation updated at a high frequency taking into account various factors such as weapon type, pitch, range, velocity, etc.

Airfields

Runway: a strip of land designated for taking off and landing.
Taxiway: a strip of land designated for taxiing.
Exit: a short taxiway used to enter or exit a runway, usually connecting in from the side.

Miscellaneous

Landing gear: whatever you use to land. In most planes, these would be the wheels.
Wheel-brakes: the brakes on you wheels.
HUD: "Heads-Up Display", the green holographic display in front of the pilot; present in most jets.
HMD: "Head-Mounted Display", a HUD built into the pilot's helmet.
Stall: a state in which an aircraft falls out of the air, with little to no control, as a result of extremely low velocity.
 

FLIGHT BASICS

TAXI

Taxiing is when you "drive" the plane along the ground.

Keep the speed low (below 50 as a general rule of thumb).
You can use Q and E (by default) to turn. Make sure you take it even slower at the turns: some planes have very wide turning circles, and some simply flip over if you make a tight turn over at 30km/h.
Keep it smooth. Most paved airfields have continuous yellow lines marked on the taxiways for guidance.
Your GPS screen and/or map will help if you aren't familiar with the layout of the airfield. Keep in mind that some runways don't have exits at their far ends; if you travel too far after landing, you may get stuck or be forced to use the dirt to get back to a taxiway.
 

TAKE-OFF

You would normally want to get your plane into the sky in order to fly. This is very simple to do.

After taxiing to the base of the runway, be sure that the following factors hold true:

Flaps are fully extended. The flaps increase the amount of lift generated by the air moving under your wings. The further extended they are, the lower your minimum take-off speed will be - hence the shorter the distance of runway you need to accelerate and take off.
You are properly aligned to the runway. It will be difficult to take off if you run into a tree at 200km/h. Make sure that you are pointed directly at the far end of the runway, even if your plane isn't exactly centered.

You are ready to take off. Once you have clearance:

Increase your thrust. In most planes, you can safely just stick it up to 100%. You can use a lower setting, but it will take longer for you to achieve sufficient lift.
User your rudder. If your plane begins to lose alignment fro the runway, use Q and E to keep it centered. Small movements.
Pull up. Once you reach take-off speed (150 - 300 km/h depending on the plane), you can use your elevators to increase your pitch.
Keep in mind that if you go too fast without pulling up, your plane might lift off the runway and smack back down into it.

Congratulations, you're in the air.

Raise your landing gear. It creates unnecessary drag.
Raise your flaps. The faster you go, the more lift is generated under your wings. The flaps become unnecessary once you're going fast enough, and only create drag.
There are three flap settings: retracted, half-extended, fully extended.
You can pull them back to half at around 250 - 350km/h, depending on the plane.
You can fully retract them at around 300 - 450 km/h, depending on the plane.
You don't have to retract them but, as mentioned, they create unnecessary drag and waste fuel.

Start rising to whatever altitude you've been assigned. This marks the end of the take-off phase.
 

FLIGHT

Speed and altitude

Your speed and altitude are visible on the top-left of your screen by default. You will also be able to see the two on the HUD, usually with the speed on the left and altitude on the right.
The altitude indicated on the top-left of your screen is ATL. That indicated on your HUD may be either ATL or ASL.

The faster you go, the less maneuverable your plane will be. You will also lose maneuverability when moving too slowly, due to the reduced airflow over your wings.
The slower you go, the less lift you are generating. Extend your flaps if you want to move slowly without losing altitude.

You will lose maneuverability at extremely high altitudes as the air becomes thinner. This isn't an issue in the altitude range at which we normally operate (< 5000).

The HUD

The HUD shows you a variety of statistics about your plane and its environment.

We've already gone over speed and altitude. Using the A-10D as an example:

On the left you can see the pitch, roll and speed. You would also see "FLAPS" had the flaps been extended, and "GEAR" had the landing gear been extended.

On the right you can see the altitude and vertical speed, indicated with arrows. Your vertical speed is the rate at which your altitude is increasing or decreasing.

The dotted line in the middle is the artificial horizon. This shows the plane's horizon. It is always perpendicular to the average force of gravity on the plane at the plane's position (i.e. it is exactly horizontal from you).

The cross in the middle of the HUD is the boresight symbol. It is static and shows  you where the plane is pointed. In most cases, this looks like a "W" instead of a cross.

The circle with three lines sticking out of it is the flight path vector. Your plane usually won't go exactly where you point the boresight, so the FPV shows you where your plane is actually going. You can use the FPV to maintain altitude by aligning it to the artificial horizon.

Finally, you have the heading indicator at the bottom. This shows you where the plane is pointed in relation to the Magnetic North (i.e. your bearing).

Indicators present on the HUD and their positions vary depending on the plane.
I will delve into other parts of the HUD in other sections.

Movement

You should know the basic flight movement controls. You may want to reconfigure some of them, especially if you have a flight stick, throttle, pedals, etc. By default:
SHIFT and Z control the thrust. (Controls -> Plane Movement -> Increase Thrust / Decrease Thrust)
W and S control the elevators. (Controls -> Plane Movement -> Nose Up / Nose Down)
A and D control the ailerons. (Controls -> Plane Movement -> Bank Left / Bank Right)
Q and E control the rudder and guiding wheel. (Controls -> Plane Movement -> Left Pedal / Right Pedal)
Left CTRL + Mouse Scroll controls your flaps' positions. (Controls -> Plane Movement -> Flaps Up / Flaps Down)
X extends the airbrake. (Controls -> Plane Movement -> Speedbrake). You can also map the airbrake to an analogue device.

Use your ailerons and elevators for rapid changes in attitude.
The rudder should only be used for small attitude corrections.

Planes, especially combat jets, are designed to be able to pull up much more sharply than down. If you want to rapidly lose altitude, roll your plane upside-down.

Learn to use your rudder when turning. If you simply roll yourself sideways and use your elevators to turn, you will lose altitude as a result of your wing orientation (the wings provide most of the lift). Instead, roll your plane over partway, use your elevators to turn, and use the rudder to keep your nose from rising too far. Keep your FPV on the horizon (or a different pitch angle if you want to lose or gain altitude during the turn).
How far you roll and elevators/rudder proportion depend on how hard you're turning and how much altitude you want to lose or gain during the turn.

G-forces

G-forces are forces exerted on your body as you accelerate rapidly in a direction perpendicular to your flight path (i.e.: pitching up or down sharply). Excessive positive G-forces will cause you to "black out" as blood is pulled away from the brain. Excessive negative G-Forces will cause you to "red out" as blood is forced into the brain. You can typically endure higher positive Gs than negative, so avoid hard dives as much as possible. You can identify excess G-force by the edges of your screen turning black or red, and your field of view becoming progressively smaller until you pass out. Loss of consciousness due to G-forces only lasts a few seconds, but that can be more than enough to kill you if you're heading toward a mountain.
There are two things you need to avoid this:
Pilot status. This is an in-game parameter that indicates you are trained to stay stay conscious in such situations. You will have it by default if you slot in via RPTR, otherwise you can assign it to yourself at the statue in spawn. You don't get it if you slot in as Zeus, so keep that in mind when testing and practicing.
A G-suit. Having pilot status will be of little value without this. It applies pressure to your abdominal muscles, keeping your blood in your brain. Any of the vanilla "pilot coveralls" work.

This is usually only relevant in tight turns where you accelerate "upwards" (where the top of your head is pointed, not necessarily vertically). Accelerating downwards will cause your blood to rush to your brain and eyes, filling your vision with red. You won't pass out, so the only negative to this is that you temporarily lose the ability to see.

Stalling

Turning hard will cause you to lose a lot of speed. If you lose too much speed the airflow under your wings won't be enough to keep you in the sky, and you will stall.
There are a few ways to avoid this:

Don't turn too hard. Your direction changes at a slower rate, and you will thus have more time to accelerate during the change in direction. This, of course, is simply impractical in many situations.
Increase your thrust. Increasing thrust can, at the very least, reduce the extent to which you lose speed.
Deploy flaps. If you lose a lot of speed, deploy your flaps to increase lift.
Point your plane downwards. Allow gravity to provide some additional acceleration so you can regain speed quickly.

Stalling isn't a likely issue to occur during turns. These are more ways of dealing with loss of speed than stalls. As such, I'll be discussing how to escape a proper stall in a later section.
 

LANDING

(note: the airbrake and wheel-brakes use the same keybind)
Good luck rearming after you've crashed and blown yourself up on a 2-kilometer-long, flat surface.

There are two things you need to be able to do to land:
Create a balance between low speed and sufficient lift.
If you go too fast, you will damage your plane upon touchdown.
If you go too slow, you will damage your plane upon touchdown; but this time because you stalled out and hit the ground like a rock.
Predict where your plane is going.
With practice, you should be able to touch down exactly where you intend to. Until then, you'll be fine as long as you don't miss the runway.

You could use the glide slope indicator, but it's important to be able to land without instruments. As such, I'm not including it.

Here's a general procedure:

Receive landing clearance.
Draw yourself a line to the airfield on the map. This should be aligned as closely as possible and be straight for at least 3 kilometers. This part is not necessary but will definitely help when learning.
Lower your altitude. Begin to descend. The distance at which you begin descent depends on what altitude you start from and how quickly you drop it, but try to do this from far away when learning (e.g.: 3-5 kilometers).
Reduce your speed. As you approach the airfield, slowly reduce the throttle and extend the flaps. You should know by now that the flaps will slow you down, but also keep you from stalling. Extend the airbrake if necessary.

When you're about 1 kilometer away, check that:
Your landing gear is down.
Your flaps are fully extended.

We talked about the FPV in "FLIGHT". In most planes, it will show you exactly where you're going (some work a little differently, but this holds true with most planes, including all vanilla jets. The C-130, for example, is an exception).
Use it to aim for the base of the runway. You will probably need to keep your nose raised slightly due to your low velocity. If your FPV falls out of sight, you're too slow.

If you notice that you're not properly aligned as you get closer to the runway, use your ailerons to roll in the direction in which you need to adjust while pushing the rudder in the opposite direction to keep your nose pointed forwards.

500m away:
Speed between 250 and 350 km/h, depending on the plane.
Altitude below 100m.

100m away:
Maintain approach velocity.
Altitude below 50m.

At the base of the runway:
By this point, you should be less than 10 meters off the ground.
Cut your throttle and extend the airbrake. Increase pitch slightly to smoothen your descent. This is called flaring.
After your rear wheels touch, you can allow the nose wheel to drop onto the runway.
Retract flaps.
Do not stop on the runway - increase throttle slightly and keep moving until you reach an exit. If you're moving too quickly to turn into an exit, just skip it and go for the next one.

Do not commit to a landing if you're not sure you'll make it. Go around and try again.
 

That marks the end of "flight basics". Practice these things, especially landing. Learn from your mistakes, see where you go wrong and correct them in subsequent attempts.
 

COMBAT BASICS

We've reached the big boom part. Let's start with the weapon types.
 

WEAPONS CATEGORIZATION

Platform/target

AG: air-to-ground. Launched from your plane at a ground target.
AA: air-to-air. Launched from your plane at an airborne target.
AA can also refer to "anti-air". Which one I'm referring to will be obvious enough in context.
And, of course, you have the autocannons that can be used on both target types.

Guidance type

There's a large variety of guidance systems used by the munitions available to you:
Dumbfire: no guidance, but in many cases you can predict where they will go. Short-range, AA and/or AG.
IR tracking: locks onto infrared radiation, i.e. heat. Vehicles with running engines, IR grenades, etc. You will not be able to lock onto vehicles if their engines have been turned off long enough for them to cool down. Generally short-range, AA or AG. IIR (imaging infrared, used on most modern IR-tracking missiles) is always the best IR-tracking option.
CCD: charge-couple device, similar to IR but works on a wider band of wavelengths, including visible light. Locks on to contrasts, meaning any vehicle that doesn't look like its background, even if its engine is off. Generally short-range, AG.
TV: television. This can have different meanings: it may be a contrast seeker similar to CCD, or it may send a video feed back to the launch platform which returns a signal with corrections (e.g. remote control by a WSO). (technically CCD could do the same thing, but I haven't found any examples of this in weapons)
Semi-active laser homing: locks on to lasers. A laser designator - from your own plane, a different plane, or an infantry unit - is aimed at the target. The laser bounces of the target and into the receiver of your weapon. This means that you need to be moving in the same direction in which the laser is pointed so that it can bounce back to your plane. Medium to long range, AG.
Semi-active radar homing: radar guided. "Semi-active" indicates that it doesn't have its own radar transmitter, only a receiver. This means you need to have your own radar turned on and aimed at the target for the missile to work, with a few exceptions. Long to very long range, AA or AG.
Active radar homing: radar guided. "Active" indicates that it has its own transmitter, therefore it will track the target with its own radar after being launched. Fire-and-forget (sort of), usually long-range, AA or AG.
Passive radar homing: locks on to radar signals. Designed to home in on enemy radar systems. Long to very long range, AA or AG.
GPS/INS: uses the global positioning system, accelerometers and gyroscopes to track where it is in relation to a geographic target. Fire-and-forget, very long range given the right altitude and munitions, AG.

EO is "electro-optical", the category within which TV and CCD fall.

Munition type

Defined by whether they're guided and how they're propelled.
Round: propelled by an explosive charge. Can be inert or explode on impact. Dumbfire only, always ballistic. AG and AA. Usually present on planes in 20 or 30mm cannons.
Bomb: falls from the aircraft, no propulsion. Dumbfire, semi-active laser homing, GPS/INS, IR. AG. There are various modified variants:

• Increased drag: has tailfins intentionally designed to increase drag and reduce the horizontal distance through which the bomb travels. Generally dumbfire only.
• Glide bomb: has wings which extend upon release, designed to greatly increase its range. All are GPS/INS-guided, some have additional sensors.
  Cluster bomb: contains a dispenser that spreads many smaller bomblets over a wide area. Dumbfire or GPS/INS-guided.

You never need to be pointed directly at a target when dropping a bomb unless you are intentionally dive-bombing it.
Rocket: flies out ahead of the aircraft under its own propulsion. Dumbfire only. Usually AG.
Missile: a guided rocket. Can use all available guidance systems. AG or AA.

(rockets and missiles aren't necessarily defined by guidance and are somewhat interchangeable, but I'm defining them this way for ease of explanations)

Effective range

This defines the distance from which you can reliably hit and damage a target with a given weapon.
"Short", "medium" and "long" area all comparative words, and so are not universally constant. As such, the only way one can properly use these categories is to define them. For this guide, they are defined as follows:
Short: AG < 1km, AA 1 - 5km
Medium: AG 1 - 5km, AA 5-10km
Long: AG 5 - 10km, AA 10 - 20km
Very long: AG > 10km, AA > 20km
Again, these ranges are for Arma and have been made for the purposes of fixed-wing aircraft in our modpack. In reality, 10km would be considered medium-range at most for a fixed-wing aircraft.
Similarly, any other distances I mention in this guide are specific only to our servers.

Warhead type

You should know which weapons are best suited against specific targets. There are way too many warhead types to go over, many of them extremely niche. This is a general list.
You should already be aware of these from playing as infantry.

Anti-infantry / light vehicle
HE: high-explosive. Can also be used against buildings and heavily armored vehicles when employed in large quantities, such as in bomb fillings.
HE-FRAG: high-explosive fragmentation, just HE with shrapnel.
Thermobaric: usually a fuel-air mixture, designed to make large fireballs.

Anti-armor
HEAT: high-explosive, anti-tank. Designed to explode, creating superheated strands of metal under high pressure and momentum to tear through armor.
Tandem HEAT: HEAT with an additional stage meant to penetrate reactive armor (those big blocky plates on tanks such as TUSK Abrams variants).
AP: armor-piercing. Doesn't necessarily explode, usually uses materials designed to penetrate armor. Not to be confused with "anti-personnel" unless referring to a mine.
FAT: flechette anti-tank. Releases multiple sharp, dart-like projectiles designed to rip through armor.

Anti-air
I'm not going to go over these as the variation doesn't make a difference with our modset. Most of them are designed to blow up near an aircraft, make lots of holes in it.
 

WEAPONS HUD

Before going over how to effectively use each weapon system, I'll describe a few aspects of the HUD relevant to killing things.

The dot in the center of the large circle is the pipper, meaning "PIP marker" where PIP stands for "Predicted Impact Point". The pipper shows you where your ballistic munitions will hit.
The number beneath the pipper is the time to target; indicating, in seconds, for how long the munition will travel before impact.
On the bottom-left is the selected weapon. Quite simply, it shows the name of the weapon you currently have selected.
The green blips on the HUD show identified targets. In many planes, these will show up as green squares. These are just vehicles the jets sees and will show up regardless of whether they are friendly, hostile, civilian or empty.
The white square shows your selected target. This is technically not part of the HUD, but is used as if it were.
The broken circle to the right of the pipper is the targeting camera position. It shows you where the targeting camera is pointed. This is useful when you've found a target via the camera, but it is too far away to see with the naked eye.

The display on the right side of the screen is the sensor display. White squares are visible on it, showing the target positions in horizontal relation to the plane. I'll go over this in the next section.

The white square with the edges of a diamond around it indicates that you are locking on to the selected target. The edges will move inwards until they form a diamond with a white dot in the middle. This means the weapon is locked on and ready to fire.
 

SENSOR DISPLAY

Abbreviated to "SENS", the sensor display shows targets, friendlies, threats and marks in horizontal relation to your position. [(left or right) square bracket] toggles the display when you are in a vehicle with sensors.

Look at the example display in the top-right of the image.
Squares are ground targets.
Triangles are airborne targets.
Green is friendly, white is unknown/civilian/empty, red is hostile. Keep in mind that most hostile targets will show up as white unless the mission is scripted to make them red.
The red square has a small line extending from it. This indicates its direction of travel.
A semi-circle around a target indicates that it is using active radar.
The orange sector indicates that a target with an active radar is locking on to you.
The red sector indicates that a missile is engaging you. You can see the missile, marked with a red "M".
Your selected target is marked with a white square.

You can see on the top that the radar is on.
Next to that, you have your heading.
All the way in the top-right, you have the range shown on the display. This can be adjusted using CTRL + [square bracket].
On the top-left it shows the name and distance from you of the selected target.
On the top-right it shows the speed and altitude of the selected target.
The arrow directly ahead of the helicopter symbols shows the Magnetic North.

You'll find out more about certain sensors in other sections.
 

RADAR

In aircraft with active radars, the top of the SENS will show the radar status. "RDR ON" indicates that your radar is set to active, when it is both transmitting and receiving radar signals. "RDR OFF" indicates that your radar is set to passive only, when it is only receiving radar signals.
Some aircraft, such as the MiG-29, don't show a sensor display panel. Instead, the radar status will be indicated by "рл" on the HUD if it is turned on.

Your radar needs to be turned on to see the speed and altitude of a selected target.
The passive-only mode can be used for stealth, as well as finding and targeting active hostile radars.
 

USAGE OF GUIDANCE SYSTEMS

How to use the guidance systems to lock and destroy targets.
I will not go into details about approach specifics; that will be dealt with in advanced combat.

Note: instead of using the "lock" key (T by default) to lock onto targets, you will - in many cases, if not all - find it more convenient to use the "next target" keybind (R by default). This allows you to select targets without needing to center your view on them, will only select targets that can be hit with the weapon you have selected at the time, and will not select friendlies (you may sometimes want to select friendlies intentionally using the lock key though, for example if you are escorting them and need to keep track of where they are). It will also allow you to cycle through various targets without needing to adjust your view.

Dumbfire

Visually acquire your target.
Align your pipper to the target. If the plane doesn't have a pipper, you may need to fire a test shot to see where it hits so you can adjust accordingly. Don't do this with bombs.
Engage.

IR tracking / CCD

Visually acquire your target.
Lock on to the target.
Engage.
Usually fire-and-forget, so feel free to wave off afterwards.

Laser-guided

Before starting off with this: for ACE, and BAF AGM-114s, ACE AGM-65s and ACE Kh-25MLs your laser code needs to match that of the laser designator if you aren't self-designating. CTRL + ALT + Q will increase it, CTRL + ALT + E will decrease it. Default code is the minimum: 1111.

Acquire the laser. The laser bounces off the target and back towards your plane, so you will need to be pointing in the direction the laser is. If the FAC is pointing the designator at a target to his south-west, you will need to be moving from the north-east to the south-west.
If you are self-lasing, you will have to:

• Point the targeting camera at the target. If you have one, the default keybind to open it is CTRL + RMB. The crosshair must be on the target.
• Stabilize the targeting camera. This will fix its position on the target. Default keybind is CTRL + T.
• Activate your laser designator. Switch to the laser designator and press the fire button.

Lock on to the target. Your plane doesn't need to be pointed directly at it, though you should be moving in its general direction. For GBUs, you don't need to wait for the locking diamond to close. In the case of ACE/BAF AGM-114 variants, the ACE AGM-65L, and the ACE Kh-25ML, the laser symbol next to the code - on the top-right of your screen - will turn red to indicate a lock. (Note that many GBUs LOAL, which means you won't be able to lock on beforehand. Just keep the laser on and maneuver into a position from where they can reach the target when you drop them)
Engage. Keep your laser on the target until impact. If the lase comes from another source, you can fire and forget.

Semi-active radar homing

Point your radar at your target. This can just be in the general direction of the target.
Lock on to the target.
Engage. As the missile does not have its own radar transmitter, you will have to keep yours pointed at the target until impact.

Active radar homing

Point your radar at the target. Even though the missile has its own radar, it uses yours to find the target before release.
Lock on to the target.
Engage. These are fire-and-forget, but do not wave off immediately if using these missiles against other fighters as they are likely to evade them.

GPS/INS

Acquire a geographic location. This can be a map marker or a grid-reference, usually relayed to you by the FAC.
Set the GPS target coordinates. Open the I-TGT system via the action menu. Click DGN, then click on the location of the target on the I-TGT map interface. Click SEL to assign that target to your FCS.
Get into position. You need to be moving in the direction of the target at a distance, velocity and altitude such that the munition is able to reach the target.
Engage. You don't need to lock on. As long as release factors are suitable, the munition will automatically go for the I-TGT target marker location.
After the weapon impacts, you can open the I-TGT interface again and click CLR to unassign the target, then DEL to delete the target marker.

We will delve deeper into more advanced aspects of GPS/INS guidance later, where I will explain procedures that will allow you to do things such as hit and destroy a moving vehicle from 20km away without ever knowing its exact position.
 

COMMONLY USED MUNITIONS

A short list of the munitions you're most likely to use as a beginner pilot.
Keep in mind that this is not a full list. The fact that something is on the list doesn't mean that you should have it by default, and the fact that something is not on the list doesn't mean it isn't useful. These are just the simplest munitions that are commonly used and easy for beginners to work with.

Main cannon

20, 25 and 30mm cannons: most common round types are HE and AP (and variants of each such as HEI, API, HEISAP, HE-FRAG, etc.), usually come in mixtures such as combat mix (API 4:1 HEI)
Examples include the GAU-8 (A-10, 30mm), GAU-12 (AV-8B, 25mm), M61 (F/A-18, F-22, 20mm), and GSh-30 (everything Russian, 30mm).

Rockets

Hydra: one or three pods per hardpoint, 7 rockets per pod (though some planes can take 12-rocket pods). HE and AP warheads available, as well as other variants such as incendiary. Close to medium range.
S-8: one pod per hardpoint, 20 rockets per pod. HEAT, tandem HEAT, thermobaric. Close-range.
S-5: one pod per hardpoint, 16 or 32 rockets per pod. HE, HE-FRAG, HEAT, HEAT/FRAG. Close-range.

Missiles

AGM-65 Maverick: up to three missiles per hardpoint. AT, other penetrating warheads, not designed for infantry targets. Guidance can be EO / IR / laser depending on variant. Medium or long range depending on variant.
AGM-114 Hellfire: one, three or four missiles per hardpoint. AT, anti-bunker, thermobaric depending on variant. Active radar / laser depending on variant. Medium to long range. Active radar homing variants are not available for fixed-wing aircraft.
Kh-25: one missile per hardpoint. AG. IR, laser, TV, anti-radiation. Medium-range.
AIM-120 AMRAAM: one or two missiles per hardpoint. "Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile". Active radar homing. Long-range, has a minimum range of about 750m. Base-game AMRAAM has LOAL capability.
AIM-9X Sidewinder: up to two missiles per hardpoint. AA. IIR. Short-range. Very maneuverable, high off-boresight capability.
R-77: one missile per hardpoint. AA. Active radar homing. Long-range. Base-game R-77 has LOAL capability.
R-73: one missile per hardpoint. AA. IR tracking. Short-range.

Bombs

Mk-81/82/83/84: General-purpose bombs. Number per hardpoint depends on bomb weight. HE. Dumbfire. Short-range. Can be fitted with tailfins to increase drag, in which case they're called "Snake-eyes".
Bomb weight (pounds): Mk-81 - 250 / Mk-82 - 500 / Mk-83 - 1000 / Mk-84 - 2000. Higher weight means bigger boom.
GBU-12/24: Mk-80 series fitted with laser guidance kits. Medium range. GBU-12 - 500lb / GBU-24 - 2000lb.
EGBU-12/24: Mk-80 series fitted with GPS/INS and laser guidance kits.
GBU-31/32/38 JDAM: "Joint Direct Attack Munition". Mk-80 series fitted with GPS/INS guidance kits. Medium range. GBU-31 - 2000lb / GBU-32 - 1000lb / GBU-38 - 500lb.
GBU-54/56 LJDAM: "Laser JDAM", JDAMs fitted with laser guidance kits. Medium range. GBU-54 - 500lb / GBU-56 - 2000lb.
FAB-100/250/500: General-purpose bombs. One per hardpoint. HE. Dumbfire. Short-range. Number indicates bomb weight in kilograms.
KAB-250/500: One per hardpoint. HE, though there is a cluster variant. Laser, TV. Number indicates bomb weight in kilograms.

SURFACE-TO-AIR THREATS

A short catalogue of anti-air threats you're likely to come across. I'll explain how to avoid them later.
All threats mentioned have 360° rotation and high elevation angles.
Note: engagement ranges indicated are not necessarily accurate, nor are they the maximum possible ranges. They are the average maximum ranges at which the AI was found to launch weapons.
Engagement ranges can be drastically extended via data links.

I'm categorizing these as follows:

Ballistic: not guided after launch. Also known as anti-air artillery (AAA).
Precision-guided: guided after launch.

Each of the above categories is further broken down into:

Static: cannot be moved quickly.
Mobile: can be moved quickly, usually under its own power. Further categorized into:
- Armored
- Unarmored
- MANPADS (Man-portable air-defense system)
 

Static

ZU-23-2: Ballistic. 23mm HE rounds. Very high rate of fire. 2 crew, exposed. Has an active radar transceiver.
Praetorian 1C: Ballistic. 20mm HE rounds. Very high rate of fire. Unmanned. Has an active radar transceiver.

9K38 (Djigit): Precision-guided (IR). Very low rate of fire. 1 crew, exposed. Essentially two 9K38 Iglas strapped to a tripod.
FIM-92F (DMS): Precision-guided (IR). Very low rate of fire. 1 crew, exposed. Essentially two FIM-92 Stingers strapped to a tripod.
Mk-49 Spartan: Precision-guided (IR). 21 missiles. Medium rate of fire. Unmanned. 3.5km maximum engagement range.
Mk-21 Centurion: Precision-guided (ARH). 8 missiles. Low rate of fire. Unmanned. Has an active radar transceiver. 5km maximum engagement range.
MIM-145 Defender: Precision-guided (ARH). 4 missiles. Very low rate of fire. Unmanned. No radar transmitter, designed to be used in conjunction with radar systems via a data-link.
S-750 Rhea: Precision-guided (ARH). 4 missiles. Very low rate of fire. Unmanned. No radar transmitter, designed to be used in conjunction with radar systems via a data-link.

Note that the MIM-145 and S-750 are capable of launching missiles without locking on first. The fact that their radar may have been destroyed doesn't mean they can't still smack you in LOAL mode.

Mobile

ZU-23-2 (truck-mounted): Ballistic. Unarmored. 23mm HE rounds. Very high rate of fire. 3 crew, gunners exposed. Has an active radar transceiver.
ZSU-23-4V: Ballistic. Armored. 23mm HE rounds. Extremely high rate of fire. 3 crew, protected. Has an active radar transceiver.

Barderlas: Ballistic / precision-guided (IR). Armored. 35mm HE rounds / 8 missiles. High rate of fire. 3 crew, protected. Has an active radar transceiver. Has airburst rounds in addition to the regular ones. 3.5km maximum engagement range.
ZSU-35 Tigris: Ballistic / precision-guided (IR). Armored. 35mm HE rounds / 8 missiles. High rate of fire. 3 crew, protected. Has an active radar transceiver. Has airburst rounds in addition to the regular ones. 3.5km maximum engagement range.
AWC 302 Nyx (AA): Precision-guided (IR). Armored. 8 missiles. Medium rate of fire. 2 crew, protected. 5km maximum engagement range.

9K38 Igla: Precision-guided (IR). MANPADS. Very low rate of fire.
FIM-92 Stinger: Precision-guided (IR). MANPADS. Very low rate of fire.
Titan MRPL: Precision-guided (IR). MANPADS. Very low rate of fire.
FGM-148 Javelin: Precision-guided (IR). MANPADS. Very low rate of fire.
 

This marks the end of combat basics. This is by no means everything you need to know. In the advanced combat section, we will go over such things as combat flight, self-defense, stealth, inter-aircraft cooperation, and more.
 

COORDINATION

This is where I teach you how to coordinate and communicate with your FAC, as well as other aircraft in the AO (to some extent).
This part is important. Be sure to get it down fluently.

This section is essentially the FAC guide cut down and modified for fixed-wing pilots.
Feel free to read the actual FAC guide to get some insight on what's going through the FAC's head.
https://www.fuckknows.eu/guides/arma-guides/command/fac-guide-r15/

Your long-range frequency should be set to 68. You will use this to talk to FAC and aircraft which are too far to reach on the short-range. I suggest having a long-range radio with you that you wear on you chest when you're in a plane with a parachute on your back. This will be useful in case you need to contact somebody for a rescue after you've ejected.
Your short-range frequency should be set to 180 to talk to other aircraft in the AO. If there are 4 or more active aircraft that have been split into teams, you may be assigned a specific frequency for your team between 180 and 189.9. In this case, you would just use your long-range to contact the other team (and Flight Lead if they're on a different short-range).

TERMINOLOGY

The terminology that you will need to know for effective communications.

Game-plan terms

Control type: The type of strike being ordered, categorized into 3 types that differentiate in what measures the FAC takes to make sure you don't hit friendlies.

• Type 1: the FAC will visually acquire the target and attack aircraft during the terminal phase of the attack, prior to weapons release, while maintaining control of individual attacks.
• Type 2: the FAC will utilize other measures to mitigate risk of friendly fire while maintaining control of individual attacks. (FAC won't see the target, but still take measures to make sure you don't hit friendlies)
• Type 3: The FAC will utilize other measures to mitigate risk of friendly fire while permitting multiple attacks in one engagement. (type 2 but you'll be allowed multiple strikes in one strike mission)

Method of attack: whether or not you are to acquire a visual on the target to engage.

• Bomb on target: you're required to see the target to engage.
• Bomb on coordinate: you're expected to hit a geographic location, defined by a map marker or grid-reference.

Ordnance / desired effect: the FAC will tell you if they want you to use a specific munition / the FAC will tell you exactly what they want to happen to the target.

Six-line terms

Ingress: an IP ("Ingress Point", a named map marker that you must pass on your way toward the target) or cardinal direction from which you should approach the target.
Target type: what you're attacking.
Target location: where the target is. Usually a map marker or grid-reference, though it may be a named town or landmark.
Mark type: how the target is marked. This could be colored smoke, a laser designator, an IR grenade, or nothing.
Nearest friendlies: where the nearest friendly units are, usually in relation to the target.
Egress: the cardinal direction in which you should leave the target area.

Other terms

AO: Area of Operations.
Racetrack: a path followed by a jet while awaiting tasking. Can be used for surveillance.
Orbit: a round racetrack around an AO.
Floor: the lowest altitude at which you are allowed to fly.
Roof: the highest altitude at which you are allowed to fly.
Contour flight: flying at such an altitude that you may have to adjust your path to avoid hills, usually below 300m.
NoE flight: "Nap of the Earth", flying as close to the ground as possible, usually below 50m in jets.
 

STRIKE MISSION PROCEDURE

Here's the order of communications from the beginning to the end of a strike mission:
Game plan -> 6-line -> Engagement.
Have a pen and paper with your, or some other way to take notes quickly.

Game plan

There are three parts:

1. Control type
2. Method of attack
3. Ordnance / effect desired

FAC: "[your callsign], FAC, advise when ready for game plan."
Tell them you're ready if you are, otherwise reply with "standby" to indicate they should wait.
FAC: "[control type], [method of attack], [ordnance / effect desired]. Advise when ready for six-line."
Finish taking notes and report in when you're ready for the six-line.

Six-line

I'll leave you to guess for yourself how many parts there are.

1. Ingress
2. Target type
3. Target location
4. Mark type
5. Nearest friendlies
6. Egress

After the sixth line, the FAC may also mention additional remarks such as AA presence.

Readback of lines 2, 3 and 5 is mandatory. The FAC may request a full readback.

FAC: "[line 1], [line 2], [line 3], [line 4], [line 5], [line 6]"
Read back the mandatory lines, or all if a full readback is requested. Ask them to repeat a specific line if you missed it.
FAC: "[confirms accurate / makes corrections]"
Read back the corrections if any are made.
FAC: "Report IP inbound."

Engagement

This is where you report in to FAC, get clearance to strike and leave.

Report in when you are crossing the IP.
If you don't see the target, "no joy". If you can see it and can engage, inform the FAC and request fire clearance. "Tally, confirm hot" (use "spot" instead of "tally" when targeting a laser marker).
FAC: "cleared hot / wave off".
If cleared hot, you're free to engage. Announce weapons release. If not cleared, hold fire and proceed to egress.
FAC: "[BDA]"

You must always make sure you are cleared hot before engaging unless the target poses a definite, severe and immediate threat to you or friendly units.
FK FACs currently use "eyes on" instead of "tally".
How to announce weapons release is outlined in the Brevity Codes section.
Feel free to provide a BDA to the FAC if they don't have eyes on the target.
 

AIRSPACE AUTHORITY

Dictates where you need permission for specific actions, and from whom to get that permission.

FAC-controlled airspace: you are not allowed to enter, land, or engage targets in the airspace without explicit permission from the FAC.

Visually controlled airspace: controlled by the first person to get eyes on the airspace, often Flight Lead. Permission is usually only needed if flying at low altitudes.

Uncontrolled airspace: if the FAC allows you a certain degree of autonomy, you can move through this airspace at your own discretion. You should still get permission to engage a target unless it poses an immediate threat to you or a friendly unit.

No-fly zones: airspace you are not allowed to enter, usually due to expected AA threat or priority to stealth.

In general, the home airbase would be visually controlled, objectives or areas with AA would be FAC controlled, and everything else is uncontrolled.
 

RUNWAY DESIGNATION

Runway designations have two parts: the runway heading and the side.
The runway heading is the bearing at which a plane has to fly to align itself to the runway, divided by 10 and rounded to the nearest whole number.
The side denotes which runway is referred to when there are multiple parallel runways.

For example, look at this image of the main Altis airfield (aligned so that up is north).

On the south-west ends of the runways, you can see that one is 04-L and the other is 04-R.
On the north-east ends, you can see that one is designated 22-L, and the other 22-R.
Bother runways designated 04 require a plane to be coming in at a heading of about 040 to land. When looking from that side, L is on the left and R is on the right.
Both runways designated 22 require a plane to be coming in at a heading of about 220 to land. When looking from that side, L is on the left and R is on the right.

Therefore, 04-L and 22-R are the same runway, as are 04-R and 22-L. The designations just make it easier to figure out which one is being referred to, and from which side you are expected to come in.

In airfields that have 3 parallel runways, the center one would have the letter designator "C".

An example landing clearance would sound something like this: "Raptor one one, cleared to land runway zero four left."

Many modded maps have completely random, inaccurate runway designation markings.
 

NATO BREVITY CODES

Various terms to concisely communicate information.
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a404426.pdf
The exact meanings are adjusted for use on our servers.
It is recommended that FACs learn these as well.

Home plate: home airfield or aircraft carrier. (we often use baseplate)
Angels: altitude in thousands of meters. (officially feet, but we use meters on our servers)

Winchester: out of ammunition.
Bingo: having barely enough fuel to safely RTB.
Joker: slightly more fuel than Bingo. The fuel state at which the aircraft should begin returning to base.

Bandit: hostile aircraft.
Bogey: unidentified aircraft.

Spike: RWR detection of hostile radar in track phase or hostile anti-air missile launch.
Buddy spike: aircraft is being spiked by a friendly.
Buddy lock: aircraft weapon is locked on to a friendly.
Faded: radar contact lost.

Low: contact is at a low altitude. (> 1000m)
Medium: contact is at a medium altitude. (1000 - 3000m)
High: contact is at a high altitude. (3000m - 5000m)
Very high: contact is at a very high altitude (> 5000m)
Slow: Target has a low estimated speed. (< 500kmh)
Fast: Target has a high estimated speed. (500 - 1000kmh)
Very fast: Target has a very high estimated speed. (> 1000kmh)
(very high isn't an official brevity code, but has been added for use on our servers) (values have been adjusted for use on our servers)

Speed check: NOT an official brevity code. Request for the current speed readout of another aircraft.
Alpha check: request for bearing and range to a described point. (e.g. "Spiked." "Alpha check." "250, 6 klicks" / "Eyes on a T-72 group." "Alpha check." "120, 5 klicks.") (you can provide altitudes as well) (values are from the describing aircraft's position)
Status: request for an aircraft's tactical situation.

Cleared hot: munitions release authorized.
Continue dry: munitions release not authorized.
Repeat: repeat fire mission using the same parameters.
Abort: cancel fire mission. (FACs on our servers often use "wave off")

Cease fire: stop firing. (any ordnance already released may continue to target)
Cease engagement: terminate the fire sequence. (any ordnance already released may continue to the target. Continue tracking the target)

Laser on: start of laser designation. FACs on our servers often use "lase on deck".
Cease laser: order to another aircraft to deactivate their laser.
Spot: laser designation is acquired by the aircraft.

Guns, guns, guns: firing main cannon.
Rifle: AG missile launch.
Bombs away: bomb release. (we often use "Pickle" on our servers)
Magnum: release of anti-radiation weapon.
Ripple: multiple ordnance releases in one strike.
Fox: air-to-air missile launch.

• Fox 1: semi-active radar-homing AA missile.
• Fox 2: IR-tracking AA missile.
• Fox 3: active radar-homing AA missile.

Maddog: ARH missile release without lock.

Splash: Weapons impact.
Grandslam: all detected hostile aircraft are neutralized.

A few common ones that are too obvious to name, such as "contact" and "friendly", have been left out.
 

If you are comfortable dealing with multiple frequencies at once, it can help to listen in on 69 so you can respond to infantry call-outs quickly and save time on waiting for the FAC to relay messages. Keep in mind that you still need to be told by FAC to engage if you aren't continuously weapons green; hearing the call-outs just allows you to find and lock on to the target beforehand.

That's all for communications, it's fairly straightforward. Remember that as the pilot, you ultimately make the decisions over your aircraft. If you deem entering an area to be too high-risk, you can reject an order to do so.
 

ADVANCED FLIGHT

Time to start getting spicy.
By this point I expect you to have sufficient practice to be capable of doing all the basics with ease.
I also expect you to be able to do simple research, as I will not longer be explaining every term that appears here.
 

ADVANCED LANDING

Here I'll be going over landing harder planes, and in more difficult situations.
Keep this in mind for all landing methods: if you can't see your FPV, you're going too slow.
Altitudes mentioned in this section are not ASL or ATL, but above the runway's elevation.
While most of this is explained in terms of the FPV, it translates easily into the movement of the plane itself and is almost the same without instruments.
Values used are approximate and depend heavily on the plane. Don't take them for law.
 

Short landing

You will be trying to touch down as close to the base of the runway as possible.
Your speeds will be extremely low.

Your plane should be under 30m when you're 100m out, moving at about 250km/h in swept-wing jets, and 180km/h or lower in straight-wing jets such as the A-10.
Keep your FPV slightly after the base of the runway.
You should be under 5m when you reach the base of the runway. Pull the air- and wheel-brakes as soon as you reach it, or a few meters before depending on your speed.
If you're not sure whether you'll be able to make it by the time you're halfway down the runway, kick the throttle to maximum and take off for another try.

If you are slowed to under 70 but still about the reach the end, turn off into a taxiway or onto the grass. You can also try zig-zagging across the runways to increase the distance you have to slow down. The latter is a little ridiculous, but sometimes works because Arma.

If the runway is on a hill, you can also try approaching from below its elevation and using the altitude increase to slow you down. You will have to know its layout beforehand as you won't be able to see it on approach.
This is dangerous. Do not try it during a mission until you've practiced and perfected it.
 

Carrier landing

Treat this like a short landing, but make sure your tailhook is down beforehand. You only get the option to lower the tailhook once your gear is extended. You should be landing from the back of the carrier as that's where the arresting wires are.
Keep in mind that the first few meters of the carrier runway on the USS Freedom are angled downwards. Don't hit them.

Some planes can be landed on carriers without tailhooks, such as the A-10D and L-159. (technically, even the F/A-181 can do it without a tailhook. It's just more difficult)
 

Damaged runways

You may have to land on a damaged runway, or one that has debris or other obstacles on it (or a platoon that's decided that the runway is a suitable waiting area).

Pick the longest clear area of the runway.
Treat it like a short landing and use your guiding wheel to avoid debris.

You do not have to land in the center of the runway, use the sides if you deem them safer.

In most cases of a damaged runway, you will find it easier to simply land on a taxiway or the dirt alongside it.

Of course, in some planes, you don't need more than a 100m of flat surface to land anyway.

EMERGENCY LANDING

There are three possible scenarios here:
1. You have a leaking fuel tank.
2. You have no fuel or your engine is inoperable.
3. Your controls surfaces are heavily damaged.

There are other scenarios as well, such as an influx of heavy AA threats or the pilot getting shot, but these only require you to get to an airfield quickly.

In case of a leaking fuel tank:

Find the nearest airfield on the map.
Judge how much time you have left before you're out of fuel.
Land at the airfield or gain sufficient altitude to be able to glide to a runway.

Once you're at a high enough altitude, you can set the engine to idle to conserve fuel and only use the throttle when necessary. You can also cut the engine, but keep in mind that it takes time to start back up in some planes.

In case of loss of thrust:

You would normally already be at least 1000m in the air. If your engine got shot out at a low altitude, pull up smoothly to gain some altitude with the speed you have.

Check the map for any nearby airfields. Judge whether you'll be able to get to them.
If you can't, take a look around and see if there are any suitable fields you can land in.
If not and you still have good altitude and speed, check the map for any suitable-looking terrain within your range.
Glide to it. Do not use your airbrake or otherwise intentionally drop speed at any point. You can reduce it during final approach.
Once you have the landing zone in sight, pick the smoothest strip of land and treat it like a short landing (don't overdo the low speed though, you don't have any thrust available to get you out of a stall).
Use the rudder and front wheel to avoid obstacles.

If you're too high and fast when you're coming up to the landing zone, pass over it and come in from the other side.

If it looks like you're going to hit something or you can't land safely, eject. Your safety has priority over the plane.

In case of severely damaged control surfaces:

A damaged control surface does not warrant an emergency landing unless there is a high risk of crashing as a result. Except for in the aforementioned case, landing with damaged control surfaces would be considered a  normal landing in which you do not get priority over other traffic.

If you need to land with damaged ailerons or elevators, just counteract the force manually.

If your ailerons are damaged to the point where you cannot keep the plane horizontal, allow yourself to slowly roll over while maintaining a path to the runway. Control the rate of roll by either counteracting or moving with it in such a way that you are aligned when you touch down.

Keep in mind that your  negative vertical speed when you're upside-down is much larger than when you're the right way up.

Landing on the side of a hill

Good luck trying this with swept-wing aircraft (except for the ones with ridiculous flight models).

You should always be landing uphill. Attempting to land downhill or accidentally taxiing over to the other side of a hill will result in you being unable to stop and eventually crashing.
Attempting to land perpendicular to the hill's gradient will result in you flying off sideways because of the roll required to avoid clipping the wing.

Pick a hill with a reasonable gradient, although this isn't usually a choice you have.
Pick the clearest and longest strip of hill you can find.
Fly low, with the intent of touching down at the base of your chosen strip. Your speed should be high enough that you can pull up.
When you are about to reach the base of your strip, pull up to align yourself with the hill's gradient and engage the air- and wheel-brakes.
 

After pulling an emergency landing on an airfield, try to use your remaining speed to pull off the runway and clear the space for other aircraft.

Some of these landings are much easier explained than done, but you should be able to do them with enough practice.
The An-2 can land almost anywhere, so that's a fun one to do it with. Not too useful for practice though. Start with easier ones with low stall speeds and short landing distances, then move on to more difficult ones that stall more easily, take longer to slow down on the ground, and are more sensitive to rough touchdowns.
Don't start with the easiest, most unrealistic planes though. I found the A-10D to be a good beginner's plane for emergency landing.

Only the F/A-18, F/A-181 and UCAV Sentinel have tailhooks.
 

EJECTION

If you are unable to land the plane safely, be it your control surfaces are too heavily damaged or you're out of fuel over a forested area, you always have the option to eject. At this point, your main goal is to not end up dead or in the middle of the ocean.
Look for a good location over which to eject. In order of priority, the area you eject over should:

• 1. Have little to no hostile presence. There's really no point ejecting if you're going to get shot on your way down. However, if you might find yourself deep in enemy territory, try to find a vehicle. If you can't fight your way out, simply surrender. Gives the infantry another objective, as well as someone to laugh at.
• 2. Be within comms range. In some planes, whatever backpack you have automatically gets replaced by a parachute upon ejection, so you won't have a long-range. Switch your short-range to whatever frequency the nearest element uses and explain your situation. 
• 3. Be friendly-accessible. This can be at your airbase, next to friendly squads, somewhere the transport chopper can land without getting blown up, etc.

After ejecting, scan the area and find a suitable point to touch down. You should also try to go for somewhere you can actually leave after landing, i.e. avoid roofs, deep pits, compounds from which the exits are blocked by hostiles, etc.

After landing, mark your position on the map and contact friendlies to arrange for extraction. Think about what vehicles the platoon has available to them and suggest a good pick-up point, for example: a flat, open area for a helicopter or along the road for land vics. Let them know about any possible hostiles near you.

Make sure to tell FAC you're ejecting before you do so.
 

STALLING

You went too slow, now you're falling out of the sky. Good job.
I'm defining this section not just as losing altitude as a result of low speed, but going so slowly that you fall straight out of the sky with no control over your aircraft.

Getting out of this is quite easy. Maximize throttle, fully extend flaps, and do your best to point your nose at the ground. You're looking to gain enough speed to regain control, but not so much that you won't be able to pull up in time. Once you have control, pull up in a smooth arc.
Don't pull up as soon as you can though, give it a bit more speed after you have control. Otherwise, you risk entering another stall as a result of the drop in speed due to the change in direction. The only exception here is if you're really close to the ground and have no choice.
As soon as you've pulled up, you may still be losing altitude. Activate afterburners.
Only retract your flaps once you've stopped losing altitude and are back at a safe velocity.
 

NOE FLIGHT

A mobile sonic boom blasting past a meter overhead makes for a good show.

More importantly, NoE flight can be used to avoid guided AA emplacements and escape enemy fighters.

All altitudes mentioned in this section are ATL unless otherwise specified.

There are various forms of NoE flight in fixed-wing aircraft, namely:
High-speed NoE.
Medium-speed NoE.
Low-speed NoE.

High-speed NoE

Sustained speed over 1000km/h.
Your altitude will generally fluctuate between 0 and about 200m as the terrain beneath you rapidly changes.
Don't try to duck into valleys as you won't be able to pull out of them.
Use your FPV to fly close to hilltops, between tall structures and under power lines.
Good for evading enemy fighters on your tail.

Medium-speed NoE

Between 500 and 800km/h. 350-500 should be considered medium-low and 800 to 1000 medium-high.
Smaller altitude fluctuations as you'll be able to follow the terrain more closely, between 0 and 100m.
Good for CAS strikes when there are light AA threats (.50 cals, autocannons not designed primarily for air targets) in the target area and guided AA threats in other parts of the AO.

Low-speed NoE

Sustained speed under 350km/h, flaps fully extended and nose raised. You'll be on the brink of stalling the entire time.
With practice, you'll be able to keep your plane at around 10m throughout the flight, and lower if there are no trees. Over airfields and other flat areas, you'll be able to maintain 1m given good control over your plane.
Use your FPV to avoid hitting the ground.
Good for avoiding detection by specific radars (I'll explain later) and decapitating infantry with your wings.
This is the only way light AA can reasonably be expected to kill you, and MANPADS will definitely take you down. Only do this in appropriate situations.

You'll often find yourself switching between medium- and low-speed NoE.
 

Play around with this. Learn your stall speeds, get familiar with the maneuverabilities and dimensions of different aircraft and you'll eventually be able to blast through such ridiculously small spaces that you need to turn your plane sideways to fit.
 

ADVANCED COMBAT

Anybody can drop a GBU on an armored vehicle. However, in a mission that fully takes into account the capabilities of fixed-wing aircraft, players who only know how to make tanks go boom are next to useless.
 

AIR-TO-GROUND COMBAT

This section will make the biggest difference in your effectiveness during most missions.
 

LOADOUT

General types

Air-To-Ground loadouts are somewhat difficult to categorize as they will often be mixed during missions and we have a wide range of different types of air-to-ground munitions. Because of this, I'm just listing the basic characteristics of a few for specific roles.

CAS: Most commonly used. Combinations vary greatly. You'll likely have a mixture of bombs, missiles and/or rockets in larger amounts than for other roles.
Strike: Loadouts with few but specific weapons, usually used if you have predefined targets to hit. 2000lb bombs, cluster munitions, cruise-missiles, anti-runway bombs, etc.
SEAD: Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses. You'll likely be grabbing anti-radiation missiles such as the AGM-88, Kh-25MP, and Kh-58 as well as other long-range munitions.

As mentioned before, these are just a few with general characteristics and you may take loadouts that have nothing to do with these for purposes such as laying down carpets of mines or illuminating night missions.

Fuel

You may often find yourself having to choose between a fuel tank or ordnance for a particular pylon. Your decision should depend on:

• The size of the fuel tanks. It may be a waste to replace a rack of bombs with a tiny fuel tank.
• The number of times you are allowed to refuel. This is usually infinite, but some missions restrict it to a certain number of RRR sessions.
• How long it takes to refuel. The longer you're out, the longer you're useless.
• Whether it is safe for you to land. For example, if you're likely to be attacked at home plate while on the ground. You would be practically defenseless in this case.
• How much risk you put friendlies at by leaving the AO. For example, if you're responsible for protecting friendlies from QRFs.
• How much ordnance you expect to use. The more targets you expect to hit, the more important it is to have a lot of ammunition.
• Which ordnance is being replaced. Instead of replacing the only pylon that takes important munitions, you might instead put a fuel tank on a hardpoint where that ordnance isn't available anyway.

Countermeasure pods

Some aircraft can take countermeasure pods on certain pylons. Again, you may need to decide whether you should take the pod or something else on a pylon.
As with the fuel tanks, this depends on the situation. You might be more likely to take it if you expect enemy fighters to show up, or are performing strikes in SAM-prone areas.

Some planes have internal ECM systems that allow you to perform jamming without using up pylons. However, the internal system might not be as powerful as other options, and both have advantages over each other.
I'll explain further later.

HOLDING / ENGAGING

Your hold patterns will vary depending on your role.

When providing CAS:
You could be told to loiter close to the AO to look for and destroy threats to friendly units, usually holding at about 2000m to keep a good view over the battlefield but still be able to hit targets quickly;
or be set on a racetrack further from the AO and only called in when the FAC has a specific target for you, often above 2000 meters and close to home plate.

When running strikes:
You may be set on a racetrack far from the AO and told to engage with GPS-guided munitions, in which case you'll likely be over 3000 meters in altitude;
or you might only know the target area, in which case you'll be sent to the region or set on a racetrack near it to find and destroy the targets, after which you'll likely be called back to another hold patter to switch to a different role.
In some cases, you'll be on a racetrack far away and allowed to break off for a single pass over the target and return to the racetrack.

When performing SEAD:
You'll likely be set on a racetrack far from the AO, but close enough that you can find the target using your sensors, after which you'll break off to engage it and return to the racetrack.

In many of these cases, you'll scout first and engage later; either by continuously circling the AO and engaging individual targets after reporting them in (mostly for CAS), or breaking off the racetrack for scouting runs and running strikes once you and the FAC have a good overall image of the target area (mostly for strike and SEAD roles).

GPS/INS-GUIDED STRIKES

How to take full advantage of the I-TGT system.

Multiple targets

After designating a target, you can use the arrows next to the SLOT button on the top-left to switch your selected slot. Once you have a different slot selected, you can use the DGN function again to designate another target. Once you have multiple targets, you can switch between them using the SLOT button and use the SEL function to assign a target once you have the correct slot selected.

Bomb-on-coordinate

I've already gone over the most basic way to hit a point on the map using this system. However, this can also be done by entering the 8- or 10-digit grid reference into the interface to avoid wasting time finding the coordinates on the map.
Click on the DGT button to switch between 8 and 10 digits.
Input the target coordinates, with the correct number of digits, into the text-box just above the DGT button.
Voila, the FCS will set a target marker at your selected coordinates.

On some maps, this messes up and the FCS puts the target marker at the wrong y-coordinate. In this case: input the coordinates again, but this time replacing the correct y-coordinate with the one the FCS decided to go for. This should result in the marker moving to the right place. (it seems that the FCS is designed for maps whose y-axes increase upwards, but the y-axis increases downwards on some CUP maps, so the coordinates become inverted)

Dual mode

The "mode" button on the bottom-left of the I-TGT interface cycles your guidance mode between GPS and DUAL.
Dual mode works with GPS-guided munitions that have other sensors such as IR or laser receivers. When using this mode, the ordnance will target the GPS coordinate until it identifies a target (IR signature or laser marker), at which point it will change course to hit it. If it doesn't spot anything, it will hit the GPS coordinate.

This is especially useful when you have the general location of a target but not the exact location.
For example, there's an active BMP in a town and the FAC can't mark it on the map because it's moving about. The area is protected by AA emplacements, so you can't go over and find it yourself.
Simply target the town itself with a GBU-53 and allow the bomb to find the BMP on approach.

Make sure to put the GPS marker further than the target's location so that the munition can spot the target before it reaches the marker. The marker coordinate should also be in an area where the ordnance won't hit any friendlies if it doesn't find a target.
When using dual mode with IR, make sure there are no warm friendly vehicles along the munition's flight route (the bomb won't target infantry, so they're fine). Keep in mind that vehicles take time to cool down after they've turned their engines off.

Be mindful of the target's environment. Approach in such a way that the ordnance has a good chance of finding the target in time to adjust course.
For example, if the target is in Ovallestán, in the valley between two mountain ranges on Clafghan, it's more reliable to release the munition parallel to the valley instead of perpendicular to it. In the latter case, the munition won't see the target until is passes over the mountains, at which point it may be too close to maneuver to the target.

If the munition identifies a target and changes course, the FCS will say "DUAL MODE ACTIVATED" in text chat in the vehicle channel.

Long-range GPS/INS-guided munitions

Glide-bombs
GBU-39 SDB: 200lb warhead, range over 15km.
GBU-53 SDB II: a GBU-39 with terminal active-radar homing, semi-active laser homing, and IR-tracking sensors in addition to the GPS/INS. The terminal-phase sensor when using dual mode is IR only in our modpack.
AGM-154A JSOW: "Joint Standoff Weapon", not actually a missile as it isn't self-propelled. Cluster bomb. Shaped charge, fragmenting and incendiary; so pretty much general-purpose. (look up BLU-97/B for specifics)
AGM-154A-1 JSOW: uses a different warhead (BLU-111) designed specifically for enhanced penetration. Intentionally less useful against infantry, but will slaughter any armored vehicles within its area of effect.
KGGB: similar to the GBU-39, but requires the PDU for designation.

AGM-84H SLAM-ER: low-altitude cruise missile, 500lb warhead. IR-tracking terminal-phase sensor when using dual mode in our modpack.
Some AGM-88 variants should be dual mode (GPS/INS / passive radar) in reality, but these don't seem to be the variants available in our modpack.

TWO-SEATER JETS

Some strike or multirole jets have a second seat for a weapons systems officer, whose job is to control guided air-to-ground ordnance loaded on the aircraft.

In such aircraft, the weapons systems controls are usually split between the pilot and WSO.
In general, the WSO has access to the laser designator and controls most of the guided AG ordnance, while the pilot controls dumbfire weapons and air-to-air missiles.
The WSO always has access to a targeting camera. The pilot may have one depending on the aircraft.

The pilot and WSO must constantly coordinate with each other to accurately and efficiently carry out fire missions. This is a little more complicated than in attack helicopters. While the crew chief in a gunship might tell the pilot how to adjust (rotation, altitude changes), a plane is constantly moving at a high speed and the WSO can't simply tell the pilot to "turn a little in this direction".

For this reason, the WSO must constantly communicate what they see to the pilot in order to give the pilot maximum situational awareness. This way, the WSO can simply tell the pilot what target they want to hit and with what ordnance, and the pilot can follow an appropriate approach path to get into position for the WSO to release engage. Think of it as making requests, rather than giving orders.

In order for this to work well, the pilot must have just as good an understanding of all the weapons systems as the WSO.
Just like in an attack helicopter, the pilot's biggest responsibility is keeping the aircraft safe. Of the two crew, the pilot is ultimately in charge.

More simply said:

WSO: make the big booms, keep the pilot updated as to the situation below.
Pilot: keep track of ground targets, select approach and holding patterns to the WSO's advantage, keep the aircraft safe.
Who does communications is to be decided between the two of you.

The F/A-18F and Su-34 are currently the only WSO-compatible fixed-wing aircraft in our modpack.
There are also two VTOLs with WSOs: the CSAT Y-32 Xi'an (1 pilot, 1 WSO), and the NATO V-44 X Blackfish (1 pilot, 1 copilot, 2 WSOs).

AIR-TO-AIR COMBAT

You're no longer the most powerful thing in the sky. You can and will be shot down if you get too cocky.

LOADOUT

General types

I'm categorizing AA loadouts into 3 distinct types:

• Short-range
• Long-range
• Mixed

This is pretty straightforward.

Short-range:
You'd generally take this if you don't expect to be engaging targets at long ranges at all. For example, if your targets are expected to be mostly enemy helicopters taking off from various bases and you have to fly low to avoid enemy SAMS.
Mostly short-range IR-tracking missiles such as the AIM-9X, IRIS-T and R-73. When you're close, you want highly maneuverable missiles with wide off-boresight capabilities.

Long-range:
You don't expect to be doing any dogfighting. This could be if your role for the mission is, for example, running CAP and protecting infantry by intercepting incoming enemy helicopters and CAS planes before they get close.
Long-range missiles, generally radar guided, such as the AIM-120, MBDA Meteor, and R-77.

Mixed:
This is the loadout you are likely to take in most missions. You expect a high probability of both short- and long-range engagements. This could be in a mission where you're expected to defend friendlies from incoming aircraft and there are likely to be enemy fighters coming for you.

The exact composition of your loadout depends on the mission. Naturally, you would balance out the proportion of long- and close-range missiles depending on the exact specifications of the mission.
For example, if you are in a supersonic jet you are likely to be holding at high altitudes and further out from the AO, so having more radar-guided missiles would allow you to hit hostiles without wasting time getting to them, reducing the risk to you and friendlies.
If, on the other hand, you are in a slower aircraft, you would probably be kept closer to the AO and at lower altitudes to cut down on response time. This means that you won't have as good a view on far-away enemies and will probably only see them once they get close, so you'd grab more short-range missiles.

Some missiles offer a compromise between the two extremes. For instance: the AIM-132. IR-tracking. It has a much smaller off-boresight capability and maneuverability than missiles such as the AIM-9X, but also a much longer range. This range isn't as long as that of radar-guided missiles, but it is much more maneuverable, doesn't give enemies a lock warning and cannot be disrupted by radar jammers.

An example loadout, on a plane where you have 6 hardpoints that take air-to-air missiles, would be [2x AIM-120C, 2x AIM-132, 2x AIM-9X], [2x MBDA Meteor, 2x AIM-132, 2x IRIS-T] or [4x R-73M, 2x R-77M]. Again, exact balancing depends on mission type.

Keep in mind that missiles from different mods have different characteristics. RHS USAF air-to-air missiles, for example, are generally much faster than those from other mods. The FIR AWS air-to-air missiles are quite slow but extremely maneuverable (extremely, to the point where AIM-9Xs sometimes seem to confuse themselves and spaz out like they're having seizures).

Fuel

The same applies here as in air-to-ground, though it would be even more important to have large amounts of ammunition as it directly affects the survivability of your jet.

Countermeasure pods

The same applies as in air-to-ground, though as a fighter it would be easier for you to evade missiles, but you'd be more likely to engage enemy fighters.
 

HOLDING

As an AA-equipped aircraft, your role will likely be to protect ground units, friendly aircraft, or both.

When protecting ground units, you will generally be set on a CAP pattern near or around the AO at a medium altitude.
In most missions, pilots hold at around 2000 meters by default.
You don't need to be very close to the AO because you'd normally be scanning for enemies using your radar and RWR.

When protecting friendly fixed-wing aircraft, you will either be providing CAP or escorting them.
Providing CAP for friendly aircraft: you wouldn't really be holding so much as searching. You will have a large pattern, trying to find and destroy enemy jets long before they can get close to the friendly jets. Keep in mind that this doesn't mean flying deep into enemy airspace. 2000m and higher, you want to be above hostile jets when you find them. (for AI. For proper CAP in PvP, this can reach higher than 6000m)
Escorting friendly aircraft: you're expected to stay close to the protected jet, breaking off only to engage enemy fighters that attempt to approach. This means you'll be following them even if they break off the holding pattern to run a strike mission.

Don't be lured too far away if you break off to engage enemy jets.
Try to stay in an echelon formation instead of following directly behind the escorted aircraft, as they would obstruct your view in the latter case.

ENGAGING

You generally want to be above enemy aircraft when you get into engagements. This allows you to lower pitch and gain speed quickly if necessary, and makes it difficult for them to get to your altitude without losing a lot of speed.

Deciding what to engage with is very simple. Most importantly, obviously, your missiles needs to have a sufficient range to hit the enemy. After that, you want it to be maneuverable enough that you can expect it to hit the target.

With most short-range air-to-air missiles, you can pretty much engage from any direction, though you're most likely to hit the enemy tail-on or head-on.
Engagement angle varies. The AIM-9X, IRIS-T and R-73 (FIR AWS variant) have very wide off-boresight capabilities, so you can lock on to and reliably hit targets that are almost directly to your side. Missiles like the AIM-132, however, have much narrower tracking cones and will require you to maneuver to that the target is at a smaller angle to your boresight.

With long-range air-to-air missiles, you often won't actually be able to see the target you're engaging. You can use your sensor display to find the direction in which they're moving. Because these missiles aren't as maneuverable as short-range ones, you want to try and engage head-on or tail-on. With most of these, including the AIM-120, MBDA Meteor and R-77, you can lock on to enemy radar signatures, which means you don't need to activate your own radar if the enemy has an active radar system turned on.

You might sometimes choose to use a different missile than the most effective one in order to conserve them for more important engagements. If you've been doing a lot of close-range dogfighting and have been called in to hit an enemy CAS chopper, you could use a long-range missile you have equipped to save the short-range ones for more enemy jets.

You almost never need permission from FAC to engage enemy fighters.
 

MISSILE EVASION

This section needs to be reworked, but fuck if I can actually prove how missiles work in Arma compared to real life. Use real tactics and maneuvers if you want to, but I can't guarantee they'll work.
Some of this is based on informed assumptions and testing (by many people, both in and out of FK) because BIS publishing their mechanics would be a meme or something. Regardless, check community Wikis, config references and other sources yourself as well.

How to not become a big boom.
It helps if your jet is fast and maneuverable, but this can be done with any jet.

Modern AA missiles follow intercept paths. This means that they lead the target instead of following it directly, like so:

As seen above, flying in a straight line will get you killed regardless of the angle from which the missile is coming. So what do?

Firstly, it's useful activate your ECM systems and check your flares are on the correct setting before entering airspace that's known to have enemy fighters or SAM systems.
You generally want to have an ECM pod as they are more effective than any internal ECM systems you may have available to you. For instance, the internal ECM system on the F/A-18E runs for 60 seconds and has a 40 second recharge time, while the AN/ALQ-99 (wing-mounted) runs for about 130 seconds and has a 53 second recharge time. Both are radar-jamming.
The increase in run time and better proportion to downtime can greatly reduce the amount of focus you need to divide toward missile evasion when operating in missile-prone airspace for extended periods of time.

The specifics of what you do to evade an incoming missile depend on the missile type, range from which it is fired, and source.
In almost all cases, you will use countermeasures and perform evasive maneuvers.

Missiles in Arma have a configured value for countermeasure immunity. This means that some missiles are more resistant to countermeasures, and some less.
This is probably based on chance - for example, the FIR AWS AIM-9X (cmimmunity = 0.98) has a 2% chance of being defeated by any single countermeasure, while the Jets DLC BIM-9X (cmimmunity = 0.92) has an 8% chance of the same.

This means that the more countermeasures you deploy, the more likely you are to defeat a missile. This is why you use burst mode for the flares on aircraft that carry enough of them to warrant it.
I haven't yet found any evidence, nor have seen other people finding evidence, of any relation between the range of a missile to its target and the effect of countermeasures released.
Theoretically, this would mean that it doesn't matter whether you release a burst of flares immediately upon launch or single flares repeatedly over a certain time period. The advantage in doing it immediately is that it gives you time to check if the missile is still following you.

You shouldn't start extremely sharp maneuvers until the missile gets close. The missile won't have difficulty adjusting while it's further out, and you'll only lose airspeed.
In general, direct yourself at a high offset angle to the missile and keep your speed up. This will force the missile to turn in an attempt to hit the expected intercept point far out ahead of you (though there might be a configured limit to how far it leads you). This causes it to lose some speed already. If this is at long range, turning away to offset yourself in the other direction afterwards will force the missile to turn yet again, more sharply this time. If its rocket motor has burned out by this time, it's fucked - but this is Arma and ranges are a lot closer, and some missiles have rocket motors that burn for disproportionately long periods of time compared to other missiles of their type.

If you're dealing with surface-to-air missiles, try to get down low and use terrain to obscure you from the launch platform and prevent subsequent launches.

In any case, you should be paying attention to the positions of the missile and launch platform, and adjust maneuvers accordingly. Observe and be deliberate. Don't just panic and turn wildly - that's literally a hit-or-miss method.
 

STEALTH

Sneaky-beaky in a roaring jet.

How you stay hidden depends heavily on what you're up against. It helps to know how the sensors work.

EO and IR sensors are obscured by visual obstacles, including smoke and clouds.
Ground-based active radars usually scan the entire hemisphere above them, at much larger distances than EO/IR sensors.
CAP jets have radars designed to track fast-moving targets in open skies at very long ranges.
The sensors on CAS aircraft are oriented downwards and designed to spot slow or stationary targets on the ground at shorter ranges.
Most aircraft have passive radar, RWR and IWR systems.
 

Let's put this information to use.

Flying low and behind terrain will obscure you from any ground units and low-flying aircraft. This is a good way to approach for AG strikes as it's nearly impossible for the target to predict your arrival.
Keep in mind that if you suddenly need to pull up for some reason, you will pop right into the enemy's view.
In general, staying at high altitudes and near the clouds will make you invisible to ground units without active radar.

You want to avoid flying within about 8km of ground-based active radar sites unless you're really high up or behind terrain. The higher you are, the closer you can get.

CAP jets will easily spot you at normal altitudes.
Flying at low-speed NoE will help obscure you from CAP jets' sensors.
You will be at a speed disadvantage if you get caught at low-speed NoE. CAS aircraft will quickly spot you if you get too close.
You can avoid CAP search patterns by flying much higher than the CAP aircraft. This will also give you the altitude advantage if you decide to engage them.

You should keep your radar transmitter deactivated as much as possible.
Your RWR can spot active radar systems at twice their range. This allows you to use your sensor display to spot and avoid them before they see you. It also means you can plan strikes on their positions without performing scouting runs.
Remember that most radar-guided air-to-air missiles are capable of targeting enemy radar transmitters.

Aircraft have a config variable called "radarTargetSize", a coefficient that affects the distance at which you can be detected by an enemy radar. The smaller the value, the closer you can get before a radar spots you.
The A-10D has radarTargetSize = 1. This is supposedly normal for mid-sized aircraft and cars.
The AV-8B and F/A-181 have 0.8.
The stealth variant F/A-181 has 0.4 and F-22A has 0.3, as does the UCAV Sentinel. These will have quite a strong advantage in the stealth aspect.
These are only part of the overall calculation, so a stealth F/A-181 flying out in the open isn't necessarily harder to spot than a Harrier flying NoE.
Also, we play with different mods. Values are neither standardized nor intuitive. The F/A-18E and Su-35 both have radarTargetSize values of 1.

 

You can mix and match these tactics to your advantage (for example, flying high and using your RWR to find enemy SAM systems, marking their positions out on the map, then utilizing NoE flight between valleys to get close and strike them). As with everything else, be creative.

That's it! There are some things I've chosen to omit entirely (such as the PDU, traffic patterns, PAPIs) as they don't work on our servers, are simply unnecessary to know or are very easy to figure out in-game.

You are encouraged to do additional research and testing of your own, just keep in mind that many statistics in Arma come nowhere near what they should be in real life, though they're often proportional.

Thanks to Tomo and Silberjojo for looking over and making changes to the Coordination section.
Thanks to Shroomzeh for general edits and feedback.

I apologize for the image quality, this is the only way I could get them to upload.

Changes are made following updates to fixed-wing mods and the corresponding weapons mods.

Some of this shit is due a full review. More important areas are actively being reviewed and restructured a section at a time.

Related guides that could be useful:
FAC guide: https://www.fuckknows.eu/forums/topic/4309-fac-guide/
Russian target identification: https://www.fuckknows.eu/forums/topic/4774-identification-of-russian-vehicles/
ACE AGM-114 guide: https://www.fuckknows.eu/guides/community-guides/community_arma-guides/community-flight-guides/ace-3110-hellfire-r28/
A-10A AG IIR targeting: https://www.fuckknows.eu/forums/topic/5618-usage-of-the-a-10as-targeting-system/
Su-25 laser guidance: https://www.fuckknows.eu/forums/topic/5633-usage-of-the-su-25s-laser-guidance-system/
VTOL in the AV-8B and GR7A/9A: https://www.fuckknows.eu/forums/topic/5765-harrier-vtol-and-you/
Map reading: https://www.fuckknows.eu/forums/topic/1130-map-reading-and-you-a-badger-guide/

Below you can find the Google spreadsheet with values for your ATragMX. Numbers were ran by Rorkiy and OK'd to be published.
Values are in metric.

Google Spreadsheet

For "BORE" value I had success with using the number displayed on my Range Card on the bottom, which changes based on gun AND scope.

EDIT:

It's actually faster just to put in the owner field of the Zeus module: "#adminLogged"

Overview:

In this guide the following will be covered

• The Designated Marksman Rifles within our mod pack
• The caliber, attachments, what faction uses it, max range, best range for the rifle, etc.
• Choosing a location to set up in, compared to an objective
• Roles a Designated Marksman can take during a mission
• Equipment

The mods I'm using are: SIGHT: AMS, MUZZLE: MAG58 Flash Hider BIPOD: Bipod (NATO) RAIL: None

Guidelines for being a proper Designated Marksman:

• Don't stray too far from your squad.
• Only take a DMR if your squad lead allows you to do so.
• Don't take a high position that takes a while to get up/down from if you know you're moving soon.
• Don't take DMR if you're AAR.
• If you're not doing a stealth-based mission don't take a suppressor, unless you want reduced range.
• Don't ask for DMR if you know you will be in a close-quarters-combat environment.
• Try and be more helpful and less hindering on your squad.
• Though this may be similar in some aspects to Prophet, IT IS NOT PROPHET.

Rifles:

Rifle: Mk14 Mod 1 EBR
Caliber: 7.62x51 mm
Attachments: Sights: Most sights available. Rail Attachments: Most are available. Muzzle Attachments: Suppressors & Flash Hiders. All bipods.
Used by: Altis Armed Forces (Base Game), Can be used by NATO
Max Range: 800m 
Best Range: 600-800m
Weight unmodded/fully modded: 5.62 kg (Unmodded) 6.76 kg (Modded fully)

Rifle: MXM
Caliber: 6.5x39 mm
Attachments: Sights: Most sights available. Rail Attachments: Most are available. Muzzle Attachments: Suppressors & Flash Hiders. All bipods.
Used by: NATO (Base Game)
Max Range: 800m
Best Range: 600-800m
Weight unmodded/fully modded: 4.31 kg (Unmodded) 5.44 kg (Modded fully)

Rifle: VS-121
Caliber: 7.62x51 mm
Attachments: Sights: Most sights available. Rail Attachments: Most are available. Muzzle Attachments: Suppressors & Flash Hiders. All bipods.
Used by: CSAT (Base game)
Max Range: 800m
Best Range: 600-800m
Weight unmodded/fully modded: 4.9 kg (Unmodded) 6.03 kg (Modded fully)

Rifle: ASP-1 
Caliber: 12.7x54 mm
Attachments: Sights: Most sights available. Rail Attachments: Most are available. Muzzle Attachments: None. All bipods.
Used by: CSAT (Marksmen DLC)
Max Range: 150 m
Best Range: 150m
Weight unmodded/fully modded: 7.8 kg (Unmodded) 8.89 kg (Modded fully)
Special Note: "It should be noted that the ASP-1 is not a true DMR or sniper weapon. It should not be used to engage targets more than 150 meters away as the subsonic round's power drops-off very quickly the further it travels. In addition, the extremely wide trajectory of the rounds ballistic model makes it almost impossible to attack long range targets with." (Exerpt from Arma wiki)

Rifle: Cyrus
Caliber: 9.3x64 mm
Attachments: Sights: Most sights available. Rail Attachments: Most are available. Muzzle Attachments: Suppressors & Flash Hiders. All bipods.
Used by: CSAT (Marksmen DLC)
Max Range: 700m
Best Range: 600-700m
Weight unmodded/fully modded: 7.08 kg (Unmodded) 8.53 kg (Modded fully)

Rifle: M14 (Marksmen DLC)
Caliber: 7.62x51mm 
Attachments: Sights: Most sights available. Rail Attachments: None. Muzzle Attachments: Suppressors & Flash Hiders. All bipods.
Used by: FIA (INDFOR)
Max Range: 800m
Best Range: 600-700m
Weight unmodded/fully modded: 4.72 kg (Unmodded) 5.85 kg (Modded fully)

Rifle: Noreen "Bad News" ULR
Caliber: .338, 7.62x51 mm
Attachments: Sights: Most sights available. Rail Attachments: Most are available. Muzzle Attachments: Suppressors & Flash Hiders. All bipods.
Used by: CTRG, NATO (Marksmen DLC)
Max Range: 800m
Best Range: 600-800m
Weight unmodded/fully modded: 6.44 kg (Unmodded) 7.89 kg (Modded fully)
Special Note: This is only classed as a Marksmen rifle when using 7.62, otherwise classed as a sniper rifle.

Rifle: SIG 556
Caliber: 7.62x51 mm
Attachments: Sights: Most sights available. Rail Attachments: Most are available. Muzzle Attachments: Suppressors & Flash Hiders. All bipods.
Used by: NATO (Marksmen DLC)
Max Range: 800m
Best Range: 600-800m
Weight unmodded/fully modded: 4.63 kg (Unmodded) 5.76 kg (Modded fully)

Rifle: KH417A2 20"
Caliber: 7.62x51 mm
Attachments: Sights: Most sights available. Rail Attachments: Most are available. Muzzle Attachments: Suppressors & Flash Hiders. All bipods.
Used by: CTRG (Apex DLC)
Max Range: 800m
Best Range: 600-800m 
Weight unmodded/fully modded: 7.8 kg (Unmodded) 8.94 kg (Modded fully)

Rifle: QBU-88
Caliber: 6.5x39 mm
Attachments: Sights: Most sights available. Rail Attachments: 3 are available. Muzzle Attachments: Suppressors & Flash Hiders. 1 pre-attached bipod.
Used by: CSAT (Apex DLC)
Max Range: 700m
Best Range: 500-700m 
Weight unmodded/fully modded: 5.76 kg (Unmodded) 6.44 kg (Modded fully)

Rifle: SVDM/SVDS (With and without NPZ)
Caliber: 7.62x54mm
Attachments: Sights: Most sights available (NPZ), 3 RHS Red sights (Non-SPZ) . Rail Attachments: None. Muzzle Attachments: 2 Suppressors. No bipods.
Used by: Russian Federation, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Takistan, ISIS.
Max Range: 800m
Best Range: 600-800m
Weight unmodded/fully modded: 5.52 kg (Unmodded) 6.14 kg (Modded)

Rifle: M76 
Caliber: 7.92x57mm
Attachments: Sights: RHS Red sights, 4 NIArms sights. Rail Attachments: None. Muzzle Attachments: 1 suppressor, 1 flash hider. No bipods.
Used by: Iraq, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, North Korea
Max Range: 800m
Best Range: 600-800m
Weight unmodded/fully modded: 4.66 kg (Unmodded) 5.5 kg (Modded fully)