June 28, 2014

PhanTactical Future!

I've been a huge Arma fan since its inception with Operation Flashpoint back in the early 2000s. I randomly saw the box on the shelf at, I think, Compuserve, and decided it looked cool. I had no idea what a military simulator was at the time, or what I was getting into with that purchase. My mind was blown! I was hooked. I played it constantly. The same for Arma 2. I played that game for years, all by myself because I didn't have the internet at the time to play online well enough to join a group.

I bought Arma 3 the day it was released on Steam in its Alpha release. I played it primarily by myself with the multiple singleplayer scenarios, and occasionally online. I always wanted to join a group and get involved with the missions I had seen on Youtube with dozens of people. Once I started traveling for work I wasn't able to since I was usually working 7 days a week. I planned to join a group once I came back home for good, and I had been doing some research on who to join.

I made the decision to join PhanTactical, a group that started about two years ago, and has a really solid player base, quality mods, missions, and regular play times. I put my application in last night, and it was accepted! I'm super excited about this. It's going to allow me to play Arma, one of my favorite games, in totally new ways.

I have an idea of what to expect. Rarely, when playing with random people on multiplayer previously, things would come together in glorious ways: close air support screaming overhead to lay down heavy fire on a hardened target while I sit in an overwatch position with my squad, firefights through cities, planned ambushes playing out perfectly. But that was definitely the exception to my play online. Joining a group like PhanTactical will provide me with gameplay like this on a more regular basis, and it'll give me a group of players who actually play "correctly", which really makes the game more fun.

I'm sure I'll start out as just a grunt with a rifle, but I'd like to explore playing as recon, or maybe a tank commander. I'd also like to be a squad leader, which is something that's provided by the group. I've never done that before, but I enjoy being in charge!

And while this is most definitely a mercenary's blog about EVE, I think we'll be seeing a bit more about Arma soon! :)