KAREZ OFFENSIVE: some reports about a massive battle

Edition #11

FOX TWO!Tales from a real pilot

and more!

MANS WORLD

EditorialScreenshots are many things to us gamers. They can be a

source of eternal laughter or undying fury. For a select group of people though, they can be a form of art.

We’ve all had a screenshot have an impact on us in one way or another. An example for me would be about 4 years ago when I was having a look at a mod for BF2, funnily enough it was called project reality. I quite liked the prospect of a realistic BF2 even back then, as vanilla multiplayer seemed to be a complete joke. As I was contemplating downloading this huge mod I saw a screenshot, showing the challenger 2 tank on what was presumably Al Basrah. The thought of having Brits in a game immediately appealed to my patriotic side and I happily spent the next few weeks downloading PR for the first time (slow net).

Over at screenshotworld.com these little sources of humour and advertisement are treated in the same respect as photographs, with a friendly community and accolades to go with it. SSW comprises of a good bunch of lads that are also mostly into the sim genre, with shots coming from the likes of the button-presser’s-dream DCS-A10C and the ageing but still brilliant Rfactor. The screenshot artists upload their work to the forums to showcase their work, where they are given feedback and awards in some cases, such as being featured in exclusive galleries or even the front page of the site. These awards are based on the colour, composition and sometimes editing of the piece.

As if this isn’t a good enough reason to go take a peek, they also run competitions from time to time. In fact they’re running one as you read this, to create a magazine cover. Any magazine, doesn’t even have to be a real one. The prize is a Wacom Bamboo tablet, a neat little piece of kit that allows people to draw on your digital imaging software as easily as you would a pencil on paper, which combined with the extensive toolset of the software of today can provide incredible images.

So that’s it, I encourage anyone and everyone to have a look at www.screenshotworld.com, it’s got a good community, easy to use forums and some bloody good artwork too. That’s all from me lads, cya in the field.

http://screenshotworld.com/shopfront/

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Table of Contents:

Editorial 2

Fox two! Fox two! 4In the last article (Reality Contact - Dec. 2011), I wrote about flying. This time, I will write about flying.

COMIC! 5

PROJECT REALITY NEWS 6

The Karez Offensive 7When Wicca launched his extraordinary map and planned the 200 player event on 30th of December, I obviously had no choice but to join his team.

COMIC! 8

Karez Offensive APC POV 9

CO AAR 10It really is one of those PR gems where you’re just screaming in your microphone like you’re possessed.

A MANS WORLD 12

Wheelman dont fly 14It’s no secret that I don’t like to fly.

Fox two! Fox two!You are reading this now as either a person that flies

in Project Reality or a person that doesn’t. If you are a veteran pilot, you might as well read this incase you have missed a very important part of flying in PR. If you don’t fly, however, this is the article for you. You may not fly because you don’t like it, or you may simply not know how to. I will attempt to teach you the basic rules of flying in this article.

So. Flying. In PR it is a very important role. If you are a transport heli pilot, you supply frontline troops with required ammunition and supplies, and you fly reinforcements to the frontline. If you are an attack helicopter pilot, you support ground forces with airborne firepower. If you are a jet, you keep the skies clear of enemy presence and fly important missions to destroy key enemy emplacements.

Deciding what to specialise in is a choice based entirely on experience and ability. You may love flying jets, but if you crash before take off, you are not much help to the team. Try out all different types of aircraft in a single-player or coop training server. Even different aircraft in the same group are very different. For example, a Huey is light and agile, whereas a Chinook is big and cumbersome. They are, however, both transport helicopters.

So. You are probably now thinking about what you would like to do. I can’t advise you on this, as everybody has their own favourite thing.[Editor’s note: is it wrong that I had a Matrix flashback at this?]

In this article I’m going to start telling you about a very important logistical asset - the Transport Helicopter.

Trans helis are, in big maps, vital to a team’s success. They ferry new troops quickly to the frontline, then keep them supplied. If a team loses their transport helis, they’re in big trouble.

When you fly a trans heli, you usually have the lives of six men in your hands. This is a big responsibility, so you have to avoid enemy contact as much as possible.

This means flying low and fast. You may have seen, in Muttrah City, Hueys flying below house level through the streets. This is how you need to fly to avoid being locked-on by SAMs. There is a drawback, however. Flying low requires a lot of skill, but more importantly, practice, lest ye become a very expensive pinball. You can be a brilliant heli pilot, but only experience can show you how fast you can really go at street level. How quick each heli can bank, and how low it can go.

A key fact of low flying in PR is the BF2 engine does not class rotor-blades as physical objects. This means you can fly between gaps without worrying about clipping the rotors. This can allow you to fit in ridiculous gaps, and can greatly enhance your flying experience. Again, practice will tell you how close you really can go.

Basically, you can teach how to operate a heli, but you can’t teach how to fly a heli. It is a skill that is learnt by practice and experience.

Another vital tactic to use is the intelligent use of flares. As the old saying goes, “it’s easier to prevent than it is to cure”, try to use flares before you get locked on. When you are coming in to land at a hot LZ, use flares. Also use flares when taking off. These are preventative tactics; they try to prevent you from getting locked on in the first place.

When you are a trans heli pilot, remember that it’s your heli. If a squad orders you to fly into a very hot LZ, but you think it’s too dangerous, land somewhere else. It is your heli. You are in charge of it.

So. That was my short article about flying, particularly transport helicopters.

Come back next time for attack choppas!

In the last article (Reality Contact - Dec. 2011), I wrote about flying. This time, I will write about flying. Again.

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Write

r

DECLANA guest writer in Reality Contact

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COMIC!

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by: Wh33LMAN

Jack of all trades, master of none

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PROJECT REALITY NEWSKarez Offensive EventThe PRTA won a massive 100 versus 100 battle against 3dac and mercs. The 30th of December 2 teams one russian and one canadian fought on the map The Karez Offensive, and after a long battle the PRTA team was victorious after assaulting a large russian Forward operation base on the north east side of the map.

Operation OverloadEarly in January PRTA announced they would host a large 200 player battle on project Normandy. A mini mod made by R-DEV AfterDune for some time now. The Event will take place on the 3rd of January and will most likely be the first time so many people in PR has stormed the beaches of Normandy all at once. Signup at www.prteamwork.com for a spot. Most likely there is only reserve positions left as all the active roles have been taken.

TARTThe Teamwork And Reality Tournament will have 128 player servers during their campaigns announced Bonsai on the 18th of January. The 128 Madness has begun, the poster states. Hopefully it will be organized fun with a lot of players. Needless to say this is a very proud moment for PR, as it is the only bf2 mod that has a 64+ tournament. It was also announced that it will have 2 dedicated teams with similar organization as the PRT had. Check it out www.tartournament.com

Adrenaline Warfare ProjectThe Adrenaline Gaming Alliance organized and launched a great mumble and teamwork event on the 14th of January. A player was qouted saying “The play was perfect...I haven’t received such joy for the last time...that was really good” Clay91. And from the feedback it seems the players enjoyed a good game of PR.

HardcoreThe Hardcore Gaming Clan’s Server license was revoked after reports of admins taking money to remove bans. Similar claims of extortion were also reported. The PR Teams Managment investigated these allegations and found them to be true, and as a result of finding the server in violation of the EULA agreement revoked their license for a PR server. The allegations of the server violating these rules were questioned by sabwarfare. He stepped up and stated that R-DEV ancientman’s sources were nothing but hearsay and falsified information. The managment quickly struck down on those statments with a comprehensive list of proof that was stated in the same thread as the announcment to remove the server license. http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f10...5-pr-management-response-hardcore-server.html

The Saaremaa Beta Test Event [NEW]From Friday to Sunday the 27th to 29th of January NEW announced their plans to host a gameplay BETA Test of the Saaremaa map. Made by R-DEV Outlawz it features a USMC versus Russia amphibious assault map, one island and two carriers on each side of the island. The map is a 4k map. Hopefully we will see a good amount of testing on this event. See you all there! http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f37...new-saaremaa-beta-test-event-27-1-29-1-a.html

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When Wicca launched his extraordinary map and planned the 200 player event on 30th of December, I obviously had no choice but to join his team. I didn’t even sign myself up! I was quite nervous showing up to the training the day before, but I thought everything went smoothly - might be because the only thing I did was follow Wicca around and sit in a car (I actually got carsick in game). When Wicca was happy with the deployment, there was time for a little you-shoot-me-I-shoot-you game. I actually hid behind Wicca until it was over.

At the event, everything seemed different than the training to me. Although it was the day after, I didn’t even remember the direction we should go from the main! (Probably because I am a woman) Anyways, when we reached our destination and started shooting with the big guns, someone in the squad drove one of the cars closer to get more ammo, and accidentally drove over a squad-member. Wicca asked what happened and the response was: “I just drove over someone, nothing to see here.” I laughed so hard.

Later I got asked to give more ammo to the big guns, and I somehow dropped the ammo-bag on the ground, and I got so flustered, I hid in a bush. But I didn’t have to stay there for long, we had to move out from our position, and I just tagged along as usual. After sitting around and look for enemies for a while, me and Wicca went down a hill to build FOBs. I had

never built FOBs before and Wicca didn’t tell me how to do it either. So I just started building it with my shovel, I stopped for a minute and asked Wicca if it was done, and just before he answered; “no”, it blew up in my face. But I did it right eventually! After my FOB fail, it got more difficult for me to follow Wicca and what was going on around me. I basically stood still at one place at the end, like a retard. It seemed to me everyone shot in different directions and helicopters and other things blew up everywhere. Right when I got badly injured, our team won. So that was nice.

Besides not understanding anything, being weird and a helpless soilder-retard, I thought it was fun to see a battle up close and how everyone does their tasks. But I think it would be a while before I join something like that again, and if so - (because Wicca realized how bad I really am at PR) I have to pass Wicca’s special made boot-camp first. Because I am special. The map is beautiful by the way.

XX Foxxy

The Karez Offensive.

Write

r

FOXXYA guest writer in Reality Contact

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COMIC!

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by: Wh33LMAN

Jack of all trades, master of none

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At the start of the round we were all pumped for the epicness that will commence. We hastily left the main base and headed to a flanking position to intercept any Canadian forces pushing straight through the middle of the map. The ride was fast and smooth as it always is with the BTR-80. We got into turret defilade and waited for enemies. We spotted them soon and engaged. The infantry was no problem, but then the LAVs with their thermals showed up and what they didn’t kill the Apache finished. So a not very terrific start. If you could call this bad luck, well, the string of it continued. For some reason our main base became unspawnable and we spent half an hour waiting to spawn while the BTRs sat idle in their little parking spots. We finally got a FOB built near main and could get back into action. As the rest of our team was dug-in in alpha 1, we tried flanking enemy forces which were attacking them and at the same time doing some recon stuff. The rest of the round was fun, we had little skirmishes with LAVs here and there, we ran into an occasional HAT and soon the game ended with our defeat. But that did not matter, we had fun and that is why the event was organized.

It was awesome, can’t wait to play with all you guys again.

Canadian Perspective:Having leaked the battle plan the night before due

to a forum not being closed off from public view, I was hesitant to play. Thinking we where A: Going in to battle with no plan B: Using the old plan and running in to the arms of the Russians who where waiting for us. I decided I didn’t want to let my LAV gunner down so I showed up and was excited to see how it played out. Leaving the base with a full LAV and 15 fps we head east to the bottom right corner as a first deployment. We did not encounter anything and our biggest threat up to that point was the terrain.

After that we got the orders to just expose ourselves and find the enemy. We advanced with the infantry covering us and vica versa and it looked pretty epic.

We did this for a while until my LAV and LAV4 got

ordered to drop our squad in the north-west corner. Our scout squad reported enemy movements there and our CO wanted to check it out. The ride up there was smooth but as soon as we deployed we spotted emplacements on the horizon and took some fire from a BTR. We backed down out of sight and waited for orders.

Sitting close to what seemed to be a Russian Stronghold, fearing for our lives, we got ordered to fall back and regroup with the team as it was getting in to gear to assault the North-West corner.

Being relieved that we could get out of that mess, we sped back to base for some much needed repairs and regrouped. Our team was maneuvering to the North West area of the map and closed it off so enemy reinforcements couldn’t arrive. Then we locked down in a firefight trying to wipe them off their hill.

I moved our LAV on a few different hills to either protect the flank of our platoon or help Infantry squads deal with infantry, a BTR and a Cow chopper. The highlight was when we almost shot down the Havoc but our cannon overheated.

It was a fun and tactical game. I watched it through 10 to 15 fps so I was glad to be in the LAV and not as an infantry man but I enjoyed it. We really moved as a platoon and as a team and we had fun searching the map for the enemy team and moving in for a nice fight after we found them. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Karez OffensiveAAR From 2 APC drivers:

Write

r

SHAVEDALPACA& CyberzombyA guest writer in Reality Contact

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platoon was spread out along the lines against the enemy, and squad 9 was behind me engaging enemies trying to flank us. It was a hectic firefight, I had overview of the situation, but it was a tough situation. Infront of us, a massive 5 FOB complex with TOWs, Mortars, 50 cals and their entire team. We engaged with 25 mm, 12.7 mm, rockets and small arms. It was awesome and we luckily won at the end because we had taken out more of their assets. Thank you 3rdac for a great game.

PRTA won the game by 140 tickets.

Remarks:I saw that moving 2nd platoon with 1st platoon

more would have saved us time, and made 1st platoon more able to get resupplied and supported and keeping 3rd platoon more in the front would have made communications less hectic. But all in all I did not win this battle, my platoon leaders did. Thank you Oreely and 700k.v

A dim night in Norway, as is normal this time of year. It was christmas time and as all other Norwegians were busy with their jolly christmas. I was having a conversation with Curry-Chicken. He wanted to give his clan something big for new Years, something to top the year off. I was in a good mood, as good as I ever get and since Curry was drunk we quickly decided to make a 200 player Karez Offensive match against each other.

Having agreed this with Curry, I suddenly realize I have 9 days to get 100 players ready for a battle. I felt slightly disorganized and retarded when I thought of Curry’s experience in clan matches and quickly looked over my xfire list for people who had the ability and men to squadlead. As one after the other fell in, I quickly had myself 3 platoons filled with a bunch of people. They all got their forums in order, I got the signups rolling and after making a somewhat simple battleplan with alot of cool icons, we started training.

I was unsuccessful at organizing the training, about 70 players showed up, but at least all the officers were present. However, when you put 70 people who have never played together in one server. Well... I yelled alot, and I feel bad about that. But at least we got to train for deployment and do some simple fighting, and after some time we all got more organized and everyone started working together a lot better.

The day had come. The day of days. I have to say, I’m a big fan of new year’s eve, but I think this was the best night of that year. The tension rose as the time ticked closer and closer.

We had around 190 players on the server, both teams were getting ready, and after some time we started the event. My team’s deployment went well, three squads in the center and 2nd platoon on the right flank. Third platoon with scout and HAT units on the left

flank. I was expecting the enemy, but only scout vehicles appeared.

I reassigned 2nd platoon to move up behind squad 9 of the IsrTG community. They were being engaged by enemy APCs and needed assistance. 2nd platoon saw combat and eliminated the enemy togheter with squad 9 and squad 8 which was K_rivers and the air squad. They pushed up further on the left flank and found an enemy FOB. Then 2nd platoon was in retreat.

I was at this moment telling 1st platoon to move north, they had set up position and was communicating targets to the right flank. So 2nd platoon got a new mission, to move to that position and engage the enemy.

After a lengthy operation 2nd platoon and 1st platoon won the firefight and was both ordered to move up.

I had my squad build a new fob behind 1st platoon’s position as they progressed with their operation.

Contacts up in the north west corner of map were dealt with and after that I was given reports of a massive FOB that had cropped up where 2nd platoon had assaulted earlier in the north east side of the map.

I orderd 2nd platoon to move up and engage, and 1st platoon to move up on foot. Squad 9 was also moving. The Mechanized infantry was the first to arrive, and was engaging the enemy with their APCs and some air support. They were eventually beaten back and RTBd.

Our CAS FAC squad was then taken out in a firefight not so far from our main, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I move my squad over the map with veichles and helicopters and build fobs in a valley along with my wife. Then I built a 2nd FOB next to a village, which we got fobs up on, and engaged the enemy positions.

1st platoon was now aligned to my right, 2nd

It really is one of those PR gems where you’re just screaming in your microphone like you’re possessed.

CO AARKarez Offensive

Write

r WICCAIs head of PRTA. Some people call him crazy

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A MANS WORLD

A man’s world is a utopia of every (real) man. It is by far the most beautiful place known to us in any dimension. In this paradise without compare, steak is eaten every day and not some steamed tasteless vegetables, after which you are still hungry no matter how much you eat. You drink beer and not some fancy sour wine because it suits the veggies which we prepared in an absurdly healthy manner. Theres football on the telly and not some Next Top Model show, because a group of two-stroke girls who try to make striking poses in front of a camera into art (which it ab utely isn’t) aren’t interesting. Even if we look at this from a purely visually stimulative perspective, the girls in Playboy magazine are at least quiet. And now shopping, this (just like posing, isn’t art) is a very simple thing which you can be done with in a matter of seconds. When we notice that we are running short on clothes (basically when we have nothing to wear left) we go to a store (preferably one of the cheaper ones) and grab the first pair of pants or anything we need. We go to the changing booth and if it fits we buy it, if its too big we have just gained the right to grow into them, by either eating or bench pressing, whatever we prefer.

A man’s world truly is a utopia. Loud burping is appreciated and “YOU’RE SUCH A PIG” is a compliment. Likewise for farting. In this world women do not constantly correct us when we are driving, telling us to go slower, to not shift so fiercely and to ask for direction because she thinks we are lost (clearly we are not and are merely enjoying the life of the back streets). In this world women also know that the remote is a sacred object that must not be touched. To the sadness of us all, utopia is defined as: an imaginary and indefinitely remote place (taken fro merriam-webster). And that, fellow men, is why there is a necessity for ‘man caves’. Mostly it is built in the basement or a remote corner room of your house. Usually it consist of a couch or sofa and a television for watching sports, mini fridges are also not uncommon because beer is mandatory. If we have friends which have wives that rank “dragon” on the crazy wife scale, it is imperative that we buy an extra sofa and invite them into the humble, but most importantly, our, little utopia whenever we can. That is

dictated by the BroCode.But how do we explain this to Mephisto ? (if you

don’t get it, google ‘Faust legend’) With illustrative comparisons obviously. A fine example: What does a female do when she sees a big, cute and incredibly fluffy bunny or a similar small animal? They would probably want to pet it and maybe even put their face in its fluffy little belly. Well, that’s how we men feel when we see an excellent pair of tits. Because women do not understand so many of our joys, I can not tell you how to explain them all. So if any woman is reading this, just know that boobies are to us what fluffy bunnies are to you, a temporary escape from the cruel world.

Definition and How to Explain it to a Woman

Write

r

SHAVEDALPACAA guest writer in Reality Contact

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ADVERT!

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by: Wh33LMAN

Jack of all trades, master of none

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It’s no secret that I don’t like to fly. I don’t even like flying in the real world. The first time I flew alone, I was stuck overnight in Laguardia, the busiest airport in the United States. I would rather spend twelve hours in the car driving from North Carolina up to my family in New York then go through that again.

But I digress, there are times where I have flat out refused to get into a helicopter because I knew that it would either get shot down or crash. There are occassions where I have swam ashore and walked half way across the map to meet up with my squad. But this doesn’t mean that I don’t know how to fly. Back somewhere in the .8’s, I decided that I was sick of regular PR, and decided I wanted to learn how to fly.

Flying in Battlefield 2 has always been somewhat of a problem. The first time I took the controls of a Blackhawk in Vanilla, it flipped over and crashed, killing everyone inside. I left the server out of embarassment. Once or twice I fooled around with the aircraft in a local server. I even bought a 150 dollar joystick and throttle package to try and fly, but I could never get the hang of it. I returned the package and forgot about the whole mess. This time, I thought about what might help me with my flying. The answer was a Playstation style gamepad. It had all the buttons I needed in a layout that was familiar to me. I tied the throttle, rudder, pitch, and roll to the thumbsticks. Weapons, flares and afterburners were on the triggers. Cycle weapons, VOIP chat, and map were tied to various other buttons. Finally, I was ready to go.

I loaded into a Kashan Desert training server, headed straight for the rocket Little Bird (officially known as the AH-6b), got in, and promptly rolled it over. Eventually I managed to get it airborne and crash it outside the gate. Then, I started making straifing passes on the antennas in the bunker system. I learned to land gently, and my friends even helped me practice insertions and extractions. I got comfortable handling every helicopter there, and then moved on to fixed wing aircraft. I took the A-10 and started tearing up the tanks parked in the bunker system. If my friends were around, they would

laze targets so I could practice with missles and bombs. I eventually became confident enough with my skills to leave the practice server and take it into a real game.

But that, friends, is a story for another time. So load up a coop game of your own, crash some helicopters, and have fun. If I can do it, so can you.

Wheelman dont flyAAR:

Write

r Wh33LMANJack of all trades, master of none