America's Army Tweak Guide
[Page 4] Important Basics
This section covers the important basic information every America's Army player needs to know. In particular if you're new to America's Army you should definitely familiarize yourself with this section – don’t skip over it.
Downloading the Game
America's Army can be downloaded completely free of charge from a variety of places. There are two types of downloads for the game - patches and the full version. If you have an earlier version of the game, you can often download small patches which will bring it up to the latest version. On the other hand if you don't have the game, or your current version is relatively old, download the latest full version of the game. Note that the full version of America's Army 2.6 is around 897MB, and there is also a 43MB patch to upgrade from the previous version 2.5. You can download the full version and patches of the game from one of the sites on the America's Army Download Page. Alternatively, you can download the game from FileShack, FilePlanet, or AmericasArmyFiles among other places.
The latest version of America's Army is Version 2.6 and you can read about the changes it contains here or in the ArmyOpsReadMe.txt file in your \America's Army\System\ directory after installing the latest version. Once again, if you're updating from a much older version of America's Army I strongly recommend that you download the latest full version of the game, completely uninstall any previous versions on your hard drive, delete all the game's directories and files which remain, then reboot and do a fresh installation of the full version. Do not restore any old Armyops.ini or User.ini files either - they are not completely compatible. This is the best method for ensuring trouble-free performance. Note that uninstalling the game will not lose your soldier and all his training and honor - those are recorded against your username and held on the America's Army Master Server.
Just remember that America's Army is a completely free game, and there is absolutely no difference between the versions of it available for free on a range of sites, and those sold by some sites or by people on Ebay for example. You should never have to pay a cent to download and play America's Army.
Installing the Game
Installation is relatively straightforward - simply launch the downloaded executable file, and the America's Army Setup program begins. I strongly recommend choosing the Custom installation option, since when installing America's Army the average player does not need to install GameSpy Arcade, the America's Army Server Manager (AASM), or X-Fire to play America's Army. GameSpy Arcade is unnecessary as America's Army has an inbuilt server browser; AASM is totally unnecessary unless you are going to host a server for others to play on; and X-Fire - while a good utility for coordinating and communicating with buddies when online - is not at all necessary to play America's Army.
I suggest you do not install these applications to begin with, and then if later you want to install any of them you can do so easily - the America's Army Server Manager installation program AASM 1-3 Setup.exe can be found under your /America's Army directory, the latest version of X-Fire can be downloaded here, and the latest version of GameSpy Arcade can be downloaded from here.
Creating An Account
If you're new to America's Army you will have to create an account which will hold your player's details, save your training results and keep track of your overall score. There is no charge to have a user account, it is simply a requirement of the game. The quickest way to create a new account is to go directly to the America's Army Account Management Page. This is the same page as the one you are taken to if you click the 'Create Account' button in your Personnel Jacket in the game.
Next click the 'Register Account' option and enter the Username which you will be using in the game, along with a valid email address. Once you're done entering details a registration email will be sent to the email account you specified, and from there you can verify your registration, and use the details to log into America's Army. Note that the account registration email may take a while to be sent out, so be patient.
Personnel Jacket
Once you've created a new account, make sure you are connected to the Internet, then start America's Army. Select the Personnel Jacket option, and in the Player Login section enter your account's Username and Password exactly as they were registered, then click the Load button. You should see your username, current honor level, current experience points accrued and the number needed to reach the next level all shown in the 'Profile Summary' section. Make sure to tick the 'Save Profile' box and the 'Automatic Login' boxes as well, so the next time you start America's Army and come to the Personnel Jacket or go to play you are automatically logged in using the same login details. If you have any problems, see the Troubleshooting Tips section on the previous page.
America's Army Official Manual Set
America's Army can be very difficult to comprehend the first time you play online. Which buttons to press, who's friendly and who's foe, where the objectives are and how to get to them are all common questions players ask when first playing online. Everyone was new to America's Army at some point, so we can all relate to the confusion new players may face, and any common mistakes they make. However this does not excuse new players from making some effort to learn about the game's workings before playing online. The place to start is the Official America's Army Manual.
The full game manual is placed on your hard drive when you install the game. It's a file called AmericasArmyManual.pdf and it can be found under your \America's Army\Help\ directory. Aside from the main game manual, there are three additional documents players should familiarize themselves with - the America's Army Quickstart Guide, the America's Army Tournament Mode Guide and the America's Army Command Post Guide. Once again, these can be found under your \America's Army\Help\ directory. If you cannot find these documents on your hard drive, you can download all of them from here: Official America's Army Manual Set.
It's very important that you read at least the main America's Army manual from start to finish, whether you're new or experienced. It has a great deal of genuinely useful information and contains numerous tips, tricks and strategies, as well as pictures of the layout of each online map - these are all things which the best players use to their advantage, and often take weeks to learn the hard way. When combined with some offline practice (See Offline Practice section below), reading the manual will save you a lot of ROE, aimless wandering around and constantly asking other players obvious questions – things which may inevitably see you get booted off a public server.
As time permits, you should also refer to the other manuals to learn more about the additional functionality of America's Army, and make sure to keep coming back to these manuals since new versions of the game involve constant changes and fine tuning by the Developers.
Note, if you are a Server Administrator, there are two additional manuals you should familiarize yourself with: the Getting Started With AA Server Manager.pdf found under your \Program Files\America's Army Server Manager\ directory - this guide helps you in using the AASM Utility; and also the Getting Started with AASM Remote Control Utility (RCU) guide which can be downloaded from the link above. For more details see the Console Commands section of this guide.
Special Forces Roles
There are a variety of roles which can be undertaken within the US Army Special Forces:
18A - Detachment Commander
18B - Weapons Sergeant
18C - Engineering Sergeant
18D - Medical Sergeant
18E - Communications Sergeant
18F - Intelligence Sergeant
18Z - Operations Sergeant
To learn more about these roles, go to your \America's Army\System\Videos\ directory and run the SF_A-Team_Videos.exe file which will give you access to 7 short videos which take you through the capabilities of these roles, and help you understand their method of operation better when playing these roles within the game. Note that not all of these roles are available in the current version.
Training
America's Army requires the completion of specific types of training before being able to play online. It may seem tedious to undertake at times, especially when attempting for Special Forces qualification, but in keeping with the game's overall theme, it is there to familiarize players with the concepts and methods involved in being in the real US Army.
To start training, click on the Training option on the main menu screen. There are five sections under the Tours drop box:
Note: SF E & E (Escape and Evade) is a very tedious and frustrating test, but it must be passed for you to play as a Special Forces soldier on SF maps. The best advice is to take it very slow - crawl or slow crawl almost the whole way, and stop as often as necessary for as long as necessary if you hear dogs or the enemy shouting out. Be very patient and you will pass this test.
Not completing a particular training course can prevent you from being able to play on certain maps, and undertake certain roles, so make sure you complete all the training to have the fullest experience on AA. There are no cheats or tweaks to pass the training - it's an essential part of the game and prepares you for what the game is like when playing online against experienced opponents.
Honor, the Score System and ROE
America's Army has a player statistic called 'Honor'. Your Honor score represents a combination of experience and playing time, and can also be a reflection of skill. It is based on how many points you have accumulated over time while playing on Official servers and Honor-enabled Leased Servers. Any points you earn while playing on any other type of server does not contribute to your Honor total.
The scoring system in America’s Army can be quite confusing. You will see your score go up and down based on several factors, but you may not know what affects it. There are some simple rules about the scoring:
For the purposes of Honor, your total score at the end of a round is used to add to your running total, however negative points from deaths and leadership do not count for Honor purposes. ROE on the other hand does count in reducing your score, so it is important you understand what causes ROE and how to avoid it.
America’s Army takes the Rules of Engagement (ROE) very seriously, and as such the game strives to impress upon players the importance of making sure they don’t hurt teammates or civilians. Whether intentional or accidental, any damage you inflict on a teammate or civilian will give you ROE points. The amount of ROE depends on the nature and severity of the damage, and how soon after the start of the round it is inflicted. If within a match you accrue a certain amount of ROE (usually 400 points), or if you kill or severely injure a teammate within 30 seconds of starting a round you will be automatically booted from the server and wind up in jail. Other players may also at any time start a votekick on you to vote upon whether you should be removed from the server due to high ROE. The bottom line is you should be very careful not to do things which cause ROE, such as firing or grenading blindly - this is not a deathmatch game.
Honor is important in America’s Army because it plays a large part in determining whether you get your weapon of choice in the Weapon Selection phase of online play, as well as the requirement for 15 Honor or more to be able to play as a Special Forces soldier. If you want your Honor to increase, you need to play as though you were in the real Army - be very careful not to violate ROE and try to achieve the team's objectives as often as possible and your Honor will steadily rise. The America's Army Manual has a section which details how to identify friend and foe, and is also useful in familiarizing yourself with weapon details such as the fuse time on grenades, the possibility of misfiring an RPG-7 or killing a teammate with its backblast for example.
Note that if at any time your honor falls below 9 you will not be able to play on some servers. You can still play on non-Honor servers, but it is recommended you visit the special retraining servers so that you can practice and regain enough points to return your honor to 9.
Here are the points (score) needed to gain a point of Honor within each Honor Range:
01-10: 500
11-20: 1,000
21-30: 2,500
31-40: 4,000
41-50: 6,000
51-60: 9,000
61-70: 13,000
71-80: 23,000
81-90: 43,000
91-99: 83,000
For example if you have 10 Honor you will need to accumulate 500 points - net of any ROE - to gain another Honor point (taking you to 11).
If you want to check what your current accumulated score is, and how many points you have left before reaching the next Honor level, the easiest way is to go to the Personnel Jacket section of the game, and on the Player Login screen you will see these stats under the 'Profile Summary' section. You can also check this by going to the America's Army Website, click on 'Your Account' at the top right of the screen, click on Maintain Account, and then login using your AA username and password.
To keep track of additional statistics, such as your enemy kills and fragrate (enemies killed for each of your deaths) you should register as soon as possible for the ArmyOps-Tracker, and regularly visit the AAOTracker site to check out your various AA game statistics.
The next section wraps up the Important Basics for America's Army.
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