Arma 3 Creator DLC: S.O.G. Prairie Fire - Patrol Tactics: Risk Increases Every Minute you Spend on a Short/Security Halt

The Prairie Fire CDLC for Arma 3 is an outstanding tool for learning small units patrol tactics in jungle environments. 

Not that Arma 3 itself was in itself a good venue for that. The Tanoa island from the Apex DLC featured jungles as thick as the ones in Cam Lao Nam. It's rather the gut wrenching feeling of seeing through iron sights, the vulnerability from the lack of body armor ... And the lingering guilt knowing that so many have done this and shed blood for real.

I am a fan of the Urban Patrol Script for setting up patrol missions. Yes, it works in forests and jungles too. But the easy of use of the Tracker Module that came with the Praire Fire DLC is phenomenal. A bit gamey when it comes to the fact that it spawns enemy patrols within a specified area, but in the end what I want is random enemy patrols within an area. And for them to come after my unit when they detect us.

Find it in the Modules list within the editor. Click and deploy. You can edit its radius, the amount of enemy troops and their stance.

That's basically it! It is just as easy as that.

So I set up for a good run of patrols playing as the US. It turns out that I need to learn a lot about patrol tactics. My blunder du jour: overstaying an area during a short halt and failing to deploy properly during them.

A short halt during one of my patrols. Staying crouched is ideal, otherwise you can't see through the tall grass and bushes. It is good to have some cover, but be advised: as time passes you are accumulating a lot of risk.

One of the reasons why I became so addicted to short halts is that in almost all cases I was able to make contact while on them. Complete stop, don't move at all, looking for enemies and listening for footsteps/voices. In this screenshot you can see an enemy squad moving from right to left.

But then, the critical error: short halts need a careful positioning of your troops. Provide 360 degree security if possible and position your key weapons accordingly. In this screenshot, you can see that my troopers died in the same file formation I put them when I started the stop.

Cheers,