Anti tank Mines

[Bumgie]

Played a game on Tactical yesterday, the mission was zargabad uprising. I was on the insurgent side. Me and my squad decided to take mines and mine of the major roads on the northern side of Airfield. We also set up a spg technical to watch over the minefields.

The problem we faced was that routinely, our mines were run over by vehicles that reminded Land rover defenders and by transport trucks. I am also certain that the tires did go directly over the mines at least on two occasions. The mines did not explode even tough by my logic they should have. Instead i saw drivers completely ignore the VERY visible mines and just drive on through with full speed.

Now the problem is this, the driver knows that his vehicle is not going to explode on the mines, which is in real life a faulty expectation, And just steps on the gas.
He should at least stop and maneuver around the mines and make sure that the tires don't go over any mines.

Transport trucks, wheeled apcs weigh multiple tons,
Defender lookalikes weigh around 2 tons
Technicals weigh a bit under 2 tons.
(kg)

Now all those vehicles should be able to detonate an AT mine since At mine detonation range starts from around 1500 newtons. At least AT mines i have seen. In fact we used to joke about how high our helmets flew if we happened to be running around in full gear and someone had forgotten the detonator in to the mine and decided to sit down rather hard.(We carried them right behind our butt)

So what i am asking is why was it made so that light vehicles do not detonate AT mines while they should ?
And also i would suggest the ability to "dig" the mine into the ground.
And also can the mines be defused ?
And also are the mines "tire sensitive" ?

[galzohar]

As far as I'm aware, mines in Arma are not triggered by light vehicles. Not sure which real mines they simulate so I can't say if it is correct behavior or not, but something worth being aware of

Of course, I never actually drive over mines, anyway, since there is no way to truly hide them. The engine isn't really made for stuff like that. Arma 3 wishlist maybe?

On the bright side, mines aren't all *that* useful in a PR environment, especially when you consider their ability to damage friendlies just as well. And before someone starts arguing, note I did NOT say useless, just not that useful.

[Bumgie]

Originally Posted by galzohar

As far as I'm aware, mines in Arma are not triggered by light vehicles. Not sure which real mines they simulate so I can't say if it is correct behavior or not, but something worth being aware of

Mines in arma do detonate on most light vehicles.

YouTube Video

And that is the way it should be done.

It is just weapon configs the devs have changed.

EDIT. Made some test on vanilla OA. Mines were detonated by only armored vehicles heavier than a Brdm, with the effect of blowing up usually a couple of road wheels.
Something i found quite worrying was that the mines were detonated around 1 m from the vehicle. I would also get instant detonation if i tried to set the mines close to the tires(closer than 1m).
This seems quite unrealistic and should be addressed.

Of course, I never actually drive over mines, anyway, since there is no way to truly hide them. The engine isn't really made for stuff like that. Arma 3 wishlist maybe?

Yes but the point was not to get you drive to the mines and blowing up. The point of the mines is to stop you from driving 80km/h over them like they were not there, and make you first stop, then find another way around. In essence making you an easy target for supporting AT weapons.

On the bright side, mines aren't all *that* useful in a PR environment, especially when you consider their ability to damage friendlies just as well. And before someone starts arguing, note I did NOT say useless, just not that useful.

In that particular game we played, we managed to stop a WARRIOR on one of our minefields and then used massed at weapons to destroy it, Not a single mine was detonated. This was a great success regarding the application of AT mines. WE got to the intended effect of halting the warrior, making it an easy target for AT.

So what i am saying is that same deterrent for not driving over mines with light vehicles should exist.

[galzohar]

Like I said, not *that* useful, because next time the warrior will actually have a crew scanning using thermals and blowing you to hell way before he even reaches the mines. But yes, note I did not say "useless". Just too much effort to place them and too little chance of reaping a reward.

[Bumgie]

Originally Posted by galzohar

Like I said, not *that* useful, because next time the warrior will actually have a crew scanning using thermals and blowing you to hell way before he even reaches the mines. But yes, note I did not say "useless". Just too much effort to place them and too little chance of reaping a reward.

Even if they have a crew scanning us with whatever they would not have been able to see us. that is the great side to minefields. you do not need many eyes on it, just one to see what drives up, and then the rest flank using safe routes.

The effort it took was about 2 minutes of my time and one car, so not much.

reward was warrior. And even if they decide to come back they would spend a long time getting around the mines. And usually the reward with mines is indirect which is good. The cache we defended went out last.

But nevertheless this thread is not about whether or not mines are completely useless, but rather about, why are they useless against soft vehicles.

[galzohar]

I think we have already determined that they are useless against soft vehicles because they have been configured as such. And unless we know what RL mine they're supposed to represent, we can't really say whether that is realistic or not.

[littlekonan]

Originally Posted by galzohar

I think we have already determined that they are useless against soft vehicles because they have been configured as such. And unless we know what RL mine they're supposed to represent, we can't really say whether that is realistic or not.

By the look off them they are (US) M15 ATk mines. In Lebanon we are clearing those at the border. They need about 130Kg pressure to make them go off. So any vehicle should make them go off.





greetz,

[Bumgie]

Well since we have an expert here that says that even those particular mines explode on soft targets, then perhaps we should make this into a suggestion thread containing;

1. Make At mines explode on contact with SOFT VEHICLES

2 Reduce the distance at where the mines explode. It is currently about 1m from the vehicle.
Perhaps correct value should be 0,1 meters.

3. Ability to bury the mines

4. Mine defusing.(perhaps using other explosives like satchels)

Thanks LittleKonan for your expertise.

[[R-CON]James2464]

Will the DEV's make it so the mine only has to be under the vehicle to detonate or the tyre has to hit it?

[Bumgie]

Originally Posted by James2464

Will the DEV's make it so the mine only has to be under the vehicle to detonate or the tyre has to hit it?

I do not know if the tire thing is possible to do.