Standard Qualification 1

General Qualification Initiative 1 (GQI-1) is a certification course that aims to teach the basic skills necessary to play Arma with others (though a portion of material may be specific to EDC). Being certified on this course is required in order to progress to a Cadet and subsequently be approved to participate in immersive operations.

Standard Qualification 1

Certification Information
Created by	Sirdog
Certification Checklist	[ Link]

Basic interactions

Use of ACE interact on a supply crate.

In Arma III, the default means of interacting with the environment will be the scroll wheel. This is how vehicle inventories are accessed, door are opened, vehicle engines turned on and off, and so on. Once the desired option is highlighted, use Space Bar to make the selection.

ACE interact

EDC (and a lot of Arma units) makes use of an addon known as ACE. It's difficult to describe what ACE does succinctly (and it will be referenced frequently), but one of the many things it does is introduce an interaction system. This is accessed via holding the left ⊞ Win key. Movement of the mouse will move the cursor, slightly move the camera, but any interaction options available will remain in place. When you are close to an object that can be interacted with an interaction option will appear in the form of a circle. Hovering over it will expand into further options (if applicable). To select an option, hover the mouse over the option, and then release the ⊞ Win key.

ACE interaction is used for many things, including:

• Opening a crate's inventory
• Entering and exiting vehicles
• Knocking on certain vehicles
• Joining someone's group
• Passing a magazine to another player
• Tapping a player's shoulder

ACE self-interact

Use of the ACE self-interact feature.

ACE similarly allows interaction with the self. This is done by holding LCtrl+⊞ Win. This will work in most any situation, including while your map is opened. This is used for many things, including:

• Checking your medical state
• Clearing a jammed gun
• Changing your team color
• Renaming your group
• Quick detaching/attaching attachments
• Dig a trench
• Insert and remove hearing protection
• Repack magazines
• Enabling the light to see your map at night

ACE interact settings and keybinds

There are certain settings that ACE provides which may be pertinent to look into changing. These are not required but highly advised, and knowledge these settings exists is required for certification.

Setting Location	Setting Name	Rationale
ACE Interaction Menu	Always display cursor for interaction	Detaches movement of the mouse from the camera for the default ACE interaction, making it function similarly to self-interaction.
ACE Interaction Menu	Display interaction menus as lists	Instead of having the options be a circle, it'll be a list on the left or right (see first image of this section). Some members prefer this to the circle.
ACE Interaction Menu (Self)	Move to root	Allows moving certain interactions from a sub-menu to the main list that is immediately visible when beginning self-interaction. Advise adding Clear Jam, Earplugs In/Out, and Wipe Goggles to root.

Some default keybinds are...

• Wipe Goggles is LCtrl+⇧ Shift+T.
• Take Prisoner is ⇧ Shift+F1.
• Show Names is LCtrl but it's advised to re-bind to LAlt so it matches the free look key. There is no downside to doing this.

Basic weapons

Firearms

While moving, to lower your weapon, press LCtrl x2. This will also reduce your stamina usage while moving which will be described further later. Do LCtrl x2 again to raise the gun back up.

It is advisable to enable your weapon's safety, primarily when tabbing in and out of the game to mitigate an accidental discharge of your gun. The default key bind for this is LCtrl+` (Tilde). Use the bind again to remove the safety, or simply change the fire mode with F.

HUD icon for a rested weapon.

HUD icon for a braced weapon.

In Arma, a weapon may either be braced or rested. A weapon is braced when a tripod attachment is used to "mount" the gun to cover, or the ground. This dramatically increases the stability, and decreases the spray intensity, of the firearm. This must be done manually by pressing C. A weapon is rested when Arma detects that you are holding the gun over cover, in which Arma simulates you "resting" the gun and/or your arms on the cover. This increases stability, and decreases spray, but to a lesser degree than properly bracing would. As has been insinuated, this is automatic, and requires no manual engagement from you. Whether a weapon is braced or rested is show visibly at the top-right of your HUD.

Certain firearms may jam. To clear a jam, use ACE self-interact.

Grenades and smokes

The ACE grenade throwing interface.

Grenades and smokes are a staple of infantry warfare. By default, a grenade can be thrown by pressing G and switching between the various grenades in your inventory is done via LCtrl+G. Certification requires that you go into your settings and unbind the default grenade throwing key, or set it to something far more difficult to use, such as having to press G x2. Without doing this, it is far too easy to throw a grenade negligently, would could be catastrophic to group play.

The advised way of interacting with grenades at all is via ACE, done by pressing ⇧ Shift+G. This presents a graphical UI showing the anticipated arc of the grenade, a clear visual of the grenade you are holding, and clear button prompts on how to interact with it. This same interface is also used for smoke grenades.

Smoke grenades tend to be used as long-range signaling, such as giving an air asset your location to pick you up or giving said asset a location of a target to engage with heavy firepower. Smokes come in a variety of colors. Many Arma units standardize the colors unit-wide, meaning any usage of a particular color in any operation the unit engages in has the same meaning. EDC does not do this. Whether a grenade color has any significance will be determined by the operation leader or otherwise someone in the chain of command in the operation. If you are ever confused about a particular smoke grenade color that you spot, do not hesitate to ask someone. You may just spot an enemy smoke.