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Greetings, this is Dslyecxi from the Arma community group ShackTactical.
In co-operation with Bohemia Interactive, I'm creating a series of videos to explain some of the basics of Arma 3.
In this video we'll be talking briefly about
the Arma 3 Alpha: what it is, how it has evolved and improved, and perhaps most importantly,
what comes next. I'll also take a look at some of the community content that's been
created, as well as discuss the new content in the just-released Beta.
To start, let's recap a few things about the Alpha. The Arma 3 Alpha was released March 5th,
and it's important to note that this isn't a marketing gimmick as with some titles.
It's an actual work-in-progress game where things can still be tweaked and influenced
by community feedback. The full game's release is scheduled for the third quarter of this year.
Prior to that, however, there will also be a public Beta test. The Beta takes
things a step past of where the Alpha's gone - introducing more aircraft, armored personnel
carriers, a new faction, and more weapons and gear. From there, we'll move on to the
full game - including the entire content library, the singleplayer campaign, more missions,
and the much-anticipated Altis terrain, which weighs in at over 270 square kilometers.
That's the future. Let's talk some more about the present and the recent past.
Arma 3 aimed to take the potential of the series and further broaden the appeal and
usability by smoothing out the rough edges of the prior games.
To reflect, the broad range of environments in the game, a new stance adjust feature has been added,
which allows for combatants to adapt to the situation at hand by raising or lowering their stance.
If you need to get low to avoid fire, you can
do so, and if you want to return fire, there's no need to peek up more than necessary to shoot.
Speaking of shooting, you can now swap out modular gear on your weapons,
to include suppressors, sights, and flashlights or infrared lasers. This new modularity extends
to your equipment as well: glasses, headgear, vests, uniforms, and backpacks can all be
swapped out to tailor your character to the mission at hand.
Infantry also find themselves able to use grenades in a much smoother manner.
Beyond that, we see a new tool added to the infantry's toolbox, namely: underwater diving.
Equipped with a rebreather and a supercavitating underwater rifle, a diver unit can infiltrate
from the sea and take the enemy by surprise. With the infantry well taken care of by these
enhancements, let's look at the environment. Arma 3 features a vastly improved lighting
engine, as well as revamped shadows that render out to a longer range. The colors, high-dynamic
range rendering, and shadow enhancements serve to make camouflage more authentic as well
as provide more opportunities for players to remain concealed in situations that previously
would have left them exposed and vulnerable.
Staying true to the Alpha concept, we've seen continual tweaks,
refinements, and even wholly new features as time has passed. The stance adjustment
system saw a fleshing-out with the addition of new poses, such as being able to step-lean
with your rifle transitioned to your opposite shoulder, or lay on your side in the prone
and scoot back and forth to fire around corners, as well as a stance-indicator added in response
to community feedback. One very visible change is the introduction
of a new method for rendering fog.
The result on gameplay is sublime,
making fog a far more viable and interesting component of mission design than in the past.
Arma 3 finally sees the retirement of the series' basic seagull spectator mode.
This permits a dead player to easily view the battle's progress through various camera modes, offering
greater control and representation of what's happening in the mission.
For those with an eye for photography, the Splendid Camera was released and explained
in detail. This robust system allows for any aspiring war photographer to get great results
with a minimum of time expended. These are just a sample of the changes that
have been introduced during the Alpha period.
One of the greatest factors to longevity in the Arma series has been its approach towards modding.
The Alpha took that and ran with it, allowing people to create new mods as
well as port prior mods over to the new engine.
My personal favorite of all mods created since
Arma 2 is the Advanced Combat Radio Environment mod - known as ACRE. This introduces
a full-fidelity radio simulation, and the impact on immersion is dramatic.
There are so many aspects of ACRE that can be used to tailor the
the system to support your gaming. I couldn't imagine playing without this mod these days.
It's truly fantastic.
Next up we have All in Arma, a configuration
mod that takes the content from Arma 1, 2, Take on Helicopters, and Operation Arrowhead,
and allows it to be used in Arma 3. This is a really welcome idea.
The simple fact that you can now use Chernarus,
Sahrani, Takistan, and the other islands from previous games is pretty cool.
It's good for backwards-compatibility. There have been many mods created or ported
over to Arma 3, from fantastic unit textures like Sabre's Army and Marine reskins, shown here,
to cool touches like Taosenai's Tactical Map, here. There are weapon mods, vehicle
mods, retextures, and that's just the mods - the mission scene is bustling, and there
are hundreds of singleplayer and multiplayer missions already out, with far more on the way.
Not to mention the possibility of publishing and acquiring missions via Steam.
Wasteland, Stratis Life, Invade & Annex - the list goes on and on.
Moving on to the just-released Beta, let's take a look at some of the additional content that is added.
First off, an entirely new faction has been introduced.
We'll call it the Green Army for now. These soldiers are clothed in a woodland
digital camo pattern, distinguishing them from the existing BLUFOR and OPFOR uniforms.
Along with the new faction comes a variety of new gear. On the weapon side, the bullpup
Mark20 has been introduced as the Green Army's battle rifle, with the Mark200 being moved from
an OPFOR weapon over to the Green automatic rifleman. To replace it, OPFOR receives the
Zafir as their new machinegun.
Submachineguns have also shown up in the form of the Vermin and SCORPION, both firing 9mm round and well-suited
to close-quarters combat. Weapon attachments see some attention as magnified weapon optics become fully 3D rendered, to include both battle rifle scopes
like the ARCO and ACO, as well as the SOS sniper scope. The Titan MPRL has been brought in to offer
infantry a better chance at taking down aircraft, while a shortened variant is introduced as well, which is intended for
anti-armor usage and has a fire-and-forget capability, as well as the option for manual
guidance. On the vehicle side, BLUFOR and OPFOR receive
attack helicopters: the AH-99 Blackfoot for BLU, and the Mi-48 Kajman for OPFOR.
Both have rocket pods and a turret-mounted cannon, with the Blackfoot having anti-air missiles
and the Mi-48 sporting anti-tank missiles. The Mi-48 is also able to carry a number of
troops with it, reminiscent of the Hind of earlier years.
In the air we also find two new transports: the UH-80 Ghosthawk for BLUFOR, and the
Ch-49 Mohawk for the Green Army, each capable of lifting a squad or more into combat.
Ground vehicles show up in the form of the Green Army's Strider MRAP, BLUFOR's HEMTT
transport and AMV APC, and the Marid Wheeled APC for OPFOR.
Rounding things out are the Swimmer Delivery Vehicles - known as SDVs. These small submarines
give diver units greater mobility, increasing the options for their employment.
Aside from the new content, a number of additional challenges and scenarios have been included.
Key amongst these is the Combined Arms showcase, a single- or multi-player scenario that embodies
the spirit of Arma 3's design, as it places you in the role of an airmobile infantryman
involved in a large-scale multi-pronged assault. There are also new firing drills that introduce
a non-combat competitive shooting sport that allows you to hone your skills in a variety
of range challenges. A perfect match for the improved controls and stances of Arma 3.
After a successful Alpha period and with the release of the Beta, Arma 3 is well on its way
to a strong launch later this year. Thanks to everyone who has participated
and shown their support throughout - whether that be through feedback, suggestions,
bug reports, or through the creation of the sort of mod and mission content that has given
the Arma series such replayability and longevity over the years.
The shores of Altis aren't so far away now.
For more Community Guide videos, be sure to subscribe
to the official Arma 3 YouTube Channel.
For other Arma 3 updates, keep track of the official
website, Facebook and Twitter pages.
If you'd like more in-depth tutorials on large-scale
multiplayer gameplay of Arma 3 and the previous Arma games, I'd also recommend you to check
out my personal Channel here.
This is Dslyecxi and I'll see you on Stratis.