Arma 3 Alpha and developments

[Arclight]

I try to avoid alpha's lately, but this being Arma... doubt I'll be able to resist it.

[Lionclaw]

Same here, I'm liking what I see so far.

[Raptor1]

Originally Posted by Arclight

I try to avoid alpha's lately, but this being Arma... doubt I'll be able to resist it.

If you're going to get it anyway, getting it now when it is both cheaper and gives you access to the alpha and beta seems like a pretty reasonable idea to me.

Anyway, more observations:

The new rigid-body and ragdoll physics are much, much better than whatever it is they had in the previous games. They make everything feel much more natural; for example, if you run someone over with a vehicle, he doesn't teleport backwards in increments and then fall on the floor as if he'd been shot anymore.

The picture-in-picture thing is pretty laggy, but it doesn't improve if I set its quality to lower values, so that might well be a bug or lack of optimization rather than just my computer being horrible.

Rocks are still slightly wonky, but not nearly to the extent they were in Arma and Arma II. I have yet to be killed by moving around next to one, which is good, though that might just be because I have not tested it very much. Also, while colliding with things you'd expect to ruin a vehicle still damage it, as they should, running into random bushes doesn't seem to immediately cripple your vehicle anymore.

[andritsos]

When doing Dm, with other players around, i notice a drop in fps, and a bit more when i am zooming with the sights.

There is only one thing that annoys me so far, the quality of the landscape from medium distances which is bad, especially the texture quality from there on. However below that, I am very satisfied by it considering its an alpha for feedback. I think its already much better looking than Arma CO.
Visually, i would like to make some types of grass more yellow looking instead of green as we are in summer time ( supposingly), especially on the hills and places that normally look dry enough for that.
The helicopters need tweaking as they seem to be incedibly agile, and their inertia seems wrong ( if there is any).
+ the Rocks, especially the big ones need some work too, maybe in terms of texture and polygons for the big ones ( to make them look more cracked ) and in overall make them blend better with the rest of the environment and to the ones in the coast, to give them a wet look to the lower part as they are just by the sea. Lastly , normally the places are much much more Rocky but its very heavy on the game if we make it so, I imagine.
The only visual bug I have noticed so far is the shadow flickering on the damaged buildings.

And now I am playing a bit online, DM and for newcomers its a TK party as its not so easy to distinguish the different team vests and need to get used to it

P.S. little tip, they gear command is no longer under ''G'' so be ready to have some little spontaneous throws of granades

[Dowly]

Played around in the editor for a bit and it's looking pretty good.

Runs surprisingly well too for an alpha (playing on 'high').

Think they went a bit over the top with the stances, I mean, do we really need
nine different poses? (+leaning variants)


Or is that some testing thing?

Oh and diving is fun!

EDIT: Ah right, dont really like the new control layout. Why do game devs
want to change things around after using the same layout for years?
(Of course, you can rebind the key, but still)

[Hawk66]

Can anybody give feedback on the AI...has it significantly changed (especially Close-Quarters)?

[Dowly]

Btw, the ArmA 3 Lite invites have been activated now.

(Restart Steam if you dont see them in your inventory)

[Hottentot]

I was burned really badly by Arma 2, so passing this for now and probably in the imminent future too, but still interesting to see what kind of experiences the rest of you are having with it. The little optimist in my heart wants to believe.

[Dowly]

^ This time it looks like they are really trying to push the series forward.

Two videos from Dslyecxi showing some of the new stuff:

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by Dowly

Played around in the editor for a bit and it's looking pretty good.

Runs surprisingly well too for an alpha (playing on 'high').

Think they went a bit over the top with the stances, I mean, do we really need
nine different poses? (+leaning variants)


Or is that some testing thing?

Oh and diving is fun!

EDIT: Ah right, dont really like the new control layout. Why do game devs
want to change things around after using the same layout for years?
(Of course, you can rebind the key, but still)

Yeah too many stances I think who in their right mind is going to sit in the manner of the 5th position in "real"(or real world) combat? No one.

The last stance is what is known as uncomfortable shooting stance really it is anything out side a normal position a situation the shooter is forced into during a firefight.There is no true "stance" so shooter will practice shooting form odd positions like that one. Because there is no "form" to it in real life but 100% adaption in a game it seems unrealistic unless they make several dozen random "uncomfortable shooting stances".

Some units like the USAF Pararescue practice shooting stances where they are on their back with their feet towards the enemy the shooter is laying over top of or in front off an injured person on the ground the idea is that they are using their body to protect the injured person they are rescuing.This would also be a good instinctive move for a person who needs no go from a knelling or prone postion providing aid to a shooting stance rapidly.

Here is an alteration laying on one side but as you can see any bullets are most likely to hit your feet or legs much better than your big fat noggin or torso. The person being shiled would be behind the shooter obviously.



What they should do is trim it down to 5 basic stances that you can move to adjust.Standing,kneeling,kneeling with weapon supported by object(wall, hood of vehicle)prone,something between prone and kneeling.

[Dowly]

I actually really like the new stances now that I've played a few missions.

Though, to be clear, the prone/crouch/stand stances are still controlled with just
X and C keys. The fine tuning is done with LCTRL+W/S.

And the new stances are quite handy at times.

[Dowly]

Hooray, "with wittering" is back! (Complete with the usual bad audio and video quality it seems ):

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by Dowly

I actually really like the new stances now that I've played a few missions.

Though, to be clear, the prone/crouch/stand stances are still controlled with just
X and C keys. The fine tuning is done with LCTRL+W/S.

And the new stances are quite handy at times.

They look more logical here.Do they in anyway implement balance? In other words are shots from a stable position more accurate and stable (easier to aim) than one from a less balanced one?

That would be nice to see and make combat much more realistic.

Another detail that would be awesome would be swapping your firing hand (right to left or left to right) in certain real world situations this must be done(and is kind of lousy with a bullpup shell casing to the face).

They used to make us do a standing position with you leaned a little forwards and rested the rifle on your non dominant hand which was resting on an object somewhat like taking shot in pool.I hated that stance every tall person did.

[Dowly]

Your accuracy depends of the stance, but you can't rest weapons on objects.
The ACE mod has added this in both ArmA 1 and ArmA 2, would really like it to
be a stock feature in ArmA 3.

If you want a more realistic experience, you can always join one of the more serious
squads who play larger co-op missions in tightly organized manner, like "Shack Tactical".
One of their missions:


EDIT: Fixed link.

[Hottentot]

Originally Posted by Dowly

^ This time it looks like they are really trying to push the series forward.

I'm not asking for much: only a single player campaign that is even remotely interesting and at least pretends to work as intended. Arma 1 failed with the former and Arma 2, along with all its expansion packs, with the latter. The feeling I got from Arma 2 was more stuff, more shiny, more everything, lots of potential and all for nothing if you were a dedicated single player like me.

As I said, sincerely hoping third time's the charm. As far as games like these go, the original Operation Flashpoint is still to meet its winner (and no nostalgia value there, I still play it on regular basis). It's about time it would, though.