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The APEX Drakon Finally, after 6 long months of development it's here... Introducing a new Unmanned Aerial System for Arma III. The jet-powered APEX Drakon offers a new way to control the battlefield in a sleek, effective way. Derived from the General Atomics Predator C 'Avenger', the Drakon comes equipped with a slew of incredible weapons and takes no prisoners. Not only was this model built from the ground up by none other than Kiory, this incredible machine comes equipped with a custom loadout editor made from scratch by AWOL, a well known Arma mod creator. Efficiency, design and quality were all key factors in creating this masterpiece. Prologue After a year into Arma's release, I had become frustrated with the vanilla UAV systems. With a game based in 2035, why were we using propeller driven aircraft? Also, why such a weak armament and why are they still extremely buggy? With those frustrations in mind, I set out to fix it myself. Meeting up with Kiory and AWOL, we began work on a new UAV system that would completely change the way UAV's would be viewed in Arma. 6 months later, the Drakon was released. While we still have a long way to go to get it where we want to, this is a step in the right direction. Addon Contents Includes the APEX Drakon .pbo file which comes with a single Drakon and a custom loadout editor built into the mod. FEATURES Jet-powered UAV system Nearly double the speed of vanilla UAV systems 4 external hardpoints and 1 internal bay Custom loadout editor and service menu (To be included in future builds) HELLAD Solid State Laser system Multiple camouflage patterns Stealth and Laser selectable variants Re-built UAV terminal TUTORIAL CREDITS Arma 3 engine: Bohemia Interactive Project lead: Church 3D Artist: Kiory Code/Scripts: AWOL Video Production: Church END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT: DISCLAIMER You are permitted to install and use this software for personal entertainment purposes only. You may not use this add-on (nor any of its parts) in any other add-on or mod (not even partially) nor redistribute or mirror it without Church's prior consent. This add-on is released under Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs For use with Arma III DONATIONS Our incredible mod team could use your help investing more into this mod! If you'd like, please donate to our cause! DOWNLOAD LINKS HOW TO INSTALL AND USE: Simply extract the @Drakon file from the .zip folder and drop it directly into your Arma directory folder! Once in game you must spawn an ammo support vehicle next to the Drakon in order to access the APEX Support Menu. Enjoy! KNOWN ISSUES Keep in mind the Drakon is still very much in an alpha state. This is our first release and there WILL be bugs. Here are a few we are aware of: The Drakon still uses Arma III's unfavorable UAV system. We know, it's something we want to get away from. The Laser Designator doesn't spawn on the UAV unless you first apply a loadout. The UAV flight model needs to be cleaned up. It currently floats too easily and the stall speed needs to be adjusted. The UAV turret cam works when it is stowed away, allowing you to see inside the drone. This will be fixed in a future patch. For some reason the Drakon doesn't get along with ACE's missile system very well. We're looking into that. For now, avoid using with ACE. There may be many others. These are just the ones we're very aware of. Feel free to PM me with any bugs you find outside of these ones. FOR MAKING WORK WITH ACE Thanks to Bamse for pointing this out. Remove these 6 .pbo files in order to avoid conflict with ACE. ace_javelin.pbo ace_laser.pbo ace_laser.pbo ace_laser_selfdesignate.pbo ace_laserpointer.pbo ace_missileguidance.pbo ace_yardarge450.pbo THANK YOU! PLEASE ENJOY OUR MOD!

After playing with Arma's built in UAV systems for the previous year and a half, I believe it's time for an upgrade. UAV systems in the real world are currently moving toward a much more powerful, long range, advanced genre with jet-powered drones. This is why 3D artist extraordinaire, Kiory, is currently working on a model based on General Atomics Predator C "Avenger". We're calling it the APEX Drakon. The model is nearing completion and we felt it would be an appropriate time to announce the work in progress! A few more days of cleaning up the model then texturing and rigging will get it prepped for Arma 3. We're also working with Saul and John_Spartan to implement their loadout feature that is so loved on their F/A-18 Super Hornet. The Predator C will feature several loadouts and is capable of carrying AGM-114P Hellfire missiles, GBU-39 SDB winged bombs, GBU-12 Paveway II's, GBU-38 JDAM's (both 500 lb bombs), GBU 16 Pavway II's, GBU-32 JDAM's (1000 lb bombs), and the 2000 lb GBU 31 JDAM. Aside from those it is also capable of carrying the HELLAD Liquid Cooled laser system. This allows the UAV to cause serious damage to ground vehicle systems from a significant distance via laser. Also, it can track missiles being fired at it with the HELLAD and destroy them before they hit their target. I can't promise we'll get the laser system working to the extreme capabilities of the real HELLAD but we're sure as hell going to try. Pretty much all of the specs and information on the drone can be found on its wikipedia page and there is also showcase it as well. Also, if you are as excited about this new drone as I am, you can watch Kiory build it live on his Twitch. He typically streams from 11:00am GMT to 5:00pm GMT. Cheers! Church NOTE: Here are a few photos to show you all what has been done. These simple renders are after about a week of work. KEEP IN MIND there is still a LOT to be done! This is no where near the final version of the drone, much still needs to be added to the model and adjusted. Texturing still needs to be done and of course actually rigging and getting it into the game. Also, THIS IS KIORY'S WORK! I'm here to assist in PR and getting it noticed =P Give all credit to him, not me!

Currently working on a new HUD for the Drakon! Going to look beautiful when it's done. I'll post some concepts a bit later!

Hey all! I know some people have had confusion on how to use the Drakon. So I decided to make a tutorial! If you have any other questions, just message me personally. Thanks! TUTORIAL

Yeah we noticed this as well. It wasn't a huge concern for us so we didn't take it out in this first release. We'll adjust it for the next release. Thanks for the heads up!

Unfortunately we don't have plans to add sidewinders. The Drakon isn't made for air to air combat and it's already overpowered as is. Also, the real version of this drone doesn't offer AA assets either. So it didn't make sense for us.

Thanks for troubleshooting that for us officeramr, we'll look into it and add it to the bugs/incompatability list for now.

IT'S FINALLY HERE! GET SOME! https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/185244-apex-drakon-jet-powered-uav/?p=2921315

Hey guys, Sorry for the delay in updates! The first release of the drone is nearly ready to go! Kiory and I had some setbacks in our business working for other paying clients and it made us put the UAV on hold for just a bit. We're almost ready to go! Thanks for the continued patience, you're all awesome.

Due to the ridiculous power of the laser, we've opted to have the laser loadout support only the laser. This is how it is done with the real Predator C as well so it makes sense to us. This drone is made to work with other drones very well, so I recommend having a fully kitted out drone and a laser drone to support.

Very soon, I promise! All of the really big stuff is done! We're fine tuning the last things that are going to make this drone really great and then we'll push out our first release. I don't think I can give a date right now but soon!! I will, however, give you guys a teaser of our Custom Loadout Editor Tablet! It might just become a lot more than a loadout editor too ;)

Nope! The Drakon uses the internal bay to house the laser components. It will only have laser capabilities when it's in that loadout.

No, we don't have plans to give the Drakon and AA capabilities at this time. It's already extremely powerful as an air to ground weapon, adding AA would be overkill.

Why yes, yes it will. =)

We're getting very close to first release everyone!! Here's a peek at the first mock-up of our loadout editor!

We've been doing some internal testing and I think we might need to tone down how badass this drone is...

And this is just 1 of many already built, modeled and ready to go loadouts! We're getting the loadout editor finished up and it'll be a force you don't want to mess with!

First video look at the Drakon in game! More to come soon!

First in-game photos!

Aaaand we have a baked model ladies and gentlemen! We're getting close!

We've spoken with John_Spartan and Saul (The guys who made the amazing F18 mod) and they've given us permission to use some of their script. So I think we'll use the GPS script they've added. We're not entirely sure yet though, we're in the process of peaking through the files right now.

Hey all! Sorry for the silence! The Mod is still under way and it's going to be great! We're still working on the actual technical aspects of the drone before we wrap up the model but we'd like to have the first version available to the public by early May! Can't wait for you guys to see it!

Kiory finished up the Hellfire launchers and began work on the Laser today!

We'll be revealing some really exciting news soon! More collaborations to make this UAV as incredible as possible! Stay tuned!

Kiory worked on the Hellfire missiles today! Also, he put together the rail system which will be attached to the hardpoints.