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Hey! I would like to talk about new "big thing" that came to experimental version (for now) of the Arma Reforger which is: helicopters. I think we all can agree that air support (generaly) will change a lot about in game experience and that's why I think we should take this topic very seriously. All of this to make sure that flying in Arma Reforger (we only know about helicopters) and especially in Arma 4 (propably helis and planes) is going to be as satisfying and realistic as possible. I want to talk about helicopters and yes it's because I love using them in Arma games. I know that ther's a lot of people like me and they love becoming heli pilots in game. I'm also sure that using this machines is going to be a very important aspect of the gameplay even more than planes because on smaller maps close air support, transporting troops to direct locations, CSAR makes them much more reasonable to use. I'm 22. I dont have any true experience, I'm not a pilot. I work as a beginner aircraftsman on helicopters and aviation is my greatest interest. After some time testing and flying around in Arma Reforger experimental I just want to present my thoughts and start conversation about changes, fixes and future development of helicopters in Arma games. I. Smaller things: 1. Animations - Fixing mi-8 rudder pedals animation (they don't move). 2. Lights and lighting - Helipad lights and NAV lights are not casting any light on nearby objects (small thing but small visual are making much greater image); - Anti colision lights are too strong in the dark conditions and in case of huey they are creating weird red mist effect inside the helicopter; - Adding more diversity in dome ligts (green and red) for night stalker operations; - In the future possibility to set controls for steering search light. 3. Doors - Adding possibility to open and close the aft cabin sliding doors and gunner doors/window, during flight; - In the future armed passengers could shoot throuh them if needed; - If opened, aft cabin doors would provide faster get in and out animations for troops (very helpful with hot landing zone scenarios); - Doors and gunner windows openable only from passengers seats (If as a lonely pilot you want to use faster in/out you need to think about it earlier 🙂 ); - In case of helicopters like mi-8, removable (only on the ground) back cargo doors like in real life. It would provide aditional slot for faster get in/out and of course rapeling; - Possibility to lean out from gunner window/doors to have a better view around and in some cases help pilots seeying threat or obstacles. 4. Rapeling - Option available for passengers only when doors/cargo doors are opened and in certain height range above the ground. 5. Main rotor effects on foliage - Adding noticeable main rotor effect on grass, bushes and trees (dust and leaves effect looks super cool but hovering above the trees and grass makes them going wild). It would for example help another aircraft pilot spot helicopter hovering above the trees. 6. Helicopter variants - Adding medevac variants of helicopters (they would work like car ambulance but flying) 7. Transorting vehicles and supplies - Inside big transport helicopters or using ropes like in Arma 3. 8. Controllers support - Joystick, pedals, etc... II. Bigger things: 1. Helicopter crashing and survivability This topic is very wide and difficult to cover but it is one of the most important in case of helis. We all remember how junky it was in Arma 3. Clipping through, sudden explosions, hypersesitivity to just scratching trees or lanterns during flight. As soon as I checked basic things about Arma Reforger helicopters I started... crashing. At first i was impressed how it looks and in deed it is much better than it was in Arma 3 but longer I was trying different scenerios more and more problems started showing up. This is what I observed and what I (personally) think it should look like: - PROBLEM: Main and tail rotor are strong but a little too much. At first I was impressed when i hovered next to a trees and started slowly immerse main or tail rotor in them. It was staying in a good shape as in real life when you touch leaves with spinning blades just a little but going deeper and deeper changed nothing. I could hover with rotor hiting tree trunk for so long and still... nothing. After some time helicopter just started bouncing through the trees and finally blades snapped. At first I thought that it works like this only with vegetation but same is for "hard objects" like buildings and metal poles. You can touch them with spinning main and tail rotor during hover and it won't screw them up, same for water, immersing rotor in water is perfectly safe. My next idea was to start hiting all of this objects with some momentum (speed) and it was the case. If you hit trees, buildings or poles only with certain speed with your blades it will brake them. BUT that's not how it works in real life. SOLUTION: Divide objects to "soft" and "hard". Soft for trees and hard for buildings, poles, ground, vehicles, etc... During hover you can touch trees with tip of your blades for 20 seconds, with half of main rotor radius for 5 seconds and helicopter starts shaking, more than half of main rotor radius makes it snap after 2 seconds. Same for tail rotor but 5 seconds for the tip and instant if more than that because tail rotor is much more sensitive. When touching, directional leaves emitter and hitting sound. During hover if you touch hard objecst like buildings, poles, rocks and ground main rotor brakes after 2 seconds, tail rotor instantly. Sparks or dirt directional emitter and hitting sound. During flight, mechanics should be the same in case of trees and vegetation (soft objects) because blades are hiting with almost the same momentum (reatreating blades are even slower during flight than during hover). That's why best solution is to leave it the same remebering that in both cases (hovering and flying) time adds up. It means that if you touch tree with your blade tips for 5 seconds, you now have only 15 seconds left because it is damaged. It would be cool if it would also affect the flight model (shaking) forcing you to land and fix helicopter. POWER LINES TAKE EQUVIVALENT OF 5 SECONDS TIP DAMAGE FOR EACH CABLE (If you fly through one slightly dameged rotor, if four, you lose it). During flight, hiting hard objects with your main and tail rotor, like buildings, poles, rocks means instant rotor fall of. Slightly touching water with rotor blades breaks it after 2 seconds (tail rotor immediately) Water driectional splash effect and klapping sound. PROBLEM: If you hit an object with your main rotor during flight it stops helicopter to 0 and makes it free fall. SOLUTION: When fying, helicoper fuselage depending on speed and mass has some momentum. Hiting objects with blades and destroying them shouldn't make it stop but fly further and hit the ground. PROBLEM: Leading helicopter to explosion is too random. I strarted droping helicopters from castle tower and make them free fall. At the same time I was observing each one's health bar. Ther's a big difference betwen mi-8 and huey explosion resistance. I know that mi-8 is heavier but I think the disprity is too big. Sometimes when I let helicopter free fall from tower it exploded immediately but next time falling the same way didn't take even 1% of health. Same during flight. I flew in trees with huey, rotor snaped and that's all. Did the same thing (same speed) with mi-8 instant explosion and death. Sometimes you hit the ground so hard and everything is fine but in other scenario you hit "soft" object and it means blowing up. SOLUTION: Divide helicopter to 4 parts (main fuselage, tail, main rotor, tail rotor) survavibility of main and tail rotors is already described. Main fuselage and whole tail have separate health bar. Tail is much more sensitive Hiting objects with them takes some health and it depends on: - What object each part hit (soft for trees and vegetation and hard for everything else) Hiting soft takes much less damage; - How strong each part hit (speed/momentum) - At what angle each part hit but using ranges, for example form 0° to 30°, 30° to 90° and 90° to 180° (it doesn't matter with trees because it's to hard to define). ALL OF THIS VALUES ARE MEASURED FROM FIRST POINT OF TOUCH. If you hit with your tail and it loses health first it falls off If main fuselage loses health it explodes. Bigger helicopters are losing a little more health because of their mass but only a little (almost unnoticeable). Depending on what weapons you use ageinst helicopter they are damaging each part too. At the end we should get more predictable crashing model where certain speed, angle and object type determines how much damage we get. It means flying with high speeds in to the trees means bouncing from 4 to 5 and explosion, flying with low speeds in buildings makes you lose your rotor but helicopter bounces a few times and you can survive. It would be also awesome to get smoke effect if helicopter is more and more damaged and some damage model (scratches or bullet holes). I also love the new idea of getting killed, unconscious or deafened just because of hard hit (not explosion) and i think devs should develop it further. In the future it would be nice to see better, more advanced flight model addons like in Arma 3 (doing it in a cooperation with DCS World devs is wet dream) and possibility to set it on servers if someone wants. Many of this things can be used later with planes and take the flying experience in our beloved milsim game series to the next level. It would give us, maniacs, ground to crate unforgettable moments in the best large scale warfare simulator. I know that it is simple to talk what "I want" but I hope many of you will approve my ideas. This (too long 😀) text is primarily guided to devs, I don't know if this is the right place to do it, and of course to all players. BI workers did already so much for us but unfortunatelly we want more 😀 Hope we all can discuss here the future of flying in Arma 4. Greetings from Poland! Wojciech

Drongo's Air Support for Arma 3 New release coming soon tl;dr AI bombing runs and close air support Overview Step into the role of JTAC and take control of AI air assets. Call in airstrikes and Close Air Support with an intuitive dialog. Simple to use, but skill and understanding of aircraft will achieve the best results. Control direction, altitude, egress and more. Designate your targets with lasers, watch the bombs go in and watch guncam footage of your assets in combat. Drongo's Air Support (DAS) places AI-controlled air assets under player control for CAS or bombing. BIS air assets are supported. Most 3rd party aircraft mods should also be auto-detected by the system. Required addons: CBA beta for Arma 3 CREDITS Drongo: Development and scripting. Chops: Testing. Larrow: Script assistance. Tajin: Script to detect whether an aircraft is capable of bombing or not. Bomb guidance script: Kylania

KP Support Missions Gametype: Ground Support Players: 1 - 16 Modes: SP, COOP, PVP Available maps: Altis Vanilla - NATO vs CSAT RHS - US Army vs Russian VDV Malden Vanilla - NATO vs CSAT RHS - US Army vs Russian VDV Takistan Vanilla - NATO vs CSAT RHS - US Army vs Russian VDV Tanoa Vanilla - NATO vs CSAT RHS - US Marines vs Russian VDV Description: In this mission, game mode "ground support", the players take the roles of helicopter pilots tasked with supporting ground units. The playing field includes the two bases of each factions, as well as a total of 10 sectors. From these faction bases ground units are always on their way to independently seize control of those 10 active sectors. The players are there to support the groups by answering requests for transport, air support or medical evacuation. These orders are dynamically generated during the game, which means that no round compared to another is completely equal. This is accompanied by immersive radio traffic. The mission ends as soon as one side has no more tickets remaining. These are reduced when helicopters crash or the opponent controls at least 6 sectors. In the event of a helicopter crash, the player can respawn at their respective base, where after some time the helicopters reappear. The base also provides landing sites to repair, refuel or rearm the helicopter during the mission. Players are actually restricted to their role as pilots and can only leave the vehicle within their own base, for example, to switch to another helicopter. This also means that players themselves cannot take any sectors. Each side also has a Jet in their base. This won't respawn, so it's a high valuable asset with which you can interrupt the enemy supply lines. You can adjust parameters in the lobby for the daytime, weather, tickets count and view distance. There are 3 kinds of infantry troops which will ask for support: Ghost (4 soldiers) Nomad (8 soldiers) Hydra (16 soldiers) Download: GitHub Workshop: Altis Vanilla Altis RHS Malden Vanilla Malden RHS Takistan Vanilla Takistan RHS Tanoa Vanilla Tanoa RHS Discord

Incon Airpower Script package for Arma 3 mission makers that allows players to call in air support for target tracking and precision air strikes. Unlike other CAS scripts, Incon Airpower simulates high-altitude strikes where the aircraft is neither visible nor audible from the ground. As such, the aicraft itself is not spawned, only simulated, thereby avoiding all the hassle of Arma's pilot AI. Works best in single player and low-player-count COOP (lots of players using tracking may cause considerable server lag). Perfect for missions involving SF teams working behind enemy lines to call in coalition airpower onto enemy assets (as in the ongoing real-life operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq / Syria). SP / Co-op / Dedi compatible. Requires CBA. Features Call in guided airstrikes with the radio menu Mark targets with laser, smoke, chemlights or IR strobes (night only for chemlights and strobes, day only for smoke) Aircraft can lock on to and strike multiple targets simultaneaously (thanks to a slightly modified version of kylania's awesome guided missile script) Optional collateral damage assesment by pilot - checks for nearby friendlies, civilians and sensitive targets and will automatically disengage if collateral damage is too high Optional full NATO voice procedure simulation to guide pilot on to target No need for map with airstrip or adding in any aircraft Restrict JTAC capabilities to units with certain items in their inventory Optional unit tracking on map, with accuracy that degrades with overhead cover, weather etc. (only shows targets that would be visible from overhead): - (optional) restrict to units with UAV terminal only - differentiates between friendlies (blue), unarmed infantry (white), armed infantry (pink), civilian vehicles (white, large) and non-friendly vehicles (pink, large) If using a laser designator, the player can mark multiple targets at once and give clearance for a simultaneaous strike: - mark 2 tanks and an infantry patrol, and the aircraft will track and engage those targets simultaneously, even if they move - repeat your last mark if in doubt - if your final target is a laser mark, the aircraft will engage your laser mark while it is active, and revert to your original mark position if it looses your laser mark Realistic air speeds of ordnance: - the higher the altitude of the aircraft (recommended at least 3000m), the longer the ordnance will take to hit the target - missiles will travel faster than bombs - ordnance speeds based on real data Usage License GNU V3 Submit pull requests, fork your own version on Github, drink Bailey's from a shoe, do whatever. This is open source and entirely free to use. Changelog Download from GitHub

How would I be able to detect if a player throws a purple smoke and then have CAS fire on the target?

Hello there, We are Hydra Pilot Unit [HPU]. We are looking for new members for our ArmA 3 based pilot team. We are a standalone pilot team (with our own TS3 and ArmA 3 server). We organise general training missions and pilot operations every week. We also give personal training to our members, such as: Medevac training, Supply Drop training, HALO and HELO pilot training, CAS training, AA Training and so on... We also have our own division in "Cannonfodder Gaming" which is a international tactical realism clan operating in ArmA 3 (We join there ops weekly to give them air support and air transportation). Requirements to become a member of Hydra Pilot Unit: - Must have a Microphone - Must be Mature - Must be willing to follow orders - Must be willing to work as a team - Must have Teamspeak - Must have Arma 3 and be willing to download necessary mods - Must speak English Open roles: - Transport Heli Pilot - Transport Heli Crew - Transport Plane Pilot - Transport Plane Crew - Attack Heli Pilot - Attack Heli Gunner - CAS Jet Pilot - AA Jet Pilot - Gunship Pilot - Gunship Gunner - Medevac Pilot - Medevac Crew - UAV Operator Apply example (post your apply below): - Name: - Age: - Country: - Prefered Roles (you can choose multiple ones): - Do you already have experience with other tactical realism clans: - Why would you like to join our unit: - Give us a reason why you should be part of our unit: - Tell us something about yourself: Contact Us: TeamSpeak - 151.80.230.238:10042 Steam - LegendForce