ATTENTION

Welcome back to the Dev Report! It’s been a little while since our last update, but we’re making up for it with plenty of exciting news and insights. From suppression to ground-shaking destruction in both air and land combat, we’ve got some explosive features coming your way. So prepare for a battlefield experience like never before!

INTELLIGENCE

1.2.1 Update

If you've been following along with our Experimental updates, then you might have some awareness of some of the major features coming in our next 1.2.1 update. 

Server Queue

We know this has been a demanded feature for some time, but we wanted to ensure we got it right and in conjunction of the many new features we are adding. The introduction of a server queue system is exactly what it sounds like, the ability to jump in, select a server you want to join, and if there are too many others also wanting to join, you get a ticket. No more spam clicking the join button! Players can now view their current position in the queue, reducing frustration during peak hours.

Suppressors

Stealth is making a big impact in this update with the addition of suppressors! Players will soon be able to attach and detach suppressors on the M16 Carbine, M16, AK-74, AKS-74U rifles, with AI detection of suppressed gunfire significantly reduced. New particles for suppressors and muzzle devices will be added to improve the immersion. These assets will give players who prefer a stealthy approach on the battlefield more options.

New Tutorial

A brand-new tutorial scenario has been introduced, offering a smoother onboarding experience for new players. This updated tutorial uses some of our new character face rigging technology to help immerse yourself even more. As always it has all the basic game mechanics that players will need to ensure they’re prepared for the battlefield. This also comes with updates to the Field Manual, specifically expanded sections on suppressors and weapon customization.

And Much More...

There are so many new things that you'll honestly just have to go read the full breakdown of all the changes and additions in the 1.2.1 experimental changelogs on the Arma Reforger website. However, here is a sampling of a few extra items that you can look forward to:

• Over-encumbrance now has a more pronounced impact on movement speed.

• Hurt legs trigger harder landing animations after falls.

• Grass rendering distance has been increased from 150m to 300m, enhancing visual fidelity for long-range engagements.

• Vehicles now feature destructible lights, which can be individually damaged and repaired.

• Suppressive fire mechanics have been rebalanced to improve AI behavior.

• Finally, the addition of full TrackIR support, including lean functionality.

Kolguyev

In case you missed it on our socials, we’re thrilled to announce that Kolguyev, the legendary terrain from Arma: Cold War Assault, will make its way to Arma Reforger in 2025! This iconic map, cherished by fans of the series, will be available for FREE to all Arma Reforger owners on all platforms. Stay tuned for more details as we head into next year!

OPERATIONS

As we push forward toward Arma Reforger’s next major 1.3 update, we're excited to share a glimpse into some of the features and improvements being developed for the Final Strike milestone. This update is shaping up nicely to improve the game's core systems and introduce dynamic new gameplay mechanics. From destruction systems to advanced helicopter weaponry, mortars, and more, let's take a deeper look at what you can expect in the future.

Building and Tree Destruction

Destruction is an important aspect of any large-scale conflict, playing a role in both gameplay and atmosphere. From a design perspective, there’s a world of difference between arriving in a pristine village and navigating the devastated ruins, with wreckage and destruction surrounding you on every side.

In Arma Reforger, we’re starting with a foundational version of destruction that is designed to be expanded over time. The advantage of this approach allows us to identify and address performance challenges posed by the sheer number of destructible assets, ensuring a smoother and more optimized experience. By tackling these technical hurdles early, we can focus future updates on enhancing the complexity and realism of destruction, rather than being constrained by performance limitations.

What has proved problematic is the fact that there are a lot of entities in houses usually, and destroying large number of entities at once is taxing on performance. To address this, we implemented a system that processes these entities alongside the house itself, handling them sequentially rather than all at once, significantly reducing the strain on your computer.

This solution, however, introduced a new challenge: determining what should be dragged down and how to recognize it. Due to technical limitations, we had to implement specific volumes for houses, as simple bounding boxes proved ineffective for complex shapes like L-shaped structures. While this worked well for identifying objects inside the structures, it also required creating exceptions for entities that shouldn’t be affected. Without these exceptions, logical elements such as AI waypoints or large bounding objects like lake surfaces could unintentionally be included. To address this, we implemented a series of checks based on physics properties and specific classes to ensure only the appropriate entities are affected.

Lastly, we had to consider soldiers inside collapsing buildings. In this system, when a building’s health reaches zero, audio cues are triggered first, signaling the imminent collapse. After a brief delay of several seconds, the building begins to crumble, resulting in the death of any soldiers still inside. This delay provides players with a crucial window to react, escape the structure if they’re near an exit, or at least understand why they died.

Now, let’s talk a bit about memory, a major consideration during the development of tree destruction — affectionately referred to as “tree-struction.” Increasing the level of detail for destructible assets requires more data to be stored, which can become a significant challenge in Arma's large, open worlds.

Trees, being one of the most abundant objects on Everon, posed the biggest offender. A single non-destructible tree uses approximately 646 bytes of memory. Making it destructible, even with a simple solution, increases that to around 805 bytes per tree. With 820,272 trees on Everon, this would require a staggering 660,318,960B (660MB) of memory for just this one system. While that may not seem excessive given modern hardware, it’s a considerable burden in the context that this is only a singular system in a whole complex network of interdependent systems.

To address this, we developed a new RegionalDestructionManager. This system basically manages all destructible entities within a designated area of the map, dividing the map into a grid of manageable regions. While effective, this approach introduces limitations we’ve accepted to optimize performance. Entities from the same prefab must behave identically, destructibles cannot be movable, and tree hierarchies are unsupported — though this is rarely an issue as trees typically lack anything in their hierarchies. The upside is a substantial memory saving, as trees no longer require additional components to be destructible, preserving resources for other systems.

Helicopter Offensive Weapons

Helicopter-mounted weapons are the latest addition to Arma Reforger’s air combat arsenal, bringing rocket pods and aiming devices to the UH-1H and Mi-8 helicopters. While the armament on paper may appear similar, the unique flight characteristics of each helicopter make them effective for different strategies. The UH-1H excels in agility and precision, making it perfect for high-speed pop-up attacks, while the Mi-8 leverages its size and payload to devastate an entire area of operations before deploying a full rifle squad from its passenger compartment.

Rearming the Pods

A major aspect of helicopter gunship gameplay is managing rocket pod rearming. Both helicopters feature two types of rockets with different purposes, and rearming can be conducted by Game Masters or by players who land nearby designated rearming stations. In the Conflict game mode, rearming requires supplies, adding a layer of strategy as players must weigh the cost against the potential benefits of replenishing their helicopters offensive armament.

Expanding Moddability for Vehicle Weapons

To support these new helicopter weapons, significant improvements were made to the underlying systems, ensuring both functionality and modding potential. These changes allow the community to easily integrate their own creations into the game.

Collimators

Collimators have been completely overhauled for pilots, not just for infantry holding a rifle with a red dot. They can now be toggled on and off dynamically, with fully animated positions. For example, the XM-60 collimating sight can be stowed and unstowed seamlessly, and the collimator follows as expected.

Compartments, WeaponGroups, and Turrets

A major addition in this update is the ability for any character to control any turret, regardless of their compartment or vehicle. This system allows pilots to fire turret-mounted weapons directly, a crucial feature for helicopter gunships. Any number and variety of weapons can now be organized into dynamic weapon groups using the SCR_FireModeManagerComponent, enabling users to switch between different groups and fire modes on the fly. Each weapon has a unique ID which is recognized by the SCR_FireModeManagerComponent.

To further enhance realism and functionality, the introduction of the SCR_RocketEjectorMuzzleComponent supports multiple loaded barrels within a pod, ensuring that weapons behave as physical entities rather than visual placeholders. This approach not only improves immersion but also provides realistic stacking of the weight and a foundation for limitless customization and future expansions by the community.

Mortars

Both the Soviet and US factions are about to gain access to mortars, providing essential fire support for hitting targets beyond the range of conventional weapons. This update will introduce the 2B14 mortar for the Soviet faction and the M252 for the US Army.

Mortars can be placed using the Game Master (GM) tools or built in the Conflict game mode via the base-building menu or construction trucks (if you want to place the mortars outside of the base). Players can opt to deploy a standalone mortar or a full composition, including sandbag barriers, the mortar itself, and a crate stocked with shells. These mortars are fully destructible, meaning enemy fire — whether from rockets, detonating explosive charges, or an incoming mortar barrage — can eliminate them.

Once deployed, mortars can be aimed by mounting them and switching to Aim-Down-Sights (ADS) mode. To fire, players must grab shells from an arsenal, hold one in their hand, and interact with the mortar barrel. 

Projectiles

Shell Types

Mortars come equipped with a wide range of shell types: high explosive, illumination, smoke, and, for the US faction, practice rounds. Notably, the US shells are 81mm while Soviet shells are 82mm, so correct ammunition must match the corresponding mortar.

US Shells

USSR Shells

Charge Rings and Fuse Timers

Optionally, charge rings and fuse timers can be configured for specific shells while inspecting them, allowing precise control over range and detonation timing. Fuse timers apply to shells with timed fuses, like illumination rounds, and can automatically calculate detonation timing based on elevation and charge settings. These configurations are saved per player for efficiency and consistency, so when you pick up the same type of shell you will have the same setup as the last shell.

Each type of ammunition has specific restrictions on the number of charge rings it can use. For example, the M879 practice shell can be fired without any charge rings, while the M853A1 illumination shell requires at least one charge ring to function properly. 

Shell Carrying and New Hand Slot

Due to the fact that mortar shells are rather large and heavy, we needed to introduce specialized transport methods by the player. As usual, players can carry shells in backpacks or in dedicated ammo crates designed for the new hand slot that was created for that very purpose. This hand slot allows players to hold a single item without using normal inventory space, though running or jumping will cause the item to drop or return to inventory if space permits.

Consequences

Operating mortars requires care. Standing too close to the muzzle or firing too rapidly, by canceling the loading animation, will expose players to the dangerous pressure waves from muzzle blasts, potentially causing injury, unconsciousness, or even death. To achieve this effect, we used the newly introduced weapon blast component in conjunction with damage effects.

Another form of consequence is mortar recoil may alter the aim over successive shots, requiring players to periodically recalibrate elevation and azimuth to maintain accuracy. 

Even AI-controlled mortars account for recoil and will adjust their aim every few shots, as can be seen in this video:

Ballistic Data

Both the Soviet and US factions will have access to ballistic table gadgets, providing important data for precise mortar operations. These tools display detailed information on configuring the mortar's elevation for specific ranges and charge ring settings. They also calculate key variables such as time-to-impact and adjustments needed for elevation based on the height difference between the mortar and the target. Players can inspect it to flip through the pages and access all the information needed for accurate fire support.

US Ballistic Table Gadget

Soviet Ballistic Table Gadget

The mortar HUD features a convenient widget on the right side that provides real-time information on the required elevation to accurately target a specific range. This tool simplifies adjustments so that players can quickly align their shots.

AI Usage

AI will also be capable of utilizing the mortars and providing fire support to the players. Players can command their AI squad members to operate mortars and fire at specific targets using the game’s commanding system. Game Masters can also direct AI squads to man mortars and execute precise fire missions using waypoints. The Artillery Fire Waypoint is fully customizable, allowing GMs to select the type and quantity of shells the AI will use. To prevent unintended consequences, such as accidental friendly fire when deploying smoke shells, the AI will hold fire until the waypoint configuration is finalized by the Game Master.

Map Improvements

To streamline communication and improve the speed at which players can request fire support, we’ve introduced a handy tool that may feel familiar to veterans of previous Arma titles. This new tool overlays a grid on the map and displays approximate elevations above sea level, rounded to 5-meter increments to align with contour lines.

To accurately reflect the differences between USSR and US forces, we implemented their respective angular measurement systems. While both use "mils," the Soviet system is based on 6000 mils, whereas NATO employs a 6400-mil standard. To accommodate this, we introduced a Soviet protractor, included in the Soviet map kit.

LOGISTICS

We hope this article has provided you with a bit of excitement for what’s to come in Arma Reforger! If you’re still getting the hang of the game, don’t forget to check out our Boot Camp series, designed to help both new and veteran players master different aspects of gameplay. Check out our latest topics like communications and the health system to sharpen your skills.

If you’re a modder, or would like to get started, be sure to explore our Modding Boot Camp series, where we guide creators through the ins and outs of modding with the Enfusion engine. Built from scratch, Enfusion opens up unparalleled possibilities for creating content, but its new architecture can be challenging for those accustomed to the old system. The Modding Boot Camp offers workshops, Q&A sessions, and tutorials designed to teach fundamental principles and practical applications, helping you bring your creative visions to life. Read more about it here, and you can rewatch our first session on YouTube, Introduction to Enfusion.

Stay tuned to our social channels for the latest updates, sneak peeks, and news as we continue developing and improving your experience in Arma Reforger. We’ll see you on the battlefield!