Arma Reforger Thoughts
Update 2023 March 13: Arma Reforger update 1.1: Resistance Ops is out and enemy A.I. is smarter now. They move to cover quickly once under fire, use flanking maneuvers, and come into buildings to search for you.
The Resistance Ops scenario where you are a small force fighting against the occupying Soviets is fun, with limited equipment and civilian clothes and cars to begin with.
HyperTextHero Arma Reforger streams on Twitch
There seems to be ambient combat happening around the island, with icon updates on the map where things happen away from you, giving the feel of a date between the original Arma 2 DayZ and Arma 3 AntiStasi mods.
I’m not sure whether the scenario’s starting points, missions, and events are hard-coded or randomized. Hopefully the latter.
There doesn’t seem to be a way to fast forward time a few hours in the Resistance game mode without using Zeus Game Master or admin commands. This would be useful and I’d suggest a clock on the wall as the interface to make this happen in-game.
AntiStasi’s “undercover” mechanic doesn’t seem to be there, yet. It would be a nice addition. See also the [Overthrow mod[*https://github.com/ArmaOverthrow/Overthrow.Arma4/wiki], which is promising.
This update makes Reforger a recommended “buy” at this point, especially if you like challenging scenarios.
Other ongoing thoughts:
Vehicle collision physics at high speed don’t work well and make the whole scene “teleport” forward, with frames lost and the vehicle reappearing in an unexpected position.
Enemy muzzle flashes at night are very difficult to see, and A.I. can see you much too easily in the dark.
Excellent natural soundscapes and phenomenal dynamic music. The sound and music are my favorite thing about reforger so far.
Brilliant, subtle lighting, really some of the best lighting in a game engine I have ever seen, especially after update 1.1.
Beautiful, large world environment with the long engagement distances that only the Arma series does well. Extensive modding possibilities with the editor. Documentation seems sparse at the moment but is improving.
Weighty vehicles with their own growls, creaks, and other touches of personality. Also two helicopters so far, Huey and Mil Mi-8.
PvPvE was often toxic with poor moderation tools, but has seemingly improved. I spend most of my time in PvE game modes in most games, this one included.
To save progress of multiplayer Conflict game mode running on a dedicated server do this:
add
-loadSessionSaveto parameters in start.bat
Foliage only moves out of the way of your avatar when crawling in a field. All bushes should have moving-out-of-the-way animation when player passes through them, whether crouched or standing or prone. See Crysis, Far Cry 2 for good examples.
No women present. Ignores 50% of population and potential gamers. At least give us some Rambo/McGyver long-hair looks, for goodness’ sake.
Ideas
Gameplay option setting for sound effect upon successful bullet strike on enemy, even if distant, like in the Ghost Recon, Starfield, and the best at this sort of thing: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Different sounds for hitting armor, helmet, and so on. Audio feedback greatly improves gameplay.
Initial focus should be PvE/Coop, not PvP. Thank you for adding the Combat Ops Arland PvE game mode, and especially Everon Resistance Ops in update 1.1!
Birds, preferably real in-game models, perched in trees have a chance to fly away when player approaches, especially when player steps on a branch that makes a cracking sound. This alerts AI (and other players in PvP). This is now in the game, thank you!
Tracker AI archetypes: A settable or random chance of an AI being an expert “tracker” archetype, with an ability to find the player more easily by seeing footprints.
Hosted games need the ability to be password-protected. Done, thank you!
Flares need to be implemented. Just make a PvE DayZ in this engine, already, please, modders :)
Mechanic where time crawling in dirt, explosions, rain, and so on, causes dirt and grime to build up on rifle optics. Need to press button to wipe optic to clear.
Consider hiring Rydygier to make the Pilgrimage mission for Reforger and Arma 4 as a Single-Player/Coop PvE game mode, and hiring the Antistasi team to make an Arma 4 PvE coop campaign.
Congratulations to the Bohemia team for leaving Early Access. Looking forward to the mods by the community, especially DayZ or Antistasi-like stuff (update 1.1 does the latter, thank you!), and to Arma 4!
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