Let's Dive Into The Arma 3 Workshop

In The Arma Now

Feature by Craig Pearson Contributor

Published on Oct. 4, 2013

We're still waiting for official Arma 3 content to arrive from Bohemia, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to play. The Arma 3 Steam Workshop is a time-sink of missions, mods, and misc add-ons that I can only describe by pulling a face. Just imagine a quizzical kitten. What's on there? What's worth playing? What's worth experiencing (which might mean it's broken but worth a look, or it might be so ridiculous that I couldn't help but install it)? Here are a few things that caught my eye.

Whole Lotta Altis
While we're waiting for a single scenario from the game's developers, modders are making amazing things. This mod creates a dynamic war across the whole of Altis, dropping your squad somewhere on the island and challenging you to make a difference. It's nearly an RPG, with ambient life providing you with local intel, and dynamic missions being generated according to how you play. A few caveats: it's hard, and you really need to know you're way around squad commands to make the most of it. It is pretty buggy, and currently a lot of people are reporting a problem with the game pausing. If it gets too much, there's also Dynamic Universal War System. It's less involved than WLA, but enables you to easily set-up scenarios on any map.

Arma 3 Rally: Skopos Course
I roleplayed this a little. It was the end of the war and my side had gained an unequivocal victory. Seriously, it wasn't even funny. But we'd been budgeted for another six months of war, so instead of reporting back home my battalion set up a rally course and started a competitive rallying league. This first course, set in the Southern peninsula of Altis, winds through the hills, past (or through) some appreciative locals, and alongside the wind turbines. There are some lovely moments where you fly past remnants of former battles, and you're buzzed by a passing plane. It's the first course in what should be a few, but if you're keen to race more you should also grab the Great Altis Highway Race

Sniper Alley
There aren't many missions that are truly single-player, but this is a good one. No squad members, no co-op. Just the player, a gun, and a huge chunk of Altis in which to hunt down four other snipers. It can be a challenge, though if you approach each area with caution and think about it, then their positions are pretty obvious. It requires a lot of patience and some luck, but it's both an excellent way to learn the fundamentals of the long shot and a nice introduction to the still, quiet, and almost contemplative role of the sniper. Any video will be spoilers, so instead here's some snipe tips directly from Bohemia.

Wulfenstein
I've found myself returning to Wulfenstein again and again. It has a magical draw for such a simple concept: you're dropped into a huge maze of concrete walls and you have to escape. It's basically one long CQB session. The AI sometimes breaks, and I've seen at least one walk through a wall, but it's a curio that's worth attempting. A fun place to test out your trigger finger.

Ground Attack
The most inexplicably popular mission on the Workshop. It's set on Stratis and it's an incredibly easy and simple mission. You take your chopper from the base to a road with a convoy of enemies and try to wipe them out. I'm baffled. Why is this so... oh, I see! Warning, the video below has massive spoilers about why so many people like it. And in case you're wondering, the answer is yes, it is because of that. I've played it three times, and it makes me wish Bohemia had licensed music.