I don't know if you heard, but we built a ridiculous computer. The first thing we fired up on it was Arma 3, a fitting inaugural test of our four GTX Titans. Here's the result, captured in first-person and with help from Arma 3's Splendid Camera.

See what's inside the Large Pixel Collider, our own personal demigod of a PC.

All summer, we enjoyed the community guides published in the run-up to Arma 3's fall release. They were not only informative, but they offered a nice look at the systems and graphics that the open-world military sim offer. Now that Arma 3 is out, community guide narrator Andrew Gluck (aka Dslyecxi) has compiled a wealth of information in his official guide. And while the full guide is bundled with the deluxe edition of Arma 3, a ton of it is now available for free.

Gluck is the founder of Shack Tactical, the most devoted bunch of military sim roleplayers on the internet. In addition to diving into Arma 3's various systems, the guide explores how to function within Shack Tactical by roleplaying a set of near-military rules and procedures.

"In our eyes, hardcore milsim is chock-full of 'tactical fluff' that is irrelevant to the games at hand," Gluck writes. "This hardcore milsim typically presents itself though excessive rules, regulations, attempted recreations of full military rank structures far beyond what is relevant in the scope of your average Arma mission, doing things 'because the real military does them' regardless of their actual application to the game at hand, and other things that we believe do not have a place in these games. This guide reflects that mindset as well.

Even if you're not interested in enlisting with the most hardcore of tactical simmers, the information and tips on offer will be useful to anyone who plays Arma 3. There are over 130,000 words of it in the free, online version, so you've got no shortage of briefing materials to sort through before your next mission. Better get to it!

Arma 3's campaign was AWOL at release. Don't worry, though, it hadn't been captured by the enemy, to be set upon by growling dogs, placed into falling buildings, or attacked by acid-spitting aliens. Instead, it was back at base, undergoing a top secret operation to separate it out in to three chunks, to be freely deployed in stages over the following months. The first of those chunks, codenamed Survive, is air-dropping in now. A launch trailer has released, as proof.



"Tensions rise as NATO peacekeeping forces begin to leave The Republic of Altis: a strategic fault-line between crumbling European influence and a powerful, resurgent East," helpfully explains the video's description. A press release sent out by Bohemia Interactive offers more details:

"In Arma 3’s campaign, players take on the role of Ben Kerry, a soldier who is a part of the NATO peacekeeping operation in the Mediterranean. Five years after the bloody civil war in the Republic of Altis & Stratis came to an end, NATO has started to withdraw its forces from the region - unknowingly creating the conditions for a Mediterranean flashpoint. Kerry's unit, 'Task Force Aegis' - together with a clandestine group of UKSF operators - is soon caught up in a situation beyond their control, and trapped in a fight for survival."

All in all, it sounds like a solid reason to shoot some men, with the additional bonus that the campaign provides mod makers with more building blocks for their own missions. Survive is out now, and being pumped through your Steam pipes of Arma 3 owners.

I bet Bohemia are feeling really embarrassed right now. In all the excitement of ArmA III's official launch last month, they completely forgot to add in its singleplayer campaign. Weirdly, they'd planned for this forgetfulness, announcing beforehand that the campaign would follow as three free DLC chunks to be released over the coming months. Incredible foresight, that.

The first of these chunks will be called 'Survive', and it's due to be released on October 31st. ArmA's creative director, Jay Crowe, explains what players can expect:

“Our first campaign episode, ‘Survive’, introduces players to Ben Kerry, a regular soldier who’s part of a NATO peacekeeping mission in the Mediterranean. Following a couple of years of uneasy cease-fire, this US-led deployment is now in the process of a staged drawdown. The vacuum left by withdrawing forces is being rapidly filled by the opposing CSAT faction, creating the conditions for, one might say, a flashpoint.

“Of course, it's not just about our own story, but another opportunity to provide yet more building blocks for the platform - new weapons, animations, 3D objects, scripted modules - each designed to grant content creators even greater freedom to create and share their own content. Looking forward to the forthcoming episodes, we’ll continue to expand Arma 3’s sandbox with additions such as new vehicles.”

Even without the campaign, Evan was quite taken with Bohemia's military sim. You can read his review here.

Valve has revealed the specs for the Steam Machines prototypes. Evan, Tyler, Cory, and T.J. weigh in on the implications. Plus: Mongols racing F1 cars, gobbleshaft transplants, the Battlefield 4 beta, and callbacks to the bizarre world of early '90s television.

Accept no substitute for PC Gamer Podcast 364 - Doogie Don't Care!

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Arma 3 launched without its campaign mode, meaning that soldiers who stepped onto the field of battle early would've been left kicking their heels and cleaning their rifles – would've been, were it not for an industrious army of Arma 3 modders. Even a quick reconnaissance run on Bohemia's military simulator's Steam marketplace turns up some impressively professional missions. Here ten of the best Arma 3 mods we've enjoyed so far.

Wasteland
 


There’s something of DayZ in sandbox mission Wasteland, both in terms of mechanics and cult popularity. It’s a multiplayer-only mode that drops players onto the island of Stratis, before asking them to select a team: BLUFOR, OPPFOR, or Independent. From there, players have to stay alive, scavenging money, food, and water from the island’s settlements, and spending their gotten gains on new weaponry. Occasionally the game spawns missions and AI enemies that reward teams that combine to complete them with hefty payouts. Because it’s a multiplayer mission, you don’t technically need to download or subscribe to anything before playing Wasteland - simply pick a server running the mode.

Arma 3 Rally - Skopos Course
 


You’ll find a few rally courses already available on the Steam Workshop, but none are as slick as m@gicpanda’s Skopos Course. It’s set on a country road with straights long enough to let you floor your hatchback’s accelerator, but it’s the visual touches that make the course memorable. Come round the first corner and a jet screeches overhead; round the second and you’re dodging burning armoured car wreckage. Try and avoid spectators if you can, but don’t worry too much: I ran seven of them over after misjudging one tricky corner, and the rally organisers didn’t seem to mind.

GhostHawk Shift
 


Antorugby’s chopper-centric mission is good practice for helicopter pilots. It starts off simple, asking you to cart a lazy squad a few hundred metres down the road, but gets hard fast. Your next landing zone is covered by enemy AA guns, meaning you’ll have to fly low, land quickly, and get out fast before your wings are clipped. Later, you’re able to redistribute some aerial justice with your copter’s own cannons, meaning that by the end of the job, you should be comfortable landing, hovering, and manoeuvering yourself around the sky.

MGS1
 


This download is a surprisingly complex retelling of the Metal Gear Solid in the Arma III engine, complete with boss battle, codec, and audio cribbed from the Playstation game. Arma III’s AI - still a little suspect at the best of times - isn’t really built for this kind of difficult stealth workout, but it’s the little touches that make MGS1 worth playing. You’ll start near a minisub, correctly aping the real Metal Gear Solid’s aquatic infiltration, and regular checkpoints mean that being spotted won’t lead to too much frustration.

Survivor
 


Survivor’s a simple mission that drops you into a town with a pistol and an electro-ed up version of a ‘50s boogie song, before asking you to survive against a roving gang of “bullies” who want you dead. There’s a time limit, so hiding on the top floor of a house - however much it might be my cowardly instinct - won’t work. Survivor’s a good mission for training your iron-sight aim, too, forcing you to be quick on the trigger but fairly conservative with your ammunition.

Dynamic Universal War System
 


One of Arma III’s most ambitious and impressive mods yet, Dynamic Universal War System will invent you a procedural war upon startup. You’re plonked onto the vast island of Altis, given a base, and asked to capture enemy territory. Squads and vehicles can be purchased with command points; command points are earned by capturing more territory. There’s an admirable amount of choice in how you approach DUWS’s war: use your own sniper rifle to clear enemy territory, or send a mechanised force to clear out an enemy outpost from the comfort of your own base.

Revenge!
 


One for PC Gamer art editor and Operation Flashpoint obsessive John Strike, Revenge! is a retread of the mission of the same name from 2001’s original OpFlash. You’re a team leader in one of two APCs converging on a large, terrorist-held settlement. Clearing the area is a matter of slow and deliberate progress, splitting your squad into fire teams and closing off firelanes. Or, in my case, ordering all your men to run toward the objective and hiding around at the back so you don’t get shot.

CH Assault from the Deep
 


Mateck’s Assault from the Deep uses Arma III’s newly introduced submersible well, asking players to pilot the craft up to a beach where they have to clear a small gang of foes before regrouping and pushing toward a larger force. It’s one of the easier missions available on Steam Workshop, but it’s well suited for small groups, making it another good training exercise. Just remember to shut the hatches on your mini-sub so your team doesn’t unceremoniously drown on the way in.

Ekali Apocalypse - Sniper Mission
 

 
Casting you in the role of sniper in a sniper/spotter duo, Ekali Apocalypse is short, giving you only one target to eliminate before extracting. But it’s notable for letting you choose your vantage point and forcing you to scan around the area before making your shot with one of Arma III’s realistically unwieldy sniper rifles. Overcompensate for bullet drop, or else you’ll end up alerting the entire town to your presence.

Ground Attack II
 


Graduate to this after you’ve completed your GhostHawk Shift. The second of DICS’ Ground Attack missions has you attacking convoys at low altitude. You’re piloting, so you don’t need to worry about shooting - your gunner will do the killing for you. That is, unless, you’re feeling particularly ambitious and want to take manual control of your cannons. Knock out the convoys across Stratis, then it’s back home for a congratulatory hug and a sandwich.

Have any favourite Arma 3 mods and missions of your own? Share them in the comments!

Arma 3's first post-launch patch is live today, bringing with it a long list of improvements to the military sim's interface and game engine, according to developer Bohemia Interactive's official changelog. Among a host of tweaks in update 1.02 is a "potential" boost to optimization on the enormous Altis game map.

Changelogs for a game as complex as Arma 3 usually include a mix of obvious and not-so-obvious adjustments. Bohemia is attempting to tighten up game performance on the Altis map by streamlining the way certain models in the game make use of "class properties," which—when using a lot of AI units—could offer up a "potential Altis performance optimization," according to the changelog. The team has also made some small changes to the Altis terrain, and the way in which it positions objects.

Today's update also includes improvements to character animations so that there are "less pronounced character lip sync animations." Civilians are also more fragile now, in that "they will be fatally injured by one hit (5.56 mm and better caliber) to torso," according to the developer.

For more on Arma 3, be sure to check out our review as well as some of the various community guides that have surface over the last several months which give a good introduction to many of the game's features.

 

This week's podcast is all about Steam's three, big announcements. What do SteamOS, Steam Machines, and the Steam Controller mean to PC gaming? How does it all work? How much does it cost? Does Valve want to replace your main rig? Your living room entertainment center? All of the above? How would Nicholas Cage fare in the political landscape of the 15th Century?

Cory, Evan, and T.J. answer all of these questions to the best of their ability in PC Gamer Podcast 363 - Gabecube!

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It's a testament to Arma 3's depth as a military simulation that it gives players so many vehicle options when staging battles. But it can also be tricky to figure out the most effective way to use vehicles and infantry together, given that complexity. Thankfully Arma 3's latest official community guide has our backs.

The combined arms tutorial above is the latest in an ongoing series from Andrew Gluck aka Dslyecxi, an Arma player in the ShackTactical community. In his usual low-key style, Gluck goes over many of the various possibilities for role-based warfare and tactics.

"Armored support is best employed to defeat comparable enemy threats, or when infantry needs significant overmatch capabilities to accomplish their mission," Gluck says in the video. "In short, it's better to bring heavier guns than the enemy whenever possible. Armor must be carefully considered against the capabilities of the enemy. If the enemy has numerous anti-tank guided missiles, it might be better to hold back friendly armor until those missiles can be neutralized by friendly infantry."

As we noted in our review, the most spectacular and defining aspect of Arma 3 is its massive scale. Finding the best way to come to terms with gigantic maps like Altis—through the smartest use of infantry and vehicles together—must surely be one of the keys to victory.

 

Bohemia's mobile turn-based strategy game, Arma Tactics, is coming to a more stationary platform on October 1st with a $9/£6 Steam release. It's like Arma 3 (read our review) in that there are soldiers, but unlike Arma 3 in pretty much every other way. Tactics is a game of XCOM-style (at least on the surface) turn-based close-combat with story missions and randomly generated scenarios.

It's already out on iOS and Tegra3 devices (that's stuff like the Nexus 7, Acer Iconia tablets, and Nvidia Shield), but the PC version will feature mouse and keyboard controls and enhanced graphics, but should run on just about any system you're using to play games. Unless you're really attached to your Pentium Pro, maybe.

Pre-purchasing for 15 percent off also awards you immediate beta access, though the press release warns that not all enhanced PC features will be present in the beta. We'll give Arma Tactics a good look-over when the complete version releases October 1st. Check out the mobile version trailer below.