FROM: Project Lead

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Zeus announcement, Zeus Beta release

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Last Thursday we unveiled the free Arma 3 Zeus DLC with a trailer to introduce the multiplayer concept. That was followed up with a livestream on Saturday to actually show a full session of it being played and to answer some questions. It was especially satisfying to do a sneaky devbranch release at the end! The whole stream is available online. Now that the Zeus Beta is out, its principle designer Karel Mořický and programmer Filip Sádovský will be improving it, fixing reported issues, introducing new features, and bringing it towards the full release in Q2 (after the final campaign episode and the jets).

We would like to repeat our disclaimer for using devbranch: please consider whether you want to opt into it and experience the risks it carries. This is a daily and largely untested experimental build which can even be broken for an entire day. Of course we appreciate your testing and participation, but we believe devbranch is not for everyone. If you prefer a more stable and finished experience, you're better off waiting for the actual release.

"You release a mighty stroke of electrical energy that deals 10d6 points of damage to each player within its area."

INTELLIGENCE

A suite of wreck and corpse removal parameters for scenarios was documented on the Community Wiki (corpseXYZ and wreckXYZ).

Project Lead Joris-Jan van 't Land posted his Steam Workshop recommendation: 'Lion Claw' by KingoftheSandbox. His evaluation: "The author of this scenario uses various design tools to create a tense atmosphere: weather, time-of-day, fog and ambient combat or example. By applying the British radio protocols and character emblems, you also get a different experience to the more common American point of view. The scenario does not do something incredibly unique or new, but it nails the basics of Arma gameplay and is a lot of fun. Try egressing with your entire team in tact!"

OPERATIONS

The most recent area of optimizations is connected to burning wrecks and the damage they do to nearby characters. The way this was distributed in multiplayer and how it was handled far away from actual players was improved. More optimizations are on the way, and all of them together should help to get a more solid experience for everyone.

LOGISTICS

Since Zeus Beta is only available on devbranch, be aware that players on main branch will not be able to use Zeus-enhanced scenarios from Workshop yet (tagged as Zeus). Even the upcoming patch(es) will not add Zeus technology to main branch.

Zeus documentation is in full swing on the Community Wiki. Keep an eye on its main page and the list of scripting commands. There is a lot this tech can be used for, even beyond Zeus itself!

New sub-forums were added to share your cool Zeus stories and discuss editing with Zeus tech. On the Feedback Tracker please mark related issues with the relevant Zeus - XYZ categories. Cheers!