You can operate multiple drones simultaneously from the AV Terminal, which can become quite a juggling act if you have particularly free-spirited drones.
Operating the drone can be done manually (by taking direct control and flying it yourself, or assuming command of the targeting/recon pod) or by setting waypoints using the AV Terminal. With a bit of practice (and I’m still learning), you can work with the pesky drones and learn their behaviors and anticipate just how much you’ll need to hold their hand. The gyrations make targeting and recon difficult, so it is understandable that people get frustrated and just dismiss the drones as a broken part of Arma. If you have the opportunity to park your drone over water, they seem to operate nice and smoothly. In my experience, the drones seem to get lost and wander mostly when they are trying to ascend or descend to an enroute altitude, and since you input an altitude for them to adhere to, they struggle to maintain an above-ground-level (AGL) altitude which can result in some wild gyrations. Most of the “bad” drone behavior that I’ve observed could be solved if Bohemia Interactive would allow us to set drone operating altitudes in mean-sea-level (MSL) altitudes. I can often be heard shouting at my drones: “Good drone.good boy…goooood ! Bad drone, bad, bad, bad drone.” It is definitely a love/hate relationship. The often made observation, which is 100% correct, is that the drones in A3 are definitely…temperamental. You can have my drone when you pry it from my cold, dead…oh…uh…it’s all yours… Sentient drones… This can make for some fun and interesting “seize the drone” type missions. You can also approach an enemy drone and, if you are an actual Drone Operator specialist, hack it to gain control over the enemy drone. In order to use the drones, you have to have a UAV terminal in your possession and be on the faction that owns the drone. The user community have also added vehicles such as the RQ-11B Raven, the Pchela-1T, the APEX Drakon, the U.C.S.V Cargo and Support Drone, and the MQ-9 Reaper. There are also ground vehicle drones, but our focus will be on the airborne assets. The official A3 lineup includes the backpack stowable AR-2 Darter/Tayran quad-copter, the Predator-like Yabhon R-3 / K40 Ababil-3 recon/attack drone, the KH-3A Fenghuang, the MQ-12 Falcon helicopter drone, and the KH-3A drone that conjures up visions of an armed Rutan Long-EZ. The lineup of drones in A3 encompass everything from user created nano-UAVs that provide individual soldiers a recon ability, to massive Predator and Global Hawk-like aircraft that can carry thousands of pounds of ordnance and fly at jet aircraft speeds. Equipped with six Scalpel A2G missiles, and a pair of rocket pods, the Falcon packs a punch nearly comparable to the most capable manned aircraft in A3. Once I started dabbling in the UAVs, I found it hard to stop experimenting! And while the A3 drones are quirky and temperamental, they can offer an interesting perspective on the battlefield – literally! The Apex expansion added the MQ-12 Falcon UAV to the NATO arsenal. When Arma Apex released last year, I took quick notice of the new VTOLs, but only just recently came across the very fun MQ-12 Falcon UAV. The relatively small size of A3 maps makes me reluctant to try out more exotic fast jets and attack aircraft simply because I feel the maps are more suited toward low and slow flying vehicles. I find that I really enjoy A3 for helo type missions because of the ultra-high level of detail of the terrains and the ability to occupy pretty much every vehicle in the inventory. While the focus and specialty of A3 has always been infantry type combat, there is plenty of content and gameplay to be found for helo and fixed wing pilots, armor fans, and even civilian SAR type mods. The beauty of the A3 sandbox is that pretty much everyone can find a toy to play with either in the stock missions or through add-on content.
I just figured I’d mention my lack of A3 knowledge because this article isn’t a tutorial and I’ll probably get some stuff wrong. Whether it is helicopters, VTOLs, or solo missions with a good story, I’m down for some Arma fun when I need a break from more complex flight sims. In fact, I don’t know a lot about A3 at all, but I have been known to be attracted to content that I find compelling.
ENROUTE 3 MACROS FREE
For the sake of this article though, I’m going to use the term “drone”, so feel free to throw your flaming pitchfork at me at each mention of the word. Semantics – Drone or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)? Well, technically A3 “drones” can be both, so maybe Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) would be most appropriate since it considers the totality of the vehicle and the ground based components. We take a quick tour of some of the fun that can be had with Arma 3’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicles…