After playing for over 800+ hours in this game, I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a large scale combat simulator. The physics, penetration systems and weapon mechanics are a lot better than they were in ARMA II. However, with all of these things comes a new demand for processing power.

This game is VERY CPU intensive. I do not recommend playing this on AMD CPUs, mostly because it relies heavily on Intel's hyper-threading. I can play this pretty decently on my FX 4130, some of my friends play with an FX 8350, but there are a lot of performance bottlenecks. You get increased performance running on higher settings than running on lower settings. I'll explain why.

On lower settings, the game assumes your GPU is unable to handle the load. So I switches the dependency to render a lot of things on the CPU. By switching it to a higher setting, the engine balances the load off of your CPU to both the CPU and the GPU.

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As far as gameplay, there are a lot of mods and scenarios, both outside of Workshop and in the Workshop. I spent hours playing around with these mods, Zeus and making little invade/defend scenarios. RHS, CUPS, MCC Alive, and ACE are the biggest ones if you are looking for the realism aspect. The editor is nice and easy to understand once you get the basics down, so you could create single player scenarios. I have not tried to mess with scripting or server-side scenarios. The community is somewhat decent sized and there's always something to play as far as multiplayer.

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The downsides to this game can also have a -lack- of content. In comparison to ARMA II, there is not a lot of content as far as vehicles and weapons. The helicopters and marksman DLC is a nice addition to the game, but it still feels -empty-. I am hoping that in future DLCs, there will be newer weapons and vehicles. It feels like there was a lot more time focused on what the unit is wearing rather than what he's using to pump lead.

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Wasteland was a lot more fun on ARMA II because everyone had a chance of getting good gear and vehicles, worked together to build bases and overall the team aspect was there. In ARMA III, not so much. It seems more like a really huge deathmatch map, little chance to get a vehicle outside of civilian cars, where everyone just runs to try to be the first one to camp the gun stores. There's really no team play in relation to doing missions except in rare occurences. Stratis is the lesser of two evils as far as the default maps are concerned. Altis is just way too huge, way too open and you end up traveling for hours to find somewhat decent gear in order to be disappointed by some guy who went to the vehicle store from all of his hard-earned cash from gun store camping to buy a tank or an attack chopper.

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In Altis Life, the biggest game mode, it can be fun to an extent, but the hours of grinding to catch up with people already well off in terms of money who have been playing forever is nearly impossible. Ever since they implemented the gang system and made rebel gear the absolute end-game gear while civilians and police only get access to the garbage weapons, it makes the game a little unfair for those starting out. RDM is common and the servers are hit and miss on whether or not they are moderated. There is really no "RP" despite it being hailed as an RP game mode.

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Invade & Annex (Spin off of Domination for ARMA II) is probably my favorite game mode. It requires team work and coordination to control AOs, some servers only allow gear depending on your role (I prefer playing a medic and playing support roles over assault/marksman), and not everyone just hops into a jet (Most servers require you be in TS to coordinate with surface units before bombing the ♥♥♥♥ danger close). Great game-mode if you are new and trying to learn the mechanics of the game.

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King of the Hill is... okay. The factors that determine whether it's going to be fun, in my opinion, are:
A. It doesn't have vehicles outside of transports
B. Infantry-based
C. How many players are actually in the server
D. Does the server have an auto-balance

KOTH would be so much better if it were smaller scale, focused more on infantry combat and AO control, rather than which team is stacked the most against the others. By stacked, I mean:

BLUFOR: 5 Players
OPFOR: 28 Players
Independent: 16 Players

Once a team is stacked on the AO, there's really no chance to win. There's too much high ground and way too many places to camp an AO. It's even worse when offensive vehicles are involved, because these vehicles sit on the outskirts of combat, probably 1000+ meters away, with view distance turned up and thermals. It makes it really unfair for those people just starting off, even worse when it's an AA just camping the choppers coming out of a base.

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Overall, I highly recommend this game to anyone looking for a good experience just playing around with scenarios in single player or team-based game modes in multiplayer. The only thing I wish this community would do is make more objective-based game modes, like capture the flag, team deathmatch, or something that really puts infantry-based combat as priority over most multiplayer game-modes where whoever has the best gear, vehicles and numbers stacked against everyone else wins. In short, quality over quantity.

After playing for over 800+ hours in this game, I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a large scale combat simulator. The physics, penetration systems and weapon mechanics are a lot better than they were in ARMA II. However, with all of these things comes a new demand for processing power. This game is VERY CPU intensive. I do not recommend playing this on AMD CPUs, mostly because it relies heavily on Intel's hyper-threading. I can play this pretty decently on my FX 4130, some of my friends play with an FX 8350, but there are a lot of performance bottlenecks. You get increased performance running on higher settings than running on lower settings. I'll explain why. On lower settings, the game assumes your GPU is unable to handle the load. So I switches the dependency to render a lot of things on the CPU. By switching it to a higher setting, the engine balances the load off of your CPU to both the CPU and the GPU. =============================================================== As far as gameplay, there are a lot of mods and scenarios, both outside of Workshop and in the Workshop. I spent hours playing around with these mods, Zeus and making little invade/defend scenarios. RHS, CUPS, MCC Alive, and ACE are the biggest ones if you are looking for the realism aspect. The editor is nice and easy to understand once you get the basics down, so you could create single player scenarios. I have not tried to mess with scripting or server-side scenarios. The community is somewhat decent sized and there's always something to play as far as multiplayer. =============================================================== The downsides to this game can also have a -lack- of content. In comparison to ARMA II, there is not a lot of content as far as vehicles and weapons. The helicopters and marksman DLC is a nice addition to the game, but it still feels -empty-. I am hoping that in future DLCs, there will be newer weapons and vehicles. It feels like there was a lot more time focused on what the unit is wearing rather than what he's using to pump lead. =============================================================== Wasteland was a lot more fun on ARMA II because everyone had a chance of getting good gear and vehicles, worked together to build bases and overall the team aspect was there. In ARMA III, not so much. It seems more like a really huge deathmatch map, little chance to get a vehicle outside of civilian cars, where everyone just runs to try to be the first one to camp the gun stores. There's really no team play in relation to doing missions except in rare occurences. Stratis is the lesser of two evils as far as the default maps are concerned. Altis is just way too huge, way too open and you end up traveling for hours to find somewhat decent gear in order to be disappointed by some guy who went to the vehicle store from all of his hard-earned cash from gun store camping to buy a tank or an attack chopper. =============================================================== In Altis Life, the biggest game mode, it can be fun to an extent, but the hours of grinding to catch up with people already well off in terms of money who have been playing forever is nearly impossible. Ever since they implemented the gang system and made rebel gear the absolute end-game gear while civilians and police only get access to the garbage weapons, it makes the game a little unfair for those starting out. RDM is common and the servers are hit and miss on whether or not they are moderated. There is really no "RP" despite it being hailed as an RP game mode. =============================================================== Invade & Annex (Spin off of Domination for ARMA II) is probably my favorite game mode. It requires team work and coordination to control AOs, some servers only allow gear depending on your role (I prefer playing a medic and playing support roles over assault/marksman), and not everyone just hops into a jet (Most servers require you be in TS to coordinate with surface units before bombing the shit danger close). Great game-mode if you are new and trying to learn the mechanics of the game. =============================================================== King of the Hill is... okay. The factors that determine whether it's going to be fun, in my opinion, are: A. It doesn't have vehicles outside of transports B. Infantry-based C. How many players are actually in the server D. Does the server have an auto-balance KOTH would be so much better if it were smaller scale, focused more on infantry combat and AO control, rather than which team is stacked the most against the others. By stacked, I mean: BLUFOR: 5 Players OPFOR: 28 Players Independent: 16 Players Once a team is stacked on the AO, there's really no chance to win. There's too much high ground and way too many places to camp an AO. It's even worse when offensive vehicles are involved, because these vehicles sit on the outskirts of combat, probably 1000+ meters away, with view distance turned up and thermals. It makes it really unfair for those people just starting off, even worse when it's an AA just camping the choppers coming out of a base. =============================================================== Overall, I highly recommend this game to anyone looking for a good experience just playing around with scenarios in single player or team-based game modes in multiplayer. The only thing I wish this community would do is make more objective-based game modes, like capture the flag, team deathmatch, or something that really puts infantry-based combat as priority over most multiplayer game-modes where whoever has the best gear, vehicles and numbers stacked against everyone else wins. In short, quality over quantity.