World
Applied Studies Group uses the third-generation Real Virtuality (PDF) game engine, which has been in development by Bohemia Interactive Studios for over 10 years and of which previous versions are used in training simulators by military forces around the world. This engine has full DirectX 9 support (Shader Model 3).
It features realistic day-night cycles, changing weather, fog and visibility, and a view distance of up to 10 kilometers. Every weapon in the game fires projectiles with real trajectories, drop off, and penetration characteristics. As such, no weapon system in the game is a “guaranteed” hit – only after the engine has simulated the event can it be determined if a given shot or missile has hit the target.
The number of agents supported by the engine is limited mainly by computer performance, ASG has been successfully creating stable environments with 80 to 100 agents. This allows a wide range of scenarios to be played, from small unit actions up to large-scale scenarios that could include civil unrest and riots. Almost all events in the game are dynamically defined, scenarios rarely unfold the same way twice – although a side with an overwhelming advantage will tend to win consistently.
The player can choose to turn their head independently from their weapon / body, unlike in most shooters where the view is locked to the weapon. This allows players to look left and right while running forwards to maintain awareness of the battlefield or to look around while in a confined space without having to lower their weapon.
The area of approximately 225 km² is based on actual satellite photos of Ceske Stredohori. All necessary data is loaded silently in the background, therefore the player is at no time interrupted by any loading screens while traveling through the terrain, though there are loading screens at the start of a scenario.
Additional functions, such as an ambient civilian population, ambient wildlife and even ambient combat can be integrated into a multitude of scenarios as defined by the client.
Equipment
Custom equipment can easily be added to conform to the client’s needs and requirements. By default the engine features around 80 realistically-represented weapons with many variants including assault rifles and machineguns as we as civilian types such as, shotguns and hunting rifles. There are around 130 vehicle variants, and any vehicle that exists in-game can be controlled by the player, including civilian cars and tractors to military vehicles of various types and configurations. Similarly, all aircraft encountered in the game can be flown by the player. All have limited fuel and realistic weapon load-outs. Aircraft include UAVs and fixed-wing or rotary-wing variants.
Ballistics
All weapons have realistically simulated ballistics. Rounds travel in parabolic trajectories and show effects of bullet drop dependent on their caliber. Muzzle velocities are modeled, and rounds lose velocity and knockdown power over time traveled. The ranges at which weapons are zeroed are player adjustable. Sniper rifles can use stadiametric rangefinding to adjust for long-range shots. US rifles use mil-dot scopes while Russian rifles use Bullet Drop Compensation (BDC) scopes such as the PSO-1.
