When comparing Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War vs Arma 3, the Slant community recommends Arma 3 for most people. In the question“What are the best LAN party PC games?” Arma 3 is ranked 47th while Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is ranked 50th. The most important reason people chose Arma 3 is:
ARMA 3 is built as a simulation-type game and features rather tactical gameplay with a slow pace. [The developers use real-life military weapons, equipment and vehicles](https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/125727-is-arma-3-authentic/). Even some of the environments in the game are virtually indistinguishable from their real-life counterpart. ARMA 3's gameplay also encompasses more than a regular first person shooter, as military tactics such as water attacks, giving orders to squadmates and drone strikes are necessary in order to successfully complete a mission. Elements such as destruction are extremely important, as certain specific parts of a vehicle can be damaged.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Easily practice the game when not playing over LAN
There is offline play available, meaning you can play single player in order to practice for LAN play. LAN as well is offline, as it uses a local connection. So overall, there is no need for an internet connection in order to play the game how and when you want.
Pro Easily accessible to any skill level
A smart AI allows for difficult games thanks to the natural reactions that the enemy can have in game, which keeps the player on their toes. Where it allows for any skill level is the fact that the player can change the difficulty level, which will make for an easier or even more difficult game, depending on what the player choose to set it on.
Pro Large hectically fun matches
Up to 8 players can play in a game, making for what can be hectic and large matches thanks to the possibility of the amount of each players forces.
Pro Expansions and mods
Dark Crusade and Soulstorm are just two of the beautiful expansions this game has(the best ones, in my opinion).
Also, a mod like Ultimate Apocalypse (for Soulstorm) brings the game to a totally new style
Recommended to play the original game first, to learn playstyle, and then play Ultimate Apocalypse so you can notice all the changes that this wonderful mod has made.
This mod is worth all the game+2 expansions by itself. Look for it on ModDB.com.
Pro Can run on older PCs
As this game is quite old (having been originally released in 2004), it runs well on older PCs.
Pro Best in class authenticity
ARMA 3 is built as a simulation-type game and features rather tactical gameplay with a slow pace. The developers use real-life military weapons, equipment and vehicles. Even some of the environments in the game are virtually indistinguishable from their real-life counterpart. ARMA 3's gameplay also encompasses more than a regular first person shooter, as military tactics such as water attacks, giving orders to squadmates and drone strikes are necessary in order to successfully complete a mission. Elements such as destruction are extremely important, as certain specific parts of a vehicle can be damaged.
Pro Huge open maps
As ARMA 3 is an open-world experience, singleplayer missions are not as linear and take place in the same map area as the game's multiplayer mode. There are a couple of different islands to explore in ARMA 3, including Altis which has a size of over 100 square miles (270 km²). Stratis is the smallest island in ARMA but is still respectable in size but 7.7 square miles (20 km²). A new map - Tanoa - is scheduled to be included in the paid Apex Expansion pack, with a size of 38.6 square miles (100 km²).
Pro Huge amount of mods and add-ons available
The modding community of ARMA 3 is quite large, with multiple online communities and free tools provided by Bohemia - the developers of ARMA 3. At the time of writing, there are 115 mods available on ModDB and over 23500 mods in the Steam Workshop.
Pro Steam workshop
So much content on the Steam workshop. You can get 200 GBs of mods in 2 days.
Pro No player limit in multiplayer games
ARMA 3 doesn't impose restrictions on its servers, allowing for a true sandbox experience with a large population. Battles can be fought with hundreds or even thousands of players; multiplayer warfare is definitely large-scale.
Pro Long single-player campaign
The average playtime for the single-player campaign (referred to as 'Main Story) of ARMA 3 clocks in at just under 20 hours, while a 100% complete playthough of the campaign averages 39 hours of playtime.
Pro Underwater gameplay
ARMA 3 features underwater gameplay with diving gear and underwater weapons. Underwater gameplay is noticeably different, because it uses a third movement axis.
Cons
Con Some LAN/Internet games don't start.
Some games just get stuck into a loading screen(transferring badges screen) and won't start. If you can see this screen for more than a couple of minutes, just let the host close the game and try again.
After this screen a Loading The Map screen should appear and it can take even 5 minutes if somebody is using an old PC, but the first screen is the "bugged" one.
Con Large and not optimized
Size of the game+expansions+mod is about 10 GB. Also the game is quite aged but it is not best optimized and in 8p LAN matches it could stutter.
Con Controls are unique and can be a barrier
It's not as simple as ctrl for crouch. While many tactical shooters use a similar s=control scheme, ARMA takes a sharp departure from the norm. This is part of what enables it to have far more robust/tactical movement.
Con Steep learning curve
The tactical aspect of ARMA 3 is also portrayed in the somewhat difficult controls and steep learning curve of the game. For example, a lot of different buttons and keystrokes have to be remembered for all the different commands, equipment options and vehicle controls. There is no in-game tutorial, the only way to learn how the game works in by trial and error, a field guide or by using in-game hints. Tactical elements and strategies aren't explained in the game.
Con Framerate isn't consistent
ARMA suffers from some framerate issues, with very variable results in both single- and multiplayer situations. Often the game will perform well in multiplayer, while dropping down to a severely worse framerate in a single player mission. Similar problems occur vice versa as well, which results in a very inconsistent framerate.