Arma Reforger looks like a shooter and plays like a survival sim wearing a uniform. Built by Bohemia Interactive on the Enfusion engine, it rewards patience, planning and map-reading far more than reflexes. If you’ve come from fast-paced shooters, your first few hours will be confusing: you’ll die to bullets you never saw, run out of stamina sprinting to a fight, and stand on a contested base wondering why it won’t flip. This guide fixes all of that. It’s written for the current 1.6 “Operation Omega” build (the stable 1.6.x line, with experimental work already on 1.7), and it covers every system a new player actually needs: game modes, stamina and weight, weapon handling and zeroing, the supplies and radio-range economy, map and GPS navigation, vehicles, survival tactics, and the healing system that keeps you alive.
Game modes: where to start
Reforger ships several modes, and picking the right one for your skill level is the single biggest thing you can do to enjoy the early game. Here’s what each one actually is.
Conflict (and HQC in 1.6)
Conflict is the flagship large-scale multiplayer mode. You pick a faction — US or USSR, with FIA as a third irregular force — and fight to capture bases across the map. It’s not deathmatch: territory flips by controlling base areas inside radio range, moving supplies forward, building services, and spawning vehicles and weapons from the arsenal. In the 1.6 update, classic Conflict was reworked toward a “Headquarters Commander” (HQC) command layer, adding a strategic decision-making dimension on top of the boots-on-the-ground fight. As a beginner, treat Conflict as the deep end — fun, but you’ll learn faster if you understand supplies and radio range first (covered below).
Game Master
Game Master (GM) is the Zeus-style sandbox: an admin gets real-time control of the world and can spawn AI, objects and vehicles, and author dynamic scenarios live. It’s also the mode you use to manually save a hosted Conflict session — you drop into Game Master and perform a named save you can reload later. If you’re hosting for friends, GM is your control room.
Combat Ops
Combat Ops is the best place for a beginner to learn. It generates randomized missions — destroy vehicles, clear areas, assassinate a target, then extract — that run roughly 45–60 minutes and play solo or co-op. There’s no enemy player punishing your mistakes, so you can practice movement, weapon handling and navigation at your own pace.
Single-player Campaign (Operation Omega)
Added in 1.6, the Operation Omega campaign is the proper offline story mode — a 1989 US special-forces raid set on the new island of Kolguyev. It’s a structured introduction to the game’s systems with a narrative wrapped around them. If you want a guided start before touching multiplayer, play this. For a fuller walkthrough of offline play, see our getting started with Arma Reforger solo guide.
Stamina and weight: the system that decides every firefight
New players load up like they’re going to war for a year and then wonder why they can’t sprint to cover. In Reforger, your loadout weight directly drives stamina. Carry too much and you move slower, drain stamina faster, and arrive at fights already gasping — which wrecks your aim, because heavy breathing increases weapon sway.
- Pack deliberately. Take the ammo and medical supplies you’ll realistically use, not everything the arsenal offers.
- Manage your stamina bar before contact. Walk or jog the last stretch to an objective so you arrive steady, not winded.
- Heavy means slow. A full ruck of spare magazines and a launcher is great for a planned assault, terrible for scouting.
- Recover before you shoot. If you must sprint, give yourself a couple of seconds prone or crouched to let breathing settle before taking a long shot.
Weapon handling, zeroing and bullet drop
Reforger uses realistic ballistics, and this is where most newcomers die without understanding why. Bullets drop over distance and take time to travel. Your sights can be zeroed to a specific range — meaning the point of aim and point of impact line up at that distance. If your rifle is zeroed for 100 m and you fire at a target 300 m away, the round lands low unless you adjust your zero or hold over.
- Set your zero for the engagement. Adjust the sight’s zeroing to match the range you expect to fight at, then refine with hold-over or hold-under for targets closer or farther.
- Account for drop at distance. The farther the target, the more the bullet falls — aim higher for long shots.
- Control sway. Recoil and sway are significant. Go prone or use a rest for long shots, hold your breath to steady, and remember that pain and exhaustion make sway worse.
- Morphine reduces sway. If you’ve been hit, a morphine injector alleviates pain and steadies your aim (more on the medical system below).
Supplies, radio range and capturing bases
This is the heart of Conflict and the system that confuses beginners the most. Bases aren’t captured by standing on a flag — they’re linked into your network through radio range. Antennas and radio infrastructure define how far your network reaches; you capture and connect bases within that range, and you contest enemy territory by disrupting their radio network.
- Supplies are currency. You transport and manage supplies to build services, spawn vehicles and buy weapons from the arsenal. Running a base dry stops it producing — keep supply lines flowing from the rear.
- Radio range links your bases. Capturing a base within range extends your network; cutting the enemy’s radio connection is how you isolate and take their positions.
- The arsenal is fed by supplies. A well-stocked base lets your whole team gear up; a starved one leaves you with starter kit.
- Logistics win games. The player hauling supply trucks is often more valuable than the one going for kills.
Reading the map and GPS
Reforger has no big arrow telling you where you are. Navigation is manual: you read a paper map, use a compass, and use GPS only when one is issued. This is intentional and it’s a skill — getting lost is part of learning. Match terrain features (ridgelines, rivers, road junctions, treelines) to the map, use your compass for heading, and count distance by landmarks. Beginner quality-of-life mods like Where Am I mark your position on the map while you learn, and VPad gives you a tablet-style live map you can read while driving or flying. Use them as training wheels, then wean off them.
Vehicles and fuel
Ground and air vehicles are available, and they’re a force multiplier — but they’re tied into the supply economy. Vehicles are spawned and maintained via supplies at bases, and they need fuel to run. Plan trips: a vehicle that runs dry behind enemy lines is a liability, not transport. Treat aircraft especially carefully as a beginner — they’re easy to lose and expensive in supplies. Use vehicles to move logistics and squads efficiently, not as Rambo gun platforms.
The healing system: stay alive and revive teammates
Damage causes bleeding, and bleeding drains your blood over time. As blood drops your vision distorts and loses color, then you pass out (unconscious), and eventually die if untreated. Knowing your medical items is the difference between a quick recovery and a death screen. Here’s the kit, by what it does.
| Item | What it does | Where it works | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bandage (field dressing) | Stops bleeding | All body areas, including torso and head | Single-use, ~0.1 kg, relatively slow to apply |
| Tourniquet | Dramatically slows bleeding to near-stop | Extremities only (arms/legs) | Reusable/removable; restricts leg movement and reduces arm accuracy while applied (~0.02 kg) |
| Saline bag | Normalizes/replenishes blood over time | Restores lost blood | Single-use, ~0.5 kg; community guides report ~90s up to ~1,500 blood units (approximate, not official) |
| Morphine injector | Relieves pain, reduces sway, improves visibility, speeds healing, can wake an unconscious player faster | General use | Single-use, ~0.02 kg (“painkillers” = morphine here) |
The key workflow: a tourniquet buys time on an arm or leg wound, but it can’t be used on the torso, neck or head — those must be bandaged. So stop the bleed first (tourniquet or bandage), then restore blood with a saline bag, and use morphine to manage pain and wake a downed teammate faster.
When a player goes unconscious their vision is severely limited and movement is disabled. A player with severely depleted blood may not self-recover and needs a teammate — bandage to stop further loss, then saline to restore blood so they regain consciousness. An unconscious player generally can’t self-treat, which is exactly why squads carry a medic. If you want to play that role well, read our dedicated guide to the medic role in Arma Reforger. (Total body blood capacity and exact death thresholds aren’t published officially, so don’t trust hard numbers floating around forums.)
Survival tactics: cover, flanking and night
Reforger punishes the run-and-gun instinct hard. The players who survive are the ones who treat every movement as if someone is watching.
- Use cover and go prone. A prone soldier in a treeline is nearly invisible at range. Standing in the open is a death sentence.
- Flank, don’t rush. Frontal assaults into prepared positions fail. Move wide, use terrain, and hit the enemy from an angle they aren’t watching.
- Own the night. Darkness, suppressors and patience let you close distance and pick fights on your terms. Night ops reward the careful.
- Protect your stamina and supply lines. Arriving fresh and resupplied beats arriving fast and empty.
- Communicate. Voice (VON) and clear callouts win firefights more than aim does.
Common beginner mistakes to avoid
- Overloading your kit and then being too winded to fight.
- Ignoring zeroing and missing every shot past 150 m because of bullet drop.
- Treating Conflict like deathmatch — chasing kills while bases sit uncaptured because nobody moved supplies.
- Tourniquet on the torso — it won’t work; bandage torso and head wounds.
- Sprinting everywhere and burning stamina you need for the actual fight.
- Driving vehicles dry by ignoring fuel, then walking home.
- Standing still in the open instead of using cover and going prone.
Want to host your own server?
The fastest way to improve is to host a server for you and your friends where you can practice freely and run the modes and mods you want. Reforger runs a native dedicated server on both Windows and Linux (no Proton/Wine needed), and you can install it anonymously through SteamCMD without owning the game on the host. The stable dedicated-server app ID is 1874900 (experimental is 1890870; the game client is 1874880).
steamcmd.exe +force_install_dir "C:\ArmaReforger\Server" +login anonymous +app_update 1874900 validate +quitOn Linux you launch the native binary; on Windows you launch the .exe. Always cap your server FPS so it doesn’t pin the CPU at thousands of frames:
./ArmaReforgerServer -config /path/to/config.json -maxFPS 60 -profile /path/to/profileThe server is configured with a JSON file (not a classic Arma .cfg), and all keys are case-sensitive. The defaults you need to know: game port 2001 (UDP), Steam/A2S query port 17777 (UDP), optional RCON port 19999, default maxPlayers 64 (range 1–128), and BattlEye on by default. Here’s a realistic minimal config skeleton:
{
"bindAddress": "",
"bindPort": 2001,
"publicAddress": "",
"publicPort": 2001,
"a2s": { "address": "0.0.0.0", "port": 17777 },
"rcon": {
"address": "127.0.0.1",
"port": 19999,
"password": "ChangeMe123",
"permission": "admin",
"maxClients": 16
},
"game": {
"name": "My Reforger Server",
"password": "",
"passwordAdmin": "SuperSecretAdminPass",
"scenarioId": "{ECC61978EDCC2B5A}Missions/23_Campaign.conf",
"maxPlayers": 64,
"crossPlatform": false,
"supportedPlatforms": ["PLATFORM_PC"],
"gameProperties": {
"serverMaxViewDistance": 1600,
"networkViewDistance": 1500,
"fastValidation": true,
"battlEye": true
},
"mods": []
},
"operating": {
"playerSaveTime": 120,
"slotReservationTimeout": 60,
"joinQueue": { "maxSize": 0 }
}
}The scenarioId picks which mode and map you run. The format is {16-HEX-GUID}Missions/FileName.conf. A few official ones for 1.6:
Conflict – Everon: {ECC61978EDCC2B5A}Missions/23_Campaign.conf
Conflict – Arland: {C41618FD18E9D714}Missions/23_Campaign_Arland.conf
Game Master – Everon: {59AD59368755F41A}Missions/21_GM_Eden.conf
Game Master – Kolguyev: {F45C6C15D31252E6}Missions/27_GM_Cain.conf
Combat Ops – Everon: {DFAC5FABD11F2390}Missions/26_CombatOpsEveron.conf
Tutorial: {002AF7323E0129AF}Missions/Tutorial.confUse the -listScenarios launch parameter to print every loadable scenario ID, including ones from mods you’ve loaded. If you’d rather skip the setup and get a tuned server in minutes, our dedicated Arma Reforger hosting plans come preconfigured, and the full Arma Reforger server documentation walks through every option. For a deeper dive on the config file itself, see our Arma Reforger server configuration guide and our step-by-step setup walkthrough.
Frequently asked questions
Can you play Arma Reforger solo or offline?
Yes. The single-player Operation Omega Campaign (added in 1.6, set on Kolguyev) is a full offline story mode. Combat Ops missions are playable solo, and you can host a local Game Master session or even a local Conflict server to play in. To save a hosted Conflict game, you enter Game Master and perform a manual, named save you can reload later.
What’s the best game mode for an Arma Reforger beginner?
Start with the single-player Campaign to learn the controls and systems in a guided setting, then move to Combat Ops — its randomized 45–60 minute missions let you practice movement, shooting and navigation without enemy players punishing every mistake. Jump into Conflict once you understand stamina, zeroing, and the supplies/radio-range economy.
How does zeroing work in Arma Reforger?
Zeroing sets the range at which your point of aim and point of impact match. Because bullets drop over distance, a rifle zeroed for 100 m will shoot low at 300 m. Adjust the sight’s zero to the range you expect to fight at, then use hold-over (aim higher) for farther targets or hold-under for closer ones. Go prone and steady your breathing to cut sway on long shots.
Why can’t I capture a base in Conflict?
Bases aren’t taken by standing on a flag — they’re linked into your faction’s network through radio range, and you need supplies flowing to build, arm and reinforce them. If a base won’t flip, you’re likely outside radio range, the enemy still holds the connecting radio network, or your supply line is dry. Move supplies forward and disrupt the enemy’s radio infrastructure to contest territory.
When do I use a tourniquet versus a bandage?
Use a tourniquet on arm and leg wounds — it dramatically slows bleeding and is reusable, but it can’t be applied to the torso, neck or head, and it restricts leg movement and arm accuracy while on. Bandages stop bleeding anywhere, including torso and head, so torso/head wounds must be bandaged. Stop the bleed first, then use a saline bag to restore lost blood, and morphine to manage pain or wake a downed teammate.
Can Xbox and PlayStation players join PC servers, and do mods work?
Yes — Reforger supports crossplay across PC, Xbox and PS5. Enable it by setting crossPlatform: true or by listing platforms explicitly in supportedPlatforms (PLATFORM_PC, PLATFORM_XBL, PLATFORM_PSN), and keep BattlEye on, since console players won’t join with it off. The catch is mods: since Update 1.4 (May 2025) PS5 can join modded servers, but only mods that ship data/assets — scripted mods are blocked on PSN, so a heavily scripted modpack will silently exclude PlayStation players. Console mod support depends on each mod’s declared platform compatibility. See our guides on making your server cross-platform, creating a custom scenario, and the best Arma Reforger mods.
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