Resupply Crate

A Resupply Crate is a physical object containing various items useful for Infantry units. Resupply Crates may be dropped from Aircraft, loaded and unloaded into various kinds of Vehicles, or placed automatically by the Mission Designer or Game Master. They can be moved by hand from one position to another. Infantry use the crates to Resupply themselves at crucial points in the mission.

In ArmA 3 ShackTac missions, there are several standardized types of Resupply Crates, each containing a different selection of items for different types of infantry units - e.g. a Fireteam crate, a Medical crate, et cetera. This allows the players responsible for taking such crates to the battlefield to quickly load the correct crate type into their transport vehicle, containing a sufficient number of all the different items that are likely to be required by the infantry. Command (or any other relevant leader) can thus ask for a specific number of crates to be brought to the battlefield (or to one specific unit) without worrying about what's inside each crate.

In earlier versions of the game, crates had to be loaded manually with the items required by each unit. This allowed Logistics units to tailor a crate to specific requirements, but required more time to prepare and increased the chance of mistakes.

Large Resupply Crates are also available. These are typically moved by slinging them underneath a Transport Helicopter or dropping them from a Transport Plane. In ArmA 2 these large crates simply contained a larger number of items than the standard crates. In ArmA 3, they now contain multiple standard crates that must be removed from the larger crate before being opened.

Visuals
Resupply Crates have a uniform visual appearance in each version of the game, so as to be instantly recognizable even when placed near similar pre-placed (unusable) crates that are simply part of the terrain.

Standard crates are generally square shaped, just under a meter in length and about a third of that in width and height. They are green or olive-green in color.

Large crates appear as multiple standard crates stacked on top of a wooden platform. The same object is often used for weapon caches - an objective item that typically needs to be destroyed whenever it is located.

In ArmA 3, Medical Crates are marked with a red cross on a white circle, making them easily distinguishable from ammunition/equipment crates. In ArmA 2 there was no such visual distinction.

When looking directly at a crate in ArmA 3, the crate's specific type is displayed in the center of the screen in white/gray color. This allows players to quickly distinguish non-medical standard crates without having to open them first. However it does not indicate what items are inside the crate, or if the crate contains any items at all.

Arma 2 Crates
In ArmA 2, a crate does not contain any specific set of items by default. Instead, dedicated Logistics personnel must load the crates manually at the base, according to the current specific needs of the ground units. This is explained in more detail below. As such, there is no fundamental difference between any two crates other than the equipment loaded into them at that specific time.

Large Crates in ArmA 2 are functionally similar to standard crates, except they can contain much more equipment per crate.

Fireteam Crates
An ArmA 3 Fireteam Crate is a standardized crate containing all of the equipment required to Resupply an entire Fireteam. It typically contains the following items:


 * A large quantity of ammunition for Assault Rifles (or whatever main weapon is carried by the Riflemen in this mission) - often around 90 magazines. This is almost always enough to fully resupply the entire Fireteam even if it is completely out of ammo.
 * A quantity of ammunition for Automatic Rifles, typically enough to fully resupply one or two Automatic Riflemen.
 * Two Light Anti-Tank Launchers.
 * A medium quantity of Bandages and a small quantity of Morphine and Tourniquets.
 * A medium quantity of GPs of various types, as well as hand-thrown Frag Grenades and Smoke Grenades.
 * Flares may also be included (usually Grenade Launcher flares) for night missions.

Medical Crates
An ArmA 3 Medical Crate is a standardized crate containing only Medical equipment. It contains enough equipment to fully restock a single Medic.

The crate contains the following items:


 * A large quantity of Bandages.
 * A good quantity of Morphine and Epineprine.
 * About two dozen Basic Kits and Advanced Kits.

Only Medics are normally allowed to restock from a Medical Crate, or any player who's had to assume the role after their medic was killed. Other infantrymen will take any medical equipment they require from the Fireteam Crate.

Weapon Team Crates
In ArmA 3, these are standardized crates specifically loaded with equipment and ammunition required to restock a Weapon Team.

There are multiple types of Weapon Team Crates, one for each type of crew-served weapon. The name of the crate (seen when looking directly at it from a short distance away) indicates what type of Weapon Team it is meant to resupply.

Weapon Team crates contain mostly ammunition for the weapon. Other items include a small amount of Bandages and Morphine, a small amount of ammunition for Assault Rifles (or whatever other personal weapon the team members carry), and some auxiliary equipment such as Frag Grenades, Smoke Grenades, et cetera.

Weapon Team crates do not contain any Light Anti-Tank Launchers.

Large Crates (ArmA 3)
In ArmA 3 (at least as of 2021), a large crate no longer contains items. Instead, it serves as a container for standardized crates (above). In order to access the items inside those crates, they must first be unloaded from the large crate, just as one would unload crates from a vehicle.

Creation Procedures
Information on this subject is very rare. Some of the text below may be inaccurate.

Before a crate can be distributed to the troops for Resupply, it must first be created either by the players (particularly a Logistics units whose job it is to create and transport Crates), the Mission Designer (by placing them at a strategic point on the map in advance), or by the Game Master (to address a sudden need for supplies to prevent the mission from going FUBAR). This chapter deals primarily with Logistics (players creating a crate manually according to demand).

The process of making a crate differs greatly between missions played in ArmA 2 and ArmA 3, due to the standardization of crates as adopted by ShackTac. Originally, items had to be placed manually into each crate based on the specific demand of the Ground forces at a given point in the mission; Commanders had to collect information from the units to determine what they might be lacking, and convey that to whomever was responsible for assembling the crates, and then communicate it to the player responsible for assembling the crate.

In ArmA 3, the process is significantly streamlined using standardized crates that contain a set amount of all of the equipment that might be needed. A few types of standardized crates are made available - one for each type of unit in the mission - and can be quickly created and distributed in order to resupply a unit entirely regardless of its specific needs at the time. Crates are automatically filled with the correct types of ammunition and other equipment suitable for the unit's loadout. Adjustments can be made if necessary.

ArmA 2
The process of creating a Resupply Crate in ArmA 2 was extremely involved, and required Logistics units to spend a substantial amount of their time and effort. This required a larger Logistics unit with members dedicated to creating crates back at base, intense communications between Command and the Logi unit, and a longer period of time for each resupply.

Command had to keep track of the specific needs of different units, by requiring them to indicate exactly what types of ammunition or equipment they are missing. This was handled on Radio (particularly the Platoon Net or Company Net). The information was then organized and conveyed to the Logistics unit, who would then have to manual determine what equipment should be placed into which crate to ensure that the correct items would make it to each unit using the smallest number of crates required to contain it all.

The Logi unit would then send players back to base (if not leave players back at base specifically for this purpose), who would manually assemble the crates based on the above information.

Any mistake in communications, or even small changes in the state of a unit's ammunition and/or equipment supplies during the crate creation process, could lead to a unit being left without direly-needed equipment. This would then require either another round of resupply, or the Game Master intervening and "magically" placing the missing equipment directly into the crate.

ArmA 3
In ArmA 3, crates are mostly standardized. This means that there is only a very limited variety of crates, but each crate contains all of the equipment that a specific type of unit might need - e.g. a Fireteam or a Medic. A single crate can completely resupply the corresponding unit back to acceptable levels, regardless of what specific equipment they might be missing at any given time. The receiving unit only takes what it needs, often leaving the rest behind.

Crates for combat units are pre-set to contain ammunition corresponding to the weapons used by the unit, so that only the correct ammunition will be delivered. For example, if the mission requires players to carry 5.56mm Assault Rifles and 7.62mm LMGs, ammunition for those specific weapons will automatically appear in each Fireteam Crate created without anyone having to place it there manually. If different weapons are used in the next mission, the crates in that mission will automatically contain different ammunition for those weapons.

As a result, the process of creating new Resupply Crates is significantly faster. Command only needs to be aware of the general equipment state of each unit, to know when it needs to be resupplied rather than what specific equipment it might need. For example, if a Squad is running out of ammunition or LAT, Command doesn't need to know exactly how many magazines or launchers they need - it can simply order that unit to be resupplied with a couple of Fireteam Crates; The players will take whatever they need from those crates, leaving the rest behind.

Mistakes are still possible, but significantly rarer - resulting mostly from mismatches between the script that generates new crates and the selected loadouts of the ground forces. In these cases, the Game Master may still need to intervene and add new equipment into existing crates, or generate crates that contain the missing equipment.

Using standardized crates also means that transport vehicles (e.g. Trucks, Transport Helicopters, etc.) can be loaded with a number of crates at mission-start, to be distributed to units as needed during the mission itself. The crates are practically guaranteed to meet the requirements of the ground units, since each crate can resupply the corresponding unit back to full capacity.

Transport
Once crates have been created, they must be provided to the Ground units for Resupply. Getting the crates to the troops normally requires a Vehicle or Aircraft to carry them there.

Ground Transport
In the ArmA 2 era, equipment was rarely (if ever?) loaded into crates for ground transport. Instead, items were added to a vehicle's inventory, and players simply had to access the vehicle (or enter it) in order to access the items inside. While this allowed player to resupply while riding inside a vehicle, it also meant that a Logistics vehicle had to be present in order to provide Resupply to a unit, and could only leave once the unit was done resupplying.

This changed radically in ArmA 3 with standardized Resupply Crates. Instead of items being loaded directly into the vehicle's inventory, they are placed into crates which are loaded into the vehicle. The crate must be removed from the vehicle before its contents can be accessed. This is done from outside the vehicle through its ACE Interact menu, allowing both the removal of crates from the vehicle and the loading of crates back into the vehicle.

Trucks can often carry a large number of standardized crates; The larger trucks seem to be able to contain at least 3 or 4. Loading or unloading takes about 5 seconds per crate. This is usually done by the Logistics unit driving the truck, though any other nearby players can assist to make the process go even faster. Once all the required crates are unloaded, the truck can leave the area immediately - making Logistics safer and quicker.

Air Transport
A very common way to bring Resupply Crates to the battlefield is by Air Transport. Air Transport is used in both ArmA 2 and ArmA 3 missions, though it is handled differently in ArmA 3 thanks to standardized crates.

In ArmA 2, resupply was commonly delivered in large crates by slinging it under a Transport Helicopter and lifting it to a designated Drop Zone on the battlefield. This required skilled pilots as well as a large open space to safely place it down. Once the crate was dropped, it could not be moved - meaning that Command and/or the FAC had to choose a drop location that was also accessible to the troops themselves, and units had to travel all the way to the drop zone in order to resupply from the crates.

In ArmA 3, while large under-slung crates are still in use, there are now two new methods commonly used instead: Loading standardized crates into the helicopter itself, or dropping crates by parachute from an AI-flown Transport Plane.

Helicopters can now carry standardized crates the same as vehicles (see prev. subsection), which must be loaded into and unloaded from the aircraft before their contents can be accessed. This requires the aircraft to land fully on the ground, making it a slightly more dangerous endeavor than dropping a large under-slung crate; However the crates can then be moved (see below) by hand to a safe location or even directly to the unit that requires resupply. Pilots rarely leave the aircraft to handle the unloading; Instead their passengers - or anyone else on the ground close to the landing site - will rush over to unload the helicopter quickly so that it can take off as soon as possible.

The other common delivery method is by Transport Plane. One or more planes will pass over the AO, usually near the ground forces' current position, dropping a series of crates with parachutes attached. The crates fall to the ground, where they can be collected by ground forces and distributed as necessary, or looted on the spot. The planes are flown by an AI-script (usually just flying in a straight line), meaning that there is no need for skilled Pilots. The drop can be arranged very quickly by the Game Master, which also means that this method can quickly and easily rectify any problems with the dropped crates (such as being accidentally dropped on a strong enemy position or inaccessible area) by simply triggering another drop.

A third, much rarer method of air resupply transport is dropping crates from helicopters. This method was only used in a few missions, with mixed results. Players manually flying a Transport Helicopter can drop one or more of the crates their aircraft is carrying, which will open a parachute and glide down to the ground. While this is significantly safer and faster than landing the helicopter to unload the crate, the accuracy of the drop is questionable, and highly dependent on many factors.

Note that air-dropped crates typically have a Beacon which allows ground forces to locate the crate more easily once it has touched the ground. Manually unloaded crates do not have beacons by default.

Pre-Placement and Teleport
Additionally to player-performed resupply transports, it is possible for crates to be placed on the map before mission-start (by the Mission Designer) or to be "magically" placed by the Game Master if needed. Players may also be allowed to pre-place crates in some scenarios before the mission starts.

Pre-placed crates usually appear in defense missions, when the objective is to defend a specific location - or retreat to prepared positions in a Defense in Depth scenario. Whether placed there by the Mission Designer or the players themselves, the crates will typically be in a highly defensible and accessible position to allow ground units to quickly resupply from them as necessary. With Standardized Crates, players may be allowed to move those crates from one position to another as well.

The Game Master reserves the authority to place crates themselves on the map during a mission. This is usually done when there is some problem with crates delivered by the players themselves (or by air-drop), e.g. when the crates don't contain an important piece of equipment (such as Flares), when a bug causes a problem with a crate, or other similar situations. When the Game Master does this, the crate will simply appear out of thin air. If there is an efficient way to provide the equipment without "magically" creating it in this manner, it will typically be employed instead in order to preserve immersion.

Moving Crates
Crates in ArmA 2 were mostly stationary objects that could only be opened - not moved. The only way to move a crate was to sling it under a Transport Helicopter. Otherwise, a crate would stay exactly where it was placed.

In ArmA 3, crates can now be moved by hand using the crate's ACE Interact menu. Players can pick up a crate and place it anywhere where there is space for it. This allows players to move a crate to a safer location (especially indoors or behind cover), instead of leaving it out in the open where it was dropped. This also allows players to move a crate closer to the unit that needs it, instead of forcing the members of that unit to run over to the crate (sometimes a good distance away) as was common in ArmA 2, keeping the ground units mostly effective even when resupplying.

As of 2021, carrying a Resupply Crate by hand severely reduces the player's maximum Stamina. This prevents running around while carrying a huge crate full of equipment without becoming fatigued - making it more important to unload the crates at least close to where they will be used. Previous to this, players could potentially carry such crates over very long distances, though this was generally discouraged to preserve immersion.

Beacons
In ArmA 3, with the advent of a variety of methods for dropping individual standardized crates from aircraft, it was necessary to devise a way for players to more easily locate the dropped crate once it landed on the ground - sometimes hundreds of meters away from any observer.

ShackTac's solution to this problem is to add beacons to air-dropped crates. A crate with a beacon is visible on the map as a pulsating blue circle which indicates the crate's position to within about 50 meters. The crate is visible to all players while it is active, and will follow the crate if it is moved.

The crate's ACE Interact menu allows players to turn off a crate's beacon once it has been recovered, preventing the map from being cluttered with pulsating markers when they are no longer needed.