ArmorSim gameplay centers on a free-form scene editor where you place armor plates, set their thickness, angle, material, and spacing, choose a penetrator from the American, Soviet/Russian, or German service ammunition families or a custom penetrator core, and fire. The simulation runs against NORMAL, ADVANCED, or ULTRA solvers and produces penetration outputs (ballistic limit, residual velocity, ricochet, fragmentation, plug ejection, spall, petalling) that you can replay in slow motion and share as a small replay file.

Game loop summary

Each run begins in the scene editor. You build the armor stack from plates you control, set thickness/angle/material/spacing, select a penetrator from the American, Soviet/Russian, or German service-ammunition families or a custom penetrator core, and pick a solver. The solver then computes the penetration event and outputs a numeric ballistic limit, residual velocity, ricochet, fragmentation, plug ejection, spall, and petalling summary. The slow-motion viewer plays the event so you can compare the calculated outcome to the visuals.

Scene editor overview

The scene editor is free-form: plates are placed in 3D space with thickness, angle, material, and spacing all under your control. The documented material set has fourteen entries (RHA steel, ceramic with backing, depleted uranium, composite, spaced, layered, reactive armor packs, shaped-charge defense, and additional layered/spaced variants). The penetrator picker mirrors the three service families plus four custom penetrator cores, so a beginner can pick any national service round and an experienced user can build a custom core configuration.

Solver choices and outputs

NORMAL, ADVANCED, and ULTRA are three tiers that differ in physics fidelity. NORMAL uses Alekseevskii–Tate erosion, Recht–Ipson residual velocity, Rosenberg ricochet, and Grady fragmentation. ADVANCED adds layered/spaced arrays, reactive armor packs, and per-layer energy accounting. ULTRA adds an axisymmetric Lagrangian continuum solver with Johnson–Cook plasticity and is limited in EA.

Solver modes comparisonPenetration mechanics

Replay sharing

After a solve, the slow-motion viewer lets you orbit the camera freely. The replay file size for a full ULTRA run is on the order of a couple of MB, small enough to post on the Steam Community Hub or the official Discord.

Replay sharing

FAQ

What is the ArmorSim gameplay loop?

Open the scene editor, place armor plates with thickness/angle/material/spacing, pick a penetrator from a service family or custom core, choose a solver (NORMAL/ADVANCED/ULTRA), fire, and read the seven penetration outputs in the slow-motion viewer.

Is ArmorSim animated or calculated?

ArmorSim is a tank-ballistics sandbox where penetration is calculated rather than animated. The slow-motion viewer plays the calculated event so you can compare numbers to visuals.

Which platforms is ArmorSim on?

ArmorSim targets Windows 10 64-bit on Steam at the research date. Console versions are not announced.

ArmorSim Beginner GuideLearn how to place plates, pick a penetrator, run a solver, and read residual velocity / ricochet / spall output as a first-time ArmorSim user.ArmorSim Solver Modes ComparedUnderstand when to use ArmorSim NORMAL, ADVANCED, and ULTRA solvers, what physics each adds, and how ULTRA CPU scaling changes solve time.ArmorSim Armor MaterialsCompare ArmorSim armor materials (RHA steel, ceramic with backing, depleted uranium, composite, spaced, reactive) and how thickness/angle/material affect penetration outcome.ArmorSim Ammunition GuideCompare ArmorSim American, Soviet/Russian, and German service ammunition and custom penetrator cores for early-EA builds.