Chemlights of various colors are great for signaling during the night. ■ Cycle between grenade and chemlight types by pressing [Left Ctrl+G]. ■ Throw a chemlight by pressing [G]. The angle of the throw has a great influence on its distance.
Field Manual
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Chemlights are essentially non-lethal "grenades" designed solely with the intention of lighting up their nearby surroundings.
They are available in four colour varieties:
Blue: Used by Loyalist fighters, FIA guerillas, Livonia-based bandit groups and looters, and the LDF.
Green: Carried by NATO forces, the Tanoa-based L'Ensemble insurgency, and certain FIA guerilla cells.
Red: Carried by Mediterranean, Pacific and North African CSAT forces, as well as Altian weapons smuggling groups.
Yellow: Used by the AAF and Altian law enforcement officers, alongside various Altis-based arms smugglers/bandit groups and Tanoan L'Ensemble insurgents.
There is no difference in the "strength" of the lighting provided no matter the colour variant. Once they land on a valid surface or shortly after being thrown, the Chemlight's filling will react to the motion and activate. After 900 seconds (15 minutes) of glowing, a Chemlight will automatically expire on its own and cease to illuminate its landing point.[CfgAm 1]
As one of the lightest pieces of equipment in ArmA 3 (all Chemlights have the same weight of 2 "mass" units regardless of colour)[CfgMa 1], Chemlights serve as a relatively stamina-efficient means of providing instant illumination whenever the user needs it.
Chemlights cannot be picked up for reuse after being thrown, even if they were deployed by mistake. It should also be noted that unlike UGL fired flares, Chemlights cannot be thrown very far as the "power" of the throw is even less than that of RGO hand grenades (Chemlights are tossed with a velocity of only 14 m/s).[CfgMa 2] Lastly, chemlights cannot be attached by hand onto the user's own body, other personnel, or onto objects/vehicles.
Trivia[]
ArmA 3 is the first game in the series to include throwable chemlights.
Placeable versions of chemlights (with editable properties in the Eden editor) were not originally present at launch and were only included after Game Update 1.16 with the release of the free Zeus DLC.[1]
Shoulder-worn chemlights in First Contact.
In the Contact expansion's non-canonical First Contact campaign, chemlights can be seen strapped to the shoulders and backpacks of several LDF soldiers throughout parts of the campaign.[2]
However, these are merely attached to those units through scripting commands; it is not possible to attach chemlights to humans or objects in regular gameplay.
Due to the lack of dedicated radio protocol lines for chemlights, throwing one while the player and/or AI are in Combat mode will cause them to incorrectly refer to the chemlight as a smoke grenade instead.
For all intents and purposes, chemlights are ignored by AI-controlled units and will not respond to any chemlights that are thrown at or near them.
Gallery[]
Pre-Alpha screenshot, showing the interior of the Altis International Airport terminal at night illuminated by a blue chemlight (centre-right).
