Vehicle Theft Economy Pitch

Vehicle Theft Economy: Steal, Don't Destroy (Pitch)

Proposal pitch, 2026-07-04. Mission master 66b7c1aa0, Arma 2 OA 1.64. Status: concept only - no spec, no PR, no flag yet. Companion pitch: GUER Director living-resistance pitch.

The pitch

Enemy vehicles can already be crewed by anyone - but there is zero reward for it. Proposal: drive (or sling-load) a captured enemy vehicle back to your base, take a "Register capture" action inside the service radius, and the stolen hull despawns while its classname unlocks as a "captured" variant in your factory for the rest of the match. Armor raids stop being purely destructive: the first crew daring enough to bring a T-72 home changes their side's arsenal for everyone.

Why the factory-laundering flow (register, unlock, buy fresh)

• Engine fact: in Arma 2 a vehicle's side follows its crew, not its classname (empty = civilian). A factory-built captured vehicle crewed by your side reads friendly on radar/IFF like any other purchase.
• Registering and rebuying fresh dodges every edge case of the original hull: damage state, locality, kill attribution, and most of the AI misidentification window (distant AI partially identify by silhouette/config side at low knowsAbout).
• Residual mitigations, both cheap: a periodic server-side reveal of captured-class vehicles to nearby friendly AI groups (the classic Domination-era fix), and the existing name-tag overlay plus a team map marker so humans do not dome their own captured BMP.

Balance dials (owner decisions)

• Price of the captured variant: enemy list price, a discount ("reverse-engineered"), or a premium ("exotic logistics").
• Unlock model: one delivery = permanent match unlock, or N deliveries = N buys.
• Eligibility: ground-only, or are air/high-tier assets stealable too.
• Duplicate deliveries: award funds or a brief intel reveal instead of a second unlock.

Build notes (bookkeeping, not machinery)

• Per captured classname the buying side needs registry entries: Core_*.sqf registration, buy-list entry with the unlock gate, salvage value, AT-reload handler, Common_ModifyVehicle coverage.
• Sling-load delivery rides the existing Zeta cargo system unchanged.
• Unlock state is a per-side missionNamespace list, JIP-broadcast like other side state.
• Chernarus is source of truth; Takistan mirror via LoadoutManager as usual.

Continue Reading

• Factory and purchase systems atlas
• Faction unit and vehicle roster catalog
• Zeta cargo sling-load reference
• GUER Director living-resistance pitch