Currently there is no proper way to make weapons that fire energy based "ammo". The thing i'm mainly thinking about here are continuous beam or single-pulse laserweapons and plasma based weapons.
Primarily these could be used for all sorts of scifi applications of course, but as the simulation class would be generic, it could be used in combination with scripting to implement other features as well

In bullet and shell simulation the damage and penetration are hard-bound to their speed (/kinetical energy). At the same time, they are affected by gravity (bullet drop) and the speed falloff depends on airfriction.

To achieve a laser-type weapon the bullet would have to be fast, and no drop.
The problem is that therefore, damage will never fall off and range is unlimited. The TimetoLive value only accepts integer values in seconds. One second for a fast "bullet" means a high distance, so range can't be fine-tuned.

What would the new class require?
It could be the same as a regular bullet simulation with the following difference

• A value for damage falloff, independant of speed. Linear would be ok. An Option to choose between Linear or Quadratic falloff would be nice to have.
• caliber value for penetration like for bullets. Penetration dependant on damage falloff (/distance travelled) instead of speed

• The regular airresistance value + a seperate value for speed falloff + a boolean to chose between airresistance, or speed falloff.

[linear falloff should be sufficient]
The airresistance value in this case is only for speed and bullet drop calculations, but not for damage. The airresistance and speed fallow work in addition (so having 0 airresistance -> no drop; or 0 speed falloff-> ballistic flightcurve)

• TimetoLive with higher accuracy in 100ms steps (0.1 seconds) at least
• Option for bullet model
• Option for particle effect (like for missiles)
• Properties for explosive behaviour just like for bullets

I dont have an idea for a solution for continuous beam type weapon currently (asside from very expensive particle use), my engine knowledge is too limited for that. Eitherway, with this class arma would be improved as a platform for all kinds of true futuristic scifi scenarios, and possibly more.