ArmorSim Steam Guide: Price, Physics Modes, and Early Access

ArmorSim is an indie terminal ballistics sandbox developed by solo creator Timerlan Galimov and published under Galimov Dynamics. Available on Steam in Early Access for $18.99, the simulation abandons hit-point bars and decorative animations to solve projectile impacts directly through published physics equations.

The title targets military enthusiasts and armor mechanics researchers who want to test how real-world kinetic penetrators, high-explosive anti-tank rounds, and guided missiles interact with layered vehicle defenses.

ArmorSim Steam Overview and Specifications

The project launched on Steam on September 16, 2026, offering single-player testing environments, replay tools, and community workshop support.

Terminal Ballistics Solvers Explained

Unlike conventional vehicle combat games where armor penetration relies on simplified hardness pools or arbitrary percentage checks, ArmorSim calculates damage through analytical and continuum solvers. The sandbox provides three primary computation tiers alongside experimental testing modes:

Normal Mode

Normal mode acts as the rapid analytical solver. It calculates penetration, residual velocity, rod erosion, and fragmentation in fractions of a second using the Alekseevskii–Tate cavitation model, Recht–Ipson residual velocity calculations, Rosenberg ricochet criteria, and Grady fragmentation models. This tier is designed for rapid iteration, allowing users to modify a plate angle or material thickness and re-fire instantly.

Advanced Mode

Advanced mode operates on the same analytical foundation as Normal mode but provides a detailed breakdown of the internal energy accounting. It reports the ballistic limit, wear fraction, and residual velocity across every individual layer, giving an exact readout of where a penetrator exhausted its kinetic energy inside spaced arrays or reactive packs.

ULTRA and Super Simulation

ULTRA mode introduces a continuum solver using an axisymmetric Lagrangian mesh. It incorporates Johnson–Cook plasticity, Mie-Grüneisen equations of state, element erosion, and adiabatic shear banding to simulate material deformation and cratering.

In Early Access, ULTRA remains resource-heavy, CPU-bound, and restricted to normal-incidence (head-on) impacts with a limited material set. Solve times can range from several minutes to upwards of twenty minutes depending on core counts and scene complexity.

2D Plane Mode and Auxiliary Simulators

Beginning in post-launch updates (including versions 2.1 and 3.0), the developer unlocked Plane (2D) mode for all owners without extra DLC. The 2D proving ground allows rapid two-dimensional testing, custom image imports (PNG/JPG), and quick target setups. Auxiliary tools including RADARSIM and early flight test interfaces were also opened for alpha testing.

Available Ammunition and Armor Materials

The sandbox features real-world arsenals from the United States, Germany, and the Soviet Union/Russia, alongside fully customizable test rods.

Service Ammunition and Missiles

• United States: M774 (105mm), M833, M829 (120mm), M829A1, M829A2, and M829A3 depleted uranium APFSDS rounds.
• Germany: DM13 (120mm), DM23, DM33, DM43, and DM53 tungsten alloy penetrators.
• USSR / Russia: 3BM22, 3BM32, 3BM42, 3BM46, and 3BM60 kinetic rounds.
• ATGMs and Shaped Charges: RPG-7 (PG-7V and tandem PG-7VR warheads), TOW-2A (BGM-71E), PARS 3 LR, and the FGM-148 Javelin.
• Custom Projectiles: Generic tungsten heavy alloy (WHA) rods, depleted uranium (DU) rods, capped armor-piercing rounds, and baseline shaped charges with configurable calibers, velocities, and lengths.

Armor Arrays and Targets

ArmorSim contains 14 armor materials alongside specialized protective assemblies:

• Base Metals: Rolled homogeneous armor, cast steel, light aluminum alloys, and titanium.
• Heavy and Composite Materials: Depleted uranium, tungsten, ceramic carbide, aluminum oxide, fiberglass, and composite textolite.
• Active and Reactive Packages: Kontakt-1 Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA), bulging armor arrays, and Non-Explosive Reactive Armor (NERA) with polyurethane, neoprene, or natural rubber interlayers.
• Internal Modules: Configurable engine compartments (with volumetric voids and material toggles) and volumetric crew representations with cross-section injury readouts.

System Requirements and Technical Considerations

The baseline hardware needed to run ArmorSim is relatively modest, but advanced physics tiers introduce significant processing and storage demands.

Minimum System Requirements

• Operating System: Windows 10 (64-bit)
• Processor: Intel Core i5-4460 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 or AMD Radeon RX 560 (2 GB VRAM, DirectX 11)
• Disk Space: 4 GB minimum available storage

Hardware Realities and Storage Usage

Player feedback highlights that running the ULTRA or Super Simulation modes is strictly CPU-bound. Additional physical processor cores reduce simulation times rather than raising display framerates.

Uncompressed simulation playback logs in initial builds could consume 1 GB to over 20 GB per detailed run, rapidly filling storage drives. Update 2.1 introduced on-the-fly recording compression, cutting file weights down by 2.5 to 11.8 times, but players testing intensive multi-layer arrays should still monitor their saved simulation folder.

Controls and Interface Navigation

The free-build scene editor features camera and placement controls that differ from standard vehicle sims:

• Camera Orbit: Rotate the workspace view by holding down the middle mouse button.
• Plate Placement: Add, drag, rotate (X/Y axes), adjust thickness, and modify material composition through the right-hand inspection panel.
• Layer Stacking: Duplicate and stack plates using keyboard shortcuts (such as Shift and selection tools) to construct multi-layered defensive packs.

Current Early Access State and Player Feedback

Player reviews on Steam reflect a mixed-to-mostly positive reception.

Enthusiasts praise the depth of the terminal ballistics formulas, the lack of arbitrary health point systems, and the flexibility of the 2D proving ground. However, early builds have faced criticism for rough user interface scaling, frequent stability crashes during large-scale continuum simulations, incomplete English localization (with technical error prompts and descriptions occasionally appearing in Russian), and steep pricing for an experimental software package.

Discussions on the Steam Community forums have also centered around the developer's use of AI assistance in the store page copy and code files, camera control clarity, and the calibration of specific shaped-charge interactions. The developer remains active on social channels and has continued pushing patches focused on performance optimization, UI translations, and Workshop integration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is ArmorSim a full tank combat game?

No. ArmorSim is a dedicated terminal ballistics simulation sandbox. It does not feature drivable tanks, mission campaigns, enemy vehicle AI, or traditional combat objectives. Its sole function is testing the physics of projectiles striking armor plates.

Does ArmorSim feature an armor hit-point bar?

No. There are no hit points, health bars, or predetermined penetration animations. Every outcome is calculated dynamically using physical material parameters (density, yield strength, shock data) and mathematical ballistics equations.

How do you rotate the camera in ArmorSim?

Camera rotation in the 3D scene editor requires holding down the middle mouse button while moving the mouse.

Can custom images or models be tested?

Yes. The 2D Plane mode supports importing custom JPG and PNG images to test penetration profiles against custom vehicle silhouettes, and updates have introduced initial 3D custom model and Steam Workshop layout sharing support.