Predator Mod

[That guy 10]

some one HAS to make a coop mini campaign! HAS TO :D

[charon productions 10]

It would be cool if the Spaceship has Weaponry capable of locking on to enemy aircraft to take them down quicker, and perhaps a EMP weapon?

It has --> Missiles

[raserisk 12]

Only two though, pretty sure they don't lock on?

Any hopes of creating a "jet" class spaceship for the Predators since the one we have at the moment is classified as Helicopter?

Besides my nit picking, this is one of the best addons to come about in a long time. I've been having huge Predator vs Human wars on Dula and so forth. It's a shame that Lingor runs so poorly on this computer, so to me, this is probably the best treat.

[charon productions 10]

Only two though, pretty sure they don't lock on?

Any hopes of creating a "jet" class spaceship for the Predators since the one we have at the moment is classified as Helicopter?

Besides my nit picking, this is one of the best addons to come about in a long time. I've been having huge Predator vs Human wars on Dula and so forth. It's a shame that Lingor runs so poorly on this computer, so to me, this is probably the best treat.

The helicopter-based spaceship class was chosen because this is supposed to be a landing craft with the primary function to bring predators to their hunting grounds. Plane-based classes controlled by the AI are not able to make a point landing in a forest spot, which was the idea behind the "3 Predators spawn module". I dislike "Space Shuttle" landings (only at airports) for spaceships which would happen had this been a plane class.

I can use the same model and make an additional predator fighter out of it, if that is of any use for anyone, but i personally didnt see one, because the predator wants to slash his prey for trophies and not fire spaceship weapons during dogfights.

[raserisk 12]

Personally I would be interested in a "Predator Jet Fighter"

But, concerning myself, I really like having huge alien vs human wars, and thats why I ask for it. Of course with the Predator series, it's usually like a small group of humans versus the super big bad Predator and maybe a few of his friends.

I went one to one with this Predator Elder after my squad made it to the LZ and were extracted out, I was sure I was about to kill him when a Nuke went off. I was like WTF. Totally didn't know that your Predators could initiate the self-destruct sequence all by themselves!

[charon productions 10]

Personally I would be interested in a "Predator Jet Fighter"

But, concerning myself, I really like having huge alien vs human wars, and thats why I ask for it. Of course with the Predator series, it's usually like a small group of humans versus the super big bad Predator and maybe a few of his friends.

I went one to one with this Predator Elder after my squad made it to the LZ and were extracted out, I was sure I was about to kill him when a Nuke went off. I was like WTF. Totally didn't know that your Predators could initiate the self-destruct sequence all by themselves!

Yes they can, if his damage has reached a critical value he will lie on the floor in pain for 10 seconds, which is the time window you have to finish him off. After the 10 seconds he will initiate the wristcomputer destruct sequence, and then its time to run as fast as you can ;)

If the damage is not yet critical but high, an AI predator will also try to retreat to a safe position and heal himself except he is being directly engaged then he will fight till the end.

Edited November 24, 2010 by Charon Productions

[HateDread 13]

Charon, how you continue to amaze me so!

Does this mod implement similar FSMs to what you developed for the Undead Mod? (Which I don't think have been implemented yet, right?)

I.e. have you over-ridden the AI pathfinding, default hit detection, etc, for the Predators?

[charon productions 10]

Charon, how you continue to amaze me so!

Does this mod implement similar FSMs to what you developed for the Undead Mod? (Which I don't think have been implemented yet, right?)

I.e. have you over-ridden the AI pathfinding, default hit detection, etc, for the Predators?

Well basically to realize the Predators, you have to disable a major percentage of the engine´s control over the unit.

So standard AI control approaches like FSMs synced with scripts are being

used to control the predators.

It is indeed similar to the Undead Mod and shares some technicalities of the basic framework, because the predators are as unusual for a military sim engine as are the undead.

The biggest issue is Arma being laid out for ranged gunfights and not melee attacks or lurking 2 meters next to your enemy.

So this mod looks probably so simple, but believe me it was a major challenge to get this to do what it does.

Edited November 24, 2010 by Charon Productions

[HateDread 13]

Alright, thank you for your answer!

I do realise there must be a great amount of work involved - anyone who has ever tried to use AI, ever, should recognise this as the hard work it is/was.

I have seen predators running, cloaked, but with a highly-visible weapon. Is the weapon meant to cloak just like them? Kinda gives away their position.

Regardless, thank you!

EDIT: A similar mention to before; the 'cloaked' gunship's pilot is visible.

Edited November 24, 2010 by HateDread

[charon productions 10]

Alright, thank you for your answer!

I do realise there must be a great amount of work involved - anyone who has ever tried to use AI, ever, should recognise this as the hard work it is/was.

I have seen predators running, cloaked, but with a highly-visible weapon. Is the weapon meant to cloak just like them? Kinda gives away their position.

Regardless, thank you!

Good observation! I noticed that too, the weapon does not have the cloak texture. I had it on the fix list, but due to the

time pressure to coincide this release with Icebreakr´s Lingor island release, it wasnt fixed. Besides there is literally hundreds of things still to fix in this, that´s why i would still call it alpha.

Really refreshing though to hear that many people already like it and can actually play it decently to have some fun.

EDIT: About the cloaked' gunship pilot. Actually the ship isnt supposed to be flown cloaked, so i have to implement an uncloaking upon entering, so that issue wont happen anymore.

Edited November 24, 2010 by Charon Productions

[HateDread 13]

In a similar vein, I have noticed that the cloaked gunship's pilot is also not cloaked, therefore making the gunship rather visible :p

I'm happy to continue testing of this, just like I did of the Undead mod a ways back.

- If you are in the mood for writing FSMs, would you consider one for the gunships? That is, to have them stay back, and fire, instead of flying over and firing, like the AI does with normal gunships? I cannot imagine an alien ship having to strafe a target at like, 50m above them, in order to engage.

- What sort of capabilities do the predators have? Are they able to enagage, say, an M2 GPK Humvee, and destroy it? What if the car is moving - i.e. can they engage moving targets with their ranged weaponry?

- Also, is there a way to have an AI stay back and only shoot? Due to your FSMs, do the default Disable AI "MOVE", etc, commands work for Predators?

Sorry for so many questions! :)

EDIT: I see you caught my edit with your own. Disregard my first point.

EDIT#2: Predators will not engage armour (i.e. Bradley), but will engage a car with both close-combat and ranged. Ranged is instant-kill on crew, without damaging vehicle badly, and close-combat is useless.

Edited November 24, 2010 by HateDread

[charon productions 10]

In a similar vein, I have noticed that the cloaked gunship's pilot is also not cloaked, therefore making the gunship rather visible :p

I'm happy to continue testing of this, just like I did of the Undead mod a ways back.

- If you are in the mood for writing FSMs, would you consider one for the gunships? That is, to have them stay back, and fire, instead of flying over and firing, like the AI does with normal gunships? I cannot imagine an alien ship having to strafe a target at like, 50m above them, in order to engage.

- What sort of capabilities do the predators have? Are they able to enagage, say, an M2 GPK Humvee, and destroy it? What if the car is moving - i.e. can they engage moving targets with their ranged weaponry?

- Also, is there a way to have an AI stay back and only shoot? Due to your FSMs, do the default Disable AI "MOVE", etc, commands work for Predators?

Sorry for so many questions! :)

Honestly, i have spent hundreds of hours trying to make helicopters behave like they should in a frontline situation. Imagine an AH64 hovering behind a hill just to pop up a bit to fire a hellfire and use the terrain as cover. Since OFP, AI helicopter pilots climb up and try to strafe targets, which is silly.

There is no direct way to override a helicopter pilot´s AI routines.

If you disableAI "MOVE" him the helicopter could only be controlled with setvelocity commands which would never let it look like a real helicopter.

So i guess there is not much i can do about the predator spaceship´s pilot AI.

Concerning your 2nd question, predators do currently only focus on infantry. Icebreakr reported to me though that a predator AI once got him inside of a car hehe.

I am not sure if having the predator AI take down any aircraft is such a good idea, it would make him too powerful.

Designing the AI, i always had in mind what the predator´s primary motivation is, and that is to hunt and take prey. In the movies, they seem to rather enjoy getting up close and slice somebody up with the wristblades than to engage vehicles with ranged weapons.

Your 3rd question, use the predator soldier for that. He will get close to the target but stay in ranged distance and engage with the plasmacaster.

I added that class exactly for those cases when people need him to

just fire around.

Due to the hijacked AI on the predator, commands like Disable AI "MOVE" will have no effect or in worst case mess the existing AI up.

[HateDread 13]

Okay thank you very much. I understand it is a difficult project, but I of course try to help with ideas, or potential bugs :)

- I realise they are focusing on infantry, but is it possible to expand to other vehicles? Judging by the nature of the plasma weaponry, for example, it seems to make sense for them to engage armour and slowly destroy it, at least - i.e. the weapons seem powerful enough to hurt armoured units.

- Is there a way to get the 'stabby' predator to NOT engage vehicles, by default, or have none of them try to stab it, etc, so that it doesn't chase the car/vehicle for hours.

- Have you implemented similar features from the Undead mod, regarding AI chasing - do the predators chase aircraft like the zombies -used- to do, before you fixed it, and do the predators have instant and constant information, and can they track a unit for an infinite distance even without LoS?

- Lastly, I flew a helicopter at 50m around the predator location. They did not seem to engage much, eventually firing with disks when I flew to 30m. They could have -easily- taken me out much earlier using plasma, but did not.

Thanks again.

EDIT: Soldier seems to miss static gunners very often?

EDIT#2: Would you consider adding a friendly-fire remover, like your Undead Mod? When near the front of an infantry formation, your squad-mates often shoot you in the back in haste.

Edited November 24, 2010 by HateDread

[charon productions 10]

Okay thank you very much. I understand it is a difficult project, but I of course try to help with ideas, or potential bugs :)

- I realise they are focusing on infantry, but is it possible to expand to other vehicles? Judging by the nature of the plasma weaponry, for example, it seems to make sense for them to engage armour and slowly destroy it, at least - i.e. the weapons seem powerful enough to hurt armoured units.

- Is there a way to get the 'stabby' predator to NOT engage vehicles, by default, or have none of them try to stab it, etc, so that it doesn't chase the car/vehicle for hours.

- Have you implemented similar features from the Undead mod, regarding AI chasing - do the predators chase aircraft like the zombies -used- to do, before you fixed it, and do the predators have instant and constant information, and can they track a unit for an infinite distance even without LoS?

- Lastly, I flew a helicopter at 50m around the predator location. They did not seem to engage much, eventually firing with disks when I flew to 30m. They could have -easily- taken me out much earlier using plasma, but did not.

Thanks again.

EDIT: Soldier seems to miss static gunners very often?

Real good points. Hadn´t tested that one, but i agree a chopper hovering above the preds should be taken down.

My points was just if a tank is not actually attacking the predator, he would rather wait for the crew to get out of a tank.

I will consider the chopper thing.

Just like in the undead, the pred does not consider soldiers a target that are above ground as in a chopper. And if the target is too far away he should consider a closer target. If that vehicle is the only target on the map though he will continue chasing it.

Due to their advanced technology, predators can find areas with human targets. They move to those areas generally, the rest is done with knowsabout. So if they knowabout any armed human, they will choose him as a target.

[HateDread 13]

Real good points. Hadn´t tested that one, but i agree a chopper hovering above the preds should be taken down.

My points was just if a tank is not actually attacking the predator, he would rather wait for the crew to get out of a tank.

I will consider the chopper thing.

Just like in the undead, the pred does not consider soldiers a target that are above ground as in a chopper. And if the target is too far away he should consider a closer target. If that vehicle is the only target on the map though he will continue chasing it.

Due to their advanced technology, predators can find areas with human targets. They move to those areas generally, the rest is done with knowsabout. So if they knowabout any armed human, they will choose him as a target.

I understand what you're saying about the tanks, but consider this: what if the soldiers all die, and the tanks roll in to save the day. Do the predators really just watch? They would engage - their weapons possess the capabilities.

In case you didn't see my edits in the previous posts:

"EDIT: Soldier seems to miss static gunners very often?

EDIT#2: Would you consider adding a friendly-fire remover, like your Undead Mod? When near the front of an infantry formation, your squad-mates often shoot you in the back in haste."

[MrStregatto 31]

Hey Charon you made an awesome work !!! :)

I played a little mission with a friend, on Utes, and placing some predators around the island, and the spaceship logic, and every thing was incredible!

but I found some proplems or bugs:

-when a player is a Predator, in a multiplayer server, it start a massive Desync, making the mission unable to play.

-When a Predator chose to self-destruct, only one person can see the nuke and it's effects.

-Looking the nuke mushroom, make the people loose fps and crash.

However this mod rocks!

See ya ! :P

[HateDread 13]

I understand what you're saying about the tanks, but consider this: what if the soldiers all die, and the tanks roll in to save the day. Do the predators really just watch? They would engage - their weapons possess the capabilities.

In case you didn't see my edits in the previous posts:

"EDIT: Soldier seems to miss static gunners very often?

EDIT#2: Would you consider adding a friendly-fire remover, like your Undead Mod? When near the front of an infantry formation, your squad-mates often shoot you in the back in haste."

Actually, to add to this:

- It seems that the soldiers, for example, will shoot at an M1A2 TUSK tank with their plasma weapons, killing the crew instantly but causing no damage to the tank. This is a bit strange, I thought, and kind of ruins the idea of armour, surely?

Will keep 'em coming :)

EDIT: Sorry about all the edits... but... it seems they prioritise the tanks as first targets, i.e. shooting them FIRST and taking out the crews instantly, before moving on to troops. This contradicts your original plan of infantry focus, and also carries a fair deal of unrealism (if that can be said regarding predators :p )

[charon productions 10]

I understand what you're saying about the tanks, but consider this: what if the soldiers all die, and the tanks roll in to save the day. Do the predators really just watch? They would engage - their weapons possess the capabilities.

In case you didn't see my edits in the previous posts:

"EDIT: Soldier seems to miss static gunners very often?

EDIT#2: Would you consider adding a friendly-fire remover, like your Undead Mod? When near the front of an infantry formation, your squad-mates often shoot you in the back in haste."

I will try to make up a strategy out of it.

I dont know about the static gunners, the aiming precision is set to default values.

It could be that the gunners are crew of the guns and dont get their

Handledamage EHs triggered just like normal soldiers.

The Arma-AI poses a big problem for the plasmacaster usage.

The plasma is an explosive projectile, but if the damage value is too high,

the AI will nearly never decide to use it. Thats that weird Arma-calculation that considers enemy armor values against speed and cost of ammo/target. So i had to increase the damage via the EHs and use a low

damage on the actual projectile to make sure the AI uses the plasmacaster at all. There is no other, way i tried everything.

I have been thinking about the friendly fire option too.

Since it is an option the mission maker can decide to use it or not.

Got naded and shot in the back also many times while testing this hehe.

---------- Post added at 12:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 PM ----------

Actually, to add to this:

- It seems that the soldiers, for example, will shoot at an M1A2 TUSK tank with their plasma weapons, killing the crew instantly but causing no damage to the tank. This is a bit strange, I thought, and kind of ruins the idea of armour, surely?

Will keep 'em coming :)

EDIT: Sorry about all the edits... but... it seems they prioritise the tanks as first targets, i.e. shooting them FIRST and taking out the crews instantly, before moving on to troops. This contradicts your original plan of infantry focus, and also carries a fair deal of unrealism (if that can be said regarding predators :p )

Honestly, i had to spend too much time on making them convincingly engage groups of infantry that i never even had the time to try them against vehicles. Tis will certainly be a priority in the development of an update.

---------- Post added at 12:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:56 PM ----------

Hey Charon you made an awesome work !!! :)

I played a little mission with a friend, on Utes, and placing some predators around the island, and the spaceship logic, and every thing was incredible!

but I found some proplems or bugs:

-when a player is a Predator, in a multiplayer server, it start a massive Desync, making the mission unable to play.

-When a Predator chose to self-destruct, only one person can see the nuke and it's effects.

-Looking the nuke mushroom, make the people loose fps and crash.

However this mod rocks!

See ya ! :P

For some reasons the spaceships can cause desync in MP, i have not yet discovered why.

The nuke thing in MP is one of the issues i mentioned where clients dont show particle effects properly.

Will hopefully fix that when the time comes to look into the MP issues.

[HateDread 13]

Thank you very much, Charon! If you want me to slow down my suggestions, please tell me to do so! :)

I seem to have trouble using the dropship module... I place it, then have a squad on the map, and nothing happens? I get a red marker called 'Destpos', which I assume means 'Destination {osition'? Is this a debug feature? I would think it strange if the human side were to be told where the dropships were headed?

All I get, usually, is the distant sound of something like an explosion, and my AI yelling 'under fire', hitting the deck, then standing back up again and shouting 'all clear'.

Any ideas?

EDIT: Oh, and just like with the Undead mod... do your AIs behave the same even if grouped? I.e. it over-rides the default group behaviour? I'd just like to save on CPU load.

EDIT#2: Actually, the gunships turn up, eventually, but I get the previously-mention marker, plus a 'Spawnpos' marker. Again, debug?

Also, the predators will NOT shoot at Stryker APCs, which are listed under Armoured the same as M1A2 TUSKs. Some weird armour value calculation there?

Edited November 24, 2010 by HateDread

[charon productions 10]

Thank you very much, Charon! If you want me to slow down my suggestions, please tell me to do so! :)

I seem to have trouble using the dropship module... I place it, then have a squad on the map, and nothing happens? I get a red marker called 'Destpos', which I assume means 'Destination {osition'? Is this a debug feature? I would think it strange if the human side were to be told where the dropships were headed?

All I get, usually, is the distant sound of something like an explosion, and my AI yelling 'under fire', hitting the deck, then standing back up again and shouting 'all clear'.

Any ideas?

EDIT: Oh, and just like with the Undead mod... do your AIs behave the same even if grouped? I.e. it over-rides the default group behaviour? I'd just like to save on CPU load.

What you experience, is a very annoying issue with the module, that i tried hard to fix. My idea was to have the landing crafts enter the atmosphere from high altitude just like a spaceship and then slowly advance to the landing pos (The markers are indeed for debugging)

BUT, if the a helicopter-based vehicle is being moved with a too high speed it will just tumble in a silly way and fall from the sky.

I see myself forced to scrap that optimal approach planetfall curve and just place them at lets say 1000m above the landing zone, because i am loosing to much valueable time trying to fix that tumbling, which i have not been able to tackle until now.

I strongly disadvise to group Predator AI, they are designed to hunt alone. Usually predators hunt in loose 3 member hunting parties only, which means there is no more than 3-5 predators on the map. The predator AI is too heavy for anything more than 7-10 predators really.

[kage74 10]

I been looking forward to this for awhile. I used to play the old Aliens vs Predator by Fox Interactive game and Aliens vs Predator 2 Gold by Monolith. I used to love those games and seeing the Predator in action really brought back memories.

Will you be working on some Aliens too?

Imagine swarms of Xenomorphs crawling all over Chernogorsk. The Predator sits atop one of the buildings watching…waiting as the helpless civilians flee in terror. The CDF shows up to put a stop to the "Alien Invasion" the Predator holds his combistick aloft and lets out a terrifying roar. Let the hunt begin… :D

Predator vs Humans vs Aliens = fun

[e0s888 10]

They are in the making

Are you serious?

Predators-Awesome addon :) You rock man

Thanks a lot for it and for the hard work that you put into it.

btw: I played a few scenarios, and everything looks great but I have a question about predator behavior. Is it possible to make him attack 3 or 4 nearby(very close to each other) enemies instead of 1?

I mean:

In the situation when three enemies is very close to each, predator should kill 3 at once, because after the killing just one he is exposed to fire from the remaining two.

And when the enemy squad is in a loose formation, predator should do as it do now-finish individually.

What do you think about this approach Charon?

Edit:

I read about the idea of attacking tanks by Predator:

I remember a situation in AvP 2-game which predator destroyed APC with 2-3 shots

Edited November 24, 2010 by e0s888

[charon productions 10]

Are you serious?

Predators-Awesome addon :) You rock man

Thanks a lot for it and for the hard work that you put into it.

btw: I played a few scenarios, and everything looks great but I have a question about predator behavior. Is it possible to make him attack 3 or 4 nearby(very close to each other) enemies instead of 1?

I mean:

In the situation when three enemies is very close to each, predator should kill 3 at once, because after the killing just one he is exposed to fire from the remaining two.

And when the enemy squad is in a loose formation, predator should do as it do now-finish individually.

What do you think about this approach Charon?

Edit:

I read about the idea of attacking tanks by Predator:

I remember a situation in AvP 2-game which predator destroyed APC with 2-3 shots

Is it possible to make him attack 3 or 4 nearby(very close to each other) enemies instead of 1?

I am not sure what you actually mean by killing 3 at once. If you mean the use of ranged weapons, that is left mainly to the arma engine, because there is no way to issue a command that INSTANTLY fires a TARGETTED shot at a SELECTED enemy (yes i know what i am talking about, forget about fireat and dofire).

So this 3-4 man attack would probably take 20 seconds and is not what you have in mind. Engine-limitation unfortunately.

In Predator 2, the predator takes out King Willy´s gang one by one in the penthouse, even though he was being fired at from all of them.

Edited November 24, 2010 by Charon Productions

[e0s888 10]

I am not sure what you actually mean by killing 3 at once. If you mean the use of ranged weapons, that is left mainly to the arma engine, because there is no way to issue a command that INSTANTLY fires a TARGETTED shot at a SELECTED enemy (yes i know what i am talking about, forget about fireat and dofire).

So this 3-4 man attack would probably take 20 seconds and is not what you have in mind. Engine-limitation unfortunately.

I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that I mean the melee attack.

So I will explain a little in steps what I mean:

1. There is squad including 10 men ( 6 of them are in loose formation, and 4 of them very close to each other ~2m)

2. Predator charge\attacks the human squad

3. He hits one of the men wich are close to each other with wirstblades (squad have lock on him, and open fire) and then he runs to another place\spot

4. and from now the situation repeats itself, predator again charge from distance spot\place the squad...

And now, my suggestion:

1. Predator runs at them, to attack them with the wristblades

2. He hits one of the humans with wristblades (then squad open fire), then he attacks another human with blades wich is standing nearby; and again he attacks with blades another closest human - then he runs to another spot\place.

3.<action repetition>

I've noticed that predator actually kills sometimes in one run 2 people.

It looks like that:

After killing first victim, squad open fire. If they will deal more damage to him (they pissed him off? ;)), he instantly attacked another person with wirstblades. After that he runs away.

Is it even possible?

In Predator 2, the predator takes out King Willy´s gang one by one in the penthouse, even though he was being fired at from all of them.

-true, true ;) I remember that :)

Edited November 24, 2010 by e0s888

[enad 11]

Can't wait for the Aliens mod. :O

Gonna be awesome Aliens vs Humans vs Predators.