getting the AI to do what you want

[mark turner 10]

Hi, I am easing my way into the sim and finding a few issues on the way. last night I sat down and watched Baz's guide to the AI, covering movement and targetting, played a mission in the campaign, and all seemed ok.

Today, I decided to try a mission, downloaded, one from sander, called Road toll. However, playing it, I am finding that my squad are not reacting to my commands as they should. So I was wondering if there was circumstances that affected their reaction to orders. Do you have to cancel a previous order for a new one to take precedence ? If so how? I have tried regroup and return to formation, but even then, they do not seem to always all come back and gather round me. I then selected all of them and ordered them to move to a point up the road, but they just stayed near me. If you have for example ordered them into a stance, eg prone, they stay in that stance until you order otherwise?

What are the parameters for orders and which has precedence over what?

Is this a mission issue do you think. they seem better behaved in the stock game scenarios..

also, while I have your attention, I have noticed that when wounded, after I heal them, they stay with a red colour, and I cant seem to heal them any more. Is that because once wounded, you ccannot return to 100% health and remain slightly incapacitated? Its a bit irritating when it happens to you , as you then cant walk or run, only crawl.

Thanks ,mark

Edited December 5, 2010 by mark turner

[W0lle 1046]

Yes, if you tell them to go prone, then they remain there until you order otherwise.

On the other hand, if you tell them to get back in formation they may do it, or even not.

Sometimes the AI just have their own will, and nothing you do or say will change that.

That's one of the problems you have with an almost non-scripted AI in a completely open world.

[maturin 12]

The AI has two competing imperatives. It tries to fight, which involves staying low, scanning the horizon, using a buddy system where they cover the movement of a comrade.

It also tries to stay in formation and keep up with the team leader.

It is very difficult to do both at the same time, and can lead to some frustrating situations as the AI prizes its own safety and procedures over sticking close to you. Sometimes they're safer left alone, sometimes they don't realize that if they don't sprint behind the nearest hill on the double quick, a tank is going to make paste out of them.

But there are tricks. If you absolutely want your men to break off contact and follow you, first make sure they are in Aware Mode, not Danger(Combat) or Stealth. Note that they may go into Danger Mods automatically because they are under fire. Tell them to Disengage and Regroup. If that doesn't work, put them in a Close Column or Delta formation. This makes them abandon the bounding overwatch behavior that slows them down and sometimes keeps them safe.

Getting the AI to board vehicles or heal wounded while in Combat Mode is an exercise in frustration. It may well seem like you are being ignored.

But they should always be following basic move orders.

[phertiker 10]

Some things that I only recently and accidentally discovered help a lot.

Specifically, assigning behavior. Select your dudes with tilde ~ and hit 7 on the number row. You then have options for Stealth, Danger, Aware, Safe, and some other stuff I forget at the moment. Assigning these makes a big difference in the AI's response to your movement orders.

For example, when I have them set to "Aware" they tend to stick close mirror my stance. They will engage automatically, but I assume there's a range difference or slight delay compared to "Danger" when in contact. If set to "Stealth" they stay very low, move slowly, and don't usually get in contact with targets unless ordered or they have no choice.

Basically when moving long distances I set them to "Aware", switch to "Danger" when close if we can go noisy, "Stealth" if not. It's been working well for me.

[JojoTheSlayer 35]

Red unit after heal:

Tell the unit to report status.

Fx-5-5

Getting a unit to shoot sooner:

Tell the unit to target something and then tell him to stop. He will then usually engage the enemy from that range, within reason of course, even if its not optimal. Note that their aim will be reduced and that if they keep missing they might waste allot of ammo.

Fx-2-x, Fx-1-6

Getting troops to mount/heal faster.

This cant really be done without changing the mission and adding a repeatable radio command that will set all your AI to "careless", a option not/missing (Menu 7-5) in the command menu. This will force them over to careless even if they are in "auto danger" and they will go strait to where they are told without any over watch etc, but during contact the downside is that you cant just set one unit into "careless" this way only everyone under your command. You use the normal command menu to put them back to "aware", "safe" etc..

If you are really into command AI troops you should take a look at voice commands.

Makes the experience a lot less frustrating and faster to execute.

See my sig for more info on one such solution.

[mark turner 10]

Thanks everyone for the help, by the way JoJo, where do you download VaC?

cheers, Mark

[Alwarren 2766]

Tell them to Disengage and Regroup. If that doesn't work, put them in a Close Column or Delta formation. This makes them abandon the bounding overwatch behavior that slows them down and sometimes keeps them safe.

Sometimes, telling them to hold fire will also help.

I am not quite sure about what Engage and Disengage does. If I get it right, ordering to Engage will allow them to break formation and get further away from the group in order to combat specific enemies, while Disengage does not necessarily get them back (ordering No Target will most of the time though).

[KeyCat 131]

Here are some info for A1

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA:_AI_Combat_Modes

Fond out that rotkeps written a very nice AI Squad Command guide for A2 here...

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=81123

Also available at BIS Biki along with some usefull videos made by Zipper5

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA_II_AI_Squad_Command

Good stuff!

/KC

Edited December 8, 2010 by KeyCat