My only suggestions - smarter sniper AI, and more scripting commands

[igneous01 19]

When i think about what could improve in this game, nothing comes to mind. Its perfect in my opinion, everything works just how its supposed to, or atleast good enough to not notice.

While some animations are a bit static, i have no real gripe with them.

The physics and the AI are spot on for the most part (except the rare chance you see superman flying at you) - only thing i would suggest is better physics for building damage, as some buildings (in chernarus) dont have any physics, and so cant be blown up (which is a shame) but other than that no real problems.

I think the only suggestions i can think of are more scripting commands and functions. Numerous commands have been suggested, particularly things like hasLOS and having a proper working findcover so that the ai use it more often.

ah but there is one thing i would suggest: ai snipers that have their skill maxed out, should be dead accurate like real snipers. I would like to see some smarter ai snipers, particularly the idea of it scanning the area, prioritizing threats it sees, and positioning to eliminate the highest threat, then relocating and firing on the next highest threat. It kind of sucks when you see a sniper team running in the open field in the middle of a fight, and everyone guns them down. Id rather have the experience of suddenly being pinned down by an ai sniper, and not knowing where he may be. Once something like this is implemented, the game would be beyond perfect in my opinion.

so those are my only suggestions: new commands for us scripters, and smarter AI for snipers

all in all, thank you BIS, this is the only game i can ever truly call perfect, with so many features and possibilities, and probably one of the strongest gaming communities out there

[dmarkwick 261]

I think having troublesome AI snipers would be a great addition. They wouldn't need too much tweaking either, max out the accuracy as you say, then apply an FSM that encourages it to hide and take spaced considered shots rather than merely accurate pot-shots.

Something like a modified version of Evil Echo's system of artillery prioritisation could be utilised to perform target prioritisation, and I'd be happy to donate my Hide addon for the purpose (only effective against other AI).

[Big Dawg KS 6]

I would be careful about your usage of the word term "physics" if I were you. It really only applies to building destruction if there's dynamic movement of objects involved (ex: pieces falling off and interacting with other objects). You can still have destruction without any physics (which is the case in ArmA 2, which uses animation).

Second, you are extremely vague on what you mean by "more scripting commands". If I were a BI programmer, I could read that and just start adding 50 different commands for printing text to the screen in fancy ways and you probably wouldn't be very content, but I could still claim to have added a significant amount of new commands. In order to be truely constructive, I would be very specific with such suggestions.

As for the AI; they are already very lethal marksmen. AI is always a highly debatable and complex subject, so throwing around vague concepts is very unlikely to be very constructive (countless forum members have already voiced concerns for "better AI"). Again, you should be more specific on this (you're off to a good start by limiting the discussion to snipers). Snipers are hard to get right in any game. IMO one of the problems in ArmA 2 is that the AI perhaps relies too much on information sharing, or that it the information sharing system is not well adapted to accurately model both snipers and sniper attacks. I'd imagine that snipers are usually used as one man teams in ArmA 2 missions (although probably often as sniper-spotter teams as well), and simply adding a second AI unit to a group usually increases their percieved individual intelligence. There are also some subtleties to this system that make it hard for a single sniper to effectively engage a larger group. For example, revealing the sniper's position even if nearby teamates can't actually see where shots are coming from.

[igneous01 19]

I would be careful about your usage of the word term "physics" if I were you. It really only applies to building destruction if there's dynamic movement of objects involved (ex: pieces falling off and interacting with other objects). You can still have destruction without any physics (which is the case in ArmA 2, which uses animation).

Second, you are extremely vague on what you mean by "more scripting commands". If I were a BI programmer, I could read that and just start adding 50 different commands for printing text to the screen in fancy ways and you probably wouldn't be very content, but I could still claim to have added a significant amount of new commands. In order to be truely constructive, I would be very specific with such suggestions.

As for the AI; they are already very lethal marksmen. AI is always a highly debatable and complex subject, so throwing around vague concepts is very unlikely to be very constructive (countless forum members have already voiced concerns for "better AI"). Again, you should be more specific on this (you're off to a good start by limiting the discussion to snipers). Snipers are hard to get right in any game. IMO one of the problems in ArmA 2 is that the AI perhaps relies too much on information sharing, or that it the information sharing system is not well adapted to accurately model both snipers and sniper attacks. I'd imagine that snipers are usually used as one man teams in ArmA 2 missions (although probably often as sniper-spotter teams as well), and simply adding a second AI unit to a group usually increases their percieved individual intelligence. There are also some subtleties to this system that make it hard for a single sniper to effectively engage a larger group. For example, revealing the sniper's position even if nearby teamates can't actually see where shots are coming from.

my apologies on the vagueness, i was referring to this thread:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=112346&highlight=command

alot of good suggestions were posted here, and i very much agree with alot of them. certainly provides more possibilities in scripting specific unit actions (such as hasLOS command)

about the snipers:

The way i see snipers now, there not very lethal, in fact far from it. if they need to be 200m from someone to actually become lethal, then there in the wrong MOS. they have very poor accuracy at their intended ranges, often wasting 2 magazines at a target 500m away (which isnt that far)

about the ai in general

i suppose thats an issue to take a look at, but im not too concerned, the way the game works now you might get as many as 3 chances to shoot before the enemy will identify your location through the increase in knowsabout. and if the shots are spaced between 5 minutes or so, then it offers the chance for much more shots. The only real problem i see with snipers ai is whether or not they know they are properly concealed or behind cover. So maybe using a check like Selectbestplaces (or that other command that checks the tile area?) to see if they are in a suitable position, the ai already has a basic priority system in place, snipers and tanks will usually be the most engaged for ai teams (if they have AT for tanks of course) so really the only thing thats needed is better accuracy from them.

I wouldnt mind even if they were aimbotting to get a kill, they should be that good and it should be a serious problem if the player ever encounters one.

if they can atleast bump the accuracy to what its needed, then the rest can be implemented via scripts and fsm as DMarckWick suggested.

Edited March 24, 2011 by Igneous01

[maturin 12]

We need a sniper Module in the editor. Right now they act like marksmen and that's fine.

The module would alter the behavior of the sniper team so that the sniper was deadly accurate, the spotter would almost never fire, and they would only engage infantry from concealment when few other threats were around, firing occasionally to suppress, and aim for officers.

[John1000 10]

my apologies on the vagueness, i was referring to this thread:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=112346&highlight=command

alot of good suggestions were posted here, and i very much agree with alot of them. certainly provides more possibilities in scripting specific unit actions (such as hasLOS command)

about the snipers:

The way i see snipers now, there not very lethal, in fact far from it. if they need to be 200m from someone to actually become lethal, then there in the wrong MOS. they have very poor accuracy at their intended ranges, often wasting 2 magazines at a target 500m away (which isnt that far)

about the ai in general

i suppose thats an issue to take a look at, but im not too concerned, the way the game works now you might get as many as 3 chances to shoot before the enemy will identify your location through the increase in knowsabout. and if the shots are spaced between 5 minutes or so, then it offers the chance for much more shots. The only real problem i see with snipers ai is whether or not they know they are properly concealed or behind cover. So maybe using a check like Selectbestplaces (or that other command that checks the tile area?) to see if they are in a suitable position, the ai already has a basic priority system in place, snipers and tanks will usually be the most engaged for ai teams (if they have AT for tanks of course) so really the only thing thats needed is better accuracy from them.

I wouldnt mind even if they were aimbotting to get a kill, they should be that good and it should be a serious problem if the player ever encounters one.

if they can atleast bump the accuracy to what its needed, then the rest can be implemented via scripts and fsm as DMarckWick suggested.

I want to use stuff from Farming simulator (grass rendering,much better than Arma`s current) and Building sim

that has an interesting feature,using "-X" that makes it posseble to digg trenches/hole and even to use Diggers

to move sand around .

Like a Sniperteam +digging a hole+getting in hole+CammoNet+Spwning of brush to make it hard for people to spot them.And I want it to use ACE+the possebility to add as many pockets/Slots as I see fit the mission,not adding in the weight.

What about spawning a OP with cammo net in a hole using -X and Above_ground_off,Snap_to_Surface command

-s ? So cool!

What if the enemy Ai was taged with number priority that show our ai who to shoot next ?

What if they had their own support script for the infantry,taking iposseble shots at the enemy from a ridge far away,looking at and attacking Only targets that pose a threat to the Player,thus ending the mission to early?

Then you will have put the Ai`s uncanny ability to shoot accuratly at any distance to good use.

:D

[Karmalis 1]

I don't really see the point in having large discussions on this. From a development point of view a sniper is rather easy. Just give them accuracy and force them to stay away at the maximum range before the actual drop and always search for cover/concealment before firing.