HETMAN - Artificial Commander

[Rydygier 1309]

:)

I'd never have done that using the editor alone. I couldn't be bothered setting all those waypoints

Also because editor-placed waypoints are static and set once for all, while HAC is dynamic, he act and react, so assigned by him waypoints depend on current situation and change along with the situation.

[foxyboy1964 0]

Hi Rydygier, another noob question here :)

I decided to try ASR AI along with HAC 1.47 and everything seems to be working fine. I was wondering about the order I should put the mods in on my target line. It currently looks like this...

-mod=@CBA_CO;@ASR_AI;@RYD_HQ

Does that look OK to you or should I put RYD_HQ before ASR_AI?

[Rydygier 1309]

AFAIK order has no meaning for scripted addons (and most of other too). If all seems to be OK, then probably all is OK. :) IIRC there wasn't any conflicts between ASR and HAC (shouldn't be with most AI addons, only those, that are messing with waypoints).

[foxyboy1964 0]

OK, thanks very much.

[gavinthecat 0]

Question - Chaps? If i want to make a group not receive orders from the Hetman commander (such as our player group) what is the script I should type in the init field?

Thanks :)

[Rydygier 1309]

Check pages 23-24 of manual for description of RydHQ_Excluded and RydHQ_ExcludedG init variables. In the manual you can also find described lots of other init config variables and whole ocean of useful informations. :)

[gavinthecat 0]

Thanks for the heads up!

[sidekilla09 11]

Hi was trying my best to set up a big boss mission for the first time i followed a video here.

I followed the instructions in the video with no hope of getting it started.

This is what i done.

1. Set up 2 leaders one Russian and one Merican.

2. Made 4 RydHQ and RydHQB Objectives

3. Put units on the maps.

4. Made a gamelogic with setvariable ["AreaValue", 5]; for each objective i placed on the map

5. Put the gamelogics in the area of the objectives.

6. made 2 more gamelogics with RydBBa_SAL and RydBBb_SAL

7. I then Synced the objective gamelogics with the 2 RydBBa and RydBBb gamelogics

8. i started it up waited seem like nothing happen the normal HAC worked with giving order etc. but that was it.

Did i do everything right?

I am using the HAC PBO. version for ARMA CO steam version

[Rydygier 1309]

4-6 are optional. If you're trying first time BB, better start with necessary minimum only until you become familiarized enough for additional options.

See chapter 6 of the manual. What you not listed is a rectangular front trigger (chapter 5.10) - one per Leader (so two empty, rectangular triggers named HET_FA and HET_FB in your case). IMO best reference for all necessary steps is included BigBoss_simpleDemo mission. Open it in editor and compare, if anything differs. Apart from that - always be extra careful about any typos. Those easily can spoil everything without any trace. One misplaced letter or wrong sign is enough. Also it's worthy to check the RPT file for any error logs, that may lead to the cause of the issue.

At the end, HAC wasn't tested by me on latest 1.63, only on earlier 1.63 beta, so can't be 100% sure, if all is still OK. I moved to Arma 3, and have no desire to install latest A2 patch on Steam, so such tests are unlikely...

[cadmium77 16]

I just reloaded Hetman Artificial Commander after 6 months absence due to my motherboard dying and then some experimentation with Zeus. Zeus is pretty damn good but it's no Hetman Artificial Commander.

I've got 48 gigs on this beast and 8 Xeon cores and HAC never fails to please me even when the commander assigns me some banal task, patrolling some flank or doing a recon up a valley that's a vulnerable point.

The thing that really makes Hetman a great experience though is it's use of artillery. Earlier versions seemed to get stuck in a rut, hammering the same vacant spot over and over, but the most recent version is deadly and really makes the games tense. Well not games, simulations. And they're not just artillery strikes either. Smoke for concealment is called on the radio and smoke is abundantly delivered. (You'd better have Blastcore installed, that's all I can say).

I started out cautiously with small confrontations and now I'm steadily building up to more and more violent encounters with bigger forces, more powerful forces. The scope of battle from teh ground is pretty much incomprehensible to the infantryman. Arma has always been about situational awareness but on this vast scale is amazing, epic.

Where does HAC lack?

The air definitely. I know it can load men onto helicopters but it's just not right yet; seeing helicopters landing men on the battlefield and then following them around at a distance of 50 yards like they're on a tether is just sad. And air support isn't all there either. There's a long way to go on attack helicopters too. Flying right at the enemy isn't right. I know this is complicated programming and I appreciate what has been done, really I do. But attack helicopters have to stand back and fire guided rockets from a distance, popping up from cover then ducking out of sight to move around the battlefield, picking and choosing vulnerable targets. Jet fighters are still slow for me; they always seem to just float around as slowly as possible. HAC needs fast movers that can repeatedly deliver big strikes. That would be very dramatic to see in a battle. I know this is tough. No other group has mastered this aspect of the game either. But if anybody masters it I hope it's HAC.

When you get airborne assaults down then HAC will totally dominate Arma3. Well it already does. it's much better than Planned Assault and PA is awesome. The live game online reminds me too much of Soldner. It's better than Zeus. Not being able to save elaborate scenarios you've toiled over for 20 minutes really sucks no matter how much fun they might be. Though I must say I wish that HAC had the ability to place men in fortifications somehow the way Zeus does, or perhaps just do it spontaneously itself.

I'm a fan. I've been watching this mod for over a year. I really hope you keep developing it. It's the best Arma experience.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Cadmium77

[Rydygier 1309]

So, I suppose, this post belongs to A3 HAL rather than here? :) Thanks a lot for the feedback.

Things, you want for air are cool, however at least part of them would need strict micromanaging, which Hetman always avoided to stay compatibile with low level AI. Of course, doing anything particular with air vehicle is always deadly struggle with stubborn and dumb AI, that always want to do it own way. Can't say what will be possible. Choppers firing missiles/rockets from the distance sound doable though. Jets - agree, although personally I totally neglect them in my gameplays. but that part will means basically trying to fix Arma with SQF, what never was purpose of Hetman. Vanilla jets behaviour during attack is as is. Definig them as bombers for Hetman may do some difference but... Some things wasn't done so far for a reason: because are doable only from Arma devs side. We'll see.

seeing helicopters landing men on the battlefield and then following them around at a distance of 50 yards like they're on a tether is just sad.

? Did you saw such behavior in HAL? Intended and observed by me is flying and howering low at infantry position, picking up the team, transport, unload, then RTB and land. Of course, such chopper must be not grouped with the infantry, as then, I pressume, we could expect, what you described. I do not recommend grouping choppers with anything at all, same for jets and, as for current state of A3's Ai, in fact for any vehicle except APCs/trucks/MRAPs grouped with infantry desant.

[cadmium77 16]

So, I suppose, this post belongs to A3 HAL rather than here? :) Thanks a lot for the feedback.

Things, you want for air are cool, however at least part of them would need strict micromanaging, which Hetman always avoided to stay compatibile with low level AI. Of course, doing anything particular with air vehicle is always deadly struggle with stubborn and dumb AI, that always want to do it own way. Can't say what will be possible. Choppers firing missiles/rockets from the distance sound doable though. Jets - agree, although personally I totally neglect them in my gameplays. but that part will means basically trying to fix Arma with SQF, what never was purpose of Hetman. Vanilla jets behaviour during attack is as is. Definig them as bombers for Hetman may do some difference but... Some things wasn't done so far for a reason: because are doable only from Arma devs side. We'll see.

? Did you saw such behavior in HAL? Intended and observed by me is flying and howering low at infantry position, picking up the team, transport, unload, then RTB and land. Of course, such chopper must be not grouped with the infantry, as then, I pressume, we could expect, what you described. I do not recommend grouping choppers with anything at all, same for jets and, as for current state of A3's Ai, in fact for any vehicle except APCs/trucks/MRAPs grouped with infantry desant.

Aha that's it. So all I have to do is put the squads by a transport helicopter and let it transport them of their own volition then?

[Rydygier 1309]

Aha that's it. So all I have to do is put the squads by a transport helicopter and let it transport them of their own volition then?

You need to have under Hetman's control any chopper able to get given amount of troops on board. Then Hetman will decide on his own, if/when should use this chopper to transport given group towards its objective. In general objective must be far enough to bother, mission must be of proper kind (see manual chapter 5.6), no AA detected in the area IIRC, chopper must be mobile and not busy also sometimes land cargo transport may be chosen instead (bigger chance for air, if there is no road in the starting or ending points vicinity). To be sure, chopper isn't used (thus busy) to other task than cargo transport, its group may be added to the RydHQ_CargoOnly). So group not necessarily must be next to the chopper but you can't be sure, if/when air transport will be assigned to given group. Depends. See chapter 5.4 of the manual for some details.

[cadmium77 16]

You need to have under Hetman's control any chopper able to get given amount of troops on board. Then Hetman will decide on his own, if/when should use this chopper to transport given group towards its objective. In general objective must be far enough to bother, mission must be of proper kind (see manual chapter 5.6), no AA detected in the area IIRC, chopper must be mobile and not busy also sometimes land cargo transport may be chosen instead (bigger chance for air, if there is no road in the starting or ending points vicinity). To be sure, chopper isn't used (thus busy) to other task than cargo transport, its group may be added to the RydHQ_CargoOnly). So group not necessarily must be next to the chopper but you can't be sure, if/when air transport will be assigned to given group. Depends. See chapter 5.4 of the manual for some details.

Thanks a lot. I definitely have to get past the basics of Ch1 of the manual.

[vitamin 18]

I'm trying to make my first mission using HETMAN but it doesn't work the way I would like to work. Here's my setup:

 

 

And code in the "init.sqf":

//to keep Leader in defend mode
RydHQ_Order = "DEFEND";

//only, if at least 6 groups will be closest to given objective, that objective become a perimeter point
RydHQ_DefendObjectives = 2;

//to make all objectives "taken"
RydHQ_NObj = 5;

//additional garrison unit to keep area around this group with manning empty static, placing inside buildings and patrolling
RydHQ_Garrison = [gr1,gr2];

//adding OA classnames
RydHQ_OALib = true;

//directions of each perimeter, where objectives are placed around Leader
RydHQ_DefFrontL = ["N","E"];//North-East
RydHQ_DefFront1 = ["N",""];//1st perimeter facing North
RydHQ_DefFront2 = ["E",""];//2nd perimeter facing East
RydHQ_DefFront3 = ["E",""];//3rd perimeter facing South
RydHQ_DefFront4 = ["E",""];//4th perimeter facing West

Now my question is: how make units to stay close to those 4 triggers which are town's defense points? And also second thing: how can I specify the number of groups assigned to defending one area? (so I could have heavily guarded areas but also less protected ones)

[Rydygier 1309]

First of all, I didn't used A2 HAC so long, I could easily forget many things and have no more Arma 2 on my HDD (I and further Hetman development moved to Arma 3), so I've no chance to test, what I say.

 

1. Check manual, 5.6.5.

2. You can't manually set defensive perimeter size/radius aroud the objective. It's calculated automatically based on amount of groups, that will defend it - the more group, the bigger placement area in general to avoid too dense positions. It's pretty wide, roughly additional 50 meters per assigned group or 100 + (5 * that amount), depending on situation. There is no way in HAC to change that, unless you're ready for manual code editing. If so - go to the HQOrdersDef.sqf, find lines 220-241 and change along your needs values of _legth1, _width1 (recon groups placement),_length2 and _width2 (non-recon groups placement) variables. Variables _cl and _clr reperesent amount of assigned group. 

3. Which group will defend given objective (+ Leader's position as the fifth perimeter) depends, which objective is the closest to that group, assuming, this objective is the closest one to at least that much groups, RydHQ_DefendObjectives variable indicates. If less - no one will defend such objective. So, to control amount of groups defending given objective place desired amount of groups such way, so chosen objective will be the closest one to all of them and be sure, RydHQ_DefendObjectives value isn't higher.  

 

That's all, I can help here. 

[machianovsky 0]

I'm the only one person in the world that don't understand how make the addon works? 

I have a basic experience with ARMA2 (my pc hardware is too less for the 3, so I have to wait for it) and I have installed the .pbo correcly. In the first time I just think: no problem, I have CBA in the addons folder so I put this other pbo in the addons folder too, then I try to make it as manual said, so I put cba in a @folder and HAC too, and then I linked them correctly and start fromthe mod... but... nothing. 

 

So, i put some units in the map, I name one of them LeaderHQ (i undestrand that doesnt matter if is alone or in agroup, but i tried both), then I take a trigger and put it far in the map, naming it RydHQ_Obj1 , I enter the game as a normal subordinate guy like I like to be (recieve orders, no responsabilities) but... nothing happen. I wait 15 seconds, 30, one minute... unit stand still, don't move, don't do nothing. if I set some waipoints, they works so I have to suppose that the addons isn't working. I don't undestrand if I miss something... the manual is pretty clear about it, nothing more to do... but... I cannot figure it out. Can you give me some hints? 

[machianovsky 0]

I forget to say that I tried to use demo missions in editor, but they aren't working too. 

[Rydygier 1309]

Hi. Unfortunatelly, as said previously, I moved completely to A3 (and even A3 put on hold last year due to lack of time), thus A2 HAC is no loner supported, even haven't A2 installed anymore. No idea, if HAC still works in A2, it was several year since I tried last time, and last time it worked for me. If you did everything as manual said, addon is properly installed and even simple demo mission didn't worked - not much more to do. You can link/show your RPT from your attempt, but only to confirm if some problem is showing up there (maybe addon list will be present to confirm, if all is good there), or try scripted version instead (not along with the addon!) and that's it. 

[machianovsky 0]

yeah, is very strange. It seems like didn't react at all. I try to take off some others behaviour addons that could disturb it, but... nothing. Doesn't matter, i'm gonna wait for arma 3, no problem. 

[cadmium77 16]

It's been over 2 years since I could play Arma 3 and I really missed it. In particular I missed my favorite variant of this game and that's HAC. It's right there in one of the variant single player games. You might not have noticed but with even its flaws Arma 3 works a lot better now. Having a brand new AMD 2950X threadripper doesn't hurt either.

 

But the scope of the battles is awe inspiring. The tactics by the artificial commanders are fascinating. Two armies pushing on a town one from the north the other from the south, and the Southern army loops around for a big flank attack from the west, the Northern army from the East. Both forces are badly punished by heavy artillery that now responds in a very reasonable, effective and frightening manner. The tattered remnants of my squad finally gets into the artillery shattered town in the early morning sun to find the streets heavily littered with dead enemy bodies after fierce street to street firefights.

 

This is amazing stuff. The little gun my avatar carries never gets shot. He never sees an enemy  to shoot at. But he's a witness to thunderous violence in a vast heroic landscap.

 

Thank you for HAC. I love it.

[Alfa BR 0]

First I want to thank the author for the excellent mod!

 

That said, I wonder if there is any way to force a leader to use all groups under his command to attack at the same time?

[Alfa BR 0]

I'm having this problem with HAC:

Simulating a confrontation with BLUFOR (HQLeader) attacking with 4 groups and OPFOR (HQBLeader) defending with 4 groups.

Everything starts well with the 4 groups of BLUFOR advancing but always before reaching the positions with the marking "Cap A" is changed to blue (Captured) and the groups are ordered to return to the green markers that I believe are to rest. However, OPFOR was not defeated and is still in the positions!

What can it be?