ATTACK DAMNIT ! - Long distance....

[cartier90 0]

Can anyone tell me why my teammates dont get busy and start firing like crazy when I order them to 'fire at will' ? I am updated too 1.60 . My sniper in particular doesnt like to engage from far out and when I order him too attack , goes off on a little jaunt of his own to get closer.

When he is closer in he stands up too shoot ! - I dont know if this behaviour had anything to do with attacking from higher up than the enemy ?

.........

[Derbysieger 11]

Before a mission I usually give my AI following orders: Open Fire (3-1), Engage at will (3-5), Stay crouched (7-7), Staggered column (8-2) or Wedge (8-3), Danger (7-2). Upon contact often: Go prone (7-8) and Suppressive fire (3-9). I've seen my Marksmen engage targets up to 800m away after 1.60. Machinegunners up to 1000m and I did a test were I engaged a british sniper (with an AS50) some 1500m away. After ~3 shots from my KSVK he fired back and most of the time he got me after a while (precisionEnemy=0.99999994; I usually play with something like 0.5-0.6 though).

Edited January 3, 2012 by Derbysieger

[cartier90 0]

Thanks Derby. I notice sometimes I give the 'engage at will' order and it is not voiced on the radio, I presume it still 'registers' ?

[Trapper 0]

Yes, "engage at will" order is persistent until you order disengage.

Most of the time I avoid giving this order. It's the opposite of controlled fire and unit movement in formation. Your units will abandon formation one by one to hunt down enemies on their own as soon as they become aware of any. Relying on their AI wits :P

Cartier, what you're missing are other communications with your AI sniper:

Reveal at least the desired target to them by either just keeping your binoculars/cross hair on it for a while or by combining that with holding RMB (depends on difficulty settings). A proper reveal is acknowledged by your own character calling out the target over radio.

Only after somebody of your squad named an enemy, all your AIs are aware of it. And that would be the moment your sniper will fire at the target if your squad formation is in the engagement range, programmed for his weapon.

"Fire at will" is just the opposite of "Hold Fire" and always set when your squad members are not crossed out in red.

You could have a look at the Biki for all those AI commands.

[cartier90 0]

Thanks Trapper, the issues are a little less with ACE2.

O/T I do hope that A3 speeds the AI decision making process up a little and give them a little more autonomy..that is intelligent autonomy. I want them to act faster, follow orders when I ask etc etc....nothing that we havent waited for since 01 tho eh ?....not too say that A2 isnt a massively ambitious game and problems simulating reality are a given.

[Derbysieger 11]

I agree.

But I also have to say that AI has become better and better in the 2.5 years I play Arma 2 now. They are already reacting much faster than in previous versions of Arma 2. So there is hope, right?

[Opticalsnare 12]

Its to do with the way weapon configs are setup. There are mods which will solve this issue for you. Check some of the AI mods.

The way it works is like this if you fancy having a go yourself. If you open the weapons config theres some settings in cfgweapons section for each weapon.

		
[b]minRange = 1; // Min range in meters this weapon will be used by the AI. 
minRangeProbab = 0.6; //60% chance that the AI will attempt to fire this weapon at this distance. [/b]
midRange = 500;
midRangeProbab = 0.4; 
[b]maxRange = 1000; // 1000 meters is the max distance from target that the AI will use this weapon. [/b]
[b]maxRangeProbab = 0.2; // However theres only a 20% chance that the AI will use this weapon at this distance, insted if its possible for them to do so the AI will attempt to move in closer to shorten the range and increase the % that they can use the weapon. [/b]

Hope this helps.

[folgore_airborne 1]

I often experience this kind of problems expecially with AT lauchers. When I order my mates to target a tank more than half a klick away they usually don't do anything when I switch them from hold fire to fire at will. This is a huge flaw when playing without teamswitch in open areas because either I take a long detour to get closer or I get slain.

What are the mods that fix these kinds of issues? I have tried ASR but it messed up my mates' brain making them dumb and making the enemy all elites.

[Undeceived 392]

Yes, "engage at will" order is persistent until you order disengage.

Most of the time I avoid giving this order. It's the opposite of controlled fire and unit movement in formation. Your units will abandon formation one by one to hunt down enemies on their own as soon as they become aware of any. Relying on their AI wits :P

Cartier, what you're missing are other communications with your AI sniper:

Reveal at least the desired target to them by either just keeping your binoculars/cross hair on it for a while or by combining that with holding RMB (depends on difficulty settings). A proper reveal is acknowledged by your own character calling out the target over radio.

Only after somebody of your squad named an enemy, all your AIs are aware of it. And that would be the moment your sniper will fire at the target if your squad formation is in the engagement range, programmed for his weapon.

I would like to add that often it helps to tell the sniper to stop (1-6) and lay down (7-8). He won't be able to shot the enemy much if he's busy keeping in formation.

Other than that yes, reveal the target to your group.

Something I do after revealing (calling out) is: I tell my unit to target the enemy I want him to shoot (not to attack). This can be done by a key which I forgot now (it's on my RMB - not a standard control setup) or by selecting the enemy unit via the target menu (2-x).

This way your sniper won't run to the enemy but will... well... :) target him. But having the fire order active (3-1), he'll also shoot.

But on the other hand some here are definitely right! The AI could shoot better and more over the mentioned distance (I agree with folgore)! In this case some AI mods really help, but I would love if the vanilla AI did that too.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Undeceived

[Tonci87 163]

AI AT Soldiers really need to be faster with shooting at the target. Pulling out the launcher, running on some very strange and random way to the vehicle (even if they are in proper engagement range) ocassionally taking the rifle because they saw something, switching back to AT. Finally finding a position they like. Looking at the Tank.............shooting, missing the target. trying to find a better position...

well your squad is dead by now

[Undeceived 392]

:D That's like it is!

And additionally they waste ammo on infantry.

That's why my AT gunners always are commanded to hold fire and I always take the most valuable AT weapon with me.

Edited January 4, 2012 by Undeceived

[maturin 12]

ACE, ASR AI or ZEUS AI will all solve your distance engagement problems. I believe ACE also prevents the use of HEAT rounds of infantry, unless it's an Abrams.

[Tonci87 163]

Well I use ACE, its true that the AI likes to engage at higher distances and they stop wasting their AT Ammo on infantry but AI AT guys are still waaaay to stupid. BIS needs to fix that

[maturin 12]

Agreed. Not much modders can do with that conundrum.

[folgore_airborne 1]

you say there are a few mods that increase the engage distance for the AI AT soldiers, but is the engage distance increased only for launchers or also for other weapons? I would have to see people firing at 500+ metres with an assault rifle..

[Tonci87 163]

Also for other Weapons. Hitting at 500 meter is possible IRL too (more likely if you have Optics)

[folgore_airborne 1]

I know, both professional and sporting shooting experience..:D But since AI sprays bullets all around even at 100- metres, it would be unconvenient to be out of ammo after 10 minutes of game because they engage targets at 800 metres with an M4 without optics! XD

Edited January 4, 2012 by folgore_airborne

[maturin 12]

I know, both professional and sporting shooting experience..:D But since AI sprays bullets all around even at 100- metres, it would be unconvenient to be out of ammo after 10 minutes of game because they engage targets at 800 metres with an M4 without optics! XD

That will rarely happen in the mods I mentioned. Increasing engagement ranges also means decreasing the probability that they will engage at long ranges.

Typically, units with normal rifles only engage past 500m if they are trying to suppress a sniper or something.

[folgore_airborne 1]

Well I've tried Zeus and it behaves more or less as you say Maturin, only inconvenient is that my mates shoot like hell in cqb, even if they don't really see the enemy. Some kind of excessive suppressive fire I guess..XD anyway I will try a few combinations and see what fits my taste most, I think it's the only way out.

[wipman 1]

Hi, on the ArmA2 the AI uses the ATs at like 30 or 40m and not far away (AFAIK) than 250m or so; the AI mates use to switch to the AT instead use their main weapon when they contact with NMEs at close range, that also adds the problem that they don't go prone so they are easyer to spot by the NME. Also switch a couple of times between the main weapon and the AT before shoot, booth friendly and NME AIs keep engaging infantry with the AT, there're various missions on the ArmA2 campaign where is better to order your AI mates to drop their ATs before reach certain points because they wont go prone, they will not Cease Fire if they've the AT on the hands, they advance slowly with the AT if they're on Danger instead Safe or Aware and when set at Stealth... they'll remain standing or on their knees as as in Danger so they compromise the whole squad (and mission) because their way when they've an AT. Let's C ya