Something I don't understand about the AI.

[sparks50 0]

If he's born in 1997 then he might not have access to a credit card. But either way, have fun.

[Jaypaul97 1]

If he's born in 1997 then he might not have access to a credit card. But either way, have fun.

LOL I get this on EVERY forum I am on. No sir here is the reason behind the numbers:

I want it to be "JayPaul" but it won't allow that. Then I try "JayPaul9". If not, then I go to JayPaul97, if not that then I go to "JayPaul978" and so on. I understand some people may add their year but no, I just like the number.

[rye1 21]

"JayPaul9". Born in 2009.

[dmarkwick 261]

Further to the discussion about "careless" mode in waypoints: that setting should be just their initial setting at mission start. If anything happens to them or they see anything, that setting should change as the AI FSM routines dictate.

"Careless" mostly means that the AI will walk/run their route upright, weapons lowered, maintaining formation but making minimum effort regarding spotting and cover.

Your example where you shot at the enemy's feet certainly should have elevated their awareness up from careless.

[maturin 12]

DMarkwick, what you are describing often fails to happen.

Careless AI will ignore multiple gunshots and even casualties at times. I avoid using it completely.

[jakerod 254]

Careless means they will react to nothing (in my experience). Safe means they will walk with their weapons lowered and react when shot at.

[willer357 10]

While the AI seem to only get faster response times the higher their difficulty is, I swear that even in novice mode I immediately get killed and watch as my team is slaughtered. Their use of tactics(which I've noticed is pretty much just shoot at them and have one guy flank) exceeds mine so much that it's almost impossible for me to win a fight, which pisses me off to no end because I've killed dozens of then online and such.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Careless is there just for mission editing purposes in case you dont want a unit to react to anything. Safe is pretty much the same, except it allows them to switch to 'combat' when necessary.

Its the reason you can set your group to 'safe' as leader, but not to 'careless'.

[Flametrace 1]

The AI is really not great, no, but it can do alot of things that most AI can't, even if not very well.

[EDcase 87]

Maybe difficulty settings need to go up...?

Also, note that the AI "intelligence" is directly related to CPU power. More power = faster reactions.

This is one reason why some people have a hard time dealing with AI and others can walk right up to them.

One advantage of playing online is that the server handles most of the AI so it reduces the load on the your computer.

[domokun 515]

The AI is really not great, no, but it can do alot of things that most AI can't, even if not very well.

I'd express reservations about such sweeping statements on such a sophisticated simulator.

Particularly from someone with such little experience of the game.

I think to really understand and appreciate the game you have to not only have tried scores of different missions, tinkered with mods, better still, used the editor.

OA is somewhat like an old sports car, if you get in a just drive it around the block, don't expect to appreciate it's potential.

You need to take it out onto a track, several tracks, in different weather conditions and then get under the bonnet.

[chrisb 196]

I have played the arma series from the ofp days, I spend a lot of time making missions for a medium size group of us. As a group we play quite a complicated, intricate long term game world strategy, based on politics, resources, power and of course military warfare or clandestine covert ops etc, this is where the arma series forms the main part of the military side of our game, plus vbs2 (small part), & also the battlefield series did, until recently.

One of the most important things to setup in the arma series is the AI, they have to act or simulate as near as pos (as you can make them) to real life friendly & enemy units, be good at moving and taking orders without wondering or getting hooked up. Therefore AI has to be tweaked and experimented with over a period of some time to get it working the way you might want it to. As a group we use a little of several mods to do this, they include the unique ‘SLX’, the great ‘GL4’, a little from ‘ASR AI’ etc, when combined we have a nice balance for AI.

Really you can only experience Arma 2 to its fullest by investing in the game, perhaps go straight to ‘A2 Operation Arrowhead’ plus the BAF, PMC addons etc. We run a large amount of mods/addons, all push the game to new heights and add huge interest and variants, it’s a completely different game when setup correctly, but it will take time, the arma series plays an intricate part in the hobby myself and friends have enjoyed for quite a long period of time. It is by far the best of its type available, the ai can be as well, when tweaked correctly.

CB

[Bouben 3]

Maybe difficulty settings need to go up...?

Also, note that the AI "intelligence" is directly related to CPU power. More power = faster reactions.

This is one reason why some people have a hard time dealing with AI and others can walk right up to them.

One advantage of playing online is that the server handles most of the AI so it reduces the load on the your computer.

Can anyone with knowledge elaborate this topic more, preferably someone directly from BIS? Thank you.

I believe that if you have CPU not fast enough the game will simply lag and no delay in AI processing is therefore caused, cause the whole game is delayed by lagging.

But as I said, somebody from the field please correct my theory.

[metalcraze 290]

I think BIS have optimizations in place that when AI overload CPU too much bring too much FPS down makes them worse disabling scripts or making them be called more rarely.

In fact Suma added FPS limiter into the game in one of betas so you yourself can see the effects of lower FPS on AI with the game trying to make it "dumber" to bring FPS higher up.

[Bouben 3]

Right, I would understand that for distant AI units that are not in close proximity to a player and therefore have less priority for the engine.

[chrisb 196]

Wars can last years

Battles can last days, weeks or months

Skirmishes can last minutes or hours

Things we all understand but have to remember for Arma 2.

Its long so I put it in a spoiler.

If your really into Arma 2, you'll be working in the ‘Editor’ some of the time, in-fact a lot of the time. So plan out a strategy and break the overall mission your making down into segments. If it’s a large full scale war your planning, then this would obviously be broken down into parts. If it’s a large battle do the same, break it down. This way you get sensible ai that can react the way they are suppose to, not overloaded cpu that’s trying to run everything at once.

If you believe cpu is holding back your ai or the game itself, experiment, try different scenarios. Make a simple mission i.e. ‘take the town and hold it’, play as a junior member of a unit of ai, watch as well as take part. See how the ai react to different things, this way is the only way you will find out if your rig is holding back any arma 2 functions. Play the mission again with more on the map and keep repeating it until you see any changes to ai behaviour.

Everyone has a different rig, even if they are the exact same spec, same model, same graphics etc, they will have different processes running at different times taking away from the cpu. Each will have different levels of junk onboard, plus types of arma mods, so they become different for the game to run, experimenting is the only way to learn about how arma 2 will play on your system.

I play as part of a group, I make a lot of the missions for the military part of our overall game, arma 2 is the largest of that military part. I break missions down if they are very large, this then plays to the lowest spec rig in our group (happens to be mine for my arma 2 rig), although my rig is decent and plays the game tremendously. But I have experimented for, possibly, hundreds of hours over the years with the ofp/vbs2/arma series. During the process of experimenting you find out where and what to tweak, plus how to tweak and make better the game using the available mods or your own mods if you have them.

We all know the ai are unscripted, sometimes the stock ai can be a little unusual in their actions, but the tools are there to make them great.

The ai we use have been tweaked and will include all of the following and more:

(using mods that are available from Armed Assault or Armaholic sites)

1/ They will flank

2/ Change attack position when needed

3/ Split into smaller groups if the section is large enough and attack from different angles when needed

4/ Use high and low ground effectively

5/ Use positions in buildings, windows/doors

6/ Use rooftop positions

7/ Call support/reinforcements if available and when required, even from units not attached to them

8/ Interact with other units to coordinate an effective attack/counter attack.

9/ Request further reinforcements if needed

10/ Hold back when heavy weapon fire is being used by their own side, so as not to walk blindly into danger

11/ Actively seek cover

12/ Suppress fire on you, or indeed you can suppress them. We have been suppressed by fire many times in missions, very effectively by ai.

13/ Use evasive manoeuvres effectively

14/ Retreat if they need to and re-group

15/ Surrender if they have to

16/ Drag wounded from harms way and treat them (first aid), also watch over/guard while a medic treats the wounded

17/ Disarm and stand guard over captured units

18/ Call in air support or artillery

19/ Use sensible stances when in combat

20/ Re-arm with weapons or ammo when required, from dead soldiers, ammo crates, vehicles etc

21/ If and when spawning, reinforcement units will use nearby vehicles to get to the combat area quicker

22/ Snipers will snipe effectively from distance

The list can go on and on..

Yes they can occasionally do unusual things, but so do we humans. Yes they can sometimes get hooked up here and there, just one of those things, but using the right mods, it happens very rarely.

Getting frustrated about ai is normal, we all have at some point in the series, just talk and listen to other players, or read/post on this and other forums.

The group I play as part of, enjoy the ai with very few further tweaks. I would say they are the best ai in any game I have played. BIS have also improved them along the way, but to be fair they have provided us with the best thing of all, unscripted ai that play differently every time, can’t get better than that.

Try never to go beyond 80-100 infantry/foot soldiers ai present at one time, in combat, imo.

If you have a large mission area, they will, and do, call reinforcements in from anywhere they feel best to, so if you have 300 ai on the map, you could end up with all of them in combat, if your not careful. That’s where planning comes in when making missions.

Arma 2 is a simulator when mixed with the right mods, better than VBS2, although perhaps not as well modelled vehicle and building wise (open to discussion).

Sorry its long, but no one from BIS will tell you how the game will react on your system, they just don’t know, that’s for you to find out and experiment with. Obviously your cpu and gpu will have an affect on the game, you will have to find what affect yourself. Once you find your systems limits then play to that. You can still have full scale wars, but just plan slightly differently.

‘ai’ mods used or parts used from: GL4, SLX, SMK, ST movement & evasion. We run a couple of hundred mods if I include all the islands (with ofp and arma islands included), but the ai are controlled, mainly, using the mods mentioned or parts from the mods mentioned.

Read the ‘readme’ for each mod carefully, try to understand what the mod maker has done, then experiment using the whole mod or parts from the mods that you want your ai to use, mix them and check if they clash with one another, rearrange if needed.

Also using the latest BIS patch & beta, 1.60/latest beta.

Its all just 'imo' from experimenting with ai..