Commanding AI - Platoon strength

[mr_centipede 31]

Hi all.

Recently I've been experimenting with commanding AI group that is around 30 units in all (platoon strength). without HC module. As expected it's very hard. After some trial and error I come up with some ideas.

1. As you all should've known when commanding AI, split them or group them in color teams. I did this in mission editor itself so that I have team red, green and blue as squad 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Team yellow is for support.

2. When moving, I find it's easier to have them at SAFE behaviour and use one of the squads (team red/green/blue) to move ahead of you to the desired destination. Now you kinda have a pseudo travelling overwatch formation. Make sure distance a bit between you and the lead squad.

3. When under contact from unexpected postion (contact drill), Drill yourself to press <SPACEBAR> <1> <6>. That's for ALL-MOVE-STOP command. Make them enter COMBAT mode if necessary (if they havent done so automatically)

4. The rest is try to find the enemy and overwhelm them with fire. Usually I do this by maneuvering the color teams only, instead of leading them directly as normal.

5. Assault. Most of the time I never got to this stage because the enemy has already been neutralized. But I'm thinking of having 1 or 2 color teams to JOIN FORMATION and assault the position.

That's my ideas so far. Does any of you have some other ideas/tips/feedbacks?

[gunso 10]

I always send out 1 or 2 man recon team on stealth and hold fire in-front. Your AI have limited detection range but with AI teammates relaying enemy info they can be quite lethal.

As commander of a group of AI, using binocs to spot the enemy is much better than you shooting them by yourselves.

If you have AI on vehicles, position them on high ground far away from the strike unit and they can provide a really good fire support. Recon unit on stealth will relay the enemy location, AI assault unit will assault,moving while firing and the vehicles will provide a devastating fire support from afar.

Ambush or base assault, if you have played the final mission for the BAF campaign this tactic works really well. Use stealth and hold fire and creep to a nice high ground overlooking the base. Wait until all your AI start to report enemy positions. You can also assign targets to them, especially AT units to take out armor and support vehicles. Assign snipers to take out enemy team leaders with binoculars and etc. Use binoculars to find new enemies and relaying them to your AI. Unleash hell and enjoy the show.

[katipo66 94]

I've recently discovered the <move - advance> option on a team, this will make that team move ahead 50-100mtrs? In what ever direction you move in.

When moving over large distances I like to use staggered column with big group, deltas with small, don't know why :P

Would be nice if the AI were a bit more flexible and not so strict in keeping distance and formation.

[JSj 12]

Would be nice if the AI were a bit more flexible and not so strict in keeping distance and formation.

Yes, this is one of the most important things to know about the AI. They can be very effective when not locked into a formation with you. When they are, they will care more about keeping the exact formation than engaging the enemy. As soon as you move even a little, all the AI will get up and move to try to maintain the formation.

[mr_centipede 31]

Yeah, I also use MOVE-ADVANCE method before, when leading a smaller group (squad size of around 10 men). But when it comes to 30 men, I had to use the SAFE behaviour method. I kinda like SAFE (Patrol) behaviour. The AI will kinda move on your footsteps. So if you make a 90 degree turn at a junction the AI will follow suit, instead of trying to maintain formation when you do the 90 degree turn.... But unfortunetly the MOVE - ADVANCE method didn't work with SAFE behaviour.