Asymmetrical warfare, civilians, & dynamic environments

[gfresco 21]

Hi folks.

So, as a reasonably long time Arma Player my favorite missions/scenarios have always been sandboxy style ones typically with a focus on asymmetrical warfare. Insurgency, MOS, and so on are some of the types I enjoy. Lately I've been using the ALiVE modules and am waiting on CSE's advanced interaction module to create full-map open ended dynamic scenarios. I want to acknowledge that Arma goes further in this direction then any other game I've played, and I find BI's work pretty damn awesome/impressive.

However - what I want to bring up for discussion - is some of the limitations on simulating asymmetrical warfare and some of the aspects of Arma that I personally feel get much less attention then they should. Browsing the forums I notice there doesn't seem to be much discussion in fleshing out this aspects of arma.

Lets start by talking about civilians. The role they play and the the options for them are incredibly minimal. It is really unfortunate the civilians aren't used as a base platform for a myriad of different things. So, whats lacking? For one there aren't many tools in the editor to create natural populations to the towns - though mods have addressed that by providing placement/patrol routines modules & scripts. Also, putting my minor complaint that all civilians are male - they don't really impact gameplay much. The ALiVE module is the furthest I've seen civilians pushed in terms of impacting gameplay, by being able to eventually turn hostile (though for whatever reason I have yet to witness this myself in my ALiVE missions). However if you ask me there should be options to have civilians arm themselves and turn hostile to any side and then be able to additionally disarm themselves and cease being a combatant. This would allow mission makers to create real insurgencies by which the civil populace is the threat, not a pre-defined opfor.

This is summed up pretty well by this video:

Unless you're on some sort of roleplaying server not very much, outside the strict combat strategies, is actually possible the way its shown in this video.

Related to, and diverging from, the discussion of Guerilla warfare is the general discussion of dynamic civilian behavior. Again, while acknowledging certain mods have really pushed it as far as it can go, the lack of civilians doing much more then aimlessly wandering -- and their unrealistic and out of place reactions -- reduces the amount of possible enjoyable realistic scenarios one can experience. For example, urban setting, clearing a building - you'll never encounter a group of panicked civilians that run/take cover as your squad enters the room. You'll never accidentally gun down a civvy (unless you're a retard) because their behavior is so unnatural and distinct.

When you're patroling through a village its either dead/empty with a few civillian "props" basically, or its an opfor firefight. There would be alot of heightened interest and tension if there was more genuine ambient behavior in towns.

There's a lot more I could go into on this subjects, but I'd like to keep this at a length that somebody might actually read this. Let me just close by saying: Arma is a MilSim game with an ambitious and large scope. In the scope of warfare and combat Arma is attempting to simulate the role of civilian populaces - as they effect guerilla combat and otherwise - is more significant then I believe the game is portraying. I think expanding in this area would create an exponential amount of new scenario possibilities that would both enhance the realism and replayability of Arma.

I'm curious how others feel & think (and if they've managed to work around the current limitations better than me, or know of tools I've overlooked).