UAVs: Feedback and wishes

[jsmuk 13]

Firstly I haven't tried this for a while (since before the game went retail in fact) so please forgive me if its been changed (or was always like it but I was doing it wrong) but I would love the ability to have two people linked to a UAV, one to fly and one to operate the sensors / weapons.

[progamer 14]

I'd like to see the Darter made a bit more durable. The drone it's based off is very tough when it comes to collisions and hard landings but the way it is now the thing immediately breaks if it doesn't land completely softly

Yes! It has always seemed to be way to weak.

[L3TUC3 32]

This, but not "perfect". There should be some shaking, vibrations, oscilations - whatever can be expected from real UAV camera stabilization in given atmospheric circumstancies, so optimally dependent on wind strength etc. Similar with signal quality. Possibility of all kinds interferences in logical circumstancies (signal range boundry, interference sources (perhaps some building on the map like radars... I'm not a specialist, but there are some out there), equipment malfunctions, random...), fading, signal loss and not-better-than-real image resolution. In other words - as close to real in all beauty of imperfections as possible. All this at least/best optional. Let's there will be possibility for UAV operator to feel more "serious" and less "it's only a game" - simply for improved immersion.

I found the link to the video on the issue tracker. The Geo-Lock is basically what I'd really like to see. Most of the other features are already there.

The UAV camera is very cool, but the automatic course corrections are so violent is makes it a hassle to manually keep a target.

[james2464 176]

It has been suggested but this one I would like to see http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=12853 (Camera stabilization).

[odie0351 67]

I would like to see the UAV's actually mark enemy personel and vehicles, kinda like how in game now if a mine is spotted it shows up as a red marker on your hud. should be optional like the mine marking as well though.

[Greenfist 1863]

Unmanned ground vehicles are hard to drive manually because of the low viewpoint and limited field of view. Set driver's state to "turned out" by default so we can look around while driving. Just apply some optics/HUD layer to make us think we're looking through a camera and not sitting on the UGV. Otherwise my dream of parallel parking my Stomper is not possible.

When the player is the gunner of the UGV, the AI driver should take player's movement orders just like any other land vehicle driver would. Setting waypoints is too inaccurate for small movement and constantly switching between gunner and driver seats is too much of a hassle in hot situations. At current state it doesn't feel like a one-man operated vehicle.

[Exigo 10]

I have been playing around with the UAV (Darter) and I am currently working on some missions with the Darter in mind.

I have a problem with them being spotted to easy and shot down. I need to have the UAV at least 400 meters above the enemy for it not to be spotted.

I placed an enemy sniper team without NVG, 50% skill, in the middle of the night and it still got spotted. Could just be that I'm unlucky but right now im stuck with the feeling its spotted somehow to easy.

A helmet mounted PiP would be cool

[Zorg_DK 10]

I'd like to be able to lock moving targets with tab in uav's.

It would be nice, when commanding an ai squad with an ai uav soldier in the group, to be able to order the uav soldier to launch his quad uav by selecting him, and use the 6 menu. The uav could default to fly straight up to 200 meters, and then have the uav soldier automatically report enemy locations to the rest of the group, so each ai know where the targets are.

Also, please turn down the engine volume when you're in 1st person in the quad uav.

PIP from uav without being in uav console view. It could show up above the gps map when you press right ctrl m.

I also would like if the ground uav vehicles were controlled like in World of Tanks, where you can move the turret with the mouse while driving with keyboard.

[Lapsa 10]

1. Make it more durable. Otherwise - landing is kind a too slow. It breaks apart if it hits the ground at 10 km/h.

2. PIP would be awesome. I would like it to be in similar small windows as GPS is. Would be nice if it were possible to quickly switch to piloting UAV with a hotkey. That would make them really valuable in more intense and faster paced combats.

3. I don't understand how they can be refueled. Now I think I do - someone wrote here that it has to be placed in a backpack. Seems kind a too magical.

4. I still don't understand how that laser thing works. Specifically - what happens once i mark the target. Obviously - that's just my ignorance, but I think it would be nice if game somehow guided through these mechanics bit more clearly.

[Greenfist 1863]

4. I still don't understand how that laser thing works. Specifically - what happens once i mark the target. Obviously - that's just my ignorance, but I think it would be nice if game somehow guided through these mechanics bit more clearly.

If you point and shoot the laser at anything - a tree, rabbit or enemy - it becomes a target which can be seen on vehicle radars and by guided weapons.

[John Kozak 14]

I may repeat some of the points already stated, by here's my personal feedback:

Overall, the UAVs/UGVs feel like great added value; however, due to control complexity, mission makers seem to avoid using them in the missions. Reason is, currently a person using UV is totally excluded from the regular gameplay - because even issuing a move order to the UV requires a 3-5 seconds long sequence, let alone if there are multiple UVs.

Due to that, for the moment UVs feel more usable as platoon-level general support, instead of being a squad-level force multiplier. I believe, the original intention was the latter.

Main problems with common UAVs implementation

1. UAV controls are totally action-based. Every action requires a second to pick in the action menu - which makes it feel somewhat unimmersive and outside of the overall game interface
   
2. Unpredictability of behavior. If I'm using a Darter drone, I can't just leave it in some position - the AI will guide it away according to his own thoughts. The only way to fix the position of a UAV is to give it a waypoint with corresponding settings, which is time-consuming. UAVs turning their engines on constantly also falls under this category.
   
3. Slightly clunky controls. For example, to amend the settings on a waypoint, I have to hit a pretty small area with a RMB click. This adds to time consumed and frustration. I also can't connect to a UAV just by selecting from a list or by single button click (what is the point of a context menu with a single item there?)
   
4. Unavailability of context commands (which was already discussed). For example, I can't order a UGV to go to a specific point or follow me; this requires opening the UAV terminal, which is, again, clunky. It's also not possible to change UAV/UGV behavior without assigning waypoints
   
5. As was already mentioned, inability to command the vehicle movement while being a gunner. This really hinders effective UGV employment
   

Vehicle-specific problems

1. Greyhawk UAV is unusable as an observation platform - because on LOITER waypoing it flies with max speed and a bank of around 30-40 degrees. This means I can't view the center of the loitering circle with the mounted camera
   
2. Darter's yaw speed is way too low - quadrotors of this size have a pretty efficient way to control it.
   
3. Darter is piloted like helicopter, while, actually, its controls must be much more arcadey. Most (even cheap ones) commercial quadrotors have a set of internal electronics (controller + gyroscopes + accelerometers) dedicated to maintaining flight stability and making the controls control the speed instead of acceleration (angles)
   
4. Darter is way too fragile with respect to collisions. It is a light vehicle with propeller guards, so it should be able to bounce form a wall if flying with low speed (~5-10kph)
   

Suggestions for fixing the UX problems

1. Move UAV controls to the main map, if possible (UAV terminal replaces the GPS anyways)
   
2. Alternative to p.1: replace the small GPS view with a "tablet computer" dialog (like cTab addon)
   
3. Add "native" keys for UAV actions - "Open UAV Terminal", "Take controls", "Take turret controls"
   
4. Add "move UAV there" action in the command menu (which is accessible by pressing ~)
   
5. Add an icon for the UAV waypoints, which shows the interaction radius, and increase that radius
   
6. Give the player possibility to chage UAV behavior by using a context menu (same as on waypoints)
   
7. Make the player connect to UAV just by left click
   
8. Allow to control UGVs by pressing "move" keys while in turret view
   
9. Force the UAV AI to not attempt any actions
   

Edited November 8, 2013 by DarkWanderer

[krazikilla 5]

For some reason the UAV camera is even the UAV itself is totally stable and not moving, shaking like hell and makes it sometimes, hardly possible to laser mark a target.

This would be nice if it can be fixed.

Same actually in the blackfoot, Multiplayer, when u are gunner and have a human pilot and are on autohover.

Camera is shaking like hell and its hard to lead the rocket. When autohover is off, its much better, not perfect though.

[Greenfist 1863]

By the way, you can force UAV not to attack on its own by using the disableAI command.

But how can you prevent your darter to take off right after you assemble it if it spots an enemy?

Just asking because I just had a sort wtf moment when tried to send my drone to scout ahead but after turning around for moment I couldn't find it anymore. Looked around in the tall grass and then realized it had taken off and was just about to disappear behind a hill. I guess it had some more important business to attend to.

[Doombell 10]

Things I would like to see are:

1. Waypoint right click actions when stationary! I should not have to give it a new waypoint to give it new firing permissions or taskings!

2. More controls with dedicated buttons in the terminal:

a. Separate control and turret control buttons, just put them by their respective camera.

b. A toggle for the headlights of the UGV, that thing is trying to get us all killed, and last I checked Skynet was in another series.

c. RoE mode switches, preferrably with different workings than regular AI. It is acceptable for an unmanned vehicle to not fire back when engaged.

3. Ability to communicate over radio while controlling one. A FLIR UAV turret is an excellent command position and right now I don't even know if I can use it to lase artillery targets since I have to release control to call in support.

[Imperator[TFD] 444]

Quite a few inaccuracies in posts here regarding usage of UAVs. For example you can tell a UAV not to attack targets by simply using the Behaviour option in the UAV terminal.

http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=15582

Independent faction UAV laser targets do not function correctly when used from either UAV.

1: Give control of the weapons to the turret operator.

2: https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/setWaypointLoiterRadius implement this in the UAV terminal map to allow loiter radius to be set as there are significant issues with maintaining camera stability when loitering at any altitude other than Very High.

3: I have found the Darter will quite often become 'bugged' in that it goes into a perpetual spiral on the spot and will not stop until it has landed.

4: Give laser target priority over all other target types. Quite often in a mission I have wanted to engage a specific laser target with the UAV but find the UAV will engage vehicles first.

[-HUNTER-_ 10]

1. Have it fly higher

2. Have a setting for observation

3. Make it easier to properly observe long time and engage if needed.

The whole idea behind a UAV...

[progamer 14]

Why not have the player able to set the level of autonomy? And we need cycle waypoints and the ability to precisely set speed and altitude from sea level.

[monotone 3]

It would be nice to share control of UAV in MP such as one control turret while another one control UAV itself.

[papy.rabbit.08 0]

I agree with -HUNTER-_, actually, it's not possible to observe a position for a long time. It's still better than A2, but still, it is not possible to follow something (as IRL)... And that's the biggest problem I think.

[Tonci87 163]

I dislike that if you take control of a UAV you hear what a UAV hears. I think it would be much more immersive if you would still hear your sourroundings

[krycek 349]

I would like to see this:

-Darter batteries

-Command/switch to hold fire and engage at will( I like to give them free rein but I would also need scout mode without using a Darter)

-Implement hacking device like pda or something else and be able to take over enemy drones and sentry guns,for a near future setting A3 is very lacking in cyber warfare.As a gameplay balance solution you'll need to be close to enemy UAV terminal or HQ to hack so no zomg press button from 50km and take control of enemy drones.Maybe make it to take at least 5 mins to hack or longer.When you take control of them have 3 choices,disable them,change their iff or put them in terminator mode where they shoot everyone.

-Cam stabilization

[John Kozak 14]

I dislike that if you take control of a UAV you hear what a UAV hears. I think it would be much more immersive if you would still hear your sourroundings

By the way. I second that.

[Polygon 11]

I dislike that if you take control of a UAV you hear what a UAV hears. I think it would be much more immersive if you would still hear your sourroundings

+1. another solution for this would be add an audio channel for UAV (it's the future!) outputting env. sounds via an addAction. UAV transmissions must have radio-like background.

[[GLT] Legislator 66]

First of all, the UAV system in ArmA 3 is much better than the previous from ArmA 2! The setup in the editor is easy and the usage is intuitive. However we faced those issues:

• camera needs a stable position, maybe even the possibility to lock and track a target in the middle of the screen
  
• the UAV module is not working anymore after a player respawn! You can open the UAV terminal, but you can't connect to any UAV or UGV again!
  
• hacking of enemy UAVs and UGVs would be a cool feature --> maybe put in an optional security code feature which is required to access the UAV terminal
  

One a side note, I tried to apply the UGV feature to one of the standard vehicles, but I couldn't fix the "camera position". Can you please explain config-wise which setting needs to be altered in order to succeed?

[jinzor 31]

The only gripe I have with the UAV is that it is just super fragile; I can hardly ever land it without it blowing up on contact with the ground, even when it's moving slowly and touching the surface gently to land.