Fog observation

[dmarkwick 261]

I thought there was already some fog discussion, but I didn't find one that was very recent, so I start a new one :)

 

While playing some modded ArmA3 with ASR, DAC, ACE & some other more visual/content centric mods, I noticed that when I decided to add thick fog into the mission, AI seemed to be picking me off with alarming accuracy considering that I couldn't even see them.

 

So I took away all mods, only vanilla A3. One player unit 100m away from an enemy unit, facing each other, with fog set to 100%, no decay and minimal base (so that the fog is essentially uniform). I monitor the enemy distance and knowsAbout as I walk slowly toward it.

 

At around 55m distance, the enemy unit starts to notice me. I can juuuust about see him too. His knowsabout slowly increases as I approach, at about 30 meters it is usually around ~0.03 or so. I cannot tell him from a friendly at this distance, and apparently he can't either. At 25m his knowAbout has jumped to 0.22, still no recognition. The instant I step below 25m, he fires on me, every time.

I don't regard this as too bad actually.

 

But, if I halt at ~60m or so, just outside his range of vision (and mine) and fire my weapon, he becomes aware and after maybe 2 or 3 seconds, will see me and immediately hit me. This is I think what is happening at the first mission I mentioned, if AI are aware of enemy in their vicinity, they seem to possess greater spotting ability than the fog should allow.

In fact, if I fire my weapon at 100m away, his knowAbout immediately jumps to 1.35, but he doesn't fire. I presume he knows enough to know there is an enemy and the direction, but cannot identify one visually.

 

So I guess I'm saying that, in my opinion, the visual enemy recognition in thick fog seems to be higher than is reasonable. Now, I can counter this somewhat by fiddling with the setUnitTrait command and affecting the camouflage, and maybe even make some monitoring addon for it, but it's difficult to work out what the fog value is at any altitude for a given set of fog parameters, when the fog is volumetric and has altitude parameters affecting it. If anyone has such a formula to work out the current fog value, at the unit's current altitude, with a given set of fog parameters, I'd be hugely grateful :)

 

However, even affecting the camouflage only delays detection from a zero start. As soon as firing starts - the enemy are back to spotting with better-than-realistic ability.

[EO 11277]

Very interesting post dmarkwick,  I can't offer anything as regards the formula you require, but i'm looking forward to any forthcoming solutions the community has.

For better exposure wouldn't it be better to ask for help with the formula in the scripting/editing section of the forum. 

[dmarkwick 261]

Well the formula would be interesting and might have other uses, but ultimately wouldn't solve my problem, which happens when the action is occurring :( the fog seems to affect initial recognition from zero OK, but once there is some gunfire the recognition leaps to superhuman levels.

[old_painless 182]

I would speculate that BI uses visual and hearing as two senses combining into the knowsAbout. In your shoot-through-dense-fog scenario, hearing must be the dominating sense for the knowsAbout. Maybe it is possible to "dial down" the hearing ability in foggy conditions, rather than do fog math ?

 

-OP

[dmarkwick 261]

4 minutes ago, old_painless said:

I would speculate that BI uses visual and hearing as two senses combining into the knowsAbout. In your shoot-through-dense-fog scenario, hearing must be the dominating sense for the knowsAbout. Maybe it is possible to "dial down" the hearing ability in foggy conditions, rather than do fog math ?

 

-OP

It's possible that may be the skewing factor, but they sure like to hit me enough considering they might be aiming by ear :D

 

Any fog-based alterations would require the fog math unfortunately, as ArmA's fog clears with altitude, to lesser and greater degrees (I'm a fan of low-lying fog scenarios).

[old_painless 182]

Would be great to have not only LOS yes/no but also LOS "quality" which would be based on camouflage vs. terrain, fog, daylight etc.

[Greenfist 1863]

11 minutes ago, old_painless said:

Would be great to have not only LOS yes/no but also LOS "quality" which would be based on camouflage vs. terrain, fog, daylight etc.

Well we do have checkVisibility but it only takes objects and particles into account.

It probably wouldn't be too impossible to calculate a more comprehensive LOS quality value from all the factors though. I'm sure some AI mods have already done that.