a.i. Tactical Combat Link - TypeX

[b0s 18]

Thank you snkman for improving the mediocre Arma3 ai! The list of features is long and impressive 🙂

 

I was also testing the mod on AI team vs AI team basis, so the result were confusing. The "players only" part is kind of a dealbreaker for me. But I know... performance and complexity

It would be nice though to have options to activate some or all features to work AI vs AI. IMHO the must have-s would be:
The reinforcement features, flares, smoke, using statics, house garrison (working?), house search, reaction to gunfire/exp
I think AI vs AI would not really need the advanced movement, suppression and cover features, which are probably the most performance hungry anyway

[Machiya 19]

3 minutes ago, b0s said:

I was also testing the mod on AI team vs AI team basis, so the result were confusing. The "players only" part is kind of a dealbreaker for me. But I know... performance and complexity

 

I can see how a large scenario (Warlords, or Liberaton) with all of the AI using TCL would log-jam.

Two thoughts,

1. You could set a nom. 500m zone around the player and not affect units outside this zone [this would give space for reinforcement calls and would affect friendly + enemy AI)
    
2. CURRENTLY: If you are using Eden to create a mission, I think you simply make the Squad Leader of each friendly AI squad 'playable'.  This way I think you can make a whole friendly platoon affected by better AI behavior. 

[snkman 351]

@b0s

Well there are some features triggered every time you pull the trigger.

Imagine a mission with 100 A.I. unit(s) fighting each other and some features get executed every time any of the 100 A.I. unit(s) is pulling the trigger.

The only feature not triggering correctly is the A.I. Artillery Support feature everything else should work just fine.

 

@Machiya

See below.

 

Okay here is what you are looking for!

Was easyer as expected!

You only need to add 2 lines to the Init.sqf and that's it.

Please keep in mind!!! Each A.I. unit(s) will use the full range of player and A.I. features combined with this!

Time has come to do some real seriouse benchmarks!

 

Have to admit i kind of like this idea!

 

Enjoy!

 

Download:

TCL_TypeX_AI_vs_AI ( Example )

 

Download:

TCL_TypeX_All_vs_All ( Example ) ( This is where it starts getting real complicated! )

[vafana 110]

I am getting this error:

 

'...Variable "TCL_Cover");
(time > /#/ time) then
_time - (time + 15;
if (...'
Error Undefined variable in expresion: _time

 

[Machiya 19]

@snkman  Thank you for those files.  I will give it a spin over the weekend.

 

Earlier I tried running TCL with MCC's AI, GAIA  (having used ASR_AI for years).  It's very interesting as your disableAI completely grabs the unit vs GAIA which places waypoints.
This make TCL like a combat 'turbo' -- as it drives the AI to assault you (I have turned down the distance that TCL can call for reinforcements in TCL_AI.sqf).

 

All very interesting and definately room for more experimentation.

I ran the same sim with,
 

1. Vanilla
2. ASR only.
3. TCL only.
4. ASR + GAIA/MCC.
5. TCL + GAIA/MCC.

The last was definitely the best game at 500m (I cannot yet say fro CQB).

[snkman 351]

@vafana

Damn... This again... Thought i already would had fixed it...

Thanks for letting me know vafana!

 

@Machiya

Yes there's some cool stuff you can change to tweak it to your own personal taste.

I highly recommend having a look at the "TCL_Tweak" settings.

This was the part i had the most fun with changing values in the past.

 

Edit:

If you like to have A.I. groups be able to request each other within a specific distance only you could try using the "TCL_Location" group type.

Simply place the A.I. group(s) where ever you like them to be and synchronize them with each other.

In this case the synchronized A.I. group(s) will be able to only request and get requested by the A.I. group(s) synchronized with them.

So this will create something like a locked A.I. group(s) array.

 

@ALL

Well after setting up some more really cool All vs All missions i decided to include it into T.C.L. as an alternative way to initialize.

Not sure if it will become the default way of initializing the mod but i already added a switch to choose which way you like to use.

Still have to do some more optimizations and tests but so far it works pretty well!

 

Quote

 

Added:

( System ) Initialize: It is now possible to initialize the combat system of Tactical Combat Link with each unit(s).

The react to weapon fire and react to suppressed fire will stay restricted to player(s) only.

 

 

Thank you all for this great idea really like it very much!!

 

 

[kremator 1065]

2 hours ago, snkman said:

@ALL

Well after setting up some more really cool All vs All missions i decided to include it into T.C.L. as an alternative way to initialize.

Thank you all for this great idea really like it very much!!

Excellent news.  And thankYOU for doing this.

[snkman 351]

@kremator

Sure! You're welcome!

 

@vafana

Do you remember which mission it was you got the script error?

Did it use spawned A.I. unit(s) / group(s)?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kremator 1065]

I just want to throw TCL into all my missions and see the mayhem that will ensue 🙂

[Jnr4817 215]

Does TCL affect how the AI heals and treats its wounded or is it the default BIS system.

 

Having advanced aid on for the AI during combat would really round this script out.

 

Thanks,

Reed

[john111 76]

On an other note .Will this mod be able to add a Max Permissible Fly-IN height?  And limit the speed with a script without affecting anything else?  Then ,I think it will be very useful to ferry troops around if we could paint routes with trigger zones that adds a Fly-In height based on" Zone_1 max speed 70km/h 50x30km".

If it flies really slow Ai could fly and we could do other things ,like use zeus interface and plan wp ,operate an ECM Pod and using the Stop command ,make it fly really slow and low ,5 miles/h @ 5m would be great.

 

But then we need a wp-type to make things easy and a slide attached to a wp-type.  We need it to make Insert/Exfil .Spotting range needs to be minimum to make helicopters survive.

[kremator 1065]

@john111 you do realise that this is primarily an infantry mod ?  You have been around enough to know.

[vafana 110]

16 hours ago, snkman said:

@vafana

 

Do you remember which mission it was you got the script error?

Did it use spawned A.I. unit(s) / group(s)?

 

Yes, it was "Pilgrimage" mission by @Rydygier

 

[snkman 351]

@Jnr4817

Nope so far there is no such feature.

As far as i can tell i've already seen a lot of A.I. unit(s) doing all this first aid healing stuff by their own pretty well.

So not sure if it's really needed...

 

@john111

Sorry but i don't really understand what exactly you are looking for?

Something like player is in a helicopter assigned to it's cargo and A.I. is flying the helicopter?

 

@kremator

Yes mainly it's focused on infantry...

Well i've already wrote some working beta code to support navy ( Boats / Ships ) as well.

But it's really very early stage allow's A.I. units(s) to properly un /  reassign navy vehicles.

 

@vafana

Thanks! Will have a look into it.

[Machiya 19]

@snkman
I ran the All vs All & AI vs AI scenario's and got an occasion  35fps on my system, but rising to a normal fps again (55-60fps).  I'm guessing an occasional 10fps hit?
It was awesome to see CSAT suddenly redirect to attack GREENFOR and then reinforce the same ignoring the player vs. the player-centric focus of TCL in 'normal' mode.

Vehicle reinforcements worked but... were a little erratic in where they were going.

 

(p.s. what was the difference between the ALL vs ALL and AI vs AI missions? -- as the init code is identical).

You should take the time to look at the comments on the C2 discord > mod recommendations channel (https://discord.gg/XbCudmz) -- as are some interesting technical discussions coming up (incl. from a number of us here) e.g. how/if/when TCL hands reinforcement units to normal way-pointing

[kremator 1065]

I found that the ALL vs ALL eventually ended with some groups not respawning ... not sure if they were meant to spawn for ever.

 

@snkman does that pushback addition to the init.sqf work for all AI freshly spawned or only AI present at start of the misson?

[madpat3 29]

so i tried to put the script version in a mission. it works now. but everytime i attack a vehicle an error massage appears, saying can't find sound xy. where do i put those soundfiles?

 

[snkman 351]

@Machiya

Quote

I'm guessing an occasional 10fps hit?

Yap. Dependent on how much A.I. unit(s) are on the map you may will notice some FPS hit during initialize of all the A.I. unit(s) added from the "Init.sqf" but as you said it should get normal just after a few seconds.

Also the way with the "Init.sqf" just was a quick and dirty way i made to get it working like this.

Currently all A.I. unit(s) are using all A.I. and Player features at the same time which really isn't good in terms of performance.

As i've said player(s) use some "Fired" Event Handler features which are triggered each bullet fired and the code executed by the "Fired" E.H. really is very expensive.

So keep in mind currently every single A.I. unit(s) will trigger this "Fired" E.H. every time a bullet was fired!

 

I've already did some very good progress with this and as far as i can tell it really works pretty well!

But!!! Of course i found a lot of stuff i wasn't aware of during the whole time working on this mod...

Guess i've never really used any combination of WEST vs EAST vs RESISTANCE or WEST and RESISTANCE vs EAST during the whole time...

So this way All vs All really gave / gives me some work to do...

Still fighting some problems with proper friendly A.I. / enemy A.I. assignment... So much stuff going on at the map during the same time... I loose track just after couple of minutes...

Damn... You guy's really gave me a pretty hard task with this as i can tell...

 

Quote

what was the difference between the ALL vs ALL and AI vs AI missions?

Umm... A.I. vs A.I. was 2 A.I. sides fighting each other while All vs All was WEST vs EAST vs RESISTANCE if i remember correctly?

 

Quote

You should take the time to look at the comments on the C2 discord > mod recommendations channel

Thanks! Will do so!

 

@kremator

Quote

does that pushback addition to the init.sqf work for all AI freshly spawned or only AI present at start of the misson?

Correct!

Just another downside of this quick dirty way of how i did it...

Only A.I. unit(s) / group(s) placed in the map during mission start will be initialized by this way.

Could add a 5 seconds while do loop to get it working with spawned A.I. as well but this really just was some kind of test to see how it would be.

 

Next release will have everything working properly and pretty much optimized without any huge FPS hits.

 

@madpat3

Quote

but everytime i attack a vehicle an error massage appears, saying can't find sound xy. where do i put those soundfiles?

Hmm... Strange... Are you running the Script Based version while having the @TCL mod installed or totally standalone?

 

Edit:

It only happens if you destroy a vehicle right?

Well... Guess i forgot to disabled the vehicle explosion "Sound FX" while using the Script Based initialize which of course needs the "TCL_Sound.pbo" to work.

You can temporary fix this by copying the "@TCL\AddOns\TCL_Sound.pbo" to your ARMA 3 root AddOns folder or by installing the @TCL mod with only the "TCL_Sound.pbo" in it.

 

Thanks! Will be fixed!

[madpat3 29]

that fixed it.

[Machiya 19]

Just compiled a video of a series of comparable tests vs TCL and ASR with and without MCC. 

 

VIDEO LINK

TCL acquitted itself very well (!!) -- the only issue (mine) and the fact that I use MCC and I am left with the DisableAI clashes with MCC's macro way-pointing.
From my experiments, I prefer the gameplay with MCC's GAIA.

 

 

[kremator 1065]

8 hours ago, snkman said:

Next release will have everything working properly and pretty much optimized without any huge FPS hits.

My body is ready !

[snkman 351]

@madpat3

Thanks for feedback!

 

@Machiya

Quote

I use MCC and I am left with the DisableAI clashes with MCC's macro way-pointing.

Sorry i don't really understand what you mean with this?

You can't get it work properly combined with MCC GAIA?

 

Thanks for the video Machiya.

To me it's kind of Slow mo...? Is it supposed to be like this?

 

@kremator

 

[Machiya 19]

@snkman

I believe TCL (you said somewhere) uses disableAI to get the squads to move where you want them.  The error messages I get suggest that GAIA cannot assign waypoints to squads (because the AI are 'disabled').
Its an understandable conflict and mainly affects units that are aware of the firefight, but not yet in combat.  Effectively, GAIA and TCL are both trying to direct the units towards the battle.

In the video above, its was the GAIA + TCL battle was the most engaging ;0)

Today, I am going to run GAIA + VCOM, ASR and TCL (separately).

 

Sorry, if the battle were a bit slow -- I put units quite a long way apart and didn't cut bits out - so we could see how the AI react.

[snkman 351]

@Machiya

Quote

The error messages I get suggest that GAIA cannot assign waypoints to squads (because the AI are 'disabled').

This should not be the case! It could lead to unexpected A.I. behaviours but there should be defenetly no error message!

The only A.I. part i disabled in T.C.L. is disableAI "TARGET" which prevents unit(s) from targeting enemy(s) which after all my tests and found outs leads to A.I. stuck in place not moving anymore.

But this shouldn't conflict with anything.

 

Quote

In the video above, its was the GAIA + TCL battle was the most engaging ;0)

Oh okay. So i got this wrong... Thought T.C.L. was a problem.

Nice! Good to hear!

 

Quote

Sorry, if the battle were a bit slow

It's fine!

Glad you test and share your thoughts and found outs with us!

Can't tell how much time i spend doing and watching A.I. combat behaviours... Still enjoy watching it!

[domokun 515]

On 2/8/2019 at 11:56 PM, Machiya said:

@snkman  Thank you for those files.  I will give it a spin over the weekend.

 

Earlier I tried running TCL with MCC's AI, GAIA  (having used ASR_AI for years).  It's very interesting as your disableAI completely grabs the unit vs GAIA which places waypoints.
This make TCL like a combat 'turbo' -- as it drives the AI to assault you (I have turned down the distance that TCL can call for reinforcements in TCL_AI.sqf).

 

All very interesting and definately room for more experimentation.

I ran the same sim with,
 

1. Vanilla
2. ASR only.
3. TCL only.
4. ASR + GAIA/MCC.
5. TCL + GAIA/MCC.

The last was definitely the best game at 500m (I cannot yet say fro CQB).

Thanks for the feedback but what is GAIA?