AI aircraft ignore dismounted enemy units (infantry)

[Razor138 0]

Modders, Scripters and Gurus,

 

I want to preface this with I rarely, if ever post questions as I embrace due diligence and enjoy solving problems on my own. That said, this has been an issue for a while and I am just now bringing it up after years of dealing with it and combing through forums, mods and scripting options looking for an answer. It is my white whale when it comes to ARMA mission editing and scripting.

 

BLUF:  Is there a way to make AI aircraft attack dismounted infantry using missiles, pilot-operated guns, rockets, bombs, etc. without player interaction or scripting resulting in rigid, non-dynamic AI actions?

 

I routinely use AI aircraft in the single player missions I create. Generally, aircraft in vanilla ARMA 3 will engage enemy vehicles freely with out any issues. The problem is these aircraft ignore dismounted infantry (not in any turret or vehicle) and fly around aimlessly regardless of the waypoint or behavior selections. These vehicles will not engage infantry with any weapon unless it is a manned, side mounted turret such as an M134 or 240 on a helicopter. I can say (with almost 20 years of military experience) that in reality aircraft are routinely used for ground suppression and close air support against dismounted ground targets. I want to emulate this as closely as possible. That said, is there a way to make AI aircraft attack dismounted infantry units using missiles, pilot-operated guns, rockets, bombs, etc. without player interaction or scripting resulting in rigid, non-dynamic AI actions? Unfortunately for the purposes of my missions I need a solution that is dynamic, AI-driven and requires no user/player interaction while playing the scenario. Scripting an AI aircraft to attack a specific entity with a specific weapon is also not in the cards as that angle tends to be too "rigid" and....well....scripted. The answer I am hoping exists would essentially force the AI to recognize dismounted infantry as an enemy and choose the weapon with which to engage them on its own with out player interaction.

 

I don't know if this is even possible, but any help would be greatly appreciated. This has been a huge issue for me since I started editing when ARMA 2 dropped, just hope to find a solution or a workaround, even a partial one.

 

Thanks again in advance. 

[pierremgi 4738]

Welcome on forum,

In real life, attacking infantry by aircraft is not so easy if you consider decent rules of engagement in regard of identification and appropriate weapons. Not saying, it's impossible but aircraft are neither helos nor UAV.

 

That said, in Arma, you have a bunch of FSMs of AIs, that implies some behaviors in context (knowledge about target, type of target and value, default weapon...). These decision trees seem basic, but I'm rather sure they aren't in comparison with other games. Which games you know as such milsim? I can't answer.

 

You must also make difference between Arma vanilla assets (like A164 Wipeout) and modded ones. For example, an IFA3 WW2 Fw 190 will not have the same perception (target knowledge) and will not fire so easily at a ground target as the Wipeout does.

But you can help:

In a simple preview mission, (IFA3 mod loaded for this demo), just place: a player (spectator), an OPFOR infantry group the a group of FW190 (flying!, not too close) with a simple move waypoint to the enemies. So very basic. At preview, the FW190 will reach the waypoint then circle around without any knowledge of the enemies. Frustrating!
Now, name an enemy unit (say bob on anyone) and name the group of FW190 (say KarlGrp) and at preview start, run : karl reveal [bob,4]   

See the difference?

Selecting the weapon (bombs instead of cannons) is far more tricky.

 

[Joe98 90]

I too looked at this issue. During my testing I tried to pilot various aircraft and make ground attacks on enemy infantry.  The infantry are difficult to see.  Even if you place them on a runway they are hard to see.

 

I switched to night time and used thermal sights. The little white dots are tiny. If you fly low to the ground the enemy, in real life, would have anti aircraft weapons so that is not feasible.