Engagement Ranges

[HoboWithAK 0]

How can I get my AI players to engage targets and actually fire on them with their weapons at long range? The regular AI has a knack for only seeing and firing on an enemy at 100 or so meters. I need something, be it script or whatever, to make the AI fire on targets at upwards of 500 meters with rifle fire from various weapons, including belt feds and AKs.

I don't know how to script or how to make it work, so any help will be appreciated.

[ACF 0]

I'm afraid it's controlled by the ammo config - have a look in the commented cfgWeapons and you will see.

Effectively you need an create an addon to change it (or a substitute config file).

[redface 1]

the newest high poly unit addons tend to engage over longer ranges

[ACF 0]

It's a pity there's not some consensus over this. One of the reasons I'm wary of addons is that a lot of them have been enhanced (relative to the default configs) so you can't just drop them into a proven mission structure and expect the balance to remain.

[miles teg 1]

Yeah.  Plus personally I think you'd be an idiot to try and engage an enemy with an AK-47 past 200 meters...especially an enemy armed with an M16A2 or M4 capable of accurate 300 meter shots, or worse an enemy with a M240 (GPMG) and sniper rifles who would nail you.  Plus its just a waste of ammo and you give away your position.  Ak's are best used in sub-200 meters distances unless they are only being used for suppressive fire so that marskman equipped with SVD rifles can pick off the enemy.  The reason for this is simply that the AK-47 is NOT an accurate rifle.  

However I would like to see medium machine guns engage at long ranges.  This is realisic.  The PKM is a decent GPMG as of coarse are the M60 and M240 GPMG's.  These weapons are capable of hitting targets out to 800meters using only iron sights if the gunner is good.  

M16's, M249 SAW's and M4's equipped soldiers should engage at a max range of 300 meters (although Marines are trained to shoot out to 500 meters).  I would say, ironisights 300 meters, optical sights 500 meters.  

Anyways, the problem is that I'm sure someone is going to pop up and challenge me on those figures.  OFP simply doesn't simulate well shot dispersion and other factors that affect marksmanship so no matter what you will always have to make compromises.  

That is why overall, I support the JAM2 and the new MAAM/JAM3 packs where I think overall things are fairly balanced and standardized. It also gives mission makers and weapon addon makers the option of using high dispersion ammunition (which personally I find more realistic).

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>

[HoboWithAK 0]

Well, I don't consider your run of the mill terrorist exactly the brightest bulb in the building. I wanted some of these Middle Eastern terrorists I have to engage over a long range, as the mission is based in a desert area.

Miles Tag- The AK-47 is an accurate rifle for an area target to quite a distance. It's the shitty sight radius that makes it impossible to be precise.

I find JAM equipped units to be just as bad, not recognising and engaging an enemy untill the enemy is 100 meters away. This is simply unacceptable. What if I wanted to have units exchange fire over the bridge on Nogova? It's simply too long for the AI to comprehend.

Anyone know of a tutorial on how to change a config?

[ACF 0]

Try OFPEC for tutorials and I thought this sounded familiar!

[General Barron 0]

Actually, a huge part of the problem is that soldiers are not configured to see past about 300m. This can easily be fixed by either (a) making a new game config that increases the sight/hearing range of soldiers, or (b) making a new addon that has increased sight/hearing range.

Unfortunately, option (a) means only you get to play with realistic AI sight ranges. Option (b) means that only that one unit type will have that sight range, instead of ALL addons having it.

Sucks either way, I'm afraid, but unless all addonmakers start enhancing their unit's sight/hearing distance, or everyone downloads the ECP (or other config that fixes this), then us mission makers are kinda SOL.

[andersgrim 0]

Then starting a JointSoldierConfig project, providing configuration standards with the same purpose as JAM, just for soldier units, wouldnt be any stupid idea for the new addons.

Such a config could include diferent classes coded with given behaviours, e.g. Professional CQB soldier taking note of his CQB weapon's range and accuracy and firing at <100m, while an amateur soldier could try firing at 2-300m, with a great lack of accuracy.

This way one could simulate more specific differences between the different classes; snipers, mgunners, grenadiers, amateurs etc..

[Wadmann 0]

If you want extended engagement ranges, either use Cheeky Monkey's Extended Range Pack (you will have to search for that one) or, as I do, use Unnamed's AI Forward Observers available here. Try the sniper demo mission in the pack and you will see how well his observers actually work!

                                          Wadmann

[miles teg 1]

Well, I don't consider your run of the mill terrorist exactly the brightest bulb in the building. I wanted some of these Middle Eastern terrorists I have to engage over a long range, as the mission is based in a desert area.

Miles Tag- The AK-47 is an accurate rifle for an area target to quite a distance. It's the shitty sight radius that makes it impossible to be precise.

I find JAM equipped units to be just as bad, not recognising and engaging an enemy untill the enemy is 100 meters away. This is simply unacceptable. What if I wanted to have units exchange fire over the bridge on Nogova? It's simply too long for the AI to comprehend.

Anyone know of a tutorial on how to change a config?

Right.... area target means vehicles. What is nice about the SKS and AK series of rifles is that the rear sight is easy to adjust for distances. More so I think then the M16A2/M4A1 rifles with the rear sight elevation settings on their iron sights.

However, you still won't hit crap. Area target engagement means suppressive fire if you're just firing at infantry.

That's why the Taliban/Al-Qaeda guys get slaughtered usually when they try to engage at long range. Similar things happened to Iraqi troops and to Iraqi militants.

At any rate the main reason why I don't use Cheeky Monkey's long range engagement pack is because it simply isn't realistic. But others who have never fired an Ak-47 will insist it is.

But if you want to develop a new engagement pack just to have opponents open up past 100 meters with their AK's, then at least use HD ammo or use something like the JAM pack's HD ammo.

Of coarse it'll make for boring missions, but yeah in open desert they'll engage and get wiped out very quickly.

But anyways, like someone else said, the engagement range has to do with a soldier addon's config, so first you'll have to figure out what types of soldiers you want to use and then how to fix them.

I believe in my mod (Lost Brothers) for example, that the soldiers do engage past 100 meters. But now that this topic came up, I need to verify that.

Chris G.

aka-Miles Teg<GD>