Commanding A.I. - Tutorial Needed

[l mandrake 9]

I have searched for this first, so sorry if it's already been covered...

Would any ARMA single-player experts consider compiling a brief tutorial along with a simple SP mission to show other players all their tips and tricks for getting the most out of our lovely AI brothers?

I'm sure I don't fully understand all the commands availabale to the AI, and I often get confused in the heat of battle which usually leads to me getting ALL my sheep, I mean men, viciously slaughtered  

Mandrake

[kutya 0]

There are a couple of nice texts about Armed Assault (and general) soldier control over at SimHQ.

Look for land combat.

[l mandrake 9]

Thanks will take a look.

Mandrake

[dwringer 45]

Those articles are pretty neat, but I'm hoping they write some new ones here soon; the info there currently is still pretty basic.

The way I like to deal with the AI in my squad is basically the same way I handle it in OFP (seems OFP's campaign encouraged it more): assign color codes to different fireteams/vehicle crews. Then, as long as you're on foot, you can hold space and use the mouse to give orders to the groups in about 3 seconds. The one thing that irritates me is that when you're mounted in a vehicle, holding space functions differently (giving commands to your vehicle only), and I can't figure out how to give orders to a color coded fireteam except by using the F-keys to select the members individually (this is pretty clumsy and kills immersion for me, F-keys are out of the way and not commonly used; plus, every time I hit F8 it puts my TrackIR in low-resolution tracking mode). Does anybody know if there's a way to get that OFP-style command menu (complete with entries for vehicles and color coded fireteams) when mounted?

[hoz 0]

I created this article in the wiki hoping it would be populated with this type of information. Please feel free to add a section on commanding the AI. Biki - The AI

[SHWiiNG 0]

since i suppose this fits into this topic.. are the Friendly AI going to be able to occupy buildings any time soon. . as when i am awaiting an ambush.. i order my AI to X spot in the building he says roger.. then ready.. and hes nowhere near it

[psycosmos 0]

...and I can't figure out how to give orders to a color coded fireteam except by using the F-keys to select the members individually...

Use the space key alot ;)

Assign the colored teams you want, press and hold space and there will be the teams added in the menu that shows up, now you can give them a quick command like moving by chosing their team with the mouswheel and pressing left mouse.

If you want to give them more complex orders, chose a team like above but press the middle mouse button instead of the left one, then the normal menu will show up where you can give the usual commands with numbers. If you don't want to hold down the space bar all the time, double tap it to get into the commander view, the teams are usable there too (Edit: but only when you just switched to the commander view :o(().

hope that helps a bit :)

[kiwi1234 0]

hey psychosmos and others,

thanks for the info, this is a great thread, ive been using the f keys way too much, not using space enough!

what commands do you all find most useful? which ones tend to work most effectively? flanking? watching a direction?

this is a good thread, very useful. at the moment most of my squadmates tend to be more of a liability than a help in firefights, i cant wait to use them normally.

cheers

kiwi.

[dwringer 45]

No, I was talking about how I prefer to use the Space bar command menu; but when you're mounted say as a tank commander or HMMWV gunner, the space bar only commands your current vehicle. The menu which normally pops up is nowhere to be found...

[psycosmos 0]

No, I was talking about how I prefer to use the Space bar command menu; but when you're mounted say as a tank commander or HMMWV gunner, the space bar only commands your current vehicle.  The menu which normally pops up is nowhere to be found...

Yeah, my bad, my lousy brain somehow managed to filter that info out. Well, at least it helped someone else.

I've run into the same problem but right now have no idea if there's a way to do that (but there definitely should be). There is a lot of room for improvement regarding commanding the troops and especially the colored groups/fireteams quickly. I think that the player should be able to give commands using the space bar to all soldiers and the assigned color groups at almost any time and situation.

Maybe the original idea was that you can't command while manning a heavy machinegun, but at least I should be able to yell at people  how that should work out for a tank commander and why I forget any colors after using them once if I enter the commander view sounds more like a bug/oversight though.

Any Input is highly appreciated as my commanding experience is fairly limited and I could be horribly wrong (at least I would like to be this time).