Mortars

[Törni 0]

Is anyone currently working on a mortar addon?

ArmA should have some presentation of these standard infantry support weapons.

[abs 2]

Operation Northstar has a model of an 81mm mortar, with plans for a 60mm mortar as well.

Abs

[Col. Faulkner 0]

Probably not what you really want, but I'm working on a 2"

mortar.

[Törni 0]

A modern setting could use at least 81mm and 82mm mortars.

WWII mods should also include light mortars 60mm, 50mm etc.

Perhaps throw into mix 107mm and 120mm mortars too.

[Prydain 1]

It is rather silly that ArmA does not include mortars when it has UGL's, light artillery and other such ordinance.

I would have thought the mortar is an important part of infantry play.

[VIPER SHIVA 0]

It's a vital piece of kit, actually. Perhaps a larger problem would be how the AI would use it, and how difficult it would be for the player to use it.

I LOVED CoC's arty system, but it was a bit clunky for me to use, and the AI couldn't use it at all against me, as I remember.

I'm typically one the peope who'll always complain about realism, and I don't want something totally arcady, but a plug and play pbo, that is fairly quick and easy to use would be absolutely AWESOME.

[granQ 293]

also because mortars are basicly just a tube but the code is the major thing..

I would be so happy if someone that can make models would do the "standard" modern ones, like 82 mm and release open source. I bet ACE will make something cool with mortars (probaly have model already?) and other mods and team might come up with cool solutions aswell.

Atleast I got an idea for VTE i wish to use, but no model :/

[Törni 0]

I can make models if someone comes up how the firing procedure should work - plus how to make AI fire it.

[Wolfrug 0]

Why not set it up per real-life 81mm mortar procedures, as used in the Finnish army? All ya need is...well...lots of math, a bunch o' custom models (such as one of those poles which you aim at, god knows what they're called in English) which can be changed at will, and...hm...a well set-up firing configuration.

Except for the fact that real-life calculations would be slightly useless (since ArmA physics != real life physics), I see no real reason why it wouldn't work. Heh. Apply the same principles as that sqf-mod which lets you adjust for windage and elevation.

Of course, that'd only be for human players. And human players who'd be arsed to learn a rather complicated system. Of course, AIs can just be scripted.

(I'm not entirely serious about this, mind, but mortars would be cool, even just for Mr.Murray-type "artificial" artillery!

Regards,

Wolfrug

[Törni 0]

Quote[/b] ]real-life calculations would be slightly useless

I think so too - just by judging how hand grenades bounce like rubber balls and tanks sometimes fly around after colliding

EDIT: Maybe they could work like large grenade launchers?

[Second 0]

Hmm... I'm not sure, but can it be made by using tweaked AGL's configs with extended shell's timetolive?

I've used them as poor-mans mortars, but relatively flat trajectory and small range makes their use complicated (and not possible always). But they do fire over hills and such.

Using them in traditional way of mortar should require script (atleast for AI). Which isn't very hard to construct (i think! I don't know for sure!... I use plenty of dynamic FO-scripts written for AI, those could be tweaked to use actual mortarpieces.

Also those scritps should be tweaked bit more too, as i'm starting to understand the job and possibilities of reallife FO: My computer's HD has FO's guide-booklets and artillerry/mortar officer's guide-booklets in finish... It good to have something to read before going to bed

EDIT: Bounce is customizable. I made bullets (or was it grenade?) that won't bounce but drops down to the spot where they hit if hitting a wall.

[sander 14]

Hi,

The LLW L16A2 for OFP is due to make a return in Armed Assault. The AI still does not make proper use of the different propellant charges all by itself though and aiming by a player relies on use of the Force to get good results.

Regards,

Sander

[Törni 0]

Sounds perhaps a bit too complicated. Perhaps a simplified approach for the game? One should really care about minimum and maximum ranges.

There should be different ammo types too. At least

- HE

- smoke

- illumination/flare

- WP

Are there any suitable crew animations for mortars in ArmA? Maybe not.

[LordNeuro*Serbia* 0]

I think i sow a french mod working on a 81 and 120 mm mortar. And among same ader things. But like i sead they r making mod and probobly weating the tools. And thet is mising in arma. U can uset in a mision for close bombardment suport, and destroying fortifaid position of the enemy. I now i wil love too see a mortar in arma just like many ader things.

[malick 0]

For AI to use it, you would have to save the weapon as a grenade launcher. This way, the AI would be able to handle simple ballistics and parabolic trajectories.

Otherwise, they would keep on shooting in a strait line. Bad, bad idea with a mortar !

Malick

[Chris Young 3]

I think i sow a french mod working on a 81 and 120 mm mortar. And  among same ader things. But like i sead they r making mod and probobly weating the tools. And thet is mising in arma. U can uset in a mision for close bombardment suport, and destroying fortifaid position of the enemy. I now i wil love too see a mortar in arma just like many ader things.

Indeed, Operation Frenchpoint Mod has made 81 and 120 mm mortars, alongside with what we call an Individual Grenade Launcher, but that is in fact similar to a portable 60 mm mortar. And we are waiting for the tools (well, at the moment it's quite like holidays in fact, but we used to wait for the tools ).

[Sekra 10]

Well.. As I see it making the AI fire the mortars would be best done by a script since mortars are indirect fire and in real life they use spotters to tell them where to shoot.

I made a script for the FDFmod mortars in OFP to make the AI shoot at a mapclick point, all it took was some intense scripting and tweaking for two days. The script of course needed the players interaction on where to shoot but I'm fairly confident the script could be modified so that an AI spotter could be used.

The idea in the script was pretty simple. I used a fixed "circle" around from the mortars (800m, I think this was just about the maximum range of the mortars because of the bulletlife issues with OFP) to calculate how high in the sky the AI should aim. So if you clicked on a spot 500m away from the mortars, the script would recalculate to aim at XXX height on a 800m circle so the mortars would fire to 500m. I used a runway somewhere to manually find the values of XXX using various objects that were scripted to be exactly 25m apart for the script but I'm sure if theres some math genius around he/she could find a formula to calculate this.

All you would need to figure out, is to make a script for the AI spotter to someway decide smartly on where the mortars should shoot.

I think I might have the script stashed away somewhere. I will upload somewhere in a while if I can find it.

Edit: Ok I found the script and uploaded it here. Reviewing the script I remember few problems with it which are also mentioned at the top of it. You had to have a straight level ground under the mortars for them to fire accurately and if the target area was much higher / lower than the area where the mortars were they might not fire accurately. And also if the target area was much lower than the mortars and near the max range of 800m the bulletlife sometimes exceeded making the rounds never hit the ground.

[major woody 11]

Quote[/b] ]I would be so happy if someone that can make models would do the "standard" modern ones, like 82 mm and release open source. I bet ACE will make something cool with mortars (probaly have model already?) and other mods and team might come up with cool solutions aswell.

Atleast I got an idea for VTE i wish to use, but no model :/

There's an unfinished mortar addon here which I belive is open source.

I'm trying myself to convert an old OFP mortar addon with no further luck yet...  

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....t=62064

[landdon 0]

Has anyone heard anything from the Chain of Command group?  They had, in my opinion a very good system.  I would love to see all thier addons transferred into the ARMA enviroment the mines ect. And there was another group too that create Booby trap device and mines. I think they were from eastern europe.

[VIPER SHIVA 0]

I have a question, and hopefully, this could be helpful; Couldn't a mortar, shell, artillery rocket, etc. be modeled after the Scud? ( which, I believe, was made using Mando's Missiles script? )

So basically, certain basic config parameters could be adjusted, models would be created and modified, and eventually we'd have a weapon that could be used to strike any target on the game map- in theory....

So, assuming the above could be made to work, the next question becomes: Will the AI be able to use the system effectively against a human player?

Oh, BTW: As a spinoff of the above, the same system could be used to simulate over-the-horizon artillery support from ships, long range land-based artillery, and airborne gunship. ( I need an AC-130 so bad! )

Or.... Could artillery, or mortars be simulated more effectively, by "setpos'ing" a gun barrel high enough over a game map, so that the AI can detect and attack any target with direct fire?

I guess that would require some imaginative modding to make it look realistic, and to make it functional.

Anyway, I'm hoping someone who knows a lot more about OFP/ArmA modding, might be inspired- or, could at least tell me why this couldn't be done....

[RN Malboeuf 12]

All problems around mortars are about AI usage of them

AFAIK there were plenty mortars in OFP,but there were just several realization types (no perfect ones)

1. Sebnam\invasion type - mortars shoot forward only direct  target are engaged by AI

2. CoC mortars - almost real trajectories, plenty of scripting AFAIR there were used by AI too with some triggers installed

3. Liberation Mod - fully animated crew actions, AI units attack known targets with indirect fire , but shells are camcreated over the target by the script (to simplify scripting)

It's quite easy to implment 1 and 3 variants in Arma as about CoC i know nothing about their work

[Törni 0]

Method 3 sounds good to me. I do not really care about the mid-air flight paths.

[DeadParrot 0]

Lib 41-45's AI observer lays down a quite murderous mortar barrage. Though, on the other hand he is out of ammo quick because he does not wait long enough between the salvo's.

And switching between targets should be slower when you have no tables for preplanned firing missions.

I would be happy with virtual artillery support from the standard Chain of Command. If they would add an AI observer even more so.

[Kristian 47]

I can make models if someone comes up how the firing procedure should work - plus how to make AI fire it.

mr.murrays artillery script should fit mortars pretty good...

it is even tank compatable. lol  

in script, the AI will be able to fire too.

and mortars fire twice, but the ammo type is too low damaging. I changed it to T-72 cannons ammo.

I'like it