Harder to hit enemies?

[Creation 10]

Hey!

Long players of Arma know that as soon as they take a shot at a squad of soldiers they all hit the deck at the same time. Which of course you would do if your being shot at. But it seems rather boring.

You know?

-couldnt they throw in a couple of combat rolls?

-roll around on the ground.

-Run in a zig zag to cover

-Lay suppressing fire in the general area of attack so the rest of their team can take cover.

-Lean around corners

-Sidestep (im sure i saw an AI do this in a video)

-Run into some dense bushes/woodlands

-Blind fire around a corner (could be a bit annoying)

-Dive for cover! Give us a real dramatic dive

-Flinch and duck down when a bullet passes over their head

The only thing i saw for the infantry not wanting to get shot at was pop smoke in front of their position in Arma 1, when i first saw it, having never seeing in in about a year of playing i just thought "you cheeky ******"

Im sure i read that the AI takes cover. Does anyone know a video that shows this? Im hoping they'll duck behind low walls, lean around corners

Go easy on me. been lurking these forums for about a month now, i used search button for AI, taking cover and dodging to no effect. But incase its been mentioned before Sorry!

[Eggnogg13 0]

Most of them seem good, except for the first one

I don't think people would do a barrel with around 100 lbs. of gear on.

[An-225 0]

I would prefer it if they did something other than go prone.

It seems that is all the AI can do, even squadmates on the way to a waypoint - go prone every few seconds.

It would be nice to see them take cover around a wall, also without just going prone, and perhaps return fire instead of wasting a few seconds hitting the floor.

[Raphier 0]

also blindfire...not something good to do. (mayb except for civilians)

[Michael_Angelo 10]

Zigzagging is not such a good idea. When you run for cover, you need to get there as fast as possible. Doing zig zags will just keep you exposed for longer. Rolling isn't so realistic either, it's almost impossible when you're carrying an army backpack, grenades and magazines on your belt etc.

I'm totally for leaning, sidestepping (the latter is already implemented, as i've seen in videos) and supressive fire.

I think the important thing is taking cover. In Arma, AI would just kneel or lay down and start looking for you. No movement, no cover, no conceilment. Even throwing a grenade at them wouldn't make them move. Especially the team leader, he just stays on the same spot, issuing orders and observing.

And for god's sake, make them use smoke grenades and flares!!

[celery 8]

Zigzagging is not such a good idea. When you run for cover, you need to get there as fast as possible. Doing zig zags will just keep you exposed for longer.

Tried and true fact over 8 years of playing: zig-zagging makes you very hard to hit both for AI and players. Of course if the distance is very short it's better to just sprint to the next cover but if you are under fire without cover nearby, zig-zagging can save your life. Running in a straight line is just asking for a bullet in the forehead.

[S!fkaIaC 10]

As a wimp I can say: staying in cover works better :)

[sidhellfire 0]

zigzaging is useful only on open areas with enemy far away. In any other situation you sprint to the nearest cover, even to lay behind kerb, and stay there.

[Creation 10]

I dont know about being too heavy to roll, i mean sure if your carrying AT it would be awkward or kind of stupid with the exposed head of the RPG poking out, however rifleman carrying a rifle a few mags and a couple of grenades shouldnt find it extremely hard. Itsupto peoples opinions, anyone feel like strapping some KG weights on themselves and dive around the front yard?

[Kimmeh 0]

When playing airsoft, once I did it once with full gear, the thought of rolling around didn't even occur in my mind. It's just unpractical, you could easily lose gear, hurt yourself and whatnot. Rolls are nice when wearing a Gi(the judo/karate suit), not when having lots of metal objects strapped onto your body.

[sic-disaster 311]

Maybe the AI could be made to recognize shadow, and seek out such places to conceal itself?

The AI in Ghost Recon 1 already did this, and imo still has the best presentation of a squad coming under sudden fire.

If you'd watch the enemy AI patrol in GR1, they would be in an unaware stance, slowly walking around. If you'd shoot one, there would be one soldier kneeling and firing in your general direction (if it cant see you) to suppress you. The other soldier would use this time to run to hard cover if available, and if no hard cover is to be found, he would run to a tree and ly in it's shadow to make him less visible. He would then open fire so the other soldier could move.

It happened every time, and it seemed very intelligent. It would be great to have this in ArmA2 as well, could you just imagine half of the squad kneeling down and begin a barrage in your direction, either to supress or kill, and seeing the other soldiers run for cover/bushes/shadow. Anything to get out of the killzone in your general direction.

As for Creation's question:

It is very possible to roll around with combat gear on, hell, i even did it with a small backpack on.

It is not at all pleasurable though, in case of the backpack it hurts your back too, and you have the risk of losing stuff. But really, when under fire who cares about losing your shovel?

[Second 0]

Maybe the AI could be made to recognize shadow, and seek out such places to conceal itself?

The AI in Ghost Recon 1 already did this, and imo still has the best presentation of a squad coming under sudden fire.

If you'd watch the enemy AI patrol in GR1, they would be in an unaware stance, slowly walking around. If you'd shoot one, there would be one soldier kneeling and firing in your general direction (if it cant see you) to suppress you. The other soldier would use this time to run to hard cover if available, and if no hard cover is to be found, he would run to a tree and ly in it's shadow to make him less visible. He would then open fire so the other soldier could move.

It happened every time, and it seemed very intelligent. It would be great to have this in ArmA2 as well, could you just imagine half of the squad kneeling down and begin a barrage in your direction, either to supress or kill, and seeing the other soldiers run for cover/bushes/shadow. Anything to get out of the killzone in your general direction.

Really! my impression from GR1 was that it's AI wasn't too good if not too bad either. Naturally i wasn't biggest fan of series (i in fact liked GRAW pretty much! ... You may kill me now), but played GR1's original campaign thru once.

Only once or twice i faced suppressive fire from enemy (which was pretty wicked experience!). Mostly i was killed by super-fast and super-accurate snap shots and bursts, AI was much worse than ArmA at maximum skill settings! Like in original Rainbow Six, which i didn't like too much either.

But i take your word, my time with GR1 was pretty short... Only wishing that i wouldn't have sold my GR collection :(

[twisted 128]

i like the suggestions except sidestepping. that's very quake and similar to bunnyhopping or dolphin diving like BF2.

the GR1 reaction was good. pity i do not have my old GR disc anymore...

[sic-disaster 311]

I'm thankful i still have all those games.

I'm a real tactical gamer by heart, and i couldnt stand the idea of losing my collection of tactical games. I still have them all: Hidden and Dangerous 1/2, Ghost Recon 1, Rainbow Six 1, Rogue Spear, and Raven Shield, including all addon's for every said game, Operation Flashpoint with RH and Resistance, ArmA + QG, even bought Battlefield 2 just to see what Project Reality was like (because it became highly recommended by some people i respect), Red Orchestra, etc. etc...

That said i have a lot of hours invested in Ghost Recon 1, and i have seen this behaviour a lot.

If you find the game again, just try it out with a sniper. Hide yourself, watch for 3-man patrols, and just shoot 1 soldier and watch what happens.

Ofcourse the AI does have its problems with instant turn-arounds shooting you right in the head, especially in CQC, as did the older Rainbow Six games, but the intelligence is there.

GR1's AI is very agressive, heavily tries to outflank you if you are not careful, investigates gunfire in the distance, etc.

But the shadow thing is a really great thing for the AI to do and recognize, as it conceals them really well from a simple rifleman. A sniper has less trouble seeing it ofcourse.

Edit: the friendly AI is good as well. They are not only accurate shots, but they spot targets on time, and if you send them somewhere they will stop if they spot an enemy, and not just run on like a headless chicken. You can force them ofcourse, with a 'at all costs'-movement order if you want to.

Even better is how they advance in stealth mode. 2 guys will wait behind, and one soldier will sneak forward. If he sees it is safe, he gives the all-clear sign, and the other 2 soldiers hurry to his position, to repeat the process.

On a sidenote: i absolutely cant stand anything concerning Advanced Warfighter, i really really hate that game and what it did to my beloved GR.

Even worse is Vegas and what that game did for the Rainbow Six series, and really shouldnt be mentioned in my vicinity :o

I could go on a killing spree just thinking of that abomination.

Edited April 22, 2009 by SiC-Disaster