AI skill - Difficulty setting and slider in editor

[osmo 0]

What is the difference between the AI skill set in the difficulty setting and AI skill slider in the the editor?

Is the actual skill of the unit somehow an average value of these two settings?

If I for example have enemy units skill set to 0.7 in the difficulty settings and I set 30% for an unit in the editor, would it be same as having 0.3 in the difficulty settings and putting the slider in the editor for unit to 70%?

[Bouben 3]

I am very intersted in this question too. Can anyone please answer? I tried to solve this in editor, but I am not sure, what result I got.

[Decerto 10]

Today I was playing around with it with armour as I was trying to get two collumns to move in sync down each side of the road. Of course the AI couldn't drive properly and it quickly became a trainwreck. I decided then to leave one collumn default and make the other the highest skill setting thinking I would see a difference in the driving of the two collumns, this was not to be however.

[NorthStar 10]

Osmo, it doesn't work exactly as you described but it's very close. It is some kind of aggregate of the two settings. Then if you go into your .ArmAProfile config file you'll see that there are actually two separate skill levels affected by the difficulty slider, Skill and Precision, with Skill being awareness and Precision being firing accuracy. So if you change them in the config file you can change them independently, but if you use the difficulty slider they'll always be locked to the same value. (In MP games, the host's settings will determine what is used).

[galzohar 31]

Aren't those skill multipliers? That is, if editor is set to 0.5 and difficulty is set to 0.8, then the actual skill will be 0.4? I've definitely noticed that AI with 0-0.5 skill in the editor plays very poorly even on expert difficulty.

[[GLT] Legislator 62]

I've noticed that the skill sliders in the options menu are most likely supposed for SP mode.

It's possible to override the skill settings in a mission anyway. So the skill slider and the skill in the editor are exactly the same.

Just test it for yourself. Set the skill slider to maximum and create a test mission using the parameter value to set up the skill in the description.ext:

//description.ext

titleParam1 = "KI Skill"; 
valuesParam1[] = {0.1,0.5,1.0}; 
defValueParam1 = 0.5; 
textsParam1[] = {"Recruit","Normal","Veteran"};

Create a trigger that covers the whole AI units in the editor and let it execute {_x setSkill param1} foreach thislist;

Now everytime you start a mission you can set up the AI skill as you want it. Of course it's possible to create a random AI skill so nobody knows how powerful the AI will react next time. --> {_x setSkill (random 1)} foreach thislist;

AI Skill = 1 = maximum skill

AI Skill = 0 = minimum skill

I recommend a skill between 0.2 and 0.7 but every other setting could do it too.

[osmo 0]

I really hope we could get an answer by the developers for this.. no one seems to know how the skills exactly are.

For example, if you have set the skillEnemy to 1.0 and precisionEnemy to 0.5 in the profile, how does the skill slider of a unit (set in editor) affect these values? Does it affect on both, skillEnemy and precisionEnemy?

If you set the skill in the options, it sets both skillEnemy and precisionEnemy to the same amount, e.g. if you set the slider to 85% both skillEnemy and precisionEnemy go to 0.85.

Now, does the slider in the editor do the same thing. If yes, it overrides the settings from the profile (e.g. server setting in multi player).. I really hope it isn't so. I hope it's some kind of multiplier. If it is a multiplier, does it affect both skillEnemy and precisionEnemy?

Please, developers, a lot of us would like to know about this.

[galzohar 31]

While we probably won't get an official answer (like most topics of this nature), I think it's pretty safe to assume that it's a multiplier for both, and shouldn't be all that hard to test if it really matters. I just set all skills to max all the time.

[Tangox5 10]

07-23-2009 by Osmo

I really hope we could get an answer by the developers for this.. no one seems to know how the skills exactly are.

For example, if you have set the skillEnemy to 1.0 and precisionEnemy to 0.5 in the profile, how does the skill slider of a unit (set in editor) affect these values? Does it affect on both, skillEnemy and precisionEnemy?

If you set the skill in the options, it sets both skillEnemy and precisionEnemy to the same amount, e.g. if you set the slider to 85% both skillEnemy and precisionEnemy go to 0.85.

Now, does the slider in the editor do the same thing. If yes, it overrides the settings from the profile (e.g. server setting in multi player).. I really hope it isn't so. I hope it's some kind of multiplier. If it is a multiplier, does it affect both skillEnemy and precisionEnemy?

Please, developers, a lot of us would like to know about this.

I had the same question and came across this thread. Wow, over all these years and nobody has answered or figured this out exactly?

Can someone who knows for sure how this works please explain?

[Jelliz 10]

It says in the steam manual for the game that the editor follows the user set difficulty setting(options-difficulty), the slider on the units in the editor have no documented effect.

[Tangox5 10]

Yeah looking for more :\

Even a confirmation if the editor sliders don't do anything.

[Muzzleflash 111]

Comment by Kronzky seems to suggest that skill value in editor matters: http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/setSkill. Maybe someone can check using http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/skill

[Tangox5 10]

Kronzky "If "SuperAI" is turned on in the Difficulty Menu, the skill level is always 1, no matter what was defined in the editor or via this command. "

Suggests skill value in editor matters, but doesn't explain whether it (or how it) is related to the profile difficulty settings. :(

Someone out there knows exactly how this works. It's just a matter of them noticing the thread.

[c0mmanderKeen 10]

I would very much like to know this as well

[osmo 0]

I don't think we have much hope for getting an answer for this. No one knows. It's over a year since I asked this.

[c0mmanderKeen 10]

Wow. Didnt look at the date.. :O

Any devs please ?! Would be very much appreciated...

[meade95 0]

+1......

---------- Post added at 01:08 AM ---------- Previous post was Yesterday at 11:41 PM ----------

With regard to the TWO different skill levels for enemies -

1. Being the option you set under the "difficulty ratings"

and

2. The other being set within the mission editor....

I don't neccessarily think these two work along side one another or in combination. It would seem that one would take precedent over the other. Perhaps the difficulty rating setting is for enemies within the campagin and within the simple created "my missions" section of single player.

Where as the skill level setting of enemies created within the mission editor....I would assume enemies played within those missions would have the skill ratings of which ever level was applied to them within the editor.

[Devil Dogs SF 13]

Dumb question incoming, but '1' for the unit skill is the bar full right?

[meade95 0]

Dumb question incoming, but '1' for the unit skill is the bar full right?

Yes. I believe that is correct.

[c0mmanderKeen 10]

Dumb question incoming, but '1' for the unit skill is the bar full right?

indeed it is :)

I will re-post this question in the noob-question thread now. maybe the words "ai skill" are invisible to BIS :P

jk of course.

[osmo 0]

New info on this. I've long had the problem in my missions where friendly AI pilot starts to fly erratically or just hover and ignore all waypoints when they see an enemy (even if I've set them "CARELESS" when they should ignore all enemies). Today I found out that this is connected to the skill level. This gave me good opportunity to check how the in-game slider is related to the .armaprofile skill settings.

In the test, there is chopper which flies near enemy vehicles. Chopper behaviour is set to "CARELESS", which should make it to ignore enemy contacts and continue moving to the waypoint.

misbehaviour = when seeing enemy vehicle, chopper starts hovering or flying erratically, ignoring waypoints

good behaviour = when seeing enemy vehicle, chopper ignores the vehicle and continues following waypoints

Test results:

.armaProfile skillFriendly = 0.5

in-game slider lowest = misbehaviour

in-game slider middle = misbehaviour

in-game slider max = misbehaviour

.armaProfile skillFriendly = 0.85

in-game slider lowest = misbehaviour

in-game slider middle = good behaviour

in-game slider max = good behaviour

.armaProfile skillFriendly = 1.0

in-game slider lowest = misbehaviour

in-game slider middle = good behaviour

in-game slider max = good behaviour

This would suggest that there is indeed some kind of multiplication relationship between the skill in the options and editor. The skill-command seems to only return the values connected to the editor-slider so unfortunately there's no way to find out what kind of formula they use in the multiplication.

Edited August 16, 2010 by Osmo

[Lanzfeld 10]

Cool test Osmo.

But I wonder if the sliders also effect precission?

[demonized 20]

sliders affect skill overall, set it to half, and you have half aimingspeed, spotrange etc.

there probably is also some of this linked to rank and class i think but untested or verified.

[Lanzfeld 10]

Well I did some limited testing and it SEEMS that the skill and precission level you set in the config is perhap a MAX level and the sliders in the editor are a multiplyer.

[delta99 34]

Wonder why nobody from BIS can answer this. Certainly would go a long way to figuring out how to set AI skill.