Am I missing something?

[Pillar_of_fire 10]

I've noticed the AI (incl. squad mates) is pretty good now in Arma 2 at taking up covered positions when bounding and I'm familiar with how the squad controls work, including "stance" & behaviour SOP, and fire/engagement rules.

What I don't get is why the enemy AI always rushes into frontal attacks over relatively open ground after commencing a firefight. With my own squad mates I can force them to stay in formation and form a base of fire over a ridge or anything they can use to minimize their profile.

With the enemy AI, they typically first drop to the ground on contact and then start sending men running forward right at my positions. I'm usually unloading on their position with a full squad from ~200m away at that point, so this doesn't go over well for the enemy.

If they'd just find microterrain - small dips in elevation, or use micro-ridgelines and so on... they'd do a LOT better in a firefight.

I'm stumped as to how to get them to do this.

Another issue I can't figure out is the spotting. I've seen so many situations where enemy and friendlies are in clear LOS of each other, with entire squads *standing* fully upright... and they will never see each other. I usually have to report the contact or nobody else will.

Overall great game, I'm happy with it... I just feel like if infantry did more "hunker down" type engagements and dished it out instead of rushing all the time, it would be both more realistic and make for more challenging and lasting firefights. It would also be nice to actually need stuff like grenade launchers, RPGs, mortars etc... instead I can solve everything with a machine gun. :)

Thanks for listening. Let me know if I'm missing something.

[arma2mods 10]

Glad that you like it. LOS depends your AI skill levels in minimum they cant sometimes spot units visible to players but in higher usually do.

[ltait92 10]

Overall great game, I'm happy with it... I just feel like if infantry did more "hunker down" type engagements and dished it out instead of rushing all the time, it would be both more realistic and make for more challenging and lasting firefights. It would also be nice to actually need stuff like grenade launchers, RPGs, mortars etc... instead I can solve everything with a machine gun. :)

Thanks for listening. Let me know if I'm missing something.

have u tried it on the hardest difficulty or adjusting the ai los in the editor(if ur making maps) i dont have the game yet, im w8n 2 get a better laptop:) just a thought:)

[maturin 12]

The enemy AI is pretty smart, but in most situations it cannot defend effectively. It is too jumpy. Lying on the ground next to a wall and doing nothing is the closest you get.

[Pillar_of_fire 10]

If I could get them to grab cover on a lip or behind an obstruction, and do "pop up" shoot "get down" and reload until ammo expiration, that would be enough for me. But I can't get them to do anything like that. I have this problem where they start rushing my positions (at least one guy at a time) and that always goes very badly for them.

Thanks for the info regarding the AI skill. Does that mean that AI *spotting* is inseparable from their aiming skills? It's my understanding that the difficulty setting for the AI affects their aim, which I find to be a bit over-accurate at higher settings.

Thanks mates.

[Mudkip 0]

Russian tactics.

[Pillar_of_fire 10]

Is AI spotting ability inseparable from their aiming skill?

[Inkompetent 0]

Is AI spotting ability inseparable from their aiming skill?

It can be separated, however the skill slider is additive/multiplicative with both (dunno which)

Same problem with the AI skill slider in the options menu where you configure your difficulty settings. It applies to both their Skill and Accuracy.

You'll have to open your My Documents\ArmA 2\ProfileName.ArmA2Profile file and manually edit the below values for each difficulty setting (shown below are the defaults for the Recruit setting):

skillFriendly=1;

skillEnemy=0.5;

precisionFriendly=1;

precisionEnemy=0.5;

Same stuff for a dedicated server, although then put into the server.armaprofile file.

[Pillar_of_fire 10]

Excellent, this is good news. Thanks.

[Kramxel 10]

I don't have that sort of problems....

At close range they always flank me... on long rages they close in before flanking... but that's to be expected...

[Pillar_of_fire 10]

No... if your enemy is firing at you from about 200m with a barren valley between the two of you, the last thing you do is send men rushing down hill straight at the enemy. This is the age of assault rifles and machine guns, not muskets and bayonets.

Another question now: I have no idea how to manually set the values for skill vs precision in my own scenarios. When I place a unit they start with some values in their slider, but the difficulty setting is not set until the player loads the scenario. So the values are being set before the difficulty setting -- unless it overwrites the values for the troops given by the scenario editor, I don't know how to make custom values in my own missions.

How does that work?

[fabrizio_t 58]

I've noticed the AI (incl. squad mates) is pretty good now in Arma 2 at taking up covered positions when bounding and I'm familiar with how the squad controls work, including "stance" & behaviour SOP, and fire/engagement rules.

What I don't get is why the enemy AI always rushes into frontal attacks over relatively open ground after commencing a firefight. With my own squad mates I can force them to stay in formation and form a base of fire over a ridge or anything they can use to minimize their profile.

With the enemy AI, they typically first drop to the ground on contact and then start sending men running forward right at my positions. I'm usually unloading on their position with a full squad from ~200m away at that point, so this doesn't go over well for the enemy.

If they'd just find microterrain - small dips in elevation, or use micro-ridgelines and so on... they'd do a LOT better in a firefight.

I'm stumped as to how to get them to do this.

Another issue I can't figure out is the spotting. I've seen so many situations where enemy and friendlies are in clear LOS of each other, with entire squads *standing* fully upright... and they will never see each other. I usually have to report the contact or nobody else will.

Overall great game, I'm happy with it... I just feel like if infantry did more "hunker down" type engagements and dished it out instead of rushing all the time, it would be both more realistic and make for more challenging and lasting firefights. It would also be nice to actually need stuff like grenade launchers, RPGs, mortars etc... instead I can solve everything with a machine gun. :)

Thanks for listening. Let me know if I'm missing something.

No... if your enemy is firing at you from about 200m with a barren valley between the two of you, the last thing you do is send men rushing down hill straight at the enemy. This is the age of assault rifles and machine guns, not muskets and bayonets.

Another question now: I have no idea how to manually set the values for skill vs precision in my own scenarios. When I place a unit they start with some values in their slider, but the difficulty setting is not set until the player loads the scenario. So the values are being set before the difficulty setting -- unless it overwrites the values for the troops given by the scenario editor, I don't know how to make custom values in my own missions.

How does that work?

You are absolutely right about the rushing problem, it's a known issue.

You are right too on spotting problems.

See:

http://dev-heaven.net/issues/show/2209

http://dev-heaven.net/issues/show/2551

Glad to see more and more people are noticing that ...

Please add your vote and feedback so we can hope to get things sorted.

Edited August 27, 2009 by fabrizio_T

[Pillar_of_fire 10]

Done! However, your 2551 issue pertains to everyone in the squad, not just the group leader. (In fact, even if the group leader stays behind for covering fire.)

[fabrizio_t 58]

Done! However, your 2551 issue pertains to everyone in the squad, not just the group leader. (In fact, even if the group leader stays behind for covering fire.)

Ok, thanks for your effort.

If you are able to create a test mission showing the problem applying to units other than the leader please add it, it will be useful!

Edited August 27, 2009 by fabrizio_T