what does "to our left", "to our right", etc actually MEAN ????

[lol4444 10]

Playing ARMA with AI squads it's totally impossible to understand what the squad mean when they say "to our left", "to our right", and so on.

This is of course playing in hard mode because having your enemies showing up on the map sucks for realism.

As the soldier says "to *our* right" I tried to understand it as meaning to the right of a line between the soldier that is speaking and me, but this does not work at all.

It seems to be completely random, does BI expects that nobody will play in hard mode?

I read the whole manual and tutorials, watched the videos, etc.

The method for deciding if an AI soldier will say left, right, front or back is not documented anywhere that I could find...

[jw custom 56]

Playing ARMA with AI squads it's totally impossible to understand what the squad mean when they say "to our left", "to our right", and so on.

This is of course playing in hard mode because having your enemies showing up on the map sucks for realism.

As the soldier says "to *our* right" I tried to understand it as meaning to the right of a line between the soldier that is speaking and me, but this does not work at all.

It seems to be completely random, does BI expects that nobody will play in hard mode?

I read the whole manual and tutorials, watched the videos, etc.

The method for deciding if an AI soldier will say left, right, front or back is not documented anywhere that I could find...

I think it's said out from your current position... but often they report at the same time you move and then it gets confusing :p

[neokika 62]

When AI says "to our left" and you (Squad Leader) are walking north, then is West.

But if you are walking backwards (S) but also to north for example, it will be West again, is the direction the squad leader is walking, not facing (looking)....

[l mandrake 9]

they should SO just use compass directions:rolleyes:

[mrcash2009 0]

There has been a debate (have a search) about bringing back the compass like in ARMA1 .. or shouting of compass direction like Arma1. And that the calls in 2 are a little sketchy.

What people have said here is basically it, but its not super clear I have to admit. Then again you could say it adds to the tension not knowing exact positions ... then again you could then say its unrealistic and confusing :)

[max power 21]

"Our left" refers to the formation's left. So if you are aware of how the AI is forming on you, then look to the left of the formation.

[lol4444 10]

thanks for answering, but it does not help at all. typically when an AI is calling out an ennemy position, we are not walking, but hiding in a bush. an my AI soldiers are all over around me

How can I be aware of how the AI is forming on me? Each AI soldier needs to be told to go prone, stand up, run there, go prone again, and so on, or they are worse than useless!

Neokika, I cannot make sense of your answer: if it is my walking and not my looking that decide what "front" is, then walking in an opposite direction should give an opposite location for the same "to our left" message from my AI.

[neokika 62]

thanks for answering, but it does not help at all. typically when an AI is calling out an ennemy position, we are not walking, but hiding in a bush. an my AI soldiers are all over around me

How can I be aware of how the AI is forming on me? Each AI soldier needs to be told to go prone, stand up, run there, go prone again, and so on, or they are worse than useless!

Neokika, I cannot make sense of your answer: if it is my walking and not my looking that decide what "front" is, then walking in an opposite direction should give an opposite location for the same "to our left" message from my AI.

For example, if you are the team leader, and you are walking in a straight direction, then the rest of your units "front" is the direction you are walking! then if you are walking in the direction to North, the "front" is North...if you are walking in direction to West then the "front" is West.

Hope it helped!

[froggyluv 2136]

This does need some tweaking. The only time I am absolutely sure where they are talking about is "1 be advised- Enemy soldier to your SW -close"

I'd rather take the .2 seconds and hit my compass than "Enemy -left -close" in which I have to first find 2's orientation who might have already moved since saying it. And sometimes I swear they are more Right or Center than left so this means of contact is practically useless.

[Arma-2-Guru 55]

It annoys me when they say "1 be advised- Enemy Soldier to your front- close" and the enemy is actually like 150 meters away, I don't think that's close.

[LeadCommando65 10]

Yes, this confusing enemey locating system lets me remember good old operation flashpoint ...

I don't know, why so many devs make the mistake to exchange a working, good working system for a far more worse one, just to have something new built in.

[echo1 0]

Yeah, I miss the old x o' clock system. I also missed the exact distances they used, but I guess that wasn't very realistic...

[LeadCommando65 10]

Realistic or not, since you can't have a real team feeling, where everyone knows what he does (and especially the team nearly everytime knows where "left" or "right" is), because your team is full of AIs, you need at least an indicator which let's you know the reference.

That's the problem which makes the current system confusing. You don't know exactly which left was meant by the teammate. Flashpoint solved this problem by having an indicator popping up.

It might not be the best and most realistic solution. But unless you don't want to be confused instead of informed by your teammates, it's an essential tool to show the player a reference.

Edited October 12, 2009 by LeadCommando65

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Compass bearing. Plain, simple, and it survives the bug where the formation direction is messed up. You know, when you're in a wegde formation that looks like a vee, and the rest of the squad reports contacts 'behind' us even though they are in fron of us. And yes, this bug just happened to me the other day in the official 1.04 version. It made me quit the session...

The clock doesn't survive when you are not in eye contact with the leader. Any movement he does outside of your view will upset the formation dir, and the resetting of the clock in Arma1 was faulty at best.

[Flash Thunder 10]

The AI need to use the clock system, I get confused alot myself because Im usually on the move maybe some more accurate calls, Arma 2 seems to only use 50M, 100m, 500m and 1000m to report on....

[Nazul 10]

Compass bearing would be so much more realistic, it takes a second to bring up compass and have a look or use the clock method but have 12oclock as aways being North?!

[frederf 0]

No military uses 12 o clock as north. Usually you use o'clock to reference against a vehicle's hull, front/left/right/rear when there's a strong directionality to the situation, and N/S/E/W all other times.

The AI refer to "front" as the same front as if the group leader ordered all to return formation. The direction all the squad members would orient on is the exact same as what's considered front. I'm also pretty sure a pop up clock direction indicator is in ArmA2... it was in ArmA1.

It's pretty difficult for AI to be programmed to think directionality like human minds do so I really don't know why BIS didn't just go the easy route and use the compass for all directions. If I got a chance to rewrite the reporting scheme things would be a lot less dumb.

[jarp 0]

There is no way to sweet-talk what BI did. Even in OFP it was easy to understand and usable - precise information on any enemy they see...bearing, direction, distance - In some aspects they really managed to take steps back with ArmA I and II (and surprisingly don't bring a noticable improvement with ArmA II in comparsion to ArmA I - I consider it worse) and the communication shouldn't have been one of those.

[frederf 0]

Yeah it's really plain to see that BIS has lost interest with the OFP/ArmA line. It's no wonder they're abandoning it after ArmA2 and continuing with their fantasy/Halo-ish universe Carrier Command next.

When you have a fantasy setting you don't need to emphasize teamwork or realism or any of that. The fans can't really base their complaints on anything concrete because it's all made up.

[no use for a name 0]

I agree compass directions should be used for any contacts say over 50 meters. The left and right aren't useful unless they're close (within 50m).

Something like "Enemy man danger close to our left" or something similar

[mrcash2009 0]

I agree compass directions should be used for any contacts say over 50 meters. The left and right aren't useful unless they're close (within 50m).

Something like "Enemy man danger close to our left" or something similar

This is spot on, I agree "close" is subjective ... anything under 50 meter to me is close, but close in Arma2 terms as said can be a lot further which is misleading.

So yes under 50 meter or so these quick fire directions might help, but overall the compass system realy does need to return. Then again that would mean BIS changing all the audio wording to that system which im not sure they will do.

Im not sure why BIS thought changing this was a good idea, fixing what wasn't broken at all really.

[sparks50 0]

It's no wonder they're abandoning it after ArmA2 and continuing with their fantasy/Halo-ish universe Carrier Command next.

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=6934

Ontopic, for me it seems like the speech system, like the 1+9 and quick command system had a lot of ideas added to it, but it all ended up being bloated and not really better.

They are going to have to redo a lot of it to get it better. But there are also things I like about the A2 speech system, such as the more random/naturally chosen words from time to time.

Edited October 12, 2009 by sparks50

[LeadCommando65 10]

So yes under 50 meter or so these quick fire directions might help, but overall the compass system realy does need to return. Then again that would mean BIS changing all the audio wording to that system which im not sure they will do.

Im not sure why BIS thought changing this was a good idea, fixing what wasn't broken at all really.

Yeah, that's true. I do also think they won't make new speeches just to apply the compass again.

It would be satisfying if there is at least an indicator (a circle with front, left and right written on it, or sth similar) showing you where "front" is and which is turning when you turn (like the compass).

This way you could easily identify where the other directions are and BIS doesn't have to change speeches.

[4 IN 1 0]

For a quick fix, they could always go back to use simple reporting chatter like "Enemy, soldier, east, far", i wouldnt mind that

P.S. just sometime I basicly just have no idea what Bis are thinking when they make changes

[polecat.uk 11]

It annoys me when they say "1 be advised- Enemy Soldier to your front- close" and the enemy is actually like 150 meters away, I don't think that's close.

It is if your a bullet :)