PlannedAssault web based mission builder

[woodyB 10]

The script is generating the landing zone way to close to the target area and because of this the AI pilots won't land and instead will try to attack the enemies on the ground

Hi William, I have also experienced this problem with little birds, the pilots flew right into the action, they started taking fire and the drop was aborted and they flew back.

Also, a more plaguing problem for me has been that the mission end is triggered in the middle of fighting, the end screen will come up and that's the end. Do you know if others have had this issue and what might be causing it. It happens to me consistently so maybe im doing something wrong

[_William 0]

william,

I'm still having trouble with the air assaults when using a heli w/ weapons. The script is generating the landing zone way to close to the target area and because of this the AI pilots won't land and instead will try to attack the enemies on the ground with the side door machine guns. I had this problem with the Blackhawk and Chinook.

If I only use the little birds, everything works 100%. I'd imagine if you put the LZ a bit further away from the enemies it would greatly help solve this problem since they only seem to change into attack mode when they're extremely close to the LZ.

TonnyRat, thanks, good input. Didn't have this problem myself, so you can help me with following:

- send me the generated mission triggering the problem (or tell me the mission's title if still unchanged on the PlannedAssault web site)

- tell me if you're running Arma2OA/CO 1.54 or one of the betas

Little Birds don't suffer from this problem because they lack weapons.

I intend to fix the problem by restricting the helicopter's behavior, not by moving the LZ away. When planning the air assault, the planner doesn't know where the enemy will be.

---------- Post added at 10:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 PM ----------

Hi William, I have also experienced this problem with little birds, the pilots flew right into the action, they started taking fire and the drop was aborted and they flew back.

Also, a more plaguing problem for me has been that the mission end is triggered in the middle of fighting, the end screen will come up and that's the end. Do you know if others have had this issue and what might be causing it. It happens to me consistently so maybe im doing something wrong

Thanks. I have the same request as for TonnyRat wrt air assault problem.

I can confirm the "End-screen problem". I'm going to check two possible causes:

- Arma's SEIZED BY trigger taking into account aircraft; and/or

- my planner assigning the task to GUARD the central defensive position to a far away group instead a nearby unit, so nobody moves into the trigger area for a while.

I have small content update lined up for this week (MRAP, Dingo+Wolf, Scimitar+Scorpion vehicles, Mi26/CH53+CH46/MH53 helicopters). Then I'll try to fix these two problems.

[_William 0]

Update on the bugs reported by TonnyRat and maj_woody:

- I'm consistently seeing the helicopters land under fire, using 1.54 and the latest 1.55 beta in your missions (cool missions). Sometimes, the helicopters got really shot up but they did land (or crash into powerlines or trees).

- Once, I saw a helicopter remain hovering near the objective after inserting its passengers; the helicopter and its pilot had taken damage, which might explain this behavior.

To investigate yourself, you may want to change line #9 in file planned_assault/transport/mark_landing_positions.sqf (in your mission's folder) to

_h_type = "HeliH";

This will change the marker used to indicate landing positions to a visible one, so you can see where the helicopters are supposed to land.

- Missions may end early because of "SEIZED BY" triggers taking into account aircraft flying by and aircraft passengers. I've raised this as bugs in the BI community bug tracker (here and here), but don't expect the behavior to change anytime soon.

I'll look into developing a custom trigger function to replace the "SEIZED BY" trigger.

[woodyB 10]

Thank you William for the follow up. I Will continue to test scenarios and report any issues I find. Planned assault has really opened up a whole new level of the game for me, thanks!

[cadmium77 16]

I'm glad I found this forum so I could tell you how much I love Planned Assault. It's awesome and it's in rapid development so there's the real hope of even better things to come.

Let me just say Thank You for your site and the services it offers.

May I make one request?

Could you please have a part of your site devoted to sharing posted battles? A lot of battles don't work out, end up being duds, so that when you find a battle that just rocks for some reason or other it would be very cool if we could share and swap them, building up a repository of the best battles for all to enjoy.

Keep up the good work.

I'm a huge fan.

[Muahaha 10]

I'm glad I found this forum so I could tell you how much I love Planned Assault. It's awesome and it's in rapid development so there's the real hope of even better things to come.

Let me just say Thank You for your site and the services it offers.

May I make one request?

Could you please have a part of your site devoted to sharing posted battles? A lot of battles don't work out, end up being duds, so that when you find a battle that just rocks for some reason or other it would be very cool if we could share and swap them, building up a repository of the best battles for all to enjoy.

Keep up the good work.

I'm a huge fan.

+1 to the above. Will be great to have those mission that works flawlessly to be shared.

[_William 0]

Australian and New Zealand units, mission end trigger bug fixed

PlannedAssault has been updated with units definitions for ADF and NZDF infantry, transport, armor and aircraft, from the AAW and ANZAC mods.

See this post for more info and screen shots.

In addition, the early mission end bug has been fixed for Arma1 and Arma2.

@Cadmium77, Muahaha:

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into that. Will probably first add the ability for you to leave positive / negative feedback for your own missions (so I can learn from duds as well). Based on that feedback and extensive briefing input, mission can become public and "top rated".

I've got a few smaller updates planned first.

William

[BigMorgan 11]

_William, any plans for including more user-created islands? There are so many out there, it would be wonderful to be able to use your great tool on some of them.

[_William 0]

_William, any plans for including more user-created islands? There are so many out there, it would be wonderful to be able to use your great tool on some of them.

I've been experimenting with Fallujah. I've checked MBG Nam, Island Panthera, Helmand Valley, and I'm checking Mana Island, Fiji.

I cannot support the BAF DLC maps since I cannot extract the .wrp file defining the terrain.

The typical reason not to support a user-created island is when Arma2's AI doesn't properly maneuver on the map. If the AI gets stuck, the missions get stuck and your effort in creating a mission and my effort planning the mission and suggesting a great experience go bust.

Below is the assessment of the islands I looked into. I welcome suggestions!

MBG Nam is an island which the Arma2 vehicle AI cannot handle (cannot find paths, will get stuck on trees, won't be able to drive up the river slopes).

IceBreaker's Panthera2 and BI's Krasnotav area on Chernarus have similar issues.

Helmand Valley has rivers that the AI frequently fails to cross.

Fallujah is tough on vehicle AI in some areas (Strykers and Bradleys get stuck on the palm trees west of the river). Furthermore, AI vehicle formations do stupid things on streets. To generate good missions, I would need to update the terrain database used by the planner so the mission planner better understands roads and doesn't send groups into buildings. On the other hand, Fallujah is a great map and deserves some TLC.

Mana Island Fiji only has a few areas where vehicles get stuck, and is subject to further testing. I'm also eagerly awaiting IceBreaker's new Lingor map .

[Postal0311 10]

Here is another request for LZ to be a little farther away from the objectives. In all of my experiments my little bird gets fired upon as it is landing. Half the time getting shot out of the air before it landed.

It was funny, the first mission I made with the littlebird, I got out safe then my AI team mate and the little bird got taken out by a tank shell.

[jblack9 10]

This is so crazy...

Question why can't I use Chernarus units

And I see the Wet Air Cargo, but what about ground cargo, how do I load them into that?

Thanks this is amazing

[_William 0]

Here is another request for LZ to be a little farther away from the objectives. In all of my experiments my little bird gets fired upon as it is landing. Half the time getting shot out of the air before it landed.

It was funny, the first mission I made with the littlebird, I got out safe then my AI team mate and the little bird got taken out by a tank shell.

Thanks for your feedback, Postal0311. I hear you, but LZs 1km out from the objective lead to slow and boring missions.

I recommend using a gunship or fixed wing CAS section along with the attack, they'll go in right before the landing and should engage any armor near the objective. Alternatively, try a night assault or reduce visibility to improve success rate for the attacker.

---------- Post added at 09:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:34 PM ----------

Question why can't I use Chernarus units

[...] but what about ground cargo, how do I load them into that?

Jblack9: I haven't defined units for the Chernarus army, that's why. I tend to favor real armies over fictitious (fantasy) armies when deciding which units to add.

Ground cargo is picked up and loaded into vehicles automatically. See

.

[jblack9 10]

Thanks for your feedback, Postal0311. I hear you, but LZs 1km out from the objective lead to slow and boring missions.

I recommend using a gunship or fixed wing CAS section along with the attack, they'll go in right before the landing and should engage any armor near the objective. Alternatively, try a night assault or reduce visibility to improve success rate for the attacker.

---------- Post added at 09:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:34 PM ----------

Jblack9: I haven't defined units for the Chernarus army, that's why. I tend to favor real armies over fictitious (fantasy) armies when deciding which units to add.

Ground cargo is picked up and loaded into vehicles automatically. See

.

Hi William, uhm the ground units don't auto load into cargo for me, in fact they pass right by my infantry even when I put them right next to eachother, and yes I made sure there is enough space.

[commander jao 10]

just a few suggestions.

1. The ability to load vehicles before hand.

2. ability to make just one half/part of the mission. some examples. just make the assault part and put the defense in later. or just the heliborne insertion.

3.directional defense. is there a way to set the which direction you want defenses facing like by placing another objective/marker?

i think thats it:D

I know its a bit of a list but i really think it could be great with these things implemented

regards

[_William 0]

Hi William, uhm the ground units don't auto load into cargo for me, in fact they pass right by my infantry even when I put them right next to eachother, and yes I made sure there is enough space.

@Jblack9: the decision to load infantry in vehicles is (automatically) made based on:

- whether that group of units performs a hasty attack (no loading) or an attack after form-up (possible loading). Attacks typically are hasty when the units are closer than ~1km from the objective, and will use form-up when further out.

- whether a transported move is quicker than the infantry hiking to the form-up area (loading and unloading troops takes time as well)

- whether the transports have sufficient cargo capacity to load the infantry

If you leave me a PM with the names of your account and the mission with this behavior, I can look into it.

---------- Post added at 12:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:14 PM ----------

just a few suggestions.

1. The ability to load vehicles before hand.

2. ability to make just one half/part of the mission. some examples. just make the assault part and put the defense in later. or just the heliborne insertion.

3.directional defense. is there a way to set the which direction you want defenses facing like by placing another objective/marker?

Good suggestions. I understand #1 and #3 and they would benefit most people.

wrt #1: I'll eventually have to expand the UI mechanism for air cargo to cover land cargo as well, if only to support amphibious assaults using AAVPs, LAVs, BMPs or BTRs.

wrt #3: If I add a hint marker system (for example, to take your input on where to place the LZ), this would be an easy addition.

Currently, defensive placements work as follows:

- the center-of-gravity is determined for the attacking group (and this is the only information about the attacker used in planning the defense)

- possible avenues-of-approach are generated for an attack from the attacking group CoG up to 120 degrees to the left and right, then analyzed for foot-mobile and vehicle use. (So a 240 degree, 2/3 circle around the objective).

- defense units are placed in key enemy avenues-of-approach based on the expected threat and friendly ability to counter that threat. For example, a unit with a heavy AT capability will be tasked to defend the AoA most suitable for enemy vehicles.

Defense is implemented with chosen positions and GUARD waypoints. I'll be looking soon into the use of SENTRY waypoints to make the defense more dynamic (place units further forward and let them drop back on contact, if the SENTRY behavior is sufficiently predicatable).

In which situations do you feel you need to control the defensive direction?

wrt #2. Why do you like to work with half a mission?

[_William 0]

Brik map added

Another update, this time enabling mission generation for Old Bear's [ADO] Brik map (Arma2 and Arma2:CO). I like the map because the terrain closely resembles what I'm familiar with: flat plains broken up by tree lines and forests.

See this post for more info.

William

[Postal0311 10]

William, thanks for explaining a bit about how the troops are chosen to be loaded.

I often found it odd that sometimes it seemed to work perfectly, and other times the planner made very odd decisions. Hopefully the better I understand what the planner is doing the more I can get preferable outcomes. The very first mission I made in planned assault included a long ride in the back of an open truck. Reminded me of all the times I rode in trucks while I was in the service. Rolling in a truck towards the objective as the sun was rising. Good fun.

+1 on the ground cargo. Would love to be able to start guys off in trucks.

Could you please explain how preference for command of indirect fire assets are handled?

I made a mission like your tutorial on the sniper team using arty to take out armor and really enjoyed it. However other times I have attempted to do similar my team doesn't end up with control over the arty.

[_William 0]

The very first mission I made in planned assault included a long ride in the back of an open truck. Reminded me of all the times I rode in trucks while I was in the service. Rolling in a truck towards the objective as the sun was rising. Good fun.

That's a nice anecdote. Thanks for sharing!

Could you please explain how preference for command of indirect fire assets are handled?

I made a mission like your tutorial on the sniper team using arty to take out armor and really enjoyed it. However other times I have attempted to do similar my team doesn't end up with control over the arty.

Good question. I had to experiment with a mission to understand the behavior.

If there's friendly artillery, the player is automatically given a set of radio calls to call in air strikes. It works via the radio calls (0,0) and the radio UI when looking at the map.

The radio calls via 0,0 are only available to the team leader, and only available until he switches team.

The radio on the map isn't show by default. You can make it show up by adding "showRadio true;" to the radio_calls.sqf file (in the mission folder).

You then can plot artillery missions from the map screen, by clicking the appropriate line on the radio's display.

Please let me know if that works for you. In a next update, I'll add the "showRadio true;" command automatically to the radio_calls.sqf script.

[_William 0]

ADuke's special Blackhawk variants, Hexagon's ISAF, FELIN and Milan units added

More units (see title) and a minor feature: the radio is now made visible on the map screen, making it easier to call in artillery strikes when you have artillery available.

See this post for more info.

William

[jblack9 10]

Are we going to see Lingor isle in this at all?

Edited November 29, 2010 by Jblack9

[ebarstad 18]

I just registered to say I love this tool. These large scale missions are my favourite way to play Arma/2/OA and the Planned Assault missions I've created have been a blast. Thank you!

I do have question, though. I'm playing Arma Gold and I created a mission where my team is set to attack the enemy's hold point. I've set an enemy gunship between my team and their final waypoint before their main advance and assault. As expected, the gunship ambushes my convoy (cool!); however, my team doesn't react properly to the helicopter -- they don't attack it or anything. Instead, they walk nonchalantly toward their waypoint and proceed to get killed. Is there something I can add in the editor to make my team attack the heli on site, before it wipes everyone out?

[_William 0]

Crew served weapons for the defense, and Kiowa Warriors

Another update introducing a feature: defensive teams in Arma2:OA and Arma2:CO now can carry, deploy and mount crew served weapons such as AT launchers, automatic grenade launchers or heavy machine guns.

This feature comes with crew served weapon units for the US Army, British Armed Forces, Takistan army and Hexagon French infantry.

In addition, Southy & Eble's Kiowa Warriors (US Army, ADF) are now supported.

See this post for more info.

William

---------- Post added at 08:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:43 PM ----------

I just registered to say I love this tool. These large scale missions are my favourite way to play Arma/2/OA and the Planned Assault missions I've created have been a blast. Thank you!

I do have question, though. I'm playing Arma Gold and I created a mission where my team is set to attack the enemy's hold point. I've set an enemy gunship between my team and their final waypoint before their main advance and assault. As expected, the gunship ambushes my convoy (cool!); however, my team doesn't react properly to the helicopter -- they don't attack it or anything. Instead, they walk nonchalantly toward their waypoint and proceed to get killed. Is there something I can add in the editor to make my team attack the heli on site, before it wipes everyone out?

Thanks for your feedback! You are one of the few people creating Arma missions (I'm seeing 90 Arma missions vs 2200 missions for Arma2/OA/CO).

I'm using the same settings for Arma and Arma2 movement to the assembly area: YELLOW (hold fire until attacked) with AWARE.

If a team isn't responding to being attacked by a gunship, this might be Arma's AI (which is less responsive than Arma2). I recommend trying a similar mission in Arma2 and check the result. If that's still not satisfactory, please leave me a message with your user name at PlannedAssault and the name of the mission.

---------- Post added at 08:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:02 PM ----------

Are we going to see Lingor isle in this at all?

I'm testing mission generation for the southern part of Lingor. Success rate for mission generation is lower than for Chernarus (because there is less maneuver space for large formations) and I'm seeing some problematic paths. I need to spend a bit more time with Lingor.

[_William 0]

French vehicles and vehicle variants from the Hexagon mod

I've added units (individual, section and platoons) for the French army vehicles offered as part the Hexagon mod.

What makes these vehicle special (and a good fit for a mission generator) is that each of the vehicles can be configured to 'wear' one or more Barracuda camo nets (two colors available) and IED jammers.

In the units now offered in PlannedAssault, I've taken care of the configuration and offer units with and without the camo nets.

See this post for more info.

William

[_William 0]

Zargabad, Exa HMMWVs, Aeneas2020 USMC variants, new Hexagon aircraft, new AAW Bushmaster and aircraft

Happy new year!

The first update of this year is an important one: support for the Zargabad city region. This region is offers both great and varied scenery and similar combat, both inside and outside the city.

I've spent considerable time testing mission planning and resulting combat in Zargabad, which resulted in a few changes and tweaks: units switch to narrow formations when traversing terrain offering little maneuver space, attack planning uses a smaller area around the objective to seize.

I did test defensive squads occupying house positions, but that behavior needs more work and isn't part of this update. The area south of Zargabad also represents great combat terrain, but Arma2's AI currently cannot reliably find and use the shallow river crossing (bug filed).

The following mods and units have been added: ExplosiveAid & Stiltman's HMMWV pack, Aeneas2020's USMC variants, AAW's Bushmasters vehicles and the new Hexagon aircraft (Rafale jets and Puma SA-330 Pirate helicopter).

In order to better represent the 2003 era combat in Iraq, I've set up unit definitions for empty A2:OA desert HMMWVs crewed by Aeneas2020's BDU/DCU marines.

See this post for more info. Below the usual action shots from generated missions.

William

[abs 2]

Hi William!

I can't say that I've used this yet, since mission making isn't my thing. I just wanted to say how impressed I am by all the effort you've put in to this project. Great, great work.

Abs