rotkeps
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Posts posted by rotkeps
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Though you can let them try to do this at any time by ordering "Engage at will".That is another big issue with the AI, even if set to disengage, if you order an attack on something, even if its in plain sight, rather than just shoot at it they run off trying to pull off some big elaborate flanking maneuver. Little things like that just start to wear on me to the point I start f'ing and blinding at my screen when I see half my squad go running 500m off into a bush to get a "good position" on the guy I asked them to shoot who was stood right infront of them to begin with :(
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Thanks for the replies all, yeah I do like playing PvP to -- just I like the scope of the crcti game and it can get really epic.
Just those occasions when I have bought specific units in my squad to do specific things that when the time comes, they do the exact opposite of that I get a frowny face :(
I think the AI overall is actually good, its just when you're in control of a squad of them and you want to get things done with that squad it can start to just become a battle with frustration, I've been playing crcti for weeks now, at the start I thought it was super awesome and couldn't get enough, just the more I learn about commanding the AI the more it winds me up :D
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I just can't play it with this abysmal AI, it seems like a big portion of the game is centered around at one point or other AI being in control or you being in control of them -- and it is just so broken that it makes the whole thing this tawdry affair.
For instance, I like the crcti mod, but having to command a little bunch of the buggers is just a nightmare.
Here is just a few of the things I have noticed, all of which I consider utterly gamebreaking, that is, whilst this behaviour remains in the AI it completely undermines everything else the game is trying to achieve, rendering it pointless.
1. AI moving for no apparent reason in the middle of firefights when:
- Obviously it is ideal for the AI to prioritize keeping its head down as much as possible with as little as movement as possible, even if ordered to do so.
- It makes very large swooping arc like movements to take a few steps forward, putting it in harms way and breaking cover in such an un-necessary way.
- You can't shoot whilst moving in this game, well unless you're walking, but the AI never walks, even in combat it just likes running about everywhere.
2. AI seems oblivious to cover and how to use it:
- It certainly seems to run to bushes / walls / buildings etc and act like its using cover, but its not.
- Again, combat quickly highlights this behaviour is extremely basic, they never try and take up positions in a defensive fashion so they are behind cover (IE there is something between them and the bullets) and providing a good arc of fire on enemy positions.
- The ones that didn't do something stupid and got themselves killed will just be stood well behind something not doing much of anything.
- When behind things like walls, instead of crouching to actually be able to be firing back, they just prone behind it like morons, never moving, never returning fire.
- Ordering them to take cover does the exact opposite, they all go stand in the open for no apparent reason :(
3. AI seems to go from one extreme to the next on its ability to fight.
- It is either godlike in perception, able to pinpoint you through a bush from 500m landing a single shot to your skull.
- Goes into lobotomy mode, even enemy soldiers in the open in its field of view will just be ignored.
- Sort of ties into 2. with the cover, but they also seem to have terrible reactions after changing stance, IE, someone proned behind a wall I just ordered to crouch, will then crouch and takes about 10 seconds to actually start shooting back (which he probably won't do, he will most likely just prone again if he wasn't shot in the face first)
4. Why bother taking AI soldiers with rocket launchers and the like? They never use them on anything that counts.
- Get into a firefight with a small group of infantry and they can't wait to blast their rockets at just about anything
- Something armoured turned up? good luck getting them to do anything about that, ordering to attack will often have them (with rifle in hand) run to the nearest bush and prone... brilliant.
- Same with machinegunners really, they don't seem to understand they're using a weapon good at supressing, and choose to fire a couple of short bursts once in a while. Whilst they could be letting rip :(
I know that all probably seems pretty scathing, but I seriously do like this game, and I love crcti -- but sometimes the AI just make me want to uninstall this game and check back a few patches down the road, just feels like I am having a much tougher battle with my own squad than I ever will against enemy soldiers.
Peace out ^^
[GUIDE] AI Squad Command
in ARMA 2 & OA - GENERAL
Posted · Edited by rotkeps
1. Introduction
Am I the only one? Am I the lone scaredy cat afraid of a few harshly presented menus, who whilst owning both the downright groundbreaking Operation Flashpoint and it’s slightly underwhelming sibling Armed Assault have managed to completely and utterly avoid any form of interaction with those loyalist of minions?
Of course I am referring to those lovable reprobates that are my very own AI squad mates.
So there I was, firing up Armed Assault 2, not without some apprehension I might add, its predecessor had been quite the disappointment. I was hooked. Finally I had found the game that could deem itself the successor to the now low-res throne of OFP. It wasn’t long into this reawakening that I discovered my current gaming romance. CRCTI.
But I was in a quandary. The epically scoped game mode, in a fairly annoying fashion, seemed to revolve solely around my ability to control my aforementioned nemesis. It was time. Time for me to face my fears and begin a duel with the baffling array of menus I had hid from for all these years, only to discover I was quite hopeless. I had been entertaining myself with the ‘move’ command for a while, but I knew deep down there was a better way of controlling the CPU bound dullards.
Much like anyone with an information shaped hole in my mindbox, I hit the interwebs. Whilst I could find a few details out about the complexities of the gaggle of menus, any grander overview or context to their use eluded me. So in the true spirit of someone with too much time on their hands I fired up the editor and began experimenting.
As I went on learning new things about my ever adored gang of AI, I also went on playing CRCTI for unholy lengths of time. It was becoming pretty clear that quite a few others playing on the servers weren’t getting the most out of their binary fed underlings.
This guide is a result of that excess time mixed with the hope to reduce the confusing slap across the chops CRCTI often gives new comers.
In a disclaimer-ish take on this, I should point out that I am neither an expert on this, nor are all the features of commanding the AI covered. Some I didn’t feel truly pertinent for battle-to-battle control, others I will get around to adding eventually when I can figure out how they fit in the overall scheme of things and a couple are just downright broken.
Enough of my gibbering, on with the guide!
2. Your Squad
So you have a acquired a group of the blighters. What now? I would begin by accustoming yourself to one of the cleaner facets of ArmA2’s UI.
If you have squad members, this should be in the bottom-left of your screen. Those portraits are your window to status of your bit-induced buddies. The colour as well as any icons attached represent each soldiers condition, armaments and what action they’re currently undertaking. You may also notice that each of them is handily numbered, which is used in their selection. This is a pretty straight forward process which can be performed in a number of ways.
Pressing (spacebar) to open the Quick-Command menu will select all of your squad. Selecting individual soldiers can either be done by aiming at them and left clicking whilst in the Quick-Command menu or by pressing the F-key that corresponds to the numbers found on the portrait.
Should you have more than ten members in your squad you will be able to scroll through 'pages' using the F11 and F12 keys, which makes creating sub-groups important. They can be chosen by tapping your way through the appropriate F-keys, but you can create preset groups that can be selected easier. This will be covered later on in the guide.
3. Command Menus
There are several menus that fill with options depending upon what you have selected. They offer a wide range of conditions that allow you to configure how you wish your squad to behave in and out of combat
Each menu is assigned to your number keys ‘1 – 9’. It should be noted that some menus alter depending the type of unit selected as well as based upon the context of what you’re currently aiming at.
The following are covered in this guide:
4. Quick Command
Your bread and butter of the menus on offer. It features a couple of unique options as well as some of the more important ones from within other menus. Most importantly it will by default display a context sensitive option based upon what you’re currently aiming at.
Gives the option to move the selected squad members to that location
Gives the option to individually select that squad member
Gives the option for selected squad members to either board or disembark from the vehicle
Gives the options to Engage the target (see: 5. Engagement)
You also have the option to order your selected squad members to regroup or stop based upon their current status. Regroup will have them return to formation, whilst stop will have them remain in their current position until ordered to do otherwise. The other options are covered within the other sections of this guide.
5. Engagement
Here you get to control how your squad members will behave when in range of or under attack from the enemy.
Your squad will attack any enemy it deems to be an immediate threat, usually either very close range targets or those that are firing in your direction
Your squad will attack any enemy it can see and is within range
Your squad will remain in formation whilst in combat, any squad members given specific targets will break that formation to attack
Your squad members will break formation in combat to attack their self acquired targets
Your squad will maintain formation under any circumstance
6. Combat Mode
This menu configures the behaviour of your squad members whilst on the move. Also, you have the option to determine which stance they should try and keep.
Your squad moves very quickly. Ignores cover whilst moving often opting to take roads and paths and will not be on the lookout for enemy units
Your squad moves quickly. Will stick loosely to cover sometimes taking roads and paths and will be looking out for enemy units
Your squad moves very slowly. Moving strictly from cover to cover in a bounding fashion, one group will stop to cover whilst one group advances, the squad should spend a lot of time in the prone position
Your squad moves slowly. Moving strictly from cover to cover in a bounding fashion, one group will stop to cover whilst one group advances
Your squad will stay stood up. Useful for traversing long distances on foot
Your squad will remain in the crouched position. Useful for close quarters combat, featuring plenty of cover
Your squad will stick to the prone position. Useful for quiet movement or long range and low cover engagements
Your squad matches your current stance
7. Formation
Simple enough, your squad forms the shape you select in the menu. However it shouldn’t be overlooked so hastily as the chosen formation can play a role in the survivability of your squad members whilst in combat.
You should try to think of the formation as a plug to an enemy position, picking the shape that best fits their position. This of course relies heavily on your intelligence on the enemy positions but for the most part that can be extrapolated from the immediate terrain.
Wedge is the default and is a very solid all round formation. It offers a good forward base of fire whilst giving adequate flank protection on either side. But applying the above rule of ‘round peg; round hole’ you can see a couple of other formations in the below examples that may better suit a combat situation over another.
Here you can see an attack on a small defended village, since no matter which angle you approach you will often find yourself taking it head-on, a line formation will provide a better base of fire than the wedge.
This one shows slightly bigger village. Here your line formation is nowhere near suitable enough to give the appropriate base of fire across the breadth of the village and will leave your flanks exposed. So opting for an echelon formation with the face towards the main body of the town will give enough a compromise between the forward base of fire and protection of the flank.