TPWC AI suppression system

[Orcinus]

Hi tpw

Only Flashpoint uses unit spawning AFAIK; although the error seems more frequent than in the other two missions, there are (especially integrated over time) more units running around/getting shot at/getting killed. I'll test it some more today.

UGLY58 makes a good point - highly trained &/or experienced units would not be affected to the same extent as new recruits. Would making the maximum courage reduction inversely proportional to the unit's starting level work?

And/or, if it doesn't overcomplicate/slow the code, require a significantly greater number of nearby allies killed to reduce courage of a maximally skilled unit by a given %age than for recruits. That would tend to make firefights harder/longer, which would be icing on an already tasty cake

I have no idea what the issue is when running asr_ai as well - i.e., why the errant/amok chopper problem resurfaced in Trial by Fire. That could be a mission breaker in a lot of scenarios. To confirm, it isn't an RC 1.61 issue, on reverting to TPWC AIS 207b the chopper lands more-or-less immediately, either just firing a minigun at the ZSU truck or occasionally taking a brief detour to zap it with rockets before landing; just as it did in 1.60. Would still be interestede to learn if someone with 1.60 finds any change in that mission with asr_ai & tpwc AIS v3.00 between stock 1.60 and the beta 94945.

[tpw]

Thanks Orc

Associate Professor -Coulum- is the resident skills wrangler, but I will see if I can cook up something along the lines of what you and Ugly58 are talking about. Shouldn't be rocket surgery.

Re the chopper problem. We changed the suppression code between 2.07 and 3.00. It's meant to exclude units in vehicles (including choppers) from being suppressed, but I'll go over it with an electron microscope to make sure.

EDIT: This is the code to only apply suppression to selected units:

if (local _x && (vehicle _x == _x) && (lifestate _x == "ALIVE") && (side _x != civilian)) then {

local _x -suppression only applied to units local to the player
vehicle _x == _x - suppression only applied to units on foot
lifestate _x == "ALIVE" - suppression only applied to uninjured units
side _x != civilian - civilians aren't suppressed

Based on this, I'm not sure why the chopper plays up, but maybe Fabrizio or Ollem can pipe up.

[Robalo]

I have no idea what the issue is when running asr_ai as well - i.e., why the errant/amok chopper problem resurfaced in Trial by Fire. That could be a mission breaker in a lot of scenarios. To confirm, it isn't an RC 1.61 issue, on reverting to TPWC AIS 207b the chopper lands more-or-less immediately, either just firing a minigun at the ZSU truck or occasionally taking a brief detour to zap it with rockets before landing; just as it did in 1.60. Would still be interestede to learn if someone with 1.60 finds any change in that mission with asr_ai & tpwc AIS v3.00 between stock 1.60 and the beta 94945.

It's caused by ASR_AI, explained it on my thread here.

[tpw]

It's caused by ASR_AI, explained it on my thread here.

Thanks Robalo, less work for me!

---------- Post added at 19:49 ---------- Previous post was at 19:23 ----------

Orcinus and Ugly58, if you are up for it, here's the modified skills reduction function, which will decrease courage less for more courageous highly skilled units

Save this file as tpwcas_decskill.sqf to overwrite the current tpwcas_decskill.sqf in your mission directory.

If it works OK for you, then I'll incorporate it into the next addon version.

Spoiler:

show spoiler

/*
DECREASE UNIT SKILLS
- called from main loop
- aiming shake, aiming accuracy and courage decreased by 2.5% per enemy bullet, or 5% if there are nearby casualties
- these skills won't fall below the value set in twpcas_minskill
- courage decreases less rapidly for more initially highly courageous units
*/

tpwcas_fnc_decskill =
    {
    private [ "_x","_unit","_originalaccuracy","_originalshake","_originalcourage","_shots","_newaccuracy","_newshake","_newcourage","_nearunits","_cas","_dec"];
    
    _unit = _this select 0;
    
    //ANY FRIENDLY CASUALTIES WITHIN 20m OF UNIT
    _nearunits = nearestobjects [_unit,["Man"],20];
    _cas = 0;
        {
        if ((side _x == side _unit) && (lifestate _x != "ALIVE")) then 
            {
            _cas = _cas + 1;
            };
        } foreach _nearunits;
        
    if (_cas == 0) then 
        {
        _dec = 0.025; //2.5% decrease
        }
        else
        {
        _dec = 0.05; //5% decrease
        };
        
    _originalaccuracy = _unit getvariable "tpwcas_originalaccuracy";        
    _originalshake = _unit getvariable "tpwcas_originalshake";      
    _originalcourage = _unit getvariable "tpwcas_originalcourage";       
    _shots = _unit getvariable "tpwcas_enemybulletcount";     

    _newaccuracy = (_originalaccuracy - (( _originalaccuracy * _dec) * _shots )) max tpwcas_minskill; 
    _newshake = (_originalshake - ((_originalshake * _dec) * _shots )) max tpwcas_minskill;
    _newcourage = _originalcourage;
    if (cas != 0) then 
        {
        _newcourage = (_originalcourage - ((_originalcourage * (_dec / 2) * (1 - _originalcourage)) * _shots )) max tpwcas_minskill;
        };    
    _unit setskill ["aimingaccuracy",_newaccuracy];         
    _unit setskill ["aimingshake",_newshake];        
    _unit setskill ["courage",_newcourage];  
    }; 

[Ollem]

_local _x is used while bDetect is always only monitoring AI and players on the system that unit is local. I.e. Most AI is local to server, but AI part of a player group is local to the player's system. In case of SP of course all units are local.

[Robalo]

tpw and crew,

Great job, enjoyed this a lot when I replayed "Delaying the bear" from the A2 campaign last night. Cooper was suppressing the enemy with my AK w/45 rnd. RPK mags while sending another Razor guy to do first-aid

Only one thing bothered me: the machinegunners and snipers seem to be forced too often to get up to crouch or standing to shoot, overriding ASR_AI which makes them go prone while not on the move and in the open. Had a closer look and I think it's caused by this bit of code:

			//IF UNIT STANCE IS UNSUPPRESSED   
			if ( time >= _stanceregain) then        
				{ 
				_unit setunitpos "auto";

I'm not sure what's the best way to fix this, don't think I can do anything to prevent it on my end, maybe set up some helper variables if you will add the extra check.

Some notes about my setup: ACE2, ASR_AI (ongoing dev version), TPWC_AIS 3.0 beta. Userconfig:

tpwcas_minskill = 0.1;
tpwcas_reveal = 0; // current ASR_AI already handles this, revealing shooters dynamically based on weapon's sound, ammo and distance from shooter to units hearing it

[domokun]

Userconfig:
tpwcas_minskill = 0.1;
tpwcas_reveal = 0;

Thanks for the feedback about the userconfig

[Ollem]

@tpw:I believe tpwcas-fnc-debug should now also only run for 'if local _x' in Allunits due to changrd MP code. Can't verify now. (And can't pm) but I'm quite sure debug balls will now be created by each player which isn't needed and may even create bad side effects. Right Fabrizio? (Tpwcas_fnc_kient_debug is okay as is).
In tpwcas.sqf CBA_fnc_addEventHandler is only needed on client, so could be ( tpwcas_multiplayer && !(IsDedicated)). Color is a local feature and server has no diplay so no need to chnage it there too...

[tpw]

tpw and crew,

Great job, enjoyed this a lot when I replayed "Delaying the bear" from the A2 campaign last night. Cooper was suppressing the enemy with my AK w/45 rnd. RPK mags while sending another Razor guy to do first-aid

Only one thing bothered me: the machinegunners and snipers seem to be forced too often to get up to crouch or standing to shoot, overriding ASR_AI which makes them go prone while not on the move and in the open. Had a closer look and I think it's caused by this bit of code:

			//IF UNIT STANCE IS UNSUPPRESSED   
			if ( time >= _stanceregain) then        
				{ 
				_unit setunitpos "auto";

I'm not sure what's the best way to fix this, don't think I can do anything to prevent it on my end, maybe set up some helper variables if you will add the extra check.

Some notes about my setup: ACE2, ASR_AI (ongoing dev version), TPWC_AIS 3.0 beta. Userconfig:

tpwcas_minskill = 0.1;
tpwcas_reveal = 0; // current ASR_AI already handles this, revealing shooters dynamically based on weapon's sound, ammo and distance from shooter to units hearing it

Thanks very much for that Robalo. We already have a check to prevent prone units from kneeling under suppression, but if we stopped suppressed units from getting up again once unsuppressed, then we'd end up with everyone prone all the time. The best way I can think of is for you to set a variable on a unit when ASR AI changes their stance. Something like:

//IF UNIT STANCE IS UNSUPPRESSED   
if ( time >= _stanceregain) then        
 {
 if (asr_stance != "down" && asr_stance != "middle") then
  {
  _unit setunitpos "auto";

I once tried using setunitposweak, but it made units do nothing most of the time.

Also, good to know about ASR reveal. I will force tpwcas_reveal = 0 when ASR is running.

[Robalo]

Thanks very much for that Robalo. We already have a check to prevent prone units from kneeling under suppression, but if we stopped suppressed units from getting up again once unsuppressed, then we'd end up with everyone prone all the time. The best way I can think of is for you to set a variable on a unit when ASR AI changes their stance. Something like:

//IF UNIT STANCE IS UNSUPPRESSED   
if ( time >= _stanceregain) then        
 {
 if (asr_stance != "down" && asr_stance != "middle") then
  {
  _unit setunitpos "auto";

I once tried using setunitposweak, but it made units do nothing most of the time.

Also, good to know about ASR reveal. I will force tpwcas_reveal = 0 when ASR is running.

Thanks TPW, actually I already have a global variable you could use and is probably best because it takes user(config) choice into account as well:

asr_ai_sys_aiskill_stayLow which will is set to 1 meaning ASR AI will handle stance (while still allowing TPW to set stance for suppressed units).
So I think you could safely say something like:

// this in the init
if (isNil "asr_ai_sys_aiskill_stayLow") then {asr_ai_sys_aiskill_stayLow = 0};

// and this in main loop
if (asr_ai_sys_aiskill_stayLow != 1) then {_unit setunitpos "auto"};