AI Discussion (dev branch)

This is a little bit off topic but I wanted to bring it up since I've always wanted a good ai control system implemented into the map mode.

I wouldn't expect to see any work on this done until after the initial release but it would be great to have it.

Vote here: http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=13669

I would love this! Similar to Ghost Recon

Interesting, but on which stance ?

And the target is supposed to be fixed or moving?

While hunting around to see if I could find out I've found the video that it came from.

You can see it here

Any chance a pretty standard attack helicopter tactic could be implemented for the AI?

I'm referring to hold position and engage from distance.The real threat for them should come from AA systems or AA launchers,not expose themselves to every possible enemy fire like they did in OFP,A1,A2 and still do it now.

This will also promote a more tactical gameplay where you need to protect your armor with AA defences.Right now it's open season for everyone to take potshots at them,hell why should I even bother with AA defences when I can just slap 2 HMG Hunters and they'll toast every gunship.

There is a quote that an attack chopper in combat is possible to destroy 17 times it's own production costs but in A3 it seems once it's out of the factory doors it's lucky if they could destroy one armored vehicle before being shot down.

Something like a command to keep them locked in place and engage identified targets should be implemented.If the ground vehicles can do it why choppers can't?

I recommend everyone play one of the missions from the workshop, its called "Assault on Charkia - SP".

Its basically an infantry assault on a town on the new map Altis. I think it shows off pretty well the advances made with the AI.

When I think back to ARMA 2, the improvement is pretty plain to see.

Tried this, i did not se any change, ai squadmates still gets unresponsive, or get lost inside of random buildings, if ordered to move to a specific area, they won't move or it would take 5 minutes for them doing 10 meters.

ai still reports enemies with left and right sentences, as if i knew where the hell my squadmates are looking at...

im tired of this, unistalled the bug simulator, let's see ya in a couple of months

Tried this, i did not se any change, ai squadmates still gets unresponsive, or get lost inside of random buildings, if ordered to move to a specific area, they won't move or it would take 5 minutes for them doing 10 meters.

ai still reports enemies with left and right sentences, as if i knew where the hell my squadmates are looking at...

im tired of this, unistalled the bug simulator, let's see ya in a couple of months

It's not always game's fault if AI doesn't do the things you would like them to do or think that they should be doing.

If you let them engage the enemy, they'll break the formation, engage, and get to the formation once the enemy is killed. It's their basic behaviour.

If you want to have them back to you while they are engaging, seeing or knowing there is enemy, or the enemy is shooting at them, you need to do more than asking them to return back or move to position X.

Otherwise they may still stop and engage the near enemy and/or move from cover to cover.

"Disengage" stops them chasing the enemy on their own, "hold fire" stops them attacking/shooting at the enemy they see/know is around or may encounter while getting back, although they will shoot back if enemy is firing at them.

And "return to formation/regroup" to make them come back to you, or "move to" to go where you want.

Works very well.

Tried this, i did not se any change, ai squadmates still gets unresponsive, or get lost inside of random buildings, if ordered to move to a specific area, they won't move or it would take 5 minutes for them doing 10 meters.

ai still reports enemies with left and right sentences, as if i knew where the hell my squadmates are looking at...

im tired of this, unistalled the bug simulator, let's see ya in a couple of months

sorry should have been more specific. I played through the whole scenario not giving out orders to my squad. they follow through the town and engage intelligently, taking up great cover positions. My real praise was for the CQB of both my team mates and the EI, which is what everyone was kind of discussing in this thread. I'm sure that eventually some squad control improvements will happen, although I care much less about these as I prefer to play either multiplayer co-op or PvP.

What i would like to see is better driving skills for the ai , i know it has been improved but still it isn't good , it sometimes just ignores objects in their path be it man , vehicle or rock .

They should add something like collision awareness , it should be made to avoid any unnecessary collision and maintain a safe distance from objects .

It is just immersion breaking to see an apc ramming down every sign , fence or whatever in their way just to get around a block in safe mode.

That also happens with helicopters , if you place 2 or 3 helicopters (not grouped) in a line about 5 to 10 meters apart and you give them a move waypoint about 10 Km away in the direction of the line , provided that they will take off simultaneously they will almost always collide in midair or at least fly so close that the front helicopter's tail rotor is about a meter away from the cockpit glass of the rear one and with the ai pilot keeping cool being that close while flying at 200 Km/h .

Just ridiculous :D

Problem is that they try to avoid the rock by a large distance! When only skimming it would really be needed.

What I personally would like to see is proper cover utilization of AI soldiers without them being ordered to do so, currently, in most cases they're just going prone basically making themselves easy targets to shoot at once they are getting fired upon. You can still order them to take cover, however in most cases they will still just go prone or hide prone behind rocks while actually facing the rock itself, obscuring their own vision.

Tested on highest difficulty with highest skill settings on the AI soldiers by the way.

What I personally would like to see is proper cover utilization of AI soldiers without them being ordered to do so, currently, in most cases they're just going prone basically making themselves easy targets to shoot at once they are getting fired upon.

Are you using DEV? I haven't been on STABLE for ages. I assume the location your talking about has cover near by... Just last night I was placing enemy squad s then shoot at them from an elevated position 800 meters away. They took a knee or went prone but then a short pause later move to cover behind trees and building corners and then try to search for me fairly well. This is on regular difficulty and default AI settings.

The only added thing I would like is for them to communicate with each other. That is, when an EI has positively sighted my position (he is shooting at me) that he tells his squad mates. It is also a bit odd when an EI take cover behind a light poll that is like 3 inches wide and pops "out of cover" to shoot at me :-)

http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=13397

Can we get some feedback on this by the devs? This has been a problem for me as a vehicle player for a long time. Fighting with the hatch open is important, as well as turning off the engines, particularly for reconaissance (turn off engine to listen for enemy engine noise, for example, or to keep the vehicle cool to prevent observation by TI).

Another thing is the AI independently switching weapons all the time. The commander should be the only person with the authority to select the weapon, unless the target can positively not be harmed by the selected weapon or is a panic target or something.

The CQB fighting is really great now, though, and the 3D voices add so much to the whole feel of the game.

http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=13397

Can we get some feedback on this by the devs? This has been a problem for me as a vehicle player for a long time. Fighting with the hatch open is important, as well as turning off the engines, particularly for reconaissance (turn off engine to listen for enemy engine noise, for example, or to keep the vehicle cool to prevent observation by TI)

This partially solves it, but of course an official implementation would be better: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?162942-WW-AIMenu-%28complimentary-commands%29

Hope Devs have an eye on that, long time needed features on that mod.

Faster prone rotation? I thought it was way too fast (but I haven't seen that in a while, maybe it really was too slow recently)!

Yes, recently it became very slow.

Well at least it's closer to the human player's authentic prone rotation. So improvement.

Interesting read about armor for devs: http://fofanov.armor.kiev.ua/Tanks/TRIALS/19991020.html

Edit. Why the hell i posted this on Development Branch AI Disc.... i wanted to post it in general dev discussion Y_Y

Interesting read about armor for devs: http://fofanov.armor.kiev.ua/Tanks/TRIALS/19991020.html

That is indeed a good read, but it involves neither weapons nor vehicles that actually exist in ArmA 3, and talks about penetrations without any information on the actual damage done...

Does anyone know if there's a correlation between target acquisition and accuracy of fire? Also is acquisition a constant or can it be edited depending on range?

I find enemies slow to target me in CQB but far more capable of spotting me, than I them, from 200 metres out. Changing the ability of enemies seems limited.

I'd love a kind of RPG stats page you can quickly set up enemy AI on for a mission to get the balance between realism and fun right.

Had a squad up atop the Hospital for a good firefight with the enemy below in the street when a few of my guys just walked right off the edge to their death :rolleyes: http://i.imgur.com/kVEVBXG.gif

Is there nothing that can be done to either give the AI an awareness of lethal edges or perhaps construct AI barriers like Mount and Blade has?

Hi again. Today's changes in AI:

Prone rotation speed was improved. Yes, it was kind too slow, now it's two times faster. Feel free to comment on the change.

High skilled soldiers had a problems with hitting targets on medium ranges (100-300 metres). They should be more accurate now, for example 1.0 skilled soldier on Elite difficulty should be deadly accurate.

Nice to hear!

Still waiting for the day when AIs do not continuously drive directly into walls for hours on end :) Overall I have to say, that AI does seem to have some rather serious issues navigating vehicles in any semi inhabited area.

Granted the AI has a certain degree of charm, but it is very annoying when it is critical for one’s mission that the AI knows how to make its way through a small village. Sometimes they simply do not :P

Still waiting for the day when AIs do not continuously drive directly into walls for hours on end :) Overall I have to say, that AI does seem to have some rather serious issues navigating vehicles in any semi inhabited area.

Granted the AI has a certain degree of charm, but it is very annoying when it is critical for one’s mission that the AI knows how to make its way through a small village. Sometimes they simply do not :P

I get ya there mate but on the whole the AI has seriously improved, that includes the driving side of the AI as well.

I get ya there mate but on the whole the AI has seriously improved, that includes the driving side of the AI as well.

They are still too afraid of other objects on the roadside and all. It used to be better (in an earlier Arma 2), but then they recklessly drove over any animal, soldier or civilian they had in their path... a middle ground would be welcome.

• Fixed: Target category not updated after unit hit and AI was not reacting to fire
  

Does this mean the bug where AI will simply ignore nearby gunfire is fixed? Or does it only work when they are actually hit?

The wording is confusing.