VCOM 3.0 is out, anybody mess with it yet?

Yeah I added it into our current mission and so far it looks really promising.

We were passing by the town of Timurkalay on Takistan. We took contact from a large group of Taliban so found a fairly secure spot in defilade and started firing back with the .50 cal on our Coyote. There was at least 3 squads so I deployed our 60mm mortar and started to drop rounds on them. They replied with a couple of rounds from their own mortars (VCOM) destroying all the wheels on the Coyote.

After we had taken out the forces on the hills we decided to pop smoke and use that for cover to get into the town. We took a few wounds getting into a compound and holed up in a house to patch up. While we were doing so 2 insurgents breached the house (VCOM) but were quickly taken out.

Later on we started taking smoke rounds and random .50cal fire. It took us a while to work out what had happened. Insurgents flanking our initial position (VCOM) had mounted up in our disabled Coyote and were using the gun on that, along with the 60mm mortar I'd abandoned to attack us with (VCOM)

So yeah, so far so good, the enemy seem smart, reactive and very capable without being super soldiers. That was with the default settings as well.

Seems great, except for the fact that I can't order other friendly groups onto their transports anymore, even when I disable VCOM for BLUFOR. They'll get in once, and then later when I try to get them back in their transports they'll all pile in only to get right back out and refuse to get in again. Bummer.

3.0 seems stunning to me. I'm fairly experienced with leading an AI group, and I've had VCOM on always but 3.0 just blew my mind off. The AI with its movement, using covers and everything seemed so brilliant. This might be my imagination but @JD_Wang seemed to enjoy it aswell, so maybe it's not lol. Really made my day and I found out leading AI to be actually fun and interesting for a change.

We were testing a new mission last night and for a hot minute though ALiVE was blatantly spawning units behind us, but once I popped into Zeus I realised the enemy squad that had "appeared" behind us, had been sent from quite a ways down the road from an OPFOR camp. Oh and their CQB seems so much better now. I don't know how much is real and how much is just the fact that from the ground you can't see what happening, but fighting in towns is scary fun right now.

Having given such a glowing report though I am having issue with rpt spam. My rpt file is now up to 15mb and it's full with the same VCOM error. I've posted in the BI VCOM 3.0 thread but no sign of an answer yet.

Did 3.0 fix taking over combat support?

3.0 doesn't effect air vehicles at all from what I know. I haven't seen it take over supports, although I do use the code to disable VCOM on my artillery supports because I believe it would assign them targets etc otherwise.

After about a week of testing it as I built our lated campaign, I can safely say this is the best AI script hands down. Genesis did an amazing job with the rewrite.

Well I made a test mission where Vcom did take over attack, transport heli and the arty. The mission starts however with enemies in sight of the said support assets. So that might be it.

@JD_Wang After about a week of testing it as I built our lated campaign, I can safely say this is the best AI script hands down. Genesis did an amazing job with the rewrite.

Totally agreed.

@RedeyeStorm are you sure you're using version 3.0 ?
There's a new thread for it on the BI forums and a new Github. I've played for hours with it and not seen it take over helos.

Even genesis said in the old thread

Vcom AI does influence vehicles, but no longer directly controls aircraft any longer.

Make sure you have 3.0

I will check soon. I have Vcom through Steam so it should update automatically.

@RedeyeStorm I will check soon. I have Vcom through Steam so it should update automatically.

There's a line of code in the wiki that you need to place in init-file, which is accessable inside the "general" tab within Eden editor. It has worked for me (or I've been lucky), haven't noticed any CAS or Transports being controlled by VCOM. Here's the code, down the page:

http://alivemod.com/wiki/index.php/FAQ#VCOM_AI:_How_can_I_stop_VCOM_taking_over_my_CAS_Units.3F

@Hedberg that will only work (and even then not well) for pre version 3.0 and there's no reason to use anything but 3.0 now. Everything before 3.0 is hot garbage compared to what we have now.

I'm not sure if steam has a 3.0 release yet, I always use the script version.

It seems that combat support is still being used by vcom. Had mine take off mid mission to go loiter over an area.

@Seagull have you updated to version 3.0 from the BI forums?
I've been running a mission for almost a week now with that and not seen a single support take off.

The new version doesn't influence aircraft at all from what genesis says

VCOM just keeps getting better and better. Since I upgraded to the latest version a few days ago, I've noticed AI are very good at hiding out in buildings. Close quarters combat is really fun with this mod. It's more fun now to just hang out in cities because you never know what's behind that door.

@JD_Wang No I'm using the updated Steam version. Ill try the fourms version though.

Hi JD, the steam version is the same date I checked. I haven't checked whether or not Vcom takes control of your air assets I do know that they will respond to your orders every time. So even if Vcom takes over I don't realy mind because I kind like the idea that my CO deployes hus assets to support all the troops. My latest mission usess CUP units and the only arty are morters and they do not run off.

I am interested to find out if the script version works differentbthen steam version.

Checked. Vcom v3.0 does take over air assets. Not a problem. Per se for the CAS but the transport could get conflicting orders and refuse to pick you up.