Idea for AI Commander

  1. 9 years ago
    Edited 9 years ago by stcrowe

    Just got Arma 3, and ALiVE was a big reason I bought Arma 3. BIS should just give you guys tons of cash to work with them. Okay enough praise!

    The Idea
    I think it be would useful to have an AI Commander that instead of being in charge of a faction is instead in charge of units which are linked to him. The AI Commander would still work towards the objectives it is linked to, but only using the units that are linked to it. It would not use any other units in the same faction, or under the control of another AI Commander. Also, if another AI Commander is in charge of that faction, that commander will not use the units linked to the first commander (even if those units are in the same faction).

    How It Is Now
    This feature is kind of already possible. You place down units, sync them with Virtual AI System, place down a AI Commander module, and set the AI Commander to the faction of the units you placed down. The problem is, if you wanted to create a second AI Commander in charge of another group of units, but those unit's were of the same faction, only one AI Commander will be in charge, and the objectives linked to both commanders will be intermixed.

    Why Would Anyone Want This?
    ALiVE is trying to emulate a large scale conflict, but these same features can be used to create interesting missions were certain squads, platoons, ect. have objectives beyond the large scale conflict with minimal coding from the mission maker. The AI Commander in this case is acting as a squad, platoon, or battalion commander. You set objectives for him, and he does his best to complete those objectives with the resources he has. By having AI Commanders' in charge of linked units, I can create missions where two enemy platoons, each controlled by different commanders, have different and specialized goals. I could then create a third AI Commander who is in control of the entire faction, with the exception of the two specialized enemy platoons, and thus in charge of the large battle as a whole. The two platoons, of the same faction, will complete objectives that differ from each other and which differ from the faction as a whole.

    I am actually doing this for my current mission using RHS. Because RHS has two factions of Russians: VDV and MSV. I can create a AI Commander that uses the VDV faction, and have him set to the task of guarding certain key points on the map. I give this VDV commander a few units at each point, set a custom objective at these points, and he positions the units as he see fits in both a random and secure fashion. In vanilla Arma 3, I would have to use multiple move points to get them into position and I would lack the performance enhancing virtualization features of ALiVE.

    I have a second AI Commander in charge of the MSV faction, who will be triggered to provide support to the custom key point objectives if US forces were to arrive. This commander makes the decisions as to where to send his his troops and how many based on the attack of the US forces. Again, this is done completely through ALiVE and vanilla triggers, no third party scripts needed.

    It would have been nice to have a third AI Commander in my mission to provide pressure on US forces, but I ran out of RHS factions. I could technically use OPF_F faction, but that would break immersion. It would also have been nice to have a fourth AI Commander in charge of occupying the "occupied" zone.

    If AI Commanders, or maybe a new module, like AI SpecOp Commander, could instead control just linked units that would allow mission makers to have both large scale control as well as tight specific mission control. Yes, I know that you cold just use vanilla unit drop and scripts, but the AI Commander already does a better job (well vanilla did no job so that's not saying much) of acting like a squad or platoon commander than vanilla could ever have done without heavy scripting. Plus you get the added benefit of virtualization of your units.

    Why Not Use One Faction and Weighted Objectives?
    Weight objectives are great, but in my clan, non-official missions have a tendency to be between 3 to 5 people. I need to make a tight mission where there will be 1 BMP, and ~5 guys in the city, and ~3 guys guarding the radio tower. However, with ALiVE, I get the benefit of virtualization of my units, and the AI Commander (who is set to occupy) will place the units in a proper defense position, and move them around if the need arises. I get the best of both worlds, a tight mission and a commander who is in charge creating a (small) dynamic battle. In addition, if I could link those units to this new type of AI Commander, then I could create another AI Commander of the faction, who would occupy the outer areas. If the team get's off mission by a few kilometers, they will run into some nasty larger forces.

    With weighted objectives and one AI Commander in charge of the whole faction, you cannot easily simulate/control the fact that different platoons or squads might have different objectives than the rest of the occupied force.

    Is It Possible?
    I do not know. Maybe this feature is planned, or it has already been discussed? (I did look before I posted, but found nothing). I guess I am asking the ALiVE team the question. I have yet to look into the code, but ignoring WarRoom, I would think this is possible. It is partially possible as of now.

    Conclusion
    If you made it this far, congratulations! Again, this is just an idea. Maybe it is a stupid idea, or an idea that doesn't fit with ALiVE's goals. Maybe the idea is completely impossible and so much AI Commanding would bring Arma to it's knees. I dunno, but at least you now have my thoughts.

  2. Tupolov

    15 Jan 2015 Administrator

    Great feedback! Appreciate the effort that went into the post. So, if I read this right you want to be able to establish AI Commanders on a per group or set of groups basis.

  3. Edited 9 years ago by stcrowe

    Yeah that is my idea in a nut shell.

    Here is how the feature would look on the wiki:

    Military AI Commanders have two modes: "use faction" or "use groups". When placing a Military AI Commander module in the editor, by default the module is set to "use faction". You can change this behavior by selecting "use groups" from the drop down.

    Use Faction Mode
    AI Commanders with the "use faction" mode selected will take command of all available virtual units (profiles) for its faction. You can change which faction the module will control from the drop down. OPCOM can control more than one faction at the same time and custom factions can be entered in the “override factions” box. Commanders must have some troops to control from a synced Placement module set to spawn troops or some manually placed and profiled units.

    Note: To limit Commanders in "use factions" mode to a set number of units, manually place some units in the editor and Sync (F5) them to the Virtual AI System module with appropriate settings to ‘convert’ them to profiles. Make sure you select Objectives Only on the Placement Module to prevent it spawning any units! As an alternative, consider using the "use groups" mode, which will allow you to have separate AI Commanders to lead synced squads, platoons, or battalions.

    Use Groups Mode
    AI Commanders with the "use group" mode selected will only control groups that are synced (F5) to the module. All units synced with an AI Commander will be automatically ‘convert’ to profiles and will be considered unavailable to other AI Commanders. If you sync groups from different factions, OPCOM will control them as well.

    Note: Groups can only be synced to one AI Commander Module at time.

    Note: If a Military AI Commander module is set to "use groups" mode, then the module cannot spawn in units at objectives. All military objectives are treated as "Objectives Only".

  4. Or make things simple and just have two modules: Military AI Group Commander and Military AI Faction Commander.

  5. 7 years ago

    sorry to bring up such an old post, but this is an excellent idea and could redefine the level of realism in arma 3. fighting regional commanders or enemy combat teams instead of a random array of troops thrown at you.

  6. That presentation though...

  7. Yeah I hate to jump on the necropost bandwagon but this is a solid idea.

 

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