Infantry & helos

Hello,

I've spent a looong time yesterday preparing a mission, recording sounds etc., just to find out in the end that it is totally broken because of infantry & helo's behaviour. There are a number of problems:

1) Insurgent infantry units that are spawned and move towards Georgian troops will not shoot. At some point I got them to use their weapons, but.. only one soldier on each side was shooting. The rest just stood there. Then I spawned some additional Georgians and moved them at insurgent positions, but they still would refuse to shoot - and would stop half way.

2) I also had two Georgian choppers (Mi24) coming to attack the infantry, with specific "attack group" orders in "advanced waypoint orders" tab. However, upon arriving in the area, they would just make a circle and then RTB, no matter which option or order I used.

3) The second group of helos, UH1, was supposed to ignore all threats and land nearby to unload fresh Georgian reinforcements. However, they would just... "RTB" once they reach the landing zone.

4) I then spawned Russian soldiers against Georgians in a separate mission - and they started to immediately shoot each other. However, Georgian Mi24 or Ka50 was unable to attack targets, constantly RTB without even a single shot.

I am posting the mission file if anyone would like to have a closer look. :helpsmilie:

Is there any way to get the choppers attack the infantry? And why are my infantry units not shooting each other?

S3M1 Patrol near the border.miz

Hello,

 

I've spent a looong time yesterday preparing a mission, recording sounds etc., just to find out in the end that it is totally broken because of infantry & helo's behaviour. There are a number of problems:

 

1) Insurgent infantry units that are spawned and move towards Georgian troops will not shoot. At some point I got them to use their weapons, but.. only one soldier on each side was shooting. The rest just stood there. Then I spawned some additional Georgians and moved them at insurgent positions, but they still would refuse to shoot - and would stop half way.

 

2) I also had two Georgian choppers (Mi24) coming to attack the infantry, with specific "attack group" orders in "advanced waypoint orders" tab. However, upon arriving in the area, they would just make a circle and then RTB, no matter which option or order I used.

 

3) The second group of helos, UH1, was supposed to ignore all threats and land nearby to unload fresh Georgian reinforcements. However, they would just... "RTB" once they reach the landing zone.

 

4) I then spawned Russian soldiers against Georgians in a separate mission - and they started to immediately shoot each other. However, Georgian Mi24 or Ka50 was unable to attack targets, constantly RTB without even a single shot.

 

I am posting the mission file if anyone would like to have a closer look. :helpsmilie:

 

Is there any way to get the choppers attack the infantry? And why are my infantry units not shooting each other?

1) bug was reported during 1.2.7 open beta: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=118341

2) bug posted: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=118994

3) is that the new embarking feature of 1.2.8? that is still wip ...

Yeah, sometimes it leaves one wondering which criteria ED uses for prioritizing bug fixes ........:furious:

It does kill enthusiasm for mission building but it is what it is I guess.

It does kill enthusiasm for mission building but it is what it is I guess.

Oh yes it does.. I have a whole campaign idea centered around the terrorist threat in Georgia, and well, the terrorists rarely drive around in tanks... :music_whistling:

Still, I will have to find some ways around it, perhaps just order both sides to "shoot at point" so at least it looks good and then use some triggers. And also change the Mi24s to Su-25s - do I understand correctly that for fixed wing aircraft it all works fine?

One thing still bothers me - in my mission the infantry would not shoot at each other, yet in the test one I've created after that, both teams were really trying to kill each other (I made them immortal to see how it works and was amazed to find out that infantry's ammo is running out).

Would it help to just initially place them closer to one another and avoid moving (read somewhere that if you place the units too far apart, they won't shoot).

3) is that the new embarking feature of 1.2.8? that is still wip ...

 

Yeah, sometimes it leaves one wondering which criteria ED uses for prioritizing bug fixes ........:furious:

As for 3 I don't think it is, as I am using 1.2.7 and it worked for me before. In advanced waypoint options I just gave a "land" order, and then set the trigger that if the helo is in landing zone and at altitude lower than 5m AGL, the troops would spawn around it. I've tested this in two missions and it worked. Perhaps the "Ignore threat option" is just broken and they won't land until the area is cleared of hostiles.

As for 3 I don't think it is, as I am using 1.2.7 and it worked for me before. In advanced waypoint options I just gave a "land" order, and then set the trigger that if the helo is in landing zone and at altitude lower than 5m AGL, the troops would spawn around it. I've tested this in two missions and it worked. Perhaps the "Ignore threat option" is just broken and they won't land until the area is cleared of hostiles.

The land command in 1.2.7 seemed to have a mind of its own, regularly I could make an insertion and it all went to plan, other times it seemed the AI got a mind of its own and flew off back to base:huh:

The land command in 1.2.7 seemed to have a mind of its own, regularly I could make an insertion and it all went to plan, other times it seemed the AI got a mind of its own and flew off back to base:huh:

Yeah, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

However, as an update, I managed to find some work-arounds and also some mistakes of my own:

1) infantry not engaging: after spawning infantry closer to one another, they started shooting. Moreover, I noticed that some units had no LOS to others, hence only one soldier on the Georgian side was actually trying to hit someone.

2) insurgent and Georgian forces still refuse to move. This is not a big deal, since you can't really see them from the cockpit, so they can be spawned closer to the enemy. Yet it would be nice if they moved their backsides and ran a few meters.

3) I got helos to attack finally by putting two trucks just behind the infantry (well, they must have gotten there somehow, anyway) - so they made a few attacks with rockets, which is perfectly fine. I also fond out that it is important to set reaction to enemy fire, as the default is "allow abort mission" - that also probably explains why the UH1s that were supposed to land just ran away. Will play with this a bit more later and report what I've found.

I hate how buggy the AI sometimes is, but I also love that with so many options given by the editor you can always find some good solution that would work :)

* edit: a question regarding the order of advanced waypoint actions. Say I have used "attack group" command first, and as second "reaction to threat". The group has MANPAD support and starts shooting at the chopper, so it decides to break off the attack - and in consequence returns to base before the reaction to threat (passive defense) kicks in. If I changed the order, would reaction to threat be valid for all other advanced orders?

Just a bump for my well hidden question at the end of previous post :)

* edit: a question regarding the order of advanced waypoint actions. Say I have used "attack group" command first, and as second "reaction to threat". The group has MANPAD support and starts shooting at the chopper, so it decides to break off the attack - and in consequence returns to base before the reaction to threat (passive defense) kicks in. If I changed the order, would reaction to threat be valid for all other advanced orders?

Just a bump for my well hidden question at the end of previous post :)

Heh, yes, I would assume that your idea of how it works is correct. But you should be able to find a definite answer in the DCS:W Manual, p. 141 "Action Lists". There is also a nice diagram (p. 145) of what actions have precedence before others and which can be active in parallel, etc.