dynamic artillery

[blow56]

Is there a trick to this that I am missing? I believed dynamic artillery to be the ability of the computer player to use artillery in-game. I was prepared for a certain amount of idiocy, AIs being what they are - but I can't seem to get my FOs to use it at all. I have placed them in brilliant positions, made them Crack or Elite and still can't get them to drop arty fire.

What have I not done/done incorrectly?

[SgtMuhammed]

In the current version the AI is VERY picky about what he will call arty on, and will not call it at all untill about half way through the scenario. The reason for the delay is to allow the AI to identify the player's main attack rather than wasting all his rounds on the initial recon. Of course if the battle has no recon then the AI is kind of screwed.

There are a couple other threads about this but the big thing to remember is that the AI is much less capable than a human opponent with his arty. It can't guess where you will be going and will only fire at an identified target. If you are attacking and keeping your guys out of view for more than a minute or two there is the possibility that you will never see AI arty, even if he has tons of it. He will also generally not fire close to his own troops, although I did get to see the AI drop a 2000lb bomb on his own position once.

In the newest patch we are working on loosening the arty up a bit to give the AI a bit more flexability.

[Paper Tiger]

Yes, I have to confess that I'm a bit disappointed too at the way it's been implemented. Apart fom my dedicated AI artillery test fire scenario, I have only seen the AI use it's artillery ONCE in every single game that I've played since I installed the Marines. On a positive note however, when it DID use it... OUCH!!!

It's mostly to do with this artificial delay imposed on the AI that prevents it from using it until at least half way through the mission. But as SgtMuhammed (and Steve in another thread) have said they're going to reduce this delay a bit. Personally I'd prefer it if it were removed altogether as the canny scenario designer can ensure that the AI doesn't blow all it's artillery in the early part of the mission by the simple device of giving the AI artillery as reinforcements later in the mission. However, I doubt that's going to happen so I'm really hoping that it is reduced so that it NEVER delays more than 15 minutes in a 2 hour scenario.

My main complaint about this artificial delay is that I now KNOW that the AI won't use any artillery in the first half of the mission so I can perform my attack or defence in full confidence that I'm safe, much as it was before this feature was introduced. Then, as I approach the half way mark, I begin to get a bit more careful and where possible, try to close the ranges and I never see it happen.

However, I'm really looking forward to seeing what a difference there is when the new patch arrives... whenever. If it could use it's artillery like it did the only time I've seen it used in a mission, it would be awesome.

[Cpl Steiner]

In a scenario I'm designing now, I've got the AI to use its artillery pretty much every game. However, it usually doesn't start falling until at least half an hour into the game. Some tips:

1. Give them light artillery only like 82mm mortars. If they are trying to call in the heavy stuff the command delay will likely be too long.

2. Put the FO in AI group 1 (the default) and manually place him on the map in a position you know has LOS to plenty of places the opposing force will likely have to use (using the LOS tool to check). Now make sure that the default AI group (group 1) doesn't have any setup order. This will make the AI leave the FO where you placed him. N.B. - I use AI group 1 for any forces I want to be static where I placed them, e.g. snipers, ATGM teams etc. It really makes a difference to their ability to spot enemy targets.

3. Make sure the FO is in command. If he's out of command, it will add a lot to his command delay to call in the artillery.

As I've been testing the scenario I've been cease firing a lot and when you do this, lots of times you can actually see the AI FO using the artillery targeting command. He usually places a linear target about 50m to 100m long perpendicular to the enemy's line of advance.

[Paper Tiger]

3. Make sure the FO is in command. If he's out of command, it will add a lot to his command delay to call in the artillery.

I'm already solid on points 1 and 2. I guess every mission I create after the Marines module will have one group dedicated to 'fixed' position units. However, I'm intrigued by point 3. In all my time playing Red v Red missions, I don't think I ever once cared about keeping the Battalion's dedicated FO in command of his boss. And in many of my scenarios, the FO is 'independent' and therefore C2 isn't an issue. I'll have to experiment later today and see if pairing the battalion HQ with the FO makes a difference to delays. If it does, I'll have to amend all my current work to incorporate it into them. Thanks for that hint.

[SgtMuhammed]

Steiner,

You've seen the AI use linear targets? So far I have only seen him use area targets, often with HUGE areas. Once he even included himself in the area and ended up eating a 2000lb bomb.

[Paper Tiger]

Well, I tried a couple of experiments with the Battalion HQ + Battalion FO section and didn't see any difference. However, I did see a difference when I paired them up when they were under MY control. I set up the Battalion HQ in the same location with the Battalion FO and while the command delays were the same as I usually see, (9 minutes for organic Battalion mortars) the green crosses were much larger. So, I started the mission and I gave the battalion HQ an order to run away as fast as possible and as soon as the FO was out of his command range, those green crosses turned into tiny yellow pinpricks. However, the delay time stayed the same.

Now, I'm not really sure just what that means in the game as there's no reduction to the delay but I was impressed enough to make sure that I will do this whenever I can in the future. I have to confess that most of the missions I'm playing just now are of 2 hours duration and that's probably why I'm not getting to see it happen at all. I will try another experiment this weekend with a much shorter mission and see what happens.

BTW, I have also seen the AI use linear targets in my AI artillery test scenario.