Small But Important AI Adjustment Please

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Long, long, long ago... way back in the misty days of CM:SF Alpha, we required the player to manually reload vehicle machineguns that were not normally crewed. For example the MGs on top of Abrams or Strykers. All the player had to do was unbutton and the MG would be reloaded. After suffering through months of testers reporting that their MGs didn't work we yanked the feature because every time Charles looked at the "bug" it was because the player didn't reload the gun. So nope, we don't think it's a good idea to have manual reloading

Except that for tanks it's still required to manually load the flexible MGs. This on account of tank crew members getting shot reloading an entirely secondary weapon.

And long may this continue.

[Battlefront.com]

Or at least if said stryker with Mk-19 starts to reload in the middle of firing on BMP then the Tac AI will back the stryker out of LOS?? or is this already in there?

If the crew senses immediate threat it tends not to reload. The vehicle, however, will NOT move around on its own. That's a really thorny issue with players and generally we leave it to the player to determine when relocating is a good idea and (almost as importantly) where to relocate to.

Steve,

You wouldn't have to make all reloads mandatory. Certainly I want my gunners to reload automatically when their weapon is empty. What we are talking about here, as far as I'm concerned, is the OPTION to have the gunner reload at my orders when the weapon ISN'T empty. I understand that the TacAI can't easily handle figuring out good points in time to reload. That's what MY job is. TacAI can however easily tell when the gun is dry and react accordingly, meaning fill 'er up.

But that's exactly the problem we have with it now. The TacAI does reload automatically whenever the weapon is empty. The problem is that sometimes it does that instead of relocating and then reloading. Having the player manually specify when (which is also closely tied to where) is the thing we have to avoid.

Again, we have some thoughts about how to fix this, but I don't want to get into details. Just understand that there is no simple fix that will, on balance, make people overall happier than the way it is now. We need something more substantial.

Except that for tanks it's still required to manually load the flexible MGs. This on account of tank crew members getting shot reloading an entirely secondary weapon.

And long may this continue.

Heh... I forgot we switched that around. Yes, the logic is if the weapon is the vehicles ONLY weapon then the crew will automatically reload. If the weapon is not primary then the crew must be manually unbuttoned to have it reload. This makes sure that the vehicle is effectively able to participate in the battle even if the player is not micro managing the loading process. For example, an Abrams will have its main gun and coax MG loaded automatically, a Stryker will have its RWS weapon (.50 or Mk19) automatically loaded.

GENERALLY roof mounted weapons which are auto reloaded are on lightly armored vehicles and therefore aren't getting hammered by enemy small arms fire. This means the risk to the crew reloading is usually fairly low. Or at least low enough to risk reloading. GENERALLY vehicles with roof mounted weapons which aren't auto reloaded tend to be on heavily armored vehicles and therefore ARE at risk of being hit by small arms fire fairly regularly. Therefore, their crews are at increased risk of getting whacked by small arms fire.

Steve

[Pandur]

The problem is there needs to be a predictable point where the TacAI can reload the weapon *and* the player can't interrupt the process.

now this i dont understand. do you mean the player interrupting it himself by some sort of command?

in the original example wich got nothing to do with vehicles, the RPG on page 1 , where is the problem with "keeping the current behaviour" so the soldier tryies to reload at once, but he is able to interrupt it when the player gives a movement command. i mean this is indirect control over reloading for the player but its bound to a purpouse. you cant realy use ir or need it in any other situation.

something like this for the TACai; i am ordered to a new spot > stop reloading, go there and try again when arived.

so the soldier automaticly reloads as soon as his unit is without orders, as example when stoping behind the house. there is no player input nessesary other then giveing a movement command.

from my current POV i cant see a problem with this.

[Lanzfeld]

Steve,

You talk about having an idea on how to fix this. Any chance that you can shed some light on the idea at this time? I only ask because I had a disaster with an RPG guy and I am projecting this problem to my zook teams in Normandy.

Thanks

[Lanzfeld]

Steve,

Could you please take the time to maybe answer this question even if the answer is I cant tell you yet?

[Battlefront.com]

The idea for the fix is predicated on other things being done for other aspects of the game. Therefore, it's best if I not say anything at this point because opening Pandora's Box is not a good idea The important thing to note is that we understand the issue and would like to offer a workable solution as soon as we can.

Steve