'guarded by' triggers...

[bedges]

i can find nothing specific about these. how do they work? i know about the 'guard' waypoint, but not the trigger...

[macguba]

Create a test missionette.    Create a guarded by trigger.   Create a group on a guard waypoint.   Watch what happens.   Try it with multiple triggers and guard groups.

Create two identical enemy groups, one in a guarded by trigger area and one not.   Make sure each is spotted simultaneously by a friendly OP.   Have one friendly group on a guard waypoint.   Watch what happens.    I'd tell you but I can't remember for sure.

I don't really use guarded by triggers any more myself.   I used to but found them, like S&D waypoints, a bit of a blunt instrument.    However in certain circumstances they are just what you want, since the "attract" guard groups.  

[AK-Chester]

"Guarded by X" type triggers are used together with GUARD type waypoints. When a unit reaches a GUARD waypoint, it will move to the nearest "Guarder by UNITSSIDE" trigger. If none are available, it will just stand idle at the waypoint.

Taken from Bloodmixers FAQ.

[General Barron]

I love "guarded by" triggers. They are so easy to use and so useful. Basically, whenever some enemies are spotted/engaged near a "guarded by" trigger, than nearby friendly groups on a "guard" waypoint will move to engage the enemies near the trigger. Note that this doesn't happen until the enemy is spotted, unlike what AK-Chester is claiming.

I'm not sure about the specifics, such as how close a group must be to support a trigger, or how many groups will support a trigger at one time. So if you have lots of "guarded by" triggers, and lots of "guard" waypoints, spread far across the map, you could run into undesired results (i.e. squads moving all the way across the island to support). This is why it is somewhat of a "blunt" solution, as macguba said.

If you do have a situation like above (lots of enemies/guard locations spread over a wide area), and you want to have very precise control over which groups can support whom, then I would suggest using a script such as Bremmer's AI script or Keycat's grouplink script. But if you have something smaller or simpler, I would highly suggest using guard waypoints/triggers, because they are extremely easy to use, and work better than those scripts at what they do.

[Tyger]

I may be jumping ahead of myself here, but I believe the size of the trigger is relative to how far away they must be before they don't respond.

Of course I'm not 100% sure. I might have dreamed that.
Been dreaming alot of OFP recently. That isn't good ;D

[AK-Chester]

...unlike what AK-Chester is claiming.

I wasn't "claiming" anything at all, I was just quoting Bloodmixer. Okay, I should have put it in quotes then, I guess. I have never used a single "GUARDED BY" waypoint or trigger... and I don't think I ever will.
 

[General Barron]

I wasn't "claiming" anything at all, I was just quoting Bloodmixer. Okay, I should have put it in quotes then, I guess. I have never used a single "GUARDED BY" waypoint or trigger... and I don't think I ever will.
 

I didn't mean to imply that you had personal experience with it, I just wasn't sure the right verb to use ("saying"? "espousing"? "repeating"? "typing"?)

But you really should try using those WPs and triggers. They make the AI about 100% smarter .