Dynamic OFP

[Kinnon]

Hi all, new guy here

I'm working on controlling multiple groups at the moment, the big picture is a dynamic, strategic battle where you can order HALO's, extractions - the lot !

(Ambitious newbie !)

My multi-group script works fine but for this :

If you select a group using it's group-name you can only do this once, since it joins a null group when you switch command.

If you select a group using the leader-name this overcomes the once-only effect, but when the leader dies you (obviously) can't select by his name again ...

... so, can i dynamically assign the leader's name to the next guy to take command ?

Or could i somehow store the old group name and force the group you're switching control from to reuse that name ?

thx a lot

[CrashnBurn]

You should be able to just use leader groupname for your commands instead of an actual name, and whoever the leader is at the time should carry out your order.

[Kinnon]

Thanks for that Crash, but i've just seen Command Engine 2 over at CoC, so no point in my little effort, except for learning purpouses.

What i'm working on now is a Guerilla Warfare AI script to combat Command Engine, gimme six months and i should have something decent.

OpFlash is AMAZING ! I bought it back in 2001 but have never got so deep into it, bye bye life !

;+}

[Doolittle]

What do you mean, "to combat the Command Engine"  Two scripts going head-to-head??

Doolittle

[Kinnon]

Hehe, NO !

ComEng may be a script but it's for the use of people. I mean for a good AI opponent using guerilla tactics against a much larger, more well-equipped force.

The CoC guys are so NATO-centric i thought it would be interesting ...

I plan proper hit-and-run guerilla tactics, weapon/ammo dumps hidden in the forest, stealing equipment and scavenging it from dead enemies etc ...

I've just started coding the recon unit yesterday, it's going well, it chooses random waypoints until it spots an enemy, it then halts and goes into stealth observation mode.

funfunfun ;+}

[Dinger]

NATO-centric?
Well, I can't speak for the other CoC guys, but for what I do there are a lot of field manuals that help out in simulating about every aspect of modern warfare.  So NATO hardware and tactics are just easier to do.  But we really want to simulate both sides, and to do so fairly.
Anyway, I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
I don't know if the CoC boards are back up (a software SNAFU), but when they are, feel free to check through.

[Kinnon]

Understood, yes there's LOADS of western military info, the US sites seem to love publishing it, so i guess it is easier to create NATO-type stuff.

I'm going to have to totally understand ComEng so that my scripts don't impact on it, one starts to wonder about things like 'script overhead' as well, i used to code a lot and OFP-Script is like a mixture of c and BASIC, but i am totally without knowledge about the 'internals' of the game, speaking of which, what happened to OFP internals ?

Any pointers to any 'deeptech' stuff would be well appreciated.

Cheers Dinger ;+}

[DrStrangelove]

A Guerilla AI script would come in handy for dynamic vietnam missions against the vietcong. I came up with some ideas on my own for dynamic battles for ia drang (wrote a design doc, need to translate it to english though).

I'm a c++ programmer but lately realized i don't have the amount of sparetime to learn scripting for opf to such a level that i could do it on my own. But i'd love to help you testing certain routines, like this recon script u mentioned.

I'm watching this thread from now on.  

[Kinnon]

Nice one Dr

[abomb1508]

nato-centric? don't you think that's just a little harsh?

but don't worry. BS11 is a russian mission, and a very cool one too. i'm working on it as we speak.

as for a company ai, we are working on one of those. well, denoir, another member of our team is. you should get in touch with him. we could do with more work on the ai front. he has knowledge of neural nets, algorithms etc, and the sooner there is an ai the better. but you must know, if going alone, that the ofp squad ai is hardcoded, and cannot be messed with. but good luck anyway.

cheers,

A-Bomb

[Kinnon]

Denoir sounds interesting. Neural nets, GA etc are good things, but probably not in a script unless fairly simple. Yes i knew about the internal AI, thank god it's there really, what i'm doing is similar, i suppose to a commanding officer script, juts directing the troops.

[DrStrangelove]

I'm also trying to create a strategic ai script. There are so much scripts around - i believe everything that is possible with Opf has been done by now. Besides: when it comes to strategy it's more a match to know what you want to do script.

Basically i want an AI that gathers all info it can get, overthinks the overall situation with those infos and then spawns troops, tell them where to go and what to do there. That's not very difficult to code, but it's a bit tricky to judge what info is 'used' in which way by the AI.

I decided to use status variables that have values from 0-99 to get easy percentages and to get rid of the standard digital ON-OFF variables, because you can't really script a decent AI with 0-1-switches.

[Kinnon]

That sounds good, then you get a continuous range of changing data rather than just present/not present.

Mines a mixture of an overall AI, like a general i suppose, plus a little 'on the ground' group by group AI.

[DrStrangelove]

I'd enjoy making a real good AI that can handle battles on ground, air and sea. The final version should even be enhanced with some variables defining how the AI 'plays'. It is careful ? It is aggressive ? Is it specialized in ground battles, but is weak when it comes to air threats ? Will defend itself or waste all resources for 1 big attack force ? That way the AI could act like different persons which should be quite fun to play against.

Anyway, i thought about it and made these basic rules for my 1st version of the AI:

- a Base minds its own business (troops of different bases don't work together in this version)

The AI wants to gather info into its variables. It's like seeking an answer to certain questions.

Order of important questions:

1.) Where is the enemy ?
2.) What is the enemy ? Which weapons ? How many units have been spotted?
3.) What is my best reaction force to this threat, regarding my resources ?
4.) Where is the best place to attack / to defend for my groups ?
5.) Judging my info of known battle outcomes, what went wrong and what was my greatest victory? What do i need to do to get 'better' and win the war ?


Obviously there are many variables needed that will simulate a 'thinking & judging' routine. The point is that the AI mustn't cheat in any way. It has to use 'real' info and judge everything with these infos like a real human would. It would certainly be easy to code an AI that never fails and knows everything from the start, but i don't want to do that. If the AI has wrong or outdated info because the players chose the stealthy commando-gamestyle then the players should win the war this time. That's ok, it should be fun to play - maybe too much realism isn't always the answer.

Any comments, ideas ? If you feel i'm getting off topic within this thread just say so, i'll start a new one.  

[titan]

have u started this script yet? and when do u think u wld finish it by?


what some varibles they have include smething like a group of AI seeing a convoy and making a tatical retreat due to over relming odd's, without fighting at all!