Ambient Combat Manager

[talkingtoaj]

I've read the wiki page on the ACM module and it seems all very simple, but I must be missing something.

When I create a new mission in the editor, add a player, add an ACM, sync the two, then preview... no combat. No units being spawned, no other units at all.

What step am I overlooking?

[h-]

I think the module creates the battles randomly somewhere on the map, not directly "on top" of you.
At least to me the word ambient means kinda the same as background, as in background combat..

I have no idea if it helps but maybe you can "direct" it a bit by adding locations owned by the enemy and friendly sides, might be that the module "sees" them and utilizes them:
Towns and villages have locations set to them by default so you can try changing the location side by adding "owners" (Units -> Game Logic -> Locations -> Owner XX) to the towns by placing them on top of the town.
I have no idea if this even works, there's a lot of stuff in A2 mission editing that BIS have not shed any light on so this is just theory so I'm assuming the game can somehow link the predefined location and the owner you set in the editor.. 
Or maybe adding a location object and then a owner object and synchronizing the two works

This is just a blind stab in the dark so don't quote me on any of this..

[talkingtoaj]

Nah... I tried using TroopMon, and verified, there are no other units anywhere on the map.

I also tried using the ACM IncreaseIntensity function incase 0 was the default, but still no luck.

[h-]

It takes time for the battles to appear, it's not meant to fill the whole island with instant battles, it's meant to have those ambient fights break out from time to time in random places, not constant island full of fighting.

It has worked for me in the past when I made a benchmarking missions for myself, eventually a town I was wandering in came under attack by the enemy created by ACM (I had not placed one single enemy soldier on the map). I think the town used that owner hassle I described above (not sure) and it took something like 10 minutes into the mission for that to happen.

[talkingtoaj]

You are right. thanks for that.

I counted 15 min for the first ambient combat to appear. But by creating 5 BLUFOR units in seperate groups and attaching an ACM module to each one, I got ambient combat to appear within 4 minutes.