Condition of Presence/Detection Question

[enigma6584]

I've just started building missions in ARMA.  I've been going through your FAQs and have done some searching through the forums but have not yet found what I'm looking for.

I've been working on a special operations mission.  I'm trying to figure out what would be the best way to use a detected by trigger (enemy AI detecting players) and delay it to an extent which allows the players to perform actions which would make sure the trigger does not get activated if they perform the said actions. 

For example; the trigger covers an area the size of a small city.  The players come upon a small three-man patrol.  They kill the patrol.  I would like to set-up something where if they (the players) hide the bodies within say, 2 minutes, the trigger does not get activated.  They (the players) in other words mantain their clandestine status and the enemy AI patrol was not allowed to get off a radio message raising the alarm.  If on the other hand, they do not hide bodies in time, and/or a still alive AI soldier knows of their presence after the said 2 minutes, the alarm (trigger) gets raised and enemy AI soldiers and reinforcments are called to the penetrated area.  I hope I'm making sense.

Any and all suggestions would be most appreciated.  Fantastic site and resource you have here.

Cheers.

[Wolfrug]

What you're looking for is the TIMEOUT portion of the trigger. It works in seconds, min max and med should be self-explanatory, and should be what you're looking for. Also make sure the trigger is set to Repeatedly. This is how it works, as far as I've been able to figure it out:

A) The trigger is activated by whatever is in the Condition field (probably "This" in your case) : meaning any BLUFOR inside the trigger is detected by any OPFOR.

B) The Timeout begins ticking down.

C) The timeout ends (I believe) if the Condition is turned to False before the timeout runs out. If not, whatever is in the On Activation field is activated (for instance a variable is set to true that alerts the whole town).

I suggest you try it yourself : place down the trigger and the enemy patrol, and give the trigger a certain timeout (say, 30 seconds). Place a hint of some kind in the On Activation field so you know if it's been activated. Place another hint in the On Deactivation field just to test for it. Now go on a killing rampage, and see if the trigger is activated if you kill the enemies before 30 seconds have passed. Play around with the seconds and such, and see what you can get.

Wolfrug out.

[enigma6584]

Thanks.  I'll give your suggestions a try and let you know.

[Suchy]

You could also fire a script from the trigger right on detection, and then handle the waiting and checking for stuff in the script.
Since it's a script, you'll have more freedom for experimenting and checking different conditions than from the trigger.

[Rommel92]

I believe that to be the COUNTDOWN function, TIMEOUT only checks once and that is at the activation of the trigger, whilst the countdown needs the condition to be true for that certain amount of time before it becomes active, say a player enters a zone that he activates, with countdown he needs to be in that zone for X time for it to activate, with TIMEOUT he only has to enter for a split second for it to start the TIMEOUT and it will activate regardless after X time if he's in there or not.

 

[laggy]

Hi.

I know what you are after (I think).

In this case I usually add an eventhandler "fired" to all enemy units in the area. If that eventhandler is activated the player(s) are spotted, but if you kill the enemies swiftly, they won't have time to fire and you are still "undetected".

Laggy

[enigma6584]

Hhmmm...yeah that does sound about right.  I've tested the other suggestions mentioned and I think they are working somewhat but to be honest I have not yet had time to really test thoroughly.  I will do so probably this weekend and get back to you all.  Not sure what an "eventhandler" is so I'll have to look it up in the reference sources.  Still quite a newb when it comes to this stuff but have already learned so much in my short time fiddling with the editor.  Thanks for the feedback.


#EDIT: Removed the unnecessary quote..    h-

[enigma6584]

I believe that to be the COUNTDOWN function, TIMEOUT only checks once and that is at the activation of the trigger, whilst the countdown needs the condition to be true for that certain amount of time before it becomes active, say a player enters a zone that he activates, with countdown he needs to be in that zone for X time for it to activate, with TIMEOUT he only has to enter for a split second for it to start the TIMEOUT and it will activate regardless after X time if he's in there or not.

 

LOL...I gotta digest this.  I should have payed more attention in math during my school years....

[Rommel92]

haha forget Math man, I'm failing it at the moment.  ... Just think in terms of Countdown as got to be true right up until the last second. And timeout as only true once, and it'll happen no matter what. Timeouts not forgiving as such, count down is.

 


#EDIT: Removed the unnecessary quote..    h-

[laggy]

Hi again.

Put this line in the init filed for every enemy unit you want:
this AddEventHandler ["fired",{alarm=true}]

Then put a trigger with:
condition: alarm
onactivation: whatever you want to happen

This is the closest to realism I know. A detected by trigger activates even if you "one shot" kill an unaware single enemy unit on the map and noone else is left alive to detect you... not realistic.

Laggy

[Rommel92]

Make sure you define Alarm as false in a init.sqf or in a init field somewhere, I'm pretty sure? 

#EDIT: Removed the unnecessary quote..    h-

[h-]

Ok, where to begin...

enigma6584, do not post consecutively.
If you have something to add to your post after a short period of time modify it instead of replying to yourself.

enigma6584 and Rommel, there is no need to quote the entire previous post you're replying to.

As a reminder: posting guidelines.