Lots of good gripes. Luckily some of them can be fixed by clever mission editors, but unfortunately I think some are just problems with the game (and all FPS games), as I'll get to.
First off, I totally agree that artillery should play more of a part in ofp missions. The truth is though, that is (and should be) up to the mission designer to implement in his mission. And there are a ton of artillery scripts in the ed depot, so you don't even need to know how to script to add that in. I've also written a script to easily let the AI use artillery as well, also in the ed depot. For some reason though, most editors don't include arty in their missions. Maybe they think it will make things too easy, or maybe they just don't know how important artillery is in infantry combat...
Most of your gripes have to do with cover in the game. How it is/isn't used, lack of suppressive fire, fire & manuever, etc. Unfortunately, I think the problem is too... fundamental to the game engine I guess... to be fixed via scripting. The problem is, when you really look at it, there is almost no cover in the game to speak of. I'm talking about the lack of micro-terrain: there are no little ditches to squeeze into, no patches of grass to hide behind, etc. Just a few giant bushes scattered across what is basically a parking lot.
You don't need military experience to know what I'm talking about. If you have ever played paintball, or even just crawled thru the woods, you would know that the ground has all sorts of little hiding places. Now imagine trying to locate and hit a camoflauged person who is taking cover in one of those spots from 100+ meters, and you would understand why OFP is so very flawed. In OFP, at 100 meters it is easy as cake to kill someone, even if they are "taking cover" behind a bush.
So without the ability to really use cover as in real life, there isn't much of a point to suppressive fire, squad rushes, etc etc. The AI does what works best in OFP: it lays down in the middle of the parking lot, and then it shoots back at whomever is shooting at it.
I don't think that modern computers could really handle making truly realistic terrain, and then making the AI use it appropriately; at least, not on an island like the size of the OFP ones. Also, part of the problem is that in all FPS games that I know of, you can only be in like 3 different body positions. There is no way to cram yourself into the nooks and crannies of the terrain around you. If there was some sort of "take cover" button, that would make your character cram himself into the space around him, then this could be fixed.
The most realistic infantry combat game I've played is "Close Combat: Invasion Normandy". It is a top-down, company level strategy game, not a 3d FPS game. And because of this, it can simulate the effect of terrain so darn well, since it doesn't have to render everything, worry about physics, etc. But for a 3d FPS to work as realistically as that game does, you would need to make such a detailed, life-like simulation, that I don't think modern computers could handle it.
But anyway, there are ways to kinda get around those problems in OFP. Many addons include so called "high dispersion" weapons, which are weapons with incredibly un-realistic dispersion rates, so the bullets often go quite a ways away from where you point. The result: it is very difficult for the player or AI to hit anyone outside of like 100-200m. Seems kind of unrealistic, but I like the effect: you need to get close to the enemy in order to kill him, as in real life with cover. I think it also makes suppressive fire a real possibility, because you can be almost perfectly safe prone behind a bush at 200m, but if you get up and start sprinting, there is a good chance that a bullet will randomly catch you.
It should be possible to *easily* order a squad to move to a location
using "fire and movement" (I'm sorry I don't know the American terminology).
By "fire and movement" I mean that a squad divides into two parts.
The term I've always heard for that in the marine corps is "squad rushes" (or fireteam, platoon, etc). I've made a script for them, which can be found here:
http://www.ofpec.com/editors/resource_view.php?id=683But the truth is, the AI doesn't really perform better using them, unless you are using HD weapons. IMO that is because of the problem of cover in OFP, as stated above.
Now if I can make a shameless plug, I'd suggest you play my mission
Realistic Combat Patrol. I think it is a good example of a mission using these principles in action: you get to call artillery to your heart's desire, and the enemy gets to do the same to you. You and the enemy have HD weapons, so instead of firefights ending with a few shots fired, you get some really heavy fights. It also uses a different way of commanding your troops, which is more difficult to use than the standard controls (you don't have perfect awareness of everything all the time), and you don't get that damn "birds eye view" either. I'd appreciate it if you'd try it out and let me know what you think. *end shameless plug*
(how long did it take to create, by the way, does anyone know?)
Actually I read something about this... basically, the Spaniel brothers had been working on the game since the early 90's. So a very, very long time.
Topic: AI Advancements? (Read 2626 times)