The SHARPSHOOTER idea...

[HenryHighpower]

I have no idea how to pull this off.  But, I've got what (I think) is a good idea for improving snipers in OFP.

The problem I see with AI snipers is that, if they don't kill a target with the first shot, they'll continue to shoot at their victim until they do--giving their position away.

What I propose is this:  Writing a script, or somehow tweaking snipers, that will bar an AI sniper from firing twice or more times in a row within a certain time period.  For example, fix a sniper where he will only fire his weapon once per minute--and only once per minute.

Think of the incredible game play this would create...

You're leading your squad down into the valley.  Sniper Ally.  CRACK!  There's a shot.  One of your men is hit.  He's not dead--but he's down.  Where did it come from?  

Quick, everbody get down!  Tommy, Mack, Tex....flank right.  Move up to that bolder and see if you can get a bead on him.

Crack!

This time a man is down.

Somebody find that freakin' sniper!



I know whenever I come across AI snipers, I just hunker down until they fire again.  They give their position way with the multiple shots they take.  You start limiting the number of shots they can take during a period of time, and man, it's a whole new ballgame.

[DBR_ONIX]

You could remove their ammo after they fire, then give them it back after x seconds.
Also, if you dont have dialup, download the VME Addons (OFP.info).
It greatly improves the snipers AI (among the rest of the AI ), so they acctualy hit you from > 10m ;D
- Ben

[HenryHighpower]

Removing their ammo is a work-around that seems clumsy to me--there's got to be a better way.  I assume you're talking about a script that will remove the ammo--not physically taking a sniper's ammo away.  For that, of course, you'd have to be squad leader, and the sniper would have to be yours (I'm thinking more of enemy AI snipers).

Thanks for the heads-up on the VME addons.   I'll certainly check them out.

[Raptorsaurus]

You could make a script that set his combat mode to "green" after he fires, then after a minute or so it sets his combat mode back to "red" ro "yellow".

[HenryHighpower]

What I'm picturing is some type of control in the config or sniper pbo similar to the way ECP Blood can be tweaked or the way the percentage chance of flies on a dead body will be heard.

I'm thinking of being able to say something like:  there is a 10% chance the sniper will firer once per minute;  a 50% chance he will fire in two minutes time;  a 40% chance he will fire in three minutes time...something like that--a "chance of occuring" figure that can be changed by the mission designer.

I originally had this idea about snipers a couple of years ago when I was playing a user-made mission, leading down through the valley into Vernon and the coast city of St. Pierre.  

The mission-maker put together a pretty action oriented mission--pretty straight forward, where you have to fight your way to the coast down the valley road.

But the one brilliant thing he did was conceal this sniper--concealed him well--up on the left side of the valley.  There was so much going on with the immediate threat down in the valley, it was hard for me to concentrate on getting somebody up the side of the mountain to get the sniper.  I couldn't get a bead on him with all the BMPs and Russian troops running around trying to kill me and my team.  And that damn sniper kept plugging away at us--he got several of us.

But, he fired so often that, once I could manage the situation down in the valley, it was really no problem to locate him up on the mountain.  We took him out and kept moving towards St. Peirre.

What I thought then was:  Man, it would be so incredible if the AI wouldn't fire so often--we might have never got the SOB.

I'm hoping something can be done along these lines.  It's be a neat addition to ECP or one of the other mods.

[Triggerhappy]

in the snipers init line:
this addeventhandler ["fired",{[this] exec "sniper.sqs"}]

sniper.sqs:

Code: [Select]

_sniper = _this select 0
_sniper setcombatmode "GREEN"
_r = (random 100)
?_r >=90:goto "fast"
?_r >=50:goto "slow"

_r = ((random 30) + 105)
goto "wait"

#fast
_r = ((random 20) + 50)
goto "wait"

#slow
_r = ((random 40) + 160)

#wait
~_r
_sniper setcombatmode "red"
exit
you may want to try setting him to blue at first instead of green, depending on your preferences, and the red one you might want to make yellow.

its untested and not guaranteed

[Blanco]

This is not bad :sniper shots
 

[DBR_ONIX]

I was just about to suggest that
Saw it in the AI_Coverscript thread
- Ben

[Dubieman]

I've tried that one too. Modify it for time or whatever and not movement.

Always look in the editor depot first.

[HenryHighpower]

Got antoher idea for snipers...

I'm thinking about having snipers in one of the larger OFP towns.  What about putting a sniper up on a second story somewhere--but having him "go prone" most of the time and "stand up" for only short periods of time.

This way, our sniper would stand up, find a target and shoot, then duck back down for a time--making for those being shot at a terrible time trying to find and neutralize the sniper.

What about something like that?

[Bluelikeu]

#l1
~10
sn setunitpos "up"
~4
sn setunitpos "down"
goto "l1"

you might want to make him move back a bit so that you don't get the weapon sticking out of the wall.