Rearming AI with the action "Rearm at ..."?

[NighthawkSE]

I can't seem to get the built-in action "Rearm at Ural ammo" to work with the AI soldiers in my unit.

When I trigger the action they don't go to the ammo truck and rearm, instead they remain in formation for a second before reporting back "Ready" while shifting from red status to normal. No ammo is picked up during this process though.

Instead I have to order them to pick up individual magazines, which becomes rather distressing during combat.  :-\

So, is this a bug, or have I missed some vital information on how this particular action works?

I'm using Resistance, patched to 1.96.

[h-]

Ammotruck has only ammo (by default) not magazines...

Ammo is used by vehicle mounted weapons and the purpose of the ammo truck is to supply ammo for the vehicles...
Soldiers can't pick up ammo, only magazines...
But if you add magazines into the ammo truck 'manually' (through a script or in the init field) then you should be able to order the individual soldiers to pick up certain magazines from it (like handgrenades, M16 mags etc...)

I think this is also something BIS never really implemented correctly...

[NighthawkSE]

Wow... that answer sure came fast! Thanks.

I do know that the rearm action is usually used when rearming tanks and such.

But after a heavy fightfight, in which I used up every bullet and handgrenade I had, I discovered that the "Rearm at ..." action was available to regular soldiers as well (when standing next to an ammo truck). And using this action makes my soldier pick up four magazines and six handgrenades, which is the soldiers default loadout, in one single motion, making it a very fast and easy way to rearm.

What I would like to know is why this works for me, but not the other AI soldiers in my unit? The action is available, when I select F2-F12 -> 6 Actions, but choosing it does diddelysquat.

All this with a regular ammo truck, no mods or scripts.

[h-]

Does not do that for me...

If I have a no ammo or mags whatsoever (nor do my AI squad) and I go near a ammo truck (west soldier/west ammotruck) I get no 'rearm at..' action...
Not in my action menu and not in the action list for the AI...

All I get is pick up 'thisandthat'...

That action problem sounds exactly the same which happens with custom actions added with addAction...

[NighthawkSE]

When you reduce your ammo level to nothing at startup, the action doesn't show. I just tried it and got the same result as you.

But when I start off fully armed, walk up behind the ammo truck, and fire a single round the action pops up every time. Seems like you must have some ammo to begin with for this to work.

[Planck]

I can confirm this, if you remove your magazines before mission start, you don't get the rearm at ammo truck option.

If you start the mission with ammo and use it all, you will get the option.

I just tried it.  ;D ;D


Planck

[NighthawkSE]

Any thoughts on why only players and not AI can use the option?

I'm a little puzzled but this...

[Planck]

I haven't got a clue......yet.

Maybe someone else can enlighten us.


Planck

[NighthawkSE]

Would be nice.

I mean, anyone who has led ofp troops in battle must have had this problem. There's no way that you have the time or energy to feed  eight triggerhappy soldiers one magazine at a time...

[Garcia]

I had this problem (with rearming my group fast) in a mission of mine, so MI_Fred made a simple weapon dialog where you can rearm your units fast You can get it here, the second one from the top (Weapon Stock - by MI_Fred)

[h-]

Funny
Even today we can find more 'BISed' features in OFP

It must be one of those that causes the AI problem with this...

There's no way that you have the time or energy to feed  eight triggerhappy soldiers one magazine at a time...

So how you have done it the past then ;D
That's the way I have always had to do it...

I never liked any of those dialog things because it just feels so arcadish...

[Planck]

After further playing about with this, I discovered that it must have something to do with the weapon that the AI soldiers have.

I started with one magazine, and so did my trusty AI buddy.

Once he was out of ammo, he wouldn't re-arm at ural ammo as has been described, although he made it seem like he had  ;D

Anyway, I got him to drop his weapon, and I dropped mine, then I picked up his weapon and I couldn't re-arm at the truck either.

When I picked up my weapon again I was able to re-arm at the truck.

Getting him to put his weapon in the ural and then take it again gives him a full weapons and 3 mags though.


Planck

[NighthawkSE]

HateR_Kint:
A rather disturbing amount of my missions is in Rambo style. Me against herds of bad guys. Having other soldiers to nanny just slows me down...  ;D

But commanding a group is also fun, and poses some new challenges. But having to order "Pick magazine ..." thirtytwo times in a row isn't a challenge. It's lack of intelligence.

Garcia:
Thanks for the tip! I'll definately check it out.

Planck:
Yeah, making that rearm option disappear is far easier than actually using it. *sigh* I'm starting to think that this whole rearm thing is a bust. I have one more idea to try, but concidering the overwhelming success I've had in my previous attempts, I wouldn't hold my breath.

You always got to have a Plan B
What would be the neatest solution to rearm AI soldiers? Criteria being less manual handling of magazines, and as much realism as possible. Ordering a soldier to "go rearm" should be enough.

Is it possible to expand the built-in "Take magazine.." option to make the unit fill up that particular type of magazine instead of just taking one? Or perhaps put a trigger over the ammocrate that runs a rearm script of some sort? Hmm.. anything really, as long as you don't end up with five triggers and nine scripts to get it done.

I bet in real life (in the army) that any officer having to order you to pick up every little thing would evidently spark a rather lengthy monolog enriched with words like "idiot", "stupid dumba**", and perhaps a couple of "kick yo a**".  ;D

*starting ofp to try that last idea*

[Planck]

Unfortunately the only way I could get him to rearm was to get him to put his weapon in the truck, then take it out again.


Planck

[NighthawkSE]

Yes, that does work for M16, AK74, etc, but we still need a way to pick up some handgrenades as well.