Team AI is ridiculous

[nannerpuss]

So I've gotten to like this game and I'm playing on Normal difficulty. The hardest part of this whole game is being on a team without control over the units. These mother ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ are the dumbest ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on the planet. The enemy AI does less harm to me than the friendly AI.

Is there a mod to turn them off and just play solo? I'm doing the normal campaign and I'm trying to finish each mission without KIAs, but my team just refuses to stay alive. These stupid ♥♥♥♥♥ literally walk into machine gun fire, stand next to grenades, will not call for medic help, and just generally have the dumbest ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pathing ever. They move like they are running from a crocodile and zig zag around standing straight up, in the open. It's completely absurd and a game-breaker.

[SpaydCBR]

Honestly, if you try to play without any KIAs you will have a miserable time. Just ignore the AI. Let them do whatever they want. Protecting them is not your concern so just don't worry about them, you'll have more fun

[Nick]

rofl
I noticed it too: friendly AIs seem to be dumb... so dumb that makes me wonder if they used 2 AIs in this game, 1 for foes and 1 for friendlies (this thing is actually impossible but seems that way so much...).
Anyway, yes! There is actually a way to "turn them off and just play solo" and it's possible even without installing any mod: as you start a mission, order them to crawl like the useless vermin they are and order them to move the hell away from the mission area. Pretty useful especially if you are a sneaky-one like I am myself ( :P ). It usually works fine. Could be that sometimes you get a "mission failure"-ending all in a sudden, this happened to me just once during the 3rd sp campaign when you're back with USF. I found the reason in the fact that those stoopid ones were quite far from the mission area. Keeping them 300/400 mts behind you, possibly covered and not too far from the action area did the trick again.
:P

[Mirudes]

Originally posted by Nick:

rofl
I noticed it too: friendly AIs seem to be dumb... so dumb that makes me wonder if they used 2 AIs in this game, 1 for foes and 1 for friendlies [...]

^ This.

Seriously, I have asked myself (and experts) the same question.
How comes that the AI from the enemy side works as expected, while my AI is incapable to fullfill the simplest tasks?

Is the computing power not properly distributed to the entire AI? Or is it a simulation of anxiety / panic?

[Pèpè Silvia]

To have fully-realistic AI would require some major processing power; which the game already has to do for current ai calculations. Enemy AI need to "think" on their own, while friendly ai under player control need to be managed properly. Friendly AI are "dumb" because lack of user input/guidance.

Also there are skill settings you can change so they will act 'smarter'

[Mirudes]

I know that the skill of AI units can improve with the game time.

When you buy AI units in a multiplayer mission, you don't get the offer to buy "Militia, Experts or Veterans", not even for a higher price. You pick the roles they have to play and when they are AA and AT-soldiers, they used to be experts, they know by themself when they have to engage. I have seen AI units from BIS doing this. When you see a medic ingame who isn't supporting friendly units, it is clearly a failure.

The customer is relying to the AI squadmates in the singleplayer campaign, let it be a gunner in a vehicle or a medic in your squad, it must be functional. All the singleplayer gaming experince is dependent of it.


OP is talking about the singleplayer campaign, the AI:
- literally walk into machine gun fire
- stand next to grenades
- will not call for medic help
- generally have the dumbest pathing ever

I sign this, too. And I'm not talking of real bugs like: "Negative!", "Can't get there!", "Where are you?"

The bad AI is breaking the immersion of a generally good gaming experience, it's like a bohemian ice bucket challenge.

Under no circumstance it is a workaround to do what SpaydCBR and Nick have suggested.

Another discussion about AI failures in ArmA3:
AI - Add some.

Originally posted by MutualAssuredDestruction:

To have fully-realistic AI would require some major processing power; which the game already has to do for current ai calculations. Enemy AI need to "think" on their own, while friendly ai under player control need to be managed properly. Friendly AI are "dumb" because lack of user input/guidance.

Also there are skill settings you can change so they will act 'smarter'

[nannerpuss]

Well I'm glad I'm not alone. This game is so good... except for the friendly AI.

It's mind boggling how bad they made the friendly AI compared to the enemy AI. Not that the enemies are much smarter, but at least they know when to hit the deck and not walk straight into five guys with automatic weapons.

The best/worst example I can give is the mission 'Tipping Point' after the checkpoint auto-save. As you approach the base there are several bad guys visible, walking around. Rather than, you know, sneak up and shoot them my team walks up in standing formation and starts popping off single rounds. Two of them die every time, right off the bat. The leader goes first then the other dumbass who followed him. I tried to shoot my Team Leader to stop him, but I get a failed mission. The only thing that worked was to run out front and take the fire myself while throwing smoke grenades where I knew the team would stand.

This game is supposedly a "military simulation" and ultra-realistic. Why does the friendly AI behave like a Nintendo game from 1994?

[Hash]

Originally posted by nannerpuss:

Well I'm glad I'm not alone. This game is so good... except for the friendly AI.

It's mind boggling how bad they made the friendly AI compared to the enemy AI. Not that the enemies are much smarter, but at least they know when to hit the deck and not walk straight into five guys with automatic weapons.

The best/worst example I can give is the mission 'Tipping Point' after the checkpoint auto-save. As you approach the base there are several bad guys visible, walking around. Rather than, you know, sneak up and shoot them my team walks up in standing formation and starts popping off single rounds. Two of them die every time, right off the bat. The leader goes first then the other dumbass who followed him. I tried to shoot my Team Leader to stop him, but I get a failed mission. The only thing that worked was to run out front and take the fire myself while throwing smoke grenades where I knew the team would stand.

This game is supposedly a "military simulation" and ultra-realistic. Why does the friendly AI behave like a Nintendo game from 1994?

User input error mate, put them in stealth mode and hold fire, then put em in tight formation like file, this would solve the scenario you described, at least try to learn how they work and the many many orders you can hand out before bagging the ♥♥♥♥ outta AI, many of the complaints i see simply come from lack of knowledge of how to play with freindly ai, I know ai aint perfect but they are the best so far and saying OP flashpoint AI better is just ret*rded, its the same AI with improvements.

[Spool]

Yes the AI in this game is trash, and the reason enemy AI is so much better is the fact that the AI squadleaders can spot your entire team and issue attack orders before you ever see them. They need to take all the money they made off this game and hire a proper crew to completely redo they AI instead of slapping more duck tape on their stone age ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

[nannerpuss]

Originally posted by HashSlaYer:

Originally posted by nannerpuss:

Well I'm glad I'm not alone. This game is so good... except for the friendly AI.

It's mind boggling how bad they made the friendly AI compared to the enemy AI. Not that the enemies are much smarter, but at least they know when to hit the deck and not walk straight into five guys with automatic weapons.

The best/worst example I can give is the mission 'Tipping Point' after the checkpoint auto-save. As you approach the base there are several bad guys visible, walking around. Rather than, you know, sneak up and shoot them my team walks up in standing formation and starts popping off single rounds. Two of them die every time, right off the bat. The leader goes first then the other dumbass who followed him. I tried to shoot my Team Leader to stop him, but I get a failed mission. The only thing that worked was to run out front and take the fire myself while throwing smoke grenades where I knew the team would stand.

This game is supposedly a "military simulation" and ultra-realistic. Why does the friendly AI behave like a Nintendo game from 1994?

User input error mate, put them in stealth mode and hold fire, then put em in tight formation like file, this would solve the scenario you described, at least try to learn how they work and the many many orders you can hand out before bagging the ♥♥♥♥ outta AI, many of the complaints i see simply come from lack of knowledge of how to play with freindly ai, I know ai aint perfect but they are the best so far and saying OP flashpoint AI better is just ret*rded, its the same AI with improvements.

So I am able to command them on any mission, regardless of who the Team Leader is? This is "Tipping Point" and I mentioned that in my initial post. If I'm able to control my team I'd be eternally grateful if you'd explain how. This particular mission has two separate groups, and you rendezvous. Both teams approach the base, both using retardedly stupid AI.

Let me know, thanks.

[nannerpuss]

Oh also if it helps, I am number 4 or 5 on the team if I remember. Team Leader is giving orders, he is 1 and there are 5 total including me. I am tasked with getting "the sniper" first, as we approach.

[Hash]

oh in that case your pretty much f**ked, ive seen a few complaints regarding tipping point mission, Id prob just skip, being led by AI is a no no in all except the simplests missions, I highly recommend ASR AI, might not fix particular scenario mentioned, but will help alot.

[David]

AI mods can fix this to a pretty good extent

[HerbalZebra]

I just tell them to hold fire and use them for spotting enemies . If they die just ressuply and move on

[Mirudes]

The AI in the game often fulfills the task of pure targets. But in the campaign or in many single-player missions, the player is dependent onto the functioning units. If it only were targets or monkeys, they would have these names. But they are supposed to be specialists ingame (to a greater degree in 2035). Tank crews must be able to operate their equipment, the gunner in a helicopter have to destroy enemy units correctly in a plausible way and a medic provides support to friendly units under all circumstances.
I am not talking about the driving skill of the artificials.

Many customers have bought the SIMULATOR Arma3 exclusively for this purpose as single player.

They have sold us a simulator, now they have to deliver a simulator!

[Albino Noodle]

Many was the time I have stood out in the open tapping my fingers on my desk watching my squad of useless arseholes ♥♥♥♥ about covering each other from non existent enemies while each guy moved 5 feet at a time.

They are pretty rubbish and most seem suicidal but they work sometimes.