In my opnion it is best to focus first and foremost on what makes Enlisted unique and improve that, in other words to focus on the must-have instead of the should-have or nice-to-have.
For me the overriding factor what sets Enlisted apart from other WW2 FPS online MMO games is the AI squad system.
A fairly unique feature of Enlisted is that the human player is supposed to be the Squad Leader of an AI squad.
For that to be authentic the AI squad needs to become “smarter” and “more human”.
The game Enlisted does not have to be realistic and/or a simulator but the game can be authentic:
- AUTHENTIC - “Conforming to an original and/or the real world so as to reproduce essential features”.
- SIMULATOR - “A computer simulation (or “sim”) is an attempt to model a real-life or hypothetical situation on a computer under real world conditions”.
- REALISTIC - “Resembling or simulating real life (conditions)”.
Currently the AI squad members in Enlisted are really, really bad. They do not act human, they do not even act in a military sound matter. The AI squad is the main feature that sets Enlisted apart from other WW2 MMO FPS titles and this should therefore logically speaking be the main feature to further build up and improve in Enlisted.
Maybe I will post more on this subject if I have some more time on my hands.
In the interim I can give some examples of what can be done in this respect in Enlisted:
1.) Although not directly related to AI squads it is indirectly related to it: make the playable area on the maps in Enlisted larger, especially on the flanks. Currently the players together with their AI squads are forced into small playable areas in many maps, this more or less force everyone into rather boring and suicidal frontal engagements like in Call of Duty and as a corollary limits also what both human and fully AI controlled squads can do.
2.) Let the AI squad actually communicate with the human player. This can be done by the AI squad members placing markers on the map that are only only visible to the human AI Squad Leader of that squad, and by giving the AI squad members actual voice lines for calling out enemy targets (type of target, direction, range, distance) that are only audible to the human AI Squad Leader. Currently the AI squad members spot, stop and fire at targets without the human Squad Leader being clearly and reliably informed about any of that by the AI squad members. This should not only apply to infantry squads but also the crew members of vehicles and aircraft. Vehicle crew members should verbally communicate what type of shell they have loaded, if they are ready to fire, if they have fired, if they hit the enemy target, if they destroyed the enemy target, if and where their own vehicle is hit, if they are wounded, if crew members are dead etc. None of this is new in the world of gaming, this has already been implemented many years ago in other games by other game development companies.
3.) Reduce the infantry squad size to 4, this allows the three AI squad members to stay near to the human Squad Leader in confined areas, such as buildings in towns and cities as well as bunkers. The AI squad spreads out in all directions, which turn out rather bad in the case of a 9 person squad because a squad this size is too large to take cover near the human Squad Leader in trenches, ditches, buildings etc. while still maintaining a reasonably safe spread between each squad member.
4.) Allow the human Squad Leader to give different fire orders to his AI squad members, for example: fire at will, fire on my lead, hold fire, return fire.
5.) Give each AI squad member a unique voice, so that the human player can recognize who is talking. This should be easy when each squad consists of only 3 AI squad members. Only the human Squad Leader should hear the voices of his 3 AI squad members to avoid confusion for other human players.
6.) Do not let the human AI Squad Leader separate from his AI squad members. It is authentic for squads to fight like a unit and they should function like that in Enlisted. Currently a human player in Enlisted can use his AI squad members as a nearby instant “spawn reserve” by ordering his AI squad to “hide” in a safe area while the human player goes on a solo rampage, when doing so the human player is basically playing Enlisted as a solo player with a nearby instant “spawn reserve” in the form of his “hidden” AI squad members. This is not authentic and should not be allowed.
7.) The AI squad members should take cover intelligently and should immediately take cover when taking fire while informing the human Squad Leader they are doing so.
8.) The AI squad members should be “smart” and react like a human and have a longer term “memory”. Currently more often than not the AI squad members in Enlisted just stand there while an enemy human player walks up to them and shoots them one at a time without them doing anything back or “forgetting” that the enemy is there when the enemy “breaks line of sight” for X seconds. AI squad members should react faster, react appropriately, have a longer term “memory” of where an enemy is even if he breaks line of sight to them.
9.) The AI squad members should use all of their equipment. Currently AI squad members in Enlisted do not use the equipment they have even when logic dictates that they should. So AI squad members with AT weapons, for example a Bazooka, should use them on their own initiative when confronted with an enemy vehicle. FULLY AI controlled squads CURRENTLY ALREADY use artillery on their own initiative, use flamethrowers on their own initiative, throw explosives at enemy vehicles on their own initiative, deploy rally points on their own initiative and deploy ammunition crates on their own initiative. They usually only do this when on the defending side from what I have seen but still the AI routine for this already exsits in Enlisted. Yet when a squad is human player controlled the AI squad members suddenly “lose” this ability, so in effect they become even more inept than FULLY AI controlled squads. AI squad members should be “smart enough” to do the following WITHOUT BEING TOLD TO DO SO by the human Squad Leader:
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Throw all types of grenades in their inventory (smoke, HE explosive, incendiary, chemical, AT);
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Deploy mines in their inventory (HE, AT);
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Use all AT weapons in their inventory (Panzerfaust, Panzerschreck, PIAT, Bazooka etc.);
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Build engineer objects (including deploying rally points, ammunition crates, AT guns, AA guns, heavy MG guns etc.). When AI squad members build an engineer objects they should cost 0 points in order to still allow the human player enogh building points to build objects himself should he “take over” the AI controlled engineer;
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Dig in when there is no cover anywhere;
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Remove enemy deployed engineer objects (barbed wire, anti tank obstacles, sandbags etc.);
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Use rifles with telescopic sights at long range;
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Use rifles grenades;
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Use pistols at point blank range against enemy soldiers instead of reloading their firearms instead;
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Reload their firearms when there are only 3 or less rounds left in the magazine;
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Resupply ammo from ammo crates;
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“Heal” themselves;
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“Heal” the human player;
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“Heal” their other AI squad members;
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Deploy medic crates;
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Resupply med packs from medic crates;
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AI Tank gunners should fire their main gun and smoke dischargers, including AI loaders loading the target appropriate shell type (AP, APCR, HE, HEAT, smoke), and machine gun when the human player is in the role of the tank commander, the human tank commander should be able to acts a such: meaning focus solely on spotting targets, marking targets and ordering the gunner to engage a target (the 1999 PC game Panzer Elite already had “smart” crew members and entire AI controlled tank platoons that could do all of this);
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AI controlled bow machine gunners in vehicles should use their bow machine guns against targets in their line of sight (again the 1999 PC game Panzer Elite already had “smart” crew members and entire AI controlled tank platoons that could do all of this).
10.) Aircraft should AT LEAST deploy in pairs consisting of a human controlled aircraft and at least one AI controlled wingman that should be able to follow-and-bomb and follow-and-cover the human flight leader. Gaijin already had quite effective and fully AI controlled aircraft and wingmen that could already do all of that in their very first game: "Il-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey“ which was released on the Xbox in 2009 and published by 1C: IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey - Wikipedia. That game was later ported to PC by Gajin and renamed Warthunder. It would also be appropriate in a game as Enlisted to also deploy vehicles in pairs, so in half-platoons, with the human player being the leader and the other vehicle being his fully AI controlled half-platoon member. This would probably be too difficult to implement in Enlisted however because most maps in Enlisted leave very little room for vehicles to safely move around in without getting stuck, the pathfinding for AI ground vehicles would be quite complex to implement because the AI controlled vehicle would have to follow the human controlled vehicle everywhere it goes. Still this was already implemented in the 1999 PC game Panzer Elite which had full size platoons of up to 5 vehicles and worked quite well.
11.) AI squad members should be able to form up in and remain in useful military formations such as column, line, wedge, inverted V and with varying distance between AI squad members: combat (close), medium, wide spead. This should be controlled by the human Squad Leader except maybe moving through small confined areas, such as buildings in towns and cities where the only useful formation more often than not is column with a combat (close) spread. AI squad members should follow the orders of their human Squad Leaders unless the situation and logic dictate otherwise.
12.) Remain in formation with the human player at all times. In Enlisted as is the AI squad members lag behind the player. There is no logical or technical reason for this. The 2009 released Xbox game “Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising” already had human controlled squads with AI squad members that could keep up and stay in formation with the human player, even while in an inverted V formation.
13.) Allow the human player to easily control his AI squad via a cleverly implemented control scheme. The Squad Controls as implemented for the Xbox Controller in the 2009 released Xbox game “Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising” come to mind and are worth copying in this respect.
Not all of the above is fully new, a lot of it has been done before in one form or another in other games and in some cases done quite well even though it was programmed many, many years ago.
Some examples to take as inspiration and follow come to mind.
“Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising” which was a light milsim released on the Xbox in 2009:
The game had and still has amazing AI even by today’s standards. The AI for this game would have been programmed starting in around 2003 or so. So they are about 20 year old AI routines by now.
In “Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising” the human controlled squad consists of the human player and 3 AI squad members and the AI controlled squads consist of 4 AI squad members. The AI controlled squads will actually fix and flank the human player while another AI controlled squad will hold fire and flank the human player until they have closed the range to point blank range (close combat range). One AI controlled squad will draw fire and take cover while doing so, then move each AI squad member in turn while other AI squad members give covering fire, making them move in a sort of domino effect bounding cover manner.
The AI controlled squads and the AI squad members will follow this fix-and-flank routine anywhere on the huge campaign map, no matter the terrain. It is not scripted for each mission, instead it appears to be an AI routine followed by AI squads and AI squad members. And the AI will use all AI controlled squads available when executing it. If the human player lets the enemy AI controlled squads close to point blank range (close combat range) his chances for survival will become very slim.
If an enemy controlled AI squad is engaged at long range they will take cover behind obstacles if available after taking some casualties and often will then remain hidden behind that cover until the player closes the range to point blank, after which they will break cover and almost instantly kill (ambush) the human player and his AI squad members at point blank range.
The player can order his 3 AI squad members to clear buildings and they will form up behind each other at each door, then clear each room in accordance with the current military procedure within NATO for doing that. They will do so without the player even having to participate.
There is a lot more to the AI in “Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising” but I will leave at that for now.
The main down side to the AI in “Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising” is that the developer does not allow the enemy AI controlled squads to engage the human player and his AI squad at long range. This allows the human player to pick off the enemy controlled AI squads at long range with thermal and/or telescopic sights. If the AI controlled squads would be allowed to also engange at long range then the human player would stand little chance since he is considerably outnumberd in the campaign. The AI squad members in the human controlled AI squad can however engage at long range when ordered to do so, so the AI routine for long range engagement does seem to exist in the game.
I only played the game on Xbox when it came out in 2009 and have no idea how it plays on PC nowadays. I recently played the game on Xbox again to test out the AI squad members and AI squad system in that game again. It really is a pity that the fully AI controlled squads and AI squad members in the human player controlled squads in Enlisted do not function like the ones in the 2009 released “Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising”.
Some informative videos that shed light on the AI and the easy and excellent Xbox controller Squad controls implemented in the game can be found in these videos:
"Operation Flashpoint: “Dragon Rising AI Analysis & Review”
“Why Did Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Fail?”
“OPERATION FLASHPOINT DRAGON RISING - Full Game Walkthrough | Longplay | Movie - No Commentary”
The 1999 PC game “Panzer Elite” game took 6 years of development so the technology and AI routines in that game are from 1993. The game has fully AI controlled vehicle platoons as well as infantry and anti-tank guns, AI squad member and platoon member voice and text communication, various platoon formations, independently acting AI squad members that will fire the main gun and machine-gun armament on their own initiative, select the appropriate ammunition type for the target (AP, APCR, HE, HEAT etc.), actually authentically working main gun sights which require you to first select the appropriate range and ammo setting to actually hit something etc. etc. The game also could be played online against other human players in matches where each human player controlled both his own vehicle and a platoon of up to 5 fully AI controlled vehicles which move along in formation with the human player’s vehicle as per the orders of the human player. The AI was decent in the sense that it was able to target and take out any target it spotted without the human player constantly having to intervene.
Some Panzer Elite videos:
“Panzer Elite PC tank simulator 1999-2023 fmmy with commentary”
“Panzer Elite PC Tank Sim Torch & mod History & modern PC’s”
The AI in 1999 released “Panzer Elite”, 2009 released “Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising” and 2009 released "Il-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey“ is currently superior to the AI in 2023 Enlisted. That should change to make Enlisted more authentic and a better game overall.
