Spearhead 1944 Custom Difficulty Adjustment System (CDA)

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This article is a work in progress!

Overview

To make Arma 3 more playable and enjoyable with and against AI, the Custom Difficulty Adjustment system allows various aspects of AI behavior, damage taken/dealt, skill, and much more to be adjusted automatically.

Features

• Vehicle target radar and compass
• Reduced/simplefied damage in cadet mode for tanks
• Nametags
• Extended unit map markers
• SPE_CDA_Difficulty_Adjustment_IssueRadios
• Auto assignemt of ItemRadio
• Automatic adding of Medikits and Toolkits
• Adjusting of skill and unit traits
• Updating waypoints if player is group leader
• Adjusting stamina, aim- and recoil coefficients
• and much more...

Usage

The system is enabled by default for all scenarios and can be deactivated through scripting. See Mission maker setup and use.

Detailed information

The adjustments are based on the currently active difficulty level from Arma 3 itself. If the Custom difficulty level is used, the settings for Recruit difficulty are applied as the baseline.

When exposed as mission parameter for a mission, it's possible to allow an admin in multiplayer mode to change the Custom to CDA level mapping for the session.

The basic design is:

• 1. Recruit: For new Arma players. More of a movie experience on rails presenting only a very limited challenge. The focus is on the player (or friendly AI) easily eliminating enemies while completing the mission tasks.

• 2. Regular: For average Arma players or with only limited SP/AI play or unit commanding experience. Still has various helpers, yet this is no longer child's play.

• 3. Veteran: For experienced Arma veterans. Almost no helpers, mostly the raw Arma 3 system - quite a challenge!

• 4. Hardcore: A new setting with zero helpers, minimal interface, and super AI for the maximum challenge. Recommended to use only after having completed a mission in Veteran.

Configuration

Mission parameters may allow customization of certain elements of the system for the given play-session in multiplayer.

Mission maker setup and use

The function SPE_MISSIONUTILITYFUNCTIONS_fnc_DifficultyInitialization is used to initialize the system. It is called through preInit.

Disabling the System

In order to disable the system put the following code into Init.sqf

SPE_ForceDeactivateDifficultyAdjustmentSystem = true;

Variables

SPE_CDA_3DTargetVisualizationAsInfantry SPE_CDA_3DTargetVisualizationInVehicles SPE_CDA_AdditionalAmmoModifier SPE_CDA_AggressiveBehaviourEnemySide SPE_CDA_AggressiveBehaviourPlayerGroup SPE_CDA_AggressiveBehaviourPlayerSide SPE_CDA_AudibleCoefEnemySide SPE_CDA_AudibleCoefPlayerGroup SPE_CDA_AudibleCoefPlayerSide SPE_CDA_AutoHealGroup SPE_CDA_AutoHealPlayer SPE_CDA_AutoRepairVehicleGroup SPE_CDA_AutoRepairVehiclePlayer SPE_CDA_AutoReviveGroup SPE_CDA_CamouflageCoefEnemySide SPE_CDA_CamouflageCoefPlayerGroup SPE_CDA_CamouflageCoefPlayerSide SPE_CDA_CivilianHasPlayers SPE_CDA_CurrentDifficulty SPE_CDA_DamagetakenmodifierEnemySide SPE_CDA_DamagetakenmodifierPlayerGroup SPE_CDA_DamagetakenmodifierPlayerSide SPE_CDA_Difficulty_Adjustment_ExtendedUnitMapMarkers SPE_CDA_Difficulty_Adjustment_IssueRadios SPE_CDA_Difficulty_Adjustment_Nametags SPE_CDA_Difficultyunitmonitoringactive SPE_CDA_DisableAIAimingerrorPlayerGroup SPE_CDA_DisableAISuppressionPlayerGroup SPE_CDA_DisableFriendlyFire SPE_CDA_DisableSaving SPE_CDA_DisableStaminaSystemPlayer SPE_CDA_DisableTargetRadar SPE_CDA_DisableTaskVisibility SPE_CDA_EasthasPlayers SPE_CDA_EnableDamage_Multiplier SPE_CDA_EnabledynamicSimulation SPE_CDA_EngineerGroup SPE_CDA_EngineerPlayer SPE_CDA_ExplosiveSpecialistGroup SPE_CDA_ExplosiveSpecialistPlayer SPE_CDA_Hitpoints SPE_CDA_InvincibleSpecialCharacter SPE_CDA_IsCutscene SPE_CDA_IsTankMission SPE_CDA_IsTutorialMission SPE_CDA_ManualRepairVehiclePlayer SPE_CDA_MedicGroup SPE_CDA_MedicPlayer SPE_CDA_MuteRadioEnemySide SPE_CDA_MuteRadioPlayerGroup SPE_CDA_MuteRadioPlayerSide SPE_CDA_PlayerAimingCoefficient SPE_CDA_PlayerGroupInvincible SPE_CDA_PlayerInvincible SPE_CDA_PlayerItemGPS SPE_CDA_PlayerItemMap SPE_CDA_PlayerItemRadio SPE_CDA_PlayerRecoilCoefficient SPE_CDA_ResistancehasPlayers SPE_CDA_ReviveGroup SPE_CDA_ReviveHeavyCaliber SPE_CDA_RevivePlayer SPE_CDA_ReviveSpecialCharacter SPE_CDA_SkillModifierGlobalEnemySide SPE_CDA_SkillModifierGlobalPlayerGroup SPE_CDA_SkillModifierGlobalPlayerSide SPE_CDA_SkipUpdateAggressiveBehaviour SPE_CDA_SkipUpdateMuteRadio SPE_CDA_SmootherAnimationsFasterMovement SPE_CDA_TankDisableonlyGroup SPE_CDA_TankDisableonlyPlayer SPE_CDA_TargetRadarActive SPE_CDA_TargetRadarAsInfantry SPE_CDA_TargetRadarInvehicles SPE_CDA_UpdateAggressiveBehaviour SPE_CDA_UpdateMuteRadio SPE_CDA_UpdateSmootherAnimations SPE_CDA_WeaponReloadingTimeEnemySide SPE_CDA_WeaponReloadingTimePlayerGroup SPE_CDA_WeaponReloadingTimePlayerSide SPE_CDA_WestHasPlayers