Better Battle Buddies

Better Battle Buddies

Keep the gun in the fight. Cover your buddy. Know when to get out.

BBB gives Arma Reforger's AI more initiative in a firefight: squad plans, flanking, radio warnings, covering fire and movement, smoke, casualty aid, grenades, indoor cover and vehicle-crew reactions. Enable it for the AI already in your scenario. It runs standalone or alongside AC: Actual; no commander game mode is included or required.

FIGHT AS A SQUAD

- Commit to a plan on contact: assault when the odds are fair, hold from cover when outnumbered, flanked or pinned.
- Fix a dug-in enemy and flank him; search where contact was lost. Warn nearby squads by radio: reports are last-seen positions, never targets.
- Alternate covering fire and movement toward reported contacts. Covering soldiers can keep firing on a recent enemy position after the enemy ducks.
- Use carried grenades against nearby enemies in cover, with friendly-clearance and throwing-route checks.
- Fight from buildings: keep the window while the enemy is in view, move to another window when not, duck behind walls when shot at instead of running out. Seek indoor cover near detected enemies.
- Walk to and crew nearby loaded friendly static weapons during contact, then give them up for orders or when no longer useful.
- Screen advances, casualty drags and withdrawals with smoke. At night, use carried flares to illuminate recently sighted enemy sectors.
- Broken squads fall back in two halves that cover each other, through the open side. Cornered out-of-ammo survivors can surrender.

LOOK AFTER EACH OTHER

- Medics and teammates throw smoke before approaching exposed casualties. Medics fight nearby visible enemies first and limit backtracking during a firefight.
- Keep spotting and fighting when pinned in the open; keep heads down when cover is available. Elevated and flanking fire, ambushes and explosions affect suppression.
- Get low as nearby blasts arrive. Against recently seen armour, riflemen reduce their profile while AT specialists retain their firing stance.
- Fetch magazines from friendly casualties when out, even mid-fight; scavenge launchers and rockets when short. One job per soldier at a time.
- Follow an awake squad member when the leader is knocked out. Open a house door fully, or flip it to the other side, when it blocks movement.

KEEP THE VEHICLE WORKING

- Replace a lost turret gunner with an eligible AI squadmate. Commander seats count as crew.
- Passengers dismount under fire while crews stay aboard: drivers no longer get out to open gates, nor crews to treat the wounded.
- Supported armoured crew positions turn out when quiet and button up when danger returns.
- Idle wheeled-vehicle drivers can make a small guarded adjustment for a gunner's visible target outside a limited turret arc.
- Supported vehicles use fitted smoke weapons against launcher fire; slow wheeled vehicles can also make a short guarded reverse.

Also: scanning, quiet marching, weapon readiness and personal bios.

YOUR ORDERS COME FIRST

Autonomous features respect player control, explicit player/GM orders and host-mod policy. BBB does not recruit soldiers, create a squad or replace your battle plan. AC: Actual supplies map-level command and logistics; the optional AiO Command Menu gives orders to your linked squad. BBB needs neither.

Buildings and vehicle movement still depend on Reforger's navigation, equipment and current orders. Grenades, smoke and flares use equipment the soldiers carry; vehicle smoke needs a supported fitted weapon. Host scenarios can restrict features.

GET STARTED AND TUNE IT

Enable BBB and start a scenario with AI, such as Conflict or Game Master. Multiplayer requires it on the server and joining clients. No other mod is required; ACE-specific features need ACE. Mission makers can add BBB as a dependency; standalone integration starts automatically.

Tune it in Settings > Battle Buddies: every feature has a switch or slider with a short description. Save, share and export presets; BBB default and Vanilla (all off) are built in. Presets apply in singleplayer and games you host. Servers use -bbbPreset <name>; -bbb... launch parameters still win.

Hosts can use -bbbThink 1 and look at a soldier to see BBB's decisions (-bbbThink 2 also logs them).

GUIDE, FEEDBACK AND CREDITS

Source and guide: https://github.com/propst-design/BetterBattleBuddies
Discord: https://discord.gg/WK8xGSztB
Use #issues for BBB bugs and #suggestions for ideas. No GitHub account needed.
GitHub alternative: https://github.com/propst-design/BetterBattleBuddies/issues
Reports: include versions, scenario, mods, host/client role, steps and console.log/script.log.

Directed and tested by Jacob, co-developed by SlyZilla; built with Claude, Codex and Antigravity. Extracted from AC: Actual. Arma Public License Share Alike (APL-SA); original attribution and full credits are retained in LICENSE.md.