ALiVE.OS · ALiVE 3 Development
IED
Seeds an area with roadside IEDs, vehicle-borne bombs and suicide bombers for asymmetric, insurgency-style threats.
Overhaul complete · ALiVE 3
ALiVE 3 is in active development. This briefing describes work in progress, and the behaviour it covers is subject to change as testing continues. Check the changelog at the foot of the page for what has moved recently.
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Overview
What IED does
The IED module lets a mission maker plant an asymmetric threat across an area of operations without hand-placing every device. It can spawn roadside IEDs along routes and in urban clutter, vehicle-borne IEDs (car bombs), and suicide bombers in the area's settlements, each with its own threat level. Synced to a military commander, it uses a separate Starting IED Threat for roadside IEDs instead.
On top of basic placement, the module supports an optional detection system (so players can search for devices with a detector item), an Engineer Challenge for risk-based disarming, and an integration picker that places IED classes a third-party explosives mod such as ACE 3 recognises, so that mod's own disarm interaction attaches to them. ALiVE still arms the devices and sets them off.
Capabilities
What it handles
IED, VBIED and bomber threat sliders
Set separate threat levels for roadside IEDs, vehicle-borne IEDs and suicide bombers, plus a Starting IED Threat that's used instead when the module is synced to a military commander.
Searchable IEDs
Turn on IED detection and pick a detector item so players carrying it can find hidden devices before they go off.
Auto-detects other IED mods
The Integration dropdown finds compatible IED mods such as ACE 3 Explosives and places IED classes the picked mod recognises, so its own disarm interaction works on them. Arming and detonation stay with ALiVE.
Risk-based disarming
Qualified engineer-type units can attempt to disarm a device, with a chance of setting it off, for missions that want a real disarm/EOD minigame.
Custom IED and clutter classes
Road, urban and clutter object lists can be extended with mod-specific classnames, with an auto-detect setting controlling how the defaults blend with a chosen integration.
A civilian watching the IED
With Trigger Man Chance above 0, some IEDs get a civilian watching from a house 40 to 150 m away, or from the open when no house can see the device. While he's free he sets the IED off when anyone comes near. Kill him or detain him first (hold Detain beside him, no ACE needed) and the IED stays quiet until it's disarmed.
Follow-on ambush after a blast
Each IED blast near players can bring in a squad from the nearest hostile force to finish off the survivors. Set the chance with Ambush Chance After a Blast; it's off by default.
Bombers and car bombs sent at players
With the module synced to an Asymmetric AI Commander, insurgents that spot a player send a suicide bomber at him, or a car bomb driven at him when Vehicle Borne IED Threat is above None. The bomber wears three explosive charges on his chest that every player sees, killing him sets it off 3 times in 10, and a car bomb goes off within 15 m of the player, when its driver is killed or when the car is wrecked. The Insurgents Send Bombers setting turns this off. Players close together share one wait, so a group draws one bomber rather than one each, and a driven car bomb starts at least 300 m from every player (Car Bomb Start Distance). A player on the insurgents' side, or on a side friendly to it, is never a bomber's target, and walking into a town doesn't set its bomber off. With no Asymmetric AI Commander in the mission, every player is a target.
Car bombs a careful player can spot
Each car bomb carries signs, each with its own setting: a load strapped underneath that can be seen, a timer that beeps within 25 m, a warning for a player carrying the IED detector, a driver who drives like a man on a mission, and (off by default) a car that sits low at the back.
How to use it
Getting started
- Place the IED module and set its area of operationsAdd the Military IED Threat module to the map. Use TAOR Marker to keep IEDs and bombers inside one or more markers, or leave it blank for the whole map, and Blacklist Marker to exclude areas.
- Set the threat levelsUnder IED THREAT, raise IED Threat above None so roadside and urban IEDs spawn. If the module is synced to a Military AI Commander, Starting IED Threat sets the IED count instead. Set Suicide Bomber Threat and Vehicle Borne IED Threat for those threats; they're placed with or without a Commander.
- Choose where the threats go (optional)IED/Bomber Locations is Random by default, so any town in the area can get IEDs, bombers or car bombs. Set it to Enemy-Occupied Areas to keep them to towns the enemy commander holds, or Unoccupied for towns nobody holds.
- Set up detectionIED Detection Alert is Text by default, so players carrying the detector get a hint when they near a device; set it to Audio for a sound cue or None to turn it off. IED Detector Class defaults to
MineDetector. AI Units Trigger IEDs is separate: Yes makes IEDs and bombers also go off for AI friendly to the players. - Choose an integration if using another explosives modWith ACE 3 loaded, leave Integration on Auto (detect), which picks ACE 3 Explosives by itself, or choose Defer to: ACE 3 Explosives. ALiVE then places IED classes that ACE's disarm interaction attaches to; arming and detonation stay with ALiVE. For another explosives mod, pick its Defer to entry. Force ALiVE handling keeps ALiVE's own classes.
- Tune the Engineer ChallengeEngineer Challenge is Yes by default. Adjust Trip Rate, Trip Threshold Min, Trip Threshold Max, Trip Decay Rate, Disarm Base Time and Wire-Guess Threshold to make disarming easier or harder. Any unit carrying the IED Detector Class item gets the Disarm IED action, as do engineer and EOD units.
- Add a trigger man or a follow-on ambush (optional)Type a percentage for Trigger Man Chance to put a watching civilian on that share of IEDs; players need to deal with him first (kill him or hold Detain beside him). Type a percentage for Ambush Chance After a Blast so a hostile squad can come in after an IED goes off near players. Both are 0 by default.
- Send bombers at players in an insurgency (optional)Sync the module to an Asymmetric AI Commander and set Suicide Bomber Threat above None. Insurgents who spot a player 150 to 800 m away then send a bomber, or a car bomb when Vehicle Borne IED Threat is above None. Insurgents Send Bombers (Yes by default) turns this off. Bomber Wait (minutes) sets how long before the next one, Bomber Wait Shared Within (m) how close other players must be to share that wait, and Car Bomb Start Distance (m) how far off a car bomb sets out. Players on the insurgents' side, or a side friendly to it, are left alone, so test as their enemy.
- Play the mission and test the threat in gameMove through the area of operations on foot and in a vehicle. Confirm IEDs appear near roads and in urban clutter and detonate on trigger, and that a qualified unit can approach a found device and use Disarm IED.
Settings
Every setting, and what it does
These settings decide how many settlements get roadside and urban IEDs, suicide bombers and car bombs, and where on the map they're allowed. They also control how players find and defuse IEDs, how hard that is for engineers, and which objects are used to build and hide the bombs.
Presets that use this module: Ground convoy: transport, escort and recruits, Hearts and minds: NATO wins over the towns, Hunt the recruiters: NATO against FIA, Insurgency: FIA against NATO. Place one in the editor to see it set up.
Quick setups
A light roadside threat
- IED Threat: Low
Roughly half the settlements get IEDs, and each one gets only a small number when players arrive.
A heavy urban insurgency
- IED Threat: High
- Suicide Bomber Threat: Medium
- Vehicle Borne IED Threat: Low
Every settlement gets IEDs, about 1 in 5 gets a suicide bomber and about 1 in 10 is primed for car bombs (each rolls on its own, so they often land in different settlements).
Tense, slow EOD work
- Engineer Challenge: Yes
- Trip Rate: Aggressive (0.04)
- Disarm Base Time (s): 90
Engineers who rush in upright set IEDs off much sooner, and every defuse takes longer while the IED can still go off.
Engineers can walk up to IEDs safely
- Engineer Challenge: No
Qualifying engineers on foot can't set IEDs off by getting close and disarming is instant, though 1 defuse in 10 still ends in a wire-guess, and a pressure mine from a mod picked under Integration still goes off if stepped on.
AI patrols set off IEDs too
- AI Units Trigger IEDs: Yes
IEDs, bombers and car bombs also appear when AI friendly to the players come near, and those AI can set IEDs off just like players; civilians and the players' enemies never do, and car bombs still only go off when damaged.
Watched IEDs
- Trigger Man Chance (%): 25%
Some IEDs get a civilian watching from a house (or the open) 40 to 150 m away who sets them off as you approach, so the trigger man has to be dealt with first.
Ambush after an IED goes off
- Ambush Chance After a Blast (%): 50%
Half the blasts near players bring in a squad of up to 6 men from the nearest hostile force, which appears out of sight, moves in, then pulls back after 3 to 5 minutes.
Bombers sent at players in an insurgency
- Suicide Bomber Threat: Low
- Vehicle Borne IED Threat: Low
- Insurgents Send Bombers: Yes
With the module synced to an Asymmetric AI Commander, insurgents who spot a player 150 to 800 m away send a bomber after him, and half of the time a car bomb driven at him instead. Each player gets one at a time, with 10 minutes between, and players within 150 m of the one picked share his wait.
General
6 settings
Choices: Yes / No
Puts markers on the map, visible to every player, showing where IEDs and rigged vehicles are, and writes detailed placement, trigger and detonation information to the log file.
TryTurn it on while testing to see which settlements got IEDs, then turn it off before release.
Choices: Yes / No
Saves IED positions, disarmed IEDs and the settlements that were given bombers or car bombs, then puts them back when a saved mission is loaded.
AffectsOnly works with the ALiVE Data module placed; without it nothing is saved and there's no warning.
Only settlements inside this marker get IEDs, bombers or car bombs. Type the marker name exactly, and separate several with commas and no spaces (for example ied_zone1,ied_zone2).
AffectsThe marker is hidden when the mission starts. Leave it blank to use the whole map.
TryDraw an area marker called ied_zone over the insurgent region and type ied_zone here.
See it inGround convoy: transport, escort and recruits (IED_AREA), Hearts and minds: NATO wins over the towns (TOWNS_AREA), Hunt the recruiters: NATO against FIA (FIA_AREA), Insurgency: FIA against NATO (FIA_AREA)
Settlements inside this marker never get IEDs, bombers or car bombs, and vehicles inside it are never rigged. Type the marker name exactly, with several separated by commas and no spaces.
AffectsThe marker is hidden when the mission starts.
TryPut a marker over your main base and type its name here so the base stays clear.
Choices: No / Yes
With Yes, AI on a player's side, or a side friendly to it, also make a settlement's IEDs, bombers and car bombs appear when they come near, and can set IEDs off just like players; a suicide bomber can go after them too. Civilians, the players' enemies, empty vehicles, unmanned static weapons and animals never count. With No, only players do.
AffectsUnits that ALiVE is only tracking on paper (not spawned in the world) can't trigger anything either way.
See it inGround convoy: transport, escort and recruits (1)
Choices: Auto (detect) / Force ALiVE handling / Defer to: <mod name> (one per loaded IED mod)
Who arms and sets off the IEDs, and which objects are used. Force ALiVE handling uses ALiVE's own classes. Auto (detect) is the same but uses ACE's IED classes when ACE 3 Explosives is loaded. Defer to a mod uses that mod's method: most entries (RHS, CUP, ACE, SPE, GM, CSLA, SOG command IEDs) keep ALiVE's arming and disarm; Engine-Armed, Tripwire and Mines & Tripwires leave it to the engine; SOG punji hazards hurt on contact; IEDD Notebook leaves arming, setting off and defusing to IEDD (needs CBA and ACE).
AffectsA mod picked with Defer to also replaces the untouched lists in the Object Classes section with its own classes (see the Auto-detect Source settings). Only mods loaded when you open the editor appear in the list, and a saved choice for a mod that's no longer loaded falls back to Auto.
TryRunning ACE? Auto already uses ACE's IED classes, so ACE's defuse interaction attaches to them. Pick Force ALiVE handling if you'd rather keep ALiVE's own objects.
IED Threat
6 settings
Choices: None / Low / Medium / High / Extreme
Each settlement rolls against this number once at the start, so Low gives IEDs to about half the settlements and Medium or higher gives them to every one. The IEDs appear when a player comes within the settlement's size plus 250 m and disappear again when everyone leaves, with bigger settlements and higher settings getting more (a 300 m town gets 1 on Low, 2 on Medium, 4 on High and 7 on Extreme).
AffectsA settlement with a player inside at mission start is skipped at first; from 10 minutes in it's checked each minute and gets its IEDs, bomber and car bombs once nobody's there. If the module is synced to a military commander, only the Starting IED Threat is used and this town-by-town placement doesn't happen. An insurgent commander's own IEDs and bombers appear in the towns it works whenever this module is in the mission.
TryLow for occasional roadside bombs, High for a town full of them.
See it inGround convoy: transport, escort and recruits (100)
Choices: None / Low / Medium / High / Extreme
Sets which settlements get IEDs, and how many each, as part of the initial setup, using the same roll and sizing as IED Threat. They still only appear when a player gets close.
AffectsOnly works when the module is synced to a military commander (OPCOM); otherwise it's ignored. When it is synced, the settlement-by-settlement IED, bomber and car bomb setup from the other threat settings doesn't happen.
See it inHunt the recruiters: NATO against FIA (50)
Choices: None / Text / Audio
What a player carrying the detector gets the first time they come within roughly 7 to 16 m of an IED (each IED has its own range): Text shows a hint with the distance, Audio plays a sound only (no hint), and None gives nothing.
AffectsEach IED alerts only once, and only a player carrying the detector item uses that alert up, so an engineer without one, or an AI unit, walking past first doesn't spend it.
The inventory item that lets a player get IED alerts, counts them as an engineer and gives them the disarm action. It takes one classname only, not a list.
AffectsExplosive Specialists, units with the explosives specialist trait and ACE engineers or EOD also count as engineers without it.
TryType ACE_VMM3 if your players use the ACE mine detector.
Choices: Type 0 to 100
The chance, in percent, that an IED gets a civilian trigger man watching it. He stands on the ground floor of a house 40 to 150 m away with a view of the device, or in the open 60 to 150 m away when no house can see it. While he's free he sets the IED off himself when anyone comes near, so a careful approach won't save an engineer.
AffectsKill him, hold Detain beside him (no ACE needed) or make him surrender and the IED no longer goes off when approached; disarm it as usual. He carries an ID wallet that names him. ALiVE IEDs only.
TryType 100, find an IED and look around for the civilian watching it before you go near.
Choices: Type 0 to 100
Gives each IED blast near players a chance, in percent, of a follow-on ambush. A squad of up to 6 men, the same types as the nearest hostile force within 3 km, appears 150 to 300 m from the blast where no player can see it, moves in fast, then searches and destroys round the blast. It pulls back after 3 to 5 minutes or once half of it is down, and it's removed once no player is within 800 m.
AffectsWith no hostile force within 3 km there's no ambush. The squad costs the AI commander nothing and never joins anyone's forces.
TryType 100, set off an IED with a hostile force nearby, and watch for the squad closing in on the blast.
Suicide Bombers
6 settings
Choices: None / Low / Medium / High / Extreme
The percentage chance that each settlement gets a suicide bomber, so Low gives about 1 in 10 settlements a bomber and Extreme about half. The bomber appears the first time someone comes within the settlement's size plus 250 m, and only once.
AffectsIsn't used for settlements when the module is synced to a military commander. It rolls separately from the IED and car bomb settings, so a settlement can get a bomber without IEDs.
See it inHunt the recruiters: NATO against FIA (20)
The unit classes to use as bombers, one picked at random each time. It must be written as a bracketed, quoted list, for example ["C_Nikos","C_Nikos_aged"], not a plain comma list like the other boxes.
AffectsLeft blank, bombers come from the civilian faction of ALiVE's civilian module, or a random faction of the car bomb side if that module isn't placed.
The vest each bomber wears: one class, or a comma list with one picked at random per bomber. Left at the default, a loaded mod's own suicide vest is used when there is one, otherwise the ALiVE suicide vest. In any vest but a mod's own suicide vest, the bomber carries three explosive charges down his front that every player sees.
AffectsA list of your own always wins over a mod's vest. A class that doesn't exist is left out and named in the RPT. The Eden tooltip's example is V_ALiVE_Suicide_Vest,V_Chestrig_khk,V_BandollierB_cbr; before 3 November 2026 it named V_BandollierBag_cbr, which isn't a real class.
TryLeave it at the default with no mod loaded, let a bomber spawn and look at his chest: three charges, which go when his vest comes off.
Choices: Yes / No
With Yes, an insurgent group that has spotted a player 150 to 800 m away may send a suicide bomber at him: every 30 seconds, each such player has an even chance of drawing one. With a Vehicle Borne IED Threat above None, half the time it sends a car bomb driven at him instead. Each player gets one at a time. Once one is sent, none comes for Bomber Wait (minutes), at him or at any player within Bomber Wait Shared Within (m) of him, so a group of players together draws one bomber rather than one each.
AffectsNeeds Suicide Bomber Threat above None and an Asymmetric AI Commander synced to this module; otherwise nothing is sent.
TrySync the module to an Asymmetric commander, set Suicide Bomber Threat to Low or more, then let an insurgent group see you from a few hundred metres and watch for the bomber.
See it inHunt the recruiters: NATO against FIA (true)
Choices: A number of minutes
Once Insurgents Send Bombers has sent a bomber or a car bomb at a player, how many minutes before another can be sent at him. The same wait goes to every player within Bomber Wait Shared Within (m) of him.
AffectsOnly with Insurgents Send Bombers on. A player still waiting longer from an earlier bomber keeps his longer wait. A blank or negative entry keeps 10.
TryType 2, deal with the first bomber quickly and check another can come for you about 2 minutes after the first was sent.
Vehicle-Borne IED
9 settings
Choices: None / Low / Medium / High / Extreme
The percentage chance that each settlement is primed for car bombs. When someone first comes near, nearby cars on the VB-IED Side (up to the threat number of them, so 10 on Low) are each given the same percentage chance of being rigged, and if there are none a few are spawned on nearby roads (1 on Low up to 7 on Extreme) with the same chance; rigged cars explode when the charge fixed under them is damaged.
AffectsIsn't used for settlements when the module is synced to a military commander, but it still sets the chance for the parked cars an insurgent commander tries to rig; if there's no car to rig, the insurgents spawn one that's always rigged.
Choices: CIV / EAST / WEST / IND
Only cars on this side can be rigged. A parked car goes by the side its model is made for, and one with somebody in it by who's inside, so EAST, WEST or IND rig that side's parked cars too, and a town with none gets unarmed cars of that side made for it. Wrecks and quad bikes are never rigged.
AffectsOn CIV with Civilian Placement in the mission, cars made for a town come from its vehicle faction first, then its civilians' faction, before any other civilian faction.
Choices: Yes / No
The bomb is strapped under the car between the axles, where a player who looks underneath can see it: three shells bundled with a charge, and a satchel beside them. Every player sees the same load.
AffectsNot on bikes.
TryFind a car bomb (Debug on marks them) and crouch beside it to look under the car.
Choices: Yes / No
A car bomb is a third heavier, with the weight further back, so its rear sits a few centimetres lower and its nose higher than the same car unloaded. It handles a little heavier when driven.
AffectsSubtle: easiest to see next to an unloaded car of the same model.
Choices: Yes / No
A timer beeps from a car bomb while a player is within 25 m of it.
Choices: Yes / No
A player carrying the IED Detector Class item gets one warning when he comes within 10 m of a car bomb, shown the way IED Detection Alert is set (as text when that is None).
AffectsACE's mine detectors find the charge under the car whatever this says, from about 1 to 2.5 m away.
Choices: Yes / No
For the car bombs insurgents drive at players (Insurgents Send Bombers). Yes: the lone driver comes flat out the whole way and ignores everything around him. No: he drives like anyone else until he is 80 m from his target, then puts his foot down.
AffectsDriven car bombs are kept off headless clients, ALiVE's and ACE's, so they aren't lost in a move.
Choices: A number of metres
How far from its target, and from every player, a car bomb driven at a player (Insurgents Send Bombers) starts. Further gives players more warning; a short distance in a tight town can bring it from just round the corner.
AffectsIts start road is looked for within this distance plus 100 m (300 m at least) of the insurgents who sent it. With no clear road that far out, a bomber on foot comes instead. A blank or negative entry keeps 300.
TryLeave it at 300 and, with Enable Debug on, check the RPT line for a car bomb gives a start more than 300 m from you.
Choices: Random / Enemy-Occupied Areas / Unoccupied
Where IEDs, car bombs and suicide bombers can go. Random puts them in any town in the area. Enemy-Occupied Areas keeps to towns where the enemy AI Commander has forces once it has started: the one synced to this module, or any commander hostile to the players. An insurgency with nothing out yet places as Random. Unoccupied keeps to towns with no commander's forces and no soldiers in or near them.
Engineer Challenge
5 settings
Choices: No / Yes
With Yes, engineers can still set an IED off by approaching carelessly, and disarming takes time with a chance of a wire-guess. With No, engineers on foot can't set IEDs off by getting close and disarm them instantly, though 1 defuse in 10 still ends in a wire-guess.
AffectsAnyone who isn't an engineer, including an engineer sitting in a vehicle, sets an IED off straight away either way, and a pressure mine from a mod picked under Integration still goes off if stepped on directly. Turns the trip and disarm settings below on or off.
Choices: Gentle (0.01) / Default (0.02) / Aggressive (0.04) / Brutal (0.08)
How fast an engineer builds up the risk of setting an IED off while close to it. Standing, moving fast and being right on top of it add risk faster; crawling, stopping and higher skill slow it down.
TryGentle (0.01) gives new players room to learn; Brutal (0.08) punishes anyone who doesn't go prone.
Choices: Low (0.5) / Default (0.7) / High (1.0) / Very High (1.5)
The lowest amount of built-up risk that can set an IED off. Each IED secretly picks its own limit between Min and Max when it's armed, so lower means some IEDs go off sooner.
Choices: Low (1.0) / Default (1.3) / High (1.8) / Very High (2.5)
The highest limit an IED can pick, so a higher value makes some IEDs more forgiving. If you set it below Min, each IED still picks a value between the two.
Choices: Slow (0.005) / Default (0.01) / Fast (0.02) / Instant (0.05)
How quickly an engineer's built-up risk drains away once they back off out of the IED's range, so they can try again safely.
TryFast (0.02) lets an engineer who backs off reset quickly before another approach.
Disarming
2 settings
Choices: A number of seconds
How long it takes a fully skilled engineer to disarm an IED; less skilled engineers take up to 1.5 times as long. The IED can still go off during that time.
Choices: Often (0.60) / Default (0.75) / Rare (0.85) / Very Rare (0.95)
How often disarming turns into a guess between a red and a blue wire, where the wrong wire sets the IED off. Lower means more often, and a more skilled engineer gets it less. At Default it is about 25% for an unskilled engineer and 10% for a fully skilled one; Often is 40% and 16%, Rare 15% and 6%, Very Rare 5% and 2%.
AffectsIgnored when Engineer Challenge is No; the wire-guess then turns up a flat 1 time in 10.
TryOften (0.60) makes wire-guesses turn up roughly 1 time in 6 for fully skilled engineers, and 4 times in 10 for unskilled ones.
Object Classes
6 settings
The objects used as IEDs placed along roads, separated by commas with no spaces. If you leave it untouched, a mod picked with Defer to under Integration swaps it for that mod's own classes.
AffectsHow it combines with a mod's classes depends on Road IED - Auto-detect Source.
Extra roadside IED classes, separated by commas, that are always added on top of whatever the main list ends up as.
AffectsUse this rather than editing the main list if you want your classes kept even when an IED mod replaces the main list.
Choices: Auto (follow integration) / Yes (always merge) / No (ignore integration)
Whether roadside IEDs use classes from the mod picked under Integration. Auto swaps them in if you picked a mod with Defer to, or left Integration on Auto with ACE 3 Explosives loaded, and haven't edited the main list. Yes adds them to your edited list (or replaces an untouched one); with Integration left on Auto or Force ALiVE handling, the mod it takes them from is ACE 3 Explosives, if that's loaded. No always uses your list exactly.
The objects used as IEDs inside settlements, including everyday junk such as rubbish piles, sacks and tyres, separated by commas with no spaces.
AffectsHow it combines with a mod's classes depends on Urban IED - Auto-detect Source.
Extra urban IED classes, separated by commas, that are always added on top of whatever the main list ends up as.
Choices: Auto (follow integration) / Yes (always merge) / No (ignore integration)
Whether urban IEDs use classes from the mod picked under Integration, working the same way as the road setting: Auto swaps them in if you picked a mod with Defer to, or left Integration on Auto with ACE 3 Explosives loaded, and the main list is untouched, Yes adds them (from ACE 3 Explosives if Integration is on Auto or Force ALiVE handling), and No ignores them.
Clutter Classes
3 settings
Harmless junk scattered around IEDs to hide them, densely in settlements and sparsely around roadside IEDs.
AffectsHow it combines with a mod's classes depends on Clutter - Auto-detect Source.
Extra clutter classes, separated by commas, that are always added on top of whatever the main clutter list ends up as.
Choices: Auto (follow integration) / Yes (always merge) / No (ignore integration)
Whether the clutter uses classes from the mod picked under Integration, working the same way as the road and urban settings: Auto only swaps them in for a mod picked with Defer to.
Overhaul
What changed
- Car bombs you can spotFive new settings under Vehicle-Borne IED give car bombs signs a careful player can pick up: the load under the car, a sagging rear, a beeping timer, a detector warning and a driver who gives himself away. All but the sagging rear are on by default.
- Suicide bombers you can seeBombers now carry three explosive charges down their front that every player sees, and keep their vest on a server with headless clients. Left at its default, Bomber Vest uses a loaded mod's own suicide vest when there is one.
- Bombers and car bombs turn up in an insurgencyWith the module synced to an AI Commander, suicide bombers and car bombs now appear whatever Suicide Bomber Threat says; before, none did. Insurgents that spot a player send one at him, one at a time for each player. With Vehicle Borne IED Threat above None, half of them come as a car bomb driven at the player. The new Insurgents Send Bombers setting (Yes by default) switches this off.
- An IED can have a trigger man watching itThe new Trigger Man Chance setting puts a civilian on watch for that share of IEDs. He now takes a ground-floor spot in a house 40 to 150 m away with a view of the device, among the civilians, and only stands in the open when no house can see it. Kill him or detain him (hold Detain beside him, with or without ACE) and the IED no longer goes off when approached. He carries an ID wallet that names him as the trigger man for an IED near a named place.
- A squad can come in after a blastThe new Ambush Chance After a Blast setting (0 by default) gives each blast near players a chance of a follow-on ambush. Up to 6 men of the nearest hostile force within 3 km appear 150 to 300 m away where no player can see them, move in to search and destroy round the blast, then pull back after 3 to 5 minutes. With no hostile force within 3 km, nothing comes.
- IED/Bomber Locations now decides where the threats goEnemy-Occupied Areas keeps IEDs, bombers and car bombs to towns the enemy commander holds, and Unoccupied keeps them to towns nobody holds, soldiers in or near a town included. Before, every choice placed as Random. IEDs, bombers and car bombs also roll separately for each settlement now, so a bomber town no longer always has IEDs too.
- Vehicles and AI set off IEDsA player driving up to an IED now sets it off. AI Units Trigger IEDs works for AI on the players' side or a side friendly to it. With ACE loaded, Integration on Auto uses ACE's IED classes, and VB-IED Side set to EAST, WEST or IND rigs parked cars of that side. A town a player starts in gets its IEDs once they've left.
- Missions start much quickerThe module now reads where the populated areas are from the terrain's own index instead of working it out at every load. On a large Vietnam mission the IED step fell from 160 seconds to 1.5, and the debug circles no longer flicker. Report any IED area with no circle when debug is on.
Status
Where it stands
Eden settings audit complete
All editor attributes for this module were reviewed for consistent naming, casing and clear tooltips, including how the class lists and integration picker interact.
Translation complete
The module's display name, tooltips and usage description are fully translated across all supported languages.
Vehicle-IED spawn hardening
The rare case of a vehicle-borne IED detonating the instant it spawned has been fixed.
Reliability and stability fixes
Detonation, disarming, trigger detection and Game-Master compatibility issues reported by testers have been resolved.
Ambush after a blast
New Ambush Chance After a Blast setting (0 by default) lets a hostile squad come in after an IED goes off near players.
Bombers sent at players
Insurgents send suicide bombers and driven car bombs at players they have spotted, with a visible vest and a car bomb that goes off close to the player.
Trigger man
Trigger Man Chance puts a watching civilian on some IEDs, indoors where a house can see the device. He can be killed or detained to stop the IED going off, and carries an ID wallet.
Working IED/Bomber Locations
Enemy-Occupied Areas and Unoccupied now decide which towns get IEDs, bombers and car bombs, and each threat rolls separately for every settlement.
Testing
How you can help
Place a Military IED Threat module in the editor without syncing it to a commander (a synced commander means only Starting IED Threat is used), and set IED, VBIED and suicide bomber threat levels above zero. With TAOR Marker or Blacklist Marker set, check that devices appear near roads and in urban clutter without ending up under players or on top of friendly roadblocks, and that they detonate properly when triggered (including when a vehicle, not just a person on foot, passes through the trigger area). If the Engineer Challenge is enabled, have a unit carrying the IED Detector Class item attempt a disarm and confirm it is offered. Test in both a normal hosted mission and a Game-Master-hosted (Zeus) mission, and confirm suicide bombers do not path toward the Zeus player. A screen recording or the mission's game log (RPT) showing IED placement, detonation and any errors is the most useful thing to attach when reporting back. In an insurgency, sync the module to an Asymmetric AI Commander with Suicide Bomber Threat above None and let an insurgent group spot you at 150 to 800 m: a bomber (or, with Vehicle Borne IED Threat above None, sometimes a car bomb) should come for you, and no second one for 10 minutes, for you or for a friend standing within 150 m of you. To test the trigger man, set Trigger Man Chance to 100, find an IED and look for the civilian watching it (indoors if a house has a view): approaching while he's free should set it off, but not once he's killed or detained. To test the ambush, set Ambush Chance After a Blast to 100 with a hostile force within 3 km and set an IED off near a player.
Spotted a problem? Please report it on the ALiVE issue tracker on GitHub, with the map, rough location and what the units were doing so it can be reproduced.
Changelog
Updates to this page
- 2026-11-03With ACE, road and town IEDs now sit about half above ground, and come back at the same height each time players return to a town. Before, they sank until only a sliver, then nothing, showed. An IED defused with ACE takes its demo charge with it instead of leaving it lying on the ground.
- 2026-11-03Players close together now draw one suicide bomber between them, not one each: the wait after a bomber is sent goes to every player within 150 m of his target. Driven car bombs start at least 300 m from their target and every player (it was 150 m). Bomber Wait (minutes), Bomber Wait Shared Within (m) and Car Bomb Start Distance (m) set all three.
- 2026-11-03A car bomb driven at a player now sets off for its target. Before, it often sat on its start road with the engine off; the charge and the load under it now go on once it has pulled away, within 4 s of setting off.
- 2026-11-03Car bombs carry signs a careful player can spot, each its own setting under Vehicle-Borne IED: the load under the car, a rear that sits low (off by default), a beeping timer within 25 m, a detector warning within 10 m and a driver who comes flat out. Driven car bombs are kept off ACE's headless clients as well as ALiVE's.
- 2026-11-03Suicide bombers wear three explosive charges on their chest that every player sees, and no longer lose their vest when moved to a headless client. Left at the default, Bomber Vest uses a loaded mod's own suicide vest when there is one. The tooltip's example class is corrected to V_BandollierB_cbr.
- 2026-10-31Suicide bombers leave players alone when they're on the side of an asymmetric AI Commander, or a side friendly to it. With no asymmetric commander, every player is a target as before.
- 2026-10-29A Zeus can plant IEDs, car bombs and IED ambushes from ALiVE's Zeus modules, and IEDs a Zeus planted come back after a persistent reload.
- 2026-10-29With Bomber Type set and no civilians on the map, an asymmetric AI Commander's suicide bombers now use the faction this module picked for its bombers, so they're on the right side. A bomber that can't be made no longer leaves an empty group behind.
- 2026-10-28When Starting IED Threat is ignored because no AI Commander is synced, the RPT now says so, debug on or off, and names what the module is synced to. Before, a module synced to something else dropped the setting without a word.
- 2026-10-27In Eden this module's settings now sit under shorter headers, at most 8 settings in a group, and the Settings section here follows the same headers. Every setting keeps its name and default, so saved missions load as before.
- 2026-10-25A stray fragment no longer sets off a second car bomb. With ACE, one blast threw fragments that touched rigged cars 75 to 150 m away for tiny damage, and each touch set off a full car bomb there. Parked and driven car bombs now ignore a hit under 0.3; a blast within about 50 m still sets them off.
- 2026-10-25Integration has a new Defer to: IEDD Notebook choice. ALiVE places IEDD's barrels, buckets, canisters and boxes and leaves the rest to IEDD: they wire themselves, go off when a player walks within 10 to 15 m, and are defused with the notebook. A defused one isn't brought back armed when players return to the town. Leaving a town also no longer skips the IED after one that had gone off, which was left standing and placed a second time on the next visit.
- 2026-10-22The Trigger Man Chance tooltip now says he watches from 40 to 150 m away, from inside a house among the civilians where there is one.
- 2026-10-20Trigger men now watch from inside a house 40 to 150 m from their IED, on the ground floor with a view through a door or window, among the civilians. Where no house can see the IED he stands outside as before.
- 2026-10-19Trigger Man Chance and Ambush Chance After a Blast are typed 0 to 100 instead of None / 10% / 25% / 50% / All, and Disarm Base Time shows (s).
- 2026-10-18A trigger man can be detained without ACE: hold Detain beside him. Detained, he can no longer set the IED off, and with C2ISTAR, Question gets him talking about the insurgents nearby.
- 2026-10-18A trigger man carries an ID wallet. Search his body for it, and taking it names him as the trigger man for an IED near a named place.
- 2026-10-17Suicide bombers and car-bomb drivers are never made from the game's Civilian Presence men. One picked in an insurgency logged an error every second, over 1,200 in 10 minutes.
- 2026-10-17With a VB-IED Threat above None, half the bombers insurgents send come as a car bomb driven at the player. It goes off within 15 m of him, when its driver is killed, or when the car is wrecked.
- 2026-10-17A persistent insurgency saved before the bomber fix gets its town bombers and car bombs back on load.
- 2026-10-17Suicide bombers and car bombs now turn up when the IED module is synced to an AI Commander, as in every insurgency; before, none did whatever Bomber Threat said. The vest now shows, killing a bomber sets it off three times in ten, and a new Insurgents Send Bombers setting (on) lets insurgents who spot a player send one after him.
- 2026-10-16Trigger Man Chance and Ambush Chance After a Blast moved to the IED Threat section, after the detection settings. Missions that already set them keep their values.
- 2026-10-16New Ambush Chance After a Blast setting (None by default). After an IED goes off near players, a squad of up to 6 men from the nearest hostile force within 3 km can come in from 150 to 300 m out of sight and search and destroy round the blast. Worth testing with a hostile force nearby.
- 2026-10-15The junk piles, sacks and tyres placed round an IED sit on the ground. On Malden they could hang 9 to 12 m in the air, because a spot taken from a house kept the house's height; the IEDs themselves were never affected.
- 2026-10-14Engineer disarm base time is now a typed number of seconds instead of a few fixed choices (#1083).
- 2026-10-12IED messages (an IED detected nearby, disarming, a recovered charge) now show in the ALiVE message box, with the logo and the module's name as the title, instead of a plain hint.
- 2026-10-12The module's Eden icon now matches the other ALiVE modules: 256x256 on a clear background, with the bomb cut out of it.
- 2026-10-12A ground transport crew that stops to deal with an IED holds its trip checks until they're done.
- 2026-10-11An IED town only checks where the players are once something is in its area. Before, every town did it twice a second all mission.
- 2026-10-10IEDs can have a civilian trigger man watching; deal with him first or he sets it off as you approach. Hold Detain beside him to take him prisoner, with or without ACE; his ID wallet names the IED he was watching.
- 2026-10-09The wire-guess setting changes the odds for a skilled engineer too: Default 10%, Rare 6% and Very Rare 2%.
- 2026-10-04IEDs, bombers and car bombs now roll separately for each settlement, so a bomber town no longer always has IEDs too.
- 2026-10-04Unoccupied now also leaves out towns with soldiers in or near them, not only those a commander holds.
- 2026-10-03IED/Bomber Locations now works: Enemy-Occupied keeps IEDs to towns the enemy commander holds, Unoccupied to towns nobody holds. Before, every choice placed as Random.
- 2026-09-28A player driving up to an IED now sets it off, and AI Units Trigger IEDs now works, for AI on the players' side or a side friendly to it. With ACE loaded, Integration on Auto uses ACE's IED classes, and VB-IED Side EAST, WEST or IND now rigs parked cars of that side. A town a player starts in gets its IEDs once they've left.
- 2026-09-27With more than one TAOR or Blacklist marker, car bombs now respect all of them. Only the last marker in each list used to count, so a car inside the first TAOR marker was never rigged and one inside the first Blacklist marker could be.
- 2026-09-25IED Threat, Suicide Bomber Threat, Vehicle Borne IED Threat, IED Detection Alert and Trip Threshold Max now have tooltips that say what they really do.
- 2026-08-15Setting up IEDs is much quicker and the debug circles no longer flicker. On a large Vietnam mission the module fell from 160 seconds to 1.5, and ALiVE startup from 376 to 306. Worth reporting any IED area with no circle with debug on.
- 2026-08-12Missions with this module start far quicker on large built-up maps. On Cam Lao Nam the module went from eighty five seconds to a fraction of one, and ALiVE startup from just over two minutes to well under one. Device placement is unchanged.
- 2026-07-27Overhaul briefing first published.