Chasing units

Saktoth · Post by **Saktoth** » 05 Oct 2007, 20:25

Any chance that units chasing others, either with an attack order or with roam/patrol/manoeuvre, could be made to act a little smarter?

At the moment, units that attack a fleeing target will stop chasing the moment they are in range. Since the target will quickly exit range again, it means the chasing unit will stop and start, and barely get any shots off (if any at all). This is especially bad for units with bad accels. If units could be made to detect when a target is fleeing from them, and match the enemies velocity once in range, this would be very useful.

If not, perhaps a lua gadget...

LordMatt · Post by **LordMatt** » 06 Oct 2007, 00:42

+1 Unit should close to within 1/2 to 2/3rds range. Should be and easy fix as far as I know.

Pressure Line · Post by **Pressure Line** » 06 Oct 2007, 03:11

units on hold ground should move to their max range before stopping, units on maneuver 2/3 and units on roam 1/2. would make some other odd unit behaviors less obvious too.

Saktoth · Post by **Saktoth** » 06 Oct 2007, 04:04

LordMatt wrote:+1 Unit should close to within 1/2 to 2/3rds range. Should be and easy fix as far as I know.

Well, no, then samson walks within range of LLT etc. Just needs to match velocity of the enemy is moving away (though thats prolly harder to code).

Post by **ILMTitan** » 06 Oct 2007, 08:09

I'll take a crack at this.

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 06 Oct 2007, 08:40

no changes unless they are an OPTION!

I do not want to see gundam unplayable for months again!

HOLD means HOLD not creep up. That is what maneuver is for.

a better wording would be:

HOLD = STAY THERE DAMNIT!
Manuever = wander a bit
Roam = WHEREVER THEY WANT.

I do not want my hold position units to wander.

Engine Of Darkness · Post by **Engine Of Darkness** » 06 Oct 2007, 12:26

Yup, I think so , too. But I think the point he tries to make is that a unit should be able to drive and shoot at the same time (ofcourse there should be some kind of variable for accuracy (<<< would mean implenting it in any unit). To stop that, make a default variable (calculated from damage, speed and range of the weapon (or other parameters) to lower the accuracy if no Unit specific variable is set.

I doubt he wanted to change the behaviour, only shoot while driving.

Pressure Line · Post by **Pressure Line** » 06 Oct 2007, 13:03

i should have clarified more, what i posted before only applied to:

a) units given a direct attack order by a player
b) units set to maneuver or roam

idle hold position units behave exactly as they do how, sit there and shoot at anything that comes into range.

LordMatt · Post by **LordMatt** » 06 Oct 2007, 14:51

ILMTitan wrote:I'll take a crack at this.

:D

Saktoth · Post by **Saktoth** » 07 Oct 2007, 02:42

I do not want my hold position units to wander.

either with an attack order or with roam/patrol/manoeuvre

The only thing im worried about is that it might make long range units stray within the range of enemies again (I think a fix was made for that in some version which might be why we have this problem now). I suppose you can always put them on hold ground though (but cycling that for each long range unit can be frustrating).

Needs per-unit standingmoveorders back in, TBH.

Post by **ILMTitan** » 07 Oct 2007, 02:53

I'm making it so that they will only move toward units if those units are moving away from it, and at the same speed. Your worry should not be a problem.

What I am concerned about is units that are slaved to only fire when they standing still.

smoth · Post by **smoth** » 07 Oct 2007, 03:11

seriously, please do not add this as something that has no option to turn it off or something that is a default behavior.

LordMatt · Post by **LordMatt** » 07 Oct 2007, 05:28

The current functionality is pretty bad smoth...

Snipawolf · Post by **Snipawolf** » 07 Oct 2007, 05:32

It oughta be like:

Track - 1X range
Hunt - .6x range
Stalk - .3x range
Rape - .01x range

Saktoth · Post by **Saktoth** » 07 Oct 2007, 05:47

ILMTitan wrote:What I am concerned about is units that are slaved to only fire when they standing still.

Such a unit should be on hold position, presumably. If its not, the likelyhood of it being able to fire while chasing an enemy is pretty low now anyway just because by the time it aims the enemy is usually out of range again.

As long as units dont chase targets just because they run away, but because they are close to exiting the units range, this shouldnt be too bad.

EDIT: Does the tag 'maneuverleashlength' work in spring or is it an OTA leftover?

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » 07 Oct 2007, 06:04

OTA leftover.

Post by **ILMTitan** » 07 Oct 2007, 07:46

So, here are my thoughts on the disabling the behavior with hold position.

Essentially, if it is an internal order, such as the unit was idling, or fighting, or patrolling, Hold Position would prevent the unit from chasing the other unit.

If the attack order was manual, however, it would start chasing before the target got out of range, because it would chase after the target after the target got out of range anyway.

I am also thinking that 70% of maximum range would be a good point to start chasing, but still only if the target was running away, no running into LLT range.

LordMatt · Post by **LordMatt** » 07 Oct 2007, 15:08

Sounds good to me.

MadRat · Post by **MadRat** » 07 Oct 2007, 16:03

How about if it predicts the main weapons lead range necessary to hit the target and then move to 70% of that range?

KDR_11k · Post by **KDR_11k** » 07 Oct 2007, 16:11

How about just issuing a move order?

Spring RTS Engine

Chasing units

Chasing units