Mass guarding for con units

[Freelancer_Axel]

hey guys,

ive been playing some TA, and i know that you can set a construction unit to guard one structure or unit, then it will repair it when it becomes damaged.
also, if you set a Con-unit to patrol an area with structured or units near the patrol path, then it will repair everything damaged in its way

the problem with the first, it requires a large number of con-units and is unfeasable for much other that an important structure
the problem with the second, the unit can get tangled with others and makes repairing a pain

my idea is to allow construction units to guard more than one structure at a time but allow it to act on all the guarded units, not just the first (like TA origonal)

[AF]

Nice, as an itnerim solution theres the patrol and fight commands but that could get messy.

Can someone move this to the feature requests forum?

[Gota]

yeah a sort of a repair circle that would select all units that the con should guard would be great.
Should even have multiple guard circles,so you ca nmake a guard circle over one group press shift and make anothre circle around another group and the con will try and repair both groups.

i must admit that it seems like a lot of work for something that im not sure would be used a lot in most mods,but a nice request.

[Google_Frog]

Repair circle + repeat should work.

[Freelancer_Axel]

thnx guys, im just thinking along the lines of an artillery possition. you dont want 5 con's to be standing there, so why not just have one to guard them all but without moving untill it needs to

[imbaczek]

repair circles+repeat will work.

[Argh]

Or just patrol along those buildings.

[AF]

You could issue a Fight command circle.

However these are all kludges of a sort. Instead we should allow more flexible guarding behaviours. Currently a guard command loops around on the same unit, instead it should look ahead int he queue to see if the next command is also a guard command, jump to that command and do the guard command on that unit.

GuardBehaviour.JPG (24.77 KiB) Viewed 3860 times

This is closer to how it works in supreme commander, and its a much more flexible solution. There is the question as to wether this should be a replacement of traditional guard or whether it should be a new guard command. Or if the unit should guard unit 1 but if unit 1 needs no help it should move to do something with unit 2 then go back to unit 1 like a priority queue.

There's nothing stopping someone making a widget that does these.

[Google_Frog]

Setting a con to repeat and clicking repair on the buildings that it should guard is the same as your second flow chart.

[AF]

No because if those units guarding are attackers guarding 3 buildings and the second building gets attacked they wont respond until the first building is attacked or destroyed.

[Pxtl]

I've often wished for an order-modifier that was the opposite of "repeat" - like a "once" command. That is, commands that normally get the unit stuck on this action forever (like Guard or Attack Ground) only happen once (check if the guarded unit needs anything and if so, do it, if not, move on to next order, or fire-only-once) so that these actions could be used in looping queues nicely.

[AF]

Both attack ground and guarding should follow the behaviour in the above diagram by default imo

[Tobi]

Attack ground already does.

Unless it was broken yet again..., I recall trepan fixing it 100s of times.

[daan 79]

I've often wished for an order-modifier that was the opposite of "repeat" - like a "once" command. That is, commands that normally get the unit stuck on this action forever (like Guard or Attack Ground) only happen once (check if the guarded unit needs anything and if so, do it, if not, move on to next order, or fire-only-once) so that these actions could be used in looping queues nicely.

+1

[daan 79]

but i really would like to see the oppesite

Select a group of combat units. ))) give them a go "one by one" to the repair con order))) the con stays on his place the unit's move.

But thats maybe a new request :S

[manored]

but i really would like to see the oppesite

Select a group of combat units. ))) give them a go "one by one" to the repair con order))) the con stays on his place the unit's move.

But thats maybe a new request :S

Indeed it is a new request, but I think the effect you want exists in CA already in the form of the retreat option.

That modifier to turn never-ending actions into one-shot ones would be awesome :)

[Jasper1984]

No because if those units guarding are attackers guarding 3 buildings and the second building gets attacked they wont respond until the first building is attacked or destroyed.

And secondly, the repair command that is repeated stays at the same position. It does not follow units.

[manored]

No because if those units guarding are attackers guarding 3 buildings and the second building gets attacked they wont respond until the first building is attacked or destroyed.

And secondly, the repair command that is repeated stays at the same position. It does not follow units.

If you make it area repair no, but if you tell it especifically to repair the unit then it does follows... putting a command on repeat doesnt changes the behavior of the command, it changes the behavior of the queue :)

[ILMTitan]

Remind me to look into this once .77 kicked out to the masses.