Quite odd AI vehicle pathing bug

[Bimmer]

I was doing some initial testing on a scenario I'm designing and I saw several M10s do something well and truly odd. I gave them Move orders down a road, with 10 seconds between them. The path I gave them was straight along the road, which included a single waypoint that incorporated a 45 degree turn; they were never ordered to leave the road.

What they did was to drive to the waypoint and make the turn as ordered, but shortly thereafer they each stopped and turned into a field through a small gapped bocage tile (these are not Rhinos, BTW), then turned and continued on to their assigned end points through the field parallel to the road. Furthermore, the gapped bocage tile was also a mud tile, so there clearly was no advantage to leaving the unobstructed road to pass through it.

I can replicate the orders and send a save if desired.

[Sgt Schultz]

It seems to be a "perceived threat area" kind of TacAI behavior that units will produce in certain terrains.

If a unit 'feels' like it would be a bad idea to follow any of your orders, they make their own way.

I have given infantry units clear orders to stay away from woods so they do not slow down. They fling themselves right into the woods and get Tired.

Tanks will not drive down a road if they feel it would be safer to drive another route to the endpoint.

This behavior can be reduced by increasing the number of waypoints between the unit and its destination.

If it is an AI group, then your spucked.

You will need to make the designed route 'safe' enough so that the TACAI finds it acceptable.

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[Baneman]

I recently had this behaviour in a small battle - I told a Kubel to drive across from 1 field to another. At one point on the map, the route went between a stand of trees and a marshy bit.

The Kubel absolutely refused ( later a truck too ) to drive between these 2 points - giving it AP by AP orders caused it to rather do nothing. Left to its own devices with a long order resulted in it creeping through the trees.

Now it was probable that the map's "marshy bit" extended into the (apparently) clear/open piece of terrain, so my point is that sometimes a piece of terrain is different to what it LOOKS like ( and mousing over the terrain that balked the vehicles gave a clear green "yes, you can move here" arrow )

[Bimmer]

It seems to be a "perceived threat area" kind of TacAI behavior that units will produce in certain terrains.

If a unit 'feels' like it would be a bad idea to follow any of your orders, they make their own way.

I have given infantry units clear orders to stay away from woods so they do not slow down. They fling themselves right into the woods and get Tired.

Tanks will not drive down a road if they feel it would be safer to drive another route to the endpoint.

This behavior can be reduced by increasing the number of waypoints between the unit and its destination.

If it is an AI group, then your spucked.

You will need to make the designed route 'safe' enough so that the TACAI finds it acceptable.

--

I'd be happy if this could be explained by some sort of AI self-preservation instinct, but pushing armored vehicles through that tiny gap in the bocage (problem #1) put them closer to the enemy and potentially exposed them, whereas had they remained on the road they would have been completely covered (problem #2).

I've messed around with issuing orders enough to have a pretty good idea of when I need to add additional waypoints to get units to go where I want them to. This was just so bizarre and inexplicable I thought it warranted mentioning.

[Amizaur]

I would prefer if TacAI about pathfinding worked for AI troops - it's nice that computer-controlled forcers try to not become too exposed or go straight into "trap areas".

But also would prefer that troops and vehicles commanded by me - folowed MY orders.

If I plot a path on the road I would prefer the vehicle to move on the road. If I plot them a stupid path, I will lost them and loose, and it's my problem as an player and commander. Anticipating dangerous areas and avoiding possible traps is also my task as a player.

Only really suicidal orders (I want them to do something clearly at cost of their lives) could be possibly modified by my pixel-troops (nobody wants to die).

Other than in such situations, human-controlled forces should obey the movement orders, because the human player is better in anticipating threats than TacAI. And if he is not - well it's his fault .