tanks moving through light woods

[marka]

I am playing the training campaign for CMFB.  There is a terrain type for light woods, around the more dense woods along the South edge of the map.  When plotting moves for my tanks, it allows me to place waypoints within the light woods, with a final destination in an open field beyond.  However, when the turn starts, the tank is in the process of going around the woods, and crossing through them at a narrower place than the path I plotted.  Is this one of those "the AI will figure the best way to get the tank where you want it to go" situations?  The tank hasn't made it into the woods yet, and the Tiger has just made its appearance, so all my plans for my tanks are about to change, anyway.

On a similar topic, is there a way to tell how a vehicle is going to move before the turn starts?  I am in a PBEM game of Huzzar!, and I ordered one of my StuG IIIs to cross (what I thought was) a low hedge into a field.  When I clicked the Big Red Button, it went rolling merrily down the road toward a gap in the hedge, taking it right in front of the Allied tank I was trying to flank.  The Allied tank was kind enough to turn it into a burning wreck.  Yelling, "NO!!" at your computer does not stop them when you realize they are not following the path you have laid out.

 

[MikeyD]

When crossing obstacles you might want to try closely spaced waypoints. Because it seems the further away you place a waypoint the more the driver thinks he can use his own discretion on how to get there. Oh, and one thing to keep in mind, CMFB hedges (bocage) can be crossed by vehicles but CMBN bocage can't without a Culin hedgecutter. 'Huzzar' is in CMBN.

About trying to drive a tank into the woods because the middle of the woods will accept a waypoint, there's an old 'down east' joke that I won't bore you with, but the punch line is "You can't get there from here!"

[womble]

Vehicle AI doesn't seem to have quite the "initiaitve" allowed it that infantry AI does, and you don't often have to place waypoints every damn AS like you do if you want your gropos to follow a difficult terrain (like a handy ditch with a muddy bottom), but they do still have some leeway to find the "best" route, and, as far as the AI is concerned "best" and "fastest" are synonyms. Given that, driving in woods, the vehicle is going to be "driving through" a lot of trees, it's going to be slowing down for those (an abstraction to help with path finding in "forested" terrain) too, so it will often elect to try the narrowest part of the wood that's anywhere near rather than going through the body directly ahead. As MikeyD says, putting a lot of waypoints down can usually persuade the vehicle to follow a specific line, as well as allowing any turns needed to be gradual rather than halting.

[Vet 0369]

4 hours ago, MikeyD said:

About trying to drive a tank into the woods because the middle of the woods will accept a waypoint, there's an old 'down east' joke that I won't bore you with, but the punch line is "You can't get there from here!"

"Ayup, shot ma dog yesterday." "Was he mad?" "Wasn't too damn pleased, Ayup."

Edited April 26, 2016 by Vet 0369

[womble]

"Wild? I was livid!"

[Pete Wenman]

Just now, womble said:

"Wild? I was livid!"

Gerald is that you !

[womble]

"Cookies! Cookies for Mr Wenman!"

[Sailor Malan2]

On 4/26/2016 at 4:50 PM, MikeyD said:

...

 there's an old 'down east' joke that I won't bore you with, but the punch line is "You can't get there from here!"

Better version: "If I were you I wouldn't start from here"