Wow - they finally fixed the AI facing problem...

[Bulletpoint]

While doing the AI plans for my new scenario, I just realised something important has improved:

Previously, when ordering the AI to fall back to a hedgerow, the guys would usually end up on the wrong side, which made it useless. All sorts of tricks had to be used to make the AI go around.

Now it looks as if the AI has been changed a bit to go around the hedge or wall and take up position in cover. This is a major boon to scenario designers. Thank you BattleFront.

However, the AI team still ends up facing in the direction of travel, which most often means they will turn their backs to the enemy. I still wish they would make infantry automatically face towards "enemy side" on completion of a move order. 99% of times that would be the best thing to do.

Edited July 15, 2016 by Bulletpoint

[A Canadian Cat]

1 hour ago, Bulletpoint said:

However, the AI team still ends up facing in the direction of travel, which most often means they will turn their backs to the enemy. I still wish they would make infantry automatically face towards "enemy side" on completion of a move order. 99% of times that would be the best thing to do.

A good suggestion. It as been discussed internally a few times so they are aware.

[RockinHarry]

Agree. There could be made more good use from the friendly/enemy map edge feature than is now.

[ASL Veteran]

The side of any hedge or wall that the AI deploys is determined by how the enemy edge is selected and it is consistent at all times during the scenario.  It has nothing to do with the AI plan or how you created it.  I don't remember exactly what the default is so I can't describe it because my notes aren't handy, but you can test it by setting different enemy map edges and then place AI set up zones along hedges and you will quickly see what the default behavior is with each enemy edge setting.  I used to think that it was determined by friendly edge until someone else asked about this previously and then tested it after I informed him that it was determined by the map edge settings.  Diagonals can be worked around by simply keeping the AI in the action spots that only have a single corner touching up against the diagonal wall.  The AI will then place the troops along the wall on the side that the action spots are located - I think regardless of the edge settings, although I can't remember for certain.

The fact that the positioning is consistent makes it so that you can't have a pincer attack with, say, one force coming from the north and one coming from the south and expect that both forces will use the correct side of the wall or hedge.  It simply cannot be done, so you have to choose which direction you want to attack from and stick to it or the AI won't cooperate.

[Bulletpoint]

1 hour ago, ASL Veteran said:

The side of any hedge or wall that the AI deploys is determined by how the enemy edge is selected and it is consistent at all times during the scenario.  It has nothing to do with the AI plan or how you created it.  I don't remember exactly what the default is so I can't describe it because my notes aren't handy, but you can test it by setting different enemy map edges and then place AI set up zones along hedges and you will quickly see what the default behavior is with each enemy edge setting.

I believe the initial setup facing is determined by the facing manually chosen while in "Deploy" mode in the editor. Importantly, this works for both units that are set up directly and also for those units that are then switched to another place on scenario start by painting the yellow setup zones.

Subsequent facing after movement orders is in the direction of travel, but at least now the troops go to the side of cover that faces away from "enemy side".

Edited July 16, 2016 by Bulletpoint

[ASL Veteran]

Yes, the facing of the troops themselves will remain in the direction of setup until they move.  However, I thought that you were commenting on which side of a wall the troops end up.  They will always end up on the same side of any wall or hedge and the side that they end up on is dependent upon which map edge you set for 'enemy'.  It isn't always obvious which side they will end up on, especially if you choose more than one edge - such as 'South' and 'West' for example.

[Bulletpoint]

38 minutes ago, ASL Veteran said:

Yes, the facing of the troops themselves will remain in the direction of setup until they move.  However, I thought that you were commenting on which side of a wall the troops end up.

Yes, I was, I misunderstood your reply to be talking about the actual facing.

[snarre]

well one way to do that is then make option to Ai move order on editor , witch way they face then when troops arrieve to destination. example smal slider where is options like " NW , N, NE  and sou on 

[nik mond]

Also, Troops and vehicles always face the direction of their next move. So put an extra move towards the enemy, and have that move occur outside of the game duration time. Or, just have the troops over shoot the movement and then go back to the intended location in the direction of the enemy. You will get a decent facing using those techniques. 

[Bulletpoint]

12 hours ago, nik mond said:

Also, Troops and vehicles always face the direction of their next move. So put an extra move towards the enemy, and have that move occur outside of the game duration time.

I never knew this. Thanks. It's not much use when doing a multiple stage fallback plan, but might come in handy anyway.

Edited August 5, 2016 by Bulletpoint

[nik mond]

2 hours ago, Bulletpoint said:

I never knew this. Thanks. It's not much use when doing a multiple stage fallback plan, but might come in handy anyway.

then the second option of overshooting the destination and advancing one tile back towards the enemy/direction they came might be the solution, should be enough AI order lines to do this 8 times per AI  group I think