Some thoughts on "Target Armour Arc"

[Bulletpoint]

1 hour ago, rocketman said:

Ok, my analogy aside...the crux of my argument is that if there is a situation where I know that my pixeltruppen are aware of several armored targets in their close proximity and I want them to go for the biggest threat if they are to reveal their postition, there is no command to do that in an efficient way. The TacAI are not situationally aware in that regard. So they will by mistake or chance go for a lesser target, which results in a missed opportunity. Sure nitty gritty stuff, but still.

We agree on that. Another example is that sometimes, a tank will fire at an enemy tank, but then enemy infantry will appear, and your tank will start to fire at those instead. I think the answer is not to add another command, but to tweak the TacAI to be more focused on taking out the bigger threat.

[John1966]

2 hours ago, Erwin said:

The most experienced troops are the ones most likely to engage enemies outside their arc.

That is interesting.

I wonder what it tells us.

It was the experienced German divisional commanders who were most likely to ignore Hitler's commands not to withdraw. They'd withdraw and counterattack, usually with more successful results than if they'd done as they were told.

I suppose experienced troops need less orders as they know what they're doing.

[John1966]

15 minutes ago, Bulletpoint said:

I think the answer is not to add another command, but to tweak the TacAI to be more focused on taking out the bigger threat.

Quite. It's not that common to have multiple targets but, when the situation arises, it shouldn't be down to the player to start issuing orders on who to attack. The TacAI should cover that. IRL you'd expect a gunner to target their biggest threat. But that won't always be the Panther at 600m if there's a halftrack at 20m and it's firing at you.

[Bulletpoint]

I never knew the most experienced troops were the ones most likely to ignore their target arc. I find that in general, troops of all kinds mostly obey their arc.

Edited October 29, 2020 by Bulletpoint

[Bulletpoint]

1 minute ago, John1966 said:

you'd expect a gunner to target their biggest threat. But that won't always be the Panther at 600m if there's a halftrack at 20m and it's firing at you.

If there's a halftrack at 20m, I would be fine with seeing a grenade assault, even if there's a panther at 600m.

[John1966]

3 minutes ago, Bulletpoint said:

If there's a halftrack at 20m, I would be fine with seeing a grenade assault, even if there's a panther at 600m.

Exactly. Although if you're sat behind a dirty great AT gun you might as well use that.  Rude not to.

The point is that a soldier's biggest threat isn't always going to be the biggest enemy asset they can see. Depends where it is and what it's doing. The player might want them to go after the bigger asset (especially if they've got a reasonable chance of taking out) because it's the best option for the battle, but they're going to do the thing that keeps them alive longest.

[Bulletpoint]

2 minutes ago, John1966 said:

Exactly. Although if you're sat behind a dirty great AT gun you might as well use that.  Rude not to.

The point is that a soldier's biggest threat isn't always going to be the biggest enemy asset they can see. Depends where it is and what it's doing. The player might want them to go after the bigger asset (especially if they've got a reasonable chance of taking out) because it's the best option for the battle, but they're going to do the thing that keeps them alive longest.

Completely agree. It's just that sometimes, the TacAI prefers to fire on the halftrack at 500m instead of the Panther at 600m. In general, I think it works OK though.

[John1966]

2 minutes ago, Bulletpoint said:

It's just that sometimes, the TacAI prefers to fire on the halftrack at 500m instead of the Panther at 600m.

Well, yes. I didn't say the TacAI actually worked in that respect.  Just that it should and the player shouldn't be needing to be issue orders telling them what to do.

Anti-tank gunner has halftrack and Panther in sights: "Someone radio HQ to tell me which to fire at." 

[rocketman]

One way of solving it would be to allow units to target contact icons that are out of LOS, so when they appear they engage them. Might be in conflict with area fire though. If you have a fixed target on an enemy unit that disappears, you can see from the unit description in the bottom left hand corner that pixeltruppen are "waiting". So there is something like that in the TacAI already.

Oh, and I should admit I'm a control freak who micro manage everything 

[Bulletpoint]

25 minutes ago, rocketman said:

One way of solving it would be to allow units to target contact icons that are out of LOS, so when they appear they engage them. Might be in conflict with area fire though. If you have a fixed target on an enemy unit that disappears, you can see from the unit description in the bottom left hand corner that pixeltruppen are "waiting". So there is something like that in the TacAI already.

I actually saw something like that in a game I'm currently playing. An enemy tank rolled forward, and my PaK crew spotted it and started "aiming". The tank went behind some trees and spotting was lost. But then it emerged on the other side, and my gun immediately fired, scoring a hit straight on the turret.

Another thing you can notice is that often, troops will keep firing after you as the player can't see an enemy unit any more. I think troops spot a bit better than the player.

 

28 minutes ago, rocketman said:

Oh, and I should admit I'm a control freak who micro manage everything 

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