Infantry Charges Enemy From Open Ground Needlessly?!?

[Dr. Brian]

Okay … I need tactical advice, fast.

I have troops in Open Ground, and the enemy is to my front in woods/scattered trees.

When the enemy fires at my troops, they do stupid things, like run forward in OPEN GROUND to get to the woods.

By the time they get there, they are dead, or surrender.

My question is, Why does the stupid AI allow this to happen?

Wouldn't it make sense, if the troops are "caught" in the open, to CRAWL AWAY, or at least run away from the enemy.

It appears that the code is way wrong here. Normally, troops that suffer the panic or broken result run away from the enemy. However, troops that get "spooked" while in the open run toward the enemy if the closest cover is where the enemy happens to be.

[Bruno Weiss]

That's just the AI being gamey. Bad as it is for the infantry to do that, it is even more annoying when the MarderII bolts out into the open and towards the enemy lines whenever a barrage lands anywhere near it. I lost so many from that behavior, I stopped including them in my force selections. Damn shame too, since it was formerly a rather nice weapon system.

[Joseph Porta]

How about cutting down on their erm...'spirits'....rations

[Michael Emrys]

The program is written so that troops that come under heavy fire will run towards the nearest cover. If that happens to be enemy occupied...well, life is hard, isn't it? One hopes this "feature" will be revisited in CM2.

In the meantime, if your troops must cross open ground, you might want to think about keeping them closer to some cover that isn't enemy occupied. At least until the enemy units have been seriously suppressed with lots of casualties and bad morale.

In fact, this is a pretty good practice anyway. Closing with enemy troops that are still in good order, especially if they are dug in or in buildings, is a great way to watch your own men die.

Michael

[Dr. Brian]

Thanks for the advice all ...and I'm glad that at least I know it is an unreasonable computer algorithm causing this.

[Spook]

Added guiding rule: if your troops, in open ground, are within 50 meters of enemy troops firing on them, then it's a standard CM behavior that the troops will "rush" towards the enemy troops, at least to get within grenade-throwing range.

Even outside of 50 meters to the closest enemy, a unit that is shaken enough in morale will seek the closest cover. Farther away, though, the inclination may be just to go prone until approaching the broken state. When that happens, THEN the troops will run away from known enemy troop positions.

[Ben Galanti]

One other thing to note, the CM tac AI doesn't seem to take hills into account when breaking like this. The units go towars the nearsest terrain with good cover, ie woods, or brush, or buildings or what not, even if there is a nearby hill that they can break LOS behind.

This is most apparent when cresting a large hill or ridge. If a unit comes under fire, instead of going back over the crest, it will generally head for the nearest patch of woods, even if that is further down the hill.

Ben

[Colonel_Klink]

I thought they were supposed to seek nearest cover not occupied by enemy troops?

[Dr. Brian]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Colonel_Klink:

I thought they were supposed to seek nearest cover not occupied by enemy troops?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That makes too much sense.

Anyway, the point on hills not included in the computer algorythm is disturbing.