Units NOT under fire won't move!

[Big X]

Hi all. Long time CMBO player, but somewhat new to CMBB. Don't worry, this is not a whine about why my conscripts won't assault a MG nest under fire!

On many occasions I have given movement orders to units (armor and infantry) where they are completely ignored. These units are not under fire at all. Often, from their POV they can't even spot an enemy unit! By the next orders phase, the movement order has disappeared; there's not even a "delay" attached to it.

Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated. I have searched with no success.

Frankly, this issue comes up in almost every game I play and is really starting to hamper my enjoyment of CMBB. I'm all for realism and panicked units hitting the dirt, etc. However, this is more like units that can't be bothered to hurry up and finish their lunch.

[CombinedArms]

I'm not sure what' happening to your tanks--I don't generally have the experience you describe, though my tanks will frequently back away from perceived danger.

But with infantry, it could be that you've give a move to contact order and the infantry has received "contact" in the form of battle sounds. Version 1.01 and up has a correction for this. It allows you to move to contact with a cover arc. The until only freeze if: a) it comes directly under fire or it spots or hears something within its cover arc.

Aside from that, the move command works fine when you don't expect your units to yet come under fire but they're within earshot of the battle. It's also a tad faster than Move to contact. So I tend to use Move until I'm getting pretty close to the potential line of fire.

[Moon]

Big X, most likely you are using "Move to Command", and your units spot (even if for a short time) an enemy unit, which "ends" that order.

Martin

[Harv]

I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say "there's not even a "delay" attached to it". Does this mean if you give it another move order no delay shows up? Or is the move line and end point still show but the unit hasn't moved yet?

A unit that is pinned, shaken etc will often not move until right away, so if the move line is still there hit Alt+G to turn on labels to easily see a unit's status.

If the move line is gone, I would think that you have used Move To Contact and either an enemy was spotted or some nearby fire caused it to stop.

Harv

[Gpig]

I have seen some of this behaviour.

Last night I gave an order to one of my StugIV's to rotate to cover a piece of terrain.

When the turn had passed by, I noticed it had not rotated.

Next turn I reissued the order.

Nothing happened again. No indication as to why not.

Next turn I just HUNT about 5m in the direction I wanted to rotate and that solved the problem.

I have no idea why my stug did not want to rotate.

Anybody else?

Gpig

[MikeyD]

Could you have accidentally given a "Move to Contact" instead of "Move"? I've done that a couple times. The tank doesn't get very far, especially if he starts out already within sight of the enemy.

[Big X]

Thanks for all the comments.

Perhaps I have been misusing the "Move to Contact" command. I thought this meant "move unless fired upon or you acquire a target." If units will stop at hearing sounds or seeing ANY enemy unit, regardless of distance, that might explain it.

I will try to run some tests and see if I can come up with quantifiable data.

As to what I meant by a "delay." I mean what the pause timer shows. One example: I give a

movement order to a "pinned" unit and the pause is, say, 90 seconds. In those 90 seconds the unit takes no incoming fire (the enemy unit has moved or been eliminated.)

However, after 90 seconds, the unit remains pinned and the movement order has disappeared. I have had units remain stationary for minutes beyond their initial "pause" in this manner. That is, no new incoming fire or anything I can see that would cause them to remain pinned (not panicked, broken, or routed.)