officers running ahead of squads

[Nicdain]

I am currently playing the first scenario of the German campaign: The assault of the polish trenches.

I played other single player battles before getting accustomed to the commands and interface, and I often noticed this weird thing happening: officers tend to run way ahead of their squad. Sometimes I find those men all alone and double clicking on them I can see that the rest of the squad is several meters behind, even if they have been given a formation order.

Is this a bug? Or maybe it depends on the fact that officers have less gear and then they can run faster ?? Shouldn't they keep the formation?

By the way, after some difficulties, I start enjoying the game. There are several things that can be adjusted, but I consider the overall result more than satisfactory.

...of course, as a old CM aficionado, I am particularly looking forward to seeing CMSF...

[ChrisND]

I've noticed this too. The officers are much more prone to wander than the rest of the squad. Sometimes I would leave a unit in a tree line for a few minutes, and come back to find the men still in position, with the officer alone crawling through a field under fire.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

There are two things at work here, I think. Firstly, the game tracks how burdened a soldier is, though I'm unsure to what extent. It definitely works so AT and MG guys are slower then everyone else. I can only assume that guys armed with pistols are even faster.

Second, the AI is prone to mix it up when they see an enemy or are aware of fighting. Dudes with rifles stay put and (try) and take potshots from where they are. Guys with gun with a smaller range need to get closer to mix it up and so move towards the enemy. Since it's rifle buddies are fine where they are, they get kinda left out in the cold. It gets kinda annoying after a while, especially because you can't give a troop an order to hold position unless they are already where they are supposed to be. As a result, I loot K98s(or whatever) like nobodies business for officers and SMG equipped troops. This will pretty much prevent them from venturing out on their own.

[Platoon Crusher]

I agree with giving the guys with smg's looted rifles, but I don't let them drop thier smg's though since they are good for close combat. Had this 1 situation in "Avalanche" where my 76mm sherman had taken out a Hetzer and some ATG's on the right flank from the hill and charged the position since there were only a few men at most left. It was funny as hell since the Sherman would try to use the bow mg on a lone commander that kept evading by running around a corner of the building beside him. so I dismounted my mg gunner from the tank and was pleasantly surpised to see him carrying a "grease gun" so he chased the slippery German commander around the building and with the smg took him out in a quick burst. I am sure a rifle would have been useless in that situation. I don't care about how fast they can move regarding loads carried as I only give them short distance movement orders at a time and they stay close enough together to be in a loose formation when they stop and a quick formation order is easy enough to do if they wander a bit. Always make sure they are ordered to hold position. It usually works and I wonder if the ones that move away from the position are rookies or green troops.... I will watch that and see if noobs tend to wander more. Didn't really think about it until now. Maybe if it can be atributed to green troops then maybe it isn't a glitch after all.

Anyways, grabbing the loose rifles on the battlefield is a good tactic in my book Elmar, very good suggestion.

[HardRock]

Yeah they run ahead. So now in set up I put the officer behind a little so when they move as a formation he doesn't get far ahead.

[JV44]

This is nonsense, picking up guns to stop them running ahead ! , the problem is that at the beginning of a game or during the battle the officer will for no reason simply run out into the open , I have often ordered my infantry to advane to a cover line and once there stop them and hold position and then after a short while the officer will simply run out the cover into the open and charge a trench on his own , or if it is the beginning of a battle they simply up and run towards the enemy whist the squad remain , its a pure and simple AI issue that needs clarifying or resolving

[Dennis50]

Who ever said officers were the brightest bulb in the pack ..let the arrogant bastards get their ass fragged ... :mad:

Regards,

Gunz

[von Ribbentrop]

I dont think this is AI related, its a bug.

[Lochar]

I do think that weapon range is a contributing factor, because the problems I always have is with the SMG or officers with pistols only.

Depending on the move type order too, Assault seems like it keeps everyone moving, while attack, the riflmen will stop and shoot and keep shooting as long as someone's in range, while the officers and SMG guys will keep moving.

I also try to get rifle's to my squad as it is hard to advance in an open field w/o getting cut to shreds yet if I try to fight from cover my SMG,Officers just stand there.

[tankibanki]

Originally posted by JV44:

This is nonsense, picking up guns to stop them running ahead ! , the problem is that at the beginning of a game or during the battle the officer will for no reason simply run out into the open , I have often ordered my infantry to advane to a cover line and once there stop them and hold position and then after a short while the officer will simply run out the cover into the open and charge a trench on his own , or if it is the beginning of a battle they simply up and run towards the enemy whist the squad remain , its a pure and simple AI issue that needs clarifying or resolving

In the Wehrmacht that was called "Führen von vorne".

Maybe he's scouting ahead. But yeah, I'd prefer them to stay where I sent them, too. If I want the officer to scout I'll tell him to.

[Panzerdude]

Seeing the same problem, I found that it only occurs in I don't select one of the three movement choices: Double Time, Dash or Crawl. Once you select those, I usually select Dash, the officers will stick with their men.

The initial "whatever" movement mode, seems to tell the men, "just wander around". Selecting Dash has also kept my guys alive longer than not selecting a movement mode from the beginning.