AI strikes again!

[robpol]

Patched up the game to version 1.04 and decided to go through the tutorial missions just to see if I could pick up on the nuances of the AI.

A few minutes into the first scenario and this happens:

CM:SF Screen shot Tutorial 1

What's happened here?

Basically, my Stryker is pointed at the enemy trenches and has been busy pounding it with its grenade launcher.

After some time it looked like the grenades were starting to suppress the enemy, so I ordered the Stryker to drop smoke. Once the smoke was thick enough I ordered an MMG team to dismount and setup to the right of the Stryker behind the smoke screen.

So far so good...

Then the mysterious AI kicks in...

For some reason, despite me not ordering the Stryker to do anything, the AI driver thoughtfully drove toward the enemy for a few meters then turned the Stryker 180 degrees around so that its rear was facing the enemy trenches! (As per the screen shot)

Is this some kind of new tactic that I'm not aware of? I was gobsmacked. I can understand AI screwing up when you give it orders, but in this case the Stryker had NO orders.

Suffice to say I took the obligatory screen shot then exited the game in disgust. If the AI is performing like this out in the open in front of an enemy trench, god knows how it will act in the more complex urban environments in the rest of the game.

I have now gone back to the earlier CM series. At least that series works....

RobP

[thewood]

I have had this issue pretty consistently with Strykers in particular. As soon as they receive fire, maybe 20% of the time, they start rotating around and turning away from the fire. They then seem to settle down, only to start up again, repeat until dead. This is in WEGO.

[SgtMuhammed]

I have notice this with all vehicles. Well not with Hummers, they don't live long enough. They will often begin rotating for no appearant reason. Even when it means turning their flank or rear to an actual threat. I have noticed this in both WEGO and RT.

Maybe we just don't get it.

[SlowMotion]

Maybe the intention is that vehicles would make their movements first and then turn towards the enemy? BUT sometimes there's a 180 degree error in this end-of-movement turn.

[thewood]

They seem to do it without any movement orders.

[redbear]

It have happen to me with striker and M1 tanks they rotated 180 170 degrades from the front line. if you give them the face order to face the enemy they do it and then comeback to 180 position. in my case it happens to me with not enemy in site. I have notice that this is not all the time.

[Cpl Steiner]

I have seen this too, with all vehicle types. It appears to be a new bug introduced in patch 1.03 or 1.04 as I don't believe I saw it before one of the later patches.

I think it is a bug in the way vehicles now try to turn their frontal arc towards the nearest threat. It seems that on occasion a phantom threat confuses them.

[thewood]

IIRC, the very first release of CMBO had a little of this too. Don't remember it being as bad as this, but I also don't remember to pick up bread on the way home.

[thewood]

I should also point out I have run many tests on this and had a map with ONE Syrian MG in woods 400 meters from a column of 8 Strykers. I had the MG fire on the lead Stryker. All Strykers sat there and took the fire with almost no reaction. The exception being the 2nd Stryker in line doing the rotate dance for 5 or 6 minutes (WEGO).

It was three or four weeks ago I ran this. Don't remember if it was 1.03 or 1.04 (I'm pretty sure it was 1.04, but I am going to check.)

[G B Scurlock]

Tanks in all other CM games were pretty good at automaticly facing their strongest armour toward the threat. It should be easy to fix, I think.

[thewood]

My test in 1.04 once again had only the 2nd Stryker in column rotate to face threat, no mater what I did. The other eight just let bullets bounce off them. I tried using a recoilless rifle as the threat and same inactivity. Ran twice and didn't get the Stryker dance.