Failed attempt to stop Roof Movement

[Cpl Steiner]

Hi,

I have done some experiments with the editor and have found something that other map-makers may find useful.

If you put two buildings next to each other, so that they have adjoining walls, troops ordered to move from one to the other will use the roof. This happens even if you put doors in the same location on each wall, or put a door in one and remove the other altogether.

The only way to get troops to move from one building into the adjoining building without using the roof is to remove both adjoining walls. This has the unfortunate side effect of causing a slight graphical bug (a slight gap between the two buildings when viewed from inside) but this is a fair trade for the better AI behaviour IMHO.

So, if you don't want your troops scampering across roof-tops under enemy fire, get rid of those adjoining walls!

N.B. - unfortunately this will cause problems for L-shaped buildings using 1 long building tile and 1 short building tile. The only solution is to use 2 short building tiles instead of 1 long, so that the adjoining walls can be fully removed.

[ August 19, 2007, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: Cpl Steiner ]

[Cpl Steiner]

Damn, I've just done another test using an L-shaped building made up of 3 square building tiles with all internal adjoining walls removed and a squad still sometimes used the roof.

Thought I had cracked the problem. Oh well, roll on patch 1.03!

[tc237]

I ran a few tests and could not get troops to move into adjacent buildings.

Tried a few combinations of buildings and walls, nothing worked, troops would not move through "walls".

They always went up to and across the rooftops to get to an adjacent level.

[SgtMuhammed]

I have given up trying to figure out how my troops are going to move when I tell them to go to different parts of a building complex.

At first I thought, well there is a door right there so I will just tell them to go to that level. Imagine my surprise when the squad proceeded to go down to the first floor of the section they were on, run around to the other side, run into a section, up to the roof, over to another section, down to the first floor, and into the little courtyard and I guess start heading for the ground floor entrance to the section I ordered them into. I guess that is where they were headed because they were slaughtered by the squad that was in the section I ordered them into as they ran across the open pavement.

Then I saw that there was no wall and silly me I tried to order my guys to walk through the nonexistant wall and into the building. More running around to find a door that also did not exist.

Then I ordered my guys into a multi part building, each part having its own door. With a straight path into the left most doorway with orders to go to the 1st floor my squad proceeds to run through the middle door, climb to the roof, jump to the roof of the target building, down three flights of stairs, past the enemy position (who kills half the squad), and down to the first floor where they finally begin to fire at the single enemy soldier.

Needless to say, the pathfinding AI is #1 on my list of fixes.

[ August 20, 2007, 08:12 AM: Message edited by: sgtgoody (esq) ]

[Cpl Steiner]

sgtgoody(esq),

I know what you mean. I've been trying to create a Fallujah scenario with AI plans to present the US player with lots of surprise attacks etc. but it's impossible. One team's AI plan was to move from the bottom floor at the rear of a building to the top floor at the front of an adjoining building. The team ended up going out of the first building and then running around the front of the second building to go through the front door. Needless to say the US forces overwatching the house had themselves a turkey shoot.

I am giving up on my scenario design plans for now until movement within buildings is fixed. MOUT operations are one of the things I had high hopes for in CM:SF but at the moment they are a joke.

What BFC need to do is figure out how adjoining walls are supposed to work and then implement the policy flawlessly so we humble players have some idea of what to expect. I would be happy if all adjoining walls had to be removed if that's what the AI preferred but at the moment this seems to be very hit and miss.

[thewood]

I have focused on urban warfare...building movement makes it almost impossible.

I then tried various assaults in the open...APCs and ATGM firing logic is kind of screwed up in 1.02.

Next I figured lets keep it simple, a little company on company pure armor...T72s only fire HE at M1s.

And that's playing Hotseat against myself to avoid AI planning issues.

What do I try now? Are there any combinations left for scenario designers?

[SgtMuhammed]

Shouldn't 1.03 come out soon?

[Thomm]

Use Move instead of Quick. Works very reliably.

Of course, when under fire ...

Best regards,

Thomm

[SgtMuhammed]

That's the problem. I have tried using Hunt but they still take the scenic route.