Questions about field orders

[Makris1821]

I'm not sure I understand field orders properly. Do they only apply to a unit that is moving, or do they apply to stationary units as well? For instance, if I have an infantry unit standing stationary in the open, will it move to engage an enemy that appears if its orders are set to "attack all enemy units"?

Also, what if this unit is moving, but not toward an enemy that suddenly appears: will it deviate from its movement path to intercept the enemy?

Finally, will "no standing orders" mean that the unit will just ignore all enemies that appear and continue on its set path? I'm guessing so, but I thought I'd just check.

Thanks

[Brit]

I'm not sure I understand field orders properly. Do they only apply to a unit that is moving, or do they apply to stationary units as well? For instance, if I have an infantry unit standing stationary in the open, will it move to engage an enemy that appears if its orders are set to "attack all enemy units"?

Yes, field orders apply to stationary units. Your infantry that is standing still will automatically attack enemies if they have "attack all enemy units" field orders. Note: There is a bug involving field orders. Infantry that are inside cities or who are entrenched should probably stay where they are rather than pursue an enemy unit. (The bug is that they are chasing down enemy units rather than staying where they are, and gaining the defensive bonus of entrenchment/city terrain.)

Also, what if this unit is moving, but not toward an enemy that suddenly appears: will it deviate from its movement path to intercept the enemy?

Yes.

Finally, will "no standing orders" mean that the unit will just ignore all enemies that appear and continue on its set path? I'm guessing so, but I thought I'd just check.

Yes, they'll completely ignore the presence of enemy units and continue with their orders as normal.

[Makris1821]

The bug is that they are chasing down enemy units rather than staying where they are, and gaining the defensive bonus of entrenchment/city terrain.

That was in fact what prompted my post, as I had stationary infantry in defensive positions, infantry moving to defence positions and infantry just built for defence all moving to engage the enemy.

I suppose the workaround is to give units in, or moving to, defensive positions the "no standing orders" command. That doesn't help with the newly build units though as I guess there is no way to change the aggressive default.

[Innocence]

Maybe all units on permanent Sentry should ignore standing orders (though fighter-aircraft should still defend if their position is being bombed)

[Makris1821]

I think the problem with that is you might have some units on sentry that you'd still like to react to enemies, e.g. a tank and some artillery set up as a reaction force in a city.

I think the "no standing order" workaround should be fine, it is just with the newly built units that its a problem IMHO.

[drrowley]

i have never understood (and have asked this ? before), the difference between 'default' and 'attack all' stance. as near as i can tell, there is none. so why the two?

why is there a 'attack freighters' if there is no freighters.

why do range weapons, (arty,bb,ect), with any attack order, close with the target when they don't have to?

why do range weapons with 'no standing order', and sitting there, ignore enemy units?

would also like 'runaway' stance. when doing recon, would like to avoid fights. also, aircraft returning from attack sometimes flyover a bb that just moved into the neighborhood and get shot down.

(maybe, at least a defence bonus?)

d