AI: exit before/after

[Erik Springelkamp]

I experimented a little bit with these numbers, but I can really grasp the logic.

I made a very simple plan, with one vehicle that had ample time to fulfil its moves.

format (order: after/before)

Setup - 0:30/1:00

2 - 2:00/2:30

3 - 5:00/5:30

4 - 10:00/10:30

5 - 15:00/15:30

Play proceeded as follows, scenario starts at 30:00

30:00 Vehicle jumps from setup position to setup order area

30:00-29:40 Vehicle moves from setup order area to order 2 area

27:00-25:40 Vehicle moves from order 2 area to order 3 area

24:00-21:30 Vehicle moves from order 3 area to order 4 area

19:00-16:50 Vehicle moves from order 4 area to order 5 area

So all exit times seem to happen 1 minute later than ordered, except the setup order.

[snake_eye]

Erik Springelkamp,

If I am not mistaken, the Exit after and before orders, start after a given laps of time that you are giving for one chosen area and not from a chosen hour within the time set for the scenario.

After, means that for a given laps of time of 1 minute the troop will move after that time.

Before, 1:30 minute, means that they will do their up most to move no latter than that laps of time.

That said, If I am right, in your example the troop will move no latter than 1:00 minute from the setup area to reach the 2nd area , where they should try to stay 02:00 at the less and no more than 02:30 minutes.

Since they got there at 29:40 (Remaining Time), after a bit more than 02:30 minutes, as instructed, they move out at 27:00 (Remaining Time) toward the 3rd area, where they arrive at 25:40(Remaining Time)

Until now all is correct. But from now on, if I have understood what you wrote, the following sequences are wrong.

Now, they should leave that 3rd area after 5:00 and before 5:30 minutes. However they leave for the 4th area at 24:00 minutes (Remaining Time), instead of 20:40 minutes, at the less (Remaining Time). That is only, 1:40 minutes after having been at the 3rd area.

That is not correct.

So, I don’t agree with your 01:00 minute beyond time schedule.

The same applies to the 4th and 5th areas.

They should have left the 4th at the less, 10:00 minutes after arriving at 21:30 minutes (Remaining Time),so it should have been at 11:30 and not 19:00 minutes(Remaining Time) and 15:00 minutes at the less for leaving the 5th area , where they arrived at 16:50 minutes(Remaining Time), that should have left only 1:50 minutes.

It seems something went wrong in the allowed time schedule. What I don’t know exactly.

I have always found these timing relatively difficult to set up. That is why the player testing option in the game is a very useful tool to use. That way, you see the troops moving and you can check their timing. They don’t do it always, the way you think they should do it. The landscape and the enemy field of fire are very often slowing their move or rendering it impossible in the face of an intense suppressive fire.

Cheers

[Erik Springelkamp]

So we all seem to interpret these times differently.

(I have seen previous discussions about the subject)

Which is why I did this test, and why I think someone knowledgeable needs to explain more clearly what is supposed to happen.

[snake_eye]

Yeah, I think that the correct thing would be to know for sure, if the time is the one starting once in the designated area or the time spent from the beginning of the game.

Since, it is difficult to estimate the time taken by footsoldiers and or mounted soldiers over a given ground, I would rather think that the time spent in a given area should be the correct answer.

That is what occurs in my AI plans most of the time.

Cheers

[Erik Springelkamp]

If all these times are relative to arrival, it seems much harder to coordinate different AI groups, as all of them may have different histories.

[MikeyD]

Even the Beta guys and people who have built dozens of scenarios over the years differ (argue ) about exactly how it does work and how it should. The manual adds somewhat to the confusion by talking about "Exit Before/Exit After" (the editor uses After/Before).

[snake_eye]

Well MikeyD is right about the confusion arising from the editor and the manual. On my part, I shall stick to what I believe is logic. I am being comforted in that belief by the testing of my scenarios and in particular by the one "Normandy" found as a stand alone and or in the "El Derjine campaign", just to mention that one.

As matter of fact, since I had decided to have the enemy troops to move back after a certain time, then to eventually move forward again or retreat again, I had made quite a lot of testing.

The time schedule used was based on the time to be spent in one area and not based on the time spent since the beginning.

To my feeling it worked out well, the troops always moved within the time set, with alterations being seen, when the area was too large and or made of separated areas.

Since they were moving like a Swiss clock machinery, I had posted at the time a question about the feasibility to have a trigger incorporated, such as the ones done in ARMA. That way, I would be sure that the time spent in an area will start when an enemy will trigger the countdown.

I thought that the trigger would be useful, having squads leaving their area of ambush, while I wished to have them fight let’s say for 5 minutes and retreat, from the time they would have come in contact.

One of the answer I got, was that the game had already a time set up with after and before. That I knew well.

Somebody, the programmer surely should know how it works. After all, they made the software, if they did not write the manual.

Cheers