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Pathfinding quirk, probably a bug


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I ran into a hedgehog on a key road. I decided to give my tank a slow move order to the other side, not really expecting it to do anything, but curious. However, the tank immediately took off in a different direction, and ended up moving thru a soldier-sized opening in a hedgerow which allowed it to bypass the hedgehog. Hmmm ...

So I gave a second tank explicit orders to move thru that same opening, thinking maybe there was something unusual about it. No dice. So I moved this second tank over to the hedgehog and gave it an order to slow move to the other side of the obstacle, just as I had done with the first tank. It did exactly the same thing as the first tank -- moving thru the same opening in the hedgerow that it wouldn't move thru when given explicit orders to do so.

My guess: somehow the imperative to find a path to an impossible destination caused the tanks the move thru an opening just because it was an opening.

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I've seen some similarly bizarre pathfinding with vehicles in close quarters.

Earlier this week I repeatedly tried to send a M20 through a reasonably wide gap between a building and a hedge. For some reason the vehicle insisted on turning left towards the building when it looked like it could have gone straight or since there was about 1/2 a vehicle width clear on the right a right turn would have been logical…

Playing real-time I managed to, 1 foot at a time, with a dozen or more individual face and move commands, get it through the gap.

I then gave it a "quick" command forward across an open field, then 90 degrees left towards a hedge line. It turned right at the waypoint and went about 20ft towards a fenced opening in a hedge on the other side of the field. It then tried to turn around 1/2 way across the fence and continue in the correct direction.

So, I guess not just tight quarters!

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I just had an AFV die due to deciding to go the long way around a house when I pointed it through the gap between a wall and the house :(

The question posed by my OP is whether the AFV would have gone thru that gap if it had been the only way to get around an obstacle like the hedgehog (and you ordered it to move thru the obstacle not thru the gap). I don't know, but it would be interesting to do a variety of tests.

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SteveP,

You know, I had a Cullen-fitted Sherman do something similar. At the time, I ascribed it to the Cullen device. However, the bocage gap did not widen to a vehicle sized gap. Did it widen in your example? (Do you have a savegame?)

Ken

No, it didn't widen. That was why the second tank could not go thru the opening when I gave it a direct order to do so.

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Did it survive or were its spines not tough enough to withstand the tank treads? Did the tank experience any track damage as a result? Enquiring minds want to know!

Regards

KR

Sorry, poor choice of words on my part. My tank halted before actually going into the hedgehog. At that point, I gave it an order to move slowly thru the hedgehog to the other side (it was just for fun -- I didn't really know what would happen). That was when it took off in a different direction and found a questionable path thru a small hedgerow opening.

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