How to stop HQ planning avoidance

Command Ops: Battles From The Bulge takes the highly acclaimed Airborne Assault engine back to the West Front for the crucial engagements during the Ardennes Offensive. Test your command skills in the fiery crucible of Airborne Assault’s “pausable continuous time” uber-realistic game engine. It's up to you to develop the strategy, issue the orders, set the pace, and try to win the laurels of victory in the cold, shadowy Ardennes.
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Phoenix100
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How to stop HQ planning avoidance

Post by Phoenix100 »

Quick question. Anyone know how to ensure that a Bn follows the route you've given it (with detailed waypoints) even when it makes contact? I've been playing We Fight and Die Here as Axis (another great little scenario) and it starts at about 1800, in darkness. I order 2 Inf battallions (separately) to follow a route around the side and back of Dom Butgenbach (I know the Dom is heavily defended) to cut off the defenders on the Dom. I have played with many orders combinations, but each time the lead elements encounter an enemy unit (as they exit the forest at the other side of the Dom slopes) they halt and (eventually) the HQ re-plots my route (ignoring my waypoints) so as to take them away from the contact, right back the way they've come, and up a road that leads OVER the Dom (which I know is not going to work because the Allies are all over the Dom). What I want them to do, on contact, is just hold in place whilst I get a barrage and a plan going to deal with the contact, not divert their whole route. I am using Move, nothing ticked, no rest, normal aggro, losses, ROF etc, with 'fastest' selected and every other combination I thought might work between 'safest', 'shortest' and 'quickest', but so far I can't stop the AI re-planning the route, no matter which option I pick. Anyone help?
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Arjuna
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RE: How to stop HQ planning avoidance

Post by Arjuna »

Have you got the Bypass option unchecked?
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Phoenix100
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RE: How to stop HQ planning avoidance

Post by Phoenix100 »

Yes. Unchecked. But I think I've got it now. Fastest shortest does it (I assume it MUST follow shortest distance to each waypoint?) Fastest quickest, even with bypass unchecked lets the HQ replan round the contact - is that right (I assume it's factoring the contact into what might be the quickest route)?

Don't remember this pre-patch though. In fact, what used to happen, of course, was that the lead would run into a contact and everything would halt, for far too long. Even with bypass unchecked. Wheras now the HQ is planning a bypass even with bypass unchecked. Is it all ok, do you think, Dave? Or shall i try to get a save of it?
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Arjuna
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RE: How to stop HQ planning avoidance

Post by Arjuna »

A save just before the so called bypass occurs would be good.
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RE: How to stop HQ planning avoidance

Post by Phoenix100 »

So-called, indeed. Mentioning it to you seems to have cured it..... Can't get it to repeat, despite numerous full speed play throughs. I'll watch out though.
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RE: How to stop HQ planning avoidance

Post by Phoenix100 »

This is what I as talking about, Dave. The so-called bypass that wasn't ordered. Picture below at 21.19. You can see the orders for the unit I've highlighted.

Image

This is at 21.19
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Phoenix100
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RE: How to stop HQ planning avoidance

Post by Phoenix100 »

And here is the position at 21.24. I've changed nothing, issued no new orders.

Image

Am I right or wrong? The unit seems to have decided to by-pass the blocked route, though I don't seem to have permitted that.

2 saves on their way to you, taken at time of each pic

The original order, as you can see above, was given at scenario start (recieved by unit 3 minutes after I gave it, it seems). I have saved that position too, if you want it let me know. I have no save from BEFORE the original order though, as this was before I started the clock - ie at the very beginning.

What is the unit doing? Re-planning to achieve the quickest route (because I've selected 'quickest')? But if so, we would have no need for a separate 'by-pass' button.

I assume this is all just some feature I don't understand. Maybe I don't understand the 'quickest' and 'by-pass' buttons properly. If so, sorry to bother you with this.
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Arjuna
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RE: How to stop HQ planning avoidance

Post by Arjuna »

OK I can see what is happoening from your screen dumps. The unit has replanned its route and it is following your waypoints, just that its going the long way around to the first one doing a quickest routea along the road rather than the track. The question is why the replan. Had the time run out. I will check the saves tomorrow and see what's going on. Thanks.
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RE: How to stop HQ planning avoidance

Post by Phoenix100 »

Thanks Dave. Time hadn't run out, no. I gave them until zero dark thirty (ha!) for this, roughly (as you can see from the task end time in the dumps). This was at 21.24 the day before. The HQ estimate of how long it would take (given the block) might, of course, have gone beyond the alloted time (if the HQ recalculates like this - I'm not sure; clever, if it does....) hence prompting a re-plan. Maybe?

It is following the waypoints, yes. But is this a bit problematic, the way it's done? At first I thought it was ignoring them (from other instances of this) but I see now that the waypoints (which were quite detailed and frequent) sort of expire and disappear as the lead units go through them, so that from the point of view of the HQ, some way back, it looks like there aren't as many waypoints as I planned, hence allowing it to carry out this massive re-plan and at the same time stick to the waypoints it can still recognise. Inbetween the point where it is now (at 9.24) and the next waypoint there were originally about four more waypoints, but they've been removed as the lead elements went through them. If this didn't happen (if the waypoints were only removed when the HQ went through them) then it wouldn't have been able to do this re-plan at all, because the waypoints I'd put in, along the back road, were specifically meant to keep it off the main road and the hill. Just a thought. Maybe the waypoints should be valid until they are passed by the unit I actually gave the order to? Unless I've ticked 'bypass', of course. Which in this case, I haven't.

Thanks for looking at it. Look forward to your conclusions.
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Arjuna
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RE: How to stop HQ planning avoidance

Post by Arjuna »

As a force passes a waypoint that wayp[oint is removed from the order so that we don't see the force going back to the first waypoint when it recalcs its route. Also a unit that routs automatically recalcs its route upon recovery, so that could also be at play here.
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Phoenix100
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RE: How to stop HQ planning avoidance

Post by Phoenix100 »

Ok. Nobody routed. The lead IG element is in retreat recovery, but hasn't routed. The 're-plan' comes at 21.21, when I run it, and is marked in the log for the HQ unit as 'New Orders', though I haven't given it any. Maybe half a million lines of code is enough to have done it, Dave. Maybe the engine has achieved consciousness...... it's....ALIVE!
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