Help on controlling the AI please

[Imp]

Don
I am guessing the problems I am having coming to grips with waypoints pale into insignifigance with some things you run into in the code

[DRG]

The adage that no plan survives contact with the enemy can apply to waypoints as well. Once the troops under waypoint control have to react to the enemy there's a very good chance you'll loose whatever you've set up for them and they will revert to normal AI control. It really depends on what and how they have to react to whatever the enemy throws at them

Don

[Imp]

Yes I am coming to the conclusion the best way to handle it is fiddle with reaction times & do some by waypoints but if set up correctly normal control should work fine.
Waypoints are better used for those units you do not want to go left right or head off down that road.
A bit of thought on map design as in placement of roads & flags can achieve some pretty good results. Place waypoints for the units you want to act contrary to normal behaviour.
Actualy watching the AI at work I have to say sometimes it does a surprisingly good job. Tank platoon & 2 mech platoons moving to flag group with a possibility of fire from round the corner of a hill. It deployed 1 platoon in sensible positions to procede on foot
the other headed for the trees by the hill if it had got tanks right pretty much whay I would have done & the tanks were not that far off

[Double_Deuce]

The AI actually does pretty good job so what I normally do is try to use waypoints to get the units headed for the positions I want them in when they start to make contact with the enemy. Then once the contact is made the AI takes over. It says design time and I try to remind myself, "no plan survives contact with the enemy".

[Imp]

Originally Posted by Double_Deuce

The AI actually does pretty good job so what I normally do is try to use waypoints to get the units headed for the positions I want them in when they start to make contact with the enemy. Then once the contact is made the AI takes over. It says design time and I try to remind myself, "no plan survives contact with the enemy".

Agree its the conclusion I have sort of come to & if for some reason once contact is made they dont revert to normal AI control become Lemmings following each other.

[Mobhack]

Originally Posted by Imp

Agree its the conclusion I have sort of come to & if for some reason once contact is made they dont revert to normal AI control become Lemmings following each other.

If any of the units in the formation are close enough to a trigger point (A close by enemy or a V-hex not in your control) then if it decides to act on it, the entire waypoint list is dumped as no longer required.

The waypoint list is also dumped as no longer required on turn 50 (IIRC) or some fraction of the total game turns.

If an element of the platoon is near enough to a waypoint then it gets deleted. Usually, the command element follows the path most conscientiously but it is the AI!.

The waypoint counts for the entire platoon. The platoon will head for it in typical AI crazy lemming fashion (any of you who routinely use the "All Formation" key to move troops a fair distance will know all about what happens then ). Each element of the platoon will decide its own way to the point. There is no concept of formation!.

Basically - the waypoint mechanism is used by the AI's own plotting internally. Someone at SSI exposed it to the end user on a "for what its worth" basis, most likely. It is useful for moving a blob of troops on a general heading is about all. It needs lots and lots of experience and trial and error to get it right.

Cheers
Andy

[Suhiir]

I find them most useful for getting the AI to take a "non-least terrain point cost" approach early in a scenario.
You can "force" the AI to make something resempleing a flanking movement and such.

Another use I've found for them is forcing the AI to make a more coordinated attack.
Many times AFV's and APC's/IFV's have different speeds, with a bit of testing and tweaking you can get a mixed combat group to attack in a FAR more coordinated manner then the AI normally would. This isn't a real issue on smaller maps of course, but I tend to prefer larger ones where you have some room to maneuver.