Still very frustrated with the "cover" model

[Lord Ashram]

Hey all,

Can't help but be a bit frustrated by how cover works... my units constantly wander out of cover, and I feel like I spend a good portion of the battle simply trying to move my guys back into cover, all the while with them being shot to pieces. I really wish you could "lock" a unit on cover so they would not wander around:(

[pcelt]

Do you use the "7"(or 8) key to tell them to move forward til they find cover.They usually keep cover then.

[Lord Ashram]

Yep, I do, but as they adjust to attacking enemies they will often wander off of the cover:(

[Col. Miles]

Are you taking command of them?

[norb]

The AI is based on the personality of the officer in charge of the reg's. If they are aggressive, they will not care about cover at all. There are some commanders that will just stop. It's all about who you are playing. But it's far from perfect. Hopefully our test team is seeing this as well and getting me something here to work with.

[RebBugler]

Lord Ashram wrote:

Hey all,

Can't help but be a bit frustrated by how cover works... my units constantly wander out of cover, and I feel like I spend a good portion of the battle simply trying to move my guys back into cover, all the while with them being shot to pieces. I really wish you could "lock" a unit on cover so they would not wander around:(

We're working on it, LouieRaider and ADukes have done the heavy lifting. Fence and Wall Defensive Bonus Radii have been increased and are being tested. The next issue to tackle will be units straying off and losing the bonus. Help us test by trying the 'Hold at all cost' brigade command as you set regiments. I think this command will be the 'lock' you're requesting if it can be made strong enough. Don't think micro managing a lock for individual regiments is desirable...What does the forum think? Huh Generals?

[MrSpkr]

I'd rather see a birgade wide command like hold at all costs rathern than a regimental order. Right now, I solve it by TCing those units behind stone walls and such, but that gets tedious in larger scenarios.

Steve

[J Canuck]

This work-around works:

ADukes wrote:

Yes that's the way 1 & 2 are supposed to work.

You could replace tcallon/tcalloff with Atcommon/Atcommoff in the keyboard.csv.

Go here for the full story:

http://www.norbsoftdev.com/index.php?op ... 2&id=16022

[DrMike1997]

I would also like to see the enemy ai use cover better. i was playing the high tide scenario and several Union units moved out from the stone wall only to surrender a few minutes later. Sort of broke the you are there spell this game can sometimes have. I think cover coupled with a defensive stance should trump ai personality. Stonewall Jackson was about as aggresive as they come but he knew when it was prudent to stay behind cover and kill yankees! (see both battles of Bull Run and Fredricksburg).

[Trilogy]

I believe that the "footprint" of the cover status should be extended considerably. Right now you have to fiddle with your units to get the flagbearer right on top of a fence, and just a slight jiggle causes complete loss of cover. Extending the cover status several yards from the fence would allow units to stay in cover much better, and would probably help the AI find positions as well.

If it's a trade off between a slight graphic anomaly (units in cover might appear to be a few feet from the fence) and having to micromanage every unit, I'll take the former.