Scourge of War Boards

Norb/Team,

This has got to be changed. Understand, I LOVE this game, no question. But some of the mindless manuevers of the infantry battalions have got to be addressed. This is not an extreme example, this is just one -

Had deployed Gordons Brigade in line with reserves formation. Noticed one of the forward, right-hand battalions was just in front of a battery. Attempted to move the battalion forward maybe 25-30 scale yards to give the guns some room. As usual, the battalion started to do some sideways wandering to the right. I figured they would eventually turn left and move up into the position indicated. Went back about my business for a bit. Looked back on them to find they had marched literally off to the right beyond my furthest right-hand battalion some 200 scale yards. Dumbfounded, I decided to watch this for a bit. The battalion proceeded to march back behind the battery and then over to the road behind me and stop. I clicked the formation key again and put everyone back in place. TC'd the battalion and tried to move it forward. The battalion about-faced, marched back through the battery and wandered away again, with me annoyingly punching the indicated position with my mouse. In real life, I'd have ridden over and relieved the Battalion Cmdr and threatened to shoot the XO if he didn't move into position RIGHT NOW. Can't do that in the game.
I'm guessing most folks out there are just living with this but it is extremely irritating. This happens with both Federal and Confederate troops.
No, there was no-one in the way or any need for the troops to go around something or some unit. That part I get. Also, can't just use the "advance 300 yards etc." button. Have had odd experiences with that also, so I just don't use it.
Any thoughts here?

Jack

i have had that happen so many times and it pisses me off especially with cavalry thats when it happens most

Jack,

I've seen troops wander a bit, but nothing as extreme as you describe. The next time you see such behavior, save the game and email it to sowsupport at scourgeofwar dot com along with a description of the problem. That way Norb can look at it and determine the cause of the problem.

MTG,

Actually thought of that myself...too late of course.
Will do next time.

Jack

Yeah, it drives me nuts sometimes watching some of this wandering by the units. The other thing that irritates me are those snakey maneuvers the regiments make sometimes when changing direction, almost like they are making an "S" shape before straightening out again. If these are things Norb can fix, I sure hope he gives it his best shot. This is such a great game, I feel guilty just mentioning these things.

I appreciate everyone's patience on this stuff. There is a lot that can be made better and we have promised to keep improving the engine and we'll keep that promise. We are still working on bugs as they come up and a few features. There's so much we can do, and we will, but we just don't have the time to work very fast.

I've never seen an extreme case like that either. Are you sure they weren't being blocked by another unit, causing a pathing issue? I know the pathing can get a little annoying sometimes, but it's necessary.. It's better for units to take the long way around sometimes rather then barreling through the line of another unit. Like MTG said, if you see that happen again I'd really like to check out a save of it.

Bad pathfinder often happens to me as well. U usually don'tnotice it until it matter like positioning a brigade for fire or for specific defensive positions . I understand and like how brigades don't want to walk through each other with what seems to be more "intelligent pathfinding", but the alternative of them being very wonky is very frustrating. Thankfully this is not a game killer but I'm sure Norb knows it is a review killer which will hurt sales

Mozirry wrote:

Bad pathfinder often happens to me as well. U usually don'tnotice it until it matter like positioning a brigade for fire or for specific defensive positions . I understand and like how brigades don't want to walk through each other with what seems to be more "intelligent pathfinding", but the alternative of them being very wonky is very frustrating. Thankfully this is not a game killer but I'm sure Norb knows it is a review killer which will hurt sales

Norb explained it one time that the wonky pathfinding has to do with the size of the collision squares around the units. They could be made smaller which will allow regiments to walk through smaller gaps etc and not take the really long way around, but game performance would take a big hit (and none of us want that). But still there are ways to make it better as the engine is always evolving, so we'll just have to be patient.

I'm getting used to the pathing. Like AJ said, I'm not sure what the "S" shaped regimental wheel is. It looks like they wheel in 2 different directions before they decide to face the final direction and then they form off the colors in the center. I think I have gotten better at changing formations of the unit I'm trying to fit into a a tight space. It would be really great if there was a "short retreat" or "double quick fallback" button that moved a front line unit back enough to fit the fresh one in. I think that since I've started to keep looser front line formations I've had less problems with pathing.

Greg B)