Enemy - Divisional - Brigade - Spacing!

[Davinci]

This is not really a complaint, but I feel that to explain this better, I must rely on pictures.

I think that the game needs to be adjusted to have the proper spacing in-between the Brigade leaders – just as it does with the regiments .

Picture One – shows that three brigade leaders are deploying on the left-side of the divisional commander. The problem here is that they are all grouped together, thus bringing all of their regiments to the same vicinity.

Picture Two – shows the position of the divisional commander – with the three brigade leaders directly behind him. He seems to draw them to his exact position.

Picture Three – shows that there are six brigades being deployed, all in close proximity of each other, with three being deployed on the left, and three being deployed on the right.

Picture Four – an aerial view showing that the regiments are doing their job of trying to keep the proper spacing , but the problem seems to be the brigade leaders.

Picture Five – shows how close all of them are to each other.


If the game can calculate the proper spacing between the brigade leaders – a lot of the regiments crossing around each other can probably be avoided!

This picture below – really don’t have anything to do with any of the above, I just thought that it looked good, so I took a snap-shot of it!


davinci

[Cleaburn]

:Good detective work Sir davinci. Thats what I think must cause the criss cross lines I have mentioned, I hope this can be fixed along with regiments turning and shooting in the wrong direction sometimes...

[Little Powell]

:Good detective work Sir davinci. Thats what I think must cause the criss cross lines I have mentioned, I hope this can be fixed along with regiments turning and shooting in the wrong direction sometimes...

Maybe this could help the criss-crossing but lately I have been hearing more and more about how the criss-crossing actually did happen from time to time historically. I just finished watching a presentation on Barksdale's assault on the Peach Orchard, and his brigade was basically one large mass of troops.. The regiments intersected each other to literally create a wall of troops that crushed the salient at the Peach Orchard. What a sight to see that must have been...

[Davinci]

It’s probably not that the criss-crossing didn’t really happen, but this type of behavior forces the AI – into constantly trying to find a-line-of-sight for the various regiments.

At times you can save the game, and then just watch the enemy regiments as they fight their way around each other, this is when they turn around and face the opposite direction.

I remember that Norb has stated that a lot of attention went into making sure that the regiments would try to find a way around each other. But some of this path-finding can probably be avoided if they were not all bunched-up together.

This type of behavior also reduces the frontage of the enemies-line, by not allowing the brigades to keep the proper spacing.

It sort of appears that once the brigades reach the battle-line that they lose control of their regiments, and the regiments take over and proceed on their own.

As stated above, this is not a complaint, just an observation in the hopes that some of this can be adjusted to better enhance the single player game.

It just seems that if the AI routines are a big cpu hog, and adjusting the brigades leaders to keep the proper spacing could help that, then this would be a win-win situation.

davinci

[Cleaburn]

Heres one that was posted the other day,oh my goodness oh my goodness.

[Little Powell]

Heres one that was posted the other day,oh my goodness oh my goodness.

Well of course it's going to happen in Devils Den. Thousands of rebels all trying to attack a position a couple hundred yards wide. :laugh:

This is a good report Davinci and I will put in a request to have it looked into. Thanks.

[Marching Thru Georgia]

Davinci,

Did you create that mess by ordering a division commander to attack and then let him decide the best way to handle things? I too notice that type of behavior in that circumstance sometimes. I think the problem arises because the brigades receive their order to move at appoximately the same time and plot their movement paths without any communication taking place between the brigades. That might not be a simple thing to fix.

[RebBugler]

Yeah LP, and I will 2nd that. Thanks for the presentation Davinci, you nailed a glitch in pictures. This migration in toward the leader is a 'sometimes only' occurrence, and it's on the brigade level too. I thought it was only happening with player controlled units, but you're talking AI...good find Sir.

[Davinci]

Thanks, little Powell – for adding this to the list!

Yes, RebBugler – these are not player controlled Brigades –, the AI - Divisional – Stance – need to be adjusted to control the position of their brigade leaders.

Marching-Thru-Georgia – This is just an Open Play game, fighting on the divisional level, roughly 18,000 vs 18,000 men per army.

Basically, in computer terminology – we can see that the regiments are programmed to sort of see each other, and to plot a path around to each other.

But, what if the brigade leaders were given this ability to see each other, and automatically plotted the proper space between deploying into battle-line!

This would solve most of the path-plotting routines of the regiments, and greatly extend the battle-line.

davinci

[Marching Thru Georgia]

Davinci,

The problem, I think, is that units only know where other units are at the time they initially plot their path. They do not seem to update it very often. So if unit B moves in front of unit A while unit A is moving, then A unit will blunder into unit B.