Unit Pathfinding... Sucks

[SomeGuy]

We all know it, you often have to micro a group of units through every nook of your base to stop them running face first into a horde or otherwise drawing half the map to your walls...

Sometimes I want to do unpleasant things to whoever was in charge of it, and sometimes I want to try whatever they were on.

[SomeGuy]

It's not just around the base that's the issue though, I once lost a colony because my army got stuck trying to walk THROUGH impassable terrain... Some got stuck trying to walk over cliffs, through forests, or trying to Jesus their way over water. Clumps of troops, just sitting there, running face first into the terrain (literally in the running animation but facing terrain and going nowhere) instead of pathing 3 pixels to the left or right.

[red255]

set way points.

[SomeGuy]

I do, they clump up and get caught on the edges of terrain an buildings on their way from waypoint to waypoint... The main group follows as close to the path I set, but the ones at the edge of the cluster get stuck and don't recognize they need to re-path around the obstacle.

Nothing changes the fact that unit pathfinding just sucks, even the zombie waves have gotten stuck on terrain (helpful, sure, but still the same issue).

[QWEEDDY2]

No, it ok. In this game you shouldnt use mouse to command units. use M-ove and A-ttack command by keyboard (Q for attack for my binding).

Stop command them if they surrounded. They die and better fight back than been killed in back.

[madracc00n]

This is true.Dunno why people defend it.It is not absolutely horrible,but can be pretty bad depending on the map.But devs moved on from this game,so i doubt anything will be changing.

[SomeGuy]

Originally posted by syphonax:

If ever there was a "Git Gud" thread then this is it.

Simp harder.

[SomeGuy]

Originally posted by syphonax:

Originally posted by Joerick:

Simp harder.

if you have bought the game keep playing Survival/community challenge maps or refund ASAP :)

No matter how hard you simp they'll never love you... Especially when you're not only lying to yourself about them, but trying to lie to them about them.

I've been here since Beta; pathing's always been an issue and everyone knows it, even the devs know it and have acknowledged it. Pretending it's better than it is, or that it's somehow a skill-related issue (players skill doesn't affect the AI Zombies terrible pathing), doesn't do anything except make you look like a dev-simpy fool who doesn't know what he's talking about.

So stop kidding yourself.

[QWEEDDY2]

There is no issues with pathfinding for both units or enemy AI. There is issue when units can stuck en obj or... in each others?
Keep an eye what where you click by your mouse. Use Move, Attack and Attack-Move (called "a-click") keyboard commands. Forget about RMB in this game, this is not Warcraft3 where you can click on enemy by mistake but that not go to troubles for you. Subj game do not forgive any mistake clicks.

[SomeGuy]

Originally posted by syphonax:

Originally posted by Joerick:

No matter how hard you simp they'll never love you... Especially when you're not only lying to yourself about them, but trying to lie to them about them.

I've been here since Beta; pathing's always been an issue and everyone knows it, even the devs know it and have acknowledged it. Pretending it's better than it is, or that it's somehow a skill-related issue (players skill doesn't affect the AI Zombies terrible pathing), doesn't do anything except make you look like a dev-simpy fool who doesn't know what he's talking about.

So stop kidding yourself.

There is quite an aggressive tone in your post. This game is quite basic in layout and doesnt take a rocket scientist to understand the overall mechanics...you appear lost however.

When you build something you cannot simply walk through it, you have to take another path around it. You seem to be one of those players that hast grasped this basic fact or what might be even worse...you want your playable characters to walk through buildings? ;)

Kisses XXX

The only person here who is lost is you in the vacuous space of your own ego.

Scroll up and try *reading* what I've already said.

[SomeGuy]

Originally posted by syphonax:

Originally posted by Joerick:

The only person here who is lost is you in the vacuous space of your own ego.

Scroll up and try *reading* what I've already said.

Umkay here is a quote from you... "Sometimes I want to do unpleasant things to whoever was in charge of it"

lol

You're clearly not laying out your base properly and the game is slaughtering you. You're trying to move your units from one side to the other to defend but YOU have blocked your units movements with buildings and the zombies are eating you alive hehehe

Pathfinding is easy in this game if you leave room for your units to move around your buildings, this seems to be your problem.

Ok, junior, I'll hold you hand and walk you through this slowly since you so obviously need the help...

"It's not just around the base that's the issue though, I once lost a colony because my army got stuck trying to walk THROUGH impassable terrain" What that means is that it's not about how I lay out the base, because the player doesn't lay out the terrain of the map. (Are my words small enough for you?)

"Clumps of troops, just sitting there, running face first into the terrain (literally in the running animation but facing terrain and going nowhere) instead of pathing 3 pixels to the left or right." What that means is that the pathing AI isn't properly pathing around the terrain... and by "pathing AI" I mean the program that is in charge of finding a clear path from the unit to get to their destination. (if that's too much, I can try even simpler terms)

"The main group follows as close to the path I set, but the ones at the edge of the cluster get stuck and don't recognize they need to re-path around the obstacle" This means that the unit doesn't think for itself and can't find way to get to the place because people who make it did bad job. (get it now? I'm not sure how much easier I can make it for you)

"even the zombie waves have gotten stuck on terrain (helpful, sure, but still the same issue)." This mean it not player fault, because player not tell zombies what do but zombies still get stuck. (I can't do this bit anymore...)

All this indicates that the AI fails to path properly around anything, regardless of who or what controls the units or what the obstacles are. That failing is what makes the unit pathfinding SUCK.

It does this because the devs made pathfinding based on the "group" instead of each unit (a programming shortcut in place of more thorough optimisation), meaning that so long as what the pathing recognises as the "group" manages to get where it's going, then all is well. It doesn't actually do individual unit pathing, you can have "groups" that consist of just one unit, but it's still considered a "group". With "groups" of one or two or five units (small groups) the chances of one getting stuck is low since they tend to fall into and follow the same pathing line. However, it's when you get the larger "groups" (12, 20, 50, hordes) that this becomes an issue, with a lot of units often ending up getting stuck on things because the "group" that they're part of is still moving just fine according to the pathing system.
There are only two reasons it doesn't seem that bad in this game; because of the "Pause" mechanic (which allows you to babysit your units and micromanage each of them individually, manually making up for the poor pathing mechanics) and the lack of multiplayer (can you imagine if units in Starcraft or Age of Empires randomly got stuck on terrain?). While it may not seem that bad because it covers for it in other ways, it still is quite bad.


PS.
Oh, and let's finish your little half-quote of mine... After all, we're not on Twitter where you get clout for being manipulative: "Sometimes I want to do unpleasant things to whoever was in charge of it, and sometimes I want to try whatever they were on."

[Sajonji]

I never had any major problems with pathfinding. Sure sometimes units run into each other, but that never was a big problem.
Writing whole essays about such a minor thing is quite embarassing :)

[QWEEDDY2]

Obstacles is obstacles. You have F4 flat mod. if you mess up build your colony even in that mod - you very bad RTS player. And since that, why game should be blamed for that? There is already ton of that kind of threads, that blame TAB for been RTS game. Literally. Look. Joerick complain about obstacles! Bruh.

[Gomez]

Hi there,

Too mnay reports about abuses in this thread make me close it.

Please, keep a good and polite behaviour in other threads.

Regards