GAME BUILD #: 101.101.59165.0 8211018 (has been here for a whle though)
GAME PLATFORM: Steam
OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 10 but happens on all platforms
ISSUE EXPERIENCED
I am not 100% sure how long this has been in the game but lately it has becoming more mainstream to use this behavior. According to almost every high level player though this seems like unintendent and broken behavior. With ranged units you can do attack move, shoot and then instantely move again which seems to give the units a slight speed boost or reducing fire delay or animation length or something while firing very fast. The effect on the speed might seem minimal but especially at higher level this snowballs massively. You can no longer run away with archers from other archers for example because the chasing archers which are actively shooting are pretty much keeping up with archers just walking if you are using this trick. Also getting a good engagement with knights vs crossbow has become incredibly hard because of the behavior, screwing with the balance of the game.
Some more links with info:
more detailed explanation:
(the attack move bug shows up around min 2:00)
discussion:
FREQUENCY OF ISSUE
How often does the issue occur? CHOSE ONE; DELETE THE REST!
100% of the time / matches I play (ALWAYS)
REPRODUCTION STEPS
I would advice watching the youtube link but here are the steps.
Select a group or ranged units
Once an enemy is in range use attack anywhere.
Once the units shoot quickly click again to make them move with a slight speed boost.
Repeat untill everything is dead.
EXPECTED RESULT
The firing of ranged units when using attack move should be the same as when using stop micro or patrol, but it somehow is faster.
IMAGE
I would again like to refer to the youtube video.
GAME FILES (SAVE / RECORDING)
Attach a SAVE GAME (.aoe2spgame) or GAME RECORDING (.aoe2record) of the match where you encountered the issue. Link it below if using an external file service.
i hate the bug, i dont mind if they remove attack move until they know of a fix. Seems like everyone is starting to know about the issue so even more people will abuse it.
It is hard to notice but for more experienced players its pretty clear. the best example where its obvious however is when a group of crossbows is chasing an other one and the chasing group of crossbow is catching up while shooting. If you want a clear example of that id recommend downloading the recording added here and going to around 23 min and have a good look at what happens with the crossbow engagement.
Update: i stated you can catch up crossbows while firing, this is actually false you can keep up very well but unless they are moving at an angle you will not catch up.
it’s clearly visible in the replay he showed, the enemy crossbows are walking away, and by doing the attack move thing he manages to kill them one by one. There seems to be a slight boost of speed for like a millisecond after firing, it’s even more noticeable if you zoom all the way in.
Cheers, thanks for the fast reply, i am sorry for it being a bit of a vague issue/description i dont really use it myself i just know it exists and that it is considered bug abuse by the a large part of the pro scene and that it wasnt on the forums yet. From what i can tell though the main consensus seems to be that it minimized attack delay somehow.
Sorry for the mess but i looked into it a bit more and i must apologize because it seems i have misunderstood the situation. I do not think attack move is broken any more at least not in a mechanical way (balance wise i still think it is). It actually simply works too well 11. In this video here i compare it to stop micro and patrol micro which are the two other ways of microing archer units without focus firing. These have some drawbacks which makes their method slightly inefficient compared to attack move, they both do not fire instantely after the command is given (a delay seperate from their frame delay).
So i am not sure if this should still be considered a bug or more a balance issue. Although i would still argue that patrol should also instantely pick targets like the attack move does as i have noticed this not happening before. Somehow patrolled units do not find their targets with the same speed as attack move.
I would honestly leave this mechanic alone. this is the high point of gaming, a technique hundred of players, tested, put years into practice to get to this point, even if its not intended by design it is not that much more than patrol + move, not to mention the video requires more action than just patrol + move.
Ok, what? It’s a bug, straightup being abused to let foot soldiers outrun cavalry. In what world is that a high point of gaming, or remotely realistic? It’s just about who can spam attack move the fastest, not any other skill.
why is it a bug? show me a video where foot solder out run cavalry with attack move.
also, speed and spam is macro and it is very part of the skill. wonder why higher APM with high accuracy can often have an advantage? especially in RTS game?
I’ve done some testing in the editor, they can’t outrun cav, I was wrong with that, but, it creates behavior that cannot be replicated through any other means in the game, and it will definitely let them outrun infantry. Spam clicking and APM is fine, but if 1 particular action type is performing this much better than other actions that should be equivalent, that’s a problem.
issue i see here is that most infantry move slow. some can move fast but archer and crossbow generally move about same speed as militia-line or spear-line (non unique infantry). and even if a bit faster or slower, it is within like 0.05. that is 0.05 tiles per second, even if you were to “catch up” it wouldnt mean anything.
also, seems to me devs do like where archer and knights currently stand. they are however buffing infantry, just not in a direct way. by creating new civs and new UU that are infantry with special effect is a way to see more infantry in game. sicilians and poles are good examples of this.
GAME INFORMATION
