Hello,
So many basic improvements in function of this game with the 2019 release in comparison to other RTS games. I still feel there are many improvements that could be made especially to tactical handling.
Currently I’m seeing hitches and delays on basic attack move functions that should not require any calculations. I think the game needs a timer for units that have seen recent combat to bypass the formation command so attack move is not punishing players for using it.
If I am chasing a fleeing army it is not always beneficial to single fire a certain unit and if that unit dies some of the forces in the back may not continue chase. This has most players formation marching at their fleeing army and then focus firing when they feel they have a shot. It seems to me that the hesitation and outright crappy implementation of attack move is punishing mixed unit types and especially making it hard for melee units to trade effectively when mixed in with some ranged units versus a all range army moving back and select firing.
This function has no issues in other tournament games (eg. Starcraft 2) and is the worst bleeding sore on this title currently. Please figure out where these pauses are coming from and make them impossible. I’m seeing units within short ranges not pursue to melee, and ranged units stopping out of range.
I’ve also seen units literally disobey attack orders. Literally just had 3 swordsmen in the no mans zone between ranged armies, i selected 3 and right clicked on archer to transition them from left to right and they took 2 steps that way, turned around and went back to attack what they were already on (which was in range of a castle). That wasn’t even an attack move and still basic functions were failing.
Please address the smoothness of patrol/attack move functions causing move backs to formation right after battles have begun. Units should never lose their contact if at close range to fulfill a formation whitest given an attack command in the heat of battle. It should set a direction for units to bee line to attack range and nothing more.
Most Players are literally scared to use this function not because of this clunky performance, so much so that you can lose entire games due to initiative losses during these unnecessary regroups.
If I need to juggle back to my eco while still applying sensible pressure on an opposing army, it makes sense for using attack move (or patrol if buildings are around). So please allow this feature to be usable and prevent over-damage on focus fire and reasonable auto-resolves while you get a few macro clicks in, and keep the units in the back moving up to range (preventing separation between front forces and back forces). A lot can happen in these small time intervals, and the other player will still have advantages with siege and ranged fire while your units are not being micro-ed. So the micro control will still be advantageous you just won’t lose contact while setting an attack to to point, or make some ridiculous backwards made formation just to set a new attack to direction.
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totally! omg so many lost battles due to this…
ugh just wish there was some option or formation or something to disable all this “assistive behaviour”
regrouping formations before moving or attacking, attacking closest target instead of designated target ughhhh so painful sometimes
just imagine how bad SC2 fights would be if they were anything like AOE… comp scene would be so much smaller…
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Oh i forgot to mention the title’s complaint. I’m consistently seeing units attempt a cross position (like formation changing direction) while on attack move. The units will go from the tightest formation (common for move to attack) then seemingly cross partially as the attack move is put in, so siege hits are getting 2-3x multipliers on effectiveness just because you used an attack move. The formations are becoming even more dense than is technically possible. Not sure what game logic is taking place, but a moving formation should simply stop in place then, calculate shortest possible distance. The extra clump is insanely bad vs ranged units especially ones with splash.
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this!! WTF do vils get stuck on each other trying to harvest anything, but our insane soldiers will pile in to make siege shots as effective as possible (besides then trying to pick the ludicrous path to the enemy)
Ok, so checked my bindings and had my patrol where i thought attack move was, so all the above reporting bad stuff was patrol. In the old HD edition patrol and attack move seemed to behave identically and patrol was preferred to attack units and bypass buildings when fighting in “urban” areas.
Not sure if the building non-attack is still part of patrol, but the same applies as it will likely be used, and the move back formation and clumping will still be detrimental to already engaged units needing a new vector to focus.
Experimenting with attack move now and it seems to resolve most of the issues.
i found attack move to be pretty useless, with units not engaging targets at all, patrol would cause my units to clump before attacking, but attack move would result in a lot less models engaging…
Well from my HD edition work arounds, it was always better to just give a move to command or a direct attack unit command, which makes you split control your units. I was focused on getting a good initial positioning for my main forces, then giving units idle out of combat attack move commands in small groups.
This is not normal for RTS games though, attack move shouldn’t disadvantage players. I’ve seen armies even split into 2 and have partial idleness while under attack move which is the entire reason you would use it (to avoid this). Why are my mellee units freezing and bumping into each other?
It almost seems as though they are using the bad mechanics of this feature as a skill separator and to some extend micro should be rewarded, but sometimes you need to look away to Que up farms or drop more production. If you think staying engaged is good, you should be able to just set an attack move and get some functionality instead of just giving yourself up as a cheap ■■■■■ to kiting ranged blobs with 100% micro focus. Definitely over-rewarding 1 comp unit armies too much in this way.
A lot can happen in a short time especially when siege is on field so it makes sense that melee units would: 1. Move to engage closest targets without hesitating and 2. avoid bumping into other melee units from the same army (eg widening out between kills if appropriate). Ranged units seem to work fine with the more simple process.