What happened to pathfinding?

Rama

I was watching some other people's replays of AI Wave Survival games, and did observe in one, the Cybran T2 destroyers wouldn't path via a straight water route to the players. Looks like they were trying to path onto land (which actually was the optimal route to some players). I am guessing this was a very map specific issue, with some invisible barrier or map flaw preventing transition from water to land, as it hasn't happened on any of the maps I use.

I have had, on rare occasions, my ACU wander off half way across the map after being given large build queues. Seems it says, "Enough with this!" and decides to go for a walk. It is ok, I find it funny to hear the alert my ACU is taking damage, check my base where nothing is happening, and then a gigantic explosion half a map away!

A Former User

It still happens, but now I started noticing that if I order my com to attack a specific target, it tries to go away from the target, then comes closer; this results in an infinite loop of walking around a point and the com never reaching the target. Will provide replays later

Reckless_Charger

Not sure about ACUs but why do Zooes go forward sometimes when you click for them to retreat. Extremely annoying

A Former User

@reckless_charger All hovers do this when you order them to go back

Reckless_Charger

Why?

Jip

It's because of a bug. if I'm not mistaken the behavior only occurs when the unit is aiming for another unit, e.g. when it is in battle. The bug is that the unit appears to be rotated, but it's because of the weapon rotating the unit and the path finding does not take that into account. Meaning it 'rotates' the unit again, but ... yeah - you know what happens and it gets a bit odd.

Reckless_Charger

So it happens exactly when you want them to retreat which is a massive pain as they suicide themselves. Would it help if I pressed stop then and then retreat my Zooees?

A Former User

@reckless_charger I can only recommend not spamming the move order

Jip

@Reckless_Charger the suggestions of @Melanol is correct, just issue the move order once and it's fine.

ZLO

Hover unit thing is not a bug, currently it is a feature.
it has been this way all the time
and afaik fix is easy. just turn every hover unit into t2 sera hovertank
Tests were done and people who worked on it didn't like it so it was never fixed

Reckless_Charger

Why didn't they like it? It's a rubbish 'feature'

Jip

@zlo said in What happened to pathfinding?:

Hover unit thing is not a bug, currently it is a feature.
it has been this way all the time
and afaik fix is easy. just turn every hover unit into t2 sera hovertank
Tests were done and people who worked on it didn't like it so it was never fixed

As far as I know it is because of the blueprint field SlavedToBody being true. This field is essential for how the Aurora, Blaze and the Zthuee aim as their weapons are not turrets, but instead attached to the body of the unit.

Unless you know details that I don't , I'd love to know them.

Jip

@Reckless_Charger See also: https://github.com/FAForever/fa/pull/5910. We'll adjust the path finding behavior for the Blaze and the Zthuee.

Thank you @ZLO for shining a light on a possible solution.

ZLO

@reckless_charger said in What happened to pathfinding?:

Why didn't they like it? It's a rubbish 'feature'

Because after that "fix" those units behaved exactly like regulat unist, no wobble, no turning their body toward enemy, no sliding around, no wiggle, no weird slowdowns :D. i think it just felt wrong, units lost all their character and just became another version of sera t2 hover tank

Reckless_Charger

They're artillery not direct fire units. I think units doing the opposite of what you instruct them to does not add character rather it detracts from the game. I've no idea about how the game physics is coded but I would have thought there must be values for turning rates or deceleration that could be chosen for hover units which would make them less agile and more 'realistic'

A Former User

Here is ACU moving in circles: https://replay.faforever.com/22003007
I think it happens when you order it to attack a unit that is close but not in its radius of attack