Jump to content

Moving Through The Trees


wperry1151

Recommended Posts

Not sure which topic I should post this in...but I'm having issues with moving a platoon-sized element through the woods.  So I'm playing the Camp Hornfelt missions and on the counterattack mission, I follow the route to get on the enemy's flank or rear.  Eventually, I have to move through the trees.  It never fails...the lead tank makes it through the woods, and when I look back the rest of the platoon is stuck on trees just moving slightly back and forth.  Not sure why the driver of the lead is able to pick a route through, but the rest can't.  It kind of makes it hard to pull off a counterattack into the enemy's flank with only 1 vehicle, while the other three just sit there stuck on trees.

 

I've searched the forum but haven't been able to find anything on this topic.  Thanks for any help!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Try:

 

1. A "column" route. "Wedge" or similar means the other three tanks not only have to try and drive through the forest, but the need to maintain the formation that you ordered. Try getting you and three friends to drive 4WDs through a forest. :)

 

2. Slow speed. again the AI driver is trying to pick their way through the trees.

 

You will achieve poor results, just like in RL (just be thankful that "barrel strikes" and rear turret bustle overhang isn't really modelled), if you try and charge through a forest at top speed. :)

 

Perhaps turn up for the first Tutorial / Q&A session?

 

 

Edited by Gibsonm
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the reply!  I've already tried moving in column and that didn't work.  I figured the following tanks would pick the same route through as the lead but I guess not.  I will try setting the platoon's speed to slow and see if that works.  And I'll try to catch one of the tutorials sometime.  I'm a fireman ad work 24 hours shifts so I'll have to find one that's not on my work day.  And I've been sitting in the gunners seat when a tree catches the end of the tube and spins the turret around and fills it with smoke!😂🤣  "The Himalayas" at Hohenfels was a route well used by us Opfor guys!😂

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
45 minutes ago, wperry1151 said:

I've already tried moving in column and that didn't work.  I figured the following tanks would pick the same route through as the lead but I guess not.

Actually, they do ... within the limits of precision of leader trailing, why still dealing with local obstacle avoidance. Often enough the margin of error when passing trough trees is rather small, so even minute deviations from the leading vehicle's vector can make the difference between collision with a tree, or passing through. If a collision occurs, the trailing vehicle will eventually negotiate the tree, but then it'll be forced to drive faster to catch up in the formation. Think of drawing a circle with a mouse in free painting mode. It's hard enough already without circle-construction tools in a graphics program. Now try to draw a circle FAST, while your phraphics program struggles with a low frame rate.

In other words, driving faster usually makes the problem worse as the trailing vehicle now has to follow a route that the player marked with breadcrumbs, but probably at slower speed; the traoiling vehicle is less agile due to inertia of higher velocity, so it will inevitably deviate from the set course more often, run into obstacles more often, fall back even further, try harder to catch up, ...

 

In real life, as a lead vehicle the commander will look back to make sure the others are following as often as look forward, particularly in difficult terrain. German doctrine at least calls for reduced inter-vehicular distances as well, so the combo of slow speed, column formation, and close distance is the combination that is the least unreliable. Needless to say, this is also the kind of combination that doesn't get you anywhere very fast, which is one of the reasons why tankers usually try to avoid forests.

 

Add to that the dangers of low-hanging branches (the trees are aiming for your head, I swear!) (in real life, that is), increased likelihood to trow track, the mentioned issues of bustle overhang and, especially, gun barrels colliding with tree trunks, and you see why it's often a good idea to swing around a small forest rather than barrelling through. The gun barrel strike danger is why, in Steel Beasts, computer-controlled forces will switch to unstabilized mode and putting the turret to the front. You really do not want to get into a fight in forested terrain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I should say, the pedantry of computer-controlled units to maintain the exact distance to the lead vehicle while moving in formation is of course a decidedly non-human weakness in this situation, which causes the kind of friction that you wouldn't observe in reality. On the other hand a number of problems that occur in real life (I listed them above) don't manifest in the simulation. We have effectively replaced some of the reasons why you should avoid forests with different complications, but the net result is still quite similar - avoid the woods, unless you can't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Ssnake said:

We have effectively replaced some of the reasons why you should avoid forests with different complications, but the net result is still quite similar - avoid the woods, unless you can't.

 

Thanks for the reply and the advice Ssnake!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...