Area attack broken?

Discussion in 'PA: TITANS: General Discussion' started by ace63, August 20, 2015.

  1. ace63

    ace63 Post Master General

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    Hi everyone,

    I'm not sure if this intendet or not, but area attack seems to have turned into a simple move command.
    I expected units with an area attack command to stay just inside their own firing range. Instead, they simply seem to move into the center of the circle of the area command, including grenadiers etc so they get slaughtered.
    Is this working as intendet?
  2. igncom1

    igncom1 Post Master General

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    Does seem temperamental.

    Although giving a simple attack command to units can sometimes lead to artillery units charging the target they are firing at....bringing them into range of the defences I built them to counter!
  3. ace63

    ace63 Post Master General

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    Yeah I just noticed that dox charge into melee range when given a simple attack command. That can't be right...
  4. ace63

    ace63 Post Master General

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    @jables Sorry to bring it to your attention this way but this gets buried in all the other threads. I am pretty sure this is a bug, no? Just want to make sure you guys catch it.
  5. jables

    jables Uber Employee

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    Looking into it :)
    stuart98, devoh, squishypon3 and 4 others like this.
  6. Thinking42Man

    Thinking42Man New Member

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    I am also experiencing this and feel it needs looking into.

    jables, I wonder if you could comment on this?
  7. Thinking42Man

    Thinking42Man New Member

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    EDIT (2): Further observations seem to suggest that these are not always (or even often) the cause of this issue/bug.

    Just following up here, I think the appearance of units charging in when using the attack or area attack commands is actually due to one or more of the following:

    1. The unit has no viable target in the area to attack, e.g. an AA unit with no air target, or a scout unit which cannot attack, and so they move to the center of the area attack command, which may have been set in a dangerous location. The solution here is to set the center of the area attack command at a safe location, such as the middle of or behind your army. Units without viable targets in the area attack command will move to this point.

    2. Shot blocking buildings or building wreckages are in the way. The unit is trying to get into a position where their firing line is unobstructed.

    3. With attack-move commands, a piece of wreckage has been targeted. This is easy to do by accident. The unit will run at the wreckage until it's in range, and if there are threats along its path, it will not stop at max range to shoot them because it has been ordered to attack the wreckage beyond. The solution is to not use attack move to target areas where there is wreckage, or to carefully click the ground nearby where there is no wreckage.

    EDIT (1): Non-destroyed buildings may factor into this as well, though I'm unsure if any/all units would just fire on the building instead of moving into LOS of the preferred target.
    Last edited: September 16, 2015
  8. stylisticsagittarius

    stylisticsagittarius Active Member

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    i agree with ace this is not supposed to be. but how about patrol attacking does this not solve the problem?

    p.s. just tested it, you should use area attack command in the center of your army, cuzz every unit will auto attackl everything in that area and that area remains for as long as there are enemies or the unit is destroyed.
    This means that when you start your area attack command in the center of your army your entire army(but enemy base must also be in the area) will go and attack anything in range and stops then. The only problem here is then when there are units closer to your army in another direction of the enemy base your units will first go and destroy that unit first instead...
    Last edited: September 14, 2015
  9. ace63

    ace63 Post Master General

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    Sorry, but none of this is true. Try it yourself - grab some dox and (area) attack anything. They will run into melee range.
    tunsel11 likes this.
  10. Thinking42Man

    Thinking42Man New Member

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    You're right. There are some games (maybe 10%) where area attack works as expected. All the other times, it doesn't. Resetting the UI can fix it, but again, it's a one in ten shot. If the devs are looking into this, be aware that the issue doesn't *always* present itself.
  11. Thinking42Man

    Thinking42Man New Member

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    I think this may, in some cases, have something to do with the units "thinking" they need to search the area for valid targets, despite the area being fully visible or the unit in question having no ability to attack. However, in the case of grenadiers, which are the easiest to observe this bug/issue with, they often have vision of valid targets and there is no obstruction to their arc of fire, and still they advance into "melee" range. I sure hope this is being worked on!
  12. thelordofthenoobs

    thelordofthenoobs Well-Known Member

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    Well, this issue is not restricted to area attacks. It mostly seems to affect bots, though.
    I just played a game where I gave attack move orders to my vast armies of Doxen and Grenadiers and they simply charged forward (right into the flamethrowers of the Infernos...).

    Other times like 50 bots disappeared without me doing anything. While watching the replay, I discovered that a few Infernos and tanks hat moved into my idle army's range and they started charging forward on their own (again right into the Inferno(s)).

    I didn't notice this behavior on tanks, yet. Uber, plz fix.

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