Movement, another issue

[johndoesecond]

Here (see attachment) I gave a "mass" move order (the simplest possible: few waypoints leaving everything default) to the whole Regiment (KG Cochenhausen HQ, which has 3 sub Bns plus few support companies). It's D1 10:00.

I know this may not be the most appropriate way to move around, but I gave it a try just to see what happens.

Now, if you run it this way, you'll see what happens:

- the 304 Regt. Base moves way further north (!);
- the I Bn (Inf.) moves just few km to the north and then stops;
- all the other Bns stay still! (although the orders seem to pass down the command structure).

No company seems to be exhausted, engaged with an enemy or otherwise halted.

So what's going on? Who's waiting who?

This doesn't look right, does it?

Eventually, if you run it for the whole day, at approx. D2 4:00 in the morning, the whole bunch starts to move.
What were they waiting for the entire Day 1? Somebody needed a rest? Someone was out of supplies? Or just a bug?

And even after that, they all just move few kms further north and then stop again.

Thanks.

[johndoesecond]

I played a bit more with it, and made an interesting discovery.

If you detach the whole I Bn (the only all on-foot Bn in the Regt.), it seems to behave more as one would expect.

So, maybe, just maybe, the problem may be in the movement coordination among the on foot and motorised Bns within the Regt. Am I on to something here?

Cheers.

[DanOppenheim]

I think that units travel at the speed of the slowest. It may be worthwhile unticking the stragglers option to see if that helps. I think that is meant for units that need to rest but it might actually just be for slow units, which would obviously include those stopped to rest but would also include a foot unit in a motorised battalion.

[johndoesecond]

ORIGINAL: DanO

I think that units travel at the speed of the slowest. It may be worthwhile unticking the stragglers option to see if that helps. I think that is meant for units that need to rest but it might actually just be for slow units, which would obviously include those stopped to rest but would also include a foot unit in a motorised battalion.

I think I understand the mechanics of the game quite well.

That's why I found the behavior strange. In particular, here we're at the beginning of the scenario and those reinforcements just arrived, so hardly any straggler there. Second, it is by leaving that option on (which I did) that the stragglers are left behind, and non vice versa.
On the other hand, if I give orders separately to each battalion, they move without problems, as expected. So there must be something on the regimental level coordination, some sort of an I-wait-for-you-you-wait-for-me issue.

Did you try to open and run my saved game? Haven't you found rather odd what you'd seen?

[johndoesecond]

Another little discovery: the problem certainly is related to how may waypoints there are or how far the last waypoint is set. If you delete 2 last waypoints, they move smoothly. As if having to pass over an objective (Marche-en-Famenne), or travel so far, or with so many waypoints, or a combination of all this, create some sort of problem.
(Maybe the HQ doesn't know or need to think too long where to set the firebases for the light arty units?)

Cheers.

[Arjuna]

John,

I finally took a look at this issue. It has nothing to do with waypoints actually. It's just that changing these would force a regen of the formation. The problem was because the main guard comprised only two units ( the 10 Pioneer Coy and a Hvy Flak Bty ) and one of these ( the hvy flak bty ) was based to provide fire support leaving just a single unit. The code that determines the unit ahead was not allowing for this possibility. It was simply getting the formation subGroup when, in this case, it needed to get the actual task forceGroup. In effect it was waiting for an arty unit that had been based. I've fixed this now and the whole KG Cochenhausen now moves along the route all the way.

[johndoesecond]

Good, thanks Arjuna.

Do we get that fix in the next patch?

[Arjuna]

Yes, but I want to fix some other issues before releasing another patch. I'll let you know when we're close.