Vehicles and Buldings

[eric.swallie]

Will SPWAW 5.0 deal with the issue of vehicles trying to drive through buildings when not told to specifically do so? Nearly every game I play, a vehicle is disabled in a building, because it thinks the shortest rout to a hex is through this building. This is very frustrating, and not very realistic. This could also extend to forests and swamps etc. Maybe ask for a confirmation if a planed rout will pass through such disabling terrain.

[Larry Holt]

This is odd in that it almost never happens to me.

[Paul Vebber]

IT has been improved upon, but in close quarters its best to manuever carefully.

[eric.swallie]

Originally posted by Larry Holt:
This is odd in that it almost never happens to me.

In my current game against Drex I have had 2 vehicles so far breakdown because of this. It works something like this. I have a vehicle on a road, and click in an empty hex near a building a few hexes up the road. The vehicle then drives up the road and tries to go through the building to get to the empty hex because it is shorter in movement points than to go around.

My request is that when ever a vehicle plots a course through potentially disabling terrain, it should warn you. This way you can plot a specific path to avoid this situation.

[Resisti]

Paul,

thinking back to all the games I've played up to now,I would be enclined to affirm that this problem is ALSO related to the type of vehicle you're "driving".
I've noticed infact that DUKW's have a FAR higher chance to choose a building hex in their route to final destination than other vehicles.
Could it be the case or it is just a coincidence ?

[James P]

Originally posted by Eric:
Will SPWAW 5.0 deal with the issue of vehicles trying to drive through buildings when not told to specifically do so? Nearly every game I play, a vehicle is disabled in a building, because it thinks the shortest rout to a hex is through this building. This is very frustrating, and not very realistic. This could also extend to forests and swamps etc. Maybe ask for a confirmation if a planed rout will pass through such disabling terrain.

I too have seen this many times. In fact when fighting in urban areas, I've even moved vehicles over grey concrete hexes (i.e. they contain no building at all) only to see the little puff of smoke and falling rubble sound effect leading to an immobilisation.

[Flashfyre]

Apparently, the issue of invisible building hexes and the tendency of vehicles to traverse buildings (under AI direction)is a major source of unrest among the troops.

Two suggestions:
1. When moving vehicles, move in short bursts. If in urban areas, one hex at a time is the way to go. And check the terrain of the hex BEFORE you make the move, particularly around multi-hex building icons. Some of the hexes may not be building hexes; I like to "clear" some of them when designing a map to represent alleys, one-way streets, etc.

2. When designing a map, always double-check areas that you have made changes to. If, for instance, you placed a multi-hex building, didn't like its location, and cleared it, check all the surrounding hexes for those "pesky" building stats in the clear. Same is true for changing elevation hexes; they tend to leave behind "ghostly" slopes that do not have pictures. So that wide-open grassland you wanted is, in reality, a series of rolling hills, with lots of unseen concealment areas.