RTS Mode Bugs/Recommended Improvements

[wind swan]

Okay so I know that the RTS mode has kind of been forgotten about, isn't high in demand and therefore isn't likely to be seen as a priority. However should a time ever come that JNI wants to have a look at repairing and improving it, here are the key things I've noticed from the last 48 hours of working with it. I would say that I’ve actually had a surprising amount of fun with the RTS mode as it currently stands, so I believe there is some worth in developing the mode further.

Bugs:
• Trigger squares/spheres block the in-game RTS cursor. You have to either move past it or move inside it to issue movement orders in the area covered by the trigger. If you try to do it from outside the trigger, the cursor disappears. The same behaviour is observed with doorways.
• You can no longer select enemies to attack. The cursor just doesn’t change when you hover it over an enemy.
• Health bars of units spawned do not show up in RTS mode. And units that do have a health bar will lose them if the player backs out of RTS mode and goes back into it. Maybe a refresh button to gather the health bars of all active units if it’s an easier fix.

[slender zephyr]

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[wind swan]

Recommended Improvements:
• When selecting multiple units and issuing a move command, they all converge on a single point. The result is that the first unit to reach this point is happy, but the others get stuck in his back, and end up brain-dead as they cannot reach the point. Would recommend a square formation default move point, so when you click units don’t pile on top of one point. The squad system uses this so hopefully it wouldn’t be too difficult to move over into the RTS mode?
• Allow us to rotate units by holding Q or E, at the moment if you have to get your men to change facing, the only way you can do it is by moving them backwards and then forwards, which is costly in a battle.
• Units that are stationary, on guard mode, will sit still when getting shot by enemy soldiers (probably due to an LOS error). I scripted it so that they would defend themselves in these situations, moving into a new firing position to get LOS. Would be nice if this could be a default behaviour, but only in effect when the units are stationary and not moving. Alternatively, maybe a “return fire” stance could be added, so the players could decide what they want their guys to do.
• Grouping. Being able to select groups of units and assigning them a number so you can switch between different groups quickly would be great.
• Lock camera to respect physical objects, so that you cannot clip through walls when in RTS mode.
• Scripts relating to the RTS mode, that allow us to focus the player’s attention by transporting them to certain points, and allowing us to add sounds when units are selected or ordered to do something.

Adding this video as it shows a pretty comprehensive look at how the RTS system currently functions, with all bugs listed shown at various points:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qjrm8UerMU

[steady epoch]

Thanks for sharing the detailed write up 👍
I was actually thinking about removing that mode quite a few times in the past, but I guess it's still there so I might as well fix the bugs in the next patch.
I will also consider the improvements for future updates

[wind swan]

One more thing, I'm not sure if it's a bug or a limitation, but units spawned by transport vehicles default to their own behaviour once they have completed an RTS issued task. So if you order them to move somewhere, they will revert to default behaviour once they reach the destination.

[steady epoch]

Sounds like a bug

[wind swan]

Vehicles set on guard mode will not respond to commands. They also will not attack even if defend mode is activated and enemies are standing in front of them (this is with default behaviour)

[wind swan]

I've noticed the RTS mode isn't working; i.e I can't give movement orders. Did you do something?

[steady epoch]

Yes, I tried to improve something and made it worse. Fix will be out soon, sorry about that

[wind swan]

No problem, thanks for giving it some thought

[wind swan]

A little more on this; I think units with default behaviour revert to their own thinking after completing a command. I know I said it was units in transports, but it's occurred to me that in the map I made I had everyone on guard mode, including spawned units.

[steady epoch]

The triggers, enemy target selection and health bars have been fixed.
I couldnt track down the reason why units are randomly falling back to their default behaviour. But after looking at the strategy mode code it's a wonder that any of it is still working.

Anyway, I will include the fixes in the next patch and move this thread to Long Term for the suggestions and remaining problems. There is definitely more that can be done to make this mode more interesting, especially when it comes to scripting

[slender zephyr]

🟥 Long Term

Due to technical problems/limitations/dependencies, the bug will be fixed sometime in the future