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Originally Posted by CaptHawkeye
In all honesty "Pause the game to issue hugely complex orders to multiple squadrons." Just doesn't work. I want to play a naval sim here, not a turn based jRPG. I've also been told to "use the map" but again, what year is it? 2009 or 1999? I'm trying to play a 3D naval sim here not Task Force 1942.  |
The game can't read your mind. It doesn't now and can't ever be made to anticipate your desires. No game can do that. Thus, you will ALWAYS have to give orders to your subordinate formations, at least initially.
So what's the difference, really, between telling a division to move to a certain distance and bearing from a given other ship, and giving the division course and speed orders to move to the same place? Zero. You still have to take the time to give the order to all your divisions either way. So up to this point, what you're suggesting and what the game already has is a wash.
The difference would come in only where you want the subordinate division to maintain a relative range and bearing to some other ship, regardless of that ship's subsequent maneuvers. In your suggestion, that would be automatic but in the game at present, you have to turn the subordinates yourself. Looks like you win on the 1st look here. However, it's not so simple....
To do this sort of thing, the AI has to plot a course and speed to regain its position after the reference ship turns. It might have a number of options of courses and speeds to choose from. It will have to pick on, and it can't read your mind. Thus, odds are the one it chooses won't be t your tastes, and you'll have to give it orders manually to conform to your overall plan. And this is if the move it has to make is even possible.
Problem is, there are MANY potential turns by the reference ship that would make it very difficult, if not impossible, for the subordinates ever to regain their station. The subordinates might not be fast enough, or there might be other ships in the way. And then there's the enemy, whose presence of course can trigger other AI behaviors.
What's the poor maneuvering AI supposed to do in these sorts of situations? It would have to fall back on some default behavior. But what would that be? It can't read your mind, remember. So should it go to the rear, the disengaged side, the front, or just follow along as best it can, perhaps fouling the range for the ships you really care about? Or perhaps just sail off into the blue? In all likelihood, no matter what the AI did, you wouldn't like it, so you'd have to give it new orders. Which is the same as giving it new orders yourself anyway, without the AI trying anything.
Believe me, I argued for the same sort of thing a couple of years ago in early development. But Norm explained to me the above, and so the only autopilot thing we have is the unambiguous case of following directly behind another division.
Jutland most definitely ain't TF1942. Instead of being a naval FPS, with fleet command a very distant 2nd place, it's a game about fleet command. You're the top brass. Your job is to maneuver your forces advantageously. You don't aim the guns and such things. So if you handed over control of maneuver to the AI, you wouldn't have much impact on the course of events, would you?
BTw, in the campaign or in battles you make in the editor, you can simplify the process considerably by rearranging your task forces into formations that don't require any deployment at the start of a battle.