[0.17.68] Biters vs obstacles

[Murzik]

I have seen this wired biters' behaviour for a while, but wasn't sure if it's a bug. Anyway, when a sufficiently large biter attack convoy meets an obstacle, its units just go crazy and loose a sense of direction instead of calmly going around it. I've attaches some pictures, which illustrate the issue. I realise that fixing this will probably require new complicated algorithms for biters and this post will end up in "won't fix", so I wonder whether we will ever see the attacks that look smoother and similar to zombies in They Are Billions?

biter-1.jpg (193.71 KiB) Viewed 1944 times

biter-2.jpg (194.05 KiB) Viewed 1944 times

biter-3.jpg (192.23 KiB) Viewed 1944 times

biter-4.jpg (189.16 KiB) Viewed 1944 times

biter-5.jpg (187.51 KiB) Viewed 1944 times

[Loewchen]

Save please...

[Murzik]

Here is a save at this exact point before attack. Let me know if you need an earlier one.

dodgy biter attack example.zip

(9.73 MiB) Downloaded 115 times

[BattleFluffy]

I see this all the time. They get stuck on cliffs and things when moving as a group.

Not sure if it's related, but they also go insane whenever a large group arrives at the wall.
There's a critical moment when they get just out of range of the lasers..... they stop moving as a group and all start trying to move individually - and what you get is basically like a mosh pit at a rock concert. Only a small fringe of the biters in the front row is able to peel away from the thrashing frenzy, and so they all end up dribbling into the laser wall a few at a time.

With the right AI and settings, bitters could be like zerglings from Starcraft 2... incredibly fast and terrifying, especially in swarms. It would give me a reason to use all the crazy ultra-fortified walls I like to design for the ultra late game, and a reason for late game players to get the damage upgrades for lasers etc. Ah, I know it's a tough ask... but I wish this so dearly for Factorio... more intelligent enemies. :>

[gabberworld]

i think ed about this kind problem myself some time ago why get stuck myself, when i look game debug then i see it uses for collision the rectangle, for avoid this first place then game need use also circle for lower the collision corners

[Klonan]

This looks like their typical derpy behavior,
They are trying to path and path and repath and repath through their friends

We are looking into solutions,
but for now I will move this to not a bug.