Howto move Units

[II/JG54_Emil]

I wonder if we can get together a little howto for movement as I´ve several times now that units are not moving where they should move.

What do I need to mind when moving troops over bridges?
Should I make as many waypoints as possible to avoid dangerous alternative routes?
How can I avoid that some plotted units are not moving at all?
And how can I get them to last waypoint if the last waypoint is somewhere in the prairie and not on a road?

[IV/JG7_4Shades]

Hi Emil,

First, you need to settle on which movement modes you will use for your (a) Tanks, (b) Vehicles, (c) Infantry. The movement modes are set in the DCS and define how closely the unit types stick to the roads and bridges. See the Complex Ground Movement documentation for more detailed information.

What do I need to mind when moving troops over bridges?
1. Never click a waypoint on a bridge. IL-2 hates having ground units on bridges, especially at mission start, and SEOW will try to throw away such waypoints anyway.
2. Assuming you are not using "Simple" mode, if a unit is on a road leading to a bridge, you can order it to cross the bridge just by placing a waypoint on the road somewhere on the other side of the bridge. SEOW will fill in the missing directions to tell the unit to move to the bridge, cross it and continue on. If you are using Simple mode, units will never cross bridges - they will just drive straight over rivers as if the bridge is not even there.

Should I make as many waypoints as possible to avoid dangerous alternative routes?
SEOW road movement works on the concepts of routes and junctions. A route is a stretch of road between two junctions. A route NEVER continues through a junction; routes always start at a junction and stop at the very next junction. Mobile units move along routes very easily. When they encounter a junction they need to work out which route to take to leave the junction. They do this simply by finding which route leaves the junction in the direction heading towards the next planned waypoint. Sometimes this gives the wrong direction, especially if routes are winding or have large bends. The best approach is to consider your unit as a dumb driver, you need to give him enough information to make the correct turn at the correct time.

How can I avoid that some plotted units are not moving at all?
This rarely happens, especially from SEDB32G onwards with the recaptured roads. Possible reasons for unexpectedly short movements are:
1. The unit is out of supply.
2. The unit is exceeding the MaxWaypoints setting, due to complex routes with many doglegs, so the planned route is truncated.
3. For Relaxed and Normal modes, too many waypoints are entered by the commander, causing excursions off-road and back again, leading to MaxWaypoint limit problems.
4. A bug in the road network capture at a particular location.

And how can I get them to last waypoint if the last waypoint is somewhere in the prairie and not on a road?
Use Simple, Relaxed or Normal movement mode. Strict mode does not allow off-road movement.

Cheers,
4Shades

[II/JG54_Emil]

Thank you very much 4Shades.

[II/JG54_Emil]

One more question:

In the movement tab in the DCS there are 3 different groups of vehicles that you can set the different ground movement modes for, Column Units, Infantry and All Others.

What are Column Units and All Others.

[22GCT_Gross]

Columns should be the ones listed in the Convoy_Vehicles table;
Infantries should be the VMI and VRI tagged objects in the Object_Role table;

[IV/JG7_4Shades]

"All Others" covers any unit not included in earlier categories, and I cannot remember any examples!