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the bindlestiff · **Re: Can't make my routes work! -** 02-01-2006

Oooh, these routes! Here's another one that's causing me trouble:

I have a route node situated at the document steal point. It has three different paths the bots can take to escape -- two are very dangerous (the shorter ones, of course) and a third one that's longer but safer. Using the alt-roam placing criteria discussed earlier in this thread, I had no trouble getting the two short paths to work properly with the route node. But the long route is giving me problems.

Think of an equilateral triangle with the Start at one vertex, the Finish at another, and the Alt Roam at the third. The route I want the bot to take is twice the distance to the Finish as the short route. What should happen is that the bot calculates the shortest distance to the Alt Roam, goes there, then chooses the shortest path to the Finish and goes there.

What actually happens is that the bot goes directly to the Finish, passes it, goes to the Alt Roam, then turns around and goes back to the Finish. This is an indication that the Alt Roam is too close to the Finish. But I have to move it to very near the Start before the behavior changes. Then the bot will run through the door to the Alt Roam and turn around and take the short way to the Finish (as it should). There is no intermediate point where the bot will travel from Start-to-AltRoam-to-Finish

If I disconnect some node connections to force the bot to take the long route, it does so without difficulties. This longer route goes though the notorious door that has by now been dynamited. The bot also has to climb a long ladder. I measured four seconds as the time for me to climb the ladder. This is on the far side of the 3.5 second rule, so I added a node in the middle of the ladder in case that might be confusing the bot calculations. But it didn't change anything.

I can see nothing unusual about the route. Other bots, not carrying stolen documents, travel it without difficulty, allied or axis. There is a spot where I had to use some one-way paths to get around some boxes. I made those two-way but it didn't affect the bots behavior, either.

Sorry to have to bring up so many problems. I spend a lot of time trying to figure them out before asking for help. And I know that it's difficult to try to trouble-shoot a problem by e-mail -- it's much better to be there where you can point at somthing and say "ah haa!"

Thanks for your patience!

	(#16)
the bindlestiff Member Status: Offline Posts: 280 Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Washington state	Re: Can't make my routes work! - 02-01-2006 Oooh, these routes! Here's another one that's causing me trouble: I have a route node situated at the document steal point. It has three different paths the bots can take to escape -- two are very dangerous (the shorter ones, of course) and a third one that's longer but safer. Using the alt-roam placing criteria discussed earlier in this thread, I had no trouble getting the two short paths to work properly with the route node. But the long route is giving me problems. Think of an equilateral triangle with the Start at one vertex, the Finish at another, and the Alt Roam at the third. The route I want the bot to take is twice the distance to the Finish as the short route. What should happen is that the bot calculates the shortest distance to the Alt Roam, goes there, then chooses the shortest path to the Finish and goes there. What actually happens is that the bot goes directly to the Finish, passes it, goes to the Alt Roam, then turns around and goes back to the Finish. This is an indication that the Alt Roam is too close to the Finish. But I have to move it to very near the Start before the behavior changes. Then the bot will run through the door to the Alt Roam and turn around and take the short way to the Finish (as it should). There is no intermediate point where the bot will travel from Start-to-AltRoam-to-Finish If I disconnect some node connections to force the bot to take the long route, it does so without difficulties. This longer route goes though the notorious door that has by now been dynamited. The bot also has to climb a long ladder. I measured four seconds as the time for me to climb the ladder. This is on the far side of the 3.5 second rule, so I added a node in the middle of the ladder in case that might be confusing the bot calculations. But it didn't change anything. I can see nothing unusual about the route. Other bots, not carrying stolen documents, travel it without difficulty, allied or axis. There is a spot where I had to use some one-way paths to get around some boxes. I made those two-way but it didn't affect the bots behavior, either. Sorry to have to bring up so many problems. I spend a lot of time trying to figure them out before asking for help. And I know that it's difficult to try to trouble-shoot a problem by e-mail -- it's much better to be there where you can point at somthing and say "ah haa!" Thanks for your patience!