Hey guys,

I've been playing Ashes now since about release. I also own Escalation. Both are super awesome and fill my game time more often than other games. There are few nagging issues that are holding me back from playing more consistently however. At times I have dropped playing and it is usually due to...

The path finding/group movement leaves a lot to be desired. Units in groups(army) usually end up swirling around in confusion or moving at a turtles pace when given move orders. When they are given attack orders the group will often swirl and shuffle a lot more. In fact a general attack move ends with most units staring at one another and a few running in like heroes. This has made hit and run attacks simply suicide. It also causes support units to be way out of position. In order to make a more effective attack and move I found that repeating commands or even going between attack move and move commands the only way to "correct" the issue. This also helps support units to "wake up" and do their job. To often I see medics bouncing around the back of the group unable to get to damaged units or simply not healing them.

Giving an attack move order into known enemy territory is just bad. I find it better to sacrifice air units to just to fly over and then shift attack each revealed individual structure. What happens if there are enemy units? Well I have to do almost the same as it only seems to add to my groups confusion. This also affects support units as they will either watch other units get hammered or they will rush to from and get hammered themselves.

This "Out of Place" issue happens when units are stationary as well. Ex. I give a group a capture node command. They head over and take it. Another node is close by and some of the AI creeps will float in and take shots. Half of my grouped units go into to fight and the other half just sit there and stare... I can understand if they were not formed into a group, but they are and should respond as so. The unit could move into to destroy the enemy units and once that is done they can simply float back to where they started prior to being harassed.

A big frustration for me is units not attack buildings. I give an attack move order into enemy territory. When the group arrives certain units will not attack building. This happens with Tier 2 units only. Tier 1 units are real go-getters. The Avenger and Nemesis are the 2 I notice sitting withing attack range but not attacking. I am not sure if this is by design, but it makes very little sense. If a unit has a gun and something is shooting at, why would it not return fire? With these units I do understand if they simply miss often if the structure is not in view, but to not attack at all is grounds for treason and robot prison.

I have experienced these issues more with Substrate than I do with PHC. I have no idea why, but it has made playing Sub very frustrating. Which is a shame since I think both "races" to be super kewl.

I am sure this has all been said before so if this post gets moved to that section, thank you.