Caterpillar formation feature

[SeanEBlog]

One thing I'd like to do in the battle scape is draw a line and form a caterpillar of soldiers. All soldiers would all automatically follow path taken by the leader soldier or follow how the line was drawn up until that point.
 
Rules.
-A caterpillar drawing must start with the leader.
-The caterpillar may contain gaps between followers if it was drawn to have them .
-Seeing an alien will stop the leader but will not prevent the caterpillar from catching up with him unless right click is used, removing any followers from the caterpillar behind that point.
-Same rules apply to alien reaction fire.
-Selecting a follower will not cancel the caterpillar, but that follower will be removed from it if he is moved.
--If that follower is turned however, he will automatically strife when the caterpillar moves and turn relativity with caterpillar for as long as he is a follower.
-If a follower cannot keep up with the caterpillar because of an obstruction (solider placed in the gap, stair way destroyed by reaction fire) or a lack of TU, energy or Z-movement ability, that follower and those behind him will be removed from the caterpillar.
-Should a new caterpillar drawing intersect with an existing caterpillar, the old one will be canceled.
-Kneeling the leader with kneel all the followers, but just kneeling a follower is affects no one else.
-If the leader is killed, the caterpillars is canceled.
-If a follower is killed, the caterpillar is not canceled.
-Double clicking the leader will cancel the caterpillar.

Aside from the auto strife/turning feature,  this is more of a streamlining feature than a tactical feature, it's mainly to remove the tedium when you want multiple near-by units to do the same thing.

[xracer]

i understand what you are saying trying to set up something like a fire-team maneuvering.

It is not a bad idea however i think this will require a lot of extra coding, firstly xcom doesn't allow for multiple unit selection, second if modified to do that the GUI would need to be updated to be able to manage it, by having predefined formation. something like xcom:Apoc. and then there will the whole issue of multiple pathfinder and alternative routing.

I think this is something beyond the scope of OXC maybe some could try to make a mod to have said features but i think the main branch will remain closer to the original.

[luke83]

I think Grouping options are NEEDED if we take some of the mundane micromangament out of the game, there is nothing worse than knowing you have cleared the entire map except for the UFO and having to go through unit after unit to tell them to head in that direction.

Below are some related topics about grouping and Movingt units to one location that i remember taking part in, there is most likely others from before my time
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,949.msg9201.html#msg9201
https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php/topic,409.msg4687.html#msg4687

I would like to see a unit grouping page created somewhere (something similar to xcom apocalpys ) so i can assign weapon teams together and then control them as a group via some extra buttons added onto the HUD.

Just a dream

[SeanEBlog]

I've gone ahead a made a graphic explaining how the caterpillar works in my mind.

[luke83]

I understand your WISH , and it would be a good first step to solving the "storming the UFO" issue i always find in game but its also a prime target for a grenade attack.

[Hythlodaeus]

So you want the option to have soldiers form conga lines of death? Personally I oppose this simply because it incentivates bad gameplay practices.

[Arpia]

would it be easier possible to treat a 2x2 group of soldiers as a tank/large unit and move the 4 of them by those parameters?
i know it's not the same as the 'caterpillar' but it's a step right?

[SeanEBlog]

So you want the option to have soldiers form conga lines of death? Personally I oppose this simply because it incentivates bad gameplay practices.

As I said in my original post, I see this as more of a streamlining feature than a tactical one. The most immediate use I see out of this is quickly bringing yet-to-be-deployed soldiers to the front of the plane at the end of turns so that they don't waste TUs doing so when I decide to deploy them.

As for Tactical use, I mostly only see pairs or trios being used. As I personally typically use the buddy system when deploying soldiers. Possibly quads on snakeman missions, to keep eyes at on four directions for chryssalids.

would it be easier possible to treat a 2x2 group of soldiers as a tank/large unit and move the 4 of them by those parameters?
i know it's not the same as the 'caterpillar' but it's a step right?

A bit of an off topic reply but if you made a 2x2 soldier group with the caterpillar function, it would unwind according to how it was drawn across the soldiers used.

My major concerns with a true 2x2 group is not having the TU to scatter when needed and clustered soldiers reaction shooting each other in the back of the head. My caterpillar tool does have the same problems but easier to work around with proper planing and foresight, as it does allow for gaps.