[SBW] NPC Squads

Factions and alliances

• Alliances. Factions can ally, voted on by their online players through the new Diplomacy screen (propose, accept, leave). SuperbWarfare's friend-or-foe checks respect factions and alliances.

New order: Retreat

• The squad falls back to a point in bounding overwatch: one half covers while the other runs, then they swap. On arrival it holds the point.
• Vehicles drive back, mortar crews pack up and carry the tube, and no new drones are launched.

JourneyMap integration (optional)

• Your squads, your side's vehicles, barracks, objectives and patrol routes are shown on the map, along with enemies your side has spotted.
• Selecting squads. Click a squad to select it, Shift+click to add more, or Shift+drag a box around several.
• Orders. Right-click the map to give the selected squads an order. Several squads get their objectives spread across the line of advance, and mixed squads each get an order that fits them.
• Patrol routes. A patrol route can be drawn directly on the map.
• Men and waypoints. Every man of your squads is a dot, and a selected squad's dots are brighter. Each squad objective is a JourneyMap waypoint.
• Squads out of loaded range. Such squads stay on the map, faded, at their last known position.

Squads out of range keep working

• A squad with orders keeps its ground loaded even with no players nearby. The server config sets the limit, 8 by default.
• A long march is planned leg by leg, around hills. The squad keeps formation along the route (a wedge when attacking) and only files in a line where the ground forces it.
• The distance at which NPCs are sent to and drawn by clients is set in the server config (npcViewDistance, 256 blocks by default).

Combat

• Crouching. NPCs crouch once settled at a position: in cover, dug in, holding a defend post or fighting in place. A one-block wall no longer blocks their shots.
• Defenders. A defending squad holds a ring around its point, sized to its headcount. Each defender picks a post near their slot, behind low cover where there is any.
• Spread fire. A squad spreads its fire across the enemies it can see.
• Grenades. Fighters carry two RGN (offensive) and two RGO (defensive) grenades. The RGO is thrown when defending or retreating, and only when its arc is clear. Grenades are also thrown into three or more enemies bunched together.
• Fire support needs a sighting. Mortars and drones only hit what someone on their side has actually seen, at the spot it was last seen. A drone follows its target only while it can see it.
• Vehicle gunners. A gunner watches all around, and stays at the weapon for 5 seconds after the last target instead of climbing straight out.
• Out of ammo. An NPC with an empty gun runs from the enemy instead of standing and facing it.
• Soft blocks. A stuck NPC breaks a soft block in its way: leaves, bushes, glass, sand, dirt, gravel.
• NPCs move twice as fast in water.
• Starting ammo is set per class and weapon instead of a flat 120 rounds for everyone.
• Mortar crews fire half as often, one round every 5 seconds.

Loot

• A killed NPC can drop, whoever killed it:
  • its weapon (15%), with only the loaded magazine;
  • each piece of armour (5%);
  • a magazine of ammunition for its weapon (50%);
  • one of its remaining grenades (5%).

Other

• In survival, a player without the Squad Command Tool gets one on joining and on respawning.
• New preset: 32 men, a company. Infantry presets deploy in square formation with a Move order.
• Patrol without a route: the squad roams the area, each member on their own.
• APCs start with cannon AP and HE rounds, coaxial machine gun belts and ATGMs.

Fixes

• Paths no longer run through azaleas and other blocks too tall to step over.
• NPCs head for points in unloaded chunks instead of standing still.
• NPCs no longer spawn inside blocks.
• Leaving the world with the squad screen open no longer crashes the game.
• Rockets and grenades no longer fly blocks over or under a tank.
• Helicopter crews spot and fire at the ranges their altitude needs.
• A player's drone counts as a threat by who owns it.
• Plus many fixes to movement, arriving at an objective and switching to defend.

Installation notes

• JourneyMap is optional.
• Key conflicts: SuperbWarfare uses R for reload and N for fire mode, the same keys as Iris (Reload Shaders) and JourneyMap (Waypoint Manager). Move theirs to, for example, Ctrl + R and Ctrl + N. Details are in the README.