Melee auto attack

[michal3588]

Is that possible to set colonists to auto-melee attack somehow? After killing ordered raider they are just standing there waiting for death:/. I've tried to make an assault against raiders with space drop pod and lightsabers from mods (because why not ). But its almost impossible to micromanage 15+ colonists fighting with raiders manually without heavy loss. Because of that melee weapons are useless compared to guns.

[skullywag]

If drafted do they not auto attack enemies in range as they would with guns?

[michal3588]

Nope. At least not for me . Should they do that? Maybe I have some kind of bug.

[skullywag]

Must be a quirk of the melee system, I dont know if thats a bug or not...could me a missing feature Tynan forgot to implement or he left it out for reasons we arent thinking of.

[michal3588]

I have NO idea how melee fighting works in rimworld... Sometimes colonists actually charge towards enemy and after killing him they are just standing there instead of jumping to another one who is right next to them... Is there any pattern of their behavior? Maybe they need to be in some distance from enemy (like mortars) to charge? I would like to create assault squads with drop pod beacon mod but this is impossible with this ridiculous melee system .

[michal3588]

It was a while since I've asked that question. After few months I still have no idea how I could use melee soldiers in bigger battles. Was there any improvements in that topic or melee is still useful only in corridors inside the base as last line of (desperate) defence? Sadly even then guns are way better and I'm using swords and power claws only for some variety in defence because just standing and shooting in front of choking point is boring as "duck" :/.

[Boboid]

There have been no significant melee UI improvements that I know of but personal shields make it a bit easier overall.

As colony size gets up there (20+) I tend to just build rumble-pits.
Just a box full of my colonists with one entrance and one reinforced exit.
Stick a colonist in the door briefly, the AI will attempt to get to the exit *or* they'll choose to try and stand within the pit to shoot your colonists. Move the colonist out of the doorway and watch as all your colonists instantly bushwhack everything that walks in

[tommytom]

drafted melee, just like drafted ranged, only auto-attack things in range. By being drafted, they will not move unless you tell them to.

If you wanted them to move into position to attack in melee range automatically, there would have to another mode like "offense mode" or "defense mode" and the AI would have to take over.

Personally, seeing how bad the AI can be when attacking, I doubt it's a good idea to let your colonists use that AI. You would actually get more losses.