[0.11.4] Biters vanish upon unreachable path

[spazza360]

Map string:
>>>AAALAAQABwAEAwYAAAAEAAAAY29hbAIEAgoAAABjb3BwZXItb3Jl
AgQCCQAAAGNydWRlLW9pbAIDAgoAAABlbmVteS1iYXNlBAMCCAAAAGl
yb24tb3JlAgQCBQAAAHN0b25lAgQCeEVT2v0UAACtEgAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAACj0lIc=<<<

I am using the Win64 version.

I set starting area to none and spawned on a 1 tile island within aggro range of a biter base.
The biters attempt to attack and vanish when the pathfinder cannot find a path to the player.

[kovarex]

What should they do?

[cube]

This is not exactly a bug, although I agree that it looks really weird.

This "feature" was added as a safety net to prevent stuck biters (that can happen for example in very dense enemy bases) from slowing down the path finder. If a bug finds out he repeatedly fails to do what he wants to do, he commits a suicide :-)

[spazza360]

This "feature" was added as a safety net to prevent stuck biters (that can happen for example in very dense enemy bases) from slowing down the path finder. If a bug finds out he repeatedly fails to do what he wants to do, he commits a suicide

I would assume that the biters should attempt to move back to their base before giving up on their primitive lives.

As for now it does fit as a placeholder as it is a particularly rare occurrence, perhaps something to consider in the future though?

[MF-]

I disaprove of the following militant/violent solution:

Perhaps run in the desired direction and then lower the health of biters as they slam into an obstacle?
That way it would look like it killed itself while madly trying to reach it's goal.

[cube]

I disaprove of the following militant/violent solution:

Perhaps run in the desired direction and then lower the health of biters as they slam into an obstacle?
That way it would look like it killed itself while madly trying to reach it's goal.

I like that :-). Maybe when we do some more AI improvements.

[Nova]

Or they just grow wings and... well, we're screwed...