Some ideas about commands.

1.Kill units of specific type.
Players do this frequently in rts games, so why not make it simpler?
The implement could be double right click a enemy unit to attack all known enemy units of the same type in the camera.

2.Add non-repeating build queue to the front of a repeating build queue.
I'm pretty sure PA will support infinite repeating build queue, so this would be a very handy add-on.

3.Unified assault.
This is similar to a Attack-Move command, but the units would tune their speeds and positions to keep their current formation (or the formation in the last waypoints instead if this command is in a queue) while moving, using the mouse drag with this command should be able to rotate the formation.
If any unit in the formation encounter enemies, the whole group would stop tuning and attack the enemies with automated micro, after all enemies in the group's sight destoryed, the tuning and moving would begin again, until the group encounter new enemies or reach the destination.
This would be very useful for a strategic rts game, if PA has some kind of custom formations command, this would works even better.

I can attest to how awesome this is. There's a Forged Alliance mod that does this (I may be biased, since I made said mod).

This would be rather handy. It was possible in SupCom indirectly if you had a chain of factories sharing a build-queue, but it wasn't a feature or intended behaviour.

Formation move is great when it works, but horrible when it doesn't. I don't really like the idea of automated-micro (I don't want to encourage micro, but I don't think it should be prevented either). Breaking formation to shoot things would be awesome, however.

Automated-micro doesn't prevent micro, you can control units manually anyway, and I think some basic micro such like kiting are pretty annoying, maybe it's just a problem of taste.
And like googlefrog said, it make the light ranged units more useful in late game, you can kite 20 units to attain the maxium use of them, but how can you kite 200 of them effectively?

I would find automatic battle micro interesting, but if it conflicts with manual movement, it is a no-go (say you want your units to commit, but they would instead start kiting)

something like this I would support are smarter unit orders:
viewtopic.php?f=61&t=34222

It is pretty simple to make the auto-micro not conflict with manual control. The developers can make it only operate when a unit is idle or under certain commands that can be interrupted.
Zero-K (sorry for mention it constantly in this forum) has a switch button of it, but the players almost never used that button.

FYI, the thread I linked, was about Zero-K

but yeah, an idle timer would work I guess (15 secs or smth)

Timer is not needed.
Dragon age doesn't have an idle timer, any character not controlled by player would be controlled by AI immediately, and it comes out well.
A better example is...well, Zero-K, but I guess nobody here would try it.

I manage this with hold position.

If a unit is set to hold position then it only uses the tactical AI when it has a fight command (idk what everyone else calls it, fight command is basically an a-move. It is like non-repeating patrol) or a patrol command. It does not activate when the user manually gives an attack command.

When the unit is not set to hold position it uses the tactical AI whenever it does not have a move order. This is consistent with normal non-hold position behaviour, units will aquire targets and chase them, I just make them intelligently stay at range as well.

I like control over my units so I set them all to hold position when they are created. It's not tedious because I also made a UI thing which lets you configure the initial states for every individual unit type. So for me a fight order = keep max range. You don't need an idle timer because someone might want units to start fighting immediately.

Unit AI is not about units being idle and doing their own thing. It is about players being able to tell their units to do things at a higher level of command. If you send a unit somewhere with skirmish AI enabled then you're telling it to wait somewhere and try to stay alive if opponents show up.

Thats a overwhelming yes from me

Another idea about commands, set multiple rally points:
If your factory already has a rally point, you can use alt+right click to set another rally point, then any subsequent added unit in the factory's build queue would use this new rally point, while the previous units in the build queue would still use the old one. You can set as many rally points as you want like this, you can drag them to new places, you can remove them by right click them or by setting a new rally point without holding alt, and you can reuse an old rally point for subsequent added units by left click it.
The rally point the subsequent added units would use should be highlighted.

It might be unclear that which rally point belong to which units in the UI, but I think the players can remember that easily.

Sustained area commands, inspired by Zero-K's "repeat" and godde's idea:
Use an area command with alt would result in a sustained area command, unit would enforce your command to any target that get into the area, once a target get out of the area, the command about it would be removed. If there is no target left in the area, and the unit's move state has not been set to roam, the unit would return to its orginal position until another target appears in the area.

Transport selected units to somewhere:
Select a group of units, use this command then click on the destination, then the nearest transporters would transport units to there. Afterward the transporters would return to their original postions if they are not set to roam.
If there are not enough transporters, this would operate like a temporal ferry command.

1. Crosshairs and numbers above units that are targeted
In the RTS "R.U.S.E." you get a crosshair and a number of how many of your planes that are targeting that specific enemy. This could be particulary useful with planes, missiles and such in PA I guess.
This would also help the player to know if the planes have lost their target if you lost line of Sight on the enemy as it disappeared and reappered.

2. Attack area commands that picks targets succesionally and divides all attackers evenly
Say you want to bomb all enemy antiair units in an area. It would then be simple if you could order an attack area after your desire and that all bombers would be divided evenly on all enemy antiair units.
Combined with the first suggestion it would also be easy for the player to see how his bombers divide and if he think it that this attack is worth making.
With a more advanced overlay the player could choose that his bombers with limited payload should not target enemy units with less than 3 bombers as 2 or 1 bombers will not be enough to kill the intended target.

3. Ordering units as they are built
When you order the construction of a tank in R.U.S.E. you will also place a destination directly on the battlefield where it should drive when it is finished.
This works well when you pay upfront like you do in R.U.S.E. and where you have an overlay that shows units that are available for construction. In fact you can't even order tank factories in R.U.S.E. as units are automatically ordered to be built in the closest factory of their destionation.
It might work in PA aswell.

1. Retreat at XX% of HP to (point and click)/the closest repair base (if there is any).
2. Stop when an enemy is in range of any weapon/Stop when an enemy is in range of all weapons/Never stop.
3. Attack the strongest/the weakest/the closest/the furthest/etc.

It sounds like a good command at first glance, but auto-retreat will result in massive unnecessary casualties.

I always found "routing" mechanics, or auto-retreat, to be highly aggravating.

>>> I <<< am the commander. I decide who gets to fight, who gets to die, and who gets to live another day.

Imagine in an evenly matched firefight the first one or two lines of fire actually retreating from the battle, exposing your softer glass cannon units to the enemy fire, etc.


Repairing needs a buff compared to SupCom, though, to actually ENCOURAGE some retreats at times. In SupCom, it was simply not feasible to divert build power to repairs because they were soooo inefficient compared to rebuilds. (loss of time, loss of buildpower, fewer units)

If the default for auto-retreat is 'off' I don't see why it would cause a problem for you, Thygrrr.

In Zero-K you can set retreat zones and each induvidual unit can be set to retreat at 30%, 60% or 90% of their maximum health. Even newly produced units can inherit retreat level from their factory.
I use it as a way to control my units as retreating units ignore my commands and I can select all units of the same type without interfering with the retreating units and sending them to the front where they risk dying.
Repairing in Zero-K is much more efficient than in SupCom as repairing a unit from 0 health to full health only cost half of the energy price and only half the buildpower.

If the best argument to include something is "Well it'd be off by default" then the bigger question is why should the game have it to begin with?

Mike

Retreat default off is the same as units not being set to hold fire by default. Would you not include hold fire? Default off wasn't an argument for including retreat. It demonstrated that retreat can be implemented in a way such that it only activates when a player wants it to activate.

Auto-retreating should not be a thing that units do automatically. People should instead be able to say to units "I want you to go over there and fight for a bit but make sure to come back and repair if you get too damaged". It's not units arbitrarily doing their own thing, it's players being able to tell units to do more complex things.

If a unit behavior state is very useful but only useful in some specfic situations, then it should exist, but off by default, same with hold position etc.

That wasn't my best argument to include it but rather a way to point out that having such a feature might not affect Thygrrr at all.
In my opinion the more tools a player have to manipulate the battlefield and controlling his units the better it gets.
Since we don't know the mechanics of the game, PA, it is hard to know how useful an autoretreat tool would be. If repairs are as expensive as they are in SupCom I doubt that autoretreat would be of much use.
On the other hand I find it quite useful in Zero-K.