Close-Range Pressure¶

Overview¶

Close-Range Pressure handles what melee enemies do once they are near the target. Agents inside the engage radius switch from normal pursuit into a turn-taking pattern: some are currently "pressing" toward the attack radius while others queue at the queue radius and circulate around the target.

In motion, this creates a melee crowd that takes turns instead of all trying to occupy the same point. The result is cleaner circles with attack turns the player can actually read.

This is the main combat-feel behavior for melee packs.

Parameter Reference¶

Simple Parameters¶

Start here — most projects only need these six

Use Close-Range Pressure¶

Visible effect — Nearby agents queue, press in, and rotate instead of only beelining.
Gameplay effect — Creates readable melee turn-taking.
Increase when — Melee enemies need organized pressure near the player.
Decrease when — Pure horde crush or ranged enemies.
Pitfalls — Enabled with low approach support may make agents hover at the edge without closing in properly.
Technical effect — Adds the close-range pressure pass.

Strike Distance¶

Visible effect — Active attackers dive closer to the target.
Gameplay effect — Controls how threatening the pressing agents feel.
Increase when — Attackers stop too far away.
Decrease when — Attackers overlap the target or clip visually.
Pitfalls — If the approach inner ring (target body + agent radius + Combat Standoff) is already inside this distance, handoff can happen earlier than expected.
Technical effect — Desired radius for agents whose current press window is active. Adjusted by spacing scale.

Turn-Taking Cycle¶

Visible effect — Longer cycles make attackers hold roles longer; shorter cycles rotate faster.
Gameplay effect — Sets the rhythm of melee pressure.
Increase when — Attack turns need to feel heavier or less frantic.
Decrease when — Packs should feel frantic, buzzing, or opportunistic.
Pitfalls — Extremely short cycles can feel noisy. Very long cycles can make the queue feel stale.
Technical effect — Duration of the full deterministic press/recover loop. Pressing state is decided from simulation time plus per-agent seed offset.

Press Window¶

Visible effect — Longer windows keep more agents in attack mode.
Gameplay effect — Sustained pressure, harder kiting.
Increase when — The target gets too much breathing room.
Decrease when — The crowd overwhelms the player too constantly.
Pitfalls — If larger than sensible relative to cycle duration, turn-taking stops feeling like turn-taking.
Technical effect — Portion of the cycle spent in the active pressing role. Also capped by Max Active Attackers / assigned count.

Max Active Attackers¶

Visible effect — Controls how many agents dive to attack radius together.
Gameplay effect — Directly shapes melee pressure density.
Increase when — Packs should dogpile harder.
Decrease when — Combat should feel fairer or more readable.
Pitfalls — 0 means nobody presses. High values with small queue radius can recreate the same pileup this behavior is meant to solve.
Technical effect — Caps the fraction of assigned agents that can be pressing at once. No neighbor query cost, just deterministic gating.

Circling Weight¶

Visible effect — Queueing agents circulate; pressing agents still move sideways a little.
Gameplay effect — Prevents melee pileup and helps a crowd rotate around the player.
Increase when — Agents freeze in the queue or shove straight inward.
Decrease when — You want more direct lunges and less circling.
Pitfalls — High values can make attackers orbit instead of threatening clean contact.
Technical effect — Adds tangential motion around the target, reduced to 35% of this value while actively pressing.

Advanced Parameters¶

Power-user knobs — leave at defaults unless you have a reason

Pressure Weight¶

Visible effect — Higher values make queue/press behavior dominate once in range.
Gameplay effect — Stronger melee patterning and clearer turn-taking.
Increase when — Approach still dominates too much inside melee range.
Decrease when — Agents snap too hard into the queue pattern.
Pitfalls — If this is stronger than Approach And Surround, melee logic can take over earlier than expected.
Technical effect — Scales close-range steering inside the engage radius.

Start Pressing Radius¶

Visible effect — Larger values make enemies organize earlier around the target.
Gameplay effect — Gives melee packs time to sort themselves before contact.
Increase when — Agents bunch up before the queue can form.
Decrease when — Close-range pattern starts too early and weakens chase feel.
Pitfalls — Must be at least queue radius. Very large values can make enemies feel hesitant.
Technical effect — Outer radius where agents begin blending into close-range pressure. Adjusted by Agent Spacing Radius Scale.

Queue Radius¶

Visible effect — Waiting agents form a visible outer ring.
Gameplay effect — Improves attack readability and surround pressure.
Increase when — The queue ring is too cramped or unreadable.
Decrease when — Waiting enemies stay too far out and reduce pressure.
Pitfalls — Must be at least attack radius. Too large makes a passive donut.
Technical effect — Desired holding radius for agents waiting outside their press window. Adjusted by spacing scale.

Distance Tolerance¶

Visible effect — Low values snap agents more aggressively back to their desired ring.
Gameplay effect — Tighter melee discipline.
Increase when — The ring feels mushy and agents drift too much.
Decrease when — Motion feels mechanical or jittery.
Pitfalls — Very small values can make the behavior look rigid and overcorrecting.
Technical effect — Controls how much radial error is allowed before strong radius correction. Also affects how much tangential flow survives.

Close Range Speed Multiplier¶

Visible effect — Melee agents lunge or surge more aggressively once they commit.
Gameplay effect — Increases threat and reduces the sluggish feel of final approach.
Increase when — Enemies reach the target band but feel flat or fail to convert pressure into contact.
Decrease when — Agents overshoot, jitter, or feel too explosive near the player.
Pitfalls — Very high values can overpower turn-taking and make contact feel cheap unless movement acceleration and target blocking are tuned with it.
Technical effect — Multiplies movement max speed while the agent is inside close-range pressure, ramping from normal speed near engage radius up to the configured multiplier near the close-range goal radius.

Practical Usage Guidance¶

Use Close-Range Pressure for melee packs, brawlers, swarming minions with attack turns, and top-down survivor enemies that should surround and lunge rather than overlap into one point.

It works best with Approach And Surround, which gets enemies into a useful band before the close-range handoff. Personal Space also helps the queue ring stay legible. A little Orbit Style can complement specialized side-strafing enemies, but usually you choose one main close-range pattern.

Do not use it for simple kamikaze blobs that should just pour in continuously. Also avoid strong Retreat on the same archetype unless you intentionally want a timid press-and-back-off enemy.

Gameplay Interpretation¶

This behavior makes melee groups feel smarter about sharing space near the target. It can make kiting harder because some enemies keep rotating into active attack turns instead of all stalling behind the same blockers.

Short cycles and more active attackers make enemies feel frantic and overwhelming. Longer cycles and fewer active attackers make them feel heavier and fairer.

Quickstart — tune in this order

Strike Distance
Queue Radius
Max Active Attackers
Turn-Taking Cycle
Press Window
Pressure Weight
Close Range Speed Multiplier

Leave Distance Tolerance and Circling Weight near defaults until the broad rhythm works. Add speed multiplier late, once the ring and turn-taking already behave well.