Why do the tanks like to drive backwards..

[Honest989]

I realise that tanks are perfectly capable of going in reverse and swinging their turret around, but given that the armour is weakest at the rear, it's a bit stupid that given any order in the opposite direction, my shermans will drive in reverse into enemy territory with the possibility of panzershreks taking them out..

[theBlind]

They drive backwards when they stand backwards and you order them to a point closeby. They should not drive backwards for any order to a point more than 1/4 of a screen away, if they do it's a bug.

[rebb]

My problem is usually, that i click very near them at a point that is behind them, but they decide to fully swing around instead of just going reverse, exposing their behind in the wrong direction :(.

[Clonesa]

You can tell them which direction to move in... Hold down right click and rotate the arrow.

[Tharulerme]

Honest, this is done for the tanks to retreat, if a tank retreat's it will go backwards which not so harmfull for them.
The system cannot notice if you want to move in or retreat, that's why it's better like this - though it's still anoying I do admit that.

But that is where the turn option comes in, turning doesn't take long and is easy to perform.

[ShortyMcNostri]

Also keep in mind that you can even queue up orders with the facing set. It's fairly easy to waypoint a proper retreat path in reverse. You just have to remember to do it while you're in the thick of it.
The tank AI has quite a few flaws though, but with some micro it's possible to avoid most problems.

[Valkeller]

Also keep in mind that you can even queue up orders with the facing set. It's fairly easy to waypoint a proper retreat path in reverse.

How do you put waypoints on movement? Is there somewhere you can read about things like that? Like a short list of tips or so...?

[Oryhara]

Hold down shift and order your unit several times. So for example, I hold down shift and order my riflemen to cap the munitions point, run to some sandbags, and capture that fuel point, it will do it in that order.

[Valkeller]

Is that all you need to do? After you placed diffrent waypoints do you se them? Like some sort of markers?
Anyways, thanks for the answer.

[theBlind]

You see a small green circle on the ground for move orders and they stay visible for a short while after you gave the order. There are no more idicatos after say 10 seconds, but you should remember what you did, right? ;)

[Shakermaker]

Thanks theBlind, useful info. I hate to babysit units.

[macktheknifeau]

I find my tanks turn around and expose rear armour when I want to them to back out, and they back out slowly when I want them to turn around and run or move somewhere.

[ShortyMcNostri]

It's all about distance. The game has a set distance for which armor will turn around and drive forward. If you order a tank to go, say, 10 meters behind it (this is an arbitrary number - I know the distance is fairly short, just not exactly how much), it will drive there in reverse (if you make sure to set the facing). Anything longer than that and the AI will decide it needs to turn around and go forward.