East & West Guard differently?

[THobson]

I have just been playing around with a few posibilities and I began to get the feeling that East and West units do not behave in the same way when on guard.  Most (all?) west unit on guard seem to head straight for the action, whereas east units seem to wait until the east units currently engaged are wiped out.

Is this a known fact, or am I just imagining things?

I will keep experimenting but if someone already knows the answer it will save me some time.

Thanks

[Sophion]

I would think that the sides guard the same.

     Durring my examination they both moved to the presumed CZ and waited until they came under fire to open up.

[macguba]

I haven't heard of this one, but its not impossible.    East and West are usually coded to be the same, but it's always surprised me that nobody has found differences.     Guard waypoint behaviour is not as well understood as most people think, that's for sure, so further investigations are likely to prove fruitful.

[THobson]

I think what I saw was some randomness in the way the game engine deals with guard waypoints.  As a test I set up an east and a west infantry group, both sent to S&D waypoints in the same place.  I also had a west and an east infantry group on guard each some distance away and each side of the firefight.  Then further away I had some east and some west armour also at guard waypoints.  I then sat back and watched, several times.  

There was a lot of variability in the outcome, so far I have not yet seen the situation where both east and west armour arrive on the scene, I have seen no armour, east armour and west armour, but as yet not both.

There do seem to be some patterns:  If a group on guard is on its way to a firefight and all the enemy in the firefight are wiped out before it gets there it will immediately turnround and go back to its guard waypoint.  If the enemy, instead of being wiped out, have just gone away, then the group will continue to where the firefight was taking place.  Wait there for quite sometime and then return to their guard waypoint.

[h-]

From Prima's Official Strategy Guide:

Guard:
Use this waypoint to add random events to your mission. The waypoint is never completed.
When the group arrives, it switches to Guard mode. Now whenever the enemy is detected anywhere on the map, groups in Guard mode respond with help. Set several groups in Guard mode in different areas. When an enemy is spotted, the AI decides which group is in the best position to respond and gives the order.
The choice factors how strong each guarding unit is and how long it would to reach the enemy's position. If the enemy is destroyed and the guarding unit survives, it returns to its position and resumes Guard mode.

So, this supports your findings THobson...