if all these odly named methods of finding a path are really just graph theory in disgueise, why all the funny names? O! I believe the methods i said (well... didnt quite say but have figured out) finds the path quickly so i use it each time a path needs to be found.  It will find the path through crwods of unrelated objects because each time it runs it updates all paths and once again picks the shortest to the destination.  If a crowd or swarm of something moves one way, it will change its path to accomidate.

has anyone every heard of Graph Theory? It can be used, by multiplying matrices, to find the shortest path between to points.  Done correctly you can easily find the shortest path between any 2 locations on any kind of surface 2d or 3d. For some reason the simple algorithm that makes it work does not seem to be mentioned anywhere on these forums... If you need more detail on how i got it work... say something maybe? and ill post again

OMG!!! I honestly cannot believe that no one has thought of something so simple as Graph Theory! has no one ever heard of this??!!!

If you havent, graph theory finds paths from one point to another based on things like whether or not you tank can get you point A to point B.  It then tells you the path length.  If you know the shortest path length and you can find other path lengths from other points to yet more points,  you can then compute the points the tank would need to go to in order to get to its final destination, point C.

i know my definition is slightly... vague... but look it up in greater detail online and you'll see the light!... hopefully... if you cant seem to find the light maybe ill post somthieng in great detail on how to path find.

if no one has thought of this previous to my post... i feel kinda let down at the world.  I mea really... how many people went to school for this kinda thing and here i am, solving things on my for people *suposedly* vastly my seniors.