How is the AI?

[Scotters1]

Sorry, someone had to ask! I looked and I was surprised and a bit nervous not to see any comments on the AI. (Maybe I missed them?)

One of the best AIs I faced was in Forge of Freedom, and the worst AI I have seen is in John Tiller's campaign series and panzer campaign games. (I still like his games, I just wish his games had better AI.) How does this AI rank?

[&:]

[gwgardner]

Only time and the experiences of hundreds of other players will answer that in the end, but what I can say as a playtester is that I'm challenged by the AI. It is aggressive and generally attuned to what counts - control of resources.

An important factor here is that the AI is 'tunable.' There are all kinds of moddable factors that will affect AI performance - these are available to the player - and in addition the developers have shown during playtesting that they are capable of tweaking and modifying AI actions. I suspect they will continue in that effort as they get more and more feedback.

[Razz1]

We spent alot of time on the AI and you will be very upset and.....

Storm out of the room yelling and screaming when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and sinks many of your ships. [:@]

[Scotters1]

I know that programming AI is hard, but I'm very pleased to hear that an effort is being made. I guess I asked this after playing a Wake island scenario as the Americans in John Tillers Campaign Series. It took me 5 turns to realize that most of the Japansese amphibious vehicles were going around in circles! [:@]




Thanks for the response.[:)]

[Rosseau]

FWIW,

I modded a Cold War scenario for their first game, Road to Victory. Nato vs. WP. And the engine and the AI weren't phased by this craziness at all.

I watched the 2nd ACR hold at Fulda (for a while) French and Belgian and UK air and land units strategically moved to Western Europe by the AI. Italy (US 7th Army) push back in Romania.

So I assume the current AI is at least as good. That's why I bought it.

Best!

[MajFrankBurns]

ORIGINAL: Scotters1976

Sorry, someone had to ask! I looked and I was surprised and a bit nervous not to see any comments on the AI. (Maybe I missed them?)

One of the best AIs I faced was in Forge of Freedom, and the worst AI I have seen is in John Tiller's campaign series and panzer campaign games. (I still like his games, I just wish his games had better AI.) How does this AI rank?

[&:]

Scotters you really should try some of teh NEW HPS titles especially the ancients ones Punic, Gallic, Alexander and Greek Wars. The ai is pretty solid in them and I enjoy them a lot more than the older titles by HPS.

[Scotters1]

Not to go to far off topic MajFrankBurns, but I did splurge on three squad battle games: Vietnam, Tour of Duty, and Red Victory. So far the ai seems good in TOD. Sometime in the future I bet that I will end up with some of their ancient battle games, but its time to stop buying games and start playing them![:)]

I already bought SOTP, but I would like to hear other peoples experience with the AI, especially late in the main campaign.

[Richard III]

I`m slogging through a full WitP day by day Grand Campaign VS the AI. I modded the default scenario with the editors to try and get more balance, but since all you can edit there are the campaign stats and unit/leader database it`s pretty limited.

I`m looking for something faster & "lighter" if you will.

What kind of factors can be modded here, "coarse" ones like increasing resources and number of units/ships OR "fine" ones like ship/LCU/Air Unit combat factors that should effect tactical battles ?

How easy is the editor to use ?

General Questions:

Are Leaders represented in the Game, and do they affect combat ?

How much micro-management is needed in the Grand Campaign ?

Can you set the AI to manage parts of your campaign ?

TIA

ORIGINAL: gwgardner

Only time and the experiences of hundreds of other players will answer that in the end, but what I can say as a playtester is that I'm challenged by the AI. It is aggressive and generally attuned to what counts - control of resources.

An important factor here is that the AI is 'tunable.' There are all kinds of moddable factors that will affect AI performance - these are available to the player - and in addition the developers have shown during playtesting that they are capable of tweaking and modifying AI actions. I suspect they will continue in that effort as they get more and more feedback.

[gwgardner]

Richard III

I`m slogging through a full WitP day by day Grand Campaign VS the AI. I modded the default scenario with the editors to try and get more balance, but since all you can edit there are the campaign stats and unit/leader database it`s pretty limited.

I`m looking for something faster & "lighter" if you will.

What kind of factors can be modded here, "coarse" ones like increasing resources and number of units/ships OR "fine" ones like ship/LCU/Air Unit combat factors that should effect tactical battles ?

I'm no major modder, but have done some. Everything you mentioned is easily moddable, coarse and fine factors for units, terrain, production, combat, etc.

How easy is the editor to use ?

Can't answer with regard to the scenario editor, beyond saying that I've tried it and it seemed plenty simple enough to me.

General Questions:

Are Leaders represented in the Game, and do they affect combat ?

Yes, land, air, and naval leaders. They apply their factor to unit effectiveness, as far as I know. They apply to the unit they are attached to, and to nearby units to a lesser extent.

How much micro-management is needed in the Grand Campaign ?

The closest thing I can think of to 'micro-management' in this game is ... hmmh ... nothing? Stretching it, maybe the need to support beachheads with a specific mix of naval forces?

Can you set the AI to manage parts of your campaign ?

Only country by country. You do all functions for any country that is under human control. One neat thing is that you can save the game, reload, and have the option to change the human/AI control for a given country.

[Warspite3]

ORIGINAL: gwgardner

Can you set the AI to manage parts of your campaign ?

Only country by country. You do all functions for any country that is under human control. One neat thing is that you can save the game, reload, and have the option to change the human/AI control for a given country.

I like the idea of this. I don't always like how games such as HoI series or WitP and even DW can be set to nearly automate itself. Then if you try to control all of it, it gets kind of overwhelming. I want to actually be able to "play" a game sometime and not watch as the AI plays 85% of it for me. Another reason to buy SotP