Best AI in a turn-based wargame

[Valgua]

What's the best AI in a turn-based wargame that you have ever had the pleasure to encounter?

[sterckxe]

ORIGINAL: Valgua
What's the best AI in a turn-based wargame that you have ever had the pleasure to encounter?

In no particular order :

War Plan Pacific
Birth of America
Anything by SSG
TOAW 3

Also, I hear the AI in Hannibal : Rome and Carthage is brutal

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Matto]

I like playing AGEOD games against AI ... 

[Fred98]

Combat Command Matrix Edition
 
The game is simple: as a result the AI is an excellent opponent.
 
-
 

[Anguille]

Spartan/Got has a very decent AI as well

[sabre1]

Empire Deluxe

[sabre1]

Original SSG Reach for the Stars

[Lieste]

Any reason to limit it to turn based, rather than to 'serious' wargame?

[Valgua]

ORIGINAL: Lieste

Any reason to limit it to turn based, rather than to 'serious' wargame?

The reason is that when it comes to real time wargames the answer is, I think, obvious: Battles from the Bulge. [&o] I was curious to know if there are any turnbased wargames that can compete with that standard of AI.

[PJJ]

Hannibal: Rome and Carthage in the Second Punic War.

No other turn-based AI I've seen in action comes even close to it. Definitely gives as good a challenge, if not better than the Panther Games AI.

[Chilperic]

ORIGINAL: PJJ

Hannibal: Rome and Carthage in the Second Punic War.

No other turn-based AI I've seen in action comes even close to it. Definitely gives as good a challenge, if not better than the Panther Games AI.

+1

And Panther's AI when enlarging to non TBS wargames.

[sterckxe]

ORIGINAL: Valgua
The reason is that when it comes to real time wargames the answer is, I think, obvious: Battles from the Bulge. [&o] I was curious to know if there are any turnbased wargames that can compete with that standard of AI.

Well, you can play Battles from the Bulge as a turn-based game : give orders, let run for 2 game-hours, don't pause for *anything*, give orders again etc. A 2-day scenario thus becomes a 24-turn game in which you have to reach your objectives. Makes for *very* intense games.

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[PJJ]

Chliperic, your Fatal Years mod for Revolution Under Siege also has a great AI. [:)]

[Chilperic]

In Hannibal, my 3 serious tries until now, after reading manual, forum, etc. on normal level has ended by 3 defeats... Even Panther's one is less letal. A pity Hannibal isn't more considered.

[Perturabo]

ORIGINAL: sterckxe

ORIGINAL: Valgua
The reason is that when it comes to real time wargames the answer is, I think, obvious: Battles from the Bulge. [&o] I was curious to know if there are any turnbased wargames that can compete with that standard of AI.

Well, you can play Battles from the Bulge as a turn-based game : give orders, let run for 2 game-hours, don't pause for *anything*, give orders again etc. A 2-day scenario thus becomes a 24-turn game in which you have to reach your objectives. Makes for *very* intense games.

It's not turn based. It's phase based (you get orders phase and execution phase). Turn-based is when players take turns in manipulating their units.

[sterckxe]

ORIGINAL: Perturabo

ORIGINAL: sterckxe

ORIGINAL: Valgua
The reason is that when it comes to real time wargames the answer is, I think, obvious: Battles from the Bulge. [&o] I was curious to know if there are any turnbased wargames that can compete with that standard of AI.

Well, you can play Battles from the Bulge as a turn-based game : give orders, let run for 2 game-hours, don't pause for *anything*, give orders again etc. A 2-day scenario thus becomes a 24-turn game in which you have to reach your objectives. Makes for *very* intense games.

It's not turn based. It's phase based (you get orders phase and execution phase). Turn-based is when players take turns in manipulating their units.

Back when I was a beta-bunny for Panther Games I made some suggestion to have a turn-based MP. Players would agree on turn-length. Player A would enter his orders, send the savegame to Player B who would then let the game run for x hours, then enter his orders, send the game back etc.

Arjuna didn't think much of this idea, but as far as I can tell no-one is playing the realtime online game they put so much effort into. If BftB was turn-based this way I'd be playing it all the time.

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: Valgua

What's the best AI in a turn-based wargame that you have ever had the pleasure to encounter?

Gary Grigsby's War in the East is the best AI created to date for a turned based wargame hands down. I’ve played every game mentioned above, and none of them holds a candle to the AI in War in the East. It is still just an AI and should be viewed as no better than a training tool for learning the game, but it has one thing going for it none of the others has.

It’s a reactive AI, it actually has the ability to identify a pocket that is about to be formed and will react to the threat and pull troops out of the threatened area to try and save them. I’ve never seen any AI with this ability before, as most/all of them are scripted and have no ability to react to player moves if they do something not planned for ahead of time in the AI’s scripted behavior.

Scripted AI’s can be good if the game follows a predictable path and the player does everything the designer planned for when he wrote the script. But step out of the script and you see ridiculous results such as the AI sitting on its assigned objective doing nothing while the player races around behind it using an unplanned for direction of advance.

Also once a player learns the script in a game, it’s super easy to beat it after that. A reactionary AI like the one in War in the East however has no script you can learn to beat, so every game is a new experience as you try out different strategies. The AI still has many weaknesses, but it is the best one I’ve seen in any game so far.

Jim

[ilovestrategy]

Ascendancy has the best AI I have ever seen. I kid, I kid. Hey! Put down that rock! Ouch!

[Valgua]

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns

ORIGINAL: Valgua

What's the best AI in a turn-based wargame that you have ever had the pleasure to encounter?

Gary Grigsby's War in the East is the best AI created to date for a turned based wargame hands down. I’ve played every game mentioned above, and none of them holds a candle to the AI in War in the East. It is still just an AI and should be viewed as no better than a training tool for learning the game, but it has one thing going for it none of the others has.

It’s a reactive AI, it actually has the ability to identify a pocket that is about to be formed and will react to the threat and pull troops out of the threatened area to try and save them. I’ve never seen any AI with this ability before, as most/all of them are scripted and have no ability to react to player moves if they do something not planned for ahead of time in the AI’s scripted behavior.

Scripted AI’s can be good if the game follows a predictable path and the player does everything the designer planned for when he wrote the script. But step out of the script and you see ridiculous results such as the AI sitting on its assigned objective doing nothing while the player races around behind it using an unplanned for direction of advance.

Also once a player learns the script in a game, it’s super easy to beat it after that. A reactionary AI like the one in War in the East however has no script you can learn to beat, so every game is a new experience as you try out different strategies. The AI still has many weaknesses, but it is the best one I’ve seen in any game so far.

Jim

Nice! I am in fact interested in WitE, but my experience with WitP tells me that very long PBEM campaigns just do not work for me. Work and life always ruin the fun... A decent AI is therefore a necessity.

[aaatoysandmore]

Has anything changed in your opinion since 2011? [:)]