Do you play with player or computer control of aircraft and factory upgrades?

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bradk
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Do you play with player or computer control of aircraft and factory upgrades?

Post by bradk »

We're trying to figure out if auto upgrades are a feature desired for a human player.
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wga8888
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RE: Do you play with player or computer control of aircraft and factory upgrades?

Post by wga8888 »

as a player, I would prefer to control my upgrades. keeping a good ratio of plane production of that type to number of units so equipped needs to be managed. too many groups with low production is an issue.

Early it was stated to enable transition from FB to F. In successive Grigsby designs, Uncommon Valor and War in the Pacific:
-P400 FB can become P39 FB which can become P38 F.
-P40B F become P40E F, to P40N FB to P47C FB to P47D F. you cannot go from P40E to P47D unless you have the Player Defined Upgrades (PDU) option on. In WITP, IJN can control production whereas Allies cannot. Hence with PDU on, the IJN can standardize all land Based fighters to Tojo in 1942, up to 6 months early than plane was available. Allies are stuck with P36, P39, P40, Buffalos, Hurricanes all with low production [Hurricanes have an effective range of 1 making they useful, though still inferior, for point defense only. Nates, Oscars are rarely seen. Jacks & Franks come out 6+ months early. Franks may be the best fighter in the game.
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Capt. Harlock
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RE: Do you play with player or computer control of aircraft and factory upgrades?

Post by Capt. Harlock »

We're trying to figure out if auto upgrades are a feature desired for a human player.

Actually, there are two questions here: 1)control of factory upgrades, and 2)control of individual squadron upgrades.

Personally, I very much like to keep control of what the factories produce. Different aircraft are useful for different strategies, and if you don't use different strategies from time to time, you're missing a lot of the potential of this game. And there are specific points, such as keeping the B-26 Marauder going (the difference between the B-25 is not worth losing a month's production in the early game).

Individual squadron upgrades are another matter. The real question is, how much experience is lost transitioning to a new aircraft type?
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bradk
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RE: Do you play with player or computer control of aircraft and factory upgrades?

Post by bradk »

I'm taking both these reponses as "I want to do it myself".

BTW, computer control can't evaluate some of the decision factors mentioned. Factories are converted on a given turn (may be delayed for IJ depending on resources). Airgroups are upgraded on the basis fo them being eligible and there being enough aircraft in the pool to do it. "Enough" means one more than the number of aircraft in the airgroup.
bradk
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RE: Do you play with player or computer control of aircraft and factory upgrades?

Post by bradk »

It turns out a fairly effective AI upgrade system is possible without providing a supply of aircraft that can be unrealistically exploited by a human player. The original programming has some features that prevent AI from upgrading too soon or too fast in many circumstances although its still not as good as human.

AI unavoidably produces a bit more than it needs - some slack has to be built in for circumstances other than average - but testing has shown that under human control aircraft consuption is higher than when that side is played by AI. Its a result of less aggressive aircraft deployment by AI, not any behind the scenes help for AI.

So anyway, we now have a production and upgrade system that works for both AI and a human player, and matches SSI production points for scoring purposes in the relevant Turn 100 plus period.
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