AI FAQ - Bonuses/Adjustments Explained

[Hubert Cater]

DOES THE AI PLAY BY THE SAME RULES AS A HUMAN PLAYER?

Yes. The AI uses the same supply, combat, spotting, income, transportation/operation, research, diplomacy and purchasing rules/formulas as a human player, with one exception, as AI units can unload from transports in ports with a strength below 5.


CAN AI UNITS SPOT FURTHER THAN MY UNITS WHEN PLAYING WITH FOG OF WAR ENABLED?

Yes. If the AI has been assigned a spotting bonus when selecting the difficulty level and settings in the OPTIONS screen


CAN AI UNITS HAVE MORE EXPERIENCE THAN MY UNITS?

Yes. If the AI has been assigned an experience bonus when selecting the difficulty level and settings in the OPTIONS screen. This may give the AI an edge in some combat situations as experience is beneficial to the expected combat outcomes.


CAN THE AI HAVE MORE PER TURN INCOME THAN ME?

Yes. If the AI has been assigned an income bonus when selecting the difficulty level and settings in the OPTIONS screen. This may allow the AI to reinforce, upgrade and purchase more units over time versus a human player.


CAN THE AI HAVE MORE UNITS IN GAME THAN ME?

Yes. Depending on the difficulty level chosen in the OPTIONS screen, the AI can be assigned specific bonus units throughout the course of the game. An easier difficulty level selected the less units will be assigned, the more difficult the level selected, the more units will be assigned.


CAN I TURN OFF THESE AI BONUS UNITS?

Yes. By either selecting the GREEN level which will turn off almost all of these AI bonus UNIT script events, or by navigating to the OPTIONS->ADVANCED->SCRIPTS screen, and then selecting the UNIT scripts, any or all of the AI Bonus UNIT script events can be turned on or off.


HOW DO I KNOW WHICH AI BONUS UNIT EVENTS TO DISABLE IF I WANT TO TURN THEM OFF?

The AI bonus UNIT events will typically be found on the last few pages of UNIT events and will be specifically labelled for AI use only, as well as with the associated difficulty level in brackets.

For example:

ENTENTE AI: France - Corps - Rouen - 1914 (100%) (Veteran)

This tells us the event is for the Entente AI only, for France and at the Veteran level or higher the AI will receive a Corps unit in Rouen in 1914.


WHY GIVE THE AI BONUS UNITS AT ALL?

Adding units to the AI per difficulty level not only increases the challenge for a human player versus the AI, but it can also help the AI out along the way as well. The AI can play very well tactically, but at present it has difficulty matching the big picture awareness of a human player. One way to help the AI out is to provide it with some specific units that help it move along more optimally. For example, if we give the Central Powers AI a few low level Corps or Garrison units to immediately secure coastal positions after the fall of France, we can then guarantee it will move all its stronger units over towards the Eastern front right away.


DOES THE AI RECEIVE BONUS UNITS RANDOMLY, OR IS THERE SOME METHOD APPLIED?

There is indeed a method to the AI bonus UNIT events. In fact most of them are tied into player actions which not only smooth out game play, but it helps to avoid the dreaded snowball effect where once a tipping point has been reached, the game quickly spirals out of control for the AI resulting in an all but too abrupt and unsatisfying finish to the game. In this vein many players will not even encounter all of the AI bonus UNIT events as they are tied into how far or not you have advanced on the map. For example, advance too slow and many units will not fire, advance too fast and then some will fire to maintain game play balance.


WHAT OTHER HELP MIGHT THE AI RECEIVE IN GAME?

If you navigate to the OPTIONS->ADVANCED->SCRIPTS->ADVANCED AI SCRIPTS screen, under the RESEARCH and DIPLOMACY sections you'll notice that some single fire events are marked with the word FORCED. This just means that the AI will make the applicable RESEARCH and DIPLOMACY investments whether they have enough income to do so or not, e.g. they will spend the available income they have but be forgiven for any additional shortfall. The reason for this is that after testing it was found that if the AI did not make these critical and specific investments on the dates selected for these scripts, a less than optimal game experience would be had for the player. Imagine the AI was unable to properly invest in Trench Warfare at the right time, it will not likely go well and the war could be quickly over. But again, even here these are made accessible and can be turned off as desired.

Note: AI controlled Amphibious Transports’ supply never falls below 7. This is simply because the AI can take longer than a human to organize an invasion, rather than to provide them with a direct bonus as such.