Can the AI be a realistic opponent? (Newbie question)

[TommyBoy84]

I've been playing WITP on and off for about a year. As of yet, I haven't gotten out of December 1941 in any of the games I've started, mostly due to time constraints over the past year. As such, I haven't really gotten to see much of the game, and the strategy pan out. Things are starting to thin out a bit in life, so I should have more time in the near future.

I've been reading some threads on here, and some threads on the AE board about the AI being too linear in the current version of WITP....not reacting to things that deserve attention, completely ignoring some fleets, invasions and attacks, etc.

So, the title of my post says it all. Can a realistic game be played against the AI? I haven't tried a PBEM yet, but I'd really like to hone my skills a bit more against the AI before trying one.

Part B of this would be: What can I do, or what settings can I change when starting a scenario (the big campaign) to make things more realistic against the AI?

[Mistmatz]

I don't believe the AI will help you improving your skills, it's just good to learn the ropes and learn some prinicple game mechanice.
I'd recommend playing smaller scenarios against a human opponent, that could suit your time restrictions and you'll learn some tricks and moves you'll never see from the AI. This would certainly also be the best preparation for a full campaign against a human, which I believe is the only way to go in the long run.

[buzzz123]

It depends what you mean by 'realistic opponent'? If you are happy to plot your strategy along reasonably historical lines the AI can be fun. If you get clever and creative and a tiny bit intelligent the AI is pretty worthless.
 
Actually, the AI is pretty worthless all the time. But the game is still fun.
 
Persevere beyond Dec 41, or try a game as the other side. Watching your 'Grand Strategy' unfold is the best part.

[Quixote]

Tommy,
Most of the guys who spend any time on this forum will give you a NO answer to your question. However, most of the guys on this forum have played the game for many, many hours and are consequently pretty good at the mechanics, organization, flow, planning, etc. It's actually fun to play against the AI the first few times, because while everyone on here knows what the AI will do, you don't yet, so it's not as predictable to you. Use the AI as a measuring stick. You'll get to the point, sooner or later, where you'll know that you are starting to pretty regularly kick the AI's butt, and the game is no longer much of a challenge. Then, either switch sides to make things a little more interesting for you, or start a PBEM game and make things MUCH more interesting for you. ( Warning - this will also make the game much more addictive for you, and you'll start doing odd things like checking the forum on a regular basis, and maybe even posting things like this once in a while. ) So have fun with it until it's not fun anymore, and go from there. Cheers - Alex.

[Mike Scholl]

ORIGINAL: TommyBoy84
So, the title of my post says it all. Can a realistic game be played against the AI? I haven't tried a PBEM yet, but I'd really like to hone my skills a bit more against the AI before trying one.

Part B of this would be: What can I do, or what settings can I change when starting a scenario (the big campaign) to make things more realistic against the AI?

Stop and think of all the moves (and non-moves) you think about and make when playing this game for every turn. I'm assuming you have several tactical "threads" in your mind when you make them, as well as an ever-evolving "strategic overview" tying those threads together into a coherant whole. On as DAILY basis!

The AI is not capable of such thought. As the Japanese it can run a moderately successful "expansion" into Southeast Asia for some months (as long as you co-operate and play in a reasonably historic manner), but after that it kind of "flounders around" because it can't really handle strategic thinking and planning. The game is simply too big and too complex.

When you consider it rationally, it's kind of amazing it can play any kind of game at all. Very few games require the coordination of air, sea, land, and logistical forces of WITP, or have such a large scale coupled with such tactical detail. AE promises to provide an improvement on this, but even it won't be able to give you the challange a human opponant can. Look how long it took to get a computer chess playing program to be able to play a decent game..., and that's with 32 rigidly-defined pieces moving one at a time on a 64 "square" map. WITP has thousands of different "pieces" that need to move in coordination over thousands of "hexes" of map..., and they can all move every turn!

Find another person who's also been hesitant to play PBEM for time or other constraints and set up a "play-when-you-can" schedule. Even if you only get in 12-15 turns a month, in a few months you will find out just what a difference a human mind on the other side can make. You can still play a game against the AI when your opponant isn't available, but I'll bet you it becomes less-and-less satisfying as your real game developes.

[JWE]

The key word in your question is ‘realistic’, and unfortunately, the answer is no; no buttons or combo of buttons. You can make it harder with the AI Difficulty button, but that just gives the AI better odds, better production, a peek at all your stuff, things like that. As Mike says, in terms of ‘realism’, what you got is what you get.

As everyone here will agree, the AI gets worse over time; so a campaign game against the AI is a real cluster, unless you just enjoy sinking things or blowing things up; not bad work if you can get it. BTW, 2 day turns are more challenging (interesting) for the human player.

Smaller scenarios seem to work better, if only because the AI doesn’t have that much time or that many units to totally screw up.

I wonder if any of the grogs out there would be interested in developing or helping develop some fun shorter scenarios that Newbies could play, as well as offer challenging PBEM play.