AE Land and AI Issues [OUTDATED]

[Blackhorse]

ORIGINAL: pad152

Andy

My concen is limited to 1941, early 1942 where the allies have fewer units and short of engineer units of all types. I've played with variable reinforcements on and have seen games where the allies can't do much of anything until March of 1942 because of the shortages of engineer units (can't build or expand forward bases, limited AV support). It was this type of thing that forced the allied player to strip/save engineer units from the Dutch resource area.

Just from the US perspective -- in AE you won't feel the same pressure to salvage engineers and base forces from the PI and DEI. The US gets more of these units (including the CPNABs) at start than in stock. For example, two aviation base forces are part of the Pensacola convoy on December 7th. The bigger trouble is finding enough fighting strength to guard them, and shipping/escorts to move them.

Having said that, the heavy flow of US engineers doesn't start until late 42 (when Seabees start arriving in regimental-sized bunches) and becomes a flood in 1943 (when the Engineer Aviation Battalions arrive en masse) and a Tsunami in 1944-45 (with brigade-sized Combat Engineer LCUs).

As the allied player you *will* want to protect your separate Combat Engineer regiments and battalions. They are in short supply until mid-1944.

[Blackhorse]

The AI will be substantially improved from stock.

Some obvious oversights have been corrected . . . the AI does run all the way into 1946 and will now defend/reinforce and counterattack in the Aleutians, for example, or if the Japanese try to conquer Pearl Harbor.

Andy (British and Commwealth AI) has some small, but nasty surprises for the unwary.

Having said that, please don't expect the WitP equivalent of a "Deep Blue" chess match. [:-]

There are a lot more units, a lot more bases, ergo a lot more options, and in combination they put a lot more stress on the code.

[JeffroK]

Will the japanese AI attack and defend Magwe????
 
(Thats always a favourite backdoor when i get sick of trying to be ungamey against the AI)

[Yamato hugger]

ORIGINAL: JeffK

Will the japanese AI attack and defend Magwe????

(Thats always a favourite backdoor when i get sick of trying to be ungamey against the AI)

Burma doesnt look the same as even CHS. Its a whole new ballgame in there. There are about 10 or so Burmese bns guarding the rear.

Edit: And the Jap only has 1 air-droppable unit (that Im aware of anyways, although I have just started looking at the Japs seriously starting Monday). It starts in Kagoshima.

[JeffroK]

To better explain....
 
With the AI playing japan.
 
The AI rarely occupies Magwe, I can only recollect it chasing a defender there once.
 
So once the Allies get into shape, Magwe can be used as a back door into Central Burma to break the Irrawady line and threaten supply lines.

[jwilkerson]

ORIGINAL: Yamato hugger

Edit: And the Jap only has 1 air-droppable unit (that Im aware of anyways, although I have just started looking at the Japs seriously starting Monday). It starts in Kagoshima.

In AE, in the opening months, the Japanese have the historically available 4 Airborne "units". Historically the first "raiding regiment" was sunk enroute to the Southern Area, effectively destroying it "out of the box" ... but the 2nd Raiding Regt was involved in the attack on the area around Palembang and the IJN 1st and 3rd YOK were involved in the capture of the Celebes and Timor. After that, the units were disbanded until the Army later (1944) rebuilt what might be called an airborne "Corps" (about a reinforced division in Western terms) and there were also some "commando" units during the late war as well. Certainly in stock a player can try to "squeeze" quite a bit of capability out of his tiny batch of IJA/IJN airborne units. This will not be as true in AE as the units start in their historical locations with their historical amount of readiness, but they still offer a small but potentially (in the right hands) potent force.

[Andy Mac]

The AI didnt recognise Magwe because it was a CHS addition to the map - the Allied AI didnt work in CHS so its hardmly suprising that it got a bit weird.

[Chad Harrison]

Just a little request . . .
 
I dont think one has been posted, can we see the TO&E for a full strength US base force? If I were to be very demanding, I might ask to see one of each major type, but even just one of any type would be nice to see. Im curious to see the components, support and so on.
 
Thanks in advance.
 
Chad

[Blackhorse]

ORIGINAL: Chad Harrison

Just a little request . . .

I dont think one has been posted, can we see the TO&E for a full strength US base force? If I were to be very demanding, I might ask to see one of each major type, but even just one of any type would be nice to see. Im curious to see the components, support and so on.

Thanks in advance.

Chad

I'm sorry I can't oblige . . . the authority to post TO&Es is above my paygrade.

I *can* say that base forces are very stripped down (far fewer non-support devices) compared to stock.

A typical full-strength US base force will have about a company of infantry, a company of engineers, a dozen AA guns (including short-range AA machine guns) and some observors or radar. There are minor variations in device types among the BFs. The naval base forces also include a couple of 155mm CD guns.

Two reasons for 'stripping down' the base forces:

First, to avoid double-counting. All the historic AA, engineer, defense and CD battalions are included as separate LCUs in AE, so if a player wants to defend his base, he'll have to assign additional battalions.

Second, gameplay. In stock, most of a base force's support went to support its own devices. A full-strength Army BF in AE can support a full division plus attachments, or two 'clean' divisions. Air and Naval BFs can support @ one 'clean' division.

At start, Army BFs can support 1 squadron of aircraft. Navy BFs can support 2 typical naval air squadrons. An Army Air Force BF can support an Air Group. Air HQs and Aviation Engineer Regiments add a lot more aviation support.

Unsurprisingly, naval base forces are the only BFs with "naval support." Late in the war the US gets several "Engineer Amphibious Brigades". Historically, they provided additional lift to transport US divisions short distances among the Philippine Islands. Since we can't replicate that in AE, they provide additional land and naval support instead.

[Chad Harrison]

ORIGINAL: Blackhorse

I'm sorry I can't oblige . . . the authority to post TO&Es is above my paygrade.

. . . snip . . .

Thanks for the reply Blackhorse. Your narative actually summed it up pretty well.

So, the US will see much more AA units than vanilla WitP? Actually, come to think of it, they were very few for the US in WitP. So your saying that the original dev team put those AA batteries into base forces? Suppose that would make sense.

Thanks again for the reply.

Chad

[Blackhorse]

ORIGINAL: Chad Harrison
So, the US will see much more AA units than vanilla WitP? Actually, come to think of it, they were very few for the US in WitP. So your saying that the original dev team put those AA batteries into base forces? Suppose that would make sense.
Chad

Yes, to both questions

[Iron Duke]

Can you give any info on land based radars -- just the one as in stock or are there others such as British AMES or Australian LW devices ?

[Chad Harrison]

ORIGINAL: Blackhorse

Yes, to both questions

Again, thanks for the answer.

[Andy Mac]

[:D][:D] Land based radars were a monumental PITA

CW Get CH and Improved CH mostly for India based units - i.e. fixed bases - I know there were a lot of others but we just went with 2 in the end.
For deployable forces GL I is available at start in EW capacity then GL II I did allow a few AMES Type 14 and 11's into play but these mostly went to 21st Army Gp

Australians use a mix of these and US types.

Basically there are now multiple Sound Detectors each one with a different upgrade paths - I have to confess this was one area where sources were rare my maion source for the CW was Brig Routletge's book History of AA Arty 1914 - 55

Andy

[ny59giants]

In game testing to date, have you been able to keep most of the supply in Manila or does the AI continue to move it out to Clark, Bataan, or other bases so there is less available for this base if I choice to make my final stand here?? 
I always hated it when the AI would move out 1/4 to 1/2 my supplies out of Manila and thus I would have less to survive a protracted siege. 

[jwilkerson]

You now have toggles to nudge the "Supply movement AI" to do your bidding. You can increase or decrease the "required" supply number at your bases. This will move the supply from A to B once you get the hang of it.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

You now have toggles to nudge the "Supply movement AI" to do your bidding. You can increase or decrease the "required" supply number at your bases. This will move the supply from A to B once you get the hang of it.

This is one of the enhancements many would like!

I was very very very happy when I first read about it at announcement day!!! [:)]


Leo "Apollo11"

[scout1]

ORIGINAL: jwilkerson

You now have toggles to nudge the "Supply movement AI" to do your bidding. You can increase or decrease the "required" supply number at your bases. This will move the supply from A to B once you get the hang of it.

Other than it may be a momumental task, is there any plan to publish (when AE is ready) a Readers Digest version of the differences to "highlight" some of the primary features changed or will it be a series of "discoveries" ?

[Yamato hugger]

Not really practical. Too many things. Some are drastic, some are subtle. Where do you draw a line?

Read the manual like it was the first time you ever saw the game. Dont assume just because something works one way in WitP that it is the same in AE.

[herwin]

ORIGINAL: Yamato hugger

Not really practical. Too many things. Some are drastic, some are subtle. Where do you draw a line?

Read the manual like it was the first time you ever saw the game. Dont assume just because something works one way in WitP that it is the same in AE.

If you can't trace each change to a change request, how do you get paid for the work?