So what advantages does the AI enjoy?

[Sheytan]

Me as well, but im playing the Russians so I expected to get kicked in the face alot!

ORIGINAL: Grotius

The fog of war implementation seems fine to me. The AI is giving me a good, fair, tough game.

[JudgeDredd]

I don't really mind the cheats - as long as the AI appears capable.

What I am confused about is the FoW settings (of which there are 4) on the settings menu?? [&:] Is there any reason to have the AI ones checked if they don't follow FoW?

[sabre1]

^ That is a good question!

[Tzar007]

Ultimately, what's important is the capability of the AI. If that takes some advantages to his side that I don't get, well, so be it. Who wants to play against an idiot ? I'd rather play against an intelligent idiot, which are essentially all the AIs of this world [:)]

I would suggest to those concerned by the fact that the AI "enjoys" some advantages against the human player is really no big deal and is not detrimental to the quality and wargaming enjoyment this game brings. I'm playing at the normal level, and the AI is keeping me on my toes and giving me a good, tough fight. I like it, and I don't feel I am at a disadvantage against it. I know that if I give it my best, I can get an edge over it.

When I'll be spanking it, I'll crank up the difficulty level... or play PBEM [:D]

[fsp]

I don't mind the FOW, while it seems drastic, I am very, very sure that most if not all strategy games around have the AI ignore FOW, the companies are just not as honest about it as Joel has been here.

Other cheats, like warping around, are a bit harder to swallow, as it makes things unpredictable. But if that is needed to give you a challenging game, so be it.

[KarlXII]

By the way, I would like to ask Gary Grigsby which of his games he is most satisfied with the A.I. in and why.

But I suppose this is the wrong thread for this [;)]

[James Ward]

If AI doesn't remember the strategic situation from turn to turn then there really is no disadvantage to letting it see all your units all the time.

[squatter]

Any and all 'cheats' that help the AI put up better resistance, and which dont rely on essentially increasing his combat power, are completely necessary and justifiable.
 
Competitive AI is the shangri-la of strategy gaming, so dificult to implement that no game has ever cracked it. Most games rely on simply boosting AI strength to make it more competitive. Anything that improves AI decision making I am 100% in favour of.
 
Playing the AI in a strategy game like this is like playing a 12 yr old. And some people would like to make him 11!

[Redmarkus5]

The AI not garrisoning cities is an important flaw, IMO. The result is that it ignores cities behind its lines that affect supply (I assume they affect supply?) and the human player has to know that this is an AI issue and resist the temptation to recapture empty cities with left behind units.

In a future release it would be better to auto-generate a garrison unit in every city captured by the AI with a permanent static status.

[Gandalf]

ORIGINAL: redmarkus4

The AI not garrisoning cities is an important flaw, IMO. The result is that it ignores cities behind its lines that affect supply (I assume they affect supply?) and the human player has to know that this is an AI issue and resist the temptation to recapture empty cities with left behind units.

In a future release it would be better to auto-generate a garrison unit in every city captured by the AI with a permanent static status.

+1

[Joel Billings]

The computer German player needs those security divisions to guard it's flanks as it never has enough units when it's in the offensive mode. I do agree that AI should do a better job holding cities that are at risk of being taken back.

[Redmarkus5]

ORIGINAL: squatter

Any and all 'cheats' that help the AI put up better resistance, and which dont rely on essentially increasing his combat power, are completely necessary and justifiable.

Competitive AI is the shangri-la of strategy gaming, so dificult to implement that no game has ever cracked it. Most games rely on simply boosting AI strength to make it more competitive. Anything that improves AI decision making I am 100% in favour of.

Playing the AI in a strategy game like this is like playing a 12 yr old. And some people would like to make him 11!

I was reading up on child mental development the other day (I have 4 kids) and did you know that by the age of 12 a child's mental capacity is fully developed? All that's left after that is more learning... So, if the AI does play like a 12 year old now, there's a chance it could learn to play like a 40 year old given time! LOL

[Redmarkus5]

The god-like awareness of the AI does create some game issues, I suspect. For example, there has been a tendency in the past for the Soviet AI to move vast numbers of forces from one end of the map to another, in response to the human player moving his armour around. This may have gone away with recent changes (frozen armies and the south front phase line fix) but if not, it would be good to limit the AI to some extent to allow the human Axis player a chance to achieve 'surprise'.

My suggestion would be that the AI tries to hold a % of its forces in reserve, say 25 hexes back from the nearest Axis unit, distributed across the breadth of the front and always sitting on a rail hex. The number of units in permanent reserve (these are not the 'frozen armies') would be linked to the Victory level.

If the Axis human player builds up major forces, especially armour, behind the front in any sector, the AI will move a random % of its reserve to a point 10 hexes behind its front in that sector. If the Axis human player makes a significant breakthrough in any sector (say with n number of armoured units) the AI will then move its strategic reserve to reinforce that sector.

Initial thoughts only...

[Avenger]

I had noticed that. When I mass a large force to stage a breakthrough the AI "seems" to always deploy an equally large force in my path. I had not noticed that it was deploying against my armor units.

[Aurelian]

I dunno. Seems like thw Sov AI has it's own version of "Lucy".

Just like the real Sovs did,