ORIGINAL: Grotius
Ah, too bad to see this enjoyable AAR end.
I haven't played nearly as far along as you, redmarkus, but I see the glass as half-full rather than half-empty. The AI isn't perfect, but I've never seen a better AI in an operational wargame, and I've played many of them. This AI is certainly far better than WITP's. Do you know of a better AI for a game of this scale? I'm really impressed that it actually reacts to my moves, that it knows how to encircle, that it generally avoids stupid head-on assaults, that it forms a coherent line, etc. In fact, some of Hitler's decisions were more stupid than anything I've seen the AI do. You mention that you want a historical battle of Stalingrad, but wouldn't that require Gary to code an irrational German AI that insists always on attacking, that refuses the let the 6th army break out, etc.?
I generally expect attacking AIs to be weaker than defensive AIs, but I've been pleasantly surprised with the attacking AI in WITE. I'm playing as the Sovs, at Week 12, and the Germans are within 50 miles of Leningrad and 90 miles of Moscow. They've lagged some in the south, but only because they took the time to liquidate an enormous pocket -- one I was over-confident about escaping. I'm pretty sure I'll hold out, but it sure "feels" like the war to me -- I'm retreating constantly, playing for time, throwing ill-equipped, ill-trained units at the front, battling for my two most important cities, looking forward to winter, the whole shebang.
As for cities, I haven't played Germany yet, and my Russians are still backpedaling, so I haven't seen the behavior you describe. But I can say that I abandon cities all the time, because the alternative -- being encircled -- is worse. I've fought a pitched battle for only one city, Smolensk, and I wish I'd retreated instead.
Obviously I can't order you to enjoy or play the game, but if you do play more, perhaps you should try Germany on a slightly higher difficulty setting? Getting those 290 VPs looks tougher to me than playing as the USSR, which of course won a "Major" victory historically (in WITE terms).
Anyway, I really was enjoying your AAR, but we play games to have fun, and if it's not enjoyable for you, obviously you should move on (or take a break).
Hi Grotius,
Maybe I come across as more negative or critical than I intend, so let me try to clarify.
1. My annoyance at various points has never been with the game, the AI or the designers - I think it's a fantastic effort with exceptional promise and I am pretty sure I've said that somewhere in the AAR. I just found it very frustrating that when I did identify issues and make suggestions for fixes (in the AAR and in other threads) there seemed to be a dedicated attempt to deny that any issues exist. I just want to see the game improve and, even though an AI can never be perfect, I know that this one can be better. I also believe that Gary is working hard at it right now and I admire him for it - I wish I could have designed and delivered a game of this quality, but I lack the skills.
2. The glass is most certainly half full and yes, I agree that many of Hitler's decisions were worse than those of the AI. This is a core point really, because to get a reasonably 'historical' game you need the AI to do some smart things and some dumb things. A really smart AI wouldn't attack Russia in the first place and at times you can feel the Axis AI thinking exactly that, especially in the south. So, for example, instead of the AI looking at the balance of forces and opting to hold or pull back, I would like to see it make some random dumb choices like "launch Typhoon", "go for Stalingrad" or "Kursk". These would need to be random objectives that are determined by the situation, but I would expect to see at least a 50/50 chance that the AI would make a move on one of my major cities within 10 hexes of the front sometime during '42 and '43. The same applies to pockets - sometimes that AI should flee and other times hold. This would allow for a more historical feel to the game and knowing that this might happen would force me to maintain reserve armies and not commit 100% of my force to the front line.
3. The cities issue is more complex than simply deciding to abandon one when in danger of encirclement. As players get further into the game I am confident that this issue will be raised repeatedly.
4. Actually, the WiTP AE AI is pretty aggressive and the first time I played it, the Japanese AI achieved a better than historical 1942 result against me. Admittedly, after a few grand campaign games false starts I had it mastered, but not on game one. It looks to me like a number of WiTE players may have mastered the AI on GC game one...
I have enjoyed the game and the AAR immensely. I may even post a postscript because all the work I did preparing for my summer '43 offensive means that I am still tempted to play it through. However, it's back to focusing on my WiTP PBEM sessions for now, until the first big WiTE patch comes out.
Probably just my writing style... sorry if it sounded that way.
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