playing against the AI is a joke

[prinzeugen]

I'm amazed that no one has commented on how poor the AI is in this game. I can always decisively beat the AI in any campaign or scenario, playing either side. The AI is incredibly bad. Playing as the Germans I have taken Moscow almost without a fight, and the same with the Soviets, the AI simply withdrew from Berlin without a fight! The AI seems to be solely concerned with attrition. It can't orchestrate the kind of break-thru or encirclements necessary to win the game. I play with the default/historical settings... I don't think changing the settings to give the AI more of an advantage, would change the fact that playing the AI is a joke and takes me completely out of the game.

[Denniss]

Default settings vs the AI is for beginners, experienced player should play 90 vs 110.
An AI will neer be as good as a human brain so if you want a challenge you have to play vs another human.

We know the AI has problems (ever seen the finns getting wiped-out because their forces stay in the east while Sovs attack Helsinki from Leningrad area?) but there's nothing we are able to do (unless morvael finds a bug somewhere affecting the AI).

[Peltonx]

ORIGINAL: prinzeugen

I'm amazed that no one has commented on how poor the AI is in this game. I can always decisively beat the AI in any campaign or scenario, playing either side. The AI is incredibly bad. Playing as the Germans I have taken Moscow almost without a fight, and the same with the Soviets, the AI simply withdrew from Berlin without a fight! The AI seems to be solely concerned with attrition. It can't orchestrate the kind of break-thru or encirclements necessary to win the game. I play with the default/historical settings... I don't think changing the settings to give the AI more of an advantage, would change the fact that playing the AI is a joke and takes me completely out of the game.

Play peeps, as Denniss points out.

AI is for newbies and your not a newbie now.

[heliodorus04]

Against the AI, if you want to do the right hook on Leningrad, you ALWAYS can.

If you use HQ Build-up against the AI to make pockets and penetrations, you'll net 3.5 million prisoners by Spring.
You can destroy more industry than they can recover.

You have to give yourself certain handicaps, and not play on Normal difficulty.
The one thing you can't help from doing against the AI is displace airfields that are always too close to the front. If there's one thing I would recommend fixing in the AI, it's this issue. Even in displacing airfields, if you decide you want to use a motorized HQ's units to displace (rather than an infantry division) you're artificially increasing your useable fuel supply in an impactful way. Humans would never allow you this free fuel source.

Playing my first game on 1.08 vs. the AI on Hard, I'm finding it to do a much better job at defending Moscow and Leningrad, and a worse job of defending Rostov and the south. I'm thinking that I want to give it Attack +1 for my next go.

If you're playing Germany and your goal is a 1941 win, you can, and it encourages you to do things that the 1941 AI especially isn't ideally equipped to handle (HQ Build up is the primary tool of abuse).

The game is systematically biased in favor of offense (and that's meant non-judgmentally) and the 1941 campaign for a Soviet AI is entirely defensive. Further, the Soviet side in WitE has to wait for certain conditions to exist before it can expect to be successful on offense (such as adequate reserves of armaments). The AI isn't capable of evaluating the industrial abstracts the way a human can, and it will go on offense when it is a sub-optimal choice.

My house rules for German vs. Soviet AI play are:

Shoot for a 1942 win, or a longer game.
Always play on Hard (or more). Giving the Soviet a bonus in Transport and Logistics (higher than others) produces great results in terms of AI agility.
Don't use HQ build-up at all in the first 17 turns.
Taking industry from the AI compounds its lack of agility. If you want it to challenge you, don't handicap its industry like you would a human. Don't take factories if you can help it. The AI is very good about evacuating industry if you give it one turn. It doesn't garrison at all well its cities. Stop short of taking cities with high industry, like Kiev, Z-town, D-town and the Donets basin cities (Tula, too).
Do not use the "Right Hook around Lake Ilmen" maneuver versus the AI to cut off Tikhvin. A human would never allow that. The AI often does (especially if you use HQ Build Up). But the AI defends Leningrad directly about as well as most humans will. Thus making it GREAT deliberate attack practice for human play.
Always play Random Weather. (Now try your 30-hex penetrations away from your infantry...)
Working within these house rules, I have hours and hours of enjoyable, realistic (historically speaking) play as the Axis.

[Commanderski]

I am currently playing against the Soviet AI with all the Axis settings at 100 and all the Soviet AI settings at 112 with the Soviet Attack Bonus at +1 with Random Weather. The AI is very aggressive and will give you a very good fight. You will not be doing very many Hasty Attacks and have to plan all your major battles very carefully.

Before the 1.08 patch I played against the Axis AI with their settings at 112 and the Soviets at 100 and the Axis completely encircled the Soviets in the Center and was at Minsk, also took Riga on the opening drive of turn 1.

As the previous posts said, you have to adjust the settings a bit and the AI will give you a very good fight.

[Gabriel B.]

ORIGINAL: Denniss

Default settings vs the AI is for beginners, experienced player should play 90 vs 110.
An AI will neer be as good as a human brain so if you want a challenge you have to play vs another human.

even on 90 vs 110 the german AI gets wiped out in 1942 like its 1944.

[heliodorus04]

When you play Soviet versus German AI, you need to go higher than Hard difficulty.
However, now that we have a +1 offense/+1 defense setting, you can probably set those differently and find a better middle ground than Expert difficulty.

[pvthudson01]

" I don't think changing the settings to give the AI more of an advantage, would change the fact that playing the AI is a joke and takes me completely out of the game."

I guess you are just awesome then. I am still finding it capable. However I am also still learning the systems of the game

[Tuhhodge]

I'm obviously a completely useless player because I don't find the AI easy. But then again, I always play 'realistically', have never used HQ build up, keep my supply lines historical, and don't make ridiculously ahistorical penetrations deep into enemy territory which would be wiped out by any human player. I get great pleasure from playing the game my way, but admittedly it makes it much harder - a bit like the real thing...

[nico71]

What does 90/110 mean? Morale level?

[carlkay58]

Nico - there are five areas of the game which are controllable and affect different aspects:

Morale - just what it sounds like. This affects combat values and combat results.

Fort - affects the ability to build fort levels and their effectiveness.

Logistics - affects the amount of supply available and production rates.

Transport - affects the number of trucks and the production of vehicles.

Admin - affects the number of Admin Points received each turn.

So the numbers are percentages. Typically the 90/110 means that the side played by the human gets 90% in each category while the AI gets 110%.

[nico71]

Ah, thanks! After being away from the game for a couple of years it seems like I'm back to square one again.