AI Strategy Ideas

[EdwinP]

1. Playing as the Allies, the UK and France invested in diplomacy vs the US. The result: USA enters the war on Oct 3, 1940. Perhaps the Allied AI uses this strategy 1 of 5 games - GV 2[1-20].

[sPzAbt653]

Perhaps the Allied AI uses this strategy

Well, my quick opinion would be:

As the Axis player, this is a fun game. It's a little less fun once Russia declares war on Germany in 1941. Interest starts declining when the USA declares war. It would be no fun at all if the USA entered in 1940.

You are good at coming up with these great ideas though, so I wouldn't discount it totally. Maybe if USA enters early, USSR entry is delayed ?

Maybe as some sort of option, because maybe I have come up with a strategy and want to try it out, but now that I have started the game and done all this planning, its all screwed up because the USA enters in 1940, so I scrap the game and have to start over [in my current game, Spain joined the Axis shortly after the fall of France, and I only continued because this is a beta, and we should be playtesting these sort of things].

Some players like having different, and sometimes non-historical, things happen. So for example, in High Command, each country has a pre-start option of Historical or Random Entry.

[jpinard]

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

Perhaps the Allied AI uses this strategy

Well, my quick opinion would be:

As the Axis player, this is a fun game. It's a little less fun once Russia declares war on Germany in 1941. Interest starts declining when the USA declares war. It would be no fun at all if the USA entered in 1940.

You are good at coming up with these great ideas though, so I wouldn't discount it totally. Maybe if USA enters early, USSR entry is delayed ?

Maybe as some sort of option, because maybe I have come up with a strategy and want to try it out, but now that I have started the game and done all this planning, its all screwed up because the USA enters in 1940, so I scrap the game and have to start over [in my current game, Spain joined the Axis shortly after the fall of France, and I only continued because this is a beta, and we should be playtesting these sort of things].

Some players like having different, and sometimes non-historical, things happen. So for example, in High Command, each country has a pre-start option of Historical or Random Entry.

Spzabt - once again you have great reasoning. I feel the exact same way.

[crispy131313]

Historical entry into war is available as an option for those who do not like variance. Just thought I would point it out in case not all know.

[EdwinP]

Note that the Axis and Italy can counter and early US entry investing in diplomacy vs the US, and historically they made efforts to keep the US neutral. Likewise the UK and US expended diplomatic influence to insure that Spain remained neutral.

[sPzAbt653]

I do not know. Where is this Option ?

[crispy131313]

Sorry my mistake. This was a feature in SC2 where as you could select/deselect the historical vs variable war entry's in the advanced options screen. It does not appear to be available in SC3 right now.

[EdwinP]

In SC3, AI does not respond to Human Diplomacy efforts. If the Axis invests diplomacy to affect Spain, the Allies do not counter this (historically, they did counter it). Likewise, if the Human Allied player uses diplomacy to influence the US, the Axis Ai does not attempt to counter it (historically, Germany did). Likewise, a human player can invest diplomacy vs the USSR to get an earlier activation of Russia.

Perhaps the AI should have a diplomacy script that triggers if the opposing war readiness is greater than X on a certain date.

That said, I would like to see a selection button for historical vs alternative history decision events. Alternative history decision events would include 1) option for UK and France to remove neutral while Germany attacks the USSR and 2) Japan attacks USSR in Siberia (with no Pearl Harbor US production increases by 50%).

[xwormwood]

Wasn't it more like Germany had no chance at all to influence the USA? By 1939 and the German surprise attack on Poland the jig was up, everybody knew that Hitler-Germany was neither to be trusted, nor aiming for any kind of peace.

[EdwinP]

Germany tried to influence the US after the attack on Poland. They could not stop the US from aiding the UK, but they could delay that aid by supporting its opponents (the isolationists) and stressing that it was a European War, not an American war.

Wikipedia: The American First Committee, a pre-WW2 peace movement argued; until Pearl Harbor, that the US should stay out of the war. Several members of the AFC were allegedly paid agents of Germany;

"In December 1941, Ingalls was charged by a grand jury with failing to register with the government as a paid Nazi agent, in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938. She had been receiving approximately $300 a month from Baron Ulrich von Gienanth (Ulrich Freiherr von Gienanth), the head of the Gestapo in the US, and, officially, second secretary of the German Embassy in Washington.[2] During the trial it came out that von Gienanth had encouraged Ingalls's participation in the non-interventionist America First Committee, a significant embarrassment for that organization.[3]"

Another example: "Dr. Hans Thomsen was the Chargé d'Affaires at the Embassy of Germany in Washington. Thomsen appears to have accurately assessed the Roosevelt Administration and its anti-NAZI orientation. Like Ambassador Dieckhoff reported to Berlin on the President's hostility. While he was in charge of the Embassy, the Isolationist Movement in America gained strength. He did what he could to support the Isolationists. He did what he could to support Americans opposing involvement in another world war. [Thomsett, p. 151.] Thomsen saw an opportunity in the 1940 presidential election to replace Roosevelt with an isolationist Republican. He thus oversaw an effort at the Republican National Convention to pass an anti-war platform. [Stout] Thomsen cabled the Foreign Ministry that a "well-known Republican congressman" had offered to take a group of 50 isolationists to the convention $3,000. (June 12, 1940). [Wllace, p. 262.] He was apparently reffering to arch FDR-foe Hamiltion Fish. There is no collaboration that Fish actually solicited such a bribe. Thomsen asked Berlin for the requested funds as well as the money to arrange for full page advertisements in newspapers during the convention. The source of the finds of course was hidden. The ads were placed. They were written by George Viereck, a German agent working for Congressman Fish. The ads appear to have had some affect. Thomsen reported back to Berlin that the wording of the Republican Plank "was taken almost verbatim" from an ad which appeared in the New York Times as well as other papers....

Of course all this came to naught when the Republicans nominated Wendel Wilkie who shared Rossevelt's dislike of the Nazis."

Another quote:

"By contrast, as late as the summer of 1940—nearly a year after World War II began with Nazi Germany's blitzkrieg conquest of Poland—a full 79% of the American people told pollster George Gallup that they would vote "no" if the question of American entry into the war were put up to a referendum.2 It's hard to argue against the notion that the fight against global fascism was a good and just cause; it just happened to be one that the American people had to be dragged into, kicking and screaming, very much against their will."

[sPzAbt653]

ORIGINAL: crispy131313
Sorry my mistake. This was a feature in SC2 where as you could select/deselect the historical vs variable war entry's in the advanced options screen. It does not appear to be available in SC3 right now.

AHAH !! You had me searching [;)]

[BillRunacre]

ORIGINAL: crispy131313

Sorry my mistake. This was a feature in SC2 where as you could select/deselect the historical vs variable war entry's in the advanced options screen. It does not appear to be available in SC3 right now.

I wasn't aware that anyone actually used these scripts, and they don't really fit in with the specific reactions we have to events by the USA and USSR, so didn't include them in the game.

Are they worth the effort of reinstating them?

[crispy131313]

ORIGINAL: Bill Runacre

ORIGINAL: crispy131313

Sorry my mistake. This was a feature in SC2 where as you could select/deselect the historical vs variable war entry's in the advanced options screen. It does not appear to be available in SC3 right now.

I wasn't aware that anyone actually used these scripts, and they don't really fit in with the specific reactions we have to events by the USA and USSR, so didn't include them in the game.

Are they worth the effort of reinstating them?

To be honest I would never use them as an option. They are rather obsolete with how far the game has evolved and would create a lot of problems with events as you mentioned.

[BillRunacre]

Thanks, that was my thinking too.

[Mountaineer]

The AI is not defending North Africa as the Axis. I disabled Vichy scripts, so the AI just seems to ignore West Africa and it is easy pickings.

[xwormwood]

ORIGINAL: EdwinP


"By contrast, as late as the summer of 1940—nearly a year after World War II began with Nazi Germany's blitzkrieg conquest of Poland—a full 79% of the American people told pollster George Gallup that they would vote "no" if the question of American entry into the war were put up to a referendum.2 It's hard to argue against the notion that the fight against global fascism was a good and just cause; it just happened to be one that the American people had to be dragged into, kicking and screaming, very much against their will."

Of course the US citizen didn't feel to go to war, Roosevelts promised during his 1940 campaign to keep the USA out of it. But he acted differently. He draw a line against Japan, and against Nazi Germany. Sooner or later he would have had a casus belly. Even without Pearl Harbor. In the meantime he would have done everything the keep the UK alive. Lend Lease, destroyers against bases, ordering US destroyers to protect UK convoys.

Not sure what would have happened if Hitler would have been able to "convice" Poland to join the Axis. Maybe this would have made a difference. Could be a great what if - campaign.

[jpinard]

ORIGINAL: Mountaineer

The AI is not defending North Africa as the Axis. I disabled Vichy scripts, so the AI just seems to ignore West Africa and it is easy pickings.

I'm confused. If you disable scripts important to the game why would you expect everything to be the same? Or am I misinterpreting what you're saying. Because in all of my games the Axis give me a whopping fight in North Africa (in many cases West Africa is not in the fight).