Testing UPDATE5 - 1.0.88 - ALPHA

[UP844]

1) Cannot run such resolution
2) I had no time to test this feature; I will test it by editing a scenario I made and I know very well
3) Does not seem to work (see the attached save file: there are 4 US leaders moving alone and a bunch of broken squads behind them with very slim chances to ever rally). In the movement segment, they sometimes move 1 hex towards broken units, then they resume advancing (alone) towards the VP hexes. I have several screenshots proving this, if they are required. In the advance segment, the leaders always advanced out of hexes containing broken units.
4) Cannot test in this scenario, where the AI is attacking
5) I have not noticed any pinned unit firing, but no US squad ever arrived within its normal range.

I will test points 4) and 5) with another scenario (or with this one, but played as the US).

(*) Is this scenario somewhat bugged? The Shermans only fire their coaxial MG's and never fire their 75's .

[UP844]

An example of leader movement.

The leader first moves into the hex containing two broken units:

[UP844]

And then, in the same movement segment, it moves away:

[UP844]

In the Advance segment of the subsequent turn:

A leader that started the segment in a hex containing broken units and advanced out of the hex alone (yellow arrow).
A leader that started the segment alone in a hex moved towards the VP hexes (red arrow): I supposed it should have advanced towards the nearest leaderless friendly units.

[Peter Fisla]

I'm looking at the AI Leader movement issue today UP844, once I have I resolve it I will provide a new build.

Cheers!

[dox44]

Peter thanks!

but

first time i ran it...booted in 3840 fine.

but just tried it again and i get
the window where it says it will not
work in 3840.

updated everything in order...

[Peter Fisla]

Your desktop has to be resolution 3840x2160 in order to run at 4K. You can run the game at 4K in windowed mode...if your LCD is not 3840x2160. test it, modify the configuration.ini file with notepad (do NOT use MS Word):

Windowed=Yes
Sizex=3840
Sizey=2160

save the file and run the game, see what you get.

If you LCD is 3840x2160, and the full screen mode doesn't work...make sure your DPI is set to 100% (DPI 150% doesn't work).

[UP844]

Testing the long range MG fire feature.

In the first move, I purposedly ran in the open with all my squads (shouting "Fire at me, fire at me!"). Nothing happened, and I was a bit disappointed.

Then, in the Defensive Fire segment, two MMGs fired at 18 and 21 hexes, and a HMG fired at 24 hexes, two of them with a * leader, another with no leader (but managed to break a squad anyway). The AI fire broke three squads and prompted an immediate change in tactics - stacking has become as dangerous as it should be (see attached screenshot).

I would have fired in the Movement Segment (to gain the -1 FFNAM and -1 FFMO DRMs), but it looks like we are on the right way to make the AI dangerous [;)].

Great work, Peter!! [&o] [&o] [&o]

[Peter Fisla]

I'm glad to hear the MG long range fire is working

I have just released 1.089 build today (I have deleted 1.0.88 build as it's old and not needed), that fixes the issue you found with the leader moving back and forth in your message #3 above. Also in another message you were surprised that only AFV MGs were firing and not the main armament, this is ok as the main cannon has too many negative DRM...however the machine guns don't have the same DRMs hence why they fired (different fire process).

[UP844]

Great news, Peter! I'm going to download the new version as soon as possible.

I am slowly moving towards the ridge; the long range fire, besides the losses (broken units so far) has forced me to scatter my units. It's amazing how such a little change affected the game and made it more challenging! [&o] [&o] [&o].

I think I am lucky the AI does not like firing (at infantry) during the Movement segment!

As regards to the tanks, I understand they didn't fire because they had a very low chance to hit (while I fire as much as I can [:D], as long as I'm not firing limited ammo); what most puzzled me, however, is that they remain in the locations they reached at the end of their first move and never move closer to the enemy (and to the VPs). In other occasions I have seen the AI performing some mechanized Balaklava charges against 88mm's.

[Peter Fisla]

AI is sometimes unpredictable, I built it that way. This way playing the same scenario twice doesn't guarantee the same AI. If you want some units to be more strict and focused more on a specific target hex, you can give them special "ATTACK HEX" in the scenario edit (assuming AI is on attack,), this is a new feature in UPDATE5 alpha.

[UP844]

I will test the new AI "ATTACK HEX" feature ASAP, as soon as I find the time to tinker with the editor.

The long range fire feature is making the game much more challenging, and makes taking a stroll around the battlefield more dangerous than before (as it should be). It looks like everything is OK with this feature, now I will download the new alpha to see if leaders have lost their love for lonely charges.

I'll never be able to thank you enough for the effort you are putting in this game (and for enduring my rambling [;)])

[dox44]

it ran once at 3840 but now will not run in any resolution. tried 1920 and 16x9. i just get the white window telling me TotH only supports "the resolutions i'm trying to run the game in".

will not boot anymore. i'll try reinstall

[dox44]

i reinstalled everything.

got it to work at 3840 using 175 scaling.

[Peter Fisla]

ORIGINAL: dox44

i reinstalled everything.

got it to work at 3840 using 175 scaling.

Well that's weird but I'm glad it's working now.

[Peter Fisla]

ORIGINAL: UP844

I will test the new AI "ATTACK HEX" feature ASAP, as soon as I find the time to tinker with the editor.

The long range fire feature is making the game much more challenging, and makes taking a stroll around the battlefield more dangerous than before (as it should be). It looks like everything is OK with this feature, now I will download the new alpha to see if leaders have lost their love for lonely charges.

I'll never be able to thank you enough for the effort you are putting in this game (and for enduring my rambling [;)])

Cool, I'm glad to hear I'm moving in the right direction. I want to make the AI better but I have to be careful with the changes as I don't want to make it worse

I will start working on AI ordnance/AFV that are eligible to fire smoke rounds.

[UP844]

I have re-played the scenario in v.1089, but leader behavior appears to require some extra tuning (the 9 screenshots are contained in the attached .ZIP) file.

Sometimes the leaders don't care even if there are plenty of broken units around them.

Sometimes they move a single hex towards the broken unit, then resumed advancing all alone, heading for the German positions.

I have seen several German leaders leaving their trenches for no apparent reason (all the VP hexes were still under German control at that time), despite having started their turn in the same hex with other units [&:]. This also implied leaving a broken HMG-armed squad (who hurt me a lot in the previous turns) alone with slim chances to rally.

A rare German leader (yellow circle) didn't advance in its Advance Segment at the end of Turn 7 and stayed with two broken units. I started rejocing, but then it moved away in the Movement Segment of Turn 8:(.

P.S. I have 9 screenshots showing all the behaviours described here, but I am not allowed to upload it, as it is too large (~10 MB).

[UP844]

This is the final result of a game of scenario 017 "Canicattì High Ground", played with the Americans against an AI opponent that fires.

I still managed to grab a Major Victory, but I did it on the very last turn (and a couple OOC units would have been enough to prevent such a result).

Notice how the loss ratio is much more balanced: the AI killed 8 squads vs. 8.5 by the human player.

If I may make a suggestion, I would allow AI MG's to also fire at long range in the Defensive Fire segment when the AI is attacking: this way they will be able to provide some support and will be free to move in the AI player turn.

[UP844]

nd this is another game I played mostly to observe the behaviour of AI-controlled leaders, which like to charge the enemy without caring for their broken subordinates.

The only fire I received came from the coaxial guns of the Shermans. No US infantry unit or SW ever came close enough to be able to fire and the game ended with a 23:1 loss ratio for infantry squads. Almost all the American losses were inflicted by the HMG and MMG's: German squads only fired two or three times at most.

The 50mm anti-tank guns scored lots of hits, but only managed to kill a single Sherman.

The German artillery never fired (on the first (AI-US) player turn it achieved contact but no access, on the second (human, German) player turn it was permanently lost .

[Peter Fisla]

Hi UP844, If you have a saved game prior to a leader making wrong moves that would be great; it would help a lot evaluate my programming code. For all other features as well...

thanks