Enemy units out-of-supply ?

[KarlXII]

So I have just invaded Soviet Union three months ago and encircled huge amounts of troops. How can I see if the enemy is out of supply or degrading ? Will encircled enemies draw supply from encircled cities ?

Also, playing against the A.I and not a single attack from the A.I on the whole western front invasion, whole balkan invasion and whole 3 months fighting in Soviet Union. The only attack made was done in Egypt when the A.I once attacked my italian forces and then nothing more.

I am very disappointed of the A.I at this stage and feels it has been neglected in favour of multiplayer. If I would have known this I would never have bought the game. I hope that future patches would adress this passive behaviour.

[battlevonwar]

My first great game was AI, I took Egypt/MidEast and invaded all the way to Stalingrad. I said before Strategic Command AI never beat me and I was actually wrong!

Strategic Command 1 AI beat me 17 years ago. I took about 3-4 matches without the manual and rules to learn how to counter it. I am afraid if you play AI you will get a lot of fun doing crazy stuff but you won't get an opponent that thinks on the level you do. This game has crazy detail. It's just insane and you cannot expect an AI to do that kind of thinking. You are looking 40 years from now when AI is getting robotic.

Many PBEM players play 20 turns a days if you ask them. You can almost IP play and if you want. They are all skill levels if you cannot do it I understand but I would really suggest for 'the pleasure of enjoying the title' it's a requirement. You never have to chat with them nor engage them in any way and you can lay down house rules. AI will always get smacked by you after you learn the rules.

I sat there for 1000 hours trying to beat Civilization 5 on it's hardest level. I never reloaded a save, many cannot do it, ever! Once I understood how to though... you can pretty much give the AI 5 or 6 times your #s and still win. Usually... even then you might lose but that game was quirky and the AI was on steroids so it was just you vs 15 Xs what a smart move would be... That's a million dollar title too.

[KarlXII]

Well, that is really not a valid defense of the game since you actually don´t comment on the A.I in the game at all. Why is it that every time you criticize the A.I you get answers like "A.I would never be as good as a human". No one is expecting that, but there are certain standards you have the right to expect. I have full understanding that there is only one developer of the game and that he is working hard on fixing issues. The only thing I want is a confirmation about my experience and that the A.I is lacking as it is now and that future patches will try to improve it. After all, I have paid 40 euros for this game to play it solo against the A.I.

I don´t expect the best A.I around but this A.I is non-functional. You cannot expect me to make 500 attacks and the A.I none. It would be better if it attacked at random. At some point it would take me by surprise. Now I don´t have to worry about the A.I at all. It just falls back and never do anything. That is a non-functioning A.I.

I know you can make good A.I if you want to. I have been around long enough to see that but this A.I must be one of the worst I have ever encountered. However, If the developer say he is working on improving the A.I I will give this game a chance and will look forward to test it out again in the future.

[AlvaroSousa]

Me as playing the Allies have only made 2 attacks in my multiplayer game vs the Axis because they left a couple vulnerable positions. Those attacks were very tough attacks and their reasons strategic and beyond an A.I. to realize.

The job of the Allied A.I. is to delay and defend early in the game.

If you want the A.I. to attack you put it on optimal/veteran for a challenge. That's why there are 12 levels. Everyone is different.

[PanzerMike]

ORIGINAL: KarlXII

So I have just invaded Soviet Union three months ago and encircled huge amounts of troops. How can I see if the enemy is out of supply or degrading ? Will encircled enemies draw supply from encircled cities ?

Yes, large cities provide urban supply. And it is unlimited. So pockets with a city are tough. There have been discussions about this feature. It would be more realistic if an encircled city can not supply unlimited numbers of units indefinitely.

I don't know Alvaro's current stance on this matter. But I hope it gets changed.

[AlvaroSousa]

ORIGINAL: PanzerMike

I don't know Alvaro's current stance on this matter. But I hope it gets changed.

I am considering all options to what is fair and reasonable at the moment without being gamey

[PanzerMike]

Good to hear that, Alvaro. I trust it a workable solution will be applied.

Are you also looking at ports that are cut off? For example Malta, after the Axis closes off the Med?

[AlvaroSousa]

I have to generate some scripting for this as there is no current solution to it with the current code.

[MorningDew]

I would be fine with unlimited, IF a supply source had to be able to trace supply to another supply source to be active.

[AlvaroSousa]

Well I figured it out tonight.

[PanzerMike]

ORIGINAL: Alvaro Sousa

Well I figured it out tonight.

Do tell!

[James Taylor]

This is what I suggested for SC, way back when Hubert and Bill were looking for a viable alternative.

Supply is based upon the amount of friendly supply rendering sources on the map. For instance, if in an envelopment there are 4 cities(supply depots/sources) then the supply is 4 throughout the enveloped rail net diminishing as it is distributed to the combat formations. So 1,2,3etc city/depot = 1,2,3etc supply which can be interdicted through combat, recovering 1 each turn.

Since WP has a unit supply of 3, that will degrade over turns to the map supply level of the envelopment, subject to lessening through combat.

If a unit at supply level 3 is the recipient of a ground combat attack the supply will be expended 1 per combat.

So the greatest amount of supply a lone unit in a supply source hex that is surrounded for more that two turns(without combat) will be 1.

[AlvaroSousa]

Simple. I added a new script called $SuppressPort which activates on Axis controlling Port Said and Gibraltar.

[PanzerMike]

Sounds like a simple solution. By the way, the beta links and list of changes is lagging behind, right? My latest beta shows 1.06.

[AlvaroSousa]

That's the right one. I haven't uploaded things yet as I am finish testing them.

[PanzerMike]

Next patch will also contain the solution for the unlimited supply for surrounded cities issue (next to the closed Med Malta fix)?

[AlvaroSousa]

Haven't figured out what i want to do about that yet.

[MorningDew]

Did you see my suggestion about the supply source needing to be able to trace to another (wif rule I believe).

[AlvaroSousa]

That's a lot of pathfinding checking and yes I already considered that. It probably will delay between turns a lot.

[MorningDew]

Not sure what other people experience, but if the time between turns was 2x, I wouldn't be impacted. I think the time for processing between turns is remarkably fast.