Returning Player

[David Hansen]

Haven't played in the last 60 days or so. With the new patches in place... as an Axis player vs. Allied AI in the 1939 start...do I need to give the AI some buffs up front...or is game pretty well balanced? I consider myself as an "average+" player.

[Markiss]

I guess it depends on what you want to get out of it. If you are looking to get practice for PBEM play, I would suggest customizing the difficulty by ramping up the AI's income to max, but leaving the spotting and experience bonuses alone. Giving the AI extra spotting and experience changes the tactics you would use against the AI vs a human player, making it of limited use for PBEM practice.

If you just want the hardest game possible from the AI, set the difficulty to hard, and it will get all of the bonuses. But I will warn you, rooting out entrenched enemy units that have a +2 experience bonus on you is very difficult, especially early in the game. You have to bring many more units than normal, and it will take longer than normal to remove them. That is why playing this sort of game is no good for practice for play against humans, it teaches you bad habits.

The AI is very good tactically, but does not have strategic imagination. You don't need to guard against amphibious landings in unusual places, you won't see them.

[Elessar2]

Not quite true (that last bit). There's been a script that's been around since 2 game versions ago, where the Russian AI will try to sneak a unit into Rumania, hoping that all garrisons there have been relocated elsewhere. There's a few other odd ones here and there, but if you have read all the scripts you know where/when it will, and won't, attempt an invasion.

[David Hansen]

Thanks!

If I use the soft build option as the Axis...does this put the AI (allies) at a "strategic disadvantage"...or does the AI make good use of this option themselves?

[Markiss]

Giving the AI unlimited money combined with unlimited units to buy, is, in my experience, bad. The AI will do strange things with this situation, at least as of the last time I played it. I remember seeing about 20 German tanks, just in my field of view, across from the Soviets at one point, and hardly any other unit types to be seen. The tanks get super expensive after the first few over the limit, but the AI does not seem to recognize this, and just keeps buying tanks for as long as they are available to be bought, which is forever with soft limits.

Who knows what the AI would choose to buy as Allies, but whatever it saw as its priority, it would likely buy to great excess.

You probably don't want to do it, unless you just want to push the AI to the limit to see what happened.

If someone has a more recent experience, share it with us. It is possible this has been dealt with.

[David Hansen]

Markiss-thanks for your insights.