Where is the USA

[wobbleguts]

I played another game as CW (used the editor beforehand and gave the CW some research additions and a little more more MPPs, plus upped the belligerence in some colonies (to side with me quicker). Thanks to my strategic/tactical genius the CW won BIG time. I even conquered Switzerland and stole all their cuckoo clocks.

Where was the USA during this allied rampage? Well as in my last CW game they were cruising around Australia etc taking in the sights and doing basically nothing. Once again, they landed a small invasion force in N Japan but failed to back it up despite the fact they had 2 fleets of transports in the Pacific. In the meantime, the CW threw the Japs out of Asia and began invading Jap Islands.

The Russian/Indian/China AI seems to work more or less as you would expect, but the US AI is a mystery. USA units move about but never go anywhere important or actually do anything. Almost every time I end a turn as the CW I get a message that says 'Land Units continue to West USA', followed by 'Land Units continue to East USA'. WTF are they doing? And why is a fleet of transports that should be invading Japan parked in Perth? I think if you play as CW you have to take control of of US as well because the AI isn't up to it.

[Platoonist]

I think in single player games you almost have to play the Western Allies together. The "Wallies" as we called them in some Gary Grisby titles.The UK and the US did a lot of joint operations in Europe like Husky, Overlord, Market-Garden etc. Sort of difficult to implement with an AI ally that's following its own blind agenda, especially when it's operating in the same close geographical areas that the human player is.

[wobbleguts]

ORIGINAL: Platoonist

I think in single player games you almost have to play the Western Allies together. The "Wallies" as we called them in some Gary Grisby titles.The UK and the US did a lot of joint operations in Europe like Husky, Overlord, Market-Garden etc. Sort of difficult to implement with an AI ally that's following its own blind agenda, especially when it's operating in the same close geographical areas that the human player is.

I think you are right. In both my CW games the US has been totally clueless. It's a shame because it means I will have to take control of the US next time which will take more time per turn.

Are the Garry Grisby games any good? I saw that there is a scenario included where the allies can declare war on the USSR after the war. That's the kind of what-if I like. Worth looking at?

[DrZom]

ORIGINAL: Platoonist

I think in single player games you almost have to play the Western Allies together.

I am still rather new at this game. My first real learning game I played as the Western allies, about half way through. My second as only the US; I won it without any help from allies. In fact, Russia was almost defeated and GB was not involved in the European theater. Rommel was in the ME oil fields. I invaded Africa, then Northern Italy, Southern France, and raced to Berlin. I had troops landed in Japan with complete control of the sea and the air and got bored.

The US seems pretty tough to beat, at least by the AI. I am hoping to play a thinking opponent once I am more familiar with the nuances of the game.

[ThunderLizard11]

ORIGINAL: wobbleguts

ORIGINAL: Platoonist

I think in single player games you almost have to play the Western Allies together. The "Wallies" as we called them in some Gary Grisby titles.The UK and the US did a lot of joint operations in Europe like Husky, Overlord, Market-Garden etc. Sort of difficult to implement with an AI ally that's following its own blind agenda, especially when it's operating in the same close geographical areas that the human player is.

I think you are right. In both my CW games the US has been totally clueless. It's a shame because it means I will have to take control of the US next time which will take more time per turn.

Are the Garry Grisby games any good? I saw that there is a scenario included where the allies can declare war on the USSR after the war. That's the kind of what-if I like. Worth looking at?

The GG games are excellent. There's a new WitE version just out which is getting strong user reviews. It's a step up (ot two) in complexity from SC.

For SC:WaW, yes you should play US and not leave to AI. I leave nothing to AI and would consider a minor at most. It's not much work actually until '41 as it's mostly just funding research and building a few units. After that it takes time but isn't that the point of a WW2 game?

[Hubert Cater]

ORIGINAL: wobbleguts

I played another game as CW (used the editor beforehand and gave the CW some research additions and a little more more MPPs, plus upped the belligerence in some colonies (to side with me quicker). Thanks to my strategic/tactical genius the CW won BIG time. I even conquered Switzerland and stole all their cuckoo clocks.

Where was the USA during this allied rampage? Well as in my last CW game they were cruising around Australia etc taking in the sights and doing basically nothing. Once again, they landed a small invasion force in N Japan but failed to back it up despite the fact they had 2 fleets of transports in the Pacific. In the meantime, the CW threw the Japs out of Asia and began invading Jap Islands.

The Russian/Indian/China AI seems to work more or less as you would expect, but the US AI is a mystery. USA units move about but never go anywhere important or actually do anything. Almost every time I end a turn as the CW I get a message that says 'Land Units continue to West USA', followed by 'Land Units continue to East USA'. WTF are they doing? And why is a fleet of transports that should be invading Japan parked in Perth? I think if you play as CW you have to take control of of US as well because the AI isn't up to it.

The US AI as it is, is fine tuned for the default campaigns, so the only thing I can think of is that your mod is considerably different from the defaults and/or your Allied actions are different enough from what the US AI was scripted to handle by default.

Essentially, if there are enough changes in place to a campaign, it then requires a similar level of modification to the AI to adjust for those changes.

I wonder how you would find the US AI in a similar setup when playing the default campaigns, or when playing as the Axis and so on, as this would really be the only way to paint a better picture if the US AI indeed needs changes to reflect the changes in your mod.

For example, some of the conditions for various fleet movements and amphibious assaults may have changed enough that those events no longer fire resulting in what you've seen in your game so far.

The other thing to consider is that the US AI plays by the same limitations as a human player and as a result doesn't really get going in the Pacific until very late 1942, early 1943. Just meaning it will take some time to build up its forces for the Pacific and face the same transport and amphibious transport limitations as a human player. For example, if it is engaging in Operation Torch towards Algeria, or D-Day, this may put a hold on Pacific plans until those Amphibious Transports free up and so on.

Again, this might not apply to your game, just throwing it out there in case there might be something to what I've written here.

Hope this helps,
Hubert

[wobbleguts]

ORIGINAL: Hubert Cater

The US AI as it is, is fine tuned for the default campaigns, so the only thing I can think of is that your mod is considerably different from the defaults and/or your Allied actions are different enough from what the US AI was scripted to handle by default.

Essentially, if there are enough changes in place to a campaign, it then requires a similar level of modification to the AI to adjust for those changes.

I wonder how you would find the US AI in a similar setup when playing the default campaigns, or when playing as the Axis and so on, as this would really be the only way to paint a better picture if the US AI indeed needs changes to reflect the changes in your mod.

For example, some of the conditions for various fleet movements and amphibious assaults may have changed enough that those events no longer fire resulting in what you've seen in your game so far.

The other thing to consider is that the US AI plays by the same limitations as a human player and as a result doesn't really get going in the Pacific until very late 1942, early 1943. Just meaning it will take some time to build up its forces for the Pacific and face the same transport and amphibious transport limitations as a human player. For example, if it is engaging in Operation Torch towards Algeria, or D-Day, this may put a hold on Pacific plans until those Amphibious Transports free up and so on.

Again, this might not apply to your game, just throwing it out there in case there might be something to what I've written here.

Hope this helps,
Hubert

Hi Hubert,

I think its a whole mix of all the above. In future, If I play CW I will control USA as well.