Velikie Luki - why such different results against AI?

[PaulAllen1982]

Hi all,
I'm trying to teach myself the game and as such am playing the Velikie Luki scenario.
Played a few times as the Soviets and am getting to grips with the mechanics a bit, but thought I'd try playing the same scenario as the Axis and was surprised to see the Soviets taking the city itself on the first time before I even have the chance to do anything.

Playing as Soviets I've yet to take the city on the first turn, admittedly I'm a massive noob at the game but I've tried throwing all nearby units at it using a deliberate assault, not going across rivers and also using ground support and I don't get anywhere near taking it.

Is it possible to take Velikie Luki on T1 as the Soviets vs the Axis AI?

p.s am on normal difficulty, all settings at 100.

[Joel Billings]

If it's taking VL on turn 1, than it is some kind of AI 1st turn script error. What version are you playing? I just ran it twice and it didn't attack VL either time. I have a vague memory of hearing something like this before, but can't remember if it was a bug that was fixed. Looking in the whatsnew file, there was a bug fixed back in 1.00.11 that may have caused what you are seeing, but I don't know for sure. I'm not seeing this in either the latest official or latest beta version as the AI tries to surround VL. As far as taking it on turn 1, at one time it was hard or impossible to take the hex on turn 1. At the moment, it does appear to be possible to take it on turn 1 using the latest updates.

[K62_]

You can definitely optimize a few things, but it seems to work if you just attack with the 9 units available (7 rifle divisions, tank brigade, rifle brigade).

vl_assault.JPG (130 KiB) Viewed 493 times

[altipueri]

Crikey, I've just realised I bought this game about a year ago and still haven't even tried it beyond firing it up; trying to lift the manual; and deciding to leave it for long winter nights which have now passed and spring is upon us.

Perhaps someone can do a mod for Ukraine.

[PaulAllen1982]

If it's taking VL on turn 1, than it is some kind of AI 1st turn script error. What version are you playing? I just ran it twice and it didn't attack VL either time. I have a vague memory of hearing something like this before, but can't remember if it was a bug that was fixed. Looking in the whatsnew file, there was a bug fixed back in 1.00.11 that may have caused what you are seeing, but I don't know for sure. I'm not seeing this in either the latest official or latest beta version as the AI tries to surround VL. As far as taking it on turn 1, at one time it was hard or impossible to take the hex on turn 1. At the moment, it does appear to be possible to take it on turn 1 using the latest updates.

This was in version 1.02.21, I've run the first turn of this scenario playing as Axis 4-5 times now and every single time the Soviet AI takes Velikie Luki on the first turn with relative ease.

I just thought it meant that I should be aiming to do the same thing when playing as the Soviets and wondered why I couldn't do it!

Update: I tried updating to the 1.02.24 beta patch, ran the scenario again as Axis and the same thing occurred.
Update 2: I've just uninstalled the game, deleted the game folder, reinstalled it, patched it to 1.02.21 and now when I play as Axis in this scenario, the Soviets surround Velikie Luki on the 1st turn. (which I'm able to replicate when playing as the Soviets).

Seems to be resolved now, perhaps it was a bug that needed me to clear out the game folder content to get rid of?

[K62_]

I can confirm that there's a scripted attack that doesn't get cleared by version upgrades. This should not succeed (1 division hasty vs. 363 defensive CV):

vl_script.JPG (66.13 KiB) Viewed 468 times

Is there a way to clear just the AI scripts without reinstalling the whole game?

[Joel Billings]

I just figured out this mystery re the VL scenario. We have a bug on the list that when Movement FOW is on, something causes the script to go bad, and it automatically takes VL on the first turn. Since this may be very difficult to debug, it's not been one of the higher priority items and I'd forgotten about it. The AI normally ignores Movement FOW. I assume that in reinstalling the game, the Movement FOW was turned off and that's why the assumption that reinstalling made the difference. As long as you don't use Movement FOW against the AI in VL, the script should run fine.

[DarkHorse2]

@Joel,

Thank you for the extra work put in tracking this down and sharing.

[PaulAllen1982]

Thanks for figuring this out Joel, understandable why this particular one wouldn't have been a priority.