Any Comments on the AI

[EdwinP]

I was wondering what the Playtesters thought about the AI. Strong, Weak, Predictable, Unpredictable?

[Hanal]

I think that is what the current batch of beta testing is concentrating on...perhaps some AI AAR's are in the offing.....

[VI66_slith]

Also, is the AI strong all th way accross the board? Or do some areas of the game suit it more? Will the AI change for Japan if your playing WA as opposed to Russia? I hate to bring up the A&A thing, but it represents to me a good example of a static AI, where no matter what an AI country does what it does. Like America buying all transports every turn.

Thanks for your reply in advance.

[MButtazoni]

any detailed comments on the AI at this point in development would be premature at best.

I will say, even at this early stage, it put's up a helluva fight.

[EdwinP]

ORIGINAL: MButtazoni

I will say, even at this early stage, it put's up a helluva fight.

Now thats good news.

[VI66_slith]

Thanks for your response.

[daniel123]

how many sides can a person play. like germany and japan the ai taking the other sides?

[MButtazoni]

5 playable nations:
Germany
Japan
Societ Union
China
Western Allies

2 options for each:
Control Units
Control Production

you can turn ANY of these on and ANY off, in fact even a PBEM Game can have some AI control.

...let me get a screenshot.

[MButtazoni]

ok in this game i've Player 1 to control GE and JA units, and control the GE production. The AI will produce JA units. Player 2 will play the SU and the WA and control the SU production. The AI will produce WA units. China will be played entirely by the AI. The difficulty level affects AI control only.

The signifcance of Playey 1 and Player 2 (there can be 5) is to assist the game in knowing when it is time to send off a PBEM file vs. just moving right into the next player turn.

DISCLAIMER: these graphics are subject to change.

[mbatch729]

Cool. BTW, what does the diffifcult setting do? Computer gets more stuff/cheats on die rolls? Something else?

[daniel123]

i like the options you have just displayed. i would like to try a combined german/japan blitz again SU just like one of the aar.

[MButtazoni]

Computer gets more stuff/cheats on die rolls? Something else?

yes/yes. yes. but it's all subject to change.

i like to think of "Cheats on die rolls" as "die roll modifiers" though.

[mbatch729]

ORIGINAL: MButtazoni

Computer gets more stuff/cheats on die rolls? Something else?

yes/yes. yes. but it's all subject to change.

i like to think of "Cheats on die rolls" as "die roll modifiers" though.

yeah, well, I'm not one of those PC people. Too blunt [:D]

[EdwinP]

It would be most interesting if , for example, the Japanese AI, would adopt one of several strategies to guide its actions - ie as in the AARs - Control the Pacific, or Invade Russia, etc. I anxously await the release of this most interesting game.

[paullus99]

I have not yet seen the AI invade Russia - though in general its a bad idea (since the Americans come knocking real quick once they get involved).

I am very impressed so far with the AI - improvements are still being made & I believe that it will really give people a run for their money even on the lower difficulty levels.

[Hanal]

Edwin...as I know you from the SC forum (JP Wagner), I know that the AI is a very important concern....as I get into playing WaW, I am comcentrating on that fact...for example, if you read the AAR, you see that the Russian player and his territories are frozen until '43, but, besides invasion, there are other factors that can "unfreeze" Russia....one such way is if the Germans reduce their forces in East Prussia and/or Western Poland below a certain mininum...one the very first turn of the game, I, playing the Germans, overran France, Norway and Denmark....I then removed some forces from East Prussia and Western Poland and strategically moved them to North Africa...immediately the Russian Western zones were "unfrozen" and the AI launched a series of attacks during the Russian turn resulting in the capture of East Prussia.....so this is a good sign...I will be setting up some undefended territories in Italy when I advance into a game and see if the AI pounces on them...so far, my initial impressions are very good for this game.....

[EdwinP]

Many Thanks for the comments on the AI.

It will be most interesting to see if the AI "pounces" on undefended territories in Italy.

[Hanal]

Well I didn't have to wait long to see what the AI would do, and I had not even stripped Italy of its' units yet....my drive through North Africa has been relatively easy but I have been intentionally leaving my rear areas lightly defended...in the summer of '41 the Western Allies landed a large force in Tunisia and I will have to react quickly to that threat....score one for the AI!...[:D]

[MrSloth]

Very good news on the AI invasion of Tunisia. [:D]

[Hanal]

In the Spring of '42, I drove the WA out of Tunisia and started to mop up the remaining WA in Algeria when lo', the WA invaded and retook Cairo!....this mess I created in the Med will not help the upcoming Russian Campaign because it does result in the loss of some resources and the expenditure of supplies and troops which I will need....and thanks to my AI allied Japanese friends unfreezing the USA, as they advance in the Pacific, I think I will be in quite a pickle...in the AAR's the PBEM players were always pointing out that one of their earliest mistakes was not defending the rear territories, thus allowing other players the exploit these vulnerable positions....I am finding out that the AI will do the same which bodes well for this game.....[8D]

I should add that I wondered how the hell were the WA able to do an end around invasion of Cairo when I had control of the western and eastern Med sea and the territories east and west of Cairo?.....in the Red Sea was a WA fleet that I had neglected to eradicate....I think this fleet, which has transports, was used as the "bridge" to ferry the troops to Cairo from points south...I will not say that I left the fleet there as an "experiment"...in this case I screwed up!...[:)]