Random map: early playtest of Bombur map

[Bombur]

ORIGINAL: Vic

keep in mind that the AI in its calculations about what to research thinks that the SFType picture shown in the researchfield is the unit it will get! (these in between research fields like 1910-1919 might be hard for the AI. I would give them infantry stypepic, cruiser sftype pic and fighter sftype pic)

furthermore the ai will try to research what will be most effective against the enemy major troop types.

kind reg,
vic

-Correct, Vic, I´ve already read your hint in another discussion. So, each transitional research (like ar units 1910-1919) will have a specific picture and will give you an specific SF. For instance, Air units 1900-1909 have a Airship picture and will give you the Zeppelin. Air units 1920-1929 will give you the first torpedo bomber, land units 1910-1919 will give you the Vickers machinegun (machinegun II) and so on. Still, the AI seems to be too fixated in land units (but it seems to be a trouble in vanilla random scenarios too, the difference being the increased complexity-my mod already has 190 SF types and I´m still adding them-now working with naval patrol aircraft)

[Bombur]

ORIGINAL: Joshuatree

"The AI seems to put strong emphasis in land units. They quickly will develop early light tank (FT-17) and Special Forces level I (WWI stormtroops). I´m yet to see them making any significant develop in air and naval units."

Yep, the AI tends to do that with the original AT too. I was ... hoping the AI might change it's behaviour with your quite different tech tree. Well anyway, your mod is a welcome addition! Thanks.

Btw, tell me if you want the last beta version. It´s far more playable now. Have Dreadnoughts and Battlecruisers!!!!

[Vic]

ORIGINAL: Bombur

ORIGINAL: Vic

keep in mind that the AI in its calculations about what to research thinks that the SFType picture shown in the researchfield is the unit it will get! (these in between research fields like 1910-1919 might be hard for the AI. I would give them infantry stypepic, cruiser sftype pic and fighter sftype pic)

furthermore the ai will try to research what will be most effective against the enemy major troop types.

kind reg,
vic

-Correct, Vic, I´ve already read your hint in another discussion. So, each transitional research (like ar units 1910-1919) will have a specific picture and will give you an specific SF. For instance, Air units 1900-1909 have a Airship picture and will give you the Zeppelin. Air units 1920-1929 will give you the first torpedo bomber, land units 1910-1919 will give you the Vickers machinegun (machinegun II) and so on. Still, the AI seems to be too fixated in land units (but it seems to be a trouble in vanilla random scenarios too, the difference being the increased complexity-my mod already has 190 SF types and I´m still adding them-now working with naval patrol aircraft)

Eh... but the AI might not be interested in Balloons. It is looking only for combat effect. I guess your airships will not do great in like attacking infantry.

A workaround might be adding a special "mock" SFType to fool the AI. Or in other words making a copy of Infantry and putting the Zeppelin picture in. Add no ItemType to actually produce this bogus SFtype, but use it for the Air unit 19xx-19xx researchfield. This way the AI might research this earlier since it will think it will need it.

And compliments for doing this great job.

[Bombur]

Eh... but the AI might not be interested in Balloons. It is looking only for combat effect. I guess your airships will not do great in like attacking infantry.

A workaround might be adding a special "mock" SFType to fool the AI. Or in other words making a copy of Infantry and putting the Zeppelin picture in. Add no ItemType to actually produce this bogus SFtype, but use it for the Air unit 19xx-19xx researchfield. This way the AI might research this earlier since it will think it will need it.

And compliments for doing this great job.

But my airships will result in some early strategic bombing ability.....how will the AI work with this?
Your idea on mock types seems to be good. In order to make the graphics coherent I can have another airship graphic and I create a super Zeppelin with no item attached to force the AI to create the baloons.
Another thing is that land/naval/sea are inteconnected, so, if the AI don´t develop the airship, it will reach a situation where it is the only possible research, I think that in this case it will be forced to create the unit?
Finally: I can send you a copy of my mof if you´re interested, just drop me an e-mail. I think your game is one of the best ever made and it has a lot of room to become even better if we develop more mods. I hope this one will work.

[Vic]

ORIGINAL: Bombur

Eh... but the AI might not be interested in Balloons. It is looking only for combat effect. I guess your airships will not do great in like attacking infantry.

A workaround might be adding a special "mock" SFType to fool the AI. Or in other words making a copy of Infantry and putting the Zeppelin picture in. Add no ItemType to actually produce this bogus SFtype, but use it for the Air unit 19xx-19xx researchfield. This way the AI might research this earlier since it will think it will need it.

And compliments for doing this great job.

But my airships will result in some early strategic bombing ability.....how will the AI work with this?
Your idea on mock types seems to be good. In order to make the graphics coherent I can have another airship graphic and I create a super Zeppelin with no item attached to force the AI to create the baloons.
Another thing is that land/naval/sea are inteconnected, so, if the AI don´t develop the airship, it will reach a situation where it is the only possible research, I think that in this case it will be forced to create the unit?
Finally: I can send you a copy of my mof if you´re interested, just drop me an e-mail. I think your game is one of the best ever made and it has a lot of room to become even better if we develop more mods. I hope this one will work.

First. The AI does not do:

*Strategic Bombing
*Aircraft Carriers
*Paradrops

As for your questions. Yes it will eventually research the last available researchfield even if the AI thinks it is worthless it will do so. If you want the Mock SFType to seem appetizing for the AI it must be good in killing the sort of SFType the enemy has a lot off (like infantry). Also keep in mind that he AI also favours research (that is thinks will lead to mock sftype) that enables it to upgrade a lot of troops.

And thanks for the compliments. I am especially enjoying the multiplayer random games myself and look forward to keep the engine supported and upgraded. Eventually i hope to blend all the best options and ideas into 1 random game set. I already made a first attempt in beta v1.20 soon to be posted.

[Bombur]

First. The AI does not do:

*Strategic Bombing
*Aircraft Carriers
*Paradrops

As for your questions. Yes it will eventually research the last available researchfield even if the AI thinks it is worthless it will do so. If you want the Mock SFType to seem appetizing for the AI it must be good in killing the sort of SFType the enemy has a lot off (like infantry). Also keep in mind that he AI also favours research (that is thinks will lead to mock sftype) that enables it to upgrade a lot of troops.

And thanks for the compliments. I am especially enjoying the multiplayer random games myself and look forward to keep the engine supported and upgraded. Eventually i hope to blend all the best options and ideas into 1 random game set. I already made a first attempt in beta v1.20 soon to be posted.

-The absence of aircraft carriers and strategic bombing is likely to be a trouble in AI games, as it will attempt to do a significant improvement of these two aspects. However, it won´t break the game, because not all countries develop these units. The USSR and Germany fought all the WWII withouth these units. On the other hand, an AI Navy will likely have troubles in fighting a human Navy in scenarios with more than 50-60% water. Of course there are always those long range torpedo bombers.....and then a few Badgers with long range missiles....I don´t think that a tactical airforce will be at significant disadvantage against a strategic based one. It´s more a question of total production.
Back to the baloons, it seems that the AI is researching them, because they are a pre requisite to all land based 1910-1919 units, including SMG I and Special Forces I.
I will be back tomorrow with more turns....

[Joshuatree]

"Btw, tell me if you want the last beta version. It´s far more playable now. Have Dreadnoughts and Battlecruisers!!!!"
 
Yes please, much appreciated. It'll be fun to see what the AI will be throwing against my.... superior gaming skillz [;)]

[Bombur]

-This AAR is over, as I´ve upgraded the OOB, to reach 48 workable units, I will start another AAR soon. Among new units we have cavalry, Battleships IV, and light trucks.

[Joshuatree]

Hm nice. Tried a short game with your mod yesterday, had some trouble mobilizing my troops. Added 3 horses to 30 troops but the unit was still "foot"? The same with armored cars, added 4 inf to 2 arm. cars, and then it went "foot" too?
I also noted that a quick frontal assault on a city with 6 or 8 inf. defenders, got my assault forces butchered (which consisted of 30 inf and some armored cars) I'm sure that in AT2 I would've gotten that town.  So what's changed?
Oh well, gonna try another game this afternoon.

[Bombur]

You´re right, many things changed. Keep in mind that you´re playing WWI, not WWII, so armored cars have no mobilizing capacity (this will appear latter). I also decreased the mobilizing capacity of horses. One horse will be more or less able to carry one infantry. One infantry here is close to 200 men while one horse is close to 200 horses. Besides this you will have cavalry (faster horses with recon capacity). Horses will be also more useful to carry heavy equipment, as they weight somewhat less than infantry (one mg unit is equal tp 20 mg, whose weight is less than 20 infantry squads). And yes, in my mod, assaulting cities in early XX century is deadly, as it was historically. The Charrons won´t help you too much, and things get even worse if the enemy has mg´s. To assault cities, you will need artillery, infantry guns and, if possible, capital ships. The idea here is to reproduce WWI trenches war. When you get more effective aircraft and tanks, the balance will chnge towards the attacker. I will also make a check in terrain modifiers for special forces I and maybe give them a small bonus for assaults against urban terrain and fortifications.