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One quick question on the AI invasions. Did they land in force or was it more along the lines of a quick strike with a few units just to keep you busy? If it was the latter have you ever seen the AI land in force anywhere?

ORIGINAL: MrSloth

One quick question on the AI invasions. Did they land in force or was it more along the lines of a quick strike with a few units just to keep you busy? If it was the latter have you ever seen the AI land in force anywhere?

Yes, I've seen the AI conduct large scale Torch and Overload invasions. Pretty painful to be on the receiving end of these when all your units are fighting on the East Front and you've neglected to rebuild railroads.

The Tunisia landing consisted of 3 infantry, 1 artillery and supplies.....the Cairo landing had 2 infantry, 1 armor, supplies and 2 fleets...now while these may not sound like much, you have to consider that my units are stretched rather thin so this two pronged attack is a viable threat...also the USA has only recently entered the fight, so if I do not clean this mess up, there could be a build up from Cairo.....in fact, I think I'll leave Cairo alone for the time being and see what, if any units, are added by the AI....

Most interesting. Keep the updates coming. I am interested to see how the AI responds and wonder how it could do better. I like the fact that it launched two invasions, thus forcing you to deal with two threats, not just one.

Spring 1943: Cairo has changed hands for the fourth time and is once again held by the allies...I had previously wiped out the WA Red Sea fleet but then the Italians were attacked by another WA fleet and retreated out of the Red Sea....I did manage to clear Tunisia, Algiers, and Morocco of the WA however.....the Russian Campaign has started and I'm hitting a brick wall.....a word now about how the AI is handling research:

I had thought I was devoting enough resources for research but in the end, I found that the AI has been very aggressive in this department and has superiority in a number of research areas...for example, I have researched Mechanized Units Evade ability to 7 but the Russians are already at 9 and the WA is at 8....in general, the AI research has been very good and nothing seems wasted... regarding production, the Russians at the start of the war had the following units:

33 Infantry
44 Militia
1 Airborne
8 Mech/3 in que
19 Artillery/1 in que
5 AA
10 Fighter
13 Tac
1 Heavy

A good mix as the AI is not wasting resources on too many naval units...Note the large number of artillery and know that the AI has also researched quite a bit in upgrading their artillery units, which demonstrates a co-operation between research and production by the AI

I think I have lost this one, so I'm planning to weaken the French Coast territories and see how long it takes before the WA invades!

ORIGINAL: J P Falcon
...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.....

I find this a little concerning. I wonder if a human controlled Russia would have the same options. I seriously don't think Russia should be attacking Germany early just because a few zones are empty.

Well I doubt any German player would actually reduce their forces to trigger a Russian attack so it should not be an issue....basically the invasion of Russia is still in the hands of the German player until 1943, but he cannot take advantage of a "frozen" Russian player and remove all of his eastern front forces, and use them elsewhere against the WA, during the early period of the game...if he does, then he will pay the consequences...and I believe the Russian territories would unfreeze for a Human player as well...

...and I believe the Russian territories would unfreeze for a Human player as well...

yes, they will

Note the large number of artillery and know that the AI has also researched quite a bit in upgrading their artillery units, which demonstrates a co-operation between research and production by the AI

Thats good to see. In some games the AI will research in an area but never build any units to take advantage of that research or build so few related units that the research benefit is meaningless.

I wonder if the Russian AI always follow the same build/research strategy, i.e.: Is their more than one optimal production path for the Russians to follow? or is the best strategy for the Russians always to build lots of artillery?

I wonder if the Russian AI always follow the same build/research strategy, i.e.: Is their more than one optimal production path for the Russians to follow? or is the best strategy for the Russians always to build lots of artillery?

this part of the AI is configurable.

there is a research section and a build section in the ai.txt file.

ORIGINAL: MButtazoni

there is a research section and a build section in the ai.txt file.

Does this mean that players can include 3 AI research/build strategies for Russian in the ai.txt file and have the AI randomly select one of these or is there only one research/build strategy for the Russian AI in the ai.txt file that players can edit?

i only understand about 50% of the AI file currently but i sould say yes you can with the caveat that the overriding AI strategies that drive the research/build decisions are not just based on random chance.

there are also numerous "rules" and "rule types" that change prioritizations of the research and build tasks. once these are prioritized the game does what it can with the production it has at the moment.

Just to wrap up the game I had played where I reduced the defences on the West front....it took about 3 turns, as I continued the fight in Russia before the WA launched 3 invasions...the Netherlands, Western France, and one that I didn't expect, Northern Italy...unable to drive them back into the channel, the WA build up in these zones was fast and so my days were numbered.

Some thoughts about the AI from this game:

There are times when I thought that the AI was not exploiting weaknesses fast enough but that was a mistaken observation....when the invasions did come, they were committed and not just probes.......the Partisan factor cannot be underestimated....leave your occuppied territories under defended, and they will cause havoc, destroying rail lines, resource centers and factories....it cost valuable supply points to repair these items, something the German cannot afford to do so freely as the war trudges on......AI production and research spending was done very logically.....besides the forced errors I made, one that was a legit mistake was spening too much on research at the sacrifice of production....as the German army advances deeper into Russia, they are exposed to more territories and can suffer heavy loses from multiple attacks...driving the Russians out of one territory, only to expose yourself to a three front line, and not have sufficient forces, can make it a quick exit for the German player...pulling units from other areas of Europe to help on the Russian front just makes partisan attacks more successful and weaken potential invasion zone defences..the question of quality verses quantity can apply to the German player as well as the Russian...all in all, it was a fun game to lose!

Thanks for the wrap up. Some very good news to hear. I especially liked how the AI had three separate landings in force. That was something that I would never have really expected the AI to do.

Sometimes I wonder why I keep checking this board though. All it does is make the wait all the worse. [:'(]

ORIGINAL: MrSloth

Thanks for the wrap up. Some very good news to hear. I especially liked how the AI had three separate landings in force. That was something that I would never have really expected the AI to do.

Sometimes I wonder why I keep checking this board though. All it does is make the wait all the worse. [:'(]

here's one for you:

it's hard to describe just how fun this game is...

Yes, thanks for the wrap up. Your experience definitely increases my interest in the game and I salute the programmers and designers who have evidently done a great job designing a good AI.

I wonder now, how good is the Axis AI in managing a two front war and overcoming Allied superiority?

here's one for you:

it's hard to describe just how fun this game is...

:covers ears:

la la la la la la!!!
I can't hear you
la la la la la la!!!

:goes back to trying to figure out how to play WitP: [:'(]

Just to bring up another interesting point about AI flexibility.....in my most recent game game as Germany, I am noticing a much more aggressive AI naval presence in the Med than previously....my control of the Med has been challenged quite a bit, damaging much of my fleet and destroying my transports in the process.....it's good to see a new strategy from the AI after playing a number of games...

Thanks for the update. Sounds really good. Question - does Russia always follow the same strategy or does the Soviet defense strategy vary also?

Please please please spend time on the AI

I can never find anyone to finish a PBEM game and opponents are NIL for me

Lets not have what happened to Hearts of Iron happen to this game!