Any Comments on the AI

[paullus99]

I don't think you'll be disappointed....you will have an option of five different sides to play (and any combination of AI opponents) - and PBEM is a breeze. With what I've seen so far, you probably won't have any problems find opponents....

And if you just want to play against the AI - you will still have a grand old time. I've been testing for a few months new & the AI still continues to surprise me & beat me too.

[Joel Billings]

ORIGINAL: pvthudson01

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!

We are. Gary is working full time on AI while Keith does the other programming for the game (although Keith did help out on AI earlier as well). With 5 major sides to choose from (and/or combinations of playing multiple sides while letting the AI play other allied sides) there is a lot of replay in value in the game just against the AI. That being said, this game is fairly quick to play and we think it will gain a good following of players, so the odds of finding PBEM opponents should be higher on this game than on many other wargames.

[Döbeln]

Is there any kind of PBEM management system built into the game? Oh, and I can't wait for it to come out

[freeboy]

thanks Joel,
Do you think the IA will have increased difficulty settings? I sure hope so
thanks again for you continued efforts. love witp btw

[Joel Billings]

ORIGINAL: freeboy

thanks Joel,
Do you think the IA will have increased difficulty settings? I sure hope so
thanks again for you continued efforts. love witp btw

It not only does, it has custom settings. There are basically 3 items that we allow the user to change (for AI or human players). They are 1) Strategic movement capacity modifier 2) Combat modifier 3) Supply Help. This allows the player to give any or all of the 5 players a combination of advantages (or disadvantages). The difficulty levels adjust these 3 items to give the AI players an advantage. So if you don't like giving the computer a combat modifier (+_ to combat die rolls), you can just give it better transportation capabilities or some free supplies.

There is no dumbing down the AI in easier modes. I've never seen an AI that needed to be dumbed down. We make it play as good as we can get it. After that, the only way to balance against a good player that knows the system is to give it some advantages.

I find that since there are 5 players in the game, by playing one major power and letting the AI play all the others, you get a challenging game (since some of your allies are played by the same AI that is trying to beat you). If you play all of the major powers in an alliance, you can use the difficulty settings to make the game more challenging. There's a lot of replay value because each of the 5 players has a very different situation to deal with than the others.

[Joel Billings]

ORIGINAL: Döbeln

Is there any kind of PBEM management system built into the game? Oh, and I can't wait for it to come out

No, but our test coordinator, Maurice, has been doing a good job looking out for PBEM players by having us structure things so that PBEM utilities will function with GGWaW. That's the plan anyway.

[MButtazoni]

Yes, if i have my way the game will integerate into any number of PBEM manager utilities out there.

[pzgndr]

There are basically 3 items that we allow the user to change (for AI or human players). ... The difficulty levels adjust these 3 items to give the AI players an advantage.

This sounds good. The combination of user settings for each major country plus the AI difficulty setting should provide enough of a range for players to find their optimum challenge. Will the AI difficulty setting be generic or will that also be an option for each country?

Also, any chance of having random settings for the AI controlled countries?? It would be interesting playing a game not knowing for sure if you're up against a tough or easy opponent, and having to figure it out as you go along. And the possibility of each major being different could make every game a real toss-up. [8D]

[MButtazoni]

ORIGINAL: pzgndr


This sounds good. The combination of user settings for each major country plus the AI difficulty setting should provide enough of a range for players to find their optimum challenge. Will the AI difficulty setting be generic or will that also be an option for each country?

the difficulty slider presets all the AI nations at the same time, but then each nation can be tweaked from there.

Also, any chance of having random settings for the AI controlled countries?? It would be interesting playing a game not knowing for sure if you're up against a tough or easy opponent, and having to figure it out as you go along. And the possibility of each major being different could make every game a real toss-up. [8D]

be careful what you ask for. [:D]