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Hi all,

Just thought I would share with you a wonderful bit of action from the newly revised First Clash at Veve scenario. The new more aggressive AI is well evident here.

The action starts before just after nightfall on Day 1. The Australian 19th Bde has set up a series of blocking positions in front of the village of Veve, which marks the start of the Kleidi pass, an objective the Germans must clear if they are to press on south. The Aussies have detected the Recon Bn of the LAH Bde advancing south aong the main road towards their position. With rain falling and the last rays of sunlight barely illuminating the field of battle, the Australian forward position decides to launch a spoiling probe north along the road.

Unbeknown to them, the Germans have spotted the Aussie blocking position and decided to bypass it and head south-east along the secondary road into Veve. Under the cover of dark neither detects the other until the vanguard of the Germans makes contact at Veve. The screen dumps below are all taken with perfect intel on for both sides ( this is a debug build ).

After several hours the Aussies change the direction of their probe to drive into the German flank.

Bt dawn the Aussie probing force decides discretion is the better part of valour and heads back towards Veve along the main road. Alas for them but fortunately for the 19th Bde as a whole they hit the LAH 1st Recon Coy, which is now sandwiched in a vice. In the half light of dawn the German column is subjected to a violent bombardment and starts to reel back.

Boyed by this success the 19 Bde commits its mobile reserve, the Ranger Bn to a counter-attack. The LAY 1st Recon Coy is copping a hiding. It routs and some of its men surrender. but the two companies from the Au 2/4th Inf Bn are also now being subjected to a weight of fire and they retreat, opening a possible escape route for the 1st Recon Coy.

While the Germans may have been caught off guard and lost the initiative, they eventually launch their own counter-attack. Fortunately for them they have superior firepower on their side.

With the superior German firepower taking effect the Allies bug out.

The AI played both sides, i suppose. wow! [X(]

I think the AI needs more agresiveness in the atack (usually it give up too soon) but...
isn´t too much agressiveness for the Australians to abandon entrenched positions that recklessly?
In this scenario they are on the defensive. And a panzer divison is on the way, isn´t it? [:'(]

Anyway, thanks for showing us so much of the development process.
Very few game companies are so responsive. [&o]
Cheers
Arsan

Well the Aussies only just arrived at Veve and did not have time to entrench before the Germans were upon them.
 
One thing I did learn from watching the above action closely was that my "stand-off" code wasn't working as it should. This code is supposed to halt units when the current firepower ratio is above 50% - ie when they can apply at least 50% of their firepower onto the nearest enemy threat. That way units such as armoured companies and AT guns will deploy and fire at some distance to the enemy rather than charge headlong into them. What was happening was that some units were halting in time but others weren't.
 
I investigated and tweaked various bits of the code but to no real avail. However, upon stepping through I noticed in one case that the "closest unit" was obviously not the closest unit. Further investigation revealed that a change made a long time ago to the intel code had removed the sort routine that sorted the closest unit to the top of the vector. Hence when the reaction code grabbed the front unit in the vector of enemy threats it wasn't always the closest one. in fact in some cases it was of units a lonmg way away and hence on these it never achieved the 50% firepower ratio. If it had chosen the closest unit it certainly would have halted.
 
Well changes made late last night have corrected this and it has made a significant difference. Those long ranged German armoured units now come into their own. Unfortunately this is going to need some more testing to ensure other aspects are correct and play balance isn't too adversely affected.

Hi
Hey, I didn´t understand anything you said! [:D]
Anyway i trust you! Im sure it will be for the best! [:'(]
I can't wait for the patch, but better late than rushed.
Keep up the good work!

PS: I havent played Veve scenario. Tought aussies were entrenched. Sorry

By way of example the following screen dump shows the Germans assaulting in the midnight hours. The lead elements in line have just encountered the enemy main line and have halted and are returning fire.

By dawn the Germans have advanced a further kilometre against heavy resistance and the firefight is taking its toll. But note the 8th Mot Inf Coy and the 3rd Armd Car Coy are still advancing supported by the long range fires of the other German assault companies.

BTW the above two screendumps are with limited intel.