Dumb AI

[Cunctator]

My first choice was the 1805/1815 scenario and I choosed France, normal setting.
Defating Austria was a joke with minimal losses.
Then Prussia was not a problem.
Now I'm invading Russia without meeting any serious resistance.
Russians forces are concentrated around Moscow and they don't move from there while I conquer ALL THE REST of russian cities using small task forces composed by 2 inf 1 cav and 1 art.
This game is really boring.
I hope that increasing difficulty settings AI will be better.

[IainMcNeil]

Are you trying on the default difficulty level? This is really only for beginners.

[Cunctator]

Yes I'm trying the normal (default) difficulty level.
As I said before I hope that, increasing difficulty settings, AI will be better.
I will jump on to the hardest level and I will tell you my impressions.

[Matto]

What change difficulty level ? From CEAW it was mainly about experience and battle computing ... here on higher level is AI more aggressive ?

[firepowerjohan]

No, experience and combat is exactly the same on higher difficulty on both CEAW and CNAW since we did not want "super units" that are annoying and give a sense of unrealistic behaviour.

The difficulty level affect economies and bonus extra units on map, but an AI with more units will be more aggressive due to the formulas in game.

One can even say, difficulty level is more realistic in some scenarios since scenarios are naturally balanced a bit to make them playable for both sides. A good example from old CEAW is a 1939 scenario for WW2 could be 50-50 while upping the handicap in favour of Allies actually make the game more realistic. One could say in that case giving Axis less chance and Allies economy much stronger is realistic.

[Matto]

Here is a situation when I first time arrived to France borders ... France is full of units ... all developed 5/5 ... Russians 1/1 ... when will be AI more aggressive ? [8D]

I think it only need some tweak of AI resolutions ...

[Matto]

OK, here it is ... [8D]

[Smirfy]

Have to say that the screenshot reflects my gaming experience so far

[Kipper]

That's a pity about the AI, assuming that the screenshot comes from a Hard AI game... looks like a case of WFTP [wait for the patch]???

[Uncle_Joe]

That seems to be about what I see in my games too. As Coalition in 1805, I easily isolated and slaughtered the French army in Austria. After pressing towards France, I see a pile of French units clustered around Paris. The AI made no attempts to reinforce its army attacking Vienna (or keep the supply lines open). And now its just milling around France.
 
On the water, as I said above I dont think that there is much France can do anyways, but even its Frigates just sat there and died rather than trying to break for the open sea where they might survive for a bit.
 
I dont believe the AI has to be incredible, but it should at least challenge a first time player who is learning on the go. This is at the 'default' difficulty. I'm about 25 turns into the Grand Campaign and it feels like its pretty much already over.

[Kipper]

I'll hold off a purchase until this is fixed.   Thanks for the update folks.  This could be a lot of fun when the AI is made a little more "active"

[mariovalleemtl]

[:(][:(]

[Erik Rutins]

Matto, Smirfy, Uncle Joe,

Are you guys playing at the default difficulty level or at a higher one?

I know Johan is reading these reports and looking at the AI to see what improvements can be made. I did see it active in my late pre-release testing, where as France I was hit by both a Prussian and a Russian army, but it did also seem static at times. Hopefully it can be made a bit more aggressive.

Regards,

- Erik

[Matto]

I played on normal settings ... now playing larger Coalition .. conquered Austria and Prussia ... not so easy, Prussia started some small attack ... now near Moscow. All Russians around Moscow, all other country defended just my garrisons ...

[Cunctator]

I tried a more difficult setting of the game (campaign scenario).
I choosed "moderate" (not the hardest but only one step below the most difficult setting).
I played without fog of war to see the behaviour of the AI.
Now I'm at the end of 1809 and playing as France I conquered Austria and Prussia (along with naples and saxony) with a certain grade of difficulty.
My manpower level is vey low and my navy is almost not existent.
I have to say that the conquest of austrian and prussian nations was interesting but.....
I'm afraid that the behaviour of AI is not changed that much.
GB has 16 inf corps 3 cav corps and 3 art in england (more or less my entire army in europe)...doing literally nothing.
Russia has a huge army (more than 20 corps) deployed around moscow waiting...for Godot.
As in the past game I played I'm sure that I could begin to conquer one russian city after another with no russian reaction.
In my opinion something has to be done to make this game playable til the end.

[Uncle_Joe]

I'm playing on the 'default' level. I can start a new game kicking it up a notch, but I am always loathe to just give handicap bonuses. Still, it did make for a better game in Spartan and Gates of Troy so maybe the same will occur here.
 
I'll fire it up tonight or tomorrow and let ya know!
 
 

[Smirfy]

I played 1812 on the hardest setting and the French never took one of my towns, nor did I feel under any pressure and they were easily repulsed. The AI was not very aggressive.

[Uncle_Joe]

OK, new game as the Coalition in 1805 - difficulty was one advantage level to the French. With the added forces that they started with, they did manage to take Vienna from me (barely...I had horrid weather in Russia and was delayed in reinforcing Austria). But after that, its pretty much just milling around Paris again. :/ France has a LOT of forces, but they are doing nothing constructive. On Turn 19, Prussia and Saxony declared on France and with that added weight I rolled them back pretty easily.
 
Sure its going to take me a while to take Paris with almost 2 hexes deep of forces covering it, but eventually they'll run out of stuff. I'm taking their econ apart in large chunks now. They periodically throw a few units to the East, but they are quickly isolated and killed.
 
If the AI simply started reinforcing the front with the newly produced troops, I think it could be fairly dangerous. But sitting back and guarding Paris against a non-existent British threat (or whatever it is doing) simply leads to rapid defeat. My screen looks almost identical to the one above with the huge piles of units in Paris.
 
Note that even with these issues, the game IS fun to play. With a patch for the AI and maybe a little more polish (or at least information), I think this could be fun for quite some time. As it stands now though, the real battle is over in the first 20 turns IMO.
 
 

[Deadmoon]

Don´t expect any serious improvements in AI.

The same issue happened in CEAW, the AI was insulting...totally passive in key areas of the map. The developers had made clear that the AI couldn´t be improved adding weak arguments like "every AI in computer games is flawed" and suggesting that we should stick to multiplayer. And, of course, increasing the difficulty level. Which just add more units. Yes, they AI would become more agressive then, but only at tactical level, not strategical and won´t react until you are very close.

I was hoping that CNAW fixed the AI problems but i see that everything stays just the same as before (despite some new features additions).

I won´t buy a second "Commander" game again. Sorry.

I´d love to see new games in the Commander series but, please, start again from zero and leave the current AI system aside. It could be done better. It has been done before.

[panzer_slith]

I have played on both the default level and the very hard level. The main difference is the number of units. The AI remains very passive compared to other games I have played .  It is significant as to make the game not very enjoyable to play.[:(]