Matrix Games Forums

I have just finished a game of WaW 33 as the Germans, and it is a great scenario. I would like to suggest a few changes that should help the AI a lot without doing a lot of work.

1. The Siberian reinforcements should arrive in Moscow in December or January, and they should be strong because they are veterans of the Russo-Japanese War. Just create an event that drops a few veteran Russian corps on Moscow in December.

2. The first Winter is too easy on the Germans. This first Winter should stop the Geman offensive in its tracks, but it hardly slows it down. As the Germans I could continue my offensive without pause. The shorter supply lines and decreased readiness is not enough to recreate anything like the historical deep freeze.If the Germans had not hunkered down with their strongpoint strategy knowing that the Russians at that time would not bypass the strongpoints until theywere reduced, they would have lost the war right there.

3. The Russians protect Leningrad, Sevastopol and Stalingrad with reasonably strong forces, but they hardly protect Moscow. I took Moscow easily when it was protected by a negligible defence.Moscow is more imortant than other cities.

4. A strong wheeled Panzer Division caught the whole Soviet air force in Smolensk. I had just enough moves to wipe out the unprotected air forces. A single mediocre land unit in that hex would have prevented that and would have allowed the air forces to move out (no other of my units could reach that far-I just decided to throw those Panzers as far as they could go to see what would happen). Don't put massive air forces in a hex without at least one ground unit protectorin the hex or on the road ahead of it.

5. I only went after a Britain invasion long after I had conquered most Russian cities including the factories behind the Urals Ihalf expected them to be thrown back into the sea, but by that time I could afford the losses), but I took Birminham with a single 30-strong paratroop drop. At the same time, I invaded with 2 strong Panzer units and an engineer unit (to build a port in case of delays), but a couple of bombing runs on London followed by a sea bombardment allowed the Panzers to take London easily on the next move. The British should keep a reasoable land force on or near London to counter a German invasion. This would not significantly reduce the huge British naval fleets. Where is the British army (not to mention the Americans in 1943)?

6. The game should allow one to see how its allies (Japan in my case) are doing, at least in a general way.I never saw a Japanese unit and after the game I still have no idea if they were beating the Chinese and Americans or if they even still exist.If I were to continue the game in order to attack the US, this information is of primary importance.If the Japanese are not keeping the US busy in the Pacific, a German invasion of the USA could be problematical.

Of course I was playing this game at the easiest level, but an AAR by (Tweber I think) shows that the AI can be beaten by a good player (claiming to be a newbie) at the ++ level. Implementing the above changes would make it more challenging at the easiest level, and really tough at the higher levels.

Henri

BTW, at the easy level, if losses are low, one should be careful not to overproduce: at one point I found that all of my supplies were required just to keep my units alive, and that all my production had to be used for supplies. Agains a competent human, a mistake like this could be fatal.

Hi Henri !

I would like to say that I think most of your problems numbers 1-5 stem from a AI problem not the scenario.

as for number 6 you can look at the map and see the borders say in china for instance and get some idea of how things are going there but there isnt anything you can do to see whats happening in naval fights.

I can say this... the AI is weak in amphibious and naval warfare so if the AI is playing japan most of the time he does little to take islands or fight manilla or anything like that.  I dont know what it does but i havent seen it do much of anything.

Henri-
Your numbers 3, 4, & 5 are why I play humans! No AI is ever as clever as a human, and no human is ever as inept as an AI, IMHO.
I've played AT against the AI twice and got so frustrated with their lame moves that I decided to give it a try (with great fear) and play humans.
It's been great. Everybody playing AT seems to be really good natured and has given me lots of great experiences.
Not as convenient as the AI I readily admit, but immensely more enjoyable.

Good luck, whichever way you choose to play.

ORIGINAL: 82ndtrooper

Hi Henri !

I would like to say that I think most of your problems numbers 1-5 stem from a AI problem not the scenario.

as for number 6 you can look at the map and see the borders say in china for instance and get some idea of how things are going there but there isnt anything you can do to see whats happening in naval fights.

I can say this... the AI is weak in amphibious and naval warfare so if the AI is playing japan most of the time he does little to take islands or fight manilla or anything like that. I dont know what it does but i havent seen it do much of anything.

Thanks for the info about Japan. Indeed I can check each hex and it tells me who controls it, so I can get an idea of who controls what in the Pacific. Japan does control most of China and some islands, but the US has Wake, Midway, Guadalcanal and others.

Although the problems ARE mostly due to poor AI, my suggestions are to make changes TO THIS SCENARIO without modifying the AI (to the extent that is possible). It doesn't take much of an AI to know to keep a strong garrison in Moscow and London, two of the four hexes required for Germany to win the war. Is it possible for an event to put troops there that can't move until attacked by land?

The Siberian reinforcement problem could be solved by an event dumping a strong contingent of Soviet veterans on Moscow in December 41. And the first Winter penalty on the Germans needs to be increased so that the Germans are not able to continue major offensives in that first Winter. Perhaps reducing German readiness by an additional factor of 2 for the first Winter might do it.

Telling the AI not to put 10 air corps in the same hex without any protection may be a bit more difficult since that WOULD probably require modifying the AI.

Assuming that these changes can be made to THIS scenario (WaW), it would make playing at AI+ much more difficult and at AI++ almost impossible.[:D]

Henri

Well, an AI++ is not more clever than an simple AI. It has just more units. I had the same kind of problem against AI++ with bonus. For instance, a small german force with two armored cars and ten rifle made a raid on Alexandria and captured a british aeronaval group with 2 BB, 2CA, 2DD and 1CV with 5 carrier aircraft: just the quarter of the british fleet[8D]. I hope a human did never a such mistake...[:D] 
 
Another situation, we are in may 1940, I have allies and AI++ have german, so, I've got the first card "France prepared...", even teh second "british commitment", but German is still defending the Reich, after some poor attacks against maginot line during the winter. AI seems to have play his "blitzkrieg card" (it have Oslo and Copenhague), but don't breakout my lines. Well, well, well, Japan is not yet wake up, and will not wake up before a long time [:D]!