Local Initiative & Risk Profile

[Tazak]

Can we get a brief overview to as to what aspects these 2 attributes affect for both 'unit AI' and 'force AI'

i.e which one is better for making the AI stop to bring additional forces forward before attacking a VL,

[CapnDarwin]

Being AI related, Rob will need to field this question. I let him know about it last night and it could be a couple days as he is in and out this week.

[Tazak]

cheers CD, not in any rush as I'm patiently waiting for 2.03 [;)] before I make progress on a few projects

[Tazak]

CD did Rob get around to looking at this question?

While he's at it could I get some clarity around "% CB Detection" - is the % change of 'being detected' or 'detecting enemy arty units firing'

[CapnDarwin]

I'll see if I can run down the answers tonight.

[IronManBeta]

Sorry guys, just so tired I can't think right now but I will answer for sure tomorrow. Cheers, Rob

[IronManBeta]

Local Initiative and Risk Profile. These two factors were originally key drivers of the Unit AI. Over time other factors have been added and the effect has been diluted but it is still there and does make a difference in the flow of calculations when decision points are reached.

Local Initiative – is a rough measure of how much latitude a commander has in interpreting his orders. Some armies allow and encourage each commander to know his superior’s intent and to strive to achieve that intent first even it means bending current orders or even not having specific ‘how’ orders. Other armies just want commanders to do what they are told and the creative part comes in trying to do just that no matter what obstacles are put in the way.

In this game units with higher levels of initiative tend to have wider spacing between movement waypoints (gives them more flexibility in path finding), air units start with a wider discretionary target radius, arty units are more likely to scoot right after shooting, and all units will be more willing to scoot one hex in the direction of safety after taking a loss.

Risk Profile – is a measure of how much risk of loss a unit is willing to bear to stick to its orders. In peacetime everybody talks ‘do or die’ but the reality in war is different. Units that are see the enemy and /or are under fire (but not taking losses) and have orders other than Hold or Assault will have a distinct sense of self-preservation working. If the risk is too high they will cut short their orders short and go do something more beneficial to a long life. Generally we want the traditional tanks and infantry to be gung ho and disdainful of old age but many of the other assets are too valuable just to fritter away and are given greater sensitivity to risk so that they will be around longer. Generally also NATO countries are much more sensitive to risk of loss than WP but this of course is a gross over-simplification. Nobody really wanted to die and I expect the Soviets would have been pretty pragmatic about backing out of sticky situations too if they had the chance. The problem with modern warfare is that is so fast and so lethal that you often don’t get that chance in time.

In this game national risk profile is a big input into the selection of group objectives. Far away and well-defended objectives are much less tempting on balance to a more cautious force.

At the unit level the risk profile helps determine minimum stand-off ranges, order of march when moving as a group, chance of aborting orders when spotted / under fire, chance of scooting (involuntary movement), assuming a Hold versus a Screen order, and chance of loss of morale when a subunit is lost.

You also asked about the “% CB Detection” for artillery triggering counter battery fire. This is a quick and dirty number that is applied after every artillery shoot to see if the enemy has picked up enough of a fix to launch a counter battery stonk. The Soviet number is the chance that NATO will reply and vice versa. We could model this in greater depth certainly but it is useful as is to give the player a sense that arty can’t just shoot with impunity – sometimes there will be retribution.

The mechanic is that after each shoot by an on-map artillery unit there is that chance (6% for Soviet artillery) that the enemy Fire Support Control Center (FSCC) will plot a counterbattery fire mission against the hex it is in. Whether that mission happens or not depends on the availability of the NATO artillery and what other demands are currently placed on them but from time to time the mission will be fired and you will see the results.

[Tazak]

cheers Rob

[Tazak]

Rob, the “% CB Detection” might be bugged.

I created a scenario with the soviets “% CB Detection” set at 20% - I had to give the NATO side a way of dealing with a fairly large amount of AI Soviet arty. What I noticed while testing was that the soviets that were doing more CB fire, I redone the scenario with the same forces but soviets back at 6% and the British up at 20%, this time the British arty were CBing like madmen.

I'll PM you the scenario if you want to see I'd rather not post it here as its the first scenario in my campaign and would like to keep it under wraps [:'(]

[cbelva]

Tazak,
I don't know how often Rob checks the forum. He is pretty busy coding for the 2.04 patch right now. I sent him an email regarding your question to make sure he is aware that it is here.

Looking forward to seeing you campaign.

[Tazak]

Thanks cbelva, hopefully shouldn't be long before I can release the campaign I've got 2 peeps playtesting it as I think I have the force balance about right, just trying out some Local Initiative and Risk Profile changes along with CB fire to see how much it changes the 'texture' and must say its impressive how the AI changes with each Local Initiative and Risk Profile tweak