Matrix Games Forums

I'm back after a three year break and would like to pick up where I left off my game. I'm on beta patch 11.23p.

Way back when I had the AI in WitP (not AE) go brain dead on me once and would hate to have that happen to my game (not sure if it was patch related or what).

I read the patch notes and didn't see many AI related things change but thought I'd see if anyone had thoughts.

I'm super impressed (although not really surprised) at the continued work on the patches, thanks a lot! I always know when I get time in life again I can come back to this monster game.

Thanks!

the AI is the AI and it is not particularly bright.

if you find yourself avoiding certain tactics/strategies so as to not break the AI, it is time to find a partner (victim?) for PBEM.

rms/pa

It sounds like you are interested in more challenging games against the AI. There are some mods and script variations that will give you that. Look at the Ironman scenarios and some of the newer mods. The Mod forum is a good place to start. I think there is a sticky with a linked list to all the many mods out there on that forum.

RMS speaks the truth....you will only find "truth, beauty and goodness" by PBEM!!

Thanks for your feed back! As someone who has been reading AARs since UV came out I totally understand that the real game is PBEM. I also know how heart breaking it is when an AAR partner disappears and I would only get into it when I knew I had a more stable life style!

My primary concern is that patching might impact the AI "script" of the game I already started. I'm playing scen 10 and I'm at 5/19/44. I'm not sure why but I sort of feel like "finishing it". Perhaps the AI script doesn't come into play too much at this stage anyhow but I would hope it would still send out carrier strikes of what it's got left.

But now that you mention mods I see Andy Mac has some newer scenarios to try which might be really cool. I was totally caught off guard by the scen 10 "gambit" the AI played although still managed to keep the Oz base it tried to grab, barely. Hats off to him for trying to make us lonely AI players feel a little bit of that PBEM excitement

AI in AE is considerably more active than in WITP. Yet in stock scenarios it fizzles out rather quickly against experienced player.
Try Ironman scenarios if you want more challenging game against AI. AI itself remains the same on the tactical level, but is given much-much more assets so can entertain you longer with slaughter, as well as some unexpected special scripts )

Scen 10 is the first Ironman scenario released and certainly I've sunk some unfamiliar Japanese CVs! Point taken though that some of the newer scenarios might have more to offer. I suppose if patching DOES impact the AI's ability to fight, like throwing off a script because things act differently, then I could always start a new game! But I just (when I last played in 2013) recaptured Singapore! (I believe on Very Hard the AI can't run out of supplies completely so some places are just going to be crazy to crack like Hong Kong with fort 9).

ORIGINAL: Lomri


Scen 10 is the first Ironman scenario released and certainly I've sunk some unfamiliar Japanese CVs! Point taken though that some of the newer scenarios might have more to offer. I suppose if patching DOES impact the AI's ability to fight, like throwing off a script because things act differently, then I could always start a new game! But I just (when I last played in 2013) recaptured Singapore! (I believe on Very Hard the AI can't run out of supplies completely so some places are just going to be crazy to crack like Hong Kong with fort 9).

My understanding is that game patches deal with user interface issues and perhaps the air combat model but the scripts themselves are not touched. So for Scenario 10 the AI will still have the same list of targets and time frames to take them.
Anyone know differently?

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

My understanding is that game patches deal with user interface issues and perhaps the air combat model but the scripts themselves are not touched. So for Scenario 10 the AI will still have the same list of targets and time frames to take them.
Anyone know differently?

Yes, the scripts are not adjusted at all when new patches occur. That said, in late 2012, Andy Mac revised all the AI scenarios so they work with Patch 07, the last official update. To be clear, unless you are using an unpatched original version of AE (god forbid!), you MUST download and use these updates (or those released since, which I'll get to next). It wouldn't necessarily crash your game to use the original scenario files, but there's no good reason to do so.

He's had a number of individual scenario updates (and some new) since then, most of which are linked to in this thread. More recently, in March 2016 Andy issued several updates that use a new AI, so those might be your best option (for Scen 1, 2, 10 and "Tier3 Allied Ironman").

Great information!

Hmm, since I last played in 2013 I may have applied those scenario changes. From what I've read in the thread you linked to it seems ok to run the updates with an existing game in progress.

I guess my worst nightmare is I do something that breaks the AI and I spend 3 months playing the game not realizing I'm playing against an AI that isn't fighting back!

Anyone have an idea if there is an easy way for me to check if the AI is on track?

+1 to Any's hard work in increasing the AI effectiveness. That man is devious. Which is a great thing for those of us who cannot commit to a PBEM.

"Anyone have an idea if there is an easy way for me to check if the AI is on track?"

You can go to the other side & look [;)]
By 1943 it's gonna be having problems [;)]
Check the scorecard.

When the AI stops invading and only sends an occasional raid it has run out of scripts objectives or has run out of forces to fulfill that objective.
In the former case, it is just digging in to keep what it has but likely does not have a coherent base development strategy.
In the latter case - you broke it and it will only send raids here and there or make air strikes at your invasions.