Cheat Mode?

[Petiloup]

Did play the game from Beginner to Emperor mode now for some time and if I noticed that from time to time the AI as an
infernal luck, I start now to think there is a cheat mode build in the game.

After trying repeatedly to win the last scenario "Defend the Empire" at Emperor level, I noticed that the AI seems to
have luck always at the right time when it makes a huge difference.

During a battle when you always have the initiative but when having only 2 units left [1 disrupted] then suddenly the AI
can use 4 units before you can do anything and you loose the battle.

After destroying a British army the last 3 remnants could retreat from my 20 strong army without a leader. As I could
hardly retreat anytime even with Davout a level 10 leader I did load and reload the game to see and that 3 units without
a leader did retreat 7 times out of 10. Not bad and counting I did vary moving army first to avoid software glitch like
a routine.

While pressed with Napoleon by multiple armies I did manage to win over and over having 6 ART of level 3 but then the AI
plays a Foraging card and on my 25 units the 2 lost are of course 2 level 3 ART. What a coincidence!!! The chance of this
happening is as remote as winning the lottery... well almost.

Not mentioning the number of times I did fire with multiple ART level 3 against an INF unit in square to no avail and that INF managed to
eliminate one of my ART in 1 shot.

Overall it's so uncanny that it would be funny if you weren't ending losing because of it.

Did anyone notice this as well?

[Asberdies]

yep it happens all the time in every game you make.On steam forum the dev said there is no cheat. In this case its a huge bug where there is something like a reversal of the odds, ie when you got most of the time 60 to 70% chance to succeed its changed to 30 to 40 and for the AI which must be 20% to succeed most of the time its changed to 80%.

[mercenarius]

I can confirm that there is no cheat mode for the AI.

I don't think that there is any kind of bug in the combat resolution, but, since I am not perfect, I will review the code sometime next week as a courtesy to the concerned players. I can tell you that there is no 'reversal of the odds'.

I want to emphasize that the combat results are random and sometimes the AI's 'dice get hot' as it were. When you get one of those 1 in 1000 cases of bad luck it really sucks. And I have to wonder if selective perception doesn't come into play. On the other hand, some few players may be experiencing extraordinary bad luck, and I don't know how to measure that from my machine after the fact.

In any event, I'll revisit the code. If someone wants to be a guinea pig, I can prepare a hotfix with some extra program logic to gather stats on the combat rolls to see if the random number generator is being too streaky. I won't be able to prepare that until next month, however. But if some players are really upset by the combat rolls, I can set up something to gather some data so that I can analyze it.

[klhbekool]

I posted previously about what happens when I invade Russia in one turn 60 to 75% of my 25 unit army is lost as soon as they enter Russia. I usually use the Ottoman Empire to do the dirty work. I also think the defeated army retreating forward to take territory rather than moving toward home is a bit much; for example 3 20+ stacks near Berlin with Prussia out of the war, I eliminate all but 3 units and they retreat into Berlin and capture it. This also happens when I beat Austria and they go for Bavaria so a card to liberate can be played. If your home country has been defeated that army should not be out liberating other countries.

[mercenarius]

Well, I have reviewed the code for the attack resolution in land battles and I don't see anything wrong with it.

Next week I am going to (start to) prepare a private testing version with some logic for extensive logging during land battles. Some of the players on the Steam forum have asked to give it a try. After checking their data I'll post something here.

[mercenarius]

plays a Foraging card and on my 25 units the 2 lost are of course 2 level 3 ART. What a coincidence!!! The chance of this happening is as remote as winning the lottery... well almost.

The probabilities here are not quite what you might expect. Assuming that there are only two level-3 ART, the chances of losing both of them here is (1/25 * 1/24) x 2.

Again, assuming that there are two such units in the army, here is the chances for losing one or both from the card:

Neither 3-level ART unit will be lost: 84 1/3 percent.
One such unit lost: 15 1/3 percent.
Both units lost: .3 1/3 percent.

Losing both level-3 ART units here will happen about 3 out of 1000 tries. It's a rare occurrence, but a long way from winning the lottery.

In case you are interested (probably not), the "x 2" in (1/25 * 1/24) x 2 is because there are two ways to choose one ART unit and then a second one.

[klhbekool]

Thanks. I hope you can look into a defeated nations army moving away from home to liberate another country. I defeat Austria and the remains of the army before they go in neutral status move to Bavaria so a liberate nation card can be played.

Thanks again