Matrix Games Forums

Hello,

I have been playing an "on again-off again" Reluctant Admiral Campaign as Allies vs. Japanese Ai for the past several years. I have made it to July 22, 1943. My old PC is dying and I am about to buy a new PC and will be forced to do a fresh install.

Im thinking of starting a new game (probably as Allies) but would welcome recommendations & opinions on these questions:

1. As of August 2024, what scenario or mod would give the best, most challenging, game against a Japanese Ai?
2. What patch should I use with said scenario? v1126a or 1127?
3. What map mods are recommended? I was using the Pacific Bellum map for my RA game.
4. I was also using, I believe, the AE Art Mod which I would like to use again.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks.

1. Maybe DaIronBabes, I have AAR about it here: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 5&t=386787

You find it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20220117062 ... is-dababes

2. You could use michaelm's beta patch (it is for old map and corrects some things in 1126a): https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 3&t=386537

3. I also use Pacific Bellum.

1. Any scenario really, provided you house-rule yourself.
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 0#p4907560

3. Art is subjective, so whatever suits your boat. I have found many recommended maps to be too dark, too grainy or too blurred.

Yaab wrote: Thu Aug 08, 2024 10:05 am 1. Any scenario really, provided you house-rule yourself.
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 0#p4907560

3. Art is subjective, so whatever suits your boat. I have found many recommended maps to be too dark, too grainy or too blurred.

+1
Specific Map Mod complaints:
- text is often hard to read against the changed background
- if playing with Hexes OFF (just the dot in the middle of the hex), it is often hard to see whether the hex is shallow or deep sea.
- it can be difficult to determine where estuaries (navigable rivers) end.
- jungle rough and wooded rough can be difficult to distinguish from their flatter counterparts.

And you only notice the beauty of the modded map for a short time of playing and then you ignore that background to look for the INFO that you need to play the game.

TopPoMap chemkid map is the best out of the 3 map mods (stock, TopPoMap chemkid, Yamamoto chemkid ). The stock map has really ugly Mongolia and the ocean in between Alaska and Russia (makes it look like the ice age). When the Yamamoto does a poor job of coloring forests and trees on the map (their forest is in yellow/orange for whatever reason, make it looks like mountain). It does have really nice looking rails though.

https://witpae-mod-page.webnode.cz/

I've often felt the reason the Pacific Bellum map has always been so popular is that it's essentially one of chemkid's beautiful maps with transparent colored overlays to differentiate terrain types and shallow water.

2. You could use michaelm's beta patch (it is for old map and corrects some things in 1126a): https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 3&t=386537

So if I use the patch recommended above, do I need to install a previous patch before this one?

basilstaghare wrote: Sat Aug 10, 2024 2:19 am 2. You could use michaelm's beta patch (it is for old map and corrects some things in 1126a): https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 3&t=386537

So if I use the patch recommended above, do I need to install a previous patch before this one?

You need the 1126a first and then that one.

basilstaghare wrote: Thu Aug 08, 2024 9:40 am Hello,

I have been playing an "on again-off again" Reluctant Admiral Campaign as Allies vs. Japanese Ai for the past several years. I have made it to July 22, 1943. My old PC is dying and I am about to buy a new PC and will be forced to do a fresh install.

Im thinking of starting a new game (probably as Allies) but would welcome recommendations & opinions on these questions:

1. As of August 2024, what scenario or mod would give the best, most challenging, game against a Japanese Ai?
2. What patch should I use with said scenario? v1126a or 1127?
3. What map mods are recommended? I was using the Pacific Bellum map for my RA game.
4. I was also using, I believe, the AE Art Mod which I would like to use again.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks.

"Challenging"? Then you need to go to one of the Ironman scenarios. Any of the historical scenarios are simply too easy against the AI, particularly the IJ AI. Why? The AI has no ability to adapt strategy beyond what was originally envisioned. So as time progresses and the AI losses add up, it's ability to support the original strategy falls off sharply. The Ironman scenarios provide additional replacements so that the AI is able to support its strategy far longer making it a more challenging game.

Most PBEM players call this cheating by the AI. AI players call this FOW. So in some of the Ironman scenarios, the AI might get extra CV's (maybe 6 more). AI players simply look at this as the Kaga gets an extra few lives ... you thought you sank it, but actually it was able to be repaired. It's just perspective. Anyway, it will also allow you to play until 44/45. You won't make 1944 in any of the historical scenarios unless you are a really poor player or intentionally lose a lot of battles ...

The AI may be scripted (and dumb), but is its also undermind by game's internal mechanics. Take wild swings of LCU AV during land combat, with AV swinging between 30-50% to 200% or more of the original AV, due to + and - modifiers. Some of the boneheaded moves by AI (early Jap attack on Chengchow across river) suddenly become strokes of genius, provided the AI gets leader(+) modifiers on two subsequent turns. How can AI "plan" for that, if land combat is black-boxed?

If AI's unit AV was, via a bonus, stabilised, of if AI received some kind of bonus to aircraft coordination, it could be probably a better way of helping AI than inflating its OOB or giving it supply subsidies,

This is a game by Gary ....

BTW, part of fun playing against AI is that AI is a proxy for AndyMac. It is interesting to see how AndyMac would play the game as his scripts unfold.