The St Clair Counter-Offensive

[Adam Parker]

Want a capable AI?

In this weekend's play of a fresh campaign of Overlord I've had to check a few times behind my monitor to see whether indeed there was a live human taking the role of the German AI [:)]

I've been so thoroughly impressed that having owned the game such a short time, I can honestly say, I've had my money's worth in entertainment already.

In this round of play, slowly the dominoes started to fall in my favor: Cherbourg, Valognes, St Lo, Caen, Carentan and these were by no means easy feats. Yet, they did result from a change in strategy on my part and one I fear will not be guaranteed next time.

However, here is the key: Did the AI give up? Hell no! Duirng this process and thereafter, it threw at me expertly crafted 10:1 attacks, 7:1, 5:1 and fantastically, 1:1 efforts all designed to jostle me off my balance. And there is nothing like seeing an AI 10:1 attack fizzle in a "-" result! Caen, Carentan and all the way east of St Lo, these attacks persisted.

But then something special occured. The AI sought out a thinly stretched part of my line north-northeast of St Lo where the pressures of Carentan and the US line to the southeast itself, had intervened drawing assets for my own efforts to turn the enemy's flanks.

The result was not merely an AI counter-attack but a fully blown counter-offensive! My line ruptured right at the point protecting what had become a rich multi-hex artillery park and the resulting exploitation saw tube after tube fall before I could assemble a fire brigade of my own to bring things to a semblance of order, both AI and US lines stetched to the brink.

It was a beautiful gaming moment and something I'd credit a human pulling off, head-head over a cardboard map.

The history books now call it the "St Clair Counter-Offensive", having occured 4 hexes north-northeast of St Lo at the town by that name.

At the end of 32 days of fighting, the Allies had 858 points and a Marginal Win! But 142 points shy of a Decisive performance [:(] Scholars will debate whether the day at St Clair had drained and deprived the Allies of those points and most definitely the fruits of a planned push southwest towards the victory location of Coutances which subsequently did not materialize.

Tonight as I sit down to dinner with my wife, I'm setting an extra plate for the AI [:D] There's nothing electronic going on with this war gaming partner! Nup. There's someone sitting behind my CRT - and now its time for him to play the Allies and teach me a lesson there dare I say [;)]

Well done again SSG and Matrix. Very cool gaming.
Adam.

[Fred98]

Nothing like a good wargame!

[philsublime]

You're right! The AI is superb! I played a lot of wargames, unfortunately I missed out on KorsunPocket, but there is nothing comparable. You play the game and you don't feel like "working". It's pure addictive wargaming. I managed to win the omaha beach scenario, after I tried about 10 times. I already suspected the AI to cheat, because I didn't have a chance. Then I thought about the games I played and the mistakes I made, tried it again, avoiding my past mistakes, and voilà, a (marginal) victory. And that's just one scenario. One more thing: It doesn't feel like I "solved the puzzle" or something. The AI is really flexible. You never know what's going to happen next. Just excellent! Really excellent! I can't wait to play the big campaign...