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OK, the AI can never be anywhere near as good as even a bad human player, but some more devastating and repetitive blunders could perhaps be coded out?

For example - the AI needs to know that hex 41-6 (the one north-east of Leningrad) is VERY IMPORTANT and should be defended to the last man and last bullet, since its fall means the fall of Leningrad. Now sometimes it evacuates that hex when the going gets rough elsewhere - effectively surrendering the city, with garrison and all.

This happened again in the last game I was playing, the Fall Blau scenario as the Germans. I would normaly not even try to storm Leningrad since its far to well defended (And I never use the finns against Leningrad, since it would be ahistorical). But suddenly hex 41-6 was empty, the 18th Army moved in and soon Leningrad belonged to the Reich. I guess there is such a thing as a free lunch after all... <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

The same goes for hex 66-37 (the one east of Stalingrad) by the way. I'm not sure anything is wrong with the AI there, since I overrun the hex in the first rush on Stalingrad by the 4th Panzer Army. The Soviets might simply not have had time to prepare and dig in properly.

[ October 15, 2001: Message edited by: Yogi Yohan ]</p>

Add to this the hex immediately east of Kiev as holding that key position makes the german work for Kiev itself.

I would add that the AI treats bad highly fortified hexes in general: pretty often it evacuates well defended positions and even cities with no visible reason. Could Arnaud make it evaluate the fortification level a bit higher and so not leave the hexes that easily?

Originally posted by Barbos:
I would add that the AI treats bad highly fortified hexes in general: pretty often it evacuates well defended positions and even cities with no visible reason. Could Arnaud make it evaluate the fortification level a bit higher and so not leave the hexes that easily?

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This is true. How often have I not tried to storm a fortified city or defensive line, been bloodily repulsed and found that on the next turn the enemy has bugged out of the coveted position?

Now, this behaviour does make sense during the retreat of 1941. Staying put until surrounded is not conductive to Soviet survival. But later, there are positions and lines that should be held even if their entrench level just dropped some (like the abovementioned hexes, or the Don line).

Speaking of pulling out I remember an odd one where I attacked Moscow and was repulsed narrowly. Then come the next turn there is no army there. The AI had pulled out of Moscow!?! Now to be realistic the city was near enough to being cut off as 4 Pz Korps and an INF Korps were doing the attack but still...

Plus the failure of the computer to contest the occupation of the souther parts of the soviet union. It should at least establish a river defence there, although a failure to hold the hex behind Kiev dooms that plus the new rail lines thru the Pripesk marshes make it too easy for the german to send his Pz north and then south by passing the southwest front entirely.