So, how is the AI these days?

[alanschu]

The AI is decent, but still not particularly bright.  I started bombing the transport/cargo ships that were bringing supplies into Canton while I sieged it, and the AI essentially just let me bomb them.
 
The AI also insisted on performing air raid after air raid against Yenen, despite the fact that my CAP there rarely had a plane damaged, despite destroyed.  I now have a Chinese air squadron with an average experience of 85, and 4 pilots with 99 experience, each with over 50 kills!
 
I also think the AI just "gave up" on Java Island after I held it for a while.  The only reason I lost Palemburg was because I was bored and started doing Shock Attacks to amuse myself (and provide a bit more challenge in the future).
 
And my carrier task forces are having a field day against Japanese shipping to the Marshall Islands, as well as to Rabaul.  Unforutnately, he was too aggressive with his carriers, particularly near Amboina, but also the Java Sea.  By October 1942, I had sunk 5 aircraft carriers.  2 fleet carriers, 2 light carriers, and an escort carrier.  600+ Japanese ships sunk, to ~150 Allied ships sunk.  And this was my first time playing the game.
 
I'll play it through probably to completion still, and then want to play Japan to learn their nuances.  But I suspect that I'll be trying to move on to PBEM soon enough, where I'll probably get spanked against someone that really knows what they're doing.

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

When judging the AI, remember that each time it plays is the first. After you have played once, if you play again, you have a significant advantage.

Bye...

Michael Wood

ORIGINAL: pad152

One thing to remember a lot of players have been playing the game for years, no game AI will stand that test of time. You see the AI doing the same thing again and again. The AI for Japan does well in the first six months of the war in the stock campaigns. I'm currently playing allies against the AI as Japan with the CHS mod, the Japanese are not doing as well. It can be fun to try different things, I'm planing a northern route to take on Japan, through Midway, Marcus Island, Saipan, Tinian, and Guam to try to cutoff the southern and southeast forces.

A lot of players are playing mods, and the AI has some issues with some of them.

[bradfordkay]

But, Mike, for some of us relics of the sixties and seventies - everytime WE play is the first time too... Now what was it we were talking about?

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: alanschu
And my carrier task forces are having a field day against Japanese shipping to the Marshall Islands, as well as to Rabaul. Unforutnately, he was too aggressive with his carriers, particularly near Amboina, but also the Java Sea. By October 1942, I had sunk 5 aircraft carriers. 2 fleet carriers, 2 light carriers, and an escort carrier. 600+ Japanese ships sunk, to ~150 Allied ships sunk. And this was my first time playing the game.

The Japanese carrier losses thus far in your game are not as bad as they were in real life. In the real war, Japan had lost the Shoho, the Ryujo, 4 of the Pearl Harbor carriers, plus a number of cruisers and destroyers by October 1942. They lost their first BBs soon after.

Your merchant shipping score is probably much higher than in the real world at that point in the game. The US submarine campaign didn't start to really take a bite until mid to late 1943 when the torpedo problems were finally solved. Torpex, introduced in 1943, also made submarine torpedos much more damaging.

When I played the AI, when Singapore fell, I still held Palembang and had pulled back most of my base forces and air assets there. I noticed the AI transferred a lot of ships to Singapore just after it fell and it wasn't smart enough to realize that the Allies essentially had air superiority over the approaches. My LBA pummeled the IJN. By the time Singapore fell, I had some LBA bomber units with experience around 90.

The stingbags (Swordfish) also made good. I had a British carrier task force north of Borneo and the Japanese sailed the Yamato by a hex away. The first strike of the stringbags sunk the Yamato. The second strike couldn't find the ship because it was already sunk. Maybe that first strike had some veterans of the Bismark battle who were determined not to let the BB get away again? [;)]

As others have said, the AI does fairly well if major events play out similar to the real war. The AI does dumb things when history starts going a different direction. It doesn't know what to do when the Allies have a strong air presence near Singapore when it falls into their hands, so it tries to follow history with disastrous results.

The AI still kicked my backside for the first month or so of the war. I was fumbling around trying to figure out what to do and it took advantage of my inexperience.

Bill

[qgaliana]

I've only played the Japanese AI, and it pretty much works to a script. It will react to a certain degree to your forces but not a lot. It doesn't seem very good at reading intel to gauge your strength. That said I haven't tried it at hard level which is supposed to give it better intel which might help it.
 
I'm fairly sure it will never ever attempt to invade India or the West Coast or even PH. I try to assign troops to their defense anyways just to give myself a more realistic game.
 
One thing is, it doesn't seem to recognise isolation of ground troops as a problem. You might want to restrain yourself from just driving ZOC around cities in China. It doesn't react and slowly starves. Ground combat is still so insanely slow you might not get much advantage from this anyways.

[Nikademus]

Playing on "hard" will allow the AI to react more to your moves though don't expect "critical thinking" type reactions. Hard is also useful in that it eliminates certain logistical penalties for the AI, aiding it's play.