Some Questions: AI Speed, etc.

[dblose]

A few questions on the game.
1. Does the AI speed affect the quality of the AI's play, or is a slower speed only to facilitate watching the play?
2. Does attacking affect entrenchment? Does entrenchment influence attacks from entrenchments?
3. How does shooting artillery from an infantry unit affect its ability to attack. If the artillery is not shot separately, will it be incorporated into an attack (against an adjacent unit)?
4. Can you make hex grid maps of the scenarios available for printing?

Thanks,

MAJ Dave

[Vic]

ORIGINAL: dblose

A few questions on the game.
1. Does the AI speed affect the quality of the AI's play, or is a slower speed only to facilitate watching the play?
2. Does attacking affect entrenchment? Does entrenchment influence attacks from entrenchments?
3. How does shooting artillery from an infantry unit affect its ability to attack. If the artillery is not shot separately, will it be incorporated into an attack (against an adjacent unit)?
4. Can you make hex grid maps of the scenarios available for printing?

Thanks,

MAJ Dave

1. No slow AI means it takes more time to ponder its move. The increase in quality of the move is not linear to the extra time spend, but the moves do improve.
2. Yes and no.
3. Shooting artillery depletes action points for the artillery component of the unit, making it impossible for the unit to do another move afterwards.
4. You can turn off FOW (in scn setup), turn of Screenshots (in prefs), and hide units (in buttonbar) and press next turn in a game. That should give you a clean map in the screenshots/ directory.

best,
Vic

[dblose]

Thanks. I had a great time defending in Case White--it felt like a desperate battle for the entire game, but in the end I inflicted 20 percent casualties on the Germans and could have kept the Panzers out of Warsaw until probably 7 or 8 October. To the detriment of my Saturday, I did about 25 "one more turns"--a good indicator of an engaging game. I will try again and slow down the AI. I find defending is an easier and more fun way to learn the mechanics of the game.

Thanks for clarifying use of artillery.

In games with larger maps, I find it useful to have a printed copy of a map to better understand the strategic perspective and distances involved.

Some observations:
1. I looked desperately a few times for a "take back" move when I mistakenly investigated a hex while deciding where to move. I understand why it is not available because of FOW issues, but I did have several "oh crap" moves. I suspect the problem will fade as I become more familiar with the interface.
2. I found it difficult to plan sometimes when HQs were buried in stacks--is there a way to cycle them to the top? I also found that sometimes it was difficult to distinguish/identify units' HQ affiliation using the color bar. At the MACRO level it is not a problem, but when zoomed out it would be useful to better distinguish units to understand the battlefield and command and control.
3. There were times when I couldn't play a leader's free card (the play card link was not active). I could not understand why.
4. I've yet to see the black box with white letters signifying battlestack points. Is this something I have to turn-on?
5. The unexpected leader and political events-although usually unwelcome-added to the gaming experience. It created new and unique dilemmas which required creative solutions. Although at times discomforting, it is realistic.

MAJ Dave

[koreannie]

it was a good indicator of an engaging game. I will try again and slow down the AI.





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criminal minds dvd;lost dvd

[Vic]

When playing the AI as an experienced player I advice giving the AI the +20/25% bonus. It really helps evening out its shortcommings (As any AI has) while the bonusses are not that extreme at that level that it becomes odd.