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Allied AI Mod Version 2 (Released!!)


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I always test at +1. I'm not the best player in the world so if I can have a tough challenge with +1, I can reasonably expect casual players to get beat at +1 and expert players to have a challenge at +2.

Also, for people who get beat on +1 they can always scale back to .5 or 0. Ideally I want most casual players to have a tough time, but a victory at +0. If casual players can beat it on +2, then that's not good!! smile.gif

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Now in March 44 in my game.

STILL trying to take Moscow. The russian AI is BRUTAL. I think I may have outfoxed them though. During bad weather I operated the entire Italian military and some paratroopers to Rostov, and launched a surprise attack on the Caucasus (all action had been up north). Have now cut off the oil fields and can hopefully take them.

The American and British air power in France is BRUTAL. I have six 2/2 German AFs there, and they are getting whipped! I shudder to think of the coming D-Day.

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Very nice! smile.gif Nice move cutting off the Caucasus. If you can secure all those MPP's it'll give you some breathing room in Russia. I've found that the strength of the US lies in their combined air and land attacks. France is much easier for the Allies to take when they can bomb and strafe any hapless Axis troops that poke out from cover.

I assume the US hit North Africa but were defeated?

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http://www.militarymodeler.com/portal/category_253/content_768/contentview.html

768ruin.JPG

Russian Army Assault Infantry

During World War II, the Russian Armed Forces consisted of five main elements; the Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force, National Air Defense and Armed Forces Support. The Ground Forces represented about 80 percent of the total manpower, being the largest in strength. It had approximately 5,300,000 military effectives at the outbreak of the Russo-German War in June 1941. However, devastating damage brought by the German Mechanized Forces resulted in more than 70 percent losses of its entire troop strength within five months. This led to rapid reorganization of the Ground Forces, and with a help of the harsh winter climate of Russia, they managed to repel German's advance just in front of Moscow. Due to the heavy losses, reorganized units became much smaller than before. Rifle Forces (infantry) reduced their divisional strength from 14,483 to 10,859. Tank Divisions, which possessed some 20,000 armored vehicles, lost about 70% of them at the initial stage of war. Most surviving Tank Divisions were disbanded, and the available tanks and crews were re-assigned to much smaller units like independent tank battalions or tank brigades. It was in 1945, just prior to the end of the conflict, that the Russian Armed Forces recuperated the pre-war level of their strength.

The main strength of the Russian counter-offensive was their tank troops. Following concentrated fire by their artillery units, the tank troops advanced in three groups, and many infantrymen rode on the tanks of the 2nd and 3rd groups. This infantry practice was unique to Russian tactics and was called "Tankoviy Desant" by the Russians. Since the Russian Ground Forces did not possess armored troop carriers like the German halftracks, an infantry battalion called the 'Motor Rifle Unit" was attached to every tank brigade and assigned to close support the tanks. A Motor Rifle Unit consisted of about 500 infantrymen. PPSh-41 or PPS-43 machine guns as support arms. Soldiers carried as many magazines as possible, and advanced while riding on tanks. Once encountering an enemy's defensive position, infantrymen would disembark from the tank, attack the position, and then return to the tank. These infantrymen were spearheads of the attack, and due to enemy's defensive fire, liable to sustain heavy casualties.

1639t34.JPG

Detailed Commentary of the 'German Invasion of the U.S.S.R.'. http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_6.html

I read somewhere that the Russian's were at the end of their manpower reserve's toward's the end of WW2 and that they couldn't afford to maintain the pace of loss'es anymore!. I couldn't find that information this go-a-round!.

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Some thing working on/testing for version 2.2:

USSR

----

- Finland Offensive. This only happens if they have a secure defense at Moscow and Stalingrad is under control. I'm hoping they don't try and go up through Leningrad!

- Minsk Offensive. This can take place in 1943 or beyond, if Moscow is still secure and they have enough units. While the Russian defense is much better in 2.1, I'll be working on scripts to try and get them to go on the offensive once in awhile.

- Fixed garrison script (Smolensk, Rostov, Voronezh, etc).

UK

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- Higher chance of sending reinforcements to Egypt.

- Tweaked Egypt scripts, trying to get the British to attack Syria/Tobruk under the right circumstances

- Took out Trondheim attack and set up an Oslo amphib landing under the right circumstances. Heard the UK lands badly there, so may remove it if it doesn't work out.

USA

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- Tweeked Torch script again. One time, 65% chance check to launch Torch and if Alexandria still under UK control.

- Chance to research ASW.

- May consider US landing in Norway if Torch doesn't happen. Would like a pre D-Day attack by US ground forces, whether it be Torch or something else.

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Originally posted by Normal Dude:

Rostov, Vorenezh, Smolensk, Archangel, etc. I saw the AI having garrison problems with all except Moscow and the front-line cities.

Same here, ArchAngel had no units on it.

BTW, somewhere Greece partisan script was changed.

Partisans are active but they don't cause damage to the city and port. So you just have the pop up, hehe.

I should have played the mod at the highest settings, but still it was fun. AI cut off my scandinavian convoys with diplomacy and I never managed to get Spain on my side.

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Glad you enjoyed it Blashy. Not sure about the Greece partisan script, that's definitely one I've never touched.

What settings were you on? Were you playing the 2.1 version? What year did it end for you?

How was D-Day? Did the US go to NA?

Sorry, just looking for as much info as I can on people's experiences to see what adjustments I should make. smile.gif

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Hi.

Not a frequent poster but a very frequent player and lurker of these excellent forums.Never heard of SC1 so have come to the game without preconceptions.Cracking work on this latest mod.You have made what was a brilliant engine with undeveloped AI into a really cracking gaming experience.Thanks for all the hard work.

Cheers

Ian

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Just had another battle. Couple more niggles I saw (Was still very challenging):

1. Brit AI in NA reacts oddly if I abandon in the beginning. I pulled the Italian forces out when the Italians joined, a corps in each resource for defense. Later on, the tank and a commonwealth corps attacked El Agehlia (sp?) on their own. With no supply it turned into an eternal fight.

2. Maybe it was just me, but it seems the Brit/USA AIs don't research their aircraft techs fast enough. Maybe it was just the luck of that game.

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DC: Thanks, I appreciate it! I probably put way more time into working on this mod than I should, but I love the game and am a big fan of challenging AI. smile.gif

ND: I've seen this too. The Brits in Egypt are something I plan on really looking into and testing for 2.2. The key is making sure they are defending properly if the player goes to NA, and also to attack properly when they have the #'s to do it.

As for the air tech, I've noticed that in general they don't get too high too fast. Usually by 1944/45 they are at least level 2 or so for both fighter and bombers, but I've noticed the AI doesn't seem to upgrade their air units as efficiently as their ground. It may be because air units in the UK are usually going on sorties round the clock until snow/mud hits.

The UK/US research is still another area I'm looking into fine tuning some more.

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Keep it up Timskorn!,... i am in the crowd that loves a good/great AI player opponent!.

Some say it will never amount to anything!,...that it is a highly predictable slope headed gaming moron!,...yes, perhap's it's not spectacular much at the moment!...but, one-day with interest and input such as your's and other's,...it will one-day make the AI 'AMOUNT TO SOMETHING'!...of that...i hold as an eventual conclusion to this debate!.

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I downloaded your mod this past weekend Timskorn and have had a chance to play Axis to early 42, Expert/+1. Thanks for your great work.

A few comments thus far. France surrendered ~ July 40 two turns after I captured Paris, the entrenched tank wasn't a real problem. I didn't see the BEF but the UK sent in an upgraded Corps which was destroyed.

UK then did the usual round of attacking French/Belgian ports/cities. I left 2 airfleets to cover until Barbarossa so damage was minimal. UK has Heavy Bombers 1 but hasn't upgraded yet, the fighter is 1/1 same as me. Sub war has been a total fiasco even with ASW 0, lost all three Subs early so am now building up a new Sub fleet and waiting for better tech - no luck thus far. The UK sent chits to Sweden and I lost their MPPs for awhile but invested myself so have turned them back.

In the Med the Italians invested in IW/AT and Mot and have bought an HQ, Tank and Corps. They destroyed 2 Battleships and the Carrier for the loss of 1 Battleship. The UK AI seems determined to send its forces against the Italians one unit at a time. Thus far I have destroyed the UK tank, 1 Corps and 1 upgraded Army. The Italians are finally advancing and I destroyed the UK airfleet which was alone half way between Tobruk and Alexandria! The BEF is in Egypt.

I captured Yugoslavia and Greece early 41 before attacking Russia in July/August. Russia had IW2 and HT1 initially to my IW2 and HT2. Apart from the garrisons, Russia has not really tried to defend Odessa - Kiev - Vorenzh(?) - Minsk - Smolensk - Riga and as a result I have captured them all by the winter. The Siberians have arrived now and probing from Smolensk I see a massive double line defending Moscow - should be fun!

Germans have been consolidating the last couple turns, sending in more arriving reinforcements and now have IW3/HT2 to Russian IW3/HT1. The Russians appear to have as many troops, if not more, than the Germans though the Germans have to garrison a lot of places so the Russians really have the advantage.

I will play more this week and keep you updated.

Ron

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Hey Ron, thanks a lot for the detailed AAR. The UK AI in Egypt is a real tough one for me so far. I'm still working on it. It mostly has to do with making sure Alexandria is protected, but then also making sure all the British units go on the offensive when need be.

For the next version I've fixed the Soviet garrison problems with cities like Voronezh, Smolensk, etc. However, the AI likely won't defend them with anything more than that in order to preserve units for the defense at Moscow.

Looking forward to hearing more about your game. I'm hoping to get the next version out on Friday, or by the middle of next week, so the more feedback the better.

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Anyone finish a game yet? What were some of the highlights, and how did it end?

I've decided to keep the UK in Egypt on the defensive for now. One notable problem is the AI always shoots straight for El Agheila. It seems the AI isn't considering Tobruk and instead tries capturing an empty city. They get cut off, you destroy their armor and infantry and then taking Alexandria is easy enough for just the Italians to do! smile.gif

So what I'm doing is sending reinforcements to Egypt through the loop, and keeping a double-line defensive position next to Alexandria. You'll pretty much need some German units there to have any chance of taking Egypt. When the US invades later and if the UK still hold Egypt, I'm shutting off the garrison script and letting them loose. By then you shouldn't have enough forces to defend against both the US and UK, unless you start pulling from Russia.

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Hmm, you should be able to. The only things I've really touched are the 4 scripts (plan, research, etc) which are entirely based on the default 1939 campaign map. Almost everything requires x,y coordinates though, so if the map you plan on using the scripts with is different it'll cause major problems.

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I just got done playing the mod. Russian moves were good. The AI rotated it's forces so there was always troops in the cities. It fell back when the situation got bad for them. Russia play well. I did a late sealion. Which may account for some of the Russian toughness. With England down, the US invaded England with a paratrooper, tank, a coulpe of armies, but no HQ. Needless to say the invasion failed badly. England was lightly defended, so it could have had a shot at taking a port. At the end of the game the US had 7000 MMP's, 13 ground units, a fair amount of air, all sitting in the US.

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Originally posted by Timskorn:

[qb] Anyone finish a game yet? What were some of the highlights, and how did it end?

I've decided to keep the UK in Egypt on the defensive for now. One notable problem is the AI always shoots straight for El Agheila. It seems the AI isn't considering Tobruk and instead tries capturing an empty city. They get cut off, you destroy their armor and infantry and then taking Alexandria is easy enough for just the Italians to do! smile.gif

Timskorn, one change with the v1.02 patch was that the AI no longer automatically assigns Fortresses as offensive objectives and thus the reason it goes for El Agelia. If you write a script for the UK AI to attack Tobruk manually it should then work as expected.
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Originally posted by Timskorn:

Hey Ron, thanks a lot for the detailed AAR. The UK AI in Egypt is a real tough one for me so far. I'm still working on it. It mostly has to do with making sure Alexandria is protected, but then also making sure all the British units go on the offensive when need be.

For the next version I've fixed the Soviet garrison problems with cities like Voronezh, Smolensk, etc. However, the AI likely won't defend them with anything more than that in order to preserve units for the defense at Moscow.

Looking forward to hearing more about your game. I'm hoping to get the next version out on Friday, or by the middle of next week, so the more feedback the better.

Hi, I had a chance to play some more this morning up to fall 43. Some interesting play in Russia less so from the UK/US.

I was mistaken earlier, it was Kharkov I took late 41. Anyways spring/summer 42 saw Leningrad, Moscow and Rostov fall though not easliy! Two German Armies were destroyed and for several months it was all I could do just to reinforce the main combatants. There was no extra for research or rebuilding the destroyed Armies. At this point the Germans had IW3/HT3 vs the Russian IW3/HT2.

By late 42 Moscow was screened from the Russian build up north while the bulk of the Germans surrounded Voronezh from the north and south to cut off about a dozen Russian units. It wasn't easy but Voronezh was finally captured spring 43 for the loss of 2 more German Armies and the FJ. These were some tough battles.

That seemed to break the Russian back as the Germans then went on to capture Vologda, the city north of Moscow and the two cities before the Urals. Stalingrad was defended by about 6 units but fell easily to the German Tanks(HT4). Another ~6 Russian units are trapped in the southern oilfields. Not sure what the Russian can rebuild now but they are pretty much finished.

The Italians with 3 Armies and a Tank slowly ground into Egypt for most of 42 and finally surrounded Alexandria which was defended by the UK HQ. Several turns of attrition finally saw its capture. Bad for the UK AI as the MPP drain also saw the destruction of its Home AF and Bomber. The Italians then carried on through the MiddleEast and now in Fall 43 they are into southern Russia.

The UK still did its usual bombing forays until it lost its Bomber and AF. I had operated back the German AFs(3) to France earlier. The US entered the war in Spring 42 but has done nothing of note. Once I had the MPPs I began to rebuild the Subs and they went raiding, suprised to discover 2 US Corps, 1 Army and 1 Tank sitting near St.John's Newfoundland!!

Anyways I will play a few more turns but I think the game is in hand.

Ron

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