Timskorn

#9 I would say the current system is set up already to essentially do this. The key is scripting when to activate and cancel these scripts. If there is a script to garrison Romania, it should be cancelled if city x and y are currently occupied by the enemy, or if both should be garrisoned at the same time the cancel effects shouldn't overlap each other (which I think is happening now, causing it to ping pong).

Did you set the length to a higher number than 1? The German attack on Benelux is set to 2, for example.

I like mine "cool", too cold and you lose the flavor.

Yep, this can definitely be scripted and I think it's a good idea. With the right factors I'd like to add in Mussolini's death and the surrender of Italy when it looks like the end for them (and Germans not faring well in Russia).

Thanks, I hope it ends up giving at least casual gamers a run for their money until HC's patch emerges. You're right, until we get the patch the UK will have to be scripted to take Iraq/Iran, etc only if there are no Axis units nearby to take Alexandria. Without reinforcements, the UK only has enough to defend or attack if Axis presence is limited.

It's in the Urals right? Svestlagnsirnsnsr or something.

Current game update: France ------ The one physical thing that I changed in the startup of the 1939 campaign was to put the French Tank in Paris and make sure it stayed garrisoned there. It took me until August 25, 1940 for France to surrender, and I lost a considerable amount of MPP's reinforcing damaged units (his level 1 heavy tank would knock my tank down to 5 or 6 strength). I also tweaked the garrison locations a bit so they aren't right on the border of Benelux when war starts, helping them protect Paris better (or at least slow you down more! ). I'm also going to add a script to pull the Maginot Line defenders back once Paris is threatened. UK ----- Late 1941 UK launches their attack on Tobruk. Due to my losses in France I spent most of my MPP's trying to make sure I was built up for Russia. I couldn't spare any German units to help the Italians, they'd have to go it alone in North Africa. I won the sea battle in the Med but lost a BB and had my entire fleet damaged. I sent Balbo, my AF and an Army down to Tobruk. The first UK offensive bogged down, their tank suffering casualties from shore bombardment. They retreated and I brought in another Corp to help out. By then they regrouped and attacked again, this time with their tank, an army and AF and knocked one 1 army down to 2 strength. I managed to destroy their armor and they retreated again, and I went on the offensive. When I arrived at Alexandria more UK reinforcements arrived, I almost took out an army but they ended up destroying mine and tryed cutting of my lone Corp. I pulled back to Tobruk and am now sending another army from Tunis to reinforce. It's early 1942 and the US will soon be DoWing Vichy France, putting more pressure on my already beleagured Italians. Very cool to see the UK active down there. Near France, UK bomber/fighter is hitting cities and two cruisers are shelling coastal cities. Russia ------ Still having some trouble with these garrison scripts. Even when I turn off the scripts to garrison cities like Riga and Kiev, they still want to put 3-4 armies there, HQ's, AF, etc. Nevertheless, with the new production/research scripts I'm using they had 12+ units on the front with at least level 1 and 2 anti-infantry. I've taken Riga and Kiev, but it's winter of 1942. Russia tech right now is level 3 infantry and heavy tank, and level 4 IT. US ----- I checked their status pre-war and they have 2 HQ's, 3 Armies and 2 Corps in the US. Plenty to begin North Africa, and anything after that will go to the buildup in England. They have IT 3, infantry 2 and heavy tank 2. Overall ------- So far everything is looking a lot better in this game, besides the Russian AI. They're still tough, but it remains to be seen through 1943 how much they can hold up as I've broken through most of their forces. I need to try and get them to garrison cities early, and far behind the border. I also need to make sure the US invasion of North Africa will see an HQ land there as well. If not, it's a waste and I may pull this script until I can resolve that. I should be uploading this mod within a few days for testing and feedback. [ May 02, 2006, 07:27 AM: Message edited by: Timskorn ]

I agree Yogi, but reality is what it is, and if we need to script basics then so be it. Personally I love doing it, I've done it for a living with RTS games. I think everyone should know that one way or another a solid 1939 AI WILL be available. Hubert is working on a patch that should address the major issues. Also, editing isn't just about what ifs and basics, it's also about making a better AI. Even if Hubert released awesome AI from the start, it can always be improved to make it more adaptable and variable so each game can have different outcomes and strategies. John: That is what should happen, and it can happen if you change the min/max to [12,20]. I've had the AI take Brest a couple of times, and they won't land HQ's until it is secured (and they have HQ's available).

Awesome, very good news.

Technically a D-Day CAN occur with the standard script, but either the US/UK aren't building up enough troops there via Transport scripts or there isn't enough room in the UK for 20+ units. In any case there is a simple solution to it, thankfully, but I'm sure HC will have a great D-Day in the next patch.

So if #Goal_Position 1 is Cairo port, and #GP2 is the tile of the naval loop, it will first go to #GP2 and then proceed to its original destination?

Well, the scripts can be set up to account for these conditions, and could even switch to an alternate script where the US invades Spain. What I've been trying to script is to get the AI to take Casablanca and move east to Algiers, circumventing any Italian ships looking to sink any US transports.

Would be nice to have, but also a Strategy 4 for tactical support. However, for the most part I think bombers behave pretty well on their own. They tend to switch targets to tactical if they see an open target in France, for example. On one hand it's nice to have more control, on the other I'm glad HC has a non-script AI that can assess things on its own. When we script TOO much, the AI becomes less flexible and relies more on us to have scripts to accomodate different situations and can 'break' when up against something unexpected.

Good point, as against a good Axis player you will need D-Day to land at the earliest and most opportune time.

Sweet!! Great to hear Hubert. Edwin: You may have to make another script to check for when they arrive in Egypt. Hubert: Any plans on allowing any land coordinate a valid location for an Amphib_Plan? When trying to get the US to invade North Africa, for example, I want them all to land at Casablanca and then head east from there. Right now a couple units choose to land at Casablanca and another lands directly next to Algiers. Essentially, if I give an Amphib_Plan an Goal of an empty tile, it should be considered a success if it's reached by at least 1 unit. I've been considering adding a city resource next to the Casablanca port to overcome this so I can direct the entire Amphib plan to Casablanca.

In my last game the AI had 2 US and 1 UK bomber in Europe. I noticed the AI like to focus in on bombing a specific resource to 0 before moving onto another one. A lot of times a resource will be at 1 and a bomber will hit it, and then the other bombers will target another resource. On one hand I suppose this is good as it's an 'easy hit' for the bomber, and will increase their experience. On the other it's not utilizing the bombers as well as they could be, where they could essentially hit 3 different targets and really put the hurt on German MPP's.

Yep, these are scripts that still need to be added. I'm not sure if Hubert will ever add them, but the community certainly can. I've managed to script a US North Africa invasion, but it's difficult to get the AI to send an HQ over for support. Check out the scripting forum for more info.

Good points! With time we can eventually have scripts to work under a # of conditions, such as a script choosing to hit Brest or Benelux depending on the tactical situation in France. But, for now, the above 'fix' will help D-Day launch for people in most cases.

It'll happen. The scripting system is robust and will allow for some pretty tough AI. It'll never compete with a human of course, but for most casual players it's reasonable to expect an AI in the near future that will keep them on their toes and deal them a loss once in awhile (without the need to make the AI cheat, although that's always a possibility like simply giving them more starting units and MPP's).

I've been working on the Allied scripts so can't say exactly why they're doing that, but from my experience with the Russian scripts, it probably stems from two Garrison scripts overlapping each other. In Russia, for example, the scripts are set up so cities are garrisoned when enemy units get close and ungarrisoned when there are no longer there. What happens is a 'ping pong' effect, where the AI probably gets a script saying 'Romania Threatened" and tries to op-move units there to protect it, but then gets a script saying "Berlin Threatened" and op-moves them back. Just a guess, but it can definitely be addressed (or at least alleviated) by changing the scripts.

This is the script, and I modified it in my current mod so it works. The problem in the script is #Activate_Position. I'll briefly explain it: 64,15 is the tile that it references for the script. [7,7] is the tile radius from 64,15 that the script checks. [20,20] is the min/max # of allied units within a 7 tile radius of 64,15 (London I believe) that is required to 'start' the script. [2] just means Allied units. Basically, D-Day will not launch until at least 20 units are within a 7 tile radius of London. What I did was lowered the minimum to 12 or so, just to see it work, and it will. There are still some issues with it though, I've found. Namely, if you're good against the AI, you'll have plenty of units ready by early/mid 1943 to easily thwart a D-day attempt. Second, the way Hubert coded the AI, HQ's are not sent on Amphibious Assaults. The AI has to have Brest before any HQ's are sent over, this is to ensure that an HQ is not dropped in the middle of a bad landing. Personally, I'd like to see HQ's included at the risk of losing them because if the AI doesn't secure a city quickly, all of their units will be out of supply and will be easily killed off. A far bigger loss than a single HQ. Anyway, change the min/max # to 12,20 and you should see a D-Day. Also, you can change the #Date (Currenly 1943/01/01) to something earlier like (1942/5/01) so D-day starts as soon as they have troops available.

Wow, cool stuff, they look good too!

Ah, another good question. I have a feeling we can't script units to go to Egypt through the Naval Loop. The only other solution, although not a great one, is to remove the unit from England and create it later in the mid-east to simulate the transfer. As for #2 I believe you're correct. Can't remember what it says in the .txt file (at work again!), but it either picks the first one or randomly picks one of the two. Not sure what happens if you delay it if they have the same goal position, if one unit arrives at the position what does the other unit do if it can't get to it?

That'd be good to know, and would save some time!

Yep, and you have to look at the USA in the context of the whole picture. By itself, 350 MPP may not seem like a lot, but for the most part the US is using this exclusively for production and research. They're not on the front lines repairing expensive equipment. When you finally do attack in France it forces Germany to divert critical units away from the Russian front, essentially removing all those MPP's from the east. If US was getting 500 MPP's a turn they'd have a fully geared up massive army to sweep into Germany with before the Russians dug themselves out from Stalingrad.