ChrisND

thanks benCG for that idea, I'm going to use that

Thanks you answered that one, and gave me a good idea.

If I am testing a certain script to make sure it works properly and this script is date-dependant, can I play a game up to just prior to the date, save it, and then be able to make modifications to the AI plan scripts and see the changes implemented when the saved game is resumed? Or do I have to start a whole new game? The reason I ask is because experimenting to find this out.. would be.. well.. confusing.. In regards to the Date flag for AI plan scripts: Is this the date that the AI begins to make checks, or merely a condition for activation? For example, if it was a type 0 and checked only once, would it check on this date only, or does it wait until on/after that date and when the rest of the conditions are fulfilled?

OK, I am trying to make an improved AI script for the 1939 campaign but I am hitting an invisible wall somewhere with getting the AI to implement plans. The research, diplomacy, and purchase scripts work fine, but not the plan scripts. The modifications I have made to the warsaw, benelux, and paris plans all go through fine. But when I attempt to add a Sealion and Norway invasion plan, the AI will not implement the plan for anything. In addition, when I got rid of the amphibuous (spelling wrong, I know) invasion of the Denmark and replaced it with an over land version, the AI ignored me and continued to execute its previous plan (which had been erased)! Am I missing something here? I must be missing something, but it's hard to tell with the rather bare info given with the scripts. The editor tells me there are no errors in the script, and for testing purposes the trigger was set to 100, with near-perfect conditions for the AI to do the plan. Still nothing. Here are the Sealion and Norway scripts I made, modeled after some pre-existing scripts. ; Germany prepares to attack Norway: { #NAME= Germany Build Up Amphibious - Oslo #POPUP= #FLAG= 1 #TYPE= 0 #COUNTRY_ID= 5 #TRIGGER= 100 #LEVEL= 0 #PLAN_ID= 2 #SIZE= 2 #LENGTH= 2 ; Oslo #GOAL_POSITION= 80,8 #DATE= 1940/05/01 #STEAL= 2 ; Set friendly positions: ; 1st Line - Copenhagen ; 2nd Line - Hamburg ; 3rd Line - Frankfurt ; 4th Line - Essen #FRIENDLY_POSITION= 81,12 #FRIENDLY_POSITION= 78,15 #FRIENDLY_POSITION= 77,17 #FRIENDLY_POSITION= 76,16 ; Set variable conditions: ; 1st Line - Poland politically aligned with Allies and surrendered #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 33 [2] [100] [1] ; Set tactical conditions: ; 1st Line - Berlin not tactically threatened #TACTICAL_CONDITION= 84,16 [1] ; Set dummy activate position (no units at position 0,0) #ACTIVATE_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [0,0] [0] ; Set cancel position: ; 1st Line - Axis unit already in Norway (due to possible Allied DoW) #CANCEL_POSITION= 80,8 [0,0] [1,1] [1] } ; Germany prepares to attack England: { #NAME= Germany Build Up Amphibious - Sealion #POPUP= #FLAG= 1 #TYPE= 0 #COUNTRY_ID= 5 #TRIGGER= 100 #LEVEL= 0 #PLAN_ID= 2 #SIZE= 6 #LENGTH= 4 ; London #GOAL_POSITION= 64,15 #DATE= 1940/08/01 #STEAL= 3 ; Set friendly positions: ; 1st Line - Paris ; 2nd Line - Copenhagen ; 3rd Line - Hamburg ; 4th Line - Frankfurt ; 5th Line - Essen #FRIENDLY_POSITION= 69,18 #FRIENDLY_POSITION= 81,12 #FRIENDLY_POSITION= 78,15 #FRIENDLY_POSITION= 77,17 #FRIENDLY_POSITION= 76,16 ; Set variable conditions: ; 1st Line - Poland politically aligned with Allies and surrendered ; 2nd Line - France politically aligned with Allies and surrendered #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 33 [2] [100] [1] #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 2 [2] [100] [1] ; Set tactical conditions: ; 1st Line - Berlin not tactically threatened ; 2nd Line - Bordeux not tactically threatened ; 3rd Line - Copenhagen not tactically threatened #TACTICAL_CONDITION= 84,16 [1] #TACTICAL_CONDITION= 63,21 [3] #TACTICAL_CONDITION= 81,12 [3] ; Set dummy activate position (no units at position 0,0) #ACTIVATE_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [0,0] [0] ; Set dummy cancel position (single neutral unit at position 0,0). This is not possible as no ; unit can occupy tile 0,0 so event will not be cancelled due to #CONDITION_POSITION #CANCEL_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [1,1] [0] }

Yes Hubert, the tank properties are as they should be, it is only the sprites. Also, the effect is intermittent. Some games I don't see any bug at all. One other bug I observed in a game between me and Hellraiser. Naval and air units will change their facing towards the movement of invisible enemy units outside of their range of spotting. This got rather annoying, as it makes it hard to sneak past enemy fleets. Even if he doesnt see you, he knows something is moving nearby because his ships change facing.

I am currently seeing Heavy Armor Level 2 Russian tanks that still appear as Level 0 armor tanks... Note that the Level 1 tanks appear as they should. Bug?

I love you.

I have a suggestion based on my game w/ fartknocker. The diplomacy feature as it is now is way too powerful. Right now the US or Russian can easily be brought into the game within a couple of turns. Either the number of chits needs to be decreased, or the % chance of them needs to be decreased.

Also, I should mention that I am currently creating a comprehensive flow chart describing Axis AI logical strategy for a vanilla Fall WeiB game on Microsoft Office Visio, might be useful to visualize how the scripts need to interact with each other, I'll make that avaiable when i finish it.

Also, I am planning on adding an addition to make Germany AI press Turkey after a successul Sealion, since Turkey's pro-Axis status goes way up.

OK, I think most of us can agree that making AI scripts that work and have variability will probably be the toughest thing in campaign design. For example most of the scenarios I have seen so far look great for PvP, but have the AI scripts untouched. Although they SEEM simple at first look, the script format can raise many questions that the provided instructions do not answer: If two plans with the same plan ID become valid at the same time, which does the AI pick? Do ALL conditions (Date, tactical, friendly, variable) in place need to be satisfied for a plan? If I have two plans with the same country ID, plan ID, and goal position ID, but with the goal position IDs arranged differently, do they both still have the same plan ID, or will these be considered seperate plans? Why are ALL plans given 10 turns to complete their task after build up is complete? And what happens after the 10 turns? And why are some of the scripts for Barbarossa build-up defined as having 100 turns, while others have 10 turns? These are merely sample questions I have come across while experimenting with the AI scripts. Sure, every player who scripts could spend hours, days, or weeks starting and re-starting games by experiment to find out what these answers are, but I believe that would be a major waste of time and effort. I believe the crux of script development is not within the individual scripts themselves, but HOW THOSE SCRIPTS INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER TO CREATE AN EFFECTIVE, VARIABLE AND FLEXIBLE STRATEGY. It gets really complicated when you try to design AI scripts that are not completely linear, for example the Benelux, Paris, or Barbarossa scripts. These are one-way and the conclusion is virtually assured. But what if after Paris falls, you want the AI to choose between a Sealion, a Scandinavia strategy, a Balkens strategy, or a Med strategy, or a combination? Now those conditions, and how they interact with each other, get really tricky. I have been experimenting with this and so far have been hitting a brick wall... the AI just decides to do nothing at all. That is why I believe us modders need to get together and start a techniques database of how to impliment AI strategies successfully. For example, someone could publish their findings on how to force the AI down certain strategic roads. Another could publish findings on how the conditions flags interact with each other and with different plans. Also, we could publish our scripts! This would save modders the trouble of re-inventing the wheel, over and over again, and allow improvement. I will start this off with the first contribution, a re-worked script of the German diplomacy script for a Fall WeiB game. This works! The German AI usually starts getting Spain success within a few turns! Also, the scripts are designed to be dependant on what strategic area the AI is pursuing, so that it doesnt waste chits. Here is a summary of the scripts so that you dont have to pick through the code: Germany Diplomacy: Germany Presses Spain: Start Date: Sep 39 Trigger: 75 Type 2. Spain being on Axis can only be good, regardless of the strategy employed, so for this script it is a default event. Germany Presses Sweden: Start Date: Sep 39. Trigger: 75 Type 2. Conditions: Oslo controlled by Axis, and Norway politically aligned with Allies, 100 percent activated, and surrendered. OR Spain politically aligned with Axis, 100 percent activated and not surrendered. OR Egypt politically aligned with Allies and surrendered. So for this, the trigger that set Germany to pursue a Sweden diplomacy are: 1. The surrender of Norway, which is a sure sign that the AI is pursuing a Scandinavia strategy. 2. The entrance of Spain on Axis side, allowing the AI to switch attention to new fronts once one has been successfully completed. 3. The fall of the Med to the Axis, allowing the AI to switch attention to new fronts once one has been successfully completed. Germany Presses Iraq: Start Date: Jan 40. Trigger: 100 Type 1. Conditions: Egypt surrendered, or Syria surrendered. This assures that the AI will get Iraq on their side after the pro-axis coup, AND after the Med has been secured. ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ; AXIS SCRIPTS - Germany ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ; { #NAME= Germany Presses Spain (1939 - ) #POPUP= #FLAG= 1 #TYPE= 2 #COUNTRY_ID= 5 #TRIGGER= 75 #LEVEL= 0 #DIPLOMATIC_ID= 38 #DATE= 1939/09/03 ; Set friendly positions: ; 1st Line - Berlin #FRIENDLY_POSITION= 84,16 ; Set variable conditions: ; 1st Line - Germany politically aligned with Axis and not surrendered #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 5 [1] [100] [0] ; Set tactical conditions: ; 1st Line - Berlin not tactically threatened (dummy condition) #TACTICAL_CONDITION= 84,16 [3] ; Set dummy activate position (no units at position 0,0) #ACTIVATE_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [0,0] [0] ; Set dummy cancel position (single neutral unit at position 0,0). This is not possible as no ; unit can occupy tile 0,0 so event will not be cancelled due to #CONDITION_POSITION #CANCEL_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [1,1] [0] } { #NAME= Germany Presses Sweden (1939 - ) #POPUP= #FLAG= 1 #TYPE= 2 #COUNTRY_ID= 5 #TRIGGER= 75 #LEVEL= 0 #DIPLOMATIC_ID= 39 #DATE= 1939/09/03 ; Set friendly positions: ; 1st Line - Berlin ; 2nd Line - Oslo #FRIENDLY_POSITION= 84,16 #FRIENDLY_POSITION= 80,8 ; Set variable conditions: ; 1st Line - Germany politically aligned with Axis and not surrendered ; 2nd Line - Norway politically aligned with Allies and surrendered ; 3rd Line - Spain politically aligned with Axis and not surrendered ; 4th Line - Egypt politically aligned with Allies and surrendered #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 5 [1] [100] [0] #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 32 [2] [100] [1] #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 38 [1] [100] [0] #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 17 [2] [100] [1] ; Set tactical conditions: ; 1st Line - Berlin not tactically threatened (dummy condition) #TACTICAL_CONDITION= 84,16 [3] ; Set dummy activate position (no units at position 0,0) #ACTIVATE_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [0,0] [0] ; Set dummy cancel position (single neutral unit at position 0,0). This is not possible as no ; unit can occupy tile 0,0 so event will not be cancelled due to #CONDITION_POSITION #CANCEL_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [1,1] [0] } { #NAME= Germany Presses Iraq (1940 - ) #POPUP= #FLAG= 1 #TYPE= 1 #COUNTRY_ID= 5 #TRIGGER= 100 #LEVEL= 0 #DIPLOMATIC_ID= 24 #DATE= 1940/01/01 ; Set friendly positions: ; 1st Line - Berlin #FRIENDLY_POSITION= 84,16 ; Set variable conditions: ; 1st Line - Germany politically aligned with Axis and not surrendered ; 2nd Line - Egypt politically aligned with Allies and surrendered ; 3rd Line - Syria politically aligned with Allies and surrendered #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 5 [1] [100] [0] #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 17 [2] [100] [1] #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 41 [2] [100] [1] ; Set tactical conditions: ; 1st Line - Berlin not tactically threatened (dummy condition) #TACTICAL_CONDITION= 84,16 [3] ; Set dummy activate position (no units at position 0,0) #ACTIVATE_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [0,0] [0] ; Set dummy cancel position (single neutral unit at position 0,0). This is not possible as no ; unit can occupy tile 0,0 so event will not be cancelled due to #CONDITION_POSITION #CANCEL_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [1,1] [0]

FYI for the patch team, I don't know if this is a known issue or not but I thought I'd throw it out here. In a Allies human vs AI Axis game, if the Allies invade Scandinavia with Norway, Sweden, and Finland on the Axis side, the wait time for the AI to calculate moves in that region becomes massive.... sometimes taking 5-10 minutes to move one corps. Once Scandinavia moves are completed by AI, it does the rest of the turn as normal. This cycle repeats every turn. I wish I had a saved file of it, but I don't. Hope this Helps! Chris

FYI for the patch team, I don't know if this is a known issue or not but I thought I'd throw it out here. In a Allies human vs AI Axis game, if the Allies invade Scandinavia with Norway, Sweden, and Finland on the Axis side, the wait time for the AI to calculate moves in that region becomes massive.... sometimes taking 5-10 minutes to move one corps. Once Scandinavia moves are completed by AI, it does the rest of the turn as normal. This cycle repeats every turn. I wish I had a saved file of it, but I don't. Hope this Helps! Chris

july 1939, France has fallen and Poland is going to fall soon. Italy has already gotten a modern navy and is massing for a med attack... I like the diplomacy option and the extra nations. Is there a way for France to not be at war? First major thing I see is that I think Poland's military capability needs to be ramped down.

In an odd twist of events, Poland DoW on Germany in Sep 1938 and advance on Konigsberg. The Italians join the fight and advance acress the French Alps. The first German troops move into France

Update. August 1938. Denmark and Benelux have fallen, but the Axis army has halted at France's border and an uneasy ceasefire developed, with the exception of some air attacks. The main action is on the diplomatic scene. Germany is trying to push her friends into the war before taking on the French army.

Me and Fartknocker (who the heck knocks farts anyways?) are starting this pupy up as a PvP. I am Axis and Fart is Allies. All options are on, will let you know how it goes.

272-776-309 Looking for TCP/IP games

We were testing out his eastern front scenario and I came up with the idea that by being able to alter the individual upgrade costs for units such as tanks, one could, say fr example, make tank upgrades very expensive at the higher levels and thus encourage a mix of tank types.