Edwin P.

In my view the two most importants improvements needed for better scripting are; 1. Global/Country Variable - so that the execution of all scripts - plans, research, diplomacy and production can be linked within and across countries. Example: GV= 1 Germany uses diplomacy on Spain, Italy uses diplomacy on Spain GV= 2 German research is focused on Submarine Warfare (via research script with parameter #GV=2 and Germany is more likely to produce subs (via a production script with parameter #GV= 2) Format of might be something like: Global Variable Script { #NAME= Axis Opening Strategy #POPUP= #FLAG= #TYPE= #Country_ID= 3 ; For Country of USA #TRIGGER= #LEVEL= #DATE= 1941/01/01 ; The Range of GV checks must cover the full range of 1 to 100 in sequential order] #GV= 1 [1,10] ; 10% GV=1 #GV= 2 [11,50]; 40% GV=2 #GV= 3 [51,51]; 1% GV=3 #GV= 4 [52,100]; 49% GV=4 #FRIENDLY_POSITION= ;Variable condition would allow a set of GVs to change based on the status of various countries. #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 2 [2][100][1] Research Script #1 #Flag= 1 #TRIGGER= 30 #GV_Condition= 3 [1]; Country ID [Global Variable Value] 2. Execution Priority - so that the order of script (planning, research, production and diplomacy) execution can be changed. Thus, you would have scripts for; Planning, Research, Diplomacy, Production, Global Variable and Execution Order The Global Variable would always execute first, followed by the Execution Order Script which determines the execution order of the remaining scripts. [ June 09, 2006, 08:12 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Many thanks

If you wish to send me the campaign I will be most happy to test it. Just a note - Blashy - totally caught me unawares in a game where he had the UK invest in Diplomacy vs Russia. They entered the game very early. Very Early indeed. :eek:

Thank You. Correct, it was an Allied nickname. I know not why. I updated the Generals panel to show when and where a HQ unit was destroyed in battle.

An initial concept for the Generals Page. Ideally this page would be enlarged to support panels for eight generals - 4 across x 2 wide. It would show only activated HQ units. Destroyed HQ unts would have a red bar across the general's panel, until they were rebuilt. Players would see all Generals (by Country) who were spotted in the current or previous turns (even if their location is currently unknown). The Axis player would see UK, American and Russian generals (by selecting the appropiate country flag at the top of the page) who were spotted in previous turns in addition to German and Italian Generals. Format: General's Name Known As Year of Birth - Year of Death SC2 Ranking SC2 Medals SC2 Activation Month and Year Note: Red Bar appears when a HQ unit is destroyed. This bar shows month and year destroyed, along with the country where unit was destroyed. Note: Red Bar Text is: "Destroyed" if HQ can be rebuilt "Killed" if HQ cannot be rebuilt [ June 07, 2006, 11:28 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Agreed, We need a parameter or script that will tell the AI which script (planning, diplomacy, research or purchase) to run first, second, third and fourth. To ensure you have MPPs for Diplomacy you may want this script to run first at the start of the game, but when diplomacy is of lesser importance you may want this script to run last.

Suggestion - New AI Difficulty Setting AI Setting: Diplomacy Bonus AI receives a number of diplomacy bonus chits (1 to 5, Random) which are invested in a randomly selected country. Axis AI Bonus for Germany: 20% USA - Delayed entry helps Axis AI 20% Russia - Delayed entry helps Axis AI 20% Spain 20% Sweden - 30% Influence Activates Convoy for Germany 20% Turkey Allied AI Bonus for UK 20% USA - Accelerated Entry helps Allied AI 20% Russia - Accelerated Entry helps Allied AI 20% Spain - To counter any Axis Influence 20% Spain 20% Spain Why: This would make the game more unpredictable for the human player by affecting the entry date of the major neutral powers (USA and Russia) or by securing for the AI a new ally. Edit: Note that the percentages are the same to make it easy for modders to edit the choices in a text file. To increase the chance of any one event just list the country several times (i.e. Spain for UK Diplomacy Bonus). [ June 06, 2006, 09:23 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Another item, In a game today vs the Axis AI, the game finished with 4 German HQs in Italy (and no other German units in Italy), 1 German HQ in Bulgaria (supporting 3 German units) and six german units in Northern Germany with no HQ support. Also Berlin and Munich fell to Soviet units because they were not garrisoned, and Soviet Armor advanced from outskirts of Warsaw to Berlin and Munich in 1 turn. That said, the Game vs the Allied AI is very much improved.

I am looking forward to seeing your scripts, I created an offensive script for Finland (country 19) - it sends 1 corps (Size=1) to Tile 111,1 (Archangel). If the allied player is not careful he may lose this northern port. The script is triggered 50% of the time while Lenningrad is Soviet held, and 100% of the time if Lenningrad is held by the Axis (this is done using 2 scripts, by adding an additional Friendly position). Of course - the AI does not know how to take Leningrad, but perhaps HC will rectify this in a future patch.

In a game vs the AI, I as Allies took Ireland and Norway. Swedish leanings towards Germany jumped to 56%. Yet Germany did nothing. So I propose the following two scripts, which increase Germany's chance of purchasing diplomacy chits based on the leading of Sweden; IF Sweden 50% or more towards Germany - then Germany is 25% likely to purchase chits diplomacy chits. IF Sweden 70% or more towards Germany - then Germany is 100% likely to purchase diplomacy chits. Any Comments? ; { #NAME= Germany Presses Sweden (if 70% or greater) #POPUP= #FLAG= 1 #TYPE= 2 #COUNTRY_ID= 5 #TRIGGER= 100 #LEVEL= 0 #DIPLOMATIC_ID= 39 #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 #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 5 [1] [100] [0] #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 39 [1] [70] [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 (if 50% or greater) #POPUP= #FLAG= 1 #TYPE= 2 #COUNTRY_ID= 5 #TRIGGER= 25 #LEVEL= 0 #DIPLOMATIC_ID= 39 #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 #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 5 [1] [100] [0] #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 39 [1] [50] [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] } A similar script would be added for Spain too; { #NAME= Germany Presses Spain (if 70% or greater) #POPUP= #FLAG= 1 #TYPE= 2 #COUNTRY_ID= 5 #TRIGGER= 100 #LEVEL= 0 #DIPLOMATIC_ID= 38 #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 - Spain aligned leaning 70% towards Axis and not surrendered #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 5 [1] [100] [0] #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 38 [1][70] [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] }

A collection of notes on how to improve the Axis AI for Patch 1.1 1. It would be nice if the Axis AI could be programmed to attack when Russia Readies for war, now it always seems to attack early - sometimes too early. 2. In 3rd game at game end Germany had 4 HQ units in Italy and 1 in Bulgaria. While there were 3 German units in range of the Bulgarian Unit there were no German units in range of the German HQs in Italy, there were however 6 German units without a HQ in north Eastern Germany. 3. Although Allied DOW Norway and Swedish readiness jumped to 56%, no German Reaction. Solution: Add Diplomacy Scripts based on % leaning of Nations; i.e. At 20% Pro-Axis Germany purchases Swedish Diplomacy chits, At 50% Pro-Axis Germany is 50% likely to purchase a diplomacy chit, (not the standard 10%). At 75% Pro-Axis Germany is 100% likely to purchase a diplomacy chits. Same for Spain and Turkey. 4. Italy Attacks Greece - Good idea, but why no Amphibious invasion script - i.e. Attack by sea if No British Navy, Attack by Land if British Navy. 5. Add Normal Dude's Sea Lion Scripts More to Come

07. Plan for changing execution order of Diplomacy, Research, Upgrading/Reinforcing and Production scripts by Nation Example for France Turn 1-2: Diplomacy 1st then Reinforcing Upgrading then Production Turn 3-4: Production then Reinforcing/Upgrading then Diplomacy then Research Turn 5+: Reinforcing/Upgrading then Production

06. Garrison Unit Type parameter that allows scriptor to determine priority of which units are assigned tol garrison a specific tile (i.e. Armor then Army then Corps) vs. (Corps then Army then Armor). This will allow for a scripted stronger defense of specific tiles/cities. Example: I always have the French Armor unit entrench in Paris as a Human player. There is no way to do this with the AI.

01. Add Planning Script for Moving/Operating Air Units Why? So I can move my UK bomber and Air unit to Egypt or operate my Air Unit in Egypt to the UK if the situation deteriorates, instead of having it automatically retreat to Jordan and wait to be destroyed. Example: #Type = 4 (Move/Operate Air Units) 02. Add Planning Script for Moving Naval Units so AI Navies can ambush and destroy Italian navy when Italy enters the war. #TYPE = 5 (Move Naval Units) 03. Add Research Script for Reclaiming Tech Chits. Example: Reclaim German Tech chit in Rockets at Game start because German AI is not scripted to build rockets. Example: Germany reclaims tech chits when Warsaw falls to Soviet Army. 04. Add Global Variable. 05. Convoy Scripts to control amount of MPPs sent to allies, taking into account if there have been any convoy losses and if so then allow convoys to be stopped for a randomly selected number of turns (to minimize losses) before resuming. Example: 3[50][30][0,3] - Convoy from USA at 50% of max allowed (50% x Max for US of 30% = 15%) stops for 0 to 3 turns when convoy losses exceed 30% of amount in convoy. 1[100][50][1,1] - Convoy from UK at 100% of max allows (100% x Max for UK of 40% = 40%) stops for 1 turn when convoy losses exceed 50%. [ June 05, 2006, 10:58 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Note On Cancelation Scripts: 2nd Line - canceled if Allies reinforce England #CANCEL_POSITION= 64,15 [0,6] [3,10] [2] [0,6] means that the AI will randomly select a distance of 0 (min dist) to 6 (max dist) tiles. To have the script always evaluate on a distance of 6 tiles you need to set it at [6,6]

Goood points, I think that future patches will be more oriented towards improving the AI as this the first one was primarily aimed at bug fixing and play balance issues, though it did add quite a number of new scripts. That said; 1. Naval Fleet Scripts Needed 2. Reclaim research chits will be fixed, according to another post by HC. 3. AI needs multiple research scripts to insure that it researches industrial tech. In my mod I use one script for USA 1939-1940 where USA MPPs purchase Industrial Tech and Production Tech and no units, no diplomacy. 4. Engineers need special scripting.

Here is a trick that I use. 1. Use the garrison script to have a unit garrison a specific tile 10% of the time. Example: XX,YY 2. If this tile is occupied Script x will execute. If another script is occupied then Scripts Y,Z will execute. Perhaps, in a future patch HC will add support for a global variable so that production, planning, research and diplomacy scripts can be linked. This means that if the global variable is X then scripts 1,2,3 will execute. If the global variable is y then scripts 4,5,6 will execute.

Looks interesting. I will try out this week.

This would be most helpful, as one may only want to send corps into Iran not armies or have corps and armies invade Norway, not Armor units.

Franky-Boy; Just what I was thinking, use blank portraits as place holders for pictures you don't have or can't use.

In some European countries including photos of the Axis leaders may not be good or acceptable business practice.

5. Quotes from Generals There is a 4% per turn (1 in 20 turns) a player sees a popup with a quote from one of his active generals along with the General's picture. Allied nations (not Axis) may also see a quote from one of their nation's leders. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. - General George Patton Jr Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. - General George Patton Jr In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. - Dwight D. Eisenhower Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning. - Erwin Rommel History shows that there are no invincible armies. - Joseph Stalin In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance. - Joseph Stalin Never, never, never give up. - Winston Churchill The quotes a player sees are dependent upon which HQ units you have purchased and are still active. [ June 04, 2006, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

I don't find the new SD/TD for Armies to be unrealistic, according to the doctrines of each of the nations that received a boost. Finish, Spanish, Swedish and Swiss troops were just better prepared for fighting defensively. Finland - Experienced from 2 wars with Russia Swiss - Prepared mountain redoubts, well trained ready reserve. Spain - Experienced from Civil War Swedish - Well trained ready reserve. In my opinion none of the other neutrals, including Canada, matched these nations in their preparation for war.

Hubert and Madmatt, many thanks for the feedback.

4. Diplomacy Screen Chrome When a player selects a minor country (not a major power), have a picture of the country's leader appear along with his name, office, and term in office. Example: Enhancements: 1. Seperate Leader Portraits for Neutral Nation, Allied Controlled Nation and Axis Controlled Nation. Example: Norway Neutral: Johan Nygaardsvold (Labour Party) Norway Axis Controlled: Vidkun Quisling Norway Allied Controlled: Johan Nygaardsvold 2. Date Specific Portraits To account for the historical change of presidents or prime ministers. UK 28 May 1937: Neville Chamberlain UK 10 May 1940: Winston Churchill UK 27 July 1945: Clement Attlee 3. Add photos of USA (Roosevelt/Truman), UK (Chamberlin/Churchill) and Russian (Stalin) leaders but omit German and Italian leadership photos. 4. Add Below Name of Leader: Country Name - United Kingdom Population (in 1940) - 48,216,000 Type of Government - Constitutional Monarchy Coat of Arms (or the flag) Example 01: Winston Churchill Prime Minister 1940-1945 United Kingdom Constitutional Monarchy Capital: London Population: 48 Million Example 02: France France Republic Capital: Paris Population: 41 Million [ June 06, 2006, 08:24 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]