Edwin P.

Yes, Italy needs transports so it can send fresh troops to Algeria, an Italian colony. USA needs transports so it can send fresh troops to Hawaii and the Phillipines in my Pacific War Mod.

Out of the Box Alternate Strategy #3 - UK Conquers USA! Game: Demo - Human vs. Axis AI Strategy: UK Conquers USA - Gains 3445 MPPS! How: UK DOW USA. UK operates Air units to Ottowa. USA moves garrisons from DC and New York to attack Ottowa. UK Air units spotted USA units moving towards Ottowa. Only Boston Garrison did not move. UK takes unguarded NYC and Washington DC with Amphibious Invasion! Gains 3445MPPs. Fix: 1. USA needs Axis aligned production strategy 2. USA needs to always guard Washington DC. Unguarded it can be taken in one turn via an amphibious invasion. 3. USSR JOINS Axis! or USSR Pro-Allied War Readiness Declines as Communists wait for Axis and UK to wear themselves out battling each other. [ April 10, 2006, 09:53 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Many thanks for the update HC. It will be interesting to see if Germany attacking Italy remains a viable strategy after you update the AI. I just noted that all of the Italian Production and Research Scripts assume that Italy is Axis. I assume that new production and research scripts would have to be written for the case in which Italy is Allied and Rome is threatened or not threatened. Else Italy would not produce any new units or conduct any research. Futhermore, I assume that if Allied Italy is threatened by an attacking German player you want Italy producing and reinforcing units, not investing in research or diplomacy. PS: In Demo as Allies I DOW'd USA and tried to take Boston and NY after sailing across the Atlantic. Did not work. The effect of a long voyage endered my invasion force totally ineffective. Will try again staging from Canada and sending forth 3 carrier units; hopefully before the Demo ends. My objective: See if UK and France can conquer USA before France surrenders. I know its a crazy and totally unrealistic strategy, but I just want to see if its possible for the UK & France to conquer the USA. If the USA has only an allied production strategy (i.e. it does not produce units if Axis aligned) it might be possible to do this and gain a ton of MPPs.) [ April 10, 2006, 08:35 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

I wonder, will I be able to write a few AI scripts that will take advantage of a human enemy that uses transports as spotters? When I receive the game I will certainly try my hand at it. Already, I have seen what happens when Germany attacks Italy (for 1700+ MPPS!)instead of going after France. The UK AI does not move UK units in Egypt to Italian cities in North Africa (so they will remain UK controlled if Italy surrenders) nor does the Italian AI send its forces from North Africa to Italy to aid in defending Rome. Two items I will try my hand at fixing through the AI scripts. Possible AI Scripts for: Germany DOW Italy and France is Not Surrendered and ITALY is not Surrendered. a. Italy sends transports from North Africa to Italy with reinforcements b. UK Units in Egypt move via transport to guard Italian cities in Algeria, and seize it if Italy surrenders. c. Italy moves units to defend Rome d. UK Navy in Med moves to Block off the Eastern Med from German Amphibious Invasion. e. UK sends extra corps from UK to Egypt from UK. I think that this is doable with the current scripting engine. [ April 10, 2006, 07:58 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

1. Being out of supply really has a huge effect in this game as the strength of your units declines rather rapidly. This is especially true if you attempt to amphibious invad the USA and it takes you a few turns to get there. Your units do no damage! 2. With FOW on the UK Naval AI is more active than it was in SC1, especially in the Atlantic. The Naval AI does need some fine tuning as in a recent game the Axis sunk 5 UK naval ships with no German units sunk. 3. It is easier to destroy units in this game, especially after taking a few neutral nations as this penalizes the morale of the defender. 4. As mentioned by another player, even if the Axis abandons the Seigfried line the French AI does not advance units to take an empty German city. Nor does the Allied AI move to take Italian cities if Germany conquers Italy. 5. I like the new Amphibious movement as it enables surprise attacks. 6. The airborne unit is cool, but must be used wisely. 7. The fewer units on the map really opens up the game on the Eastern front. 8. It will be interesting to see how the full game plays both HvAI and HvH. 9. Its a big change from SC1 but the simplicity and playability of the original game is still there. 10. I really like the diplomatic engine. No more cookie cutter! And a much more realistic response to Axis (attacking Sweden or Switzerland) and Allied actions (i.e. Allies attacking Ireland or the Benelux Countries). 11. Movement after combat is great. A most welcome addition. It has a big impact on the game, if used. 12. The increased diving percentage for Subs - 25% without tech, is a welcome addition. 13. Lots of choices, so few MPPs for the Axis. 14. Combat in Sc2 is really deadly. [ April 09, 2006, 06:18 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

True, but properly placed neutral Russian transports should be able to keep German naval forces from entering or leaving the Baltic. ----------------------------------------- Also, the longer a naval unit is at sea the lower its morale drops. This may make the transport more susceptable to damage when it is finallly attacked. Also, if units are in transports, doesn't that mean that some cities cities may be left unguarded?

One. Two. Three. Scouts cost MPPs.

It increases the chance of your research being successful by 1% per tech level and reduces the success chance of the enemy tech research by 1% per tech level.

I don't think so, as the Partisan scripts don't support the Condition_Position parameter found in other event and planning scripts. #CONDITION_POSITION= 95,15 [1,5][1,88][2] ( 1 min to 88 max Allied units must be within 1 to 5 tiles of Warsaw (tile 95,15) for this event to trigger.)

PeterX, the allied advantage your refer to, in my opinion, should only occur if the Allies obtain a substantial intelligence tech advantage over the Axis AI. There is no reason why the Axis should not have the opportunity to break the Allied codes, if it devoted enough resources to this endeavor and obtain a similar advantage over the Allies. [ April 09, 2006, 07:47 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Dave, Many thanks for the clarification. I had thought that the conditional parameters and activation paramaters might apply to all scripts.

Question - is there any way to give the AI, and only the AI, a randomly selected bonus tech level or bonus research chits bonus in a tech area? It appears not, so here is another idea for improving the AI Script: Research Script Format: % chance assigned to this purchase [max chits][bonus Research Chits][bonus Tech Level] Example: Level=4 AI= 1(Script activated for Axis AI player) Trigger=25 (25% to occur at Expert level) #Advanced_Subs= 100[0][][1] In the above example the AI nation would receive a 1 level increase in his Advanced_Sub tech level Level=4 AI= 1 (Script activated for AI Axis) Trigger=10 #Advanced_Subs= 100[0][1][0] In the above example the AI nation would receive an increase of 1 in the research chits allocated to Advanced_Subs. -------------------------------- For a random starting tech levels you might have: Country_ID=5 Level=4 AI= 1 (Script activated for AI Axis) Trigger=100 #Advanced_Subs= 10[0][0][1] #INTELLIGENCE= 10[0][0][1] #PRODUCTION= 10[0][0][1] #ROCKETS= 10[0][0][1] #MOTORIZATION = 10[0][0][1] #JETS= 10[0][0][1] This example shows how the German AI at Expert Level would have a 10% to start the game with a higher tech level in one or more of the above areas. Thus making each game played against the Expert AI slightly different. Perhaps HC will consider adding a command line for AI script condition and the suggested research bonus parameters? [ April 09, 2006, 06:57 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Personally, I would like to see the intel tech have more of an impact in Sc2, other than a +1% to research and a -1% penalty to enemy research. Perhaps; Intel Advantage +2 - you see the enemies MPP balance. Now you don't see how many MPPs the opposing side has to spend. Intel Advantage +3 - you see the actual number of enemy units deployed on the Reports screen, even those you have not spotted before. Intel Advantage +4 - you see the research levels for all nations from the research table screen. Intel Advantage +5 - you see the location of all enemy HQ units.

In my view this 1. Would be a one time event as the surivors were litteraly decimated, and as you say any survivors were removed from the city. 2. The revolt only occured when Soviet forces were close by and were expected to come to the rescue, they did not. In fact they halted some distance from the city and waited; some say, for the Germans to eliminate the problem. My formulation of the script; without being able to test it would be: { #NAME= Warsaw Uprising #POPUP= Partisan uprising in Warsaw #FLAG= 1 (Default event) #TYPE= 1 (multiple check until trigger is satisfied - it will activate only once -CORRECTED PER DAVE) #COUNTRY_ID= 33 (code for Poland) #TRIGGER= 10 (10% that this event occurs - you don't want it to occur all the time otherwise the Germans will never leave it ungarded and in real life it was a total surprise to the Germans) #PARTISAN_FLAG= 2 (Partisans after Poland surrenders) #ADD_UNIT= 1 (adds partisan unit to the map) #DISRUPTION_RANGE= 1 #MAP_POSITION= 95,15 (location of Warsaw) #CONDITION_POSITION= 95,15 [1,5][2,99][2] (At least 1 Allied units must be within 5 tiles of Warsaw) #CANCEL_POSITION= 95,15 [1,1][1,99][1] (Event canceled if Axis unit is stationed in Warsaw) #DATE= 1942/01/01 (Can only occur on or after Jan 1942. This prevents an uprising before the residents had time to prepare and organize) #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 4[2][100][0] (Can only occur if Russia is activated and not surrendered. This ensures that Russia is at war when the uprising occurs.) PS: To test it I would temporarily set the trigger to 100. [ April 09, 2006, 06:47 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Cool, sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.

Yes, it is cool. Thanks, for the idea Mr.Dozer. I wonder why the UK AI did not move quickly to take some of the Italian cities that were left ungarded when Italy surrendered. Perhaps, some AI scripting is needed to handle this unlikely event. And I liked the fact that Germany could place its arriving warships in formerly Italian ports.

mustang96, I agree. Perhaps, HC will give the USA and Canada the ability to select from multiple convoy routes in a future enhancement (as SeaMonkey suggested) so it becomes more of a guessing game. Perhaps he will make the convoy routes visible to the Axis on the main map if Germany has an intel advantage over the Allies. Thus forcing an intel war between the Axis and Allies. Perhaps Intel Advantage +1 convoy routes appear on main map 25% of the time, Intel Advantage +2 convoy routes appear on main map 50% of the time as indicated by a single small ship traveling continously along the route (a bit of cool animation!) or as SeaMonkey suggested +1 reveals 33% of the route and +2 reveals 66% of the route on the main map.

Thanks, Blashy, that was the answer. The two tiles connected via a corner lake hex. PS: Elegant Feature, thanks HC Note: I attacked Russia before they annexed the Baltic states. In SC1 this prevented Russia from annexing the Baltic. In Sc2 they annex the Baltic states after they are at war. Just a note on a difference between the two games. I would think that the annexation should not be automatic if Russia is at war. They should have to DOW the Baltic states.

edwinfager1@msn.com - Allied

I DOW'd Sweden after taking Norway. The units I landed in Norway can't see the strength of the Swedish units when they are adjacent to them. But my German units can see the strength of Turkish units when they are adjacent to them (I DOW'd Turkey too and Russia operated Turkish units to Russia). Any ideas why the strength of Swedish units is hidden, both on the unit counter and in the descriptive unit stats box?

I was thinking about this too. One advantage for the allies is that it keeps the Germans from knowing where their convoy routes are. Secondly, perhaps an intel advantage allows the Allies to change convoy routes or scheme's more often. Example: Say that the Allies can choose from 3 routes and only change it every 10 turns. This limit is reduced by 2 turns for every level of Intel advantage. Intel Advantage +2 allows them to change the route every 6 turns instead of every 10 turns. Intel Advantage +3 and they can change the route every 4 turns. However, if the Germans have the advantage this turn limit increases. Example: At German Intel Advantage +1 it increases to 12 turns.

I noticed that too. When I get the full game I will have to see what effect this has on game play. Now only the playtesters know. I would think that if Axis got Egypt then Turkey and Iraq would become more pro-Axis.

You want the option to select a unit, and then while holding the alt key down select an adjacent unit and have them switch places when you release the alt key. Naturally, units attempting this would suffer a penalty to their readiness for European roads of the time were not built to handle massive troop movements going in opposite directions.

The Research Event scripting options are flexible in that you can 1. Select a % that a research area will be researched and set the max chits in this area. Example: INFANTRY=10[3] - 10% chance, subject to a maxiumum of 3 chits 2. You can set a CANCEL_POSITION that will cancel the research event if enemy units are closer than X tiles to a specified tile. Example: If enemy units are close to Manchester you probably want the UK AI to cancel researching and focus on building new units. 3. You can also set an ACTIVATE_POSITION that allows you to activate a research strategy if a selected number of units are within a specified position(s). Despite this power I do not see how to do five things: 1. Research ADVANCED_SUBS only if the AI player has Submarine units. If the AI player has no subs I probably don't it want to research subs. I would probably handle this by adding a third parameter to the research instructions: Units of that type on the map. New Parameter = [Country, Unit Type, units of that type min, units of that type max] Example: #HEAVY_BOMBERS= 10[3][5,1,2,99] = Russia (type 5) has 10% to research HEAVY_BOMBERS if have at less than 3 chits in HEAVY_BOMBERS and Russia (country 5) has at least two units (min 2, max 99) of bombers (type 1) on the map. If the AI does not have any Bomber units it will not research HEAVY_BOMBERS if the third parameter is [1], it will if the third parameter is [0]. 2. Research ANTI_AIRCRAFT_RADAR only if taking city and resource damage from enemy air units or research ANTI_SUBMARINE if taking damage from Submarines. Example: If Germany bombs UK ports and cities the UK AI should probably research Anti-Air. If Germany does not bomb UK ports and cities the importance of researching ANTI_AIRCRAFT_RADAR is reduced. Perhaps a new counter for Infrastructure Damage from Air Attacks during the prior turn and a bomber damage condition. CITY_AIR_DAMAGE= number of prior turns, [country code][min dam, max damage] The computer would track infrastructure damage received from air attacks during the prior 4 turns. The condition would activate if over prior X turns infrastructre damage from air attacks exceeded the minimum and was less than the maximum. Example: CITY_AIR_DAMAGE= 2[5][10,99] If infrastructure damage to German cities and resources exceeded 10 over the prior 2 turns then this research event is triggered. CITY_AIR_DAMAGE= 1[5][15,99] If infrastructure damage to cGerman cities and resources exceeded 10 during the prior turn then this research event is triggered. 3. Link the AI Research Event activation to a Production Event. Example: Say that I want the AI to pursue a battle for the Atlantic 10% of the time. This means that I want to Research ADVANCED_SUBS and Build Subs. I don't see how I can ensure that the AI does both at the same time. 4. Reclaim tech chits if a) a maximum level has been reached in one area or a key city is threatened. Example: Germany has launched a Sealion and taken London. Manchester is threatened. How can I have the UK reclaim tech chits for 50% of the original MPP cost so they can purchase more corps and reinforce damaged units. Example: The Allies have launched Overlord. Germany needs more forces in the West. How can I have the AI reclaim tech chits for 50% of the original MPP cost so they can operate a greater than expected number of units West. This could probably be handled by adding a command for RECLAIM= (number of chits to be reclaimed) and having the AI automatically reclaim chits once the maximum research level has been achieved in a tech area. Thus Germany might reclaim all chits if the Allies are close to Berlin. #NAME=German Reclaims Research to Defend Berlin #POPUP= #FLAG=1 (Default event) #TYPE=2 (Recoccuring check until end of game) #COUNTRY_ID=5 (Germany) #TRIGGER=100 (occurs 100% of the time when conditions are met) #LEVEL=4 (Expert Level AI does this) #RECLAIM=5 (To reclaim 5 research chits) #ACTIVATE_POSITION= x,y [1,5],[10,99][2] (Between 10 and 99 allied units are within 5 tiles of Berlin) Of course, you would have to put a corresponding Cancel_Position parameter into all research events else you might end up purchasing and reclaiming chits in the same turn. :eek: 5. Adjust AI research priorities based on the force composition of the enemy. Example: If the Russians do not have many tanks I may want to reduce the chance of the Axis AI investing in ANTI_TANK. Example: If the Germans have lots of subs in the Atlantic I may want the AI to give a greater priority to researching ANTI_SUBMARINE. There are two ways that games handle this; a. Human Way: The AI maintains a table that tracks all enemy units he is aware of and enemy losses. This will give the AI a rough approximation of the enemy forces to the extent that each enemy has been spotted or attacked the AI at some point in the game. This number can be used to trigger or deactivate research and production events. b. AI Cheat: The AI knows the exact number of enemy units by country and type deployed by the human player. Not where they are, just the quantity deployed on the map. If the AI were to do this I would probably have it only occur at Master Level (one level above Expert) OR have the AI maintain two tables - one for the Human Tracking Method and the other for the AI Cheat. The scriptor can decide to use data from either table in his parameters. Then I would use this in a fourth Paramter for setting research priorities. [Enemy Nation, Unit Type, Min_units, Max_Units] #ANTI_TANK= 50[3][4,1,2,99][5,4,5,9] - i.e. if Germany (5) has tanks (4) and they number from 5 to 9 then research ANTI_TANK 50% of the time if the Russia (4) has Infantry (1) units in quantity of min (2) to max (99). Thus Russia will assign a 50% priority to research anti_tank if it knows it is facing 5 to 9 German tank units. Note: For maximum AI flexibility you may want to maintain tables for 1) Allied/Axis Units in Total and 2) Units spotted by Cooperative Allies. I.e. Scripts can use data stored in either of the following tables: Allied Table - All units spotted by Allied Units, on the eastern or western fronts. Russian Table - All Units spotted by Russian Units or its cooperative allies. This allows the Russian AI to base its decisions on the enemy units that only it encounters. This table will not include counts of units spotted by non-cooperative allies, the USA and UK. USA Table - All units spotted by USA or its cooperative ally the USA. UK Table - All units spotted (and not destroyed) by UK or its cooperative ally the USA. [ April 08, 2006, 07:18 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

For those with questions realted to AI scripting, this thread may provide some answers. Any chance for a Player_Flag Trigger? A Player_Flag trigger where 0 = checked in all games, 1 = games vs. Allied AI, 2 = games vs. Axis AI. The default would be 0 and the script would be checked in all games. The player would not have to manually switch the scripts on or off. You could even have them linked to an AI level. Example Effect; Expert - 5% Vichy joins Axis when France surrenders and AI is Axis (Player Flag = 2) Expert - 0% Vichy joins Axis when France surrenders and AI is Allied. (Player Flag = 2) Expert - 0% Vichy Joins Axis when France surrenders and game is HvH. #NAME= Vichy Joins Axis #POPUP= Vichy France joins the Axis Alliance #FLAG=1 (default event) #PLAYER_FLAG=2 (triggered only when playing Axis AI) #TYPE=0 (single check if trigger is statisfied) #Country_ID= 44 (Vichy France) #TRIGGER=5 (5% event will occur, 1 in 20 games on average) #LEVEL=4 (Can only trigger at Expert Level and above) #VARIABLE_CONDITION= 2[2][0][1] (occurs if France has surrendered to Axis) [ April 07, 2006, 08:33 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]