Edwin P.

One of the decisions the AI should be able to make is whether to make a commitment to conquering North Africa or not. If it does it should be able to calculate when to change from an offensive operation to a defensive operation and when units should be withdrawn to reinforce operations in Europe. At the simplest level this is: A. Does AI make a commitment to Conquer North Africa? If Yes, then; A1. Conquest Malta ? or A2. Conquer Vichy? or A3. Use Diplomacy on Vichy France? or A4. Conquer Egypt? B. After the First Objective is achieved what does the AI do? B1. Conquer Egypt Successful B1.1 > Then Conquer Iraq? or B1.2 > Then Conquer Vichy? or B1.3 > Switch to a Defensive Posture and Withdraw Excess forces to Europe? C. If the Allies make a counter attack in this region, then the AI must decide what to do. C1.1 Defend and Reinforce their position C1.2 Withdraw C1.3 Stage a fighting withdrawal C1.4 Reinforce and go on the offensive [ November 25, 2005, 10:52 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Here's a relatively simple (?)idea for the AI at Hubert level (one step above Genius) - Axis AI - Spain (33%) or Turkey (33%%) joins the Axis after France surrenders or the USA signs a trade treaty with Japan that reduces American war readiness (34%). This gives an immediate, but unpredictable bonus to the Axis AI side that will affect the Human Allied player strategy. Allied AI - Norway and Ireland (20%) OR Turkey (20%) joins the Allies OR the USA gains a 20% boost in war readiness (20%) OR the USA gains 2 Carrier Fleets and an McArthur HQ(20%) or the Brits gain reinforcements in Egypt from Australia and India (20%). Thus the Allied AI gains an unpredictable bonus that will force a Human Axis player to change his strategy. Thus, 20%: If the skilled human Axis player plans a typical invasion of Egypt he might find himself opposed by more than he bargained for when reinforcements from the commonwealth unexpectedly appear. 20%: Likewise during an invasion of Russia the Axis human player may learn that the US has entered the war sooner than expected. 20%: Or with Iceland and Norway under British control the Axis human player finds it harder to interdict merchant shipping to the UK, thus dealing a blow to his naval strategy as the Allied AI reinforces both Norway and Iceland. 20%: Or perhaps he is faced with an unexpectedly strong US Naval Force when the US finally enters the war. 20%: Or perhaps he is shocked by Turkey joining the Allies, thus forcing him to devote forces to secure his southern flank. In summary, just an idea for making the game less predictable for the human player at the highest AI level. ------------------------------------------------ A2.Axis AI Bonus at Expert Level % for Spain joining Axis after France surrenders % for Turkey joining Axis after Russia enters the war % for Greece and Yugoslavia joining the Axis % for Germany receiving 3 bonus sub units % for Vichy France joining Axis A2.Allied AI Bonus at Expert Level % chance for Commonwealth reinforcements in Egypt % chance for USA War Readiness Increase % chance for Turkey and Iraq joining the Allies % chance for USA receiving 3 strategic bomber units % chance for early Siberian Transfer [ November 27, 2005, 05:18 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

It would be interesting to see if the Axis AI will vary its gameplay by having access to routines for taking Egypt, or conquering Vichy Algeria or focus on defending its holdings in Libya. So: Option 1 - Take Egypt Option 2 - Take Vichy France Option 3 - Defend Libya & Withdraw to Italy if outnumbered. Option 4 - Take Malta In Sc1 the Axis AI acted only to defend Libya, even if the Allied player withdrew all forces from Egypt, and would never withdraw forces to Italy even if he was outnumbered by the Allies. Of course, the AI chance of executing each strategy should be influenced by balance of Axis vs Allied Naval strength in the Mediterrean. ie. Most UK fleet in Mediterrean = Sea Lion / Norwegian / Icelandic Invasion Chance Increases Most UK fleet in Atlantic = Chance for North Africa Land Offensive increases [ November 24, 2005, 06:26 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Where are the screen shots? They vanished?

SeaMonkey, I agree with you. AI competancy is linked to the complexity of the game and the scenario. As game complexity grows so does the time it takes to develop a good AI. And as you said, the shorter/simpler the scenario the easier it is to develop a good AI as the permutations of possible actions are greatly reduced. The good part about SC2 is that HC has most likely(?) used some of the AI routines that he developed for SC1 as a starting point, and that there will be to some degree (to what extent I do not know) AI scripting for modders. That said, I would be interested in knowing if the new AI will select from multiple strategies in waging the campaign game OR will it follow one basic war strategy as it did in SC1. I should point out that, from prior posts, in the new editor it will be possible to prevent the Major AI nations from researching units that it will never build and that it will also be possible to prevent the Major AI from building specific types of units. For example, you can tell the Italian AI to never research or build strategic bombers or armor. [ November 24, 2005, 09:08 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Will the Russian AI have a choice of multiple production/research strategies? Example: Corps focused or Armor focused (aka Blashy's AAR) And will the French AI have access to multiple strategies to defend France? Example: Forward Defense, Blashy's Paris Defense, Evacuate to UK Strategy [ November 23, 2005, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Will the AI in SC2 have multiple personalities? Example: A calculating one - aka Terif (Eisenhower), and a go for broke personality - aka Rambo (Patton)? [ November 22, 2005, 10:50 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Soon

Many thanks for the tips on how to implement this event. I will surely experiment when SC2 ships. Related Question: What does the #FLAG command do? i.e. #FLAG=1, I had thought that I may be able to use this to set a check to activate an event, but obviously not. [ November 21, 2005, 08:16 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Can you write an event such that event Y will not occur if event X has already been triggered? Example: Event X (Nov 1941) - Japan agrees to US demands and withdraws from China. Event Y (Dec 1941) - Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. If Event X occurs (in Nov 1941) then Event Y (in Dec 1941) will not occur. If Event X was not triggered then Event Y could occur. Historical Note: The example event shows two possibilities: 1) the Japanese Empire agreed to US demands and withdrew from China and 2) the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl Harbor. Only one of these events can occur, they are mutually exclusive. The occurance of either event will affect USA war readiness. Playability Note: I would set up this event to occur in 5% of games played, ie 1 in 20 games to present players with an unexpected event. [ November 21, 2005, 08:19 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

With the upcoming release of SC2, here are a few ideas for SC2 Operational (vs SC2 Strategic)version. Nothing major. Just enhancements to make it better suited for a lower level "battle" oriented game. Of course the AI would have to be updated. a. Add Road, Rail and Bridge terrain types to better recreate battles at the operational level. b. Add more terrain types. Example: in a Guadacanal battle I would like to see Elevation 1 and Elevation 2 terrain along with Jungle terrain and air field terrain. Elevation 2 Terain = +2 Spotting Range Bonus Jungle Terrain = Units in Jungle terrain can only be spotted by adjacent units. Air Field Terrain - Air Units may only base on an airfield. c. Add customizable terrain effects by unit type. In Sc1/2 you have terrain that costs the same action points for all types of units to move thru. I would like to see terrain where it costs armor/mechanized units more action points to traverse. d. Add an optional feature to recreate the communications failures that were present in an earlier time where armies would not move as expected - perhaps have units under command of a general be 95% likely to move and independent units 70% likely to move. Or use a variatin of the activation chits used in some games. Or perhaps have a Commanding General Unit (Napoleon, Lee, Grant, Frederick the Great) that can give orders to lower level generals. d. Add Sets of Units that could be selected from the editor - ie Modern, WWII, Napoleonic, American Civil War, Ancient Rome. e. Allow for off-map air support (affected by weather) and parachute unit availability. f. Add Supply Tile Functionality - ie if the unit can trace a line X# tiles to a road and that road leads to a Supply Tile then the unit is in supply. This recreates the importance of controlling major roads, road junctions and towns. [ November 20, 2005, 08:17 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

Blashy, any chance for an Overlord (ie Normandy) scenario AAR before the game ships?

HC's last post re: AI said: Soon It will be interesting to see how HC implements it in this game. Some games like AOE and Civ and GalCiv have different AI personalities with varying levels of aggresive action and research/production priorities. Others have a single AI that makes choices based on the situation. Example: Civ4 has a personality that is overly passive and another that is overly aggressive. In SC2 terms this might be a Defensive oriented Russian AI that tends to retreat and hold the line until the Allies land in the west and an Aggressive Russian AI prone to aggressive counterattacks. I would like to see; At least 4 Russian AI personalities for; a. Prewar Build & Research Stratgies - ie Blashy's Tank Strategy, Corps Strategy, etc. b. Operational Strategy - Forward Defense, Fighting Withdrawal, Offensive, etc. c. War Strategy - Defense in East until D-Day in West, Conquer Finland, etc. By combining these in random and having the AI track which is the most successfull (and being more likely to select the most successful personalities) you will have a most unpredictable opponent in the East. [ November 14, 2005, 09:25 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

That's what I like to hear. Great job Blashy. Looking forward to another AAR.

What techs did you research in this game? and which have you found to be useful or not useful? - ie Intel, Naval Bombardment, etc. I did not notice any engineers being used. Did either size use this new unit? PS: HC - Resized Blashy's screen shots would make interesting additions to the SC2 screenshot library. [ November 13, 2005, 01:06 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

How was the Axis able to move a large fleet into the Atlantic?

Blashy, great AAR. Much appreciated. Great screen shots and descriptions of what was going on. A few questions though; a. After the USSR and the UK surrenders (which I read earlier is an Axis Victory), does the Axis player have the option to continue the battle against the USA? And if they do, could a script be written that gives the USA more Mpps (by boosting its productivity to X00%) as it would focus all of its efforts on defeating the forthcoming Axis invasion, as opposed to continuing the fight against the Japanese. ie: America offers to sign a peace treaty and accept Axis dominance in Europe. Does the Axis accept? Yes - Popup: Axis Victory,(Game Ends) No - Popup: America signs peace treaty with Japanese.(US gains access to Pacific Fleet and productivity of American industrial resources doubles - max 360%) b. Simarily, if the Allies defeat the Axis is there an option for a Soviet vs Western Allies conflict? The answer to both question is probably no, but I just had to ask. [ November 12, 2005, 09:13 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

US production could be better scaled to reality, if a the Pacific front was added. I wonder if this is possible: Add a pacific map, seperated by impassible terrain from the European theature and use transfer tiles to move forces from one section to the other (Europe vs Pacific), with a suitable time lag. With Europe to the Eastern coast of the US covering 120 tiles, the Pacific theater could cover 130 tiles given Sc2 limits of 256 titles wide - ie US West Coast to China. The only problem is a lack of country names for major and minor countries - Japan (major), China (major), Australia (minor), French Vietnam (minor), Malaysia (minor), Dutch Indonesia Minor). The islands would be unrealisticlly large, but overall it might be a good simulation.

Great AAR Blashy. Many thanks

Re; Maginot Line 2cents from a guy who has not playtested the game: 1. Start units in the Maginot line fully entrenched. The slow buildup up of the entrenchment level in the Maginot Line (aka 1) for units starting the game in those tiles always seemed to me to be unrealistic given the prepared nature of the Maginot line. 2. As HC says, Italy joins earlier if Maginot line is taken by German forces. 3. Split one Army into 2 corps.

Any more turns coming? I want to see if Blashy,the Axis player, makes a move against the Middle East or the Nordic Countries before attacking Russia.

Has anyone noticed that the French defense lacks the Forest tile that was in SC1, thus allowing the attacking German forces to more easily outflank the Maginot line once the Benelux countries are attacked.

Question: Can you add transfer tiles (ie South Atlantic to Gulf of Suez) in custom mods?

I agree with Jersey John, HC. Your enhancement of the US position is more realistic and should make for a more balanced and fun game.

Any AI news?