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Is the Combat Mission AI dumb? and more gripes


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I have played many battles in CM. I am expert in setting up interlocking fields of fire, proper support and counter-offensive units. No one can break my defense, except for some damn 240mm arty which busted a whole right through my line. First of all, that type of arty was hardly ever used in battalion level engagements and second, thats damn annoying. Anyway, I seldom have any trouble whiping the AI and performing a WWF smackdown. Does the AI learn? In my battles it has not. Though the AI acts very bravely, they seldom flank me, or use good combined arms or set up co-ordinated strikes. Also, the machine guns fire way to slow. One short burst then six second pause. Whats going on with this? :mad:

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dont get me wrong guys, im not complaining about the AI, i love the AI, its my bud. Yes, its much better then any other game, but were so close to perfection, Im just trying to get some explenations. Geez guys, dont jump on everyone all the time. Lets all be friends and sing songs. Then we can bash eachother.

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The AI tends to be better on defense then the attack. It sounds like you're doing more of defensive roll there and facing the weaker side of the AI.

Playing against others will give you more of a challenge then the AI ever will. Well some people might.

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What my buddy Cos said.

Anyway, no one is bashing you even though your title of this thread threatens to provoke angry responses. The AI is good in a relative sense (relative compared to other computer games). However, once you play it a few times, it becomes easier. Not sure how to overcome that since I'm not a programmer. There are occasions though where the AI will surprise you. Without a doubt though, the best CM experience is playing other people.

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I've seen a couple of debuts that were even worse, but they tended to get banned on the first day. I'm quite surprised that NoncombatantGeneral has lasted this long.

General, all you have to do to get a real challenge out of this game is to play against a living, thinking human, or a Captain Whacky. There's an opponent finder forum full of other people looking for games.

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by 109 Gustav:

I've seen a couple of debuts that were even worse, but they tended to get banned on the first day. I'm quite surprised that NoncombatantGeneral has lasted this long.

General, all you have to do to get a real challenge out of this game is to play against a living, thinking human, or a Captain Whacky. There's an opponent finder forum full of other people looking for games.<hr></blockquote>

Hey, your the one that's just a brain in a jar.

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Combat General,

It is possible that you are an expert upon just starting to play CMBO. Congratulations.

However, may I suggest that you play some human players via pbem & tcp/ip. Besides the Opponents Wanted board here at BTS, you may wish to go Band Of Brothers' challenge board. A small possibility may exist that you might learn something.

If you wish, I would be pleased to play you pbem: 1500 pt, meeting engagement, computer choose troops, random everything else. I always am pleased to learn things. I learn all the time.

Cheers, Richard

e-mail: richardcuccia@home.com smile.gifsmile.gif

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by CombatGeneral:

I am expert in setting up interlocking fields of fire, proper support and counter-offensive units. No one can break my defense, except for some damn 240mm arty <hr></blockquote>

I hereby recommend you for the title of "Greatest CM player of all time"

Congratulations!

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by CombatGeneral:

First of all, that type of arty was hardly ever used in battalion level engagements <hr></blockquote>

Just because you are playing with a battalion on the board doesn't make it a 'battalion level engagement'. Your attack could be part of a larger effort; it could even be the focal point of a vital attack.

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by CombatGeneral:

I have played many battles in CM. I am expert in setting up interlocking fields of fire, proper support and counter-offensive units. No one can break my defense, except for some damn 240mm arty which busted a whole right through my line. <hr></blockquote>

OK, I'm going to play nice and not take shots at your supposedly Harvard-honed writing skills, but I must comment on your thinking here. The AI in Combat Mission is highly capable when compared to other games, particularly tactical-level wargames. However, as others have pointed out, it is no match for a human with even a modicum of tactical skill. It may occasionally surprise, but rarely will it give much of a fight to a prepared human opponent. This is especially true when it is on the attack. The effective coordination of combined arms on the attack is an extremely complicated process for any AI. Programmers will long be battling this, as the logic trees are exceptionally complex. To criticize CM on this basis is simply unrealistic.

I would advise that you not brag on your skills until you have faced, and bested, capable human opponents. Even if you manage to pull that off, tooting your own horn is still a bit tasteless--save the testimonials for others.

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why dont you join the newbie tournament?

if you do,please post AAR's of the battles you are going to fight tongue.gif

Than we all have something to laugh about :D

Allthough I think you are just a big mouth like we had them before ,like a certain Jochem P and others redface.gif but you can always prove yourself and join the tourney!

But my other part says you are to scared to do that because you are afraid to get slaugthered by a freakin newbie,and your tiny little airbubble you live in rightnow might blow up :D

so be a man and show that you are not afraid or else keep the big mouth shut or post something usefull , please

oh did I said please?? :D

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by CombatGeneral:

I have played many battles in CM. I am expert in setting up interlocking fields of fire, proper support and counter-offensive units. No one can break my defense, except for some damn 240mm arty which busted a whole right through my line. First of all, that type of arty was hardly ever used in battalion level engagements and second, thats damn annoying. Anyway, I seldom have any trouble whiping the AI and performing a WWF smackdown. Does the AI learn? In my battles it has not. Though the AI acts very bravely, they seldom flank me, or use good combined arms or set up co-ordinated strikes. Also, the machine guns fire way to slow. One short burst then six second pause. Whats going on with this? :mad: <hr></blockquote>

As other had said, the CMBO AI is pretty god by comparision. Tacops is the only game of similar scale that is better (the Tacops AI cannot play new scenarios, though). The TOAW AI can beat hard if you give it good supply, the offensive, motorized units and don't exploit its weaknesses. People say good things about TAO2's AI, but I didn't try that.

The CMBO AI does not learn, it remembers nothing from one game to another. That would be very hard to do, if it should be useful and therefore required an analysing process of "what went wrong". Give me DLL-loadable AI!

From your description, I am pretty sure you take positions with too much LOS. That works great against the AI but decent human players will shoot you to pieces. And if you think that 240mm is bad you haven't been on the receiving end of 3x 4.2" mortars on thournamenthouse.com :)

The MG fire should be quite realistic when considering the whole game, but in single turns it is missing the ability of emergency burst, especially in self-defense. This is addressed in CMBB. And discussed in zillions of threads.

I would like to encourage you to keep your comments focused like this posting was (except for the Subject line and the first part).

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One point about TOAW's PO: it is not an AI in the same way CM has a StratAI. You give formations objectives, routes, etc, and it follows them. You can do some fancier things to make it react. But it is much better at being pro-active on the Offensive then being on the defensive because it is hard to setup a pre-programmed defense.

CombatGeneral: it sounds like you have been defending or playing MEs against the AI. Go try to attack the AI, it does much better when it does not have to wander in search of targets. Preferably in a well designed scenario or operation. Drive to Mortain, on the CD, comes to mind.

WWB

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Chupacabra:

Dude, not to burst your bubble, but I suck, and I can kick the AI's ass. Thing is, it's still fun for me to play the AI once in a while, because it's still pretty good. Like everyone says, play other people.<hr></blockquote>

I so rarely agree with Goatsucker that I have to chime in here and say that yes, indeed, you do suck. And your mother wears army boots. So there.

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