Straha Posted April 21, 2002 Share Posted April 21, 2002 Ok, I really hope that this part of the engine will be the best. ... most of us will surely agree that one of the biggest problems with the "classics" was that, at the end of the day, these games were too easy. E.g. one trick that always worked in all those games was to attack Russia from the South through the Caucasus (after one has either allied with Turkey or won the battle in North Africa, of course). Most often, the Russian AI did not react to this threat until it was too late ... I do *not* want the AI to cheat, though (somehow this always was a holy cow for me). Comments? Straha [ April 21, 2002, 03:01 AM: Message edited by: Straha ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted April 21, 2002 Share Posted April 21, 2002 Straha, the AI is VERY good. I have yet to win playing as Axis (starting in 1939 with invasion of Poland) on Intermediate level. Now of course that could mean that I'm just bad at being a Supreme Commander... Hm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted April 21, 2002 Share Posted April 21, 2002 Moon, Have you tested the AI as allies? The reason you may not win as Axis other than your Military Prowess could be play balance???? Id be interested to know the result and if you did win by how much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Cater Posted April 21, 2002 Share Posted April 21, 2002 Having played many of these games and having also been consistently disapointed by various AI's , this was a primary goal for this development from the outset. The best way that I saw to avoid cheating was to balance the campaigns and game design for PBEM and Hotseat FIRST and then the AI. In fact, this is exactly what was done. What this means is that there was LOT of time spent to ensure a flexible and challenging AI since I was not left with the standard cheats that many AI's employ, i.e. give one side an enormous advantage in units or production capacity etc So not only does this mean a balanced game play for all the different play modes but more importantly a balanced game play when playing as either the Axis or Allies against the AI! More specifically the AI was developed using Fuzzy Logic, and this allows for great flexibility as normal decision making will not be of the 0 or 1 type, but of varying degrees from 0 to 10 (this is just a simple analogy of how the AI has been developed). In this way nothing is absolute and the AI assess each situation and makes the best decisions based on a variety of factors. Besides the overall grand strategy, nothing is concrete, there are no fixed AI mechanisms like the stand and die (for the USSR) on the eastern front while completely ignoring an assault through the southern Caucases. In this case you will see the AI assess both threats and attempt to balance out these areas with either strategic purchases and/or troop movement from one front to the other so long as both fronts maintain the best balance of attack and defence possible. For combat, the AI will exploit the weakest areas, and target the weakest units for maximum return. You will see it properly begin either interdictions, shore bombardments, strategic bombing, rocket attacks etc to soften up defences and then follow with land combat etc. I know that the "proof is in the pudding" as they say, and safely standing by what I have just described, I know the game will not leave you dissapointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straha Posted April 22, 2002 Author Share Posted April 22, 2002 This all sounds very promising. My hopes are set very high now. If the AI doesn´t cheat, I´m indeed looking forward to being defeated (well, every once in a while ). I love to learn from mistakes, and - in strategy games - often those sessions are the most memorable to me where I first got on the verge of collaps by a really big blunder, but then managed to turn the tables once again ... Straha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Cater Posted April 22, 2002 Share Posted April 22, 2002 Yeah I understood these types of concerns when designing the AI and in a way took them to heart (as much as I could ) So as part of the design, I only allowed user initiated *cheating* for games played against the AI. Specifically, what I mean by this is where the player is allowed to set the overall difficulty and adjusts the computer experience bonuses for AI units, whereby in this case they know exactly what to expect and aren't surprised by any hidden AI mechanisms etc. As a plus, the AI does play truly blind during FoW! So expect it to be surprised by enemy troops that it thought were not in it's offensive paths and could not see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aacooper Posted April 22, 2002 Share Posted April 22, 2002 I didn't realize there was an AI. It sounds like Hubert didn't take the easy route for AI design, though of course there's nothing like beating a human (and losing to one at a complicated game isn't as painful, either). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straha Posted April 22, 2002 Author Share Posted April 22, 2002 I am really relieved to hear that the AI is suffering from FoW along with the player. (How could I even forget to ask about this?) Anyway, thanks alot! Straha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Clark Posted April 23, 2002 Share Posted April 23, 2002 I too am VERY PLEASED to hear that the AI suffers from Fog of War as much as the human. SWEET! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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