RockinHarry Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 Hi there, did a search on the forum, but nothing useful came up. I´m particularly interested in how to set up a good AI (..and less in H2H/PBEM), so any good tips are welcome and hope you´re willing to share! Found out a couple of useful things myself already, like how to set up terrain to "guide" the AI or how to get it use its artillery assets. Hope any coming info will not any sort of "spoil" the enyoyment of people how preferably play the AI (and user made scenarios in particular) :confused: Harry 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junk2drive Posted May 26, 2004 Share Posted May 26, 2004 if you are the same rockinharry from spwaw fame, i look forward to your battles. if not, i will look forward to them anyway check with the guys at the proving grounds, a good place to test your battles and get advice. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted May 26, 2004 Share Posted May 26, 2004 also there are some teuts at Der Kessel Oh - just came across this while looking for something else. [ May 25, 2004, 11:02 PM: Message edited by: JonS ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spotless Posted May 26, 2004 Share Posted May 26, 2004 In my experience, flag placement has a decent effect on AI behavior as well. While human opponents may or may not use them, small victory flags can show the AI what it is supposed to think is important. My best fights vs. AI were ones where there were several flags and not enough troops to defend each well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockinHarry Posted May 28, 2004 Author Share Posted May 28, 2004 Originally posted by Spotless: In my experience, flag placement has a decent effect on AI behavior as well. While human opponents may or may not use them, small victory flags can show the AI what it is supposed to think is important. My best fights vs. AI were ones where there were several flags and not enough troops to defend each well. I´m still making experiments with flag placement, in particular stacking large flags to indicate to the AI: "Come here quicker and in a more direct way!" Seems to work well in assault battle, but maybe it´s just my perceiption!? :confused: Need more testing. What I miss in CM is a "god mode" where you can observe the AI playing (itself), like in the Steel Panthers games. Maybe there´s some hidden command line thingy that the BFC guys use to test their stuff, dunno. I would not be surprised. Also different mission types on the otherwise exact same scenario produces also different AI behavior. (yeah...I know it´s no news to the scenario making grogs out there...I´m just thinking loud! )F.e making a ME engagement game into an Assault game in the battle parameters screen. Also making units viable for leaving the map edge produces different AI behavior and timing. This combined with victory flags and placements delivers a huge amount of testing conditions. :eek: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockinHarry Posted May 28, 2004 Author Share Posted May 28, 2004 Originally posted by junk2drive: if you are the same rockinharry from spwaw fame, i look forward to your battles. if not, i will look forward to them anyway check with the guys at the proving grounds, a good place to test your battles and get advice. yeah..using the same nick in every board. Helps finding old and new friends. :cool: well..it´s still some time before I´ll spill out some CM scenarios though! Still lots of work to finish (for SPWAW and Panzer Elite Mods). :eek: Also before I can´t ascertain some quality in making a CM scen, I won´t bother you grogs with any crap work. Still lots to learn, as I mostly "program" for play vs. AI, which is different and more difficult as in other games due to the limited control on CM AI. Wished there would be something like mentioned "god mode" (Steel Panthers) or some scripting language (Panzer Elite). Maybe CM2? :cool: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockinHarry Posted May 28, 2004 Author Share Posted May 28, 2004 Originally posted by JonS: also there are some teuts at Der Kessel Oh - just came across this while looking for something else. thanks, I always seem to forget the obvious, make a plain and simply google search! this one is also good for the basics, although it lacks the required info on "guiding" the AI: http://users.pandora.be/aneric/tipsindex.htm also had some very good link to a site with great info on making maps. Lost it, but have the info saved anyways. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willbell Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 RockinHarry, Take this question in the best possible light. Besides satisfaction, is there a payoff for all the creative work and effort you put into these games? I have always felt that the creatives involved in CM would take off like a rocket if some workable business model could be arrived at. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imported_Iron_Duke Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 The one thing I can stress to you is that even if all the reference books say, "this area of the desert/steppe/plain" was almost completely barren and the enemy had a hard time of it..." Please remember that this is a game, a fantastic game but still a game with limitations. Your main effort should not only be how "historical" your battle/map is, but you should also strive to make the battle fun. Plain and simple. I don't know anyone that likes to play a scenario/operation that makes you march your guys over competley barren ground into murderous fire. I dont care how "flat and featureless" the books say the ground was, there are ALLWAYS areas and folds in the ground to provide some cover. If you get the map right, the rest will be a lot easier to get right. My $.02 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockinHarry Posted June 12, 2004 Author Share Posted June 12, 2004 Originally posted by Iron_Duke: The one thing I can stress to you is that even if all the reference books say, "this area of the desert/steppe/plain" was almost completely barren and the enemy had a hard time of it..." Please remember that this is a game, a fantastic game but still a game with limitations. Your main effort should not only be how "historical" your battle/map is, but you should also strive to make the battle fun. Plain and simple. I don't know anyone that likes to play a scenario/operation that makes you march your guys over competley barren ground into murderous fire. I dont care how "flat and featureless" the books say the ground was, there are ALLWAYS areas and folds in the ground to provide some cover. If you get the map right, the rest will be a lot easier to get right. My $.02 Yep..all good points and apply to SPWAW scenarios as well. Knowing the game and its limitations is the first step when it comes to making good and enjoyble scenarios. Well..at last one always entertains oneselfs when making a scenario, even if it´s not well received by the majority of the community. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junk2drive Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 http://www.the-proving-grounds.com/ has a vl planner guide and design tips under faq/tools 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junk2drive Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 rockinharry, i dont know if this fits your "god mode" but if you set fow to none you can at least see what the a.i. is doing while you play the other side and test. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slappy Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 True, but the AI can also see you which tends to altar its play too. You can't really get a true representation that way. I recommend periodically saving off a file and surrendering to get the after action view of the battlefield and taking a look at what the AI was up to. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junk2drive Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 he is talking about designing a battle, the designer knows all. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joachim Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 The AI often goes for the nearest flag from startup. It is a real pain to see him set up on a broad front and then concentrate his forces on his side of the map to attack that "forward" flag. The 2nd flag the AI attacks will be the 2nd nearest to his friendly side of the map - no the closest to his position. Very annoying. So either - use dynamic flags (too bad the AI usually always chooses the same flag, so no replay value), - use a line of flags that have the same distance to the AI map edge - place all flags in a small area that is behind any defensible terrain. - ...your ideas here Gruß Joachim 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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