Allied AI Needs Anti Sub Strategy

[Edwin P.]

In SC1 if the human Axis managed to station a fleet of subs (and or Italian warships) in the Atlantic it was all over on the Western Front. The American transports would sail directly into the waiting Axis fleets. The Western allies would not adjust their build strategy to counter this.

In SC2 I long to see an Allied build strategy that can counter an Axis naval threat.

How?

IF Axis has >= 4 Axis Warships(not just submarines) in the Mid Atlantic then:

Build naval bombers and station them in Canada and Ireland to protect allied Transports. Research long range bombers to extend the area that Naval Bombers can cover.

Use a corps transport as a sacrifical spotter and target the naval bombers on the spotted Axis naval units.

Perhaps by building American cruisers but not sending them alone into the atlantic until the Americans have a fleet of three or four.

Perhaps by sending transports to the north and then east to the UK instead of always sending them directly to the UK or to the south and then north.

Essentially, the Allies need at and at least two strategies to select from if they don't have naval superiority in the Mid-Atlantic.

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In the past some have suggested that the Allied AI should know the location of every enemy ship.

This is not needed to have a good naval AI, and it would be most unfair to the human player.

What the AI does need to know is;

1. How many ships does the enemy have?

2. How many are in the Med, how many are in the Baltic Sea, and how many are in the Atlantic.

As an allied human player, if I know that my opponent has six German ships, I can deduce that 3 must be in the Baltic and 3 are probably somewhere in the Atlantic, usually close to the coast of Western France, south of Brest. If they all appear on one turn in the intelligence screen I know that they are transports, if they appear over a period of turns they are usually subs.

How do I know 3 are still in the Baltic sea? Simple, my bomber would have spotted them if they tried to transit the English channel. How do I know all six are not in the baltic? That's an educated guess, that is usually correct except if your opponent is using Rambos RACK strategy (of building carriers in the Baltic).

By just knowing the number of Axis ships in the Atlantic the Allied AI should be able to select the appropiate strategy to deal with the threat depending on the ratio of Allied Forces in the Atlantic to Axis Forces.

Allied to Axis: 6 to 1, then spreadout and hunt the Axis ships down. (Aggressive)

Allied to Axis 1 to 1, then concentrate your forces under allied air cover and use sacrificial corps to locate the enemy)

Allied to Axis 1 to 2, then rebuild Allied Naval and Naval Bomber fleets. (Defensive Strategy)

[ October 11, 2004, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[CPT Pete]

I completely agree that the Allied AI in SC1 has no response to a buildup of Axis naval units in the Atlantic. Doesn't matter how many American transports you take out, the U.S. is just not going to put any ships in the water to counter. Would it be a better solution to program an Allied AI response based on losses in the Atlantic instead of having the AI know how many enemy ships there are? What the AI should know is 1)How many of its combined fleet it has lost and 2)How many combined Axis ships it has sunk. Comparing these two numbers will give a naval +/-Given the Allied naval superiority at the start of the war, the Allies would not need to start building ships unless they were a -2 or -3 net in the Battle of the Atlantic.

[Edwin P.]

Interesting idea. I wonder what HC thinks?

In one respect I like your idea. Its nice and simple.

On the other hand, it does not help the AI to select between the correct operational strategies for the Atlantic and the Mediterrean in all cases. Nor does it take into account how many the Axis have built.

Example:

Six Italian Ships in the Med, 2 USA Cruisers, 0 German Ships, Spain Neutral AND UK Controls Gibraltar, should the American AI build ships if it has superiority in the Atlantic? 0% Yes.

Six Italian Ships in the Altantic, 2 USA Cruisers, 0 German ships AND the Italians control Gibraltar, should the American AI adopt a naval strategy? 100% Yes

Six Italian Ships in the Med, 2 USA Cruisers, 0 German ships AND the Italians control Gibraltar, should the American AI adopt a naval strategy? 50% Yes

CPT Pete, what is your opinion?

HC, any comments or words of wisdom?

In my view the Allied Naval AI needs to knows:

1. How many combat ships its has.

2. How many combat ships the enemy has, not their exact location. (from the intelligence reports screen)

3. In what region are those ships - Med, Altantic, Baltic, and to adjust its estimate based on sighted ships.

4. Does the Allies control Gibraltar?

5. Does the Allies control Egypt?

6. Does the Allies control Iceland?

7. Does the Allies control Vichy France?

If the Axis controls Gibraltar the Allies need to adopt a different strategy than if Gibraltar is Allied controlled.

[ October 12, 2004, 04:52 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]