Stragic Command Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 So on the highiest difficulty level I have suspected that the AI gets free units! Is this true? So the Ai gets bonus units to fight and and this is the reason why I can't beat it on expert? So if i want to fight a AI that gets no bonus must I fight it on normal difficulty level? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Fenton Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 First, are you playing Strategic Command 2 (SC2) or Strategic Command Weapons and Warfare (WaW)? I do know for a fact that the AI does get some free units in WaW. The truth it that a good AI is extremely hard to program. Giving the AI some free units was a pragmatic game decision to overcome some AI garrisoning issues among other things. For example, the AI might just stop a powerful Tank unit in its tracks to be used as a garrison in France because it was nearby and then later build a new weak green Corps to attack in Russia. By giving a free Corps garrison unit, the AI would then continue using the Tank as an attack unit. I too am not fond of free AI units, but it does work rather well in practice. As I understand things, the free units are scripted in. It should be possible to examine the scripts to see what the AI actually gets and when it gets it. It also should be possible to disable the scripts if it annoys you that much. However, I would never recommend that. In a nutshell, the AI basically gets more money with higher difficulty settings. There is actually more, but I am trying to simplify matters. Since the AI already gets some free units, I am not happy about giving the AI some extra money also. After trying many different settings, I play with the AI on Normal Difficulty (no extra money) but with +1 Experience. This makes the AI units individually more powerful. Each AI unit roughly takes a 1/2 point less damage and does roughly a 1/2 point more damage. The downside to that setting is that Italians do not deserve such a boost and it also makes naval combat far harder than it should be. But on that setting the AI then gives me a very nice challenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stragic Command Posted March 11, 2008 Author Share Posted March 11, 2008 thank you so much Dan ferton! Now i know why i can't beat the AI on expert difficulty level!!! I play the expansion of the strategic command 2. I lost so bad even when i killed tons of the ai's man on expert level and the AI have no experience bonus!! THank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzgndr Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Let's put free AI units in perspective. I'll speak of my A3R mod scripting since I'm most familiar with what I've done and why. Reason #1 is to offset the randomness of the purchase scripts and other scripts. For example, Germany needs to build some tanks after Poland but not too many. Scripting a tank helps ensure some additional tanks are available for taking on France. Axis needs to get some firepower to North Africa, so scripting a few units for Libya doesn't hurt. Allies already have scripted arrivals for ANZAC and South Africans. Reason #2 is to offset those occassional stupid things the AI still does. The AI is pretty aggressive and often sends units on suicidal penetrations which results in unnecessary losses that a human player generally wouldn't risk. Also, things like transport scripts don't scrutinize unit types for missions. So I've seen German panzers sent to Norway where they sit idle for an entire game. For me, I am not giving the AI "free" units just to be impossible. I see it as a handicap to compensate for observed AI weaknesses, and hopefully result in better balance. Even so, something like Intermediate +1 difficulty is needed for a fairly balanced game, and higher difficulty levels should result in a much tougher game. The default campaigns provide AI handicaps for the same reasons. It has to be done, since it is impossible to program the AI to "think" and be brilliant. Regardless, the point of the game - any game - is to compete under given conditions and ideally each side has a 50-50 chance of winning or losing. Every player is different, so they each have to find the difficulty level right for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Cater Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Originally posted by Stragic Command: So on the highiest difficulty level I have suspected that the AI gets free units! Is this true? So the Ai gets bonus units to fight and and this is the reason why I can't beat it on expert? So if i want to fight a AI that gets no bonus must I fight it on normal difficulty level? Not true actually, the AI does not receive more units at the higher difficulty levels, rather it recieves a few scripted units which is the same for all levels. What it does receive at higher levels is more MPPs which of course allows the AI to do much more with its resources including the purchasing of new units. Hope this helps, Hubert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Cater Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 Agreed with Bill, the free units have been very carefully thought out and for the most part to simply make up for a few AI weaknesses. Think of it as a way to grease the AI wheel to get it to do exactly what you want. Either way the free additions are so piece-meal that they really should not be noticed at any point in game as an overwhelming force, rather the additions (in most cases) simply free up core units to do their thing which in turn makes the AI seem to appear smarter rather than stronger. Hopefully that makes sense Where you might get the feel of being overwhelmed is at the higher difficulty levels since the additional MPP bonuses the AI receives actually allows it to purchase more units etc. However, for the upcoming Patton Drives East Expansion, it will be possible to fine tune unit additions (for the AI) at the exact difficulty level desired. Hope this helps, Hubert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miech Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Hubert, I've noticed that the AI (Especially the Russians, and the Americans if invaded), sometimes place 5 or 6 units at once! Which made me curious: what multiplier is used? X2, X4 (at highest setting)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Cater Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Miech, If you are referring to the extra MPPs the AI receives at the higher difficulty levels it is an extra 10% for each extra level... so a max of an extra 20% per turn if playing at the hardest setting. Note, this is all covered in the original Blitzkrieg Manual as it has not changed for Weapons and Warfare. Hubert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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