Post Russian Surrender AI Thoughts

[Edwin P.]

In Sc1 the Axis AI never attempts an invasion of the US, even when it has amassed over 12,000 MPPS and has conquered all of Europe (after I DOW'd every nation including Iraq, Switzerland and Portugal).

I attempted to see if I as the US could defeat an Axis invasion fleet, yet one never came.

And after conquering England (which I left undefended) and Russia (whose units I disbanded) it did not proceed to attack the other neutral nations, which any meglomanic focused on world conquest surely would have done. Nor did it build an invasion fleet. It merely accumulated MPPs and moved most air units to England.

[ January 02, 2006, 02:37 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[Edwin P.]

As I stated in an earlier post, I would like to see the Axis AI have a series of Post Russia Surrender game strategies that it would execute in a random order.

POST RUSSIA SURRENDER AXIS AI STRATEGIES BUILDING BLOCKS

1. Conquer the World - Conquer remaining neutral nations.

2. Operation Sealion - invade England

3. Control the Atlantic - Naval superiority in the Atlantic

4. Take Gibraltar and send Italian Fleet to the Atlantic

5. Invade America (USA 50%, Newfoundland 50%)

Thus the AI may decide to follow any one of the follow strategies:

POST RUSSIAN SURRENDER AXIS AI STRATEGIES

1. Operation Sealion

2. Conquer the World THEN Operation Sealion

3. Control the Atlantic THEN Operation Sealion

4. Conquer the World THEN Control the Atlantic THEN Operation Sealion

5. Conquer the World THEN Control the Atlantic THEN Invade America THEN Operation Sealion

6. Take Gibraltar THEN Control the Atlantic THEN Operation Sealion

7. Take Gibraltar THEN Control the Atlantic THEN Invade America THEN Operation Sealion

8. Control the Atlantic THEN Conquer the World THEN Operation Sealion

Taking this One step futher;

Invade America Feint (a weak invasion of America/Canada designed to draw forces away from the UK)

Invade America Massive (a massive invasion of America)

Thus

5a. Conquer the World THEN Control the Atlantic then Invade America Feint THEN Operation Sealion

5b. Conquer the World THEN Control the Atlantic then Invade America Massive

And when it comes time to select Operation Sealion after the Atlantic is controlled;

> Control the Atlantic THEN

80% Operation Sealion or

15% Invade America Feint > Operation Sealion or

05% Invade America Massive (and if this fails the AI then exectures Operation Sealion)

This would make the endgame less unpredicatable.

Although the invade America option is not needed for victory, it adds variety to the game for those that play against the AI and penalizes the HUMAN player if he leaves North America undefended.

What is the Conquer the World End Game Strategy?

After Russia surrenders the AI will randomly select a neutral nation to conquer and execute that conquest. After each conquest their will be a 75% chance (35% at Green AI, 45% at Novice AI, 55% Beginner AI, 65% at Intermediate AI, 75% at Expert AI, 85% at Master AI, 95% at Genius AI) that it will continue its conquest strategy and a 25% that it will move onto its next Endgame building block.

NOTE: At higher AI levels the AI will likely conquer more countries under a Conquer the World Strategy. Why? Because a more intelligent AI; as most humans did in SC1, will seek higher levels of production and plunder with which to finance the production of his invasion fleet.

Example:

Conquer the World Strategy > Select Vichy France (if Neutral)

--- Then Conquer Vichy

--------- 75% Select another Nation (ie Spain)

---------------- Then Conquer Spain

---------------------75% Select another Nation (ie Switzerland)

---------------------25% Control the Atlantic or Operation Sealion

--------- 25% Control the Atlantic or Operation Sealion

This structure makes the Axis AI end game strategy rather unpredictable. It may decide to conquer just 1 neutral nation, most likely 3 and occassionaly all before moving onto the next stage of its plan for world conquest.

What is the Control the Atlantic End Game Strategy?

With this strategy the AI; after conquering Russia, builds a huge naval fleet to take control of the Atlantic and disrupt merchant shipping to the UK.

Part 1: German Naval Building

Part 2: IF Gibraltar is Axis Controlled the German ship building effort is supported by Italy with Italian ships that are sent through the straits to await orders in the Bay of Biscay. Strategic bombers are stationed along the Spanish coast to support the Italian Navy as it moves to the Bay of Biscay where German bombers will protect the growing Axis fleet.

Part 3: Battle for the Atlantic

The Joint German/(Italian) Naval Fleet sets sail from the Bay of Biscay to battle the Allied Naval Forces.

---------------------------------------------

Of Course the Smarter AIs should be more likely to select a winning combination of Building Block End Game Strategies.

Thus:

Green AI

Building Block #1 - 10% Conquer the World, 50% Sealion, 30% Control the Atlantic, 10% Conquer Gibraltar

(the Green AI will likely launch a Sealion without adequate preparation)

Expert AI

Building Block #1 - 50% Conquer the World

Genius AI

Building Block #1 - 70% Conquer the World

(the Genius AI will likely seek to maximize his production base before launching a Sealion)

[ January 01, 2006, 07:29 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[Edwin P.]

Having outline a possible post Russian Surrender strategy for the AXIS AI, now its time for one for the the Allied AI.

An Allied AI strategy, given the surrender of Russia is much harder, but lets give it a try.

First, what would be the likely building blocks?

Possibly;

1. Fortify the UK Isles (to better repel an Axis invasion)

2. Maximize Air Defense Research (to resist the forthcoming Axis Air attacks)

3. Maximize Merchant Shipping Aid to the UK

4. Control the Atlantic

5. Conquer Ireland as a Base from which to Defend the British Isles with American Air Power.

6. Relcaim Tech chits in unneeded tech areas (ie infrastructure, Intel).

7. Destroy Ports close to the UK

Any more ideas?

Re: 5. Conquer Ireland

I wonder what the playtesters think of this strategy for defending the UK after Russia surrenders.

Pros:

1. Easily defended by land units.

2. It's outside the range of most Axis air units in France, but close enough to support the defenders of Manchester.

3. Easily defended by Allied Naval Fleets.

4. Small MPP bonus via plunder and production.

Cons:

1. If the single port is lost or damaged allied land units on the Isle can't leave.

2. A HQ unit must be deployed on the Isle to allow for maximum reinforcements of damaged units.

Perhaps, an engineer should be deployed on Eire to fortify it?

[ January 01, 2006, 08:19 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[Blashy]

You will be able to script pretty much any of that.

But right now, it is pretty simple. If Axis have everything in Europe, including UK. Axis wins, game over.

Just so we don't have what you just said occur.

If you don't like this type of ending, you can easily change it to your liking.

[Edwin P.]

You will be able to script pretty much any of that.

Thanks for the update Blashy. Its good to know that one will be able to use the AI scripting to write randomly selectable Post Russian Surrender Routines for the AI.

Edwin - Although the invade America option is not needed for victory, it adds variety to the game for those that play against the AI and penalizes the HUMAN player if he leaves North America undefended.

Blashy - But right now, it is pretty simple. If Axis have everything in Europe, including UK. Axis wins, game over.

As Blashy said the game is over when the UK and Russia have both fallen to the Axis, and I like this option as it prevents a long drawn out game when a human player refuses to concede defeat.

At the same time I think players will use the threat of invading America to force the Allied player to use some forces to guard North America, especially Newfoundland against invasion.

[ January 03, 2006, 06:03 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[Retributar]

I would personally like to see the German option to invade Amerika included in the random game setup as i do believe that had events been more favourable for them...that they would have attempted it!.