Allied AI Mod

[Timskorn]

This is a thread to detail the changes I'm working on for my first mod release, get feedback about possible issues and/or suggestions, and to know when it's available to download and where to get it.

I'm focusing exclusively on the Allied AI for this mod, tested to be played on Hard with +1 Experience. So for all intents and purposes this mod, until I finish Axis AI, will only work differently if you play as Axis.

USA

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- Early focus (1939-1941) on research will be centered around IT and Production, with Bombers and infantry weapons after.

- From 1941 on research scales back on IT and production and focuses on Infantry, Air and Armor in that preference order.

- US will have a chance to attack North Africa sometime in 1942.

- If N.A. secured, US will invade Palermo or the Italian mainland directly.

- US D-Day buildup will occur shortly after N.A. offensive has commenced.

- D-Day currently occurs mid-1943 to late 1943. May code to occur as soon as enough units are available. Earlier the better, I believe, especially against a human opponent to take pressure off Russia.

UK

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- Focus on Advanced Air, Infantry Weapons and Anti-Subs (primarily).

- Production favors Corp and Army in first few years (Preparation for D-day, and helps with any Sealion attempt)).

- AI chooses between attacking Tobruk or Iraq, depending on tactical and strength situation in Alexandria. May further code to allow attack more in Middle-East as well.

- D-Day landings occur simultaneously with US. Last attempt saw 3 US units and 4 UK units attack in mid-1943.

Russia

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- Major revision of the Garrison AI code. AI forms primary around Moscow, Voronezh and Stalingrad behind the rivers. Moscow mostly in the trees and nearby mountain tiles. Script AI was also tweaked so units don't operate/move out of position all the time.

- Early production is primarily around Corps and Armies, respectively.

- Early research is primarily around IT and Anti-Infantry weapons.

- Mid to late production adds in a lower chance for corps and higher chance for armies and tank groups.

- Mid to late research lowers anti-infantry and IT research and focuses on heavy tanks and production.

- (experiment) Going to try and code around the Siberian reinforcements, so they are grouped together in an offensive plan to attack German lines instead of being dispersed around Russia.

- Overall, the plan for the Russian AI is to hold out for as long as possible and to optimize their research and production.

Currently scheduled for first public testing by the end of next week (May 4th/5th).

[Timskorn]

Current game update:

France

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The one physical thing that I changed in the startup of the 1939 campaign was to put the French Tank in Paris and make sure it stayed garrisoned there. It took me until August 25, 1940 for France to surrender, and I lost a considerable amount of MPP's reinforcing damaged units (his level 1 heavy tank would knock my tank down to 5 or 6 strength).

I also tweaked the garrison locations a bit so they aren't right on the border of Benelux when war starts, helping them protect Paris better (or at least slow you down more! ). I'm also going to add a script to pull the Maginot Line defenders back once Paris is threatened.

UK

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Late 1941 UK launches their attack on Tobruk. Due to my losses in France I spent most of my MPP's trying to make sure I was built up for Russia. I couldn't spare any German units to help the Italians, they'd have to go it alone in North Africa. I won the sea battle in the Med but lost a BB and had my entire fleet damaged. I sent Balbo, my AF and an Army down to Tobruk. The first UK offensive bogged down, their tank suffering casualties from shore bombardment. They retreated and I brought in another Corp to help out. By then they regrouped and attacked again, this time with their tank, an army and AF and knocked one 1 army down to 2 strength. I managed to destroy their armor and they retreated again, and I went on the offensive.

When I arrived at Alexandria more UK reinforcements arrived, I almost took out an army but they ended up destroying mine and tryed cutting of my lone Corp. I pulled back to Tobruk and am now sending another army from Tunis to reinforce. It's early 1942 and the US will soon be DoWing Vichy France, putting more pressure on my already beleagured Italians. Very cool to see the UK active down there.

Near France, UK bomber/fighter is hitting cities and two cruisers are shelling coastal cities.

Russia

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Still having some trouble with these garrison scripts. Even when I turn off the scripts to garrison cities like Riga and Kiev, they still want to put 3-4 armies there, HQ's, AF, etc. Nevertheless, with the new production/research scripts I'm using they had 12+ units on the front with at least level 1 and 2 anti-infantry. I've taken Riga and Kiev, but it's winter of 1942. Russia tech right now is level 3 infantry and heavy tank, and level 4 IT.

US

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I checked their status pre-war and they have 2 HQ's, 3 Armies and 2 Corps in the US. Plenty to begin North Africa, and anything after that will go to the buildup in England. They have IT 3, infantry 2 and heavy tank 2.

Overall

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So far everything is looking a lot better in this game, besides the Russian AI. They're still tough, but it remains to be seen through 1943 how much they can hold up as I've broken through most of their forces. I need to try and get them to garrison cities early, and far behind the border. I also need to make sure the US invasion of North Africa will see an HQ land there as well. If not, it's a waste and I may pull this script until I can resolve that.

I should be uploading this mod within a few days for testing and feedback.

[ May 02, 2006, 07:27 AM: Message edited by: Timskorn ]

[Edwin P.]

Looking good. I like it. I really like it. Great work.

In my mod, if UK takes Iraq I have them followup by taking Iran (Offensive Size= 1) as no units guard its capital and then Vichy Syria IF TURKISH WAR READINESS < 70. The biggest problem I have now in Scripting Egypt is sending reinforcements in, this will probably have to wait until the 1st patch ships supporting Naval Loop waypoints supported.

[Timskorn]

Thanks, I hope it ends up giving at least casual gamers a run for their money until HC's patch emerges.

You're right, until we get the patch the UK will have to be scripted to take Iraq/Iran, etc only if there are no Axis units nearby to take Alexandria. Without reinforcements, the UK only has enough to defend or attack if Axis presence is limited.

[Hopper]

Sounds great! Can't wait to play it Timskorn.

[Timskorn]

Agh...it's so close! I have tomorrow off so most of the day I'll be able to hopefully get this thing ready for public consumption by the weekend. Just had a crash on the current game, but this is what has happened up until now (Winter, 1943...longest game I've had vs. AI so far).

US

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DoW'd Vichy France in mid-1942. They also sent all but one available forces to the UK, which crippled the North Africa Invasion. One US Army landed and hung out near Casablanca. Need to fix this trigger so US doesn't send forces to UK at the same time as NA invasion. 1 US Bomber in England doing strat runs. Late 1942 D-Day commences, 2 US Armies, 1 Corp and Patton land after UK takes Brest.

Early 1943 US sends the rest of the North African invasion force: Eisenhower lands with another Army and 1 Corp. Spain joins the Axis and the US force takes Tangier after 3 weeks of fighting.

- D-Day starts a bit too early with not enough force. Need to delay this some more to ensure a strong landing.

- Need to make sure North Africa invasion has all available units.

- Overall, US AI about 75% complete.

UK

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Back and forth battles occurred between Tobruk and Alexandria between UK and Italian forces. Italians eventually wear down the British and surround Alexandria. UK lands first to commence D-Day, taking Brest after a few weeks of fighting.

- Need to tweak production values as they never bought a new HQ.

- North Africa script seems good so far, as they can now go on the offensive.

- Overall, UK AI 95% complete.

Russia

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Despite its unpredictability in properly garrisoning areas, it put its toughest fight yet. Level 3 tanks/infantry with IT level 4 ensured a good stream of tough soldiers. Just when I think I have them crushed, Russia drops 4-6 Corps, 2 Tanks and 2 Armies in Stalingrad and forces me to retreat to Rostov, destroying 1 Tank division and 2 Army divisions. My counter-attack cripples them however, and Stalingrad is ready to fall.

- Production and research looks fine so far. Just when it looks I'm going to roll them over, they drop 6-8 units down they previously purchased. They tend to get infantry and heavy tank levels to at least 2 or 3, and IT to 4 each game.

- Garrison scripts are all I need to work on now. Once I can get decent defensive lines formed, the Allies in this mod will give you some trouble. This past game I've been stretched thin a lot, running out of MPP's at times just reinforcing troops, so if I can get the Russians to put up a better fight the biggest task of this mod will be done.

- Overall, Russia 75% done.

Hopefully I'll get these issues ironed out by tomorrow. There are still some late-game scripts I'd like to add, but these are the most important.

[Chris G]

Great initiative! My coming weekend is hereby booked for your mod.

Bye to planed booze and babes!

[Qyusson]

Great! Keep it up! Nice to see pple devote their time to enhance the game experience, thanks

[Timskorn]

Latest game is looking really good so far. It's winter of 1943, I've taken Moscow and swept down onto Stalingrad where low supplies and heavy tank presence has bogged me down. Army division holding Stalingrad has 3 infantry and 3 anti-tank making it nearly impossible to take out. Russian reinforcements arrived and now they have 4 tanks (2 level 2), 4 Army and 8 Corp divisions around the Stalingrad/Rostov area and I'm forced to fall back to Kharkov and Voronezh.

UK got lucky in the Med and destroyed a BB and severely damaged the rest of my fleet. It's taken a lot of MPP's to get them back up to full strength to help shelling the UK ground attack at Tobruk. Heavy fighting there caused me to lose an Army and a Corp, while I knocked out the UK fleet, 1 Corp and 1 Armor there. The US has landed in Casablanca with an HQ, 3 Armies and a Corp. so I've left a Corp at Tobruk and am pulling out to meet the US at Algiers.

I got Spain to join a little late, just as the US landed their invasion force and they immediately took over Tangini(sp?). Not sure if getting spain now was worth it, as I don't have the MPP's to spare to reinforce their units. Garrison duty at best. I usually take Gibralter with them but it'll be too costly.

Greece (in an experiment with the diplomacy plan) switched to the Allies in mid-1943, and I diverted two Italian Corp and a German Corp there. After a couple months of fighting it fell, but at that point the 3 diverted Corp units were really needed elsewhere.

I still have to see how D-Day pans out, which I pushed back to early 1944 in order for the NA invasion to commence properly. At this point though, D-day is going to put a hurtin' on me as I don't have the units to spare. I don't have much hope for the Italians, and I'll be using them to hold the US off in Algiers for as long as possible.

Barring any major catastrophe, I'll be uploading this mod Friday afternoon!

[ May 04, 2006, 07:27 AM: Message edited by: Timskorn ]

[mustang96]

Hi Timskorn

Just wondering, how did you get the HQ unit added to the US invasion of NA? I read one of your earlier posts, you had trouble with the HQ not being sent. Did you script it in? I've been trying to get an invasion of Spain to happen but can never get a HQ to be included.

Thanks if you can help!

Mustang

[Timskorn]

What I did was set up two scripts, one amphib and another transport. HQ's are never part of an amphib script, so the only way to get one over is with a transport. I script 1-2 units to capture Casablanca via amphib assault, and as soon as that's owned and there's at least 2 available units in the US, I transport them to Casablanca.

As long as the US has an HQ available and is not part of another plan, it'll go on any transport plan you assign. So for your Spain invasion, land enough troops to take a city/port and then have a script to send 1-2 troops over to it via transport. I keep the Size low to ensure the HQ is sent over. If you do a transport script with a size of 4 but there are only 3 units available, the plan won't activate and your HQ will sit. So, a low # should ensure it heads to the destination port.

[mustang96]

Thanks for the great help!

I finally got it to work this morning! By the way i'm really looking forward to your mod, sounds great!

Mustang

[Timskorn]

No problem, glad it worked for ya!

There seems to be an AI issue with how they upgrade their units, and buying units with upgrades. Maybe this is unique for Russia, but I rarely ever see them drop down built units WITH upgrades, nor do I see them upgrade existing units much. This is even when Russia has 1500 MPP's in the bank.

I heard HC is working on this with the patch to some degree, but until then the Russian AI will have to use all those extra MPP's to build more units to swarm the player instead.

[John DiFool the 2nd]

Which really isn't a problem for the Axis. More

units=target rich environment=more experience for

Axis units. It basically becomes a death spiral for

the Russians (at least) as the more el cheapo corps

they buy the better the Wehrmacht becomes! I noticed

this in a campaign where I gave the Allies a bunch

of extra MPPs and systematically chewed my way

through the Russian conscripts anyway, building my

units' experience through the roof.

[Timskorn]

I agree, but the key is the Russian's ability to at least cost the Axis a lot of MPP's to reinforce their lines. Even with IT 4, when the Russians hit my highly-upgraded troops (esp. tanks) in a big offensive, I'd end up spending nearly 500 MPP getting them all back up to strength. Without the IT I'd have at least a few units on the front that couldn't get reinforced that turn.

All in all though, for a pre-patch AI this should at least give a better challenge to veteran players (still probably won't ever lose to it) and a good challenge for casual (and a lot for a new player!).

[Timskorn]

Ok, I just uploaded it to www.cmmods.com I started a thread in the general forum about it as well. I won't be back until Sunday night so I won't be able to address any questions until I get back. Hopefully nothing breaks in it too terribly. It's tough only having yourself to test it! Enjoy!

[ May 10, 2006, 10:31 AM: Message edited by: Timskorn ]

[fantomas]

Impressionant script-work, thanks ! Perhaps would it be better to include the short text of presentation wich is on the CMM site, in a special "readme" file dedicated to your work (I did it for my personnal use after downloading : I think it would be interresting to have always this presentation into the "zip.file".

Your work is now on good place in my "scenarios folder"

PS : your links to CMM site seems not work correctly (I used Hubert Cater links and this link works OK).

[Chris G]

Playing your mod right now Timskorn. Got surprised by the Russian tanks swarming out of Iran.

France was tough to take. But US forces in NA was repelled by Vichy France and the Italian navy. No US HQ showed up.

In UK I kill everything showing up with my LW. Russian front is tough thou.

The only problem I see is that then there is a coup in Yugoslavia or Iraq the text comes up, but nothing happens.

[Timskorn]

Heya Chris! Russian tanks out of Iran? Were you in Iran or was the AI?

Yeah, the US NA invasion is tough to have happen correctly right now. Even when an HQ is sent the player has an easy time of dispatching them. Hopefully the 1st patch will allow us to have transports ready to drop the same turn as the DoW, that way the US can quickly take Algiers instead of making the long (and low supply) trek from Casablanca.

Are you sure nothing happens with the Iraq/Yugo coups? If you check the diplomacy screen Iraq should be heavily leaning towards Axis and Yugo should be heavily leaning towards Allies after the coups.

Currently working on the next version and ensuring D-Day happens with enough force. Glad to hear Russia is tough as she is the key to the entire war, but I'm still working on making her even tougher.

[Chris G]

Hi Timskorn, maybe I’ve misunderstood the coup function. I fought it meant they joined either side. Anyway, after diplomatic actions, Iraq joined me (Axis) and I sent the Baghdad corps to take Teheran. Big mistake! Upgraded Russian tank was waiting. Then the Iraqi’s desperately fled back to entrench Baghdad, one more upgraded Russian tank showed up. (In Russia thou, no tanks are upgraded.) After one turn Iraq belonged to the allies.

US army and corps landed on either side of Vichy Frances NA town and were slowly massacred by the 8 strength VF corps and the Italian navy.

[Timskorn]

Yeah the Coups are designed to give a huge boost in diplomatic relations, but they don't instantly turn them over to a specific side.

As for the North Africa invasion, I've decided for the next version to take it out completely. Until I can get them to all land at Algiers right after the DoW, and also be protected by US warships, it's a waste of US troops that would be better spent in the UK.

What year is it for you and how is the war going so far?

[Hopper]

Great mod Timskorn! The Russian front a.i was noticeably better; they conducted more research and upgrades and positioned their defenses better.

In North Africa the US headquarters got stuck in the mountains and the armies and corps fell quickly without support. Couple of options for the Med: have you thought about “editing in” a port in North Africa that is closer (maybe just east of Gibraltar), or just remove some of the mountains (clear a path) just for the purpose of letting the headquarters get through? Or just launch a direct attack on Sicily, making sure to cut off reinforcements and supply from the mainland.

Or of course you could save everything for a massive D-day! Anyway thanks and keep up the great work!

[Timskorn]

Hey Hopper, thanks! Yep, I considered adding a city next to Casablanca which would help the current NA invasion. If it works, I'll keep it in, if it doesn't I'll keep it out until the patch.

The direct attack on Sicily would be a nice option, but without naval support a human player could lie in wait for the transports and knock 'em out. My original intention (and the current script) calls for the US to take Algiers, move on Tripoli and then launch from there to Sicily.

If I can't get it to work I'll shut it off for now and let the US build up better in the UK for D-Day. Thanks again for the feedback!

[Chris G]

Hi Timskorn, now is it the end of 1944. My Italian troops have smashed the British and taken control of Egypt. Rommel landed in Syria and took care of the Russian level 4(!) tanks there.

In Russia they are level 0-2. The Middle East is now cleaned up.

UK has fallen along with US HQ and several armies and corps. Kesselring is preparing to invade USA. German, Italian, French and (just joined) Spanish naval units are heading for the US cost. USA will surrender in summer ’45.

Russian front has been tough with swarms of commie tanks counterattacking and good defences around the cities. My level 5/5 str.15 planes and rockets just moved from the west front are finally forcing the commies on the run. I play Expert +2 for your info.

[Timskorn]

Thanks Chris! Sounds like you've totally dominated the AI!

Here are some changes I'm working on and hoping will work for the next version:

US

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- Added the city "Casablanca" next to the port to help the US invasion have sufficient supply. Once the patch comes out I may remove it and go back to the direct-landing at Algiers.

- % chance for the NA invasion to happen. For added variability, this event will not happen every game.

- D-Day pushed back until April 1944.

- Tweaked production/research values

UK

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- Fortifies around Alexandria. Increased chances of reinforcements by 10% (NZ, Australian, etc).

- % chance the UK will invade/declare war on Norway.

- Dispersed their diplomatic actions between Spain, Yugoslavia and Russia.

- Improved garrison for possible Sealion.

USSR

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- Added new garrison scripts for the Caucus's and Urals.

- Tweaked production/research. Lowered chances of HQ's being built, increased chances for Army/Tanks.

Germany

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- Lowered Amphibious Transport length from 10 to 4 to reflect the historical difficulty for the Germans to do this. It's also been changed for gameplay reasons, while keeping all other nation's ranges to 10.