Axis AI script set 90% complete

[ChrisND]

OK folks, the script set is almost done...

Scripting 90% complete.

But the testing will be the long and hard part.

New version will be sent to testers in the morning.. anyone else who wants one give me a shout.

Read the prior thread I made for pre-barbarossa highlights.

Highlights, Post-Barbarossa:

- Germany will choose among many different plans of attack for Barbarossa. Be ready for an invasion anywhere, going in any direction!

- The further germany penetrates into Russia, the more a chance they will launch a Sealion.

- Random invasion scripts for minor countries.

- Enhanced diplomacy, research, and purchasing.

- Axis will exploit weaknesses in Allied defense. No more leaving those remote places unmanned!

[ChrisND]

This is one of the directions the AI can attack Russia, taken 4 turns after attack began.

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/3184/clipimage0029dx.th.jpg' alt='clipimage0029dx.th.jpg'>

[John DiFool the 2nd]

Yeah I'll take one. You need my email? [How does

one send a PM here anyway?]

[Edwin P.]

First Test

1. Very much improved

- Axis Attacked France earlier!

- Surprised by Spain joining Axis! and then Axis attack on Gibraltar (but not Portugal)

- Late in Game Axis took Norway

- Strong Axis invasion of North Africa

- Much stronger defense of Germany in face of Russian invasion

2. Weaknesses

- Russians held German army at the Border, they were too weak to invade due to troops in North Africa

- German AI weakened its line to invade Yugoslavia and Greece late in the game.

- Franco Defended Berlin!

- AI needs to know when to withdraw, and reform a defensive line.

- Axis North Africa hindered by absence of Italian HQ and No Air Support.

[ June 10, 2006, 03:10 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[ChrisND]

Yes Edwin, some of the problems you noted will be fixed when I include the TACTICAL_CONDITION and ACTIVATE_CONDTION flags that will allow the AI to only move troops to a new attack if the tactical situation is favorable, or stop advancing and consolidate when the situation is bad, or even fall back to defensive position. My first priotity is to just get the AI to follow the offensive scripts, then the fine print will be added.

Did the Germans DoW, or did they let Russia join? I had been having problems with that.

As for the Italian HQ, and air support problem, I am having the damnedest time getting the AI to send Italian troops to Africa and NOT the eastern front. Any suggestions?

As for the problem of the German units in Africa, based on your game I will include a script to move German units out of Africa and into Europe before Barbarossa kicks off.

[ChrisND]

PS if you can send me a saved game turn I would appreciate it.

[Edwin P.]

Will send you turn.

Germsn let Russians DOW, so they had basically 2 3 turns of now German action to prepae, and as all German action was in the north, they could shift forces north to stop the German push and elimiante German units one by one.

Yes, I saw Italians being sent to the Eastern front.

[ChrisND]

Here are the DoW scripts, let me know if something is wrong.

; Germany attacks the USSR:

{

#NAME= Germany Build Up Offensive - Riga (USSR DoW)

#POPUP=

#FLAG= 1

#TYPE= 1

#COUNTRY_ID= 5

#TRIGGER= 100

#LEVEL= 0

#PLAN_ID= 1

#SIZE= 5

#LENGTH= 1

; Riga

#GOAL_POSITION= 96,10

#DATE= 1941/05/01

#STEAL= 0

; Konigsberg

#FRIENDLY_POSITION= 94,12

; 1st Line - France politically aligned with Allies and surrendered AND

; 2nd Line - USSR politically Allied (90% active) and not surrendered

#VARIABLE_CONDITION= 2 [2] [100] [1]

#VARIABLE_CONDITION= 4 [2] [90] [0]

#TACTICAL_CONDITION= 84,16 [1]

#ACTIVATE_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [0,0] [0]

#CANCEL_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [1,1] [0]

}

; Germany attacks the USSR:

{

#NAME= Germany Build Up Offensive - Odessa (USSR DoW)

#POPUP=

#FLAG= 1

#TYPE= 1

#COUNTRY_ID= 5

#TRIGGER= 100

#LEVEL= 0

#PLAN_ID= 1

#SIZE= 5

#LENGTH= 1

; Odessa

#GOAL_POSITION= 107,19

#DATE= 1940/05/01

#STEAL= 3

; Budapest

#FRIENDLY_POSITION= 93,20

; USSR politically Allied (90% active) and not surrendered

#VARIABLE_CONDITION= 4 [2] [90] [0]

#TACTICAL_CONDITION= 93,20 [1]

#ACTIVATE_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [0,0] [0]

#CANCEL_POSITION= 0,0 [0,0] [1,1] [0]

}

[Edwin P.]

I don't see anything wrong with the scripts.

I would try changing the Tactical conditions. Make the land tiles subject to a Naval Attack. This ensures that the script will always trigger. Tactical ID = 3 Naval Threat.

[KillerTomato]

Hi Normal Dude

Just finished a game against the version 3 you send me. Here is a small AAR

Polend falls after 3 turns

31 December 39 dow on Benelux and Denmark in winter turn, both countries survive and can be reinforced to max

April 7 1940 benelux -> axis

June 2 denmark axis, i stopped reinforcing cause it took axis to long.

June 30 italy axis Spain at 52%

August 18 france down, spotted amphibs in Antwerp

Sept 22 Spain -> Axis

Oktober 6, still 2 ampibs in Antwerp port

Dec 1 1940 Gibraltar lost

Dec 15 1940 Norway lost. Nice invasion with 3 amphibs. To bad they atleast 2 loaded in Antwerp, but this is a known issue

Dec 29, Just noticed ussr at 88% !!!! How can that be???

Axis has Poland, Benelux, Denmark, France, Italy ( joined ) Spain ( Joined ), Hungary( Joined ), Gibraltar & Norway

Jan 26, Axis Dow sweden COOL, but i think stupid

Feb 23 1941 USSR Joines allies. Game over i guess. Only 2 Axis units at Russian border

2 tanks and 10 corps in USSR Production queue

Conclusion:

Very aggresive AI, but how the ^*%$## can russia join so early in 1941. Dow on sweden was with 1 army, 1 AF and Para's, No HQ so i guess hopeless.

No reinforcements either.

I send you a same game so you can look at the positions

[ChrisND]

Thanks for the AAR.

The Sweden invasion I need to turn % chance of that down. That is very odd that the invasion went badly, because every tiem I have seen the AI do it was fantastic, Sweden down in two turns each time. I'll look into that, it is most likely a problem with the script that sends the invasion force by transport to Norway.

That is REALLY odd how the USSR joined so quickly. The reason there were no Axis units at border was because they joined so fast the build-up scripts hadnt even started yet! :eek:

Also, I am going to set back Axis Denmark and Belgium invasions to allow for better weather.

[KillerTomato]

Indeed very very strange. I have never seen this in any game i've played. only thing different than usual is that i save my russian mpp's

and bought 10 corps in one turn after PT reached 3

[ChrisND]

Just in case that happens again, I am going to make the build-up scripts kick in sooner. Probably a good idea anyways in case Allied player invests chits in USSR diplomacy.

[Major Spinello]

Just a question: in your batch of files, are there garrison scripts covering Italy? I found in my games (standard scripts) that when North Africa goes, the AI does not realize that it should garrison Italy more because of increased danger of invasion there.

[ChrisND]

Yes the garrison scripts are in place.

[Edwin P.]

Just a note, I am adding few scripts to your Mod and will seem them along after I finish testing them.

Basically,

1. IF SPAIN Joins Axis

2. Germany/Spain Takes Gibraltar

3. Then Spain Garrison's Spain until Russia at War

4. When Russia Fully Active then Spanish Troops Conquer Portugal (this gives Russia Morale Penalty) and return to Garrison duties.

5. After Portugal falls to Axis then Germany takes Vichy France (50%) before USA at War or wait until USA is at War (100%) for another Morale Bonus for Germans.

I am trying to time the fall of the minors to give maximum benefit to the Axis in the war against Russia.

My initial problem was that other offensive scripts were constantly stealing units from the Spanish offensive scripts, so I set the Length to 0. This appears to work.

[ChrisND]

Cool, look forward to seeing it.

[Guest Mike]

Spain should probably allow it's armies, HQ and tank and air units to operate outside of Spain?

[ChrisND]

Recent changes:

Made the post-Barbarossa scripts so that new offensives are only launched if the eastern front is stable.

Added in the exploitation scripts for the AI to take certain undefended resources.

Put in several react-to-Allied attack scripts.

Current problems that I could use help on:

Italy just will not send troops to North Africa. They send them all to Russia, even though the transport scripts are at STEAL 3 and there are no Russia scripts.

Anyone have ideas for smoothing out the purchases? For example, some reports say that Italy bought 0 HQ, and some that Italy bought 3!

The Norway invasion still defies a fix. ANYTHING involving the ocean, naval units, transports, or amphibs is going to be screwed and up and will probably stay that way until a future patch enhances the naval AI.

And last note folks, you need to give the AI an exp and difficulty boost. I never play below Expert/+2 XP. The AI needs it to make up for the fact that it is just not as capable as a human player.

[Edwin P.]

To ensure that Italian AI purchases HQ;

Set beginning research and diplomacy to zero and focus all production on HQ purchase. My guess is that this will have to last for about 10 turns.

I ran into same problem with AI taking stealing units so I - 1. Set Length to zero and 2. Moved script to front of line. I believe, and may be wrong but AI only steals from Offensive Build-ups not from plans in action - PS: When I did this instead of the Greece and Yugoslavia scripts stealing units from Spain, the Spanish scripts stole units from Bulgaria, Romania and Italy.

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

What I would like to see is a parameter where you can only steal units from scripts rated lower than yours. The [script priority] sets the rank of a script

Example:

#Steal=3 [2] - with a default of zero. This means that this steal script will steal from any script ranked under 2 - i.e. 1 or 0.

#Steal=1 [0] - means that this script can't steal from any other scripts.

#Steal= 5 [0]- means that this script can steal units from any script ranked 4 or less.

[ June 11, 2006, 11:17 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[ChrisND]

Thats what I have done for HQ purchase, problem is it still doesnt always work

[Edwin P.]

Would a steal priority level parameter help in scripting?

[ChrisND]

More refined priority levels are definetely needed, as right now scripts are at the mercy of the tactical AI's whims.

[ChrisND]

AAR of a battle versus AI w/ version 1.05 script set (Has not been released to anyone yet)

Played on Expert / +2

Oct 39: Poland falls in three turns

April 40: Benelux attack begins. Allies get very lucky on die rolls and Benelux holds for an extra turn.

May 40: Denmark falls in amphib attack.

August 40: AI has problems with the tank in Paris, as usual. France finally falls in early August.

Sea and air battle ensues, loss of one RN battleship, one cruiser, air force badly damaged, three german subs and one german cruiser sunk.

Sep 40: In a huge leap Spain joins the Axis! Gibraltor's garrison is evacuated and the location is Axis the next turn; it immediately begins draining Allied supply in Egypt. A large German and Italian task force w/ HQ support can be seen advancing on Egypt. Things look grim for the Mid-East.

Oct 40: Battle for Alexandria starts. Romania and Hungary join the Axis. German air force attacks London and the port, knocks a corps hard. In a lucky stroke for me I get hits on Iraq and USA diplomacy and get the lend-lease and Iraq convoy.

Dec 40: Holding so far in Alexandria. Malta got a string of supply hits, so Axis attack is temporarily halted. Bulgaria joins.

Feb 41: Malta watches at least one Italian army move to Tobruk from Sicily each turn. Luckily they are slowed from supply hits and the fact that yet again the Italian HQ did not get to Africa.

Apr 41: Germans DoW on Yugoslavia and Greece in same turn. Yugoslavia falls on same turn, Greece will fall in a few turns. This is a problem that must be fixed, AI should not DoW on Balkans this late. Meanwhile the fight for Alexandria is still on, both of us taking losses without gaining ground. The germans must have been busy re-building u-boats, cause they start htting the convoys. The Italian Navy as usual is just sitting in their ports instead of helping out in Egpyt. I also observe that Sweden's activation is rising, Germany must have started diplomacy with them.

June 41: Greece is taken down by LVL 3 infantry. Ouch! Massive Italian army near Alexandria, with a German HQ. We have fought to a standstill, AI might have taken it if an Italian HQ had shown up. German airforces pound the living crap out of RAF. Sweden now at 47%.

At this point I turn off the FOW and see what the AI is up to. And it is not pretty. Firstly, the AI has used all of its tanks to garrison the Balkans. Next, it has lvl 3 airplanes and infantry, and has upgraded almost NONE of them. The Italian HQ as usual is in Italy, doing nothing. And half of Italy's very large army is lost in the desert when it decided to transport troops to Tripoli and then WALK them to Alexandria! BTW the script CLEARLY has Tobruk as the goal.

Ugghhhh......

[ChrisND]

Updates:

New version will be out today / tomorrow

Changes:

- Scandinavia invasion now WORKS.

- The Russian VERY EARLY entry problem has been FIXED. One digit off in the VARIABLE condition was causing the problem.

- Germany should now DoW on Russia, instead of vice-versa.

- Purchases and Research altered. More emphasis on purchasing, since the AI is too slow to upgrade to take advantage of fast tech advances.

- Diplomacy re-worked. Germany now does not bother with Iraq diplomacy and if the Syria invasion does not prompt Iraq entry then they will be invaded. Germany may press Sweden even if they have not invaded Norway. Germany may now also try to delay USA and USSR entry with diplomacy (Sometimes with great results).

- Scripts for all Axis Minors written in. Most are for Barbarossa; however, Spain is now capable of taking down Minor countries on its own.

- Balkens invasion for pre-Barbarossa has been removed, as it just caused problems.

- Exploitation scripts added in for AI to nab undefended important locations.

- Italy defensive posture scripts added. Italy now assumes defensive positions in case of Allied invasions or high naval activity.

- Germany now only starts new invasions if they have made significant advances in the Eastern Front, and if the Eastern Front is currently stable (Still holds all captured cities, all those cities are tactically not threatened by land forces).

- Made three small changes to scenario, this will probably be unpopular but oh well: French tank's defense stats has been reduced. A str 1 Italian HQ added to Tobruk. A few german subs added to the production list, to compensate for the suicidal 1939 subs (they appear over the period of the war). Why did I make these changes? Because they fix what right now the scripting CANT fix: The Germans don't attack Paris properly, the Italian AI will not send an HQ to North Africa, and currently naval units cannot be scripted.