Valgua Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Hi! The Armchair Gerneral preview expressed some criticism about the AI in ToW. Considering that the preview was based on a beta version, what can you tell us about the artificial intelligence, both friendly (pathfinding, reaction to enemy soldiers an so on) and hostile (tactical and strategic skills of the opponent), in the definitive version? Filippo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norvandave Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 I think this will be best answered by checking out the demo for yourself before the release, since obviously I am biased. But for what it's worth: From my own gaming, AI performance ranged from impressive at times to mediocre at other times. This shouldn't be surprising - unlike games like COH or for example BiA which are highly scripted, Theatre of War is much more open-ended, and it's therefore impossible for the AI programmers to predict every situation. Considering what is asked of it, it is quite good, and in many of the stock scenarios will no doubt be a real challenge to the player. I find the pathfinding to be very good overall. Obviously you can make it harder on the AI and order 10 tanks to try to cross the bridge at the same time to "break" it. What would follow is what you would expect in real life - a traffic jam. But in most cases it works great and the AI is usually picking a good path. The strategic AI in TOW can also be scripted to some extent by the scenario designer using the Map Editor. You can set triggers and areas to get the computer opponent to do certain things. The tactical AI is quite aggressive. This has advantages and disadvantages as you can imagine. One other problem some people might encounter is if they try to play TOW like a "normal" RTS. Group select -> click click click. In general you need some more micromanagement than that (no surprise, Tow is centered around the individual soldier). It's also much more enjoyable to play that way. (I love the first person view myself which you can use to give orders, too) Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avwriter Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Does the AI have scalable intelligence settings? Is there any/much AI involvedon the player's side? For example, if I give a soldier/platoon and order to move forward, will it react automatically to an ambush (i.e. shoot back) if I do not give it further instructions? Or will it simply keep moving forward untill I tell it otherwise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Yes, units (soldiers, tanks) react (and sometimes even act) on their own. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherBrit Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Martin, you mentioned first person view? I thought this game was over the shoulder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 When you select a soldier and hit Enter, you get what amounts to basically eyelevel view. Maybe a TAD higher than eyelevel, but it's not "over the shoulder" third person view. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherBrit Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 That is amazing! I have seen a pic of a Sherman from the commanders (hatch view). Is there a shot of this perpective from a soldiers point of view? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 Yes, AnotherBrit. The Symphony of War video shows plenty of that. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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