Kellysheroes Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Well here comes yet another game of war, but, once again is the AI any good? How many levels of difficulty does it have? How much can the gamer tweak the AI to make it harder to play against? All too many games come out with hardest mode and they are easy. Is this ai going to be anywhere near the ai of the expansion of SC2? I ain't buyin it or recommending it if it's not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timskorn Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Difficulty of AI is always player dependent. The SC series has progressively tuned the AI to be one of the best, in my opinion, considering the myriad of options presented to it. In my recent play vs. the AI I've found it very competitive. The real strength of SC games will always be multiplayer, but the AI has not been ignored. It will challenge you! One of the fun, new aspects to the Pacific game is of course the reliance on a strong navy. When playing as either side, that first major naval engagement is always building up. Where is the enemy fleet? How many and what type of ships will they have? Will they have more advanced fighters, longer range? I've found the AI able to bring the heat at sea and catch me off guard many times. Just when you think they're ignoring your expansion plans, they'll show up (in force) to keep you in check. Of course, until you've played it yourself will you really know if the AI is challenging for you or not, but don't think for a second it's been neglected in any way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Cater Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Kellysheroes, Thanks for your question and I'll just reiterate what Timskorn has stated above. The AI is always a top priority and game engine wise this is the best AI of the series as the logic has been continually worked on as shortcomings arise. I'lls also add that the Pacific Theater has had to be one of the most difficult AIs to code for the SC series when you have to take into account all the naval requirements as well as the island battles, i.e. amphibious assaults and landings from island to island etc., and if the AI was weak in this regard it would be quickly apparent. Many tweaks and enhancements have gone into ensuring that the AI was up to the task and I honestly don't think the end result will disappoint. As usual there will be a Demo available where you can judge for yourself and it includes the first 6 months of the war starting with the attack on Pearl Harbor. In this time period alone and even just looking at the Japanese AI perspective, it will have to appropriately handle the attack on Pearl Harbor, an amphibious assault of the Philippines, an invasion of Thailand, Malaya and Burma, an additional amphibious assault on the Dutch East Indies including significant naval action, fighting in China and possibly secondary naval engagements at Midway should the situation arise. These are no small tasks even for a Human player There will be an additional mini campaign included in the Demo and of course the AI difficulty options still include the usual Production and Experience point bonuses to give the AI appropriate handicaps for your skill level. Hope this helps, Hubert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kellysheroes Posted December 6, 2008 Author Share Posted December 6, 2008 Thanks to both of you that really helped and I will definitely give the demo a try. I am a Pacific Fan of WW2 and I'm always looking for another rendition of that theater since they are mostly so few and far between. I have Pacific General and I enjoy that very much. The HPS games are merely ok and I don't play them much because the ai isn't that great. Rising Sun Gold is about the same, so, I'm really looking for something more challenging, but, not the level of War in the Pacific by Matrixgames because I just think that game is too busy. I'd like to finish a complete game in a day or two. Long as there are options to tweak the ai to a harder difficulty then I think I will be happy. Giving the ai more has never bothered me. It's when I give the ai more and it still sucks is when I don't feel the developers put enough time into the ai to make it challenging even for the hard core of us. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timskorn Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 A lot of people feel the same way, KH! Not everyone can play multiplayer, or even if they do, it's great to have the AI to compete against. The last thing to consider is the totally robust editor that's included. Just a few simple changes to the scenario could greatly alter the difficulty, such as adding units or just giving the AI more MPP to make purchases. Of course, that is *IF* you find yourself rolling over the AI at the hardest difficulty with the highest bonuses. Good luck with that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blashy Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 You can easily tweak the game with the editor to suit your purposes. As is the AI is a good challenge. That is all I have played in beta testing and it noticeably got better with each new version until the final one and even there Hubert is always working on improving it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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