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subunit

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Landsmen

Landsmen (1/13)

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  1. I agree with this. Minimally I would like routing enemy units not to affect the position of generals. Ideally if a non-routing friendly unit in decent condition is intervening between the general and an enemy unit, that enemy unit should need to be closer than usual to drive off the general, I think.
  2. Yeah, agree with this- I don't use Random because I don't want to waste time with the easier difficulty levels, but if it was possible to restrict the difficulty levels Random choses from, I would use it.
  3. Just lost my first campaign to the AI, a Cunning Union. The Cunning AI is much more difficult to drag out of position than Dynamic or Determined AIs, it's quite good on defense. Really happy to see that the AI can win once in a while, even at this stage!
  4. I'm understanding the artillery mechanics better now that I've played 5 or 6 times and now have most of my batteries firing most of the time, but some of this stuff is seriously opaque. I was definitely able to get Confed artillery firing effectively from the east side of Round Top onto Union positions below, so it's not the case that wooded terrain always blocks artillery fire- in that case, it could be very confusing why some batteries are firing and others aren't. If the game is taking into account all this information (terrain obstruction, friendly obstruction, elevation etc), it should probably be presented to the player in some fashion. If a battery is unable to fire, you could just put some text over its unit picture that says [uNABLE TO FIRE: TERRAIN] or whatever.
  5. I've been playing some more with the Dynamic and Determined AIs. Does the AI reference the balance state when deciding whether to attack? I think the #1 problem I've observed consistently with the AI is that it does not press when it has an advantage. I think if it has a substantial advantage in terms of the numbers/morale/condition bar, the Determined AI, in particular when attacking, should be actively firing or moving into contact with most of its units. I have seen several instances now where the AI will settle into its lines after capping a minor objective despite having massive superiority and clearly being able to take other lightly-defended objectives. The AI also seems not to support attacks well with artillery. I think if the Determined AI could be made to be more aggressive in pressing the advantage when it's got more/better units on the field, and to use artillery a bit more aggressively, it could be pretty challenging. In any case, I've been having a lot of fun with the game and I really appreciate that you're trying to make a non-cheating AI that has to fight on its own merits- my criticisms are made in the sincere hope that the end product will be a ruthless, brutal opponent!!
  6. OK, there are definitely still problems with the AI: This is a Confederate dynamic AI. First phase they played sort of poorly (I got an Epic victory), second phase they played quite well, collapsing my lines at Seminary ridge and in Gettysburg (only a Minor victory, although the drubbing they gave me should have been a loss for me), this was the third phase at Peach Orchard/Round Top. I immediately abandoned Peach Orchard and pulled back to the Round Top ridge line, the AI approached with a few thousand troops, capped Peach Orchard, and then did nothing for the rest of the battle. They kept about 10k troops at the Western edge and made no attempt to attack, giving up a Major victory. The vid shows the state of play well into the "Battle Delayed" phase (no idea why it was delayed, no one was charging and nothing was contested- this is quite boring when the AI decides not to do anything). Subsequent phases the AI was a little more active but not by much. I ended up with a Decisive victory for the whole battle although if the AI had continued to be as aggressive as it was in the second phase I think I probably would not have won.
  7. I've seen it for reinforcement units that are right at the edge of the map- I thought it was supposed to represent "off-map" units firing, though.
  8. I think I may have been on the old version for at a couple of the battles, then. I just tried doing my Confederate steamroller (basically just beeline for VP locations ASAP with as many units as possible) against a determined Union AI. The first phase was still a little silly, they sat around plinking at Archer on Oak Ridge with 3:1 numerical superiority without taking it and ignored the fact that I capped Oak Hill with Heth's skirmishers until the last minute, so I got an Epic victory again without much thought, but in the second phase they held all their objectives- last time they were milling around getting slaughtered at the bottom of the screen. That's an improvement, anyway! Next time I'll record my game in case any weird AI behaviour crops up. e: Trying the first phase of the Confed attack again with a Dynamic AI, it's definitely playing much more sensibly than before. Thumbs up, guys, I'm definitely having way more fun with this now.
  9. I bought it ~5 hrs ago, just finished playing. I've got .85 installed at the moment, and I don't recall seeing any update between the initial install and the various games I played, so I think they were all on .85. FWIW, the Union AI seemed to be struggling the most, the Confederate AI was more active. If I run into stuff like the AI failing to take Round Top or whatever again, is there some way to get the game state to you so you can have a look at what's going on?
  10. Just bought the game and played through 3 battles in quick succession, against one random Confederate AI (would be nice if it told you at the end of the battle which one you were fighting), one Dynamic Union AI, and one Determined Confederate AI. I trounced the AI in all three battles, with Decisive, Epic, and Decisive victories respectively. There are still some pretty glaring issues with the AI- the Dynamic Union AI, for instance, made no effort to take Round Top in the last day of battle, leaving it totally open to me. It was generally quite passive. The determined and random Confederate AIs were a bit more active but they spent a lot of time moving their units around in coverless valleys under the fire of my units on ridges and didn't get much done as a result. By the last phase of the battle against the Decisive Confederate AI (Union counterattack), I was literally just grouping 6-12 union brigades together and throwing them at the confederate lines, eyes glazed and paying no attention to terrain or tactics, and I still managed to mop the floor with them. I don't have many bright ideas on how to improve the AI, but I think some of the mechanics make it difficult for the AI to play effectively- in particular the rout/morale mechanics are incredibly forgiving and with more than a handful of units on the map it rarely mattters if a few of them are routing, as you'll rapidly get command back. Absent any kind of surrender mechanic, I think routs need to be far more punishing, units need to become completely shattered and irrecoverable for the day if you really mess up. It doesn't make much sense to me that you can look at a unit with <10%morale, 0% condition, etc, and not really be worried about losing that unit even if they're totally surrounded. I was often making pretty bad positioning/movement errors and the AI just couldn't exploit them. As things stand, I found the primary challenge on defense was just shuffling units around on the line to maintain local numerical superiority to the AI's usually telegraphed attacks, while on attack it was just keeping everyone actually moving forward instead of shuffling away after firing a single volley. In general I think I got my $10 worth, and I had fun with the game, but there's a lot of unrealised potential here. The AI is sometimes doing clever things, and there are moments of tension (particularly if you're not aware of the reinforcement schedule- I'm not sure how randomised this is), but even at the highest settings the AI seems to be struggling.
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